How much stupid can we cram into 160 days?

I know there was hope that Bush would just spend the next 5 months on vacation, but unfortunately it seems like he was just gathering his strength. I think he's going to do a lot of damage in the rest of his term.

Apparently, he doesn't need Congress to OK his gutting of the endangered species act:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/08/11/bush.endangered.species.ap/index.html
I'm sure he has a lot more damage planned.

Tick followup - probably nothing

I'm finishing up the antibiotics in a few days, but I think the skin issue that I have has nothing to do with the tick bite. It seems to me that it might be a mild case of shingles. That's what they LOOK like anyway, exactly like the photos I've seen online. Timing to the tick bite was probably totally coincidental, though of course I'll finish the antibiotic regime.

Shingles are supposed to be pretty painful, but these aren't much more than mildly itchy. The pages I've read do say that they're worse for people with less strong immune systems, so here's hoping I'll be able to continue to kick their butt. Also that the "most people only get them once in their lives" thing is true. If they don't get worse or spread any more, I'll just leave them alone, from what I can tell they'll just have to go away on their own anyway.

I did have a persistent evening headache and very little energy the first week I noticed these things, which seems to be consistent. What's not consistent is that I have two patches, one on my left calf and one on my right armpit, and the stuff I've read says outbreaks occur on one side of the body.

It does seem like several people I know have gotten shingles outbreaks this year. Probably just a statistical fluke.