What a lovely photo!

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Iraqi woman who just voted.

iTunes is currently playing: Stand And Fight from the album Dad Loves His Work by James Taylor.
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How does one get nominated …

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... to speak for the ENTIRE WORLD??? I think I'd like that job!

Actor Richard Gere has recorded a TV commercial urging Palestinians to vote in their election Sunday.

In a transcript obtained by The Associated Press, he said: "Hi, I'm Richard Gere, and I'm speaking for the entire world. We're with you during this election time. It's really important: Get out and vote."

Appearing with Gere in the spot are the head of the Islamic court in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the spokesman for the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem.

The spot is apparently an attempt to use both glamour and religion to get Palestinians to the polls. It will air soon. It's unclear what kind of sway Gere may have with Palestinians. One man who appeared with him in the spot said he'd never heard of Gere.

The ad will be aired on Palestinian TV and Arabic satellite channels in the next few days.


iTunes is currently playing: I Want Everyone To Like Me from the album Bad Love by Randy Newman.
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Chain Chain Chain … Chain of Fools …

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I love chain stores and restaurants. I love that I can walk into any Target or Wal-Mart in the country and find exactly what I want. I love that those sinfully delicious, artery-clogging, buttery Popeye's biscuits taste exactly the same regardless of the state I am in when I buy them.

I don't understand people who fight to keep the "big box" guys out of their cities. Do they enjoy paying more for their CDs and cat litter? Or do they not understand that if Wal-Mart paid its employees twice as much it would also have to charge twice as much for everything it sells?

I followed the news stories a while back regarding Wal-Mart's unsuccessful attempt to open a store in Inglewood, CA. In an area where residents complain about both high unemployment and the high prices they pay for goods at their local stores, they voted to keep Wal-Mart from opening a store that would have employed hundreds and sold them food and household products for much less than they currently pay. Go figure.

So I was thrilled to read the other day that the tactics of the Wal-Mart haters in Rosemead, CA backfired on them! They put forth a referendum that they thought would prevent Wal-Mart from opening a Supercenter by overturning an existing development agreement between Wal-Mart and the city. They couldn't figure out why the Wal-Mart folks were in favor of the referendum, which was ultimately approved. As it turns out, Wal-Mart is going to be able to put up their store much sooner now that it is not bound by the original agreement.

And the moral of this story is: Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it!

iTunes is currently playing: The Winner Takes It All from the album Mamma Mia! [Bonus Tracks] by Siobhan McCarthy.
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Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood

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I was thinking about Thanksgiving today. I know where most members of my immediate family spent the day but I have no idea what my sister Janice did or what she usually does that day.

Does she typically go someplace for Thanksgiving dinner -- to the home of some relative or in-law, perhaps? Or does she make Thanksgiving dinner herself?

And it occurs to me that I have no idea if she knows how to cook a turkey. In fact, I don't know if she knows how to cook at all.

How is it possible that I don't know this about my sister?

iTunes is currently playing: This One's for the Girls from the album Martina by Martina McBride.
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If you’re thinking of buying the new George Carlin book …

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... you might want to reconsider.



George Carlin ended his relationship with the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with a devastating diss the other night. The caustic comic finished his four-year run with a dark set that included riffs on suicides and beheadings, and made it clear that he couldn't wait to get out of "this [bleeping] hotel" and Sin City.



The Las Vegas Review-Journal's Norm Clarke reports that Carlin told the crowd of 700 that he was looking forward to going back east "where the real people are." He added, "People who go to Las Vegas, you've got to question their [bleeping] intellect . . . Traveling hundreds and thousands of miles to essentially give your money to a large corporation is kind of [bleeping] moronic. That's what I'm always getting here is these kind of [bleeping] people with very limited intellects." When a woman yelled something that sounded like "stop degrading us," Carlin fired back, "Thank you very much, whatever that was. I hope it was positive; if not, well, [bleep] me," using slang for oral sex.



Strangely, though, Carlin isn't ready to leave town yet: He's jumping to the Stardust in February after a falling out with the MGM Grand.



iTunes is currently playing: Mean Old Man from the album October Road by James Taylor.

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Maybe the school should ask each applicant for a photo

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From the ABCNews.com and the Associated Press:

HARRISBURG, Pa. Dec 7, 2004 — The Pennsylvania attorney general's office Monday sued an online university for allegedly selling bogus academic degrees including an MBA awarded to a cat.

Investigators paid $299 for a bachelor's degree for Colby Nolan a deputy attorney general's 6-year-old black cat claiming he had experience including baby-sitting and retail management.

The school, which offers no classes, allegedly determined Colby Nolan's resume entitled him to a master of business administration degree; a transcript listed the cat's course work and 3.5 grade-point average.

iTunes is currently playing: Your Cheatin' Heart from the album 24 Greatest Hits by Hank Williams.
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Parenting 101

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Philadelphia Magazine includes a monthly column called "Loco Parentis" in which writer Sandy Hingston describes the trials and tribs of raising kids these days. In the current (Dec. 2004) issue Ms. Hingston complains that her daughter, who apparently agrees with most of her mother's opinions, just doesn't GET that abortion is OK. Her arguments fall on deaf ears, she says. The daughter continues to insist that a fetus is a baby and it's not okay to kill a baby.



"I've pointed out how the rich white men who run this country wish to hell we were still stuck back in 1950, and don't want women to be educated or intelligent or empowered in any way."



As is always the case when I read statements like this, I am stunned that an educated person would spout such nonsense. Does she really believe this? Or is she just repeating the feminist movement's 40 year old talking points in order to get her kid to see the light?



Regardless, the arguments fail. As a last resort, Mom decides to level with the kid about the abortion she had when she was in college. In other words, she tells her daughter, who believes that abortion is the killing of a baby, that she aborted the girl's half-sibling.



I've never had an abortion -- or even a miscarriage -- but I understand it is common in either situation to be haunted (or at least occasionally bothered) by thoughts of what might have been. So wouldn't you expect a teenager to experience similar feelings upon learning that her mother had terminated a pregnancy?



Wouldn't she likely wonder what kind of person that sibling would have turned out to be and feel a sense of loss because she will never know him or her? Perhaps she would also feel guilty, knowing that she would not be alive today if her mother had taken a different path (and given birth to that other child) years earlier.



Was it that important, Ms. Hingston, that your NON-pregnant teenage daughter agree with your position on abortion? Did she really need to hear that story at her age?



iTunes is currently playing: Real Emotional Girl from the album Guilty: 30 Years Of Randy Newman by Randy Newman.

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QUESTION: What’s cuter than a Mini Cooper?

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ANSWER: The ZAP! Smart Car, coming soon to a showroom near you. You can read about it here.

I hope to be driving one in a few months. I'm leaning toward a convertible in one of these two color combinations:

SmartCar White & Black

Smart Car (green with silver trim)

Want to help me decide? Cast your vote below.

iTunes is currently playing: Driving from the album The Language Of Life by Everything But The Girl.
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Rating Books and Music

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Typepad gives me the option of assigning ratings of 1 to 5 stars to books and music that I write about. I don't bother. If I like a book or album enough to recommend it, I consider it a 4 or 5. Otherwise, why would I waste my time and yours. Life is too damn short to listen to mediocre music or read so-so prose (or eat overcooked burgers, but I'll save that discussion for another day).

iTunes is currently playing: Wonderful! Wonderful! from the album 16 Most Requested Songs by Johnny Mathis.
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Burgers and Bytes

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I just got back from Las Vegas, where I spent a few days exploring some of the newly-built master-planned communities that are springing up in all directions out there.

One of the best things about visiting the western portion of the country is that I get to visit my favorite restaurants and stores -- places I grew to love when I lived in L.A. and made frequent visits to Vegas. Sadly, many of them are not found on the East Coast :(

Here are two of my favorites, which I was (happily) able to visit while I was there:

In-N-Out Burger

(I hit two different In-N-Outs in three days!)

Frys

This new Fry's Electronics seems bigger and brighter than the L.A. stores -- at least bigger and brighter than they were several years ago. I bought a game while I was there -- an animated Hearts game on a PC/Mac hybrid CD. It's really cute!! But I haven't played Hearts for so long that I can't remember how to play. Yes, boys and girls, that is what happens when you hit the big FIVE O!! Your brain turns to mush.

iTunes is currently playing: Promise Land from the album Hearts And Flowers by Joan Armatrading.
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