SPRING LEAVES, Week Eight: almost done.

Only the white oaks haven't fully leafed out yet, but they're busily in their pollen generating phase. Everything -- decks, driveway -- is covered with buds and green pollen dust. Blow it off, and within hours it's back, heavier than ever.

Last week's picture is here, and of course you can click back in time from there.

REGULATION NATION: Virginia proposal would limit size of gatherings at private homes.

Fairfax is the county adjacent to where we live. It's one of the richest counties in the U.S., and the 'bluest' in Virginia.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW about the Obama administration is in the last panel.

NO. NEXT QUESTION? Could Seattle’s Economy Survive a $15 an Hour Minimum Wage?

The whole idea has a kind of surreal detachment to it — as if the normal laws of supply and demand don’t apply and liberals can, simply because their hearts are in the right place, make everything add up in the end.

They don't plan on 'making everything add up' -- they plan on you, the taxpayer, making everything add up (with a little skim off the top).

If they do succeed in passing such a law, the collision between minimum-wage workers rushing to Seattle and minimum-wage employers fleeing should be interesting to watch.

Bring popcorn.

DE BLASIO to resurrect attempt at NYC big soda ban. Doesn't that damn fool have something better to do? Like run a city?

THE ROAD TO SERFDOM -- now with EZ-Pass.

So we'll get there faster....

PAT SAJAK predicts Rutgers’ next move after leftist mob drives away Condoleezza Rice.

Rutgers reportedly considering dropping rice from on-campus menus and having all bushes removed

And anyone driving a Chevy Cruz will be denied a parking permit.

LAWMAKERS STEP UP FIGHT against FDA-approved painkiller. Getting between you and your doctor -- see any parallels with ObamaCare's 'death panels'? And remember -- the 'death panel' can't be overruled.

A GUN LOCK even the NRA might approve. Though it doesn't solve the problem of having your weapon wrestled away from you.

In other gun news, I fail to see the backlash over the sale of the Armatix iP1 'smart' gun. It's a nice piece of technology, assuming it works consistently, and I'd be tempted to buy one (except that being retired, I no longer wear a watch). It is one I'd consider for my wife as her carry weapon, though, as she would typically carry in her purse.

The opponents of smart weapons would be better advised to fight the laws that mandate them.

AN OPEN LETTER to bearded hipsters (language alert). Funny, and with enough truth to tempt me into shaving off my beard (except I doubt my children, ages 40 and 30, would recognize me without it).

AMAZING PHOTOS: and the 21st century is only 14 years old.

WE SHOULD BE SO LUCKY: Rep. John Conyers May be Booted Off Ballot Due to Invalid Petition Signatures.

BUT IT'S NOT MY FAULT the failure is a result of the [liberal] policies I advocate.

IS OBAMA TOO SMART FOR THE PRESIDENCY, or is it too tough for him? Well, we know the first part isn't true....

ADVICE FOR DEMOCRATS: Better start looking for an alternative to Hillary.

IF LETHAL INJECTION IS TORTURE, then who is responsible? Three guesses. The first two don't count.

CALIFORNIA CONGRESSWOMAN wants a $26 minimum wage in her state. I'm all for it; it would bankrupt the state in less than a year.

[VIDEO] ON MSNBC, “Animal Farm” is a parable about … income inequality.

Well, OK I suppose. But communism actually does promote income equality -- for the proletariat. Abject poverty is about as 'equal' as you can get.

“LOOK, I LOVE CHILDREN. I just don’t think they should be in charge of foreign policy.”

CALIFORNIA: Give us your poor, your huddled masses yearning to pay the nation’s highest personal income tax, highest sales tax, second-highest gasoline tax ....

Heh.