Reflections by Kris

As is true with most Friday's lately - I got nuthin.  There is alot going on out there, but I just don't have the stamina to write about any of it today.

Blogging won't be light today - it will be non-existent.

For the weekend, I'm hoping to do alot of what you see here - dozing, sleeping, resting, whatever. Although I do have a new obssesion - making my own jewelry - so I'm hoping to spend a little time putting into reality designs I already have in my head. I'm using mostly semi-precious stones plus natural stones like agate, obsidian, quartz, etc... It's fascinating and time consuming - but in a very good way. I get lost in the design process, let alone the actual construction. It's a terrific creative outlet.

Whatever I'm doing this weekend, I'll be indoors, in the air conditioning of my house, avoiding the oppressive heat and humidity. I have bad asthma, which is no fun at the best of times. Add humidity and I'm not in good shape.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

It's about damn time.

The US federal government on Wednesday said it would open 3.9m acres of land in a designated petroleum reserve in Alaska for drilling as a means to help curb rising petrol prices.

But the Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the US Department of the Interior, said the Alaskan land that will now be offered requires no other approvals and will be up for leasing in the autumn.

The site was set aside decades ago but development was blocked by lawsuits from environmentalists concerned about disrupting wildlife. The government has tackled these fears, making it a condition of the lease by oil and gas companies that polar bears, waterfowl and caribou are protected.

Just this portion of ANWR alone may hold as much as 5 billion barrels of oil. Other areas of ANWR could yield an additional 8 billion barrels. In addition, technology allows for modern oil drilling to leave very little impact, which is the biggest argument the environmental lobby has used for years:

When Prudhoe Bay was developed in the 1970's, about 2% of the surface area over the field, or 5,000 acres, was covered by gravel for roads and drilling and production facility sites. If Prudhoe Bay were developed today, using lessons learned since the 1960's, gravel would cover less than 2,000 acres, a 60% reduction. [emphasis mine]

Even native Alaskans recognize the importance of oil exploration and drilling in ANWR:

More than 75% of Alaskans favor exploration and production in ANWR. The democratically elected Alaska State Legislatures, congressional delegations, and Governors elected over the past 25 years have unanimously supported opening the Coastal Plain of ANWR.  The Inupiat Eskimos who live in and near ANWR support onshore oil development on the Coastal Plain.

Production will be available far sooner than environmentalists want you to believe:

Mr. Lonnie [Tom Lonnie, Alaska state director for the Bureau of Land Management] said he expected the first oil production to begin in the easternmost part of the reserve, west of the Colville River, from 2010 to 2012. A fully developed oil complex exists on state lands on the eastern banks of the river.

Drilling in ANWR will create jobs and opportunities in that region.

The Coastal Plain could produce up to 1.5 million barrels per day for at least 25 years - nearly 25% of current daily U.S. production. The U.S. would save $14 billion per year in oil imports.

2010. 2 years from now. This country still has a long way to go on energy - we need alternatives that are safer than Ethanol; ones that don't increase food prices while consuming oil in their own production.

ANWR drilling is by no means the final answer to the problem that began with the oil embargo of the 1970s. Oil drilling isn't the be all/end all. But recognition that America has enough oil to satisfy much of its own domestic demand is the first step to reversing the 65%+ of oil we import from other countries (with estimates that it will climb to 80% by 2010).

h/t to Hot Air

Over 26 years ago, 2 people met by chance in a college classroom. He was a senior taking Calculus - as an elective! - and she was a freshman, struggling thru that same class - one she tried to get out of taking. They had a mutual friend who helped the girl arrange to meet the boy (she being rather outgoing and he being more-than-a-little shy).

They dated for 3 months, then he moved to another state. They kept up their romance long-distance - never easy but always worth it. It was known by both of them for months before he formally asked "the question" - that they would spend the rest of their lives together.

On July 16, 1983 - a whopping 25 years ago - the boy and girl started that life together. That couple is, of course, The Hubby and I.

We've taken every smile and every tear, a few differences of opinion, some major triumphs and several minor miracles - and turned them into something very beautiful. Very beautiful indeed.

Our lives have been blessed with good and not-so-good times. I say the latter because when you can come thru those not-so-good times, they make the good times even more of a blessing. It's corny, yes; but very true nonetheless. We've had more than our fair share of struggles - family, friends, ourselves. The one constant thru it all has been our fierce devotion to each other.

On our wedding night, The Hubby made me a stunning promise - that he would make me laugh everyday for the rest of our lives. And even in some of our darkest hours, he's done that for me. For us.

25 years ago we said "I Do". And while we truly celebrated like rock stars in early June - we are taking our day to celebrate privately and quietly. A day at the beach - just the 2 of us and the sun, surf and sand. Holding hands, taking long walks on the beach. It's our idea of a perfect day - just one in a 25-year-long string of them.

. . . solitude is such a potential thing. We hear voices in solitude, we never hear in the hurry and turmoil of life; we receive counsels and comforts, we get under no other condition . . .

---amelia barr

I love the beach. Any beach. Tropical or local. It doesn't matter.

There is something restorative about the beach - the purity of it. Endless surf, tides shifting in a rhythm that has existed since the dawn of time. It's the constancy of the beach - no matter what upheavals may exist in your life, going to the beach assures you that the world continues to turn and move as it always has. To me, there is something very calming in that notion.

It's not dependent upon the time of year either. The Hubby and I are as likely to hit the beach in the winter as the summer. In fact, we prefer the beach in the cooler weather. Not being devotees of the whole "tanning thing", the late autumn or mid-winter sky offers all the beauty with very little of the dangers. And fewer crowds.

Tomorrow we are taking the day off to hit the beach - Misquamicut in Westerly, Rhode Island, to be exact. We've been going to this beach since we were kids. It's a gorgeous place - long, mostly flat with a steep drop once you get in the water. Which I probably won't do as the Atlantic Ocean temp is still a bit, um, chilly. The Hubby will though - he'll stay out there until he gets all prune-y! We'll take a couple of long walks - I'll pick up all manner of sea shells, pebbles and sea glass.

You may be asking yourself - why are they taking a Wednesday off? You'll have to stay tuned to tomorrow's post to find out... :-)

Today's image is of course from our trip to Bermuda in June. Like I said, I love the beach - tropical or not. It's just that tropical beaches are so - lovely.

Obama says we should be empathetic to the feelings of the 9/11 hijackers. Well, they certainly didn't consider the feelings of the 3,000 innocent people they slaughtered, nor did these animals give thought to how the survivors and the families would feel. 

Obama seems to think we should have gotten all warm-n-fuzzy on Islam the worldover. Hold hands. Pray together. Can't we all just get along? 

I don't necessarily disagree with the idea of getting warm-n-fuzzy with them - but my idea leans more to hellfire missiles and nothing left behind but a stain.

Obama says this cover of The New Yorker - intended as rather biting (and not far off the mark) satire - is tasteless and offensive. Instead of trying to be articulate on this matter, I defer to Michelle Malkin and her proper fisking of the whole Obama-doth-protest too much. Aside from imagery of satire aimed at Republicans, Ms. Malkin has this to say to Obama:

...wipe your nose, grow a pair...

Obama, you have chosen to be in public life.  This is one of the consequences - like it or not, appropriate or not - of that decision. President Bush is probably burned in effigy on a daily basis somewhere in the world; probably in our own country.  And he's never said one word about it. Not. One Word.

Take a page from that book, Obama, if it's the most powerful position in the world you seek. If you think the New Yorker cover is tasteless and offensive, just wait.

If Obama is elected, I want to go into hiding...

When communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids, when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children come home from school to find their parents missing, when people are detained without access to legal counsel, when all that is happening, the system just isn’t working, and we need to change it.

ICE raids businesses that are suspected of employing illegal immigrants. Is equating that to terrorism some kind of 6-degress-of-separation game that the Obama campaing is trying to play?  In my world - called reality - this is referred to as law enforcement. It's not a complicated concept, at least it shouldn't be for someone with Obama's pedigree.

Babies torn from nursing mothers? How about children taken from their parents; parents who entered the country illegally in the first place.

In all, the social workers took in six children who lived in the Maple Street house, including Ms. Umanzor’s oldest child, a son born in Honduras. They also included three children of Ms. Umanzor’s sister, an illegal immigrant who was at work that day. Four of the children were born in the United States.

4 illegal immigrants sharing the same house, with 6 children between them; 2 of those also illegal.

It is a gray area when it comes to illegal immigration - since the system as it stands is indeed broken (but not the way Obama wants you to believe), we have the 12 million illegals problem. With those kinds of numbers, it is inevitable that many of them will use their children as a shield against deportation - at least the ones born in the U.S.

“We are faced with these sorts of situations frequently, where a large number of individuals come illegally or overstay and have children in the United States,” said Kelly A. Nantel, a spokeswoman for the agency. “Unfortunately, the parents are putting their children in these difficult situations.”

ICE has since revised it's policies surrounding the arrest of illegal immigrants with small children and nursing babies.

...the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency rushed to issue new guidelines on the detention of nursing mothers, allowing them to be released unless they pose a national security risk.

Once again, Obama paints with a broad brushstroke that is just. plain. wrong.

h/t to Hot Air

Boo-effing-Hoo.

Unlike the previous iPhone rollout just over a year ago, each customer had to spend about 15 minutes as technicians activated each phone. Last year, buyers could activate iPhones at home, online.

"They took a good process and they screwed it up," said Ginny McGee, who'd been waiting at the Apple store since 7:45 a.m. to pick up her iPhone, as she waited in the middle of the line at 10:30 a.m. "It was a delayed birthday gift. It'll be even more delayed now."

It's just a phone people.

Trying to counter that elitist image.

...for the first time in history, a major presidential candidate may sponsor a race car in NASCAR's premier series. According to sources, Barack Obama's campaign is in talks to become the primary sponsor of BAM Racing's No. 49 Sprint Cup car for the Pocono race on August 3.

...

Sources claim one of the options being considered would allow individual campaign donors to get their name on the race car for as little as $100.

It's not totally without precedent.  President Bush was prominently featured on Kirk Shelmerdine's No. 72 car in 2004. Given that NASCAR has always been a more Republican-affiliated organization,that isn't surprising.

Obama's name represented on defiling a NASCAR vehicle? Oh the humanity.

The real question is, what will it do for Michelle's children? Think of the children!

Regarding today's picture: For those of you who don't remember the 1988 Presidential campaign, it is widely believed that that image is one of the chief reasons why Dukakis' campaign failed.  The fact that he was a lying sack of shit may have been another reason...

Of course Ms. Malkin has covered this as well (though it's not where I got the story) - you have to go to her post and read some of the comments. Priceless stuff.

Once again, from the cool heads at Slate, I bring you more brilliance from the Encyclopedia Baracktannica:

Barackatoo
A particularly noisy Obama fan.

The Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmanutjob calls President Bush and tells him, “George, I had a wonderful dream last night. I could see America, the whole beautiful country, and on each house I saw a banner.”

“What did it say on the banners?” Bush asks.

Mahmoud replies, “UNITED STATES OF IRAN”

Bush says, “You know, Mahmoud, I am really happy you called, because believe it or not, last night I had a similar dream. I could see all of Tehran, and it was more beautiful than ever, and on each house flew an enormous banner.”

“Oh? And what did it say on the banners?” Mahmoud asks.

Bush replies, “I don't know. I can't read Hebrew.”

massive h/t to my mom