During her recent visit to Mexico, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an unexpected stop at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and left a bouquet of white flowers “on behalf of the American people,” after asking who painted the famous image. 

Is she that ignorant? Or is she just so stupid that she didn't prepare for a visit to such a famous site. Surly this woman - who we were assured was the smartest woman in the United States - has people to research the places she is visiting on one of these worthless jaunts - if she is too dumb or lazy to do it herself. It isn't as if this were the first time she has insulted the hosts of some of the countries she has visited this winter. There was the whole Russian thing, and others. If this had been a Republican the media would have been screaming bloody murder. They would have called her a racist to have insulted the most revered site in Mexico and the whole Hispanic world. 

She is totally unqualified to be Secretary of State

It is believed by the Roman Catholic Church, that the image of The Virgin of Guadalupe  was miraculously imprinted by Mary on the tilma, or cloak, of St. Juan Diego in 1531. The image has numerous unexplainable phenomena, such as the appearance on Mary’s eyes of those present in the room when the tilma was opened, and the image’s lack of decay. 

As it turns out, no one should have had to brief the Secretary of State.  She told the Monsignor that she had visited once before, thirty years ago. When I was eight years old we went to visit some friends of my father's in Mexico City. He was a barrister and on the board of the Shrine of Guadalupe. He took us to see the shrine. It was before they built the huge, new basilica in 1974. When we went, the tilma was back in a room behind the high alter. Most people never saw it in those days. It was only brought out on special occasions. we were very fortunate to see it up close like that. I still remember that day.

Hat tip to the Anchoress

Polly and I have chosen to observe Human Achievement Day by turning on the lights and watching this video.

Polly and Chairman Steele

Republican National Chairman, Michael Steele  choses Oregon for his first state visit. We had fun, worked hard, but  it was all worth it. Polly, in her role as special events chairman, had lots to do and was even able to attend the VIP event as well as the press event. It was written up in the local newspaper. Read the article here.

Bob Tiernan, Oregon GOP chairman, was on the Steele transition team. In this picture you see Bob presenting Michael with a memento of the occasion.

Dorchester

Polly and I spent a very exciting weekend at The Dorchester Conference in Seaside, Oregon.As you can see, it was sunny and very cold when we arrived on Friday. It changed quickly...

 ...and snowed on us, Saturday and Sunday -  but we didn't let that stop us from having a great time.
The conference is a policy discussion event, which includes US congress members, state legislators, Republican officials, and volunteers from around the state. Each day different topics are discussed in small groups, votes are taken and results are announced. It is a great way for voters to influence law makers and party officials.

 Here is Polly with Congressman Greg Walden

 We ran the State of Oregon Republican Party booth in the exhibit hall. We had a few volunteer helpers to spell us, but we were at the booth most of the time. We sold mementos, and signed up people to be precinct committee persons. We also sold tickets to the Michael Steele event, on Thursday.

 

Polly explains it all to the crowd.

 Two ladies sign up on line.

One of the interesting speakers was Michael Zak, who spoke on the history of the Republican Party.  He had a booth close to ours and spent lots of time chatting with us.

Sunday, we began to pack up around 11:00 and prepared to head back to Portland. It had snowed overnight and the highway that goes straight through the costal mountains was "chains required". So, lacking chains, we had to drive up to Astoria and head up the Columbia all the way to where we could cross the not so high West Hills to get home. It was snowing pretty heavily at the top, but the road was not slick. We drop right down on our street, that way. The "Sunset Highway" is a straight road to the coast through the mountains, and takes about an hour and a half. The river route is longer and takes about 2 and a half hours, but is necessary sometimes in the winter. Better safe than sorry.
After we got home, we had to freshen up and head out immediately for a friend's little boy's 3rd birthday party.
Long week in preparation, long weekend, long day long sleep!