I'm around the house, you know.  Every six-eight weeks for the past year I'd get volcanically sick for three days and be out for a week trying to get back, with no clue why.  25 pounds underweight, forced to stay in a hospital and quitting the labor force to try and get better, my boss reeled me back with FMLA offer of 90 days off.  I finally got a diagnosis, got on a benign medication for life and I'm soon to be a corporate cog again.  I re-enter that land of enchantment in 13 days.

[Cross-posted at The Left Coaster]

Six days from now--December 9th--is the five year anniversary of the day I mournfully rhyme with Don McLean's famous song American Pie:  the day the country died.  That's the day, of course, when the Supreme Court decided to hear Bush vs. Gore and issued the stay on the Florida election, stealing the election for Bush.

Theft of the democracy and the utterly disastrous Bush presidency (9/11, the Iraq war, crippling deficits, horrible employment, widening class chasm, environmental degradation) has been a disgraceful painful consequence, but the day the country died I was equally horrified at the pernicious effects Bush vs. Gore would have on the very concept of the law itself.

Yo Liberals--

I don't usually go for this kind of humor, but I actually liked it.  I tried it out on some friends and they liked it too:

http://www.atomfilms.com/contentPlay/shockwave.jsp?id=cant_afford_gas&preplay=1

It's worth a few chuckles, believe me.  It also shows that the utterly horrifying folly of our non-existent energy policy is finally starting to trickle down into the popular culture a bit.

Peace be with you.  Happy Friday, eh?

[Cross-posted at The Daily Kos and My Left Wing]

The United States Navy rules the oceans of the world.  For readers under-appreciative of the vast scope of that sentence, consider this:

With a force of approximately 50 Los Angeles class attack submarines the Navy can shut down or sink all commercial shipping anywhere, at any time, for as long as necessary, with absolutely nothing to stop them.

[Cross-posted at The Left Coaster]

California passed its budget for fiscal year 2006 yesterday after the CTA had given up on Arnold's 2 billion betrayal (saving the fight for the Fall election) and the Democrats wanted no part in being Arnold's whipping boy by stalling.  Both sides in this current debacle know the public has an equally low view of both of the governor and the legislature, so it was all kissy-kissy to the press yesterday on what fine, deliberative compromising statesmen our elected representatives are.

[From the diaries by susanhu with slight format edit.] With timing that could not be more horrible for George Bush, one of our Chinook helicopters with 17 service people aboard went down in Afghanistan yesterday, the news hitting the wires here about 1100 pst. All through the day the status of our men was "unknown." As of this morning, 19 hours later, their fate is still "unknown."

Every family of every person serving in Afghanistan instantly worried and is still worried sick this very second about their loved ones. It's been an extremely difficult 19 hours for them.