THREE DEFINITIONS OF 'JACKASS'


STUPID



SICK


HOMICIDAL


Up until now I'd have been prepared to say that Fred Phelps and his inbred hell-hound Westboro Baptist Church [sic] clusterschtup were about the worst the United States had to offer -- worse than any brain-dead politician, maybe even more evil and twisted than a Weather Underground bomber.

But I gotta hand it to Pastor [sic] Terry Jones -- a man so self-righteous and hateful that he is prepared to risk inciting world-wide violence which would most likely see innocent civilians, Christian missionaries, and United States military personnel murdered in acts of revenge, just to make a point about the misguidedness of Islam.

Newsflash, Jones, you lobotomized freak -- you do not need to burn the Q'uran to get across your belief that its followers seem more inclined to attack their neighbours for having read the thing. We get it. We've gotten it for 1300 years.

You are a bad man, Jones. Once upon a time the sort of mob-style 'frontier justice' you advocate would have been enough to stir the community to turn on your kind of poisonous creep, and maybe they'd just have to burn YOU for the greater good.

It seems to me a good move at this point would be for some upright, pitchfork-totin' (or motorcycle-ridin') neighbours of yours to quietly kidnap you until this storm passes, and help you, um, see the error of your ways. Or maybe the local constabulary should just take you into protective custody on the appointed day, since a lot of us would happily trade your sorry ass for the welfare of our military children deployed overseas.

In the interim, here's an idea: STFU. For all of us.

"LUCY, YOU GOT SOME 'SPLAININ' TO DO!"

Somebody 'splain to me why anyone lives in a city.

Anyone like me. When I could live here:




Going home tomorrow. Gr-r-r-r-r-r.

OBAMA'S DECORATOR
STRIKES AGAIN

This time it's at the Department of Justice website.

Check out the change in banners. Oldie one here, new and 'improved' here. Notice the nifty new motto at the top -- at least it's a truthful window into the workings of the Holder head, but doesn't it kinda send a chill up your spine? (Which is quite different from a thrill up your leg...)


[Hat-tip American Spectator, via the proprietor of Vox Cantoris]

THIS IS RICH


[even when the country isn't]


Having foregone, at the time of his inauguration/coronation/immaculation, any major re-do of his new office digs

[other than a couple of painting-swaps, and the chucking out of surplus metalwork like that gritty old bust of Churchill that went back to the British faster than Jerry Seinfeld could regift a label-maker],

Il Duce, El Presidentissimi, POTUS POTENTATUS, The One, Mr. Barack Hoover Obama chose this particular moment in the economic indicator trough to redecorate the Oval Office. Another brilliant kamikaze move in the dogfight of American politics.

Successful? I guess that depends on what you want in a presidential office.

The rug went from a bright and perky Laura Bush design (which remains a universal favourite) to a bland and rather timid crème with no brulée, encircled by famous fine words seemingly rendered into Great American Sound Bytes from (or maybe not?) four presidents and Dr. MLK.

The central furniture cluster went from upbeat but formal reception seating, to a woman's idea of a man's den furniture for watching his 80-inch plasma screen TV with the guys.

Whatever. I don't really care that much myself. I can't say the new look is any worse than Bush 41's blue boudoir look, and it's certainly less crass the Clinton's eye-splitting navy blue rug with red and gold striped couches, which bore an uncomfortable resemblance to Richard Nixon's imperial style.

It's not necessary to redecorate for every new president -- it has not been done consistently enough to call it a tradition. But let him have his Swinging Bachelor Pad. I'm kind of grateful to see what he (well, his wife) chose, and how it reflects something about him/them.

But what's really fun about this episode, really RICH, is the basket of responses on the New York Times (!) Home and Garden page, in an article that takes its title from Arianna Huffington's (!) assessment of the new look:

The Audacity of Taupe.


Heh. I admit it -- I'm enjoying this.

...But I really hate that coffee table.

And the lamps.

And none of the stuff goes with that hotel-chain lobby wallpaper, which is only there to be a sop to the inescapable neo-classicism of the room and the formality of the grandfather clock. Gross. Let's hope somebody else goes back to the storerooms (which are jampacked) and recycles some of the better furniture in January 2013.

Most fun tidbit of all: reading about this whole Oval Office decor thing permitted me to discover that LBJ had covered the floor with wood-pattern linoleum. Didn't you just know he, of all people, would do that?

"LION 6 OUT"

EXIT SHREK.

Change of command occurred today in Iraq, as General Ray Odierno's hulking frame made its final appearance at the helm of U.S. Forces-Iraq, Odierno being the "bigger half"' of the imaginative team genius behind the Surge. After four years, of which only about six months were spent at home, Big Ray is heading home to take up what General Petraeus (when called upon to save Obama's tail in Afghanistan) recently called "living like Air Force." Heh heh.

Odierno speaks at about minute 40. Check it out.

Jumpin' Joe Biden was there, and made a speech too [starts at minute 12] -- longer than either the outgoing or incoming Generals' speeches but, for better or for worse, Biden conducted himself with the requisite dignity that the office demands, made a pretty good speech, and proved himself a much bigger man than the President he serves. He recounted the phases of the Iraq war, and praised the efforts of those who participated in it -- after all, this wasn't the place for him to make honest confession of how he and his fellow Democrats had done everything in their power to frustrate and foul up those efforts, to trash military accomplishments, and to slander both the troops and their Commander-in-Chief.

He gave all kinds of credit to the right people for things he had said were wrong at the time -- to as many people in as many offices as he could think of except the obvious one. President Bush was mentioned only twice, both times in relation to commitments he had made to hand over power and withdraw troops.

However, Mr. Bush got lots of back-door kudos in the catalogue of military and civilians now serving in Iraq and Afghanistan who were first selected for service under the Bush administration. So "W" must have known what he was doing sometimes! Huh? Huh?

Footnote: Mr. Biden was on display for 17 minutes showing that he has perfected his boss's rather oily tennis-match head-bobbing as he speaks from right teleprompter to left teleprompter (though he did flub and fluff a few times).

Contrast that with the General Shrek, who spoke for 16 working from paper notes on the podium in front of him, and didn't lose a beat in terms of maintaining contact with his audience. I'm just sayin'.


The Friendly Giant says:
"Look up --
wa-a-a-a-a-y up."

[Little Canadian in-joke there. >>>>]

I CAN SEE NOVEMBER FROM MY HOUSE

My email inbox is chock full of bulletins on the political fortunes of many new faces on the scene, but none more interesting than the growing movement of Iraq veterans seeking entry into the political system that transported their armored arses into the desert.

The latest victory has been scored by Lt. Col. Allen West in Florida. You have to put 'Ret.' after his name because this much admired leader of men felt forced to retire early in the course of the Iraq war.

I remember this incident well [thinking even then that it was the height of absurdity and a very bad sign that anyone objected to Allen's actions] when the Lt. Col. was reprimanded for having threatened an insurgent weasel with death if he didn't cough up his information about a planned ambush. The clock was ticking, and the guy was holding out, so West took him outside and, after a brief countdown, fired off his side-arm next to the guy's head to make him believe that they might actually execute him the way Che Guevera used to do it -- something he never really would have done in a million years.

The insurgent gentleman then spilled his guts, bombers were arrested, and lives were saved.

Lt. Col. West reported to his commanders immediately after the interrogation (before it had even born fruit) and gave a full account of what he had done. Unfortunately, their response was to bow before the enemy -- the domestic enemy, that is, the nannies and sissies in the media and Congress -- and hold hearings to investigate the propriety of West's conduct, concluding that he was in violation of this 'n' that, and that he should be fined and have a reprimand on his record.

Upon return to his base at Ft. Hood, Texas (you remember Ft. Hood -- where safety and security of military personnel has been the highest priority.....), Lt. Col. West felt it was time to speak out in the only way an honorable soldier can, so he retired from the Army.

Fast forward seven years, to West throwing his hat into the ring for Congressman from Florida's 22nd district. Yesterday he won the primary, with 77% of the vote. Maybe this video shows why he has a tendency to stand out in a crowd (especially if that crowd is a bunch of standard-issue mealy-mouthed politicians):



Did I mention that Lt.Col. Allen West is a black Republican? I'm likin' the odds here.

Visit, learn, contribute, at GO WEST! Read his history, meet his outstanding family (well-educated professional wife and two lovely daughters), and contemplate certain obvious contrasts that suggest themselves......

I know I'm jumping the gun here (West has a way of making you do that!), but I can envision that, while he may not be our first black President (you blew that one, America), he might just end up our first black COMMANDER-in-chief and Chief EXECUTIVE of the United States, if ya know what I mean.

STEERING THE NATIONAL HANDLEBARS --

THEY SAY YOU NEVER FORGET HOW.....





Hmmmmm........

















Which one do you think looks like
training-wheels material?

MEMO to NOAM CHOMSKY, JUAN COLE, CODE PINK, JOHN KERRY, HARRY REID, KEITH UBERMENSCH, AND the 2002 model of ANDREW SULLIVAN (just to name a few):

MAJORITY OF IRAQIS DO NOT WANT
U.S. FORCES TO LEAVE JUST YET

Gee, do ya think?

Is it because they don't think we've STOLEN ENOUGH OIL YET? Kicked in enough doors? Abused enough prisoners?

Or is it because, in the very long term, painful as the process may have been, life is actually a whole lot better now without a homicidal crackpot running/ruining their country, and they'd like to make sure they can hold on to what they have now?

Hat-tip: Instapundit, who wryly comments: "Well, hell, sixty percent of Americans don’t like most of what Obama’s doing and that’s not stopping him. So good luck, Iraqis . . . ."

IT'S ALIVE

That would be me.


Just not into blogging so much lately, as I try to sort out domestic concerns and events, not least of which is the arrival of her Royal Highness, the First Granddaughter!!!!! She's over two months old now (having arrived on performance day of the Chester Play of the Resurrection), but I've been awfully busy buying Everything Pink in the World.©*

These happy events were followed in a few weeks by the peaceful death of my Dear Old Dad, who crossed over the final river to rest in the shade of the trees, in the dress of a true Knight of Columbus, draped in the colors of a true patriot.

Taps sounded at the graveside, and seven staggeringly accomplished grandchildren stood by, including three in uniform (one fresh off several planes from Afghanistan), marking the end of a great American life, one 88-year chapter in a great American story that began on steamships from Europe, touching base at Ellis Island, heading west to till the soil of Minnesota and grease the wheels of the iron horse.

It was his time to go -- I only regret that he could not live to see the tiller of Old Ironsides restored into the hands of a President who loves the homeland as much as he did. Let's all pull together, do our duty, and see if we can provide that posthumous gift.



Requiescat in pace, sed Semper paratus.






In the interim, the great unravelling continues.


WHY NOT BE WILD, IF WE FEEL THAT WAY? --
RECKLESS AND TERRIBLY GAY!



When the disastrous, preposterous decision in a San Francisco court, declaring the traditional definition of marriage to be unconstitutional, travels to the Supreme Court of the United States (as it inevitably will), the decision will be endorsed by the feckless running-dog-lacky leftist moo-cow Elena Kagan, latest ninny to have been Obama'd to the top bench.

The California judgment itself is best analyzed by the legal beagles from Power Line here. Money quote:

Conservatives have long said that the day would come when liberal judges declare the Constitution unconstitutional. That happened today, when a gay federal judge in San Francisco, relying on the opinions of mostly-gay "expert" witnesses, ruled that an amendment to the California constitution, which was adopted in perfectly proper fashion by a substantial majority of voters, is "unconstitutional." In this context, unconstitutional means "unpopular with me and my friends."

SPEAKING OF FECKLESS NINNIES...

Some ninnies are more lethal than others.

Triplets separated at birth?



















It's hard to believe you could reach this level of callous, corrupt, and stupid in only 22 years, but SPC Bradley Manning managed it with bells on.

Stationed in Iraq, but obviously (as it were) under-occupied, this little dweeb took home his paycheck while leaking classified documents to rabidly anti-war blog-ojevich Julian Assange, co-founder and editorial arbiter of Wikileaks (find it yourself -- I ain't helpin').

The unfortunately-named Assange has made his Wikileaks an ill-fitting internet diaper which collects processed crap and dribbles it out where it can make the biggest mess, up to and including causing people to die. But what the hell -- that's "collateral damage" of a sort that doesn't bother him. Only collateral damage caused by American military personnel bothers him. Except when it's caused by Bradley Manning.

Uh-h-h-h-h-h.......whatever.

Manning's relationship with Wikileaks is described here at Confederate Yankee, which, it grieves me to say, is the first site I found in two pages of Google listed sites about SPC Manning that weren't defending and celebrating the malicious brat's rank treachery. Well, go ahead and heap honors on this scumbucket, internet barkers, you won't be on the jury that sentences him to a lifetime at Leavenworth. (Which would be merciful -- he should be shot. And not because he appears to be a gay activist -- we'll just take that as a huge slab of irony.)

Interesting footnote: the treacherous little sh#t had the foresight (?) to use the name "Bradass87" as his internet moniker. No sh*t, ya little sh&t.



*SPEAKING OF "EVERYTHING PINK IN THE WORLD"©

I put a trademark on that phrase because, in my mind, it belongs to the least likely candidate I can think of. More years ago than I care to count, I made a beautiful costume for the actor playing Dumaine in a production of Love's Labour's Lost. It wasn't actually pink, more peachy really, with lots of lace and faille and silver braid -- and he looked splendid in it with his pale skin and thick black hair. He came in one night, in a festive mood, to check his costume out of the costume shop -- he swaggered up to the desk, flashed a toothy smile, and asked for "everything pink in the world."

I'll try to get a photo of just what he was talking about. But try to picture it on this guy.









Or this one.










This one? Well, he does go in for those crimson suits....

[Transition from Houston to Toronto to Newfoundland successful -- goodbye humidity and hundred-degree heat, plus Toronto smog -- goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. Yiss b'y!


Meanwhile, back on the geopolitical stage.....]


WE'RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BOAT


Well, actually we're gonna need a bigger BUS -- for the President -- because it's getting pretty crowded underneath the old one, what with all the folks Mr. Obama has thrown under it.

Maybe one like this will do:

Let's see now.... there was Grandma the typical whitey, and raving "old Uncle" Jeremiah, and Bill the bomber, and Bundler Jim.

And most recently, it was poor old Charles Bolden (General, USMC, retired) head of NASA, who announced [to its target audience] the "foremost" aim of NASA's new direction, as conceived by the [cough, hack] Commander-in-Chief: making the Muslim world feel good about its [LONG] past glories in the spheres of math and science.

La-dee-dah.

OOPS! It was an announcement not well-received when it eventually surfaced back on the home front, but the Obama administration characteristically [gack, wheeze] stood its ground.

OOPS! No, wait, do-over please. As the public and the punditry turned up the heat, the Obama administration characteristically took a mulligan on its previous position, and delegated Press Spokesbuffoon Robert Gibbs to take it all back.

Bus. Bolden. Under. Finis.

But, let's face it, folks -- these people under the bus are just not the [fill in the blank] we knew.

Newsflash!

Gettin' really crowded under that bus, what with Jumpin' Joe Biden throwing the whole durned NAACP under it.

Joe tells the world that (pace the recent resolution of the ENDOUBLEACEYPEE), the Tea Party movement is not inherently racist.

Who knew? [hat-tip Instapundit]


....Now, back to the foggy nights and sunny days of the New Founde Lande, where, if the sun and the wind and the clouds are just right, the lapping waves turn a truly splendid shade of amethyst.

What day is it again?.......

Terrorists -- 1

Me -- ZIP

Arrived only 40 minutes ahead of Air Canada departure instead of 60 minutes required for international (Canada, eh?) due to spin-0ff effects of a FREAKIN' HURRICANE, okay? Was (legally but stupidly) refused permission to board, and had to listen to the flight being called while I waited to re-book. Have now missed today's flight to Newfoundland, and am waiting to board my flight a mere 24 hours late.

Sitting in bar listening to Vuvuzelas blaring from nearby tube. Air travel has been an OWN GOAL since yesterday morning. Or perhaps "15-love", advantage Islamofascists. Red card, two-putt, sand-trap, double-fault, shoot-out, service break, and general balls-up.

Air travel: giving you that Irish-farmer-in-steerage-for-a-month feeling you can't get anywhere else. An overpriced experiential hair-shirt for the modern day. Unsurvivable without cell-phones. Other than that, an immense convenience. Must dash -- plane leaves from 200 feet away in 2.5 hours -- can't be late.

OOH


GOO




WHO DO?




DO WHAT? WHEN?


DO-WOP-A-DO



DIDDLY SQUAT, THAT'S WHAT


I wasn't successful at finding an embeddable video of Al Haig saying "I'm in charge here" -- but he might as well be, and he's dead.

Here's how it looks from inside the Louisianna sand berm where Bobby Jindal is
trying to keep his head from exploding. Headline:

CRUDE-SUCKING BARGES STOPPED
BY COAST GUARD









Meanwhile back at the ranch, er, golf course...





Last time a President started picking at the sand on a beach, we got Bill Clinton in Normandy, setting up his "IKEA cross" [some assembly required] out of strategically pre-set pebbles.





But I'm bettin' Mr. O tends to think of himself more like this:



Actually, the episode that comes much more readily to mind is.....

Oh no, you won't catch me being the first one to make an Uncle Remus joke about this mess!


Nota bene: While cruising for pictures of the tar-balls coming out of the Gulf, I was amazed how many of the oily ducks and beaches illustrating the news stories and blogs showed up (during the "save picture" command) with labels that indicated they were from an oil spill near Korea or Australia (they've had more than 25 since 1903). Fake but accurate. I'm just sayin'.

KERFUFFLE ALERT

SHE WHO GAFFES LAST, GAFFES BEST

(apparently for the very last time)

Perennial nagging hag of the White House Press Corpse, HELEN THOMAS, put her dainty foot in it last week by committing the ultimate political gaffe -- that's where you accidentally say what's really on your mind.

What's on her mind? Here's a sample of what even Jack Shafer, left-leaning journo at Slate, called her "screw you" technique of turning a question into a tedious one-note lecture.


Anybody who was paying attention already knew the gist of Thomas's "one note": that the very existence of Israel is an affront to the cosmos. But instead of veiling this belief beneath distorted "questions" about incidents like the Gaza flotilla boarding, she just spat out the basics as she has always understood them. Questioned by journalistic Rabbi, David S. Nesenoff, at a White House Jewish Heritage celebration on May 27, Helen vented her nonagenarian spleen and proffered her very own "final solution":



Good grasp of history there, Helen! Let's see..... Abraham is called by God, and travels from Ur of the Chaldees to ....... Warsaw. Right.

[Apparently there is more to the interview, which will be appearing soon at RabbiLIVE.com -- can't wait to find out what happened next!]

YidWithLid went personal (tsk tsk) -- "Helen Thomas is as fair and open minded as she is good looking" -- but has followed up with some interesting observations about how much anti-Semiticism is ignored in the upper echelons of the public pantheon -- Al Sharpton, for starters -- and that perhaps Helen shouldn't be fired if all these other people still have a pulpit. Point taken. He updates that she has been allowed to retire, and that "It is sad that the controversy surrounding Thomas will now end and the media will go back to ignoring Anti-Semitism within its ranks."

[Our friendly Yid also breaks another story of Reuters news service engaging in "fauxtography", i.e. the deliberate monkeying with pictures that are then released as news photos, having been altered just enough to alter the news itself. Check out Reuters' selective use of the "smudge" and "crop" commands to change your perception of the Gaza flotilla kerfuffle.]

Amusing sidelight: my new anti-virus package from Viper had this to say when I looked up a link to the Huffington Post:

VIPRE has determined that the site

you are trying to visit is malicious.

Heh.


On a totally unrelated note:
Also via Slate, we have Nike's new World Cup Ad, which Seth Stevenson calls "The greatest ad I've ever seen." Have to admit, it's pretty amazing. We report, you decide.

Cool.

IRONY ALERT

The Gateway Pundit (Jim Hoft) makes an interesting observation, if not exactly a point. I don't think you can really compare a presidential [non]response to an industrial accident with a president seizing an opportunity to right a tyrant's old wrong as a tangential act within a military campaign. If there is any real point of comparison it is that the current president has done absolutely nothing, with maximum fanfare -- while the former president did something of immense historic and humanitarian consequence with no fanfare whatsoever.

So it's an irony cage-match between marshland and marshland. The "winner and still champeen" is.........

....the Marsh Arabs of Iraq.

See here, here, and here.



UPDATE:
Gateway also highlights one of the recent monster items on the presidential agenda, the appearance of Sir Paul McCartney at the White House to perform and receive an award (glad to know we have our priorities straight -- got a minute to meet with the Governor of Arizona, Mr. President?).

Sir Paul tastefully chose this occasion to take a disgustingly low-rent cheap shot at the former President, by exalting Bush's successor as finally being a president who knows what a library is. Ha-ha, what a knee-slapper, you old Liverpudlian! Top of our class at Liverpool Institute, were we, Mr. MBE?

On top of being rude beyond words to the host country, let's remember that this snot-nosed pronouncement comes from a billionaire pop-icon who made a spectacle of himself (with his gold-digging ex-wife in tow) during a Larry King Show debate about the Canadian seal hunt: Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams invited the McCartneys to come to the province and observe the facts of the hunt in person, to which Sir Paul replied, "Well, we're here, Danny. You don't need to invite us. Thanks for the invitation, but we're here. We're actually in the studio here. We are in Newfoundland. And we saw the seals yesterday. "

Only problem was, as Danny pointed out, they weren't in Newfoundland -- they were on Prince Edward Island, where they had gone for their photo-op because the climate and arrangements were more hospitable. Oh what the heck -- you've seen one Canadian province (PEI 5600 square miles) you've seen them all (Newfoundland 42,000 square miles) . If it's Tuesday, I must be in some snowy place with Mounties......

Enjoy the transcript. The McCartneys made Larry King sound intelligent -- it was a classic performance by Dumb (Paul) and Spectacularly, Monumentally Dumber (Heather).

Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, limey ar*ehole.

KABOOM

is now

KERPLUNK

Once upon a time I stumbled upon, and then drew attention to, a military blog called "Kaboom" written by a truly talented wordsmith who called himself "Lt G".

The blog Kaboom meandered on through the dusty day-to-day terrors, mysteries, and neighbourhood negotiations of the Iraq theatre, until Lt G wrote something that got Higher all cheesed off, and he was told to stop writing, and to scrub all that had been written so far. It was a terrible blow to his growing readership, and a big black eye for the Army that squelched him.

Contrary to the pooh-poohings of dinosaur media types who want us to believe that everything written by amateurs in the blogosphere will eventually dissolve into irrelevant vapor, Lt.G's loyal readers held tight, kept their ears to the ground, and were Ready to Launch when their faithful scribe, now self-identified as Lt. Matt Gallagher (Retired) published his Iraq chronicles in a book of the same name (Kaboom), and began his equally well-written civilian blog, now called Kerplunk. If you're not already a fan, buy the book, dial up the blog, and join the movement.

Not surprisingly, Gallagher has some words worth reading in the lead-up to Memorial Day. Here are some of the best, in an entry from last week called "Good and Evil":

I interviewed a young Marine corporal yesterday, recently back from Afghanistan, for a magazine article I'm putting together. Over the course of our discussion, he brought up an experience of his that defies human comprehension, even in the context of war.

"We were on a dismounted patrol in Marja ... and walked up on a box in the middle of the street. The IEDs we found were never that obviously placed, but we called EOD (explosive ordnance disposal), just to be on the safe side ... long story short, they came out, checked the box out, and then called us [on-the-ground leaders] up ... the box was empty except for a dead baby. It must've suffocated in there, or starved ... we later found out (through intelligence reports) that The Taliban did it for two reasons: One, it was the kid of a local that had turned some of them in. Two, they just wanted to fuck with us, like they were showing they were capable of anything."

These are ambiguous times we live in. Ambiguous wars, ambiguous purpose, ambiguous intent. In Iraq, sometimes I tried to humanize the enemy, and sometimes I didn't. It all depended on ... well, everything.

But pure evil exists. This wasn't an ambiguous act that occurred in Marja. A murdered innocent, not yet even self-aware. Pure evil in its most obvious and egregious form.

Sometimes, I think pure good must exist, if only to combat the pure evil of the world. Pure evil like this.

Sometimes, I think differently. Sometimes I think that good, at its best, can only aim to be ambiguous, if only because of the eternal flaw of humanity, original sin. And what kind of match is ambiguous good for pure evil?

And sometimes, most times really, I just don't know.

I just don't fucking know.

In spite of it all, Gallagher looks out at the wounded world and finds the silver lining in the clouds. For Memorial Day, he checks out the progress of one of his many colorful companions-in-arms from the Gravedigger platoon (where every man and every location had a colorful nickname to preserve anonymity).

Corporal Matt Wheeler, known as "Hot Wheels", was severely burned and injured in June 2008. When Gallagher finds him winding up two years of surgery, recovery and therapy at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Hot Wheels has gone from learning to walk again, to running two miles, to preparing to enter Mississippi State University next fall. Read some of his family's Caringbridge journal, and you'll know what a long haul it has been for all of them.

In spite of it all, Hot Wheels has this to say:

Being at BAMC is a truly humbling place. Everywhere you turn there is an injured soldier, some with similar injuries, some with worse. You see people who are terrifyingly maimed and disfigured, but when you talk with them, all you hear is how thankful they are for everything they still have.

The question of the day continues to be, in a world of increasing self-absorption and isolation, where do we find these men? These very, very ordinary heroes.

Let's see.... I seem to remember....

You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.

No, Senator Gigolo, Winter Soldier Sell-out, Unfit Presidential Wannabe, and Crashing Bore John Forbes Cash'n'Kerry.

The Gravediggers did not get "stuck" in Iraq. Lt G, theologian, knows all about Original Sin, AND about Free Will, which he and Bulldog and Big Country and Hot Wheels all exercised, to put themselves on the road to Iraq.

Look them in the eye, Senator, and tell them how not smart they are.

SHOCKER!!

THE WARMING IS OVER

FORMER VEEP AL GORE SPLITS FROM WIFE TIPPER
AFTER 40 YEARS

For those of us who can barely tolerate this egomaniacal windbag for 40 seconds, all our sympathy tips to Tipper, who has finally had enough of the obsessed fat-head and is moving on. Wonder who will get the brand new estate on the California coast with a carbon footprint the size of Oahu.

The Drudge report breaks the unhappy news, and makes appropriate use of a snapshot of the infamous sexual assault Tipper was forced to endure in front of a monster television audience, when Al tried once again, without success, to prove he was a hip, down, groovy guy, by engaging in a painful public mauling of his wife at the 2000 convention. I never understood how anybody could pretend to buy into this moment -- it made me cringe the instant it happened, and I don't know how she resisted the defensive reflex to kick the creep in the groin.



Well, she's kicked him pretty good now. He's been a sad spectacle for quite some time now, and this makes him just that much sadder. Can't imagine we'll be hearing much from him in the near future. All the best to her.

SEEMS THAT OIL ISN'T THE ONLY THING
BP IS PUMPING RANDOMLY
INTO THE AMERICAN NEIGHBOURHOOD

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[hat-tip: The Politico, via Dennis Miller]



OBAMA SALUTES THE FALLEN

EVENTUALLY

A last-minute venue was contrived at Andrews Air Force Base for the President to deliver his soggy Memorial Day address, which had been rained out in Illinois, where a venue had also been contrived at the local military cemetery since the President couldn't be bothered to attend anything at Arlington.

It was late in the evening and Mr. Obama delivered his usual gush of hollow cliches in an especially wooden manner, stumbling over words and marring the syntax as if he had only just been handed the text for the first time and was looking for the teleprompter that wasn't there. It was a massively unimpressive offering from an increasingly underwhelming little man. [At least this year he seems to have mastered the distinctions between May 30 and November 11.]

Meanwhile back at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers, Jumpin' Joe Biden rose to the occasion and delivered his wreath and remarks with genuine feeling, making his boss look even weaker by comparison. Good on ya, Joe -- full credit is due to those who know enough to make the right noises when called upon, whatever their own personal and political blind spots. It shows a regard for the Office -- something that continues to escape the little man who holds the Big One.

IT'S LATE AT NIGHT --
BUT NEVER TOO LATE
TO PASS ALONG ONE SMALL...

MEMORIAL DAY MOMENT

J.D. Johannes at Outside the Wire shares a memory of one "ordinary" man who gave the gift of life to 100 or more, all in a day's work.

Sgt. Jason Stegall lived to fight another day, through multiple tours of Iraq where he stared down snipers and massive truck bombs, only to die this past December of complications from an excess of cold & flu medication. In the end, life is nothing but fragile. But for the men who owe their lives to his courage and clear-headed reflexes, even a life cut short is more than worth the living.

A life to remember on Memorial Day.

[hat-tip Power Line]


And a million times a million thanks again to Gary Sinise and Joe Mantegna for hosting a Memorial Day Concert in the front yard of the Capitol -- while the President lounged the day away in his Chicago Chateau Rezko mansion.

[Anybody out there really miss him? hmmm.... thought not.]

NEWSFLASH!

THE ROCK-'EM-SOCK'EM ONE-TWO PUNCH OF BRITISH NATIONAL HEALTH AND BRITISH SOCIAL COLLAPSE:

Woman dies of surgical complications after drunken collision with toilet brush handle.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends.....

We are so screwed. [hat-tip: Drudge]

NOT DEAD, JUST AWOL

It's six days till C-Day (Chester Cycle play, bright and early at 8:30 a.m. the 24th -- somebody wake me up by 8:25!!!), but I still observe the world at stolen moments.

BEST BET ON THE 'NET

Is there any better window on that world than American Thinker? Everything on the page seems worth a look (when I have more time) but attention should be paid to a couple of points of curiosity.

Did Tom Hanks' dumba#s remarks about his own production, The Pacific, make you wonder if the series was going to be any good? Reviews have been mixed and "yes, but..." (bad sign), but wonder no more -- Bernie Reeves lays it out cold, and it's not pretty.

On the current front page, AT examines two aspects of human irrationality that helped to elect Barack Obama: sex and racism. [I won't call it "reverse racism", a common term for favouring a racial minority out of guilt and pity -- when you favour or disfavour based on race, it's just racism, impure and simple].

The racism piece is especially interesting, in that it is aimed at black Christians by a one of their own, who reminds his community that the black genocide being carried out in the country's abortion mills has the full and unqualified support of their, as it were, president of choice: in his short and undistinguished political career, Barack Obama has oiled the machine that kills the babies, pre-born, part-born, and post-born alike.


"We are the ones we've been waiting for."


Let's hope that November 2010 is the dawn of the morning after, and by 2012 will see the end of the affair.

2012 Rumor of the Week.

FUN FACTS
about Supreme Court nominee ELENA KAGAN
[important, because, well..... there are so FEW of them]

Evan Gahr, over at Jewish World Review, begins:

Only Barack Obama, who ran for president just two years into his first senate term and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for accomplishments to be named later, could make inexperience a virtue.

And when you're fishing around for evidence of experience, go with what you know -- that is, Kagan and Obama both held the prestigious post of Editor of the Harvard Law Review. [Kagan wrote Very Little, but that's way more than Obama, who wrote Almost Nothing.] In her role as editor, Kagan apparently had an eye for the fiction, which is to say that she may well be the first editor to permit fictional short stories to be published in any law review.

Say what?, you ask -- why would anybody do that? Read on, and it becomes clear: fiction was the vehicle for an anti-white racist professor (Derrick Bell) to publish his wacko theories about the meaninglessness of law in a hopelessly racist America. Mmmm, heady stuff -- thoughtful, original, responsible journalism. Bell, to his credit, gives Elena Kagan full credit for being his enabler.

Fun facts you ought to know -- because there are so few.

Also at JWR, top-flight political analyst Michael Barone weighs in on a similar theme:

...behind their [Obama's and Kagan's] careful avoidance of incendiary issue positions one can find evidence that both the appointer and the appointee share the standpoint of the professor. They bring to public service attitudes that are commonplace in the faculty lounge but not nearly so common in the rest of America...

Obama himself... has pushed big government policies that seem like no-brainers to most professors but have aroused passionate and principled opposition from the public at large. We are seeing what government by the faculty lounge looks like.

[Fun facts on Obama at Harvard -- again, because there are so few.]









"They call me Strider. I will help you take the Ring to Mount Doom."