Catching Up

Let's see if I remember how this blogging thing works.

• I guess I was just ahead of my time -- a 21st Century soldier in a 20th Century army:

  Gone are the days when trainees run 'til they drop. Soldiers who need counseling get extra attention, not a screaming drill sergeant. ***
  
  Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, said the approach began in 2003 and was re-emphasized in 2005, after the Army fell behind its recruiting goals. Soldiers who fail tests are often retrained instead of run out of the Army, he said.
  
  "You'll get guys who have never run a mile," Hilferty said of some recruits. "Rather than throw them out, we said, 'Let's change the training so we don't injure them.' "

  All right, maggots! Drop and give me... uh... some pushups. If you're not too tired.
  


• While so many others are disturbed by the president's recent use of the word "shit" to describe the escalation of violence in the middle east, I am much more concerned that he doesn't know what "irony" means:

  "See, the irony is that what they need to do is to get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it's over," Bush told Blair.

  Mr. Blair, please tell Mr. Bush that "irony" is not a synonym for "the bottom line."


• On second thought, don't bother. Mr. Bush is clearly, no matter the circumstances, the stupidest man in the room:

  As he chats with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bush expresses amazement that it will take Putin and an unidentified leader just as long to fly home to Moscow as it will take him to fly back to Washington. Putin's reply could not be heard.
  
  "You eight hours? Me too. Russia's a big country and you're a big country. Takes him eight hours to fly home. Not Coke, Diet Coke. ... Russia's big and so is China. Yo Blair, what're you doing? Are you leaving," Bush said.

Am I the only one who suspects that the person who screwed up the soda order is smarter than the President of the United States?

I'll be back later.