Happy 232nd Birthday

If you know anyone who is actively serving in the Marines Corps (or who used to) you ought to wish them a happy birthday today. (I say "used to" because to the Marines, there are no ex-Marines, with the possible exception of Lee Harvey Oswald.)

Anyway, on November 10th, 1775, the Continental Congress authorized the creation of the Marines, and since the late 1800s, the Marines have recognized 11/10 as their collective birthday. New recruits are encouraged to adopt this date as "their" birthday, symbolizing their new identity as Marines.

The tradition doesn't end there. At Marines Corps birthday celebrations, they cut the cake with a friggin' sword. (How awesome is that?) The oldest Marine in attendance gets to sample the first piece of cake, followed by the youngest. This symbolizes the continuity of the Marine Corps tradition.

Anyway, if you know any young or old Marines, today would be a good day to wish them a happy 232nd birthday.

Mark Warner

I think Mark Warner is a good guy. He's a good example of a business-friendly Democrat, a guy who used his millions made in the private sector to affect Virginia politics for the better. I think his heart's in the right place and his politics reflect where America needs to be going.

But the guy will never get a dollar of campaign contributions from me, nor will he get a supportive vote or even so much as a honked horn at a traffic circle. Why?

Because the guy was one of the early investors in Nextel, and those phones suck. Oh, my God, they suck. Four guys from my office once stood on the roof of a building that had Verizon and Nextel antennae on top of it. Their personal Verizon phones got full bars, while their Nextels had one bar or no service at all.

Who's to say he's not going to invest political capital, as a senator, in a program that will leave us saying, "Can you hear me now? Dammit!"