Theres Colonial House fever in the Lao-Maynard household, so there wont be an entry tonight Now, gather your families in front of the TV, tune in to PBS and experience something better than MM.com.

I want to go to sleep, but there are a few things that I want to tell you about first First, theres an interesting article in todays New York Times about John McCain and the possibility of his joining the Kerry ticket. (There would be very little in this world that would make me happier.) Then theres this piece in the Atlantic Monthly about just how dirty this presidential campaign could get. (Does anyone remember the story about Kerry and the intern that was everywhere for a few days this winter and then just dissolved? Well, I guess weve got a lot more of those to look forward to. According to sources quoted in this article, youve got to plant a lot of seeds to get a few to take root.) And third, it looks like Seymour Hersh is unwilling to let go of the Abu Ghraib story (even in light on of the recent beheading of an American citizen in Iraq). In this weeks New Yorker, he places the blame at the feet of Donald Rumsfeld, whom he says made the decision last year to use physical coercion and sexual humiliation in order to hasten the cooperation of Iraqi prisoners. And, lastly, in case you didnt see it on Friday, is the news that the Bush administration is asking for between $50 and $80 billion for our next year in Iraq.

Dan Danguillan, one of our favorite MM.com readers, is preparing to shove off for another multi-month artic tour inside a floating, industrial fish processing plant. Heres the note he just sent.

Well, were supposed to start fishing at midnight tonightwhen the fisheries open. I can see the Coast Guard Boats lining up to remove the cordons. Theres at least a hundred other boats like this one cramming the entry points like soccer moms waiting for the Ross Dress for Less yearly half-off sale. Some of the boats are having parties on deck. You can smell the barbeques grillin like MAD. The Excellence is about 30 yards off our port side, and they got streamers even. All the skiffs are just sipping about with people hollerin and trading cigarettes and fishing stories. The Coast Guards got little speed boats (Tor calls them whalers cuz of their shapea bit longer and narrower than the skiffs) that are zig-zagging between the skiffs checking them for contraband and helicopters buzzing the decks for what Im told are bon fires. Beer is a no-no. It doesnt matter from what I hear. Apparently the thing to do is to only take certain pills from the issued sea-sickness pill packet. Two are stimulants and one is a depressant. The stimulants are to counter act the effect of the depressant, which is used to keep the nausea at bay. The Coast Guard doesnt check for that. We affectionately call the packets Coast Guard Cocktails. The Captain is blaring that one Eric Clapton song After Midnight, as are probably all the other boats out here. Its kind of disconcerting to hear the same song interrupt itself if that makes any sense. Crap, even the surly Samoan guys on the fish deck with a crowd of about a dozen munching hot dogs around himhes playing the guitar and singin a song about a waitress he met in Hawaii named Missy. It sounds like she was pretty hot by the way hes goin about strummin n singin. I never would have thought he was like that by the way he silently points with his fork at what he wants to eat when he comes up for dinner. Tors on the bow sitting in a folding chair wearing nuthin but shorts, shades and flip-flops. Its all kind of strange in a sort of maritime version of Apocalypse now. All we need to do is replace the Clapton with Wagnerkill the rabbit, kill the RABBIT! If you dont know which scene from the movie, or which Wagner piece Im talking about, I cant help you.