Where Does The Trump Way Lead?

Bill Quick, over at Daily Pundit, has started a fascinating discussion about Donald Trump's ultimate goals as President, and how he might approach them.

"...I have to believe Trump was entirely aware of all of this before he announced his candidacy, and his efforts since have taken all that knowledge into account, and guided his strategy – which is far broader than merely running for President – every step of the way.

"But where does the Trump way lead? ...

"....What happens under the two terms of President Trump will be the rest of the story.  That’s the part where the rubber hits the road as far as Making America Great Again.  That’s the part where he breaks the power of the oligarchy, after destroying the ruling party tools they created to express that power in the political arena."

The musing about how he might do that is on-going in the comments - go over and see. Join in with your own thoughts.

"No Comment" From Me If a Site Uses Discus or Facebook For Blog Comments

Do you like having comments from genuine human people who actually read your blog often?

I'm no longer even going to try to comment on any blog that uses Discus or Facebook to manage their commenting function. My comments on  one site do not need to be viewed by the other participants at some other, unrelated website I might visit a year from now. And my Facebook friends are already overwhelmed with alerts from my posts, they don't need all this too.

And frankly, me and the NSA are the only people who need to have a Collected Works of my comments around the interwebs. 

So I'll still read, and maybe even share, posts on such blogs. But that is why you don't hear a peep from me.

And thank you to those folks that use a commenting software that lets me be myself without pooling my information with every other site I visit.

I Prefer Posting to My Blog, But Facebook is So Easy.Would it Be Good or Bad to Bring the Sharing Experience to Blogger?

Just thinking out loud here.  

I joined Facebook in order to see the photos my children post, and I have to say I love many things about the medium - especially how helpful it is in connecting to distant people we love: cousins, nieces & nephews, former co-workers, kids who grew up with my kids, in-laws from a former marriage, etc.

But I end up using Facebook for things that would otherwise be blog posts - because it is so FAST to "share" on FB as opposed to writing a post for the blog. So I share anywhere from 10 to 20 things a day, and when something breaks like the Harry Reid connection to the Bundy Ranch BLM Fiasco, I put everything on there instead of popping the links in here.

But unlike Blogger, where we can consider a topic in depth and people can continue to refer to a post and the details, links and resources within it for years to come, on Facebook these stories are impossible to find again two days later, all covered up or hidden, and completely unsearchable.

 Twitter is not really an option for me. It takes me a hundred and forty characters to say hello.  And that, too, is a fleeting format.

So what I am really trying to figure out is how I can bring that speedy sharing over here to the blog without getting bogged down in trying to write a full post for each.

The Process Is the Thing: The Trans-Texas Corridor, Rick Perry & Good Governance

It's difficult, I think, to look at any politician and not be disappointed at some point. I always feel a little more comfortable when I know what the flaws are, where the weaknesses are likely, because then I can make a good judgmentcall on whether it's a flaw I can put up with.

Quite Rightly, of the compelling blog Bread Upon the Waters, made a comment that got me thinking about the now-cancelled Trans Texas Corridor and how things have changed since Perry proposed it in January 2001.

I replied briefly, but want to explore my thinking further on this topic, and why I think Perry's handling of the opposition and final public refusal of the project is a positive and healthy sign.


Rather than seeing it as a failed project or a bad idea, I tend to think of it as a model of how "big ideas" should be debated in a Republic: declared with detail in advance, wrestled over openly for a long time, in the
sunshine, with Texas/America's best interest the only goal, and all voices welcome and respected.

In fact, the way Governor Perry and our Texas Legislature handled the Trans-Texas Corridor was by a process exactly the opposite of how President Obama, Representative Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Harry Reid stage-managed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which was negotiated in secret, written in secret, voted on in secret, and shoved into place in the dead of night in a frenzied marathon after a six months reign of shrill tenor that misrepresented the bill, manipulated the facts, and maligned the
citizenry.

The changes to, and even avoidance of, the legislative process itself are among the most critical departures from normal that the Obama administration and Democratic Supermajority have done. When they abandoned the established rules of predictable governance and removed accountability for their decisions, they became unreliable. Methods used for corporate management or product marketing are not appropriate for effective governance.These new methods, regardless of outcome, are reason for concern: if we cannot trust the system of checks and balances, and the people who inhabit those roles within the system, what might happen next?

We can feel safer from even rotten ideas if we can somehow come back to a point where the process becomes trustworthy again. So, when I look at the political field, that capacity and determination to provide predictable, reliable governance is essential in a candidate. I believe that Governor Rick Perry has both the capacity and the determination, and that his handling of the Corridor project proves that.

Now, about that Corridor.

During the effective life of the Trans-Texas Corridor project, it was opposed mostly by rural land owners. As time passed and more disturbing facts about undercurrents in world events became known to our elected officials as well as to the public, others joined in opposing it. Eventually, the project was abandoned, and will not be resurrected. Governor Perry acceded to the will of the public, as is proper for an elected leader. And in the process, he did not cast undue blame, or dwell on the matter, or try to punish those who opposed it. Instead he behaved like a healthy adult.

To me, the Corridor was an idea of another time and place. America was different then, in January 2001 when the proposal was first announced as a vague idea, and even later, when we still thought perhaps we could "get back to normal". Texas was different, and honestly I expect that Rick Perry was different. He was a young Governor then. I know I've changed my opinions on a number of things as hidden things have come out into the open in the intervening decade.

In hindsight, the Trans-Texas Corridor is a big hurdle for a lot of people.  But Texas is known for our highways - we have the best roads in the nation, in part because of visionary planning. Heck, we have a constitutional amendment that protects our highway funds against being used for anything else. Texas has our own electric grid. Texas requires pipelines for water, oil, natural gas. Unlike other states, Texas infrastructure is NOT crumbling, because our leaders have maintained and constructed actively all along to plan for future health of the state and its people.

Horizons are not just something Texans aim for but something we move between.

So it's not hard for me to understand how a project like the TransTexas Corridor fit into the era in which it was first proposed - before Sept 11th, at the height of the tech revolution's wealth and optimism, still feeling the headiness of the millennium, back when most of us still thought most immigrants came here because they wanted to be Americans, and eBay let us trade with the whole wide world from our living rooms.

How many of us - including our leaders - knew in those "before the Fear" (ante-timorem?) days that within a decade we would be where we are now?

As an object lesson, the Trans-Texas Corridor is a good example of how a "Big Dream" should be wrestled with in a feisty democracy - exactly the opposite of how Obamacare was handled. The Texas process allowed everyone their voice and happened in the light of day over a period of years, so that the potential unintended consequences and "unknown unknowns" could come to light.

That's how it is with ideas: they all look like diamonds in the beginning - the fact that some prove to be rust when viewed more closely shouldn't keep our leaders from proposing more new ideas out in the honest open, or from engaging the debate in support, or from being willing to abandon a plan without looking back.

And if our representatives do the right thing, take the peoples' "No" for an answer, and abandon rejected ideas, we should appreciate that.

Just as we should appreciate our representatives who accept the peoples' "Yes" and enforce, fund and support those matters the citizenry have firmly demanded.

The failures, who need to be rejected and sent home as fast as their horse will carry them, are those representatives who refuse to abandon ideas the populous have rejected, and keep trying to sneak them in anyway; or who refuse to defend or enforce the law as it stands just because they personally or a coterie of interest groups don't like it.

We elect people to stand in our place, and look after our interests. In the process of doing that well, a good leader had better make a few errors or he isn't doing enough.

So, I say, let us respect the honest man who learns from his mistakes. Let's not browbeat anyone for being open minded enough to realize and admit when they were wrong.

The man who moves so carefully as to never get it wrong probably lacks the courage to ever get it truly right.



(PS, wanting to get this posted - I will be adding links along as I find them to flesh out the references)

Boutique Abortion: Some Terrible Truths Within Fertility Treatment Today

 Before we talk about the newest nightmare trick in the abortionists' toolkit, let me say this:

Any woman who was beguiled or deluded into having an abortion and now recognizes the magnitude of what she has done deserves loving, forgiving and restorative care. She deserves to have her anguish respected, her grief understood, and finally, her tears dried with compassion. She deserves to know Jesus forgave her the moment she first asked Him to, and that everything really can be ok again.

And any woman or girl who has had an abortion in her youth because she felt she had no other choice and still believes she had no other option because of the way things were at that time, I will not condemn or judge. There are things we know now that we didn't know then. 

But.

But there are other kinds of women out there:  there are those for whom abortion and children are interchangable as style choices, prioritized on their 5 year plan for social enhancement.

Politicaljunkie Mom's post "Infanticide by any other name: The Two-Minus-One Pregnancy" shares her just and righteous outrage over the events revealed in an article that opens the door on a particularly modern evil insidiously referred to as "twin reduction" and "reduced gestation".

A New York Times lifestyle feature interviews an assortment of affluent women who had fertility treatments resulting in successful transfer of fertilized eggs (in some cases, with donated eggs) so that they became pregnant.

With twins. And had abortions against one of the twins because twins didn't fit their vision for motherhood.

"Undergoing reduction to a singleton".  Each woman must have thought their narrative of rationalization  sounded sane, civil, and sustainable when they were dreaming it up in the isolated hothouse of their social hierarchy.

In truth, the stories they tell are terrifying and grotesque caricatures of motherhood. Poles apart from nurturing, these are tales of  I want, of  I control, of  "I alone".

Haunted by legitimate and healthy guilt for taking a life, the women deny culpability and instead ascribe their feelings to others: blaming "outsiders", "the stigma" against boutique abortion, "lack of support", fear of "being treated with disdain". They "resent" being "rebuffed" by ethical physicians who refused to abort one twin, and don't want to "feel the sting of their judgment".

What is it that can cause a person to declare it is better never to have been born, than to risk "becoming a second-rate parent"?

It must be a terrible thing for a woman to be so lacking in empathy as to think it better to deny life to an infant so she can hide from the world her unwillingness to be his mom, than to bravely carry the child to term and allow an eager and loving family the joy of adopting him.

But before we despair, read the comments. No less than nine pages of comments show that in this matter, even solidly "Pro-Choice" women understand the wisdom of Solomon, and see the pathology these females confuse with sophistication.

In fact, the almost unanimous revulsion of the commenters, who persistently begin by saying they 'support legal abortion but', is a very hopeful sign. It indicates they are seeing and opening their minds to think past the creed recited by rote.

In general, these commenters are like most people who think legal abortion is something necessary in an imperfect world: their support has come from a desire to be caring and kind. But in the case of "twin reduction", the commenters see this "choice" for what it is. They discover there are limits to their support. And when the chips are down, they do the right thing. They choose to stand on the side of life.

~~~
Aug 13 UPDATE:  Rachel Abrams comes down hard against the atrocity of "twin reduction" in her blog post "Mengele Lives! (In the Pages of the New York Times)" .  And she points clearly at the intentional dishonest use of euphemism as a primary tool in the furtherance of evil:
" That “needle into the other one” is a legacy bequeathed to the editors of New York Times, to their authors, and to their readers by the great heroine of feminists, mother of Planned Parenthood, and eugenicist Margaret Sanger, by way of Josef Mengele. The casual, unquestioning linguistic capitulation to it is a kind of depravity, and not fit to print. "


Read it all here.

End of Update.
~~~~

A note in closing to whomever it may concern:

Oh Honey, if you have had an abortion, and in your heart of hearts you now understand, you CAN be forgiven and pardoned.  You need not hide this shame forever. (And you do NOT have to make it public: do not confess to your husband or your children unless they already know - speak first to a counselor, or biblically faithful minister or priest.)

Your baby in Heaven loves you and forgave you long ago. Everything instantly became all better from the moment you asked God to forgive you. Our Father is that Good to us.

Sometimes a heart has to be broken open to release all the love that's in it to pour out onto the people who need us.

That's why Jesus came and died for us - so that it CAN be ok again. There will come a time when we will understand, and we will see then that all this suffering will prove to have been worth it.

YOU are worth it. Jesus loves you, and you are precious. ""Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart ..." You are STILL that person, and God STILL has a plan for good in your life. Your future is essential to our good world, and you can come out of where you've been, into the joyous sunlight.


`

Mema's Potato Salad and Brand Name Memes

Christopher at "Word Around the Net" has an interesting post musing about the brands of products his family uses, and why they use them. I commented, and it got me thinking about all the day to day brands I rely on. I'd not ever describe myself as a "brand snob" but I do have my favorites. Many are brands my grandparents used, and I think about them briefly if i think about why I buy the brand. Come join the conversation and share your favorite brands.

Daddy and his ladyfriend - a lovely lady that we like a lot - came over today, along with my step-sister and her son, for Father's Day. Paul cooked burgers on the grill and tried a new seasoning from Fiesta Brand (we like their spices) "Uncle Chris' Gourmet Steak Seasoning". It is excellent! He melted Kroger's house brand cheddar cheese on them and put them on Sunbeam buns.

I made my grandmother's potato salad. I guess my grandchildren will think of me when they say "Mema's Potato Salad", but each member of the family will make it their own with small variations. Nick made it a couple of weeks ago, and I meant to post the recipe then.

Here's how:

2 to 3 pounds of potatoes (Russets are good but any irish potato will do), peeled, boiled, drained and mashed. Cool to room temperature.

Put in a large bowl and add:
1/2 cup chopped dill pickle (we use Claussen's Kosher Dills - Mema used her own homemade garlic dills)
1/2 cup chopped sweet pickle (we use Best Maid gerkins or Mt Olive sugar-free Sweet Relish)
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup diced red onion, more or less to your own taste (the color of red onion is really nice in this but if not available substitute Texas 1016's or Vidalia's or even green onions)
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped coarsely (in fairly large pieces)
1 large (4 ounce) jar of sliced pimentos, drained (we use Dromedary Brand)
Salt and black pepper to taste (go easy - best to slightly under-salt this)

1/2 cup to 1 cup Miracle Whip - start with a half cup and mix it in before adding more. Sometimes you'll need a little more, depending on how creamy you like your potato salad.  If you only have mayonnaise, add 2 Tablespoons of vinegar and 2 teaspoons of sugar to the mayo and mix well before adding it to the potatoes.


Stir it all together well, and put it into the serving bowl or container you'll be taking it in. Smooth out the top and decorate with 2 more boiled eggs, cut lengthwise into quarters.

Sprinkle over the whole top generously with paprika. Paprika is a spice that, like cinnamon, has different nuances depending on where it is from. We love Hungarian Paprika - it is sweet and pleasantly bitter. Very nice.

Cover with clear wrap and refrigerate until serving.

Enjoy! 

No One Who Writes Can Hide His True Self For Long

Richard Fernandez at the Belmont Club has two posts on perception and public communication that dovetail into each other: "Words to Live By in the Online Age" and "Body Language". I commented on "Words":

Consider: that in the "post-literate age" of You Tube etc, the overwhelming passion continually returns to text-based communication: texting, tweeting, Facebook and Blogs. Every time the futurists proclaim the written word deceased, the public passion proves them wrong.

There is a great secret about the written word: it craves truth. And while lies may be written down they
cannot expand as far and wide and long as written facts and truths can. Human beings know this instinctively, it shows up in early childhood behaviour: every two year old will write his name on the walls, just as every
human being before him since mankind left the Garden, and God graced us with writing to help us along our lonely road.

No one who writes can hide his true self for long. Oh on the net, he may assume a persona of some type and promote a fiction for a spell, but contrary to popular myth, identity is not self. And it is self that comes
through when one writes.

Body language and tone of voice can hide the true meaning of spoken (heard) words. People may show more of their true selves in their written communication than is ever visible in their public behavior. Compare Mrs Palin's email correspondence with the email records from JournoList participants or from the Climategate files. Even comparing the textual nuances of speeches given by one speaker to differing audiences over time can reveal essential points audiences might miss: not simply talking points but the underlying marketing agenda is found in the words, not the body language.

It may take time, but in written form, even now, "at the length, truth will out", always.


"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1