http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/15/shaken.baby/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Happy Birthday Mimi!!!! I hope your birthday is as colorful and exciting as you are!

1903 - Ford Motor Company shipped its first car.

1921 - Congresswoman Alice Mary Robertson became the first woman to preside over the US House of Representatives.

1926 - A convention of the Methodist Church votes to allow women to become priests

1928 - The government of Hungary issues a decree ordering Gypsies to end their nomadic ways, settle permanently in one place, and subject themselves to the same laws and taxes as other Hungarians.

1933 - In London, 500,000 march against anti-Semitism.

1969 - Apollo Program: Apollo 11 successfully lands the first man on the Moon.

356 BC - Alexander the Great, Macedonian-Greek king and military leader (d. 323 BC)

1822 - Gregor Mendel, father of modern genetics (d. 1884)

1919 - Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountain climber (d. 2008)

1955 - Jem Finer, English musician and composer (The Pogues)

1956 - Paul Cook, English musician (The Sex Pistols)

1964 - Chris Cornell, American musician (Soundgarden, Audioslave)

1988 - Julianne Hough, American ballroom dancer

1973 - Bruce Lee, American actor and martial artist (b. 1940)

2007 - Tammy Faye Messner (Bakker), American televangelist (b. 1942)



First I would like to say a lot of really bad things happened on July 20 before I was born, but none since. Coincidence? I think not. Second: I didn't follow directions. What else is new?

I know we all want the same thing. A clean election. I'm not a supporter of McCain but I don't think he's a bad person. Not worse than your average politician at any rate.  It's upsetting to me that people would claim he's a war criminal. He served in Viet Nam, he was a POW for five years, for Christ's sake.  He went through a lot of shit. Then the claim that he's not eligible to run because he was born in Panama, on a Navy base, because his father was serving...so this somehow makes him less American? Whether he would be a good president can be easily debated, but the man's a patriot. Obama is not an American hating Muslim and McCain is not a war criminal.  Let's look at the real issues rather than just making shit up. It hard enough as it is to wade through all the "image" bullshit. Clouding the issues helps no one.

I just started reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the very first line is so riveting I wondered if anyone has ever put together a list of the best first lines of novels. Apparently someone has:

http://americanbookreview.org/100BestLines.asp

Notice the line inspiring the inquiry is #4 on the list.

I'm sure most of you have heard of the Paper Clips Project: 
 
http://jewwishes.wordpress.com/2007/10/05/jew-wishes-on-paper-clip-project/ 

I'm a big fan of the project and was interested to see this:

http://pleasebeourguest.com/clips/purchase.htm

I think I'll get one when I have a few bucks. It's a really nice way to remember, I think.