mike huckabee's jab at mormon's will have a net negative affect on his campaign. his remark was puerile and points to dis ingenuousness. having spoken a rally to save mormons in 1998 in SLC where anti-mormon literature was tracted to homes in the area, huckabee is either lying about his 'innocent' question to the new york times reporter ("don't mormon's believe jesus and satan are brothers"), or he is stupid and doesn't pay attention to his surroundings. both qualities would be concerning in a president. he won't go farther than iowa, and i think he collapses in iowa within two weeks--this gaffe pushes him closer to that end. (the article can be found here...the question comes at the top of page 2.)
if romney wins the primary, he will beat hillary clinton (have i mentioned that before..?) and everyone saw that national review's editors have endorsed our mormon friend?
why does john edward's fake southern accent make me nauseated..?
the democratic debate came off as a lot of reactionary politics with the main emphasis on drawing distinctions with president bush, a lot of cliche and little that was inspirational.
other thoughts...
amy and i recently embarked on a 21 month-long spending freeze. it has cost more than we thought it would to live in californa in relation to our salary. it has been painful at times, but overall a good experience. both of us have had instances where we walk through a store and see an item that we would previously have purchased because we 'needed' it or because we 'could afford it'. during the last few holidays i have been struck by the commercial nature of our existence. america's add agencies are so good at convincing us that a good christmas is an expensive one.
this isn't to say that i don't enjoy an excuse to spend money on sweet stuff as much as the next guy. it is to say that i've enjoyed just saying no and feeling better for it afterwards.
also, thrift and financial prudence are not valid reasons for the not making a holiday a special time. maybe the inability to use money to make the event special allow for a deeper spirit of cheer to be found if one puts in the time...
19 comments:
Can't wait to hear the "creative" gifts you come up with for each other.
We have felt a pinch as well with the combination of a mortgage, student loans and many chillins (not to mention rising gas, insurance, co-pay and utility expenses). Most raises these days fail to keep par with inflation and rising expenses.
Ol' Huck seems a little thin (no pun intended) to me. I liked him at first, but with the increased scrutiny on his record and positions, my position on him has changed.
you've put me on the spot matty. amy had me add that last part (which i since re-worded) because amy wanted to point out my penchant for making holidays fun in the past (including valentines which my father insists is too commercial).
it's been busy lately, and i've to got to sit down and really hammer out some thoughtful gifts for the coming days...
the 'pinch' is no fun.
The good thing about the pinch right NOW, is that your girls will have NO CLUE and be happy with whatever you give them! Michael probably would be too. Besides, thoughtful is always more memorable and special than expensive!
maybe so jill, but sometimes expensive shows thoughtfulness, like the time paul bought me air jordans for christmas. totally sweet.
paul: too bad I didn't watch the debates or i could debunk all the stupid stuff you said about the democrats. give me some time please.
i went to my bedroom and cried when paul gave stevie air jordans...because i wanted some too.
paul, where did you read that huck participated in a save mormons conference?
http://dcsmackdown.com/demo.html
this website is pretty funny. click on demo on the bottom left. mitt's secret weapon is a herd of mormon missionaries on bikes.
here is an article from arkansas describing his visit to SLC.
responses to huckabee's gaffe have ranged from support for him from evangelical voters to cries of huck-a-bigot from those most disgusted with his tactics...
very true jill. it's probably more fun for us to buy stuff for the kids right now than it ulitmately is for them.
i guess the law of unintended consequences there jonny, sorry. the question is whether you were ever locked outside the house in the snow with just your underwear on...
hi stevie. i look forward to the pearls of wisdom set to flow from you mind to our screens...
this isn't to say i'm not worried about romney. he definitely has an uphill battle to climb as he is falling in the polls in iowa and south carolina. however, if the republican party nominates huckabee they deserve to lose the general election. more likely if huckabee continues to surge is that he gets a few wins and guiliani takes over on super tuesday in february. this would cut mitt out as he has been hoping to gain on guiliani's national name recognition with wins in all the early states...
paul: the republicans nominated george w. bush in the last two elections. they deserve to lose this election.
hello paul. i'm still in italy. i can receive texts but can't send them.
i think we can all agree that foreign affairs is one of the most important things around. How can Romney keep saying stuff that makes no sense. he is currently upset with huckabee's take on the war, which makes much more sense than what mitt is saying. look at what he said about george w. i can't see how any educated person could look at what bush has done in iraq and claim that has made us any safer.
''I'm the last person to say that this administration is subject to an arrogant, bunker mentality that is counterproductive here and abroad,'' he said. ''The truth of the matter is this president has kept us safe these past six years and that has not been easy to do.''
for the entire article, see here.
hi stevie.
Stephen-I guess you're right, thoughtful can be "expensive" too...but it doesn't have to be. And a cheap generic card can be thoughtless...
Is there more to the story of being locked outside in your underwear?
Unfortunately, I can't comment on the political commentary, but I can relate to the spending freeze and living in California. There were certain things we expected to be more expensive, but why is milk nearly 5 dollars a gallon, I thought happy cows came from California?
I remember our first year of law school, not being able to buy things as simple as ziplock bags. Not even the generic kind...or the time our friends wanted to double date to Applebee's...we were thinking more of sharing a 6 inch sub. We didn't go out to eat for a couple months to make up for it. There were a couple of years we didn't buy gifts for each other and used the money from parents for car repairs. Joe didn't think that was fun at all. I had to remind him it was about the kids :) (we're both kids at heart though)....His BIL Matthew asked him what manly thing he had received that year...his reply was, with a smile of course....nothing.
One thing I am grateful for is that we learned how to budget... out of necessity. I honestly think, if for no other reason, that was a huge benefit of law school. Once the money was gone...it was GONE!!!
Luckily my parents ingrained the idea in my head that credit card debt is BAD, I still have a fear of it, not the credit card itself, but the debt...I'm totally terrified of it! (Student loan debt...different story!) I think I like the idea I heard from one of my friends...3 gifts....a gift of knowledge (book or education related)....a gift of JOY (toy)....and a gift of love (something homemade).
It does feel good to deny yourself...it's a skill I think many lack these days, in many areas. Think of what a different world we would live in if more people did that....sorry for the lengthy comment :)
At our neighborhood party last night some of shared a favorite Christmas story. Mine was the year we received our wooden rocking horse. It was during our second year of residency. I was the ward activities chairman and the ward party was one week before Christmas. We did the grinch theme with who hash etc., we went 'all out' for some reason. Consequently I had little time for Christmas shopping. Which was a good thing because we didn't have $ anyway. On Christmas Eve someone left us our little horse. You know the horse with all the pictures of you guys with you either in your underwear or diapers on. I can't remember one other 'thing' we gave or received that year, just one sweet little homemade rocking horse. "Maybe Christmas perhaps doesn't come from a store maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more...Dr. Suess"
amy: i've always been a fan of the long comment when the topic requires. don't let the nyc hipsters dissuade you from writing all your thoughts when they come.
funny story about joe receiving nothing manly that year...hopefully you're making up for that this christmas..?
patty: thank you for the fun story about residency. being busy with little/no time to pick out presents. amy and i had already decided no present, but the other day as we were planning and scrambling in hopes to be ready for the trip on thursday morning we both decided that we would have to make valentines our 'creative' holiday because neither of us had gotten time away to work out the perfect creative gift...are we lame?
i guess jill's thought on meaningful cards will have to do...
amy: when i told my dad about how much milk he gently reminded me that when they lived in calfornia they only drank powdered milk to save money.
we've compromised and will use powdered milk on cereal and in any recipe that calls for milk...
Michael loves using the powdered milk... something about the novelty of pouring it out of a pitcher, I think...
Not doing so much shopping this year has helped me really appreciate the simple parts of Christmas... the big decorated trees around town. Taking the kiddos on detours when it gets dark to find new Christmas lights (we've found some pretty amazing spots!). Lots of Christmas music at home and all the Christmas books have been read and read and read again.
And of course the kid's nativity that gets played with and talked about all day. Michael likes to try to mix my other nativity figures into his own. I end up searching for camels, angels, and wisemen all over the house.
Enough with this... we need a new post.
Saving student $$$? We used a soup can as a couch (DI) leg for a couple of year (I have never been good at fixing things). One year in the Thanksgiving rush, we forgot that Thanksgiving is also AJ's birthday. Val rushed out, but the only store she could find open was a 7/11. He got some candy and fingernail clippers. He always reminds us of that every Thanksgiving/birthday.
AJ's infamous 7-11 Thanksgiving birthday was only a few years ago. Don't blame that one on being students...
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