... a sample
Romney Kills It! ~ Politico
Oct 3, 2012 11:21 AM EDT
'The challenger turned in a strong performance, while the president disappointed.'
Obama’s Big Whimper
by Michael Medved
"The 51-year-old hope-and-change wonder boy looked worn out, uncomfortable, and embarrassed to be there, at times wrinkling his face as if suffering severe gastric distress."
‘He May Have Lost the Election’
by Andrew Sullivan
"This was supposed to be a debate, not a wonkish lecture. And Romney’s well-crafted punches are going to sting Obama for a while."
Why Obama Lost
by David Frum - CNN Analyst
"Mitt Romney dominated and Barack Obama stumbled in Denver Wednesday night."
The Rockefeller Republican Wins Big
by Michael Tomasky - Newsweek
"There is no question that Mitt Romney won this debate, and won it big. He was crisp, and he struck a good balance of being on the offensive without being offensive. Obama was hardly even there half the time. He seemed as if he just wandered in off the street."
Why Obama Fell Flat
by Howard Kurtz
"The president made some good arguments but was undermined by his lack of passion. Howard Kurtz on how he let Romney win the night."
Polls: Romney Wins
by Matthew DeLuca
"Pundits trashed President Obama’s performance in last night’s debate—and instant polls show that voters agree."
Was That Obama’s Dud Double?
by Tunku Varadarajan
"He wasn’t exactly sweaty-Nixonesque, but the Obama on display in Denver was more flaccid, dull-brained, and shifty than we’ve ever seen him in the White House. One thing is clear: Romney’s a debater—and he’s likable,... "
"Where was Obama tonight?!
Chris Matthews - MSNBC
He should watch, well not just Hardball, Rachel [Maddow], he should watch you, he should watch the Reverend Al [Sharpton], he should watch Lawrence [O'Donnell]. He would learn something about this debate,"
Obama did poorly in the debate
Ed Schultz - MSNBC
"I don't think he explained himself very well. I thought he was off his game. I was absolutely stunned tonight,"
NOTE: When Michael Tomasky, Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, etc. do not say anything positive about Obama in the debate with Romney, then you know that Obama's performance was beyond spinning and beyond sugarcoating. In other words, it was bad, as in bad - not baaad! LOL!
10/3/12
Debate or "De Bait"?
I should really look forward to this debate tonight between Obama and Romney, but for some reason I am not. Why? Because I know Obama will win, no matter how well Romney does. How do I know that? Because the MSM (Mainstream Media) - or what I call the MaliciouS Media - will spin the debate in Obama’s favor. So "de bait" is already dangled before Romney by the MaliciouSMedia. And if Romney messes up or sounds/looks weak, then you will read the morning headlines - by the likes of Huffington Post, MSNBC, Politico, Daily Beast, Daily Kos, Mother Jones, etc.- that the election is over. These MSM outlets will hire you on the spot if you answer "Yes!" to their only question of their interviews "Do you hate Romney?" And then you will join the ranks of Martin Bashir, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Michael Tomasky, Paul Begala, Hillary Rosen and all the Romney haters.
UPDATE (10/15/2012) - day before the second debate:
A news headline reads: "Obama camp predicts feistier showing in debate No. 2."
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| ... maybe not for long |
Meanwhile I’ll just watch and wait to write my own post debate analysis, if not live updates ...
UPDATE:
Well, quite the contrary it now seems and I am starting to feel sorry for the President. The big difference in knowledge between him and Romney is startling. Rightfully! Romney has MBA and Law degrees - plus extensive executive experience. Obama has only a Law degree and a total lack of executive experience - only as a community organizer and first term senator - that's it! Compare that to Romney being a former Governor, CEO (Bain Corporation) and President/CEO (Olympics), Church leader, etc.
Romney was right a couple of weeks ago that Obama is going to lie during the debates - and he (Obama) has lied flagrantly so far - e.g. Tax deduction for a company moving overseas. Romney told him there's no such thing.
UPDATE:
VERDICT IS IN: Romney IS clearly THE WINNER. So far that's my take and CNN's as well - a more neutral news channel. Obama seemed flustered, listless and lost! He actually was groping for answers.
Surprisingly MSNBC seems to hands the win to Romney too! (Hence I stand corrected!..LOL! )
"Mitt Romney [as the winner] was the general consensus of the media, including the usually pro-Obama MSNBC. (MSNBC hosts Chris Matthews and Ed Schultz slammed Obama's performance.)" ~ Politico
Some final thoughts:
Well I guess when you’re hot you’re hot - Romney
And when you’re not you’re not - Obama
And Obama must have really sucked because even his own MSM gang agrees! I have watched Obama in some of his campaign speeches, especially when he’s rebutting a claim by Romney. He responds like a member of a college freshman debate team - he’s sarcastic, facetious and elementary in his logic. And he’s the President? C’mon. Romney was definitely more confident, composed and smarter; Obama was livid and lethargic.
Watch Obama come back more aggressive and fiercer in the next debate but he has to be careful not to appear feisty and arrogant. And don’t forget that Romney has seen all that during the primaries.
Finally, Romney should insert the following somewhere in the remaining debates: "Look, I understand that the President is a good man, and a very popular and likeable person, but popularity and likeability do not create jobs and do not improve the economy; experience and leadersip do, and I have both - and more!"
UPDATE (10/15/2012) - day before the second debate:
A news headline reads: "Obama camp predicts feistier showing in debate No. 2."
9/14/12
Gadgets are not the Scriptures
The Depersonalization of the Scriptures
Is technology making the expressions “Family Bible” and “Personal Copy/Set of the Scriptures” obsolete?
One Sunday, a few months ago, I was sitting with the Elder (son) in church. I noticed he did not have his Scriptures with him so I asked where they were. He gave me a guilty and sorry smile, and whispered that they were outside in his car. And then with a jocular nudge at my side, he showed me his smartphone and said, “Here!” I was a little miffed but decided to continue our father-son repartee through my eyebrow flashes, albeit in a more indignant manner.
But then something which I had dismissed nonchalantly up to that point, started to stir my cognitive - more than my emotional and spiritual - thoughts again. It’s about gadgets (cell/mobile phones, ebooks, iPads, Kindles, etc.) in church, especially as substitutes and replacements for the real, tangible, hard copy version of the Scriptures.
The first such thought that came to mind was “Gadgets are not the Scriptures.” These devices are only mediums through which the Scriptures can be read and accessed. (And I did make that clear to the Elder after church.) I may not be as repulsed if they are used for other purposes like reading a talk or rendering music, etc., but when someone uses them in the place of a personal, hard copy version of the Scriptures, then I would have a qualm about it.
I am one of those people who is timely in accepting and adapting to change especially in technology. After all, I am a compunerd, but replacing or substituting a personal hard copy set of the Scriptures with a gadget is something that I am not even close - if ever - to considering. And even if I can access the Scriptures electronically during church and other meetings - which I presently can - I would still not abandon or discard my personal copy of the Scriptures.
Honestly, I just cannot picture myself telling one of my children to go and get my Scriptures and he/she returns with an iPhone 5 or a Kindle. It’s preposterous to say the least. Scriptures to me are supposed to be separate, exclusive, tangible, valuable and, yes, personal. All these are undermined, if not lost, by having separate means or conduits to accessing them. By these same means, the feeling that scriptures are detached and further removed from me/us becomes more real. They are not personal anymore; plus I would feel as if they’re on an as-needed or rental basis, considering that with these gadgets, more often than not, we pay for Internet services to access Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, etc.
Instantaneousness is a great benefit of the technological devices. And who would not want to stay abreast with these advances and innovation? Related material for scripture study and learning are at our fingertips in seconds and nanoseconds. But still, there’s something unique, intimate, spiritual, sentimental and personal about having one’s own hard copy set of the Scriptures, one that you can mark, notate, cross reference and then keep it on the shelf or on the night stand. That same set, especially the father’s, can then be kept as a family heirloom, as the Bible has been with many families.
Moreover, I do not want my Scriptures to be bundled - and bungled - with/by other materials or applications. Imagine having a huge all-in-one encyclopedic book and wedged right in the middle of it, is the Bible. The purity and sacredness of the Scriptures can and will be greatly undermined and/or compromised by these extraneous - and often scabrous - material. You now have the good, the bad, the ugly and the secular mingled with the Scriptures. Therefore, convenience should not be our only or ultimate and best excuse for replacing the Scriptures with the so-called i (for instant) - devices.
Now, though my Church has not taken - and may never will in respect for individual choice - an official position on this matter, I have and will commit to keeping and embracing my personal hard copy version of the Scriptures. At the same time I will respect others including half the members of my Sunday School class who still turn the pages of their “scriptures” the old-fashioned way (with their fingers) only that they now do it by touching a screen. LOL!
Have a good weekend ....
Is technology making the expressions “Family Bible” and “Personal Copy/Set of the Scriptures” obsolete?
One Sunday, a few months ago, I was sitting with the Elder (son) in church. I noticed he did not have his Scriptures with him so I asked where they were. He gave me a guilty and sorry smile, and whispered that they were outside in his car. And then with a jocular nudge at my side, he showed me his smartphone and said, “Here!” I was a little miffed but decided to continue our father-son repartee through my eyebrow flashes, albeit in a more indignant manner.
The first such thought that came to mind was “Gadgets are not the Scriptures.” These devices are only mediums through which the Scriptures can be read and accessed. (And I did make that clear to the Elder after church.) I may not be as repulsed if they are used for other purposes like reading a talk or rendering music, etc., but when someone uses them in the place of a personal, hard copy version of the Scriptures, then I would have a qualm about it.
I am one of those people who is timely in accepting and adapting to change especially in technology. After all, I am a compunerd, but replacing or substituting a personal hard copy set of the Scriptures with a gadget is something that I am not even close - if ever - to considering. And even if I can access the Scriptures electronically during church and other meetings - which I presently can - I would still not abandon or discard my personal copy of the Scriptures.
Honestly, I just cannot picture myself telling one of my children to go and get my Scriptures and he/she returns with an iPhone 5 or a Kindle. It’s preposterous to say the least. Scriptures to me are supposed to be separate, exclusive, tangible, valuable and, yes, personal. All these are undermined, if not lost, by having separate means or conduits to accessing them. By these same means, the feeling that scriptures are detached and further removed from me/us becomes more real. They are not personal anymore; plus I would feel as if they’re on an as-needed or rental basis, considering that with these gadgets, more often than not, we pay for Internet services to access Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, etc.
Instantaneousness is a great benefit of the technological devices. And who would not want to stay abreast with these advances and innovation? Related material for scripture study and learning are at our fingertips in seconds and nanoseconds. But still, there’s something unique, intimate, spiritual, sentimental and personal about having one’s own hard copy set of the Scriptures, one that you can mark, notate, cross reference and then keep it on the shelf or on the night stand. That same set, especially the father’s, can then be kept as a family heirloom, as the Bible has been with many families.
Moreover, I do not want my Scriptures to be bundled - and bungled - with/by other materials or applications. Imagine having a huge all-in-one encyclopedic book and wedged right in the middle of it, is the Bible. The purity and sacredness of the Scriptures can and will be greatly undermined and/or compromised by these extraneous - and often scabrous - material. You now have the good, the bad, the ugly and the secular mingled with the Scriptures. Therefore, convenience should not be our only or ultimate and best excuse for replacing the Scriptures with the so-called i (for instant) - devices.
Now, though my Church has not taken - and may never will in respect for individual choice - an official position on this matter, I have and will commit to keeping and embracing my personal hard copy version of the Scriptures. At the same time I will respect others including half the members of my Sunday School class who still turn the pages of their “scriptures” the old-fashioned way (with their fingers) only that they now do it by touching a screen. LOL!
Have a good weekend ....
9/11/12
Finally ...
... starting to slowly get over his leaving. Since the day he received - and opened - his mission call (May 30th), the day he entered the Missionary Training Center ( July 25th), to the farewell at the airport (August 13th), I am finally starting to get back some normalcy in my life. Accordingly, therefore, instead of a post as usual, I’ll just have a photo essay. It has been a bitter sweet experience which is, however, becoming sweeter (than bitter) by the week as he writes home telling me, his Mom and the whole family that - as the hymn title proclaims - "Sweet Is The Work". His Sister sister (hahaa) agrees as she, too, is tasting the same sweetness as she labors in her part of the Lord's vineyard.
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| "I hope they call me on a mission...." |
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| Our Tulafale (Orator) |
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| ... with sisters at MTC (Inset: Sister sister currently serving too) |
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| ...with Mom - on Sunday of his farewell during which he gave an inspiring talk |
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... with Dad at the MTC (Missionary Training Center)
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| ... boarding flight with more members of the "army" |
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| ... onward Christian soldiers |
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| ... our "General Conference babies" - bd. Oct 5th and April 6th |
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| ...and both now Called to Serve |
9/4/12
Some back to school memories
In parts of China, BYO school supplies include desks
By NBC News
The desks - from their sameness - in this Samoan classroom look like they were built and provided by the school. It is however a close representation of a typical Elementary classroom in my day, and which may still exist to this day in some rural villages. School uniforms were equalizers and helped the parents save what little money they had, instead of doing any lavish shopping relative to today's sprees.
BEIJING –– While millions of students all over the world return to school this month, youngsters in one part of China were expected to bring not just pencils and notebooks, but their own desks and chairs when school opened.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>&
Been there, done that. The article is a throwback to my own Primary/Elementary School days. My desk was not that big though; it was small and low because my class did not sit on chairs.
My grandfather often used scraps from banana crates to build my desks. I had several during my Elementary School years. In the classrooms, the students would sit cross-legged and then hunch over to write on the desks. Books, pencils and other school supplies were also provided by the students themselves.
At the end of each school day, the assigned student monitors would clean the classroom and would stack the desks in a pile in one of the corners. At the end of the term the desks will be taken home, but there were some students who would take their desks home every day to avoid any sustained damage from the pile.
8/30/12
these will make my day ...
There was a surprise/mystery speaker on tonight’s lineup which has been kept a secret but it has been confirmed that it will be Mr. Eastwood - Clint Eastwood. Wow! They could have easily passed the secret for saying it’s the “man with no name,” ...LOL! Eastwood is one of my favorite actors/stars. I grew up watching his spaghetti westerns at the Tivoli and The Grand. But one of Eastwood’s memorable phrases in his Dirty Harry movies is: “A man has got to know his limitations,” and I hope he says that about Obama who should, by now, have known and understood his limitations. And that will certainly “make my day.” ...LOL!Romney, as always, will give a great speech, I’m sure, and his chances are getting better and better by the week. It’s tough to go against an incumbent president, let alone a cool and popular one, but as one well known Republican said: The race is between “Mr. Cool and Mr. Competent.” America does not need a cool popular president at this critical time, but a competent, smart and experienced leader in Romney.
And after the convention speeches, I aaam reeaaady fooorrrr some foot......baaaaallll. BYU is on ESPN, an opener against Washington State. So go Romney! Go BYU! ... and Go Thunder! (grandson’s team).
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