Kind of busy day, so I’ll compile one long lazy post:

(1)  Scripps spelling bee: The winner spelled "serrefine", a noun describing small forceps.  The five-time player (but never champion) Samir Patel got utzed on "clevis", and came in 34th.

I managed to only watch some it on TIVO.  The best moment was during one of the bio-clips when one of the spellers revealed her favorite word, kakistocracy :

kak·is·toc·ra·cy n., pl. -cies.

Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens.

I’ll bet we’ll be seeing a lot more of that word.

(2)  White House counsel Dan Bartlett resigns.  You’ll never guess why.  Yup, "to help raise his children".  They’re not even trying to make good excuses anymore.

(3)  Archeologists find 2,100 year old melon.  That reminds me — I need to clean out my refrigerator soon.

(4)  Hurricane season begins today.  If you ask me, I think it’s a bit of a "Hallmark holiday", so I don’t celebrate it that much.  FYI:

NOAA forecasts 13-17 named storms and seven to 10 hurricanes, of which three to five are expected to be major hurricanes with destructive winds of at least 111 mph.

(5)  I think the President is losing it:

Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated “I am the president!” He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of “our country’s destiny.”

Next up, he’ll hold his breath until his face turns blue.

(6)  A new video, purporting to be the Loch Ness monster:

(7)  Nature’s a bitch (NOTE: watch the whole thing to see who "wins":

(8)  So is war: April 2004 (135) and November 2004 (137) were the only months with higher rates since the start of the war. Of the seven months with US casualties over 100, two have been in 2007 and four of the seven have occurred since October 2006. More statistics including Iraqi estimates and US/coalition wounded here.

(9)  Bush supporter Peggy Noonan now admits that she feels like a battered wife, and can no longer support Bush anymore.  What sent her over the edge?  Immigration

For almost three years, arguably longer, conservative Bush supporters have felt like sufferers of battered wife syndrome. You don’t like endless gushing spending, the kind that assumes a high and unstoppable affluence will always exist, and the tax receipts will always flow in? Too bad! You don’t like expanding governmental authority and power? Too bad. You think the war was wrong or is wrong? Too bad.

But on immigration it has changed from "Too bad" to "You’re bad."

Okay, that’s it.  Enjoy the weekend.