Just some odds and ends...

The green outline is the boundary of Lake View Cemetery which I call 'Dreamland'.
The orange ring is the largest fluent loop I could run if I cared to - about 3 miles.
The inner dark blue loop is the course I usually run - 1.4 miles which I repeat x3, x4, x5, or more times.
The red star is where I always begin and end.

Often after running, I sit at the base of the Jeptha Wade (1811-1890) obelisk (red star!) and write/blog using my cellular phone as the wireless modem for my laptop.  I just realized yesterday that Wade was the founder of Western Union and, of course, it was a Western Union internal memo in 1876 that predicted; "This 'telephone' has too many short comings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. This device is inherently of no value to us."  heh

Memorial Day is the hugest holiday for Dreamland.  Go wonder!  All week long the ground crew has been working overtime to get the grounds looking good.  After Memorial Day, the grounds remain open until 'dusk' for the rest of the summer months.  I love the fuzziness of the notion of 'dusk'.  Imagine going out on a date and someone tells you they'll be there to meet you precisley at dusk!  "...and what time will that be?"  mwuahaha

Attorney General Ashcroft said at a news conference two days ago that "credible intelligence, from multiple sources, indicates that al Qaeda plans to attempt an attack on the United States in the next few months. . . .This disturbing intelligence indicates…”

Is this the same ‘credible intelligence’ that gave us a slam-dunk assurance on the stockpiling of civilization-threatening weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq—the prime rationale most Americans accepted as justifying a pre-emptive invasion in the first place?  Is this the same ‘credible intelligence’ that led Bush to declare “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq over a year ago only to have the situation deteriorate acceleratingly since?  Is this the same ‘credible intelligence’ that maintains that the Abu Ghraib scandal was limited to only low-ranking ignorant MPs with no implications up the chain of command?  Is this the same ‘credible intelligence’ that has been unable to locate and apprehend Osama— who has been driving a Porsche around the downtown streets of Rome for the last two weeks? (And if this ‘credible intelligence’ would snicker at my claim, I say: Prove that he hasn’t ).

Uncredible Stupidity.  What’s ‘disturbing’ is that once again administration officials are trying to manipulate our fears and emotions to bolster their own shaky standing and cover their pimple-pussing asses.  Oh, there’s a threat alright, a big one, but it’s been looming around for months-nothing new.  Even the Bush administration itself is crumbling with internal dissension over this latest PR ploy:

A Homeland Security Department spokesman, Brian Roehrkasse, reiterated yesterday that his agency has not seen any change in the ''steady stream of threat reporting."

''We do not have any new intelligence or specific information about Al Qaeda planning an attack," he said.

 -CNN

‘Multiple sources’ within the administration itself cannot even agree over the manner and timing of this supposed ‘revelation’.  If it’s so momentous, why haven’t they raised the Threat Level?  Why didn’t this warning come from Tom Ridge, Chief of Homeland Security, as it is supposed to, instead of by the Attorney General spouting off?

I'd write it off as a headlines-grabbing ‘boy-who-cries-wolf’ game…if it weren’t politics.  Which is war by other means.