National Cankles Awareness Month

This is the last post I'm going to devote to the inanity of things people concern themselves with rather than important issues of the day. Even though they often tie together. Like cankles for instance.

Here some of us are giving the administration a pass on very bad health care legislation because it's Obama and we have to give him a chance. It isn't the fact that seniors are likely to have their health care rationed that's concerning people, it's the fact that if one has cankles one doesn't look good in capri pants! They ought to remember that they too are likely to one day be seniors!

The Wall Street Journal devoted an inordinate amount of space to it this morning! Ah, our obsession with our shortcomings. At least Hillary lives with hers! Just look at her cankles compared to Chelsea's slim, trim ankles!

What are they? When the calf meets the foot without a discernible ankle it's referred to as a cankle. It apparently bothers those so afflicted a great deal in order for an entire month to be devoted to raising awareness!

In doing a bit of research on this I find gyms are devising programs with special exercises devoted to reducing calf to foot fat. Even plastic surgeons are preforming liposuction. There's even a Facebook support group called "Cankels Unite!"

You've got to love it. According to the paper this type of leg used to be referred to as "stovepipes". I remember them as "piano" legs. Here are a few other physical maladies that could rate awareness months. Saddle bags for ample hips. Poor Hillary, she's "saddled" with those too!

Love handles, that plentiful pinch around the waist. Muffin tops that came in with the popularity of low rise jeans. Let's not forget bat wings, the flab we older folks tend to develop on the upper arms. Here's one for the guys - bay window, beer belly or dunlop's disease for the belly dun lop over the belt!

Fortunately, insurance plans don't pay for things cosmetic. It makes me wonder, though, if people have expendable income to have these unsightly blemishes removed or hidden, do they not have the money to pay for a health insurance premium? Who knows. It's rather like the milk versus methane comparison I wrote about yesterday.

As for myself, even though my ankles are fine, I just don't wear capri pants. Nor low rise jeans nor sleeveless blouses. Those days are long gone, if they ever were. Maybe what we really need is a "how we can live with it awareness month"!

Say It Isn't So!

The government is taking all the fun out of travel! It's bad enough you have to stay seated for the first half hour of a flight; now there is talk that some air lines are planning to charge for use of the facilities! This can be tough on we more mature types. So, more and more often, we drive.

Now, according to the Wall Street Journal States are beginning to close down rest areas on the Interstate Highway System! Why can't some of the $48.1 billion in infrastructure stimulus be used to keep these facilities open?

It's tough enough when there is over a hundred miles between them, like Gold Creek to Bozeman over in Montana. It takes some prudent planning.

Heck, it takes prudent planning to get from here to Missoula, a mere 142 miles with two rest stops. We usually leave early in the morning if we're going to shop. That being the case we have to determine how much coffee we should drink before we leave and how much to take with us. There's the cold factor. How much time do we have to consume it before it gets cold and it's passage through us in relation to the rest stops.

Bacchus presents another dimension. Before he started his ten thousand medications he'd be good for the day if we dewatered him before we left. Now he has more need than we do because of the diuretics he's on. Never-the-less we've pretty much got it figured out.

I feel for others however. Exits are sometimes as far apart as rest stops if not farther. If you're traveling through southern Utah, you have to find a town to find a rest stop because that's where the water source is. As for exiting to find a gas station, that too can be iffy. The town can be miles from the actual exit. Restaurants and cafes are no sure bet either. Many say "restrooms for customers only" which means you have to buy something which usually would be a cup of coffee. So the process begins all over again. Plus a lot of them aren't too crazy about it if your dog needs relief too!

So far the majority of the states closing the doors on an essential service are in the east and south. Hopefully if won't creep westward any time soon!

I suppose part of the reason the states are doing this is because it doesn't create jobs. Phooey! How many of the projects given the green light for funding are offering anything other than temporary work at best? Rest areas need care takers, landscape and maintenance workers on a year round basis.

Those in charge need a reality check. They want us to get out and spend our money. They want us to eat, drink and make merry. They want us to drive so we'll buy all those wonderful new fuel efficient cars they hope we'll fall in love with. That means we can travel farther on a tank of gas.

They need to realize that we're not going to fill our car's tank and go if we can't empty our tank along the way!

Like, You Know, Texting For $50,000!

Not too long ago a friend was catching me up on news about a mutual friend and her family. During the conversation she informed me that this friend's son was so adept at texting, he could do it with the phone in his pants pocket, without looking. I shook my head. I thought the accomplishment dubious. Here was a young man who succumbed to lust rather than the education he once aspired to at the Air Force Academy.

I thought little more about it until I listened to the noon news today while having lunch. LG Mobile has just finished up its 2009 National Texting Championship. A 15 year old from Iowa beat a 14 year old for the title and the grand prize - $50,000!

No wonder our kids are dismal failures when it comes to their studies. They have far more important pursuits with instantaneous and lucrative payoffs! It's not dealing drugs, though it is definitely an opiate of sorts! How else would you define an average of 500 texts per day?

In reading the description, this competition would appear to be the electronic version of American Idol or Britain's Got Talent! what with the qualifying events in cities around the country and competitions around the world with a grand total of 250,000 people participating!

A world championship, if you will, is planned for fall. The "mobile world cup", pitting the winners from the U.S., Korea, Brazil, and where-ever else these competitions have been held, against one another.

Okay, fun is fun. But you know what? I have a real problem with a prize of $50,000 for a 15 year old. One who "joked" about buying Coach handbags and a pony. Was she joking? How about stashing it away for an education that might give you skills to get through life after texting?

I know, I know. I'm old. I don't get it. Watch the video and see if you do. Then educate me!



In the meantime, I'll borrow the quote from the winner, to sum up my thoughts. "I'm just, like, stunned right now!"

Joe The Social Arbiter

I'm tired of politics. I've found little to comment on without complaining. I've been browsing and finding nothing. The fact that Sarah Palin got to her daughter and the young lady is now espousing abstinence for teens is good if unlikely. Heck!

Wait! What's this? Joe/Sam is back in the news. This guy is like a bad penny and I love him for it! When I feel I just must post something, he never lets me down!

I loved the headline on Yahoo News: Joe the Plumber calls gays 'queer'.

This folk hero of conservatives explains to us what exactly 'queer' means since we obviously don't "understand the dictionary". I love this man! "Queer means strange and unusual. It's not a like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that."

Hmmm. I don't know what dictionary he reads but this is the definition given by the one on my computer:

1 strange; odd : she had a queer feeling that they were being watched.
• [ predic. ] dated slightly ill.
2 informal usually offensive (esp. of a man) homosexual.
noun informal usually offensive
a homosexual man.

Well, he was partially correct.

Continuing in an interview with Christianity Today he was lamenting that neither party is sufficiently Christian. "They use God as a punch line. They use God to invoke sympathy or invoke righteousness, but they don't stay the course."

As the conversation continued, he admitted that someday he might consider running for office. "Not right now. God hasn't said, 'Joe, I want you to run'."

Is there a punch line in there? Or is he just staying the course?

Have You Hugged Your Hog Today?

Just yesterday I was complaining about the lack of hard news in newspapers. Today, I have to bring you proof positive of what should be the biggest non-story of the week and it's only Sunday!

First, I had to laugh at the picture I found when looking for a huggable "swine". What better than one hugging a little Chinese girl. Think Hong Kong, where the current Director General of the WHO, served as a civil servant. Think Hong Kong where masked police (I love the irony) were holding guests captive in their hotels because one guest had flu symptoms.

Now we're being told the pandemic is easing, people are on the mend. Take an aspirin, drink plenty of water and rest. Go ahead and have pork chops for dinner tonight.

Wait! Are Canadian pork chops safe? Hmmm. According to an AP story in today's Spokesman Review pigs on a Canadian farm may have been infected by.......a farmer!

The poor pigs can't win! The farmhand had been vacationing in Mexico and obviously came back with the bug. He's recovering nicely, no doubt after having taken his aspirin, water and rest. If no one panics the pigs should too recover. According to Slate, pig mortality rates from the flu are far lower than human.

I got to thinking we should treat our snouted friends with a bit more respect. After all, many tests are done on pigs before humans because of similarities between the species. How many of us have heart valves from pigs pulsing away in our chests? At times I am ashamed that I so love bacon and ham!

This is the time to put the media to the test. Slate tells us pigs get the flu much like we humans do - from sneezes and coughs from other pigs. They get a fever, cough, their eyes and noses run; they sneeze. They just plain don't feel good and are put in isolation where they'll recover in about a week with proper rest and hydration. Sound familiar? We could pop them an aspirin to speed up recovery but we really need to keep the farmhands out of the pen!

We are told the WHO insists there is no evidence pigs are passing the virus to humans or that eating pork products puts anyone at risk so basically this should be a non-story. That it made the paper, however, makes it a story. It will be interesting to see if it remains an AP filler story on page 5 or if it becomes headline news!

The Great Equalizer!

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon looking for an illustration of the Swine Flu virus. Variations of the same theme kept coming up - a combination of the swine flu paired with the avian flu. It also illustrates when you should take this post seriously.

The poor maligned pig. For some time now pigs, along with their fellow barn yard companions, are being blamed for our noxious gas problem. Now they carry a flu strain, along with one carried by another of it's barn yard companions, that's creating havoc around the world. In the name of differentiating it from the "bird" flu, researchers dubbed it the "swine" flu.

Who ever would have thought a name would cause such an uproar! Even more, who would ever have thought doing so would have given the United States common ground with both the Muslim and Jewish communities! An Israeli health official wanted to rename it the "Mexican" flu, not so much because it has been the area hardest hit, but because both the Jewish and Muslims consider pigs unclean and are forbidden to eat it. This was perceived as an insult! I don't quite get the connection, but then, that's me! Needless to say the Mexicans weren't too keen on the idea; they're taking it on the chin pretty hard as is with their drug wars.

Then the good old US of A chimed in. Realizing it was not a good idea to besmirch entire nations, they found themselves in a quandary. You see, by calling it the swine flu it could have devastating effects on our pork industry especially when people are having a hard enough time bringing home the bacon. What to do!

In their infinite wisdom they cam up with a pretty innocuous identifier. H1N1 . There is an H and an N in all flu viruses and the fact that there is already a human strain H1N1 makes things a little confusing, but then who's asking?

Maybe I've been underestimating the power of the Obama administration's silvery tongue. Change the name, fuzzy up the context and put everyone at ease. I expect it will work as well as changing the term "Global War on Terror" to the "Overseas Contingency Operation." Change the name, fuzzy up the context and put everyone at ease.

Nope. Won't work. Think "Freedom Fries"!

I'm Killing Our Planet!

Hub came into the kitchen at lunch time and took a sandwich out of my hand. "Serious diet time," he says, "You (me) have to get down to 150 and I have to get to 180."

"Where are you taking me?" Now isn't that a logical question? Who'd have thought it was in response to the latest studies showing fat people are making global warming worse. Okay, I thought, we move more slowly and sweat more. Maybe that does add to the heat wave. Dumb me.

We've now joined livestock as the villains in our own earthly scenario! Actually it has not so much to do with the fact that the populations of all but the poorest of countries are getting fatter with each generation as much as what it takes to get us that way. Food. It's because we eat more food. Food production produces major CO2 emissions and the more we eat the more is produced.

Okay folks, here comes another Dogwalk solution. We need a cap and trade policy for eating. Those of us who over indulge on prime beef and fine wine buy credits from the poor starving people in the many third world countries we never seem able to elevate. They'd get money to plant crops and buy their own livestock and gain weight and improve their standard of living. When they're equal with the rest of the world, we'll be out of funds from buying credits, the roles will reverse and the cycle will start all over again. They've made global warming simple. I've made solving it simple.

Never mind matters of health ranging from stressed joints to heart disease. Never mind what it will do the retail market for women's sizes! What about the medical professionals who treat us - family practice physicians and all the specialists, physical therapy after the hip and knee replacements, chiropractic to straighten out those old bent bones. The pharmaceuticals who produce all those pills we pop for blood pressure, cholesterol and pain! The pharmacists who dispense them - if they're so inclined. You get the idea.

Dr. Phil Edwards of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told the The Sun (UK), "Moving about in a heavy body is like driving a gas guzzler. We need to do a lot to reverse the global trend towards fatness. It is a key factor in the battle to reduce carbon emissions and slow climate change."

I rather like my solution for global warming. Fat credits. As far as the economic issues I've outlined, I'm sure there's a solution for that too. I think it's called TARP. Troubled Asset Relief Program. Of course if our collective "asset" less maybe we wouldn't be fat in the first place!

...And You Wonder Why There Are Polish Jokes!

Every once in awhile even I get tired of the doom and gloom I always find so interesting and look for something a little inane on which to post. Today's one of those days.

When I read about this Polish politician I thought about how well he would fit in a lot of the governing bodies in our country. It would seem his city, Poznan, in western Poland invested huge sums of money in their local zoo to have the largest elephant house in Europe.

One of the residents, a 10 year old named Ninio, has shown no interest in the opposite sex. "We didn't pay 37 million zlotys (7.6 million pounds sterling or 11.21 U.S. dollars) for the largest elephant house in Europe to have a gay elephant live there!" he fumed.

Never mind the poor elephant isn't old enough to mate yet. He won't reach sexual maturity until he's 14 and even then he'll have to outdo the other bulls in the herd to win a lady's fancy!

I almost feel sorry for the outraged politician. We'll probably never know how Ninio makes out when he reaches maturity. I'd be willing to wager, however, those in the know may feel Councillor Grzes's lack of knowledge on the subject may render him somewhat impotent as a politician!

Bonuses As A Way Of Life

The big complaint about the AIG bonuses was that they were supposedly rewarding failure. If the government hadn't stepped in, would anything have been said? No. It's a way of life that reaches far beyond top executives!

In a time of economic stress at all levels, how about signing bonuses for coaches at a time when university budgets are being cut to the bone, teachers are facing either pay cuts or job loss, and fewer students are being accepted? Take for example Washington State's basketball coach Tony Bennett jumping ship for the University of Virginia. His total package is around $1.7 million a year plus a $500,000 signing bonus! That would provide a lot of faculty pay and tuition for a lot of students! What's even more questionable is the fact he's an unproven entity considering the differences between a Washington State and a Virginia! Failure isn't even an issue here. It's for signing on with high hopes. Heck of a deal.

Even harder to swallow for a lot of students, I should think, is John Calipari's deal with Kentucky. His eight year deal will bring him some $31.65 million plus a $2.5 million signing bonus. Please don't tell me it's worth that kind of money because of what the program brings in for the school. If it was all that successful, why are the budgets being cut?

It goes even further. Let's go back to tax payer money. The Wall Steet Journal tells us of the practice of Congress giving sometimes substantial bonuses to aides - with tax payer dollars.

We're told that last year more than $9.1 million was awarded to over 22,000 staffers. These discretionary bonuses went to staff earning more than $100,000, as merit bonuses.

To repeat a theme I harp on often, Congress gives itself automatic pay raises and gives out staff bonuses. Coaches are receiving huge signing bonuses while their schools flounder. Meanwhile Social Security cost of living increases are going to be frozen for the next three years, if not longer.

Does anyone besides me see the hypocrisy in all this?

The Bill Doesn't Go Far Enough???

Why in the name of good sense should there be a "pharmacist conscience law"?

You're sick. You go to your doctor. You're given a prescription. Your pharmacist refuses to fill it because it goes against his or her conscience. It's all perfectly legal in the state of Idaho. I don't know what's worse. The fact that such a bill has been proposed or the fact that it isn't needed because there is no law requiring pharmacists to dispense prescriptions in the first place! Should there be one? I think yes!

There are times I wish I were a lobbyist because I sure would lobby against this insanity! Why should any legal prescription be denied anyone? A pharmacist has no right that I know of to endanger a life by refusing to fill a prescription. He/she has no way of knowing the need nor the circumstances. The lack of a law with such a requirement apparently, here, gives him/her that right and it borders on criminal. If a person should die because of not getting said prescription would the pharmacist be guilty of murder?

If that in itself isn't bad enough, the proposed bill would extend "conscience law" to cashiers and other workers. So. Even if the pharmacist will fill the prescription but the cashier objects, you'll be barred from buying it? What kind of insanity is this?

I remember going into a doctor's office awhile back, in miserable pain with a bad back. There was a sign above the receptionist's desk that read Be Nice or Leave . I no longer see that doctor. The point that anyone who is ill does not need the additional aggravation of getting static over a perfectly legal prescription.

If your job is to dispense medicine, do it. If your conscience gets in the way change careers. How dare you endanger others! As for the cashiers, don't work in a pharmacy.

As for the law makers, how dare you to allow the uninformed to deny another his or her well being. Where is your "conscience law"?

The Whole World Is Suspect!

And we had better be watching for aliens from outer space!

USA Today reports that the government's terrorist watch list has now hit 1 million. That's a 32% increase since 2007! Now just how in the world do you keep track of that?

The FBI says 95% are foreigners. Terrific. People are put on it by intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Like the local traffic cop after issuing a ticket. Did you know that can happen? There are various levels of offenses that will get you on the list but just what the offense may be is not divulged.

What makes the matter worse, when people seek redress, some 51,000 in the past two years, they find that they have been misidentified. Do you think? Some of those names include Senator Edward Kennedy and Nelson Mandela. There is also Robert Johnson. Now there's an uncommon name. I know a Robert Johnson. The only thing he's likely to terrorize is a bottle of Scotch! John Williams? Which one? I must not forget John Anderson. Age 6.

Long before 9/11 we lived in Seattle. We often went to Canada to camp or do the galleries. We also groused about how long it took to get back across the border. To come home! It's much worse now. What are they going to do during the Winter Olympics? It will be madness.

I haven't flown for several years. I resent being pawed by "security" guards for, as I was once told, "my own good". I resent the passengers who when interviewed repeat the mantra, "well, as long as they're keeping us safe". From who? The 9/11 hijackers were here legally!

There are some 12 million illegal aliens in this country. How many of those names are on the watch list? Is yours? Is mine? This is one more instance where a bloated bureauracy has run amok and in so doing become largely ineffectual. There are no specific rules for who goes on the list. There is no easy way to get off the list.

Some intent on doing us harm will slip through the cracks. Even with all that is now in place - or maybe because of what is now in place. We'd do well to learn a lesson from the Europeans who've learned to pick themselves up and move on.

One million names and growing. The more it grows the more liberties we lose. Will we ever again be free of fear? Will we ever again be able to cross our borders or fly or sail or take a train without being screened? Which one of our lost liberties will be the one where we finally say enough? Or will we always be like lemmings marching to the sea until there is nothing left?

McCain Chose The Wrong Sarah!

Did you know there is a periodical called the Journal of Experimental Psychology ? Neither did I. I think though, it may be well named considering the subject of a recent article.

All this time, since the election, I've been under the impression that McCain lost because he was a weak candidate with an even politically weaker running mate. As is often the case, I've apparently been mistaken. I guess I failed to consider the psychology of the matter. The idea that Sarah Palin was too good looking for her - and John's - own good.

According to an article on Yahoo , a group of students were asked to write their thoughts and feelings about Palin. Another group was asked to write about their thoughts and feelings about her appearance.

The most favorable results came from the group writing about her appearance rather than her those who were asked to assess, among other things, her competence. They also reported they'd be less likely to vote for the McCain/Palin ticket.

Wow. What they're telling us is that if you have a pretty face you can't possibly be capable. Tell that to Glenn Close when she's not in her Sarah, Plain and Tall make up!

There is a definite psychological implication in all of this. Consider the news media. How many unattractive people of either sex sit in an anchor's chair? How many of them come across as being nothing more than a reader of words, written by others, from a monitor? And maybe not the brightest bulb on the set?

Talk about the brainwashing of the masses! There are a huge number of reasons I would not like to see Sarah Palin in national office, but her looks are definitely not one of them!

Will Oprah Review Rod's Book?

I have a lot of blogging acquaintances who are writers. Some do it for fun; for others it's quite a serious undertaking. I wonder how frustrated they are when they see the likes of Joe the Plumber getting a book deal. It seems to me to be quite a slap in the face for serious, talented penmen.

Now I learn that former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has inked a six figure book deal with the intent of exposing the "dark side of politics"! The reason I wonder about Oprah is because of her history of promoting books as non-fiction which are not. I am guessing Mr. Blago's book will be much the same.

After all why would he go to a "maverick" publisher? The rationale is that he can be more forthcoming than might be the case with a major publisher. I don't know. Oprah's authors had pretty good publishing houses behind them. It's just that the editors were far to busy to have the "facts" checked.

I'm really picking on Oprah unfairly. She's been burned often enough, I doubt she'll allow it to happen again. What I do worry about, though, is what Blago will say about any and everybody he feels has wronged him. They may have to spend years trying to disprove the written word.

That being a possibility, I wish Mr. Blagojevich the same success that Joe the Plumber met at his first book signing. Six in attendance and five books sold.

As for those of you reading this who are writers, apparently the road to success in the publishing business is to be a complete idiot or a crook. Talent? What's that?

Joe The Author

It hasn't even been a month since I last posted about Joe, but here he is in the news once again! Now he's an author! Man. Here I sit posting wit and wisdom day in and day out and he's the one who gets picked up by the media! Sometimes life is just not fair.

So he wrote a book. Or rather co-wrote it. The title, in case you want to run out and get it is "Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream." He arrived at a Washington D.C. Borders decked out in in a long sleeved undershirt and baggy jeans. A real everyman, for sure. He was given the requisite lectern and microphone and awaited his masses. What was learned? He has a propensity to call women "sweetie". He is no fan of Obama but didn't like McCain either. He considers the politicians he's met "liars and thieves". I wonder if the Republicans are going to keep using him as a strategist! He will not go back to plumbing; not that he ever was one. He plans to work in construction once his commitment to Pajama TV is over.

I somehow doubt that. He'll fade into the masses being hired because of the stimulus and having tasted fame I can't imagine his being satisfied with the anonimity of a construction worker.

Speaking of masses, about his: The book signing was scheduled to last three hours. It lasted 55 minutes. There was no report of how many minutes passed just waiting for an audience. Of six. Total books sold? Five.

Ah, well. I may not get paid. I've never even tried to write a book but I'm willing to wager I've more readers than he does! Maybe life isn't so unfair after all.

"Food" for Thought

Do you ever get tired of hearing about all the studies being done which, if we don't take them to heart, we'll find ourselves in an early grave? One making the rounds regards women and alcohol. How drinking at all spells doom, offsetting the one that says red wine is good for the heart.

Another current one is about how coffee may help deter skin cancers. The creme de la creme made the headlines last night. Which diet is the best for you? The one that works! Go figure!

Some metabolisms do better with high carb, some with low carb. I am told blood type can play a role as well as ethnic background. Some of us are just more prone to chunkiness than others. I cannot, however, argue with the calorie count as long as the type of calorie is left open for discussion.

I know myself that I do better on a high protein regime. Of course. That's because I love breads and pastas. I also know, even though the hype tells me I can eat all I want, that isn't true. Calories do count. I also know that after I've lost some excess I tend to get careless. I usually start adding in larger portions. I am not a bird, after all. Then comes the bad stuff with the good intention of making up for it the next day; then the next and so on. You get the picture. That's why my annual ritual is to go on the South Beach induction for the first two weeks in January. I get really bad during the holidays. Figuring that lasts from left over Halloween candy through New Years, even if I've held my own all year up to that point - it's blown. It's no mystery.

Contrary to competing studies, exercise also plays a role. It helps keep things in check. At the very least it maintains a degree of muscle mass and cardiovascular health. This can be particularly crucial if you believe in the adage you are what you eat.

You could suffer the same fate of that of a young Russian who was offered a tidy sum of money to satisfy his appetite with a couple of female friends. He succumbed from a heart attack after earning his fee. To assure his success he consumed an entire bottle of Viagra. This is definitely a case where he should have paid attention to the studies. The "exercise" lasted twelve hours. If I recall correctly, the ads advise calling your doctor after four. Talk about "blues" in the night!

Pelosi And The Pope - Does Either One Get It?

As I've watched Hillary's love tour progress around Asia I've found myself wondering if we really need a Secretary of State when we have all these Congressional delegations doing much the same thing. After all it's a redundancy of effort and an expensive one. I have no idea how many people are in Clinton's entourage, but Nancy Pelosi has seven other Democrats in hers! Not counting staff of course.

Nancy Pelosi? What the heck is she doing in Rome on my dollar? It's bad enough Obama is flying around on his big plane anywhere and everywhere. As is Hillary. I may think it's being a bit over done considering these economic times, but it is, at least, a part of their jobs. But Pelosi? She's a legislator! Supposedly she is talking with top Italian officials about the economic crisis and other "leading issues", whatever they may be. Oh, yes, she's talking to them about the environment and the situations in the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan. Right. How many troops do the Italians have committed? Or is it just chit chat?

I'm sorry. It's bad enough we, who pay our taxes and mortgages yet see the value of everything we hold dear diminish, are asked to bail out the deadbeats, but to also have to fund automatic pay raises and worldwide boondoggles is more than I can swallow. Enough!

Other than great food, wine and good shopping, what is she getting for our buck? An admonishment for every Catholic office holder who might dare to be pro choice? This from a man, and he is merely a man, who reinstated a Bishop who fervently denies the truth of the Holocaust? Talk about not getting it!

Everyone in the country is being asked to pay for the excesses of others. That should include government officials. There is not a one of them that can understand our pain unless they suffer a bit themselves. So far I'm not seeing it.

Police Guild = Justice Denied

There are days when I just don't get it! You read time and time again about zero tolerance policies, especially in our schools. A little kid who may have a GI Joe with a gun tucked in the innards of his back pack is expelled. A disruptive eight year old is led off in handcuffs because a teacher felt threatened. By an eight year old girl!

Sex offenders have to register even if the crime was sex between a nineteen year old and his sixteen year old girl friend.

Appointees to high government positions pay their taxes only when the job may be at stake.

Now, the Spokane Police Department is back in the headlines. An officer gets reinstated with back pay after arbitration ruled firing was too stiff a penalty. For what? For driving his city assigned car after having been drinking and using his city issued cell phone to snap pictures of a bare breasted woman then having sex with her in her car.

According to arbitration, the penalty was too stiff. He deserved punishment but not dismissal.

Here's Dogwalk's take. There was no policy regarding cell phone pictures. Come on! It was city property. A Mayor was ousted for cruising gay web sites on a city computer!

He was nowhere near legally intoxicated. Just when was he tested? He's a police officer for crying out loud! What can I say?

Excited about his reinstatement he let it be known he didn't want to work anywhere else. Who can blame him? Spokane police, time and time again get a free pass! I give a thumbs up to Chief Kirkpatrick for firing him; a thumbs down for saying "That's our system of justice and I respect that." As for the officer, Spokane is welcome to him.

Unions. They protect athletes who cheat. They demand concessions that reduce companies to the verge of bankruptcy. Think baseball and the auto industry as examples. They protect police officers from punishment for behavior that would have landed the rest of us in jail.

Isn't it time we reassess the zero tolerance rules now on the books before somebody really gets hurt?

Joe The Political Consultant

If anyone has more incarnations than Sarah Palin, it's Joe the Plumber. You know, the guy just last month was In Israel playing war correspondent? The one who surmised after that experience that journalists shouldn't cover a war because they "make a big deal" over what's happening on the ground. The one who said, "I think media should be abolished from, uh, you know, reporting." Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!

Now, according to Yahoo News he's going to do political strategizing for the GOP! He is to be the featured speaker at a meeting of conservative staffers who meet regularly to chart GOP strategy.

Says Kimberly Wallner, aide to S.C. Senator Jim DeMint, "In case you weren't planning to attend CWG (Conservative Working Group) tomorrow morning, you might want to reconsider because Joe the Plumber will be joining us!"

Wow. I think I sequed from Republican to Independent just in time. I've been told I'm liberal leaning. Not really as much as it may sound; but, at that, I'd rather be liberal leaning than a laughing stock!

I wait with baited breath to see what next month will bring! Or who knows, maybe he'll have some good advice. Something like, "I think Congress should be be abolished from, uh, you know, passing legislation. Because, you know, they make a "big deal" over things that aren't really needed.

Nah. It will never happen.

If The Shoe Fits!

We expend a lot of energy trying to get the rest of the world to see itself as we would have them. What we sometimes don't do well is lead by example. We're a very self indulgent people.

The news has been full of the story about a single mother of six who just gave birth to an additional eight - all conceived by vitro fertilization. The ethics issue involved here is a book yet to be written as well as the idea that we tax payers will undoubtedly foot the bill until the children reach the age of responsibility. The mother obviously has not at age 33!

Other countries in the world are concerned about their over population problems. China, for instance, one child per family. I am not an advocate of this degree of big brotherism but with economies suffering to the extent that children cannot be fed, housed, cared for nor educated, maybe the restrictions make some sense.

Now, it would seem the Brits are suggesting that couples having more than two children are creating a huge burden on the environment. A study claims each child born in Britain will burn carbon roughly equivalent to 2 1/2 acres of old growth oak woodland in its lifetime.

The global population is expected to be 9.2 billion by 2050. Multiply that out! Does the world have that much acreage in woodland? Are we killing ourselves here or what?

There has been a great deal of controversy about U.S. tax dollars going to support family planning efforts around the world if they include contraception and/or abortion. It's bad enough that teenage pregnancies are still outrageously high and that no matter what the country may be, someone other than the mother will bear the financial burden.

It's even worse when in this country an unmarried mother stockpiles embryos just because she wants babies! And she is able to do so! She's adding to the environmental problem on my dollar. Enough.

Use my tax dollars if you must but at least let them go to stem cell research! Not the old lady in the shoe.

Poke At A Pig

We have a new President and a new Congress but some of the absurdities from the previous will haunt us for some time to come. I'm wondering how Lisa Jackson, new head of the EPA is going to handle things like the following.

The National Pork Producers Council has filed suit against the EPA. Not the kind of pork Senators add to bills so those like Robert Byrd can have every structure in the state named after them, but pork as in pig.

It seems there is a rule now in effect that requires livestock producers to call state and local emergency response authorities with estimates of livestock emissions then verify the estimates in writing!

Now, I'm not a farmer, but I am assuming there is a way to make these estimates. Ms. Jackson has degrees in chemical engineering from Tulane and Princeton (not exactly farm country) so she may know how these things are done. I'd really like to know how you estimate emissions from your pigs and cows! And why do emergency response authorities need to know? Are they afraid pig farmers are going do declare gas warfare on the citizenry?

Failure to comply can cost up to $25,000 a day! I suppose it's a way to generate funds to start refilling the coffers after the bailout drainage, but really.

It would seem the rush to green up the country is enough to make livestock producers blue!