http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/ My online box of pictures and newspaper clippings en-us Copyright 2008 Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:39:29 -0600 Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:40:13 -0600 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.0D http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss It was a beautiful day and full of good things.... http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000094.html http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000094.html God's Blessings Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:39:29 -0600 I am not having a very nice week, emotionally. Everything is bugging me. I am being bitten by the anxiety bug. It is biting me hard. This morning I was up at 5 and decided to do some laundry. I had some white wash rags that are new and fresh out of the package. I use them for cleaning around the building. I washed them with my nice colored towels and now there are little pieces of white lint on my colored towels. That pissed me off but still all in all it's a beautiful morning and I'm praying for a wonderful day!... http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000093.html http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000093.html God's Blessings Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:26:26 -0600 Yikes! Here we have again demonstrated to us that we are stupid for not opening up diplomatic relations with the Cubans. Now we are forced to deal with another Cuban-Russian mixup that could have disastrous consequences for all of us. The Russians are pissed because the U.S. has some bozo dream plan for building a missile shield for western Europe. Russia sees the shield as a threat and is responding to it by renewing their long range nuclear bomber runs over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. These practice runs make the Pentagon nervous even though Russia has no intention of reviving the era of MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction). Russia is no longer a military superpower but they are still a formidable force and they are still a nuclear power and they want respect, even if they don't deserve it. Bush's plan for a missile shield is bogus and it needs to be scrapped. The Europeans need to kiss and make peace with the Russians and the Russians need to make peace with the Chinese and the Chinese need to make peace with Taiwan. If everyone would just make more of an effort to get along we wouldn't have to spend so much money on defense... And in the end, all of this drama between nations appears to be designed and created to ensure continuous massive expenditures on defense..and the richer get richer.... http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000092.html http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000092.html Politics Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:33:08 -0600 "Talk is suddenly heating up that John McCain might name his vice presidential partner in the next few days. Sources tell CNN there have been recent discussions high in the campaign of doing so. But there are also a bunch of other ideas on the table: hold off until after Barack Obama has named his V.P. pick, or have McCain name his running mate after the Democratic convention. Campaign sources say all these options have been discussed, but no decisions have been made." ========== I suspect that this is total made up bullshit.... http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000091.html http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000091.html Politics Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:09:35 -0600 LOS ANGELES (AP) - Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 84. Getty, who suffered from advanced dementia, died at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday at her Hollywood Boulevard home, said her son, Carl Gettleman of Santa Monica.... http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000090.html http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000090.html Obituaries Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:29:56 -0600 http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000089.html http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000089.html Travel & Places Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:41:43 -0600 Harvey Korman, the award-winning comedic actor who rose to fame playing second banana to Carol Burnett on her television variety series and who starred in hit movies like "Blazing Saddles" and "High Anxiety," died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 81. The cause was complications from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm four months ago, his family said in a statement released by the University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center. A tall man known for his outlandish characterizations, Korman was nominated for seven Emmys for his television work and won four. He also was nominated for four Golden Globe awards, winning one. "Everything he did on 'The Carol Burnett Show,' especially the Mother Marcus character, was a special favorite," his daughter, Katherine Korman, said in an interview on Thursday. Mother Marcus, which he played in drag, "was a Yiddish grandmother based on his own real-life grandmother," she said. Korman also considered Hedley Lamarr, his role in the 1974 film "Blazing Saddles," as one of his favorites, she said.... http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000088.html http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000088.html Obituaries Fri, 30 May 2008 05:00:27 -0600 http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000087.html http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000087.html Music Videos Wed, 21 May 2008 17:49:21 -0600 May 21, 2:07 AM EDT By DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- Television's news networks brought all of their punditry and electronic firepower to the Democratic presidential primary coverage on Tuesday, but left viewers yearning for the simplest of things. Say, a reporter with a microphone who could walk into a bar in rural Kentucky and ask some voters what was on their minds. The night of political water-treading - commentators who had already declared the Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton race over were declaring it again after the Kentucky and Oregon primaries - did little to repair the campaign's punditry disconnect. "It's another one of those split-screen nights," MSNBC's Chris Matthews said shortly before the networks called Oregon for Obama. Clinton's victory in Kentucky was massive, a "severe drubbing" in Fox News Channel anchor Brit Hume's estimation, and exit polls showed the clear problem Obama had in attracting the votes of working class, white Democrats. "The overall message here has been no more race and yet he is losing," said Fox commentator Juan Williams. When they addressed the subject, TV talkers spent much of their time debating whether this could change for the general election. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Harold Ford theorized that Obama had spent little time courting these voters, and offered suggestions on how to do it. What was missing was any real attempt by the networks to find out directly from these voters what their misgivings were, and why they came to the polls to express those feelings despite being told that the nomination fight was essentially done. "Some have said the campaign is over, your votes don't matter," Clinton told a Kentucky rally, in a part of her speech Tuesday that drew one of the strongest responses from the audience. "You know our political process is about more than candidates running or the pundits chattering." Fox News cut away from her speech before its end to return to commentating. "I'm not sure who that works with," Matthews said of Clinton's reasoning. Clinton had used the faces of Matthews and NBC News' Keith Olbermann and Tim Russert this past week in an Oregon ad chiding the media for obsessing about the political horse race. Commentators also have been second-guessed for essentially writing off John McCain last year and nearly burying Clinton after her January loss in Iowa. Because of his prominence, Russert's declaration after the Indiana and North Carolina primaries that Obama was now the Democratic nominee was seen as a pivotal moment in the media closing the window on Clinton's candidacy. He didn't back down on Tuesday. "The pool (of up-for-grabs delegates) now is minimal, and there's no way you can go into that pool and find enough votes to get you over the top," Russert said. "Everyone knows that." CNN's Gloria Borger likened Clinton's chances to those of a meteor falling out of the sky. Her colleague, Jeffrey Toobin, said he found it interesting that Clinton's poll numbers hadn't diminished despite so much... http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000086.html http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000086.html Politics Wed, 21 May 2008 17:44:33 -0600 By Jason Szep Mon May 19, 2008 2:47am EDT BROCKTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) - They enter through a broken first-floor window each night to sleep on a moldy bed in the abandoned four-family house at 827 Main Street, part of a new generation of squatters emboldened by America's housing foreclosure crisis.... http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000085.html http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000085.html Mon, 19 May 2008 06:28:50 -0600 May 15 01:43 PM US/Eastern By LISA LEFF Associated Press Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - In a monumental victory for the gay rights movement, the California Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage Thursday in a ruling that would allow same-sex couples in the nation's biggest state to tie the knot. Domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage, the justices ruled 4-3 in an opinion written by Chief Justice Ron George. Outside the courthouse, gay marriage supporters cried and cheered as news spread of the decision. "Our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation," the court wrote. The city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples and gay rights groups sued in March 2004 after the court halted San Francisco's monthlong same-sex wedding march. "Today the California Supreme Court took a giant leap to ensure that everybody—not just in the state of California, but throughout the country—will have equal treatment under the law," said City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who argued the case for San Francisco.... http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000084.html http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000084.html Politics Thu, 15 May 2008 11:55:58 -0600 May 10 11:09 AM US/Eastern The world's largest steel group ArcelorMittal said Saturday it has finalised the 810 million dollar (525 million euro) sale of a plant in the United States to Russian steelmaker Severstal. It was ordered to dispose of the Sparrows Point plant in Baltimore, Maryland, by US authorities as a condition for their clearance of Mittal Steel's acquisition of Arcelor last year. A deal to sell Sparrows Point to US companies Esmark and Whelling-Pittsburgh failed at the end of last year when financing fell through. ArcelorMittal has lodged a complaint with the New York state supreme court, seeking more than 540 million dollars in compensation over an August 2007 agreement to sell for 1.35 billion dollars. The facility, with more than 3,000 employees, has an annual capacity of 3.9 million tonnes. Copyright AFP 2008, AFP stories and photos shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium... http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000083.html http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000083.html Business & Finance Sat, 10 May 2008 09:56:25 -0600 May 10 11:31 AM US/Eastern By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The cost of mailing a letter goes up a penny to 42 cents on Monday, the latest in what are expected to be annual price adjustments by the Postal Service. A new law regulating the post office makes it easier to raise rates as long as the agency doesn't exceed the rate of inflation. Rates are to be adjusted each May. But the post office also has introduced a way for people to save money when the price goes up, the Forever stamp, which remains valid for first-class postage regardless of any increases. With the rate increase approaching, sales of the Forever stamp reached 64 million-a-day in April, postal officials said. Forever stamps currently sell for 41-cents, but can be used after the rate increase without any additional postage. However, when the rate goes up, so does the price of Forever stamps. Unlike the Forever stamps, other 41-cent stamps will require additional postage under the new rates, and postal officials said they printed an additional 1.5 billion 1-cent stamps in anticipation of the demand. Also, for the first time the agency has stamps available at the new rate before the change takes effect. A set of five 42-cent stamps honoring pioneering journalists went on sale in April, as did a set of four stamps featuring the American flag flying at different times of day. A 42-cent stamp featuring singer and actor Frank Sinatra will be released Tuesday. The increase comes just a week after the post office announced it had a loss of $700 million in the second quarter of the fiscal year, blamed largely on declining mail volume and rising fuel prices. While the charge for the first ounce of a first-class letter rises to 42 cents, the price of each added ounce will remain 17 cents, so a two-ounce letter will go up a penny to 59 cents. The cost to mail a post card will also go up a penny, to 27 cents. Other rates set for Monday: —Large envelope, 2 ounces, $1, up 3 cents. —Money Orders up to $500, $1.05, unchanged. —Certified mail, $2.70, up 5 cents. —First-class international letter to Canada or Mexico, 72 cents, up 3 cents. —First-class international letter to other countries, 94 cents, up 4 cents. —Priority mail flat-rate envelope, $4.75, up 25 cents. —Express mail flat-rate envelope, $16.50, up 25 cents. But, the Postal Service said that overall prices for Express Mail, its overnight service, will be lower at the weights and in the delivery zones used by most customers. And Express mail and Priority mail customers can save money simply buying postage online, the agency said. Express mail customers will receive 3 percent off the published retail prices and Priority mail customers will save an average 3.5 percent. In Los Angeles, Stamps.com said it has released new software which will include discounts on Express and Priority mail for customers buying postage through its Internet... http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000082.html http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000082.html Business & Finance Sat, 10 May 2008 09:54:36 -0600 Body left on toilet as others prayed for her By JESSE GARZA and ERIN RICHARDS jgarza@journalsentinel.com Posted: May 10, 2008 The discovery of the decaying corpse of a 90-year-old woman in a Necedah house led to criminal charges Friday and an account of a "religious community" praying that she be brought back to life. The corpse had been on a toilet for more than two months, according to a criminal complaint filed in Juneau County. A man and woman instructed her two children to pray for a miracle that would bring life back to the corpse, according to the complaint. Tammy D. Lewis, 35, who calls herself "Sister Mary Bernadette," and 57-year-old Alan A. Bushey, known as "Bishop John Peter Bushey," each were charged with two counts of causing mental harm to a child, party to a crime, in connection with the death of Magdeline Alvina Middlesworth. Lewis' 12-year-old and 15-year-old children lived in the house and were there when a Juneau County sheriff's deputy arrived and found the body Wednesday in the home's bathroom. The deputy had been sent to check on Middlesworth's welfare.... http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000081.html http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000081.html Obituaries Sat, 10 May 2008 09:32:00 -0600 By PATRICK GALLAHUE, JOHN MAZOR and SYLVIA HARVEY May 8, 2008 -- Don't let the bedbugs swipe! The blood-sucking insects aren't just living with New Yorkers at home - they're on the subways, too, according to one of the city's leading bedbug authorities. At a recent Department of Housing, Preservation and Development forum on the subject, a city bedbug educator admitted to seeing the pests on benches in subway stations - in one case, catching a ride on an unsuspecting straphanger's caboose at Brooklyn's Hoyt-Schermerhorn station, according to people at the meeting. The official, identified as Edward Brownbear, also reported seeing the bugs on wooden benches at the Union Square and Fordham Road stations in Manhattan and The Bronx, respectively. Sharis Lugo, 20, of Brooklyn leaped off a bench at the Union Square station when she heard the news, saying, "Ewww! That's nasty . . . They've got to take these benches out of here!"... http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000080.html http://www.faxus.com/jaablog/000080.html Health and Safety Thu, 08 May 2008 15:46:03 -0600