You're welcome.

Mine is an evil laugh.

My two favorite Congressmen, Alan "I Do Not Yield" Grayson (D-FL) and Ron "Kill the Fed" (R-TX) have joined forces. Together, they've cosponsored and passed an amendment to give the GAO the authority to conduct an actual audit of the Federal Reserve. H.R. 1207. Notably, the bill collected surprisingly bipartisan support. Libertarian crusaders and muckraking progressives unite. Be afraid, Fed. Be very afraid.

Rep. Grayson (check out that tie) questions Fed Counsel Alvarez:




Ron Paul on his decades long quest to end the Fed:

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Stupid Women and Deviants

Many thanks to Jezebel for picking up this story.

There are few places in the world where politics are truly more bizarre than in Texas. And Israel is one of those places. Perhaps the larger story of the day is the Israeli government's disregard for the peace process. On Tuesday, they announced plans to expand settlements inside Jersualem. I wish I could say I was surprised.

But there is another story that shouldn't be ignored: the arrest of Nofrat Frenkel for the terrible crime of wearing a prayer shawl and reading from the Torah at the Kotel (Western Wall). Frenkel is part of a group called Women of the Wall.

Their mission:

Our purpose is both social advocacy – to change the current status quo which prevents women from being able to pray freely at the Western Wall, to educate Jewish women and the public in general about the social, political and human rights issues involved in women’s right to pray as a prayer group; and to empower Jewish women to take control of their religious and prayer lives. WOW stands with other non-ultraorthodox activists in the forefront of the movement for religious pluralism in Israel. WOW offers a unique contribution as the only group reclaiming public holy space by our regular presence at the Western Wall.

The women of the wall are not looked upon kindly by the ultra-Orthodox. From a sermon by Rabbi Yosef:

Teffilin (phylacteries) she must be careful not to lay. There are stupid women who come to the Western Wall, put on a tallit (prayer shawl), and pray...These are deviants who serve equality, not Heaven. They must be condemned and warned of.

You've been warned.

New Mexico

I really, really love New Mexico.



Look how big that sky is!




My host insisted that we visit Carlsbad Caverns. We took the long way in, and I'm really glad we did. The natural entrance turned out to be my favorite spot in the whole thing.




This is The Big Room, the icing on the cake of the whole thing.




A formation called the Whale's Mouth.




More awesome sky!

Abilene

I was pleasantly surprised by pretty much everything in Abilene. I was expecting Lubbock, only with less everything. Instead, I got awesome.





Plus, the drive there from San Antonio took me through the Hill Country.




And with the Hill Country comes Fredericksburg, home to a large number of German immigrants. Doesn't show, really.




Dominating the landscape: wind turbines!




Texas produces more wind energy than any other state in the nation.




With cow for scale. See him? That little black guy at the bottom? My host told me that each blade on the turbine is longer than a semi and has to be trucked in with 'oversized load' signs everywhere.




She also took me to Fort Phantom Hill, part of the frontier system. It hasn't aged very gracefully.




It was only occupied for three years, from 1851-54.




Shortly after it was abandoned, it burned to the ground.




It's seen better days. But it's still pretty cool.




My host's Chevy pickup. How Texas are we?

Provo to The City*

*aka, San Francisco

Miles Traveled: 778

Car Hours: 12.5

States: 3

Time Zones: 2

Miles per Gallon: 29.55, 30.118

Best Proper Noun: Donner Pass.

Driving in The City: FOR THE DAMNED.

Denver to Provo*

*Once again, I'm running behind. I apologize and will try to do a bit of a posting blitz today.

Miles Traveled: 481

Car Hours: 8

Miles per Gallon: 32.126, 34.5, 32.936

Best Proper Noun: The Nauvoo Cafe with (and this is a direct quote) great food to go.

Car Color: Mud. I had to squeegee the headlights at a rest stop. Yeah.

Consume like an American!

Stephen Colbert takes on forty years of Sesame Street:



If hulu doesn't work for you, you can see it here.

Ginger, get the popcorn.

Tell me, Tom Kenniff, how's it feel to get smacked down on Larry King by America's first female African American POW and Dr. Phil?



CAN'T FEEL GOOD.

San Antonio

San Antonio was not originally a destination on this particular road trip. However, it had the only open seat for the GRE in the entire state of Texas. But I'm really glad I ended up there. Based on the glut of pictures alone.





The visibility on the first half of the drive from Dallas was not great.




But things got better after I left Waco. [Tasteless cult joke REDACTED]




This is the inscription on the small urn inside of the San Fernando Cathedral. The most unsung hero of the Texas Revolution, Juan Seguín, came back after the fall of the Alamo, scooped up the enormous pile of ashes, and had them interred here. He and Bowie were good friends. When Travis ordered Seguín to leave the Alamo as a courier, Seguín rode out on Bowie's horse.




This is the Governor's Palace! Where the Mexican Governor for the state of Coahuila y Tejas lived. Exception to the rule: Juan Martín de Veramendi. De Veramendi fell out of favor because he was too friendly with the anglos. Case in point: he sponsored Jim Bowie's conversion to Catholicism, a road stop on Bowie's path to Mexican citizenship. De Veramendi later became Bowie's father in law when his daughter Ursula married the land speculator from Kentucky. They lived together in the de Veramendi palace on Soledad street....which was TORN DOWN in 1910 to widen the road. [DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED] Later, when a cholera epidemic threatened, Bowie sent Ursula and their two young children to the de Veramendi home in Monclova. The cholera missed San Antonio and struck the mountains of Coahuila. Juan Martín, his wife Josefa, Maria Ursula, and at least one of the Bowie children all died in the span of a week.





And these are the gardens out back.




I love the gardens.




And you can rent them for special occasions!




A hospital mural as seen from Milam Park.




Epic t-shirt.




This was lunch: ceviche with talapia and julienned jalapeños. And popped corn. I thought the corn thing was weird, but it added a nice crunchiness. Anyway, it was deliciousness. Revived, I went on to glory.




This is the memorial built where the Alamo plaza used to be...it's the kind of big dramatic memorial that the place deserves.




This is the full footprint of the Alamo as it was in 1836. The building that remains is that small cross-shaped in the upper right hand corner.




And here she is!




RESPECT.


For the record, I did get some studying done. Well...enough.

Clovis to Denver

Miles Traveled: 460

Car Hours: 8

Miles per Gallon: 30.167 and 34.043 (YEAH CRUISE CONTROL!)

Best Proper Noun: Hatchet Ranch Road (that needs to be a Western stat)

Mile High Side Effects: Breathing like a overheated pug at the first attempt at exercise. Too many stairs, NOT ENOUGH OXYGEN.

Dallas

Anybody can google a nice shot of Reunion Tower or the AA Center or the Ballpark in Arlington or Jerry Jones' new Colosseum of GREEDY GRASPING OLD WHITE MEN. But I decided to take some pictures of the Dallas I remember growing up.




I'm beginning to doubt Montana's claim to 'Big Sky Country'.




This is Fretz Park, the library I grew up with. I voted for John Kerry in the gym behind the library and took swimming lessons in the pool next to it.




L.B.J freeway!




AKA: 635.




This is the ramp onto 635 from I-35 East South. Not a typo. Driving in Dallas is not for the faint of heart.




I have a lot of issues with my hometown: the Cowboys, the dry precincts, the godawful DISD. But the sunsets are not one of them.

"Would you tell her to be quiet and take it?"

Senator David Vitter from Louisiana was one of thirty Republican men who voted against the inclusion of Al Franken's amendment to deny contracts to defense contractors who bar their employees from seeking justice for sexual assault and harassment in a court of law. Should it surprise us that the good Senator has absolutely no balls whatsoever?



Roll Call of Shame: is your Senator on the list?



Sleep tight, Senators.