Florida Cracker

Blogger Riverbend has her own anti-blog, Cry Me A River Bend.

I wonder if I'll ever be annoying enough to have an anti-blog, and if so, what would it called? Florida Crackpipe? Florida Buttcrack?

It's been a George Romero kind of day here at Florida Cracker. Must be the protesters. A remake of "Dawn of the Dead" came out this weekend, but it's Romero-free, so it will also be character-development-free. Do yourselves a favor and rent the original. You won't be sorry. If you like a cracklin'-good zombie movie, that is.

Most of you have never had the opportunity to visit my hometown of Ft. Myers, Florida. To help make up for this, I've found a clip of a Romero travelogue that showcases our downtown area and allows our citizens to sparkle like the jewels they are.

(Note the Edison Theater. Exactly one half of all schools, businesses, etc. in Ft. Myers are named after Edison.)

Sam of Hammorabi didn't know this picture was fake until someone sent him the original.

Taliban spokesman denies threatening Pakistan



(Thanks, Cindy.)

U.S., Afghan forces repel Taliban attack

Tim Blair's found the Mother of All Baghdad Graffiti Links. There are so many of them, I'll give just a dab. I'd call graffiti-writing the world's oldest form of blogging!

WE MUST NOT FORGET THE MASS GRAVES AND THEIR CHAMPION, SADDAM HUSSEIN THE LIBERTINE

SADDAM HAS VANISHED INTO THE CESSPIT OF HISTORY

LONG LIVE SADDAM, IN SPITE OF HIS FOOL CRAZIES!
And underneath is written:
SADDAM IS A PIMP; ASK YOUR SISTER!

PATIENCE, BAGHDAD, PATIENCE, SADDAM IS COMING BACK SOON
And underneath is written:
TO FINISH OFF WHAT REMAINS OF THE IRAQI PEOPLE OR TO FUCK YOUR MOTHER?

PATIENCE, BAGHDAD, PATIENCE, SADDAM IS COMING BACK SOON
And underneath is written:
HAND CUFFED, BY THE WILL OF GOD

LET YOUR HEADS APPEAR, YOU BAATHISTS. WHERE ARE YOU HIDING? IN THE SEWAGE PIPES?

WE SWEAR WE WILL MAKE MASS GRAVES FROM IRAQ'S LAND FOR ALL THE TRAITORS AND ALL THE AGENTS OF THE AMERICANS AND THE ZIONISTS—Army of Mohammed
And underneath is written:
WE ALREADY KNOW MASS GRAVES ARE YOUR SPECIALTY; GOD IS OUR WITNESS ON THAT

EVERYONE WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT OF IRAQ, EVEN THE PORTERS AT THE SHARJAH BAZAAR

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MR. BUSH, AND A THOUSAND THANK YOUS FOR MR. GOOD IRAQI BREMER

THANKS MR. BREMER FOR CUTTING OFF THESE NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES FROM IRAQ'S MONEY—ONE MORE YEAR, AND THEY WILL DIE OF HUNGER. JUST A LITTLE PATIENCE, MR. BREMER, AND THESE NOSES-IN-THE-SKIES WILL COME TO NOTHING

BUSH THE FATHER LIBERATED KUWAIT. BUSH THE SON LIBERATED IRAQ, THEN SYRIA, THEN IRAN. BUSH THE GRANDSON WILL LIBERATE THE WHOLE WORLD!

A CURSE OF GOD ON THE AMERICANS AND SADDAM AND BRITISH AND RUSSIANS AND JAPANESE AND FRENCH AND ITALIANS AND LONG LIFE FOR IRAQ AND ISLAM ONLY

EVERYONE, SADDAM CRAPPED IN HIS TROUSERS

DEAR LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, SADDAM ATE FROM THE KAADAH! [a child's potty]

BAATHISTS ARE THE MICROBES OF THE WORLD, AND BUSH IS THE MICROBE KILLER

LONG LIVE GENERAL SANCHEZ: HE MADE SADDAM KICK HIMSELF LIKE A BILLY GOAT

It's frustrating playing against Andre.
You're a hot young player and still the old man cleans your clock.

Wolfowitz an Ali fan

Paul Wolfowitz has written an article with much quoting from Ali of Iraq the Model.

AFTER the horrific March 2 bombing that killed 170 at Shi'a shrines in Baghdad and Karbala, one Iraqi had an answer for those in the West who wonder if such tactics can work. His words speak to the horror of the events in Spain last week and in Baghdad on Wednesday.

His name is Ali and his Web log said this about the terrorists and their allies: "They are spitting in the face of the wind."

That is so beyond cool, Ali! Congrats!

I just heard from a writer I'd spoken with last year. His book on Southern music is going forward and he wrote to get permission to use my quotes. So if you read a book on Southern music and get to a part where there's a suspicious Cracker, that would be me.

Time for a gratuitous Duane Allman pic. Didn't he clean up nice? Wail on, Skydog!

I've put up a button that takes you to the donation page on President Bush's website. I'm putting my money where my mouth is, and I hope y'all do the same.

"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." -Mark Twain.

From Alaa of the Mesopotamian

I have just listened to President Bush’s speech on CNN. I just couldn’t leave the keyboard without saying something. Because the warmth of the Presidents’ words of friendship and commitment to our people really did make my eyes moisten. Not even the openly hostile report by the CNN reporter could spoil the feeling.

God will be on the side of good men, and it is clear for this middle-aged man who the good men are.

Hail dear El Bush. Thanks to you and all the Coalition men and women. Long may live our alliance and friendship. Victory by the Grace and Help of Allah is assured.

Greendale High School ski racing team captain Roy Stalin thinks John Kerry should challenge the President to race the K12.

(H)e spent a night with Egyptian terrorists in 1997; met a vigilante Jewish settler named Avi Shapiro in 2001; watched a Pakistani student unfold a picture of the Sears Tower and say, “This one is mine,” in 2001; visited a suspected terrorist crossing point on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in 2002; interviewed the daughter of an Iraqi general in 2003; (and) went on a high-speed hunt for Osama bin Laden in 2003.

Is he a modern-day Indiana Jones? No, he's just another lying reporter.

His story on "Avi Shapiro" can still be found at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Somehow I doubt they'll be removing it.

More on the professor who staged her own 'hate' crime:

Kerri Dunn, a visiting professor of psychology, told police her car was spray-painted with racist and sexist epithets and vandalized with broken windows and slashed tires on March 9 as she spoke at a forum on racism.

The incident angered students, who staged sit-ins and anti-hate rallies at the prestigious group of liberal arts colleges. Classes were canceled for a day and the administration offered a $10,000 reward.

But police now say two witnesses saw Dunn drive into the college parking lot with her car already spray-painted. She then popped the tires, they said.

Dunn allegedly approached the witnesses, who were sitting in their car, and asked if they saw anyone damage her vehicle.

"I was thinking to myself, 'Yeah, we just saw you pop your tires,'" one of the witnesses told police.

Even more here.

Something lovely.

Ace of Spades phoned me from his visit over to the Democratic Underground, and was saying the denizens there are all aflutter at the possibility of an OBL capture. The full report's over at his place, but I took some notes:

Calimary, a red-white-and-blue niece of her Uncle Sam, is nothing but thrilled to think that OBL might soon be captured; she just worries that maybe it could help Bush in November. "Yeah, better now, when there are still many months to go," this loyal American pouts about the impending capture of an Al Qaeda leader, " and the impact can be thoroughly diffused, than closer to the election. Let's hope, if it happens, that it's soon." She enthuses further: "Let's get this over with, I guess, kind of like root canal."

Ah. The capture of a mass-murderer of American civilians is a distasteful and painful experience, "kind of like a root canal." We're wiping away a tear at the poignancy of such potent patriotism.

Is was really hard to hear him over the sound of John Philip Sousa playing in the background. They were really into it too- clapping along, and hooting and hollering up a storm.

The new Ann Coulter column is up.

One Spaniard who decided to switch his vote in reaction to the bombings told the Times: "Maybe the Socialists will get our troops out of Iraq and al-Qaida will forget about Spain so we will be less frightened." That's the fighting spirit! If the violent Basque separatist group only killed more people, Spain would surely give them what they want, too.

This is just too cute.

You see that lady there? I think she had to do a whole lot of stuff right in order to have both a husband and a son become President.
Hey, GHW Bush didn't look half-bad back in the day.

U.S. President George W. Bush is handed a bowl of shamrock during a ceremony with Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern (L) as first lady Laura Bush (R) looks on in the Roosevelt room of the White House in Washington, March 17, 2004. Ahern and Bush celebrated St. Patrick's day in the White House before Bush headed to Capitol Hill for a St. Patrick's Day lunch.

Hmm...okaaay. You never know what kind of stuff you're going to find when you go off looking for Laura pics.

The President eats lunch with the troops at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky.

Anybody want to start speculating on the composition of his macaroni and cheese? His fried chicken? His green beans?

Update on the earlier Basra post:

The passers-by did more than pulverize the bomber. They killed him.
Way to go, guys!

Chef spills the beans about the Dear Leader

''He particularly enjoyed sashimi so fresh that he could start eating the fish as its mouth is still gasping and the tail is still thrashing,'' Fujimoto said. ``I sliced the fish so as not to puncture any of its vital organs, so, of course, it was still moving. Kim Jong Il was delighted. He would eat it with gusto.''

At least Gollum konked his on the head first.

Doesn't everybody strip when they sing "Danny Boy"? I think that song just brings out the dickens in people.

Australians sure do use strange fillings in their meat pies. At least now the Jimmy Hoffa mystery is solved.

I'm afraid to ask what they did with Judge Crater.

Firas Georges of Iraq and Iraqis has had two radio interviews with the CBC, the first of which is up online now. It's so thrilling to hear the voice of one whose written words I've enjoyed so much.

(Thanks to Cynthia for sending the link.)

Ali of Iraq the Model sends a congratulatory message to Spain:

Congratulation again to the newly elected sensible government, to the newly crowned (and real) king of Spain; his royal majesty Osama Bin Laden and to the Spanish people for proving that they are a 'sovereign nation' and that they don’t submit to any outside pressure, not from the USA nor from any other…government.
Long live the King.

Residents detain car bomber in Basra, hand him over to police.

I hope he was pretty well pulverized by the time they turned him over.

You're a youth care worker in a juvenile facility and you come across a boy who's just hung himself. What do you do?

If you're Sandra Trotter, you start snapping pics.

She's heading off to prison now.

Do not make Condi angry. You wouldn't like her when she's angry.

Scott Elliott and the Mission Board have established a memorial fund in honor of his folks, Larry and Jean Elliott. Y'all go on over with your checkbooks.

My oldest niece Sarah is a Southern Baptist missionary too. If anything were to happen to her, I know I'd be so pleased to have people honor her memory in this way by helping continue her work.

Seems like blogspot's having epileptic fits tonight. My apologies.

Boston Irish reports that faux-Irish John Kerry forgot about showing up for the traditional St. Paddy's Day breakfast back in that state he's supposed to represent.

Bet he doesn't forget Bastille Day! Vive le quatorze juillet, John!

The French love them some John F'in' Kerry. He's the new Jerry Lewis.

His face graces the covers of magazines and newspapers on Paris newsstands. He’s the subject of radio phone-in and television talk shows. Journalists chase down distant relatives and long-forgotten acquaintances in search of anecdotes.

If November’s presidential election were being held here, there’s no doubt that Mr. Kerry, the Massachusetts senator and Democratic candidate, would win by a landslide.

“People are going crazy. My phone is ringing from morning to night because everybody wants to know about Kerry,” said the head of the France chapter of Democrats Abroad, Constance Borde. “I’m even getting calls from French people asking if they can contribute to the campaign, and of course I have to tell them no.This is something I’ve never seen happening.”

(Via Pave France.)

Sassy from Coffee IV has a list of the Things You Wouldn't Hear a Southerner Say. (Scroll down.)

Everybody celebrate our diversity!

Zapatero, president of Al Qaeda.

Thousands of protesters accused Spain's new prime minister of being "the president of al-Qaida" in demonstrations Wednesday to support the defeated party of outgoing leader Jose Maria Aznar.

About 5,000 people gathered outside the conservative Popular Party's headquarters in downtown Madrid. Waving Spanish flags and banners, they were protesting the upset win by Socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Sunday elections that were shaken by terrorist bombings three days earlier.

"Zapatero, president of al-Qaida," "Zapatero with terrorism" and "Zapatero resign," they chanted.

Looks like some people realize they're up Sh*t Creek.

(Via Allah)

Wednesday's Duane Allman pic. Wail on, Skydog!

I hear France is being threatened by terrorists. It must be time for a 'dialogue'.

Crystal Hamster Addiction has a new address. He's renamed his blog, but I hope he won't mind if I continue calling it CHA. Yes, I know his other blog wasn't named CHA either.

Ain't it beautiful? hoo hoo
Crystal Hamster Addiction.

No Vieques, no problemo.

Protesters didn't want us to use Vieques, so we shut down the base and scraped the whole place off our shoes. Not practicing there hasn't hurt us one bit. We're doing just fine, thanks. Sorry about the jobless freaking ghost town, y'all.

How's it any of Jonah Goldberg's beeswax what Mel Gibson does with his movie profits? Anything to criticize.

He can spend the whole roll on cat toys and water sprinklers if he feels like it.

If you don't read Scrappleface, you should. It's like the Onion, only the entire stories are funny, not just the headlines.

Countless Dozens Protest CNN Coverage of Iraq

(2004-03-15) -- Countless dozens of protestors marched on CNN's Atlanta headquarters today to speak out against the Cable News Network's "barrage of negative coverage" about the U.S. role in the liberation of Iraq.

The event followed a CNN story about an anti-war march in Washington D.C., which the network claimed drew a crowd estimated by police to number "in the low triple-digits."

No independent crowd-size estimate was available for the Atlanta protest, but organizers said several cases of bottled water were consumed and at least one participant claimed he was inadvertently jostled by a fellow protestor.

"This is arguably as massive as the anti-war march in D.C.," one organizer shouted over the din of several clusters of chatting protestors. "We figured if we could get a crowd this large, then CNN would have to cover the march even though we're protesting their coverage. You just can't ignore the roar of the vox populi."

"Well done, my good and faithful servant."

From the Florida Baptist Witness, an article on the deaths of the Elliotts, Karen Watson, and David McDonnell.

-Four Americans researching needs for humanitarian projects in northern Iraq were killed and one was critically wounded in a drive-by shooting March 15 in Mosul. The workers were in the area under the auspices of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.

Killed were Larry T. Elliott, 60, and Jean Dover Elliott, 58, of Cary, N.C.; Karen Denise Watson, 38, of Bakersfield, Calif.; and David E. McDonnall, 28, of Rowlett, Texas. The Elliotts had served with the International Mission Board in Honduras since 1978 and transferred to the Middle East in February 2004. Watson had been with the board since March 2003, McDonnall since November of last year.

McDonnall's wife, Carrie, 26, also of Rowlett, Texas, remains in critical condition March 16.

David McDonnall died the morning of March 16 en route to a military support hospital in Baghdad. Four U.S. military surgeons had worked six hours to save his life.

According to the IMB, the four workers died from bullet and shell fragment wounds reportedly fired by unidentified assailants wielding automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.

IMB President Jerry Rankin said all Southern Baptists shared the sorrow and grief of the families and co-workers.

"In times like this, there are no words that will take away the pain of a loved one's violent death," Rankin said. "Everyone in the IMB family and everyone who loves Southern Baptists' overseas workers are grieving with the family members and co-workers of these precious souls. "We are grateful that God himself comes alongside us in our deepest sorrow and comforts us in a way no one else can."

CNN, pathetic to the end, leaves out Jerry Rankin's last sentence of hope and comfort, and an earlier version of the article inserted into the story the fact that 60 PROTESTERS protested the other day against the war.

From the earlier CNN article on the murdered workers:

Meanwhile in Washington, the Bush administration is hearing from protesters calling for an end to U.S. military action in Iraq.

On Monday, protesters began a march outside Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where many wounded troops are taken. About 60 protesters then walked toward Lafayette Park, across from the White House, a nearly 6-mile trek, where their numbers swelled to about 100.

With the one-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq only days away, Bush administration officials are trying to highlight positive progress in Iraq.

"Twenty-five million people in Iraq are free," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told CNN. "They've been liberated. The schools are functioning. There's a new interim constitution that protects the rights of women and will protect minorities and ethnic elements in that country. It's an advance for freedom."

I do not know what's going on in Iran. I've read there's an uprising.
I've also read they're having a "fire festival", which would explain some of the fires going on in city.

This is required reading. I've not read a better summation of the situation than this article from The Scotsman.

Spanish vote sends out wrong message

FRASER NELSON

TERRORISM has never known a victory like it. Killing 200 commuters ranks high in the annals of slaughter - but no-one has successfully unleashed a political aftermath which has toppled an enemy government.

The bombers have achieved something which terrorists had never thought possible. Murder enough voters at election time, it appears, and it is possible to engineer your own regime change. Spain’s election shows that terrorism works.

Whatever the reality of the vote, and the politics, this is how the result can now be portrayed - a country raising the white flag to the gunmen.

A precedent has been set which will now haunt every democratic election in the free world.

Those who asked "why Madrid?" last week would have heard their answer in full when José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain’s prime minister-elect, launched a blistering attack against Tony Blair and George Bush for toppling Saddam Hussein.

The dictator’s removal was a "huge disaster", he said, which "divided more than it united" and the attempts to democratise Iraq, the reconstruction programme, the immunisation programme, are also a "huge disaster".

As if making his way down an al-Qaeda wish list, Mr Zapatero then accused Mr Blair and Mr Bush of "lying", and pledged to pull out the 1,300 Spanish troops currently deployed in hunting down terrorists in Iraq. Osama Bin Laden would have been dancing in his cave.

There was condemnation of terrorism - but as terrorists know very well, actions speak louder than words. And the actions were of a country which has, in response to a bomb, abandoned its part in helping Iraq’s transition to democracy.

The truth is, as always, complex. José Maria Aznar’s Party Populare (PP) won 148 seats against the 164 of its socialist rival. Of Spain’s 40 million population, fewer than 550,000 voters swung the balance of power. This was no nationwide Damascene conversion.

Several million Spaniards, even socialist supporters, will today have their head in their hands, having voted for Aznar through gritted teeth - purely on the grounds that terrorism cannot be seen to decide the result of their election.

And if the campaign had been on a knife-edge, or even closely-run, the PP’s defeat would matter little. But for the last three months, the PP was riding so high in the polls that even the socialists were talking as if their defeat was inevitable.

Then the terrorists struck, and the political landscape changed. It is impossible not to link the two - and this sends a message of weakness the world over: the course of democracy can be altered by bombs.

Aznar did not help matters by blaming ETA without evidence, and being seen to mislead the voters to further his own ends. But he was out-manipulated by al-Qaeda. "Your war, our dead," cried activists as Aznar cast his vote on Sunday - exactly the message the bombers wanted to imprint into the Spanish psyche.

So why Madrid? It can now be seen as the latest victim in al-Qaeda’s strategy of isolating the US by picking off the coalition allies most likely to be intimidated.

The purpose and direction of insurgents’ attacks in Iraq tell their own story. On 20 August, the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad was bombed: weeks later, most of its staff had pulled out, just as the terrorists intended. The same was true for the Red Cross, targeted two months later.

So when Madrid was attacked, the evidence suggests it was because its population were more likely to vote to pull out of Iraq. With 90 per cent opposed to the war, there was much hostility to stir up.

Al-Qaeda’s strategy is now to motivate its enemy’s enemy - weakening a government by giving a helping hand to its opposition. In most cases, this means giving ammunition for left-wing politicians.

It is hard to work out at which point the European Left - once the most strident enemies of right-wing dictators - should suddenly be the ones complaining that Saddam and the Taleban have been deposed.

Traditionally, the Right has been in favour of cutting deals with "friendly" dictators - which is why Saddam prospered under the Reagan-Thatcher years when he promised to fight the Iranians and sell cheap oil.

After 11 September, President Bush realised he had no choice but to reverse the tide of international terrorism by taking the fight to those who defied the international community. Primarily, this meant breaking free from the definition of "international law" - and the UN Security Council system where dictators like Saddam could buy allies to make sure they remain forever secure.

So, it seems, the Right are the ones turning dictatorships into democracies and spending billion vaccinating children and building hospitals - while the Left protest, saying this all violates "international law".

If such politics is disorientating for observers in the West, it seems to make perfect sense to al-Qaeda, which seems to have played the Spanish elections to perfection. Thanks to Spain’s new socialist government, they will soon not need to worry about Spanish soldiers hunting their colleagues who sow murder in Iraq.

Luckily for Mr Blair, he does not have a strong anti-war opposition - the British election will be far harder to manipulate. When the IRA attempted to blow up the Thatcher government in 1984, the nation united in contempt against it.

Unfortunately for al-Qaeda, Labour rebels are not standing as a political party and no terrorist would be foolish enough to place hopes on a Liberal Democrat victory. There is no similar scope to twist the course of a British general election.

But that is not to say that the insurgents will not try. Spain has just given the world the first election in history to be altered irrevocably by a terrorist attack. This is a new gold standard of terrorist accomplishment that others will attempt to follow.

Britain has repeatedly shown itself resilient to such outrages. But al-Qaeda’s impact in the Spanish elections means such terrorist attempts at campaign time are now more likely than they were two days ago - for Britain, Europe and the rest of the world.

Al Sharpton has dropped out of the race. My feelings are he wanted some national exposure and he got it. We still need to delve further into his questionable campaign expenses. No way does Sharpton do things on the up-and-up. He's pure huckster.

On the day he gets $100K from the FEC to continue his campaign, he bails. He got the money even though he's being investigated for deeds that would make his ineligible for those funds. Sheesh.

Woo hoo! We have live Andre on ESPN 2.
This boy should have "USDA" stamped on his behind. B-E-E-F.

We've got a little problem here in Florida with our court system. The one positive thing that could come from Carlie Brucia's death is that something is done to fix this. No way should violent felons be cut this much slack.

A special report in the Herald-Tribune put a fine point on the problem: We're very lenient with dangerous people. As a state, we are allowing too many known perilous people to remain free. It was not just Smith. The numbers tell the story.

The newspaper found that out of 71,000 criminals who committed violent crimes or sex offenses since 2001, about 11,000 violated their probation but were not sent to prison. A stunning 2,500 of the violent criminals had violated their probation three times or more and still were free, and one offender had committed 20 violations without going to jail.

Both Tim Blair and Ace have noted today's peace march in Washington and the disproportionate amount of coverage it has received.

Number of protesters: 60. Amount of coverage from CNN: Tons.

Ace further notes that the Jan. 22 anti-abortion March for Life, with 50,000 marchers, rated not a single word from CNN.

An insignificance of Canadians

Ace of Spades has a new top ten list up. Just as there are collective nouns for animals (flock of sheep, pride of lions), he's come up with a list of them for people.

I've been wracking my brain trying to add to the list, but you can't beat the Ace at his own game.

Back in elementary school I learned about the pirates of the Barbary Coast. It was the music teacher who taught us about them, explaining what the "shores of Tripoli" meant in the Marine Corps Hymn. If a country didn't pay the pirates, they'd attack that country's ships and enslave the crews. We went to Europe with a plan for us to join together and fight them. Europe preferred to continue paying, so we fought them ourselves.

This is not the first conflict in which America has faced such deprivations against life and property. There was another time when it was determined that diplomacy would not only be futile, but humiliating and in the long run disastrous. A time when ransom or tribute would not buy peace. A time when war was considered more effective and honorable. And, a time when war would be fought, not with large concentrations of military might, but by small bands peopled with individuals of indomitable spirit.

Almost 180 years ago our infant country attacked Tripoli under circumstances that are eerily similar to contemporary times. That conflict, immortalized in the Marine Corps Hymn, "From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli" called the Tripolitan War or the Barbary Pirate War, came shortly after we gained our independence from England. The United States chose to fight the pirates of Barbary, rather than pay tribute, as did all the other nations who traded in the Mediterranean Sea. The decision was bold, but the eventual victory by the tiny United States Navy broke a pattern of international blackmail and terrorism dating back more than one hundred and fifty years.

Allah's pleased with the outcome of the Spanish election:

... (Y)ou are Allah's bitch now. Go make Allah a sandwich, bitch.

That's how it is when you choose to live on your knees, rather than stand and fight.

Spain, I hope you'll enjoy your new masters. You might want to consider paying them a monetary tribute each year- I know how much you want to keep in their good graces.

Here's where we're off to today. We got three little grand-nieces and nephews and their granny coming for a visit to the big city.