I Feel A Song Coming On

Gail Collins of the Times irked me with her assessment of the Republican Presidential candidates yesterday and a day later I am still fuming, evidently:

When you watch a bunch of presidential candidates on a stage, you are almost invariably looking at a bunch of very rich people. Some of them were born into privilege, like Mitt Romney and John McCain.

McCain's father and grandfather were Admirals in the US Navy, not the natural lair of the "very rich".  Now I have no doubt that Sen. McCain would declare himself privileged to have had the opportunity to serve our country in the Navy and in the Hanoi Hilton, but that is not what Ms. Collins is getting at with her "very rich" phrasing.  It appears that McCain's second wife, Cindy, provides the financial wealth in their marriage; whether McCain's father and/or grandfather also married money I can't say, but Wikipedia tells us that McCain's mom, Roberta, was the daughter of a Los Angeles oilman.

Well, I promised a song, so dust off the vinyl and spin "Lucky Man" by Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

Comments

[Sue]

I got about half-way through the article and had to ditch it. I did get far enough to notice she threw out John Kerry's name (marrying a rich wife), which makes it a fair and balanced article I presume?

[Jane]

It seems to me the easiest way to get rich these days is to get into office. A few earmarks snake their way back into your district - have your kids set up an institute studying troglybites, build a highway to enhance your property value reward your uncle's construction company and you are set for life.

[Neo]

Speaking of songs, I was listening to an old Al Stewart album, "Past, Present and Future", and this line from "Nostradamus" hit me like a brick.

Two great men yet brothers not make the north united stand
Its power be seen to grow, and fear possess the eastern lands

I'm sure the meaning in 1974, when Al Stewart did the song, would be taken much differently than today.

[Molly]

I would say that being the son of a four-star admiral puts you in the ranks of the privileged, whether or not such admirals would be considered among the "very rich". One grows up in a family that is used to giving orders moreso than taking them, and to being accorded respect on a daily basis.

"Whether McCain's father and/or grandfather also married money I can't say."

My quick googling came up with this page, which recounts that "[h]is mother, a wealthy oil heiress, has been described as "the Auntie Mame of Navy wives". The family still chuckles about the day she went on an errand to buy a new dress, and came home with a new Mercedes instead."

[Sue]

I tried to sing, TM, but the song wasn't there. I really felt bad after all our calling you out of self-imposed? exile and then not giving your post the respect it deserves.

http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=rush-letter-for-charity>This caused me to sing though.

[Other Tom]

"One grows up in a family that is used to giving orders moreso than taking them, and to being accorded respect on a daily basis."

Really? My father was a three-star admiral, and so is my brother, and I promise you that they were very accustomed to taking orders throughout their lives--and often these were orders with which they strongly disagreed. Both were indeed accorded respect on a daily basis, but that was because they earned it.

[Rick Ballard]

Welcome back, OT. I was afraid that the French were holding you for ransom.

[Other Tom]

I would also point out that Senator McCain was not the "son of a four-star admiral" until after he was shot down over North Vietnam. I grew up with the guy, and when we were kids his father was a commander, as was mine. Neither of our families was rich, and neither of us was "privileged" in the sense that Gail Collins uses the word.

[Molly]

Heh -- Other Tom, I struggled with how to phrase that. I'm sure that they did. But I would imagine that there was a difference between that dynamic and the one of the Simple Sailor, and also a different ratio of orders received and orders given.

[MayBee]

Other Tom! Other Tom! Other Tom!

[boris]

Yay!

[Sue]

OTHER TOM!!!!!! We found you. Err...you found us! Very suspicious, though. Other Tom and TM show back at the same time....

[centralcal]

Other Tom is back! Has anyone let Clarice and Jane know?

[Jane]

Yippee! OT has finally returned. What was the best part of your trip OT?

[Other Tom]

Molly, I'm sure you're right, and I understand your point. But I don't think it's realistice to expect "everyman" to end up in the finals, so to speak, of a presidential competition, and Gail Collins ought to know that. By the time one has the wherewithal to run, he pretty much has to have reached a "privileged" place. But pointing out that status always seems to be done in a snide way, as if the status were undeserved. In McCain's case--and, so far as I am aware, the others--it is surely quite well deserved.

We were in Italy for much of July and August, and since our return have been focused on grandchildren and the like. Not much to report about my absence from the site, except that I did take the opportunity a week or so ago to do some majoy anonymous strafing and bombing over at Larry Johnson's site, which was loads of fun but sort of like shooting fish in a barrel.

I got an e-mail from (I think) Jane last night asking where I was, and it made me miss you all so much I decided I had to leap back into the fray.

[Other Tom]

Rome and Florence. We're going back in June. Also Tuscany was wonderful.

[Ann]

Welcome back Other Tom!

We truly missed you and can't wait to hear what ya think about our worst president...Jimmy.

His recent comments are over the top. Especially, his one regret being he wished he would of sent another helicopter. Puh-leeze.

Forget that, just tell us about ITALY!

[Jane]

Yes it was me. Just letting you know that we missed you. Welcome back!

[Mike B]

Sort of like looking at a stage full of wealthy New York Liberals who tend to be very wealthy.

[clarice]

OTHER TOM--*Hugs, smooches***We missed you terribly.

[Ann]

Some more good news:

http://www.gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/

Friday, October 12, 2007

ANOTHER ONE!!! Haditha Marine Sharrat Will Sue Murtha!!

Innocent Haditha Marine LCpl Justin Sharratt will sue Rep. John Murtha!
On the Sean Hannity Show today LCpl Justin Sharratt announced that he is going to sue John Murtha for defamation.

[clarice]

Great..Now for Time to get hit with a boycott or something.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/10/who_will_be_punished_for_hadit.html>Bastards

[RichatUF]

Other Tom-

Welcome back. I'm jealous, I could use a vacation to Italy...

Also, hanging out at Scary's, were you sizing up the costumes to warn the folks what to look out for on Halloween...

[Ann]

If anyone wants to read about real men and American heroes, read Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell.

His buddy just received the Medal of Honor.
http://michellemalkin.com/2007/10/12/in-honor-of-lt-michael-p-murphy/ ">Michael Murphy

It makes me sick the way our military is maligned.

[PeterUK]

They should take a page from the NYT
"All the news that's fit to pimp".

[Forbes]

"When you watch a bunch of presidential candidates on a stage, you are almost invariably looking at a bunch of very rich people."

How much was Hillary's last book advance? Eight figures?

John Edward's home is how big? 25,000 sq ft?

If hundreds of trees to slaughtered in order to publish the New York Times, will anyone know it? Will anyone care?

[PeterUK]

Other Tom,
Where's the holiday pictures?

[Jane]

Clarice,

You said exactly what needed to be said.

Nice job!

[Other Tom]

You know something? Until I turned a corner in the Academia and was looking at it from twenty feet away, I had always thought David was life-size, i.e. six feet tall or so. There's this magnficent thing, sixteen feet tall, up on a six-foot pedestal. I was gob-smacked. Talk about your yokel abroad...

I note with joy that the immediate Gallup poll notes nary a blip in the anemic support for a Gore run (too bad, in a way).

[Other Tom]

Well done, Clarice. For those who watched the Ken Burns series on "The War," and who got the sinking feeling that America was a far different, and far better, country back then, just consider the following:

On July 14, 1943 US forces of the 180th Regimental Combat Team, 45th Division, captured the Biscari airfield in Italy. In two separate incidents in July and August, 74 Italian and two German prisoners were murdered by US troops. In the first incident Sergeant Horace T. West was tried for the murder of 36 prisoners under his charge. He confessed, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but was later released. In the second incident Captain John T. Compton was tried for the murder of 40 men, but was acquitted. Neither their commanding officer (Colonel Forrest E. Cookson) nor the commanding general, George S. Patton, was charged with any wrongdoing.

Neither President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson nor Attorney General Francis Biddle was criticized in any way. The Congress took no action against any of these men, and conducted no investigation. The New York Times editorial page was silent on the matter, as was the Washington Post. Time magazine never salivated over the matter.

We've come a long way, haven't we?

[Topsecretk9]

Clarice

I thought you would think this was interesting...especially the 1st comment

[Rick Ballard]

Andersonville

Pt. Lookout

A very, very long way. Today's handwringers are simply propagandists, objectively supporting the terrorists since the moment they opened their whiny mouths to exhibit the shallowness of the thoughts contained in their tiny brains.

[PeterUK]

Marxists and Islamists clash Aleida should have kept the beard

[Ann]

"Today's handwringers are simply propagandists, objectively supporting the terrorists since the moment they opened their whiny mouths to exhibit the shallowness of the thoughts contained in their tiny brains."

BRILLIANT, RICK, BRILLIANT!

[clarice]

Thanks, Jane and OT. TS. I'll check out that link.Thanks.

[JM Hanes]

How insipid do you have to be to make stuck-on-stupid look like a step up? Gail Collins has the answer! Even TM's passing interest apparently waned so fast he missed the only line she penned worth taking the time to ridicule:

Some had privilege thrust upon them, like Rudy Giuliani, who parlayed his 9/11 moment into an extraordinarily lucrative public speaking career and consulting business.

Savor the unadulterated absurdity, because the slings and arrows of outrageous privilege are as inadvertently provocative as Collins ever gets.

[clarice]

The very notion of giving these lying idiots a privilege is appalling--we've had several years of their malpractice to deal with--noe excluding David Corn's fairytale about Plame and Shuster and Leopold's unsealed indictment of Rove.

[clarice]

And some just got privileged by theft and pelf and general deviousness--like Hil and Edwards .Other by the theft, pelf and general deviousness of their ancestors--like the Kennedys--or simply married rich ,not to bright,widows.

[Ralph L]

Thinking back to when my father was a Commander, I was too young to really notice if I were privileged, except when on his ship(s). When he was a Captain in DC, he was a mid-grade officer, and I went to a private school with sons of Admirals and Generals and some rich folks. It was across the road from McCain's boarding school, Episcopal High School, which had its own brick football stadium and indoor field house. My C squad soccer team was regular practice fodder for their JV.
EHS and Woodberry Forest were the premier boarding schools for rich kids in NC and Virginia.

[sbw]

People! People! You are missing the obvious double standard. How can nosy parkers be excoriated for examining the Frost family background and no one takes Gail Collins to task for serial violations of privacy? We don't care about $400 haircuts; it's the issues that are important, not the people behind them.

[Rick Ballard]

Think of Foer claiming the privilege for Beauchamp.

All the virtue one would hope to find at a hooker's convention. The chumps in the business must drive the 80-90% of journos who are doing an honest job nuts. There are over 50K reporters in the country and less than 500 avid political propagandists (reporters - not columnists).

Even if every one of them were as pure as driven snow, they in no way deserve any "privilege". It just ain't a profession.

[clarice]

Right, Rick. One of the marks of a true profession is a licensing/testng system and a means of withdrawing permission to engage in the practice of the professional for breaches of the standards the professionals are bound to maintain.

[Uncple Pinky]

So... Ralph L was a St. Stephens kid, eh? Need to break out my old yearbooks and put a face to him. When I was there, there were many who were actually privileged and about as many on scholarship. Lots of the scholarship kids came from military families. Ralph Ward was more than happy to take a financial hit to attract the families he wanted and he had a soft spot for oft uprooted military types.

[Elliott]

Other Tom,

Welcome back! I'm glad that you had a good trip. Any favorite sights in Rome?

Jane,

Three cheers for bringing OT back to the fold!

[Ralph L]

Pinky, few military families can now afford to live inside the Beltway, and the Bishop stupidly drove away the Hazels (who at least got a refund of the last $1 million they gave) and others like my Dad (who's 80 today). Same Bishop who drove away those big churches in Fairfax.
They started reconstructing the building when I started there (1973), and I don't think they've stopped yet. When were you there?
My father paid full price for me, which was about the same as my brother's tuition, room, and board at Chapel Hill (where that idiot bish was then a rector). Now it's much higher. I'd had excellent teachers in the public schools until 7th grade, which was a waste of time. One teacher spent the spring watching the Watergate hearings while we goofed off.

[Other Tom]

I went to St. Stephen's, as did my brother, when it was still on Russell Road in Alexandria. My sister went to St. Agnes at the same time. There were no scholarships, and we had no family money outside of my father's navy pay. My mother and father simply felt that we three kids came first, always (and I guess that's the highest privilege of all). After school we'd wait for our moms to pick us up, and up the driveway would roll these Jaguars until finally my mom arrived in the Ford. And I wouldn't have traded places with any of those other kids.

Years later my brother sent all four of his kids to the same schools--again, on his naval officer's pay, with no scholarships. When my sister-in-law suggested they might not be able to afford it, he just said that their tuition was the first money they would spend, and they would figure out how to live on the remainder. No one involved has ever regretted it.

As for Rome, every single building and piece of statuary we saw had our jaws dropping, not to mention the antiquities. I had to keep going back to the Trevi fountain and the Piazza Navona.

[Extraneus]

I spent a few weeks there in June. Milan, Genova, Stresa, Verona, Venice, Sienna, Florence, Campagnia, Amalfi Coast, Capri, Rome, ahhhhhhhh.

[centralcal]

Well, I am jealous that I have never been to Italy. And, please don't think it is jealousy that is causing me to change topics, but what do you think is going on at the CIA? Hayden investigating the I.G? I heard it on the news yesterday morning and now see Bryan Preston is asking questions too over at Hot Air.

[Ralph L]

Alexandria had excellent public schools, for whites, until the early 70's. Of course, they weren't small or religious (although in 7th grade English we read The Cross and the Switchblade, an evangelical book the ACLU would have had a fit over). They lost half their student population in the 70's, with no reduction in the number of employees.
My brother went to Mrs. Boyd's School for K&1 in the early 60's. It was somewhere near Russell Rd and St. Agnes. There were a few horses around when we moved back to Seminary Road in 69.
I gather from the alumni magazine that SSSAS is pretty thoroughly PC (it was headed that way in the 70's, but I heard they didn't use the new Prayer Book until after Mr. Shell retired). Don't know what they use for hymnals, unless someone relented and put the school hymn back in it.
There were 60 in my class, which I believe was the largest number of men they ever had. Did you go to Junior Assembly at Emmanuel in the Hole?

[kim]

Here's a last line for the chorus.

The Halsey, Halsey frauds of SCHIPmas.
=====================================

[kim]

Pooch, funny that first commenter doesn't mention Plame.

The meme, that it is government persons, in concert with journalists, savaging individuals through the medium of source confidentiality, will resonate. His point that evildoers are protected is perfect.
=====================

[Uncple Pinky]

Ralph, I started there in the very early 80's and got myself booted before they picked up Ascension and St. Agnes. Ward was always happy to huck some money our way, but some of my...ahem...pranks were a bit much for the faculty to overlook. Actually, I was surprised they kept me around as long as they did. Coach Barbee used to lament that there were fewer military families than before, but we had a lot of Foggy Bottom and Langley kids. It has become very PC.

Other Tom, it always drove me nuts that there was almost class warfare there. The parents never really shoved it in your face, but the rich kids certainly did. Oh well, it happens to all of us at some point, it was just that the disparities were so damn obvious there.

Glad you liked Rome. I got into stonecarving a couple of years back, and making that statuary is hard. Everytime I go to the cathedral I feel like hanging up my chisels, Rome would have me reduced to a blubbering mass of self-loathing.

[Ralph L]

I've only seen Bernini in photographs, but he makes every stonecarver look like an amateur. I'm afraid I'd be disappointed by the grime and decay, compared to the pretty pictures. Some of Britain hit me that way, but it may have been jetlag.

I'd forgotten about Ward (after my time). His generosity conflicted with the Bishop, IIRC, who wanted to combine the schools to save St Agnes, and make it even more a rich kids' school (except for approved minorities). We lost a few brats (as if there's an adolescent boy who isn't bratty sometimes), who were invited not to return in September, but I can't remember if anyone was expelled during the year.
I'm trying to picture Barbee--he taught middle school science?
I'm so glad I no longer live up there--it's too dang crowded.

[Other Tom]

Well, I see you guys are just kids. I went to Mrs. Boyd's for first grade (1946-47), and St. Agnes for second (it was co-ed for the first two years). My brother was at St.
Stephen's at the time, and it was very new. The headmaster was Mr. Tate, one of the finest Christian gentlemen who ever lived, as were the entire faculty. We left for the West Coast and other places, but when we came back I was at St. Stephen's for 7th and 8th grade, and my sis again at St. Agnes. Had the honor of being schooled by the likes of Willis Wills, Bill Wanamaker, Dick Babyak (coached football, too), Sleepy Thompson (baseball), Mrs. Betts, Mrs. Urquhart--just exemplary, unforgettable people. My parents developed such a close relationship with them that who knows, perhaps they did give my brother's three boys a financial break later on. I think Ralph and Pinky must have been there with them.

Sorry to turn this into the St. Stephen's newsletter, but the place was a treasure of a kind I don't think exists any longer.

I'd never been to Italy either, having done all my sea duty in the Pacific. I've wanted to go all my life, and now all I want to do is go back. I don't think I could agree that Bernini puts Michaelangelo in the shade, stonecarver-wise.

[PeterUK]

If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

[Ralph L]

I remember more of a jock pecking order, not money, but I was too self-conscious to think about other people's motives for rudeness, or bank accounts. The quarterback, another Navy junior, did really well and is now a major donor. I peaked in college.

[clarice]

I used to spend some time in Italy almost every summer beginning in the late 1960's. The best time to go was when Carter was destroying our economy and the dollar was very good against the lire. In those days we could get a lake side room at the Villa D'Este on Lake Como for $150 a night. We'd fly to Milan, drive up there and get un -jet lagged and then drive through Tuscany.

We did make it south to Naples and Rome and West to Venice several times. There is nothing more gorgeous than the Amalfi coast, though the area around Santa Margarita on the Ligurian Coast and Lucca are also wonderful.
I like Rome. I liked Naples less but my friend Michael Ledeen adores it and promises we can go with him sometime so he can show us its hidden wonders.

The country from one end to the other is gorgeous. The food is mouth watering and the people endearing.
Viva Italia!

[clarice]

This would be a great topic for discussion here.Why GW and peak oil are irrelevant:

http://www.thedailygreen.com/2007/10/10/why-global-warming-and-peak-oil-are-irrelevant/7706/

[Other Tom]

I'd sure love to go back when the Euro cost something less than $1.40. Only a few years ago it was 95 cents, and I can just imagine how mice that would be.

Next time we're gonna do several days at Positano kicking back, in addition to another week in Tuscany and some time in Florence and Rome. I think my darling wife secrectly wants to go back and stare at that dude's butt in that marvelous fountain in the Piazza Navona. (The dude being a statue. The guy holding the fish between his knees, with water coming out of the fish's mouth. Struck me as a tad bit undignified, but she adored the view from the rear.)

[clarice]

Yet another interesting thesis on energy and the war--How the Iraq war has put us in the catbird seat,it will supply us with a reliable source of oil,help US businesses in the petro area, undercut Iran , OPEC and the Saudis and Russia. http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n20/print/holt01_.html

[clarice]

Heh, OT--There's a book called The Walking Tour of Florence which leads you through the back streets to the shops of craftsmen making what they've made since the Renaissance .(Probably the same families, too.)Makss, papers, furniture, etc. It's worth doing after you've seen all the usual highlights, and it's full of intereting info. Did you know that in the old building at the straw market the Italians hid right under the Germans' noses all the family records of the Jews in the area?

If you can't find it, let me know before you go and I'll lend it to you.

__________
The author argues that the Iraq war has put us in the catbird seat. Our presence in Iraq and the present need for Iraq to rely on our assistance will assure Iraq supply us with a reliable source of oil,help US businesses in the petro area, undercut Iran , OPEC the Saudis and Russia and neutralize the threat from energy hungry China. http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n20/print/holt01_.html

[quote]The costs – a few billion dollars a month plus a few dozen American fatalities (a figure which will probably diminish, and which is in any case comparable to the number of US motorcyclists killed because of repealed helmet laws) – are negligible compared to $30 trillion in oil wealth, assured American geopolitical supremacy and cheap gas for voters. In terms of realpolitik, the invasion of Iraq is not a fiasco; it is a resounding success.[/quote]

Unlike the author, I do not believe this was the reason for the invasion or the measures we adopted once in Iraq, but rather unintended consequences of something undertaken for perfectly rational national defense considerations. But it is hard to argue that the end result of all our efforts--even failed ones--may be an enormous plus

[Ralph L]

I had Jane U as a substitute (she was still much feared by the long timers, and wasn't she a Miss?) but missed Babyak entirely since I started in 8th grade. Wills was still going strong, but Wanamaker was out in space. Rumor had it he ran over a little girl in the 60's. Sleepy was a distant cousin of mine, assuming all the Thompsons from Orange Co NC are related. Dr. Hoy got lung cancer my first year and died the same day as my great aunt in 1975, so we missed the funeral.
I believe they moved to St Stephens Road in 1957. Do you get the alumnni stuff and beggin letters? They got my new address before I'd officially moved, so I'm stuck with it for life.
You were a year ahead of Fred Barnes of Fox News, and I was a year ahead of Chris Meloni of Law & Order SVU, our two most famous graduates. The last classmate I've seen was Tom Mustin anchoring the local news, and that was some years ago. He kin?

[clarice]

OT, Do try to get to the Lake Country. And even if the Villa D'Este is unaffordable at the moment, stop in there for a lakeside drink. There are many more affordable and still gorgeous lodgings available.

[Jane]

Italy is next on my list too. I don't quite know how I want to do it - rent a place for a month in Tuscany, have friends visit and go from there? Take a tour? Concentrate on one spot or try and cram them all in? Any ideas are welcomed.

And waaaaaay Off topic: I just got off the phone with my Iranian friend. She said Ahmadinejad's speech in farsi was very different than what was reported. Re: The remark about not having gays in Iran - what he said is: "We don't have gays like you do, in Iran". IOW they are not out of the closet. Then she told me that right now Iran leads the world in gender reassignment surgery and it is sponsored by the government. If a man is attracted to men they encourage him to have reassignment surgery so he can become a woman.

As someone told her, it's so backward it's almost progressive.

Oh and the Iranians believe something is coming. They are encroaching on the Iraqi border, and they think a hit will happen to push back that border.

[Jane]

Clarice,

I read "Why GW and peak oil are irrelevant:" earlier this morning and found it fascinating. I'm not sure I completely grokked what he was saying tho, so it would be interesting to hear others thoughts.

[Other Tom]

Ralph, the Denver news anchor you mentioned is my nephew, and we have the same name. And yes, it was Miss Urquhart.

[Ralph L]

That's not the same Villa d'Este with the fountains and renaissance garden is it?

[Sue]

What MSM doesn't want you to know about what Sanchez said.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2007/10/018743.php>Powerline

[Rick Ballard]

"I don't think I could agree that Bernini puts Michaelangelo in the shade, stonecarver-wise."

Di gustibus non disputandum. The scalpolini in Pietrasanta charged with making full scale replicas of Michelangelo's David say that he was very vexed about slow pay - and it shows. When next you visit St. Peter's, examine the Pieta from a strictly proportional viewpoint and try and calculate Mary's standing height. Bernini's work is much more difficult to critique on that basis. As far as statues of David, I'll take Donatello.

There's a reason why the Medici buried Donatello next to Cosimo. The Medici did charge Michelangelo with the commission for the Laurentian library and they certainly used him for some work in the Medici chapels - Giuliano's tomb offers an excellent opportunity to review Michelangelo's attention to proportion.

[clarice]

Yes, Ralph L it is.
Jane, when you get to the planning stage, write me..there are many wonderful tours available and it depends how you plan to travel and what you most enjoy. The easiest itinerary is to get a flight to Milan and then go on to Florence.After Florence drive on to Sienna and use that as a base, traveling to nearby towns and not having to unpack every night. But the roads in Italy are fabulous and there are many wonderful itineraries depending on what you like most.
Rental apartments and villas (depends on how many are going with you) are readily available. In the largest ones, you can even arrange for a cook. Though one of the greatest joys is eating in the trattorias--esp. in the area around Bologna.

[Ralph L]

A lucky guess. I haven't seen him in person since 78, but he interviewed my sister Rebecca about ghosts at "her" historic house in Jamestown. A nice guy, and at age there weren't many, or was I too defensive? As a major geek and a brain, I had reason to be. There really were a lot of military kids; I wonder if they've intentionally kept them out since then.

[Rick Ballard]

I'd like to second Sue's pointer to the text of the first half of Sanchez's speech.

WHAT IS CLEAR TO ME IS THAT YOU ARE PERPETUATING THE CORROSIVE PARTISAN POLITICS THAT IS DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY AND KILLING OUR SERVICEMEMBERS WHO ARE AT WAR.

I don't think he much cares for journos.

[Ralph L]

I'll take Donatello
You can have him. I like my David's with muscles, but why isn't he circumcized?
Has anyone carved anything with the virtuousity of Bernini's Apollo and Daphne?

[Sue]

Our congress just spit in Turkey's eye, and now we know why. If you can't lose the war one way, do it another.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,301578,00.html>Source

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Acknowledging "a difficult time" in relations with Turkey, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday appealed to the U.S. ally for restraint against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and in reaction to a genocide resolution in Congress

[Ralph L]

Rick, here's the whole thing, if you can stand the all caps and his bureaucratic language:
Sanchez
He don't impress me, much.

[Sue]

But hey, as Lantos said, you have to weigh the lives of our service people against the votes I need from my constituents. Paraphrased to a degree, but just to a degree. What a disgrace this congress has turned out to be.

[Patti]

Guess the Kennedy family and the Gore family don't qualify as "rich white men."

[Rick Ballard]

Ralph,

Why would yould expect Sanchez not to whine about being stuck between Franks and Petraeus?

[Jane]

Clarice,

Thank you, I will. I haven't gotten to the planning stage because I haven't figured out what I want to plan. I'm waiting for it to just come to me.

I too am simply devastated by Lantos. What these dems won't do to undermine this war!

[Ralph L]

It's worse than just Armenian votes. Much of our supplies to Iraq pass through Turkey. Can we question their patriotism now?
Rick, Sanchez was only there a year, right? Casey wasn't much better, that I could tell.

[Sue]

They had to know this was coming. Rice and Gates have both been up to the Hill begging them not to do this. And they did it anyway. Any service member who loses their life in that region of Iraq from this day forward, their blood is on Pelosi's hands. And the minions she leads.

[Other Tom]

Michaelangelo's problems with proportion are on display in David's hands (our delightful guide offered an excuse of some kind, but I wasn't buying it). I didn't notice anything unnatural about the Pieta, but it's really hard to get a good look these days.

[Sue]

They don't have the balls to end it constitutionally, so they are doing an end-around. And smiling all the while. Buzzards.

Hey, any main stream media that might be lurking...take my quote and put in your newspaper. The democrats are buzzards, circling around the lives of our service people waiting to pick at their remains in order to regain the White House and veto proof houses.

[Snit]

What MSM doesn't want you to know about what Sanchez said.

Powerline

Posted by: Sue | October 13, 2007 at 11:44 AM

and the MSM embargo inadvertently proves his point.

[Rick Ballard]

OT,

The scalpolini are technicians who tend to judge art on form rather than on the degree of inspiration. Many of them feel that the Pieta - taken from Mary's waist up - is unbeatable. Then they go back to form and note that Michelangelo was forever oversizing knee to waist proportions in women as well as his propensity to attach breasts to male pecs. It's a valid critique and takes little from the fact that he was a giant in art. An hour in the Sistine chapel suffices to prove that beyond doubt.

The scalpolini just provide a slightly different perspective - generally, they think that the 'art' doesn't quite cover the sins involved in the loan sharking that paid for it. Fortunately, the modern sculptors from whom they derive the majority of their livelihood don't quite understand the workmen's Italian. If they did, they wouldn't return to Pietrasanta with such alacrity and the scalpolini would be destitute.

[maryrose]

OT:
Welcome back! I went to Rome in 1975 and it was lovely. We also took a side trip to Assisi which was wonderful. I would love to go back and see Florence and the Tuscany area as well as Lake Como. The "David and the "Pieta I found to be spectacular.

[clarice]

Jane--start dreaming:

http://www.toscanet.com/

We have the same taste in men--maybe we have the saem taste in vacations.
Write when you're ready. C

[Jane]

Oh Clarice, that's fabulous. Maybe it, along with OT's re-emergence will get me thinking. As for now I am off to my 20th law school reunion - and I'm still ten years older than all my classmates. It should be a trip.

[Extraneus]

I haven't seen Lake Como, but Lake Maggiore is really nice. And I like Clarice's Siena home-base idea enough to try that myself. Siena is a quite a beautiful place, and very relaxed compared to the main attractions like Florence, Rome, etc. (And if you like vino, well, I'll say no more...) I found the cathedral there to be the most beautiful I've seen. Here are some pics.

[clarice]

Ah, Jane--You have fun at the reunion and start dreaming about Italy.

Extraneous..I think Rome is best on a second trip after you've had the more relaxed northern part to acclimate you to the place. I've done the Siena as main stop trip numerous times and always found it a wonderful choice--close enough for day trips and plenty of time for a relaxing evening.

If you can plan your trip for the white truffle season even better.

And if you are there during the palio and can't get tickets, go to the cathedral in the morning before the race and watch all the costumed performers and horses going in to be blesses. Then, after the race walk thru the streets and see the feasts in the streets each contrade holds.

[clarice]

***blesseD****

[MayBee]

Does anyone else ever dream of being clarice?

[kim]

I got so annoying liveblogging the Libby trial livebloggers that I ran off my young rich Italian lover.
================================

[Ralph L]

I should apologize for waving the Old School Tie so flagrantly this morning. Do non-Southerners play the "Do you know?" game, too, or do they "summer in" Tuscany, Maine, the Vineyard, etc. and compare schools to establish status?

The furthest abroad my father ever took us kids was Santa Catalina Island, but at least it was in his Captain's gig (though I thought we were going to drown in a storm coming back, which I remember more than the Island).

Notice I didn't actually apologize.

[clarice]

Pity, kim. Maybe you should join Jane on her trip and look for another one.
Ralph, it was fun..

[Extraneus]

Don't mind me. I'll just be googling on white truffles and palio.

(Speaking of which, we need some balanced competition for Google. I've tried ask, live, yahoo, and still come back to the flaming lib search engine, and their email, and I was even trying their Rss reader. Not good.)

[Sue]

Notice I didn't actually apologize.

In true southern fashion, dahlin'.

::grin::

[Porchlight]

(Speaking of which, we need some balanced competition for Google. I've tried ask, live, yahoo, and still come back to the flaming lib search engine, and their email, and I was even trying their Rss reader. Not good.)

I feel the same way - I ought to use another search engine/email/photo management tool....but theirs are so darn good.

And Google Books is encroaching ever further, as well.

[Luc]

The first Michelangelo work I saw in person was Moses when I walked by chance in the empty basilica San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome. The impression that the sudden and totally unexpected coming face to face with Moses made on me is something that no other work of art has done. Only after seeing the statue I learned that it was Michelangelo's work and the legend associated with its completion.

[kim]

He speaks, no?
==============