Katiebird calls in from Kansas

I just got a call from Katiebird. She lives in a suburb of Kansas City, Kansas. Here’s her rundown:

There were about 1430 people at her caucus site. The large auditorium/gym room in the pictures she sent me showed a standing room only crowd. There were additional people in the hallways.

When they asked people to separate by candidate, they had the Bernie contingent filter out onto a field. The line seemed to go on forever. She said that they were asked to line up in lines of 10 and then they counted. By the time they got to her, there were 300 for Bernie but the counting went on a lot longer after her. They counted the votes three times.

Bernie won her senate district. The exact count was something like 900+ for Bernie, 400+ for Hillary.

She said the Bernie campaign staff were very well organized and efficient. They were prepared for a large turnout. It was a really pleasant experience in contrast to the caucus she went to in 2008 on a Tuesday night in a blizzard when busloads of rowdy Obama supporters, some of whom she was pretty sure were bussed in from another state, crowded the small space they had reserved for the caucus. In that year, Hillary was crushed in her district caucus. She thinks having it on a nice Saturday afternoon when there could be a good turnout and everyone was relaxed made a lot of the difference.

Her sister lives about 30 miles away and they think that Bernie is taking the larger population areas but don’t know if farmers are also receptive to the Bern.

She also said Governor Brownback seems to be facing a serious Democratic challenger. That could be fun to watch this year.

Katiebird is on her way home now ready to unscrew a new fine boxed merlot.

Cocktail hour is here.

Ponderables: Part the second

Here are the things I am wondering tonight (in no particular order):

Is it possible for someone in Kansas to deliver a large galvanized tub of margaritas on the rocks to Katiebird so she can sit in it during the heatwave?

What did Tim Geithner know and when did he know it?  As the head of the New York Fed during the dark days of the financial collapse, he must have known that US banks were dicking around with the LIBOR rates.  And if so, is this the part of the reason why he decided to “stress test” the banks without the help of the FDIC?

Why is the “paper of record” silent on LIBOR?  Right now, it’s got some hit piece on Hillary making her look like she is single handedly negotiating the next foreign trade agreement with China when the truth is a lot more complicated than that.  But WHY is the NYTimes complicit in smearing Clinton when it could be having a veritable feast with the LIBOR scandal?

Why is the full tube of unused caulk in the basement dried up and unusable?

Has anyone grouted tile before?  BTW, here is an excellent step-by-step instruction video on how to tile a backsplash from Amy Matthews and DIYNetwork:

What projects are you working on?

Oscars and Afghanistan

Two things:

First, Christopher Tellefsen has been nominated for best film editing for the movie Moneyball. That’s great for two reasons: 1) it was a wonderful movie that answers the timeless question “is it all about winning or losing or how you play the game?”. The movie, adapted from a book from Wall Street writer Michael Lewis, shows that some things are more important than money. Sometimes, it’s about trusting in the people who work for you and letting them fulfill their potential and enjoying the game.
Excellent editing, of course. 2:) Chris Tellefsen is Katiebird’s brother in law, married to her sister Bev. We’re pulling for you, Chris. Good luck and may you and Bev have a night to remember. Take lots of pictures.

If you are a friend of Katiebird (Catharine Hendricks), you can join her Oscar party on Facebook.

Second, my little brother, aka Tut, is regular US Army. For the past decade, he miraculously managed to avoid being posted overseas. Until last year. That’s when the Army sent him to Kuwait. And we were ok with that. Not much to worry about in Kuwait but sand fleas in the desert. Unfortunately, he didn’t stay in Kuwait. Last time we heard, he was in Afghanistan. Northern Afghanistan, to be precise. you know, the place where the natives are all restless over some burned Korans and lobbing grenades into compounds with army soldiers? Yeah, that’s the place.

I would say it would do him good to see what happens when a country takes religious fundamentalism to its logical conclusions, given that he’s a bit of a judgmental Christian fundamentalist himself. But it would lessen my anxiety considerably if he could witness the uproar and learn his lesson from the safety of Kuwait.

It seems that I am experiencing quite a bit of the proverbial Chinese “interesting times” rather more closely than i had originally anticipated. Do me a favor and keep Tut and his girls back in Arizona in your thoughts. Oh, heck, keep the whole US Army in your thoughts.

Conflucians Say: Katiebird takes the Wheel

Join Katiebird tonight on Conflucians Say on PUMA United Radio.  Are you pondering what she’s pondering?  How does it feel to have to “decide” — is it hard?  Are you still thinking about the choices.  What is important to your decision?  Call in.  We don’t bite– hard.

That’s tonight at 10PM EST on PURrrr.