Go read this WaPo story by Howard Kurtz about the lack of coverage for alternate viewpoints leading up to the Iraq war. I think the Post did a poor job of elevating critical stories, but some of the most illogical statements come from upper level editors who seemed to think that voices of dissent within the administration, by not going on background, didn't lead credence to their stories. This of course, was going on while numerous officials went "on background" to sell the war. This echoes the bizarre Condi Rice/Wolf Blitzer moment when Dr Rice attempted to explain away the "outing" of a Pakistani double-agent by claiming "background" briefings were responsible for the mistake. Why doesn't someone call them on this? At least Dan Froomkin is beating the drum for more coverage.

Speaking of Froomkin, the WaPo has really started to embrace the internet. Tons of their stories now contain rss feeds, and on the sidebar, it even lists the "most popular articles" in each section. It just goes to show you what people are reading. (Hint: it has to do with WMD today!)

Kerry is looking good in Gore country. And reporters are starting to comment (scroll to the end) on Bush's scripted Q and A sessions. The combination should allow Kerry to focus on Bush's turf, which bodes well not only for his electoral prospects, but for down-ticket races as well. Everyone knew we'd be focusing on Ohio. But Virginia? That's the real gem.

Read this post by Atrios regarding Kerry's Vietnam service. These crazy conservatives somehow have the ability to inject incorrect memes into the public discourse which fairly soon are picked up by rational people as "truth" despite their dishonest.

Some people I know through Deborah volunteered to becomes members of the National Guard band in order to continue their skiing lifestyle. When they were called up to Iraq, they were obviously surprised. But still, regardless of what they actually end up doing over there, they will have "served in Iraq". Likewise, the fact that Kerry actually trained before deployment, or that he spend some time on a boat in the Navy indicates nothing unusual. The fact that he actually entered a combat zone does. Most people in the armed services don't run around taking enemy fire. Surprised? You shouldn't be. The jet engines, motors, propellors and cranks that enable us to fight around the world require a huge amount of logistics....not to mention feeding, clothing and housing an entire army of men and women. Kerry volunteered for combat duty. Bush got drunk and forgot to show up for his desk job. (Remember, the aircraft Bush was supposed to be training on weren't around in Alabama!) Enough said.

Grr. I wrote a lengthy post on the rest of the week and then closed my browser before posting. Very annoying.

Reader's Digest summary:

• Sunday: ate at Spiderman diner. Awful Service. Somewhat Tasty Food. Drove to New Jersey. Passed hamlet of Cheesequake. Witnessed extreme lack of public beaches. Swore. Drove south. Went to National Park for "free" beach. Forced to pay fee. Swore. Drove east through NJ. Found White Castle. Ordered meal. WC totally screws up order. Swore. Drove back to DC.
• Monday: went to work. Left and headed down to the Mall to see "The Thin Man". Laughed a great deal at alcoholic couples. (On-screen.)
• Tuesday: I learned my longest greatest streak, of having no blood relations expire, may come to an end. A hectic afternoon of planning ensued. I hate the idiotic booking system for airlines.
• Wednesday: drove relatives to the airport absurdly early. Consumed a tasty chic-fil-a breakfast bagel. Said bagel used chicken on it. Extremely worth the drive to BWI just of chicken bagel breakfast sandwich. Spent rest of the day working hard.

So this weekend I was supposed to head up north with Jill to see her sister before she departed to the midwest for a life of blocktype-stained crime. But first, Friday:

Originally I hadn't planned to hit First Friday, as I had two social obligations which covered the entire evening. When my first fell apart, I regrouped, snagged Brad and Jill, and hit the galleries. As it turned out, despite the incredible weather, it was the worst First Friday ever, with almost every galley closed or not serving proper libations. Annoyed, we retired to the new Italian restaurant next to Sisley. A meal later, we were ready to hit Sean's welcome-back-farewell affair. When we arrived we ran into several other friends who just happened to be at the same place, which was nice. Several conversations/jokes/pool games later, I finally retired. It was still early, but I knew I needed to get a bit of rest before the next day's drive.

Saturday morning I rose to the sound of a co-worker calling to complain that the office server had crashed. I stepped him through rebooting it and proceeded with my regular morning activities. On my way out of town, some time later, I called to make sure the reboot had gone smoothly. He replied that, in fact, the server was now saying, "Operating System Missing" on the screen. I mentally cursed, then said I'd be right in. Given that I had a lengthy trip north planned, and hadn't even wanted to deal with this problem, I was dismayed to find that when I arrived, sure enough, the server was broken. A half-hour and several prayers later, I was back in Jill's car, newly-repaired, with our nose pointed north. Our plan, at the time, was to take a leisurely drive up to The City and arrive around seven or eight. To increase the travel time we set only two goals: to avoid paying outrageous fees in Delaware, and to visit the Jersey shore.

Surprisingly, the first was easy to accomplish. We ended up spending only a few dollars in Delaware (although in order to accomplish this, we did have to drive through the urban-ghetto-credit-card-utopia known as Wilmington) and driving up 95 past Philly. Crossing a bridge in which we paid not a cent in tolls, we moved into New Jersey and eschewed the turnpike for small roads close to the coast. We intended to stop at a beach, if only for a second, but discovered quickly that all the beaches in NJ required "badges" for access. Ignoring the signs, we drove north until we reached the northern tip of Jersey, a mere couple of miles from New York City itself. Entering a state park known as "Sandy Hook" we discovered that there had been an entire town devoted to keeping a battery of huge guns in place to defend the city during the nineteenth century. Each gun was built upon a huge structure, and could fire 10 miles out to sea. In addition, there were several marine school buildings (all designed in the yellow brick Sandy Hook style) and a spacious beach which we descended upon. From the shore, you could clearly make out many skyscrapers in the city as well as several bridges. I only wished my cell phone could've taken more detailed pix of the skyline.

Departing with an hour to spare, we drove into the city and straight into traffic around the Holland Tunnel. Several hours later...

We arrived, weary and worn at our super-cool hotel. It was a mere few hundred yards from the exit of the tunnel which we had spent hours traversing. After we got into the city, after six wrong turns, I ended up on the street that the hotel was on. Two blocks away, I found a parking space. Perfectly legal for the entire weekend. Riding that high, we stopped and grabbed our bags and walked the final block to the hotel. Once inside, I was amazed at the incredibly cool design of the place. I'm sure both Brad and Helena would've appreciated the level of pure utility mixed with the aesthetic present. Each room had a selection of cds for listening, and when we arrived a small tray of water, grapes, brie and crackers had been left for us. Due to our untimely arrival, the brie was perfectly warm and tasty. Later, I discovered that the standard hotel soap they had provided was actually a bar of soap loaded with pieces of menthol. So when you scrub yourself, your skin feels super-cool, even after you wash off. It's a wacky feeling but well worth it. I may have to purchase another after the one I "borrowed" runs out. It might even replaced Dove unscented as my soap of choice.

We roll to Jill's sister's party, at an establishment that didn't serve Sapphire or accept AmEx. Enough said.

The next day we woke up and called downstairs to ask if we could get another hour to check out. I waited, phone ringing, for five minutes. So I hung up and called again. Still no answer. Finally I tried another number. I got a person who transferred me to the main desk who said "Sorry we're full we can't allow you to check out late" and hung up. Idiot. So Jill tries to use the video checkout on the tv screen. It's broken. So she uses the phone check out. It is, alas, also broken. We finally pick up our bags and roll downstairs where we hear someone else complaining. Checkout was welcome.

Breakfast was at the same "Moonlight Diner"...

More later...

NYC stories will have to wait...a pretty lousy day has kept me from them. On the plus side, I just threw up a cool part of the site which allows me to browse all the images in the dredwerkz image database. Give it a spin and tell me what you think. Try clicking on some other categories to check it out.

This is pretty cool. Weekend summary later.

werkz advice: go see it!

the new film Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle is a perfect stoner comedy for the new millenium. Rather than tired jokes and a cliched storyline, H and K manages to push ethnic and racial boundaries in a number of funny directions, leading to a great comedy that doesn't leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. Several scenes, including one of an abusive relationship between a man and his marijuana lover, are too amusing to miss out on. Go see it today!

Um...I guess the new funny line will be, "I'm Rick James' Ghost, Bitch!"

Simply nauseating.

Nixonian lip sweat? What? What? Dr. Kraphammer has outdone himself...why does he refuse to focus on issues?

Bad jobs numbers. Apparently we "turned the corner"...over a cliff.

Remember, we have to add 150K jobs each month just to keep pace with population increases. So 32K is really, really bad. Not to mention that most analysts had us pegged at a growth of 200K beforehand.

Okay, first you have to read these posts about Michelle Malkin's new book. (There are a few more at the site, too.) Just the other day someone asked me at work, "Hey, do you know some stupid conservatives?" I replied in the affirmative, and Michelle Malkin was the first name I thought of. Now, despite the fact that almost no one would argue that Japanese-American internment during WWII was a good thing, MM is there to push the envelope. Well, two can play at that game. Go check out these crazy photoshop covers from her new book. Laugh.