Where did it go?

The week, I mean? I don't really know. But obviously blogging took a back seat, and for the next few weeks will probably continue to do so, as Solo & Ensemble season is upon us and I will be looking to fit in practicing and rehearsals for the 40 or so junior high and high school students that I am accompanying at contest this year. Add in four junior high choir concerts (plus the necessary rehearsals for those) and a conference at our church this weekend, and it will take all I can muster to keep up with much of anything beyond the absolutely necessary. It's like this every February. March isn't much better. Maybe I will be able to stop holding my breath in April.

Speaking of breathing, I have been having trouble doing so lately. Just can't seem to get enough air. Has anyone out there ever experienced this? I feel as though I'm in constant need of a yawn, but I can't seem to succeed in getting one. I have had this sensation at other times in my life so wonder if it's just stress. Then again, maybe it's allergies, or the chlorinated air that I have been breathing several times each week since I started attending a water exercise class, or the carrot I accidentally inhaled last week. Who knows--I'll just be glad when I can breathe again.

Anyway, the piano calls, so in lieu of more lengthy blog posts on the topics that have been on my mind of late, here are some pithy comments:

The Super Bowl halftime show was pathetically bad. I am aghast at what has become of our popular culture.

That Ronald Reagan was one of our greatest presidents has become a truism. Everybody acknowledges it, even those who opposed him when he was alive and would oppose him now if he were still with us. But after watching the Reagan 100th birthday tribute on Sunday and then viewing with my husband and children a documentary about his life and presidency, I have been reminded anew of the reasons for his greatness. And while I am saddened to see how far we as a country have traveled from the place that he took us to, I am also encouraged to remember how much he managed to accomplish in his eight years as president. It gives me hope that if we as a nation can find and elect the right leader we can reverse our current course and return to the path that he put us on.

Finally, if you homeschool in Illinois, you need to be paying attention to this. Really, if you homeschool anywhere I think you will want to watch how this effort plays out. With apologies to John Donne, "Any homeschooler's loss of freedom diminishes my freedom, because I am involved in homeschooling. Therefore, never send to know for whom the educational despots grasp; they grasp for thee."

Today . . .

. . . is the 20th anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. The city will host an enormous, all day celebration to mark the event. Attending will be German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Hillary Clinton will also be there. Barack Obama will not.

The Transformation Has Begun

There were those who, after the election of Obama, encouraged us to watch and wait and give him a chance. The thinking is that once a man stops being candidate and starts being president, the vastness of the office and all it requires changes him and causes him to moderate and enlarge his perspective. So even though my heart and gut were telling me otherwise, I tried to reserve judgment and hope for the best.

After less than a month of the Obama presidency, it's clear there has been no moderation. As Sean Hannity says, "The radicals are in charge." And it seems that for the time being there is little we can do about it but hold on for the ride and fix our eyes on things above.

In the meantime, I am encouraged by a few small things. First, the Republicans in the House have so far stuck together, seeming to realize what is at stake here, not only for our country but for them. When Obama's "steal-from-us" (HT: Texas Rainmaker) plan doesn't accomplish as promised, they will have a clear conscience and be able to say to the American people: "We tried to tell you." Second, perhaps the radical agenda will turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Obama and the Democrats currently seem so drunk with power that they are overreaching, trying to do too much too soon, desperately showing as much of their agenda down the country's throats as they can as quickly as possible. I pray that this backfires on them by waking people up. The question is, if and when people do wake up, will it be too late to undo the damage?

The Anchoress has posted a video created by Texas Rainmaker that juxtaposes audio clips of Ronald Reagan with those of Barack Obama. The effect is sad and frightening. The words of Reagan are shown to be prophetic, as time and again he warns against the very things Obama is now doing. The opening clips of the video say it all:

Reagan: "One of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children's children, what it once was like in America, when men were free."

Obama (on the campaign trail): "We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America."

Post Election Day Thoughts

President-Elect Obama's appointment of the take-no-prisoners Rahm Emmanuel as Chief of Staff is cause for concern in light of his promise to set a "new tone" in Washington. On the other hand, who can blame him? If our guy had won, we would be cheering such an in your face appointment.

Obama's nasty slap at Nancy Reagan during his first press conference was also unbecoming of someone who has positioned himself as a healer and uniter. For the record, Mrs. Reagan did not hold seances but consulted with a psychic/astrologer in the wake of the attempt on her husband's life. She was distraught. To make light of anything related to that terrible episode in America's history is callous and unworthy of the presidency. I am glad Senator Obama apologized. But seeing such carelessness with words in his first presidential-style appearance is troubling to me.

I am disgusted with the Sarah Palin rumor-mongering that is emanating from some unnamed cretins in the McCain campaign. Shame on them. John McCain should come out with a forceful disavowal of their behavior and an affirmation of all that Governor Palin brought to his campaign.

I am very worried about our country and about where the new president is going to take us, not only because I disagree with his core beliefs but also because I just don't think he has the discernment required for the job. But it cannot be denied that he is a remarkable and intelligent man. I am clinging to that fact, hoping and praying that once he is privy to the full range of presidential knowledge, he will moderate some of his plans and ideas. I am also taking comfort in the fact that he is a husband and father and that surely he will want to take steps to preserve and protect his own family as well as mine in this dangerous world. May the Lord grant him wisdom as he leads us forward.

Finally . . . thank God it's over! I feel like I can breathe again!

Ronald Wilson Reagan

My husband sent this to me with the following words: "Didn't realize just how much he's missed, until I read and remembered some of the stuff he said . . . and stood for."

Take a few moments and remember the wisdom of Ronald Reagan. We sure could use him now.

Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.

Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.

I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.

The taxpayer: that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.

Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.

It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed, there are many rewards; if you disgrace yourself, you can always write a book.

No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is as formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.

If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.

More Anagrams

My children and I have had no end of laughs this morning since discovering the anagram site mentioned in the last few posts (thanks again, Susan). My son did a little more exploring of the site and discovered the "Anagram Hall of Fame." Here are just a few of the treasures you will find there:

dormitory = dirty room

Clint Eastwood = Old West action

Madame Curie = Radium came

The Morse Code = Here come dots

Conversation = Voices rant on

Mother-in-law = Woman Hitler

The United States of America = Attaineth its cause, freedom

Statue of Liberty = Built to Stay Free

Eleven plus two = Twelve plus one

William Jefferson Clinton = Jail Mrs Clinton: felon wife
(by Ward Hardman)

George Bush = He bugs Gore
(by Mike Morton)

Ronald Wilson Reagan = No, darlings, no ERA law
(by Mike Morton)

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea = Huge water tale stuns. End had you tense.
(by E.L. Benfer)

To be or not to be: that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. = In one of the Bard's best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten.
(by Cory Calhoun)