The Pack, The Quake, And Bob Actually Defends The Clintons

Once again I have nothing worthy of an entire post, so here are a few more random ramblings.

U Go Pack: Wow, what a game. Seattle gets two quick touchdowns off of Packer fumbles and goes up 14-0. This had me nervous because the pack has only been down by 10 or more twice this season, losing both games. But then the pack exploded, tying it up before the first quarter was over (and tying the NFL record for most post-season points in a single quarter), and then exploding to win the game by 22 points in a huge snowstorm.

And now, for the first time in 10 years the Packers are in the NFC Championship game. New York or Dallas? Well, we won’t know until tomorrow – and the Giants have been as hot as the Cowboys have been cool lately. Giants win and we’re back in Lambeau next week. Cowboys win and we travel to Dallas, where Brett Favre is 0 and 9. Go Giants…..

U Snow Falls In Baghdad: Lambeau Field I understand, but Baghdad? Yes, snow fell today in Baghdad for the first time ever in recorded history. Do you know what this means? I have spent the entire afternoon compiling a list of things I promised to do if Hell froze over. This means that I will have to vote for Hillary, and there are a couple of girls from college that I owe phone calls to. Oh the humanity….

U Snow I Can Take. Earthquakes? Not So Much: I don’t know if there is anything “Biblical” about this, but just as I am typing the phrase “Hell Freezes Over” we experience a 3.1 earthquake. Now 3.1 isn’t huge, but any earthquake you can feel freaks me out. Four years ago, two days before Christmas, we were hit with a 6.5, which is pretty huge. All of the shelves in my garage went over, spilling every paint, stain and solvent I had on Cindy’s Explorer. The buffet with all of Cindy’s grandmothers good china went over, losing everything. Our fireplace pulled away from the wall, and the kids playhouse, which was supported on four 12 x 12 posts, came down.

Being two days before Christmas, the kids were home and could have been in that playhouse. Thank God they weren’t up there. And in my daughters room all of the dresser drawers shoot across the room. Thank god they weren’t there either. But my daughter and her friend were sitting right in front of the big screen T.V., which had it been on the opposite wall, it would have fallen right on top of them. But given the “wave” nature of earthquakes, all of the items on the east side of the house remained fairly stationery.

In my son’s room, the action was very violent. Everything moved towards the middle of the room, and despite the fact that everything that was on a shelf was now on the floor, the room seemed strangely cleaner than it had been in weeks. Could be my imagination though. Anyhow, ever since that day, and the several hundred (yes, several hundred) aftershocks that came after, I’ve had a, shall we say, healthy respect for earthquakes. Coming from the Midwest, where I had a healthy respect for tornadoes, I can honestly say that I’ll take an “I know it’s coming” tornado over a “What the hell was that” earthquake any day.

One last earthquake related item. In the picture on the right you see the rubble of the “Acorn Building” in downtown Paso Robles. The Acorn Building fell, killing two. If you look at that picture, you will see that three doors down from the Acorn building is a green awning. One year prior to the quake that building – the one with the green awning – Housed “The Yardstick Fabric & Crafts”, a fabric store owned by my wife and myself. We had made the decision to close, and had we not my wife, and possibly my daughter, would have been in this mess. Thank god for small miracles. Okay, maybe not that small.

U Well, I Was Waiting For This: Yesterday I commented about Bill Clinton’s “Fairy Tale” remark regarding Obama’s stance on the Iraqi war. Well today it seems Clinton is taking flack from “black leadership” regarding the comment, which they interpreted as not only attacking Obama’s stance on the war, but also his overarching message and his drive to be the first black president.

Look, I’m not in the habit of defending the Clinton’s, but this is B.S.. If you read or listen to Clinton’s original comments, it is obvious that he is talking about the war, nothing else.

Look, I have no problem whatsoever with our having America’s first black president, or Jewish president, or Hispanic president, or even America’s first women president (but God please, not THAT woman). But if that means that every time they say or do something, or everytime somebody criticizes their actions we’re going to pull out the race or the gender card, then count me out. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with pulling the card out whenever an obvious slight to race or gender has been made, but if you need to “read into” comments, then there probably wasn’t anything racially charged there to start with.

I was surprised that, in an effort to explain the difference between the New Hampshire exit polls and the actual vote, several commentators suggested that some people would have told pollsters that they voted for Obama when in fact they may not “be ready yet” to vote for a black man. What sense does that make? Like saying that you voted for Clinton or Edwards makes you a racist? I just don’t get it.

U One Last Thing: Go see “The Bucket List”. Good movie.