Quinn hanging out on Memorial Day weekend 2005.

Thank You

Today is a day to honor those who served. In our combined family - just including our immediate parents, grandparents, uncles, and cousins, we have a long tradition of military service, many of whom saw combat in war, all of whom served honorably.

We stand on their shoulders in appreciation.

Kathleen’s side of the family:
William J. Morrow - US Army
Max Marshall Sheils – US Army
Bill Dye – US Navy
Lt. Col. William J. Morrow, Jr. (Ret.) - US Army, Silver Star
Col. Connie Vandermarliere Morrow - US Air Force
Max M. Sheils – US Army


Mike’s side of the family:
John P. Duke - US Navy
Charles M. Kennedy - US Army
John “Jack” Kennedy – US Army
Richard Kennedy – US Army
Raymond Duke – US Army
James P. Docherty – US Marines
Michael R. Pearce – US Army
Brian Kennedy – US Army

Nora Lou getting ready for a bike trip - March 2005.

USATODAY.com - French vote against new EU constitution

When I lived and studied in Paris in 1988, we did a paper on the European Union, with the great then-deadline looming of 1992 for unity on the common market. Events this week show just how slow time marches and how difficult fundamental change of the sort they've been contemplating really is.

USATODAY.com - French vote against new EU constitution

A frequent visitor to the backyard. No surprise the neighborhood is called Grouse Meadows.

Mike and Quinn February 16, 2005

Max strolls the beach in Florida with Mom on a trip to Grandma and Grandpa Morrow's condo. December 2004.

Maggie and Max drying off after swimming at Grandma and Grandpa Kennedy's pool in Miami, Florida. December 2004.

The ultimate irony - fate puts Will on the Coeur d'Alene Little League Red Sox...

Mrs. Kennedy at a M*A*S*H-themed birthday party several months ago for Mike Pearce.

Where the heck did I put my glasses to read this story?

FDA Looking Into Blindness-Viagra Link

Bill O'Reilly Hate Speech

I've come to believe that Bill O'Reilly is unstable, and along with people like Ann Coulter and Michael Savage, sets a tone for discourse in this country that is downright dangerous. People should not support this guy by buying his books or watching his programs. Free market response to hate speech.

From Media Matters for America : "Fox News host Bill O'Reilly said that Los Angeles Times editorial board wouldn't understand his objection to legal representation for detainees at Guantànamo Bay, Cuba, until terrorists "grab [editorial page editor] Michael Kinsley out of his little house and they cut off his head." He further opined: "And maybe when the blade sinks in, he'll go, 'Perhaps O'Reilly was right.'"

Yankees Back on Track

After a horrendous start, the Yankees seem to be getting back on track in the AL East. The Orioles remaining surprisingly strong, but I don't think they'll have the horses to get over the finish line. Any bets?

Former Congressman Decides Not to Run Again

Having been aware of and a small part of this discussion over the last two months, I'm happy for Larry that he's decided not to take on this race at this time. He doesn't need to put himself through the grind when he has a great life with his amazing wife Chris. He has always been a tireless and terrific campaigner, so the Dems in Idaho will miss that, but it will really be better for him. He gave me my first real political opportunity, and what an opportunity it was, to work as an intern on Capitol Hill in DC. I'll always appreciate that and I wish him the best.


LaRocco Decides Against Another Campaign

Please Don't Tell My Wife...

My wife left early Friday morning for the wedding of her cousin Kyle Waford in Idaho Falls. Since then, I’ve been 100% in charge of 80% of our children (20% are with her, too young to leave alone with Dad). It hasn’t been pretty.

Please don’t tell my wife that:

• the kids forgot to brush their teeth this morning. And last night. And maybe tonight – but I took their word for it on that one.
• 2 out of 5 meals we’ve eaten since she’s been gone have been cereal. No complaints, but precious little nutrition. 2 out of 5 meals have been the meatballs she cooked before she left, but I actually cooked the noodles to go with them – yay!
• the fifth meal was McDonald’s (it may not be the last, depending on how tomorrow goes).
• Maggie couldn’t sleep last night, so she came down and sat in my office for 90 minutes waaaaay after her bedtime watching a biography special on Ray Charles with me while I pounded away on the computer catching up on 56 emails, 6 of which actually were important.
• when we finally went upstairs, she slept in Mom’s spot in our bed because she was missing Mom so much she cried twice.
• One of those 5 meals? Breakfast this morning? Uh, Will (the 9 year old) fixed it for the other kids because I wasn’t awake yet and they wanted to let Dad sleep in.
• I yelled at the kids because at one point they were playing too loudly and I couldn’t think enough to figure out the instructions on the McDonald’s Happy Meal game so that Maggie would play it and not cry again because she missed Mom.
• Max had a less than normal number of diaper changes – no problems, but holy cow what can happen when you’re not as attentive to that as you should be.
• I did contemplate trying to arrange a sleepovers for at least one of the other kids so the ratio would be more manageable, but decided that he was too much help to me with the other kids
• I put a movie on, locked all the doors, and mowed the lawn with my iPod on for a little “respite”.
• They’ve watched more TV in the last 36 hours than in the last week combined.
• And we’re watching another movie while I type this.
• Will’s new favorite song is “Mickey”, from the 80’s soundtrack on the digital cable music channel that I left on after making dinner – I’ll try to fix that one and erase it from his memory
• I decided instead of washing the sheets again for a wonderful homecoming for Mom, that I would just sleep on the mattress cover and put the clean sheets she washed on before she gets home.

At a baseball game today I told two other Dads of my Mr. Mom situation, and both gave varying themes on the same exact sentiment: “Man, it’s hell, but God, don’t let her know that – don’t’ let her see you sweat, brother.”

So if you see my wife, tell her you saw us at the library and I was reading to them while a Mozart symphony played in the background. All’s well. Really.

Dan Carol v. Frank Luntz

This is a terrific piece by my friend Dan Carol. Our country desparately needs a real energy policy, yet all we get from GOP consultants is pabulum. Insider political hacks know both Dan and Frank. I'd pay real money to watch Carol eat Luntz's lunch...
_____________________________
Dan Carol: "Frank Luntz is a Weenie"
5.16.2005
From the Huffington Post - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/dan-carol/frank-luntz-is-a-weenie_933.html

Frank Luntz: I am calling you out. It’s time to stop the ducking and start debating.
The quick background: About a month ago, I challenged GOP pollster Frank Luntz privately in an email to debate energy policy at a time and place of his choosing (and with expanded debate posses if he wanted) because I was so disgusted by how lame his Republican energy “talking points” were.
See Frank, if you don’t know him, is the self-proclaimed genius of using focus groups to find the right words to sell just about anything. And he’s made a career of doing it for Newt Gingrich, George Bush, Republican candidates and loads of corporations.
But this isn’t about Republican v. Democratic stuff – at all. In fact, there are lots of folks on both sides of the aisle (like Robert F Kennedy, Jr. and John McCain of StopGlobalWarming.org, and the Set America Free, Apollo Alliance and Reenergize America coalitions) who are transcending party politics and coming together to spur creative new efforts to create US energy independence. Serious folks – who get that the Bush-Cheney-Luntz energy policy is for the dinosaurs.
Now let’s be clear. I am not ticked off that Frank Luntz is exercising his right to sell his view of the world (drill more oil and build extra nukes with massive taxpayer subsidies) but that the sum total of what he is selling and spinning falls so woefully short of achieving anything close to US energy independence -- while American troops are literally in harm’s way.
That level of political gamesmanship seems to me, in a word, to be UNCONSCIONABLE.
Now I should point out this is hardly the first time (or second, or third) that Mr. Luntz has been called a misleading blowhard or had his ethics questioned.
But maybe it was the first time he was called out as a policy poser with a few of his friends and funders on the cc of the email. Yup, I did that on purpose and he got kinda of mad and refused to debate in a curt response.
Anyhow, while I felt pretty good after that I think a little more shaming is in order. Now I’m willing to admit that maybe I have an anger management problem but as a former energy analyst, a progressive patriot and the father of two I am pretty fired up about this energy stuff being done right. I truly think our economic and national security future is at stake -- and I am not alone.
So here’s my offer again:
Frank, let’s debate serious energy policy at a time and place of your choosing. I am planning to take the summer off so my suggestion for you is to take that time to bone up on a real set of policies you can stand behind (as well as spin) and let’s hit a few campuses this fall. Stanford’s Roosevelt Institution can sponsor one debate I’ll wager; you can pick another venue and sponsor.
And like I said, I am happy to do this alone or with debate posses, on additional topics, if you’d prefer. Or we can go at it right here and right now on The Huffington Post.
Now, maybe Arianna knows the answer, but I am not even sure if Luntz is a Huffington poster. But he is reachable at this email, info@luntz.com, if folks want to send him a note of encouragement.