OK, Alright, I Know....

I know, I've neglected this blog terribly over recent days. Am I blogged out? Has Bush's downfall also meant that I have nothing to say? (Ha!) I don't know, but until I can come up with something more original, I'll be posting less regularly. I'm not of the mind that posting for the sake of it is a good thing. Wouldn't that just be masturbation?

Short Takes

Interesting times, indeed...here's a catch-up on the news of the day:

• I don't care how naive this may sound to the more jaded among us, but I, for one, will be thrilled to hear the Sargent-at-Arms tonight when the Chimp makes his entrance for the State of the Union: "Madame Speaker!................." I am old enough to remember when such a greeting was unthinkable. Now I can't wait until the person being introduced to the House of Representatives is a woman, or a person of color. I just hope Nancy can keep from putting devil ears over the chimp's head while he's speaking.
• On the same note, I'm fairly certain I won't be supporting Hillary's bid for the presidency. I agree with those who say that a Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton series of presidencies is just not good for America. The same goes for Jeb if he were to decide to run. It's unfortunate, but if her name was anything but Clinton, I'd probably be voting for her and thrilled to have a viable female candidate run. Right now, it's Edwards and Obama for me.
• Second best event tonight will be hearing Jim Webb's response to the State of the Union. This new senator from Virginia is royally pissed. Can't wait ::rubbing hands in glee::
• My infatuation with Patrick Fitzgerald continues, and it appears that we may have Fitzmas after all. Did you see today's unraveling at the Libby trial? Apparently Grumpy McVP was more involved in the outing of the CIA agent after all. Bwahahahahaha. I would pay a LOT of money to watch him being grilled on the witness stand. Finally, there is someone who will force him to answer at risk of perjury. Just when I thought all was lost in this country. This is all occuring at the nick of time.
• Yesterday's news, you ask? The Chimp's poll numbers have dropped BELOW those of Richard Nixon during Watergate. Damn. (Strangest coincidence....just as I typed this, I heard on the teevee that E. Howard Hunt of Watergate fame died today.)
• I attended a business breakfast today in Boston, with a keynote address by our new governor Deval Patrick. I have to say that he's rather impressive - he probably has been in contact with nearly every citizen of our commonwealth in the three weeks or so since he's taken office. Can't say the same for our former goofball governor, Mitt Romney (aka The Hair)
• A non-political note? It's only about 3 weeks till spring training. Wahooooooooooooo!

Rest Easy, Indian Hill Under Control

For my fellow Cincinnatians, here's the latest from Indian Hill, which appears to be running amok.

No Urge to Surge

I'm rifling through our taped TV shows tonight so I don't accidentally stumble on the Chimp when he explains, yet again, what the hell he's going to do in Vietnam...er, I mean Iraq. He's taken about a month to "consult" with everyone...from the Iraq Study Group, to senators and members of Congress. Even appointed a new Secretary of Defense. And all he can come up with is to throw more money at this thing. I don't want to minimize the number of people he's sending, but according to recent reports, we've had the same number of servicemen in Iraq at any given time over the past few years. Nothing new here, except more money and death.

I guess I could watch with the same feeling one gets when watching a train wreck. But I do believe I have better things to do.

This country needs an intervention.

Now.

Miscellaneous Musings on Presidential Funerals

Although I didn't plan to, I ended up seeing a fair amount of TV coverage of President Ford's funeral. I guess it's hard to miss, since it seemed to go on for weeks. Same thing happened when Mr. Reagan left this world a few years ago. At that time I recall thinking the whole event was excessive.

It got me thinking...who was the most recent president to die (other than the disgraced Mr. Nixon) and what was his funeral like? It's hard to believe, but if my research is correct, it was Lyndon Johnson in 1973. The picture above is from his funeral. Here's a bit of the obituary from the New York Times:

SAN ANTONIO, Tex., Jan. 22--Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President of the United States, died today of an apparent heart attack suffered at his ranch in Johnson City, Tex.

The 64-year-old Mr. Johnson, whose history of heart illness began in 1955, was pronounced dead on arrival at 4:33 P.M. central time at San Antonio International Airport, where he had been flown in a family plane on the way to Brooke Army Medical Center here.

A spokesman at Austin said that Mr. Johnson's funeral would probably be held Thursday at the National City Christian Church in Washington. He said the body would lie in state at the Johnson Library in Austin from noon tomorrow until 8 A.M. Wednesday, with an honor guard, and then would be taken to Washington, where it will lie in state at the Capitol rotunda until the funeral. Mr. Johnson will be buried at the L.B.J. Ranch.

Death came to the nation's only surviving former President as the nation observed a period of mourning proclaimed less than a month ago for former President Harry S. Truman.

I thought the last sentence rather interesting, no? And I was very surprised that LBJ was ony 64 when he died - in fact, he looked like he was 104.

OK, so I guess the funerals are as they should be - with all the pomp and circumstance we've come to expect in the services for these last two presidents.

So, having settled that critical conundrum, can you imagine anything stranger than being a former president during these events? When you pay your respects at the Capitol, you know that you too will be lying in state there. You must wonder about your own funeral, although since these memorials are planned years in advance, this must be an easy transition to make. You can just imagine Jimmy Carter, George HW Bush and Bill Clinton eyeing each other and thinking who would be next. Every cough or stumble might signal the upcoming honoree.

And what about the Clintons, especially if Hillary ever becomes president herself? Chelsea must quake in her boots thinking that she potentially could have to endure going through two of these events, all by herself.

Oh well, let's hope it's a long time until the next one. (Another Googled fact is that, yes, Lady Bird Johnson is still living, at the age of 95 years old.)

Photo credit: Marion S. Trikosko; link