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?

How Many Tax Evaders Are Acceptable?

Here we go again! Headline on Yahoo News Trade nominee Ron Kirk agrees to pay back taxes! Yet he's the right person for the job.

What in the heck is going on? Everyone is complaining about the tax payer money the administration is pouring into businesses that should be allowed to fail, mortgages that people shouldn't have in the first place and programs that haven't been thought through as to the possible unexpected consequences. Nothing new here. It's politics. It's also known that we are actually borrowing this money from foreign countries, mostly China. Why? Could it be that too many tax payers aren't paying?

Okay, the tax code is confusing at best and it's easy for an individual to make mistakes. But what about the tax programs you buy to simplify the process? Plug in the numbers and walla, you've got your tax return. Are they flawed? Or all the tax preparation companies that have their Uncle Sams on the street corners to entice you in. Do they know what they're doing? And the professionals on a higher level who work with the Daschles of the world; do they not sit down with their clients to make sure everything is in order before submitting the return for signature? Or are these people, you know the tax payer who signs the return, truly - cheats? And if they are why are they being included in the administration under the guise that it's a "few minor issues"?

There has been much criticism about the bailout packages rewarding people for bad behavior. I believe it to be true but apparently I am wrong. Bad business decisions. Buying unaffordable homes and allowing it to be done. What the heck, those are but a few minor issues.

How can it be anything else when this is the standard applied to those who would serve in the administration? The return was prepared by a paid tax preparer. Right. Now you know where the buck really stops!

One Man's Pork Is Another's Bacon!

Kathleen Parker's column in today's Spokesman Review talked about how Bobby Jindal's Republican staff nearly did in his political ambitions by the way they framed him in his response to Obama's speech to Congress. As an aside, I agree that he is one of the bright spots in the Republican gloom and left to his own instincts he'll do just fine.

The point of this post, however, is something that was mentioned almost in passing in the column. She pointed out an instance where he was emphasizing excess pork in the stimulus bill. She also mentioned one attributed to Sarah Palin as a gaffe along the same lines. Jindal's was the mention of "volcano monitoring" as wasteful spending. I think not. Just think about it.

Palin's was a reference to fruit fly research as silly spending. Then Parker points out that fruit fly research is crucial to medical research. Did you know that? I did not.

Now I'm going to jump on the media and watchdog groups. True, there are a lot of projects that raise many an eyebrow with good reason, but now I'm wondering how many, even though they may sound silly, are not.

We know the media has become personality driven, too many reporters are lazy and substance is often lacking not to mention objectivity. I would like to see an explanation of pork projects paired with a justification before I'm so quick to condemn them.

Congress embeds pork in bills. They all have computers, cell phones, land lines, Blackberries and web sites. More and more are utilizing Twitter. Spare me. It's not like they don't have better things to do. Point being, they are not difficult to access. So ladies and gentlemen of the media, those of you who still have jobs, how about doing a little probing about these projects and inform those of us who still listen to you or read your papers. Just in case you wonder why there are so few of us and your papers are folding around you, it may be because you're not doing your jobs. I'd not expect to get this information from a columnist. I would expect it from a reporter.

Mass condemnation because we don't like pork no longer makes sense. If you guys want to continue to take home the bacon, talk to us about pork!

A Golden Opportunity Of A Different Sort

I hadn't done my exercises two days running due to early morning vet appointments so I was determined to get them done this morning. I had just settled into one of the most relaxing of them when Hub appeared at the door and asked, "Why is there a Lab in the back yard?"

One of those "What?" moments. Sure enough there was a Lab puppy in the yard running circles around an obviously enthused Bacchus. By the time I found shoes and a coat, they had progressed to the deck and Bacchus was exhausted.

Hub said he'd corral the pup and get it back outside the fence then look for a hole. He wasn't gone two minutes when he was back in the doorway. "No hole," he says. "He just cleared four feet of fence with room to spare."

I had him call a vigilant neighbor to find out who in the hood might have a Lab pup. No answer when we phoned so I closed it in the shop and headed to the neighbors. Yep. Meet Emily. A rambunctious handful. If Bacchus wasn't in such precarious shape I'd love to have her visit on a regular basis, but the time for such exertion, I'm sorry to say, has passed.

He's asleep now, here with me, in the office. I'm sure he's expended his quotient of energy for the day. But for one bright, shining moment he got to be a puppy again. Not a bad way to end the week.

A Roller Coaster Week!

Bacchus agrees. What a week! As you know, last Friday we were at WSU to have the "reveal" implant. The cardiologist also made some dosage changes and sent us home with possible side effects to watch for. He was pretty dopey from the sedation through Saturday. Monday I took him to our vet to have his BP checked and all seemed well.

Then came the red flags. His eating ground to a halt and his respiration increased to the point by Wednesday night he sounded like a freight train. He quit drinking water and wouldn't lay down. I was sure we had lost him by 3:00 a.m. It had gotten suddenly and totally quiet. Hub and I got up and began looking for him. He was nowhere to be found. "What the..."

The game room upstairs? I didn't think he'd have been able to climb the stairs but there he was sound asleep. He finally stirred enough to go outside but the freight train was still with him. Hub was on the phone to the cardiologist; a chest x-ray was ordered and off we went to our vet. The fluid had begun to refill his chest. We could hear the phone conversation between our vet and the cardiologist. The idea of driving him to WSU in a snow storm to put him on an IV to stabilize his blood pressure was out of the question. So they agreed to increase the diuretic and reduce the one that was raised Friday to it's previous level.

By evening his respiration had returned to it's previous level. Our vet called to check his progress and asked I bring him in the morning to recheck the BP. He started drinking water, spit his pills out of the hot dogs then ate the hot dogs. Well, that's my boy. He was definitely feeling better.

I was laughing when we got to the vet. He headed straight to his usual exam room without hesitation. He didn't even quiver when the vet came in and scratched his ears. "What's this?" she asked. "I think, resignation. If you can't beat 'em join 'em!"

His breathing was much improved, his BP back in an acceptable range. He ate a smidgen of lunch, is drinking water as he should and is enjoying a fairly nice day eating snow and viewing his world from his favorite snow banks.

He's still scheduled to have his stitches out Tuesday. Hub says we're going to quit fooling with the meds. His system has to get used to what they are doing to it. One more day. We've made it over a month with only one really bad scare. That we had it is not good; that we were able to counter act it is.

I love our vet. She not only knows how to handle Bacchus, she knows how to handle me. And that is no easy task!