pick a lil' blog a lil'

After the failed fullofbluster, the not even close vote to confirm Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court, and the President's boffo State of the Union address Senator Hillary Clinton's head threatens to explode. Total meltdown was avoided, however, when an aide waived a HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT 2008 campaign button in her face.

Not clear at this time whether Rep. Lynn Woolsey, Cali-dim, was on hand to see her "invited guest" traitorous cindy get arrested or not. However, she has a penchant for aiding and abetting traitiors and, even worse. Here is a selection from the 02/18/2004 edition of townhall.com of Michelle Malkin's piece about the "ideals" of Lynn Woolsey.

This is the loony left folks. Scary funny..............

Malkin writes:
If Calif. Rep. Lynn Woolsey were a Republican white male, feminists would be picketing his office, Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe would be calling for his immediate resignation, and the New York Times would be in full editorial lynch mode.

But luckily for Lynn Woolsey, she is a card-carrying member of the untouchable ultraliberal women's brigade. This prominent Democrat's reprehensible behavior in a recent rape case has been buried by the national press and National Organization for Women elites. Here's what they won't tell you:

Last July, a 20-year-old thug named Stewart Pearson soaked a rag in toilet bowl cleanser and Ajax and used it to smother 17-year-old Tina Phan while she was sleeping in her Terra Linda, Calif., home. Tina gasped, trying to fend off Pearson, but he wielded a knife and overpowered her. Pearson raped and brutalized her. According to Phan, Pearson told her he had committed the same crime before and planned to do it again. Phan bravely persisted in pressing charges against Pearson. He initially denied raping Phan, but admitted guilt last fall.

Enter Rep. Woolsey. As first reported by the Marin Independent Journal, the outspoken feminist and anti-violence-preaching Democrat attempted to intervene in the case. She used her official stationery to send a letter to the local presiding judge in support of . . . the convicted rapist.

In a bleeding-heart plea for leniency, Woolsey wrote: "Stewart Pearson is a young man from a supportive family. I believe he has a promising life ahead of him, and I urge you to consider these factors when deciding on a suitable sentence." Woolsey noted further that Pearson had volunteered for her campaign, as if stuffing envelopes for Woolsey somehow mitigated the violence he committed against Tina Phan -- whose promising life Woolsey didn't bother to show an ounce of concern for at all.

Thankfully, the judge ignored Woolsey and sentenced Pearson to eight years in prison, the maximum allowed under a plea deal.

What explains Woolsey's soft spot for this violent sexual predator? Pearson is the son of one of Woolsey's aides. Did she believe him to be innocent after carefully reviewing the facts of the case? "(I)n my mind, he is not a criminal," Woolsey told the Marin newspaper. Yet, Woolsey never bothered to fill her mind with the truth. She admitted she "knew nothing" about Phan's rape case and "had no idea what the courts had found." (Spoken like a true Clinton defender and callous cronyist.)

The House Ethics Committee in Washington is probing whether Woolsey intervened inappropriately. But Woolsey is guilty of a far bigger sin -- the fraud she has perpetuated in the name of her "progressive" ideology at the expense of teen-age rape victim Tina Phan.

Woolsey has continually raked in campaign cash based on her reputation as a tireless champion for women's and children's rights. She lambasted college campuses for inadequate collection of rape and sexual assault data. She aggressively pushed for the Violence Against Women Act, the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Victims' Housing Act, the Stalking Prevention and Victim Protection Act, the Date-Rape Prevention Drug Act, the Protection of Women in Prison Act, and the Battered Immigrant Women Protection Act.

Woolsey has promoted women's rights in Afghanistan; called for stronger prosecution of rapists in East Timor; performed in the "Vagina Monologues" to show her solidarity with victims of rape, domestic abuse and genital mutilation; and crusaded for the "United Nations Convention to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women" to show how much she cares for the oppressed women of the rest of the world.

Maybe if Tina Phan had been raped in a Third World country thousands of miles away and demanded a U.S. tax-subsidized abortion, Woolsey would have come to her aid. Instead, when it came down to putting her high-minded liberal ideals where her mouth was, she betrayed an innocent young constituent without hesitation.

Phan has courageously gone public to hold Pearson and Woolsey accountable for their actions. Her congresswoman, Phan blasted over the weekend, "represents the rapist who took advantage."

Lynn Woolsey, The Rapist's Representative. Liberal hypocrites in Marin County will probably forgive her. For Tina's sake, the rest of us should not let her forget.


Michelle Malkin is a syndicated columnist and maintains her weblog at michellemalkin.com. She has also authored books such as Unhinged and In Defense of Internment.

That(see above) was a comment posted to my blog entry about our northern neighbors, um, let me think, who......oh the canadians! I tend to forget. Of course, it was in English(I'll let you translate Ricardo Cabeza yourself to reveal exactly what that English slur was) but not in Francaise! Shame on you! What if the bi-lingual police come after you?

In any case, the first derogatory comment directed at my blog. I printed it and may have it framed. This probably makes me worthy of membership in the vast right-wing conspiracy that the loonies on the left are always nattering about. I'll have to check the rule book.

Of course, the comment was left anonymously because, well, that is the way to conduct an intelligent debate. Call someone a name or deride them in some manner because you disagree with what they say but by all means don't reveal yourself. How very brave. Perhaps a Canadian border patrol job is in your future!

Until then, thanks, you have made my day!

Canadian Prime Minister-elect Stephen Harper has defended plans to send military ice-breakers(they won't be sending any submarines because the last working sub in the fleet caught fire, yes caught FIRE, and had to be towed into dock) to the Arctic in defiance of criticism from Washington.
US ambassador David Wilkins said on Wednesday that Washington opposed the plan and, like most other countries, did not recognize Canada's claims.

Mr Harper said his mandate was from the Canadian people, not Mr Wilkins.

Mr Harper's Conservatives have promised to defend Canada's northern waters from claims by the US, Russia and Denmark.(shiver me timbers!)
---news.bbc.co.uk

Wow! And I thought that Mr Harper was going to be George Bush's newest pet? Of course, this all may be just political grandstanding by the new Canadian PM to squelch those rumors. It will certainly please the insane anti-Americanism that is so en vogue in Canada and the rest of the world right now. Or at least, that is what our "press" would have you believe. The electorates, well, they seem to be proving otherwise. Isn't it funny that the parties, most recently in Germany and in Canada that have promoted closer ties with the United States have been the winners? Spin that lefties!

NOW, contrast the tough talk with the reality:
BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Bail has been set at $2 million for one of two men sought in a California homicide, and the other has been released from a hospital and jailed following a chase that ended in a shootout at the U.S.-Canada border.

Jose Antonio Barajas, 22, of Mexico, and Ishtiaq Hussain, 38, of Pakistan, were arrested Tuesday after a car pursued by a Whatcom County sheriff's deputy accelerated to 100 mph, drove through a spike strip designed to flatten the tires, failed to stop at a border checkpoint and tore into Peace Arch Park.(I wonder if these men were just two more "peace-loving, hard working" illegal immigrants committing yet more crime and mayhem in this country.)
The vehicle had been reported stolen in the San Francisco Bay area, Gagan said.

About 20 Canadian border guards, who are unarmed, fled for safety as the chase neared the border, an official of the union representing the guards confirmed.(cut and run in the face of danger. The dims would love this. RUN AWAY!)
Vic Toews, who will soon be a part of the government after serving as opposition justice critic in the Canadian parliament, said he did not relish the sight of border guards leaving their posts, although managers took over and officials insisted that security was never compromised.

Steve Pellerin-Fowlie, vice president of the Customs Excise Union, told The Canadian Press about 20 guards were involved. He welcomed the move to provide border guards with firearms.

Canada's labor code gives workers the right to refuse to remain on the job if they feel they are in imminent danger.(excuse me but I would assume that as a law enforcement officer, danger would always be somewhat imminent. Maybe they should never even come to work in that case?)
---kirotv.com

All in all, I would hope the glorified tugboats with which PM Harper is planning on defending the vast Arctic ice field are manned by folks who would not have to confront any imminent danger. Running away on the ice like that could be quite dangerous.

I spotted this on a vehicle this afternoon along with other lib bumper stickers. It read:

NOT RICH ENOUGH FOR A TAX BREAK

Now I am on the lookout for the more appropriate bumper sticker that reads:

NEVER TOO POOR TO BE TAXED

Because, whether I am eligible or not for a tax break from the Republicans, the Dims will defnintely always find me "wealthy" enough to pay for their big government programs. Or, if you live in Illinois, Governor Elvis would prefer you called them "user fees".

I am, however, smart enough to vote Republican!

The following excerpts are from an article that was found at contraccostatimes.com:

Mainstream doctors, scientists, psychologists and educators shake their heads at the very idea of Indigo children, who are described as "old souls" returning to earth to usher in an era of environmental renewal and political rebirth born of peace and compassion.
Still, the movement has gained thousands of believers since it emerged in the 1980s, spawning an array of books, Web sites, services and specialists. On Jan. 27 to 29, followers are expected to line up to see a new documentary, The Indigo Evolution, premiering at more than 500 churches and community centers around the globe.
James Twyman is the producer/director.
"These new humans, this evolution we're seeing, is in answer to the mess we have made of the world," he says.
---yes, your four year "old soul" is really trying to tell you not to drill in ANWAR? sign the kyoto treaty? i don't suppose the political renewal to which they refer probably means the little indigos are going to vote for the GOP. I doubt the compassion refers to compassionate conservatism? but wait it gets even better!


Twyman was executive producer of an earlier film, called simply Indigo, that grossed nearly $1.4 million on its opening weekend in January 2005. A fictionalized account of one child's experience, that film was written by and starred Neale Donald Walsch, author of the best-seller "Conversations With God."
Hay House, the publishing firm that Louise Hay built with self-help and spiritual titles, reports that sales of Indigo-related books are at the half-million mark.
Among them, with 250,000 copies sold, is "The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived," by Lee Carroll and Jan Tober.
---now it begins to make more sense. the new kids have arrived to help people sell movie tickets and books! exploiting children does not seem to be very avant garde to me. so who buys this stuff? read on....

Carroll and Tober define Indigos as "restless, fearless" individuals who "believe in themselves ... have difficulty with absolute authority," and "often see better ways of doing things, at home and in school." They are in every country, on every continent, the authors say, and only a clairvoyant can see their auras.
Carroll and Tober recommend that Indigo children attend private schools that focus on individual needs, such as Montessori or Waldorf schools.
But educator Paula Moraine, faculty director at the Kimberton Waldorf School, says she's not sure there is such a thing as an Indigo. It is just as likely, she says, that parents are raising their children with more freedom of expression - certainly with more permissiveness.

....retired psychotherapist Doreen Virtue, says many Indigos also exhibit other, more troublesome traits: impatience, a sense of entitlement that borders on boorishness, and uncontrollable rage.
These children are so smart that they're bored and distracted easily, says Virtue, associate producer of "The Indigo Evolution" and author of "The Care and Feeding of Indigo Children" (Hay House).
The documentary shows only bright, happy children who excel academically and in the arts.
But in an interview last week, Virtue painted a darker picture. She says conventional teachers - and parents - are ill-equipped to deal with these youngsters. As a result, many Indigos are wrongly identified as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
Instead of having their positive traits encouraged, Virtue says, the children are inappropriately treated with such drugs as Ritalin.
---AHA! are you a lazy parent with a brat for a child? of course not, you are a fabulously misunderstood parent of an Indigo child! What a great excuse! Now you can let the chirrun rule the roost and misbehave because they have a cosmic condition. Don't understand? Well, i'm sure it's just your ignorance. Only we special people can comprehend the reason we have a hellion for a child. It is the wave of the future you know.

TESTIFY!
Janice Girgenti is convinced that her son Daniel is an Indigo who somehow healed the family cat after a veterinarian said its condition was hopeless.
Joy Day Stevens, a marketing professional, says her Indigo child, 3-year-old Steele, often gives her messages from her deceased sister, whom he never met.
"Even at 3," she says, "he has a real clear idea of what he wants and what would make things better."
And Nancy Jean Walton, a Reiki practitioner, says her son was diagnosed with ADHD when he was in fourth grade.
"But I knew better," she says. "They suggested drugs, but we wouldn't allow it."
She says he's Indigo.
---cat healers? conversations with the dead? sounds like Stephen King doesn't it? children of the corn maybe? what really threw me was the reference to a reiki practitioner(ray-kay)? Yes, I had to look it up. She uses healing based on the application of universal life force energy...um, i just bet she does. is that even legal say in, utah? i say da mom is bonkers ergo bonkers kids.

here comes the punchline!
Meanwhile, Virtue predicts that no new Indigos will be born. Instead, she says, she's already beginning to see Crystal children, born with exceptional healing powers and the ability to communicate telepathically.
---without a doubt. there always has to be a parent whose child has to top another right!! oh, you're indigo child is soooo yesterday. i have a crystal. wait, i'm communicating telepathically with those of you who read this. and i just bet you can guess what i am thinking too. call me crystal.

ASTRONAUT OR STAND UP COMIC?---CNN.COM
"Yes, I was going to give this astronaut selection my best shot," Mullane wrote. "I was determined when the NASA proctologist looked up my ass, he would see pipes so dazzling he would ask the nurse to get his sunglasses."

Astronaut humiliations
Further humiliations lay ahead, like the time Mullane tried on a NASA-issued condom -- used for urine collection in weightlessness -- and watched the too-large sheath drop off and fall to the floor.

"I'll have you know I've fathered three children with this!" is what Mullane wanted to shout to the condom-fitting technician but didn't. A complaint might have derailed his selection as an astronaut.
these are some quotes from mike mullane, three time shuttle rider. he has a new book called "Riding Rockets" an inside look at NASA and the space program. might be a good read!! i wonder if they had a condom fitting technician during the filming of brokeback mountain? what do you do for a living? why i am a condom fitting technician. life of the party!

WISCONSIN TO ALLOW EIGHT YEAR OLDS TO GO A'HUNTIN'...YOUR SECOND GRADER WANTS A RIFLE
---thepittsburghchannel.com
MADISON, Wis. -- Legislators who fear young people are losing interest in Wisconsin's hunting tradition want to allow children as young as 8 to shoot deer.

Rep. Scott Gunderson's proposal would lower the hunting age from 12 to eight.

The Republican from Waterford said it's important to get kids hunting at a younger age.

But the idea of a lower hunting age horrifies Joe Slattery, whose 14-year-old son was accidentally shot and killed by a 12-year-old while deer hunting in Marinette County last year. He said 8-year-olds don't have the ability to handle guns.

The state Assembly already approved Gunderson's bill. The measure still needs approval from the state Senate and governor to become law.
---considering that some of the parents of these kids probably should not be allowed to use a rifle, this is a tad bit scary. have they not heard the age old warning? you'll shoot your eye out, or in this case, your head off.

IT WAS MONSIEUR MUSTARD, WITH THE HATCHET....IN THE 15TH CENTURY
---NEWS.YAHOO.COM
BREST, France (AFP) - French police who spent two years trying to identify a woman who was murdered by a blow to the head were relieved to discover the reason their efforts were failing: the woman died half a millennium ago. (oopsy!)

The skeleton of a woman in her 30s was found during an exceptionally low tide in December 2003 near the seaside Brittany town of Plouezoc'h.(god bless you) A long gash in the skull convinced investigators she was killed with a hatchet or other sharp implement.(maybe she had been running with scissors?)

Police ploughed through missing persons' files to no avail. A theory that the woman was the wife of a Normandy doctor who disappeared with his family in a famous 1999 case was dismissed after DNA tests.

Eventually radiocarbon dating established that the death had occurred between 1401 and 1453.

"We are satisfied because at least we know the date now. We reckon it was pirates," said Francois Gerthosser of the Plourin-les-Morlaix police on Tuesday.(he "reckons" it was pirates...i did know there were rednecks in france? was this gendarme roscoe p coletrain doin' the reckonin')

i'm experimenting with where my comments go. yes, i would like suggestions of where to put them. no, don't go there with any suggestions.

"MEN", bellowed the beefy guy in the sweats with a whistle hanging around his neck. I'm sure I looked around the room to see who he was addressing. Maybe our fathers had come in the room or maybe some other teachers? No, then who......wait a second...he means US! I probably giggled which was not very manly for sure.

Of course, we weren't men we were BOYS. It was the first day of gym class. We were in the seventh grade and only 12 or 13 years old. Now a couple of my classmates had been shaving since like the 3rd grade but overall we were just a gangly bunch of kids. There was a boy, held back numerous times, that actually had his drivers license so he might have come the closest to manhood. However, 7th graders authorized to operate a motor vehicle were few and far between.

Otherwise, not even a year ago some of us had still gone trick or treating and made boxes for cards on Valentiines Day. We caught lightning bugs in the summer. We rode our bikes everywhere. No one had a job. We had to be home by the time the streetlights came on. True, the voices and bodies were changing but that just happened by default.

So why the promotion to MEN? Simply because we walked through the doors of the high school gym in our PE uniforms? Was it the jockstrap? Communal showering? Were the girls getting the same speech in their lockerroom about being women? Somehow I doubt it because women aren't as absurd as we fellows. Yes, you heard it here first.

I think it was probably an effort to reach us and inspire us. Some sort of hooey that adults think up and are convinced they are being clever by doing so. Most of the time, including this one with the coach, the person meant well. He was pretty cool and probably wanted us to feel important or build our self-esteem. He had a glass eye which was WAY impressive to the boys in his presence which allowed him to have much more influence than your "normal" teacher. That kind of thinking is what still made us BOYS! Simply calling us "men" did not make it so. He might as well have called us Indian elephants or bumblebees. That did not mean we would be stampeding or swarming anytime in the near future.

Over the succeeding years we did get different versions of the MAN talk usually from our coaches. But by all means they were not the only ones. A female teacher got so angry with our idiotic behavior at one point she screamed, "STOP ACTING LIKE A BUNCH OF CHILDREN". We were fourteen. We were children. Would you rather us act like you? A hysterical manic-depressive bitter shrew? There would be plenty of time for psychoses as adults. Let us be kids! Get mad at us for acting like boobs but don't castigate us for being children. Note: if you hate children, choosing the teaching profession probably was not a very wise decision.

I think the phrase that annoyed me the most was "Be A Man". Usually this was screamed at you by a chronological adult within several inches of your face. I suppose for maximum effect. First of all, as a MAN, I would not be as out of control as you are. I would not be screaming in a kid's face. I would not be that close to another guy unless I was planning on eventually bringing him home for the holidays to meet the parents.

GROW UP was another "fave". Why? You are a kid but such a short time and once you leave childhood, well, you can't really go back can you? And, let's face it, what is wrong with high school kids being boys and girls. And that is what the problem is these days, you push kids to grow up and then get mad when they take your advice. That is why you have unwanted pregnancies, substance abuse, suicide, violence, etc. You want a bunch of teen-agers to be men and women? Well, then why is it such a surprise they have adult problems too?

What makes a MAN? Any number of things: feeding and cleaning up after a parent who is dying of cancer, holding a sick child in your arms in the emergency room, serving your country to make the world a better place, making a commitment to another person to love and honor them, paying your taxes, keeping a neat house and yard because you own it. There are any number of things you can put on that list. And there is no reason in the world that being a good Man can't wait until you've had the chance to be a really good Boy.

The 2005 Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award, to be awarded at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting January 21 in San Antonio, will be given to an unidentified recipient: "John Doe" of the court case John Doe v. Gonzales, a legal challenge to a National Security Letter requesting library patron records. The award is presented by the faculty of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. "It takes courage to defend the principles of intellectual freedom in libraries—to insist that every person has the right to read, think and inquire without fear," said Leigh Estabrook, director of the Library Research Center and Professor at GSLIS. "This year we honor an unnamed individual for his or her courage in defending intellectual freedom when it was not even possible to talk to friends, family or other professionals. This person not only stood alone at the moment of upholding principle; but has to remain isolated because of the gag order under the USA PATRIOT Act."

Though the award will be accepted by a third party—accepting it would violate the gag order—the identity of John Doe is an open secret. The Washington Post has identified the plaintiff as George Christian of Library Connection Inc., a Windsor, CT-based consortium. However, neither the Library Connection nor the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the plaintiff, has commented publicly. ALA and other groups have supported "John Doe," saying it was important to speak out on these issues during the debate about reauthorizing the USA PATRIOT Act.
---libraryjournal.com

--Only the American left could come up with an award going to an unidentified recipient who, of course, everyone can identify. What's the point of having a bleeding heart if no one can see the blood? Ironically, Leigh Estabrook points out the totally identified unidentifiable "john doe" stands alone not even being able to speak to friends or family............but they can speak to the Washington Post... So congrats to Mr GEORGE CHRISTIAN! Even tho we don't even know who you are. wink, wink, nudge, nudge. George Bush and the big bad Patriot Act have given you more publicity than you could have ever hoped for or deserved. But it will be our little "secret". I only have one question. Will you look as "fab" in a scarf and sunglasses as the "undercover" Plame chick?

AXL ROSE MEETS BO DEREK
what on earth is he doing with the cornrows and beads? I expect to see him running down the beach in a bikini at any moment, Bolero blaring, head clanking like a dang wind chime. With all those beads he might very well knock himself out....and that might not be a bad thing! I'd hate to be behind him at the airport going thru the metal detector. Mr. Rose, we're going to have to ask you to remove your head.

THE CASE OF THE TIPSY TODDLER
---local6.com
A mother in New York is suing an Applebee's restaurant after her 5-year-old son was allegedly served a Long Island Iced Tea instead of apple juice.

Cynthia Pereles said she took her son Seth to dinner at the franchised restaurant in Battery Park City and ordered him an apple juice.

Pereles said she did not realize her son was drinking a concoction of white rum, gin, vodka, triple sec, Coke and sweet-and-sour mix until it was too late. The boy's eyes became glazed and he began to laugh uncontrollably, according to a report.

When you're looking at your 5-year-old and you're asking him, quiet down Seth, sit still and you see that mentally and physically he cannot comply with what you're asking him to do because he is under the influence," Pereles said.

The boy was taken to the hospital and doctors found alcohol in the child's blood.

Pereles said the restaurant admitted the mistake but she is still suing for $75,000.

A manager at the restaurant declined comment.
Perhaps the umbrella in the drink should have tipped her off?

MAYOR BARRY TO STAR IN COKEHEADS REVISTED
---wtop.com
WASHINGTON (AP) - District of Columbia Councilman and former Mayor Marion Barry is not talking about reports that he failed a court-ordered drug test in November, but his attorney took issue Wednesday with parts of what was reported.

The Washington Post reported in Wednesday's editions that Barry, 69, tested positive for cocaine following an Oct. 28 guilty plea to misdemeanor tax charges. The paper also reported that Barry's attorney encouraged him to undergo drug treatment before his Feb. 8 sentencing.

"I have made no contact with the court about this issue," said Frederick D. Cooke Jr., who is representing the former four-term mayor in the tax case. He denied taking any actions to prevent Barry from being jailed for violating the terms of his pre-sentence release.

Cooke said he would "address any of these issues to the extent they need to be addressed in court" next month.

Barry refused to address the issue Wednesday as he was discharged from Howard University Hospital, where his doctors said he had been treated the past two days for diabetes and high blood pressure. He declined to say whether he was in recovery from drug abuse.

"I didn't wish these things on me, I wish I didn't have them," he said
No, you brought these things upon you. Unfortunately, you decided to take the city of half a million plus people which you presided over as dictator with you. thaaaannkkss.

CAUSE OF DEATH: BENIHANA FLYING SHRIMP
---wcbs880.com
MINEOLA, Long Island (AP) The family of a 43-year-old Long Island man is seeking ten million dollars in damages, claiming he died months after ducking a flying shrimp tossed by a hibachi chef at a Japanese steakhouse.

Attorney Andre Ferenzo said in opening statements in state Supreme Court yesterday that Jerry Colaitis of Old Brookville wrenched his neck when he ducked to avoid the shrimp tossed by a chef at a Benihana restaurant in Munsey Park.

Colaitis died months later from complications caused by neck surgery he required afterward.

The incident occurred in January 2001. Colaitis went to a chiropractor and three neurosurgeons, and underwent surgery at NYU Medical Center in June, 2001. There were complications and he had numbness in his arm.

On November 21st of that year, Colaitis checked into St. Francis Hospital in Rosyln with a 105-degree fever.

He died the next day.

Charles Connick, a lawyer for Benihana, contended it was unlikely a chef who works for tips would toss food at customers after being asked not to, as Ferenzo claimed.
Okay this resteraunt is in NYC too? Coincidence, I think not. But they are so sophisticated there. Hey, no one here in the corn belt gives your kids long island iced teas(except on holidays) or trys to kill you with flying shrimp(corn on the cob I would not rule out)

On my way back home to Illinois from my other home in the Washington DC suburbs, I was stopped in Ohio by a state police officer. He pulled me over because of my licencse plates promoting my hometown of Arthur's annual festive salute to fromage. He questioned me on the special plates and I produced the paperwork proving that I could display them. So, everything was okay but I felt I had been "profiled" unfarily because of my "cheese" plates. I should have filed a suit, doesn't everybody, and charged the officer with.............

lactose intolerance

but that would not have been very gouda of me.

RESOLVED: Become a force for good in the universe this year.
Okay that is stupid and unrealistic.
RESOLVED: Keep up with my blog this year.
There! that accomplishes both resolutions. Oh, have "delusions of grandeur" is the third resolution.
I am ON A ROLL!!

Some noteworthy news items of the very new year
THE GROCERY BOYS SET ME UP
WASHINGTON - Former District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry was robbed at gunpoint at his apartment by some youths who had helped him carry his groceries.

Barry, who wasn't injured in the Sunday night robbery, said he gave the youths a couple of dollars for helping him with his groceries and they left. They returned, however, and pointed a gun at his head and took his wallet, which contained cash and credit cards, Barry told WRC-TV.

Barry, 69, is a member of the City Council and served four terms as mayor. In his third term, he was videotaped in 1990 in a hotel room smoking crack cocaine in an FBI sting. The following year, he served a six-month prison sentence.

He is awaiting sentencing later this month in federal court on his guilty plea to two misdemeanor counts stemming from his failure to file income tax returns in 2000.
---only hizzoner mur burry could end up being both a criminal and a victim at the same time. his butt shoulda been in jail for running the wonderful city of washington dc into the ground. i worked in dc and the dc area for 12 years and i will always remember a black co-worker tell me when the crack smokin' mayor was re-elected "no wonder white people think we can't handle our businesss". in fact, nearly to a man and a woman in my very large office, nearly everybody was offended by this boob. yikes!

RULES OF THE ROAD...........HAHAHAHA JUST KIDDIN'
Six Sangamon County residents each have more than 100 traffic violations to their name, and at least 30 others have 75 or more.

One driver, Blake J. Walton of the 2000 block of South Sixth Street, turned 16 only in 2003, yet he has accumulated 75 traffic tickets, counting at least nine issued to him before he turned 16. His license has been suspended, but he has been cited for driving on that suspended license at least 12 times in 2005 alone.

He pleaded guilty to two of those charges and was sentenced to jail time. One charge was dismissed, and Walton is scheduled for trial Jan. 23 on the remainder.

"It's ridiculous, is all I can say," said Dave Druker, a spokesman for Secretary of State Jesse White, whose office oversees driver's licenses in Illinois.

"The vast majority of drivers are good and know the rules of the road and do their best to obey them. But I do think there are a small number of people who are serious offenders.

"These people are threatening you and me when they're on the road," Druker said. "Driving is a privilege, not a right."
---okay, this is the county our capitol is in.....be careful out there. how the hell can you get so many tickets?

HOLMES TURNS OFF CRUISE CONTROL?
Hold off on buying that first edition of "Dianetics" as a wedding present for Tom Cruise and his pregnant fiancée, Katie Holmes.

The buzz is that the engagement of the happy couple has hit a few bumps and, after reportedly tense holidays spent at Holmes’ house, wedding plans may have been put on hold.

With a new year beginning, Cruise “decided to take the opportunity to mend fences with the family of his fiancée, Katie Holmes,” according to the upcoming issue of Life & Style Weekly. It didn’t go so well.

Tom and Katie ended up leaving — three days earlier than planned,” according to a “close friend” of Cruise. “Katie was in tears, but that’s standard when it comes to dealing with family matters and Tom.”

A spokesman for Cruise denies the story, but there have been previous reports that Holmes’ lawyer father is not thrilled with the prospects of the two getting hitched.

“My honest opinion is that the wedding’s not going to happen,” a “friend of the couple” told the mag. “Neither one of them seems as enthusiastic as they once did about marriage
---msnbc.com
the university of illinois is looking pretty good about now huh?

IF BLOOMINGTON IS THE CLOSEST TO NORMAL RUN SCREAMING FROM THE STATE!

Around Normal and in neighboring Bloomington, folks say they've heard all the wisecracks about a city that legend has it once combined with another uniquely named southern Illinois town for a newspaper headline that read "Normal man marries Oblong woman."

Few mind the good-natured jabs, but say most are time-weary standbys that have grown pretty, well, normal over the years.

"What's next to Normal, abnormal?" out-of-towners ask. "Is everything really normal in Normal?" "If you're in Bloomington, is that as close to normal as you can get?"

Still, even city leaders say they aren't above using their hometown for a laugh. For 25 years, retired City Manager David Anderson says he often introduced himself at conferences by saying he was "the only Normal manager here. The rest of you are something other than normal."

In truth, the town's offbeat name has nothing to do with the traditional American definitions of "normal" that have fueled the wave of jokes.

When the town was launched in the early 1860s, it took its name from the local university founded a few years earlier, then called Illinois State Normal University. Derived from the French "ecole normale," or "training college," the label was commonly used into the 1960s to designate U.S. schools that churned out new teachers.
---usatoday.com
actually, bloomington-normal is a very, very nice area. what is really strange is the relationship between ISU and b-n is not nearly as good as the relationship between c-u(champaign-urbana) and the U of I. Which is really strange???? Or should that be abnormal? weak, i know.

CHICAGOONADIET
BALTIMORE Jan 6, 2006 — Baltimore has been named America's fittest city, with Chicago overtaking Houston as the fattest. Last year's fittest city, Seattle, drops to No. 8 in the new list, released today by Men's Fitness magazine.
---abcnews.go.com
first the world series and now this. WE ARE NUMBER ONE!

GET OUTTA DA PASSIN' LANE......IT'S DA LAW!
Illinois’ left-lane law wins applause
By Crystal Lindell

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois officials say a little-publicized two-year-old law aimed at preventing people from blocking traffic by driving in the left lane on interstates and other divided highways has made an impact.

"We just want people to realize you have to share the road,” he said.

Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa, a sponsor of the bill that become law, said the goal was not to give out a lot of citations, which cost $75 each, but to educate people about safe lane usage. He said the large number of warnings indicates that is what has happened.

Rutherford said when people hold up traffic in the left lane, they increase congestion, tailgating and, often, road rage.

The law does not prevent people from driving in the left lane; it just requires them to move to the right lane if a car is behind them, he said.

Hector said the law is geared toward creating safer roads.
---qctimes.net
our great state sometimes makes sense!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!