Max Swims

This morning's brew: Starbuck's French Roast, extra bold. Good thing about the extra bold part as I sure needed it. Max, the dog, was let out into the back yard for his first trip out after waking this morning. Everything as is routine around here - I got up, let him out the sliding glass doors, he begins his usual path around the perimeter of the yard and then, I'm assuming after he tinkles as I didn't see, I was going into the kitchen to get his treats, I hear a loud splash sound. What? I looked and it wasn't Oreo, the cat, as he was looking back at me from across the room. I move somewhat quickly, it is 5:00 in the morning after all, and there's Max in the swimming pool. Good Lord. I'm hitting on a few more cylinders now. Max is dog paddling around the shallow end of the pool, then tries to hoist himself out on the side. The side without the steps. No luck. He starts back around to the side and I fear he is going to get tangled up in the cleaning thingy with the hose that's attached to that side. I start telling him to come while I stand by the steps on the opposite side. He finally gets the message and paddles over, comes up the steps and begins to thank me by shaking off all over me. Bless his heart. He must have slipped on the wet stones that surround the pool. I got him mostly dry after going through 2 heavy bath towels and got his collar off so his neck and it could dry.

He tried to give me that "I meant to do that" attitude but we both knew better. He is the sweetest dog ever but bright? No so much.

It's a zoo around here.

So, yeah, as expected there's Rusty Yates on all the morning chat shows. It's all about him. Andrea's back in court this morning to be formally discharged by the judge into a mental health facility. Rusty can go on with his new marriage. And the talk show circuit.

Dan Gillerman is my new hero. He is the Israeli ambassador to the U.N. What a class act. His voice remains completely calm and steady as he makes his points on tv. He responded to the statement of Kofi Annan, who was under the impression that Israel deliberately sent a missile to kill the U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon, with dignity and reason.

Kofi Annan. It is time to say goodbye and good luck to him. Under his "leadership" of the U.N., millions have been killed due to genocide from Rawanda to Bosnia to Afghanistan to Iraq to the Congo, and Darfur, on and on, and what does he do? It is documented that Hezbollah was using the U.N. post on the border of Lebanon and Israel as a shield. Why is it that "peacekeepers" are there anyway? There's a military operation going on, guys. They sat by and let 13,000 missiles come into the hands of Hezbollah as they have been building up to this for the past 6 years. Good work. The U.N. peacekeepers have raped young girls, smoked cigars and drank expensive liquor, and turned a blind eye to atrocities around the world but keep the peace anywhere? Um. No.

The only hope for any kind of support in the U.N. is John Bolton on behalf of the U.S. Bolton has been successful in blocking votes concerning ceasefire and other statements from the anti-Semites at the U.N. For Kofi Annan to publicly voice his anti-semitic opinion concerning Israel, a member state, is beyond the pale. No condemnation of Hezbollah and the practice of using human civilain shields though.

Poor Howard Dean can't get any love from Capitol Hill. He made a statement in Miami that even the Democrats are not supporting. He told an audience there that the Iraqi Prime Minister, al Miliki is an anti-Semite. He didn't like that al-Miliki doesn't strongly condemn Hezbollah publicly and stand up for Israel. Well, Howie, it was Saddam who was the anti-Semite. He was the one who was paying $20,000 for each suicide bomber going into Israel to blow up innocent civilians. I know Howie doesn't think there was anything wrong with the isolationist policy that put into play the sitting dictators in the region. As long as we keep everything status quo, everything is ok, right? Wrong. Israel has been under attack since the U.N. established its charter in 1948 and its neighbors will not stop until they kill all the Jews. That's their stated objective. The audience applauded Dean's ridiculous statement. Why? Because liberal American Jews are Israel's worst enemy. It is someone like George W. Bush, a Christian, who is Israel's biggest supporter.

Maybe if Howard Dean and his minions on the far fringes of the left, like Chuckie Schumer and Barbara Boxer who didn't bother to be respectful enough to al-Miliki to go to his appearance yesterday in a joint session of Congress, were honest enough as Americans and not wallowing around in the worst of partisanship they would understand that al-Miliki is a Shiite Arab who was in exile in Syria for more than 20 years during Saddam's reign of terror. He is doing everything he can to get Iraq under control and on its way. Will we always agree with everything the man does and says? Of course not. Give the man a break.

And finally to the Code Pink brigade. Yesterday during al-Maliki's address to Congress, one of the members of Code Pink disrupted the speech. She is the founder of the organization and the one who leads the protesting of the war in front of Walter Reed Hospital. She's one classy broad, that one. Then today during the hearing for John Bolton's permanent position as U.N. ambassador, one of the members jumped up to scream her opinion about him. One word for these women - makeover. New wardrobe and a little personal grooming would be good. The 60's are over. And take Mama Sheehan with you. She doesn't look good in your t-shirt either.