Rummy's pretty sure we're all dummies

Now that we've got another camera, all Maya's fans can rest easy that we'll be showcasing her with something more than archived shots. Nanna and Poppy were kind enough to lend us theirs until Sony repairs our standard shooter. Speaking of which, Nanna and Poppy (Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Elliot to those of you unacquainted with their chosen in-family pseudonyms) are in town for a few days on their way back home to Santa Barbara after a year living hard just off Harvard Yard (or thereabouts). When they arrived on Saturday, Maya went through a brief period of "stranger danger" ranting - something she's certainly not shown previously. No one was offended and after reading up a tad on the phenomenon, the timing of this seems pretty normal. Not that I put full faith in our growing library of those "Read Me Or You'll Destroy Your Child's Future" books. Still, a little education sure beats the ol' "strap 'em to the plow and let the instincts kick in" approach that I expected to employ with this here youngin.

Watching Rumsfeld on the morning shows yesterday was an exercise in the much vaunted "shock and awe" techniques the Pentagon used to enjoy mentioning by name. The shocks came repeatedly - the insurgency could last a dozen years or more, we've been negotiating with those "dead-enders" (I've always despised that folksy usage), it's up to the Iraqis to defeat the insurgency...and the hits just kept on coming. The awe is best described, I believe, as the grandiose Grandfatherly smugness with which Rummy continues to deliver these body blows. If there's any trace of self-doubt in that man, he's certainly keeping it heavily sedated so that it won't pop out of its coma and pull a McNamara on us.

Leave it to Drudge to spin a non-announcement by Rehnquist into an opening for Conservatives to bash Dems on a non-nomination battle. Don't read him - I do so you don't have to.

And even if the New Brew Crew couldn't sweep the Twinkies in their interleague series over the weekend, the crowds in Milwaukee were huge. For Milwaukee. There's some serious young talent on this Brewers team. In a few years I'm sure almost all of them will be playing with different teams in cities near you. So check them out now before they have any real success. And remember that you heard about Richie Weeks and Prince Fielder here first. Rock on.