Saturday, August 28, 2004

Got the message, didn't he, even tho' they misspelled his name. via the Beeb: US Secretary of State Colin Powell has cancelled plans to attend the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games this weekend, citing a busy work schedule. A state department spokesman said Mr Powell had called off the visit due to the "press of business in Washington". The announcement came only hours after clashes erupted in Athens as protesters rallied to condemn the planned visit.  Marchers shouted angry slogans against the Bush administration and its operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. A spokesman for the department, Kurtis Cooper, was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying the anti-American protests in Athens had "played no role" in Mr Powell's decision. "The secretary considered a number of factors," he added. All that lusty booing at various Olympic events had nothing to do with it. 11:06:13 PM    comment []

Annie Beagle and I went sunset hunting this evening. We found a nice spot on the bike path overlooking the Arkansas River where it bends south and runs over the slightly tilted lip of an exposed section of "checkerboard' limestone (so-called because it cracks into squarish chunks a yard or so across).  The sun was still a few degrees above the horizon when we got there. I had plenty of time to chose a vantage as the show began. Those are refinery towers to the left, on the other side of the river. TULSA, OKLAHOMA, 7:54 PM CST SEND A SUNSET TO DR. OMED 10:21:17 PM    comment []