Ok, on the count of three....

everybody pretend to be surprised by today's announcement: The US government has been doing sneaky secret things and not telling anybody!! Even more surprising, it's the CIA that's being sneaky--didn't they *invent* sneaky? Hmmmmm.....surely anybody with half a dozen neurons has considered the possibility, even the likelihood, that the government has been doing stuff like this DESPITE the fact they've been telling you they haven't. Haven't we all learned by now that what the government says and what the government does sometimes suffers a bit of a disconnect? Obviously those who haven't are unfamiliar with the saying "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." (George Santayana (1863-1952) The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905)

I can think of at least three instances during my lifetime in which the government admitted to making things up or at least not sharing the whole story about something which directly affected the general public. If they'd allow unpublicized and intentional radiation releases along the California coast to see how far it would drift, would suppress draft records of men enrolled in the Tuskeegee syphillis experiment so as to keep them from receiving effective treatment, and would tell the public that the Three Mile Island nuclear accident involved no release of radioactivity, what makes you think they'd tell the US public about a secret jail (or a dozen of them) that doesn't directly impact our daily lives?

I have been greatly amused by the rather shocked and surprised reactions of some news outlets. I guess they haven't been watching the US government for very long. Let's remember, the oath that politicians take when they take office does NOT include the words "I swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth". Those words go to a different oath, thought some politicians end up swearing that one too.

Which brings me to former governor George Ryan's sentencing today. I had to laugh when the governor's lawyer bemoaned the fact that his aging client would be spending many, if not all, of his last years of life in jail. My instant reaction was that he should have considered that when he gave lucrative contracts to political cronies. (I did manage to not yell this at the radio.) I'm not particularly sympathetic for two reasons: First, there are consequences to illegal actions when you get caught and one of those consequences is jail time. Second, I doubt that Mr. Ryan will go to a "real" correctional facility and be mixed in the general prison population. I imagine he'll end up at a country club type facility like Martha Stewart. The only thing that will change in his life is his mailing address (and even that may not change depending upon how his assistants handle his mail). Quit whining and suck it up.

Today's just an R&R day, isn't it? (According to my favorite auto mechanics, Click and Clack, R&R stands for Rant and Rave.)

JINX!
I don't think my credit union likes me. It seems as though every time I go in there the computer dies, only brand new staff who don't know how to do whatever transaction I need to do are working, or something else goes wrong. I think there's a sensor in the driveway that can tell it's me and then it zaps the network before I get to the door. In Urbana, the library computer system didn't like me. It would bog down on days when I had a dozen books to check out and LOTS of people in line after me. It got to the point that the library staff would recognize the behavior and start to laugh. Hmmmm.....perhaps I should get a job as a sys admin for a large server farm. Just think of the havoc this ch1x0r could wreak just by crossing the threshold.

Around the house:
Need to mow the lawn tomorrow. Tomorrow is also trash day. I really should buy a big outdoor trashcan. I keep forgetting to do that when I'm at Lowe's. Need to get mole poison too. Found only one new mole hole addition today. None yesterday.

I have set myself a deadline for unpacking and putting stuff away. Columbus Day. It's around October 10th. That means I need to stop cruising the various blogs I follow and quit watching classic movies on TCM after work. It also means I need to quit messing around with the yard and get some of the inside work done.

Office carpet still stinks. Knitting room carpet smells a lot better. I read somewhere that a 1:2 vinegar:water solution sprayed over the carpet will help neutralize the smell. I think I'll keep trying Febreze and baking soda until the weekend. then I'll steam both carpets again and see how that goes. And I'll re-arrange the garage so I can store stuff in there.

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