Yeah, Right, Whatever

... and may you never have to spend another one away from those you love and who love and miss you.

The other day, T1 and I were watching the news, and there was a piece on the General Social Study, which found that conservatives are out reproducing liberals. The piece even went so far as stating that, if the trend continues, California might even be conservative in the next couple of decades.

T1's reaction to that news? "How... tragic."

Wow... there's a lot of news around... actually read through these... I'm not just doing this for my health. There are some serious articles, some fun ones, and one about a "SuperGrouper" named Bubba.

• Let's start off with Pluto. Poor Pluto. The widow of the man who discovered it is "shook up" by this turn of events, either. And there are plenty of people who are trying to get the vote rejected. Good luck, guys!
• Old Time Base Ball (no, that's not a typo) is back! 6 balls to a walk, getting hit by a pitch doesn't mean as much, and you have to be "gentlemanly"... this is going to be great!
• A school bus driver in Louisiana really needs to take a history class or two- blacks don't have to sit in the back of the bus anymore!
• Speaking of races... "Survivor" has decided to start off their new season with a bit of controversy- they're dividing the "tribes" by race, and a lot of people aren't happy about it! (Personally, I think there are a lot of people who go out of their way to be offended.)
  
• Remind me not to take the Tokyo subway anytime in the near future... ew...
  
• Matel is threatening to sue an artist for portraying Barbie as... um... liking Skipper more than Ken...
  
• Plenty of airplanes are being diverted or stopped and rescanned today. What's up with that?
  
• Speaking of planes... air marshals can dress however they want and stay whereever they want now... thus maintaining their cover. It's about time!
  
• BBC journalists in Lebanon obviously don't think that photographing a child near a bomb is in any way child abuse. Silly me to think otherwise.
• An Illinois Congresscritter took a trip to Sri Lanka last year that was funded by an organization deemed to be a terrorist group by the United States. (Can you say "oops"?)
  
• Jackie Mason is suing Jews for Jesus. And they're saying "shame on him." Where's my rolling-eyes-smilie when I need it?
  
• NYU is the most gay-friendly university, and Notre Dame is the most inhospitable, according to a new book. (ok, who do I need to contact to get the Notre Dame admissions forms for the boys?)
• I always knew clowns were evil.
  
• Senator Obama gets the rock star treatment in Kenya.
  
• And, finally, the Shedd Aquarium is sad to announce the passing of Bubba, the Super Grouper. (No, this isn't a joke. Bubba was the first fish on record to have received chemotherapy for cancer. He was truly a cancer survivor, and he died of age-related ailments at the ripe old age of 24.)
  

That's all folks. Well... for now.

So... you get a DUI... not very smart, right? And let's just rachet it up a bit to pure MORON by showing up for court... drunk.

A Nesquehoning man who came drunk to Carbon County Court on Monday to be sentenced in a drunken driving case will likely spend more time in jail.

Joshua J. Beury, 25, of 342 W. Railroad St., on Tuesday got the same sentence from county President Judge Roger N. Nanovic that he got Monday before court officials determined he was inebriated: 30 days to six months in county prison.

...After Beury was sentenced Monday, court personnel leading him back to prison said he smelled of alcohol. They administered a breath test, which showed he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.20 percent — more than the 0.17 percent when he was charged with drunken driving and more than twice the 0.08 percent at which state law considers a person too drunk to drive.

He swears he only had 2 beers the night before the court date. Riiiight. We believe you. Really.

I've got a couple of posts that I'm working on, but... I just have to say one thing:

ENOUGH!!!!

I don't care what John Karr ate or drank on a 15 hour flight from Thailand to LAX. I don't care that he had visited a sex-change clinic in Thailand. I don't care that he waived his extradition rights. I DON'T CARE.

I'm sorry that a little girl was beaten and murdered almost ten years ago. Really, I am. And, if Karr actually did kill JonBenet, then he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If he's lying about all of it, then he should be put away in a nice hospital in a rubber room with all of the best in psychopharmaceuticals (evidently like his mother was).

But, when it all comes down to it, all of the MSM outlets are cheapening their already shaky creds by going John Karr 24/7. There has to be something... anything... else to report on. Please?

I'm not sure if you've heard Abraham Cherrix's story. He's a 16-year-old young man who is battling Hodgkin's Disease. He had one round of chemotherapy, and it made him quite ill for months following the treatment. So, when doctor's recommended a more aggressive round of chemo, he said, "thanks, but... no."

His family did some research, and they found out about an alternative therapy not available in the United States. They took him to Mexico for the treatment. A social worker found out about this and asked a juvenile court to step in and order conventional treatment for him. Unfortunately, the judge agreed, found his parents negligent, and ordered him to have the chemo.

An Appeals Court judge suspended the order and ordered a new trial. Now, his family's attorney and social services have reached an agreement. According to the agreement, Abraham will be under a care of a oncologist who uses conventional radiation therapy and is interested in alternative treatments, and his parents are in no way negligent in his care.

This story really got to me. The parents were not negligent- they didn't just leave him in bed to die. They sought out different treatment options when the first option made him sicker than the disease it was trying (unsuccessfully) to treat. No, I'm not saying that I'm all for alternative medicine in every instance- it works sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't. And I also know that clinical trials and alternative treatments can save lives.

Yes, I know that social workers see far too many people who don't know the first thing about taking care of their children, or who don't even want to try to take care of them. There are definitely times when there needs to be intervention- abuse, true neglect, life-threatening living conditions. This wasn't one of those situations. Not even close.

In the end, it's the parents' responsibility, NOT social services' or some judge's, to look after the medical needs of their children. Abraham's parents did the research. They knew the risks. And they made the choice they felt was best for their son. I'm just glad that they were able to reach an agreement so that they could seek the treatment they wanted to for their child.

This morning a flight from London to DC was diverted to Boston for "security reasons." First we heard that a female passenger was claustrophobic and, well, freaked out. Then we heard that the female passenger had a few questionable items on her person (a screwdriver, a jar of Vaseline, some matches, and a note about Al Qaida). Then we heard that she didn't have any of that stuff, and she was just claustrophobic.

And yet, sniffer dogs are going through every piece of luggage on the runway. Interesting, no?

No, I don't know what happened on the plane. Obviously, the spokesperson for Logan doesn't have a clue, either.

Tell this woman that her silicone breast implants are bad for her health. She'll beg to differ with you on that one.

One Israeli woman has received an unexpected boost from her breast implants during the Lebanon war -- the silicone embeds saved her life during a Hezbollah rocket attack, a doctor said.

Well, it looks like if it's not a video of something blowing up in the Middle East, then the MSM isn't covering it today. So... here's some of the stuff I found...

• 58 sausages in 10 minutes... and he wants a doggie bag...
  
• Baby Pandas... even BIG panda babies... aren't very cute... maybe when their fur grows in or something... (and, evidently, there are "a lot" of Panda babies being born right now... cool!)
  
• In a move that could almost be seen as sane, Mayor Daley (of Chicago... is there a Mayor Daley anywhere else?) has said that he may veto the idiotic "living wage" bill passed by the city council.
  
• Cynthia McKinney says that people know what kind of representation they'll get in Washington if she's re-elected... which is why her opponent is doing so well in the polls...
  
• Joe Lieberman's web site is down this morning- the day of the Connecticut primary... coincidence? I don't think so...
  
• Grace Jones is still a scary, scary woman... "Smurf gone wrong"... that's just funny...
  
• Speaking of scary women... The Dixie Chicks have canceled 14 shows in the US... maybe because of stuff like this. No, Natalie, you weren't drunk- you were stupid. Still are...
  
• Eleven Egyptian students flew into JFK last month for a seminar have... uh... disappeared. This can't be a good thing...
  
• Only 138 shopping days until Christmas.
• 4-year-old conjoined twins separated in Utah.
  
• Delay stays on the ballot... which I think the GOP in Texas could use as a good thing, if they work it right. UPDATE: N'er mind.
  
• Hundreds gather to watch a flower bloom. Some people have entirely too much time on their hands...
  
• Giant Manatee wanders up the Hudson River. Is her name Barbara?
  
• Proof that parallel parking is evil.
  
• Israeli soldiers want to freeze... uh... assets... in case of tragedy... which makes perfect sense, under the circumstances.
  

OK... that's it... back to the explosions...

UPDATE: FoxNews justt said that Lieberman's campaign can't even use their e-mail, and they're going to the Attorney General. I think the idjit Lamont supporters who hacked Lieberman's site just did Lamont in. Seriously. Democrats in Connecticut who might have stayed home today just might go to the polls this afternoon because they don't want someone who has supporters like these dingbats to represent them in the Senate. Way to go, morons!

I got these from my mom. Some are old, but... they're always good...

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.

The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.

The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.

The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah".

The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?"

The little girl replied, "Then you ask him".

A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work.

As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was.

The girl replied, "I'm drawing God."

The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like."

Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl: replied, "They will in a minute."

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds.

After explaining the commandment to "honor" thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?"

Without missing a beat one little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, "Thou shall not kill."

One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head.

She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?"

Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white."

The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said, "Momma, how come ALL of grandma's hairs are white?"

The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture.

"Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer, she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael, He's a doctor.'

A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher, she's dead."

A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, she said, "Now, class, if I stood on my head, the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in the face."

"Yes," the class said.

"Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn't run into my feet?"

A little fellow shouted,
"Cause your feet ain't empty."

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray:

"Take only ONE. God is watching."

Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.

A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples."

... how our military can keep such high moral going when the pundits and celebrity types are constantly knocking them down, it's because they have men such as Lieutenant Colonel Randolph White training and leading them. (Blackfive has a link to the entire video, but, if you just want a little nibble to see if it's worth it- and it is- check here). Here's a little bit of what he had to say during a US Army Infantry Graduation Ceremony:

I FOR ONE WILL NEVER...EVER... APOLOGIZE FOR BEING AN AMERICAN AND DON'T YOU EVER FEEL THAT YOU HAVE TO. WE'RE NOT PERFECT BUT I CAN THINK OF NO PLACE BETTER. WE DIDN'T BECOME THE GREAT COUNTRY THAT WE ARE BY ACCIDENT....WE EARNED IT! ---- AND WHILE WE WERE AT IT--- WE KEPT AND CONTINUE TO KEEP A LARGE PORTION OF THE WORLD FREE. AMERICAN BLOOD AND SACRIFICE IS THE INDISPUTABLE PART OF THE WORLD EQUATION. MORE PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD ARE TRYING TO COME TO OUR SHORES THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY. WE REMAIN THE BEACON OF HOPE FOR MANY, AND GOD WILLING IT WILL ALWAYS BE SO. WE'RE NUMBER 1...DON'T APOLOGIZE FOR IT – BE DAMN PROUD OF IT!

There... that's just to get you interested. Go watch and/or read the whole thing... VERY worth it.

Is it a bad thing when your back pain even invades your dreams? Just thought I'd ask...

In case you were wanting a little something to warp wrap your brain around today, I give you The Tenth Dimension. (h/t to Serena at Delft's place) Click on "Imagining the Ten Dimensions" in the navigation bar... sit back... and watch.

An infinite number of infinities comprise a point in the tenth dimension... and they almost make it make sense... wow...

There's a restaurant in North Versailles, PA (near Pittsburgh) that has the standard sign outside. You know the kind- it has the slots for letters, so you can publicize the weekly specials or whatever. Well, Casa D'Ice does things a little differently. (Warning- not PC, not the kind of language I'd want to hear around my grandmother - or mother, for that matter, and I don't agree with all of the signs.) I'm just trying to figure out how in the world Bill what's-his-name gets away with it. Check 'em out... some of them are pretty funny. (h/t to Ian at the Inoperable Terran)

So... I haven't been posting lately... besides the Middle East insanity and Iran, there's just not much going on right now. Ya know?

So, I did my MTV post, only to turn around and say, "uh... no more posts today"... I'm going to get turned into a pin cushion later this morning. Big fun. Really.

Twenty-five years ago today, I was getting ready to enter the 7th grade. And some little cable channel started up.

25 years ago? Couldn't be... could it?