So I get to the Riviera in Vegas, which is an older hotel and shows it in every surface, and I’m wandering through the empty casino area at about 8:30 this morning, trying to find the convention area and wondering if I’m even in the right place for this shindig.

    And then I come around the corner and standing right in front of me is Joe Wilson.

    As in Ambassador Joe Wilson, author of the op-ed piece that blew the whistle on Bush’s lies about Iraq trying to buy yellowcake from Niger.  Ambassador Joe Wilson whose family was made an example of in revenge by the White House by outing his covert CIA wife, Valerie Plame, the first CIA operative in history to be outed by her own government, the case which has led to the indictment of Dick Cheney’s chief of staff and which will ultimately probably result in many more similar prosecutions.

    Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was personally responsible for staring down Saddam Hussein just before the first U.S. war in Iraq, obtaining the safe passage home of numerous American citizens.

    Gen-u-ine American hero Joe Wilson. 

    Nice guy, it turns out.

    Last place I ever figured I’d meet this guy was in the hallways of a cheesy old Vegas hotel.

    Truly interesting country, this America. 

    But then we all knew that.

    So I get to the Riviera in Vegas, which is an older hotel and shows it in every surface, and I’m wandering through the empty casino area at about 8:30 this morning, trying to find the convention area and wondering if I’m even in the right place for this shindig.

    And then I come around the corner and standing right in front of me is Joe Wilson.

    As in Ambassador Joe Wilson, author of the op-ed piece that blew the whistle on Bush’s lies about Iraq trying to buy yellowcake from Niger.  Ambassador Joe Wilson whose family was made an example of in revenge by the White House by outing his covert CIA wife, Valerie Plame, the first CIA operative in history to be outed by her own government, the case which has led to the indictment of Dick Cheney’s chief of staff and which will ultimately probably result in many more similar prosecutions.

    Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was personally responsible for staring down Saddam Hussein just before the first U.S. war in Iraq, obtaining the safe passage home of numerous American citizens.

    Gen-u-ine American hero Joe Wilson. 

    Nice guy, it turns out.

    Last place I ever figured I’d meet this guy was in the hallways of a cheesy old Vegas hotel.

    Truly interesting country, this America. 

    But then we all knew that.

    So I get to the Riviera in Vegas, which is an older hotel and shows it in every surface, and I’m wandering through the empty casino area at about 8:30 this morning, trying to find the convention area and wondering if I’m even in the right place for this shindig.

    And then I come around the corner and standing right in front of me is Joe Wilson.

    As in Ambassador Joe Wilson, author of the op-ed piece that blew the whistle on Bush’s lies about Iraq trying to buy yellowcake from Niger.  Ambassador Joe Wilson whose family was made an example of in revenge by the White House by outing his covert CIA wife, Valerie Plame, the first CIA operative in history to be outed by her own government, the case which has led to the indictment of Dick Cheney’s chief of staff and which will ultimately probably result in many more similar prosecutions.

    Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was personally responsible for staring down Saddam Hussein just before the first U.S. war in Iraq, obtaining the safe passage home of numerous American citizens.

    Gen-u-ine American hero Joe Wilson. 

    Nice guy, it turns out.

    Last place I ever figured I’d meet this guy was in the hallways of a cheesy old Vegas hotel.

    Truly interesting country, this America. 

    But then we all knew that.

… stays in Australia.

    By popular demand (there were numerous emails this week), here’s a boy, an Aussie rules football, and an alpaca:

    This image and a skillion similar ones have apparently been all over the Aussie news lately.  Although apparently this is bad for the alpaca, which will grow to think it’s natural to kick human beings around.

    Here, we’d elect him to some sort of political office.

    For my own part, I’m off to Vegas for the convention all the cool kids are already at.  I understand that what happens in Vegas… can usually be resolved by broad-spectrum antibiotics.

    If I come home in a footy jersey, with a distant smile on my face, and covered in alpaca hair… we will not speak of this again. 

… stays in Australia.

    By popular demand (there were numerous emails this week), here’s a boy, an Aussie rules football, and an alpaca:

    This image and a skillion similar ones have apparently been all over the Aussie news lately.  Although apparently this is bad for the alpaca, which will grow to think it’s natural to kick human beings around.

    Here, we’d elect him to some sort of political office.

    For my own part, I’m off to Vegas for the convention all the cool kids are already at.  I understand that what happens in Vegas… can usually be resolved by broad-spectrum antibiotics.

    If I come home in a footy jersey, with a distant smile on my face, and covered in alpaca hair… we will not speak of this again.