May, 2007 archive

I know that summer is coming. I have evidence.

The cooling tower place is about 20 miles from the Delaware Beaches just off the main road between Wilmington (and points north, like Philadelphia) and the beach.

As I drove north back home today, the southbound traffic was four or five times heavier than in March or April.

Then, when I hit I-95, traffic was at a crawl (and I was going against the daily commute). The back-up was caused entirely by persons taking the I-295 exit to go to take the Del. Mem. Br. to the Jersey Turnpike.

(For some reason, in this part of the world, heat addles persons’ minds and causes them to be seized with a desire to wait in long lines of cars going to New Jersey.)

Andrew Sullivan said it better than I could (though it’s been nagging me all day):

“When I was in Vietnam, one of the things that sustained us, as we went — underwent torture ourselves — is the knowledge that if we had our positions reversed and we were the captors, we would not impose that kind of treatment on them,” – John McCain, last night.

I hadn’t thought of it exactly that way before. Part of what sustains American servicemembers in captivity and subject to torture is the knowledge that they are part of something morally different than the enemy they are fighting. That knowledge is now over, under the command of George W. Bush. How much more of America are we going to sacrifice to defend America? At what point will we have to destroy what’s different about America in order to save it?

How shameful it is that a majority of the empty-suit pretenders to the Current Federal Administrator’s throne believe that the way to that throne is through the wreckage of the Constition of the United States of America and through the violation of what this nation has stood for, however imperfectly, since its inception.

The Republican Party could once claim to be the Party that saved the Union. It is now the Party that betrays the Union.

The Republican Party’s betrayal of American values, of America’s history, of the American struggle cannot fail to be one of the greatest betrayals recorded.

Tristero sums it up.

All talk; no head. From Josh Marshall;

It’s beginning to look like his past might actually catch up with him.

Now he has resorted to the usual defense of the bully–blaming others:

Wolfowitz added that the chairman of the ethics panel thought that “due to my personal relationship with Ms. Riza, I was in the best position to persuade her to take out-placement and thereby achieve the ‘pragmatic solution’ the committee desired.”

Wolfowitz effectively blamed Riza for his predicament as well, saying that her “intractable position” in demanding a salary increase as compensation for her career disruption forced him to grant one to pre-empt a lawsuit.

Professor Cole sums it up (emphasis added):

The simple fact is that Wolfowitz has throughout his entire career demonstrated a penchant for cronyism and for smearing and marginalizing perceived rivals as tactics for getting his way. He has been arrogant and highhanded in dismissing the views of wiser and more informed experts, exhibiting a narcissism that is also apparent in his personal life. Indeed, these tactics are typical of what might be called the “neoconservative style.”

Via ASZ:

First Annual Dick Cheney Paintball Tourney

The Young Republicans of Alexandria, VA are the hosts of the Tourney, and I think it is a fine idea to name it after our Vice President.

First prize to the person who shoots the most friends in the face.

The smart ones are U. S. contractors in Iraq.

A Bear (Yeah, we do have a place named Bear–ed.) man suspected intruders had broken into his home when he found the rear door forced open early Sunday.

What he didn’t expect was to find two unwelcome guests inside, allegedly passed out drunk on his liquor.

County police officers arrested the two men, who are accused of breaking into the home, eating the homeowner’s food, drinking his alcohol and passing out inside.

Just because I choose to be discrete about my perversions.

Your Life is Rated PG-13

Your life isn’t totally scandalous, but you definitely don’t shy away from adult themes!

Via Phillybits.

I was going to write a post about how outrageous this vehicle is, until I found out what it was being used for today. It was bringing young school kids on a field trip to a local bank.

It’s still outrageous, but I bet the kids had a great ride.

I have boated in it several times. I don’t have any pictures on it on the website, because, frankly, canals are boring. They are the same width for their entire length, gracefully adorned with rick-rack.

Now it’s closed from a shipwreck on the Chesapeake end (C&D means Chesapeake and Delaware–the C&D Canal is the unofficial boundary between upper and (s)lower Delaware, though the suburbs are rapidily moving south beyond the canal. Hummer homes are sprouting all over lower New Castle and upper Kent Counties).

Just as there is really no excuse for a collision between cars, there is no excuse for a collision between boats. If both boaters follow the rules, they will see and avoid each other.

There’s really not much to it. Safe boating is taking time and using good sense, and using your running lights at night.

• Pay attention.
• Watch the Danger Zone.
• Don’t stop paying attention.

Delaware Liberal.

Tomorrow and every Tuesday, Tangier, 18th and Lombard, 6p., Philadelphia.

Not sure whether I’ll make it yet, but I’m a-gonna try.

And, frankly, as far as I am concerned, it’s not much of a loss.

How do I know rap is dead?

It’s in a commercial.

And, no, I won’t buy anything from Hillshire Farms. In spite of and because of the commercial. Heck, I wouldn’t have bought anything from them before the commercial.

Rap music is the music that the “C” was left off of.

Sometimes, I can figure out those crytic codes on vanity license plates.

Sometimes I cannot, as with this one, which I saw on my trip yesterday to visit my mother in the home (it’s a 300+ mile roundtrip that always takes a lot out of me–back to the regular insanity tomorrow):

“ISLOW3G.”

No, I can’t remember what kind of vehicle it was, but I doubt that’s relevant in this case.

Any ideas?

We have antedeluvian cold-blooded flesh eaters in this part of the world.

We also have gators:

Haddonfield’s popular Hopkins Pond and a surrounding park are expected to remain closed today after the discovery of what appeared to be a four-foot alligator that evaded capture yesterday.

A while ago, I mentioned that I deal with First Son’s job by pretty much not dealing with it. The post provoked almost a record number of comments for my little blog.

If anyone else is wondering why I try not to think of him on the ground in body armor on foreign soil, this should answer his or her questions.

Folks, it’s not a game over there.

That’s why it’s so wrong to send persons off to die for a lie.

Because just as the lies are real, so too are the death, the dismemberment, the injuries, the maimings, the cripplings, the life-long mental damage.

It’s bad enough when the sacrifice is for a good cause, but when it’s for lies . . . .

And what, my friends, does that make the liars?

(With a tip to Linda for the link.)

Addendum, 5/13/2007:

Hmmmm. No one seems to want to answer the question.

I can deal with the credit card offers, Publishers Clearinghouse, even Sweepstakes Clearinghouse. It’s harder for me to deal with the weekly deluge of coupon booklets, but, as they are on newsprint, I can at least recycle them.

But junk like this just makes me want to throw up.

I won’t even take the time to deconstruct the lies, half-truths, mispresentations, and delusional thinking represented in this missive.

I would have written, “Return to Sender” on the envelope, but, as it was sent last class mail, rather than first class, it would not have been returned.

All I can do is discard it and say, in the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, “He don’t know me vewy well, do he?”

Overt bribery.

I can’t quite figure out how to blog this.

Britain, which has no written Constitution, but merely tradition and usage, has jailed two persons for violating their Official Secrets Act by revealing questionable conduct on the part of their government.

Digby ruminates on it. And, ya know, he’s got a point:

We don’t have an official secrets act because of the first amendment. But if the Republicans had had their way these last few years, we certainly would have adopted one, damn freedom of speech. (The constitution is not a suicide pact, don’t you know..) And Lord knows, “the Decider” has governed as if he were a monarch.

I continue to find it ironic that those who wave the American flag with such fervor and speak of “freedom” and “democracy” in reverent tones usually reserved for sports and Jesus, are just a bunch of forelock tugging subjects at heart. If their King George hadn’t turned out to be just slightly less mentally incompetent than the mad british (sic) King of the same name, our institutions might not have been able to keep this undemocratic movement from usurping our government all together. We may have gotten lucky by their extremely poor choice of both advisors and frontmen, but it makes me very nervous that they have come this close.