I was not surprised by the number of readers who emailed to wish me a speedy recovery from my very, very tough case of the fluh. I have the best readers since Gutenberg. Thank you each and every one.

I was a little surprised by the number of readers who sent in cures for the fluh, many of which included things like flying to Bali and looking for the little bush just to the left of the tree at the entrance to the Hilton resort; picking only the ripe brown berries; boiling them in concert with the fruit of a tree that only grows in Nepal for exactly 37 seconds, draining it through a cloth tatted by a Scottish maiden, and drinking it all in one gulp.

If I could have done all that I would have gone to work.

But, thank you, too!

In one of those stories that, in the end, has all the policy implications of a White Sale at Macy’s, it seems that conservative radio talk show host Alex Jones appeared on the television talk show of British transplant Piers Morgan on Monday night.

The topic was Jones’ leading the petition to have Morgan deported because of Morgan’s heavy hand on the topic of gun control.

It turned into a shouting match that made an episode of Jerry Springer sound like a discussion between Lord Grantham and Carson the butler in the library.

Piers Morgan appeared on Wolf Blitzer’s program last night complaining that he found it odd that Alex Jones wanted to protect his Second Amendment rights by taking away Piers’ First Amendment rights.

SIDEBAR

The protections of the Constitution apply to anyone under U.S. control whether they are a citizen or not, because the Constitution describes (or is supposed to describe) what the Government can and can’t do.

This interpretation is sometimes strained.

END SIDEBAR

After watching that clip on Wolf’s program, I Tweeted:

Lemme see … Piers is [irritated] because some want to limit his 1st Amendment right to demand limits on their 2nd Amendment right. Am I right?

The big thing is both Piers Morgan and Alex Jones have audiences that they can play to and can both make tons of money doing it.

Is this a great country, or what?

I missed the Piers Morgan program Monday night because I was so entranced by the BCS National Championship football game between Notre Dame and Alabama. ‘Bama ended up winning 42-14 but the game was so lopsided that at halftime one of ESPN’s sideline reporters asked the Fighting Irish’s coach what he thought they could do to come back.

Coach Brian Kelly said, “Maybe Alabama won’t come out for the second half.”

ESPN play-by-play man Brent Musburger pointed out that Alabama head coach, Nick Saban, was comfortable in the college game because he is making about $6 million per year. To coach college football.

Is this a great country, or what?

When the Congress and the President decide to come back to work, they will be staring down the barrel of another budget fight. One of the best descriptions of where we are was forwarded to me by Mullster Peter Lynn:

• U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000

• Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000

• New debt: $1,650,000,000,000

• National debt: $14,271,000,000,000

• Recent budget cuts: $38,500,000,000



Let’s now remove 8 zeros and pretend it’s a household budget:



• Annual family income: $21,700

• Money the family spent: $38,200

• New debt on the credit card: $16,500

• Outstanding credit card balances: $142,710

• Total budget cuts so far: $38.50

Is this a great country, or what?

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to video of the Piers Morgan/Alex Jones discussion and to Downton Abbey. Also an amusing Mullfoto showing why the Brits drink tea.

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