You’ve got to check this out ==>

So Mr. Crawford is not only the ‘original’ balloon boy, he is the real balloon boy! What an amazing story! And how interesting it is, that he was sitting there, like all of us, watching ‘Falcon floating away’…..

Reading my buddy Lisa’s blog this morning, brought me this wonderful news – Marriot Blames Rape on Victim. Holy crap!

A visitor to Lisa’s blog intrigued me with her comment and so I followed it to her post on the topic, How Dare You Take Your Vagina Out In Public

Then I went over to Dirt and Noise to read what she had to say, Marriot Is A Disgrace: A Loyal Marriotteer No More

And here is an article on it by USA Today – Stamford Marriott Hotel blames rape victim for failing to protect herself

And here is the SUPER LAME-O press release from Marriot – Marriott News
Stamford Marriott Hotel

I love it when situations get attention quickly from news crews – stories that really need to be told. And that is just what happened yesterday. Karen Putz, the blogger who was turned away from a restaurant, without being served, was on her local news yesterday. It’s really so great, because, her story not only created a major ripple online – more like a RIPTIDE, but, also – was also broadcast on the Chicago news, reaching even more people. When I first read her story, I was thinking some smarta$$ kid would need to be dealt with, but, reading that it was a manager really, really got under my skin! You can see the clip here: Hearing Impaired Woman Claims She Was Denied Service

I sure hope that Steak and Shake is able to make things right for not only her, but, for every disabled person they encounter. And wouldn’t it be great if the obviously necessary education, spread through all service industries!

So many people would have sulked and pouted at such an encounter, and then gone home to grumble within their own four walls (me :/ ), but, not you, Karen! You stood your ground and are assertively fighting for your rights! You are an inspiration to those of us who just are not so good at doing that! The Council for Disability Rights says:

Knowing your rights is the easy part. Exercising them can be a bit trickier.

You are definitely exercising them, and you are teaching so many of us a lesson – and for that, I thank you! Sincerely.

I can’t believe it – Evel Knievel passed away. It’s almost like a whole era goes with him, you know? It feels to me, very similar to when Mr. Rogers died. Completely and utterly selfish of me, but, it’s like – ‘Wait, that’s my childhood – you guys can’t die! That’s part of my history – don’t take it away!’

I mean, just check him out, ya’ll:

Isn’t he the coolest? I remember getting so excited when he was going to be on TV doing another stunt – it was so awesome – and so totally scary!! And check this out:

….cool – even as an old guy! How many of us can say that our grandpas were that cool? Not many, probably. Although I did think my grandpa was pretty darn cool! He ate hot sauce by the spoonful and he smoked a pipe – and to this day I love the smell of a pipe – it totally takes me back! But even still – I don’t think I can say he was as cool as Evel Knievel!

It’s so sad, and my heart and prayers go out to his family. The News Tribune says:

Knievel’s death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Krysten Knievel. He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs.

Evel – you will be missed! You definitely made my childhood more exciting! And just think – no more broken bones!! Yea! I never understood how you could continually get back on your bike after all those injuries – yikes!

God bless you, Evel Knievel!

Perhaps our country’s first outspoken environmentalist, Lady Bird Johnson dies at age 94 peacefully at home in Texas. She died at home of natural causes and she was surrounded by family and friends.

She was best known as a determined environmentalist who wanted America’s highways cleaned up. She even had a bill nicknamed after her. It was the Highway Beautification Bill of 1965 and it was known as ‘The Lady Bird Bill’.

Setting the stage for environmentalists to come, she opened up and began discussions about taking care of our environment like no one who came before her. That is my kind of chic!

I wish her spirit rest and her family well.

You can read all about it here:
Lady Bird Johnson Dies at 94

lady bird johnson

I must admit that I love some good celebrity gossip! I love to learn what the cool stars are up to, and I love to hear the crazy antics of the wacko stars! There is a great new site where I can get all of my fill of news of their high-profile lives! It is called CelebrityGossip.com and they aggregate the gossip that is hot from all kinds of sites out there on the internet, and let us sign up and vote for it! I know that we have to take a lot of what we read with a grain of salt, but, it sure is fun to read. You can join and meet friends who are interested in the same stars that you are, and you can also earn bonus points. You earn bonus points for referring others to the site, and you can exchange them for magazines, once you’ve earned enough! I think the thing that I like the best about it is that it is an aggregator, so it pulls in all the best stories from many sites. I often get bored when I am looking at, say, just a single celebrity gossip blog. And now that it’s a little harder to swipe my sister’s People magazines, since we’re 800 miles apart – this will be just perfect for me!

This is cool, very cool! It’s a video news site, called The News Room through which I (and you) can make money! You can find relevant news to your site, post it, and whammo! We make money via an advertising share and the CPM starts at $1. It was so quick and easy to sign up – I am just loving this! You will have to excuse me if I go video crazy for a little while, because I am really excited about this! I mean, heck! You can even win prizes when you embed their awesome, timely videos on your blog or website!

Now check this one out! My treehugger soul couldn’t have been happier when I saw it!

Go Lucky Lady, go!

That is so cool that if they escape the slaughter line, they are free! Period. That’s the system! I like that system.

And how sweet that the little boy saw him, “Grandpa, it’s a sheep – from the farm! It’s NOT a dog!” I love that!

That would have to be so funny to be driving through the Bronx, and see a sheep aimlessly meandering the sidewalks, nibbling on weeds!

And the coolest thing of all is that I can post this video on my blog, and share it with all of you, and we can enjoy it together – and I can even make some money from it! Could it get any better?

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I suppose now my husband will be wanting to travel to Australia! As now the police have stated that there is not anything that they can do about the new car wash called:

Australian residents are under heavy water restrictions, so car washes there have really taken off! And I suppose, in an effort to ‘corner’ the market, one carwash has offered some entertainment and some ‘extra services’. For a price, of course.

If you just want your car washed by the topless women, that is $45. If, however, you would like to add a lap dance to that, it is $100. The car wash was opened by the owner of a strip club, and uses recycled water, to stay in line with the water restrictions.

So if you’re heading to Queensland any time soon, I guess I know where you’ll be getting your car washed! Ha!

Read the original story here:
X-rated nude car wash gets police all-clear

“Bubbles ‘n’ Babes” – that just cracks me up!!
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Oh yeah, baby! Come on all you ‘stuck in the 80′s kids’ out there – you know who you are! You know exactly what I’m talkin’ about, don’t you?? Let’s all sing it together:

And don’t forget to make it sound like this “niy iy ine”!! Aw man! I just loved that darn song! Mark and I were just talking about it in the car the other day. In fact, I think I was laughing at him because he actually got the numbers wrong! He’s not a ‘true 80′s’ kid, though. He was born a loooooong time before me, like a whole 7 years! Gah – that guy’s gettin’ up there! Ah, but, that’s beside the point.

The point is that now, all these years later, two plumbers are fighting over the phone number! They have their lawyers involved and they’re going to court over it and everything! Over a phone number! Too funny, huh? The original ‘owner’ of the phone number, Brown University, gave it up when it grew weary of all of the prank phone calls.

So here are these two plumbing companies, paying all kinds of legal fees, to get their hands on a phone number, that generates an over-the-top amount of prank calls. Ok, then.

Here is a link to the article where you can read all about it:

Plumbers fight for famous phone number

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Oh dear God! I am completely nauseated! A 22 year old thug, who wanted to steal a car, decided that he needed to beat the owner of said car first – a 91 year old man! Luckily, the man survived and is doing ok, but, what on earth is wrong with people? I really just don’t get it! And to make matters worse – FIVE people were standing next to the very next car over – and did nothing! Nothing! This was a 91 year old man, people! Ok, I honestly cannot say what I would’ve done – I am a total chicken shit when it comes to violence, and I have often run as fast as Jackie Joyner to get away from fights, but, those were fights between two able-bodied men. This was not a fight. This was the brutal beating of an old, very old, man. I hope and pray that God would give me the strength and the courage to do something, anything, to try and help the man out, if I were in this situation.

I was a junior counselor one summer and one of the staff members, with whom I’d become very close, and who was a mentor to me – died that fall, because he was trying to stop a fight. He was at a bar, and two people got into a fight, and one person was obviously the underdog, and he stepped in to try to save him/her – and he got shot. I think I could much rather live with that (in Heaven, with God) then to live my days here on earth, knowing I stood by while someone was senselessly beaten. We were all devastated to hear that he had died, but, everyone’s reaction was the same, “Well, that was Jim for you.” with passion and pride in our voices and our hearts.

A 91 year old man? Besides the people that were watching, what the hell is wrong with this young man, this boy, that he could do that to an old man? Listen, I’m a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. I can admit that I engaged in some criminal behavior in my time – well duh! But never, ever, ever were my crimes so viciously against another human, much less a very old human. What can possibly get into your heart to make you capable of such a thing?

Ok, I could soapbox on this all day, so I better just shut up and go look for some good news!

Here is an article about the incident: Detroit man charged in assault on senior citizen, car theft

And if you go to the ABC news website, you can see the video. It will turn your stomach, but, perhaps we all need to watch it, so that we can see how desensitized so many of us have become, the boy to perpetrate the crime, the onlookers to do nothing: ABC News Online All you have to do is scroll through the list of videos on the right underneath the video player.