First off, a huge amount of thanks to Conor F, Conor C, Bob Wright and your very own Dish under-bloggers, Patrick and Chris. Since this wasn't really a vacation for me (I wrote a 10,000 word piece in my time "off"), I found myself browsing the Dish as a general reader and loving its eclectic, open-ended excursions into the news. It was particularly great to have Conor Friedersdorf since he's a Dish alum and one of the sane, reasoned voices of the next conservatism. I've tried to do what I can to encourage such voices as the Republican blogosphere seems hell-bent on expelling them in its Malkin-Riehl-Reynolds zeal for whatever Cheney wants. And I might as well concede that Bob Wright is an intellectual hero of mine, even when I disagree with him. If you have not yet bought his new book, The Evolution of God, do yourself a favor. If you care about truth and faith, and have an open mind and soul, it will change your view of things a little.
The good news is that I haven't missed any actual summer, working 24/7 on blogging and longform journalism. Most of June two men and two beagles spent their days, in our 235 square feet wharf room, sheltering from the cold and wind and rain. We have had a couple of nice days in July, but most days have been cloudy and/or rainy and this past week, riding my bike to the bank, I was chilled to the bone by the cold sea-mist, whipped up by strong winds. I'm sure George Will regards this as proof that global warming is a hoax; others say the Gulf Stream has shifted down a little and the Cape is getting Newfoundland's "summer" and DC is getting Cape Cod's. God fuck you all.