The Conservative Thread: Back to Basics. Pass the Lasagna and Have a Flower!!

[debbieandroo]

from Newsbusters --

Interestingly, Dan Morain of the L.A. Times has just discovered that Barack Obama has a pretty thin resume prior to being elevated to the presidency. Between 1993 and '96, Obama, the much-ballyhooed "Constitutional scholar," had only an unusually low 3,723 billable hours of legal work accrued over a four-year stint with his law firm employer Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Gallard. Further, he seems to have worked on but few cases and made little impact commensurate with his reputation. The question I have, of course, is why is the L.A. Times only NOW interested that Obama was "involved in relatively few cases before entering politics"? Where was this investigating before the election?

The Morain piece begins by recounting how Obama has so often made a big deal out of his days as a "civil-rights attorney" claiming it a key ingredient of his early, formative community development years. Yet, Morain finds that there isn't much record proving that Obama did a whole heck-of-a-lot back in those days.

Senior attorneys at the small firm where he worked say he was a strong writer and researcher, but was involved in relatively few cases before entering politics.

So, Obama, for all his claims of being involved in the lives of "churches and community groups" as a lawyer with the firm is... what? Blowing smoke? If the paper trail reveals he didn't work on many cases or have very many billable hours, how is it that he found this experience to be a monumental involvement in the community that shaped his career?

Morain doesn't directly ask these questions in his piece, wisely preferring to let the facts talk to the reader. But, a careful read of his L.A.Times piece cannot help but elicit the pertinent question: what the heck was Obama doing during those four years, anyway? After all, it sure doesn't look like he was doing much legal work!

Here's how Morain sums up Obama's paper trail:

30: The approximate number of legal cases Obama was involved in:

4: The number of years Obama was a full-time lawyer

70%: The amount of time Obama spent on voting rights, civil rights and employment, generally as a junior associate. (The rest of his time was spent on matters related to real-estate transactions, filing incorporation papers and defending clients against minor lawsuits.)

3,723: The number of billable hours Obama accrued while working at Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Gallard.

According to Morain, some of Obama's "big" cases were the case of a shortchanged babysitter, the case of a cold building tenant, and a lawsuit against a corporation that owned low-income housing on behalf of a guy that slipped and fell down. Additionally, Obama was involved in the enforcement of the federal Motor Voter law in Illinois -- at lest that one being a higher profile case.

So, it appears Obama has less billable hours during those four years than most young lawyers are expected to accrue (which is up to 2,000 hours a year according to some estimates), worked on but few cases, and only on one notable one. On top of that, he was rarely more than a "junior associate" the whole time.

This is the man that was praised for his extensive legal career? A slighted babysitter and a guy that fell down are the amazing legal challenges he faced as a young lawyer?

Of course, the biggest question is, why are we only now seeing this report in the L.A. Times? Where was this report two months ago or more?

Need I even ask?

 

[#1hockeymom]

from Newsbusters --

YOu forgot about his extensive community service!

 

[SorcererDonald16]

OH MY GOSH...aretha f. is singing on dancing with the stars!!!! in a giant caftan or curtain or something!!!! chain of fools....(story of my dating life?). hope she comes back with pink cadillac.

Mine too. My worst dating experience would have to be on the lone blind date I went on with a guy my friend set me up with. He was a conservative like me, so she thought we'd get along. Most. Obnoxious. Guy. Ever. EVER. He wanted (badly) to go into politics, and he yammered on for quite a bit of time about needing to "find his Jackie O" so he could get married and have a great political career. It was a good thing I wasn't wearing a watch that night.

I'm not much of a dater, and I've been totally single for quite a while. Focusing on school/career the last few years. Just not easy to find truly decent, Christian, conservative guys these days.

from Newsbusters --

A pretty thin resume. No kidding! Nah, ya don't say!

 

[Michelle67]

Good Evening Everyone!

Interesting conversation so far tonight.

I wonder what Hillary will do? I think he just wants to keep her where he can control what she does. She would probably be better off staying in the Senate.

As for the MIL I think she is the one who stays with the girls when M and B are off governing and stuff. I am glad the girls will have someone to be with them. This can't be an easy transition for any kid.

I think you're right, and I agree with you; I'm glad the girls will still have grandma to help them adjust to such tremendous change in their lives. Heck, if I was moving to the White House we'd probably be dragging along all kinds of people.

No... Gmboy busted a move and then we started talking about presidential bodily fluids. Figured I'd break out the popcorn cuz this could get good quick.

I'm glad I wasn't having any of that popcorn, because that comment would have made me choke on it. Not that I wasn't following the conversation but...your summation was a crackup.

I'm still up. I'm in New Mexico so only an hour ahead of you. As for Thanksgiving I don't really make anything odd but this will get you. My fruit salad recipe (think fruit salad mixed with marshmallow, whipping cream, and coconut) calls for yellow mustard and egg yolks . I know it sounds horrid but it is an old family recipe that comes from my grandpa's mother and it's delicious and yes you cook the egg yolk sort of like if you were making lemon curd so no problems there.

Tina

Okay that sounds absolutely terrifying, but I'm gonna take your word for it that it is really good. I make a cake with vinegar in it instead of eggs and milk, which also sounds terrifying but is wonderful. On the other hand, my mother has a traditional family recipe for fruit salad that has mayonaisse in it...and I hate the stuff. Ack. I always have to go home and make some "good" fruit salad afterward.

Since this is the first major holiday since Mom died, we are going to go to a wonderful brunch at one of the hotels here. We will all come back to our new home and sit and rub our bellies and visit. We are all trying to find our new normal.

I'm sorry about your mom. I hope you have a lovely brunch and a great day, and that you find your new normal soon.

My in-laws are coming for Thanksgiving. Pray for me.

Prayers said.

I'm sorry you had to go through all of that, T&G. I hope I didn't upset you.

I'm just thinking of all of the trouble most of the women in our family and many of my friends have had with their husbands' families. It's all combined one reason I'm a bit leery of marriage myself.

I'm just gonna say...there is hope. I didn't get married until I was 30 (I refer to my oldest daughter's dad as my ex, but we were never legally married. Scandalous...I know) and my husband and I both really like one another's families. My MIL passed away two years ago but she was great. There are no scary relatives on either side. Okay, well, my husband has one brother that turned into a crackhead in recent years but since he has ten other siblings I guess you'd have to figure on one dud...and we don't have to deal with Jr. Really a shame though...the man had everything going for him and blew it. But I digress...point is that not all in-laws are skeery.

from Newsbusters --

BWAAAAhahahahahahaha. So glad they "discovered" this.

 

[wonderlanne]

Mine too. My worst dating experience would have to be on the lone blind date I went on with a guy my friend set me up with. He was a conservative like me, so she thought we'd get along. Most. Obnoxious. Guy. Ever. EVER. He wanted (badly) to go into politics, and he yammered on for quite a bit of time about needing to "find his Jackie O" so he could get married and have a great political career. It was a good thing I wasn't wearing a watch that night.

I'm not much of a dater, and I've been totally single for quite a while. Focusing on school/career the last few years. Just not easy to find truly decent, Christian, conservative guys these days.

i don't find dating to be all that much fun. and i'm old, so figure it isn't in the cards for me. and yet, i went on a blind date about four weeks ago, having decided i shouldn't just give up! i was wrong. i should just give up.

 

[debbieandroo]

BO's administration looks like "Back to the Future". He's proving he's just a suit.....really, nothing else. He's like...I won, I won, I won....now what do I do? Reality bites!!

or maybe this is a better morph...

 

[Michelle67]

i don't find dating to be all that much fun. and i'm old, so figure it isn't in the cards for me. and yet, i went on a blind date about four weeks ago, having decided i shouldn't just give up! i was wrong. i should just give up.

How old is "old?" My best friend got married when she was 43, and she had completely given up on ever finding anyone. She found quite a gem, too. Sometimes when you give up looking for something is when you find it.

 

[mousehouselover]

After many, many, many no where calls I got through to Kelly at the BW bakery. She took the order and tranfered it to the Contempory bakery who is supposed to do the special order cakes for MK. That is the 10" (the smallest we could get with the filing.) It cost about $90 for the cake, I bought the topper myself, brought it with me and had them put it on before bringing the cake out. The images on the sides cost like $8 each, so nearly half the cost of the cake was in the images on the sides.

 

[SorcererDonald16]

i don't find dating to be all that much fun. and i'm old, so figure it isn't in the cards for me. and yet, i went on a blind date about four weeks ago, having decided i shouldn't just give up! i was wrong. i should just give up.

Aww, you never know what the future (and God) holds for you, though. I feel the same a lot of the time though. Dating in general to me, even back when I was in Senior year of HS and on into college, has always been about as fun to me as a trip to the dentist's office. And I hate going to the dentist.

For me, it takes a lot for me to trust someone, based on the couple of times in the past I easily trusted and was fooled into thinking they were decent, Christian guys when they were really just phoneys. I don't regret anything in life in that regard because I have always stayed true to my values on the subject. But I wish I had had a healthier dose of cynicism when I was younger; would've saved me a lot of grief a few times.

 

[wonderlanne]

or maybe this is a better morph...

or



not sure which...

 

[debbieandroo]

How old is "old?" My best friend got married when she was 43, and she had completely given up on ever finding anyone. She found quite a gem, too. Sometimes when you give up looking for something is when you find it.

awwww....I love love love hearing stories like these....

at 41, I'm in the 'given up' stage and that's actually a cool place to be - I haven't given up in despair or hopeless resignation, I've just re-positioned my mindset. I like, even love, my life - God gave it to me and He knows more than I do about what suits me best.

Besides all that, we have to save the world from H and his clinton-esque minions - I'm too busy to get married!

 

[wonderlanne]

How old is "old?" My best friend got married when she was 43, and she had completely given up on ever finding anyone. She found quite a gem, too. Sometimes when you give up looking for something is when you find it.

same age range. every now and then, on a good hair day for instance, i'll have a look around. ultimately i decide men get underfoot. perhaps next year.

 

[mousehouselover]

Just not easy to find truly decent, Christian, conservative guys these days.

I have one, as long a you don't mind younger guys. You pretty much summed up BIL (24) he lives in NC, so he's not that far from you..............

 

[SorcererDonald16]

or maybe this is a better morph...

Thanks in advance for the nightmares, Debbie!

After many, many, many no where calls I got through to Kelly at the BW bakery. She took the order and tranfered it to the Contempory bakery who is supposed to do the special order cakes for MK. That is the 10" (the smallest we could get with the filing.) It cost about $90 for the cake, I bought the topper myself, brought it with me and had them put it on before bringing the cake out. The images on the sides cost like $8 each, so nearly half the cost of the cake was in the images on the sides.

Thanks for the info. I'm still amazed at how pretty that is, not to mention the fact that they managed to get it right. Seems like the cake business is very hit or miss these days. I was wondering about the topper, since they had told us the only toppers available were some of the ones they have in most grocery store bakeries. My cake was a 10" too (chocolate mousse filling), but it went bad in less than 3 days. I only got one piece of it. I was very disappointed and am leery of ever getting a cake again.

 

[Michelle67]

That Barrack-o-morph was terrifying. I'm going to have nightmares.

 

[wonderlanne]

After many, many, many no where calls I got through to Kelly at the BW bakery. She took the order and tranfered it to the Contempory bakery who is supposed to do the special order cakes for MK. That is the 10" (the smallest we could get with the filing.) It cost about $90 for the cake, I bought the topper myself, brought it with me and had them put it on before bringing the cake out. The images on the sides cost like $8 each, so nearly half the cost of the cake was in the images on the sides.

well worth the splurge, i say! it is so beautiful and special!

 

[wonderlanne]

Aww, you never know what the future (and God) holds for you, though. I feel the same a lot of the time though. Dating in general to me, even back when I was in Senior year of HS and on into college, has always been about as fun to me as a trip to the dentist's office. And I hate going to the dentist.

For me, it takes a lot for me to trust someone, based on the couple of times in the past I easily trusted and was fooled into thinking they were decent, Christian guys when they were really just phoneys. I don't regret anything in life in that regard because I have always stayed true to my values on the subject. But I wish I had had a healthier dose of cynicism when I was younger; would've saved me a lot of grief a few times.

it is really weird, 'cause i've nursed quite a few fella friends through all the same stuff i and you go through...funny how difficult it can be to just get two really great people together. like we're living in a time warp of some sort...the great guys are on one side and the great women are on the other.

you start to think, "okay...all i ask for is somebody with a job, something to talk about, and hopefully some sorta hobby."

 

[mousehouselover]

This trip was all about splurges. I'll have to post pix of my flowers later.

 

[debbieandroo]

That Barrack-o-morph was terrifying. I'm going to have nightmares.

Sorry everyone! Just spreadin' the wealth, spreadin' the wealth ...

[seriously, I thought most everyone was winding down for the day - I guess I didn't wait long enough --- apologies everyone! ]

 

[Michelle67]

Sorry everyone! Just spreadin' the wealth, spreadin' the wealth ...

[seriously, I thought most everyone was winding down for the day - I guess I didn't wait long enough --- apologies everyone! ]

I'm unlikely to be going to bed any time soon. Especially since my kids are still yelling at each other on the other end of the house.