Mitch Gann’s

AP photo

On the campaign trail in Kentucky, Hillary Clinton is saying stuff like, “You don’t quit on people and you don’t quit until you finish what you started, and you don’t quit on America.”

OK, I get it. You don’t quit, ever. For any reason. Or is it just that you don’t ever admit that you have lost? I mean, lost in the galling way that Hillary Clinton, for example, has lost? Lost to a guy nobody even heard of a few months ago?

You can quit in some circumstances without being a quitter, and you can lose in some circumstances without being a loser. But apparently Hillary intends to soldier on to the bitter end.

“Canadian pierces lover’s heart in botched sex game” Reuters:

A Canadian man who asked his lover to carve a heart-shaped symbol on his chest during a rough sex game almost died when she accidentally pressed too hard and punctured his heart . . . .

Apparently this happened in Winnipeg in the winter, and both parties had been drinking heavily. The article doesn’t mention what the rules of the game were.

Barack Obama has gotten into trouble for calling a female news reporter “sweetie.” This was the second time he publicly used the term of endearment with a woman he did not know; the other time it was a woman factory worked in Pennsylvania back in April.

Senator Obama says calling strangers “sweetie” is a bad habit of his. I’d call it an odd habit, too. It is the sort of thing you would expect from an older guy — John McCain, perhaps. I sometimes call my wife “hon” or my daughters “honey.” But never anybody else.

I do sometimes get called “honey” by waitresses in a certain class of restaurant. Not the class where Obama would likely eat, unless he were trolling for votes.

See: “Obama Sorry for ‘Sweetie’ Comment” BBC News.

After flirting with the four-dollar a gallon mark yesterday, gas prices in our area slid back a bit. I filled my tank today with $3.969 a gallon gas. I needed 11 gallons, so the price drop saved me 33 cents, which I plan to invest in corn futures.

Gas prices in my area (Flint, MI) hit $3.999 for a gallon of regular today. Let’s call it four dollars a gallon and be done with it.

It’s a psychological mark. Last week, I paid $3.799 a gallon to fill up. So today’s price would cost me an additional four bucks for a 20-gallon tankful. I can afford the four bucks, but the $80 for a fill up hurts. And it feels bad to see that price and to know it is going higher still. Why wouldn’t it hit five bucks a gallon this summer? I see no reason for the increases to stop — unless demand decreases.

I’m thinking twice before I jump behind the wheel. Except to go to work, of course. Luckily my commute is under 10 miles. The round trip is costing me about — four dollars.

“A new wrinkle in smoking enforcement” Reuters:

Cigarette vending machines in Japan may soon start counting wrinkles, crow’s feet and skin sags to see if the customer is old enough to smoke.

The legal age for smoking in Japan is 20 and as the country’s 570,000 tobacco vending machines prepare for a July regulation requiring them to ensure buyers are not underage, a company has developed a system to identify age by studying facial features.

I don’t smoke and I don’t live in Japan, so this age-detecting technology is of no immediate concern to me, but you know that if it works, it will spread. Those of us who have a perpetually youthful appearance, despite our elder status, may be in trouble. Apparently, if the machine isn’t certain of your age, it will card you. Who wants to be carded by a robot? It’s been a while since anyone carded me. In fact, I can’t remember ever being carded. I have always had a mature look, even when I was a kid. Now the gray hair and beard are a give-away.

Come to think of it, I’m not concerned.

Saying that “the government has run amok fiscally,” former Congressman and former Republican Bob Barr has announced his candidacy for the Libertarian presidential nomination. (See the LA Times article.)

I don’t know Bob Barr from beans, but I like his way of putting things. Run amok, indeed! Both the Republicans and the Democrats at the Federal level have lost any sense of fiscal responsibility. When we had the “tax more and spend more Democrats” and the “cut taxes and cut spending Republicans,” we could count on some sanity in the budget process. I’m not talking fairness or effectiveness, just sanity. Sure, the two sides seldom agreed on fiscal spending priorities, but they seemed to agree on the basic principle of having enough revenue to cover expenditures. At least most of the time. At least close to enough.

Then somewhere along the lines, both parties got hooked on the idea of borrowing. Well, why not? It’s the American way. We the people set a bad example for the politicos.

Or was it the other way around?

I doubt I’ll vote for Bob Barr, but I like his budgetary rhetoric.

If you want to save a buck, go to the US Postal Service web site before midnight and buy 100 Forever Stamps for $41. Monday it will cost you $42.