What's the frequency, Kenneth?

One of the great things about my job is that I get to drive long distances to go to a meeting and then drive home again. That doesn't sound like a positive thing, does it? But long drives in (sometimes) adverse weather conditions allows me to do some of my favorite things: listen to audiobooks and various far-flung radio stations; watch the weather; marvel at the landscape; and drive.

On Monday's trip from Cheyenne to Casper and back again, I drove through blowing snow, driving rain, and barrages of hail. In the morning, low clouds hugged the ground when I left Cheyenne. I finally emerged into the sun somewhere around Douglas. On the way south in the afternoon, I drove into towering storm clouds that must have been visible from 100 miles away. I swear I saw a funnel cloud dip from the dark trailing edge of the storm. But I could get nothing about tornadoes on the radio. The ink-dark wedge-shaped cloud must have been my imagination.

Wyoming Public Radio now has its signals all around the state. When I moved to Wyoming in 1991, you were lucky to get a signal once you left town. Now transponders across the state beam WPR into your car even when you're somewhere between Jeffrey City and Rawlins.

So, on Monday's trip, I tuned into Morning Music on WPR and then over to Progressive Radio out of Denver or Boulder or Aurora or one of those places in Colorado's Front Range Metroplex. Jay Marvin is on early in the morning, followed by Ed Schultz. Mr. Schultz recently got more than his allotted 15 minutes of fame when he called Sen. John McCain a warmonger at a North Dakota political rally. Repubs got all crazy when they heard it. How could John "We'll Be in Iraq for 100 Years" McCain be considered a warmonger? How could the man who once opposed torture now be in favor of it? How could the point man of the "Straight Talk Express" now be talking out of his ass when it comes to Iraq? How could the guy who supports Bush's war effort 110 percent be called a warmonger?

On Schultz's Monday morning show, caller after caller supported the talk show host. Don't apologize to anyone, they said. Stand by your guns! Schultz urged those who thought he was wrong to call McCain a warmonger to call him up and say so. A great silence was heard across the land. Not a single wingnut called to lambaste Schultz. Maybe they did later, once I tuned into my audiobook, "FUBAR." Brought to us by the folks at Majority report, "FUBAR" goes into detail about the Rapture Right's plans for our future. As it turns out, the only people with a future are those who have been born again. Liberals -- especially liberal bloggers -- will spend eternity in a lake of fire. Before the Rapture, we will be treated to life as imagined by Pat Robertson and his ilk. A land where birth control and free speech and libraries will be forbidden. In other words, hell on earth. The lake of fire might be the preferred alternative.

After awhile, I just had to tune in some R.E.M. or Wilco or Bruce and just mellow out. Watch the snow come swirling out of the dark clouds. And drive.