sisu

By the paws' early light

70 years ago today

"Baby inspects roses from Goomp that arrived this morning," we captioned this image six years ago today in our March 25, 2005 post "64 years ago today."

"70 years ago today we drove through snow and sleet to get married. Love, Dad," says the card accompanying a lovely "presentation bouquet" of pink roses — garnished with eucalyptus sprigs, asparagus fern and baby's breath — from Goomp. The occasion? The anniversary of his romantic elopement with our mother when they were just a couple of college kids in love. They drove from Medford, MA to Manchester, NH and returned to their Tufts dormitory rooms the same evening. Their first night together as Mr. and Mrs. had to wait until the following weekend. The rest is history. Thanks, Goomp, for blessing us with your sentimental and enduring love for Mummy.

"I wish she were here," he just i-mailed us a moment ago. As we wrote in our December 7, 2004 post "A most incandescent light":

In her family's heart Mary lives on, beckoning us all to be the best that we can be.

The supporting role of political spouse did not suit Ms. Taylor

"When a man loves a woman . . . Sen. John Warner has no shame, as his absurd marriage to Liz Taylor in 1976 (above) and his pathetic attempt at intimidating Lt. General David Petraeus yesterday attest," we captioned this image of Liz and her sixth back in January of 2007. (©2005 TopFoto / AP)

Chelsea, March 23, 2011. In recognition of the splendiferous, eminently quotable — "I have a woman's body and a child's emotions" — Elizabeth Taylor's passing from this vale of tears this day, a republication of our January 2007 post confirming her sensible decision to divorce Husband #6 John Warner when she realized it was all about him:

Many regarded Ms. Taylor’s glamour as a chief reason for the relatively unknown Warner, a former secretary of the Navy, getting a Senate seat in 1978. The supporting role as political spouse did not suit Ms. Taylor, and she returned to a life where she was undoubtedly the main attraction.

Our four-year-old post resonates. Plus ça change:

Chelsea, January 24, 2007. "Addressing the crisis in leadership among American boys and young men" was the topic of pc-lite Esquire author Tom Chiarella's brave new article last summer, "The Problem with Boys." The soon-to-be commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq, Lt. General David Petraeus, was one of the earnest author's expert witnesses. We stumbled upon the thoughtful if somewhat annoyingly naive piece as we were getting up to speed on the man of the hour that Thomas P.M. Barnett in another Esquire article called "the closest thing the Army has to its own Lawrence of Arabia." Chiarella skirts delicately around the edges of the insidious Marxist feminist anti-boys-will-be-boys movement of the last few decades that has turned Mother Nature's "snakes and snails and puppy dogs' tails" into carriers of a "disorder" that must be kept at bay by the administration of Ritalin and other inadequately tested drugs that kill the soul and may precipitate murderous acts [see Columbine]. Speaking of a young, rudderless friend named Gerald, Ciarella -- seemingly channeling John "Stuck-in-Iraq" Kerry -- writes:

He's got no way to grab on to the culture of work. Nowhere to go, except Iraq maybe. They keep raising the bonus for enlistment; they keep tempting him to put himself in the mix. I always think he's a bag of flesh to them, a bullet stopper.

Reading that military-culture-challenged bit of drivel, we gagged and nearly clicked away in disgust, but remembering that Lt. General Petraeus had brought us to the site, we read on and were duly rewarded with Chiarella's reportage of the General's take:

I tell him about the boys I know, about how I'm concerned that the Army may be the only option for a kid like Gerald. "That's the problem," he says. "It may not be an option for him. We have a profile we're looking for; we need high school graduates who are physically fit and driven by the desire for self-improvement. We need men who are prepared to be better soldiers.

"I see the same things you do. The numbers are declining among boys," he says, clearing his throat. "I always call them men.

"What boys need," says Petraeus, "are role models, parental supervision, encouragement to pursue excellence in all that they do, especially in education, where we must do whatever is necessary to keep them in school." Old stuff, but tried and true and often lost amidst today's multiculti pc cacaphony:

They need direction to stay on the straight and narrow, a push to participate in athletics and extracurricular activities, help to pursue a healthy lifestyle, recognition that they must be accountable for their actions, and reinforcement of good performance.

We couldn't help but think of those aging Peter-Pan boys -- and girls -- in the Senate who made such fools of themselves yesterday when they bypassed the opportunity to ask General Petraeus to educate them -- and us -- with his vast store of knowledge about the subject at hand, the "way forward" in Iraq. Instead they used the opportunity of Petraeus's confirmation hearing to -- what else? -- grandstand at will. Our favorite exchange came after Sen. Lieberman asked Petraeus whether Senate resolutions condemning White House Iraq policy "would give the enemy some comfort":

Petraeus agreed they would, saying, "That's correct, sir."

Liz Taylor's ex, Sen. John Warner, went ballistic, warning Petraeus not to step on prima donnas' toes:

We're not a division here today of patriots who support the troops and those who are making statements and working on resolutions that could be translated as aiding and abetting the enemy. We're trying to exercise the fundamental responsibilities of our democracy and how this nation has two co-equal branches of the government, each bearing its own responsibilities.

I hope that this colloquy has not entrapped you into some responses that you might later regret. I wonder if you would just give me the assurance that you'll go back and examine the transcript as to what you replied with respect to certain of these questions and review it, because we want you to succeed.

We expect intimidation from the left and from campaign finance "reform" types like John McCain. How disappointing to see John Warner going wobbly when the going gets tough. As Gen. Petraeus told Esquire author Tom Chiarella, "We have a profile we're looking for." Would that our fellow citizens who vote these people into office had such standards.

Update: The Anchoress links.

Crossposted at Riehl World View, Cloven Not Crested and Liberty Pundits.

Palin's Passage to India

"Gov Palin knocked it out of the park … a liberty-driven, optimistic vision of America & her exceptionalism," twittered Palinista and Big Journalism columnist Whitney Pitcher a couple of hours ago in the afterglow of Sarah Palin's meme-challenging keynote to sophisticates at the "India Today Conclave" in New Delhi earlier today (last night on the other side of the globe). More below. Update: Full transcript and video of keynote & Q & A.

"The people of India seem to know who the Front Runner is regardless of the American MSM," says one of the commenters at Conservatives4Palin, weighing in on Palin's historic keynote address — "My Vision of America" — to a high-rolling and subtly responsive "India Today Conclave" audience streamed live this morning from New Delhi. We and the immediate Palinosphere were virtually there, along with the usual contingent of Palin Derangement Syndrome sufferers from Palin's "lamestream media," live tweeting and cranking out our takes on what it might all mean. In case you missed it, The Right Scoop has the video of the scintillating Q & A following the speech (speech itself to come, will link here when it becomes available), together with some quotable quotes from Jedediah Bila's live tweets.

“One thing I learned is that you cannot trust the mainstream media to accurately report on [your record and accomplishments],” Sarah told her interlocutor, businessman and Editor-in-Chief of India Today Aroon Purie. “You have to have the boldness, the courage to set the record straight yourself."

Beyond the expected reflexive swoons from Sissy — Tea-Party, constitutional-conservative, "girls just wanna have fun" Palin Fan from Day One that we are — we'd just like to say that Politico's early take on Palin's performance pulls back the curtain — yet one more time — on the rift between Codevilla's Ruling Class and us Country Class citizens who aren't going to take this any more. A few exerpts:

While Palin was quick to get into some of her favorite talking points, her appearance at the conference got off to a rough start.

India Today Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie, who introduced her to the gathering, poked fun at Palin's "creative vocabulary" and her polarizing place in American politics in his introduction of the former governor.

Purie identified Palin as the "the sexiest brand in Republican politics" and frequently made clear that not everyone in the United States has a positive view of the former Alaska governor.

"Either you love her or hate her," he said …

"Governor Palin, I hope you don't refudiate me," he said, smirking to an amused crowd.

"Smirking to an amused crowd"? Not. Had you been there, as we were, virtually, with an open mind and a willing heart, you would have read Aroon Purie's twinkling smile and playful banter as anything but a smirk. A consummate master of ceremonies, he melted the hearts and minds of his honored guest and the distinguished audience with not a smirk but a witty acknowledgement of a tired CW narrative that no one but the MSM was buying any more. The last word goes to another Conservatives4Palin commenter, who won our own heart and mind with his reportage of the American Dream, alive and well:

I just watched this with my Parents, who immigrated from India. They LOVE Sarah now. Once someone hears Sarah unfiltered, they know how Brilliant She is. She did hit it out of the park.

Update: Instalanche!!!

Update II: Michelle Malkin Buzzworthy link!

Update III: Nice Deb has quotable quotes and links to further coverage:

“One thing I learned is that you cannot trust the mainstream media to accurately report on [your record and accomplishments],” she said. “You have to have the boldness, the courage to set the record straight yourself.”

Update IV: Good buddy Peter Ingemi of Da Techguy's Blog links with "Who are you going to believe?"

Crossposted at Riehl World View, Cloven Not Crested and Liberty Pundits.

Palin "ruffles a lot of feathers because she plays by her own rules"

It's the language, stupid. Compare Sarah Palin's full-blooded, All-American word choices with Barack Obama's bloodless euphemisms. The Ruling Class powers that be — of both parties — recoil at the "Don't retreat, reload" imagery of Palin's prose. It energizes us Country Class, Tea Party types. Photo of Sarah skeet shooting from "Sarah Palin's Alaska." 

"I LOVE what JedediahBila & HeyTammyBruce are saying about THE SARAH NOBODY KNOWS" (on the Laura Ingraham Show, where Tammy is subbing), we just twittered: "Once people get beyond the MSM meme, watch out, fuddy duddies." Jedediah nails it:

 She ruffles a lot of feathers because she plays by her own rules.

As "Saturday Night Live" Executive Producer Lorne Michaels acknowledged in an unguarded moment way back in October of 2008 before the Palin-is-Stupid narrative had fully set in:

"I think Palin will continue to be underestimated for a while. I watched the way she connected with people, and she's powerful."

It's taken longer than we expected, but even as her resentful Ruling-Class "betters" flail and try to push her off the stage, the real Sarah Palin has been hiding in plain sight, disintermediating the lamestream media's flaccid memes by "shooting to where it's going, not to where it's been" — as she coached reluctant daughter Bristol trying to get the hang of shooting clay pigeons in a "Sarah Palin's Alaska" episode last fall. Jedediah pulled it all altogether in her heroic Human Events column yesterday, "Setting the Palin Record Straight":

It’s truly astonishing the lengths that some will go to in order to try to discredit Sarah Palin. Sure, the left-wing media loons are a given, but what about the folks on the Right who relentlessly brand her as unelectable, unintelligent, unpresidential, and/or unqualified? What is their basis for those assessments?  And if she is so darn unelectable — why the need to consistently, near-obsessively attempt to tear her down?

"I sort of like to shock people. It's one of my hobbies," Jedediah told Tammy. Her compilation of Sarah's considerable accomplishments and intellectually rigorous strategic shots to "where it's going, not to where it's been" since that day in August of 2008 when John McCain pushed her center stage — while establishment sages like Charles Krauthhammer were counseling a "safe" pick — will be a shocker for members of the opinionator community who have been listening to their own voices for too long. We agree with Tammy's assessment:

The Republicans are going to fail. The CONSERVATIVES will prevail.

Update: Conservatives4Palin links here and to our previous Palin post in their Open Thread. Check it out for India coverage and other great links, including Diana West, Matt Lewis, Kathryn Lopez (Rebecca Mansour quote) and Pam Geller!

Update II: The totally awesome Kurt Schlicter of Big Hollywood ("et al") advises his followers to follow Sissy Willis!

Crossposted at Riehl World View, Cloven Not Crested and Liberty Pundits.

Sarah Palin, the GOP "blue bloods" and "The aristocracy of nature"

"There'll always be an England, And England shall be free If England means as much to you As England means to me," Canadian actress Deanna Durbin (above) melted hearts with her girl-next-door rendition of the British WWII classic in the 1941 American movie "Nice Girl."

"Even after Journolist, these guys don't get it. We see you. You're not even trying to hide it anymore," writes The Aged P, "an Englishman living in Sussex…married to the lovely Mrs P who has never aged at all." We were about to give the subject of The Aged P's latest post — the perennial Ruling Class "Blue Blood" Republicans' tired narrative to the effect that "Palin Must Get Off The GOP Bus" — another whirl around the dance floor when we fell in love with the "About" narrative at the eloquent UK gentleman's blog and realized why it may well be true "There will always be an England":

I have an inbuilt suspicion of anyone who claims he or she knows what is good for me. I usually distrust people with plans and schemes because, like Robbie Burns I tend to believe “that the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley.” But I do have heroes, especially people like Oliver Cromwell, Michael Faraday and Margaret Thatcher because they came from obscurity and achieved greatness through their own effort and talent. They are members of what Thomas Jefferson called the “aristocracy of nature,” and their authority comes not from their social status but from who they were and what they achieved as individuals.

We love it when Tea Partiers turn up behind Ruling Class lines in Sussex. Back stateside, Patrick of Patrick's World USA was beating the drum in "The Powerful Palin Army Smacks Down the Media and Establishment … Again," a must read:

I'll trade you a Jonathan Martin and John F. Harris for Jedediah Bila and Dan Riehl. I'll even throw in a couple of draft picks or players to be named later. Earlier in the week, Martin and Harris (sounds like a comedy team, doesn't it?) produced a really sophomoric piece for the Alaska Dispatch that failed miserably at painting Sarah Palin as the Right's Al Sharpton. It was the flagship piece of a number of what appear to be coordinated attacks on Sarah Palin which came out earlier this week. Like the man who takes a whack and says, "thank you sir, may I have another," the media tried for the umpteenth time and failed. The response from the Palin army was swift, precise and dead on target.

As we wrote in Patrick's comments:

Great post, you rabble, rouser, you!

As Sarah herself said in her keynote at Young America's Foundation's "Reagan 100 celebration" last month:

"There's a whole army of patriotic Davids out there across this great country ready to stand up and to speak out in defense of liberty, and these Davids aren't afraid to tell Goliath 'don't tread on me.'"

With a nod to Mark Twain, reports of Sarah Palin's political death are much exaggerated. We'll give the last word to Dan Riehl, who says in a different but not unrelated context:

Most of the talk we're hearing now doesn't mean a thing.

Related must read: Jedediah Bila's "Managing the Left-Wing Elite":

Be real. Left-wing elitists revere pomposity, arrogance, and highbrow rhetoric. However, they fear humility, authenticity, and practical smarts. Those things disarm them and leave them reaching for baseless attacks. Don’t forget to keep smiling.

Update: Doug Ross links.

Crossposted at Riehl World View, Cloven Not Crested and Liberty Pundits.

"Show a little ankle. It would take a lot of pressure off your trying to save the free world"

Little Kitteh catches some z's atop the micro in the setting sun.

"How come no posts for so long?" imailed Goomp this morning:

We: I don't know. I've written a handful but never managed to finish them.

Goomp: Michelle and I miss them.

We: I do too. Hope to get back to it soon.

Goomp: You will. The world is mighty discouraging so it is hard to know what to say.

We: Plus I keep repeating myself! 

Goomp: As does everyone. Some things bear repeating.

Earl Grey stops by for a spot of catnip on the terrace early morning.

"What are you doing," our sis imailed this afternoon:

We: Reading … Wondering when I will blog again … Dad asked about it.

She: Don't let it wear you down. No blog before its time. I can imagine that you are feeling pressure.

We: LOL. I am getting restless.

She: I would suggest a quick kitty-post, just so your fans don't worry about you. Right now, there is so much blather out there, it would be hard to get a word in edgewise.

We: And they really are repeating the same themes I've covered before. The one about establishment Republicans dissing Sarah. Been there and fully analyzed it long since.

Matt Lewis said it best this morning:

The truly interesting debate relates to whether or not Palin is experiencing (as they put it) a “backlash, not from liberals but from some of the country’s most influential conservative commentators and intellectuals.”

Among the most prominent names cited by Politico (to reinforce this narrative) were conservative columnists George F. Will and Charles Krauthammer.

These are big names and smart people, but it’s also worth noting that their disapproval of Palin is certainly not a new phenomenon.

As we twittered Matt about it:

SPOT ON! KRAUTHAMMER DISSED SARAH FROM DAY ONE.

Tiny, atop the dining room table, sees things we don't.

"Some cute domestic tale would be refreshing," continued our sis:

She: People LOVE a little peek into your private life. Show a little ankle. It would take a lot of pressure off your trying to save the free world.

We: Nothing I don't already know, of course.

She: SO … Let's get some kitteh pictures out there!!!

"Newt Explore" sounds like someone is lizard huntin'

A blast from the past. The effervescent Bill Whittle, whose latest video, "The end of the beginning," explains why "the unions can't win in Wisconsin or anywhere in the long run" because "the world has changed so much as to make progressivism an anachronism," already had Palin Derangement Syndrome sufferers' number (above) back in August of 2009. 'Course so did we, way before that.

"NewtExplore2012 ... The very name of your twitter acct destroys the soul," we twittered Mr. Gingrich this afternoon, just off what Politico called a "rough week":

Good GAWD. Try someth'g livelier like SarahPalinUSA fergossake!

"NewtExplore sounds like someone is lizard huntin'," twittered savethiscountry. "Under a rock" comes to mind!" rejoined ginthegin. So many great twitterbuds, so little time? Bottom line, though, is that Newt has had his day in the sun. Time to step aside and let the fresh new faces of constitutional conservativism shine their lights on God's "almost chosen people."

Update: Forgot to mention the telling graphic note of cluelessness at Newt and Callista's NewtExplore website, an off-the-shelf stock photo of flag-waving "supporters." Can you say perfunctory? You're not listening, Mr. Gingrich.

Update II: The totally awesome James Pethokoukis gives us a nod!

Update III: Michelle Malkin Buzzworthy link!

Update IV: Thanks to Joe Citizen in the comments, who points out that newts are not reptiles but amphibians. Here's an excellent key to the differences and more from Wikipedia re herpetology, the study of the two groups of poikilothermic, ectothermic tetrapods. We've been a big fan of both since childhood, when frog catching and turtle keeping were two of our great passions. We even had a small alligator for a time.

Crossposted at Riehl World View and Liberty Pundits.