Nice hotel. I was trapped there once, in January. It was twenty below in Minnesota, and people walked around in T-shirts, enjoying the sunshine. Meanwhile it had snowed in New York, so they canceled all the flights back to there. I spent an extra day in St. Paul. I went to visit the arts center, and ate at a nice Mexican restaurant (Yes! In St. Paul!). This is absolutely all true, every word of it. Except for the T-shirt thing.

lost today the ability to weigh in on whether or not the truth of a thing has merit.

we have indeed finally gotten what we deserve, which is a head of state that values nothing other than advancing and saving himself for himself.

we no longer, if we ever did, have any morality to hold out to the world as an example. for 6 years we have turned a blind eye to greed and wanton disregard for reality, honesty, and simple human decency.

if we now, at long last and at our lowest point decide to begin to restore some measure legitimacy to the notion of justice, my only remaining hope is that is isn't too little, too late.

That's funny, the tapir part was the selling part of the whole story for me. I was kind of suspicious up until then. But then, 20 years living with the Woolanga Tribe in the Venezuelan jungles gave me profound knowledge of this misunderstood rodent. For instance, did you know that rubbing yourself all over with a live tapir (not easily accomplished, I admit it), is a proven method for avoiding malaria? A once a week regimen is best.

I wonder who the journalist was. Garrison, if you ever come to my native land remind to to tell you about dropbears.

Laughs at/with An Interested Librarian - I wonder if people still believe we ride to school in kangaroo's pouches, etc...

Still, should be careful - I'm as skeptical as the next man, but I was totally suckered in by that hoax story about Japanese housewives buying sheep having being told they were poodles. A good exit may sell the spin, but playing on people's prejudices never hurt either - us Aussies aren't stoopid, we know a sheep when we see one... oh yes.

PS FYI, we can now hear Garrison's show on our Radio National again, yay.

Quote "'The Stars and Stripes Forever' in double time, and sometimes, there is a man dressed up as a monarch and we boo him and some people throw things."

Perhaps for added historical accuracy you should have a man dressed as a native American and they can boo and throw things at him too.

Tapirs aren't pigs at all. I think they are related to horses and rhinos.

And as fort Bush Cheney and Libby, well I think they must be aware of a nugget of wisdom once uttered by one A. Hitler.

"The great masses of the people... will more easily fall victims to a great lie than to a small one."

There's a lot of my Uncle Fred in you GK, and your Fourth of July spin. Way back when six, seven year-olds should have been out playing tag in the summer sun, my brother and I always felt a certain rush of anticipation at the arrival of one charming uncle who stopped by for a cup of java and began to entertain us - one fantasy tale after another until our kitchen became a vaudevillian stage and I swear on my Great Aunt Berta's ratty mink stole, Uncle Fred could blow smoke rings out of both ears at the same time and he also once raised a rare breed of hornless Unicorns on a ranch next to Teddy Roosevelt's spread on the Montana/Dakota border where Fred made his fortune then sold out; packed his cash profits in an old sock...hopped a freight headed for Canada but found when he opened said sock to recount his fortune just as dawn rose like a red ribbon as the train rolled into Moose Jaw Saskatchuen...Uncle found his vast fortune of filthy lucre had crumbled to dust since, as Uncle explained, he forgot to use a clean sock.

But that was yesterday and the big fireworks are coming down this grand day along with the other big bang...I heard that Hilary the candidate posed recently for a Playboy centerfold...but the whole expose got held up because the boys in the print room didn't know where to put the staple - to the right or left of her navel. We'll just have to wait and see...plus some Minnesota Fourth of July celebrations promise to enforce smoke-free zones...no butts allowed yet the sky lights up for almost an hour and smoke and debris will fall like corrupted confetti and the smell of burning hangs around for days and I'm wondering too, what are we doing in Iraq where real bombs fall and create similar debris but with real bodies mixed in...I'm reconsidering all those fireworls for what - are we parodying power gone astray by the biggest LIER of them all, pants-on-fire George? Have a fine day and don't hold your sparklers from the wrong end...beryl k gullsgate

I only wish that Keillor had specified that the tapir is an odd-toed ungulate and not of the even-toed variety. Effective lying requires attention to just this sort of detail.

thanks for listening

f

And after reading the previous posts I've decided I've gotta move to Australia. Those folks are way nuttier than anything you can find in Minnesota...

The Wall Street Journal is the most influential news source in the United States (sorry New York Times). Why? If you have ever read the Journal, you already know why. Stories consistently break in the Journal before many other media outlets. Corporate America doesn't make a move before checking it with the WSJ. Why is that important? Corporate America controls our government -- and our jobs. Murdoch will turn the WSJ from a conservative but relatively unbiased news vehicle into a delivery system for self-serving propaganda. Information is power and Murdoch has enough.