Gossip-Lauer, Merryland and Chili Finger Update; Pic of Week-Please Click In-Smiles Guaranteed;Delaware-More Partisan Stuff

 

Veteran Spits in Jane Fonda’s Face
Which she well deserved as she sat signing yet another vapid book she wrote about her vapid and traitorous life.
FromYahoo.com

The man, 54-year-old Michael Smith, waited in line for about 90 minutes before spitting a "large amount" of tobacco juice into Fonda's face, according to Kansas City police. Smith was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

~~~~~~~~~~
POP CULTURE STORY OF THE WEEK!
Yes, the Story Isn’t Dead Yet
The lovely Ms. Ayala , the grifter who claimed finding a severed finger in her Wendy’s chili, has been arrested.

Oh my. Do you think lying and bringing down a lawful business might be a bad thing? Because the Wendy’s where this kook was supposed to have been served finger-laced chili had to lay off employees because of plummeting sales. Poor minimum wage employees out of a job due to this goofball. And there’s lots more on this lady that includes a long history of such swindling and thievery.

Anna Ayala 


From WSMV.com

Anna Ayala was taken into custody late Thursday at her Las Vegas home. She was arrested on a warrant alleging grand larceny and attempted grand larceny, Las Vegas Police Sgt. Chris Jones said.

As it turns out, Ayala has a litigious history. She has filed claims against several corporations, including a former employer and General Motors, though it is unclear from court records whether she received any money. She said she got $30,000 from El Pollo Loco after her 13-year-old daughter got sick at one of the chain's Las Vegas-area restaurants. But El Pollo Loco spokeswoman Julie Weeks said last week that the company reviewed Ayala's February 2004 claim and paid her nothing.

~~~~~~~~~~
Matt Lauer Headed for Divorce Court?

Not sure about the character reference in the quote below. Given that it’s from Matt’s wife’s mother. Who is estranged from her daughter. Still there’s whispers across the gossipsphere that Matt is having marital problems.

According to The Enquirer, some sources claim Roque, the mother of their two children, worries that Lauer may cheat on her. But her estranged mother, Johanna Roque, contends her daughter may be at fault because she's a "selfish and spoiled, bad-tempered girl."

~~~~~~~~~~
Bill Cosby Still in Deep Do-Do
Where’s there’s smoke, as my mother used to tell me, there’s fire. And with Mr. Cosby there’s so much smoke it’s hard to see. Not only is it astounding the stories about his penchant for drugging and groping women, just the fact that he has eleven mistresses amazes.

From IMDB.com

Bill Cosby is in more hot water - 11 of his alleged former mistresses have come forward with stories the comic drugged and assaulted them.

~~~~~~~~~~
The Merryland Scandal Just Keeps Getting Merrier

It’s a bit complicated. And rather silly. And all orchestrated by the Democratic party of Merryland which does not like Republican Governor Ehrlich so they must make like the nasty yappy little dogs that they are and keep nipping at the Governor’s ankles.

It seems a staffer on Ehrlich’s staff got involved with an online persona known as “MD4BUSH”. This MD4BUSH character is alleged to be one of any number of a strange cast which would include the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, Mayor Martin O’Malley’s staff or all of the above.

Before this week only the one-sided email conversation of the Ehrlich staffer, real name Joseph Steffen, which made it look like Steffen was gleefully passing along damaging information on Mayor O’Malley. Who has a reputation that makes Bill Clinton look like a piker with the ladies. But oh my, don’t dare say anything because hey, he’s a Democrat!

Ah, but it turns out that Steffen was responding to private emails sent to him by this MD4BUSH character. Baltimore’s WBAL news got the OTHER side of those private emails and it does throw a whole new light on the conversation.

This Blog’s Earlier post on Merryland Scandal

 


FrTHE WBAL CHANNEL

MD4Bush: "If some of my friends and I were interested in keeping the story floating, do you have suggestions for us on how best to do it?"
Steffen: "I cannot and will not offer suggestions that may be construed unethical concerning what you should do, campaign wise. This is especially true concerning mom's (Mayor O'Malley's) personal life. ... Work to hit the mayor constantly in letters to the editor (about city issues, not personal issues), call in radio shows etc."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The private e-mail messages show that MD4Bush -- not Steffen -- added new dirt to the rumors. And throughout the private chats, MD4Bush appears to prod Steffen into spreading the rumors, Collins said.

Collins said a member of the Maryland Democratic Party with close ties to the O'Malley administration wrote that message, providing instructions on how to react to the story.

The e-mail touts:

"This will be the biggest story of the year, in The Post, either tomorrow or Thursday, that credits Gov. Ehrlich's staff for creating and spreading the nasty and untrue rumor about our mayor and his family."

Collins said the e-mailer urged showing "your disgust by calling in WBAL Radio, it also provides talking points."

"If it does go back to the Democratic Party, they will have a lot of explaining to do," Ehrlich said.

 


And They Say Animals Have No Emotions
 


 

Get a Load of the PR Folks Behind “Delaware United to Protect Social Security”

Not that we’d call this group partisan or anything.

From WDEL.com

Here are partial resumes of the Democrat Party marketing people in charge of this campaign:

"Steve Hildebrand, campaign manager for Tom Daschle; Brad Woodhouse, communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democrat Jon Corzine; Kim Kaufman, fundraiser for Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles; and President Clinton's master of dirty tricks, Harold Ickes.

Rick Jensen

Quotables-Hillary, the Devil;Gardening-Pics and Annuals; Fishgiggles-Abbott and Costello Buy a Computer

 


About Hillary As a Politician
From OpinionJournal.com

The plain fact is that Hillary Clinton is actually one of the worst politicians in national politics today. She is feared as a brilliant politician only because she is such an obvious politician, which is actually the key mark of a bad politician.
JAY COST

~~~~~~~~~~
About the Devil

 

"The greatest trick the devil pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." Kaiser Soze,

~~~~~~~~~~~
About the Spineless Republicans
From Town Hall.com

But lack of support from the Republican majority has turned the confirmation process into an ordeal by fire. For all the Republican talk about a "nuclear option" to stop filibusters on stalled judicial nominees, the GOP has been firing blanks from water pistols while liberal Democrats beat White House nominees like rented mules.
Oliver North

 

Let the Season Begin

On the day of this writing there’s a foot and a half of snow in the Midwest and now that you mention it, it’s right chilly here in Delaware.

Still I took my Home Depot gift card from this past Christmas and proceeded to purchase my annuals.

Meanwhile, the perennials begin peeking out from their winter hidey-hole and I know that it’s time to dig.

 


So far I’ve got a tray of impatiens, that garden staple that blooms handsomely in the shade. Some marigolds, all sorts of colors, and petunias that are red and white.

The sage and thyme returned in the whiskey barrels. On my Home Depot trip I purchased some dill, rosemary, oregano and chives. There is nothing like fresh herbs added to the meal and the meat. On my Cooking Sundays I always begin the day with a trip to the whiskey barrels, returning with a pile of herbs that will season the dishes.

 

The yard still needs quite a bit of tidying and the lawn, well the lawn needs more work. Last year it was totally bare and weed-ridden. This year it’s just brown.

I see the phlox raising a green hand to grow and the Iris are springing up fine. The various rose bushes promise a beautiful show.

It’s time, all yon gardeners. Get out yon rake and shovel and DIG!

 


Thanks to Linda from Tennessee...

Costello Wants to buy a Computer from Abbott......

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?

COSTELLO: Thanks. I'm setting up an office in my den, and I'm thinking
about buying a computer.

ABBOTT: Mac?

COSTELLO: No, the name's Lou.

ABBOTT: Your computer?

COSTELLO: I don't own a computer. I want to buy one.

ABBOTT: Mac?

COSTELLO: I told you, my name's Lou.

ABBOTT: What about Windows?

COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here?

ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with windows?

COSTELLO: I don't know. What will I see when I look in the windows?

ABBOTT: Wallpaper.

COSTELLO: Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software.

ABBOTT: Software for windows?


COSTELLO: No. On the computer! I need something I can use to write
proposals, track expenses and run my business. What have you got?

ABBOTT: Office.

COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?

ABBOTT: I just did.

COSTELLO: You just did what?

ABBOTT: Recommend something.

COSTELLO: You recommended something?

ABBOTT: Yes.

COSTELLO: For my office?

ABBOTT: Yes.

COSTELLO: OK, what did you recommend for my office?

ABBOTT: Office.

COSTELLO: Yes, for my office!

ABBOTT: I recommend office with windows.

COSTELLO: I already have an office and it has windows! OK, lets just
say, I'm sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal. What do I
need?

ABBOTT: Word.

COSTELLO: What word?

ABBOTT: Word in Office.

COSTELLO: The only word in office is office.

ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.

COSTELLO: Which word in office for windows?

 


ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue "W."

COSTELLO: I'm going to click your blue "w" if you don't start with some
straight answers. OK, forget that. Can I watch movies on the Internet?

ABBOTT: Yes, you want Real One.

COSTELLO: Maybe a real one, maybe a cartoon. What I watch is none of
your business. Just tell me what I need!

ABBOTT: Real One.

COSTELLO: If its a long movie I also want to see reel 2, 3 and 4. Can I
watch them?

ABBOTT: Of course.

COSTELLO: Great, with what?

ABBOTT: Real One.

COSTELLO; OK, I'm at my computer and I want to watch a movie. What do I
do?

ABBOTT: You click the blue "1."

COSTELLO: I click the blue one what?

ABBOTT: The blue "1."

COSTELLO: Is that different from the blue "W"?

ABBOTT: The blue 1 is Real One and the blue W is Word.

COSTELLO: What word?

ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.

COSTELLO: But there's three words in "office for windows"!

ABBOTT: No, just one. but its the most popular Word in the world.

COSTELLO: It is?


ABBOTT: Yes, but to be fair, there aren't many other Words left. It
pretty much wiped out all the other Words.

COSTELLO: And that word is real one?

ABBOTT: Real One has nothing to do with Word. Real One isn't even Part
of Office.

COSTELLO: Stop! Don't start that again. What about financial
bookkeeping you have anything I can track my money with?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: That's right. What do you have?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: I need money to track my money?

ABBOTT: It comes bundled with your computer.

COSTELLO: What's bundled to my computer?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: Money comes with my computer?

ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge.

COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much?

ABBOTT: One copy.

COSTELLO: Isn't it illegal to copy money?

ABBOTT: Microsoft gave us a license to copy Money.

COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money?

ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT!

(LATER)


COSTELLO: How do I turn my computer off??

ABBOTT: Click on "START"..........

Kaitlyn's 'Lazy Eye';Web Site of Week-Key in Your Birthdate, You'll Learn A Lot; TV-Apprentice Update

 

Kaitlyn Mae’s Lazy Eyes

Here’s hoping that someday when Kaitlyn is reading this Blog she knows straightaway that Grandmother loves her despite her lazy eye.

Although, ahem, it’s a good thing that Grandmother was there the day she had an examination by an eye doctor. Because her Mom failed completely to mention to the doctor the little factoid that her FATHER also has a lazy eye.

As I understand it, lazy eyes come in a variety of severity, shape and size. Standard treatment is to place a patch over the so-called “good” eye to strengthen the muscle in the “lazy eye”.

Why we’d have to sew the patch directly to Kaitlyn Mae’s face as the one and a half year old would, go with me on this, pull it off continuously.

So I drove up to Baltimore to assist Kaitlyn’s Mom in administering the eye drops that would allow Kaitlyn’s eyes to dilate. Then we all went to the doctors.

“What can you do about a condition like this that is genetic?” I asked my daughter, assuming, of course, that she KNEW Kaitlyn’s eye was inherited from her father.

“I’m not sure it’s genetic,” daughter responded.

Now consider. Father has lazy eye. Daughter has lazy eye. One and one, two and two, like that.

Actually I’ve always found lazy eyes intriguing and not at all ugly. Long before Kaitlyn Mae was a gleam in my son-in-law’s eye I noticed how it tended to float all over his head when he was tired.

The day that Kaitlyn was born, hand to God, I noticed the infant’s eye also tended to float around her eyeball socket. I just shrugged. For all the miracles of modern medicine, we simply cannot overcome the command of our genes. More than lifestyle, I’d argue, our genes determine our length of life and ailments within.

Then my daughter emails or phones me with the frenzy to figure out what’s wrong with Kaitlyn’s eye.

I’m thinking, ‘she’s kidding, right?’

She wasn’t kidding.

“The doctor said that Kaitlyn has an off eyelid fold that makes her left eye sometimes look off-centered,” daughter explained.

All the while, understand, this Grandmother had shrugged off Kaitlyn’s eye as one that will tend to wander and she inherited it from her father. Common sense here.

And the poor thing, when she is tired that eye does tend to look left while the other one looks straight ahead. I think it’s adorable, a bit of individuality that will always be part of Kaitlyn. When I see that eye rambling all about I want to kiss it and nudge it back into position. Also I know the baby is very tired.

Below, Kaitlyn at doctor’s office, wears Grandmother’s scarf and pin, just so fetching. 


“They think maybe they can fix it,” daughter continues.

Why? They were never able to “fix” her father’s. Some things just ARE.

I push and shove my way into the eye doctor’s office where I was put into service holding dangling toys as the doctor peered into young Kaitlyn’s eyeballs.

“Did you tell the doctor about her father?” I asked daughter as doctor shines a light and looks into Kaitlyn’s eyes.

“What about her father?” doctor asks and right then I wonder that my daughter never mentioned such an important fact.

So I explain about Kaitlyn’s father and his lazy eye. The eye examination continued, Kaitlyn was scheduled for a much later appointment and possible remedies discussed.

Maybe when they figure out how to “cure” Kaitlyn her father can also be cured.

 


The Age Guage
Just key in your birthdate. A screen full of information will tell you things that will shock you. After the shock wears off you'll realize just how damn old you are.

Another bit of genius from an American on the Internet.

Things You Should Know About Your Age

 

The Worst Office Product Ever

The assigned task this past week, Thursday 4/21/05 in this year of our Lord, was to design and build an office product for Staples, a giant office supply superstore.

Bren and Alex were one team, Craig, Kendra and Tanna the other. Bren, he of the cute bowtie, was fired. The way his termination came to be was astounding.

First, the products as designed by the teams.

Kendra's team came up with a desktop lazy-susan type of affair that sits atop a desk as a handy holder of those things we all need to efficiently operate our desks. It was a bit on the bulky side and had a rather large footprint that might not work on the smaller desks of the cubicle bound. Although it would certainly be something I'd consider for my desk as things scattered across a desktop drive me nuts.

Alex and Bren must not work at a desk is all I can think of.

For that foreign object they designed was not practical in any form or fashion.

It was, essentially, a small desk. We'll delve into their lame-brained in and out box notion shortly. The very first thought I had when I saw the thing was how it was impractical in almost any office situation.

It was a small desk mounted on wheels with an artfully shaped glass top. First problem, when one seeks desk and office efficiency, the problem is more often to corral what is already in the office into some sort of order. There is seldom enough room to lump in yet another piece of furniture for the sole purpose of organizing daily paperwork. Such organization should be done on our desktops because what good is clearing off our desks and plop all of its contents on another desk?

 


Alex and Bren thought it so clever to affix the in and out box under the glass top. "So you can always see the work below" as they both hyped.

The very first comment of a focus group member was the awkward method required to access the paperwork trays below the glass in full sight but difficult to get to. For the item was designed with a piano top hinge, requiring the lifting of the glass from the top. Which means nothing can be on top of the glass should one wish to access the paperwork below the glass.

Thus nothing can sit atop this affair and must be moved back to the desk. Then we have a cluttered desk and a bulky piece of furniture to the side with a glass top and in and out boxes below the glass top. Not a person alive would bother with such a thing.

This invention might well serve some other useful purpose in life. But Staples wanted, well something to control office supplies. Bren and Alex didn't even use their noodle when they came up with whatever that thing was. When all they had to do was sit down and for a half an hour pretend to be working in an office. Soon enough they'd see their design flaws. Instead they glad-handed each other endlessly and remained steadfast that theirs was a most adorable product. This even after the folks at Staples told them it was a total no-go.

The boys stood by their product STILL.

It was going to be either Alex or Bren. The board room dialogue was interesting but it was Bren who did a really stupid thing. The discussions raged over who did what and who didn't do what, whose the dummy the did the design, that sort of thing. All of a sudden Bren mentions that he fears taking risks.

The green flags went down and the tone was set. There was much discussion about Bren's fear of risk taking. The Donald lamented that he needed someone willing to take risks. Bren whined that he was getting better at it. The whole time, mind you, it was Bren's willingness to risk that silly design that got him and Alex into hot water. It seems to me that it was the other team's desktop lazy susan that was more mundane. Though yes, it was a much smarter design.

The discussions about Bren's fear of taking risks came out of nowhere is what I'm saying here. It grew with a life of its own and boom, Bren was fired.

Well one of them had to go and under the circumstances, either Bren or Alex was equally stupid.

Current Prediction:
2-Tanna
1-Kendra

Reminisce-If You Own a Chrysler You Must Read This; Miscellany-Best Restaurant in World? Comments-Apprentice/Rush

 

Please Note:
The text of the story below has not been changed because there's been a lot of activity about this post. So let me leave the post pristine and make corrections here.

Yes the monkey's really did eat the vinyl top.

Please note that what I refer to as a Chrysler 300G is really a 300M. I always called it a Chrysler Gold. I don't know why but the color, and this is important, was GOLD on both the cars. Very important to note this.

Also, the first leased Chrysler 300M was a model AFTER 1997 but before 2000. I believe it was a 1999 but cannot find the paper's for this vehicle so husband I agreed on this model year. Chrysler 300M's were not made before 1998, so a reader tells me.

Didn't want anyone to think I was lying.

And I still don't know what kind of car my husband has except it's a navy blue thing.



The Mystery of the Peeling Paint

The entire tale will someway, somehow, become part of a book I shall write. For now, let me share the mystery with yon intelligent readers. Perhaps someone else has suffered my godawful fate.

It’s about the leased car. Well, actually it’s about four leased cars, two of which were the exact same manufacturer, model and color. These would be the last two cars I’d leased, Chrysler 300G’s they were, coming off a two year lease from a customer who put many miles on them then re-leased to me, an individual who doesn’t drive all that much under a scenario that allows the leasing company to gain a full four years on a car and for me a cheaper monthly lease payment.

I’d also leased two other cars from this same lessor, the lessor having once been my employer but that’s a whole nother story. The other two cars were leased by me for the full four years and were different models all together.

The point being they were leased by me, returned by me at the end of the lease and yes there was that matter about the monkeys eating the vinyl roof on the Chevy Caprice but again, another story.

As provided by the lease, I am to be assessed for any extreme usage beyond normal wear and tear. For the first two cars there was no problem except for that monkey and the vinyl roof thing. A minor charge assumed within the new lease payment.

It was only with the Chrysler 300G’s that there were major problems. Here I am, beaten and bloody and recently assessed damages in the thousands by the leasing company for return damage beyond normal wear and tear.

I’ve leased four cars from the same company for twenty years now although as some of yon readers might know, recently I went out a bought a new Jeep Liberty, God Bless America.

In fact I likely would have leased yet another vehicle but I was told firmly that the Merryland leasing company didn’t want to do business in Delaware for extra tax returns, etc. And with me their only Delaware customer, well it wasn’t worth it. Thus upon return of this model year 2001 Chrysler 300G I had to either buy another vehicle of find another lessor.

I was assessed damages upon return of the 1997 model Chrysler 300G for some very serious scratches all over the hood of the car. Yes, they were there. I could plainly see them. It appeared for all the world that two or three cats had a serious fight on the hood of my car. Although I’d leased two other cars while living in that same house in Merryland, I shrugged and ate the charges. The scratches were there, right before my lying eyes. I figured maybe the many squirrel-rodents resident in Critter Cove decided to dance nightly upon my car.

It didn’t then occur to me that husband, who has a little navy blue thing of a car NEVER had one scratch upon his hood even though he parked it right next to mine every night.

To my dismay, after leasing the 2001 model Chrysler 300G for two years with a half year extension, aren’t the SCRATCHES ON THE HOOD AGAIN!?!?!?!

THIS Chrysler (same color as the last Chrysler) had been rarely driven and garage-kept for almost the entire time of its lease.

I had to turn the car back in. Even though I was a loyal customer of over twenty years, the leasing company sent me an astronomical bill for damages.

Now folks I knew about the scratches so what was I to do? There they were sitting on the hood of the car and I couldn’t deny them.

I fret and lose sleep for a few weeks. How is it that I leased two cars from the same company, no scratches on the hoods, then all of a sudden two cars end up looking as if washed in a sharp acid bath? With the second car kept in a garage almost the entire lease and with husband’s car, a small thing should be kept as a spare, sported no scratches at all?

Yes I did.

I did a Google search and boom, TADA, guess what?

It would seem that Chrysler has a peeling paint problem they are keeping under wraps.

I perused the web sites about Chrysler and their peeling paint problems for many an hour. There is even currently a class action suit for the benefit of all suffering Chrysler owners. The company, it seems, is quietly settling out of court for the squeaky wheel complainers but have not issued a national recall.

Paint Problem Site 1

Paint Problem Site 2

For it would seem that what began as scratches on my Chrysler 300G’s ends up in lightning jagged horrors like those pictured below.

 


For a period reported from as far back as the early 90’s up until 2002 it would seem that Chrysler has been painting their vehicles with what is essentially fingernail polish. After a few years the paint begins to peel in the form of scratches. Given more time the scratches turn into lightning bolt shaped strips of missing paint. Jeeps, ladies and Gems, were often victims of the peeling paint.

It will take a while to sort it all out. I want to make sure that my new Jeep is covered with decent paint and naturally I will have to have a nice long talk with that leasing company. Already I’ve been charged and paid for “scratches” that I did not inflict and they’re now demanding thousands more for a garage kept vehicle driven less than ten thousand miles a year.

Those “scratches”, ladies and gems, are the result of driving the vehicle on the road and NOT nasty squirrel-rodents dancing upon them.

Shall keep all yon readers posted. For I may have to do up a nice big Blog entry publishing this leasing company and the car dealer associated with it. They are really quite big in the Maryland area.

I only want them to treat me fair.
 

Time Magazine Makes Mistake?
From the web site below, when I last checked, it would seem they posted a parody of an Ann Coulter protest. Although the whole thing could be an elaborate hoax it is nonetheless funny.
 


Notice the verbiage on the protest signs.

“Communists for Kerry”
“Saving Iraqi children from tyranny costs too much”
“Criminals for Gun Control”
and way in the corner, something about murdering owls.

It is alleged that someone doctored up a real protest picture with the above hilarious captions and somehow Time magazine posted it on their web site. I’m not sure if it was used in their print edition though they did recently do a cover story about beloved Annie.

Was Time Fooled?
~~~~~~~~~~
Best Restaurant in the World?

Came upon this and pondered what the best restaurant in the world would serve. To my chagrin, this great restaurant serves sardine on toast sorbet and bacon and egg ice cream.

Now folks, somebody out there must think we are really dumb. Else somebody’s got the money flowing between this Restaurant magazine and The Fat Duck.

No wait. Maybe folks like sardine sherbet and hey, bacon and egg ice cream, it has a certain ring.
From Yahoo.com

The Fat Duck, in a village in Berkshire, west of London, won the coveted title of top dining spot at The World's 50 Best Restaurant's 2005 awards on Monday night, which also featured 13 other restaurants in Britain alone.

Critics, however, argued that the annual list -- compiled by the magazine Restaurant and chosen by more than 500 chefs and experts -- was more of a guide on good places to eat rather than the best the world has to offer.

Comprising entries from mainly developed countries, France had eight restaurants inside the top 50, while the United States only had six.

Asia was notably lacking in representation at the awards in London, with just one restaurant in Hong Kong, called Felix, coming in at number 49.

Owned by chef Heston Blumenthal, The Fat Duck in Bray wowed the judges with original dishes such as sardine on toast sorbet and bacon and egg ice cream.

~~~~~~~~~~
Taking a Poke at the Out-of-Control Judiciary

Received this in my in-box. It’s a sample letter that could be sent to your senator concerning the problem with our Judges Who Would All Be Da Pope.

If you’re just as worried about judges who command legislatures to pass laws legalizing gay marriage, as done recently in Massachusetts, or forcing death upon disabled persons, Florida there, then print it out or copy into an email and send it to your senator.

Sometimes it takes the public just chipping away and chipping away.

April 18, 2005

Honorable XXXXX XXXXXX
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator:

We, on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of active supporters of Move America Forward, are requesting your support for President George W. Bush’s nomination of John Bolton as United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

The President is entitled to his nominee for the post of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and he has selected a man who is both qualified and experienced to carry out the important foreign policy responsibilities incumbent with this post. The perilous nature of the world today necessitates a strong and forceful advocate of American interests, especially when representing our nation’s interests at the United Nations. Mr. Bolton’s record is impeccable in this regard.

We grew up at a time when the United Nations was considered the best hope for mankind to avert world wars and sustain a lasting peace for future generations. We know that many Americans have participated, at some point in their life, with efforts to aid the United Nations missions – whether as children collecting small change for UNICEF during Halloween, or through assistance efforts to help the victims of the South Asian tsunami. We have been grateful for those success stories where killer diseases were eradicated, and always hopeful that UN peacekeepers would restore peace and civility in some of the world’s most unstable and dangerous regions.

Unfortunately, the record of the United Nations in the past two decades has been very disappointing overall, as the UN has turned into a gathering place for the worst representatives of civilized society. Despots, dictators and tyrants have formed voting blocs in the United Nations General Assembly, seemingly intent on advancing an anti-American agenda. The U.S. has been ridiculed endlessly by UN member nations and officials because of their contempt for our nation’s economic prowess and military strength – even mocking our own heritage of promoting freedom.

The Rest Here

Along that same vein, forgive me for recommending a book that I have not yet myself read. But I heard The Great One, Mark Levin, during a recent interview on Rush Limbaugh. Goodness just him discussing his book “Men in Black” captured my riveted attention. For Mark has documented so many of the great fallacies of our vaunted Judges. Who, as it turns out, put their pants on every morning same as everyone else.

I do fully intend to read Mark’s book but I always wait until a book is available in my taxpayer funded library. When I read it I will give it a review but just by Levin’s interview with Rush he had me mesmerized.

 



 

The Apprentice
Narrowing down to the final four, there are some comments about recent events.

I don\'t understand how Donald could fire Angie and not Chris in the previous show. Donald, for some unexplained reason, kept giving Chris chances. Perhaps it\'s because he\'s made a lot of money. However, what DT fails to realize is that there isn\'t always a positive correlation between the amount of money someone earns and their intelligence/education. If anyone took the time to read Chris\' bio they\'ll see that the chap has worked for his dad\'s real estate business since dropping out of college. How smart do you have to be to do that? The chap is immature and out of his league leading teams or being a cross-functional member of a team. He also has serious problems communicating, presenting, and nurturing colleagues. He should have been fired weeks ago.
Kendra won over America with the way she single-handed designed and produced the brochure. Tana disappointed, and Craig has some unresolved issues. I think he has problems conceptualizing ideas other put forward.
Alex totally messed up by not taking a picture of the front of the car, especially since Chris specifically directed him to take that picture. Alex is weak and it\'s begun to show. Eventual winner Kendra.

~~~~~~~~~~

Angie absolutely deserved to be fire. She choked under the pressure and couldn\'t handle it. He also wanted to get rid of her earlier. While Chris should have been gone weeks ago, Angie was the worst on that task.

As far as Kendra, this week she proved she is smart, creative and a very hard worker. She also showed she is a poor leader and that\'s what Trump is hiring. I would want her working for me, but not in charge of too much. Look at how Craig handled the team with his box. Yes, he\'s rude at times, but he motivated them all to get behind his idea when they were ready to quit on him. That is leadership, but he\'ll probably do poorly in the interview process if he\'s around for it.

I think Tana and Bren will do good in the interviews if they make it through. Thank goodness they cut the final down from three hours but one isn\'t enough. They need a one-hour competition and then a one-hour wrap-up.

~~~~~~~~~~

Up until this week I liked Tana. Kendra deserves to win this competition. Craig is so rude to Kendra. Tana did nothing to help make that brochure for Solstice and acted like it was all her idea. Craig also did not add anything to help Kendra. They both were nothing but obstructionist in this project. They both set back and let her do all the work. What kind of integrity do either of them have?

~~~~~~~~~~

Tana, Craig and Alex diminished themselves this last episode. Tana espeically disappointed me and she was my #1 pick. Alex was my # 2 pick but he either didn\'t care or was careless.

I\'m getting a stronger and stronger sense that people aren\'t willing to play for their project managers as much as you would expect them to.

~~~~~~~~~~

Tana certainly fell down on the job this week. I had thought she just might win but not after this last performance. Meanwhile, Kendra\'s stock has definitely risen. Her brochure was great.

~~~~~~~~~~

I don\'t think Alex will come in #1. The fact that he took a nap during his team\'s project lowered him in Trump\'s eyes.

I think it\'ll go down like this:

#2. Bren
#1. Kendra

~~~~~~~~~~

I have to agree that Kendra should be in the top two - esp after this week\'s show.

But Alex? Sure, he\'s avoided conflict and flown \"under the radar\" for this long, but WHAT has he really done that has been exceptional?

And what\'s up with The Donald firing Angie over Chris last week?!

I mean - Come On!

Angie has displayed her abilities week after week after week. Chris on the other hand, has displayed his inability to control himself.

And that\'s critical in the business world, not to mention a CEO position or in the corporate world. IF it\'s anything the corporate world values more than anything - is predictability.

Perhaps The Donald sees a little of himself in Chris, and excuses his weaknesses - but that\'s a reflection of bias, and I\'m sure Mr. Trump is much wiser than that to do that sort of thing in \"the real business world\" (right?)

And as for \"people skills\" and the ability to motivate people... Kendra hasn\'t displayed this ability. She\'s displayed a little more immaturity than I\'d prefer to see as one of my executives leading others.

We\'ll see what Kendra does in next week\'s episode to see if she\'ll fold or flourish under pressure when she goes head to head with Craig, who openly displays his sexist opinions when he deals with Kendra.

Up until this time, the camera seemed to enjoy showing Kendra with her jaw dropped in shock or exhuberance. But she certainly displayed her talents this time around with an amazing brochure, and the commercial that Pontiac did for the solstice seemed like a hand-in-hand match.

She certainly has a job in advertising after this show - that\'s for sure. I wanted to hire her after I saw that show.

I\'ll take a hard-working, go-getter, don\'t take no for an answer person over a sleepy, \"I\'ve got to get my rest\" kinda person any day and twice on Sunday.

But - she still did impress me in MANY of the shows up until this point. So the real question is... what will she do in the remaining few episodes to prove her abilities or show the world she\'s not willing to \"go the distance\" when it comes to her convenience.

I was a huge fan of Tana until this show when she happy admitted her limiting beliefs about \"requiring\" sleep, as well as her taking all the credit for an idea and a job that was obviously not hers.

That\'s SO not cool! And the first time someone displays a lack of integrity is the moment they lose all credibility in my book.

Perhaps she really was getting sick, and was just not \"herself\" but her fake smile is exactly what I can\'t stand seeing women do in the business world.

After all, if you don\'t like something I do - just tell me!

Am I Right?

No mamby-bamby nonsense. Just tell it to me straight up and let\'s deal with it. Otherwise, don\'t be fake. :-( MAJOR points lost in my book - because before this week - she was a CLEAR Winner in my eyes. Mary Kay, MILF all the way is what my husband and I both agreed to. But...

I\'ll do something I never do in \"the real world\" is I\'ll give her another chance, assuming she \"took a pass\" on this task b/c she thought she was going to lose, and therefore, why try hard anyway? Let\'s see what she does next week.

If I were in The Donald\'s shoes (which I\'m glad I\'m not, b/c that would mean I\'d be still living in New York, instead of in Hawaii, I\'d like to see Tana and Kendra go head to head in the last episode.

So HELP me if two more men are in the final two. To me, and I think to the rest of the TV viewing audience, the men in this group are weak compared to the women who have displayed their abililities over and over again, and led their team to victory.

And for those of you who may think it\'s just a \"woman\'s issue\" - trust me - it\'s not. I\'ve been a fan of the winners from the two previous episodes. It was clear each of the male winners had talent, intelligence and integrity.

(Although I really would have loved to see Troy win the first one - but I think Mr. Trump is less of a risk taker than he\'d like to admit to.)

For once, I not only think there are two well deserving women who should be qualified as the final two - I ALSO think seeing two women go head to head will be quite entertaining to the American audience.

Esp since more often than not, when women fight - they fight HARD in business. They take no prisoners, and aren\'t afraid to pull hair. :)

Go Tana and Kendra...

or... if I predict The Donald\'s next move... it\'s more like:

Go Alex and Tana... we\'ll see though.

~~~~~~~~~~
And This Interesting Assessment
…of the Great Rush Limbaugh

I understand the word "dittohead" to refer to someone who is a follower of the sainted Maha Rushie, the all-knowing, all-caring, all-sensing El Rushbo. All this came about as the result of the fact that the mainstream liberal media (MLiM) oppressed the minds and hearts of the American people with their distortions, falsehoods, half-truths, trivialities and endless, endless, overweening self-satisfied arrogance for many, many years. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, the American people heard on the AM RADIO the voice of the sainted El Rushbo, speaking truths out in the public arena which hitherto these oppressed people had only heard reverberating within the confines of their own minds. When one has a thorn pulled from one's flesh, one feels a surge of relief pass over one's entire body. This was the sensation that many downtrodden Americans experienced at the sound of the Enlightened One's voice.

 

Of course, the mainstream liberal media, (MLiM), and their dupes, rushed to slander the sainted Maha Rushie and his followers, saying that the sainted El Rushbo filled the empty heads of his followers with ideas of his own concoction. Whereas, in fact, the Enlightened One was giving affirmation to what had all along been within the minds and hearts of those who consented to be his followers. It was affirmation, as if during racial segregation one might come upon a black male, whom law and custom have always insisted must be referred to as "boy", and one were to say to him "Sir, I see you are a man." It was affirmation. Thank God Almighty that what was deep within me has finally come to see the light of day! It was liberation in the fullest sense of the word, a bestowing of liberty and power. If Lincoln freed the slaves, Maha Rushie freed the slaves of the MLiM.

Of course, those newly freed slaves rushed forward to kiss the hands of their Rescuer, or at least to blow him a kiss across the ether, repeatedly calling in to the sainted Maha Rushie and saying "Thankyou, thankyou, for expressing truths in the public places which have so long oppressed me, for I have thought I alone carry them around within me." But the sainted Maha Rushie, being naturally modest, and sensing perhaps that these endless and repetitious expressions of joyful gratitude might be BAD FOR RATINGS, sought to curtail this flood, by magnanimously saying "Henceforth, limit your praise of me simply to saying 'ditto' " But all understood, except the humorless dark-minded MLiM and their dupes (unimaginably there are still such), what ditto meant. When someone comes along and gives voice to what has long been within the hearts of the people, they spontaneously cry out DITTO.

J. Rzrezsk to Fishtalk

True Crime Update:Lunsford, Lunde, Markley, the Closet Murderer; Week Just Passed-Spin! TV-AI Update

 

True Crime Updates
Christa Worthington

A Cape Cod trash hauler was charged Friday with murder in the 2002 stabbing death of a fashion writer, a case that turned a national spotlight on the isolated outer Cape and inspired a best-selling book. Christopher M. McCowen pleaded innocent and was ordered held without bail in the death of Christa Worthington. From CBS NewYork

Christa Worthington’s story is sad. The discovery of her stabbed and bleeding body is heart breaking. For Worthington’s two year old daughter, Ava, was found clinging to her dead mother’s body. The baby, hungry and desperate, had tried to breast feed from her dead mother. She was smeared with her dead mother’s blood.

The crime occurred over three years ago. Two men have been living in the shadow of suspicion for the entire time. One is Ava’s biological father, a Tony Jackett, a Truro fisherman who obligingly fathered Worthington’s child although he was very, very married. The other was Worthington’s recently estranged boyfriend, a Tim Arnold, who also discovered the body.

In a desperate move, the Truro investigators ordered all males in the tiny Cape Cod town to give a DNA sample. Christa Worthington was raped before being murdered. The murderer thus left a DNA sample.

A trash hauler, Christopher McCowan, obligingly gave a DNA sample after the crime. For reasons unclear, no match was made until just recently and McCowan was arrested for Worthington’s murder. Jackett and Arnold were very much in the investigators sights as possible perpetrators. As such, it’s possible the police didn’t concentrate enough on other possible perps.

Christa Worthington’s life had been exciting and promising. Schooled at Vasser and a fashion writer by trade, Worthington retreated to the tiny Cape Cod town of Truro to tend to her dying mother, have the child as her biological clock demanded, and nurse a renewed hatred for her philandering father. Whose girlfriend, we note, was also considered a suspect in Worthington’s murder.
 


Amazon Link to Book About This Case

Link to a Book by Christa Worthington

The Boston Channel also used to compose this part of this true crime Blog post.

Ava is being taken care of by a friend of Christa’s as indicated in her last will and testament. As I understand she has contact with her biological father but he lost the fight to gain custody of Ava permanently.

A child deprived of her mother, a tragic ending to an already unhappy life. At least Christa Worthington and her daughter will have closure to this horrendous and arbitrary crime.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ray Gricar
Ray Gricar, a Pennsylvania district attorney, was last heard from on 4/15/05. At 11:30 am he phoned his lady friend, Patty Fornicola, and told her he was taking the day off to do some antique shopping. He has not been heard from since though by all accounts his credit card, bank accounts and cell phone have not been used since.
 


Two things make this case intriguing. First is the eerie similarity to Baltimore prosecutor Jonathan Luna, who went missing and whose body was later discovered, bleeding from many shallow cuts but drowned in a small Pennsylvania creek.

I wrote an extensive account of Luna’s disappearance:The Strange Death of Jonathan Luna. His death is classified a homicide by Pennsylvania police; a suicide by the Baltimore FBI.

Even stranger is the story of Gricar’s brother. From America’s Most Wanted Web Site

Gricar's 53-year-old brother, Roy J. Gricar, vanished under similar circumstances in May 1996, and was later ruled to have drowned himself, The Centre Daily Times reported.

The West Chester, Ohio, resident told his wife he was going out on an errand and never returned, according to an account at the time in the Dayton Daily News. His car was found abandoned near a river, and his body was later pulled from the water.

Luna and Ray Gricar’s brother, both found dead in a body by water, both ostensibly by suicide.

Given that Gricar hasn’t used his credit cards, etc, it would seem he is no longer with us. His car was found unmolested on a parking lot of an antique store that abuts a small river. In the case of Jonathan Luna there were many clues to his disappearance, including reasons why he might want to kill himself. So far no such clues given about Gricar. Given time there will be more information. Given time, sadly, he or his body will be found.
~~~~~~~~~~
Jeffrey Freeman
If ever a true crime story had a strange beginning and now a stranger middle that will lead to who knows what conclusion, it has to be the case of the closet murder. My original Blog post on this case HERE.

This past week Martha Freeman testified in court. For her husband Jeffrey had been brutally murdered by Rafael Perez in his own bathroom. As Martha testified the prevailing Judge became concerned. For Martha, as she testified, heard the brutal murder of her husband yet did not seek help for over 18 hours later. The Judge stopped Martha’s testimony and commanded that she have an attorney.
From WSMV.com:

"This is so bizarre," the judge said. "I have a problem allowing this (testimony) to go on without her having representation. She probably should be charged in this case."

Freeman told police that during the 18 hours between her husband's murder and the time she asked a neighbor to call police, she napped several times, walked the dog once and was heavily medicated for her bipolar mental disorder.

Freeman also testified that she first met Rocha-Perez at a Fourth of July fireworks display and that the two later had sex at a hotel. She testified she also had sex with two of his friends that night.

 


Rocha-Perez, it is alleged, was actually living in a closet in the Freeman home. On the surface it would appear Martha Freeman is not too bright. Do not forget, however, that the Freemans ran a credit reference firm for landlords wanting information on potential renters. Not the stuff of stupidity.

The Wise I must also wonder why on earth Tennessee authorities did not arrest her to begin with. Over 18 hours before she got help for her brutally murdered husband? Murdered by a man admittedly her lover and who lived in a closet in her house? She walked the dog once for God’s sake! And still did not summon help?

The Judge saw it immediately. What the hell were the investigators thinking by letting this woman run free?
~~~~~~~~~~
Markley, Lunsford, and Lunde
There’s a happy, albeit mysterious ending, to the Ashleigh Markley disappearance. She has been found alive but beyond that there’s not much available as to where she went, why and where is the strange woman with the barbed wire tattoos on her eyebrows. The latest I’ve heard is the child (14 years) was found in Michigan although she lives in California.
 


Original post on this case HERE.


Sarah Lunde was murdered by yet another sexual predator walking free and unfettered by rules and laws. Even more tragic in the case of Lunde is how the poor child was left alone to fend for herself. She returned home from a church retreat early one Saturday evening. The only one home was her brother Andrew, 17, who left to go get food, not to return until 4 am early Sunday morning. While he was gone a former amour of her mother, David Onstadt, stopped by. When Andrew returned home, his sister was missing and a strange beer bottle was on the table.
 

Lunde’s mother returned home late Sunday night. STILL, neither the mother or the brother reported Sarah as missing. Only until the church continued to question Sarah’s whereabouts did Kelly Mae Lunde phone Sarah’s school to discover she did not show up for class.

These people are keeping a low profile as well they should. If ever there was an irresponsible caretaker it would be Sarah Lunde’s mother.

I suspect this woman will probably face some sort of charges in the near future but maybe not. Perhaps the loss of a child will be deemed enough punishment.

This does not, however, help vivacious Sarah Lunde.


Jessica Lunsford’s story is perhaps the most horrendous of all. For she was not only abducted by a known child molester, it would appear she’d been tortured for days before she was stuffed into a garbage bag, and buried alive. Even more disturbing was that Deliverance crew who sheltered, hid and eventually aided the escape of Jessica’s tormenter, the kindly John Couey. These awful people will not be prosecuted as indicated by the Florida DA charged with prosecuting the case. They should be. Bill O’Reilly’s been on this on his Fox show “The O’Reilly Factor”.
 

Blog Post on How Jessica Died

Could these people possibly not have known poor Jessica was alive in that trailer? Who purchased a bus ticket for John Couey? Why aren’t they being called to account for THEIR crime?

Jessica might still be alive if they’d done the right thing.

Comments are welcome but no crazies please. Read the following before posting a comment TRUE CRIME COMMENT WARNING
 

We Have a New Pope!
Formerly Known as Cardinal Ratzinger

Now known as Pope Benedict XVI.

 

~~~~~~~~~~
A Lesson In Spin

Ladies and Gems, indulge me a minute.

For a week ago Sunday none other than the very honest and adorable Barney Frank was on Meet the Press. Railing on, of all things, the ethics of Tom Delay.

From the Washington Post we have a bit of a background on Frank's past ethics' issues. It's a long quote but there's a logic.

Gobie's dream has come true. His accusation that Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) knew that Gobie had operated a prostitution service out of Frank's Capitol Hill apartment became national news after it was first reported Friday by the Washington Times.

Frank, one of two openly gay members of Congress, confirmed Friday that he paid Gobie for sex, hired him with personal funds as an aide and wrote letters on congressional stationery on his behalf to Virginia probation officials, but Frank said he fired Gobie when he learned that clients were visiting the apartment.

Frank met the ad's author, Stephen Gobie, a 28-year-old hustler who had been convicted of drug possession and oral sodomy, for the first time on April Fool's Day. The sex cost $80. After several more encounters, the congressman offered Gobie a job cleaning his Capitol Hill apartment and chauffeuring him to the airport. Frank thought he was turning Gobie into a new person; Gobie, for his part, was turning Frank's pad into a house of prostitution.

Long after the affair ended, the details of the relationship seeped out in the press, putting Frank through the one experience he had always tried to fend off: humiliation. The full House voted to reprimand the man Tip O'Neill had predicted would be the first Jewish speaker in history, while his old ally, The Boston Globe, demanded his resignation. But, in the end, Frank held a press conference, answering every salacious question. Buoyed by his sister Ann's support, he explained that, though he had made "stupid" mistakes, he was unaware of the criminal activity -- a fact that the Ethics Committee eventually confirmed. His constituents responded by returning him to Congress with over 65 percent of the vote.

Now Frank did mention his investigation during his time with Russert. But it was brief and quick. Anyone tuning in later or after his short comment might not know about Frank's past.

Like my daughter.

I decided to do an experiment. The Democrats are relying on sound bytes to cast aspersions on a perfectly qualified man nominated for ambassador to the UN by the President, duly elected by the people to do such things. They are also trying to oust a very capable Majority Whip in the House of Representatives. I figured most people wouldn't know Barney Frank from anybody but the sound bytes of all the caterwauling by the Democrats as they calculate are enough to do in Tom Delay and John Bolton.

Below is a script of my IM conversation with my daughter.

Pat Fish1: Well got to take dogs outside. Answer me a quick question....what do you know about Barney Frank?

Liskabear: not a thing

Pat Fish1: okay, what do you know about Tom Delay? Anything at all, tell me.

Liskabear: He's the republican that's being accused of... i'm not sure

Liskabear: I thought that even the republicans don't like tom delay

(at this point I explain about how the Democrats are trying to fool her)

Liskabear: They're not fooling me.. although maybe they did.. because I did think that Tom Delay did some bad things.

Bear in mind, Ladies and Gems, that my daughter is not stupid, is somewhat acquainted with our political spectrum having me for a mother and everything.

Yet the Democratic attack machine is working judging by her comments. She had no idea Barney Frank was a pervert but hey, she did know Tom Delay and she knew, well actually she knew nothing about Tom Delay except he "did some bad things".

Reminds me of how I interpreted all the shouting over Newt Gingrich in his day. I heard the sound bytes and decided, hey, this Newt fellow must be bad news.

I was wrong about Newt and my daughter is wrong about Tom Delay.

We were both busy raising our children and being law-abiding citizens. There's employment, family, entertainment and some time for sleep. We don't have the time to sit and read the silliness of the congress critters.

They count on that, yon intelligent readers.

They count on the fact that if they yell enough, even if totally unwarranted and even if, hey, outright lies, that sooner or later us fools out here in La-La land will conclude exactly what they want us to conclude.

Tom Delay has committed no ethics violations and indeed, it is the Democrats who REFUSE to investigate him via committee.

Well, hey friends and foes, the Democrats don't really want to investigate the guy to come to some fair conclusion. They just want to throw innocent Tom Delay's name about so that Katie and Matt can comment on the controversy.

And decent busy people like my daughter make just the conclusion then Democrats want.
~~~~~~~~~~
Cruising for a Bruising
It's described as a "freak" seven story wave. Goodness, a seven story wave I would hope would be freakish. Although I've never heard of seven story waves attacking cruise ships before.

The folks unfortunate enough to be on this cruise didn't like it one bit. I've always dreamed of going on a cruise. I may have to re-think this.

 


From APNEWS

A freak seven-story wave that slammed into a cruise ship sent furniture sailing through the air, knocked Jacuzzis overboard and forced some passengers to sleep in hallways in life jackets.

The Norwegian Dawn docked in the Charleston harbor for repairs after running into the rough weather Saturday while returning to New York from the Bahamas. The 965-foot vessel departed early Sunday after a Coast Guard inspection and was expected in New York at midday Monday.

"The ship was hit by a freak wave that caused two windows to break in two different cabins," Norwegian Cruise Line said in a statement. It said 62 cabins flooded and four passengers had cuts and bruises. The wave reached as high as deck 10 on the ship, company spokeswoman Susan Robison said Sunday.

~~~~~~~~~~
Political Cartoon of the Week
 


 

American Idol Update
The theme was “70’s Dance Music” on Tuesday, 4/19/05 in this year of our Lord. A subject I should know something about but beyond Donna Summer and the BeeGees I discover I am woefully ignorant. For some of the songs sung by American Idol contestants were either completely unknown to me or were, to my complete surprise, considered 70’s dance music. More on this later.

Vonzell, still a contender, was, as always, stylishly attired and sang a song congruent with her voice and range. Anwar, who was voted off this week, was okay as I assessed it. I saw Randy Jackson on late night TV. This American Idol Judge asserts that Anwar Robinson was “technically” the best singer in this year’s competition. Evidently the viewers didn’t see it that way.

Scott Soval has never been one of my personal favorites in this competition but the big fellow stole a piece of my heart this past week. For he sang one of my all time favorite songs-“Everlasting Love”. While I still don’t think he’s a top three contender, should he make it I’ll be happy because he sang this song and did a wonderful job of it.

Anthony Federov, who still reminds me too much of Clay Aiken, sang a song I never heard of. Federov was one of the bottom three but hung on for another week.

 


Constantine Maroulis, a contender for the top three as I see it, did a fabulous job with the BeeGees’ song “Nights on Broadway”. By me he sounded better than the BeeGees in his rendition. I really wish he would wash his hair. He’s got smoldering bedroom eyes and dresses reasonably well. So why the greasy hair?

Carrie Underwood, my favorite for the winner, committed two errors. One, dear Lord, she sang the worst song EVER. “MacArthur Park”, which I would never have guessed as being considered “dance music” no matter the decade, is widely considered a terrible song with no meaning. Two, what on earth was that child wearing? She donned some sort of froufrou skirt that did not match her top at all. Simon Cowell commented on her attire as well and not kindly.

But hey, there were some incredible high notes in the song and Underwood hit them all. She aptly demonstrated her voice range and almost made that tune worth a listen. Carrie needs to talk to her fashion stylist about star clothing.

Bo Bice gave a good rendition and still seems a contender for the top three, possibly the top spot itself.

Predictions
Third-Constantine Maroulis
Second-Bo Bice
First-Carrie Underwood

TV This Coming Week

Reminder: American Idol Finals continue on Tuesday, 4/26/05, Fox, at 8 pm, with the elimination on the following night, Wednesday, 4/27/05, Fox, at 9 pm. The Apprentice is down to four finalists. It airs on Thursday, 4/28/05, NBC, at 9 pm.

On Friday, 4/29/05, at 8 pm, Fox is featuring the movie “Spiderman”.

On Saturday, 4/30/05, at 8 pm, ABC is featuring “Harry Potter”.

Both of the above good viewing for the children. Adults might enjoy them as well.

True crime buffs might want to tune in to the “48 Hours” episode on Saturday, 4/30/05, CBS, at 10 pm. Below the promo blurb for this show:

Saturday, April 30 10:00 PM

The murder of a tough journalist who may have known too much.

Gossip-The Wendy's Chili Finger Case; Miscellany;Delaware-Home of Sexual Predator Police Superintendents

 


POP
CULTURE STORY OF THE WEEK!
Wendys and the Finger in the Chili
It’s pathetic, actually. Because at the time of this writing the lady who asserted she found the tip of a finger in her Wendy’s chili has dropped her case.

And it could well be because this accuser is under some scrutiny herself.

From ABCLOCAL

San Jose police confirmed today that they did go to Las Vegas and working with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, served a search warrant yesterday on a home on Coral Berry Street. They are investigating the possibility that the finger that was found in the bowl of chili in the Bay Area could belong to the deceased aunt of the woman who found the finger.

It was two weeks ago, on March 27th, that Ana Ayala found that one-and-half inch long portion of a human finger cooked into her portion of a bowl of Wendy's chili. It was determined to be a woman's finger with a manicured nail.

Forensic experts could find no match among 50 million fingerprints in the FBI database. DNA tests were conducted by the medical examiner's office. Wendy's workers were also investigated.

Now police are confirming this has turned into a criminal investigation.

What’s pathetic about this is that this grifter’s lie, and I do think it’s a lie, has greatly affected sales of Wendy’s chili. Not that I’m any champion of Wendy’s chili but an American business does have a right to conduct business without being fettered by spurious lies. From what I’ve heard the restaurant has taken a serious beating over this.

Also, the finger in the chili evidently is not from the accuser’s dead Aunt as hinted at early last week. Although it has not been officially denied by any authority. I can’t help but think that if it HAD been the dead Aunt’s finger it would be all over the news. There’s only been silence on the matter but again, the Wendy’s case HAS been dropped by the accuser.

What it means we can only guess.

 

Asked and Guessed. Blind Item Fun

Asked

NY POST...PAGE 6

WHICH recently separated celebrity couple were destined for splitsville almost from the start? The actress wife walked in on her actor hubby six weeks into their marriage and found him fooling around with his pretty assistant. The actor insisted, "We were just kissing!" But our sources say he cheated throughout the entire marriage . . .

Guessed
Charlie & Denise.
~~~~~~~~~~
Asked

WHICH attractive Washington TV correspondent is having a torrid affair with another TV type? Her husband seems unaware - even though he works for the same network and toils in the same building as she does .

. .
Guessed
None but it is titillating
~~~~~~~~~~
Asked

WHICH young New York heiress has the bedroom skills to back up her
undeniable beauty? One lucky fellow who recently bedded her has been telling friends that she was "insane" in bed, which sounds good to us.

Guessed
Ivanka?
~~~~~~~~~~
Asked

NY Daily News Ben Widdicombe

Which male "SNL" alum was just spotted on what looked weirdly like a date with a muscle-type at a Chelsea restaurant?

Guessed
Chris Kattan
~~~~~~~~~~
Asked

Which famously wealthy absentee father told his young daughter at a recent reunion: "Honey, I had dinner with Harvey Weinstein last night. Do you know who that is?" Sniped his (also famous) ex-wife: "What a schmuck! She's 10 years old - do you think she's going to know who Harvey Weinstein is?"

Guessed
Donald Trump to his daughter Tiffany (mom is Marla Maples)

 

Getting a Grip on Gas Prices
Sure, it’s disconcerting to accept that gasoline is at least two bucks a gallon and not likely to see a buck something ever again. Americans get a bit hysterical when the price of gas goes up. As if they themselves aren’t demanding raises or paying higher prices for…EVERYTHING.

This little missive is going around the Internet. It helps put things in perspective. For if gasoline is over two bucks a gallon, get a load of what Americans pay for some other fine products.

Diet Snapple
16 oz $1.29 . $10.32 per gallon

Lipton Ice Tea
16 oz $1.19 ...........$9.52 per gallon

Gatorade
20 oz $1.59 . $10.17 per gallon

Ocean Spray
16 oz $1.25 . $10.00 per gallon

Brake Fluid
12 oz $3.15 .......... $33.60 per gallon

 


Vick's Nyquil
6 oz $8.35 . $178.13 per gallon

Pepto Bismol
4 oz $3.85 . $123.20 per gallon

Whiteout
7 oz $1.39 . . $25.42 per gallon

Scope
1.5 oz $0.99 $84.48 per gallon

And this is the REAL KICKER...
Evian water

9 oz $1.49..........$21.19 per gallon?!

$21.19 for WATER - and the buyers don't even know the source. (Evian spelled backwards is Naive.)

~~~~~~~~~~
Writers Beware
It gets even better. I have an author pal who did me dirty. Really dirty.
Read the story HERE. His name is Eric Enck and he lives in Delaware. And since that Blog post above, other folks have contacted me regarding Enck’s dirty deeds.

And so it seems that Mr. Eric Enck nice guy has a book coming out from Publish America. My dogs could poop a book that Publish America would accept.

I find nothing more satisfying that this nasty fellow has fallen to such lows.

Atlanta Nights, by "Travis Tea," was offered a publishing contract by PublishAmerica of Frederick MD

What in the world could induce thirty professional authors to spend hours writing the WORST prose they could produce? They did it to prove a point—that a Maryland-based company called PublishAmerica is lying when they claim to be "selective" and reject "70-80%" of the manuscripts submitted to them.

Over a holiday weekend last year, some thirty-odd science fiction writers banged out a chapter or two apiece of Atlanta Nights, an original "novel" about hot times in Atlanta high society. Their objective: to write the most awful tripe they could and submit it to PublishAmerica, a self-described "traditional publisher" located in Frederick MD. PublishAmerica claims they aren’t a vanity press, but these authors proved their point when the print-on-demand (POD) publisher accepted the book and sent a publishing contract. Vanity presses don’t read what’s submitted to them before accepting it—real, traditional publishers do.

The project began after PublishAmerica posted an attack on science fiction authors at one of its Web sites (http://www.authorsmarket.net/). PublishAmerica claimed, "As a rule of thumb, the quality bar for sci-fi and fantasy is a lot lower than for all other fiction ... [Science fiction authors] have no clue about what it is to write real-life stories and how to find them a home." It described them as "writers who erroneously believe that SciFi, because it is set in a distant future, does not require believable storylines, or that Fantasy, because it is set in conditions that have never existed, does not need believable every-day characters."

The writers wanted to see where PublishAmerica puts its own "quality bar"—if the publisher really is selective, as the company claims, or if it is a vanity press that will accept almost anything, as Writer Beware, the watchdog committee of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) on writing scams, asserts. (http://www.writerbeware.com).

Atlanta Nights was completed. Any sign of literary competence was removed, even more mistakes and computer-generated nonsense were inserted, and the resulting atrocity was submitted to PublishAmerica.

They accepted the book.

~~~~~~~~~~
Who Are the McLaughlins?

Mine own cousin has a new book coming out soon.

Indeed, note the title of the book by my pretty cousin-“McLaughlin” was my own last name for nineteen years. Joan did exhaustive research on our family tree for this book. To my delight, she discovered that the McLaughlins were a force to be reckoned with in America’s history. And our lineage goes back to 1763-before America was even a country!

Damn I just knew it. For if ever an American born and bred and breathing walked this earth it would be me, my family and of course, the lovely Kaitlyn Mae. Then I find out that my ancestors fought the British and so okay, they were on the wrong side of the Civil War. Still the McLaughlins were mighty and fierce and of the stuff that created this country.

I am just so proud.

From Heritage Books

God’s Mountain, McLaughlin’s Valley - Joan M Kay. Hugh McLaughlin never knew he changed the world. His story begins when, as a young man, Hugh loses his father, is forced into servitude, and in order to regain his freedom, marches into the Revolutionary War. Join Hugh and the Continental Army at Valley Forge; accompany him through the ordeals of war as he is surrounded by death, infected with smallpox, wounded and finally taken prisoner. Witness how these experiences shape the character of a man. But this story encompasses more than the Revolutionary War; it delves into the personal wars tormenting each of the major characters. When Hugh returns home to the mountains of western Virginia, he falls in love with Nancy Gwin, the daughter of a wealthy planter. They marry against her family's objections and for the next decade, Hugh and Nancy battle through the estrangement of her family and prejudice from their neighbors. Finally, the full power of his life and spirit is discovered. This is a story you can get lost in. 2005, 5½x8½, paper, 340 pp. $33.00 K3280 ISBN: 078843280X

~~~~~~~~~~
Thinks the Polls Were Right on Schiavo?
Because once the pollsters got around to asking the questions correctly, ie without the lie about life support and all the other smoke, Americans not only think Terri Schiavo should not have been denied food and water, they think that congress did the right thing as well in trying to save her life from a judge, ex-husband and el-weirdo lawyer, all of whom insisted that she die.

From: Capwiz.com

The poll asked another question: "If a disabled person is not terminally ill, not in a coma, and not being kept alive on life support, and they have no written directive, should or should they not be denied food and water?" A whopping 79% said the patient should not have food and water taken away while just 9% said yes.

In addition, the poll also lent support to members of Congress who passed legislation seeking to prevent Terri's starvation to death and help her parents take their lawsuit to federal courts.

~~~~~~~~~~
New Invention
We end with this fine new example of American ingenuity at its best. For once this alarm clock sounds its alarm it will roll off the table and all about the room. To turn it off a deep sleeper will have to get out of bed and find the thing.

The notion being, one would assume, that by the time the clock is found, well the sleeper will be awake.
 



 

Why Won’t Nanny Minner Fire This Guy?
There’s two sides to every story. For sure Delaware police superintendent Aaron Chaffinch has his side. Odd that the Delaware taxpayers are hearing no official side because Nanny Minner, for whatever reason, continues to protect this guy.

What we do know is that Chaffinch was on a five month PAID leave during the investigation. We also know that Delaware has settled three complaints against Chaffinch out of court and lost two in court. This is a bit damning so says The Wise I.

1.5 million in Delaware tax money paid out for this Chaffinch guy and the state’s Governor won’t give the taxpayers any details.

From Delawareonline

Chaffinch, 52, returned to his post after the administration of Gov. Ruth Ann Minner released vague details about an internal investigation into a female captain's claims that Chaffinch would not put women in command positions, blamed women for society's troubles, told smutty limericks, told female employees he wanted to have sex with them and repeatedly made off-color remarks.

 



Capt. Barbara Conley reportedly registered claims that Chaffinch demeaned women with vulgar jokes, sexually offensive remarks, and denial of female representation in command posts. Such generalities characterize both the indictments that the governor's administration employs to endure shame. Accountability should be a fundamental mission of the new Homeland Security Department. Its absence in a field of such overwhelming authority only contributes to the ominous nature of the new agency.

The state has settled three cases and lost two at trial, costing taxpayers at least $1.5 million in damages and plaintiffs' attorney fees.

Quotables-The Washington Post Beats on Bolton for How He Dresses! Fish Giggles-Canadian Medicine;Book Review

 

Does This Guy Have It Right or What?
From The American Spectator

"If George W. Bush were to discover a cure for cancer, his critics would denounce him for having done it unilaterally, without adequate consultation, with a crude disregard for the sensibilities of others. He pursued his goal obstinately, they would say, without filtering his thoughts through the medical research establishment. And he didn't share his research with competing labs and thus caused resentment among other scientists who didn't have the resources or the bold -- perhaps even somewhat reckless -- instincts to pursue the task as he did. And he completely ignored the World Health Organization, showing his contempt for international institutions. Anyway, a cure for cancer is all fine and nice, but what about AIDS?"
By Ralph R. Reiland

~~~~~~~~~~
More on Hanoi Jane

Is she a twit or what?From The American Spectator

Nobody's had a simple life, but I know many people who've had a normal life, and what I mean by that is a life without major crises and traumas, without any deep psychological wounds... " Ah yes, the simple lives of the salt of the earth, so free from the pain that great spirits like Fonda must traverse. In fact, Fonda needs to take respite among these uncomplicated souls from time to time:
Paul Beston

 

~~~~~~~~~~
The Quote This Week That Says It All

by Jalal Talibani
Through their democratically elected representatives, the people of Iraq have entrusted me with the office of the presidency. After 50 years of political struggle against discrimination and dictatorship, this is a grand honor and a humbling moment. As we look ahead to a new Iraq based on tolerance and equality, federalism and unity, democracy and freedom, we remember those whose sacrifice made this possible -- Iraqis, Americans, Britons, Poles, Italians, Czechs and so many others from around the world.

~~~~~~~~~~
Bolton-The Poor Man
For he is under attack by the Senate Democratic vicious dogs for the mere act of being nominated by President Bush. The man dresses down his employees, horrors. None of us have been scolded by our boss! What else? Hmmm, pretty much nothing.

From the Opinion Journal

All of this, in short, is political smoke designed to disguise what is really a policy dispute. Mr. Bolton's opponents don't want to promote a blunt-spoken supporter of Mr. Bush's foreign policy to help reform an obviously dysfunctional United Nations. They prefer someone who'll subjugate U.S. interests to the "multilateralism" that is their, and the U.N.'s, dominant ethic. Democrats who vote against Mr. Bolton will be saying they want an Ambassador to the U.N. who represents Kofi Annan, not America.

..........

From Rich Lowry- Townhall.com. Gotta love that bit about a liberal and a fight.

This is Bolton's key disagreement with those Democrats who are content to have the U.S. led by the nose by the lowest common denominator of recalcitrant foreign actors. This attitude is the international version of the old definition of a liberal as someone who won't take his own side in a fight.

.......
And the Cruelest, Most Vicious Attack of All
Take a close look at the picture below. This is poor Mr. Bolton, would-be nominee for ambassador to the U.N. The liberals are out en masse and they have their long knives. Because given nothing else to rant about, it seems the man can't even dress properly.

The fellow in the picture below, well he's no candidate for Gentlemen's Quarterly. He looks, hey, sort of like a government bureaucrat, imagine that! Go on and read the Wapo's columnist comments about this poor man's attire and tell me if you don't think it's a bit harsh.
 

Excurpts from a Vicious Washington Post columnist:

That tidy 1970 haircut -- no long hippie locks for Bolton -- has evolved into a bureaucrat's hairstyle, one that is willfully dismissive of the value of a polished appearance -- a kind of intellectual style-snobbery.

A more vain man would -- ill-advisedly -- dye his mustache, trim it down so that it did not look like it should be attached to geek glasses and a rubber nose, or shave it altogether. But not Bolton. It sits there in all of its 1980s "Magnum, P.I." glory. But Bolton is not Tom Selleck and so the image is more likely to stir thoughts of Wilford Brimley and walruses.

For all of the testimony about his spiteful dealings with both colleagues and underlings, and his denials of such behavior, he managed to look mean.

His attire was not merely bland but careless. His hair was so poorly cut, it bordered on rude. Bolton might well argue that appearance has nothing to do with capabilities. But it certainly can be a measure of one's respect for the job.

Someone needs to tell this witch that "rude" is showing up for a wedding in a sweat suit. Rude is wearing your underwear to greet expected guests. Rude is not Bolton's attire. And he doesn't "look mean" to me. An "intellectual style-snobbery"?

And if you don't think this columnist and the Wapo isn't biased, let's look at this same author's dress assessment of John Kerry.
HERE

Candidate Kerry -- he of the dramatic jaw line and a 59-year-old physique that looks particularly fetching in a motorcycle jacket -- has a thatch of hair that always looks as though it is one percentage point of humidity away from floating up and off his head. But on arid days, Kerry's hair has a thick, glamorous quality. It edges toward dashing, hints at vanity but steers clear of roguish. It is leading-man hair with a politician's part.

Wow, "fetching", "glamorous", "dashing", "leading-man".

Sometimes liberals really do show their real color. All dark and evil and very, very nasty.
 

Review-“No Mercy”-John Walsh

John Walsh is the host of the Fox program-“America’s Most Wanted”. He is also a man whose son was murdered after being abducted from a shopping center.

He is also full of himself, or so the reader might conclude after reading this book.

Myself has mixed emotions about it in that this really was an entertaining book though I was constantly amused at the crimes the aforementioned television series solved, to include the riddle of the Black Dahlia, all crimes of Jesse James and just who killed Jonbenet.

Or at least it seemed to this reader.

There is, however, no denying that the “America’s Most Wanted” has helped to find the perpetrators of many crimes, over 400 as of this book’s writing.

Walsh chose some of the more interesting to detail in the book and soon this reader was intrigued by the details behind the search that simply cannot, due to time constraints and viewer interest, be covered in any one show.

 


While most of the tales were of crimes not of national notoriety, the reader is treated to a behind-the-scenes account of the search for the infamous gay serial killer, Andrew Cunanan. “America’s Most Wanted” had absolutely nothing to do with the capture of this fellow though I had to wade through much prose and hype before determining this. The television show, in the form of John Walsh, did get the first scoop about the houseboat thing but that’s all and I’m not sure that counts as any sort of greatness for the series.

The most interesting vignette in the book, at least to this reader, was the story of how John List was finally captured. The story of John List, the meek accountant who brutally murdered his mother, wife and children then took off to a new life, had been one I’d read in more detail in another book. There was a certain sense of finality in reading how “America’s Most Wanted” put out the word and how this awful man was finally bought to justice. This some seventeen years after his heinous act and with the aid of an artist talented enough to take a much younger picture and compose it into what the criminal might look like currently.

There was an extensive story of the Polly Klass murder. I’d heard, through many rumor mills, that Walsh and Klass, both fathers of murdered children, were rivals of a sort. The reader would never deduce this by the kind prose as penned by Walsh. Still, the reading was interesting if for nothing else but the expectation that soon Walsh would begin to blast Klass.

The book is chock full of the headaches and triumphs of running the hit series, how decisions on what criminal to display are decided, how ratings and public sensibilities determine what is aired and what is not.


 


Seems Government Health Care Ain’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be

From:GOVERNMENT of CANADA;
Province of Ontario Ministry of Health
To: Humbler River Regional Hospital
Re: Reducing Hospital Costs

In an effort to reduce costs this year, the following measures are effective
immediately. Please share this information with all patients and physicians
as soon as possible.

1. Food service will be discontinued immediately. Patients wishing to eat
will want to get their families to bring them a brown bag meal, or you may
make your own arrangements with Subway, Dominoes, etc. Coin-operated
telephones will be available in patient rooms for this purpose.

2. Our Switchboard operators have all been let go, so if you are walking
through the lobby and hear the telephone ringing, please answer it.

3. We have found it necessary to make substantial reductions in our
transport team so we ask the cooperation of all patients. One transporter
will take at least six patients in wheelchairs at a time to Radiology,
Cardiology, Respiratory Therapy and other services. Please form a "train" by
holding tightly on to the handles of the wheelchair in front of you.

4. Our Emergency Room is really busy from 3 PM to 11 PM so, if you can,
please have your accidents and heart attacks in the mornings or early
afternoons. That would really help to reduce your wait.

5. To expedite surgery cases, all AM admits and outpatient surgery patients
are asked to be at the hospital 3 hours prior to surgery. Go to SPD, pick up
a clean instrument tray and surgery pack and proceed to the Operating Room
Holding area. To help us reduce drug costs, please take several Aspirin
tablets prior to arriving at the hospital for surgery.

6. Patients anticipating the need for a bedpan can check one out from the
gift shop. They will be available in a wide variety of colors and styles to
meet the aesthetic and physical requirements of our patients. A deposit
will be required but is fully refundable if bedpans are returned clean.

7. To reduce patients' lengths of stay, nurses will have a choice of using
in-line skates or skateboards. To expedite response to patient's needs the
call bell systems will be modified and will be wired to a collar worn by
nurses, which will deliver a mild shock when pushed by the patient.

8. Taking a cue from the airlines, Respiratory Therapists will be replaced
by oxygen masks which will, should the need arise, automatically drop from
the ceiling over patient beds. If this occurs, please place the mask over
your nose and mouth and breathe normally.

 


9. The hospital got a real sweet deal on surplus white waiters' jackets and
these will be issued to all physicians. Doctors, we apologize in advance
because the jackets already had a first name embroidered on the pocket. We
will work with you to find a name that you can live with. If you also are on
the staff at the University Hospital, we hope this won't be a problem. We
recognize that in academic settings, "length of coat status" is very
important.

10. All first time moms are asked to volunteer to help out on the Pediatrics
floor - not only will this reduce hospital costs, but it will give you much
needed experience and a dose of reality after ogling over your own precious
sleeping bundle of joy.

11. Housekeeping and physical therapy are being combined. Mops will be
issued to those patients who are ambulatory, thus providing range-of-motion
exercises as well as a clean environment. Family members and friends of
patients and ambulatory patients may also sign up to clean public areas to
receive special discounts on their final bill. Time cards will be provided.

12. Plant operations and Engineering are being eliminated. The hospital has
subscribed to the TIME-LIFE "How to....." series of maintenance books. These
books can be checked out from administration and a toolbox will be standard
equipment on all nursing units. We will be receiving the series at a rate
of one volume every other month. We already have the volume on Basic Wiring,
but if a non-electrical problem occurs, please try to handle it as best as
you can until the appropriate volume arrives.

13. Cutbacks in the phlebotomy staff will be accommodated by only performing
blood-related lab tests on patients who are already bleeding.

14. Physicians will be informed that they may order no more than two x-rays
per patient stay. This is due to the turnaround time required by LOBLAW'S
photo lab. Two prints will be provided for the price of one, and physicians
are being advised to clip coupons from the Sunday paper if they want extra
sets. UNIPRIX will honor all competitors' coupons for one-hour processing in
emergency situations, so if you come across coupons from other vendors,
please clip them and send them to the Emergency Department.

15. In light of the extremely hot summer temperature and the high A/C bills
that we receive in the summer, our new policy is to have fans available for
sale or lease in the hospital gift shop. For those patients who do not wish
to use electric fans, the old reliable hand held cardboard fans on a stick
are free upon request.

16. The cost of hospital gowns continues to escalate so patients are asked
to bring their own pajama top which nurses will be happy to slit up the back
for you. Pajama bottoms are not permitted on patient units.

17. On the way to the hospital, please stop by Zellers or Wal-Mart and pick
up two sets of twin bed sheets. Should you require extra linens during your
stay, coin-operated washers and dryers are available for patient use.

18. Administration is assuming responsibility for grounds keeping duties. If
an Administrator cannot be reached by calling the Administrative Offices, it
is suggested that you walk outside and listen for the sound of a lawn mower,
weed-whacker, etc.

19. All patients scheduled for a mammogram are to stop first at "Hooters"
for a preliminary check out. If you have any questions regarding these
cost-cutting measures, please drop a note in our " RECYCLE BOX" box.

Thank you for your cooperation.............................

The Apprentice Chris Has a Really Bad Week; Guest Writer-Arms Akimbo;Fish Giggles-Haircuts for Balding Men

 

Brochures and Coming Down to the Wire

Looks like Apprentice would-be Chris had a bad week last week. He not only was fired from the competition, seems he got arrested. In a casino. And it wasn't Trump's.

The Apprentice Contestant "Chris" arrested

Monday, April 11, 2005 Posted: 1:24 PM EDT (1724 GMT)

TAMPA, Florida (AP) -- Real estate millionaire Chris Shelton, a contestant on NBC's "The Apprentice," was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge.

Shelton, 22, one of six remaining contestants competing for a job with Donald Trump, was taken into custody early Sunday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. He was released after posting $250 bail.

It really was time for Chris to go. He'd been on a losing team nine times. This past week he was the project manager of the losing team.

It's gotten so the teams-Net Worth and Magna, have gotten hard to differentiate. The book smart team has been all but annihilated. The teams then had to trade and choose replacements so much that hey, there were teams of three: Bren, Chris and Alex on one team, Tanna, Kendra and Craig on the other.

 


The task this past week was to design a brochure for a car. Each team had a bevy of photographers and graphic designers and boom, it would be done.

Chris' team produced the worst brochure imaginable. Add to it Bren's boring and dry verbiage and Chris' horrific presentation. The man totally makes up words. Interiorially? Exteriorially? If this guy is so smart than there is no such thing as stupid.

I'll never know why on earth they put that blurry car picture at the front of the brochure. Such as blurry car pictures are not lost on me, the idea being the blurriness is caused by motion. Speedy motion being a much desired feature of a handsome car. First, THAT blurry pic was awful. A blurred picture should manage to reveal the entirety of the car. The picture these guys chose for the happening blurry image of a car scooting along didn't look like a photographer's creativity. It looked like something I would take with my cell phone. Second, it might have been fine as part of a picture collage sort of happening car moving fast as it should be. It was definitely not premier picture status.

For the other team, Kendra did all the work as the audience saw with their own eyeballs. She stayed up deep into the night while Craig and Tanna sacked out. Those two had previously cast aspersions on Kendra's self-proclaimed extensive experience in brochure design. This caused Kendra to vow to do it all by herself and she did!

Of course she bitched about it. The problem was that this task was the sort of thing that would be better handled by only one person. Witness the opposing team. Alex was supposed to supervise the photography and failed to get a picture of the car's crest. Bren was supposed to write the prose and he did. A bunch of words that a brochure reader will never read. Brochures are about pictures, colors and headlined text.

To make this task a group effort would require one person to have the brochure vision in their head and assign tasks based on that vision and that vision alone. Kendra didn't have enough advanced vision to direct and supervise tasks for her team. She had to sit down and create. Which she did.

And she did a fine job.



 


Christian

copyright 2005 Michelle Hakala

Her Web Site is the Desk Drawer


I took a newcomer to see a live play last week. He's Joyce's first
grandson, and this year he's five. The show was great (The Wizard of
Oz) and Christian enjoyed it immensely, although the scary witch parts
he wasn't so sure about during the performance.

After the show on the way home, his mom asked him what his favorite
part was:

"My favorite part?"

"Yes, what was your favorite part of the show?"

"My favorite part was... it wasn't the mean witch. No, it wasn't
that."

Silence for two blocks... then: "You wanna know what my favorite part
was?"

"Yes, Christian, I want to know what your favorite part was."

"My... my favorite part was when Dorfy frew water on the mean witch
and killed her!"

He was a kick. The best part for me, though, was before the show even
started.

We'd arrived at the parking garage and the four of us got out of the
car: me, Joyce, Joyce's daughter, and Christian. He's been
taught about roads, and that includes parking garages. He asked me if
he could hold my hand -- he wanted to get to the other side of the
car, where Mom and Grandma were, but knew he couldn't unless he was
holding an adult's hand. Guess I qualified. I told him he could.

The feel of that very small hand in mine was odd, but not
uncomfortable. We walked together to the other side of the car. I had
supposed he would transfer to Mom or Grandma, but he didn't. He
continued to hold my hand out of the garage, across the street, and to
the gates of the theatre.

 


We joined the crowd already waiting for the gates to open. Christian
walked around me, leaning out as far as he could go, and my arm
stretched out with him. I told Joyce I needed a longer arm.

She looked, and told Christian not to walk so far away.

"Why?" he asked (a common question throughout the evening).

"Because you might pull Michelle's arm out of the socket. It'll fall
off."

Silence. The five-year-old looked at me and then gravely examined the
arm in question. After a moment, he released my hand and transferred
to Joyce's.

We couldn't help but laugh. Obviously I'm much more fragile than
Grandma if my arm will come loose at any second... and he didn't want
to chance that it might happen while he was holding onto it.

 

Husband Submits This Picture
Well it's not all THAT funny. But the man loves to make fun of bald people.
 

Comments: Jessica Lunsford; Cooking Sunday-Butter Brickle, Ribs; Consult the Consultant-Switching Weekly Payroll to Bi-Weekly.

 

Many Comments and Thoughts About Jessica Lunsford

Below an interesting, and sad, comment from an apparent neighbor of the Lunsfords.

I found this journal in a random passing. Here is some info from ground zero, inside the police siege lines of that neighborhood:

The day Jessica was abducted the deputies came by where I live, and searched the property after asking for and being given permission to do so. They thoroughly searched around where I live, including under the porch and skirting.

Later that evening, they came back to conduct a second interview, and this time searched the inside of where I live after asking for and being given permission to do so. It seemed like they were going door to door in both instances, doing the same, or so I thought. I willingly agreed to both searches because I had nothing to hide, and anything that would help find the girl I was willing to endure. Apparently I thought wrong about the door to door searches.

Why didn't they look in that house? It was right next door.

God forgive me, I was up late that night she was snatched, and didn't hear anything. :( If only I had been more attentive...

~~~~~~~~~~
And a Thoughtful Response to the Above Comment

Dear Anonymous--God does forgive you and that girl's blood is not on your hands. I lived in Pasco County for 10 years and my mother owns a place in Homosassa.

Florida has been a catch basin for the dreck of humanity since time out of mind. I saw people and situations on a regular basis in FLorida that just broke my heart.

The cops are different there; my experience with Pasco deputies was that they were afraid and, in the few times that I had to call them for help, they were next to useless. I don't believe that Citru County deputies are any different. They probably searched your place because you seemed like a normal human being. They probably did not search the Couey mobile because they were afraid of the people.

Go to a Wal-Mart in Florida anywhere near you after say 9:00 PM and tell me if half the people there don't look exactly like the mugshots of Couey and his friends.

The LORD has placed a burden on my heart to pray for Couey's eternal soul, which I do. I pray that the LORD will soften his heart and that he will humble himself, confess his sin and pray to receive Jesus as his LORD and Savior. They say that Ted Bundy got saved on death row up in Starke before he died.

What Couey did was totally beyond imagining; it was the work of a demon possessed man. No amount of laws could have protected the public from hinm or those similarly possessed. Pray that the LORD will send revival to Florida and that so many who are bound in demonic possession will pray to receive Jesus in their hearts.

I pray for the peace of Christ which surpasses all understanding to fill the hearts of the Lungsford family in their time of grief.

I pray that none of us ever has to drink from the same cup.
--
Posted by Anonymous to The Kaitlyn Mae Book Blog at 4/11/2005 11:01:59 PM

~~~~~~~~~~
Another Helpful Comment

What a shame for everyone involved.

However, parents CAN be more informed in general, via a service like the one I found:
National Alert Registry

~~~~~~~~~~
I Want to Answer This Comment

I came accross your site when trying to know more about Jessica Lunsford. I was shocked at the way you talked about her family in your posts prior to the
arrest of the criminal. And then send a simply "It turns out that John Couey
was her murderer. " Retract when you are wrong.

You should apologize profusely to any folks that like me end up on your site by mistake when looking for objective information. On poor Jessica's father ou said: "incapable of tying a shoe"... How can you say that about a man who suffered such a loss??? A man who is now helping the authorities to solve another murder? A man who clearly thinks about people other than himself, which is hardly what one can say of you and your blog. I hope you are ashamed of what you wrote.

This comment was emailed to me. It seems to come from a thoughtful person who is, ahem, mistaken. I went back and checked. The remark about "tying the shoe" was said of JOHN COUEY, not Mr. Lunsford. I've never said anything bad about Jessica's father.

And I'd argue I'm right about John Couey not being able to tie his shoe as no way he could have gotten away with abducting that child without a little help from his roommates. Who are going to walk, by the way, as repayment for cooperating with authorities in finding Couey. I'll always consider them guilty for hiding the guy, possibly Jessica herself, but the prosecutor doesn't seem to want to be bothered. Bill O'Reilly's been ranting about this several nights now on his show.

And I'll surely not apologize. The crime was ongoing, speculation was rampant, all over the place, not just this Blog. Surely? You don't think the police suspected one of the Lunsfords?

Sheesh. Not gonna happen. If it bothers, please feel free not to click in.

There are a few other comments on the Lunsford threads. Again some of them not so nice. But hey, calling me a transvestite, damn, that's a compliment. But woefully wrong.

A transvestite would look much better than me.
~~~~~~~~~~
Re The Apprentice

Everyone keeps forgetting about Tana. #1 seller of Mary Kay cosmetics, and doing a pretty good job at becoming the first woman to win this thing.
--
Posted by Anonymous to The Kaitlyn Mae Book Blog at 4/13/2005 09:14:10 AM

~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, on "By Two by Two"-A True Crime Book Review

From BlogCritics

Comments: I like the way you present your review Pat, with a nice immediacy. Well written to boot -- great job.


 

Cooking Sunday 4/9/05
Which turned out to be a "cooking Saturday" hence the wrong date.

I was due to have guests on Saturday April 9 in this year of our Lord 2005. Only the guests asked if they could change to Sunday April 10 instead.

Which was fine with me as I only had to change my normal cooking Sunday to a cooking Saturday. To my delight, food cooked on Saturday tastes as good as food cooked on Sunday.

Or as bad, depending on how it was cooked.

The changing of the visit to Sunday was opportune in that I could also prepare a meal for my guests on the cooking Saturday. Since I only cook one day a week and since that one day was too far in advance of Saturday, I'd originally planned to serve my guests lunch meats and deli type food. Perfectly fine, actually, and I would have done it up nice. But on this Saturday replacement cooking day I was able to place home made meals for my guests the following day.

And in fact they did enjoy their meal. Or at least said they did but a cook knows when their results are appreciated. It was a pleasure in that the prepared meals were so inexpensive as well.

The cooking day menu was as follows:
chicken rotisserie-BBQ
sparerib meal
butter brickle
choco velvet pie
green bean salad

Beginning with the BBQ Crock Pot Chicken-Below:

Slow Cooker Barbecue Chicken
a.. Chicken pieces, as much as you need, skinned
b.. 1 Onion, cut up
c.. 1 Bottle barbecue sauce
Put chicken in bottom of slow cooker or crockpot and add onions and barbecue sauce. Cook on LOW for about 8 to 10 hours.

Such a simple recipe. Although that ingredient A is a bit confusing. Is it cooked chicken pieces? And "as much as you need" seems a bit vague. I don't know where this recipe came from but it was in my database.

Suppose I need enough BBQ chicken to feed my son's little league team? Wouldn't I then need more than 1 bottle of barbecue sauce. Although hey, how large a bottle of barbecue sauce?

Recipes written like this just plain suck.

So a little common sense kicked in. The local grocer was selling rotisserie chickens for 3.00 each. I don't know why, maybe they had a bunch of poultry about to go bad and decided to cook it up and sell it cheap to the public. For three bucks a chicken even if it was so bad it has to go to the dogs it's still a bargain.

The rotisserie chicken I purchased was described as "herbed". It was a smallish bird as one would expect but perfectly cooked and fine for adaptation to the recipe above.

I cut that chicken up and even left in the skin. Following the recipe, I dropped it in the bottom of my small slow cooker, added only ½ bottle of barbecue sauce and the onion. I eyeballed it. When the chicken in the slow cooker looked like chicken that could be heaped on a hamburger roll I stopped adding the sauce and turned it on. This was the meal scheduled for my guests the following day. After enough hours that I determined it looked done, about five, I unplugged the crock pot, pulled out the inner crock and put the whole thing in the fridge for my guests the next day.
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Next came the ribs. Recipe below:

Honey Garlic Ribs

4 pounds pork spareribs
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon garlic salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Slice the ribs into individual pieces. In a large bowl, combine the honey, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and brown sugar. Stir until honey and sugar are completely dissolved, then stir in the baking soda. The mixture will begin to foam. Transfer ribs to the bowl, and turn to coat.

Cover a cookie sheet with foil, and arrange the ribs meat side up on the sheet. Pour excess sauce over all, and sprinkle with the garlic salt.

Bake for 1 hour, turning every 20 minutes.

Makes 4 servings

Below is a pic montage including these ribs, and two deserts made this cooking Saturday. The ribs look a little obscene.

I'll likely not make spare ribs again except on the grill. And then I'll likely not do even that.

Spare ribs should be purchased at America Red, Hot and Blue alongside spicy cole slaw and pork infused baked beans.

But I had a slab of spare ribs in the kitchen freezer and wanted to use them up. For I shall no longer freeze meats to stockpile in my freezer. Something I always did through my life but now with just me and husband (and occasional guests) it's just as simple to buy the meat required for the week at the grocery. Thus methodically I work through the meat inventory in the freezer.

The ribs cooked per this recipe turned out fine. If you've a side of spare ribs in your freezer you want to use up. Beyond that, cook them on your barbie or go to America Red, Hot and Blue.
~~~~~~~~~~
On to the pie. Which had a fatal flaw.

Chocolate Velvet Pie
1 unbaked pie crust
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup water
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
2 eggs, well beaten
2 tsp. vanilla
whipped cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake pie crust for approximately 12 minutes, or until pie crust is golden brown. Meanwhile in saucepan, over low heat, melt chocolate with milk; remove from heat. Stir in eggs. Add water and vanilla, mix well. Pour into hot pie crust. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. Bake 20 minutes longer or until center of pie is
set. Cool. Chill thoroughly. Top with whipped cream.

The flaw was my total mishandling of the stirring of the ingredients. I used a spoon. I should have used a whisk. So little pieces of cooked egg settled throughout the pie, not necessarily all that bad to the taste but kinda ugly to look at. Also, I used an unbaked pie crust as I always do since I don't do pastry. There's something not right about the recipe. The instructions say to bake the pie crust for 12 minutes. Then the ingredients are added to the baked crust and the thing is cooked AGAIN for a forty minutes. This made the rim crust scorch noticeably. Also I had a devil of a time getting a slice out of the pan. The pie crust is positively glued to the bottom of the pan.

I don't think I will use this recipe again. My guests ate a piece as did I. It tasted only okay and that crust thing was almost embarrassing.
~~~~~~~~~~
I've written before about my first attempt at making Butter Brickle. It's a vintage recipe gleaned from a cookbook compiled at my mother-in-law's retirement community. I was intrigued by the ingredients, especially the combination of saltines and chocolate.

The first time I made it I scorched the crackers. And still the result was delicious. This time it turned out perfectly. My guests enjoyed the butter brickle and took some home for those left behind.

Butter Brickle

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter-no substitute
12 oz. Chocolate bits
40 saltine crackers
3/4 cup chopped walnuts-coarse

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cover large cookie sheet with a lip with foil. Line pan with 40 saltines on a single layer. On stove, melt butter and brown sugar. Bring to a full boil and cook three minutes, stirring constantly. Pour over crackers. Bake 5 minutes. Sprinkle chocolate bits on top. Leave until soft. Swirl over top and sprinkle with nuts. Refrigerate 4 hours. Break into pieces. Store in refrigerator.

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The surprise dish turned out to be the green bean salad.

A last minute edition in that as I reviewed my plan to serve my guests I thought some sort of side dish type of salad would be appropriate. I planned on having the barbecued chicken on rolls, a side of cheese cubes and black olives, perhaps some chips. As I perused this offering it seemed that another sort of side would fill it out nicely.

Usually I'll make potato or macaroni salad for this type of informal meal. There was no time and no ingredients.

So I concocted a side dish composed of green beans, roasted red pepper, diced, chopped onion and spicy Italian dressing.

The guests adored the dish and insist on the "recipe". I told them there was no recipe so they insist on the ingredients list. So okay, here it is.

For my guests who should copy it from this Blog. Why write it all twice?

Two cans of Del Monte green beans. Same size cans as I pulled out of my pantry that day. Yeah, it's a lousy way to devise a recipe but it was never meant to be public. Of course the green beans do not have to be Del Monte. The point being avoid the store brand for dishes such as this where the vegetable is the star of the meal. Get a quality brand is what I'm saying here.

For the roasted peppers, well I had them in a jar in the fridge. I pulled out about five good size pieces and chopped them up. So get a jar of roasted peppers from the grocery.

Chop up a medium sized onion, add to the mix.

Cover it all with Spicy Italian dressing, enough to give all the ingredients a nice coat.

Refrigerate overnight. Serve cold.

 

Switching to a Bi-Weekly Payroll

With over twenty five years of accounting experience, not that I’m proud of that fact and not that any fool can plainly see I should have been writing all that time, my specialty has always been payroll.

I’ve done payroll via huge AT&T mainframes, tiny bug-ridden programs on an IBM 386, the large outside payroll processors such as ADP and yes, once I paid everyone in the company in cash, including an extra roll of quarters for the kids’ lunch money.

Not that, ahem, I’m proud of that fact either.

All this experience has given me a nice sideline type of job as a consultant and hey, I’m not proud of that either.

What I can do is write a business consultant book. I thought I would begin with that most sacred of business duties: paying the help.

Give me a NY Times best seller, then I’ll be proud.

Recently my husband’s company transitioned to a bi-weekly payroll and now how many times have I done this?

Doesn’t matter if you own a small or a large business, you do pay bi-weekly, right? For any business not to pay employees on a bi-weekly fashion is foolishness of the highest order.

It helps with cash flow. It cuts payroll processing costs in half. It’s perfectly legal.

There’s only one way to switch from weekly to a bi-weekly payroll from a businesses’ perspective. I’ve long since patented the process yet I discover that my husband’s company did it all wrong. And paid the price.

Well they didn’t ask me. Been there, done that.

Add to all my payroll experience, I’ve paid everyone in America including, yes, one time the President of the United States.

Okay, so that’s a lie. But I have paid the Presidents of many companies including all executives/bigwigs and persons of note.

EVERYONE, yes everyone, be it the Chief Medical Officer of a hospital, the managing partners in a large accounting firm, CEO’s of banks, hates to have their paychecks messed with.

Some of my biggest headaches in life have been the bigwigs. They might make almost a million a year but let their paycheck be wrong and they’re in my office.

Oh, and the things people will tell you when you do their payroll. Sheesh. Bearing in mind that a payroll processor knows how much you make, your exemptions, your child support deductions, all liens on your paycheck and if your latest illness is covered by company health insurance.

The bafflement to me is why companies get so put out by the employees’ confusion and outrage when the payroll transitions to bi-weekly.

A person’s paycheck, goodness, it’s why they come to work everyday. You might hear about love of job tasks, a desire to make a difference, a job that is a dream with great perks. Shut up. Everyone wants their paycheck and forget love of job or making a difference. Come payday the check better be there or all hell will break loose.

 


So a company desiring to transition to a bi-weekly payroll shouldn’t take the position that a handy email memo or notice in the company newsletter is sufficient then go on and do the deed.

Sure, in the Perfect world of Walgreens people aren’t so dependent on their paycheck, they don’t live paycheck-to-paycheck and of course there’s money set aside for financial emergencies.

This is seldom the case and a business should consider changes to employees’ payroll as a major change for those affected.

Here’s how to do it:

On the very first week that a paycheck will not be distributed, for there will be a “first” in the transition from weekly to bi-weekly payroll and it will impact your employees way more than you can imagine, employers should give employees a “cash advance”. Weekly paid employees are used to getting money every week. They’ve planned their life and expenses around that weekly cash inflow. The first week they don’t have that cash will be tough on them. No mind how much notice given, no mind the warnings, no mind any of it. After the first week without a check and when they receive their first bi-weekly check, they’ll adjust their cash flow and payments. But never think that it’s not a major transition and never be so above the little guy making minimum wage as to not understand this.

A bunch of little guys standing around bitching over the lack of a paycheck can stop shipments going on, services being performed and customers from having purchases rung up. Give them short shrift and your business will pay for it.

When announcing that the company is going from weekly to bi-weekly, also announce that to ease the transition the company will offer a cash advance the first week when no paycheck will be distributed. Keep the cash advance at one amount-ie don’t allow the employees to say how much they want. You don’t want to create an accounting nightmare.

Distribute a form for employees who so desire, say, a flat $300 cash advance for the first week of the missing paycheck, have them sign it and turn it in. Assure them this will have no effect on their taxes. Which it won’t. The deductions to repay will be paid back AFTER taxes. Notify them that this cash advance will be repaid to the company at say, $50 a bi-weekly pay beginning with their first bi-weekly paycheck.

Using the company’s payroll system, distribute flat checks of $300. How do you do this? Simple. Make it a NEGATIVE payroll deduction. Set the cap at $300, set the bi-weekly deductions to pay it back at some easy amount like $50.00. Boom. Press the payroll processing button and everyone set up with the negative deduction will get a check for $300. By setting the cap and the deduction for payback, the payroll system will handle the rest.

I’ve done this with large hospitals and small companies. The payroll system tracks the payback. The accounting entry for the advance checks would be a credit to cash for $300, a debit to “Employee Receivables” for $300. The accounting entry for the bi-weekly payback would be a credit to “Employee Receivables” and a debit to cash. Eventually the “employee receivable” account should zero out. If it doesn’t, someone didn’t repay the company. Your accountants do reconcile the ledger files, right?

If an employee leaves the company before the cash advance is paid back, the remainder due is deducted from the employee’s final paycheck. A good payroll system will track this. Any advance memos should also make this clear.

This method has the employer helping affected employees adjust to the change. Remember when the employees get their first bi-weekly paycheck it will be MORE money than they’d been getting on a weekly basis. They’ll like that part. At this point they should be back on track in terms of their personal cash flow.

By deducting the advance back in modest amounts the employee will not feel it as much from a bi-weekly paycheck.

Most important, it keeps the employees on the job with a much better attitude.

Week Just Passed-It's Wisconsin Cat Season!; TV-American Idol Update; Web Site Week-Free Screen CLEANER

 

Most Under-Reported Story of the Week
American Soldiers Cleared in Italian Captive Shooting

Funny but I’ve heard little about this by The Old Media. In fact in this article, from the NY Post it is reported that the clearing of the US Military was complete and was the result of a JOINT Italian-American investigation, was told to NBC news specifically. Yet I don’t recall NBC reporting it.

Oh they probably did, somewhere, late at night, as an afterthought, that sort of thing. Yet The Old Media was all over when the incident first occurred. It was rather pathetic at times, our own Media wanting desperately for American soldiers to be cast as criminals.

Ladies and Gems, it’s as simple as this if The Wise I might be allowed to read between the lines: this Communist Italian Journalist was attempting to RAM through an American checkpoint. Never mind the careful use of words and never mind the careful LACK of words, it’s what transpired and those soldiers, serving us and liberating Iraqi citizens did exactly what they were supposed to do. It’s why they even have checkpoints.

The Wise I suspects there’s even more to this story and the Italian government was happy to “investigate” with the United States.

Seems it was only The Old Media determined to immediately find our soldiers guilty.

U.S. soldiers reportedly have been cleared of wrongdoing in the shooting of an Italian journalist and an intelligence agent last month in Baghdad. U.S. military officials told NBC News that a joint American-Italian investigation found the soldiers acted properly in firing on a car bearing a just-freed hostage, journalist Giuliana Sgrena, and an intelligence officer, Nicola Calipari.

The car was about 130 yards from a checkpoint when the soldiers flashed their lights to get it to stop. They fired warning shots when the car was within 90 yards of the checkpoint, but at 65 yards, they used deadly force. Calipari was killed and Sgrena wounded.

The incident enraged Italy, whose support for the war in Iraq was already weakening.

~~~~~~~~~~
The Vicious Bolton Hearings
Yes, I know the Dems have been blocking hearings on Bush judicial nominees and have put every Bush appointee through hell. I recall Condaleeza, Gonzales and others. All grilled by coiffed Senators that had every intention of confirming the nominees but two things: media face time for my minority self and a chance to cast aspersions on Republican nominees because hey, you never know. Someday Condi might be discovered to be a closet Dominitrix, already hinted at by her long boots worn during a recent European visit. At that time the same senators who were so very nasty and wanted media face time, well hey, they can say they were right.

Not that our elected officials shouldn’t be conducting the nation’s business and not simpering before fawning media cameras spouting lies and accusations made up out of whole cloth.

Now the elected officials are grilling hapless Bolton for nominee as ambassador to the UN. Yes, I know he’s not hapless. Bolton is a very strong and capable man as I read. Sometimes he even dresses down subordinates. Not that none of us living out here in la-la land have ever been scolded by a boss or something. One incident when a subordinate was dressed down by Bolton was ALL they had on the guy.

Sheesh, I’m delighted to hear that someone in the bureaucracy is making those taxpayer paid freeloaders do their job.

More pathetic is how the Washington Post took on Bolton for how he dresses! An especially vicious and nasty attack which will be featured in a Miscellany post later this week.

Came across the pic below, a take-off on the famous Iraq criminal playing cards issued to the military early in the Iraq war. It’s how the liberals view Bolton and if he scolds subordinates and dresses badly, well the world should know this!

 

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Al Sharpton Swindling Money? Who Knew?
As a result of the great senate Democratic attack machine out to get Tom Delay it would seem a whole bunch of Democrat senators are receiving scrutiny.

For what’s right about pointing a collective finger at Representative Delay for having his wife and son on his campaign payroll when most of the finger pointers have done the same and worse?

Not that, and this is important, such practice is illegal. I’ll go out on a limb here and state that us Americans out here in la-la land aren’t unfamiliar with such nepotistic practices. It goes on all the time. Friends recommend cousins for an open position, mothers hire daughters to help out in the office over summer. It’s only when such common practices become abuse, and yes it does happen, that it’s a problem. So far as I’ve seen none of the Democratic senators now having their own reviews over the hiring of families, and the list is extensive, have done anything wrong.

Except for Al Sharpton who definitely crosses the line.
Al Sharpton 


From the NY Post

The FBI, as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the Rev. Al Sharpton, secretly videotaped him pocketing campaign donations from two shady fund-raisers in a New York City hotel room and then asking for more, it was reported yesterday.

Yet the Dems will harp and nag and point fingers at Tom Delay of all people, giving shady Al, as always, a permanent pass.
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Wisconsin and the Cats
Go with me here. I am owned by six cats so I like them.

But there is nothing more annoying and destructive than a loose cat allowed to prey upon the bird feeders and songbirds upon. Loose cats also stalk nests and love to tear down a nest and kill all nestlings within.

Yes it’s nature. Although, no. No it’s not. Loose domestic cats are fed by their owners. They do not need that nest of titmouses to live. If the cat was starving and killed the baby birds to live, well that’s nature.

So I imagine an explosion of feral counts estimated in the thousands is a real problem. I’ll not mock Wisconsin and its concern over a feral cat population that is out of sync with the natural bird and rodent population.

Hey, Wisconsin, there’s got to be a better way. Allowing hunters to shoot these wild cats is just plain weird. In fact, the Governor of Wisconsin has stated that he will not sign any such law and is tired of Wisconsin being a national laughing stock.

Yeah, Governor Doyle, America does laugh. Come on, shooting them?

You know what I envision should Wisconsin hunters be allowed to shoot feral cats? A bunch of Wisconsin Jethros grabbing their shot guns and going out for a hilarious day of shooting cats.

It makes no sense and it a bit sick. A season for cat hunting?

Oh, and just show one video, one grainy cell phone video of a mama cat shot and bleeding in agony as her kittens meow helplessly over her destroyed body, hey one single video of this sight gets out into the cable news networks and Wisconsin is crap in the eyes of America.

It’s how it works and Governor Doyle, be you Repub or Dem, hats off to you.
 


Now to really handle that cat problem, do the following. Go out and scout where the largest population of feral cats hang out. You’ll not find them all but there’s likely strategic spots they hang out, around dumpsters, behind shopping centers, that type of thing. Find as many of these highly populated feral cat spaces then one specified night, go out in mid of night and rope off the area.

Then stealthily toss out a pile of fish with sedative enough to knock the cats out. Make it something quick and painless.

Then have the employees go out and gather up the sedated cats and take them to a special vet place already set up and awaiting the delivery. Administer a needle of medicine that will stop their hearts. Cremate all bodies immediately.

No, it’s not nice. Probably more expensive than the massive cat shoot. But if it’s really that big of a problem, hey shooting cats is just plain stupid. There’s something to be said about human sensibilities. The bad sight bites won’t help sale of Wisconsin cheese either.
from WFTV:

Department of Natural Resources Secretary Scott Hassett said there are too many unanswered questions and problems associated with killing stray cats. Wisconsin's Gov. Jim Doyle also said he doesn't want his state to be known as the place where people can legally shoot cats.

He also said "everybody is kind of laughing" at his state right now.

Statewide results of a vote were tallied Tuesday. Overall, Wisconsin residents supported a controversial plan that would allow hunters to take out wild felines that kill birds and other small mammals. Residents voted 6,830 to 5,201 for the plan. DNR officials said the plan passed in 51 counties, failed in 20, and tied in one.

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Political Cartoon of the Week
 


 

American Idol-Eight Left

Time to pay closer attention to the top ten in this, the 4th annual American Idol competition. Only it's the top seven by this writing as Nadia Turner, has been eliminated by the voters following the performances on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 in this year of our Lord.

The challenge on this night was for the contestants to perform a song from the year of their births.

We begin with Nadia, a long-running favorite of mine who was as odd-ballish and as devilishly stylish as I've come to expect. She sported a red short fringed affair with hair that was way out. I've always liked Nadia's sense of style. It seems patterned after no other. However, it's the pipes that matter in this contest and Nadia chose to sing some song this night that was almost unknown. Simon called it "musical wallpaper" and I'd have to agree. It's the sort of tune that's playing in the background but nobody notices. It was a Crystal Gayle tune and was a good vehicle for her voice and range. But when down to the very last contestants is a time to knock them out. Nadia failed to do this during this year of birth challenge.

Bo Bice sang "Freebird" by Leonard Skinner. Which is a well-known but cultish sort of song. I like Bo and think he'll be at worst in the top five, at best in the top two. For this night's performance I could only think it was "ok".

Anwar Robinson sang a Dionne Warwick tune. He really looked good on that stage that night, those wild braids pulled back in such a manner as to not detract from his handsomeness. I noticed that Anwar seemed awkward during the singing of his song, a tune that wasn't all that bouncy and not amenable to dance steps. Anwar moved about the stage as if such movement were an afterthought, something he suddenly remembered he should be doing. Randy said he thought that technically Anwar was the best singer of the group. I don't know about that but I do think that Anwar has a chance to make the top five.

Anthony Federov sang a song excellent for his voice and range. All of the judges were favorably impressed with his performance. I thought he exhibited a good showmanship. And while he has a fine voice I still think he's not winning material in this competition.

Vonzell Solomon was the surprise of the night, at least for me. I had, I admit, given Vonzell short shrift. On this night she sang "Let's Hear It for the Boy", not only a great song but a great song for her. I'd give her the nod for the best performance of the night. All of the judges liked her performance as well.

Scott Soval does absolutely nothing for me. Which is not to say much of anything except hey, it’s my opinion. On this competition night, Scott sang a song woefully pitchy. He could not handle the low notes and got off to a bad start. Based on his performance I’d have thought Scott would be first to go.

 


Carrie Underwood is the darling of this year's competition. At least by my wetted finger held cautiously in the air. She's pretty as a picture, her voice designed to sing soulful country western songs. Although for this performance she did not sing a country song and I suppose it was a wise move on her part. The American Idol competition does not look kindly on singers who stick to one genre. Plenty of time after they win to pursue their own voice. It's to a goal of winning that a diversity of songs should be chosen and performed.

Constantine Maroulis sang a great and challenging song. This fellow still has brooding bedroom eyes that he loves to shine for the camera. He could be the stuff of the top three.

Predictions this week-subject to change:

5-Anwar Robinson
4- Constantine Maroulis
3- Vonzell Solomon
2-Bo Bice
1-Carrie Underwood
~~~~~~~~~~
Miss USA 2005
The Wise I only caught the first hour of this beauty contest because, well come the proper time I chose to tune into Greta.

I was a bit intrigued in that the pageant was held in my home town of Baltimore. Even more it was presented in a movie house, the Hippodrome Theater, in which I'd spent many hours as a child. Then the Hippodrome was incarnated again and this time my Dad was assigned to the job. The old "silencing" cushions on the wall used in movie houses during that time were ripped out and my Dad, ever practical, mounted them all in our very own living room. I thought they looked kind of dumb. Visitors raved about how clever they were. Well I guess they had to say that.

Anyway, the contestants were all pretty with that fresh American beauty grown and thrived so well in the United States. I did notice, my elder Grandmother and more prudish self, that the ladies were showing a lot more flesh than yore.

How well I remember the many public debates over whether Miss America should be allowed to wear a bikini. Eventually the pageant allowed "two piece" suits and now I don't know what's allowed.

Some of the gowns the Miss USA contestants wore practically popped out all boobs within and presented them on a visual platter. I didn't see any that I would call obscene but I must wonder why such pretty women feel so pressured to display their breasts. Kind of sad as I see it.

In fact, I came across a bit of a scandal involving this very issue. Only in this year of our Lord, damn, a beauty pageant contestant allegedly was punished for not showing enough flesh! Also some other interesting tidbits I discovered in the pageant "rules".

Miss California, picture below, wore a one piece suit.

Too Many Clothes? 

From ISHIPRESS we have:

Of the 51 contestants, representing 50 states plus the District of Columbia, only six chose the one-piece version. The other 45 wore bikinis. The six who did not wear a bikini represented Alaska, California, Florida, Idaho, New Jersey and Washington. All of those six were eliminated before reaching the semi-finals, except for Miss California, who was eliminated before reaching the finals.

The Post reports that Contest Judge Jermaine Jackson, brother of Michael Jackson, deducted points from Miss California because she did not wear a bikini.

There might be practical reasons for this. A girl might not want to wear a bikini so as not to reveal that she has stretch marks from giving birth to a child, for example. In general, contest rules have been that a contestant must never have been married or given birth to a child. Abortions and miscarriages are allowed, however.

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TV This Coming Week-More American Idol Hype?
On Sunday, April 24, Fox is featuring a show titled "American Top 40".

Don't know what it's about, don't know who's singing, don't know what songs are being sung. I do know that Ryan Seacrest is the host and it's on Fox. I'm thinking the finalists might be singing current popular songs. The Wise I will check in and report back as expected.


 

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Gossip-Hillary/Soldier with a must-see pic; Gardens-Where are the Tomato Cages?; Delaware Still Needs a Slogan

 


Matt LeBlanc Says His Show Was “Daunting”

All together now … “AW…”

Matt describes this emotional drain HERE

"When we started out, it was tricky emotionally for me. I was sad to be standing on the same set with the same crew, without my 'Friends' co-stars.
"It was also daunting to be up there on my own."

 

~~~~~~~~~~
Here’s a Bill Clinton Health Scoop
William Jefferson Clinton always embodied, if nothing else, a vibrancy and love of life. Though I never liked him for his ideal logy, I am distressed to see his health suffering so for such a young guy.

Now it seems Bill is trying to hide his health problems.

From The American Spectator

Clinton walked through the station, spoke to some people, and then according to advisers began feeling weak. He was escorted back to the holding area, where Clinton is said by sources to have caught his breath.

Clinton also caught enough of a rest in a private room (paid for by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases) at the Pentagon City Ritz-Carlton where the dinner was held (and also the location where Linda Tripp famously was wired by federal authorities to nab Monica Lewinsky), to have enough strength not only to appear at the dinner but to take several backhanded swipes at the Bush administration for not doing enough about HIV around the world -- even though it's doing more than Clinton's ever did in this regard.

"It was classic Clinton in every way," says a reporter covering the event.

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Speaking of a Clinton

Get a load of the picture below.
 


Seems the soldier was “coerced” to make nice with Hillary. Notice his crossed fingers in the pic.

The picture is NOT doctored as authenticated by Snopes.com

Crossed Fingers

Claim: Photograph shows soldier shaking hands with Sen. Hillary Clinton while crossing his fingers.
Status: True.

~~~~~~~~~~
Tidbits

Seems a duck has built herself a nest in front of the White House.

Said duck now under the protection of the United States Secret Service.
Which is as it should be.
======

Saw the wedding of Charles and Camilla. I was underwhelmed.

Although goodness these two have been an item for so many years it does seem logical that they finally get married.

As for the ghost of Diana hovering over the ceremony as alleged by the handsome talking heads, well Diana knew about Charles and Camilla BEFORE she married Charles. She chose to be a Princess and have her body used as an incubator. I have little pity for her. As for her untimely death sad and tragic as it is, hey, you go riding around in vehicles going over 100 miles an hour with NO seatbelt, alluding paparazzi that YOU called, well this is kind of stupid.
========

Michael Jackson in a heap of trouble.

This past week a slew of his former employees testified to things they witnessed with their own eyeballs. Such as Jackson showering with young boys, Jackson with his hands down their underpants, Jackson licking their heads.

The defense alleges that these people, ALL of them mind you, have axes to grind. Some filed a lawsuit for wrongful termination, one received money from the tabloids for their story, one stole money from Jackson.

Now I know the defense has to do their job. But these people are under OATH, people. There just aren’t too many people who will climb on a stand under oath and tell a bald-faced lie, much less the many testifying in the Jackson case.

Of course this is Hollywood and California does give its celebrities free murders and such. So who knows?
~~~~~~~~~~
Paris Hilton’s Going to Sing!
Can’t tell you how excited I am over this.

HERE

"It's Blondie meets Gwen Stefani," says Paris, without a hint of irony. "It's so hot."

~~~~~~~~~~
Fox to Launch Reality TV Channel
Well they are the experts.
HERE

The obsession with reality TV will hit new levels next month when US network Fox launches the first channel devoted solely to the genre.

Fox Reality will air a continuous stream of favourites such as Joe
Millionaire and Temptation Island.

~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, SpongeBob Squarepants arrested
 

From the Star Tribune

An ex-convict suspected of being the "SpongeBob Squarepants" bank robber was arrested Friday on suspicion of a string of armed holdups in the Twin Cities metro area.

FBI agents had been investigating whether the same 45-year-old South St. Paul man may have committed as many as eight armed robberies of TCF Bank branches.

For some of the robberies, the FBI has said, the man used a bag depicting SpongeBob, a popular cartoon character who is always getting into trouble.

 

I Can’t Find the Tomato Cages!
I’ve looked everywhere. In desperation I even asked husband if he’d seen them.

Finally I peeked over the fence and noticed the neighbor has tomato cages all over the place. I ponder if I should swipe some.

Why do I need tomato cages?

For the peonies that won’t die.

Once upon a time I had a wise idea that peonies, a plant that hates to be uprooted, would be great in a container.

My goodness, once I got these things in a container, one a white resin type of affair and one a whiskey barrel planter, there is no way short of a nuclear bomb they will leave. Peony roots are tenacious things, wrapping around each other until almost a rock. I had no choice but to move them in the containers.

They do fine in the homes they so love. So much so that they bloom so many flowers the stems can’t hold them. Thus, the tomato cages.

I even had a note in my calendar, entered last September, to remember to put the tomato cages over the peonies BEFORE they bloom. Because once these puppies bloom there’s no controlling the foliage. Beyond staking each leafy stem individually. An act I deemed unnecessary as tomato cages, placed upside down over an emerging peony then trained to go through the wire squares on the cage, well I thought this would work just fine.

But I can’t find the tomato cages!

Tomato cages are wire affairs, shaped like a tornado. Only made of wire. With long wire points that dig in the soil. The idea is that as the plant it protects grows it will spread out in the approximately in the shape of the wire tornado.

The peonies are now growing rapidly and I cannot find the damn tomato cages. I mean, where on earth could such things hide?

Besides the peonies, the daffodils bloom happily in the garden. Daffodils that I planted last year on my new Delaware lot that had never held a daffodil bulb. What a pretty harbinger of spring they are. They also guilt trip me into cleaning the winter littered gardens as such pretty flowers should not be allowed to grow in an environment of debris.

Also, I planted some of the plantings I wrote about so lovingly
in this gardening post. A post I wrote and posted just as soon as I ordered them from the gardening magazines that so tempted me.

Below are the plants I ordered and now have received and planted. The pics are actually from the garden magazines. They are now planted and happy here in Serendipity Shore. Come end of summer I shall post the REAL plants as they bloom happily, hopefully, in Grandmother’s gardens.

Fescue Grass 


Canna 


Crimson Butterflies 


For pics of my gardens in their winter gloom Click here.

I can’t bear to post an ugly garden picture again.


 


It’s Like Hiring James Carville to Audit the Democrat Party Books
…But then it is New Castle County.

"This is a sad day for openness and good government in New Castle County."
April 6, 2005 After the controversy over the recent firing of County Auditor Bob Hicks, New Castle County Council President Paul Clark announced the hiring of partisan Democrat Bob Wasserbach to the county's watchdog position, said David A. Crossan, Executive Director of the Republican Party of Delaware.

Recently Paul Clark and the Democratic controlled County Council fired county auditor Robert Hicks without legitimate reason.

"Now it is clear that the reason Mr. Hicks was fired is that he would not be a rubber stamp for Mr. Clark and his Democratic colleagues," Mr. Crossan said. "Instead of an independent auditor, it would certainly be more convenient for Paul Clark to have a Democratic hack like Bob Wasserbach"

~~~~~~~~~~
Delaware’s Slogan Problems Continue
 


Even the Delaware Tourism Office won’t use it!
From Delmarva Now

Julie Miro Wenger, acting director of the Delaware Tourism OfÞce, told members of the alliance earlier this year that the slogan needs to "resonate'' more with visitors.

But Wenger, who regularly attends alliance meetings, said she was surprised Graham brought up dissatisfaction with the slogan at the legislative hearing. "Disappointed is a very good word,'' she said.

"That organization has never discussed the slogan and the brand as being an issue that they were going to raise,'' Wenger said.

~~~~~~~~~~
Delaware Things That Make One Go “Hmmmmm
Now let me get this straight.

The bridge in Rehoboth Beach needs to be “fixed” and fast.

So I come across this gem. An engineer met with the town commissioners and estimated a NEW bridge would cost around a million and a half bucks.

Yet “in the works” is a temporary fix of the bridge which will cost between a million to 2.5 million?

Would these town commissioners run their households like this?

No wait. I wonder who the businesses that would be affected contributed to in their last campaign?

From DelmarvaNow

City of Rehoboth Beach engineer Alan Kercher told Rehoboth commissioners on Monday during a special meeting that the costs of a new bridge could vary depending on the type of bridge built. Costs could range from $1,464,835 to $1,668,990.

A temporary fix of the bridge, which will cost between $1 million to $2.5 million, is in the works and should be complete by May 13, he said. City officials said they supported a short-term solution to decrease inconveniences to visitors this summer. Closing the bridge, which leads to the Village Improvement Association, the Henlopen Hotel and Condominiums as well as a variety of north Rehoboth businesses, requires a detour through residential areas.

Current True Crime-The Closet Murderer; Ashleigh a Runaway?

 


The Strange Murder by the Man in the Closet

By all accounts, Jeffrey Freeman was a mild-mannered fellow. He and his wife owned an "investigative" firm, a company that researches criminal and credit histories of applicants for rental units in a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee.

This past Sunday night, 4/10/05 Jeffrey Freeman found a man living in a closet in his house.

That same man, Rafael DeJesus Rocha-Perez, at some point between 10 pm that Sunday night when Jeffrey heard Perez snoring in his closet and around 3:30 pm the following day, 4/11/05, murdered Jeffrey Freeman brutally and left his bashed body in a bathroom.

At least as alleged by Jeffrey's wife, Martha.

 


However, Nashville police claim that "'serious time line questions'' remain that the wife has not answered."

Here's the timeline as alleged by Martha Freeman:

Sunday night, 4/10/05, at 10 pm, Jeffrey heard snoring from a closet in his house. He found Rocha-Perez in the closet. According to Martha, Jeffrey then said he was going to take a walk and he wanted this man out of his house.

Then an odd incident not evidently reported by Martha Freeman. At midnight Nashville time, Martha Freeman phoned Jeffrey's mother, Hazel Freeman. This is a weekly thing done by son to mother. Martha Freeman knew this. So she phoned her mother-in-law and explained that Jeffrey was in bed after taking some medicine. Martha didn't explain much about the "medicine" but she did say that she didn't want her mother-in-law to worry, that everything was fine and that Jeffrey was asleep.

The next day Martha ran frantically to a neighbor's house and asked for help. Police found Freeman's body, severely beaten, in the bathroom where he'd been beaten to death, allegedly, by Rocha-Perez.

No one knows if Jeffrey Freeman really took a walk that night. It's an odd thing to do when confronted by a man living in your closet and who had been living there for almost a month. Although it is the sort of mild-mannered behavior that friends of Jeffrey Freeman assert he would take.

Where was Jeffrey when Martha called his mother? Still on his walk?

It's what happened when Jeffrey returned from his walk that is under scrutiny. Because for almost 17 hours after Freeman discovered his "border" until his battered body was found, something sure happened. IF Jeffrey took that walk.

Martha Freeman alleges that Perez got her husband's shotgun, an altercation took place, Perez forced her husband into the bathroom. Presumably after this Martha ran next door to summon authorities. Police found his body at 3:30 pm on Monday, 4.11.05.

Martha Freeman knew that something was wrong at midnight the Sunday before police found her husband's body. She took the time and trouble to phone Jeffrey's mother to ward off her worry should her son not call. Martha Freeman knew that Jeffrey wouldn't be calling his mother that night.

Why?

Was Jeffrey still out on this walk of his? Were Jeffrey and Perez then engaged in a heated argument that would result in Freeman's death some 15 hours later?

Or was Jeffrey Freeman already dead when Martha called his mother?

Authorities obviously have Martha Freeman under serious investigation. Rocha-Perez was arrested the same Monday Jeffrey Freeman's body was found as a result of a tip from Freeman neighbors.

It's not known yet whether Perez confessed but he is being held by Nashville police. Perez had already served jail time for murder. It's not clear if Jeffrey Freeman and Rocha-Perez were acquainted.

As for Martha Freeman, she's either co-murderess or a very creative sort in keeping a man in a closet for almost a month without her husband discovering.

Here's another interesting story from the crime annals similar to this case.
Crime Library.com

Information obtained from the following web site:
The Tennessean

**************************************************
Ashleigh Markley - Did She Run Away?
Because if Ashleigh Markley didn't leave willingly from her Grandmother's home on March 29, then the Lincoln, California police might well have her death on their hands.

For it was in Lincoln, California where Ashleigh's grandmother lived and it was from there she went missing. Ashleigh lives in Citrus Heights California and it is that police department that considers her disappearance very suspect.

Ashleigh is a 14-year-old white female, 4' 11" tall, 86 pounds, with blue eyes, blond hair, and piercings in her tongue and navel. She has always been a good student in school and is not considered the sort of child who would abandon her studies. Ashleigh was last seen in the company of a Lindsay Jones, also known as Lindsay Rehders. Lindsay was a lady friend of one of Ashleigh's uncles. She was evidently a guest that day at Ashleigh's Grandmother's, along with her father and other relatives.

 


This Lindsay woman shouldn't be too hard to spot if description means anything. For her eyebrows are shaved off and replaced with tattoos of barbed wire. She's also known to hitchhike rides from Interstate truckers.

Who knows what politics took place in the law enforcement arena. Evidently Ashleigh's father's family gave a report when she went missing from the Lincoln home. Was there something in how Ashleigh's disappearance was reported that made the Lincoln police consider it a slam dunk runaway case? Because it now seems all parties involved agree that somehow, someway, Ashleigh went off with Lindsay Jones.


Did Ashleigh's mother finally go to her own town's police in exasperation with the lackadaisical response from the Lincoln police? It's reported that the Citrus Heights police have taken over the case and the California division of the FBI has confirmed it is also involved with Ashleigh's disappearance.

Soon these questions will likely be answered. For now, we know that Ashleigh's been missing for three weeks or so, that this Lindsay Jones has also not been seen, and Ashleigh's likely not a runaway.

Although the runaway speculation is mine alone. But by now Ashleigh's picture and missing status has been thoroughly publicized. Not to mention Lindsay Jones of the barbed wire eyebrows. Surely one of them would phone in to someone. Lindsay Jones is not considered independently wealthy or anything. The two women would need money to live.

Could Lindsay have convinced Ashleigh to go off with her on a lark? Two women yukking it up, hitching rides with truckers, enjoying life unfettered by the worries of a normal 14 year old? Could Lindsay have seduced Ashleigh to come meet a friend who wants to meet her? A male friend, perhaps? Or could BOTH of the women have come to some harm, hitching up with the wrong driver?

Whatever the case, it's not likely Ashleigh would willingly be away from home so long. She has no history of such behavior or none that is yet known.

Below references used for this Blog post.
Angels Missing.com
Sacramento Sheriff Web Site

Taking on the LA Times; Reminisce-Jane Fonda Still a Traitor; Comments

 


It’s with a certain humility this Grandmother Blogger takes on the mighty L.A. Times. Humility, yes. Great intelligence? No.

For the La Times recent opinion piece on Kofi Annan, Secretariat of the U.N., has so many logic flaws myself, Kaitlyn Mae and one especially smart dog saw right through it.

The Fading of Kofi Annan

…he will be a diminished presence on the global stage. And that's a shame because Annan is hardly the wild-eyed, leftist anti-American that some in Washington make him out to be, and he has some good ideas on how to reform the U.N.

Thus begins an LA Times opinion article on U.N. Secretariat Kofi Annan. Before the next paragraph I am asking myself is there any such thing as just plain bad in the weird world of Los Angeles? Then I ask myself if the LA Times believes there is no other human being on this entire PLANET that could do a better job than Kofi.

Whose son received lots of bucks for doing nothing for the administrator of the Oil for Food program of the mid-nineties, the do-good idea of allowing despot Saddam Hussein sell Iraqi oil so long as the profits were spent for food and medicine for the Iraqi people. Bearing in mind that it was not Saddam’s oil but a resource of the people of Iraq. At any rate, the mighty LA Times would fire an executive in an LA minute who did such an awful job in any facet of their job as did Annan at the U.N.

It seems a waste of time for the newspaper to defend this man, good God, there are other human beings on this planet. The world will not collapse if he is fired as he should be.

If the LA Times doesn’t want to admit that the urbane, well-spoken and mannerly Mr. Annan (which is what the paper means with that “wild-eyed leftist” thing) did a lousy job the paper could at least give an inch, shrug its inked shoulders and allow as there’s enough questionable tactics all about the U.N. with Kofi at the helm that maybe we should just see if there’s anyone else on the planet who could do the job. In the very same opinion the LA Times acknowledges that the U.N. oil for food program was “disastrously mismanaged”.

 


But ahhh, would we find someone so scholarly, soft-spoken and so willing to carry the water of liberals and terrorists?

Oh and about those “good ideas on how to reform the U.N.” the LA Times refers to in this first paragraph, I must ask the mighty west coast times if acknowledging that a)U.N. peacekeepers should not be raping those they were sent to protect b)that money allocated to feed and medicate a people from profits derived by their own natural resources should not go in my son’s pocket and c)the U.N. needs more money, are those good ideas, how is this genius?

Conservative Republicans are gleeful about Annan's travails, as if he is to blame for the Bush administration's failure to sell the Iraq war to nations like France and Russia. Annan's critics should be more careful what they wish for. If the secretary-general is their idea of a crazed anti-American, they need to get out more.

Goodness, that bit about Kofi being to blame for “Bush administration's failure to sell the Iraq war to nations like France and Russia”, where did this come from? Such good journalism, just sticking in a mini-editorial that has nothing to do with the main editorial and get two wrong opinions out to the reader at one time.

Such a thought might never occur to the LA Times editorialists but the so-called “Republicans” that are so gleeful about Kofi’s travails might not approve of his poor performance. I daresay that most normal people would consider Kofi’s handling of the U.N.’s oil for food abominable. It’s not glee. It’s relief at finally having proof. There’s something very logical about firing someone who’s done a terrible job; about wanting a world organization to function as it should; about clearing out the poor performers to gain this end. Does the LA Times think this might be the case?

Would the LA Times hang onto an executive who suddenly has some good ideas for reform all glommed from the very things the executive is being fired for? I’m thinking not.

Annan is concerned about human rights, and he is no markets-hating socialist. He supports the notion of humanitarian interventions, and wants to overhaul the U.N. Human Rights Commission so that it can no longer be dominated by countries with little regard for human rights.

I’m dumbfounded.

Annan is “concerned” about human rights? He supports the “notion” of humanitarian interventions? He wants to fill the so-called Human Rights Commission with non-terrorists?

Mr. Opinion writer, LA Times, please! The U.N. Secretariat should be totally dedicated to human rights. It’s in the job description; it’s what the U.N. does! He should stop supporting notions and start making action. The U.N.’s response to the Boxer Day Tsunami was terrible. Far more people would have died had not a small coalition of nations reacted immediately to bring aid to the victims. This while the U.N. called press conferences and carped about possible diseases and mass deaths to come AFTER the initial tsunami effect. Something that didn’t happen. Why? Because of that small coalition of nations that reacted so quickly.

How long has Kofi been around? None of these brilliant ideas could have been brought to fruition? Why that oil for food scam would still be ongoing had not the U.S. decided to go around the U.N.

Why, I ask the intelligentsia at the LA Times, just a humble Grandma Blogger here, should we keep this man at the helm of the U.N.?

Is he the only one on the planet that can do the job?

 

Barbarella Writes a New Book
Jane Fonda is a woman needing a good dump in the ash heap of history.

She is the daughter of Henry Fonda, who COULD act.

More than anything, and the demon that keeps stalking her, Fonda will never outlive Americans' long memories of how she acted during the Vietnam War.

And moi, yon ladies and gems, was a flaming liberal during that era.

Even I, marcher for peace, carrier of candles in the rain, singer of "Eve of Destruction", abhorred Jane Fonda.

Of course back in Grandmother's era liberals did have some good causes and a certain fairness about them. Black citizens were discriminated against, women really did make less money than men while doing the same job and a war was waged in a distant and steamy land for reasons no one quite understood.

Jane Fonda was not fair. Her tirades and mistreatment of our troops was totally out of line and they were inappropriate targets of any discontent with the war. As a result of her tactics, many American troops were spit at and mistreated upon return home.

 


Such a thing would never happen today. And methinks sweet Jane is desperately trying to re-cloak her image in a shroud of regret.

Mealsothinks she is not sincere.

About her picture yukking it up with the North Vietnamese enemy, Fonda says:

I will go to my grave regretting that. The image of Jane Fonda, 'Barbarella,' Henry Fonda's daughter, just a woman sitting on an enemy aircraft gun was a betrayal. It was like I was thumbing my nose at the military and at the country that gave me privilege.

It was “LIKE” she was thumbing her nose? Jane, dear, you WERE thumbing your nose at our military AND the country that gave you privilege.

Why does this woman never quite acknowledge her publicity stunts of yore? All in such bad taste and all deplorable? There’s always her cute little caveat; a coy holding back of an outright admission of wrong.

Jane Fonda will continue to write her books and on some level they will sell. At some point in time readers who want to read fiction will stick with fiction. Thus passing by her publicity-seeking books.

Because it all gets old sometimes, Janie girl.

 

Regarding Book Review for"By Two By Two"

Comments: Interesting review- one of the books about a murder in Pennsylvania was written by a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter clearly smitten by the defendant and anxious to establish his innocence (I\'m blanking on all the names- another book about the same case was written by Joseph Wambaugh)- It was interesting to see the different points of view, the differing evidence presented,and the different interpretations and weights given to the factors of the crime. I\'ve also read three books on the Thomas Caputo case, and while none of them defended the murderer, the portrait of the victim varied widely.
Ummmmm, in my experience, a novel is a work of fiction; so looking for a novel at the library might not help you- Or was this a Freudian slip showing your inner opinion of this book. ConnieM

~~~~~~~~~~~
American Idol Counts Down to Winner
…and folks have some thoughts.

Comments: OH no! I didn\'t mean to \"berate\" you! I\'m sorry if it came across that way. It\'s just that any \"gangsta rap\" that I\'ve ever heard is just horrible stuff with an expletive every other word...it just wasn\'t anywhere near what Nikko\'s been doing. I think you have it this week--more of a jazzy, bluesy, soul kinda sound.
Scott Savol will probably go this week, due in part to his bad press and in part to the fact that he\'s completely out of his league vocally.
I\'m watching Nikko again this week and Vonzell, who gets better and better. Still love Nadia. Constantine is actually growing on me, but if he doesn\'t stop making mooney eyes at the camera all the time I may throw up.

=====

Let me do this over. First of all I dont think you know anything about \"GANGSTA RAP\" because if you did you would know that \"ANWAR\" could by no means be deplicted as gangsta rap. SHOULD BO BICE AND CONSTATINE CUT THEIR HAIR FOR REPPING \"ROCK\"? ARE IS THAT OKAY. As far as with the dreads not being a racial thing cause \'WHITE CELEBRITIES\" WEAR THEM. WHAT IS ANY MORE FAKE THAN THAT, AT LEAST IF ANWARS DREADS ARE FAKE AT LEAST ITS HIS CULTURE. WILL PEOPLE EVER LOOK PASS THE \"SKIN WE ARE IN\"? HERES MY LINE UP AS FAR AS TALENT GOES. BEST SINGER FIRST ANWAR, SCOTT, NIKKO, BO BICE, VONZEL, CONSTANTINE. I HOPE NIKKO WINS IT ALL CAUSE HES GOT THE COOLEST LOOK IF HE DONT WIN I HOPE IT IS BO BICE. THESE TWO GUYS GOT A LOT OF HEART. I WISH THEM ALL THE BEST OF SUCCESS

~~~~~~~~~~
And the Trump’s The Apprentice Winds Down as Well

Comments: I\'m confused -- perhaps because I don\'t watch the show, but it\'s your post that has me confused. Are you saying that she *should* or *should not* have delivered pizzas to the workers? Was it a question of timing, or of doing it at all, or what?

ED Reply-I think that Stephanie should NOT have taken an hour to deliver a pizza clear across town under the circumstances for which the team was working. She was right in that customer satisfaction is important but in the case of the pizza episode, given a short time span and the fact that she WAS team leader, she should have chose to stay with your team. It’s about priorities. Stephanie had a noble notion but being able to set priorities is as important in business as keeping a few customers happy.

Quotables-Bill Clinton Takes Theft Seriously; Miscellany-Diapers and Cooking; TV-Apprentice Update

 

Summing Up the Pope's Message
from Jonah Goldberg:

According to Timothy Garton Ash, writing in the Guardian, when the pope was confronted by a friend who wanted him to change his anti-condom policy, the pontiff replied, "I can't change what I've been teaching all my life." For John Paul II, to teach otherwise precisely because his teaching had newfound global strength would be like saying you can no longer proclaim 2+2=4 because those who disagree are suddenly paying attention.

~~~~~~~~~~
The Quote This Week That Says It All
From an American Citizen

Sergio Paster, 64, who said he was a Democrat. 'I like the fact that if I die, my kids can inherit my Social Security. If I died now, I've paid so long and my kids won't get anything.'" (Ray Hagar, "Social Security Plan Takes Center Stage At Town Hall Meeting," Reno Gazette-Journal, 3/23/05)

~~~~~~~~~~
And Bill Clinton's Serious Concern About a Former National Security Adviser Stealing Documents from the National Archives

That's Sandy for you," he said at a Denver book signing last summer. "We were all laughing about it on the way over here."

Wonder if he'd be so jocular if it was Condaleeza stuffing documents in her boots.

 

From Jane Fonda's New Book
Third one and she still doesn't admit she's wrong about being a traitor to our country.

I will go to my grave regretting that. The image of Jane Fonda, 'Barbarella,' Henry Fonda's daughter, just a woman sitting on an enemy aircraft gun was a betrayal. It was like I was thumbing my nose at the military and at the country that gave me privilege.

 


Some Food Facts
Came across some good food facts on a cooking newsgroup which allows me as a member: busyrecipes@yahoogroups.com. Immediately below is an explanation of the different kinds of crabmeat. Being a Merrylander native I thought now might be the time to tell America about our favorite delicacy.

WHAT KIND OF CRABMEAT?

Lump are the largest pieces of meat from the body, adjacent
to the backfin. The most expensive form of crabmeat.
(also comes in cans)

Backfin is the white body meat including lump and large flakes.
Used for crab cakes and crab imperial.

Special are flakes of white body meat other than lump. Good
for crab cakes, soups, casseroles and dips.

Claw meat is brownish meat from the claws. Best for soups and
dips, its the least expensive type of crab meat.

~~~~~~~~~~~
Lesson to Daughter
During a recent visit my daughter berated her husband for purchasing the wrong kind of diapers.

"Luvs" she sputtered. "Any other kind and you'll have leaks."

Which was true in that sweet Granddaughter was a bit wet around the gills during our Easter outing.

My eyes rolled to the sky.

She's a smart kid, Kaitlyn's Mom. But not smart enough to know that sending a man, who bought the cheapest diapers by the way, to buy anything is a wasteful endeavor.

This is not to insult yon Gems and know now that this bit of stereotyping likely doesn't apply to all men. But we're talking the majority here.

Of course Grandmother has had four husbands to practice on so I'll allow for daughter's naiveté.

A man should never be sent to do a woman's job. Which would be all shopping in most households. A man would just as soon pick up the first thing and be out of there. A man rarely looks at the per unit price and for sure doesn't know what grocery name brand is crap and what is acceptable.

While I don't know much about diapers, I must ask my daughter-WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL HIM TO GET "LUVS" DIAPERS? For men will, if the woman writes down the name brand, date of copyright, ounce size, color of package and location in aisle, sometimes get the right product.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Another Good One from Busy Cooks

Fast Food Trivia

"William Rosenberg dropped out of school at the age of fourteen,
delivered telegrams for Western Union, drove an ice cream truck,
worked as a door-to-door salesman, sold sandwiches and coffee to
factory workers in Boston, and then opened a small doughnut shop
in 1948, later calling it Dunkin' Donuts."
-Fast Food Nation

* On any given day in the United States about one-quarter of
the adult population visits a fast food restaurant."

* 76% of beef consumption away from home is comprised of hamburgers
and cheeseburgers.

* 1/3 of all potatoes end up as French fries.

 


* "Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher
education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars."

* Americans consume nearly 16 billion hot dogs each year.

* "In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food; in
2001, they spent more than $110 billion."

* A typical fast-food strawberry milkshake is said to contain a
mixture of more than 50 chemicals.

 


The Apprentice=Chris Should Have Been Fired
Although Angie did a deplorable job.

The task this past week was for the teams to design a line of clothes for American Outfitters. Then they were to present the line to the appropriate people at that company.

Both teams' designs were fine. Especially for motley groups to do in such short notice.

Alex was leader of the Book Smart team, what's left of them. Angie was in charge of the presentation. Chris, hot head and former tobacco chewer, was in charge of the credit card.

Which he lost.

It was found but some precious 45 minutes were lost out of a small window of time.

From then on it went downhill for the book smart team.

 


Angie, goodness, she was terrible during the presentation, once responding that an Ipod was the most cherished tech object of hip young people today. The other team responded correctly. It is the cell phone that happening youth of this day cannot live without. I'm betting few of them even heard of an Ipod much less own one.

In the board room, Donald kept calling Alex a former winner now saddled with losers.

Chris should have been fired so far as The Wise I calls it. I'd fire any fool who couldn't keep a credit card handy for such a short amount of time from when issued. This would be a sign to me that this is a hopelessly unorganized person. I do not like disorganized people. They are a vexation to the spirit.

Trump fired Angie and this didn't break my heart. She'd have been next, right behind Chris.

My predictions remain as last week:

#2-Bren
#1-Alex

True Crime-Who is Randolph Dial?; Fish Giggles-State Mottos; A pic of the Week for the Citizen Border Guards

 


Who is Randolph Dial?
If ever a true crime had all the ingredients that a fiction writer would not dare use to craft an orderly and believable crime novel, it would be the story of Randolph Dial.

There’s the criminal and genius roiling in Dial’s brain. There’s the meek prison warden’s wife, forcibly abducted from her middle-class home, husband and two children. There’s the murder of a man via contract with one of the strangest criminal resolutions in the annals.

Randolph Franklin Dial was born on September 26, 1944 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Until the early 1990’s the world pretty much never heard of Randolph Dial. Though he had murdered Kelly Dean Hogan in 1981, Dial did not confess to his crime, a voluntary confession seemingly from nowhere, until the early 90’s. Dial claimed he murdered Hogan as the result of a contract allegedly with the “mob”. Either there’s no further information on who hired Dial to make the hit, Dial murdered Hogan for his own personal reasons despite his assertion of a contract or the authorities are not releasing any information regarding that murder.

Along the way Dial married three women. The first was to Christiana in 1978. There was one son born from this marriage, Alexis Osborn. In yet another ironic twist in the life of Randolph Dial, this son was arrested and charged in 1998 for the murder of his live in girlfriend.

In 1979 Dial married Katherine. The divorced in 1983 and had one daughter, Rose.

In 1983 Dial married Robin. They divorced in 1986 and had one son, Perry.

In an enigma wrapped in a mystery, in the early 90’s Dial voluntarily confessed to murdering
Karate instructor Kelly Hogan. Until then the murder was unsolved with no solution allegedly in investigators’ sights.

Prison didn’t set well with Dial, who was a very talented painter and sculptor. Thus he schemed and connived a minimum security position with the prison by arguing that he could lead a pottery class for the prisoners.

Bobbi Jo Parker would be Dial’s assistant in running and preparing for this inmate crafts class.

 


Bobbi Jo Parker was married to Randy Parker in 1982. They had two daughters, who were 8 and 10 years old when their mother disappeared with Randolph Dial. The youngest girl is now ready to graduate from high school. The oldest girl is scheduled to attend nursing school.

It is alleged that Dial kidnapped Bobbi Parker from her home on August 30, 1994 by making Bobbi drive her van out from the prison gates. Bobbi contacted her family on September 9, 1994 saying she was all right and would be home soon. Bobbi Jo’s family had not been heard from her since until now.

Until recently when Bobbi Jo Parker and Randolph Dial were picked up as a result of a tip phoned into America’s Most Wanted. They were living on a chicken farm under the names of Richard and Samantha Deahl in Texas. Dial and Parker were together for almost eleven years.

As the story unfolds from here on it gets murkier and more bizarre.

Everyone has their story about the Deahls/Randolph Dial and Bobbi Jo Parker. The owner of the chicken ranch worked on by the Deahls, Debra Grace says that Bobbi tried to escape on three occasions.

"There's a lady here in Nacogdoches with whom she was friends, and she went to her house. But they both got scared of what Dial would do, and Sam would go back," Debra said.

Debra said she recently learned that Parker's friend (whom she would not name) knew of the situation between Dial and Parker and even knew Dial before his escape.

According to Dial himself:

"She was living under the impression if she ever tried to get away, I would get away and I would make her regret it, particularly toward her family," Dial said. "I didn't mean it, but she didn't know that."

According to Charles Sasser, author of “At Large”, a novel about Dial’s life and escape, Bobbi Jo Parker told him in 1999 via telephone:

"I'm fine and I'm happy,' and . . . she said she wondered if it was better to let them [her family] keep thinking she was dead or to call them."

According to Nacogdoches County Justice of the Peace Donna Clayton, April 6, 2005, after witnessing Bobbi's reunion with her husband, Randy:

"They just looked at each other, and both of them took a deep breath, and the next thing I knew, both of them were hugging and crying. I think on both their parts it was, 'Are you really there?"'

I will never be convinced that Bobbi Jo Parker didn’t leave that prison compound with Dial willingly. Or that she lived with Dial, working a grueling job at the chicken farm when Dial was fired for being unable to do the job due to health problems, willingly all those years. Or that she could not have escaped had she so desired.

But that’s just me and the pundits may go on about Stockholm syndrome, bring on a team of psychologists to tell me not and paint glowing stories of Bobbi’s heart-warming reunion with spouse Randy Parker, now warden of William S. Key Correctional Center at Fort Supply, OK.

I think Bobbi Jo Parker was in love with Randolph Dial, a man alleged to have fathered over a dozen children and never at a loss for the attention of the ladies. Dial is a gifted artist, an artist one could reasonably assume was pleasant, intelligent, keen company and hey, I’ll say it, a great lover perhaps?

I’ll go along that Bobbi Jo wasn’t happy with her chicken farm life especially when she had to do all the work. But what could she do? Surely it’s a crime to run off with a convicted criminal, providing the escape vehicle and keeping his location secret for over ten years?

Bobbi Jo Parker had made her bed and circumstances left her laying in it.

Although it’s likely the woman was happy with Dial. She could have escaped. One time Dial was even hospitalized and Parker spent hours at his bedside, tending to him and nursing him back to health. Bobbi Jo was also the one who ran the couple’s errands, regularly cashing her paycheck at a 7-11 as well as shopping for all their staples of life. She did tell author Sasser that she was happy. She did call her family less than two weeks after Dial “abducted” her. This smacks of a plan, a way to bid her old life goodbye before getting on with the new one.

The big question about this true crime is what is going to happen to Bobbi Jo Parker. Will she be charged with the crime any but the most dense of fools would agree she committed? Will her “real” husband, warden Randy Parker, protect his wife and his own pride by taking her back and covering for her? Will the investigators simply accept that this woman was kidnapped and push any further investigation aside?

By me it’s Randolph Dial’s own words that sum up his prior actions and his life since his escape:

"I was a hostage-taker and will probably live to regret it," he said. "But now I don't. Doing a life sentence, at my age, I wouldn't trade it for the past 10 1/2 years."

Perhaps Bobbi Jo Parker, now reunited with her “husband”, feels the same way.

The following sites were used to compile this post:
America’s Most Wanted
Daily Sentinel
America’s Most Wanted
Marriage.About.com


 


In honor of "The Minutemen"

 


 


KNOW YOUR STATE MOTTO
In honor of my recent post with mine own proposed Delaware state mottos.

Alabama
Hell Yes, We Have Electricity.

Alaska
11,623 Eskimos Can't Be Wrong!

Arizona
But It's A Dry Heat.

Arkansas
Literacy Ain't Everything.

California
By 30, Our Women Have More Plastic Than Your Honda.

Colorado
If You Don't Ski, Don't Bother.

Connecticut
Like Massachusetts,
Only The Kennedy's Don't Own It Yet.

Delaware
We Really Do Like The Chemicals In Our Water.

Florida
Ask Us About Our Grandkids
And Our Voting Skills.

Georgia
We Put The Fun In Fundamentalist Extremism.

Hawaii
Haka Tiki Mou Sha'ami Leeki Toru
(Death To Mainland Scum,Leave Your Money)

Idaho
More Than Just Potatoes...
Well, Okay, We're Not, But The Potatoes Sure Are Real Good

Illinois
Please, Don't Pronounce the "S"

Indiana
2 Billion Years Tidal Wave Free

Iowa
We Do Amazing Things With Corn

Kansas
First Of The Rectangle States

Kentucky
Five Million People; Fifteen Last Names

Louisiana
We're Not ALL Drunk Cajun Wackos,
But That's Our Tourism Campaign.

Maine
We're Really Cold, But We Have Cheap Lobster

Maryland
If You Can Dream It, We Can Tax It

Massachusetts
Our Taxes Are Lower Than Sweden's
And Our Senators Are More Corrupt!

Michigan
First Line Of Defense >From The Canadians

Minnesota
10,000 Lakes...And 10,000,000,000,000 Mosquitoes

Mississippi
Come And Feel Better About Your Own State

Missouri
Your Federal Flood Relief Tax Dollars At Work

Montana
Land Of The Big Sky, The Unabomber, Right-wing Crazies,
and Honest Elections!

Nebraska
Ask About Our State Motto Contest

Nevada
Hookers and Poker!

New Hampshire
Go Away And Leave Us Alone

New Jersey
You Want A ##$%##! Motto?
I Got Yer ##$%##! Motto
Right here!

New Mexico
Lizards Make Excellent Pets

New York
You Have The Right To Remain Silent,
You Have The Right
To An Attorney...
And No Right To Self Defense!

North Carolina
Tobacco Is A Vegetable

North Dakota
We Really Are One Of The 50 States!

Ohio
At Least We're Not Michigan

Oklahoma
Like The Play, But No Singing

Oregon
Spotted Owl...It's What's For Dinner

Pennsylvania
Cook With Coal

Rhode Island
We're Not REALLY An Island

South Carolina
Remember The Civil War?
Well, We Didn't Actually Surrender Yet

South Dakota
Closer Than North Dakota

Tennessee
Home of the Al Gore Invention Museum.

Texas
Se Hable Ingles

Utah
Our Jesus Is Better Than Your Jesus

Vermont
Ay, Yep

Virginia
Who Says Government Stiffs And Slackjaw Yokels Don't Mix?

Washington
Our Governor can out-fraud your Governor!

West Virginia
One Big Happy Family...Really!

Wisconsin
Come Cut Cheese!

Wyoming
Where Men Are Men... And The Sheep Are Scared

The District of Columbia
The Work-Free Drug Place!

Week Just Passed-Pope Funeral, Berglar and Clarke Steal and Lie; TV-American Idol Update; Web Site of Week

 

Hero Receives Medal of Honor
Lost in an incredibly busy news week, Paul Smith received a Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest award given by the United States.

Smith died during America’s initial invasion of Iraq, battling off the Iraqi army at the Baghdad airport. According to the Pentagon, Smith saved many American lives that day; the day he died; the day he staved off the enemy and gave his own live that his fellow soldiers could escape.

 

~~~~~~~~~~
First Non-Arab Elected Leader of Arab State
The Iraqi Parliament had a time of it. Once they had to kick out the press and have a real down-home smoke-filled room conference. In due course, Jalal Talabani was appointed interim Iraqi head of state. Talabani is a Kurdish leader. An ethnic group scorned, murdered and mistreated by Saddam’s Sunni buddies.

The sweetest note of all: Saddam got to watch it all from his jail cell.

 

~~~~~~~~~~
Sandy Bergler Admits He Took Documents
Had Condaleeza done such a thing the press would be on it night and day.

It’s unclear, at least to me, what documents Sandy took five copies of and eventually destroyed several of them. I understand it was something called an “after action” review by none other than Richard Clarke.

Remember Richard Clarke? We’ll discuss this fine fellow in a bit.

Scuttlebutt has it that Clarke’s report detailing the Clinton administration’s handling of the millennium terrorist threat, allegedly gave that same administration a very bad mark. And at the time the 9-11 commission was looking into this sort of thing. Sandy was just doing a little purging of the national archives so that His Honor Bill Clinton and Her Royalest Honor, Hillary, would not be made to look as bad as they really were during the public commission hearings.

From the NY Post:

Of particular interest to Berger were drafts of an after-action review by anti-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke of al Qaeda's thwarted attempt to attack America during the turn of the millennium in 1999. The memo reportedly identified national-security weaknesses so "glaring" that only sheer "luck" prevented a 9/11-style attack back then.

~~~~~~~~~~
Speaking of Richard Clarke
May I remind yon ladies and gems that the very honest Mr. Clarke was the fellow who wrote the book excoriating not the Clinton administration as he did in his after action report regarding the memo Bergler was so desperate to steal, but the BUSH administration. George W. Bush had been in office for eight months when the 9-11 attacks occurred. Richard Clarke, knowing full well that the Clinton administration paid the problem of terror no mind. He knew it well enough to write an after action report that the Clintons wanted stolen from the National Archives.

Of course it could be that there was an election in process and Clarke agreed to carry the water for the Democratic party’s spin in return for a few book sales.

From Amazon.com re Clarke’s book:

Clarke, a veteran Washington insider who had advised presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush, dissects each man's approach to terrorism but levels the harshest criticism at the latter Bush and his advisors who, Clarke asserts, failed to take terrorism and Al-Qaeda seriously. Clarke details how, in light of mounting intelligence of the danger Al-Qaeda presented, his urgent requests to move terrorism up the list of priorities in the early days of the administration were met with apathy and procrastination and how, after the attacks took place, Bush and key figures such as Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and Dick Cheney turned their attention almost immediately to Iraq

He levels the “harshest criticism” at George W. Bush’s administration? An administration in power for only eight months when the 9-11 attacks occurred? Could Clarke have been truthful or trying to prevent Bush from a second term?

It’s good to revisit this sort of thing. Because is he’s lied once he’ll lie again. I hope he made some bucks from his lying novel.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~
Most Under-Reported Story of the Week
American Citizens Decide to Patrol the Border Themselves
The history books reveal that when citizens take up arms themselves the situation changes. Whatever the situation might be.

Now it’s a group of trained Americans who decided that the border between Mexico and the United States is inadequately protected against illegal aliens. Not to mention Mexico distributing self-help booklets on how to escape to America.

They’re serious and dedicated and The Wise I had admiration for the concept and action. Although The Old Media are trying to make it a bad thing and goodness knows our government is a bit embarrassed. What a hoot!

And it’s working! Imagine that! Ordinary American citizens doing a better job than the government. It’s a liberal’s nightmare.

From Foxnews:

TOMBSTONE, Ariz. — More than a thousand Americans have descended on a remote stretch of the U.S.-Mexican border to join a group that calls itself the Minutemen (search), which claims to be dedicated to stopping illegal immigration, but which others call racist.
"Just a month previous to hearing about this, I said to a co-worker that I would be more than willing to spend a vacation to protect the borders," said one Minuteman.

Part public-relations stunt, part political theater, the makeshift border patrol has already had an impact. The activists have virtually closed down a popular pipeline used by people smugglers.

~~~~~~~~~~
Prince Ranier of Monoco Dies
Since his death there’s been even more problems for that family. His son-in-law is also very ill and there is no immediate heir to take Ranier’s place as his eldest son, well there’s questions about his eldest son.

Besides being President of a tiny state, Ranier is best known as the royal who married Grace Kelly. Like so many royal inbred situations, the family is a mess.
 

~~~~~~~~~~
The Pope’s Funeral
There’s nothing more I can add to the 24/7 coverage of this event.

Except I must note that the Italians did a wonderful job handling that situation. And that Bill Clinton, one of three US Presidents invited to the ceremonies, gave an asinine interview in which he stated, amongst other stupid stuff, that he would never run against the pope for MAYOR! I’m not making this up.

 

 


Oh and did we mention the flap over Jimmy Carter’s anger at not being invited along with Clinton and George H.W.? Jimmy Carter was not only a terrible American president, he worked against the Vatican on many Latin American issues and was never considered a friend of Catholicism.

In honor of Jimmah the peanut farmer, the political cartoon of the week:
 



 

Best Satire on the Web
Mentioned by El Rushbo himself, I decided to check this web site out. Rush Limbaugh does, ahem, reach a few more folks than this humble Blogger. But hey, to the five or six readers of this site, check it out.

Examples of “Headlines” on Scrappleface.com

:: Kofi Annan Not Aware of Relationship to Kojo

:: Gingrich Sues Rep. DeLay for 'Demon' Infringement

:: Attorney: Michael Schiavo Looks 'Peaceful, Euphoric'

:: Report Clears Annan: UN Chief Had 'No Clue'

Scrapple Face-Satire at its Best

 


American Idol; Mork and Mindy; Other
I’m not that fond of Robin Williams although once upon a time I did enjoy the show Mork and Mindy.

This past week featured an “unauthorized biography” of that show. Whatever that means though it sounds vaguely sinister and caused me to tune in.

It was a story about a TV series. Duh.

Viewers discover that Williams had a cocaine problem and Jim Belushi’s death scared him straight. Way I hear it half of Hollywood got scared straight by Belushi’s death.

A Hollywood actor hooked on cocaine. Imagine that.

Beyond that, well it was a series about a TV show. And Robin Williams. A frenetic fellow that definitely should not be on cocaine.
~~~~~~~~~~
American Idol Countdown
I was only able to watch the half hour show this past Wednesday when a contestant was eliminated. As such my notes are a bit shallow.

The theme was show tunes. I noted Nadia was as stylish and beautiful as always. Scuttlebutt is that she’s the next Whitney Houston. No. She doesn’t have Houston’s pipes. Although I hear that Nikko Smith is related to Whitney’s husband. Which has nothing to do with nothing.

Because Nikko was voted off the show this past week. Nikko was a second-chancer when he was called back when another contestant resigned. He’s had his fifteen minutes, he is not in the same league as Nadia and Bo Bice, it was time for him to go.
 


Vonzell and Scott Soval were in the bottom three but it was Nikko who was sent home. Vonzell sang Streisand’s “People” and got a standing ovation from Paula Abdul. Paula also loved Anwar.

Constantine sang “My Funny Valentine” and by me he fairly whispered the tune.

My predictions:

Next to go-Scott Soval

Top three-in order
3-Nadia Turner
2-Bo Bice
1-Carrie Underwood
~~~~~~~~~~
TV Notes for Week Upcoming

On Monday, 4/11/04, at 9 pm NBC is featuring the Miss USA pageant hosted by my home town of Baltimore.

Note-American Idol continues. On Tuesday 4/12/05 there will another hour of performances on Fox. And an elimination half hour on Wednesday 4/13/05 at 9 pm.

Note-The Apprentice continues. On Thursday 4/14/05, at 9 pm, NBC will have another competition and another would-be apprentice will be fired.

Finally, a good movie perhaps?
On Sunday, 4/17/05, at 9 pm, ABC will feature a movie that from the hype, well here’s the promo blurb:

A desperate psychiatrist (Michael Douglas) must get a patient (Brittany Murphy) to give him information that will convince a kidnapper (Sean Bean) to free his kidnapped daughter.

Jessica Lunsford: A New Horror

Jessica Lunsford: A New Horror
Ever since Jessica was found dead in the home of a neighbor within eyesight on her home, the circumstances of her death and final hours seemed vague. The investigators reported that while Couey was talking, he was so drug-addled that what he was saying was disjointed, incomprehensible.

It's now almost two months beyond her body's discovery and we must assume at least preliminary autopsy reports have been received. And the preliminary results are showing that Jessica Lunsford was buried alive.

I've seen it reported twice now with "unidentified law enforcement officials" by both CNN and Fox News. Which means this is not yet official. But someone in the Florida law enforcement is leaking the results. The news reports caution that the final autopsy report won't be in for another month. Which means some cells are being sent out to some lab or another for further testing. The Medical Examiner, ladies and gems, knows the cause of death is asphyxiation. And he knows it now.
 


Like any crime under investigation, there's still a lot of information unknown to the public. Like exactly what John Couey is telling investigators. And whether he's drug free enough now to be telling the truth. Said truth being now verified by Couey's partners in crime and the autopsy and said truth being so horrific.

John Couey had no vehicle. The claims are that he had Jessica in that trailer and judging by the lack of a car and her subsequent burial behind the trailer, she never left the trailer.

Initial reports are that Jessica was still alive on at least two occasions when the police visited the house. These initial reports are not confirmed and might well be inaccurate. Couey is said to have told the police that on the first occasion of their visit to his sister's trailer he was not home. On the second occasion of the police visit, he was home but was hiding from the police.

It's confusing but I heard it stated that way twice. By all accounts, Jessica was alive for at least two days in that trailer. While all around her police, her parents, friends, neighbors and search dogs were desperately trying to find her.

I must wonder about the search dogs. It's reported that the dogs did NOT find any of Jessica's scent beyond Jessica's own immediate home. Which would make sense in that according to Couey she never went beyond the distance to his sister's trailer. Yet they did not hone in on that trailer specifically. I don't know if that's odd or not.

There's so much still unknown and so much speculation right now. I've always believed that where there's smoke there's likely a bit of fire. News reports have been hinting about new info in the Lunsford case. I suspect that as the investigation and autopsy have been ongoing, Couey's statements have either been verified or debunked. It would seem that his first admissions, dismissed as the ravings of a drug-addled criminal, might well have been true. Perhaps the investigators just didn't want to believe it. Perhaps their hearts were broken that they didn't save the child, right under their noses. Perhaps they wanted to be kind and spare Jessica's family any unnecessary additional angst until it was absolutely necessary.

Now it must be necessary. Sooner or later the autopsy will become public. For sure the prosecutors will need the information to present their case. Thus the heartbreak of Jessica Lunsford, alive and held captive in a trailer within 150 yards of their home must be made known to Jessica's family and inevitably, the public.

 


What's unclear now is how Jessica was kept silent. And hidden. For John Couey allegedly swears that his "roommates" were totally unaware that Jessica was in the trailer. Said roommates alleged to range anywhere from four to six people. All these people in a mobile home could be unaware of a child being held prisoner within?

Is John Couey, in some weird sort of criminal code of honor, trying to protect his drug friends in the trailer? Could they too have been part of Jessica's torment while she was prisoner in the trailer? Could Couey figure that since his goose is pretty much cooked that he should just take the fall and spare the pitiful few friends he had until finally caught?

Could this make the prosecutors' case more onerous in what should be a somewhat simple case?

For if those people in the trailer, whoever they are, had any idea that Jessica was being held prisoner by Couey they are guilty of possibly several different offenses. First, obstruction of justice for hiding that knowledge. This obstruction of justice beyond obstruction of justice for harboring a known sex offender. If any of them had anything to do with Jessica's torment there would be, of course, that crime. If so, it must be proved. No mind Couey's kindness as he faces the needle, if anyone in that trailer molested Jessica they should be punished for THAT crime, not just obstruction of justice.

Could Couey have handled the murder and burial of Jessica by himself? Did anyone help him with this? If someone did and Jessica did die from asphyxiation by being buried alive, are not such participants also guilty of murder? Now that I think about it, how on earth did anyone manage to bury the child outside of the trailer without any of the searchers or police knowing a thing?

For sure there will be more news over the coming days.

John Couey is likely facing the death penalty. How many of his "friends" should be sharing it with him?

Gossip: A Wrestling Hall of Fame?, The Glass Castle; Fly on Wall-Jeb and George; Fish Giggles-What You Doing Now?

 

Gossip on a Gossip Columnist

I don’t know of Jeannette Walls. Indeed until recently I’d never heard of her before. Because just recently Jeannette Walls wrote an autobiography and it seems the details of her childhood as delineated in her book “The Glass Castle” are a bit unusual.

As best I can ascertain Jeannette Walls is a NY socialite type of gossip columnist, the sort of gossipy woman who gains legitimacy by writing for a major newspaper instead of The National Enquirer.

Lucianne Goldberg wrote a review of Walls’ book, and an excellent one at that. I did not read the book and likely never will.

Still I read Goldberg’s review in the National Review Online and saw a few Dateline type shows where Walls was interviewed and freely spoke of her unusual childhood.

It’s an amazing story, if true. I suppose it’s true because I have no reason to believe it’s not. But a woman rising from the mess that was her childhood to become a respected NY society reporter is quite rare.

In some of the Walls’ interviews she actually takes us to visit her mother. Who lives in squalor, robbing electricity from neighbors in an apartment filled with her crazy paintings and other trash. Walls’ mother is even interviewed and she seems sane to me. Though Walls’ has plenty of money now, her mother refuses her financial help.

Just an amazing story, my observation.

From Goldberg’s review of “The Glass Castle”, link above:

Until her rootless, feckless family — consisting of her parents Rex and Rose Mary, two sisters, and a brother — came to roost in a leaking, plumbing-free shack in Welsh, W.Va., the kids were squashed into the back of whatever ramshackle automobile Walls's father wired together. Aimlessly, sometimes looking for work for Rex or a bar where the adults could party, they wandered the highways and byways of the great Southwest. What money they scrounged went for gas, Rex's cigarettes and beer, and Rose Mary's art supplies.

~~~~~~~~~~
Hulk Hogan Inducted into Wrestling Hall of Fame
Gotta love the Hulk.

Who personified wrestling, a “sport” that is a bit bogus on the professional circuit. Yet is a form of entertainment appreciated by the few with higher intellectual levels.

Well I didn’t even know there was a wrestling hall of fame.

But if anybody belongs in it the man would be Hulk Hogan.

Hulk Hogan 

Congrats Hulkster. Now time for Ric Flair

From Yahoo News

Hulk Hogan, relishing his weekend induction into the
World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame, figures he's earned it.

"To me, it's huge to be part of the Hall of Fame because I was there from day one when this business went from small-time to big-time," Hogan said.

~~~~~~~~~~
POP CULTURE STORY OF THE WEEK!
Matt LeBlanc Cancelled in Australia
Can America be far behind?

FromThe Herald Sun

The Friends spin-off, starring Matt LeBlanc, is to be replaced by a reality show starring a domestic hero.

Joey and the Charlie Sheen sitcom Two and a Half Men are making way for Supernanny, the US-produced series featuring Jo Frost, who tries to bring peace and order to dysfunctional families.

The decision will disappoint LeBlanc, who told the Herald Sun three weeks ago that the sitcom was finding its feet.

~~~~~~~~~~
Michael Jackson Named “Most Foolish Person”

It was bound to happen.
 


From Daily Telegraph

About 80 per cent of 1,030 people who took part in an annual April Fool's Day survey felt that Jackson, on trial for allegedly molesting a 13-year-old boy, deserved the top spot on the 2005 list that also featured his bra-popping sister Janet Jackson and convicted domestic diva Martha Stewart.

"It's getting hard to envision an America in which Michael Jackson isn't the most foolish individual," said public relations consultant Jeff Barge, who compiled the sixth Most Foolish American survey.

 
Jeb and George
“George it’s not just the political heat I’m taking down here. There really is a principle involved here. I don’t think I can just sit by and let them starve a retarded woman to death.”

Silence greeted Jeb Bush’s lament to his Presidential brother. Jeb knew as soon as he held that news conference announcing that a Mayo Clinic Neurologist affirmed that Terri Schiavo was not persistently vegetative and that the Florida Department of Children and Families had the right to go to Terri’s hospice and remove Terri for her own protection that his brother the President would be on the special cell phone line.

“I’m just going to do it,” Jeb Bush had told his Chief of Staff earlier that day.

“Sir, don’t you think you should at least notify the President. He deserves …”

“It’s not that I don’t want to tell him,” Jeb cut off his Chief of Staff curtly. Jeb then walked over to the window, gazed down at the boulevard below and ran his fingers distractedly through his hair. “But I know he’ll tell me about the rule of law, how, how…,” Jeb said, faltering for words. “How we would be in the wrong if we did anything drastic. How, how …,” Jeb continued with another falter, “how we’d never achieve equilibrium after such an act.” Jeb smiled slightly at his Chief of Staff. “The sort of thing he should tell constituents, not his own brother.”

Jeb sank into his leather chair and his face settled into that thoughtful frown his Chief of Staff knew all too well.

“It’s not only the many people beating on me to do something,” Jeb continued. He spoke in the general direction of his Chief of Staff but the words he was forming with some effort were for both him and the other person in the room. “But I really feel so…,” Jeb continued on but paused, looking for a word. “Impotent. I feel so impotent being a Governor of a state and totally unable to prevent the court ordered death of an innocent woman.”

Jeb ran his fingers through his hair again. “Call a press conference today,” Jeb said after a long sigh. “Get the Florida social service department ready and alert the state police. Because I’m going in there. I’ll telegraph my intentions by this press conference. But there just comes a time when you have to do what you think is right and take the consequences.”

The Chief of Staff wrote down Governor Bush’s instructions while struggling to contain a grimace of disapproval.

“Look,” Jeb Bush said to the grimace, “George will call me as soon as the press conference is over. I’ll give it to him straight then. If I call him now I might lose my resolve.”

“Jeb I know how you feel…,” the President said over the secure cell phone line.

“You don’t know how I feel, George,” Jeb interrupted his brother abruptly. “You might be President of the United States but today this Governor of Florida has more pressure on him for once than you. Sometimes, George, you gotta take a stand. If they impeach me I’ll go out with my honor.”

“Jeb if it was only about you being impeached I’d go right along with you and risk an impeachment too.”

Jeb looked at his cell phone as if it were a strange object. He loved his brother but there were times, given their unusual and powerful positions, that they were often at odds. The Terri Schiavo case had been a thorny one from the beginning for Jeb Bush. His brother and the most powerful man in America certainly gave his best effort to help. Neither brother figured the court system would literally ignore the amazing efforts of the congress and President. Jeb expected to hear the usual political platitudes from his brother and was shocked to hear him say he was willing to risk as much as Jeb was.

“Oh George, I couldn’t let you take that chance. Besides I’m the one reacting with raw emotion here like you told me last week. This family only needs one disgraced office holder.”

“Jeb, just listen to me for a second. When you hear what I have to say and you still don’t agree then do what you have to do. I’ll stand behind you all the way.”

Again Jeb regarded the cell phone as if it landed recently as a lump of matter from the heavens. It seemed a fair enough proposal. Jeb agreed to hear his brother out.

“I don’t have to tell you how much this has been on my mind,” George Bush began. Jeb let out a sigh that his brother heard clear across the satellite waves.

“Okay, I’ll get to the point,” the President responded to his brother’s sigh.

“I’d lead the National Guard into that hospice if I thought it would change anything. Don’t think Dick and I haven’t discussed this possibility endlessly.”

Jeb remained quiet. He was surprised to hear that his brother had even been considering such a thing.

“Terri Schiavo’s death won’t be the end of this thing, Jeb. I’ve got about ten Republicans, both in the House and the Senate, who are drafting legislation to pass a federal law specifically stipulating the legal requirements needed before someone’s life is ended by human interference. We’re even thinking of making denial of food and water completely illegal under certain circumstances.”

Jeb rolled his eyes to the ceiling, assuming his brother couldn’t see the action.

“Quit rolling your eyes I know I’ve told you this before,” the President said and Jeb looked at his cell phone for a hidden camera. Then his brother always did know when he was rolling his eyes.

“Jeb, do you think such a law would ever be passed if we intervene in this like you and I both want to do?”

“Sure it would,” Jeb responded. “I’d argue that taking such dramatic actions would insure that such a law would happen. It would bring the matter to the attention of the American public in a fairer manner than your media buddies are doing.”

“That’s just the problem, Jeb. There’s the media. There’s the entire world. There’s fledgling democracies that would note our actions and what a bad example it would be.”

“George Afghanistan is your problem …,” Jeb interrupted.

“The ACTIONS would receive the scrutiny, Jeb, not what led up to them. The French would take an action like the state or even the federal government coming in to snatch Terri Schiavo and turn it into rumors of chaos in America The liberal media would spend hours discussing the powers of the Governor and the federal executive branch. Do you know what that soccer Mom tuning into the Today show would hear, Jeb?” The President paused and waited for his brother’s response. There was none.

“She’d hear all about the problems of runaway Governors ignoring the results of court hearings. She’d hear about an executive branch all power hungry. She’d hear about how the government overstepped its bounds and all for a brain dead woman on life support. None of it might be true but it would be what Katie and Matt would be talking about the morning after it happened.”

Jeb held the cell phone in his ear but said nothing. His brother had a point.

“And you know what those soccer Moms wouldn’t hear, Jeb?”

Jeb said nothing.

“They wouldn’t hear about Terri Schiavo, a woman whose brain was severely damaged, a woman whose husband won a bunch of money in a malpractice suit specifically to care for her but then decided that Terri really wanted to die. The soccer moms wouldn’t even hear about Terri Schiavo. They’d hear all about you and how you broke the law. Or me if it came to that. The real issue would be buried.”

“So we just let them starve a woman to death.”

“Jeb, remember you and I talking about promoting a culture of life?”

“Yeah.”

“Remember we said we were going to work together to mold a policy where any questions about a patient’s wishes would err on the side of life. Remember, you were the one that came up with the slogan “err on the side of life”?”

“Yeah.”

“Jeb I think we can successfully draft a public policy, a federal, national policy, that will really work. States with vague laws will have to change them or they can legally be challenged in the federal court system. Americans will understand that if there is no legal document clearly stating their wishes that they will kept alive by any means possible. They’ll know that America’s policy of erring on the side of life will automatically kick in unless they have made clear arrangements for an alternative.”

Jeb tried to keep his eyes from rolling. “So we’re supposed to let an innocent woman starve?”

“Jeb, Terri Schiavo never had that choice,” the President said softly.

“What choice?”

“No legislation, no President, no state Governor, had ever crafted a policy of erring on the side of life, Jeb. There was no such policy when she lived and had a functioning brain.”

“Neither has anyone else on the planet, George. What’s it mean?”

“Unless we have this national dialogue, Jeb, unless we get our message out, get the legislators working and talking, unless we do this Jeb, there will be more Terri Schiavos in the future. Only next time it might be a baby with Down’s syndrome. Or an adult paralyzed like Christopher Reeve. It could happen if we do something rash that will become the national dialogue. Not a public policy that will have all Americans knowing where they stand. Terri Schiavo never had that chance, Jeb. We don’t know what she would have done had she grown up in a country that by law required erring on the side of life. Had there been such a public policy she might have taken an action or maybe not. But we’d know what to do now, wouldn’t we?”

“Yeah, we wouldn’t be starving her to death,” Jeb answered, quietly. He was thinking along with his brother’s words.

“Right. Because she’d know that American law, absent any other legal document, would require she be kept alive unless she bothered to make the living will or whatever they’re calling it now.”

“So we’ve got a fifty-fifty chance this was the right choice for her?”

“Something like that. If we can change our public policy then we’ll almost always be 100% correct in the future. We’ll never have that chance if we do something that will divert attention from what we want to achieve.”

“George, let me get my Chief of Staff,” Jeb responded, his voice heavy and hoarse. “I’ll stop everything. God I hope you are right. IF you don’t get some of those wimpy senators working on this I’ll strangle you.”

The President chuckled. It’s long been a running joke between them, since childhood, that one would strangle the other in the event of dispute. At times it almost came to pass.

“As for strangling me, Jeb, err on the side of life.” The President laughed. He and the Governor bade each other goodbye.


 


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Quotables-From the Death Attorney; Cooking-Asparagus Soup; Pic of Week-You'll Not Eat Chinese Food Again

 

From Michael Schiavo's Death Loving Attorney

...describing another woman he helped kill.

I felt the midsection of my body open and noticed a strange quality to the light in the room. I sensed her soul in agony. As she screamed I heard her say, in confusion, "Why am I still here ... Why am I here?" My soul touched hers and in some way I communicated that she was still locked in her body. I promised I would do everything in my power to gain the release her soul cried for. With that, the screaming immediately stopped. I felt like I was back in my head again, the room resumed its normal appearance, and Mrs. Browning, as she had throughout this experience, lay silent.

George Felos, attorney for Michael Schiavo, from his book "Litigation as Spiritual Practice"

~~~~~~~~~~
On Michael Jackson
From The American Spectator

By R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.

Michael Jackson is one of the pop culture phenomena of the era of celebrity. Modestly talented in one area, he through clever marketing managed to amass a vast amount of money. With it legitimatizing him, he went on to claim an array of talents that he manifestly lacks. He can dance. That is about it. He is also repulsive and spectacularly stupid.

~~~~~~~~~~
On Judges and Schiavo
From The American Spectator

The Humane Holocaust
By George Neumayr

Under judge-made law, euthanasia has become America's most astonishing form of premeditated murder, a cold-blooded crime in which husbands can kill their wives and even turn them into accomplices to it through the telepathy of "their wishes."

~~~~~~~~~~
From President Bush

The strong have a duty to protect the weak. When there are serious doubts, the presumption should be to preserve life.

 


Asparagus Soup

Spring coaxed the thyme from its slumber. Beside, sage awakes and speaks its piece. The herbs are about and this, of course, inspires me to culinary heights.

Then there is the plentiful asparagus and strawberries of the season so I consider my options. The grocery has fresh asparagus on sale at 1.99 per pound. Two pounds and I’ve got a week of fresh asparagus. Thus I begin to slice the precious tips, down to the point where soft fiber becomes hard wood. Into the pot until just a mild crunch, some salt, pepper and butter and boom, the best the earth has to offer as handsome side dish for the next week.

This year, I pondered the asparagus bottoms and consider the wastage of disposing of the same amount of vegetable as actually used. Though “waste” is too harsh a term, mind you, as those asparagus bottoms are happily welcomed in the compost pile out yon. Still. Surely, as the mental wheels turn, these asparagus bottoms can be culinary transformed into something edible. Soup?

Soup it was.

Now I was well aware of the problem with asparagus bottoms what with that wood fiber and all. Asparagus is, after all, a bush. Asparagus tips are the bush’s flowers. Yet I accounted for the excess fiber by my plan A. Which was to boil those asparagus bottoms to death then run through the reduced liquid asparagus mush with that handy boat motor mixer to make a thick green hearty soup base.

At least as I envisioned.

All went as planned except for that little problem of the boat motor getting hopelessly entangled in asparagus fiber much the same as the real thing gets all hung up with fishing line. Which required that I constantly stop and untangle the fiber mess from the motor that had, at the time of interruption, simply refused to move. This should have been a sign yet it was not.

I continued on.

Of course there was a greater plan which included the addition of new potatoes and frozen baby carrots once the hearty stock was pureed. The potatoes and carrots would be infused with the taste of asparagus so went the plan.

A sprig of thyme from the garden, salt, pepper and voila, set to simmer.

The next sign came when I first stirred the soup. Each time that ladle came out of the mush, it was filled with what appeared to be a pile of green strings but I told myself, no. It is the same fiber as in the asparagus tips though I had to boil and puree them to that point. And I digest this fiber just fine, do I not?

By this point in the process, I was deathly afraid to taste the product. To do so would have deterred me from my mission, which was to finish this fine soup made with the freshest of ingredients and seasoned delicately as not to overwhelm. Besides, soup always tastes better the next day. The signs were ominous. The soup was looking really bad.

But then consider a portabella mushroom. Or an oyster. These are not beautiful foodstuffs yet they are eaten with relish. I refused to judge this soup on its looks. I also refused to taste it.

Came the time to actually sit down with a bowl of this stuff. Yes in a world filled with violence and hate, I really did pray to the very busy God that this soup would exceed my expectations.

It did not.

What can I say? How horrible is the most horrible thing you have ever seen or tasted in your entire life? Multiply this by ten. Still you are not there.

To add proverbial insult to injury, the freaking carrots were still half-frozen!

It looked, yes it did, exactly like the vomit spewed by that young Exorcist child. Eerily exactly.

It tasted like green wood with a mild thyme taste. The texture was, go on, I’m sure you know.

This bowl of green gruel still sits in my refrigerator and tell you the truth, I’m scared of it. The dogs, no, I simply can not put the dogs through it. It’s not fair to them. What have they ever done but love me with no reservation? Not the dogs. Definitely not.

The compost pile? Yes, I suspect the compost pile will welcome this soup. In fact, this concoction could properly be referred to as “Compost Pile Soup”. Problem is, somebody has to carry it to the compost pile. And pour it into the compost pile.

The thought scares me.

Me and Gene Pitney, we’re gonna be strong.

Tomorrow I will do the deed.

Husband suggests sending soup to Delaware Governor Nanny Minner..

This is also a possibility.


 


 

The Fly on the Wall Overhears a Conversation Between Michael Schiavo and His Attorney. Delaware; Cooking

 

The Fly Lands on the Death Attorney’s Desk

George Felos stroked the spine of his book lovingly. He’d spent many years with the words lodged in his brain. It was a thrill to finally be able to hold it in his hand.

With a sigh he put the book down and considered the Terri Schiavo woman. Of course he’d have to resign from the Board of Directors of the Hospice. The judges would definitely see it as a conflict of interest. Still George thought it was a wise move. If he did it right he could make some money as well as help a brain dead woman receive a final peace.

 


Felos reached over and touched his book once more. How well he remembered the Browning woman. How she spoke to his soul, how he’d finally been able to arrange to pull the plug. How sweet it was as she approached her final peace. A fly landed on the cover. George swatted the fly away, annoyed.

He’d seen Michael Schiavo visit his wife almost daily. He’d also noticed Terri’s family, the Schindlers, came by frequently. George grimaced. THEY could be a problem.

Felos reached across his desk, shooing the pesky fly away once more. He phoned Michael Schiavo and arranged to meet him the next day at a local restauant.

“There’s talk around the hospice that your malpractice case has been settled. The staff anticipates that you’ll be moving your wife to rehab now.”

Michael Schiavo shrugged his shoulders. It was his plan. Schiavo was still uncertain why the hospice’s attorney had contacted him. He thought it best to say little and let the attorney play his cards.

“Listen,” George Felos said, leaning across the table in a conspiratorial manner. “I’m on the Board of Directors at another hospice and heard about your wife. I consider myself an …,” Felos said then paused. “An advocate for terminal cases like Terri”.

“Terri’s not terminal,” Michael said. “And there is some hope rehabilitation will help. I’ve been so busy testifying in this malpractice case that I haven’t had time to consider all the options.”

“Terri’s not terminal, sure,” Felos said, relieved that Schiavo hadn’t yet made any decisions regarding his wife. “But she’s never going to get any mentally better than she is now. I’ve talked to the doctors, Mike. No rehab’s gonna fix her. It’d be money thrown away.”

“She could learn to eat, she could swallow …” Schiavo sputtered.

“Maybe, Mike. It’s unlikely, but maybe. But if she can be trained to do that it would the absolute most she could ever do. Terri’s could live until she’s in her eighties in the vegetative state she’s in, Michael. You’ll long run out of money by then. She’ll be a ward of the state. There won’t be any nice hospices like this as a ward of the state.”

Michael Schiavo shrugged again. He had no idea what this attorney was getting at.

“Michael,” Felos said softly. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a fly land on the menu. Felos swatted it away with a flash of unusual anger.

“Michael,” Felos continued, “Do you really think Terri would want to spend some fifty years of her life as a vegetable, cared for by the state, living life as a turnip with a beating heart?”

Michael Schiavo leaned back in his chair. During the malpractice suit he’d purged all such thoughts from his mind. The argument for the lawsuit was that the money would be used to rehabilitate Terri. So Michael Schiavo’s attorneys never advanced any argument that Terri wanted to die. A badly brain damaged wife caused by medical error who wanted to die didn’t bring much sympathetic award money from a jury. Sure there would be some award but how much does it cost to die? A badly brain damaged wife that a bereaved husband desperately wanted to rehabilitate brought far more bucks from the sobbing jurors. Besides he and Terri had never discussed this kind of thing. They were both only in their mid-twenties for Pete’s sake. Michael had even told his former girlfriend that very thing when she asked about it during the malpractice trial.

“What are you suggesting?” Michael asked, throwing the ball in the attorney’s court.

“I’m suggesting that you think about giving serious thought to petition the court to have Terri’s feeding tube removed. I’m suggesting that you think about it, ask your brothers. Are you sure that Terri’s never mentioned what she’d want in the event she was ever on life support? I’m betting she did. I’m betting your family will remember. At some point in time everyone discusses this kind of thing.”

Michael Schiavo leaned back in his chair and pondered why this lawyer was actively campaigning for Terri’s death.

“It will take a few years and I’m sure that Terri’s family will be a problem. But YOU are her legal guardian and no one’s disputed this fact for this long. And if rumors are right you have another love in your life,” Felos told Schiavo, waving his fork in the air for emphasis. Then Felos leaned into the table in that conspiratorial fashion.

“Mike, I’ve visited Terri. I’ve sat in the same room with her for sometimes an hour at a time. She’d make noises sometimes but most times the room was quiet. Except for her soul.”

“What are you talking about?” Schiavo said, now wondering where this guy was going.

Felos speared a cucumber from his salad and chewed it slowly. “I’ve got a book coming out soon, Michael. I’ve worked with cases like this. I can, I don’t know, feel these comatose type patients, Michael. You can think I’m a kook and that’s okay. But here’s some more information for you that you might not think so strange.”

Felos ended his thought and continued to eat his salad. Schiavo needed time to let it all settle in.

“Listen I’m on the Board of Directors of this hospice. Before I take your case I’ll have to resign of course. But I can arrange for Terri to be taken there with no charge to you.”

Michael Schiavo’s eyes narrowed.

Felos held up his hands in an expression of innocence. “It’s a nice place, Mike. They’ll take care of her while we file this petition. Only you have to stop any efforts at rehabilitation. It not only would cost unnecessary money, it wouldn’t help our petition to remove the tube any either.”

“What’s in this for you?” Michael Schiavo asked. “Why do you care about this?”

“I care about Terri, Mike, because I heard her soul. She’s tormented. She wants peace. There’s lots of Terris around Michael and most of them just want peace. The right to lifers deny them this. And I will be charging you legal fees though I’ll commit to charging only expenses for clerical help, travel, etc. It will still be a lot. But even if the litigation has to go through appeals there should still be a block of money left in Terri’s account. Which would go to you, of course, as you are her legal heir.”

Michael Schiavo sat back in his seat. He did recall a movie about a woman who was on life support now that he thought of it. He was sure that Terri mentioned never wanting to live that way.

“Mike, it’s might seem mercenary, but it’s win-win for everyone. I’d get some exposure, drum up some new clients. My staff would be busy. You’d get the remainder in Terri’s trust fund. And you can get on with your life. I heard you had one child with this other woman with another one on the way. More than all of this, Mike,” Felos said, leaning close again over the table and lowering his voice for effect. “It’s what Terri wants. She doesn’t want to live until she’s 80 like that Michael. Her soul is screaming for a place in heaven. You’ve been a good husband, Michael. No one could fault you for getting on with your life. While also doing Terri’s bidding.”

Michael Schiavo didn’t believe that crap about Terri’s screaming soul. But now that he thought about it, it wasn’t right to let Terri live like that. The cost of the hospice alone was eighty grand a year. Add to it any cost of the rehabilitation that Michael was going to do and Terri’s trust fund would be gone in less than ten years. She’s only be 48. After that what?

“Listen,” Schiavo finally said, “you get me some expert medical help that will put in writing that no amount of rehabilitation would cure Terri and I’ll think about it.” Michael Schiavo threw down his napkin and left the table without a glance backward.

George Felos finished his salad and smiled. Nothing like talking some good old common sense into these legal guardians. Getting some medical experts to testify to Terri Schiavo’s forlorn condition would be a simple matter. Felos knew the Schindlers would be a problem but the law is the law. Michael Schiavo was her guardian by Florida law and nothing would change that.

Felos sipped the last swallow of his after dinner coffee and smiled. He had heard Terri’s soul. Finally she would get the peace her soul screamed out for. And he, George Felos, would be Terri Schiavo’s saviour.

A fly once again landed on Felos’ table. This time Felos only smiled, picked up the check, and walked away.


 

Rules for California Free Celebrity Crimes Proposed
In another Kaitlyn Mae Book Blog exclusive we have obtained a proposed rule for free celebrity crimes in the state of California. It seems California jurors want more specific rules on what celebrities get free crimes, what kind of crimes are free, how many and what sorts of celebrity is required to qualify for a free crime.

As follows:

-Sports heroes will generally be granted one free crime going all the way up to and including murder. Two exceptions to this general rule of thumb: if the sports hero is famed for winning any sort of major trophies, such as the Heisman in football, they will be granted up to two, possibly more depending on the circumstances, free murders. Famous sports celebrities should be granted any crime lesser than murder, no limitations, no questions asked.

-Any celebrity who once portrayed a hard-nosed cop on a popular television series will be granted one free murder. But only if the person murdered is of a lesser humanity than the celebrity murderer. Thus it is fine to release, say, a Robert Blake, for the murder of his grifter wife, Bonnie Lee Bakely, but he would be jailed for, say, killing the President.

 


-Celebrity child molesters should pay off their accusers as often as possible. In the event a child molester is actually brought to court, an attack against the molested child’s stupid mother and dysfunctional family should be considered a legitimate defense. Such child molesting celebrities would only be given free and unfettered molestation of children of dense mothers if one of the following criteria are met:

-the celebrity molester is a musician with at least three number one records
-the celebrity molester should have won a major aware in his/her craft such as an Oscar or a Tony
-the celebrity molester of a lesser status should be given free access of children to molest so long as a)the child’s mother is kinda stupid and b)the celebrity molester is more valuable than the molested child in terms of defective stupid genes of the molested and superior entertainment genes of the molester.

Proposed by the Association of Independent California Jurors and presented to the California General Assembly on 4/4/05.
~~~~~~~~~~
Some Miscellaneous Cooking Questions
Myself does not consider The Wise I to be such a good cook. Much of my life has been spent raising a child and running from one high pressure job to another. It’s only the past few years that I’ve had time beyond frozen main dishes and packaged side dishes to even consider the fine art of a home cooked from scratch meal.

Thus my sudden inquisitiveness regarding cooking food properly and to its maximum potential might seem naïve, even a bit dumb for a Grandmother Blogger.

That said, what is it with the pans?

I am perfectly serious. All of a sudden I discover that Teflon pans are bad, light colored pans are good and dark colored pans require a lesser cooking time. Indeed many package directions stipulate the type and color of the pan to calculate cooking time for desired final result.

Well I am baffled.

The Wise I owns many sorts of pans and they are all different colors. Some were mine, some were left here by former owners, some I inherited from various sources throughout the years.

Until lately I would just grab any handy pan of the size required and do the cooking deed.

I suppose The Wise I will have to do an inventory of all pans, assess its metallurgical ingredients, ascertain its color then catalogue according to foods that each can cook properly.

Just as soon as I figure it out.

Okay, forget the pans, let’s move on to organic foods. I see these foods in the grocery and as I pass them by I wonder why on earth anyone would ever buy such a thing.

My first concern would come from my natural untrusting nature. Just because some farmer SAYS he didn’t used pesticides or artificial fertilizer doesn’t mean he didn’t. This is not to cast aspersions on honest organic growing farmers across the land but all I have to go by here is an artichoke sitting on an end of aisle display in a national chain grocery.

My second concern is, well why? Except if a family member has an allergy to, say Diazine, I don’t see much nutritional benefit derived from eating foods grown in poop with all predatory bugs cast away by 24 hour a day human guardians.

Now I must do the caveat thing. Beginning with notifying yon readers that The Wise I is not as stupid as the mother of a child molested by Michael Jackson. Purity in everything is preferable to adulterated and tampered with. Remember Meryl Streep and her ridiculous liberal “alar on apples” campaign? Which turned out to be bogus let The Wise I remind.

Also, I go to great lengths to avoid application of any insecticide and use only my own home made compost as fertilizer. Something I do mostly because on my very small homestead it’s an easy process and I really do not want to risk doing anything in my tiny ecosystem that might affect the bugs that would affect the birds, yada, yada.

To try and grow enough food to feed this country so handsomely by creating millions of compost piles and allowing the bugs to take over the plantings to get the greater part of the yield, well that’s not going to work. Even on this small spit of land the aphids would eat everything in sight including the pet cats.

Now the final cooking question. Not actually a question but something I’ve noticed but hate to admit.

For I do not own a wooden spoon.

And judging by the many recipes requiring that I stir something with a wooden spoon I’m thinking I should get one.

Yet I must wonder, why the wooden spoon? What properties does the wooden spoon possess that require me to purchase one specifically of wood?

Thank God pots aren’t made of wood because that would be one more pot I’d have to worry about what to cook in it and why.

Finally, I think I’ve found the reason for the recent plunge in the poll ratings for President Bush.


Could this cause discontent for Bush? 



 

Nanny Governor Lies Again
A State Police Superintendent Chaffinch is suspended for five months for “inappropriate sexual innuendo”. There’s a lawsuit against the state, settlement of which will be courtesy of Delaware taxpayers. Nanny Minner won’t release details about it. Pending litigation is an exception to the Freedom of Information Act. Does anyone think that Nanny will release this information after this highly paid state official’s case against him is tried? And if she doesn’t, why?

Better, why does this man still have a job?

Read the full opinion from the News Journal Editorial

Secretary Mitchell has been playing word games since he reinstated State Police Superintendent L. Aaron Chaffinch after a five-month suspension. In a brief statement, Secretary Mitchell said the charges against Col. Chaffinch were "sustained" and he was appropriately "disciplined." Period. Last year Secretary Mitchell promised full public disclosure about the charges and discipline of the colonel. What he's offered isn't satisfactory.

We know generally that the charges concerned inappropriate sexual innuendo and language. Secretary Mitchell, and his boss, Gov. Minner, have cited personal privacy, investigations and litigation as reasons for not releasing results under the Freedom of Information Act.

We reject the privacy nonsense. The state Police Bill of Rights specifically exempts all police chiefs and State Police officers above the rank of captain from confidentiality in disciplinary actions. Col. Chaffinch is a well-paid public official and clearly exempt from laws that shield ordinary people from public scrutiny.

If the colonel is blameworthy in these lawsuits, the state should settle or mount a speedy defense. After that, we expect Secretary Mitchell to make full disclosure of the charges against Col. Chaffinch and disciplinary action.

~~~~~~~~~~
 

Delaware Should Hire The Wise I’s Consulting Firm
Noting, please, that the state paid TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS for the consulting firm just to tell it that Delaware’s slogan “It’s Good Being First” is crappy.

It’s not like for those big bucks the consulting firm came up with a new and better slogan or anything is what I’m saying here. And now the state wants to spend FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND TO COME UP WITH A NEW SLOGAN.

From a recent GOP email:

Being first may be a good thing, but it doesn't necessarily make for a good state slogan. Representatives of Delaware's tourism industry say "It's Good Being First," the official slogan for which state officials paid a consulting firm $250,000 more than three years ago, isn't so good.

"Our board really hasn't taken this up, but some of our members have expressed that the current tag line really doesn't give people a reason to get off I- 95," said Catherine Larkin, spokeswoman for the Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau. Graham asked lawmakers to allow a portion of the $400,000 in new funding requested by the Minner administration for the state tourism office to be used in developing a new slogan.

Thus The Wise I responded to this email with the following list of slogans for Delaware and damn they came right off the top of my head. The GOP replied to my fine list stating they were ha-hahing and passing it around the office.

For MY list, Nanny Minner, I’ll only charge the state a mere twenty five grand.

"Delaware-Three electoral votes and ready to rumble"
"Delaware-Buy your Amtrak tickets here"
"Delaware-Home of Bidens, Forever and Ever"
"Delaware-Bring your bug spray"
"Delaware-forget the north, come south"
" Delaware -Oceans,Canals,Lakes,Bays"
“Delaware -Little but with a BIG Governor"
“Delaware -Home of the Du Ponts”
“Delaware -a small state greets a big ocean”
"Delaware-Between Maryland and New Jersey"
“Delaware- A rest stop to Disney world”
“Delaware -Home of gambling and Granny Governors”
“Delaware -Stay off of route 1, you'll be fine”
“Delaware -Still using seven digit phone numbers”

Kaitlyn's Circumspect Easter; Book Review-Which Twin Did It? Comments

 

“By Two and Two”-Jim Schutze

An innocent reader delves into this tale and is shocked, shocked I tell you. For true crime writer Schutze pens the tale of Betty Wilson and her twin, Peggy Lowe in quite a different manner than the more normal writer of this genre.

I’d read almost a third of the book before I realized that Betty Wilson’s husband, Dr. Jack Wilson, was about to be murdered and after the pre-murder narrative provided by the author I was totally surprised that his wife Betty was about to be charged and jailed for the crime.

Most true crime books give a less personal preview of events to come, describing the setting and backgrounds of the perpetrator before detailing the minutiae of the horrible event. This author, and I didn’t realize this until after the entire book was read, believes Betty Wilson and her twin to have been innocent and with no apology pens his novel to lead the reader to this conclusion as well.

Such a method of presenting a true crime left me un-nerved. The entire tale of the twins’ acquaintance with James White, a no-account poor-white-trash con-man and drifter, is presented as I presume Betty Wilson and the author would have the reader believe.

And believable it is, make no mistake. This reader was casually reading along, believing all as read and wondering when the murder or crime would happen, who would be the victim, and who would be the perpetrator.
 

 

By the time the murder occurred I could not believe that Betty Wilson and Peggy Lowe would in any circumstance align themselves in a conspiracy with the likes of James White when Ms. Wilson could easily have hired a more experienced and discrete hit man than this n’er do well. As for Peggy Lowe, Betty’s fraternal and “good” twin, it was and still is, totally impossible for me to believe she would have ever been a part of this scheme.

Which leaves me mighty uncomfortable as I am left now to believe that Betty Wilson was railroaded and jailed for the murder of her husband when she might well be innocent. I don’t like to think prosecutors would have pursued this case with all the expense and time to put Ms. Wilson behind bars when it would have been quite simple to just put James White in the poky. The man had already admitted he did the crime albeit, according to White, with the aid and financial incentive provided by Betty Wilson.

Betty Wilson was not a nice person and to the writer’s credit, he does not pose her as one. She regularly cheated on her husband, was nasty to all in her surround and was disliked by most who knew her. This unpleasant personality does not make her a murderer, or so the author asserts.


While this is certainly true, I admit my eyes tend to glaze when I’m presented with a scenario that would have over-zealous prosecutors jailing innocent citizens. This is always the defense of the accused and it causes me often to dismiss the assertion. Especially in this particular case where they had the perpetrator in custody and admitting to having done the deed. To what end would the prosecutors give themselves so much grief by granting White a deal to implicate Betty Wilson? It would have been simpler to put White in jail and just throw away the key, no mind his protestations that Betty Wilson encouraged and paid for his murderous actions.

Those prosecutors had to believe that Ms. Wilson WAS involved in the horrendous murder of her husband to put themselves to so much trouble. And justice should, in practice anyway, be blind to the social standing and wealth of criminals. Yet Jim Schutze attempts to convince me that the prosecutors put themselves out on a limb by granting a plea-bargain to the nefarious James White and basing their entire case on his questionable testimony.

As of now, I’m in a limbo. A jury found the woman guilty. The prosecutors risked time, expense and credibility to try the case. These thoughts keep intruding on the prose as presented by Schutze. He makes a good case but this reader is still troubled by a jury and prosecutor all fooled by an “innocent” James White. If you buy the argument of the author, only he and the reader know the “real” truth.

I intend to search the library for another novel on this subject. For while Schutze did a fine job presenting his platform of innocence, he never dealt with the issues of just why all these people would want Betty Wilson put in jail for a crime she did not commit.


 


 

It was the first Easter of Kaitlyn's small life that had her comprehending an excitement and celebration around her. Now almost sixteen months old, Kaitlyn Mae has learned that her species tends to have big affairs that involve lots of people and strange objects.

So it was on her first birthday when she entered a room filled with brightly colored balloons, ate an entire cake just for her and opened gaily decorated gifts to her complete joy. Kaitlyn figured birthday things were a bit of okay.

Now she has met the Easter bunny and I wonder what goes through her new human head. Add to my wonder about Kaitlyn's thoughts I must note that this is a very circumspect baby. Whereas most babies I've met would see a big furry thing with floppy ears and their eyes open in wonder and childish expressions of glee immediately come from baby mouths. Kaitlyn, on the other hand, will sit and regard any new object in her environment with a studied concentration incongruous in such a young child.

It's not that she's a scaredy cat child. She sat in Santa's lap this past Christmas with no expression of fear. Yet no expression of unfettered joy was evident either. It was required that she think about a big fat man with a beard and why her parents thought it was so neat.

Kaitlyn must regard, ponder and consider the strangeness of the human world she entered not so long ago.

So it was with the Easter bunny. Kaitlyn simply did not know what to make of this. Although as with most children, her parents' enthusiasm and encouragement do make her accept that big people dressed in furry outfits is a fine thing. Said encouragement coming AFTER the baby ran to the safety of her stroller at first sighting. As the Easter bunny danced so did Kaitlyn. Sure she had her doubts but she held her arms high and bounced up and down, her version of The Dance, and enjoyed the sound of her parents' laughter and enthusiasm. As for that big white furry thing, well Mom and Dad were there so Kaitlyn figured it was okay.
 

Of course as her Grandmother I had to buy her that Easter bunny toy that sings, taps his feet and wiggles his ears by a touch on his paw. Naturally there was the Easter bonnet with matching white gloves. And an Easter outfit, goodness. Kaitlyn thought the gloves were all right but a hat is an object to be pulled immediately off of one's baby head because as Kaitlyn figures you can't see stuff sitting on your head. Her mother and I debated whether to staple it on her head or perhaps sew it right on.

The other highlight of my day with Kaitlyn was our visit to a local town's Easter fest. It was a simple affair, kiddie rides, an Easter bonnet contest and I'm not making this up, a "running of the pigs".

Kaitlyn went on her first amusement ride and I knew she would adore them. Her father is quite rowdy with her, tossing her up and around as if she were a bag of baby. As expected, Kaitlyn did like the ride, a children's airplane sort of affair. Mom and Kaitlyn got in a car and soon she was up and down and going round.

The child had her circumspect face on, considering this strange thing she was in and what was its purpose. We all waited on the ground, expecting expressions of baby zeal but no, Kaitlyn had to ponder it all.

Later she walked to the same ride two more times so we knew she liked it. Except during the LAST ride she actually FELL ASLEEP on the ride! Goodness gracious I have simply never seen a child fall asleep on a ride. This was not a sleepy ride at all. One time I was on a twilt-a-whirl with Kaitlyn's Mom and she passed out. That was an experience, the ride going round and round with me screaming for the attendant to stop the damn thing that my daughter just fainted. Then Melissa always had a penchant for passing out. Something, crossing fingers, that Kaitlyn does not do. Melissa fainted the first time when she was six months old and from then until she was five it was a regular occurrence.

Well Kaitlyn was tired but still...on an amusement ride she falls asleep?

 

American Idol Comments
The following comments from my first post on Blogcritics on American Idol, we find the following comments:

Comments: Good call on your top three. Very objective. It does look like Bo, Jessica, and Constantine.

But keep one thing in mind: As sad as it sounds, women are judged on looks, and the one thing against Jessica is that her face is quite ugly. Too bad though.

I also wouldn\'t discount Carrie Underwood. She carries appeal among the \"red\" states.

Good objectivity in dumping people like Nikko, Nadia, Anwar, and Vonzell. They don\'t stand a chance in this talent-packed season of AI.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patfish, this post has been syndicated at the Advance.net family of sites, including sites such as the Cleveland.com TV weblog.

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why not call this show 'mass media manipulation by simon cowell'....or the 'Every one agree with simon cowell show'...urgh! Why watch ...he's already picked Carrie Underhill!

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Nikko Smith a gangsta rapper? Are you smoking crack?
The guy sang "Georgia on my Mind" for Pete's sake! He lists "real" music as his favorite kind.
I think Nikko is the most underrated performer on the show. Open yourselves to NIKKO people--the man can sing.
By far the most OVERRATED contestant is Bo Bice. Now, before you blow a gasket, let me explain. I like the guy--I enjoy watching him once a week for 2 minutes. But it's a singing contest, and he's NOT the best singer. "Time in a Bottle"???? Get REAL! If I may use a Simonesque analogy, it's rather like a fat girl wearing a tube top and hot pants. Just because you like it, doesn't mean it's right for you.
I just can't imagine listening to a 90 minute CD of "Just Bo". No thanks.
My pick to win? I just don't know. Previously it was hands-down Nadia. But with her sub-par performance last week and then the cheap Mario comments, her sparkle has tarnished a bit for me. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt for another week or two though.

~~~~~~~~~~
===========
Smoking In Delaware
Below an intelligence response to my rant about smoking, Delaware and Nanny Governors. Yon Ladies and Gems decide for yourselves.
My Rant on Smoking in Delaware

Intelligent rebuttal:

Pat - I think you're right about the taxes needing to be more thought-out... I would think we all need to be even-handed about this. Smoking is either legal and totally ok or it's illegal and not totally ok.

I would be of the opinion that it is NOT totally ok. I have yet to hear of any health benefits to anyone smoking, that couldn't be administered via nicotine patch.

I do have an asthmatic child. And going out can be sheer death. Imagine going into and out of shopping areas. Smokers like to congregate outside, so that you have to pass through their haze to enter the building. Restaurants are difficult as well. It just takes one smoker on the other side of the building to make the entire place uninhabitable for him. And there are very few totally non-smoking restaurants. People even smoke outside of hospitals!

My son is a wonderful little person. I can't see locking the kid up for the rest of his life so that he doesn't come in contact with smoke. I also don't see how it's ok that his life could be cut short because public smokers are an inconsiderate lot on the whole. And I say that with no malice, being an ex-smoker myself and also the child of smokers.

My opinion is that, short of an amazing scientific discovery of a great health benefit, there should not be cigarette or tobacco sales period. At all. Ever. I know that we're not the only family affected by cigarette smoke. It's a hard habit to quit, but that shouldn't stop an intelligent woman such as yourself for seeing things as they are.

They're making money off of you and giving you nothing but misery! Eeesh. Don't get me started...

--
Posted by Anonymous to The Kaitlyn Mae Book Blog at 3/30/2005 02:27:38 PM

Week Just Passed-Three Deaths That Changed a Culture; TV-American Idol/Apprentice; Web Site-Cowboys

 

The Deaths of Three People Who Changed a Culture
One was a most ordinary American woman who lived a most ordinary but happy American life until her mid-20’s.

One was the Pope, Catholic representative of Jesus Christ on the earth. By the very nature of his position a pope’s death will capture the attention of the world.

But this Pope was different.

The last was but a humble barrister whose colorful personality and knowledge of the common folk managed more than any of the so-called “dream” team to win the defense case for Orenthal James Simpson. Johnny Cochran’s imploration that “if the glove don’t fit you must acquit” will always be remembered as the definitive defense of OJ Simpson.

They all were so different. And they all affected an entire culture if not in the manner of their life then in the manner of their death.
 


Pope John Paul II was once a soldier. I didn’t know this and I’m supposed to be Catholic. In fact, he soldiered for his native Poland, to free it from the tyranny of the Soviet Union. Along with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher of Britain, the Pope put pressure on that godless communist union that oppressed the people of its satellite nations and repressed expressions of faith.

He vehemently opposed the US invasion of Iraq.

“I know he’s dead and for the dead one always says good things. But the Pope did oppose the US freeing the Iraqis when he fought to free the Poles. Seems a bit hypocritical to me.”

My husband greeted my words with silence. “How on earth can a pope condone any kind of war?” husband finally responded.

Perhaps that’s the answer.

Pope John Paul II died a normal death this day of long lives and not-so-instant deaths. No one petitioned to pull any plug; he was not denied food or water. He clung to his God-given life to the end. For the Pope, death is not a fearful thing. It marks the entry into the kingdom of God. Yet there was no hastening of his death. Even though common sense might argue that what with the Parkinsons and the most recent health developments the church might have been better to move John Paul along and get on with electing a replacement.

 


Terri Schiavo on the other hand was not a famed Catholic church official. She was merely a humble parishioner. In her mid-20’s she suffered an event that left her at best, mentally retarded, at worst in a “persistent vegetative state”. Pope John Paul II lived long enough to condemn the forced starvation of Terri Schiavo a sin before the eyes of the Lord.

Terri was considered no longer useful in the eyes of her husband who had long since received the funds from a lawsuit on Terri’s behalf and had a new common law wife with whom he had two children. In a month long drama that involved the Florida courts to the Supreme court, congress and the President of the United States, no one could save Terri’s life.

Terri is now in heaven with the Pope. There are no vegetative states and John Paul’s hands do not shake. For if ever there were two candidates for heaven it would be Pope John Paul II and Terri Schiavo.

 


I’ll be kind and not even speculate on the after death fate of Johnny Cochran. He battled a brain tumor for over a year and finally lost the fight.

Colorful and larger than life, Cochran was not considered the most brilliant of attorneys. But he’d worked his way up by practicing law for the under-privileged. He knew the people he served and that knowledge served OJ Simpson well in a defense case that involved prosecuting the LA police as much as any one murderer. Ask about any attorney in the OJ dream team and it is Johnny Cochran most will remember.
~~~~~~~~~~
More on the Republican Schiavo “talking points” memo
Which the NY Times admitted was distributed on the Senate floor by DEMOCRATIC staffers. Yes the distributed document was said to be a copy of a Republican memo warning all recipients to make hay over the Schiavo death as this was a difficult topic for Democrats. The notion being, of course, to discredit Republican interest and involvement in the Schiavo matter as being nothing more than political opportunism.

It wasn’t folks, and whether you’re Republican or Democrat give it some thought. All of congress, the President and Governor Jeb Bush would just as soon the Schiavo quagmire had never occurred. What politician in his/her right mind would want to wrestle with such a thorny and unknown issue? For sure few Democrats had the guts. The Republicans that fought to save Terri Schiavo did so out of conviction and the Republicans that went along were following the demands of their voting base. Since when did an elected legislator following the wishes of those who elected him/her become a bad thing? Except to Democrats who went to great lengths to create a phony memo and even more despicable, a Mainstream Media that didn’t even bother to check it out before reporting it on air as the truth.

The Wise I got a copy of this memo distributed by the Democrats and as reported as if it were “authentic” by the Mainstream Media.

Below from Weekly Standard

One reason for this perception may be the "GOP talking points memo" that was distributed on March 17, when the Senate took up the bill that conferred federal jurisdiction over a last effort to save Mrs. Schiavo. The memo was first reported by ABC's Linda Douglass on Friday, March 18. The next day, on ABC's Good Morning America, Kate Snow confronted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay with "some talking points that Senate Republicans were circulating"; DeLay denied any knowledge of the memo.

~~~~~~~~~~~
Kofi Knew Nothing About His Son’s Conflict of Interest

I’m not going to stop beating on Kofi Annan until he either leaves or straighten up. And I am sure that the UN Secretariat is shaking in his boots in fear by this humble Blogger, read by up to ten people a day sometimes. Now he says he had no idea his son Kojo was involved in pilfering money from the UN’s Oil-for-Food program. Otherwise known as Oil-for-Palaces.

The Volker report was published last week and amazingly, Kofi is exonerated! The report “criticizes” Kofi for not being aware of the conflict of his son, a 20 something loutabout, receiving money for his “work” in the oil-for-palaces program. If so then Ken Lay, Worldcom, the whole bunch of corporate thieves should also be “criticized”. They’re all going to jail and so should Kofi.

From opinionjournal.com:

Although Kofi Annan is exonerated of financial impropriety, the report will cast an unflattering light on his oversight of the $100 billion-plus program.

It particularly criticizes Mr. Annan for failing to appreciate the potential conflict of interest posed by his son Kojo's work for Cotecna Inspection Services, a Swiss company that bid for--and eventually won--a multimillion dollar U.N. contract connected to Oil For Food. One revelation: Annan fils received some $400,000 from Cotecna for about 20 months of work, not $160,000 as previously reported. Not bad for a 20-something youth.

~~~~~~~~~~
Sandy Bergler Pleads Misdemeanor
For dropping highly classified documents down his pants from the National Archives. And damn if he didn’t inadvertently shred some of the things by accident as well.

Only the man is pleading guilty of his “mistake”. You and I yon Ladies and Gems would be locked up for years for this stunt. Yet Bergler and his partners in crime, Hillary and Bill, get but a slap on the wrist.
Foxnews.com:

Former national security adviser Sandy Berger (search) will plead guilty to taking classified material from the National Archives (search), a misdemeanor, the Justice Department said Thursday.

 

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Political Cartoon of the Week
Enough said.

 


America Idol-One Down Now There's Nine
It came down to Anwar and Jessica this past week. To my surprise, and all of the judges. Jessica Sierra got the boot.

I'm not sure what song Bo Bice was singing the night of 3/29/05. A night when ten contestants were left and when tracking the singers, their voices and senses of style became a bit less onerous.

Whatever the song, I didn't especially like it. Simon, not that I'm proud of this fact, agreed with me about the song.

Still I think Bo is a real contender. His long hair, his good and solid voice, his style and persona, all have a star quality that is the essence of the contest.

Several of the contestants wore torn jeans that I know are all the rage. And goodness knows the world of showbiz is such that a grunge sort of style is standard attire. Jessica Sierra, who did wonderful the prior week, wore just such a getup and I'm at a loss as to why. I would think the chance, even if not a winner, to appear on national TV and belt out a tune would also be a chance to show off one's different and unique style. Jessica has another rival that competes with her in my mind and this week my thoughts tilt yet again. More on this later. Jessica was eliminated the following night after this performance. I definitely think Jessica's voice should have carried her to the top five.

Someone should tell Anwar Robinson that those fake dreadlocks are a major distraction if not a complete turn off to a large segment of the population. No it's not a racial thing, plenty of Caucasian celebrities sport dreadlocks. But as a singer it presents a persona more in line with a gangsta rapper than Anwar's crooning would depict. Robinson sang "I Believe I Can Fly", a pretty song and he did a very good job with it. Paula loved it. Simon, alas, "totally disagree"-ed.

Nadia Turner. Now here's a contestant that has me back and forth, in and out. First, I don't think she has the best voice of all the entrants. However American Idol is not just about the best singer no matter what they tell you. There's a "star" quality that must be present and darn no matter how often I watch Nadia perform I am impressed by her style. Last week she wore a huge Mohawk type of hairdo. This past week she sported a huge Afro. Given her sense of style, her presentation of self, and a lovely voice with a nice range, I'm this week leaning to Nadia over Jessica.

I paid closer attention to Constantine Maroulis this week as he's flitted on and off the stage before I could closely assess. Constantine really does have a nice voice. He sported a grunge type of look but it was definitely a special style. Constantine wore a suit jacket coupled with the ubiquitous torn jeans. With his messy but beautiful head of hair and that slightly unshaved look, Maroulis is definitely a top fiver. The judges loved Constantine but I must ask, was he wearing sandals?
 


A commenter on Blogcritics.com-link on my sidebar, berated me for calling Nikko Smith a gangsta rapper and scolded that I should pay more attention, that Nikko has talent. So I did and I still say he has a ghetto edge. Which is not a bad thing. Rap and soul tunes are a very popular genre in American music and there's no reason why a singer of that genre should be eliminated from the contest. He is not my cup of tea though I am a Grandma Blogger keep in mind.

Anthony Federov-that Clay Aiken lookalike, sang without his glasses this past week. Which makes me wonder if he's running from his Aiken comparisons. Simon called his performance "excruciating". I didn't like it either. Though I will say one thing, without those glasses he sure is a handsome fellow below the nerd image.

Sean Hannity would be proud of Carrie Underwood, a pretty blond with a voice just made for country and western tunes. She belted out Hannity's theme song "Independence Day" and BINGO!-this is Carrie's sort of tune. I'd have to give Carrie top five ranking, if not top three.

Scott Savol, goodness. All I can say is "mediocre, mediocre, mediocre". Like Simon said..."a karaoke performance". Scott's a big fellow but that's no bar to the top spot, witness Ruben Stoddard. Scott is no Ruben Stoddard. He has nowhere near the same melodious voice and whether he was skinny or fat I'd accuse Scott of having no clothing style whatsoever.

Vonzell Washington is pretty, has great style, sang a good song. She's still just not good enough to win this thing, maybe not make it to the top five.

As of now my choices for top five, in the order listed, below:

5-Jessica Sierra-(Note-eliminated)
4-Constantine Maroulis
3-Carrie Underwood
2-Bo Bice
1-Nadia Turner

This will change next week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Bachelor
Checked into this reality series that I’d never watched before.

Wow, what a really dumb show. But then in some fashion all reality shows are a bit dumb.

I watched the girls spend their minute or so with the bachelor, who was not all that handsome or smart I thought. The way some of those ladies behaved! One sat right on his lap and gave him an ample display of her breasts. If this is how they have to win a man…well how sad is this?

Oh I suppose in a nightclub meat market type of environment such behavior might be not so outrageous. But this was those ladies’ first time to meet this guy one on one. The more intelligent used it to talk and answer questions about themselves. Plenty of time for the boob thing later.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Apprentices Make Pizza
Only they didn’t make the white shrimp pizza as I suggested last week.

Meatball pizza seemed to be the big new pizza flavor not that Donald Trump didn’t give a great big hint before task commencement.

The task assigned was to develop a new pizza flavor for Dominos, receive training to make pizza then sell it via a mobile kitchen type of affair.

One team decided to park outside of an empty college dorm. Which might have been a good idea had the college students been there. But it was spring break or some such.

Then team leader Stephanie, who was fired by Trump this past week, got it into her head that she should spend over an hour delivering pizza by subway to some construction workers that she felt she had an obligation to.

 


Stephanie argued in the boardroom that she felt that integrity and honesty were more important than, well, selling pizzas.

No, Stephanie. As a consultant for many businesses throughout the years, given the same scenario as pizza night, I’d have advised my clients NOT to spend an hour delivering pizzas across town no matter the good will.

Which is not to say that Stephanie was wrong. Honesty and integrity are important. And Stephanie had promised some construction workers that she would deliver the pizzas the next day.

It’s about PRIORITIES. Every business has to set priorities at times. In this case, with a three hour window to sell pizza, the team leader should not have been running across town delivering pizzas on a promise. She should have been there with her team. It’s not all that likely that the construction workers would have even remembered the promise but even so, in this case it was best to make a few customers annoyed rather than make a lot of customers go without pizza and the company’s coffers be deprived of the revenue.

There’s a lot of discussion about Chris, a “former” (we shall see) chewer of tobacco with a hot temper.

Hot tempers are not all that unusual in a business world. So far as I’ve seen Chris’ temper is not out of control. Plenty of folks all across the Blogosphere disagree with me, however.

My predictions for the final two:

2-Bren
1-Alex
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TV Events This Coming Week

Only one TV event of Note this coming week, and than that’s just my opinion.
On Monday, 4/11/04, there’s one of those “revisit” shows-Mork and Mindy-NBC

Two hours, my goodness. And “unauthorized”, whatever that means.

 

Get Out the Guitar
Also some Kleenex. For this week’s web site of the week launches the viewer into a well choreographed expression of appreciation for the American cowboy.

With a few American cowboys that might surprise.

To get you in the mood, a sweet cowboy scene below.

 


Why I Love Cowboys

Week Just Passed-Kofi Has a Dream; Guest Writer-Hex House-You'll Never Believe It; WINNER-Pampered Pet Contest

 

Most Under-Reported Story of the Week
Minnesota Teen Kills 10 People in Shooting Rampage
It's not that there hasn't been newsprint on this matter. It's that, like the uncontrollable weather, current events do not occur in the orderly fashion a PR guru would want. Does anyone talk about the tsunami anymore? Last week we had the Schiavo saga ongoing, the amazing actions of congress and the fight in the Florida courts. The pope is ill and it was Easter week.

Normally a strange kid opening fire in a school, killing ten people including his own Grandfather until finally himself would be consuming newsprint, Blog space and all national dialogue. That is certainly how it was in Columbine.

Adding to the bad timing of several major events occurring simultaneously, the shooting happened on an Indian Reservation, one of only two self-governing communities in America. The people tend to keep to themselves, or so goes the hype.

It's a tragedy, another strange kid overlooked by the system, so many wasted lives, another chance to see where we're going wrong. But at least we didn't have to endure another round of gun control crap by the liberals, gun control that never, ever works.

With a mind that Kaitlyn Mae, beloved Granddaughter to whom this Blog is dedicated, will once be in school herself, I thought it appropriate to note it for posterity. With a link, of course.

Wa shington Post

"At this time, we do believe the shooter acted alone," FBI spokesman Paul McCabe said in a telephone interview last night. It was the nation's deadliest school shooting since two students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., killed 13 people and wounded 23 others before killing themselves on April 20, 1999"

~~~~~~~~~~
Kofi Suggests "Reform"
Gotta love Claudia Rosett, Wall Street Journal vaunted journalist who does it right. She's like Sherlock Holmes with a magnifying glass trained straight on the UN. Of course she weighed in on Kofi's new and wonderful ideas for reforming the UN.

Seems Kofi woke up in mid of night and thought, and I paraphrase "Gee, why don't we stop molesting and raping those we are to protect?" It was a sleepless night for Mr. Annan for he knew his cushy job was at stake and more thoughts raced through his mind with a stunning clarity. "And maybe we should stop appointing terrorists to head committees investigating human rights abusers," another amazing thought snaked through his brain.

"And just to show I'm serious," Kofi thought, tossing and turning in his midnight brilliance, "why don't we stop stealing from the United States for bogus programs that line mine and my son's pocket?"

So last week Kofi comes out with a similar proposal that sprang from the dream above, a Kaitlyn Mae Book Blog exclusive by the way. Sure he added that bit about dues being a percentage of GNP because hey, he has to have some way to leach American money because without it there is no UN.

Ms. Rosett, below, tackles the UN reform issue in a different light than The Wise I. She's good at it but she doesn't have access to Kofi's dreams you must understand this.
 


Opinionjournal.com

From there, Mr. Annan forges on to propose nothing less than reforming the entire known universe, via the U.N., while he bangs the drum for a budget to match. He wants to expand his own staff, change the world's climate, end organized crime, eliminate all private weapons, and double U.N.-directed development aid to the tune of at least $100 billion a year, "front-loaded," for his detailed plan to end world poverty. This comes from a U.N. that only three months ago was finally strong-armed by Congress into coughing up the secret internal Oil for Food audits confirming that under Mr. Annan's stewardship the U.N. was not even adequately auditing its own staff operations.

Now, in much the same way that despots faced with popular unrest like to announce giant patriotic dam-building projects involving the pouring of huge amounts of cement, Mr. Annan is presenting his new improved save-the-world reform plan, conveniently timed to serve as a distraction from the oil-for-fraud, sex-for-food, theft, waste, abuse and incompetence stories that for the past two years have bubbling up around the same U.N. he already reformed for us back in 1997.

~~~~~~~~~~
Schiavo
There are separate threads on Schiavo so I will only link to Slate.Com, beloved liberal online zine of the Washington Post, in which modest Grandma Blogger gets a long quote and a link.

For posterity you understand.
Slate.Com Article on Schiavo Blogs


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The Media Falls for Another Bogus Dem Planted Memo
In yet another Kaitlyn Mae Book Blog exclusive, we have obtained a copy of that Republican memo distributed about early last week. The memo was alleged to have Republicans patting themselves on the back over the Schiavo matter and rejoicing in the good press they will received. The memo came out on official Republican party letterhead as these sorts of internal private memos generally are.

Yon intelligent reader, judge for thyself and ask-was The Old Media Fooled Again?
 

From The American Spectator:

However, Republican leadership staffers now believe the document was generated out of the Democratic opposition research office set up recently by Sen. Harry Reid, and distributed to some Democratic Senate staffers claiming it was a GOP document, in the hope -- or more likely expectation -- that it would then be leaked by those Democrats to reporters. In fact, the New York Times stated that it was Democratic staffers who were distributing the "talking points" document.

~~~~~~~~~~
Grandma Blogger Going to Jail
Came across this editorial about the control of Bloggers being considered by the FEC as regards that very stupid and unconstitutional McCain/Feingold Campaign Finance Reform bill. A law that worked so well that it allowed some Greek guy into legalizing drugs to gain complete control of the Democratic party this past presidential campaign.

Now they're going after Bloggers.

When they ought to do just as the constitution says and stop trying to control speech, yay even bought and paid for speech, at any time, much less before an election when free speech is most valuable.

My own humble Blogger self, read by five or six people a day sometimes, vows to go to jail and hey, I'm going to Blog from jail. If I violate free speech then what they going to do, kill me?

Oops. Forget I said that. Keep the case away from Judge Greer.

My own post on this with a pic of Grandma behind bars:
HERE

And from OpinionJournal.co m

To its credit, the FEC tried to avoid this headache in 2002 by exempting the Internet from campaign-finance rules. This proved far too sensible for the sponsors of the law, who sued the commission for allowing "loopholes" and got a federal judge to strike down the exemption. The FEC must now decide just how it intends to monitor and penalize all those attempting to corrupt the U.S. political system via modem.

 


Intro To HexHouse

copyright 2005 Michelle Hakala

Her Web Site is the Desk Drawer
Desk Drawer

The house we bought in 1992 came equipped with everything we were
looking for in a house; large yard with a fence, big enough space in
front to park the truck, and at least three bedrooms. It also came
with something else.

A poltergeist that only lives where the water is.

The details are purposely fuzzy now of the first couple years. Our
water poltergeist was variously in the septic system, the sprinkler
system, the well, the toilets, and the water softener. Eventually, it
tired of wherever it was, gave us a short break, and then moved into
another water source. If the problem was bad enough, we fixed it (like
the toilets: replacing them was the *only* option, it had them leaking
so badly). And there was always the agonizing slowness of the water
heating, and the lack of water pressure.

In October of 1997, I think it brought some friends over for a slumber
party.

Most of the water systems in HexHouse were infected at the same time.
The shower dripped and couldn't be turned off. The tub trickled when
you tried to fill it. Then the kitchen sink began to drain into the
garage sink. Aside from being rather smelly, the garage sink leaked...
and wouldn't drain, either. We called a plumber and gave the 'geist a
name: H-2-Uh-Oh.

In 1998, the bathtub quit working altogether.

In December of 1999, we had this adventure: My mother-in-law brought
over a new toy -- a floor steamer that cleans hard floors instead of
carpets. She was going to show me how good a job it does -- but you
had to put water in it.

The moment water touched it, it was doomed. The power switch wouldn't
stay on, no matter what she tried. Eventually, she admitted defeat and
put it back into her car.

Apparently the water poltergeist has a devious sense of the ironic.
The floor my mother-in-law had chosen to demonstrate on was the
kitchen linoleum.

 


The next Friday night, Harry installed the new faucet in the kitchen.
(Do you see this coming? We didn't.)

He replaced the old leaky one with a brand new shiny faucet that
didn't leak. Tightened it. Tested it. Admired it. Forgot about it.

We went into the Green Room to watch a movie... About half an hour
into the movie we hear "Shhhhhhhhhhhhh." Thinking it was the tape, I
paused it.

We hear "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." From the kitchen.

Running in there, we found the new unleaky faucet had decided to leak.
No, not leak. Spray. Gush. Think fountain. Straight upwards from the
cold water side. Harry, ever the quick thinker, put his hand over it
and directed the spray downward into the sink. "Turn the water off,"
he said. But I had no clue where the water shutoff was. He did, but he
was holding the water. So I offered to switch and he could shut it
off. Without a word, he reminded me that he wasn't wearing any
clothes, while I had on my robe. No problem. I took off the robe and
gave it to him, and took over keeping the water pointed into the sink.
He put the robe on and went outside to turn off the water main. As my
hand got progressively colder, I thanked God that it wasn't the hot
water side that exploded.

Water had gone everywhere. The counter was swimming, the ceiling was
wet, the coffeepot and refrigerator were drenched (Harry got mad at me
when I refused to let him unplug the coffeepot until the breaker was
off), and the floor was an accident waiting to happen.

The water safely off, Harry took the faucet apart to answer "Why?",
while I cleaned up the kitchen. He said the seat gave out. Just broke.
And the store he bought it from was closed, of course, so he put the
old faucet back on.

Which didn't leak.

In June of 2002, H-2-Uh-Oh was at it again. When the flush of the
toilet was followed by the sound of gunshots, you're either in the
wrong neighborhood... or you're at HexHouse.

It was a mass possession this time, as every appliance that holds,
uses, touches, or even dreams about water acted up.

The pipes had air, hence the explosions under the house. The bathroom
faucet smoked when the back toilet was flushed. The kitchen faucet
sprayed multi-directionally, and most of them were not into the sink.

...And the shower... :shudder: I didn't even want to think about it.

It's now 2005 and we still have the 'geist in residence. It has been
awhile now since we've had any major trouble from our poltergeist
buddy. Well, except for the leak in the back sink, which won't stop no
matter what we do. And ditto in the backyard at the shop (I have plans
to turn that drip into a dog self-waterer!). Or the pumps that keep
going out on the new aquarium. Or the toilet that won't ever turn off.
Or the shower's tendency to do the opposite of what you ask for. You
want more hot water? How about more cold instead?

Now that we're adding a room and another bathroom, there'll be even
more places for H-2-Uh-Oh to play. I've asked my pastor to come bless
the house when the construction is done, and I've told him to bring
incense and a cross.

HexHouse doesn't need a blessing; it needs an exorcism.


 


Entries to Pampered Pet Contest Below
 


And the WINNER Is:

Husband was the judge. He has no qualifications to judge animals except he loves them. He had no standards. He did, however, pick a winner based on the standard that if someone held a gun to his head he would pick ...

CLICK HERE . Use Browser Back Arrow to Return.

SURPRISE. The winner is ALSO the dog of today's guest writer. Yes the owner of the Hex House herself wins the PetsMart gift certificate for $25.00. Husband had no idea who owned what pet so in a bit of serendipity, Michelle is not only today's star writer, her dog Bounty is winner of the pet contest.

Next pet contest is going to be cats only. For noone considered their precious cat worthy of entry.

A True Crime Warning

The Truth About True Crime Posts

True crimes, by their very nature, are ongoing type of things. They are, also, mysteries. At least until the mystery is solved.

A body is found, someone is missing. A search begins, the players emerge. Pleas are televised, police begin the search, the circumstances slowly become known.

I am having problems on this Blog with comments to the true crime posts. It seems there are some folk who are either crazy to begin with or become obsessed with the crime. Thus I’ve had to do something I never wanted to do. I’ve had to delete comments and in some cases turn off certain Blog posts completely to additional comments.

Because sometimes, as the mystery is ongoing, I may get it wrong. I may speculate in a direction not liked by a particular reader or readers. Who might, for all I know, be perpetrators of the true crime then capturing the attention of the nation. No one tunes into a Blogger’s posts to get a dry recitation of the facts. The facts can be found across the Internet. Bloggers and pundits are opinion people. Anyone may tune in for my speculation on any ongoing crime and anyone may disagree with my ruminations. It cannot be emphasized enough here that my speculation is naught but that, speculation.

Those who disagree with my analysis are invited, even encouraged, to post a comment as to why my speculation is wrong or to offer another scenario. Readers may NOT, and this will be enforced, post any profanity whatsoever in a comment. Such comments will be deleted immediately. Ad homonym attacks also are not allowed. We can all agree right now that I am fat, stupid, ugly and cause of vomiting episodes upon innocent keyboards just by a glance at my picture. Now don’t bother pointing this out in comment after comment. It WILL be deleted. Such comments are not about my tender feelings being hurt. Such comments simply add nothing to the arguments.

I will NOT delete Blog posts on true crimes even on those occasions when I get it wrong. I will also remind that I am NOT on a jury and as such have an American right to have an opinion. Even the police have to eliminate suspects, conduct investigations, give interviews that might not reveal all they know. Often during this process I make a post speculating on a wrong possible perp. Later, the truth may come out. I will leave all my posts on a particular crime open that the readers may know if I got it wrong or right. I will NOT apologize to someone I don’t know and I will NOT pull the Blog post. If I’ve committed any sort of slander in my speculation than the one slandered may sue me in a court of law. The entire country is not invited to join in on that lawsuit via comments to my Blog.

The nature of a true and ongoing crime is that the truth is not known at the onset. Facts leak out, reporters snoop around, lies are broadcast as if true. I’m not going to shut up and go home just because some idiots get it into their craw that they don’t like what I say. Click in, please, to get some speculation and rumination. Click on by if what I compose offends.

Hey, it’s as simple as that. Because I don’t necessarily want to be right. I just want to know the answers.