The Meanderings
I'm stumped. I can't think of a damned thing to write about today.
Nice of Condi Rice to offer to testify. In private. Possibly without taking the oath.
There are so many choice quotes, revelations, and contradictions, that one could really write a blog that deal exclusively in that content. But who has the emotional or mental energy to deal with that? I sure don't. I think it's unhealthy to obsess about all this Bush stuff. That's not to say I don't do it, but I've tried to make a conscious effort to not write so damned much about it. It's just too much.
I did, though, like this quote from Bob Kerrey, as reported in the LA Times:
At Wednesday's hearing, former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey — who on Tuesday had most sharply criticized Clinton's response to Al Qaeda — said that even the plan approved Sept. 4 was far too meek and meager.
"I was briefed this morning on that plan, and I would say fortunately for the administration it's classified, because there's almost nothing in it," Kerrey said acidly.
First of all, who among us shocked that the plan would be fluff? Seems pretty damn consistent with everything we've heard so far. I love how the Administration hides behind "classified" information and "Seperation of Powers" when convenient, but they can de-classify Clarke's previously-classified backgrounder report to FOX to try to discredit him, or they can put Condi Rice on five networks to fire back at Clarke. I can hear it now-"We'd love to show you how robust our response to terror was, which came out on 9/4/01, but unfortunately, it's classified."
Secondly, I just love that adjective: "acidly". So descriptive. So much better than just, "he said." That's the kind of touch that makes a story. You can bet FOX won't report on Kerrey's acidic tone!
As for Clarke's book itself, it has become something of a literary phenomenon with huge early sales. But does anybody believe this book is going to convert anyone? I guess I find that hard to believe. That's not to say that I don't think Clarke's story (and the larger story that it fits into so well) isn't going to persuade voters who are outside of Bush's dogmatic core. I think the story is persuasive to people who are persuadable, but that will happen as a result of the buzz and attention given to Clarke, and especially the outcome of his testimony before the panel. Very few of those potential voters will have actually read the book, I believe.
Of course, it's about more than the election. Clarke's book is one of the first glimpses, perhaps the only real glimpse we'll see for some time, inside the culture of the White House specifically as it related to terrorism. In that sense, Clarke's book is an important historical document that will live on in time. I think the view of the book and the Commission has been shortsighted and focused, understandably so, on the election. But what's happening now will live on well beyond that.
Crap. I didn't want to write about Clarke or anything else political today.
We have been reading James and the Giant Peach to Linus. We had to take a step back from Harry Potter. There was just too much going on for him to keep track of, and now it seems silly that we even tried to read that to him. James and the Giant Peach is such a great book, much better than I remember it being when I read it as a kid.
Actually, now that I think about it, I never really read it. It was read to me, one of those books your grade school teacher reads during that time before or after recess or lunch. I suppose I covered a lot of books in that way, but of course it's not the same as reading them. Thinking back, some of my teachers were not particularly good at book readings. As I read the book to Linus, I'm very aware of actually trying to present it to him. I don't do it in funny voices, like I used to do Ferdinand, the great Munro Leaf book, but I do try to spice it up and make it expressive. Roald Dahl gives plenty to work with.
Did you know that James and the Giant Peach was censored by at least three different school districts in the 1990s? Some did so because it had the word "ass" in it, and encouraged the use of tobacco and whiskey. Some did so because it encouraged kids to disobey their parents, a conclusion which only the lamest of school boards could reach if they read the book.
It's a perfect book for Linus, and we are eager to read something else to him. We recently read Mouse and the Motorcycle to him, which was always a favorite of mine growing up, but you know what? James and the Giant Peach is just far, far better. That doesn't mean we won't read Runaway Ralph, though.
Any other suggestions? I was always a "Rats of NIMH" fan, but that might be a bit old for him at this point.
Linus has a slumber party at his school tonight. 57 kids will attend. How is this going to work? I can't imagine the nightmare of being a staff member at that event. Seems to me the kids would be up as late as the last kid awake, and up as soon as the first kid was up. Plus, you know some kids will wake up in the middle of the night and freak out. Ugh. We drop Linus off at 7 in his pajamas.
I need a new team name for one of my fantasy baseball teams. Currently, I have five fantasy teams in operation, three basketball, and two baseball. My team name in my permanent baseball league (read: the one I play for money) is the Hennessee Valley Authority. When you come up with a name like that, you don't change it. My fantasy basketball names are the Brown Gifts, Face Jam, and Libby's Leakers, a sly reference to the fact that the Dick Cheney aide Lewis Libby almost certainly had something to do with the leak of Valerie Plame's name to Bob Novak.
And now, I'm drafting for another baseball league. My temporary name is currently the Harry Blackmun, a shout out to the St. Paul native and former Supreme, whose archives I happened to be reading on the day when I had to choose a team name. Also, it reminds me of a particularly great story I read once in National Lampoon, which was a bawdy article supposedly written by Thurgood Marshall, in which he talked about how he was such a womanizing stud while on the court. In the article he said things like, "Lady Bird Johnson but the "BJ" in "LBJ", and once, when seeing Harry Blackmun's wife in the chambers, said, "Come over here if you want to see a real Harry Blackmun!"
I've been wanting to do something to show proper respect for North Korea's political speechwriters, who I revere as comical rhetorical gods. I've simply been searching for the right quote from which to mine, and I believe I have now found it here, in a speech where the North Koreans call Don Rumsfeld a "political dwarf".
Political Dwarfs. I like that.
11:06:23 AM 
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