I'm on vacation starting Friday morning. For the next several weeks, I'll be posting somewhat less regularly than normal -- although probably something above nothing.

For literally billions of people around the world, this announcement not only won't be considered startling, it will pass totally unnoticed. One can only conclude that the poor souls haven't yet discovered what they've been missing.

However, if you are part of the small, elite group of humanity who might have a crisis triggered in your life by this development, allow me to express my concern:

Too bad. So sad.

And with that pro-active apology out of the way, the trout and salmon await ...

The war on terror has suffered another blow. A federal judge in Detroit has declared the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping program to be illegal and unconstitutional. She wants it halted at once.

The NYT's Adam Cohen argues why the seminal Bush v. Gore ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States that handed the presidency to Dubya shouldn't be allowed to slide down the memory hole.