Apparently this journalistic genius has been interviewing politicians (and making asses out of quite a few of them) for some time now, but I hadn’t heard of him until I saw the video of his interview with Congressman Pete Stark (D-Calif). After Stark realizes that Helfeld has made his repeated assertion that a bigger national [...]
Used to be when people got mad, they might give you the finger. Apparently, that’s old hat, and now they take the finger instead, in this case, biting it off: California authorities say a clash between opponents and supporters of health care reform ended with one man biting off another man’s finger. When I read [...]
My NMI column this week will, I think, become one of my all-time favorites. Here’s the opening. When the news came that Santa Fe’s public schools would get some of the federal stimulus bounty being handed out by a benevolent Democratic Congress and president, few suspected that some of that federal pork would turn rancid. [...]
Ah, the New Mexican. I can always count on them for unbiased journalism. The bold headline on yesterday morning’s top story was ‘A real grudge match’ The match is the mayoral race between incumbent David Coss and recently announced challenger Asenath Kepler. The grudge, the paper obviously means to imply, is Kepler’s, since she had [...]
I don’t often advocate spending taxpayers’ money, but amid all the waste and pork, there are some public works projects that need doing, including an I-25 interchange at Richards Avenue in Santa Fe. My NMI column explains why.
I had never heard of Liskula Cohen until the other day, when she won a lawsuit forcing Google to reveal the name of the anonymous blogger who had called her a skank and an old hag on a blog almost nobody except Liskula Cohen read. Ms. Cohen was actually pretty lucky to be called a skank [...]
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Posted 24 August 2009
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Culture
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Tagged: anonymity, blog, Carrie Prejean, fame, Liskula Cohen, old hag, Perez Hilton, Robert Stacy McCain, Rosemary Port, skank, Skanks of NYC
A Facebook friend posted the link to this article, and because my friend leans leftward, and the piece is in the Atlantic, and ran six pages, and is entitled “How American Health Care Killed My Father” (here we go with a diatribe about the evils of health care being a commodity not a right, I [...]
Today, Mon. Aug 17 at 7:00 p.m. Northern New Mexico’s Congressman, Ben Ray Luján, is holding a healthcare town hall at the Unitarian Church at 107 W. Barcelona Rd. It will feature a panel discussion with health care professionals — no doubt cherrypicked by Mr. Luján so that they will all say health care reform [...]
My New Mexico Independent column is up. Update: This is rich. And they accuse us of astroturfing. I guess it’s that old “plank in my own eye” thing. HT: Patterico.
I wrote this long, grim post several days ago, but as often happens, had to leave the computer before doing a final proofread and hitting “publish” and then was too busy to get back to it. The news stories discussed are a few days old, but the sentiments are timeless. It’s hard not to be [...]
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Posted 09 August 2009
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Parenthood § Personal § Religion
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Tagged: Assyria, bad news, Crusades, Diana Schuler, evil, George Sodini, Holocaust, Kenneth Leon Mills, King David, man's inhumanity to man, Psalms, Sennacherib, Tiglath-Pileser III
Again and again on the campaign trail, he repeated the same mantra. The words might vary ever so slightly, but the message was the same: Let me say this again: no family earning less than $250,000 will see any form of tax increase. Period. Every time Old Man McCain would say that Obama was going [...]
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Posted 06 August 2009
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Economy § Politics
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Tagged: Barack Obama, Big Brother, George H. W. Bush, government health care, health insurance, Linda Douglass, middle class, no new taxes, read my lips, single payer option, tax increase, taxes, Timother Geithner, White House blog
OH Mommy is the moniker of Pauline Karwowski, author of the blog Classy Chaos. She’s listed on my friend MIT Mommy‘s blogroll, and I stop by periodically for a dose of something light and entertaining when I’ve had enough for the moment of politics. OH Mommy never writes about politics, or at least not that [...]
My local paper, the Santa Fe New Mexican, is experiencing financial difficulty. Join the club. And no wonder, since how on earth can a print newspaper compete financially with internet news sites that run on a fraction of the cost and provide faster and more diverse content? Some people think this spells doom for us [...]
Jon and Kate Gosselin are getting a divorce (unless it’s the most brilliant publicity stunt ever to boost ratings) and instead of blogging about it, I played Apples to Apples with my kids. President Obama shot his mouth off about a white policeman arresting a black professor, sparking an endless debate among bloggers and pundits, [...]
I’m posting the link to my NMI column late, since I was traveling back to New Mexico today, and it wasn’t up yet before I left for the airport. Since I was in vacation mode, I had no idea what to write for NMI this week. I had been trolling the internet for something other [...]
The other day I mentioned we’d been to Old Salem to see how the Moravians lived, but that day we would be hanging out at the pool. Well, we’ve done a lot of hanging out at the pool since then. Normally, I like to do a lot of culturally enriching type sightseeing when I travel, [...]
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Posted 27 July 2009
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Personal
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Tagged: clothing, Gilda Radner, Hawaii, heiau, human sacrifice, Moravians, North Carolina, Old Salem, poi, Roseanne Roseannadanna, swimming pool
No post yesterday because I was at Old Salem seeing how the Moravians lived in the olden days. My daughter Elizabeth is having a wondeful time with her friend Jane, enjoying being one of a pair of big girls instead of the eldest of four little ones. I am still getting over the fact that [...]
That was my title for my NM Independent column that runs today (or ran yesterday, since I’m late posting the link and most of you won’t read this until Wednesday morning) but my editor changed it. There are already 16 comments, but I haven’t read them yet as I just arrived at my friend’s house [...]
I haven’t lost interest in my blog; I’ve just been busy. On Tuesday my eldest daughter and I leave to visit Cathleen and Patrick O’Hannigan in North Carolina, and I set Monday as the deadline for getting my book proposal in the mail to a publisher. Which book? Why, the book I had practically finished [...]
The confirmation controversy over Judge Sonia Sotomayor is the subject of my New Mexico Indpendent column this week.
Someone just did a keyword search for “my doctor said I had to agree to selective reduction in order for him to implant 3 embryos” and found my blog. I hope she comes back again and sees this post, because honey, this one’s for you. This doctor is lying to his patient in the hope [...]
Seriously. I have wasted more time on Facebook the past few days than I can believe. Maybe wasted isn’t the right word, because certainly it’s nice being able to keep up with what your friends and family are doing, but still, I really did blog a lot more before I started spending so much time [...]
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Posted 09 July 2009
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New Mexico § Personal
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Tagged: Blogging, Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky, Ecclesiastes, evil, Facebook, Grand Inquisitor, Madrid, mass psychosis, Michael Jackson, mourning, nothing new under the sun
New Mexico has a huge drunk driving problem. A little over a week ago, four teenagers were killed. A few years ago, five members of the same family. Before that, it was a mother and her three small children. It never seems to stop. I have no idea why New Mexicans do this in numbers [...]
That’s what people have been asking me on Facebook and in e-mail. They don’t bother to add her last name, since Sarah Palin has now joined the ranks of celebrities who can be referred to by first name only — at least in the highly politicized circles in which I travel. I wanted to, I [...]
Today my NMI column discusses northern New Mexico’s Congressman, Ben Ray Lujan, was one of a small House minority voting against an amendment to prevent federal money being used to employ illegal aliens. The issue was such a no-brainer that the Democrat-controlled House voted 349-84 in favor of the amendment, with both other New Mexico [...]
I promised a Jon & Kate post today, but I had to write my NMI column, so I didn’t get around to finishing it. The rest of the day was taken up with kids, kids, kids, all the time kids. I’m ready to collapse. Jon & Kate will have to wait. Other random thoughts — [...]
Yesterday I was writing about Mark Sanford when practically everyone else in the world was writing, talking and at times crying about Michael Jackson. I wonder what infinitesimal percentage of Americans is like me in finding politicians more interesting than celebrities. Today, in order that my readers can be reassured that I’m not a completely [...]
William Saletin at Slate is a lone voice crying out in the wilderness in support of Mark Sanford. Saletin quotes the meae culpae of Bill Clinton, John Edwards and John Ensign, each of whom followed “the first rule of adultery redemption: minimize the affair” by blaming errors in judgment and speaking of his wife as [...]
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Posted 26 June 2009
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Politics
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Tagged: adultery, affair, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Jenny Sanford, John Edwards, John Ensign, Maria Belen Chapur, Mark Sanford, midlife crisis, Monica Lewinsky, romance, sex, William Saletin
Just watched Mark Sanford run on at the mouth about his extramarital affair. If that guy said one more time that he met his Argentine lady friend 8 years ago I think my head would have exploded. It was like he just couldn’t stop talking, as though if he stopped talking for a moment he’d [...]
My NMI column this week isi a response to last week’s piece on socialized medicine, which generated over 100 comments, breaking the NMI record. The comment war on today’s column has already begun.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a guest blog, but today I’m doing one for MIT Mommy, who is off on a rustic three-week holiday with her family, with no internet access. Could I survive? Could you? Our society’s dependence on technology, and whether this is a good or bad thing, is the [...]
What I went through with Portia is nothing compared to what Patrick and Cathleen are going through now with their daughter Jane. My heart breaks for them. Please say a prayer.
My editor at NMI tells me I’ve broken their record for comments — 100 so far on my health care column. Many of these, naturally, are from leftists insulting me, telling me I have no idea what I’m talking about, that there are no facts or evidence in the column (um, it’s an opinion piece, [...]
Some recent pictures of my (not so) humble parish church now that the exterior scaffolding has come down, revealing a freshly scrubbed facade. The scaffolding is still up inside, where the new paint job is about three quarters done, and the difference between the “before” and “after” parts is really striking.
This week’s NM Independent column. It’s already been up long enough for teenage commenters to begin calling me ignorant.
It’s summer so we’re on vacation from homeschooling, so I should have more time to blog, not less, right? Somehow it hasn’t worked out that way. Seems like I spend half the day writing down book titles in reading log books. My eldest two daughters signed up for the summer reading program at our public [...]
Because I know Dave Maass reallly, really misses reading my thoughts on Sarah Palin: I’m a little puzzled as to why people are demanding David Letterman apologize for making a joke about Sarah Palin’s 14-year-old daughter getting knocked up by Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez. Are there really people who still don’t understand that making lewd jokes [...]
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Posted 11 June 2009
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Politics
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Tagged: A-Rod, Alex Rodriguez, David Letterman, hottest conservative women, John McCain, joke, knocked up, Meghan McCain, racist, Sarah Palin, slutty flight attendant, Willow Palin
There are cleats and shin-guards and absurdly long socks all over my house. I am driving three different children to three different practices at two different parks on three different days, and trying to fit meals and swimming lessons and all the rest in somehow. Wake me up and tell me I’ve been dreaming. Please. [...]
Last month, a Santa Fe man killed his girlfriend Sarah Lovato, their unborn child, and Lovato’s father. Even though the baby was full term, due any day, and he shot his girlfriend in the belly multiple times, Mariano Leyba, Jr., can’t be charged with the baby’s murder, because the baby wasn’t a human being, you [...]
I missed it! I can’t believe I actually missed my own blog anniversary. My first post was May 19, 2008. I remember four days later, during a busy week when I had houseguests, and started writing this post, but never finished it. I haven’t been finishing much lately. Only the necessary things. And the blog [...]
Mike Judge is a comic genius. I got more good laughs out of King of the Hill than just about any recent show with the exception of South Park. And now — oh, happy day! — Judge has a new show out, The Goode Family. The Goodes, a family whose extreme political correctness provides much [...]
My NMI column today explores how a Santa Fe elementary school’s reprieve from closure — thanks to Governor Bill Richardson’s spreading around some of the New Mexico taxpayers’ wealth — illustrates a very big problem in American society as a whole.
A few weeks ago, I predicted that President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee would definitely be a solid liberal, and would probably be a female Hispanic. I also promised that I would not pillory the nominee. And I won’t. Because there is no point. Judge Sotomayor will be confirmed. If some skeleton is found in her [...]
My New Mexico Independent column today is partly a rehash of this post on the Block scandal, but goes farther in meditating on the differences between our purportedly enlightened system and that of the Roman Republic, where the linkage between money and power was straightforward and uncomplicated.
Father and son mug shots. That’s something you don’t see every day. Forgive the Schadenfreude. Normally I’m such a nice lady, but today I just can’t seem to help myself. The story in the online New Mexican only has the picture of Jerome Block père. Such a pity. The one of Jerome Block fils (today’s [...]
The GOP is not dead. It’s not a damaged brand. It’s taken a hit, but it’s not down for the count, despite the liberal media’s attempts to convince us it is. And when I see passionate, articulate young men like Marco Rubio of Florida on our team, I am content to ignore all the hand-wringing [...]
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Posted 23 May 2009
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Politics
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Tagged: Charlie Crist, Florida, future, GOP, John McCain, Marco Rubio, NRSC, nuclear war, Republican Party, Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin, senate race, Soviet Union, vilification
GOPosaur. That’s what those clever devils over at the Daily Kos have taken to calling the GOP. They have a cute little dinosaur graphic all done up in red, white and blue stars and stripes like the GOP elephant. Because the Party is dying, don’t you know. Well, somebody forgot to tell the Santa Fe [...]
I was so busy yesterday I didn’t even get a chance to link to my NMI column about Daniel Hauser, the 13-year-old boy who has been ordered by a court to undergo chemotherapy against his own and his parents’ wishes. They claim their right to the free exercise of their religion is being infringed. But [...]
What’s kept me from the computer lately is that one of my friends and her children are visiting from out of town this week. This means we now have six children in the house, but the other night we had two other friends over, who also have six children between them, for a total of [...]
I’ve neglected my blog this week, partly because I’ve been sick, and partly because, well, you know. Because I’m still too busy to write a proper post, let me just share with you a very entertaining blog post my friend Martha Brozyna, a medieval historian, has written on Mental Floss. It’s about five mad monarchs, [...]