Me, upon being told by son’s teacher that they talked about presidents 14-19 today: “So who was the fourteenth president?”

Son: “Franklin Pierce.”

Me: “Wow! Very good! Who was the fifteenth president?”

Son: “I don’t want to talk about that. One president is enough to talk about.”

But not for long. Tonight they are airing the only two episodes they have left.

Ouch. Please settle the strike already. Otherwise I might have to start watching the presidential candidates. Kthxbai.

I don’t have much to say about Thompson’s withdrawal from the race right now. It’s too bad, but the writing was already on the wall. I’m a bit deflated and will have to start taking the proverbial second looks. And I’m no longer feeling as chummy with several of the candidates as I was at the beginning of this process.

And I don’t plan to prioritize saying who I’ll gravitate towards next. Let them keep campaigning. I’ll keep watching.

As for the idea of Fred for VP, I’m fine with it if that’s what he wants (though, in full disclosure, I was stung by the possibility that he got into the race on that basis. I’m cooler about that part now–even if that was his original goal, there’s no deception in being over-optimistic and under-planned for taking advantage of something that seemed to promise larger things) but I’m unconvinced that McCain, for example, would abandon his own immigration and tax and eco policies for VP Thompson’s, and that being the case, how exactly would a Thompson VP make the McCain presidency easier to stomach for those who tend to sick up on McCain? A lot of folks seem reassured soley by the idea of Fred balancing McCain, but I don’t know that there’ll be much substance to it when push comes to shove. We’ll see.

If he was instrumental in breaking Huck’s momentum, and I believe he was, then it was totally worth it, ominous Allah rumblings about Huck’s future notwithstanding. And if in the end he was just frustrated by what it seems to take to be elected, he’s not the only one. Though I have serious misgivings about his reported short and lackluster stays at campaign stops, I can’t blame him for being somewhat disgusted with the dog-and-silky-pony show.

Update: Never. I’ll never turn to the dark side.

To see Democrats bitching because Bill Clinton is stumping for his wife. Only one of many (via Hot Air headlines)–and they don’t even bother to hide that it’s because they’re disgruntled that he’s not available to stump for Obama. If Hillary were not in the race and he were stumping for Obama, you’d be hearing universal Democratic cheers, except for some whining from the Edwards camp, and nobody would care half as much about that. He wouldn’t then be “unpresidential” or a divider–he’d be a team player!

Go on, President Bill. Stand by your woman. Obama hacks, go pound sand.

…but if Eli and the Giants can manage to make Brady chew a little turf, I’ll be giving little brother some lovin’ on the side.

If the money I gave to Fred Thompson’s campaign turns out to have been spent solely in the effort to draw votes off Huckabee to the benefit of John McCain, it will have been

cheap at the price.

More Boston photoblogging: The steeple of the famous church, looking up from the ground:

The same steeple as viewed from a hill up the street:

The flag in the rigging of the U.S.S. Constitution:

My parents are in town and I’m basically waiting to see how Thompson does in South Carolina and not thinking about much else in politics or news, so enjoy, once again, the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain.

Last time I lived downwind. About six hours downwind.

Nowadays I live less than two hours away. We’ll see.

Via AoSHQ.

A happier ending than most of last year.

And then they did this
to someone on my list

Granted Keira’s worse
But McAvoy just hurts

In which SeeDub teaches us what it means to raise your Ebenezer.

He picked his church for the scripture and got lousy music; I picked mine for the hymn-based music and got … much less scripture.

But I also got a handbell choir that will play this very hymn later this spring, and I can listen to any number of Bible-based sermons on the web. And I recently was made aware, to my astonishment, that there is one elder in my church who is willing to stand up, in Sunday service, in context of a sermon on peace, at the invitation of the pastor, and say publicly that the United States is not imperialist and that the time to prioritize peace is before our troops go into the field. And that after that we need to be supporting their efforts all the way to victory.

Right on.

…why baseball players are not facing the same penalties. Why they are not being asked about their substance abuse by federal prosecutors instead of by useless congressional committees. Why the judge felt it fit to sic the maximum sentence on a nursing mother when Barry Bonds is going scot-free. Why he thinks popping a female track star into prison is going to deter male baseball players who have been getting away with it for years.

If this stuff is illegal, prosecute. Everybody. If it is not, don’t sic federal prosecutors selectively and then slap on jail time for the lying.

That Marion Jones should serve time for lying to federal prosecutors, I don’t doubt. That there are, seemingly, some pretty heavy inequities here before the law, I do believe. The whole thing is disgusting.