Vive la compagnie!  It's Bastille Day, and I'm back online after an 80-day absence. In the meantime, Texas just passed the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the nation; Zimmerman was acquitted in Florida; the oil shale boom is fueling the energy industry; the housing sector has perked up even as interest rates slowly rise; Senate leaders Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell are at loggerheads again; and the nation is still reeling from the aftermath of the Boston Marathon tragedy, tropical storm Sandy, wild fires, and a hair-trigger stock market.  In other words, not much has changed.