It’s a pedestrian wine, at best. Better for dinner than sipping by itself, perhaps. It’s one of many I’ve had of late. In a word, don’t Devour.

Knowlegis released the 2008 Congressional Power Rankings today on Congress.org marking the fourth edition of the Power Rankings, which compiles more than 20 objective criteria measuring power in Congress.

Knowlegis ranks Congressman Ron Paul #27 out of 200 House Republicans. Among the criteria that garnered this standing were his Ranking Member status on the House Financial Services Committee, tenure and influence.

It is becoming harder and harder for Washington and the mainstream media to ignore the ripple effect the collapse of the housing bubble is having on the economy. Inflation is up, cost of food is up, oil and gold are up, foreclosures are up, unemployment is up, government spending is at record highs, its seems that the only thing down is the value of the dollar. The middle and lower classes are getting squeezed as prices jump and wages stay flat.

Though it is good that Washington is acknowledging the problem instead of sweeping it under the rug, I always get nervous at their ideas of solutions. A proper solution requires an honest, in-depth look at the root of the problem.

The McManis is a McMiss, in a big way. It’s another in a series of lousy white McWines. I'm not sure you'd want to even serve it with dinner.

It’s another wine in a long, long series of late of sturdy, if unspectacular white wines. It may be time to switch to reds for a while. This one isn’t bad, just not particularly special.

While some people don't believe in evolution at any speed, other people, such as the scientific types at the National Academy of Sciences, claim that human evolution is speeding up. Indeed, an article on the libertarian International Society for Individual Liberty website that linked to The Raw Story that linked to Agence France-Presse that published an article headlined "Human Evolution Speeding Up" sums up the accelerated alteration phenomenon in the following snippet: "The pace of change has increased 100-fold in modern times compared to our distant past, and most notably since the Ice Age, 10,000 years ago, and has led to increasing diversification between the races."

Now for the Nervous News at Nine. A bomb scare in Piddlyboro, Vermont. Police, sheriff's department, state troopers, SWAT teams, bomb squads, FBI, BATFE, Homeland Security, National Guard units and the town dogcatcher converged on a "suspicious brown paper bag" left unattended in front of Mother McRaggedy's Second Hand Store on Main Street. Following a six-hour standoff, a $190,000 remote-controlled ordinance-disposal robot was sent in. The bag contained an empty Mad Dog 20/20 wine bottle, left there the night before by Elmer Swilling, the town wino and dogcatcher.

Sometimes it seems like an uphill battle against despair, fighting against an almost total media blackout of Dr. Paul's campaign as well as educating voters to his message that have no idea he is still in the race. Sigh.