respublica

Political irony

Seems the Senate Democrats who are so outspoken on the equality of women are paying their own female staffers less than they do men.  This is hilariously ironic. And Illinois Dick Durbin is amongst them, paying his women staffers 23 percent less than his men. 

And, they hire more men than women as staff people by almost 50 percent.

Trying to rein in Big Brother

The House recently passed an amendment which would cut off funds to the American Community Survey, another term for the Census Bureau. This proposal would save taxpayers 2.4 billion dollars a year and put an end to the intrusive questionaires sent out by the Census people prying into every aspect of our lives. 

The House also passed a measure which would put an end to the Federal Government fining people who refused to answer all those questions. As the story about this states, the constitution directs the government to count the people in the United States every ten years. Period! Not probe into our finances, living conditions, health coverage, education level, number of tv's we own, etc.

Here's one way to get out of the I-64 traffic jam

The lane work on I-64 just west of Busch Stadium has traffic backed up and stopped every single day, at least every week day. After trial and error to avoid this on trips back and forth from Illinois we found what seems the best way to avoid it.

When heading west from the Metro East, get off on the King Bridge and take Broadway to Washington and Washington to Jefferson where you can get back on 64. Washington Avenue is an interesting stretch downtown, fun to see all the different shops and restaurants and interesting people walking around. When we got back on 64 at Jefferson yesterday there was almost no traffic behind us which told us traffic was really stalled at the construction site.

Now MoDOT is going to redo the Blanchette Bridge out in St. Charles. Wow. That will be a nightmare for those people who live through daily jams as it is. And the Eades Bridge is going to be redone as well which eliminates one of the two alternate ways to avoid the 64 construction.

 

Uh oh. It happens each year, just like clockwork

Dale woke up this morning with his eyes swollen shut from a run in with poison ivy. Every single spring he tangles with this insidious vine and every single spring he breaks out magnificently.

It'll be a tough couple of days.

As I harp on St Louis traffic once again

MoDOT has really made moving through St Louis miserable this season, I know I say this all the time, but man, getting from the Illinois side through downtown is horrible. Traffic backs up into Illinois and pretty much stops just east of the stadium. Not to mention the times when someone thinks it's a good idea to work on the Poplar at the same time.

Now MoDOT is shutting off the ramp to 70 from the Poplar. Oh what joy it will be to travel from the Metro East to St. Louis. Don't bother thinking it may work to go 255 to 270 to wherever. MoDOT is doing something near the Chain of Rocks bridge and that backs up as well. 

And it goes without saying all the overpass roads being closed for work such as Murdock which puts people in Webster and Shrewsbury etc without a good way home from 44. 

Reptile Mega Month

I have no idea what this means but Pets Mart is promoting Reptile Mega Month as a time to bring home that reptile you've always wanted.

If it isn't fuzzy and furry, I've never wanted it.

It's that time of year again

The good: Graduations all over the place, schools out

The bad: Home and car break-ins all over the place, traffic jams all over the place, graduations all over the place.

Michigan fruit crop devastated

Now this is really bad news. A late freeze after an early warmup may have destroyed 75 percent of Michigan's cherry crop plus peaches and apples.

If you've ever been to Michigan in summer, especially the western side along Lake Michigan you know how plentiful and absolutely wonderful the fruit is. The thought of it being mostly gone is more than awful. Michigan's fruit is some of the best tasting fruit in the nation.

Today's worst headline

Man Bitten By Rattlesnake at Walmart.

ugh.

Weeds by any other name still have to be cleaned up

Around these parts there is a certain weed who's name I do not know which proliferate at great speed and grow taller than most people within days of surfacing.

They'll end up with a rather reddish stem and form red berrys when mature if you don't yank them out early. Unfortunately they are impossible to pull out by the roots unless you get them when they are very small...which is basically only one day. They grow so fast and so tall.

The only thing to do now is hack them off at the bottom and spray them with some sort of weed killer.

All of which made me think about our inside weeds which I call dust. We've been so busy the past few weeks working outside and going to one event after another that I've neglected the inside and the weeds have overtaken things.

Most times I'd be embarrassed to show my indoor weeds (dust) but we have so been consumed with the yard and functions that I forgive myself. But I'm finally disgusted enough to give part of today over to neatening things up.