While You Were Out ...

Sweet lord, you leave town for a couple days, and all sorts of things happen.

- The Attorney General of the US stepped down, apparently because all the complaints about his lying, subversion of justice, and support for torture and illegal wiretaps was getting in the way of his lying, subversion of justice, and support for torture and illegal wiretaps. At least he wasn't using the dodge that he wanted to have more time to spy on his family.

- A GOP senator was picked up on a sex crime. I had to read this one twice, only because I thought they were talking about ANOTHER Republican Senator who was picked up earlier on a different sex crime. Criminny, is it a requirement to be a little pervy to be a member of the family-values party, or is it just the fast track to success? I keep thinking about Rep. Dave Reichert's bluster about facing down criminals - it seems like the GOP part of the house has a higher percentage of criminals than most of the bars in White Center.

- And speaking of the former sheriff, the president was in town briefly to raise money for Reichert's war chest. The president raised around $500k for Reichert, and $124k for his probable opponent, Darcy Burner, who ran an online town hall in competition. Just so you know the current administration is even-handed.

- And of course there is the note that members of the presidential motorcade were flipping off passersby as they tied up traffic in Bellevue. Not the protesters. They were flipping off the rest of the citizens, waiting for the presidential procession to pass so they could cross the street. Class act there, top to bottom.

- And while we're at it, this is your president on supposed "vacation". They make a lot of noise about him being on vacation more than anyone else, even Reagan (who was, you know, old and needed some downtime), but most of the vacations consist of running around at the bidding of his party, propping up favorites. In the morning he was in New Mexico, doing what he was doing for Reichert in the evening. But as far as most of America was concerned, he was back at the ranch, just clearing brush.

- So how about some good news for the GOP? OK, Republican incumbent for King County Council Jean Hague has come forward with the revelation that she was pulled over (McGaverick-fashion) for drunk driving. And of course the truth proved juicier than the admission, in that she cursed out the police officer (what IS it with conservatives and respect for authority?). Oh, and her campaign books are a mess, according to the PDC, with violations leaking out all over the place (oh, and a long term campaign aide? Embezzlement). Why is that good news? Because none of the mainstream Democrats fielded a candidate against her, and her opponent is a former Republican gadfly running under Democrat colors, Richard Pope. Who, even as his competition implodes, is considered to have only an outside chance.

- And changing gears slightly, among my least-favorite parts of the Sunday funnies is Opus, a bit of the 1980s trapped in a self-regurgitating loop as the same gags are retread over and over again until all the funny is pounded out of them. The comical wheat is separated from the chaff and then they publish the chaff. So it is no surprise that they are now "controversial" with a minor character going comically Muslim, with a chador made of a parrot scarf. Hardly the stuff to turn heads (indeed, the Seattle Times ran the strip, and, if I remember correctly, the building still stands). Yet some papers, blushing maidens of journalism, pulled it for fear of offending. Which will in turn offend the wobble-headed among the tighty-righties, who will crank up their hate of Islam, and leave the Muslims wondering what the hell they did THIS time to cheese them off.

- And a pleasant young lady at a beauty pageant completely botched an easy question with a stream of consciousness report. And this is supposedly treated as real news. You know, I have sympathy for her, since we seem to be hip-deep with people whose job it is to explain what the president REALLY meant to say.

- And it has been two years since Katrina waded ashore, and the administration is still trying to figure out what to do about it. But the ice that was shipped down there, then re-routed and eventually stored in Maine? They decided to finally let that melt. Good to know there was decisive action.

Man, I just shouldn't go on vacation.

More later,

UPDATE And in a textbook definition of irony, the fire department was summoned to the Burning Man festival when the Burning Man .... caught fire. No, I just can't compete with stuff with this.