Am I first? Am I numero uno?

And I've got nothing! %$#@*

OK. Joel wrote: "Kleenex won't be enough. I'm bringing rubber galoshes to this thing. A snorkel. The auditorium is going to turn into a water park.

It's going to be The Poseidon Graduation."

That was so good I wanted to read it again.

and bc, LOL at "One significant difference between World Cup soccer and American soccer is that in the WC not everyone who plays on a team gets a little trophy."

Thanks, Mudge.

bc

Make sure they've read and memorized the rulebook for the ceremony. Otherwise they may end up being escorted off-stage like the girl in Texas who had the nerve to wave at her family and pump her fists because she was so thrilled to be graduating (apparently they had a rule that students' hands could not be raised above the waist until *after* they received their diplomas).

I'm sure this'll rankle the Canuckistani boodlers, but if you're going to make fun of the low scores in futball (how the heck do you make an umlaut here?) it's only fair to mention hockey.

Joel,

World Cup ? Please explain.

not to jump Poseiden-ship like Enrest Borgnine and Pamela Sue Martin; from your Hurricane Floyd depiction: "The storm acted like a filter, sending the most practical folks into exile, leaving behind a lot of what might be called characters." ... like freed inmates, convenience store workers, and news reporters...

Joel, its entirely appropriate to take along dark glasses and wear them inside at times like these.

No doubt dozens of young males will, possibly are already, darkening your door whilst visting the young ladies of your household. Since I have survived 3 teenage sons, I will reveal the results of strictly-for-survival non-scientific observation.

Feed the young men who visit your young ladies food high in simple carbohydrates. When well fed, young males of the species fall asleep. When asleep they are realatively harmless, and might even be seen to be unimpressive to young females of the species.

It might cost you. Heck it will cost you a lot, but just may stop your hair from turning gray.

Low scores in hockey? If only the Oilers where that lucky - last game result 5-0. :)

There is one thing I wanted to bring to the attention of all regarding "Canuckistani", while I take no offense to it I would like to point out that it is also used in a derogatory sense to describes certain areas where there is a high or higher proportion of new Canadians. The city of Toronto is about 4.7 million people, has 100 cultures, 40% new or newer immigrants not all people enjoy this fact and hence the term Canuckistan.

dr;

I'm sure saltpeter never got close to those simple-carb foods, now did it?

*laughing*

I will also point out, on topic, that Toronto is an awesome place to watch World Cup games, there is support for all the various nations involved.

Last week I transferred some 20th century 8mm videotape of my children to DVD. It nearly killed me. Those silly little people are gone forever. The hard part of being a parent is that the children you say goodbye to in the morning have been replaced by slightly different ones by the time you get home. While you are excited to get to know these wonderful strangers, there is always a sense of loss. This can be tough. And rumor has it the process keeps on going for quite some time.

Alberto, oh Alberto! Draw together and advance toward me,
Deposite your precious moisture on my many trees.
For we're as parched and dry as parched and dry can be.
Cross the Yucatan, sweep across the Gulf, come quickly now to me!

(speaking of water)

Sigh. I guess at some point I have to respond to the nonsense that Hugh Hewitt is spewing.

Thinking of wet, an annual Everglades science meeting was held this week in Orlando, across the street from Disney. Whole lotta soggy science going on.

Cup der Nationale - der Deutscheland ubber alles !!

I suppose this is not the proper venue to mention that my beloved Nationals beat my formerly beloved Phillies 5-2 last night.

No, suspected as much.

Why does the WaPo headline, "Germany Ready for World Cup" send a faint chill of fear down my spine? Have I been watching to much History Channel? Maybe it's just a generational thing, but any sentence with both "Germany" and "World" in it gives me the willies.

BTW, "puissant" in German is Weltenshnauzergeheitlichknockel. I'm sure Loomis will back me up on that.

It is strange that we love baseball despite the fact that it's dreadfully boring and, bonus, filled with historical arcana that only an obsessor could enjoy, while at the same time we disdain soccer, a simple and beautiful expression of physical grace and power--and just because baseball games end 7-5 while a 2-1 soccer game qualifies as a blowout.

Anyway, I'm excited for the WC and I will be actively rooting for the US to wallop the Czechs by at least four goals.

It is strange that we love baseball despite the fact that it's dreadfully boring and, bonus, filled with historical arcana that only an obsessor could enjoy, while at the same time we disdain soccer, a simple and beautiful expression of physical grace and power--and just because baseball games end 7-5 while a 2-1 soccer game qualifies as a blowout.

Anyway, I'm excited for the WC and I will be actively rooting for the US to wallop the Czechs by at least four goals.

'Zactly so on the translation, 'Mudge. *nodding*

JA, why give HH the honor of your presence? What makes him worth it?

Should I bother to mention that the "preview" function is a bit on the buggy side?

Soccer is unstructured. It needs innings or downs. Or something. Points, maybe.

Is "all-timer weeper" a mistake?
(Should it be all-TIME?)

(My apologies if I am being a nitwit.)

JA, couldn't help myself, I looked @ HH.

Please, don't bother dignifying that. HH is, in this case, a repeat of the folks who read but didn't understand the global warming skeptics story; he just has a bigger mouth, techonolgy-wise. As I said, it's laughable when people think emotional volume and invective are any response to rational discourse.

Sorry, dmd... wasn't aware of the negative connotation (you'd think Ohioans would be more knowledgable about those who live across the lake from us).

The girl who boisterously waved at the start of her graduation ceremony while in line, and who was removed from the line to the stage for doing so--is a local story--about 18-year-old Samantha who was to graduate from Earl Warren High School, about five miles from our home.

The story has some tragic elements--her dad was to ship to Iraq, she failed the TAKS (basic skills test) three times before finally passing. But the rules of the graduation ceremony were read to every student and made very clear. As a former teacher, I tend to side with the school administration on this one.

There was a listing in our local paper in the last month telling the number of students who live at or near the poverty level for ech local HS, and the figure for WHS was surprisingly high--not sure of the school's boundary lines for enrollment or whether or not some students are bussed here.

I've walked this campus, with the permission of administration. It's absolutely $$$$ lush, compared with Bakersfield High School, my alma mater that former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren actually attended, the poor school that served the inner city kids (as Frank Gifford wrote).

Because of my links to Warren, I received as souvenir the program of the official dedication on Nov. 13, 2002, for the opening of San Antonio's Warren High School, although I was not present. Members of Warren's family were there in 2002, and donated to the school one of Warren's robes he wore as chief justice.

Hope the link to the local media coverage of this graduation story works.

http://www.ksat.com/video/9329514/detail.html

bc, just how many games will be played in the WC event? I know it goes on for a month. I am contemplating double digits based on the total number of games. If you need a sucker to do the double digit, I am it.

I know nothing about soccer at all, so I feel I am safe.

Loomis, do I have this correct, excitement at graduation is controlled. Please explain to me what life lesson a child would learn from that, person expression is wrong. This was not a court room but a graduation - her graduation.

Well, for one thing, soccer needs girls.

Mia Hamm, for instance. And Brandi Chastain.

Baseball may be "boring," Jake, but I take it as a good thing that no one has been murdered yet for a bad game (like the Columbians did to one of their own in 1994), or that dozens have been killed in riots and stampedes, which I'm not sure qualifies as any kind of "beautiful expression of grace and power."

I have nothing against soccer, but as addicted as Americans are to "violent" football, baseball, NASCAR, etc., we STILL manage to put a mostly rational perspective on them, i.e., we aren't gonzo crazoid, except for some inexplicable college kids, who clearly ought to be back in their dorms smoking marijuana instead of out overturning vehicles and setting fires, and I don't think that really has anything to do with sports, per se, at all. Where those college kids learned THAT kind of behaviour I have no idea, but it wasn't from watching baseball.

Joel, you will never placate your critics unless you start to write at a six grade level. And there are enough of those. Even then, you can never defend yourself from those who do not attack what you wrote, but instead, attack what they incorrectly assume you really meant.

Alberto....... Beryl, Chris, Debby, Ernesto, Florence, Gordon, Helene, Isaac, Joyce, Kirk, Leslie, Micheal, Nadine, Oscar, Patty, Rafael, Sandy, Tony, Valerie, William, Alpha, Omega.... should be another fun year.

Scottynuke, It never crossed my mind.

Seriously.

Really.

Hardly ever.

Curmudgeon:
"Where those college kids learned THAT kind of behaviour I have no idea, but it wasn't from watching baseball."

I'd say the same thing about the soccer fans who hurt people, but why even bother. Bad people do bad things, and they sometimes like soccer. Have you ever heard that possible urban legend about how 90% of sex offenders love Star Trek? Or something along those lines? My point is, these hooligans aren't rioting because of soccer; they're rioting and using soccer as an excuse. They also riot at global economic summits, and parades, and basically any opportunity to get together and throw stuff.

Anyway, my point wasn't that baseball is boring (I LIKE baseball). My point was that the usual American criticism of soccer is that it is boring, which seems hilarious considering how we feel about baseball.

(Go Nats.)

dr;

Didn't even deserve mentioning.

*chortle*

:-)

Hmm. I thought those conolis Mrs. Martinelli kept feeding me tasted a little strange.

'Mudge, been years and years since I played Gin Rummy, which means that you can cream me. I'm definitely okay with that. I'll bring brownie trifle, which is my signature dessert. (A friend says it's better than sex. I won't go that far, but it is good).

Joel, take lots and lots of pictures! When my older daughter graduated from high school, I was okay at graduation. What got me was the procession at Senior Sunday in church. The hymn was "I was there to hear your borning cry." I got the first line out and was completely choked up for the rest. I've learned to carry a good handkerchief for those occasions.

I, for one, don't think you should respond to Hewitt.

Let Double H and all the rest of the inhabitants of the Red Planet stew in their own juices (and the typos in HH's blog - ha!). It's all about us-versus-them marketing anyway, and they've found the Washington Post's most popular blogger (HH says so, so it must be true!) to be a nice juicy target. If they don't get it, that's their problem.

Let 'em spew their invective, draw parallels to obscure ancient military conflicts, worry about their ED and their softball-sized prostates, and really work up their blood pressure. Nature will take its course there, I believe.

Never complain, never explain.

Let'em talk 'till they're Red in the face.

bc

I see my last post may be a BOO.

Scotty, I take the fact that you agree with me on the HH thing to be a sign that I might actually be Right.

bc

dmd,
I think the rules *here* are such that if there weren't rules, there might be pretty dispruptive behavior. Students were free to express themselves once they crossed the stage and received the diploma and did the handshake, as well as at the end of the ceremony. So not exactly like a court of law, if you look at the details of the rules.

There is a tremendous amount of gang violence in this town (hard to convey via the blog) and many aspects of the Wild West (also hard to convey in words on this blog). I think the attempt is to provide some decorum for the event, and keep overt rambunctiousness in check.

Did appreciate your comments about your daughter the other day. Incontinence at such a young age must be difficult, but hopefully not debilitating. I say this because I have my problems, but the hematologist I saw was triple board-certified: oncology, internal medicine, and hematology. So I went for my hematology consult within a cancer clinic. I saw *many* women with scarves on their heads, a young woman who could barely shuffle with a walker, and many people who were very, very sick.

Enjoy life when you can. That said, I think I'll head to the pool for a morning swim! The water Kit and the temp/heat have put me into the mood!

Now bc. Don't be mean, because no matter where you go, there you are. The words of HH and the like are damning enough.

Congratulations No. 3 Achengirl! When my children graduated from elementary school, they stopped viewing me as the All Wise, All Knowing Mother of the World and I suddenly became an old fashioned, outdated thinking, incapable of understanding, know-nothing Mother. It wasn't "Mother" anymore but "Motherrrr", accompanied by much eye-rolling and flouncing out of the room. (Well, my son didn't flounce, he stormed.) When their own children were born, however, I was promoted to Queen of the Family, a title and position I thoroughly relish.

Joel, I read the Hewitt stuff.

War is by its very nature, de-humanising, isn't it.

Hmmmmmm...

RDP, bc and I are all on the same page (although perhaps different stanzas). Now if our esteemed shop steward joins us, I think we've got a groundswell of... something.

:-)

Nani, I was just thinking that my oldest is within a year or two from adjusting to thinking I am the greatest mom in the world to the worst. I am trying to prepare her for this, telling her just wait in two years you won't think I am so great! Last night a friend and I were having a conversation and recalling all the things our mothers did that we swore we would never do, then we had children of our own and became humbled.

Yes, it would probably be prudent for Joel to just rise above such attacks, but I know from first-hand experience that the desire to defend yourself from unfair criticism is a primal urge. Such is the power of the written word.

So who is this Hugh Hewitt?

My daughter used to play soccer. What she lacked in coordination, and stamina she made up for in intensity. She and the other Fighting Unicorns were fierce competitors.

As long as nobody actually got hurt or anything.

Nani, as I wrote in the previous Boodle:

Oh yeah, Hugh Hewitt sounds like a real peach...

"Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends on It" by Hugh Hewitt

*laughing* - then

*still laughing* - now

All right, RD, I'll stop teasing the Martians.

To Posted by:'s question a little earlier, the World Cup consists of 64 games.

If my math is correct, that is.

bc

I was going to ask Nani's question: "So who is this Hugh Hewitt?" I had an idea, from reading between the lines of the postings by The People Who Don't Think Too Hard. What I've read here today, convinces me that I don't need to learn any more about him. So, no Googling "Hugh Hewitt" for me!

I don't know about the US, but here Soccer for kids is huge but as of yet has not seemed to continue on in life. I note RD daughter played on the "Fighting Unicorns" where I live the soccer teams for the young ones are all sponsored by one company, it is a huge contribution to the community, however it has some interesting results in continuing Canadian stereotypes when you explain that your daughter's soccer team is the "Old Fashioned Honey Dips".

dmd's daughter is sponsored by Tim Horton's???? :-)

Oops, I'm going to get off the wagon for a second, RD.

Scotty, when I see that Hewitt title, I think of Arnold S. as Conan the Barbarian.

Mentor: "What is best in life?"
Conan (Arnold in his most serious voice): "To crush de enemy, to see him driven before you, and to hear de lamentations uf de wimmen."

That still slays me.

bc

Jake, I probably don't disagree with any of your 10:38, and if I think about it long enough, I know there's no real correlation between any given sport and the behavior of its fans. But I think my larger point was that we Merkins often get criticized for our addiction to our sports teams, and the idiots who wear cheese on their heads, or show up topless in sub-freezing weather covered with body paint. But by and large these same people we might make fun of, at the end of the day are basically just having harmless fun. The Cheeseheads and the tailgating acoyltes basically DO have a fairly rational perspective on the game, and what they do is harmless, and basically good fun. And they know how to take a loss in stride.

And I know it isn't fair to link a sport with its crowd behavior, but I seriously do believe there is something wrong, somewhere, at some level, with how the rest of the world views those World Cup games. And I don't think it has anything to do with poverty or income levels, or national culture, because it cuts all across all those lines, more or less equally, as far as I can tell: the "stuffy" "polite" Brits are just as wacko as the Czechs, or the Poles, or the Hispanics, or the Asians--doesn't seem to matter. The rioters may or may not be "hooligans" per se; I'm still not sure about that. But they seem to exist inside a fan culture that is inexplicable to me, and that culture is attached to soccer and only soccer, and I have no idea why. It isn't nationalism, or at least not entirely, because people get crazed about national teams for whom they have no "natural" nation connection. Who the hell cares about Brazil if you aren't Brazilian? Yet millions of people do, way beyond any kind of fandom that exists here.

So yeah, the behavior of international soccer fans bugs me and tarnishes my view of the the sport, even though it shouldn't. But Jake, those people are nuts. And we aren't.

Yup - they do hockey to, in fact they are an excellent example of good corporate citizenship. They have a wonderful charity that sends children to summer camps across the country.

bc;

*ROFL*

Actually, I think HH wants to see himself as Conan in this case...

*LOL*

I so wanted to post something clever about futbol, along the lines of "Has the U.S. lost yet?" But I notice there's a blog scuffle (bluffle?) going on.

I'm rather sick of the constant ideological warfare and wish it would be reserved for important issues, instead of manufactured trifles about suspected moral equivalence in a couple of sentences.

Unfortunately, I'm not coordinated enough to march in lockstep with those who equate questioning and dissent with treason. So count me out of the parade.

Lindaloo, what is the relevance of the fact that a high number of students who live at or near the poverty level attend Warren High School? Pardon my paranoia, but are you suggesting that perhaps Samantha comes from a poor family and that poor children are more likely to break the rules than children of affluent parents? I hope Samantha's day wasn't ruined by being removed for merely displaying a little spontaneous joy.

I heard this on the radio earlier this week and I'm not sure how true this is, but isn't "I'm too sexy" Right Said Fred preforming at some point in the World Cup? I think that is enough reason to avoid the event completely.

Congratulations Joel. Tears of pride and joy are the best. I admit have a hard time with the whole "graduating" from elementary school concept, though perhaps that will change next year when it is the boy's turn. I'm impressed, Nani, that you kept the "Mother of the World" title all through elementary school. My son seems pretty ready to reliquish that belief, with reservations. As it is my lot to know where everything in the house is, at any time, whether or not it is mine, I often appear clairvoyant or All-Knowing. Of course, I don't usually share that knowledge, preferring to point out that it is not my job to tell him where his things are. Also, I convinced him very early on that there is a secret Parent Handbook issued at birth, containing all sorts of instructions and tips, which children must never see or mention. I use it for apparently senseless edicts. I think he's onto me about that one too, but he still asks about it.

When I was a kid in the 60s and 70s soccer was still a communist sport (I never really figured that out) and all children played baseball. I was vastly amused to move back after years away and discover that all children play soccer, starting at about 3 when all they want to do is wander across the field. It is interesting that, by and large, this constant exposure to actual soccer games (sort of) doesn't appear to translate into much of an interest in soccer as a sporting event. I have heard very few of these kids planning to watch the World Cup. I don't think it is just the lack of scoring, though an occasional possibility of a goal wouldn't hurt. As a baseball fan I'm used to hours in which not only does very little happen, but almost nobody moves.

bc, my mind is fried by an undending round of assigning file numbers to previously unfiled documents. Since my mind is fried, I am into derring do. I requested the number of games information and I'll take you on the double digit challenge. 63 is my best guess.

While taking this wild guess into consideration, please remember that my actual understanding of soccer is right there on par with my ability to spell, which is occasionally correct, but mostly based on guess work and what 'looks right'.

Loomis, like you I used to teach in a public school like that; so has Mrs. Dooley until recently (she's quitting teaching today). But I disagree with the school's policy and their enforcement on this issue.

If, as you suggest, the school already has a discipline problem, I think it's even more important that rules have real meaning, rather than being arbitrary. If rules are made up for the sake of having them, then how can you have respect for ANY rules?

Graduations are supposed to be celebrations of the students, not of the school. A reasonable rule would be "No disruptive behavior", without a list of when exactly it would be OK to display emotion ("After walking to the edge of the podium, the student may pause for up to three seconds to wave [using only the right hand] at a total of no more than two people.") It sounds like the school made such a rigid and arbitrary set of rules that they insured that someone would breeak them. A perfect example of poor classroom management skills.

Round 1: 32 teams, 16 games
Round 2: 16 teams, 8 games
Round 3: 8 teams, 4 games
Round 4: 4 teams, 2 games
Round 5: 2 teams, 1 game

That would be 31 games. EXCEPT: I understand that the first round actually is a round-robin tournament, multiple-elimination, whereas the later rounds are single-elimination. So, at least two games for each team in Round 1, leading to a total of 47. Really, I have no idea how many games there are, except that it has to be at least 47.

Wolverhampton's playing for the Cup, right?

:-)

I had to Google --
Hugh Hewitt is a radio talk show host.

We should all pay close attention to the last item in Kamen's Loop today...

*laughing*

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/08/AR2006060801573.html

a CONSERVATIVE radio talk show host.

Mister Joel-

I read your article, then I read Mr. Hewitt's. Like Jane Austen said, he's "not worthy of the compliment of rational dissent".

About Kamen's column...

Okaaaaaaaaaay, then. Can I get in on this boondoggle?

I think mebbe StorytellerTim would be more accepted at that shindig.

*L*

I would like to state that I will take no umbrage at anyone who wishes to make comments on the former Canadian Defence Minister quoted in Kamen's column.

Tim, it's 64 games.
Trust me on this.

I guess the over/under on 64 soccer games total scoring appears to be 64.

So dr, I'll take the over and actually call out a fraction as Mudge suggested: 444/4ths.

bc

Canada's building a fence where? What???

:-)

Well, let's start off. I know nothing about the list of rules at Warren High--or the rules set forth for graduation. I don't know much about Samantha, her parents, or their income level. I do know that our local Warren High is a drop-dead gorgeous school, with every conceivavle amenity available to the students. I am not suggesting that poor kids create the most behavioral problems--evident by me being a poor kid and doing well, and my teaching days where the one kid who acted out the most in my classroom was not one of the rural kids, but the son of the elementary school principal. I hardly think Samanatha's graduation was a celebration of the school, since the ceremony was held at the Alamodome.

Nani, I don't know how long it's been since you lived in San Antonio, but these things I do know. Where there is poverty, there is often violence, and San Antonio has a lot of both. Gang activities make the news almost daily. Deaths from teens racing the highways and streets is fairly common news coverage, too. Drive-by shootings occur at least once a week; robberies almost daily. The most disturbing headlines are the number, far too high, IMHO--and the shame of our city, of infants and toddlers who are either shaken to death or starved to death by their parents, often unwed. The number of teen pregnancies is very high, but dropping. Literacy on all levels is appalling low--both kids and adults. And a headline/story this past week, that revealed the number of high school (17, I think) where the TAKS numbers were suspicious, very funny, as though the results of the test had been tampered with (let's see what I can find). Could Samanatha even read well enough to understand the rules of her graduation (just askin') because she failed the test three times (and these are not difficult tests, folks) or was it just performance anxieties? I think there is more story here than you and I know.

And that day that you thought I was mad at Cassandra and stayed offline? Well, I couldn't get Internet access that day until noon, after spending an hour that morning on the phone trying to get to the root of the problem. The day was surprisingly cool and those crape myrtles did need the dead branches trimmed out. Then the news that went on TV and into the paper, breaking that evening, about a vet who was charged with sexual indecency with a child. The vet was a member of our subdivision, he laid out our community newsletter, his wife is on the board of directors for our subdivision. They consistently held themselves up as the paragons of virtue. And this much I can tell you, there was far more story there than the six grafs that made it into the paper.

So, if you really want the Warren High-Samantha story--best to talk to them, in-depth.

Here's the link:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/education/stories/MYSA060806.01A.Taks_state.1cbe55cd.html

609 schools eyed for possible TAKS cheating

Web Posted: 06/09/2006 02:21 AM CDT
Jenny LaCoste-Caputo
Express-News Staff Writer

In their first serious effort to identify possible cheating on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, state education officials have flagged 609 schools for irregularities in the way students answered questions last year. ...

A 2004 Dallas Morning News series found suspicious scores at nearly 400 schools statewide based on 2003 and 2004 test results. Unusual test scores in the Wilmer-Hutchins Independent School District in Dallas prompted the series. A state investigation found two-thirds of the district's elementary school teachers were helping students on exams. ...

[Holy Moly, this is a big number] The TEA is urging San Antonio school officials to investigate 19 schools -- in the Alamo Heights, Harlandale, Judson, North East, Northside, San Antonio and South San Antonio independent school districts and three charter schools.

Linda,

you mean you don't teach journalism at SUNY-Fruit Valley?

"Canuckistan" - priceless.

SCC: vet = veterinarian

Posted in previous boodle, I probably should just make it a kit:

I don't know Hugh Hewitt and am reluctant to criticize him, since he may be a wonderful chap, and his ridiculous distortion of my blog item may be an anomaly and not part of a self-serving effort to sow division among the American people for the sake of ratings and page views. But I will respond to some of the commenters here.

Someone writes: "To equate a murderous beheader whose jihadist ideology is a 7th Century throwback which would offend most Muslims today with that of strategic bombing to terminate said animal, is a problem that the Left has when always dealing with enemies of this nation."

I quite clearly CONTRASTED a murderous beheader with the American military. What part of the word "opposite" don't you understand?

Let us review the passage that apparently put Hugh's knickers in a knot:

"It was an impersonal obliteration. You could argue that it was the opposite of Zarqawi's style of killing -- he preferred to murder hostages by beheading them in front of a video camera."

To say that I am suggesting there is a moral equivalence is absurd. Of course there's no moral equivalence-- they are, rather, and I apologize for quoting myself again, "the opposite."

Many thanks to Glenn Reynolds, of Instapundit, who writes: "I have to say that I didn't read it that way. To me, it seemed that Achenbach was juxtaposing the bestial approach of Zarqawi with the matter-of-fact tradesmanlike approach of the U.S. military."

I invite those of you who are new to this site to click on some links and get your own sense of what kind of blog it is. Then re-read the item above: There's no criticism directed toward the United States or the United States military. I'm thrilled that Zarqawi is dead, as he was, to quote the item, "a bloodthirsty killer and terrorist mastermind." What does it mean for the war? I don't know. I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of intelligent people who have insight.

You may also note that the item links to Ivo Daalder, of Brookings, Tony Cordesman of CSIS, and Charles Pena of the Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy, and formerly of the Cato Institute. Yeah, that's a real Murderer's Row of moonbat lefties! How did I forget to include Ramsey Clark?

You go, Nani. My grandchildren are ten and two. The boys are ten, the girl, two.

Mudge, I read your comment in the last kit about the folks taking their meds before hitting the submit button. I'm sure you burned some of them with that insight, but I laughed, and I'm still laughing.

Oh, and Nani, the gentleman wasn't my uncle. His picture was in the paper, and I wanted to meet him. My aunt took me to see him because she knew him, had known him since her childhood, and she's hitting seventy, maybe more. I have a neighbor here that's 102, and I'm going to visit him soon. He still walks out to get his paper sometimes.

Joel, congratulations. I know it can be kind of sad to see these things, but I'm sure deep down you're happy. Put your dark glasses on and let it rip.

Wow, Linda, looks like it's going to be a busy summer for the school system over there.

For those of you (Mudge) who did the math (which involved disrobing so you had every appendage available for counting) did the math and came up with 63 World Cup games.

This would be accurate if there were not a 3rd place "consolation" game the day before the final.

bc

Pssst, JA (again)...

"sow division among"

:-)

SCC: "For those of you (Mudge) who did the math (which involved disrobing so you had every appendage available for counting)and came up with 63 World Cup games:"

bc

Scotty, Joel's entitled to his own SCCs.

bc

On a humourous note, I mentioned earlier this morning about our long unmanned border, the thought of easily traversing some of those areas is amusing, at certain times of the year you would run into situations like the one found in the link. Must look out for mosquitos, (they are a secret weapon up here).

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1149803410508&col=968705899037&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News

Curmudgeon,

re: Germany World

careful, our fearless leader, with birth-righted moniker, seems to be of Bavarian background - but he seems to have a sense of humor.

bc;

I know, but no sense in giving the HH-heads anything factual to base their rants on.

:-)

Achenbach,

"get your own sense of what kind of blog it is"...

I know perfectly well what kind of blog it is... it is one that is costing me money ! Now go out and get some real news, like Woodstein !

Well, Joel didn't take our advice, thus clearly showing, once again, his superior judgement. I vastly underestimated Joel's ability to constructively engage such an irrational taunt. Joel's response, like, totally rocked. I am humbled.

Back on topic...
My older daughter graduates later this month...from PRESCHOOL! I was initially incredulous at the news that there was going to be an elaborate graduation ceremony. Seemed like overkill to me, another symptom of this child-centric fetishization that seems to be the dominant parenting model these days.

But then I pondered how she's been in this daycare center since she was an infant, seeing some of the teachers and kids basically every school day since before she can remember. She started at 4 months, 40 months ago. It's where she basically learned to walk, feed herself, use the toilet, etc. It is a major transition.

She's very excited about the graduation. The kids are all practicing their parts for the performance (they're acting out a book), and making lots of surprise gifts for each other and the parents. Her enthusiasm is palpable.

As with Joel's ceremony, galoshes will surely be needed. It won't be the Poseidon Adventure--nothing that dramatic, I hope--but we'll surely cry a river. And I, sensitive new-age guy that I am, will certainly as lachrymose as any of 'em. Hopefully we'll remember the kleenex.

We are all crying because, don't tell me, the kids are home from school for the summer !!!

sorry, trying to do 8 things at once

bc, I searched for the last WC scores and counted up. I discounted the one game where there were 5, count em, 5 goals. Like that will ever happen again.
Anyway 63 goals.

Hey this is on total number of goals right? Or is it only winning scores? Difference in goals between winners and losers?

I shoulda' looked into it just a teeny bit first.

I'll back bc up on 64. Some of us are forgetting the game for third and fourth place.

How were the graduation ceremonies?

Lindaloo, I wasn't angry at anyone. I took umbrage at my name being brought up in your complaint about Cassandra's daily greeting to the boodle (which I look forward to and find comforting), nor my post being held up as some sort of example of how one should write about religion. I took hte easy way out by deciding to remain neutral and just say that I "hearted" you both. Which I do.

Gangs in SA existed in the 40s, 50s and 60s when I lived there. In school I learned to never make eye contact with them and to clear a path when they approached. My 90 yr. old non-English speaking German grandparents lived in hte heart of gang territory. They never locked their doors. Didn't need to. The "pachucos" made it known that anyone who bothered these sweet old folks would have he11 to pay.

Please note that the Martian Spartans are still in the previous Boodle.

Tread carefully over there, people. It's amusing to watch, but make sure that you don't step in anything that they leave.

bc

Holy Cow! That wasn't the REAL B. Bradlee, was it?????

bc, disrobing to count on appendages in order to get up to 63 (or 64) was probably a valuable service; there were at least half a dozen appendages I hadn't seen in quite a while. So thanks for the incentive.

Those dang Canadians! Always causing trouble: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/07/AR2006060702360.html

Joel can probably read the URL on the Bradlee kit to see that an imposter... that maybe it really was Bradlee !!!

Man, I must be reading the Washington Post if I see Geena Davis on the home page.

From the article in Tim's link:
"Among the oil workers who will be on hand are two women who drive the huge trucks, a repairman, two environmentalists who work for the oil companies and two who are independent.

'The truck is a prop, and we don't want the truck to overshadow the message of a broad Alberta culture,' Groce said. 'These women drive the truck in 40 degrees below zero.'"

I wonder:
a. If they're big-boned gals from the south.
b. if they can dance.

bc

I feel compelled to add: That's some broad culture, that is.

bc

Tim,

perhaps you contemplated other subject-to-filter adjectives describing our friends up north before you settled with "dang". Thanks for using good judgement though, eh.

I once heard Canada described as "a suburb of the United States". What, more like a township?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/30/AR2006053001429.html

bc, this is for you, if you look at the photo slideshow on contained on this page there is a picture of one of the women who drive the "big trucks".

I think I get it. These drive by comments are by people who have no idea what this blog is about. It's like people stumbling into a Marx brothers movie and talking about Karl.

so, tell me, what is this blog all about? Tell me, without a reference to other links, blogs.

drive by;

When we figure it out, we'll let you know.

Actually, this is a quasi-science-oriented-but-you-never-know-what-the-topic-will-turn-to sort of blog.

:-)

That is quite the scene on the previous boodle!

Yes indeed, dmd.

So many people who are sure they know what JA "really meant," as opposed to reading plain English.

*SIGH*

I think Mudge and RD better come up for air soon or they may blow a gasket.

Well, for what it's worth, I posted my retort to Hewitt as a kit. I wish I'd gone to the water park with the 5th graders. The problem is, if someone calls you a traitor -- in effect, Swift Boats you -- you have to respond. Kerry learned that.

I predict 175 goals in this World Cup 2006.

That's a great comparison, Padouk. The question is whether, encountering Groucho (or worse, Chico) they flee to more traditional quarters, or pull up a chair & grab some popcorn.

Scottynuke,

thanks for the explanation... somehow I felt that drive by's were precluded from blogging here since they don't know what Achenblog is all about. Paranoid perhaps?

I will sleep well tonight, unless Joel tells me otherwise.

Germany wins 4-2.

I'm far, far behind in my reading after being busy with finals for 3 days. HOwever, I'd like to share that my daughter is graduating from her preschool a week from today. I know, it is just preschool. But she's been with about 15 of those 20 kids since she was just 3 months old. They really are like her siblings. She's looking forward to her "big kids' school" experience, but gets weepy about leaving her friends.

I'm happy to cut my daycare bill in half, though.

BTW, my daughter is also looking forward to her trip to DC on the 27th. I showed her the list of places all of you gave me. She's dead set on seeing the bugs, visiting the playground, etc. My son just asked if he could bring his stuffed dog and a snack.

oh, I get it now, HH is really a drive by.. not me !

sorry, apologies, sorry, sorry, sorry for being a lunkhead.

ooops, sorry if I spoiled it for any who planned to watch a recording later.

Congratulations, a bea c -- I am glad to see the graduation theme recur. I hope she has a happy day.
Loomis, you are strenghthening my resolve to persuade my in-laws to move out of San Antonio. They've been there forever but the city has changed around them so much they are nervous. I keep trying to persuade them they'd SAVE money paying retiree state income tax elsewhere instead of the property tax they pay now. It is a lovely city with many fine qualities but I'd feel better if they were elsewhere.

Padouk, completely off-Boodle, congratulations on Mr. Stripey's blossom! I finally scrolled through the screeds of yesterday and found the good news. I just hope my Mr. Stripey can survive the next few days of 100 degree weather. And it's only June. I'll be happy with live plants, with or without fruit.

>so, tell me, what is this blog all about? Tell me, without a reference to other links, blogs.

I think the title is "Daily Humor and Observations". Some people don't get the "humor" part, some don't get the "observations" part.

Joel, you're exactly right about the need to respond to being Swift-Boated as a traitor, although of course since they couldn't actually mentally process what you wrote in the first place I wouldn't worry about changing too many minds.

Nani, I was addressing you, personally, when talking about San Antonio, nothing else.

The "you" was meant for some members of the Boodle, who questioned my whereabouts about 10 days ago. My fault for not making it clearer--perhaps using "y'all."

Sorry for your umbrage as far as the post in question. As is probably evidently clear by now, I'm just a stickler for separation of church and state--a strict separatist. Glad the Supremes outlawed prayer at football games. I do not believe in a minute of silence in classrooms--do it at home, before school, or send your child to a parochial school, by all means. Are you aware of the case the Supremes just turned down--the case involving an atheist father and the Boy Scouts? I think "God" should be taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance, since its insertion is fairly recent. Would like to see "In God We Trust" off our coins.

Mentioned my feelings to my husband and he said that that kind of repeated saying, tht type of mantra, would hardly be permissible in his workplace, but the blog is hardly a workplace, is it?

Had fits when we first moved to Texas and spent a night at a B&B in Mineola, only to be seated the next morning at the same table with some fervent missionaries who had very recently been for several years on a proselytizing mission to the furthest reaches of the Amazon, trying to convert the tribe to Christianity on one of the furthest, uppermost tributaries of this mighty river. Why can't we leave the indigenous people alone? Only to fairly recently learn that one of my forbears did exactly the same thing. Feh!

As for Ben Bradlee being on the Achenblog? I had that initial surprised reaction, Mudge, at first read, but if you reread the post, ask yourself, "Have you ever heard of a famous Washington Post reporter by the name of Woodstein?" Now, have you?

Praise be to Allah! Hare Krishna! Have a nice day!

The irony, dmd, is that I tried so hard to stay out of that mess. I even e-mailed bc earlier today that I was trying to be good and stay away from it. I feel like Pachino in Godfather III.

Sigh.

do not click on the following link if you're into woman (straight men and gay women), and you have a week heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NppzJVGdy20&search=

I guess I killed all the boodlers with that link. Sorry.

bc, was your 2:23 a reference to K.D.Lang lyrics (who is also from Alberta)? I will assume so, and obscure reference kudos to you.

Yes, SonofCarl, that *was* a kd lang reference.

I am all about the obscurity.

bc

No goals in soccer? Did ya see Germany play the other day?

You haven't really wept yet, wait until your youngest graduates from high school. All the milestones, i.e., senior night, awards night, prom night, first week at the beach, everything brings on the tears. My oldest son just bought his own appliances, and I cried about that. And speaking of soccer, my middle son plays goalie at a South Carolina college, and we're always glad when he "messes up perfectly good shots.

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Well done!
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