Don't Know If You Heard This Last Night at the RNC.

I watched the Republican National Convention for a few hours last night, mainly to hear Paul Ryan.

The Queen and Princess thought he reminded them of the Guy Teacher on "Glee". I said he reminded me of Harrison Ford's character in "Air Force One".

He was articulate, passionate, emotional, and forceful. All good things for a politician.

He made some valid points which the Democrats will pick up on and call lies before they accuse him of assault or murder. All is fair in politics.

It's not even September and I'm already worn out from the process. And I have this queasy feeling that it will get worse before November.

I don't know if anyone else caught this in one of the speeches last night but it merits inclusion here:

We in this country, in this generation, are — by destiny rather than choice — the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of “peace on earth, good will toward men.” That must always be our goal, and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: “except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”

As a country, we do have a destiny, and I believe it comes from a much higher source than politicians lead us to believe.

As citizens, we have to take the "long look" instead of settling for the short-term.

If you missed the speech quoted above, there's a reason.

That's an excerpt from a speech which was scheduled to be delivered almost fifty years ago on a November afternoon in Dallas, Texas.

If only John F. Kennedy had lived another hour or so.

Amazingly, he sounds a lot like a current-day Republican.

Or is that a patriot I hear in that speech?

Elvis Left The Building.

My sweetheart had a chance to be an usher at a Macon Elvis concert back in the mid-70's when she was in college but passed on the opportunity.

If she had only gone we might have met sooner...

Today, on the 35th Anniversary of his death disappearance, over 75,000 people have descended upon Memphis and Graceland. A good friend of mine is there and is keeping me updated on events.

As I've written previously, I've been an Elvis fan all my life.

Every woman wanted to be with him, every man wanted to be him, and I thought I was him.

I could curl my lip, move my hips, and even sound a little like him.

And now I'm older than he was when he went away. But he never really left, did he?

I've been to Graceland, walked in, and knew where everything in the house was located (the infamous bathroom is right above the front door).

I've been on the beach at Daytona and had someone mistake me for Elvis.

I've answered the phone and made people think they were talking to the King.

I'm not making any of this up. Scary, ain't it?

I don't wonder what would have happened if Elvis had stayed around because, again, he's not really gone.

He's on my desktop, in my YouTube account, on my DVD player, and in my iPhone.

There's not another one like him, but I might as well admit it--he's gone.

Emily asked me when she was very young if I thought Elvis was in heaven.

Oh. Yeah.

Singing in the choir.