The Hound Of Ulster

It’s hard to know how else to interpret Rudy’s withdrawal and Huck’s apparent inability to gain any traction.  We appear to be drawing closer and closer to a McCain vs. Romney Super Tuesday, which is not exactly my dream ticket.  And THIS sort of thing doesn’t exactly leave me thrilled, either.

The debate also came on a day when McCain scored a pair of major endorsements that could help deliver two of Super Tuesday’s richest prizes.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the race and endorsed McCain hours before the debate began. And late Wednesday, CNN reported that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was in the audience for the debate, planned to endorse McCain Thursday.

With friends like those…

Over at InsideCatholic, Deal’s got an interesting PIECE on the willingness of Catholic conservatives to vote for McCain.  In the comments, Pro Ecclesia’s Jay Anderson expresses concern about McCain’s willingness/ability to apoint solid judges.  (Great.  That’s exactly my concern with Romney.  Is there no one we can trust on this issue?)

Jay LINKS to Novak’s support of a disturbing John Fund story that is not at all encouraging on the judicial front.

I find myself wondering if I am going to want to vote for anyone.  Can’t wait to see the running mates.  If we did end up with a McCain/Brownback ticket, for example, I’d feel much better.  (What about a McCain/Rudy one, though.  Yikes!)

Here’s a little SOMETHING to keep us from complete dispair.

Or does that actually make things worse?
 

Father Drew said the Tridentine Mass today, which provided an opportunity for a number of interesting exchanges.  (Unfortunately, most of the exchanges were conducted in what could mostly kindly be described as “stage whispers.”  In Sean’s case, it would be much less kind - but also much more accurate - to call it yelling.)

Dominic: Papa?  Is the priest going to face that way for the whole Mass?

Papa: Yes.

Dominic: Oh, cool!

More promising than this, to be sure:

Sean: Mama?  Why is Father Drew talking in Spanish?

Mama: That’s Latin, Sean.

Sean: Oh.

…

Sean: When Father Randy says Mass, he uses REAL words.

As Mass went on, things started to deteriorate on the Dominic front, as well.

Dominic (speaking to himself): Why isn’t Father saying anything?

Dr. Mortensen, selected as altar server by virtue of his familiarity with the Rite, was busily performing his “serverly” duties. This included moving the book from one side of the altar to the other.

Dominic: Papa? Why does Dr. Mortensen keep moving back and forth all the time?

(In fairness to Dominic, Fr. Bob said that he often wonders the same thing.)

But now for the pièce de résistance:

Dominic: Papa?

Papa: Yes?

Dominic: If this were a REAL Mass, would we be standing right now?

Teaching opportunities abound.
 

As I watch the conservatives dropping by the GOP Presidential wayside, Deal Hudson is not helping me to feel any BETTER.  And this is a big part of it:

Romney, the presidential candidate, is a politician vastly different from Romney, the governor of Massachusetts.

I simply cannot find a convincing reason in Romney’s recent past for such a radical difference.  (And as I go through some of the examples Deal gives, it really does seem “radical.”)

I’m not enjoying this.

Kucinich is DONE.

Democrat Dennis Kucinich is abandoning his second, long-shot bid for the White House as he faces a tough fight to hold onto his other job—U.S. congressman.

In an interview with Cleveland’s Plain Dealer, the six-term House member said he was quitting the race and would make a formal announcement on Friday.

Although, to hear Mr. Kucinich talk about it, he’s simply attacking in a different direction.  Check out this double-speak:

I will be announcing that I’m transiting out of the presidential campaign.  I’m making that announcement tomorrow about a new direction.

“Transiting out of?”  I wonder if he meant “transitioning.”

Dominic has reached Thomas Edison in history, which means that Sean and Mark have gotten their teeth into it, as well.  Sarah related an interesting exchange on the matter.  This particular lesson included a link to the original Edison video - “The Sneeze.”  After an initial viewing, Dominic had a thought.

Dominic: “There’s something wrong with the sound.”

Sarah explains that there wasn’t any sound in these early film clips.

Mark: “Well, THAT’S not a very good invention.”

Moving right along, Sarah asked them what the world was like before Edison.

Sean: “Dark.”

Mark: “Quiet.”

Dominic: “With nothing to do on Friday’s.”

(Friday is movie night at the Father B. household.  Apparently, the guys are unimpressed with Edison.  Might be time to introduce them to Nikola Tesla.)
 

Though far from unexpected, THIS is unfortunate.

Republican Fred Thompson, the actor-politician who attracted more attention as a potential presidential candidate than as a real one, quit the race for the White House on Tuesday after a string of poor finishes in early primary and caucus states.

“Today, I have withdrawn my candidacy for president of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort,” the former Tennessee senator said in a brief statement.

Thompson’s fate was sealed last Saturday in the South Carolina primary, when he finished third in a state that he had said he needed to win.

Whatever the reasons for his demise - (a slow start, lackluster campaign performance, a style that sometimes came across as more than a bit “laid back,” and a number of troublesome lobby connections) - I think that he was a true and reliable conservative.  And I find myself wondering just how many of those there are lying around this election.

THIS seems like a truly horrible idea, and just about the worst paring of director and material I can imagine. At least from a “factual accuracy” standpoint.

Oliver Stone has set his sights on his next directing project, “Bush,” a film focusing on the life and presidency of George W. Bush, and attached Josh Brolin to play the title role.

And this is just hilarious/maddening:

Stone declined to give his personal opinion of the president.

“I can’t give you that, because the filmmaker has to hide in the work,” Stone said. “Here, I’m the referee, and I want a fair, true portrait of the man. How did Bush go from an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world? It’s like Frank Capra territory on one hand, but I’ll also cover the demons in his private life, his bouts with his dad and his conversion to Christianity, which explains a lot of where he is coming from. It includes his belief that God personally chose him to be president of the United States, and his coming into his own with the stunning, preemptive attack on Iraq. It will contain surprises for Bush supporters and his detractors.”

Two quick thoughts on that.  First of all, Stone may have declined to give his “personal opinion of the president” at this particular time, but that same opinion is very well-known, and has been highly publicized over the past several years.  To suddenly make an effort to “hide in the work” is both impossible and pretty much completely disingenuous.  (And just for the record, I don’t think Stone has ever “hidden” himself or his opinion in a single one of his films…except for maybe World Trade Center, I guess.  And that was just an odd film.)

Second thought: if the film contains “surprises” for Bush supporters, I will be very, very surprised.  Sometimes Hollywood is so very, very predictable.

Oops.  I almost forgot.  One last thought.

…

BROLIN?

Chess is war on a board. The object is to crush the other man’s mind.

Bobby Fischer has died.

He was a very, very strange man, detailed at some length HERE.  I’m particularly struck by this notion of “random chess,” which seems sort of like the chess equivalent of Schönberg’s theory.

In his final years, Fischer railed against the chess establishment, alleging that the outcomes of many top-level chess matches were decided in advance.

Instead, he championed his concept of random chess, in which pieces are shuffled at the beginning of each match in a bid to reinvigorate the game.

“I don’t play the old chess,” he told reporters when he arrived in Iceland in 2005. “But obviously if I did, I would be the best.”

Well, perhaps it would be more accurate to say “Schönberg’s theory if Schönberg had been paranoid.”  With Arnold, he wanted to make things random because he was bored.  Bobby wanted to make things random because he’s “railing.”  Still, the “reinvigorate the game” bit is straight Schönberg.

Yet despite his general aura of looniness, his random America-bashing, and his Kaczynski-style facial hair, I’ll always have a soft spot for him.  (And yes, it’s all because of THIS.  But isn’t that a good enough reason?)

…as we’ve never seen him (or is that “it”) BEFORE:

Dramatic new pictures have revealed the unseen side of Mercury in detailed images taken from a Nasa spacecraft orbiting the planet.
 

Astronomers saw the “dark side” of Mercury for the very first time when the spacecraft flew within 125 miles of the planet’s surface and took 1,200 high resolution images.

The reason the solar system’s smallest planet is so elusive is due to its close proximity to the sun.

I’m really not sure “elusive” is the word we want to use there.   The “dark side” could be described as elusive, perhaps.  But the planet itself?

In related news, my kids have been listening to the Greek myths nearly non-stop TODAY.  And in true precise fashion, Sean seems to have just a slightly better grasp on the stories than his brothers.

Papa: “So, what’s the story of Arachne about?”

Dominic: “It’s about a girl that gets turned into the first spider.”

Papa: “Why does that happen to her?”

Dominic: “Because she didn’t want to yarn any more.”

…

Sean: “Because she didn’t want to knit any more, Dominic.”

He always says it in such a friendly, matter-of-fact, “just-helping-you-out” kind of way.  Good thing, because it would probably be well on its way to become a bit grating, otherwise.  He’s so very, very perceptive and precise, and we tend to speak so very, very casually.

I took Dominic to the rink again today.  (Perhaps it would be more accurate to say “the little league field that the town floods with water every December, producing a large, outdoor ice skating surface,” but that seems so legalistic.  And Sean’s the one that’s into precision, remember?)

There’s something strange (and almost sad) about skating slowly past the visitor’s dugout, rounding the home plate area, and then heading out towards the right-field foul pole.  (I am not prepared to say if the “slowly” was a result of my mood or my ability.  And I have no comment on the whole “wobbly” claim.  Unfounded, I tell you; completely unfounded.)

Dominic wasn’t sad, though.  He really went to work today.  They’ve given him one of those metal frames that you push along in front of yourself until the “wobbles” - again, unfounded - have subsided.  Rather than being shy or embarrassed about the device, he buckled right now and turned out an hour of non-stop “practice.”  Bu the end, he was moving along at a robust pace, and even ventured away from the safety of his support a number of time.

…

He is, I am happy to say, not in the least afraid of falling down.

He is, however, somewhat anxious to learn when exactly he can start playing hockey.  I told him that we’d have to wait until he can skate, which lead to more buckling down.  It’s not going to be long.

Oh, and the post title refers to a poem I learned when I was young(er):

     Little Willie
     Pair of Skates
     Hole in Ice
     Pearly Gates

The sense of humor is my dad’s fault.