• I wouldn’t want Michelle Bachmann to be president of my homeowner association either.
• Just because one survives them or learns from them, doesn’t mean they aren’t mistakes.
• A weather story in our local paper (emphasis mine): “There’s a chance of rain Monday, but sunny skies should prevail the rest of the early part of next week.” And these people get paid to write.
• Republicans might be more willing to fund NPR if they broadcast “NASCAR Radio Hour” on Sunday nights. (Until then, you can find the show on PRN but not on NPR.)
• The upcoming wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton may cost $48 million. (The total annual cost to support the British monarchy is estimated to be $300 million.) Here in the States, LeBron James will score some 2250 points this season for $14.5 million, about $13,000 each time his ball sees the net. A typical worker in Poland will earn that amount in one year. An average Nigerian makes $1200 a year and lives 48 years. If a Nigerian made $1 million every year of his life, he could pay for a royal wedding.
• You are free to take this statement out of context.
• The old playground refrain “Why don’t you pick on somebody your own size?” implies that fighting it out is a legitimate way to settle affairs with bullies. We train them young.
• It has been 44 years since The Beatles released Strawberry Fields Forever. 44 years. One could view it as a privilege, to have been around to enjoy it for that long.
• You know that little project around the house that you never quite get around to doing? Well, North Carolina never quite got around to removing this from its State Constitution:
The following persons shall be disqualified for office:
First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.
This wording is from 1868. So, North Carolina, fix it already. Then take out the trash.
I had always suspected Condoleezza Rice was an arrogant person. It was not only what she said (and failed to say) on her many Sunday talk show appearances during the Bush years. It was also her insistent, remorseless defense of her actions (and non-actions) with respect to the famous August 2001 memo “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” as well as the ease with which she could use hundreds of words to say nothing, or to shift blame to others, or to nobody. What was clear was that Rice could not tolerate being questioned.
Her April 2004 testimony to the 9/11 Commission was typical (watch if you prefer):
BEN-VENISTE: You acknowledged to us that Richard Clarke told you that al Qaeda cells were in the United States. Did you tell the President, at any time prior to August 6, of the existence of al Qaeda cells in the United States?
RICE: First, let me just make certain…
BEN-VENISTE: If you could just answer that question, because I only have a very limited…
RICE: I understand, Commissioner, but it’s important…
BEN-VENISTE: Did you tell the president…
RICE: … that I also address… It’s also important that, Commissioner, that I address the other issues that you have raised. So I will do it quickly, but if you’ll just give me a moment.
BEN-VENISTE: Well, my only question to you is whether you…
RICE: I understand, Commissioner, but I will…
BEN-VENISTE: … told the president.
RICE: If you’ll just give me a moment, I will address fully the questions that you’ve asked.
First of all, yes, the August 6 PDB was in response to questions of the president — and that since he asked that this be done. It was not a particular threat report. And there was historical information in there about various aspects of al Qaeda’s operations.
Dick Clarke had told me, I think in a memorandum — I remember it as being only a line or two — that there were al Qaeda cells in the United States. Now, the question is, what did we need to do about that? And I also understood that that was what the FBI was doing, that the FBI was pursuing these al Qaeda cells. I believe in the August 6 memorandum it says that there were 70 full field investigations under way of these cells. And there was no recommendation that we do something about this; the FBI was pursuing it.
I really don’t remember, Commissioner, whether I discussed this with the president.
BEN-VENISTE: Thank you.
At long last Rice answered the question Ben-Veniste asked, but not before she was ready, and not before she delivered her mea non culpa. FBI on the case? Check. Next question?
You may ask, why dredge up Condoleezza Rice now? Well, today I stumbled upon a short interview with her in the New York Times, “Nobody Puts Condoleezza Rice in a Corner.” Here’s an excerpt:
Q: I’ve read that people consider you almost incapable of admitting a mistake. What do you consider to be the biggest of your career?
RICE: You know, I’ve done pretty well. I don’t spend a lot of time dwelling on the past that way.
Q: You can’t think of just one?
RICE: I’m certain I can find many. It’s just not a very fruitful exercise.
I did some things well and some things not so well. If you’re a public figure, there are always going to be a few people who don’t like what you did. I’m just really glad I don’t have to listen to them.
I learn more and grow more from my mistakes than from my successes. Rice seems to think that mistakes have nothing to tell her. Maybe the problem is she isn’t listening.