Here's a bedtime story to help explain the current caiman problem to your children. Most of us don't know what sort of timeline the caimans have for their heinous plan (although I know a few of you collaborators out there are privy to the inside scoop. You know who you are, and so do I!). Since those odious creatures can be very patient, it could be years before their design becomes apparent, in which case it is our grave responsibility to educate the future generations (since I'm supposed to kick the bucket in 2008! according to another thread). So here we go, although it has been many years since my now adult daughter was little, I'll try to recapture the storytelling technique.

Once upon a time there was a big fight among the countries of the planet Earth. It was so big, it was called a world war. And this particular world war was the second one in a short time, so it was called World War II.

One of the men who started this bad war was a little guy named Adolf Schicklgruber. Yes, he had a funny name, and a funny salute, and a very funny and ridiculous moustache called a "toothbrush moustache." He had soldiers and he made them march in a funny walk called a "goose-step." Mr. Schicklgruber was later known as Hitler. And although things he did and said looked funny, he was really very sick in his head and had never learned how to live. He didn't think he was funny at all. Schicklgruber was a very serious guy. Too serious. Part of being alive and enjoying life means you have to be able to laugh at yourself, but old Schicklgruber wasn't able to do that. Today, he would be called a Loser, with an capital "L."

This miserable little man was so unhappy with his miserable little life that he used all his energy into making the rest of the world miserable, and in the process he grew into one of the most evil people who ever lived. That means he enjoyed hurting other people. And he hurt a LOT of people. Fortunately, he was stopped, and I'm happy to say that many Americans, probably including your grandparents or great-grandparents or even great-great grandparents, were an important part of fighting this sick and evil stain on the human race. I have known many people who fought in that war, and they all say war is a very bad thing, but in this case there was no choice. Evil had to be stopped.

• Protest the present United States culture of corporate governance. It is guilty of waging an ILLEGAL WAR. It is YOUR patriotic duty and human responsibility to stop it.
• Protest: Illegal War, Torture, Illegal Imprisonment, Domestic Spying, War Profiteering, Media Manipulation, and many other abuses of executive power and our constitution.
• Protest the use of religion by the present administration as a dividing element on terrorism, war, politics, and our culture, this is unconscionable.

We're in Billings, Montana.  The drive, thus far, has been steady.  I keep thinking of this future life in Olympia, and long to meet my partner and baby at the SeaTac.  We're covering more distance than I expected and should easily get into Eastern Washington by this evening.  I have no idea where we'll stop.

And now for a little outside perspective:

The front page story for today's Billings Gazette is "Firefighters make gains" and covers the 159,000+ acre fire burning on nearby Derby Mountain.  The smoke filled sky filtered our sunset last night into flashes of purples and reds...it never ceases to amaze me how visually stunning air pollution makes sunsets.