I'm always amazed at the twisted logic, or at least outcomes, of Bush administration policies. When pushing policies that have no relation to reality, they change reality so it relates to their policies. They mismanage government finances and blow through a budget surplus creating what they call a "crisis" in Social Security, propose a plan that'll further explode deficits without helping the program, but then make that plan vaguely reasonable by warping the economy so we might have a heretofore unknown future of high stock returns and minimal wage growth.

It was 16 years ago to this day that the Ayatollah Khomeini issued his fatwa against Salman Rushdie. And, thanks to a kind reader who used my wish list, I actually found the offending tome, Satanic Verses, in my mailbox this morning. I can't think of a better way to celebrate the anniversary of Khomeini's outrage.

Maya Marcel-Keyes, daughter of Alan Keyes, has publicly come out of the closet. In response, her parents have stopped speaking to her, thrown her out of the house, and cut off payments to her college. You know, like good Christians.

Nixon might have gone to China a time or two, but Arnold's practically taken up residence. His persona has left him essentially invincible on questions of toughness, and he's used the freedom for pretty progressive ends. It wasn't long ago that he signed into law a needle-exchange program that Gray Davis, afraid of being demagogued by the right, vetoed thrice. Now he's reforming California's shameful prisons by shunning the all-powerful prison guards union and forcing a move towards rehabilitation. Next up? Redistricting.

Since Sunday is now coming to an end and therefore the weekend is soon over, I will no longer be posting. Ezra returns tomorrow, Monday, and I return to the comments section. After a weekend off, I'm sure he'll have much to say.

But first I'd like to thank Ezra for inviting me to experience blogging. I had a lot of fun and I learned more in the last two days than I have in a long time.

Also, I'd like to thank everyone out there who took time to read what I wrote and especially to those people who chose to comment. You guys and gals are the ones who made this experience fun and enlightening.

Thank you. I'll be in the comment section.

-- Steve Cieslewicz