Good morning, everyone. For the moment we have cloudy skies and cool temps. It isn't supposed to last though. The forecast temps are supposed to be in the high 80s and low 90s. I have already trimmed my catnip and a few of the vines, and watered everything. I may have to water the smaller pots late this evening. Before the heat drove me inside yesterday I got my finished compost bagged and the new compost transferred to the main bin and washed out the secondary bin. I also did get the rosemary and lemon verbena trimmed and was surprised to get a full tray of the rosemary and 4 of the verbena.

What a wonderful example of Repthuglican logic!! The recklessness of the big financial institutions caused this economic mess but they want to cut the budget of the agency that is supposed to regulate them. Oh, I forgot--'greed is good.'

The Economist has an interesting article this morning explaining why a compromise over the debt ceiling is as inevitable as many of the pundits think. Most important reasons: both sides have invoked moral principles that make it difficult (if not impossible) to compromise, sizable minorities in both parties are not convinced that the aftermath will be as catastrophic as the 'experts' predict, the hardliners in both parties may not be as badly punished by the voters as pundits predict, and you have the 'peanut gallery' of Repthuglican presidential hopefuls spouting their mental diarrhea without responsibility for the consequences. One interesting point has broader application--the problem of mixed messages from dueling 'experts.' For each voice yelling 'catastrophe' there is another insisting that nothing dire will happen. Which expert do you trust?

The Good Morning, America show had an interesting segment on the real estate market: foreclosures have dropped almost 30% year-over-year. However, the reporter noted that this news wasn't necessarily good. The banks were simply pushing foreclosures on large numbers of properties into next year and 2013 to keep them off the glutted market. They hope the market will rebound and they won't have to take a loss. That seems to be the hope around the world--if we can kick the can down the road the economy will pick up and everything will be fine again. The problem: what if the economy doesn't pick up or even gets worse?? Then you have a worse situation and are in an even weaker position.