Saturday, November 28, 2009

Blah Day, Little Pink House &Tiger Woods

Don't we all have those days once in a while? It was dark and gloomy out this morning and actually very, very lightly sprinkled when we were out on our morning jaunt with The Kids. Very, very lightly sprinkled as in I had three rain drops cause wet spots on my blue t-shirt. It must have rained last night though, at some point, lightly. Sidewalks were damp, streets were damp and the grass was damp. Not wet. Damp. Perhaps it was just the humidity? If it did rain during the night, it was nothing like the rains that have been experienced in Jeddah. Click here for a photo. The bigger version in the paper is better, but... [Wasn't it just last month that everyone was told to pray for rain? Well, you got it!]

The sun did come out this morning, though, and it warmed up, some. I took some magazines that I had piled up, saved, waiting to be read, and went out to the patio with The Kids. We were out there for about ten minutes when it turned dark and overcast, again. And cold. Cold, of course, being a relative term. Cold enough for me to come inside and get a sweatshirt. 70° maybe? It is supposed to get down in the 60's tonight. Time to turn the heat on. [I said, "cold" is relative... When you acclimate to 100-120° then 60° is downright cold!]

I have finally learned how to do something that I never thought I'd be able to do. I knew, eventually, I would be able to do it, but didn't think that it would be as easy as it was! I can read AND knit at the same time. Oh happy, happy day!!! Now, I'll be able to combine two of my favorite past times. How exciting is that!? [Thanks, Warrior Knitter. As much as I think I hate you sometimes... Really it isn't your fault. But I have to say, with any free moment I'm picking up my needles and click, click, clicking. I thought it would wear off - so far, it hasn't. It has just gotten worse. I spend far too much time searching for yarn. On the plus side, I'm not interested in finding the perfect "tan" paint anymore. Although that too, does need to happen.]

So, whilst knitting, I finished "Little Pink House." What a good book! A very, very good book. I keep a small three-ring notebook with the title and author of every book I read - I've kept this notebook for a couple of decades - I think I started it in 1980-something. Early 80's. Sometimes I make notes of whether or not I enjoyed or liked a book, or more often, if I didn't enjoy a book or didn't like it. Today I made the decision that I am going to start rating them on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being horrid and 10 being absolutely fantastic and wonderful. I put the number "3" next to "Against Medical Advice," today when I added the entry for "Little Pink House" which I gave an 8.

Everyone knows the story. It is the eminent domain case in New London, Connecticut, where the New London Development Corporation decided that it could entice Pfizer to come and offered them all sorts of incentives to do so - including offering them a parcel of 90-something acres so that upscale housing and condominiums could be built, along with hotel and convention center space. So what that there were homes and businesses already on the property? Those existing homes, and businesses, just didn't fit into their "plan." So they sought to take it - whatever they could get their grubby little fingers on - via eminent domain. For the "greater good." Or something like that. The principals - mostly the New London Development Corporation - along with others, though, spent many years in courts and spent many dollars to end up with a STILL VACANT piece of property! Lives were uprooted and lives were destroyed. All for the sake of getting the drug that "progressives" crave. Tax dollars. Jeff Benedict did Susette Kelo proud with the story. I would definitely recommend the book. It moves quickly and although not exactly riveting, is certainly an attention holder. In the end, the homeowners and businesses did not win. With not thanks to judges John Paul Stevens, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. The five of you should be utterly ashamed of yourselves!! However, because of Susette Kelo, et al, laws have been changed so that eminent domain can longer just be used - in most states - to let someone who can pay more tax revenue take something that someone else owns. Theft. Simply put, the case is one of a town outright stealing something from someone else. [One of these days, there IS going to be an uprising. People ARE going to be pushed to the brink and they are going to have had enough!!! It IS coming. Just my opinion.]

Interesting that not too long ago I saw something that the National Enquirer had the "scoop" on Tiger Woods supposedly having an affair. No, I didn't see it in the National Enquirer. I don't recall where I read it. It was on the internet, though. The National Enquirer can no longer be discounted, though, in my book, for having broke the story on John Edwards having an affair with Rielle Hunter during his run for President. No other main stream media outlet wanted to touch that, at the time. They had that scoop. And, they had it right. So, perhaps they are right about Tiger Woods, too. Not that I really care. So, then, today, on the news is the story that Tiger got in a car accident - he hit a fire hydrant and a tree, and his wife saves him by knocking out the window of his truck with a golf club. But of course. I mean what else would she use, right? There is probably a lot more to the story. And, if it wasn't Tiger Woods, it wouldn't even be news. I just thought the comments from this site were amusing [go to the post, "Stupid question of the day"], so I'm posting them:

imagine the product placement:
"My {insert golf club name here} saved my life."

The headlines write themselves on this one. "Tiger shanks drive into tree", "Tiger and wife tee off in Cadillac Classic", "Shortest drive of Tiger's life", etc. etc.

Perhaps if I wasn't a "golf widow" I wouldn't be as amused. It was a "blah day."

4 comments:

  1. While the theft (and that is what it was, in my opinion) in Kelo was deplorable, remember that the Justices concluded that while they had to follow the law the law was, while at a stretch "legal," so bad that it should be changed. They further stated that all such laws should be looked at and altered to better protect people from what should be their governments.

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  2. On Tiger Woods, there is more to this story that we were first led to believe. Now the "other woman" according to TMZ says she never even met Tiger Woods and certainly is not having an affair with him. If this turns out to be a case of something being printed that was not true, and the wife thought it was true, and beat the crap out of Tiger, I see a big fat lawsuit against the Enquirer.

    My hubby tried gold in college and was terrible at it. He won't participate in anything he's not good at, so no golf here.

    Debbie
    Right Truth
    http://www.righttruth.typepad.com

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  3. Private property owners facing the threat of eminent domain quickly learn that they are not standing on a level playing field legally, economically or politically.

    Among other lessons, there is a lot of play in the "just' of "just compensation." The power of eminent domain brings with it a sense of entitlement. At that point, property owners are merely an obstacle to be swept aside -- when, in fact, they possess the key asset coveted by government and the corporation.

    But property owners can fight back. Our two-year battle against Houston-based Spectra Energy which seized our property rights for an underground gas storage field led to the development of a website which has begun to attract whistle blowers inside the energy industry. We are collaborating and helping property owners in many states. For info, visit the site:
    http://www.spectraenergywatch.com/blog/

    By the way, our new neighbor, Spectra Energy, has received two Notice of Violations for "unlawful conduct" over the past two months related to emergency shutdowns and emissions at its storage field in Bedford county, PA. Reports of contaminated water supplies are on the rise since they began operations.

    Like Kelo, the ripple effects of eminent domain are never over.

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  4. Mike - Thanks for commenting at my place. I tried to comment at your place and couldn't. My WP "log-in" would not work.

    I have gone through several posts at SEW [SEWer!], and am just curious about more of the property - how many property owners? What has SEWer offered you so far? I think it is just fabulous that you are all going to be given the opportunity to have portions of your land seized and then given the responsibility of paying property taxes on some of it for the right of someone else to use it! [Sarcasm, off.]

    I put Don Corace's book in my Amazon shopping cart. I'll get it in February when I am home in the States.

    I'll also spend some more time at your site to read other posts.

    I wish you ALL a positive outcome. Unfortunately, I think you and I and Susette Kelo all know how this is going to wind up...

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