A little late night Carmela blogging

Some of you asked how Carmela, my sister's dog is doing. She's great, now up to a whopping 9 pounds (she was around 6 pounds at Christmas), we don't think she's getting much bigger. Her fur, interestingly enough, has turned blue. Well, the fur on the main part of her body (not the legs or head). It's really funny, kind of old blue-haired lady blue. They say that's the way the hair becomes on these dogs, but I didn't believe it. She's actually blue. Weird.

The dog just LOVES sitting in laps, jumps in and out all day long, pretty funny actually:



This may give you a slight sense of how blue she is now - she looks more grey in the picture, it's really more blue-grey:

Read More......

Montgomery, Alabama apologizes 50 years after the fact

It is shocking that Rosa Parks is only now receiving an apology, fifty years after the fact but at least it is faster than the Catholic Church apologizing to Jean d'Arc. How could it possibly take so long for Montgomery and the state of Alabama to apologize though? They were on the wrong side of history and everyone ought to have known that for years. Read More......

Open thread

It's Greek Easter tomorrow... Read More......

When Democrats have even the appearance of an ethics problem, they do the right thing

Republicans could learn a few things from the Dems. Read More......

VIDEO: Sean Hannity takes on anti-gay religious right group that "thanks God" for 9/11 and IEDs

The interesting part, of course, is that Hannity is criticizing the woman for using religion to spread hate when Hannity's buddies among the religious right Republicans do this every day.

How is it that Hannity can say that this woman should be ashamed of herself for saying that God caused September 11 when Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson said the same exact same thing only days after September 11 (remember, it was God's revenge for gays and pro-choicers, oh yeah and the ACLU)?

You don't see the Republicans distancing themselves from Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. Hell, John McCain is now sucking up to Jerry Falwell, hoping Falwell will support McCain's presidential bid. Then again, John McCain was against Jerry Falwell before he was for him.

So, while it's cute for Hannity to try to convince his audience that he and the religious right Republicans running the Republican party have nothing to do with the crazy gay-bashing soldier-bashing chick who was on his show, Hannity and his buddy John McCain need only look in the mirror if they really want to take bat-shit crazy conservatives to task. Read More......

Lazy Saturday open thread

news? Read More......

Read More......

Need your business advice for my sis

Okay, so here's the story.

My sister (the mom of the nephew who's the aspiring musician) makes a killer Greek salad dressing. For years folks have told her she should bottle it. So now she's going to. But she doesn't know where to start. She needs advice on everything.

How do people go about turning their home recipes into commercial food products? If she wants to do it herself, not just sell the recipe to someone big, how does she go about it? Where do you find out what the laws and federal and state regulations are dealing with producing and selling food from home? How do you figure out how to make the product in a way that preserves it on the shelf? Do you call a nutritionist to help you?

She's a smart woman, with a good product, but has no idea how one goes about even beginning to research this top, let alone how to determine what she can and can't put in the recipe (fresh garlic?) in terms of whether it will stay okay in the bottle long term.

Any advice from folks familiar with starting your home food business would be much appreciated.

And that is the Aravosis family minute for the day :-)

Thanks guys, JOHN Read More......

Even the Air Force thought that Air Force One graffiti video might be real

Wow, talk about getting attention. Read more from AP. Read More......

GOP may be losing Catholics

Bush and the GOP are the ultimate "Cafeteria Catholics." They've been allowed to pick and choose certain issues where they agree with the Catholic hierarchy. In turn, the cardinals and bishops -- who like the GOP are obsessed with gays and abortion -- have let them get away with it for years.

The immigration debate may finally be a tipping point. Read More......

Bush taking a bike ride -- NOT for Earth Day -- just for fun

As Chris notes below, the idea of Bush even acknowledging Earth Day is wrong anyway. He's destroying the earth. But my favorite part of the article is that he's really excited about his bike ride:

Bush's bike ride Saturday was no Earth Day stunt. The president rides on most weekend mornings, but made the special detour to overnight in St. Helena just to get in a picturesque ride through wine country. He had no official events there.

"I can't wait," Bush told his San Jose audience. "I'll be plugged into an iPod."

That's the only thing he's plugged into. Read More......

Saturday Morning Open Thread

I know it's early -- and it's the weekend -- but, we need news. Read More......

Stanford protesters prevent Bush meeting

Pretty ballsy. Forcing the President to change his schedule. That doesn't happen very ofter:

President Bush's visit to Stanford University's Hoover Institution was quickly moved to another location after more than 1,000 protesters converged around the Hoover tower.

The White House said the protesters blocked the only road into the central areaof the campus where Hoover is located, which forced a meeting with several Hoover fellows to be moved to the campus home of former Secretary of State George Shultz, a Hoover fellow who organized the gathering.

The motorcade instead traveled to the house, which is on the outer edge of campus.

The change in plans delayed the president's arrival by about 15 minutes.

Read More......

Protests continue in Nepal

Reports of mass protests continue despite the king telling the nation that he would bring back democracy. Protestors do not believe the king and have continued to organize against the monarchy. The king, who canceled democracy, has failed miserably and lacks the trust of the people so it seems understandable that they will continue protesting until democracy is again restored. Police and security forces have to see the direction that the country is taking and it seems doubtful that they will continue to take a hard line (shoot to kill) against protestors. Read More......

Gas prices continue to rise, Bush shrugs his shoulders

Thank goodness the Republicans pooh-poohed energy conservation for the past 25 years because who needs it? Build massive SUVs and forget about good mileage, hooray! To hell with this talk about gouging (which may exist) because the bottom line problem is over-consumption and lack of conservation. The US should have been thinking about conservation years ago but by the look of things, even now there has yet to be any serious plans or even discussions about conservation. How about some big picture thinking from the WH? Read More......

Open thread

Nothing witty. Read More......