Sunday night open thread

The French have a saying, "Les Week-ends sont sacres." Meaning, my weekends are sacred (or "off limits"), so don't expect me to work :-) In my case, holidays are sacred. I'm back in DC Monday night, so expect the number of posts here to return to normal then. In the meantime, enjoy the quiet. Read the rest of this post...

Artsy diversion for a Sunday in November

"The Bouquet"

The other day my friend Mike sent me a link to his blog where he posts a bunch of his artwork. I think his stuff rocks, and was surprised to hear that he hadn't given much thought to selling it, he just does it for fun. Very cool stuff, and kind of zen in its own way (perhaps that's why the site is called dadanation). I admit, I'm no art expert, but I really find his stuff amazingly interesting. Check it out for yourselves and see what you think. And be kind in your comments, Mike reads the blog :-)

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Bipartisan group of politicians call on Bush to give a damn

It's sad that a bipartisan group of politicians has to call on President Bush to get more involved in order to help reform the intelligence community before the next "big one" strikes. Shouldn't the president care enough on his own to avoid another 9/11? Oh that's right, it's the holidays and he's probably too busy reading My Pet Goat II.

If the bill does not pass this year, then "you go back to the status quo, the structure of the intelligence community unchanged since before 9/11, and it is not likely to be changed for six months or more," Hamilton said.

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Alabama: Red State Values?

Today, the Washington Post has a front page story on the defeat of the referendum to remove discrimination from the Alabama constitution.

On that long-ago day of Alabama's great shame, Gov. George C. Wallace (D) stood in a schoolhouse door and declared that his state's constitution forbade black students to enroll at the University of Alabama.

He was correct.

If Wallace could be brought back to life today to reprise his 1963 moment of infamy outside Foster Auditorium, he would still be correct. Alabama voters made sure of that Nov. 2, refusing to approve a constitutional amendment to erase segregation-era wording requiring separate schools for "white and colored children" and to eliminate references to the poll taxes once imposed to disenfranchise blacks.

Where's the outrage from the sanctimonious moralists on the right wing? There is none. In George Bush's America, we can pit one group of Americans against another.

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Evening open thread

It's official, I bought a new Sony VAIO desktop. Sorry Mac-ettes, but I couldn't resist. 200 gig hard drive, 512 ram (and bought another 512 for 50 bucks to add on to it). Pentium 4 processor. Got a GREAT 19 inch Sony flat screen monitor. And a $200 graphics card for only $100 at Best Buy (rebate). The thing can record and show TV programs, burn them on DVDs, and lots more. Just HAD to have it. And now I can start playing more with video (yes, I need more things to do with my free time, for free, and that involve work-like activities). Anyway, as Rob mentioned, the gamer in me really had to have a PC (my friends kept telling me they really are better for games.) So I'm totally stoked.

The thing is, I've been using a laptop exclusively since 1997. So it's kind of freaky finally getting a real screen, and a 200 gig hard drive. Ok fine, I'm a geek.

And by the way, Happy Birthday to me today! (Well, it's still today in Chicago, the 27th) :-) JOHN Read the rest of this post...