Typically, a retrial is all in the prosecution's favor. Blago will probably be advised to accept a plea bargain which I imagine would be 18 months of incarceration and several years of probation.

In Club Fed, I'm sure.

I'm sorry to hear that Michael Douglas has a throat tumor. He will undergo 8 weeks of chemo which I hear really takes its toll. I sure hope he beats it.


TIS

Story

Was he a smoker?

Yes he is.

I heard this story while I was on my morning walk/run and it sure captured my interest.

Evidently two fetuses were found in an L.A. apartment, wrapped in newspaper. But, get this they suspect they are from the 1930s. Also found, tickets to the closing ceremony of the 1932 Olympics which was in L.A. Wow!!!!! I wonder if they'll ever find out who these babies were? Oh, and the police officer on the video link says that the newspaper they were wrapped in had a story on a John Dillinger shooting.

TIS



http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=7616233

The Dream Cruise is this weekend. Here are some photos from current year and past Dream Cruises. I don't know if there will be any 1958 Plymouth Furies on display..

Dream Cruise Photos

As benefits end, jobless struggle but still hope
Catherine Jun / The Detroit News

Claudine Mitchell ignores the whispers that she's lazy. This spring, she cashed her final unemployment check, joining the thousands in Michigan who have exhausted their unemployment benefits yet have not found a job.

Like Mitchell, by the end of July, 38,000 in the state had exhausted their ability to get government unemployment help. Among them is Greg Spiek, a former head chef who is cooking canned beans and rice to get by.

"I've worked my whole life, you know, and I'm going to be homeless," said Spiek, 40, of Warren.

Mitchell and Spiek are part of a group the state calls "99ers," people who have exhausted the maximum weeks of unemployment benefits they can claim, between 50 and 99 weeks.

Many are scraping for help in unfamiliar places: pantries, public assistance, strapped parents. Among the long-term unemployed, the struggle for them is to stay hopeful.

"After that length of time, a lot of people lose that confidence," said Karen Gutman, employment specialist at Jewish Vocational Services. The Southfield agency offers job coaching, counseling and referrals to the unemployed in Metro Detroit.

Michigan, with a 13.2 percent unemployment rate, has been mired in a recession for years -- one reason why federal legislators have extended benefits to nearly two years. A jobless check in the state averages $309 a week.

Though some critics say it's time to cut off aid, the expanding numbers of 99ers are pleading for help.

A few legislators -- including U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing -- have pledged to seek another extension when Congress returns from its recess next month.

Among the 99ers are Rosemarie and Burnett Ashley of St. Clair Shores, former bank branch managers who have watched their nest egg shrink, as well as Andrea Johnson, a single mother. She seeks solace in church.

"I like to work. I want to work," Johnson said.
Battling medical bills

Claudine Mitchell worked nearly 12 years as a secretary at law firms, until a family illness forced her to leave. When she tried to return to work a few years ago, she found fewer job opportunities. She bounced from one temp job to the next until those, too, dried up.

"I've been told I'm lazy, that I'm living off my mother," said Mitchell, 35. "That's far from the truth."

After cashing her last unemployment check in May, Mitchell ditched her apartment and moved in with her mother in Rochester Hills.

But staying financially afloat is a challenge.
The medical bills have mounted. Her high blood pressure -- a genetic occurrence in her family -- cost her thousands of dollars in doctor and drug bills. And in June, herniated disks from a car accident years ago worsened and forced her into surgery. Her hospital expenses totaled more than $100,000.

"I'm waiting to hear what my insurance is going to cover," an anxious Mitchell said. For now, her mother is paying her medical insurance premiums.

More desperate than ever for work, Mitchell has gone against her doctor's advice and resumed cleaning houses, albeit gingerly, for cash.

"It's not like it was years ago, where you'd get a job and they'd offer you health insurance, let alone a 401(k)," Mitchell said. "Now my main thing is getting a job and making money."
....
continued at
Jobless Struggle Article

Here's more news from the Land of the World's Stupidest Criminals:

A mentally challenged alcoholic is on trial for having stabbed a female store owner for no reason. His lawyer pleaded for a light sentence: "He didn't intend to kill anyone--he just wanted to know what it would feel like to stab someone." Police testified that when they searched his apartment, they found his calendar with the date of the stabbing circled and the notation: "Stab woman."

A creep on trial for child molestation videotaped himself in sex acts with minors. A former girlfriend identified him as the man in the video through "...his voice, his profile and his genitals."

A 19-year-old man was arrested passing bad checks all around town in a two-hour period. What was he doing here? He was killing time before his appointment with his parole officer.

According to our local radio station from L.A. (K-earth 101), regarding Paris Hilton who was recently arrested for cocaine possession:

The story is that after the incident they took Paris inside to a "safe" place because there was a lot of papparazzi outside. While inside with the police, being questioned, she opened her purse, knowing there'd be papparazzi outside and she may face them again, and powered her nose. Well, the "wrong" powder fell out of her purse on the floor. LMAO Paris claims it wasn't her purse and Paris' attorneys, they say, are gonna claim illegal search....BUT they didn't search, it fell. So I don't know how that will play out, but I'm guessing she'll get off.


TIS

A local Hooters restaurant will be the target of a lawsuit on the grounds that it discriminated against a woman on the basis of her weight. The woman is not overweight or obese by any means. Neither is she super skinny. She says when she started work she was heavier than when the problems arose. The judge will allow the lawsuit to go on despite a signed arbitration agreement. Michigan is one of a few (the only??) state(s) to prohibit discrimination based on height or weight.

Story with PICS

Reminds me of a story:
About 15 years ago I was attending a business conference in Kerrville TX (very nice place). Met a boisterous woman who told me she had a PR agency. One of her clients was the National Organization of Women. They wanted her to organize a PR campaign against Hooters because of the name. She said, "I told them, hell, girls, just open up a restaurant chain and call it Peckers!"

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!! How funny! Pecker's Pub????


TIS

By Eric Kreindler & Frank Heinz
NBCDFW.com updated 2 hours 43 minutes ago

An appeals court ruled Tuesday that Texas District courts do not have jurisdiction to hear a same-sex divorce case because gay marriage isn't recognized in Texas. (Read the full opinion here.)

In other words, since gay marriage doesn't exist in Texas, Texas can't sign off on a gay divorce. To do so would recognize that two men were married -- which is a ball of wax the state would prefer to not get into again. But what if it's a woman and her same-sex transgender partner? Sorry, moving on.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38939963/ns/local_news-dallasfort_worth_tx/

A security vehicle for Detroit Mayor Dave Bing had its tires and rims stolen when it was parked at an east-side condo building, according to officials from the Detroit Police Department and mayor’s office.

Sgt. Eren Stephens said the vehicle was assigned to the executive protection unit.
According to the mayor’s office the tires were taken overnight as the vehicle was parked at the Shoreline East Condominiums.

Karen Dumas, a spokeswoman for Bing, said the mayor is not associated with the condo and wasn’t in the area when the tires were stolen.

“I’m not clear on the details of why” the vehicle was there at the time, Dumas said.

Stephens said the theft is still under investigation.

Tires had to be brought in and placed on the vehicle before it could be put on a flatbed and towed away, the mayor's office said.

http://www.freep.com/article/20100901/NE...e#ixzz0yNb0fHor

Okay you yankees. How many Board members have heard about "puttin' peanuts in your coke"? Every semester I ask my students that and several of those from Texas have heard of it. But as time goes by, fewer and fewer of them have. It's a dying custom. I remember the first time my wife told me she used to do it. That was the last time I made fun of her (I still have the scar).

Never heard of such a thing.

I'm not sure how you mean "Yankees" (i.e. Yankee fans), but I too have never heard of putting peanuts in coke. Probably was before my time.


TIS

Oli, I got nothin'.

Well, Barbara Mandrell sand about it in I was Country When Country Wasn't Coo:

I remember circlin' the drive-in, pullin' up
And turnin' down George Jones
I remember when no one was lookin'
I was puttin' peanuts in my Coke

Great Southern tradition, Coke 'n peanuts. Gotta use a bottle, though.

Any NYers here recently drink an egg creme?

Video about Belle Isle

Free Press Special

Meanwhile here in CA: Rodney King is marrying one of his jurors. Evidently the two have been dating off/on but now will be tying the knot. How strange is that?

"Rodney King — the victim of the brutal police beating that sparked the notorious Los Angeles racial riots — is set to marry one of the jurors from his controversial civil trial, "

Rodney King


TIS

Lilo,

What's up with all these fires in Detroit????? 85 fires??? Sounds pretty bad.




TIS

There was an unfortunate series of events. Much of Detroit still has aboveground power lines instead of underground lines. There were some pretty bad wind storms that knocked down some lines and caused some fires. Once the fires were started the winds made them worse. This happened in a relatively low density neighborhood (high number of abandoned buildings) so I'm not sure the Fire Department knew about the fires as soon as they should have. There were allegations of electricity theft, which may have started the fires. Also this being Detroit looks like someone or some people may have taken the opportunity to do a little arson to get some insurance money...Fires on the East Side

Stupidity isn't confined to criminals in my adopted home town:

Yesterday's local paper carried an ad for a "painless" dental practice. Their motto: "We cater to cowards." I suppose that, if I were one of their patients and wanted to avoid ridicule, I'd have to wear a paper bag over my head before entering their office.

Report: Torn Quran in Mich. prompts church fire in India
Jim Lynch / The Detroit News
The desecration of a Quran in East Lansing this weekend may have sparked violence in the Indian state of Punjab, according to published reports.

Torn pages of the Quran were found at the front of the Islamic Center of East Lansing on Saturday. Those pages may have been smeared with feces, according to officials.

Today, The Times of India website reported that unknown vandals set a wooden plank on fire at a church in Malerkotla after rumors circulated about the discovery of the pages. In addition, protestors tried to set a police motorcycle on fire and were eventually driven off when officers fired shots in the air.

An indefinite curfew is now in place in Malerkotla.

East Lansing Story
**************************************************

In Indian Kashmir 14 people have been killed and 45 injured in some of the deadliest violence witnessed in the region since mass demonstrations against Indian rule erupted three months ago.

Officials say several people were killed when police fired on hundreds of Muslim protesters who set fire to a Christian missionary school and some government buildings in Tangmarg and Budgam districts in Indian Kashmir.

Officials say the protests were partly fueled by reports on an Iranian state-run channel that a Quran had been damaged in the United States during the weekend.


Kashmiri protesters burn an effigy of President Barack Obama during a protest in Srinagar, India, 13 Sept. 2010. Indian forces battled protesters in the disputed territory during demonstrations fueled in part by a report of the Quran being desecrated in the United States.

Full Story

Updated Sep 18, 2010 8:50 AM ET

A Texas high school football player died Friday night after throwing a touchdown pass and then collapsing, the Beaumont Enterprise reported.
West Orange-Stark quarterback Reggie Garrett collapsed on the sideline soon after throwing his second touchdown pass of the game Friday.

The 6-foot-2 senior arrived at the Memorial Hermann Baptist-Orange Hospital emergency room about 8:30 p.m. local time and was pronounced dead at 9:30 p.m., hospital spokeswoman Mary Poole said.

Poole said an autopsy had been ordered and the cause of Garrett's death was being investigated.

You just never know when your time is up.

BEAUMONT — Cardiac arrhythmia - a sudden acceleration of the heart followed by a sudden stop - remains a possible cause in the death of West Orange-Stark quarterback Reggie Garrett.

Garrett, 17, died Friday night after he collapsed on the sideline during West Orange-Stark's game against Jasper.

However, heart attack, enlarged heart and brain aneurysm have been ruled out, Orange County Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace Derry Dunn said.

A preliminary autopsy could not confirm a specific reason for Garrett's death, Dunn said Monday.

"Dr. (Tommy) Brown didn't see anything unusual," Dunn said of the autopsy. "We were all expecting heart attack or aneurysm. Dr. Brown will do a microscopic study of the heart's muscle tissue. If nothing shows up, it will go to toxicology."

Results from the microscopic study could be released later this week, Dunn said.

Sudden death in athletes almost always can be attributed to a cardiac problem, said Dr. David Teuscher, a sports medicine specialist at the Beaumont Bone and Joint Institute. The condition usually is not detected in routine physical exams, he said, and often is fatal.

"The heart just goes beating too fast," Dunn said about cardiac arrhythmia. "We don't know the cause. Most people who die have no history or previous symptoms."