Year: 2013

Just When You Thought…

(Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. Photo AP). There is the troika of alleged scandals in progress in town. It is quite remarkable, since the media has been trance-like for so long on the wonderful stuff that has been going on, the roaring economy and falling unemployment and all that stuff. Wait…oh never […]

Big Pink Condom

(President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder at the National Peace Officer’s Memorial Day in the District. Photo White House). I stopped at Willow last night after work. Yeah, no big revelation, but I wanted to kill a little time and ensure that the Bulgarians were out of the unit. I did not want to […]

Bulgarians and Tempura

(When the filing cabinets are gone, where do the files go? Photo Socotra). The Bulgarians are coming to work on the unit at ten. I am as screwed as Jay “Baghdad Bob” Carney trying to explain how the Administration was blameless in the new scandal-a-day second term of Hope and Change. This is really screwed […]

Fly-Over

(Schematic of the Rt 29- RT 17 Flyover interchange that will make everything better. In the meantime, it is making things worse. But I have high hopes and boundless optimism. Photo VDOT.) I was pinned in traffic on Route 29 North. They started doing something at the junction between that major State Road South and […]

Out

  (Clark’s gun shop in rural Opal, the gateway to the South. Photo Clark Bos.) I thought about Mom yesterday- disconcerting not to have to send flowers or make the call to wish her the best returns of the day. This is the second one without her, and not being numb, or in the hospital, […]

Twig and Branch, In the Fleet

(USS Forrestal (CV-59) on the hook off Toulon, 1989. Anchored out, contract ferries and ship’s utility boats got us to the bright lights of France. Photo USN.) It was November, 1989, in Toulon, France. It was first night in port, and I had the fever. I made a significant tactical error leaving the boat, having […]

Twig and Branch, Pt. 2

Then-Captain Ted N. Branch at the Change of Command in USS Nimitz (CVN-68). Photo USN). Rear Admiral- soon to be Vice Admiral- “Twig” Branch is a great guy, emblematic of a class of American with a tradition of military service. He is trim and fit and smart, and he has Tom Wolf’s Right Stuff in […]

Twig and Branch

(Ted N. “Twig” Branch, nominated for the rank of Vice Admiral and duty as the N2/N6 on the OPNAV Staff. Photo USN). I had not thought about “Twig” Branch in a few years- 2008, in fact. It was evening then in Arlington, I cooked some dinner in the little kitchen and called a friend to […]

Playing Offense

(Think you are having a bad day? Lt. Col. Krusinski’s mug shot. Photo Arlington County Police via AP). I think the Wings lost in OT, and that is it for the truncated season and post-season quest for Lord Stanley’s Cup. I don’t know if the Wings lacked offense, I wasn’t awake. I could have been […]

Big Ticket Items

(F-35 in flight. You don’t want to know what they cost, or that pilots report the airplane is a dog. Photo USAF.) I should be happy. The Dow-Jones is over 15,000, and my meager investments are doing pretty well. Of course, there is no other place for money to go, and why would I think […]