Too Darned Hot

A reminder that we live in what used to be a desert, before Mr. Mulholland stole all that water from up north: it's almost 110 degrees F. The thermometer in the shade outside of my office was at 106 when I looked at it about half an hour ago. There are clouds building to the east which would definitely indicate an impending thunder storm if I was back in New York or Virginia, but this is Los Angeles where water from the sky in August is pretty rare. It rained in Chatsworth, 7 miles to the northwest of our house on Saturday afternoon, and on Sunday I heard a report of rain in Burbank, about 10 miles east of where we live. Not a drop fell on our house either day.

Hypocrisy is alive and well among the Republicans today. First is Senator Craig saying "I have never been a homosexual"--as if it is a persona that can be changed at will. Then there are the members of his party calling for his resignation--so the Republican governor of Idaho can appoint an interim Republican Senator who will then have no trouble winning next year in the very red state. (There was another Republican Senator in a similarly embarrassing position recently, but there are no calls for his resignation because he's from a state where a Democrat is likely to be appointed to replace him. The corollary is likely the reason that "independent" Joe Lieberman is being bandied about for Attorney General: Connecticut has a Republican governor who would be able to appoint an interim Republican to the Senate, throwing things back into Republican hands for the next 500-plus days.) And, of course, there is Fox So-called News reporting on this story but refusing to identify Senator Craig as a Republican! It might be an error, if this wasn't the latest of many times one of Rupert Murdoch's companies did this. In fact, they have intentionally mis-identified Republicans as being Democrats for similar gaffes and crimes.

News flash, Senator Craig: no one cares who or what you're playing around with until you lie about it and persecute other people for having the same orientation. As long as you are not taking advantage of minors, Congressional pages, or someone else over whom you have unlimited power and as long as you don't treat the rest of the world like we're stupid, it's your own darned business. Resigning is the coward's way out. We'll be happy to see you go next year. [Thanks, Len, for catching the missing word in the earlier version of this.]