Posted on 01/07/2003 4:13:11 AM PST by Chairman_December_19th_Society
We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail! [President Bush]
Good morning!! Do not let the victims of the attacks on New York and Washington, nor the brave member of our Nation's military who have given their lives to protect our freedom, die in vain!!
Reuters is reporting that North Korea warned that if sanctions are imposed against it for its nuclear weapons development program, it will mean war.
The Washington Times is saying the troop buildup is moving along in such a way that a February attack against Iraq could be ordered by the President.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi Government announced it is building two defense rings around Baghdad. The outer ring is composed of regular Iraqi army and Republican Guards. The Iraqis expect that defense line cannot be held, so they have built an inner line, composed of "Special Republican Guards." (This is the first such mention of these units I have come across - wonder if that was because of the miserable showing of the "vaunted" Republican Guards in the 1991 war. Wonder if these "Special" units will do any better.) The Iraqi Government says it is upon this defense line the American army will break.
Stateside - Dick Gebhardt announced he will not run for any more Congressional terms after his time in the 108th Congress is over.
For AMERICA - The Right Way, I remain yours in the Cause, the Chairman.
BTW...you have FreepMail. :-)
Just wanted to drop in and let you all know that Carnival Cruise line is cutting $50 per person off the cost of the FREEPS AHOY Cruise. Check out the details on MinuteGal's new post on the FREEPS AHOY Cruise thread...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/817991/posts?page=9#9
(Pout) Aww, c'mon Guennie. You'll be depriving me of the opportunity to tease...and without brownies!
Well, go be a little Fraggle, but remember to come back as Super Guennie (lepton sulks and waves invisibly at Guenevere's window.)
Vice President James Sherman and Senator Elihu Root were trading Senate stories in August, 1911. Sherman told of the Senator Newlands speech during which Senators Root and Bacon were conversing in staged whispers hardly three desks from Newlands. Said Sherman,
I did not want to interrupt Newlands, so I tapped lightly on my desk merely to let the Senators know that they were talking too loud. Bacon, when he whispers, always talks louder than when he is addressing the Senate. In a few minutes I received a penciled note from Root which read:Root then told of how Senator Robert La Follette attempted to secure the attention of the Senate. [La Follette was more than an earnest reformer -- he was annoying. He once gave a five hour speech regarding a bill that had been passed that morning. He gave the speech anyway.] Root said,"If your admonition is to make less noise, Bacon and I will go into the cloakroom. If it means we are to listen to Newlands, you can go to hell!"
When doughty Bob is speaking, and he hears any whispering, he turns round and glares at the offenders until they cease to speak. He never makes speech that he does not once or twice go through this dramatic performance for the benefit of Bacon. As Sherman said, Bacon can whisper louder and talk lower than any man I ever met.[From Letters of Archie Butt, 8/20/1911, pg. 747]
Britain's anti-terrorist police said Tuesday they had found a quantity of the potentially fatal poison Ricin after a raid in London.
Mr. Chairman, thanks for the story about Herndon police antic-, er, tactics in bars. My dear ancestral home, my personal home for five years... this is your most annoying side. Law and Order are fine and well, but Fairfax County frequently makes a good imitation of a police state. If you believe in rigid enforcement of every law, from murder on down to parking, then Fairfax is your place. If you believe in rational law, and rational enforcement of it, then, for example, don't try driving 5mph over the limit on the Rte. 123 overpass of I-66 on certain "collection" days. And never, ever, try to win a case over a landlord or developer. The County's unforgiving police enforcement is echoed in the courts, where the judges are ruthlessly dismissive of nuance.
Don't get edgy with this criticism, you Fairfaxans, it just is. There's an air of "enforcement" in Fairfax that pervades. It comes from the top, and from tradition.
gulfcoast6: perhaps you have some thoughts on this.
She called last night asking for the date of Elvis' death. This is part of family lore. We celebrated it this Summer at our camp, as it was the 25th anniversay. That day of August 16, 1977, a bunch of us went camping at Mt. Blue in Maine. The oldest was a cousin, about 18. He was in charge of the food, and being of strong family blood, he packed last the kerosene-soaked sawdust we use for firestarter. When we got to the top of the mountain and prepared a fire, we discovered that the kerosene had soaked the entire pack. We lit the fire with the hotdog buns. The only edible food was a can of spam, and I was the only one brave enough to eat that.
Hungry, we decided to bag it. We descended from that beautiful glacial cirque and down-flowing stream by moonlight. We made our way to the nearest pizza joint where we were told in all solemnity that Elvis was dead. (He was scheduled for a concert in Augusta that night). In his honor, we fed the juke box twenty Q's all on "Blue Suede Shoes."
Silly as it is, this has become family lore, and my daughter somehow included it in an essay she wrote for a class assignment, something on situations of music and idealism, and I don't know what. This for 13-year olds, btw.
She told me that she also wrote about John and Yoko Lennon. "Really?" I said, knowing that she can't stand the Beatles, and she hates Lennon's solo work more. (When I played "Imagine" for the kids this summer as a lark, they puked). "Yeah, I wrote about how Yoko Ono makes world's stupidest art, and that her husband made even worse music."
I didn't teach her that, I swear. We'd seen the Ono exhibit at SF this summer, and she understood it -- exactly. We laughed hysterically while all the others stared in dumb belief at the inanities, such as a brass key mounted in a plastic box with a sky background. "The key to knowledge," the caption explained. Well, my daughter made fun of it all in her essay. I can't wait to see her grade.
That's my baby.
No matter, he got the van inspected on Saturday...
BTW, the remaining DMV locations are nuts now that many of them have been closed. Mr HOB spent two hours there on Monday Dec. 30 only to get out of line in disgust since he moved only 2 spaces in 2 hours. Then he went back at 8 am Tuesday morning only to spend 6 hours there before getting his tags! Sheesh! Thanks Gov. Moron!
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