The clock reads 8:35, it is Sunday morning, and I have slept in. We had friends for dinner last night and the extra rest feels good.

Mr. Wonderful, awake since 7AM, is sitting on the living room couch doing the New York Times crossword puzzle.

The glass doors to the patio are closed, the outside soaked with water. Long streaks wet the surface as though sprayed with a hose.

“Did it rain?” I asked him.

“No, it’s condensation,” he answers remaining focused.

The overnight surge in humidity is spoiling the outside view, and the air is heavy with sweat. I make an Italian Roast k-cup of coffee, grab the newspaper, and join him on the couch. However, our good life is short-lived once I start reading.

An Associated Press headline, “Pre-book tour, GOP tries to define Hillary,” demands my attention. The article is beside the Thomas Voting Report, “How your U.S lawmakers voted,” giving the appearance that the topics are related, they are not.

   Florida Representatives, Corrine Brown, Ron DeSantis, and John Mica, voted in all eight bills that address some serious public concerns, i.e., military budget, minimum wage & equal pay, climate change spending, and spying.

   I am optimistic thinking they increased the  minimum wage, got serious about climate control and ended civil service job protection, not.

After everything was said and done the House voted to:

• Approved a 1.8% pay increase for troops effective in 2015
• Continue to contract with companies that pay less than $10.10 an hour
• Prohibit the Defense Department from spending funds on climate change
• Keep Presidential authority of indefinite detention
• Keep Guantanamo Bay Prison open
• Curb National Security Agency collection of bulk data
• Fire any federal executive culpable in VA scandal
• Fund water projects

   At least they did something or did not seem to do nothing, and on paper Republicans passed five of the ten bills and had time to discuss the publication of Hillary Clinton’s book, “Hard Choices”  and her up coming book tour.    

   The newspaper article discusses Republican efforts pre-book tour to stop Hillary Clinton from running for office. There is a Stop Hillary Pac, organized by Garrett Marquis who claims to have raised $500,000 and have 250,000 supporters.

   Once again feeling politically stupid, I wonder, can that be legal? Forget that these activities, previously done behind closed-door, are sleazy and unethical, attempts to prevent a woman from seeking political office can be construed as  sex discrimination.

    Talk is the book tour is part of Hillary’s plan to front questions about her competency while Secretary of State and her handling of Benghazi. It probably is, however, it is common practice for world leaders to write memoirs and there is even another book titled Hard Choices by another Secretary of State. Evidently book titles are not copyrighted and it is the perfect title.

  House Republicans plan to further probe the Benghazi attack, is included in the article, as is Senator Lindsey Graham insightful vow, “I’m not going to quit until I can prove to people that story was manufactured through gross incompetence or willfully misleading the public six weeks before an election.”

   What is he talking about? I thought Benghazi was about the loss of lives not political get elected strategies; though politically stupid, what do I know.

. . . . just saying