29. Bo

Another yelping dog in the middle of the night. Just when you think you have overcome and out-waited one yelping dog, another shows up to bay at the moon. It’s a good thing I love dogs. What about those people who never had a special dog in their lives? It must be sheer torture to suffer such noise and lose sleep.

I feel like I can hardly remember Bo being in my life, truly remember, seeing him and feeling him beside me, as he was for close to twenty years. It’s like I practically have to create the memories and force them. But I miss him terribly. What I can solidly feel is the absence of not having him with me.

The Obama Scandals

President Obama has fallen into the greatest political trial thus far in his administration. It can look a little like the second-term stumbles, which seems fairly common for two-term presidents. However, despite the Republicans's excitement and promotion, there is probably more smoke than fire. The scandal over the IRS's hounding of conservative groups has had the greatest impact for the general public, and this may have more to do with tone than substance.

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"Ten days ago the president gave a commencement speech at Ohio State University urging graduates not to view government as “some separate, sinister entity.” Liberals prefer that people view government, as former Representative Barney Frank once put it, as just the name we use for the things we do together. The IRS scandal makes the government look more like, well, a separate, sinister entity — and that can’t help the party of government activism."

-- Ramesh Ponnuru

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The Democrats want to do more with government, and they have a higher burden in trying to convince people that the institutions of our government are reliable and fundamentally healthy.

Yahoo and Tumblr?

I see that Yahoo is considering whether to offer to buy Tumblr for a billion dollars. At first I was a little excited by the news. I feel some bond with Yahoo, my first-ever personal e-mail website. However, it occurs to me, if Yahoo does get it, they will probably make drastic changes. In short, there would go my special porn. So, umm, I'm actually a little worried.

[ONTD]