The Italian Job

Obviously you can't get a bad meal in Italy, but since you've got free transport, you must do some fact-finding on culinary splendors. That means a trip to Sant'Agata sui Due Golfi (Saint Agatha on the two gulfs) a very small hill above Sorrento, with spectacular views along the Gulf of Naples on your right side and the Gulf of Salerno on your left.

You'll be dining at the Michelin three-star Don Alfonso restaurant, which Italians say is the best restaurant in the south of Italy. (Not to worry about reservations; the embassy will arrange this for you.)

Enough frivolity. It's back to work the next morning for the "tour, presentation, wreath laying" at Naples Naval Base before heading off to a lovely lunch and three-hour tour of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Then it's more fact-finding at the wonderful National Archaeological Museum in Naples for a couple hours before your usual evening devoted to "Free time (optional group dinner)."

Finally, exhausted from your weeklong trip, you'll have earned the right to a noon flight home Friday, arriving at the Rayburn Horseshoe at 6 p.m. so you can take the weekend off to recover and go over the photos.

Bellissimo! The price is right. And there should still be room. So far, in addition to Berkley, the tentative list includes Democratic Reps. Gary L. Ackerman (N.Y.), Russ Carnahan (Mo.), Jim Costa (Calif.) , Eliot L. Engel (N.Y.), Steve Israel (N.Y.) and Loretta Sanchez (Calif.) and Republican Reps. Joe L. Barton (Tex.), Phil Gingrey (Ga.), Cliff Stearns (Fla.) and Edward Whitfield (Ky.), plus, where relevant, spouses, some House staffers and security and military aides.

Don't delay.

And Don't Forget Your Cape

Consulting is usually a pretty safe gig. Employers often provide the offices and supplies you'll need. But not when the Pentagon's looking for someone to advise the Ministry of Defense in the Peaceable Kingdom of Iraq.

Here are the specs: "The contractor must provide IBA [individual body armor], helmet, Mission Oriented Protective Posture (MOPP) gear, gloves, and other safety equipment as required. This contract requires personnel to be physically able to wear, and wear when directed by Coalition authorities, individual body armor (IBA) complete with 30 pound protective armor plates, a Kevlar helmet, and other warfare gear (principally a protective mask).

"Personnel must be capable of unassisted donning of protective mask, clothing and equipment or equivalent clothing and protective equipment that guards against chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high explosive hazards. This task must be accomplished in the requisite amount of time to ensure the employee's safety and remain in this posture until conditions are declared safe for removal of protective clothing. Contractor personnel must be able to complete assigned duties to include a 200 yard walk in full MOPP equipment in 120 degree Fahrenheit temperatures."

Hmmm. Maybe there's a job opening in Grand Rapids or Boulder?

From Defendant to Delegate

James J. Yee, the Muslim former Army chaplain at Guantanamo Bay who was cleared of spying allegations, will be an Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August.

Yee, a former captain and West Point graduate, was elected Saturday by precinct representatives in Olympia, Wash., according to the Associated Press. He was accused in 2003 of being part of a spy ring at the military prison in Cuba and spent 76 days in solitary confinement before he was exonerated. He resigned from the Army and received an honorable discharge.