279. A little more Castro. Also, a little more a little closer to home.

My Cuban friend mentioned in the previous entry isn't all that enthused about Raoul Castro's ascension to power in his native state. He feels Raoul's military background under his older brother's regime will prove to be just as brutal if not moreso than Fidel's. He doesn't feel any change is anywhere near on the horizon just yet. That's a shame, but he would know more about it than me.

Closer to home, the political landscape is getting a little more interesting. I've written more than once than I felt Senator Hillary Clinton would ont only be the nominee but also the next president. The Junior Senator from Illinois is making that harder than anticipated. I've written before that I was for Clinton before I was for Obama before I was for Chris Dodd, who is no longer running. On one of the window sills in my office is a "Don't Tell Mama I'm For Obama" sticker. I suggested to one of my coworkers that one week it is up for everyone to view, while the next it is laying down. I'm still undecided although I do have a bumber sticker on my car for the current favored son of Hawai'i. There has to be something special about a candidate who draws the support of both former Congressman Romano L. Mazzoli and current Congressman John Yarmuth. They do not inhabit the same territory within the Party although both are from the idealist side of the Party. And the opinion of each of them makes an impression on me.

Even closer to home, there has been much consternation about Andrew Horne's aborted candidacy for the United Senate. A whole lot of people are upset about it including some in some very high places of power, at least here along the Left Bank of the Ohio River near Milepost 606. I am admittedly not one of those upset. But neither have I cast my lot with either of the two serious challengers, Bruce Lunsford or Greg Fischer, both millionaires from Louisville. And I am even more undecided in this race than I am in the one between Clinton and Obama. And again, the opinions expressed by several of my friends from the Yarmuth campaign are pushing in one direction rather than another. There is the old saw about "some of my friends are for you and some of my friends are against you and I am for my friends." Ah, the joys of loyalty.

Finally, our Kentucky General Assembly, a collection of 138 lawmakers now assembled at Frankfort are busy introducing legislation, making attempts to amend said legislation, but doing very little passing of same. Actually, they have passed exactly zero pieces of legislation, which, frankly, is probably better than it seems. Introductions: 769. Amendments: 190. Enactments: 0. [Acknowledgements to www.kentuckyvotes.org, a service of the Bluegrass Instutute, a copyright of USA Votes, Inc. for these statistics]. The session is more than half over. At some point, legislation will start getting passed and that is when we Kentuckians should start paying closer attention. One recalls the old joke that we might be better off if the General Assembly met for two days every sixty years rather than sixty days every two years. Unfortunately, due to one of those constitutional amendments I habitually vote against, they now meet every year, making Frankfort a most dangerous place not just biennially but annually. If nothing else, it makes for interesting entertainment for the school children making field trips to the Commonwealth's seat of government. I know I always enjoyed it.

That's all for now.