Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Monthly Archives: August 2007
August 6, 2001
Today marks the sixth anniversary of the day President Bush received a PDB (President’s Daily Brief) entitled, “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US.” Yup, 8/6/01, a full month before the 9/11 attacks. Fat lot of good it did the victims of 9/11.
Ripley of Zen Cabin is hosting a blogswarm to commemorate this day in American (and Presidential) history. The theme? Here, see for yourself:
I’ve written this before, but it bears repeating. As a Jewish kid growing up in the 60s and 70s, I was raised on Geprge Santayana’s wisdom, that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. We were force-fed the horrors of the past, such knowledge being proof against another demagogue rising to power to murder us yet again.
I’m beginning to wonder if Santayana was right. Maybe human nature is too deeply flawed to be protected by something as abstract as history. Maybe too few Americans ever considered the possibility that it could happen here.
Mind you, I’m not suggesting George W. Bush intentionally allowed the events of 9/11 to take place so that he could control our populace with fear, meanwhile making an historically unprecedented grab for Executive Branch authority, as well as a truly awe-inspiring theft of the public coffers. This Administration’s kakistocracy‘s subsequent actions come close to proving an altogether different hypothesis — that incompetence allowed 9/11 to transpire. Incompetence, craven indifference, or calculated maneuver, take your pick.
I’ll tell you one thing, though. “Calculated maneuver” makes for the best punchline . . .
Blogswarm tomorrow, 8/6/07: the 8/6/01 PDB
On 8/6/01, George W. Bush received a PDB — President’s Daily Brief — entitled, “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” What he did with that information, we may never know, but thanks to the demands of the 9/11 Commission, we have a portion of the memo itself. Wikipedia (that previous link) has arguments pro and con regarding the significance of the memo as it relates to Bush Administration culpability, but it is important to realize that parts of the memo have been redacted. (Why? Oh, national security considerations, no doubt!)
Tomorrow, Ripley of Zen Cabin is hosting a blogswarm to commemorate 8/6/07. Anyone is welcome to join. Ripley has a couple of images up at his joint, and as you know, it doesn’t take much of an invitation for me to indulge in a bit of photoshopping:
See y’all at tomorrow’s blogswarm! And check out tonight’s heads-up from Blue Gal.
Animals at the Fair
I don’t likes the food
Dizzy rides makes us jiggies
Those shyster games suck
But I likes me some . . .
Gogol Bordello on Letterman
. . . performing Wanderlust King off their new CD, Super Taranta.
I couldn’t watch the whole thing. From across the room (and it’s a big room), Karen yammered, “That is NOT good music.” Okay, okay. To each her own.
Jake and I are going to the Del Norte County Fair today. I think I’ll take Dean & SxKitten’s advice and shoot lots and lots of pictures. Maybe I’ll have something fun to share later today.
D.
Michelle Duggar must have popped
Number 17, no? Or is it 18? After three, they all start blending together, don’t you think?
Welcome to all of you ‘net surfers hungry for Duggar snark. You’ll find plenty here, provided you use that little search tool — oh, here, let me do it for you.
Everything I’ve ever written about the Duggars.
I recommend that you scroll back to the earliest Duggar post and read them in chronological order. I ran out of interesting things to say about the Duggars, oh, about twelve posts ago. Professor Snape had some useful insights, but that got old after a while, too.
As for Ms. Anonymous who commented,
We all need to recognize the beauty being able to run our families however we choose to. Remember: Judge not lest you be judged !
I know, I know. Right now, I’m trying so hard not to judge that first sentence of yours.
D.
Michelle DuggarThirteen blasts from the past
The future is now, folks. Anyone who has had to explain the concept of a “carriage return” to his 11-year-old kid knows what I’m talking about.
Follow me below the fold for rabbit ears, and more . . .
Noooooooo!
The main reason I switched from Blogger to WordPress: Blogger crashes; WordPress doesn’t.
But Firefox does. Less often than Netscape, admittedly, but it still crashes. This time, it ate my Thirteen. I was eight deep into my Thirteen; now, somehow, I only have items 1 and 2.
It’s 11 PM and I’m tired. All you’re gonna get is a teaser, folks, a hint of tomorrow’s Friday Fourteen.
D.
The queef story
Soon after my 21st birthday, my brother took me to a San Gabriel Valley strip club called The Other Ball. This place has to be the most upscale nudie bar I’ve ever been to, which means it has all been a downhill experience since then. But really, the women were stunning, and (unlike all my subsequent strip joint experiences) they knew how to dance.
Follow me below the fold for some nasty, nasty fun. (If you are my son, under the age of 18, a family member, a patient, or a hospital administrator, please click here. And no, you can’t go below the fold. No, no, NO.)