Cash-strapped Salon.com takes a page from the National Review and starts its own "hang out with Salon staffers" vacation cruise, this Sept. 4-11 ...

Imagine ...

Sitting at the Captain's table with David Talbot as he regales you with horror stories about the "Bush Machine" and its right-wing "hitmen."

Watching a wild-eyed Michelle Goldberg prowl the ship, intently searching the shuffleboard courts for right-wing spies sent to sabotage the cruise and "crush (righteous) dissent."

Witnessing Joe Conason's mental illness up-close-and-personal.

And of course -

Celebrating the third anniversary of September 11th with your fellow Salon.com readers:

* I watched from my window, not on television, as the twin towers fell. As shocked as I was, I felt that this was not my problem as a black person. The people who worked at the World Trade Center were mostly white men, and so they had nothing to do with me as a black woman.

* 2001 was a great year for me; I hated the twin towers and I hated the Taliban and now they're both gone!

* In the days and weeks that followed the attacks I found myself worrying about the rescue dogs that were working the site. There were reports in the media almost daily about injuries to the dogs (and in some cases deaths) and I found myself wondering if it was really that important to recover things like concrete splashed with the victim's DNA.

Sounds fun!