Don't Fear Bush's Future Nerves

After what seemed like 80 straight days of rain in San Francisco, we booked a last-minute flight and motel room in Palm Springs for three days so we'd stop feeling like human mold.



Waking up at 4AM on Sunday the 23rd and flying early to the desert was surreal enough, but parking on the tarmac at Palm Springs Airport next to Air Force One really was odd.



It seemed we could not get Satan (aka George Bush Junior) behind us, as Dubya was in the San Francisco Bay Area on Friday and Saturday (good job, Hoover Institution protestors, George Schultz is the real Beelzebub!) before coming to the Coachella Valley where he headlined a fundraising speech for rich Republicans that netted a quick $2 million.



Then it was on to a photo-op breakfast and prayer service with some Marines, followed by lunch with the 92-year-old former Warren Commission member, Republican consigliere, and president of the U.S., Gerald Ford.



Monday's "LA Times" didn't even bother mentioning all this presidential activity in their desert backyard while the local conservative rag duly trumpeted that day's triumphant talking point.



The motel we've staying in is "mixed," which means a bewildering assortment of young Canadian lesbians, old Russian Jewish couples, multi-culti families...



...along with the odd competitive bodybuilding couple...



...and a number of marines on furlough with their wives/girlfriends. The Iraq invasion is going to be with us in one way or another for a very long time.