Operation AXIOM
"Remember the Maine!" One hundred fifteen years ago to the day, 15 February 1898, the battleship U.S.S. Maine exploded & sank in Havana Harbor, the precipitating event of the Spanish-American War. The Spanish-American War, though largely forgotten today, was a seminal event in our nation's history. It helped to heal the north-south divide that had lingered since the Civil War & saw the United States step out upon the world stage in a way we never had before, directly confronting a European power over her colonies &, in the process, founding our own petite colonial empire. All these years later, no one is certain exactly what befell the Maine—accident or act of war.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day After Valentine's Day
The Proclaimers, "Heaven Right Now" from Persevere (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: It occurred to me only too late that such is my disdain for Valentine's Day that picking of heartbreak & love gone awry as the Rebel Black Dot Song of Valentine's Day is the best way to mark that trashiest of holidays. "Scotland's Song" is grand, but "Heaven Right Now" would have been a better R.B.D.S.O.T.D. for Valentine's Day. Better late than never, I suppose.

"She's everythin' a married man
Should look for in a girl,
She's married too but not to you
And that's part of the thrill…

"She's old enough to know of love
And know that this is not,
But young enough to not be willing
To settle for what she's got…"