Barry's Life in Napa Blog

I'm no fan of Pres. Bush. We all know he lacks skills, is a general daily embarrassment, and an example of the Peter Principle in action. Nonetheless, history will probably show that he was right about a few things, and one of them may be the thing he is most vilified for-namely, the war in Iraq. Thanks to my man Chris for passing along this item that I would otherwise have never seen. Terror On Wane,' 'Al-Qaida On Run' And Other Headlines You Won't See INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted 5/22/2008 Mileposts: As President Bush's term winds down, signs are there that the war on terror is being won. The conflict in Iraq is ebbing, and worldwide terror attacks are down. When will someone call it what it is? VICTORY. Back from the front, Gen. David Petraeus called on Congress Thursday to begin considering a drawdown of U.S. troops after five years of war...

Let me be the first to admit that I am peevish. It's been a lifelong battle to avoid showing the world just how easily irritated I am. So it make sense that I have more than my fair share of pet peeves, in addition to my many peeves that remain feral. High on my list of peeves (and I do actually have a list, I keep it in my wallet) are people who forward emails with wild and false claims, never taking a moment to consider if the warning, amazement or indignation they're sharing has any ghost of validity. Being big on the whole truth thing, each time I get one these canards in my inbox I feel - you guessed it - peevish. It's not as if there aren't simple ways to check the reality of the latest outrageous news. There's snopes.com , for Pete's sake. How hard is that to use? Simply type in a few keywords from the latest lamebrain email you received, and chances are you'll know in 10 seconds whether to alert the nation or not. (But the more challenging question i...

I need a good book to read. I always feel out of sorts when I don't have a good book going, and right now I am in between reading gigs. I could feel this coming on as I finished Thirteen Moons . Really loved that one, and experience tells me that it's rare to find a great book to follow a great book. More likely you get a double-bogey after a birdie, which is something else I have experience with. Don't get me started. Thirteen Moons had everything I like in a novel - historical context, wisdom, a sense of humor, a character I could believe and care about, and just the right amount of sentimentality. (The New York Times review said this one by Frazier is a lot closer to Larry McMurtry than to Cormac McCarthy, which is just fine. Anything that falls on the spectrum between those two guys is going to be a good read for me.) I hated knowing that I would have to finish it. Now what? I periodically commit myself to the idea that I won't buy another book until I have read e...

Remember the movie The Jerk? Steve Martin starts off the story narrating as his character Navin Johnson by saying "I was born a poor black child." It's funny because it's so obviously not true. We all know Steve Martin, and we know he's not black. In fact, he's really, really white. And he delivers it with a straight face. So we juxtapose the obvious truth with the earnestly-made statement, and voila! Comedy! So how is it now that Hillary Clinton can get away with this last month of pretending to be a pickup-driving, duck hunting, boilermaker-swilling blue collar candidate without generating thunderous guffaws everywhere she goes? We have the juxtaposition - the obvious truth that Hillary is one of those candidates who might go blank if she was asked the current cost of a gallon of milk (a question that stumped the first Pres. Bush, I recall), and the earnestly-made statement, i.e., "I am just a good ol' boy - or good ol' woman - like you." ...

Six Flags Visitor Arrested For Hitting Camel VALLEJO (AP) ― A man has been arrested for allegedly punching a camel on a dare at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Vallejo police say 24-year-old Christopher Allen was dared by a friend to enter a restricted area at the theme park where the camel was kept and punch it. He struck the animal and was arrested. Undoubtedly our top story today is this tragedy that was perpetrated in nearby Vallejo. On first instinct, you might wonder what kind of meth head would get exercised enough to want to punch a camel. But this clearly seems to me to be a copycat crime. This kid was either trying to duplicate the "Mongo cold cocks a horse" scene from Blazing Saddles , or more likely, a "Conan punches a camel" scene that can be found as a video game excerpt on You Tube. Then again, if you are in the captive animal taunting business, it's always better to choose somethi...