Death Penalty

I was reading a New York Times article last week which said that in an effort to cut costs, many states including Maryland, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and New Hampshire are rethinking their death penalty laws and have bills pending seeking to repeal the death penalty. The article went on to say that economic realities have forced even longtime supporters of the death penalty, like Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico to rethink their positions.

Ok, to paraphrase this position, it seems to go something like this "We used to kill people as a punishment for killing people because we do not like people killing people so we killed people to try and stop the killing but we don't do that anymore because it costs too much." I think I have that right.

Hmmmm, a pity as it was such a successful and well thought out program.

I do not see Texas on the list (by the way, New Hampshire has the death penalty?) and somehow I don't think they will ever stop.

"I hope he fails"

Rather than be gracious and wish our new President the best of luck, that is what recently came out of the mouth of hate radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh. Says it all.

I was reading that in the absence of any leadership in the Republican party, that this toxic, ethically challenged person is now the defacto leader of the party. Fine with me.

Library

My older boy who is 12 years old, "Computer Boy", is an avid reader and likes to spend time at the library so I end up taking him there a few times a week.

Our library is small and the parking lot circles the building on all sides except the rear. The city is building a much larger library and construction is to start in a few weeks.

As I was in the library the other day, I was reading a notice that because of the upcoming construction, the parking lot on the west side of the building would be closed for some time but that library patrons could use the high school parking lot if the north and east lots fill up. The high school lot adjoins the east lot and is separated by the east lot only by a sidewalk. Frankly, the high school lot is actually closer to the front door of the library than some areas of the west lot. No problem, I thought. Thanks for letting us know, I guess. Then I read the last part of the notice which indicated that the library anticipates and is prepared to deal with complaints regarding the "parking situation".

My first reaction was to question just who would complain. This would probably affect only a few people who might have to walk a couple more steps (crossing the sidewalk that adjoins the school and east library lot) to get to the front door of the library. Then I thought about it some more, sobered up a little and it hit me that this really could get out of hand.

I considered volunteering with the library so that I could have the perverse pleasure of taking any complaint call regarding the "parking situation" but on second thought, I thought that this would probably not be a very good idea.

Mickey Rourke

How do you completely change your appearance like that? This is bizarre.

How much plastic surgery does that take? Age, alcohol and donuts are not enough to do that.

Dude, who are you?

Casual Fridays

I have noticed this for years but I must say that based on a co-worker who just walked by in jeans, tennis shoes and a black Harley t-shirt, that casual Fridays are REALLY casual.

As to any questions as to what I wear on Fridays, I wear the same kind of stuff that I wear Monday through Thursday. Yep, a perty pooper.

Drug News

Today in drug news, ARod threw his cousin under the bus telling the world that his cousin introduced him to steroids and that he did not know what he was being injected with but apparently his dastardly cousin did. You gotta watch out for those cousins. ARod should know this.

Elsewhere in drug news, Larry Izzo from the New England Patriots (never heard of him) has been added as a witness in the criminal case against Barry Bonds. Ok, I see we are crossing over into other sports on this witness list. Who is next? Kurt Angle? Can we cross over to entertainment? Sylvester Stallone? Steven Adler? I realize the last guy has a whole different type of drug problem but when I hear the words "drug abuse" that is the first name that comes to mind. Sorry.

Yet elsewhere in drug news, Miguel Tejada who is being prosecuted for lying to Congress about his use of steroids, apologized to his teammates today and among other things offered the following statement as a defense: "It's part of this country." I don't quite know what to do with this statement so I will leave it undisturbed in all of it's pursuasive glory.

Until next time.

Peanuts

Now if those owners of the Peanut Corporation of America really knowingly sold a dangerous product to the general public, then they should be bailed out to the tune of several billion dollars by the Federal Government and....

Whoops! Hold on. Wrong industry.

Forget it.

Lottery

I am not much for judging others on their appearance but have you ever been in line at the gas station or convenience store and seen somebody buying lottery tickets that did not appear that they absolutely needed to win the thing. Yea, me neither.

A tax on the poor, no doubt.

ARod

It is funny. One thing that you constantly hear in relation to ARod's pursuit of the all time home run record is some variation of the following: "Yes, he is insecure, self-centered, not a team player, not 'clutch', a philanderer etc. He is all of those things but everybody knows that he has never taken steroids and is 'clean'. We know that."

I never lost sleep over it but would always think, "How do you know?"

Now we know.

Michael Phelps

Ok, so there is a picture plastered all over the internet of Michael Phelps smoking out of a bong at what appears to be a house party. I sure hope it was good stuff as this likely will cost him millions of dollars in endorsements.

What I want to know is how Phelps lets the guy/gal who snapped the picture out of the house without buying the camera or cell phone or getting the film if it was an old school camera.

Give him your stash if he wants it. Better yet, give him a gold medal or something.