On a side note: When one recalls all the bad music that was made in they 80s by bands such as Night Ranger, Air Supply and their ilk, we must also remember the quality music put out by Billy Idol. The sometimes punky, sometimes rockabilly, sometimes folksy but mostly in your face rocker musician put together quite an underrated body of work. Sweet Sixteen is one of the best songs of the decade.
So I added up my gas charges for the month of June, and it came to $217 + change. That's pretty exact bc I filled up on the 2nd, and today on the 30th it's below 1/4 tank. That's a lot of money.
We lost two huge limbs and a smaller tree and half of our back fence Friday night. If I ever get the pictures on a digital medium I'll post one because it's pretty impressive - our back yard, the alley and the neighbor-across-the-alley's yards all full of tree. I think every man in our neighborhood has a chain saw and they only get to use them every ten years or so. A HUGE old evergreen went down across a dead-end street up on the corner and the chain-saw gang had it cut up and off the road within 45 minutes. Then they came to our alley and cut up the mess enough to get all the limbs out of the alley and off the wires. We had drifts of hail that were still there in the morning in shady spots - literally golf-ball size for some of it. We spent all weekend (with Brian and Molly and Catie's help) cutting up, loading and taking tree to the dump. My gardens are shredded. I was mourning a crushed huge blue hosta and Catie came by with an armload of branches and she shrugged and said, "Hosta la vista." This was a small but brutal storm that lasted less than 20 minutes from sunshine to sunshine, with 115-mph straight-line winds and huge hail and drenching rain. What a year. Council Bluffs looked like someone ground the leaves into confetti and blew it all over the houses and cars. Lots of trees down here and in Omaha. The funny part is that all of our neighbors were outside after it happened, rushing up and down the street looking at the damage and talking loudly and excitedly and they all had big glasses of wine in their hands. Every one of them poured himself or herself a big drink before they went out. It was like a disaster block party. Top of my list of things you never want to see: your husband propping an aluminum extension ladder against a wire that runs between two poles so an elderly guy with white hair can climb up it with a chainsaw to cut a big limb that's straddling the same wire. He says the wire was not live. I say....IT'S A WIRE. Actually they were all very knowledgeable and competent. We finally got to know the neighbors across the alley (very nice) They said we'll have to clean up our act because now they can see what we're doing.
This weekend I ate BBQ pork, sesame beef on a stick, tandori chicken leg with a weird sauce, stuffed mozzarella sticks, roasted, stewed goat, 3 or 4 different kinds of rice, a thai dumpling stuffed with an unidentifiable but tasty meat, jerk chicken, shark, meatballs of a forgotten ethnic derivation, cheese fries, and some other stuff. Chicago's great. I also had White Castle. Yummy!
Sorry about your garden Cathy. Joe that sounds SO GOOD. In St. Paul there was this Nepalese place that had hot momos, which were dumplings with a dipping sauce, and goat was the best kind. Ed said he gained 3 pounds. It sounded so good it made me order a sausage and olive pizza from my favorite pizza place. MMMMMMMMMMMMMM NY style. And CHEAP. Should be here soon.
MMM, I worked in at a food booth for the Des Moines Art Festival over the weekend. My old boss at a catering place is Indian, and he and his wife want to open a restaurant now but are trying things out first selling food at festivals and the farmers market. Even though I worked like 30 hours in a few days, the food was so delicious that was pretty much all that I ate all weekend. It's nice because we get to see all of their recipes. It's also funny because it was three young white girls working the booth, which threw off some people. We were the most popular food vendors there! I wish I could have tried some shark on a stick, though!
I don't have time to elaborate on all of this so I hope my point is made.
Our economy is in shambles. The credit crisis is a major factor. This is mitigated by the high cost of energy. Mostly oil.
This is of great benifit to Iran. They are seeing record prices for their oil. Mostly on speculation - not so much on supply and demand. The speculators are fueled by uncertainty. The uncertainty stems from Iran's nuclear ambitions. Iran is coy about it's ambitions because they, again, benefit from the speculative price of oil.
So should we vacate Iraq and leave more uncertainty in the region? Maybe in 16 months like Obama wants to? Sure, if you want to see more forclosures and more unemployment and credit tighten even more.
On a side note. The democratic congress in it's zeal to tax has elimated tax credits to start up wind and solar projects. Mostly becaue there was disagreement on where the money for the credits would come from. What a bunch of idiots.
It looks to me like we should pay more attention to Afghanistan than we have been. High-priced oil (fueled by speculators) is one thing, but cutting women's throats because they try to teach little girls to read and write, and supplying the world with heroin because there is no viable alternative crop that pays is another. Let's get our priorities straigt when we allocate troop strength. I agree with you on the energy tax credits, but the vast majority of them were being used by huge oil companies with a vested interest in NOT finding alternatives to fossil fuels. And hey...surprisingly, there has not yet been developed a single cost-effective alternative. I know it's going to take a smorgasbord of smaller sources, but where are they? How do we solve this? If Saudi Arabia suddenly started supplying all the oil we could drink, everybody would be right back in their Hummers. We started curbside recycling today. I'm so excited.
I just went to the dentist for a cavity. The chair was a massaging chair, so I watched cable and reclined in a massaging chair for an hour. There's worse ways to spend a morning.
Chicken Tikka Korma...Saag Lamb...Shrimp Masala!! I think Indian is my favorite kind of food...but then I really like Greek and Lebanese...So, I'm claiming my fav is Indian/Mediterrain...BUT then I really like good Italian...German...French...Irish...oh, and Morrocan. Dairy Queen's good, too! And Daylight Donuts...I had a lil sausage wrapped in doughand Harold just now brought me a cinnamon thing!!
Dang. I want some fried pork carnitas ravioli with a something cream sauce. Instead of a frozen South Beach meal. Or anything on a stick, and plenty of it.
Oh Cathy, so sorry about your gardens...frustrating. :-( Pat, were you able to keep your mouth open...or did you keep drifting off and closing it? No smoking as of today. I wonder what the bikers will say about that...hopefully, they don't smoke up the bathrooms and clog our toilets with ciggy butts. By law we are to post no smoking signs around the restaurant...Tom, did you get them? We have about 30 glass ash trays and 20 plastic ones...maybe, we should give them away as door prizes?
Hang onto those ashtrays, I don't think this is a done deal...I sat next to Jack Kibbe at the Dem Convention on Saturday...he thought you could still have patio smoking...it's gonna go to court. He thought if your clients picked up their own food at the bar and carried out to the patio, you should be fine. Rep. Delores Mertz agreed. So, maybe have a special patio menu served with paper and plastic.
Thanks! Good information. :-) I simply do not, "get," what public health & safety has to do with smoking OUTdoors and what you do or do not eat. Makes no sense. Either it's unhealthy to smoke OUTside next to someone or not...the food has nothing to do with it. I still have to check and see if people can smoke outdoors once our kitchen closes at night. Hmm.
Ok -it's old news, but I was up in the air on a viaduct when those 100 mph winds struck. I had the girls in a car with me.
The hail sounded like bullets hitting the car and the sky was so black it was impossible to see more than 1/4 block ahead of me.
Many times I thought I should pull over (just like you're supposed to do) but seeing all the flying branches just had me thinking that I should get home.
I went through water rushing down the hill as high up as the top of my tires hoping for enough momentum to get through it and that the car wouldn't stall out.
We got home. The only deaths in the storm on either the Omaha / CB side were some kids who did what they were supposed to do: They pulled over and waited for the storm to pass. A tree fell on them.
As you go up and down streets, you can see HUGE trees - more than a yard across - completely uprooted. The corn fields are totally stripped - it looks the way it does after harvest.
I asked Lisa if the girls were scared and she said not really, but she had them pray while she was peering out the windshield trying to drive in a hail blizzard. I can just hear Emma and Mary saying the Our Father and enjoying the drama of it all.
Come one, come all...to Algona for ABATE/July 4th, looks like alot of fun...lots of festival type stuff, Sarah's has live music on the patio Friday night! Mom and Dad will be back from Mexico. Cmon, cmon, cmon.
Obama recently decried this country's treatment of veterans citing the Walter Reed hospital as an example poor treatment. Walter Reed is a VA hospital within spitting distance of the US capital. Obama has sat on the Veteran's Affairs committee which has oversight of the VA.
I can't stand this guy. A phony through and through.
And anyone who thinks that the recent remarks made by Gen. Clark about McCain's military service were not made in concert with Obama's campaign....what are you smoking?
His new way of poilitcs seem a lot like the old ways. No change here.
I really don't see what's so terrible about what Clark said. He didn't disrespect Mccain or his military service. He just said military service doesn't automatically make you a qualified president, right?
Clark was trying to convey that McCain was not a military leader, so what experience does his service offer to the office of the president?...it's a good point. McCain was a tough prisoner, but he was not invlolved with strategy, negotiating, etc...
For the 4th- Brian and I are going to Des Moines to stay with Joe and go to the 80/35 festival. I think Ellen and Andy are comming too. Catie and Mia are going to stay with my parents. So the question is, can a largely pregnant woman indeed have fun at a mid-summer outdoor music festival? We shall see....I hope it doesn't rain too much.
I don't see anything wrong with Clark's remarks - if you see the whole interview, they were eminently reasonable. Being shot down and held prisoner does not a president make. My opinion of the whole deal is that Clark may have been angling for a vice-president job and didn't guard his tongue enough. I am not being snide here because I really respect McCain and think he's a hero but...During the next four or eight years, trying to revive a staggering economy, reestablish America's reputation, tiptoing through a maze of middle-eastern rivalries, inspire Americans to sacrifice together (because that's what it's going to take) and convince them that they're not the only ones being asked to sacrifice, being able to HOLD YOUR TEMPER and be calm and rational in the face of people who don't like us....is this a job for a jet jockey? A person who courts danger, and damn the torpedoes? I think Clark is a politician to the core of his innermost being, but I agree with what he said. Republican blogs are running with this as if it were a swift-boat attack. Most Democrats aren't organized enough to mount such a mendacious and cynical character assassination as George's pals have done repeatedly. It was just an ill-worded blurt of what most people know is true. Being shot down in a fighter jet is not on anyone's short list of qualifications for President. Nobody deserves the office as a thank-you gift. That's what we have medals for.
Again, no Clark fan, but being a general in today's army probably means you have administrative, political and diplomatic skills to rival a Borgia. A captain is a whole other thing. Mission-oriented. Not too many big-picture skills necessary. Not that McCain doesn't have them, just that his experiences don't prove that he has them.
(I predicted this discourse about McCain's record at Sarah's a month ago!) Another reason I don't like McCain...when he met his current wife they were at a party. She was single he was VERY married (to the woman who stayed with and helped him upon his return from the POW camp...)he went up to his current wife, lied about his age and marital status and asked her out.
Just talked with Joe, Joe-son, and Betty. They are on their way back from S. Bend and are in Joliet, Illinois stuffing themselves with hot dogs at "Joe's". They all sounded very, very happy.
Bikers are starting to roll into town this afternoon.
Okay - so he was a bit of a skirt chaser. He wouldn't be the first one in the White House. However, he takes blame for the ruin of his first marriage.
Cathy - Don't dismiss an Annapolis grad's education just because he happened to fly a fighter. You seem eager to pigeon hole a guy as an almost reckless person because he has at times spoke his mind and flew jets.
If you read even a Wikipedia version of his bio you would understand that there is more to this guy than a gunslinger attitude.
He's not the second coming. But he is of known, honorable quantity. Obama on the other hand....the more I see the less I like.
Molly - you could pretend to be the tripped out, pregnant, Grateful Dead type dancer. Isn't there one of those at every outdoor music festival.
Touche on the Annapolis grad bit. However I was not dismissing him as a thrill-seeker, just saying that flying a fighter jet is a completely different skill set than being the CEO of the world's biggest economy, and I do think he's a little reckless. Don't worry about Obama winning (which he will) He'll probably be out in 4 years because he's inheriting the biggest mess since 1929. The instant-gratification generation won't jump on long-range, moderate, careful plans, we want quick fixes. Believe me, we don't even know where the bottom is yet. Economically, politically, diplomatically, it's a free-fall. George doesn't care, he's loaded. Dick doesn't care, he'll be dead. Rumsfield and Rove don't care, they're out running around foaming at the mouths, looking for tires to bite. The prosperous middle class as we knew it may turn out to have been a twentieth-century oddity. But enough of this frivolity. For the 4th, we will have the girls and will probably take a rowboat out to watch fireworks if it's nice and go see Wall-E. We also have a bunch of toys we bought from some convicts to keep Mia busy. Mia's full name is Mia Lenore Richardson, but she thinks it's Mia the Nor Richardson. I wonder what she thinks a nor is.
We went to the Happening...the M Night Shayamalan movie. I thought it was pretty good, if a bit gruesome. Also rented Fracture with Ryan Gosling and Anthony Hopkins. Also good. On the fourth we are going to a party. I don't know the people hosting it, but we are going anyway. p
Jeff Samardzija is 1 - 1 with the I-Cubs so far, ERA 3.00. They played the Notre Dame fight song at his Des Moines debut, which he won.
Good luck or have fun or whatever on ABATE weekend! I saw a guy with a Harley at the coffee shop this morning but he was talking with some other guy about his bike so I was too shy to ask him if he was going.
Happy and safe 4th to everyone. Watch out for highway patrol guys.
We're hangin' out in the backyard and letting the kids have sparklers, snakes, pooping chickens, you know, small stuff. We'll probably grill something. But Saturday we'll spend all day and night at Ryan's parents farm, lighting BIG fireworks and grilling and playing washers and wondering how the kids can get so utterly dirty.
54 comments:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DON! I hope you have something fun planned.
Those little singing yellowheads scare me.
P
Happy Birthday Big Don. Or, Uncle Duke as I called you when I was three.
Des
Happy Birthday Don! Do someting fun!
Ar you and Cathy the same age now? Or am I mistaken?
Monica
Happy Birthday, Don. I hope it's a good one.
On a side note: When one recalls all the bad music that was made in they 80s by bands such as Night Ranger, Air Supply and their ilk, we must also remember the quality music put out by Billy Idol. The sometimes punky, sometimes rockabilly, sometimes folksy but mostly in your face rocker musician put together quite an underrated body of work. Sweet Sixteen is one of the best songs of the decade.
Just a random thought.
Tom
Happy B-Day, Don!
Betty has her first official baby sitting job tonight. She is way excited about it and the money she will be making!
Kelli
Happy Birthday Don. Hope its fun!
Hi everyone, haven't blogged in months due to a big major stupid computer crash (hate technology). Good to be back! Go Bradley!
So I added up my gas charges for the month of June, and it came to $217 + change. That's pretty exact bc I filled up on the 2nd, and today on the 30th it's below 1/4 tank. That's a lot of money.
P
Yes, Don and I are both 48 until July 13.
We lost two huge limbs and a smaller tree and half of our back fence Friday night. If I ever get the pictures on a digital medium I'll post one because it's pretty impressive - our back yard, the alley and the neighbor-across-the-alley's yards all full of tree. I think every man in our neighborhood has a chain saw and they only get to use them every ten years or so. A HUGE old evergreen went down across a dead-end street up on the corner and the chain-saw gang had it cut up and off the road within 45 minutes. Then they came to our alley and cut up the mess enough to get all the limbs out of the alley and off the wires. We had drifts of hail that were still there in the morning in shady spots - literally golf-ball size for some of it. We spent all weekend (with Brian and Molly and Catie's help) cutting up, loading and taking tree to the dump. My gardens are shredded. I was mourning a crushed huge blue hosta and Catie came by with an armload of branches and she shrugged and said, "Hosta la vista."
This was a small but brutal storm that lasted less than 20 minutes from sunshine to sunshine, with 115-mph straight-line winds and huge hail and drenching rain. What a year. Council Bluffs looked like someone ground the leaves into confetti and blew it all over the houses and cars. Lots of trees down here and in Omaha. The funny part is that all of our neighbors were outside after it happened, rushing up and down the street looking at the damage and talking loudly and excitedly and they all had big glasses of wine in their hands. Every one of them poured himself or herself a big drink before they went out. It was like a disaster block party.
Top of my list of things you never want to see: your husband propping an aluminum extension ladder against a wire that runs between two poles so an elderly guy with white hair can climb up it with a chainsaw to cut a big limb that's straddling the same wire. He says the wire was not live. I say....IT'S A WIRE. Actually they were all very knowledgeable and competent. We finally got to know the neighbors across the alley (very nice) They said we'll have to clean up our act because now they can see what we're doing.
This weekend I ate BBQ pork, sesame beef on a stick, tandori chicken leg with a weird sauce, stuffed mozzarella sticks, roasted, stewed goat, 3 or 4 different kinds of rice, a thai dumpling stuffed with an unidentifiable but tasty meat, jerk chicken, shark, meatballs of a forgotten ethnic derivation, cheese fries, and some other stuff. Chicago's great. I also had White Castle. Yummy!
Caitlin's neighborhood still does not have power from the storm Cathy described! No internet or blow-dryers!
Sorry about your garden Cathy. Joe that sounds SO GOOD. In St. Paul there was this Nepalese place that had hot momos, which were dumplings with a dipping sauce, and goat was the best kind. Ed said he gained 3 pounds. It sounded so good it made me order a sausage and olive pizza from my favorite pizza place. MMMMMMMMMMMMMM NY style. And CHEAP. Should be here soon.
P
MMM, I worked in at a food booth for the Des Moines Art Festival over the weekend. My old boss at a catering place is Indian, and he and his wife want to open a restaurant now but are trying things out first selling food at festivals and the farmers market. Even though I worked like 30 hours in a few days, the food was so delicious that was pretty much all that I ate all weekend.
It's nice because we get to see all of their recipes. It's also funny because it was three young white girls working the booth, which threw off some people. We were the most popular food vendors there! I wish I could have tried some shark on a stick, though!
I don't have time to elaborate on all of this so I hope my point is made.
Our economy is in shambles. The credit crisis is a major factor. This is mitigated by the high cost of energy. Mostly oil.
This is of great benifit to Iran. They are seeing record prices for their oil. Mostly on speculation - not so much on supply and demand. The speculators are fueled by uncertainty. The uncertainty stems from Iran's nuclear ambitions. Iran is coy about it's ambitions because they, again, benefit from the speculative price of oil.
So should we vacate Iraq and leave more uncertainty in the region? Maybe in 16 months like Obama wants to? Sure, if you want to see more forclosures and more unemployment and credit tighten even more.
On a side note. The democratic congress in it's zeal to tax has elimated tax credits to start up wind and solar projects. Mostly becaue there was disagreement on where the money for the credits would come from. What a bunch of idiots.
Tom
It looks to me like we should pay more attention to Afghanistan than we have been. High-priced oil (fueled by speculators) is one thing, but cutting women's throats because they try to teach little girls to read and write, and supplying the world with heroin because there is no viable alternative crop that pays is another. Let's get our priorities straigt when we allocate troop strength.
I agree with you on the energy tax credits, but the vast majority of them were being used by huge oil companies with a vested interest in NOT finding alternatives to fossil fuels. And hey...surprisingly, there has not yet been developed a single cost-effective alternative. I know it's going to take a smorgasbord of smaller sources, but where are they? How do we solve this? If Saudi Arabia suddenly started supplying all the oil we could drink, everybody would be right back in their Hummers.
We started curbside recycling today. I'm so excited.
Speaking of taxes. Cook county just raised the sales tax so the sales tax in Chicago is now 10.24%. That's the highest in the country.
At least they had the good sense to not make it 10.25%. That would have been crazy.
Tom
I just went to the dentist for a cavity. The chair was a massaging chair, so I watched cable and reclined in a massaging chair for an hour. There's worse ways to spend a morning.
P
Chicken Tikka Korma...Saag Lamb...Shrimp Masala!! I think Indian is my favorite kind of food...but then I really like Greek and Lebanese...So, I'm claiming my fav is Indian/Mediterrain...BUT then I really like good Italian...German...French...Irish...oh, and Morrocan.
Dairy Queen's good, too!
And Daylight Donuts...I had a lil sausage wrapped in doughand Harold just now brought me a cinnamon thing!!
Dang. I want some fried pork carnitas ravioli with a something cream sauce. Instead of a frozen South Beach meal. Or anything on a stick, and plenty of it.
Oh Cathy, so sorry about your gardens...frustrating. :-(
Pat, were you able to keep your mouth open...or did you keep drifting off and closing it?
No smoking as of today. I wonder what the bikers will say about that...hopefully, they don't smoke up the bathrooms and clog our toilets with ciggy butts. By law we are to post no smoking signs around the restaurant...Tom, did you get them? We have about 30 glass ash trays and 20 plastic ones...maybe, we should give them away as door prizes?
Hang onto those ashtrays, I don't think this is a done deal...I sat next to Jack Kibbe at the Dem Convention on Saturday...he thought you could still have patio smoking...it's gonna go to court. He thought if your clients picked up their own food at the bar and carried out to the patio, you should be fine. Rep. Delores Mertz agreed. So, maybe have a special patio menu served with paper and plastic.
Thanks! Good information. :-)
I simply do not, "get," what public health & safety has to do with smoking OUTdoors and what you do or do not eat. Makes no sense. Either it's unhealthy to smoke OUTside next to someone or not...the food has nothing to do with it. I still have to check and see if people can smoke outdoors once our kitchen closes at night. Hmm.
Happy birthday, Don!
Hope your year is wonderful.
How do you and Cathy get to be 48 when I am 50?
Lisa
Friday's Storm!
Ok -it's old news, but I was up in the air on a viaduct when those 100 mph winds struck. I had the girls in a car with me.
The hail sounded like bullets hitting the car and the sky was so black it was impossible to see more than 1/4 block ahead of me.
Many times I thought I should pull over (just like you're supposed to do) but seeing all the flying branches just had me thinking that I should get home.
I went through water rushing down the hill as high up as the top of my tires hoping for enough momentum to get through it and that the car wouldn't stall out.
We got home. The only deaths in the storm on either the Omaha / CB side were some kids who did what they were supposed to do: They pulled over and waited for the storm to pass. A tree fell on them.
As you go up and down streets, you can see HUGE trees - more than a yard across - completely uprooted. The corn fields are totally stripped - it looks the way it does after harvest.
Yikes!
No more trying to beat the storm home for me.
lisa
I asked Lisa if the girls were scared and she said not really, but she had them pray while she was peering out the windshield trying to drive in a hail blizzard. I can just hear Emma and Mary saying the Our Father and enjoying the drama of it all.
Soooo, what's your favorite storm food?
Come one, come all...to Algona for ABATE/July 4th, looks like alot of fun...lots of festival type stuff, Sarah's has live music on the patio Friday night! Mom and Dad will be back from Mexico. Cmon, cmon, cmon.
Phelan's tour continues...she's been through the midwest, texas, new mexico california, northwest and then back east, she plays in Omaha on July 8th!
Obama recently decried this country's treatment of veterans citing the Walter Reed hospital as an example poor treatment. Walter Reed is a VA hospital within spitting distance of the US capital. Obama has sat on the Veteran's Affairs committee which has oversight of the VA.
I can't stand this guy. A phony through and through.
And anyone who thinks that the recent remarks made by Gen. Clark about McCain's military service were not made in concert with Obama's campaign....what are you smoking?
His new way of poilitcs seem a lot like the old ways. No change here.
Tom
So, what is everyone doing for the 4th? Details please.
P
Sweating, working hard and paying taxes.
Tom
I really don't see what's so terrible about what Clark said. He didn't disrespect Mccain or his military service. He just said military service doesn't automatically make you a qualified president, right?
Emily - I agree but....
It was an obvious nod from Obama's campaign to counter what many see as a handicap - that is, Obama's lack of military experience.
It is ironic that Clark would say that because of his own run for president when all he had was military background.
Tom
Clark was trying to convey that McCain was not a military leader, so what experience does his service offer to the office of the president?...it's a good point. McCain was a tough prisoner, but he was not invlolved with strategy, negotiating, etc...
For the 4th- Brian and I are going to Des Moines to stay with Joe and go to the 80/35 festival. I think Ellen and Andy are comming too. Catie and Mia are going to stay with my parents. So the question is, can a largely pregnant woman indeed have fun at a mid-summer outdoor music festival? We shall see....I hope it doesn't rain too much.
Don't go in the mosh pit.
I don't see anything wrong with Clark's remarks - if you see the whole interview, they were eminently reasonable. Being shot down and held prisoner does not a president make. My opinion of the whole deal is that Clark may have been angling for a vice-president job and didn't guard his tongue enough. I am not being snide here because I really respect McCain and think he's a hero but...During the next four or eight years, trying to revive a staggering economy, reestablish America's reputation, tiptoing through a maze of middle-eastern rivalries, inspire Americans to sacrifice together (because that's what it's going to take) and convince them that they're not the only ones being asked to sacrifice, being able to HOLD YOUR TEMPER and be calm and rational in the face of people who don't like us....is this a job for a jet jockey? A person who courts danger, and damn the torpedoes? I think Clark is a politician to the core of his innermost being, but I agree with what he said. Republican blogs are running with this as if it were a swift-boat attack. Most Democrats aren't organized enough to mount such a mendacious and cynical character assassination as George's pals have done repeatedly. It was just an ill-worded blurt of what most people know is true. Being shot down in a fighter jet is not on anyone's short list of qualifications for President. Nobody deserves the office as a thank-you gift. That's what we have medals for.
Again, no Clark fan, but being a general in today's army probably means you have administrative, political and diplomatic skills to rival a Borgia. A captain is a whole other thing. Mission-oriented. Not too many big-picture skills necessary. Not that McCain doesn't have them, just that his experiences don't prove that he has them.
(I predicted this discourse about McCain's record at Sarah's a month ago!)
Another reason I don't like McCain...when he met his current wife they were at a party. She was single he was VERY married (to the woman who stayed with and helped him upon his return from the POW camp...)he went up to his current wife, lied about his age and marital status and asked her out.
Just talked with Joe, Joe-son, and Betty. They are on their way back from S. Bend and are in Joliet, Illinois stuffing themselves with hot dogs at "Joe's". They all sounded very, very happy.
Bikers are starting to roll into town this afternoon.
kel
Okay - so he was a bit of a skirt chaser. He wouldn't be the first one in the White House. However, he takes blame for the ruin of his first marriage.
Cathy - Don't dismiss an Annapolis grad's education just because he happened to fly a fighter. You seem eager to pigeon hole a guy as an almost reckless person because he has at times spoke his mind and flew jets.
If you read even a Wikipedia version of his bio you would understand that there is more to this guy than a gunslinger attitude.
He's not the second coming. But he is of known, honorable quantity. Obama on the other hand....the more I see the less I like.
Molly - you could pretend to be the tripped out, pregnant, Grateful Dead type dancer. Isn't there one of those at every outdoor music festival.
Tom
So, did Joe (son) enjoy the camp?
Did you know the designer of the nike swoosh was a college student, who charged $35 for the design?
They did give her stocks many years later.
Touche on the Annapolis grad bit. However I was not dismissing him as a thrill-seeker, just saying that flying a fighter jet is a completely different skill set than being the CEO of the world's biggest economy, and I do think he's a little reckless.
Don't worry about Obama winning (which he will) He'll probably be out in 4 years because he's inheriting the biggest mess since 1929. The instant-gratification generation won't jump on long-range, moderate, careful plans, we want quick fixes. Believe me, we don't even know where the bottom is yet. Economically, politically, diplomatically, it's a free-fall. George doesn't care, he's loaded. Dick doesn't care, he'll be dead. Rumsfield and Rove don't care, they're out running around foaming at the mouths, looking for tires to bite. The prosperous middle class as we knew it may turn out to have been a twentieth-century oddity. But enough of this frivolity. For the 4th, we will have the girls and will probably take a rowboat out to watch fireworks if it's nice and go see Wall-E. We also have a bunch of toys we bought from some convicts to keep Mia busy. Mia's full name is Mia Lenore Richardson, but she thinks it's Mia the Nor Richardson. I wonder what she thinks a nor is.
We went to the Happening...the M Night Shayamalan movie. I thought it was pretty good, if a bit gruesome.
Also rented Fracture with Ryan Gosling and Anthony Hopkins. Also good.
On the fourth we are going to a party. I don't know the people hosting it, but we are going anyway.
p
Pat - when you get to this party, ask and ask often, "are the drinks free?"
Tom
Pat...don't just ask..YELL.."ARE THE DRINKs FREE?" and then give a little kick or chop or something.
The last president to inherit a mess this big lasted 4 terms, right?
gonna have to try this one...
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/4969270/
Donny, Eli and Liam were playing Risk last night...chanting the Straub, "man-chant." Ha! Funny.
Tragic. So young to be suffering from testosterone poisoning. Sad.
There's lots of tatooed testoterone riding into town right now...holy hogs, Batman!
Jeff Samardzija is 1 - 1 with the I-Cubs so far, ERA 3.00. They played the Notre Dame fight song at his Des Moines debut, which he won.
Good luck or have fun or whatever on ABATE weekend! I saw a guy with a Harley at the coffee shop this morning but he was talking with some other guy about his bike so I was too shy to ask him if he was going.
Happy and safe 4th to everyone. Watch out for highway patrol guys.
We're hangin' out in the backyard and letting the kids have sparklers, snakes, pooping chickens, you know, small stuff. We'll probably grill something. But Saturday we'll spend all day and night at Ryan's parents farm, lighting BIG fireworks and grilling and playing washers and wondering how the kids can get so utterly dirty.
Happy fireworks everyone!
It is HOT here. I went running at 9 and the heat index was already 91. I hope your celebrations are more temperate.
p
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