Good Morning, Everyone. Still chilly and overcast here. Everyone is asking when summer will finally arrive. I am sure people living in the south and west are wishing it would go away.

The TV news this morning had a teaser for a story we didn't hang around long enough to hear: the transportation stimulus money has evidently not gone to the kinds of projects that the lawmakers intended raising fears that the 'recovery' would be delayed as a result. I wonder if this MSNBC story is what they were going to talk about. They handed out this money to the various states to use without any real direction on what to use it for and they are now surprised that the rural areas are getting better than half of the money when two thirds of the population live in urban areas. I am not surprised. I have watched the tug of war between rural and urban areas over the distribution of money in every state I have lived in. Why should this be any different? Add in the deadline for receiving the money and and the lack of clear language on how it should be spent and, of course, the money is going where ever they can throw it first and to whoever has the loudest voices or most clout in the state legislatures. DUH!!!

A related story on the morning news concerned the education money from the stimulus. A lot of that is also not going for the kinds of projects the national legislators intended, i.e. new schools. They gave mention to Flint, Michigan, (I think) where the money has been used to simply keep the system going--never mind building new. They said that city had not built a new school in something like 30 years. I wonder what kind of population growth (or not) the city has had over that time period. Many rust belt cities have lost population. Do they really need to build new schools?

For some more on the kinds of choices local and state governments have been forced to make take a look at this story.

Then there is the continuing fiscal soap opera in California. Governor Schwartzeneger and the legislature have been at loggerheads for some time now over the budget which at a $26+ billion deficit. The state started issuing IOUs for only the second time since the Great Depression. Now some of the biggest recipients of the banking bailout money are threatening to refuse to accept them. They hope to force the Governor and legislators to come to some kind of a final budget. Of course, they are also hoping to avoid being painted at the hard-hearted bastards they are and a spokesperson for the banking association suggested that they might arrange short term loans and lines of credit for their customers who are going to be given the IOUs that can be repaid in October (with interest) when, everyone hopes, the budget mess will be straightened out. Such generosity leaves me absolutely underwhelmed.

Then there is this story which I found via a link on one of my google searches. As I read this, aloud so Mom could hear what it said, we began to think about what we would need the next time we had to get our driver's licences renewed. If we are reading this story right we would have to take at least three documents to the licence bureau. Motor Vehicles Bureau personnel justify the requirement as a way of preventing identity theft. I rather doubt it will be all that effective. The criminals who make a living stealing other people's identities will surely be able to come up with fake birth certificates, fake social security numbers, and fake bills or what ever other fake document they need. Wait a minute--haven't they already done that? This is just another royal pain in the ass for me and another fake deterrent for the criminals.

Good Morning, All. The weather isn't much to talk about. Still unseasonably cool. Nice for most of the garden but the tomatoes are still slow. The late season plant hasn't set any fruit yet. Some blossoms but no fruit. Although we have had periods of showers over the last couple of weeks (like on the 4th) not enough rain has fallen do any good in the gardens. Most of the gardens are doing well. We are taking stock of what we have and making notes for next spring. Note #1: do not plant sugar snap peas. Too little yield per plant for a container garden. Note #2: even with the large containers do not put in more than two tomato plants. Note #3: plant more lettuce. We have had more salads and sandwiches so far this year than we had in the previous two years together. Eating is so much more enjoyable when things taste good.

Tripping through MSNBC I found this story while trying to avoid the ad nauseaum coverage of Michael Jackson's memorial. It make you wonder what we are getting for the mind-blowing amounts of money we are spending on 'Homeland Security.' Those were (supposedly) high security federal buildings. I caught a bit of the story a couple of days ago on the nightly news but it was barely a mention amid the overwhelming coverage of the YOU-KNOW-WHO.

Right next to the above story was this one. Officials in the U.S. and South Korea think North Korea is behind a concerted cyber attack on government and financial agencies in both countries. Of course such attacks are very hard to trace back to the perpetrators but is anyone really surprised? After all, according to recent South Korean reports, North Korea would rather spend massive amounts of money ($700 million at last count) for the means (in this case missiles and nuclear warheads) to blackmail other countries into giving what they need to support their people rather than spend that directly on those people. Of course, these stories get barely a nod given the current focus of the news media. Does anyone remember the phrase "bread and circuses?"

Hello, again. It looks like I will spend the day trying to avoid coverage of Michael Jackson's memorial services. I really hate the ubiquity of this thing. At least the weather will be nice today.

As I scanned the titles on the MSNBC stories this morning I came across this entry. According to the writer some employees are not playing nice when they leave their jobs. Everyone interviewed seem perplexed by the number of people who burn their bridges when they leave. They violate non-compete clauses they signed or they leave without the 'customary' two weeks notice. I am not at all surprised. The job market has become a decidedly rude and one sided place over the last several years (decades?). I remember the resentment I felt when employers expected the applicant to send in thank you notes after an interview but never felt the need to inform that applicant of what action had been taken on their application. They expected courtesy when they provided none. I have listened to stories about mandatory furloughs, wage cuts, suspension of 401k contributions and other unilateral actions and been amazed at the attitude of interviewers and company representatives: at least the employees still had a job. Marginal comfort at best. I have wondered how long it would be before workers started questioning that wisdom and started thinking that having a job under the current conditions is not worth the effort.

Frank Rich has an interesting piece in the NY Times: "Bernie Madoff is no John Dillinger." My first thought reading the title was "Yeah--Dillinger was always up front about what he was doing. He had the gun and he was robbing the place." But there is a lot more to this article than just that. Read it for yourself. It is interesting. We don't have anyone right now that can tap into the public consciousness like Dillinger did (and like Butch Cassidy, The Sundance Kid, or Jessie James from earlier times). I don't know that I would want even a pale imitation of Dillinger around but we do need someone who can make both the bankers and politicians understand how broken is the trust between ordinary people and our political and economic institutions. Chris In Paris, who provided the link to the Rich article, has some good comments also.

Good Morning, All. Hope you had a really nice 4th. Yesterday was great. Too bad the weather from yesterday wasn't what we had for the 4th itself. But that has been the standard pattern of weather this year. Unseasonably cold and wet followed by unseasonably warm and dry. And through it all we did not get enough rain to do any real good for the gardens. Luckily we had good food and good company for my sister's cook-out on Saturday.

I found this Newsweek article this morning that rang a bell. I also like to re-read old favorites. I have collected some of the Judge Dee and Nero Wolf mysteries twice now. I will keep my 'Father Brown Omnibus' and several other classics. I miss seeing new Father Koestler and Brother Cadfael stories coming out. But I keep my favorite editions to revisit from time to time. What favorites do you revisit?

Newsweek also has another of those 100 best lists. I didn't do as well on this one as I usually do. I only read all or significant portions of 51 of the titles listed. I did note, though, that I had read several works not listed by some of the authors. I also noticed that I had read a lot of the older books. Some of them I doubt I would have read if they had not been required for courses I was taking or papers I was writing.

Good Morning, Everyone. Well, here it is--July 3. Where has the year gone? Half over all ready.

I found this little item on MSNBC as I was going to get my e-mail. I have never trusted labels much. If a label tells you that you get a miniscule number of calories per serving, take a real hard look at the serving size. Do you really believe anyone is going to eat only a quarter of a cup of roasted mixed nuts? I don't. Nor do I believe the 'Organic' label. Over the last few years we have read more labels than we have ever before and made some serious changes in what we buy. The article makes it very plain who Federal agencies really protect--and it isn't the consumer. The only time they worry about the consumer is when s/he isn't buying things like there is no tomorrow, or like the credit flow won't stop. Then they get concerned.

I have to get myself out and go to the library today. So I will say bye for now.

Hi, again. I just posted pictures of a sewing project just finished. I figured I would leave that post just for the pictures and put other things here.

Well, the U.S. Senate is, at least, complete. The Minnesota Supreme Court finally ended the election battle some almost 8 months after election night. Al Franken can now take his seat giving the Dems 60 seats. Anyone who thinks this will make a great deal of difference should remember Will Rogers' famous quip: I'm not a member of an organized political party. I'm a Democrat. We'll see if they can get their act together.

Illinois legislators failed to deliver a new budget. It is one of 6 according to a Chicago Tribune article in that same boat. Indiana, evidently, managed to get its two year budget approved.

Good Morning, Everyone. It is gray, drizzly and cool today. The plants will probably like this change though the cats are very, very annoyed. Especially a certain gray monster who thinks going out on the patio is his right.

Thank you, Looking to the Stars. I think green thumbs get greener with practice and I have been getting more lately after many years of inactivity--due to circumstances beyond my control because I would loved to have had a garden during that time.

I have some pictures of a different kind of garden this morning. I finally moved the my place mats from the UFO or WIP column to the FINISHED column. They all use a hexagon base. The top picture is the basic pattern: 'Grandmother's Flower Garden.' The others are simply variations on color and placement of the colors. It is a great way to use left over fabrics. A coupe of them are from old clothes long past their useful life as clothing.

I hand pieced these--something I usually don't do. But I don't like machine working such small pieces even more and it is easier to fit these pieces by hand.