Of Weiners, Funeral Mobsters, and Post-Nuptial Existentialism

I've had nearly a week to recover from all the wedding festivities (not the least of which was the 99 degree heat for the mostly-outdoor reception!).  I spent most of this morning catching up with my regular blog-rounds, so now I suppose I should leap back into posting.

I'm not quite ready to do the wedding post yet, though -- I'm experiencing a little "wedding-planning void."   This is the first time since February of 2009 that I haven't had wedding planning somewhere near the surface of my mind, and it's kind of sad.  Easier on the bank account and frazzle factor, but still a little sad.  Kinda like Lucy's Post-Christmas letdown in the old Peanuts cartoon strip.

So, for today, I'll play with politics a little and add a little Louisiana flavor for lagniappe.

First off, Weiner Fest.  The story that won't go away (not to mention the story that has the greatest bad-joke potential in recorded human history). 

Almost everything that can be said about this fiasco has been said, but in addition to pointing out that the media -- and even the dude's constituents -- seem to be focusing on the actual weiner and its varying states of dress, and not focusing on the outright, intentional LYING in which the little weasel (the actual man, not his appendage) engaged, I'd like to make note of one of the funniest statements to be broadcast over the airwaves in recent memory.  And it was, I believe, unintentionally (albeit, potentially Freudianly) funny.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, when asked why she wasn't calling for Weiner's resignation, stated, "I believe that it's up to the individual member" to make that decision. 

That was, in my view, a most unfortunate time to refer to a Congressman by that particular asexual, politically correct term.  Mr. Weiner's member has obviously been making decisions for him for many years.

*Rimshot*  Thank you.  Thank you very much.

Next.  Do you remember way back last August when I first told you about the Louisiana Casket Cartel that had issued a Cease and Desist Order against some Benedictine monks who were making and selling simple caskets for reasonable prices?  Well, here's the update.

During the most recent session of the Legislature, the funeral industry managed to pull off a strong enough lobbying effort to prevent a repeal of the monopoly-encouraging regulations, leaving the Abbey open to thousands of dollars in fines, and its monks to potential imprisonment, for selling coffins without paying exhorbitant fees and securing a funeral director's license.  As a result, the monks decided to pursue the lawsuit they had filed last August in federal court seeking a modification of the statutes governing funeral industry licensure. 

The funeral regulators' defense team characterized the regulations in terms of "consumer protection," raising the gruesome specter of coffins too small for plus-size bodies, leaking decomposition fluids from an above-ground family tomb; the monks' attorneys more appropriately characterize the statutory scheme as little more than "unconstitutional economic protectionism."

A half-day hearing took place last week, the briefing schedule has been set, and we should have a ruling from U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval by early July.  Judge Duval is a Clinton appointee, and has been referred to as a "liberal judge" more than once, but he does appear to be a fairly solid constitutionalist.

Wouldn't it be nice to see the small-time entrepreneur -- and common sense -- prevail this time?




Okay, okay, you persuaded me.  Just one wedding picture, taken in the Bride's Room before the ceremony.

I have the feeling that this one will make me get teary-eyed for years.