Plus!  No heat, no hot water.  I don't even know where to start.  

Orwell's so yesterday; Greene's the prescient war/int'l menace oracle now.

Here's a great double bill featuring IMO two of the BEST political baddies (and political intrigue plots evah) from the pen of the great Graham Greene:

The Third Man with the incomparable Orson Welles as Harry Lime, and Our Man in Havana, with the incomparable Ernie Kovacs as General Segura.

Greene was an excellent wordsmith -- though many snooty-pants who recoil at the mere thought of mystery and spy thrillers hate to say so out loud -- and especially inspiring to the best writers of political intrigue.

There was a lot of thinking that this would pass in NJ because of the state Supreme Court ruling mandating equal rights for same-sex couples and the court ordered studies that proved that the current civil unions that are offered are not, in fact, equal to marriage. Now it goes back to the court.

Right now I am in that totally crazy-making place of absolute fury and just plain sadness. I may have to start drinking.

How dare they? President Obama, Democratic leaders have decided to bypass a formal House and Senate conference committee in order to reconcile those two health care bills. Instead, White House and Democratic leaders will hold informal -- that's another word for secret -- negotiations, meant to shut Republicans and the public out of the process.

What a far cry from the election, when then candidate Obama pledged to -- quote -- "broadcast health care negotiations on C-SPAN, so that the American people can see what the choices are" -- unquote.

President Obama hasn't even made a token effort to keep his campaign promises of more openness and transparency in government. It was all just another lie that was told in order to get elected. The head of C-SPAN wrote a letter, asked Congress to -- quote -- "open all the important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings, to electronic media coverage" -- unquote. When White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked whether the administration would support televising the negotiations, he refused to answer, instead mumbling something about, well, I haven't seen the letter.

That wasn't the question, Mr. Gibbs. You either support openness or you don't. The Democrats insist this is all on the up-and-up, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying -- quote -- "There's never been a more open process for any legislation." -- unquote.

Really? This is the same Nancy Pelosi who you may recall, after becoming speaker in 2006, promised the Democrats would have -- quote -- "the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history" -- unquote.

Here's hoping the voters remember some of this crap when the midterm elections roll around later this year.

Alabama with a fake punt from their own 20 two minutes into the game? Texas taking a time out with 17 seconds left in the half rather than letting the clock run out when they were being dominated? Alabama trying to sit on the ball the entire second half wishing the clock would keep running?