Harry Potter AND MORE...!

OK, bought the new Harry Potter book at midnight on the 16th; bought a second copy that afternoon because my wife and I were fighting over my copy; finished it at 2 AM on the 17th.

Great book--possibly the best of the series. Very dark. The tension is piled on from the beginning. I will not put any true spoilers here. But Ms. Rowling's cynical view of politicians is even more overwhelming in this book than in any other. She's not so negative that everyone in politics is depicted as conniving and incestuous; Mr. Weasley works for the Ministry of Magic and several of the Order of the Phoenix are Aurors (think a magical combination of FBI, CIA and Secret Service).

Ms. Rowling makes her characters increasingly interesting with each book. While there is much magic in the books--they work on many intellectual levels, they have realistic dialog, they balance fantasy and realism well--I think her characters are the key to the success of the series. The main characters are human with all of the failings inherent therein. The teenagers struggle with authority, peer pressure, relationships, etc. The adults range from over-protective to cruel and none is a caricature.

Read the books yourself; then read them with a child. The world will be a better place for it.

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On Sunday, the fam went to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We enjoyed it very much and I think it is better (and less scary) than the 1970s/Gene Wilder version. Adults laughed as much as the kids. Yes, we will be reading the book with the kids.

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This Congressman displays just the kind of ignorant, macho swagger that may make for a successful country song, but bad governance and foreign policy. While the stupidity of the statement is certainly obvious to those of you reading this, should a troglodytic acquaintance of yours start defending these moronic comments or those like them, ask them this: If the Vatican were blown up, would non-radical Catholics be more or less likely to seek vengeance? If the Western Wall were blown up, would non-radical Jews be more or less likely to seek vengeance? PattonPending will be watching the Congressman's race next Fall. Let's see what the home of the Columbine tragedy does with this travesty.

Rove Controversy

What I regret is the politics of smearing somebody's reputation, that's what I regret.

I want to usher in a responsibility era in America that calls upon the best of our country. It begins by a President who understands that the responsibility is to bring honor and dignity to the office, and that's exactly what I will do.

--Governor George W. Bush, March 3, 2000

But it's important to have credibility and credibility is formed by being strong with your friends and resoluting your determination.

--Governor George W. Bush, October 11, 2000

And finally, sir, to answer your question, you need somebody in office who will tell the truth.

--Governor George W. Bush, October 17, 2000

A President must be clear and a President must mean what he says.

--President George W. Bush, September 17, 2004

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1. The President's advisor, Karl Rove, probably did not break the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act. He is too smart for that, as is now evidenced by all of the people pointing out that Time reporter Matt Cooper didn't use her name in his e-mail: No name, no foul. Even if there is other evidence that Rove knew and disclosed her name, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald would also have to prove Rove's knowledge of the fact that, in doing so, he was outing an undercover operative. As all of the debate over interpretation of the Founders' intentions in the Constitutional language regarding various social issues; intent is nearly impossible to prove without a document saying something like, "I want you to publish undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame's name so that we may discredit her husband. I don't care that it endangers her or others with whom she had dealings." Since we won't find that document, scratch the Intelligence Identities Protection Act off the list.
2. All of the speculation about Rover perjuring himself in the Grand Jury over the Time e-mail is just that: speculation. In fact, I submit that it is poor speculation: Might not Fitzgerald's heavy leaning on Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller indicate that in one of the three testimonies Rove gave before the Grand Jury, Rove told the jury he had talked to Cooper and Miller about Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife?

Given the information we have thus far, it is reasonable to assume that Rove was indeed a source in Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak's July 14, 2003, column. Rove will receive no jail time. He will continue to be the mastermind of the Bush political machine and many Republican campaigns for years to come. He is a brilliant man for whom power and influence is everything and ethics is just a word in the dictionary. But get used to him; we'll be hearing from him for a long time.

Unless.

Unless the President meant the words above. Unless the President comes before the nation and states that, while no laws were broken, the kind of recklessness Rove displayed has no place in the public forum, let alone from one of the President's closest advisors. Unless the Republicans denounce the legalistic parsing of words they rightly condemned in President Clinton's Grand Jury testimony with the same ferocity and ruthlessness when one of their own is the malefactor.

I'll be holding my breath.

The Scales Have Fallen From My Eyes...

I have seen the light! My apologies for all of my critical comments about the War on Terrorism. How blind could I have been? Of course we should treat terrorism as we would a conventional war, retaliating militarily against terrorists! I hearby volunteer for the British Expiditionary Force. When President Bush orders the invasion of London, from where both American and British officials think the terrorists may have come, I will be there! I'm sure we'll be greeted as liberators.

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My man, Mark Buehrle is the American League starter for the All-Star game tomorrow night. It is great to see one of the top pitchers in the game finally getting the recognition he deserves.

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Check in tomorrow for my thoughts on Mr. Rove's situation with e-mail to Matt Cooper.

Rebuttal

I received the following essay in an e-mail as a kind of rebuttal to a joke about the United Blue States of America. I will comment on the essay after you have an opportunity to read it.

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AMERICA NEEDS TO WAKE UP!

That's what we think we heard on the 11th of September 2001 (When more than 3,000 Americans were killed) and maybe it was, but I think it should have been "Get Out of Bed!" In fact, I think the alarm clock has been buzzing since 1979 and we have continued to hit the snooze button and roll over for a few more minutes of peaceful sleep since then.

It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going through a religious and political upheaval when a group of Iranian students attacked and seized the American Embassy in Tehran. This seizure was an outright attack on American soil; it was an attack that held the world's most powerful country hostage and paralyzed a Presidency. The attack on this sovereign U. S. embassy set the stage for events to follow for the next 23 years.

America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Vietnam experience and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union when then, President Carter, had to do something. He chose to conduct a clandestine raid in the desert. The ill-fated mission ended in ruin, but stood as a symbol of America's inability to deal with terrorism.

America's military had been decimated and downsized/right sized since the end of the Vietnam War. A poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly organized military was called on to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the start.

Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began to be kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East. America could do little to protect her citizens living and working abroad. The attacks against US soil continued.

In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut. When it explodes, it kills 63 people.

The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze Button once more.

Then just six short months later a large truck heavily laden down with over 2500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut and 241 US servicemen are killed. America mourns her dead and hit the Snooze Button once more.

Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with explosives is driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait, and America continues her slumber.

The following year, in September 1984, another van was driven into
the gate of the US Embassy in Beirut and America slept.

Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe. In April 1985 a bomb explodes
in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid.

Then in August a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rhein-Main, 22 are killed and the snooze alarm is buzzing louder and louder as US interests are continually attacked.

Fifty-nine days later a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is hijacked
and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled out of the passenger list and executed.

The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when they bombed TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986 that killed 4, and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 259.

Clinton treated these terrorist acts as crimes; in fact we are still trying to bring these people to trial. These are acts of war.

The wake up alarm is getting louder and louder.

The terrorists decide to bring the fight to America. In January 1993, two CIA agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

The following month, February 1993, a group of terrorists are arrested after a rented van packed with explosives is driven into the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City. Six people are killed and over 1000 are injured. Still this is a crime and not an act of war?

The Snooze alarm is depressed again.

Then in November 1995 a car bomb explodes at a US military complex in Riyadh Saudi Arabia killing seven service men and women.

A few months later in June of 1996, another truck bomb explodes only 35 yards from the US military compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It destroys the Khobar Towers, a US Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500

The terrorists are getting braver and smarter as they see that America does not respond decisively.

They move to coordinate their attacks in a simultaneous attack on two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. These attacks were planned with precision.

They kill 224. America responds with cruise missile attacks and goes back to sleep.

The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling on 12 October 2000, when a small craft pulled along side the ship and exploded killing 17 US Navy Sailors. Attacking a US War Ship is an act of war, but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime and went back to sleep.

And of course you know the events of 11September 2001. Most Americans think this was the first attack against US soil or in America. How wrong they are.

America has been under a constant attack since 1979 and we chose to hit the snooze alarm and roll over and go back to sleep.

In the news lately we have seen lots of finger pointing from every high officials in government over what they knew and what they didn't know. But if you've read the papers and paid a little attention I think you can see exactly what they knew. You don't have to be in the FBI or CIA or on the National Security Council to see the pattern that has been developing since 1979.

The President is right on when he says we are engaged in a war. I think we have been in a war for the past 23 years and it will continue until we as a people decide enough is enough.

America needs to "Get out of Bed" and act decisively now. America has been changed forever. We have to be ready to pay the price and make the sacrifice to ensure our way of life continues. We cannot afford to keep hitting the snooze button again and again and roll over and go back to sleep.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto said, "It seems all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant." This is the message we need to disseminate to terrorists around the world.

Support Our Troops and support President Bush for having the courage, political or militarily, to address what so many who preceded him didn't have the backbone to do both Democrat and Republican. This is not a political thing to be hashed over in an election year this is an AMERICAN thing. This is about our Freedom and the Freedom of our children in years to come.

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I will give the author the benefit of the doubt that the grouping of all of these incidents is rooted in ignorance rather than bigotry. The 1979 Iranian embassy take-over had completely different causes than the attacks in Beirut, which had different motivations than the Lockerbie tragedy, which had nothing to do with source of bin Laden's hatred. To explain the history and motivations of each of the abominations above would result in an essay of even greater length than the original and insult your ability to read about these events yourselves; but they include American support of oppressive governments (Iran, Saudi Arabia), American support of Israel (Beirut, Achille Lauro), Arab political power plays (Lockerbie), a lone wacko (CIA) and the extreme twisting of Wahabi Islam (al Qaeda). Treating all of these acts as if they were directed by a single organization or inspired by a single ideology is factually wrong. Even characterizing all of these attacks as "terrorism" is wrong: by definition terrorism must be directed against civilians.

The essay contains the hallmark of great propaganda: shards of truth distorted by ideological, emotional arguments. For example, it infers that Leon Klinghoffer (the "American in a wheelchair" on the Achille Lauro) was killed because he was an American. By the testimony of the killer, Abu Abbas, Klinghoffer was killed because he was a Jew.

The author is right about one thing: This is an "AMERICAN thing" about "Freedom." We must take advantage of the greatest educational opportunities and freedoms available anywhere in the world and fight this propaganda. We should honor the American idea and refuse to surrender the freedoms that make us the envy of all people for the unachievable illusion of total security.

Let's take the fight to the terrorists. But let us make sure we know who we are fighting before we create more enemies.

Lighter fare

As I was thinking last night about what I didn't put in yesterday:

Go Sox! I have trouble believing that the Sox are for real, even after having seen them in person, but I'll take it! Garland is pitching out of his mind, and I'm not sure that Ozzie's moving him to the three spot during the Cubs' series was wise. Garland was feasting against other "five" starters, meaning he is getting more run support.

Go Hawks! A columnist on CBSSportline has the Hawkeyes in the Rose Bowl/BCS Title Game this year and Trev Alberts (native Iowan) has Iowa in his top five. God bless Kirk Ferentz, the best college coach in the nation!

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The Hiatt show last night rocked! He and the NMA played for about two-and-a-half hours. They played a song I love, but don't hear much from John live: Paper Thin from Slow Turning. They closed the main set with an especially greazy version of Riding With the King. While the two encores couldn't (and didn't) live up to that finale, they did feature some great songs and a good time was had by all; John and the band included, I think.

Time to Come Back

I have been gone for a while, but now seems as good a time as any to come back and let you know what things look like here from my seat in Feingold Country.

1) I think that Feingold would be a great president, and I will be supporting him here, but I don't think he'll get the nomination. He's too Liberal for the general electorate -- and thus the DNC power structure -- and he's going through his second divorce. The nominee will be Governor Mark Warner from Virginia unless something derails him. I just spoke to some of my relatives in Virginia who lean moderate Republican and they are very enthusiastic about him. Plus Warner will have two years to campaign at the expense of nothing else. I would also like to say that I was making this statement about Warner & the '08 nomination long before Howard Fineman's Newsweek article.

2) I am not one of the Liberals calling for a withdrawal from Iraq. We invaded the country and even though Powell didn't say it, it's true: We broke it, we bought it. Liberal friends: Don't give me the crap about how Bush isn't your President and you opposed the invasion from the beginning. I opposed it too and I still think that it has done more to destabilize the Middle East, weaken America's political and moral position in the world, and encourage the zealots who hate America than anything we have done since Vietnam (possibly including Vietnam). But if you believe in the idea of America, President Bush is your president, no matter how much is angers, disgusts, shames or appalls us. Our invasion was undertaken in the name of all Americans, and we must do everything in our power to make it right. This means fixing what we broke and leaving better than we found it.

3) President Bush is weak (in Wisconsin) at the moment. Those who liked him and those who didn't haven't changed their minds, but the 'tweeners are now almost unanimously against him. The moderate Republicans I know are now publicly vocal about the reservations they whispered in '04. It's too bad they didn't stand on their convictions and speak out against extremism them and save us from further American decline.

4) While I have been taking great comfort in the poll numbers coming out of Pennsylvania in the race for the Santorum/Casey Race in Pennsylvania, I hope Liberals do not underestimate the junior senator from the Keystone state. A year ago I predicted that he would be the Republican nominee from president in '08. While that looks increasingly unlikely -- especially if he can't hold his Senate seat -- he is just the kind of religious-right-wingnut demagogue who inspires large voter turnout. If Santorum pulls out a win, he's back. If he wins by five points or more without a scandal from Casey, I return to my prediction for '08.

5) Reading between the lines from comments by Republicans on the new Supreme vacancy, look for AG Gonzales to be the nominee. Also look for a relatively smooth confirmation if that is the case. But since the President likes to buck conventional wisdom, do the opposite of what he is advised to do in public and make a bold stroke regardless of what the consequences may be, the dark horse nomination is Judge Roy Moore. God save us all if it is Moore, because any nominee will eventually win the confirmation fight.

6) For the last time (until I can't stand it any longer): White people missing, does not necessarily national news make. Local or even regional news; certainly. Help find the abductee or remains. If suspicion is that the potential abductors have crossed state lines or if the missing person is a national figure; it may warrant national mention, O.K. But let us prioritize, people! I will not find Natalee Holloway's remains in Wisconsin nor have any insight into her abduction. Stop the ghoulish voyeurism! Pray for the family and change the channel.

7) Support Gordon Hintz for Wisconsin State Assembly. While this link refers to his unsuccessful run in '04, I have it on good authority he will try for the seat again in '08. The incumbent is even weaker than last year. When Gordon gets his website updated for the '06 run and officially announces, there will be a permanent link at the right.

8) Get John Hiatt's new CD. I'm going to see him and the North Mississippi All-Stars tonight at Summerfest.

9) The Crowes show (opening for Tom Petty) at Summerfest was a bit of a disappointment. While it was nice to see the guys together again, the sound man had Steve's drums up too loud for the first part of the show, Rich and Marc don't seem to have buried the hatchet, and for as many times as they all have played Remedy (closing number) they did not seem tight. I think the fact that it was unmistakably a Petty crowd took some wind out of their sails. Still bad Crowes is better than no Crowes.

That's all for now.

Guess What!!!

I know this will come as a surprise to those of you who read this site even occasionally, but the Missile Defense Scam has failed its latest test! I know, I know...You're saying: How can this be? The science is flawless! It addresses the most pressing security crisis the country faces! This is impossible!

Yes: It is impossible. O.K., maybe not impossible, but definitely unrealistic at the present time.

There is some good news. The 2006 Bush Administration budget reduces spending on the program by $1 billion. Notice, I said "some." The budget still calls for $7.8 billion in spending. While this sort of money would not alleviate the damage done to our financial situation by the Iraqi invasion and occupation or the Bush tax cuts, or pay for the privatization of Social Security or to insure the 45 million Americans (36 million working) who are without it, but it would make a dent wouldn't it?

Please, dear reader: Do not rest until this program is no more.