On the Road

These days hotels are where the internet is, and at the lovely little public library in the town I'm near. It is so lovely that the internet works outside on the grass in the beautiful weather.

But the hotels win in the end because they also have outlets, and alas I have a weak battery (am I jealous of my girlfriend's Mac you ask? More and more so).

A quick summer reading update, two things from The New Yorker. One is a little older and I just read it and the other I haven't read yet but heard about on NPR (hooray for radio!).

The older piece is George Packer from a few weeks back on the death of conservatism, if you haven't read it yet do yourself a favor and check it out.

The newer piece is Seymour Hersch's latest scoop, it has to do with Bush getting funding for covert ops in Iran, yeah that sounds like a great idea.

Have fun in the sun, and don't forget sunscreen if you're reading while laying out.

Fleeing Town

So its July and that means summer is descending upon DC and the time to head for the hills has come. Continuing a long standing family tradition I'm out of here for the next 5 weeks, so expect sporadic posts at best.

I've also missed a lot of action in the past couple of weeks, in my defense all I can offer is that I was mired in a terrible internet connection at a house sitting gig (man the house and dog were great though, totally worth it) and I was ramping up for the GRE last week, which went quite well thank you.

So here are a few brief tid-bits on my way out the door:

EJ Dionne Jr. sums up my take on SCOTUS and the DC gun ruling and then takes another hefty swing at the Court to boot.

Telecom Immunity is terrible, and it is even worse that Obama is getting behind it. (check out Glenn Greenwald for more)

Obama is pissing me off with that stance and with recording ads for wolf in sheep's clothing conservative democrats when they have strong legitimate progressive primary opposition. I'm gonna vote for the guy, I'll get a sticker for the car, I might even sport a t-shirt at some point but I'm not giving money and I'm not gonna do any work for him. Don't get me wrong I think that Obama will make a good President and do a good job, but I'm the angry left and he isn't really in my corner is he? (Matt Stoller is beating the war drums on this one)

Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films have been doing great work in regards to McCain and his surrogates as well.

I've gotta run so I'll leave you with a little bit of fun, smile it'll feel good...

Vacation Time - and Shameless Promotions to Boot

Ok kids, I'm out of town for the next 5 weeks so don't expect much from me.

Feel free to check out the efforts of some of my longtime friends and compadres...

Eric Hutchinson (he's almost sort of famous a little bit)

And

Good Not Great

or if you need some photos taken

Moment In Action

Late night food

In DC, when you want a bite to eat at 3 in the morning, you grab a Jumbo Slice on 18th street, or get a grilled cheese at an all night diner. In Italy, you go in the back door of a bakery selling sandwiches and cream filled brioches on the sly. In Madrid you can get a falafel or a kebab. But in Istanbul when you make your weary way out of the disco, you eat steamed mussels stuffed with delicious rice and plenty of fresh lemon juice from the guys selling them on every street corner. I don't even like shell fish all that much, but this was an unforgettable experience; so good that even the vegetarians I'm traveling with ate a couple. Fantastic. And even if Rough Guide says not to eat them under any circumstances, I think I'll risk it again next time I pass through.