Thursday miscellany

• The big scare in D.C. yesterday turned out to be a non-story. Putting aside Bush-bashing inclinations, the bigger story is that the president was out of the White House at the time because he was riding his bike in Maryland, for exercise. Sweet Jesus, what kind of adult gets to take off a Wednesday morning to go bike riding? Bike riding. I don't like to go out to lunch in case the shit goes down, and homeboy, leader of the free world, is out bike riding.
  
• The proprietors of Cole Slaw Blog are pleased to announce that official ne'er-do-well Yachnin will visit New York in June. She'll be slamming beers and kicking asses. Expect a bliss of sarcasm and evil.
  
• In other news from the D.C. region, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), age 50, tells William Pryor, age 43, that he would be proud to have Pryor for a son. I foresee a Thursday Styles feature, followed by a sitcom deal.
  
• Brother Spinachdip took the words out of my mouth (or the letters out of my anticipated post) with his critique of the promising Huffington Post. She's assembled some excellent talent, but placed them on a site that's so busy it's hard to concentrate. I appreciate Arianna's work, and the two of us underwent our political conversions simultaneously. Here's hoping she polishes it up a bit.
• The Apprentice must be put out of its misery. Why I watch, I do not know.
  
• The Hold Steady's album "Separation Sunday" gets better with every listen. It's been a couple years since I've been so enamored with an album, and that was a record from the '70s. "Silly rabbit, tripping is for teenagers, murder is for murderers, and hard drugs are for bartenders." I'll save the highlights for an upcoming essay. As Flop would say, it's smashtastic.