Hitchens Piece

A very well done article by Christopher Hitchens about a young man who cited Mr. Hitchens as one of the reasons he enlisted in the US Army.

Lieutenant Mark Daily died in Iraq in January 2007.

Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt;
He only lived but till he was a man;
The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd
In the unshrinking station where he fought,
But like a man he died.

...

Your cause of sorrow
Must not be measured by his worth, for then
It hath no end.

Important News About Alzheimer's Patients

This is why the Onion rocks.

Trillin Poem

A TRANSCRIPT: PHONE CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE 9/11 COMMISSION AND THE WHITE HOUSE CONCERNING THE COMMISSION'S BLISTERING REPORT CARD ON HOW WELL ITS RECOMMENDATIONS HAVE BEEN FOLLOWED

COMMISSION:
So firemen can talk to cops,
You must provide a frequency.
The fact that this has not been done
Is government delinquency.

WHITE HOUSE:
Iraq is coming right along.
We're confident we'll win this war.
The way to honor lads we've lost
Is to stick it out (and lose some more).

COMMISSION:
Disaster funds are handed out
By pork, not risk, and, by the way,
The loose nukes that so worried us
Are getting looser every day.

WHITE HOUSE:
Our troops are making progress now,
And trained Iraqis have increased.
We win battles that we fight.
We've taken some towns twice at least.

COMMISSION:
Still, airfreight cargo goes unchecked,
And information goes unshared.
We told you then, we tell you now:
The USA is unprepared!

WHITE HOUSE:
Saddam--that evil, awful man--
Is captured, living in a cell.
Democracy will spread from there.
The Middle East will soon be swell.

COMMISSION:
We have to say, upon reflection,
There's something wrong with this connection.

--Calvin Trillan,
26 December 2005
A Heckuva Job

McTiddie

The only thing entertaining to come from the eye noise that is Jerry Maguire.

Amen, Brother

In his Tuesday Morning Quarterback column of 10 August 2007, Gregg Easterbrook writes the following:

Turning to the United States Constitution, George W. Bush said in Washington in 2007, "I don't think Congress ought to be running the war." The Founding Fathers said in Philadelphia in 1789 [*], "The Congress shall have the power to ... declare war, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water." The founders were quite clear that they wanted Congress running wars, among other things declaring only Congress could approve funds "to raise and support armies" and that congressional approval for military spending might
last no longer than two years

What are "letters of marque and reprisal?" The writers of United States Constitution assumed the new nation would have a permanent navy but no standing army: If an army was needed, it would be raised and funded on a two-year basis. Yet the framers knew international circumstances might call for military action short of sending an army into battle. Letters of marque grant to mercenaries -- at the time, it was normal for nations to retain soldiers-for-hire -- the right to act in America's name for a specific purpose, such as taking back some thing or location seized by privateers. Letters of reprisal could confer on the Navy, or on mercenaries, color of the flag to conduct a specific retaliation in America's name. The modern meaning of "letters of marque and reprisal" is "commando raids and air strikes."

So the Founding Fathers did not merely grant Congress sole power to declare war -- they expected Congress to be involved in the conduct of war, by such means as issuing specific instructions regarding what could and could not be attacked on land or water. The Commander in Chief clause of the Constitution mainly serves to make clear that the executive is superior to the military -- the framers did not want the
U.S. military resisting civilian control, as did some European militaries of the era. Bush and other modern presidents of both parties have behaved as though the Commander in Chief clause locates in them unilateral authority for all use of force: the Founding Fathers would be horrified to learn that Bush and other modern
presidents act as though they have unchecked powers in matters of war. Here's
the text of the United States Constitution, which all Americans including our current president ought to take a few moments to familiarize themselves with.

*=Minor quibble--the constitution was written in 1787. It became the law of the land in 1788 by ratification and the government was seated in 1789.

Emphasis added

Kids

Thanks to Jonah Goldberg.

Miss Joy

Several weeks ago I received a call at work from my wife. Her friend since high school, Joy, had been taken to the hospital the night before. She had had an aneurysm that ruptured. She was rushed to the Neurological Center at Jefferson University Hospital where she was placed in a medically induced coma.
She lay in the coma for two and a half weeks as the doctors conducted tests and scans and adjusted her medicine to check her brain function. At first there was some initial optimism, they were reducing her medication and the swelling was reducing proportionally. However, it came to a level where every time they tried to reduce the medicine further, the swelling increased. This led the doctors to determine that there was significant, permanent damage.

On 08 July 2007 Joy passed away at the age of 37. She was a beautiful woman, a great wife and mother of three, and a true friend.

I have some great friends, with whom I don't spend enough time, and I've had great relationships throughout my life. But my wife has more than friends. We refer to them as the coven. They can be somewhat unpleasant to outsiders (or, more accurately, intruders) but with each other they share a relationship that defies simple explanation or wisdom. It has been my good fortune that they have accepted (or tolerated) me, and the members have all chosen mates well.

When word came of Joy's ill health, things were dropped immediately and a small contingent rushed to the hospital. This may not seem out of the ordinary, but there was an immediacy and coordination in their action: they acted out of friendship and sincerity; when they offered to her family anything, the family knew the honesty of the offer. And they complement each other remarkably. When one needed a shoulder to cry on, it was there; when someone needed an arm twisted, it was twisted. And even in a moment of crisis, sadness and anxiety not a cross word was said.

The loss of Joy has been devastating for all who had the honor of knowing her. I know the family, in due time, will come to grips with the tragedy. They are good people. My wife used to remark that when the coven would gather and the conversation would turn on their husbands, Joy used to apologize for not joining in; she had nothing to complain about. Her husband is indeed that fine of a man (he is "That Guy"), and they have three daughters that--well, I hope my own daughter is as good as any of them as she gets older.
As for the coven, they will also survive. It's been said that this will really hit them again on their next gathering. I am certain it will.

But there is no way out of that group. She may not attend physically, but Joy will be there.

Forever.