This one brings back memories of Armadillo nights.....
Willie - 1969
One year later......Lawyers in lust
And circa 1940, prior to her "George Washington" makeover.....you'll need some help with this one:
From "Girls Gone Wild - Kennebunkport", W's momma, a rather hot lookin' Barbara Bush! Were Slick Willie to lay eyes on this one, I can just imagine the gears in his brain going into motion.........

News flash. Suicide note found in Barbaro's stall. Apparently the early reports of his euthanization were premature....... Probably only the older readers will get the "Wilbur/Mr.Ed" reference, or was that "Francis"? Anyway, using the Mr. Ed angle and jumping him ahead to the website era for Barbaro, as much as I'm tempted to take this one spiraling to the earth in flames and ending up in a heap of degradation, I think I'll defer to the horse lovers and not become a horses *** here. So whip me and ride me, baby.........
In the interest of good investigative writing, I initially thought I'd look into sites with information on perpetuating the pony's bloodline. Great buckets of horse splooge! This is mostly pony porn disguised as scientific research. This boy hit the Waaaaay TMI wall on coming out of the first turn...just as I was passing "The Teaser", with the "Dummy Mare" coming up on the inside. I'd consider going back to motorcycles after this, but the last one of those I had, threw me to the pavement and mounted ME! I think I'll stick to my mountain bike or walk, thank you - and leave this subject alone......wouldn't want to commit Funnycide.

I've said before, I don't own a gun. Don't need one......so far anyway. I have had several, and I was taught to use them. Push comes to shove and the shelves at the Kroger go bare, and I just can't catch a fish to put on the table, and I need to bag a rabbit or two for a stew, I'll pick up a .22 and I'll teach the boys how to use it and we'll eat. Meantime, I'd just rather not have one laying around. Now with that said, I certainly am not a gun control nut by any means. To each his own. You want to teach your kid to hunt and skin and he/she'd rather do that than ride a bike or play ball on the weekends, far out, just aim the other way(away from the house), and store the cannon away in a safe place when you're finished playing with it. Don't want a dirt dobber buildin' a nest in there......I've seen what a twelve gauge barrel will do when you unknowingly test the immovable object-irresistable force theory......
Anyway, for all of this little mini-pontification on guns, all I intended to do was write a lead-in for showing a funny tee shirt photo I found........

I have been approached by my boss about taking a three month assignment in Mumbai, India. I'm leaning to something more along the lines of three WEEKS maybe, but certainly not three months! I doubt I could take being away from my boys and wife that long. The wife tried very innocently to attempt to urge me to consider it, by the way, but I know what her angle is: three months of beauty rest and sleep - without my snoring to loosen the window panes and her fillings.....

At any rate, I am looking at some options here. My boss is Indian by birth. I like him. I have many Indian friends and coworkers whom I like as well. I have always wanted to travel to India, despite being warned that I would not like it. We'll see what happens. I'm also getting the basic redneck admonition that I'd just be training "those people" to take our jobs. Personally, I don't see it that way. It is inevitable that the outsourcing will continue and even increase. There are plenty of arguments for and against it, which I'll not even go into here, but it is a new way of doing business in a mobile,global,cyber based world, and in the long run, I think it's a far more reasonable approach to accept it and fight for our own piece of the action, than to resist and be left on the side of the road with our thumb in the air...... Anyway, I'll close this with a photo I swiped from a Powerpoint "Demotivational" series which I found funny and poignant, and will send to anyone who contacts me thru "contact M.A." and asks for it. Peace!

Up front, let me say, my job is just fine - as jobs go. Yes I know if I had studied harder or shown some more drive and creativity at a younger age, I might be retired now and on the beach sipping iced tea in Progresso under a palm tree this afternoon, writing something completely different...... But for now, I have managed to settle in a job that I am at worst, competent at, and rewarded quite well for my services. I work with good people - friends even, who lured me here from another good job, based on having worked with me in the past.
But while life is smiling on my nine to five today, that hasn't always been the case. I have had some other really cool jobs over the years mind you, but boy have I wandered in to a few that were stinkers from the git-go. Sometimes I did a quick u-turn and regrouped elsewhere. A few others though found me in a really sh****, thankless, job that for whatever reason, I NEEDED, and could not afford to just say "**** this" and hike out at the drop of a hat(or hammer, or broom). People were depending on me and I stuck it out - didn't like it, but I did it.

This one is for those who find themselves in such a situation or who were ever in such a spot. I stumbled across a site called disgruntledworkforce.com recently. Actually, it is a sound off forum for folks to use to vent, sound-off, and anonymously air their frustrations about their jobs. What follows, is just the one at the top of the website today, but for some more and a chuckle or just to co-miserate or reminisce about the "bad old days" take a look here: http://www.disgruntledworkf... target='_blank'>Disgruntledworkforce.com


Just Show Me Your Damn Ticket
By Mr. Disgruntled
Dear football fans,

For the love of everything holy, please go easy on me. Personally, I don’t give 2 craps whether you have your ticket with you or not. I don’t care whether you bought a ticket and legitimately entered the stadium, or whether you and your beer-drinking buddies managed to break into the place.

However, for the time being, I need this job. And, as instructed by the higher-ups, my job is to ask for patron’s tickets, and to check them before the patrons go down to their seats.

I could definitely stand to do without the constant complaining, backtalking, eye rolling, sighing, and the like. Just pull your damn ticket out of your pocket, quickly show me, go down to your seat, and we will both move on with our lives. Most days, it’s cold as ****, and I’m already freezing and miserable. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t feel the need to needlessly hassle me and add to my misery.

Go Chicago Bears,
"Gabe" (usher, Soldier Field, Chicago)

I was on a road up in northern Alberta, Canada once upon a time, north of Fort McMurray, that ended in a similar fashion. When I asked someone "what if I want to go farther?", I was told: Four wheel drive, float plane or wait until September when the rivers freeze and become roads north.

Ever tried to cast your line and bait out and hit a ten inch hole??

I got an e-mail from my sweet sister-in-law yesterday. In the Norske newsletter, she mentioned that my Bro-in-law and nephew were off to go ice fishing this weekend. I've done a bit of that. My first experience resulted in a Hi 8 tape that was submitted to AFV and subsequently never seen again........ Each time I drive out on Taylor Lake or White Bear Lake though, I always play the southern dufus part when they hand me that little foot and a half long rod and reel(I say reel for lack of a better word). I then ask how they expect me to cast the damn thing, let alone expect me to actually hit that BIG TEN INCH hole that's already started to freeze over again since I was too busy sampling the brandy bottle sitting on the tailgate, rather than using the cat litter scoop to dip the new ice off the small bait/bobber target hole. Fact be known, I actually boated......no, make that dragged from a relatively warm watery home onto an icy alien world, a few Northern Pike , and a couple of "Sunny's" (sun perch/"piggy perch"/bait) to you serious Redfish Assassins. Come to think of it, the whole ritual of ice fishing,(and yes, I'll continue to do it when given the chance)probably comes closer to the sport of hunting with a gun, than does my beloved bay fishing with an open bale reel or a Garcia or Shimano baitcasting rig and a live well full of shrimp. My way of fishing seems much more benign and less of a personal assault on the Jesus endorsed prey than eye to eyeing a target and launching a projectile into it's heart. Maybe it's the "out of sight out of mind" factor, that kicks in as I set the hook and I am reeling that little soon to be fried, stuffed or baked booger in, that overrides the Linda McCartney mantra of "don't eat anything with a face".

Okay, I got sidetracked here, from my ice fishing/beer on the tailgate/sandwiches in the cooler to keep them from freezing story. Fact is, this year's La Nina (or El Nino, I can never remember which is which until a Cat 3 hits Palacios), has made for a bumper crop of snow in my beloved southern Rockies, and a freaky winter in the land that the northern faction of my tribe calls home. They started the winter by having to use plastic/acrylic "ice blocks" to fake it for the winter ice festival in St. Paul, and look on in dismay at the ice houses on skids and trailers in the back yard, that couldn't be deployed without pontoons on the liquid lakes while the snowboards stayed in the garage, and the hoops in the driveway were still in business at Christmas.
Looks like the worm has turned finally.
The lakes will support four wheel traffic now and the "Grumpy Old Men" culture seems to be in full swing up there. I'm happy for them. I might even look for an excuse to sneak up myself for some Minnesota skiing and a trip out onto the lake. Oh, I forgot to mention their night lights..... Okay, as with fishing anywhere, there are a variety of ways to "enjoy" ice fishing.... And it needs not be a lonely outing.....
If I don't make it, I sure hope they put aside a couple of Walleye to cook when I finally am able to make it up, or they head this way. I'm not real big on fresh water fish, but those Walleye done right, are a treat. Close as I've seen to a San Antonio Bay flounder......

From a pissy political rant to astronomy.....try to keep up here. I am working on a piece on cooking next....
This is an interesting thing I ran across on http://spluch.blogspot.com/... target='_blank'>Spulch this morning. Just a cool little tidbit on the sun's travels throughout the sky taken at the same time of the day on successive days throughout the year. Pretty neat. called an analemma, the photos were taken from the same spot at the same time of the day from August 1998 through August 1999 in the Ukraine. The story http://vrum.chat.ru/Photo/A... target='_blank'>here and some more cool astronomy photos http://vrum.chat.ru/Photo/A... target='_blank'>here enjoy!

That's right. That's what ABC's man they chose to ask, estimates that will be spent in PRIVATE financing(how convenient that the assholes aren't required to call it what it is - CORPORATE FUNDS) by the final TWO - The pachyderm and the *** chosen by their respective parties to step on and squash the Independent and Libertarian candidates on their way to the White House. A BILLION dollars American (yeah right - American)!
I am sorry, but that's obscene, and serves only to make one ask, what's in it for them?
This should at least be an entertaining race huh, based on the two leading Dems in the race so far. Let's see a former First Ball Buster with a b**** of an angry attitude, and a skinny charismatic minority kid with no appreciable public service record and a name that sounds like Borat-Osama. Makes you wonder who else their party might enter into the dog show doesn't it. Then there are the Re-pubelickers, I'm sure they are scratching their a**** trying to figure out where to even start. They have a moron in there at the moment, who could **** up a free lunch, and a slew of also rans and guys who conceded in the last couple of elections that they didn't think they could top the doofus that was already on top of the pile. While a lot of people see our electoral process entering it's finest hour, I fail to see anything beyond a big circle jerk on the horizon from where I stand.

Will someone with some balls and a backbone please step forward?

Up front, I'll tell you that I got this from Attu Saves All -though I suspect that he linked to it, and that by the time I finish this piece, it will be downloaded and re-published in more blogs than I can count on my fingers, toes and chest hairs. When I penned my yesterday blog on the 80MPH speed limit signs in west Texas, I started by titling it "My New Best Friend". Thanks to my probable adult ADHD however, I rarely finish any entry without Googling ten times(once so far in this one), checking on all of my other blog buddies, refilling my coffee two or three times, releasing the previous cups at least once, and actually working some, if I am at the office. Good thing, because when bouncing over to a friends blog, what should I find, but a blog titled "My New Best Friend". Well we can't have that can we? (I fixed it, Pat)

Now that I write words for public consumption, I have a new appreciation for plagarism, which from what I can tell, is running rampant in the worldwide community of bloggers, much as it has since man learned to communicate by whatever method he could. Soooo, that said, here is my take on it.

Simply put, if you, by duplicating others' work and claiming it as your own, for your own profit or at their expense, then shame on your ***. It's not that hard to give credit where credit is due and if you happened to find something worth re-printing, acknowledge it as such and be glad to have found it, been inspired by it and to be able to remember it as an angle, idea, or style that you might be able to adapt as part of the way you think and write. That's it - pontification session is ended.

But........now I'll be the first to tell you that in my paying day job, plagarism is not only condoned, but encouraged, and I'm all over that too. Again, I will say that original ideas, inventions and processes should be recognized and rewarded, but if we want to still be able to afford to fill up our tanks and buy plastics and heat our homes in the future, we're already fighting an uphill battle by sitting on our own oil reserves and fighting wars to get at someone elses. Reinventing the wheel on every new project and process has no place in our society anymore. The only ones trying to hide their secrets and refusing to share what will benefit the rest of us will be easy to spot. They are the ones with their hand in your pocket. Can you feel it?

Texas makes the news again! Good to see a little inclement weather on MLK Day didn't dampen the "spirits" of the Corpus Christi residents' celebration. A friend has pointed out to me that while this may appear to cast the CC folks in a bad light, this particular freeze frame may be a shot of Katrina evacuees from New Orleans..... Personally, I have a hard time buying that they would get THAT phrase THAT wrong after all, so I'm leanin' toward it was a protest march against Texas public schools in general, and Engrish teachers in particular.
In a little twist of poetic injustice, here in Houston, where many corporate offices closed for the holiday(not mine), along with Federal Buildings and schools...... trash pick-up was right on schedule all day long all over town!

An article in today's Houston Chronicle seems to accentuate the point that our legal system has become too damn technical, complex, and just plain friggin' goofy. This one comes to us from Detroit, where if I remember correctly, the term "ho" was coined. Michigan's second highest court has ruled that anyone involved in an extramarital fling can be prosecuted for first degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in prison. Huh?? Judge William Murphy wrote: "technically, any time a person engages in sexual penetration in an adulterous relationship, he or she is guilty of CSC I," the most serious sexual assault charge in Michigan's criminal code.

Now I would get technical here and point out that it should be correctly worded "he AND she", but that's not necessarily always the case these days now is it? And to be even more technical, the way the law is worded, if it happened to be a "she and she" case, I think I may just see a legal loophole in the law.....

Nice to see that the state of Michigan's legal eagles have so much time on their hands. The prosecutor who spurred this decision with a case he was trying was named Mike Cox, brother-in-law of Mike Hunt of the movie "Porky's" fame.......BTW - in November 2005, Mr. Cox confessed to an adulterous relationship.

Unretouched photo, no, really.....
Figure it out yet???

.......who lives in west Texas......dang! I sure wish he'd move to Houston....I'm sure this would bring a smile to Sammy Hagar's face. Ted Nugent, on the other hand would probably shoot it while out gunning for those mule deer his buddy Governor Goodhair promised him he could bag with impunity. C'mon Mr. Game Warden, can't you let us just get on down the road?????
Oh, for any troopers out there, does this work like the other signs, where eighty means a nice "Rocket Eighty Eight" is cool? After darkness fell, I almost got hurt out on that Texas Autobahn, when as a law abiding citizen, I backed 'er off to 65, I nearly forgot and opened the door to step out and see why the Suburban had stopped.

......and there were some black ones, some white ones, some brown ones..... And oh my god, there was Cameron Diaz! She looked like a scary clown. Good thing the lights were way up high. Definitely not someone I'd want to encounter in a dark alley or on mushrooms.

Truth is I had it on only as background noise while being otherwise entertained by my kids and pets and peeking out the door looking/wishing for a snowflake or an ice pellet. I am really not much of a TV watcher until baseball season, (or movies either for that matter). I'll catch "House" on occasion, so I was happy to see Hugh Laurie win. And yes, Betty certainly is, but Selma makes up for that!
The high point of the show though, kinda sums up the measure of importance I put on audio visual media and what I enjoy most about it....
Sally, Lightnin', 'Mater and the gang won!

Talk around here yesterday was of the impending mini ice age about to engulf us. Freeway overpasses (crucial ones to move traffic home after work last eve) were shut down and sanded early. TV remote trucks were scurrying about town, looking for the first patch of ice...... Appeared for all we could gather from the tube, that total urban paralysis was about to set in. Everyone was lining up something to do on their "snow day", and looking for something to use as a sled (I've got a couple I'd rent). Actually, a '49 Chevy hood from the junk yard works quite nicely too......

Oh well, so much for the hype. I'll admit to poking my head out the door a few times last night, looking at the thermometer, and squinting into the night sky just away from the glare of thee porch light - all the while, trying to conjure up just a flake or two, or to hear the tick of some sleet on the barbeque grill. Some of the anticipation in watching was for the kid in me, but mostly for my own kids, so I could call them to the door as soon as I saw some frozen stuff, because as for myself, just two days ago I was standing in snow bum deep on a tall Indian and driving through the glass world that is an ice storm, over in Roswell New Mexico.

Fact is though, when I awoke this morning, it was rather nice(however brisk) outside, and an anti-climactic start to the day that was supposed to be bumper car city up here. So far as I have heard, the only casualty has been at the airports. Seems the airport shuttle drivers are staying home in droves, leaving a lot of folks on the curb looking for the short bus..... I'm certain old Earl Butz would have had something to say about that, had he been waiting on one of those rides.....

As for the TV reporters, hang in there girls and boys and weathermen with two first names - theres still hope. I just saw the forecast, so don't put away the chains, salt, and ice scrapers yet. Meanwhile, I've got work to do, and I don't get paid for "snow days" and given the choice, I'd rather have my days off occur in pairs on the weekend, rather than on a Tuesday needing to be made up on my precious weekend.

Here's hoping for a sunny 70 degree day on San Antonio Bay by the weekend!

In an exchange of comments on one of the Loon's blogs, he allowed as how a New Mexico blogger had berated Ski Apache for reporting 17 inches of new snow, when he found that it was more like five. That leads me to some questions. Did he just misunderstand? Did they actually say there were seventeen "Injuns" on the new snow? Being the shrewd marketers they are, did the Apaches figure out the best way to check the snow depth was to measure the drift on the north side of the barn? Personally, I think deep powder is overrated anyway - too much work. Just give me a bunch of open trails with enough fresh raked snow to keep my skis off the rocks, and I'm fine....

As far as the "bogus" snow report allegedly designed to trick skiers into coming......... I think it's more likely a fine example of one more thing the natives learned quickly from the white man(even before fire water, slot machines and blackjack). That is how to stand there with a straight face and swear that four inches is actually eight!

Wordsmith alert!......Yep, add it gto the list. It was the http://www.americandialect.... target='_blank'>American Dialect Society choice as 2006 Word of the Year. To "pluto" is "to demote or devalue someone or something," much like what happened to the former planet last year when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided Pluto didn't meet its definition of a planet.

"Our members believe the great emotional reaction of the public to the demotion of Pluto shows the importance of Pluto as a name," said society president Cleveland Evans. "We may no longer believe in the Roman god Pluto, but we still have a sense of personal connection with the former planet."

I like it! Besides, now it gives old Mr. George Steinbrenner, emperor of the New York Yankees one more word barb in his arsenal he uses to dismiss managers. The only reason he didn't axe Joe Torre this year was because the only thing he could think of to tell him was "Joe, there's no "U" in team".......(his publicist shot it down). My guess is that if the Yanks tank it again, Joe will find himself Plutoed.......

Yeah, I know.....I stole it from Nike. But you know what? It is a phrase that speaks volumes, and in just about any setting you can imagine. I mentioned in a previous post that I am about to make a quick run for the border and a couple days of snow skiing. This trip is kind of a trademark of mine, as I mentioned before, and as a rule, I always travel with someone who has done it before with me, or if not, someone who is up for an adventure in driving. I tossed the idea out to the circle of friends that I thought might be interested in tagging along this time, but so far, have only one taker. We both had a couple of maybes on the line who finally shook the hook. Whatever. Their loss. Yeah, I'm sure they had good reasons why they declined, but I think my friend and co-worker Fred (the one going) was dead on with his assessment of the situation. He just got back from a year and change in Iraq (working, not fighting), and his approach was: hey, we only live once. I don't want to get to the end of the raod and have to look back and say "you know, I sure wish I'd done that".
Mid morning yesterday, I paid for a cabin that will accomodate six and that has a heated pool to soak in after I hammer on my knees sliding down a snow covered mountain in freezing temps all day. I'm on board, Fred's on board. The rest know when the bus leaves. Someone needs to tell them you don't stop playing because you get old. You get old because you stop playing. When I get back here Sunday, I will have covered 2000 miles driving from sea level to 11,000 ft in the Rockies. I'll have stood out in the west Texas high desert under stars so bright that one casts a shadow from their light. I'll have hung out for a couple of days with native American friends. I'll have experienced rubber legs and dizziness from running up a short flight of stairs in the thin air of the high sierra. With any luck, I'll see some elk and a stellar jay or two and will have shared my bread with a raven or two the size of snow geese.

I'll rake leaves and clean the garage another time........

Bus leaves Thursday after work - got your ticket?

Saw a bit of your Extreme Makeover - Home Edition tonight. No tears here boys........know what I think? Wonder actually.....must take a lot of cash and a really big hand to attempt to jerk off an entire continent of viewers, huh? For what? For ratings on Sunday night, that's what. For the money you spent on a dork, a hunk, and a cheerleader's salary, and the production involved in making a showcase out of a single handpicked hard luck family, you could have made a major difference in the lives of oh so many more less fortunate families. But then that wouldn't be very entertaining or much of a bump to the bottom line, now would it?

I can't wait for the next network brainchild, in your vain attempt at keeping pace with satellite/independent/substantitive, worthwhile programming. What will it be? Save-a-seal....where you rescue a single hand picked harp seal from the club of a fur trader, and do close-ups of the pup's salvation while a thousand more are harvested, fifty feet away, out of camera range? I'm not a programming expert, just an end user, but I feel like a bit of creativity on the part of the five broadcast networks with just a bit more real news reporting, some decent family/adult drama, comedies, and mysteries and a LOT less overdramatized, sensationalist oriented, unrealistic "reality" shows might just save your *** from going the way of the car hop and soda jerk....
Sorry, I'd love to rant a bit longer on this, but Desperate Hosewipes is coming on........now move the friggin' bus!

I'll tell you the mechanics first...you'll get the play by play in a couple of weeks. Current plans are for a road trip from hell/ski trip next weekend. I have one co-conspirator lined up so far, and one on the hook(I'm still open for takers for additional spots, as I plan to hijack mom's Suburban for the trip). Both have made the trip with me in the past, so there is no doubt what will ensue. You see, being an avid and competent skier, and living in a place exactly 774.3 miles from the nearest chair lift, a boy must get creative and persuasive if he is to swing a couple of budget trips to the slopes on any given year.

The schedule: leave after work Thur., and drive all night, arrive Ruidoso at daybreak/breakfast Fri. Splash mountain stream water on face - ski Fri. Shop for Native Silver jewelry Fri night for SWMBO's upcoming B-day, collapse from exhaustion, ski all day Sat. One more splash of mountain stream water on face, then drive back to the real world, arriving with any luck and weather permitting at sunrise Sunday, with just enough marbles intact to sleepwalk until time to hit the road to work on Monday.

Upside - I get to ski. Downside - if I didn't take photos, it will just seem like a dream.........

That said, I do plan to carry the camera and to document the drive and trip for a future post here. The kids are ticked because they aren't invited on this one, but I explained to them the concept of "vacation days" and every other Friday off, which permits me to pull this off without missing work and how the school district isn't exactly on board with that "flex" plan yet. Their consolation lies in the fact that on spring break, we'll be back up there in the high sierra, but as a family, and on a more relaxed schedule, and that they'll not be subjected to my rabid powderhound regimen of drive/ski, eat whatever/whenever/drive again, then crash and burn.

Bottom line....screw global warming - I'm up for another Ice Age. Nothing would make me happier than having a bumper sticker on my pickup that said "Ski Bandera"........

I'm sure there will be some contentious comments on this, and Saddam was in fact, a very bad man who deserved what he got in the end. I thought however that this look back on our own government's history with the man might shed some new light for those younger folks. It's http://slackdaddy.org//node... target='_blank'>here

Here's one to amaze the young and the old. Or not - maybe you all knew already. I had seen mangled flashlight batteries over the years. You know the black carbon crud inside that magically soaked up 1.5 volts and delivered it to the trusty scout light.... I don't recall when the other little ones, AAA & AA and also 1.5V, came along, but I do remember the square 9 volt "transistor radio" batteries when they were the power source for my transistor radio with the leather case that rode from Fannin Jr. High to Palacios, St.Joe and Patti Welder for basketball and football games. I'd listen to Ricky Nelson, Elvis, and the Beach Boys on the Oldies stations - KTSA, KILT, KEYS, and KIOX in Bay City. Actually, come to think of it, they were playing Top 40 hits of the day.... I almost forgot - I'm the "oldie" here. Sometimes I'd even put that little radio under my pillow and fall asleep listening to my music. Don't remember where I got the money for the batteries, probably sacking groceries and jacking the batts from Griffees store where I worked. But back to the batteries. Other than the flashlight batteries, they were the ones I needed, and I always assumed they were made of the same black stuff as the round ones.......not. Now for those inquiring minds that want to know, or even care, old Mikey is still taking things apart to see what's inside.......

Who'd-a-thunk-it! six 1.5 volt cells wired in series to make a niner!

Any requests for my next item to dismantle and check out?

I swear to God if they don't wind up the Gerald Ford Farewell Tour pretty soon, they might as well dig another hole on the hillside for Betty. How much can the woman take for chrissakes? With all due respect, I thought he was a pretty cool guy, for his public service, his compassion and all of his athletic endeavors(hey, he was a skier), but give it up folks. If his wife doesn't punch her last time card from the strain of flying him from city to city, she's gonna end up falling off the wagon and find herself in the "Me" Center.....

To use an erasable ball point for a week or so. Them O sixes are a real booger try to change to an O seven after screwing up the first time - dang near a do over........

.....And it affected me. Not the way I thought it might though. I think some of the viral videos I have seen and others I have chosen not to watch, but in general, the nature of what is out there, has steeled me to the point that I didn't have a problem watching the rough cell phone video of Saddam being prepared, then taunted, hanged, and finally just there - at the end of the rope, hanging lifeless and staring up as if he was just quietly watching all the goings on.

As I mentioned, I have had video clips e-mailed to me in the past, and upon reading the subject matter or disclaimer, I chose not to even open and subject myself to. Something about this was different. Call it morbid curiosity. Maybe it was wanting to see for myself that the man was actually kaput, done for, hoping that somehow it would really change what's happening to our world right now.

I don't know if it is due to getting older and mellowing a bit that gives me pause to question whether the death penalty is actually a deterrent (though on a single case basis, it obviously deters the one on the gurney of any such subsequent transgressions), but I have reached one conclusion after the Saddam trial, sentencing, and ensuing necktie party. That is that if those who choose to have a death penalty and enforce it, would do so in a similarly expedient and efficient manner as was the case in Iraq, There would be a much smaller prison population in a hurry. There would be less of an attraction to become a trial lawyer for those bent on milking the appeals system, and in reasonably short order, we would likely get some pretty telling statistics on whether the death penalty was achieving it's intended purpose.

Crimes of passion will always happen. But I think that some of those just plain mean bastards that would be just as content being a mean bastard on death row as on the streets, might actually do the math when faced with a few weeks max, left to live rather than three squares for twenty years, and a roof over their heads and always the possibility that capital punishment could be outlawed during their appeals process.

An afterthought: upon hearing how Iran is chapped over the swift sentence and punishment and their wanting to have gotten some information from him and tried him themselves, one does tend to wonder just how much information that only he was privvy to was lost when that rope snapped tight. Loon mentioned that in his blog with regard to our own governments dirty little secrets, but I am wondering just how many more caches of American greenbacks that he had buried then killed the shovel operator, still exist. My guess that there will be a few modern day Indiana Joneses taking their maps and taking their chances in the years to come.....