baldilocks

Robert Smith

I’ve been resisting writing this, a eulogy for my friend—mostly because, once I got started writing, I feared that I might not be able to stop. Or want to. But today is the day of his memorial service, so since I can't be there, here it is.

Tons and tons of elegies for the man known all across the Internet as Acidman are out there for the reading—one of the most poignant, honest and most felt-by-me is from Steve Graham, who is only a hair’s breath worse writer than was the Man himself (I think Steve would agree). Paraphrasing the quote from me on his blog--which I wrote to him in email--Rob was loved and hated by nearly all who came across one of his missives. There was no middle ground. That quality speaks of a person who was alive, genuine, vital and uncompromising. What was not to love—or to hate?

But all that’s been said over and over again, ad infinitum. At first, I had decided not to put up anything further about Rob here, simply because I knew that anything I would write would be--selfishly--about my relationship with him. (Steve mentioned this phenomenon in the link above.) But, if I am to talk about Rob, there is no way that I can avoid this, since most observers know that Rob and I had complicated relationship and worshipped each other from afar.

It started with me commenting on his blog, usually about his posts regarding women, specifically about his ex-wife and their tussles regarding their son. My emails would contain detailed information, demonstrating that women aren’t the only ones capable of being as cold-hearted as his ex was to him (I have an ex-spouse also.) Occasionally I would comment on his race-related posts, without letting on that I am black and a Californian.

When I started my blog in 2003 and had been posting for a bit, I sent him a link. He linked to me immediately and marveled at how much we agreed on certain things, considering our divergent demographics.

Our relationship went pretty smoothly for a bit—always with him extending the occasional invitation to visit him at his home in Georgia. Wining, dining and gentlemanly behavior were always promised along with the honest admission that he would do his best to talk my clothes off.

Then came the n-word controversy. Denunciations and delinkings came from far and wide.

Rob’s post containing the n-word in an epithetical context came in the wake of a trip he took to Jamaica. I always suspected that he did some hardcore drugs on that vacation (as did many others), because immediately following his return, his post were nonsensical, mean, full of misspellings and full of grammatical errors. And if you know of Gut Rumbles and of its author—the possessor of an undergraduate degree in English Literature—you know that these types of errors were anomalies. He only seemed to slowly shake it off.

To make a long story short, I stopped talking to him for a bit. Then--as often happens with me and with those whom I care about—I got tired of being mad and we ‘squashed’ it.

I talked to him on the phone once for a couple of hours. His voice was warm, musical and only slightly Southern. He called me without identifying himself and, at first, and I wondered which old boyfriend had looked me up. (Yes, his voice had the cadence that many black men have, though not all of my old boyfriends have been black.)

I don’t remember a damned thing we talked about. All I remember is saying happily, “Rob…,” when he said who it was.

For whatever reason, I adored that man.

Of course, I know that I’m not alone. Rob had “wimmen” throwing their drawers at him left and right. I read about some of that drama occasionally, with rueful amusement. I’m sorry that none of them could make him happy. He had a quality that drew people to him--men, too--
often, as they were kicking and screaming.

Some part of me hopes that Rob is in a place which is identical to his beloved Costa Rica—where the women and sun are warm, where the alcohol will have all of its benefits and none of the drawbacks, where Rob has never had prostate cancer and has a working, willing and inspired “Roscoe,” and where he can communicate and be understood. And that part of me wishes that he's there at that mythical place acting as father to a young boy who looks a lot like one Quinton Smith and to a beautiful young woman who looks a lot like one Samantha Smith until the genuine articles meet him there a long time from now.

However, I am a Christian. I believe in the saving Power of Jesus Christ and in an Afterlife spent in Heaven or Hell. There’s no getting around that for me, nor for the friend whom I loved so much. That’s the biggest part of what has kept me from writing extensively about Rob’s passing.

Rob was an uncompromising atheist. Of course I prayed for him, as did Steve and, undoubtedly, as did countless other Christians who allow themselves to love those who don’t believe as they do.

Due to a (now deleted) post, which immediately preceded his death, the speculation is that Rob committed suicide, even though Samantha said that there was no physical evidence of that. I pray that the physical evidence points to the facts of a "natural" death, as I pray that Rob had time to ask the Lord for forgiveness and redemption before he left us. As I said, there's no getting around that for me.

So there we are. Actually I don't want to know the details of Rob's death ever and I hope that Samantha doesn't post them one way or the other. When it's my time to meet the Lord, I will rejoice in doing so. But, afterward, I will look for Robert Smith.

I pray that I will find him there.

UPDATE: Here's a post from one of Rob's guestblogging stints right here at this blog.

No

I don't believe it.

UPDATE: Rob's obituary.

Baring His Teeth

In no uncertain terms, President Bush slams the leaker for disclosing classified information to the press and slams the press for publicizing it. The only time I've seem the president more visibly PO'd was after 9/11.

As If the SWIFT Leak Wasn't Enough

In case you had any doubt about the sinister motives of New York Times, this latest publication of yet a third set of classified data should remove it.

According to a classified briefing at the Pentagon this week by the commander, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the number of American combat brigades in Iraq is projected to decrease to 5 or 6 from the current level of 14 by December 2007. [SNIP]

General Casey's briefing has remained a closely held secret, and it was described by American officials who agreed to discuss the details only on condition of anonymity.

(Emphasis mine.)

I'm sick of this sh*t.

Find the leakers, Mr. Gonzales, and punish them. Have the NYT traitors sit in prison for a few years if they won't name them. I no longer care.

(Thanks to Michelle Malkin)

Previous: Little Games, Big Portent

Little Games, Big Portent

The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal (yes; subscription only) have published information on yet another governmental program designed to keep tabs on terrorists and keep them for carrying out their tactical operations, i.e. killing people. For the New York Times, it is a second offense—by the same two journalists who de-fanged the NSA Terrorist Surveillance Program, Eric Lichtblau and James Risen.

WSJ:

Since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the U.S. Treasury Department has been secretly tracking suspected terrorist financing through a far-reaching program that gives it access to records from the network that handles nearly all international financial transfers.

The information comes from a Belgian firm known by its acronym, Swift [Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication], which manages much of the world's financial-message traffic. Under the program, U.S. counter-terrorism analysts query Swift's vast database of billions of financial transactions for information on activity by suspected terrorists. The program operates under a series of broad U.S. subpoenas.

U.S. officials say the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program has been highly successful both in leading to the apprehension of terrorism suspects and in thwarting terrorist operations. People familiar with the program said, for example, that it yielded useful information on the bombings last July 7 in London. The program "has helped to disrupt terrorist cells and operations and has helped save lives," Treasury said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal. [SNIP]

Stuart Levey, Treasury's top counter-terrorism official, said the program was initiated after department lawyers determined they had the legal authority to subpoena Swift, which keeps its data in the U.S.

This time, there is no doubt that the program is legal. The publishers of these newspapers felt it was necessary to publicize the program, however, merely to prevent the danger of “mission creep” by government, which is a euphemism for the "stopping the no-doubt sinister aims" of the Bush Administration, of course.

In other words, these Big Media have appointed themselves as ‘the People’—that is, the same people named in the US Constitution; the same ones who elected a Republican president and, in both houses of Congress, Republican majorities. But since ‘the people’ were “too stupid” to make the “correct” choices, Big Media is forced to act in the steed of ‘the People,’ similar to how one would act as guardian of a family member who has been mentally incapacitated.

Got that?

For that is how much of the Big Media thinks of a country who would put George W. Bush and a majority Republican Congress in office.

Make no mistake about it, the outing of these programs isn’t meant for the consumption and consideration of people like me who’ve been in the military and/or know a few things about intelligence programs. These “Show Reports” (think “Show Trials”) are meant for the mythical citizen who knows nothing about how our intelligence and federal law enforcement agencies attempt to protect this country. They are meant for the mythical citizen who’s been feed a steady diet of lamentation about “privacy rights” and “Bush lied.” And, conversely, they are meant to play to “Peoria”; to the average Red State Middle-American, one who is presumably too “simple” to sit down and think about/research the means and legality of programs designed to prevent another 9/11; or who is lacking common sense to figure it out on his/her own (meaning all who voted for Bush).

As many have noted, publicizing such clandestine programs designed to thwart terrorist actions puts the terrorists on their guard when it comes to their communications and to their monies meant to fund blowing up commuter trains, subways, resorts, and skyscrapers. So what are We, the actual People, to conclude from these Big Media actions? One or any combination of these could be true.

1. The Big Media believe that Republicans are more of a threat to the nation than are Islamist terrorist bent on bringing about an entire world of Dar-al-Islam.
2. The Big Media want the Islamists to succeed in their aims
3. The Big Media don’t think either is that big of a threat. They are simply willing to do anything to make powerless an ideology—republicanism/conservatism--in which they don’t subscribe. Ace of Spades:

It's blackmail, pure and simple. Either let a Democrat into the White House, or we will continue to sabotage American security and, in effect, kill Americans. We will keep secrets when a Democrat is in office, but not a Republican. So we offer the American people a choice: Let the politicians we favor run the country or we will help Al Qaeda murder you.

Regardless of Big Media motives, however, the law regarding disclosure of classified materials for both this case and the leak regarding the NSA Terrorist Surveillance Program is pretty straightforward.

(a) Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes, or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States any classified information -
(1) concerning the nature, preparation, or use of any code, cipher, or cryptographic system of the United States or any foreign government; or
(2) concerning the design, construction, use, maintenance, or repair of any device, apparatus, or appliance used or prepared or planned for use by the United States or any foreign government for cryptographic or communication intelligence purposes; or
(3) concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States or any foreign government; or
(4) obtained by the processes of communication intelligence from the communications of any foreign government, knowing the same to have been obtained by such processes –

(Emphasis mine.)

So now, one question remains: what, at the behest of the president, will Attorney General Alberto Gonzales do about this?

Consider this, however: the cure--subpoenaing specific journalists, ordering them to give up their sources or be imprisoned for contempt of court—may be worse than the disease.

Thanks a lot, Big Media.

Love (Not),
One of the People

(Thanks to The Weekly Standard)

Ending the Iraq War

The Iraqis step up—as has been asked for by many US legislators and pundits--and offer a peace deal to their countrymen who are Sunni insurgents.

THE Iraqi Government will announce a sweeping peace plan as early as Sunday in a last-ditch effort to end the Sunni insurgency that has taken the country to the brink of civil war.

The 28-point package for national reconciliation will offer Iraqi resistance groups inclusion in the political process and an amnesty for their prisoners if they renounce violence and lay down their arms…”

Additionally, the Iraqi government is willing to guarantee a timeline for the withdrawal of Coalition troops.

The Government will promise a finite, UN-approved timeline for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq; a halt to US operations against insurgent strongholds; an end to human rights violations, including those by coalition troops; and compensation for victims of attacks by terrorists or Iraqi and coalition forces. [SNIP]

It builds on months of secret talks involving Jalal al-Talabani, the Iraqi President, Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador, and seven Sunni insurgent groups.

Following onto the defeat of US legislation which spelled out the same for the withdrawal of US troops from the country, this offer may seem to be just as futile. However, with the Iraqi government itself offering an amnesty for those who have killed both Coalition forces and Iraqis, the offer contains far more legitimacy than does some governmental decision from far away.

The only problem—and it’s a big problem—is this: will the insurgents hold to their agreement with the Iraqi government once the various Coalition troops have high-tailed it for home? Can the majority Shi'ia government of Iraq trust their Sunni fellows to want to coexist in peace and to not seek vengeance for all of the death and terror that has come between the two groups for hundreds of years?

Since the onset of Operation Iraqi Freedom in its various guises, there have been all too many reports of hundreds of Iraqis being found recently murdered—tortured and beheaded—in various locations in Iraq, along with Iraqi politicians and members of their families falling to snipers. However, as noted in the Times of London article, the idea of amnesty has been in the works for some time. But what spurred the Iraqi government into making this offer public? I suspect that four incidents did so.

1. The death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi at the hands of the US military.
2. Last week’s visit to Iraq from President Bush.
3. The kidnapping and horrific deaths (at the hands of terrorists) of PFC Kristian Menchaca and PFC Thomas Tucker (both US Army; may the Lord Jesus Christ rest their souls and bring comfort to their families).
4. The above-mentioned US legislation attempting to cut short the deployment of US forces in Iraq.

The idea of of amnesty for rebels against a government isn’t unprecedented. A source to the article--an unnamed US official--points out the following:

"This is what we did after the Second World War, after the Civil War, after the War of Independence. It may be unpalatable and unsavoury but it is how wars end.”

The Iraqi government is rolling the di—betting on the desire for national, sectarian and tribal survival for all. Will the gamble pay off? Only time will tell.

(Thanks to Richard Fernandez)

A Great Send Off

The family matter I had to attend to was flying to Albuquerque to see off my grandfather, William Woodrow D. Sr. (my step-dad’s dad) to the next phase. Grandpa was born on April 3, 1923 and died on June 3, 2006. Grandpa was a World War II veteran and a retired USAF NCO and I’m very happy and honored to have followed in his footsteps.

His funeral was presided over by my Uncle Bill, Jr.—a Methodist pastor and Dad’s younger and only brother—and the burial was in the military tradition. At first my uncle kept with the solemnity of the occasion, then he broke out in the tradition of black preachers everywhere—loud, happy and in praise of the Lord--and celebrated the life of his father in the tradition in which the gentleman had lived: “Don’t be lookin’ all sad, because Daddy was a guy who lived large and well.” (A paraphrase.) At that, Uncle tinkled his glass of ice water in manner in which Grandpa would tinkle his glass of gin and Seven-Up when making a point.

Grandpa was a husband (my grandma preceded him in death), the father of seven (two preceding him in death), the grandfather of nine and the great-grandfather of nine.

In the spirit of the good life which Grandpa lead, here are some photos of his family.

Notice

I've been out of town (and computer vicinity) due to a family issue, so I didn't have time to celebrate note the F-16-fueled martyrdom of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, but I'm sure much ammunition was shot in the air to mark Zarqawi's owie.

I'm not paying attention to the news until tomorrow, so feel free to submit me any interesting/fun links.

'I Don't Need Your Love'

Pat Dollard: these young Americans have a message for scorners of America's volunteer warriors. Those with faint hearts, weak stomachs, virgin ears and those with not-so-understanding bosses might want to skip this one. It's raw.

(Thanks to Jordan Golson)