Marc Whitman's Blog

Anyone out there read Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism?

I’d be interested in having a discussion regarding his thesis.  If his thesis is an accurate account of the fascist thought in America, then the rank-and-file of both political parties would have some soul searching to do regarding the people and programs they admire.

MW

Based on what I know of the current situation, I am very pleased that the House vote on the bailout ended with what amounts to a NO.  I hope the congressmen (and women) who are resisting this bailout measure will stick to their guns until much more light is shed on the backdoor dealing criminals in DC.  One can hope that the more time spent debating this bailout might actually reveal who was really behind this mess and how we can hold them accountable.  Again, based on what I know, it seems like the elected officials (from both parties, albeit largely from the Democrats) in DC are mostly to blame for this mess.

I already pay enough in taxes, I don’t need congress promising people who took a chance on a risky loan to bail them out with more of my money.  As for the people living in houses who have defaulted on one of these risky loans: Please move into housing that you can afford and save up to buy something more (and in the meantime tell Obama and the Democrats to make the capital gains tax cut permanent…or just eliminate it).  I haven’t asked anyone else (least of all strangers from other states) to pay back the loan on my house.  Cowboy up and do the same.

MW

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/meredithwhitman

Here is a copy of my post to Meredith’s CaringBridge site when we all took a trip to the grocery store…

Okay…

…just had to share this…

I took Malcolm, Maura, and Meredith to the grocery store yesterday.  Yes, that’s right, by myself. 

We got to the store before I realized I forgot the list.  Whoops.  No big deal, I just barely wrote it down, so it was fresh in the memory banks.

Got out of the car and realized…how am I going to push the cart, the wheel chair, and keep two kids under control?  No big deal, Malcolm could push mommy and I could push Maura in the cart.

Got a quarter of the way down the first aisle before I noticed…Malcolm had run mommy into an unsuspecting grocery store patron perusing the greeting cards.  Got another quarter of the way down the same aisle before Malcolm and mommy nearly knock over a cardboard display box.  Yet another quarter of the way down the same aisle and I turn to see Malcolm investigating some sparkly, glowing sticks.  “What ‘dat, daddy?”  After a couple minutes of ruthless negotiating, I pulled him away from the pretty objects and finally made it to the end of the first aisle.

Plan B, I put Malcolm in the front of the grocery cart and I pushed mommy while I pulled the cart (poor Maura was like the caboose on a train, only seeing where we had already been and not where we were going).

Things are going swimmingly until we hit the magazine aisle.  Not only are there magazines, but there are children’s books as well.  Turns out that those books bought me an extra 10 minutes of peaceful grocery store time when all was said and done.

By the time we hit the cash register, all you could see of Malcolm was his little blonde head peeking out from between the loaves of bread and the toilet paper, Maura was no longer entertained by Dora The Explorer’s exploits, and Mommy was patient, but she was ready to lie down and rest.

Got all the way to the car before I realized…where was I going to put the groceries?  With two car seats in the back seat and Meredith’s wheelchair in the back, there wasn’t really room for the foodstuffs.  So, taking care not to smash the eggs, I packed the back of the car like a game of Tetris and gently slammed shut the door.

Now, on our way back home, I take look at the clock and realize…it’s quarter ‘til one.  That would be an hour past lunch time and only 15 minutes before nap time.  So, I had to feed everyone lunch, get Meredith and the kids to bed and find the energy to actually put away the groceries.  Trying to maintain my cool, I slow my breathing to achieve a zen-like state of mind.  Not that I began to achieve any sort of balance with the universe, but I kept my anxieties in check.

When we pulled into the driveway I realized…Zen is a load of hooey and I couldn’t use the wheelchair to get Meredith in the house before I unloaded groceries because you’ll remember that the bags are tucked Tetris-style into every little nook and Thomas’ cranny.  So, I walked Meredith from the car to the front door of the house and to the seat in the front hallway (which under normal circumstances would have been something to celebrate, but we were a little pressed for time).  Merlin managed to escape during our entrance to the house because Malcolm and Maura were just lingering in the open doorway while I was walking mommy.  With Meredith sitting in the gossip chair (that’s another story) in the front hallway, Malcolm, Maura and I went out to get Merlin back to the house.

He stopped across the street to pee and we managed to coax him back to our side of the street.  I told the kids to start walking to the house to encourage Merlin to follow us and Malcolm and I started to make our way back to the house.  I turned to check on the pug’s progress (apologies to Bunyon fans) and Maura and Merlin were in a stare down.  I told Maura to come with us so Merlin would follow.  She proceeded to get down on her knees and snort through her nose to imitate Merlin’s breathing.  Methinks she misunderstood.  At the time, I wasn’t particularly amused, but I knew it would be funny later.  Ha, ha.

Now, everyone’s back in the house.  Meredith needs to use the potty (which requires my assistance).  Malcolm and Maura are running amok on a hypoglycemic frenzy and Meredith and I are dodging two and four legged creatures as they dart in and out of our legs.  Malcolm comes over to me with one shoe off and says that he can’t get the other one off.  So, being the wannabe magician that I am, I give it a quick yank (as per the table cloth trick) and proceeded to triple sowcow Malcolm to the floor with a perfect landing for a high dive competition. 

After consoling Malcolm and cleaning mommy, I am finally able to bring the groceries into the house.  At this point, life returns to a more acceptable pace and I manage to get the groceries away, feed everyone lunch, get everyone down for a nap, and plop myself down to watch some football only to discover that the Patriots are getting creamed by the Dolphins.  No bit of light-hearted entertainment or encouragement there, so I took a nap.

PS And still the Red Sox find ways to make getting to the playoffs look like a Shakespearean comedy.  We’re at the part when we discover that David Ortiz is really a man pretending to be girl, pretending to be a man so that he can keep his number three spot in the line-up even though Dustpan Petunia tops the league in three different offensive categories (including nose hair).  Jacobin Elderberry is shouting vive le stolen base, while Jason “I’m not Manny Ramirez” Baywatch is looking for his muse.  Cocoa Crispies is negotiating a Faustian deal with Crackle, to take over Snap and Pop’s share of Kellog’s.  Kevin YouCanDoIt is still amazed that he wasn’t cast as Lex Luthor in the most recent Superman movie and VariTekTacToe, Paplebonbon and the First Lowell are masterminding a Machiavellian scheme to take everyone’s maple bats and replace them with pine.  In the end, let’s hope that we’ll see Kevin Rock the Cashbah throw off the catcher’s mask, tilt his head back and share a laugh with Terry Franconia Notch. 

As Maceo Parker would say, pass the peas like we used to do.

Let me explain my subtitle.

God…I put God first because that is where God is supposed to be in my life.  Does that mean that is an accurate reflection of my daily life?  Probably not.  In fact, I hope hosting this blog site will encourage me to keep God first in my life.  I’m not sure what I’ll have to say and much of it may be for my own sake (although you’re welcome to comment).

Family…after God, nothing could possibly come next except my family.  I consider my wife, Meredith, to be united with me in one flesh.  I consider my children, Malcolm and Maura, to be a blessing from God and I take the responsibilty to raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord very seriously.  I believe that the most important form of “government” is the family and I expect to export the lessons we learn as a family to our culture.

Politics…well, this seems like a reasonable third category to me.  After all, politics is the way we interact with other people.  After God and family comes everyone else!  That, and I enjoy a good political discussion (especially the written discussion because my oral skills are not that great).

Whatever else suits my fancy…this seems self explanatory, but I wanted to make sure that I didn’t limit myself to just three topics.

There you have it.  My blog.  I hope to make this as engaging for the reader as much as I hope to make this a useful tool for expressing myself.

MW

Did anyone else notice that Obama repeatedly referred to McCain as “John”?  Meanwhile, McCain consistently referred to Obama as “Senator Obama”.

This may not top the list of reasons why to vote a presidential candidate, but I think it provides a little insight into the differences of the two candidates.  Hubris is not a word I’ve used much but I know it’s been bantied about by many people as an attack on the Bush administration.  It seems to me that it would apply well to Obama’s attitude displayed last night.

MW

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