John McCain's fellow POW speaks his mind

This coming from Dr. Phillip Butler. Read the whole thing at http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,164859,00.html

John was a wild man. He was funny, with a quick wit and he was intelligent. But he was intent on breaking every USNA regulation in our 4 inch thick USNA Regulations book. And I believe he must have come as close to his goal as any midshipman who ever attended the Academy. John had me "coming around" to his room frequently during my plebe year. And on one occasion he took me with him to escape "over the wall" in the dead of night. He had a taxi cab waiting for us that took us to a bar some 7 miles away. John had a few beers, but forbid me to drink (watching out for me I guess) and made me drink cokes. I could tell many other midshipman stories about John that year and he unbelievably managed to graduate though he spent the majority of his first class year on restriction for the stuff he did get caught doing. In fact he barely managed to graduate, standing 5th from the bottom of his 800 man graduating class. I and many others have speculated that the main reason he did graduate was because his father was an Admiral, and also his grandfather, both U.S. Naval Academy graduates.

People often ask if I was a Prisoner of War with John McCain. My answer is always "No - John McCain was a POW with me." The reason is I was there for 8 years and John got there 2 ½ years later, so he was a POW for 5 ½ years. And we have our own seniority system, based on time as a POW.

John's treatment as a POW:

1) Was he tortured for 5 years? No. He was subjected to torture and maltreatment during his first 2 years, from September of 1967 to September of 1969. After September of 1969 the Vietnamese stopped the torture and gave us increased food and rudimentary health care. Several hundred of us were captured much earlier. I got there April 20, 1965 so my bad treatment period lasted 4 1/2 years. President Ho Chi Minh died on September 9, 1969, and the new regime that replaced him and his policies was more pragmatic. They realized we were worth a lot as bargaining chips if we were alive. And they were right because eventually Americans gave up on the war and agreed to trade our POW's for their country. A damn good trade in my opinion! But my point here is that John allows the media to make him out to be THE hero POW, which he knows is absolutely not true, to further his political goals.

Looks like the "Rebooted" Star Trek might work after all -

For the full story, see http://trekmovie.com/2008/08/04/first-cut-of-star-trek-complete-paramount-preview-goes-well/

The Paramount buzz on Star Trek went into high gear last week. One source tells TrekMovie that first cut showing was “a hit.” Another old studio hand who isn’t even working on the projects called the cut “very impressive.” And yet another source said that the reaction in the screening room was “far beyond expectations” and as we know expectations have been high at the studio since the powers that be decided to move it from a Christmas 2008 release to their first summer tent pole of 2009.

Well, well, well. Seems we Trek fans have something to cheer about after all. When I first heard of this, I thought "Oh, God. They're going to wreck Star Trek once and for all. Same characters with NEW actors? This should totally suck!" Seems I was wrong, but time will tell. The expectations for this are going to be SKY-high, so it needs to be excellent in order to be considered adequate. I'd LOVE to be wrong.

A new supermarket opened..

A new supermarket opened near my house. It has an automatic water mister to keep the produce fresh. Just before it goes on, you hear the sound of distant thunder and the smell of fresh rain.

When you pass the milk cases, you hear cows mooing and you experience the scent of fresh mown hay.

In the meat department there is the aroma of charcoal grilled steaks with onions.

When you approach the egg case, you hear hens cluck and cackle, and the air is filled with the pleasing aroma of bacon and eggs frying.

The bread department features the tantalizing smell of fresh baked bread & cookies.

I don't buy toilet paper there any more...

Jonathan Alter on "The Obama Dividend"

Full text at http://www.newsweek.com/id/128548

"The Presidency," Franklin D. Roosevelt told a reporter shortly after he was elected in 1932, "is pre-eminently a place of moral leadership." We don't know yet whether Barack Obama can get himself elected president, much less prove a success in office. He could get swamped by unanticipated problems or suffer from crippling flaws we haven't seen yet. All presidents are blind dates. But Obama is showing signs that he could project his voice in the theater of the American presidency. Even if his legislative agenda founders, he might be able to help the nation raise its sights in new ways. You might think of it as the Obama Dividend.

As the afterglow of last week's landmark Philadelphia speech on race fades, even many conservatives agree with liberal editorial writers that Obama's approach was brilliant. I'm skeptical of that adjective and reluctant to hazard a guess about the political impact of the speech on blue-collar whites. Until the Pennsylvania primary on April 22, we won't know if they even heard about the story of his white grandmother, or how he gave voice to white frustration about affirmative action and busing. But I do know that the speech was "presidential" in the best sense of that word, and for reasons beyond a tone of gravitas and a backdrop of American flags. To succeed in a crisis (and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.'s inflammatory sermons were at least a mini-crisis for Obama), presidents must do more than rally the country enough to win backing in polls for a course of action. That's relatively easy. The hard part is using the bully pulpit to instruct and illuminate and rearrange our mental furniture. Every great president has been a captivating teacher. By talking honestly and intelligently about a subject that most Americans would rather ignore, Obama offered a preview of how he would perform as educator-in-chief.

As usual - my A's get NO respect...

Never mind 4 World Series titles, never mind they've won more games since 2000, never mind they're the ONLY team not named "Yankees" to win 3 STRAIGHT World Series, Japan's only interested in the damn Red Sox:

(03-24) 04:00 PDT Tokyo -- Perhaps they aren't quite the Washington Generals of the Tokyo Dome, but the A's open the season Tuesday night as the anonymous foil to their opponents, the Boston Red Sox. That has been abundantly clear since Oakland arrived in Japan last week.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/24/SPGJVP781.DTL

Well, boys, time to kick some bean-eatin' ass...

So - hot chocolate IS good for you, after all!

"Based on a recent study, researchers found that hot cocoa can help your
muscles recover from an intense workout. The tasty drink contains twice as
many
antioxidants as a glass of red wine, and almost five times as many as
black tea."

This from http://www.thatsfit.com/2008/03/18/hot-cocoa-a-health-drink/

Turns out that free radical damage can also come from intense exercise, and that antioxidant-rich hot chocolate can help with that AND the sore muscles that come after a hard workout.

The best show you're probably not watching

Battlestar Galactica begins its 4th (and regrettably, final) season on Friday, April 4th at 10PM on the Sci-Fi channel. This was a decision made by the producers, who wanted to culminate the story while the show was still good.
If perchance you remember the '70's show of the same name, and think it's the same thing, think again. The only resemblance to the old show is the title, and the names of some of the characters.
This time, instead of being cheesy sci-fi, the show was totally reimagined as a drama in a science fiction setting, with Oscar-caliber actors (Edward James Olmos, 1988 Best Actor nominee for Stand and Deliver, and Mary McDonnell, 1990 Best Supporting Actress nom, Dances With Wolves, and 1992 Best Actress nom, Passion Fish) in the leading roles, and a uniformly excellent supporting cast. Seasons 1-3 are now on DVD, and, as I understand it, Sci-Fi channel is planning a marathon leading up to the seaon 4 premiere. Check this show out - you won't regret it.
http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/home.html