**Hack**

Okay: I give up. I want drugs. I fell asleep while watching TV last night, and coughed the night away. This morning Spouse suggested that I stay in bed; he would get Avocado to make her own breakfast and lunch. So I dozed off, coughing fitfully, for an hour, until he came in to instruct me:

1) He was driving the kid to school on his way to work.
2) He had left a message with the doctor to call me about drugs.
3) The laundry is in the dryer.
4) Avocado is coming straight home from school because she doesn't think I should be alone.
5) I can get the pharmacy to deliver, if I'm not up to going to get my medicine.
6) I must drink lots of water (his universal cure) and rest.

So I slept for another hour, coughing fitfully. Still feel tired and hack-y, but the extra two hours of sleep helped. I know the Spouse has an ulterior motive for all this kindness: the Skywalker holiday party is on Saturday night, and he wants me to be there. Even so, he knows how to take care of a girl.

So we'll see what Zithromax and that horrid codeine-based cough syrup will do to chase the buggies away.

ETA: Avocado pelted me with a flurry of texts, worrying about me, whether I was drinking enough water, scolding generally, and reminding me that she'd be home right after school to take care of me. Meanwhile, I have scored my Zithromax and some cough medicine and cough drops, done three hours of sitting-at-the-computer work, and am now in bed again. Emily has put up with the fact that there's no epic drag today (well, it's cold and wet out, which is not Dog Weather in her estimation), and has been fed and is now gnawing on a bone. Already I feel better.

What Do You Mean, It Can't Happen Here?

Peter Watts, an extraordinarily good writer of SF, was arrested at the US Border. He's a Canadian citizen and was returning to Canada (in a rental car), when he was stopped by the Border Patrol and his car searched. It appears that this is routine if you're driving a rental car--but Watts questioned the search and was roundly beaten and pepper-sprayed for his trouble, then arrested for "assaulting an officer." Said assault appears to have been, getting out of his car in order to ask what the Sam Hill was going on.

As aberwyn says, Bush and Cheney are gone, but their spirits still linger, at least along the border.

A defense fund has been started to help Peter afford his defense. If you've got a little money to throw into the pot, that would be a good Christmas gift to a good writer (PayPal donation to donate@rifters.com). If you've got any cages you can rattle, rattle them. This is not the way I want my country to work.