Quiz results and gold stars

Here were the eyes:
1. Meryl Streep
2. Naomi Watts
3. Elle MacPherson
4. Lucy Liu
5. Cher
6. Halle Berry
7. Salma Hayek
8. Cate Blanchett

GOLD STARS:
1. To SANDY and her daughter HOLLY who got them all right on one try.

2. To IRENE who got all but 1 right on one try.

3. To ALICE, SCOT and FELIX who got more than half right.

... and thanks to everyone who played.

answer me this one

Some of us were sitting at the Red Eye coffee shop enjoying our favorite concoctions of caffeine and nonsense. The topic of blogs arose and a good friend said that he couldn't possibly spend that much time sitting in front of a computer ... etc.

Then the question came up about how much time I must spend online. And Pat said "Too much!"
What is a good way to spend time? I have thought of some of the ways people do it, and among these are ways I couldn't possibly tolerate. I know for example, there are people among our readership who work very long days. Others spend a lot of time reading "gossip" or entertainment magazines. I know there are folks who spend hours with a sudoku game book. Some pass time every day (or very often) on the golf course. I know one guy who flies all over the hemisphere to golf at various places; when the weather is bad here, it is quite nice somewhere else.

I suppose we justify those things we favor and turn our noses up at those things we don't. It's like work. How often have I heard someone say: "I could never do what you do." Once, I was told, "If I had to walk into a classroom every day, I'd have to kill someone."


Do you feel badly about the time you 'waste'? Does anyone out there have a standard for measuring "time well spent" or "time wasted?"

Republican Humor (prt. 34)

HILLARY NUTCRACKER (with steel legs)

Now you can become as good at cracking nuts as Hillary herself.
"Work those thighs back into the white house. This might be the reason why Bill never strayed too far. Quite possibly THE toy of the 2008 election - A must for anyone on any side of politics! Her stainless steel thigh teeth will pulverize any nut that stands in her way to the White house."


Go here to order one in time for Christmas: CLICK

Go here to order a whole case of 'em: CLICK

Thursday Morning Smile-Maker (23)

Indianapolis Colt's Fan ... in full splendor!

stripping down

I'm sure you've heard the news. Musharraf was re- elected President of Pakistan this year in a manner very similar to his friend Bush's election in 2000. Above is a picture of him in his military uniform.

Believers in democracy have been urging him to "take off his uniform" if he wants to be a legitimate civilian leader. Today, he has agreed to do that.

Here he is out of uniform.
Already his approval ratings have fallen.

lines for me

I've searched far and wide for so long looking for the true essence of my being. Here: I've found it in the funny papers.


(click on cartoon to enlarge it)

double star awarded

DOUBLE GOLD STAR - to SCOT. I thought nobody was working on this, but suddenly, here's the answer.

The unidentified ruin is "Isengard" from The Lord of the Rings

who gives a damn?

Here's two who cares for the price of one:

1. Cheney Back at Work After Heart Trouble
AP
November 27, 2007

WASHINGTON -(AP) " Vice President Dick Cheney was back at work Tuesday after doctors administered an electrical shock to his heart and restored it to a normal rhythm after he experienced an irregular heartbeat."

2. Gotti Says Feds Put Him in Danger
AP
November 28, 2007

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -(AP)" John "Junior" Gotti lashed out at the government, saying a report that he has cooperated with investigators put him and his family at risk -- including the danger that he might "get one in my head."

'My family lives in fear as a result of that,' the son of late Gambino crime family boss John Gotti said Tuesday."

Tuesday Evening Quiz 11/27/07

Ma! Who's Makin' Eyes at Me?

What you said about Tasering

Recently I gave out another homework assignment. I asked people what they thought about tasering, because there have been some outstanding incidents of tasering in the news lately.

I put the problem this way-
Assume that you have just grabbed an old lady's purse and are running down the mall toward the exit doors. How would you like the cops to deal with you:
1. Shoot you in the back with a '.38 Police Special'
2. Taser you
3. Some other way (explain)

Here were the answers:

BILL - The optimum choice is to have the police "run" me down, then after a slight struggle, be beaten extensively, but not causing permanent damage. All of this would be caught on many video phones and released to the press. After this obvious example of police brutatilty is exposed, I would sue the police department for violating my civil rights plus anything else that can be concocted, then settle out of court for about $5M. I would give $3.48 to charity, just so I could say I was doing this for the good of others, and then disappear with whatever the lawyers did not get.

PAM - Tasering makes sense to me. My brother is a policeman and has been tasered in his training. It hurts alot but it does no lasting damage and really works. It is much less lethal than a gun and people on the streets are scared of it, which is a good thing. I think they prevent a lot of violence. And regarding your scene at the mall, if I were the bad guy stealing an old lady's purse, my opinion shouldn't count that much.

DASHMANN - I hardly think purse snatching is in the same category as exercising free speech, being frustratingly confused in an airport, or failure to remove one’s hat in a Saginaw courtroom.
Purse snatching is a vicious fear inducing personal assault and tasering may be too good for that individual.

PAT W- Other: You should run after me and if you can't catch me, call me on the cell phone that['s in the old lady's purse and talk me into surrendering. Or, watch for me to return and grab me then. (In other words, a civilized way.)

ANONYMOUS - I think they should have to run me down and tackle me because what I've seen of fatass mall cops, they could never catch me.

FELIX - I guess they'd just as well shoot me in the back. Well, I'd prefer the head so as that I won't have much of a chance to lay paralyzed for years. If it gets to the point that A. I'm in a mall. B. I'm stealing purses...I might just as well be shot. Now, bear in mind, I'm very much a 'take responsibility for your actions' guy. Some guy gets shot for stealing someone's iPod, I have trouble feeling sorry for him. If it ain't yours, don't take it. Simple enough. But, in the whole realm of proving guilt and intent and controlling a situation, the taser is a very 'iffy' tool, to me. The body uses self-produced electricity to do lots of things...like thinking and working muscles. It is impossible...IMPOSSIBLE...to know and say how each and every body will react to having externally-produced electricity entered into the mix.

GENDER - First, a comment about the man who was tasered at the John Kerry forum. He may have been the first person ever electrified at a John Kerry speech. The worst thing they could do to me for stealing the old lady's purse is to sentence me to 1 - 2 years sitting on a bench at the mall. That would be torture. Seriously, if I am resisting arrest I would rather be tasered than shot.

DIG S - "Don't taze me bro!" I have this T-shirt.
[Note: I looked this up online and you can buy one here: CLICK ]

SANDY - Go back to the Old West...lasso me and hog tie me and throw me in the local jail. My sentence would be 6 months working on a farm or ranch doing manual labor

SPARTY - I'd prefer they attempt to taser me because my understanding of the device is that it is used in relatively close quarters with "unruly" people, e.g. the guy at the Saginaw city council meeting who wouldn't cooperate with attempts to control him. I'm not sure taser guns are effective in stopping a fleeing person - .38's, on the other hand, are. However, what do I know?? I'll check with my son-in-law who has been trained to use tasers.

Monday morning friends report.

Some friends are talking politics or social issues. Some are loaded with jokes and good humor. Others are planning or taking trips and doing fascinating things. Whatever the news, Birches likes to get it.
(usually, if you click on pictures, they bigger themselves.)
====


PAT W. - and
a recent date.
====
===
==
=
=

FELIX - has gone hiking in New England.

IRENE - following up on her suggestion to look at Japanese fashion in dressing a cat, we found this sage advice in a strange dialect of English:

"It is impossible that continue for time long to be sure, and you continue dressing a cat. But about [ to which you dress a cat and take a commemorative photo on special days, such as a birthday of a cat, ] is OK."
You can check it yourself here, and give yourself a smile: CLICK
====

MARSHA - has had
relatives visiting
her in S. Carolina.
They went to the
Clemson - S. Carolina game
and unfortunately
saw Clemson win.
Here is a picture of a Clemson Freshman learning to count on his (her?) fingers.


Marsha got to meet Mike Huckabee close up; she says he's a very nice guy. She does NOT say that she supports him for President. She does say this:

"I just heard a saying. I think it's a quote from some movie. Goes like this, 'If God had wanted us to vote, he'd have given us candidates.' "
====

JIM T - in Minneapolis has posted new pictures of his new son. You can see them here: CLICK (and scroll down)
He also has opinions posted on his site about guns which we may disagree with.

ALICE - is once again warning us about Blackwater Group. She notes that a U.S. Grand Jury has begun investigating the company over its shooting of 17 people in Iraq. You can read about it here: CLICK

DOUG - Has been taking his exams in college. Hope they're all A's.
He reports that his fantasy football team has crapped out this year.
====

BILL from WNNCO - Sent along pictures and a report of Denzel Washington visiting the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, cheering up wounded veterans, and contributing money to the cause. Turns out the circular is essentially correct.

Included in this report was a blast at a lot of other actors who talk against the war in Iraq but maybe don't do any good. You can read about it here, without all the right-wing propaganda attached: CLICK (and scroll down)
====

MIKE CARROLL almost from Carrollton - passed on some information saying that Sears is good to soldiers and ex-soldiers who work for them. The company has an excellent record supporting service personnel and their families. The bottom line is that we ought to support Sears more because of these pro-American programs. I checked it out and the information seems to be valid; you can read more about it here: CLICK

Mike was considering the crime statistics that say Michigan has two of the three most dangerous cities in the U.S.- Flint and Detroit. Mike says that his town of Saginaw wasn't on the list because it doesn't qualify. It no longer has 75,000 people, the cutoff poiunt for making the most violent list. He says, "We shot so many, we no longer have enough to make the list."
====

SPARTY - forwarded this graph showing what percentage of several campaign staffs are composed of various racial groups. I found that the source of the information seems to be Diversityinc.com but cannot say if it's reliable, because the numbers from Giuliani are stunning, if true. Like Sparty, we believe completely in racial diversity


(click on graph to enlarge it)
====

JERRY - sent this little cartoon.

(click on the cartoon to enlarge it)
====

ERICK - I'm posting one of his pictures from last week showing blight in the hometown. There are hundreds of buildings like this. (Last week's picture disappeared from the blog):


TRASE AND SCOT - Went with friends to see a Michigan-Minnesota hockey game.


It was a great game and the score came out right. Michigan is highly ranked in hockey, and so WAS Minnesota:

====

JERRY - There has been a persistent drought in some southern states. The Governor of Georgia held a public prayer ceremony to pray for rain. This made his state fair game for jokes.
Jerry sent this joke about it:
"It's so dry in Georgia that the Baptists are starting to baptize by sprinkling, the Methodists are using wet-wipes, the Presbyterians are giving out rain-checks, and the Catholics are praying for the wine to turn back into water."
====


This picture of friends in Venice was posted last week, but disappeared.

QUIZ kicker

A double gold starr goes to the first person to identify this famous "ruin"

Hypocrite Chronicles: enjoying Oral

Reach out and grasp --- but, what?
Salvation?
The deed to another new home?
The school treasury?

Richard Roberts, Oral Roberts President Resigns Amid Allegations
By William McQuillen and Jeff St.Onge

Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) --" Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts, son of the Christian school's televangelist founder, resigned yesterday following accusations that he used school funds for personal use."

Sunday silly Sites #3

If you have idle moments and like to explore, you can go look at these unique little sites I've come across - or that people have sent to me.

Go here to watch a Gerald McBoing-Boing cartoon. It might be the first one made, episode one. CLICK


Just in the Nicholas of time: You can go here to order some faith-based toys for Christmas. I see in the stores that all the Christmas decorations these days come from China, so watch out for the toys, also.: CLICK

Here, you can fall from space with a camera mounted on the booster rocket of the space shuttle. It's quite a ride. CLICK

Bush's Buddy Booted Big-time

Labor Party Wins Big in Australia
By ROHAN SULLIVAN
Associated Press
November 24, 2007

SYDNEY, Australia - "Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd swept to power in Australian elections Saturday, ending an 11-year conservative era and promising major changes to policies on global warming and his country's role in the Iraq war
"The win marked a humiliating end to the career of outgoing Prime Minister John Howard, who became Australia's second-longest serving leader -- and who had appeared almost unassailable as little as a year ago."


The Winner, Kevin Rudd.

Goodbye Herbert Saffir

You created the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. Before you, there weren't all those silly newscasters standing out on the beach getting blown around. Before you, there were only big rainstorms. Gee, thanks a heap!

Wacko of the Week -- 11/24/07

There were so many possibilities for Wacko of the Week this time. Here are a few of the also-rans:

1.PHONY SANTA whose self-centered stunt led to a nightmare for those many children watching, when he got his beard caught while rappelling down the side of a building with a large sign on it. These kinds of stunts deserve to fail. Whatever happened to the true spirit of Christmas? You can see the video of the incident here CLICK

====or,
2.PETER MISCHLER of Wisconsin (and his wife) who shot the family's pet goat when his wife refused to bring beer home from the store. They arrested him for that. CLICK

====or,
3.LINO DONATO - The Mayor of Poteet, Texas, who can no longer go to the City Council meetings because he is a convicted sex offender. He is liable to wag his weenie at teenaged girls and that, surprisingly, got him into trouble with the law. You see, the city hall, where the council meets, is near a Youth Center and the law won't permit him that close to kids. CLICK

====or,
4.ARDONAS GILBERT the Pennsylvania man who got drunk and decided to run naked down the freeway. He caused three separate crashes before he was arrested. By the way, he attacked several people in the process. CLICK
====

======================
WINNER
But this week's Wacko is KING ABDULLAH of Saudi Arabia, the Gift from Allah who is ruling by Divine Right over a country that God has chosen to bury our oil under ...



... and, the King's whole damned Saudi 'JUDICIAL' system is wacko, too. .

It lies within the power of this King to revoke the sentence handed to a nameless and faceless 19-year old Saudi girl who was raped last year. She was kidnapped and raped by seven men. The Magnificent Personage is now 'considering' whether or not to release the lady unwhipped. How thoughtful of His Great-a-tudity.

Why is he Wacko?
1. He is the King -- the absolute monarch -- of this travesty.
2. It is his law being applied.
3. He has to take the time to consider whether or not to let this travesty unfold. Most of us could make the proper snap decision.

This woman is living in virtual invisibility as all women do in Saudi Arabia. She is to be punished -- whipped and imprisoned -- for going in a car with a man not her husband to retrieve a photograph she had given to another man before she was married.

Incidentally, the court determined that this poor girl's sentence should be doubled because she spoke to the press about her plight. Spoke, hell, she should have shouted it out to the world.

Read more about it here: CLICK
and here: CLICK

Bam!

Go here to listen to two of the most rockin' tunes ever put on tape,

and to brighten your day.


CLICK
and
CLICK

Lines for Most of my Friends

from Forgetfulness
by Billy Collins

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

Line for Gigi and Sandy

Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Paris is a mighty schoolmaster ..

Lines for Bill

from: The Spell of the Yukon
by Robert W. Service

There's gold, and it's haunting and haunting -
It's luring me on as of old -
Yet it isn't the gold that I'm wanting
So much as just finding the gold.

WEATHER Pollyanna

On this day of profound thanksgiving --- and I do have very many things to be thankful for --- I have a special word for all of those vicious weather chauvinists like Sparty and Sandy and Gigi and many others (a whole bunch of others) of you who assailed me unmercifully when I merely mentioned the evil nature of Michigan weather, the utterly rotten and stinking and Whirlpool-freezer type Michigan ....

Today I am a-smiling. I am so thankful for the gorgeous two inches of wet snow. I am thankful for the ice on the road and driveway. I am thankful for the beautiful gray sky. And how I appreciate the 21 degree wind-chill factor.




Ah, yes! The first snowy blanket of winter. I do love it so!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF YOU MICHIGAN RESIDENTS.

Thursday Morning Smile-Maker (22)

Who gives a damn?

West's Surgeon Walks Off 'Larry King'

Tuesday Evening Quiz 11/20/07

WHAT REMAINS?

A number of people worked hard on these.
GOLD STARS must be awarded to ALICE who did a lot of research and got more than half right, IRENE who sent updated choices and got more than half right. And possibly, SPARTY, who had 6 right answers, but listed them "in no particular order." I tried that on a test once and flunked.

Every picture had at least one right answer: That's terrific.


Parthenon, Greece



The Serpent Pyramid, Chitchen Itza, Mexico



Ancient City of Petra, in Jordan, carved in stone


Roman Forum, Italy


The Temple of Rameses, Luxor, Egypt


Last Building Standing after atom bomb, Hiroshima, Japan, August 1945


Coventry Cathedral, after German fire-bombing, Coventry, England


Machu Picchu, Peru


Pueblo Bonita, Chaco Canyon, ancient ruins, New Mexico, USA

from The Onion

For you teachers and for those other two people who're interested in education, here's a little sarcastic humor from The Onion

Overfunded
Public School
Forced To Add Jazz Band

The Onion
NOVEMBER 14, 2007
ISSUE 43•46

MANALAPAN, NJ—Benjamin Harrison Middle School faculty members regretfully announced Tuesday that, despite their best efforts to prevent it, the school simply had too much state and federal funding to avoid adding a jazz ensemble to its music program.

"We did not want it to come to this," principal David DeCarlo said after introducing students to Mr. Metheny, an award-winning jazz guitarist and the new school music teacher. "The children are the ones who are going to suffer. Especially little Sammy Orlovsky, who will have to play those drums where instead of using drumsticks you tap the cymbals with tiny brushes."

The school plans to use its remaining $22.1 million budget to add a sculpture wing to the art department, triple janitors' salaries, and purchase a second computer.
CLICK

Republican Humor (prt. 33)

How many Clintons does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Only One but it takes both of them to really screw up a country.






Jerry Breen's work can be found here CLICK

Everyone Who's Able: Let's all give something this holiday

FOOD PANTRIES STRUGGLING WITH SHORTAGES

Associated Press
November 19, 2007
Associated Press writers Dan Sewell in Cincinnati and Doug Whiteman in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this story.

CINCINNATI
Operators of free food banks say they are seeing more working people needing assistance. The increased demand is outstripping supplies and forcing many pantries and food banks to cut portions.

Demand is being driven up by rising costs of food, housing, utilities, health care and gasoline, while food manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers are finding they have less surplus food to donate and government help has decreased, according to Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks.

"I've been doing this for 20 years, and I can't believe how much worse it gets month after month," she said.

Diana Blasingame has lately found herself having to go to a free food pantry once a month to feed herself and her teenage daughter.

"I'm pretty good at making things stretch as far as I can, but food is so high now and I have to have gas in my car to do my job," said Blasingame, 46, who earns $9 an hour as a home health aide. "I work full time, but I don't have health insurance and sometimes there just isn't enough to pay bills and buy food."

"We have food banks in virtually every city in the country, and what we are hearing is that they are all facing severe shortages with demand so high," Ross Fraser, a spokesman for America's Second Harvest -- The Nation's Food Bank Network, the nation's largest hunger relief group, said Friday. "One of our food banks in Florida said demand is up 35 percent over this time last year."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's annual hunger survey released Wednesday showed that more than 35.5 million people in the United States were hungry in 2006. While that number was about the same as the previous year, heads of food banks and pantries say many more people are seeking their assistance.

Tony Hall, vice president of the Food Bank of Southwest Georgia, estimates a 10 percent to 20 percent increase in demand for food in the 20-county area the organization serves. He cites cutbacks by local companies, rising fuel costs and the lingering impact of a March tornado that tore through Americus, Ga., destroying or damaging hundreds of homes.

"We really didn't rebound from that," Hall said Friday. "We're definitely down in donations. Each year the demand gets bigger and bigger."

Supplies are down to a little over 8 million pounds of food from a peak of about 12 million pounds two years ago at Hocking-Athens-Perry Community Action, which provides food bank services in 10 counties in southeast Ohio.

"We've lost factory jobs and many service jobs don't pay a livable wage," said Dick Stevens, director of the organization's food and nutrition division. "We see a lot of desperation in families who are trying to figure out how to pay higher fuel and utility costs and still put food on the table."

Most food banks and pantries aren't optimistic about the coming winter.

"November weather has been relatively mild, and you haven't seen the cost of home heating fuel added to what a family has to deal with," said Evelyn Behm, associate director of the Mid-Ohio Food Bank, which supplies food to pantries, soup kitchens and other charities in 20 central and eastern Ohio counties. "Those prices, we all know, are going up substantially this year."

At the Society of St. Vincent de Paul food pantry in Cincinnati, clients now get three or four days' worth of food instead of six or seven.

"We are trying to stretch our resources to help more people," said Liz Carter, executive director of the society. "But it's so difficult when you see the desperation and have to tell them you just don't have enough to give them what they need."

Officials with the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, which serves nearly 1,000 agencies in 23 counties, also are worried.

Through the end of August, the food bank was down almost 700,000 pounds of USDA commodities that include basic essentials such as canned fruit and vegetables and some meat -- food that is very difficulty to make up in donations, Executive Director Mark Quandt said.

"We're bracing ourselves for a very tough winter, especially with home heating fuel prices at record highs in the Northeast," Quandt said. "People living in poverty or near poverty just can't sustain those types of increases."
CLICK

Monday morning friends report.

As always, lots is happening in our world with our friends and family.

Keep us informed!
====

BRENDA and STEVE - have set the date! It's to be in August.

JIM T from Minnesota - is a new father. This time, it's a son who calls himself Oliver James, and according to the father: "His interests are breastfeeding, sleeping, and, if I may be frank, crapping." You can see the picture and leave your congratulations at his website CLICK

BILL from WNNCO - brought to light a controversy that's going on in Congress (and elsewhere) about whether the Tomb of the Unknowns (Soldiers) should be replaced or should be repaired. It is made of Colorado marble and has cracks in it. Some people think it's an effort to destroy the monument by replacing it with an atheistic slab with no reference to God, and others think it's time to make it beautiful. You can read about the controversy here: CLICK



Bill also passed along a sample of "Idiot Sightings" that was sent to him. These tell of experiences with real live fools, which we are warned "Walk Among Us!" One I really liked was this one:
IDIOT SIGHTING :
I live in a semi rural area.
We recently had a new neighbor call
the local township administrative office
to request the removal of the
DEER CROSSING sign
on our road. The reason: "Too many deer
are being hit by cars out here!
I don't think this is a good place
for them to be crossing anymore."
====

PAT W - has decided to "re-do" her kitchen and is up to her neck in planning and pricing and sampling and ordering. As Bill from Wnnco would say, "she is working on her nest."

GIGI - has become the official kitchen redecorating adviser because she has recently done the same and knows all the secrets.

IRENE - after last week's Friend's Report, she admits that once again, she backed the fourth place horse in the Melbourne Race. So, she is thinking of turning her talents to making a profit: "... maybe people could pay me to divulge my pick so they know to stay clear of it."
====

JERRY - sent a picture of his new computer keyboard. Look carefully.


MIKE CARROLL almost from Carrollton - on a similar subject, sent a picture of a bear squatting in the woods. He says it answers an age old question. (The picture was not in a copy-able format.) I was wondering, does any bear out there happen to have a similar picture of Mike?
====

JERRY - sent a selection of old "Burma Shave" promotions from along the highways. If you're older than 60, you probably remember seeing them yourself a couple of generations ago.

(Click to enlarge)

Here is a place to go read more of them: CLICK

One I remember that was on the highway near our house for many years was this one: "Cattle Crossing/ Please Drive Slow/ That old Bull/ Is Some/ Cow's Beau/ Burma Shave."
====
TRAVEL PLANS I've heard:

DASHMANN and SKUZZA - are going to Florida for a few days after Thanksgiving.

BUD and PAT - are going to Florida for 10 days in December.

ALICE - is going to Florida for a long weekend in February.

SPARTY'S son - is home for the holiday! Great joy, and of course, celebrations for the Michigan State winning season.

MARSHA - is going to Polynesia in February. She's seen the pictures of the barely-clad native girls frolicking in the surf and she wants to be one of them, if only for a few days.

SANDY - is proposing organizing a group trip to Paris and other parts of France. This would be in the fall of 2008. Anyone out there interested? We can testify that her trips are wonderful.

She provides this picture from her last trip:

(click on picture to enlarge)
I've heard a story that these ladies passed up 4 other gondoliers just to get this one. Evidently they liked his tecnica.
====


DASHMANN- (and SPARTY and GIGI) recommend that you rent the German movie, "Lives of Others" for a chilling look at life in a police state where people are always being watched. I join them in the recommendation.

Dashmann sent this political cartoon to express his disgust with the tendency of the Bush government to spy on people:

====

FELIX - admits he cheats on our quizzes. For example, he got 100% correct on the statues quiz after the correct answers were printed. Before that, he only knew 6 of them.

ERICK - took pictures of many properties in Saginaw and a lot of them look like this. He called it "Saginaw Pride?" Saginaw is an automobile town that, like many other MIchigan cities, has seen the demise of our auto industry and with it, the collapse of our civic tranquility and beauty. Very sad.