Surprising News

Hubby has become a news hound.  The heat and pain keep him indoors and often in bed a lot of the time lately.  For the past week, he's become hooked on CNN (which is far better than being hooked on Walker, Texas Ranger, let me tell you!). A lot of the news we're been watching has been startling.

First, Kansas City has set a record for the warmest first six months in her history.  We are also having the second driest six months in our history.  Gary Lezak, weatherman for Chanel 41, posted this on his blog today:

 As you can see below, we are forecasting the heat wave to get to at least eleven days before a possible break:

Heat Wave June-July 2012

• Day 1, June 27: 102°
• Day 2, June 28: 105°
• Day 3, June 29: 102°
• Day 4, June 30: 101°
• Day 5, July 1: 99°
• Day 6, Today: 96° Forecast
• Day 7, Tuesday: 100° Forecast
• Day 8, Wednesday: 102° Forecast
• Day 9, Thursday: 102° Forecast
• Day 10, Friday: 101° Forecast
• Day 11, Saturday: Near 100° Forecast
• Day 12, Sunday: Possible change?

Second, I was surprised to read about the split between Tom Cruise and his wife, Katie Holmes.  Actually, to be honest, I kind of got a perverse thrill out of it.  I had a bad reaction to Cruise during the 2000's, but lately I've been getting over that and I liked his last Mission Impossible Movie.  I didn't go see the rock star thing -- but the pictures of Cruise at 50 were pretty amazing.  I got some vicarious pleasure in his body, actually (the fingernail polish, not so much).

Then there was the completely unexpected Supreme Court decision on Obamacare -- which delighted me more than I can possibly say. Of course, Justice Thomas asked no questions -- the last time he spoke up spontaneously during an exchange among the justices and lawyers was in February 2006. The "mini-dissent" written by Clarence Thomas -- a mere two pages tacked onto the official dissenting report, was typically unsubstantial.  Though the court had just ruled that Congress can regulate economic activity, Thomas thinks this gives Congress too much power.  The major shock of this decision was that the entire conservative wing of the court did NOT make a conservative political decision on health care.  Chief Justice John Roberts actually made a judicial ruling -- one that has clearly outraged the Tea Party and conservative wing of the Republican Party.   The official Tea Party page (if you can stand to view it) states:   The Supreme Court just handed The Federal Government the power of limitless expansion to tax you for any reason!  Hard to believe that those good folks who listen to the Tea Party haven't been brain damaged in a previous life . . .

Finally, it seems that science is now trying to prove that dogs have empathy.  USA Today reports that 15 out of 18 mutts approached a crying stranger in a position of submission, offering up sympathy to the distressed person.  It's a great story -- but one that every single dog owner knows.  You cry -- the dog who loves you will come to comfort you.  Gussie is better at the comforting than Luie, who thinks that if he gets you to play with him, you will most certainly feel a lot happier.  Gussie is just content to sit your side and rest his chin on your chest.  Or if you move around a bit, go to the foot of the bed and lick your toes.  You can't cry when your feet are being tickled by the softest tongue in the world.