Possumblog

In the news...

...I missed most of it. Oh, I tried to keep up with the major happenings, but with being able to spend hardly any time on the computer, I was forced to get my news from the television, and I think we all know how outdated THAT is.

Let's see--Saddam got hung, which is a good thing. How do I know? By looking at the type of people saying it's a bad thing, that's how. He got far better than he deserved--my solution would have been to have left him in that hole and backed a concrete truck up to it and lowered the chute. Second choice would have been to let him go in the manner of Mussolini or Ceausescu.

What else--oh, the passing of Gerald Ford. Despite having had to bear the undying scorn of liberals for the many years of his life after pardoning Richard Nixon, he managed to redeem himself by telling reporters in private conversations that he disagreed with George Bush. Thus, he became in death the most beloved Republican leader ever to grace to Oval Office, a uniter and not a divider, full of wisdom and kindness and intelligence far beyond his simple and humble upbringing.

Or at least according to the press.

I tried to watch the funeral, and for a time was tuned to NBC, but the constant sanctimonious claptrap of Brian Williams and his lackeys about the release of those interviews and about how much different, i.e., better and all around more appropriate, his ceremonies were than those of Ronald Reagan's, well, I just had to turn it on something else. Ford was a good man, and I think his pardon of Nixon was reasonable given the times and the circumstances. I question his foreign policy expertise, based mainly upon his mishandling of the SS Mayaguez hijacking. I don't doubt his sincerity in wishing for his views of the current conflict to be broadcast only after he was gone, but I do doubt he contemplated that they'd be so loudly and persistently trumpted before he was even in the ground. In the end, they served nothing more than to overshadow his passing by giving the press something else shiny and fun to play with.

In other political news--John Edwards is running for President. A man with the ego of a Kennedy, the avarice of a Clinton, the hair of groovy '70s teen icon Bobby Sherman, and the intellectual heft of a Smurf. May God help us all.

In other things--congratulations to everyone's favorite team, the Auburn Tigers for their 17-14 defeat of the dreaded Maize Shuckers of Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl. Pretty good game, although Auburn managed to play as they always do, by giving away huge advantages at crucial times through penalties or missed assignments, then relying upon the toe of kicker John Vaughn to keep them just enough ahead to win.

And speaking of football, the Saban to Bama story refuses to die, with everyone who ever wore Crimson and White flying down to Miami with suitcases full of cash to fling at the handsome former coach of LSU. Now that the season's over, and now that it appears Alabama is willing to break the bank to lure him, his protestations throughout the end of last year might grow quiet and he might decide to take the job. I do have to say that if they were going to go crazy-nuts with the money, they would have done better to spend it on Steve Spurrier instead. Saban's a very good coach, but probably not worth more than any other coach in college football. But hey, it's their money, let 'em spend it the way they want.

Weather? Well, it was mostly sunny and warm while I was off, which made being off very much nicer since I could send the kids outside to bother the cat. Who, by the way, got a fuzzy ball on a spring and a feather on a piece of elastic string tied to a plastic twig for Christmas.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at January 2, 2007 10:05 AM