Come on, Prez-to-be ...

... talk to Damon Weaver!

Cute video of the day:

iTunes is currently playing: Once In A Lifetime from the album Stop Making Sense: Special New Edition (1984 Film) by Talking Heads.

IT'S THE ETIQUETTE POLICE!!

Being Annoying Now Illegal In Michigan Town

BRIGHTON, Mich. -- Since when did being annoying become a crime? Since Brighton City Council approved a public conduct code Monday night, which includes fining someone up to $500 for being annoying.

One section of the bill reads, "It shall be unlawful for a person to engage in a course of conduct or repeatedly commit acts that alarm or seriously annoy another person and that serve no legitimate purpose."

The bill also states it's unlawful for anyone to insult, accost, molest or otherwise annoy any person in public.

The ordinance was modeled after one in Royal Oak, where the Brighton police chief previously worked.

The Livingston Daily Press & Argus reported that two council members expressed concerns for the language of the ordinance, but voted for it anyway.

Brighton officials said the ordinance would be subjective and the call will be made by police officers.

The amended ordinance takes effect Jan. 17, 2009.

iTunes is currently playing: I Really Didn't Mean It from the album Give Me The Reason by Luther Vandross.

What I want to know is ...

... does anyone actually deposit checks like this in his or her bank account? (Yes, that is a check for FIVE CENTS.)

iTunes is currently playing: What Is This Going To Get Us? from the album The Man I Love - Past Perfect, Disc 7 by Billie Holiday.

One of the few things I'll miss ...

... about NJ is cheap gas. In PA we pay 30 to 40 cents more per gallon for self-service gas than folks in NJ pay for full service. And I must admit I didn't expect to see gas at this price ever again, even in NJ.

iTunes is currently playing: Driving from the album The Language Of Life by Everything But The Girl.

"Those were the days, my friend ..."

"We thought they'd never end ..."





iTunes is currently playing: Lonesome For A Place I Know from the album Idlewild by Everything But The Girl.

busy week for obit writers

R.I.P. Van Johnson, Bettie Page, and Beverly Garland.

iTunes is currently playing: Another Place from the album Another Place by Hiroshima.

Why not wait until the guy ...

... actually accomplishes something.

OPA-LOCKA, Fla. -- One South Florida city is planning to honor the president-elect with his own street.

Opa-locka plans to rename Perviz Avenue to Barack Obama Avenue on President's Day in February.

The city commission voted on the name change last week and officials say it is expected to finalize the approval next month. Opa-locka is a predominantly heavily African-American community north of downtown Miami.



iTunes is currently playing: Road To Nowhere from the album Little Creatures by Talking Heads.

R.I.P. The Piemaker and DeadGirl

First, Wonderfalls. Now Pushing Daisies. Sigh ...

From E! Online, the facts are these:

ABC has cancelled Pushing Daisies, executive producer Bryan Fuller confirms to me exclusively.

Bryan Fuller tells me, "[ABC president] Steve McPherson called me, and said 'We gave it the best shot we could.' "

According to Fuller, the facts are these: "It's very likely that Pushing Daisies will end after episode 13, which as you know, is a cliffhanger. But we are talking to DC Comics about doing comic books that will wrap up our storylines, and I already have a pitch for a movie ready to go.

"To be honest, I'm really not feeling very boo hoo about it. I am so proud of the show. We put together 22 really good episodes, and there is a lot to be proud of. I'm sure I'll be working with a lot of these people again, and I would love to do so."

iTunes is currently playing: Vincent from the album Sun Down Lady by Lani Hall.

Another adorable SmartCar

This one was spotted in a Smart showroom in Naples, Italy.

I love Smarties. I love Hello Kitty. I love this car!

iTunes is currently playing: My Sanctuary from the album Join the Parade by Marc Cohn.

Jay Leno test drives "the car that makes people smile".

I want one. I want one. I WANT ONE!!!

iTunes is currently playing: Short People from the album Little Criminals by Randy Newman.

Laugh of the Day

I just heard on the radio (sorry, I can't provide a link) that 64% of respondents in a new poll are pleased with Obama's performance since the election [emphasis mine].

And during the last 7 days he has done what, exactly??

iTunes is currently playing: Where Do I Go From Here from the album Even Now by Barry Manilow.

An honest mistake ...

... or an indication of things to come? You be the judge.

Warner Todd Huston writes today on NewsBusters.com:

The co-chair of Barack Obama's Transition Team, Valerie Jarrett, appeared on Meet the Press this weekend and used, shall we say, an interesting word to described what she thinks Barack Obama will be doing in January when he's officially sworn into office. She told Tom Brokaw that Obama will be ready to "rule" on day one. It's a word that reflects the worst fears that people have for Obama the "arrogant," the "messiah," that imagines he's here to "rule" instead of govern.

Jarret told Brokaw that "given the daunting challenges that we face, it's important that president elect Obama is prepared to really take power and begin to rule day one."

Someone needs to get to Jarrett and inform her that American politicians are not Kings and do not "rule" from office. But if this is the attitude of Obama's transition team, what does The One himself imagine he is about to unleash? Could the fears that Obama thinks he is being anointed America's King be far off with this sort of talk flying about?

It sounds like something Biden would say.

iTunes is currently playing: I Really Didn't Mean It from the album Give Me the Reason by Luther Vandross.

How to hold down prices ...

... without alienating your customers:

From the L.A.Times (11/9/08):





iTunes is currently playing: Slippery People from the album Stop Making Sense: Special New Edition (1984 Film) by Talking Heads.

The back-peddling begins ...

From the WashingtonTimes.com web site:

Over the weekend President-elect Barack Obama scrubbed Change.gov, his transition Web site, deleting most of what had been a massive agenda copied directly from his campaign Web site.

Gone are the promises on how an Obama administration would handle 25 different agenda items - everything from Iraq and immigration to taxes and urban policy - all items laid out on his campaign Web site, www.BarackObama.com.

Instead, the official agenda on Change.gov has been boiled down to one vague paragraph proclaiming a plan “to revive the economy, to fix our health care, education, and social security systems, to define a clear path to energy independence, to end the war in Iraq responsibly and finish our mission in Afghanistan, and to work with our allies to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, among many other domestic and foreign policy objectives.”

“We are currently retooling the Web site,” said Obama spokesman Nick Shapiro.

The Kool-Aid should start to wear off soon.


iTunes is currently playing: I Was Only Telling A Lie from the album Dad Loves His Work by James Taylor.

I do not need a new car.

BUT I WANT THIS CAR!!

iTunes is currently playing: What is This Thing Called Love from the album Portrait: Past Perfect - Disc 10 by Billie Holiday.

QUICK! Get me the smelling salts!

A columnist with the Washington Post has admitted and detailed the lack of balance in her paper's coverage of the recent election!

The Post provided a lot of good campaign coverage, but readers have been consistently critical of the lack of probing issues coverage and what they saw as a tilt toward Democrat Barack Obama. My surveys, which ended on Election Day, show that they are right on both counts.

The count was lopsided, with 1,295 horse-race stories and 594 issues stories. The Post was deficient in stories that reported more than the two candidates trading jabs; readers needed articles, going back to the primaries, comparing their positions with outside experts' views. There were no broad stories on energy or science policy, and there were few on religion issues.

The op-ed page ran far more laudatory opinion pieces on Obama, 32, than on Sen. John McCain, 13. There were far more negative pieces (58) about McCain than there were about Obama (32), and Obama got the editorial board's endorsement.

Stories and photos about Obama in the news pages outnumbered those devoted to McCain. Post reporters, photographers and editors -- like most of the national news media -- found the candidacy of Obama, the first African American major-party nominee, more newsworthy and historic. Journalists love the new; McCain, 25 years older than Obama, was already well known and had more scars from his longer career in politics.

The number of Obama stories since Nov. 11 was 946, compared with McCain's 786.

Obama deserved tougher scrutiny than he got, especially of his undergraduate years, his start in Chicago and his relationship with Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who was convicted this year of influence-peddling in Chicago. The Post did nothing on Obama's acknowledged drug use as a teenager.

One gaping hole in coverage involved Joe Biden, Obama's running mate. When Gov. Sarah Palin was nominated for vice president, reporters were booking the next flight to Alaska. Some readers thought The Post went over Palin with a fine-tooth comb and neglected Biden. They are right; it was a serious omission.

Will any other papers follow suit??

iTunes is currently playing: It's Not Abnormal At All from the album BBC1 John Peel Session by Yazoo.

Charlie Rose & Tom Brokaw: "Who is Obama?"

ROSE: I don't know what Barack Obama's worldview is.

BROKAW: No, I don't, either.

ROSE: I don't know how he really sees where China is.

BROKAW: We don't know a lot about Barack Obama and the universe of his thinking about foreign policy.

ROSE: I don't really know. And do we know anything about the people who are advising him?

BROKAW: Yeah, it's an interesting question.

ROSE: He is principally known through his autobiography and through very aspirational (sic) speeches.

BROKAW: Two of them! I don't know what books he's read.

ROSE: What do we know about the heroes of Barack Obama?

BROKAW: There's a lot about him we don't know.

[Transcript from RushLimbaugh.com.]

iTunes is currently playing: Who Am I from the album Ultimate Petula Clark by Petula Clark.

Understanding the Presidential Election

Newsweek has a lengthy (7 chapter) piece on the recent presidential election called Secrets of the 2008 Campaign. The article includes the following paragraph that totally sums up the phenomenon of Obamamania:

Obama understood that he had become a giant screen upon which Americans projected their hopes and fears, dreams and frustrations. Maybe such a person never really existed, couldn't exist, but people wanted a savior nonetheless. As a bestselling memoirist he had created a mythic figure [emphasis mine], a man named Barack Obama who had searched and quested and overcome travails, who had found an identity and a calling in public service. Obama recalled that he often joked with his team, "This Barack Obama sounds like a great guy. Now I'm not sure that I am Barack Obama, right?" He added, pointedly, "It wasn't entirely a joke."

If this information had been released prior to the election, do you think the headlines would have read "OBAMA ADMITS TO BEING A FRAUD"? Nah, I don't think so, either.



iTunes is currently playing: BEHIND THE MASK from the album Faker Holic - YMO World Tour Live by Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Brainless ObamaHead ...

... who is in for a rude awakening when she has to pay her own mortgage in January.

iTunes is currently playing: Outta Mind from the album Angels In The Crowd by Wendy Woo.

Hey, Barry, call off your THUGS in Philly!!!

iTunes is currently playing: Go Where You Wanna Go from the album Up-Up And Away by The 5th Dimension.

Jack Bauer is back ...

... and if the trailer is any indication, it was worth the wait!

iTunes is currently playing: Stand And Fight from the album Dad Loves His Work by James Taylor.

Socialism for Dummies - Lesson One

Political satirist Paul Shanklin explains "redistribution of wealth" on The Rush Limbaugh Show:

[audio:ObamaHalloween.mp3]

iTunes is currently playing: They Can't Take That Away From Me from the album Portrait: Past Perfect (Disc 3) by Billie Holiday.

I have the best family ever!!

Thanks for putting up the Halloween decorations. [Aunt Ann? Nancy?] You guys rock.

iTunes is currently playing: Lost Child (String Quartet Remix) from the album Moto.Tronic by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Fun-loving liberals celebrate Halloween in West Hollywood ...

... by hanging Sarah Palin in effigy.

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) ― A Halloween decoration showing a mannequin dressed as vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin hanging by a noose from the roof of a West Hollywood home is drawing giggles from some passers-by and gasps of outrage from others. The mannequin is dressed in brunet wig, glasses and a red business suit. Another mannequin dressed as John McCain emerges from a flaming chimney.

Chad Michael Morisette, who lives in the house, told CBS 2 News that drivers and bus passengers have been stopping to snap pictures of the macabre scene. Morisette says the effigy would be out of bounds at any other time of year, but it's within the spirit of Halloween.

He says "it should be seen as art [emphasis mine], and as within the month of October. It's Halloween, it's time to be scary it's time to be spooky."

If I were to "celebrate" Halloween by hanging Obama in effigy in my front yard, I believe I would be arrested for a hate crime. I guess those laws don't apply when the hate is directed toward a white woman instead of a black man.

I'm waiting for Senator Obama to express his outrage ... and waiting ... and waiting ...

iTunes is currently playing: Gone Too Far from the album Windows and Walls by Dan Fogelberg.

I love our pet deer.

Okay, so they are not really pets. I know that. But they are so tame they are almost like pets.

iTunes is currently playing: From My Window from the album A Drop Of Water by Keiko Matsui.

a few hundred billion here ... a few hundred billion there ...

Today's L.A.Times has a[nother] story about how the "downturn" in the economy is hurting average Americans. In this piece they focus on a few families who live on Candlewood Street in Lakewood, California. A week after Congress promises $700 billion to banks and mortgage companies in a misguided attempt at fixing the mess they created over the last 30 years, the Times tells me about Barbara Booth and how worried she is about her retirement.

Barbara Booth is right to be worried. She is 57 years old and she is deeply in debt. But what jumps out at me as I read this story is not simply the fact that she is struggling financially but that the situation is, to a great extent, of her own making.

Booth inherited her house from her parents, but she took out a loan to fix it up, put on a new roof and add a room. Every month, she pays about $2,000 on that loan, in addition to credit card bills and payments toward a $42,000 balance on the Minnie Winnie Winnebago the family bought in 2003. It's parked in the driveway now, with only 13,000 miles on it. A "For sale" sign is taped to the window.

It took me about two minutes of Internet searching to find her exact address and pull up the real estate records for her home. Her parents purchased the house when it was built in the 50's, when new homes in the area were going for $12,000 to $15,000. Ms. Booth apparently inherited the house free and clear.

It is currently assessed at $86,000 and her property taxes are less than $100 per month. Homeowners insurance is probably, at most, $50 a month. Had Ms. Booth not decided to mortgage her house to the hilt in order to "fix it up" and "add a room" (and, probably, to put money down on a motorhome), she would have a modest 3 bedroom, 2 bath home that she could live in for about $150 per month plus utilities. Instead, she is paying on a mortgage that consumes almost 50% of her current gross income and she is upside-down on a 5 year old Winnebago. And both of our presidential candidates want the taxpayers to save her financial ass so she doesn't lose her house.

What the hell are they thinking??

iTunes is currently playing: House Of Cards from the album Stones In The Road by Mary Chapin Carpenter.

One man's trash ...

iTunes is currently playing: Feels Like Home from the album Randy Newman's Faust by Bonnie Raitt.

RE: Sarah Palin: YOU GO, GIRL!!!

iTunes is currently playing: This One's for the Girls from the album Martina by Martina McBride.

It must be boring as hell ...

... to be the person who sends out "Breaking News" emails on a slow news day. How else to explain this email from CNN:

-- Sen. Hillary Clinton tells convention delegates: "Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our president."

Never let it be said that CNN passed up an opportunity to shove Obama down our throats.

iTunes is currently playing: History Will Teach Us Nothing from the album Nothing Like The Sun by Sting.

One of the places on my "to go" list ...

... is Alaska and I'm hoping that I can convince some of my relatives to join us for a cruise up that way in the next couple of years. Maybe this will help.

This 26-minute film from Princess Cruises called "The Heart of Alaska" won the "Best Cinematography" award at the NY Independent Film & Video Festival.

The Heart of Alaska" is a high-definition documentary that showcases the Princess cruise-tour experience by depicting the land, wildlife and people of Alaska. The 26-minute film, photographed and directed by Princess video producer Scott Martin, features interviews with some of the people who tell their stories of life in Alaska's interior.

Viewers meet rangers from both Denali and Wrangell-St. Elias national parks, Alaska natives, homesteaders and dog mushers who share an insider's perspective of life in the 49th state. Other voices include a bush pilot, a captain from Fairbanks' iconic riverboat and a mountain climber. The film also brings the audience up-close to the wildlife of Denali National Park, including bears, moose, Dall sheep, and caribou. Soaring photography takes viewers high above the world's tallest peaks, including Mount McKinley.

It is a beautiful (and interesting) film and makes me want to book that cruise. Anybody want to come along?

iTunes is currently playing: Leader Of The Band from the album The Collection by Dan Fogelberg, which always makes me think of Dad.

Sorry, Barry ...

... but most of us really don't care all that much who you pick. The mainstream media is dying to know, but the rest of us are like ... yeah, whatever. And so when you say stuff like this, you sound like a pompous ass. Or a five year old with a secret. ("I know something you don't know. Nah nah nah nah nah!")

Not terribly presidential, dude.

iTunes is currently playing: Secret Secrets from the album Secret Secrets by Joan Armatrading.

R.I.P. Acres of Books in Long Beach, CA

Oh, my, the hours I spent there! Happy trails, Jackie and Phil.





[L.A.Times] After 74 years in business, the independent bookstore giant with an inventory that topped 1 million volumes is closing down to make way for a redevelopment project. The two-story brick building will be transformed into a mix of housing and art galleries as part of the city's plan to connect downtown with its East Village Arts District.

Acres of Books opened on Pacific Street in 1934 and moved into the current building in the 1940s, taking over from a country-western bar and dance hall. Back then, Long Beach Boulevard was a hot spot for the Navy, packed with bars, tattoo parlors and mom-and-pop shops.

Founder Bertrand Smith and his son, E.P. Smith, worked more than a year to move into the site, shuttling hundreds of thousands of books in the back of a pickup. Over time, the downtown strip, starting from the shoreline, has given way to an arts renaissance and a 21st century economy of condos and Starbucks shops.

"We knew eventually it would catch up with us," said Jackie Smith, 68. She and her husband, Phil, plan to retire and travel. They've had time to say goodbye to the store, after selling their building to the city for $2.8 million three months ago.

Smith said she and her husband searched for months for a new location but didn't find one that met their needs for a large space on a modest budget. Once they sell their inventory, which in less than two weeks has gone from 700,000 to 500,000, they will join the list of independent L.A. area bookstores that have been ousted by sluggish sales or redevelopment.

"I hate to see it go," said Smith, whose husband inherited the store from his grandfather. "If we would have been able to hold on, we would have probably been here until we turned to dirt. But that's not possible."

iTunes is currently playing: The Book I Read from the [bootleg] album Live at the Sun Palace (Tokyo) by Talking Heads.

Tired of paying $4.00 per gallon for gas?

Watch this video and then visit PickensPlan.com.

... is currently playing: Drivin' from the album Simple Things by Richie Havens.

In some families she would be considered a black sheep.

The L.A.Times ran a story the other day about a 77 year old woman named Doris Payne who spent 50+ years stealing jewelry from retail stores.

Her formula was simple: Pick a nice store and look like you belong there. Make sure your well-cut outfit has deep pockets.

She was good, but not good enough to never get caught. In fact, she has been convicted of grand theft several times and has spent most of the last decade in prison. She should be free by the time she is 81, if she lives that long.

Her story is interesting and would probably make a good movie. But the most interesting paragraph in the lengthy article (IMO) is this:

"It took me a while to become proud of her," said Ronald, of Louisiana. Now 61, he was born when his mother was a teenager. He was raised partly by his grandparents. "I realized she was very good at what she does and had fun doing it."

So Ronald is proud of his convicted felon mother who was so busy stealing what probably amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stuff that she couldn't be bothered to raise him because, after all, SHE WAS A GOOD THIEF and she ENJOYED HERSELF while she was stealing.

Loving her in spite of her flaws would be one thing. But being proud of her?

What a world.



... is currently playing: Steal Me Blind from the album Alf by Alison Moyet.

Why would you change the name of your company ...

... from NORWEGIAN COASTAL VOYAGE (which conjures up such lovely, relaxing images) to HURTIGRUTEN???

is currently playing: Ain't That Peculiar from the album Every Great Motown Hit of Marvin Gaye by Marvin Gaye.

I ***LOVE*** Hello Kitty ...

... I really do ... but I must admit that they is something really creepy/scary about a six foot tall person in a Hello Kitty costume.

what the ... ???

#1 - There are no words to describe the thing sitting on SJP's head.

#2 - Kim Cattrall's hairdo makes her face look big and round.

#3 - Cynthia Nixon looks like a mannequin.

#4 - Kristin Davis needs a new stylist. What an awful dress.

I didn't watch the show. Did they dress like this on tv, too?

We are family ... I got all my sisters with me ...

Well, not ALL of my sisters ... but I'm working on the ones who haven't said "yes" yet.

Someone should point out to Obama ...

... that you do not get to pick your family, but you DO GET TO PICK YOUR FRIENDS (and your PASTOR/MENTOR).

And nothing like tossing your grandmother under the bus if you think it will help you become leader of the free world.

"I can no more disown him [referring to the "Reverend" Wright] than I can disown my white grandmother -- a woman who helped raise me . . . but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."

And then there is this, from the same L.A.Times piece published Wed. March 19th:

Writing on the Huffington Post website last week and in interviews with Chicago newspapers, Obama had said that when he sat in the pews at Trinity United Church of Christ, he had not heard Wright make some of his more controversial statements.

On Tuesday, saying "nagging questions" remain for some voters, Obama offered a different account.

"Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes," Obama said.

Maybe he thinks that the Huffington statement was not dishonest because he qualified it by saying he had not heard Wright's "more controversial statements". And maybe he thinks he comes across as an honest guy when he admits, in the latest speech, that he had, in fact, sat in that church and heard "remarks that could be considered controversial."

If so, he is wrong on both counts.

No, make that three things. Sorry, Senator, but there really are no "nagging questions" about this issue.

... is currently playing: The End Of A Love Affair from the album Lady in Satin by Billie Holiday.

Racing up the charts ...

... is that catchy new tune "Housing Bubble, What's The Trouble" by the group PERSONAL ATM.



... is currently playing: House Of Cards from the album Stones in the Road by Mary Chapin Carpenter.

Cool new chess set

... is currently playing: I Feel The Earth Move from the album Tapestry by Carole King.

Hey, Vermont, Boulder, and Berkeley! You made the list!

Sometimes a person (or a group of people, on behalf of a city or state) says or does something so stupid and/or classless that I tell myself, "You are never going to get a dime of my money." This has happened so many times lately that I decided to make a list, lest I forget some idiotic statement or action and end up sending money in a direction where I don't want it to go. So here goes.

VERMONT:

At first I thought it was just one city that voted to impeach Bush and Cheney, but apparently city after city in Vermont voted to do so. F**ing morons.

Ever since we moved to the East Coast, I have wanted to go up to Vermont in the Fall to see the leaves. Well, there are a bunch of other states that have pretty red leaves in October. I will give them my money instead of the bozos in Vermont.

BOULDER, CO:

More f***ing morons talking about impeaching the President.

I have only been to Colorado once and I wasn't terribly impressed. And since I hate to be cold, it isn't on the top of my boy-I-can't-wait-to-go-there list. But my adorable niece, Tracie, and her new hubby moved to Denver, so it is not inconceivable that I could find myself in Boulder someday, itching to spend some money. And THAT is why I need this list -- to remind me why we shouldn't go there, even if we are in the vicinity visiting family.

BERKELEY, CA:

Even though our friend, Robert Gaustad, owns a great restaurant in that city (Bobby G's Pizzeria), I won't be spending a dime within the borders of Berkeley after the stunt they pulled regarding our Marines:

In a move reminiscent of Berkeley's 1960s antiwar protests, the City Council ignited a national firestorm last month by issuing a strongly worded declaration that blasted military recruiting techniques and labeled the Marine Corps as "uninvited and unwelcome intruders." One council member said U.S. troops were responsible for "horrible karma," and Mayor Tom Bates offered to help the Marines evacuate.

The return fire was swift. Several Republican senators sponsored a bill to reroute $2.3 million in federal funding from Berkeley to the Marines. In the last 10 days, city officials have received 26,000 e-mails, mostly from irate people who called the declaration irresponsible. Several council members have received death threats.

Many critics said that although they were opposed to the war in Iraq, they believed the council had crossed the line, going beyond protesting the nation's foreign policy to demonizing men and women in uniform.

"The e-mails are running 15 to 1 in favor of the Marines," said Councilman Gordon Wozniak, one of the dissenters in the 6-3 vote on the declaration. "They've run the gamut from being very thoughtful to dismissing Berkeley citizens as liberal scum."

In recent days, Berkeley officials have backpedaled and Bates issued a public apology. Tonight, the council will consider a motion to remove the criticism about recruiting and express the community's support for U.S. troops fighting abroad.

Even if said motion to "undo" the damage is passed, it is too little, too late as far as I'm concerned. It's clear what the majority of them think of our military. So no money for you guys either!!

... is currently playing: Too Much, Too Little, Too Late from the album The Essential Johnny Mathis by Johnny Mathis.

Quote of the Day

"Barack says nothing better than anybody in a long time. He's just messianic. He's saying nothing, but people are in tears listening to it. He could say anything. It really doesn't matter."

-- Rush Limbaugh

... is currently playing: Beneath The Surface from the album Chiaroscuro by Mike Marshall and Darol Anger.

Sometimes I can be such a dunderhead!

Like last Saturday, for instance, when I saw this headline on the Washington Post web site:

"Catholics Rethink Quinceanera Craze."

I stupidly assumed that it meant that poor Hispanics were rethinking the notion of spending tens of thousands of dollars (and frequently ending up deep in debt) to celebrate their daughters' fifteenth birthdays. Ah, I thought, they are finally starting to get their priorities straight.

But no. The "rethinking" has nothing to do with the issue of whether or not to have a party they cannot afford. The Church has just convinced these parents to use this "opportunity" to push a "pro-chastity message" on their girls.

Now this might be a noble goal -- particularly when dealing with a demographic in which:

... 51 percent of Hispanic girls get pregnant before age 20, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

But couldn't that message be pushed without spending upwards of twenty grand per kid??

Party or college education? Party or college education? Hmmm.... Is it really that hard to see which will ultimately benefit a girl more in the long run?

According to Luz Reyes, the mother profiled in this article, the party is "a prize for them being good."

Remember when "being good" was what parents expected of their kids? You didn't get a prize for doing it, you just got something unpleasant if you didn't. At the risk of sounding like my mother, it was, in many ways, a better world back then.

... is currently playing: Dress You Up from the album Like a Virgin by Madonna.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

A friend of mine named Gay Courter is a best-selling author of both fiction and non-fiction. (You can read about her and her books at gaycourter.com.) In addition to her writing career, Gay has spent many years working as a guardian ad litem (child advocate) in the Florida foster care system.

Ten years ago Gay and her husband, Phil, adopted a 12 year old girl who had spent 9 years in the foster care system. During those 9 years, Ashley lived in 14 different foster homes and, sadly, was subjected to physical and emotional abuse by people who were being paid by the state to care for her.

In spite of how she suffered in foster care, Ashley thrived with her new family. She was an honor student and attended college on a full scholarship. During her college years she received many awards and devoted much of her time to being an advocate for kids in foster care. Currently, she travels the country, speaking to groups about her experiences in foster care.

Ashley has written a book called Three Little Words: A Memoir which was published this month by Simon & Schuster and she is currently making the rounds on talk shows. Tomorrow (1/15/08) she will be on Good Morning America and this weekend she will be interviewed by Nancy Grace.

Kudos to Ashley for all that she has accomplished in her short life (especially considering what she was subjected to during her early years). And congrats to Gay and Phil, who saw the potential in Ashley and made her a part of their loving family.

And check this out: Ashley gets top billing over Diane Keaton!



... is currently playing: Haven't Got Time For The Pain from the album The Best of Carly Simon by Carly Simon.

I'll take rain over snow any day of the week ...

... but even so ... after a few months of depressing grey days ... I NEED SUN!


Downtown Toms River, NJ - Mid-January, ~ 5:00 p.m.

... is currently playing: Another Grey Morning from the album JT by James Taylor.

I always liked Jay ...

... and now I know why!


... is currently playing: Past The Point Of Rescue from the album The Hits by Hal Ketchum.

Hey, Arnold! A tax by any other name ...

... is still a friggin' tax!!

From the L.A. Times:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will propose hiking the cost of insurance for millions of California homes and businesses in the budget he unveils Thursday, with the money to be used for firefighting efforts.

The proposal, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, calls for new charges to be tacked onto the insurance bill for every residential and commercial property in the state. Administration officials call the charges fees and defend them as consistent with the governor's pledge, repeated in his State of the State address Tuesday, to not raise taxes. The plan, which the insurance industry has agreed to support, would cost California property owners and renters $12.50 for every $1,000 in insurance premiums, for a projected $125 million.

"I don't know how you avoid calling it a tax," Lew Uhler, president of the National Tax Limitation Committee, said of the assessment. "The ability of government officials to figure out new ways to tax us is limitless, no matter what their nomenclature."

The levy [emphasis mine] is the latest to be championed by the governor. Last fall, Schwarzenegger signed a bill that raised California drivers' registration payments by as much as $11 to pay for research on alternative fuels. And his healthcare plan relies on new taxes on tobacco users, hospitals and employers.

Administration officials acknowledged that some of the money raised could be used to balance the budget. They declined to be precise about how much.

The charge would be added to an existing 2.35% premium tax on property insurance policies. That tax, which is not earmarked for any particular program, generated $216 million for the state budget in 2006, according to the Department of Insurance.

... is currently playing: Dig Down Deep from the album Marc Cohn by Marc Cohn.