Ciao!

Well, it is off to Italy with Cowboy Mitch. My intent is to pursue there some personal business, and to avoid instigating an international incident. Cowboy Mitch and I are just concerned right now that we won't humiliate ourselves with silliness. It has been twenty five years since I traveled abroad. Then I was young, now I am no longer. Then I walked everywhere—miles and miles and days and days—ending always at some lovely sidewalk bar for a beer or a Pernod, and a gaze at the moving crowd. Then, I had much to see, now I have less to see but greater interest in seeing. Then I took pen and paper journals; this time I travel with the laptop computer and wonder where the wireless cafes are located.
It will be nice to leave behind the news which oozes out of the government cesspools. Everyday a new scandal or abuse of liberty sees the light of a cloudy day. I used to worry that Georgie Porgie would live out the rest of his life in comfort after destroying the lives of so many. I think his utter incompetence will haunt him for the rest of his life, and the failures of his leadership haunt his every step. He will go nowhere for the rest of his life without embarrassing questions asked to him for which he will have no honest answer, and he will awaken each day to history’s judgment of his administration to be the worst in American history. This administration has become our greatest enemy, and its legacy will only hasten the loss of our influence and freedoms.
No Torah portion can end on a negative note. I can’t start my Italian sojourn with Bush’s name on my lips. I bought a new Prius—fifty miles to the gallon. I am so proud of me. And so in love with the car. Washed it twice despite forecasts of rain.