A sad story

This is a REALLY sad story of an incident that happened inside a Wal-Mart.
We are not able to tell you which sad story of it is and the real names of the people because of the privacy. DO NOT DELETE!!!!! MYSPACE IS TRACKING THIS!!!!!!!!!!

OK, this is a hoax. Some stupid, brain dead person thought it would be cute to see how many sheep would repost his lie. Even more sad is the fact that this is a recycled hoax - it was originally AOL that was going to be generous. I suppose that because myspace keeps track of when someone reads a message you sent them makes it look feasible that they could track it - but these were posted in the bulletin space, not the email system.

Do the world a favor, do what I do -- when you see something like this go to Snopes.com and check it out first. Don't make me come and get you...

Kennedy's for Barack

(and I don't mean the former MTV personality)

It looks as though the entire Kennedy clan is coming out in support of Barack Obama. This is little surprise to me - I mean, think about it. Before the Clinton's came into power, who was the big dynasty over shadowing the Democratic Party? Yes, our friends the Kennedy's - who since the rise of the Clinton's have been increasingly marginalized in the political realm, even while more Kennedy's get involved in national politics. So, by throwing their weight behind the only real competition to the Clinton's, their hoping to knock them out, while obligating Obama to themselves, and perhaps setting up the next generation of Kennedy's for the big chair.

Stay Tuned...

Real Love

I'm reading the paper today, and in the obituaries is a unique listing - a husband and wife dual listing. Married for over 60 years, they die within 16 hours of each other. He loved his wife so much and so long, when she left he followed.

I'd like to hope me and my missus can last that long.

Do I work today? I hope so. God, I hope so.

Not exactly a earth shattering statement is it - I mean, how many times do you say "God I" something. The concept of another level above us helping us out is ingrained in all of us. Of course, there are those folks that have attempted to purge those feelings from themselves. Which is why I find it ironic when a self-pronounced atheist invokes the name of God.

Don't you? God, I hope so...

Something everyone should read...

This comes a lot more sincerely from a woman's point of view...

Can’t Drive, But Hey! There’s a Strong Sense of Family

The return of Slick Willie

Apparently, democratic leaders have been asking Bill Clinton to tone down his adversarial rhetoric against his wife's opponents. They're afraid of him damaging the party, but what they don't realize is, he's worried about damaging his gravy train. He's invested a great deal of political capital in his wife's run for the white house. If she doesn't win, there is a very good possibility that he will suddenly become irrelevant - and no one pays huge sums of money to listen to someone who is irrelevant. If she wins though, he suddenly becomes Mr Popularity - the man with the president's ear. There was a lot of criticism during his term in office that they were "co-presidents" - you want to bet the same thing happens again.

I'm less afraid of him damaging the party, as I am them damaging the rest of us...

Is it worth it anymore?

This weekend, we drove all the way across town (in the freezing cold) so we could pay $24 to see a really big DLP projector show "The Pirates who don't do Anything" on a screen with a lot of annoying spots on it. 6-8 months from now, I'll drive a few miles to the Walmart, buy the DVD for about $14, put it in the changer hooked up to a smaller DLP projector - and we'll watch it again on a screen that doesn't have spots on it, there won't be a guy snoring behind us...

And we won't pay $15 for soda and popcorn.

Mr. Mom

OK, so I'm almost 2 weeks into my third stint as Mr. Mom, and there's nothing much to mention. My first stint, when Laura was 2, was after Sangamon laid me off. I'd been there for 8 years, I'd just got my 3 weeks vacation - and they offered 1 week pay for each year you'd been employed - so I got 3 month worth of paid job hunting, then another 6 months courtesy of the unemployment insurance. In the end, I never really found anything that paid me more than the babysitter cost, so I stayed home for a couple of years. Then Laura went to kindergarten, and I went back to work. So I'm doing my thing, then the new manager at OfficeMax decided to bring his own guy in, so I was out (and so was his guy about 3 weeks later -- drunk at work too many times). So I was back home for the next 6 months -- I didn't actually plan it that way, but it was fortunate to find a job just as the unemployment ran out. This time, I actually chose to Mr. Mom myself - it actually came down to the babysitter costing too much, so it was better off for me to stay home. I'm still working on Saturdays, and if they need something special done -- when Alex finally starts school full time, maybe I'll go back working full time.

But for now I'm a stay at home dad again...

Raising Sand

First of all, I really dig this album. This is one of those things that just keeps growing on it the more you listen to it. OK, so I've always loved Alison's work (hometown girl done real good -- I'm stretching it a bit I suppose, she was born in Decatur, but grew up outside of Champaign -- close enough), but this was something different for her. It was a lot different for Led Zeppelin front man Robert Plant, but the two of them were simply fantastic. Anyhow, watch this for some info on the collaboration...

catching up

So I'm eating breakfast this morning before coming in to work (a story deserving a post of it's own), and I'm looking through Thursday's paper (I hadn't gone outside yet to get todays, and Friday's was in my truck). I usually look at the front page to see what new stupidity the governor or the Decatur city council have come up with, before heading to the editorial page to see if any of my fellow citizens have put pen to paper to prove that they too could be governor - or at least on the Decatur city council (although to be fair, most letters to the editor seem to be well intentioned and thought out - only a few come from the outer fringes of reason). Then to take the edge off, I look through the comics page and the obit's.

Like I said, I'm reading Thursday's paper, and there is an editorial from some Washington Post guy warning us before the fact that the Iowa Caucases weren't a true reflection of what's going on in the country. The democrats the vote are more organized - union, blue collar, teachers -- the republicans more fundamentalist and religious. Not at all like us normal Americans. But here's the thing, if there are any groups in this country that are more pandered to, then quickly forgotten about than these groups, I'd like to know who they are. The author of the editorial says the democrats that vote in the caucus are more liberal than most, and the republicans more fundamentalist, and that the New Hampshire primary is a more accurate telling. Yeah, you're average New Hampshire voter is probably more liberal than the most extreme Iowan around.

I heard in the news this morning that polls have Obama and Hillary running neck and neck, maybe Iowans know something the Washington post doesn't...

Is there no escape?

Here it is, the Iowa caucus, and the assumed next leader of the free world doesn't just "not win", she comes in third. The winner is a black man -- in Iowa no less. On the republican side, a guy most people still know nothing about wins -- and the biggest name (Guliani) doesn't even come close. This is huge news -- until Britney does something else really stupid. Now all we can do is wonder what nutty thing she's done this time.

I think, someone needs to chain her up in a basement somewhere, just like from the movie "Ruthless People", and keep her there until she starts behaving like a human adult instead of some spoiled alien child.

We can hope, can't we?