JUL 30 :: [family reunion] We're off to Kansas City for the Nicoletti family reunion. This is the final of three back-to-back travelling weekends. I am looking forward to relaxation (aka sleep) since that's easy to do in KC. I am not looking forward to the USAir (eww) RJ (double eww) flights back and forth though. Anyways, lots of eating and sleeping in store this weekend. How sedentary :) Besides, after the last 4 days, I'm exhausted just from updating this blog. Hopefully I won't be so prolific (whatever) next month *grin*. See y'all in August!

[a stronger america] John Kerry spoke last night and John Kerry delivered. I had not seen him speak before but much of what I've heard is pretty depressing (The Economist panned that he could put a hummingbird into a coma). So yesterday, at Cobalt (how fetch!), a bunch of us heard him accept the party's nomination in Boston and, well, all I have to say is he was good. He sold the party's platform and explained his positions and now the deal is closed. The speech had its moments that roused the faithful and there were moments where I just cringed but all in all, it was pretty impressive.

The theme of the evening:

"My fellow Americans: We are here tonight united in one simple purpose -- to make America stronger at home and respected in the world."

Some humor... I giggled at this but I can almost hear Republicans all across the country groaning:

"I was born in Colorado, in Fitzsimmons Army Hospital, when my dad was a pilot in World War II. Now, I'm not one to read into things, but guess which wing of the hospital the maternity ward was in? I'm not making this up. I was born in the West Wing!"

Restoring America's goodness and America's pride:

"I saw the fear in the eyes of people who were not free. I saw the gratitude of people toward the United States for all that we had done. I felt goose bumps as I got off a military train and heard the Army band strike up "Stars and Stripes Forever." I learned what it meant to be America at our best. I learned the pride of our freedom. And I am determined now to restore that pride to all who look to America."

And an all-encompassing one-liner, paying tribute to JFK, to make the smorgasbord of Democrats happy:

"My parents inspired me to serve, and when I was a junior in high school, John Kennedy called my generation to service. It was the beginning of a great journey -- a time to march for civil rights, for voting rights, for the environment, for women and for peace. We believed we could change the world. And you know what? We did."

And the best part of the evening - the zings! Demolishing the opponent without being negative, calling for change with a positive message:

"We have it in our power to change the world again. But only if we're true to our ideals -- and that starts by telling the truth to the American people. That is my first pledge to you tonight. As president, I will restore trust and credibility to the White House."

"I will be a commander in chief who will never mislead us into war. I will have a vice president who will not conduct secret meetings with polluters to rewrite our environmental laws. I will have a Secretary of Defense who will listen to the best advice of our military leaders. And I will appoint an Attorney General who actually upholds the Constitution of the United States."

Zing! Zing! Zing!

And then Kerry exhorts Americans to vote for change; that America can do better:

"My fellow Americans, this is the most important election of our lifetime. The stakes are high. We are a nation at war -- a global war on terror against an enemy unlike any we have ever known before. And here at home, wages are falling, health care costs are rising, and our great middle class is shrinking. People are working weekends; they're working two jobs, three jobs, and they're still not getting ahead."

And backed up the call for change by embracing the can do spirit of Clinton's Administration; don't run from a successful record, embrace it!:

"We can do better and we will. We're the optimists. For us, this is a country of the future. We're the can do people. And let's not forget what we did in the 1990s. We balanced the budget. We paid down the debt. We created 23 million new jobs. We lifted millions out of poverty and we lifted the standard of living for the middle class. We just need to believe in ourselves -- and we can do it again."

The next few segments were tribues to his running mate who delivered an amazing speech the night before, and to his family. I cringed at Teresa's lack-of-warmth when she was introduced and if you put her in a debate of policies with Laura Bush, I have no doubts that Teresa would win hands down but in a battle of likeability, she would lose even if Laura had a hand tied to her back. There's no warm and fuzzy from Teresa (although she gave a great "Mama T" speech to the GLBTcrowd the other day).

And then Kerry paid tribute to his Democratic challengers and his Band of Brothers.

"We fought for this nation because we loved it and we came back with the deep belief that every day is extra. We may be a little older now, we may be a little grayer, but we still know how to fight for our country."

It struck me as very clever and slightly over the top that Kerry chose to wrap himself around war veterans. From Max Cleland's introduction (why not Teresa?) to Kerry's repeated statements about being the candidate of choice for veterans, it just seems so military to me. It's not a bad thing. And I guess whatever it takes to win, right?

The second best segment of the evening:

"Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq doesn't make it so. Saying we can fight a war on the cheap doesn't make it so. And proclaiming mission accomplished, certainly doesn't make it so."

"As president, I will ask hard questions and demand hard evidence. I will immediately reform the intelligence system, so policy is guided by facts, and facts are never distorted by politics. And as president, I will bring back this nation's time-honored tradition: The United States of America never goes to war because we want to, we only go to war because we have to."

"...policy is guided by facts, and facts are never distorted by politics"... Amen, Praise Jesus! *LOL* I love zingers. Subtle and blistering. Just the way I like it.

"And on my first day in office, I will send a message to every man and woman in our armed forces: You will never be asked to fight a war without a plan to win the peace."

"I defended this country as a young man and I will defend it as president. Let there be no mistake: I will never hesitate to use force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response. I will never give any nation or international institution a veto over our national security. And I will build a stronger American military."

Rope them in! The members of the military need to see that the Bush Administration has failed them and failed them miserably. Some might deride this as a departure of pre-emptive policies, by waiting to attack only after we get struck. I see this as NEVER pushing the country into a war that is unnecessary. And if there were any doubts about crushing the terrorists:

"In these dangerous days there is a right way and a wrong way to be strong. Strength is more than tough words. After decades of experience in national security, I know the reach of our power and I know the power of our ideals. We need to make America once again a beacon in the world. We need to be looked up to and not just feared."

"We need a strong military and we need to lead strong alliances. And then, with confidence and determination, we will be able to tell the terrorists: You will lose and we will win. The future doesn't belong to fear; it belongs to freedom."

Yes!

Subtly slamming the Republicans for assigning "traitor" and "unpatriotic" labels on all who question the Administration's policies:

"You see that flag up there. We call her Old Glory. The stars and stripes forever... That flag doesn't belong to any president. It doesn't belong to any ideology and it doesn't belong to any political party. It belongs to all the American people."

And then he launches into a debate about values:

"For four years, we've heard a lot of talk about values. But values spoken without actions taken are just slogans. Values are not just words. They're what we live by. They're about the causes we champion and the people we fight for. And it is time for those who talk about family values to start valuing families."

And effectively reaches out to the millions of Americans left behind by our current policies by saying "America can do better. And help is on the way."

The economy segment was next and it was pretty ho-hum; a rehash of the many things said over the course of the past 4 days. But this paragraph about reducing the deficit was very, very much needed:

"And we're going to return to fiscal responsibility because it is the foundation of our economic strength. Our plan will cut the deficit in half in four years by ending tax giveaways that are nothing more than corporate welfare -- and will make government live by the rule that every family has to follow: Pay as you go."

"Pay as you go." It's that simple.

Healthcare and Oil - in a populist blast against the Saudis - are next:

"And when I'm president, America will stop being the only advanced nation in the world which fails to understand that health care is not a privilege for the wealthy, the connected, and the elected -- it is a right for all Americans."

"We value an America that controls its own destiny because it's finally and forever independent of Mideast oil... I want an America that relies on its own ingenuity and innovation -- not the Saudi royal family."

And I LOVED this part!

"I've told you about our plans for the economy, for education, for health care, for energy independence. I want you to know more about them. So now I'm going to say something that Franklin Roosevelt could never have said in his acceptance speech: Go to johnkerry.com."

Brilliant!

And it gets better - by far, in my humble opinion, the BEST segment of the evening:

"I want to address these next words directly to President George W. Bush: In the weeks ahead, let's be optimists, not just opponents. Let's build unity in the American family, not angry division. Let's honor this nation's diversity; let's respect one another; and let's never misuse for political purposes the most precious document in American history, the Constitution of the United States."

This is the climax I had been waiting for. When he mentioned the Constitution, I almost came, peed my pants and fell off my chair all at once. I am sold. No need to convince me any further.

The closing; rejecting the politics of division, making faith part of values instead of part of politics, challenging Americans to aim higher, do better, and strive for more, and projecting optimism and hope for our future:

"My friends, the high road may be harder, but it leads to a better place. And that's why Republicans and Democrats must make this election a contest of big ideas, not small-minded attacks. This is our time to reject the kind of politics calculated to divide race from race, group from group, region from region. Maybe some just see us divided into red states and blue states, but I see us as one America -- red, white and blue."

"I don't want to claim that God is on our side. As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God's side. And whatever our faith, one belief should bind us all: The measure of our character is our willingness to give of ourselves for others and for our country."

"And now it's our time to ask: What if? What if we find a breakthrough to cure Parkinson's, diabetes, Alzheimer's and AIDs? What if we have a president who believes in science, so we can unleash the wonders of discovery like stem cell research to treat illness and save millions of lives? What if we do what adults should do -- and make sure all our children are safe in the afternoons after school? And what if we have a leadership that's as good as the American dream -- so that bigotry and hatred never again steal the hope and future of any American?"

"It is time to reach for the next dream. It is time to look to the next horizon. For America, the hope is there. The sun is rising. Our best days are still to come."

America can do better. Help and hope is on the way!

JUL 29 :: [powerful] I found a powerful quote today at TPM as Josh Marshall talks about the lack of Democratic "anger" against the current President at the Convention. Check it out:

"Anger is often, and rage is almost always, an emotion rooted in powerlessness. That was certainly the position of Democrats in early 2003 (on so many levels), though less so as the year went on. These Democrats don't feel powerless. The mood is one of cautious optimism that they can drive the president from office, that the wind is at their backs. That too changes the emotional tone dramatically."

President Bush has moved the country in the wrong direction on almost every single issue that I care about. Multiply that by millions and you get the Democratic Party deeply united in opposing this President head-on. No more compromise, no more deals. And because of that, even though I am anti-war, I can swallow the speech-after-speech of pouring even more money into the military. Even though I am fiscally conservative, I can accept that it's better to unite the country by sharing the wealth as opposed to minimizing the size of government. And as strongly as I feel about free trade, I can stomach the thought of a Kerry-Edwards Administration enacting policies that are detrimental to the market economy and the business world.

And the sunny Southerner yesterday did his mighty best to bring Americans to the "United We Stand" mode immediately after September 11th by stressing the themes of unity, alliances and strength in togetherness. I don't want to live in a situation where there are "two Americas", I don't want a President to marginalize me in the Constitution, and I don't want to feel like the government is not protecting me in the best way possible.

"Hope is on the way! Send John Kerry!"

[serious problems, serious people] Yes, so why is it that almost THREE years after September 11th, 2001, we are only now contemplating taking steps to make America safer? Why is it that it took a bipartisan 9/11 commission exhorting the nation's leaders into action before any ideas begin to emanate from the White House and Congress? Why weren't all these things done on September 12th?

Could it be because the Bush Administration never considered this matter seriously? You think I'm joking? First, they block the creation of the 9/11 commission and when public pressure was too great, they stonewall the commission instead. Why? Because they think they're right, and they don't need to listen to anybody else because we are all wrong. Imagine: If they had speedily created the commission to investigate the 9/11 attacks and cooperated fully, we would've had these recommendations much sooner. Of course, now that overwhelming public pressure is pushing for intelligence reforms and other security measures as recommended by the commission, this Administration acquiesces. Meanwhile, THREE years have passed. Why are they only taking action now?!

Safety, security, the terrorist threat... these are serious problems. And the Bush Administration is filled with people who are not the least bit serious about addressing these problems. They are only interested in being right.

Failure in decisiveness. Failure in strength. Failure in judgement. And failure in leadership. The Bush Administration has failed in their job of protecting America. They should be fired.

Allow me to quote Richard Cohen's 9/11 Farce piece at the Post on 7/27:

"Now he suddenly discovers he is expected to do something about national security. He cannot be serious -- and rest assured he is not. The many months of inactivity in this area offer eloquent testimony to Bush's firm belief that little needs to be fixed. In the same way he could not answer earlier this year what mistakes he had made as president, he cannot even say what mistakes his government made that might have led to Sept. 11 and the debacle in Iraq."

[hope is on the way] Spirited, fast-paced and a little hoarse, John Edwards' speech (which I *did* watch) was pretty powerful stuff. Not to mention he looks sooo good :)

"You know, we hear a lot of talk about values. Where I come from, you don't judge somebody's values based upon how they use that word in a political ad. You judge their values based upon what they've spent their life doing. So when a man volunteers to serve his country, the man volunteers and puts his life on the line for others, that's a man who represents real American values."

"But this is where you come in: Between now and November, you, the American people, you can reject the tired, old, hateful, negative politics of the past. And instead you can embrace the politics of hope, the politics of what's possible because this is America, where everything is possible."

"I am here tonight for a very simple reason: because I love my country. And I have every reason to love my country. I have grown up in the bright light of America."

"I mean, the very idea that in a country of our wealth and our prosperity, we have children going to bed hungry? We have children who don't have the clothes to keep them warm? We have millions of Americans who work full-time every day to support their families, working for minimum wage, and still live in poverty. It's wrong... And by doing all those things, we're going to say no forever to any American working full-time and living in poverty. Not in our America, not in our America, not in our America."

And the security of this country had to be addressed and it was flawlessly articulated:

"The truth is, the truth is that what John and I want, what all of us want if for our children and our grandchildren to be the first generations that grown up in an America that's no longer divided by race. We must build one America. We must be one America, strong and united for another very important reason: because we are at war."

"We are approaching the third anniversary of September 11, and one thing I can tell you: When we're in office, it won't take three years to get the reforms in our intelligence that are necessary to keep the American people safe."

"We are approaching the third anniversary of September 11th, and I can tell you that when we're in office, it won't take us three years to get the reforms in our intelligence we need to protect our country."

"And when John is president, we will listen to the wisdom of the September 11 commission. We will lead strong alliances. We will safeguard and secure our weapons of mass destruction. We will strengthen our homeland security, protect our ports, protect our chemical plants, and support our firefighters, police officers, EMTs. We will always use our military might to keep the American people safe."

"And we, John and I, we will have one clear unmistakable message for al Qaeda and these terrorists: You cannot run. You cannot hide. We will destroy you."

"But we can't do this alone. We have to restore our respect in the world to bring our allies to us and with us. It's how we won the Cold War. It is how we won two World Wars. And it is how we will build a stable Iraq."

And the theme of the evening "hope is on the way":

"We are Americans and we choose to be inspired. We choose hope over despair, possibilities over problems, optimism over cynicism. We choose to do what's right even when those around us say, "You can't do that," we choose to be inspired, because we know that we can do better, because this is America where everything is still possible."

Yea!

JUL 28 :: [obama-tastic] I didn't watch the speech (then again, I haven't watched any so far *grin*) but here are some excerpts:

"...the true genius of America, a faith in the simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles. That we can tuck in our children at night and know they are fed and clothed and safe from harm. That we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door. That we can have an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe. That we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution, and that our votes will be counted..."

"John Kerry believes in an America where hard work is rewarded. So instead of offering tax breaks to companies shipping jobs overseas, he'll offer them to companies creating jobs here at home... in an America where all Americans can afford the same health coverage our politicians in Washington have for themselves... in energy independence, so we aren't held hostage to the profits of oil companies or the sabotage of foreign oil fields... in the constitutional freedoms that have made our country the envy of the world, and he will never sacrifice our basic liberties nor use faith as a wedge to divide us... that in a dangerous world, war must be an option sometimes, but it should never be the first option."

And then it gets better as Obama slams the politics of division:

"...there's not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there is the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America -- there is the United States of America.

"...We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states. We coach Little League in the blue states and have gay friends in the red states.

"There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America."

And then there's hope:

"Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or do we participate in a politics of hope? Hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope. In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation; a belief in things not seen; a belief that there are better days ahead."

Pass the Kleenex... :)

[fiscal conservative] You wanna know what fiscal conservatism is all about? Deficit reduction and spending restraint! I am sick and tired of listening to brain-dead whines from the White House about how the deficits at $420 BILLION (yes I purposely uppercased "billion") is manageable because they are smaller in percentage terms relative to the size of the economy than Reagan's deficits. Excuuuuuse me?? Spending more than you have is NOT manageable. Just because it doesn't seeeeem so big doesn't mean it's not chronic or sickly. When you are in debt, you don't keep borrowing more, you don't cut your income and you don't buy more stuff. It's the simplest math on earth: Don't spend more than you have! Sick and tired, I tell you.

[amazing caviar] So what was up with the Amazing Race 5 last night? 2.2 pounds of caviar? Heaven, I tell you! And these people were choking it down with juice?! If it weren't a race against time, I would've savored them one bite at a time. I can't imagine any amount of caviar being repulsive. Then again, I am a HUGE caviar fiend :) Maybe I would gag at a whole kilogram of fish eggs. Hmm... Bring it on!

[back and forth] I have no idea what I was doing last night. I had a shrimp/rice thing at lunch and was pretty hungry which meant I got drunk pretty fast (after one drink!) at JR's with Rick/Brett early in the evening. It was a blur after that. We cabbed to Ozio's for Andy's birthday party (why a straight bar??) and then we cabbed back to JR's with Mike/Gary in tow to meet Rob. And then we stopped at Annie's for a yummy Queen cut before waddling home in the rain. The whole evening was a blur. Just another typical Tuesday evening, giggle!

JUL 27 :: [stroke of genius] Bill Clinton's speech was by far the most well-received, rousing and energetic speech last night. Money quote here after he mentioned that he is now part of the "important group" of top one percent of Americans who benefitted enormously from the massive Bush Administration tax cuts:

"When I was in office, the Republicans were pretty mean to me. When I left and made money, I became part of the most important group in the world to them. At first I thought I should send them a thank you note -- until I realized they were sending you the bill."

LOL! I love it!

Moving from the jabs, here is the substantive quote of the evening from Bill, the MAN himself :)

"Democrats favor shared responsibility, shared opportunity, and more global cooperation. Republicans favor concentrated wealth and power, leaving people to fend for themselves and more unilateral action. I think we're right for two reasons: First, America works better when all people have a chance to live their dreams. Second, we live in an interdependent world in which we can't kill, jail, or occupy all our potential adversaries, so we have to both fight terror and build a world with more partners and fewer terrorists."

"...our way works better - it produced over 22 million good jobs, rising incomes, and 100 times as many people moving out of poverty into the middle class. It produced more health care, the largest increase in college aid in 50 years, record home ownership, a cleaner environment, three surpluses in a row, a modernized defense force, strong efforts against terror, and an America respected as a world leader for peace, security and prosperity."

The record speaks for itself.

And finally, the best line of the evening was delivered as Clinton brushed aside Republican's criticism that Kerry will be soft on terror:

"Strength and wisdom are not opposing values. They go hand in hand."

Indeed.

[subtle and scathing] You have got to read Jimmy Carter's speech to the Democratic National Convention last night in Boston. It was a fabulously subtle speech, but piercingly scathing :)

"We had confidence that our leaders, military and civilian, would not put our soldiers and sailors in harm's way by initiating "wars of choice" unless America's vital interests were endangered."

"Today, our dominant international challenge is to restore the greatness of America - based on telling the truth, a commitment to peace, and respect for civil liberties at home and basic human rights around the world."

"You can't be a war president one day and claim to be a peace president the next, depending on the latest political polls."

"...the issue is whether America will provide global leadership that springs from the unity and integrity of the American people or whether extremist doctrines and the manipulation of truth will define America's role in the world."

Yea, baby! But the most stunning paragraphs of his speech are these:

"Recent policies have cost our nation its reputation as the world's most admired champion of freedom and justice. What a difference these few months of extremism have made!"

"In repudiating extremism we need to recommit ourselves to a few common-sense principles that should transcend partisan differences. First, we cannot enhance our own security if we place in jeopardy what is most precious to us, namely, the centrality of human rights in our daily lives and in global affairs. Second, we cannot maintain our historic self-confidence as a people if we generate public panic. Third, we cannot do our duty as citizens and patriots if we pursue an agenda that polarizes and divides our country. Next, we cannot be true to ourselves if we mistreat others. And finally, in the world at large we cannot lead if our leaders mislead."

Fabulously scathing and a damning indictment of the Bush Administration's miserable failures.

[fire the editors] I was alerted to the Washington Post's drop in average daily circulation on TPM recently. Of the top 10 newspapers in the country, only 2 (together with the Chicago Tribune) suffered drops in circulation. The WP is currently #5 with USA Today, WSJ, NYT and LA Times in the top 4 positions. Interesting? I thought so. I much prefer USA Today when I'm on the go and need to pick up a rag. I far and away prefer the NYT for its refreshingly intelligent and well-written Editorials/Op-Eds. If it wasn't for local news, I would not even remotely consider subscribing to the WP. And I was very close to unsubscribing the WP because of its Drumbeat on Iraq. Not only that, the WP's Editorial till this day refuses to apologize for trumping up a morally-wrong war. It is almost as pathetic as Bush's un-accountability. And the blatant disrespect for human rights as exhibited by the Editor's fervent backing of a war of choice is seriously disturbing for any self-respecting newspaper. I ask myself at least once a week: why do I even bother continuing my subscription to the WP? As it is, I am boycotting the Editorial section.

So, the WP will beg the question: How do we fix our circulation numbers? It's as simple as firing your Editors. If only.

[funny] William Safire, NYT Op-Ed columnist, yesterday in his column called the Bush Administration a "...coldblooded coterie of warmongering neocon homophobic tax cutters." I giggled and wanted to share it.

JUL 26 :: [ny, ny] A city so good they named it twice! We got back from a tiring but good trip to NYC last night. Why tiring? TWO back-to-back 3 1/2 hour dinners at Per Se and Babbo! We practically ate our way through NYC. And let's not even talk about the close to $1100 total we spent on both dinners...

GETTING THERE :: First and foremost, our mad dash to NYC. Friday started out innocent enough until storms invaded the NY area. LGA, as usual when a drop of rain/snow is in the forecast, shuts down cancelling all the shuttle flights after 1pm. Ugh. Tom/G, Tony/I were stuck at DCA, more distraught about missing Per Se than missing the flight. So we zoomed out of DCA to Union Station to catch the next Acela Express which was leaving in one hour! Well, ordinarily (even with traffic), 60 minutes would be more than enough time to make the train. But noooooo, Tony let the car drop to its last drop of petrol. The indicator in the Audi (the Germans loooove their electronics) dropped from 10mi of gas left, to 5mi and then to 0mi! And we were still a few blocks away from the nearest gas station. Panic ensues, horror sinks in (pushing a 4000lb car in high humidity is not my idea of fun), nail-biting all around... and then, the most beautiful sight we've ever seen - the white letters of Exxon on a blue background!

Of course, true to Kiat fashion, I blurt out: "Oh God, not an Exxon. I NEVER get gas at an Exxon (personal and moral objections)." Giggle. We suck it up and fill up the car. Tom dashes in for some ATM action (he had $2 in his wallet!) and off we go to Union Station. We're running around the train station like chickens and when we finally sat down in the ultra-comfy Acela train seats, we were all like completely exhausted and ready to eat. But food was FIVE hours away (10pm reservations). Groan.

I know, I know... it wasn't really THAT dramatic. I'm just making it out to be. We got to Penn Station just fine (after 3 hours of playing Hearts - I suck at it, btw - and munching on all the snack/junk food we could get our hands on). We walked a miserable 9 blocks to get to our hotel in drizzly weather and high humidity but let's not go there :) The Westin Times Sq aka Westin Port Authority Bus Terminal was just fine. Big corner room with less amenities than THEhotel (see last weekend - yes, we're spoilt) but nice views and, most importantly, a comfortable bed. Location was quite desirable actually.

PER SE :: This much is fact: We have never spent this much (close to $400/pp) for one dinner. Period. Was it worth it? Abso-fucking-lutely. From the soaring cathedral-like ceilings to the split-level seating affording all tables with gorgeous views of Columbus Circle and Central Park beyond, and the ultra-contemporary-luxe and subdued ambience, first impressions were very good (especially in my then grumpy state of malnutrition). And it just got better. Nine stunningly delicious courses paired with groundbreaking white wines and some yummy reds are brought out throughout the course of the evening; one food orgasm after another. There were four of us multiplied by nine courses... oh dear, we had 36 orgasms that night! :D I promise to include the menu but for right now, just trust me that Thomas Keller's Per Se is the high note of American dining.

BABBO :: Here's another fact: Babbo is FABBO! Italian has never tasted this good. Pastas made in Heaven. And getting the dinner reservation (again, 10pm!) was as hard as getting into Heaven. Talk about fingers of steel hitting the redial button over-and-over for 30 minutes. We also got the tasting menu here (although not the pasta one to my dismay) and had a wonderful meal paired with amazing wines from the many regions of Italy which made for an evening that disintegrated into tipsiness by the time 1am rolled around. Giggle. The fact that I started off the evening with Cosmos at the Chambers where Tom/G were temporarily residing (quite a fetch hotel, if I may add) did not help one bit :)

HAIRSPRAY :: I grew up watching Miss Saigon/Les Mis/Phantom of the Opera. For awhile there, I was in a musical funk coz it was impossible to warm up to anything that wasn't produced by Cameron Mackintosh. All the songs from those musicals are in my head and I couldn't imagine loving anything else (yes, I'm change averse). Lion King was an exception but that was so Disney. Mamma Mia! was fun but lacked a certain acting quality (plus the ABBA songs were already hits). Seeing The Producers and Hairspray within the past 6 months has reinforced my faith in Broadway (which for awhile there seemed to be invaded by West End musicals). Hairspray was all-out fun and the songs were superb. Acting was great (not as good as Nathan Lane/Matthew Broderick) and the show was very entertaining especially since the premise is very simple: Set in Baltimore, girl aspires to be on TV, gets on it, gets her dream guy and at the same time, breaks down segregation with her bubbly attitude and just plain ol' fun. It's funny how the black singers on the show were far better than the white singers ;) Definitely go see it!

Aside from the two food explosions that lasted till 2am each night, we had some siu loong bao from Our Place (some Shanghainese restaurant in Midtown East) and, my usual fare, Malaysian food from Nyonya. We did some shopping (Kenneth Cole, of course) and walked around Times Square some but that was the extent of our weekend. I was beyond tired last night after our uneventful and quick flight home. There was also the ordeal of Metro-ing from DCA to Union Station to get our car but this blog is gonna be as bloated as my tummy is now if I don't stop at some point. Happy final-week-in-July!

JUL 23 :: [per se] Our gastronomical adventures will hit a high note this evening at Thomas Keller's Per Se in New York. French Laundry is arguably the best restaurant (and toughest reservation) in North America. His offshoot in NY will be the scene of grotesque (but unimaginably good) eating tonight amongst the four of us; Tom/G included. I'm expecting lots of raunchy food orgasms and scintillating moments with nibbles on my tongue.

Problem is our reservations are at 10! Every indication points to a 4-hour dinner. Eating till 2am?! *gasp* And how on earth am I gonna survive till 10 without food? A salad is in order at my normal dinnertime, I think. If I'm comatose tomorrow, you'll know why :)

And once recovered from the coma, we'll be heading to Babbo (yes, that super-amazing Mario Batali joint in The Village) for our dinner on Saturday night which promises to be memorable as usual (we've been there twice now and loved each and every). In between, we'll be squeezing in Hairspray and hopefully some delicious Malaysian food at Nyonya.

Start spreading the news, indeed!

[disgusting] No doubt you HAVEN'T heard of the Marriage Protection Act that passed the House of Representatives yesterday (probably due to the enormous publicity surrounding the 9/11 commission report). And no doubt you can guess that I'm disgusted. Quote from Andrew Sullivan's blog today:

"The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said it could find no precedent for Congress passing a law to limit federal courts from ruling on the constitutionality of another law, although Democrats said opponents of civil rights legislation tried to do the same thing."

Mr Sullivan adds: "Yes, today's Republicans are now the inheritors of those Democrats who did all they could to prevent African-Americans from winning their civil rights... the Bible says so! And that's how you interpret the Constitution, isn't it? And if the Constitution suggests otherwise, you can always amend it or strip courts of the ability to review legislation."

Brilliant.

On a separate note, I just want to add that the partisan rancor in DC these days is pretty disgusting as well. No one cares to debate policies anymore. No one cares to pass legislation and no one cares to compromise. No one can even begin to claim moral high ground on any of the divisive issues before our nation. Instead, all we get is name-calling, dirty politics, and lots of negativity. Negative tactics don't work. Why? For the simple fact that once all the rage has died down, we are still left with no solutions. And similarly, candidates who are focused on tarnishing the other side's candidate have zero interest in debating, much less fixing, our country's problems. Stop pissing on each other and start debating!

JUL 22 :: [stead park] The Center for GLBT in Metro DC hosted an outdoor viewing of "Sordid Lives" last night at Stead Park - the future site of The Center. The movie itself was high camp and the perfect movie to watch under the stars on a balmy Wednesday evening. Tony and I with Rick/Brett/Fred, M2/Alex and Soochon/Bill shared three blankets and countless bottles of wine and vodka and had an uproarious time. The picture on the screen was very clear and the sound system was crisper than I imagined possible in an outdoor setting. Very well done. We want more!

Just when we thought the evening was over, we ran into Jeff/Gina (our neighbors - yea, the ones who copied our pergola) and had more libations at their place which is currently sans doors (quite funny getting in and out). All this made for quite a heavy start to my morning here at work... Groggy. New York City tomorrow! More details later :)

[startling gap] Wow, the average income of the top 20% of DC households is, get this, $186,830!!! And the poorest 20%? $6,126. Mind you, these are average numbers. I can imagine a few really high-income households skewing the top chart but whichever way you cut it, $6k is miserable. That's quite a startling gap isn't it?

JUL 21 :: [peace my ass] This would be funny if it weren't so sickeningly false:

"Nobody wants to be the war president. I want to be the peace president." - Bush 7/20/04

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Actually, he got it right in the first sentence. He's not a war president. He's a warmongering president. And a "peace president"? This coming from the man who snubbed the entire world to launch an unnecessary war against a country of innocent civilians simply because he didn't like what their dictator might do? What a heinous distortion of his abysmal foreign policy. First he uses war for political gain and now he's trying to do the same with peace? This man has no shame.

[peace my ass part deux] Despite the 150-6 vote, Israeli UN ambassador Dan Gillerman called the UNGA resolution "one-sided and totally counterproductive". And, of course, Israel will once again brush aside the UN ruling (does it matter whether it's binding or non-binding?) like it has over the years defying, ignoring and brushing off both UNGA and UN Security Council resolutions (which are binding), including ones calling for it to end occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Even Britain's, our staunchest ally in the EU, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says that Israel must act in accordance with international law and that the construction of a barrier on occupied territory is unlawful. And Australia's, who actually voted AGAINST the resolution with the US, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia supported Israel's construction of a barrier in the West Bank but the controversial structure should not cross into occupied territories.

Personally, a wall is a wall is a wall. It's the Berlin Wall all over again. But Israel has its arguments and they are sound: the need for self-defense. Fine. No questions there except perhaps they could just LEAVE the West Bank but that in itself might not deter the suicide bombers. But building the barrier deep into the occupied territories? The United States is exclusive amongst the world community to think that that's an acceptable thing for Israel to do. And it's a pity too because that support translates into inaction by the UN Security Council. My vote goes to sanctions until compliance. Actually, the simplest solution to this whole mess is searingly obvious: End the Occupation. Now. As long as the occupation continues, Israel has zero moral high ground to argue its case of self-defense.

Quoting from Letters to the NYT:

"The contention that if there were no terrorism there would be no wall is baseless and a distracting ploy for grabbing land illegitimately. One can argue similarly that if there were no occupation, there would be no terror."

JUL 20 :: [150-6] That's how the 191-nation UN General Assembly voted in demanding that Israel obey the ICJ ruling and tear down the West Bank barrier. 150 for, 6 against and 10 abstentions; including all 25 EU countries voting in support. The United States was, of course, opposed to the resolution. Thankfully, the US does not have veto power in the General Assembly. It would surely use its veto power to block any similar resolution tabled at the UN Security Council.

The fact is the United States has vetoed 38 UN Security Council resolutions in defense of Israel in the past 30+ years; amazingly in all 38, the US was the lone dissenting vote (out of 15 Security Council members) plus a few abstentions here and there. Those lone votes beg the question of whether the rest of the world is misguided and have been so for the past 30+ years? Probably not. This long string of lone votes only gives the impression, sadly and mistakenly, that the US is one-sided and partial to the interests of Israel.

It is obvious to almost every government on Earth that the Israeli barrier, if necessary for security, should've been built on the 1967 borders. Any attempt to encompass disputed occupied territory with the barrier is a land-grab. But Israel did it anyway coz they know the US will never let the international community punish Israel for these egregious actions that promote more violence. And why does the US care? Well, it doesn't. It also thinks that the UN is irrelevant and the world's opinion is not worth its time or effort. And this blind support of Israel's actions that impoverish the Palestinian population only feeds into the Muslim's world hatred of American policies.

The world has spoken in an almost unanimous voice. Will Israel listen? I'll put my bets on "No" and the cycle of violence continues...

[ted-venture] Yes, I survived Ted. My experience? So-so, comme ci comme ca. My first Ted flight from SFO-LAS was delayed by SEVEN minutes. I thought that was funny. I love honesty but really, was it even necessary to tell us about a 7 min delay? The second and more significant Ted flight was LAS-IAD; 4+ hours in Ted. The horrors! Economy Plus and exit row seating proved a savior. The seats (new, I think) were surprisingly comfy and the legroom was amazing.

There was no food, and barely any beverages. I brought my own chicken caesar so it wasn't too bad. The major downside was the in-flight entertainment. Tedevision was a complete bore. After about 2 hours, I was so bored and the sitcoms playing on TedTV were just not entertaining (Two and a Half Men? I'm With Her? Gimme a break...). Last I checked, sitcoms are supposed to make you laugh. I was quite restless.

So, all in all, I think I'll fly Ted again but not on a flight longer than 2 hours. It was just too painful to be couped up with marginal entertainment and no food. My flight to SFO, on the other hand, was bliss in comparison :)

[2004 platform] This is interesting. A preview of the 2004 Democratic Party Platform:

"In offering this vision, we affirm our faith in the greatness of America. We recommit to the ideal of a people united in helping one another, an ideal as old as the faiths we follow and as great as the country we love. To those who are threatened, we pledge protection; to those who are victims, we promise justice; to those who are hopeless, we offer hope. And to all Americans who seek a better future for themselves, for their loved ones, and for our country, we say: your cause is our own."

Lots of fluff. Let's see, what else...

SECURITY :: "...First, America must launch and lead a new era of alliances... Second, we must modernize the world's most powerful military... Third, ...we must deploy... our diplomacy, our intelligence system, our economic power, and the appeal of our values and ideas. Fourth, ...we must end our dependence on Mideast oil."

ECONOMY :: "...create new jobs and protect existing ones by ending tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas and cutting taxes for companies that create jobs here at home; by fighting for free, fair and balanced trade; by encouraging investment in small businesses and helping companies deal with rising health care costs; by promoting new technologies, like energy, that will lead to the companies and jobs of tomorrow; and by ensuring that people of every age learn the skills to succeed in today's economy."

HEALTH CARE :: "We will attack the health care crisis with a comprehensive approach. Our goal is straightforward: quality, affordable health coverage for all Americans to keep our families healthy, our businesses competitive, and our country strong."

EDUCATION :: "...a strong America begins at home with strong families, and that strong families need the best schools. We believe schools must teach fundamental skills like math and science, and fundamental values like citizenship and responsibility."

Reducing dependence on Mideast oil is a good one. The Economy piece is generally agreeable. Healthcare and Economy sections are lacking in details. Oh well. I wonder what the GOP Party Platform is? "Let's enlarge the Federal government by increasing spending while cutting taxes, we want bigger deficits, and we want religion playing a huge role in our brand of government based on compassionate conservatism; whereby states have no say in personal and social issues and we'll make sure to amend the Constitution to achieve that goal."

"You will also never be safe until we have bombed and destroyed everyone that hates America, even if what they hate are our policies not our freedoms. If you're not with us, you're with the terrorists and therefore you are unpatriotic and you should be silenced and jailed for treason without recourse. We reserve the right to brand any country or any person a terrorist entity, regardless of friend or foe. We are always right and you have no right to question any of our judgements. And we will make America stronger by bombing this terror away. Period."

I wish I was joking.

JUL 19 :: [my vegas weekend] I survived! Between Ted flights, topless beaches, scintillating shows, fabulous dinners, scorching heat, dancing fountains, tacky white trash tourists, and super-cool hotels, I had an eventful Vegas extravaganza this past weekend.

My flight there was fabulously on-time and uneventful. I had a yummy meal on my way to SFO and was delayed by SEVEN minutes (why do they even bother?) on Ted to Vegas. Joined Tony, Jane and the Symantec folks at dinner at 3950 which was fun and VERY expensive (seriously, $15 for appetizers and $43 for dover sole??). From there, we cabbed to the Treasure Island for Cirque du Soleil's Mystere which was really good the second time around. The two scantily-clad guys doing their routine on a dome was superb, as usual.

Friday was a sybaritic day for me. Worked out (the horrors!) at the gym and proceeded to a 90-min champagne wrap/massage treatment at THEbathhouse which was groundbreakingly amazing. I spent another hour alternating between the hot plunge pool (the cold one was set at 66 degrees! I don't think so) and the eucalyptus steam room with a cold towel over my face. Very relaxing and refreshing. Then I tramped off to the Moorea Beach which was a fee-based topless beach. OK, now I know many of you are asking: why on earth would I go to a topless beach? The people I wanna see are already topless. Well, it's got to do with the crowds. The main Beach was packed beyond belief (it was 100+ and getting hotter) so I opted to pay $30 (!!!) to get seclusion even if it meant seeing breasts everywhere. Oh well, so much for peace and quiet... Moorea was too cool and too hip and it was blasting hip-hop the entire time. No matter. I had my trusty iPod Mini with me and I listened to Madonna instead. Giggle. The other advantage to Moorea? Lots of beautiful hard bodies on display. It was all very plush and fetch!

Tony joined me after his meetings ended and we played around the Lazy River till the storms came. Our day ended with a decadent dinner at Renoir at the Mirage. My dinner was delicious but not worth the price ($200/person!). Picasso at the Bellagio was better. Anywho, we decided to walk home after that huge dinner which was not a good idea in 100+ weather while wearing suits! The scenes from The Strip at night was worth it though. We traipsed through the Bellagio (my favorite) and watched the dancing fountains which were spectacular as usual. By the time we got to NY-NY, we were sweaty and exhausted. Thank God for the tram from Excalibur to Mandalay Bay!

Saturday was pretty lazy at well. We had a fabulous brunch at Commander's Palace (yes, gumbo and oysters and creole!) at the Aladdin followed by sweating it out watching the fountains of Bellagio dance to "All That Jazz". We also hopped on the Monorail which was not worth the price ($3) and very inconveniently located. If you ask me, don't bother with mass transit. Just take cabs. We walked around Paris, MGM Grand and NY-NY before heading back to our sanctuary.

Ooh, how could I forget our sanctuary - THEhotel was amazing!! Cool earth tones and sleek contemporary design. Very "W"-ish. Our room (or suite, rather) was 750 sq ft and had TWO 42" plasma screens plus a pretty good-sized LCD screen in the bathroom. The bed was ultra comfortable and the decor was very chic. THEhotel is definitely my new favorite place in Vegas (although the South end of the Strip is rather far from everything). I still like the location of the Bellagio beter. Nonetheless, the Mandalay Bay resort definitely met my expectations and then some. We didn't get to partake in all the resort had to offer (like the nightclubs rumjungle and Red Square or the concerts at the House of Blues and on the Beach) but we had a fantastic time at the Mandalay Bay.

Saturday night was Zumanity night! What a great show. Very sexual and titillating. It's more like Cirque du Sexie. Lots of boobies on display but very tastefully done, of course, true to Cirque fashion with eye-catching wardrobe and erotic music. Lots of girl-on-girl, man-on-woman, man-on-man and orgy action. That plus fat girls in bikinis serving strawberries, a drag queen MC, and just think about the sheer number of positions these Cirque folks can get into makes this show definitely not for the faint-hearted! Of course, a Zumanitini (kinda like a Cosmo) puts a fabulous tipsy touch to the show for me :) We ended the evening at Aureole which was a great experience just playing with the wine list which came on an HP Tablet PC! Very fun. I had a lovely lamb shank to go with the wine that the "wine angels" picked out from the 4-storey wine tower! Only in Vegas...

Leaving Las Vegas on Sunday was hard. We hopped on a 4+ hour Ted flight (GROAN) and got home at 9pm. It wasn't too bad. And really, it isn't. My next vacation starts on Friday! New York, New York... Yea, baby!

JUL 15 :: [leaving on a jet plane] Finally! I'm off to Vegas in 2 hours. My bitch Nicole is taking me to the airport. So sweet of her. It's an almost 6-hour flight to SFO in very plush Business Class on a 763 (sweet seats) followed by a miserable 90-min Ted flight to my final destination. It'll all be worth it. It's close to 100 degrees in Vegas now (yikes!). Mystere tonight, Renoir tomorrow, followed by Zumanity and Aureole on Saturday night. Ooh, let's not forget my 2+ hours of spa treatments at THEbathhouse (where do they come up with these names??) tomorrow while Tony's at work. Yippee!

It looks like the second half of July is crazy travel time for almost everybody - Chris/Dave are off to Alaska followed by London, Rob/Mikko are off to Montana followed by Montreal, everyone else is busy in one way or another. Travel is so fetch :)

Alrighty, I'll be home on Sunday (late). See y'all then! Off to catch my flight...

[irresponsibility] From Maureen Down, Op-Ed Columnist of the NYT:

"When the British report came out yesterday declaring that Saddam Hussein had no significant W.M.D., or perhaps no W.M.D., Tony Blair accepted "full personal responsibility" for "the way the issue was presented and, therefore, for any errors made."

"Mr. Bush, by contrast, took full personal irresponsibility. Still pressing the preposterous case that he has made America safer, even though we are inundated with threats from Al Qaeda, and that he is winning the war against terror, even though there are more terrorist attacks..."

In a stunning and eloquent speech, British PM Tony Blair accepted "full responsibility" for the intelligence mistakes that were made in the run-up to the Iraq war. Even an anti-war person like myself can see where he's coming from. Bush? Well, he still insists that he's right and we're all wrong; it's his way or the highway. Remember? If we're not with the President, then we're with the terrorists. Sickening, deplorable and pathetic attempts at stamping out dissent, consensus and free speech.

JUL 14 :: [victory!] The Federal Marriage Amendment is dead. By a stunning bipartisan vote of 50-48, the FMA was killed and Senate Republicans were short a humiliating 12 votes to keep the FMA alive; much less the simple majority to claim moral victory or the two-thirds majority required to pass the Amendment.

Not only has the FMA shredded all reasonable expectation that the Republican Party can be inclusive and tolerant, it has totally imploded in the religious right's face. They can't even agree on how to word the Amendment much less pass such a hateful piece of legislation. America will not stand to be divided by a President and a political party that intends to drive a social and cultural wedge into the heart of this country. America will not stand for codifying discrimination into the Constitution and attacking a document that has provided a foundation for our principles for over two centuries.

From the NYT:

"The Constitution exists to protect individual rights, not to permanently enshrine the fear and ignorance of one group's morality into law."

Thank you, Mr. President, for making it crystal clear that you stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the religious extremists, and not the fiscally-conservative and compassionate wing of the Republican Party. It makes it easier to defend a gay vote for the Democratic Party and incinerates all reasoning to vote the other way.

[looking up] Things are looking up! I just got upgraded to Business Class tomorrow to SFO!! Yay!

[thug and liar] OK, hmm hang on, you ARE a thug and a liar. Truth hurts, eh?

[$50 and 0 points] I just got back from DC's Traffic Adjudication office at N Capitol and K ST NE (it's a pretty decent area, just across from the Bus Station). Ooh, here's a tip: There's metered parking on the streets around the Bus Station so don't bother paying $5-$8 to park in the guarded lots.

I was there to contest two tickets I accumulated (it does seem like I'm racking 'em up, doesn't it?) back in February. One was for "unreasonable speed" and the other was for "passing yellow light" (???). Who knew passing a yellow light was illegal in DC.

Anyways, I get there at 8:30, sit for 15 minutes before being ushered into this windowless but bright "Hearing Room" with 5 other people and two officers. Here's the nosebleed part about this: If your officer is not the first one, you have to wait out the other officer's 3 cases before they come to yours. Why is that bad? Well, it takes about 30 minutes per case unless a quick dismissal is involved. My turn did not come till 10:45 and it was over with in 15 minutes.

Verdict? "Unreasonable Speed" - Dismissed. "Passing Yellow Light" - $50 fine but no points. I'm very pleased with the result. Yes, it was a 3 hour commitment to do this but the result was avoiding 4 unnecessary points being put on my license, woohoo!! I'm very pleased with myself.

My Officer was quite a bitch though. He kept pounding the woman before me with numerous accusations and fought with the judge when he tried to dismiss one of her two tickets. She had to pay a fine, received points and go to driver's ed. Yuck. After seeing that, I totally kissed ass and went for the helpless and sweet persona and the Officer did not seem to mind that the judge was lenient with me. Nonetheless, if true emotions were to be shown, I would've lunged across the table and went for the Officer's jugular :) Giggle!

JUL 13 :: [outage] 1830 EDT: We just recovered from a power outage caused by some city maintenance workers fixing a burnt out street lamp across the street (go figure). We lost power for 7 hours (hmm, I wonder if Chris/Dave had power?) so, many apologies for the dis-connectivity :)

[sucks] Yes, it's tragic that my IAD-SFO upgrade has not cleared (and the likelihood is slim). I purposely tacked on 3+ more hours of flying time so that I could at least do the cross-country segment in Business before suffering the Ted flight to Vegas but alas, this flight is packed up front. So not happy right now. It would be quite a miracle if I actually get an upgrade. Why is everyone flying transcon mid-day on Thursday?!

Vegas is gonna be 105+ degrees the entire time I'm there. Good God. Desert heat, here we come. I am so going to wilt. I dropped my bro off this morning at IAD on his way to ATL. We had Korean BBQ last night which was delicious, as usual. Work sucks, flying in coach sucks, 100+ heat sucks!!

[tragic] Yes, I use the term "tragic" so very loosely above. Unfortunately, what's really tragic is this notwithstanding the part about France chastising us about HIV drugs (urm, yea, you guys could put some effort into coming up with a vaccine?). The statistics are not only grim, they are heartbreaking. 25 years later, close to 40 million infected; half of them women. And 10 million of them were infected in the past two years alone. FIFTEEN million orphans. And a staggering 31 million people have died of AIDS in the past quarter century. That's close to the population of California. Wiped out. Ravaged by a disease that is so easily preventable it's almost sickening to hear about its continuing rampage around much of the poor parts of the globe.

And finally to hear about United States policies such as withholding AIDS funding from the most desperate parts of the world unless they only teach abstinence, unrelenting on antiretroviral drug prices, barring HIV-carriers from becoming citizens or even entering this country (which is why the AIDS Conference is being held in Bangkok). It's shameful that we live in the richest country in the world but turn our backs on the neediest and the ones most hurt by this pandemic. What a wrenching legacy to leave behind.

JUL 12 :: [crazy july] Well, my crazy month of July kicked into high gear this weekend and will continue throughout this month till early August. My elder bro is still here, en route to Atlanta tomorrow. We did the monuments/memorials thing on Saturday and yesterday was white-trash shopping day at Potomac Mills which was quite fun :) We took him to JR's last night where he met all my bitchy friends and had a wild time meeting new ppl and then pounding drinks with them - Rick was more than obliging and ended up getting quite toasted *giggle*. Quite a new experience for him, I must say. Yesterday's more-boisterous-than-usual Sunday afternoon JR's bash was also in honor of Ian and Daryl's visit to DC - they are friends with furry Andrew from London. How delightful. The evening ended at Annie's, of course, where I was good and had a salad and some pasta.

Woke up this morning feeling like I hadn't slept all weekend! And it gets worse from here out. Tony is off to Vegas on Wed and I join him the next day. We are camping out (if you can call it that) at THEhotel at the Mandalay Bay (how exciting!) and watching two Cirque du Soleil shows. We're slated for highfalutin, hoity-toity dinners at Renoir and Aureole.

This will be followed by the mother of all dinners at Per Se the following week in NYC together with tickets to go see Hairspray. The weekend after is the Nicoletti family reunion in KC. I'm such the busy bee this month!

It's getting hot but still no real signs of the crazy 90+ degree/90+% humidity weather we're used to here in DC for summer. Almost daily storms are quite the nuisance though.

I'm exhausted just thinking about getting through this month. It's tiring but never boring!

[indefensible] This is a pathetic attempt to defend a lie. There is nothing to defend, really. And it wouldn't be so nauseating if what he was defending didn't involve matters of war and peace, life and death. Unconscionable and disgusting.

[big mistakes] From the WP today:-

"With a bipartisan Senate committee report exposing colossal blunders by the intelligence community in the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the political debate over whether the United States went to war on false pretenses took another turn for the worse for the Bush White House."

"...blaming the CIA has strategic pitfalls for a White House that is still asserting its decisive leadership -- including its right to preemptive war based on intelligence findings -- and hasn't really admitted it made any mistakes in the first place."

I wish it were that simple to call it a big mistake and move on. Lots of people have died from this "mistake". It may not have been deliberate but our own soldiers, not to mention countless innocent civilians, have died and are continuing to die from this "mistake". At what point is this Administration going to apologize to the families of the slain soldiers, and the people of this country, Iraq, and the world over for this massive blunder?

And there's more to come; from the NYT:-

"The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is nearing completion of a final, probably unanimous report that will stand by the conclusions of the panel's staff and largely dismiss White House theories both about a close working relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda and about possible Iraqi involvement in Sept. 11, commission officials said."

"The report, which is expected to be made public several days before the panel's mandated deadline of July 26, will also probably be unwelcome at the White House because it will document management failures at senior levels of the Bush administration that kept the government from acting aggressively on intelligence warnings in the spring and summer of 2001 of an imminent, catastrophic terrorist attack, the officials said."

This, and the Senate committee report, is not just another partisan mud-slinging war of words. These are independent, bipartisan groups of people who have come to these conclusions. Just more damning evidence that this Administration is untrustworthy, deceitful, and unfit to carry out the war on terror. We need a new team to take over for the sake of our security and our future.

JUL 11 :: [inspiration] Last night was a fun-filled evening at the Columbus Room in Union Station to celebrate Mike/Gary's 10th anniversary and newlywed status. It was a black tie event and as much as I dislike playing dress-up, I enjoy elegantly-dressed functions very much. The space itself was intimate but never lacking in charm or poise (one of us remarked that one probably could not attend an event like this above King's Cross or Paddington!). The food was delicious down to the last morsel. And the entertainment was well thought out. Guests in attendance ranged from fabulously-dressed DC queens to not-so-staid and equally fabulously-dressed Pittsburgh residents (where Mike/Gary previously shacked up), and the requisite Irish contingent (I even had an orange tie picked out to match Mike's gorgeous sister, Sinead).

Yummy food and delightful venue aside, the evening's finest moment was the toast from Gary to Mike and vice-versa. It's hard not to share in their love for each other and to feel enriched by it. Most of us who have been in happily co-dependent, long-term relationships (or marriages) can relate. Most of us who haven't can aspire to be. It's as much a source of inspiration as it is a political statement that two people of the same sex who are deeply in love can get married. Thank you, Canada! :)

The evening ended at Biddy's where, true to Irish fashion, everyone got a little bit more tipsy. I think I might've drank one too many. Well, no surprise there considering they were serving Champagne and Cosmos all night - me thinks they had me in mind when they planned the cocktail hour ;). Congratulations, guys, for making it to the big 10 and for a wonderful party to celebrate that milestone! There's always a good reason to party :)

JUL 10 :: [jet lag] My elder bro arrived yesterday morning and after a fun-filled day of good food and shopping and walking around enjoying the afternoon sun, he succumbed to jet lag and lord knows when he'll be awake next :) We did have a great meal at the Penang in Bethesda last night (hello? the one on M Street barely serves Malaysian food). We ditched him at around 9 and went to Barry/Jimmy's party which was super fun even though I was stone-cold sober at the end of the night after only having 4 beers. OK, yes that's two more than I should've had but I figured since beers were only half the alcohol content of my usual Cosmo libations, I could then double my intake? No? It doesn't work that way?. Giggle!

[lies and consequences] This is what you get when you lie to the rest of the world about matters of wars and peace. I disagree somewhat that pulling out of Iraq is the right thing to do now (smacks of appeasement) coz the Iraqis really need help from the international community. But this Administration is more interested in being right than in forging trust amongst our allies to build a better Iraq and, more importantly, to battle the global threat of terrorism collectively. Instead of expressing remorse for pre-war intelligence failures and sowing hope for post-war Iraq, Bush continues to repeat the same ridiculous lies about his justification to invade a sovereign nation. With that kind of attitude, who the hell is gonna believe us now? It's sickening to witness this go-it-alone mentality which has proven to be the wrong way to go on matters of war and peace. This man is *SO* unfit to be President if he hasn't even learnt that much.

JUL 9 :: [bogus] This is really a foregone conclusion. Now, who was held accountable? Not departing CIA Director George Tenet, oh no. He was given a pat on the back and a standing ovation by the Bush Administration on his way out. Right. Of course. This is the "slam dunk" mentality - we are so right and you are so wrong so up yours - that pervades this Administration. The result? Very grim. Dumb loyalty or just plain dumb? (Yes, I'm on a rampage today. I woke up WAY too early this morning)

[rule of law] The ICJ in Hague, the UN's highest judicial authority, ruled that the "security fence" being constructed on occupied West Bank land is illegal, violates the human rights of Palestinians and must be dismantled. While I would not go so far as advocating that the wall be dismantled (yes, Israel has the right to defend themselves even though they brought on the violence by continuing the illegal occupation), I would definitely agree that if Israel wanted security, they could've built the "fence" on the actual 1967 borders as referenced by UN Security Countil Resolution 242 instead of pushing the "fence" into Occupied Palestinian Territory. The perception is, of course, a land grab on Israel's part.

Of course, Israel won't comply. Now all we need is a UN Security Council Resolution that imposes sanctions on Israel for ignoring the ICJ ruling much like the world did to South Africa for its occupation of Namibia and its apartheid rule. But, oh silly me, the US will veto such a Resolution. D'oh.

Why Israel would want to continue the decades-long violence and occupy land that the world (incl. the US) sees as "occupied territory" is beyond me. At some point, they'll just lose all moral ground for any of their arguments simply because they are the occupiers.

Jimmy Carter 9/23/03:

"No matter what leaders the Palestinians might choose, how fervent American interest might be or how great the hatred and bloodshed might become, there remains one basic choice, and only the Israelis can make it:"

"Do we want permanent peace with all our neighbors, or do we want to retain our settlements in the occupied territories of the Palestinians?"

Yes, it's that simple.

[laughable] You have GOT to be kidding me! Read this. Not that it matters at all (who cares wha happened 30+ years ago) but this is just pure laughable. It doesn't surprise me in the least bit. And as long as we're on this topic, these personal attacks and who-said-what and who-did-what umpteen years ago need to stop. Campaign on the issues and not on character. The ones who do the latter have absolutely no interest in solving our country's problems.

JUL 8 :: [recalcitrant] Not a year ago, Israel was fiercely adamant about keeping both the Gaza strip and the West Bank so much so that they were willing to crush the occupied population into misery to achieve their goals. Well, what a difference a year makes. The Israeli government evicted their own people from Gaza (rightfully so) and they started building the "apartheid" wall (really, what else do you call a wall that separates two different races?) in hopes of walling off the very people they've occupied for over half-a-century and preventing them from harming the occupiers. But, alas, the wall was built to preserve their illegal settlements in the West Bank. BTW, the occupiers call the wall a "security barrier"; one which they need not have built if they simply stopped the brutal occupation of another people.

So, Israel's Supreme Court intervened and tomorrow, the International Court of Justice chimes in and hopefully (if the US is to regain any sense of impartiality) the UN Security Council will eventually do so as well. Yes, you can build the barrier, they say, but no, you cannot continue to brutalize the occupied population with it i.e. you can't use it as a land-grab tool. If the Israeli government obeys, the wall is gonna move closer and closer towards the original 1967 boundaries with each subsequent ruling. Instead of walling the Palestinians out, the Israeli government has walled their people in.

Isn't it ironic that a wall that was supposed to cement Israel's control over the Palestinians is now fast becoming the first domino in ceding territory to the Palestinians? They really didn't need to build a wall to walk away from those occupied territories. All they had to do was leave. That would've saved countless lives on both sides not to mention bring the full wrath of the international community if the Palestinians misbehave in their own new state.

This (the wall) is what happens when calmer heads do not prevail and stupid people take charge of government (which happens to the best of nations). Really, what makes Israel (USA) think that occupying the Palestinians (Iraqis) until they stop fighting back is going to work? We would fight back just as hard if the reverse happened. But Israel takes it one step further with the illegal settlements (according to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which states: "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies"). Granted we are not adjacent countries but how would Iraqis, not to mention the international community, feel if we started building settlements for Americans outside Baghdad?

Oh wait, I know... we (Israel/USA) don't care what they (United Nations, International Court of Justice, Geneva Conventions, the international community, etc.) say.

[conspiracies] According to Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo (yes, I do read left-leaning blogs too :p), the Republicans are up to no good once again (d'oh). For one, the Bush Administration is pushing Pakistani officials to deliver a high-value target (al Qaida) before the Nov elections; specifically during the Democratic National Convention in Boston (end of July) to grab the headlines. *gasp* The question is not whether they actually planned something like this, but whether they are actually going to succeed. It's sad that it's conceivable that this Administration will actually focus on "delivering" a "high-value target" at a specific time instead of focusing on this ALL the time. It's a foregone conclusion that an Administration based on lies cannot tell the difference between right and wrong.

Here's another: Allen Raymond was hired by the New Hampshire Republican party to jam the phone lines of the Democratic get-out-the-vote operations in NH in 2002. Yes, very illegal. And yes, the NH GOP head resigned and Allen Raymond admitted guilt in US District Court. But wait, there's more: apparently Allen got this idea (and was paid to do so) not from the NH GOP party, but from a former colleague who was then an "official in a national political organization". ?!

Things that make you go Hmm...

I don't even know why I bother with conspiracies. I think I'm just sick of the Republican Party. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) defending the FMA in National Review today:-

"For a simple and compelling reason, traditional marriage has been the norm in every political community for 5,000 years."

Thank God for Andrew Sullivan's comeback: "Hatch is a Mormon."

Giggle!

[upcoming weekends] So we had a fun-tastic dinner with Chris, Mike/Gary and Mike's mom (mam?) and sister last night at Little Fountain. I was a good boy: I had one glass each of cosmo, champagne and red wine... oh wait, that's three. Oh well, I can't count. Who's gonna know, right? Food was very yummy, as usual. All this is leading up to this Saturday's extravaganza at Union Station in honor of Gary/Mike's 10th anniversary and newly-wed status.

My elder brother arrives tomorrow for a 4-day visit. This should be fun. He'll immediately be fixated on my car, I just know it. He is an extreme auto-fanatic. And I'm not about to let him roam around pothole-ridden, traffic-clogged DC in my car all by his little lonesome. What am I going to do with him...

Ooh, and we now have tickets to see Zumanity while we're in Vegas next weekend. Plus Tony manage to finagle an "upgrade" to THEhotel at the Mandalay Bay. Yay! Now all I need is for my IAD-SFO segment to be upgraded to Business. I'm *so* looking forward to 100+ degree weather in Vegas (whatever). At least the humidity is close to zero. Vegas, baby!

JUL 7 :: [134/90] Yes, I am hypertensive (who would've thought?). My blood pressure has been consistently over 130 (but under 140) and borderline 90-ish for the past few years. My doctor prescribed Lisinopril 30mg once-a-day for the next month and I'm due back to visit him in early August. It's supposed to be a therapeutic drug to lower my blood pressure and he insists 30mg is a low dosage (seems like an awfully high number to me). Yes, it's come down to this. Sigh.

He did mention that I should limit myself to 2 drinks a day which I gleefully took to mean 14 drinks a week until he said if I "bunched 'em up", it doesn't count. Dammit. He still thinks that my condition is due to genetics and that doing all the right things may not matter very much. Oh well. And then he took some blood (for a cholesterol test) and made me pee in a cup. Eww.

No, this has not been fun. It's funny but it's not fun. My only consolation is that if I start these drugs now, it'll postpone the deterioration of my quantity and quality of life. This whole thing is a huge drag. I'm secretly hoping to be the next specimen on Gattaca or A.I. :)

JUL 6 :: [the right choice] I can almost hear the collective sigh of relief across America today as John Kerry picked Senator John Edwards from NC as his running mate for 2004. Don't get me wrong, Democrats would've supported Kerry for 2004 regardless of who he chose. But Edwards is as exciting as Kerry is boring. The combination produces a merger of Northeastern and Southern values, and a merger of Kerry's 20-yr experience and Edwards' youthful one-term, both in the Senate. Edwards not only brings youth and excitement to the top of the ticket, he also brings a lot of charisma as well as a positive, engaging, and fresh personality (not to mention plenty of good looks!).

Experience? Well, consider this: Edwards spent almost his entire term in the Senate in the Intelligence Committee which affords him more foreign policy experience than Bush had in 2000. And the Republicans' ferocious attempt to belittle the new Kerry-Edwards ticket exposes their anxiety about Kerry's choice and confirms that Kerry made the right choice in my mind.

In short, it's the united front we've all been hoping for to march into the White House and kick the virtuous dictator back to Texas. Kerry-Edwards 2004!

[tuesday blues] For once, Tuesday is the worst day of the week! :) I can't believe the weekend is over, sigh. True to my prediction, it was a quiet weekend for us... EXCEPT for the Fourth. Oh dear me. I got so trashed I don't remember how I got home. It all started with some cops at a party... (do you really want to hear this?)

So we're shopping at IKEA on rainy, stormy, washed-out Sunday (it took us an hour to get there and another hour to get home due to flooding) when Rick calls and says "come party with me!". So off I went to Foxhall Crescent to this amazing palatial house with a pool in the backyard. Of course, once you pair up a pool and some naked boys, you get raunchy business and the cops came. I don't know why we stayed but we left soon after, thank God. Back to our deck for a little BBQ and some champagne and then off to his roofdeck which has a clear (well, as clear as it got on this cloudy Fourth) view of the Washington Monument. So we're chugging more and more champagne, Tom/G and their friends join us and it is now a party on the roof! The fireworks start and I don't remember much else after that, giggle.

So there ya have it. My crazy, drunken Sunday night which I am told now involves Lizard Lounge and pounding shots. I was hurting on Monday but thank God it was a holiday. Tony made yummy ribs last night and my hangover was cured! Gurl, I'm so juvenile.

JUL 4 :: [228 years old] 228 years ago today, the Declaration of Independence was signed; granting all Americans "certain unalienable rights", "among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". Our rights are not finite and limited to those, of course. Together with the Bill of Rights adopted 15 years later, these two documents grant every American the right to live freely, free from government abuse. These documents guarantee that government will not trample upon our freedoms of speech, press, and religion, nor upon our right to be free from warrantless searches and seizures.

Today we celebrate these freedoms in America. Our forefathers fought hard for these freedoms and we cannot now compromise these "unalienable rights". We cannot now pretend to chip away at these liberties without dishonoring the people who fought for and continue to fight for these principles.

These freedoms and rights will be nothing without the beginning of that same sentence which reads: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal". We are all equal. We all deserve equal rights. There are no ifs, ands, or buts.

It's important to remember, more so on this day, that we are all free and equal Americans. And this freedom and equality under the rule of law is absolute. It's important to note that we cannot always trust the government or its many institutions to uphold these ideals. And it is even more important that we, the people of this country, uphold these ideals collectively. The power of the people, as they say in a democracy.

Happy Birthday, America! You're still looking pretty good for 228 :)

JUL 3 :: [uncompromisable] In the lead up to Independence Day, I've included this quote from the NYT:

"Virtually every time the Bush administration feels cornered, it falls back on the argument that the president and his officials are honorable men and women... this nation was organized under a rule of law, not a dictatorship of the virtuous. The founding fathers wrote the Bill of Rights specifically because they did not believe that honorable men always do the right thing."

The Bill of Rights, The Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution. These are documents that are uncompromisable; the core principles on which this nation was founded on and has survived through the centuries. What does it say about a President who tries to trample our civil liberties and codify discrimination into the Constitution by claiming good faith?

"dictatorship of the virtuous"... Brilliant! Have I told you how much I *LOVE* the New York Times?

[quiet weekend] So far! Last night was pretty tame. I worked from home which is always fun. Hung out with Tom/G at Dupont Grille for a bit (thanks for the Cosmo!) and then hooked up with Rick, Brett, Fred and Andy at DIK and then JR's for an evening of fun! It was a good Friday night, as always. It was a hot day today. Today was even more quiet - everybody left town for the beach! We did a whole bunch of Georgetown shopping, Tony got a haircut, hung out with M2 at the Circle and drank one too many lattes, Tony cooked yummy lobster... Very quiet. I'm excited about the fireworks tomorrow! That's as noisy as my weekend is gonna get.

JUL 2 :: [moore's public service] Paul Krugman, NYT today:-

"`Fahrenheit 9/11' is a tendentious, flawed movie, but it tells essential truths about leaders who exploited a national tragedy for political gain, and the ordinary Americans who paid the price."

And this from Bob Herbert, NYT also:-

"We have certainly known since Sept. 11, if not before, that terrorism poses the gravest and most immediate threat to the United States. Instead of marshaling the nation's resources and the support of our allies for a sustained, all-out campaign aimed at destroying Al Qaeda and its offshoots, President Bush launched the war in Iraq and turned that country into a breeding ground for such terrorists."

"...There is no exit strategy for American troops in Iraq. There is no plan in our insane tax-cut environment for paying for the war. The situation in Afghanistan, which is part of the real war against terror, has deteriorated. The U.S. military is stretched dangerously thin, lacking sufficient troops to meet its obligations around the world. Homeland security is deeply underfunded."

This is the America that the Bush Administration wants us to believe is safe, secure and prosperous. If for nothing else, this Administration's colossal failure to destroy the organization who murdered 3,000 lives on September 11th should be the only reason why Bush does not deserve re-election on Nov 2nd.

JUL 1 :: [dog days] The dog days of summer have officially begun. July and August are the months where almost nobody shows up to work and the beaches are packed with blindingly overexposed and untanned skin :) Spidey 2's opening yesterday broke all kinds of records. DC WASA is replacing all the lead pipes in DC, woohoo! But not until 2010. I have 6 more years of lead-drinking to do. Virginia's Marriage Affirmation Act goes into effect today. If you haven't heard of it, don't bother. It's a vile, sick, hateful and heinous law against that state's gay and lesbian population and it will be struck down by, hopefully, all the courts in this country in no time. 'Nuff said. Also going into effect today is DC's no-cell-phone-while-driving law, yay! I am of the don't-dial-and-drive crowd and I hope the cops write LOTS of tickets to all the weenies who continue to do so. And the other groundbreaking news is the Feds raised interest rates for the first time in 4 years to 1.25%. Ugh. That means higher mortgage payments, yuck.

Ooh, more news: I found a compromise on my ticket to Vegas by going to SFO on the outbound (with the possibility of upgrading to dreamy business class) and connecting to a short 90-min Ted flight but we're still stuck on a 5-hour Ted flight on the way home. SO not looking forward to the return. We're gonna set up camp at the Mandalay Bay so I'm pretty excited! Also, we booked our flights to the Virgin Islands (US) for Labor Day, yay! Lots of travelling to do.

Chris and I were dragged (by Rick) to Stan Matsunaka's fundraiser at Duplex on Tuesday night. Stan is running for Colorado-4th in the US House and he's a Democrat. Yawn, right? Well, his opponent happens to be the queen of all bigots, Marilyn Musgrave. No need to ask me twice to be there. A monkey could run against her and I'd gladly give money to the monkey. Dinner @ Thaiphoon (quite delicious) followed. Last night was more of the same: dinner @ Skewers with Rick and Gregg followed by JR's till 11:30 (!!!). It's all Rick's fault... he and his NYC hag kept buying me drinks. Woe is me. Anywho, I wasn't hurting too bad this morning but I'm definitely staying in tonight!

Independence Day is around the corner. Short work day for me tomorrow. Quiet weekend, hopefully. Yup, the dog days are definitely here.

More >>

30 :: family reunion
30 :: a stronger america
29 :: powerful
29 :: serious problems, serious people
29 :: hope is on the way
28 :: obama-tastic
28 :: fiscal conservative
28 :: amazing caviar
28 :: back and forth
27 :: stroke of genius
27 :: subtle and scathing
27 :: fire the editors
27 :: funny
26 :: ny, ny
23 :: per se
23 :: disgusting
22 :: stead park
22 :: startling gap
21 :: peace my ass
21 :: peace my ass part deux
20 :: 150-6
20 :: ted-venture
20 :: 2004 platform
19 :: my vegas weekend
15 :: leaving on a jet plane
15 :: irresponsibility
14 :: victory!
14 :: looking up
14 :: thug and liar
14 :: $50 and 0 points
13 :: outage
13 :: sucks
13 :: tragic
12 :: crazy july
12 :: pathetic
12 :: big mistakes
11 :: inspiration
10 :: jet lag
10 :: lies and consequences
09 :: bogus
09 :: rule of law
09 :: laughable
08 :: recalcitrant
08 :: conspiracies
08 :: upcoming weekends
07 :: 134/90
06 :: the right choice
06 :: tuesday blues
04 :: 228 years old
03 :: uncompromisable
03 :: quiet weekend
02 :: moore's public service
01 :: dog days