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SO WITH THE BOOK NOT QUITE DONE, BUT UNDER CONTROL, I took the afternoon off and went out to take pictures -- not far, just up around Coalfield, Oliver Springs, and Petros. I haven't had time to work with the pictures much, but I liked this sign advertising cheese stix of an unusual variety.

I also finally got around to watching one of the Firefly episodes on DVD. I can see why the series fans are so rabid. Serenity did okay, but not great, in spite of the blogosphere boost the first week. I'm surprised, but then again, it's kind of like the series -- better than the size of its audience would suggest. Too bad.

Sorry bloggging's been a bit light, and email response worse than usual, these past few weeks. I've been bumping up against my limits. Things should get back to normal over the next little while.

[Instapundit.com]

Firefly cuts across political divides. Perhaps Mal and the others can help bring us back together.   11:37:46 PM    

When Bush said he was going after Al Qaeda, he didn't mean it. Think Progress has Condi's statement today on Meet the Press to explain the Bush Iraq strategy:

The fact of the matter is that when we were attacked on September 11, we had a choice to make. We could decide that the proximate cause was al Qaeda and the people who flew those planes into buildings and, therefore, we would go after al Qaedaâo[oe]or we could take a bolder approach.

That is way, way too nuanced for George Bush. He told us he was going to get Al Qaeda. Bin Laden was going to be captured "dead or alive." Not true after all.

So, the "bolder approach" was to go after Iraq? That had nothing to do with September 11, or the people who flew those planes into buildings. But he said he was going after Al Qaeda. Thanks for clearing that up.

Condi's right about one thing: Bush did have a choice to make. He said his choice was to make us safer from terrorism. That would have meant going after Al Qaeda and Bin Laden. He made another choice by invading Iraq. That has made us less safe, killed a lot more Americans and increased terrorism. Nice job. By noemail@noemail.org (Joe in DC). [AMERICAblog]

We could go after al Qaeda or we could take a bolder choice. DId the American people have any say in this? I bet most would have said go after bin Laden not Saddam. But not this bunch of misleading poltiicos. This period of Amrican History will be a major embarrasment for us, there is little doubt.  11:33:59 PM