The American opposition to Iraq rises, threatening a million demonstrators before the year is out:
"A band of Republican senators, including Nebraska’s Chuck Hagel, threatened Wednesday to shut down the Senate until it debates a resolution disagreeing with President Bush’s troop surge for Iraq."
Good piece in the Dallas Morning News about members of the 1st Cav in Iraq, some on their third rotation back to the sand box:
"’They (the Iraqis) stood up for us and we stood up for them," Sgt. Rountree said, adding that he had been looking forward to going back. ‘We’ve seen it blown apart,’ he said. ‘I want to see it put together. I want to see what we fought for the first rotation. People who say it’s not worth it, it is.’"
Meanwhile, according to the Harvard Crimson, the Marines are getting a track star for a new infantry lieutenant:
“’I think this is my generation’s greatest calling,’ said [Sean] Barrett. ‘Fighting for the freedom of others is a uniquely American value. Protecting my family, my country, our values and way of life is of the utmost importance to me…This isn’t something that’s going away. We have to win.’”
Mr. Boy’s getting better at throwing, but he still can’t catch worth a darn. He just holds out the glove, rather than watching the ball and moving the glove to it. We’re practicing for his tryouts on Saturday. No more T-ball. It’s going to be coach-pitch this time. Meanwhile, the rain spout on the back of the house is getting the workout. Mr. B. keeps hitting it when he tries to throw to me. Hasn’t dislodged it yet, but he’s knocked some of the paint off the siding. We practice back there so one of his wild throws doesn’t shatter a window.
Comments Off on Playing catch
Posted in Mr. Boy
I saw the picture of the embracing skeletons on Drudge, read the headline, and moved on to something else. Then I read Belmont Club’s take "Now and Forever" and got more interested. I had not thought of the Romeo and Juliet angle on this presumed 5,000- to 6,000-year-old couple. Nor of their contradiction of Marvell’s poem about how "The grave’s a fine and private place, But none, I think, do there embrace." But I agree with Wretchard’s commentor that it’s a shame the bones were disturbed, and now sit in plastic bags in a warehouse awaiting DNA analysis. So much for now and forever.
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Posted in Science/Engineering
Tagged Belmont Club, Drudge, embracing skeletons, Wretchard
I used to work with Mike Cox when he was a police reporter years ago, before he became semi-famous as the state police spokesman during the Branch Davidians’ standoff in the 1990s. He’s written a bunch of Texana books since then, and he’s still a good writer. This column of his on Texas cotton farming is a reminder of that, and of a life that once defined the youth of many but, blessedly, is now pretty much gone. As they used to say: "Kids that don’t learn to pick cotton never amount to anything."
It ain’t rocket science. It’s plain old adultery and attempted kidnapping and murder. I’m sure everyone and his cousin will have something to say about NASA astronaut and Navy Capt. Lisa Nowak, 43, before she finally fades from view–probably behind prison walls. Wonkette is already calling her a "diaper-clad nutbucket." And there’s this little irony. But really. I guess it just goes to show that not even a Naval Academy degree, pilot wings, an 0-6 rank, having three children and flying in Earth orbit can change the fundamentals. Among them: that the heart, to borrow the title of the Carson Mccullers’ tale, is a lonely hunter.
UPDATE As NYTimes science writer John Tierney says, wow, people are finally talking about the space shuttle. Unfortunately, it’s about another tragic crash.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
