Is this thing on?

No, not much to say today, as you can tell by the fact that I'm only posting now at about 11:00 eastern time. Things on the mind, and all that. A couple of quick takes, and maybe I'll have something more to say tomorrow:

:: I've just watched fifteen minutes or so of John Stossel's 20/20 episode in which he rips into "trial lawyers", complete with swipes at, you guessed it, John Edwards. I'm sure that in the interests of balance, Stossel's already got a program in the works on Dick Cheney and Halliburton's war-profiteering. I'll bet it's already scheduled to be aired on September 31 of this year. (Besides, Stossel's programs are always a fascinating exercise in shoddy thinking and muddled logic.)

:: Comics writer-extraordinaire Alan Moore, in a fascinating interview, has this hilarious take on the Bush family:

I tend to think that the whole tree is rotten, that's the only conclusion I can draw. These are dynasties; they carry out the will of the family, which is old, avaricious, power-mad, arrogant. Generation after generation, they see that the family's will is done. I'm surprised that the Bushes are doing so well over there. You people actually had a war of independence to free yourselves from a dynasty of blue-blooded Georges. I thought that was the whole idea! You were fed up with having a bunch of aristocrats named George ruling your country, but obviously it seems that you can't get enough of it!

Priceless. (That's a Salon link, so you have to do the "watch an ad for a day pass" thing to read it.)

:: I bought the new Van Halen hits compilation Best of Both Worlds today. God, I love Van Halen. In my experience, there is no sadness so deep that it can't be partially salved by listening to Van Halen. (Just as there is no mild disappointment that can't be amplified to a suicidal depression by playing a few Pink Floyd tracks.)

That's it. More tomorrow. Or Sunday. Or whenever.