Once again Echidne comes through with some great analysis of current efforts by the Repugs to overhaul federal bankruptcy law. And reminds us of the Christian hypocrisy - unlike abortion the Bible is pretty specific about the issue of usury. ****************************************************************

Volcano Update: We had the most spectacular steam/ash eruption of Mt. St. Helens last evening since she came back to life last fall. Local news station KGW has some great video clips and photos. Still pretty minor, as far as eruptions go (lasted only about 30 minutes). There didn't appear to be much seismicity involved, or force to the eruption itself. Prevailing winds were light which is why the column went so high, then it drifted out over mostly uninhabited wilderness.

One sort of good thing - we've been griping about our California-like winter weather for weeks - they've been getting all our usual nasty storms and rain this year and we're left with fire conditions at the beginning of March that are as dry as a typical August. Which also means we have pretty much no snow pack in the mountains.... which means the risk for lahars and superheated flooding this spring due to any eruption are about nil. It also means less violent eruptions since snowmelt/rainwater is usually needed to fuel the type of steam eruptions St. Helens generally produces.
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Prego Update: Nothing new happening on RiverFry watch... he's bound and determined to take his own sweet time. I don't want to induce, but if he's not on his way by next Monday we'll take the doctor's advice and do it. Every additional week I take off is hurting us financially, and I'm already going nuts being off work and sitting around doing nothing for the last few days. Well, not exactly nothing - alternating trying to be active (we went for a lovely walk on the Waterfront yesterday) to encourage the little tyke to begin his journey and getting lots of rest in case those attemps actually work.