Actually, we don’t know who the ultimate winner is. The Conservatives took 306 seats, Labour won 258, and the Liberal Democrats held on to 57 seats. The problem is that you need 326 seats to win, so the result is called a “hung Parliament”.

The Conservatives are in talks with the Liberal Democrats to form a ruling coalition, but nothing is certain. Gordon Brown is still the prime minister until a viable ruling bloc is formed.

All this election has guaranteed is that another election will probable take place in two years or less, as Jams O’Donnell predicted in comments.

Last week one motel on our barrier island had 160 rooms reserved for this weekend. As of Thursday 100 people have canceled their reservations.

It is sunny and in the low 80s. The Gulf is turquoise and the sand is sugar white. Oh, yes, there are millions of gallons of oil in the Gulf that could wash ashore at any time.

Every time the GOP starts this debate, they claim that oil drilling won’t affect tourism because the wells will be invisible from the beach. The ‘well from hell’ is over 200 miles and two states away, but a lot of people who would have had work this weekend in that motel don’t now.

Look, if there was some wonderful stuff that you could spray on your water front that would repel oil, or make it a snap to clean up, BP would have already bought up the world’s supply, just like they bought up the world’s supply of industrial oil dispersants. BP has done everything but send minions to supermarkets to clear the shelves of Dawn when it comes to dealing with this spill.

No one with a real product is going to be calling you to sell you some miracle product, when BP will buy it by the barrel at a price you can’t match. It is a con, a fraud, a rip-off. The state and local government will do the clean-up and bill BP for the cost.

Your county emergency management agency provides free training if you want to volunteer for clean-up duties. The animal rescue groups will provide training on dealing with oily wildlife. There is no valid, for-profit, oil clean-up training. If you apply for one of the paid positions with the BP effort, they will provide any necessary training.

If anyone offers these type of things to you, record their phone number if possible, take their picture if they show up at your door, call the sheriff or state fraud unit. These are just another form of looter.

Rookies

Do you smell gas?

[Editor: These weeners (they are out to be weaned) just showed up. They are both grey/blue and white, with the one on the bottom a KT pattern, and the one on alert the Tonto pattern (white chin, chest, and paws).]

Friday Ark