Wright Attitude

Here's a gem my mom forwarded to me.  I don't know how much of all this is truth and how much is spin but I imagine all of it has some degree of truth and most of it is probably dead on.  I looked up some of this stuff and it seems pretty legit, but definately take it with a grain of salt.  But even then, Yikes!  We do not want her and her liar of a husband in the White House again.

------------------------------

We need to think about the logic of those who would consider, even for a moment, bringing anyone associated with the Clintons back into the White House-----especially Hillary.

Hillary Clinton has been telling America that she is the most qualified candidate for president based on her 'record', which she says includes her eight years in the White House as First Lady (or "co-president") and her seven years in the Senate.

Here is a reminder of what that record includes:

• As First Lady, Hillary assumed authority over Health Care Reform, a process that cost the taxpayers over $13 million. She told both Bill Bradley and Pat Moynahan, key votes needed to pass her legislation, that she would 'demonize' anyone who opposed it.  But it was opposed; she couldn't even get it to a vote in a Congress controlled by her own party. (And in the next election, her party lost control of  both the House and Senate.)
• Hillary assumed authority over selecting a female Attorney General.  Her first two recommendations (Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood) were forced to withdraw their names from consideration, and then she chose Janet Reno.  Janet Reno has since been described by Bill himself as 'my worst mistake.'
• Hillary recommended Lani Guanier for head of the Civil Rights Commission.  When Guanier's radical views became known, her name had to be withdrawn.
• Hillary recommended her former law partners, Web Hubbell, Vince Foster, and William Kennedy for positions in the Justice Department,  White House staff, and the Treasury, respectively. Hubbell was later imprisoned,  Foster allegedly committed suicide, and Kennedy was forced to resign.
• Hillary also recommended a close friend of the Clintons, Craig Livingstone, for the position of director of White House security.  When Livingstone was investigated for the improper access of up to 900 FBI files of Clinton enemies (Filegate) and the widespread use of drugs by White House staff, both Hillary and her husband denied knowing him. (FBI agent Dennis Sculimbrene confirmed in a Senate Judiciary Committee in 1996 both the drug use and Hillary' s involvement in hiring Livingstone. After that, the FBI closed its White House Liaison Office, after serving seven presidents for over thirty years.)
• In order to open 'slots' in the White House for her friends the Harry Thomasons (to whom millions of dollars in travel contracts could be awarded), Hillary had the entire staff of the White House Travel Office fired; they were reported to theFBI for gross mismanagement' and their reputations ruined. After a thirty-month investigation, only one, Billy Dale, was charged with a crime - mixing personal money with White House funds when he cashed checks. The jury acquitted him in less than two hours.
• Another of Hillary's assumed duties was directing the "bimbo eruption squad' and scandal defense:
  • She urged her husband not to settle the Paula Jones lawsuit
  • She refused to release the Whitewater documents, which led to the appointment of Ken Starr as Special Prosecutor. After $80 million dollars of taxpayer money was spent, Starr's investigation led to Monica Lewinsky, which led to Bill lying about and later admitting his affairs.
  • Then they had to settle with Paula Jones after all.
  • And Bill lost his law license for lying to the grand jury
  • And Bill was impeached by the House.
  • And Hillary almost got herself indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice.  She avoided it mostly because she repeated, 'I do not recall,'   'I have no recollection,' and 'I don't know' 56 times under oath.
• Hillary accepted the traditional First Lady's role of decorator of the White House at Christmas , but in a unique Hillary way. In 1994, for example, the First Lady's Tree in the Blue Room (the focal point each year) was decorated with drug paraphernalia, sex toys, and pornographic ornaments, all personally approved by Hillary as the invited artists' depictions of the theme, 'The Twelve Days of Christmas.'
• Hillary wrote 'It Takes a Village,' demonstrating her Socialist viewpoint.
• Hillary decided to seek election to the Senate in a state where she had never lived. Her husband pardoned FALN terrorists in order to get Latino support and the New Square Hassidim to get Jewish support.
• Hillary also had Bill pardon her brother's clients, for a small fee, to get financial support.
• Then Hillary left the White House, but later had to return $200,000 in White House furniture, china, and artwork she had stolen.
• In the campaign for the Senate, Hillary played the "gender card" by  portraying her opponent (Lazio) as a bully picking on a poor woman.
• Hillary's husband further protected her by asking the National Archives to withhold from the public until 2012 many records of their time in the White House, including much of Hillary's correspondence and her calendars. (There are ongoing lawsuits to force the release of those records.)
• As a Senator from New York, Hillary has passed no major legislation. She has deferred to the senior Senator (Schumer) to tend to the needs of New Yorkers, even on the hot issue of medical problems  of workers involved in the cleanup of Ground Zero after 9/11.
• Hillary's one notable vote, supporting the plan to invade Iraq, she has since disavowed.
  

Just when I thought there would never be anything funny on the Internet again, I came across LOLDogs.  They are LOLCats (see previous post) but without the obnoxious cats! :)

http://ihasahotdog.com

A few favorites...

It sounds like the beginning of a less than tasteful joke with a punchline that you know is going to make you grown, but it's not a joke.  This presidential campaign is shaping up to be historic no matter how you look at it, well unless McCain wins and that would be anti-climactic or Giulianni wins and that would be typical (another slimeball in the White House).

I love keeping track of the allocation of the delegates on the CNN Election Tracker site:

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/

It is so crazy analyzing all these numbers and tracking the candidates progress.  With all the different victories had by the different candidates, it's anyone's guess who is going to win this thing.  It's like watching sports.  Really.  Thrilling.  The only thing I am ticked off about is that Super Tuesday is going to ruin the whole thing.  It's going to be all exciting up until then and just like Christmas morning they are going to tally up all the votes and know for sure who is going to win and the next few months leading up to the national conventions will be boring in comparison.  They should spread out the primaries more to keep things interesting for longer.

Well - its no secret that I can't stand the Clintons.  Heaven help us if Hillary gets elected.

Obama is interesting.  His charisma is electric.  Reminds me of the old school politicians like JFK that people just adored.  If I had to choose between Giulliani and Obama I must just go crazy and vote Democrat for once.

No surprise I'm a Republican.  Should I vote for Romney because he is Mormon like me - OK, makes sense, but there has got to be more to it than that.  It would be cool to see someone from our church in such a prominent position - not so much because he could somehow leverage his position of authority to align things with our beliefs, but because he could do a lot to communicate what the church is really all about and dispel a lot f myths.  But on the other hand, if his presidency doesn't go well and there are some moral snafus (like another Monica) that could reflect badly on the church.  Seems worth the risk though.  You have to believe the guy has some character - he has been a Bishop and a Stake President before and he did save the SLC Olympics.

I gotta admire and like some of the crazy ideas that Ron Paul has.  That kind of radical thinking could be really good for our government to shake things up a bit.

As you gathered from above, I'm not a Giuliani fan - seems like a sleazball to me and his values don't line up with mine at all well.  So - would I vote for Huckabee - maybe.  Seems like a decent fellow.  Would I vote for McCain - well, maybe.  Seems like a safe bet and in general I'm cool with the status quo.  And then there is Romney.  Lines up with my values on the issues the best and it sure would be exciting to see a Mormon in the White House.  Go Romney!!  Let's keep it interesting people.  Politics is so drab without some characters.

<punch line>

.... and the Mormon won the election and became President of the United States of America!

Lance went into the Missionary Training Center to be, well, you guessed it trained to be a missionary for the church.  For all of you gentiles out there, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka LDS or Mormon church), young men about 19 years old are asked to spend two years out preaching the gospel.  Young women have the option of going at 21, but it is not expected like it is for the young men.

This always involves leaving your home, oftentimes going abroad and learning a foreign language.  You live with a "companion" (another missionary of the same gender as you) - and by "live" here I mean you go everywhere with this person except to the bathroom together.  The idea with traveling in twos is to keep each other out of trouble.

Missionaries live extraordinarily strict lives so they are completely focused on the work of teaching the gospel - no TV, no radio, no music, no movies, get up at 6:30 and go to bed at 10:30 every day, read the scriptures and study language for 1.5 -3 hours/day, etc.  Missionaries where suits, ties, and little black name tags to identify themselves.

I went to Moscow, Russia on my mission from 1996-1998.  What a life changing experience.  It was so great at that time in my life to spend two years thinking about other people besides myself and really build some character by doing hard things like learning Russian, being rejected, working harder than I ever had in my life, communicating with people, being a leader, etc.

Every young man could use an experience like this be it Peace Corp or whatever.  The people I met there and the exposure I got to another part of the world and culture was amazing.  It was certainly worth setting aside my personal ambitions for a couple of years.

I'm proud of my bro for making the right choice to go on a mission.  He is going to do great.  He is going to be speaking Spanish in the Tallahassee, FL mission.

Good luck bro!

I just have to reuse this picture since it is soooo appropriate:

Little Girl Will Kick Your Ask

Well - here is the secret to my good looks - genetics.

That's great grandpa Robert Lee "Bob" Wright on the left.  Then grandpa Derrel "Dick" Gard Wright.  Then Dick with his three sons - Gene (my dad), Darrel, and Mike (L--> R).

I also now know where I got my propensity for taking really bad photos.

Fortunately it is not possible to inherit 70s fashion... 

Aren't old pics great!  These are priceless.  Thanks for sharing Beth.

These gems and more are all uploaded to this gallery.

I'm also uploading these to my skydrive if anybody else wants to download them. 

Aunt Beth sent me this cool photo of Lance back in the day when they had wooden high chairs.  Remember those days?

This picture was taken when we were at a restaurant in Boise - I think when we were there for a family reunion.  Back in those days we still had family reunions.  Nowadays we have family happen-to-be-in-roughly-the-same-place-so-why-not-get-together-for-an-afternoons.

Anyway - the cool thing about this picture is that it shows two of my cousins kids (Trevor and Jasen).  Trevor just left on a mission this week.  Lance leaves in January and Jasen is leaving in February.  If only Grandma Wright could see us all now.

This is a picture of my brother, Lance.

Yes, that is a polka dot bow in his hair.  I don't know, don't ask.  But what I do know is that he is a champ of a little bro.  There's 12 years between us.  I guess he was some kind of "blessing"/"surprise" for my parents.  He's a BYU right now studying some stuff, but mostly goofing off like all Freshmen do when they first move away from home.  Pretty soon he is going on his mission to Tallahassee, FL.  For the most he is just like me - attitude, sassy, goal-oriented, handsome, smart, good-looking... Woah - some people might think I am trying to compliment myself but I'm not... I'm complimenting my brother.  Really.

But on the other hand he is completely different than me.  I sometimes wonder if he was born in the Wrong family instead of the Wright family.  Get it?  Har har.  Sorry - just another one of those lame play on words things that comes so freely having a last name of 'Wright'.  How is he different you ask?  Well - he likes singing, playing instruments, drama - refined, artsy stuff like that.  He likes people.  He likes going to parties.

But that is what is so cool about us being bros.  He is everything I am not.  We're like ying/yang dude.  And we have enough stuff in common - computers, tech stuff, playing xbox, etc. to keep it real.

I'm super proud of my brother.  You see one of the other things about my bro is that he was born with CMT. I wont try to explain it in detail - that's what Wikipedia is for.  Suffice it to say that this is a nerve disorder that ultimately has resulted in a lack of muscle development which has led to various surgeries, Scoliosis, braces, etc. that Lance has had to endure over the years.

But the thing is that if you were to meet my brother, you would have no idea there was anything wrong.  He is so upbeat and positive about things.  He has accomplished WAY more than most people that don't have to deal with these kinds of challenges.  I always wondered how he would get along in school and all that, but he has this amazing magnetic personality.  People love hanging out with him.  He is universally liked by kids, peers, and grown ups.

He's always been an inspiration to me and I know he has been to others too.  If you ever tell him something like that though he doesn't believe it.  He thinks he is just being himself, but he doesn't realize what an positive role model he is for other people of all ages around him.

Here's to you bro!  I love you dude, but we got to talk about that bow in your hair thing.  That's just not inspiring to others.  :)

 

Update: Ah heck - Why not? I have created a top 10 list of LOL cats - see lower left page of my space.

Going to pump it up this weekend - Ahh yeah

Big Birthday Bash

Hosted by: Andy and Emily Shaw Date and time: Saturday, October 20, 2007 at 4:00 PM Location name: 18027 Highway 99, Suite J, Lynnwood, WA 98037 View this event on Windows Live