I missed this yesterday. Alexi Giannoulias, you know, the dude with the (alleged) mob ties who wants to replace prize buffoon Roland Burris in the US Senate, is apparently whining about something one of his primary opponents did that looks a tad dodgy.

Just hours after Democratic candidate David Hoffman challenged rivals Alexi Giannoulias and Cheryle Robinson Jackson to live up to the standards of transparency set by Barack Obama during his presidential campaign, the Giannoulias campaign is accusing Hoffman of doublespeak.

Giannoulias is calling on Hoffman to cancel a private fundraiser with federal prosecutors at the Berghoff Hotel and return any money he has accepted from current assistant U.S. Attorneys.

In an invitation sent out by the Hoffman campaign and obtained by the Chicago Tribune, Hoffman asks current assistant U.S. Attorneys for a suggested minimum donation of $150, an amount low enough that they would not have to disclose their name or employer under federal campaign contribution laws....

I got back from Panama late on Sunday night, and I uploaded these pics yesterday. I'm posting them here now for those who haven't already seen them.

A few observations: Panama City feels not dissimilar to both Beirut and Hong Kong in certain respects. The dominant industries there are similar-- shipping and associated industries (Beirut) and banking (Hong Kong). The skyline of course looks almost Hong Kong-like:

Each city is quite well off by comparison to the rest of the region in which it sits. And Beirut also has a less than ideal public transport situation (a serious criticism coming from me). [intro]

The Panama Canal is of course one of the main draws:

But Panama also has a burgeoning eco-tourism industry, similar to its neighbor, Costa Rica. It is still hardly developed to full capacity, but even within the Panama City limits, there's a big nature park where we went hiking and saw birds and a group of about 12 monkeys (no pictures of my own, but here's the Wikipedia page on the relevant variety).

In addition, Panama City is home to Casco Viejo, effectively the old town, where a ton of restoration is currently underway (and where we took the bulk of our limited number of pictures):

...

Wow. I missed this yesterday, but my friend Dave Weigel got ahold of the transcript of the Senate Homeland Security Committee's recent hearing on czars, and Sen. Roland Burris-- you know, the guy who took over President Obama's Senate seat when Rod Blagojevich appointed him, the one that may soon be filled by (IMO) ethically challenged stereotypical Chicago pol and Obama chum Alexi Giannoulias-- had a whole lot of incomprehensible to say. Dave writes:

Studded with phrases like “this is the meat that caused us political scientists to even exist” and “I’m certainly going read each and every one of you all’s testimony,” Burris’s questioning is almost impossible to understand.

I'll say.

More from Burris' own mouth:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, this is — this is — I mean this is. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m done.

And:

So, Mr. President (sic), I really don’t have many questions, I just — I got more questions than I have answers, Mr. Chairman, in reference to this, because I — I just sit here and listen to the experts talk, and every time there was a statement made, there’s a — there’s a new question come to my mind, well, what about this? What ifs — What if? What if? And — and so, I find this so fascinating...

[...]

I don’t know how I’m going to get back to — to, you know, the hearing again to try to follow up on this but, Mr. Chairman, I would imagine that our grandchildren are going to be still wrestling with this same problem.

Plus:...