It could be worse.

Dad's tombstone has Mom and Dad's name on the front and the four kid's names on the back. Mom told me today, via chat, that the tombstone was in place and the responsiblie parties had sent a picture to verify it.

I mentioned that 'it was good to know my name was on a tombstone'.

Mom pointed out that I don't have a year after my name.

Don't shoot the messenger.

There's a lot to not like about how the media covers us.  That was a key point in Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. But one thing we can't blame them for is exaggerating the bad news in Iraq. The WingNut wing wants to blame the media for our perception that Iraq isn't in the best shape.

Fortunately, our own government provides sufficient detail that we needn't rely on the media. PDF here. News article explaining it here.

You'll note that the only stable region is the Kurdish controlled areas. We gave them air cover for 10 years, pre-war, so that they could establish an autonomous region within Iraq.

Thanks to Rich (my favorite WN) for the link to ScrappleFace.

Iran You Raq.

(Later that same day):

For the record, Bush had amazing support in Congress, from the Democrats. One vote against the Patriot Act, minimal opposition on the original Iraq empowerment act. Bush's problems, sadly, isn't an organized Democratic opposition. It's his own incompetence. Bush has done such a poor job managing Iraq that it's going to be difficult for him to get much traction this time around. Bush has squandered money, lives and good will.

I'm not sure what I think about Iran yet. Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran is a loon. They claim to have nuclear capability. But so do the North Koreans and there isn't the same clamoring about that situation.

My fear is that unilateral action by the US, this time, will be met by a united Iraqi and Iranian population. Check out the demographics on Iran, and compare that with Iraq.

I'm not suggesting we can all doze off. We had quite effectively neutralized Iraq, between the wars. They were a paper tiger. For Iran, it seems like diplomacy is currently the best course of action, possiibly followed by containment of the sort that was working in Iraq before the current war.

From a larger vantage point, we need to find a way to deal with the emerging Muslim elected leadership. If we can deal with China, we can deal with them.

Er, that wasn't a very seasonal greeting...

Happy Easter everybody!

  - Mee

After wasting our resources in Iraq, can we take on Iran?

rich ruminations Will we have the courage to do what's needed with Iran?: "Will our leaders have the courage to take effective and decisive action with the Iranians? I believe that Bush does, but I'm not sure the Democrats will put the interests of the country ahead of their political desires to disagree with and defeat anything and everything that Bush does."

Yea, Rich. It's just those Democrats. Oh, and those generals. Oh, and the majority of the American public.

It's all in your head.

Today's words of wisdom, courtesy of the New Yorker.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, a remembrance

I received the 30th Anniversary edition of Born to Run for Christmas. One of the three included disks is a DVD of Bruce and the band's 1975 first performance in London.

I really think, as everyone who looks fondly back on their youth does, that this was the high point of the sort of music I like. It's not that I don't hear the occasional good thing now, but today's music frequently lacks a certain passion. Or at least the passion isn't always a shared experience between the audience and the artist.

Bruce was always different. You'd never see a hour long diffident set from him. Three hour shows were (and still are) the norm.

A month before Bruce's show in London, he played Sacramento, at the Memorial Auditorium. I'd read about Bruce (he'd made the cover of Time and Newsweek, and at the time I was a Rolling Stone subscriber. I'd have been hard pressed to miss reading about him.) I grabbed my brother, for what would be his first concert, and we were off. I don't remember the details of the show {insert your own reason for forgetting your late teens here.} but I remember the feeling. It was the best show I'd see for a long time. And Bruce wouldn't be back in Sacramento for 17 years, and by 1992, he was playing Arco Arena.

I'm finally watching the DVD from the Born To Run package, four months later. They've just released the music as a 2 CD set (another great deal on iTunes, if you don't mind me shilling a bit.) It's all good. Great music, great on-stage comraderie, and because the band was new to them, the audience was respectful (I hate the live sing-alongs.). (more parenthesis, but the Led Zeppelin BBC Live album is the same - they're weren't megastars yet, so the audience listened. :-) )

So, let us leave the blast from the past with the opening of the concert:

The screen door slams
Mary's dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside
darling you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me

- Thunder Road

DeLay Is Quitting Race and House. Whee!

DeLay Is Quitting Race and House, Officials Report - New York Times: "WASHINGTON, April 3 Representative Tom DeLay, the relentless Texan who helped lead House Republicans to power but became ensnared in a corruption scandal, has decided to leave Congress, House officials said Monday night."

What's in the water those Texas politicians drink?

(I know; people that live in glass states shouldn't throw stones.)

123456

This has come at me from two directions, so I'll pass it on:

This Wednesday, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.

Happy April 1st

Wikipeida has all the fun, right here.

Google, subtly, announces Google Romance. Please note one of the instructions is "Post multiple profiles with a bulk upload file, you sleaze". That should give you a clue... :-)