This is sad. Very, very sad. It's bad enough that private pilots have to weather the insane amount of regulations that the FAA requires, but when cities like Chicago tear up a landmark airport, it makes me feel like flying in America is simply not worth the hassle. If it looks familiar, Meigs airport is the airport that everyone that has played Microsoft Flight Simulator starts out from.

What a great way to celebrate 100 years of flight. I'm sure Oliver & Wilbur would have been proud.

Fascinating.

A few news updates:

Stupid Bald Man Sticks Foot in Mouth up to left testicle:Peter Arnett appeared on Iraq's State-run news to accept the "Jane Fonda Comfort to the Enemy" award. In an unprecedented move, he was also awarded as part of the same ceremony the "Should've thought before I said anything and here comes my Pink Slip" award that was awarded to Michael Moore just last week. Said Moore when he heard the news, "I was under the impression that I was passing the torch to Peter, but apparently it's more of a club that you can't get out of, ever. Hanoi Jane is going to explain the rules of being a social pariah in our own country to us at next week's meeting. OJ is going to speak, as well.... I'm so excited."

Iraqi Soldiers get nasty surprise during ambush: I can't find the link, but the story struck me as terribly funny in that morbid "Wow, sucks to be you" kinda way. During the suicide pickup truck attacks (apparently Saddam has been learning to play AOE2 online from Todd: "Build big army, toss into meat grinder, lather, rinse, repeat.") Where was I? Oh yeah, during these attacks, the Allied tank troops found that if they were looking down a city street lined with hiding places for enemy soldiers, they could fire 120mm shells down the road. The passing of the shell creates a vacuum capable of pulling the hiding Iraqis out into the street where they are easy prey. "I have you in my sights as you near my hiding place, Yankee infidel.... What was that noise? ..... Hey!?! Oh S**T!!!"

Quote of the Week: "French's Mustard recently had to put out a press release explaining that they are not French nor associated with the French because people in America are boycotting them in retaliation for France's opposition to the Iraq war. Apparently some Americans are confused by the product name. Please people, I know we're upset with the French, but can we keep our how stupid we are a secret?" -Jimmy Kimmel-

Since we're being accosted by the pitiful excuses for music that come out of the overly-patriotic country music genre (except the fat little c*** from the Dixie Chunks) like that "Iraq and I Roll" song, or the friggin LEE GREENWOOD sonic abortion known as "Proud to be an American" (I almost went into a coma while they sang that f'ing song on American Idol... they used to torture us half to death by making us sing this song during boot camp, and I don't think I'll ever recover...) These songs suddenly coming out of the woodword during times of war is almost enough to turn me into a war protester... almost. ;-0

But I've lost focus. This was supposed to be about the good music I've heard recently...

Norah Jones - Come Away With Me. Just like Santana's "Supernatural" the grammy's got this one right. This is an amazing, perfect album. Great easy-listening from an incredibly talented musician.

Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk. Ever since "Little Earthquakes" I've bought every Tori album and hoped that it will be anywhere near as good as "LE" and been disappointed every time. Scarlet's Walk, while lacking the great memorable moments of Little Earthquakes, does contain almost all of the elements that made that album great. If you liked Little Earthquakes, you will like this album.

Linkin Park - Meteora. It's about HUGE FRIGGIN GUITAR RIFFS and Chester the "Little man with the Big Scream." Hybrid Theory was a pretty much flawless album, with the one problem of it being a bit over-produced, and way too short. Linkin Park seems to be a bit lacking on new ideas on this album, but the old ideas still work as well as they did the first time. This album lacks a "One Step Closer" song to stand out and really give the album something distinctive. For the most part, Linkin Park is a pleasant way to shake the pictures off the walls and annoy the neighbors, but they rarely achieve the bite of "Closer" in any other song. This is a small criticism, because the music is near perfect, even without that one little element that would push it over the edge into classic album status. It's still too short, too. 36 minutes? It's a CD guys, write some crappy music to fill in some space or something...

That's it, gotta wait for Limp Bizkit and Godsmack for something else new, high hopes waiting to be dashed on the rocks of reality, with those two....

Why haven't you sent a letter yet? There's no excuse, do it now!

What's really sad about this is the fact that our grandfathers would have probably gone down and kicked every town politicians ass if they enacted something ludicrious like this during World War II. Is anyone else as bothered as I am about how politically correct this war is? I don't care if they put a communication site in an archeological ruin; bomb the damn thing! I can't believe how a nation with our might acts like such a cry baby during times of stress. Get a backbone people! War is not pretty.