Well, That's Disappointing

I'm back after taking several days off to ...
(a) recharge my batteries, and
(b) do something more interesting than hitting square, black keys with the tips of my fingers.

Five days off-line and the world did not collapse into anarchy like it should have without my guidance. What's an egomaniac to do?

Oh, things happened. There was the beer summit where opinion-meisters invested hundreds of thousands of words on the political/economic ramifications of who drank what while desperately pretending the event was important when it was a meaningless photo-op, albeit a smart one by Obama's people.

California's economic mess only got worse when Arnold, our Clown-in-Chief, victimized the youngest, poorest, and sickest in the state with his line-item veto, breaking negotiated deals in the process. I don't hold out much hope for a successful veto override session for two reasons. One, California Republican legislators are, individually and as a group, insanely dedicated to the total ruination of the state to punish it for being Democratic. And, two, California Democratic legislators just want to get out of Sacramento, which is miserable in the summer, and have lost the will to fight.

Iran has begun the predictable mass show trials to be followed by soccer stadium mass executions that will not diminish the hatred by the Iranian people for their bloody dictatorship. Meanwhile, three Americans crossed the border from Kurdistan into Iran and were arrested. If they were student tourists, as is claimed, then they are abysmally and possibly fatally stupid; I can think of about a million better vacation spots than two nations where murder is a leading recreational sport. Given their ages (27 to 36), I suspect they are clumsy spies.

Ahmed Awa, where the hikers got lost.
It this a view worth dying for?