Maz Kanata on Life

Bush Advance Man Brian Montgomery Reflects on 9/11

As America commemorates the 15th anniversary of the September 11th 2001 attacks by Islamic terrorists, the sting of the memory may have grown faint in some circles. Whether it is due to the passage of time or the widespread reluctance to show the terrible videos about planes hitting the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville PA, killing nearly 3,000 souls that day. So the producers of a commercial showing the collapse of twin towers of mattresses might not have struck them as being offensive humor.

However, Bush White House Director of Advance Brian Montgomery had a slightly sardonic memory of that dark day preparing for an impromptu stop at Barksdale AFB on September 11, 2001, as it seemed like Dr. Strangelove surrealism. 

The Secret Service was very protective of the President and were chary about returning to the White House to avoid the possibility of a decapitation strike. This sensibility was reinforced especially after hearing chatter that "Angel" (code name for Air Force One) was "next".  So the Presidential entourage was diverted to Barksdale AFB in Shreveport, Louisiana.

It so happened that on that very day, the 8th Air Force based at Barksdale AFB was in the midst of their annual big exercise Global Guardian, including having loaded bombers at the ready.   So Barksdale AFB was already proceeding in a THREATCON Delta mode.  So when Advance Director Montgomery disembarked from Air Force One, he could see the B-52 Stratsfortress bombers lined up wing-to-wing it seemed surreal.

Adding to the surreal scene was being met by a military man who looked like ready to roll General Buck Turgidson telling him that the squadron of B-52s were loaded with nukes, no wonder Montgomery thought of Dr. Strangelove.

Better to work with a guy looking like General Buck Turgidson than guy acting like General Ripper. However, to all reports, once the second plane hit the World Trade Center everyone in the military was on war footing.  

And despite less than ideal communications on Air Force One, President George W. Bush was able to reach out to Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin. Bush White House Press Secretary Ari Fletcher recalled: "Putin was fantastic that day.  He was a very different Vladimir Putin in 2001.America could have had no better ally on September 11th than Russia and Putin. Putin  accepted the President Bush's reassurances that America was under attack and hostilities were not directed towards Russia. 

President Bush exiting Air Force One on September 11,2001 with "Doomsday Plane" in the background

So despite "Angel" landing next to a fully loaded nuclear squadron of B-52's and being met on the tarmac by a guy who was a doppelganger for General Buck Turgidson, there was little chance on 9/11 that life would imitate art in Dr. Strangelove's (1964) climactic ending.

H/T Politico

On Optimism, Pessimism and Fluoride

Phil Connors on Groundhogs Day

Iowa-- A Place Where Dreams Come True?

Will the winner of the Iowa Caucus believe that he found heaven in his political field of dreams, or will he be more concerned about being stuck in a hellish blizzard?

The Commitments on Being Irish

Neil Young on Direction

 

 Neil Young's pearl of wisdom was contained in the song "We Never Danced" in association with the film "Made in Heaven" (1987).

Van Wilder on Worry

Smile and Wave Boys for "Operation: Got Your Six"

In the run up to their first major cinematic film "The Penguins of Madagascar" (2014), the team took an assignment from FLOTUS Michelle Obama -- a P.S.A. for Operation Got Your Six.

Kind of strange to have a Skipper report to a General who is really a Private instead of an Admiral.

None the less, it would be good if everyone in the Pentagon, Foggy Bottom and in the Oval to remember the Penguin credo, from Benghazi to Tijuana.

As this high profile mission may have already blown the Penguin Team's cover,  so just smile and wave boys.  

Huckabee Prays Providence Spares Wayward US Politics

When former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AK) made his unsuccessful run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, he drew support from the religious right, which is not surprising as he  is a Southern Baptist minister.  Huckabee now is a Fox News Channel host but he also inspires conservative political audiences, as he did when he spoke at CPAC 2014.

Huckabee's message recognizes the Hand of God at the outset of our independence as well as our wayward ways in today's body politic. Secularists may shutter at mentioning civics and spirituality in the same breath, but they ignore the profound spiritual journey which brought the Pilgrims to the New World as well as the faith displayed by our Founding Fathers.  

Such atheistic antagonists think that the "Separation of Church and State" is in the Constitution (it actually comes from Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptist Church in 1802) and the First Amendment prohibited an official state religion not banishing the expression and practice of faith in the public square.

Governor Huckabee has indicated that he is leaving the door open for another run for the White House in 2016.  Cynics claim that Huckabee is keeping his name in speculation to maintain his lavish lifestyle. That uncharitable opinion does not respect Huckabee's sincere sentiment on invoking a healthy spirituality on civics.  

Already it seems that there is a crowded field of prospective GOP presidential candidates.  If Huckabee were to enter, he would have to again draw upon support from the religious right as he did in Iowa in 2008.  Well, those where the same value voters who rocketed former Senator Rick Santorum to win the Hawkeye Cauci in 2012 and he is clearly positioning his Patriot Voice for a return run.  Then there is the evangelical appeal which Dr. Ben Carson evokes from social conservatives this cycle.

So rather than worry whether there will be a political sequel of  "I Heart Huckabees", it would be prudent to take his providential preaching at face value.

Sean Penn Cruz-ing for a Political Bruising (sic)

That Maui Wowie from 1982 must have been pretty chronic to inspire such pearls of wisdom to seek the to commit Congress-critters with whom Penn disagrees into insane asylums.  And to suggest that the Executive Branch has such authority makes Mr. Hand's one-on-one history tutoring moot.

Of course, Fast Times on Richmond High was a 1982 movie, and Sean Penn was play acting a stoner surfer there who had delusions of grandeur.  This recent appearance on Piers Morgan was meant to be taken seriously and Sean Penn was playing himself.

Penn was promoting his activism for Haiti.  But in the same breath of supporting his altruistic cause, he chooses to insult the electorate and the Tea Party while slandering Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX).

 [T]he way peoples perception of political positions are, is a direct reaction to their lack of, of their education which is a huge problem that we're dealing with in the country.

and between of an uneducated people and the solipsism of people like Ted Cruz and their party.
 It's a poisonous thing and these things with what we talked about with, you know, this is why this period of time, this is one of the things that's so fascinating to me in Haiti.

Penn's political pronouncements with Piers Morgan do not sound very coherent.  But he was not on a script and TOTUS (Teleprompter of the United States) was otherwise occupied.

But I hate to break it to the activist/actor but if you are trying to raise funds for Haiti, you are insulting many of the people who AEI's Arthur Brooks argues are the most charitably inclined as individuals.  But maybe after Penn's  J/P HRO group received $8.75 million from the World Bank for Haitian relief, maybe he does not need more friends.

After Penn's "Crazy" diatribe on Piers Morgan Live,  people can figure out who got wasted.  Res ipsa loquitur-- the fact speaks for itself.

Fierce Creatures Between the Beltways?

Now that it is Summer recess time Between the Beltways, it usually is silly season when stories like whether Weiner will pull out of the New York City mayoral race would rule the roost among news junkies.

 So now might be a good time to reconsider the defense mechanisms of threatened creatures, particularly of certain species of political animals.

Notice the loud instinctive reaction of the Donkey.  But the braying seems to sway a core 40% of the American electorate (markedly more after the prospective passage of "compromise" immigration "reform").

Of course the GOP's symbol was not depicted as it is not a fierce creature which depending upon political climate change may become extinct.  The proto-symbol of the Cocktail Party is the jellyfish, spineless and you can see right through them, may become more prominent if certain maverick political animals bolt from the pack and become "Independent".

Unlike in the wild, the defense mechanisms of political animals are about as genuine and menacing as the menagerie in the movie Fierce Creatures (1997).

Gaming the System

Since the principles in the District of Calamity who are responsible for averting the Fiscal Cliff insist on playing games with the economy and America's indebtedness, it is time to respond in kind.

Over the past couple of years, the Lamestream Media magnified memes of class warfare and lionized the Occupy Wall Street activists  while demonizing the top 2% income earners in America.  Hence, it is is appropriate to reflect this rethinking of reality with America's iconic board game-Monopoly.

A piece of Occupyista propaganda pushed their own vision of the Monopoly game board.

Slate made its point about the 47% with a clever parody video.




Either of those options look more promising than the upcoming Monopoly movie.



Perhaps I will have the playing of playing the original paean to capitalism over Christmastide. However, knowledge of the rules does not equal victory when low information players gang up on someone who cares about the game outcome.  Then again, that sounds like the current political games in the District of Calamity.

h/t: Slate V

Professor John Keating on Communication

Flippant Food for Thought on Turkey Day

As most Americans are recovering from their tryptophan induced comas from enjoying the bounty of a Thanksgiving meal, it is worth considering that had Ben Franklin had his way, America’s national bird might have been a turkey.

In a letter to his daughter in 1782, Ben Franklin championed the virtues of the turkey over the bald eagle.  Franklin wrote:

For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America... He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.

Franklin’s spirited defense of the flightless fowl was depicted in the 1972 Peter Hunt directed film 1776.



In defense of the colonial sage, Franklin was probably referring to barnyard turkeys protecting their territory rather than the feckless wild turkeys who tended to run and hide from intruders.

So as we consider the manifold blessings bestowed upon America, we should thank God that we feast upon the turkey rather than festoon it as our national icon.

A Zombie with Brains

You can't get blood from a turnip. And look who just fell off the turnip truck!

Coifs for Clash of the Titans?

In mythical Greece, Medusa had the mesmerizing look. At the Democrat National Convention in Charlotte, DNC Chair Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz had an incredible make-over.

Maybe this was a bad hair day for the Democrat National Party Chair. But considering DWS's rhetorical rubbish that she spewed regarding the lack of dissent when Democrat elites strong armed party platform changes on God and Jerusalem maybe she was working her wiles to seek the stoner vote.  After all, President Obama is depending on Harold and Kumar.

"Conventional" Latin Lesson

For those who get this wrong, give them THE CHAIR.

h/t: tjpo.st

Social Economics Lessons from the Gipper

Although writer/director/producer Ray Griggs did not generate boffo business at the boxoffice with his first film, "I Want Your Money" still exudes a charm with its clear, conside and comedic explanation on the evils of "spreading the wealth."


 

The computer animation gently pokes fun at the foibles of politicos on both side of the aisle as demonstrates the virtues of a free market which encourages competition.

Even though the film barely broke on its shoestring budget, some videos from the film have gone viral. The Gipper's lesson is one what we should remember during this election year.

h/t: I Want Your Money