Recon’s Black Ops

What a nincompoop…

I have learned in my marriage to my wonderful new husband, that is is natural for a healthy man to act in healthy ways. This may sound like an odd statement, but having grown up with an abusive, addicted father and having been married to an abusive, addicted man for 20 years, I didn’t know what ‘healthy’ would look like.

I am not only leaning what ‘healthy’ looks like, but I am also discovering that this is his ‘normal.’ He does not have to go out of his element to be this way; he is this way.

“Healthy” defined as a man (woman) who owns his (her) own stuff, takes responsibility for what is his (hers), sees himself  (herself) as he (she) is, is willing and desires to develop intimacy spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically (and not keep spouse at distance to conceal addiction). Certainly not perfect … but perfectly IMperfect.

VERY cool!

As I read this story, I checked Wikipedia for more info. I found this a bit interesting.

Largely eradicated as pests in the developed world (largely through the use of DDT) in the early 1940s, bedbugs have been resurgent since about 1995

Why not bring back DDT?

This is definitely the WTF story of the day.

So, this recent interview . . .

First, there are a good many critiques of the on-going reflection on the Katrina disaster. One specific one that I heard recently was a local radio talk show host that used to live in Florida. She pointed out that Andrew and some other disastrous hurricanes was also equally devastating, but that state and local authorities did their jobs and recovery happened as quick as it could.

Another point she made was that Louisiana politicians diverted money meant for the levy to other things.

Facts:
(1) The federal authorities responded within the first week of Katrina.
(2) The federal government responded 50 days after the oil spill.
(3) The federal government did not stop the well. BP did.

In other parts of the interview . . .

The economy
(1) The economy is growing? From what?
(2) “Continue building momentum” What momentum?
(3) There is campaigning on both sides of the aisle, Mr. President.

The mosque
(1) Stick to the facts, not ideologies. Talk about property rights and international policy. Not some pie-in-the-sky idea about freedom and tolerance.

Obama’s birth and faith
(1) I wonder if he’ll change his tune if he doesn’t get re-elected in 2012.
(2) “The facts are the facts“: What are the facts, Mr. President?

Glenn Beck’s rally
(1) “It’s important for us to recognize that right now the country is going through a very difficult time as a consequence of years of neglect. . .” : Well, I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion, Mr. President. However, the Freedom Rally was not ranting about “years of neglect”. It was meant to be a backlash against all that your administration stands for.

Just when one might think he has seen it all, something like this…

Note the tone now coming from the MSM.

The bailouts of the banksters failed.

The bailouts of Fannie and Freddie and AIG failed.

The bailout of GM has failed. (Even if they are propping it up with creative accounting.)

The stimulus failed.

HAMP failed.

Cash for Clunkers failed.

The first-time homebuyer credit failed.

At best, we pulled demand forward and replaced fallen GDP with federal spending. That works fine until (a) interest payments come due, (b) creditors stop buying our debt, (c) interest rates start spiking, (d) more high-debt entities start failing, or (e) some combination of all the above.

The stock market isn’t moving. If investors had confidence in the recovery, the Dow would be well over 12,000. As of now, it has been hovering at around 10,000 for months now.

There will be no “double dip”. There never was a recovery.

This is a multi-stage collapse.

Vox Day has this today.

he reason many female executives are so desperate for respect they never receive is because so many of them know perfectly well they don’t merit it.

34% of executive women claim they know a female colleague who has had an affair with a boss. Furthermore, 15% of women at the director level or above admitted to having affairs themselves. And worse, 37% claim the action was rewarded: they said that women involved in affairs received a career boost as a result.

If 15% are prepared to admit it, the Rule of Three suggests that about half of all female executives are advancing their careers on their backs. Progress!

I don’t know if the numbers are THAT high, but I’ve seen it happen. And this in places where the rules against sexual harassment–at least on paper–were very strict and where fraternization was otherwise highly-discouraged.

What’s really sad is that the woman who does this, is losing face in catastrophic fashion. She loses any chance of getting any respect when she flatbacks it. They are barely tolerated, but never taken seriously, by their coworkers. Not even by the people who would otherwise be amiable.

And the man who sleeps with her, also loses face. Not only do people disdain the woman, they also lose total trust in the higher-ranking male whose judgment is now forever suspect.

Jim Furyk–like me–often relies on his cell phone as his alarm clock. The difference between myself and him–other than the fact that he is a top-notch PGA golfer and I am a former second-tier high school golfer–is that I am anal retentive about keeping my phone charged. (MrsLarijani will vouch for this, as I probably drive her nuts as I often am taking great care to keep her phone charged as well.)

Larry Ferguson–Gospel singer Dottie Rambo’s former manager–is a friend of mine. His whole family was injured in the 2008 bus crash in which Rambo was killed.

Because of his injuries–which were severe–he was unable to keep the “inclusionists” from dominating Dottie’s funeral. Those “inclusionists” included heretic Carleton Pearson. In Larry’s words, it was a funeral that totally dishonored Dottie and flagrantly misrepresented the theological viewpoints that she held. I knew enough of Dottie to vouch for the veracity of what Larry says.

I’m glad to see Larry standing up to set the record straight.