Musings and Mutterings About Our Flag and the Clown Car in D.C.

1. Today is the day to fly your US flag! Go out to your neighborhood hardware store and buy one (whose package says, "Made in U.S.A.!). Mount it where all may see it and be inspired. Lord knows, we need some inspiration these days.

2. NewsFlash! Yesterday I received, via the U.S. Postal Service, a letter from Senator Mary Landrieu regarding my communication with her (emailed on March 5th) concerning the Employee Free Choice Act! She advises me to "rest assured that [she] will keep [my] views in mind should this legislation come before the full Senate for a vote." Isn't that nice. The address block of the letter, however, was more than "nice" -- it was hysterical.

I signed the letter -- in typical Southern Lady fashion as my Mama taught me -- with my given name, maiden initial, and married surname, followed by my husband's initials in parentheses (Mrs. W.A.). To let the good Senator know that I didn't just fall off the turnip truck when it comes to labor law, I also added my degree initials, "J.D." The following is what some goofy staffer came up with:

Dr. and Mrs. Terry C. and W.A. Paulson

Street address

New Orleans, LA 70115

Gee whiz -- that was a cheap medical degree!

Your tax dollars at work.

3. Charles Krauthammer's column in today's Times-Picayune, is entitled, "Obama Comes to his Senses on Detainees, " and explains that, once one ascends to the presidency, he becomes privy to a heckuva lot about a lot of stuff that makes one's predecessor seem not quite so dense. It also details how the Young President has managed to slam, yet still adopt, a large number of Bush policies, especially concerning anti-terror measures. Mr. Krauthammer writes:

"The genius of democracy is that the rotation of power forces the
opposition to come to its senses when it takes over.


"When the new guys, brought to power by popular will, then adopt the
policies of the old guys, a national consensus is forged and a new legitimacy
established. That's happening before our eyes. The Bush policies in the war on
terror won't have to await vindication by historians. Obama is doing it day by
day. His denials mean nothing. Look at his deeds."

Indeed.

4. Now, if we can just convince him not to sully graduation day for the students who invite him to address them at commencement. He did just that today at Annapolis. As their Commander in Chief, the Young President lectured the Midshipmen about how very bad war is, and how very cavalierly the Bush administration had acted toward the armed services, and how he would never let politics interfere with his decision whether to commit our service members to warfare.

Using a commencement address at a service academy as a campaign moment is allowing politics to interfere.

Get a clue.