Zillow doesn't work for my county. Stupid zillow.

We can thank Shonda Rhimes for the re-airing of Grey's Anatomy tonight. [link]

I have always wondered about more flights flying from Florida to South America. In my head, it was because.... I don't know, something related to business.

The truth is, I wonder if it is just the carriers run fewer routes from the US and those that do have traditionally gone through Florida. There's no technological reason why it works out that way.

Hell. I can't get a nonstop flight from National to Burbank.

David, congrats on the book! Very exciting to send the contract.

Super-fancy Murphy-bed that also converts to a dining-room table for four: [link]

I am confused by the need to fly to Florida to go to the Galapagos.

Another map: [link]

I am at work. I also just ran my normal weekly meeting. No way I am gonna make it a whole day, but I am gonna get some stuff done. Woo Hoo!

I think I am moving at about 50% speed. Walking is certainly that slow. Really frustrating in NY, I gotta say.

Kat, thank you for that link, it made me smile.

Dude, I didn't even know that the Grammy's were last night

Take lots of breaks, missy. Can't have you relapsing.

according to Zillow, our house has gone up 10% since we bought it in June, though Salem as a whole has decreased in value ever so slightly.

Weird! And strangely comforting, though likely it is a false comfort.

What kind of country we've become:

"The Administration’s position as articulated by Gonzales is not that the Administration has the power under the AUMF or under precepts of Article II "inherent authority" to engage in warrantless eavesdropping against Americans. Their argument is much, much broader -- and much more radical -- than that. Gonzales' argument is that they have the right to use all war powers – of which warrantless eavesdropping is but one of many examples – against American citizens within the country. And not only do they have the right to use those war powers against us, they have the right to use them even if Congress makes it a crime to do so or the courts rule that doing so is illegal.

Put another way, the Administration has now baldly stated that whatever it is allowed to do against our enemies in a war, it is equally entitled to exercise all of the same powers against American citizens on American soil.

...

The "war powers" which a President can use in war against our enemies are virtually limitless -- they include indefinite detention in prison with no charges or access to lawyers, limitless eavesdropping, interrogation by means up to and perhaps including torture, and even killing. The reason the Administration claims it can engage in warrantless eavesdropping against Americans is because it has the general right to use all of these war powers against Americans on American soil, of which eavesdropping is but one example. Without hyperbole, it is hard to imagine a theory more dangerous or contrary to our nation’s principles than a theory that vests the President -- not just Bush but all future Presidents -- limitless authority to use war powers against American citizens within this country.

Critically, these claimed powers are not purely theoretical or, as Gonzales claimed in response to questions from Sen. Feinstein, "hypothetical." Quite the contrary. Not only has the Administration claimed these powers, they have exercised them aggressively -- not just against Al Qaeda, but against American citizens.

[link]

more flights flying from Florida to South America

Well, there are lots of people from the Caribbean and Central America who live in southern Florida, and it's a lot easier to fly to the Caribbean than any other transport method, and slowly the sphere of flying-locations has increased. Anyway, that's my theory, based on 2 hours spent in the Miami airport a few years back.