MIKE'S AT THE BEACH

Saturday, May 31, 2014

A Golf Story

Nothing like a good golf story. And this is not only about golf but also about the wisdom that comes with age...

Subject: A Great Golf Story...

  A father, son and grandson went to the country club for their weekly round of golf. Just as they reached the first tee, a     beautiful young blonde woman carrying her bag of clubs          approached them. She explained that the member who brought her  to the club for a round of golf had an emergency that called hi away and asked the trio whether she could join them.

Naturally, the guys all agreed.

Smiling, the blonde thanked them and said, 'Look, fellows, I work in a topless bar as a dancer, so nothing shocks me anymore. If any of you want to smoke cigars, have a beer, bet, swear, tell off-color stories or do anything that you normally do when playing a round together, go ahead. But, I enjoy playing golf, consider myself pretty good at it, so don't try to coach me on how to play my shots.' With that the guys agreed to relax and invited her to drive first.

All eyes were fastened on her shapely behind as she bent to place her ball on the tee. She then took her driver and hit the ball 270 yards down the middle, right in front of the green. The father's mouth was agape. 'That was beautiful,' he said. The blonde put her driver away and said, 'I really didn't get into it, and I faded it a little.' After the three guys hit their drives and their second shots, the blonde took out an eight iron and lofted the ball within five feet of the hole. (She was closest to the pin.) The son said, ' Damn, lady, you played that perfectly.' The blonde frowned and said, 'It was a little weak, but even an easy seven would have been too much club. I've left a tricky little putt.' She then tapped in the five-footer for a birdie.

Having the honors, she drove first on the second hole, knocked the heck out of the ball, and it landed nearly 300 yards away smack in the middle of the fairway. For the rest of the round the statuesque blonde continued to amaze the guys, quietly and methodically shooting for par or less on every hole.

When they arrived at the 18th green, the blonde was three under par, and had a very nasty 12-foot putt on an undulating green for a par. She turned to the three guys and said, 'I really want to thank you all for not acting like a bunch of chauvinists and telling me what club to use or how to play a shot, but I need this putt for a 69 and I'd really like to break 70 on this course. If any one of you can tell me how to make par on this hole I'll take him back to my apartment, pour some 35-year-old Single Malt Strath Mill Scotch in him, fix him a steak dinner and then show him a very good time the rest of the night.'

The yuppie son jumped at the thought! He strolled across the green, carefully eyeing the line of the putt and finally said, 'Honey, aim about 6 inches to the right of the hole and hit it firm. It will get over that little hump and break right into the cup.'

The father knelt down and sighted the putt using his putter as a plumb. 'Don't listen to the kid, darlin,' you want to hit it softly 10 inches to the right and let it run left down that little hogback, so it falls into the cup.'

The old gray-haired grandfather walked over to the blonde's ball, picked it up and handed it to her and said, 'That's a gimme, sweetheart.'

The blonde smiled and said, 'Your car or mine?'

OLD AGE AND TREACHERY WILL OVERCOME YOUTH AND SKILL EVERY TIME!

Friday, May 30, 2014

The Hillary Defense

This used to be known as "The Otter Defense". I just saw a story about an excerpt from Hillary's forthcoming book in which her strategy will be to say that she won't stoop to even discussing Benghazi because it stains the memory of those murdered. The gall! The sad thing is that she will probably get away with it. Anyway...I think The Otter Defense is much more appropriate as The Hillary Defense. It makes about as much sense.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Friday Funnies

Somehow this seems appropriate this week...

West Point Folly

There is so much in the news these days that points out the increasing disaster that is the Obama Presidency. The two things that are fodder for criticism this week are the shameful VA scandal and the dismantling of our position of world leadership through the dismantling of our foreign policy. So let's just take a look at the latter issue because I'm still too disgusted by the former.

The President delivered a major foreign policy speech at West Point this week at the Commencement ceremony in which he laid out his agenda for the remainder of his second term. It was, in my view as well as many others, a major failure. Check out the opinion of the New York Times here. The liberal, Obama-protecting New York Times!! Here's the pull quote:

"...The address did not match the hype, was largely uninspiring, lacked strategic sweep and is unlikely to quiet his detractors, on the right or the left."

This guy can't outline a coherent, “grand strategy" to save his life. Since he took the oath of office President Obama has been a reluctant internationalist, focusing on domestic issues and allowing critical foreign policy decisions to languish. The speech was supposed to be a re-evaluation/renewal of his foreign policy approach but there was nothing in this speech that will change the minds of the increasing number who find him weak on foreign affairs. This speech seems to collect together some of the themes the President has, in the view of many, half-heartedly espoused throughout his presidency. As has been his consistent modus operandi, he can espouse theory with the best of them but when it comes to implementation he is clueless and ineffective. At some points the President sounds defensive, and rather than building a vision for the future, he is listing achievements (or almost-achievements, such as an agreement with Iran) of the past years. He does describe the requirements for any new military engagement – it must affect our core interests. But what are those? I don't think he has a clue. But I suspect it would be something like a direct attack of some sort on the homeland. And if that is the criteria, then we have totally retreated from our leadership position in the world. And outlining so specifically what the US will and won’t do, will embolden some of our enemies to create more instability in certain regions.

I fear it will take years and significant treasure to rebuild our position in the world. And it's not just about power. It's about trade, stability, coalitions, and diplomacy. Without a strong position, without the belief by our friends that they can count on us and our enemies that we will not be pushed around, we will face many more crises. We have robbed funding from our instruments of diplomacy and defense to the point that they can only do so much. I hope we can hang on for a few more years until someone comes along who understands foreign relations and can implement solutions.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Men

Saw these two little dittys while surfing around the net. Was going to save them of Friday Funnies, but they both crack me up so here they are. See ladies, we can laugh at ourselves!

Cool Pic

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Motivation Monday

Good Advice

Cool Pic

I Love Dogs

I Miss George...

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Interesting

Every once in a while I stumble on something obvious but that I never really thought much about. This is one of them...

Cool Pic

Ballooning

Never have gotten it...never will. Looks dangerous and scary. Not for me.

World Cup

Every 4 years the World Cup comes around and the soccer (football to you Euros) world goes a bit goofy. It dominates talk, all talk turns to who's in, who's out, who the heroes are, etc. of course, this year they are going to get to talk about the disaster that is Rio. Can't wait for the Olympics!!