The line is open. Finishing up:
* IS IT 2014 YET? Answer, no. But Curtis Coleman is saying he'll announce as a Republican candidate for governor on Feb. 21. Monroe Schwarzlose, alas, is no longer with us to play the same role on the Democratic side.
* FREE MARKET AND SOCIALISM: Norma directs me to a good blog post about how Google high-speed Internet competition is forcing Time Warner into price competition in Kansas City. But the real point is how much better off Internet users are in bad ol' socialist cheese-eating Europe (and I've seen this in phone cost and service, too).
... in “socialist” France we have numerous options all around €30 per month, that include high speed internet (including fiber optic, which I have), phone calls around the world at no additional charge and more TV channels than most will ever watch. Other countries in Europe have similar 3-pack deals and Asia reportedly has even better internet connectivity.As much as the US is the center of the world for many things including leading internet companies, the people of the US are being ripped off with the internet services. (It’s not unlike pharmaceutical prices, which are much more expensive in the US than everywhere else.)
Don't tell Jason Rapert on Tiny Tim Griffin this. They'd never believe there's any way in which another country could top U.S. exceptionalism.
* SUFFRAGE BLOOMS IN FEDERAL COURT: It was called to my attention that President Obama had nominated an Iowa woman to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal appellate court to which Arkansas federal cases go. I know. Who cares? Consider this. The nominee becomes only the second woman — THE SECOND — appointed to the 8th Circuit bench in history. Judge Diana Murphy, a Bill Clinton appointee, is the only woman so far ever to serve on the 8th Circuit bench. Out of 57 judges. Men are just more learned and judicious, I guess.
* LT. GOV. PHONE FEVER: Oops, the lieutenant governor of Nebraska, expected to be the leading Republican candidate for governor, has resigned over thousands of late-night calls to women on his state phone.