Now All We Need Is Sex And Rock & Roll

More of the neon art exhibit at Laumeier Sculpture Park. I wonder what selection of drugs might be helpful this morning. We won the House but lost our much-admired senator, Claire McCaskill, to a young man who has spent his first two years in political office making a shambles of the Missouri attorney general's office.

At least there won't be any horrible legislation passed by Congress in the next two years.     

Beer And Politics

Very late post. I forgot my laptop at the office yesterday. Anyway, Mrs. C and I attended a fundraiser last night for Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who is up for re-election this year. Claire is a blue beacon in an increasingly red state and we support her strongly. (On the other hand, our super right wing Republican governor, who makes our skin crawl, may be about to be forced out of office over a sex scandal and/or indicted for a couple of things. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.)

We had hopes Claire would be there but, of course, she was stuck in Washington with the shutdown nonsense. Her sister, Ann McCaskill, spoke passionately on her behalf. The venue was STL's most popular Irish pub, McGurk's. Guiness and Smithwick's flowed freely. People paid close attention. Certainly Samuel Beckett did. Oscar Wilde, maybe not so much.     

Politicians

                            
You will never find a politician without something to say. These are some of the dignitaries from the Missouri side of the river who attended the bridge opening and, of course, had a few comments.

Above, happy-go-lucky Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, wearing his Cardinals hat and a scarf to match. Next, Senator Claire McCaskill, much admired in the Crowe household.

Beneath the senator are a current and past member of the House of Representatives, Lacey Clay and Russ Carnahan. The latter was my congressman until last year. As American readers know, the 435 members of of our House of Representatives are re-apportioned among the states after each decennial census. Missouri's percentage of the national population went down a bit and, as a consequence, we lost one seat in the House. The Republican dominated state legislature re-drew the boundaries in such a way as to eliminate Carnahan's district, and thus a Democratic seat in the House. No idea what he's doing now. He looks a bit ghostly in the crowd beside the stage.                               

Send In The Clown

It happens a lot around St. Louis. Fredbird, the baseball Cardinals' irrepressible, relentlessly idiotic mascot, was in attendance at the bridge opening. Fredbird. Red bird. Cardinals. Get it? Har har.

Fredbird is famous for clamping his (its?) beak down on people's heads. All in good fun. In the second photo, he seems to be about to try it on some politicians. From left to right: Sen. Claire McCaskill (yay), Rep. Lacey Clay (yay) and, most immediately, Rep. Ann Wagner (not yay). Might it do some good?

Tomorrow: you can see the Arch from the bridge. Mostly.