AgainstTheWind

The world continues to turn

First a bit of home stuff. Tara just called asking me to take care of Cameron yet again tomorrow. I caved, but hopefully I put up enough resistance to cut down on these requests. No, I don't guess anything short of a flat, "no" will do the job there. The news in her life is that she finally got the letter from LSU. She thought when she received it that it was "no." But she was told essentially that she's not got a spot in next year's class, but she's still in the pool. I think the spots have all been offered, but they will keep her app against the possibility that some students don't accept the places. The official "wait list" is made sometime in May. I think in a couple of weeks.

And speaking of Tara, I took a photo of some of the Redman women at the Mardi Gras parade...the one whose photos I'm finally getting to. Tara hates any photo that I take of her. This was a gem. I was standing in the bright sunlight taking a photo, and my shadow is all over the subject of the photo. It's really poorly executed, but I did what I could quickly. They weren't going to stick around for a lot of futzing. Photoshop to the rescue somewhat. I did improve it. However I had a ghastly two color effect on Tara's face. So I tried painting over, and smudging and such. Grimmer and grimmer. Sorry Tara...




Marianne and Barry came over to join us for a "soup kitchen meal." The local soup kitchen needed to raise money for expenses, so they sold fried fish plates for $7 Saturday. I invited all the kids over so we bought 7 plates. I must say that food kitchen food is not fine dining. Very heavy, starchy, lots of calories. This could easily serve for a homeless persons food intake for a day and they'd not keel over. But....suffice it to say that if I was having any luck with dieting last week that meal shot it down with a thud. A blessing.. my biggest problem is controlling the intake!

Today's blog intro is a rather new one on my list of daily reads. Tigerhawk usually has some interesting comments and links. Earlier in the week, he linked Bob Hebert on the problem of the democratic party. Obama's been badly nicked with Wright, Ayers and other self-inflicted wounds. Billary has lined up the vultures just in case a carcass becomes available. Hebert:

One of the problems is that anger is growing like a cancer among Democrats. The Clintons have more than lived up to their polarizing reputations, slicing and dicing the electorate and then gleefully exploiting the myriad divisions.

The straight ahead, dead on analysis comes from the Brits. Gerard Baker from the Times Online, says

How do they do it? How do the Democrats manage to squander repeatedly and with such ease the chance of a lifetime? What inverse alchemy have they created that turns the gold bullion of electoral opportunity into the base metal of political oblivion?...

There's a popular view among Democrats and the media establishment that the reason for the party's current disarray is that it just happens to have two most extraordinary candidates: talented, attractive, and in their gender and race, excitingly new. But there's an alternative explanation, which I suspect the voters have grasped rather better than their necromancers in the media. Both are losers.

The longer the Democratic race goes on, the more obvious it appears that each is deeply, perhaps ineradicably flawed.

I'm worse than an ex smoker batting smoke from my nose. As an ex Dem, I couldn't be happier...why fight them when they're busy committing suicide?

Meanwhile in the world at large there's still a war going on. Again from Tigerhawk, a report of South Lebanon emptied of fighting men, all off training in Syria and Iran for the next big show down with Isreal. And Iran is hold British soldiers hostage.

When the war comes, four things will be certain. First, that Hezbollah fighters will not wear uniforms. Second, that they will camouflage themselves among non-combatants, and fire from positions using non-combatants as shields. Third, that the world's media, NGOs, and chattering classes, with few exceptions, will blame Israel for any non-combatants who die. Finally, many more people will blame the United States for that war than blame Iran.

Suppose for a moment that these two stories are true. Under any reasonable conception of law or morality, both the United Kingdom and Israel would be justified in going to war with Iran now. That is not to say that it would be wise to do so, but is there any reasonable argument that either country does not have casus belli?

It's a crazy world. If Isreal is forced to go after Lebanon again, which of these sterling candidates from the left side of politics do you want as commander in chief? They both scare me. Hillary's ahead by a whisker there, but only a whisker.

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