My apologies...

...but the pesky need to make a living has taken me from being able to post for the last few weeks. Until I can find a way to access eBlogger through my BlackBerry, posts may be sporadic, but I'll give it my best shot. A few quick hits:

• Was anyone nearly as incredulous or incensed as I was to read that our nation's de facto President and Bush puppeteer, the appropriately-named Dick Cheney, Embodiment of Evil, actually has asked Senate leaders to relax the prohibition on torture, so that we may more effectively deal with suspected and potential terrorists, whose right to due process has already gone out the window? Let me put this in all caps, Dick, so that it might be clearer to you: DID YOU EVER THINK FOR A MOMENT THAT THE LACK OF SIMPLE HUMAN DECENCY THAT WOULD MAKE YOU THINK FOR A MOMENT THAT TORTURING ANYONE IS REMOTELY ACCEPTABLE, COMBINED WITH THE OVERWHELMING F*ING ARROGANCE OF THE "GOD BLESS AMERICA," AMERICA-FIRST ASSHOLES WHO RUN THIS COUNTRY, IS WHAT MAKES THE REST OF THE WORLD HATE US IN THE FIRST PLACE??
• A refreshing counterpoint provided this morning on NPR, naturally (what, you expected it on Hannity and Colmes?), by Jimmy Carter, not a great President but a fine human being.
• More on Stupid Ribbons: "Support our Injured Troops" (like the ones still over there are on their own??) and the heart-wrenching social cause "I Want My Hockey Fix." STOP. THE. MADNESS. NOW.
• Another on-the-road observation: do you suppose the people who have their tragedies recorded for the GM OnStar commercials have flashbacks and/or post-traumatic stress when they hear themselves while driving in their cars afterwards?
• Hard to believe I went through an entire World Series without posting. Save for the fact that I hate Fox's sports coverage ("Prison Break!" Mondays on FOX) more than their "news" programming ("House", Tuesdays on FOX!), it really was a great series...well-played games, well-managed, close games, lots of the little stuff that makes baseball aficionados drool, such as the beautifully-manufactured run by the Sox in the eighth inning of...memory fails me...maybe Game 4? (sorry, was probably distracted by the "Simpsons Treehouse of Terror" promo and the fact that the games end way past my bedtime.) I had to root for the White Sox since (1) they are, although the wrong color, still Sox; (2) Chicago is a great town; (3) Nearly everything about Texas is horrid; (4) the bratwurst with kraut and onions at US Cellular Field is a great sandwich. Now if we could only get some day games, and less self-promotion by the network broadcasting them, life would be truly grand. Alas, the sports section now takes about 30 seconds to read, and will be so until pitchers and catchers report in the Spring.
• Speaking of the Sox, do you suppose that after Ozzie Guillen cuts his lawn, or takes out the trash, or completes a sexual act with his spouse, he leaps up and gives a shout-out to Venezuela? We get the point, Ozzie.
• And alas, Harriet Miers has come and gone. We hardly knew ye! Let's ignore for a moment the cronyism, the lack of experience, the disastrous Senate questionnaire, etc. From my perspective, the single most damning thing about Ms. Miers was this tidbit, a quote from former Bush butt-boy David Frum, that Ms. Miers "thinks that George W. Bush is the most brilliant man she has ever met." Pardon me, but this should not qualify one for a spot on the nation's highest court, but perhaps a Do Not Pass Go/Do Not Collect $200 trip directly for a free Complete Neurological Workup.
• And the total highlight of the last four weeks: in dance class, instructor Flaco telling me at one point "don't change a God-damned thing" and, at last week's class, telling everyone that many of us needed to take the last class to polish what we had learned, but that I "have a smoothness and a certain flair." Not bad for a 48-year-old white guy. Graduation and class trip Sunday night! What's next? Bop II? Salsa? Stay tuned...