Cactus bomb 1, Sanuk 0.

The cacti in Anzo Borrego drop little Cactus Bombs. This is a little blob of cactus, with spines on all sides. They get stuck on things and become new plants. My Sanuk sandals are very comfy, and very soft. The cactus bombs went right through the bottom of them a couple times, and now I have some war wounds. Good times.

Richard Clarke on 9/11 and the whitehouse. More here. Excerpts from his book.

9/11: Internal Government Documents Show How the Bush Administration Reduced Counterterrorism

Interesting article at CSM – With Bush in charge, taxes may still rise. A massive and growing federal budget deficit now looks increasingly hard to tame without raising more government revenue.

Isreal making friends with rocket attacks.

Iraq war wasn’t justified, U.N. weapons experts say

Spotless bloom

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the best movie I have seen in a while. Funny, painful, thought provoking. Run, don’t walk.

Anna and I went out to the desert today to see if we could spot some of the desert bloom. It was a nice ride, the burn areas are starting to come back in. We didn’t see much until we pulled into Borrego Springs and checked out a map place. Borrego Springs is an interesting place. The resorts are more motel 6 than vegas… The cashier at the taco place had no eyebrows, just a pecil line. Good times.

We got some info about the bloom and headed up north a bit out of town. There was a field of purple, and some stuck tourists. A cop came by and helped their suv out of the sand. Note, ‘Punch it Chewy’ = stuck truck in sand. There were lemon trees, date palms, and some fruit tree blossoming – all of it made the most incredible smell. It was like shoving a glade mister up your nose. Except a good smell. We continued to head north and the park started up again. There were sort of mini dunes will all sorts of flowers and blooming plants. There were also a lot of funky caterpillars wandering around. Big suckers.

We bought a lb of dates (4$) and a big ole bag of grapefruit (2.5$). Haven’t tried the grapefruit yet, but the dates were quite good. I love fruit stands.

Dominionism and America. Yes it is a long read. But it does a really good job of picking out bits from the flood of information and slapping it all together.

On the record

I seem to be on the road to recovery from this weird chest pain thingy. An infection around my lungs or something..

I love it: Iraq On The Record – prepared at the request of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, is a comprehensive database of the statements made by the five Administration officials most responsible for providing public information and shaping public opinion on Iraq: President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. (237 specific misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq made by these five officials in 125 public appearances in the time leading up to and after the commencement of hostilities in Iraq. The search options on the left can be used to find statements by any combination of speaker, subject, keyword, or date)

Donald Rumsfeld caught lying.

9/11 tax push.

Must reads for today. – Expert: U.S. less safe now, Medicare drug deal gone bad

Latino Film

Anna and I saw A Silent Love and El Misterio del Trinidad last night at the Latin Film Fest.

A Silent Love is the story of a Canadian teacher who goes to Mexico to propose to a young woman he met through an Internet agency. The film is well done, making you feel awkward and uncomfortable when it wants to, but keeping humor and happy moments.

El Misterio del Trinidad is also well done. It is the story of a man who inherits a boat and a quest (to find a 300 year old ship wreck) from his father.