Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
I like Coulter’s writing style, bombastic and in your face, but I realize EVERYTHING she says should be taken with a grain of salt. If you dislike Ann Coulter, however, you are going to love Radley Balko’s story of a luncheon with her. A teaser:
I already have one great Ann Coulter story:
I
For a writer and a historian, Tom Spencer seems to be having a helluva time tracking down this recent historical timeline and is calling me to task for not sufficiently ‘condemning’ the 9/11 commission. For Mr. Spencer’s edification, here is a quick review of events.
– On Wednesday, 6 August, at 7:53 pm, Dwight Meredith posted a piece titled ‘Blue Ribbon Panel’ in which he discussed the various Saudi ties of six of the members.
– On Thursday, 7 August, at 1:21 AM, Mark Kleiman wrote a post titled ‘WHOSE SIDE ARE THEY ON, ANYWAY?,’ in which he asked the question:
How hard is it to figure out that the former Secretary of State of the United States shouldn’t be carrying water for the foreign power responsible for the largest massacre of Americans ever carried out?
– On Friday, 8 August, at 12:05 AM, Dwight Meredith responds to Mark’s question about Baker in a post titled ‘Gorelick Must Resign the 9/11 Commision.’ Dwight’s response:
The same can be asked of each of the
Michele wants some answers to some basic questions:
1. If you were a tree, what kind of dog would piss on you?
Who cares? I just wish the birds would stop crapping on me.
2. Do these pants make my ass look fat?
Why don’t you take them off so I can compare?
3. What’s your stance on sporks?
I prefer to stir my vodka tonics with a straw, but in a pinch a spork will do.
4. You’re the presidential candidate for a viable third political party. What’s it called and who’s your running mate?
“I’ll be honest- We are going to lie to you” and my veep would be PJ O’Rourke.
5. Why do birds suddenly appear?
To eat the worms that fattened up on Karen Carpenter.
I saw this Hockenberry piece about Dean Kamen’s IBOT tonight on NBC (I remember it being on MSNBC a while back), and it is just as amazing the second time around.
As if there were not enough reasons to be against the recall in California (which I am not going to state again), my comparison of future California politics to the Italian government in the 1990’s does not seem to be so far-fetched:
Elected officials, political analysts and professors say the upshot of this effort may unleash recalls against other candidates and spur more initiatives.
“That’s a danger here,” said state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, a Democrat who opposes the recall effort. “Once you use it, it could be likely to come back again.”
Some Democrats, in fact, have already issued the threat that they will try to recall any Republican who wins the Governor’s Office.
“The recall petition would be handed to that Republican at their swearing-in, absolutely,” said Bob Mulholland, a political adviser to the state Democratic Party.
The article notes that recall has been tried 31 times before, all unsuccessfully, but this certainly is not something I look forward to, and I live nowhere near California. If I owned a business I would probably look for a state with a more stable political climate, and all Californians should keep that in mind.
The other day, Dwight Meredith noted the following:
Let
This is a sad story that you never hear much about:
When he arrived at Fort Stewart with hundreds of other soldiers Friday, Spc. Brian Jasper didn’t know what to do next.
“Where do we go? Are we allowed to leave?” he asked, but most of the soldiers around him were locked in emotional embraces with wives and other family members.
The 24-year-old from Cincinnati was one of more than 20 single soldiers in Task Force 1-64’s Charlie Company who returned to cramped barracks and unfamiliar roommates Friday.
“It feels so weird being here,” Jasper said, giving several soldiers farewell high-fives as they departed with their families. “I don’t even know what to do after 11 months of being told what to do every day.”
Jasper’s dilemma is a common one among returning soldiers.
And for those who are single, experts say readjusting to peacetime life in the U.S. can be especially difficult.
“Families are often an anchor for soldiers coming back, in terms of helping them get grounded more in the here and now, and at some times helping them process the experience they’ve been through,” said Dr. David Baltzell, a psychiatrist at the Atlanta VA Medical Center’s post-traumatic stress disorder clinic.
When I returned from the Gulf to my base in Germany, even though it was great to be back at my base, it was terribly lonely returning and having no one there. The married soldiers had their children and their wives, others had their fiance to be with, and the single soldier had a barracks room. We had a very tight knit unit (as are most overseas units), and the wives and support groups tried to make it easy for the single guys, but all they really wanted to do was see their loved ones (and who could blame them). Seems like the same thing is being replayed again:
The single soldiers of Charlie Company returned to the nearby barracks to find their beds made and refrigerators stocked with beer, soda and food prepared by the wives of others in the company.
“It was important for me to know that the single soldiers had something waiting for them when they got home,” said Susan Conroy, wife of Capt. Jason Conroy, the commander of Charlie Company. “I knew all the married guys would be going home with their families.”
Some spent the night in the barracks recovering from their journey, which took them from Kuwait to Frankfurt, Germany, to Savannah in less than 24 hours. Others headed out to bars in Hinesville, where they were welcomed with drink specials and marquis messages.
“Welcome Home 3rd ID, Drink & Drown,” read the sign outside the Hurricanes bar.
How many of these single guys are going to get drunk, get in trouble, and suffer military punishment? NCO’s, this is your responsibility- these are still your men. Don’t fail them in garrison.