For example

When Obama says "We are better than this," I imagine this is the kind of thing he has in mind. We need to get back to a place where extolling America's freedoms is factual, not just propaganda.

Who's this Palin person?

Can this possibly be true?

A very reliable source overheard Republican spokesperson McHugh Pierre state TODAY that he had spoken to the McCain Campaign. They are coming to Alaska tomorrow to check out the "Troopergate" investigation.

In other words, THEY DID NOT DO SO PROPERLY AHEAD OF TIME.

I find it hard to believe that a campaign would fail to check out their VP candidate thoroughly ahead of time, especially in this day and age. Being geographically remote is no protection from people who want to dig up information, and in addition to traditional media channels there are thousands of bloggers out there ready and able to do so. By not vetting Palin ahead of time (if in fact that's what happened), the McCain campaign is taking a huge risk of being caught flat-footed.

It was a dark and stormy night

It took a while, but yes, the heavens eventually opened up and dropped buckets of water on Burlington. Apparently Vermont's been getting thoroughly soaked all summer long, unlike Georgia...

Another shot for the food calendar

Taken at the Morse Farm just outside of Montpelier, VT-- a multitude of maple syrup.

Stupid hotels and their stupid tubes

I should start a "Things that Suck" category here and make "Hotels without net access in the room" the first entry. Here at the Delta Chelsea in Toronto, the only way to get on the net in the room is via dial-up modem. Beyond that, you have to go to the lobby/restaurant area for wifi access. This has succeeded in getting them some restaurant business, but it will fail in garnering them a repeat customer.

UPDATE: Apparently the hotel manager here has a Google Alert set up to look for the name of the hotel. He saw this post and has offered to upgrade my room to one that does have net access in it. This is much appreciated, and while I still think they should have net access in all the rooms, I would be remiss if I didn't note that they do take care of their clients here.

As a side note, the same manager also informed me that if you search on YouTube for hotel names, you may be able to find videos posted by people who are rating their rooms. Something to remember when traveling...

Travel musing

Some random thoughts on the way to Toronto:

• After checking in my bag, I realized I had forgotten to stash my Swiss army knife. Miraculously, TSA didn't confiscate it.
• Neither Greenville-Spartanburg nor Cleveland have the omnipresent CNN monitors that add so much to Atlanta's ambience.
• The plane to Cleveland had one seat on the left, and two on the right. I was on the left, which meant no one to sit next to me, but also nowhere to put my feet.
• Continental claims their planes are newer than my suits, but they appear to have been designed for medieval dimensions.

Does the S stand for "Stasi"?

This is bullshit:

Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

Have these people never heard of the Fourth Amendment? This would be the one that says:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Given what can potentially be on someone's laptop, phone, or media, no one in the government should be able to seize them without damn good reason (not to mention a warrant). My own laptop has email going back five years or more, not to mention family photos, business documents, political images, and god knows what else. It would not be a stretch to say that my entire life is locked up in this hunk of silicon. The thought that DHS could snatch it away from me on a whim is chilling, to say the least.