Mostly Good, With a Lil Bad Mixed In

Yeah... Ron Paul is lookin' better and better.  And better.  But I just can't sign on with his foreign policy views, among other thangs.

―:☺:―

We've had a run o' good... no, great... WX this past week.  I sat out on the verandah from about 1030 hrs until twilight last evening, goin' directly from morning coffee to beer without even so much as a missed step.  We did take the odd potty break now and then, one blogging break, and spent some quality time with the neighbor ladies and my erstwhile foster granddaughter, who continues to crawl all over me like I'm some sorta amusement park.  "It's because you're so nice to her," sez my neighbor.  I just smiled while thinkin' "well, I'm nice to YOU, too, yanno?"  I should verbalize these thangs, methinks.  The ol' "faint heart/fair lady" cliché comes to mind...

There's a downside to this fine WX: the right side o' my face is severely sunburned; sunburned to the point o' pain, to the point where we broke out the Greasy Kid Stuff (Neosporin) and slathered it all over our nose and cheek last evening.  I hate it when this happens, more so in the dead o' winter.

We shall be havin' more of the same in the upcoming week.  Note:

Which is MUCH better than a year ago, almost to the day (01/30 vs. 01/31):

We Otta Be a Whole Helluva Lot Smarter By Friday...

... on account o' because we're gonna be spending the next four nights in the Holiday Inn Express just across the highway.  I thought about this long and hard before I decided to abandon El Casa Móvil De Pennington for a warmer space.  My Inner Macho Man said "don't be a freakin' wuss, it's just a lil cold, is all."  Macho Man was winning until I ran into Jenny at Wally-World and she was pretty emphatic with the "do it!" thing.  Which all goes to prove that women are generally smarter than men when it comes to macho stuff.

And just how cold will it be?  This cold:

 

I can do overnight temps in the teens but below zero stuff just ain't ANY fun.  At all.

So.  We're booked.  Registering at the front desk of the HIE was sorta funny... I was asked for address, etc. and duly gave the particulars... which got weird for the lady when she said "and your ZIP code there?'  "88130," sez I.  "Hunh?  What's that all about, if I may ask?"  We explained, she understood.  And Hey!  Free breakfast for the next four days, or at least someone else is gonna do the cookin'.  Coz it ain't exactly free, yanno?

I'll take this year over last... along with some zinc oxide for the ol' snozz.

Things I Wish I Hadn't Seen

Yeah, I watched it.  No, I have no comment... other than "blah, blah, blah."  Wait.  I do have a couple o' things.  His "spilled milk" joke was stupid.  And his references to the military were simply bizarre and just a LITTLE bit offensive to me, speaking as a military kinda guy.  I should have said this yesterday, I know.  But that's life here at EIP: a day late and a dollar short.  Always.

―:☺:―



Except for hockey, where we're never a day late. Some quotes about last night's game:

“We realize the scope of what we’re up against tonight. This is the best team in the NHL right now and they’re definitely playing like it. They’re a group of veterans that all play very intelligently. They control the puck a lot of the time and they really make you fight for possession. We’re going to have to be at our best and try to push our style of game.

“We have to be ready to go for 60 or 65 minutes if need be to come out of this with two points. We’ll have all the time we need to rest up after tonight, but right now we need to set our sights on winning this game.”--Montreal Canadiens assistant captain Josh Gorges. (as quoted at the Usual Hockey Source)

And...

Wings' Babcock: “I'm not going to look at the video of this at all, I'm going to go out and drink, actually, is what I'm going to do.''  --A tweet by AnsarKhanMLive

"I thought because we were playing in such a great building in such a great environment that it was going to be a no-brainer," Babcock said. "But we just were awful."  -- Mike Babcock, quoted in The Freep

Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall reacts after Detroit yields another goal during the 7-2 loss Wednesday in Montreal.
 Jean-Yves Ahern/U.S. PRESSWIRE

Montreal 7, Detroit 2.  Worst game of the year... even worse than the 7-1 loss to the Caps and that 5-1 debacle on the Island.  I almost turned it off.

Interesting

This 'toon is obviously aimed at the Geriatric Set...

I'm not sure if anyone but us geezers geddit, mainly coz we're talkin' about a cultural reference from 1953.  1953!  But I could be wrong.

On sort of the same note... Ann Coulter was on Red Eye last night and she lost it a couple o' times on the subject of Newt.  I always thought that woman was a bit of a nut case... now I'm convinced she's nuts.  I understand being supportive of your candidate (she's a Romney fan) but bein' batshit crazy, to the point of shrieking, yelling, and constantly interrupting someone who might not think the way you do, is over the top.  Which is the problem with zealots, on the left or on the right.  Neither flavor works for me.

Coulter really worked Fox a lot yesterday.  I looked for the Red Eye clip and couldn't find it... but this is close:



Nutcase.

The Day the LOLcats Died

Pretty clever.  And true.

Keystone

Creating hundreds of thousands of new Reagan Democrats, one would hope.

Yup

Lotsa good stuff at the Usual Source today... but I liked Ramirez best.

I think Ramirez is the best political cartoonist working today.  He's always spot-on.

Yup

There's lotsa good stuff at the Usual Source today and I was hard-pressed to select just one 'toon from the many candidates.  But this one was the winnah:

Mr. Ariail ain't the ONLY guy who's thinkin' like this; the right side o' the blogosphere is just brimming with WTF? sorta screeds in this space.  There are lotsa thangs to take Romney to task for (some o' which, like flip-flopping, are noted above), but his performance at Bain Capital AIN'T one of 'em.  Shame.

I Shoulda Known...

Remember last week when I said I wrote my congresscritters about the FDA and cigars?  Well, today I got a response... the only response, so far... from Senator Tom Udall.  Here it is, in its entirety:

January 12, 2012

Dear Mr. Pennington,

Thank you for contacting me regarding S. 1461, the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act of 2011.  I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, yet every day thousands of children have their first cigarette.  Because of this and other statistics on the health risks, health costs and addictive nature of smoking, in June 2009 the Senate passed with my support S. 982, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA),  by a vote of 79-17.  The House version of this bill passed on April 2, 2009 and President Barack Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act into law on June 22, 2009.

This law gave the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) new authority to regulate the manufacturing, distribution, advertising, promotion, sale, and use of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and other tobacco products, subject to clarification by future guidance.  The FDA subsequently issued strict restrictions on cigarette and smokeless tobacco sale, distribution, product labeling, marketing and advertising towards minors. 

In July 2011, the FDA indicated its intent to issue a proposed rule that would deem cigars, dissolvable tobacco, and e-cigarettes subject to the FSPTCA and the FDA's jurisdiction.  The FDA has not yet issued this rule, but expects to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking this fall.  Following publication of the proposed rulemaking, the FDA plans to accept and review public comments before issuing its final rulemaking.

In response to this, on August 1, 2011, Senator Bill Nelson (FL) introduced S. 1461, to exempt traditional large and premium cigars from regulation by the FDA and from user fees assessed on tobacco products by the FDA.  Upon introduction, S. 1461 was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, where no further action has occurred.  I will be sure to keep your comments in mind should S. 1461 or any related legislation come before the Senate for a vote.

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with me.  Please feel free to contact me with your concerns regarding any federal issue by visiting my website at www.tomudall.senate.gov.  For more information, you may also visit my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Senator-Tom-Udall/106433512869 and receive up to the minute updates through my Twitter page at http://twitter.com/senatortomudall.

Very truly yours,

Tom Udall
United States Senator

Oh, my aching ass.  Thanks, Nanny.  I'm beginning to wonder about the wisdom of my decision to become a New Mexican, as my representative and both of my senators were solid, right-thinking Republicans when I was a Texan.  Now?  They're all frickin' Democrats.  I suppose that's incentive for me to get out and vote (which I ALWAYS do) but my county is decidedly RED, as are most rural constituencies in these United States.  It doesn't help my attitude to find out that S.1461 is languishing in committee, where bills go to die.  Today ain't off to a great start.  

Why? Because I CAN

And there was JOY in P-Ville last night.  Leavenworth, too.

On a completely different (yet same, when it comes to joy) note...


Didja catch the Queen Wave at the end?  Perfect.

Yup

From the Usual Source.

I'm Glad THAT'S Over...

... but not as glad as Iowans.  I have an ol' AF buddy who lives in Iowa; he e-mailed yesterday and said he unplugged his land-line because of all the robocalls.  It ain't really over, we're just changing venues with barely a week's respite until we do it again.  But at least Red Eye is on tonight.

I'm almost resigned to Romney, btw.  Santorum is as flaky as Gingrich but without the brains.

More From the In-Box

Lotsa stuff in there this "morning," most of it delete-key fodder.  Like this:

I've never had a subscription to the NYT, unless you count the four month Sunday-edition Christmas gift subscription I got from a buddy back in '96 or '97.  The NYT must really be hurtin' if they're sendin' stuff like this out.

And then there's this:

I've never bought anything from Amazon's herbs, spices, and seasonings department but I DID click on a link to 25 Tahitian Vanilla Beans in an old post by Blog-Bud Andy.  Amazon NEVER forgets... that's pretty scary, sometimes.

From my daily Townhall newsletter... there are new political cartoons at the Usual Source, this among them:

You might wanna watch Monday's video again.

The Usual USAF Source reminds me where I should be at 1430 hrs today:

Go Falcons!: The Air Force Academy Falcons host the University of Toledo Rockets Wednesday in the Military Bowl at RFK Stadium in the nation's capital. ESPN will air the football game nationally at 4:30 p.m. East Coast time. "The game is all about the men and women of our military and raising support and awareness for the USO, so having a military academy represented in the Air Force Academy versus an exciting, high-scoring Toledo Rockets team is great for our game," said Steve Beck, Military Bowl president and executive director, in a release. The Falcons, members of the Mountain West Conference, finished their regular season with a winning 7-5 record. They are making a bowl appearance for the fifth consecutive year, a school record. The Rockets, from the Mid-American Conference, finished their season with eight wins and four losses. This marks the two teams' first meeting. (See also the academy's game notes; caution, large-sized file.)

OK, it ain't a BCS bowl.  So?  

The Air Force game is only an hour from now; I just poured my second cup and haven't even begun to make the blog-rounds.  I'm upside down again, sleep-wise, and to further complicate things it's a nice day outside (55 degrees!) and there are errands to be run.  I don't see how I'm gonna get everythang I wanna do done... sumthin's gonna have to give and it might be the football game.

Update, 1430 hrs:  This:

I deleted that, too.

Cue Up Tevye

As in... Tradition!  Blogging tradition, that is.  This year we'll just post a link to our UCR Boxing Day post.  If you've read it, you've read it and if you haven't?  Well, do what ya think is right.  Here's a pic from the sometimes-revised story to whet yer appetite:

To quote myself: "That's SN1, The Lovely Miz Lynch, and YrHmblScrb at a world-famous pile o' rocks, the pic which just might have been taken 20 21 years ago today."  That's not entirely true, it would be more like 21 years ago the day after tomorrow.  I spent Boxing Day of 1990 partying in London.

―:☺:― 

We wound up with a White Christmas after all.  It snowed lightly ALL day yesterday but the temp stayed stuck at 32 degrees or just slightly above until nightfall.  The upshot was we got about a one inch accumulation after sunset, with wet streets and patches of snow prior to that.  We were completely white when I got up this morning but it's melting off rapidly on its way to 40-something degrees.  Still and even: prettier than it sounds.

―:☺:―

I saw this Christmas Eve but didn't wanna ruin Christmas by posting political shit.  After all, Christmas IS a time of peace on earth and good will toward men, and that would include Young President Barry.  But this is pretty good...

Yeah... I've used the theme from Masterpiece Theatre to play the pompous ass myself.  Perfect!

I'm Fallin' Down On the Job

Sunny's had a new video out for three days and I just now watched it.

I blame the winter blahs for my oversight.  I promise to do better in future.

Didja Watch It?

I have no stomach for the "debates," or the soundbite parade, or the "lookin' for the gotcha moment," or whatever you want to call what these gotdamned sideshows have evolved into this year.  It's all I can do to read reasonable commentary about the event... actually watching the thangs would be a bridge waaay too far, as even the day-after soundbites irritate the piss outta me. 

No mention of the debates would be complete without my UCR rant against Fox: NO Red Eye last night, just a re-run of the sideshow.  I hate-hate-HATE them for that.

And He Uses It, Too

From the Usual Source.

Mah Girl, Doin' What She Does Best

"I will let them eat cake."  You GO, Sunny.  Marie's got nuthin' on you!

Yup

Kinda looks that way, don't it?

From the Usual Source.

Broadening Our Horizons XXXVI, or, Look What I Found, Moogie!

N'Awlins' finest, or so I heard...

I heard right.  This is some good stuff, Maynard.

―:☺:― 

Incentive...  I got this in the mail today:

This really cheeses me off, or to put it bluntly: Family Values, my ass.  So I ran right down to the courthouse and registered to vote.  Alas, I found out I can't vote in the upcoming city election... you must be on the voter rolls 30 days prior to any election to be eligible to vote. 

Dang.  Now I can't do my bit to avoid havin' to drive out to Cannon when the beer supply runs low on Sunday.  It's always sumthin'.

Ramirez Is Good Today

Buh-bye, Barney.  Don't let the door hit ya in the ass on the way out... coz it certainly wouldn't be a come on.  Don't want ya to get the wrong ideer, yanno?