Well, now that I have shown some pictures of my gardens I will continue with other things.

Two headlines caught my attention this morning. I didn't read the articles so I won't link to them. I am sure you can see similar on any news site. The first implied that Judge Sotomayor has some tall explaining to do now that her (and another appellate court judge's) decision on that firefighter test bias case has been overturned by a narrow Supreme Court decision (5-4). The other noticed what I had suspected given the news coverage so far: the Court handed the decision down but failed to give any real guidance on what constitutes fair hiring. You may be sure that there will be more law suits over this issue.

On the first point I can only say "SO WHAT?" If every judge who had a decision overturned was not eligible for the Supreme court then I suspect very few of those who are on the court or have been in the past would have been appointed. Are we expecting omniscience from our justices now? I thought that was an attribute of God not humans.

On the second point: If, during my various stints as a college teacher, I had given a test in which ALL of the black (or insert any other group here) did not make the cut I would seriously question the fairness of the TEST. But now it seems we don't have to do that. So, Supremes, what constitutes a fair hiring standard? Got any ideas on that?

Bernie Madoff has been handed the maximum sentence for his fraud--150 years. I commented to Mom a couple of days before the sentencing that a nice 10-12 years for each count would be nice. I never thought he would get it since we have a history of treating extravagant white color criminals with kid gloves. But I have also been thinking of Madoff as a symptom of what ails us in a broader sense. I see that The Glittering Eye has been thinking along the same lines.

Hello, again. It is nice and cool here today. We had light showers last night so I don't think I will have to water. They are predicting more hit and miss rain showers for this afternoon and tonight. We'll see. I hope I won't have to water the gardens.

Speaking of gardens here are my latest pictures.

These are about 10 days old so everything is a bit bigger now.

Good Morning, Everyone. After a week of high humidity and 90+ temps we are getting a nice break. Temps in the 70s and low 80s for this week. We were supposed to have rain all day today but that has changed and it will be mostly sunny. We had to put the air on last week however much we hated doing so. The cats hated it even more since they had to stay inside.

I haven't had much to say so I simply haven't said anything. What can you say about politics when it is just the same old rigamarole? One side proposes and the other side simply stonewalls. Polls tell us that Americans favor a public option health plan by a wide margin but the Republicans simply bleat 'Communism!!!' and dig in their heels while President Obama's administration waffles on the matter. Illinois politicians are still trying to work out a budget compromise but getting nowhere fast. All of them are looking to next year's elections and trying to avoid doing anything that will alienate anyone. Evidently, Indiana politicians are having trouble with their budget but I don't have any details. We get most of our news from Chicago outlets which, naturally, don't carry much from downstate Indiana.

Has everyone heard that there is a really big generation gap? The biggest since the '60s apparently. I checked into the story on MSNBC this morning. I am afraid they ticked me off to start with. The first set of numbers (covering religion) cites three age groups: 19-29, 30-49, and over 65. There are a whole lot of people missing there. Did you notice. I did. I guess those of us between 49 and 65 don't count a whole lot. A large part of the story covered young people's perceptions of what will happen when they grow older and older people's reports of what they have experienced. No discussion of course of the implications of those attitudes. Meaningless 'facts' dissociated from context.

Is anyone else tired of the 'coverage' of Michael Jackson's death? I certainly am. I am sorry he is dead but I don't want to know all of the gory details or any of the manufactured controversy. And I resent how it has driven useful news out of the picture. Instead of covering the energy bill (that just passed the House and is going to the Senate) or the proposals for health care reform, or any of the numerous stories that we should really know something about, the news media covers this exhaustively. And we let them get away with it.

Good Morning, again. It is another very warm and humid day. Unlike many other counties around here we are not under a heat advisory. The breezes are supposed to come off Lake Michigan making us a little cooler than surrounding areas. That doesn't make much difference to us because the little fenced cement patio concentrates heat. The temperature there can be 10-15 degrees warmer than anywhere off the patio.

I just finished harvesting the second batch of lettuce. The first went for two large chef salads and two small dinner salads. I splurged and bought one of the first tomatoes that appeared at local farmers market. My own are developing nicely--maybe three weeks away from fried green tomatoes. Mom and I both made the observation that anticipation is a rather nice feeling. We so enjoyed that salad. Tonight we will have cold sandwiches with lettuce and the remains of the tomatoes. Cold meals are so inviting with the heat.

I found an interesting take on the notion of 'green shoots' that has been such a catch phrase in the economic reporting lately. Kurt Cobb makes some interesting points and observations in his article at the Energy Bulletin. I have followed news stories for the last 15 years that describe the state of the nations infrastructure. I know the Obama administration has tagged a lot of the stimulus money for this purpose. (I almost wrote 'earmarked' but that word has such a nasty connotation now.) But the amounts I have heard experts cite as necessary just to repair roads, bridges, sewers, etc., doesn't come close to what the total those experts throw about. We already are spending mind-boggling amounts on financial 'infrastructure' deemed too large to fail. Our physical infrastructure is in much the same condition. All the bills are coming due at once.

Rhea at Boomer Chronicles pays tribute to the latest casualty of our digital age: Kodachrome. I also remember it fondly and am a little saddened to see it go. But hardly surprised. I learned photography in the Navy 40 years ago. For years I continued taking pictures and Kodachrome was one of my favorite films. Sadly, I had to discontinue the hobby almost two decades ago. Between the cost of the film and the cost of getting it processed (never mind any special costs like enlarged prints or framing) that I simply couldn't keep up with it. I am slowly getting back into it now that Mom and I have a decent digital camera. I am sorry that they have 'taken my Kodachrome away.' (No, I am not that clever. They played the old pop tune during the story on last night's news program.) But I am so glad to find the hobby is back within my slender means.

On that cheerful not I will sign off today. Have a good one, all.

Well, somebody flipped another weather switch. For so long we couldn't get out of the 60s and now we're going to be in the mid-to-high 80s (if the weather people have the right info here). You know the weather is crazy when the national news starts carrying weather related stories as frequently as they have. We don't seem to have any real transitions any more. It goes from winter to spring to summer suddenly--nothing gradual at all. As usual, we seem to be well situated. The rain has been heavy enough that I haven't had to water our garden containers and not so heavy they get flooded out. No power outages or wind damage so far.

Not much else to say today. I have some fabric calling me.

Good Morning, Everyone. We have rain here this morning. It was heavy enough that the rain alone woke me. Thankfully, we didn't get any hail. The weather people have predicted a string of dry days. I hope it comes to pass but the weather has surprised even the most experienced of the meteorologists.

I have added a new link to my side bar. We have cats and the melamine scare of last year had us all very nervous. I am always looking for sources of information on cat foods.

Good Morning. And, yes, it is a good morning even though we have rain and have had a few bouts of thunder. I planted the last of my planned garden yesterday: broccoli and the next succession of lettuce. I don't have to water any of the garden. Hopefully we will have some sun later before the next run of showers tonight.

I found this little article on the my trip through the news and blog listings on my google alerts. My own assessment of the situation: this company wants to break the union and has chosen to do so by misusing the immigration laws. I notice that the company never produced the letter they say triggered the termination so I think that the company's veracity on this matter is very suspect. Especially when they refuse to reinstate workers who provide evidence of valid social security numbers. Further evidence of their real intention comes up later in the article: the workers hired to replace the terminated union members at less pay, no benefits and on part time status no matter how many hours they work. I wonder what the farm grown (or processes) and whether I can eliminate those products from my life.

I just did a little research on what products they make. It is mainly processed foods, which we don't buy anymore, and food service products. The most recognizable brand I saw was 'Adobo' which had been advertised here somewhat infrequently.

And here is another entry in the 'Companies (or Industries) Behaving Badly' Sweepstakes by way of Archcrone at The Crone Speaks. As I said before the scam that is being perpetrated by the health insurance industry and their tame politicos simply hides the fact that no one has any real choice in the matter of insurance. To define the matter as one of choice hides that fact. And to define the matter as one of capitalism vs. socialism (or communism) simply means that we, as a society, seem to favor some privileged entities' excessive profits over the majority of less privileged people's health and very lives.