I don't give a hoot about what you think!

The Anchoress -- The Prez & The Dude:

It is amazing to me that this president, who has a very full plate and carries the stigma of being "the most vilified and hated being in the entire world" - more hated than Mugabe, Chavez, Castro, A-jad, Kaddafi, Jong Il, or the rest - manages to keep his sense of humor and more importantly his humanity.

Obama could take a few lessons from Bush.

It is easy to be loved when you look good, give a great speech and do nothing, and it's easy to be hated once you're actually engaged in making decisions and standing by them. A real leader has to - like a parent - be willing to be hated.

Actually, the most psychotic Bush-haters love them some Chavez and Castro (and even Kaddafi in some cases). In fact, one leftard commenting on a gossip blog a while back (I think the subject was Sean Penn) said that since Hugo Chavez hated Bush, he was alright with her.

I did not know this...

Which is to the McCains' credit, because lesser people ("Brangelina" and Madonna, I'm looking at you) would have totally used this for publicity whoring:

Gateway Pundit: Obama Talks About Lifting a Child In Bangladesh From Poverty... John McCain Already Did

From the linked Wall Street Journal article (written by "teh eeeevil" Karl Rove):

For example, in 1991 Cindy McCain was visiting Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh when a dying infant was thrust into her hands. The orphanage could not provide the medical care needed to save her life, so Mrs. McCain brought the child home to America with her. She was met at the airport by her husband, who asked what all this was about.

Mrs. McCain replied that the child desperately needed surgery and years of rehabilitation. "I hope she can stay with us," she told her husband. Mr. McCain agreed. Today that child is their teenage daughter Bridget.

I was aware of this story. What I did not know, and what I learned from Doris, is that there was a second infant Mrs. McCain brought back. She ended up being adopted by a young McCain aide and his wife.

"We were called at midnight by Cindy," Wes Gullett remembers, and "five days later we met our new daughter Nicki at the L.A. airport wearing the only clothing Cindy could find on the trip back, a 7-Up T-shirt she bought in the Bangkok airport." Today, Nicki is a high school sophomore. Mr. Gullett told me, "I never saw a hospital bill" for her care.

A few, but not many, of the stories told to me by the Days have been written about, such as in Robert Timberg's 1996 book "A Nightingale's Song." But Mr. McCain rarely refers to them on the campaign trail. There is something admirable in his reticence, but he needs to overcome it.

Emphasis mine.

(Via.)

Guffaw of the Day

Make your own Obama platitude with the Barack Obama Quote Generator. The parameters I put in came up with these three platitudes:

Generate a Barack Obama Quote!

"I think it's time we had a national conversation about independence. We need to get past all the money and recognize that we are our own best hope for overcoming work. We need handouts, not soap. Handouts are our dreams. And we need to have change in independence."
Generate your Barack Obama quote at Buttafly.com

Generate a Barack Obama Quote!

"These people haven't had dreams for fifty years. So you can't be surprised if they get bitter and cling to their money and their soap and their work. That's what my campaign is about. Teaching all the little people in this country that they can have handouts."
Generate your Barack Obama quote at Buttafly.com

Generate a Barack Obama Quote!

"You know, there's a lot of talk in this country about independence. Well I think Americans are tired of the same old money. Ordinary Americans believe in handouts, they want less
soap, they just aren't sure if their leaders believe in dreams."
Generate your Barack Obama quote at Buttafly.com

Goodbye for Now

I'm sorry for this blog pretty much coming to a standstill. I just have no inspiration or will to post. Whenever I have the slightest inspiration to post something, it evaporates almost immediately.

Without going into details, I'll just say that life pretty much sucks on toes at the moment. Please pray for me and my family. Oh, and if you're an atheist dying to tell me that prayers are in vain and that I'm dumb and superstitious, please just shut up. I'm absolutely in no mood for your condescending crap.

I may as well make it official and go on indefinite hiatus with this blog. I will post an update once in a while on how I'm doing. Other than that, I don't know. I may post interesting stuff again if my inspiration comes back. We'll see.

Until then, I'm always updating my Furl archive (which is also visible on the sidebar) with interesting articles (and maybe a snarky comment if I feel like it). If I find an amusing link or video or something, I'll post it on my tumblelog Peace, Love, Flowers, Bullets. I still hope to get more music on my radio station soon. (Enjoy the radio blog as well!) And I may drop by and comment at other blogs. So I'll be around in some capacity.

So, I'll see you when I see you...