To the three known readers of the porch –

I’m off for the weekend. Huge, huge plans consisting of – well, nothing. I’m going to go biking in the morning, then either work on the house or kill time with the kid. Most likely the latter. Actually, I’m pretty tempted to drag him down to Surfside or Galveston.

After a full week of sitting on the Backporch, all I’ve got to say is ‘Thanks’. I’ve missed y’all.

A former weapons inspector has turned up dead in Britian after he’d admitted he may have been the source of a report on the BBC that reports of Iraqi WMD may have been ‘sexed up.’

The report I heard on the radio was that he’d been shot in the head, but I haven’t been able to find a story to corroborate that claim. In any case, this is too good of a coincidence to be passed up. This whole thing is taking on JFK proportions. I wasn’t troubled much by Rumsfeld’s intel cell, but this may be enough to get me to believe that the world is run by a small cabal of white men.

From his speech to Congress yesterday:

Mr. Speaker, sir, my thrill on receiving this award was only a little diminished on being told that the first Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to George Washington for what Congress called his wise and spirited conduct in getting rid of the British out of Boston.

On our way down here, Senator Frist was kind enough to show me the fireplace where in 1814 the British had burned the Congress Library. I know this is kind of late, but: Sorry.

Actually, you know, my middle son was studying 18th century history and the American War of Independence. And he said to me the other day, “You know Lord North, Dad, he was the British prime minister who lost us America. So just think; however many mistakes you’ll make, you’ll never make one that bad.

Thank you, you’ve been great – now enjoy tonight’s entertainment: Willie Nelson!

Lance Armstrong of US Postal/Berry Floor, is looking human after all. Today he rode a great time trial, but ended up giving up over a minute to Jan Ullrich of Team Bianchi.

Ullrich won the Tour in 1997, two years before Armstrong began his run. He’s been sidelined by injury and personal problems for the last year, but is back strong this year. It’s nice to see that it’s still a race.

A little more than a week left, and the Pyrenees ahead.

As usual, the WSJ editorial page has gotten a great piece out of a respected commentator. Caspar Weinberger, SecDef under President Reagan.

I’m throwing this up since I think it sums up nicely why much of the US could care less about the ‘The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa’ flap that the left is beating into the ground.

Mr. Weinberger ends his article by stating ‘If all we hear about is that tale of the yellowcake from Niger, it will be quite apparent that the administration’s opponents have no plan of their own but to search for some kind—any kind—of rumor to use as ammunition to discredit the president.’ 8 years of Clinton (and the past 3 years of Bush) have severely jaded the public’s views of government in general. Continuing to harp on what may not even be a mistruth takes away momentum from reconstruction in Iraq, continuing to search for potential terrorists, pressuring the Israelis and Palestenians to reach a truce, etc.