Uncle Trouble?

Apparently there's a new method for making meth that's causing an uptick in the drug's usage after years of declining numbers. The AP has a lengthy piece discussing the new "shake and bake" technique, which involves common drugstore substances being shaken up in a 2-liter, airtight bottle.

The best part of the piece, however, seems to be a warning from Marion County Sheriff Kevin Williams. "It simplified the process so much that everybody's making their own dope... It can be your next-door neighbor doing it. It can be one of your family members living downstairs in the basement."

For some reason it doesn't strike me as terribly odd that a relative living in your Alabama basement could be a meth head. Williams should have added that "it could be scary, scraggly guys living in beat up vans in the holler."

Memories of a Private Dick

Dick Cheney is apparently writing his memoirs of the Bush administration, which is sure to be a fascinating read regardless of your political tilt. The Washington Post has a story about it today, and though they play up the "Frustrated with Bush" headline, what's interesting is that Cheney has long assailed insider accounts of administrations arguing, perhaps correctly, that it compromises the privacy and therefore honesty of closed door discussions. An interesting passage from today's piece,"Cheney himself has said, without explanation, that "the statute of limitations has expired" on many of his secrets. "When the president made decisions that I didn't agree with, I still supported him and didn't go out and undercut him," Cheney said, according to Stephen Hayes, his authorized biographer. "Now we're talking about after we've left office. I have strong feelings about what happened. . . . And I don't have any reason not to forthrightly express those views."