THE END OF JUNE...AND I WONDER

The end of June is at hand.

When we were teaching, before retirement, Dear Wife and I would refer to the month of June as the Friday of the Summer, August being the Sunday of the Summer.
And then September was the Monday of the Summer.
Time to go back to work.

Now, well, when things are going well, all days can be thought of as the beginning of good things, as the Fridays of the Good Times.

Anyway, we are in The North and when things are good in The North, they are really good.
When they are not so good, well, then they could be better.

We have been preparing new accommodations for selves and family and friends, and hopes are high for enjoyment all around.

And there have been duties of home maintenance which have cried out for attention, duties which in the past have been all too easy to put aside, to put aside for another day.

At any rate, remediation and plans for such doings are now to some degree on track, and it is good to report that The Study is still, as far as we know, alive and well.

So many things have been happening.

From our Northern Study, we note that the anarchist crazies are alive and well in Toronto.

And b.o. is in attendance, urging stimulus upon the nations of the world.
What a guy!!!!

We understand with concern that summer hurricane season threatens efforts to contain the oil spill.

We look with hope and confidence to the drilling of the lateral wells which seem to offer a good chance to choke the spill once and for all.

We lament the posturing and inanity of the Federal efforts regarding the spill.

Dare I say it? IS IT NOW McChrystal clear????????? Is it now clear how line officers feel about their commander in chief????

The shame is not that the General and his staff feel the way they do.
The shame is that it has been made public, made the talk of the town, as it were.

As it has been pointed out all over the place, US general officers have often had little regard for their civilian leaders.
Their regard is of no necessary relevance to the excellence or non-excellence of their abilities.

General McChrystal is by all reports an excellent, superb officer.

An idiot allowed an idiot reporter to get near the General and his people at the wrong time – at a social event.

They spoke casually. They spoke honestly.

They were not treasonous. They were not by such doings displaying any lack of military professionalism.
They were betrayed to the danger of public relations, a fact of life which can be a good thing, in certain contexts.

This was not a good context.

We have lost the services of an excellent officer.

He is not in disgrace.

He goes out in honor.

The people he cares about know that.

b.o. did what b.o. does.

Liberals and even others say he had no choice.

A weak man often has fewer choices than a strong one.

This might be one of those times.

Perhaps you question the characterization of b.o. as being weak.
We suggest that it is one thing to be ruthless.
It is another thing to be wise and judicious in the wielding of great power.

b.o. wields great power.
He is ruthless.

He has yet to prove that he is a strong, wise, judicious, tough leader on the world stage.

But the nation has lucked out. General Peteraeus (sp?) is also a brilliant officer.

I wonder what he thinks of b.o. in private.