Coffee!!

Soros !! Froomkin !! RFK jr. !!

National parks to see? The Grand Canyon, of course. It’s a must see. Put it on your list.

How nice of CNN to lead off with John Bolton, whose re-nomination will soon be heard in the Senate.

Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska, where Mount Fairweather rises to over 3 miles high and if you’re lucky enough to see it on a clear day from sealevel it is awe inspiring.

the eloi at 3 — that one I’ve seen. But it’s definitely a must do when our daughter gets a bit older and can appreciate the scenery a little more.

Diane at 4 — yes, I noticed that, too. Wonder if the WH had to beg, or if CNN offered?

I have always made National Parks my vacation destinations. I just stopped in Acadia Nat Park on the way home from Maine. It’s my favorite on the east coast.

My fear is that our illustrious preznit (and I mean Cheney) has some under-handed plans in the works for the Nat Park system. After chimpco made a huge wildlife sanctuary in the middle of the ocean, they can now say they created more then they destroyed when they build their highway system through some national parks.

Steve Clark at 5 — that sounds gorgeous! My husband lived in Alaska for a while when he was in high school (near Salcha — his dad worked at Eilson Air Force base), and I’ve heard lots of stories about his treks through Danali and other lovely areas (and how mosquito repellant isn’t all that helpful…) One of these days, we’ll do a big driving tour up there for certain. I’ve seen the gorgeous glass-domed train cars that go up part of the coast — I’ve always loved trains and we’ll probably look into something like that. (If anyone has done that, I’d love to hear whether you enjoyed it. I’ve also heard the cross-country one via Canadian National Railways goes through some gorgeous scenery…)

Yosemite! Yes. Being a native Californian and avid backpacker since I was 12, Yosemite is a great choice for a vacation. It has a full range of experiences from staying at the lodge, or renting a cabin to back country off-trail hikes where everything you have is on your back.

I also recommend Sequoia National Park and Sequoia National Forest, Kings Canyon NP, Inyo National Desert…the list goes on and on. I’ve climbed Mt Whitney (highest mnt in ConUs) 3 times and been all over California’s extensive park system. I highly recommend them all. A great post Christy.

Well, Christy, I live in redwood country, and we like to say that we live behind the redwood curtain. Below is a photo of a redwood grove, but I can tell you that no photo or video is like the religious experience of being deep in a redwood grove with streams of sunlight coming down. Even now, as I sit here, it makes the hair on my arms stand up.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/t.....set-20553/

Hey Christie - good thing to dumb it down for the AP. Speaking slowly and enuciating clearly helps as well. As for the parks in California, put Mt. Shasta on your list. One of those places you have to visit. Pictures just don’t even come close to conveying the majasty of the area.

The Sunday Globe gives some clues to Bush’s legacy, comparing him to Tricky Dick and more so to Warren Harding with his corrupt Teapot Dome Scandal…
I disagree with one aspect though. The Globe
writes “More important, Harding’s administration was rife with corruption - the most infamous example being the Teapot Dome Scandal — while Bush’s declining support is more a reflection of failed policies.”
Failed policies of course, but the sleezy Abramoff, CIA smear case, and NH phone jamming
incidents are a direct result of Bush’s corruptive forces run amok…

Jack

We’re going to Yellowstone in September for two weeks. I’ve never been.

Glacier was probably my favorite national park experience–wildlife ranging from a sleepy saw whet owl to mountain goats and black bears was part of it. But there were also some magnificent hikes up to torquoise lakes (at one of which, I swear, there was a wolverine poking around).

Great Smoky was probably the most disappointing–too many people, too many cars, too many concessions to close to the park.

Declining national park attendance? Not at the ones we just visited.

We just got back from a 4,500 mile road trip that included four national parks—Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier—and one national monument, the Custer Battlefield.

Rocky Mountain NP was not crowded, but there were a *lot* of people there. Grand Teton was well-attended, but Yellowstone was positively crowded. Parking lots at all the visitor centers were generally full during the day. Glacier was the least-crowded. Yellowstone was, by far, the most interesting. Grand Teton was the most scenic.

We were surprised at the number of Rvs at all the places we visited, even with gasoline prices so high. And there were large numbers of overseas tourists, some in rented Rvs.

The trip was well worth it—our 40th anniversary trip to ourselves.

Kelven at 12

I love Shasta. Hard climb but worth it. Lake Shasta is the ‘houseboat capital’ of the world too. # days on ahouseboat is a nice way to unwind after a strenuous backpacking trip.

As for the parks in California, put Mt. Shasta on your list.

The trip to CA that included Shasta was great, but we never saw Shasta. It was completely enshrouded in cloud cover on a very rainy pair of days.

Christy Hardin Smith says:
July 23rd, 2006 at 6:10 a
Have heard all the same things you have, especially about the mosquito repellant.
I have also heard great things about the intercostal water way as an entry. Both are on my list.
OT thanks so much for this from you yesterday in the comments: “…Their view of the world and this nation is not mine, nor is it the perspective that most Americans take. Do not allow yourself to define this country by their actions — they bear responsibility for what they do, but they are not the whole of America. Words have strong meaning, and we need to be very careful what words we use in this — the neocons, the Bush Administration and their failed policies are not the best of America. Don’t define the whole by the parts that are failing the rest of us.”

If you’re in the Tucson area be sure to visit Saguaro National Park and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Meuseum. The museum puts on a birds of prey free flight demonstration that is a must-see for and raptor enthusiast or photographer — I happen to fall in to both categories.

sofistic, same cause and effect here. Long-lasting, too.

Christy,

I drove through Yellowstone in the summer of 1988 on the WORST day of the big fire there. I was on my way cross country from Boston to Portland OR to do my internship.

There was a brown cloud hanging over the park and surrounding area for miles and miles. Everything smelled of smoke in Cody and beyond. It was scary. Drove back through it the following summer on my way home and it looked devastated. Black on the ground, charred sticks remaining upright here and there. Then in summer of ‘96 moving back east from Seattle to Boston did it again and it was coming back to life.

That and the Grand Tetons are must sees, if the *ssholes in DC don’t destroy them first. Maybe we need to hurry to see all the parks before they are destroyed. No, don’t want to think about that happening. Gotta keep working on sending those clowns to another universe. GO NED and all of the others we have on the front lines.

Lotus: As I look out my office, I can see the 180 foot hemlock in our back yard, and if I go to the front porch, I can see redwoods, firs, and victorian houses with stately royal palms on each side of the walkways. I love this place!

Glacier in Montana (before the glaciers are gone). Try to drive the Road to the Sun at dawn–utterly spectacular

An important race to follow is Jerry McNerney in CA 11. He’s running against Pombo, who is trying to sell off the National Park system. He’s doing well but could use help. My mom is a volunteer for the campaign. Here’s a link to his weblog:

http://weblog.jerrymcnerney.org/

Rocky Mountain NP . . . ahhhh, how I loved it the summer I spent in Boulder (’67 — oh my).

RAM says at 6:16 am
I am extremely jealous.
Are you familiar with the (relatively) new archeological evidence about the Little Big Horn from Richard Fox? It integrates Gaul (Henryville) and Crazy Horse and the Sioux/Cheyenne battle accounts much more successfully imo than what existed before.
I am extremely jealous of your whole trip.

Denali is on my to do list also. The cruise/tour packages that are offered by Princess, Holland America and Royal Caribbean are all very tempting.

sofistic at 22 — you are making me seriously jealous. And I live in a beautiful state here in WV, with a little woodlands area just across from our house and some rather large hemlocks in our back yard. But being able to see redwoods out my windows…ahhh, that would be heaven.

Arches and Monument Valley. Monument Valley seen from the distance (if you can, arrange some fog) is even better than the GC, IMHO.

AP-Clueland:Blogger Christy Harden Smith recently captioned a photograph of Yellowstone Park with “trumpeter swans”. However, swans cannot play trumpets. Another Web 2.0 truism: bloggers are not always friendly with facts.

It’s days to visit a national park from here, but we make trips to our state parks all the time.

I’d like to see a comparison between the deficit and park attendance. I know that now, it’s cost prohibitive for us to take the kids to a park simply because of our lack of discretionary income (ok, and gas prices).

As I’ve been campaigning, it’s amazing how many people talk about simply not having enough money to get by, and how they feel the government isn’t doing anything to help them while big corporations make record profits.

Back on the talking heads thread: Little Bear has Duck babysitting ducklings and Father Bear shows Little Bear his instrument from when he played in a band. Maggie and the Ferocious Beast has “My Funny Smile”, “Guess Who I Am” and “A House For a Mouse”. Enjoy!

Christy: since you live in WV, go to the Hinton festival of the rivers and watch the cigar box guitar folks put on a rip snortin show. Labor day, I believe. And yes, you do live in a beautiful part of the world.

Prof. Foland at 29 — HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Good one!

Easy to get to for an Easterner and often overlooked is the Cranberry Wilderness in the Monongahela Nat’l Forest. Amazing canopy, clear water tributaries, old forest, mountain high vistas and down in the valley all in the same day.
http://www.trails.com/activity.asp?area=11206

Christy, my family drove and camped our way across America the summer I was ten years old, and we stopped and saw just about everything. That would have been 1971. It changed little worldview completely.

Yellowstone completely rocks. So do the Badlands and so does the Painted Desert. Pike’s Peak too, and the Royal Gorge and the Grand Tetons. No matter where we were, I expected to see dinosaurs of course, and I probably thought that I did more than a few times!

I agree with Kelvin at 12 about Mt Shasta. One of the best camping experiences I’ve had was around Mt. Shasta a long time ago…haven’t been back for a while, but it stands out even though I have been to many National Parks. I didn’t see a soul for 3 days. It was heaven!

One that hasn’t been mentioned is Zion National Park in Utah. It is unique in that it is closer to a desert rather than forest landscape, with truly astounding red rock formations. Bryce is also a must-see in that area, especially at sunrise or sunset. These are both easily accessible if you are on a trip from California to the Rocky Mountain west, and worth a side trip for a couple of days.

I live in Florida now and am making myself homesck, so I have to stop!!

as beautiful as trumpeter swans are (the mating dance is hypnotic) they aqre also really mean birds chasing others like geese or ducks that may be “in the neigborhood”. we have trumpeters in our back yard. fascinating to watch.

i hope to make it to glacier national park before all is said and done. i agree that the tetons and yellowstone will take your breath away. i remember cross country skiing from the crest of teton pass down to town. wow!!! thanks for causing me to remember

correction:

It changed my little worldview completely.

ahem.

highly recommended: Bryce and Zion - Utah

Jack at 13: Bush is similar to Harding in the area of cognitive functioning.

Israel’s “surgical strikes” only makes sense if your doctor customarily uses a chainsaw …

Another vote for Acadia - beautiful scenery, great hiking, and at night you can just about see every star in the sky. If you’re camping, though, watch out for the raccoons! They’re monsters!

A park that isn’t discussed too much: Theodore Roosevelt National Park. If anyone is going to make the trip to see Mount Rushmore, take the time to get to North Dakota to visit this park.

Also a hat tip to my native Michigan and Isle Royal National Park. It’s an amazing place. Backpacking and fishing were never so good.

I have to say that looking at my financial situation, my wife and I can’t really afford to road trip to the great National Parks like we did when we were kids with our families. Rather we visit more State Forests and and State Parks that are closer. They don’t offer the grandeur of the National Parks, but they’re still spectacular.

To sofistic @ 11:

Nice picture. The Redwoods are on my list. Many parks out in Cali I’d love to visit including Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary once I get my SCUBA certs.

RH–Glad you enjoyed it! Complete with misspelled name for added AP-realism :)

lina at 38: Let’s see if I get this straight: Bush has the cognative function of Harding, the economic policy of Hoover, and the ethics of Nixon. Did I get that right?

I spent a summer working in Yellowstone while going to college and have loved the place ever since. It does get crowded in the summer, but if you’re willing to get out and hike a bit you’ll lose ninety percent of the people, and see things they never see.

Also, drive the road from Old Faithful to Madison on a still day at either dawn or dusk, the geysers and rising stem make it an otherworldly experience.

My other favorite national park is Glacier. Techno’s advice about driving Going-to-the-Sun is spot on, but the best way to appreciate Glacier is to hike into the backcountry and camp overnight, it’s the most spectacular landscape I’ve ever been in.

sof at 43: Yes. And the fanatical support of Reagan.

Well, sofistic, even though I’m looking out on something very much like a [triple-jpg alert] Henri Rousseau, AKA “le Douanier” painting, and I love it, that description of your view brings the little green monster of envy to this frail mind.

lina at 38: Let’s see if I get this straight: Bush has the cognative function of Harding, the economic policy of Hoover, and the ethics of Nixon. Did I get that right?

… and the diplomatic skills of Attila the Hun …

And the Pentagon team of Lyndon Johnson. (although, at least LBJ knew when he was defeated.)

Somehow this popped in my head just now. A snippet from the roches (girl group, been around a long time)
“He was mean, he beat her up, he was a republican”

To lina:

I believe you were asking about the Webb/Allen debate yesterday. A televised version isn’t out there yet, but I hear it will air sometime soon. You can read the transcript of the debate here.

And now for some places completely different:
Everglades National Park; the Dry Tortugas (history and birds–spring is the best time), a boat trip from Key West; Audubon’s Corkscrew Sanctuary (800 year-old cypress trees littered with bromeliads and orchids); Merritt Island NWR and Canaveral National Seashore.
No craggy mountains or 300-foot trees (this is hurricane country!) here, but a very different set of landscapes. The scale and topography are tropical and subtropical and the beauty is in the details of flora and fauna. The bird life? Take a look at http://fosbirds.org
Anyone who wants to visit the un-Disney Florida can email me [jbuhrman AT aol dot com] for info.

grs: link?

Oops, don’t know why that link didn’t work. Try this.

grs at 41

Very cold. The waters in Monterey are freezing. I scuba and can’t bring myself to do that dive again. I’ve gone soft and now only dive in warm water. Alas.

Darksyde is good over at Kos this a.m.:

“Like a degenerate gambler that once got moderately lucky and cannot distinguish between fortune and skill, the neocons will spend the rest of their lives trying to convince themselves that they were right, that they were brilliant, and the world was wrong–about everything. George Bush, Dick Cheney, and the whole stinking crew will eagerly latch onto any ray of hope in Iraq or elsewhere while effortlessly dismissing reality, until their term ends.

So keep in mind when you watch the parade of neocon apologists on the news shows this fine Sunday morning, as they lie and evade and dissemble, what you’re seeing is not a conspiracy or a resurgence, it is a wake. The date of the funeral of neoconservatism has been scheduled, and the only people that don’t seem to realize the eulogy is in progress are the guests of honor still twitching in the metaphorical coffin. The real question–and a disturbing one to contemplate–is how many innocent people they will drag down into the grave with them when that casket is finally, thankfully, put to rest in the forgiving soil of the good earth.”

OT
but then, when is the Ned race ever OT here?

Gilliard Gets It. and writes it in a way that even the cocktail weenie set might understand.

I see we are in avoidance mode, the talking heads are just too hard to face some days, and nature is very soothing in troubled times.

concur with sofistic

Prof. Foland,
check your e-mail please.

A very entertaining thread this morning, I must say.

OK sofistic 57 , I’ll bite:

Two questions I’d like to see put to Administration officials today:

1. When is the last time a Sec. of State publicly stated they were against a cease-fire agreement? (Related question: has anyone in this crew ever so much as broken up a playground fight?)

2. Does President Bush believe these wars are signs of the End Times?

Ms ReddHedd,
Sedentary…I a here in RI with my Smithie mom. We are appalled. :-)

Pete, are you sure you don’t have mute swans? They are not native and notorious for their territoriality. The trumpeter is coming back from the brink of extinction (hunted for meat and feathers, and the heck of it), thanks to some excellent endangered species restoration work by the US and Canada. They are migratory and not generally found around people.

OfT: “Who’s Driving this War?”
by emptywheel
“Glenn Greenwald thinks this administration, still run by Neocons, is driving this war.

Neoconservatism is what brought us into Iraq, and there is no persuasive evidence that its influence in the administration has diminished.

Now, I agree that the Neocons are working hand in hand with Israel to conduct the war. But I think saying the administration’s actions are in line with the Neocons is too simple. As Juan Cole points out, Bush is working with a radically different understanding of what is going on than Rummy and Dick….”

sofistic at 56 — frankly, things are so heinous right now that I’m not sure I even know where to start. I feel like that primal scream painting, reading the news this morning.

Yikes Professor Foland, you have pierced our bubble. Do we really have to face reality? Please don’t make us do it.

Teddy Roosevelt National Park, in the badlands of North Dakota, probably one of the least visited of our national parks, is quite beautiful! We visited on our way home from Glacier and the Tetons.

DJ DrZ at 61 — Tell your momma hello from a fellow Smithie. (And thanks for the heads up on the typo…missed that one. Oooops!)

Someday I hope to take a month or six weeks, and drive from Glacier in MT over to the Olympic Penninsula, down to Yosemite and Joshua tree, then over accross to Grand Canyon, through New Mexico and eventually to the Texas Gulf Coast. Of course, I thought this trip up when gas was about $1.25/gallon….

Has anyone confirmed if Bolton’s arrogance is real or just a side-effect of the moustache?

Just tell me who to send the scissors to.

Zergle at 71 — it’s apparently real. He’s pals with Frank Gaffney, who I met briefly when I was in graduate school, and that one meeting was enough to put me off neocons for life. Blergh. (Let’s just say manners and respect for others…not so much.)

HopeSpringsATurtle @ 54

I imagine the dive itself at Monterey was worth the chill. Many places I look forward to exploring including many sites along the Great Lakes.

That was the first Meet The Press I’ve enjoyed watching in a long time - I thought Timmeh held Bolton’s feet to the fire…

Will do. And she says the spelling on my blog is just as bad.

I did scuba diving off of Monterey back in the late 80’s…do it, definitely do it!

Water is very very cold, definitely need the wetsuit. The diving (back then) was much better off of the Pacific Grove side of the peninsula, than right near metro Monterey.

I need to remember to run spell check on my posts more often, but I woke up late this morning and was in a rush. (And, frankly, this one was written prior to having any coffee, so I’m just happy it made sense. lol)

Christy @ 71 - Oh boy do I know the type. Bullies, bullies, bullies.

…and all because they have a pinky finger in the wrong place. *wink*

Well, the birthday party for Ms. Redshift went very well last night (her actual birthday is the 25th, for those who asked), despite the fact that our A/C conked out an hour and a half before the guests arrived. Fortunately it was late enough in the day that it didn’t get too warm in the house, but it made me drag myself out of bed at 8am! on a weekend to wait for the repair guy. (I am so not a morning person; I don’t get up that early for work!) Now, a couple of hours later, I am conscious enough to write rather than just skim comments…

Christy,
Crater Lake in southern Oregon is beautiful, and a dramatic learning experience about the power of volcanos. While your in the neighborhood there is Shakespeare in Ashland and Music Festival in Jacksonville, my favorite childhood vacation always included all three.

Yosemite and all the other National Parks in its vicinity in the Spring when the snow is melting and the falls are full. All along the coast of California.

And, a huge ditto to grs @ 41 for Isle Royale National Park out in the middle of Lake Superior. I was Artist-in-Residence there in July, 1998.

What a great place!! A wilderness of silence with moose and wolves, pilated woodpeckers and eagles, and hundreds of loons. The forests are lush like jungles and grow overnight. It takes more than 6 hours to get to via the National Park Service boat or you can fly in on a plantoon plane. But, bring the mosquito repellant!

grs, Monterey is awesome. I go to a meeting a Asilomar every other year, and I hope to get a Halliburton contract so I can have a hundred million dollar profit and move there.

Has anyone confirmed if Bolton’s arrogance is real or just a side-effect of the moustache?

and someone please tell me: is that a toupee, or is bolton’s hair just naturally crooked?

Great start for Timmeh, he’s going to have Thomas Ricks author of FIASCO on but even better, he’s
calling Israel’s attack on Lebanon a “humanitarian crisis.”
Bush, Rove, Cheney all threw shit at the teevee when they heard that.

Morning all. Lazy here *blush* after lovely, badly needed rains yesterday. Haven’t yet decided whether to listen to John Bolton or go outside & let the mosquitoes have at me. Latter goes down better at the moment. That awful fella GETS to me. Yuck!

Jack Walsh at 13

Thanks for the heads-up. I think it’d be helpful if we all tried to keep track of our local papers & share here when we see something like that.

How about a nice crisp letter-to-editor to the Globe, calling them to task for slithering past all those repub. scandals. It must just have slipped their minds, no?

I say we don’t let MSM get away with selective memory tricks/sloppiness. No more. NO!
Make ‘em open both eyes and report the news, ALLOFIT!

It’s depressing to see how many papers just pick up AP bulletins, which are getting sloppier & sloppier, & merely act as repeater signals.

Redshift at 79 — so glad the party went well. :) Sorry about the a/c — got an e-mail from a friend who has been without power for a couple of days in NYC. It’s a bad time of year for power issues and mechanical breakdowns.

Great column by Colin McEnroe this am re: Lieberman
http://tinyurl.com/m74rp

refshift @ 78 - Oh man…A/C outages on the weekend…the worst!

Speaking of which, anyone from CA around? I read earlier they are setting all kinds of new heat records.

…then there’s Queens. No power for days possibly. I can’t even imagine.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5207478.stm

UN appalled by Beirut devastation

The UN’s Jan Egeland has condemned the devastation caused by Israeli air strikes in Beirut, saying it is a violation of humanitarian law.

Mr Egeland, the UN’s emergency relief chief, described the destruction as “horrific” as he toured the city.

He arrived hours after another Israeli strike on Beirut. Israel also hit Sidon, a port city in the south crammed with refugees, for the first time.

In Haifa, two people were killed amid a volley of rockets on the Israeli city.

Fifteen people are reported injured by the rockets, launched by Hezbollah militants over the border with Lebanon.

kirby, whatever Colin’s smoking, I want some!

Christy - absolutely do take that ViaRail train trip through nothern BC - Prince Rupert to Prince George was the part I did, after BC Ferries from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert. Oh my.

Trish at 78: I used to live in Oregon, and there are many beautiful places there, including silver falls and multnomah falls.

BTW, the reference to crater lake brought back memories of scenes in Koyaanisqatsi. I think I saw that flick over 50 times and never tired of it. Then I loaned it to someone and never got it back. It is now back in print, and I will get it.

Timmeh is hammering Joshua Boltern, Bush’s CoS.

Casper @ 91 - Any particulars? Is Tim using precision strikes or just lobbing cluster bombs?

Grand Canyon is a cliche, but it is the most spectacular. Go to the North Rim, it’s less crowded and absolutely surreal (although the South Rim is special in its own way). For the number of incredible, spectacular parks and varied scenery, Arizona is the state to head for. Zion in Utah is also awesome. Since you like birds, you might especially like Everglades or Saguaro National (how’s that for opposites). Skip the Sonoran Desert Museum and spend a few weeks camping in the desert to see the animals in their natural environment.

Back to parks for a sec.

I have to put my 2 cents in for Adirondack Park. Huge. Beautiful in some parts it’s impossible to find sign of prior human contact. Mountains, whitewater, bottomless lakes. You can hear the Almighty.

Timmeh just asked Bolten if this, Israel vs. Lebanon, is a “proxy” war?
According to Bolten, we have asked Israel to limit damage to Lebanese infrastructure, I guess that didn’t include the bridges, Israel bombed.
Timmeh quoting Ken Mehlman saying “Israel’s war is our war, today we are all Israel’s.”

I’m in CA, and yes it’s quite hot hehe. We’ve got very low humidity down here near Los Angeles, so even though the temperature is getting up to around 110 inland, it’s still not that bad in the shade. And even in the sun is ok as long as you drink plenty of water. We keep the windows open overnight for the nice breeze…it’s a bit of a warm breeze this last week, but still ok for sleeping.

Santa Monica of course is under 80, god I hate them! :)

McEnroe is certainly lobbing a few over the nets in that column ! Humorous…

Zergle at 86: I live in CA and the central valleys and socal are way hot and there are forest and brush fires. Fortunately, I live in coastal northern CA and it is cool and comfortable here on Humboldt bay.

Volcanos National Park in Hawaii. Memories of walking on freshly cooled lava at night and seeing a red glow from every crack beneath my feet.

Zergle, on balance I am incredibly impressed with Timmeh today. IMO, he’s got Bolten in full reverse and he’s doing it all with questions, which keeps him in his role as a journalist.
I don’t think anyone can argue with quality of Timmeh’s questions,jmho.

Christy

100,000 people in Queens ( bororugh of NYC) have been without power since (I think) Tuesday.

Con Ed (the power monoply) cannot figure out why one thing after another keeps breaking as they try to re electrify the grid. Some people who live in high rises don’t even have water.

I am amazed it is not getting more national press.

so KennyBoi is sending Likud press releases using the RNC blastfax system ?

I know the neocon administration thinks that another war would boost their poll ratings because it worked the first time, but it seems to me that it would have the opposite effect this time. Too many people have soured on the idea of war and the evil empire, even many Bush supporters. Is this just another example of how out of touch they are or an example of how out of touch I am?

I should put in a word about the Blue Ridge Parkway. If you haven’t made this drive, and stopped at some of the Appalachian towns along the way, then you are truly missing out on a gorgeous part of America.

http://www.nps.gov/blri/

Gorgeous. Especially at sunrise and sunset, the views are spectacular. If you can make the drive in the Fall, around the time that the leaves have started to change, you will never, ever forget it.

I say skip the Grand Canyon, especially if you will be traveling in summer when it is ungodly crowded, and go to Canyonlands NP. Similar topography, smaller scale, way less crowded, and if you don’t mind truly (truly!) dreadful roads and have a 4×4, you can also drive to the bottom of the canyon.

What’s going on with Timmeh and Tweety these days? Have they had some kind of conversion experience?

OT: Mid East Conflict

The talking heads today are all BS and nothing I can stand to watch. I’ve linked here to a great 30 minute video found courtesy of Nate at http://getintheirfaces.com on what you don’t get in the MSM about the conflict.
Here’s a link to the video,” Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land”

http://video.google.com/videop.....4384920696

Good to hear John. I find Timmeh goes in waves…one week he’s a push over, the next, an attack dog.

Overall though, you’d have to be a complete moron to buy into the Admin’s current BS. It’s so flagrantly pro-Israel (at all costs) it’s ridiculous. The good news is that people aren’t buying it much anymore.

The tweety show is going to discuss Big Dawg coming to campaign for holy Joe

Bolten keeps trying to parry questions to Rice with numerous repetitions of “I want to defer to the Sec’y of State.”
Now Timmeh is quoting democratically elected Lebanese PM calling Israeli attacks “criminal.”

Have to say, am watching Meet the Press right now as well, and Russert is doing a good job throwing quote after quote, piece of information after piece, at Joshua Bolten, who is now at a point where he is stammering to stall for time to come up with answers. He’s holding his own, but coming off as a bit weaselly and not at all convinced by his own arguments.

This is the best I’ve seen Russert do in quite a while. Whatever he had for breakfast, someone make sure he gets it next week, too. *g*

JokeLine is hanging it up on Cut’n Run Joe — that means the DC cognoscenti are dumping the chump (Looserman, that is)

Thanks for the sympathy, everyone. We’ve got a good heating/AC company (because they’ve been here too often, unfortunately), and I’m hopeful they’ll be able to get it fixed before the heat of the day. Plus, it’s cloudy and they’re predicting a high of 81 here today (which is cooler than it was in the house last night, though Ms. Redshift doesn’t tolerate even that much heat well.) So as long as it isn’t “we’ll have to order parts and it’ll take a week,” we should be okay.

I sat staring at the screen and trying to make an on-topic comment for about ten minutes, so I guess I’m still not awake enough. I have not yet seen any of the western parks yet except from the air, though I’d love to. I got to see quite a bit of Shenandoah a couple of years ago, though (on the way back from the state Dem convention in Roanoke; I’d only seen bits of it before), and it’s just gorgeous.

Jerry McNerney is probably the out-of-state candidate I’m following the most; Pombo is just evil.