I skipped the Water Lilies lunch today, just wasn't interested in leaving the house. We're having one of those cool rainy days when staying inside by the fire has much more appeal to me than anything outside. I had a repairman here working also, plus a puny puppy, so socializing had to take a back seat to the rest of it. Since Skip was here until 11:00, my need for adult conversation, which the Water Lilies usually satisfy, had already been met.

One of the things I showed Skip on the computer this morning was the number of hate groups that are located in his part of Louisiana. I found it on Southern Poverty Law Center's site, just click on Hate Group Map. Later I went to Wounded Bird and found out one of these groups has already made the news. Seems a woman from Oklahoma decided to join, but changed her mind during the initiation and was killed for it. There has also been an increase in gun sales since the election.

Please, People! Get a grip! You were lied to during the campaign by extremists who just wanted your vote. There is no need to stock up on semi-automatic weapons. I hope Homeland Security is monitoring these terrorist groups, too. They scare me a lot more than any talk of "sleeper cells."

I hope John McCain and Sarah Palin are satisfied. Since neither of them were from the South, I'm not sure they realized how seriously afraid some folks around here are to let go of the old Klan mentality. From this week's news:

The U.S. Secret Service has blamed the harsh campaign-trail rhetoric of Sarah Palin for a rash of death threats against President-elect Obama. Palin's remarks created a heated atmosphere at her rallies. The Secret Service told the Obama family in October that they had seen death threats against the president-elect rise dramatically during the same period that Palin made some of her most blistering attacks, associating Obama with terrorism.

Lord have mercy, indeed!