Summer's Here

Things are a lot quieter in the neighborhood now that final exams are over at ENMU. My two closest neighbors have packed up and gone home for the summer; I’ll miss ‘em. It’s not that we’re friends or anything, quite the contrary. I know them not at all, and my polite greetings have been returned only perfunctorily and sometimes with visible surprise, as if they’re thinking “Gee, how strange that ol’ guy spoke to me!” So how/why will I miss them if I don’t know them? The visuals, Dear Reader, the visuals. Both are young women in their late teens or early 20s, and right attractive young women they are, too. (I’ve written about one of the neighbors before; alas, it seems that relationship is no more.) When I say things are and will be quieter, it’s not because the neighbor ladies are rowdy, party-all-night college student stereotypes. Nope, it’s simply the noise they make coming and going…one drives a big-ass diesel four-door Chevy pickup, the other has a Ford F-150 pickup. Apparently both trucks only have two speeds: off and on. Their arrivals and departures never go unnoticed, accompanied as they are by flying gravel and roaring motors. Otherwise the two women are pretty quiet. For cowgirls.

Yep, cowgirls. Both my neighbors also have large, fifth-wheel gooseneck horse trailers and horses to go in them. I find this fact somewhat amusing. Go off to college, and take the horse, too. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this, and a lot right with it, actually. I just find it somewhat strange and unusual as I’ve never seen it before. Good for them, and Good On ‘Em, too. Oh, and by the way: both horse and horse trailer don’t live on-prem here in beautiful La Hacienda Trailer Estates, they are kept elsewhere in places unknown to me. But I see them coming and going at various times, mostly on the weekends. Always the same trailer(s), always the same horse(s). I do wonder about the boarding arrangements…

But back to the leaving. The packing up and leaving ritual always seems to be such a frantic activity, from the hurried loading of boxes into the vehicle right down to the full-throttle acceleration away from the ol’ fifth wheel that is the home away from home while in academe. And as for the fifth-wheels: a good idea, that. Both fifth-wheels are older but well-kept RVs that look as if they’ve been in the family for perhaps ten years before being handed off to Susie to use while she’s away at college. Personally, I think the fifth-wheel is better than a dorm room and more private than an apartment (probably cheaper, too). It’s your own space, after all. I’m not sure the fifth-wheel would be as good a choice for a young co-ed in large university towns like Ann Arbor, Madison, or Norman, but it works very well here in P-Town. Quiet, safe, and all that.

And so summer is officially here: the kids are gone.

Summer is also here in another way: it’s heating up. It’ll get to the low 90s today and the WX Channel predicts a solid week of mid-90s weather to follow. Lovely! Grilling season, with the accompanying al fresco beer drinking and cigars in the evening and all that. Arguably the BEST time of year! One of the better aspects of the High Plains climate is our nights are always cool, never warmer than low 60s, no matter how hot it gets during the day. It’s the altitude, 4009 feet above sea-level, to be exact. It’s why we’re called The HIGH Plains.

No politics today, except to say The Anchoress is still in it, despite claiming she was going to take the summer off. Perhaps her “I’m off politics for a while” statement was just her way of expressing displeasure at the radicals on both sides, or perhaps I just misread her. Whatever. She’s good today, as always. I find myself gravitating to the moderates, of late. Another good moderate-right blogger is Cassandra over at Villainous Company. Give her a read and see if you agree.

Burn-Out?

Some time ago I wrote I was finding it hard to stay motivated, politically speaking, and to continue writing about political stuff. This feeling is beyond maintaining motivation, it feels more like burnout. (I’ll resist the temptation to digress…suffice to say I know all about burnout.) It seems I’m not alone. Yesterday there were more than a few articles written on the Right side of the blogosphere on this subject. There are three posts that I think are worth the read; each post has links to a lot more in the same vein. See The Anchoress, Neo, and ShrinkWrapped.

I found The Anchoress’ post particularly compelling. She began with an announcement that she is going off politics for the summer, and then wrote extensively on the issues confronting conservatives, particularly those conservatives who are abandoning Dubya, primarily over the immigration flap. Good stuff.

Which, of course, brings us to Dubya’s immigration speech last evening. I thought it was pretty good. The pundits were predicting he would stake out the middle ground, and that’s pretty much what he did, to the chagrin and outright ire of The Usual Suspects. Politics is the art of compromise, and I think the President has laid a workable compromise on the table. Still, there are those that won’t be satisfied with anything less than deporting 11 million illegals, sending landscape contractors in Southern California to prison for umpteen years, and so on, ad nauseum. Yeah, that’ll work. Can you say “Civil War?” Sure you can…

Hockey withdrawal. No games last night, and none tonight. Edmonton – San Jose is the only semi-final series still being played, and they won’t go at it again until tomorrow night. Edmonton is up in this series 3-2, to my surprise. On the other hand, it won’t surprise me to see the Oilers take this series, given the way the Sharks aren’t playing. There’s great disappointment in San Jose; joy in Edmonton. Ottawa, the Number One seed in the East, went down in a great game Sunday evening, losing to Buffalo in overtime (the third overtime game in that series), and on a short-handed goal, to boot. Poor Ottawa, they’re looking like the perennial bridesmaid of hockey. New Jersey is out, too. I’m glad I didn’t put any money where my mouth was on the Carolina – New Jersey series. I'd be a bit poorer.

I found myself at serious loose ends last evening…the downside of having all this hockey — two games per day for the last couple of weeks — is I get very let down when the lull comes. Whatever will I do when The Cup Run Is Over? badda-da boomp! Thanks, folks, and I’ll be here all week…

The Post-Mothers Day Post

Mothers Day is usually a painful day for me. Some years I get off easy and the memories are held in check. Other years the memories flood into my consciousness and thoroughly depress me. Yesterday I read a few Paeans to Mom and thought of those who wrote them “How lucky they are.” And was inundated by those memories I wish would simply go away. But they don’t, and they never will. 

My mother has been dead for over forty years. I buried her at the tender age of 18, about three weeks before my 19^th birthday. My mother and father were separated, Mom having left my father about six weeks after I left home to go into the Air Force. My father didn’t attend the funeral. He was in California, and he wired the money necessary to bury Mom and pay for my flight from Keesler AFB in Mississippi to Atlanta, where Mom had died. By her own hand. Suicide. She finally made good on what was probably her fourth or fifth attempt over a ten year period of time. It’s a long and sad, sad story, one that I won’t go into in any great detail. Suffice to say my mother was an alcoholic; an alcoholic of the worst sort. And by “worst sort,” I mean the alcohol controlled her life completely. Death, for her, was truly a release.

I’m not alone; there are far too many people in this world that share this story, be it their mother or their father. A lot of those people never overcome this sort of adversity. I was fortunate. Two other mothers I know and love were primarily responsible for my good fortune: the mothers of my children. Both these women are strong, intelligent, caring, and wonderful people. They are also wonderful moms. But, aside from being wonderful moms, each of these women taught me a lot about life. It’s not a stretch to say they actually saved my life, especially The Second Mrs. Pennington. I didn’t call either one yesterday. I probably should have.

And, in other news…

Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth:

We are in the middle of an undeclared civil war. We have been in such a thing before, and we've found the capacity to make comedy out of it. When Archie Bunker fought over petty, meaningless nonsense with "Meathead" on All in the Family, as a society we were supposed to be torn down the middle over some pretty heady stuff: What to do about Vietnam/Korea/Red China, and the spread of communism. Watergate. Feminism. Abortion. But it really came down to lifestyles. People didn't bring the lifestyles up in arguments, but the lifestyles started the arguments. Archie Bunker wore stiff white shirts, drank beer, and ordered his wife around. Meathead wore patched blue jeans with flared legs, had long hair, and probably smoked opium. Archie had short hair, Meathead had long hair. Archie hung out in a bar, Meathead hung out, well, God-knows-where.

Mr. Freeberg goes on to write about where we are today, and it’s fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.

Have you ever wondered what the guy driving your Airbus makes? Here, also via Gerard, are airline pilots’ salaries. I was surprised to find that US pilots are not actually salaried employees… they’re paid on an hourly basis, with guaranteed minimum hours.

Aside from that two-hour Discovery Channel documentary that runs every now and then, this is one of the best descriptions of SEAL training I’ve seen. “Where do we get such men?”, indeed. (h/t: Lex)

Happy Mothers Day

Mother and Child Mary Cassatt (1888)

Call your Mom.

It's the Weekend!

This past Monday I told you my favorite columnists are Charles Krauthammer (2), Christopher Hitchens (12) and Victor Davis Hanson (5). It turns out that I’m right (no pun intended) in line with most other right-of-center bloggers. Right Wing News recently polled right-of-center bloggers, asking them who their favorite pundits are. The results are here. The numbers in parentheses above are where my favorite guys rank in RWN’s poll. Mark Steyn was Number One…and, yeah, he’s good. Way good. Curiously, Bill Kristol didn’t make the list. Ann Coulter (8) did, though. Go figure.

Have you seen that Honda Element ad? The one with the Element talking to the crab, at the beach? No? Well, you can now. It’s here. “No pinch! No pinch!” Every once in a while an ad will come along that is clever and funny. I can take or leave the rabbit and the platypus ads (both are at the link, as well), but I can’t get enough of that crab… Maybe it’s the way the crab says “I pinch.”

And while we’re doing video…here’s Joni Mitchell singing “Coyote.” Joni is my favorite female singer/songwriter. And, in a strange quirk of fate, Ms. Mitchell and The First Mrs. Pennington are exactly the same age, sharing a November 7^th birthday.

And while we’re on music, here’s Clive Davis on hip-hop. Sample:

All the same, you court trouble by professing that rap is depressingly one-dimensional. As Slate, the online magazine, reported this week, the pop singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt has been accused of racism for saying that, although he liked the early days of rap, he is bored by the modern-day version.

No one ever accuses me of being anti-Christian when I say I’m allergic to Cliff Richard. But rap is, well, different. Pop critics, who are — need I remind you? — overwhelmingly white and middle-class, and guilt-ridden to boot, employ a curious double standard here. It’s absolutely OK to ridicule the audience for country music — “white trash” have always been fair game. No one would ever try the same with Dr Dre’s posse — and not just because of the risk of flying bullets.

No, not the Clive Davis of Columbia and Arista records fame. Different guy. This Clive is a blogger and columnist for the Times of London. Still and even, I think he’s spot-on about hip-hop. Your mileage may vary.

Well, we have a real dogfight in the remaining semi-final series in the West:

The San Jose Sharks got complacent after taking a two-goal lead midway through the second period, and the Edmonton Oilers took advantage.

Jason Smith scored the tiebreaker 2:57 into the third period as the Oilers scored five unanswered goals to rally for a 6-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Friday night, tying the Western Conference semifinal series 2-2.

Five unanswered goals. I sat there last night, not quite believing what I was seeing. The outcome of this series is in considerable doubt. Anaheim is pleased, to be sure. The Ducks will rest up while San Jose and Edmonton beat the stuffing out of each other. And, speaking of beatings…we all know hockey players are tough. How tough? Consider:

(Oilers left wing Ryan) Smyth spent Thursday at the dentist after having three teeth knocked out of his head by Pronger's clearing pass in Game 3. The 11-year veteran also needed eight stitches for a cut on his lip.

The tough bit? Smyth went off the ice after being hit in the face by that clearing pass, leaving a trail of blood from just in front of the Oiler net all the way to the bench. He missed a shift while getting stitched up and then returned to play the rest the game...which went to triple overtime. That’s tough.

Back Up, Sorta

‘Net connection update: I tried to post a couple of times yesterday evening but couldn’t. On those few occasions when my connection was “live,” I timed out before I could connect to Blogger. This is the strangest problem I’ve had in recent memory, and may be simply an unscheduled guest appearance of The Crawl. Whatever it is, I hope it stops post-haste. Things appear to be back to normal this morning. I have my fingers crossed.

News You Can Use, or, I Scan memeorandum So You Don’t Have To:

Good news from Iraq. Bill Crawford at All Things Conservative summarizes the Brookings Institution’s periodic Iraq Index. As is the case with a lot of the stuff I link, the comments are just as interesting as the main post. (Hat tip: Instapundit)

Most Americans support the NSA surveillance program, a WaPo/ABC News poll reveals:

The new survey found that 63 percent of Americans said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism, including 44 percent who strongly endorsed the effort. Another 35 percent said the program was unacceptable, which included 24 percent who strongly objected to it.

This little item follows close on the heels of yesterday’s front page story in USA Today about the “massive database” of Americans’ phone numbers. The Bull Moose has some rational comment on that story…and for those of you who prefer irrational comment, there’s always Georgia10. And speaking of “irrational”…sheesh. And to think I used to give those guys money. (Now you know another of my deep, dark secrets.)

When Extremism Becomes the Norm…a take-down of Jack Cafferty (and the fringe-left), one of those guys I love to hate. “Hate,” is, of course, wildly hyperbolic. I don’t actually hate Cafferty, I just think he’s an idiot. Sorta like what the hard-left thinks of O’Reilly.

Believe None of What You Hear, Half of What You Read Department: Poll: 2004 Election Was Stolen. Interesting only for the supposed demographics of “Faux” News viewers. And the fact that 70% of CNN viewers believe the 2004 election was stolen. The operational reality of Too Much Cafferty, IMHO.

Hockey Update: Two good games last night. Ottawa survives to fight another day. Remember: Two out of 142. Ottawa is only postponing the inevitable. Speaking of inevitable: The Hated Avalanche are out. Anaheim does something to Colorado that’s never been done: a sweep. First time the Avs have been swept in 26 playoff series. Couldn’t happen to a nicer club.

And, in passing, the Anaheim-Colorado game illustrates an interesting difference in coaching strategies. Anaheim was up, 2-1, going into the third period last night. Unlike San Jose the previous evening, Anaheim continued to press Colorado and scored another goal in the third period to go up 3-1, eventually scoring an empty-netter and winning, 4-1. San Jose, on the other hand, was up on Edmonton 2-1 going into the third period Wednesday night. The Sharks fell back into a neutral zone clogging variation of the trap and essentially played a totally defensive game. Bad decision. A very bad decision against a hard-skating, extremely fast team like Edmonton. Edmonton tied the game late in the third period and went on to win in triple overtime. I may have to revise my prediction for the Sharks-Oilers series. The San Jose coaching staff made a bone-head decision Wednesday evening, and that decision cost them the game and a 3-0 lead in the series. Edmonton deserved to win Wednesday’s game, and regardless of the fact they sent my Red Wings to the golf course, I have to admire Edmonton’s heart, determination, and work ethic. This could be a long series, and Edmonton just might win it. They will win the series if San Jose makes any more stupid coaching decisions.

Intermittent and SLOW

Posting will be light to non-existent today. I’m suffering from an intermittent and slow network connection, when the connection is actually there. How slow? Well, do you remember 9600 baud modems? THAT slow. Makes normal surfing and reading nearly impossible. What’s worse is I don’t know if the issue is with my computer (I doubt it), or with my ISP (which I strongly suspect). More if and when things get back to normal.

When You Say Something Stupid...

...it always comes back to haunt you. If you scroll down to one of my hockey posts you'll find I said "only a fool would bet against Brodeur." That was a foolish thing to say. New Jersey lost tonight and are down 3-0 against Carolina. Yep, Carolina really is that good, especially on defense.

142 teams in NHL history have fallen behind 3-0 in a seven-game series. Two have come back to win. History says Carolina will take this series. I'd say history is right. And I was wrong.

Too Funny!

One more thing before I hit the streets to run a few errands. Lileks’ latest Screedblog is just too funny for words…excerpt:

News story: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sent an eighteen-page letter to President Bush. No word on whether it was hand-written in tiny type, margin to margin, and wrapped in tinfoil. Herewith are some excerpts.

Dear Infidel Crusader Zionist sock-puppet Saudi-lackey depoiler of Mesopotamia woman-touching pigdog fiendish (293 words excised) Shah-licking son of a toad’s offal: I trust this finds you well. I have much on my mind, and have taken the pen to unburden my breast. I have enclosed a self-addressed stamped envelope should you wish to reply.

(429 words concerning Jewish penetration of the Postal System excised)

. . . Do you not realize you are beaten, as a donkey is beaten, but knoweth not his donkeyhood is cursed? Your comics have turned against you in your own lair, and mock you without mercy. We have seen the videos of the Meal of the Correspondents, and we know how your left regards the men of the laugh as prophets and seers. It is only a matter of time before Johnny Carson (applause be upon him) returns from occlusion to request that you, Mr. President, take the Slauson cutoff, get out of your car, and cut off your Slauson, Hi-yo, salaam. And a third part of the Slauson shall be stained with the tears of the womenfolk, and (9323 words excised)

Do go read it.

Liberals, Conservatives, Moonbats, and Wingnuts

We can change the world -
Re-arrange the world
It's dying - if you believe in justice
It's dying - and if you believe in freedom
It's dying - let a man live his own life
It's dying - rules and regulations, who needs them
Open up the door
We can change the world

–Graham Nash, Chicago, 1971 (Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young)

Ah… plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose¹. I got to thinking about the subject of this post in the wee small hours of the morning today, and Chicago popped into my head. Fitting. The year was 1971, the Têt Offensive had been over for a year, and although we didn’t know it at the time, the Viet Nam war was lost. The country was gearing up for an election that threatened to tear us apart as a nation, or so it seemed at the time. The election was anti-climactic; Nixon won in a landslide, only to resign less than two years later. Watergate. And that tune, Chicago, was part of the soundtrack of our lives back then. At least it was a mainstay for those of us of the Liberal political persuasion. I’m not sure what the conservatives were listening to at that time, because I didn’t talk to them. At all. They were The Enemy. The Man.

Plus ça change…

I’ve been cruising some of the more virulent Lefty blogs lately, and I’ve linked to a few of them, at times, simply to illustrate how over-the-top the rhetoric is getting these days. Occasionally, I’ll comment on a post there, if allowed. I say “if allowed” because some Lefty blogs don’t want me or my kind there; Democratic Underground is the prime example. Generally, (strong emphasis on “generally,” there are exceptions) my comments are shouted down, so to speak. Or I am dismissed as someone mouthing “Right-Wing talking points,” or I’m “un-evolved,” or, a lot of the time, I’m simply “evil”…in so many words. Each and every one of those terms has been applied to me in the course of a “discussion.” It’s almost enough to make me quit trying.

I’m not saying the Right is pure in this regard. There is at least one Wingnut for every Moonbat out there. I’ve quit reading the comments at Little Green Footballs and Free Republic, among others, because the rhetoric there can be just as bad, if not worse, than that found on the Left. Civil political discourse is awfully damned rare these days. And I’m not talking just about blogs. Talk radio, especially on the right, can be particularly bad. But this is more a function of the void of Left-oriented Talk Radio, Air America being the exception, and when it goes there will be a serious hole (and thus all the talk on the Left of reviving the “Fairness Doctrine.” Bad idea.). And then there are the authors…e.g., Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity on the Right; Al Franken and Michael Moore on the Left. When it comes to the press, one usually has a choice, e.g., the Washington Post vs. the Washington Times. Unless you live in Seattle or San Francisco, where it’s awfully damned hard to find a conservative point of view. It all seems to be an echo chamber…but at least one is free to choose which echo chamber you want to be in. The downside is people who frequent the echo chambers don’t want to hear the opposing point of view, the opposition is wrong, by definition, or worse: you’re evil.

I could go on…and there’s much, much more to say on this subject, but I’m sure you get the point. We’re all Americans. Very damned few of us are evil; very damned few of us are in it simply for ourselves. We may disagree on the ways and means to get somewhere, anywhere, but we owe it to ourselves to at least listen to the other side, and to listen in a civil, non-disparaging manner.

Just sayin’.

¹ literally, “the more that changes, the more it is the same thing"

The OTHER Reason I LOVE Iowahawk

Cars. And more cars. In honor of Cinquo de Mayo, Iowahawk puts up the definitive treatise on Lowriders, that unmistakable and wonderful Kalifornia Kar Kulture genre most of us gear-heads know and love. Everything (and I do mean everything) you’ve ever wanted to know about Lowriders (and no small amount about the folks behind them), in one-easily accessible place. There are so many links you’ll spend at least an hour here. If you’re a gear head, that is.

Fakes

About that Atwar Bahjat execution video I commented on yesterday: the video is a hoax. The beheading shown in the video is indeed real, but the victim isn’t Ms. Bahjat, it’s an unfortunate Nepalese male hostage taken in another, earlier event. Rusty Shackleford at My Pet Jawa has links and video stills of the original beheadings. The video stills are very graphic but are separated from the text portions of his post. You don’t have to view the stills if you don’t want to.

Meanwhile, at least one blog on The Left, in commenting on Ms. Bahjat’s execution, raises a familiar meme: “It’s our fault.” Yeah, right. It always is, isn’t it? In this case, it’s because we established, facilitated, encouraged, supported, equipped, trained, and/or ignored the activities of Shi’a militias, and wouldn’t you know it? Rampant murder, torture, mayhem, and executions follow. BushCo just can’t do a damned thing right…except for this, which indicates the enemy thinks we are winning in Iraq. Now isn’t that strange! Comment here and here. Oh, but wait! It’s all propaganda, doncha know…

More on General Hayden…the foam-flecked Left rages:

And how quickly the tactic worked! As Glenn Greenwald points out, Dianne Feinstein took the bait with the ferocious appetite of a 7.5 pound perch, praising Hayden and already coming out in support of his confirmation (come on Dianne, you couldn't at least wait to backstab your party until after the hearings?)

And how, exactly, did Senator Feinstein “backstab” the party? Apparently by saying this:

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic member of the (ed: Senate Intelligence) committee, said that she was also leaning toward supporting Hayden. "We need a respected, competent intelligence professional who can command respect and manage this growing agency," she said in a statement. "Based on what I know so far, Gen. Michael Hayden appears to fit that bill. He has run an intelligence agency twice the size of the CIA. And while he might not have had experience directly supervising human operations, he has been effective."

Hmm… Senator Feinstein, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, a person who knows Gen. Hayden professionally and has heard him testify before said committee on numerous occasions, makes the rational observation that General Hayden is highly qualified for the job. On the other hand, Georgia10 (who sits where?), exercises her First Amendment right to be stupid in public and insults a member of her own party. Ya gotta love ‘em, don’t you? If only for the entertainment value they provide. And don’t go on about the Republican voices raised against Hayden…that’s not the point. Yes, some Republicans object to this nomination, but they’ve done so in a less-than-insulting manner. The Left, on the other hand, prefer to eat their own.

Hockey update: New Jersey and Edmonton are both down 2-0 in their playoff series against Carolina and San Jose, respectively. Yesterday I asked “is Carolina really that good?” and said “only a fool would bet against Brodeur.” Well, it appears Carolina really is that good, although the game was close. New Jersey is in a hole and I may be made to look like the fool. Time will tell, and I’m still betting on New Jersey in a series that will likely stretch to seven games. On the other hand, I still think San Jose will make fairly quick work of Edmonton.

Didn’t I say I wasn’t going to be tethered to the TV now that the Red Wings are out of it? I was wrong. There’s just too much great hockey going on; I can’t resist watching it. You need to realize I live in a hockey wasteland…this is the only time of year the sport gets any exposure at all here on the High Plains of New Mexico. And I’m thankful for it, too!

PS

For commenter Sam at Mahablog: I meant to include this in the post below, but forgot. I have "word verification" turned on in the comments, Sam, and this may be your problem. If you mistype the word in the block provided, Blogger will display an error message, but you only see this message if you scroll back up to the top of the comments page. I don't like Blogger's implementation of the word verification system (coz it's clunky), but it does keep the spam away.

Back to Work

The mystery over Porter Goss’ abrupt departure as DCI continues. I slept in way too late this morning and didn’t catch Tony Snow’s premiere appearance as White House press secretary, so I’m unaware if the administration provided any further information/explanation about Goss’ leaving. I strongly suspect they (the administration) didn’t. What else could be said, anyway? It will be a cold day in Hell before this, or any, administration comes out and says something like “Well, Porter and John just didn’t see eye to eye on Issue X, and since John’s The Boss, Porter has to go.” Nonetheless, Goss’ resignation sure created a firestorm of speculation over the weekend. One of the more interesting opinions comes from Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, a “panel” regular on Fox News Sunday:

BILL KRISTOL, WEEKLY STANDARD: I think Porter Goss was doing what he had to do. I think he was trying to carry out the president's agenda. He took a lot of heat from the permanent bureaucracy at the agency. He fired someone two weeks ago for leaking, which the president wanted, and his reward was to be fired.

And I think it's an outrage, and I think it's a terrible signal to conservatives anywhere in the State Department, Defense Department, CIA, anywhere in the federal government who are trying to carry out the president's agenda against the bureaucracy, that, unfortunately, the White House is not going to stand behind them.

Now we have...

WALLACE: Well, why do you think he was fired?

KRISTOL: Well, because I think Negroponte wanted him gone, and John Negroponte is a nice man, a former ambassador, foreign service officer, didn't approve of Porter Goss's aggressive attempt to get the CIA much more engaged in covert operations and spying.

I think the CIA will now become a mini State Department. Everyone will be happy. They will replicate the career bureaucrats who are in charge, and anyone who believes in aggressively carrying out President Bush's foreign policy is going to be worried now that he'll stick his head out.

The New York Times won't like it. Other people within the bureaucracy won't like it. And you won't get backed up by the White House.

While Kristol is one my favorite pundits (along with Charles Krauthammer, Christopher Hitchens and Victor Davis Hanson [links unrelated to Goss]), I seriously hope he’s wrong on this issue. Brit Hume, another FNS regular, disagreed with Kristol:

HUME: Chris, I think Bill has raised the essential question here, and that is who really won here. Did the softies who tend to be against the administration policy -- and there were plenty of them at the CIA. They leak like mad. Does the ouster of Goss represent a victory for them, or does it represent a victory for the real tough guy here, who may be Negroponte?

Bill's suggestion is, I think, that Negroponte represents sort of State Department thinking -- he, after all, was a career diplomat -- and that the real tough guy got kicked out, and the soft hearts won. I'm not at all sure that's true.

My sense is that Goss was trying to do the right things and that he simply ultimately wasn't able to. And I think it's an interesting question. If the administration was trying to install there the kind of thinking that you've gotten out of the State Department regarding the war on terror over the years, you wouldn't be looking toward Michael Hayden.

And, of course, this morning Dubya announced Hayden’s nomination to head the CIA. One hopes the housecleaning at CIA will continue, and even intensify.

Today’s Editorial at National Review Online urges the administration to make it perfectly clear the removal of leakers and active obstructionists to U.S. foreign policy is not over. I agree. Career bureaucrats don’t make policy, they implement it. If you, as a career CIA person, have serious policy disagreements, you make your point as forcefully as you can and argue for change. If you are over-ruled, you shut up, salute smartly, and carry on with the policy. You do not go running to the New York Times or the Washington Post in an effort to embarrass the administration or otherwise discredit the policies you disagree with. If you’re caught engaging in this sort of behavior, the best you can hope for is to be fired. Worst case, you go to prison. Deservedly so.

And how bad has it been at the CIA these past few years? See the NRO editorial for a very brief refresher course on just how obstructionist (and porous) the CIA has been in the recent past. This has got to stop.

As if we needed additional reminders of who, and what, we’re fighting, Captain Ed provides a graphic account of the sheer depravity and evil of the Islamofascists. Excerpt:

What is painfully and disgustingly clear is the cowardice of the "men" who brutally tortured Bahjat. The Times gives entire gruesome description of her last conscious moments. Without a doubt, the perpetrators used Bahjat to indulge the darkest impulses of their souls, sending her to death in an orgy of violence that defies description. The use of adjectives of any kind cannot possibly do justice to the horror of this murder.

It reveals the cowardice and evil at the heart of terrorists, no matter the cause. When a cruelty grows too banal for them, they come up with ways to increase the depravity. These sick and disgusting cowards use a woman in the most grotesque manner possible, and then send off the video to her family. Of course, their pride doesn't extend to revealing their identities on the video so that they can actually take responsibility for their cowardly cruelty. This is the measure of the terrorists that have declared war not just on us but on liberty wherever it appears. The terrorist groups are nothing but a club for craven sociopaths and psychopaths that use religion as an excuse to get their sick, twisted kicks.

Atwar Bahjat was an Iraqi TV journalist, and her death is so horrifying as to be unimaginable in civilized society. Beheaded slowly on video, after being tortured in the most brutal manner. And we should extend Geneva Convention “rights” to people who inflict horrors such as this on innocent journalists? Shoot them on sight. They deserve no better, and much worse, to be frank.

So. It’s hard to switch tracks after that last item, but I’ll try. Spent the best part of my day off watching Anaheim continue to dominate Colorado, followed by a closely played game between Edmonton and San Jose. One of the more entertaining aspects of play-off hockey is the emergence of a hot goalie, and Boy Howdy do the Ducks ever have one in Bryzgalov.

Bryzgalov hasn't allowed a goal in 229 minutes, 42 seconds, longest ever by an NHL rookie in the postseason, and fourth longest for any goalie. George Hainsworth tops the list with a stretch of 270:08 in 1930. Giguere is sixth on the list with 217:54 scoreless minutes in 2003.

Bryzgalov has said reading philosophers such as Socrates and Plato has helped him put things in perspective, and that he feels no pressure in goal because hockey is, after all, a game.

The man is an Iron Curtain, to steal a phrase. And…an intellectual hockey player? Makes me grin, that does! It doesn’t look like Colorado will ever be in this series, although they may steal one game at home. I’ll stand by my prediction of the Ducks in five.

San Jose beat Edmonton, 2-1, but the game could have gone either way. This looks to be a long and closely played series. Either team could win…it’s that close. No prediction here, but it should be obvious I hope San Jose wins. A San Jose win would set up a “Shuttle Series” in the Western Conference. And that’s just a little bit wrong…two California teams in a hockey conference final? That’s more than just a little bit wrong, it’s a lot wrong! {insert big ol’ grin here}

Taking the Day Off...

...regular programming resumes tomorrow.

Just a Little Scare and Other Stuff

I had quite the scare last evening. Even though I take all the usual (and some unusual) precautions, I somehow managed to become infected with Spyware.WinSpy yesterday. Or so Norton told me last evening when the scheduled daily virus scan was completed. Shite. Frick. Just what I don’t need. This little gem is particularly nasty. From the Symantec web site:

When Spyware.WinSpy runs, it can:

• Log chat and instant message conversations.
• Capture information about every window viewed.
• Log all the visited Web site titles and addresses.
• Log keystrokes and the windows in which they were entered.
• Monitor email.
• Capture screen shots
• Download, hide, create, or delete files or folders.

The initial, scheduled virus scan reported two “threats,” one resolved, one not, both instances with the same name: Spyware.WinSpy. I’ve seen this sort of thing before. I strongly suspect Norton has isolated and killed the infection, but perhaps not. {Sigh} So I close everything out, download the latest dat files from Symantec, do another full system scan, and also run a full-system scan using Spyware Doctor. No infections reported by either tool. Reboot. Everything is fine now.

But, still.

One is left with a certain sense of insecurity about it all. Almost makes one want to go out and buy a Mac. Just sayin’.

Flew around the blogosphere a bit this morning, mainly reading articles and comment on Porter Goss’ abrupt resignation as DCI. As usual, paranoid conspiracies abound on the Left, and speculation about Goss’ replacement on the Right. Check memeorandum for links. There’s lots and lots.

Time magazine is reporting the President will name General Michael Hayden as DCI. Good choice. I, for one, believe the intelligence agencies function much better under military-style (i.e., “command and control”) leadership, rather than that provided by a career bureaucrat. And you’ll not be able to beat the confirmation hearings for sheer theatre. I’ll be glued to C-SPAN.

Brief hockey update. Watched a couple of good games last night and earlier today. Both were satisfying, but for different reasons. Anaheim continued on its roll, beating the stuffing out of Colorado, 5-0. Theodore, Colorado’s goalie, is a mediocre talent who mysteriously got by the number two seeded Dallas Stars in the first round. He won’t be that lucky this time around. I predict Anaheim in five.

And then there was New Jersey’s 6-0 loss to Carolina. I don’t know what to make of this one. Is Carolina really that good? New Jersey couldn’t go on winning forever (having won 15 in a row prior to today’s game), but to lose 6-0, with five power play goals against, and all on Martin Brodeur’s birthday? This should be a hella series! I won’t begin to venture a call on this one. Well, maybe I will: New Jersey in six. Only a fool would bet against Brodeur.

And then there’s this. Just when I’m about ready to sign on to the theory that the current war against the Islamofascists is really a war against Islam, along comes a rational, middle-of-the-road, Muslim academic who nails his 27-item version of 95 Theses to the mosque door. Moderate Muslims do exist, reading Algerian reformist Malek Chebel’s 27 Propositions for Reforming Islam proves it. Now the trick will be to get the attention and support of the umma. Easier said than done. Still and all, this list of proposals is highly recommended reading.

And finally… Feisty Republican Whore is a relatively new read for me. This woman is good. She’s funny, articulate, and irreverent. My kinda woman! I’m not trying to be domineering or anything, but you should get on over there and give her a read. Right now!

I Stole This...

...from Rodger. And, just for the record, I find both groups disturbing. But the group on the right disturbs me a whole Helluva lot more. These folks are Americans, supposedly. Emphasis on “supposedly.”

Terrorist Bloopers and Diversity in Advertising

Have you seen the Zarqawi Bloopers Video yet? The one where he mishandles an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW)? It was all over the news yesterday and is available at Hot Air and the CENTCOM web site:

“Download the video from the CENTCOM website. Part 1 and Part 2. (Use IE.)*”

Lots of very good links at the Hot Air page referred to above, including a link to a very descriptive article about Task Force 145, the guys charged with hunting down high-value targets in Iraq. Exerpt:

TF-145 is comprised of Army Delta Operators, Navy SEALs, U.S. Army Rangers, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the Air Force’s 24th Special Tactics Squadron, British Special Air Service, and British paratroopers. Left out are the myriad of intelligence assets likely assigned to TF-145. TF-145 is split up into four regional commands: West, North, South and Black.

If I were a terrorist, just reading the “Who’s Who” of TF 145 would scare the shit out of me. Those guys listed above are some very Bad Dudes. I mean that in the best way possible.

In his April 28^th Bleat last week, Lileks wrote:

As we ate I noticed three new patrons, all in their mid-20s: a very attractive African-American woman, model slim without the hauteur; a good-looking trim Asian guy with wrap-around sunglasses, and a grinning handsome Caucausian with a soul patch and a knit cap. My God, it’s a royalty-free stock photo come to life! Really: they looked like the people you see on a website for some new useless internet service, grinning toothily at the camera. Or secret agents from a “Mission: Impossible” movie. They all wore leather jackets, too.

Swear to God: after they’d finished eating they walked, laughing, to the parking lot, hopped on three low-slung motorcycles, and roared off. If I’d seen all three in a McDonald’s commercial, I would have thought it nonsense, but here they were. Maybe this was a commercial. Maybe McDonald’s paid them to roam the country and administer Hip in small piquant slices.

Now Mr. James may or may not have intended for us to read between the lines with this little vignette, I dunno. But it certainly hit one of my personal hot-buttons. The sort of thing that Lileks describes just doesn’t happen, or happens very rarely, in real life. That’s what made the occurrence described above notable and bloggable.

It seems there’s an unwritten code in the advertising biz that whenever there’s a group in an advertisement for anything, said group is required to be ethnically and gender-diverse. Without fail. This principle is so universal I’m thinking perhaps there’s a federal law, something that might be titled “The 1996 Diversity in Advertising Act.” Said law mandates such things as:

· A group of two individuals should include one white and one black. Exceptions may be made, but only with the express approval in writing by the Federal Trade Commission.

· A group of three individuals must include, in addition to the above, an individual of Hispanic origin.

· A group of four individuals must include, in addition to the above, an individual of Asian origin.

· A group of five or more individuals must be ethnically balanced in accordance with ethnic origins as recorded in the National Census published closest to the production date of the advertisement. Previous editions of the National Census may not be used.

· All groups depicted in advertising must be gender-diverse. The only allowable exceptions are advertisements for feminine or masculine hygiene products, such as cosmetics, tampons, shaving cream, and athletes foot remedies. It is desirable, but not mandatory, that said ads for hygiene products strive to include both genders in its advertising. Participation by members of the transgendered community is also highly desirable but not mandatory.

· Exceptions to all of the foregoing guidelines may be granted for advertising that is designed to run exclusively on networks whose principal audiences are minorities, e.g., Black Entertainment Television (BET) and Telemundo. Exceptions will not be granted if said advertising is also scheduled to appear on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, WB, Fox, A&E, The Food Channel, or any of their affiliates, associates, or syndicates.

I’m quite sure there’s a section in this act devoted to destroying gender stereotypes, too. As an example, whenever a family unit jumps into a vehicle and drives off, the Mom (or matriarchal figure) shall drive. And there’s an exhaustive sub-section of said law describing how to ensure men appear to be foolish in comparison with women.

Don’t believe me? Start paying attention.

Happy Cinquo de Mayo, by the way.

Death and Taxes

Well, I did my part: I washed the car yesterday. And that worked in a very small way: it did rain, technically. To say it rained is a bit much…“spit” is more like it. Just a few drops, actually, but those few drops were accompanied by lots of Strum und Drang. We were under a severe t-storm warning for a bit, the wind came by and gave us a couple of choruses of Ride of the Valkries, and the sky was magnificently dark and foreboding. The thunderheads must have gone up to 20,000 feet and were quite beautiful. I love spring weather, as long as no one gets hurt.

Speaking of getting hurt…I got my first Sprint phone bill yesterday and was shocked. My previous cell number was in SFO, as I’ve noted before. California has a reputation as a high-tax state (deservedly, too), but when it comes to cell phones, California has nothing on New Mexico. To cut to the chase: I previously paid the federal gubmint and the state of California $6.61 in taxes; today I pay the Feds, New Mexico, Curry County, and the city of Clovis a total of $15.16 in taxes and “fees.” There are 14 separate fees and taxes on my 505 phone bill, my 415 phone bill had eight. I never voted for a single goldamned one of ‘em, either. Never mind that I vote in Texas, not New Mexico. I’m still an American with an inalienable right to bitch.

Hockey note: Last night I watched Calgary, the number three seed in the West, lose to Anaheim, the number six seed. Bizarro World. The top four seeds in the West all lost to under-dogs. I’ve never seen this happen, and for good reason: it’s the first time it has occurred since the NHL implemented the current playoff format in 1994. The top four seeds in the East all won. Like I said: Bizarro World.

Peggy Noonan is good today. She writes about the Moussaoui verdict in today’s Opinion Journal. Excerpt:

Excuse me, I'm sorry, and I beg your pardon, but the jury's decision on Moussaoui gives me a very bad feeling. What we witnessed here was not the higher compassion but a dizzy failure of nerve.

From the moment the decision was announced yesterday, everyone, all the parties involved--the cable jockeys, the legal analysts, the politicians, the victim representatives--showed an elaborate and jarring politesse. "We thank the jury." "I accept the verdict of course." "We can't question their hard work." "I know they did their best." "We thank the media for their hard work in covering this trial." "I don't want to second-guess the jury."

How removed from our base passions we've become. Or hope to seem.

It is as if we've become sophisticated beyond our intelligence, savvy beyond wisdom. Some might say we are showing a great and careful generosity, as befits a great nation. But maybe we're just, or also, rolling in our high-mindedness like a puppy in the grass. Maybe we are losing some crude old grit. Maybe it's not good we lose it.

Me? I’m conflicted, as usual. I can’t decide between burning him at the stake, drawing and quartering him, or suspending him in a steel cage ten feet above the Mojave desert floor and letting the SOB starve to death, Afghan style. But, the point is moot. In at least one respect I agree with those saying, in essence, “life in prison is a harsher punishment than death by lethal injection.” True, because there’s a chance prison justice will prevail. There is only faint hope, however. Rumor has it Moussaoui will be incarcerated in a supermax prison.

All the Big Dogs, and I mean all of them, Left and Right, have an opinion on the Moussaoui verdict. Memeorandum is a good place for all the links, if you’re interested.

Wednesday's Early Edition

OK, I’m an Old Fart, I freely admit it. But don’t you find the results of a recent survey of young people’s geographic knowledge disturbing? Some findings:

• One-third of respondents couldn't pinpoint Louisiana on a map and 48 percent were unable to locate Mississippi.
• Fewer than three in 10 think it important to know the locations of countries in the news and just 14 percent believe speaking another language is a necessary skill.
• Two-thirds didn't know that the earthquake that killed 70,000 people in October 2005 occurred in Pakistan.
• Six in 10 could not find Iraq on a map of the Middle East.
• While the outsourcing of jobs to India has been a major U.S. business story, 47 percent could not find the Indian subcontinent on a map of Asia.
• While Israeli-Palestinian strife has been in the news for the entire lives of the respondents, 75 percent were unable to locate Israel on a map of the Middle East.

You can take the survey cited above here (you won’t be scored, however). Test your geography knowledge here, and get scored. I was dead solid perfect on the US, scored 91 out of 111 on the European quiz (the flipping Baltic states and those insignificant yet belligerent countries of used to be Yugoslavia screw me up every time), 70/87 on Asia (those damned ‘stans), and failed miserably on Africa (83/162; my “Dark Continent”). I guess I need to pay more attention to the NatGeo.

As the ol’ line goes, “This would be funny if it weren’t true.” Left-wing paranoia always gets a good giggle out of me, but this guy is so far out there I just couldn’t believe my eyes. I don’t think the guy I’m about to refer you to is writing satire; no, it’s obvious he really believes this stuff.

Anyway.

Didja know the Bush administration has banned comedy, a la Stephen Colbert at the White House Press correspondents’ dinner? Or at least has put a press “blackout” on reporting over-the-top satire where the President is the subject? S’true. I read all about it and you can, too. Chase that link, above. When you’re done, drop on over to Right Wing News and read John Hawkins’ comments on this dude’s article. A pretty good fisking it is. “Banned,” indeed.

I managed to come up with a couple of “good things” about the Not-So-Beloved-For-a-While Red Wings being eliminated from the play-offs:

1. I won’t be tethered to the TV every other day for the next six weeks.
2. All y’all won’t have to scroll down through all those boring hockey posts any longer.

I’m not saying there won’t be any hockey posts. They’ll just be a helluva lot fewer and further in between. Dark clouds, silver linings, and all that.

Blogger was doing weird stuff again today. It took me three tries to post a comment over at Lou’s place. Booger then posted a comment I left over at Barb’s twice, and it took me half an hour (no kidding) to delete the duplicate. I think they’ve just gotten too big for the infrastructure they have, that is the number of Booger users exceeds the number of servers and associated storage space (disk farms). Just an educated guess.

Still haven’t made up my mind about the maybe/maybe not “Weird Scenes” post. I need one of those Magic Eight Balls. A real one.