What Are These, Anyway?

(click for larger)

Those nifty little pics above are graphic representations of this blog. I’m not exactly sure what it all means, other than the fact I use a lot of block quotes and include a lot of links. The one intense cluster of orange (block quotes) has me amazed and mystified...

What do the colors mean?
blue: for links (the A tag)
red: for tables (TABLE, TR and TD tags)
green: for the DIV tag
violet: for images (the IMG tag)
yellow: for forms (FORM, INPUT, TEXTAREA, SELECT and OPTION tags)
orange: for linebreaks and blockquotes (BR, P, and BLOCKQUOTE tags)
black: the HTML tag, the root node
gray: all other tags

Want to graph your blog (or other site)? Go here. Be advised: it took about ten minutes to graph EIP. I think it’s worth the wait. And you get slightly different graph picture if you run the applet a second time, as you can tell from the pics. (h/t: Castle of Nannbugg)

Murtha (Again) and Other Stuff

Did They Watch the Same Show? Dept.: Today’s lead item on memeorandum is Congressman Jack Murtha’s appearance yesterday on Meet the Press. Here’s Rachel Sklar at The Huffington Post:

So - I'm going to devote my time to Murtha. Did I mention that he DOMINATED? This was as effective a performance on Meet The Press as I've seen, and demonstrated not only that Murtha is right but that he's good. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he did it expertly. Right off the bat he took the offensive, hammering away at Republican talking points and emphasizing and re-emphasizing his own.

…

It's obviously working - otherwise why else would Karl Rove be on the attack? Calling out Murtha and saying "If Murtha had his way, American troops would've been gone by the end of April and we wouldn't have gotten Zarqawi" and challenging Murtha's suggestion of redeployment outside Iraq - clearly Murtha has hit a nerve. And when he answers, he knows what he's talking about: neither Rove nor Russert are able to score a point, because Murtha knows what he's talking about and isn't trying to fool anyone.

And here’s an excerpt from the Gateway Pundit. The numbers in parens following Murtha’s verbatim comments are items GP feels Murtha could have/should have been challenged on. Immediately below Murtha’s comments are the enumerated challenges; there are 15 in all.

REP. MURTHA: Well, “stay the course” is “stay and pay.” This is the thing that has worried me right along. We’re spending $8 billion dollars a month,(1) $300 million dollars a day. And to give you some perspective of what that means, Gates said, “I’m going to quit the corporation, or I’m going to—less time with the corporation.” Well, you weigh $30 billion dollars. That’s four months of the cost of this war.(2) This port security, if you want to spend more money, it’d would take 47 years the way we’re spending it. Education, the No Child Left Behind,(3) a couple months of the war would pay for that. Whose going to, whose going to pay for this down the road? Our children and grandchildren are paying for this war.(4) And then you have the, the, the emotional strain, the, the, the people who are being hurt.(5)

…

1.) $8 billion dollars a month- Murtha said the war cost $9 billion a month last week, $6 billion a month in December... Now it's $8 billion? Which is it?

2.) ...$30 billion dollars. That’s four months of the cost of this war. (see #1)

3.) No Child Left Behind- Murtha says that he "will restore education funding". The US has increased spending on elementary and secondary education by 41 percent despite the War on Terror!

4.) Children and grandchildren are paying for this war. They are going to pay for the cost of 9-11 too- $639.3 billion - and some 2 million lost jobs.

5.) The people who are being hurt in the war. - There were 2,752 lost on one afternoon on 9-11. There have been 2,503 heroes lost in over three years in Iraq (June 18, 2006).

The whole Gateway Pundit article bears reading. I didn’t watch MTP yesterday, or any of the other Sunday Talking Head shows either, for that matter. I did, however, scan the MTP transcript (mislabeled as “June 11”). There’s really nothing new here, Murtha is saying the same things he’s been saying for the past four or five months, and saying them badly: “we’re losing,” “the war was wrong to begin with,” “redeploy.” In other words, it’s the same ol’ same ol’ Democratic Talking Points, revisited. Notably absent: a viable alternative plan. Redeploy to, say, Okinawa? Froggy, writing at Blackfive, simply invites us to look at the frickin’ map. Yeah, that’ll work! Jeff Goldstein has more…

Here’s an item I meant to blog about this past week but sadly forgot. You may have missed it as it certainly didn’t get much press, but on Thursday President Bush announced the designation of a vast chain of Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as a national monument, now the largest marine sanctuary in the world. The whole story, from the transcript of a PBS News Hour interview with two leading environmentalists, is here.

JEFFREY BROWN: It's notable that environmental groups have not often seen eye-to-eye with this president. Today, you did. Today was an exception.

JOSHUA REICHERT: That's true. Today, we put aside these differences and we come together to celebrate what is really a remarkable accomplishment. From both a national and international perspective, this is a landmark conservation event.

A “landmark conservation event.” So much for raping and pillaging Mother Gaia. What the Environmentalists-as-Religion crowd seem to miss is the fact conservatives respect and preserve our environment, and we do so in a sensible and balanced manner. Thursday’s action by the President reinforces that fact. Not that you would notice, eh?

Someone is gonna raise The Stanley Cup tonight. The greatest spectacle in sports begins at 8:00 p.m. (Eastern) on NBC. If you’ve never watched a hockey game this is the one to watch. I guarantee you it doesn’t get any better than this.

The Summer Solstice is still two days away and we’re roasting here on The High Plains. Still. With no relief in sight. What the HELL will summer be like if Spring is this frickin’ hot? Maybe Algore is right, after all. You know I’m kidding about Algore…

Happy Father's Day

That’s me and SN3, taken in Key West, 1998. I rarely write about Son Number Three and I have my reasons—which I won’t go into at this point in time. Another day, perhaps.

I have basically the same message for Father’s Day as I did for Mother’s Day: Call your Old Man. He’ll appreciate it. And for those of you who are fortunate enough to be able to visit with Dad on this day, take him out to dinner, or simply sit on the porch and share a moment or two—count your blessings.

We’re going to Game Seven!

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- Shiny streamers drifted down from the rafters. A chunk of raw Alberta meat sailed over the glass. The Edmonton Oilers mobbed their third-string-turned-starting goalie as the crowd chanted, "We want the cup!"

It felt like a championship celebration.

One more win and the Oilers can really get excited.

Edmonton's magical postseason run is heading all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, pushed along by a new group of playoff stars who are proving to be worthy successors to Gretzky, Messier & Co.

Hometown boy Fernando Pisani scored another goal and tough guy Raffi Torres deflected in one of his own, sparking the Oilers to a 4-0 rout Saturday night that wasn't that close.

Edmonton evened the best-of-seven series at three games apiece and moved to the brink of a historic comeback. Only three teams have rallied from a 2-0 deficit to claim the cup. Only one, Toronto in 1942, has overcome a 3-1 hole to win it all.

My hockey season is being maximized, and that’s a good thing. Game Seven in the Stanley Cup Final…fairly unusual, this is. What’s highly unusual is for a team to be down 3-1 in the series and to even survive to play a Game Seven, let alone think about winning it. Consider:

Of the 27 clubs who have trailed 3-1 in the Stanley Cup finals...

• 16 were eliminated in Game 5
• 6 were eliminated in Game 6
• 4 were eliminated in Game 7 (Detroit in 1945, Montreal in 1954, Philadelphia in 1987, Vancouver in 1994)
• 1 captured the Stanley Cup (Toronto in 1942)

Carolina was one goal away from The Cup Wednesday night when Game Five went to overtime. Carolina was on the power play three minutes into overtime; their fans were going nuts when Edmonton’s Fernando Pisani stole the puck at the Edmonton blue line, skated in on Carolina goalie Cam Ward all alone and shot the puck over Ward’s shoulder to win the game. That was the first-ever short-handed overtime goal in the Finals. Silence in the arena — Game Over. Pack up the Cup, we’re going back to Alberta. And then Edmonton wins, again. Monday night’s game is gonna be a doozy!

I did something unusual last evening: I created a Yahoo! Personal ad. It’s “under review” at this point in time, so you won’t be able to see it for a while. I’m still wondering why I did it. I like my life just as it is at the moment, and I have this nagging thought in the back of my mind that introducing an “other” would be more trouble than it would be worth. But (and there’s always a “but,” right?) that thought is at the back of my mind. I suppose the very act of creating the ad is the triumph of optimism over…what? Or it’s simply a stand-alone action: Optimism triumphs. I’ll keep you posted.

Just Another Saturday

That’s my buddy Lee in the pic above. He looks pretty good for a guy pushing 50, doesn’t he? The bike? A 2003 Honda VFR 800 Interceptor. Lee got in pretty late Thursday evening…well after 2300. It was a long day’s ride from Houston to P-Town (15 hours), especially considering the triple-digit temps and high winds we experienced. We had a couple of beers and then drove over to the Big(ger) City^TM around 1:00 a.m. for huevos rancheros at an all-night eatery (P-Town closes down around 2300, the only all-night restaurant is Mickey Dee’s). Lee’s visit was short but sweet. Lots of reminiscing went down, mostly about old flames followed up with “where are they now?” conversations. Ah, lost youth…

Here’s an interesting list, illustrated with album cover art (thumbnails) for The Top 500 Albums of the Last Millennium. The tag line for the list sez “Most significant albums recorded in previous millenium.” Heavy on Beatles and Stones and light on hip-hop (or rap, or whatevah the current term is), with a few surprises. I own nine of the top ten and 55 of the top 100. I looked around the site for a write-up on the criteria used to select the Top 500, found nothing. Same with the “according to who?” question. Still, the list is fun to browse. (h/t: Rodger)

Natalie Maines, quoted in The Telegraph (UK):

"The entire country may disagree with me, but I don't understand the necessity for patriotism," Maines resumes, through gritted teeth. "Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country… I don't see why people care about patriotism."

You’re free to express yourself as you please, Darling Natalie, and I, in turn, am free to not buy your frickin’ music. Ever.

Insulting the President of the United States before an audience on foreign soil is, in my eyes, relatively small potatoes compared to questioning the very concept of patriotism. By making that statement above, Natalie Dear revealed a shocking lack of understanding of one of the most basic American moral values, to wit: personal responsibility to, and respect for, the nation. In a time of war, patriotism may also be defined as the personal obligation to support and defend the country. In other words, patriotism is the deep-seated feeling that what we have…our traditions, our history, our values, our laws, our society…is not only worth defending, it’s something we must defend. And Natalie apparently doesn’t believe that is true.

I suppose our collective memory as a nation is short, because the Chicks new album was number one on the Billboard charts the week after its release. On the other hand, I have read that dates on the Chicks’ current tour are being cancelled due to poor ticket sales, one of those cancelled dates was supposedly in Houston. The fact concerts are being cancelled due to poor sales is good news.

The three Dixie Chicks are still popular, highly visible entertainers. And, like it or not, entertainers are powerful role models in our culture. Entertainers achieve power through sales. Less sales, less power. Poor sales, little or no power. Recording contract cancellations follow, as do interview opportunities, appearances on late night talk shows, and other publicity, thereby denying these people a platform for spreading their views. Patriotism has been under assault for a while; the three Chicks are just part of a small, albeit very vocal group of folks assailing patriotism. I don’t care to support people who denigrate the core values of our country, and I damned sure don’t believe the Chicks’ values in this one specific but important area are worthy of respect or emulation. In this regard the Chicks are not suitable role models, period.

It’s a personal thing for me. I will not ever, ever spend my money to directly or indirectly support views I hold to be reprehensible. And that goes for Neil Young, too.

A Notice of Sorts

Blogging will be light tomorrow and possibly Saturday. My old AF buddy Lee Chung is passing through and will spend tonight, tomorrow, and possibly Saturday in P-Town. Lee and I met in Klamath Falls, Oregon, when we were both stationed at Keno AFS on the eastern side of the Oregon Cascades. The year was 1972, so we go back a ways. Lee still lives in Oregon, but he’s in Corvallis now. The last time I saw Lee was just a little over six years ago, and he was still an enthusiastic partner-in-crime. Coincidentally, this year Lee is on a fairly long bike trip…Corvallis to Houston and back, and lots of points in between. What’s on the agenda? Fat Tire and old man reminiscing. That’s what happens when you get old… No more “three felonies before breakfast” stuff. I’m only half-kidding. They were arguably misdemeanors.

Not Quite Clear on the Concept, End-User Division: I’m what you get when you submit the following query to Google…copied verbatim from Site Meter:

what is the return on income for dilliards department store, in setting their business strategy within the last two years.

No sh*t. I’m the first of (just) two hits for that query. Imagine the disappointment.

Another Quiz, Inconvenient Truths, and Words

Your Five Variable Love Profile

Propensity for Monogamy: Your propensity for monogamy is low. You see love as a gift that you should give to many. It's hard for you to imagine being with one person at at time... Let alone one person for the rest of your life! Experience Level: Your experience level is high. You've loved, lost, and loved again. You have had a wide range of love experiences. And when the real thing comes along, you know it! Dominance: Your dominance is low. This doesn't mean you're a doormat, just balanced. You know a relationship is not about getting your way. And you love to give your sweetie a lot of freedom. Cynicism: Your cynicism is low. You are an eternal optimist when it comes to love and romance. No matter how many times you've been hurt - you're never bitter. You believe in one true love, your perfect soulmate. And if you haven't found true love yet, you know you will soon. Independence: Your independence is low. This doesn't mean you're dependent in relationships.. It does mean that you don't have any problem sharing your life. In your opinion, the best part of being in love is being together.

The Five Variable Love Test

I call Bullshit. I find most of these quizzes quite fun and entertaining; this one is simply annoying. So why am I posting it? Just to see if others reactions are similar to mine. For the record:

My propensity for monogamy is pretty damned high… higher than most, I’d wager. TSMP and I were married for 20 years, and were together for 23. I’d still be married if I had my druthers. And it wasn’t hard at all for me to “imagine being with one person at a time… Let alone for the rest of your (my) life.” I was extremely comfortable with monogamy; it was a natural state. And I’ve always been a serial-lover, that is: one at a time. Now the time may have been pretty short on occasion, but it was still “one at a time.” For what that’s worth.

No quibbles with experience level. I made the most of life before marrying TSMP; I made extensive attempts at getting back in the game after her.

No quibbles with the quiz’s take on my dominance, or lack of same. I do have issues with bondage, though.

My cynicism is high. I am not an eternal optimist when it comes to romance. Au contraire, mon frêre. My glass isn’t half-empty, it’s Sahara-desert dry. With calcite rings. “Never bitter?” Oh, spare me, please. I won’t go down that road, but… (I’m sure you get my drift) I DO believe in the soul mate thingie. Unfortunately that wasn’t a mutually-shared perception. True love found, true love lost, game over.

My independence level is high. Take my word for it.

OK, two agreed areas, three areas in violent disagreement. Ergo, Bullshit. Your mileage may vary, of course. Let me know… (h/t: Cassandra)

Now here’s a very interesting article: Scientists respond to Gore's warnings of climate catastrophe. Here are the two lead grafs:

"Scientists have an independent obligation to respect and present the truth as they see it," Al Gore sensibly asserts in his film "An Inconvenient Truth", showing at Cumberland 4 Cinemas in Toronto since Jun 2. With that outlook in mind, what do world climate experts actually think about the science of his movie?

Professor Bob Carter of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University, in Australia gives what, for many Canadians, is a surprising assessment: "Gore's circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic. It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public attention."

Say what? Pathetic? Really? You must be joking!

Here is a small sample of the side of the debate we almost never hear:

Appearing before the Commons Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development last year, Carleton University paleoclimatologist Professor Tim Patterson testified, "There is no meaningful correlation between CO2 levels and Earth's temperature over this [geologic] time frame. In fact, when CO2 levels were over ten times higher than they are now, about 450 million years ago, the planet was in the depths of the absolute coldest period in the last half billion years." Patterson asked the committee, "On the basis of this evidence, how could anyone still believe that the recent relatively small increase in CO2 levels would be the major cause of the past century's modest warming?"

Patterson concluded his testimony by explaining what his research and "hundreds of other studies" reveal: on all time scales, there is very good correlation between Earth's temperature and natural celestial phenomena such changes in the brightness of the Sun.

Dr. Boris Winterhalter, former marine researcher at the Geological Survey of Finland and professor in marine geology, University of Helsinki, takes apart Gore's dramatic display of Antarctic glaciers collapsing into the sea. "The breaking glacier wall is a normally occurring phenomenon which is due to the normal advance of a glacier," says Winterhalter. "In Antarctica the temperature is low enough to prohibit melting of the ice front, so if the ice is grounded, it has to break off in beautiful ice cascades. If the water is deep enough icebergs will form."

Dr. Wibjörn Karlén, emeritus professor, Dept. of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Sweden, admits, "Some small areas in the Antarctic Peninsula have broken up recently, just like it has done back in time. The temperature in this part of Antarctica has increased recently, probably because of a small change in the position of the low pressure systems." (Ed: these quotes are just the tip of the iceberg, pardon the pun. There is much more.)

No, really? But…but… Algore is so earnest, so committed. You’re saying he’s playing fast and loose with his inconvenient truths? G’wan!

Carter does not pull his punches about Gore's activism, "The man is an embarrassment to US science and its many fine practitioners, a lot of whom know (but feel unable to state publicly) that his propaganda crusade is mostly based on junk science."

In April sixty of the world's leading experts in the field asked Prime Minister Harper to order a thorough public review of the science of climate change, something that has never happened in Canada. Considering what's at stake - either the end of civilization, if you believe Gore, or a waste of billions of dollars, if you believe his opponents - it seems like a reasonable request.

My illusions are shattered. Shattered, I tell you. The next thing you’ll tell me is Algore had nothing to do with creating the innernets. Right? I’d expect nothing less from you Doubting Thomases.

By the way, have you read Michael Crichton’s novel State of Fear? (Excerpts at the link) Crichton’s novel is the antithesis of “An Inconvenient Truth” and is also the most extensively footnoted work of fiction I’ve ever read, bar none. If you don’t have time to read the novel, you might try Crichton’s speech “Environmentalism as Religion.” I find it interesting that Algore gets tons of publicity over his junk-science movie, yet Crichton got barely a murmur when State of Fear came out, as I recall. But then again, this phenomenon fits in pretty well with Crichton’s thesis. We all better brace ourselves for a slew of unneeded and unwanted “environmental regulations.” I can read the handwriting on the wall.

Hey! Do you sometimes find yourself sorta stymied by the language (not the profanity, we can all deal with that) they use and feel generally out of it while cruising sites like Firedoglake, Shakespeare’s Sister, or dKos? Do those earnest folks throw out terms you’ve never seen or heard in your normal, day-to-day life? Do you feel clue-free when they talk Bushit for Fitzmas? Well, fret no more. Those helpful Lefties actually have compiled an extensive glossary kossary. Now you, too, can understand the code. Here’s MY favorite:

Rethug, Rethuglican
Epithet for Republicans, particularly those who seek to tar and feather any dissenting voice. In terms of maturity, not too different from the corresponding "dimmycrat", but it's ours, goddamnit.

Yep, it’s yours. Lord knows the Left would never “tar and feather any dissenting voice.” Um-hmm.

For some strange reason the HTML provided for the quiz results in extremely wide spacing. I've tried to fix it but cannot. {sigh} I hate it when this happens...

Happy Birthday U.S. Army!

Today is the U.S. Army’s 231^st birthday. Happy Anniversary to all you sojers out there. The picture above is my father, in a U.S. Army Air Corps first lieutenant’s uniform. Gotta acknowledge the roots, ya know! (hat tip to Lex, and thank you to my sister Jo for the picture of Dad.)

Speaking of Lex… he put up a very good mini-rant on Daniel Schorr, NPR’s commentator emeritus, this past Monday. I use the “emeritus” appellation quite facetiously. Schorr is and has always been the quintessential moonbat. Lex nails the guy perfectly.

A very interesting conversation is taking place within the Donkey Party at the moment, and it’s something all Americans should pay close attention to. It’s no secret that Islamic Fundamentalism and our response to it is probably Issue Number One with most Americans. Speaking strictly for myself, I’m pretty much a single-issue voter in this regard. There is absolutely NO way I could ever see politicians like Kerry or Gore leading this nation at this point in time (or any point in time, come to think of it), and national security is the chief reason. There are some Democrats that “get it,” but the Far Left doesn’t seem to. Today’s New York Times (free registration required) has a pretty good editorial on the subject. A couple of quotes, out of order, from the editorial:

That division was on dramatic display before thousands of liberals at a "Take Back America" convention on Tuesday.

…

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, faced boos and shouts of "bring them home" from an audience of liberal Democrats here on Tuesday as she argued against setting a deadline, wading into what she called a "difficult conversation." Thirty minutes later, the same crowd applauded wildly as Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, the party's 2004 presidential candidate, implored the Senate to back his call for a six-month deadline for withdrawal, and said he regretted his initial support for the war.

"It is essential to acknowledge that the war was a mistake — to say the simple words that contain more truth than pride," Mr. Kerry said, adding: "It was wrong and I was wrong to vote for that resolution."

The Dems are doomed to remain the minority party if they allow the Kossacks and the MoveOn crowd to drive foreign policy in general, and the war against militant Islam, specifically. Further evidence of this wrong-headed thinking is articulated quite nicely by Katrina vanden Heuvel in her editorial (Peter Beinart and the Beltway Crusaders) in The Nation. I can’t remember another person I disagreed with more on this subject. Ever. She is just SO wrong, on so many levels, it boggles the mind. But, that’s the Extreme Left for ya.

Still More Random Notes… After my Zippo was confiscated last week I picked up a very cool disposable lighter at a convenience store outside the Manchester airport. What makes it “cool” is the fact it’s a throw-away piezoelectric butane lighter. I remember when piezoelectric lighters first appeared back in the mid-60s. A friend of mine spent nearly $50.00 for a Dunhill piezo (and it was as beautiful as it was functional) when they first came out, and that was a helluva lot of money back in the day. And now? Throw away piezos for a buck and change. Gotta love technology!

Hot, hot, hot. If you go to the Weather Channel’s Ten Day Forecast for Portales you’ll see we’re in for a run of unbroken, extremely hot weather. I’m considering building an altar to the Gods of Air Conditioning. I can’t think of another crisis that would be as extreme as the failure of my six-year-old AC unit. Talk about impact! Let us pray…

I gotta start taking notes. I know I had more to say today, but I can’t remember exactly what. These random thoughts occur throughout the day, usually appended with “I gotta blog about that.” Then I sit down at they keyboard and those thoughts simply vanish. I hope it’s just simple old-age, and not pre-Alzheimer’s symptoms.

Tuesday's Trivial Trash

Today’s de Rigeur Political Post: There will be massive sadness on the Left today. There is no Fitzmas—not where Karl Rove is concerned, anyway. Or so says Byron York at NRO. In the understatement of the day, York writes:

Rove’s fate has been the subject of intense discussion among critics of the Bush administration. Perhaps foremost among them is former ambassador Joseph Wilson, whose wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, was the CIA employee at the center of the affair. In August 2003, Wilson vowed to pursue Rove vigorously, saying, “At the end of the day it’s of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs.”

Sorry, Joe. Maybe next time. In the meantime, I’m sure you can find some consolation over at dKos or Firedoglake.

Hockey: OK, I won’t give up my day job. I already did, anyway. A hockey prognosticator I’m not. Carolina is up three games to one after winning last night in Edmonton, 2-1. If they win at home tomorrow night, Carolina will hoist its’ first-ever Stanley Cup. Edmonton has won five Cups, so I don’t feel too bad for them. I missed games two and three of this series; game two because the Yankees were playing the Red Sox Wednesday night and every bar in New England had that game on, not hockey; and game three because it was played Saturday night and I simply had more important things to do. Gasp! I just admitted there are things more important than the Stanley Cup Finals! I shall attempt to atone for that heresy by pouring the day’s first cup into my 1997 Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup Champions coffee cup. (Yeah, I know. 1100 and I’m just now pouring my first cup of coffee. I was up all night again. I do it because I can.)

Maybe you’ve seen the various videos of the reaction one gets when dropping Mentos mints into Diet Coke or Pepsi. The results can be spectacular. On the other hand, it’s worse than you thought… (hat tip: Morgan at House of Eratosthenes)

More Random Notes: Unmentioned in my travel narrative: finding love notes from the TSA in my checked baggage while unpacking. These “Notice of Baggage Inspection” documents are curiously reassuring. These guys are doing something, even if it’s only placing the notices in your bags. Or taking away your lighter. Still p*ssed about that, ya know.

Speaking of which... (the fact TSA confiscated my USS Mason Zippo) I’m now carrying a brand-new, bright chrome, official USS Monterey (CG 61) Zippo. SN2 gifted me with the Monterey lighter this past Christmas, along with a personalized Monterey ball cap. (SN2 was the Chief Engineer on the Monterey before heading off to the Naval War College.)

One of the great things about being a military Dad is I get all sorts of military paraphernalia, including unit ball caps, from my sons’ assignments. This is very cool, especially since my own personal collection of military mementoes is sadly lacking. I’ve left countless Zippos with unit crests in countless bars over the years, and rather than saving my unit ball caps I wore them until they were worn out, and then threw them away. The upshot is all my souvenirs of days gone by are gone — Bye! SN2 is decidedly different. One of the walls of his home office is covered with pristine ball caps from every assignment he’s ever had in the Navy. The first time I saw that display I was overcome with jealousy and pride. Jealousy in the sense he had the presence of mind to save these things and I didn’t, and I was proud of him for the very same reason. Rod Stewart sang “Every Picture Tells a Story,” and it’s the same with unit ball caps. Except the stories are better.

You can never catch up. I spent the better part of the day yesterday trying to catch up on my favorite blogs after a week of not reading. The bottom line: Mission Impossible. My favorite writers are just so damned prolific that “catching up” is like trying to clean out the Augean Stables. And I’m no Hercules.

Airplane reading: I mentioned I wanted to hit Borders in ABQ to get reading material prior to flying. Well, I did, and I did. Except I didn’t buy what was on the list, specifically Bec’s recommendation ("Nomenklatura" by Michael Voslensky), mainly because I couldn’t find it. I bought Mark Bowden’s “Guests of the Ayatollah” instead. The book is a narrative of the 1979 take-over of the US embassy in Tehran and is a real page-turner. Bowden wrote “Blackhawk Down,” and “Guests” is every bit as good. From the Publishers Weekly review:

Bowden's analysis of militant Islam is clear, current and dead-on. The government of Iran, now as then, is a theocracy with a secular face, combining, he writes, "ignorance with absolute conviction." Anyone who thinks a nuclear-armed Iran could be dealt with through Cold War–style containment should read this book. Guests of the Ayatollah is, however, no academic tome, but a briskly written human story told from every conceivable point of view: the captives and their captors; President Carter's inner circle and Carter himself, struggling to negotiate a release and finally ordering an extremely risky rescue mission; the soldiers of Delta Force, whose audacious attempt failed; Iranian political figures under the thumb of the glowering Ayatollah Khomeini; and a cavalcade of diplomats, journalists, secret agents and barmy peace activists, some of whose actions bordered on treason. The cast of characters would do justice to a 19th-century Russian novel.

I was disappointed at being unable to finish the book on the plane(s), only managing to read 419 of 637 pages. Bowden is a remarkable writer, to say the very least. Highly recommended, if you get the chance…

Home Again

The Enchilada Production Line
TFMP, SN2, and Granddaughter Angelina

I got home at oh-dark-thirty this morning, 0440 to be exact. The return trip from Maine was pretty smooth up until the last leg of the flight from Manchester, NH to Albuquerque. The First Mrs. Pennington, SN1, and I left Brunswick on schedule and had an uneventful drive from Brunswick to Manchester. We grabbed some lunch at the airport after turning in the rental car, and then caught the flight from Manchester to Minneapolis-St. Paul. The three of us had a two hour layover in Minneapolis before catching our respective flights to Salt Lake City and Albuquerque. I assume TFMP and SN1 got off on time from MSP; I did not. My departure was delayed an hour due to “problems with one of the doors on the aircraft.” We finally were herded on to the aircraft after much coming and going by the maintenance personnel and perfunctory apologies by the gate crew. Just sayin’, but doesn’t it just make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside when that happens? The aircraft isn’t safe to fly, and then it is… OK, if you say so. It’s pretty damned hard to hold your breath all the way from Minnesota to New Mexico.

But I digress, as usual. My scheduled arrival into ABQ was originally 2300; the maintenance delay pushed touchdown back until midnight. My granddaughter Felicity and her boyfriend Rene picked me up at the airport and we went back to their place on the northwest side of ABQ where I collected my car, said my thank-yous and good-byes, and hit the road for P-Town at 0130. The drive home was uneventful, albeit a bit slower because it was night time (cruise control set at 80 mph vs. 88 in the daylight). Half the drive between ABQ and P-Town is interstate, the remainder is two-lane roads from Santa Rosa, NM to Portales. It was warm (70 degrees) and clear, perfect weather for a top-down cruise in the moonlight. Surprisingly I had no problems staying awake and alert on the return drive (this also assumes the consumption of much coffee and such), but I did crash almost immediately after putting up the “Happy Birthday TSMP” post, below. I got about six hours of sleep and feel none the worse for wear.

So. Here we are... back to “normal,” whatever that is, after a wonderful time with the family in Maine. The understatement of the day would be "I had a great time!"

Random Notes: A tequila worth checking out: El Jimador. Incredibly smooth and tasty sipping tequila; the shots go down so well it makes you wonder what hit you after the fourth one… Thanks to TFMP for turning me on to this!

Boy, did we ever eat in Maine! TFMP prepared her signature enchiladas (79 of ‘em) and home made chili beans Thursday; Saturday SN2 barbequed tri-tip (a beef loin cut, tender and tasty), along with more enchiladas. Of course there were all the trimmings, including some of the best chili (some call it “salsa”) the world has ever seen. Liquid fire, but oh-so-delicious. All the fixins were hand-carried from California and Utah, including what had to be 25 pounds of tri-tip. Maine isn't known for its Mexican food, ya know. It’s no exaggeration to say TFMP, Grandma Alvarado, SN2, and daughter-in-law Alisa fed over 50 people during the course of the week-end.

I can’t believe I flew all the way to Maine and didn’t eat lobster. Next time.

It rained all day, every day, the whole time I was in Maine. There were occasional breaks in the rain, followed by downpours that punctuated an ever-present sort of misty rain. I saw the sun just once, on Sunday morning just prior to our departure. And it was chilly, too. I think the absolute high temp was 62, and that was a nice break from the triple-digit temps we’ve been experiencing in P-Town. Speaking of Portales, if we received just ten percent of the rain that fell on Brunswick this past week we’d be flooded out. Seriously.

SN2 is not going to Cairo. It looks like he’s going to draw a joint assignment to STRATCOM HQ at Offut AFB, in Omaha. SN2 didn’t appear to be too pleased at the news, but SN1, who spent a couple of years in Omaha, says he’ll like it fine. Confirmation should happen this week. I have mixed emotions. On the one hand, Cairo would be quite exotic and the work would be interesting, to say the least. On the other hand, it’s Cairo. I think Egypt is the next potential fundamentalist Islamic flash-point in the Middle East. So the father in me is glad SN2 and Family won’t be “exposed.” There are a helluva lot less bomb-throwing terrorists in Omaha. And I can drive there, too.

The Graduate

Anastasia Marie Pennington
Brunswick High School Class of 2006
Brunswick, Maine
June 9, 2006

The Second Mrs. Pennington...

Rochester, NY 1998

... is 50 today.

Happy Birthday, Paula. You're an old lady now!

Maine

An interim trip report, of sorts. Son Number One, TFMP, and I arrived in Brunswick early this morning (just after 0100) after the two hour drive from Manchester, New Hampshire. It’s cool, bordering on cold, here in the Great Nor’East. And it’s been raining non-stop since I arrived in Manchester late yesterday afternoon. Quite the change from New Mexico! Water from the sky. What a concept!

Tuesday’s drive from P-Town to ABQ was uneventful and hot. I decided to do the drive top-up, and I’m glad I did. The temp was in the high 80s when I left Portales and eventually hit 100 in Albuquerque. Ya just can’t beat air conditioning when it’s unGodly hot outside…

I stayed with my step-granddaughter and her boyfriend in ABQ Tuesday night; they took me to Tucanos, a Brazilian restaurant, for dinner Tuesday evening and it was wonderful. The dining experience was extraordinary…the wait staff just keep bringing grilled food to your table until you’re sated. Grilled pork, grilled beef, grilled chicken, grilled vegetables, and on and on in a never-ending stream until you say “no mas!” (or the Portugese equivalent). Good margaritas, too.

My travel day Wednesday wasn’t quite as bad as I anticipated, but I DO have a bone to pick with the Transportation Safety Administration. I need to preface this mini-rant with an admission: It’s mostly my fault. I didn’t review the current list of prohibited items before hitting the airport on Wednesday, and as a result my treasured Zippo was confiscated. This wasn’t just any old Zippo, it was a cool brass Zippo with the unit crest and a small picture of the USS Mason, SN2’s old ship. I picked up that Zippo the day the Mason was commissioned in Port Canaveral, Florida. You can’t imagine how angry I was, but I held my tongue. There’s no sense venting on the low-level minions that enforce the rules; they’re just doing their job. But it sure was tempting… I cannot, for the life of me, understand just how one could commandeer a plane using a Zippo. I must be missing something here. Either that, or the rule is FRICKIN’ STUPID.

SN1 and I are guests in the US Navy Visiting Quarters at Brunswick Naval Air Station, and the quarters are pretty nice, for the Navy. (Had to put that qualifier in.) We each have a two-room suite that is pretty good size and fairly new. The only downside to the experience so far is the fact the front desk at the Billeting Office doesn’t sell beer. The Air Force does… Oh well. There are liquor stores in Maine.

It’s still rainy and cold today. I think our high will only be in the mid-50s. An interesting transition, to be sure. Half the temperature of New Mexico. And it’s still raining.

More later, as time permits.

God's Own Sauna

...but it's a DRY sauna. You did see the humidity, right?

Department of Redundancy Department: Redundant only in the sense that if you read this blog you probably read Laurie. And speaking of Laurie, her interview is up and ready for your perusal over at Basil’s place. She’s fond of Marines.

Late Post Today…and Not Much of It, Either. I hit the streets early (for me) this morning to get the last of the chores done before heading out to the Great Nor’East. Laundry. Laundromat. Ugh. But, it’s done, all my washable clothes are clean, and my wide variety of tee shirts are all there for the picking and choosing.

Well, on to my continuing preparations. I will take time out this evening to watch the first game of the Finals. I’ll say it again, just so you can go "nana-nana-booboo" when it’s all over: Edmonton in six, or less.

Ah! Unity!

Here’s an interesting idea…Unity08. And yeah, I’m using the word “interesting” in that vaguely disparaging, not quite approving while not disapproving, sort of way. I saw two spokesmen for the Unity08 movement on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal this morning and was curious enough to check out their web site. The basic premise of Unity08 is to select and elect a bi-partisan ticket for the 2008 presidential election—one Republican and one Democrat. The founders of Unity08 see the internet as the prime mover in this effort; their constituency is supposed to be alienated middle-of-the-road Americans. Here is how they state their goals:

We have set three specific goals, and are exploring how best to achieve them.

1. Goal One is the election of a Unity Ticket for President and Vice-President of the United States in 2008 – headed by a woman and/or man from each major party or by an independent who presents a Unity Team from both parties.

2. Goal Two is for the people themselves to pick that Unity Ticket in the first half of 2008 – via a virtual and secure online convention in which all American voters will be qualified to vote.

3. Goal Three, our minimum goal, is to effect major change and reform in the 2008 national elections by influencing the major parties to adopt the core features of our national agenda. With a group of voters who comprise at least 20% of the national electorate, we feel confident that our voters will decide the 2008 election.

The new ground broken in meeting our goals will include new choices for voters, new opportunities for candidates, and new uses of modern technology as well. In pursuing our goals, we will both follow the law in every instance and seek the opinion of the Federal Elections Commission to interpret the law where we are breaking new ground. (In fact we are currently seeking an FEC advisory opinion to guide our early decisions.)

We are not looking to build a new and permanent party. That might happen, but our objective is to fix the old parties. A Unity Ticket in office for one term or even taking part in just one election can bring new ideas, new integrity and new leaders to the fore.

So…they state they are not trying to be a Third Party, although they also say “that might happen.” I’m not quite sure how one goes about “fixing” the old parties when the old parties seem so diametrically opposed to each other's goals and objectives. It’s extremely difficult for me to envision any two individual Republicans and Democrats “coming together” on a single ticket, given the current state of political (non)cooperation in Washington. But perhaps my way of thinking is illustrative of the old politics-as-usual mindset.

So. Where does Unity08 stand on the issues? I read what they have to say on the subject and my bottom line is: I have no clue. There’s not a lot of substance on the website. Here’s their entire position on “the issues:”

Unity08 divides issues facing the country into two categories: Crucial Issues – on which America’s future safety and welfare depend; and Important Issues – which, while vital to some, will not, in our judgment, determine the fate or future of the United States.

In our opinion, Crucial Issues include: Global terrorism, our national debt, our dependence on foreign oil, the emergence of India and China as strategic competitors and/or allies, nuclear proliferation, global climate change, the corruption of Washington’s lobbying system, the education of our young, the health care of all, and the disappearance of the American Dream for so many of our people.

By contrast, we consider gun control, abortion and gay marriage important issues, worthy of debate and discussion in a free society, but not issues that should dominate or even crowd our national agenda.

In our opinion – since the disintegration of the Soviet Union – our political system seems to have focused more attention on the “important issues” than the “crucial issues.” One result: The political parties have been built to address the interests of their “base” but have failed to address the realities that impact most Americans.

That’s it, and that’s all. As one pundit noted: where’s Social Security? Where’s immigration? And what’s this “disappearance of the American Dream” crap? I’ll give Unity08 the benefit of the doubt because it’s still very early days. As an example, Unity08 lists global terrorism as a crucial issue yet they make no effort at all in explaining how they would tackle the issue. Do they agree with the Bush Doctrine? Would they sustain or repudiate it? We have no clue. As I said, it’s still early days, but I want, no, I need specifics.

I agree with a basic, yet unstated, premise of Unity08: there are a lot of disaffected voters in the country, and I’m not talking about the small numbers of folks on the radical right who feel betrayed by Dubya, or the radical fringe Left, who are paralyzed by Bush Derangement Syndrome. I think Unity08 is designed to appeal to the large numbers of Americans in the moderate center, people who don’t believe the current system is serving the nation well, if at all. Check that…it’s not the system so much as it is the idiots working within that system, and by that I mean the congress. I don’t think a “Unity” ticket will fix the congress, unless the leaders on the ticket have the strength to define a national agenda both parties will support and implement. It’s difficult for me to see that happening. I’m not ready to sign up yet, but Unity08 bears watching. And then there’s the one over-riding question: Who gets to be on top?

It looks like I’m getting out of Dodge just in time. The Weather Channel sez P-Town is in for a ten-day run of very high 90s – low 100s. Today: 99. Tomorrow: 102. I can handle — thrive in, even — temps in the low 90s. 100 degree weather wears me down, however. Maine’s cool temps look awfully appealing right now!

The Stanley Cup Finals begin Monday evening — Carolina vs. Edmonton. My money’s on Edmonton. We’ll see. Or maybe we won’t, literally. I’ll get to watch Games one and two, the rest are up in the air for me, schedule-wise. But you can rest assured I’ll find a way to watch, assuming a way is at all possible, as many of the games as I can. Just sayin’.

Saturday

The primary reason I’m going to Maine this coming week is to honor my oldest granddaughter with my presence on the occasion of her High School graduation. This rite of passage demands something dressier than my normal jeans-tee shirt-boat shoes-with-no-socks, and military-baseball-cap attire. So, I went over to the Big(ger) City^TM yesterday to “shop” for new clothes, something I haven’t done in a couple of years. I do have “dress-up” clothes…when I retired I kept two suits (one light gray, one dark blue) for formal occasions such as weddings and funerals. Anastasia’s graduation is neither, to my way of thinking it’s a “business casual” kind of affair. Sport coat, semi-dressy shirt (and maybe, just maybe, a tie), “nice” slacks, yadda, yadda, yadda. I have all of these items in my current wardrobe, but they are, shall we say, “dated.” I was thinking something newer and, God Forgive me, more stylish might be in order.

Alas, I came away empty-handed. Nothing, and I mean nothing, appealed to me, and it wasn’t for lack of looking, either. Perhaps it’s where I live and the general lack of choice when it comes to shopping. Or perhaps it’s what’s being foisted off on the American male in the name of “fashion.” Or maybe it’s just me. I strongly suspect it’s the latter. Be that as it may, I’m still stuck with my aging wardrobe. In other words: Stress.

Why I Worry, Part LXVII: Ever so often I’ll go off on a rant about liberal indoctrination in The Academy. I haven’t done so lately, so I guess it’s time. Via Bookworm, here’s a tale that simply boggles the mind. In essence, it’s sort of a Ward Churchill tale in reverse: a conservative professor who was suspended and then cashiered by DePaul University for…thought crime.

Klocek has lost his teaching position and school-paid health insurance benefits, and faces a bleak future due to his chronic health problems. He is guilty of a thought-crime, challenging the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel mindset which has come to dominate the DePaul campus. Klocek’s challenge to this new campus orthodoxy occurred in a cafeteria during a student activities fair last September. For 15-20 minutes, Klocek, who is Catholic, not Jewish, confronted a group of 8 students manning two tables for the groups Students for Justice in Palestine, and United Muslims Moving Ahead. Klocek says he argued that the materials the groups were disseminating were one-sided. On this, he is indisputably correct. Neither group pretends to provide balanced information on the Israeli Palestinian conflict. That of course, is perfectly understandable and acceptable. These are advocacy groups.

Klocek says the discussion was heated at times, and he admits to raising his voice. He says he told the students that Palestinians were Arabs who lived in the West Bank and Gaza – that they had no unique national historical identity. He challenged one student’s assertion that Israel was behaving like the Nazis. He stated that while most Muslims were not terrorists, pretty much all terrorists these days were Muslim. This statement had originally been made by the manager of an Arab news channel, and had recently been quoted in the Chicago Sun Times. It has the incidental merit of being true.

The whole story is here.

There is good news, though. Professor Klocek will get his day in court. He is suing DePaul University, its president, and (the aptly named) Susanne Dumbleton, Dean of the School of New Learning (Klocek’s immediate supervisor), for defamation. The suit seeks damages against DePaul for maligning Klocek’s integrity and professional competence.

It’s so very ironic that Professor Churchill continues on in his position at Colorado while DePaul fired Professor Klocek almost immediately. Draw you own conclusions about that. As far as I know, Klocek isn’t guilty of plagiarism, either. He just seems to be politically incorrect. And that’s a serious offense to the Liberal Academy.

I was treated to a magnificent spectacle last evening from around sunset until about 8:30. I was out and about during that time and witnessed the beauty and power of God’s Own Light Show. There were massive, and I mean huge, thunderstorms just to the south-southwest of P-Town. When you combine the powerful effect of towering thunderheads, brilliant and frequent, jagged, cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning with a New Mexico sunset, you get something to write home about. It’s too bad I didn’t have the camera with me. You’ll just have to take me at my word that the sight was breathtaking. It was the highlight of my day. No rain in Portales, however. Just sound and fury…and supernatural beauty.

Light Blogging Today

I have stuff to do in order to get ready for next week's trip to Maine. I might be back later today or this evening...

Gomen, ne?

International Travel and a Russian War Story

Yesterday’s comment conversation between Sam and me about Russia reminded me that I’ve let my passport expire. (Parenthetical aside: I’m still struggling with terminology here, to wit: how to differentiate between Son Number Two and My Friend Sam. Hopefully when I say “Sam” SN2 will get the meaning and vice-versa.) My passport expired last year and I made a conscious decision not to renew it. And that seems strange, in retrospect, as there are still quite a few things and places remaining on my travel “to do” list. Things such as the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg, Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Oktoberfest in Munich, and the pyramids in Egypt. And those are just four items on the “never done” side of the list. There is also a “got to go back” component as well, with places such as the Greek Aegean islands, Cappadocia, and Bangkok at the top of the list, followed by places in Europe too numerous to mention. My decision is doubly-strange when one considers that one of my military retirement benefits is “Space Available” travel to anywhere in the world the USAF flies its cargo aircraft (assuming those same aircraft take passengers. Not all do.). While Space-A travel isn’t free, it’s cheap: five bucks the last time I checked.

It’s not like I pulled my passport out of the drawer, looked at it, and said “Oh, Damn! It expired.” No, I knew the expiration date was approaching and gave considerable thought towards renewing. I decided not to. Why? Simply because I believe there aren’t a lot of places in the world these days where it’s safe for an American to travel, including Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. Perhaps I’m being irrational; I strongly suspect that’s the case. It pains me to think by giving in to my safety issues I’ve “let the terrorists win.”

I may have to reconsider. SN2 has informed me that one of his assignment possibilities following the Naval War College, and his first choice, is embassy duty in Cairo. I believe SN2 told me the assignment was a two-year tour, and he will take the family. SN1 and I discussed the possibility of SN2 going to Cairo the other night, the fact my passport is dead, and my conflict over whether I should renew if SN2 does proceed to Cairo, or not. SN1’s comment was “How could you not go?” Indeed. We’ll see how this unfolds…

But, back to Russia. My Russian adventure pre-dated digital still cameras, and more’s the pity. I did, however, go out and buy a video camera specifically to record my trip (which was in 1993, not '94 or '95 as I indicated in the comments yesterday), and record it I did, to the tune of eight (or more) 8mm tapes. I edited those 8mm tapes and transferred the results to VHS format and made copies for every team member that asked for one. Perhaps I’ll dig that old tape out and review it for war-story fodder that may or may not be suitable for blogging. I’ll have to go buy a new video cassette player first, though, as the one I have gave up the ghost quite some time ago. In the meantime…

My second, and final, trip to Moscow was to deliver the results of our study and a proposal to the client for implementing our recommendations. Communications, specifically long-distance international phone calls, out of Russia at that point in time were damned near impossible. It was my practice during my traveling days with EDS to phone home every day to let TSMP know I was OK, and (frankly) just to hear her voice. Based upon our communication difficulties during my first trip to Moscow, we agreed that she would initiate the calls and set up a time for her to ring me at my hotel. Paradoxically, incoming international calls always seemed to get through, it was outgoing international calls from Russia that were the problem. So…

Five o’clock in the morning. The phone rings and I think “What the Hell…?” as I fumble for the receiver on the nightstand. I mumble “Hello?” into the phone and hear TSMP on the other end, obviously highly agitated, exclaim “What the Hell is going on over there?”

“What do you mean?” sez I.

“You haven’t HEARD? It’s all over the news!!”

“Wha…?” sez I, still half-asleep and wondering if I’m dreaming, or if this is really real.

“Hang on.”

I grab the remote and turn on the TV. The only English language TV station available in my hotel is the BBC’s World Service, so I flip that on. And what do I see? A BBC correspondent standing in front of the British embassy in Moscow, signing off with “…and it appears Russia is poised on the brink of civil war.” WTF? Which Russia? THIS Russia?

I return to the call with TSMP and try my best to reassure her that I am, in fact, in no danger, not even half-believing what I’m saying…simply because I don’t know. She expresses her concern again and we hang up. I return to the news on the TV, but there’s nothing else about the subject at hand. So, I do what any rational person would do: I went back to sleep.

Fast forward, just to make a long story short. (The whole story is here.) My colleague and I met for breakfast at the usual time later that morning. Surprisingly, he was unaware of what was going on. I told him what little I had learned from the BBC. We agree we’ll go to work and see what our hosts think of the situation. Our hosts, in short, dismissed the whole affair as “politics as usual.” Politics as usual, for me, doesn’t include T-72s parked on every other street corner and busload after busload of troops parked in alleyways all over Moscow. We get on the horn back to EDS headquarters in Texas, using our host’s private line. Our management is much more upset than we are, but the bottom line is “proceed with caution.” So, we did. We finished up our presentations and out-briefs with the client and re-scheduled our flight out of Moscow for the next day, which was Friday, October 1st. On October 3^rd Russian army tanks shelled the White House (Russia’s parliament building) and the crisis was over.

Lots of excitement, eh?

Hump Day Already?

Haditha: Although I’ve been following the issue, I’ve been reluctant to comment for exactly the same reasons Cassandra expresses here. Cassandra, however, has decided to break her silence and offers up insightful commentary (with great links) on the issue and the process of military investigations, in general. Which, by the way, also serve to indict Congressman Murtha’s premature and inflammatory comments on Haditha. One questions the congressman’s motivations and, most especially, the language he uses in condemning the Marines specifically and the administration, generally, where the Haditha incident is concerned. Mr. Murtha’s pronouncements, to my way of thinking, have served no useful purpose whatsoever. I believe his motivation is to “mobilize” public opinion against the war, pure and simple. And I’ll leave it at that.

If you haven’t seen it yet, a CNN reporter writes of Haditha and the Marines in al Anbar province:

I know the Marines that were operating in western al Anbar, from Husayba all the way to Haditha. I went on countless operations in 2005 up and down the Euphrates River Valley. I was pinned on rooftops with them in Ubeydi for hours taking incoming fire, and I've seen them not fire a shot back because they did not have positive identification on a target.

The article is here.

Reprieve: From the heat, that is. We’re only going into the mid-80s today, and I’m grateful, because we’ve had approximately ten consecutive days of mid-90s heat. Yes, it beats cold by a country mile. The heat does get a bit old after a while, though. There’s also t-storms in the forecast and hopefully we’ll get rain. We need it.

Hockey: There will be a Game Seven in the East! Buffalo won last night, 2-1, in overtime. Even though it was a low-scoring game (usually equal to “boring”) there was plenty of action. Tomorrow night’s game should be a classic. Bring it ON!

A week from today at this exact time I’ll either be in the air or hanging around the Minneapolis airport waiting for my connecting flight to Manchester, NH. I’m looking forward to my visit with Son Number Two and family at his home in Maine, but I am most definitely not looking forward to the “getting there” (and back) bits. Flying these days is inconvenient at best; it’s low-level torture for some of us. My day will be long: I’ll leave ABQ at 0830 (MDT) and arrive in Manchester at 1641 (EDT), where I’ll await the arrival of Son Number One and TFMP, who get in sometime around 2300. We’ll load up and drive to Brunswick in a rental, arriving in the wee small hours. A very long day, not looked upon with great anticipation. But…flying is better than driving! And I should be able to completely consume a book or three going and coming.

Back to Normal

Well, now. I hope all y’all had a safe and pleasant Memorial Day weekend and you’re getting a little rest, now that you’ve got your collective noses back on the grindstone and are pulling in the traces… to mix a couple of metaphors. I’m only half-jesting. Not infrequently did I heave a sigh of relief to be back at work, back in the day. Yeah… time off was good, much anticipated, and thoroughly enjoyed. But. Fun can be exhausting, especially if one tries to see, do, or be too much during the brief time allotted for fun. Somehow, work was much more structured and just as, if not more so, rewarding. Yeah, I’m weird. Or perhaps I’m being just a bit nostalgic for the ol’ nine-to-five.

My weekend? Quiet, in a word, and you can equate that with “good.” I did get to speak with all three sons over the course of the weekend, and that was good. And there was hockey, of course, where I’ve been totally remiss at keeping you updated on things you don’t care a whit about. Edmonton closed out Anaheim, in Anaheim. The Oilers deserved to win that series; they dominated the Ducks, pure and simple. The Oilers will now take an earned and well-deserved rest as they await the winner of the Sabres-Hurricanes series. The Hurricanes took a 3-2 lead over Buffalo Sunday evening; Game Five is tonight, in Carolina. This series is turning out to be one of the best of the play-offs so far; each and every game has been close…well, except for Game Two when Carolina just creamed the Sabres. Other than that, it’s been close. I’m looking forward to tonight’s game. There’s your update.

“I Was Hoping They'd Give It a Rest But They Just COULDN’T” Dept: The Loony-Left post I was hoping I wouldn’t see on Memorial Day. Dr. Sanity says it’s sheer denial personified. But the title says it all: “Memorial Day Truth: There Is No ‘War on Terror.’” And therein lies the problem. It takes national will to win a war, and when a large percentage of the population rejects the very idea that we are at war…well, it makes it a Helluva lot harder to persevere, let alone win. No, The Person Known Only as Pachacutec (I just love these oh-so-creative Lefty nom de plumes) sees the issue as criminal acts perpetrated by a nasty few, not as a war. TPKOaP does, however, make its case that ChimpyMcBushitler and His Pals have declared war on the constitution. It’s all about fear, paranoia, greed, oil, power, money, ad nauseam. But, I digress.

Like The Good Doctor, I agree the war has been poorly named. Terror is a tactic, not an adversary. We are at war with radical Islam, if not with Islam as a whole. I’ve read powerful arguments in favor of the latter proposition, but, as noted in the past, I’m not ready to go there yet. I’m more than ready for the Left to acknowledge this war and support its aims and objectives. Yes, you can criticize the methods and tactics used to prosecute this war, but support the objectives, dammit! Kinda like what this Major is saying. Which, in my eyes, makes a lot more sense than denying we’re in a war at all. The major’s timing couldn’t have been better, either. I wonder if TPKOaP read the major’s editorial. Nah, I doubt it. And even if s/he did, my gut tells me the major’s thoughts would be dismissed as just so much propaganda from a Chimp apologist. There appear to be many who agree with TPKOaP. God Help Us.