Bookworm Room

Tweet What one can say with certainty about the last presidential debate is that it is not a game-changer — which is good for Romney, because the game is currently scoring in his favor.  In that way, it was a nothing of a debate.  Nevertheless, there were aspects of the debate that were fascinating. Fascinating [...]

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Tweet Courtesy of the Navy League, today I boarded the USS Makin Island as an official ship’s greeter.  My visit was a bit more fraught than past experiences have been, so I thought I’d walk you through the girl’s guide to visiting the USS Makin Island, starting with pre-visit preparations: Review boarding instructions at last-minute [...]

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Tweet Jury rigging: “Jury rigging refers to makeshift repairs or temporary contrivances, made with only the tools and materials that happen to be on hand. Originally a nautical term, on sailing ships a jury rig is a replacement mast and yards improvised in case of damage or loss of the original mast.” Humans have always [...]

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Tweet Even if you’re not a member of the Navy League, I thought you’d find interesting this email I received (emphasis mine): Dear Navy Leaguer: The sea services need our help. As you may be aware, The Budget Control Act of 2011 mandated $487 billion in security cuts over the next 10 years in order [...]

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Tweet BUDS trainees during Hell Week Special troops are, by definition, small in number.  If everyone could do what they do, they would be special.  They are made up of men with unusual mental and physical strength.  Again, by definition this is a subset of all men.  (No disrespect meant to the majority of men [...]

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Tweet Astute readers have probably figured out over the years that I’m a huge fan of our American military.  I think it’s the last institution in America that trains young people to be competent adults; that gives people, young and old, meaning and purpose in a world that’s often defined by mindless materialism; that truly [...]

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Tweet I don’t know where he found it, but The Mellow Jihadi has the most wonderful photograph, from 1950, showing a sailor politely admiring two WAVES aboard his ship. Aside from the photo’s naturally elegant composition, it has the feel, not just of another time, but of another universe altogether. Just contrast it with today’s [...]

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Tweet Last night, I went to the Annual Pearl Harbor Memorial Dinner hosted by the San Francisco Commandery of the Naval Order of the United States.  It was, as I knew it would be, a significantly smaller event than the annual Midway Commemoration dinner.  That’s reasonable, because the latter celebrates a stunning victory, while the [...]

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Tweet Let me start by saying that I am way too grown-up to say that something “rocks.”  Mine is a more dignified vocabulary.  Nevertheless, saying that the USS Carl Vinson rocks is the right way to start this post, because I want to discuss my visit to the USS Carl Vinson in the context of [...]

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Tweet In honor of Fleet Week (which starts Saturday in San Francisco), I have three Navy/Marine related stories to relate and I want to promote a few of my favorite Navy related blogs. Story 1: My daughter has started a new school and is making new friends.  The other day, I met the Mom of [...]

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Tweet Do you remember Johnny Carson’s droll “I did not know that”?  I do.  And that’s precisely what popped into my head when JKB sent me a link to a post discussing the fact that 161 years ago, the U.S. Navy outlawed flogging.  It’s a wonderful little story, especially because it combines three things I [...]

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Tweet ** Newsflash*** Heard on the popular “Don and Roma” show on WLS AM890 Radio during this morning’s Chicagoland commute: In his interview with the radio hosts, Illinois Senator and naval intelligence officer Mark Kirk explained that the U.S. policy toward Somali piracy is apparently to capture them and release them near their home ports, [...]

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Tweet Because I was away, I missed the whole first impact of the Owen Honors thing, but for glimpsing a horrified PC headline on CNN while waiting for a flight.  That millisecond of MSM-manufactured finger-pointing was enough to clue me in to the fact that, if CNN disapproved, I probably wouldn’t be that shocked. Having [...]

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Tweet Follow the Fleet (1936) is one of my favorite Fred and Ginger movies.  Since I belong to the Navy League, and often post about the wonders of the U.S. Navy, I thought that this wonderfully clever Irving Berlin song might be a fun homage to the sailors:

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Tweet This past weekend’s sunny Saturday morning was a quintessential suburban spring day.  I gathered with hundreds of other families at a local high school for our children’s swim meet.  We traveled there in our comfortable cars, air conditioners blowing, driving over clean safe streets.  We all met up at the large, inviting pool, where [...]

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Tweet I love kid logic.   I was telling my pre-teen daughter about the Navy SEALS (having just finished Lone Survivor), and I mentioned the incredible physical strength and mental stamina the men had.  “And the women….” she prompted me.  “Nope,” I said.  “No women.”  She stared at me.  “But don’t the men get lonely?”  That’s [...]

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Tweet Project Valour-IT’s annual fundraiser ends tomorrow, so there’s still time to give. Remember, they give so much for us. Now it’s our turn to give back to them. And — Go Navy!

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Tweet These stories have nothing to do with each other.  I just thought each was interesting, and therefore pass them on to you: Americans are figuring out that global warming is a scam. That “missing link” is too distantt to be missing — and maybe it is connected to the first story, because both remind [...]

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Tweet Thanks to the Navy League, I’ve just returned from a delightful evening aboard the USS Green Bay.  I knew the evening was going to be lovely even before I boarded the ship.  Although a nasty storm is threatening to hit the Bay Area tomorrow, the drive into the City was exquisite.  The air was [...]

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Tweet Courtesy of the Navy League, we spent several hours yesterday enjoying the hospitality of the crew of the USCG Cutter Pike, an 87′ Marine Protector Class Coastal Patrol Boat.  In other words, we spent the afternoon on an active duty patrol boat.  Rather than a chronogical recitation of a day that was basically very [...]

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Tweet You know it’s been a good evening when Mom, Dad, and the kids all leave a party ebullient.  The party in question was a fund-raising reception aboard the USS Hornet, which is a floating museum.  The guests of honor were members of the Blue Angels team.  My husband was a bit dubious about the [...]

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Tweet My mind is full of Fleet Week events.  As in the past two years, it promises to be a very exciting week for me and my family.  I know I’m going to be on a Coast Guard boat on the Bay when the Blue Angels fly, I know I’m going to a reception to [...]

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