2011 Sucked, 2012 Could Be Even Worse

2011 Sucked, 2012 Could Be Even Worse

On a personal, family level, 2011 was one of the worst years of our lives, but that’s our problem.

On national and world levels, 2011 sucked just as much with the added downer that, unlike us, 2012 holds the prospect of being even worse for the United States and the planet.

Of course, good things happened last year; they always do.

Navy Team 6 dispatching Usama bin laden was the highlight, an economy showing meager signs of improvement was less noteworthy but nevertheless a good thing, GOP candidates having the nerve to debate incessantly and make their opinions known to the electorate was a refreshing novelty, the stock market did fairly well, the Iraq War temporarily ended, and the number of abortions declined.

As is too often the case, the bad outweighed the good both at home and throughout the world in 2011.

Domestically, MSNBC and Bill Maher are still regurgitating, the economy is still wallowing in the doldrums, poverty is increasing as planned by the administration, our borders are farcical, and the nation suffered through a series of unprecedented natural catastrophes as well as social upheaval with 1960′s precedents in the persons of the Occupiers.

However, although Mother Natures’s onslaughts are inevitable and unavoidable, we are free to pull the plug on MSNBC and Maher, the economy will recover, the poor really aren’t really all that bad off, various states are attempting to perform the federal job of stemming illegal immigration, and the Occupiers are more and more recognized for the anarchists they are.

As opposed to those 2011 negatives with silver linings, above all else in the negative category is the fact Barack Hussein Obama still reigns as America’s Chief Executive.

Overseas, cataclysmic natural, economic, and political events were far worse than our own. . . (Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=11968.)

2011 Hopes, 2012 Realities

2011 Hopes, 2012 Realities

I began writing an article entitled “A Christmas Retrospective” with, “The eventful year 2011 now drawing to a close may have been one filled with natural, political, and sociological disasters yet it produced unmistakable signs that all is not lost for America and the rest of humanity.”

I recounted the earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornados, the Arab Spring which portended an Arab Winter and worsening national and international tensions, the Occupy upheavals suggestive of revolution supported by Barack Hussein Obama 201 and yet I decided 2011 wasn’t as much a debacle as it was a year of hope springing eternal for our beknighted planet and nation.

Scratch any suggestions of 2012 being an improvement on 2011. On re-consideration of my Chistmas-inspired attack of optimism, 2012 promises to suck big time.

In part, events occurring over the past few days forced the revisionism.

The mayhem resulting from the sale of Air Jordans, a Santa in Grapevine Texas murdering 6 relatives, riots over rappers at the Mall of America, and Tim Tebow’s Denver Broncos losing all contributed to a change of perspective.

Iran taunting the U.S. Navy in the Strait of Hormuz and Obama’s public approval rating rising to 47.1 didn’t help, either.

Still, it was an article by Professor James Petras on GlobalResearch.ca that convinced me my rose-colored glasses had been clouded by my cataracts . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=11820.)

Thanksgiving, Wishin' and Hopin'

Thanksgiving, Wishing and Hoping

The following is a re-re-print, with 2011 updates, of an article first posted here a few years ago which I’m trotting out once again since I’m a lazy sonofagun and because certain truths never change–and re-publishing them affords me the time to research and post other articles which highlight the sad reality that Americans should cherish Thanksgivings of yore since we may never see their like again. . .

What we should be giving thanks for this Thanksgiving Day because Navy Seal Team 6 executed the barbarian who executed 3,000 innocent people on September 11th. 2001 even if the terrorist threat is still alive and well.

We should be thankful that the Mad Dog of the Middle East is gone even if his replacements may be as bad or worse.

We should thank God for our brave men and women who daily risk their lives and limbs so that the Occupy Wall Street anarchists are free to defecate on police cars and otherwise cause mayhem while the rest of us tolerate them.

We should be thankful President Barack Hussein Obama finally produced a birth certificate even if its authenticity is suspect.

We should be especially thankful for those gifts that are immutable and not subject to the vagaries of personal and national worries.

Most of us have a great deal to give thanks for and those living in America who don’t feel thankful right now should reflect on what their national birthright has afforded them:

. We should give thanks that we are alive and, hopefully, healthy. If not healthy, we should give thanks that we live in the greatest nation on the planet in which to be sick. Our medical system is in the throes of upheaval with Obamacare and was far from perfect even before but it sure beats Bangladesh and it beats Britain’s NHS where the very sick are shuffled off to Bampton.

. We should give thanks even if we disagree with the designation of the United States as the greatest nation on the planet since, unlike your freedoms in many other countries, our borders are wide open and you should feel free to hop the next flight to Ethiopia or Somalia or Moldavia and revel in their attractions.

. We should give thanks that we have a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, and food on our tables. If you are jobless at the moment and can’t provide the best of those amenities this year, give thanks that you can afford some and resolve to work harder in 2011 so that you will afford more next year.

. We should give thanks that we have a political system which allows us to alter our government, as we did in part in 2010, and far more radically on November 4th, 2008, without a revolutionary uprising which in other nations frequently results in widespread death and destruction.

. We should give thanks to God Who made all that possible by guiding our Founders to create a free, independent, democratic republic which has served us very well for over 200 years.

Millions on God’s Green Earth can’t give thanks for any of the above. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=6759.)

Adieu, 2010, Bonjour, 2011!

Adieu, 2010, Bonjour, 2011!

I wonder where 2010 went. I also wonder where 2009, 2008, or even where 1990 and 1980 went!

New Year’s 2011, traditionally a time for renewal which rarely happens and for resolutions which few people keep, is upon us and the airwaves and blogosphere are awash in reminders of what notables died this past year, of what happened of consequence in 2010, and of what we can expect and/or hope for in the next year.

As for New Year resolutions, I’ve rarely made any ever since I resolved to stop supporting the New York Yankees during the Billy Martin-George Steinbrenner wars, then relented and changed my mind after they made peace, then re-resolved after those wars resumed, then relented again.

I finally gave up on New Year resolutions. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=3251)