Babies are cute yo.

Doing some field reporting from the wilds of Connecticut as I visit my sister, her husband, my moms (who's leaving for the Dairy State tomorrow) and the latest addition to the family -- Rooster.

Rooster's freaking adorable (I'm trying to curb my swearing since there's a young one to mess with here) -- he grunts, mumbles, coos, screeches and also farts. Wow. He farts ALOT. I'm starting to think he took those Walter the Farting Dog books pretty seriously.

I'm feeling odd because before I left, the hurricane was on my mind (as well as a lot of other people) and it wasn't something I couldn't wrench my eyes from. Now I'm away, not watching much TV or checking stuff online (as compulsively as I would before), so there's a strange sense of disconnect that sits strangely on me.

But I found out something -- staring into my nephews eyes, watching him coo and grunt, I realize that I'd do pretty much damn near anything to protect him. If we were in New Orleans, I'd probably go looting and get a gun to protect my sister and the wee one. I'm willing to admit that I'd probably hurt someone real bad to protect those two.

Wow. I'm scared to think of what I'd be like as a mother. I think that I'd probably kill people to protect my kid.

I just heard that Rehnquist is now dead. For some strange reason I'm not feeling as panicked as others. Maybe it's because I've seen some justices act differently than predicted. A Mother Jones article (I love my sister's family, they've got cool stuff to read and when you're on a brief vacation, you have time to read it) stated in the article "Courting Failure" that the Supreme Court really isn't as liberal as we wish it was (or the final arbiter in decisions). The big thing is Congress -- no matter what. They're the ones that can strongly define laws regarding a woman's reproductive right, gay marriage and other hot button issues. Without a strong, clear-cut description in law (which can be a contradiction I know), the Supreme Court will interpret stuff the way that they see fit.

It's still worth a fight, don't get me wrong, but I'm banking more on 2006. I'd like to see the Republicans lose their majority in Congress. But to do that, we have to focus our attention on that also.