All this crap about “freedom fries” and banning French wine is pretty stupid, and that’s just a basic fact. But this story has me really annoyed at the current political grandstanding by Congress and other legislators who should have a clue. Digging up war graves to make a point does nothing but diminish the sacrifice these brave men made. Bringing them home to spite a country who, for right or for wrong, is speaking their mind, is assinine and short-sighted. These men were sent to liberate a country under the rule of a dictator. They were buried on its soil to commemorate their loss and pay tribute to their heroism. They should not be disinterred to make a political point.

Report. I went to Best Buy and laid hands on the Nikon 5000 and Canon G3, and the results are mixed. Here’s a basic rundown of the featuresets and the pros & cons:

I loved the feel of the Nikon, and compared to the 4500, its menu operation was much more intuitive. The controls were easily found, the layout felt good, and is a solid camera. The Canon is much easier to figure out from an interface and layout standpoint (I went back to the 4500 to play with it this morning, thinking it was just my ineptitude, but damn, that thing is hard to figure out without the manual) but it feels less solid—more like a plastic toy. The Nikon had more of a standard SLR feel to it. I know that feel is not as important as the feature set, but for me it goes a long way.

Even so, for the things I’m going to be doing with it, I think the Canon is the way to go. The fact that it can write RAW files, the simplicity of the interface, and the layout of the camera are all strong bullet points in its favor, vs. the feel, picture size, and macro abilities of the Nikon. Plus, it’s several hundred dollars less than the Nikon.