Life Laid Bare

Life Laid Bare: The Survivors in Rwanda Speak

Hatzfeld, Jean
Knitting Sticks: 5

"At the church, I saw how savagery can replace kindness in the heart of a man, faster than a driving rain."

This was a difficult book to read, as are all books dealing with this subject. As I said in a previous post, found here, it is a hard to get your head wrapped around the scope of the genocide. Reading a book like this brings the focus down to the minute level as different genocide survivors from the Nyamata area recount their stories. Mr. Hatzfeld tells one survivor story per chapter, prefaced by a general description of the person who is going to give their testimony. It is a book well worth reading.

After you finish with this book it is instructive to read the "companion" book, Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak also by Jean Hatzfeld.

Things are bloomin'

I love Clematis. I won't debate with you how you actually say the name of the plant, whether you put the emphasis on the "e" as the English do or the "a" as all us good midwesterners do. You make your own choice. However you say it I think these are some of my favorite plants in my garden.

I am not sure when my love affair with this wonderful vine began. It may have been an early incident I witnessed between my mom and dad when dad decided that the vine covering the side of the house needed to be "pruned" and so he cut it to the ground. I remember much fuss from Mom, and worrying that permanent damage had been done. No need to worry, clematis likes to be whacked off at the ground, or at least this one did.

Somehow or other the name stuck in my mind. Clematis (echo Clematis, Clematis, Clematis), it just sounded so exotic. I just knew that when I had a house that I was going to have one of those vines with the big beautiful purple flowers.

So, when Dan and I bought our first house one of the first things that I planted was a Clematis. I waited and waited for the big purple flowers. All summer I waited. Hmmmmmm. Then late in the summer it started putting out little tiny buds. Aha! I thought, now I would get big purple flowers. But...... what I got was big puff balls that looked like balls of cotton. Where were my purple flowers! I want my purple flowers! (if any of you are familiar with "Dexter's Lab" then say that with the same accent as Dexter). I didn't realize at the time that there are actually 3200 varieties of Clematis. I have no idea what I planted but I know that it wasn't what I thought. Disappointment in the extreme. Of course then I had a baby that winter and I was too busy to care. That vine continued to bloom vigorously year after year and I just ignored it.

In our next house we just didn't have the right sun/shade mix (or so I thought) for Clematis so I was 10 years in the Clematis wilderness.

Now, however, I have loads of Clematis. There is one that is vigorously climbing up the light post at the end of the driveway. There are three that climb up the lattice fence and there are three more scattered in the garden beds. I may even find another place or two to stick some. Who knows. They bring me joy when I sit on the garden bench in the late afternoon, the sun setting on the other side of the house throwing the back garden into shade. They make me happy.

Thanks Dad for cutting down that first Clematis and thanks Mom for being so upset about it. I knew immediately that this was a special plant that I needed to have some day.

Boom!

Boom!

Brokaw, Tom
Knitting sticks: 2

OK, I tried to like this book, I really did. I loved The Greatest Generation, and I figured that I would like this one too. I was wrong and that makes me sad.

This book is billed as the "voices of the sixties" and I suppose that is correct. But only certain voices, those of the Baby Boom generation who came to adulthood (and in some instances I use that term loosely) and prominence during that turbulent time period. All note worthy people to be sure and all with interesting view points (that I often disagree with). However, these people are NOT the men and women of the Greatest Generation, not by a long shot (well except for maybe Senator John McCain and Senator Bob Kerrey).

I can technically be classified as being a "Baby Boomer" having been born in 1960 (you do the math to see how old I am). I have a fairly low opinion of most of the baby boom generation. By and large we are a whining, self serving generation who has been given too much and of whom not enough has been asked. We don't really understand what it means to sacrifice for this country or for our families. Sad but true.

I would much rather had read a book about the average people who lived through the sixties and how it affected them. I know how Gloria Steinem's life was changed, or John McCain. I can do that research myself. You can't mean to tell me that only well know people were effected by that time period. Oh well.

Really, I haven't gone away

I haven't decided to run off and join a commune or anything (even the thought is creepy). The parental units were here for the weekend so blogging was scarce. We had a great time (thanks for coming out Mimi and Papa!!), ate out, ate in, went to WalMart and Sam's and the Dollar Store (we are pathetic) and generally hung out. I am back now and working on more pithy posts. See you later.

My favorite movies

On Bill Bennett this morning (the best radio program EVER) they were discussing the best in American movies, by which they meant the movies that best show what America is about. I am inspired to let you know what my favorite movies are. You were just dying to know. Now this is not an exhaustive list, I don't have room for that and I am so sure that you don't want to read it but these are just the absolute favs. So, here you go, in no particular order of importance.

Casablanca ( yes it is great Ashley)
Independence Day (Welcome to Earth!)
Now Voyager (Better Davis and Paul Henreid as star crossed lovers)
The Hunt For Red October (Sean Connery is the sexiest old guy ever)
Goodbye Mr. Chips
The Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson is brilliant, Middle Earth as I always saw it)
Star Wars (#'s 4,5 and 6. FORGET the first three)
ANYTHING with Fred Astair
You've Got Mail (the cutest movie EVER)
The Last of the Mohicans (Daniel Day Lewis at his studliest)
Pride and Prejudice (the A&E version, who could resist Colin Firth)
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (Howard Keel!)
The Trouble With Angels (a scathingly brilliant movie)
An American in Paris (who can resist Gene Kelly)
White Christmas (forget "It's a Wonderful Life" and go with this one at Christmas)
Remember the Titans (my favorite sports movie)
A Room With A View
Ben-Hur (sure Charleton Heston looks Jewish)
In Harm's Way (John Wayne beating the Japanese)
Portrait of Jennie (Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten)
Shadow of a Doubt (Joseph Cotten reminds us that uncles are not always nice men. Remember to look for Alfred Hitchcock at the beginning of the film but I won't tell you where)
Terminator 2
Aliens and Alien Resurrection (watch Sigourney Weaver kick alien butt)
An Affair to Remember (Cary Grant, yum!)
The Philadelphia Story (Cary Grant AND Katherine Hepburn AND Jimmy Stewart)
Turner and Hootch (it never fails to make me laugh)
Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (don't bother with #2)

OK, I had better quit now.

Why I am voting for John McCain

This is going to be a fairly long piece so fasten your seat belts, it is going to be a bumpy ride (you need to say that to yourself using a Bette Davis kind of voice, just for the effect).

The presidential voting season has rolled around again (actually it feels like it was never really gone) and for the first time I feel that I need to actually write down why I am voting for one candidate over another. I have tried to stay out of the fray, to stay above it all, to not be dragged into the melee. But that is really just like walking through the barnyard and trying not to step in the cow pucky. Not going to happen. So, here it is.

People, it is in the end about character. Character matters and that is why I could never vote for either of the Democratic candidates. Guess that gives away who I will be voting for but we will deal with that in a minute. First let’s take a tour of Democratic side of the ticket.

Ladies first is always the polite thing to do so let’s talk about Hillary Rodham Clinton. As I have said (and will say again), character matters. Senator Clinton tells us, repeatedly, that she has the experience for the job. What experience might that be? Being the wife of the President does not give you any experience for the job. I am the wife of the CEO and I am not in any way qualified to step into my husband’s shoes. That is just a ridiculous claim.

Senator Clinton also seems to have a real problem with telling the truth. Any of these ring a bell? Travelgate, Whitewater, Sandy Berger’s pants, Filegate, spiraling down under sniper fire in Bosnia. By the way, regarding Bosnia. Lets think that through. Mrs. Clinton has said that it was too dangerous for the President to go to Bosnia so they sent her instead. Come again. Do you REALLY think that if it was too dangerous for the President that they would have sent the First Lady (well some would I am sure but get real). I digress..

Hillary’s “lack of truthfulness” isn’t a new phenomenon. Jerry Zeifman, the retired Chief of Staff of the House Judiciary Committee, was Hillary Rodham’s boss during the Watergate hearings. He fired her for lies and unethical behavior. Mr. Zeifman is a long time democrat not some “crazy republican” out to do a hatchet job. It is very instructive to go to his website, www.jzeifman.com to read the entire article. Well worth the effort. I couldn’t make this up if I was trying. Well, I could but I have better things to do.

Mrs. Clinton says she is for getting out of Iraq right away, “in her first days in office” (that is a direct quote from her website). I am not going to debate whether we should be in Iraq at all. That is beside the point now, we ARE there and because we are there we need to finish the job that we have started. Since I have a nursing degree I often think of things in medical terms. So, you don’t stop taking your antibiotics when you START to feel good, or because you think the job is done or because you never thought you should have taken them in the first place. If you do, the bad bugs come back stronger and harder to kill. Al Qaeda as a very bad bug. We leave now and Al Qaeda will be back and emboldened. This paragraph could also be applied to Barak Obama who wants to pull the troops out as well, even in the face of what the military experts are saying.

Does Senator Clinton really think that we believe that she didn’t know about Bill’s issues with fidelity? A vast right wing conspiracy? Hello! And don’t think that he has changed his tune. If he thought that he could get away with it when he was PRESIDENT OF THE USA then I am sure he hasn’t quit now, he has just gotten better about sneaking around. I would guess that Hillary did have a conversation with him before officially declaring her run for the White House. My guess is that it went something like this, “Bill, if I ever catch you taking Little Willy out to play in someone else’s yard again I am going to change you from a rooster to a hen in one shot.” Imagine Bill Clinton in the White House with nothing to do. The mind boggles.

Mrs. Clinton and I don’t agree on one single thing, not taxes, not Iraq, not immigration. And don't get me going on Universal Health Care! So I just have to decline the offer to join the team.

Lest you think I don’t want a woman to be President then let me disabuse you of that thought. I would welcome a woman in the Oval Office, just not THIS woman. How about someone on the lines of Margaret Thatcher or Condoleezza Rice?

Now let’s talk about Barak Obama. On the surface I will give him all the points for charisma, eloquent speech and good looks. But people lets say it again, “Character matters.” Keep repeating that. The old adage about not judging a book by the cover comes to mind.

Senator Obama it is very difficult (read impossible) for me to believe you attended a church for 20 years and didn’t hear anything controversial from a pastor who has the cojones (look that word up if you don’t know what it is) to get up in the pulpit and say, “God Damn America!” I hate even writing that phrase let alone saying it. You claim Pastor Wright as your mentor, the man who performed your wedding, the man who baptized your children.........the man who gave an award to Louis Farakkhan, the man who feels that AIDS is a government plot to kill off blacks. You dedicated a book to him and yet you never heard anything offensive. Hmmmmmmmmmm.

While we are on the subject of people you hang with, let’s discuss your friendly relationship with Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. Bill Ayers is an admitted and unrepentent domestic terrorist. Think Timothy McVeigh only not as “successful”, although he wishes he had been. Senator Obama would have us believe that Mr. Ayers is now “respectable” and “mainstream”. That the things that he participated in were done 40 years ago and therefore aren't relevant today. Attempted murder and subversion of the government aren't relevant 40 years later? Oh please. John Hinderaker of Powerline has done a great job of pulling together the information on the friends of Barak Obama here and here. With friends like these the US does not need any more enemies.

I know, I know. I am just a bitter woman clinging to her guns and religion. Sorry Senator Obama, I just can't give you my vote. The disdain and elitism that I hear in your speeches is not the change I want to see in the country that I love. And speaking of your calls for "change". What change would that be? An increase in taxes? Do you really think that increasing taxes on those who provide jobs is the way to foster new jobs? Do you really think that rolling back Nafta is the way to foster our standing in the world. It will just mean that to others our word is not our word.

I have no problem with a black man for president, it just can't be you. How about Ken Blackwell, Michael Steele or J.C.Watts. Those are men of color who I could get behind.

So, we finally come to John McCain. Saving the best for last. I will say, right off the bat that I don't agree with him on everything. We take widely divergent paths when it comes to immigration, campaign finance reform, whether waterboarding is actually torture and a host of other things. But just because we disagree on some things doesn't mean we can't get along together just fine. He does what he thinks is right, whether it makes the left think he is nuts or the right think he is a traitor to the "conservative cause". I like that in an old white guy who can't comb his own hair.

John McCain can laugh at himself. He has been willing to say, "Hey I was wrong on that issue but I have it right now" (no "I misspoke" being bandied about). No elitist snobbery there as far as I can see. He has it right on raising taxes and earmarks and pork barrel spending. No to all of them.

I want a man in the Oval office, waiting for that 3am phone call who isn't going to take any horse pucky from anyone (I wanted to write another word but I refrained). Do you think that a man who spent 5 1/2 years in a Vietnamese prison camp, who had his leg broken (not once but twice) and his shoulders dislocated during torture, who said he wouldn't take an early release because his other soldiers were still there, is going to be a "lets sit around and talk about it kind of guy. Singing Kumbaya with terrorists?" I don't think so. I want someone who is going to do what has to be done.

Now John is a tad on the older side (sorry mom) and at times has a bit of a temper but I want someone with a bit of a temper when Osama or Kim Jong Il or the Chinese or Putin or nutty Chavez or any of the Islamic terrorists come knocking at our door. Heck, I don't want them to have the chance to come knocking at the door. Don't give me this business about sitting down and talking out our differences. The Islamic extremists want to kill us. It is convert or die. No talking needed.

Senator McCain you have my vote.

Quote of the Day

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

Groucho Marx