I am halfway somewhere else this morning. There is a fire near Denver that concerns me, that and the possible deracho front similar to the one that hammered us last summer that is headed this way.

I hope to be above it all by mid-day, though. There is a family funeral- my cousin Bill- that will gather all of us Socotras together for the first time with the old generation completely gone. I was trying to pull myself together in the face of the chaos at the office- some big doings there- and some amazing opportunities I will share with you when they get a little more clear.

And the big broker’s open house here yesterday at Big Pink to see if I can shed the larger unit and downsize…well, getting organized for that made the The Daily fail to materialize yesterday. God knows there is plenty to talk about as we get to a New Normal in what we expect from our government.

More than 40% of the public doesn’t give a crap about the NSA phone and internet monitoring program, which has knocked the trifecta of previous scandals off the headline news. But scandal is the new normal these days, and there are so many that it is hard to get anyone to pay attention.

I should have been packing this morning, but I got a great note from a pal who led me on a splendid romp through the ongoing criminal conspiracy that is the United States Government. There is nothing in this new world that is apparently not touched by corruption. This morning, he touched briefly on the cover-ups of misconduct at State before moving on to note that member of both the Executive Branch and the Congress routinely make insider trades on stocks that are the subject of pending regulation or legislation.

The game is rigged, my fellow citizens, and no one seems interested.

I have been mystified by the inattention devoted to Secretary Sibelius. The Hatch Act is still law, right? And the rest of the litany of her shake-downs, extortion and abuse of office should suffice to generate a scandal all her own, though no one seems to care. Did you know she has a $12 billion dollar petty cash drawer unaccountable to anyone?

It is the New Normal we hear so much about.

Like the significant percentage of Americans who are untroubled by the Prism program, I am afraid that all this blatantly illegal conduct is going to get a pass- I can’t say that things like the insider trading are new- I remember Hillary’s astonishingly prescient dabble in the cattle future trades- nor it is confined to the Democratic Party, though I understand Madam Pelosi’s family has done quite well in the market during her career.

The Republicans do run the House, and if they cared very much they could at least do something symbolic to address the issue.

Corrupt, corrupt, corrupt.

The only ones who are transparent are us, the draft animals that pull the carnival wagons along with placid uncaring gaze.

Crap. I am packing to try to get out of here and to Dulles for a noon flight to Denver, where fires are raging south of town.

Winds are supposed to be calmer today, and may permit fire-fighters to get a handle on the flames.

That is unlikely to be the case here in Washington, and it will be good to get away from it for a while. Reporting from the road may be sporadic, but I will keep you posted as I can.

This is likely to be the New Normal in communications- but I will fill you in on that soon.

(The noon flight to Denver. Getting out of town will be a relief- or is it out of the frying pan and into the fires?)

Copyright 2013 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com