Hillary: The Twenty-first Century Teflon Candidate

This is apparently now what appears in the AP style manual  (the slayer of the Oxford Comma) in the section defining "innocence" or "Who? Me? What'd I do?"

Also apparent is the Media's latest shift in their strategies to effect Clinton-spin. From Hot Air: 

So even if Hillary Clinton never “intended” for sensitive information to be exposed, keeping it outside of the normal storage and safeguards of the government is more than sufficient for a case to be prosecuted. But the fundamental premise of saying there was no malicious intent is still dishonest in and of itself. Whether she cared for it or not, Secretary Clinton was aware that there was a State Department email system in place and available for her use. When your employer provides such a communication system for the employees it requires an active decision on the part of the employee to go out and hire people to set up a completely independent server in their home and keep it’s contents away from the prying eyes of the public. If she had restricted her use of that server to nothing but personal correspondence with friends and family it would still have raised some eyebrows but I believe she’d get a pass on the entire malicious intent question, but that’s not even remotely what happened. She was intentionally doing public business on her private server and it doesn’t require a psychic to figure out why. She didn’t want the public or the press to know about it or have any traceable records.

Still, as I referenced above, that’s not the question at hand. The lack of intent line is just a red herring. Prosecution under 18 USC 793 only requires that the information wind up being outside of its proper place of custody. You can argue the intent angle all the live long day but it doesn’t change the fact that the law clearly appears to have been broken. Whether the Justice Department (under the thumb of one of Clinton’s biggest campaign surrogates) decides to do anything about it is another question.

Bless her heart. She didn't mean to cause no trubbles.

I'm fairly certain that General Petraeus was of the same mind. Not that that did any good, or anything, for his defense. He was convicted in a Federal Court, and in the court of public opinion, barely escaping having to appear before a Court Martial, losing a star in the process.

I'm about as fed up as I can get with "standards" vs. "Clinton standards."  But then, I've lived in Arkansas during most of the Clinton era so I'm ahead of the game in recognizing Clinton adoration-blinders when I see them.

It's time for the rest of the country to WAKE THE EFF UP and smell the BS.

Yeah. Fat chance.

(Sorry for the language. Hillary brings out the worst in me.)

Happy Derby Day and Mother's Day Eve.

Cruz Out, Kasich Out . . .

. . . it looks like it's time to start thinking about lemonade.

Better Than Melatonin, or Even Ambien

I've finally figured out what Hillary's campaign voice reminds me of! It's been nagging and nagging at me (kinda like Hillary, herself) for months.  She tries to modify it from time to time when her handlers are able to convince her to tone it down, or perk it up, or sound more sincere.  But, the sound of that voice always comes back to this:


I'm with you, Peppermint Patty.

The Monday After Easter

Happy Day after Easter! Easter, the most blessed and joyous observation in Christianity. A day spent rejoicing in our Savior's sacrifice, made so that we foolish and wicked humans may have eternal life.

And the day after that Holiest of days, when the Capitol and White House are on lock-down because of shots fired. One in custody, one Capitol police officer with non-life-threatening injuries. Sheesh.

On a more irreverent note, does anyone else find it deliciously ironic that Ivanka Trump gave birth to a baby boy and named him Ted?

Sorry. Couldn't resist.  The snark is weak.

And, I'm publishing the iconic Bouie Cottontail, one last time. I need to find some new bunny ears so I can embarrass the girl dogs in the future.

Musings on the Presidential Race

On this rainy afternoon before yet another Republican debate, and the day following a Democrat debate (in which Hillary actually lost her temper and lied through her teeth -- again), it might be fun to post a few goodies stolen off of Facebook. Here we go:

Found in Bernie's lunch pail.

These people procreate. And vote.

And, perhaps my favorite:

Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? What kind of perpetual cage fight will there be if The Donald and Hill get the nominations? No, I really don't need to know.

So, how much longer do you think Marco will hang in there?

Super Tuesday/SEC Primaries Familial Panic

Younger Daughter called me shortly before lunchtime today and said, "Mommy!" (When daughters regress to "Mommy" I know that something not good will follow.)

She continued, "I'm sooooo stressed out!!!" (That didn't bode well, either.)

I asked, haltingly, "What's the matter?!?"

"There is no one I can vote for!!! And too many to vote against!!! I don't know what to do!!!"

Today is the Arkansas Primary Election Cha-cha-cha. Pepper and I did the early voting thing this year, so we're well beyond second and third guessing (until the results start trickling in tonight.) But Younger Daughter put it off until the actual day, leaving her all stressed out!!!

So, what's a Mommy to say? YD ultimately decided to hold her nose, throw up a little bit in her mouth, and vote the way her Daddy and I did. And our choice among the candidates didn't rhyme with rump, or much of anything else.

Heaven help us all; and, hooray for the red, white, and blue. Hopefully not too black-and-blue.

Hillary Dons Her Coat of True Colors

I heard on the radio this morning, and the New York Post reports, that the Hillary campaign has thrown cold water all over a children's summer event in Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island, New York, later this month -- Imagination Playground. In fact, the event has been canceled "to accommodate the Democratic front-runner for president." A blood drive is also looking at some major inconvenience. It seems that The Hill needs to have a campaign rally there on That. Very. Day. One resident expressed his frustration by noting that the campaign's failure to consult with residents about, or even to give them notice of, the rally, was "tone deaf."

Yep. That's our Hillary. Always thinking of the children. And people in need.

Do you remember the post I wrote way back during the 2012 elections? It started off complaining about how rude and clueless the Obama campaign was, and birdwalked into a true encounter I had with Bill Clinton when his campaign totally tanked an activity my summer-enrichment high school students were to perform:

Way back in 1992, when then-Governor Clinton was kicking his run for the Oval Office into high gear (after having told his Arkansas constituency in 1990 that he no longer had much "fire in his belly" to think about seeking the presidency, so please re-elect him to the Governor's Mansion and don't worry about him abandoning you in mid-term), I was teaching a grant-funded Summer Enrichment program for high school students at the UALR School of Law entitled, "L.R. Law."  (Remember the old tv series, LA Law? Yeah, bad pun.)  My staff (of one) and I had two weeks to immerse the kids in the legal system of central Arkansas, teaching them and exposing them to a little bit about trials, evidence, courts, and the criminal justice system.  The capstone activity of the program was Mock Trial, in which teams of students prosecuted a made-up civil lawsuit in teams -- the Finals were to be held in the rather impressive, refurbished Art Deco courtroom in the law school, and judged by law school faculty.  The kids were really excited about it and we practiced in the courtroom often so they wouldn't be quite so nervous.

Three days before the Finals, the Dean contacted me with an unexpected opportunity for the kids -- Bill Clinton was making a campaign stop in Little Rock and wanted to address a group of high school kids.  Since school was out of session, we were the logical go-to group.  Not being a huge Clinton fan, I must say that I wasn't exactly excited about the prospect.  After figuring out how to re-schedule the opening morning session the next day, while acknowledging that this could be a once-in-a lifetime chance for many of those kids to rub elbows with national figures, and knowing that "Clinton Time" was not called that for just any old reason -- he notoriously ran late to almost any event -- I gave in and told the kids about the opportunity to hear and ask questions of the sitting Governor and potential President of the United States.

He was in rare Clintonesque form and didn't disappoint -- the students were amazed when he called me by name as he was performing the ol' handshake/pat on the shoulder maneuver, and he asked how Pepper was doing.  (They both grew up in Hot Springs, and had also had some -- encounters -- during Pepper's National Guard service.  But that's another story).  He was charming and engaging and charismatic, listening to the mesmerized kids express their hopes and dreams for the future ("Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" was played to accompany the local tv news pieces on the campaign stop -- of course).  

He also ran 1 1/2 hours late while I tried to figure out how to entertain 24 high school kids in the Law Library chosen by the Campaign for its scholarly appointments and commanding view of the Arkansas River, but not very conducive to conducting classes/exercises.  All in all, it was probably a good experience for the kids, even if it did frazzle me to the Nth degree.  

But, we were able to get in one final practice in the courtroom before the kids departed for the day.  
And, then, the Big But happened -- as I was kicking off my shoes in my office and preparing to tweak the next day's closing events, the phone rang.  On the other end was someone from the Campaign Scheduler's Office.

They wanted to use the law school courtroom the next day as a legal-ish backdrop for some nitpicky policy announcement to be made by Candidate Clinton.  And they needed it all afternoon in case they had to do several takes.  And they were very sorry about my kids, but were sure that, since the Candidate had spent time with them earlier, the kids would understand why they would now be performing their mock trials in the classroom instead of the impressive courtroom, replete with bench, witness stand, counsel tables, and jury box.  The Candidate would provide autographed photos to each child to assuage his disappointment.

And they left me to tell the kids.  Let me tell you what a roomful of deflated, dressed to lawyer-ize, high school kids looks like.  No, you don't want to know; it's too painful.

Then, the Candidate only used the courtroom for 30 minutes and I didn't find out about it until it was too late -- I could've juggled the schedule around that brief interlude and the kids could've had a much better experience.

And I've had little to no trust in the sincerity of any political candidate's expression of genuine support for education, and helping the little guy, and sharing the "stuff" with the common man ever since.  The expression "ringing hollow' doesn't come close to how those words echo in my ears.

So, yeah. It runs in the family. True colors, folks. True colors.

He May Be Onto Something . . .

I  told Pepper that Lindsey Graham became the latest to throw his hat into the presidential candidate pool this morning.

He just shook his head. Then he said, in a deep newsanchor-ish tone of voice, "You know?  Saturday Night Live should do a news report on that: 'Today, the last eligible U.S. citizen announced his intention to run for President, meaning that everyone in  the country is now seeking the presidency. This was good news for Hillary Clinton, because now it will take only two votes to win, and Bill really wants to move back into the White House.'"

My husband, the comedian.

Heh.

Sage Advice

Dog Days heat has snuck up on us. Mid-90s with heat indices in the 105 range. That makes my brain go into sleep mode.

I can't think about the wave of  "migrants" poised at the border. I can't think about Lois Lerner skulking around DC, dodging a Contempt of Congress arrest warrant. I can't think about that guy who occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I can't think about the impending robo-call onslaught that's getting ready to crank up for the mid-term elections. I can't think about the colossal number of days we have left before football season. I'm glad I don't have to think about World Cup soccer anymore for four years (seriously, have you ever seen a wienier trophy?). I can't think about Mysti maybe being expecting. I can't think about having to squeeze into a swimsuit next week.

So, I guess I'll just post something amusing that I stole from Facebook:

Heh.

Query: Does Military Service "Qualify" One For Elective Office?

And, the answer is a resounding, "Of course."

This mid-term election cycle is getting rather heated. Several candidates here in Arkansas are putting much advertising emphasis on their military credentials. One criticism that always seems to rise to the forefront on social media is, "How does he/she think that military service qualifies someone to be in _____________?" (Congress, the Senate, the Governor's Mansion, City Hall, Justice of the Peace, whatever, fill-in-the-blank). I'm here today to address that question.

These days, many people are unfortunate enough never to have had a close connection to the military. That is indeed a shame -- for them.

War is never a happy thing but Mankind has not evolved nearly far enough to turn its collective cheek to antagonism and aggression, so there will be war in this world. There will be skirmishes. There will be evil people who seek to do harm to, or to subjugate, their neighbors. Mankind is not ready to demilitarize. And as long as there is war, there must be Warriors.

There will be natural disasters.

The Military trains its service members -- its Warriors in whichever uniform -- (and their families) in much more than a specific skill set. It teaches Discipline. Honor. Leadership. Respect. Sacrifice for the greater good. Love of Country. Problem identification. Problem solving. Moderation. Devotion. Teamwork. Tongue-biting, when necessary. How to Strategize, as opposed to how to Plan. But, Planning is taught, too. Healthy habits. How to encourage and cheer the accomplishments of Brothers and Sisters.  How to set an example, and to train those who will be tomorrow's leaders and trainers. How to keep going when keeping going is out of the question.

How to live with pain and loss.

(The Military also instructs how to use massive numbers of acronyms ad nauseum, but that's not necessarily always a positive. It probably helps on Capitol Hill, however.)

So, you tell me. How does serving in the military not qualify one to engage in elective public service?

So, be forewarned, Mr. and Ms. Naysayer -- henceforth, picking on one's pride in having honorably served these United States will not even be acknowledged as viable criticism of someone's candidacy. And, hopefully, those of you who have no connection to the Military now understand a small portion of the traits we more fortunate sons and daughters immediately recognize and associate with someone who has worn the uniform.

You may now open your eyes.

Post-election Fatigue

Tuesday was Primary election day in Arkansas. The ads were flying fast and furiously. Some were amusing, some were tacky. But, there were a boatload of them and we got really tired of them.

I mean really tired!

So, in an effort to curb campaign spending, (and in a bigger effort to effect a de facto enactment of term limits) I'm dragging out my old Plan to re-vamp how folks get sent to DC to run (and ruin) our lives:

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2009

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.

It could work. And there would be no ads or robocalls! Someone needs to bust out some Petitions.

Adventures in Suffrage

Being good citizens, Pepper and I registered to vote in Arkansas at the same time we got our new drivers' licenses last summer.

A month or so ago we received Address Confirmation Cards from the Orleans Parish Voter Registrar that had been forwarded from our old address at Moogie's Mansion in New Orleans.

We also received Address Confirmation Cards for Elder Daughter and Younger Daughter, using their maiden names. Daughters haven't lived in Louisiana since 2004, but Younger Daughter has been summoned to Jury Duty several times since she moved. Each time she has contacted the Registrar (as well as the summoning court) to tell them that she doesn't live and vote in New Orleans anymore so she won't be showing up for Jury Duty any time soon, thank you very much.

Anyway, Pepper and I decided to help out Registrar Sandra Wilson, PH.D., (her credentials, as noted on the form, in capital letters) by returning the Confirmation Cards, noting our new address, and writing in large letters, "Moved to Arkansas." In block letters, not even cursive. We assumed she would remove us from the Voter Registration Roster, posthaste.

Nope.

Today, all four of us received another Address Confirmation Card from Ms. Wilson, Ph.D, requesting that we verify our address. The address we were asked to confirm inside the mailing was the old Moogie's Mansion address. The address on the outside of the mailing was our current address in Arkansas at the Manor.

*sigh*

In her epistle, Ms. Wilson, Ph.D., notes that, if we fail to return the card by December 10, 2016, we "may be removed from the voter registration list." MAY be removed. In 2016. After the next presidential election.

Theoretically, Moogie could vote for the next President both in Arkansas and Louisiana. Louisiana requires voters to show a government-issued photo ID before one may cast a ballot. (Arkansas' voter ID law has recently been declared unconstitutional and is under appeal at present.) Even though we now have Arkansas drivers' licenses, this requirement would not pose an impediment to voting in Louisiana for Moogie and Pepper as we both have retired military IDs bearing our smiling faces and no address.

Of course, we all know that Moogie and Pepper are beyond ethical, so we would never do something like that. I can't say that would hold true for every other "displaced" Louisiana voter, however. (There are special instructions for "involuntarily displaced" voters.)

I'd say that Ms. Wilson, Ph.D, might want to do a little training for her data entry folks.

*sigh*

Louisiana Politics Rears its Interesting Head

You may recall that, back on February 12, I reported on the guilty verdicts rendered in the corruption prosecution of former New Orleans mayor, C. Ray Nagin. Within that post was a little tidbit about Nagin's fellow corruption ex-con, the frequent former Governor of Louisiana and recent occupant of a federal prison "camp," 86-year old EdwinWashington Edwards.

Edwards is what some might describe as a "colorful" figure.  Others might describe him as an eccentric fellow.  Or a corrupt scoundrel.  The term, "demagogue," also has a certain accurate ring to it.  He is definitely a raconteur.

Regardless of any epithet used to characterize The Governor, one thing is certain: the man is a championship quality politician.

In addition to occupying the Governor's Mansion for an aggregate of sixteen years, Edwards also served in the Louisiana state Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. During those early years, he grew to be a master of creating political alliances and deals, so much so that in 1983 he was famously known to have bragged that he couldn't lose an election in Louisiana unless he was "caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."  One Louisiana cartoonist came up with the following, but it was never published, making what would today be known as "viral" rounds in the state via FAX machine instead:

Weakened by a corruption scandal in 1985 (for which he was eventually acquitted, after at least one mistrial), Edwards eventually went down to defeat in 1987, withdrawing from the race when Buddy Roemer placed first in the Open Primary, and handing over the keys to the Governor's Mansion well before Roemer was to be sworn in.  But was he through?  Noooooo. Not our Edwin. He quietly girded his loins and prepared for a re-match in 1991. That race proved to be one of those you-can't-make-this-stuff-up kind of scenarios.

Governor Roemer had been wiped out politically by the mess that Edwards left him, so after the smoke cleared, the 1991 Open Primary saw first place occupied by good ol' Edwin, and second place, putting him into the run-off instead of third-place Roemer, was won by David Duke.  You know -- the David Duke who was at the time a KKK elite and radical neo-Nazi.  That was an "interesting" election, with at least one bumper sticker admonishing voters to "Vote for the Crook. It's Important,"  and the good people of Louisiana did just that -- they voted the Crook back in instead of the ultra-right-wing kook.

Edwards is also a bit of a ladies man.  He is currently in his second May/December marriage, having twice divorced -- his first marriage (to Elaine) ended after 40 years (and after having appointed her to fill an unfinished term in the U.S. Senate some 17 years earlier);  his first May/December union (to Candy) ended while he was imprisoned, because "she had suffered enough."

Edward and Candy Edwards

The current Mrs. Edwards is 35-year old Trina, also the mother of his fifth child, born in August of 2013.

The happy blended Edwards family

They met after she began corresponding with and visiting him in prison, and married after his parole in 2011. In addition to their joint venture of creating a new human being (which is just kinda creepy to think about), the Edwardses also recently partnered on an A&E television reality show, "The Governor's Wife."  The program also starred two of Edwards's 60-something daughters and Trina's sons, pictured above.  To say the show was woefully atrocious is wholly inadequate to describe just how very bad it was. Mercifully, it didn't last long.

So, why am I all about The Governor today?

You won't believe this.

Well, maybe you will.  It's happening in Louisiana, after all.

Earlier this week, on Monday, the unsinkable Edwin Edwards announced his 2014 run for the 6th Congressional District seat.  The Advocate, one of Louisiana's statewide newspapers, laid out in print what many people felt:

Many agree that former Gov. Edwin Edwards will turn a sleepy race for Louisiana’s congressional 6th District seat into something more interesting, but it’s not very likely he’ll win.

I mean, really.  A  felonious, washed-up politician, reality-show reject running for national office?  Right.

Wait. What?

Today, a local polling organization announced that Edwards is not only leading the field, he is leading by 23% over his nearest rival for the Primary.  The Daily Kos leapt into the "LA-6 just went from safe -Republican to HUGE PROBLEM for GOP" spin machine, because Edwards is, after all, a Democrat.

This race should get fully cranked up about the time pre-season  football hits.  I'm not sure which will be the more entertaining spectator sport.

I Think Putin is a Little More Threatening Than Secretary Kerry or the Foreign-Policy-Less Best President EVER

Saw this over at Funniest Memes:

It's looking that way.

Do you suppose this

is in the hands of dissatisfied Tatars who'd rather be left the heck alone than be either Ukrainian or Russian? Are we about to see a really big terrorism event involving a large aircraft? Or, did it simply vanish? This one is a pretty big mystery.

The Crimean vote seems to be fairly lopsided in favor of the Russkies.

I'm thinking that our valiant, forceful Secretary of State is working himself up to a pretty darn good pout about now.

Scandal and Secession

A few hours ago, a Petition Permitting Louisiana to Secede from the United States of America amassed more than the number of signatures required for the White House to issue a response.  BayouBuzz reports:

Louisiana secession petition signatures reached the threshold for a response from the White House on Tuesday morning. The White House We The People programs offers all citizens the power to initiate a petition drive. Once a petition reaches more than 25,000 signatures in a 30-day period, the issue is routed to the appropriate office for review and a response issued.  

As of Tuesday morning, Louisiana’s petition to secede had 27,028 signatures, according to the Atlanta Black Star . Louisiana celebrated its statehood bicentennial earlier this year. A man identified as “Michael E” of Slidell created the secession petition on November 7, according to The Advertiser .  

University of Louisiana at Lafayette political science professor Ryan Teten had this to say about the We the People petition drive:

“It doesn’t represent the state and its population. It’s another form of protest. Given Louisiana’s position and its struggles."
 

 As of this afternoon, the HuffPo is reporting that some 30 similar petitions have been filed on the White House website's "We the People" feature. 

[Of course, there's also a petition seeking to name Duncan Trussell as Emperor of Planet Earth. (Don't ask me -- I have not made the acquaintance of Mr. Trussell.)  Mr. Trussell has already accumulated 221 signatures.  Personally, I don't see the Young President granting the status of Emperor to anyone but himself, so Mr. Trussell probably should put off ordering the leopard skin cape with ermine trim for awhile.  (You don't want to know what he wants his throne made of.  Seriously.) But, it's nice to have aspirations, I suppose.]

Interestingly enough, one must create an "account" and "log in" before one may add a signature. Yeah.  I want to create an "account" on the White House website.  When pigs fly.  I'm sure someone already monitors every time I brush my teeth or eat an extra potato chip or two, so I'm pretty sure I don't want to give the squiggly-wire-earpiece guys tacit approval to monitor me .

I'm seriously unsure of what to make of the secession movement.  There are already more than 78,000 signatures on a Texas petition.  More than 27,000 on Louisiana's. Kick in Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, and Missouri, and another 74,000+ add to the total.  Heck, even someone in Wisconsin and Kalifornia has filed petitions -- and people are signing them!  Of course, these are statistically insignificant numbers, but they are relevant numbers. 

There is a cauldron of smelly stuff, and fear, coming to a boil out there while the media go on and on about the indiscretions of senior military leadership rather than voting discrepancies or murdered ambassadors. Something is getting ready to hit the fan, and I doubt whether those who plan to pitch it are willing to wait four more years.

Get ready to duck.

A Message From the Obama Campaign in Today's Inbox

A little too true-ish to be too funny:

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE OBAMA RE-ELECTION COMMITTEE



نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه. ر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و
نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست ننور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيستنقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه. ر رفت سايهپيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه پيدانيست ننور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نميدان نور اگر رفت سايه. ر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايهدگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست ننور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش

ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه. ر رفت سايه پيدانيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه پيدانيست ننور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيستنور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشمخير ه م نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه. ر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوارو چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست ننور اگر رفتسايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفتسايه. ر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نوراگر رفت سايه پيدا

نيست ننور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نميدان نور اگر رفت سايه. ر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايهدگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست ننور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار وچشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه. ر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقشديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست ننور اگررفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفتسايه. ر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نوراگر رفت

سايه پيدا نيست ننور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايهدگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه. ر رفت سايه پيدا نيس نقش ديوار و چشم خيره مانقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست ننور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيستنقش ديوار و چشم خ يره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه. ر رفت سايهپيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه پيدانيست ننور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نميدان نور اگر رفت سايه. ر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايهدگر نمي دان نور

اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست ننور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره مانقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه. ر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشمخيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست ننور اگر رفت سايه پيدانيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه. ر رفتسايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفتسايه پيدا نيست ننور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايهدگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه. ر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره مانقش سايه دگر نمي

دان نور اگر رفت ساي پيدا نيست ن نور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشمخيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه. ر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش ديوارو چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر

If I hear more, I'll let you know.

Sunny Time Travels

Ya just gotta hope that a lot of 2008 Obama supporters are realizing the same:



I love the graffitti on the 2012 version.

Party Politics, and Happenings at Moogie's Mansion

I'm really, really glad the political party conventions are over.  We were able to see Ann Romney before the power went out, but missed Paul Ryan and Mitt.  And Eastwood!  We missed Clint Eastwood!  The battery operated radio was all-Isaac, all the time.

Ann Romney was some kind of impressive -- sincere, intelligent, and she didn't insult the intelligence of those listening to her, unlike a certain First Lady who shall remain nameless, and who flexed her muscles behind the podium a lot.

I did watch most of the network coverage of the Democrats.  I know -- why?  That was Pepper's take on the whole thing, but I wanted to see what was being said for myself instead of relying on the media to convey content.

Wanting to hear for myself turned out to be a big mistake when Clinton did his marathon pat-himself-on-the-back speech.  Did the Democrats learn nothing from his performance when nominating Dukakis?  Now maybe you understand why we Arkies used the phrase, "Clinton Time," when he was governor.  He was always late, and always ran over.

It was probably a mistake to watch the Young President, too.  That is the tallest drink of aloof, narcissistic sparkling water I've ever encountered.  Pepper had to leave the room on several occasions to do a little guitar therapy in order to ward off a stroke.  And what a finale!  Splat.  Serves them right for unnecessarily moving the location because of the non-existent "bad weather."

Anyway, now we're in the home stretch and I expect the robo-calls to begin at any minute.  With dread.  Serious dread.

So, what's been happening at Moogie's Mansion since the storm?  We're still waiting on the roofer -- blue tarp is in place, though, as is the downed chimney cap.  Man, that thing made quite a racket when it hit the deck!  Pepper went into manic Captain Ahab mode with painting and door-repairing and more painting.  And yard cleaning.

The city has been pretty overwhelmed in getting the debris picked up.  Isaac was such a slow mover that there was almost as much tree debris as after Katrina -- 54 consecutive hours of sustained winds in excess of at least 40 mph, with gusts at over 90.  But, yesterday (I know!  On a Sunday!) I heard the sound of heavy equipment and this is what I saw:



Yes. I realize that Moogie is very easily entertained on occasion.  (And a guy that doesn't look very much like Andy gave me a hint on Facebook about turning the phone sideways when taking future videos. Thanks, Andy -- and friend!)

Of course, they only picked up the debris that was piled up (by the homeowners, thank you very much), not the stuff that has been bagged.  So, we still have quite an impressive pile of bags littering the curbs.  *sigh*

And, today Moogie did a little money laundering:

Shhh!  Don't tell the authorities!

Brain Dysfunction = Stolen Video

Just a fun, bouncy little ditty that showed up in the inbox.  Kinda makes a body want to get up and dance:



I kinda like the "aloha."

Arrogance, Thy Name Is . . .

The Tea Party has put together a pretty awesome video featuring our Young President, and as you might have picked up on, I rarely use the word, "awesome."  So it's that good.

Prepare to be amused.  Sort of.  Well, it would be amusing if it weren't so darned true.



Stay informed, my friends.