George Carlin, May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008

This is a tragedy. One of the few people to consistently tell the truth, tell it clearly, bluntly and entertainingly, is gone. I hope there will be a nationally-televised service for him, as there has been for lesser pooh-bahs in recent years, months and weeks.

"Stay the course and make your mama proud"

Heard an interview with James McMurtry on the Bob Edwards Show on XM NPR this week, and one of McMurtry's tracks inspired me to go buy his latest album, "Just Us Kids." The track is called "Cheney's Toy" and in a perfect world, country music radio stations would serving up double doses of this song every hour. But as we know, it is not a perfect world; someone, somewhere, has not yet learned about life from Kenny Chesney, and about relationships from Carrie Underwood, and about patriotism from Toby Keith. Those are truly lucky people, but so am I, having found the lyrics to McMurtry's songs online. Drink up.

Another unknown soldier
Another lesson learned
Kick the gas can over
Strike a match get back and watch that sucker burn

Keep smiling for the camera
Keep waving to the crowd
Don't let up for an instant
Stay the course and make your mama proud

You're the man
Show'em what you're made of
You're no longer daddy's boy
You're the man
That they're all afraid of
But you're only Cheney's toy

These are only part of the lyrics; the whole song is this good, and the rest of the cd bears hearing too. Buy a copy for your loved ones, and call your congressman.

Obama bags a 'Possum(us)

Oh, good God.

Did anyone check with anyone before releasing a presidential-seal look-alike logo whose legend reads, "Vero Possumus"?

That's "Possumus," folks.

"Possumus."

"Ten signs you're an unquestioning Christian"

Without making a values judgment on the topic -- I continue to hold membership in a Protestant Christian denomination, and matriculated from an institution sponsored by that denomination -- I found this bit of email circulation a clever and intriguing read. It came to me under the subject line, "Ten signs you're an unquestioning Christian," and I offer it to others in the same condition I found it:

10
You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but you feel outraged when someone denies the existence of your god.

9
You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from lesser life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that your first ancestors were created from dirt.

8
You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Trinity god.

7
You are angered by the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies in Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" -- including women, children and their animals.

6
You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with woman, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who was killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5
You are willing to spend you life looking for loopholes in he scientifically-established age of the Earth (4.55 billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by pre-historic tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that the Earth is a couple of generations old.

4
You believe that the entire population of the planet, with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects -- will spend eternity in an infinite hell of suffering. Yet you considered your religion to be the most "tolerant" and "loving."

3
While modern science, history, geology, biology and physics are insufficient to convince you of facts that are contrary to your beliefs, you find a single person rolling on the floor and "speaking in tongues" to be clear and complete evidence to support those beliefs.

2
You define 0.01 percent as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers, even as evidence that "prayer works." And you believe that the remaining 99.9 percent failure rate of prayer is simply "the will of God."

1
You may know demonstrably less than non-believers and skeptics about the content of the Bible, about Christianity and about the history of your church and denomination, but you call yourself a Christian.

Obama's "hybrid" personality and management style

In catching up on emails and news articles from last week, I learned some things:

Barack Obama's managerial manner bears a striking resemblance to a former Texas governor who aspired to the White House:

Like most presidential candidates, Mr. Obama is developing his executive skills on the fly, and under intense scrutiny. The evolution of his style in recent months suggests he is still finding the right formula as he confronts a challenge that he has not faced in his career: managing a large organization.

The skill will become more important should he win the presidency, and his style is getting added attention as the country absorbs the lessons of President Bush's tenure in the Oval Office. Mr. Bush's critics, including former aides, have portrayed him as too cloistered, too dependent on a small coterie of trusted aides, unable to distinguish between loyalty and competence, and insufficiently willing to adjust course in the face of events that do not unfold the way he expects.

Mr. Obama's style so far is marked by an aversion to leaks and public drama and his selection of a small group of advisers who have exhibited discipline and loyalty in carrying out his priorities. The departure of Mr. Johnson, who was brought in to provide managerial experience to the vice-presidential search, was a rare instance of the campaign's having to oust one of its own in the midst of a messy public crisis.

He reads widely and encourages alternative views in policy-making discussions, but likes to keep the process crisp. He is personally even-keeled, but can be prickly when small things go wrong.

As the chief executive officer of Obama for America, a concern of nearly 1,000 employees and a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars, Mr. Obama is more inclined to focus on the big picture over the day-to-day whirl.

He delegates many decisions, and virtually all tasks, to a core group that oversees a sprawling, yet centralized operation in his Chicago campaign headquarters, which going into the general election season is absorbing many of the political functions of the Democratic National Committee. Mr. Obama stays connected to advisers and friends via a BlackBerry, sending frequent but unsigned messages that are to the point. A discussion that cannot be conducted in a sentence or two is likely to be finished by telephone.

Although it appears Obama works well at night, while Dubya likes to be tucked in by 9.

On the other hand, Obama appears to have a short fuse to a Clintonian temper:

On policy issues, Mr. Obama can have a photographic memory of intricate details, but he often struggled to remember the names of local political supporters he had met. A cool demeanor on primary election nights, even in defeat, can give way to a short temper when a speech text is not on the podium, a loudspeaker crackles or an aide has not brought over a throat-soothing herbal tea.

''Who's handling sound? Who's handling sound?'' he snapped at his staff when a microphone repeatedly went haywire at a campaign event in South Carolina.

But I suppose that's allowed when one reaches the heights where he finds himself today.

One thing I like is that he values order. Does anyone know Obama's Myers-Briggs type? Could we be electing an NTJ?

Most high-level gatherings involving Mr. Obama are held either in his kitchen or at an office away from campaign headquarters, and are expected to unfold in an orderly manner. Written agendas and concise briefings are preferred.

He does not stir dissent simply for dissent's sake, but often employs a Socratic method of discussion, where aides put ideas forward for him to accept or reject. Advisers described his meetings as ''un-Clintonesque,'' a reference to the often meandering, if engrossing, policy discussions Bill Clinton presided over when he was president.

''He doesn't sit there for hours chewing on it and discussing it,'' said Susan Rice, a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Obama who worked in the Clinton administration. ''He's very thorough, yet efficient about it.''

I notice that the quoted advisor didn't call Obama's style as "Dubyesque" either, but it certainly sounds as if there's a similarity.

Isn't it odd that the last three Republican presidents have been hands-off delegators -- think of Dubya, George I and Reagan, all trusting their Star Chamber to get the work done -- while the last two Democratic presidents, Clinton and Carter, have been the polyglots, digging down into the weeds themselves to master the roots of every issue.

Gerald Ford didn't last long enough to leave a real imprint, though he seemed earnestly interested in understanding issues, and Richard Nixon had Bill Clinton's encyclopedic knowledge of policy, while LBJ sensibly relied more on his big-picture mastery of labyrinthine legislative processes than detailed policy points.

More and more, the picture emerging of Obama is a hybrid, leaning toward the Republican penchant for thematic direction and delegation. I wonder if that's what we need. Is it "change"?

Why I should vote Republican in 2008.

This is beautiful.

What did John McCain call his wife?

No way. Did he really say that?

And did the Straight Talk Express really speed right past the guy asking the question in a town hall meeting?

And was the guy who asked the question really a Baptist minister?

Wow. If I've understood this correctly, John McCain used one of the most hated words in the English language to describe his wife, to her face, and when a Baptist minister asked him whether or not it was true, McCain dodged the question just as expertly as Bill Clinton ever could.

Leaving for my family reunion

Tomorrow evening, I leave with my mom for the long drive from rural Upstate South Carolina to rural northwestern Missouri, where her brothers and sisters and other assorted family members meet annually for our family reunion. I look forward to these reunions, which we began in the 1990s after my grandfather passed away. My mom's siblings are good people to spend time with, and I look decidedly more like them than like my dad's side of the family.

The downside of the trip is the drive itself, which is more than 18 hours long. We would love to fly, and have flown before, but even Bushgas is cheaper than flying now.

This year, we'll stay in Maryville, which is sort of central to the family members who remain in that region. (Not all do; some will come from Atlanta, some from near Branson, some from Michigan.)

So I'll likely be away from the blog for the next week or so, and I hope to have some notes to share when I get back.

Oh, and I predict Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas will be Obama's choice for vice president. Just for the record.

China's pulling a "Reagan" on America

Monday morning, I read about some squabble between Todd Purdum of Vanity Fair, who published an extensive and fairly brutal critique of former President Bill Clinton, and the former president himself, through his spokesman. A couple of lines from the response that Clinton's office issued came back to me on Monday afternoon when I read another article at CNN.com, titled "Is there a short-term fix for high gas prices?". I'll share both and explain the connection between the two.

First, Clinton's spokesman Jay Carson sent this note to Purdum, responding to Purdum's Vanity Fair article: "The ills of the Democratic Party can be seen perfectly in the willingness of fellow Democrats to say bad things about President Clinton. If you ask any Republican about Reagan they will say he still makes the sun rise in the morning, but if you ask Democrats about their only two-term president in 80 years, a man who took the party from the wilderness of loserdom to the White House and created the strongest economy in American history, they’d rather be quoted saying what a reporter wants to hear than protect a strong brand for the party. Republicans look at this behavior and laugh at us.”

The more I read that, the truer is is. But this is the part that stuck in my mind all day: "If you ask any Republican about Reagan they will say he still makes the sun rise in the morning..."

That's an article of true faith among the GOP, for sure. Republicans began the canonization of Reagan before George Herbert Walker Bush put his hand on the Bible. They started naming everything clean and pure and fruitful after him: major thoroughfares through the prettiest parts of town (unlike the many MLK Boulevards), major buildings, major open spaces. Hell, they even pushed George Washington himself -- first president of nation, for God's sake -- aside to make room for Ronald Reagan's name on Washington National Airport, serving Washington, D.C. itself! And on top of all that, there's still an effort under way to erect some sort of Reagan monument on the Washington mall.

And remember the weeklong funeral production staged for him two or three years ago -- what Kabuki theater that was: it felt like there was a funeral every day for a week, for the same man, with the same commentators saying the same things over and over and over. By the end of it, Reagan must have already sprouted wings and taken a seat at the right hand of God.

Why the Hollywood production for Reagan? Because, as the legend goes, Reagan single-handedly defeated the Soviet Union and won the Cold War. Brought the Russkies to their knees and made 'em beg for mercy. Then he gave them mercy, letting them live and demanding only that they bow and scrape to America and our political philosophy, and that they apologize for Khrushchev. And keep us supplied with Beluga.

How did Reagan do all that? He outspent them, enabled by a pliant Congress. He poured more money into the Pentagon than Russia could spend on its own military -- at the expense, of course, of America's domestic programs, ones that benefitted America's poor, its working class, its children, its elderly. Year after year through the 1980s, the biggest challenge at the Pentagon was figuring out how to spend all the cash flowing its way, borrowed from Japan through Treasury notes, under the public banner of "peace through strength."

It left us -- for those who don't remember -- with the largest budget deficits and highest debt in American history. When Reagan left office, the nation owed more than it had ever owed before -- in fact, more than all the budget deficits of all the previous administrations combined, Washington through Carter -- an achievement surpassed only by his successor, George I, whose campaign theme was "Stay the course."

Which brought us to Clinton's election in 1992 and his first budget proposal to Congress in 1993. Remember, he had a Democratic majority in Congress that year, and still his budget proposal -- titled the "Deficit Reduction Act of 1993" -- passed by a single vote and is largely credited with costing Democrats their control of Congress in 1994. Yet it was precisely this budget that set America back on the road to fiscal responsibility, which led then to the longest period of sustained economic growth in the history of the world.

By his last year in the White House, we had erased our budget deficit and were paying down the national debt -- including debt to foreign interests. In essence, Clinton spent his eight years making historic strides toward cleaning up the fiscal mess left behind by Ronald Reagan, whose name stains public property from Bangor to Boca to Malibu.

Then came Dubya. Poster Mike McL wrote yesterday here at Kos,

We have an obligation to pay our national debt (and yes, it is ours, yours and mine alike, and it presently stands at $9,391,228,825,656.43 as of May 29, 2008, which, with our present population being 304,231,448 as of June 2, 2008, means we each owe 10,868.70). There isn't a chance in hell that every man, woman, and child could come up with that kind of money to fork over right away to pay off the debt.

So, we pay interest on it. How much?

For Fiscal Year 2007, we paid $429,977,998,108.20 in interest, or given a population estimate for 2007 of 301,621,157 works out to $1,425.56 per person. 2007 tax revenues (PDF) were approximately $2,396,290,997,000.00. So for every dollar paid in taxes, $0.179 (almost 18 cents) went just to pay interest on the debt. If we could begin to responsibly pay down the debt, we could ultimately end up cutting taxes 10% across the board and still have extra revenue to invest in our military, our infrastructure, and our other important programs.

Our national debt stood at $5,728,195,796,181.57 on January 22, 2001, the day after George W. Bush took office. In other words, during his term in office, our national debt has so far increased by $3,663,033,029,474.86. Had we continued with the policy of pay-go and not enacted the President's inane tax cuts, we might instead have seen a decrease in the national debt. We certainly would not have seen the level of increase we have been burdened with.

Get that? We owe $9.4 trillion dollars to various debtors; Dubya and his own pliant Congresses are directly responsible for $3.6 trillion of it, or 38 percent of the total. And since we can't afford to pay it off under present economic policies, we pay only the interest on it.

And to whom do we now owe $1.53 trillion of that total? China. (Or, as Lou Dobbs calls it, Communist China.)

As one blogger puts it,

Apparently, when referring to America as the 'ownership society,' we forget to note that it's the f-ing Chinese government doing the owning. China's state-run central bank owns $1.53 trillion in U.S. holdings (including debt), an amount that increases by over $1 billion per day (it saw an increase of $470 billion in 2007).

Forget f-ing Osama bin Laden: This is a real national security problem. Or doesn't anyone else think that having a foreign totalitarian government able to completely eviscerate the dollar in one fell swoop (not that we can't do that job very well on our own, thank you very much) is a bad thing?

Yes, China had a great year in 2007, collecting $462 billion -- more than $31 billion in December alone.

China's foreign exchange reserve had reached 1.53 trillion U.S. dollars by the end of 2007, up 43.32 percent from 2006, the People's Bank of China announced on Friday. A total of 461.9 billion U.S. dollars were added to the country's forex reserve in 2007, said the central bank. In December alone, the forex reserve rose by 31.3 billion U.S. dollars.

China's forex reserve kept a sharp growth in 2007, reaching 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars by the end of March, 1.33 trillion U.S. dollars by the end of June, and 1.43 trillion U.S. dollars by the end of September.

China's soaring trade surplus is the major contributing factor to the forex reserve boom. Data newly released by the General Administration of Customs show that China's trade surplus surged to a record 262.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2007, representing a 47.7 percent growth over a year earlier.

The huge forex reserve is considered the main reason for excess liquidity in China, as the central bank has to spend quantities of basic money to purchase foreign exchange, thus aggravating the problem of surplus fluidity. By the end of 2007, the M2 -- a broad measure of money supply, which indicates the monetary demand of the whole of country and possible inflation -- grew by 16.72 percent from a year ago to 40.34 trillion yuan.

The growth rate is 0.22 percentage points lower than the end of 2006, but still higher than the target growth of 16 percent set by the central bank at the beginning of 2007. A total amount of 330.3 billion yuan was poured into the market in 2007, 26.2 billion yuan more than 2006.

On the other hand, continuous growth of the forex reserve has in fact increased the pressure on appreciation of the Chinese currency, which in turn has exerted greater pressure on value preservation of China's forex reserve.

In a move to make better use of the country's huge forex reserve, China established the China Investment Corporate Ltd. (CIC), the country's state forex investment company in 2007. The state-owned investment company will invest in overseas financial markets. The registered capital of 200 billion U.S. dollars of the CIC all comes from the forex reserve of the country, which have poured into the company so far.

Catch that? China has taken ownership of so much American currency that it had to form a brand-new investment corporation just to handle the SURPLUS American money it's collecting, a corporation that will invest these billions of dollars in foreign markets.

China -- once the technological and manufacturing backwater of the world economy -- now holds America's financial fortunes on a leash. Which brings me back to the CNN.com article I read yesterday:

(CNN) -- Rising oil and gas prices have lawmakers and consumers scrambling for solutions, but it is unclear whether anything can be done to lower energy costs in the short term, experts say. A confluence of factors, from supply and demand to speculation and a weakened dollar, are driving gas prices higher. The price of oil has doubled over the past year. A barrel of crude oil cost about $65 in June 2007; it is currently hovering around $130 a barrel.

Gas prices have skyrocketed as a result, with some American consumers paying more than $4 a gallon. The national average is $3.95 per gallon, according to a AAA survey published May 29. A year ago, the national average was about $3.20.

Observers say several factors, domestic and global, are responsible for the price increases. Although demand is falling in places like the United States and Europe because of high prices, it is surging in emerging markets like China and India.

Every time I call for tech support from the manufacturer of my computer, I'm reminded why India has the financial wherewithal now to place such demand on petroleum products; we've exported so many of our high-tech service jobs there that we're probably the engine of India's growing middle class.

And it's no wonder that demand is surging in China, thanks to the billions in T-bills we've sold them to finance this idiotic war on Iraq.

Isn't this formula mindlessly simple? Dubya wanted to have a war AND wanted to give massive tax breaks to his base, so there was no tax revenue to pay for his war. He wouldn't forego the tax breaks, and wouldn't propose to raise taxes to pay for it, because Americans don't want the war and won't stand for paying for it through higher taxes. So his Commerce Department approved the issue of billions of Treasury bonds, which we sold to China to raise fast cash. We used the cash to pay for the war, so it's gone, Daddy, gone now. China's left in the catbird seat -- holding our promissory notes in a vice-grip.

America squawks about a trade deficit; they twist that vice-grip and the squawking goes away.

America wags its finger over some human rights abuses; they twist tighter and we tell our human rights activists to shut up and sit down.

Americans stage protests to disrupt the Olympic torch route over China's crackdown on Tibetan monks; they twist tighter still.

At the end of all this twisting, we're on our knees, clutching the weakest dollar we've had in ages, whimpering in nauseated anguish and inviting China over for dinner, our treat.

Just in case no one's yet paying close attention: Inflated gas prices, inflated food prices, inflated prices for everything are just the front edge of the great payback to China.

And that doesn't yet take into consideration the role of the Saudi royal family, who have their own little racket going. Foreseeing a Democratic administration that's committed to green energy, it's apparent that the Sauds are equally committed to wringing as much profit out of America as possible until the Great Wean begins.

Meanwhile, concerns are rising that supply -- battered by political instability in some oil-rich countries and a decision by others to not increase production substantially -- is not keeping up with demand.

Additionally, the declining value of the dollar, the currency used by the international oil market, has made it easier for Asian and European countries to purchase oil.

Some experts say speculation may also be playing a role in the rising price of oil. Many investors look to commodities like oil to act as a buffer against inflation, which typically occurs when -- as is the case now -- interest rates are low and the dollar is weakened. Other experts say the effect of speculation is minimal to negligible.

Whatever the cause, federal and state lawmakers are anxiously searching for short-term relief. Their options, however, seem limited.

Limited is right. Both McCain and Hillary have proposed a federal gas tax holiday, which Obama calls a gimmick. Analyses suggest such a holiday would give little relief.

"There is very little the government can do in the very short-term, other than providing misinformation about the potential for government to act," said Gilbert Metcalf, an economist at Tufts University.

He said that raising the price of energy may prove more beneficial. It seems counterintuitive, but the high prices could reduce demand and fundamentally alter consumer behavior, he said. "We are not going to do it by reducing the price," he said. "It's saying to people: 'Don't go buy a fuel-efficient car; we'll just lower the price when it's too painful.'"

"Our best bet is to wean us off oil."

So here's the conclusion I reached last night: China studied well Ronald Reagan's bankruptcy of the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and it's applying those tactics to America now. Does it warm the hearts of Republicans that their sainted godfather -- dare I say "Beloved Leader"? -- taught the Chinese how to rip out the economic underpinnings of our country? Mourning in America, indeed.

And here's the question that come on that conclusion's heels: How well did we learn from Bill Clinton's economic plan of 1993, the one that dragged us back from the road to oblivion? Yes, Clinton benefited mightily from the naturally-occurring tech boom of the mid-1990s, but I assert that another boom is waiting in the wings. John Edwards talked about it in greatest detail, having studied well Al Gore's proposals of recent years: Green Energy.

Just as the combination of Clintonian economics and the tech boom gave America's economy back to Americans, a return to those policies and adoption of policies that spur green energy innovation can lead us back from the brink again -- AND solve our energy crisis, AND create more American jobs.

And maybe, one day many years from now, someone may offer legislation to put Bill Clinton's name on something, giving credit where it's due.

News & Observer covers MOC champs' homecoming

It took winning a national championship to get the News & Observer to send a reporter an hour away from its headquarters to cover little Mount Olive College and its baseball team. There's no analysis, no indepth reporting, but the old N&O did send someone, did publish a little note on the NCAA Division II College World Series champions' homecoming, did identify the coach's name and did mention one of the players' names -- it happened to be the same as the coach's name, but that's okay, it got mentioned.

And, just as night follows day, the News & Observer couldn't mention Mount Olive without mentioning pickles. Yes, it was in a quote by the coach, but I bet the coach said a lot of other things -- especially about his baseball program, his college, his assistant coaches and his team, particularly the ones who were recognized as All-American and whatnot -- but none of those things were quoted. Pickles got quoted. Pickles. Night follows day.

And I guess we should be grateful, since the last time MOC got coverage by the N&O, Jerry Allegood covered the retirement of the college's president in 1995. You know, the longest-tenured college president in American history. You have to do and be things like that to get coverage in the N&O when you don't exist within 10 or 12 miles of downtown Raleigh. (Even then, Allegood drove over from the eastern regional office in Greenville; the N&O only sent a photographer from its headquarters in Raleigh.)

Anyway, let's go to the tape and try not to be disappointed that the lead is about window-dressing and set decorations, for the N&O giveth and the N&O taketh away:

Mount Olive title is college's first
Madeline Perez, Staff Writer

MOUNT OLIVE - As the Mount Olive College baseball team sat in front of home plate, a banner hung high overhead from the ladder of a Mount Olive Fire Department truck. Hundreds of fans and family members surrounded Scarborough Field, with many waving posters and sporting championship T-shirts.

And in front of the team sat the NCAA Division II national championship trophy.

Monday's rally celebrated the college's first national title, won when the team defeated Ouachita Baptist 6-2 on Saturday. The Trojans, the tournament's top seed, finished the season 58-6.

Coach Carl Lancaster addressed the crowd.

"Twenty-two years ago, I took this job and people asked me why, and I told them I didn't know. Well, now I do," he said.

The day was especially notable for Lancaster's son, senior Jesse Lancaster, who celebrated his 22nd birthday. His father led the crowd in serenading the outfielder.

"I'm going to have to get Dad back for that," Lancaster said. "I wasn't expecting it. That was a little bit embarrassing having the crowd sing to me."

The celebration began Saturday after the victory, with the team given a police escort after several fans greeted the team at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. That night, a small crowd greeted the Trojans at their field.

The win has provided a boost in publicity. Lancaster and athletic director Jeff Eisen said recruits have begun calling to express interest in playing for Mount Olive.

Lancaster hopes the national spotlight will let the country know what Mount Olive -- the college and the town -- have to offer.

"We've been known for pickles forever," he said. "A lot of people in the baseball community understand what kind of program we have, but people that are not baseball fans now know there's more to Mount Olive than pickles."

Tuesdays are the big days for sports coverage in the Goldsboro News-Argus, so I'll check there this afternoon for more on the celebration. As for the Trib, my beloved Mount Olive Trib, its new owners have finally posted news of the college's victory over Ouachita Baptist -- the first one, from last Monday morning, not the last one that brought home the trophy. (Sigh.)

Sanford begs to be McCain's successor on CNN

Oh, please.

You know it's a slow news day when CNN files a brief on South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's chances of being John McCain's running mate, and Sen. Lindsey Graham comes awful close to sounding sensible.

The headline reads, "Sanford isn't hinting he wants to be VP." No, hints are supposed to be subtle, and there's nothing subtle about Mark Sanford's desire to become McCain's Dan Quayle. He's practically begging.

A man who can't make peace with the leaders of the South Carolina House and Senate -- members of his own party, mind you -- thinks he'll offer some fiiiiine balance to the blustery egotism of McCain. The best part of running with McCain is that he might get to escape South Carolina, where ordinary Republicans hold their noses to vote for him.

Sad thing is, McCain might actually consider Sanford -- no, not for the vee-pee's slot -- for a Cabinet post, since Sanford's a lame duck in South Carolina anyway and the wingnuts and pew-waxers love him. Hmm, is Untersturmfuhrer already taken?

WASHINGTON (CNN) – South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford continues to see his name floated in the GOP veepstakes — but he’s still not dropping any hints that he wants the job.

On CNN’s “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer” yesterday, Blitzer asked Sanford: “You want to be the running mate?”

“No, I'm just trying to survive the week,” Sanford responded. “I made it to Sunday. I got another week ahead of me.”

“What's wrong with being vice president of the United States?,” Blitzer asked.

“There's nothing wrong with being president, there's nothing wrong with being president, there's nothing wrong with being vice president,” Sanford said. “But it's not on my radar screen. I'll worry about that lightning strike if it comes my way.”

Sanford told the Washington Post last year that if the GOP nominee inquired about putting him on the presidential ticket that he would at least entertain the idea. "Of course I'd take the call,” he said at the time.

The fiscal hawk is popular vice presidential option among conservatives, but some McCain insiders say Sanford may have damaged his chances by not endorsing the Arizona senator before the South Carolina primary in January. Sanford, as a congressman, had endorsed McCain during his 2000 bid.

He'd take the call, he says. Christ on the Cross, he's likely already sent Jenny to check out Wal-Mart's selection of inaugural fashions for Marshall-Landon-Bolton-and-Blake (his heirs, not the famous 80s hair band of the same name). Sanford apparently enjoys sleeping in government housing, so he may also have had Jenny call up Lynne Cheney to get the layout of the Naval Observatory.

Of course, Lindsay pipes up to pop that bubble:

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of McCain’s closest advisers, appeared to pour cold water on Sanford’s chances in March, noting that Sanford has had a “tough” tenure as governor.

"To be honest with you, I don't see any of us in South Carolina bringing a whole lot of value to the ticket,” Graham told The State newspaper. “We're talking about winning a national race that's going to be very competitive."

It tickles me that high-priced talkers from out-of-state love to mention the time when Sanford brought two piglets into the State House, on the day after the House dispatched more than a hundred of his line-item budget vetoes lickety-split, one by one, in under a couple of hours. Sanford made a big scene about it, told the media he named the little piglets "Pork" and "Barrel."

What few of them mention is that Sanford, carrying the porkers under his arms in his best navy blue suit, apparently squeezed a big too hard and one of the piglets released some solid waste products onto the massive, antique loom-woven carpet that graces the State House's second-floor lobby. With the concomitant stink. Among a packed crowd of lobbyists outside the House chamber's massive brass doors. Classy.

With his photo op finished, Sanford beat a hasty retreat and, like a good delegater, sent one of his lackeys -- the one who likely came up with the idea, one who doesn't work for him anymore thanks to a criminal domestic violence charge -- to clean up the mess. And following the example of his mentor, that lackey failed at the task and pawned off the work on State House maintenance staff.

They call that a form of "trickle down economics" in South Carolina.

Great U2 programs tonight on VH1 Classics

What a rare treat is being aired tonight on VH1 Classic: U2's "Rattle and Hum," followed by the "Classic Albums" review of U2's "The Joshua Tree." I'm in bliss.

I remember flying down the backroads of eastern North Carolina listening to early U2 on pop radio, probably WDLX out of little Washington, when it was still a great pop station. Sunday, Bloody Sunday. What great chords -- Edge's guitar chords and Bono's vocal cords, too. Man, o man.

Unfortunately, in college, I was given a roommate one semester who were obsessed with U2. Went way too far, and made me sick of hearing the band for a while. And fortunately again, they changed course again and I fell in love again -- to the point that I looped some of their songs on cassette and would go running to it through the Cliffs of the Neuse State Park on the weekends. The music itself is cathartic, redemptive.

And the treatment that "The Joshua Tree" gets from the "Classic Albums" series is characteristically beautiful. The first two editions of "Classic Albums" that I saw were on Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," back-to-back against Phil Collins's "Face Value," and the Pink Floyd review remains my favorite of the series, though I've caught several since then. The series does a great job of both satisfying and further piquing my curiosity about the tricks worked out in the studio during production of these albums, and I enjoy very much hearing the artists talk about the art itself.

In the Pink Floyd edition, I especially enjoyed -- it sent chills down my spine -- hearing David Gilmour singing, and accompanying himself to, the reprise of "Breathe." I'm a great fan of Roger Waters too, but time hasn't been kind to Waters's voice. Gilmour, on the other hand, possesses still the same strong sound he had when the album was first released. It's a gift.

Tonight, though, I'm learning things about "The Joshua Tree" all over again, and it's beautiful. I think it's one of the greatest collaborations between a band and producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, who've both worked with Peter Gabriel, too.

Furman Pres. chastises faculty protesting Dubya

Dubya delivered an apparently fluffy address to graduates at Furman University last night, and Furman President David Shi inexplicably gigged his own faculty members exercising their rights to free speech and civic responsibility.

This, according to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal today:

While he delivered the commencement address - the final one he will give as president - 14 professors removed their robes and stood in silent protest. They wore white T-shirts that stated bluntly, "We object." A few others showed their distaste for the president by not standing or applauding during the ovation he received when he took the stage.

"I, too, am a firm believer in free speech. And to prove it, I'm about to give you one," Bush said.

For the most part, the president held the crowd's attention, though the occasional flutter of a camera or a key word in his address would stir glances over toward the line of 14.

"The point was not to call attention to ourselves, but to show our students that they can speak out," said David Turner, a physics professor. "It's not a political thing, not a Democrat or Republican thing. It's a human right."

In the weeks leading up to Saturday's graduation exercises, a "We object" letter signed by about 80 faculty, staff, students and others opposing Bush's visit was posted on Furman's Web site. It admonished the president for the war in Iraq, the treatment of so-called enemy combatants, sowing fear and the denial of global warming.

Furman president David Shi, in his charge to the graduating class, seemed at times to also be wagging his finger at the dissatisfied academics. Shi has taken heat for inviting Bush to speak without consulting the faculty.

"Many smart people are prone to take their opinions too seriously," Shi said, receiving applause from the audience but not from the teachers.

"… The humility embedded in our imperfection should prompt us, at least occasionally, to reassess our dogmas, harness our arrogance and slow our keystroke rush to judgment."

Funny that Shi didn't direct any of that clear thinking to the guest delivered to him by South Carolina Governor Mark "Pick Me, Senator McCain, Pick Me" Sanford, only to the men and women who serve him as instructors at the university he leads. It calls to mind the esprit du corps among old plantation owners, commiserating over the foibles of their respective "workforces": Aw, can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. If only they'd do what they're told and stop complaining.

As expected, the Greenville News coverage fairly nuzzles Dubya's crotch as a young spaniel nuzzles his master's. Its website is redolent with photos and text vignettes like this one:

Furman University president Dr. David Shi said in his opening commencement remarks this evening that the university community has been "fervently" anticipating the graduation address from President Bush, eliciting laughter from the football stadium crowd in attendance.

During the opening processional, roughly a dozen faculty members could be seen in white ribbons or silver duct tape armbands of protest.

Shortly after 7:30, Bush emerged from a white tunnel in a blue robe with Shi, walked through a whooping crowd of new graduates and mounted the stage to a roar from the stadium crowd. The Furman Singers offered a rendition of "God of Grace and God of Glory" while Bush chatted with current-year graduate Meredith Neville seated next to him on stage.

Earlier, Bush stepped off Air Force One into a stiff westerly wind at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport at 6:43 p.m. and waved to several dozen local residents in a roped-off area on the tarmac. Greeting him were Gov. Mark Sanford and his sons, Landon and Bolton, Sen. Jim DeMint and his grandson Jimbo, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Rep. Bob Inglis, Mayor Knox White and Susan WIlkins, wife of amabassador to Canada David Wilkins.

Bush briefly stopped into the shadow of his plane for a private, 20-second conversation with Andrew Barnhill, who received the president's customary award for volunteerism, and departed for Furman in a motorcade of more than 30 cars and law enforcement.

Interstate 85 traffic came to a standstill near Pelham Road, where people sat on the roofs of their SUVs and gawked as the motorcade weaved across three empty lanes of traffic.

Small clots of people waved flags and gaped as the caravan motored down Stone Ave. A crowd outside the Handlebar held camera phones aloft and offered mixed hand signals. A man in a grey T-shirt supported an especially large flag on his belt buckle.

The crowds thickened outside the Cherrydale shopping center. One man covered a "Wrong Way" sign with an illegible sign.

The motorcade wound past a crowd holding mixed signs in fron of Furman Hall, and staff and press entered the stadium just as graduates began marching in.

Want a little context for Dubya's visit to South Carolina? The same Greenville News tells us that abused children in the Palmetto State have been cheated by recent legislative budget cuts.

The Legislature's recent funding cut to A Child's Haven will have three times the apparent impact and comes as the number of children living in poverty is growing, an agency official says.

The nonprofit agency offers treatment and support to some 77 children 5 and younger who've been traumatized by poverty, neglect and abuse and their families in Greenville County.

And special projects director Scott Dishman says that in addition to the $135,000 it lost in state funding as Legislators whittled down the state's $7 billion budget, it will also lose the $270,000 in federal Medicaid matching funds the state money drew.

All told, that means about 20 percent of the agency's $2 million budget.

So much for abused children in South Carolina: To hell with 'em.

This, from The State newspaper:

With every brush stroke, Columbia artist Suzy Shealy remembers her son Army Sgt. Joseph Derrick. As Shealy paints scenes from Iraq, she places herself in her son’s combat boots in the dusty streets of Baghdad. She stands watch at dusk as a Black Hawk helicopter flies on the horizon. She patrols an Iraqi marketplace. She overlooks a mosque in Mosul.

The paintings are based on photos that Shealy found in her son’s flash drive, sent home with his belongings after he was killed in September 2005 in Baghdad. They have become her therapy.

“I feel like it’s a gift from God to help me muddle through this,” she said.

What would Dubya say to this woman? "It's good that God has blessed you with this gift, Mom. Keep thinking good thoughts."

What an honor.