Greetings and salutations!

In a quick update, my grandfather is feeling much better following the successful insertion of a intestinal stent - clearing up the toxic bile in his blood and allowing him to be up and around. While he is, thank God, much more comfortable, the ultimate prognosis remains unchanged.

Ok - time to vent with a series of completely unqualified statements....

By fighting to have her name placed in nomination at the Democratic National Convention next week, Hillary Clinton has proved she has no interest in party loyalty. That, and a strong showing by John Mcain at the Saddleback Civil Forum yesterday, could prove to deal considerable damage to the Democratic push for the White House.

I haven't gotten into the Olympics too much. Mainly I watch the highlights online. I do have a cousin in Beijing though, working with Canada's rowing team, which is fairly cool. To all the people that don't support the games being held in China: There are people who take the view that China should be censured due to the human rights issues, etc. I understand these feelings but I believe that much more progress can be made by engagement than by isolation. To all the people that bitch about Canada's medal count: Try remembering our athletes more than once every four years. Bitch when the games are over - all you need to do now is support our athletes who have shown consistent improvement in many events.

In light of the illustrated impotence of America's claims of brotherhood ("We are all Georgians"), I hope that Israel understands the true nature of the USA's "unconditional support."

On to other things....

I was considering a long overdue retrospective of the current state of my life in light of what happened in Israel, Japan, etc. but I think, for now at least, such things are better left to personal conversation. Man I just don't have the time or motivation these days - sad, I know.

With Hope,
Joseph