Third Day

Well, that was a nice "No Work Monday"! I got a few housekeeping chores done on my computer and walked over to the mall. It was chilly, but not too bad yet. It's expected to be quite cold this week. I have the heat up to about 76 degrees already so bundling up is the next step.  Last month's electric bill was nearly twice what I expect in the winter.  Yikes!  I live over an open air garage so I think it more difficult to heat in winter. It probably mitigates the heat in summer, though.

I read another chapter in my book.  Yay!

I want to make note of a wonderful story I heard on "On The Media".  The whole show was about Shakespeare and I missed almost all of it. But, on the way home from LJB's the other day I heard part of a segment called "Tragedy for 35 Years: Shakespearean Comedy in Kabul".  I was struck by how much Shakespeare meant to Qais Akbar Omar, the person being interviewed.  He saw a connection between Shakespeare and Afghanistan. I thought about how many people have gotten so much from Shakespeare. I've never read a Shakespeare play. I saw the movie version of Romeo and Juliet. I saw the movie version of Taming of the Shrew. I may have seen one other.  I wasn't overly moved, but I wonder if I should read some Shakespeare this year?

The first thing the new US House of Representatives did (they'll be officially sworn in this morning, but they got started last night) with no notice, discussion, or debate was to move the independent ethics commission under the House Ethics Committee.  The commission was setup in 2008 because there were so many scandals. Many house members thought the independent commission was too aggressive so now they moved it under their purview.  For what it's worth Paul Ryan was against the change.
It seems kinda fishy and self-serving to me. That's the FIRST thing you think you should do? THAT'S your priority?

It's the beginning of a wild ride..."Republicans" control the House, the Senate, and the White House.
Not only that, there's a "conservative" majority on the Supreme Court.
I use quotes around 'Republicans' and 'conservative' because those labels don't seem to apply anymore.