Thoughts on the Scandals

I'm not going to go into specifics on the recent news events/scandals.  Much has already been said about Benghazi, the AP, James Rosen of Fox News, the IRS and whatever else may come up in the next few minutes.

Yesterday, I was watching some clips of the president's chief-of-staff.  I noticed that he was speaking very fast and filed it in the back of my mind.  Then I noticed some other people in the administration also speaking very fast, when they weren't telling us they didn't remember or that something was irrelevant.

I had seen this pattern of fastspeak before.  Many years ago, I had a meeting with the principal of my boys' school.  We were interrupted because a 1st grader was inconsolable because he missed his mother.  A few months before he started school, an older brother had died of cancer so the principal understood his problem.  She started speaking to him and gradually increased the speed of her words to distract him.  Before long, he was feeling better.

It seems that fastspeak is very effective as a distraction.  This seems to be what we are hearing from the administration.

I do find it odd that no one on the president's staff has told him about all the problems they are facing and that he had to hear it on the tv news (which he has said he doesn't watch).  I was a secretary to the president of my company and she wanted to know all about any problems or potential problems.  That's what being a good administrator is all about.

This leads me to this observation.  Was the president not told about these problems because his staff wanted him to be able to honestly deny knowledge, or did he orchestrate them.  Or, as another thought, is the president a front or puppet for someone else?  Someone who is pulling the strings.  I wonder who that could be.

Until more in the mainstream media start looking into Benghazi, the AP, James Rosen and the IRS, it will be like it always is.  The democrats get away with everything and the republicans get prosecuted and harrassed.

Where Do I Start

Ah yes, where do I start.  There has been and is so much going on, I don't know where to begin.  So I'll begin with the fun part.

Last month, I took a geographical expedition to Brittany and a riverboat cruise along the Seine.  The trip to Brittany was very informative and surprising.  I got a clear understanding of the geography of the area.  Now I know where Brittany is.  Despite its name, it clearly is in France.  I was also surprised to see palm trees growing there in the north of France and bordering on the English Channel.

One of the main reasons for the trip to Brittany was to see Mont Ste Michelle.  This is a town and monastery on what, at times, seems to be an island.  When the tide is low, you could walk to the town and in the past at high tide, the town was surrounded by water.   The streets are very narrow and almost always uphill.

 

 

I tried to go all the way up to the monastery, but got only about 3/4 of the way.  I guess I'm very out of shape.

 

Thanks to the zoom feature of my camera, I did get a good shot though.

 

A few days after we started cruising, we stopped at Giverney.  The gardens there are just lovely.

Even though it was early in the season, most of the flowers were in bloom.  Unfortunately, it was a little too early for the water lillies.

 

Of course, I saw the famous bridge.  Trust me, it's there in the distance.

 

There was a line for the house, but it moved quickly.  Monet's home was filled with his collection of Japanese prints and of course, copies of his works.  Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures of the interior.  The dining room was yellow, yellow walls, yellow table covering and yellow dishes.  The kitchen walls were covered in blue delft tiles and there was a lot of blue delft.  I thought it was too much, but what do I know.

 

It was a good two weeks and I saw a lot more, but I don't want to be one of those people who MUST show you ALL of my vacation pictures in one sitting.  I'll save the others for another time.  I took over 800 pictures, love my digital camera.  Don't worry, I won't bore you with all of them.

 

A Good Time Gone Bad

Ever since I got back from my trip Crash won't let me out of her sight.  She follows me all over the house, squeezes into the space between me and the arm of the couch.  If she wakes from a nap and can't see me, she meows and meows until I call her, then she comes runninhg with her belly swinging from side to side.

Tonight, I decided to take a relaxing bath.  I filled the tub, added an envelope of powdered milk and turned on the jets.  I felt that after all the walking I did in France, my muscles and feet could use a little pampering.

Everything was going along great, the water was nice and warm, the bubbles were climbing up the sides of the tub, then I heard it - the faint meow.  She found me.  After she checked out the bubbles, she climbed on the stepstool and looked at me.

Then she got her confidence.  She started walking around the edge of the tub, occassionally slipping.  As she got behind me, she slipped again.  She still has all her claws, so I was understandably worried that she'd slip into the tub and try to climb up my back to get out.

Luckily, she regained her footing and left.  But the mood was gone.  The bath was no longer relaxing.  I kept waiting for her to come back, so I too left the bath.

It was nice while it lasted and I feel great and my skin feels nice and soft from my milk bath.

From foie gras to hot dogs

I've just come back from a 15 day "geographical exploration" of Brittany and cruising the River Seine.  It was wonderful and at a later date, I will post some of the 873 pictures I took.  Right now, I'm still recovering from jet lag.

I didn't plan ahead before I went away.  There is very little food in my refrigerator/freezer.  One of these days I'll have to do some food shopping.  Today, I had franks w/o beans.;  That's quite a comedown from last week when I had such treats as filet mignon, onion soup, crepes, snails, oysters and of course, ice cream every day.

If I only had a resident chef who could prepare such meals for me.

Pay Cuts and Celebrations

I hear that the president, secretary of state and other members of the administration have announced that they will be taking a 5% pay cut in support of federal workers who are being furloughed because of sequestration.  This sounds wonderful doesn't it?

Let's see how it works in the case of the president.  His pay is not actually being cut 5%.  Instead he will write a check for 5% of his salary and donate it to a charity.  He's so generous.

Come tax time, he's be able to take that 5% charitible contribution deduction on his return.  I'm not sure of the exact math, but somehow that doesn't amount to a 5% cut in his salary.  He gets the benefit of a deduction.

If only the federal employees could consider their 5% cut a charitible contribution to the US federal budget.

On another note, White House tours were eliminated because of sequestration and the fact that some secret service agents were being either reassigned or furloughed.  There was a gala party at the White House on Tuesday night.  I've heard that it was being paid for with private money.  I'm sure there were additional secret service agents assigned.  Were they paid with private money, or was their cost added to our budget for the running of our house?

Just asking.

Margaret Thatcher - an example for young women

Margaret Thatcher died on Monday.  I'm sure we've all heard about it by now.  Although she was British, she is an example of the American Dream.

Her father was a grocer, the family lived above the store.  She worked hard, got an education at a time when that was not an easy thing to do for a girl/woman.  She married, had children and went into politics.  She became the first woman to lead her party and the first woman prime minister of England. 

You may not have agreed with her politics or methods, but you can see that she made changes and improved the lives of her fellow citizens.

I'm disgusted by some of the reports I have seen - people celebrating her death.  People who are too young to remember life before the "Iron Lady" (I like that name, might take it for myself). 

Have they no decency?  Don't they have any compassion for her family?  I guess they feel it would be hypocritical to keep their feelings to themselves.  There will be a time to discuss the pros and cons of her leadership, but now is not the time.

How would they feel if someone celebrated the death of a member of their family?

We need to return to a time when there was respect.  Remember that saying, "Don't speak ill of the dead".

Gun Control

There's been a lot news today which I'll get to gradually.  Today I want to concentrate on the arguments for gun control.

Yes, the recent mass murders are terrible, but we should be careful about knee-jerk reactions.  All kinds of people in the media are calling for background checks and limits on the type of gun that can be purchased.  I wonder if they have thought things through.

Background checks would be wonderful.  Who wouldn't argue with them?  If you take the time to think, putting the emotions aside, you'll realize they just wouldn't work.

Does anyone really believe that the mob and gang members will actually submit to a background check from a legal dealer?  Gang members and the mob have their own sources and can, for a price, purchase any type gun they want.

As far as checking the mental stability of a prospective gun purchaser, there is a little thing known as "doctor/patient confidentiality".  All a doctor can say is that the person was or was not a patient.  As I understand it, if you visited a psychiatrist or psychologist for help in conquering a fear, such as an unreasonable fear of dogs or flying, or even large, open spaces, you would be labeled as having been a patient of the doctor and possibly red-flagged as not being mentally fit to own a gun.

Congress and the president should take a step back, away from the emotion of the issue and really study this issue.  The recent shooters had real mental problems and should have received help for their problems.  Unfortunately, due to the lack of facilities and the stigma of mental illness, help was not available.  The murders in Chicago (which has one of the strictest gun laws in the country) were done with illegally obtained guns.  Do congress and the president really think a law will prevent that?  Are they that naive?

I am a supporter of the right to own guns, may even buy one myself someday.  I'd like to learn to shoot among the other topics I want to learn about.  My brother owned guns and taught his children to respect the gun.  They know that it is a powerful weapon in the wrong hands.

If congress and the president can absolutely guarantee that there could be a law that would prevent the mob and gang members from obtaining guns I would be all for it..  Before any more  laws are put together on an emotional basis, we should devote our time and energy to getting the much needed help for the mentally ill.  But, human nature being what it is, that will never happen.

This is an emotional issue and emotional issues get votes.  We don't need new gun control laws, we need stricter enforcement of the laws already on the books.