LorieByrd.com

Old Folks Home

I got a chuckle out of the following comment I found posted at Polipundit:

We should start an old folks home for politicians who become unhinged by their defeats. The first four residents would be Carter, Gore, Dean and Cleland. The fifth resident will be Kerry. Each would receive a complimentary tinfoil Napoleon hat.
STLScott

How Did MSNBC Get This Name Past the Network Censors?

At the risk of being provacative, I really wonder how Hardball's blog name, "HardBlogger," got past the network censors. Well, I guess it is cable, afterall. Lest I be accused of having my mind in the gutter, all that is necessary to prove I am not the only one amused by the name, is to take a look at Chris Matthews' face everytime he is forced to say it.

Convention Music

My nomination for the Brooks & Dunn song to be performed at the Republican Convention is "Only In America". Here are the lyrics:

Only In America (Kix Brooks/Don Cook/Ronnie Rogers)

Sun coming up over New York City
School bus driver in a traffic jam
Starin' at the faces in her rearview mirror
Looking at the promise of the Promised Land
One kid dreams of fame and fortune
One kid helps pay the rent
One could end up going to prison
One just might be president

Only in America
Dreaming in red, white and blue
Only in America
Where we dream as big as we want to
We all get a chance
Everybody gets to dance
Only in America

Sun going down on an La. freeway
Newlyweds in the back of a limousine
A welder's son and a banker's daughter
All they want is everything
She came out here to be an actress
He was the singer in a band
They just might go back to Oklahoma
And talk about the stars they could have been

Only in America
Where we dream in red, white and blue
Only in America
Where we dream as big as we want to
We all get a chance
Everybody gets to dance
Only in America

Yeah only in America
Where we dream in red, white and blue
Yeah we dream as big as we want to

The New Media Has Earned The Right To Declare Mission Accomplished

I have argued in the past that George Bush was not wrong to give his speech in front of the "Mission Accomplished" banner aboard the deck of that aircraft carrier in 2003 because we had accomplished the remarkable feat of removing Saddam Hussein from power in an incredibly short period of time and with many less casualties than expected. He said in his speech that there was hard work ahead and when the media pressed his spokesman asking if the President was declaring an end to the war, he made clear that it was ONLY an end of major combat operations -- which it was. So it is in that context, that I believe it fitting that the blogosphere make the same claim with respect to the claims of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT).

Mission Accomplished. The mission was not a partisan one or even an ideological one. John Kerry has not been defeated. The election is still months away, after all, and his defeat was not even the mission. The mission was to let the SBVT be heard and to force the mainstream media to report the story. It is obvious now that has been accomplished. A further mission now might be to hold the media's feet to the fire and attempt to ensure they cover the story somewhat fairly. Some great work toward that end has begun by many bloggers commenting on and answering the recent New York Times front page hit piece on the SBVT. But those are only individual missions.

The greater war, to transform the media from one held by a few elitist liberals who choose to report only the things they deem "fit to print' is, like the war in Iraq, far from over. The objectives of the individual missions will change, but it is clear that the mission will continue to rest in the hands of those in the new media -- the blogosphere, talk radio, and perhaps the strangest of concepts ever to become reality, a fair and balanced cable news channel called Fox News.

There will be many more battles to fight, but the past few weeks have proven that the new media is up to the task and that victory is inevitable.

[This is cross-posted at Polipundit.com]

UPDATE: I just love this picture.

Just Little Ole Me, Trying To Change The World

Well, this is it -- the first entry of my very own blog. Okay, go ahead and laugh at the name and also feel free to state the obvious, alternate interpretation of Byrd "Droppings". I hope the name will be, at the very least, hard to forget. It does convey what I will be doing here -- dropping on the reader whatever pops into my head. (And besides, the name I chose first was already taken.)

I have been guest blogging at Polipundit.com for a few months now and in the process was bitten by the blogging bug. I had not done any writing at all since college (1988 - yikes!) and blogging has rekindled in me a love of writing that I had forgotten. It has also given me an outlet to express the strong opinions I have about politics and current events. I will continue to do most of my blogging at Polipundit. Polipundit built a reputation for great political analysis and I am extremely thankful for the opportunity, instruction and friendship Polipundit has shared with me and plan to continue as long as I can to make a meaningful contribution there.

So why, some may ask, are you starting your own blog? I plan to use this space to write pieces that don't necessarily fit Polipundit's format. These will likely include subjects of a non-political nature, posts written from a more personal perspective, longer pieces that would brand me a "blog hog" in the group blog format, and last, but not least, posts that I am afraid might embarrass my fellow bloggers at Polipundit. The title of this blog is probably a pretty good example of that last category.

I hope the readers who have enjoyed my posts at Polipundit will visit here often to check out Byrd Droppings. I appreciate all the comments and advice I can get, so please feel free to drop some truth on me in the comments section. Okay, y'all, let's get busy changing the world.