Clueless Emma

Happy 2010 Comics

 












 

 

Happy New Year 2010!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!

 Champagne Ball 2009 at the Portland Hilton!!

  Nice decorations, good appetizer buffet!

5 Guys Named Moe--60s and 70s music. They were good, but I didn't enjoy the music much for dancing. After midnight, when the deejay took over, I finally started bustin' a move!

The 80s hair band was waay more fun than that silly 70s disco! [Bring back the country music!!]

Happy New Year 2009 from Clueless Emma and the Moose!!

Still waiting for change...2009

 

Change lite 2009

 

SILLY SILLY SILLY

....A Missouri town is considering a law that would ban swearing in bars – along with table-dancing, drinking contests and 'profane music'.

St. Charles City Councilman Richard Veit said he was prompted to propose the bill after complaints about bad behaviour in bars. He says the bill - which would ban indecent, profane or obscene language, songs, entertainment and literature at bars - will give police some rules to enforce when things get too rowdy.

...Meanwhile in Huntington, New York, the town council is proposing a ban on a highly dangerous substance: Silly String.

The council believes that the amusing tendrils damage the paintwork on fire engines.

As such, they want to outlaw the tenuous ropes of frivolity at all 'parades, processions, fairs and expositions.'

HAPPY 2008!

Well, I survived my 40th New Year's Eve and had a great time!

First, we dined at Bentley's Bar & Grill, without a wait--I'd checked online earlier and found no reservations open until after 10pm, so we (I went with my good friend, with whom I often enjoy evenings out) decided to just get a drink and snack in the bar area (which at Bentley's is just as upscale and nice as the dining area, but close enough to the TVs to watch the games). But when we arrived at about 8:30, there were open tables and it was surprisingly not crowded. We were seated near the fireplace, but not close enough, as Bentley's does tend to be chilly.














I recognized two colleagues among the mostly older crowd. There were a few children enjoying a classy dinner with their parents on New Year's Eve, which I found touching.

Bentley's is one of the few places I can go in Salem dressed to the 9's and not feel out of place. I would love to see some competition and a real night life in the capitol city!





I ordered the artichoke and feta ravioli with a house salad, though I really did want to try the Rotisserie Pekin Duck. The ravioli was great and the small portion is deceptive--it's quite filling and with the salad and bread, I had quite enough. Love the portabellos and artichoke hearts and all that cheese! One can't go wrong with pasta! The mixed green salad is not my favorite, though it's healthier and certainly prettier than iceberg. As much as I enjoy Bentley's, I'm not a fan of their salad dressings. I find them often too vinegary and overpowering, so my recommendation is to order dressing on the side, in case you don't like it and would like to try another. Usually I love raspberry vinegarette, but not Bentley's--I went with the honey, which was nicely balanced.




My friend ordered the lamb shank. I've never had lamb, so I can't really compare this dish, but he didn't like it as well as other he's had. It did seem to be overpowered with ginger and I thought I detected nutmeg, but who knows. It was very tender. The potatoes are always good and the green beans were crispy. I love veggies and am always surprised when others don't eat theirs. If I'd only been hungrier...

After dinner and some discussion about where to go, we ended up at the ol' 'standby, The Silver Spur. It's the only place in town where cowboy and cowgirl wannabes can do the Bootscootin' Boogie and the Watermelon Crawl. I have a friend in Texas who went with me last year during a visit, and he's never let me forget just how silly all our cowboy hats and boots are--they're more for the beach, he says, than for a night out. To this I remind him he's in Birkenstock and granola country, whattheheck does he expect? After all, I don't criticize the whining drawl affect played up by the women in North Texas. Well, okay, yes I do. I swear it's fake, along with "Southern Hospitality" and most of the cleavage hanging out at the lake.

Anyway,  we had a blast and "shook our tail feathers" 'til we closed the place down. I love the after midnight predictable mix of hip hop and classic rock. Last night, of course, we enjoyed "free" champagne and hats and noisemakers amidst a cascade of confetti and balloons at the midnight countdown.

I still have a sore throat, dagnabbit, and am tired and have to go back to work tomorrow, but I'm glad I did get out and celebrate the New Year. It's always better than sitting home alone, sick or not. My kids fly in from their dad's tonight, so it will be a late night and early morning for all of us....

New Year Devotional

Taken from William MacDonald's devotional book, "One Day at a Time":

New Year's resolutions are good but fragile, that is, easily broken. New Year's prayers are better; they ascend to the throne of God and set answering wheels in motion. As we come to the beginning of another year, we would do well to make the following prayer requests our own:

Lord Jesus, I rededicate myself afresh to You today. I want You to take my life this coming year and use it for Your glory.

I pray that You will keep me from sin, from anything that will bring dishonor to Your Name.

Keep me teachable by the Holy Spirit. I want to move forward for You. Don't let me settle in a rut.

May my motto this year be, "He must increase; I must decrease." The glory must all be Yours. Help me not to touch it.

Teach me to make every decision a matter of prayer. I dread the thought of leaning on my own understanding. "O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps" (Jer. 10:23).

May I die to the world and even to the approval or blame of loved ones or friends. Give me a single, pure desire to do the things that please Your heart.

Keep me from gossip and criticism of others. Rather, help me to speak what is edifying and profitable.

Lead me to needy souls. May I become a friend of sinners, as You are. Give me tears of compassion for the perishing.

Lord Jesus, keep me from becoming cold, bitter, or cynical in spite of anything that may happen to me in the Christian life.

Guide me in my stewardship of money. Help me to be a good steward of everything You have entrusted to me.

Help me to remember moment by moment that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. May this tremendous truth influence all my behavior.

And, Lord Jesus, I pray that this may be the year of Your return. I long to see Your face and to fall at Your feet in worship. During the coming year, may the blessed hope stay fresh in my heart, disengaging me from anything that would hold me here and keeping me on the tiptoes of expectancy. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"

HAPPY NEW YEAR, LOVELIES!

Sore throat (Dr. says it's not strep!) and all, I'm heading out for a wee bit o'celebratin' in the heart of the metropolis. Perhaps a beverage or two at Bentley's Bar and Grill, and then try another place and then...who knows? I despise not having a set plan on New Year's Eve, but I have felt so rotten, I didn't want anyone to invest in tickets if I couldn't make it. So we'll make the best of it. I'll try to take pics with my phone, since my camera broke...hope y'all are safe and warm and spend the evening with fine folks who care aboutcha.

Here's to a new year, y'all--2008--may it bring peace and prosperity, Truth and honor to the citizens of the United States of America.

BETTER THAN INFAMY, I SUPPOSE--THIS TIME JUST A LINK AT CNN.COM

FIND CLUELESS EMMA ON THE BLOG LINK AT CNN.COM! DO I HEAR A WOOT-WOOT?

Man of the Year: General David Petraeus

   

IN MOST YEARS, SEVERAL PEOPLE COULD REASONABLY BE SELECTED FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE’S MAN OF THE YEAR. This year, one candidate distinguished himself beyond all others: General David Howell Petraeus. In commanding the U.S. Surge in Iraq, Petraeus has not merely arrested an explosive and deteriorating security situation but has reversed terrorist initiatives, driving al-Qaeda out of a province it once governed and denying it the ability to reconstitute a Salafist safe haven. No one has more significantly advanced the welfare of the United States and the cause of freedom in 2007 as Gen. Petraeus, and none has been as harassed as a result – not merely harassed unduly but harassed precisely because he aided liberty’s cause in a time when so many seek to benefit politically from its diminution. In his selection, FrontPage Magazine maintains its tradition – expressed by honoring Col. Allen B. West, John O’Neill, and Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean in years past – of especially praising those who have been maligned, derided, and belittled (or worse) for merely doing their duty.

The 55-year-old soldier-scholar is carrying on his own family tradition. The son of a Dutch sailor, Sixtus Petraeus, and an American mother, his high school classmates remember him as an affable but not especially focused youth whose only expressed career goal was “college.” The fitness fanatic – he can still do 75 push-ups in a minute – graduated in the top five percent of West Point’s Class of 1974. A decade later, he would teach “social sciences” at the venerable military institution. He departed to earn his Ph.D. from Princeton, authoring the 1987 thesis, The American Military and the Lessons of Vietnam: A Study of Military Influence and the Use of Force in the Post-Vietnam Era. While analyzing the lessons the high command should have learned from Vietnam, he wrote,“American involvement in low-intensity conflict is inevitable.” The thesis may have spared the United States many headaches – and flag-draped coffins – if it had been heeded in the heady days of 2003-4.

Petraeus spent years stateside, instilling a code of honor in U.S. soldiers. One of his more recent colleagues, Marine Corps Lt. Seth Moulton – who helped Petraeus train the Iraqi Army – said, “General Petraeus has taught me even when there is an urgent problem to be calm, step back, and not react rashly.” While still in the Unites States, Petraeus suffered a near-fatal casualty, when he was accidentally shot in the chest with an M-16. After being rushed into surgery, future senator Bill Frist saved his life. His steady hand may have been the instrument of healing, but Petraeus seemed to gain his real life force from the camaraderie and dedication of his soldiers. While penning his regrets for missing his 25th high school reunion in 1995, he described Fort Bragg: “Life here is great. I’ve got 2,500 of America's finest paratroopers in my regiment, and I get a lot of energy from them (although it's getting tougher to keep up with 18-year-olds!” He would have the opportunity to serve stints in Bosnia and Haiti.

During the fight for Iraq, the then-lieutenant general tasted combat upfront. 101st Air Assault Division through Mosul, where even Newsweek concedes, “Virtually everyone agrees his command there was a textbook case of doing counterinsurgency the right way.” Although it was not what Newsweek had in mind, there Petraeus’ efforts yielded military triumphs. Uday and Qusay Hussein were killed in Mosul during this time, leaving Saddam Hussein without a successor-in-terror. Coalition forces also captured Aso Hawlawi, third in command of Ansar al-Islam, the terrorist group headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and later renamed “Al-Qaeda in Iraq.” Not one to allow PC verities to stand in the way of his men’s safety, Petraeus sent his men into mosques to prevent them from being used as arms depots and monitored imams’ teachings. He also reconstructed much of the area. He began irrigation systems running for the first time in 10 years, and the largest asphalt factory in the Middle East operated for the first time since the mid-80s. Foreseeing one obstacle to Sunni-Shi’ite integration, he implemented a more “nuanced” policy of deBaathification. His regnum was imperfect: he oversaw the reopening of the border with Syria, the terrorists’ equivalent of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. And some say he placed too much faith in the wrong people. Nonetheless, the citizens of Mosul honored his tenure by naming a city street after the 101^st.

At the beginning of 2007, President Bush asked Petraeus to conform the rest of Iraq into this image, nominating him to implement the new Surge strategy. Fellow military personnel saluted the choice. Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton assessed Petraeus “has a capacity to blow through bureaucracy that not many guys do. He doesn't understand the nature of a wall; he'll either go through it or over it or around it.” In part for this reason (and in part because they could do no other) the new Democratic Congress confirmed Lt. Gen. David Petraeus as Commanding General of the Multi-National Force – Iraq on January 26 of this year, by a vote of 81-0.

In his new capacity, the general had to oversee all aspects of Iraq – a task he likened to “building an airplane while you’re flying it.” However, he quickly began to build, training and equipping native Iraqis to fight alongside 21,500 additional U.S. troops. Within the first month alone – with the Surge at far from full strength – murders and executions fell by half. Petraeus then trained native units within the Iraqi National Task Force to deal with counterinsurgency, deploying them to successfully pacify Baghdad after the full complement of U.S. troops arrived this June. (Iraqi Defense Minister Hazim Shaalan noted his desire to visit a distinctively Iraqi justice upon the terrorists: “We will cut off their hands and behead them.”) Revisiting the training he gave to U.S. forces, the now-four-star general increased Iraqi units’ training time, cut loose undependable members, and saw that the Iraqis had the equipment they needed – including body armor. Within a single week, “13,500 Gluck pistols, 850,000 rounds of ammunition, 900 vehicles, 50,000 flak vests and 60,000 Kevlar helmets were delivered.”

Some were not content to wait for the Surge to reach full strength – which only truly began in August. Indeed, William Arkin wrote an article entitled “The Overrated General Petraeus” in The Washington Post in January – twenty days before Arkin denounced the American army as a “mercenary” force gorged on “obscene amenities” – declaiming that Petraeus was “an amenable partner to captain the sinking ship.” On April 19, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything.” On June 13, Reid co-signed a letter with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, informing President Bush, “As many had foreseen, the escalation has failed to produce the intended results.” Reid then declared Petraeus – the commander of all forces in Baghdad, who oversees day-to-day operations in the entire theatre – “isn’t in touch with what’s going on in Baghdad.”

Yet the good news continued. Sunni leadership in Anbar Province turned against al-Qaeda; Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army declared a six-month ceasefire; and Coalition forces began clearing Baghdad of all terrorists. ABC’s Charles Gibson memorably described the scene:

The news is…there is no news. The police told us today that, to their knowledge, there were no major acts of violence. Attacks are down in Baghdad and today no bombings or roadside explosions were reported.

All this took place as Congressional leadership tried to undermine his work. Rep. John Murtha attempted his “slow-bleed” strategy to deprive Iraq of sufficient troops, and numerous resolutions threatened to cut off funding. In the end, Congress could merely compel Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker to address the body in mid-September, announcing the current situation. Many believed this would give the leadership sufficient political cover to push through a defunding resolution.

They did not count on Petraeus’ competence. And the Left railed against him for ruining their plans. Before the leader could testify, his enemies began to poison the well – and exposed themselves as outside the American mainstream. In an ad as polarizing and jarring as the televised Army-McCarthy hearings, MoveOn.org took out a full-page ad in the New York Times branding the hero “General Betray Us” – a word play first used by MSNBC “journalist” Keith Olbermann. (The Soros-funded pressure group procured the advertisement at a significant discount.) When Congress voted to condemn weeks later, 79 Democratic Congressmen and 25 Democratic senators – including Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd, Harry Reid, John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, Ted Kennedy, Robert Byrd, Jim McDermott, and James Moran – voted “Nay.” (The remaining Democratic presidential candidates skipped the vote.)

High-profile leftists joined these fringe elements, which now had a controlling interest in their party. The golden-tongued Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate’s number two Democrat, leapt into the mix, forecasting that Petraeus would try to convince Congress efforts were going well – by using facts! In this Durbin saw evil, instructing, “Even if the figures [are] right, the conclusion is wrong.” Accused of being a White House puppet, Petraeus declared, “I wrote this testimony myself,” affirming it had “not been cleared by, nor shared with, anyone in the Pentagon, the White House, or Congress.” He did not declare irreversible progress – nor has he since – explicitly labeling the gains fragile and subject to change. Regardless, Sen. Hillary Clinton questioned the general’s veracity, saying his testimony required “the willing suspension of disbelief.”

Subsequent conditions on the ground have proven who was suspending disbelief. In October alone, 110,000 refugees returned to Iraq. As in Mosul, the economic progress in liberated Iraq has been notable. One U.S. official said a U.S. program offering Iraqis monetary incentives to reopen the shops they closed due to violence is “working in a weird, unbelievable way.” One shop owner, a 76-year-old baker, said, “The Americans proved that ordinary life was possible here again.” Other frolic in their triumph over the jihadists. “We fought the terrorists and we won,” said a 27-year-old, who has taken up arms against al-Qaeda. “It has taken a long time, but we appreciate the Americans.” In November, forces announced al-Qaeda had been expelled from Anbar Province.

As 2007 draws to a close, General David Petraeus informed the nation of yet greater progress. Earlier this month, he announced gains from the “Anaconda Strategy.” Last October, there were 1,350 terrorist attacks in Anbar Province; one week in the middle of this month, there were 12. In a follow-up session last Saturday, the New York Times reports, Petraeus revealed “violent attacks in the country had fallen by 60 percent since June,” and the number of “high-profile attacks” is down 60 percent since March.

Significantly, General Petraeus reaffirmed the “principal threat” to U.S. troops remains al-Qaeda in Iraq. Al-Qaeda in Iraq – on the advice of Ayman al-Zawahiri, a Jordanian believed to be hiding in Waziristan – intended to expel Western soldiers and use, first Anbar then all of Iraq, as a staging area for regional and worldwide jihad. In addition to serving as the launch pad for terror attacks against Arab governments, this would serve as the new Caliphate, the religio-fascist epicenter of all efforts to impose Shari’a law on the entire world. Thus, al-Qaeda declared Iraq its central front, its Armageddon in the war against the West.

And thanks to General David H. Petraeus, it is here that al-Qaeda is being humiliated. The Times adds“dramatically”; 600 civilians died this month, compared with 3,000 last December. Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno said the likelihood of a Sunni-Shi’ite civil war had been “reversed.” In fact, Gen. Petraeus discussed a new, Iraqi “surge”: the Coalition has minted 100,000 new Iraqi soldiers or police – including an increasing number of Sunnis. that Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman General Abdul Khalaf confirmed “75 percent of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia’s networks and safe havens had been destroyed,” and “insurgent attacks had declined from 25 a day in February in Baghdad to as few as one during some days in December.” Petraeus observed civilian casualties have been reduced

The media have continued to ignore news of progress, moving on to covering Iraqi political gridlock and eliding mention of the indefatigable general’s longshot successes. Despite his accomplishments, General Petraeus barely cracked the top one-third of the Time 100. Time also selected the general as its fourthwrites, “Petraeus has not failed” – he is responsible for “sketchy progress,” which scribbler Klein attributes to “equal parts luck and skill.” runner-up for its “Man of the Year” award – behind Al Gore, J.K. Rowling, and Red Chinese President Hu Jintao. (This year’s awardee, of course, was Vladimir Putin, neo-fascist president of Russia.) In the story purportedly lauding Petraeus’ accomplishments, penned by leftist Joe Klein, epitomized the phrase “damning with faint praise.” Klein

As General Petraeus proved when asked about the MoveOn.org ad, he is unmoved by such criticism. Petraeus has spent a lifetime dispelling caricatures of military men, but moreover, he has spent three decades doing his duty – defending the very rights of those who malign him. He would gladly die for them – and some of them would gladly see him endure such a fate. Scarcely a man would die for a righteous man, but General Petraeus would die even for his enemies. We are thankful he is instead triumphing for them.

Undoubtedly, our “Man of the Year” award will come as little remittance for a man who has already received a “Defense Distinguished Service Medal, two awards of the Distinguished Service Medal, two awards of the Defense Superior Service Medal, four awards of the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal for valor, the State Department Superior Honor Award, the NATO Meritorious Service Medal, and the Gold Award of the Iraqi Order of the Date Palm.” History will award him greater honors than any of us can bestow. This presidential election will go a long way toward determining if the War on Terror is won or lost, specifically on the Iraq front. However, civilian leadership cannot create battlefield victories, nor diplomatic missions clear the war theatre of enemies. Only keen military strategists can do that. If America prevails in the War on Terror, much of the credit will go to General David H. Petraeus – a brilliant but simple man who simply did his duty.                    

---

                    Ben Johnson is Managing Editor of FrontPage Magazine and author of the book 57 Varieties of Radical Causes: Teresa Heinz Kerry's Charitable Giving.                    

   

UN TAKES COMMAND OF DARFUR

The United Nations officially began a new peacekeeping effort on Monday in the  Darfur region of western Sudan in a ceremony that transferred power from the African Union.  The Sudanese government had spent months resisting admission of the international force.

      

The peacekeeping force will be staffed far below the levels set by the United Nations Security Council when it voted unanimously in July to deploy 26,000 troops to try to stop the violence in Darfur. The region has been mired in bloodshed and chaos for four years, as government forces and government-equipped militias have clashed with rebel groups, leaving at least 200,000 civilians dead and 2.5 million villagers homeless.

FREE DAY AT THE OREGON ZOO TODAY!

According to local news, the Oregon Zoo is free all day today and into the evening to view the Zoolights display! So gather your family, friends, and loved one and visit the zoo! (Just be sure to hold on tight to the hands of those you take and be prepared to run really, really fast past the big cat compound!)

CLUELESS EMMA STEPS OUT INTO UNKNOWN TERRITORY BY STATING THAT THE ECONOMY WILL BE OKAY

"It's the last day of the year and there aren't any major drivers this year on the news front to drive stocks into the positive," said Ryan Detrick with Schaeffer's Investment Research. "Traders are closing out their positions and waiting until Friday's employment report before making any decisions."

Traders are working with just one piece of economic data today: existing home sales. The National Association of Realtors said existing home sales rose 0.4% to 5 million in November. It was in line with the expectations by economists, who were predicting home sales to come in at 4.97 million. Stocks were little moved on the news.

The report includes the resale of homes, condos, condominiums and other residential units. The market of existing homes makes a much larger proportion of the housing market than new home sales, so it's a fairly accurate gauge of the state of the economy and housing demand. However, because home contracts take so long to sign, it is considered a lagging indicator of the economy.

Also, Merrill Lynch, one of the biggest victims of the subprime mess, is in talks with sovereign wealth funds of China and the Middle East to sell a stake in the company, according to the U.K. Observer. This would be the second time the brokerage house has approached foreign investors.

A source told the Observer that the $4.4 billion investment that Singapore investment company Temasek Holdings put into Merrill was not enough.

Well, the truth is I know little to nothing about economics and finances and all that foreign money stuff. But I do know that I've had many conversations with conspiracy theorists and theskyisfalling fearmongers over the past year, one of which swore up and down that God informed him personally that the US economy would hit rock bottom in November of 2007. On the last day of November, I asked him what happened to his prophecy--his explanation was that he changed his mind and prayed that God would keep it stable for a while.

Well, I'm all for miracles. I have faith based on pure bible, a true Christ-given change in my heart. I hang my soul on His promise never to leave nor forsake me, trust that my salvation is eternal, and that He will provide everything when I abide in Him. He's proven that true many times in my life.

So for all the fearmongers and conspiracy theorists, I say PSHAW! Bad things will happen, markets will fluctuate, and challenges will raise their ugly heads. But I've got faith in my Father and peace that passeth
understanding. He's bigger than even stock markets, housing markets, and sovereign wealth funds.

It's gonna be okay, folks. It's gonna be okay.

Marketwatch.com:

The dollar slipped against the yen but managed gains against most major counterparts Monday, in extremely thin trading conditions on the last day of the year.

IRAQIS HAVE HOPE THIS YEAR

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqis were out all day on New Year's Eve buying cakes, balloons, party decorations and new clothes to celebrate the holiday in the hope of a more peaceful 2008.

   

Many Baghdad residents said they planned to celebrate New Year's Eve properly for the first time in years as violence subsides in the capital after years of sectarian war.