My big sister Barbara in happier times.

1954- May 11, 2007
Rest in the loving arms of the Lord.

May was a tough month.
As a boomer, I’ve long believed that there is a song for every occasion. Here are two.

Mary Chapin Carpenter: My Heaven

Nothing shatters nothing breaks

Nothing hurts and nothing aches

We got ourselves one helluva place

in my heaven.

No one's lost and no one's missing

No more partings just hugs and kissing

And all these stars are just for wishing, in my heaven.

There's neighbors, thieves and long lost lovers

villains, poets, kings and mothers

Up here we forgive each other, in my heaven.
For every soul that's down there waiting,holding on, still hesitating

We say a prayer of levitating, in my heaven.
You can look back on your life and lot

But it can't matter what you're not

By the time you're here, we're all we've got

In my heaven.

And Lyle Lovett: Last of the Family Reserve:
When I saw the ambulance screaming down Main Street
I didn’t give it a thought
It was my uncle Eugene
He died on October the second, nineteen eighty one

And there are more I remember
And more I could mention
Than I could ever write in a song
But I feel them watching
And I see them laughing
And I hear them singing along

And we’re all gonna be here forever
So mama don’t you make such a stir
Just put down that camera
And come on and join up
The last of the family reserve

Jim Moran and earmark reform

My Congressman, Jim Moran, was asked at a District meeting earlier this spring if he would support earmark reform in the new Congress. He replied that he was proud of the funds he brings to northern Virginia.
Apparently not that proud. Via Winds of Change comes a report that Anderson Cooper had his interns ask all the members of Congress to list their earmarks.

Moran declined.

An arrest in Hit

Michael Yon reports on the Coaliton arrest of Iraqi police general Ibrahim Hamid Jaza in Hit. Yon's report, like everything he writes, is a great story.
All I can add is that I have met LTC Crissman; I worked for several years with his father Cris, a retired Army engineer. LTC Crissman's actions on duty are amazing; but knowing the family, not surprising.
As Yon puts it, "you don't abuse people."

Thaks Doug, for all that you and your men and women do.

Smeagol the Regal Beagle

My nephew Zach's new pup

More stifling of dissent in Bush's America.
Michelle Malkin reports that the good people over at Talking Points Memo are calling for David Broder to resign.
Did he call Rosie a nappy headed ho? Assist Mike Nifong in the Duke lacrosse prosecution? Write Rudy's alleged speech saying a Democrat President would mean another 9-11?
Naw. he just compared Harry Reid to Alberto Gonzales.
The TPM folks figure if he isn't senile, he must have been bribed or blackmailed.

By the way, I went to college with Mr. Gonzales. He was pretty quiet but one of the less geeky kids in a very geeky student body. If I were he, I'd be offended by Broder's column.

Last Sunday's run

The GW Parkway classic 1o miler. A perfect day to run and a personal record:
1:22:22
I'm obnoxiously proud.

There is evil in the world...

Shortly after President Kennedy’s assassination, two Washington journalists ran into each other.
“We’ll never laugh again, “ one said.
“Oh, of course we’ll laugh again," responded the second. “But we’ll never be young again.”

For most of us who live in the First World, life is mostly good. Few of us worry about having a roof over our heads, or enough food to eat, or finding a decent job. And for most of us, no matter how much we complain, our Government really is there to help us.
Yet each of us has a time when we finally become adults- when we discover that while the world we live in is full of joy, there is also pain, and sometimes evil. For some this discovery is individual - a parent or child is suddenly struck by illness or death. For American society, every few years we are reminded of the evil in the world, and know that we will never be young again.

I’m a Christian, but more rational than mystic. Yet I find it unnerving how the Biblical stories of Jesus casting out demons track with what anecdotal knowledge I have of mental illness. Why do schizophrenics hear voices telling them not to take their medication?
Eighteen months ago the Virginia Tech shooter disturbed enough people that he was referred to a hospital. Upon his release, by all accounts he stopped his behavior- he hid inside himself, giving no warning of his madness, until Monday April 16.
What do we do when faced with the evil of a Tim McVeigh or Mohammed Atta, a Charles Whitman or Seung Hui Cho? Curling up in a fetal position on the couch, or finding solace at the bottom of the ice cream carton or the gin bottle, is tempting. Where can you find safety if comfortable suburbia is Columbine, and bucolic rural academia is Blacksburg?
For myself and my family, we try to live in faith, not fear; to go out each day and use our skills and talents in the best way we can; to know that while there is evil in the world, there is also great good.
Some days that is easier to do than others.

A last thought: Tom Mauser, whose 15 year old son Daniel died at Columbine High School, observes in today’s Washington Post:

I think it is important to avoid referring to the killer by name or
ethnicity. He should be simply "the killer." He should be afforded no special
recognition, for he deserves none. Instead, the names of the victims should be
mentioned often, and their loss should never be forgotten. We best honor them by
celebrating their lives, reading about their accomplishments and doing good
things in their name.