Madonna del Sasso, Locarno, Switzerland

Blogging at 33,000 feet

Any normal person would be asleep right now. In fact as I look around, most people ARE asleep right now, but I’m not so sure they’re normal. This cloth covered seat is killing my ass, and the combination of a venti triple-mocha from Starbucks (a 3 shot espresso for those of you not fluent in Starbucks) and my unreasonable and untreatable anxiety for flying have me wondering how the hell I’m supposed to spend the next 3 ½ hours high above the Atlantic Ocean. We’ve been in the air now for more than 4 hours on what has been a seemingly unending non-stop flight from Dulles to Zurich. It’s 11:00pm EST, but I’ve already set my (Swiss) watch ahead to 5:00am Zurich time. That by itself should clue you in on my dilemma. By far, this is the longest plane ride I’ve taken… and though we’ve had pockets of minor turbulence here and there, this has to this point been a perfect flight. Meanwhile, Susie is reading her airport-purchased copy of ‘102 Minutes’, a newly released book which details many lesser known acts of heroism that took place inside the World Trade Center on September 11^th, 2001. Yeah, reassuring, I know. She is already up to page 72, and from what I can tell by rudely peeking over her shoulder; this is one hell of a good book. These movie choices are awful. I refuse to watch Catwoman… (can’t imagine why), and I’ve watched the National Geographic special on that super-long suspension bridge in Japan 3 times already. It was no doubt interesting, but once you’ve seen it 3 times... so I sat for about an hour reading Cornell West’s new book ‘Democracy Matters’ (which I highly recommend), but eventually tired of that too. Our flight is due to land at 8:00am Zurich time… and needless to say, no we haven’t slept since last night… so this should effectively throw our biological clocks into freak-out mode. Lord, please let Zurich have a Starbucks. Susie and I have our hiking boots and cameras, and we plan to take pictures of just about everything we see. Mom and dad have been scoping out fun things to do while we’re there, and last week sent a list of possible day trips… yada yada. From that list alone we should have endless possibilities for good pictures. Lake Zurich and the Alps would be more than enough material, but we have a full week planned, so we’ll no doubt see more than just that. Hopefully I’ll have internet access in our hotel room, which is a nice looking place, but seems pretty old… and from what I have been able to glean from 4,000 miles away, these crazy Europeans manage to get by just fine without superfluous amenities like the internet in their hotel rooms. And if they don’t have internet, frankly, I’m not sure how I’m even going to publish this post, much less the pictures. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Well, according to a digitized map of our trip, which has been 15 inches from my face for the past 2,600 miles, we still have 1,157 more miles to go. I’ll check back in later.

hey mainstream media...

yer missing the boat not reporting on this. Seriously. Do your jobs... and find a way to enforce your own integrity. [ps: 130,000 people logged onto Americablog.com the day they broke the hooker story.]

Pork Call

step up to the trough

Mike Hudson at 'Niagara Falls Reporter' bangs his head against the wall

over the Gannon/Guckert affair and, quotes Congresswoman Louise Slaughter: "With each new revelation it becomes more and more clear that the relationship between the White House and Jeff Gannon was anything but typical. It is time for this administration to stop stonewalling and come clean with the American people."

The 48 Laws of Power

from Laura Rozen... here is a great Cliffs Notes version of The 48 Laws of Power

uhhh.... yeah... no $*!@ Sherlock

how the the hell do you think he got access in the first place? Thought at least someone is paying attention (a small enough victory in itself). CBS News: Rove-Gannon Connection? and then there's this:

Bobby Eberle told The New York Times that he created Talon to build a news service with a conservative slant and "if someone were to see 'GOPUSA,' there's an instant built-in bias there."

Never understood why this is an accepted practice. When is the media going to start enforcing it's own integrity? They are letting the likes of Talon News and FOX destroy their credibility. Pay attention big media players... this is your enemy within.

GAO to Bush Administration:

"Funding and promoting propaganda is a violation of Federal law"

!!!! Must read editorial !!!!

St. Paul Pioneer Press: Our ignorance may be our downfall

'For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost; being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for want of care about a horseshoe nail.' The intention of a short exercise during the Nobel Peace Prize Forum last weekend at Augsburg College in Minneapolis was to use Osama bin Laden's "message to the American people, October 2004" to try to examine what makes him tick. The translation to English done by the Mideast news network al-Jazeera did get consideration. Mostly, though, the takeaway lesson was Ben Franklin's about the importance of a horseshoe nail. What we don't know, such as recent Mideast histories, can kill us. Lebanon, a vague abstraction to many last Saturday, has exploded this week on the center stage of security threats. ~ Even for those of us who process experience through an America-only lens, not to know about Lebanon is to overlook the loss of 241 Americans in a car-bomb attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut on Oct. 23, 1983, or the attacks on American civilians during Lebanon's civil war. Knowing what and why matters.

here

gross yourself out

this is just too funny

New York Daily News: Bush press pal quits over gay prostie link

Think about it: what are the chances that a media whore like Gannon would turn out to be an actual whore? It's impossible. It boggles the mind how infinitely unlikely this is. It's like if you found someone pirating CDs, and it turns out he actually had a peg leg and a parrot on his shoulder and sailed around the Caribbean saying "arrrrrr!" and plundering booty. You wouldn't believe it. But there it is: impossible, but true. Impossible truths are miracles, and only God can work miracles. Ergo, God exists. Q.E.D.

go here for background and 'why this matters'.

awwwwwwwwww

such a sensitive wife killer

note to self

avoid College Park right about now. The Terps beat Duke for the second time tonight in an awesome overtime basketball game.

oops... my bad dad

only in Texas

Just plain cool

Story here: Pirate ship sculpture marks revival in tradition of scope, grandeur

Screw me and I'll shoot someone else's house!!!!

Teen arrested for firing gun at Sparta home By AUTUMN GROOMS / La Crosse Tribune SPARTA, Wis. — A Sparta teen is accused of blasting a mobile home with a shotgun early Wednesday while going after a man who sold him marijuana that turned out to be oregano, authorities said. The home he shot, however, was not the right residence. A woman and three children inside were not injured, said Monroe County District Attorney Dan Cary.

more here

retards in Missouri

First Grader Punished for Bag of Dirt

Bush: "don't question my authorita"

No editing my Pharma-Pork, or I'll veto it! (maybe, even though I've never vetoed anything before) Don't worry George, Congress has been asleep at the wheel for the last 4 years anyway, which is why you've never had to veto anything. Why would Congress wake up now? And what's up with your fascist press secretary?

"You heard from members of the Democratic Party earlier this week who really were trying to move forward on an attempt to undermine the reforms that we put in place," said White House press secretary Scott McClellan. "We're not going to let that happen."

RIP: Arthur Miller

Death of a playwright: legend Arthur Miller dies aged 89

WHAT THE %&#*@ ??????

'that's yours' - Amanda Monti, a crazy-assed British woman, after appropriately returning her ex-boyfriend's left testicle after she ripped it off and hid it in her mouth. Ouch!

progress

Iraq has been liberated... there's nothing else to see here now. Move along.

yes

"isn't exposing (albeit for the umpteenth time) that the Secretary of State is a big liar with no integrity, and that the White House sat on its hands on the terrorism issue for 8 months pre-9/11 kind of important?"

our derelict National Security apparatus under Bush

from Behind the Homefront "CIVIL AVIATION SYSTEM RESPONDED POORLY TO TERRORIST THREAT, COMMISSION REPORT SAYS. A 9/11 Commission report that has been suppressed by the Bush administration for more than five months has finally seen the light of day (with redactions), and it recites the Federal Aviation Administration's shortcomings in the months leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, The New York Times reported today. The report says the FAA received 52 intelligence reports (half of all intelligence reports received in that same period) mentioning Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda in the six months leading up to the attacks. The FAA's response was inadequate despite such warnings, the commission wrote, and the agency continued to occupy itself primarily with issues like congestion and flight delays. "

Trust Fund or no Trust Fund?

Josh Marshall wants to know.

Bush's legacy

Hide the truth and manufacture crises. These will be the hauntings of the Bush administration.

Bush Administration Thwarts Access Excerpt from The Buying of the President 2004 Shows the White House's Propensity for Secrecy If history is any guide, George W. Bush will not seek to undo the regulations that help shroud so many financial transactions from view. After all, his presidency has been characterized by a zeal for secrecy, an unrelenting push to stem the free flow of information.

Juan Cole clobbers Jonah Goldberg

ouch. Good for him.

echo chamber freepers deleting posts again

they sure are a sensitive bunch of Nazis. I've finally been permanently deleted... my posting priviledges at FreeRepublic have been revoked. I dared to enter the GOPs lie den and call them out for being the frauds they are, and they've exacted their revenge. It would be a lot funnier (and its already pretty funny) if it wasn't so petty and pathetic.

Impeach Bush

If he violates his oath of office by purposefully defaulting on US Treasury notes to help kill Social Security. Clinton was impeached for less.

alabama takes another step back in time

What a useless State

Alabama Senate approves same-sex marriage ban

another republican heading to jail

the party of accountability and moral high ground It's a damn shame what's happened to the Republican Party. I'm convinced that the overwhelming majority of them would sell their grandmother for political advantage.

had enough of Dr. Phil yet?

Hope not, cause he's about to cash in on the reality TV craze.

Dr. Phil is looking to get into the reality-show business through a venture with Bunim-Muray, the independent studio behind 'The Real World' and 'The Simple Life.'

now THAT'S an opinion.... good stuff

from How Appealing...  

"We are aware that three other federal courts of appeals have reached results different from our own in regard to whether Booker error is plain error. We have carefully read their opinions and are unpersuaded by them." Circuit Judge Ed Carnes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued this opinion today on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel of that court. His very interesting Booker plain error analysis begins on page 14 of the slip opinion. I've long been a fan of Judge Carnes's written work, and this opinion provides another fine example of why.

posted at 17:18 by Howard Bashman

Department of This Should Make You Sick: Special Grandma Millie edition

Tapes Reveal Enron's Power Plant Rigging Transcripts detail how electricity traders conspired to shut down smooth-running generating facilities during the energy crisis.

Kevin Drum, at The Washington Monthly has this to say:

I hope there's no one left who still thinks California's problems were caused by too little power plant construction, or overly restrictive environmental regulations, or a badly constructed power grid, or mismanagement by Gray Davis. This tape is just one more piece of evidence that what really happened was fraud. Enron and other energy traders took a routine, temporary problem that could have been solved fairly easily, and made it into a crisis by deliberately removing power from the grid at times calculated to cause the greatest possible panic.

And just in case anyone has forgotten, Kenneth Lay was an eyelash away from being nominated as Bush's Energy Secretary, and Joe Allbaugh, whose wife has already been indicted in energy scheming in California, was Bush's first director of FEMA, and is on the short list of loyalists-for-profit being considered for Tom Ridge's vacant DHS Secretary position. Strange bedfellows there Mr. President. Care to ask Murmur Cheney to release the names of the people who helped formulate our National Energy Policy now? Or is that still top secret?

R.I.P

Sad... very sad. Ossie Davis dies at 87

saving social security from the Bush administration

I know I've said it before, but nobody is covering this as comprehesively as Josh Marshall at TalkingPointsMemo. With countless developments every day, this should be required reading for anyone passionate about Social Security's long term health.