The all new "Official" Psychic Shane website is under construction. Stay Tuned!

Awesome moon tonight. Almost full.

Night sis I love you. It was good to catch up tomorrow is time for cookin and games!

I love hoodie sweatshirts. Hoodie check chihuahuas check rain check nap time here I come!

Waiting for doctor during my appointment. This is quality Facebook and Twitter time! Thank God for my Blackberry

Goodnight FB buddies and Twitter tweet hearts. Cmon Ambien do your thing!

Embracing my inner-geek installed WEP2 security on my wireless network and set firewall and anti-virus to paranoid schizophrenic.

Twitter / Home

Twitter / Home: "Going to post something I'm thankful for each day until Thanksgiving.Today: A warm bed to sleep in at night. Thanks for the challenge Emily."

Multimedia message

Testing new app called Glue to post to Facebook Twitter and my blog all with one post.

STOP MO STATE REP. BETH LOW HB1847

STOP Missouri House Bill 1847

Please take a second to read the text of this misguided legislation. The text of the bill is located at: http://www.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills081/biltxt/intro/HB1847I.htm

This bill if passed will prohibit the sale, ownership, breeding, transfer and exchange of parrots, parakeets, finches, doves, pigeons, and canaries and many, many other companion animals by changing the definition of “wild animal” to include (but not limited to) “Any live animal that is wild by nature, whether bread in the wild or in captivity and whether or not native to Missouri. The bill further states that wild animals shall include (again but not limited to) [Section G] Birds, including parrots, parakeets, finches, doves and pigeons, and canaries. Or [Section H] Any other animal deemed to be a wild animal by Department (Agriculture) Rule.”

In her caring and concern for animal health and welfare Representative Beth Low, the bills sponsor(s) have exempted research animal facilities from compliance with her law.

Please use the information below to contact the bills sponsors and tell them to withdraw this misguided and flawed legislation.

Rep. Beth Low (KC)
201 West Capitol Ave
Room 106B
Jefferson City, MO 65101
E-Mail: beth.low@house.mo.gov
Phone: (573) 751-4485

Rep. Sara Lampe (Springfield)
201 West Capitol Ave
Room 101B
Jefferson City, MO 65101
E-Mail: sara.lampe@house.mo.gov
Phone: (573) 751-1460

Rep. Maria Chappelle-Nadal (St. Louis/University City)
201 West Capitol Ave
Room 105H
Jefferson City, MO
E-Mail: maria.chappellenadal@house.mo.gov

THANKS CLAIRE - I DID NOT WASTE MY VOTE

Kudos to Claire McCaskill for standing up for MISSOURI values. There are more important things to deal with in Congress than wasting another breath on a worthless individual like Rush Limbaugh.

"Sen. McCaskill did not sign the letter regarding Rush Limbaugh’s recent comments because she believes it is time to get back to work on more substantive issues," said McCaskill spokeswoman Maria Speiser. "She has said that she thinks the American people want their elected officials to be focused on Iraq and the many other pressing problems that face our country."

REPEALING SEXUAL MISCONDUCT LAW WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO!

All righty then! I have a huge problem with this! NOT so much that Speaker Jetton is now crying fowl because he "was not aware the change was in the bill" but because our dear friend Mr. Jetton was apparently forced to live under a very dark and cold rock during some part of 2006! With all due respect Mr. Speaker, this was all over the news! How on your God’s earth could you have missed it?My issue with you and your comrades is simply that for most of you - our tax dollars funded a very expensive education and you were taught how to read in the third grade!

DO NOT cry foul now because you failed your constituents and DID NOT DO YOUR JOB! Yes - Mr. Speaker I'm sorry but that is one of the actual job duties the people of the State of Missouri have entrusted you with! YOU MUST ACTUALLY READ WHAT YOU ARE VOTING ON OR FOR! So brush up on your reading skills and since you are speaker – If necessary, you can require all house bills be written in large print (with pictures if you like!) and on a sixth grade reading level. BUT YOU MUST ACTUALLY READ THEM! If this poses that big of a problem for you, have someone read them to you, or have them made into a “book on tape”, but for your constituent’s sake as well as the citizens of State of Missouri – For God’s sake I’m begging you at least KNOW what you’re voting on!

No - I don't agree with your position on this issue nor do I like it, but I'm more troubled by the fact that our elected officials do not read the very bills they vote on and that for the most part become State law!

Your position on this issue is wrong Mr. Speaker (The Supreme Court said so!) but shame on you for failing to do your job and then placing blame onto someone else who was only doing the right thing! (I’ll bet he read the bill)

My advice: You should have voiced your concern when the law was being considered - by whining about it now, you merely look at best - aloof or at the worst...illiterate. Perhaps we better go back to the drawing board on the school funding formula huh?

LOCAL GROUPS REACT TO SPEAKER JETTON’S ACCUSATIONSMISSOURI -

Nearly three years after Missouri’s sexual misconduct law was rendered unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, the Missouri General Assembly passed House Bill 1698 in 2006, that removed the provision from the books. The bill, known as Jessica’s Law, passed unanimously in both chambers and was signed by Governor Blunt last June.

Now Missouri House Speaker Rod Jetton is crying foul, claiming that he was not aware that the change was in the bill. “That is absolutely untrue,” states Julie Brueggemann, Executive Director for PROMO, Missouri’s statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equality organization. “Speaker Jetton should have been fully aware of the change, as well as the other members of the Missouri House.” During the 2006 legislative session, LGBT and allied Missourians were encouraged to communicate with their elected officials regarding this legislation and PROMO has records of constituents who contacted Speaker Jetton and others.

On June 26, 2003 the United States Supreme Court struck down the Texas Homosexual Misconduct Law and subsequently invalidated the Missouri Sexual Misconduct Law. In the majority opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, Justice Kennedy wrote that these laws "demean the lives of homosexual persons" and that "the state cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime." "We applaud Representative Lipke for sponsoring this legislation last session. Removing this language from Missouri law and complying with the Supreme Court’s decision was the right thing to do," said Tony Rothert, Legal Director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri.

Contacts: Julie BrueggemannExecutive Director, PROMO
314.862.4900

Tony RothertLegal Director, ACLU-EM
314.652.3144

Jim MacDonaldPresident, Four Freedoms Democratic Club
816.210.7133

Rob MorganVice President, Gateway Stonewall Democrats
314.580.8687

Farewell To My Hero And The Yellow Rose Of Texas

Today I am very sad. Ann Richards, Former Governor of the State of Texas passed away yesterday evening. I have always and will forever more love that silver tongued, silver haired, take no prisoners give um hell and tell it just like it is woman! Yet she had more class in her little finger than most people can acquire in a lifetime. Ann Richards always said; “ I don’t want my tombstone to read She kept a really clean house”, in my heart and mind she will forever be remembered as a strong courageous come from behind woman who opened up politics to everyone! Especially, woman and minorities.

When she was Texas State Treasurer she won the hearts of many when she reminded us all that Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards and in high heels!

As governor, she appointed the first black University of Texas regent, the first crime victim on the state Criminal Justice Board, the first disabled person on the human services board and the first teacher to lead the State Board of Education.

Under Richards, the fabled Texas Rangers pinned stars on their first black and female officers.


Ann grew up near Waco, married civil rights lawyer David Richards and spent her early adulthood volunteering in campaigns and raising four children. She often said the hardest job she ever had was as a public school teacher at Fulmore Junior High School in Austin.
In the early 1960s, she helped form the North Dallas Democratic Women, "basically to allow us to have something substantive to do; the regular Democratic Party and its organization was run by men who looked on women as little more than machine parts."

Richards served on the Travis County Commissioners Court in Austin for six years before jumping to a bigger arena in 1982 when her election as state treasurer made her the first woman elected statewide in nearly 50 years.

But politics took a toll. It cost her a marriage and forced her in 1980 to seek treatment for alcoholism. "I had seen the very bottom of life," she once recalled. "I was so afraid I wouldn't be funny anymore. I just knew that I would lose my zaniness and my sense of humor. But I didn't.

Recovery turned out to be a wonderful thing." Richards said she never missed being in public office. She grinned when asked what she might have done differently had she known she would be a one-term governor.

"Oh," she said, "I would probably have raised more hell.”


"I've always said in politics, your enemies can't hurt you, but your friends will kill ya everytime!" - Ann Richards

“I have very strong feelings about how you lead your life. You always look ahead, you never look back.” - Ann Richards

"Poor George [Bush], he can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth" - Ann Richards



Ann, you will forever be the yellow rose in my heart and soul. We will miss you Ann!

Telephone Telepathy

REUTERS

Many people have experienced the phenomenon of receiving a telephone call from someone shortly after thinking about them -- now a scientist says he has proof of what he calls telephone telepathy.

Rupert Sheldrake, whose research is funded by the respected Trinity College, Cambridge, said on Tuesday he had conducted experiments that proved that such precognition existed for telephone calls and even e-mails.

Each person in the trials was asked to give researchers names and phone numbers of four relatives or friends. These were then called at random and told to ring the subject who had to identify the caller before answering the phone.

"The hit rate was 45 percent, well above the 25 percent you would have expected," he told the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. "The odds against this being a chance effect are 1,000 billion to one."
He said he found the same result with people being asked to name one of four people sending them an e-mail before it had landed.

However, his sample was small on both trials -- just 63 people for the controlled telephone experiment and 50 for the email -- and only four subjects were actually filmed in the phone study and five in the email, prompting some scepticism.

Undeterred, Sheldrake -- who believes in the interconnectedness of all minds within a social grouping -- said that he was extending his experiments to see if the phenomenon also worked for mobile phone text messages.

Just Some Random Thoughts

Hello Everyone!

First, well I have to brag a little bit (Hey, I'm just a guy) anyway I had a first happen the other night, a client came over with a friend she had purchased a personal reading for her friends birthday. When the two VERY beautiful young women arrived at the front door, to my surprise (No, it isn't turned "on" all the time, despite whatever you may have heard from Carl, I can be surprised) besides it doesn't work all that well for myself, as I just can't be objective. When they arrived at the door one of them was holding the rose you see in the photo! That truly did touch my heart! I've never had a client give me a rose before. We won't talk about the oh.....40 or 50 photo's I have taken of it, I am quite proud of that rose though! Sorry for the chubby cat in the background of the photo, we're both on diets! LOL, I've got this nagging feeling though she may try and eat Carl and I in our sleep! Have you ever felt like someone was watching you? My eyes popped wide open this morning and I had a huge white Calico staring right in my face! She "meowed" to inform me it was time that her bowl be refilled, but I couldn't help thinking if I had slept a moment longer, she would have been sizing me up for her breakfast.

Oh sure, I had some explaining to do about the rose when Carl returned home from work that evening, but he knew who was on my schedule, and he of ALL people knows I don't have time for an affair! I'd say I'm probably in one of the ONLY relationships that could survive the spouse literally knowing and scheduling almost every single minute of the other's day. On one note though it did make me think...I'll bet my neighbors must think that I'm the luckiest, most sought after STUD on the planet! Let's look at this from their perspective shall we? I've constantly got attractive, well established ladies/women coming over in the evenings. Sometimes two or three at a time! I'm sure as they walk up the stairs to the condo (sorry for all the stairs ladies) they are saying things like "Oh gosh, I'm so nervous, I've never done anything like this before." or maybe one will say "He's done me before, and he's amazing!" then in an hour or two, the ladies leave, hopefully not many, but some in tears, and perhaps some are saying, "He is so good!" or I can't wait until he can "do" me again. (grin) Lets just let the neighbors think what they will shall we? I'm sure they are all confused as hell! Though Carl and I are low key by nature, we don't generally hide our relationship, the closet is a dark place and neither of us really ever want to go back there.

GODDESS IS HERE! ! !

A few words from Shane:

The long awaited release of Janid's first solo album entitled "Goddess" is now over! Everyone all I can say is you have to hear it to believe it! This whole album tells a story from start to finish, the dance music will having you dancing right out of your chair and the soft ballads will touch your heart, before you even realize it your mind puts the songs together to tell the story!

Janid's voice is without question headed for the top of the charts! I hope that she will remember me when she gets there! I can't thank her enough for my advance copy (I got mine early!) Yes, I'm human and I do brag once in a while! I also can't thank her enough for the special gift she enclosed in my copy of her CD! Huge thanks and kudos to both Stephen and Janid on a job well done with Goddess! Janid: Your Goddess candles are on the way! Stephen: I haven't forgot about you, my schedule has been hectic lately.

Goddess by Janid (The Album) can be purchased anywhere music is sold or via Amazon.Com or can be purchased directly off the official Janid website located at: http://www.janidworld.com/
Goddess By Janid (The Candle) can be purchased exclusively through the Mystic Attic Website located at http://www.mysticattic.com

In Goddess, Janid tells a story throughout the album, taking listeners in a journey through her struggles, heartaches, disappointments and spiritual growth. The talented songwriters fresh and unique style is evident as she delivers her lyrics with a unique style and trademark flow which fans praise as almost rapping.

Produced in its entirety by Kaydean, Goddess tracks manage to have a different sound while maintaining a genuine urban feel and east-coast flavor. Tracks like Can't Go On, touch domestic violence and convey deep emotions and on Playin You, she reverts the role of the typical male player as a means to seek revenge from a partner who neglects her. All vocals in Goddess are sung by Janid and one of the most impressive tracks is Born Again, where she recreates an entire gospel choir.

Goddess showcases Janids gifted voice and versatility in a number of settings including high energy club bangers, steamy R&B ballads and Latin urban, while brilliantly capturing her essence, spirit and Boricua heart. When combined with nontraditional, edgy lyrics and Janids amazing ability to transform back and forth from street smart cat, to a sexy and feminine temptress, theres no doubt Goddess will have its listeners worshipping the ground she walks on.

Voodoo faithful pray for miracles at sacred waterfalls in Haiti

I've always been fascinated by this religion. It is indeed quite rich in folklore and it's traditions are very colorful. Should be interesting to see what happens, any time so many people channel energy this way there most often are results one way or another.

SAUT D'EAU, Haiti (AP) -- Bearing offerings of rum and freshly slaughtered goats, thousands of Voodoo faithful bathe in sacred waterfalls, praying for a better life and an end to the spiraling violence that threatens to destabilize Haiti's new government.

In an annual ritual that ended Monday, worshippers from across the Caribbean nation arrived for the weeklong Saut d'Eau pilgrimage.

The ritual, among Haitian Voodoo's holiest, comes amid a surge of violence in Haiti's capital that U.N. officials say is an attempt to destabilize the new government of President Rene Preval.
"The gods tell us what to do. That's why we're having so many problems: because we're not listening to the gods," said Yolette Jean, a Voodoo priestess.

Saut d'Eau's mystique owes to a 19th century legend that an image of the Virgin Mary appeared in the waterfalls. Believing the waters hold magical powers, followers strip to their underwear and scrub their bodies with aromatic mint leaves and soap.

Arms raised to the heavens, they ask the gods for help with fixing broken relationships, curing sickness and even lucky lottery tickets. Some collapse in convulsions, overcome by emotion -- or maybe spirit gods, called loas in Voodoo.

A personal Entry

I’m “blogging” today because I’m a little sad I guess. Carl took the girls to the airport on Saturday morning. It seems at least at the beginning of their stay, I was well looking forward to getting things back to “normal” once their visit was over. Now, I don’t remember what “normal” was before they got there for their summer visit.

Perhaps because they are older now, or maybe when I wasn’t looking those two beautiful young ladies touched my very heart and soul this summer.

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings Carl works at another job part-time in the evenings. This I suppose somehow became “our time”. During these evenings I would come home and begin immediately fixing dinner. It wasn’t long before one of the girls would show up on one of the bar stools that sits behind the counter between our kitchen and dining room then the other. They would sit quietly watching me prepare their meals.

Soon, my kitchen would be filled with laughter as I listened to the girl’s stories about everything from school work and teachers to boys and backstabbing best friends. Mostly I would listen and laugh with the girls as they teased one another about school girl crushes occasionally interrupting to offer advice or show Alex a cooking tip or two that my grandmother or aunt had showed me at her age. (She wants to be a chef when she “grows-up”).

I’m going to miss that time the most I think. Though I may hope that I have taught the girls something. I know in my heart, they have taught me far more.

I think that I’ll turn on the Cartoon Network while I fix dinner this evening, the house seems so quiet with only Carl and me. I hope that Carl is hungry tonight, it’s going to take me some time to get used to cooking for two again.

I have failed a client

It’s Saturday evening and as I began to finish up my last reading before a couple of days of much needed rest, I opened an email from the client. What I was about to read and experience surly I was not in any way prepared for as I spent to next three hours sobbing uncontrollably.

I realize in retrospect that some if not most of the emotion that had overwhelmed me was likely only para-emotionalism or feeling the pain or emotion of your client. But I felt a since of loss and disappointment my self that was beyond words.

The client began her email by saying, “In my last session, you told me I would be pregnant with twins that would be due in November.” As a side note, I believe that when I had told her this would occur, she must have thought me to be completely insane. She then said “YOU WERE RIGHT”. Then went on to explain in April she found out that she was indeed pregnant with twins and they would have been due in November, just as I had told her. “Unfortunately she said, one of the twins went into the uterus as it should have but the other remained in the fallopian tube.” The client had to have emergency surgery and lost both children.

The client likely returned to me for another reading because of the high degree of accuracy in her first session with me. I do not remember the details of her first session, I truly don’t – On average I do well over 100 readings/sessions per month sometimes and my memory just can’t hold details of every single one. But I suppose I feel as though I let this client down. Again, I do not remember specifics of her first reading, but even if I had actually been able to see the loss of her twins, how on heaven and earth do you tell someone something such as that?!? Is that why I didn’t “see” the loss in her first reading? Did I see the loss and was I merely happy she didn’t specifically ask if I could see a healthy delivery? Honestly I think I would have told her if I had been able to see it – But I just don’t know.

One of the few times I’ve heard my Godforce speak directly to me in life, I was told very clearly and in no uncertain terms. “Prepare yourself, you will see much good, but also you will see much sadness and cause for grief”. Now, I’m taking that to mean, at least I did at the time, that yeah, sure I’d see good things that were going to happen in peoples lives, but also I would see the bad things.

Aside from my profound since of failure in being able to assist this client it all begs the question: Suppose I was able to see this occurring? How do you tell someone whom likely purchased a $20 reading “just for fun” that while yes, they would get pregnant and surprise, surprise! It’s twins too! How would/could you then turn around and say but there are complications and you will lose both babies. Could I do it? Is that the reason I didn’t see the loss? Because I couldn’t have told her this? Is this why I have failed my client?

I blogged this, because it’s late and Carl has gone to pick up the girls for their summer visit with us, I had to get it off my chest, though I’ll tell you I’m still no closer to answering my own questions.

Advice From One Psychic To Another

Mr. Robertson, personally I've never been a fan, but since you seem to now be a practicing psychic, let me give you some advice from one psychic to another.

If you want to make it in this business you're going to have to sharpen up those skills, generally speaking people are going to need a little more information than "Storms are going to hit the America's coastlines in 2006". Perhaps my clients are a bit spoiled I don't know, but I'd never get away with a statement like that without providing specific details and information about the events. I mean c'mon between you and me here Sport...Storms hit the coastlines of America every year, what the hell kind of prediction is that anyway?

So you say God has given you this information, if this is indeed so, then why did he not tell you when and precisely where this will occur? You have the potential to prevent suffering and the loss of millions of lives!....That is of course if God really did tell you this...otherwise, it's likely not God giving you this information but more likely only the voices you hear in your head! Ya know the same ones that told you Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment to America for accepting homosexuality as a "lifestyle". Who's world are you living in buddy? The last time I checked and trust me I check pretty often, this county was being ran by your boys...the right wing religious nutcases...and we had a very long way to go before we could ever say we had "accepted homosexuality as a lifestyle"!

So - Before you go off on your next tangent on national television, I would suggest the following:

1. Meditate to improve and sharpen your psychic skills.
   
   
2. Learn to differentiate between what is indeed God speaking and the voices you hear in your tiny little mind. Before you blame homosexuals for every thing that is wrong in this county and every single act of God or natural disaster. Remember the weather patterns are changing due to global warming and as your leader said..."Our addiction to fossil fuels". . .Now, I'll admit homosexuals use fossil fuels also but so too do you and the Pope!
   
   
3. And this is a biggie! You're going to have to sit down and actually READ your bible! I'm not entirely sure you ever have, otherwise surely you would have read the part about "Judge not, lest ye be judged" or loving thy neighbor...remember that? Seems all you can remember is hate! I don't believe it was the bible's intention to to portray Christ as someone whom hated anyone but rather embodied love and acceptance of all life forms. I've read it and that's what I got out of it anyway. Granted the bible was written by man and therefore inherently flawed in places (most humans do make mistakes, and most of us have a few prejudices) and when YOU take it's many stories out of their proper context, twist & manipulate them you could probably get them to say just about anything you like, you're quite good at that ya know! Seriously read the ENTIRE thing though, not just what you've heard on books on tape or read in "The Bible For Dummies" and for God's sake through away that damn movie, it's just not the same as the real thing, the book is always way better than the movie!
   
   
   VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - In another in a series of notable pronouncements, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson says God told him storms and possibly a tsunami will hit America's coastline this year.
   
   Robertson has made the predictions at least four times in the past two weeks on his news-and-talk television show "The 700 Club" on the Christian Broadcasting Network, which he founded.
   
   Robertson said the revelations about this year's weather came to him during his annual personal prayer retreat in January.
   
   "If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms," Robertson said May 8. On Wednesday, he added, "There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest."
   
   Robertson has come under intense criticism in recent months for suggesting that American agents should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip.

Republicans are killing your grandparents!

Wow - we can put a man on the moon, a probe on Mars, track a cow with mad cow's disease all the way from it's birth in Canada to it's slaughter in Texas and mind you know where every single off-spring from that cow is located within the United States and Eastern Europe, as well as where all of it's offspring's offspring are located within the US....BUT WE CAN'T FIND OSAMA BIN LADEN hiding out in a country the size of Texas? SORRY FOR THE LANGUAGE BUT GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK! We (The United States) are not looking very hard then is all I have to say! One must wonder just how hard that crazy cowboy in the White House got his cock sucked by a wealthy Arab in control of half the worlds oil supply?

I'm sorry if my words are harsh, but I'm watching people die every single day one by one they are dieing a slow and painful death. WHY? Well I can't publicly state where I work, but I work very closely within the Medicare/Medicaid areas of government (My day job when I'm not being a world renowned psychic/astrologer )

Slowly and one by one, the Republican Party is winning the war they have waged against the poorest, weakest and most helpless among our society. One by one, they call in tears the deep cuts to the Medicaid program mean they can no longer have such trivial things such as FEEDING TUBES!, Oh sure Medicaid will cover the oxygen you must have cause...that just looked bad on the ten o'clock news...but we're not going to cover the machine that you need to deliver it to your lungs! What the hell do you need a wheel chair battery for? Dentures? Eyeglasses? FORGET IT! GOD forbid you have the misfortune to not have family alive to take care of you and live in a residential care facility that Medicaid pays for because that means everything you've worked for your entire life and put into the Social Security system will be taken away from you to help cover the cost of your so called "care". It really is a shame you didn't have the foresight to place the $30 a month you are allowed to keep for personal expenses that are not covered by Medicaid. things like soap, shampoo, and Depends into one of the new interest bearing healthcare savings accounts the Republican's have created law for, because your prescription coverage is now covered by one of the ever so efficient Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans and YOU WILL pay a co-payment on each and every medication, sure it will only be about $2.50 per prescription I hope you're feeling healthy because if like many elderly you take several prescriptions that sure is gonna eat up that $30 expense allowance you get each month rather quickly! SOooooo PISS in the floor and go without your medications...what you can't hear what I'm saying?!? Damn it that's right hearing aides are simply a luxury the taxpayer can no longer afford!

Folks if you think this is bad...it's not even the half of it! Due to the horrendous nightmare the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan has become...the elderly, weak, and disabled are given a choice...because Medicare DID NOT enroll them in a "plan" sponsored by a private company and likely owned by an HMO or Pharmaceutical company...as the letter they were mailed promised them....they are waiting for months (some since January when the program began) for their Medications! Things like insulin, seizure medications, heart medications and so many others are being denied or they are being asked to pay full-price for them until Medicare can "straighten all this out". IF they don't have the money to pay for it up front...WELL.......TOO DAMN BAD! Fundamentally there were issues to begin with...Medicare is STILL stressing communicating with them via the internet or choosing your prescription drug plan through the internet....How many 70 and 80 year old men and women do you know whom are proficient with the internet? I can count on one hand those that I know...BUT guess that's just their loss huh?

We are denying care to those in our society whom have worked their entire lives to make this country what it is today, and I can no longer be silent about it! BUT hey....if you're pregnant there will be absolutely NO benefit changes for you...as it is in the taxpayers best interest to KEEP you pregnant at all costs as we like to pay for your recreational drug habit even if you are just filling your prescriptions for Oxycontin and selling them on the streets outside elementary schools!

Cheers to Missouri's governor Matt Blunt, and our fine president George Bush, you truly must be the crown jewels in your party's crown right now...they are all so very proud of you! Glad I don't have to face YOUR God, when I die!

This IS who I am!

So – Suffice it to say the gay community here in Jefferson City is well…Small! In it's own twisted little way it's much like an even more dysfunctional DESPARATE housewives episode on ABC.

EVERYTHING they say, feel or do, they all got it off their favorite TV show. They make me sick! Self righteous little bitches! I'm sorry to go on but hey that's what blogs are for right?

For this, I will quote a true patriot as I feel her comments about politics oddly apply to my situation here, Ann Richards said: "I've always said in politics your enemies can't hurt you, but your friends will KILL you every time."

So you little self righteous bitches think I have some "interesting" friends do you? You will all sit in judgment of me because these people, some of which are the weakest and least able to defend themselves among us, and some with more strength in their little fingers than you will ever hope to see in your lifetime, I choose to call them my friends. I'm sure most of them have not had the financial or educational opportunities that have been afforded your lilly white asses and therefore rather than get to know them, you will sit there in pathetic judgment of ME, because YOU are uncomfortable around them. This is YOUR issue, not mine!

FUCK YOU! You are not nor have you ever been my real friends otherwise you would know me enough to know I do not sit in judgment of anyone for the path they have chosen in life or the cards that have been dealt them! I can hear your accusations and assumptions as well. Believe it or not, my gifts and abilities extend far past what I am even comfortable with now, I hear what you are saying behind my back, it matters not, but I'll set the record straight I'm not sleeping with them HOW COULD YOU THINK THAT? Not just one of you but like a disease you have let rumors and innuendo spread among you all!

Sluts, Tramps, Freaks, Dykes, Scum and Low-Life are all labels. I'll have to say some of you I am genuinely disappointed in, I truly had thought you had EVOLVED past this type of bull-shit spiritually, you claim to be on such a higher spiritual level. I guess I was just wrong! I will say this though, those of you whom I am truly disappointed in, well….You've been there before! Wanna know what they were all saying about you when I met you? Has it really been that long ago? Climb down off your God Damned Cross somebody needs the wood!

You all make me sick! Unfortunately I'm surrounded by you everywhere I go!

Now Madonna: THIS IS WHO I AM, LIKE IT OR NOT! LOVE ME FOR WHO I AM OR DISLIKE ME FOR WHAT I'M NOT!

One thing this birthday has taught me is, even after 31 freakin years I may very well still be chasing things I will never have, BUT I can honestly say I'm personally happy with the man I have become and I value each and every person who I've met along my path! I wish the same for all of you some day. Until then, I suppose you all will condem me to the same fate you have so many others, I'll be one of the sluts, tramps, whores, freaks or dykes. That's COOL! At least I'll know I among true friends!

Missouri Judge Rules That Lesbian Can Be Foster Parent

KANSAS CITY, MO - A Jackson County Circuit Court judge today overturned a Missouri Department of Social Services decision denying a woman's application to become a foster parent because she is a lesbian. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the applicant, Lisa Johnston, in challenging the denial, hailed the ruling as an important move towards increasing the pool of qualified foster parents for the nearly 2,000 children in Missouri who need foster homes.


"We're really relieved that the court has recognized that banning lesbian and gay people from being foster parents is bad for Missouri's foster children," said Johnston, who along with her partner Dawn Roginski had hoped to foster a special-needs child before her application was denied. "We were saddened when we found out that our loving each other was the only reason the state had for denying us the opportunity to give a child a home."


Today's decision is in line with the beliefs of 58 percent of Missouri citizens, according to a recent poll on their feelings about gay parents. The poll, which was conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates and commissioned by Human Rights Campaign for PROMO, Missouri's statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality organization, found that a majority of people from all over the state are opposed to categorically banning lesbian and gay people from being foster or adoptive parents.


Part of the state's reason for the denial was based on a state law banning sexual intimacy between same-sex couples that was already rendered unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas two years ago. In a 16-page ruling, Circuit Judge Sandra C. Midkiff responded, "No moral conclusions may be drawn from a constitutionally unenforceable statue."


Johnston, a 40-year-old graduate of the University of Kansas who holds a degree in Human Development and Family with a special emphasis on child development, had applied to DSS in 2003 to become a foster parent to a child that she and Roginski hoped to raise together. The couple underwent an extensive home study and began attending a training program for prospective foster parents until DSS notified Johnston that it would no longer consider her for placement because she is a lesbian. Although the administrative judge found Johnston to be "exceptionally" qualified to foster parent, he upheld the denial of her application in March 2005.


Among the national groups that support parenting by gay and lesbian people are the Child Welfare League of America, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association and the North American Council on Adoptable Children.


"The court found that none of the reasons the state gave for blocking an entire group of potential foster parents were justifiable," said Ken Choe, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU's national Lesbian and Gay Rights Project.


"The Missouri Department of Social Services seems to think that making a biased political statement is more important than finding good homes for the nearly 2,000 children in need of foster homes in Missouri, and the court didn't buy it," said Julie Brueggemann, Executive Director of PROMO.


Under Missouri law, every potential foster parent is already required to undergo strict screening before being qualified as foster parents. Ironically, Johnston and Roginski are far more qualified than most foster care applicants. Johnston works in child development and has a great deal of experience helping abused, neglected, and developmentally challenged children. Roginski is a chaplain at a psychiatric treatment center for children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders, working with children assigned to the center by juvenile courts as well as children who have had difficulty with prior foster care placements. The couple are church leaders and lead a peaceful, home-centered life.


Johnston is represented by Ken Choe of the ACLU's national Lesbian and Gay Rights Project and ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri cooperating attorney Lisa Brunner of Husch & Eppenberger, LLC.


Additional information about the case, including biographical information about Johnston and Roginski, is available at www.aclu.org/caseprofiles.

Man Dies After Insurance Co. Refuses To Cover Treatment

Tracy Pierce, 37, lived a full life. He grew up with family and faith. He went to a Catholic school, got married, had a son, and he even had the car of his dreams. It was the perfect life.

"He's been strong. He has," his wife, Julie Pierce, said.

Two years ago, Tracy Pierce's life changed dramatically when he was diagnosed with kidney cancer.

"I have no treatment. Three months has gone by and I haven't had any treatment," Tracy Pierce told KMBC's Jim Flink in May 2005.

When Flink talked to Tracy Pierce, his cancer was attacking his body. Despite being fully insured, every treatment his doctors sought for him was denied by his insurance provider. First-Health Coventry deemed the treatments were either not a medical necessity or experimental.

"I don't know what else to do but just wait," Tracy Pierce said last May.

As he waited, his doctors appealed again and again, including a 27-page appeal spelling out that Tracy Pierce would die without care. Coventry dismissed each request.

"It's purely economical. You never see an insurance company try to block an inexpensive test," said William Soper.

Soper leads a group of doctors who filed a lawsuit last year against insurance providers. This week, Soper went to Jefferson City to lobby legislators for change.

"And you know, it's not going to get better anytime soon. It's going to get worse," said Myra Christopher, who is the president and chief executive officer of the Center for Practical Bioethics.

Christopher told Flink that change won't happen until there's a change in the entire medical model.

"I just believe strongly that we need to start being honest about what's going on here," Christopher said.

What is going on is that some insurance companies deny even routine treatments because insurance companies treat their patients as costs, not as clients, Christopher said.

"Some of these companies are just unethical the way they treat both subscribers and providers, doctors and hospitals," Soper said.

Two weeks ago, Tracy Pierce talked with Flink again.

"Just holding a lot of anger in," Pierce said.

Cancer ravaged his body, moving from his kidney to his lungs and to his brain.

"Now, we're just to the point where we're trying to make him comfortable," Julie Pierce said.

Even as he was dying, for more than a week, his insurance company denied him oral morphine, which had been prescribed to reduce his pain.

"That's unacceptable because in this day and age, no one should be in pain," Pierce said.

"I just hope we can get something done about it, that's all. We just have to get something done," Tracy Pierce said.

An hour and a half after Tracy Pierce talked to Flink, he took a nap and never woke up. His family calls his case death by denial.

"They just wrote a prescription for him to die," Julie Pierce said.

The family is begging for change.

"The reality is the blame-and-shame game isn't going to get us anywhere. We are all at fault," Christopher said.

Insurance companies, hospitals, doctors, patients and politicians all need to work together, she said.

"We have to have the moral will. We have to have the intelligence. We have to have the political leadership to change this," Christopher said.

For Julie Pierce, it was 15 months of watching her husband die slowly, painfully and helplessly with no chance at lifesaving treatment, Flink reported.

"My mother always told me to get a good job with insurance. For what? It hasn't done anything," Julie Pierce said.

Julie Pierce said that she understands that we will all die. What is expected, she said, is that if you have health insurance, you'll be given every fighting chance. She said that is not happening.

Details emerge on Vatican gay priest plan

If the church and the Christian faith continue on the current path of intolerance and fundamentalism ultimately it will be tossed aside as outdated an irrelevant in peoples lives and that here is the true shame. ( I highly recommend Rev. John Shelby Spong's book entitled "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism" Gays and Lesbians are in every single faith and every single walk of life, (we always have been) to expect that there are no gay priests or that there ever will be is merely refusing to accept truth. On the other hand - The Christ that I learned and have read about in the Bible would never deny his teachings or turn his back on anyone the way the Catholic Church has with regards to the gay community. On a less serious note, and I'm not Catholic , I think Pope Benedict or Ratzinger what ever the hell his name is does protest too much! Perhaps - he's taken it in the ass a few times himself and is feeling a little guilty for having enjoyed it so much. LOL - Yep now it's official, Catholics will say I'm headed "straight" to hell but I'm sure I'll see George Bush and the Pope when I arrive there, and they better be ready because I fully intend to take over!

Reuters:

New information about a forthcoming Vatican document on gay priests was published Friday by an Italian newspaper.

New details about a forthcoming Vatican document on gay priests -- the subject of speculation and press leaks in recent months -- were published by an Italian newspaper on Friday.

Il Giornale of Milan reported that the eight-page document, to be released on Nov. 29, disqualifies for priesthood "those who practice homosexuality, who possess deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or who sustain the so-called 'gay culture.'"

Gay candidates will not all be automatically rejected, however. Those who have been celibate for at least three years prior to being ordained deacons may be allowed. (The deacon stage usually precedes priesthood.)

The three-year prerequisite of chaste living was first revealed last month by another Italian newspaper.

The determination of a seminarian's "affective maturity" for priesthood rests with bishops, seminary rectors and religious superiors, according to Il Giornale's report.

Pope Benedict XVI reportedly approved the document, drafted by the Congregation for Catholic Education, at the end of August.

A Vatican official declined to comment to the Reuters news agency about the forthcoming "instruction."

Earlier in the week Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the openly gay U.S. Episcopal bishop whose 2003 consecration sparked a crisis in the Anglican Communion, criticized the Vatican's attempt to ban gay students from seminaries as "an act of violence against gay folk."

During a speech last Saturday in London, Robinson also suggested that the Vatican's crackdown on gays may result in converts to other Christian faiths.

"We are seeing so many Roman Catholics joining the church," he told the audience. "Pope Ratzinger may be the best thing that ever happened to the Episcopal Church."

Meditate on This: Buddhist Tradition Thickens Parts of the Brain

From livescience.com

Meditation alters brain patterns in ways that are likely permanent, scientists have known. But a new study shows key parts of the brain actually get thicker through the practice.

Brain imaging of regular working folks who meditate regularly revealed increased thickness in cortical regions related to sensory, auditory and visual perception, as well as internal perception -- the automatic monitoring of heart rate or breathing, for example.

The study also indicates that regular meditation may slow age-related thinning of the frontal cortex.

"What is most fascinating to me is the suggestion that meditation practice can change anyone's gray matter," said study team member Jeremy Gray, an assistant professor of psychology at Yale. "The study participants were people with jobs and families. They just meditated on average 40 minutes each day, you don't have to be a monk."

The research was led by Sara Lazar, assistant in psychology at Massachusetts General Hospital. It is detailed in the November issue of the journal NeuroReport.

The study involved a small number of people, just 20. All had extensive training in Buddhist Insight meditation. But the researchers say the results are significant.

Most of the brain regions identified to be changed through meditation were found in the right hemisphere, which is essential for sustaining attention. And attention is the focus of the meditation.

Other forms of yoga and meditation likely have a similar impact on brain structure, the researchers speculate, but each tradition probably has a slightly different pattern of cortical thickening based on the specific mental exercises involved.

Chronic Pain Shrinks People's Brains Bigger Brains Make Smarter People Making Bigger Brains

If We Make It Through December

By Me :-)

Today while reading the news in my local paper, I ran across a story that so worried me on so many levels that I felt compelled to write about it. The story stated that the Missouri Public Service Commission had announced today that my electric and gas provider had informed them that the “average” home heating bill would be increasing by $238 per month! I’m no different than most Americans and my immediate concern was for my own personal wellbeing and standard of living. I also do not feel I’m a great deal different than most folks when I say I simply do not have an extra $238 lying around every month. So I suspect that while the recent soar in gasoline prices at the pump have caused me to make deep cuts in my quality of life and standard of living, I have a feeling those cuts are about to get much deeper and far more painful!

Next – My attention turned to others, specifically the elderly population. I wonder how many of them will suffer this winter – my guess is they all will! Most, are like my grandmother who lives on a fixed income and struggles to stretch every dime in order to pay necessary monthly bills and an ever increasing regimen of prescription medications. The term disposable income is not something I believe a majority of the elderly in our country know anything of. I wonder how many will die simply because they froze to do death inside their homes because they could not afford to pay the heating bill? I wonder how many will die because they could not afford their medications and heat this winter?

Many of the elderly were eliminated from the Missouri Medicaid program or asked to pay enormous amounts of money each month (spend down) to keep their coverage, being told only that “cuts to the program were necessary”. Already in a poor state of health and likely to go without heat or medication this winter, I’m afraid the forecast doesn’t look good for these individuals either!

As a side note: It deeply saddens me that this segment of our population has worked and sacrificed for their entire lives and made this country what it is today and for their efforts, we as a society are allowing our government to turns it back on them and quite literally leaving them out in the cold in their time of greatest need.

The FED also announced yesterday that it will be raising interest rates again. Quite simply this factor alone is good for those with a large amount of money in savings, however it’s going to hurt those that have car loans, home loans, or carry a balance on a credit card. Essentially, the poor, working-poor and the middle class.

Should the number of hurricanes we’ve experienced in the South or the torrential down pours and flooding we’ve seen in the New England states be an early indicator that we are in for a particularly harsh winter, I fear the worst for our country’s economy. The cataclysmic effects on the economy from the cost of home heating and fuel will drive many families directly into the arms of a newly reformed Federal Bankruptcy System that has now been over legislated and over hauled in order to provide better profits for the credit card industry. Because of this bankruptcy simply won’t be an option for most. The Great Depression our country experienced during the 1930’s will likely be a ride in the park compared to what we are about to endure.

Almost 60 pilot whales die in Australian mass stranding

This concerns me a bit. These magnificent creatures are very much like birds and closely aligned with the earth's magnetic energy fields, when these fields are disturbed birds, whales and many others are affected as are our weather patterns. Sometimes these changes can also signal significant changes with regards to earth quakes and volcanic activity.


AFP -

Almost 60 pilot whales have died after stranding themselves on a beach on the Australian island of Tasmania.

A Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service spokeswoman said on Tyesday that the pod of 67 pilot whales was spotted at Tasmania's Marion Bay on Tuesday morning.

Most were stranded on an area of the bay inaccessible by road and most had died by the time wildlife officers used boats to ferry volunteers across to them, spokeswoman Liz Wren said.

"We managed to save 10 whales, unfortunately the rest died," she told AFP.

"We want to make sure that the one's we've got back into the ocean don't restrand themselves so we've got boats out there which will stay in the area until late tonight to keep them away from the shore."

Pilot whales, which can grow up to six metres (20 foot) long, frequently beach themselves in a phenomenon that remains a mystery to scientists.

Tasmania's rugged coastline has one of the highest stranding rates in the world, with state government records showing some 2,800 pilot whales and 500 dolphins had beached themselves up until 2003.

Wren said there were a number of theories on why the animals stranded.

"One of them may stray too close to the shore in rough seas. Then the distress signal it sends out attracts other members of the pod," she said.

"There's also speculation it might be due to certain topographical features. We've had a mass stranding here at Marion Bay before -- there's a wide sandbank at the mouth of the bay and that might disorientate them.

"Other people think it might be something to do with the magnetic fields that they use to navigate. We simply don't know."

Puget Sound Region Feeling Climate Change

There simply are not words to describe my love for the magical region of our country. This truly saddens me.


AP - Puget Sound Region Feeling Climate Change


The Puget Sound region is feeling the impact of climate change — from flooding to warmer waters — and things could be getting worse, according to a report by University of Washington researchers.

"We've been in denial about this problem," said Brad Ack, director of the Puget Sound Action Team, a state agency responsible for protecting the Puget Sound. "Denial is no longer an option."

The future of the region in the next 100 years is unknown, but the report released this week makes a number of dire predictions: vanishing beaches; increasingly inhospitable water for salmon and shellfish; more rain and less snow, causing a chain reaction of flooding and landslides.

Among the findings in this regional study: The average annual air temperature around the sound rose 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit during the last century, more than double the average increase globally of 1.1 degrees. Water temperatures measured near Victoria, British Columbia, have risen nearly 2 degrees since 1950. Glaciers across the Cascades and Olympic mountains have been shrinking.

Sea levels have swelled globally between 4 and 8 inches over the past century, due to melting glaciers and polar ice. In the future, the southern reaches of the sound are expected to suffer the most from rising tides because of geological changes causing the land to sink as the water rises.

In Friday Harbor, waters could rise less than half a foot by the middle of the century, but Tacoma could see levels increase by more than twice that.

The report suggests climate change will continue to echo across the ecosystem, upsetting links between plants and animals and complicating efforts to manage the threat of a growing human population.

"It's not like we're going to wake up tomorrow and everything will be dead," said Jan Newton, a UW oceanographer who contributed to the 35-page report.

"But we also know that when organisms experience catastrophe, it's most often because they're assaulted by more than one problem at a time. The sooner we recognize that things are under pressure because of climate change, we can look at the stressors we can do something about."

Researchers around the world agree that the planet is warming, but they are not sure how fast it is happening and what role carbon dioxide and methane play.

The report combines observed data with predicted changes. It includes research from the university, international research groups, the state Ecology Department and others. The Puget Sound Action Team paid the university's Climate Impact Group $20,000 for the study.

More research and careful monitoring of the sound are needed to clarify the predictions, but this is a start, scientists said.

"It's mainly just to wave the flag and say this issue is potentially very important," said Philip Mote, a research scientist with the Climate Impacts Group.

He said water managers in the region need to take the changes seriously: "There will be a day of reckoning."

An effort to save the salmon that return to the tributaries of Lake Washington to spawn hasn't incorporated the effects of climate change. Brain Murray, technical coordinator for the

Battle Hymn of the Republicans

Mine Eyes have seen the bungling of that stumbling moron Bush;
he has blathered all the drivel that the neo-cons can push;
he has lost sight of all reason 'cause his head is up his tush;
The Doofus marches on.

I have heard him butcher syntax like a kindergarten fool;
There is warranted suspicion that he never went to school;
Should we fault him for the policies - or is he just their tool?
The lies keep piling on.

Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
His wreckage will live on.

I have seen him cut the taxes of the billionaires' lone heir;
As he spends another zillion on an aircraft carrier;
Let the smokestacks keep polluting - do we really need clean air?
The surplus is now gone.

Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
Your safety net is gone!

Now he's got a mighty hankerin' to bomb a prostrate state;
Though the whole world knows its crazy - and the U.N. says to wait;
When he doesn't have the evidence, "We must prevaricate."
Diplomacy is done!

Oh, a trumped-up war is excellent; we have no moral bounds;
Should the reasons be disputed, we'll just make up other grounds;
Enraging several billions - to his brainlessness redounds;
The Doofus marches on!

Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
THIS...DOO...FUS...MAR...CHES...ON

Blunt spends majority of nights in Springfield, not mansion

I guess little baby Blunt is gettin all homesick and shit....Hang on while I go puke! Wait...So it's OK to kill granny and take her Medicaid away from her, all in the name of cost savings...BUT we will foot the gasoline bill for hauling his lilly white Republican ass back and forth to Springfield aprox: 3 hour drive. HUM...Shame on you Baby Blunt, where the hell are your Christian values? OH SILLY ME, I saw them listed on ebay for sale to the richest lobbiest! Oh lovely home by the way, do the tax payers make your morgage payments too?

Story by AP David Lieb - Photo by Orlin Wagner

A bit of din rises as dozens of field-tripping fourth-graders and out-of-town tourists shuffle through the stately sitting and dining rooms of the Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City -- right about the time the governor's baby typically is taking a nap.

But no need to worry. Gov. Matt Blunt and his family are gone -- again.

On this particular day, like many, the Blunts were in Springfield, staying in their private home while the governor was conducting a couple of hometown news conferences.

Since taking office in January, Blunt has spent more than half his nights in the comfort of his Springfield home and less than one-third of them in the governor's taxpayer-funded residence in Jefferson City.

"I think of the Governor's Mansion more as a public facility than a private home," Blunt explained in an interview with The Associated Press. "I don't think Missourians expect you to hole up in the Governor's Mansion and remain in an ivory tower."

Taxpayers spend the same amount on the mansion whether the governor is there or not. The executive chef and housekeeper still work. The Capitol Police still guard the 134-year-old Renaissance revival-style home filled with artwork and antiques. And the Department of Natural Resources still keeps up the grounds.

But a couple of highway patrol officers assigned to the governor's 10-person security detail must travel with him on the roughly 140-mile trip to Springfield, as they do everywhere he goes. And the patrol, which chauffeurs the governor, must pay for the gasoline at prices above what its budget projected.

"I think the taxpayers of Missouri would feel better served if the governor spent more time in Jefferson City," said George Connor, a political scientist at Missouri State University in Springfield. And "I think this is more true as the governor in general has become more powerful in the state."

The state Democratic Party suggests Missourians should be alarmed at the Republican governor's tendency to travel home.

"The taxpayers are paying more and getting less," asserted Democratic Party spokesman Jack Cardetti. "Having the state executive of Missouri driving back and forth between Jefferson City and Springfield multiple times a week is an inefficient use of our governor's time, especially when the taxpayers are footing that bill."

At the request of the AP, Blunt's office provided a list showing where he has traveled and slept every day since taking office Jan. 10. Through the end of September, Blunt had spent 140 nights in Springfield and 81 in Jefferson City. That translates to 53 percent of his nights in Springfield and less than 31 percent in the capital. The rest were spent traveling for work, politics or pleasure to places such as St. Louis, Boston and Montreal, Canada.

In the weeks before and after the March 9 birth of his son, Branch, the governor spent almost all of his nights in Springfield with his wife, Melanie. Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson said the whole family moved into the Governor's Mansion in early May.

But since then, Blunt still has spent slightly more nights in Springfield than he has in Jefferson City. This past week, for example, Blunt spent every night at his Springfield home.

"The Governor's Mansion is a beautiful home, a beautiful building -- we're privileged to have a chance to live there," Blunt said. But "it certainly doesn't feel as comfortable as our home."

Although the mansion is huge, the Blunts essentially live in a 2,600-square-foot apartment on the second floor. In Springfield, they recently sold a smaller house to buy a 3,100-square-foot home.

Tabulating the public cost of Blunt's travels to Springfield is somewhat difficult. The patrol spent about $8,453 on Springfield hotel rooms for the governor's security detail from January through June. Based on the agency's daily meal allowance, it likely spent around $3,800 on Springfield food during that time.

But the patrol's overall expense for guarding Blunt -- $33,547 -- was just $46 higher than for Democratic Gov. Bob Holden during his first six months in office. That's because Holden's out-of-state travel expenses doubled Blunt's, while Blunt's in-state expenses doubled Holden's.

The cost of gas is another matter and is not included in those figures. Even at its discounted rate of $2 a gallon, the patrol pays about $28 for each one-way trip the governor makes between Springfield and Jefferson City. But Highway Patrol spokesman Capt. Chris Ricks said he was unable to provide a total for the governor's gas costs, because it was paid from a general agency account.

Blunt certainly is not the only governor to prefer his private home. Most recently, Govs. Mel Carnahan, a Democrat, and John Ashcroft, a Republican, both liked to leave the mansion on the weekends -- Carnahan to Rolla and Ashcroft to the Lake of the Ozarks. But a statistical comparison of their time at the mansion is not possible, because governors' daily schedules are not among the official documents saved at the State Archives.

In contrast to Blunt, Holden spent nearly every night at the mansion. The Holdens liked Jefferson City so much that they decided to stay there when Holden's term ended.

"The mansion was our home," Holden said. "You're in a fishbowl in the mansion, but the people in Jefferson City, by and large, see that as part of their community, and they were very, very hospitable to us."

But "every governor's got to do what they feel is comfortable," Holden added.

When in Springfield, Blunt keeps in regular contact with his staff at the Capitol. Computers, e-mail, cell phones and Blackberries have made it technologically possible to govern from almost anywhere.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, for example, has chosen to keep his family in Chicago instead of moving to the Governor's Mansion. Instead, he frequently commutes to the Capitol -- a practice that has irked some lawmakers and citizens, especially those living in Illinois' capital.

Blunt said he has no intention of moving out of the Governor's Mansion and turning it into a museum.

But he adds, "I bet I'm more productive in Springfield than I am in Jefferson City. There's just not as many distractions."

Pounding pavements with pooch betters top diet plans

Well I'm 64 pounds lighter and although Molly and Levi (my dogs) have been most supportive, I'll have to say I really don't think they have noticed I've lost all that much... LOL! On a serious note though, I will have to try this, nothing wrong with spending quality time with my little fur babies, and hey if it puts me closer to my goals, then what better way to do it! Of course I am speaking of Chihuahuas here, they simply will hear nothing of long walks when the temp falls below 45 degrees. I will say running up and down the four flights of stairs in our condo to take them "out" as often as Chihuahuas need to go (small bladders), has been beneficial for my buns o steal! Way to go Mizzou on a study well done :-)AP -

US researchers have a new lead in the fight against flab -- getting a dog and pounding the pavements can strip off more pounds than some of the best known weight loss programs.

A study by the University of Missouri-Columbia found that having a dog encouraged people to take regular walks -- one of the most profitable forms of exercise.

"Our goal was to look for ways to increase the average exercise regime," said Rebecca Johnson, director of the College of Veterinary Medicine's Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction.

"We found that being responsible for a pet, such as committing to walk a loaner dog, encouraged people who did not own dogs to walk more often and for longer periods," she said.

"Our first study group averaged a weight loss of 14 pounds during a one-year program."

Such a level of weight loss was greater than that reported by most US weight loss plans, according to the study.

Study subjects were encouraged to walk with dogs on a regular schedule, and started walking 10 minutes a day, three times a week, and eventually walked up to 20 minutes a day, five times per week.

Health experts monitored participants' body mass, weight, bone density, blood pressure and other indicators.

"Many of them told us that they didn't necessarily walk in the study because they knew it was good for their health; they enjoyed walking because they knew it was good for the animals," said Johnson.

Time for a laugh

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying, "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed in an accident.

"OH, DEAR GOD, NO!!!" George W. Bush exclaims. "That's terrible!! First the hurricanes and now this!!"

His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the president sits, head in hands. Finally, the President, devastated, looks up and through tear-streaked eyes asks..........

"How many is a brazillion??!"

Bob Cesca: Bigotry In The Name Of Jesus H. Christ

I'm laughing my ass off! I love this!

This week, 14-year-old Shay Clark was expelled from a Christian private school in California because her parents happen to be lesbians. And deservingly so, because we all know how much of a threat lesbian parents are; what with the fully loaded lesbian firearms they pack in their children's lunch boxes and how, by sending their child to a Christian school, they're clearly devil-worshipping heathens -- sub-humans bent on the destruction of all things American and Christian.

But that's not all. In a long overlooked section of the Bible called "Jesus H. Christ's Rad Blog", the Son of Man's online journal which he kept for a short time then abandoned when he lost interest, we find this passage dated March 10, 32 A.D.:

"Gays and lesbians shall be pwn3d for the rest of eternity. For they are really goddamn disgusting."

I know what you're saying. Jesus didn't invent the word "pwn3d". True that. It's probably an error in the translation. He did, however, invent the phrase "true that". What Mel Gibson didn't tell us is that when Jesus was asked whether he was the King of the Jews, Jesus responded, "True that! Um. I mean, it is you who say that I am."

Would it strike you as odd that Jesus never condemned homosexuality? In fact, as my friend John Christian Plummer pointed out this week, he never mentioned a single word about it. Probably because he was too busy saying things like, "Blessed are the peacemakers," and "Blessed are the poor." Here's an actual Jesus quote which is interesting:

"Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man."

Within this sentence, Jesus condemns bigotry and persecution in his name, which today happens to define the policies and actions of the modern right-wing who ironically embrace Christianity -- the teaching of Christ -- as part of their strategy. Throughout his documented life story, Jesus’ most incendiary comments and actions were aimed at, 1) Satan, and 2) the men who mixed business and religion. Does that second item sound familiar? Nary a single word which denounced same-sex marriage -- well, except in the Bible used by the right-wing and Christian Fundamentalists known as the "Fake Bible Which We Made Up To Suit Our Bigotry: Large Print Edition".

The Bible contains a lot of hogwash which, in a modern context, has little or no validity. The Bible tells us that anyone who comes into contact with a woman who is menstruating must do penance. The Book of Leviticus, the section of the Bible which is the cornerstone of the frightening Christian Reconstructionist movement, condemns homosexuality under pain of death. It also condemns the touching of pig flesh on Sundays... under pain of death. That would certainly make football interesting. Whoever touches the ball dies.

One of the most dominant arguments against same-sex marriage has been the dictionary definition of marriage: "The legal union of a man and woman as husband and wife." That's a pretty weak argument, no? The dictionary? At one point in time, a definition taught us that a sperm cell contained a fully formed little man called a "homunculus". Just because George W. Bush cites the dictionary definition of marriage as "between a man and a woman" doesn't make it right and justified. This from the same man who thought "misunderestimated" was a word.

The Republican movement against same-sex-marriage is purely a political tactic which feeds off the unjustified fears of easily influenced Americans -- as we witnessed during last year's presidential campaign. Gay marriage does nothing to threaten you or your marriage, but the anti-gay right-wing wants to make you feel that way in order to consolidate their power. The Republicans have told you that there's a Toe Monster under your bed and if you don't vote for them, the Toe Monster will get your toes! Ooga booga! You allow yourself to buy into that? Seriously?

Plainly put, I can't figure out how our government, founded on freedom, can continue to make attempts at legislating bigotry. Ironic that the same officials who have sent our soldiers do die for the freedom of the Iraqi people (in-so-far as a theocracy will allow freedom) have also engaged in an effort to forbid the freedoms of an entire group of Americans. Ironic, but not surprising. Our elected officials have been the catalyst behind some of the most horrible events ever recorded, and most of those have been in the name of morality, fear, and ignorance. You know the list. It includes genocide and slavery, to name a couple. So in that respect, this latest effort is no surprise, however difficult it is to grasp.

But Christians? I'm ashamed of you. I'm ashamed to have spent the first 18 years of my life in your service. I'm ashamed of the dollars I put in your collection baskets every Sunday. Shay Clark's parents wanted her to be raised amongst your teachings and you've inexplicably found a loophole to exclude her. But maybe, like our president, you're only a Christian as a convenience to somehow justify your hatred and nearsighted worldview. If you actually read that book on which you base your life, you'll find that Shay Clark's lesbian parents should be the absolute very least of your worries. What you'll find in the teachings of Jesus is that, if anyone, you are your own worst enemy. God's speed.

POSTSCRIPT: Christian Fundamentalists and their ilk should probably rethink the effort to blur the line between Church and State. If history has taught us anything, it's shown that policy is cyclical. If you want your Republican government to legislate your dogma, be aware that when the next regime takes over -- the group which has typically explored tax hikes as a means of reducing the federal deficit -- your tax-exempt status might be in jeopardy. If you want the separation of Church and State to be permanently blurred, prepare to be taxed. In case you didn't notice, our government loves to pursue anyone who might help pay the bills. And without a clear separation, that means you.

SHAMELESS PLUG: Check out Marc Evan Jackson's "Cheney Blogcast" over at Reality Based Nation. You'll be happy you did.

The War On Porn (Give Me A Break)

Here we go again trying to legislate morality and what consenting adults do in and on their own time. My issue with this also is we do not have enough money to fight the war on terrorism or pay for the devastation of hurricane Katrina or Rita (Currently the Federal Government is considering postponing the Medicare prescription drug benefit due to begin in January to save money for hurricane relief.) BUT WE WILL FORK OVER TAX DOLLARS TO FIGHT SOMETHING THAT AT THIS TIME IS NOT ILLEGAL AND CONSENTING ADULTS TAKE PART IN, THAT IN NO WAY PHYSICALLY HURTS ANYONE ELSE! UGGGGG!!!!


By Barton Gellman
Washington Post Staff Writer

The FBI is joining the Bush administration's War on Porn. And it's looking for a few good agents.

Early last month, the bureau's Washington Field Office began recruiting for a new anti-obscenity squad. Attached to the job posting was a July 29 Electronic Communication from FBI headquarters to all 56 field offices, describing the initiative as "one of the top priorities" of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and, by extension, of "the Director." That would be FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III.

Mischievous commentary began propagating around the water coolers at 601 Fourth St. NW and its satellites, where the FBI's second-largest field office concentrates on national security, high-technology crimes and public corruption.

The new squad will divert eight agents, a supervisor and assorted support staff to gather evidence against "manufacturers and purveyors" of pornography -- not the kind exploiting children, but the kind that depicts, and is marketed to, consenting adults.

"I guess this means we've won the war on terror," said one exasperated FBI agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity because poking fun at headquarters is not regarded as career-enhancing. "We must not need any more resources for espionage."

Among friends and trusted colleagues, an experienced national security analyst said, "it's a running joke for us."

A few of the printable samples:

"Things I Don't Want On My Resume, Volume Four."

"I already gave at home."

"Honestly, most of the guys would have to recuse themselves."

Federal obscenity prosecutions, which have been out of style since Attorney General Edwin Meese III in the Reagan administration made pornography a signature issue in the 1980s, do "encounter many legal issues, including First Amendment claims," the FBI headquarters memo noted.

Applicants for the porn squad should therefore have a stomach for the kind of material that tends to be most offensive to local juries. Community standards -- along with a prurient purpose and absence of artistic merit -- define criminal obscenity under current Supreme Court doctrine.

"Based on a review of past successful cases in a variety of jurisdictions," the memo said, the best odds of conviction come with pornography that "includes bestiality, urination, defecation, as well as sadistic and masochistic behavior." No word on the universe of other kinks that helps make porn a multibillion-dollar industry.

Popular acceptance of hard-core pornography has come a long way, with some of its stars becoming mainstream celebrities and their products -- once confined to seedy shops and theaters -- being "purveyed" by upscale hotels and most home cable and satellite television systems. Explicit sexual entertainment is a profit center for companies including General Motors Corp. and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (the two major owners of DirecTV), Time Warner Inc. and the Sheraton, Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt hotel chains.

But Gonzales endorses the rationale of predecessor Meese: that adult pornography is a threat to families and children. Christian conservatives, long skeptical of Gonzales, greeted the pornography initiative with what the Family Research Council called "a growing sense of confidence in our new attorney general."

Congress began funding the obscenity initiative in fiscal 2005 and specified that the FBI must devote 10 agents to adult pornography. The bureau decided to create a dedicated squad only in the Washington Field Office. "All other field offices may investigate obscenity cases pursuant to this initiative if resources are available," the directive from headquarters said. "Field offices should not, however, divert resources from higher priority matters, such as public corruption."

Public corruption, officially, is fourth on the FBI's priority list, after protecting the United States from terrorist attack, foreign espionage and cyber-based attacks. Just below those priorities are civil rights, organized crime, white-collar crime and "significant violent crime." The guidance from headquarters does not mention where pornography fits in.

"The Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's top priority remains fighting the war on terrorism," said Justice Department press secretary Brian Roehrkasse. "However, it is not our sole priority. In fact, Congress has directed the department to focus on other priorities, such as obscenity."

At the FBI's field office, spokeswoman Debra Weierman expressed disappointment that some of her colleagues find grist for humor in the new campaign. "The adult obscenity squad . . . stems from an attorney general mandate, funded by Congress," she said. "The personnel assigned to this initiative take the responsibility of this assignment very seriously and are dedicated to the success of this program."

St. Louis Cops Try Shame to Cut Down on Prostitution

This all just seems a bit like legislating morality. IT NEVER WORKS! Whom gave them the right or responsibility to "shame" anyone?


St. Louis Cops Try Shame to Cut Down on Prostitution

by Bob Priddy

St. Louis police hope the threat of severe embarrassment at home cuts down on prostitution on the city streets. Police plan to send postcards to the homes of customers of prostitutes, thanking them for visiting the place where they were picked up, and reminding them that prostitution is illegal. Prostitutes' customers who are arrested face only small fines but officers hope the posibility that somebody back home will learn of the solicitation will keep Johns - the customers of prostitutes - from trying to make deals to begin with.

ROBERTSON BLAMES HURRICANE ON CHOICE OF ELLEN

Mr. Robertson – Shhhhhhhhh come here.....Got a secret for ya.....GOD DOES NOT ENDORSE TV EVANGELISTS, AND YOU ARE AS CRAZY AS A SHIT HOUSE RAT!

Lesbian is New Orleans native

Hollywood – Pat Robertson on Sunday said that
Hurricane Katrina was God’s way of expressing its
anger at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
for its selection of Ellen Degeneres to host this
year’s Emmy Awards. “By choosing an avowed lesbian for
this national event, these Hollywood elites have
clearly invited God’s wrath,” Robertson said on “The
700 Club” on Sunday. “Is it any surprise that the
Almighty chose to strike at Miss Degeneres’ hometown?”

Robertson also noted that the last time Degeneres
hosted the Emmys, in 2001, the September 11 terrorism
attacks took place shortly before the ceremony.

“This is the second time in a row that God has invoked
a disaster shortly before lesbian Ellen Degeneres
hosted the Emmy Awards,” Robertson explained to his
approximately one million viewers. “America is waiting
for her to apologize for the death and destruction
that her sexual deviance has brought onto this great
nation.”

Robertson added that other tragedies of the past
several years can be linked to Degeneres’ growing
national prominence. September, 2003, for example, is
both the month that her talk show debuted and when
insurgents first gained a foothold in Iraq following
the successful March invasion. “Now we know why things
took a turn for the worse,” he explained.

In order to avoid further tragedy, Robertson called
not only for the Television Academy to find a new
heterosexual host, but to bar all homosexuals and
bisexuals from taking part in the ceremony.

He said employees at the Christian Broadcasting
Network had put together a list of 283 nominees,
presenters, and invited guests at the Emmys known to
be of sexually deviant persuasions.

“God already allows one awards show to promote the
homosexual agenda,” Robertson declared. “But clearly
He will not tolerate such sinful behavior to spread
beyond the Tonys.”

St. Louis seminary to be among first evaluated in gay inquiry

So - While the church is in crisis. . .THEY WILL HAVE NO PRIESTS! My issue here is again with the last paragraph in this story. The church is equating homosexuals to child molesters and in doing so, has showed it has very little understanding of either issue, and has learned nothing from the whole ordeal of the sex abuse scandles, therefore - it or something like it will likely happen again. When we do not learn from history we are destined to repeat it over and over until that lesson is learned. Very Karmatic

FROM AP -

A Catholic seminary in St. Louis will be among the first in the country to be visited by Vatican officials seeking evidence of homosexuality.

Bishop Michael Burbidge of Philadelphia will lead a five-member team that will visit Aquinas Institute of Theology Sept. 25-29, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday. The purpose, according to the Vatican, is to "examine the criteria for admission of candidates and the programs of human formation and spiritual formation aimed at ensuring that they faithfully live chastely for the Kingdom."

Seminaries across the U.S. will be visited through next spring. St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke and Belleville, Ill., Bishop Edward K. Braxton will be among the 117 bishops and seminary staff sent to the seminaries.

Visits will involve interviews with faculty, staff, seminarians and recent alumni, and will be overseen by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education.

On Monday, Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, who oversees the evaluation effort, told The Associated Press that most gay candidates for the priesthood struggle to remain celibate and the church must restrict their enrollment.

O'Brien, said the church "really must stay on the safe side. ... The same-sex attractions have gotten us into some legal problems."

He told the AP that the church is not "hounding" gays out of the priesthood, but wants to enroll seminarians who can maintain their vows of celibacy.

The catechism of the Roman Catholic Church calls homosexual acts "acts of grave depravity" and "intrinsically disordered" because they "close the sexual act to the gift of life." But the catechism also says that although the inclination to homosexuality is "objectively disordered," homosexuals "must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity."

The Vatican ordered the seminary review three years ago in response to the clergy sex abuse crisis to look for anything that contributed to the scandal, which has led to more than 11,000 abuse claims in the last five decades.

Judge Blocks Sale of Park Hills Company

From my home town! Shame really....That plant is the major employer in that area. The sale or shut-down will devistate the local economy.

A bankruptcy judge has blocked the sale of a factory in Park Hills to a German company. The judge says he won't approve the deal because the German company wanting to buy parts of the Glass Group will not accept clauses in union contracts that say the contracts stay in effect under new ownership. The judge says he will not void those provisions of the contract. The German company is the only bidder for the Flat River Glass Factory in Park Hills and two other units Glass Group wants to dump.

Catholic probe to look at gays in seminaries

Generally - When you go looking for something, you're gonna find it! I have no problem with the issue of looking for child molestors serving in the church. My issue here is gay does not = child molestor.

Catholic Church investigators tasked by the Vatican to review U.S. seminaries will be looking for "evidence of homosexuality" and for professors who dissent from Church teaching, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

The newspaper said a Vatican document prepared to guide the process and given to The New York Times by a priest, surfaces as Catholics await a Vatican ruling on whether homosexuals should be barred from the priesthood.

American seminaries are under review as a result of the sexual abuse scandal that swept the priesthood in 2002, the year the probe which is now starting was announced.

In a possible hint of the ruling's contents, the American archbishop supervising the seminary review said "anyone who has engaged in homosexual activity or has strong homosexual inclinations," should not be admitted to a seminary.

The Times said Edwin O'Brien, archbishop for the United States military who is supervising the seminary review, told The National Catholic Register that the restriction should apply even to those who have not been sexually active for a decade or more.

O'Brien was once the rector of the North American College, a seminary for Americans studying in Rome and has familiarity with both the Vatican and the U.S. Church.

The issue has been in the spotlight because a study commissioned by the Church found last year that about 80 percent of the young people victimized by priests were boys.

The seminary review, called an apostolic visitation, will send teams of American Church officials to the 229 seminaries, which have more than 4,500 students.

At each seminary, the visitors will conduct confidential interviews with faculty members and seminarians, plus everyone who graduated in the last three years, the Times said.

A document with instructions for the review is being distributed to seminarians and faculty members. It asks whether the doctrine on the priesthood presented by the seminary is "solidly based on the church's Magisterium," or teaching, and whether teachers and seminarians "accept this teaching."

The Times said among the other questions in the lengthy questionnaire are:

"Is there a clear process for removing from the seminary faculty members who dissent from the authoritative teaching of the church or whose conduct does not provide good example to future priests?"

"Is the seminary free from the influences of New Age and eclectic spirituality?"

"Do the seminarians or faculty members have concerns about the moral life of those living in the institution? (This question must be answered)."

"Is there evidence of homosexuality in the seminary? (This question must be answered)."

The questionnaire also asks whether faculty members "watch out for signs of particular friendships," the newspaper said.

Lawyer Is Fired After Talking About Rove

This should give us some clue as to what if anything (*nothing) is going to happen to that traitor bastard for leaking the name of an undercover CIA Agent. Yes, I have strong feelings about Rove. You see, he is one of the absolute worst kind of politicians...The dirty kind. In the Republican primary when the shrub was running against an honorable man like John McCain Rove masterminded a scheme called "push-polling" (and it's perfectly legal if not stomach turning) where he had aides call potential voters and ask loaded questions such as..."If you knew John McCain was a child molester would you still vote for him?". Now...they didn't actually say John McCain WAS a child molester so it's legal to say that. However it gives the caller the impression that John McCain was actually a child molester. . . Dirty politics to say the least! Should give you some insight into his moral fiber as well. Either way the saga continues. . .

Associated Press -

A lawyer with the Texas secretary of state was fired after she spoke to a reporter about presidential adviser Karl Rove's eligibility to vote in the state.

Elizabeth Reyes, 30, said she was dismissed last week for violating the agency's media policy after she was quoted in a Sept. 3 story by The Washington Post about tax deductions on Rove's homes in Washington and Texas.

Scott Haywood, a spokesman for Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams, confirmed Reyes' firing but wouldn't discuss specifics. He had earlier told the Post that Reyes "was not authorized to speak on behalf of the agency."

Reyes told the Post on Friday a superior told her that her bosses were upset about the article. Williams has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Republicans, including President Bush, who relies heavily on Rove for political strategy.

While Reyes said she didn't know she was talking to a reporter, she said the press policy doesn't bar her from speaking with the media.

"The policy allows us to talk to members of the media," she told the Post. "The policy says if it's a controversial issue or a special issue, it needs to be forwarded on to someone else. Just talking to the media doesn't violate it, as I read it. ... Karl Rove didn't come up. It wasn't something you could classify as controversial."

She said she sent a certified letter to Williams's office asking that her dismissal be reconsidered.

The Post earlier reported that Rove inadvertently received a homestead tax deduction on his home in Washington, even though he had not been eligible for the benefit for more than three years. Rove was eligible for the deduction when he bought the home in 2001, but a change in the tax law in 2002 made the deduction available only to property owners who do not vote elsewhere. Rove is registered to vote in Texas.

The tax office admitted the mistake, saying it failed to rescind the deduction, and Rove agreed to reimburse the city an estimated $3,400 in back taxes, the Post reported.

Rove is registered to vote in Kerr County, Texas, where he and his wife own two rental homes that he claims as his residence. But two local residents told the Post they had never seen Rove there.

The Post reported Saturday that when its reporter called the Texas secretary of state's office for her story, she was told the press officer was on vacation and she was transferred to Reyes.

The attorney told the reporter that it was potential vote fraud in Texas to register in a place where you don't actually live, and she was quoted as saying Rove's cottages don't "sound like a residence to me, because it's not a fixed place of habitation."

The Post ran a correction Saturday saying Reyes had not been asked about Rove by name and that the story should have mentioned Reyes's further explanation that an individual's intent to return to a home owned in Texas is a primary factor in qualifying for residency.

However, the reporter did identify herself as working for the Post during two phone conversations with Reyes, and in the second one she said she was asking about a presidential adviser who had moved from Texas to Washington, the newspaper said.

Barbara Bush: It's Good Enough for the Poor

Well, I could have told ya that! This woman has absolutely no tact whatsoever! Further. . .Those pearls she always wears around her neck like a choker coller are just damn tacky! LMAO

By John Nichols

The Nation -- Finally, we have discovered the roots of George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism."

On the heels of the president's "What, me worry?" response to the death, destruction and dislocation that followed upon Hurricane Katrina comes the news of his mother's Labor Day visit with hurricane evacuees at the Astrodome in Houston.

Commenting on the facilities that have been set up for the evacuees -- cots crammed side-by-side in a huge stadium where the lights never go out and the sound of sobbing children never completely ceases -- former First Lady Barbara Bush concluded that the poor people of New Orleans had lucked out.

"Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them," Mrs. Bush told American Public Media's "Marketplace" program, before returning to her multi-million dollar Houston home.

On the tape of the interview, Mrs. Bush chuckles audibly as she observes just how great things are going for families that are separated from loved ones, people who have been forced to abandon their homes and the only community where they have ever lived, and parents who are explaining to children that their pets, their toys and in some cases their friends may be lost forever. Perhaps the former first lady was amusing herself with the notion that evacuees without bread could eat cake.

At the very least, she was expressing a measure of empathy commensurate with that evidenced by her son during his fly-ins for disaster-zone photo opportunities.

On Friday, when even Republican lawmakers were giving the federal government an "F" for its response to the crisis, President Bush heaped praise on embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown. As thousands of victims of the hurricane continued to plead for food, water, shelter, medical care and a way out of the nightmare to which federal neglect had consigned them, Brown cheerily announced that "people are getting the help they need."

Barbara Bush's son put his arm around the addled FEMA functionary and declared, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

Like mother, like son.

Even when a hurricane hits, the apple does not fall far from the tree.