Brendan Gates

This has been a frustrating week. My results from Monday’s and Wednesday’s tests were very promising – with one of my numbers actually up and flirting with a normal range. So that’s good. Very good. But side effects from the drugs are “cramping my style” (as I prefer to code) and still keeping me out of the office. Like clockwork, in fact – I have pain for almost exactly the same time period every day. Hopefully a newly lowered dose for one of my prescriptions will make a difference.

—

A few notes, mostly resulting from being cooped up and going back and forth between Google News and various cable news networks. I’ll try to be brief . . .

Goodbye, Peter Jennings. Thanks for the news.

Making no judgment on Cindy Sheehan or her Crawford, Texas based anti-war protest – I am disturbed by what I perceive as how she is being exploited by political groups for their own gain. Maybe I’m being too cynical, but initial impressions are not good.

NARAL is running an anti-nomination ad against John Roberts, one that is apparently very misleading. The ad pans over a busted-up clinic, shows one injured woman being wheeled out, and is date stamped 1998. The voice over claims that John Roberts filed briefs supporting violent anti-abortion groups. Then it jumps to present day, with that woman, who was wheeled out in the first footage, speaking about how she is against violence. A court document is flashed on screen as evidence of John Robert’s complicity, in which you can barely see that document was actually dated 1991. Further, Roberts was arguing that the clinic had no standing under an 1871 federal anti-discrimination statute, not that the bombers were cool or violence is gravy. C’mon NARAL. You lose more than you gain when you run an ad like this.
. . . but decide for yourself, dear reader, from my sources:
Anti-NARAL ad info @ FactCheck.Org
Pro-NARAL ad info @ ProChoiceAmerica.Org

President Bush signed a $286.5 billion transportation bill [bill text] into law Wednesday, including thousands of essential programs and improvements for the country – but also apparently riddled with pork barrel spending measures. No joke, there is a $2 billion Alaskan bridge project included that will be named “Don Young’s Way” – for Don Young, the Republican Congressman from Alaska that chairs the House Transportation Committee. Wow.

Did you actually read all of that? I did, but I don’t have much else to do. Congrats either way. As a reward for at least reading this paragraph, you can listen to a free Secret Machines and Kings of Leon concert webcast tonight being sponsored by NPR. Should be good stuff, at least worth tuning to if you’ll be in tonight. Starts at 8:45 pm CST.

That’s all. Have a good day. Really.