Politico is reporting that Novak ran down a pedestrian (who was in the crosswalk and had the right of way) and then took off, only to be chased down by a cyclist. His bright, shiny Corvette was blockaded by the bicyclist until the cops showed up.

A Politico reporter saw Novak in the front of a police car with a citation in his hand; a WJLA-TV crew and reporter saw Novak as well. The pedestrian, a male in his 60s, was hospitalized at George Washington University Hospital with minor injuries according to the Metro Fire Department. Novak was later released by police and drove away from the scene.

When my husband and I were in Ireland this last February, I realized that Barack has Irish ancestry.

Why?

It's lunch time and I'm not hungry, so I was navigating around the tubes and found this.

In a nutshell:

Unless a federal court intervenes, South Carolina drivers may soon be able to profess their Christian faith with a state-issued license plate.

Now I see the little fish symbols, and the dove symbols, and even a cross here and there, all the time.

It seems as though I rarely get to cook as much as I like anymore. As a Wiccan, however, I've found myself to be something of a kitchen witch, loving to concoct recipes that I never write down and then savor the end result. I guess I need to do it more often.

I invented a recipe for a chicken marinade/grilling sauce that's so good I'm entering it into a grilling recipe contest on Food Network. It's one of the few my husband has liked so much that he made me write it down so I could recreate it!

I was at the airport yesterday at baggage claim after retrieving Kidlet for summer visit.

It was hot, I was tired but happy to see the Kid, and baggage claim was crowded. All in all, a usual summer trip to the airport.

We stood jammed alongside the carousel. It was going to be a long wait because the flight had arrived at a satellite terminal and we'd gotten to baggage claim relatively quickly (and of course isn't that how it ALWAYS works?).

Beside us stood an older (mid-60's-ish) couple, who smiled often at Kidlet and chatted quietly between them.

My kid flies four or five times a year to visit. The airline I have to use just announced today that they're raising the fee they charge for unaccompanied minors by 150%!

American Airlines is now going to begin charging you to check ANY bags. They're also going to charge you more for every other hidden fee and surcharge they rip you for.

I hate flying to begin with. I hate being crammed into a plane with no leg room, no room to recline. I hate delays and cancellations. In short, I hate flying.

Several years ago, I was pregnant with my kidlet. I went into preterm labor several months before kidlet was due for unknown reasons, and spent a total of about two months, off and on, in the hospital, on a variety of tocolytics.

Over the duration of my pregnancy, I had eighteen ultrasounds and an emergency amniocentesis.

The results were consistently the same.

One of my favorite blogs in the whole world (outside of political ones, anyway) is CubeRules. It's a career management blog dedicated to providing tips and advice to knowledge workers who reside in the ever-ubiquitous cube farm.

Today, the proprietor noted that Washington Mutual Bank, troubled of late as a result of its lending practices, has decided to exclude non-performing mortgage loans from the calculations that are used to determine executive bonuses.

In a regulatory filing, Washington Mutual’s Board of Directors decided that executive bonuses for 2008 would exclude housing-related loan losses and expenses tied to foreclosures.

Hey, Seattle-land Kossacks:

My birthday is a week from today. Help me celebrate by joining us Tuesday evening at Drinking Liberally at the Montlake Ale House, where we'll be watching primary results and consuming pub grub.

I've been looking forward to this particular Tuesday since forever, not because it's my birthday, but because I think it's a watershed in the primaries.

Well, well, well, Kossacks. Old Abe and I are back from our highly-anticipated trip to Ireland. After spending yesterday tucked warmly in my bed recovering from jet-lag, I'm firing up the keyboard to give you all an overview of my discoveries.

DISCLAIMER: I am a neophyte traveler, so much of what you read in here may not come as much of a surprise to some/most you. I, on the other hand, came away with a new awareness of many things. I hope you'll bear with me...And also, Old Abe and I will need to vacate the house shortly  so I may not be on thread as much as I'd like.

My beloved husband, Old Abe, and I are abandoning Kossackstan right at the height of all the Clinton vs. Obama squabbles.

Why?

Oh, don't worry. We're not gone forever. We're going to IRELAND, baby.

Not so much.

My husband and I just saw the Coke commercial during the SB, and laughed our asses off.

If Jim Carville is supposed to represent the left against Bill "Terry Schiavo" Frist, Coke has their heads up their asses.

Too bad I don't like Pepsi.

About six weeks ago, I lost my job as a result of the "subprime mortgage crisis". I knew that the potential was there for it to happen for a long time, and so financially I'm ok. Well, except until I get my COBRA premium notice in the next week or so. Then I may freak.

I'd been looking for a new job since last August, but things were crappy at the end of last year. Suddenly, things have exploded. My cell phone rings off and on all day as recruiters find my resume online and start feeling me out for a laundry list of opportunities.

I really don't.

I have a laundry list of things I want to see should a Dem win the White House, just as well all do. I'm not sure I believe any of them, even the horse I'm betting on in the race, can deliver. But one way or the other, I'll vote for the Dem nominee.

You see, to me it doesn't matter who it is. What really matters is that we took a first baby step in 2006 with Congress. We won majorities in both, and  while I'll be the first to scream at the top of my lungs that it doesn't seem to have mattered much, it was a first step.

My husband, a native Wisconsinite, and yours truly, a Packer fan for sixteen years, are geared up and ready to hit our nearby Packer bar along with several hundred of our fellow fans in support of the Green and Gold.

Being a Packer fan in Seattle is odd, and downright unpleasant when the two teams meet. Last season, we spent a big chunk of change to see the Pack play the Hawks here in Seattle, only to find that Hawks fans were a bunch of misogynistic jerks (at least the ones in my section were). But we had our revenge: we left with 7:00 left in the fourth and it took us twenty minutes to get home. The poor dumb Hawks fans who stayed ended up stuck for hours in one of our weenie but famous Seattle snowstorms. HA HA HA!

I've avoided the flame wars and constant attacks on the candidate diaries. I've already made up my mind as to who I favor, and the bottom line is that I'm going to vote for the nominee, whoever it is. I'm certainly NOT going to vote for whoever Wingnuttia puts up.

That said, I've been on DKos for just over three years and I love the sense of community here. Granted, I do avoid the conflict: I'm a Pisces, so take that for what it's worth.

But tonight I went to my very first Drinking Liberally here in the Emerald City, and my heart is STILL overflowing with what I encountered.

I've been on DKos for over three years. Most longer-term Kossacks know that I'm one of a small but growing segment of American society: I'm a non-custodial mom.

Today, I had to put my kid on a plane back to Dad. I hadn't seen kidlet in over four months, and now I won't see kidlet again until spring break.

My marriage and subsequent divorce were torture. It wasn't until this last spring, nearly five years after my divorce was final, that I realized that I am suffering from PTSD as a result of the whole mess. I bought kidlet a cell phone during summer visit and told the ex not to contact me via phone anymore except in cases of emergency. It doesn't stop him from trying, unfortunately, but at least I have a direct means of contacting the kid without growing through the ex.

On Monday, my husband and I, along with over 3100 of our closest friends, lost our jobs.

Fortunately, my husband and I had expected layoffs for a very long time and had financially prepared for it. We're not in immediate financial jeopardy, although I'm dreading seeing what my COBRA bills look like.

But that's not what this is about. It's about not knowing what to do next.