While I was in Washington last week I stopped in the “old joke factory” to see what Congress is up to. Mainly I went up on Capitol Hill to visit “my” Oklahoma Congressman Markwayne Mullin. His office is in the Longworth House Office Bldg, named after an old friend, Speaker of the House from Ohio, Nicholas Longworth. After chatting about ten minutes he said, “I’ve got to go cast a vote. Come with me and we’ll take some photos in front of your statue.” Now I ain’t braggin’, but I bet there’s not a one of you that ever had your Congressman offer to pose for a picture in front of your statue.

At the start of the tunnel leading to the Capitol I had to go through security. Those guards do a fine job protecting the Capitol because I had to empty my pockets just like at the airport. Congressman Mullin carried my saddle bags and lasso because he wasn’t sure if they would be allowed in there for a visitor, even one with a statue, but they trust a Congressman.  Striding through that long tunnel he looked right at home with saddle bags slung over his shoulder with a lasso hanging down, because he’s a rancher. He also runs a plumbing company but I won’t get into that. But I can see where plumbing tools could come in handy in Congress, especially when a bill gets clogged up with too many crappy amendments.

Well, we got to the entrance to the House, and right there, keeping an eye on Congress, is “my” statue. One of his assistants, Liz, shot a few photos of us, and he said “So long,” and went in to vote. Liz helped me find my way out. We went through the big rotunda under the dome, and she said it would be closed soon because of construction. You’ve all seen the scaffolding surrounding the dome on the outside; now they are ready to start work on the underside of the dome.

Meanwhile, Secretary Kerry was telling the Senate about the Iran nuclear deal he negotiated. He likes it, President Obama likes it, Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei likes it. Also Russia, Hezbollah, and the UN. But Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and average Americans don’t trust Iran with a nuclear bomb. We don’t even trust ‘em with a bazooka.

Do you know Donald Trump is running for President? Of course, it’s all over the news, and I mean all over it. There’s 15 other Republican candidates who are lucky to get 5 seconds of air time. Trump was in Laredo, Texas, facing off against Mexico. Next week, August 6, he’ll be in Cleveland facing off against 9 of those other candidates. What a show! Even Hillary will tune in.

President Obama continues to insist the Gitmo prison needs to be closed because it is costing far too much taxpayer money to house a few Islamic terrorists. Meanwhile, he is on a 2-day trip to visit his relatives and leaders in Kenya, costing us taxpayers $1,000,000,000. Wouldn’t it be more sensible to fly a thousand Kenyans to Washington for 2 days? Bring a few Ethiopians, too.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“A diplomat is a man who tells you what he don’t believe himself, and the man he is telling it to don’t believe it any more than he does.” Saturday Evening Post, June 9, 1928

“During this hot weather I don’t want the blame of settling anything wrong… Heat and reason don’t go together. There’s going to be a lot of spouting from the radio and from the speakers’ platforms all this summer. There’ll be more perspiration than common sense flowing.” Radio, June 9, 1935

“What this country needs is more working men and fewer politicians.” WA #95, Oct. 5, 1924