The Non-Conversation

Rich Lowry on the nation of cowards' conversation about Zimmerman, Martin and race.

Comments

[narciso]

Heck, that was a good piece in Politico, off all places.

[bgates]

Let’s act as if the main threat to young black men in America is overzealous neighborhood watch volunteers who erroneously consider them suspicious, call the police and follow them, then shoot them in self-defense after a violent altercation in confusing circumstances that will never be entirely disentangled.

I count four errors in that sentence.

[Rob Crawford]

bgates: Heh :-)

[NK]

I count 2 errors, and 2 rhetorical characterizations.

[narciso]

Ah there's the Lowry we've come to know, well baby steps.

[Danube on iPad]

I think he's deliberately ceding some ground to the race pimps, accepting some of their characterizations just for effect. He's doing so by way of illustrating that even if you accept that version, this event is not remotely close to typefying the principal threat to the safety of young black men.

[narciso]

Ah, there's the Lowry we've come to know, the David Spade of National Review.

[narciso]

You enabled this kangaroo tribunal, before, how can believe you now;

[narciso]

This is what was I was referring to;

[Carol Herman]

Same group was overjoyed at OJ's acquittal.

For obama the incompetent? He's leaving a trail. Ahead, and way ahead, when books come out discussing America's "multi-culti" free bonus pick ... What do you think gets remembered the most?

Remember, history isn't written by illiterates.

And? Dee-Dee Eugene Diamond, in cahoots with Al Shrarpton, forgot to mention her abilities with VOODOO. I've heard Michelle's mom also does VOODOO at the white house.

Seems some groups can't find their bootstraps.

While I'm betting on the pendulum swinging the other way.

[NK]

So is Gov Scott complaining that he got fleas from laying down with the racialist dogs?

[jimmyk]

When the racialists say they want a "conversation," it's a bit like when your girlfriend says "We need to talk."

[NK]

... and we all know no good comes of that. well... all men know that anyway...

[narciso]

It's more like the Argument Clinic, which defaults to abuse.

[jimmyk]

Is NK actually James Taranto? My comment on JT's Best of the Web column:

"it seems to us that he exercised poor judgment in following Martin after the 911 dispatcher urged him not to."

There are at least three factual (in the sense of lacking any evidence) errors in this statement. First, it wasn't a 911 dispatcher, it was a non-emergency line; second, the dispatcher did not "urge" him not to follow, she merely said "We don't need you to do that"; third, notwithstanding that, he responded "okay" and by the sound of it and by his own statement, ceased following him, and indeed lost sight sight of him entirely, and instead focused on where he would meet the police when they arrived.

And given the factual inaccuracies of the last half of the phrase, the conclusion that "he exercised poor judgment" is rendered null and void.

[Ignatz]

He exercised poor judgement in existing, especially existing outside his house.

[MarkO]

In some languages, "conversation" means "scolding."

[narciso]

This was a better offering;

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324021104578553093991335514.html?mod=WSJ_article_MoreIn_Opinion

[Comanche Voter]

I dunno; every time that dipstick Holder says "we need a national conversation", he means "You STFU while I lecture you."

Geez Holder, when do we get to talk?

[NK]

NK is not Taranto-- how do I know? NK's 'poor judgment' arguments are tightly tied to the evidentiary facts undisputed at trial by both the State and defense, moreover NK's arguments impeccably focus on the foreseeability of consequences apparent to any reasonable man under GZ's circumstances, coupled with the ultimate results to empirically conclude based on any rational cost-benefit analysis that GZ exercised poor judgment under the circumstances. That's how I know NK is not taranto.

[narciso]

Why is it so hard for the Post, the Journal, even Lowry at Politico, to not repeat an error,
or omission about this story?

[Gus]

Narciso, the GOP or the soft Right, always tries to play nice with the LIBTARDS. As you know, GUS DON'T PLAY THAT. If you willingly accept 1% of the LEFTS NARRATIVE, the LEFT has beaten you.
I should e-mail that comment to RUBIO, because RUBIO has gotten his CANDY ASS played.

[centralcal]

Some semblance of sanity - Charles Barkley agrees with the Zimmerman verdict (He, too, does not have all his facts straight, but at least he is looking at this sensibly) and takes on the media for their role in fanning race issues.

[jimmyk]

Why is it so hard for the Post, the Journal, even Lowry at Politico, to not repeat an error, or omission about this story?

We see how effective the MSM propaganda machine is, as it's fooled even other relatively well-meaning people, never mind the vast numbers of dishonest hacks. Bush's plastic turkey, anyone?

[boris]

"NK's arguments impeccably focus on the foreseeability of consequences apparent to any reasonable man under GZ's circumstances"

GZ sees a suspicious "late teen" lurking about. The suspicious teen notices GZ is watching him, checks GZ out and runs away.

If "reasonable" means the area is off limits until help arrives, then I am not a reasonable person or you are full of it.

[NK]

jimmy@4:51-- very true-- with GZ-- the NARRATIVE strong with this one it is.

[DebinNC]

Before the dispatcher told GZ "We don't need you to do that," the dispatcher had told GZ to let him know where "he" is, perhaps in order to tell arriving LE where to go. On the stand the dispatcher admitted GZ might have taken that as an instruction to watch TM's movements and report back, i.e. "follow" him.

[cathy_f]

GZ sees a suspicious "late teen" lurking about. The suspicious teen notices GZ is watching him, checks GZ out and runs away.

If "reasonable" means the area is off limits until help arrives, then I am not a reasonable person or you are full of it.

I'm with you, boris. Although I will confess that I probably would have stayed in the truck because it was cold and icky outside.

[cathy_f]

Oh, and jimmyk -- you elide over the fact that TM disappeared from sight before GZ even got out of the truck.

"Following" implies that GZ knew where TM went. What GZ was doing was "looking for" TM.

[Danube on iPad]

You people don't get it. The CIA introduced crack cocaine into the ghetto and developed AIDS as a way to exterminate black people. Tawana Brawley as kidnapped by white devils. And now The Man strikes again.

[NK]

'looking for' starts getting too close to the racialist 'hunting for' TM meme. MoM effectively showed the jury that the dispatcher had no authority to, and in fact never tried, to 'order' GZ to stay with his truck. That destroyed the racialist meme that GZ was a racist vigilante that went hunting for TM. MoM wisely left it at that, because the SFD tapes and GZ own statements to SFD admit that GZ followed or looked for the figure so the asshole wouldn't 'get away'. MoM had to carefully work with that record, without denying it, because that would gave potentially impeached GZ's statements. I thought MoM handled the leaving the truck very deftly, because in final arguments it all sounded perfectly natural to the 6 jurors that the following or looking for, was all irrelevant-- all that mattered was that the evidence showed that GZ was not the aggressor. Well done by MoM/West.

[jimmyk]

cathy_f, probably, but I was sticking with what was clear from the recording. Is it clear when he got out of the truck? He does say "Yeah" when asked if he is following him. It's not that important if he did start to follow TM. Even an a** like Toobin acknowledges that the dispatcher seemed to be asking him to follow TM, and only then subsequently clarifying by saying "We don't need you to do that."

[NK]

6:05 rant is truly idiotic. But fascinating to me. The purported point of the post is to attack smeone of making false premises and constructing strawmen arguments, and the 6:05 uses those exact illegitimate techniques to do so. Sick but fascinating.

[jimmyk]

To finish my point at 6:05, the important thing is that regardless of when he got out of the truck, he said "ok" in response to the dispatcher's "We don't need you to do that," lost sight of TM (and therefore could not have been following him, as you say), and turned to arranging how to meet the police when they arrived.

[Danube on iPad]

Bubu is obsessed and incoherent. I'm afraid I'll no longer read his posts. He has lost and lost badly, and been made the fool in the process.

What we are seeing now is evidence that he knows it.

[NK]

jimmy-- that's a fair interpreattion of the end of the dispatcher call. But taking that same interpretation further, isn't it fair to surmise that when GZ could no longer see the figure, and the dispatcher was effectively telling him he shouldn't have followed the figure, GZ had a 'WTF am I doing' moment and decided to go back to his truck, a 'safe' place? I think that is a fair surmise, and if so, doesn't that mean GZ himself concluded that leaving his truck was a 'bad idea'?

[boris]

Bubu, come on! You're no daisy, you're no daisy at all! Poor soul, you were just too high strung

[boris]

"GZ had a 'WTF am I doing' moment and decided to go back to his truck, a 'safe' place? I think that is a fair surmise ..."

Not.

GZ walked about for several minutes waiting for the police to arrive.

[Extraneus]

I'll no longer read his posts.

I haven't read his dreck in years, but it's instructive to imagine the mindset of someone who claims to think that GZ was a cold-blooded murderer, diabolically using the opportunity of a fearful crime-ridden community to volunteer to spend his leisure time as a neighborhood watchman in order hunt and gun down an innocent child who might look like his grandfather did at 17.

We know that only the dumbest among them actually believe their b.s. The rest are opportunist scumbags who fantasize about doing such a thing to those they wish were dead.

They need to disarm us first, though.

[DebinNC]

Miami Herald 3-26-12 re TM's multiple school suspensions that year contains this:

"In October, a school police investigator said he saw Trayvon on the school surveillance camera in an unauthorized area “hiding and being suspicious.” Then he said he saw Trayvon mark up a door with “W.T.F” — an acronym for “what the f---.”

Fulton-Martin will be telling Anderson Cooper tonight what a fine fellow Trayvon was, but his Krop HS record will tell a different tale.

[NK]

GZ stopped following or looking for the figure, GZ decided that he needed a way to meet with the responding SPD, should GZ wait by his truck?, should GZ 'walk around' to be visible to the responding SPD car? That's the best interpretation of the dispatcher call and GZ's own statements. And based on that we are to conclude that leaving his truck to follow or 'look for' the figure' was a MENSA-like genius level decision, because the risk that a POSSIBLE burglar suspect MIGHT 'get away' if GZ stayed with his truck to meet the SPD, outweighted the real risk to GZ's personal safety. Oh yeah, following or looking for the figure was genius, a slam dunk, right all the way down the line, no questions asked, decision. Please. GZ figured out he was foolish to be looking for the guy, and stopped doing so, and as 6:28 brilliantly points, out GZ decided to wait for the en route SPD-- which I submit GZ realized he should have been doing all along. Because it was stupid to follow the guy in the first place.

[boris]

Finely ... a coherent exposition. Well done.

[Jeff Dobbs]

He literally said he didn't want Martin to get away.

He did not.

The only possible way to do that was to chase Martin

It is not.

[jimmyk]

More 20-20 hindsight BS, with a healthy dose of projection.

[Jeff Dobbs]

following or looking for the figure was genius, a slam dunk, right all the way down the line, no questions asked, decision.

The number of times anyone else has referred to Zimmerman's decisions that night in terms approaching anything close to "genius" equals the number of times a JOMer has referred to bubu using the same term.

A defensible decision doesn't necessitate defending it as genius any more than a regrettable outcome proves a decision to have been stupid.

[Extraneus]

Because it was stupid to follow the guy in the first place.

NK is a big proponent of neighborhood watchmen. (As long as they don't try to actually "watch" people they think are suspicious.)

[Danube on iPad]

Dershowitz believes Zimmerman could successfully sue Angela Coreybfor violating his civil rights.

The government can't bring a civil rights claim against an individual citizen not acting under color of law. The only federal claim available to the is a hate-crime one, which would be laughed out of court. It will be fun to watch them twist slowly, slowly in the wind as they try to figure out how to climb down from this creation of theirs. In the meantime, we can all spectate with great pleasure as the race-pimping industry is further exposed for what it is.

Our first post-racial president has sure done a heckuva job.

[narciso]

It really is striking how much suppression of evidence and 'poisoning the well' there has been in this case,

[Danube on iPad]

The meaning of "zero evidence":

"That’s where [the alternate juror] calls out the prosecution for John Guy’s close, which was indeed all about appealing to the heart with 'no details, no evidence' offered to help the jury fit the facts to the law. That’s the whole case in a nutshell. 'Justice' demanded that Zimmerman be prosecuted and convicted, except that there was no evidence to get a jury to reach that conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt."

[Danube on iPad]

Chris Matthews joins the conversation:

"Chris Matthews spoke for 'all white people' today, and apologized for unspecified transgressions committed by them. 'I’ll just tell you one thing,”'the Hardball host told his two guests. 'And I’m speaking now for all white people, but especially [the ones] who’ve tried to change the last 50 or 60 years. And a lot of them really tried to change, and I’m sorry for this stuff. That’s all I’m saying.'"

I would imagine he was apologizing for a white jury acquitting a Hispanic man when there was zero evidence on which to do so.

[Louie W]

""Chris Matthews spoke for 'all white people' today"

Chrissy was referring to folks like nk.

[Jane -walk like an Egyptian]

The whole thing is beyond absurd. Time to change the subject and rid ourselves of the troll.

The democrats give not the littlest shit about the truth as was evidenced in today's IRS hearings. Their followers have decided lying is the way to go and they have rid their lives of any whiff of integrity.

How about that mayor of San Diego?

[bunkerbuster]

Martin's school clearly had no problem monitoring his every move on camera, but there's no footage of him fighting or doing anything violent at all.
Martin's school had no problem disciplining him with suspension, yet no suspensions given to him involved fighting or violence of any kind, nor gang activity. Unless you think WTF is a gang tag...
No, the more closely we look at Martin's record, the clearer it becomes he had no record of fighting or violence.

[narciso]

How about the Jakes fellow, with the Bulger case, I'd never heard of him before.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Martin's school clearly had no problem monitoring his every move on camera

Oh, clearly. The cameras at the school cover every inch of the campus. Probably also have drones overhead.

[Jane -walk like an Egyptian]

Is he the guy that got killed Narc? I don't see how he is big enough or has enough on Whitey to get killed. I cannot imagine that Whitey won't be convicted on a zillion counts. Maybe it was a message to the jury. Are they sequestered?

[Jim Miller]

Jane - That mayor of San Diego probably thinks he's Bill Clinton or a Kennedy.

Although, come to think of it, even as bland a place as Washington state has had some similar examples. Brock Adams was accused of doping and raping women, though never formally charged. And when governor, Mike Lowry was accused of sexual harrassment that sounds much like Mayor Bob Filner's. (Allegedly, for the picky.)

To save you the trouble of looking them up, I'll add that Adams was a Democrat all his life and Lowry, who is in his 70's, shows no sign of switching parties.

[narciso]

And the there's Bob Packwood, who was considered beyond the pale.

[Gmax]

So Rasmussen says that only 21% of Americans want to see Zimmerman charged with a hate crime. That would be about 10% coming from the black community and the rest being the communist lefties like Dana and Butt Buster.

[Danube on iPad]

How about that mayor of San Diego?

To this point he says he won't resign, and the only way to dislodge him is with a recall. He was a Dem congressman for twenty years.

[Danube on iPad]

I'd like to see an explicit threat to institute articles of impeachment against Holder if he brings a hate-crime case.

But he won't. When he said we were a "nation of cowards" when it comes to race, he surely included himself.

[maryrose]

I agree with Jane. How dare these people ,Are you listening Lois Lerner?" try to blame those Cincinnati employees for what they themselves did.Mrs. H from Cincinnati said they took the cases from her ,gave then to Washington people or Lerner and then it sat on their desks for ages until that Clayton guy it's probably another name said we need them to reapply because the info is dated. A systematic attempt to crush the Tea Party movement coordinated in Washington. Jason Chavetz was on fire today in his accusations against this pattern of behavior in F&F ,Benghazi and the IRS. Blaming false sources and other people for their own misdeeds.

[narciso]

How about Sherrod 'Restraining Order' Brown, as Captain refers to him.

[maryrose]

Turner is the name I was searching for wrt the IRS hearings today. Obama just hopes will will grow weary of people testifying to the truth.
Judge Napolitano says Congress can give Lerner immunity and force her to testify. If she refuses they can jail her. Any truth to that statement?

[maryrose]

I don't need or want a conversation about race with Holder or Preezy. Your Boy won twice due to ignorance initially and fraud the second time around. He has ruined race relations for a generation by embracing race hustlers and thugs in his administration.

[NK]

DoT-- honestly, I believe Holder is more of a bastard than a coward, and so he indicts GZ just.. well... just because he can, and to a bastard it's better than looking impotent to his blood peeps. I hope I'm wrong.

[Jim Miller]

narciso - I'd qualify what you said about (Republican) Bob Packwood. From what I can tell, Packwood was not considered beyond the pale when the pro-abortion crowd needed a Republican vote -- but was considered beyond the pale when they no longer did.

While we are in Oregon, I'd add that, from what we know, (Democrat) Neil Goldschmidt's behavior was far worse. As was (Democrat) David Wu's.

[willem]

"Our first post-racial president has sure done a heckuva job."

Yep. President Misdemeanor, Carpetbagger-in-Chief.

[narciso]

Well I said considered, you're right for twenty years he was acceptable,

[Ignatz]

Bubu has become the demented, tilting Don Quixote to the windmill Zimmerman, which is kinda funny since Zim looks kinda like what I always figured Sancho should.

[Jane -walk like an Egyptian]

And today is the anniversary of Ted Kennedy killing Mary jo Kopechne.

[narciso]

Something else left out of the national conversation;

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/071713-664111-political-correctness-blinds-fbi-to-islamic-terror.htm?p=full

[Danube on iPad]

NK, he'd have to persuade a grand jury to indict, and GZ would have a right to testify before that grand jury. They would never indict, and Holder knows it. He won't try. Besides, I think he and his boss are beginning to see the nation being put off by racial grievance crap.

"Any truth to that statement?" Yes, Maryrose, at least technically. There is actually a jail in the basement of the Capitol for that purpose, but it hasn't been used in about 75 years. I think the "normal" procedure (I can't think of an instance in which an immunized witness refused to testify, although maybe some Mafiosi did it) would be for DoJ to take it from now, although we can be assured that Holder - already in contempt of Congress - won't do it.

I would bet my bottom dollar that if Lerner is immunized she will answer every question, and take care to do so truthfully - the only downside for her at that point is a perjury rap. My guess is that if she does so the facts will prove less incriminating to the administration than most here believe, but I sure don't know much about it.

As we are seeing, the whole scheme is rather cumbersome, and not very efficient at rooting out the truth when the executive elects to stonewall. Recall how long it took for Nixon to unravel, and the Dems had both chambers then. Indeed, were it not for Maximum John Sirica he might have finished out his term.

[bunkerbuster]

Having established himself as a known killer of unarmed teens, Zimmerman is sure to inspire reasonable fear in unarmed teens and others, especially ones he chases down on rainy nights in his neighborhood.
It seems a pretty good bet it won't be too long before an armed individual, NRA membership in good standing, responds to the Zimmerman threat with lethal force, pre-emptively, of course, but in a fully legal way...

[pagar111]

narciso @08:31. IMO, political correctness is not the correct wording when US officials are carrying out the orders of CAIR.

[narciso]

Some just want a conversation at all;

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-18/libertarian-populism-trashed-by-krugman-won-t-save-repubicans.html

[narciso]

I meant don't, it's just another version of Brooks or Frum.

[bunkerbuster]

Face it, the GOP is a white-power party in a world where whites no longer hold absolute power. Unless and until the party grasps that reality and adjusts, it is doomed.
Sites like JOM, where identity conservatives gather to slag Afro-Americans, Mexicans, Muslims and gays -- all while expressing outrage that anyone would think of them as bigots, show there's virtually zero chance the GOP will step away from the path to extinction...

[narciso]

It seems they absorbed this aspect of Southern culture:

http://neoneocon.com/2013/07/15/honor-shame-zimmerman-and-martin/

[Dr. Weevil]

Poor stupid bunkerbuster probably doesn't even think of himself as a bigot, or an asshole, who seems to find the idea of someone murdering Georg Zimmerman strangely arousing. He really needs to seek professional help.

[Dr. Weevil]

Since 'bunkerbuster' is making the same false claims on multiple threads, I guess I'd better repeat what I said on the previous one.

Is it true that "Martin's school clearly had no problem monitoring his every move on camera, but there's no footage of him fighting or doing anything violent at all." That rather stupidly assumes that the school monitored him 24 hours a day, that he was too dumb to do his more serious fighting off-campus, and that existing footage would inevitably have come to light.

Here's what I wrote on the previous thread, which BB of course can't be bothered to reply to:

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Is is really odd that no tapes have surfaced of TM fighting? Or is that just what we would expect?

Have any of his friends other than Rachel Jeantel surfaced, or even been identified? George Zimmerman had at least a dozen friends and neighbors that testified to his good character, with apparently lots more that could have been called. Somehow the best the prosecution could come up with in the way of friends of Trayvon Martin was a single sullen halfwit who, so far as we can tell, may never actually have met him. Were his other friends even less presentable, or did he not have any? Were there no teachers (or bus drivers - heh!) to testify what a good boy he was? And what about the other guys on the 7-11 video? Surely they saw the news and realized they were nearly the last to see a famous dead man alive. Why didn't they come forward? Do they have some reason to want to avoid the police in all circumstances, even when they might be able to get paid for TV interviews, as I assume Rachel Jeantel has been paid?

Of course, the odds are high that quite a few people have tapes of Trayvon fighting, just as some of his friends probably have copies of the pictures of naked underaged girls found on his cell-phone. Anyone genuinely surprised that they haven't come forward hasn't been paying attention.

[narciso]

ah wonderful, Panama's currently a center right country, but then again so was Italy, some years aho

[MarkO]

"were it not for Maximum John Sirica he might have finished out his term."

Because I am always seeking reflected glory, I will note that during the trials, Sirica had two clerks, both of whom were great friends of mine. They sent me wonderfully interesting affidavits and curious pleadings that didn't make the WaPo in those days.

I met Maximum and found him to be altogether ordinary and decent.

I think, however, that it was Butterfield who settled Nixon's fate. Were we not all stunned when we learned of the tapes?

By Lawrence Meyer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 17, 1973; Page A01

President Nixon has been routinely taping all his conversations and meetings in the Oval Office and cabinet room of the White House, in his Executive Office Building office and on four of his personal telephones, former White House aide Alexander P. Butterfield told the Senate select Watergate committee yesterday.

Butterfield, now the Federal Aviation Administration administrator, said the tape recording began in the spring of 1971 and was intended "to record things for posterity, for the Nixon library." Most participants in conversations with the President did not know they were being taped, Butterfield said, because only a few members of the White House inner circle were told about the several hidden recording devices.

Butterfield's testimony, acknowledged to be correct by the White House, indicates that the White House may have in its possession the means to prove that President Nixon knew nothing about the cover-up of the Watergate affair until March 21, 1973, as he has maintained, or that former White House counsel John W. Dean III was correct in testifying that President Nixon knew about the cover-up well before March 21.

[MarkO]

I meant to note it has been almost 40 years to the day.

[narciso]

And Nixon was a piker compared to this crew, he got the list of BLS employees, but the IRS didn't cooperate back then, Arming a militia to terrorize an ally govt, other things make Segretti seem like small fry.

[Skoot]

Oh no! Holder won't give Zimmerman his Kel-Tec back. My advice to him would be to buy a Kilmer, head to Idaho and prosper. He should also take Teds advice and sue Martin's parents for the tort of their minor thug.

"...especially ones he chases down..." Oh no! Bubu's got the vapors! And to all the ankle biters like bubu he should extend a hearty Nuge "Suck it!" GZ is as innocent as every one of them in regards to TM.

[Gus]

Obama is a fascist. He is a pathetic wimp as a man, he was a cry baby whining splinter assed bench warmer in High School basketball, and he throws a baseball like the SPEC OLYMPIANS BOWL.
He is power crazy and immoral, and he has set a tone and directed a Executive branch that is lawless. It is slowly catching up to him. How many of his sycophantic pants creasers are willing to go to prison for him??

[Gus]

The head of the TREASURY UNION employees union, met with Obama as the IRS started targeting Obama's enemies.
Colleen Kelly is her name if memory serves me.

What business would the UNION head have with the President??

[Danube on iPad]

Alex Butterfield was - get this - an old Coronado guy. When I was in the Executive Office of the President as a young naval officer in 1971 he invited me over for a tour of the White House.

I waited for him in the West Wing anteroom with one other guy, Theodore H. White of the "Making of the President" series. After a while a door opens and Henry Kissinger steps in and says "Teddy!" and they embrace like two Pakistani diplomats. They leave, and I must say they leave without a word to me.

Then Alex comes out and gives me the tour. We start in his office, which is a tiny cubicle that opens directly into the Oval Office. On the shelf by his desk is an electronic console with four different-colred lights on it. He explains that "this is how we all know where the old man is. If this light is on, he's in the Oval Office. If this light, then he's in [the Green Room, or whatever]," and so on. I was later to learn that the ultimate purpose of that device was to indicate where the taping system was recording, which was of course wherever the old man was.

He takes me into the Oval Office, opens the top left drawer of the presidential desk and asks me whether I'd like the RMN cufflinks or the presidential golf ball. I opt for the latter, which has the presidential seal and Nixon's signature on it. (The golf ball has since disappeared.)

We then proceed to one of the ground-floor rooms where the Old Man is standing a few feet away in a receiving line at a reception for a bunch of labor groups. I decline the offer to get into the line.

There was never any doubt that, when asked that tossed-off question about taping systems at one of the hearings, he would answer truthfully. A number of the True Believers never forgave him for that.

He had been a dedicated Air Force pilot (he once managed to get me a desperately-needed seat on a flight from Sydney to CA in 1968), and his aspiration at the thime was to become chairman of the FAA. Didn't quite work out.

Stand-up guy.

[Gus]

Danube, when my bro was Condi's head of detail, I saw W, and his Secret service, Dr Condi Rice and my BROTHER!!, walk from the WHITE HOUSE to MARINE 1, and fly away!! I was supposed to have dinner with my bro that eve, but he called and said he'd be late, he was driving a limo back from Camp David. We met up at the NATIONALS GAME, where I caught a home run ball.

[Danube on iPad]

I stand corrected - per Mark O's item, apparently he did get the FAA job. I've lost track of him over the years.

[narciso]

Well he volunteered information, see this is something the other side doesn't do, they hide
Col. Bristol, like M. Emmett Walsh in a 'a Few Good Men' other survivors probably at Walter Reed or Guam, that's where Clinton held the Iraqi exiles, till Woolsey found them, certain things, like the Stuixtnet, they leak even though it didn't really succeed,

[Gus]

Danube, sounds like you have had a wonderful and blessed life. Anyone who has been commissioned and graduated from Annapolis has my heartfelt admiration, including Jimmy Carter and John McCain. I have a high school pal, whose lovely daughter is going into her 3rd year at West Point, and I am so thrilled for her and the family.

[Gus]

Really. Nice black dude, he mentioned he was from Cackalacky, and I had to ask. He asked me if I had ever heard of it, and I said, yes, there is a TV show on TRU that is filmed in Lizard Lick. He laughed and told me he knew some of the dudes involved.

[Gus]

Anyway, the dude told me that his son was getting a slot at Annapolis next year. He knows Mel Watt of all people.

[narciso]

I read that possibly the most honorable person involved with the whole sordid Bay of Pigs operation was Arleigh 'Forty Knotts' Burke, who bristled when Kennedy tried to wash his hands of the matter telling him 'Mr. President, we are involved'

[narciso]

Who do we have at the top ranks of the service anymore, they drove away McCrystal, Petraeus did do himself in, Mattis, possibly among the best also forced out,

[narciso]

Oh, I saw the Bobby Rush snippet on twitter, 'winning the future'

[Gus]

Narciso, many in the Officer corps are apolitical and just want to do their jobs. Many others are trying to suck up their way to the top.
How on God's green earth could any General respect Obama? But some pretend to.

[Gus]

Patraeus had to resign from the CIA, yet Billy Clinton is loved by the left.