It's a small small world.

As some of you may remember, years ago and once upon reaching maximum boredom during a flight, I decided to start a list of all hotel/motels that I had ever stayed in. The list, mind you, now has 700 plus entries of discrete stays and discrete hotels. Multiple stays of multiple nights were not included. And scanning back through them provide a wonderful memory stimulus.

This one was in the late '80's. I left Denver on Sunday, flew to Raleigh for a Monday meeting and flew to Seattle Tuesday PM. Both connections were through Chicago and both went unreasonably well. In fact, I got upgraded to FC all the way through, so when I arrived in Seattle around 9PM I wasn't in bad shape. I rented a car and drove directly to the downtown Sheraton, one of the best hotels in the world based on its ability to provide super room service, rapid valet park and reservations and/or tickets to almost any restaurant/event in Seattle. Yes Virginia, people and service always make the difference. By 10PM I was in my room, and outside of the 21 hour day, in excellent shape.

Then, as I unpacked I discovered that my London Fog tan topcoat was not mine. Somehow I had swapped coats with someone else. My 42 had become a 46.

Now some of you may find such a thing an indication that I had helped myself to more than my share of the Adult Beverages served between Chicago and Seattle. I assure you that might have been true, but even I could have noticed a coat with two inch longer sleeves and wrapping halfway around my waist. I had carried it rather than worn it. The problem was the coat. At that time the London Fog top coat was the accepted standard for Road Runner wear. Able to shed rain and snow it only attracted dirt and smut which cleaning three times a winter made more or less presentable.

I immediately called UAL and was connected to their Lost and Found at SeaTac. And upon explaining my problem the voice at the other end said:

"Yes. Another passenger has called with the same problem and left this number."

The number was the Sheraton.

I called the front desk, gave the guest's name, was connected and discovered that my coat was three doors down.

So we swapped coats. All's well that end's well, eh??

About three days later I found a pack of Salem cigarettes in one of the pockets. I smoked at that time, but not Salem. I have always wondered if the third person ever figured out he had someone elses' coat.

If you want a clearer look

at why the CIA was not capable of identifying the threats from al-Qaeda and other ME groups, this article is fantastic.

Hussein becomes clearer

He cited videos of inflammatory sermons given by his pastor that are now being used as political ammunition against him—remarks that Obama has denounced.
"If all I knew were those statements I saw on television, I would be shocked," Obama said.

Obama suggested that more and more is being made of racial divisions as his contest with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton heats up.

"I noticed over the last several weeks that the forces of division have started to raise their ugly heads again. And I'm not here to cast blame or point fingers because everybody, you know, senses that there's been this shift," Obama said.
"It reminds me: We've got a tragic history when it comes to race in this country. We've got a lot of pent-up anger and bitterness and misunderstanding. ... This country wants to move beyond these kinds of things."

The problem Hussein now faces is that he used those divisions to launch his career. He either believed what the Preacher was preaching, or he was cynical to the max. Neither answer is acceptable for a man who wants to be President of all the people.

His wife provides the clue. Her comments shine a clear light on what such preaching leads to. The video of the cheering crowds as the Preacher shouts ‘God damn America!” merely highlight the clear ignorance that Hussein is reaching out to. He wasn’t raised as a young child in this country. He has no memory of his Father, Uncles and Cousins leaving to fight in a war to save the country. He has no memories of burying friends who died in the Cold War. He has not touched names carved in stone that he can remember as friends and comrades.

He has no vested interest in the country. Provided a free ride and continual adulation, he thinks, because of that, that he can lead the world. He has received no test so he has failed none. Naïve beyond belief, the Muslim leaders will strip him down to the empty shell he is. As they rip him apart he will moan about “lapses of judgment” without ever understanding his ignorance.

He is a product of an education system that produces people who hate their country. If Napoleon was defeated on “the playing fields of Eaton,” our defeat is being done in the classrooms of Harvard, Princeton and such schools. At one time I would have been honored beyond belief for my Grandson to go to Harvard. Now I would shudder at that thought and think of VMI and the Naval Academy instead.

God Bless America, Hussein. God Bless America, Preacher. God Bless America, Michelle.

And may you become the Kings and Queen of the South Side of Chicago. That is about your speed.

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If you don't read Burt Prelutsky

you should. Here is one of his best and latest.

Step #9: Do not keep insisting that at a time when nearly all the large scale evil in the world is being perpetrated by Muslims that racial profiling is anything but a sensible approach to airport security. During WWII, Swedish Americans were not suspected of performing espionage for the Axis powers and for a very good reason; namely, because they weren’t performing espionage for the Axis powers. These days, their Swedish American children and grandchildren are not suspected of trying to blow up airlines, but the smarmy bureaucrats insist on pretending that they’re every bit as likely to be up to mischief as a bunch of 25-year-old Osama bin Laden look-alikes from Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

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Oh, really???

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (AP) - International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge poured cold water Saturday on calls for a boycott of the Summer Games in Beijing over China's crackdown in Tibet, saying it would only hurt athletes.
"We believe that the boycott doesn't solve anything," Rogge told reporters on this Caribbean island. "On the contrary, it is penalizing innocent athletes and it is stopping the organization from something that definitely is worthwhile organizing."

Now, we wouldn't want those athletes doing something that was actually really sure enough worthwhile, like say pressuring the Chinese Communists to not kill people. After all the brotherhood of making money for the organizers, media and China is just soooooo much more important, don't you know??

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Pass the Kool Aid

DES MOINES, Iowa - Democrat Barack Obama expanded his fragile lead in delegates over rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday, picking up nine delegates as Iowa activists took the next step in picking delegates to the national convention

Despite demonstrating that he is either dumber than dirt or lying about Rezko and his Reverend, the Left gives him more delegates.

Oh well, after all, they are Demos and Hussein did not have church with that Minister. Depending, of course on what the meaning of is, is.
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