Good sunny Monday morning, All.  A bit colder than normal today.  How often have I been able to say that over this winter?  Not often!!  We got maybe 2 inches of snow overnight--thanks to Lake Michigan.  The weather people expect highs in the mid to upper 30s but going into the 50s tomorrow.  Maybe 60 by Wednesday.  A very nice sight this morning was the sun on part of my fence.  The more sunlight the fence gets the more my patio gets reflected onto it and the faster it warms up.  I checked the thermometer in the mini-greenhouse after I cleared the snow off the patio.  The temperature is holding at about 5F above the temperature registered by the other thermometer on the patio door.

Well, it looks like some of Rush's sponsors are not accepting his 'apology.'  Good!!  Hope many more join them.  I agree with you, Kay.  The whole idiotic episode is nuts.  Rush may have researchers but they don't really have much input.  His whole modus operandi is to engage mouth while putting brain and ethics in neutral.  Truth doesn't matter.  He claimed in his non-apology that he aimed to use absurdity to put a spotlight on absurdity.  That was massively disingenuous.  He intended to use absurdity to diminish and make absurd a political/social argument he disagreed with in the process dehumanizing and marginalizing the person making the argument.  The conservative arguments against contraception and abortion have never fared very well in an honest debate so Limbaugh fell back on the old tactic favored by those bereft of reasoned arguments and common sense: personal attacks against those arguing for the opposite position.  As I said yesterday: Rush lied when he said he never intended to attack Fluke personally.

Another good reason to not shop at the big-box stores.  They could stop this by simply demanding their subcontractors follow all legal requirements instead of insisting on the lowest price possible.  It is funny that the news media has made a big deal over the treatment of chinese workers at companies that supply Apple with its products but haven't made a peep over the treatment of warehouse workers in the U.S.  And, in case you wondered, I have read several posts over the last few months dealing with the issue so it isn't as though nobody knows about it.

Ezra Klein has an interesting question on his Wonkbook this morning and provides a very cogent answer.  What will President Obama do if he wins a second term?  Answer: whatever Congress lets him do.  That is something our political campaigns obliterate.  Every candidate of whatever party from the national levels down tell voters what they will do if elected but never a one ever indicates that s/he depends on the cooperation of other elected officials fulfill his promises.  The problem is that no one (individual voter or member of the press) asks exactly how the aspiring politician hopes to fulfill the promises.  I heard a commentator (and not one of the mainstream media) say bluntly that Presidents get too much blame for what goes wrong and take too much credit for what goes right.  He was absolutely correct.  But then we, the voters, encourage that.