Tourist Season

The world is full of obvious things 

which nobody by any chance ever observes 

--The Hound of the Baskervilles,

 Arthur Conan Doyle

Looking for water

But I lost God in a New York minute 

--Looking for Water, David Bowie

Oh, precious is the flow 

That makes me white as snow 

--Nothing But the Blood,

Jars of Clay and The Blind Boys of Alabama

______________________

If there's anything weird going on, Florida would like to be a part of it; we may lack for finesse, but we have weird down to a science.  While on the road we read of the revelation that some politcos had gotten wild last summer at the Sea of Gallilee, and we just knew one of the home boys had to be a part.  And so it was.

The Panhandle's own Rep. Steve Southerland (R) was among the group of merry makers overcome with enthusiasm on the shores of the Sea of Gallilee, where one Kansas Rep. Kevin Yoder (R) stripped off his skivvies and annointed himself in the holy waters. [Southerland did not shuck his clothes for the swim, though he does end his automated calls to his constituents with a "God Bless You."]

Yoder's given reason for naughtily plunging into the place where Jesus is said to have walked on water? "Part of the reason I made that decision at that moment was there was really nobody in the vicinity who could see me" (Yoder Apologizes for Skinny Dipping). And what better reason for a politician to do anything, really?

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/20/2959927/kansas-rep-yoder-apologizes-for.html#storylink=cpy

Ranger does not actually care if these guys got drunk and naked in the Sea of Gallilee or a fountain in Las Vegas, provided they could help him resolve his ongoing 4 1/2 year issue with Social Security.  Alas, the two assistants at Rep. Southerland's office from whom Ranger has sought help have not returned the bacon, and $10,000+ of Ranger's money is still withheld and in play (see "Rodeo Clown" and "Effin' Wrong").

This faux pas (for which Yoder will not be punished) is reminiscent of that of another congressman, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY).  After an errant Tweet of his manliness, Rep. Weiner was ultimately forced to resign his position.  Both behaviors were inappropriate and salacious, but for Yoder, it was spun as a bit of spirited effusiveness; for Weiner, it was a career-ender. 

The Algemeiner interviewed an Israeli policeman regarding the incident who said Yoder would have been arrested for his nude swim had any officers been in the vicinity. There is a perverse aspect to this story: The U.S. is supposedly fighting to win Islamist hearts and minds, while the wars' most vehement supporters defile a site deemed holy to their own religion.  This perversion negates the deaths of our soldiers, who are to uphold a standard to which their leaders do not hew, and makes a mockery of our ostensible respect for religion.

All of the congressmen who took part in this behavior should be censured; Yoder should resign, according to everything he holds holy.