This evening, President George W. Bush was emboldened enough to emerge from his cave and deliver his farewell address to the nation before blinking out of existence on Tuesday. The last eight years have seemed so very, very, very long that I literally cannot imagine a world without him, and it reminded me of a [...]

I didn’t think it would. I’m still sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop; that’s just my default setting now. I’m going to need a few days. Moments ago, I realized my head and neck were incredibly sore because I have been clenching my upper body for 18 hours.
“Jim: do you now regret [...]

…is not going to happen. Been there. Though I’m sure I’ll be sorry four years from now. I did get a nice deja vu blast when I read some of my ‘04 post mortem ponderings:

So, these new justices that the president is going to finally, thank God, at last save the Constitution with in the [...]

I have been thinking back to when I was a kid, and doings at the North Pole were still a going concern every December. Imagine, if you will, that today is a very long night before Christmas. Imagine that you are at home in your jammies, and all the parties are partied and all the [...]

In 2000, a 23-year-old Republican friend of mine ran for state representative against a Democratic incumbent in a deeply blue district. I was one of many people who volunteered on behalf of his campaign. As the 2008 election comes to a merciful close, I find myself thinking about that campaign more and more, so I [...]

As I stare deeply into the news until the news stares back at me, I keep having vignettes pop into my head. I’m writing three-second short stories for myself all day, like when you’re people watching at the airport but on a much bigger scale.
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I imagine being picked as the candidate for vice president. I [...]

It is tempting (if ghoulish) to joke that the Lord must have lifted His veil of protection and smote the Reverend Jerry Falwell today for his 4,000th stupid remark. News like this stirs up some complicated feelings. There are thoughtful people in this world with whom we disagree; there are people who are genuinely good, [...]

I am absolutely opposed to the death penalty. On its very face, it is appalling and ridiculous: “Killing people is wrong, and any people who kill people will be shown how wrong it is by us killing them”? Absurd! Plus: do they carry out the death penalty by shooting you? By poisoning you? Of course [...]

John McCain has launched an “exploratory committee,” meaning his 2008 presidential run is official. I’m not entirely sure who’s on these committees or what they do; ask around? Check the local New Hampshire papers’ Calendar sections for pancake breakfast announcements?
I have to admit this alarms me, because I have publicly declared that if the ‘08 [...]

  
RUMSFELD GONE; Jimski’s Phone Tapped by Genie; Rush Limbaugh Feeling Ill?

In Iraq, there used to be a small, corrupt group of people who had national power in a chokehold for a long time. They had all the money and influence and connections and made life a lot harder than it had to be for the people who didn’t. Then, a few years ago, the balance [...]

Say what you want about this election; if you have political aspirations, you can do a lot worse than being named Sheldon Whitehouse.
Yeah, I know. “Sheldon.” But the Whitehouse more than makes up for it. All night long, my wife and I have been doing the shtick.
“President Whitehouse!”
“Yes, Professor Bighead.”
“Mrs. Sippi just came back with [...]

Saddam Hussein was found guilty on Sunday, and today he’s right back in court on a whole new set of charges. This time, though, with that death sentence on his head, he’s really got nothing to lose. I wouldn’t be surprised if he acted out a little this time.
What he doesn’t know is, if I [...]

Wow, John Kerry is inept at making wisecracks. How long has this been going on?
Kerry really needs to get it together and get a campaign manager who can keep him on message; we’re in November, for crying out loud. At this rate, he’s gonna blow any chance he has of getting elected.
What’s that?
He’s not?
Two years ago, you [...]

A high-tech machine used to sniff out explosives has been sitting idle at a Lambert Field checkpoint since June because airport and security officials disagreed on where to put it.
Tonight, it will be disassembled and put in storage.

…Lambert’s unit, which never has been plugged in, is the only one being mothballed.
So, all clear for your [...]

If you’re going to make a movie poster out of an image everyone has seen, why doctor it? Isn’t the nudity an essential component of the original image’s point? I didn’t take art appreciation.”We’re a’gonna twangily rage against the machine! Safely. Please love us.”
Speaking of celebrities, image, politics, and offending me: Parkinson’s sufferer Michael J. [...]

The good news about Kim Jong Il (KJI to his friends, which is to say no one) is that, despite what the PR in his country might tell you, he is a mortal human man. He’s not an old guy, necessarily, but I don’t know how long you’re going to see him sitting in his royal [...]

Boy, everybody is going cuckoo bananas over Bob Woodward’s State of Denial this week. The Watergate Warrior has apparently written a really damning expose of the Bush White House’s mishandling of the Iraq war and its fudging of pre-war intelligence to trump up the charges against our hated, California-sized foe. People in bluer states than [...]

Remember a few years back, when President Clinton was embroiled in the Whitewater Lewinsky Cigar Insertion Spectacular? Remember when the government lawyers were deposing him (I still have the whole thing on tape; I vowed I would actually sit down and watch it one day, but 8 years later that is starting to seem downright [...]

Snapshots of the world you live in:
1. Apparently, the pilot of an Air Canada Jazz jet got up and went to the bathroom in the middle of a flight a couple weeks ago and returned to find that he was locked out of the cockpit. Not to worry, though; after applying a little elbow grease, [...]