(Chanteuse Mary goes for a square of Tracy O’Grady’s Philly Phlatbread she is whipping up for the crowd at the food festival of “A Taste of Arlington” on Sunday. Odds are that it is going to rain. Photo Socotra). Mark Twain famously observed that “There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.” My statistical chance of […]

(Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. Photo AP). There is the troika of alleged scandals in progress in town. It is quite remarkable, since the media has been trance-like for so long on the wonderful stuff that has been going on, the roaring economy and falling unemployment and all that stuff. Wait…oh never […]

(President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder at the National Peace Officer’s Memorial Day in the District. Photo White House). I stopped at Willow last night after work. Yeah, no big revelation, but I wanted to kill a little time and ensure that the Bulgarians were out of the unit. I did not want to […]

(When the filing cabinets are gone, where do the files go? Photo Socotra). The Bulgarians are coming to work on the unit at ten. I am as screwed as Jay “Baghdad Bob” Carney trying to explain how the Administration was blameless in the new scandal-a-day second term of Hope and Change. This is really screwed […]

(Schematic of the Rt 29- RT 17 Flyover interchange that will make everything better. In the meantime, it is making things worse. But I have high hopes and boundless optimism. Photo VDOT.) I was pinned in traffic on Route 29 North. They started doing something at the junction between that major State Road South and […]

  (Clark’s gun shop in rural Opal, the gateway to the South. Photo Clark Bos.) I thought about Mom yesterday- disconcerting not to have to send flowers or make the call to wish her the best returns of the day. This is the second one without her, and not being numb, or in the hospital, […]

(USS Forrestal (CV-59) on the hook off Toulon, 1989. Anchored out, contract ferries and ship’s utility boats got us to the bright lights of France. Photo USN.) It was November, 1989, in Toulon, France. It was first night in port, and I had the fever. I made a significant tactical error leaving the boat, having […]

Then-Captain Ted N. Branch at the Change of Command in USS Nimitz (CVN-68). Photo USN). Rear Admiral- soon to be Vice Admiral- “Twig” Branch is a great guy, emblematic of a class of American with a tradition of military service. He is trim and fit and smart, and he has Tom Wolf’s Right Stuff in […]

(Ted N. “Twig” Branch, nominated for the rank of Vice Admiral and duty as the N2/N6 on the OPNAV Staff. Photo USN). I had not thought about “Twig” Branch in a few years- 2008, in fact. It was evening then in Arlington, I cooked some dinner in the little kitchen and called a friend to […]

(Think you are having a bad day? Lt. Col. Krusinski’s mug shot. Photo Arlington County Police via AP). I think the Wings lost in OT, and that is it for the truncated season and post-season quest for Lord Stanley’s Cup. I don’t know if the Wings lacked offense, I wasn’t awake. I could have been […]