I will greatly compress this story, to get to the nitty-gritty. “Where are you going?” said the man. “Chicago,” said I. Talk then turned to Mayor Daley, whom the man had just met–in the office of a high Israeli official. My friend was an Israeli, and talk then turned to the Gaza withdrawal: Had it turned out to be a complete disaster? Was Sharansky right, and Sharon wrong? Talk then turned to Sharon, chiefly to my thoughts about him. Then the man said to me, “He is my general.” That’s the way he put it: “He is my general.” He went on to say, “I was with him in the war” (the ’73 war). My friend then sort of flapped the sleeve of his jacket at me–I could see that he lost his right arm. Was in special operations, highly decorated, etc., etc. Now, readers, you may recall that, just the other week, I was writing of my recent journey to the Sinai, and my “quadrunner” ride into the desert. I made some crack about how you could imagine yourself as “Arik Sharon, chewing up the Egyptian army.” And here I was, days later, talking to someone who had actually done such chewing up, at significant cost. Naturally, there is much more I could tell you, about this fascinating and inspiring encounter, but I’ve said enough. It’s an honor to meet such a person. And, somehow, it seems even more so when the meeting is by chance. ‐A couple of tidbits from Chicago? Okay. First a word about Ruffled Feathers Golf Course. Wonderful place, by the way (hard by Cog Hill, the famous golf complex that hosts the Western Open). And what a wonderful name! Sounds like what you call an irritable Indian chief. “What troubles you today, Ruffled Feathers?” ‐Overheard a conversation in a hotel: One clerk to another: “So, do you think we’re going to attack Iran, if they don’t roll over for us?” The clerk explained that he read classical history, and knew a lot. And I thought that phrase was so sad: “if they don’t roll over for us.” What an understanding of the current crisis! (And it’s no doubt the understanding, or misunderstanding, of many.) I could launch paragraphs of commentary, but you can provide your own. ‐Make no mistake: What we’re facing, Iran-wise, is a crisis. I remember a superb college history teacher I had explaining that the word “crisis” was promiscuously used, and therefore grossly misused. Every little blip or hiccup was a “crisis”–leaving no word left over for real crises. Well . . . ‐This article on the marriage-amendment debate is all about politics–the politics surrounding the debate. There is virtually nothing about the content of the debate itself. And this is a wire-service report (AP)! We get things like, “Fueled by election-year politics, the gay marriage issue . . .” To the mainstream media, the amendment is nothing but a conservative political ploy (if not a hate crime). It may be that for some–but it is deeply serious to others. Senator Biden is quoted on a substantive point. He says, in effect, “We got DOMA [the Defense of Marriage Act], so what do we need anything else for?” The answer, of course, is obvious (and it’s the answer that GWB has given, repeatedly): The courts, given their record, will make mincemeat of DOMA. And then where will we be? ‐Wanted to highlight Rumsfeld today, for purely linguistic reasons. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization–there’s a moniker!–has invited Iran to the big annual summit (in Shanghai, of course). Rumsfeld said, “It strikes me as passing strange that one would want to bring into an organization that says it is against terrorism one of the leading terrorist nations in the world: Iran.” That wonderful Shakespearean phrase passing strange was most welcome. And when, Rumsfeld was asked, will Americans be able to withdraw from Iraq? When Iraqis can “pull up their socks and take responsibility for their own country.” Pull up their socks. I like a U.S. secretary of defense who talks like an American–an Illinoisan, at that! ‐I know that you, dear Impromptus readers, need no reminding of the evil of the regime that Americans overthrew in Iraq. But for those who do, this article on mass graves may help. And I will say what others have said, many times: Really, the restraint of Iraqi Shiites, in not exacting revenge, has been extraordinary. The more you learn, the more you become convinced of this. ‐Every couple of years, we–we conservatives–play a game: If the Democrats gain control of the House, guess who the chairmen will be?!?! It’s a tiresome and mockable game–but there’s some merit to it. For a complete list of those prospective chairmen, go here. Everyone’s favorites are Conyers for the Judiciary Committee and Rangel for the Ways and Means Committee. But there are some other doozies in there as well! ‐Over the years, I have decried Richard Cohen, the left-leaning columnist of the Washington Post. So I thought it only right to mention this column, on English in America. I don’t agree with everything in it, and neither will you, I imagine. But it is a wonderful column, beautifully conceived and beautifully executed. ‐I never thought that Hell, Mich.–not far from my hometown of Ann Arbor–would make national news, but it has. Today is July 6, 2006, or 6/6/06. And there’s that ridiculous thing about “666” and its relation to Satan, or whatever. Anyway, here is how an AP story began: “They’re planning a hot time in Hell on Tuesday. The day bears the date of 6-6-06 . . . And there’s not a snowball’s chance in Hell that the day will go unnoticed in the unincorporated hamlet 60 miles west of Detroit.” This flashed me back to my driver’s-ed. class. (Yes.) My very witty teacher said that someone had taken off “like a bat out of–that place near Pinckney.” (Then he whispered, “Hell.”) Funny, the memories a simple–and offbeat–news story can provoke! ‐You know how people are always accusing individuals, organizations, or agencies of a “witch hunt”? When there’s some investigation you don’t like, you call it a “witch hunt.” It’s automatic. In the time of Whitewater, I worked in an office full of Democrats, and all I heard, ceaselessly, was “witch hunt, witch hunt.” So I had to smile when reading, here, about real witch hunting: “Saudi Arabia’s powerful morality police is launching a witch hunt in the birthplace of Islam. The Authority for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is setting up special centers in all cities to ‘register complaints on sorcerers and charlatans, track them and terminate them,’ the authority’s chief Sheikh Ibrahim bin Abdallah al-Ghaith told al-Madinah newspaper.” Terminate them! They don’t screw around, these people. Arthur Miller, thou shouldst be living at this hour. ‐Barry Manilow suffers indignity after indignity–but he’s laughing all the way to the bank (or he should be). Plus, he has millions of fans. But the latest indignity? According to this, they’re playing his recordings in Sydney, Australia–“in an attempt to rid streets and car parks of hooligans whose anti-social cars and loud music annoy residents and drive customers from businesses.” As I remember, we tried something else on Noriega. ‐When Alan García won again in Peru–for a story, go here–he said, “I want our party this time to demonstrate to the Peruvian people, who have called it to the highest responsibilities, that it will not convert the state into booty.” In other words, this was a nation’s anti-booty call. ‐Care for a little music criticism, in the New York Sun? For a review of the New York Philharmonic, under Lorin Maazel–with a little Peter Schickele thrown in–please go here. ‐Care for a little mail? Mr. Nordlinger: You said that the word “racist” has been neutered; the same could be said of the word “fascist.” It has been bleached of any specific meaning. “Fascist” is now nothing more than a slur for any person/thing/idea that the Left doesn’t like. I’m no longer offended at being called a fascist, even though three of my forebears gave their lives liberating Europe from actual fascism. Such ignorance is just tiresome. By the way, I was at the Air Force Academy graduation yesterday for Rummy’s speech. Fierce! ‐In a column the other day, I asked who said, “It ain’t bragging if you can do it”–was it Casey or Yogi? Thanks to the many, many readers who wrote in to say that it was Dizzy Dean. Several of the readers included baseball stories and quips–and I will relate one. Bob Feller (a great fastballer, among other things) was pitching, and the umpire called a third strike. The batter looked at him and said, “You sure about that? That one sounded a little high.” ‐A missive from an intrepid New Yorker: Mr. Nordlinger – I checked out my East Side mailbox today and was pleased to find my new NR. As I usually do, I kept it on top of my mail and headed to the elevator bank. This is my favorite mail moment, as well as my favorite elevator moment, bar none. A group is always waiting for an elevator, and one by one they sneak peeks at their fellow residents. Eyes always turn to my mail for a second. Usually, the eyes just pass over the NR. But occasionally, as was the case today, I see a set of eyes bulge, or I hear a slight, nearly inaudible groaning/sighing/emetic noise. I need a name for this sound, but that is beside the point. I do not seek confrontation or to bring politics into a non-political atmosphere, but this little ten seconds is a treat I look forward to almost as much as to the magazine itself. As I said, this is one intrepid dude. ‐Finally, a letter from Illinois. It was a response to a comment I made to the effect that Americans had largely forgotten the atrocities of September 11. Jay, I thought you might appreciate what occurred tonight at the final Quincy Junior High Choral Concert for the school year. The Ninth Grade Mixed Chorus sang a tribute to those who perished on 9/11 in the Twin Towers. They sang “I Will Remember You” (by McLachlan, Egan & Merenda), and one of the ninth-graders produced a PowerPoint presentation that was shown during the performance. The presentation included slides of the airplanes crashing into the towers and many other images of that day. After the performance, the choral conductor emphasized that “We will never forget.” My wife, daughter, and I were moved by it. I am sure everyone else in the theater was moved similarly. My general sense, from what I’ve read over the past few years, is that this performance would not necessarily have been welcome in some parts of our grand United States of America. Not that I need to, but let me tell you: Love for America is strong in the heartland, and we know who the enemy is.See you later.