Bad package design alert

While preparing to clean up a cooking mess in my mother's kitchen the other day, I noticed a container on her counter. Said container held a roll of chemically-soaked sheets designed for cleaning glass, aptly named "Power-X Glass Wipes." (I think Mom bought them at our favorite boutique.) Somebody, however, seems to have done not so well with the design and layout of text on this canister:
I'm thinking a little judicious rearranging of the "Wipes" would save me from another fit of the giggles.

The toe-touch of death to the GOP?

Apparently the MSM are in full lather that events may have just conspired to kill the Republican party... or so the "experts" at Good Morning America are saying.

It starts with Gonzales resigning, following the high-profile resignations of Harriet Meiers, Karl "Dark Lord" Rove, and some nameless other guys who had better things to do than sit around the White House waiting to be sniped at by Congress (in their full partisan peacock regalia and an intellectual display which nearly equals that of said bird).


But now, we have another Republican whose cause has long been "family values", who had been caught touching toes with a stranger in an airport men's room, and had pleaded guilty to charges of disorderly conduct. Larry Craig has long battled sly hints that he might be gay. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't really matter, does it? Either he is or he isn't. Is he a mastermind pedophile? Not so far as anybody says. All they say is that he behaved in a manner interpreted as propositioning a strange man -- who, unfortunately for him, turned out to be a cop. BFD.

What bothers me most about this is, they're dragging his name through the mud for something which, by all accounts, hurt nobody except, possibly, the senator.


Somebody very dear to me, some years back, remained in the closet for long years -- not because he was afraid of what it would do to his career, or to his reputation, or any other such selfish cause. He didn't want to cause his family undue concern for him -- and he was afraid the news would devastate his very traditional grandmother.

The funny thing is, last I'd heard from his grandmother before she passed away, she knew all about him, and simply worried that he might get hurt. His dad was the one who couldn't cope with the idea. And so, out of respect for that family, he remains as discreet as possible.

Is it remotely possible that somebody like Senator Craig may be closeted, and yet be doing his best to protect some of those he loves from pain and disappointment? And, must it be hypocritical to be gay and also support programs which promote traditional family structures? Is it so terribly unlikely that a man may have a set of feelings completely in contradiction to his moral underpinnings, and want to do as much as he can to protect his loved ones from feelings he views as destructive to them and to society?

Why is it that a man like New Jersey's Tim McGreevey can so completely flout simple rules of honor and decency and get away with crying "victim", but somebody who quite clearly had been struggling with his impulses gets run out of office? Hmmmm..... can it be that McGreevey is from a party of no values, no decency, no honor, and they revel in it?

It's obvious that Senator Craig has no self-control, since there have been reports of his similar questionable behavior in the bathrooms on Capitol Hill. I have some compassion for the man. It isn't easy to maintain a celibate life (or even a half-celibate one, surrendering that which might give one the greater pleasure), even when temptations don't pass you every day. But loss of restraint won't do, especially when one reaches higher offices via the right wing.

That, in a Republican, will always be a bad, bad thing. It bodes ill on such things as budget, pork, security, and so on. For the Republicans, Caesar's wife must always be above suspicion.

It would be nice if it were that way for all parties.

But I don't think ABC's "news" department will actually have the opportunity to crow over this for very long. After all, Incumbistan is a very nasty place, with lots of nasty little people with nasty little habits... and opportunities abound to develop them.

Monday mystery train wreck

(click on images to enlarge)

Yesterday's auction brought me much recklessness -- I bought a pair of postcards with absolutely zero likelihood that I could find out where or when the pictures had been taken. Nevertheless, I could not resist spending more money than I should have, for these analogs of my life.



If anybody has a good, reasonable bit of info on these pics, I'd love to hear from you.