Rainy reason to look back more than a year...

A lot of what was said about the governmental response to the Gulf Coast aftermath was way off base. Rush Limbaugh is correct in saying an, "entitlement mentality" spurred the chaos of flooded New Orleans. But, in my opinion the problem goes even deeper. Diana West wrote a piece last year extolling the virtues of our forefather's work ethic. And it has given me pause to wonder. Just imagine a hearty soul during our country's great push westward, and the toil and strife he was met with during that journey. Much of that hardship would have been courtesy of good ol' Mother Nature. Now, it does not take much to realize that governmental handouts would have been nowhere to be found. There would have been no local office with a placard out front reading, "Social Security Administration", or "Department of Unemployment Benefits". On the other hand there are plenty of people today who could not imagine life without these offices and many others. Which in some minds provide care and comfort wrapped in a warm fuzzy feeling of being cared for in a way only a huge, over-bloated, down-right, obnoxious bureaucracy can provide. I fear there may be no boot straps to be pulled upward in a lot of cases. Where is the hearty soul, has it been drown in a pool of subsidized medicine? Where is our pioneer spirit, our tough exterior? Has it been it been washed away with cleansing death of a masculine mystique? Just a thought while I survive an evening of a howling Nor'easter.

Regrettably, back to Schiavo.

Having witnessed the utter downfall of the Republican led congress two Tuesdays back, I have read quite a few pundit's columns on the subject. Not a few times have these writers referenced the ill-fated attempt by house and senate Republicans to save Terry Schiavo's life back in May, 2005. Now it still stings a bit to hear liberals and their media discuss the Schiavo family ordeal in terms of politics, but what I cannot grasp - even if it seems reasonable presently - is why conservatives would do the same. I can imagine it is the Libertarian edge that some conservatives have that lead them to such political negativity in forming their opinion of the congressional attempts. But for myself I believe in the dignity of innocent life. And being a strong anti-cynic, I believe that my fellow conservatives cared little of the political clout they would gain or lose by trying to save a young woman's life regardless of her circumstances. Perhaps it was the outcome that drives them to write of the Schiavo case as part of the reason Republicans lost, but why fall for such a liberal-laced land mine? When one agrees with liberals that the Schiavo case was wrong it takes the seriousness out of the subject. Furthermore when one doubly uses it as proof of a specific political outcome; one is agreeing with a group that argues for the illogical duality of leniency in deathrow cases while at the same time supporting the deaths of innocents. I am not saying the now minority party was without fault while in the majority, but it would seem to me that the Republican's lack of fiscal restraint is reason enough to, in hindsight, give reason for their election day loss.

Need to search use Dogpile or Yahoo...

Like most of you I need to search on the internet many times a day. I have often used Google and have seen on occasion their multicolored logo decorated to commemorate holidays, birthdays and other "special days". I am usually fairly perceptive, but I did not notice that today, Veteran's Day, was not being commemorated until reading an article in Free Republic (thanks Pop). I was curious, so I checked Dogpile's website (http://www.dogpile.com) and was pleasantly surprised. Needless to say I shall not be using Google in the future. Quick side note: Google as a company is a moderate sized contributor to the left (source buyblue.org), as opposed to Yahoo which is a large Republican contributor. I shall continue to use Yahoo as well. Hey Google what is your thinking behind celebrating "Pride Day", i.e. gay pride, but not our country's veterans. Someone needs to tell Google to search the words sacrifice, patriotism, duty, etc.