NPR had a story this morning about Noriega, and mentioned that among the pop songs blasted to drive Noriega out of his compound, "Never Gonna Give You Up" was included.

Welcome to the Jungle was also very popular. Why, yes, I was in Panama during the "incursion"

Waah, why does the internet get so slow at this time of day? And don't give me any stupid "facts" about it being quitting time for people in other time zones.

But it seems like it's slow across all time zones.

And my crisis has been averted, so I may be able to leave as long as someone is here to "push the button."

What an up and down last hour of work!

I may be able to leave as long as someone is here to "push the button."

I assume they also have to enter in a sequence of six numbers first.

No...there is a timer though!

This Craigslist ad (for a chair) made me laugh. William?

The government may set the Gulf of Mexico on fire.

Feds may set Gulf oil slick ablaze

From what I understand that leak is 5,000 feet under. That is seriously deep. I think that's deeper than the crush depth of even Russian military subs.

Sometimes I wonder if people can hear themselves.

They can't.

Man, I hope they can't. Because if they can actually hear themselves being so stupid, I will cry for our species.

I am on my last nerve. I am not engaging the child tonight, no I am not. Instead, I am listing things for sale and packing boxes.

ION, anyone here read Alice Munro? I am taking my second try at a book of her stories and not loving it. I have another of her books that I haven't opened and I am wondering if I should keep at it.

AZ law: not a great idea, but somebody's gotta do something and the feds aren't doing it.

Why does something need to be done? What is the problem that this law is solving?

The immigration debate began when the GOP latched onto it as a wedge issue in the late 90s. All the secondary arguments like “illegals commit more crime” come up because otherwise the conversation goes:
“We need to crack down on illegal immigration!”
“Do we? Why?”
“...I’ll get back to you on that.”

Seriously, any country has to be able to define its borders and its citizens. If you can't do that, you're going to lose your country in one way or another (militarily, economically, culturally, whatever - and culture does not necessarily equal white here, I mean this in general terms).

I don't think that a country defines its citizens; the power goes the other way. I'm not sure what you mean by losing your country in any non-military sense. I can't "lose" my culture in any way that matters to me. And even if I could... evolution is always a better choice than stagnation.