I have sold no wine before its time

• Tonight's guests on Carson - a show taped in September 1976 - were the inimitable Orson Welles, as well as Orson Bean.  The former noted that the latter was not named Orson (he adopted the Orson Bean moniker as a performance name).
• The stories that Welles and Carson shared about their radio days were classic.
• I changed the SUV oil yesterday.  At one point I feared I would have to drive a screwdriver through the spin-on oil filter to remove it, but it finally gave way.  In my automobile owning lifetime, I don't think I've hired out oil changes more than a couple of times.
• This morning, around 5:30, my I realized my toaster pastry was not so toasted as I'd hoped, so I set it for another cycle, thinking I'd interrupt it before it finished.  But of course it went full cycle, at which time it was nearly more toasted than I'd have liked, so I snatched it from the toaster oven, netting myself a lovely blister on my palm for my efforts.
• After getting off work today, I stopped by the resale shop.  Haven't been in there in a while, but fortune smiled on me today, as winter coats were selling for 50% off, and I snagged a superb 'barn coat' with corduroy collar trim, and a removable quilted lining, as well as a nice Old Navy canvas jacket, with what appears to be a CC pocket (at least for a compact 9mm) - $10 for both, and some 'as new' Georgio Brutini brown cap-toes for $5.  
• Also got a Mary-Chapin Carpenter CD for 49¢ that I'm listening to right now.  About half way through, I don't think it's quite as strong as Come On, Come On, or State of the Heart, but still very listenable.
• I ordered a guitar capo off of Ebay a couple of days ago - I am considering attending one of the local folk music society's meetings when I have the opportunity.
• A couple of posts back, I mentioned I would enjoy a snifter of Christian Brothers brandy.  While I'm certain that I have such brandy, when I went to decant said spirit into my Antares - Top of the Dome glassware, the bottle I found was E&J, so perhaps I have two bottles.

Lead us not into temptation...

I have made it clear that I don't like the bombastic billionaire who has been leading in the polls.

But now comes Miley Cyrus saying she'd leave the country if he were elected.

Decisions, decisions.

Maybe WMR's Secretary of State can negotiate a peaceful exit strategy for Ms. Cyrus to leave anyway.

Please tell us Joe Clark is coming

• This morning Mitt Romney will have a press conference on the [sorry] state of affairs in the GOP Presidential campaign.  The Democrats are also in a weird place, but that's another post.
• You remember Joe Clark from 'Lean on Me', right?  Someone needs to restore order to this contest, and be the adult in the room.

The actual Joe Clark.

• I chose the real Joe Clark instead of the venerable actor Morgan Freeman, to avoid any irony, inasmuch as the latter is doing voice-overs for the HRC campaign.
• This morning, Denney Crane has a post item about $10B that's been injected into the energy industry, despite the falling commodity prices of its major component.  Think there's a connection with the fiery SUV crash near Oklahoma City yesterday?
• The more things change, the more they stay the same:
• Last night, I watched a Carson monologue from near the end of his career, apparently during the '92 election cycle. GHWB was President, and [WJ] Clinton was the opposing candidate (no mention was made of HRP).  
• Carson made two jokes about David Duke: 1) David Duke's [primary] campaign is so desperate, he's campaigning in Detroit, and 2) David Duke promises that, if elected, he will 'de-Pip' Motown.
• He also noted that Slick Willy was targeting the 'swing' vote, noting that the candidate knew how to swing pretty well himself.
• Back in the day, it would've been considered somewhat a pejorative to be labeled a swinger, but I'm not sure if in today's values-free, non-judgmental times anyone even cares.  We seem to be adrift in a sea of dreck with no lifeboat in sight.
• Although some of us do still remember the Way.

What now, my love?

• Super Tuesday is over! The buffoon didn't win Texas and Oklahoma!  Rejoice!
• He did win most of the other contests.  Dial the rejoicing down a few notches.
• An article I read this morning says the RNC and DNC party apparatchiks have Mitt and Liz on speed dial in the event of meltdowns in their respective parties.  It's been rumored for months that WMR may be suited up and ready to go if called.
• Liz?  Yeah, that's a head scratcher - as in Elizabeth Warren.  I don't think she needs to sit by the phone.
• Not that I don't think that Bernie and Hilary are disastrous candidates, it's just that Warren is pretty close behind them on the loony train. The safest, and arguably most viable, candidate the Dems could run would be the current VP.
• And in Nekkid News, we have the ongoing story of  ESPN reporter Erin Andrews' litigation against a hotel chain alleging negligence in allowing her to be surreptitiously recorded nude.  Andrews is certifiably a hot gal, but the fact that she was an unwilling participant in the recording prevented me from joining the reported 17 million who have viewed the illicit images.  
• Curiously, the Circus Blogger proffers an Oscar Wilde tinged apologetic for the creeping Tom, almost as tone deaf  as Claytie Williams' rape 'joke', suggesting it's all good exposure for her.
• Idiocracy, indeed.
• And in South Carolina, a teacher has resigned after a student picked up her phone, browsed through it, found and shared a partially naked photo the teacher had taken for her husband.  The school's administration is blaming the teacher, and it's not known if the 16 year old student will face any repercussions for his actions.
• More idiocracy.  
• In today's cultural cesspit, I suppose he - or his lawyer - can assert that he didn't know there was anything wrong in taking another's personal property, rummaging through it, and freely sharing its private contents.
• And his attorney would probably tweet: 

I will testify for you, I'm a gun for hire, I'm a saint, I'm a liar

Because there are no facts, there is no truth

Just data to be manipulated

I can get you any result you like

What's it worth to you?

Because there is no wrong, there is no right

And I sleep very well at night

No shame, no solution, no remorse, no retribution

Just people selling t-shirts

Just opportunity to participate in the pathetic little circus

And winning, winning, winning.¹

• Looks like I need to bone up on my Russian, as another seemingly hot Russkie is after me:

Good evening! I got letter from dating agency. Me 30 years old. It`s my photo. What do you think? I you cute? You can call me Olga. I think you are nice man. I know that now many people met partners in net. So I decide also to use such way. I liked you and I decided to get acquainted with you. Nobody know, maybe this is our chance. Like other people online. I want to write that I want only for long term relation. Im not interesting just chat, games or virtual romance. I do not like to spent in vain my time for this. I am from Russian Federation. I think this is not a problem in twenty first century. We can meet in future. If this is problem just ignore my message. All that I want is to find person with whom I can be happy for the rest of my life. Сan you write more information about you, please. If you have pic I will be glad to see it. Or you can send it letter. I will be wait for your answer. Have a good day.

• Until last week, I had seen no OC.  I have now seen two.
• I saw an older veteran the other day with an "I like Ike" pin on his boonie hat.  We could use a guy like that now.
• Maybe tonight I will retire with a snifter of Christian Brothers (hopefully not the same ones who fix cars) brandy and listen to the vintage Limeliters' Tonight: In Person LP recently given to me.

Composed by the Weavers' Lee Hays and Fran Moseley, 1957
Recorded July 29, 1960 at The Ash Grove Club

¹  excerpted from The Garden of Allah - Henley/Lynch

Descent into Madness?

• Maybe because of the Carson monologues, circa mid-'70s through the early '90s, that I've been watching since the beginning of the year, I feel like reading my observations of the body politic like nightly cue cards.
• Will this be the last Presidential campaign of the United States?  I'm not sure there's a competent candidate in the bunch.
• Unfortunately for us, the Texas primaries are next week, so we'll be bombarded with TV ads over the weekend.  I'm glad I dropped my landline years ago, elsewise I'd be getting all of the political calls.
• Can Trump get any crazier?  This guy would embarrass P. T. Barnum.
• There seems to be absolutely no substance in any of the debates, just shout-fests.  No wonder Romney has held back from endorsing any candidate.  
• Of course, it may be just a reflection of the culture - or lack of same - of the nation.  Perhaps 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is no longer a revered and respected address.  One recent resident used the oval office like a pimped porta-potty at Mardi Gras, and according to a PBS commercial I saw earlier this evening, the current denizen has turned the East Room into the Dexter Lake Club.
• I actually saw my first Carnac skit in decades this past week.  I don't think it was one of Carson's better ones - he seemed to be rushing through them.

Quick byte

Inasmuch as I didn't have a dog in the hunt for Sunday's football contest, I decided to take the dog I do have for a walk instead, figuring - correctly - that anything and everything notable or not would be reported, ad nauseum, after the fact.  In such belief, I was as prescient as Carnac, and then some.

Comes now news that a 'pro-choice' outfit has its undergarments unorganized because Frito-Lay's Doritos commercial employed [the] "tactic of humanizing fetuses."  Oh, the humanity!

Yeah, that's the point.

Pro-life/pro-choice is not particularly my pet issue; however, it takes a lot of gall (not to mention stupidity) to assert that a fetus inside a woman is anything but human.

Maybe those people have been watching Alien re-runs too much.

Where can I find such a woman?

A wife of noble character who can find?

She is worth far more than rubies.

 Her husband has full confidence in her

and lacks nothing of value.

 She brings him good, not harm,

all the days of her life.