Thank you, Howie

I'm just back from a weekend in NY to see two of my very-nearly-grown kids (25 and almost 21--the 23 year old is teaching English in China this year). I wanted to take a few moments and a few inches of space to thank my "right-wing friend in NY," Howie, for spending some time with me and putting me up.

Howie and I have been friends for over forty years and, frankly, I don't know how we put up with each other. It is a testament to true friendship that two people who seem to agree on very little and disagree vehemently on most everything else can stay friends as long as this. I tell you, when I know Howie is wrong I tell him so as forcefully as possible. Sometimes I can be overbearing, preachy, obnoxious. No. Always I can be overbearing, preachy, obnoxious. To Howie's credit, he never holds it against me.

Howie is, of course, continuously, egregiously, and almost uniformly wrong about every one of his political opinions. He objects that he doesn't understand why he is always wrong and I am always right. He is always wrong because he is convinced he knows the answers ("Hey, Rumsfeld knows where the WMDs are, and that's that. We'll find 'em"), and I am always right because I am convinced of nothing in this world (THIS world) without empirical proof of some sort. Sometimes you have to be careful and take the least risky paths before you make decisions set in stone. It's called "the precautionary principle," and it is something that this administration is very bad at.

But they and their friends at PNAC have their own agenda, beyond the welfare of the US and its citizens.

Anyway, thank you Howie, thank you Mrs. J., and thanks to all my friends at Molloy College in Roskville Centre, NY (all three of you--LOL) for sharing a few moments, some laughs, and a beer or two.