I do this all the time - it's just a nervous tic!

"The undercover officer was monitoring the restroom on June 11. A few minutes after noon, Craig entered and sat in the stall next to him. Craig began tapping his right foot, touched his right foot to the left foot of the officer and brushed his hand beneath the partition between them. He was then arrested. "

GOP Senator Pleaded Guilty After Restroom Arrest
Idaho's Craig Denies 'Inappropriate Conduct,' Says He Regrets Entering Plea
By Paul Kane and Shailagh Murray, Washington Post, August 28, 2007

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Good Reads

Among many interesting posts of late, I recommend for your sampling pleasure:

Mullet Boy on Michael Vick and the NAACP

Schwartzie on Six Sentences

DCup on kids

The Rhetorical Letter Writer

The Ball & Chain on New York

WP on Lewis Black on Bush

Deeper Well on Marian the Librarian

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Believe it or not: Bush Compares Iraq to Vietnam!

President Bush, speaking to the VFW this week:

"...one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms, like "boat people," "reeducation camps," and "killing fields."

There's another price to our withdrawal from Vietnam.

And we can hear it in the words of the enemy we face in today's struggle, those who came to our soil and killed thousands of citizens on September the 11th, 2001.

In an interview with a Pakistani newspaper after the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden declared that the American people had risen against their government's war in Vietnam and they must do the same today.

The number two man, Zawahiri, has also invoked Vietnam. In a letter to Al Qaida's chief of operations in Iraq, Zawahari pointed, quote, "to the aftermath of the collapse of American power in Vietnam and how they ran and left their agents," end quote.

Zawahiri later returned to this theme, declaring that Americans, quote, "know better than others that there is no hope in victory. The Vietnam specter is closing every outlet."

Here at home, some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price for American credibility. But the terrorists see it differently. We must listen to the words of the enemy. We must listen to what they say.

Bin Laden has declared that the war in Iraq is for you or us to win; if we win it, it means your disgrace and defeat forever. "

I won't argue the contention that the vaccuum left when we withdrew from Vietnam (and by the way, it was not a precipitous withdrawal by any means!) may have contributed to the sad events that followed in that region and that our retreat does offer a hell of a talking point for Al Quaeda.

But the only conclusion I can draw from Bush's statement is that he believes we should have not left Vietnam, at least not when and how we did.

So I would like to hear the Commander in Chief's further thoughts on what he believes we should have done with regard to the Viet Nam war from 1972 on. How long should we have stayed and how would we have won the war and avoided the tragedies that followed?

Also, one way we reacted to the chaos we contributed to in southeast Asia was by welcoming thousands, perhaps millions, of Vietnamese and other refugees to our country.

We broke Iraq, yet we will not admit her refugees. The pileup of refugees inside Iraq and in surrounding countries will cause untold misery and further destabilization of the region. I know what George is thinking: We'll fix Iraq and then all those folks will want to return.

It will be for the next president to welcome them.

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Mott

Mott the Hoople

Mott Hupfel

Mott the Hoople

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"Apply black paint, screw on a protective plate, or squirt in goo."

OK, what is it?

1. What Joe down at the body shop may do to fix up your beater car after you scrape another lamppost.
2. What Mistress Xena may do to you during your hour in her dungeon.
3. How the astronauts aboard Endeavor may try to repair the gash in their vehicle that threatens their safe return.

Of course, you guessed correctly. It's number 3.

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As I slipped the surly Bonds of earth

Tonight I flew home on Frontier Airlines. They have Direct TV. Unlike Jet Blue, they charge five bucks for it. I find that annoying, but on longer flights I usually give in and swipe my Visa. This was a one-hour flight, so I had no intention of doing so.

The TV is free until the plane takes off, so I saw the San Francisco baseball game was on. Although I don't follow baseball much anymore, it is the sport I grew up with. If you don't pay attention to this stuff, Barry Bonds of San Fran has been on the verge of breaking Hank Aaron's all time home run record. I'm sure some folks will say, "I thought that was Babe Ruth's record." True, up 'til 1974, that was the case.

I saw that Bonds was scheduled to bat in just a few minutes. Al though I would not have otherwise sought to view this game, I felt compelled to continue watching. I had a premonition this would be the at-bat and the fact that I was placed in front of this little screen with ESPN on seemed somehow meaningful. So I paid my money.

Bonds pulled to a 3-2 count, including one foul that probably should have been at least a hit, but he was behind the ball. Then the screen went blank.

That happens when there's turbulence, but often, although the screen is blank you still have sound. I would have, except the purser took that moment to give her spiel about paying for TV and what beverages they have and what electronic devices you may or may not use and to please sit back and relax and enjoy the flight. Like, what was the last time you enjoyed a flight? That's like saying, lie down, relax, enjoy the colonoscopy. Best case result is if it isn't too painful.

When she was done, the screen was still blank, but I heard fireworks.

Fuck me. I missed it.

Eventually, the picture resumed and I saw all the pomp and circumstance, Bond's teary thank yous, his godfather Willie Mays at his side, the recorded message from Hank Aaron. And of course the replay of the home run.

But I missed it.

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What kinda pussy army they got there?

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