Why Not Kinky?

Maya's begun to dig looking at herself in the mirror (Sarah would say she also got that trait from me). Plus she's obviously improving her thumb-sucking skills, with the occasional extra few digits crammed in as a bonus to bolster the taste. The daily wonders never cease to impress us, no matter how mundane. We're so charmingly new-'rentish, doncha think. So yet again today I've posted a few pics that give a sampling of her simple yet oh-so-stunning advances.

The funniest yet most appropriately ridiculous details to arise from yesterday's security scare at the White House and the Capitol relate to Dubya's midday two and a half-hour bikeride (an hour and a half on-trail, the rest in-transit). As Dana Milbank points out in today's Post, this is not the first time that unfortunate attention has been cast on Dubya's workout habits. But, as also noted, past attempts to criticize him have generally fallen flat. Will this time be any different? Well, the fact that Dubya wasn't even told of the evacuation order because the Secret Service didn't see the point of interrupting his ride deserves a bit more ink. To say the very least. Still, Dubya wears a sheet of teflon beneath his spandex, so he's probably safe from any harm that might come from this latest bit of truancy.

Today's the showdown on John Bolton. I pessimistically expect he'll get a pass from all the boneless chicken Republicans on the Foreign Relations Committee. Voinivich gave a most tortuous listing of Bolton's faults this morning, yet inexplicably he still plans to cast a "yes" vote.

While out for a run yesterday, I listened to the latest episode of Harry Shearer's "Le Show" from this past weekend via podcast. If you've not yet heard it, he usually does sketch comedy and newsy rundowns - it's quite generally brilliant. This week's show was a horse of a different color though - he spent essentially the whole hour interviewing Marsha Ball (a bluesy New Orleans standard-bearer who lives in Austin). I mention it for two reasons. 1) She and her band played at the wedding of our friends Grady and Kate in Chappell Hill, TX last month, where she rocked. 2) She mentioned the bumper sticker slogan of Kinky Friedman who's collecting signatures as an independent to run for Governor in Texas. Kinky's hilarious almost always. But his slogan won my vote hands down. "Kinky Friedman. How hard can it be?"

And in news sure to be mourned throughout the land, Dave Chappelle has apparently checked into a mental health facility in South Africa. His show is on indefinite hiatus. Bummer.