GEORGE ARCHIBALD

BLESSED

There comes a time when a father realizes blessings all around him. At age 63, my three oldest girls are grown and making their own lives very happily. My oldest daughter, Leslie, just 24, recently gave birth to my first grandchild, a lovely tall girl already with red hair and impish grin, wonderful ranging eyes, natural curiosity, lovely laugh, and a scream sometimes that knocks you out of your seat. Hey, I want something, she says. And the scream does it. Guess who’s going to be the boss later on? My youngest daughter, Elizabeth, is at college, on the horse-riding team at Hollins University near Roanoke, Virginia, a wonderful rider, and having a great time as a college girl should. All my close friends are family people – fathers, mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, all brought up children who thankfully turned out to be true blessings. Leslie, born in April 1982, two weeks before The Washington Times daily newspaper published its first issue -- her father being the newspaper’s first reporter hired -- married Noah last year and recently birthed Carmen Thomas Ree. Leslie and Noah didn’t waste any time. Carmen may not be The Washington Times’ first grandbaby, but she’s a redhead with lovely penetrating eyes and laugh. The scream she occasionally belts out would cut down a wall, knocks your socks off. Chip off the old block on my side of the family, I admit. The Archibalds, descended from medieval Scottish warriors, have always been persevering and make their views and wants and battles and loves very well known. Just an infant, Carmen already doesn’t suffer fools gladly. She’s a boss to be sure. Carmen is going to be like all the Archibasld girls – and Smithson girls – her grandmother’s family: Great personalities, gorgeous,  intelligent, steadfast, loyal, grateful, hard-working, modest, radiant, quiet yet loud when necessary, ready to make a mark on anyone around – and Southern charm from every pore. I’m like any other parent who loves his children. Leslie is a slow-burner, but like her mother very keyed to old-fashioned Dixie virtues of honesty and love, a Gone With the Wind type.. And when I saw Carmen Thomas Ree for the first time in  Leslie’s arms, everything came full circle: My little girl holding her baby, my first granddaughter, and the love, pride, hope in her eyes as she handed Carmen to me to hold her for the first time. It’s a proud and loving moment I shall never forget. And Carmen Thomas will grow up on my watch, and will love the world we live in, emphasize as her parents and grandparents do the positives, confront and hopefully toss the negatives, appreciaste people’s strengths, figure ways to overcome weaknesses, exalt the idea that our world and universe were gifts to us from a higher power we call God, and looking always for ways to help people in difficulty while fending off those who would take advantage of people wrongly. I asked Leslie: Why is Carmen’s middle name Thomas? The answer made me cry. Her great-grandfather, Thomas Mayo, father of her mother’s mother, was a tall, strong, yet modest policeman in Norfolk, Virginia, who patrolled the streets of the Navy bars on a bicycle, and was the nicest, kindest man one could ever know. Tommy and Mildred Mayo lived in a modest home with his wife Mildred in a community on the Elizabeth River in northeast Norfolk, and had crab-pots that I went with him to empty and rebait on many a weekend. Tommy Mayo was among the nicest, kindest, most exemplary people I have ever known. And for my granddaughter to be named after him brings tears to my eyes because it is a perfect cycle-of-life continuation of family tradition and values we hold dear – passing on from generation to generation. Watch that space: Carmen Thomas will bring down the best, and like my daughters, will be exemplary. She’s got the family heritage and backing. My second daughter, Alexandra Eileen – named after my godmother whose daughter married into the English royal family – is not only a gorgeous model-type girl but also has a strong mind and personality, a definite mind of her own. She dropped out of college after several years of junior college and a couple years to her junior year in an undergraduate college because she tired of liberal-left professors and curriculum that denigrated America and our country’s Judaic-Christian tradition. Ali instead put herself through Graham-Webb beauty school and now cuts hair in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia,, beautifies ladies, makes a great income, and is happy as a clam. Plus she recently reached out to me when dad had some difficult medical issues, and Ali took charge to get things worked out. I could not be more grateful to a loving daughter for helping me in a time of need. Ali reached out to me when she knew I had medical issues that needed fixing – and she persevered and got a remedy going for me, dear girl. Third daughter, Leigh Anne, is totally hospitality-oriented. In her teens and as an early twenty-year-old, she worked in high-quality restaurants in the Washington, D.C. area as a waitress, hostess, and all of a sudden applied to United Airlines to be a flight attendant and was immediately accepted. Leigh Anne is a willowy, beautiful lanky blonde with a radiant smile, lovely eyes, a laugh that warms you, a total people person, and has a heart of gold like all her sisters. Wouldn’t you know: After training and traveling around the world , Leigh Anne quickly met another United Airlines flight attendant, a nice young man, Saul, and they’ve fallen madly in love. The romance is afire to be sure. Elizabeth – Lizza -- my youngest, a freshman at Hollins University near Roanoke, Virginia, is the only horsey one of my daughters – carrying on the tradition of her great-grandfather who rode the winner of the Kentucky Derby in 1911, and her paternal grandfather, who rode over jumps and in the English Grand National seven times, coming third on Miss Dorothy Paget’s Kilstar in 1937 Lizaa’s maternal great-grandfather, Henri Jelliss, son of Belgium’s champion jockey Charles Jelliss 14 years in a row, rode winner of the English Triple Crown and rode as lead jockey in England for Lord Astor. Her paternal grandfather, George Archibald, was champion National Hunt jockey in England, rode for King George VI as his father also rode for King George V, and was assistant thoroughbred horse-trainer for Queen Elizabeth II when he emigrated in 1955 to Middleburg, Virginia,  USA’s most pristine thoroughbread horse farm country, in 1955. Blessed is our family, with hardworking forebears who made a mark in every generation. The power of such heritage is hard to uphold, but the genes travel from generation to generation. We are blessed indeed, grateful, and the Archibald family will carry on for generations ahead.

GET USED TO SAYING PRESIDENT McCAIN

Hillary Clinton’s 10-point victory over Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary April 22, and her $10-million fund-raking online that day tells us one thing: The race for the Democratic nomination continues and will get hotter and nastier. The victor in Pennsylvania on April 22 was the Republican nominee-apparent, John McCain. Maybe we should start now getting used to saying President McCain. Whoever comes out victorious in the ongoing Democratic slugfest – Hillary or Barack – either will be so bloodied and soiled by the muck that each will throw while McCain travels America visiting out-of-the-way places, above the fray, preparing himself for the general election fight that will get red-hot after Labor Day. Batten down the hatches. Whoever the Democratic nominee -- Hillary or Barack -- will come out of their primary war bloodied and seriously wounded. They can say what they want about war hero McCain’s age and ability to run the federal government and global war against terrorism and anarchy. Neither Hillary nor Barack has seen a day of military service. Neither knows anything about running a global military operation in different regions of the world. Neither Hillary nor Barack has any idea what it takes to appoint the best military commanders or move troops and ships throughout the world to make the best of shrivelled military resources and enthuse our allies to contribute their national loyalty and productivity to our allied cause. War hero McCain, whose Navy admiral father headed worldwide U.S. Naval and Marine forces during the Vietnam era while young John was a Navy fighter pilot and prisoner-of-war in North Vietnam, knows everything about being commander-in-chief. He won't need any on-the-job training. So get used to saying President McCain. The pundits can say all they want. Mostly it’s their shop-worn tiresome phrases on television – “At the end of the day …” and “The fact of the matter is …” Aren’t we tired of hearing these blow-dried cosmetic-laden faces saying these stupid empty phrases almost every minute on TV? Well, “at the end of the day, the fact of the matter is,” neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama are going to be president of the United States next January. It’s going to be John McCain. The conservative voter majority in this country – Republican, Democrat and independent, aren’t going to vote into office either extreme liberal-leftist on the Democratic side, pure socialists who want to grow government, increase taxes, boom up federal government regulation and intrusion into our lives and businesses, and mire us down in squabbling with international governments over trade and continue military and diplomatic cooperation to stem economic ruin while fighting global anarchy and terrorism. Hillary Clinton’s victory in Pennsylvania was notable because a clear majority of Reagan Democrats in that state voted to put the Clintons back into the White House. Then Hillary pulled out of the North Carolina race for all practical purposes, realizing that a clear majority of black Democrats were aligned behind Obama, who has pulled out the race card as much as he could to polarize the electorate and make it a race between black and white people, poor versus the middle class and wealthy Americans. Since April 22, the Hillary Clinton campaign reportedly raised $10-million dollars online – “enough to make a significant dent in upcoming media buys in North Carolina and Indiana,” said Rick Davis, John McCain’s national campaign manager. “Barack Obama continues to surpass fundraising expectations and will most likely continue to do so,” Davis said. Even though Hillary Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary with a significant drubbing of Obama throughout the Quaker state, Obama is still touted by the national news media as the front-runnerand most likely to win the Democratic presidential nomination. So next November, the choice for president will likely be between wet-behind-the ears Obama and old, crusty, one-foot-in-the-grave McCain, as the media likes to portray it. Obama’s problem in the general election will be that Hillary Clinton’s supporters will not automatically back Obama over McCain. Throughout the Democratic primary season, McCain has polled extraordinarily well in polls against either Clinton or Obama, even with Democratic and Independent voters, in a general election face-off between McCain and either Democrat. Obama wins only 72 percent of Democratic votes in a general election match-up against McCain in April polls, while Hillary pulls 81 percent of Democrats against McCain. Polls show McCain would pullat least 20 percent of Democratic votes, more than 85 percent of Republicans, and more than half of independent votes. So we should get used to saying President McCain come next January.

EASTER OF MY LIFE

It’s tough to figure out people these days. I’m 63, divorced, live alone, have four lovely caring daughters, an ex-wife, my daughters’ mother, who is a Martha Stewart type, has a lovely house whose rooms are mostly off-limits to anyone who lives there or visits -- a large show-house to be seen and admired for its decouture, but most rooms not to be inhabited or enjoyed. My house, on the other hand, is modest, well-furnished, nice artwork, all my book and record collections over 50 years, and furniture my mother and father left me from England. I have no complaints. But it's well-lived-in and comfortable. Except the ladies in my life are complicated. My sister wants to force me out of the house and sell it to get her half-share, which would make me seek other shelter. I’m paying for all the needed repair of the house without her help, and the housing market is now very down -- worst time to put an old house on the market that still needs a lot of refurbishing. Sister doesn’t understand the market situation. She wants cash now. So guess who’s supposed to be the loser in that equation? She’s hired a feisty attorney and they’re going at me hammer-and-tongs. But our father and mother brought me up properly. I will not be bullied or forced into homelessness. I own this house fifty-fifty until my sister buys me out. She’s got a $100,000-a-year job and needs to get off her bottom and stop whining and with her attorney setting me up for incarceration on trumped-up charges. So in the Easter of my life, I’m facing a war brought upon me by a greedy sister and her equally greedy attorney, Joan K. Fine. Sister Valerie had serious health problems over the past decade, and I sympathize. But I will not be shoved around e by her and her attorney, who have no interest in my rights. I have a lady friend who is a very clever jewelery designer, who has done marvelous work, but out of sorts with me for some unexplained reason. She’s married to a nice man, has three lovely children, and we tried unsuccessfully to acquire a property in Middleburg for a restaurant/tavern that she pushed me into. My friend's landlady, a beast of a woman, filed a “no-trespassing” order against me with the Middleburg Town Police, for reasons unexplained. Ironically, the police know I’m a good guy, but their hands are tied. The Middleburg office property owner who filed the unexplained “no trespassing” complaint against me is adamant that I cannot visit the property to do business with my jewelry provider, who in turn refused to stand up for herself or me as one of her best clients, so I have to file a lawsuit against the landlord to reclaim my civil rights and be able to continue do business with my jeweler, with whom I have done fully-paid business for more than a year -- even fronted her a loan and did unpaid work to get her business started, yet totally spurned. It’s a complete circus. I’m getting together with my second-oldest daughter, Ali, who has kindly arranged to take me for a medical exam at a nearby veterans hospital. I haven't had a medical exam or needed to go to a doctor for about five years. It will be a 90-minute trip to the VA medical center in West Virginia and back, so Ali and I will have lots of time to reconnouter. Ali is very savvy, a hairdresser, and very loving to her dad. I’m blessed to have such a lovely and caring daughter and hope to get her usual well thought-out views on how to handle all these assaults against me in the Easter of my life. People are so selfish and ungrateful these days, and we are all victimized by such people. We just have to persevere and beat the slobs and sleaze-artists who want to rip us off. I'm fortunate to have four loving daughters and a nice, caring son-in-law, my grand-daughter's daddy, who are very loving. I'll have to figure out how to counter the selfish bastards who are trying to rip us off. I believe I know how. The rip-off artists won't know what hits them when it hits. It will, to be sure.

ARCHIBALD -- UT REFICIAR

My daughter, Ali, a lovely, gorgeous wisp of a girl with lots of energy, get-up-and go, loads of curiousity that has spurred on since she was a toddler, lots of fun as a child and adult, creative, mischievous, very caring, a hairdresser, stopped by my house recently to remind me of our family's historic roots. It intrigued me that she had gone to so much trouble to find out facts about our own family on my father's and mother's side that I knew dimly, but really did not know in depth. Ali gave me the depth from her own research and filled a huge gap in my life, as I did not know in depth the actual roots of the huge global family Archibald going back centuries. Archibald is not a name you find much in the phone books or when you plug it in on Google. The motto of the family's coat-of-arms going back before 900 AD is "Ut reficiar" -- which translated is "That I may be replenished." Yet we have a traceable proud history going back many centuries before the Battle of Hastings in 1066 to Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and ultimately America, as Archibald emigrés moved to California, then back to Europe in the 1920s for several decades, then to England, back to Canada in 1955 and Virginia, athwart the immigation bureaucracy despite great sponsors -- horse farm owner and arts philanthropist Paul Mellon, thoroughbred horse owner William Perry of Newstead Farm at the time, and champion show rider Morton "Cappy" Smith, one of the nicest person and best accomplished horsemen I ever knew. Our immigrant sponsors didn't come greater than Cappy Smith, who was a legend on the horseshow circuit for many years. Cappy Smith recognized and appreciated the horse history in our family, going beyond my father's father who rode the winner of the Kentucky Derby in 1911, and my father, champion steeplechase jockey who rode of hurdles and the English Grand National seven times. My mother's father, Henri Jelliss, also was a champion jockey in England for many years before becoming Lord Asdtor's trainer at Beverly House in Newmarket, son of Belgium's champion jockey, Charles Jelliss, for 14 straight years. Both my grandfather George Archibald and father George Archibald were born in Oakland, California, at Merritt Hospital, which still exists. The Archibald family roots go back to the Norman French, the family name was originally Arcenbaldus, thwen after the 1066 Norman invasion of England changed to Archambault. According to the Domesday Book, compiled in 1086 by William the Battel Abbey, church records, the Curia Regis, Pipe Rolls, Falaise Roll, tax records, baptismals records and archibald was first found in southern England as Erchenbaldus. Arcenbaldus and Arcebaldus familes married and sons married, their sons and daughters married, and the Pipe rolls for Gloucester in 1210 record the name of Robert Archibald, descended from Normans commonly believed to be of French origin, but more accurately descended from Vikings, who under their Jarl, Thorfino Rollo, invaded France about 911 AD, defeat French King Charles the Simple, who surrendered and conceded all of northern France to Rollo, who became the firse duke of Normandy. Duke William, who invaded and defeated England in 1066 was descended from Rollo and took a census of England in 1086, recorded in the Domesday Book. The Archibald surname was recorded as a notable English family name  in Duke William's census, tracing back to Hastings, with families then also in lowland Scotland. The Feat of Fines for Suffolk, England, in 1239 show Archibald as a notable family throught England, as the Subsidy Rolls for Yorkshire in 1327 recorded Agnes Archebaud, and Seath Archbutt appeared in the Register of the Freemen of the City of York in 1616. In Scotland, Archibald families were mostly in Roxburghshire and around Edinburgh, where they are still plentiful. In the late 1800s, the most well-known family member was John Frederick Archbold, an attorney and prolific author of legal textbooks, best known of which was "Criminal Pleading, Evidence, and Practise" published in 1822, and a mainstay in university law schools for more than a century. Archibald settlers in Catholic Ireland were known as Prtestant adventurers. They mostly settled in Leinster until James Archibald established his farm and estate in Eadestown, Kildare, in 1650. His grandfather, James Archibald, also a farmer and horseman, migrated to Nova Scotia, Canada in 1627 and his grandson, also James Archibald, settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1823. His cousin, John Archibald, settled in New Hampshire in 1728. Most of thewir amily members headed westward in wagon trains auring the time of the Revolutionary War, some loyal to King George III of England went back to Canada and were known as United Empire Loyalists. Distant relatives include Steve Archibald, Scottish soccer player born in 1956; Robert Archibald, U.S. basketball player born in Scotland in 1980; and John Archibald, linguistics professor at the University of Calgary in Scotland. Our family coat-of-arms used in battle during the Norman invasion of England in 1066 is a silver shield with three silver crescents on a blue bend. The crest is a crescent. The ancient practice of families representing themselves with such symbols goes back to feudal times when heralds developed an extensive armory that distinguished upper-class members from each other, whether at court or on the battlefield. Heraldry since grew into a complex geneological history -- even a science. Silver, which the French valued as "argent," was one of the two metals used in heraldry, usually represented on a shield by the colors gray or white. The metal represented nobility, peace, and serenity and was associated with the qualities ofr purity and chastity because the metal withstood fire and brutal force. The crescent stood for one who had been "enlightened and honored by the gracious aspect of his sovereign," so most Archibalds were knights and warriors for the British realm. Knights returning from the crusades introduced the crescent, the badge of Islam, into the artistic representation of heraldry. The Archibald family heraldic crescent has a very deep base and curving horns that quickly sharpen to points close together. The crescenmt also represents the moon that lights the night sky for travel, though it does not resemble the shape of a crescent moon very closely. I English arms, this was also a mark of cadency, signifying the second son. The reversed crescent on the Archibald coat-of-arms, represented by horizontal lines, has horns turned down -- an increscent indicating a crescent with horns facing the observer's left and decrescent facing the observers right. The color blue of the coat-of-arms was called azure by heralds because it represented the color of an eastern sky on a clear day. It corresponded to the color of tin metal. Azure came from the east during the Crusades, signifying piety, sincerity, equated with autumn. The bend of the coat-of-arms is a broad, diagonal band across the shield, representing either a scarf worn like a sash or the shield suspender of a knight or military commander. The Archibald coat-of-arms bend signified the high honor of being the defense or protection of the sovereign or his son in battle. The bend sinister, following the opposite diagonal, termed a "bendy," represents a mark of illegitimacy in the family. That was obviously the case, as Archibalds through the ages, male and female, were quite randy. My own mother caught my father in bed with a stable girl in the early 1950s, kicked her out of Savile House, beat my father up, but the stable girl had a baby a year later -- my relative I never met or knew. Certainly a bender. Every family has skeletons in the closet. The Archibalds made a mark over the ages and had their healthy share of many skeletons -- especially my grandmother, Claire, who married Cecil Rhodes, nephew of the diamond tycoon who founded Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, in Africa, after my grandfather died of cardiac arrest the day he rode five races at Newmarket in 1927, winning four and placing second in the fifth ride. A champion to the end, as were my father and mother. The beat goes on. With four daughters in their twenties  -- only one married with a new daughter, Claire -- and two unmarried nephews in their thirties, a lot of benders in the offing. The Archibald family coat-of-arms will be kept polished on our end.

THE VOICES

It could be Paul McCartney, the boy from Liverpool, England, co-founder of the Beatles, singing “Yesterday,” or Enrico Caruso, the lad from Naples, Italy, belting out “Vesti la Giubba” from Ruggero Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci. Luciano Pavarotti, the lad from Modena, Italy, who bested Caruso, as did his singing partners, José Carreras and Placido Domingo, the three tenors, marvelous voices. And Sarah Brightman, from Berkharnsted, Hertfordshire, England, once married to music theater composer-genius Andrew Lloyd Webber, who whistled down the wind and wowed audiences in Phantom of the Opera. Other greats voices: Russell Watson, the self-styled “people’s tenor” from Salford, Lancashire, England; Jerry R. Curry of Haymarket, Virginia,, a marvelous baritone originally from Liberty, Pennsylvania; Christina Aguilera, pop singer extraordinaire born on Staten Island, New York; Stevie Wonder, born Steveland Hardaway Judkins from Saginaw, Michigan, blind, with a wonderful voice that soars; Frank Sinatra, Francis Albert, from  Hoboken, New Jersey, crooner without match, whose career started with the Jimmy Dorsey band; and Kiri te Kanawa, the marvelous New Zealand soprano, whose soaring voice rings bells and breaks china all at once. Where would we be without great voices? Lost. Ever since church choirs flourished after Norman invaders conquered England in 1066 through the life of famed  baroque organist  George Frederic Handel in the 16th century and onwards until today, it is the voices that elevate the human spirit, remind us of our troubles, yet give us hope for a better tomorrow.

FLIPPARY

Hillary Clinton says she’s in the race to the end. She said Obama should “get out of the gutter,” a smart-arse reference to his terrible bowling performance. Guess ham-hocks Hillary knocks balls straight down the alley and does straight strikes. Well, vote for her if you want. McCain doesn’t bowl straight strikes but does bowl right down the middle, outide the gutter. Unluike Obama, McCaiin’s bowling arm was broken again and again by the North Vietnamese Army animals who had him as a prisoner-of-war in a bamboo cage near Hanoi for six yeara. McCain survived. He is a world-class survivor and fighter. This election will be won in the bowling alleys. Flippary is slippery. She supported the war in Iraq, yet says she opposes it. She says she’s fiscally responsible, yet voted for trillions of dollars worth of additional federal spending, adding trillions to the national debt, yet voted against all of President George W. Bush’s tax-cut proposals, which passed iun Congress despite her opposition, and the economy survived all the following recession-depression bumps. Flippary was wrong. We want her as president? A liar, fraud, felon, hateful person? Forget Flippery, slippery. If it’s Hillary Cllinton versus John McCaiin, it will be a McCain big blow-out, because the American people know the differeence. Hillary, slippery versus “sniper fire.” Liar, liar, pants on fire. It never took place. Hillary will say anything, do anything, to get ahead, but at base she is a liar and dishonest to the core. Who wants such a person as president of the United States?

HILLARY AND VINCE

Vince Foster was law partner with Hillary Clinton at Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, Arkansas, before and after Hillary was first lady as Governor Bill Clinton’s wife. Vince was married to  lovely Lisa, had children. The Clintons and Fosters had pool parties and barbecues together in the back yard of the Fosters’ home. Hillary was married to Bill, governor of Arkansas, who was screwing women across the state as he was putting together his run for the presidency. Betsy Wright, a law professor at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in northwest Arkansas, a close adviser of Bill Clinton, dubbed herself “bimbo patrol” because of Bill’s constant snookering, and in fact talked Bill Clinton out of running for the presidency in 1988 after the Gary Hart fiasco with screw-baby Donna Rice, knowing Bill also was up to his eye balls with extra-marital pussy. Hillary was not what Bill wanted in bed. There was a joke about Bill having velcro lining the back of his pickup truck as he drove around Artkansas as a candidate for governor, until he was elected and his state trooper protective detail became his pimps. That’s how the  Paula Jones thing happened. There was the night Bill Clinton snuck out of the governor’s mansion to go over to Genniffer Flowers’ place for a quickie. He used state trooper Larry Ferguson’s car. Ferguson was on the night protective detail at the governor’s mansion. Hillary woke up, saw Bill wasn’t in bed, went down to the kitchen and asked Ferguson, “Where’s Bill?” Ferguson responded, “He went out for a walk or to take a piss.” Hillary, first lady of Arkansas, didn’t believe the state trooper. She knew Bill, and waited in the kitchen in the governor’s mansion until he returned from screwing Genninfer. All hell broke loose when Bill ultimately walked in the back kitchen door. Hillary threw at hime every piece of china and dishes she could get her hands on from the kitchen cabinets, yelling, “You son-of-a-bitch.”. Bill was ducking and diving, and Ferguson fled to the police bedroom off the kitchen. However, Hillary had her own thing going as Vince Foster’s closest law partner at Rose Law Firm in Little Rock.. They were having it on. They smooched and ultimately screwed before Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992. Webster Hubbell, managing partner of Rose Law Firm asnd boss of Vince and Hillary, knew of the affair. Hubbell was rewarded with the number three job at the Justice Department in the first Clinton administration but later went to jail for perjury and obstruction of justice. All along, Hillary carried on her affair with Vince Foster, who was manic depressed, mainly because of the Clintons’ financial debacle with the Whitewater real estate development desl in northern Arksnsas that went sour, acnd Hillary pressed Vince to bail tghem out, but he couldn’t, and ended up killing himself in frustration. We want Hillary as president of the United States of America after she drove lover Vince Foster to kill himself? I don’t think so.

SURVIVING DIVORCE -- THE CHILDREN MAKE IT POSSIBLE

To the  allegro of Mozart’s sixteenth piano sonato, as Andras Schiff does his keyboard glory, followed by soprano Sumi Jo belting out Wolfie’s Queen of the Night aria from  Magic Flute, and clarinetist Franklin Cohen mouthing the young genius’s adagio with the Cleveland Orchestra from his A-major clarinet concerto, and the glorious adagio from Mozart’s Bb-major oboe piece played by Jack Brymer with London Wind Soloists, I think about the devastation of divorce.. It’s been eleven years since my wife and mother of our four daughters left me, our home and pony farm in Front Royal, Virginia. I still wonder what went wrong. Half of all marriages in America go awry, end up dissolved in divorce, with children shattered over family dissolution and having to pick up the pieces. First daughter Leslie got married to Noah a few months ago and already birthed my first grand-daughter, Claire Thomas -- the middle name for Tommy Mayo, her mother’s grandfather and wonderful  tall Norfolk, Virginia policeman who patrolled every day and night on his bicycle, with support from lovely Mildred, who stood by him stoiocly until his death. Mildred once told me, “I love Tommy. He’s so good, not selfish, a giving person. I put up with the crab pots because I know he loves the water and the crab.” I say to Claire Thomas, those were some of my loveliest days – emptying the crab pots with Tommy Mayo on the Elizabeth River and shelling them at the kitchen table of Tommy and Mildred’s modest home in Norfolk. Tommy died before Blair left me. But Mildred stuck with me despite her grand-daughter’s dalliance. We were good friends until her end. I loved Mildred. She was stoic and old-school, but had a heart of gold. She was my daughters’ great-grandmother on their mother’s side. It’s a shame that almost half of American marriages end up in divorce. Mine did. But thankfully, my four daughters are okay, beautiful, and hope the emotional scars do not inhibit them. Certainly, first daughter Leslie is okay with a wonderful husband, Noah, and new daughter – my first grand-daughter with a pedigree going beyond George Blackwell, the greatest horse-trainer in England in the early nineteen-hundreds. My daughters’ great-grandfather rode for King George V of England and King Alfonso of Spain, their grandfather trained horses for Queen Elizabeth II of England and many top horse owners in Virginia, Kentucky, and Florida. My youngest daughter, Elizabeth, is the only horsey one, now at Hollins University near Roanoke, Virginia, and knocking their socks off as a star rider on the Hollins riding team. Makes it all worth while, going up the line to my great-grandfather George Blackwell, his horse Rock Sand who sired the mare of Man O’War, America’s greatest racehorse and sire of the greatest racing horses and their progeny ever since. It warms the cockles of a man’s heart to see a child carrying the torch. I have four lovely daughter, each going their own way. One is carrying the torch of generations of jockeys and thoroughbred horse trainers.  Lizza has a beautiful seat, good reins and confidence in the stirrups -- a true Archibald rider in the tradition of her grandmother Rusty, her grandfather and great-grandfathers, and loves the animals around her as did they. Thanks be to God. I’m so proud.

OBAMA-CLINTON OR OBAMA-BLOOMBERG?

Billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg took Senator Barack Obama of Illinois for breakfast at an upper east side Manhattan coffee shop last November and subsequently agreed to help arrange Obama’s speech today at the Cooper Union about the national economy, ongoing housing slump and the advancement of science and art. Bloomberg, a former Democrat, has not yet formally endorsed Obama for president, but in his brief introduction referred to him as a man from “the land of Lincoln,” and symbolically both Bloomberg and Obama spoke at the same lecturn that Lincoln used for his famous Cooper Union speech on February 27, 1860, that, together with the famous elegant photograph of  ungainly Lincoln by Matthew Brady, certainly propelled him to the presidency. According to Obama aides, as reported by New York City media, the senator called Bloomberg on the afternoon of March 26, the day before his speech to offer him a sneak peek at his draft speech and to suggest any modifications. The aides did not reveal whether Bloomberg suggested any revisions, but the previous independent presidential hopeful did make a point of reminding the audience and Obama  that he hadn't yet chosen a candidate. "As you know, I have not yet endorsed a candidate for president but I've been very clear in my hope that all the candidates will explain in detail how they will address the great challenges facing our country," Bloomberg told the audience. Obama, in his remarks, joked about the November breakfast with Bloomberg, saying he paid for the meal. "The reason I bought breakfast is because I expect payback for something more expensive," Obama said. "I'm no dummy” – an apparent reference to getting Bloomberg to contribute and raise funds for his campaign through Noivember. He had four fundraisers in New York City before heading to Pennsylvania for a six-day bus tour. There no way Obama would have Senator Hillary Clinton as his vice-presidential running-mate or vice versa, depending who wins enough delegates in the next ten primary contest to be nominated at the Democratic National Convention in August. Obama and Clinton and their staffs have grown to despise each other because of the nasty, bitter nature of their campaign against each other. Also, both Obama and Clinton have so many negatives –- Obama’s lack of nany government executive experience asnd Clinton’s being caught in so many untruths and exaggerations over the years that much of the electorate does not trust her and want to return her and husband Bill Clinton back to the White House. But Bloomberg would bring extraordinary business executive experience and his success running New York City as mayor to bolster Obama’s complete lack of any knowledge of running complex government agencies, programs, personnel, and tackling difficult problems. There’s no doubt Obama is attractive and speaks very well, but he’s basically an empty shirt when it comes to governance. Like Vice President Dick Cheney in what he has brought to President Bush’s administration, Bloomberg would bring years of success, maturity, and assurance to the American people that at least one mature person would know how to take the reins of government in the White House and as president of the United States Senate in order to steer the country confidently and properly. On policy, in his Cooper Union speech, Obama also called for the usual litany of tighter government regulation of mortgage lenders, banks and other financial institutions,  even as he talked of pumping $30 billion more into the economy to stimulate the economy and shield homeowners and local governments from foreclosures and insolvency resulting from the ongoing burst of the housing bubble. Obama and his campaign handouts at his speech blamed the impending difficulties, which some are already calling a recession, on the successful $300-million campaign by industry banking and insurance lobbyists in 1999 to get Congress to dismantle much of the regulatory framework overseeing energy, telecommunications and financial services by repealing the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act. President Clinton, who Obama did not name, signed the repeal legislation. The implied criticism of Hillary Clinton, who handled a lot of policy decisions in the Clinton White House, was very clear. As vice-president, Bloomberg’s background as a successful world-class businessman who knows the real detrimental effects of government over-regulation, would enable him to caution and temper Obama and his Cabinet, if elected, and rein-in their probable liberal-left excesses as indicated in Obama’s Cooper Union economic speech.

McCAIN-LIEBERMAN OR McCAIN-ROMNEY?

“Senator John McCain and his independent fellow-traveler -- formerly a Democrat -- Senator Joe Lieberman wound up their most recent Mideast foray in Israel, where the Republican candidate for the presidency got a little help from the man widely tipped to be his choice for vice president in adjusting his yarmulke,” wrote Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor-at large for the United Press International wire service and The Washington Times in his March 26 column. Most politically-savvy people like de Borchgrave, who for a quarter-century was chief foreign correspondent for Newsweek magazine before becoming editor-in-chief of The Washington Times in March 1985, believe McCain’s recent widely-publicized Middle East and European trip with Lieberman, Connectict independent, signaled that a possible McCain-Lieberman ticket is shaping up. On the other hand, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s endorsement of McCain and nationally televised press conference, after the two GOP presidential hopefuls went at it hammer-and-tong in the Republican presidential primary campaign, may change the dynamics by bringing a younger, conservative proven government executive of a liberal state into the picture. Tongues are already wagging that Romney, a multi-billionaire business executive raised in Michigan, might make a better VP running-mate to shore up McCain’s lack of government or business executive experience. Romney, a Mormon, is loved by conservative Republicans, more glamorous and articulate than Lieberman, a terrific campaigner, and Romney unquestionably would fire up the Republican political base. Lieberman, on the other hand, has been a moderating voice in the United States Senate since he left the Democratic Party and was-re-elected to the as an independent –- although he still caucuses with Senate Democrats.  Lieberman is Jewish and very popular with that important segment of the electorate and business community. Lieberman is more seasoned on national and global policy issues than eith McCain or Romney. than McCain, but would have to move further right to energize the Republican base during the general election. However, that be dangerous politically, because that would turn off moderate independent and Democratic voters who McCain as GOP presidential candidate must have to win the White House in November for the next four years starting next January, and maybe another four years thereafter. De Borchgrave, one of the finest world-class journalists, saw Lieberman’s global trip with McCain, where he was shown right at the Arizona senator’s shoulder in every camera shot, as highly revealing.  He wrote that the “yarmulke gesture” sent an important signal or many Mideast bloggers and “was proof McCain would be even less inclined than President Bush to coax/cajole/pressure Israel into the kind of concessions that would make a Palestinian state possible. “To understand the chasm between mainstream media and the blogosphere,” de Borchgrave noted. “Lewis Carroll's ‘Through the Looking Glass’ is a helpful guide. Tweedledum and Tweedledee, they are not. But they are frequently fact and factoid (an invented fact that is taken to be true because of its appearance in print). And many blogs have achieved the status of print by virtue of the fact that countless millions get their news online. The average age of a newspaper reader is 55. Onliners? Try 30…. “McCain also fueled the speculation [of Lieberman as his possible choice as VP running-mate] when he said Jerusalem was to remain the indivisible capital of the Jewish state and that Israel must not be asked for anything that might jeopardize its security. Without a Palestinian capital in Arab East Jerusalem, no Palestinian leader could sign a peace agreement -- and expect to stay alive. “Anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic epithets flooded the blogs, a lethal blend of extremist outbursts from the far right to the far left, e.g., ‘Hitler saw the tremendous danger posed to Germany by communism’ and ‘although Jews formed less than 5 percent of Russia 's population, they formed more than 50 percent of its revolutionaries.’ Or, ‘the major role Jewish leaders played in the November (Russian) revolution was probably more important than any other factor in confirming (Hitler's) anti-Semitic beliefs.’ Holocaust deniers, along with those who say the six million Jewish victims of Hitler's death camps were wildly exaggerated, get a free ride in the blogosphere. “Another free-fire zone among the millions of blogs is the notion that Bush will have one last throw of the geopolitical dice by bombing Iran 's nuclear facilities. Vice President Dick Cheney, on his most recent trip to the Middle East, left little doubt he believes the Iranian mullahs have resumed their nuclear quest after a brief interruption following the U.S. invasion of Iraq . "Tehran ran scared in the spring of 2003 and concluded Iran might be next on Bush's hit list. That fear subsided quickly as the insurgency, stoked in part by Iranian Revolutionary Guard agents, spread all over Iraq . Cheney indicated clandestine lethal aid from Iran was still continuing. “General David Petraeus, commander of Multi-National Force-Iraq, went one better when he said the Easter Sunday rocket-and-mortar barrage against Baghdad 's Green Zone was made possible by Iran providing the rockets -- in complete violation of promises made by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other most senior Iranian leaders to their Iraqi counterparts. “And if Bush doesn't order the bombing of Iran , bloggers write matter-of-factly, McCain, as president, will not hesitate. Both McCain and Lieberman have said on separate occasions that there is only one thing worse than bombing Iran -- and that's Iran with nuclear weapons. Bombing thus becomes the lesser of two evils. “Blogs also speculate on whether one Iranian nuclear weapon against Tel Aviv would knock out the state of Israel . Blog opinion is evenly divided between those who say Israel could not survive such a blow and those who say Iran would be pulverized by nuclear retaliation from Israel and the United States , and the Western world would coalesce around an Israeli reconstruction effort. “Important pieces of the Mideast jigsaw fail to make it into mainstream media but can be found online. The United Arab Emirates-based newspaper Gulf News said last week that with Bush in office Washington is effectively maintaining low-intensity warfare with Iran and the potential exists to ratchet it up to more open hostilities. Recurring visits by Cheney and McCain to Iraq and Israel, added Gulf News, are 'surely not "coincidences" but a means to ensure Israel remains fully in the picture for any plans the U.S. could have against Iran.' “The latest iterations about Iran's nuclear ambitions are seen by Arab blogs as a pretext for fresh adventurism in the region, bearing in mind that Iraq has now suddenly taken a turn for the worst and Afghanistan isn't faring well either. Arab media speculate the Bush administration may feel engaging the United States militarily in Iran is its only option for seeing a Republican president elected in November. “Blogs -- factoid or fact? -- quote an aide to Cheney saying the United States will need the cooperation of Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey to mount air attacks on Iran. Blogs, newspapers, radio, television, all in fierce competition, al-Jazeera's forced competition in the Iraqi war zone, imams double-shifting as spies, thousands of volunteer Pakistani spooks for temporary duty in Afghanistan , and it soon becomes multi-dimensional chess. “Reporting these days requires speed reading -- and what Hemingway called a bullfeathers detector.” As always, Arnaud de Borchgrave understands the dynamics of the unfolding politics in the U.S. presidential campaign, and the volatile global scene that requires a very strong next administration to protect and advance U.S. interests on both economic and national security fronts.