No pictures, I think

No entertaining pictures today, but that is as much because I didn't take any this week (even of the boy dressed as Captain Underpants), as that I don't feel like raiding the few that are on here, as they don't quite express my mood. Much like my friend Dave, I am still accustoming myself to using a laptop keyboard, though I hope my learning curve is faster than his, but I can't quite say, since my writing on the computer at this point is limited to this blog, and however often I decide to update.

For my trip, I am fairly sure that Cologne is now out of the picture, though not because it wouldn't be a worthy side trip, but because I am hoping to find enough in Antwerp to keep me busy, though if I don't, I can always leave early on my final day to see what trouble I can get into in Amsterdam, that short train ride away, and the final destination on my Paris-Amsterdam open jaw ticket trip. I really need to find a wittier name for the trip, but it hasn't come yet. It isn't like my Castle & Campanile tour of '04, where I went to as many castles and climbed as many campaniles as I could, perhaps when I start the trip, I will find a fun name for it.

On a slightly different note, it is interesting to read, while he personally finds water-boarding deplorable, the attorney general nominee isn't quite sure if it is illegal. Over the centuries, it hasn't necessarily been unusual, but I think today, most would consider it cruel and unusual as a form of interrogation; therefore, it should be illegal. The commentary creates the impression that he is trying to prevent lawsuits and potentially being required prosecute his own staff, though there may be laws on the books that protect them. From that perspective, his answers make sense, though they don't make him sound like he oozes integrity. As a country, I really believe we need to move forward and away from the aspects of this presidency that make the United States out to be a participant in atrocities, rather than the beacon of hope and light it has more traditionally, if not accurately, been perceived as. Too bad the executive branch doesn't see it that way.