Shawn McNulty or McNUTly.

Shawn McNulty signs are everywhere in Southside Akron front lawns which is/was good for his campaign, but is even better for a laugh.

As we drove through the area on our way to the Reptile Show, Whit asked (doing his best young Seinfeld voice), "Why would you vote for some guy named McNutly." Of course, it's McNulty with an L but driving by you can't really tell that. So we had a good laugh thinking that out there somewhere is a guy who's last name is looks like McNutly.

Must. Kill. Bun. Bun.

with the help of our dog trainer friend, we have determined that one way to minimize (not completely stop) Indy's incessant barking during her walks, is to use her crazed passion for stuffed furry things.

Neighbors do double takes when they see her walking along with some brown, furry, lifeless remains hanging from her mouth, but do you know how hard it is to find purple rabbits? Affectionately, we call these stuffed toys her "comfort corpses".

She yikes them so much, and to see her trot along, so proud of the fake dead thing in her mouth, it almost makes me weepy.

Healthcare on Democracy Now

This will take you to a page on Democracy Now's web site that is loaded with fantastic excerpts on the healthcare debate from the past few months.

I think one of the best is "Watchdog Group Sues for Disclosure of White House Meetings with Healthcare Execs" -- which relates to the Nader piece below.

Campaign promises of "more transparency" are, it seems, officially broken.

Healthcare Fix

"Never much of a fighter against abusive corporate power, Barack Obama is making it increasingly clear that right from his start as President, he wanted health insurance reform that received the approval of the giant drug and health insurance industries.

Earlier this year he started inviting top bosses of these companies for intimate confabs in the White House. Business Week magazine, which proclaimed recently that “The Health Insurers Have Already Won” reported that the CEO of UnitedHealth, Stephen J. Hemsley, met with the President half a dozen times."

Where is some of that change I can believe. Say it isn't so O! Here is a small piece by Nader that lines up with much of what I have read elsewhere. "Last night, the so-called "gang of six" -- three Republican and three Democratic senators on the Senate Finance Committee -- met by conference call and, according to Senator Max Baucus, the committee's chair, reaffirmed their commitment "toward a bipartisan health-care reform bill" (read: less coverage and no public insurance option)."

R.I.P

Let’s just say you have a favorite pair of something. Oh, I don’t know, like an old worn out pair of sandals. Let’s say in the opinion of others, like your wife, they have outlived their usefulness. Let’s say they disappear one day and upon interviewing your wife it is discovered that “Oh yeah, I threw those out.” I have known for some time now that she had her eyes on my obliterated, worn out, near useless sandals. But I never thought in a million years she would cross that sacred line and dispose of, covertly mind you, my stinky treasures. This crushing blow gives me paws. My mind wanders to ventilation units, and end of life scenarios when some might say I have outlived my usefulness. Oh, sandals, where are thou!

I Like it Hot & Dirty: Annual Mud Fight

Here in the Heights, family get togethers are messy. Forget horseshoes. Forget cookouts. When we get together -- meaning me, my son Whit and my nephews from Kalamazoo -- we have a mud fight. They ganged up on me, and minutes into the fun I took a huge plop of it right in the eye and had to manage one-eyed for much of the time.