King Penguin Knighted

In today's Houston Chronicle there is a photo of a King penguin that has become a Norwegian Knight. He is shown inspecting the Norwegian King's Guard at the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland. Yes, the penguin has a name. He is referred to as 'Nils Olav'. A notation was made that he is the first penguin to receive knighthood. OK, then.

And, as a King penguin, isn't that a demotion?

I have a confession to make. In hopes of keeping a bit of my sanity during this very long political campaign season, I watch a rather eclectic assortment of cable television shows. One is Kathy Griffin's Life on the D List. Yes, she is foul mouthed and suffers from Bush derangement (and Republicans in general) but she makes me laugh. She can be one funny broad.

Don't tell my husband, though. He thinks that is one of the shows where the viewer loses brain cells by watching.

This past week's show was her trip to Walter Reed Hospital in D.C. She and her two assistants and her road manager were invited to visit the wounded soldiers and off they went. Let me first tell you that they also made a trip to Iraq last year to entertain the troops. And, she visited troops outside of the Green Zone and they appreciated her show. Mostly.

It was an interesting study in workings of the liberal mind as it pertains to thoughts of the military. Before traveling to D.C., she made reference to the wounded soldiers as "20 year olds from the South". It was as though only that demographic joins the military. As a liberal, it is all to familiar remark. It is the old stereotype of Southerners as joining as the only career option, because they don't know any better, or because they are unsophisticated. It doesn't occur to her that the military is filled with people who joined voluntarily to serve their country out of a sense of duty, and of gratitude.

Once she was there, though, the viewer began to see a bit of hope for her. She toured a Fisher House home and spoke to families there. She came away saying, "I'm impressed with their personal strength." She was interviewed by Armed Forces Press Service, described as a Dept of Defense magazine. And, she toured Walter Reed Rehab Center. She learned that 120 patients were there at any given time. Most were there for limb loss. She established rapport with a soldier recovering from a concussion - his fifth suffered in battle so he was brought there - and incorporated him into her act, due to a tattoo on his chest. That was funny.

There were, however children brought to her performance that evening and four chaplains, too. The children were clearly at an inappropriate event and their parents were asked to take them out. Some parents didn't bother to do so and that was unfortunate. Clearly the military members in the audience didn't laugh at a lot of her material as it was profanity and innuendo filled but they did start to loosen up and laugh as she found her footing with them. She teased them about drinking and how they behave with their artificial limbs.

None of the military she met and spoke with were bitter or critical of their mission. All said they would go back if they could. None of the families were critical either. They are all truly extraordinary people.

I already knew that, though.

For a while this season, Kathy was dating Steve Wozniak, the billionaire co-founder of Apple Computer. Needless to say, it was not a match made in heaven. He is now engaged to someone else.

Before and after the trip to D.C., Kathy is seen visiting and seeking advice from her friend and fellow comedian, Michael McDonald - of Mad TV fame. McDonald accompanied her to Iraq last year.

He frankly told her to clean up her act for them. And, he told her to stop with the politics in front of them.

Two other bits of entertainment caught my attention yesterday. One was from friend Otto, over at his blog, American Interests. There is a trailer for a documentary on our brave warriors that is well worth watching. It meshed completely with the Griffin show. The trailer is here.

And, over at Meghan McCain's blog, she posts a video of a rally at Sturgis, S.D. during the Harley Davidson annual gathering. Over 100,000 are in attendance to see and listen to McCain but somehow that wasn't newsworthy with the media. Hmm. Maybe if they had been Europeans. And in Berlin. No, just ordinary Americans on motorcycles from all over the country. The video is terrific. And, Meghan narrates it.

It's the weekend. Entertain yourself.