I was wrapping everything up at the office, getting things in line for my trip to Bozeman, MT next week when I suddenly realized: I don’t have my itinerary yet. Uh oh.

I submitted my travel request more than a month ago and I should have received the info back by now, so I don’t know if they booked my travel or not. Considering that I found out today that they “forgot” to process my per diem request (which means I’ll be living out of pocket in Big Sky country), I’m guessing my travel request got waylaid somewhere along the way. What should have been a $600 plane ticket is going to turn into two or three thousand dollars.

I’m glad I’m not paying for it. But then if I were paying for it, I wouldn’t be going to Bozeman in the first place. Cancun, sure. Bozeman? Pass.

Hi, Room 935’ers! Run along now, go scurry back into your not-so-secret little molehole.

If it weren’t happening right here, I’d think the headlines in my newspaper were about some other country — Russia or China or Syria; countries that deny their citizens the most basic of rights, that oppress their citizens. When I see the shit John Ashcroft is doing I hear the Talking Heads in my head: “This is not my beautiful house! This is not my beautiful wife!” The Patriot Act is 1984 coming true 20 years late.

The story I linked to above says, “…Ashcroft, who has launched a monthlong public relations campaign to promote the Patriot Act, suggested there was strong public support for the new search powers.” Yo, John, this is me expressing strong opposition to the new search powers.

I have to get me one of these T-shirts.