The Senate Goes Off the Deep End and I Am Not Jumping In to Rescue My Senator

The snowfall in D.C. must have buried the last ounce of common sense remaining in the hallowed halls of the Capitol. I have lost all faith in my government, and that really depresses me. So, to share my holiday doom-and-gloom, I emailed the following today to my Senator, Mary Landrieu:

I am a registered Independent and resident of New Orleans.

Judging by its actions today in connection with the proposed health care legislation, it is increasingly apparent that the Senate has taken leave of its senses. This proposal (and others) clearly will saddle taxpayers and their progeny with such a massive amount of debt that I fear for the solvency of our nation and its business enterprises.

The "deal-making" in which you and your colleagues in the Senate have engaged is reprehensible. Your strategy to cover your own posterior is crystal clear -- plus it is undeniable that you wish to promote only the best interests of the Democratic Party, not your constituents nor your country.

Congress is out of control when it comes to spending money which we do not have and enacting legislation simply for the purpose of enacting legislation. We are clearly on the fast track to becoming that which we have, in the past, laughed at with great derision: a European-style, statist, bankrupt joke. And that future -- the breakdown of our once great nation -- rests squarely on your shoulders; yours and those of your disingenuous, unscrupulous colleagues on Capitol hill.

I have never been ashamed to be an American, but today I am close to that point. Furthermore, I am deeply ashamed to have voted for you in the past to represent my interests and those of my grandchildren. That is not a mistake I shall commit again. In fact, if you continue down this fiscally and socially reckless and irresponsible path of legislation, I shall do everything in my power to see you and your colleagues unseated and unceremoniously sent home, in coach.

This legislation must fail if we are to survive as a world leader. Wake up, look around at what other countries have experienced, and act responsibly before we become little more than a second-rate world debtor.

P.S. GEAUX SAINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ride dem Cowboys hard and put 'em up wet!

Holiday Hurryings

More rain. House is still a disaster, but why clean it when there will be FIVE dogs to track in mud?

Still raining. Spoke to the Board of Volunteers of America and got a Statement of Support signed with Larry Jones, Louisiana's Veteran of the Year for 2009 (and I wrote part of his nomination!)!

It's raining. The kids are still 7 hours away, so I have a little more time to shovel out the top layer of junk before they get here, after the two functions tonight.

Rain. But I don't have to cook or clean up the kitchen tonight!

Ahhhh. I'm so easy.

Spud's Carol of the Bells

Download Spud's "13-0" Christmas carol>>>

This is just too good! Our local radio personality, Spud McConnell's, "Who Dat" rendition of the "Carol of the Bells." Carol of the Bless-you-Boys?

Geaux Saints! Let's ride dem Cowboys and put 'em up wet!

Visitors and Saintly Christmas Wishes

I'm stealing Elder Daughter's post today -- because I think she's so clever and talented! She came up with "Bark, the Furry Angels Sing," and designed the Christmas card you see above, which is also, obviously, on my refrigerator. The subjects of the card, two of our granddogs Ty and Pippi Lou, will arrive along with Elder Daughter and her Intended tomorrow night for a Saints v. Cowboys battle-cum-victoire/Daddy Birthday Dinner party!

Yay -- five dogs in the house.

At least it stopped raining!

The other pic is a Christmas card I received from a friend -- I'm not posting the second page -- yet! I don't want to jinx the Bless You Boys! But, as a little hint, I plan to post it a little later, once we get past the playoffs!

I'm SO happy my dogs are outside today in actual sunshine -- they were starting to have some serious crankiness (Wendy jumped Rosie and pierced her little forehead) and wet doggy odor!

Science? What Science?

Saw this somewhere. I'm just about ready for those folks in Copenhagen to take a nap, and to take AlGore with them.

Imagine

I'm reading The Shack (by Wm. Paul Young) -- my husband passed it along to me; his sister had passed it to him after she finished it. A lot of it makes my head hurt from thinking too much, but, overall, it's an interesting, and not too difficult, read. Some of its ideas are pretty intriguing. Here's a little taste -- Jesus is speaking of humans:

"You imagine. Such a powerful ability, the imagination! That power alone makes you so like us. But without wisdom, imagination is a cruel taskmaster."

No truer words, those.

Witness the folks in D.C.. And elsewhere.

Saturday Thoughts about Tiger

Sorry -- just couldn't resist. I have been one of Tiger's biggest fans, but now I'm really ticked off at him. Who cares if he's a huge celebrity!? He took a wedding vow just like the gazillion commoners in this world who manage to keep their extra-marital lust in their hearts and their stroke-shaving equipment in their pants.

I'll miss watching him drive, though -- and I'll certainly miss watching him walk away from me. Just like Greg Norman.

Hmmm -- is it getting warm in here?

Unsolicited Advice From the Senate Arrives in Moogie's Inbox

The following is an unsolicited email I received yesterday from one of my busy, busy Senators. I'd rather he spend his time fighting to arrive at a reasonable solution to the healthcare "crisis" or fighting cap and trade, but he felt compelled to school his electorate on safe shopping instead. Egad.

Dear Friend,

With the holidays fast approaching, many families are preparing their homes for visitors and searching for the perfect gifts to give their little ones.

My kids all have Saints gear at the top of their wish lists. And as Wendy and I have shopped for them we've, of course, seen other parents out shopping for their kids.

Since I've heard from many parents over the past year about their concern for toy safety, I wanted to share these safety tips from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission with you to keep in mind as you do your holiday shopping.

When shopping for children under 3 years old:

-Avoid buying toys intended for older children. These toys may have small parts that could pose a choking danger to children under 3 who tend to put everything in their mouths.

-Avoid toys that have sharp edges and points, and look for toys that are well-made with tightly secured eyes, noses and other parts that children could pull apart.

-Avoid marbles and games with balls less than 1.75 inches in diameter. These products can also pose a choking hazard to young children.

When shopping for children between 3 and 5 years old:

-Avoid toys that are constructed with thin, brittle plastic that might easily break into small pieces or leave jagged edges.

- Look for household art materials, including crayons and paint sets, marked with the designation "ASTM D-4236." This means the product has been reviewed by a toxicologist and, if necessary, labeled with cautionary information.

And when shopping for children ages 6 through 12:

- If you buy a bicycle for any age child, buy a helmet too, and make sure the child wears it.

- For all children, check toys periodically for breakage and potential hazards. Damaged or dangerous toys should be repaired or thrown away.

In general, be a label reader. Look for and heed age recommendations. Last year, an estimated 140,700 children were treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms after toy-related incidents. It's important to choose the right toy for the right age child.

When the head of the CPSC went through confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate, I questioned her about actions the CPSC can take to continually improve the safety of toys. The CPSC oversees the safety of toys and many other consumer products. For more information, you can call CPSC's toll-free hotline at 1-800-638-2772 or visit its website at http://www.cpsc.gov/. And I will continue working with the CPSC and on other measures to ensure the safety of the products our children play with.

Sincerely,

David Vitter
U.S. Senator

This is my response to that little bit of nanny-statism:

Dear Senator Vitter:

I am an adult who has raised 3 children to adulthood, mostly intact.

When I need your advice on shopping tips, I'll ask for it; otherwise, keep it to yourself and continue your work to shrink government so that it stays out of the business of we ordinary citizens who mind our own.

Merry Christmas.

Love & kisses,
MoogieP

And, here's a post script for all those parents who contacted Senator Vitter with their concerns about toy safety: IF IT DOESN'T SMELL SAFE, DON'T BUY IT.

Hell, lawn darts looked like they might be fun back in the day, but a cement statue of a frog could figure out that lawn darts weren't particularly safe, even when used as intended (and, of course, you just knew they weren't always going to be used as intended!). Hence, my children neither owned, nor played with, lawn darts, thus producing the startling side effect of growing to adulthood, mostly intact.

Of course I'm of the generation that, as children, rode in cars without seat belts and that sported metal dashboards. We also didn't wear bicycle helmets when riding around the neighborhood and slept in cribs with drop-rails. Come to think of it, we ate honey before we were a year old. We were even given a little warm whiskey with honey and lemon juice to suppress a cough, and had warm cigarette smoke blown into our little ears to soothe an earache. So, our generation just must be sadly out of the loop when it comes to child safety.

Egad -- what our parents must think!

Speaking of Being Easily Entertained . . . .

I listen to an irreverent morning radio show that originates out of Houston (it used to originate from New Orleans!) where 2 guys use 5 voices (the real John Walton, Billy Ed Hatfield the redneck, Mr. Kenneth the gay hairdresser, and Mr. Eaux the New 'Awlins black guy, and occasionally the real Stephen Johnson) to do commentary and interviews and play satiric songs; it's the Walton & Johnson Show. (Caveat: their website is not wholly "family friendly!").

Occasionally, they come up with a jewel and I just need to figure out some way to use it. So, today, I'm posting one from this morning here, just because it gave me such a giggly visual.

They were speaking of Gary Busey and how he's preparing to become a father again at 65 with his 35 year-old girlfriend (if that doesn't make you tired just thinking about it, I don't know what would!), and they were discussing how nicely he "cleaned up" in a picture they found on the 'net.

"Of course," Billy Ed said, "he still has crazy pasted all over him, just like a stain."

HAAA! Just like a stain!

Priceless -- and pretty dang accurate, I'd venture.

Crazy pasted all over him just like a stain! Heh.

Moogie's Fun and Revolutionary Plan for Public Service Reform in D.C.

In a moment of blinding clarity, I have stumbled upon what could be the salvation of our nation and our Republic.

We have to chunk out our system of federal elections and start over from scratch.

The states may continue to do whatever they please for intra-state elections pursuant to the Tenth Amendment, and that'll get the Feds off their backs for a whole lot of stuff, primarily because the Feds will have been forced to acknowledge and abide by the Tenth Amendment. If folks don't like what policies their state is enacting in connection with a particular issue, like, say, same-sex marriage, then they are free either to try to effect change in their state through legislation or move to another state whose laws more closely reflect their beliefs. Hello, Republic! A confederation of independent states who are free to follow the will of their citizens, not the sometime-well-intentioned-but-often-cuckoo citizens of Soviet Socialist Massachusetts or Pelosi-world.

You may not be aware of the fact that I was -- fairly recently -- a strong opponent of term limits. I believed institutional memory to be a very important component of orderly government -- we shouldn't have to re-invent the wheel time after time after time simply because no one was in Congress or the Governor's mansion who could remember what happened the last time someone came up with the same boneheaded idea, or how badly its implementation failed. Today, I simply don't care. There are too many boneheaded ideas floating around this ol' world to prevent their redundancy, so opposing term limits is no longer on my radar.

The notion of needing to devise some reasonable facsimile of term limits brought me to the election of our Republics' representatives in D.C. -- so, let's just get all Constitutional about it and return to the Founding Fathers' notion of true "public servants" in which people are called to serve their fellow citizens for a brief amount of time, not to make a career of meddling in the lives of every citizen.

We can retain the Constitutional requirements for eligibility to serve (e.g., age, natural-born citizenship, residency) -- they're pretty sensible. But as for the actual "election" -- there will be no further federal elections.

We're going to have a National Public Service Lottery.

Every eligible U.S. voter (eligibility to be determined by each state) will be required to purchase two lottery tickets: one each in the POTUS/VPOTUS Scratch-off in which only two tickets have all the magic numbers (indexed to population or voter registration; details and cost to be worked out later), but the Presidential Powerball Number on one ticket wins the White House and the runner-up moves into One Observatory Circle at the U.S. Naval Observatory as VPOTUS, both for the Constitutional term of four years. No one may win the POTUS/VPOTUS Scratch-off more than two terms in a row.

Additionally, the eligible voters of each state and territory will be required to purchase similar lottery tickets for Senator (lotteries to be staggered to accommodate rotating 6-year terms) and Representative: one winner per slot per state.

Of course, we'd have to do away with the Electoral College and replace it with a Commission of Electoral Inspection to determine the qualifications and eligibility of winners. The Commission could be composed of 3 members (to have a tie-breaker), appointed, one apiece, by the President, The Senate, and the House of Representatives. Vacancies occurring in Congressional office could be filled by vote of the vacant office's State Senate; presidential succession would be in effect until the following lottery.

Would there be a chance for cheating or corruption? Of course. Is there now?!?! (Hello, ACORN.) Would some mind-numbingly unqualified folks win the Public Service Lottery? Um, duh -- but what's the difference between that and the current system?

Could the loss of institutional memory be regretted, especially in the House of Representatives? Most probably. But, tinkering with the details could find a reasonable compromise to extend and rotate terms in the House, so let's not throw this idea out without trying it.

It's fun! It's a revenue generator! It's a regular fruit-basket turnover in D.C.!! It's Moogie's Revolutionary Plan for Public Service Reform in D.C.!

I've given you the bones -- now, hammer out the details.

Dear Santa, the Saints are on the Path to 13 - 0, so . . . !

Saw this too late for the last Saints - Falcons game. It's perfect for this week.

Our whiz-kid Governor has predicted a 19 - 0 Saints season through the Super Bowl. Let's hope he has a crystal ball stashed somewhere in the Mansion!!

Gotta find me an ample Santa's lap so I can ask him to give the "Bless You Boys" a trip to Miami in February for Christmas!! Bomb those Dirty Birds! Geaux Saints!!!

12 - 0! A Saintly Victory!

TWELVEAN'EAUX!!!

Tweren't pretty, but the Saints are 12 - 0 and have clinched their Division!

Now, Beat the Falcons!!! (By a wider margin that won't drive me back to the blood pressure meds, if you please!)

Look Out, Rudolph, Pippi's Gunning For Your Job!

This is just too adorable not to share --

Please allow me to introduce you to the Chi-weenie of the family, Miss Pippi Lou, one of my (many!) granddogs.

She looks just precious in her Christmas finery (and I think she looks really miffed at her Mama, too!)

Snow in Southeast Louisiana!

Well, this doesn't happen here often!

Poor little southeast Louisiana football play-offers are not accustomed to winter weather! Snow fell last night on the northshore of Lake Ponchartrain, and we even had some of what we lovingly refer to as "fat raindrops" plop on the windshield as we drove across the Crescent City Connection (the big bridge over the Mississippi River) to a progressive dinner party aboard the Naval Support Activity. There might even have been a crunching or two of sleet.

Shelters are open and the weather-people are simply beside themselves, warning us all to prepare to protect the "4 Ps" -- plants, pets, pipes, and people. They don't get much opportunity to get all excited in the winter -- hurricane season is usually their "star" time.

Our biggest concern was driving across a big bridge in the company of lots of folks who have no clue about how to drive in winter precipitation. Fortunately, they chose to drive slowly and cautiously.

The surprise arrival of winter certainly did make a festive backdrop for a Christmas gathering -- even if it was a little soggy making the trip between courses. And Bouie got to do a cold weather swim this morning -- his favorite. Pepper said Bouie was really happy to swim once he figured out that the water was probably warmer than the air!

I love winter in the south!

If Only . . . .

Heh. Party Crashers with,, um, moxie.

Thankful . . . And Home.

It's hard to get caught up after a funeral and a family Thanksgiving. And yet more driving. All told, this trip wound up being about 2,000 miles, including one oil change and one nail in a tire.

Life as we have come to know it in the White House rolls along: The Young President telegraphed our offense to the opponent -- at West Point yet. Egad. Who knows what's going on in Honduras!

It's cold in New Orleans, but the Saints are 11 - 0!! (There will be no further discussion of Razorback football until the Liberty Bowl.)

The first hint of Mardi Gras takes place tomorrow night when my new, all-female Krewe, the Krewe of Muses, holds its holiday bazaar. Wine, frivolity, and shopping -- what could be better!

Why, the Saints being 12 - 0 will be better, of course! Beat the Redskins, Who Dat Nation!

I threw in a shot of Bouie hard at work at duck camp last week, decked out appropriately, of course. He's always been the dapper dresser. Steve took the pic -- I think it's calendar quality! Bouie didn't get to fetch any ducks, but he did get two 20+ pound geese, one of which was still alive and flapping! He didn't have to kill it (fortunately!) -- he just managed to get hold of its neck and hauled it back to Pepper for the ultimate dispatch. (I'd post the pics, but . . . you know.)

Duck gumbo will taste pretty darn good on Christmas Eve.