Backup Brain Laura Bush gave the weekly radio address today, standing in for the president. It was the first time a first lady had ever done so. Now, personally I don't have a problem with that. But could you imagine the stink the Republicans and Clinton-haters would have raised had Hillary ever done it?

Jim Roepcke: Big Tobacco Settles The settlement will require cigarette companies to give away one billion dollars in cigarettes to the poorest schools... but only for 5 years, at which time students will have to buy their own cigarettes to continue their habits. In other related news, Microsoft is settling a suit...

Bloggus Caesari. Even Julius Caesar is weblogging now... and I love the pop-up ad...

BBC News | SCI/TECH | Dino asteroid led to 'global devastation' The evidence mounts.

Navy Photographer Snaps 'One in a Million' Photo. A picture of a plane breaking the sound barrier. Incredibly cool.

SuSE Linux 7.3 PowerPC EDITION. This is interesting. Of course, I'm running MacOS X which is a UNIX-based system and I am running XFree86 which gives me X-Windows and there are plenty of window managers and apps available so I'm not sure why I am so interested in running Linux on my machine... but I am.

U.S. House Votes on Bills They Don't Read According to Rep. Ron Paul, "It's my understanding the bill wasn't printed before the vote -- at least I couldn't get it. They played all kinds of games, kept the House in session all night, and it was a very complicated bill. Maybe a handful of staffers actually read it, but the bill definitely was not available to members before the vote." Oh someone please, pease tell me that this is not true...

The closed-door presidency No president can govern in a fishbowl, particularly in time of war. But as president-watchers have noticed, we clearly have an incumbent who savors secrecy. Not since Richard Nixon went to work in the Oval Office has there been so concentrated an effort to keep the real work of a president hidden, revealing to the public only a scripted leader. Why do I feel this sudden urge to read up on the McCarthy era...

Seizing Dictatorial Power Misadvised by a frustrated and panic-stricken attorney general, a president of the United States has just assumed what amounts to dictatorial power to jail or execute aliens. Intimidated by terrorists and inflamed by a passion for rough justice, we are letting George W. Bush get away with the replacement of the American rule of law with military kangaroo courts. I never thought I'd agree with William Safire, but I do... these are strange times.

Well, we have our Harry Potter tickets for tonight. We're very excited... even if some of the reviews aren't that great. No links. Just realizing that I haven't blogged much lately (it's a long story which is both boring and personal. Suffice it to say I haven't been web surfing much of late) so here's an entry. You're welcome. :)

From West Wing... Andrew Pulrang was struck by something in this week's West Wing that hit me also. I never thought of finding the quote on the web and blogging it so I'm glad he did. I'm stealing this fromhis blog

"You all need some therapy because somebody came along and said 'liberal means soft on crime, soft on drugs, soft on communism, soft on defense and we'll tax you back to the stone age because people shouldn't have to go to work if they don't want to.' And instead of saying 'well excuse me you right wing, reactionary, xenophobic, homophobic, anti-education, anti-choice, pro-gun, Leave It to Beaver trip back to the fifties,' we cowered in the corner and said 'please don't hurt me.' No more." -- Bruno, the political consultant on The West Wing

I loved this quote because, while it is a bit over the top, it did hit home for me as well. When did liberal become a bad word? Why are we so unable to make it a good word again? Now we have to settle for progressive which does nothing more than make me think of soup.

U.S. Will Monitor Calls to Lawyers (washingtonpost.com) Is due process next?

Hometown Cooking is doing a spot on my sister Jen's Christmas dinners (which are wonderful...). It's her 15 minutes of fame!

Al-Qaida's Engame? Very interesting reading...

Well, I'm here. In Annandale, VA. Highlights of the trip down include: 1) Stopping off at my sister's in New York for her birthday party 2) Going over the George Washington Bridge and realizing that the World Trade Center isn't there. I know it's not there but I didn't realize that it is NOT THERE. It's really just not there. 3) Robin meowing the whole drive down. 4) Dropping off Robin at Annie and Erica's where he'll be living for the next while. 5) Getting to Chris and Anne's house and collapsing. I'm off to watch the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees (and if you are wondering why a former New Yorker and someone who normally roots for the American League is rooting for a National League team this year, that's too bad. I'm too tired to write up my opinions on the matter right now.)

I've been a bit quiet lately. That's mostly because we just finished moving from MA to RI and I am about to depart for the DC area on Saturday (stopping over in NY on the way there). So, I've been incredibly busy trying to get everything moved and squared away, spend time with my wife and son before I don't see them for two weeks and also putting in 8 hours a day (at least) on my job. It's been a mess. And yet, I've managed to watch much of the world series. I'm rooting for Arizona, if you must know. I'm sick of the Yankees. They need to be sat down for awhile.

Bridge Designed by Da Vinci Opens Very cool!