Collective Sigh

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But when Mr Bush’s face appeared on giant screens showing the ceremony – many in the crowds outside St Peter’s Square booed and whistled.

There's too much about the pope on television.

I have had just about enough of the pope. It seems every move is shoved down our throats. This may matter to the Catholics, but let's remember, he is just a man. I dare say Billy Graham has done more for people than the pope. Please, a little less of the pope every time the news is on television.

XXX XXXXXX

Trinity

Editor's note: This letter was received last week before John Paul II died.

At a time of budget deficit pressures, Congress is weighing how much to invest in a fledgling but expensive ballistic missile defense system that has suffered setbacks and whose ultimate cost right now is a big question mark.

The system is the most costly defense research and development program under way. President Bush wants lawmakers to approve $9 billion for the system in the 2006 budget year -- $1 billion less than the administration previously planned.

Volunteers who have converged on the Mexican border to watch for illegal immigrants are disrupting U.S. Border Patrol operations by unwittingly tripping sensors that alert agents to possible intruders, an agency spokesman complained Monday.

File it under "ROFLMAO"



Pat Buchanan doused with salad dressing

Commentator and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan cut short an appearance after an opponent of his conservative views doused him with salad dressing.

"Stop the bigotry!" the demonstrator shouted as he hurled the liquid Thursday night during the program at Western Michigan University. The incident came just two days after another noted conservative, William Kristol, was struck by a pie during an appearance at a college in Indiana.

Serendipity

Thanks to Bryan, I was able to create a South Park Andante at the South Park Studio.



The fancy hat is a nod to my paternal Norse ancestors. Curvy corset is because... I wish. "Battleax" is Mr. Andante's loving (I think) nickname for me. Shades are because (as we all know) when you're cool, the sun shines all the time.

After reading The Da Vinci Code, I decided to refresh my memory on the Merovingian kings. (I know, I know - my mind works in strange ways.)

Googling "Merovingian", I came up with this:

My Merovingian name is Clotilda the Feeble-minded.

Merovingian Name Generator
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell was hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday, battling his second case of viral pneumonia in just five weeks, hospital and church officials said.

Falwell, 71, was admitted to Lynchburg General Hospital shortly before midnight Monday suffering from "respiratory arrest," the hospital said in a statement.

He was put on a ventilator and stabilized but remained in critical condition, the hospital said.

Challenging the White House, 59 former American diplomats are urging the Senate to reject John R. Bolton's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

"He is the wrong man for this position," they said in a letter to Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which must consider the nomination before it goes to the full Senate for confirmation. Lugar has scheduled hearings for April 7.

"We urge you to reject that nomination," the former diplomats said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press and dated Tuesday.

(snip)

The former diplomats also chided Bolton for his "insistence that the U.N. is valuable only when it directly serves the United States."

IMAX theaters in several Southern cities have decided not to show a film on volcanoes out of concern that its references to evolution might offend those with fundamental religious beliefs.

What's bad for your ticker may be good for your bean, according to research from a team of scientists at Boston University.

The team looked at 18 years of data from the long-running Framingham Heart Study and found an association between naturally high levels of blood cholesterol and better mental functioning. The results were recently published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

Although the team of specialists at the National Naval Center in Bethesda, Md., declared President George W. Bush "fit for duty" after his annual physical exam on Saturday, they still recommended that he take a daily aspirin and a statin to help prevent heart disease.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton has named Matthew J. Hogan to be acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Norton announced the appointment yesterday, following last week's resignation of Director Steve Williams. Hogan was formerly the chief lobbyist for Safari Club International (SCI), an extreme trophy hunting organization that advocates the killing of rare species around the world.

"Having a Safari Club lobbyist in charge, even temporarily, of the federal agency that is supposed to protect endangered species is precisely the wrong course to pursue for any Administration," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS. "Someone with a true wildlife conservation ethic, not an allegiance to the trophy hunting industry, should be nominated by President Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate for the permanent director position as soon as possible."

"This court concludes that Theresa Schiavo's life and liberty interests were adequately protected by the extensive process provided in the state courts," the judge wrote.

He acknowledged the "gravity of the consequences of denying injunctive relief."

"Even under these difficult and time strained circumstances, however, and not withstanding Congress' expressed interest in the welfare of Theresa Schiavo, this court is constrained to apply the law to the issues before it," the ruling said.

I am sure that Dr. Wolfson, who indicated his reliance on ‘good science-based medicine,’ understands the importance of knowing which good scientists and good doctors he relied on to reach certain conclusions.

(snip)

Nothing in Dr. Wolfson’s report leads me to believe the stay should be lifted at this time, or that Mrs. Schiavo should be deprived of her right to live.”

Tampa -- Defiant to the end, the ringleaders of one of the largest Ponzi schemes in American history, both in their 60s, received lengthy prison sentences Monday.

Gerald Payne, founder of Greater Ministries International Church, received a 27-year sentence from U.S. District Judge James Whittemore, who called the church's fraudulent investment program ``absolutely despicable.''

Betty Payne, the founder's wife, received a sentence of 12 years and seven months - longer than she faced before she angered the judge by repeating a declaration portraying her and her husband as victims of a zealous government.

Jurors convicted the Paynes and three others on multiple counts of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering. The church claimed international trades and lucrative mining ventures fueled a money-doubling financial program, but prosecutors proved it was a Ponzi scheme that paid established investors with money from recent investors.

Thousands of people nationwide lost huge sums of their money when the system collapsed in 1998. Gerald Payne, 65, is much thinner and walks more feebly since jurors convicted him on 19 counts March 12. He suffered a stroke, his fourth, while in jail awaiting his sentence last month, said attorney Ron Smith.

``This is the last time these two will be sitting together, the last time they'll be able to hold hands or touch each other,'' Smith said of the Paynes.

But Whittemore said Gerald Payne is a danger to the community who would commit more fraud and take more money if free. He blistered the defendant for using ``the word of God to perpetuate a fraud.''

Betty Payne, 61, is in good health and appeared headed for judicial leniency until her words prompted the judge to add 16 months behind bars.

Whittemore had just reduced her sentencing guideline based upon his finding that her role was minor compared to the other defendants. Then she read a statement, verbatim to what her husband read minutes earlier, claiming their constitutional rights were violated and their actions, all guided by the Holy Spirit, broke no laws.

The Paynes and their fellow defendants argued that a church program enjoyed First Amendment protections. Many of the program's followers harbor antigovernment beliefs and blame its collapse on government conspiracies.

``We are innocent of all charges,'' both Paynes said. The only difference in their statements came at the end. ``Glory be to God,'' she said. Smith later said he had tried to dissuade the Paynes from making such statements. ``They both feel that God will intercede,'' he said. ``And I told them both not to count on it.''

Attorney Anne Borghetti tried to minimize the harm, telling the judge that Betty Payne was under the control of other people: ``That's not her statement that she just read. She was given that by other people.'' ``That was my statement,'' her client insisted. Whittemore appeared surprised by the resistance.

``It's one thing to have blind faith,'' he told Betty Payne. ``It's quite another to cast yourself as a martyr for no apparent good. I just deliberated a matter that you could serve 33 months less. What you've just done is throw that right back in my face.''

Her sentence was 16 months longer than the sentencing guideline minimum. As much as $500 million flowed through the Tampa church during the 1990s, making it one of the largest Ponzi schemes investigated by the Internal Revenue Service. The church told investors it could double their money in 17 months or less based on biblical verse.

The Bible also contains passages pertaining to people who abuse God's words, Whittemore told Gerald Payne. ``You're going to have time to study those passages.''

(emphases mine)

”The dogs didn’t scare me.

But the big black snake under the house sure did.”

The black snakes are there to catch rodents. Remove the mice and rats and the snakes will leave. In the meantime, I would suggest you go through every room and make sure all holes are patched so the varmints (rats, mice, snakes) cannot get into your living quarters. Pay special attention to drain and water pipe holes. When there is no food for the snakes, they will leave of their own accord.