Center for a New American Security

Some clarification is in order. While it is true that I do enjoy Bushmills and actually have a bottle of it here, in my office, I feel the need to identify my very favorite whiskies for the sake of the readership. I like Scotch, bourbon, Tennessee whisky (same as bourbon, but mellowed through charcoal), and Irish whiskey. So I do not discriminate. That said...

1. Highland Park (18 years): Probably my favorite Scotch that I can afford.
2. Van Winkle Special Reserve (12 years): My favorite bourbon. I have a bottle of this in my office as well.
3. The Balvenie 21 Years Old Port Wood: My favorite Scotch that I cannot afford.
4. Maker's Mark Kentucky Straight Bourbon: There is nothing wrong with Maker's Mark.
5. Bushmills Original: There is nothing wrong with Bushmills either.

Now leave me alone. I am a man of simple taste. Once I was at an open-bar party with the restaurant critic for the New York Times, and he was horrified that I was drinking Maker's Mark when I could have been drinking Knob Creek. "But I like Maker's Mark," I said. And that's all anyone needs to say.

Readers: Don't everyone get excited at once, but Road House is on AMC right now. I spent a more-enjoyable-than-it-should-have-been evening in Beirut a few months back watching Road House dubbed into French. C'est Dalton!

Real heroes, meanwhile, were on display yesterday at Fort Bragg. I'm sure you all saw this in the Post:

As Ford and Staff Sgt. John Wayne Walding returned fire, Walding was hit below his right knee. Ford turned and saw that the bullet "basically amputated his right leg right there on the battlefield."

Walding, of Groesbeck, Tex., recalled: "I literally grabbed my boot and put it in my crotch, then got the boot laces and tied it to my thigh, so it would not flop around. There was about two inches of meat holding my leg on." He put on a tourniquet, watching the blood flow out the stump to see when it was tight enough.

Then Walding tried to inject himself with morphine but accidentally used the wrong tip of the syringe and put the needle in this thumb, he later recalled. "My thumb felt great," he said wryly, noting that throughout the incident he never lost consciousness. "My name is John Wayne," he said.

Jaysus.

Finally, your eponymous blogger was procrastinating this past week and went for a tour of his local distillery. Photo below. I am now prepared to explain the differences between Tennessee whiskey and bourbon whiskey. I can't believe I grew up in Tennessee without ever having visited before.