Friday, and I get to take Siggy for a walk for the first time in forever. He tells me he hasn’t been having nearly enough fun, so I guess I’d better take care of that. Sure is nice to sleep in my own bed for change. Hopefully this flooding nonsense is all over with. Anyhow, y’all have have a good Friday.

Well, if all goes as planned, I’m going in for about a half a day today, and then I’m heading for Syracuse. I was thinking of heading down to the Dominican Republic for a little “relaxation,” but my Cialis prescription has my wife’s name on it, and if I have to go through airport security, it’ll be obvious that I’m “packing.” So, I guess my wife’ll just have to be stuck with me for a few days.

I hope to hit the road by 1:00 or so, which will hopefully get me home before dark (depending on how rainy it is up that way, I guess). Let’s hope the traffic gods are kind to me. I need to average 62 miles per hour door to door to make the trip in six hours (yes, I have the whole thing plotted out on a spreadsheet, and I printed out twenty seven eight-by-ten color maps with circles and arrows and turn-by-turn directions on the back of each one; it’s kinda like a statin analog gps system), including stops (which I try not to make, except for a gas stop somewhere in PA, which I won’t need to do if I fill up here, ‘cuz my Hyundai, though unfortunately not a hybrid, gets a shade over 40 mpg on the highway).

Have a good day, and I’ll see y’all later (if not sooner).

Looks like the rain’s finally let up enough for my office to open back up again, though last I heard the phones weren’t working yet. Since nobody’s likely to call me, that shouldn’t be a problem. So, it’s back to work, or whatever it is I’m doing while I’m forced to endure this purgatory. Beats walking circles around the Pentagon City Mall, I guess.

In other news, the gubberment is irate – appalled, even – that the NY Times would expose their bank records spying (on top of their phone records spying on top of their Internet and e-mail spying, on top of their renditioning…), at the same time the DoD admits they’ve been spying on gay college groups. Is this national security, or are they just trying to find dates? Israel invades Gaza. People still being killed by the bucketload in Iraq (which, since things are imporving so much, is costing us more now than it ever has, and well, basically we’re pretty much staying the course all the way around.

I can’t wait to get this week over with.

Well, what’s going on today? Apparently there’s been a rash of flag burning, ‘cuz the Senate is gonna take up a flag burning amendment (how they can keep anything lit in this weather is beyond me). I’m not sure how that fits in with the whole Nicole Kidman getting married thing, but I guess exempting multimillionares from the estate tax works out OK for her and her kids. Odds are they’ll never need to survive on a minimum wage job, so killing any increase there shouldn’t be a problem. They’re white and privileged, so killing the Voting Rights Act works out OK, too. And I certainly doubt they’ll be joining the military, so staying in Iraq permanently should be fine, too.

So let’s hear it for the rich folks. Nothing’s too good for ’em, as long as they keep their yaps shut and don’t express any “bad” opinions. As for the rest of us, well, try not to get stuck in a flooded subway tunnel.

Okay, explain to me again why I give a shit that Nicole Kidman married Keith Urban (whoever that is)? I mean, they were rumored to be gonna get married, they were gonna get married, they were gonna get married any day now, and now they’re frickin’ married. Well, whoopdie freakin’ doo, man. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I hope they’ll be happy and he won’t turn into a crazy fuckin’ scientologist or something, but I barely care when somebody I actually know gets married, I sure as hell don’t care when strangers do it. Then I’m checking out of the grocery store, and I see she’s got a “bump.” Oh, fer crissakes. Now they’ll be relentless with that shit until she has puppies.

Look, unless one or both of ’em comes out and says we need to pull out of Iraq as soon as possible, and oh, by the way Bush & Cheney should be impeached (and convicted), and damnit it’s about time the Marc Maron Show was syndicated, well then goddamn it, I don’t wanna hear from or about them.

But, anyways, I suppose today will mark the start of another week filled with nasty things directly screwing with our right to life, liberty, and the presuit of happiness being overshadowed by a whole lotta stupid shit about celebrity babies, demoted goats (OK, I thought that one was funny, especially the guy who said Billy the Goat “was trying to headbutt the waist and nether regions of the drummers”), and bimbos battling aboard JetBlue.

Oh well, whatever happens this week – reported on or not – I hope, by the end of it, y’all find yourself a little bit closer to that whole happiness thing.

Sorry, only time for a quickie:

On Press the Meat:
Russ Feingold, David Broder, Ron Brownstein, David Gregory and Anne Kornblut

Faze the Nation:
Dick Lugar, Barbara Boxer, Doyle McManus

This Weak:
Mitch McConnell, Dick Durbin, Larry Summers, Fareed “Token” Zakaria, Martha Raddatz, and Lou Dobbs. Plus John “Complete and total asshole” Stossel

Fux News & Fux Face Wallace:
John Warner, Carl Levin, Arlen Specter, and Peter King

On CNN’s Late Edition with the Wolfster:
Hamid Karzai, Joe Biden, Chuck Hagel, Hussein Shahristani, Madeleine Albright, and Henry Fucking Kissinger.

No clue what’s on 60 Minutes. New episodes of the 4400 and the Dead Zone.

Have a nice Sunday.

Hey, it’s Saturday. Supposed to be some nasty weather here today, so I don’t know what I’ll wind up doing. Might just hang out and do nothing. Not exciting, but pretty cheap. Maybe I’ll see if I can fill up AAR’s voicemail. At least I can think about getting through the next six days or so, and then being in my own bed by this time next week. Have a good Saturday.

Finally, Friday’s here. Supposed to be heavt t-storms today, and rain all weekend, so I don’t know if I’ll get to get out to the parks or not. If the weather looks good, I may head up to Catocin Mountain Park. It’s about 60 miles from here, but it looks worth the trip. Otherwise, The Road to Guantanamo opens tonight, so maybe I’ll go and see that (though it may be a tough one to watch).

The Senate Commerce Committee is getting ready to vote on net neutrality. Specifically, they need to pass the Snowe/Dorgan amendment. Firedog Lake has more info, and who to call.

And, of course, you can always give AAR a call, and see how thigns are coming along with syndicating that Marc Maron Show.

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Well, it’s officially summer now, so I guess that means we’ll have to give up these cool 90+ degree days, and brace for a heat wave. Oh well, such is life. Otherwise, call and/or write AAR to see if Maron is on the air in your home town yet, and sign the petition to support progressive radio in Cincinnati. And if you know of any good parks within the vicinity of DC, let me know. I need a place to kill some time this weekend. Have a good one.

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Hey, happy Solstice everybody – it’s the longest day of the year. I predict that if the Marc Maron Show isn’t syndicated, the days will begin to get shorter, eventually throwing us into complete lack of daylight. So, if you want to save the world eternal darkness, make sure you call or write the good folks over at AAR, and ask them how things are coming along. They’ll worry if they don’t hear from you.

Saw a Land Rover parked on H Street here in DC yesterday (‘cuz one thing you really need here in the land of the secodn largest mass transit system in the US is a good off-road vehicle) with PA plates and a Santorum 2006 bumber sticker (not on the bumper, either). So, congrats, Ricky, looks like you’ve got one vote – assuming they get back to PA by Novemeber. After you lose, the only thing I ask is that you stay to the south of NY, and keep the hell away from my dog.

Speaking of Santorum and dogs, it’s hump day. So, everybody go out and hump. But before you get too busy humping, take a minute to help them save progressive talk radio in Cincinnati by signing their petition. There aren’t many places where progressive radio is needed more than Ohio (especially now that WKRP is off the air).

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