Whew, somehow I finally made it to my computer. It required a post-shower power nap (I usually start this morning post at home), a missed bus due to a ring dropped under the washing machine, a broken down Metro train, a woman trying to walk out with my order at the bagel shop and a bad internet connection.

As my friend says about coffee: it is God's way of saying, 'go ahead, get wasted on a Monday night. I got your back.' I wasn't wasted, but it feels like it.

Let's start this morning by forgetting all things political. Just read these words: Conan is back. The hilarious late-night comedian, who took a $32 million buyout from NBC so the network could continue a strong of bad decisions involving the elevation of Jay Leno, will open for George Lopez on TBS. For TBS, this is called 'diversification'.

The other sad piece of news (seriously here) is the announced closing of a Seattle landmark...the Lusty Lady. Be real here, you're going to miss that marquee outside. Ah, but alas, after decades on first avenue, the Lusty Lady is no longer, "always open, never clothed."

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Alright, now that my flirtation with all measure of sin is complete for the morning, maybe some news?

- Yesterday marked the beginning of nuclear summit which has already yielded results. I've heard multiple people say that the summit itself is one of the more amazing things they've ever seen as President Obama wants to show just how great America is to the world.

As I typed that a helicopter flew overhead. You can barely get within shouting distance of the building. There is more security around than in war zones. My metro ride last night had more police-type officials than passengers. Armed cars are roaming the streets around the building. Why? Well, to be frank, every major world leader is here except two: Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il. North Korea, by the way, is the only "nuclear" country that was not invited.

Obama met with China's Hu Jintao yesterday, and secured the country's support in levying sanctions on a nuclear Iran, a major step in the process. There was also an agreement from the Ukraine, which has said it will completely rid itself of weapons-grade uranium by 2012.

This is obviously all over most people's heads, but the key factor here is that nuclear weapons, which generally have no other use except totally wipeout of cities, are being limited. The ultimate goal, as I mentioned yesterday, is to keep this weapons out of the hands of terrorists.

Speaking of the nuclear summit, Dick Morris, once a Clinton ally turned anti-Clinton, railed against the president this morning, saying Obama, "might be the first anti-American president." Umm, I had to go check on that to make sure. The context was the non-proliferation agreement which says that the U.S. will not use nuclear weapons against any country that doesn't not have them. His specific case was a biological weapons threat.


Well, funny thing is, we've heard this one before, right there on Fox News. The U.S. reserves the right to amend the policy in the event of a chemical attack and the rules do not apply to countries not signed onto the agreement (such as...wait for...North Korea and Iran). Oh, and as White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said last week, any country can pull out of a treaty at anytime. For comedic value, I refer you to Mr. Stewart.

He calls that, "willful ignorance of the policy." Back in the day, they might have called it treason. Surely calling the president the, "first anti-American president," would have violated the sedition acts, but this is a new day right? Well, the thing I always think when I read things like that is this: if he is so "anti-American," he either just pulled the greatest fraud of the public in history, or option two. Some 66 million people, including GOP strongholds of Virginia, North Carolina and Florida, disagree.

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- Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt came out yesterday against a policy in the new health care bill that forces insurance providers to cover those with pre-existing conditions. He says that the policy makes other Americans pay for the health insurance of those that don't take care of themselves until the last minute. As in, it gives no incentive to have insurance in the first place.

Besides being categorically false - since the point is that, if someone has, say, diabetes, they should be able to change jobs and not lose their insurance - it also makes a pretty good case for another Democratically-backed part of the bill: the mandate. In addition, it gets to something I've been using in every argument I've had with conservatives over this issue, which is that it is far cheaper for the American public to pay for someone's health insurance from day one (and therefore keep them healthy), than for repeated emergency room visits. Another argument for the mandate (and the public option as well).

- A 14-year old girl picked up a microphone at a Whole Foods and told all of the black people to leave the store yesterday in New Jersey. Authorities think it was a copycat of two similar incidents at Wal-Mart stores.

- Took this story directly from this morning's Politico Pulse:

Boston Globe's Mark Shanahan reports: 'Barney Frank has enemies, even 30,000 feet in the air. Flying back to Boston from LA yesterday, the congressman was assailed by a pair of ophthalmologists upset about the health care reform bill. An argument ensued that prompted some passengers to wonder if the plane might be forced to land. ... Accustomed as he is to being conservatives's favorite bad guy, Frank mostly ignored the doctors's taunts ... but the congressman's partner, Jim Ready, did not. The problem started soon after the ophthalmologists - two sisters on their way to a conference in Boston - boarded the Virgin flight. When they discovered that Frank was sitting nearby, the women loudly dissed the landmark health care bill as an 'Obamanation.' 'They wanted to talk to me, but I apologized and said I like to read and watch on planes,' Frank told us today. 'They began to talk louder and that's when Jimmy (Ready) said, 'If you're trying to be bitchy, you're doing a good job.' Needless to say, the women didn't appreciate the remark, and things got heated.'

Alright, work time. Hey, can someone go down to Safeco and lean into one tonight. Anything to get the Mariners a baserunner. You know, Roger Dorn style. (Just stay away from his wife).

I'm done. I promise.

Bare well, Lusty Lady!