~~ You hear a lot about “change” in the Presidential Primary Campaigns these days. A little over one year ago:

1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high

2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon

3) And the unemployment rate was 4.5%

~~ Since voting in a DemocRAT Congress in 2006 we're seen:

1) Consumer confidence plummet

2) The cost of regular gasoline soar to over $3 a gallon

3) Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase)

4) American households have seen $2.3 trillion in equity value evaporate (stock and mutual fund losses)

5) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $1.2 trillion dollars;

6) And 1% of American homes are in foreclosure.

America voted for change in 2006, and we got it! The most significant accomplishment by our Clowns in Congress during 2007 was when they voted to increase their own pay.

~~ Maybe that’s why our Quote for Today Committee chose this classic from Barack Obama: “My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it.”

~~ With only 212 more days till our November Elections, Rob “Fighting Furiously for Failed Legacies” Portman took time out from calling his Puppet Pundit Bob Novak to see if he’s on McCain’s latest VP list to arrange for his hand-picked protégé That Lying Plagiarizing Meddling Overblown Tax-and-Spend RINO Bitch Mean Jean “Hoffman” Schmidt to join a Congressional trade delegation to Columbia. So how do you say “That Lying Plagiarizing Meddling Overblown Tax-and-Spend RINO Bitch” in Spanish. We’ll get Moises, Alfredo, Julio and Jose on that translation right away.

~~ Hurley the Historian says on this date in 1896, the first modern Olympic Games were played in Athens, Greece and folks hereabouts are still laughing at how many morons shared Nick Vehr’s wet dream of having the Worst Run City in America host the Olympics in 2012.

~~ Our Clermont Crusader says Maupin Madness continues, as the Maupin family is making plans for a small, private, and tasteful funeral for their Fallen Hero. Do you think Paul Brown Stadium would be small, private, and tasteful enough?

~~ Speaking of Waste, Fraud, and Abuse, we understand “Tax Freedom Day” is coming one of these days. Maybe The Blower should tell people more about it.

~~ Reds fan Farley Fairweather says the Reds quickly revered to midseason form Friday night at Mediocre American Ball Park, as they sent out one of Senor Bob’s overpaid mediocre acquisitions to the mound, hoping that he too would overachieve. Jason Fogg lasted only four inning, giving up six runs. What does that make his ERA—13.5? That was really worth sitting through a 94-minute rain delay.

~~ In February, The Blower complained about news coverage of the incident at MILF-ord High School that led to three basketball players being charged with assaulting another ninth grader on the team. We wondered why nobody would tell you what really happened. They use terms like “assault,” “bullying,” “unlawful restraint,” “sexual imposition” and “complicity to sexual imposition.” On Friday, two of the “sexual complicitors” admitted in Clermont County Juvenile Court on Friday that they had “bullied” a teammate. So when do we get to hear details of the version of the story that includes sodomy?

~~ Alternative Life-styles Columnists Ben Dover and Phil McKrevis say none of this would’ve ever happened if MILF-ord was joining other Hamilton County High Schools (like Anderson, Cincinnati Country Day, Finneytown, Indian Hill, Loveland, Oak Hills, St. Xavier, Walnut Hills, Western Hills, and Wyoming) to celebrate Happy Homo Day on April 25 sponsored by McDonald’s.

That way MILF-ord teens could also learn that homosexuality is a worthy lifestyle; that it has few or no risks; that some people are "born" homosexual, including students who never would have thought of such gross activities without teachers to tell them it was OK; and that those who oppose this behavior are hateful and uninformed?

~~ Bluegrass Bureau Chief Ken CamBoo says there are only 44 more until days will our Bluegrass Primary Elections on May 20, but the only time we hear anything about it is when our former Pants-Dropper-in-Chief Bill Clinton is trying to find Morehead.

~~ A recent study found the average Kentuckian walks about 900 miles per year. Another study found Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of beer a year. That means, on average, folks in the Bluegrass get about 41 miles to the gallon. And you thought people in Kentucky didn’t have anything to be proud about.

~~ And who says Beloved Whistleblower Publisher Charles Foster Kane isn’t bi-partisan? Wasn’t our Soul of the Conservative Agenda seen having lunch with a pair of Delightful Dems at the Wok on Friday— Miss Vicki and Y’All Ville Mayor Blondie Whalen? So where was Vanilla Hills MILF of the Year Jeni Lee Dinkel? We heard she was complaining to Judge Roy Bean Bartlett that she was not the rapist, only the rapee.