If you remember the classic 1971 film starring Dick Van Dyke, you’ll appreciate the similarity....
EchoStar, the company which runs Dish Network, will offer any town which permanently changes its name to Dish free satellite TV programming for the next TEN YEARS!
The deadline for municipal entries is November 1. But one thing I noticed: while it may save the town residents a good chunk of change, is there any other economic benefit this challenge brings...like JOBS? One other little ditty...I always wondered how Truth or Consequences, New Mexico got its name. Wonder no more.

For reasons well known to readers of this blog, I normally do not have good things to say about the Народный Социалистический Город-Государство Чикага.* But this time, I will write something positive.
See the strange skyscraper model here? This is a proposal to build a 115-story tower along the Lakefront in the Windy City. It kinda looks like a drill bit. I wonder if it’s meant to drill a hole in the minds of those who would otherwise detract from it?
I dunno, but I admit, the Fordham Spire sounds pretty cool to me. Now if they can just finance the damn thing!

* - People’s Socialist City-State of Chicago

I’ve been up for an hour or so and already this is a HUGE news day:

KING FAHD DIES: We knew this was coming. The Night of Long Knives may be upon the Kingdom now. If President Bush goes to the funeral, I hope he not only takes Dr. Rice with him, but he also tosses her the keys to the limo so she can drive and piss the Saudis off even more! The Skipper has a good suggestion over on his blog too...I’m sure they’re on standby right now! And the most macabre observation about this event comes from LGF Lizardoid nagasaki_hata: “So now Fahd knows the truth about islam...”

JOHN BOLTON NOW US AMBASSADOR TO UN: After the Senate Democrats twice played filibuster with his nomination, President Bush essentially said to Hell with them and used his Constitutional authority to make a recess appointment. Bully for him! Bolton now serves until at least January 2007, when the next Congress is seated. Time enough for him to get in there and kick some serious a**!

And now for the Bulls**t News of the Day:
GORE TV LAUNCHED: Oh wait a minute, it’s called ”Current TV.” What an original name! Talk about a waste of money. Hell, Al, the Dems already have under their influence most of the MSM, what will one more liberal TV channel accomplish?

Ah, here’s something that I’ve been following for a short bit.
The ACLU went apes**t back in 1989 when some atheist didn’t like the cross sitting on top of Mount Soledad as part of a War Memorial...something that’s been there since 1954! So they filed suit and over the years, the ACLU and the City of San Diego went back and forth on this issue.
Until last Tuesday when San Diegans approved Proposition A by a 3-to-1 margin, which would transfer ownership of the Memorial to the Federal Government.
Of course this isn’t over yet. Not by a long shot. The ACLU wants to invalidate Proposition A’s results and demand the original builders of the memorial, the Mount Soledad Memorial Association, to take the cross down. The Association wants to make sure it gets its money back from the City when the transfer is completed. This is all contingent on whether the Feds accept the Memorial and turn it into a National Monument. As it is, I’ve already got a headache just writing about this....

Here it is, Discovery hasn’t even been in orbit for 2 days and now, NASA has to ground the shuttles again because they still can’t keep the external tank foam insulation from falling off during launch!
When will they figure out that you can only do so much with spacecraft which were constructed in the 1970s and 1980s using technology that dates back to the MOON LANDINGS!
I tell ya...they’re playing with fire. I don’t want to see NASA stand for “Not Another Seven Astronauts!” Congress has got to get up off their ass and fund a new spacecraft to take the shuttle’s place. 

Now comes word from the People’s Socialist City-State of Chicago that four unions are about to walk out of the AFL-CIO convention...taking $35 MILLION in back dues with them! OWIE!
Somewhere in my collection of papers, I still have a Union Card from my days at Cub Foods in Kalamazoo, when in 1991, UFCW Local 951 organized the store’s workers to compete against Meijer...only to have Cub Foods close the store three months afterward! I actually got to participate in the Union election by being sent as an observer to Local 951’s HQ in Grand Rapids, where I saw the votes being counted:

“Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.”

Some people were pretty jolted about that, but I didn’t care one way or the other. It was a job, so I went out and got another one. So Meijer won that little grocery war...only to have its a** kicked a few years later when Wal-Mart crashed their little regional party!
I know of at least one person who ranks pretty highly in the UFCW hierarchy, and I’ll bet he and his comrades aren’t too happy that Wal-Mart continues to kick its a**, and I daresay the members of said union (and quite likely those members of the other three renegade unions) aren’t too happy that The Powers That Be in the AFL-CIO continue to siphon Union Dues into Democratic Party activities, when instead they should go to concentrate on improving the lot of the members! In fact, I might contact my friend there and see what he’s up against.

Keep your fingers...and your toes...and whatever else you use to pray...crossed. Discovery launches at 1551 hours Eastern Time today. Watch the launch LIVE on NASA TV.

Robert Novak of the Chicago Sun-Times thinks Chief Justice William Rehnquist may announce his retirement at the end of the week. If so, the fireworks which were created last week by Justice O’Connor stepping down would pale in comparison!
However, I don’t agree with Novak’s overall assessment, because it seems everyone is forgetting who they’re playing Texas Hold’em Poker with. Granted, it is the President’s right to name whoever he wishes to the Supreme Court, but he could be putting up the smokescreen defending Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, so that enough rope can be spun and handed to the Democrats so that they can hang themselves with it when the nominee is announced...and it could very well be someone none of us will expect!
I think it’ll end up like this: Rehnquist retires, Bush nominates TWO justices and names Associate Justice Antonin Scalia as Chief Justice...which means three hearings, not just two. The nukes better be ready, Senator Frist!

These are the words I will always remember Vice Admiral James Stockdale, USN (Ret.) by. He died today at the age of 81, from Alzheimer’s Disease.
Stockdale was the highest-ranking POW held by the North Vietnamese and was imprisoned for over seven years. He got the crap beaten out of him for most of that time, until one day, he cut his own wrists to show his captors that Americans wouldn’t buckle under the interrogation! He woke up in a pool of his own blood. Shortly afterward, the NVA stopped torturing the prisoners under his command.
And then in 1992, Ross Perot asked him to be his running mate. When it came time for the Vice-Presidential debate, Pee-rot told Stockdale that he had accepted the invitation for him, but forgot to tell the retired admiral about it until just two days were left to prepare! Hence, the saying. While most Americans slammed him for his lack of preparation, I didn’t because he came without the bulls**t baggage most politicians carry around with them. I admired him, and yet at the same time I felt sorry for him, for having to put up with Quayle and Gore hammering away at each other.
Still, you made your point. Thanks, Admiral Stockdale!

HOT DAMN!
Here we go ladies and gentlemen...Associate Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor hands in her resignation...and President Bush gets his first shot at changing the face of the Court.
This nation needs to change how the judiciary works, from legislation by fiat to strict constructionist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Our country has been fouled up quite badly over the last 30 years due to the rulings of the judicial system. And the only way to start the change is to fight it out in the Senate! Whoever the nominee is, male or female, had better have the cojones to fire back at the Democrats, who will filibuster and outright ABUSE the nominee.
I know I’ll be writing my Senators, both Senator Kyl (more faith) and Senator McCain (less so) about this.
So, the time has come to fasten our seat belts, because it’s going to be a BRUTAL fight to the finish!

As I expected them to, the Senate Democrats once again kept John Bolton from becoming UN Ambassador. The vote was 54-38 in favor of Mr. Bolton, with 8 Senators not voting. Voinovich of OH voted against Bolton (which doesn’t surprise me in the least), and Thune of SD did not vote probably because he was embarrassed to after his snide comment about saving military bases in his state and withholding an affirmative vote in exchange for said bases. You’d think that Coleman of MN would vote for Bolton, but for some reason he didn’t.
Once again the Democrats use the filibuster rule for something it was NEVER intended for. I have no problems in seeing a filibuster used to legislation, but NOT for judicial and ambassadorial nominees!
I think it’s high time the President uses a power granted to him by the Constitution. The Senate goes in recess from July 4 through July 8, and the President should make a Recess Appointment of Mr. Bolton to UN Ambassador, that way he can get in there and kick some serious ass!
And while they’re at it, if Chief Justice William Rehnquist and perhaps Justice Sandra Day O’Connor are up to it, let them retire NOW, so President Bush can make recess appointments to fill the bench! And also all the other Federal Appellate nominees too! The country needs to see for real how serious the President is when he makes these Recess Appointments, and how obstructionist the Donks have been, are, and will continue to be, Amen.

Somehow in this land, things go awry once again, as Michael Jackson is acquitted on all charges and that sick son of a bitch moonwalks out of the courtroom a free man.
I hope he is happy and enjoys his freedom, because one day, that sick son of a bitch will GET IT IN THE END!
I also hope the jury can live with its conscience, because one day, that sick son of a bitch will get in trouble again. Just wait and see.

Hud also happens to have a macabre take on the verdict.
And...it all came down to the lying, conniving, a**-kissing scam artist of a mother, according to the jury. Kinda like my ex-wife!

Won’t even bother posting his mug. We all know by now what he looks like anyways, at least while he’s still free.
I have to laugh because believe it or not, Tom is right. Michael Jackson will leave this world as a rich white woman! Well, he should as long as he stashes away whatever money he has left after his trial is done. And is he terrified of prison life? At the very least, he’s definitely concerned!
I have to snicker because Hud chooses not to waste bandwidth on Michael Jackson. I don’t blame him...he’s got better things to do anyway.
Even if he is acquitted, Jackson will continue to be cannon fodder for the pundits and comedians for the rest of his life!

Nearly four decades after an underground nuclear test blast to determine the feasibility of extracting natural resources, a Houston-based energy company, Presco wants to drill for natural gas near the buffer zone.
I question the wisdom of this effort, because I would hope they would wait until they get the all-clear from the Department of Energy. While the surface area surrounding the blast site was cleaned up back in 1988, we don’t know how much radioactivity exists in the gas released by the Rulison blast and I think it would behoove the DOE to find out first...and for Presco to wait.

...at least not while the jury of his peers (ya, RIGHT!) begins to deliberate. Michael Jackson goes to the hospital again, and complains of flu-like symptoms.
I don’t know if he prays to God...but if he does, he better start praying for an acquittal. Otherwise he knows what’s waiting for him.