TENNESSEE SUMMERS

At the exact moment I touched the door knob a large crack split the air and my stomach dropped to the patio. I'd taken the dog out for a before-bed ball throwing until it'd gotten too dark for either of us to find the ball. Just as I was wondering if the kids had, in deed, brushed their teeth, the loud band stopped me cold.

The dog jumped and I bolted into the door, where no one stood. Austin ran into the room, and asked "What's wrong?"

"Did you hear that?"

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Whaaat?"

"Nothing."

He eyed me suspiciously. We'd been reading books every night before bed, and it left us all a little jittery. Is that really a bird, or part of the raven king's army trying to take over the neighborhood? Does that loud bang have an explanation, or do I need to look for our ammunition?

Of course, late June and early July in Tennessee is a wondrous place, especially on a cool summer night like this one. Large, striped firework tents pop up on every street corner, advertising things like "red neck rockets" and "screaming eagles."

You can't drive down the road at night without the night sky being lit up on both sides of the street, so perhaps I shouldn't have been shocked at tonight's blast for two houses down. Maybe three. The yards are so big that when the kids heard the successive loud noises they ran out of their bedrooms and out the door. Austin forgot his pants.

Yet another good thing about rural Tennessee -- no street lights.

The kids laid on their backs on the warm cement, looking at the stars with intermittent fireworks that would've been the highlight of the county productions when I was a kid. Enormous blasts, echoing through the night air. I could imagine which neighbors were annoyed and which were sitting out in the dark on their porches anxiously awaiting the next one. The kids listened to each others' stomach gurgle between the fireworks. They covered the dog's ears. They found the big dipper.

You couldn't quite see the neighbors, but -- if you listened -- you could hear whoops and hollers of approval wafting down the road.

When I forced them back to bed, Austin said, "If anyone ever comes to stay at our house because they're going somewhere that's too far to get to in a day and they need to spend the night...?"

"Yes?"

"I want to wear pants to bed."

WALL-E

For those of you who watched Pixar’s amazing movie this weekend, did you notice the similarities to the film Idiocracy? Both are really good, but Idiocracy is not for kids.

It’s about a soldier of merely average intelligence who gets thrown into the future and suddenly becomes the smartest man alive. It’s a cautionary tale of what will happen if we continue on our current track of mindless consumerism, selfishness, and soft educational demands. To get a flavor of what this director fears a Doctor might be like in the future, watch this (language warning):



Anyway, you can see why you might not want to see this at church. However, Wall-E and Idiocracy might be good to see successively for discussion purposes. Anyone in Columbia, Tennessee up for it?

Update:
Oh yeah... when you watch Wall-E, try to note the Biblical allusions. Camille and I had an interesting conversation about Noah afterwards. Very interesting.

FROM DIYALA

David has a new article on National Review Online with what seems like a Battlestar Galactica-inspired title:

There is a Plan, and It is Working

Diyala Province, Iraq — The news from here — even when accurately reported — so often obscures more than it reveals. By now we all know what a counterinsurgency is not: It is not a conflict that can be measured in ground taken, armies defeated, and generals surrendering. You can’t watch progress on a map, and the great moments are few and far between.

Instead, Americans at home are left with discrete reports of individual events and with endless reports about numbers, some of them depressing, some of them encouraging, but all of them isolated from context or narrative. 51 civilians killed in Baghdad market bombing. Eleven militants killed in raid on safe house. American casualties rise. American casualties fall. While trends do exist, those trends represent perhaps the driest, least compelling way of describing what is increasingly undeniable reality: we have a plan, and it is working.

In my corner of Iraq — eastern Diyala Province — my unit, 2d Squadron (“Sabre”), 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment doesn’t merely react to events — acting as a glorified whack-a-mole hammer desperately seeking to hit elusive insurgents as they pop up here, there, and everywhere — instead, led by LTC Paul T. Calvert, we act according to a cohesive, coherent pattern. We go into areas not merely to kill or capture insurgents but to actually replace insurgents with functioning Iraqi Security Forces and functioning Iraqi civilian governments. (We are fortunate to share our “battle space” with Iraqi officials and units who are courageous, aggressive, and making a real difference for their citizens.)

At the same time, we present the population with a constant, clear alternative: the legitimate Iraqi government and its coalition allies provide security, economic opportunity, and the chance at peace. Al-Qaeda offers nothing but death, poverty, and despair.

Read the rest here!

Hey, aren't you...?

My spontaneous business trip to Washington, DC has already been quite eventful. First of all, I got to Baltimore and reluctantly took the bus to the Amtrak station, unhappy at the ordeal of taking a bus to get to the train to get to the cab to get to the hotel. But on the way, I got hustled by a cabbie who needed some money because he had a bill due tomorrow. He took four of us via cab from Baltimore to DC for $20 a piece, and we were here in thirty minutes. (There were no $6 MARC trains today.)

So, I settled into my hotel on Dupont Circle and went for a stroll, where I found out that America is apparently no longer for the fundamentalists.

Then, strangely, the guy beside me at dinner looked just like Jack Nicholson. I mean JUST like the guy. People kept coming up to him and asking for his autograph, but he'd politely explain, time after time, that he was Jack Nicholson's body double in movies.

Of course, I tried to take a photo of him to pretend I sat next to Jack Nicholson... but it was hard to get a photo of him while pretending to check my e-mail. It came out blurry, which is really the only way you would've thought it was Jack Nicholson. I'll post here for your enjoyment.

I'm sure there is more excitement here in DC that awaits. Stay tuned.

David's "Guy Card"

From the mailbag:

Nancy:

Tell David that he'll receive no "Guy Card" penalty for appearing as an extra in the Hannah Montana movie. This free pass is granted only because his day job invovles defending the nation and arranging for terrorists to go on to their eternal reward - wherever that may be.

And, remind him that civilian government guys like me are damn proud of him! All the best to you and yours.

Jon

I see that Jon runs "Blogs for Mitt" and happily note that he has resisted the pressure to change it to Blogs for McCain.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to sleep. This Hannah Montana filming is supposed to last 8 hours!

IF I WERE A GAMBLING WOMAN...

I might bet on Gov. Romney. According to this New York Post article, I wouldn't be alone:

Intrade, which correctly picked the winner of every state in the 2004 general election, evaluates the veepstakes chances of 30 prominent political figures - 16 Democrats and 14 Republicans.

The site details who they think the Democrat Veep will be (Hillary) but what about the Republican?

On the GOP side, there are three leaders, Romney at 19.2 percent, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty at 15.6 percent and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 14.1 percent, according to Intrade.

I can't honestly say I expect McCain will choose Gov. Romney, because he has a tradition of sticking it to the social-cons any chance he can get. Plus, on the Corner today, someone floated the idea of McCain/Hillary Clinton ticket. So, who knows?