William F. Buckley, RIP (1925-2008)

One of the founders of the modern conservative movement, William F. Buckley, has died at the age of 82. He had a quixotic sense of humor and possesses the intellectual wit and wisdom I can only hope will spread throughout our current state of political discourse.
He'd filed his final column with National Review on Feb. 2.

Tributes to Buckley:
ABC Evening News - Buckly vs. Gore Vidal ("I'll sock you in the goddam face", Aug. 28, 1968; Commentary on the presidency I: Oct. 28, 1968; Commentary on the presidency II: Nov. 5, 1968)
Alfred Regnery, American Spectator - Conservatism's heart and soul
Ann Coulter - RIP, enfant terrible
Charlie Rose video - An appreciation
Chicago Tribune (w/video) - Often imitated, never duplicated
John Judis, The New Republic - He was a rebel, but not a heretic
L.A. Times - The last true conservative
Michael Barone, U.S. News & World Report: Buckley: a history changer
National Review - A celebration
New York Post - Transcendant
Peggy Noon, Wall Street Journal - May we not lose his kind
Rich Lowry, National Review - Buckley's life: a success
Rush Limbaugh - personal account
Slate - Why did William F. Buckley talk like that?
Toronto Globe & Mail - As long as he was alive, the liberals could never win
Wall Street Journal - Buckley transformed American politics
Washington Post - Conservatism loses its most eloquent voice

Obit (Associated Press)
Conservative author Buckley dies at 82
By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer 59 minutes ago
NEW YORK - William F. Buckley Jr. died at work, in his study. Communism had fallen long before. A Republican was in the White House. The word "liberal" had been shunned like an ill-mannered guest.
At the end of his 82 years, much of it spent stoking and riding a right-wing wave as an erudite commentator and conservative herald, all of Buckley's dreams seemingly had come true.
"He founded a magazine, wrote over 50 books, influenced the course of political history, had a son, had two grandchildren and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean three times," said his son, novelist Christopher Buckley. "He really didn't leave any stone unturned."
Buckley was found dead in his study Wednesday morning in Stamford, Conn. His son noted Buckley had died "with his boots on, after a lifetime of riding pretty tall in the saddle."
His assistant said Buckley was found by his cook. The cause of death was unknown, but he had been ill with emphysema, she said.
As an editor, columnist, novelist, debater and host of the TV talk show "Firing Line," Buckley worked at a daunting pace, taking as little as 20 minutes to write a column for his magazine, National Review.
Yet on the platform, he was all handsome, reptilian languor, flexing his imposing vocabulary ever so slowly, accenting each point with an arched brow or rolling tongue and savoring an opponent's discomfort with wide-eyed glee.
"There's no `weltschmerz,' or any sadness that permeates my vision," he told The Associated Press during a 2004 interview at his Park Avenue duplex. "There isn't anything I reasonably hoped for that wasn't achieved."
President Bush called Buckley a great political thinker, wit, author and leader. "He influenced a lot of people, including me," the president said. "He captured the imagination of a lot of people."
But Buckley was also willing to criticize his own and made no secret of his distaste for at least some of Bush's policies. In a 2006 interview with CBS, he called the Iraq war a failure.
"If you had a European prime minister who experienced what we've experienced, it would be expected that he would retire or resign," Buckley said at the time.
Luck was in the very bones of Buckley, blessed with a leading man's looks, an orator's voice, a satirist's wit and an Ivy League scholar's vocabulary. But before he emerged in the 1950s, few imagined conservatives would rise so high, or so enjoy the heights.
For at least a generation, conservatism had meant the pale austerity of Herbert Hoover, the grim isolationism of Sen. Robert Taft, the snarls and innuendoes of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Democrats were the party of big spenders and "Happy Days Are Here Again." Republicans settled for respectable cloth coats.
Unlike so many of his peers and predecessors on the right, Buckley wasn't a self-made man prescribing thrift, but a multimillionaire's son who enjoyed wine, sailing and banter and assumed his wishes would be granted. Even historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., who labeled Buckley "the scourge of American liberalism," came to appreciate his "wit, his passion for the harpsichord, his human decency, even ... his compulsion to epater the liberals."
Buckley once teased Schlesinger after the historian praised the rise of computers for helping him work more quickly. "Suddenly I was face to face with the flip side of Paradise," Buckley wrote. "That means, doesn't it, that Professor Schlesinger will write more than he would do otherwise?"
Buckley founded the biweekly magazine National Review in 1955, declaring that he proposed to stand "athwart history, yelling `stop' at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who urge it."
Conservatives had been outsiders in both mind and spirit, marginalized by a generation of discredited stands — from opposing Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal to the isolationism that preceded the U.S. entry into World War II. Before Buckley, liberals so dominated intellectual thought that critic Lionel Trilling claimed there were "no conservative or reactionary ideas in general circulation."
"Bill could go to the campus with that arch manner of his. And he was exciting and young and conservative," conservative author and columnist George Will told the AP in 2004. "And all of a sudden, conservatism was sexy."
In the 1950s, "conservatism was barely a presence at all," Will said. "To the extent that it was a political presence, it was a blocking faction in Congress."
The National Review was initially behind history, opposing civil rights legislation and once declaring that "the white community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail."
Buckley also had little use for the music of the counterculture, once calling the Beatles "so unbelievably horrible, so appallingly unmusical, so dogmatically insensitive to the magic of the art, that they qualify as crowned heads of antimusic."
The magazine could do little to prevent Barry Goldwater's landslide defeat in 1964, but as conservatives gained influence, so did Buckley and his magazine. The long rise would peak in 1980, when Buckley's good friend Ronald Reagan was elected president.
"Ronnie valued Bill's counsel throughout his political life, and after Ronnie died, Bill and Pat were there for me in so many ways," Reagan's widow, Nancy Reagan, said Wednesday in a statement.
Buckley's wife, the former Patricia Alden Austin Taylor, died in 2007 at age 80. Christopher is their only child. Buckley is also survived by two brothers and three sisters.
Christopher Buckley remembers his father's one losing adventure, albeit one happily lost. William F. Buckley was the Conservative Party's candidate for mayor of New York in 1965, waging a campaign that was in part a lark — he proposed an elevated bikeway on Second Avenue — but that also reflected a deep distaste for the liberal Republicanism of Mayor John V. Lindsay.
"By this time I realized he wasn't just any other dad," Christopher Buckley told the AP. "I was 13 at the time, and there were mock debates in my fifth grade home room class. And there were people playing him, so that was kind of strange.
"And that's when you get the sense that your dad is not just Ozzie and your parents are not Ozzie and Harriet. But he was a great dad, and he was a great man, and that's not a bad epitaph."

Huckabee, Dems visit Wausau

Former cannon-fodder ... errr, Senate candidate Tim Michels introduces former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Thursday before an audience of about 300 at Stoney Creek Inn just south of Wausau.

Must be an election coming up. All of the "final four" are crawling around Wisconsin these days leading up to our primary on Tuesday (Feb. 19). Three of them will have visited Wausau - Mike Huckabee at a rally at Stoney Creek Inn last Thursday, Barack Hussein Obama at an invite-only meeting with students and some faculty at Northcentral Technical College on Saturday morning (photos), and Hillary Clinton in a public rally either Sunday or Monday.

I attended the Huckabee rally, for which they cleverly closed off most of the banquet hall, to crowd everyone toward one end and make it look more packed than it otherwise would've been. That's politics; I would've done the same thing. I do wish they would've distributed Huckabee signs, though, so folks could wave them in front of the dozen-or-so cameras assembled in the back.


Huckabee was a humorous speaker and came across as a genuinely good guy, even following his obligatory Packer reference with, "See, this is the part of the speech we call 'pandering to the locals.'"


He looked at me! He looked at me! *swoon*


Huckabee signs autographs on his way out the door. (It was about 5:45, and he was due in Green Bay about 8 p.m.)

Huckabee's speech hit all the right notes, of course, and I was impressed with what a smooth speaker he is. Even on debates I've noticed that. His theme Thursday was clever, in that it urged Wisconsin to stand apart from other states as the one that confused the pundits and voted for Huckabee. It was just refreshing to hear someone be candid about their place in the race.

I actually would've liked to hear Obama (I understand he gave a pretty thrilling address at UW-Oshkosh), but I understand why he closed his appearance. If the 17,000 he drew in the People's Republic of Madison was any indication, Wausau, lacking a convention center, never would've had room for those who would've turned out. It would've been a logistical nightmare. When President Bush visited in October 2004, he packed the amphitheater at Marathon Park. Obviously it was too cold for Obama to use that venue, though I bet he could've filled it.

I might attend Hillary's thing, depending on what time it is. (After all, the Daytona 500 is Sunday.) I'll probably end up voting for Hillary; in the primary, anyway.

UPDATE: I'm watching some speeches from candidate visits on Wisconsin Eye right now and thought I'd tack on a link to the channel's campaign videos.

A human without a soul

We can't help how we feel. And sometimes a story will strike us a certain way and we just can't shake it.

I ran across such a story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune the other day that will stay with me for a long time. And it will make me give my 7-month-old son a big bear hug every day.

Demond Reed is dead. Were it by an accident, I would be sad but would move on with my life.

Demond was beaten to death by the woman entrusted to care for him.

Demond was 4.

His father, Tony Reed, a 21-year-old from Chicago, was visiting relatives in Minneapolis. He was pulled over in late January and was arrested on an oustanding felony warrant. So he asked his cousin, Carla Poole, a 37-year-old in Minneapolis who turned out to be a drug addict, to care for Demond for the time being.

He couldn't have imagined that would be the last he would see of his little boy.

Demond's sin? He soiled his pants. Imagine the audacity of a 4-year-old soiling his pants.
A 4-year-old boy. Who was constantly asking questions about the animals in his alphabet book.
Poole's reaction? She ordered her other children, ranging in age from 4 to 11, to hold his arms while she beat him.

Feel free to stop reading anytime. It gets worse.

After Poole saw what she'd done, she laid Demond's body on a bed for two days before calling police, Feb. 6, to tell them he'd gone missing. Then she wrapped his cold body in a black plastic bag and threw him in a cluttered closet. ... Like an old pair of Nikes.

Before doing all of that, she'd ordered her children to make up stories about what had happened to Demond. Eventually, the 11-year-old told police the truth. This truth included her recounting that Demond's face looked like it was "pushed in."

Are you nauseous yet? Wait.

An autopsy revealed multiple bruises over Demond's body, puncture wounds and bite marks on his stomach, broken ribs and an injury associated with an object being forced into his mouth.

Apparently she's undergoing "psychological evaluation," this woman who was of sound enough mind to have four children of her own. The Star Tribune stated there was no evidence she'd ever abused them, though a baby came away burned and with broken bones after being in her care. (Charges were never filed because police couldn't determine which of the adults present committed the act.)

For years, I told everyone who would listen that I was against the death penalty for anything short of DNA proof. That it shifted the nature of our criminal-justice system from "rehabilitation" to "vengeance."

I've changed my mind.

Demond deserves vengeance.

Demond Reed, 4

Mitt steps aside

Maybe I should stop picking a horse in this race; they keep coming up lame.

After rooting for Fred Thompson to give us more than he did in his brief run (more like an amble) toward the White House, I was forced to pick someone else after he dropped out Jan. 22. That someone was Mitt Romney, the only one left in the race still espousing conservative ideals, and a brilliant businessman to boot.

Today, Mitt quit.

He addressed the CPAC conference in Washington, D.C., (might be a better version here) and almost sounded like he was on the brink of tears in telling them how much they meant to him and how he was stepping aside for the good of his party and the country. Technically, he "suspended" his campaign, which allows him to hold onto his delegates until the convention, leaving himself one last possibility to power-broker.

Otherwise, the only thing standing between John McCain and the Republican nomination is Mike Huckabee ... oh, and Ron Paul.

Thank you, Schmuckabee, for refusing to drop out of the race though you never had a prayer outside the Bible Belt. Thank you for splitting the conservative vote in hopes McCain will pick you as his vice president. How do I know you had a deal, despite your denials? Because McCain released his delegates to you in West Virginia to give you your first win since Iowa.

Thank you, ignorant Americans who voted for McCain because ... why, exactly? Because he was a POW and you consider him a war hero? Bob Dole was a war hero too, and look how that turned out.

Even after McCain admitted that the economy wasn't his "strong suit," even in this time when foreclosures are at a record high and economists are warning us about a looming recession, you idiots STILL voted for McCain over Romney, a man who made a quarter-billion dollars as a venture capitalist and has pulled at least one major company from the brink of financial ruin. Why? "He's a war hero and doesn't want us to lose in Iraq." TELL ME that's not the reason you voted for him.

No one ever mentioned the fact that McCain is 72. But they sure as hell will in the general election. Those Democrats, who would rail to high heaven against such an "age-ist" stance if it were someone on THEIR side, will absolutely abuse McCain's age in the general.

Romney may be the genius I imagine him to be. He apparently is already floating the idea of running in 2012. He'd be a leading candidate either way, as he'd either be going against an incumbent Democrat, or a President McCain who will be 76. In that case, bowing out graciously now would save him some money, and save him from suffering an actual defeat down the line.

Stupor Tuesday 2008

I hope Mike Huckabee isn't counting on a Christmas card from Mitt Romney this year. ... Or any year, for that matter.
It's because of Huckabee's insistence on staying in the race that the anti-McCain vote is being split between him and Romney, thus accounting for McCain's big lead right now.
Not bad for a guy who hadn't won since Iowa and was supposedly out of money. But I suppose, if Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani can still get votes despite dropping out of the race ...

McCain is racking up state after state. And I know it doesn't quite work this way, but if you combined Huckabee's votes with Romney's (as they're both anti-McCain votes), Romney would run away with it.

Bubba has some interesting observations on the presentation of it all. He's right. With all the on-screen graphics, I feel like a sugared-up diabetic with ADD. And if that's not enough information to trip your braker, CNN has panelists breaking the votes down so far, Roland Martin was discussing at length how Hillary Clinton did among white women in Tennessee.

Can't wait for November.

Last man in Iwo Jima photo dies

Last man in iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising photo dies

On CNN.com
REDDING, California (AP) -- Raymond Jacobs, believed to be the last surviving member of the group of Marines photographed during the original U.S. flag-raising on Iwo Jima during World War II, has died at age 82.

The iconic image of U.S. Marines raising the flag on Mount Suribachi in February 1945.

Jacobs died January 29 of natural causes at a Redding hospital, his daughter, Nancy Jacobs, told The Associated Press.
Jacobs had spent his later years working to prove that he was the radio operator photographed looking up at an American flag as it was being raised by other Marines on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945.
Newspaper accounts from the time show he was on the mountain during the initial raising of a smaller American flag, though he had returned to his unit by the time the more famous AP photograph was taken of a second flag-raising later the same day.
The radioman's face isn't fully visible in the first photograph taken of the first flag-raising by Lou Lowery, a photographer for Leatherneck magazine, leading some veterans to question Jacobs' claim. However, other negatives from the same roll of film show the radioman is Jacobs, said retired Col. Walt Ford, editor of Leatherneck.
"It's clearly a front-on face shot of Ray Jacobs," Ford said.
Annette Amerman, a historian with the Marine Corps History Division, said in an e-mailed statement "there are many that believe" Jacobs was the radioman. "However, there are no official records produced at the time that can prove or refute Mr. Jacobs' location."
Jacobs was honorably discharged in 1946. He was called up during the Korean conflict in 1951 before retiring as a sergeant, his daughter said.
Jacobs retired in 1992 from KTVU-TV in Oakland, where he worked 34 years as a reporter, anchor and news director. E-mail to a friend

Super Bowl XLII: Giants spoil Pats' perfection party

GLENDALE, Ariz. - It wasn't the "No. 1" that the New England Patriots were expecting.
After a season in which victories became routine for the 18-0 Patriots, a truly outstanding performance by the New York Giants hung a digit in the loss column for the Patriots in the game that mattered the most.

Eli Manning found Plaxico Burress in the corner of the end zone to stake a 17-14 lead with 35 seconds to play, and the Giants' defense harrassed and held Tom Brady on the Patriots' final desperate drive to preserve the win Sunday in Super Bowl XLII.

The Giants' defensive line - LDE Michael Strahan, NT Fred Robbins, DT Justin Tuck, RDE Osi Umenyiora - anchoring a defense that led the league in sacks during the regular season, pressured Brady all evening, sacking him five times.

There were other highlights, of course, but the first one that comes to mind for me is Manning's escape of a sack on their go-ahead scoring drive. Facing a third-and-5 at his own 44 with less than a minute to play, Manning spun out of the grasp of DE Jarvis Green (97) and LB Adalius Thomas (96) before regaining just enough composure to find David Tyree at the Patriots' 23. Tyree went up for it like a jump ball and clinched the ball to his head while fighting off Pats S Rodney Harrison for a clutch grab. Amazing play, reminiscent of Steve McNair's escape during the Tennessee Titans' final near-TD drive against the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV.

Safe to say, Big Blue Interactive will be abuzz for sometime about this one. Patriots Planet ... not so much.

Meanwhile, the 2007 Patriots join the ranks of the 1934 and 1942 Chicago Bears, who went unbeaten until losing in the league championship game. So yes, 1972 Miami Dolphins, you can pop your rancid champagne as the only team to seal the deal.

Reflections

It makes me wonder about some games that weren't:
* The Super Bowl that wasn't; how the Packers would've fared against New England if they could've gotten it done in the NFC Championship game two weeks ago. It's a sickening recollection of the 1996 NFC Championship game when the Cowboys trounced the Packers and went on to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXX.
* And even about the Packers' NFC Wild Card game Jan. 4, 1999, when they got jobbed out of what should've been a Jerry Rice fumble that would've sealed the win and sent them to Atlanta, then possibly Minnesota, then possibly a rematch with Denver in Super Bowl XXXIII.
* And, I suppose, no bitter recollection of missed football opportunities is complete without wondering how the Packers would've fared at Carolina for the 2004 NFC Championship game had the Pack's defense been able to hold Philly on the now-legendary 4th-and-26 ... or if Favre hadn't panicked and thrown up a duck that got picked off in overtime ... or if Ahman Green had scored on 4th-and-goal, or if the Packers had gone for it on 4th-and-1 inside Eagles territory instead of punting ... (hm, guess I'm still not over that one).

Had a good time, though. Bubba and Sara came up from Neenah with Ron and Don, and our friend Joni joined us. Had some Italian beef roasting in the crock pot all day, and washed it down with a big sandwich cookie decorated up as a Super Bowl party favor, which was sugary enough to malnourish an African nation for a month.

No Pro Bowl party next weekend, but hopefully a couple of folks over to watch the Daytona 500 the Sunday after that. Then ... pitchers and catchers report and we embark on baseball season.

Go Pats, I guess

As kickoff for Super Bowl XLII approaches (let's see, it's about 11 p.m. the night before ... pregame should be starting anytime now), I'm having a hard time with this one. Part of me realizes what a great story it'd be for the Giants to knock off the 18-0 Patriots. But a much larger part of me wants to see the Pats seal the deal, if for no other reason than to shut the 1972 Dolphins up once and for all.
But I'm not sure the Dolphins would gracefully bow out of the spotlight. In fact, they might actually get worse.

The '72 Dolphins, the only team in NFL history to finish an entire season undefeated (having gone 17-0), have been anything but gracious victors in the decades since their remarkable achievement. They make a spectacle of themselves everytime a team approaches that hallowed "undefeated" mark, often appearing on the sidelines when a team goes 12-0 or 13-0 and (privately) popping open champagne whenever the last unbeaten team falls. It was cool when they did it on that Monday night in 1985 (Gifford and Namath look so young ... and sober!) when the 12-0 Chicago Bears rolled into Miami to play the Dolphins, but that's because it was in THEIR Orange Bowl.
But lately they've been in the media again, most notably coach Don Shula chirping about how the '07 Pats should have an asterisk because they got caught cheating in the first half of the first game of the season. And Mercury Morris was on Sirius NFL Radio the other day running off at the mouth about how they'll "welcome" the Pats into "the club" if the Pats finish the deal Sunday.

Welcome them into the club? Punk, you'll be lucky if they let you stand in line outside THEIR club! What the Patriots would do by winning the Super Bowl would be SO much more impressive than what the '72 Phish accomplished. In fact, Shula, since you only played a 14-game schedule and were able to keep your team together longer because of the lack of free agency, shouldn't YOUR team be the one with the asterisk?
Besides, the Patriots' only violation was one of semantics. The guy who got caught videotaping the Jets' defensive signals on the sidelines was guilty of just that ... doing it FROM the sideline. Teams are free to do this from the stands or the lux boxes.
And it'd be different if they'd gotten caught in the last game of the season.

Anyway, if the Pats win, the '72 Dolphins would probably just keep cropping up to remind people that they, too, did what the Patriots will have done, even though they would not have. Just go away, Phish, and quit tarnishing your legacy with the rantings of a bitter washed-up jock.

About the game

The Patriots opened as 14-point favorites, but the line has moved to Patriots (-12). If I were going to lay money on this one, it'd be on the Giants to cover because I feel good about their not losing by two touchdowns.
The biggest factor is going to be the matchup between the Giants' secondary and the Patriots' receivers.

When the Pats have the ball
NY can get pressure on QBs, as evidenced by their league-leading 53 sacks this season. And the key is they can do it with their front four, which will not only help them shut down the Patriots' beatable running game (115 ypg/regular season) but also can free up LBs Kawika Mitchell (weakside), Antonio Pierce (middle) and Reggie Torbor (strongside) to drop back into coverage. This will be key if they're to take away Randy Moss (98 rec, 23 TDs) and Wes Welker (112 rec, 8 TDs).
The Giants' DBs were injured late in the season, so depth could be a concern.

When the Giants have the ball
QB Eli Manning has had an oustanding postseason, having thrown 4 TDs and no INTs, with a passer rating of 99.1. He'll be tested against a Pats defense that can shift to accommodate any offensive system.
But the big difference-maker for the Giants could be their running game. Big back Brandon Jacobs (6-4, 256 lbs) and the much quicker Ahmad Bradshaw (200 lbs) would free up a lot of options for Manning if they can get loose on a New England rush defense that was fairly stingy during the regular season (98 ypg).
Plaxico Burress hauled in 11 balls for 154 yards against the Packers in the NFC Championship game, and while I expect Asante Samuel to be stuck to him like a rap sheet to an Eagle fan, we're still talking about a 6-5 wideout vs. a 5-10 corner. Samuel is one of the best in the game, but so is the Packers' Al Harris, whose lunch was summarily eaten - and lunch money subsequently stolen - by Burress two weeks ago.

Prediction (because every jag in the country has to have one)
Giants 21
Patriots 31
* Pats will trail, and won't clinch until late in the game.

Mac comes back with Florida win

While not official as of this moment, CNN and other sources are reporting that Rudy Giuliani is contemplating not only dropping out of the race for the presidency but throwing his support behind John McCain as well.
CNN just projected McCain as the winner of the Florida primary, edging Mitt Romney by about 4-5 percent. As Giuliani finished a weak third after staking his entire campaign on his performance there, he is effectively done and is likely to drop soon. It appears he still will participate in the Republicans' CNN debate Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. I'd like to see him stick it out for one more week, though, through Super Tuesday (Feb. 5). I think he owes at least that to his supporters and volunteers.

Romney outspent McCain about 10-to-1, so I don't understand why he hasn't gained more traction. Someone with his business credentials should be making more gains among people who are increasingly citing the economy as their primary concern. While National Review endorsed Romney, they also wrote a piece recently drubbing him for his lack of empathy; for being a bit technocratic on the trail.
I think he's going to rue his decision not to buy TV advertising in the Miami market. While it is the most expensive such market in the U.S., the result of Romney's decision may be manifested in a graphic that CNN just flashed; that McCain won 50 percent of the Cuban vote, Giuliani 34 percent and Romney a paltry 10 percent.

Even though national polls show McCain as the only Republican to regularly beat Dem frontrunners Clinton and Obama, Romney has less baggage for the Dems to attack.

Fred steps down

Fred Thompson bowed out of his bid for the presidency today. With that, the former Tennessee Senator ended a sad chapter that began too late, offered too little fire, and has now ended too soon.

An actor with an impressive filmography, folks expected him to tap that ability to "play the role" of the tall, conservative father-figure type we all envisioned. But alas, he lacked the theatrical skills of Ronald Reagan.

He campaigned as though he expected the votes, the money and the media attention to simply roll his way once he finished teasing the public about whether or not he'd run. Confidence? Maybe. Presumptuousness? Perhaps. Laziness? That probably will be the perception. A strong field of Republicans prevented him from hijacking the media attention he probably thought would come so easily. And more ballsiness like his refusal to participate in the grade-school 'show of hands' could've played pretty well nationally.

He should've announced months ahead of time that he'd officially start campaigning after Labor Day, then hit the trail with that same confidence but this time with all the gusto of a man who felt it was not his desire but rather his DUTY to become president.

Coulda, shoulda woulda ...

Packers lose to Giants; this one hurts

Somewhere, there's a box of "Green Bay Packers, NFC Champions" T-shirts headed for India.

The New York Giants rewrote the ending of the Packers' storied season with a 23-20 overtime win in the NFC Championship on Sunday at Lambeau Field.

This one hurts.

The game was minus-1 degree at kickoff and dropped to minus-4 by the end, but it was the hometown Pack who looked most affected; most notably Brett Favre. The man whose legend was predicated largely on his cold-weather prowess has now, in two games, looked less-than-mortal in ill conditions. On Dec. 23, the Packers went into Soldier Field and left a steaming hunk of nothing on the field en route to a 35-7 loss to the Chicago Bears. The temp was 16 degrees with a minus-18 wind chill, and Favre went 17-of-32 for 153 yards and two interceptions.

This Sunday, he went 19-of-35 for 236 and two TDs and two INTs. The last INT was simply a bad throw to CB Corey Webster (who he'd beaten for a 90-yard TD early in the game), which gave Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes a chance to avenge two missed field goals by hitting a 47-yarder that decided the game.

While it was cold for everyone, Favre looked more uncomfortable than most, ducking back under cover after each offensive possession; the camera caught him stuffing handwarmers inside his headscarf like he'd just discovered a new snack. He looked like he'd just gotten off the bus from Mississippi, when in reality his Giants counterpart, Eli Manning, also hails from the Magnolia State and didn't seem nearly as uncomfortable.

During those possessions, Favre's passes were often off target, negating the team's ability to go deep and take advantage of the Giants' starting two backup CBs. (Favre's last pick was on a deep out, which he usually makes.) So for all the Packers' troubles going deep, the Giants' defense did an outstanding job covering the short, high-percentage stuff as well. LB Antonio Pierce single-handedly blew up an otherwise wide-open screen pass; DT Justin Tuck another. The Giants also shut down the Packers' rediscovered running game, holding Ryan Grant to 29 yards on 13 carries a week after he'd gashed Seattle for 201 and three scores.

Manning didn't even wear a headscarf. He finished 21-of-40 for 251 yards. He wasn't outstanding, missing as badly as Favre on many throws, but he didn't look rattled either. The Packers slowed monster RB Brandon Jacobs (21-for-67) but had no answer for Plaxico Burress. The 6-foot-5 WR hauled in 11 balls for 154 yards against one of the best cover-corner duos in the league.

The Giants converted just 6 of their 16 third-downs; the Packers just 1-of-10.

But they had so many other opportunities. ... Tynes missed field goals of 43 and 36 yards, the latter of which would've won the game but for a bad snap and a bad hook left. ... R.W. McQuarters got Favre's first pick, early in the fourth quarter with the Giants leading 20-17, but he fumbled it on the return and the Packers' right tackle (and Auburndale native) Mark Tauscher recovered. The Packers tied it on a Mason Crosby field goal. ... Of the Giants' 6 third-down conversions, two were on huge penalties called on the Packers. One was a questionable (translation: complete bullshit) roughing-the-passer call on FS Nick Collins. Another was a more legitimate call on CB Al Harris for illegal use of hands while intercepting Manning early in the third at midfield. ... After McQuarters fumbled a Packer punt with 2:30 to play in the fourth, CB Jarrett Bush tried to pick it up, bobbled it, and the Giants wound up recovering. Bush, a young player who either was trying to get onto SportsCenter or was simply hoping to provide the spark his team's offense couldn't, could have given the Packers a 1st-and-10 near midfield. ... On the next play, Ahmad Bradshaw broke loose for a TD run that was called back on a holding penalty, and sighs of *whew* went up across Packerland.

But enough X's and O's.

My issue with Favre's duck-and-cover routine is because of the message I would think that sent to the rest of the players. Maybe they didn't care; it just looked bad to me on the other end of a TV feed, on a nice cushy sofa in a warm living room.

But it's easy to look for a scapegoat when you've invested so much emotion into this team. After an overachieving season that had the Packers as 75-to-1 odds to make the Super Bowl in August, we found ourselves wishing for a classic storyline of Old Man Favre spoiling the Patriots' bid for a perfect season in Super Bowl XLII before riding off into the sunset. This after watching the Giants upset the Dallas Cowboys a week ago and thus routing the road to the Super Bowl through Lambeau.

But this was the second time I've felt it was the Packers' last, best chance to win a Super Bowl; the other being the team's 20-17 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Jan. 11, 2004. That one, too, ended largely due to an inexplicably awful INT by Favre.

This one is going to take a few days, as it's difficult to decide right now if I want Favre to come back and put this young-but-burgeoning team over the top and into the Big Game, or walk away and let Aaron Rodgers, who is entering a contract year, take the reins.

Pending anything official from Favre, I guess I've got time to think about it.

Can Fred make it four?

Mitt Romney is breathing a huge sigh of relief after winning the Michigan primary, making it three Republican winners in as many primaries - Huckabee in Iowa, McCain in New Hampshire. (Romney won a virtually uncontested Wyoming caucus between Iowa and NH.)
Next is an elimination round of sorts, as Fred Thompson has all but said he would need to win the Jan. 19 South Carolina primary - or at least finish strong - to continue his campaign.
Current polls don't bode well for Thompson, as he trails Huckabee, McCain and Romney. So, as much as I like Fred, and as much of his water as Fox News has been carrying lately, I think we'll be bidding farewell to him soon.

Dems drinking their own poison

I'm loving this.
As the race for the Democratic nomination as whittled to three, the top two - Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama - are bickering about who injected race into their campaign rhetoric first.
Clinton said in an interview recently that Martin Luther King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. "It took a president to get it done," she said.
Black America took great offense, asserting that Clinton was minimizing MLK's efforts at civil rights reform; that no matter what he did or would've done, it would've gotten nowhere without Whitey.
Thing is, she's right.
No matter how many beautiful speeches MLK gave, and no matter how many non-violent protests and marches he would've organized, nothing would've killed institutional racism without legislative action. And who was in Congress at that time? White men. Why did MLK stage all of those actions? To stir emotions, in Americans both black AND white, and put pressure on the lawmakers.
But the knee-jerk reaction from Black America is simply the harvest of the seeds of what the Democratic Party has been sowing for generations. "Whitey is out to get you" ... "Whitey is keeping you down" ... "You need us to lift you up and out of poverty" ...

This same mind-set is evident in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Even two-plus years later, people still cry out to the government to help them. And now that the Democratic Party has the ideal opportunity to literally lift blacks out of the impoverished 9th Ward and rebuild new homes in another part of the city, on higher ground, with a fresh start. So what do the Dems promise this largely black population? To rebuild the 9th and put them all right back where they were; right back where the Democracts think poor, uneducated blacks belong ... forming a block by which to vote another Dem back into power.

Dems, GOPs and ...

Well, primary season is under way in the most wide-open presidential election since at least 1952 (some say 1932). As of this writing, the Dems have whittled their field to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.
Meanwhile, the GOP still can't decide who wants it least: John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Ron Paul, and I guess Duncan Hunter is still hanging around for some reason.

"Change" seems to be the big mantra for this cycle, as Obama has been beating that drum, with Clinton following and now Romney (!?) following as well. But I say, for those who want REAL change, you have a number of options besides just the ol' Donkey and Elephant (of whom there are actually 50-some and 80-some, respectively, besides the ones we see on TV). Behold the Undercard for 2008, courtesy of Project VoteSmart:

American Party, Matthew Jay Borman
Citizen's Party (can't even find a Web site for these guys), William David Beadles
Constitution Party, J. Boydston and Todd Marvin Clayton
Green Party (a.k.a. The Gore Killers), Jared Arlen Ball, Elaine Brown, Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mesplay, Kat Swift
Independence Party, Jose Miguel Aparicio
Libertarian Party (WAY too many to name)
Native American Party, Jacques Yves Boulerice (a.k.a. 'Chief Jack')
Prohibition Party, Gene Amondson
Reform Party, Bruce Calvin Trask
The Light Party, Da Vid
United Fascist Union, Jackson Kirk Grimes

What I wouldn't give to see these guys share a debate stage. Can you imagine Da Vid taking a run at Chief Jack's health-care plan?

Seriously, I don't understand why some news channel doesn't devote one evening to a Third Party Debate, where they'd invite the nominee from the top six or eight "alternative" parties that received votes in the last election (logistically you'd have to limit it so the moderator could get to everyone). You can't tell me that wouldn't draw viewers. At least it'd be easy to find Jack Grimes.
But no, apparently we need 20 Republican debates and 22 Dem debates to hear the same crap we hear every other time these phonies get in front of a camera.
You'd think the least they could do is hold themed debates. Why can't the NEA sponsor an Education Debate, with 90 minutes devoted to education, for both Dems and GOPs? The US Chamber of Commerce on business policy? The AFL-CIO on labor issues? The American Medical Ass'n on health care? The VFW, American Legion and Paralyzed Veterans of America on defense/military matters? Etc. There's no shortage of advocacy groups for major issues.
It's too bad there aren't any viable third parties out there - though the Libertarians and Greens probably draw the most votes - just to keep our major leaguers something approaching honest.

Happy New Year in Review

Happy New Year! ... or, as I've come to know it, Happy Hangover Day!

And so it's time to look back at some notable stuff from 2007:

Nov. 3 - Navy ends a 43-year losing streak to Notre Dame by stopping them in overtime. Navy played bowl-worthy football all season, and ND had a down year. Whatever. No excuses. Anchors aweigh!

Oct. 26 - Trinity University, from Texas, trailed Millsaps College 28-22 with 2 seconds to play and the ball at their own 39-yard-line. What to do? Reach WAY back into the playbook, complete one pass, then follow it with 15 laterals until Millsaps' players start giving up and you sprint past them into the end zone for the 28-22. Ready ... BREAK!

Sept. 23 - Oklahoma State beat Texas Tech 49-45. Great game worthy of accolades up and down from OKS coach Mike Gundy about his players, coaches and program, right? Mmm, not so much. Instead, Gundy chose that setting to berate a beat columnist for a piece she wrote on one of his players. His verbal assault gave us such gems as, "I'm a man. I'm 40!" Enjoy.

Sept. 1 - Appalachian State, defending Division 1-AA champion, shocks the football world by beating No. 2-ranked Michigan in an instant classic. The Mountaineers blocked a Wolverine field goal at the end of regulation to preserve the 34-32 victory. Cool stuff. As it would turn out, App State would lose just two games and go on to win the D 1-AA championship. Again. Way to pick'em, Michigan.

Aug. 1 - The I-35W bridge collapsed in Minneapolis - captured on this surveillance video - forcing government officials nationwide to refocus the need for improved infrastructure. This attention led to the closing of the McCleary Bridge in Wausau, which had a crumbling pier supporting two lanes and had gone unannounced for two years. In looking around for information on bridge disasters, I found this clip of the Tacoma Narrows on Nov. 1, 1940.

June 10 - 'The Sopranos' ended its seven-year run with the most controversial series finale I can remember. People have been talking about it ever since; mostly complaining about it, some praising it. As I don't have HBO, I couldn't watch it live, but in looking back at it, I think it's brilliant. The camera shifts from person to person and you the viewer find yourself wondering who will be the one to whack Tony. You know it could happen at any time, and it could come from anybody. And that's how Tony lives his life. Perfect.
And, to her credit, Hillary Clinton spoofed the Sopranos episode in a campaign ad.

April 16 - Seung-Hui Cho, a 22-year-old Korean man, went on a shooting rampage at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, killing 32 and wounding 25 more before fatally shooting himself as his coup de grace. During the rampage, he took a break to mail a video manifesto to NBC explaining his twisted rationale. A student caught some of the gunshots on his camera phone. CNN made it part of a longer report. Eerie stuff.

Luminary Christmas

Was just talking about this with someone and remembered I'd seen it on a Miller Lite commercial a couple of years ago. You may remember it as the dancing lights set to "Wizards in Winter" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I found it on - where else - YouTube, otherwise known as the Black Hole of Spare Time.
Check it out, complete with a detailed explanation of the background behind the display.
Gives me some ideas for my own Christmas light decorating ... none of which I'll do, but ideas nonetheless.

Oh, and for anyone who doesn't share in the whole "Christmas spirit" thing, there's one of my new favorite blogs, Tacky Christmas Yards. My favorite is titled "Hunting Season."

Feliz navidad.

Mitchell report little more than gossip

Former Sen. George Mitchell (D-Maine) released to the media today his report on the use of steroids in baseball. His report named 86 current and former players who allegedly used performance-enhancing substances over the past 15-20 years; 55 current, 13 MVPs, 8 Cy Young award winners (seven of which came from Roger Clemens).

The 409-page report relied on testimony of people such as former New York Mets clubhouse attendant named Kirk Radomski, who got pinched in April for money laundering and distribution of steroids. Radomski received checks written by New York Yankees personal trainer Brian McNamee, who claimed in Mitchell's report to have personally injected Clemens and fellow pitcher Andy Pettitte with performance-enhancers. Clemens, naturally, vehemently denies McNamee's assertion.

That Clemens will now have his name linked to Barry Bonds - whose name also appeared in the report, to no one's surprise - is to scar him with the accusation that he cheated. He may have, may not have, we simply don't know. But now he's forced to prove a negative; that he didn't do something.

Sports media are already asking the obligatory question of whether Clemens and/or Bonds should get into the Hall of Fame. That their names have been released as being part of baseball's Steroid Era, lacking any proof, could be baseball's version of McCarthyism.

Lambeau leaps, lands on Raiders

Greatness past ... and present.


Dave (FSU jacket) and Bubba (Raider gear) find themselves among friendly Packer fans just before the Cheeseheads laid the wood to their Raiders on Dec. 9.

Went to the Green Bay Packers' trouncing of the Oakland Raiders on Sunday at Lambeau Field. Great time; 20 degrees, sunny (at the start), no wind, Lambeau Leaps at both ends of the stadium by the time it was all over, and a couple of buddies of mine who are big Raider fans.
Green Bay improved to 6-4 - including five straight - over the Raiders, who have played so poorly the last five seasons their logo has asked for a patch over its other eye too.

I decided to compile a bit of a storehouse of info on the Packers-Raiders "rivalry". Found a great site for all types of FB stats and such in the process:

Year, Winner, Score, Site
2007, Green Bay 38-7, Green Bay
2003, Green Bay 41-7, Oakland
1999, Green Bay 28-24, Green Bay
1993, Green Bay 28-0, Green Bay
1990, Green Bay 29-16, Los Angeles
1987, Raiders 20-0, Green Bay
1984, Raiders 28-7, Los Angeles
1978, Raiders 28-3, Green Bay
1972, Raiders 20-14, Green Bay
1968, Green Bay 33-14, Super Bowl II (We in Packerland would like to thank Raider Nation for allowing the Super Bowl championship award to be named the Vince Lombardi Trophy.)

For the Packers, Big D stands for 'dump'

Well, the latest Game of the Century has come and gone, with the Packers falling to Dallas (*sigh* again), this time 37-27. They "fall" to 10-2, while Dallas remains 11-1 and in command of the NFC. While it's disappointing, it should ease the sting to imagine that few could've envisioned the Packers being 10-2 at this point in the season.

The Packers were without an injured Charles Woodson, an outstanding cover corner, and situational pass-rush specialist Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila (as well as a couple of defensive linemen who make up a very deep rotation).

But you can't commit 9 penalties for 142 yards (!) and expect to be considered a serious Super Bowl contender.

Yes, the Packers got jobbed on what should've been an interception when Al Harris stripped Terrell Owens, but Harris also grabbed a gift INT in the end zone later in the game when Owens went butterfingers on a pass. The O did nothing with it.

And I lost track of all the pass interference penalties they got nailed for, as well as the 15-yard facemasks.

That was just plain stupid, undisciplined football. Not the stuff of a 10-1 team.

The game could mark the end of an era, as Brett Favre left the game (his 249th consecutive regular-season start) in the second quarter with an elbow injury. He got sacked by backup CB Nathan Jones, who blitzed off the Packers' slot and had a clear shot at Favre, who whacked his elbow on Jones' helmet. Favre admitted in his presser that he'd also separated his left (non-throwing) shoulder on the play. It's similar to an injury he suffered last season, from which he returned in a week, but nerves are funny things, so we'll have to see. Nerve problems ended Dan Marino's career. At least Favre has 10 days before getting another crack at embarrassing the Oakland Raiders, a game I'll be attending with Bubba.

The most competitive atmosphere of the night may not have been in Dallas but in Wausau as people scrambled to find someplace that was A.) showing the game and B.) not so jampacked with people that it was exceeding fire-code capacity up to two hours before kickoff.

It was another NFL Network game, which means real fans couldn't watch it on Charter because the cable system and the NFL can't decide whose greed should override the other's. (NFLN wants it on Charter's basic tier, while Charter wants to put it on a special pay tier.)

A Soldier's Last Ride

People often speak of things that have moved them. Sometimes it's a song. To others, it's a well-crafted speech, delivered so impeccably that to change a word would be to change a note in a Mozart concerto.

To me, it can just as often be the written word. While there are few things that move me like the sheer strength of vibrato brought forth like a flood from the guttural depths of a man or woman blessed with the gift of song, there is simply nothing that manipulates the imagination like perfectly crafted prose.

It's such verse that makes us physically feel the sunny chill of the autumn air at a Saturday afternoon football game at some high school in Manitowoc. Can make us hear the din of voices familiar and new that surround us in a cocoon of warmth at a dinner table. Can make us feel the pain anew of a love unrequited. Or can make us relive the glorious moments of our firstborn son's first cry.

Rob Kaiser wrote such a column for the Post-Crescent of Appleton, Wis. It was about a dead soldier but yet, so much more. It was appropriately titled, "Soldier makes his final trip home."

Kaiser described everything that would've seemed so mundane on any other November day. But through every detail - the mileage on the hearse, the rain droplets attacking the windshield, the sob of a mother whose son will never again experience those mundane redundancies - Kaiser makes us realize this without saying it. Of all people, Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish once said of writing a beautiful song that you can say it's raining without saying it's raining.

While Kaiser could have seized the stage to spew forth any pro- or anti-war screed and had it taken to heart by those who agreed with it, he didn't. Nor did he point out to us that each of these details he pointed out to us was something we the living would experience in his stead.

He left it to us.

Just like the soldier's death leaves it to those left behind to cope with why. And how. And what now.

Without further adieu, I give you Rob Kaiser's account of a soldier's final ride:



Soldier makes his final trip home

A bit of ceremony, tears mark Neenah welcome for fallen Sgt. McDonald

MILWAUKEE -- First out of the cargo hold of Midwest Airlines Flight 305 was a baby stroller, then a child's car seat.

And then, slowly, through the labored machinations of a team of airline employees in orange vests, there emerged one end of a long white crate.

"That's it right there," Robert Karrmann said softly as he stared at the strange cargo through the rain-beaded windshield of the hearse he had driven onto the tarmac at General Mitchell International Airport.

Inside the crate was a casket: that containing the remains of Sgt. James W. McDonald, the Neenah native who was found dead the morning of Nov. 12 in his barracks at Fort Hood, Texas.

The final leg of McDonald's final trip home had begun.

In a shiny black Cadillac hearse with 70,000 miles on it, Karrmann drove McDonald's body Saturday afternoon from Milwaukee through the lonely brown sprawl of rural Wisconsin to Neenah, the town where he grew up, and, where, early this week, he will be buried. The two-hour trip under dull milky skies traversed the two worlds of Sgt. McDonald, who was at once a military man and the boy next door — "Our Own American Hero," as one welcoming banner read, but also, still and always, Little Jim from Irene Street.

Though McDonald didn't die in Iraq (the Army has not said how he died, so even his family doesn't know), his death and homecoming have brought the war to Neenah, which has had no problem taking the measure of McDonald and finding him a hero even though he didn't die in action.

Joan McDonald considers her son McDonald a casualty of war.

"Oh, so much," she said.

"Yes," McDonald's sister Jennifer added fiercely.

The family is awaiting a toxicology report, Joan McDonald said. Her son was taking a variety of medications because of a head injury suffered in a roadside blast in Iraq. "But even if it ends up being the medication, he wouldn't have been taking all that if he hadn't been injured," she said.

Not knowing doesn't really bother her — at least for now.

"Until this is over, I don't care," she said.

Saturday all that mattered was getting her son back where he belonged.

The homecoming of Sgt. McDonald, past fallow fields and silos and woods dotted orange with gun hunters stalking deer, was planned carefully.

Saturday morning as Karrmann waited for the family to arrive at the Westgor Funeral Home in Neenah so the procession could leave for the Milwaukee airport, he prepared for the long trip by sipping black coffee. The hearse, a rental from a local livery costing $125 for the day, waited outside as a gentle snow fell.

Karrmann, a short, slight man with an angular face, green eyes and short graying hair grooved with comb marks, shrugged on his black suit coat and parted the blinds with his hand to look outside.

"Well, looks like we have some interesting weather," he said.

The driver from Captain's Limousine Service who would take to the airport McDonald's family — parents, grandparents and sisters - drove up in a long black Hummer. He wore a black bow tie and a jacket with his name, David, embroidered over the right breast.

Karrmann was glad the Hummer was black. "I thought it was going to be white, but it's perfect that it's black. It matches."

What it matched was the hearse, which Karrmann calls "the coach."

The coach, which would be McDonald's last ride, was plush. The interior of the hearse was dark blue, the seats leather and supple and soft, the dashboard a shiny wood veneer.

Inside, the hearse smelled like leather. It smelled clean, too; the livery service makes sure it delivers these things freshly washed.

Finally, the family arrived and the procession left the funeral home.

As Karrmann steered the hearse out from under the canopy at the front of the funeral home, tiny snowflakes settled lightly on the windshield, turning to water and beading up on the glass. Karrmann turned on the wipers. The hearse was quiet on the road. The turn signal ticked like a metronome.

They headed down Church Street, the little flags on the front of the hearse snapping with ever more urgency. One of the flags was the American flag. The other was for the Army. The hearse passed the rail yard and turned onto Cleveland Street, where the procession stopped to pick up McDonald's grandparents at their little beige wood-frame house.

Karrmann, whose leg sometimes bounces anxiously as he's waiting for traffic to pass so he can turn, has been a funeral director for more than 10 years - ever since bailing out of the restaurant business, where being a manager sometimes required working 110-hour weeks. But this is different, what he's doing today. He's not handled a military funeral before.

"The notes, the notes, the notes," he said.

But there was also something else — a certain feeling.

At 12:05 p.m., Karrmann arrived at the airport. The plane was due in at 12:47.

Waiting on the tarmac behind the wheel of the hearse, Karrmann glanced over his right shoulder to see if the back of the coach was clean. The floor in the back was polished wood. The walls and ceiling were the same dark blue leather as is in the front.

Karrmann looked at his watch. 12:48.

"Here it comes," he said. A royal-blue jet pulled into view, turning left toward the jetway.

Karrmann and the hearse faced the white nose of the plane head-on, as did the limo sitting on the tarmac next to the hearse.

Karrmann got out. A Midwest employee approached him sheepishly. Sgt. McDonald's last plane ride had not been prepaid. Somebody owed the airline more than $400.

The white crate appeared as a woman in the plane peered down from a window.

Midwest employees cut the black nylon straps and lifted the crate. Sgt. 1st Class Toni Kaiser and Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Theal, wearing their Class A dress greens, fought the cold, stiff wind to drape the casket with an American flag as Joan McDonald sobbed, a hand to her mouth.

And then Midwest employees helped Kaiser, Theal and Karrmann lift the casket into the hearse for the ride home.

On the way, the rain turned to snow turned to sleet turned to rain. An urban industrial landscape gave way to sprawling fields and rolling hills and woods and billboards. The pale gray road rushed back and under the hood of the hearse, the dotted white line coming on forever.

When the procession arrived in Neenah, local firefighters and police joined the procession from a staging area at the old Big Lots, just off Exit 131 from U.S. 41.

Karrmann drove in front of the McDonald's little wood frame house on Irene Street, where about 50 friends and family lined the curb to greet the hearse. Many wept. Some saluted. A small child pressed his face to the window of a brick house.

The procession passed over a train, which wailed as it moved slowly west. And then it arrived at the funeral home.

After the casket was rolled inside, Karrmann stood still, blinking.

In the funeral director's eye stood a tear.