Good morning, again, everyone. Cold and clear here. We had frost all the way to the ground this morning for the first time since early last spring. I have a bunch of leaves on the patio that I need to sweep up into my compost bin. The last batch of leaves and the paper shreds have settled so I now have room for the new. I am poking along with craft work--just finishing some things and getting some others into a useable state. I have a bag of plastic loops from bread and bagel wrappers that I am braiding into a thick cord. I will see how they do in making utility baskets. Should do well--I have started the base for the first one using the same technique I did when I made pine needle baskets in Girl Scouts.

So this is what it takes to get Americans on their high horses to defend their privacy and rights as Americans. After the obscenity called the Patriot Act, warrantless wiretaps, and countless other measures over the last several years we have finally found some intrusion that people won't put up with. We have hysterically treated absolute security as an absolute good that justifies any price without ever discussing whether it is either attainable or affordable.

And then there is this item from Crooks and Liars. A freshman Republican Representative-elect (who is also a physician) demands to know he can't get his government provided health care immediately (it is part of Federal Law, idiot), what in the world he is going to do for the 28 days before the government benefit kicks in, and could he please buy a government policy to cover the gap? Can anyone else spell "goddamned hypocrite"? If this is any indication of what constitutes the new Republican majority in the House, we are royally screwed.