Potpourri

So… here we are, three days into the latest outbreak of violence between the Israelis and Palestinians. And the Usual Suspects are all up in arms over “Israeli aggression.” I really don’t have much to say on this subject, other than to voice my support for Israel, yet again.

It takes a tremendous amount of chutzpah on the part of Arabs to ignore months and months of unprovoked assaults by Hamas in the form of rockets launched indiscriminately into Israel from Gaza… without regard for small details such as targeting… in any way, shape, or form. Like Popeye, Israel finally had “all they’s can take, and they can takes no more.” And their response, in stark contrast to Hamas, has focused on military targets.

Good hunting, IDF. Get some.

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Really Stupid Shit… Yesterday’s First Annual “Good Riddance Day,” held in New York City.

... and Todd Zarnock says goodbye to a list of things including drugs, women and shoplifting.
Credits: Watts/News Published: 12/29/2007 04:00:00

I know there are primitive societies in this wide, wide world that have similar sacrificial rituals… but here? In NYC? Who’d a thunk it? Well, on second thought… this did happen in New Yawk. Nuff said.

There's video here... and note the de rigeur Bush-Bashing. Dang. What will the moonbats do after January 20^th, eh?

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Also in the NYC Daily News… celebrity smokers… with photos of people generally unknown to me and suitably snarky comment. Example:

Whatcha got there, Salma Hayek?

The "Ugly Betty" star is the latest closet celebrity smoker to be exposed after she was spotted puffing away on American Spirits this weekend in Beverly Hills alongside her 1-year-old daughter, Valentina.

Cameras caught the secret smoker outside Neiman Marcus as she lit up while her mom and tiny tot waited.

Hayek told Marie Claire last year that she got hooked on cigarettes while filming "Frida" - and subsequently quit last April.

"It's the s---iest vice you could possibly pick," she said. "I've tried to quit before. But this time I'm done with it. I've changed."

But the 42-year-old isn't the only star who tries to keep her nicotine addiction under wraps

Well, now. Young Salma has good taste, if nothing else. American Spirit was my brand before I gave ‘em up, three years ago next month. But… what IS it with our fascination with “celebrity smokers,” anyway? I’m not immune from this phenomenon, ya know, what with having put up at least three posts over the course of the last year about The One’s habit. Speaking of…

But Mr Obama has admitted to "falling off the wagon" in the course of the campaign. The media has been judgmental. "Obama clearly relishes this opportunity to defeat bigotry and reframe the expectations of young people, especially African-Americans," the San Jose Mercury-News editorialised. "And yet, he smokes." He can set things right, the paper wrote, but only "if he makes a very public show of quitting".

It is less than self-evident why Mr Obama's forgoing the cigarette he sneaks every few weeks should be a matter of national importance. There is no consistent relationship between smoking and performance of official duties. It is true, according to the historian Michael Oren, that Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli chief of staff, was taken to hospital with nicotine poisoning at the height of the six-day war, but he was on 100 a day. Cigars buoyed Churchill in the second world war. Whether or not smoking makes you think more clearly, the former German chancellor, Helmut Schmidt, who celebrated his 90th birthday last week, must count as one of the sharpest thinkers and heaviest smokers among world leaders of the last half-century.

That’s an excerpt from The Financial Times (UK), from an article titled “No smoke without ire,” which goes on to address the “tricky constitutional question” of whether or not Mr. Obama’s personal quarters in the White House are part and parcel of a no-smoking federal building. That IS a most weighty issue, dontcha think?

As far as Mr. Rabin is concerned… 100 ciggies a day? That’s five packs a day or one cigarette every 15 minutes, assuming the man was awake 24 hours a day. Or, in other words, ol’ Yitzhak never put ‘em out… he literally had to light one off the other, non-stop. And I thought I smoked a lot, at a pack and a half a day. Heh.

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Today’s Random Thought: As one grows older one begins to realize there are worse things in a relationship than your average mother-in-law. Such as: your girlfriend’s children. More specifically, your girlfriend’s adult children.

I’m not throwing stones at any one (or more) individual(s), mind you. Just sayin’.

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Along the same lines as the item above, kinda-sorta… excerpts from an e-mail conversation with a good friend yesterday (certain terms have been redacted to preserve EIP’s PG-13 rating):

My Friend: As you know I check your blog daily and frankly sometimes I have concerns for you because I am, after all, your friend and thus retain that right. I do suggest you get laid though because you exemplify the worst case of a man needing (redacted) that I've ever seen. I suspect that one or two of your "blog buddies" would be more than happy to help you out. That being said, Merry Christmas old friend and of course happy New Year which I will celebrate with you at the stroke of midnight with a couple of fingers of my favorite 15 year old single malt.

Me: |I do suggest you get laid though because you exemplify the worst case of a man needing (redacted) that I've ever seen.

Oh... c'mon! I'm not that bad! Think of all those guys in prison. OTOH, they're probably having all the sex they want (and MORE than they want, in some cases), but it's NOT the sort of experience I care to learn. As a s'matter of fact, the thought of (redacted) rarely even crosses my mind. There are some bennies to achieving Old Age, not the least of which is the Bigger Head taking control over the Little Head. There was a time in life when I'd be prowling the streets upon finding myself without a steady source. No more. The thought of entanglements is more than enough to discourage what little interest I have in that certain physical activity. OK, some of the foregoing is bullshit, plain and simple. But... that said... I'd fix it, were I in dire need. There are MANY women "looking" these days, even for us Ol Farts. Maybe even especially us Ol Farts... as we tend to die off earlier than our female counterparts.

My friend’s observation concerns me and I view it not unlike a medical diagnosis. As such, I believe I need a second opinion (and not “You’re ugly, too!”). Do I appear to be a man in severe need, Gentle Reader? I don’t think so, but then again… we oftentimes don’t see ourselves as others see us.