see june, see bill

The other day while I was cleaning up the kitchen after some creation, X looks over the counter at me and says, “Where does the June Cleaver in you come from?” If she’s wondering about my wipe down, tidy up, and try to keep the kitchen in order, then it’s probably my mother. I found the above picture, The June Cleaver dress from Instant Vintage, as my sexy update on the style. What a look.

The Cubs and be infuriating. They’re hanging around the best record in baseball and then go into Pittsburgh and lose the last two games of the series in the same manner: giving up a run in the bottom of the ninth and then losing in extras. They beat the Dodgers at Wrigley today.

I’ve read a lot of Bill Kristol’s op-eds since he joined the NYTimes and I’ve watched him often as a talking head. The problem I have with him is that he’s of the debate theory that if I open with the “all due respect” pre-debate then all’s well. I read his piece today and it’s a prime example of exactly what some people skate right over.

(Warning: bad language, pissy politics, and heinous opinions are coming from me. Consider the above the funny and joke-like part of today’s entry.)

Feel free to call me on taking it out of context because I’m giving you the three consecutive paragraphs I’ve chosen from his entire op-ed. If you want to read the whole thing, here you go.

“This doesn’t mean Americans are indifferent to the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform. In fact, I suspect that many of us feel so much in debt to our servicemen and women, and so much in awe of the ultimate sacrifice some of them have made and all of them are willing to make, that we worry any effort to honor them wouldn’t be commensurate with their deeds.”

“One retired general I know urges civilians to go out of their way to say thank you to servicemen and women they happen to encounter. At first I thought such a gesture might be intrusive, or awkward, or unwelcome. I was wrong. When civilians walk over to express appreciation to men and women in uniform, in airports or restaurants or the like, the recipients seem a little embarrassed — but grateful. So perhaps we all should be less shy about thanking our troops for their service.”

“The men and women in the military know their fellow citizens are grateful to them. Many of them say, though, that they’re not confident their countrymen are aware of what they’re accomplishing.”

That first paragraph is bullshit. We are totally indifferent to those sacrifices; I’m indifferent, either by choice or by shear misery – I’m not sure which. I was in the military and I have some background. Believe me, if I’m indifferent than anyone who doesn’t have a loved one or very close friend involved is way beyond indifferent. I’m as guilty as the next. The faded, junky, hollow yellow ribbon magnet on the back of your car counts for shit. The idea that “we worry any effort to honor them wouldn’t be commensurate with their deeds” makes me steam. This coming from one of the greatest supporters of this Administration; a President that refuses to either show, attend, or recognize a single returning dead military member. Not one. He hasn’t showed those that make that sacrifice any more respect than he shown any tree on his Crawford ranch. There is not an ounce of honor in either Kristol or Bush’s recognition of the dead.

The second paragraph? Nice, Kristol. I’m glad to see that you’re too goddamn shallow to think that any military member would be embarrassed to get any props from you. I smile every time anyone says thanks when I’m passing through the airport and they look at my retired AF ID card. Kristol’s thought process about the war – that it’s over there, that I’ll finally write something on Memorial Day, that maybe a little thanks and honor through my backhanded effort could be worthwhile is a questionable joke.

The third paragraph is the ultimate example of how the military is twisted into a tool for this political mission. The military doesn’t wonder “…how the public views their accomplishments” – what they aren’t sure of is if the public could even understand what they’re going through while doing the yeoman’s work in Iraq and Afghanistan. As I’ve said before; completing that mission, whether they agree with the political premise, is what they do: Nothing more, nothing less.

I'm done.