Sloppy Newscasts

Gee willikers, I can't stand it! I hate sloppy newscasts and journalism! People in the NEWS business are obligated to get the details right!

Last night on Channel 4 the blonde bimbo was doing a story on P.A.R.K. and referred to Keith Jackson as a Razorback great. Good grief! (He's a great Arkansan, and now is on the Razorback radio broadcast team, but he was All-American at Oklahoma.)

I switched to Channel 11 in protest. They were doing an "Amazed by Arkansas" feature on Petit Jean State Park. The feature bimbo (hair color unobserved) said the legend of Petit Jean went back "thousands of years." Jumpin' Jehosaphat, can't she read a calendar? Send her back to 4th grade math!

Goll-leee, it makes me long for the days when the weatherman came on one night (Channel 7, I think) and said with a big ol' grin, "There's no weather in Arkansas tonight."

Why W is NOT stubborn

I'm not a political being ... at least, not compared to my scorched-earth-policy sweetie pie wife. But I did have what might be called a political epiphany last night. Tanya and I were driving home from grandson Miles's birthday party. The radio options were sports talk (me) or political talk (her), so to prove my love (some more) we were listening to the Sean Hannity show. In his give and take with the callers, Hannity mentioned the history of the Islamic Terrorists and how it goes back a lot farther than 9/11 -- remember the World Trade Center bombing in 1993? The attack on our Marines barracks in Lebanon in the 80's? Embassy bombings, the Khobar Towers, the USS Cole anyone? Without going into all that history in detail or stating it explicitly, what Hannity was reminding us of is that these fanatics are determined ... they are persistent ... they don't plan to give up ... they are resolute. That's when I got it.

Admittedly, nobody thinks things have gone well in Iraq. Not even knee-jerk support the Prez people like me. As things have dragged on and the body count has mounted and progress has been hard to see, the President has increasingly been catching hell from all sides. Even taking friendly fire. More and more you hear criticism that he's stubborn, pig-headed, got blinders on, etc. It sounds logical ... but it ain't so.

The President is NOT just being stubborn ... he is being RESOLUTE. As resolute as the enemy. Whether anybody else in big, fat, soft America has realized it, he has: victory requires that we match, and exceed, the resolve of the enemy. The Islamists are not people you can reason with. They are not interested in dialogue. They are not open to compromise. They actively practice child sacrifice in their homicide-bombing holy war. How you gonna reason with people like that? Match their resolve -- or capitulate.

How did another Sean say it in The Untouchables? Something like, "They cut one of yours, you shoot one of theirs. They put one of yours in the hospital, you put one of theirs in the cemetery." My quote may not be exact, but I think my President exactly understands the principal involved. He is resolved to win. Okay, he's not very articulate, but he's modeling what every American is going to need more and more as we confront our enemies and the future -- how to be resolute.

God bless America. God bless our President. God help us if we lose.

CLEAVAGE

British politcians and Arkansas weddings set a man's mind awandering ...

It all started a few days ago when the new (and first female) British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith addressed Parliament after the recent terror attacks in Great Britain. I happen to catch some of her while channel surfing ... actually more of her than I wanted. The camera shot was such that in spite of Ms. Smith's very serious topic, one's visual attention was pretty much centered on her very serious ... cleavage. I tried to focus on listening, but dadgumit, red-blooded American male (RBAM) that I am, my eyes kept focusing on looking!

My mental processes did continue to work, however. I did wonder if she was new on the job, if she had a fashion advisor (if not, I'll bet she does now!), and if others would also consider her appearance unprofessional and inappropriate for her position and the occasion. Evidently so. (See Daily Mail columnist Quentin Letts amusing comments on the Brit Ladies here.) I will say to Ms. Smith's credit that if you care to Google up some photos of her, she has probably never looked better than that day in Parliament. Mahhhvelous, dahhling.

A few days later Tanya and I enjoyed attending the wedding of the son of some friends, and yep ... more cleavage. Lots of young friends of the young couple and lots of strapless, backless, less-is-more summer attire was sported by many of the female attendees, and even the bridal gown was strapless. The glowing bride was not the only one seen to sneak a tug here and there to keep too much of There from showing.

All this reminded me of various levels of discomfiture I've experienced in Close Encounters of the Bosomy Kind. I had a boss once who I thought displayed a very unprofessional level of cleavage from time to time. I have a daughter or two who have sometimes showed more than Daddy would like. It seems to me that maybe the female appearance many of us RBAM's profess to enjoy in theory (movies, TV, photos) actually makes us a little uneasy when it's a little too up close and personal in real life. Takes some getting used to. Or not.

Finally, in the interest of full disclosure, I would like to confess that it is no hardship being married to a lady with spectacular cleavage she reserves for my enjoyment alone. But I mustn't say so, lest she be made to blush.

And speaking of blushing, cleavage comes in more than one form, of course. Plumber's crack, anyone?

Hello, Empty Nest (again)

Well, it actually happened ... Judea and That Boy are off to Big D. They loaded down a pickup truck and their cars with all the worldly possessions they cared to take with them and cleared out for Cedar Hill, TX ... and left us to clean up the rest!

I don't approve of what they are doing and even less how they are doing it -- partly because we're not sure what they're doing! LOL -- but we still love them and pray for God's guidance and blessing for them.

It's been uncomfortable for me to slowly awaken over the past few years to how imperfect a parent I've been. I knew I was imperfect, I just didn't realize I was that imperfect! I'm so grateful my wife and kids love me nonetheless!

One of the hardest parenting adjustments I've had is realizing that Judea -- our baby -- hasn't been a baby for a long time. I've had to keep reminding myself she's no longer 14 ... 16 ... 18. I guess part of us never wants our youngest to grow up. But you can't stop it. So she's a headstrong 22-year-old living her life on her terms. When they get this age, all you can do is shoot straight with 'em and pray, pray, pray! Good luck, D!

And so, welcome back, Empty Nest. Let's see how long you last this time! We've been here before ... but never this empty: Frank and Judea took the dog and one of the cats with them. Hallelujah!

Chuck Barrett, Wally Hall, and LR TV Razorback Street Cred

Okay, I could write all night ... but I'll keep it short and sweet (just like me).

Hooray for Chuck being named Voice of Razorbacks Football! I think Scott Inman would have done a great job, too, but I don't think anyone can match Chuck's love and passion and loyalty for the Hogs. He'll be super. I hate that he has to leave his radio show behind, but it's a no-brainer. He's got his dream job.

I love that Frank stuck it in Wally Hall's face. Wally's column last Sunday (don't look for a link here) was the most disgraceful, hypocritical thing he's ever written. He wrote a divisive column on the need to unify Hog fans. What a jerk. What an idiot. What a hypocrite. I'll never read another Wally column unless he repents and publishes an apology for the division he has sown among Razorback fans and for his unprofessional personal vendetta against Houston Nutt. Wally should have been fired Monday morning -- and that would've been way too late. (I can't believe I haven't canceled my subscription to the Demozette yet ...)

By the way, here's a hilarious and disgraceful sidebar: as of this posting, 24 hours after Chuck Barrett was officially named The Man, the sports websites for Channels 4 and 11 have prominent stories on the appointment. Channels 7 and 16 have NOTHING! Use their Search Site feature for Chuck Barrett --ZERO, NADA. It's understandable (although disappointing and unprofessional) for Channel 7 -- that's where Scott Inman works. What a pile of ... sour grapes. I'll bet Scott is embarrassed -- not about losing out to Chuck, but about his station's petty reaction. Channel 16? That's just incompetence. Does anyone take their sports coverage seriously?

Finally, as long as I'm at it ... Razorbacks basketball play by play man Mike Nail has been slipping noticeably the past two seasons. He has done a great job for many years, but it's time for him to step away before he is pushed out. Obviously, Scott Inman, who did a superb job subbing on some broadcasts last year, should be named immediately as the new Voice of Razorback Basketball!

Go, Chuck!
Go, Hogs!
Wally, just GO!

A Son Heard From

Finally got my Father's Day call from first and last son, Joshua West Jackson. Hooray! Just called to say he loves dear ol' dad. Better late than never!

For those who do not have both, please be informed that sons and daughters definitely have different operating systems. LOL.

Josh sounded great -- happy and healthy. Busy with his job at Embassy Hotel. and plugging away with his art work. I know he's happy to be mobile again, thanks to his car deal with his maternal grandfather (thanks, Paw!). Oh, and I guess the new girlfriend may be a factor, too.

Anyway -- what's that? Girlfriend!? Yeah, her name is Brandy White. She works at Embassy, too. They've been dating a month or two, after two or three months of flirting.

No telling what we'll find out when Josh eventually starts blogging!

Well, we forgot to call Adam and Jemimah yesterday. We try to do that every Sunday after church, but Tanya was in Hot Springs Village with her folks and sister, and I forgot. That 7 or 8 hour time difference can be tricky. Hope you guys had a good Sunday in Germany.

Dallas calling ... Judea and her boyfriend-fiance-husband-significant other (they won't clarify the relationship for us) are here packing for their move to Big D. Frank just came in and said they got their apartment in Cedar Hill, Texas. Looks like it might really happen.

Garden sass ... just polished off a DELICIOUS onion, lettuce, and tomato sandwich (an OLT) for a mid-afternoon lunch. Yummy. Thank the Lord for my wonderful deacons, Dick Snell and Bobby Harden, who load us down every gardening season with corn, broccoli, cauliflower, squash, cucumbers, zuchinni, peppers, tomatos, potatos, onions, eggplant. As grandson Miles was heard to say recently, "Um um um um um!" Amen.

I'm in such a good mood, I'll wait 'til later to skin that low-down skunk Wally Hall. That's another story.

Motivation

Just a note to confirm Jerusalem's hope/guess/suspicion ...

YES, the reason I've started blogging is because I was inspired by the tributes my daughters posted on their blogs for Father's Day. Thanks again, wonderful girls!

AND keen observers will notice I've already altered the look of my blog. I realized that I had originally chosen the same template that Jerusalem uses, and didn't want to trespass on her territorial style. Now each of the family blogs has its own look.

JUST a little bit of R-E-S-P-E-C-T.