Back from Spain and Portugal

I've returned from my trip to Spain and Portugal, where it rained in Spain, not only in the plain.

Notwithstanding the rain, it was a great trip, and, apart from the bad news about the 32 killed in Virginia, I had no contact whatever with the news. What a vacation!

That hasn't lasted long since my return however. Returning from two countries that rejoice in increasing wealth and liberty after the death of their respective dictators thirty some odd years ago, I picked up a copy of the International Hearald Tribune while climbing on the plane home and was reignited with disgust for my country's behavior under its first dictator. First, there was the Alberto Gonzales comedy hour (that stretched out to five hours or so). Then, I learned that Bush had managed to put women back into the 15th century -- or at least took some giant steps in that direction. Paul Wolfowitz misusing government resources to enrich his mistress.

Further, I gathered that the "surge" has lost it's "temporary" characteristics as well as it's limitations. Now, we have given up on getting the Iraqis to stand up while we stand down, so we have decided to stand up even taller on our own.

Walls are being built to separate the Shi'a and the Sunni. That's a great way to promote harmony between the sects.

With al Sadr's pull out from the government, it has become abundantly clear that the Iraqi government is not going to do anything to try to solve the factional strife within the country. De-Bathefication remains the government's first priority, along with exclusive Shi'a rule.

Then, while on the plane, the cabin crew handed out the multiple part forms that the U.S. requires for entry, explaining that if anyone used the European conventions for writing numbers (e.g., a 7 with a line through it, a 1 written as it's typed here instead of a straight up and down line, or a 4 as it's typed here, closed at the top) that their form would be rejected out of hand and they would be forced to wait hours, perhaps days, in a holding pen before being allowed entry to this country. The contrast with entry to most European countries is rather remarkable. There, there are no forms, no lines, no hassles. Here, we regularly prove ourselves to be the most unfriendly and unwelcoming country among our peers.

Then, upon arrival at Newark's misnamed "freedom" airport, even we citizens faced long lines at immigration -- the people from the 747 that had arrived from India two hours earlier were still in line when the group from our plane arrived.

A great welcome home!

Blogging will be lighter than normal for a few days while I catch up with the stack of mail that awaited my return and catch up on the rest of the news, but I see that my co-bloggers here at Scatablog have ably picked up the slack while I was away.