Eagle-eyed meteorologist on September 11: "Think about it: September is the worst month in the world to be planning anything in the air on the East Coast, because you're at the height of hurricane season. In fact, climatologically speaking, Sept. 3 is the worst day of the entire year to plan a flight. And yet, you had this day where the weather was perfect, from Maine all the way down to Washington. You can't plan that far out and hope you get lucky."

Slate's Michael Kinsley jumps aboard the "marriage privitization movement" I advocated earlier this week:

That solution is to end the institution of marriage. Or rather (he hastens to clarify, Dear) the solution is to end the institution of government-sanctioned marriage. Or, framed to appeal to conservatives: End the government monopoly on marriage. Wait, I've got it: Privatize marriage. These slogans all mean the same thing. Let churches and other religious institutions continue to offer marriage ceremonies. Let department stores and casinos get into the act if they want. Let each organization decide for itself what kinds of couples it wants to offer marriage to. Let couples celebrate their union in any way they choose and consider themselves married whenever they want. Let others be free to consider them not married, under rules these others may prefer. And, yes, if three people want to get married, or one person wants to marry herself, and someone else wants to conduct a ceremony and declare them married, let 'em. If you and your government aren't implicated, what do you care?

Cameron Barrett still needs editors for the Third Party section of his WatchBlog:

I'm still looking for more editors for the Third Party and Republicans WatchBlog. The Democratic editors are outposting the other two columns on a 3-to-1 basis and it's becoming too lopsided. If you want to write for either Party's blog, fill out this application and I'll review it. Feel free to pass this request on to your politically-minded friends.

Made a minor change to the archive structure tonight. Nothing should break as I'm redirecting with .htaccess and mod_rewrite, but please let me know if you find any problems.

"Martin Rees, Britain's Astronomer Royal has an interesting article in Foreign Policy arguing that the future of manned space travel should be left to wealthy adventurers. He points to the fact that modern state-funded space disasters become national traumas, and argues that that gung-ho millionaires are more free to take risks because they 'don't represent a nation; [they] represent humanity.'" via Slashdot.

What does the "Q" in Q-tip stand for?

Senator Frist backs constitutional ban on gay marriage: "The Senate majority leader said Sunday he supported a proposed constitutional amendment to ban homosexual marriage in the United States. 'I have this fear that this zone of privacy that we all want protected in our own homes is gradually - or I'm concerned about the potential for it gradually being encroached upon, where criminal activity within the home would in some way be condoned,' Frist told ABC's This Week."

Want to extend the zone of privacy" even more? How about a constitutional amendment banning government interference in private relationships? I'd support that. It's time to privatize marriage, I say.

Thomas L. Knapp's manifesto:

In the future, intellectuals will debate at what exact point in time the United States in particular, and the world in general, entered into the present era. Perhaps it was at the turn of the century and of the millennium; more likely its roots go deeper, perhaps to the fall of the Berlin wall or the equally difficult to pinpoint "end" of the Cold War. The irreparable structural infirmities in the foundations of American political society existed prior to September 11th, 2001. The 9/11 attacks and their aftermath go far in revealing the extent of those infirmities, but were not their cause.

What is certain is that the United States has entered into a revolutionary situation. Severe financial exigency, a failing economy, a failed foreign policy and an increasingly draconian domestic situation have combined to produce the circumstances under which a fundamental reorganization of American political society is not only desirable, but necessary; not only necessary, but inevitable.

Wired: "The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Tuesday that Web loggers, website operators and e-mail list editors can't be held responsible for libel for information they republish, extending crucial First Amendment protections to do-it-yourself online publishers."