Plans, Foley, Terror, and Cacti...

It’s been a month or two, but that road trip I was on about back in August is gonna happen this coming weekend. Destination: San Antonio, accompanying SN1 to the 2006 Logistics Officers Association conference. SN1 decided to drive to the conference from Utah… he’ll swing by P-Town this weekend, pick me up, and we’ll be on our way. We’ll be staying at the historic Menger Hotel (built in 1859, historic by American standards, semi-contemporary by European standards). And there are ghosts! The Menger is about 100 yards away from the Alamo, so I’ll be able to check off another item on my “must see/do” list. And the hotel is close by the River Walk, too. I see margaritas in my future. And Starbucks! Beer, too.

Apropos of nothing, you should check out the Bleat today. Lileks has a sequence of screen-shots taken from this week’s Noir feature that should make you laugh. And he ends that sequence with:

If any of you have young sons, show them the picture above, and stress the importance of not making women look at you like that. No good ever comes of it.

And if you don’t laugh? Well, I’m sorry. I just can’t help you… By the way, he’s oh-so-right about not making women look at you like that. Don’t ask how I know, I just do.

So, the Representative Foley scandal is in full-blown witch hunt mode now. I’m watching C-SPAN’s Washington Journal as I type and there’s this very shrill young woman by the name of Melanie Sloan from an organization known as “Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington” going on and on about how we need an investigation into Foley, an investigation into the House Republican Leadership, and, for good measure, a DOJ investigation into the FBI itself (for ignoring CREW’s request for an investigation into Foley, back in July). Here’s Ms. Sloan’s bio:

Melanie Sloan, Executive Director
Melanie Sloan serves as CREW's Executive Director. Prior to starting CREW, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia, where, from 1998-2003, she successfully tried cases before dozens of judges and juries. Before becoming a prosecutor, Ms. Sloan served as Minority Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, working for Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI) and specializing in crime issues.

Emphasis mine, of course. Ms. Sloan couldn’t possibly have an agenda now, could she? Oh, and did I mention she’s shrill? Harpy is more like it. Her stern visage and sharp, clipped tone probably shatters any and all glass within 100 yards. They must have bomb-proof glass in the C-SPAN studios. When I encounter a woman like this in real life I run, not walk, to the nearest exit. But, I digress.

Back to Foley… Numerous editorials are clamoring for Hastert’s resignation today, including one from the Washington Times, of all papers. One would expect this sort of call from the NYT, but, strangely enough, they aren’t calling for his resignation. Yet. The WSJ is a lot more moderate on this issue (as one would suspect). Excerpt:

But in today's politically correct culture, it's easy to understand how senior Republicans might well have decided they had no grounds to doubt Mr. Foley merely because he was gay and a little too friendly in emails. Some of those liberals now shouting the loudest for Mr. Hastert's head are the same voices who tell us that the larger society must be tolerant of private lifestyle choices, and certainly must never leap to conclusions about gay men and young boys. Are these Democratic critics of Mr. Hastert saying that they now have more sympathy for the Boy Scouts' decision to ban gay scoutmasters? Where's Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on that one?

I don’t like Speaker Hastert, which should be plain enough from my previous ranting. But should he resign? No. Not yet, anyway. There’s way too much speculation and not near enough facts on the ground, at this point in time.

Wizbang has more, as does Captain Ed.

Mansoor Ijaz, a pundit I have long respected for his well-thought-out and reasonable views, has an editorial today in the Christian Science Monitor (End the Blame Game and Start Fighting Terror) that evoked a “Hell, Yeah!” from Yrs Trly.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The terrorism blame game being played by America's leaders in recent weeks goes beyond political sport. It is polarizing the country in the worst possible way in front of enemies, who revel in our divisiveness. They know better than we that neither side of the political spectrum has gotten it right in combating their extremist march against civilization.

[…]

Meanwhile, extremists are skillfully adapting to our dysfunctional antiterror strategies. They are smarter than we are, capable of outmaneuvering us, and unflappable in pursuit of their hideous cause. The threat they pose requires us to stop pointing fingers - and to develop a new blueprint for fighting terror.

I make these observations as one who sparked an important phase of this national debate. Five years ago, based on my personal experiences, I questioned whether President Clinton's national security team had done enough to cut off radical Islam's growing tentacles during his two terms in office. Had I known that my efforts to raise the issue for debate so future policy planners could learn from past mistakes would become so politicized and divisive, I would not have willingly taken that step.

Mr. Ijaz makes a couple of interesting and heretofore unseen recommendations (by me, anyway) about combating terror from a global, not just national, perspective. Interesting, indeed. Read the whole thing…

Today’s Pic: Copper Cacti, Tucson, AZ. February, 2004. These cacti are waaay beyond “lawn ornaments,” and are more in the realm of sculpture. Expensive, too!