Okay, Okay, I'm Up

So I may as well blog. Things of note this week:

The Phillipine mudslide. 1800 or so people dead. What can I say about that? Nothing. It's tragedy. I encourage anyone reading this to drop some money into the Red Cross. Donations may be made here. Go on, I'll wait for you to get back.

Okay, done? Cool. From tragedy to comedy, we can look at Dick Cheney: Sticky Dick is in line for some sort of award from the good folks at the ("Guns don't kill people--people with guns kill people") National Rifle Association, who fully support the right of nearly-eighty-year-olds to wander about drinking and shooting things that move slowly--or at least more slowly than quail.

"A mere five days after shooting a man in the face, Vice President Dick Cheney broke his silence about the incident by submitting to a no-holds-barred grilling at a public press conference. I'm just kidding. ... Actually, he sat down with Brit Hume on Fox News for not so much a grilling -- more of a teat suckle." --Jon Stewart

More gags here.

One has to realize that Mr. Whittington is at least partly to blame. He wasn't wearing his "Don't hit me, I'm not Mexican" t-shirt. What really impressed me was the co-operativeness of the local law. Upon being told "everything's fine, nothing going on, come back later", they went away and came back later.

I don't think that happens very often. Leastwise, not for anyone at Guantanamo Bay. Which will hopefully close soon, ending the most shameful chapter in United States History since Nixon.

Then there's the whole "Shall we tell the public?" thing. As usual, the Shrub's White House didn't mention this minor incident to anyone until it was pried out of them by some portion of the press corps which had not, in direct contravention of the Post-Nine-One-One Rules For Journalists, been relieved of its entire spine.

Clearly, Cheney needs a bit of a rest cure. Defending and outsourcing torture is a hard job. Still, it's an ill wind and all that. Late breaking reports suggest that George Bush Number Two has recently appointed a new "Proconsul of Guantanamo". According to White House reports, GWB has done this to settle, once and for all, the question of whether the detainees should have to face show trials--sorry--"military tribunals".

The White House says the new appointment should make the show--sorry--tribunals unecessary. Mr. Cheney has said he's looking forward to doing some hunting while he's down there.