Still waiting for the dust to settle *UPDATED*

The talk amongst the Moms is the neighborhood is “Will this vacation never end?” Actually, it will, but only tomorrow, so I’m still marking time. This morning, I got the kids rallied and we scrubbed the house from top to bottom — almost. I was about to vacuum, when I suddenly had a deluge of neighborhood kids and decided that the smarter thing would be to vacuum after they left. I impressed upon all of them that terrible things would happen, though, if they made a mess in the house, so they’re all playing rather peacefully right now.

I haven’t yet had the chance to do my morning reading, and probably don’t have the full complement of brain cells to make anything of any reading anyway — which is a rather scary though when you think that I’m about to embark on some heavy duty legal research regarding the true meaning behind some completely unintelligible statutes. Nor do I think the statutes’ unintelligibility is a coincidence. They all show up in the statutory material that governs suing State government, and I have no doubt that the Legislature made the material impenetrable to ensure that unwitting claimants will invariably have committed a procedural error that enables the Court to do some equitable calculations when deciding whether to keep or not keep the case. That is, because the statutes are intentionally fuzzy, the Court can decide whether it’s a good case or not, and then use the fuzzy rules either to give the case a pass or dismiss it — right at the get go, without the necessity for any other procedural or substantive motions. Since my client is a state employee who is being sued, I’m hoping that the Court decides the case against him is a bad one and uses the rules in his favor.

Since I’m not offering anything useful here, let me direct you to Blackfive (thanks Y, for the tip), which has a great two part post. The first part tricks the mind, and the second part points out the sleight of hand Hillary is trying to get past voters. (And please remember, that much as I seriously dislike Hillary, I still find her the better candidate than either Obama or Silky Pony, given that I think she’s vicious enough to wage war against Islamists, while the other two can rise to some serious nastiness, but are incapable of a fight.)

Oh, one other thing! The Anchoress has proven that she is not only intelligent and witty, but also prescient. On January 2, 2008 (that is, almost a week ago), she wrote these words:

What I dread most in this political season is the “genuine” moment – and it is coming, soon, sometime between today and tomorrow, or tomorrow and New Hampshire – when Mrs. Clinton, in her ongoing effort to turn herself into whatever the polls says she must be, cries in public. It’s going to be genuinely ghastly.

And today, this is in the news:

ABC News’ Kate Snow Reports: Campaigning in New Hampshire one day before the first-in-the-nation primary, Senator Hillary Clinton got emotional and had tears in her eyes as she spoke with voters about how hard it is to balance a busy campaign life and her passion for the country’s future.

The Senator from New York was sitting at a big table in Cafe Espresso in Portsmouth, New Hampshire with 16 undecided voters, mostly women, warmly and calmly taking questions.

Then she took an unexpected question from a woman standing in the back.

“My question is very personal, how do you do it?” asked Marianne Pernold Young, a freelance photographer from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She mentioned Clinton’s hair and appearance always looking perfectly coifed. “How do you, how do you keep upbeat and so wonderful?”

Clinton began responding, jokingly. First talking about her hair: “You know, I think, well luckily, on special days I do have help. If you see me every day and if you look on some of the websites and listen to some of the commentators they always find me on the day I didn’t have help. It’s not easy.”

But then, Clinton began getting emotional: “It’s not easy, and I couldn’t do it if I didn’t passionately believe it was the right thing to do. You know, I have so many opportunities from this country just don’t want to see us fall backwards,” she said.

Her voice breaking and tears in her eyes, she said, “You know, this is very personal for me. It’s not just political it’s not just public. I see what’s happening, and we have to reverse it.”

Oh, ick! Actually, I’ll give Hillary credit for really feeling those emotions. In her own mind, she’s been Queen of America since 1992, and she must have been very certain that the voters would officially crown her in 2008. For her to suffer this kind of set-back must be devastating. I do not believe, though, that she’s going to drop out. Hillary’s style is to fight back and to do so using my favorite Hillary tactic: viciousness. She’s going to make mincemeat of Obama before she’s done. Indeed, I’m kind of willing to bet that she’s willing to destroy the entire Democratic field through dirty fighting, rather than to retreat peaceably.

UPDATE:  Regarding Hillary’s capacity to think more intelligently about Iraq than her fellow Dems, see the first item in today’s Best of the Web.