A hangover would have been better.

[JMT]

Some mornings you just wish you were a bottle-draining alcoholic so that when you woke up you could harbor some hope that what you thought you recalled from the previous night was just a foggy hallucination.

No such luck.

I woke up this morning and wasn't dead, Jesus hadn't come back, and so the nightmare goes on. Disappointed in all of the above, I got out of bed anyway.

My wife, God love her, turns on the Today Show every day out of habit from her childhood. My habit is to turn it off the moment she is distracted enough not to notice. She just wants the noise, frankly - but I can't take it.

I refused to go into the kitchen this morning because I heard it on. Just went back upstairs and started getting dressed. I don't think I said anything out loud. Except to my 15-y.o. daughter, to whom I apologized profusely for what has happened to the country she is about to inherit.

Self-imposed media blackout is in full force. Heard snippets of Beck and Limbaugh while driving up to Nashville today, but that's all. I passed a few Obama-Biden bumper stickers on the way up and successfully kept all of my most interesting fingers on the wheel. I am declaring that as my election victory this year.

Almost no social media. I have had to unfriend a couple of gloaters. I did so silently, another victory.

This hotel has CNN on every screen - lobby, starbucks, bar, restaurant. I'm treating the various televisions like someone you see at the grocery store but don't want to talk to: no eye contact. Don't want to get hooked into a 'conversation' with one of these electronic lie displays.

I went to a McDonald's, a gas station, a grocery store today. Minimal conversation. "How are you today?" they ask. Fools.

Took a nap because I was going on <4 hours of fitful sleep. I am awake now and can savor the disappointment and rage and despair with much more alertness than before.

I leave you with something Mark Steyn posted on The Corner today, quoting someone else:

Les mots justes
Mark Steyn

November 7, 2012 10:00 A.M.​

Comments 75 I appreciate the sterling if pitiful efforts of my comrades to clutch at straws these last few hours, but, on this grim morning after, I fear the most salient analysis comes from Sir Richard Mottram, Her Britannic Majesty’s former Permanent Secretary for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, albeit speaking in another context:
<blockquote> “We’re all f***ed. I’m f***ed. You’re f***ed. The whole department’s f***ed. It’s been the biggest c**k-up ever and we’re all completely f***ed.”
</blockquote> Words to ponder.

 

[lotstodo]

Sir Mottram is a man of few words, and very accurate ones at that.

 

[newsjunky]

Some mornings you just wish you were a bottle-draining alcoholic so that when you woke up you could harbor some hope that what you thought you recalled from the previous night was just a foggy hallucination.

No such luck.

I woke up this morning and wasn't dead, Jesus hadn't come back, and so the nightmare goes on. Disappointed in all of the above, I got out of bed anyway.

My wife, God love her, turns on the Today Show every day out of habit from her childhood. My habit is to turn it off the moment she is distracted enough not to notice. She just wants the noise, frankly - but I can't take it.

I refused to go into the kitchen this morning because I heard it on. Just went back upstairs and started getting dressed. I don't think I said anything out loud. Except to my 15-y.o. daughter, to whom I apologized profusely for what has happened to the country she is about to inherit.

Self-imposed media blackout is in full force. Heard snippets of Beck and Limbaugh while driving up to Nashville today, but that's all. I passed a few Obama-Biden bumper stickers on the way up and successfully kept all of my most interesting fingers on the wheel. I am declaring that as my election victory this year.

Almost no social media. I have had to unfriend a couple of gloaters. I did so silently, another victory.

This hotel has CNN on every screen - lobby, starbucks, bar, restaurant. I'm treating the various televisions like someone you see at the grocery store but don't want to talk to: no eye contact. Don't want to get hooked into a 'conversation' with one of these electronic lie displays.

I went to a McDonald's, a gas station, a grocery store today. Minimal conversation. "How are you today?" they ask. Fools.

Took a nap because I was going on <4 hours of fitful sleep. I am awake now and can savor the disappointment and rage and despair with much more alertness than before.

I leave you with something Mark Steyn posted on The Corner today, quoting someone else:

Les mots justes
Mark Steyn

November 7, 2012 10:00 A.M.​

Comments 75 I appreciate the sterling if pitiful efforts of my comrades to clutch at straws these last few hours, but, on this grim morning after, I fear the most salient analysis comes from Sir Richard Mottram, Her Britannic Majesty’s former Permanent Secretary for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, albeit speaking in another context:
<blockquote> “We’re all f***ed. I’m f***ed. You’re f***ed. The whole department’s f***ed. It’s been the biggest c**k-up ever and we’re all completely f***ed.”
</blockquote> Words to ponder.

Where is that like button???

 

[JMT]

If you read my Josephus Orangeblossom page last night, you know that I am being completely honest in confessing that my faith in my country and even in God has been shaken to the core. I would say it is hanging by the wispiest of threads today.

If you are the praying sort, add me to your list NOW. I want to believe, but the last couple of years have been bitterly problematic, and this may be the straw. I am fed up with everything, and that includes the well-meaning but apparently worthless prayers of the righteous.

Gah. Sorry for the blasphemy but that's where I am standing this fine bloody Wednesday in November.

 

[JMT]

I could deal with this if I thought the person in power was simply someone who disagreed with me on policy, but who I trusted to really want what's best for the country.

The thing is, I don't trust him. At all. I think he WANTS us to be punished, for the world to have REVENGE on us for our success. It is exactly the Atlas Shrugged template - you are punished for being capable and thus making the incapable feel bad in comparison. Your desire to work is not a virtue to be lauded, it is your curse for us to exploit. You can't help but feel driven to work and do and act... and we will plug our needs into your energy and drain from you as long as you run. But you, you fool, you won't quit. You are driven to keep going, to keep trying. Your strength is your weakness.

This is not Bill Clinton, a rapscallion lefty lib who at least knows what a homecoming parade down Main Street looks like. This is a person with not just a lack of understanding of Americana, but a finely-honed hatred for it. And he is the bloody president. Again.

It is incomprehensible that we have allowed our media and our educational system to make this day possible.

 

[Far West]

::ditto

 

[Winchester]

WOW JMT, just wow!

I think we all feel this way right now. The next question, what do we do now? Do we keep up the daily struggle only to be kicked in the teeth later? Or just give in and get in the line for the kick to happen and get it over quicker?

I feel so lost today. No answers.....no hope!

 

[dapandlap]

We should prepare to live like the liberal Europeans, while speaking Chinese.

 

[Guard Dad]

Joe - I'm having many of the same feelings...especially concerning my country. I woke up this morning with the feeling that I was somewhere I've been for a very long time, but I no longer know that place. That place being my country. I just saw approximately half the US voters line up behind a man who's ideals are are completely foreign to the America I was raised in. And I'm shocked and disgusted at the ugliness that politicians brought out by their use of envy.

This is not the United States that I was raised in. This is not the country of dreams and opportunity that made us the most sought-out place in the world. This is no longer the place where success is celebrated.

I don't like feeling this way...unsure that I have the same passion as an American that I once did. I have a lot of soul searching to do.

 

[naturegirl]

I haven't had much faith in this country for a while....no point. Why set myself up to be let down? Now, I'm not going to address God acting or not, because I chose to believe that he messed around with the outcome of my last relationship, preventing me from being hoplessly f**ked over by her. There's no way I did that, or salvaged what I did on my own. No one had to help me, or do anything for me, and yet everyone I reached out to in trying to correct my mistake helped me. And I mean businesses who had no interest in me, really, other than profit.


Somehow I walked away relatively unscathed, losing some furniture, some gas money, etc. The Chaplain told me that because my desire and intentions were pure and earnest, and hers were not, that God chose to protect and help me. Even though I've had little to say to God over the past many years, and what it has been has been rejection...


But maybe, just maybe, God is punishing the US for "turning its back on Him" as many of my Christian friends believe it has. I'm not sure I agree. I also had someone tell me that Obama must be "walking with God" in order to be president. I know I don't believe that.


I don't think you're blaspheming. Is that even a word?

:thumbsup

I just officially cancelled Christmas on FB, no one wants to celebrate the birth of Christ anymore. They just want presents.

 

[mei lan]

Self-imposed media blackout here as well. Mark Steyn is a national treasure.

I will say this about your comments about faith/answered prayers/etc. My only thought is that God ALWAYS answers prayer - but His answers can take one of three different forms...yes, no, and wait. Last night, we got a no. I don't like it, and trust me when I say that I FULLY realize the devastation that was wrought with the election results. But He is still in control. Obama is not more powerful than He. I am praying for wisdom on how to proceed from here, and I am holding fast to Psalm 46, to which I can only add Amen and Amen:

Psalm 46
New Living Translation (NLT)

For the choir director: A song of the descendants of Korah, to be sung by soprano voices.

1 God is our refuge and strength,
always ready to help in times of trouble.
2 So we will not fear when earthquakes come
and the mountains crumble into the sea.
3 Let the oceans roar and foam.
Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!

4 A river brings joy to the city of our God,
the sacred home of the Most High.
5 God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed.
From the very break of day, God will protect it.
6 The nations are in chaos,
and their kingdoms crumble!
God’s voice thunders,
and the earth melts!
7 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us;
the God of Israel is our fortress.

8 Come, see the glorious works of the Lord:
See how he brings destruction upon the world.
9 He causes wars to end throughout the earth.
He breaks the bow and snaps the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.

10 “Be still, and know that I am God!
I will be honored by every nation.
I will be honored throughout the world.”

11 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us;
the God of Israel is our fortress.

 

[Madea]

At 11:30 pm last night I felt all glimmer of hopes and dreams I held onto for my little family fading from my body. I may recover in a few days, but tonight I still feel nothing but despair.

I've considered a Johnny Cash attitude and wearing nothing but black. That's what I wore today. I feel like I'm in mourning. The only reason I keep putting one foot in front of the other is my two precious children.

May God have mercy. ray

 

[MamaHog]

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, or most threads posted since the election, but this is what I think...all this doom and gloom is ridiculous! No, I am not happy with the results, but I am not going to go all dramatic like some of the posters I have read are. It is what it is and there isn't much you can do about it. There is no need to get depressed to the point of not talking, or cancelling Christmas. If you unfriend someone because of how they feel about the election, then you need to really think about why you friended them in the first place. I'm sad today, but not because of the results of this election, but because of how people that I know are reacting to it. It is very sad!

 

[honeybunny]

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, or most threads posted since the election, but this is what I think...all this doom and gloom is ridiculous! No, I am not happy with the results, but I am not going to go all dramatic like some of the posters I have read are. It is what it is and there isn't much you can do about it. There is no need to get depressed to the point of not talking, or cancelling Christmas. If you unfriend someone because of how they feel about the election, then you need to really think about why you friended them in the first place. I'm sad today, but not because of the results of this election, but because of how people that I know are reacting to it. It is very sad!

Folks are worried about the future, and they have very good reason to be.

People are losing jobs and homes, the middle class is watching their income
and savings evaporate, massive tax increases loom on the horizon, the price
of goods and services are escalating beyond the reach of the average family.

My father just watched 200 of his fellow coworkers get pink slips last week.
People who he has worked with for 20 years, many of them just a few short
years away from retirement... now wondering if they will be able to survive.

The decline of our economy is very dramatic. You may just see doom and gloom,
but some of us see the reality of our economic future and the picture ain't pretty.

 

[deewee]

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, or most threads posted since the election, but this is what I think...all this doom and gloom is ridiculous! No, I am not happy with the results, but I am not going to go all dramatic like some of the posters I have read are. It is what it is and there isn't much you can do about it. There is no need to get depressed to the point of not talking, or cancelling Christmas. If you unfriend someone because of how they feel about the election, then you need to really think about why you friended them in the first place. I'm sad today, but not because of the results of this election, but because of how people that I know are reacting to it. It is very sad!

Folks are worried about the future, and they have very good reason to be.

People are losing jobs and homes, the middle class is watching their income
and savings evaporate, massive tax increases loom on the horizon, the price
of goods and services are escalating beyond the reach of the average family.

My father just watched 200 of his fellow coworkers get pink slips last week.
People who he has worked with for 20 years, many of them just a few short
years away from retirement... now wondering if they will be able to survive.

The decline of our economy is very dramatic. You may just see doom and gloom,
but some of us see the reality of our economic future and the picture ain't pretty.

::ditto

And I'll add to that. If you were watching everything you've worked for, and planned for, your way of life be threatened by no fault of your own, you'd be wise to warn others of it. It's only when people take the blinders off, that they do something to protect what they have. And everyone is entitled to feel how they feel.

 

[LisaC]

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, or most threads posted since the election, but this is what I think...all this doom and gloom is ridiculous! No, I am not happy with the results, but I am not going to go all dramatic like some of the posters I have read are. It is what it is and there isn't much you can do about it. There is no need to get depressed to the point of not talking, or cancelling Christmas. If you unfriend someone because of how they feel about the election, then you need to really think about why you friended them in the first place. I'm sad today, but not because of the results of this election, but because of how people that I know are reacting to it. It is very sad!

Folks are worried about the future, and they have very good reason to be.

People are losing jobs and homes, the middle class is watching their income
and savings evaporate, massive tax increases loom on the horizon, the price
of goods and services are escalating beyond the reach of the average family.

My father just watched 200 of his fellow coworkers get pink slips last week.
People who he has worked with for 20 years, many of them just a few short
years away from retirement... now wondering if they will be able to survive.

The decline of our economy is very dramatic. You may just see doom and gloom,
but some of us see the reality of our economic future and the picture ain't pretty.

::ditto

And I'll add to that. If you were watching everything you've worked for, and planned for, your way of life be threatened by no fault of your own, you'd be wise to warn others of it. It's only when people take the blinders off, that they do something to protect what they have. And everyone is entitled to feel how they feel.

Dee - Our way of life was threatened and it has been changed over the past four years. I have watched my husband's salary get cut by almost as much as MY salary (and that's not chump change). I have watched my neighbors lose their homes, I have watched other neighbors get bailouts that I don't qualify for, I have seen MANY layoffs at our firm, and I have seen the impact that all of this has on the families that are impacted. And I could go on, but in every case, we have to deal with it. No, we don't have to like it and it's okay to vent about it, but we do have to keep going, keep working hard, and, most importantly, keep our faith in God.

Look, I'm not suggesting that we don't talk about how difficult the next four years could be, but when I come onto this board and see that my friends are now thinking of this in apocalyptic proportion, I find that just a little crazy (and as you said, we are all entitled to how we feel). Especially since I've seen what the last four years were like. We will get through this, we may have to make things a little tighter, but WE WILL GET THROUGH THIS.

 

[deewee]

Of course we will get through this. But I wouldn't dare to call someone "cray cray" while they are still processing what this all means, and how it will affect their livelihood. The very same people venting on this board are some if the most level headed individuals on this board. Let them vent.

 

[I'm Floored]

Like many of you, I was devastated Tuesday night.

I woke yesterday with that black cloud. And I sought refuge where I know I can always find it. In my Savior's arms. I allowed Him to show me ways that I have lost focus in the last few years. I allowed Him to touch parts of my heart that I've pulled away from Him.

And I can say, I'm grateful. I'll not live the next four years as I did the previous four. I refuse to live in fear and despair. While I've no doubt that my interest in politics will remain, I won't put my passion into it. I'll return it to the One who is passionate for me. I may lose every thing, but I won't lose ME.

I will NOT allow this election, any man, or any situation take from me the VICTORY that I have in Christ. I am a walking MIRACLE! I'm disappointed in the turn of our country. I'm even angry, but I have a new resolve.

I will praise Him in this storm. For He alone is worthy to be praised.

Wonderful - Christy Nockels

 

[newsjunky]

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, or most threads posted since the election, but this is what I think...all this doom and gloom is ridiculous! No, I am not happy with the results, but I am not going to go all dramatic like some of the posters I have read are. It is what it is and there isn't much you can do about it. There is no need to get depressed to the point of not talking, or cancelling Christmas. If you unfriend someone because of how they feel about the election, then you need to really think about why you friended them in the first place. I'm sad today, but not because of the results of this election, but because of how people that I know are reacting to it. It is very sad!

Folks are worried about the future, and they have very good reason to be.

People are losing jobs and homes, the middle class is watching their income
and savings evaporate, massive tax increases loom on the horizon, the price
of goods and services are escalating beyond the reach of the average family.

My father just watched 200 of his fellow coworkers get pink slips last week.
People who he has worked with for 20 years, many of them just a few short
years away from retirement... now wondering if they will be able to survive.

The decline of our economy is very dramatic. You may just see doom and gloom,
but some of us see the reality of our economic future and the picture ain't pretty.

::ditto

And I'll add to that. If you were watching everything you've worked for, and planned for, your way of life be threatened by no fault of your own, you'd be wise to warn others of it. It's only when people take the blinders off, that they do something to protect what they have. And everyone is entitled to feel how they feel.

:love :love :love :firstplace

 

[mei lan]

Look, I'm not suggesting that we don't talk about how difficult the next four years could be, but when I come onto this board and see that my friends are now thinking of this in apocalyptic proportion, I find that just a little crazy (and as you said, we are all entitled to how we feel). Especially since I've seen what the last four years were like. We will get through this, we may have to make things a little tighter, but WE WILL GET THROUGH THIS.

For the first time in my life, I actually do not believe this to be true. I'm not being melodramatic or unrealistic...I'm looking at facts. I'm not despondent, because I knew this might happen (although I really didn't think it would, and that was magical thinking I now realize). I'm making plans, and figuring out the wisest course of action for me and my loved ones. But the heart is heavy at the realization of the structural, foundational, and unremediable (absent some massive move by God) damage that has been done to this country.