Just wondering

I have spent a lot of time on the roadways of the great states of Kentucky and Ohio. My question is: When do they intend to start using that money they've been collecting to keep highways in good repair. Alternate question: Who has that money, if it is not available for road maintenance?  Senator McConnell, are you there?

Fun & Games

The [U.S.] embassy [in Baghdad] gift shop, having a little fun with the continuing state of siege, sells a stuffed yellow duck with a little vest that says, “Duck & Cover.” (Mike Allen's Playbook)

Still curious ...

... about what "an insurgent" is, since we are in their country - Taliban-Afghanistan - that Petraeus promises "we will kill."  When people from other countries come here and kill Americans, we call them terrorists.

July 4th Patriotic News

AP - Gen. David Petraeus formally assumed command of the 130,000-strong international force in Afghanistan on Sunday, declaring "we are in this to win" - Well, good; let's treat this as a sports event, David.  And, why, exactly, did you, the military women and men in Afghanistan, and we at home need a formal ceremony?  Posturing? We've had plenty, don't need any more.

Note that I did not bother to send to Lake Park, Georgia Public Library

I went into your Lake Park branch to look at news and public affairs commentary on Twitter.com and found it blocked "because it is a 'social networking' site."  I am surprised by this - this is, after all, the land of the free; and librarians are usually in favor of open access to information - but then I saw on your site that this library is on Facebook.com.  Dissonance?? Or am I missing something?

Buddhists and others who are into acceptance and tolerance would be less/not bothered by this, and I aspire to be less bothered by lots of things. But, I hope I am never tolerant of this bullshit.

Baseball today - I taught my kids, and players, ...

... do not slide head first. Today, Chase Utley, the So-Good-He's-Barely-Human 2nd baseman for the Phils slid (slud?) into 2nd base, head first, will now have surgery on his thumb and miss (at least) 8 weeks - and it's just a guess how good he will be the rest of the year.  And, he was 'out' on the play, to boot.  Good grief.

We St. Louis fans continue to be so-o-o fortunate that Albert Pujols is a Cardinal, and Yadier Molina, and Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter, and on and on.

The new democracy we've created in the Mid-East -

Some 150 politicians, civil servants, tribal chiefs, police officers, Sunni clerics and members of Awakening Councils have been assassinated throughout Iraq since the election — bloodshed apparently aimed at heightening turmoil in the power vacuum created by more than three months without a national government.
During the past 72 hours alone, at least eight Iraqi police officers, an Iraqi Army general, a government intelligence official, a member of an Awakening Council, a tribal sheik, and a high ranking staff member of Baghdad’s local government have all been assassinated in either Baghdad or Mosul. [NY Times, today]