SO Much to Read Today!

But not here at EIP, Gentle Reader. Nope, I'm talking about the Big Story of today, and yesterday... this “new” National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) concerning Iran and its nukes. I’ve seldom seen as many links on a subject, any subject, as memeorandum had on this one yesterday…and today, too. There are SO many people commenting on this latest NIE and they’re smarter than me, for the most part. As for me…I’m totally perplexed. To begin with, we’re only seeing a very small part of the overall document, the Key Judgments (pdf alert). God Only Knows (well, Him and the intelligence community) what the rest of the document says, and more importantly, what information/intelligence was used to prepare the findings…and the sources of this information.

Then there’s the not-inconsequential matter of timing. Everyone acknowledges this document has been around for the better part of a year. Why release it now? Do domestic politics play a part? Are we courting the Iranians in some way? Is this the administration’s way of defusing all the “imminent war” talk vis-à-vis Iran? What the HELL is going on here?

As I said…I’m confused. I’ve read a lot on this subject over the past 24 hours or so and I still don’t know what’s going on.

Oh Hell, let’s do something FUN! Right Wing News has put up its “The 2nd Annual Worst Quotes From The Daily Kos (2007 Edition),” and it’s a doozy. This may or may not be your idea of “fun,” Gentle Reader, but I got a BIG kick out of it. It’s much more entertaining than trying to figure out this NIE stuff. OTOH, the “winner” is just SO damned offensive it’s hard to believe an actual American wrote it. To wit:

1) "But do I still support the individual men and women who have given so much to serve their country? No. I think they’re a bunch of idiots. I also think they’re morally retarded. Because they sign a contract that says they will kill whoever you tell me to kill. And that is morally retarded.

Friends, the most important moral decision a man makes in the course of a day is "Who am I going to kill today?" That’s a decision you should agonize over, dream about, rehearse in your mind for hours, not just leave up to some hare-brained President you didn’t even vote for.

A man’s killing list is a very personal matter. It should be between him and those persistent voices in his head. So to sum up, I don’t like our troops, I don’t like what they’re doing, I don’t like their fat, whining families, and yet, I support them. Thank God I live in a free country. Thank You." -- AWhitneyBrown

I guess I’m just morally retarded. Good to know, that.

My Buddy Ed in Florida sends the following:

I didn't snoop this but it's probably true
July 8, 1947

Many of you will recall that on July 8, 1947, approximately 60 years
ago, witnesses claim that an unidentified flying object (UFO) with five
aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and cattle ranch just outside Roswell,
New Mexico. This is a well-known incident that many say has long
been covered up by the U.S. Air Force and other Federal Agencies and
organizations. However, what you may NOT know is that in the month of
March 1948, nine months after that historic day, the following people
were born:

Albert A. Gore, Jr. (March 31, 1948)
Hillary Rodham (October 26, 1947)
John F. Kerry (December 11, 1943)
William J. Clinton (August 19, 1946)
Howard Dean (November 14, 1948 [close enough])
Nancy Pelosi (March 26, 1940)
Dianne Feinstein (June 22, 1933)
Charles E. Schumer (November 23, 1950)
Barbara Boxer (November 11, 1940)

See what happens when aliens breed with sheep?

I certainly hope this bit of information clears up a lot of things for you.

OK…the red guys were born outside the stated envelope, so this shoots this theory all to Hell. I didn’t account for multiple UFO visits, though. Anything is possible, and Ed could still conceivably be right. It would clear up a lot.

/snark

All y’all no doubt know there were two important elections in other parts of the world this past Sunday. Important in the sense the electorates in Venezuela and Russia were being asked to sign away what little bits of democratic government remain in those benighted countries. The Venezuelans rejected Chavez’ bid to rule for life; the Russians apparently think Vlad I makes a fine tsar. And we Americans are left scratching our heads. “What in the Hell are those Russkies thinking?”, we ask. Enter the WSJ:

The phenomenon in which masses of people enthusiastically sign away their democratic rights is not new: It happened in Germany and Austria in the 1930s. But it's one that Americans especially have a hard time coming to grips with. The freedom agenda may no longer be in vogue, but most Americans implicitly endorse George Bush's view that "eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul." When it doesn't--when, in fact, it is consciously and deliberately spurned--we rationalize it in ways that go only so far in offering a persuasive account of the dark allure of tyranny.

Culture is one rationalization. The word is invoked by everyone from self-described Burkean conservatives to left-wing cultural relativists to explain the supposed failure of some benighted corners of the world to adopt and sustain democratic norms. In this view, Africa and the Arab world are too tribal; the Muslim world makes no distinction between the divine and the mundane; Latin America cannot find a stable middle ground between populism and paternalism; the Chinese are too used to emperors and mandarins, the Russians too used to czars and bureaucrats. And so on.

But cultural determinism often runs afoul of reality: The example of China is counterexampled by Taiwan; Zimbabwe by Botswana; Jeddah by Dubai; President Chávez by President Àlvaro Uribe in neighboring Colombia. Like baseball statistics, culture has a way of explaining a lot until it suddenly explains nothing.

The editorial goes on to speculate that the real reason people sign their rights away is because they want to…it’s human nature. You may agree or disagree, but it’s an interesting concept and one I have no real difficulty believing. I’d love to say I don’t think it can happen here, because we Americans are too used to having our freedoms. But…times are good. It all changes, including the political environment, when times are bad. There are always people waiting in the wings to “make things better” when the bread lines start forming. With any sort of luck we won’t see that sort of thing happen in this country again.

I have my fingers crossed. Now, about Russia…

Cynthia over at Gazing At The Flag put up a post today about a project the VFW has going on… to wit:

Brighten the holidays for wounded heroes at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa, Florida by signing the biggest Christmas Card ever!

And how big IS it, you ask? Well, last year’s card was big enough to hold 20,000 signatures. This year the VFW is going for 25,000. But you have to act fast…the deadline is the 10^th of this month. Go here to sign the card…and toss a few bucks in the pot, too, if the spirit moves ya. It’s a small gesture, to be sure, but one that is well and truly appreciated by those who have given so much.

You're Joking...Right?

A friend forwards the following:

The madam opened the brothel door to see a rather dignified, well-dressed good-looking man in his 50s or maybe early 60s. "May I help you?" she asked. "I want to see Valerie," the man replied. "Sir, Valerie is one of our most expensive ladies. Perhaps you would prefer someone else." said the madam. "No. I must see Valerie." was the man's reply. Just then, Valerie appeared and announced to the man that she charged $1,000 a visit. Without hesitation, the man pulled out ten one hundred dollar bills, gave them to Valerie, and they went upstairs. After an hour, the man calmly left.

The next night, the same man appeared again, demanding to see Valerie. Valerie explained that none had ever come back two nights in a row—too expensive—and there were no discounts. The price was still $1,000. Again the man pulled out the money, gave it to Valerie and they went upstairs. After an hour, he left.

The following night the man was there again. Everyone was astounded that he had come for the third consecutive night but he paid Valerie and they went upstairs. After their session, Valerie questioned the man. "No one has ever been with me three nights in a row. Where are you from?" she asked. The man replied "Arkansas." "Really?" she said. "I have family in Arkansas." "I know," the man said. "Your father died and I am your sister's attorney. She asked me to give you your $3,000 inheritance."

The moral of the story is that THREE things in life are certain:

1. Death
2. Taxes
3. Getting screwed by a lawyer.

S’true, innit?

And while we’re on about jokes…one of the more blog-worthy things I passed up this past week was Barack Obama’s admission that he got high as a teen-ager, while speaking to a group of teens at some (ahem) high school in New Hampshire. Which, to begin with, isn’t really news at all since he wrote about his teen drug use in one of his books. And, when you think about it, his admitted drug use makes Senator Obama pretty much an average sort of kid, given that (a) he was 18 in 1979 and (b) 51% of high school seniors in that particular year supposedly smoked pot (the percent-of-use stats have declined markedly since then). But Senator Obama’s admission isn’t the joke, it’s the reactions to his admission that provoke MY laughter. I’m not alone in this regard, either:

Mitt Romney waded in on BO’s former teen weed burning divulgence and condemned it, saying that Obama’s confession sent a bad message to young people, namely that you can “get high and become president.”

First of all Mitt, you gotta relax, man… Obama, like you, is not going to become president, so chill, okay? In addition, as a good religious man you should applaud his honesty in owning his previously bad record, right? I mean c’mon, Mr. Romney . . . at least he’s up front about it. He didn’t flip flop on what he did in the past or try to explain away why he did what he did to ingratiate himself to a gullible voting block in a sad and desperate attempt to become president.

Another conservative said this week that Barack coming forward with the admission that he toked the ganja was not only unwise but was also a bad example for children. Telling the truth has now become a bad example? I believe that was Larry Craig who said that. I could be wrong.

The absolute cake taker freaking out over Barack’s breasting of his dirty deeds was a 350lb chubby Christian who was all up in arms regarding Obama’s former relationship with the cannabis. He too said that such an admission left a poor pattern for young people. I was thinking, yeah? Well, so does being morbidly obese, chunky butt. Hey, Jabba… being a bloated, self righteous crank with a totemic view of vice is also a bad example for the children, so dial down and take care of your own house, Jenny Craig.

That’s from a column by Doug Giles at TownHall.com. Mr. Giles goes on to say that he, as a conservative, wouldn’t vote for Senator Obama in the first place…but Obama’s admission about pot-smoking is both refreshing (as opposed to the infamous “I didn’t inhale.” Yeah, right.) and long overdue from our candidates.

It’s good to see I’m not alone in this regard. More support for my particular point of view can be found in this Houston Chronicle editorial, published yesterday. I’ll stop here…except to wonder, yet again, is Obama still smoking? (the comments to this thread are hilarious…)

This is kinda-sorta related to the rhetorical question I posed yesterday (“Are we really that stupid?”):

November 25, 2007 -- IT'S hard for Hollywood pacifists like Brian De Palma to capture the hearts and minds of America if Americans won't see their movies. While the public is staying away in droves from “Rendition," “Lions for Lambs" and “In the Valley of Elah," audiences are really avoiding “Redacted," De Palma's picture about US soldiers who rape a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, then kill her and her family.

[…]

“Redacted" - which “could be the worst movie I've ever seen," said critic Michael Medved - took in just $25,628 in its opening weekend in 15 theaters, which means roughly 3,000 people saw it in the entire country. “This, despite an A-list director, a huge wave of publicity, high praise in the Times, The New Yorker, left-leaning sites like Salon, etc.

This lil blurb appeared in the right-leaning NY Post, so its veracity is questionable if you're a member of the tin-foil hat brigade. But for the non-paranoid among us: good news. We’re apparently not that stupid. Better news would be Brian De Palma deciding he’s had enough of Amerikkka and announcing he’s going to emigrate to the south of France where his world-view would be much more acceptable (or not. I keep forgetting: Sarkozy.) Chances of that? Hah.

Some people are really pissed about De Palma’s hit piece, though. Including Congressman Duncan Hunter, who sent a “scathing letter” to the MPAA:

The ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee sent a letter to the chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America yesterday calling the new Iraq war film "Redacted" shameful in its view of U.S. soldiers.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican, sent a scathing letter regarding Brian De Palma's new film to MPAA Chairman Dan Glickman asking that he not forget that there are heroes who have sacrificed their lives for the United States and Iraqi people.

"Unfortunately, Brian De Palma's new movie 'Redacted,' which opened in several theaters this week, portrays American service personnel in Iraq as uncontrollable misfits and criminals," Mr. Hunter stated in his letter to Mr. Glickman. "While incidents of criminal behavior by members of our military should never be ignored, the isolated incident on which this film is based negatively portrays American service personnel and misrepresents their collective efforts in Iraq."

Mr. Glickman, a former Democratic congressman and agriculture secretary, could not be reached for comment.

Of course not. And even if Mr. Glickman were available, we’d likely get some pap about the First Amendment, “isn’t this a great country where dissent is tolerated,” and all that happy horseshit. It’s a good thing I’m not king…because there’d be a whole bunch of deportations…or “exiles,” if you prefer… after a fair trial for treason, of course. Coz if De Palma’s merde isn’t “aid and comfort” to our enemies I don’t know what IS.

(h/t to Flopping Aces for the WaTimes link)

Today’s Pic: Keeping with yesterday’s theme…today’s pic isn’t a pic at all, but a link to another “It Could Be Worse” pic I put up not quite a year ago. I simply get all thankful when I go back into the archives and look at these photos. I saw enough of this frozen white stuff to last me a lifetime…and then some… whilst living in Upstate NY.

Never again.

Mid-Week

Via ESPN…the aptly named “That Ain’t Right,” a slide show of automotive monstrosities from the SEMA show in Vegas. The pic I’ve chosen to pique your fancy features my pet peeve of current automotive abominations…those outsized wheels that seemingly “grace” every other mildly or wildly customized SUV, Caprice, or other big-assed vehicles prowling the streets these days. To my way of thinking the money spent on “22s” would be better spent on a supercharger or some other horsepower enhancing device. Or decent shocks, based upon some examples I’ve seen around these parts…

Today’s Musical Moments… Two tunes from Leo Kottke. The first is contemporary Leo, playing his interpretation of the ol’ Duane Allman classic, Little Martha.

Short and sweet, as the saying goes. And simply frickin’ brilliant.

Now this piece ("Vaseline Machine Gun") is what originally turned me on to Kottke in the waaay-back, circa 1970 or so. The first time I heard this piece I simply didn’t believe it was only ONE guy on guitar…I just knew it had to be an instrumental duet. But, no. Just Leo. I bought the album and became a life-long fan.

Amazing, isn’t he? I’ve seen Leo at least three times…and always in a small venue with no more than a hundred people…at the very most…in the audience. The man has marvelous rapport with his audience and his stage banter is self-deprecating and virtually defines the word “eccentric,” as in funny-eccentric. There are few guitar players that are Kottke’s equal, and fewer still that are better. None come to mind as I write…

Today’s Political Moment of Zen (apologies, Jon)…courtesy of the WSJ:

To get the conversation rolling at that D.C. dinner--and perhaps mischievously--I wondered aloud whether Bush hatred had not made rational discussion of politics in Washington all but impossible. One guest responded in a loud, seething, in-your-face voice, "What's irrational about hating George W. Bush?" His vehemence caused his fellow progressives to gather around and lean in, like kids on a playground who see a fight brewing.

Reluctant to see the dinner fall apart before drinks had been served, I sought to ease the tension. I said, gently, that I rarely found hatred a rational force in politics, but, who knows, perhaps this was a special case. And then I tried to change the subject.

But my dinner companion wouldn't allow it. "No," he said, angrily. "You started it. You make the case that it's not rational to hate Bush." I looked around the table for help. Instead, I found faces keen for my response. So, for several minutes, I held forth, suggesting that however wrongheaded or harmful to the national interest the president's policies may have seemed to my progressive colleagues, hatred tended to cloud judgment, and therefore was a passion that a citizen should not be proud of being in the grips of and should avoid bringing to public debate. Propositions, one might have thought, that would not be controversial among intellectuals devoted to thinking and writing about politics.

But controversial they were. Finally, another guest, a man I had long admired, an incisive thinker and a political moderate, cleared his throat, and asked if he could interject. I welcomed his intervention, confident that he would ease the tension by lending his authority in support of the sole claim that I was defending, namely, that Bush hatred subverted sound thinking. He cleared his throat for a second time. Then, with all eyes on him, and measuring every word, he proclaimed, "I . . . hate . . . the . . . way . . . Bush . . . talks."

Much has been written about BDS and I’ve linked more than a few of these pieces. This one is as good as any and better than most. Not the least of which is this pithy observation:

In short, Bush hatred is not a rational response to actual Bush perfidy. Rather, Bush hatred compels its progressive victims--who pride themselves on their sophistication and sensitivity to nuance--to reduce complicated events and multilayered issues to simple matters of good and evil. Like all hatred in politics, Bush hatred blinds to the other sides of the argument, and constrains the hater to see a monster instead of a political opponent.

Which, of course, has never failed to amaze me. Read the whole thing.

(h/t: Lex)

It’s not a nice day here on The High Plains of New Mexico… a front is moving in and the wind is up. “Howling” is a much more appropriate, albeit overused, term. I won’t be going out today, reduced as I am to using Miss Zukiko for basic transportation, and today is not a good day for motorcycling. Ya, the Green Hornet runs and all her mechanical systems save one are intact. The one system that isn’t functional is the hood latch, and the hood remains in place…which is to say down… thanks only to the emergency catch. It’ll be a slow slog over to the body shop in Clovis tomorrow. But until then, the wounded Hornet will remain parked. I’m not one to tempt fate.

Saturday Stuff

Via Blog Buddy Morgan (and FARK, which has a comments thread on the video that’s only a lil bit unhinged)…Hell MS-NBC Freezes Over. Or, KO apologizes! S'true:

Coincidence, I’m sure (heh)…but why did I think of this while watching the Olby “apology?” And btw... have I ever told you how much I dislike Olbermann, Gentle Reader? Oh, yes...I have. Sorry.

Anyhoo. That IBD link was gonna get a post all its own, but it’s sorta like saying “In other news, the sun rose in the east this morning…” Nothing you didn’t already know, Gentle Reader. Except the media bias study IBD is on about was done at Harvard. Now that’s news.

Can’t you just imagine the faculty/advisor/team meetings that went down before Hah-vahd published the study’s findings? I’ll bet those meetings were…um… “interesting.” To say the VERY least.

My non-military readers might find this discussion over at Q&O about roles and missions of the four services interesting…or at least enlightening. The discussion takes place in the context of replying to a moonbat’s Liberal Lefty’s post about abolishing the Air Force (linked only for context, although the comments are rather amusing in that “Jane, you ignorant slut!” kinda way.), and as such primarily focuses on / discusses USAF roles and missions. It’s been pointed out before that the General Public is often unaware of what the military actually does with all that high-priced hardware you buy us with your tax money. The discussion at Q&O goes quite a ways towards fixing that.

Good stuff. And there’s more in the same vein here. Which coincidentally is the site where that “Abolish The AF?” post originally appeared…

(h/t: Mike)

Today’s Pic: Apropos of nothing, here’s The Lovely and Talented Miss Zukiko in all her glory, right after a wash and rub-down about a week ago. And…in a departure from my normal practice…I haven’t resized the pic for posting purposes, all the better for you to take in some of the marvelous details on her lithe frame and body parts.

Or: Bike Pr0n!

Note, too, the exhaust pipe on the forward cylinder is beginning to acquire some “character.” And that’s a good thing. Motorcycle exhaust pipes used to exhibit such coloring, which can vary from shades of blue to various bronze tones, back in the days before double-walled chrome exhaust tubes. As I said: that was a mark of character. It could also be an indication that carburetion was screwed up mightily, too. But we won’t go into that. Besides that, Miss Zukiko sports fuel-injection, doncha know. I like that.

October 24. P-Ville. Click for larger.

More Gore

As if we needed it. But, Gentle Reader, I'm sure you'll like this:

Gore Wins Nobel Prize, High Court Gives It to Bush
by Scott Ott

(2007-10-12) — Although former Vice President Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize this week for his work as a global-warming performance artist, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled early today that President George Bush would receive the gold medal, the diploma and the $750,000.

Mr. Bush, who was narrowly defeated by Mr. Gore in the 2000 presidential election, thanked Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito “for swinging the vote my way, and helping me to join the pantheon of great Nobel laureates like Jimmy Carter and the late Yassir Arafat who together brought peace to the middle east.”

Mr. Gore could not be reached for comment as he was returning from Oslo, Norway, in a private jet. However, his spokesman said that his efforts to bring peace on earth speak for themselves.

Heh... to quote a rather famous instantaneous-pundit. RTWT, Gentle Reader, RTWT.

I Slept On It

A few “final” words on Ahmadinejad and his appearance yesterday at Columbia… I immediately thought “never say never” after typing those words, but here goes, anyway. First of all, let me apologize for being “All Ahmadinejad, all the time” yesterday. All three of you long-time readers know I’m trying to break myself of being so danged political, but sometimes I just can’t help myself. There was something about this issue that grabbed me, and I’m still not quite sure what it is. I didn’t blog about Dr. Bollinger’s Columbia's decision to invite Ahmadinejad to speak at Columbia when the initial furor broke and that was by design, i.e., part of my effort to be less political. The same goes for the Ahmadinejad – Ground Zero brouhaha. There were plenty of people voicing opposition or otherwise chiming in on both those issues; my voice would have been superfluous, at best. I did, however make a decision to watch Ahmadinejad’s speech at Columbia yesterday after hearing the event would be televised. Little did I know what I was in for, or just how much I would be “taken” by the event.

So. After much listening, watching, and reading of comments, critiques, criticism, praise, bitches, complaints, posturing, and what-have-you about Columbia, its World Leaders Forum, and Ahmadinejad, my bottom line is this:

Columbia did the right thing.

I note with some (if not a lot) dismay that my opinion is in the minority on the right side of the ‘sphere. Some of my daily reads… people whose opinion I respect and often quote… disagree. I expected disagreement from some quarters, but that doesn’t surprise me given the usual and customary tone of the discourse there (if you want to call it that…to me those guys are just right-wing variations on the KosKidz theme). Thankfully, there are also at least two folks— and I’ll name names here: Jules Crittenden and Gerard van der Leun — who think Columbia did the right thing. Those guys put it in words a lot better than I do, so give them a read.

And finally (almost)… the New York Sun has an article on this subject that’s worth your time: “Bollinger Stuns Ahmadinejad With Blunt Rebuke.” And speaking of Dr. Bollinger, spare a moment to view the two vids below. They’re keepers.

Dr. Bollinger’s Remarks, Part I

Dr. Bollinger’s Remarks, Part II

(h/t: Hot Air) The full text of Dr. Bollinger’s remarks is here.

And now I have to hit the shower. I have to be over in the Big(ger) City^TM at 0830 this morning. The ‘Zuki has a doctor’s appointment…

I’ll be back later.

(War) Planes, (Steam) Trains and Automobiles Big Yellow Taxis (Not Necessarily in That Order)

Didja know the Troofers hold conventions? I sorta suspected they did, but Sonny Bunch at The Weekly Standard actually went to a couple…and reports on ‘em here.

NY 9/11 Truth held its anniversary celebration, "The 9/11 Truth: Ready for Mainstream," at the Cooper Union in New York City last week. Frequently citing Abraham Lincoln--who forcefully articulated his political philosophy on the same stage 147 years earlier--the Truthers invited to speak seemed less interested in discussing the intricacies of the various plots they claim to have uncovered than in shoehorning 9/11 into causes they supported long before the terrorist atrocities of that day. Tiokasin Ghosthorse, a Lakota radio host, said he wasn't at all surprised by the events of 9/11 because "America [has been] an 'inside job' since 1492." Mya Schone, another staple of liberal talk radio, entitled her speech "9/11 and the Oppressive Apparatus of the Capitalist State."

Attendance was sparse. Despite warnings to get tickets in advance in order to assure a seat, Cooper Union's Great Hall was at perhaps 25 percent of capacity on the first day. Even fewer showed up on the second day. Truthers varied in age, but the uniform of the event seemed to be T-shirts sporting slogans like "9/11 was an inside job!" and "Impeach Bush." Devotees of Lyndon LaRouche were staked outfront of the premises, warning that the ideas contained within the literature were "heavy, important, man." The LaRouchies seemed to realize they weren't welcome at the event, but it's hard to think that the sermon they were preaching was any more outlandish than, say, that of Alfred Webre, who was given 45 minutes to talk on the topics "9/11 as a war crime" and the "development of [an] international tribunal" for the Bush administration. After touching on those subjects (to great applause), he veered off course, arguing that an "artificial intelligence matrix" controlled by the Rothschild family might have caused 9/11, that the cancer rate in Iraq now stands at 30 percent, that AIDS is a biological weapon created to control the population, that global warming is being caused by a black hole 23 light years from Earth, and that the NYPD was employing a supersonic crowd disruption device that was depressing turnout.

And there’s more, much more. This sort of stuff would be funny if it weren’t for the facts that they’re talking about terrorist attacks on America — attacks that caused massive loss of life and untold billions of dollars in destroyed property and lost business income. That, and the fact these frickin’ idiots are delusional and paranoid enough to think our government is behind it all. It’s too bad “stupid” isn’t painful.

They’re beyond redemption. WAY beyond…

OK…I gotta bookmark this blog for those days when I’m either uninspired or lacking something, anything, of substance to write about: “The Conscience of a Liberal.”

Introducing This Blog

“I was born in 1953. Like the rest of my generation, I took the America I grew up in for granted – in fact, like many in my generation I railed against the very real injustices of our society, marched against the bombing of Cambodia, went door to door for liberal candidates. It’s only in retrospect that the political and economic environment of my youth stands revealed as a paradise lost, an exceptional episode in our nation’s history.”

That’s the opening paragraph of my new book, The Conscience of a Liberal. It’s a book about what has happened to the America I grew up in and why, a story that I argue revolves around the politics and economics of inequality.

I’ve given this New York Times blog the same name, because the politics and economics of inequality will, I expect, be central to many of the blog posts – although I also expect to be posting on a lot of other issues, from health care to high-speed Internet access, from productivity to poll analysis.

And Mr. Krugman is still railing, and will continue railing from now until he draws his last breath. I think he got his book title right, though. American Liberals: ALL “conscience” and little-to-no actual thought. Because there’s just SO much wrong and very little right with America, ya know.

Now I just have to remember he exists on those days when I need blog-fodder. Easy pickings.

Speaking of easy pickings…I’m sure you’ve heard TimesSelect is no more. That means Krugman, Dowd, and Rich are available for mocking by the Great Unwashed Masses now. Heh.

Good news, bad news…in The Times (UK):

An accidental explosion in a secret weapons facility in Syria killed dozens of Syrian and Iranian military engineers as they were trying to mount a chemical warhead on a Scud missile in July, a report has claimed.

Fifteen military personnel and “dozens” of Iranian advisers died when the fuel for the missile caught fire and the weapon exploded.

A cloud of chemical and nerve gases, that included the deadly VX and Sarin agents as well as mustard gas, was sent across the facility in the northern city of Aleppo, according to a new report in Jane's Defence Weekly.

The bad news, of course, is that the Iranians and the Syrians apparently have a very active chemical weapons program going in Syria. I’m sure you can figure out what the good part is. And there’s more of note in the linked article… unrelated speculation about that Israeli air strike that everyone and no one is talking about…

The Goddess Sings: Joni Mitchell reworks Big Yellow Taxi; UK exclusive: listen to the singer's new version of the 1970 hit. OK, I’ve had this playing (on loop) for about ten minutes now, and at the risk of being branded a heretic, I think I like it better than the original. Joni hasn’t recorded new stuff in a coon’s age, but she’s back! And sounding just as good as ever. If not better.

I love this woman…

Speaking of women I love… Heather Wilson (R-NM) co-sponsored H. CON. RES. 207: “Recognizing the 60th anniversary of the United States Air Force as an independent military service.” Full text here. Excerpts:

Whereas General Henry H. `Hap' Arnold drew upon the industrial prowess and human resources of the United States to transform the Army Air Corps from a force of 22,400 men and 2,402 aircraft in 1939 to a peak wartime strength of 2.4 million personnel and 79,908 aircraft;

Whereas the standard for courage, flexibility, and intrepidity in combat was established for all Airmen during the first aerial raid in the Pacific Theater on April 18, 1942, when Lieutenant Colonel James `Jimmy' H. Doolittle led 16 North American B-25 Mitchell bombers in a joint operation from the deck of the naval carrier USS Hornet to strike the Japanese mainland in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor;

[…]

Whereas the Air National Guard was also created by the National Security Act of 1947 and has played a vital role in guarding the United States and defending freedom in nearly every major conflict and contingency since its inception;

Whereas on October 14, 1947, the USAF demonstrated its historic and ongoing commitment to technological innovation when Captain Charles `Chuck' Yeager piloted the X-1 developmental rocket plane to a speed of Mach 1.07, becoming the first flyer to break the sound barrier in a powered aircraft in level flight;

Whereas the USAF Reserve, created April 14, 1948, is comprised of Citizen Airmen who steadfastly sacrifice personal fortune and family comfort in order to serve as unrivaled wingmen of the active duty USAF in every deployment, mission, and battlefield around the globe;

[…]

Whereas in the early years of the Cold War, the USAF's arsenal of bombers, such as the long-range Convair B-58 Hustler and B-36 Peacemaker, and the Boeing B-47 Stratojet and B-52 Stratofortress, under the command of General Curtis LeMay served as the United States' preeminent deterrent against Soviet Union forces and were later augmented by the development and deployment of medium range and intercontinental ballistic missiles, such as the Titan and Minuteman developed by General Bernard A. Schriever;

[…]

Whereas, for 17 consecutive years beginning with 1990, Airmen have been engaged in full-time combat operations ranging from Desert Shield to Iraqi Freedom, and have shown themselves to be an expeditionary air and space force of outstanding capability ready to fight and win wars of the United States when and where Airmen are called upon to do so;

[…]

Whereas during the past 60 years, the USAF has repeatedly proved its value to the Nation, fulfilling its critical role in national defense, and protecting peace, liberty, and freedom throughout the world: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress remembers, honors, and commends the achievements of the United States Air Force in serving and defending the United States on the 60th anniversary of the creation of the United States Air Force as an independent military service.

Thanks, Heather.

Today’s Pic: Is another C&TRR train vid. Details as in yesterday’s post. No dead presidents' faces (or dead comedians, either) this time around.

Good, Bad, and Just TOO Ugly for Words

I generally don’t have any use for Flaming Liberal Bill Maher or his brand of “humor.” But as the saying goes… “Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.”

You know the Troofers are a just mite upset over this. (h/t: Ron Chusid @ Liberal Values)

Speaking of Flaming Libs… Jane Hamsher, who mourns the passing of minstrel shows every so often, fires a shot across Elizabeth Edwards’ bow:

Dear Mrs. Edwards,

You’re a smart woman. You of all people should know about the asymmetrical intimidation problem that Paul Krugman talks about — the one where the media is afraid to go after Rudy Guiliani for claiming he’s a rescue worker, but they’ll try to demolish your husband over a haircut because they know that they’ll get swarmed by the right wing noise machine for the former and pay no price for the latter. That’s how it works.

So I was really disappointed today to read at Taylor Marsh’s place that you had joined with Diaper Dave Vitter and John “McCarthy” McCain to attack MoveOn. We (and by that I mean the netroots) defend you when the MSM try to make your campaign a pinata over stupid, insignificant stuff. When they try to say your race should end because of your illness, but don’t say squat about Fred Thompson’s lymphoma. We’re your first line of defense, the only messaging machine that progressives have.

So here’s the rule. You never repeat right wing talking points to attack your own, ever. You never enter that echo chamber as a participant. Ever. You never give them a hammer to beat the left with. Just. Don’t. Do. It.

[…]

We love you. We want to love you.

Knock it off.

What incredible frickin’ chutzpah! As another blogger noted, this is what happens when the nutroots are feeling their oats. And it’s also the major reason none of the leading Democrat candidates, including Breck-Boy himself, have yet to disown the MoveOn.org ad. Put simply: Obama, Her Hillaryness, and the other Dems are afraid to alienate MoveOn and their fellow-travelers.

While Sweet Jane’s screed is both amazing and amusing, the red meat is in the comments to her post. A real “Gathering of Pigeons” it is, with no lack of dirty obnoxious little birds to shite all over everything…and most especially General Petraeus… in their rush to support both MoveOn and Sweet Jane’s defense of same. Yet there was one brave soul who dared contradict Ms. Hamsher in her own lair, and gets his a$$ handed to him by none other than Sweet Jane HerOwnSelf (schwifty's words in italics, Hamsher's not):

schwifty says (ed: comment #90):

September 15th, 2007 at 1:57 pm

Jane Hamsher @ 46 (ed: responding to comment #14)
So Jane, basically the gist of your post is that the merits and principles behind what “we” say are subordinate to the tactic turning up the dial on our own echo chamber? A bit of realpolitik for the campaign trail, then.. but as a tree hugging far left liberal myself, I was astonished at moveon for stooping to Ann Coulter’s level. Accusing a military officer of betrayal is tantamount to accusing him of treason, and regardless of whether he is a willing hostage of Bush’s tactic to hide behind his medals, you don’t shoot the hostage. Whatever happened to defeating the enemy without becoming like them?

Petraeus is willing to advance himself politically by enabling the deaths of a lot of people. He is not noble, he is being political, and they are not stooping to Ann Coulter’s level to point that out — unless you are you equating her with the fellow men and women in uniform who gave Petraeus the name in the first place.

Bush sent him up there because he knew the media would be okay with going after a hack like Rumsfeld, but they’d be afraid to attack a military man. A cluster of ribbons on your chest does not make you immune to criticism if you’re acting Rumsfeld’s part now.

Once again: what made it necessary to invoke Ann Coulter’s language of Treason in the first place? So Petraeus is the latest in a long line of hacks.

Did that just become a hanging offense?

If not, then the ad slogan was poorly chosen. Moveon also does not refer to Iraqi civilian casualties as “dead hajis” either; pointing to the etymological origins of what began as a play on words over in the sand is a weak strawman, at best.

I respect the pragmatic idea that as a rule, Democrats should not bite the hands that feed them, but I fully agree with EE’s view (it helps to go back and read exactly what she said) and do not believe that she said any of this for any other reason than that she actually believes it.

And it goes on, and on, and on for 260 comments…the last time I looked. But the real winner in the “we support the troops! Sorta. Well, not at all.” Category is this insane little blurb:

The first to call the Surgin General “General Betrayus” were soldiers in the field. I remember reading it first at a link provided by Juan Cole’s site back at the end of winter or beginning of spring. It was inevitable, and is the kind of thing enlisted men and NCOs often create when frustrated.

I’d look for the link, but what with NCOs who write to the NYT dying and USAF crewmen involved in the Minot-Barksdale hijack derailment being hit, I’d rather not expose anybody new to these gangsters.

I hate to have to agree with Jane about somebody I’ve come to respect as much as Elizabeth Edwards on this, but you’re right, Jane.

Please remember, folks - MoveOn.Org was merely expressing a term in common usage over in Iraq by our highly abused service men and women.

Or maybe this one:

If that means we must use hardball tactics in attacking an unscrupulous, ambition-driven general who is acting like a politician and lying, then we must not be dissuaded from doing so just because he happened to put on his fucking uniform before showing up in front of the cameras on 9/11. If he can’t handle being called a betrayer when he is in fact acting like one, he can always stop acting like one. In any case, the uniform should offer no protection, it’s just a piece of cloth. And more and more troops apparently are starting to see it that way as well. You can only beat a dog so many times before he loses faith in you.

But here again you are clearly and explicitly focusing on the votes of the troops, rather than the citizenry. Let me tell you something, friend, and let me tell it clear. If the time ever comes when we are forced to follow the lead laid out in the Declaration of Independence and fight in the streets to throw off an oppressive government that rules for its own interests and not ours, I can guarantee you, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that those very same soldiers whose votes you are now wooing will be the ones shooting us down in the street to defend the government we are trying to replace. And they won’t give a FUCK about how YOU are going to vote in the following election. And they also won’t care whether you backed up Move-On or not.

Oh, Hell. I give up. They’re ALL winners losers. And these are the very people our illustrious Democratic candidates refuse to disavow.

Interesting times.

Just a Couple of Vids...

By way of ASM826, a commenter at Lex’s place, here’s a lil reminder of days gone by…

“I’m Jon Karry, and I approve this message.” Heh.

Via Mike…in a way, since he posted “What if real life were like a comments section in a blog,” which led me to the “College Humor” site, which led me to this:

For the uninitiated…this is High Times. Only in America, eh?

A non-parenthetical parenthetical comment: I found it interesting that the Wiki claims Al Gore was either (a) on the cover of High Times or (b) was interviewed by High Times. “B” is probably the safer bet but ya never know, especially when it comes to the Goreacle. Now if we were talking about Al Gore III, I’d go for option “A.”

A Minor Mystery and the Usual Stuff

(Note: mystery solved following a mere 15 minutes of googling after I initially wrote this first piece.)

What happened to Mike Fay? His blog, Fire and Ice, went dormant earlier this year without explanation, although I heard he was back in The Sandbox (not true). Now it appears that someone named “Cunnigham” (no typo, that) has commandeered Fire and Ice. Here’s a sample of the writing:

We no longer can swear United States Congress to impeach and take a awful president. The American Capital Post have published an op-ed piece by Henry Martin Robert Dallek that suggests a constitutional amendment to let "ouster by the people" for removing a president other than by impeachment or because of incapacity. Considering the dingy public presentation of Saint George W. Shrub and his disposal and the trouble in obtaining impeachment, this is a mulct idea.

Here are the chief characteristics of the amendment: The recollection process would get by obtaining a 60 percentage ballot in the Senate and House. Populace pressure level on United States Congress could assist it switch determination devising to the electorate. Congressional support would originate a national referendum that would be unfastened to all eligible electors in state elections. Clearly, it should be done fairly quickly.

This is an example of a total, complete waste of bandwidth, and not because of the ideology expressed, and I use “expressed” very damned loosely. It’s the piss-poor writing I’m upset with. Fire and Ice is neither who nor what it once was, and the interloper is gone from the blogroll (and replaced with the url of the real Fire and Ice). Not that the current squatter gives a damn, I’m sure.

I wonder if Mr. Fay knows what’s happening here.

Well, yes…yes he does. It took me a while, but the real WO Fay’s blog is here…he’s alive, well, and producing his usual high-quality stuff. As to the interloper…here’s the story:

First, my original blog, mdfay.blogspot.com, was blogjacked. As my previous post announced, thanks to a BBC link, my site's viewership went stratospherically off the charts. This, it turns out, was a mixed blessing. Someone decided that perhaps they could make a little extra fun money off of Fire and Ice. So they hacked in, changed the password, and made it theirs, sort of. There is no content at my old site, just a variety of links which I suppose are earning someone about three cents a month. Blogger was good enough to locate my content and repost it to mdfay1.blogspot.com with a new password.

Blogjacking. Who knew?

Now it can be revealed…the REAL reason Rove quit:

(2007-08-13) — Karl Rove, the chief adviser to George Bush since 1993, in a new interview with the Wall Street Journal, said he would resign from the Bush administration effective August 31, to spend more time with family and to head up the presidential campaign of Democrat front runner Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY.

Mr. Rove called the move “a cold calculated decision to remain in charge of the U.S. government indefinitely.”

“I crave power,” Mr. Rove told the Journal, “and I can’t get my fix working for a lame duck president. I’ve been informally advising future President Clinton for about a year. I have a lot in common with Hillary — mostly notably the ice water that flows through our veins and the unbridled lust to rule the nation with an iron fist.”

Heh. I think the moonbats would kinda like it, if it were true. But then again, Her Hillaryness has her very own Rove-analog…no need to outsource. Which is one of the things that scare me. Just one, mind you.

I haven’t seen today’s weather report from Hell, but one could safely bet it’s cold down there. Via David’s Medienkritik… a link to a lengthy (eight pages!) article in Germany’s Der Spiegel, a positive article about Iraq. A couple of excerpts:

In October, 90 "incidents" were reported in Tameem, an area no larger than a few city blocks in Berlin. Twenty of those incidents involved attacks on US troops by gangs of insurgents. Wherever the Americans went they were shot at from apartment buildings, three times with rockets and four times with rocket-propelled grenades. Sixteen remote-controlled bombs exploded along the neighborhood's streets, 14 homemade explosive devices were found and defused, snipers attacked the occupying troops twice and one hidden car bomb was found, ready for use. And so the story continued: throughout November, December, January and February.

[…]

Since June, Ramadi residents have only known the war from televison. Indeed, US military officials at the Baghdad headquarters of Operation Iraqi Freedom often have trouble believing their eyes when they read the reports coming in from their units in Ramadi these days. Exploded car bombs: zero. Detonated roadside bombs: zero. Rocket fire: zero. Grenade fire: zero. Shots from rifles and pistols: zero. Weapons caches discovered: dozens. Terrorists arrested: many.

Ramadi is an irritating contradiction of almost everything the world thinks it knows about Iraq -- it is proof that the US military is more successful than the world wants to believe. Ramadi demonstrates that large parts of Iraq -- not just Anbar Province, but also many other rural areas along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers -- are essentially pacified today. This is news the world doesn't hear: Ramadi, long a hotbed of unrest, a city that once formed the southwestern tip of the notorious "Sunni Triangle," is now telling a different story, a story of Americans who came here as liberators, became hated occupiers and are now the protectors of Iraqi reconstruction.

A remarkable turn-around, especially for Der Spiegel. If you follow the link to Medienkritik, you can see examples of previous Der Spiegel articles that aren’t so…um…positive. And there’s also a link to Victor David Hanson’s latest column where VDH says the turn-about in attitude isn’t all that surprising, given that the same sort of thing is happening, albeit slowly, in the US Congress. Both the Hanson piece and the Spiegel article are worth your time…

 

Today’s Pic: Another photo from this year’s vay-kay, similar to another pic previously posted. SNs One and Three posed with the mo’sickles, just before departure to points both known and unknown. A good time was had by all…

Fort Collins, CO. May. This year.

AARs, Crime, Rain, and Ducks!

Laurie is back from the MilBlog conference in Dee See and has a narrative and pictures. Good stuff, there! It seems like all I’ve been doing this morning is reading After Action Reports from the conference. Lex has a good narrative, too, and lotsa links to others writing their own reports, as well. Partying went on well into the night this past Friday! Dang! Wish I woulda been there!

Damn. I committed an “eco-crime.” And what would that be, you ask? I have three children…one more than is good for the planet. How uncaring of me!

HAVING large families should be frowned upon as an environmental misdemeanour in the same way as frequent long-haul flights, driving a 4x4 car and failing to reuse plastic bags, according to a report to be published tomorrow by a green think tank.

The paper by the Optimum Population Trust (OPT) will say that if couples had two children instead of three they could cut their family’s carbon dioxide output by the equivalent of 620 return flights a year between London and New York.

John Guillebaud, co-chairman of OPT and emeritus professor of family planning at University College London, said: “The effect on the planet of having one child less is an order of magnitude greater than all these other things we might do, such as switching off lights. An extra child is the equivalent of a lot of flights across the planet.

“The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the planet would be to have one less child.”

In his latest comments the academic says that when couples are planning a family they should be encouraged to think about the environmental consequences. “The decision to have children should be seen as a very big one and one that should take the environment into account,” he added.

Guillebaud says that, as a general guideline, couples should produce no more than two offspring.

So. There you have it. I wonder if there’s a statute of limitations? Coz I committed my crime in the way-back (well, two out of three, anyway). Back then we were worrying about an impending Ice Age, not so much about global warming climate change. So I think I should get a dispensation. But then there are those plastic bags…

Watching the WX Channel with one eye while I take care of my Daily Reads with the other…it’s been raining—hard—all morning. I was awakened this morning by the sound of rain on my roof, which, as I’ve mentioned many times in the past, I dearly love. I drifted in and out of sleep for about an hour once I awoke since the rain was steady and not of the pounding variety. Bad move, that. I should have gotten up immediately…because then I could have prevented the soggy mess that is my bathroom. Yep…that pesky roof vent in the bathroom was wide-open. Again. No real damage, mind you. Just terribly, terribly soaked. Everything.

So anyway…that line of intense rain (the bright red bits) to the east of us is apparently causing quite a bit of havoc. No tornadoes (Thank God!), but 55 mph wind gusts. And VERY heavy rain. We’re under a flash-flood watch, and I’ll bet P-Town is awash. As usual. It’s a great day for ducks.

Speaking of Ducks…

The Ducks last faced the Red Wings in the first round of the 2003 playoffs. At the time, Detroit was the defending Stanley Cup champs and there was talk of dynasty in Hockeytown. But that talk was indefinitely put on hold after the Ducks, under then-coach Mike Babcock, swept the Red Wings. Babcock, of course, is now behind the Detroit bench and has helped the Wings beyond the second round for the first time since the team's last Cup win in 2002.

To get here, the Wings had to dispose of a San Jose team many picked to win the Cup. They did it without defenseman Mathieu Schneider, who broke his wrist early in Game 5 on Saturday, and did it with relative ease. It's a testament to the sand this Red Wings team possesses.

This series will feature three of the finest defensemen of their generation in Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger of Anaheim and Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom. Then, there's Chris Chelios, who was one of the finest defensemen of the last generation, but refuses to acknowledge time and continues to be effective at age 45.

Both teams possess great goaltending in Hasek and Jean-Sebastien Giguere, and both are deep up front. In other words, this one should be a dandy.

Last night’s game was a dandy…the Wings were “large and in charge” from the moment the puck dropped at the beginning of the first period right up until the horn sounded at the end of the third. And Ladies and Gentlemen…what you see in the third scene in the video below is one of the finest defensive plays I’ve ever seen in hockey…bar none. Simply brilliant.

I’ll defer to Mitch Albom’s description of what happened in the vid above:

Here's what happened: The Sharks' Mike Grier chased a loose puck down the ice, with Lidstrom following in hot pursuit. The crowd rose. Goalie Dominik Hasek came out and swept the puck behind him, but Grier got to it and swooped around from behind the net, which was now as empty as a beggar's pocket.

And then Lidstrom. I don't know how he does it. Somehow he stretched that reedy body and surged his stick across the mouth of the goal a shaved instant before Grier released the puck. It hit Nick's stick and frittered away, and the Sharks' optimism frittered away with it.

"So you play goalie, too?" Lidstrom was asked in the locker room afterward.

"I try to help out a little," he said.

“I try to help out a little.” The defensive play of the century and it’s “helping out a little?” But that’s hockey players for you: supremely modest. Oh, and by the way…the rest of Albom’s column is very good today.

So now it’s the Ducks. Most all of the hockey writers are probably going to call this series for Anaheim…but haven’t we heard that one before, and recently, at that? San Jose was too big, too fast, too young for Detroit, right? And now the Sharks are lining up tee times while the Wings prepare for the Conference Final. To steal a football quote from Berman: “They could…go…all…the…WAY!!”

Let us pray.

Today’s Pic: One lonely iris blooming in the flower bed outside the door of El Casa Móvil De Pennington. That flower bed used to be a riot of color in late summer…until the “gardeners” came through last Fall and ripped out ALL of the perennials that previously graced my premises. Those idiots didn’t have the slightest idea about what they were doing…taking “weeding” to an entirely new, uninformed, and undeserved level. So now I’ll get weeds, and only weeds, later this year. Twits.

Yesterday. P-Town.

Update: Replaced the hockey video (originally from TheNewsRoom) with a highlight video I found on YouTube. I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I couldn't get the previous video to play consistently; the YouTube vid works fine. Lidstrom's play is now the third scene in this four-minute video...plus you get to see both Detroit goals, several saves by Hasek, and at least one brilliant save by Nabokov.

Mostly Good News...Especially On the Hockey Front!

Justice prevails…according to Eric Duhatschek at The Toronto Globe and Mail:

SAN JOSE — Sometimes, justice can prevail, even in the fickle and occasionally unfair world of professional sport.

The Detroit Red Wings were 34 seconds away from falling into a 3-1 series hole to the San Jose Sharks Wednesday night. Despite dominating the play virtually all night, the Red Wings couldn't find an answer to Sharks' goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, who stopped 35 of the first 36 shots he faced in regulation and had his team seconds away from victory.

But a breakdown in defensive coverage in the final minute, with Red Wings' goaltender Dominik Hasek on the bench for an extra attacker, led to Robert Lang's tying goal on their 37th shot. Lang's shot squeezed under Nabokov's arm after defenceman Craig Rivet permitted him to close to within 20 feet of the net.

In overtime, Mathieu Schneider then capped the rally, scoring his first of the series on a power play to give the Red Wings a 3-2 come-from-behind victory. That win squared the series at two games apiece, with Game 5 scheduled for Saturday afternoon in Detroit.

It’s a standard hockey tactic…you’re down by a goal (or two) in the last minute of the game, your goalie skates to the bench and you add an extra attacker. Your six skaters then assault the opponent’s net in frantic desperation, shooting the puck at every opportunity. More often than not, this tactic usually results in your opponent either beating back your attack, or worse, scoring into your open net and winning the game. But last night? Justice!! Robert Lang, as noted above, ties the game in the final seconds and Mathieu Schneider gets the winner at 16:04 in the overtime period.

So. It’s another best two-out-of-three series. Let’s hope this one turns out the same as the last…

(photo credit: AP)

Daniel Henninger has a great rant in the WSJ today about my absolute favorite bugaboo: Political Correctness:

Don Imus, Bernard McGuirk, Trent Lott, Larry Summers, the Duke lacrosse team, Jimmy the Greek, the kid who yelled "water buffalo" at Penn, Howard Cosell, Jon Stewart, Chief Illiniwek, Jackie Mason and "South Park" all have in common only one thing: They have not been Politically Correct.

Some were brought down by it, and some have made a living from it. Today, there are people who even say that the satire on shows such as "South Park" or the "Daily Show" have made political correctness a harmless amusement. We have become so cool that we can simultaneously abide PC's merciless strictures against saying the wrong things about the right people even as we laugh at our subjugation to PC.

Despite the ironic mockery, political correctness still packs a punch. Say the wrong thing today and you can be gone tomorrow, your status as a top broadcaster, university president or politician obliterated. It happens in the small space of a sentence--defrocked, banished, gonzo. Outside a courtroom, I'm not aware of many other forces in American life that can do that.

“…still packs a punch” has got to be the understatement of the day. I’m of the opinion that Political Correctness is perhaps the biggest of the “little threats” we face as a culture. Political Correctness is insidious because it instructs us in “pure thought” and exacts harsh penalties should we not comply with the prescribed positions of “right-thinking” people. The phenomenon, while bad enough for us plodders at the bottom layers of the food chain, gets unbearably worse the higher up the ladder one climbs, in any endeavor. The end result is our leaders in government and business, as well as our cultural movers and shakers, are effectively—oh-so-effectively!—muzzled. It’s a rare, rare thing to hear someone in a position of power actually “speak his mind” these days; Group Think rules the roost. The PC phenomenon has cost us a lot…and yet I cannot see what benefits actually accrue from being PC, other than approving nods from our friends on the Left and a general dumbing-down of the culture.

Can anyone show me something—anything—good about Political Correctness? I’m all ears…enlighten me!

Ahhh..so this is why I felt compelled to post pictures of my scratched fairing…

Professor Crozier defines embarrassment as when we accidentally "contradict the identity we want to project, leaving a quite disabling sense of being exposed".

And the car-crash moment when it happens is like a "little death" - everything seems to stop, time seems to stand still and we talk about being "frozen" or "dying of embarrassment" or being "mortified".

But what do we do when it happens, and how best to recover?

"The best way to deal with embarrassment is to talk about it," says workplace psychologist Gary Fitzgibbon. "If you skulk off, you're left with it. You mustn't let the embarrassment dominate."

Once you admit to what's happened and talk about it, everyone will feel much more relaxed and they'll be laughing with you rather than at you.

I just wanted all y’all to laugh with me, rather than at me. Even though you would have never known about my pratfall had I not posted. Unless you were one of those 15 people in that San Jon parking lot when I “contradict(ed) the identity we (I) want to project.” Fat chance, that. But go ahead…you can laugh. It’s OK.

Our weather certainly was miserable yesterday, but not catastrophic as Spring weather can be. No, it was just gray, dull, and rainy for nearly the entire day. A perfect sort of day to “take it easy,” which I did…in spades. And, digressing as is my habit, I apparently did myself some good, too, as my back pain has greatly diminished this morning. I’m “cautiously optimistic,” as they say. This thing is beginning to resemble a strained muscle much more than a herniated disk. Thank You, Lord!!

But back to the weather…clear blue skies, light winds, and a temp of 64…on its way to a forecasted 86 wonderful degrees. Perfect you-know-what weather. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll give my back one more day or if I’ll go out and swing a leg over the bike. Too soon to tell.

Today’s Pic: While yesterday’s weather sucked, the day before was absolutely brilliant even if I wasn’t feeling quite that way myself. Every so often I take an “inventory” shot of El Casa Móvil De Pennington in its natural surroundings, and today’s pic is one such shot. If you look closely you can see the neck of a Fat Tire bottle sticking up out of the cup holder on my chair. That was strictly “for medicinal purposes only,” Gentle Reader, and it helped. Oh, yes. It did.

May Day afternoon. On the outskirts of P-Town.