The 4th of July

I'm blogging from an undisclosed location, but you might be able to figure out where we are.....

Last night we watched fireworks from our hotel window. We saw fireworks in the city with the tallest building in the U.S., and the fireworks celebrations in the surrounding communities. It was beautiful.

* Sarah Palin is going to resign as the Governor of Alaska. Ho, hum. In my view, this is just part of the soap opera that is her life. Is there some other scandal that is going to break? Is this her way to prepare for a run for President? Frankly, my dear, I don't care.

* The other soap opera that continues in the Republican Party is the saga of the Gov. Mark Sanford. How is this guy able to govern with all of this mess surrounding him? It is just really sad that Sanford would rather feed his ego and his sexual urges than take care of his family and the state he was elected to govern. How can Sanford's staff and other members of the SC government trust him since he appears to be completely untrustworthy and a slimeball in his personal life?????

Happy 4th of July!

Posting will be sporadic over the next few days. In the meantime, enjoy the holiday weekend!

I've Had Enough

* It might be a generational thing, but I've had enough of the media coverage of the passing of Michael Jackson. As a faithful viewer of the Today Show, I've had to change the channel because of their overabundance of coverage of his death, his family, etc., etc., etc. Enough already.

* Here it is July 2nd, and Mark Sanford is still the Governor of South Carolina. If I lived in South Carolina, I'd be very embarrassed about that. Sanford's continuing talk about his mistress and other women, is just plain disgusting. He is acting like a seventh grade boy instead of a grown man. Sanford is a so called "family values" Republican. Is Sanford an example of what the GOP means by "family values?"


* In central Ohio, very slowly, companies are starting to hire again. Businesses, grocery stores, insurance companies, offices, and other companies are putting out hiring notices. New restaurants are opening in the Polaris area, and ads are appearing online and in the papers. It may not be a mammoth hiring move, but it is a beginning.

Al Franken!!!

Congratulations to Senator-elect Al Franken!!!!

> Vanity Fair has an interesting article about Gov. Sarah Palin. My favorite quote from the article is this:

....One longtime McCain friend and frequent companion on the trail was heard to refer to Palin as “Little Shop of Horrors.”.....

It appears that things were very, very tense between Palin, McCain, and the McCain staff. Could you imagine the disaster that they would have brought on the country if the GOP had won the White House???????

***** Ohioans are keeping their fingers crossed that some new jobs come through with the manufacture of railway cars.

Dispatch:

Eyeing federal stimulus money set aside for transportation projects, a Columbus company has purchased a defunct manufacturer of diesel-powered passenger railcars and is talking to the state about basing manufacturing operations in Ohio.

U.S. Railcar LLC would employ between 100 and 200 workers once a manufacturing site is established, said Barry Fromm, CEO of financial-services firm Value Recovery Group, lead investor in U.S. Railcar....

He Asked??????

When I read this, I thought this guy is lucky he is not my husband.

AJC:

South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford sat in her oceanfront living room Friday, recalling how her husband repeatedly asked permission to visit his lover in the months after she discovered his affair.

“I said absolutely not. It’s one thing to forgive adultery; it’s another thing to condone it,” Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press during a 20-minute interview at the coastal home where she sought refuge with their four sons. They were her first extended comments on the affair....

He asked permission?

Sanford is a complete idiot. He asked his wife's permission to go cavort with his mistress in a foreign country? What kind of a man disrespects his wife like this? If your daughter had come to you and told you her husband asked for permission to visit his mistress, what would you have done? Exactly.

How can anyone respect this Sanford? He disrespected his wife, his children, the sanctity of his vows, and the people of South Carolina so that he could fulfill his lust.

* IF the Minnesota Supreme Court rules in favor of DFLer U.S. Senate candidate, Al Franken, Gov. Pawlenty.....

Minnesota Public Radio:
"....says he intends to sign an election certificate in Minnesota's long-running U.S. Senate race once the court rules on the matter.

Pawlenty said on CNN's State of the Union program Sunday that he expects the Minnesota Supreme Court to rule on the case soon. He also said he expects the court to direct him to sign the election certificate and will sign it if the court instructs him to do so. He said he also won't wait too long if the case is appealed on federal court....."

Al Franken needs to be seated in the U.S. Senate ASAP.

* Gov. Mark Sanford's trip to Argentina to visit his mistress has been a very interesting sideshow. How did the governor of South Carolina think that no one would notice that he was missing for a few days? Sanford is an idiot and a buffoon.

Sanford met with his cabinet soon after his return from his tryst in Argentina.

News Yahoo:

....At one point, he likened his confession and future to the biblical plight of King David — and looks of nervousness and incredulity crept into the officials' faces....

Sanford is a complete hypocrite. He has no moral ground. He betrayed his wife, his vows, and his children. Sanford now thinks he can make things better with a stupid apology and a comparison with a biblical figure. I'm sure that the people of South Carolina are embarrassed by this man as their governor. If Sanford stays in office, he continues to be a reminder of the real meaning of Republican family values.

Horrifying Story

As a dog owner, I was horrified when I read about this story.
Dispatch:

A Columbus firefighter admits that he took his two dogs to the basement, tied them up and blasted them with a rifle so he and a girlfriend could vacation without paying to board the animals.....

...Firefighter David P. Santuomo, 43, pleaded guilty yesterday to two counts of animal cruelty and one count of possession of a criminal tool -- for taping a 2-liter plastic bottle onto the gun as a makeshift silencer....

...Santuomo, who did not give a statement in court, will spend 90 days in jail, pay $4,500 to cover the cost of his investigation and serve five years' probation, Judge Harland H. Hale ruled....

This is absolutely disgusting.

Our family has pets and we've always had to pay for boarding. Some people will leave pets under the care of a trusted neighbor/friend, or hire a pet sitter. If he was unable to care for his animals, he should have surrendered them to his local shelter. I think that the judge should also have made this man do a couple thousand hours of community service.

Late Night....

My hilarious husband said he would not be home tonight because he was going to Argentina. Ha. Ha.

* Political Tiger's journal over at Democratic Underground has an extremely detailed account of "Conservative Values." If you need the dirty details, see the link.

* A conservative talk show host has been arrested and Bloomberg has the details:

A New Jersey man described as an Internet radio talk show host and blogger was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill three U.S. Appeals Court judges in Chicago who earlier this month upheld a law banning handguns.

Hal Turner, 47, of North Bergen was arrested by U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents at his home today, according to a statement issued by Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

In the days after the judges’ June 2 decision to uphold a lower court’s dismissal of a National Rifle Association lawsuit challenging the ban, Turner posted on his Web site their names, photographs, phone numbers and work addresses, together with a picture of the courthouse delineating stanchions he called “anti-truck bomb barriers,” according to Fitzgerald.....

Hal Turner? According to the article, Turner was arrested before for inciting violence. Is this the right wing terrorism we were warned about by Homeland Security?

Here We Go Again

Gov. Sanford of South Carolina has appeared again.
LA Times:

South Carolina's wandering governor, Mark Sanford, said today he had an affair with an Argentine woman and that was why he disappeared without telling anyone he went to South America.

"The bottom line is this: I've been unfaithful to my wife," he said. "I've developed a relationship with a dear dear friend from Argentina."

Speaking at a nationally televised news conference, Sanford apologized to his wife, his four boys, his family and the people of South Carolina for his disappearance and for leaving his staff and family to make up excuses for his absence. Sanford's staff had insisted at one point that he was off hiking on the Appalachian Trail.....

Incredible. Is this what Republican family values means?

> The newspaper, The State, has more details:

....Sanford did not respond when asked if he would resign as governor....
....Sanford’s relationship with the woman in Argentina became more sexually charged about a year ago, but Sanford’s wife did not learn of the affair until about five months ago. The Sanfords have since been in counseling......

I guess Sanford can kiss his political future goodbye. Why do these "family values" Republicans cheat on their wives?