...an explosive chemical reaction can occur.

I know nothing of plumbing but, logic is another thing. The kitchen sink had been very slow draining for what seemed like forever. After rinsing out a glass yesterday nothing happened, the water just sat there. I used the trusty new plunger brought just for this anticipated occasion. Squish, squish, gurgle, squish and still the water just sat there. After trying several hopeless avenues I then unscrewed all of the pipes underneath. The pipes were of course crammed with green algae-looking stuff. I cleaned those and put them back into place. I then ran the water a few feet and it just sat there. I went down to the basement and tapped on pipes and tried to unscrew caps as if I knew what I was doing. Hint: if you spray WD40 at an angle above your head it will float back down to your glasses and you skill will feel warm... like burning. A fools errand. It was the wrong order I know but, this required some thought.

I ate dinner, Chicken and Rice. Afterwards, I removed the pipes from under the sink again, placed a pan there and washed the dinner dishes. I dumped the pan of soapy water outside. I then made a cup of tea and sat on the side of the bed when, Sulfuric Acid came to mind. That was it! The 32oz bottle of Sulfuric Acid drain opener had warnings and instructions which I carefully read twice. Some of the warnings seemed pretty obvious like, "don't look directly in to the drain after pouring the acid down." -Oh, so tempting. 'My eyes, my eyes,' the burning would be a bit too King Lear-esque for me. "How sharper than a serpent's tooth," and all that. I therefore stepped as far away as I could while pouring the stuff down. I used four ounces as the instructions read and nothing happened. I eventually dumped the entire bottle down and waited 15 minutes before flushing the drain with cold water. I even put an upside down bucket over the drain because the instructions led me to expect an eruption. There were no eruptions but, the drain made a sigh and was now clear. I ran the cold water for about 10 minutes and I was home free. I was starting to feel proud of myself until I looked under the sink.

I usually toss the dirty towels under the sink and eventually wash them. I neglected to remove them before I started my little project. About an eighth of a cup of the acid had leaked from the pipe fittings on to the towels. Even through my rubber gloves the towels were extremely hot. I guess there were about a dozen towels there all ruined and steaming, but kinda cool in a 9th grade Earth Science kinda way. I guess it was a good idea after all not to look into the drain.

Speaking of drains... After putting everything back to normal I giggled through Larry King as (D)Eric Massa's career circled the...

Eric Massa... not funny

Sorry, gentle reader I have no humor for you today.

My friends, we have entered the age of the bad politician, politician. For about a year now it has been particularly annoying to me how bad most politicians are at well, being politicians. As my grandmother would say, "they lie when the truth will do," which often creates a mess that will not only destroy their lives but the lives of those around them. The latest in this lying league is (D) Eric Massa, (I'll table New York's current and most recent former governors for another rant...).

Massa will not seek re-election the headlines read. Here's a link if you have not heard: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34001.html He has had cancer a few times and his doc said in effect, "find some place and sit down." A few days later the headlines read that he is really resigning because he talked naughty to a boi. Now, I am to learn that he says he was really forced out because he was going to vote "No" on the health care thingy. Here's what the White house had to say about it: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/HealthCare/white-house-eric-massas-charges-ridiculous/story?id=10048764

Hmmmm. I admit I wasn't there but, it seems to me that the bill is not up for a vote yet, therefore for Massa to suggest that he is some sort of tie-breaker is a bit premature. Here's what I think happened...

Massa got scared. The ethics committee found out about the naughty talk and Massa in an attempt to avoid that on coming train resigned. Never mind that others have weathered far greater storms. The entire "forced out" story, I do not buy. As a Democrat I am sure he faced pressure to vote with his party but, again, it is too early to tell if he mattered that much. The man just does not want to go home in disgrace. A martyr sounds a lot better. He was set up and railroaded because he held strong to his beliefs sounds better than isn't he that guy who tried to...

Further, I could spend all afternoon talking about what this means in terms of easily ignoring the commitment he made to the people of his region, this country. I believe the oath goes something like. "...and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God." So, after making that kind of a commitment he lies rather than fights? Fighting does not count after you've stepped aside.

Now, here's were the really bad politician comes into play. If the set up were remotely true and he really wanted to remain true to his oath, then I would think that "set up" would have been the first words out of his mouth. The storm would have easily subsided concerning the naughty words (given our attention span) and we would have moved on to another story. But, we are to believe that the first 2 "lies" are to be ignored and now believe the set up story? Pardon the reference but, that's a bit too hard to swallow.