Friday Cat Blogging With Photoshop

From Album 5

Thought this would be appropriate for Valentine's Day...why not? Otherwise, not much to say about this, except...Jesus wept.

Have a good weekend.

The Walking Dead, North Carolina Edition

From Album 5

OK, maybe not dead, thank heavens, but once again a large southern city saw cars abandoned on the highway since they weren't going anywhere anyway. To be fair, there will always be worst-case scenarios, and this might have been one, but a mindset that government is always bad and must forever be cut to the bone can easily turn a difficult but manageable situation into a worst case scenario. And I wonder if that's what happened...along with a mulish refusal over the long term to consider alternatives to private cars.

Well, guess it's a little late in the game at this point, so here's hoping things return to normal as soon as possible for the people there.

Mug Shot

From Album 5

So, Nagin's trial ended with the inevitable conclusion. My own .00000002 cents worth is that I never had much of an opinion of the mayor, either good or bad, until he unloaded right after the flood. Which I thought was a good thing. I also thought Team Bush did a number on both him and Kathleen Blanco, aided and abetted by a press corps that's hardly worthy of the name (more like press corpse).  That said, I've never held much stock in the whole outsider/run-the-city-like-running-a-business hook ... and in the end, it appears that the ex-mayor learned the more sordid aspects of politics pretty quickly. So it goes.

Raging Lunatic Throws Incoherent Hissy Fit

From Album3

In other words, just another Tuesday on the Limbaugh show.

Just...Wow

From Album 5

I think chutzpuh reached a whole new level -- or circle of hell, if you prefer:

Many West Virginians have not been using their water since a massive chemical spill tainted their water last month. Despite this, some say their water bills are outrageously high. 

The bills, according to the West Virginia Citizen Action Group, are worth more than the credits that West Virginia American Water has offered to people who had to flush their water systems several time since 10,000 gallons of a chemical called Crude MCHM (and potential a few other chemicals) leaked into the Elk River. During those flushes, customers leave their water on for 25 minutes, a process that WVAM says should use a maximum of 500 gallons of water. WVAM has promised a 1,000-gallon credit for residents on their water bills, and a 2,000-gallon credit for small businesses. 

But many customers have not yet seen that credit on their bills. The credits, according to WVAM President Jeff McIntyre, are supposed to be included on bills that were sent out Friday. 

Charleston resident Patrick S. Lawson Sr., however, sent ThinkProgress a bill he received Friday, with no credit to be found. The bill also showed a meter reading saying he used 600 gallons of water since Jan. 30, which Lawson said is untrue. He has not flushed his water since the 30th, nor has he been drinking or cooking with it. He has limited his showers to twice a week, has done two loads of laundry, and has run his dishwasher twice.

That's one hell of an invisible hand. Literally.