Yeah, it's me again.

Like that poor soul in the plague scene in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," "I'm not dead yet..."

Even when I signed off last week, I thought I might continue to use this space to monitor those developments that might give us further cause for concern about the direction we can expect leaders to steer us in over the next four years.  Here's a couple of "markers" that have come to my attention over the past few days:

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From NPR's Morning Edition: Trading Rouge for Camouflage

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(Last summer I rented the DVD of "Triumph of the Will," Leni Riefenstahl's famous 1934 Nazi propaganda film.  I wanted to see if there were any similarities between the Germany portrayed in the movie and the America we are living in now.  I thought it was encouraging (!?) that, in all of the scenes of the various rallies, everybody was wearing some kind of militaristic uniform.  We don't see much of that in America...and now this:)

School officials in Texas agree to give up the annual cross-dressing day. The school says it was meant to be fun but a conservative group accused the school of promoting a "homosexual agenda." So from now on, cross-dressing day will be "Camo Day," when students dress up like soldiers.

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NYTimes' Nicholas Kristoff on Colin Powell's departure:

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Kristoff seems to be reading my mind when he writes: "A litmus test of foreign policy prospects will be whether John Bolton, a genial raptor among the doves at State, is promoted to be its deputy secretary. For liberals who have been wavering on whether to move to New Zealand, that would be a sign to head for the airport. "

OK, maybe not exactly billboards that say "Next Stop Nuremberg" but road signs nonetheless.  Drive carefully....

--PS

And no, John Bolton is not Michael Boulton's brother. He's a the Undersecretary of State for arms control and International Security, whose specialty is breaking up all kinds of international negotiations.  Just the kind of guy we need leading the charge....

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