More Thievery

Via Blog-Bud Morgan, Dubya throws the first pitch in Game Four of the World Series:

And my comment at Morgan's:  "Fuckin’ A!   Texas, Bay-bee. Nevah hoppen in New Yawk."

Apropos o' not much:  I have about a week or two left as a Texan, or at least as a person who carries a Texas driver's license and drives vehicles with Texas plates.  I'll be an official New Mexican sometime after November 1.  (Sigh)

O Happy Day

Finally confirmed just moments ago... after an hour of waiting...

Osama bin Laden is dead by American hands.  My only regret is this didn't happen on Dubya's watch.

Update, Monday 1100 hrs:  President Bush's statement on his Facebook page, where "Ryan Sebastian, Cecelia Hankforth Miller, Lisa Kunst Losee and 51,206 others like this."  The comments are interesting.

Let's Begin With a Memory or Three

As captioned in the NYT: Russo and Steele managed to get $49,000 for a 1961 Triumph TR3A.

I might not have read the article in the New York Times on collectible cars at auction (from whence the pic above was taken) had it not been for that TR-3 you see above. Well, that’s not entirely true… as I’ll read most anything automotive, most especially about sports cars, muscle cars, and other such automotive erotica. But I loves me some Triumphs!

I have a soft spot in my heart for TR-3s, as the second car I owned was a beautiful 1957 model TR… which differs slightly from the ‘61 pictured above. My father and I spent many a weekend working on my TR. I exaggerate more than slightly when I say “my father and I,” because it was HIM and one of his buddies who did the lion’s share of the work. I helped whenever I could, usually — always — on weekends when I wasn’t working and could catch a ride from Vandenberg AFB down to the ancestral home in El-Eh to help out. The car was finally finished and in reasonable condition (albeit without a heater, working or otherwise) sometime during the summer of 1965 when I took it “home” to Vandenberg. There are no surviving pictures of the car, alas.

(Side note: Here’s a GREAT pic of a 1957 TR-3. Mine was identical to this one, down to the mirrors on the front fenders and the pressed steel wheels… no “wires” for me. And mine wasn’t white/cream… it was painted 1964 Falcon Gold, a rather flashy color available on 1964 Ford Falcons that went quite well with the (stock) blue leather interior.

Apropos of something… Jay Leno owns one, too.)

I have lots of good…no, GREAT… memories of that car and two very bad ones. First the good: I met The First Mrs. Pennington while dragging Main Street (Ocean Avenue, actually) in Lompoc, California in that car. Briefly: I had an old desk phone sitting on the transmission tunnel in the car. One evening while a buddy of mine and I were “doing the cruise” I pulled up next to The First Mrs. Pennington and a gaggle of her friends at a red light, with the phone up to my ear. I looked over at her, took the phone away from my ear, held it out and said “it’s for you.” She took the receiver without thinking… not realizing (a) the phone didn’t work and (b) that was about as tacky a come-on line as there ever was. But it worked, Gentle Reader. The rest, as it’s said, is history. (Keep in mind… this was in 1965 when only the VERY rich had car phones. As a young airman with only two stripes on his sleeve I was barely in the “solvent” category, let alone rich.)

The bad: I threw the car off a 50-foot embankment one frosty morning in January of 1966 when I hit a sheet of ice on my way up the mountain to work. I rolled it three times, once laterally and twice end-over-end. The TR was totaled; I walked away with only a scratch on the little finger of my left hand… that from maintaining a death-grip on the steering wheel while flying through the air and down the embankment. Wrecking the car was bad enough… but having to call my father to tell him I’d wrecked it was probably worse, as he loved that car as much (if not more) than I did. He got over it, though… as did I. I walked for the next few months until The First Mrs. Pennington and I were married. But Dang! That car sure was fun… while it lasted.

―:☺:―

Good news for us caffeine junkies coffee drinkers:

After controlling for numerous socioeconomic and health factors, including high cholesterol and high blood pressure, the scientists found that the subjects who had reported drinking three to five cups of coffee daily were 65 percent less likely to have developed dementia, compared with those who drank two cups or less. People who drank more than five cups a day also were at reduced risk of dementia, the researchers said, but there were not enough people in this group to draw statistically significant conclusions.

Dr. Miia Kivipelto, an associate professor of neurology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and lead author of the study, does not as yet advocate drinking coffee as a preventive health measure. “This is an observational study,” she said. “We have no evidence that for people who are not drinking coffee, taking up drinking will have a protective effect.”

Well, I suppose the news is sorta good, as there wasn’t a category for people who drink ten to 12 cups a day. That would be me, Gentle Reader. That’s been my habit for almost longer than I can remember… going back to at least 1964, when I first hit “the field” in the Air Force. I hope there’s no “excess” effect… but then again, is there such a thing as “excess” when it comes to coffee? I think not… not for YrHmblScrb, anyway.

―:☺:―

Remember earlier this week I remarked on just how quickly the White House web site changed? And how a lot of people, myself included, wondered what happened to the “old” WhiteHouse-dot-gov? Wonder no more. You can access the old White House site through the George W. Bush Presidential Library site. There is a disclaimer, though:

To preserve the historical record of the George W. Bush administration's presence on the web, the White House took a "snapshot" of the Whitehouse.gov web site. This is historical material, "frozen in time." The web site is no longer updated and links to external web sites and some internal pages will not work.

Well, yeah. We kinda figured that would be the case… but it IS nice to know the information has been preserved. And where to get it.

Apropos of Nothing, Yet Again

Posted on Laura Bush's Facebook page:

From Laura Bush

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 10:42pm

To all of my friends and supporters, I want to truly thank you on behalf of George, myself, and our children for your love, support, and dedication to the United States over the past 8 years. Together, we have been through a whirlwind of a time, but our citizenship has held us together, and kept us strongly united as friends, family, and as Americans.

It is with great pleasure that I pass the torch onto Michelle Obama, whom I have every confidence will fill the role with grace, compassion, and integrity.

It will be hard to leave the memories of the White House behind. But I know that this is only a new beginning for us. George and I will take some time to reconnect as a family, to spend time on the ranch where we are now "home" again.

I have every confidence that you will all take pride in this transition, and look up to our new President as your President. Barack Obama wants to better this country, and we all owe him the task of standing behind him within our borders, abroad.

This page will stay up as a way for me to keep you updated on my trips and projects. Please do feel free to leave your comments. I may not be able to respond to them all, but I do read every one that comes across, and I thank you all so much for your kind words.

May God bless all of you, and God bless America.

Farewell, but not goodbye,

Laura

Yeah... I'm a fan. Which is how I get the updates, yanno? Even if I AM somewhat late... as usual, customary, and (un)reasonable. This note is typical of Mrs. Bush, in that it is just chock FULL of grace, dignity and class. As usual.

This, That, and the Other

One of the more interesting things about g-mail is the lil snippets you get at the top of your in-box… things like a “quote of the day,” abbreviated news headlines, links to magazine articles, and not a lil bit of weirdness. Today’s quote-of-the-day led me to “Brainy Quote,” a site I sometimes frequent when I’m looking for a quote from someone. There’s quite an interesting collection of stuff from one Robert Orben, not a few of which made me smile. Examples:

To err is human - and to blame it on a computer is even more so. (Facebook, anyone?)

Every speaker has a mouth; An arrangement rather neat. Sometimes it's filled with wisdom. Sometimes it's filled with feet.

And so on. Folksy humorous stuff. Right up my alley.

―:☺:―

Lotsa folks read blogs through an RSS feed; I don’t. I like to visit my Daily Reads personally, which may or may not be due to my not-so-well-suppressed Luddite tendencies. That said, I DO use Google Reader to keep up with Kukla’s Korner, my favorite hockey blog. KK is a collective blog and the folks there write a LOT about hockey, oftentimes about teams I couldn’t care less about (like the Coyotes. and nearly EVERY team in the Eastern Conference). So it makes sense to use a reader in this case… I can skip the stuff that’s essentially meaningless and read what really matters, i.e., things about the Beloved Wings.

All the foregoing is a long-winded introduction to a minor shock I received before I was fully caffeinated this morning. I was absent-mindedly scrolling down through the KK feed while the coffee was brewing when I came across an item that surprised the living HELL out of me: a link to a post written by a Certain Someone I used to know. THIS was a serious “WTF?” moment! KK is linking to this Certain Someone? KK… the hockey blog? Linking to someone who doesn’t give two hoots in Hell about hockey and never did? I didn’t believe my eyes.

And well I shouldn’t have. This Certain Someone created a blog about two years ago (or so) but never posted anything. I put the blog link in my RSS feed… just in case. Certain Someone began writing recently and I just noticed that today. The fact Certain Someone’s blog is in my RSS reader didn’t occur to me until I was well into KK’s second page, thinking… “where the Hell is that post?” Then I remembered I’d added Certain Someone’s link to my RSS reader. And felt really stupid. Doh!

Today’s lesson: NEVER try to do anything… no matter how mundane it may be… until your caffeine levels are stabilized and restored to normal.

―:☺:―

Today’s public link to stuff I’m putting up at Facebook: Mo'Sickles Past and Present. A collection of 23 photos of motorcycles I’ve known and loved over the years… just as the title would indicate, strangely enough. Literal ‘R’ Us. If you think I’m using Facebook like other people use Flickr… you’re right. Facebook doesn’t give you the option to view photos in other than the one size you’re given, and that’s a drawback. Sorta like what Ol’ Henry said about the Model T: “You can have any color you want, as long as it’s black.” I know: get a Flickr account. But remember: Luddite tendencies.

―:☺:―

Have you noticed? I’ve been off politics of late. I’m just sick to death of it, generally speaking. My Tribe isn’t doing anything significant these days and really doesn’t have much of an opportunity to do anything significant anyway, what with Dubya on his way out the door and the GOP being in the minority in Congress. That said… I enjoyed Dubya’s Farewell Speech last evening.

There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions. But there can be little debate about the results. America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil. This is a tribute to those who toil night and day to keep us safe -- law enforcement officers, intelligence analysts, homeland security and diplomatic personnel, and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces.

Our nation is blessed to have citizens who volunteer to defend us in this time of danger. I have cherished meeting these selfless patriots and their families. And America owes you a debt of gratitude. And to all our men and women in uniform listening tonight: There has been no higher honor than serving as your Commander-in-Chief.

[…]

Like all who have held this office before me, I have experienced setbacks. There are things I would do differently if given the chance. Yet I've always acted with the best interests of our country in mind. I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right. You may not agree with some of the tough decisions I have made. But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions.

Agreed, Mr. President. I hope your successor has but half the conscientiousness and dedication to principles you’ve displayed during your time in office. It takes a BIG man to disregard the folks who “go with the flow” and do the right thing, in spite of what other people might think. And that’s the main reason I worry about your successor. It remains an open question: “Will he do the right thing?” I don't get warm and fuzzy feelings when I mull that question over in my mind...
I'll miss ya, Mr. President. Godspeed.

The Grace and Humor of Laura Bush

I came across this ol' video (ten minutes) of Laura at the 2005 White House Correspondents' Dinner:



You've probably seen this video before, Gentle Reader, as it made quite the splash back in 2005. The link to the video was in this Forbes article: "In Praise of Laura Bush," which is worth a read in and of itself. I agree with most of what's in the article (there ARE certain exceptions and if you chase the link you'll see what I mean, given I'm a 27-percenter) and I most especially agree with Mr. Varadarajan's closing graf:

My guess, as America changes, is that the Laura Bush type will fade away, and that more and more first ladies will be (however one interprets the phrase) "people in their own right"--and thus, potentially, a huge pain to the body politic. (Think Cherie Blair ...) There is some danger that Michelle Obama, a forthright and independent woman, could hew more to the Hillary model than to the Laura Bush way --although her demeanor in the election campaign suggests that she's not unaware of the public boundaries that Hillary, as first lady, failed to respect. And if Mrs. Obama really, really is, as I quote her saying (above), "taking some cues" from Mrs. Bush, then President Obama will be a very lucky man.

Long time readers know I have a huge crush on Mrs. Bush. I keep wondering how Michelle Obama is "gonna follow that act," as they say in show-biz. Coz Laura is indeed a hard act to follow in the First Lady department. I'm gonna miss that woman.

Post-Mortems

Brevity is the soul of wit Saturday… since it’s Football Day and I’m otherwise occupied. But here are a few items for my politically-minded readers (both of ya!) that you’ve probably already read. First… the inimitable Charles Krauthammer with “The Campaign Autopsy” (via memeorandum and Real Clear Politics). Excerpts:

WASHINGTON -- In my previous life, I witnessed far more difficult postmortems. This one is easy. The patient was fatally stricken on Sept. 15 -- caught in the rubble when the roof fell in (at Lehman Brothers, according to the police report) -- although he did linger until his final, rather quiet demise on Nov. 4.

In the excitement and decisiveness of Barack Obama's victory, we forget that in the first weeks of September, John McCain was actually ahead. Then Lehman collapsed, and the financial system went off a cliff.

[…]

We don't yet appreciate how unprecedented were the events of September and October. We have never had a full-fledged financial panic in the middle of a presidential campaign. Consider. If the S&P were to close at the end of the year where it did on Election Day, it will have suffered this year its steepest drop since 1937. That is 71 years.

At the same time, the economy had suffered nine consecutive months of job losses. Considering the carnage to both capital and labor (which covers just about everybody), even a Ronald Reagan could not have survived. The fact that John McCain got 46 percent of the electorate when 75 percent said the country was going in the wrong direction is quite remarkable.

Senator McCain might as well have had one of those “Born to Lose” tats on his shoulder after the financial meltdown. As Krauthammer notes, even Reagan couldn’t have pulled this one off after the financial system…not just “the market”… tanked. Mr. Krauthammer has more and it’s good stuff… as usual.

Reading Krauthammer makes one think “How now, Brown Cow?” Well… Investor’s Business Daily has a few answers in its op-ed “Road Still Leads Back to Reagan in Republicans’ Latest Soul Search.” (via Real Clear Politics) Excerpts:

Few will claim that "big government Republicanism" — or, as Goldwater referred to it, a "Dime Store New Deal" — is the wave of the future. Conservatives know that competing for the affection of voters by leasing their souls to corrupt lobbyists has been a fool's errand. Within days will come a restatement of minimalist government principles, especially by the economic right.

This will resonate immediately as President-elect Obama has espoused the most collectivist philosophy of any presidential candidate since George McGovern in 1972. As the newspapers are filled each day with articles detailing the failures and corruption of government at every level, it will be easy to hang the Democrats with this issue.

[…]

The social right will have a more difficult time putting the genie back in the bottle after eight years of being promised that the national government could achieve what they had been working for years to achieve at the state level. Yet again, since the national levers of power are now gone, practicality will force the social conservatives to go back to basics, and win the war for the culture at the local level.

From a practical standpoint, the results of the Nov. 4 election should not be disheartening for the Right. When Obama stuck to his teleprompter, he talked about tax cuts, family values, the Second Amendment and strong national defense. Without his teleprompter, he talked about a national police force, overturning state conceal carry laws, how health care is a "right" while his supporters salivate at the prospects of censoring, smearing and criminalizing conservatism.

Unlike Republicans, the Democratic leadership of Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid understand power. Liberals will move to shut down talk radio, dressed up in the nicest of language of course. Only a few days ago, Schumer equated Rush Limbaugh with pornography.

I agree with nearly all of what the IBD has to say in this space, particularly with its view on the social conservatives’ agenda. State and local gub’mint is the place to go for this sort of stuff, not the federal gub’mint. But then again I’ve always thought this way… when I think about a “social agenda” at all, which is rare, indeed. I’ve never taken the trouble to lay out my political beliefs in detail (who the Hell cares, anyway?), so I’ll just repeat what’s in my Blogger profile: “Politically moderate, I'm conservative on foreign policy and national defense issues (surprise!) and liberal on social issues.” It all comes back to that ol’ saw: “You can’t legislate morality.” You shouldn’t even try. My mini-rant aside… there’s much to like in the IBD op-ed.

And finally... something for us 27-percenters: “Why I'll Miss President Bush,” in today's WSJ. Excerpt:

President Bush will soon be heading home and for many that day cannot come soon enough. Count me among those who will miss him and his bedrock decency.

He had a rough road from day one. His first inauguration struck me as a portent. I was there, shivering in the grandstands on Pennsylvania Avenue. At the exact moment the president heard "Hail to the Chief" for the first time and was announced to the audience, a sleet storm descended from the skies.

It has never let up.

Through it all Mr. Bush kept his head up and soldiered on. He took the criticism in stride.

All too true, dat. And you know there's more...

Here and There

Kathleen Parker’s column at TownHall.com is VERY good today… and VERY funny. Titled “Vlad, You’ve got mail,” the column consists solely of three letters (e-mails?) to Putin from Dubya, The Obamanon, and John McCain. Ms. Parker has adopted the stylistic phrasing and mannerisms of the respective men, and herewith a couple of excerpts:

From President George W. Bush:

Dear Vlad:

Beijing is weird. First of all, you can't breathe the air. Second, how 'bout those drummers? Sure, they're perfect, but that's the point. A billion Chinese see 2,000 drummers in sync and say, "Well done, my little emperor son." I see 2,000 drummers all moving with one motion and I'm thinking: "Whoa." Can anybody say MIL-I-TAR-Y PRE-CI-SION?

Hey, which reminds me. What's up with Georgia? This is not good, Vlad. You and I have had our moments. And, OK, fine, your dog's bigger than mine. A lot bigger. Stronger and faster, too. We got it. But you can't just go invading democratically elected countries that are U.S. allies. You can't have everything, Vlad. If you don't stop, I'm going to have to do something and you know I don't want that. What I want is for you to not make me look like a fool.

[…]

From Sen. Barack Obama:

Dear (Former) President Putin:

I'm sorry to be writing this e-mail instead of meeting you in person, preferably in the Oval Office, where I belong. Soon, soon.

Nevertheless, and notwithstanding the foregoing, I felt it imperative that I express my deep concern about Russia's invasion of the tiny, democratically elected sovereign nation of Georgia. It would appear that you are not familiar with my platform for change and hope. War does not fit into this template and I am quite frankly at a loss for words to express my deep, deep distress.

[…]

Please picture me looking very serious when I say that I respectfully request you to calm down. Life is but a flicker in time and we're but actors strutting and fretting. That is to say, we're all on this planetary journey together and our karma is interrelated and interdependent. Thus, it would seem that our differences are best resolved through words, not bombs.

It is said that war is a failure of diplomacy. I would submit that it is also counterintuitive. If my Kenyan father and my Kansan mother and my multinational upbringing taught me anything, it is that we are all One. That said, I am The One the world has been waiting for -- and you are, quite frankly, blocking my chi.

I won’t give away the whole point of the column by posting McCain’s letter… which consists of only nine words… so there’s simply NO way to excerpt it and preserve the point. You just gotta go read it!

―:☺:―

I had a follow-up with Dr. Thompson (my dentist) yesterday and I’m going to have some additional artificial bone material added to my collection at the end of this month. There’s nothing abnormal or wrong in play here, just a bit of augmentation to the work previously done. This next procedure won’t be quite the production the last event was… just an incision in my gums that will be closed with a couple of sutures after the additional bone is added. And this impending procedure only requires a local anesthetic… no World Class Drugs this time, although that is an option. I declined when offered, but this morning I’m thinking “Wow. Those were some GREAT drugs. Maybe I shouldn’t have turned ‘em down!” (Jes kiddin’, Gentle Reader, jes kiddin’!) (Sorta)

―:☺:―

Michael Phelps celebrates his victory with a world record time of 1:54.80 in the men's 200-meter individual medley final at the US Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Neb., Friday, July 4, 2008. (AP Photo)

I’ve often said I have an immediate grasp of the obvious… and that’s not a bad quality to have. So, it’s in that spirit that I’m offering the observation that Michael Phelps is THE story of the 2008 Olympiad, so far. The man has just been freakin’ awesome, in the fullest sense of the word. Or, as Joe Posnanski of The Kansas City Star puts it… “Phelps making the perfect look routine”:

The English language is running out of words to describe just how good Michael Phelps is at this swimming thing. Today (Tuesday night in Kansas City), he swam the 200 butterfly in 1 minute, 52.03 seconds, a world record, his fourth gold medal of this Games, the record-setting 10th gold medal of his Olympic career. Four others had won nine golds: Americans Mark Spitz (swimming) and Carl Lewis (track and field), Finland’s Paavo Nurmi (track and field) and the Soviet Union’s Larissa Latynina (gymnastics). That seemed like a good day’s work.

Then there was the relay. Almost precisely one hour later, Phelps led off the remarkable United States 800-meter relay team, which won gold by more than five seconds and blasted the world record by almost that much. Phelps swam the fastest 200-meter split in history (of course) and gave his teammates a 2 1/2 -second lead. This happened barely 10 minutes after he stood on the medal stand to collect his butterfly gold.

So, if you’re counting, Phelps has now won five gold medals at these Games (all in world-record time). He has now won 11 gold medals in his career. That’s two more gold medals, incidentally, than the entire nation of India, which has more than one billion people. He has now won 13 Olympic medals overall, an American record.

Un-bee-leeb-able. And such a joy to watch!

The American women gymnasts, on the other hand, provided the counterpoint to Phelps’ success last night with heart-breaking errors that cost them the team gold medal.

BEIJING — It came down to the last event, the last tumbling pass, the last landing, the last tilt of the head, the last smile.

For the U.S. women's gymnastics team, it came down to a few missteps, and, as is usually the case in a sport of precision and grace, those stumbles made all the difference.

The U.S. lost the gold medal to China 188.9 to 186.525. Simple but glaring mistakes were the Americans' undoing. They may have had prettier routines, but the Chinese were more consistent

[…]

It wasn't close.

Four years of training came down to the floor exercise, an event which the U.S. usually dominates with its high-flying routines and rhythmic dance moves. But all three Americans stepped out of bounds. Somehow, they could not do what they had done thousands upon thousands of times: Stay inside the white lines.

A silver medal ain’t nothing to sneeze at… but it’s a heartbreaker when you’re expecting gold. These Olympic Games have been supremely entertaining, and I’ve simply been mesmerized… all throughout the night and into the wee smalls, as it were.

(photo credit: Gymnasts – The Seattle Times)

Update: I'll quote an e-mail I received a few minutes ago from Deborah Hendrick: "Buck, the hand can be quicker than the eye. I think you put up a photo of Australian swimmer Eamon Sullivan, instead of Michael Phelps." And she was right... the photo of Sullivan I originally posted has been replaced with one of Phelps. Thanks, Deborah.

Tuesday's Trivialities

So… I watched Dubya’s final SOTU last night, the Democrat “rebuttal,” and the associated reek that passes for commentary on same. My opinion? A journeyman-like speech… nothing truly impressive, but nothing truly horrible, either. Dubya’s best line of the evening for (heh) my money was his throw-away about the IRS accepting checks and money-orders if you absolutely, positively feel compelled to pay more taxes. (OK, I added the adjectives. He didn’t.)

As for Governor Sebelius, her opening paragraphs gave me hope we would hear something other than the same-ol’, same-ol’ partisan Democrat bromides and general rejection of anything/everything President Bush said. But after promising “an American, rather than a partisan response” she launched into a rather ridiculous “join us, President Bush...” kind of speech that was just what I feared it would be: partisan carping. And a lot of Democrats were less-than-impressed, too.

Ah, well. Plus ça change…

―:☺:―

Today’s Quickie…

Saw a billboard that said

'Need help, call Jesus. 1-800-005-3787'

...Out of curiosity I did.

A Mexican showed up with a dump truck.

From a Bud, via e-mail. This reads like Rodney Dangerfield. And it’s just as funny.

―:☺:―

I’m not the only one… In “Kamikaze Republicans,” a column published by Townhall.com, Wynton Hall writes:

Some unsatisfied Republican voters, especially conservative ones, have threatened to sit out the Republican primary in protest. Indeed, within GOP circles it is not uncommon that one may hear the refrain, "I'd rather have Hillary or Obama win and start fresh than to vote for a RINO (Republican in Name Only) or some half-committed conservative."

Rants of frustration such as these, while understandable, are baseless. More than that, they belie and betray the Republican and conservative arguments regarding the existential battle of our time-the long term threats posed by radical Islamic terrorism. In a time of war, the temptation toward "Kamikaze Republicanism" is both intellectually and ethically bankrupt. Worse, such sentiments stand to pose grave danger to the 2.4 million soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who stand ready to do violence on the nation's behalf so that Americans might live freely.

To argue that there is not a "dime's worth of difference" between a President Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama vs. a President McCain, Romney, or Giuliani negates the entire range of national security arguments waged since September 11th. In one rhetorical swipe of tongue, Kamikaze Republicanism reduces the singular security threat of our age to rubble, for implicit in the argument is the notion that presidential leadership is impotent in effectuating military and geopolitical change. But as the enormously successful "surge" in Iraq continues to demonstrate, the strategic and tactical decisions leaders make affects the direction that events will take. Indeed, to suggest that General Petraeus's leadership and counsel would have been equally followed by a president beholden to and political dependent upon groups who smear and denigrate such a patriot with cries of "General Betraeus" is intellectual laziness in the extreme.

Even though my excerpt is long, it’s just the beginning of a wise bit of advice from Mr. Hall. His principal point is the wide gulf that separates the Democrat candidates and the Republicans (with the notable exception of that guy from Texas) pretty much begins and ends with national security. There’s obviously more differences than national security…things like the composition of the Supreme Court, taxes, economic freedom, etc. … but the over-riding issue in this campaign IS national security. Unless you think like a Democrat and don’t believe… never believed… we’re at war. A Democrat administration in peace time is one thing; we’ve survived those debacles in the past, and quite well, thank you. But a Democrat administration in these perilous times, given ALL of the Democrat candidates’ position on The Surge and the war in Iraq generally, is like putting Dr. Kervorkian in charge of the patient. I dunno about you, Gentle Reader, but I’d like a fighting chance. We probably don’t get that chance if Republicans/conservatives stay home on Election Day. History is already against the Republicans holding the White House for another four years…we don’t have to increase the odds against us any more than necessary.

Further in the same vein…John Hawkins of Right Wing News, in a column titled “The Ten Most Annoying Things About the Race for the Presidency,” writes:

The Intra-Party Blood Feud on the Republican Side: I'm all in favor of taking a hard look at the candidates and getting all their flaws out in the open during the primaries. Moreover, if a few sharp elbows get thrown in the process, that's all well and good. Heck, I've even thrown more than a few of those elbows myself.

But, the childish pouting, hysterical tantrums, and bitter carping are starting to get out of control. Conservatives would be a lot better off if they stepped back, breathed deeply, and took Reagan's 80% rule to heart -- "My 80 percent friend is not my 20 percent enemy" -- before they help create rifts that may take the GOP years to heal.

Put another way: Grow Up. Reasonable people can disagree, reasonably. And no one agrees with any one person about everything. That’s a life lesson that’s supposed to be learned somewhere between kindergarten and the fifth grade. Some folks appear to have missed a lot of school.

―:☺:―

I missed this last Friday, but as it’s said…Better Late Than Never. Fisking is kinda-sorta out of vogue these days. But…if you’re a guy, and if you’re fed up with all the rules, regulations, stipulations, and tribulations the opposite sex…or more appropriately, the media, ostensibly speaking for the opposite sex… seem to lay on us these days, then you should read “Relax, sugar-tits.” By Rachel Lucas. Let me repeat: that’s RACHEL Lucas… not Raoul Lucas or Robert Lucas. Rachel. (Hint: women just might wanna read this, too.) Here’s a taste:

One of these days I will write an epic about one of my biggest pet peeves, which is how in every commercial on TV that features a couple, the guy is retarded and the woman is sassy, clever, and dismayed with the retard. Really? We’re still doing that cliche?

But for now, kinda along the same lines, this morning I saw this article, 10 Things You Should Never Say To A Woman, that is, if you want not to offend the budding-flower tenderness of the ladies. Maybe I’m messed up in the head, maybe my parents just did something right, but I read stuff like this and I am so glad I’m not a man because being a man would mean being forced to put up with this shit without fighting back because that would make you a sexist pig jerk. So as a woman who isn’t inflicted with The Crazy, I’ll fight back for you guys. Because I am helpful like that.

And I’m helpful about providing entertaining and useful links, even if it’s stuff you may have already read. You’re welcome.

(h/t: Conservative Grapevine)

―:☺:―

In the “Wish I’d Said That” Dept…here’s K-LO at The Corner:

It goes on. But I can't. Where's room for parody in the world, when you have liberal feminists?

She’s talking about the National Organization of Women’s (NY chapter) denunciation of Teddy Kennedy (D, Chappaquiddick), in the wake of Teddy’s Barack endorsement. There’s a link to the NOW press release at NRO. And K-Lo’s right. The press release reads like Scott Ott wrote it, but he didn’t.

―:☺:―

Today’s Pics: A preview of my next scanning project: illustrating my four-part tale (first installment here) about doing business (and a lot of other things) in the Peoples Republic of China in 1991.

Two of these three pics were taken on the segment of the Great Wall that’s been largely restored for the tourist trade…about 40 miles or so outside of Beijing. It was cold that December day, Gentle Reader. Too cold for the way I was dressed, let me tell ya. But… I left my arctic gear at home, unfortunately. Still and even, the place was simply swarming with tourists, even for a cold late December’s day.

And: I’m a man, in Chinese eyes. Our interpreter told us there’s an ancient Chinese saying that says “one isn’t a man until one has walked the Great Wall.” Or something like that.

The third pic is of TSMP and a very young soldier of the Peoples Liberation Army, taken in Tiananmen Square. The boy was not impressed, was he?

Somewhat Retiring...

I got off on quite the link-chasing tangent this morning after reading this lil piece of economic news at CNN… “Household incomes rise but ... Census Bureau reports slight rise in 2006 incomes but as a group, households aren't doing as well as before the 2001 recession.” Ah, there always seems to be a Big But(t) in the picture when it comes to economic news. Or at least the picture Our Media like to paint, anyway.

The rise in household income and decline in poverty are positive developments, and they were expected given low unemployment last year. But U.S. households have yet to return to the higher income and lower poverty levels they reached during the last recession.

"In 2006, the poverty rate remained higher, and median income for non-elderly households remained $1,300 lower, than in 2001, when the last recession hit bottom," said Robert Greenstein, executive director of the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in a statement. "It is virtually unprecedented for poverty to be higher and the income of working-age households lower in the fifth year of a recovery than in the last year of the previous recession."

Didja notice anything unusual in the last paragraph? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I DO believe it’s quite rare for a news organization to identify a source as “liberal,” as in “…director of the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities…” Media use the adjective “conservative” all the damned time when describing the political orientation of various and sundry pundits…too often, in my mind… but good on CNN for using, at least once, an appropriate modifier for the economic wet-blanket crowd. Refreshing, that.

But, the point above is neither here nor there. What occupied most of my time this morning were a series of articles about retirement linked in the article referenced above and in subsequent pieces I read. There was this one, for starters: “Retirement at risk: Who's falling short.” And that article led to this one: “Shrinking Social Security; A new report says Social Security will replace less of your income than it did before, thanks to taxes, Medicare and the reality of hitting your 60's.” And there were links within those links that cried out to be followed…and follow I did. What emerged was a rather depressing set of statistics and factoids about the doom facing my cohort and those that follow close on our heels: We’re not prepared, most of us, for retirement and what’s worse is few people are doing much of anything to rectify the situation. A lot of folks can’t save or contribute as much as they need to that ol’ 401(k) because…well, there’s just too much stuff we need right now… an iPhone, a new car (followed by another new car, next year), a bigger house, perhaps a little vacation place on the lake, a boat for the vacation house, college for the kids (if even that…), a cruise or two, a new wardrobe (“everything I own is ‘out!’”), yadda, yadda, yadda. And then all of a sudden you’re 65 and find yourself still working, with few, if any, alternatives.

I had a conversation with a friend the other night who’s in that boat I just described: 65 and still working. And a self-admission that although retirement beckons (“I’m getting tired”), the debt load is such that retirement is absolutely, positively out of the question…both now and for the foreseeable future. And savings? Non-existent. But the cash flow is good, the bills get paid, and the acquisition merry-go-round is still whirling. I fear for my friend. And others, too. Time is short.

Two years on and it ain’t just the rebuilding:

President Bush is visiting New Orleans to mark the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, as are Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton, and Republican candidates Mike Huckabee and Duncan Hunter. The White House will probably release a fact sheet detailing how many billions of dollars the government has spent on Gulf Coast recovery. The Democrats, no doubt, will call for more money and action. Here's hoping at least one political visitor will be brave enough to say the truth: that while many New Orleans residents are courageously taking the initiative to rebuild their homes, they cannot build an effective police and prosecutorial force on their own.

I’m afraid I just don’t have the intestinal fortitude required to live in N’Awlins these days. Not after reading this piece, anyway. Let’s hope things are going better on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and from all indications I’ve seen/heard, they are. Rebuilding is slow work under the best of circumstances, but it’s damned near impossible in a lawless environment. Pretty sad.

Our weather has changed here on The High Plains, thanks to a cold front that moved in overnight. The forecast is for widely scattered t-storms all day and tomorrow, too. It’s lightly raining as I tap this out, and that’s a good thing. Rain is usually good in this part of the world, unlike other places where just one more drop might cause a psychopathic response in the mass population. This cold front is bringing a ten-degree reduction in temps along with rain. Both are welcome…especially the cooler temperatures.

Today’s Pic: Another in the “SN3 Plays in the Puddles” series of pics from July, 1998. There’s another reason I’m posting this particular pic— it’s one of only three pictures (another, and not a particularly good pic here) of my beloved and much-missed ‘96 Impala SS. And this pic ain’t all that good either, come to think on it. Nice shot of the front wheel and turn signal, in addition to illustrating the quality of the wax job. That car really glistened when it was clean and washed up nice.

I don’t know exactly why I never took decent pictures of this car. Perhaps it just never occurred to me to actually…you know…DO it.

Whatever.

Same...uh...Stuff, Different Day

Ah…the coffee is good this morning! It should go without saying the coffee’s good every morning here at El Casa Móvil De Pennington, but it’s seemingly better than usual today. Same coffee, made in the same measure, but somehow different and more vibrant. Could it be my taste buds are recovering from all those years of all that smoke? Possibly.

The coffee may be good today, but the reading is sub-par. Just one example: more, yet still more, about the federal prosecutor firing “scandal,” a scandal that just might take down the Attorney General. As for Gonzales getting the boot, I agree with Mr. Krauthammer:

KRAUTHAMMER: When the boss is -- when the boss says -- is asked about the chances of you escaping his firing you and his answer is "I hope so, you better start packing.

Look, I said earlier, last week, he's a dead man walking, and it's on the grounds of incompetents. He had an easy way to defend the administration on this issue early on. I would not have the president waste his ammunition in defending him now at the beginning he should have said -- Gonzales should have said, was the White House involved in this, if it was, I'm not sure, if it was, so what, it's perfectly legitimate.

The district attorneys are appointed by the president. Election are fought over priorities in law enforcement, we want that to be known by our district attorneys. Every administration ultimately changes over to enforce, those priorities. It's a perfectly legitimate executive function. We don't have anything to hide or be ashamed of. He didn't say that at the beginning, and now it's too late.

Charles is referring to the President’s response yesterday when asked about Gonzales’ future. I’d be cleaning out my desk too, if my boss said something even remotely similar regarding my prospects for continued employment. As Mr. Krauthammer says, it’s all about “incompetents.” (That’s an easily-explained error in transcription, btw.) I’m simply aghast at the incompetence displayed by Alberto and his staff in this brouhaha. This whole thing could have been cut off at the knees if Gonzales had simply said “so, what?” when the Left began shouting. Incompetence. Gross incompetence. One cannot imagine, say, the Nixon White House (or even the Clinton White House, for that matter) being such rank amateurs.

Dubya needs a win…any sort of win…and soon. There’s just too damned much bad news these days.

This may be a small win for Dubya, the US, and the world at large: Russia Gives Iran Ultimatum on Enrichment:

PARIS, Mar. 18 — Russia has informed Iran that it will withhold nuclear fuel for Iran’s nearly completed Bushehr power plant unless Iran suspends its uranium enrichment as demanded by the United Nations Security Council, European, American and Iranian officials said.

The ultimatum was delivered in Moscow last week by Igor Ivanov, Russia’s Security Council Secretary, to Ali Hosseini Tash, Iran’s deputy chief nuclear negotiator, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because a confidential diplomatic exchange between two governments was involved.

For years, President Bush has been pressing President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to cut off help to Iran on the nuclear reactor, which is Tehran’s first serious effort to produce nuclear energy and has been highly profitable for Russia. But Mr. Putin has resisted.

Recently, however, Moscow and Tehran have been engaged in a public argument about whether Iran has paid its bills, in a dispute that may explain Russia’s apparent shift. The ultimatum may also reflect Moscow’s increasing displeasure and frustration with Iran over its refusal to stop enriching uranium at its vast facility at Natanz.

“We’re not sure what mix of commercial and political motives are at play here,” one senior Bush administration official said in Washington. “But clearly the Russians and the Iranians are getting on each other’s nerves — and that’s not all bad.”

“Not all bad,” indeed. I’d say two more things…(a) ‘bout time the Russians got on board and (b) Russia’s threat to withhold fuel probably won’t have any measurable effect on Iranian intransigence. But Captain Ed thinks the Russian threat, if it materializes, may result in Ahmadinejad’s downfall. My first thought is that wouldn’t be all bad, either. My second thought is “be careful what you wish for.”

More potential good news for Dubya: Betraying their base -- the Democrats can do it too:

The GOP grew sweaty and bloated like a fat man at an all-you-can-eat pasta bar, and the voters were right to pry the Republicans' white-knuckled grip from the hot table's sneeze guard.

So here's the ironic part. Suddenly, it looks as if the Democrats are the Republicans on fast-forward. It's early yet, and the Democrats did finish their mini-Contract with America — the so-called first 100 hours — with mixed success on the substance but great fanfare in the media. Yet items like upping the minimum wage and shafting oil companies, although certainly not insubstantial, were primarily symbolic.

The most important issue in the November elections, as every single political observer with a pulse will tell you, was the war in Iraq. The weasel words and euphemisms — "strategic redeployment," "course change," whatever — couldn't conceal the simple fact that the Democrats were elected in large part to end the war. That was certainly how the party's liberal base saw it, then and now.

But look at how the Democrats are behaving. They've completely failed to stop the surge, and their latest efforts to derail the war are so convoluted — timetables on top of timetables — that even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.), a cosponsor of legislation to withdraw troops by September 2008, can't explain them.

No kidding. It’s hard to stay on message when there are 17 variants of that particular message, ain’t it?

Speaking of the surge… “THE IRAQ SURGE: WHY IT'S WORKING”

March 20, 2007 -- 'I WALKED down the streets of Ramadi a few days ago, in a soft cap eating an ice cream with the mayor on one side of me and the police chief on the other, having a conversation." This simple act, Gen. David Petraeus told me, would have been "unthinkable" just a few months ago. "And nobody shot at us," he added.

Petraeus, the new commander managing the "surge" of troops in Iraq, will be the first to caution realism. "Sure we see improvements - major improvements," he said in our interview, "but we still have a long way to go."

What tactics are working? "We got down at the people level and are staying," he said flatly. "Once the people know we are going to be around, then all kinds of things start to happen."

More intelligence, for example.

Good things come in threes, yes?

This is pretty cool: more customization of your search page from the Googleplex. I’ve set my “theme” to Japanese Tea Garden (see the screenshot on the right, click for larger). I haven’t found any Easter Eggs yet, but Hey! It’s only been 30 minutes or so.

Sad news, via Lileks: Blogger and Left-Coast writer Cathy Seipp is in the hospital with terminal cancer and only has days to live. Ms. Seipp was one of the first blogs I ever read, and I’ll miss her.

Today’s Pic: A red rose in a Houston botanical garden… taken in March, 2000. I forget exactly which botanical garden, so I can’t give you a link. I will give you another Houston link, however. When I went and fetched the MFAH link for yesterday’s post, I came across this: The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800-1920. From the description of the exhibit:

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is the sole venue in the United States for this sweeping exhibition of French masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The exhibition will present 135 works from New York´s Metropolitan Museum´s treasured collection of French painting. The Metropolitan Museum´s French masterpieces are among the best in the world, and are by the greatest artists active in France between 1800 and 1920, with many, such as Ingres, Corot, Courbet, Delacroix, Millet, Monet, Degas, Cézanne, Renoir, Van Gogh, Matisse, and Picasso, represented by multiple works.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a road-trip. I’m nearly certain about it. The exhibit is running right now, through May 6^th. I can’t miss this…