Good morning to you all.  We need to do our grocery shopping today.  That is usually a Monday chore but yesterday was wet with falling temperatures and a possibility of snow.  We did get snow but it wasn't much and didn't stick.  But I will spend most of my time today reading my blogs/news and continuing the sewing room clean up.  We got most things put back on shelves and drawers after rearranging things.  Now we have to do the final clean-up, sorting, and repositioning.  That will probably take several days.

And, now that I have most of the seeds I want to plant, I have to set up my planting schedule.  I agree, Nicola.  The bachelor buttons should show nicely in the gardens.  I haven't grown them before.  This is going to be an interesting year with pyrethrum mums, bachelor buttons, and tansy as the new flowers joining the mums, roses, impatiens, and poppies.  So far the mums and roses look like they will survive outside in the large containers.  We have the old TV and my old iMac to take to the city recycling center.  I had kept the computer because I had all my music downloaded on it but I have not turned it on for the last year.  My rule of thumb--if you haven't used or wore it for a year seriously consider finding a new home for it.

Sounds like you are getting some extensive spring cleaning done, Kay.  Hope Miss Ruby stays clear but we still have another month-and-a-half to two months of winter.  We also benefited from the thaw because our car also thawed out.  Take things a bit easy on the cleaning.  We worked for about two hours then played for a while and then did another couple of hours work.  We just get too tired and cranky if we push it too much.

I will watch the State of the Union speech this evening.  I have read some speculations about what will be in it and a couple of those speculations are--disconcerting.  I want to find out if they are accurate.  Tell you my impressions tomorrow.

The Irish reporter in this video is a man whose hand I would like to shake.  He asked the European Central Bank idiot a simple question, after the man waxed poetic about the wonderful understanding the Irish people (even taxi drivers) had of the intricate and complicated problems of the European banking system and the need for bailouts.  Why, he asked, should the Irish people should protect the unsecured bondholders of a defunct Irish bank.  They tried very hard to get Vincent Browne to ask two questions of which, of course, they could choose to answer the least significant of them.  When he refused, the idiot gave some claptrap about confidence in the European banking system and other meaningless evasions.  On which Browne quickly called him.  To my mind, forcing the Irish (or any other public) to make good on the losses of unsecured bond holders is rather like forcing the people of Las Vegas to make good the gambling loss of the losing patrons at Wynn's casinos.  Another example of how certain privileged industries have managed to privatize profits while socializing risks.

Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism linked to this post by emptywheel that discusses an Administration tactic used to get reluctant politicians to go along with questionable proposals.  The first was the bribe of $45 million in expanded Medicaid funding for Kansas if Kansas Senator Nelson (who isn't running for reelection but might have lost if he did) voted for Health Insurance Reform.  The second was the proposal that California homeowners be given $10 billion in foreclosure aid if California's Attorney General Kamala Harris would withdraw her objections and agree to a settlement of the banking scandal the Administration wants.  Isn't government by extortion and bribery wonderful.  And all taxpayers are contributing to the what has become a monstrous slush fund (a.k.a., U.S. Treasury).

Chris In Paris notes the report on the examination of U.K. police logs concerning Rupert Murdoch's hacking scandal.  Surprise, Surprise!  The dear boy's reporters lied to the police.  I am so shocked.  I wonder if they will be charged with crimes??  Perjury and obstruction of justice come to mind.  Will Rupert protect them or hang them out to dry??