Thanks for the memories, Cindy...

The Daily Kos reported the sad news yesterday that comic legend Cindy Sheehan is retiring as the face of the anti-war movement. Some of my favorite moments:

• President Bush flies the entire Sheehan family to Washington state in order to express his condolences for the death of Casey Sheehan in person. She tells the Vacaville Reporter, "I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis...I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith."

• Her camping trip to a ditch outside Bush's Crawford ranch to demand a meeting that she'd already had once.
  
• When Bush sends in the National Guard to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, Cindy calls for Bush to "pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans."
• And who could forget her passionate smooch with dissent-crushing Hugo Chavez? (Yeah, that's her.)

Anyway, Cindy, you started an anti-war movement fore the sole purpose of shoving your face in the lime light, while driving away your family and spitting upon everything your son fought for at the same time--in his name no less. Maybe it's not such a bad idea to go home, relax a bit, and put your damned head on straight. As many problems as this nation might have (and they are plenty), the problem here is not America failing to "figure it out." It's you.

Good riddance.

"A people who take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors, will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote generations."
--Lord Thomas B. Macaulay

Happy Memorial Day.

As I mentioned once before on this blog, both sides of my family come from Montana and have been there for a number of generations. I found out back in September that the Clark side of the family came to Montana from Red Wing, Minnesota. This being Memorial Day and all, it might not be a bad idea to tell a bit more of that story.

Yesterday I went down to Red Wing to find the grave of William W. Clark. I was able to get ahold of the name of the cemetery as well as lot and block number...and since I don't really have much in the way of passed relatives out here, figured it might be a good idea.

I don't know much about W.W. Clark, but here's what I do know. He was one of the first to settle the Red Wing area back in the 1850s. He studied law at the newly founded Hamline University (which at that time was in Red Wing), got married, had a child, and soon became a clerk of court in Goodhue County.

Then Fort Sumter was attacked. Minnesota's governor was in Washington at the time and immediately wired home his call to arms. The "Goodhue Volunteers" thus became one of the first Civil War units organized outside of the standing military. William Clark was among them. He and the rest of the company kissed their families goodbye and headed north to Fort Snelling. It was there that he would contract typhoid fever die at the age of 29.

Which I guess is the reason for this post. Memorial Day wasn't created for barbeques, RV trips and Formula 1. It's a single day we set aside to pay respects to men and women who have served the United States. And while I don't claim to have been laying flowers at the cemetery every Memorial Day myself, after this weekend, I plan on starting.

An oldie but a goodie...

Hugo Chavez tries to replicate Robert Mugabe's success.

From the New York Times:

Mr. Chávez is carrying out what may become the largest forced land redistribution in Venezuela’s history, building utopian farming villages for squatters, lavishing money on new cooperatives and sending army commando units to supervise seized estates in six states.

The violence has gone both ways in the struggle, with more than 160 peasants killed by hired gunmen in Venezuela, including several here in northwestern Yaracuy State, an epicenter of the land reform project, in recent years. Eight landowners have also been killed here.

“The oligarchy is always on the attack and trying to say you are no good,” Mr. Chávez said to squatters in a televised visit here. “They think they’re the owners of the world.”

Ironically, Mugabe's Zimbabwe has now achieved 3,700% inflation due to food shortages--shortages caused by Mugabe's land seizure program.

"unity government"

Jerry Falwell, 1933-2007

I have never been a fan of Jerry Falwell. The man advocated segregation, actively supported Apartheid in South Africa, blamed gays and lesbians for 9/11, claimed that AIDS was God's punishment for gays, and suggested that a Teletubby was gay, (you might notice a trend there)yet still maintained a following in this country.

Yet, as sad and despicable as I find this false Christian's life, I find it almost as sad that Anna Nicole Smith's death will carry with it more headlines.

24 LiveBlogging 3:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m.

Gonna give the liveblogging a go here.

Morris puts his jacket over Milo's face. Too bad. I think he really liked that jacket. He was wearing it last season too.

Ya know, I might be the only one, but I think that Mike Doyle is Josh’s father. Look at the two of them. They even have the same damn haircut.

Morris chokin’ some Chinese dude?

Jack: “Nadia, you did great…Except for the part where you let Milo get shot. But other than that, bang up job. Gold star.”

Jack knows the schematics of this building better than anyone. What he was doing studying the sewer system below CTU I have no idea.

Commercial

Elisha Cuthbert: Abduction. Confinement. Torture. Termination. Cougars. Coming June 22.

3:13… Papa Bauer: “As such a great patriot, I’m taking you away from this ungrateful country…to a communist one. And don’t worry. You won’t stick out at all.”

Mike Doyle never let’s a helmet mess up that sweet do no matter how many people are shooting at his head.

3:17: Josh in Jack’s arms: “Wanna have a catch….Dad?”

3:27: Holy crap….How long have Lisa Miller and the mole been going at it? At least she has an excuse to go freshen up now.

3:35:

Commercial

Did I just see Dane Cook in a preview for a serious movie? I don’t think I care for that.

Ugh, I will never buy a MacIntosh because of these commercials. Reeks of pretense.

3:41: “I’m here to investigate the security breach. Does something smell like sewer?”

Miles: “Um, Nadia…Any chance I could get CTU to cover the dry cleaning on that sport jacket? Promise I’ll get a receipt.”

The plot line with the Russians makes zero sense. Even if this little tiny component were somehow the key to Russian defense, why would the Russians further compromise their defense by starting a war with the biggest kid on the block? Then you’ve got all of your forces locked up with American forces in Europe and South Asia AND you’ve got your ass hanging out in the wind for the Chinese to do whatever. Of course Acting President Curly Bill Brocious tried making the same move vis-à-vis Unnamed Arab Country earlier in the day, so it’s also kind of ironic.

Why you still shouldn't be surprised...

Hamas is airing a children's TV show in Palestine with a Mickey Mouse ripoff named Farfur who encourages children to "kill all the Jews." Don't believe me? Watch it here:



And here's a transcript. A brief sample:

Farfour, a Mickey Mouse character in a tuxedo: Sanabel, what should we do if we want to liberate...
Sanable: We want to fight.
Farfour: We got that. What else?
Saraa: We want to...
Sanabel: We will annihilate the Jews.
Saraa: We are defending Al-Aqsa with our souls and our blood, aren't we, Sanabel?
Sanabel: I will commit martyrdom.

THE CARNIVAL OF BAUER

Another episode of the Carnival of Bauer starts now.


Recaps:

Dave at Morning Maniac Music tells us what he learned between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m.

Steve of the Magic Lamp gives a dissertation on Monday's episode. Couple lines in this post got an outloud chuckle: "Marilyn gets Josh to help her move a couch in front of the glass door, because using her powerful reasoning skills she can just tell that there would be no way that two grown men could figure out how to get around THAT."

The blogger who takes the nom de guerre of Rickey Henderson wonders, as do a lot of us, if 24's writers will ever come up with a season that doesn't involve a CTU breach. And he also talks in the third person. Kinda wild. (George is gettin' upset!)

Amy at Remote Access admits she's actually kind of glad that Milo bought the farm. She and Rickey both figured that the Chinese were after Chloe. Personally, I thought they might be going for Morris--give him a chance at redemption. But using the same ploy twice in one season would be a bit much even for Surnow et al.

Fellow Minneapolis blogger Jeff Kouba posted his recap at Truth vs. the Machine with a number of poignant observations--like the fact that CTU can apparently be penetrated Helm's Deep style through a grate in the sewer system. "And never mind the security, didn’t anyone, uh, ever catch a whiff of bowel?"

Paul at Lifelike Pundits touches on a few of the many reasons why this season has left many a 24 fan a bit dissatisfied--in particular, the early resolution to the loose nukes and the dramatic drift of some of the stock CTU characters.

As always, the Jack Sack has a few words to say about the most recent episode:

Ol' Philly is up to no good again, trying to kill many good people and help the Chinese start World War Three, while kidnapping his extremely whiny grandson. I have a hard time figuring out why Gradpappy Bauer would want to drag that kid around. Did Phil stuff the kid with diamonds like a Colombian mule? Does Josh have an ability to open locks, control the weather and manipulate space-time, etc.?

Blogs4Bauer is 24 central:

Kill Counter Challenge - Week 17

LiveBlogging by bRight&Early

TivoBlogging by V the K

And let's not forget that yesterday was Jack Bauer Appreciation Day.

Anyway, thanks to the kind folks at Blogs4Bauer for allowing me to host the Carnival this week.

Lea, you thought it was Nurse's Appreciation Day? Sorry, but you'll have to scoot over:

Details at the Jack Sack.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition's Ty Pennington after his drunk driving arrest: “I could have jeopardised the lives of others and I am grateful there was no accident or harm done to anyone. This was my wake-up call. I also want to apologise to my fans, ABC Television and my design team for my lapse in judgment and the embarrassment I have caused.”

Paris Hilton after her drunk driving arrest and three citations for driving without a license: It was my publicist's fault and I should get a gubernatorial pardon.

Okay, that aside, there is a touch of humor in the Ty Pennington DUI. I couldn't help being reminded of Nick Nolte's DUI arrest a couple years ago and his subsequent mugshot, hair askew in every which way:

Or James Brown's:

Or Tom DeLay's:

Funny thing is Ty Pennington does his hair like that on purpose. He's virtually embarrassing-mug-shot-proof. For all I know, this could very well be his mug:

LOVE 105?

I listen to only three stations in the Twin Cities: Minnesota Public Radio, Drive 105 and the Current. Drive 105 and the Current are the only stations that play solid indie rock: Snow Patrol, Modest Mouse, TV on the Radio, the like. Well, Drive 105 is now dead. They killed it and put in its place "Love" 105. Another '60s-to-'80s R&B/soft rock station. I want to vomit.

There might be nothing finer to listen to at work than Philip Glass. "Metamorphosis Two" is my new favorite song. You really have to listen to the entire thing to get the full effect.

Next Thursday, Tommy Lawyer will host Blogs4Bauer's weekly CARNIVAL OF BAUER. I don't have a lot of time to explain what that that means right now. You're going to have to trust me because we are operating on a strict need-to-know basis.

Are we clear??

This week's carnival is over at Truth vs. the Machine.

I'm trying this cream and sugar stuff in my coffee this morning. Supposed to be wild.

UPDATE:

I'm never doing that again.