Hot Day with Piles

Spent all day up on the north slopes of Mt. Tabor - the only volcanic edifice within the limits of a major American city, did you know that? - driving piles. Hot, dusty noisy work. I like it. Don't ask me why, I couldn't explain it. But pile driving has always been one of my favorite field jobs. Maybe, like the honorable gentleman from Idaho, Senator Craig, I like the idea of big, long hard poles driving into the warm brown earth.

But I'm, like, so not gay. Okay? Okay.

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(It helps that the contractor, PLI Systems, does good work. House sinking into a gigantic hole? Give 'em a call. You won't regret it.)

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Before I leave the entire moronic subject of young Mister Craig and his "wide stance", I'd like to echo Mark Kleiman and note that the real fuckwittery involved is the guy's attempt to bluff his way out of the jam by laying his senatorial I.D. on the cop. I could care less if my legislator is gay, but to try that weak-ass "do you know how important I am" stuff? What a maroon...

Oh - before we leave the subject of politics altogether, note the map at right. Each of the red dots represents the address of a recipient of a federal farm subsidy. The BIG red dots? More than $250K of your tax dollars at work. Yee haw! Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside!

Speaking of rural squalor, Mojo and I stayed up to watch in fascinated horror Rachel and the Stranger on TCM. In a lot of ways it's just another 40's oater, only set in the 1700s with Bill Holden buying indentured servant Loretta Young to be his new wife and mommy to little Davey, his loathsome spawn. Young, who I always associate with this sort of trembling, almost-tearfully-tragic heroine, does a workmanlike job of her role, but it's almost wasted in that the viewer is treated to 78 minutes of Holden and his film kid acting like utter dicks to Young as the titular Rachel. Loretta, who by repute was a very bright and capable woman, is the perfect fictional midcentury woman, pining for her Man even as she makes sure he's the boss of her. She's a genuine Prairie Muffin, for eighteen dollars and four oweing (sorry; "owin').

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Add to this a young Robert Mitchum steaming up the screen as the "stranger" who gets Rachel's womanly juices flowing while at the same time gets "Big Davey" (Holden) increasingly pissed off by sparkin' the woman that Holden has treated like worm dirt. But we know that true-blue prairie muffin Rachel will Stand By Her Man through stranger, mountain lion and Shawnee attack. And we're supposed to get all weepy when Holden rebukes his get by telling him to "mind yore maw!" (Ooooh! She's now "the mommy"! Gee, how sweet!)

Sweet baby Jesus. Sometimes I wonder how the heck anyone made it through the 40's and 50's sane and sexually normal.

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And speaking of sane...

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Mojo heard from our congressional caseworker today. She (the caseworker) said that she talked to the USCIS staff person at the NVC that is supposed to be handling our 171-H. According to the caseworker, the USCIS person claimed to want to "take time to ensure the process was done right".

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Time? Done right??

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Let's see. Open e-mail. Review attached document for completion. Add new destination address. Press "send".

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Homeland Security! No wonder going through airport security is so fucked up. This is the same group that runs the TSA. Who thought that putting these nimrods in charge of citizenship was a good idea?

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If I had a really big hammer...

Tomorrow - tomorrow is the crux of the biscuit. We find out if the 171-H has made it to the consulate.

Come on, lucky seven...