Nobody 693

Sunday, April 15, 2007
Nobody # 693

Nobody Asked Me But:

I sit and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all
oppression and shame;
I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men, at anguish with
themselves, remorseful after deeds done. - Walt Whitman – from “I Sit and Look Out.”

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." Mark Twain.

Just in case you missed this from last week’s Time, here is your chance to read it and weep:

For most Americans, the Iraq war is both distant and never ending. For Private Matthew Zeimer, it was neither. Shortly after midnight on Feb. 2, Zeimer had his first taste of combat as he scrambled to the roof of the 3rd Infantry Division's Combat Outpost Grant in central Ramadi. Under cover of darkness, Sunni insurgents were attacking his new post from nearby buildings. Amid the smoke, noise and confusion, a blast suddenly ripped through the 3-ft. concrete wall shielding Zeimer and a fellow soldier, killing them both. Zeimer had been in Iraq for a week. He had been at his first combat post for two hours.

If Zeimer's combat career was brief, so was his training. He enlisted last June at age 17, three weeks after graduating from Dawson County High School in eastern Montana. After finishing nine weeks of basic training and additional preparation in infantry tactics in Oklahoma, he arrived at Fort Stewart, Ga., in early December. But Zeimer had missed the intense four-week pre-Iraq training—a taste of what troops will face in combat—that his 1st Brigade comrades got at their home post in October. Instead, Zeimer and about 140 other members of the 4,000-strong brigade got a cut-rate, 10-day course on weapon use, first aid and Iraqi culture. That's the same length as the course that teaches soldiers assigned to generals' household staffs the finer points of table service.

The Army and the White House insist the abbreviated training was adequate. "They can get desert training elsewhere," spokesman Tony Snow said Feb. 28, "like in Iraq."

At least in that other great immorality that was Vietnam, the government had the decency to train and equip our military properly - and to not hide the causalities. We have had morally bankrupt administrations before. Some have been careless with the lives of our military. But none have been more careless AND callous.<<<

But the news isn’t all bad. We have finally found a way to make safe the streets of Baghdad. The Senator who would be President, John McCain, strolled through Baghdad’s Shorga market safely a few days ago. (April Fool’s Day to be exact. – And wasn’t that appropriate?) Of course he was protected by more than a hundred American soldiers, three Black Hawk helicopters, two Apache gunships and a bulletproof vest. McCain labeled his walk a sign of progress, and in a sense it was.

Now we know that if we can give each Baghdad resident the same protection, they can live in safety.<<<

Today is a special day for a special man - Jackie Robinson Day. Few people of the 20th Century are more deserving. Every time we drive by his high school in Pasadena, I think of how much he meant and means to America.

And did you know that Robison was such a great all-round athlete that he lettered in 4 sports at UCLA and, while in high school, even won the city ping-pong championship?<<<

The radical right is faced with a something of a dilemma. They sense that Mayor Rudy is their best chance of keeping a Democrat out of the White House in 2008. But he keeps saying these outrageous things like the fact that he supports “taxpayer funding for some abortions.”

Atlantic Monthly’s Associate Editor, Ross Douthat, wonders if Rudy really wants the nomination. He says: Giuliani, “who can be a potent contender if he works out smart answers to the various inconvenient questions awaiting him, has instead decided that he’s Rudy Giuliani, damn it, and the G.O.P. can bloody well change to suit him rather than the other way around.”

My response is in two-parts:

Part 1 – Way to go Rudy! My respect for you just took an upward surge.

Part 2 – “smart answers to the various inconvenient questions;” Sadly (which seems to be the word of the day) this phrase covers much of what has gone wrong with American politics. Truth and honesty are almost always quaint oddities having little to do with the real political world.<<<

Then there is that great Rudy-challenger, Milt – “Tell me what you want me to believe today, and I’ll oblige” - Romney. If honesty was a gas tank and “too thine own self be true,” the fuel, Milt would be running on empty.<<<

Yesterday I replaced my old Braun electric toothbrush that died a quiet death last week with a new model - speaks to me in 5 languages. That almost kept me from buying it. English should be the official language for toothbrushes in America, even ones imported from Germany.<<<

Not true – the official White House e-mails relative to the U. S. Attorney firings are not missing. They are stored in an out-of-the-way closet along with 17 minutes of the Nixon tape.<<<

Joke of the week contest – you choose.

Dick Cheney is still trying to link Iraq with Al Qaeda and 9/11.

Bush wants to appoint a czar to oversee our two current wars.

Please vote only once.<<<

This week’s HUH? Award goes to an unnamed LA Dodger executive. A season ticket holder, while complaining about the team’s new and chaotic parking system, said the team no longer appears to appreciate its season-ticket holders. The executive’s response was: 'Oh, we appreciate you, we just don't show it.' HUH?<<<

Headline: Thousands join anti-U.S. march marking Baghdad's fall. Response from our morally, ethically and brain-dead Vice President: “I still believe they welcome us as liberators. They just won’t admit it.”<<<

Below are 6 rules for properly administrating a blog. I know that Nobody is not quite a blog because, by definition, a blog has more than one reader, three if I count myself and Barb. But I still try to follow good advice.

1. Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.

No problem. If Hugh, my one responder, gets out of line, I will ban his comments without so much as a second thought.

2. Label your tolerance level for abusive comments.

My tolerance level is very high – anything to get more feedback.

3. Consider eliminating anonymous comments.

If I did this, I would have no comments.

4. Ignore the trolls.

I welcome comments from trolls – supportive, critical, humorous, obscene, inane. If you have an axe to grind, a knife to sharpen or are just lonely, feel free to comment.

5. If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.

All right. Elizabeth, stop using my Nobodies as bedtime stories to put the kids to sleep.

6. Don't say anything online that you wouldn't say in person.

That’s easy. I tell everybody everything anyway.<<<

It’s not fair. In many of the Bracketology contests one is forced to choose between two classics in the first round sending one on to the sweet 16 while condemning the other, almost as deserving, to early elimination. Here is an example:

The category is greatest political blunders. Two first round opponents are:

Dan Quayle corrects student about spelling of potato.
Vs.
George Bush throws up on Japanese head of state.

To choose Quayle is to recognize that “anyone” can be Vice President. How tempting is that? But how can one not reward the pure chutzpah of an American president spilling his guts to, ah, I mean on, his Japanese counterpart?

I can’t, so deserving Dan is out and the former Yale first baseman moves on.<<<

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnOnDatqENo

My anti-USC remarks have always been playful (well, mostly always) but there is nothing playful about their willingness and the methods they used to shut down a 13-student sit-in last week. The students were protesting the fact that some of the official Trojanwear is made in sweatshops. The school responded by calling their parents and giving them 15 minutes to disperse or they would be suspended, any student aid that they receive would be cut off and they would be booted out of their dorms.

Booted is exactly the right word because the administration’s actions were nothing more than Fascism on the march. When there is no room for free speech or assembly on a campus, when the First amendment must go into hiding, citizenship education hides with it.<<<

Justice or law?

The following is from a book I recently finished reading, “Supreme Conflict - The Inside Story of the Struggle For Control Of The Supreme Court.”

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, a leading proponent of judicial restraint had just finished having lunch with Judge Learned Hand. As they said good-bye, Hand told Holmes, “Do justice, sir, do justice.” Holmes responded quickly: “That is not my job. It is my job to apply the law.”

I think Holmes was wrong. The proper role for the court is to make sure that justice and law are one and the same. That’s what the Constitution is all about.<<<

And what better way to say good-bye to Arron Afflalo than with this picture. His achievements and, more importantly, his character should make any Bruin fan, nay, any fan of college sports, proud.