THE MOTHER OF ALL CRUNCH-TIMES

Of all crunch-times, this one is The Crunchiest. Of all deadlines, the deadliest.

I think we all owe Saddam this much at least: he coined a pretty cute turn of phrase, up there. It sounded all dumb the first time he said it. "The Mother of All Wars?" How's a war going to come along at this late date, and then - all casual-like - go give birth to all those other wars we're already familiar with from history books? That's like putting the ancestor before the predecessor. That's like putting the pony before the horse! When we all know that ponies evolved from horses (did you know that? I think that's right, it's a damn solid guess in any event). But yet it had a sort of "Balky from 'Perfect Strangers'" malaprop cuteness to it, too. It fit, in a twisted sort of ESL ethnic neighborhood shopkeeper way. In the end, I'd say that little phrase alone - who knows if he was even the original coiner on that, but popularizing it, giving it its widespread cachet - that one contribution of his was worth the expense of us bothering to go through the motions of that whole show trial deal and associated rigmarole prior to the foregone conclusion execution. He earned it.

So anyway, the point of this post is: I am tremendously busy RIGHT NOW. Tremendously. Big pressure deadline. Lots to do and not enough time. Right now.