Prof. Paul Rahe on Obama's Gestures

Power Line's Scott Johnson has this post today, quoting Professor Paul Rahe's assessment of President Obama, his gestures, and what those gestures say about him. Johnson's post is too powerful for me to be able to use excerpts and have it translate well. This is the whole thing:

Hillsdale College Professor Paul Rahe writes to comment on the Obama administration's announced abandoment last week of the so-called Third Site of missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. Claremont Institute President Brian Kennedy addressed the subject in the Wall Street Journal Asia column "Obama's strategic confusion." Kennedy writes: "The cancellation of the Third Site demonstrates the Obama administration's complete confusion over strategic defense." Professor Rahe argues that it also suggests Obama's peculiar animus against friends of the United States, if not the United States itself:

In the Week in Review section of this past Sunday's New York Times, Robert Gates argues that the plan announced last Thursday by President Obama for shifting American policy regarding the defense of Europe against nuclear missile attacks will leave Europe in general and Eastern Europe in particular safer. I do not doubt that he believes what he says.

I do not, however, find this consoling. Back in June, in two separate posts on Power Line -- here and here -- I drew attention to our current president's propensity for communicating different messages to different audiences by means of gestures of one kind or another. Here is what I then wrote:

Barack Obama has a history of belittling his adversaries in just such a fashion. In April, 2008, he was caught on tape during a debate with Hillary Clinton, rubbing his hand across the right side of his face and extending his middle finger in an obscene gesture that many in the audience could see it but she could not, and when this provoked laughter on the part of his supporters he responded with a knowing smile. Later, after accepting his party's nomination, he did precisely the same thing during a debate with John McCain; and, after Sarah Palin remarked at the Republican National Convention that the only difference between a pit bull and a soccer mom was lipstick, he observed at a rally that a pig with lipstick is still a pig. Again, many in the audience caught the dig and they, too, were rewarded with a knowing smile.

Obama is, in fact, a master of the insulting gesture. There is no other construction that one can put on his conduct towards Gordon Brown when the British prime minister paid him a visit shortly after his inauguration. First, in an ostentatious manner, he returned to the British embassy a bust of Winston Churchill that had been loaned to his predecessor. Then, when Brown presented him with a pen made from timber used in a British ship once involved in putting down the slave trade, he gave him in return a stack of movies on DVD which could not be played on machines sold in Europe.

Were Obama a yokel, one might be able to explain this away. But a yokel he is not, and there are State Department protocol officers who are highly sensitive to the proprieties. It is no accident that, at about the same time, the White House press secretary intimated in the presence of members of the British press that there was no special relationship between the United States and Great Britain. Obama's gesture was a calculated insult -- meant to be understood only by those to whom it was directed.

If we are to comprehend what is going on, we must pay close attention not only to what Obama says but to what he conveys in other ways. His tone is nearly always moderate but what he hints at and what he intimates by way of body language often convey the opposite Witness his warm embrace of Hugo Chavez. Behind the thin veneer of politeness, there is, I suspect, something ugly lurking. In the first of the autobiographies that he claims to have written, Barack Obama frequently speaks of himself as being in the grips of rage. We would do well to take him at his word. If we are to stop him from doing great damage to this country and to our friends and allies, we must take every opportunity that comes our way to unmask the man.

We now know -- thanks to events in the Honduras -- the meaning of Obama's gesture with respect to the Venezuelan dictator, and I would suggest that we must regard in a similar light the timing of Obama's announcement of his administration's shift in policy regarding missile-defense in Europe. For it can hardly be an accident that he chose the seventieth anniversary of the Soviet Union's invasion of Poland as the occasion.

We must keep in mind the fact that Obama is not a yokel and that the State Department is there to prevent an ill-informed president from unnecessarily stepping on toes. What happened last Thursday was a deliberate gesture. It was aimed at our allies in eastern Europe and at Russia , and it was recognized as such in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Russia. Vladimir Putin spoke of Obama's decision as a courageous act. Our friends in eastern Europe would not have used that adjective. A signal has been given, and they know the meaning.

We are living in a dangerous time. It seems highly unlikely that Barack Obama will get his way in domestic affairs. The Democrats may control Congress, but they now fear a rout in 2010, and they are likely to tread with caution from now on. In foreign affairs, however, presidents have a relatively free hand, and this president has ample time to do damage to a country that, there is reason to suspect, he deeply hates.

Paul A. Rahe holds the Charles O. Lee and Louise K. Lee Chair in the Western Heritage at Hillsdale College. He is the author, most recently, of Montesquieu and the Logic of Liberty: War, Religion, Commerce, Climate, Terrain, Technology, Uneasiness of Mind, the Spirit of Political Vigilance, and the Foundations of the Modern Republic, published today, and of Soft Despotism, Democracy's Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with Prof. Rahe's conclusions about our President. Let's hope Obama's policies can be thwarted well enough that he doesn't cause any lasting harm to our country.

Honduran President on Strengthening their Democracy

The press hasn't been covering Honduras very well, so I salute the Washington Post for publishing Honduran President Roberto Micheletti's column today about his country. It's excellent and, if you're a supporter of liberty, well worth reading, so I'm providing it to you in its entirety. Here goes:

My country is in an unusual position this week. Former president Manuel Zelaya has surreptitiously returned to Honduras, still claiming to be the country's legitimate leader, despite the fact that a constitutional succession took place on June 28. Amid all of the claims that are likely to be made in coming days, the former president will not mention that the people of Honduras have moved on since the events of that day or that our citizens are looking forward to free, fair and transparent elections on Nov. 29.

The international community has wrongfully condemned the events of June 28 and mistakenly labeled our country as undemocratic. I must respectfully disagree. As the true story slowly emerges, there is a growing sense that what happened in Honduras that day was not without merit. On June 28, the Honduran Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for Zelaya for his blatant violations of our constitution, which marked the end of his presidency. To this day, an overwhelming majority of Hondurans support the actions that ensured the respect of the rule of law in our country.

Underlying all the rhetoric about a military overthrow are facts. Simply put, coups do not leave civilians in control over the armed forces, as is the case in Honduras today. Neither do they allow the independent functioning of democratic institutions -- the courts, the attorney general's office, the electoral tribunal. Nor do they maintain a respect for the separation of powers. In Honduras, the judicial, legislative and executive branches are all fully functioning and led by civilian authorities.

Coups do not allow freedom of assembly, either. They do not guarantee freedom of the press, much less a respect for human rights. In Honduras, these freedoms remain intact and vibrant. And on Nov. 29 our country plans to hold the ultimate civic exercise of any democracy: a free and open presidential election.

Although much of the international community disagrees with our past actions, we can all agree on the necessity of ensuring Honduras's full commitment to the electoral process. Our citizens believe that the upcoming presidential election is the best way to guarantee peace and democracy. While the election will take place in little more than 60 days, the electoral process has been underway for some time. The election is being convened by an autonomous body, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, whose magistrates were selected by Congress in early 2009 and ratified by then-President Zelaya. The autonomous body began the electoral process with presidential primary elections -- which were supervised by the Organization of American States -- in 2008 also during Zelaya's tenure. The upcoming election will include Honduras's first independent presidential candidate -- a rarity in all of Latin America.

The winner of the November election will take office as president of Honduras in January 2010. At that moment my transitional administration will cease, and the newly sworn-in president will hold all the authority vested to him by our country's constitution.

Our whole country -- whether members of political parties, youths, students or members of civil society, government, parental organizations or private businesses -- is committed to guaranteeing transparent elections. Voter turnout will be a constitutional expression of self-determination and a demonstration of national sovereignty. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal has invited independent observers from around the globe to observe our voting process. Our country is open to the world. All organizations -- churches, universities, think tanks, nongovernmental organizations -- that wish to witness firsthand this great exercise of self-determination and democracy are welcome.

We are, of course, disappointed with the position of the United States and the European Union, both longtime friends. We look forward to continuing dialogue with the United States, the European Union and the rest of the international community to prove our commitment to democracy and the Honduran people's love of freedom. Coercive action directed at our nation will only harm less fortunate Hondurans, whose hospitals, schools, roads and other institutions rely greatly on our friends' generous assistance, for which all of our citizens are immensely grateful.

I have said from the moment I was sworn in as president of Honduras that I do not intend to remain in office one second more than what our constitution mandates. On Jan. 27 I will hand over leadership responsibilities to the ninth president of our 27-year-old democracy. Such actions are in keeping with the desire of the majority of our people: the strengthening of our democracy.

Only 27 years old. Long may they enjoy their freedom!

Quote of the Day

“I remember seeing a bumper sticker when I was in college in the ’60s that said, ‘The majority is not silent – the government is deaf.’ Well, that could not be more true today.”

-- Unnamed Democratic strategist, from Pittsburgh Trib-Review article today (via RealClearPolitics).

Are You A Racist?

Are you a racist? How can you really be sure? You think you're not, but then Jimmy Carter or Nancy Pelosi or some other racist-detecting Democrats say they just know the truth about you, and you start to doubt yourself. Maybe they know something you don't know...

Well, now you can check to be sure. Just follow this easy flowchart to learn the truth (click to enlarge).


Developed by Missourah.com (HT: Power Line).

Priceless!

Obama Screws Poland on 70th Anniversary

Today is the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Poland by the Nazi and Soviet armies. And this is the day President Obama chose to announce the cancellation of the missile defense shield that was due to be placed in Poland.

The Obama administration will scrap the controversial missile defense shield program in Eastern Europe, a senior administration official confirmed to CNN Thursday.

Vice President Joe Biden earlier refused to confirm to CNN that the George W. Bush-era plan was being shelved.

But he did explain the logic of doing so, saying Iran -- a key concern for the United States -- was not a threat.

"I think we are fully capable and secure dealing with any present or future potential Iranian threat," he told CNN's Chris Lawrence in Baghdad, where he is on a brief trip.

"The whole purpose of this exercise we are undertaking is to diminish the prospect of the Iranians destabilizing that region in the world. I am less concerned -- much less concerned -- about the Iranian potential. They have no potential at this moment, they have no capacity to launch a missile at the United States of America," he said.

Biden said he is "deeply" involved in the review of the missile defense program.

Oh, that's comforting! Joe Biden vouches for Iran's intentions and capabilities. And he's never been wrong before.

More from CNN:

The Bush administration had cited the perceived nuclear threat from Iran as one of the key reasons it wanted to install the missile shield in eastern Europe.

The U.S. reversal is likely to please Russia, which had fiercely opposed the plans.

Yes, I bet it will! Dictator-for-life-in-the-making Vladimir Putin now has an open door to recreating the glory days of the Soviet Union and its Iron Curtain satellite states.

A U.S. delegation held high-level meetings Thursday in both Poland and the Czech Republic to discuss the missile defense system. While the outcome of the meetings wasn't clear, officials in both countries confirmed the system would be scrapped.

Czech Prime minister Jan Fischer said in a statement that U.S. President Barack Obama told him in a Wednesday phone call that the United States was shelving its plans. Fischer did not say what reason Obama gave him for reconsidering.

A spokeswoman at the Polish Ministry of Defense also said the program had been suspended.

"This is catastrophic for Poland," said the spokeswoman, who declined to be named in line with ministry policy.

So the tone-deaf, stone-hearted Barack Obama announced a catastrophe for Poland, one of our few loyal allies in the battle against evil in the world, on the 70th anniversary of its own catastrophic Day of Infamy. Who knows when or where the next slap in the face of liberty will take place? But rest assured, there will be more to come.

The only possible consolation to this is (as one Michelle Malkin commenter suggested) that it could cause Europe to finally have to start paying for its own defense, instead of relying on us. Heaven knows (and hopefully Europe is figuring it out too) Obama has made America completely unreliable for anything except support for terrorists and dictators.

Obama Revokes Honduran President's Visa (Updated)

Reuters reported today that the Obama administration has revoked the visa of Honduran President Micheletti.

Honduran de facto ruler Roberto Micheletti said on Saturday the United States has revoked his visa to pressure him to step down and reinstate exiled President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a June military coup.

Micheletti, however, was defiant of the latest move by Washington, which said earlier this month it was cutting more than $30 million in aid to the poor Central American country.

"We will not back down. Dignity does not have a price in our country," Micheletti told Honduran radio.

You may not have been following the events in Honduras, because heaven knows plenty of other things have been happening a lot closer to home. But Obama's response to Honduras is the cherry on top of the whipped cream on top of the icing on the cake of his unending preference for socialist dictators over the rule of constitutional law.

As for what Reuters (not to mention the Obama administration) calls "a June military coup," this couldn't be further from the truth. Dennis Prager's summary at the time is priceless:

Even if you know little or nothing about the crisis in Honduras, nearly all you need to know in order to ascertain which side is morally right is this: Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, Cuba's Castro brothers, the United Nations, and the Organization of American States are all lined up against Honduras.

And what troubles these good people? They claim that there was a military coup in Honduras that renders the present government illegal.

Here's how, back in July, Honduran-born Miguel Estrada described the complete legality of those events:

Something clearly has gone awry with the rule of law in Honduras -- but it is not necessarily what you think. Begin with Zelaya's arrest. The Supreme Court of Honduras, as it turns out, had ordered the military to arrest Zelaya two days earlier. A second order (issued on the same day) authorized the military to enter Zelaya's home to execute the arrest. These orders were issued at the urgent request of the country's attorney general. All the relevant legal documents can be accessed (in Spanish) on the Supreme Court's website. They make for interesting reading.

What you'll learn is that the Honduran Constitution may be amended in any way except three. No amendment can ever change (1) the country's borders, (2) the rules that limit a president to a single four-year term and (3) the requirement that presidential administrations must "succeed one another" in a "republican form of government."

In addition, Article 239 specifically states that any president who so much as proposes the permissibility of reelection "shall cease forthwith" in his duties, and Article 4 provides that any "infraction" of the succession rules constitutes treason. The rules are so tight because these are terribly serious issues for Honduras, which lived under decades of military rule.

As noted, Article 239 states clearly that one who behaves as Zelaya did in attempting to change presidential succession ceases immediately to be president. If there were any doubt on that score, the Congress removed it by convening immediately after Zelaya's arrest, condemning his illegal conduct and overwhelmingly voting (122 to 6) to remove him from office. The Congress is led by Zelaya's own Liberal Party (although it is true that Zelaya and his party have grown apart as he has moved left). Because Zelaya's vice president had earlier quit to run in the November elections, the next person in the line of succession was Micheletti, the Liberal leader of Congress. He was named to complete the remaining months of Zelaya's term.

So, the Honduran Supreme Court and military and Congress followed their constitution, ousted an illegal president whose very actions nullified his presidency, installed the next in line as president, and Obama can't see the legality of it all.

Indeed, Obama is pressuring Honduras to restore Zelaya to the presidency, and he's gone so far as to impose sanctions, as reported by the Voice of America on August 27, 2009:

The United States says it is cutting a broad range of economic aid to Honduras, over the June 28 ouster of President Manuel Zelaya. The State Department's announcement on Thursday came as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with the deposed Honduran leader in Washington.

The decision came a day after President Manuel Zelaya urged U.S. leaders to take tougher actions in condemning his removal from power more than two months ago.

Thursday, the State Department made permanent a suspension of some $30 million in aid imposed after Mr. Zelaya was deposed. In a statement, the State Department said the decision was made in recognition of the de facto regime's failure to restore democratic, constitutional rule to Honduras.

President Obama is either willfully stupid (which I don't believe), or he's a fascist-lover hoping the lack of MSM coverage will allow him to install one more socialist dictator-for-life in South America. Either way, Obama has no respect for the constitution, not the Honduran constitution and not ours.

Don't back down, President Micheletti!

Update (09/13/2009):

I left out a point, one that is probably the worst. From the Voice of America article:

Officials say the U.S. will not recognize the outcome of presidential elections scheduled for November, under current conditions.

Let's pretend, if you will, that it's June of 2008 here in America. A case claiming Bush stole the 2000 election gets to the Supreme Court, which declares that, indeed the election was stolen and both Bush and Cheney must be removed from office. Congress then passes a law requiring the military to ensure the removal of the President and VP from office and the installation of Nancy Pelosi (as next in line) as our new President. All according to the Constitution (assuming a couple details are found in the "penumbra" of the Constitution).

Meanwhile, in Pretend Land, the November elections are proceeding, with McCain and Hillary and Obama in heavy campaign mode. But because the UN and the UK and China are calling it a "military coup," they say they won't recognize our November election unless Pelosi is removed and Bush and Cheney are reinstalled as President and VP. As though who is living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave has any bearing on the coming presidential election.

That's what Obama is doing by refusing to recognize the election in Honduras this November. All the candidates were busy campaigning (and the Honduran VP had already resigned in order to run for President) well before Zelaya's removal. The two events are NOT related. But the US will be the last ones, standing alone, against the lawful workings of a constitutional republic.

Read here about our standing alone against Honduras.

President Obama can't seem to get anything right.

Dizzy Dame

Today I go back to the health clinic where I'll be starting my new job in just over a week. I had my pre-employment health check-up and drug test Thursday, and today they'll need to read my TB test to make sure I'm not a pandemic-in-the-making.

I had to get a health check-up and TB test for my assisted-living job too, but the health screening was much more cursory there than at the clinic. At the assisted-living place, the nurse checked my blood pressure, pulse, and breathing, and she asked me if my back was OK to lift heavy things. She seemed not to believe me about the lifting, but I passed my physical and got the job.

At the health clinic, they checked the same vital signs, plus my hearing, which was excellent (they must not have tested for that frequency that my high-pitched tinnitus rings at), and also my vision, which was excellent, too, because they didn't make me read anything up close.

Now, my most-of-the-time normal blood pressure is around 110/70. Perfect for making the doctors smile in approval. The last couple times I've been to the doctor on official medical business, as opposed to employment business, my BP has been dreadfully ordinary at 120/80. I found that annoying.

The employment screenings, though, have been low. At the assisted-living place, I was at 100/60 for the first time I can remember. And then Thursday, my systolic reading dropped down into double digits (99/64), which left me alarmed rather than annoyed. It certainly explained the last few days when I've gotten dizzy from standing up after leaning over, but my goodness! Ninety-nine? There's something wrong with that.

I'd heard from one of my doctors (plural, because the medical group I've gone to seems to be the stepping stone doctors use before they move on to another more luctrative practice elsewhere) many years ago that there could be some health effects from having sustained low blood pressure. So last night I went online and looked up "low blood pressure" to see if my 99 was a cause for concern.

Low BP is often associated with bradycardia (Hmm... Better check my pulse: 60. Not good, considering I don't exercise, so the low heart rate isn't from being in shape, but it's one beat above the official definition of bradycardia, so that's sort of a relief. Too bad my friend the cardiac nurse is off on a cruise, where I can't grill her for answers and reassurance). Most of the ill effects of low BP are to the brain, heart, kidneys and other essentials, caused by not enough oxygen getting there. I'd have noticed angina, poor kidney function, and exhaustion if this were happening.

Another cause is a systemic infection, but I don't have that either. Or heart murmurs or electrocardial issues.

So that leaves me with one of three possible reasons: low thyroid (possible, but I'm usually at the low end of normal and not abnormally low), stress (uh, big yes to that one), or I'm just one of those people whose BP is low without causing any health problems (there was one lady who commented on the low BP website whose normal BP is around 55/45! She makes me feel downright powerful).

I guess I don't need to be alarmed, then. But I did look for their advice on how to increase my blood pressure. I could eat more salt, except even the suggestion sounded like medical blasphemy. Or I could consume more caffeine.

I like that last one, and it makes sense since our latest heat wave has made me drink less tea and more water. So I'll be having more tea again and checking to see if this dizzy dame can cast aside her woozy ways in the process.

Breaking In

Adventures are never much fun when you're going through them.

After work at the assisted living place, I went home and gathered up many of my belongings. I cleaned out my dresser, stuffing each drawer into a plastic grocery bag or two and discarding the excess T-shirts into the Donation pile. Then I put my boxed food items into paper grocery bags and put the essential refrigerator foods into a cooler. I loaded it all into my car and topped everything with some more closet clothes.

At my friend's house (my new home), I started unloading the car. First stop was to shut off the alarm. I put my purse in my room and started bringing things into the house, leaving the front door open and my car doors open too.

But when I had the cooler and my computer speakers in my hands, I reached for the security screen door, and it was locked. Tight!

My keys and my cell phone were in the house, so I couldn't call anyone, and I couldn't drive anywhere (though I don't know where I would have gone, except by that time I was thinking about how I was going to get to work in the morning without my keys).

My friend's house is a duplex in a senior community, so I knocked on her roofmate's door, but nobody responded. Across the street a light was on in someone's garage. I rang the doorbell, and a really wasted-looking woman came to the door. She led me to the garage, where she and her friends were hanging out. They smelled more strongly of beer than of the cigarettes they were smoking.

Beggars can't be choosers, so I asked for their help. They lent me their cell phone and a phone book, and I looked up the couple I thought was most likely to have my friend's spare key. They didn't. But they had my friend's cell phone number, so I called her, hoping she could tell me who I should call for a spare key. Her phone went right to voicemail.

I looked for her son in the phone book under multiple possible spellings and couldn't find it, so I called back the other friends again to see if they had the son's phone number, but they didn't.

I had no more leads. It left me with only one option: We had to break in. Rather, the guys would have to break in.

There was an older (in his 50s) big guy and a younger (in his 20s) skinny guy, and they scouted the house for weaknesses. The gate had a lock on it, and the big guy hesitated about climbing over, for fear of disturbing the neighbor whose yard he'd have to bother. But the wasted lady said the neighbor had recently passed away, so nobody was there.

The big guy jumped the fence and then reported back about the same time the skinny guy saw a neighbor lady in her driveway and went to her to see if she had a key. She didn't, but the big guy said that if he had a wire coat-hanger, he could break in through the slider door. The neighbor lady said she had one in her car, so she got it and donated it to the cause.

The skinny guy got the door to the back of the garage open and tried the door from the garage to the kitchen, but it was bolted. So all our hopes were on the coat-hanger and the big guy (with some help from the skinny guy).

The skinny guy held a crowbar between the two doors to allow room for the coat-hanger to get in, and the big guy twisted and pulled on the coat-hanger in an effort to get it below the fat dowel that was wedged against the slider door. It took several minutes, but he finally hooked the dowel and gave it a good yank, knocking it onto the floor.

Next was the shorter dowel that lay on the slider track. The big guy straightened out the hook and worked at the end of the dowel until he moved the end away from the door. Then the slider slid open, and we were good to go!

I thanked the two guys and went inside. Then I grabbed my keys from my purse and put them in my pocket and proceeded to bring the rest of my stuff into the house without further mishap.

Once I had finished, I set the alarm for the night, because now I know how easy it is to break into a house.

UN Honors Castro

The Latin American Herald Tribune reported today (HT: Michelle Malkin) that the UN General Assembly honored three "Heroes."

The president of the United Nations General Assembly, Rev. Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, on Saturday declared Bolivian President Evo Morales as “World Hero of Mother Earth” in a ceremony at the presidential palace in this capital.

With a medal and a parchment scroll, the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization named Morales “the maximum exponent and paradigm of love for Mother Earth” in the resolution for his decoration that was read during the ceremony.

The document added that the decision was taken “after extensive consultation” among representatives of the General Assembly’s member countries.

Besides Morales, the former Cuban head of state Fidel Castro has been named “World Hero of Solidarity” and the late ex-president of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere, will be honored as “World Hero of Social Justice.”

“What we want to do is present these three people to the world and say that they embody virtues and values worth emulation by all of us,” said D’Escoto, who like the socialist Morales is a staunch critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America.

Your tax dollars at work funding the UN so it can honor dictator-for-life Fidel Castro as a World Hero.

Kick the UN out of the US and let World Hero Castro host that useless waste of space and hot air in Havana instead. The dictator-loving UN ambassadors deserve nothing less.

Oh wait. President Obama loves dictators too. Never mind, then. I guess the UN can stay here in America, where World Hero In His Own Mind Obama welomes dictators with open arms, deep bows, and a kiss.

Sigh!

September Calendar Photos

September is here, and summer is promising to come to an end, except in Southern California, where it will remain hot for a while longer. When I was a kid in San Diego, summer vacation went from mid-June until mid-September, because those were the days before air-conditioned school rooms. June is heavily overcast and cool, and September is an oven-baked extension of August.

I didn't plan it this way on purpose, but my September calendar pictures have a way of taking the heat off the day.

The family calendar has lighthouses from the Oregon Coast, and you may remember two of the pictures from the trip with my mom.


My patterns calendar has one of my favorite photos, this one a prime example of broken patterns. I took the picture at the fish market in Washington, DC, during a photography workshop.


Happy September!

Sand

My daughter finds the best videos for me!

This is from Ukraine's Got Talent, and some of the images have meaning for Ukranians and maybe Russians that don't quite resonate the same way with the American experience. Still, it's amazing what Kseniya Simonova can do with a little sand...

Quick Update (Updated Quickly)

I have successfully survived an entire week flying solo at my new job! I called my counterpart about a dozen times the first day, four times Monday, twice Tuesday, and only once Wednesday. Not too bad!

Yesterday afternoon was my job interview for a better-paying (but more demanding) job. I think it went well. They said they should get back to me today.

I worked at the shoe store for the final time last night, with the very high-strung girl I had a run-in with about a month ago. She was in high-stress mode when I got there, so I just stayed out of her way, and we both survived quite nicely.

This weekend I'll be away in the Sequoias. Gotta go get my car ready and start packing...

Update (4:00 pm):

I GOT THE JOB!!!

It should pay noticeably better than my receptionist job. Much, much, MUCH better than the shoe store.

Life is good. God is even better!

House Sale Update

I just realized that I hadn't given an update on my house sale status.

It fell through, but in an interesting way.

The story starts two years ago, when I put my house up for sale before the big trip with my mom. I had already listed the house with a realtor but wasn't ready for the sign to go up. On one particular day I was outside pulling weeds from in front of the house, when this realtor asked me if I wanted to sell my house, because he would sell it without charging me a commission.

Now, I'm no spring chicken who was born yesterday by falling off the back of a turnip truck. I knew he would add his commission to my asking price and charge the buyer for both. The guy just struck me as being as slippery as the day is long. And I had already decided not to use his agency, because almost every house in the neighborhood that was for sale was through him. I figured he'd be dividing his time among everyone, rather than giving me great service.

I told him the house was already listed, and he left.

So last month, when my realtor told me she had talked to Mr. Slippery Realtor (SR), who was asking about why my house was priced so low (he had one listed for almost 3 times what I was asking and way over the market rates), I hoped that someone--anyone!--would come in with an offer so I wouldn't have to deal with the guy.

But the only one to come through with an offer was SR, whose buyer offered only half of what I was asking. I was insulted and refused.

Eventually, though, SR convinced his buyers that my house was a steal even at a higher price, and we settled on a price. He wrote up an offer, and when my realtor presented it, I noticed that SR had ignored the listing and included the washer, dryer, and refrigerator in the sale price. I had my realtor write up a counter-offer without those appliances. When she called him to present the counter, though, he didn't call her back.

She tried to reach him for a couple days, and then the buyer called her and said he couldn't reach his realtor, so she tried again and got hold of a woman at SR's office. The lady there said SR had an emergency in the family and wouldn't be able to check his messages until the following Wednesday.

We tried to figure out where SR could possibly go that he couldn't make any phone calls, and all we came up with was jail or the deepest, darkest jungles of Mexico (SR is hispanic). But I didn't want to assume bad things about even a slippery guy, in case I was wrong, so we waited patiently for Wednesday to come around.

By Thursday or Friday, the buyer called my realtor in desperation. He hadn't been able to reach SR, so he asked my realtor to put the deal together. She had a bit of scrambling to do in order to write things up so they matched what SR promised his buyer plus took care of what I needed out of the deal, but she got it figured out, written up, and signed by both parties on the same piece of paper.

I live in a mobilehome park, and any buyer has to apply to the park management to be allowed to move in and pay space rent. When I was hanging out at the mailbox, I told the assistant manager that I had a buyer, and SR's name got mentioned. The assistant manager said that SR was in jail and apparently hadn't been let out on Wednesday.

At about same time, my realtor heard from the buyer that SR was in jail, but we didn't get any details until a day or two later. SR was charged with embezzlement, including ripping off his clients. I was thankful that they threw him in the slammer before he could ruin my house sale. Within a couple days of my learning that, all of SR's For Sale signs in the neighborhood were replaced with other agencies.

When the buyers (one guy with cash and his brother) went to the park management to apply, they were upset at having the rent raised, and they came away angry at the way they were treated by the manager and assistant manager (both of whom, unfortunately, come across as a first impression as anywhere from angry to nasty). Even after I offered to pay for 9 months of rent increase and my realtor would pitch in another 3 months, the buyers said they refused to live anyplace run by those people. Their refusal happened this past Sunday, my first day on my new job.

So Wednesday, I went over to the office to talk to the manager and asked her to PLEASE be nice to any buyers I get. She didn't think she'd been rude and said it was like pulling teeth to get the buyer to even say who would be living in the house. First it was just him (the one with the cash). Then it was him and his brother. Then it was him and his brother and maybe his brother's wife and two kids. Then there was the chance that the one with the cash might return to his own wife and kids (his wife had thrown him out), leaving the brother and his family in the house. But according to a combination of park rules and state law, this last scenario wasn't allowed, because nobody living in the house was on the title or an immediate ancestor or descendant. That would be sub-letting, which isn't permitted.

When the manager started to cast aspersions on my realtor, who is also a friend, I explained the whole SR-related situation to her, and she relaxed. She said that every single buyer that SR brought into the park has been trouble.

She promised to smile and be friendly and even welcoming to any future buyer of mine, and she even promised NOT to raise the rent (which she's allowed to do), after I pointed out to her that our rents are among the highest in our area and that I'd already had people refuse to even look at the house because the rent was too high. Thank God for small miracles!

So now I'm back to needing the big miracle of a house sale in this market. Before I run out of money.

Another Job Update

Today was my last day of training at my new job before I go solo on Sunday.

I'm mostly getting the hang of it. My questions have changed from, "What do I do?" to, "I do this, right?" That's the kind of progress we like to see.

Yesterday, on my day off, I went to the shoe store to try on some shoes, because the dress code requires closed-toed shoes, and most of mine are open-toed. I found some good ones and put them on hold for today, when my boss would be there to ring me up at the employee discount. So today I went there at lunchtime and bought my shoes, and now even my feet are ready for settling in on the job.

This afternoon, however, I got a call on my cell phone from a lady I interviewed with a few months ago for a job I really wanted but didn't get. The clinic's HR person had told me a few weeks after the interview that they selected someone who had experience doing that kind of work (admin combined with data analysis), but they really liked me and wanted me to apply there again. I hadn't seen any openings there that I wanted, though.

So today the hiring manager said in a voicemail that they'd been having trouble getting someone to fill the opening, and would I be interested?

I was stunned, and walked into my boss's boss's office (the friend of my friend) and told her about the message.

She said, "Go! Call them! I want you to make more money!"

So I called them and told the manager what the situation was, and she said they couldn't interview me until Wednesday or Thursday, which works well with my schedule, since my days off are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So they'll try to have an interview on Thursday or Friday.

Amazing!

New Job Update

I started my new job Sunday. My counterpart, whose normal schedule is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, is working overtime to train me. It's a daunting task for her.

My biggest challenge is the phone. Having only had my own extension to worry about on all my previous jobs (plus being able to transfer people who called me by mistake), I wasn't ready for four phone lines, the intercom, and whole-building paging. With my counterpart sitting by me, ready to answer my questions, I'm starting to get the hang of it.

The other challenge is knowing who to call for what. Marketing is for prospective residents or their families. Housekeeping is for clean-up. Assisted Living is for personal care of the residents. The Med Tech (part of the Assisted Living department) is for medications. The Kitchen is easy to figure out. And there are other people to call as well. Not to mention the random things that come up that don't quite fit into one tidy category.

It was starting to feel as though I'd never get the hang of it, but by yesterday (Day 3) I was kinda-sorta catching on.

The area where I added the most value was with the computer work. My friend's friend (who hired me) is also my boss's boss. She came in briefly Sunday, because she needed a report by Monday morning, and as she described what she needed (my counterpart was going to work on that while I started reading the important manuals), I said it really needed to be a spreadsheet.

My counterpart avoids the computer like the plague, and my boss's boss doesn't have much of a working relationship with Excel, so they were trying to build a report manually on a notepad. After a while spent beating her head against the wall, my counterpart said something, and that got me to volunteer to see what I could do in Excel. They had a spreadsheet started, so I worked from that, sorted it by resident name so it would match the order of the physical files, added a few columns that helped me get the calculations they needed, then finished by re-sorting it all by room number after I got everybody's information entered.

The two of them were thrilled, and my counterpart asked our Big Boss if she could keep me. She can. But the project took up most of Sunday, so my training really didn't start until Monday. And Tuesday I handled the phones on my own as much as I could. I called for help less and less, which was a big relief, because the plan is that the two of us will work together again Friday, and then I'll be on my own starting Sunday, though my counterpart says I can call her at home 20 times a day if I need to.

As for the residents, I'm enjoying most of the ones who come to the lobby to hang out. There are a couple cranky ones who like to be around people so they can spread their dissatisfaction with the way things are. I'm supposed to ignore them as much as possible while still being polite, because the workload will suffer if I allow myself to become too wrapped up in conversation with them. Actually, the same goes for the friendly ones too. If the phones are quiet, though, I enoy talking to the residents.

On Tuesday I received two gifts. One was a drawing with markers of a farm scene as a welcome to me. The other was a yellow and purple yarn trivet/hot pad that's very nice. But the maker of it let it slip that she had given all the other ones away and still had one left, and that's why I got it. I don't feel slighted, though.

The other employees are really nice and love the residents. I can see it in the way they interact.

In spite of the long workdays, I think I'm going to like it there.

New Job

I have a new job, and I start tomorrow!

I'll be the receptionist at an assisted living facility, working 10-hour days four days a week (Sunday - Wednesday), though this week will have a slightly different schedule for my training.

The previous receptionist wasn't coping well with the demands of the job, and when she lost it with one of the residents this past week, they had to get a replacement in a hurry. The director of the facility is a friend of a friend, and I'd met her before. I had semi-interviewed for this position earlier, when the now-fired lady had expressed dissatisfaction with the job, but she wouldn't quit so I was left in limbo until now.

So far in my job search, every single interview I've had (except at the city, where your test score determines whether you get an interview) has happened because I knew somebody who knew somebody at the place with the opening.

I gave one day's notice at the shoe store, but the manager convinced me to make it two weeks so I get flagged as rehirable. She promised not to schedule me in the next two weeks except for my days off from my new job.

I remember many years ago, when I was attending Bible Study Fellowship, that the teaching leader announced at the end of my first year at BSF that she was stepping down. She said she felt the Lord leading her out of that position through a brand-new restlessness coupled with Scriptures related to leaving or going that were jumping out at her. She had no idea what she was supposed to do next, only that she must leave.

A year later, she took the position of a coach (not the official title for this job) for the leaders in the region, and she loved it.

This is the way I've felt at the shoe store the last month. I've had challenges with most of my co-workers (never the customers), to the point that I really wanted to quit the job, but I needed the meager income it was bringing in. Now my restlessness has an answer.

Since my church only has Sunday morning services, I'll have to attend another church on Saturday nights. I'll need to sign up for a weekday Bible study group to stay connected with my home church.

I'd better go to bed, so I can get up in the morning early enough to figure out how to get ready for work. No more sleeping in late whenever I want to...

Some Great Music

Now, some time away from politics. Courtesy of my daughter...

Watch the band members have a little fun throughout the song.



Classic!

Arlen Specter Gets an Earful in Town Hall

Sen. Arlen Specter (RINOD-PA) held a Town Hall, and this video highlights two attendees who had something to say (HT: John Hinderacker at Power Line). To his credit, Specter didn't take his ball and go home, like the AARP lady did.

Constitutional Rights

(Hat Tip: WordSmith at Flopping Aces)

Single Payer Health Strategy

Kevin McCullough posted this video today, refuting the White House's assertion that the Public Option is about insurance competition and not a move toward a single-payer plan (universal health coverage).



Do you like your health insurance plan? Do you want to keep it? Too stinkin' bad, because it won't be around for long if the White House and the Democrat-controlled Congress pass this Hurricane-Katrina-on-steroids disaster of a bill.