It's too rainy to fly the flag. I'm so proud of the heroes in my family. To think, my father died so Blister Billy could debate the meaning of "is."

Marine Major Daniel Rabin, in the Washington Times, says "Please impeach him." He expresses doubt about the bombings, and he talks about Clinton making military decisions while saving himself the cost of a prostitute. Rabin says Clinton wouldn't get a security clearance on his record. He says he's willing to risk his commission, unlike his Generals. (And, indeed, he is under investigation now.) It's a nice editorial.

William Buckley says we'll regret this, one day. Meanwhile, Arlen Specter suggests the Congress abandon impeachment, and ignore censure, but that Clinton should undergo criminal prosecution as soon as he leaves office. (This might lead to a plea-bargain resignation so he could stay out of jail.)

"A failure to respond cound embolden Saddam..." Yes, what about January? What about Scott Ritter? However, better late than never.

Rich and I braved the weather and went downtown to the Parade. We walked one block from the train station and were at the reviewing stand next to the Capitol. What a great location! The American Legion Band played for us for the half-hour it took for the parade to get to us.

While we were waiting, an Asian in camouflage walked by. His shoulder patch read "Cong Minh Something Something." Rich and I assumed he was an ally, but it wasn't till the unit marched by that we were sure. There were also veterans of the Nisei Battalion that volunteered from the camps. There was another ethnic unit of Spanish-American vets.

As Rich says, there were 2.1 bands. The .1 was a Lutheran elementary school. We were "treated" to them murdering "America the Beautiful" and of course applauded loudly. The announcer then announced a "slightly bigger" band, the CSUS Hornets. "Slightly better" would have done, as well! Oh, but the little kids were enthusiastic. My girls were in a kid's marching band for a few years, too. And we lived through it. Rich actually did some marching training with them. That band was marginally better than this one, but they seemed to be having a good time. The other band was from a 2-year-old high school. This is going to be a school we hear about, I can tell.

Besides the Veterans' units, there were a lot of Junior ROTC units. They all performed at the reviewing stand. This was amusing. The talents were varied, shall we say. It's ironic that CSUS no longer has ROTC, due to the gay issue, which hurts the minorities and women who could have used ROTC scholarships for college. Cutting off their noses to spite their faces.

The woman standing behind us has two daughters in the Army, and she was very proud. One is getting her Master's in Maryland. She was the first black woman recruiting officer wherever she was. Mama praised up the kids for quite a while. It was neat to hear.

I kept bursting into tears: Pearl Harbor Survivors, the Submarine Vets (2% of the fleet sinking 55% of the ships), the Vietnamese unit. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell came by with his motorcycle unit. There was one guy either stoned or just psycho who walked along shouting obscenities, then threw some stuff into the street, then (oddly) picked it up and disappeared.

The parade had baton twirlers and Scouts and horses. Definitely a good parade, and considering the weather it was a good turnout.

Then Rich and I went to the Downtown Plaza and wandered around looking at neat things. There was a stuffed T-Rex with big feet and googly eyes which was interesting, and I liked the Daffy Duck "Despicabubble" bath (in "duck a l'orange"). I got three Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain videos. At one point, Rich was in the middle of the street checking something out as traffic bore down upon him. He'd forgotten he wasn't on the pedestrian mall! And so home. There had been a lost hound puppy at one station, but it was gone when we came back through, which is just as well. I certainly don't need another dog!

On the television they say that 20% of the Loaves and Fishes guests are veterans. Maybe AngerGuy is one of them.