Have a Heart

Maybe he's not your cup of tea. That's fine. Maybe he advocated some things during his tenure as vice president with which you disagree. Gotcha. And all one has to say is Haliburton.... Although with gas prices approaching four bucks a gallon aren't you secretly rooting for them to find an enourmous amount of oil?

Yesterday, former VP Dick Cheney underwent heart transplant surgery. Apparently it went well, but on the whole it remains an especially daunting operation. Yet, last night Facebook was alight with comments suggesting their authors were less than sincere about the half-hearted well wishes.

Vice President Cheney was, is, and will be to the end of his life unabashedly, unapologetically pro-American. It has always gone beyond the oaths of office he has taken. Maybe that isn't to everyone's liking. So be it.

Let me just mention (I guess you don't have a choice) a couple of things.

Minutes Away

"When seconds count, the police are only minutes away."

The Sanford, Florida Treyvon Martin tragedy highlights several inescapable facts of law enforcement. Like them or not, agree or disagree, as members of a dynamic, complex and free society it is essential that people have some understanding of several key aspects of what is surely a difficult situation. One need not know anything beyond the basics, which are, as I understand them:

Treyvon Martin left a home to get candy and ice tea. Along the way George Zimmerman, a self-appointed neighborhood patrolman (nothing I've read discusses any formal training) encountered Martin and deemed him suspicious. Zimmerman called 911, but at some point a confrontation ensued. Zimmerman suffered minor injuries, and he shot Martin to death. As of today, no charges have been brought by local law enforcement.

Three factors are at work, again not requiring anything other than the above facts:

You Say You Want A Revolution?

"Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

This age seems to have brought out the crazies. The above twitter...tweet, or whatever, seems fairly straightforward. Yet, contacted by press for details, the author retreated most riki tik, explaining that he was, in fact, commenting on how "other" revolutions have expressed themselves. He was just a "rebelrouser [sic] trying to cause a stink and clearly it worked.”
Oh.

The utter recklessness of the rhetoric emerging from the Occupy Movement is astonishing. It isn't enough to write this kind of crap off as a few "crazies" with time on their hands and a laptop on a TV tray in their mom's basement. The Occupy Movement is about the maelstrom of free expression, of fighting oppression by the 1% by getting together, standing strong and.... Having a multitude of personal, conflicting messages, one being as relevant as the next, I suppose.

So, Rusty Braxton of Oviedo, FL - come on up to Colorado. Spring is here, the trees are budding and I'd love to discuss your notion that I and a couple of my friends should die so your cause can be taken seriously.

It's Not Show Friends

I wrote the below post just after the Broncos' loss to New England. Recently, the Denver Broncos have been front and center in the great Payton Manning Sweepstakes. Or is it the Great Payton Manning, etc. Jason Gay, writer with more talent in his shift finger than I possess everywhere else, suggests that the Broncos are being tacky. With thanks to Bob Sugar ( of Jerry Maguire fame) everyone knows its show business, not show friends. But the ungrateful crowd at Dove Valley need some lessons in grace.

A Good Old-Fashioned Ass Kicking

When someone kicks your ass, just be thankful you brought it with you. No one likes to show up unprepared.

I just wonder, as Tim Tebow meandered around the field - alone - after losing 45-10, who was going to put an arm around him and say that everyone endures days like he had. At least he didn't give up. Or, something.

Instead, he wandered around looking for someone to talk to. I wonder....

When he looks around the locker room tonight in Massachusetts, does he see friends? A band of brothers?

Or, a room full of people who were just along for the ride.

The Unrest of Those To Follow*

"The rest of those who have gone before us cannot steady the unrest of those to follow," Avalon Landing, Finding Forrester, William Forrester, as read by Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown), 2000.


Lynn "Buck" Compton died on February 25, 2012 in the state of Washington. He was a soldier in the 101st Airborne, a police officer, lawyer and judge. He prosecuted Sirhan Sirhan for the murder of Robert Kennedy in a kitchen at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, and retired from the California Court of Appeals in 1990.

In the Band of Brothers series he described his D-Day landing - "That's when I lost that famous leg bag you hear about. There I was, with a trench knife, a canteen and about six candy bars." With that, he set off in enemy territory to find the 101st.

May we always remember those who have fought to keep us free.

*

I Know You Are, But What Am I...?

"That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet."*

I wanted to weigh in on the great Rush debate. I'm not a fan, never was. So much of the bombast and bluster does not survive scrutiny of any kind, let alone close and circumspect.

This whole contraception debate has become silly, but does not require name calling. Just as I was warming up my laptop the indispensable Hugh Hewitt came through. Don't tell me Rush is a bad man while Bill Maher slithers from one talk show to the next. Or, vice versa. Apply the label to both. And what did Ed Shultz call Laura Ingraham?

Just a thought.

*Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare, 1597.

Prior Planning...Is That Redundant?

"Zombies hate fast food. Run like hell."*

A number of years ago my wife and I decided to prepare a cache of food, water and other necessities (tiny bottles of gin) for the extremely unlikely chance that the entire social fabric was rent asunder. Then, Barack Obama was elected.

Kidding! I wanted to see if you were still reading.

I finally got to it this weekend. I asked "What is the first thing we should save if we had to evacuate?"

"The animals."

I was kind of hoping she would say "You, dear. I never want to be apart" but after nearly twenty years of marriage neither of us pull punches. Okay, fine.

Of course, being a wonkish,  first responder type, I did the required reading. I bought a magazine offering the article "Bugout Bags: Disaster Preparedness." What could be more topical, more on point, more....

"I always begin my bugout bag with a Glock 19, plus two spare mags." Huh? Do they even allow guns in an evacuation shelter?