Nice One

Today Governor Jindal vetoed a bill that would have increased the salary of our state legislators from $16,800.00 to $37,500.00. The controversial pay increase has been THE topic of conversation for the past few weeks. Generally, the voters have not been at all happy about the fact that some newly-elected legislators voted for the increase, which would have gone into effect Tuesday. I think an increase in pay is important, but it should not be something that is effective immediately. I do not believe $16,800.00 is adequate compensation for the work that the legislators do. Such a paltry salary perhaps equates to only the well-to-do being able to afford the luxury of running for public office, and I think that is wrong for many different reasons. Nevertheless, there is something incredibly distasteful about the bill and I am glad that Jindal finally worked up the nerve (or his electorate finally scared him into) vetoing the bill. Good choice.

Here is a picture of the first of many lovely sunflowers in our backyard. Okay, yea, the petals are a little 'weak' but this guy was over 9 feet tall. Can you picture how high up that is? High. Clearly, most of the energy was used up in building the stalk. It blew over in a recent rain storm so we had to cut it down. We have enjoyed looking at it for the past few days: