If You Can't Say Something Nice...
Say Something Vague

Way Too Much To Say

I'm outraged about the Bush/Cheney appearance before perhaps the most important commission ever assembled in the United States--not under oath, together, without taping or a transcript, with several people from the White House counsel's office present. With all of the demands that Bush, et. al placed on the commission, it is more than clear that they have absolutely no intention of finding answers or helping the commission do their job. Their entire agenda is to hide, hide, hide.

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The White House announced yesterday that it will spend another $18 million of taxpayer money on television ads promoting its new Medicare bill. David Sirota of the Centers for American Progress points out that this puts the Administration on track to spend more Medicare money on television ads than would be necessary to create a safe system to import cheaper, FDA-approved prescription medicines from abroad. Brilliant.

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You may have heard that ABC announced that the Friday, April 30th edition of Nightline will consist entirely of Ted Koppel reading aloud the names of U.S. servicemen and women killed in action in Iraq. Sinclair Broadcasting has ordered its affiliate stations not to carry it. Sinclair's reason for the pre-emption? "...the action appears to be motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq." Yeah. And Sinclair's affiliation with the Bush Administration and its consolidation hopes have nothing whatsoever to do with it.

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And I'm sick and tired of reading these op-ed diatribes from conservative quasi-pundits saying that Air America is hate radio. Spare me. THREE YEARS of listening to the Right villify liberals and claim that we are unpatriotic and elitist (since when is intelligence a bad thing, by the way?), we finally get ONE liberal radio station and they just can't take it. Whatever you say Clear Channel.

A Controversial Post

A post that will make you either coo romantically, or gag histrionically. Last night The Boy asked to paint my toenails for me, a la Kevin Costner & Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham. I think it's important that I first point out that my romantic little brain blocked out all references to SS being tied down for this sweet gesture, and likewise The Boy and I did NOT engage in any pseudo-bondage-type activities. Just a clarification.

Since this was his first attempt at a pedicure, he painted almost as much of my toes as he did the nails, but it was awfully cute. He also patiently sat with polish remover and q-tips to remove the polish from all non-nail surfaces. He then asked if he could try again some time. People with foot phobias or who think its emasculating for a man to do something like this will probably be grossed out, but I found it adorable and loving.

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And this from Josh Marshall's excellent Talking Points Memo blog: whatever happened to accountability for your actions?

"The president seldom any more makes a positive argument for how things have been handled up till this point [In Iraq]. He doesn't admit mistakes, certainly. But what he does and doesn't say is telling. Most of the president's speeches amount to a) My heart was in the right place and, b) The past isn't what's important. Where we go from here is what's important."

Hmm, the past was awfully important to these folks when it involved interns in the oval office. The past is still important when distinguishing between medals and ribbons. And by golly does the past ever matter when it has to do with Senate voting records when we are at war!

Are You A Happy Bunny?

The woman who owns my favorite knitting store, The Knitty Gritty in Anaheim, (her name is Tracey, and she is very cool and very funny) has these great little tchotchkes on the tables at the store. I had never seen them before, but I love them.

Turns out It's Happy Bunny is a bit of a pop culture icon. While I can't condone everything he says, I will say that a number of his bits of snarky wisdom do actually resonate with me. In fact, I foresee a time in the not too distant future in which I will possess at least one Happy Bunny shirt and maybe some socks to match. Heh. Although, I think the lunch box may be my favorite thus far.

Anyway, today I found this quiz online, Which Happy Bunny Are You?

I am cute but psycho:


you are the cute but psycho happy bunny. You
are adorable, but a little out there. It's alright,
you might not have it all, but there are worse.

which happy bunny are you?

brought to you by Quizilla

Rats, the pic isn't coming up! Well, here it is. [smile]

How Can I Do Essentially Nothing All Weekend And Be Tired Out By It?

Friday night The Boy and I saw 13 Going On 30. Very cute. I enjoyed it a lot. The Boy seemed to like it alright, too. It's nothing you haven't seen before (remember Big?), but it was fun. We also had dinner at the new Fresh Choice in Buena Park. I used to L-O-V-E Fresh Choice in Santa Barbara when I was in college, but I haven't been in ages. This could be dangerous. (On the homepage you can see their new pesto bowtie pasta with lots of veggies. I had that. OMG. Low fat and vegan-friendly. Definitely potentially dangerous.)

Saturday we mostly ran errands and stuff. I went to my knitting class so that I could get started on a baby blanket for my friend Julie. She and her husband Rob are expecting baby #1, Ian Christopher, at the end of June (!!). Ian may get his blanket for his half-birthday around Christmas...we'll see how it goes. I am really excited about the blanket (afghan, really), though, because I am making it with Dreambaby DK yarn, which is super soft. And Julie's a traditionalist, so it's in baby-boy-safe colors (the one at the far right). The blanket will (hopefully) look a lot like the pink one here.

At around 3 p.m. we headed off to my dear, lovely friend Desiree's housewarming. She just bought a condo in Azusa and was having an Open House housewarming (come and go as you like) until that evening. We got to visit and have far too much good food. Her mom made this cheese ball thing with fresh chives, cream cheese, pineapple and something else -- I must have eaten a full cup's worth of it on crackers (sooooo good). There was also orange cheesecake with a dark cookie crust (gulp!). And tea and lots of other good things. We finally waddled out of there around 10 p.m. (After The Boy consumed an entire container of curried chicken salad tea sandwiches [read: tiny] that Desiree made.)

Yesterday we decided sort of spontaneously to go to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at UCLA. First off, The Boy is a USC grad, so he whined all the way there about "Stupid UCLA". I was really afraid that would set the tone for the day, but we ended up having a good time. We just wandered around, visiting some of the many booths. I tried to be WW-friendly and ate what I hope to goodness were low-point tacos at the Rubio's booth (although they were really good, so I fear that they were not as points-friendly as I'd like). And we did split a churro which I'm fairly certain is not a diet food.

I've come up with an analogy that explains the blinding redness of my shoulders and upper arms as a result of our foray into the sun (turns out fair skin + sun = bad sunburn; you'd think I'd remember this by now and bring a hat or sunblock. Especially with my mutant mark on my scalp. Duh.). Anyway, here's my analogy: Sunburned skin is like a photograph, the longer you let the burn develop (in the same way you would leave a photograph in its developing solution), the more intense the result. Now, I know nothing about photography, so this may be an imperfect analogy, but I think you get the idea. My arms (because, naturally I was wearing a sleeveless top) are so very red. Fire engines and sports cars come to mind.

Oh well, back to work. Lots to do this week.

Loooong Week

I know that over at The Medieval Bestseller, Jenny Smith thinks this week has just flown by, but I've gotta tell you, from my perspective it's mosied. Like someone with a bad limp. And a walker.

I'm just beat. Following my two days of intensive 'messaging meetings', I've been bombarded with stuff to do. And the guy who isn't-technically-my-boss-but-let's-face-it-really-is has been in France for a week on vacation. He just got back last night. "Allo! We changed all the messaging and the entire thrust of the company while you were gone. Welcome back!" To welcome him back a guy from the OTHER company we're acquiring and I spent two hours on the phone explaining what the heck happened while he was gone. Poor guy. He was acutely grumpy and then kept apologizing for the grumpiness. I don't think either of the guys cared about being candid with each other (hey, they've both been acquired recently, after all), but they were trying to be polite for my sake. Finally I told them that I didn't really care. It was okay for them to be pissed. Everything's changed. Except our deadlines, of course. Those are still rock solid. [sigh]

I'm just so glad that Philip [the boss-like-one] is back. He has the clout to push back on unrealistic deadlines. I was being told that we needed to complete 7 datasheets, a corporate overview, an overview of the datasheets, two other corporate documents, two fact sheets, two PowerPoint presentations (executives loooove those), and two whitepapers -- all by next Friday. I was freaking out, as you can well imagine. Philip agreed that we just don't have the bandwidth to complete this stuff. So now we're down to a manageable amount that needs to be done for next week. Thank goodness!

And part of why I've been so panicked about all this is that it will impact when I can leave work on Friday for the long trek to Vegas for Amanda's wedding on the 1st. I was beginning to feel like we would be driving out there at midnight. Now I may actually be able to leave work at lunchtime. Whew.

Lastly (so that I can get back to all that work) is this. Hello, people, abuse of the Constitution is illegal. I think it's called treason, in fact. HOW ARE THEY STILL IN CHARGE???


Have a good weekend, all!

Potpourri

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Prize comment of last weekend

(I can't believe I forgot to mention this earlier): The Boy and I returned with the girls on Friday from Adventure City and found a quiet apartment building. The girls asked why it was so quiet. I said that many people were probably still driving back from work, or they were having dinner. The biggest little sis, Rachel, nodded her head knowingly and said, "They're probably drinking." The Boy and I just about lost it.

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Probably not a mutant

I saw my new dermatologist last Friday and found out that I'm probably not a mutant (side note: that was the absolute nicest doctor's office I've ever been to; if you are ever looking for a dermatologist and don't mind the commute to Los Alamitos, I can highly, highly, highly recommend this office). There is a very good chance that the weird growth on my scalp is a nevus sebaceous -- "a strange linear patch of slightly raised, yellowish colored little plaques perhaps 1/2-1 mm in diameter" says one web site. (I won't foist a picture of one onto you.) These growths have a tendency to turn pre-cancerous ("malignant potential"), and so removal is highly recommended. There are moles, apparently, that mimic a nevus sebaceous, so the doctor did a biopsy to check it under a microscope. He said that if it's not the nevus sebaceous I don't need to have it removed but, frankly, either way I'm gettin' the creepy thing taken off. Whew!!!

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Gmail

I got a Gmail account. I am stephanie.stage@gmail.com if you want to email me there.

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This country is going to hell in a Hummer, people

This is absolutely disgusting (not Atrios, but the subject of his comment). It's not bad enough that the administration wants to legislate marital discrimination, now it wants to allow doctors to tell gay people that they can just suffer by refusing them medical treatment? I can think of few things more despicable than this.

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I've been wondering this myself

Eric Alterman -- on MSNBC's Altercation -- asks why "given everything the country has learned about the Bush administration's incompetence and mendacity -- both with regard to the 9/11 attacks and this historic debacle of an invasion -- ... John Kerry is not murdering the president in the polls[?]". For more information, you can read the WaPo article here (you may need to be registered on their site, I'm not sure).

Work Work Work

For the last month or so, I've been having a rough time of it at work. Not because my job has been so hard, but because I've felt really unhappy and dissatisfied, and I couldn't quite pinpoint why. I like the company, and I'm doing what I've always wanted to do, but I couldn't shake this feeling of discontent.

Then yesterday I figured out what it was. I was called to be part of a meeting all day yesterday and half of today to help plan new messaging and corporate direction based on our recent acquisitions. As long as it was (8 hours yesterday!!), I really felt like I was part of the team. I had an opportunity to weigh in on naming conventions for products, and whether to change our (brand new) tagline. I got to give my input as a 'Marketing Professional' (sounds so grownup, huh?) into decisions that were being made, and why I felt some of them were taking us in the wrong direction. I left work very tired but exhilarated.

I went home and kept thinking about how I finally felt like I belonged. I had been made a part of important decisions. That is what I was missing: that feeling of connection. For a long time I was just a do-er, making endless changes to documents without any really good reasons to do so except that someone said so. As a result of the meeting the changes to my documents are not going to be nearly so extensive. I think too that it helped to give me some credibility with people who don't normally work with me who might be kind of dismissive of what I do (oh, she's just the writer, give her more work). I really felt like I was heard, which was such a great feeling! Good day at work!

My Sisters Are So Cute!

The Boy and I took Friday off work, and babysat my little sisters from Friday to yesterday -- and we had a blast. The girls came over Friday afternoon, and we took them to Adventure City and Hobby City. That was fun. The girls went on most of the rides and we ate $32 worth of junk food. Yea! WW weigh in tonight ought to be fun.

Saturday my sister Heather and her husband Jason met up with us, and we took the girls to check out the Stanton Indoor Swapmeet. We had planned a day at the tide pools and FSLMMC in Laguna Beach, but the rain sort of put the kibosh on that one. The swapmeet was deadly dull, so we quickly headed over to Taco Bell for lunch (turns out little sister Lexi will only eat cheese quesdillas for her meals). After that the rain started to clear, so the 7 of us headed down to the Balboa Fun Zone. We had a great time there, too, although it turned out to be pretty expensive. We all went on some rides, played a little in the arcade, and then took the ferry to Balboa Island for ice cream. Of course, by the time we got to Balboa Island we were freezing, so ice cream may not have been the best choice. Two blocks after ice cream we stopped at Starbucks for hot chocolate to warm us the rest of the way to the ferry. After that we headed home.

I bathed all three girls, and we actually got them into bed before 11 (a rare occurrence, indeed). Then The Boy and I were up at 5:30 to get ourselves ready for church so that we could get the girls up and ready at 6:30 and leave by 7:30. YAWN! They had fun in Sunday School, and then we chowed down at Islands for lunch, followed up with Cold Stone for dessert (FYI, the fat free, sugar free yogurt at Cold Stone definitely tastes it). We then took them home where we ended up hanging out till almost 8:30. Today, as a reward, I am uber-tired. But it was worth it. On our watch we had very little whining, fighting or hitting. Score one for us!

Because of being so sister-centric this weekend, I didn't read any of my usual blogs, or hear any of my usual radio programs (we were all Radio Disney, all the time), I didn't hear about Woodward's book and it's revelations until today. Query: with everything that has come out recently, how can this administration continue to enjoy any credibility at all?!?! Ugh.

Anyway, I hope you all had a good weekend, too!

Bad Ideas And Yummy Hair

Bad idea, Mr. President (or this or this) What, he doesn't have enough problems? He REALLY needs to tick off the Arabs? Boy howdy does this guy make bad decisions.

And yesterday I bought this new foaming conditioner that the commercial says will give your hair untold levels of volume and body. And yes, of course I believe all their claims. It's a commercial. Would they lie?? Anyway, today my hair smells SO good. I love it! And I'm not sure whether it's a coincidence or not, but today my hair is actually quite bouncy. Good hair day = new foaming conditioner? Let us hope!

Ah, The Joys Of Work

Apparently my company is acquiring another company. So all that work I've been doing for the last several weeks? Needs to change. Identity? Changing. Everything gets revised now. I'm soooo excited. You just have no idea.

Oh My Gosh

This may well be the funniest thing I have ever seen. He will do anything you ask. I had him do a headstand, jumping jacks, clap, pat his head and rub his tummy, and shake his tailfeathers. What will you ask him to do?

I'm A Mutant

I regret to inform you all, my dear friends and loved ones, that it has come to my attention that I am in fact a mutant. I'll give you a moment.

A couple of days ago The Boy was playing with my hair (as he is wont to do -- I'm such a lucky girl) and he noticed something on my scalp and asked me what it was. I felt the area in question, a bit above the ear/temple area on the left side of my head. I told him it was just a mole or something. Whatever it is, it's been there for a long time. I did notice a couple of months ago that it seemed to have grown a skin tag right next to it, or coming out of the middle of it. Every once in awhile, if I absently fiddled with the skin tag, it would bleed a little and maybe scab over. But it still didn't really occur to me that there might be cause for concern.

Last night though, while brushing my teeth, I pulled my hair back to check and GOOD GOD! There is some creepy cluster thingy growing on my head!! I got totally freaked out. It's donut-shaped, about the size of a nickle, and bumpy. EEWW! I don't know what it is. At first I was just grossed out, but then, ever helpful, The Boy came to my rescue (and I say that totally sarcastically). I think that him studying to be a nurse may not be the healthiest thing for me. 'Cause when he checked it out last night he insisted that I see a dermatologist because it looks like some cancers he's seen in some of his textbooks. Well, thanks. That's not going to make someone like me GO NUTS!

As if the big 'C' doesn't scare me anyway. As if I'm not in constant fear of it. Now he says he thinks I have it on my scalp. Then he tries to reassure me that skin cancers can take a long time to spread and probably aren't all that life threatening if I get it taken care of right away. Gee. I ended up crying myself to sleep in fear. You just can't say those types of things to paranoid types like me!

So today I came in, found a dermatologist that accepts my insurance (thank goodness I sprang for the PPO this time) and made an appointment at their earliest opening -- next Friday. Now I'm seriously hoping that I AM A MUTANT, and that it's nothing more frightening than that. :(

Two Comments: One Pop Culture, One Political

First up, Fox's The Swan. Granted, what I know about it comes from commercials and such but the premise is that they've taken 17 women (ugly ducklings) and put them through three intensive months of plastic surgery, therapy, etc. to turn them into beautiful women (swans). Apparently this show follows in the 'tradition' of Extreme Makeover. I don't watch that program, but a girl I work with is mesmerized by it and must watch every episode.

Anyway, as though the premise for The Swan isn't shallow enough, at the end of it all, the newly transformed women must compete in a beauty pageant. Evidently so that 16 out of 17 of them will find out that they are still not good enough, after all that costly work. They're trying to promote it as an inspirational show about improving your inside and outside. Yeah. That's why it commences in a freakin' beauty pageant.

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Secondly, just an interesting quote from Harold Meyerson in the Washington Post today:

The only unequivocally good policy option before the American people is to dump the president who got us into this mess, who had no trouble sending our young people to Iraq but who cannot steel himself to face the Sept. 11 commission alone.

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Oh, wait. One more. Heh.

That's What It's All About

I'm making a cute little scarf for The Boy's niece Katlyne, whose birthday is coming up at the end of the month. She is a girly girl, so I went to Michael's and I found this cute pink Red Heart yarn called Hokey Pokey (see color 7107, 'bubblegum'). I am mixing sections of it with Lion Brand fun fur in confetti. It's turning out so cute!

I'm doing 12 rows of the two yarns together (knitting 2 rows, purling 2 rows), and 24 rows (k2 rows, p2 rows) of just Hokey Pokey, repeating these 36 rows to the end, and I'm going to use an entire skein of hokey pokey so that it's really long. Katlyne's going to be 6, so I thought this would be a cute little dress-up kind of thing for her to play with. :)

I actually started out making one for my little sister Lexi (she's 4) with Red Heart kids yarn in sherbert (see #2935) with Lion Brand fun fur in purple, same pattern (I made up the pattern). I thought that it would be a fun dress-up tool for her to get down with her inner diva. Then I got the idea of making one for Katlyne's birthday too, so Lexi's on hold until I finish the other one. I don't think it's going to take too terribly long.

Boy, if you don't know anything about knitting (or care), this is an incredibly boring post!

Oh, My Wildly Exciting Life

Thursday night we found out that The Boy got into the nursing program (heretofore he has been an alternate)! He is SO excited. I offered to take him out to dinner on Friday to The Fish Company in Los Alamitos. If you like fish, you would probably love this place. For someone like me, who generally considers fish second only to brussel sprouts for palatability, the first time I went was tortuous. Then I discovered the blackened swordfish. Mmmmm. That is now my 'regular', the few times we've gone. We don't get there a lot; mainly because it is $$$$.

So The Boy agreed with alacrity, and then decided we should invite his mom because she would pay. I agreed that it would be nice to have her come, not for her money, but because I really like her, and she is really, really excited about him getting into nursing school (she's a nurse, too). When The Boy called his mom she readily agreed, but then suggested we invite his dad as well (they are divorced) and they could split the bill. Instantly I was stressed.

The Boy's dad is the most frugal person you will ever meet. He stresses me out when money gets discussed. He is a successful real estate agent, doing very well for himself, but insistent on saving a buck at all costs. I knew that it was going to get ugly. The Boy called his dad to invite him and told him that his mom had suggested that they (the 'rents) could split the bill and treat us. Now, granted, I could only hear The Boy's side of the conversation, but it included comments such as, "Well...it was Mom's idea"... "You don't have to..." and others of that variety. Consequently, all day Friday I was dreading what was supposed to be a nice celebratory dinner. Fortunately, with two minor exceptions, the evening went really well. Whew! (Minor exception a) grumbling when paying the bill and pseudo-'jokey' comments about it; and b) way under-tipping our very good waiter.)

My point was that The Boy is his SON, celebrating a HUGE accomplishment that he (The Boy) is really, truly excited about. What was it going to cost him? $60? Is that too much to spend on your child when you have the money?? Urgh.

On to other things...Saturday I helped The Boy pick out new glasses (frames). They are really cool, and look great on him. I'm very excited! The Boy is exceptionally short-sighted (practically legally blind) without his glasses, so he has a very hard time trying on glasses and seeing what they look like on him. So I got to do him a nice girlfriendly service, and serve myself too, because he's going to look good. :) See how that works? Hee-hee. After the glasses we both got our hair cut. I really liked mine when it was cut and the guy styled it. Now I don't because I can't replicate it. When I style it, it is way too close to mullet-like. But to brag again on how thoughtful The Boy is (and he would probably shoot me for exposing him like this since he would be mocked endlessly by any guys who read this), he offered to learn how to curl the back of my hair so that he could help me style it and ensure that I liked it. Awwwww.

The Boy actually hasn't felt good all weekend, so we weren't terribly active. After our haircuts he dropped me off at my knitting class since I was already running late. He met all the 'girls' that I talk about so much (I love my knitting group!), and they got to meet someone they've heard so much about. :) He left me there for awhile and then came back to get me at closing time. After that, our day consisted of nada. I knitted, he slept. Woohoo.

Sunday I was uber-cranky. No very good reason. My hair didn't work; I didn't have time to eat before church (because I was trying to fix my hair), so I was hungry; and there were two accidents on the 5 so we were late for church, and because it was Palm Sunday it was packed. After church we got some food (yummy quiche!), and that made me a little happier. We ran errands and then headed home so The Boy could sleep some more. I knitted some more. We cleaned up the house, and here we are.

The Boy is home sick today. And I'm here with a raging sinus headache. (sigh) Mondays (sigh)

The Weather And My Spirits Are Gray

I was reading this book Wednesday and yesterday and I finished it really sad. It was just a fluffy quasi-romantic book, but the main character was this woman, who is my age & who has been widowed for about 1-1/2 years. I expected the book to be light and easy so that I wouldn't have to really think too much, but yesterday afternoon I was feeling kind of depressed and I attribute it to the book.

See, throughout the book, the main character is constantly reflecting on the loss of her husband. She always talks about whether she told him enough what he meant to her, how lucky they were, how she loved little things about him. Then he died, and she didn't know if she'd ever really communicated all of these things to him. The story is supposedly about how she moves on from a traumatic experience, but really it is so overshadowed with loss and sadness. Partly because the book takes place in NY, and the main character is part of a widow's support group mostly comprised of women who lost their husbands on 9-11.

So I got to the end of this book and I started having all of these awful thoughts: what if something happened to The Boy? Have I told him enough how much he means to me? Do I fully appreciate him? Does he know how I feel about him? I mean, on one level these are kind of silly questions because we have such a great, open relationship. We make a point of telling each other several times a day about how much we love each other. But, I kept wondering, does he really understand the depths of my feelings for him, because sometimes even I don't.

After reading the book, all I wanted to do was go home and hold him. After dinner we sat together on the couch and I started telling him about all this and just bawling. I was a virtual water works. Of course, this brought up other things. Like I've been thinking lately, did my grandmother know how much I loved and appreciated her before she died? Do we tell the people who really matter to us often enough how we feel. I know that I try. But I don't always do it. Sometimes I know I'm not the friend I should be. Or the daughter, or sister or girlfriend. I think the important thing is that we try.

I know that life doesn't come with assurances, and these questions will always be there. I can't live every day wondering if I've done enough or loved enough; no one can. It would be defeatist to live in fear like that, and I'm really not that fatalistic. I am so blessed with my loved ones (whether related by blood or not), that it's overwhelming to think of how quickly you can lose it all. I guess the only thing we can do is keep going on, loving as much as we can, and trying to constantly make those little efforts to show people how we feel, deep down in our hearts.

Today my eyes are very swollen. Make-up only does so much. My right contact is bothering me because I'm sort of cried out. Although typing this up has made me a little teary-eyed, too. If there is something funny in all of this, it's that when I was talking to The Boy last night, I pointed out my own self-centeredness -- never during all of this self-flagellation did it occur to me that I would go first. It was all about bad things happening to him, and how I would have to bravely soldier on with my life. I imagine that's pretty normal, but when I reflected on it, it was kind of funny.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a good weekend. And if you take away anything from this, remember to tell people how much you care about them when you have the chance. I don't ever want to end up regretting not saying something because I didn't want to be awkward or thought that someone would find it weird.

Wow, That "Liberal" Media Is Out Of Control!

Per The Guardian, re: the declassification of selected Richard Clarke documents: "This selective declassification signalled to professionals in government that anything they said to reporters could be held against them if they ever in the future contradicted the Bush line. Yet not one news organisation tried to uphold the old rule by threatening to reveal sources of off-the-record briefings unless the White House reverted to the accepted convention that makes informed journalism possible."

**SIGH**

Did you know about this little no-no? Federal law prohibits civil servants from working on political campaigns. And yet...And yet...the CIA is cherry-picking Clarke's classified testimony for inconsistencies with his public statements, and now employees of the Treasury Department are being put to work coming up with possible outcomes for Kerry's tax ideas? Come on now!

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Unusual Advertising
At least there are a few good things left. Like these crazy new AmEx commercials starring Seinfeld and....Superman??? If you're bored, they're pretty funny.

Oh, and speaking of weird new advertising methods, I have discovered the strangest one in awhile. There are teeny tiny little ads for Disneyland's new Snow White musical on the little stickers on my apples. I find that sort of counterintuitive since apples get a pretty bad rap in the Snow White story.