I've not been talking much politics, mainly because I'm distracted with other things and the news cycle has been a yawner for a bit. Things are now heating up, and this summer its going to be very interesting since its an election year.

Its interesting to me that Mr. Bernanke, our new Fed chair, stated recently that he doesn't see the raising of interest rates to stop anytime soon, and as a result the market drops 200 points in one day. I think that secretly the Gov is listening to Greenspan still while nodding and smiling to Bernanke.

The terrorist thing in Toronto has got me thinking. We've needed to take more precautions at the border for a while - crossing the border is an absolute joke and on SEVERAL occasions anybody could sneak anything they wanted over, given that its not so large as to alarm anybody. Canadians are absolutely startled that "this" could happen to them - Canada has never supported the Iraq war so how could this happen to them? I'll tell you how.

Welcome to reality. Bin Laden stated very early on that Canada was on the list too, so I'm perplexed over Canada's seeming confusion.

Crossing the border is going to be a bitch now, but generally I'm glad that it will be that way. We've always had good intentions and have wanted the best, but just like 9/11 showed, Islamofascists are eager to take advantage of our good nature to cause extreme harm.

Anyhow - some news.

1. I know the anti-war crowd has been dying for this one - a commissioned officer in Washington has proclaimed that he refuses to go to Iraq. I'm sure that Lt. Ehren Watada is a fine person and I have no quarrel with his stance on the war, but unfortunately for Lt. Watada he will not be able to skirt his commitment without severe repercussions, regardless of what the ACLU and several anti-war and liberal activist groups that will try to defend him desire. Its beyond question that he will never win a legal battle over this - any takers on this guy NOT deserting? I feel sorry for him - this will end badly for him one way or another. Theres a link within this link that will lead you to a supporters web site - check it out.

2. Ann Coulter, the scourge of lefties everywhere, came out recently with some extremely scathing remarks about some wifes whose husbands were killed during 9/11. She accuses these women of dancing on their husbands graves for the sake of celebrity and political motivations - neither of which have anything to do with 9/11. Tragically, if what Ms. Coulter is saying is true (and I haven't even heard of these women until today) this is likely going to give them more publicity and exposure than they ever had. I don't completely buy what Ann Coulter is saying, but take a look at the evidence - whether or not it is true doesn't matter because a vast majority of America had no idea who these people were until recently. So they used their "victim" status in order to videostump for Kerry in '04. I'm not sure that there is anything wrong with that - Republicans have used 9/11 to their political benefit so how is this any different? I think most Americans reject what Coulter has to say. Oh, and Hilary lashed out at Coulter recently too, but who cares? Apparently there is a little catfight going on.

In the end, when people use victim status in order to advance political views they expect to be beyond reproach. Unfortunately for the victims they are not beyond criticism IF in fact they are truthfully using their victim status disgracefully. I'm talking to you, Cindy Sheehan.

Anyway - this is how Coulter responded to Clinton - 'Before criticizing others for being 'mean' to women, perhaps Hilary should talk to her husband who was accused of rape by Juanita Broaddrick and was groping Kathleen Willey at they very moment Willey's hasband was committing suicide.' Um, ouch. No link - you can't avoid this story if you go to any news site.

3. The problem with Kofi Annan is that he believes he should be accorded "head of state" status as an international civil servant, and its a grave and unfortunate mistake that many nations (except ours!) accords him this status. Apparently this delusion has bled to his personal bitch, Mr. Mark Malloch Brown. The problem, according to Mr. Brown, is that the US government is deliberately lowlighting the "good works" that the UN is doing and also blames Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so pathetic. There is nothing wrong with other countries criticizing our government, but to single out one segment of our society and suggesting some kind of government conspiracy in a scathing manner will be nothing other than detrimental to the UN, just as our ambassador is suggesting. I've always thought that we should revoke our portion of funding and kick them the fuck out of NYC - maybe this latest dispute will make my small dream come true. The UN has always been useless and is as much of a failure as the League of Nations was.

This has angered the US majorly and takes Mr. Brown's "Middle America" comment as a condescending and patronizing remark. I'm not so sure about Mr. Brown's intentions, but one thing is certain - this bureaucrat's international career is over. Mr. Annan and Mr. Brown's terms end Dec. 31 anyway - its a mystery as to why this guy just couldn't keep his fucking mouth shut for six more months. I'm sure some folks back in Britain are patting him on the back for sticking it to those toothless hicks in "Middle America" who don't know whats good for them, but this guy will be an absolute nobody from this point on.

My question to Mr. Brown is this - Where was the UN when Rwandans were being slaughtered en masse? Where was the UN when Saddam Hussein flipped the bird at their resolutions for nearly 15 years? Whose pockets were being lined with billions in blood money and oil to keep hush hush about Saddam? - The UN. Lets stop being silly about what good the UN has done.

Now I'm in Lynchburg, VA - home of Jerry Fallwell and Liberty University. I didn't expect so many restaurants and what not.

Cheapest gas I've seen so far - $2.55 Roanoke, VA.

Um not much else. I'm just tired.

Yo guys - my co-worker and his buddies are looking to move to the general strip area. What is the best method to search for a place, and is there a place online that commonly lists pads near or on Elmwood? They are looking for a 3-4 bedroom pad, and the only thing I can think of thus far is the Artvoice classifieds.

I wish I knew more about this apartment search thing - we were lucky and didn't have to really do a search to get the place we live in so I don't really know a lot of this info.

Any help is appreciated guys - and if anybody knows of a 3-4 bedroom, decent spot for rent gimme a heads up... I may have a tennant ready to go for someone out there.

Yeah, I actually did see a street today called "No Name St." Also another one called "Mad Anthony St." WTF?

During my travels I've been to a ton of Presidential birthplaces - this is something I've never talked about because I've never really pondered it before. Reagan, Nixon, Hayes, Jefferson, Harrison, Madison, Tyler, Grant, Polk, Garfield, McKinley, both Johnsons, T. Roosevelt, Fillmore (naturally), Eisenhower, Truman, Harding, Jackson, Buchanan, Washington, ... Nixon is the only native Left Coaster to have become President. I've yet to visit Hope, AR and to be honest I hope to avoid Arkansas in general.

Tonight I had an interesting and fairly atypical meal - German food! I've never really tried it, and since I am in Pittsburgh with my co-worker we decided to go to the place where he worked while he was in culinary school - Penn Brewery. The food was completely authentic. I had something called the "Butcher's Plate," or if you want to be fancy about it (and the people at Penn love their German language on the menu) its "schlachtplatte." Grilled bratwurst, a smoked 6 oz. porkchop and true weiner schnitzel, with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. It was delicious but way too heavy. I ordered it because I didn't want to try to pronounce "malzmeistersteak mit schwarzbiersosse" or "HÜHNERBRUST mit johannisbiersosse." In any case, it was good but I don't see how anybody could eat that daily without feeling their arteries harden.

The beers there are very high grade and excellent - the Weizen is a former Great American Beer Festival Gold Medalist, as well as a 4-time consecutive Grand Champion at the United States Beer Tasting Championship, so you knows your boy Joshy picked up a 12er to go!

And finally - tech guys, I thought of something kind of cool that I wish I could implement and I want you to tell me level of impossibility with both ideas.

First idea - I thought it would be cool to be able to set up a webcam remotely and set the cam on the dash of my rental car as I drive during my travels. I'd also like to track remotely via GPS tech or something similar my movements real-time on a map on the site. This seems difficult and expensive. The remote live cam has been done before but I have yet to hear of something similar being done remotely all over the USA.

Second idea - I wanted to have a digital map of the USA on a web site and mark each place I've visited, my flight paths for all of my flights, and if possible, trace all the routes I've driven. I kind of like this idea better than the other. I suppose this could be drawn but I'd rather have something more interactive - hover over a place and a little info box pops up with names and dates. Same with the airports - hover over a city and see when and where I've flown in from and to from that airport.

Man, the strangest things happened to me today after I wrote my earlier journal entry.

I have been really stressed out about a ton of things, and since Lynchburg has a ton of green space I thought I'd find a place to just be by myself, maybe meditate in my own amateur way, maybe pray a little.

On the way back to the hotel, I drove by a sign that said, "Don't give up - Moses was once a basket case!" Just now, I found a chain with a cross attached to it on my bed.

Considering the circumstances, this is incredible. The sign thing is easy to understand but that AND the cross... I'm telling you all, I've got somebody looking out for me.

At least I've been relaxed more tonight.

I'm distraught about not being able to watch the Sabres play - none of these hotels spring for OLN. I think I'll have to find a sports bar or something. The other night I was truly without an option, so I sat in the hotel room and listened to Jeanneret and Lorentz do the call through WGR550's streaming audio. We're lucky to have such an electrifying and unique play-by-play guy. I don't give a damn what ANYBODY says... Rick is the best in the biz in any sport.