I am excited.

If only you knew why!

There’s so much I want to write about and so little time. Or so it seems.

It’s late . . . for me.

My friend Joaquin returned from Iraq today. We spent the late evening discussing his experiences there, then he had to meet a girl.

His date pulled up on our street, and, as they hugged, I looked skyward. I saw the trees in our yard, and, beyond, the stars. There was one brown, unfallen leaf in a tree. It made me wonder: What is lacking in this moment? In what way does that solitary leaf bode another solitude?

As I said, I’m excited. I can’t say why just yet. FYI.

But it isn’t about the inauguration. Plenty of people have written about their excitement concerning Barack Obama becoming our president. And, yes, I’m happy.

But, unlike the folks you see on TV, I’m not ecstatic.

Misty and I listened to his inaugural speech on the radio, which seems rather apropo in the 21st Century.

It was a great speech. An inspired campaign. And the current White House Web site puts all others to shame.

But I’m waiting for results. “Change,” like “maybe,” is an easy word. Let’s see what actually happens. Obama has made a lot of changes — he’s already fixed some Bush administration policies, but let’s see him under fire. That’s not to say I doubt him. I don’t. I just want proof.

As Misty said, when she hears people say, “I can now call myself an American again,” she wants to punch them.

Personally, I find those statements and others (like, “Let’s move for Canada/Spain/wherever),” to be the most ridiculous. Americans don’t run away from a fight, especially one on their own land. If we all leave, who is here to preserve what we believe in?

That’s enough for tonight, I think. There are some people I want to make fun of/criticize (read: Michael Barnes of the Austin American-Statesman and Supreme Court Justice John Roberts), but I won’t waste my time on them tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

What You Missed If You Didn’t Read Today’s The New York Times

1. Read about the guy who used a park bench as shelter during Hurricane Ike. And this guy:

Southwest of Galveston, officers said that one man from Surfside Beach was the only resident who did not evacuate the highly damaged area. He was drunk when they reached him on Saturday morning, the authorities said.

2. Understated Headline of the Week: Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes

3. Interesting:

Experience. In the 2008 presidential election, it’s been a campaign slogan, a debating point and a subject of endless column inches and talk show hours. John McCain and Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin — whose life experiences offer the best preparation for the presidency and vice presidency? Does it help to be a naval aviator? A community organizer? A senator? A small-town mayor? Does one trump another? To answer those questions, the Op-Ed page asked people whose résumés overlap with the candidates’ to explain how the qualities they’ve needed to draw on for their jobs and their lives would come in handy in the White House.

4. I’m looking forward to picking up Dexter Filkins’ new book, On the Ground, about his experiences reporting during the Iraq War; but I’m not a fan of this dry, loquacious review. (Though I do like that the author of the review gave a needed shout out to Michael Herr, my favorite war correspondent.)

5. Sarah Palin’s hair! How many column inches were given to the wars in which we’re embroiled?

6. And a nice little column on dating in the Google era.

Plus a bunch of other stuff you folks don’t care about.

Okay, listen Cable News pundits. Listen, Keith Olbermann.

I DO NOT WANT YOU TO READ ME THE SPEECH OBAMA IS GOING TO GIVE IN AN HOUR.

There is a reason I’m watching the Convention on television. TO WATCH OBAMA GIVE HIS ACCEPTANCE SPEECH — not hear it from you before he’s even walked onto the stage.

You bastards are like a guy in line at the theater who loudly proclaims the ending of the movie.

Off to C-SPAN for me.

An aside: Can anyone confirm that all those little flags the delegates are waving are union-made? Can’t be shipping our flag-making to China any more!

The big news tonight is that Sen. Barack Obama has chosen Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket.

But another news item of immense import surfaced today as well: the agreement by the Iraqi and American governments on a deadline for the withdrawal of most U.S. troops by 2011.

Now, aside from the groundbreaking nature of this agreement, I would like to suggest a possible impact on the presidential election.

Given that a large part of the campaign (aside from the economy) is centered around foreign policy (especially Iraq, Afghanistan and, more recently, Georgia), does this agreement not, in some respects, take the issue of when to bring the troops home off the table?

And, if so, does that not hurt Obama more than McCain? As it is, Obama has been able to hammer McCain on his judgment in sending troops to Iraq (while Obama opposed it in the first place) and his (out of context) comment about remaining in Iraq for a hundred years. By losing this as an issue, Obama loses one of his most effective talking points and the motivation for some of his supporters to work so diligently for the campaign.

Hopefully, I am overestimating the impact this agreement will have on the campaign, but it should be interesting to watch unfold.

For the conspiracy theorists out there: Does this also not smack of a President Bush playing politics with the war?

If I were to start a gang, I would name it FM 3-24.

Just FYI.

Look . . .

Look . . .

BAM!

You just saved the world from another idiot motorcycler.

Thank you.

From the bottom of my heart.

Just got this great e-mail from John Cornyn’s campaign pimping their last anti-Noriega fundraising e-mail:

Team:

See note below from our communications director, thanks for what you have done in last 24 hours, let’s keep it going.

From: Kevin McLaughlin
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 1:40 PM
To: Rob Jesmer
Subject: Nutroots

Rob-

2 things;

1) Our guys at the convention told us Noreiga and his out-of-state buddies spent the morning attacking Senator Cornyn

2) according to finance team, the fact that Dean and Pelosi came in to shill for Noreiga really fired up our supporters the last 24 hours. We have raised well over 10K and I think we could another 10k if we send out the email below again.

Talk soon,

Kevin

You know, it might be a good idea to hire someone (or two someone’s, since Rob Jessmer, Cornyn’s campaign manager didn’t even correct the misspelling in the e-mail) who can actually spell your opponent’s name. Especially your communications director.

As for the message . . . Noriega and the rest of the Netroots and Dem leadership who showed up bashed Cornyn!? STOP THE PRESSES! SOUND THE ALARM! TIP THE COW!

Anyway, I guess “Buck Smith”/David Beckwith must be earning his keep (and some Democratic schwag) by attending Netroots Nation.

Nonetheless, Kevin, you really need to learn how to (a) spell and (b) not make yourself look like an ass in the press (yes, I’m talking about that asinine comment about “Buck Smith” speaking for himself and all that other BS you pulled from somewhere near your nose that resembles an asshole when BOR outed Beckwith).

By the way, Kev: Since “Buck Smith” speaks for himself, why isn’t he posting on BOR any more?

This post is in honor of “Buck Smith” (aka U.S. Senator John Cornyn staffer David Beckwith), who has recently been outed using a pseudonym to post on Democratic (and possibly other) sites.

In one post (referring to the “Big John” video), he commented:

“I personally believe Beckwith deserves a raise and/or a promotion for whatever role he had in that video . . .”

I want to see if recommending yourself for a raise on a blog works. So here goes:

Hey, TFN, I think I deserve a raise. How ’bout it?

Joe, same for you.

Pate got to get paid, son.

Boy, I hope it pans out well — or at least that I’m not forced to resign my positions in a few weeks when the media/blog heat has subsided.

(If this doesn’t work, I’ll try posting the request on a conservative Web site under a nom de plume.)

I’m a little busy making dinner for Misty — she gets back from her business trip to Kansas City tonight — but I just read something McBlogger wrote that I think deserves emphasizing:

. . . I never would have guessed that someone would have problems surviving on a wage that, hourly, barely pays for a gallon of unleaded. [Emphasis Mine]

Think about it. Gas, on average, is $4.06 per gallon. The minimum wage is $5.85 per hour. It’s possible, especially for some commuters, to be spending more on gas to get to work than they’re making at work.

But the more important point is: Can you believe we pay people to work for a wage that’s only a bit more than a dollar above what we pay for a gallon of gas? It takes us as long to fill up our gas tank (spending $40-plus) as it takes for a service-industry worker to earn a fraction of the cost of our first gallon.

That’s ridiculous.