I'm curious

I can't help but wonder what the judge that sentenced this Mother to 10 years for neglectful drowning if he had our Ghoulish baby killer in his court room.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110416/ap_on_re_us/us_toddler_death_facebook

Really???

Wow, is it the fact that we're trying to get into the summer mode,
is it that we desperately want spring to come and STAY,
why are we getting snow?? Really??
Maybe I'm just cranky, and cold.
I just want to get better, this is not fun, I want a do over of a nice, warm,
happy time! I think that's reasonable, don't you??

More summer songs

Summer Ad Nauseum - The Jamies - "Summertime, Summertime"

I took this down, but I'm reposting it because of kk's blog below. And I found a cleaner version.

Summer songs...

Serving Alcohol Drinks to Toddlers!

Last night on the news I heard of two places that served alcohol drinks to toddlers. This really got to me and I just had to write about it. Yes my kids are a lot older but I do have a two year old great niece. This is why it scares me so much.

The first toddler is only fifteen months old lives in Michigan. The family went to Applebee's for dinner and the toddler was given a alcohol drink in a plastic glass. The waiter didn't ask which drink it was and gave the cup to the child.

The second toddler is two years old and lives in Lakeland, Florida. This family went to Olive Garden for dinner. They ordered a orange juice for the boy and got a tropical sangria instead. The boy drank most of the drink and the waiter came and said that was the wrong drink and left the table very fast. When he came back with the orange juice the mom asked what was in the glass and the waiter told her. The mom was very upset and the manager came to the table to apologize. The drink had orange juice, pineapple juice and wine in it. By the end of dinner the boy was very loud, misbehaving and his eyes were dilated and red.

Then his mom took him to the emergency room. The doctor had to give the boy an IV and checked him out. But at that time with test really couldn't tell how much alcohol was in his system. The boy went home two hours later.

The boy is doing real good and nothing seems to be wrong with him. The mom did contact an attorney about this. I don't blame her for that.

This really got to me when I seen it on the news. How can people do this to a toddler and the manager not do something about this. If this was a stronger drink they could have killed the boy. I worry about this because of my little great niece and my boyfriends granddaughter. I don't want to see this happen to any child that young out there. This is really wrong and I hope something happens with this.

Four for Fridays

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Four for Fridays after a week that dragged on and on...This week's questions are random..

1) Do you find the excessive cussing in today's music/media offensive?

2) Were you the oldest, middle or the youngest child?

3) What's your favorite kind of fruit?

4) Do you think you can handle living in the frontier times (late 1800's)?

Enjoy your weekend!

Open Blog - Friday

Hooray!

Summer song

As I posted in the post below, this song always means summer to me, not just cause of the name. It's just a throw open the windows and crank it up going 65 song. Satch is a guitar god, and Stu Hamm, is no slouch on the bass as well!

Summer music??

I know it's not quite summer, heck it's barely spring, but anytime I finally get the sun and some weather that I can get outside to play in I automatically jump into summer mode. On these first few days I have to play certain music that reminds me of summer. One of the albums I play is Dave Matthews Band Crash. For whatever reason I am put into that happy chipper fully energetic mood that I rarely get anytime of the year other than the summer months.. One of the songs really puts me in a summer feeling, reminds me of driving around in my 1987 Mercury Cougar with the windows down and driving around singing my heart out. I can feel the warmth, feel the freedom of just driving, can see the scenery go by. The song is Two Step from the same album.



Another song from that album probably the hit of this album as it's the name of the album is Crash.



It took me a few years to actually read through and truly listen to the lyrics, it's an incredibly seductive and sensual song. Brings me to those hot summer nights (oh my am I blushing a little).

There are other albums that are specifically summer albums such as Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill, U2 Achtung Baby and Venus Hum Big Beautiful Sky.

Do you have songs or certain artists that really pick you up or specifically listen to during the summers and nice weather??

Tom Tom Club - "Wordy Rappinghood" (Live @ Summer Sonic '09)

As long as we're talking about words . . .

"The Power of Words"

"The power of words" - a theme that's been recurring lately on the JTI. Synchronicity?
 

I Took the Plunge – No TV

Well, it’s more like I was pushed over the edge by economics. I couldn’t afford my Time Warner Cable bill anymore. I will cut back on food before I will give up Road Runner Turbo, so something had to give. Dropping television halved my bill. I might have been able to afford RR and the Basic Tier of TV service, which essentially are the broadcast channels, but I haven’t watched them in years. (Except, I’ve watched channel 19 for some oldies - I’ll miss The Untouchables.) On the cable channels, I mostly watched movies, Comedy Central, Adult Swim (Cartoon Network), and the History Channel (less and less as they added more and more reality shows). I can get movies from the library, and the rest are available online.

I have a buddy in Milwaukee who has an antenna on his roof and pulls in some nice channels. I don’t have that option. I live in an old apartment building that was retrofitted with cable. Each apartment has its own jack. I’m on a lower floor. Anyway, my computer’s TV tuner card and the TV in the bedroom are analog, so I would need converter boxes, and, again, only to pull in broadcast channels.

A big stumbling block in making this decision has been psychological. I’ve lived with television my entire life. I’m part of the first TV generation. As a child, I was often left alone with the TV. TV is one of my parents. I’ve been telling myself that I need instant access to news in case of another situation like 9/11, or worse. But, in reality, CNN.com covers it just as well as CNN the cable channel. In a dire emergency, my neighbor is right next door and he has two TVs. I have a key to the place (for feeding his cat) and he has said I can stop by anytime I need a TV fix.

I recently got into it, again, with TWC over service issues, so that helped me make this decision, too. I’ll see how it goes. If I go into withdrawal, I may add the Basic Tier back to my services. I think, though, that this may be the next step in my evolution into a creature of the internet. For the past few weeks, I’ve had classical music playing online all day long. It has set a new tone to my apartment. Maybe the lack of exposure to TV will turn out to be a good thing.

My Revue on Johnny Cash!

I decided this morning to write about Johnny Cash. I really like a lot of his music. I also grew up listening to his music with my parents. I know it is his deep voice that gets to me and the southern drawl.

Johnny was born on February 26th, 1932 in Kingsland, Arkansas. He passed away on September 12th, 2003 at the age of 71. He was the third child of seven children.

The style of music for Johnny Cash is Country, Rock, Rockabilly, Folk and Blues. He does vocals and plays the guitar and harmonica.


Johnny always looked up to his older brother Jack growing up. At the age of 5 Johnny was working in the cotton field with his family. Johnny's brother Jack worked at a saw mill in town. One day when Jack was 15 he was at work at the saw mill he was almost cut in half. He was pulled in a whirling head saw. This day Jack and Johnny were suppose to go fishing. But Jack wanted to go to work to make money for the family.

Johnny was inspired by Gospel music at a very early age. As a young boy he began to play the guitar and writing music. In high school he sang on a local radio station and later he released an album called My Mother's Hymn Book.

Johnny enlisted in the United States Air Force. His basic training was in San Antonio, Texas. Then he was transferred to Germany. He was honorably discharged from the service in 1954.

He was arrested seven times but never had to spend time in prison. He did have to spend a night in jail a couple of times. This was when his career was taking off and he was drinking heavily and started to take amphetamines and barbiturates. His friends would joke around and say he is really nervous. But this was how bad he was on the drugs. He would have to take uppers to stay awake during a show. He has tried every drug there was to try.

Johnny was married to Vivian and they had four girls. Then they divorced and he married June Carter and they had a boy. Johnny and Vivian moved to Memphis and he was selling appliances before his career took off. One day he went to audition for Sam Phillips and he sang gospel. Sam told him that gospel wasn't selling at the time. So Johnny played one of his country songs and Sam signed him on.

Folsom Prison Blues was on the top five list the next one was Walk The Line that went to number one on the country charts. This was just the start of the many hit songs that Johnny would have in his career.

Then he had his own t.v. show called The Johnny Cash Show this was in 1969-1971. He had special guests like Carl Perkins, The Carter Family, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan and Kenny Rogers are some of the people he had on the show. He also had Kris Kristofferson on the show and help him get his singing and song writing career going.

in the early 70's he started to perform in black. The reason for him wearing the black was for the poor, hungry the people in prison and the Vietnam war. That is how he had gotten the name The Man In Black.

In 1980 Johnny was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. By my surprise to find out he was the youngest person to be inducted. In the mid 80's he recorded and tour with the Highwaymen. It was Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson. In 1988 Johnny had a double by pass surgery.

In 1993 Johnny sang with U2's album Zooropa the song The Wanderer. Johnny also teamed up with Brooks & Dunn to sing Folsom Prison Blues on the Red Hot & Country for Aids Benefit. He also sang the Bob Dylan favorite Forever Young. Johnny and June had many special guest apperances on Dr. Quinn show. Johnny also enlisted the accompaniment of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Unchained. Then won Best Country Album at the Grammy.

In 1997 he was diagnosed with neurodegenitive disease, sky-drager syndrome a form of Parkinson's disease. Later Altered to autonomic neuropathy associated with diabetes. The albums American III Solitary Man & American IV The Man Comes Around is the way he is responding to his illness in the form of songs. The video Hurt fits the veiw of his past feelings of regret.

Right before June passed away she told him to keep working. Then two months after she passed away Johnny went to the Carter Family Fold in Virginia. Then right before he sang The Ring of Fire he read a statement that he had just written. " The spirit of June Carter shadows over me tonight with the love she had for me and the love I have for her. We connect somewhere between here and heaven. She came down for a short visit  I guess, From heaven to visit me tonight to give me courage and inspiration like she always has.

He is in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Rockabilly Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He also has numerous awards. He has had a awesome career and some of his kids are following in his and June's footsteps with the music. He does have a lot of great music out there and I know I really didn't mention a lot of that. I am really sorry about that.

I just hope you do like this revue about Johnny Cash and I look forward to you comments.

Johnson pleads "Not Guilty."

Here is a song for the tossed aside children, the fall out from the moneyed and powerful. Once again, the JT is not allowing posts.

"Not Intended to be a factual statement"

That's the new term for what most people call "lying". Although I guess this one applies only to when you do it on the floor of the Senate.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Jon Kyl Tweets Not Intended to Be Factual Statements
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

And don't forget to check out the very funny twitter feed.

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my luscious lilies of the valley! How are you? We’ve finally had some gorgeous, sunny days. I am so grateful. It’s reinvigorating to see little green shoots popping up everywhere. I have no idea of what it’s like in Romania right now, but springtime in Racine is not to be missed. Soon our local tulip trees will be blooming. They’re so showy that it’s almost sinful. Oh my. I seem to be seeing fewer birds than in previous years, but maybe that’s just me, or my neighborhood. How about you? I love our flying friends. And so do my cats.

I’ve read about the troubles in regard to Great Lakes BrewFest and DP Wigley Co’s ‘Hop To It’ and their homebrew customers. I’m sure that something will be worked out to accommodate all of the parties concerned. Racine is blessed with some of the finest entrepreneurs and they are dedicated to our city heart and soul. Bless them all. We will find a way to legally promote events like BrewFest and encourage the people who work so hard on them. Thank you all for your efforts.

I know that “my” candidate for mayor of Racine did not win. Mr. Dickert has some powerful mojo on his side. As near as I can tell, it’s imported, probably some of that Haitian or African voodoo. No worries. Madame Zoltar can overcome that. It will take some time, but I guarantee I can neutralize the effect. Then we will see how fate deals with Mr. Dickert.

Of course, the ongoing devastation in Japan keeps us transfixed. Again, I’m sending all the positive psychic energy that way that I can, as are other psychics that I know. Of course, millions across the world are also praying for the Japanese people. That kind of destruction is Mother Nature at her worst. That is why I try to avoid her at all costs. You never know what might set her off. She’s kind of like our Mr. OrbsCorbs in that way. Tee-hee.

And speaking of Mr. OrbsCorbs, no, I still have not seen hide nor hair of him (not that there’s much hair to see) since he learned that I did not win the lottery. Humph!

In keeping with the season, here’s a 1929 Silly Symphony cartoon from Walt Disney entitled “Springtime:”



Thank you for reading my blog today. I value your visit and love all of my readers. It’s reassuring to spend time with friends and share some thoughts. The pleasure is all mine.

Send your spring greetings to: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Enjoy the wonderful season, my beloved Irregulars. It feels good just to have the sun shine on our faces again. Get out and get going, my lovelies. Jentacular!

The Sex Pistols - "Pretty Vacant"

Remember these guys? They seem pretty tame now.
 

Open Blog - Wednesday

I hope that we all do.

Penis Museum Gets Human Member

It turns out that there is a museum for everything. It turns out Iceland is the proud home of the Iceland Phallological Museum. That's a fancy way of saying Penis Museum.

They have penises from a large variety of mammals, but just recently added their first human penis. The penis formerly belonged to Pall Arason who passed away recently at the age of 95 (so it's an old human penis) which probably looks small compared to the 67 inch sperm whale penis on display.

I thought I had found a strange one when I found the Chamber Pot Museum as part of the Zentrum fur Aussgergewoehnliche Museen (Center for the Unusual Museums) in Munich. Yeah, I went, I saw chamber pots of the rich and insane monarchs of Europe. Iceland has upped the ante on unusual museums.

Journal Times Lies for Dickert Again

That's right, first quarter home sales for last year were 348, and this year they were 316.  That is UP for the Journal Times.  You have to read the story to find out that they are comparing today's sales to those of two years ago.  This is deliberately misleading.  I am so sick of these out of town swine lying for Dickert.

Can the citizens of a city sue a newspaper for reporting lies to them, lies that lead them to make the wrong decisions?  If our newspaper won't report the facts, how the hell are we supposed to know what's going on?

Party on, lying pigs!

Btw, here's a link to a real news story that tells the truth: http://www.jsonline.com/business/119629239.html

"Cat and Dolphins playing together"

Now there's something you don't see every day. The cat looks a lot like my Charlie.
 

Ready fior a new dog.

Two years ago I had to put my little buddy down. It devastated me. I had never held a dog while it was put to sleep, and Hay was my constant companion. We did EVERYTHING together. He had more than 60,000 motorcycle miles under him in the sidecar. We'd go camping on the bike every year. He went grocery shopping and even in restaurants with me. My pack animal pal. It hurt badly when his kidneys failed and I needed time before I could think about another. It's time.

If you guys come across a female Yorkshire terrier, please let me know. I am not interested in a Boutique Yorkie mongrel. Yorki-poo, Shiz-Yorki, Morky, or Mutt-orkies need not apply. Well, if the owner is reasonable, sure, but not a $450 mutt. I can go to the Humane Society if I really want a mongrel. The new dog will be my Pal/working dog as Hay was. I'm willing to pay for an AKC pure bred, and know quality isn't cheap, but as I said, a cross breed isn't something I'll drop $$$ for.

Help my find my new Pack Mate working buddy.

Key costs

I tend to ,lose my keys so my BIL the Locksmith makes a copy and keeps them on hand in case i do an oh shit. I took my latest car key to him thinking metal key, plastic fob, cheap copy. oh my word! Plastic don't mean plastic anymore for a key end/handle/grab part. it's electronic. Riiiight. "It's plastic.' I told him. "Nope," says he, "It's all electronic."

The last time I saw an "electronic key" there were small old contacts and the electronics were obvious. He showed me a clear plastic end demo key and there is some electronics in it. A small radio frequency thingie. You can't take one of these keys in and expect your local hardware store to grind the profile and expect it to work. It's a involved process that includes a rip out to the car and programming the new key to the car.

The key blank is $16 his cost, the grinding and programming get tacked on. Mind blowing. It's damned good thing I make some Pinto Bean soup he LOVES. heh, it's even better I took a few bowls of it out to him with the key! LOL A real eye opener on the way the world is changing and we never realize. The last key he cut the blank was less than a buck.

Health Tip

Open Blog - Monday

 

If you can afford it, sleep is a better antidote to Monday than coffee

Sunday Night Green Flashes

Just a few quick shots of sunset tonight. First, a small mock mirage flash above the Sun. Wish I had a little higher res on this one...they are pretty small but it's always a treat to get them before sunset.

Now a few shots of the sunset proper with the usual series of flashes behind different peaks on the mountains.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

It's National Library Week, April 10-16, 2011

Woot! I ♥ libraries. Here's a link to the American Library Association's webpage on National Library Week: http://www.ala.org/ala/conferencesevents/celebrationweeks/natlibraryweek/index.cfm

The Racine Public Library is also holding some special events to mark the occasion. Here's the Journal Times story on that: http://www.journaltimes.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/article_973bcf58-6248-11e0-a11f-001cc4c03286.html

Go out and hug a library today.