Reading: Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
Music: Hopelessly Devoted To You: Punk Coll.
TV/Movie: Maisson Ikkoku Boxed Set Vol. 1
Link o' the Day: Acts of Gord

'twas a nice, long weekend. It seemed longer than normal--but I'm not complaining. Got to spend some nice time with my Pretty Maggie. Hung out with some friends. Got a bit of work done--including some writing. Friday felt like Saturday. Saturday felt like Sunday. And Sunday felt like a day off from the ole day job. I could use more weekends like that. Next weekend will be weird as Pretty Maggie will be gone for a couple of days visiting her mother, and the weekend after that we're driving off to Cleveland to visit some friends, so having this relaxing, low-pressure weekend was a godsend. I barely even went online. (And I have loads of e-mail to catch up on!)

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Two rejections came in, two stories go out this morning. It continues. New stories coming into the cycle as well.

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So Nader is running. And had a pretty snotty attitude on Meet the Press about it, too. The only comfort is that as an independent, he's not likely to make all the state ballots and the damage he'll do this year will be less than at the last election.

Okay, so it wasn't entirely Nader's fault that Bush got into the White House. The blame is also shared by the Florida election committee and the Supreme Court. I'm even willing to blame the lack of voters in some areas. But if one looked at the votes Nader took against the votes Bush won by, it's pretty clear that things would have gone much differently had Nader not been around in 2000.

Competition is healthy, and third parties are a necessity--but cui bono?

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Speaking of politics... Last week, the governor of Rhode Island introduced his own version of the Patriot Act which would have made it a felony to promote any organization that opposed the current government, fly flags of any other government with the implication that said government was preferable to our own, to protest the current government and advocate its overthrow, and a host of other violations of the Constitution.

The bill proposal was out for three days before the governor came to his addled senses and pulled it--but what I wonder is a.) how it survived three whole days before getting pulled; and b) what on Earth was he thinking? Is he from a different country than the rest of us? It won't surprise anyone to learn that this yahoo is a Republican, but still--that's even more insane that our current crop of neocons in Washington. I can understand the need for national security, but at such severe erosion of our hard-fought freedoms? A bill such as the one Governor Carcieri proposed is a betrayal of everything every US soldier in every war ever risked his life for.

He should be ashamed of himself. Actually, he may be. This is his press-release with some severe back-pedaling.

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Today's link goes to an old favorite: Acts of Gord a site for anyone who has ever worked retail and has had to deal with the general stupidity of the buying public. (Yes, I'm the buying public, and I'm sure I've given more than one store clerk a case of the rages, but I paid my dues with six-plus years on the backside of the counter as well.)

Cheers!