baldilocks

News IQ

Here's a test from the Pew Research Center. Most political news geeks will find the questions laughably easy. And, yes, I scored 100%.

Random Thought

Some people like to refer to black Republicans as “sell outs.” To what principle have black Republicans failed to adhere? My tribe, right or wrong? Heck, that principle is no better than that of a Klansman, no better than that of 1994’s Rwandan Hutu or 2008’s Kenyan Luo.

Of Interest

A rare, non-Kenya round-up...well, almost.

While President Bush meets with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Crawford, Texas, a Crawford grandma almost turns a Danish report into Swiss cheese. The whining in the comments is hilarious. (Thanks to Memorandum)

That lady isn’t the only grandma who needs to be monitored more closely by her offspring.

Barack Obama praises Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) for reading the NIE and voting against the Iraq War Resolution. One problem with this: Rockefeller voted yea on the resolution.

Christopher Hitchens departs pleasantly from political fare and enumerates some of the hazards of being a bibliophile. I empathize and have another one to add in a subsequent post.

Having been originally handed the novel No Country for Old Men by his wife, Actor and Conservative Brotherhood member Joseph C. Phillips reviews the Oscar-nominated movie. Observes Phillips: “There is clearly a side to my wife that I do not know.” Good going, Mrs. Phillips!

Oh the Humanity! (Blame Nice Deb)

I bet when someone looks up USMC or Marine in an encyclopedia, that there’s a photo of this guy. Well done, sir.

The Moderate Muslim—not so mythical after all. Michael Totten:

Almost no mention is given to the Kurds of Iraq who are just as Islamic as the Arabs in that country, and who purged Islamists root and branch from every inch of their autonomous region. “We will shoot them or break their bones on sight,” one Kurdish government official told me. More people have been murdered by Islamists in Spain than in their region of Iraq in the last five years. Such people can hardly be thought of as passive.

And finally, a missing perspective on the Obama-in-Somali-garb flap, from a Newsday columnist named Katti Gray—another black woman who chooses to look like herself. Read the first comment also.

UPDATE: Ouch! (Psst! Dude, they have cordless phones!)

Random Late Night Thought

I was flipping through the channels last night, looking for something intellectually stimulating to watch when I lit up on the NASA channel. Therein, some lady was holding forth on her duties as a systems engineer. The lady happened to be black and as I listened to her speak, the random thought hit me...

It was really nice to see a black person other than the last two Secretaries of State discussing something meaningful which was totally unrelated to race.

Building and cooking (Baklava)

Today is Saturday. After a week long of working in a cubicle and doing little else (except for karate with my kids and a parent teacher conference on Thurs for my youngest - she's in the top of her class), I got up today feeling restless and like I had to use my body.

So, I dug, put in two posts with concrete around it, went to Home Depot to buy fence boards and items to make a gate, stained fence boards, and dug some more. Tomorrow I'll be able to assemble the gates to the fence posts (it's a double wide gate) and maybe finish staining the fence boards. I like home improvement for 2 reasons. 1) Makes me feel like a man 2) The sense of accomplishment feels great.

When I got inside at about 7 PM I decided to start making butternut squash soup. Great stuff and really healthy. But it won't be ready until tomorrow. Does anyone have a soup recipe you'd like to share? I have 4 of my own that I make. Maybe someday I'll share how I do them. I make a good split pea, butternut squash, chicken noodle spinach and carront (with tomato sauce also), and Gazpacho soup. My best friend and love of my life before she passed was just able to taste Gazpacho soup for the first time 2 months prior to her passing. She loved it so much she wanted more. We made a bunch together and of course planted more tomato plants together with the hope of using the tomatoes for Gazpacho soup. I suggest everyone try Gazpacho at least once. Do it for her. It might not be once. You might love it and have a bunch more after that. It's a cold spanish soup with tomatoes, peppers, celery, and cucumbers,etc. Very healthy soup. I put in Jalapeno and it makes me feel alive.

Wup. I realized it's late. I have to make phone calls before it's too late. Till next time....

Update: I forgot to mention that I was slightly bummed as I broke my 2 inch thick wood cutting board. How does that happen? Stupidly with a knife embedded into the squash, lifting and then hitting the board. Of course not much happened so I did it again. And the third time something gave way startling me. It was the wood cutting board. :( So now I'm using an old plastic thin one.

I really have to cut it out with the butternut squash. 2 years ago it broke a blender as I was putting it in water in a blender and pureeing it for the butternut squash soup. The motor gave out. My best friend and love of my life got me a new one for my birthday in April of this year. With more POWER! 475 Watts. But I vowed to take better care of this one.

Citizenship Test

Ten out of ten, baby!

You Passed the US Citizenship Test

Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct!

Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?

(Thanks to Rashunda)

Open Post

Any links you want to drop me, leave them here. I'm out trying to make some money (legally)!

Being in America Pays

...even if you're homeless; even if you're an illegal immigrant. Put it this way: homeless illegal immigrants in Pakistan are probably dead now by the tens of thousands. And, if they're not dead, they probably wish they were; there's no Astrodome filled with caring citizens intent on helping to insure that they and their children stay alive, much less fed and sheltered.

So when you pray for the relief of the Central Asian suffering and give to entities like WorldVision, don't forget to thank God for the prosperity that we in America experience, just by being here instead of there.

Related: read Rabbi Daniel Lapin's 2003 take on why Judeo-Christian nations--especially those culturally steeped in the Protestant ethic--suffer less during natural disasters than do other countries.

(Thanks to Michael Williams and Michael Medved)

Sexist Pig Bloggers

Psych! Bet you thought I was going to go off on a tangent about how there’s so much sexism in the blogosphere. Certain female bloggers say that virtual chauvinist swinery is rampant and must be opposed. (No virtual peckers for me, thanks.) Certain male bloggers say that we women are worrying our pretty little heads over nothing. Well maybe sexism is out there all over the place. On the other hand, maybe some persons are more sensitive to that particular human failing than I am. I can be oblivious about things sometimes, occasionally to my detriment. To just give the facts, however, I just don’t get any overt sexism pointed my way--and very little racism to boot.

One of the reasons for this dearth could be that neither the name nor the decor of this blog is identifiably female. Most of that is by accident--I’m just not a pastel kind of girl. Another aspect is by design, however: I moved my picture further down on the left sidebar just to “level the playing field” a bit. One thing I’m not oblivious to is the novelty of a black female conservative blogger and how my photo might bring a bit of the gawkers around here: look, Ma! A conservative black chick!

The results? For one thing, my traffic level went down temporarily. ;-) For another thing, I started getting the types of insults that are usually reserved for white males: being called m-f or told that I’m a racist due to my criticism of some black person or persons. Let's hear it for equality!

The interesting thing is this: when my picture was in a more prominent place, I could count the really nasty comments regarding my race or anything else on one hand. Additionally, there have been absolutely none with a distinctly female/sexual tinge to them. And that total is from two years of blogging.

(I must tell you, I like being treated like a lady far more than I like being sworn at, being wished into an insane asylum or called the b-word. If that's an aspect of sexism, I'll take it.)

Comments that are merely patronizing, however, occur more frequently. But, heck, I kind of enjoy those. If they’re really obnoxious, I view their existence as an opportunity. After all, there’s nothing more fun than nailing a pelt to your front page---or maybe that’s just my own personal sadistic streak. I like editing rude comments and I like making insufferable guests the subject of a post even more. On my more charitable days, however, I simply ignore the excessively contentious sorts. The fun part about that is that they hate talking to the hand even more, so it’s a win-win situation for me.

I suppose any condescension I’ve received could be due to sexism or racism on the senders’ part, but, frankly I couldn’t care less; a jerk is a jerk is a mouse for the Cat to play with.

Fact is I don't see any upside to crusading against the light-weight sexism that may come from the rightwing male bloggers, because, assuming it does exist, what does stirring up a controversy over it accomplish (besides getting others to post and link to the arguments)? Those of us who are on the female, not-white side of the equation have a choice: we can lament the sporadic imperfections of our white and/or male brethren or keep bringing the blogging, while yanking a chain every now and then.

And reveling in our own superiority complex. :-)

(By the way, I've never been called a bimbo, either in person or on-line; not that I know of at any rate.)

See also: Villainous Company

Francis W. Porretto

No Quiche-Eaters

No Two-by-Two This Time

Flooding is still an issue in New Orleans and the report of Katrina tearing a hole in the roof of the Superdome sounded ominous. The city isn’t out of trouble yet, but it’s nice to see that predicted reports of New Orleans’ utter destruction were greatly exaggerated.

The “Great Satan” wobbles, but doesn’t fall. Hear that, Enemies? I’m even will to bet that we’ll weather (no pun intended) the consequent shortage of oil and the upswing in its price. After all, it’s only the law of supply and demand in action, with an act of God tossed in for excitement.

Let’s face it. It was supposed to be worse.

Meanwhile, pray for those who are still in Katrina’s path. She’s still a raging bag of wind and water.

UPDATE: Evil Progressive asks:

Why do you have to politicize natural disasters?

Hmm, I've looked up and down this short post and found nothing about politics. There is a mention about America's enemies, but there's nothing political about that. Perhaps Evil Progressive has a guilty conscience. Confession's good for the soul, EP.

UPDATE: 6:56 PM PDT For those who didn't notice, this isn't the most recent post regarding the disaster wrought by Hurricane Katrina. As has been noted in subsequent posts, the situation has worsened.