It is midnight, so technically....

I'm not cheating by writing the morning blog early, because it is morning.

In case you're wondering what your California elected representatives are doing after the election, more than a dozen of them are currently ensconsed in a luxurious hotel in Hawaii, attending a conference.  They got a free trip to Hawaii paid for by lobbyists and "sponsors", although they had the option of paying for themselves.  Anyone who thinks that politics and politicians are capable of dealing with their own forms of corruption without outside supervision and oversight just don't get how the system works.

Even if Citizens United v FEC were to be overturned, money will continue to buy access and therefore influence.  So rather than preparing for the upcoming legislative session, or holding hearings into the state's problems, these 14 elected representatives of Californians are living it up in Hawaii.  Just FYI, if you were to try to book a room at their hotel digs, the Fairmont Kea Lani this weekend, it's over $600 per night.

We lost at trivia again last night but at least this time it was by two points.  There were questions we could have answered, but we lost by two points by scoring 52 out of 56.  So it isn't like we didn't do well, they just got two answers right that we missed.

I delivered a partial refill of a medication to the facility today and the med tech came to my room three different times to ask me about it.  I am glad they're paying more attention to this stuff, but at the same time, you'd think all of the questions concerning a medication could be asked in one, or maybe two visits?

There's a story going around that Bill Clinton called Mitt Romney and told him he thinks President Obama won because his response to Hurricane Sandy (it is NOT a "super-storm", the last time I'll mention that) made him look "presidential".  While I don't think that's the primary reason Romney lost, it probably pushed some voters into the Obama side of the voting ledger.

I'm sure by now you've heard that phone call that Jill Kelley made to 911 about the reporters being on her property, that she is an "honorary consul general", therefore her property is "inviolable" and that perhaps the police should get "diplomatic protection" involved.  I've heard a lot of commentators discussing this and they are missing the obvious.  In referring to diplomatic protection, she was probably referring to the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service.  They probably have agents in the Tampa area to protect the foreign nationals assigned to the operation center there that is making the "war on terrorism".  So maybe she was trying to get them to come and save her from the big bad reporters.  In any event, I just wish that the fifteen minutes of fame for her, her sister and Paula Broadwell would be over already.



Fun With Classified Ads:

"Good fill dirt, near atlantic and south, No rocks, can help load if I'm home"  Does free dirt usually have rocks in it that are a problem?

"Various clothes, not a whole lot, need cleaning..."  So basically you're too lazy to do your laundry so you're giving it away.

"NO PHOTOS. Resumes with photos or head shots will not be read."  Wow, bucking the Craigslist trend.

"...is looking for a part-time experienced Infant Teacher."  Pre-school I get.  Kids in pre-school can learn.  What can you teach infants that they don't do instinctively, like messing their diapers, sucking on bottles or pacifiers and being adorably cute.

Today in History:

On this date in 1777, the Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution's precursor.

On this date in 1806, explorer Zebulon Pike first sees the tall mountain that now bears his name, Pike's Peak.

On this date in 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman burns Atlanta during the Civil War.

On this date in 1920, the first meeting of the League of Nations is held in Geneva.

On this date in 1939, FDR lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.

On this date in 1942, the Battle of Guadalcanal ends in a decisive Allied victory.

On this date in 1943, SS General Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies will be placed on the same level as Jews and put into the concentration camps.

On this date in 1959, four members of the Herman Clutter family were murdered at their farm outside Holcomb, Kansas.  These murders would become famous in Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood".

On this date in 1961, the Soviet submarine K-19 collided with the USS Gato.  The K-19 was a disaster-ridden sub and one of its earlier disasters became famous in the Harrison Ford film "K-19:  The Widowmaker".  That nickname was never really used.  After a later nuclear accident aboard the sub, it was nicknamed "Hiroshima".

On this date in 1979, a package in the cargo hold on a flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C. began smoking and forced an emergency landing.  Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski placed the package aboard that plane.

On this date in 1985, a research assistant at the University of Michigan is injured when a package sent to a U of M professor by the Unabomber explodes.