Hume Help Me

I tawt it was a puddy tat. So I shot it an toll Brit Hume allll about it.

Rambling on a Thursday

The wife and I got up early to go to the adoption agency where we listened to a nice lady talk about the ups and downs of international adoption, and where the best places to go were...plus much else. It was an interesting session. We are looking at Guatemala or Vietnam...possibly Ethiopia. My son wants a little brother and my daughter a little sister. We've been told that since we have shown no preference, that it's likely to be a boy.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. That's a long way down the road...we've just begun the process.

By the time we had finished it was sleeting. Kelly dropped me off and I promised to get the drive shoveled (none of that new fangled snow removal machines fer me). Aaaargh! With the wet sleet on top, the 3-4 inches felt like 8-12. Fortunately, I had all day. Got some laundry done and took the dogs out for a pee.

Had some in-between time and surfed over to Boots and Sabers. Heard that Owen (one of two contributors) was beginning a column at the West Bend News (gawd, I used to deliver that rag...John Torinus was the editor then...very nice man). That brought back memories of high school and running cross country for West Bend West. Gonna see some old high school buddies this weekend to hammer out the final details for LarchFest, our once a year camping get-together. Five of us from the class of 1974...turning 50, so having a band and inviting others.

I'd invite Owen and Jed. Liked their site. I don't agree with some of the politics, but not enough not to share a beer. Both are Texas A&M Aggies....roommates for four years (or 'Ol Ladies). Sounds like the old college friendship I had with Helmar, Dirk, Claudia, Holger, Christof (German students) and Jose (from Puerto Rico)...we called ourselves Los Pendejos...go look up the translation if you must. Good friends all. It's been 20 years since I last saw any of them...a bright memory in a life full of good ones.

Regarding born-again Christians. I guess they don't bother me much either if they get the hint and buzz off when I ask...always nicely. I like the bumper sticker Owen referred to (Born OK The First Time). I'm not a believer, but it seems to me that those claiming born again status, those I've met, come across with this weird superiority thing. I don't feel threatened by it, but it's as though...well, think of it this way...it's as though they committed some serious crime and got pardoned. Now they go around letting everyone know that they're okay now.

I know this is a biblical thing...but it's still weird. Like I said, they don't bother me...it's when they pour over into right-wing, fundamentalist, it's theocracy time, that I get bothered. And anti-abortion and anti- gay marriage...get out of my business and mind your own. If you don't want an abortion, don't have one and if you don't want to marry a member of the same sex, then don't. It's simple.

Oh oh. Getting on a roll that I really did not want. I'll stop now and spend time with my beautiful wife and her odd dogs. Tra la la.

The Idiocy of Limbaugh

I guess we're all entitled to faux pas. Of course, I admit when I'm wrong (Ragnar Mentaire)...Rush Limbaugh never does and is usually defended with...he's just an entertainer. How about this foot in mouth gem from Media Matters for America (not Jessica McBucher's site)...

During the February 14 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh invented a racial component to explain Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett's departure from the Ohio Democratic Senate primary race. While reporting on Hackett's decision to withdraw from the Democratic primary race against Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) for the seat currently held by Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH), Limbaugh asserted: "And don't forget, Sherrod Brown is black. There's a racial component here, too," adding that "the newspaper that I'm reading all this from is The New York Times, and they, of course, don't mention that." In fact, Brown is Caucasian -- a point on which Limbaugh was corrected later in the program.

Shooter Slips on a Silencer

I happen to like Maureen Dowd. Her book, "Bushworld" is, I think, a must read for those who can read. The following is the best, and funniest of the coverage of Mr. Cheney's accidental pelleting of a fellow Republican.


By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON

Who did this old guy think he was, coming between Dick Cheney and his helpless prey?

The luckless 78-year-old Texas lawyer, Harry Whittington, is in intensive care after a heart attack, with up to 200 pellets riddling his face and body one stuck in his heart from Dick Cheney's designer Perazzi Brescia shotgun. And still his friend, the vice president, is Swift-BB-ing him.

Private citizens have been enlisted to blame the victim. Maybe poor Mr. Whittington put himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. But he was, after all, behind Vice, not in front of him. And the hunter pulling the trigger is supposed to make sure he has a clear shot. Wouldn't it be, well, classy for Shooter to express just a bit of contrition and humility?

Instead, the usual sliming has begun, with the Cheney camp trying to protect the vice president by casting a veteran hunter as Elmer Dud.

Scott McClellan told the White House press corps that Katharine Armstrong, a lobbyist with government ties who owns the Texas ranch (and whose mother, Anne, was on the Halliburton board that hired Mr. Cheney as C.E.O.), "pointed out that the protocol was not followed by Mr. Whittington when it came to notifying the others that he was there."

As the story of the weekend's bizarre hunting accident is wrenched out of the White House, the picture isn't pretty: With American soldiers dying in Iraq, Five-Deferment Dick "I Had Other Priorities in the 60's Than Military Service" Cheney gets his macho kicks gunning down little birds and the occasional old man while W. rides his bike, blissfully oblivious to any collateral damage. Shouldn't these guys work on weekends until we figure out how to fix Iraq, New Orleans, Medicare and gas prices?

This version of "The Most Dangerous Game" neatly follows the four-step Bush-Cheney cycle:

Step 1: Set out to pick off what you think is an easy target, like quail this time or pen-raised and netted pheasant in the past, or a certain sanction-caged Iraqi dictator.

Step 2: In the corrupt company of lobbyist-contractor friends, botch things up. Ignore the peril at hand as with, oh, Osama at Tora Bora, or Katrina, or the Iraq occupation and with steely resolve, indulge your raging incompetence. (Oops.)

Step 3: Stonewall. Resist giving Congress information about 9/11 or Katrina; don't tell the public how you're tapping phones at home, setting up gulags abroad and making war and energy policy in secret. Why give the taxpayers, who are ponying up for these weekend hunting trips, the extraordinary news that Vice shot his hunting companion in the face and chest? Scott McClellan knew before yesterday's White House briefing at noon that Mr. Whittington was worse, but did not tell the reporters. He left that to Corpus Christi doctors, who spun the heart attack as "an inflammatory response to a metallic foreign BB."

Step 4: Admit no mistakes. Express sympathy. Blame the victim without leaving fingerprints by outsourcing the smear to the private sector.

Trent Lott joked in a meeting yesterday that Mr. Cheney was now the "shooter in chief," while other wags noted that Quayle was always a problem for Bushes.

Presidential staff members and lawmakers speculated yesterday about whether Shooter would resign and make room for Condi if Mr. Whittington did not survive. His death would trigger a more thorough police investigation and probably a grand jury.

"Are you crazy?" one Republican senator told a reporter. "He'd never quit." (Aaron Burr presided over the Senate after he killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.)

The shooter in chief can't quit because he is the administration. Who'd even tell him to quit? If necessary, he'd probably make W. take the fall.

Despite efforts by Mr. McClellan to joke and urge reporters to get back to "the pressing priorities of the American people," the hunting debacle once more showed Mr. Cheney running the imperial show.

He didn't talk to the sheriff for 14 hours, or even call the president to notify him after the 5:50 p.m. accident. Vice left that to Andy Card, who called Mr. Bush at 7:30 p.m. to say there had been a hunting accident, without mentioning that Vice was the gunman. Soon after that, Karl Rove called Mr. Bush back with that little detail.

A reporter, surprised, pressed Mr. McClellan: "The vice president did not call the president to tell him he was the shooter?"

Usually when there's a White House cover-up, the president's in on it.

How About Some Peer Pressure

Had a cute little conversation with Chris, author of spottedhorse2, the other day. Chris was upset that I had replied to one of his comments at The Xoff Files. Chris was trying to be smart with Xoff and wrote, "if only the stupid unwashed would let us the be in charge," implying this was what the author of the post was telling conservatives (the author of the piece Xoff copied to the post is conservative, by the way).

I took Chris' implication and ran with it, suggesting that he take a shower and return to grade school. The implication being that his comment was silly and did not even address Xoff's or the author's point.

Chris took it upon himself to e-mail me and...let's just say he was extremely rude and vulgar. The problem with it all (I certainly don't have a problem bandying words with him...it's so easy to get under his skin), is that he frightened my wife. She asked whether it was a good idea to keep communicating with this person. Would he do more?

I said no, he would not...not to worry. And then I decided to cut off communications with him. It's not worth having my wife frightened.

However, I want everyone to know that this kind of behavior should not be tolerated. I know we all get hot sometimes...but the language and threatening tone used by Chris were absolutely uncalled for.

I hear conservatives all the time talking about how Ann Coulter and that ilk are not real conservatives and how they hate them as much as the left. How about a little closer to home?

The same goes for ranting on the left. Let's at least keep the language civil. By the way, Jessica, where are you when your side goes off the deep end?

Glenn Beck...Conservatism's Poster Child

Compassionate conservatism at its finest. Kinda like a Wisblogger you know I've spoken of before. Oh yeah, Jessica...the left is just soooo nasty.

Is there a day that God ever says, "What was I thinking?" Here's what I mean: Do you think God ever says, "I could've used that skin making somebody of value, you know? I could have used that skin in such a -- just a better way." You know? And its not -- the reason why I bring this up is: Is there a bigger waste of skin than Jimmy Carter? Ya know, I don't mean to, you know, I don't mean to look the maker in the eyes and say, "Eh, kind of a waste," but I'm asking, do you think he ever thinks, "I don't know, man, I could've used that skin someplace else." You know? Who's the bigger waste of skin, can you name a bigger -- you know, and you could immediately go to people like Kim Jong Il. OK, there's a big waste of skin, but not really, because his skin's being utilized by evil. At least evil is using that skin. Who's using the skin of Jimmy Carter? What purpose does the skin of Jimmy Carter -- it's like an empty suit walking down the street. --Glenn Beck

Is it Real?

It Depends on Your Definition of...

This was funny. Passed on from Dave Berkman at Shepherd Express.

The defense (with a bow to Bill Clinton) of congressional members caught up in the corruption scandals: “I did not have political relations with that lobbyist.” (Political commentator Mark Shields, on “The Lehrer News Hour”)