“Los Suns!"

The Phoenix Suns basketball team is letting the nation know where it stands on the new Arizona immigration law by wearing  a protest  jerseys proclaiming them as “Los Suns” at  tonight's Wednesday’s playoff game.  Sun team’s managing partner, Robert Sarver,  told Politico the team wants to send a message to Arizona lawmakers.

"The frustration with the federal government's failure to deal with the issue of illegal immigration resulted in passage of a flawed state law,"  Mr. Sarver said. "However intended, the result of passing this law is that our basic principles of equal rights and protection under the law are being called into question, and Arizona's already struggling economy will suffer even further setbacks at a time when the state can ill-afford them.Hopefully, it's all going to get worked out and the federal government will step in and there'll be a national solution. I realize that immigration is a problem and we have issues that need to be dealt with. I just don't think this bill accomplishes that," said the team executive. "I don't think it's the right way to handle the immigration problem."

Suns point guard Steve Nash called the law “very misguided” and said this law could lead to racial profiling.

In addition to the Sun's protests, the Arizona cities of Flagstaff and Tucson have voted to take legal action to fight against the state's anti-immigration law.

Volcanic Fallout: Safety First?

Air flights over Europe are being disrupted by ash clouds from the erupting Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland, which is still emitting a plume of volcanic ash. Planes were grounded planes in Ireland and parts of the UK today, Tuesday. European governments, urged on my the air line industry that has lost billions since the volcano began erupting, are trying to find rules that will limit the numbers of shut downs.

From the Associated Press -- "In Brussels, European Union transport ministers gathered in emergency session Tuesday to seek better coordination within the continent's patchwork of airspaces to avoid airline chaos and commercial losses from Icelandic volcanoes or other natural disasters. Germany wants binding rules to define ash concentrations and when to keep airports closed."

Though the governments pledge that safety and science will determine when planes fly, the economic incentive seems strong.  I get a sinking feeling that somebody, one day, will gamble on safety and put plane loads of passengers at risk.

Get Over Yourself And Get Over Here

Roman Polanski  issued a statement to the world media, saying that he could be silent no longer over his pending extradition to the US over a child rape case. In the statement, Mr.Polanski is blaming everybody for the mess that he got himself in, but himself. OK, so he is fighting  extradition -- doesn't want to exchange his comfortable villa for a very uncomfortable  jail cell. OK. It is a thirty three year old case that California wants him on. Thirty three years is a long time. OK. But it's  been thirty three years because he fled the US before sentencing, and the French government shielded him from justice for those thirty odd years. OK. Polanski said that he had a deal with the judge to get a slap on the wrist and that the judge was not honest with him. The judge was planning to give him real time, so he scooted. His whole defense has been -- the victim has forgiven him, why can't the Americans, and just let him be? OK. But what does he say about having sex with a thirteen year old, getting her drunk and drugging her? OK?  He doesn't see anything wrong in what he did, just in what the judge did, and in what the Americans are doing to him. OK? Mr Polanski needs to be brought to justice, like already. He should be cooling his tired self in a California jail. OK?

Lynn Redgrave, RIP

Lynn Redgrave died yesterday, May 2nd. her death was announced this afternoon, Monday,  by her publicist, on behalf of her children. He told The Associated Press that Ms.Redgrave died peacefully Sunday night at her Connecticut  home surrounded by children. She died after a seven-year fight with breast cancer. She was just 67.

Lynn Redgrave is being remembered today  for the 1966 movie "Georgy Girl, " for which she  won a New York Film Critics Award and was nominated for an Academy Award and for a Golden Globe Award, and she is being remembered for the 1998 movie, "Gods and Monsters," for which she received a second Academy Award nomination. She had a successful and long career on the British and the American stage, and was the star of the American TV sitcom, "House Calls," in the early 80s, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe.

Ms. Redgrave was a member of one of Britain's most celebrated theatrical families, which included her late father, Sir Michael Redgrave; her surviving sister, Vanessa Redgrave; her late brother, Corin Redgrave. Her death comes a year after her niece Natasha Richardson died from head injuries sustained in a skiing accident, and just a month after the death of her older brother, Corin Redgrave.

Lynn Redgrave, 1943-2010, R.I. P.

A really, big bunny rabbit

Well what can I say? A really, big bunny rabbit, four foot four and growing, who weights three stones seven -- what ever that is. It's "more than the weight of  boy of five, " says the London Daily Mail And the bunny rabbit "is only just over 12 months old "

Yes, he was bred in England. Ms Annette Edwards, of Worcester, England, a former pet store owner, has a hobby of breeding large rabbits that make it into the Guinness World Records. He is her 4th record setter.

He eats eighteen apples a day, a dozen carrots -- that must have their green tops. He is going on a world tour, has books and a calender coming out. What did I leave out? Yes, he replaced his mom as the world's biggest bunny rabbit. He goes by the name "King Darius" and seems to be treated like that ancient, regal, Persian potentate. And what else? Capitalism has been good to Ms. Edwards of Worcester, England.

It is Spring And It's Snowing

What's happening with the National Weather Service? It is snowing in up state New York,  in the Adirondack Mountains area, and in northern New England, northern Vermont and New Hampshire. --  and it is Spring, almost May. The people in the affected areas are experiencing a  rare late-season snowstorm, with two feet of the heavy, wet stuff falling on their homes and  heads. Thousands of homes lost electric power. 15,000 in Vermont, says the utility companies.  Say, how many people do they have in Vermont? Well, roads are snow covered and some school were closed.

Before anybody consult their Bibles, or Holy Books, and begin to search for a passage or two, that would support that this spring snow is a warning sign from the Almighty to the folks in New England and northern New York to behave,  Mark Breen, a meteorologist at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium in St Johnsbury, told the press, that there have been heavy snow storms in spring like this before in the region, on April 23 1993, and  on April 27 1874.

Windmills for Nantucket?

April 28, 2010  —  And here we go. After nine years of studying  the environmental issues involved, the affect of windmills on wildlife and on people's eyesight, the feds have approved the US first offshore wind farm,  off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts .-- 130-turbines spinning . Yeah, I read this and heard the green energy stump talk and phrases buzzing in my ears -- "Renewable energy" -- "getting the wind industry going"  --  "They've been doing this in Europe and China and we've been foot dragging" --. "There is a lot of wind power from the ocean breezes that can provide electricity -- clean renewable energy."

 Why am I skeptical about this? I just have a feeling. Wind power seems so common sense and still I feel that I'm not so sure about this.

Supporters of the wind mills say "clean, renewable source of energy that could meet up to 75 percent of the power needs on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket" --"Hundreds of construction jobs, decrease the region’s reliance on fossil fuels" -- benefits "the environment by lowering emissions of greenhouse gases.."   Opponents say wind mills will be "an industrial blot in an area of pristine beauty" --" change the region’s historic character. " Opponents are threatening a court fight.

The Pres Honors The Yankees

Yesterday when President Obama welcomed the Yankees to the White House to honor them for winning their 27th World Series, I said, "Yes!"

I have a confession to make. My favorite sports team is the New York Yankees. I don't care much for New York. I just love the Yankees. I always have. I always will. I became a Yankee fan when I was a kid. I live in DC. I wouldn't give two cents for the Nationals, that is a long story. I wouldn't go to a National's game, unless I was paid, and I wouldn't accept anything less than a thousand dollars in cash to sit through a game. I wouldn't wear one of their caps, or t-shirts, or anything of theirs for a million dollars.

I became a Yankee fan while watching them on TV. How do I explain it? I love watching winners and stars, and  folks who should win, and who act like they should win, even when they don't, and not for not trying.  I like people who look like winners and act like winners. I like people, who when I see them, on the street, I immediately think, "there's a winner." I like the Yankee organization. I like George Steinbrenner, who for all those years was running things by himself.  I know I'm not suppose to like George Steinbrenner, but I do.

Keep going, Yankees.  You are the kings of baseball. You are always looking good, with your winning selves

Benny Hill & Laughter Are Good Medicine

"Repetitive laughter could have the same effects on the body as exercise, according to a new study. Results of the study, from Loma Linda University's Schools of Allied Health (SAHP) and Medicine, showed that laughing not only enhances a positive mood, but lowers stress hormones, increases immune activity, and lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, similar to moderate exercise. "

I am so happy to have read this. That is blessed news for a couch potato.  I can sit on my rump, exercise my funny bone and get some of the benefits of a person exercising his old bones. Fantastic. I wonder what Benny Hill would have made of this news. Benny Hill? I have Benny Hill on my mind. I've just watched one of his vids on YouTube. Yes, I've been exercising my funny bones and unbeknown to me I have been getting all of those other benefits too. Oh, life is good.

A blue stork?

In a German village there is a bright blue colored stork that has become a tourist attraction. Storks are normally white. This blue one has become a golden goose. People are flocking to the village to see it, snapping its picture, grabbing up souvenirs and spending money in the local shops and restaurants. An oddity always draws the curious and the enterprising.

I don't know much of anything about storks, except that in folklore they are said to deliver babies. Storks are symbols for the healthy delivery of babies. A blue one is a symbol for what?  I had not until today heard of blue storks. Storks are white and how one of them became blue is a mystery of sorts. The stork, this rare specimen, has experts puzzled. Some are saying the bird must have taken a  bath in some blue paint or colored water. "Storks migrate long distances and often rest in rubbish dumps where it is thought this individual may have picked up its distinctive hue."  Huh? Right?  Maybe that is the explanation, and maybe somebody just helped the bird take a dye bath? I've checked and still don't know what a blue stork is a symbol for, or if its appearance is some kind of a sign. Anyway, the appearance of this German bird seems to be a sign for the locals to start making money.

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