Cold, Gray, and Blustery

Coffee Break’s Over…Back on Your Heads! That’s the punch line from an old, old joke and it’s appropriate. We had beautiful weather this weekend, beginning with a mid-60s day on Friday, mid-70s on Saturday, and another mid-60s day yesterday. I was cruising around P-Town and vicinity with the top down all weekend. The weather, however, is fickle and can change in a heartbeat (or overnight), like every other place I’ve ever been. Here’s what we’re looking at today and tomorrow:

Coffee break’s over…

Speaking of coffee breaks… I was washing my coffee pot as the final act of doing the dishes last evening and was startled to see a chunk of glass about the size of a fifty-cent piece detach itself from the lower third of the carafe. Soapy water poured out of the bottom of the carafe into the sink as I looked on in disbelief. I’ve broken a few carafes before… mainly by dropping them or banging them into things, but I’ve never broken one by simply washing it! And, to top it all off, this coffee pot is only about two months old.

So. Get into the car and head off to Wally-World at 2000 hrs or thereabouts to see if they have a replacement carafe. I’m sure you can predict the answer, which is “Of course not.” I bought the broken pot, a Hamilton-Beach, at the Base Exchange. Wally-World doesn’t carry that brand. So, forty dollars later (reduced roll-back from $57.00!) I walk out with this spiffy lil Mr. Coffee item. Beautiful, ain’t it? The pic doesn’t do the analog clock justice…it’s a pale green, reminiscent of those neon clocks one saw everywhere in the 50s, particularly in diners. Very retro.

So…an unprogrammed purchase. And that’s OK, coz I hated that Hamilton-Beach coffee maker for its poor quality (the plastic parts warped almost immediately), its clunky cone-shaped filter basket (a b!tch to load), and its lukewarm, non-adjustable warming plate. Good riddance.

Today’s Pic: From the archives: a shot of the commissioning of the USS Mason (DDG 87). SN2 was the Chief Engineer (CHENG) on the Mason and was also part of the pre-commissioning (pre-comm) crew, living with her from the laying of her keel in Bath, Maine and onwards through shake-down cruises, commissioning, and her first operational deployment. Port Canaveral, Florida, April 12, 2003.

More later today…

A Sunny Sunday Morn...

Let’s hope he’s right…Fred Barnes, writing in the Weekly Standard, says Dubya has seen a “new” plan for victory in Iraq and intends to follow it. Not only that, but Mr. Barnes gives us a link to said plan: Choosing Victory, A Plan for Success in Iraq. The link is to an executive summary of the plan, where you will also find a link to a 52-page minimalist (meaning: lots of bullet points with few spiffy graphics) PowerPoint presentation (in pdf format). In the meantime, here’s an excerpt from Mr. Barnes' article on “the plan:”

It's not to be found among the 79 recommendations of Jim Baker's Iraq Study Group. The ISG report was tossed aside by the White House. Nor was the scheme leaked by the Pentagon last week ever close to being adopted. That plan would pull thousands of American troops out of a combat role and turn them into trainers of the Iraqi army. The result would be increased sectarian violence and an Iraqi army not yet equipped to quash the swelling insurgency-leading to a gap of time in which there would likely be a further--probably fatal--collapse of civic order in Baghdad, and then elsewhere in Iraq.

Last Monday Bush was, at last, briefed on an actual plan for victory in Iraq, one that is likely to be implemented. Retired General Jack Keane, the former vice chief of staff of the Army, gave him a thumbnail sketch of it during a meeting of five outside experts at the White House. The president's reaction, according to a senior adviser, was "very positive." Authored by Keane and military expert Frederick W. Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute, the plan is well thought-out and detailed, but fundamentally quite simple.

“Fundamentally quite simple” means, basically, operations to “clear and hold” mixed Sunni/Shiite areas in Baghdad. It means a surge in the number of troops on the ground, on the order of 50,000 additional Army and Marine combat troops. The plan anticipates an increase in the amount of violence being done to both Coalition Forces and Iraqi civilians as the plan is implemented and predicts casualties will increase.

There’s good news and bad news here. The good news is this plan seems a helluva lot more realistic than any alternative I’ve seen, including the (now) widely discredited ISG Report. The bad news is this plan is going to be a very hard sell to a Democratic congress, especially since (a) it will compete directly with the “bi-partisan” and heavily promoted ISG plan and (b) the incoming Speaker has indicated ending the war is her top priority. The Kagan plan also has its Pollyanna-ish elements, such as increasing the end-strength of the Army and Marines by 30,000 troops by the end of CY 2007, putting the military industry on a “war footing” to accelerate the replacement of worn out or destroyed equipment, and a direct appeal by the President to America’s youth to enlist and defend the country in a time of war and crisis. The issues here are money—this plan adds significant cost to a war that is already hideously expensive—and the President’s ability to deliver the crisis message, which he’s been unable to do consistently and effectively in the past. It’s gonna be a hard slog for Dubya and opposition will be fierce. Still…what’s the alternative, other than defeat?

If you missed it this past Friday, here’s the definitive comment on the Iraq Study Group’s report (What did the Iraq Study Group tell us?) from Charles Krauthammer. Excerpts:

The ISG has not just been attacked by left and right, Democrat and Republican. It has invited ridicule. Seventy-nine recommendations. Interdependent, insists Baker. They should be taken as a whole. "I hope we don't treat this like a fruit salad and say, 'I like this but I don't like that.'" On the basis of what grand unifying vision? On the authority of what superior wisdom? A 10-person commission including such Middle East experts as Sandra Day O'Connor, Alan Simpson and Vernon Jordan?

This kind of bipartisan elder-statesmen commission is perfectly appropriate as a consensus-building exercise for, say, a long-range problem such as Social Security. It is a ludicrous mechanism for devising strategic changes in the middle of a war.

[…]

He must do two things. First, as I've been agitating, establish a new governing coalition in Baghdad that excludes Moqtada al-Sadr, a cancer that undermines the Maliki government's ability to work with us. It is encouraging that the president has already begun such a maneuver by meeting with rival Shiite and Sunni parliamentary leaders. If we help produce a cross-sectarian government that would be an ally rather than a paralyzed semi-adversary of coalition forces, we should then undertake part two: "double down" our military effort. This means a surge in American troops with a specific mission: to secure Baghdad and (together with the support of the Baghdad government -- a sine qua non) suppress Sadr's Mahdi Army.

It is our last chance for success. Bush can thank the ISG and its instant irrelevance for making it possible.

Mr. Krauthammer must have read Mr. Kagan’s plan, because his (Krauthammer’s) prescription for victory is identical. Me, I liked his smack-down of Mssrs Baker and Hamilton.

Congratulations! You’re Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year!” Talk about a non-event media event. I remember when the whole frickin’ world anticipated the naming of Time’s Man of the Year (when did it become “person,” anyway?)…but that was back when Time was still respected and relevant. Doubtless there are those people who still believe Time is relevant, but you cannot count me in that number. I agree with Captain Ed:

Eh. So this is the year for the great huddled masses? Wouldn't that have been 1989, when the momentum of freedom and liberty felled an Evil Empire and tore down a wall in Berlin? Instead, Time selected Mikhail Gorbachev, and also named him its Man of the Decade for managing to take the Soviet Union into oblivion. The fact that they selected him over the two men responsible for forcing him into that position shows the problems Time has always had in seeing the long view of history.

At least, however, they made a decision and selected someone. The entire point of a Person of the Year is to acknowledge that some people play larger roles in history. Naming all of us may make us feel good about our anonymity, but in the end it's either pandering to millions of readers or a refusal to take a stand on anyone. Choosing everyone is an abdication on the entire purpose of the project.

What he said.

Here’s another lil something I was gonna blog this past Thursday, but forgot (of course): “Blogging ‘set to peak next year’.” The article contains a few ‘gee whiz’ facts that may or may not impress you. I was semi-impressed with these:

Gartner analyst Daryl Plummer said the reason for the levelling off in blogging was due to the fact that most people who would ever start a web blog had already done so.

He said those who loved blogging were committed to keeping it up, while others had become bored and moved on.

"A lot of people have been in and out of this thing," Mr Plummer said.

"Everyone thinks they have something to say, until they're put on stage and asked to say it."

Last month blog tracking firm Technorati reported that 100,000 new blogs were being created every day, and 1.3 million blog posts were written.

Technorati is tracking more than 57 million blogs, of which it believes around 55% are "active" and updated at least every three months.

100,000 new blogs every day? That IS amazing, ain’t it? YrHmblScrb thought long (over a year) and hard (ahem) before creating EIP. I questioned my commitment, to begin with, as in “Will I be able to keep doing it?” and was severely intimidated by the sheer abundance of high-quality writing in the blogs I was reading before I decided to take the plunge. The second point being that I really didn’t want to do something that didn’t “measure up.”

(Digression: There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t encounter another blog that’s thoughtful, articulate and well-written. But you can’t read ‘em all, can you?)

Well, I’ve answered Item One for the moment, what with going on for a year now. The chances are pretty good I’ll keep at it, with the occasional break for mental health reasons. As for Item Two, well…that’s for you to decide, Gentle Reader. It works for me.

Today’s Pic(s): Hangin’ out at the Drum Circle during Bob Marley Fest in Austin. Two days, 15 (or so) mostly local bands, all-day and into-the-night fun. Plus Weirdness! April, 2000.

Contrasts...

Taking the day off today. But…just for fun…here’s a study in contrasts. In the first two pics: friends Catherine, Amy and I in Santa Fe, May 2005.

First pic: On the Plaza in the morning, sober as three judges.

Second pic: (Much) Later that same day in a local cantina towards the end of the evening. Take your best guess as to our sobriety. Much fun had by all.

Pics one and two were taken by good friend Cory, who's on the right in pic three.

See all y'all tomorrow.

Some People's Kids...

This just in…an e-mail making the rounds in your Air Force today, courtesy of SN1. Names and other identifying data have been purged to protect both the innocent and the guilty. You can get the gist of what the major is saying simply by following along…

From: Maj XXXXX 333 FS/DOV
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 6:09 PM
To: C3C XXXXX USAFA/CS20
Cc:
Subject: RE: Cadet request for F-15 ride

You've got some brass balls on you, cadet fourth class XXXXX (seriously...is that your real name, lose that 'IV' crap, it just sounds stupid). Let's break down your message and maybe we can educate you on a thing or two.

"I'm a cadet at the Air Force Academy."

This message should be over right here. Period dot. Cadets don't troll for rides, they EARN them through the proper channels just like everybody else. We've got a long list of maintainers who have earned awards through this wing to get incentive rides. These guys bust their asses in the freezing cold and blistering heat and only the lucky few get the privilege of having a ride. Name me three things you think you've done to 'earn' a Strike Eagle ride. Seriously. And by the way, I've read about all the 'hard work' here - http://www.gdsalumni.blogspot.com/. And I quote "The learning curve was very steep this past year as I learned about military culture and doctrine in a pretty stressful environment." Brother, you have no idea what a stressful environment is.

"trying to arrange a flight with the 333^rd Fighter Wing"

Sweet mother of pearl, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. We are the 333^rd Fighter Squadron, and we are a division of the 4^th Fighter Wing. If you want to snivel a ride from us, you ought to at least get your facts straight. This is the foreshadowing of your ignorance, let's continue....

"I have my Secret Clearance"

Your secret clearance doesn't mean f*** all to us. You think we're going to take you up on a tactical sortie? You think we're going to let you sit in on classified briefings? You think we're going to hang out and talk tactics with you? YGBFSM.

"and Physiological Training Card"

Your physiological training card doesn't mean f*** all to us. Remember all those hard working maintainers I mentioned earlier? Not one of them has a physiological training card - don't try to impress us with that crap.

"and can coordinate any AOC approval"

Last time I checked, the AOC didn't run the flying schedule of the 4^th FW or coordination of our incentive flights. Apparently you're not familiar with chain of command and proper channels. Let me tell you what this does NOT consist of; it does NOT consist of going VFR direct to the 333^rd Fighter Squadron scheduling shop and bothering our hard working schedulers. This consists of you talking to your commander, your commander talking to our commander, somebody in between giving the approval, and then in the middle of your pipe dream you will be denied your flight.

"My presence does not impose any limitations on the mission; I'm just along for the ride."

You couldn't be more wrong. What exactly is it you think we do here? Do you know anything about the F-15E? Do you know anything about Seymour Johnson? Do you know anything about the 333^rd? Since it would seem the answer to all of the above is a blatant 'No', I'll clue you in. In the F-15E, while we do have two seats, the second seat is not an empty seat that only gets occupied when goobs like yourself call up looking for a ride. It's a seat for qualified aircrew - we call them Weapon System Officers. He is an essential part of our mission and we don't give him the boot for guys who are looking to bum a ride. Also, the 333^rd is a Formal Training Unit. That means that we train young pilots and WSOs, so to give you a ride, we would either have to boot a student WSO in aforementioned formal course, or an instructor WSO trying to teach said student WSO. Get the picture?

"Any further guidance or authorization you can provide on this matter is much appreciated."

...and I'm spent - Hopefully this will serve as all the guidance you need. Gents, if there is something I have left out of this mentoring session with young cadet third class citizen XXXXX the IV, please feel free to chime in.

Maj XXXXX
Chief of Stan/Eval, 333rd FS

Like I said...some people’s kids…even those attending our service academies.

Update 12/19/2006: In response to all the googlers: "YGBFSM" means You Gotta Be Frickin' Sh**ing Me. Now you know.

Yesterday...

Yesterday was a mixed bag…the laundry got done, El Casa Móvil De Pennington got cleaned (well, the grittiest parts thereof, anyway), and the larder got its periodic minor re-stocking. There was one critical chore that wasn’t accomplished, however: replacing the Green Hornet’s battery. Replacing the battery isn’t an immediate matter of necessity as it still has a charge and still cranks the car over, albeit slowly now that cold weather is here. No… it’s just a case of prudent pre-emptive maintenance, given the Green Hornet’s battery is the original OEM item and is six years old. Or, near the end of its useful life. Better to replace it now than when it goes belly-up and I have to be somewhere, anywhere.

I was at the appointed place, at the appointed time, and after surrendering the Green Hornet’s keys to Mr. Goodwrench, I proceeded to the customer waiting area where I cooled my heels with a book. Fifteen minutes later the service manager walked up and apologized, profusely, that their supplier had sent the wrong battery and could I please come back tomorrow? Well, I guess so…after all, I don’t have much choice now, do I? “We’ll make it up to you, I promise,” said he, cryptically. Just how they’ll “make it up” remains to be seen…but I’m anticipating a ten percent discount, at the minimum, for their screw up.

So while I was at Mr. Goodwrench’s store I gazed longingly at a brand-new, bright red 2006 Corvette and actually opened the door and sat in the thing, where I immediately became awash in memories of Former Happy Days. Those memories aren’t nearly enough to justify paying the princely sum of $52,000.00 (and change: list price) for the thing, however. Even after applying my GM Employee discount, which is substantial on high-zoot models like the ‘Vette or most Cadillacs, I’d still have to part with over $40K of my (not-so-) hard earned money to drive it off the lot. Dang! That’s a chunk o’ change, ain’t it?

I also had two interesting encounters yesterday…the first being with a woman I dated over three years ago. I ran into her in Wally-World for the first time in three years, which is a minor miracle of sorts, considering P-Town only has 12,000 souls and one would expect to run into people you know quite frequently, nu? Such is not the case, however. We caught up a lil bit and then went on our respective ways. I spent the better part of the rest of the day congratulating myself on remembering her name... no small victory, that. I’m given to serious worry about the fact I have trouble with names, in general, and specifically with those folks I haven’t seen in quite a while. But yesterday’s encounter is evidence that Alzheimer’s is delayed, for the moment.

Encounter Number Two was in the laundromat with a rather pleasant lady around my age. We’d been chatting for about ten minutes when she asked “Well, what do you think of our Dear Leader…President Bush?” “Oh Shit, Oh Dear,” thought I, noting the way her mouth got all twisted up as she said “Dear Leader.” I measured my words carefully in reply, stating I supported the President but had issues with his inability to articulate the seriousness of the war we’re in. I got the usual moonbat talking points in response, “no WMDs,” “oil,” “war of choice,” and so on…ending with “it’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.” “I think you ARE wrong,” said I. She was literally taken aback, in the sense she physically jerked about six inches away from me after I spoke, and had an incredulous expression on her face. I was all prepared for a heated exchange but she changed the subject, thankfully.

I don’t know why I’m surprised at these sort of encounters, given that seven of ten Americans disapprove of Dubya’s “handling of the war,” if one believes the latest polls. Yet I am surprised, each and every time. There seems to be a LOT of lefty Kool-Aid drinkers running around in The Land of the Free. Yet I suppose they can be forgiven, what with the MSM’s incessant negative bleating. On the other hand, there are alternative media, right?

Today’s Pic(s): A sight seldom seen these days, outside of the Red States…two views of the Nativity scene outside of the Roosevelt County building. A group of kindergarten kids and their teachers arrived as I was shooting the Nativity scene, and I took a few pics of the group. After snapping the kids I walked over to one of the teachers and asked who they were and what the occasion was. I was told they were kindergartners and the group was going caroling in the County offices, and oh, by the way, are you from the paper? “Nope, I’m not…I thought you guys were a good looking group and just had to take your picture!” A Nativity scene and caroling... ain’t it GOOD? Taken yesterday...12/14/2006.

Briefly...

A short post this morning…I have stuff to do today and need to get started. All of the “stuff” is mundane and all of it is necessary to keep life on an even keel. Not the least of which is that much-hated task: laundry. Once again, I’ve let it go to the point where I’m out of clean clothes and just might have to call a moving company (or find a fork lift) to get my accumulated dirty clothes from here to the laundromat. But the laundry is just one thing out of two or three things I gotta do.

One of my Hot Buttons about the war has been my perception — I repeat: perception — that our rules of engagement (ROE) in Iraq (and elsewhere) are too restrictive and work to the enemy’s advantage. There are those folks that agree with me, and Herschel Smith is one of them. His essay, “The NCOs Speak on Rules of Engagement,” is an eloquent statement against the current ROE based upon first-person narratives from those who know: the non-commissioned officers on the line. Excerpt:

In the end, the most compelling witness to the success or failure of a strategy is the effect on the ground. Rules of engagement have a strategic import in that the lack of proper ROE will always cause doctrine to become mute and tactics to fail. The testimony of three respected NCOs is that the current ROE are not only not helpful, but that they are a hindrance and impediment to accomplishment of mission objectives. Thus, the strategic importance of ROE. ROE cannot cause us to win, but they can sure cause us to lose.

I’m waiting for the Powers That Be to acknowledge we’re in a war, not a “police action” or some other exercise in restraint. It’s way past time to pull the gloves off and “go hard.” I’m likely to remain waiting for a long, long time.

Today’s Pic: “Bad Skies,” one of a series of pics I took last summer as a severe thunderstorm moved through P-Town. Scary, yet beautiful. June, 2005.

On Music... which quickly turns into another paean to RP

I can usually count on my blogging friends for inspiration, and such is the case with this post. Lou has been reflecting on some of her favorite music over the course of the last day or two and unsurprisingly (or surprisingly, take your pick) I find we have several artists in common: Gary P. Nunn and Joe Ely, just to name two. Lou has a definite advantage over me in this area, as she has lived in places where it wasn’t out of the ordinary to see folks like Gary and/or Joe on a regular basis. Most college towns are like that, come to think on it. And Lou has another musical claim to fame that simply cannot be topped: Neil Young played at her wedding reception! Yowza!!

Music is (and has always been) very, very important to me. Less so these days than in the way-back when I subscribed to The Hippie Trinity of “sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll,” the latter two being prime facilitators of the first, of course. But that tells you more than a little bit about the type of women I hung around with back in the day. Guys, too. The one thing we had one thing in common was a deep devotion to “our” music, and all the trappings…the de rigueur subscription to Rolling Stone (or Creem), the monthly trips here and there to concerts, the patched jeans, the whole nine yards. It was a culcha thang. And part of that culcha was looking down our collective noses at any musical genre that wasn’t “hip”…especially country.

But, ah…the greatest “good thing” about aging is your horizons broaden along with your waist line. Conventional wisdom, such as it is, goes by the boards and you are essentially free of peer pressure to enjoy what you will. I began to develop an appreciation for classical music around age 35 and country music around 40. The aforementioned Joe Ely piqued my interest in country when I saw him in London for the first time in ’81 or ’82 (The Grateful Dead and The Eagles aside. How we made allowances for these two group’s obvious country influences is beyond me, but we did.), Lyle Lovett sharpened it in the mid-80s, and SN1 exposed me to some really great country stuff a few years back. So, I’m a confirmed country fan, now. (SN1, by the way, has the most eclectic taste in music I’ve ever seen, including hip-hop, which I just cannot get into no matter how hard I try.)

Another of the greatest things about pop music is its constant evolution and the constant parade of new artists. “Keeping up” has been a bit of a problem these past few years, or ever since I landed in P-Town. I cancelled my subscription to RS years and years ago, and local radio…uh…sucks, to put it mildly. Long-time readers know I’ve found an answer to this problem: Radio Paradise. I’ve gone on (and on, and on) quite a bit about the wonderfulness of RP. The best thing is the wide variety of music on RP; here’s an example from this hour:

11:22 am - Stephen Stills - Treetop Flyer
11:17 am - Billy Bragg & Wilco - Airline to Heaven
11:12 am - Diana Krall - Fly Me to the Moon
11:06 am - Miles Davis - Blue In Green
11:01 am - Herbie Hancock - Stitched Up (w/ John Mayer)
10:56 am - Cracker - Something You Ain't Got

Two pure-jazz tunes, one jazz-pop fusion tune, one acoustic “Old Hippie” song, and two others. Great stuff. RP also plays a fair bit of country, too…including Johnny and Roseanne Cash, Lyle, Lucinda Williams, Hank Williams (senior), Joe Ely, and Steve Earle, just to name a few that come immediately to mind. And not much, if any, hip-hop. This is a good thing. Another “good thing” is the sense of community RP has. Bill, RP’s proprietor, has facilitated this community by allowing members (membership is free) to comment on each and every song played, and to rate each song on a scale from one to ten. The comments forums (fora?) are a hoot and can be educational to boot, what with song and artist trivia posted routinely. RP members’ song ratings are aggregated in one spot, so you can get a sense of what people like (and don’t like) simply by viewing their profile. As an example, here’s my complete list of “tens:”

10 - The Who - Quadrophenia
10 - Rolling Stones - Wild Horses
10 - Van Morrison - Saint Dominic's Preview
10 - Glenn Miller - A String of Pearls
10 - The Temptations - Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)
10 - Joni Mitchell - A Case of You
10 - Beatles - You Never Give Me/The End
10 - Kinks - Living On A Thin Line
10 - Blind Faith - Can't Find My Way Home
10 - Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
10 - Pink Floyd - Learning to Fly
10 - Stevie Ray Vaughan - Pipeline
10 - Rolling Stones - Moonlight Mile

Entirely predictable for a guy my age, eh? That Beatles entry is the complete second side of Abbey Road, by the way. If you’re interested, my complete set of ratings is here. A quick perusal of my ratings list gives one a good feel for the eclectic nature of RP’s play list. And insight into my "taste," such as it is.

Radio Paradise: I’d be lost without it. Well, maybe not “lost,” but certainly a lot poorer. The soundtrack to my life these days. Assuming the ‘net connection is in serviceable order, of course.

Late Start, Part VI

Another slow start today, but it’s not (entirely) from a lack of motivation. So, as is my habit when I’m slow out of the gate, I’ll put up a lil sumthin/anything and be back later. When the coffee kicks in.

I spent the late morning and most all afternoon over in the Big(ger) City^TM yesterday, and when I got back I found this in my in-box:

From: (Name) SPC USA xxxxxx@centcom.mil
To: (me)@gmail.com
Date: Dec 12, 2006 11:25 AM
Subject: CENTCOM
mailed-by: centcom.mil

Good morning,

I found your blog this morning and spent some time reading.

As military public affairs it is our mission to report to the public what its military is doing. In the past this was done solely via the main stream media. Today, with the advent and growing popularity of blogs, we have been reaching out to those of you who operate and are involved in discussions involving the war and the military.

Would you like to be on our email list? We send out press releases and stories of breaking news as events warrant. Also, we are always looking to gain more exposure to our website and to invite people interested in the events in the Middle East to use our site as another source of information. With that said, I ask that you consider adding a link to www.centcom.mil.

You can also receive our press releases via an automated daily email feed via Feedburner by using the link below.

Subscribe to US CENTCOM Press Releases by Email

I appreciate your time and hope to hear back from you.

V/R

Spc. (Name)
U.S. Central Command
Public Affairs

Why, yes. Yes, I would like to be on your e-mail list, and I’m much more than slightly embarrassed that I’m not on it already. And I think it’s a Good Thing that CENTCOM is reaching out to bloggers, with the full-understanding that the note I received is a canned effort. It’s the thought that counts, never mind the thought should have occurred to the Powers-That-Be at least a couple of years ago. Better late than never, eh?

Today’s Pic: “Got Poop?” A vendor stand at the 2003 Roosevelt County Ag-Expo, an annual occurrence here in P-Town. I’d never been to an ag-expo before my 2003 excursion, and it was an enlightening experience for a city-boy, believe me. I had a great time, met a lot of friendly people and got more than a few smiles out of it…and this is one of those (smiles). February, 2003.

Untitled. Coz I Can't Think of One...

While we’re waiting for the other shoe(s) to drop—the ones worn by the Joint Chiefs—it’s instructive to read this comment on the ISG report, in today’s (WSJ) Opinion Journal. Excerpt:

The whole ISG report is a spectacular punt. It contains a few broad, vague goals for our policy--and a whole range of specific recommendations for actions that are not in the power of the American government to take. It recommends, for example, that the Iraqi government "accelerate assuming responsibility for Iraqi security by increasing the number and quality of Iraqi Army Brigades," that the Iranian government "use its influence over Iraqi Shiite groups to encourage national reconciliation" and that the Syrian government "stem the flow of funding, insurgents, and terrorists in and out of Iraq."

The members of the commission certainly hope that these governments will take those actions. But then again, they very well might not.

What the ISG offers us are mere aspirations, with no serious consideration of the concrete means required to fulfill those aspirations.

After listening/watching nearly a week’s worth of incessant babbling on the part of the ISG co-chairmen and media pundits, I’ve arrived at the same conclusion as Mr. Tracinski, the author of the piece linked above. The ISG report is worse than useless, it’s fundamentally counter-productive and doesn’t say a damned thing that hasn’t already been said before. Further, if the US attempts to “negotiate” with Syria and Iran, those regimes will see it for what it truly would be: an admission of weakness and failure. We haven’t failed yet, but we’re on the road to failure if the ISG’s recommendations are all we have.

I’m certain that most of what the Joint Chiefs will say will be classified. I’m also waiting with baited breath for the unclassified summary. And I’m hoping they’ll recommend a change in course to achieve victory. One of the first steps would be to kill Moqtada al-Sadr, which we should have done, oh, two years ago. Just sayin’…

Morgan and I had an off-line exchange about cars yesterday after he linked my Prius post below. I want to point out to all y’all that Morgan is quite the exception to the (general) American practice of replacing one’s automobile every two or three years, what with being the satisfied owner of an 18 year old Toyota with over 328,000 miles on the clock. That’s amazing, isn’t it?

I’m a “buy and hold” sort of guy when it comes to cars, providing I like the car. I love the Green Hornet, and I’ve owned her for over six years now. Previous automotive love-objects included a 3-series BMW I had for ten years and a Corvette I owned for seven years. But I don’t think I’ll ever come close to 18 years and 300K miles!

I was well and truly unmotivated yesterday and still am, to a certain extent. I did accomplish one thing: I completed my Christmas shopping, such as it is. I’m remarkably unimaginative yet expedient in this area. Unimaginative in the sense that Amazon gift certificates aren’t exactly creative. But they are expedient, nu? No wrapping, instantaneous delivery, and simply full of choice and possibilities. God, I love the ‘net…

T’is the season… Radio Paradise played one my favorite seasonal songs this morning…Joni Mitchell’s “River.” It’s a simple song, just Joni and her piano. But it’s just sooo beautiful. The lyrics:

It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on

But it don't snow here
It stays pretty green
I'm going to make a lot of money
Then I'm going to quit this crazy scene
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on

I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
I wish I had a river I could skate away on
I made my baby cry

He tried hard to help me
You know, he put me at ease
And he loved me so naughty
Made me weak in the knees
Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on

I'm so hard to handle
I'm selfish and I'm sad
Now I've gone and lost the best baby
That I ever had
I wish I had a river I could skate away on

Oh, I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I made my baby say goodbye

It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
I wish I had a river I could skate away on

Jingle Bells it ain’t. But it’s been a favorite of mine for 35 years now…

Today’s Pic: Another one of those great New Mexico vistas…mile marker 223 on US 84, in the north central part of the state. A relatively clear day under an azure sky. June, 2004.

Unmotivated

We’re feeling just a tad unmotivated as the morning unwinds and approaches the noon hour. My usual rounds and a quick scan of memeorandum haven’t inspired me in the least. Thank God for my photo directories, because, when all else fails I can give you…

Today’s Pic: One of the last, if not the last, of the Prague pics. This time it’s another view of the Hus Monument in Old Town Square. June, 1999.

Pious. No, Excuse Me! I Meant Prius...

I fell asleep last evening as I usually do: watching the Tee Vee. I had never allowed a television in my sleeping quarters, ever, until I moved into El Casa Móvil De Pennington. As a matter of fact, there was an extended period in my life, from around 1973 until 1980, when I didn’t own a Tee Vee at all, let alone have one in the bedroom. But that was then, this is now. Now you know one of my more embarrassing little secrets. And I digress, of course.

The Tee Vee was tuned to C-SPAN2 last evening and I fell asleep watching some nerdy type give a dissertation on the brilliance of General Sherman’s Civil War strategy. A dose of Ambien or Lunesta couldn’t have put me to sleep faster. But there’s a downside to falling asleep with the Tee Vee on: you wake up with the damned thing on, too. And sometimes you wake up —this is especially true when watching C-SPAN2 on the weekends— to raving freakin’ moonbats. And such was the case this morning. A woman by the name of Eve Ensler was going on about the wonderfulness of her life-long journey of self-discovery and the most-important lessons that all the rest of us, especially if we happen to be womyn, should learn from her experience. I immediately changed the channel and set about making the coffee and doing all that other stuff I do upon awakening.

I sat down at my desk as the coffee was brewing and absentmindedly thought “Who is Eve Ensler, anyway? The name sounds familiar…I should know her.” So I googled her. Oh, yeah. That Eve Ensler, she of “Vagina Monologues” fame. Founder of V-Day, and blogger at HuffPo. Suspicions confirmed: Moonbat, First Degree. I followed one of the google links to her HuffPo blog and saw the little pic above. I clicked it, being as how it looked more interesting than Ensler’s ravings. And I laughed, coz here’s what I saw…

First, there’s Arianna herownself, going on about how it’s patriotic to drive a Japanese car, with no sense of irony at all.

Then there’s Nora Ephron and Bill (ptui!) Maher, the former who says she doesn’t really need a car (she lives on Manhattan's Upper West Side, after all) yet she bought one, anyway; and the latter who informs us in only 20 words that driving a Toyota is all about self-preservation.

And finally, Larry David makes the only honest statement on the page, although I’m certain it’s an attempt at humor:

Or a tip o’ the hat to that wonderful South Park episode on the subject: Smug Alert.

At any rate, it’s just all too, too precious, ain’t it? The whole “limousine liberal” meme is pretty tired, and most everything that should have been said on the subject has already been said at least a hundred times. Still and even, it just makes me laugh. If I were in the same financial boat as Arianna or Maher, I’d own one of these:

A rompin’, stompin’ 500-hp M5. Screw a whole bunch of Priuses Piouses.

Note: Sorry about the formatting on the original version of this post. I worked on the post for 30 freakin' minutes and just couldn't get it right. I went back and edited, again, removing the left and right justifications on the graphics and just placed 'em dead center. That works better. There are... uh ... certain limitations to Blogger's formatting ability. And my skills in accomplishing same, obviously.

Longer than Your Usual Saturday Post...

...you might want to get a cup. I went on longer than usual for a Saturday. But this is what you get when there's no football.

Uh, right. I’ll bet you say that to all the girls:

"It's not size, it's what you do with it that matters," he said.

Quoted in reaction to this report from the Beeb, which probably isn’t going down too well in Bangalore, Calcutta, and Mumbai. On the other hand, Maria Muldaur’s career might just experience a resurgence (30 second clips: real audio, win media player). Of sorts.

You probably already saw this, anyway. According to Yahoo, this lil item (ahem) was Friday’s second-most e-mailed story.

And, apropos of nothing, but while we’re on the subject of…uh… anatomy:

According to Islam, puberty is a stage when a child is ready to take on some adult responsibilities. As a part of this, while adolescent girls are expected to behave and dress as mature women, every male child should be circumcised before he reaches puberty as a step into manhood. In the traditional context, sünnet (circumcision) is usually performed by a “sünnetçi,” always a male, who has been trained and is experienced in circumcision but does not have a medical degree. During the operation, which usually takes place at home, the kirve (a close friend of the father or a male relative) holds the child, and the sünnetçi conducts the operation, usually without any anesthetics if performed in the traditional way.

Great importance is attached to this ritual in traditional Turkey, as it is accepted as a step into manhood. A special feast is prepared, and the child is dressed in a white gown and a cap adorned with decorations. Following the operation, he is laid down in a decorated bed while prayers are said and visitors bring in presents and are offered food and sherbet. Sünnet is a religious rule, although many people believe that it is also a requirement for healthy sexuality, both in the medical and functional sense. As a result of this, if the child is born in a hospital, many parents now prefer the operation to take place in the hospital setting, a few days after birth, out of hygienic as well as economic concerns.

—From a monograph on sexuality in Turkey

I’ve been to a sünnet ritual. I was 13 at the time (1958); my father and I were guests at a sünnet in the village of my father’s friend Yashar, about 40 miles outside of Ankara. The “honorees” were the village mayor’s son and another boy the mayor sponsored. It was customary for a well-to-do man to sponsor, i.e., pay for, the circumcision of a less-well-off man’s son and include the boy and his family in the subsequent festivities. The boys were 12 and 11 years old, respectively.

The ritual took place around 1000 hrs in the mayor’s home, in an upstairs room. There were about 12 witnesses, all male, family friends and guests, and all dressed in suits or the best clothes they owned, in the case of the poorer men. We all trooped upstairs for the ceremony. The boys were lying on a large brass double bed placed in the center of the room. There was no other furniture. Each boy was dressed in a white night-shirt type of garment and wore elaborately embroidered silk skull caps, one red, one blue. The sünnetçi arrived and was introduced with great formality to all the witnesses, including my father and me. Several of the men made speeches and said prayers and then we all gathered around the bed. The sünnetçi went to the bed, lifted up the boys nightshirts, and injected them with an anesthetic. The mayor’s son winced, the other boy cried a bit, and I cringed. The sünnetçi waited about three or four minutes for the anesthetic to take effect, making small talk with the boys, showing them the instruments, and then performed the operations deftly and quickly, first on one side of the bed, then the other. It was over in no more than two minutes, per boy, including the bandaging. After the operation the mayor and the sünnetçi came over to me, each one grabbing a wrist, and started pulling me towards the bed. And then they began laughing, to my great relief. I was all ready to rip my pants down and show ‘em I’d already been done, but it never came to that. My Ol’ Man almost pissed himself he was laughing so hard. Yeah, that was real funny, Dad…

After the ceremony the men all went downstairs for tea and baklava. It’s interesting that no one there spoke English except for Yashar, my father, and I, yet we communicated exceedingly well. After about an hour, all the men left except for the mayor, Yashar, Dad and I. We spent the better part of the afternoon just chatting with the mayor and drinking lots of tea. There were no women in view, none.

I’ll make what could be a long story short. The mayor threw a party for the whole village that evening. The village square was cleared out, tables were set up, and the entire village of about 500 (or so) people turned out for free food, music, and dancing. After everyone was seated, the boys were carried into the square by four real big guys, still in the same brass bed where they had been circumcised. The bed was carried up on to a raised dais, set down, and the village stood and cheered. And then we got down to some serious feasting, laughing and drinking (for the adults). There was a constant parade of well-wishers coming and going to the dais, bringing food and presents. The boys ate it up, and even though I’m certain they were sore, they were all smiles. The village women ate with us but seemed to disappear after the meal was over. The men and older boys remained and the party went on late into the night.

It was quite the experience.

Charles Krauthammer on That Murder in London:

Litvinenko knew more about his circumstances than anyone else. And on their deathbeds, people don't lie. As Machiavelli said (some attribute this to Voltaire), after thrice refusing the entreaties of a priest to repent his sins and renounce Satan, "At a time like this, Father, one tries not to make new enemies."

In science, there is a principle called Occam's razor. When presented with competing theories for explaining a natural phenomenon, one adopts the least elaborate. Nature prefers simplicity. Scientists do not indulge in grassy-knoll theories. You don't need a convoluted device to explain Litvinenko's demise.

[…]

Opponents of Putin have been falling like flies. Some jailed, some exiled, some killed. True, Litvinenko's murder will never be traced directly to Putin, no matter how dogged the British police investigation. State-sponsored assassinations are almost never traceable to the source. Too many cutouts. Too many layers of protection between the don and the hit man.

Mr. Krauthammer makes a danged good case, as usual. I particularly like his closing paragraph. But, aside from all that, one thing is crystal-clear: Ol’ Vlad learned his lessons well at the KGB. Former Happy Days appear to be right around the corner, if not already here. One has to feel bad for the Russians.

Fun with Site Meter, or More Bizarre Hits from this week…

It appears I’ve tapped into a sub-culture I never knew existed. Two more hits for petticoat punishment over the past couple of days, one for petticoat punished, and one for petticoat discipline december 2006. Who’d a thunk it?

Sorry, I’m fresh out: spells for traveling in portales.

No, I won’t help you with your homework: all quiet on the western front book report. I don’t speak Korean, anyway.

Your guess is as good as mine, but two folks may have found what they were looking for: qe%

Get away! She’s mine! c-span;s susan swain.

A few things come to mind here, but I’m pretty sure they’re not what this person was looking for: head movil discontinued elation. Let’s not get personal, OK?

This one is real “inside tee-ball” stuff, but Dan will get it. Uh, no…we never had one there: an/flr-9 moscow. (Here’s a description of the AN/FLR-9, if you’re curious, with additional info here, including some interesting war stories.)

I know why, after watching her for half an hour on C-SPAN: "melanie sloan" divorced. The mystery is how she ever got married. I suspect large quantities of alcohol and/or other drugs were involved, in Las Vegas.

And finally…Would this person please contact me? I want a reading, and you’re good: maria muldaur "love songs" dylan site:blogspot.com. Prescient, you are.

It amazes me EIP turns up when someone runs a strange (to me) query. I’m even more amazed these folks still click through. I suppose I’m easily amazed… and easily amused, too.

Today’s Pic: A street scene in Old Town, Prague. Prague is a city of spires, in its own unique way. I don’t know why, but the grouping of four smaller spires on the corners of a main spire is a recurring motif in the architecture. Medieval Czech architects must have known a thing or two about lightning…or at least how to ground buildings. I’d wager that Prague is one of the most lightning-struck cities in the world, what with all those pointy things sticking up in the sky. June, 1999.

Vote! And Other Mundane Ramblings...

Ah…so it’s come to this? Advertisements and testimonials on this blog? Well, sure! There have always been testimonials on this blog! If and when I find a good thing, be it an article, editorial, advertisements to like/avoid, or various and sundry other good things, don’t I tell you? So when I encourage you to get over to the 2006 Weblog Awards site and vote…it’s only natural. Two of my daily reads are finalists: Lex and Lileks. Lex needs your help, as you can see. Mr. Lileks, on the other hand, has a huge lead in his category, as of this hour. But only until the moonbats find out there’s an election going on, at which time they’ll mobilize the dead, bring out the absentee and provisional ballots, and whine about how the poor were disenfranchised by the “digital divide” when Greenwald loses. But as for now? They’re a little bit slow on the uptake, ya know.

Vote early, vote often daily!

I’m oh-so-tempted to weigh in on the Iraq Study Group’s report…but I won’t. Not yet, anyway. Mssrs Baker and Hamilton have been busy as all get out, making all the rounds. I saw them on C-SPAN testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, saw them on PBS’ The News Hour, saw them on Special Report w/Brit Hume…yadda, yadda. And that was just on Wednesday. Other ISG members are making the rounds, too, e.g., I saw Sandra O’Connor and Vernon Jordan on The News Hour last evening. This whole ISG thing is getting one of the hardest “pushes” I’ve seen in a long, long time. Talk about pressure on the administration! Poor Tony Snow is beginning to look a bit “aged,” doncha think? (video at the link)

Very few people seem to remember the Joint Chiefs have a similar report coming, as does the National Security establishment. I’m thinking reasonable and rational folks will wait until all the evidence is in before pontificating. Reason and rationality are in short supply these days, however.

Here’s another one of those spiffy quiz thingies, courtesy of Mike:

What American accent do you have?

Umm…I beg to differ, and I’m pretty sure SN1 and SN2 will back me up on this. Some of my usage is Suthern, ma’am, but accent? Not frickin’ hardly! The code provided by the quiz site to display your results is pretty useless (the bars don’t get filled), other than providing a link to the quiz. So I cut and pasted the graphic results from the quiz, just to show what they say are my linguistic characteristics. Which, I suppose, all goes to prove that determining an accent using questions about how one pronounces certain words is…uh…useless. YMMV, of course.

It was pretty danged cold here at El Casa Móvil De Pennington yesterday. Our high was only 39 vs an average high of 53 for the date. And it was windy, as usual, making it seem quite a bit cooler than it actually was. Today is supposed to be a bit better: the forecasted high is 52. We’re colder, earlier this year. So much for global warming climate change. But, as always…it could be worse, and it is worse in some of my old stomping grounds, like Detroit, Williston, ND, and Rochester. With snow!

Today’s Pic: Another Prague pic, but I doubt if Lou will paint this one! Just a billboard that caught my eye whilst I was strolling about the city. Those Euro-weenies certainly have a different sort of take on advertising, eh? And I like it… June, 1999.

Pearl Harbor Day

The USS Arizona - Then and Now (U.S. Navy photographs)

It’s said — quite often and by many, many people — that 9/11/2001 “changed everything.” And it is indeed true for the current generations of Americans. But I’ll submit that 12/07/1941 “changed everything” to a degree it is impossible for us who were not alive and going about our business on that Sunday in December, 1941 to realize. Those of us whose parents were members of The Greatest Generation understand my point. A smaller subset, those of us whose parents fought in World War II, understand the point a little bit better, perhaps. We have the benefit of hearing the first-person narratives of that day in December 1941, and stories from the long, long days that followed…from the dark and despair of the war’s first year to the signing of the Japanese surrender on the decks of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay not quite four years later. And a lot in between.

They are leaving us. The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association is holding their last meeting today.

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii - With their number quickly dwindling, survivors of Pearl Harbor will gather Thursday one last time to honor those killed by the Japanese 65 years ago, and to mark a day that lives in infamy.

This will be their last visit to this watery grave to share stories, exchange smiles, find peace and salute their fallen friends. This, they say, will be their final farewell.

"This will be one to remember," said Mal Middlesworth, president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. "It's going to be something that we'll cherish forever."

The survivors have met here every five years for four decades, but they're now in their 80s or 90s and are not counting on a 70th reunion. They have made every effort to report for one final roll call.

Their last meeting. I know All Things Must Pass, but it saddens me so. We owe them so much, and our thank-yous seem inadequate compared to the sacrifices they made.

But: We shall continue, we shall honor their sacrifices, we will remember, and we shall rededicate ourselves to the task that faces this generation…the one that began on 9/11/2001. The Greatest Generation expects it from us.