New & improved Swamp

[Paule]

After a weekend trip home to Arkansas, Bill Clinton stepped from the
helicopter and onto the White House lawn. He was carrying two
Arkansas-bred >hawgs, one under each arm. At the bottom of the steps, a
young Marine
snapped to attention, saluted sharply and said, "Fine looking pigs,
sir!"

Clinton turned and glared at the boy. "Son, don't you know I'm from
Arkansas? These ain't pigs. They're hawgs."

The Marine shot back, "Marine begs the COMMANDER IN CHIEF'S pardon, sir!
Fine looking hawgs, sir!"

Clinton smiled with pride and the young man relaxed.

The President went on, "Thank you, son. You see this one here?" He
lifted up the pig under his right arm. "I got this one for Chelsea." Then
he
nodded to the hawg on his left. "And this one here, I got for Hillary."

At that the Marine snapped back to attention and said, "Outstanding
trade, >sir!"




Military courtesy change
I picked up on something very funny this morning. CNN showed George W.
leaving Marine-1. The Marine at the front step saluted, GW returned it, and
as he walked away, the Marine executed a right face to stand facing GW's
back...something that was missing in eight years of the Clinton presidency.

The traditional Marine Corps mark of respect was rendered to the new
president. That one goes back to the days in the rigging, when the Marine
orderly to the ship's captain always faced him, no matter his direction of
movement, to be ready to receive an order.

Who says that enlisted men can't hold back when they don't respect someone?
...And for eight years, they did.