Going home, sans Cindy

Today was the day we were to arrive in Taos, NM for a two night stay. We had hoped to see Cindy Sheehan who was scheduled to be there on Saturday. But earlier in the week we learned Cindy cancelled her scheduled appearance in Taos. Seems she got a better offer.

As we learned from a dear Taos friend, Cindy is in Jordan instead with a contingent of peace activists meeting with a group of Iraqi parliamentarians who, in Sheehan's words, "don't parrot what BushCo wants them to say and would actually like coalition forces to be removed from their country."

We are sorry we will not see Cindy Sheehan, but she has been invited to meet with Iraqis to do something our Chevron Oil Tanker Rice won't, i.e., diplomacy! Or as Sheehan tells us, "We have no diplomats in our country: just warmongers who can clear brush, shop for shoes, and laugh at gullible Americans all the way to the bank while they are depositing their war profits."

Ouch! Harsh words, especially the reminder of Oil Tanker's shoe shopping excursion during the Katrina disaster as flood victims were left stranded, starving, and many dying.

But despite Rice's extreme diplophobia, it's good to know she is sensitive to the new ongoing slaughters in both Lebanon and Israel as was reflected by her performance at this year's annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations dinner which took place last week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Sadly, it was closed to the news media because one gets suspicious, without the press present, there was a lot of frivolity and grab-assing going on that would appear terribly inappropriate juxtaposed to the bomb, rocket, and mortar attacks taking place elsewhere in the world.

Yet, normally, this event gives world leaders a chance "to let their pants down," to express their more playful sides by presenting silly skits to their contemporaries, who are normally engaged in total endangerment of life on Earth.

However, to her credit, our Oil Tanker said such frivolity this year wouldn't be appropriate. Instead, Rice opted to perform a piece by Brahms. One that reflected a more "serious mood" in a wonderful gesture of empathy for little middle eastern children being decapitated or getting their limbs blown off while being orphaned beneath indiscrimminate bombs. It was also a tribute to Rice's own diplophobia.

And so, sadly, we'll miss Cindy Sheehan as she tries her hand at negotiating an end to America's misadventurisms in Iraq. Something those we employ to do so can't or won't do because they have a larger vision for all of us. Even if they have to kill all of us to achieve it.

As a result, we won't be going to Taos this weekend. We spent the night of day three on the road in Raton, NM. Any town that ends in "NM" feels like hoNMe to us. Today will be an enjoyable ride into El Paso over familiar roads. Today will be the last, and favorite, part of our journey.