Missy’s dad needed one more trip before the new year to maintain Ultra-Unobtanium status on his frequent flier program, so he and my mother-in-law decided to take a pre-Christmas weekend in Boston. Since I’m hanging in Newport without much to do besides work, I went ahead and drove up for the day.

It was a beautiful winter solstice, mid-to-high 30’s, pretty calm, and sunny, so we did a walking tour, starting in Copely Square, and going past the Public Gardens which should be familiar to fans of a certain children’s book. Here’s me with the protagonists, Mrs. Mallard, Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Oack, Pack, and Quack:

He doesn’t like Reagan, thinks that incumbents should be able to have HUGE advantages in re-election, and swears like a drunken sailor.

No interns under the desk, though. Well, maybe two.

Libya?

No bombs, no threats – just “unilateral” action by the Bush Administration, not lifting US sanctions when the rest of the world was ready, but continuing to hold a tough line with a guy who’s an evil bastard in anyone’s book.

I’ve been on the fence about getting Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them because I like Al Franken, but I expect his book to be unbalanced. When I read his 20 questions in the 50th Anniversary Issue of Playboy, I decided to go ahead and grab a copy at iTunes. (It helps that I’ve got a 5 hour drive to S’port this coming weekend and the audio book is 10 hours.)

PLAYBOY: Now that Bob Hope has departed the scene, will we be seeing Al Franken entertaining the troops every Christmas?
FRANKEN: This Christmas I’m going to Afghanistan and Kuwait. We’re not going to Saudia Arabia, but we are going to Irag, and I think we can take cheerleaders there. It will be my fourth time entertaining overseas, but I’ve never been this far forward. I went to Kosovo while there was still some shooting. I was shot at. We were going over the Sar Mountains in a helicopter. I could see the tracers, and it made me really nervous. But the guys in the helicopter didn’t seem nervous. They get shot at, and they take evasive action. I love our men and women in uniform, and it breaks my heart that they’re getting killed day in and day out and that the president lied to us about why we were going to war. There was a case to be made about this war — Saddam defied the UN for 12 years — if Bush had only treated us like adults.

Seems the man and I are on the same wave-length. It should be a good read…or listen.

More time wastin’ for your holiday laziness. This is even better than the last one. Play online against real opponents, trying to bounce them and their balls [IAJH] into goals.