Bush doesn’t think that the investigation will find the leaker. Perhaps because the investigation will look through information provided by the White House, after it’s been vetted for critical information!
The fox is in the henhouse kids. Prepare for slaughter.
When I got the bike, I said to myself, I’m not going to behave like one of those boneheaded biker people I see everywhere. Everybody says motorcycles and scooters are dangerous, and they are, but most of that danger comes from sheer stupidity: inadequate safety gear, overpowered sport-bikes, riding on the shoulder or between lanes to cut in front of cars, speeding… Within a week I was riding around in sneakers (wear the same boots every damn day?) and a t-shirt, creeping up the shoulder to make a right on red. But I do have a good full-face helmet, kevlar gloves, and of course a bike with a 50cc engine, no acceleration, and minimal testosterone-stupidity factor.
But yesterday I managed to do two things that were breathtakingly boneheaded. First, I made a wrong turn and got stuck on Route 2. Route 2 has a speed limit of 65 and a practical minimum of about 70. My bike doesn’t go above forty. I was there for one white-knuckled, shoulder-riding, profanity-laced mile before I managed to get on the exit. Then, on the way home, doing 35 in a 30 zone, I got pulled over by a cop who noticed that not only was I speeding, but if I was going to be driving that fast, I’d need a license plate. A what? I’ve got a plate, it’s right… uh, well, somewhere, stolen or fallen on the side of the road. So today will include a trip to the RMV and a call to the police to report a lost or stolen plate. Joy of joys. At least I got off with just a warning on the speeding ticket. Who goes only 30 on Mass Ave?
My RCE2 manual is now longer than 100 pages. That means I’ve done a lot of work recently.
I have driven over 100 miles on my Honda Ruckus (mine’s in black, not red). That’s pretty far, at least for a dedicated urban snob like me. It did that on a little over a gallon of gas.
If you search for evolution on Google, you’ll find two funny things: Ximian Evolution is the second-most-popular kind of Evolution. This means that my employer is successful and popular. And there’s an ad for BibleHelp.org promoting absolutist literal biblical interpretations, which means… well, I’m not sure what it means. I’m not as surprised about the literalism as I am about the incredibly narrow definitions of Christianity– they refer to everyone who has a slightly different interpretation of the bible as “Christian” in quotation marks.
The ToughMan Contest is described by the Wall Street Journal as the “martial arts version of karaoke.” It’s something like boxing, but it’s not regulated as boxing. It’s something like kick-boxing, but it’s not regulated… at all, really. In boxing matches, you get very closely matched opponents who know exactly what they’re doing. In Toughman competitions, you get uneven opponents. Toughman means uneven matches, and brutal, sometimes fatal, outcomes. It’s attracted the attention of state governments and major newsmedia. The WSJ profile of the business focuses on the regulations, the business, and the liabilities — and how something manages to slip through the regulatory cracks designed to prevent it.
I was amazed to see businesses in Europe close for an entire month or even several months. I mean, you can’t get a temp for that period of time? You can’t stagger the vacations? How can you still be paying rent on a busy street, and not be open for business 1/12 of the year? Perhaps summer is just not a time to buy furniture and it’s cheaper that way.
But the heat wave in Europe apparently caught hospitals understaffed. Hospitals. I know the comparisons are obvious with the Chicago heatwave of a few years ago: the city delayed the kind of reactions it should have taken early, making announcements on the radio about how to keep cool and how it’s especially important for the elderly. Hey grandma, hop on down to the cinematheque or the supermarche and stand in the frozen-food aisle for a spell.
But come on! How can a hospital just sort of close down for the summer? It’s not a designer-furniture store! Maybe there are fewer people in the city, and therefore fewer patients? It makes so little sense.
When I was younger, an ‘elective’ was a fun optional class you took. Usually art, or drama, or maybe comparative government and Model UN. Now it’s surgery. Of course it’s always tempting to come back to the most scandalous topic here, and you can count on a slow news day at the science desk resulting in another quick article on labiaplasty.
And more weird medical news: now that we have generations of young men seeking marriage and finding no women their age in China and India, things get more and more bizarre: buying a drugged-up wife from a mental hospital? And demanding a refund when you discover she’s defective? I was thinking that maybe as women became rarer, that it would be a chance for women to assert their importance.
But then again, it’s often the women performing the infanticide anyway. Yet one more reminder that oppression and violence are incredibly corrosive.
Kinky folk everywhere rejoiced to learn that a molecule found in saliva can help treat colonic ulcers.
Although, if you ought to do it every day, then does it become an annoying, boring chore?
Bush Administration slow to help 9/11 commission, gee, that’s surprising. This got covered in the WSJ as well, so it’s not like it’s just lefty ranting.
Oh, and they admit to lying about the nukes, and Congress is finally beginning to investigate the fact that our energy policy was set by the oil industry in a smoke-filled room with just Cheney and nobody else around and we aren’t allowed to know who was there or what was discussed– just that we’re almost certain we’re getting fucked.
Remeber, Dick, mistakes can be forgiven, but nobody forgives a coverup.
So, if you find a weakness, publish it, right? Somehow it seems odd to classify a collection of public information. But is baring it all so you know who’s fucking whom really thr right idea?
Regardless, you can’t go around naked without losing some weight. Even if you have to gain a few to qualify for the weight-loss program.
Finally, I’m awake. I feel almost manic.
To read: The Bug (not sure if I’ll manage it– too close to work), Humanity: a Moral History of the 20th Century (very heavy), Oryx and Crake, My Life in Heavy Metal, The Biggest Game in Town, Reefer Madness.
To view: Donnie Darko, Ringu, Family Guy DVD set, Clockwatchers, Wall Street
Travel: DC, Charlottesville, Maine, Montreal
Consume: West Elm, Kartell, LabHome, and of course the bike. The bike I want is apparently rusted beyond repair and will have to be junked, so I’m planning on waiting until after I pass (or fail) the license exam to think about getting one. There’s so much other stuff to spend the money on.
Writing: Continue promotion of neoliberal wedding deregulation, plus the essay I’ve been backburnering all summer. Plus I should make some more shirts. Or maybe not. I’ve got so many damn t-shirts.
Secretly Ironic 
