Category Archives: Almost Seven Wonders

The Almost Seven Wonders files

Not dead…

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Thanks for asking, though.

Getting the book finished has been a pretty gigondous task for the last two weeks.  And there are still a couple of smaller rounds left.

The good news is, there will be a book on the stands sometime this autumn which a) I hope a lot of people might really enjoy, and b) will thank a few people who have made my life a lot more interesting.

More later.  Gonna catch up with the blog for real when I get just a few more things done.

Meanwhile, enjoy this tease of upcoming scenes in our next episode: I’m informed there is an effort (appropriately small, I assume) to rename the Purdue University mascot the "pudu," so people can cheer for the Purdue Pudus.

More on this soon.  Definitely.

Many people say the first two are the same thing, actually

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Where does dishonest memoirist James Frey go now?
His own show on Fox News

313 		  40.5%
 
The White House press office

282 		  36.5%
 
The next vacant seat on the Supreme Court

107 		  13.9%
 
Bush’s liaison to FEMA or FISA, whichever

70 		  9.1%
 

The Republic is in danger!  GAAAAAHHHH!  But from what, pray tell?  You decide.  New poll at upper left.

Apparently “Catwoman” was never distributed to Peshawar

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What’s the biggest clue that the "new" Bin Laden tape might not be so new?
Seems to think he’s dealing with a president capable of assessing threats

979 		  50.5%
 
It’s on Betamax

641 		  33.1%
 
Background religious fanatics still doing the Macarena

259 		  13.4%
 
Refers to Halle Berry as a "serious actress"

58 		  3%
 

Now that author James Frey has been flogged in the public square for dishonesty, where will he wind up next?

New poll at left.

And yes, I realize these have been Polls Of The Month for a while.  I hope you’ll forgive me when the book comes out this fall.  It’s pretty decent.  I’m excited as heck about it, actually.

But the third draft is on deadline.  Back to the word mill…

Happy Australia Day!

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National holiday, something of a Down Under equivalent to July 4th.

Funny thing… I’ve been back in L.A. for almost two weeks, but I’m still mentally in Sydney.  I’m still reading the SMH and ABC, and at the moment I’ve got Nine‘s coverage of the ODI match between Oz and Sri Lanka on the TV while working.

I’m just not quite home yet.

The headlines are just brimming with juice, of course — Alito, DeLay,
Abramoff, lies over FISA, lies over Katrina, lies over Medicare D — so
I’ll get there eventually.

Still, during the break after Sri Lanka batted, there was a glimpse of a ceremony on the
field for a few hundred immigrants just receiving Australian
citizenship.  I suspect those are probably a few hundred very happy
people.

Between leaving half my brain in Oz and book frenzy, don’t expect a ton here for a few more days.

The question that has no answer

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From today’s press gaggle, via First Draft, which gaggle-watches better than anybody:

Q The law says he has to seek a court warrant.

MR. McCLELLAN: — it is labeled an international call —

Q Why doesn’t he seek a warrant? What’s the big problem?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, actually, we’ve walked through this repeatedly over the last few days. It’s important for the American people to understand what the facts are. There is a lot of misinformation about —

Q Why can’t you seek a warrant?

MR. McCLELLAN: — this program. And we do use the FISA tool, as well. That’s an important tool, as well. But we have briefed members of Congress more than a dozen times on this. We continue to brief members of Congress in an appropriate manner. This is a highly classified program and it is a vital program to our nation’s security. The 9/11 Commission criticized us for not connecting the dots —

Q Is it vital to go through legal steps?

MR. McCLELLAN: This is helping us to connect the dots in a very targeted and focused way.

Q Why can’t he seek a warrant?

MR. McCLELLAN: It is about detecting and preventing attacks. FISA was created for a different time period. General Hayden walked through that yesterday; the Attorney General talked about it more. This is about moving with speed and agility, not some long-term period of time. It’s about detecting —

Q You can get one retroactively.

MR. McCLELLAN: — it’s about detecting and preventing attacks. And we are a nation at war, and the courts have upheld the President’s authority to engage in surveillance. Surveillance is critical to prevailing in the war on terrorism.

Q He doesn’t have a blank check.

MR. McCLELLAN: And we talked with members of Congress about whether or not there needed to be legislation that reflects what the President’s authority already is, and the congressional leaders felt that by doing so it could compromise this program. This is a vital program and it’s important that we don’t show the enemy our play book. And talking about it —

Q Getting warrants doesn’t show the enemy a play book.

MR. McCLELLAN: Okay. Next question.