Hello, again.  I have some tomato plants I should pull today.  Sunday I did get the beans harvested and pulled.  Froze five meals worth out of four vines.  Not bad.  That is in addition to three meals harvested and frozen earlier and one that we ate fresh.  Most of the gardening blogs I read report their harvest in pounds or pints.  My gardens are much smaller so my production is smaller.  We will be using one of the packages of tomato sauce I did up a week or so ago for spaghetti sauce today.  Looking forward to that.

So the news are saying that the American hikers convicted of spying in Iran may be released on $500k 'bail' IF Ahmadinajad can deliver.  I put that bail in quotes because it is really ransom.

I have already turned off the morning news.  They are heavily covering the so-called 'debate' among the Repthuglican hopefuls.  These little circuses are coming way too frequently and are totally un-enlightening.  They say nothing new.  And it is five months before the first of the real contests--the primaries and caucuses.  Frankly, our political process has become a wasteful and expensive irritation.

The New York Times has an interesting series of graphs illustrating the economic history of the last 40 years.  Key points: 1) until the 1970s productivity translated into better worker compensation, 2) government policy between 1930 and 1980 curbed the growth of income and wealth among the wealthiest part of the population and redirected it toward the lower economic classes, 3) after 1970, families maintained a middle class status first because women entered the work force in large numbers and then later by debt as government policies swung to favor the wealthy.  I will let you draw your own conclusions about what these trends mean for most of us.

The Red Tape Chronicles has a new entry in the series on the unusual ways Americans are trying to get through the economic downturn.  Last week they covered the dumpster diving dad.  Today the present the lawyer getting by working in a topless bar.

I've just noticed something interesting.  Although all of the news networks are carrying snippets from the faux debate last night none of them are carrying the sound bite that most of the bloggers I read have picked up on--the tea baggers cheering when Blitzer asked Paul if someone without health insurance should simply be left to die.  NOT A ONE--so far.  This self-righteous, pitiless, and callous dismissal of anyone less well off than themselves as not even worthy of existing.