Nobody 733

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." Ben Franklin

I started to use this last week but delayed it until I had room for comment. We all know, or should, that our freedoms are not absolute. We can’t yell fire in a crowded theater or sacrifice our first-born. But the Bill Of Rights was written with the intent that if limitations are imposed on these freedoms, the burden of proof is on the government to show the necessity of their actions.

Too many times in our history we have allowed the government to get away with limiting our freedoms, sometimes in general, at others for specific groups, without proof of necessity. The president simply waves his national security blanket and, like sheep, we surrender our neighbor’s freedom thinking that this is the best way to protect our own.

How foolish we are not to know that if today it is our neighbor, tomorrow it may be us.

Sunday, February 24, 2008
Nobody # 733

Nobody Asked Me But:

“God is on the side with the best artillery.” Napoleon

“Never buy a boat, but always have a friend who owns one." Al McGuire

LAST WEEK’S QUESTIONS

The swish of a three-point shot, the crack of the bat hitting a home run ball, the crack of a helmet hitting a helmet….. In your opinion, what is the greatest sound in sports?

Me: There is no sound in sports that can equal the CRACK when, with a perfectly timed swing, the bat sends the ball soaring toward the distant fence. You can have your eyes closed and still know immediately that it is …………gone!

Hugh: The sound of a perfectly hit golf ball being struck by a persimmon driver. In the good old days we called this hitting it on the screws. Wooden drivers had Phillips head screws to hold the faceplate in place. Sometimes you could see the marks they left on the golf ball. The new titanium canons make a metallic sound that is both irritating and unreal.

Barbara: The music of the Olympics, which always gives her goose bumps.

If you had to write a brief message on a dollar bill that many people would eventually see as the currency circulates, what message would you write?

I would replace “In God We Trust” with “Let Freedom Ring.”

Hugh: So many things I would like to write on a dollar bill. Some serious, some not so serious. I suppose, "Spend me in good health" makes as much sense as anything else.<<<

Last week I promised that I would give you my take on “Vaginagate” and free press. About 10 days ago, the student newspaper at Cleveland High School in Reseda published a four-page special which editor-in-chief, 15-year-old Richard Edmond said was trying to raise awareness of violence against women. It contained a lead story about playwright Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues," and included a front-page diagram of a vagina and such stories as "Ending shame for nature's gift" and "Rejected!!!!!!!"

Actually I should have written, tried to publish, because as soon as he heard about the paper, Cleveland principal Bob Mark (formerly principal at Hale) sent out his storm troopers to seize the papers so that boys would not find out that girls have vaginas.

It was reported that security guards snatched papers out of student’s hands. Marks said he had heard similar reports, but did not witness any such incidents – nor would he confirm that some students were seized, beaten with their copies leaving printer’s ink stains over their face and heads and are being kept in isolation for the remainder of the semester so as not to spread the word.

Who was right at Cleveland? I say the students. Sure they handled their chosen subject with profound immaturity, but that’s because they are immature. Like everything else in life maturity comes step-by-step, mistake-by-mistake. Did they challenge authority? I hope so. The success of a democracy depends on it being challenged. Only autocracies command rote obedience. Obviously, a school is not a democracy, but it is where we (supposedly) prepare kids to be functioning democrats.

You can’t teach freedom with repression.

And finally, is it true that as one way of getting out of its financial mess, LAUSD will market tee-shirts fronted with the logo – “A vagina should be obscene and not heard!?”<<<

Did McCain fool around? Like the President Bill mess, I think the answer is irrelevant to his ability to be president - which is already far below that of Senator Obama, the Democratic nominee. And besides, if he did, I think it just adds to his reputation as a “straight shooter.”

And I don’t buy Zeph’s comment in the Star that this is a sign of McCain’s mental imbalance. I don’t think that it was his “mental” that that was involved.<<<

While on the subject of Senator John, his favorite president is Teddy Roosevelt. That is probably an excellent reason to vote against him. Don’t get me wrong. There was much about TR to like. He was fun, he was cheerful, he was dynamic, he was literate, he was powerful and he was a leader. But he loved power and war too much. Here is what he said about them:

“No triumph of peace is quite so great as the supreme triumphs of war." "

I don't think that any harm comes from the concentration of power in one man's hands."

Someone once said that one Teddy Roosevelt a century is enough. Make that one every two centuries and reject McCain.<<<

The sad love affair of Americans for guns - this is from a Column One in last week’s LA Times:

"On Friday morning, my husband and I sat down with Hannah and her younger brother and sister for a talk before school. We told them what to do if they ever spotted anyone with a gun in school: Forget calling 911. Don't worry about finding a teacher. Hit the floor. Crawl away and hide.

I hated to scare them. But my search for answers had led to only one truth: It will happen again." Stephnie Simon

(Hannah was 10 months old when Simon covered the Columbine massacre. She is 10 now and the killings continue)<<<

1959 – U. S. breaks off trade and diplomatic contact with Cuba to force Castro from power. 2008 – Castro announces his retirement. IT’WORKING!!!!!!!!!<<<

Another reason for Barack:

Everyone who votes for Hillary will vote for Barack. The reverse is not true.<<<

AND ABOUT BARACK’S “PLAGIARISM” or MUCH ADU ABOUT NOTHING

Here is Bill in 1992 followed by Hil Thursday night: Clinton, 92:

“The hits that I took in this election are nothing compared to the hits the people of this state and this country have been taking for a long time.”

Hil, Thursday: “You know, the hits I’ve taken in life are nothing compared to what goes on every single day in the lives of people across our country.”

Or is it not plagiarism to steal from one’s husband?<<<

And is Bill right when he says that voters should not be swayed by eloquence and excitement – unless he is running?<<<

YouTube song of the week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp1mIYJNKWQ

ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS PREDICTIONS

There were no great films this year, but there were several very good ones. And there were so many excellent acting performances that some of these categories are impossible choices. So here we go (possible surprises in parenthesis).

Best Picture – “No Country For Old Men.” (“There Will Be Blood”)
Best Actor – Daniel Day-Lewis (George Clooney)
Best Actress – Julie Christie (Cate Blanchett)
Best supporting Actor - Javier Bardem (None, although all five were incredible)
Best supporting Actress – Ruby Dee – sentimental choice (Amy Ryan, Cate) Blanchett, and Tilda Swinton were all wonderful

And did you know:

That the pilot for “Bewitched” languished for more than a year because of complaints by ABC’s Southern stations that its adman-loves-witch premise was “a veiled argument for racial intermarriage?”

That Doris Day and Ronald Reagan were the early choices to play Mr. and Mrs. Robinson in “The Graduate?

That “What’s new, pussycat?” was one of Warren Beatty’s signature seduction lines?

That for “Doctor Dolittle,” producers spent six months trying to teach a chimp to cook bacon and eggs in a frying pan?

That Dustin Hoffman, (no surprise here) “had a big fight” with Lee Strasberg the first time he attended Strasberg’s class?

These facts are taken from:

PICTURES AT A REVOLUTION Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood. By Mark Harris.
Illustrated. 490 pp. The Penguin Press. $27.95.

QUESTIONS FOR NEXT WEEK

Suppose that everywhere you went, you had to carry a shoebox around with you, and in that shoebox you had to keep what you consider the most unusual or unique object you own. When people invariably ask you to show them what’s in the box, what item would be revealed?

If you could have a home on the shore of any body of water in the world, which waterfront would you choose?

Nobody 732

Sunday, February 17, 2008
Nobody # 732

Nobody Asked Me But:

"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone." - Pablo Picasso

UP: Shakespeare, for calling out George Bush – “He jests at scars that never felt a wound.” (Romeo and Juliet)

Former student kills 6 at Northern Illinois University.

14-year-old is charged in shooting of Oxnard classmate.

Make it (a gun) and they will use it.

Oh America: How long will you worship your guns and kill your children?<<<

LAST WEEK’S QUESTIONS

If I had a dollar for every time I __________, I would be a rich man. How would you fill in the blank?

I am an anti-closure kind of guy. I leave drawers a bit open, cupboard doors the same way, lights on, things not put away. Give me a buck for every time I do one of those, and I will challenge Billy Gates for rich number one.

What movie that you have watched most closely parallels your own life to this point?

"Lord Jim.” Kidding. I cannot think of any one film that parallels my life, so I chose to do a composite. Each film or character contains a piece of me.”

Movie “It’s A Wonderful Life,” for title but not plot.

“The Graduate,” for delayed maturity. “

"M*A*S*H*,” for it’s idealism.

"Sleepless In Seattle,” for its romanticism.

"Teacher’s,” for the way Nick Nolte ignored the irrelevancies in the curriculum.

Character

Atticus Finch, (Gregory Peck in “To Kill A Mockingbird”) for his compassion and his willingness to fight for unpopular justice.

Howard Beale, (Peter Finch in” Network”) for his internal anger - "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

Roger Thornhill, (Cary Grant in “North By Northwest”) for leading an uncommon life.

Line "Well, nobody's perfect!" Some Like it Hot (1959)<<<

BOOK REVIEW

7th Heaven - By James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Little Brown $27.99 “

7th Heaven’ is the seventh in the Patterson/Paetro Women’s Murder Club series. Seldom can a book be judged by one line, but this is the exception that makes the rule. Here it is. You be the judge.

“Campton whipped around, pointed his SIG at Hawk’s chest, and squeezed the trigger. BANG!”

BANG??????<<<

(Why did I read it? Because Barb and I like the television series that is based on the series. But, once again, just call me Nobody’s Fool.)<<<

Despite our refrigerator woes, Barb fixed her exquisite macaroni and cheese for Valentine’s Day. To accompany it, she selected a bottle of Cab that she purchased many years ago. We were afraid that it might have past its prime, but it was superb. Noting a sticker with her purchase price, $8, on the bottle, she googled it later, and here is what she found:

Item Name: 1970 Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Category: Cabernet Sauvignon
Item Number: 66660
Quantity: 1 available
Bottle Size: 750 ml
Price: $340.00<<<

DOWN: Flopping – when a defensive player takes a theatrical fall after being bumped into by an offensive player with the ball. Most basketball fans think that flopping is a relatively new (and distasteful) part of the game. But here, verbatim, is a point of emphasis attached to the basketball rulebook in 1968-69:

"Acting As If Charged: The unethical practice of a defensive player or a screener acting as though he has been charged by an opponent, when in fact he has not been, is having an extremely undesirable effect upon the game. Without a doubt the practice is detrimental to the best interests of basketball."

DOWN: Tim Morris. This Washington Husky basketball player deliberately and with great velocity threw a baseball-style pass directly into the face of UCLA’s Alfred Aboya who was guarding him as he was trying to inbound the ball. It is not uncommon in situations like this to throw off the leg or body of the defender, but not the face. And this was in the closing seconds when the Huskies already had the game won.

DOWN: Coach Romar, the game officials and the PAC-10 afterwards for doing nothing to punish Morris. They were not sure that “it was intentional.”

You be the judge. http://youtube.com/watch?v=7ZXPAl4-8f8

DOWN: The Bruins for playing like an unranked team while losing this game.

DOWN: Everyone on the University of Arizona except for freshman wunderkind Jared Bayless. In the game Sunday against Arizona State, Bayless had 39 points while the rest of the team scored only FOUR field goals – one for each of four different players.

UP: The employees of the Pebble Beach pro shop for showing great self-control by not laughing when customers line up to buy a short-sleeve polo shirt for $145.

DOWN: Americans, for demanding so little from their government and getting just that. A recent poll by CNN showed that 78% of those responding believed that our present airport security is not enough to keep us safe. Where is the outrage? On a permanent holiday it seems.

Not mine. I have still not forgiven the Democratic Party for playing politics with American lives. When they regained majorities in both house of Congress in 2006, they could have passed a bill to begin disengagement from Iraq. With a few small compromises, enough Republicans were ready to support this action to guarantee passage. But the Pelosi-Reed gangs preferred a continuing war rather than giving their opposition partial credit for ending it.

AND IS IT TRUE

That Bush is close to persuading his many Democratic friends in Congress to change the closing of the Pledge of Allegiance to: “liberty and justice for all who agree – and waterboarding for those who don’t?”

DOWN: Republicans for turning the Roger Clemens hearings into a partisan farce.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) "You're one of my heroes," but it's hard to believe you."

Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), “You’re a money-contributing Republican so it is hard for me not to believe you.”

Actually, Burton was only thinking his “quote,” but it is inconceivable to me that the Republicans could turn the hearing into a political farce and defend Clemens in the face of overwhelming evidence that he is both a user and a liar.<<<

UP: Tim Rutten, of the LA Times, for putting a well-deserved double whammy on the Los Angeles Unified School District administrators:

First - For heading his Wednesday column - THE CLOWNS AT LAUSD.

Second - For comparing same to the dinosaurs in the old “Far Side” cartoon that shows a lecture hall filled with seated dinosaurs. Diagrams fill the blackboard, and a huge reptile is speaking into the microphone at the podium. "The picture's pretty bleak, gentlemen," he says. "The world's climates are changing, the mammals are taking over, and we all have a brain about the size of a walnut."

UP: The Onion – for getting the story behind the facts.

Fact: In the face of the declining dollar, many NY City stores are accepting Euros.

Behind the fact: "If you're gouging people on the price of a bottle of water, it just seems more polite to do it in their own currency."

UP: Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission for this exchange with Rush.

Limbaugh: “Dr. Land, I'll tell you, I talk to 20 million people a day.”

Land: “No you don’t. You talk at 20 million people a day."

UP: Madonna, for being the only “actress” in the past 10 years to twice win the Golden Raspberry Award for worst actress of the year. (2000 & 2002)

Even Jennifer Lopez could only win it once. (2003)

UP: Newsweek, which started the whole UP-DOWN Conventional Wisdom thing for these two observations.

Bill Clinton: Old CW - Best weapon for taking out Obama. New CW - Best weapon for taking out Hillary.

Huckabee: Huck won’t duck (out). But when will Jesus help him win a big state?<<<

Wouldn’t it be nice to see to see the social and religious conservatives come together and form a national political party. They could model it on the California Republican Party minus the economic conservatives, make every election a campaign for their narrow principles and, again like the California R’s, lose every time.<<<

Headline: PHONE DEREGULATION PROVING COSTLY TO MANY.

Comment: That is what deregulation is all about – allowing the few to increase their wealth at the expense of the many. (pun both accidental and telling)<<<

Is there anyone in journalism more aptly named than the militarily conservative columnist Max Boot? Just wondering.

If you have others to submit, please do.<<<

News Item: By a vote of 68 to 29, the Senate gave final approval to a bill that expands the government's spying powers and gives legal protection to phone companies that cooperated in President Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program.

All 68 Senate Republicans voted for this attack on the Bill of Rights. Oh wait, there are not 68 Senate Republicans.<<<

After President Bill spoke at a retirement community recently these two women shared their enlightened opinions:

Elaine Sirkis, 77, an Obama supporter, confided that she just isn’t sure she’s ready for a woman president. Betty Conway, 83, a Hillary supporter, confided that she just isn’t sure she’s ready for a black president.

As Conway walked away, Sirkis smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry,” she told the interviewer sweetly about her friend. “She’s a bigot.”

(And the seasons, they go round and round!)<<<

Vagina’s at Cleveland High School: Come back next week for the inside story.

QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK

The swish of a three-point shot, the crack of the bat hitting a home run ball, the crack of a helmet hitting a helmet….. In your opinion, what is the greatest sound in sports?

If you had to write a brief message on a dollar bill that many people would eventually see as the currency circulates, what message would you write?

Nobody 731

Sunday, February 10, 2008
Nobody # 731

Nobody Asked Me But:

"In the language of metaphor, Clinton is an essay, solid and reasoned; Obama is a poem, lyric and filled with possibility. Clinton would be a valuable and competent executive, but Obama matches her in substance and adds something that the nation has been missing for far too long -- a sense of aspiration." – Frank Rich

How can I, that girl standing there,
My attention fix
On Roman or on Russian
Or on Spanish politics,
Yet here's a travelled man that knows
What he talks about,
And there's a politician
That has both read and thought,
And maybe what they say is true
Of war and war's alarms,
But O that I were young again
And held her in my arms.

Politics by W. B. Yeats

I “got” the girl but I still wonder if I talk about politics too much.

I used this poem and comment four years and two days ago. Between then and now, I probably have talked too much about politics. But this year is different. This year, because of the candidates, is historic. This year is exciting. This is not be a year of “too much.”

SO, AWAY WE GO - SUPER TUESDAY WEEK

Wednesday morning: Romney lost big in all three states, and yes, he is through. Hopefully he will read this and know it.

Thursday morning: Obviously, he did, and it made him decide today to drop out.<<<

Hillary’s California victory is big, but not as big as it seems at first glance. Since the states delegates are divided proportionally, rather than winner-take-all, her delegate edge was only somewhere between 30 and 40.<<<

More important to Clinton was her decisive win in Massachusetts. Winning by 15% there in the face of the Kennedy/Kerry endorsements of Obama was very impressive.<<<

On the other hand, Obama ran better in Hillary’s home state, New York, than she did in his Illinois. In addition, Barack held service in neighboring state primaries while Hillary lost Connecticut and Delaware.<<<

One of the most interesting developments Tuesday was that there were many more one-sided races, in which either Clinton or Obama won by 10 or more percentage points than there were close ones. This indicates that despite the overall delegate margin still being quite close, each candidate inspires strong regional and identity support.<<<

FROM HERE TO CONVENTION

Clearly, it is still a horse race for the Democrats, and, although the primaries in Texas and Ohio will be very important, there is a good chance that neither will be decisive, making this the first open convention since yesterday, when I was young.

Is this good or bad for the Democratic Party? You can argue either way. The Republican race is settled and boring while theirs is contentious and exciting. Or the Democrats are ripping and tearing while the Republicans have made their choice.

My vote is – advantage Democrats. Despite McCain wrapping up the nomination, there is no unity as long as long as both the economic and social conservatives hate him. No, hate is not too strange a description. And even though, as described above, many of the state votes were one-sided, most Democrats like both their candidates.<<<

Advantage/disadvantage – Democratic race: Obama has the big bucks, while Hillary is having to loan money to herself. But Clinton has the more solid voting blocks – women, Latinos and the over-55 crowd.

Both sides claim momentum, and it is pretty even. But I give a slight edge to Hillary. The popular vote wins in Massachusetts and California were big.<<<

If Hillary does win, you can forget about Barack on the ticket. There is no way that Mrs. C., so long overshadowed by President Bill, will take a chance on a charismatic running mate.<<<

The big question for the Republicans is can “Honest John” keep the conservatives from staying home. A Fred Thompson on the ticket might mollify some, but even with a conservative on the ticket, McCain faces a hostile crowd.

The following is from one of the many on the right who wrote to the NY Times about the issue:

“No matter which person, McCain, Obama or Clinton is elected President, the country will be run by a liberal.” - Posted by Kevin P.

Now that is way funny!<<<

Which party is going to win in November? The Democrats. They will be excited by whomever they finally nominate and united in their antipathy for Bush, while the Republicans may hate Hillary, if she is the candidate, but will be apathetic towards McCain.<<<

Post Script: I have often thought of McCain as the Diogenes candidate. My mistake. This past week he has been busy kissing up to the party conservatives by apologizing for his stand on immigration. So the great Greek is back out searching for an honest politician.<<<

“The trouble with born-again Christians is that they are an even bigger pain the second time around.” - Herb Caen

Here are last week’s questions and answers.

What is the most exquisite restaurant at which you have ever eaten?

My choice is Ernie’s, in the early 1970’s when it was “the place” in San Francisco. The style was opulent bordello, which it once was, all red velvet and formal service, and the food was wonderful. Sadly Ernie’s is no longer with us.

Barbara’s answer:

The Maile Room, like Ernie’s, long gone, but once where the rich and famous dined at the Kahala Hilton on Oahu. It was there that Barb introduced me to fiddlehead ferns. This would certainly be second on my list. (The restaurant, not the ferns.)

Hugh:

Any restaurant that Jim and Barbara have taken me to!

“Money doesn’t grow on trees,” or so the expression goes. Imagine, however, that something unusual – besides money - could be grown on trees. Available to be picked whenever you want. What would you want your tree to produce?

Me: Since I have already filled my cookie-jar with first class airline tickets to everywhere, my tree would produce vouchers for family and friends to visit the top medical specialists in their field whenever necessary.

Hugh: How about a tree that has love, respect and prosperity growing on it, to be picked in time of need.<<<

"All the sounds of the earth are like music
All the sounds of the earth are like music”

It’s like this. I have a song running through my mind. I want to hear it, and I don’t have it in iTunes or on a CD, or I don’t have this particular version. I go to YouTube, put the title in search and there it is! I can watch, listen and compare Gordon MacRae and Hugh Jackman’s as they sing “Oh What A Beautiful Morning” and other songs from Oklahoma. Or here is Janis Ian singing “Seventeen,” which she wrote before she had even reached that tender age. And speaking of tender, what about the late jerry Orbach singing my favorite song, “Try To Remember,” live at the White House.

If I want strange, I can check out Marlene Dietrich’s “Where Have all The Flowers Gone.” Beautiful? How about Streisand’s version of “Send In The Clowns?” Interesting? Listen to Dame Judi Dench’s version of the same song.

Links anyone?<<<

FYI

Did you know that the Harry Potter franchise (series of movies) is number three in all-time ranking for world gross income? It’s $3,545,000,ooo places it behind James Bond, $4,325,ooo,ooo and ahead of The Lord Of The Rings, $2,927,000,000. Leading the pack is Star Wars at $4,421,000,000.<<<

Can you believe that the Arizona Daily Star refused last week to print my comment in which I described those who want to allow teachers and students to carry guns as nuts. They said that the term might be offensive to their readers.

Don’t they get it? Newspapers, of all institutions, should understand that truth is a legitimate reason to publish.<<<

Tom Hoffarth is a sports columnist for the Daily News. Although he has won several awards, I don’t much like him, but I do like this excerpt from yesterday’s paper about Bobby Knight’s retirement:

“How frightened are Bob Knight's grandkids, knowing he intends to spend more quality time with them?”

On the search for happiness - the questioner is Deborah Solomon in the NY Times magazine; the respondent is Charles Simic, America’s poet laureate.

Q - Have you noticed all these new nonfiction books on “happiness”?

A - It’s an industry. It’s really frightening. People need to read a book on how to be happy? It’s completely an American thing. Can you imagine people in Naples sitting on a bus or in a trattoria reading a book about happiness?

Me: This is excellent advice. It is when we stop searching for happiness that it usually sneaks up on us.

Q -What advice would you give to people who are looking to be happy?

A - For starters, learn how to cook.

(Me: And sometimes it is even shaped like a plate of nachos.)<<<

HERE ARE YOUR QUESTIONS FOR NEXT WEEK.

If I had a dollar for every time I __________, I would be a rich man. How would you fill in the blank?

What movie that you have watched most closely parallels your own life to this point?

Nobody 730

Sunday, February 3, 2008
Nobody # 730

Nobody Ask Me But:

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Albert Einstein <<<

As we begin a new week, I am feeling more than a little relieved. Greg (picture) had two surgeries last week – wrist and hernia – and he is doing great!

Here is Barbara’s brother, Tom, on the election.

I have a prediction for Jim. When John McCain wins our nomination, I bet you he is going to pick Joe Lieberman as his VP. I think that is absolutely brilliant. McCain could beat Hillary without him, but if your guys pick Obama, (which I think is a long shot at this point, unless Bill continues to screw things up), I think he is pretty charismatic and just might be able to pull it off. But with Lieberman, there is no way Obama could win.

And here’s my reply

That is an interesting prediction. I would love to get Joe Lieberman out of the party and into the Republican ranks where he belongs. I think that ticket would be very attractive to independent voters, but the Rush Limbaugh Republicans, of whom there are plenty, would have a fit. They are already saying that a McCain nomination will be the destruction of the party; so having a "Democrat" on the ticket might push them over the edge. The only thing that might make them hold their noses and support the candidates would be their hatred of Hillary. I agree that McCain, because of this attraction to independents, stands a good chance of winning in November, although I think that Hillary would be the favorite.

I even like the guy, although I fear his possible SC appointments. I think he is the most attractive Republican candidate since Nelson Rockefeller. He is the least political of the Republican candidates, and that goes a long way with me. (Obama, who I agree is a long shot, is same for the Democrats)

Add on:

I probably should have written medium shot, because Barack has a “vision guy’s” chance to pull it off.<<<

Add on 2: s

ince this exchange, Lieberman has said he will not run on the Republican ticket, but you never know.<<<

More McCain: As you can see, I do not have MDS. I kid you not. The hatred of National Review Republicans for McCain is so strong, it’s earned its own name: McCain Derangement Syndrome.

Still more McCain: We have something in common. As boys we both had to learn a poem that John often quotes as one of his favorites. The poem is “Invictus.” It’s author, young Ernest Henley it wrote it in 1875 following the amputation of his foot because of tubercular infection. An interesting note is that Henley’s close friend, Robert Louis Stevenson, used him as a model, for obvious reasons, for Long John Silver.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud,
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbow’d.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Like the poet, and like John, I cannot control everything that happens to me, but only I am responsible for how I handle it.<<<

Last, but not least interesting: McCain won In South Carolina among weekly churchgoers but lost among those who go to church more than once a week.<<<

AND IS IT TRUE – as the Onion claimed last week, that “in the midst of a fiercely competitive presidential race with no clear Republican front-runner in sight, an increasingly depressed Mitt Romney shocked political insiders Monday when he released a new national attack ad targeting himself?”<<<

If you could have a cookie-jar sized container filled with anything you wanted – anything but cookies and money - with what would you want the jar to be filled?

Hugh: A jar of golf balls. The golf balls would have the names of all of the GREAT links I plan to play on when I retire.

Elizabeth: Hmm, a jar filled with anything I want. I think I would want it filled with special coupons (free spa day, movie tickets, dinner out, an airline ticket, breakfast in bed from my kids, etc.); I could draw once a week and be surprised at what I got.

(Great ideas but not for me, since I don’t play golf anymore and only on rare occasions go to a spa.)

Me: I want my container filled, as in tightly packed, with first class airline tickets and top-of-the-line hotel vouchers, both with dates and destinations left open for Barbara and I to fill in when ready.

You have been asked to create a brand-new road sign that would be put up, where appropriate, on streets throughout your town. People in your town will be expected to obey it just as they do any other road sign. What will your sign command them to do?

Hugh: Think before you vote!

Me: DRIVE RESPONSIBLY – CHILDREN RIDE IN CARS!

FYI – Milestones in Travel.

450 B.C. Herodotus – The Greek historian and storyteller, while visiting Egypt, invented the world’s first insect repellent- oil from Kiki plant.

1829 – The Tremont House in Boston became the world’s first modern hotel – locked rooms, indoor toilets and baths and complimentary soap.<<<

I found this list of questions in the Daily News. Want to give it a shot? I do.
1. Favorite candidate – Obama.
2. Ideal running mate – Edwards.
3. Ticket slogan – Peace and Prosperity. 4.
Scariest candidate- Huckabee (although Romney is a close second.)
5. Next president - Hillary
6. Best one to be stuck on an island with – McCain (someone close to my own age - = he is a surviver).

From the San Jose Mercury News: If Patriots win, maybe Brady is best ever.

From Turner’s Times: NO WAY!<<<

DOWN: California’s Democratic legislators. Their “vision thing” remained missing in action last week as they turned down Governor Arnie’s health plan. Yes, it was flawed. But it contained the vision of a state that cared. Too bad that our politicians don’t share this vision.

UP: The Bruins, for two great wins this past week. There may not be a better team in the country.

UP: Rick Majerus. The legendary basketball coach, keeps on speaking his mind about issues that count, such as abortion and stem cell research, even though it may cost him his job at the very Catholic St. Louis University.<<<

UP: High praise. As you know, this past week Senator Ted Kennedy endorsed the candidacy of Barack Obama. The following day Kennedy, himself, was endorsed with high praise by conservative NY Times columnist David Brooks. Please allow me to share his tribute.

After his callow youth, Kennedy came to realize that life would not give him the chance to be president. But life did ask him to be a senator, and he has embraced that role and served that institution with more distinction than anyone else now living — as any of his colleagues, Republican or Democrat, will tell you.

DOWN: The Hillary-loving, Kennedy-hating, if-you-are-not-with-us- you’re-against-us NOW which, like most advocate groups ultimately do, has jumped the shark. They have become more about strident and less about reason, which is a bad formula when you want to be listened to.

Please don’t misunderstand. If women put Hillary over the top, I will be thrilled. For too long they have failed to use their majority status on Election Day to secure the kind of America they want.

But instead of “We hate you Ted for not agreeing with us,” why not a “We’ve been friends for a long time, Ted, and we can agree to disagree?”

DOWN: Arlen Specter. Please tell me that the Pennsylvania Senator and his colleagues have more important things to do than investigate the Patriots for their spying on the Jets’ practice early in this NFL season.<<<

Political quote of the week – From David Brooks:

But already, he (McCain) is being judged by different standards. Republicans are wondering how he would compete against Hillary Clinton (whom they moderately fear) and Obama (whom they fear a great deal).<<<

Yesterday was Ground Hog Day and, yes, I saw my shadow – which means six more weeks of dieting.<<<

This week’s questions:

What is the most exquisite restaurant at which you have ever eaten?

“Money doesn’t grow on trees,” or so the expression goes. Imagine, however, that something unusual – besides money - could be grown on trees. Available to be picked whenever you want. What would you want your tree to produce?