Alabama

The blog's in a holding pattern for now, as you've noticed.

I'm in Montgomery, Alabama, spending the days and nights in the hospital with my dad, who's terminal. Heart failure, cardiomyopathy, COPD, and the list goes on. He is as strong and stubborn as throughout his entire life and he holds on, but it can't last.

Thanks to everyone who's wished me and my family well. This is tough stuff, but the support does make it better.

For F*ck's Sake, Tyler

Well, here we have it. Tyler Hamilton's admitted to taking a banned substance. As you'd expect, there are caveats, and of course it's not as simple as it might first appear.

He's suffered from depression for years, and he stopped taking meds due to side effects and turned to a homeopathic remedy that includes a banned substance, DHEA. Of course he says he'd never take anything to enhance performance, but at this point you just gotta wonder.

It's too bad. I feel for him. I really loved to watch this guy ride. And even in his return on the bad-boy Rock Racing team, it was good to see him go good.

But now he's done, almost for certain, for good. I wish him luck in dealing with his depression and his demons. It's gonna be a tough road ahead.

On Torture

The torture memos and all their attendant editorial make for heady if sickening reading. There's a lot out there, and there's more to come. I think it's all our jobs to read this stuff and understand what our government was doing in our names so that we never let it happen again.

One particularly low point cited at the Opinionator shows just how twisted and blinded the Bush administration became in believing that when you say something often enough, it's true.

[The torture memos] really need to be required reading for everyone. I think the line that probably sums them up best is on page 11 of the Bybee memo, where he casually observes that “[t]he waterboard is simply a controlled acute episode, lacking the connotation of a protracted period of time generally given to suffering.”

With that wonderful bit of “analysis,” our government lawyers concluded that the most iconic example of torture in human history — a technique that dates back to the Spanish Inquisition, if not earlier — was not in fact torture. That’s like writing a memo concluding that forced sexual intercourse doesn’t constitute rape so long as you make it quick.

Back on the Range

Enough with the reruns! Range Life returns live this week, after a lovely hiatus to lounge on the Dalmatian coast.

I've been unplugged while I've been gone, so there won't be tons of brand-spankin new stuff on hand this week. But, there will be some: Comet Gain, Blacklist, Gui Borrato, Run Return, Malcolm Kipe, and some more lovely new music has made its way into my system, so I'll share that. OK, I guess I do have a bunch of new stuff.

Tune in, 5 to 7pm Wednesday and 1 to 3pm on Friday, at www.radioboise.org.

Back in the USSA

We made it home last night. It was a long but uneventful travel day.

The trip posts are not complete yet, but they will be very soon. I'll let you know when I've got a select few pics up.

It's 9:30am. Can I go back to bed now?