TGIF

Well, I'm back in Seattle after a very busy 10 days in Minneapolis. Hopefully I helped to get some things figured out for care for my Grandfather, and I've passed the baton onto my Aunt for the time being. I was treated to a fantastic, deeply orange sunset as we flew into Seattle that really accentuated the Olympic mountain range--reminding me why I love Seattle so much.

Anyhoo, when I was driving around Minneapolis, I listened to a bit of Air America. I don't normally tune into it (more of an NPR head), so it was a treat. It was also great to listen to Rachel Maddow, with her haughty staccato, fill in for Al Franken, who made a very good point: the most important day of the week to read the newspaper is Saturday, because it's the least read paper of the week and the Bush administration takes advantage of this by releasing news that ranges from bad to disquieting late on Fridays.

On the disquieting tip, here's this from the AP/Yahoo:

President Bush has personally authorized a secretive eavesdropping program in the United States more than three dozen times since October 2001, a senior intelligence official said Friday night.

The disclosure follows angry demands by lawmakers earlier in the day for congressional inquiries into whether the monitoring by the highly secretive National Security Agency violated civil liberties.

"There is no doubt that this is inappropriate," declared Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He promised hearings early next year.

Bush on Friday refused to discuss whether he had authorized such domestic spying without obtaining warrants from a court, saying that to comment would tie his hands in fighting terrorists.

In a broad defense of the program put forward hours later, however, a senior intelligence official told The Associated Press that the eavesdropping was narrowly designed to go after possible terrorist threats in the United States.

The official said that, since October 2001, the program has been renewed more than three dozen times. Each time, the White House counsel and the attorney general certified the lawfulness of the program, the official said. Bush then signed the authorizations.