Great Speeches by . . .

. . . United States presidents.

A house divided against itself cannot stand
- Abraham Lincoln

We have nothing to fear but fear itself
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Ich bin ein Berliner
- John F. Kennedy

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall
- Ronald W. Reagan

I did not have sex with THAT woman . . .
- William Jefferson Clinton

The Wheels on the bus . . .

. . . go round and round.

I take the bus to work most days. Unfortunately, I have to drive about half the way, then catch the express bus to the Naval Station. Fortunately, that last half is all crowded, unpredictable interstate, and the bus gets to take the HOV lane. HOV is High Occupancy Vehicle, for those of you who happen to have actual drivable highways.

In order to keep my sanity while busing my self from point B to point C, I've taken to reading. Since I took a speed reading course waaaaaaaay back in the second grade, I can read very quickly, and I go through books at a prodigious pace.

Last year, it was military history, including Flags of our Fathers, An Army at Dawn, A Soldier's Story, Flyboys, The Great Raid, Band of Brothers, and a dozen or so others.

This year, I switched to novels. I'm a great fan of James Patterson, Lee Child, Greg Iles, Michael Connelly, John Sandford and Stephen Hunter.

Right now, I'm in the middle of reading my way through a series of books by someone who is generally perceived as an author of "Bodice Rippers" - Nora Roberts. Except, this is her "Death" series written under the nom de plume of J. D. Robb. The novels are about a homicide detective, and are set in the late 2050's. Mild science fiction mixed with procedural mixed with mystery.

As a change of pace, I picked up this book. The name may be familiar to some of you. I haven't had the chance to read past the first page or so, since I'm still romancing Nora Roberts. However, the style seems to be very similar to the blog. Long, multiple sentence paragraphs are definitely in the minority. As to content . . . I'll let you know.

My Mother . . .

. . . the painter. Later in life, my Mother decided to create a painting for each of her five grandchildren - starting with the oldest first. Each grandchild chose the subject. She was only able to complete two paintings and a partial third before she died in 1989.

This is the one created for Lisa. I think it's an example of Mother's best work.

This landscape with hawk was created for the older of Lisa's two brothers. It's unframed, and has been packed away for more than 10 years. I retrieved it today when I saw the first painting on Lisa's blog. The hazy look is due to my photography - not her painting.

Drag Racing . . .

. . . seems to be uniquely American, although it seems to be spreading to the UK and to Australia. I use do do it a bit myself in this car, which I built myself.

The car burned pure methanol and generated something over 750 horspower. It was a matter of strap your butt into the seat, hit the loud pedal, and hang on for a little less than 9 seconds. Then, at about 175 mph (which is a bit over 281 kph), put it in neutral, hit the kill switch, and pop the parachute.

It's not without risk, though. Having sat in the seat - albeit at a much slower speed - I really understand the tragedy of this:

The driver was Scott Kalitta, 46 years old, and a 2nd generation drag racing veteran. He was the son of Connie Kalitta, one of the early pioneers of of the sport, and the one-time mentor of Shirley Muldowney (Heart Like a Wheel).

This was undoubtedly the worst accident I've seen in almost 50 years of watching and participating in drag racing. The fire en-route was undoubtedly from spilled oil. The huge explosion at the end was due to the load of nitromethane fuel on board. Seems to me that it's short-sighted of the raceway to put a concrete wall at the end of the shut-down area.

Speaking of fly-overs . . .

. . . this one really got to me, since I saw it in person as I was driving by NAS Oceana. In 2006, the Navy retired all of their F-14 Tomcats. The video shows them coming home from the carrier after their last deployment.

Please don't misinterpret. This is just a salute to the folks I work with every day, not a war commentary. I will add, however, that while I don't disagree with taking Saddam off the planet, I do agree that Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, et. al. magnificantly cocked up everything the military accomplished.

Call me an old softie . . .

. . . but fly-overs during the National Anthem still bring a tear to my eye.

At the NASCAR race in Sonoma, CA today, the fly-over was was a flight of A-10 Warthogs from the Arkansas National Guard. This video is not from Sonoma, but the fly-over is virtually identical.

I suppose they had to come from Arkansas because of the general anti-military attidude that many cities in California seem to embrace.

Well, THANKS, Arkansas! Oh . . . and F*** you, California.

George Carlin had a great line about California: "What ain't fruits and nuts is flakes."

Can I have an "Amen?"

Brits we like . . .

. . . and some not so much.