No, friends, this Fool's silence these past few days is not the shameful consequence of the weekend jaunt to the north, nor of its associated excesses (of trail-breaking record-blazing heat, Native American gaming, hikes through basaltic canyons, encounters with friendly goats, a Murphy Bed in a top-drawer hotel, and the sampling of several dozen tasty wines). No, I say: this silence is enforced by the Demands of Practicing Law.

Rather than let the dust of 0s and 1s settle too thickly, however, the least that I can do is to offer these recommendations for reading and viewing elsewhere:

♣ Nearly everyone has linked at this point to the amusing, equal opportunity election-year parody of This Land is Your Land. I commend it to the three of you who haven't seen it yet. There is a legal angle as well: Kevin Roderick reports that the animation's creators "have gotten a demand from the current rights holder to stop 'damaging' the Woody Guthrie song." Some people, unlike Woodie himself, have no sense of humor.

♣ Peripatetic LA-based journalist (and swingin' Corvid) Matt Welch, covering the Democratic Convention for Reason, opens fire on the creepy self-importance of Big Time Politicos. This is an ailment that is no respecter of party lines: Matt should hold this piece in reserve for re-publication (Re-publicanation?) in a few weeks when he covers the GOP in NYC. QED? Excerpts:

If you are one of those people who are aglow after two days of Democrat rhetoric -- and I've actually met many humans like that, these past 48 hours -- you probably haven't noticed a subtle theme that crops up again and again, like a nervous and revealing tic. Namely, that being a professional six-figure politician should be confused with noble "service," while throwing them your hard-earned money amounts to a brave and selfless sacrifice.

[Excerpt from oration by Dr. Howard Dean omitted]

Not belonging to a political party, and believing fervently in Brian Doherty's excellent maxim that time well spent is usually time away from politics, it is possible that I'm jaundiced. That said, the vision of a disabled woman handing over her last quarters to another moneybags politico who dreams of taking more of the stuff by force strikes me as, at minimum, nausea-inducing.

So, too, is the confusion of normal campaign politics with profound revolutionary bravery. . . .

♣ P.S. The King Corvid himself, Ken Layne, has returned to regular weblogging.

♣ P.P.S. Personal note to B and H Hoch: Thanks! I know that at least one of you will appreciate this. Dig Infinity!