Here we go again

If you are a news nut like me, undoubtedly you have been following the senseless tragedy unfolding in Canton, Ohio over the last 10 days. Another beautiful, young pregnant mother struck down just weeks before she is due to deliver her child. In cases such as these, you don't want to immediately look at the boyfriend/husband but you inevitably do because they are such a credible target.

This case brings back the story of Lacy Peterson. What a saga that was when it happened. It played through every available media outlet 24 hours a day. Agonizing moments with the family desperately trying to find their daughter and thousands of people searching neighborhoods looking for her. Similar to the Jessie Davis case, Scott Peterson also joined in the search to look for his wife. His half-hearted attempts to look concerned were quickly overshadowed by his outward motions to get on with his life. In two weeks, he was arrested for her murder and the murder of his unborn child.

So here we are again. It is still early so we don't have all of the details on how the murder actually happened. Depending on your choices of news outlets, the answers are mixed. Some say that he has explained to his family that he "found" her laying on the floor when he arrived at her house and panicked. In his panic, he decided the best option was to bury her body 16 miles from her home. Yeah......ok. I don't mean to pull a "Nancy Grace" but I am not buying that one. The autopsy should be very revealing and details on that should be released next week at some point. The case will escalate fairly quickly after those results and as in the Lacy Peterson trial, I would expect the death penalty to be levied in this case.

You would think that such high publicity cases would prevent men from killing their pregnant girlfriends/wives. It seems that the saying is true that men do think with only one body part and it is not located in the skull area. This particular case smacks of that from beginning to end.

This is exactly the kind of tragedy that makes Nancy Grace salivate and I know she will have this case completely resolved by next Friday at the very latest.

Celine Dion!!?

You may have missed word that Hillary has selected her campaign theme song -- 'You and I' by Celine Dion.

I should probably begin by 'fessing up that I didn't make the time to vote on this election-critical issue. Though among the choices, I probably would have given a nod to U2's 'Beautiful Day', despite Kerry's campaign using it years back. (At least that's what my NPR sources reported. I was rather uninspired during that particular election.)

I am not a Celine Dion fan. At all. Ever. Sorry.

Should Hillary be hitching her wagon to Celine? Or am I among the minority here?

Bill's choice lo those many years back, "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" resonated with the tail-end boomers who were just realizing there was something to be sentimental about AND the aspirations of generations both older and younger. I'll still crank the radio for that song.

But Celine Dion? And a song most recognizeable as used by the Canadian tourism folks to promote air travel?

I'm not Canada-bashing. I'm just not feeling election night celebrating to the sounds of Celine.

Hmmm. I bet Al and Bono are even friends...

Where do we go from here?

Is anyone supporting anything anymore? The polls don't show it.


According to the recent NBC/WSJ poll, only 19% of all Americans believe that the country is heading in the right direction. Even worse........the approval rating of the Democratic led House and Senate is only 23%. And much worse than that...........neither of the Presidential fields are really all that exciting.


Dubya's rating is at 29% and that is the same percentage as Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani. Hillary fairs a little better with her 39% ranking. At this point......if we had to vote today.....Hillary would probably get a fair share of the votes but would she win......I don't think so. She has steady support in the polls but will that turn into credible votes?


The problems in the world are getting larger and larger yet we lack that one person or body who will actually stand up and do battle with them. It's almost as though all the world leaders will not committ to anything rational until they see who we have voted in as President. (585 more days) The crisis times are here and simply getting worse. Pick your cause - global warming, the PLO/Israeli conflict, immigration, oil prices, nuclear war, etc etc etc. Americans are not just unhappy with it - they are fed up.

So where do we go from here?

Sopranos Finale

Wow....what can one say about that ending last night? Don't know if anyone else is a fan of The Sopranos but I have been a fan from day one. I just love the mob movies and this series has just been phenomenal.

How about that ending? The whole diner scene left me sitting there on the edge of my seat waiting for that diner to blow up in front of a dismayed Meadow. The whole scene was well thought out and left you not knowing what would happen. How many of you thought that the guy who was sitting at the counter.....who slowly sauntered back to the Men's room......was going to pull a gun and shoot Tony right there? Yep....I did. But when they concentrated on Meadow's three or four attempts to parallel park her car I thought for sure that the last scene would be her opening her car door just at the moment to see her entire family be blown up.

Then! Oh yeah...it gets better! Just as she opens the diner door and enters.......it goes black! OMG......at that very moment I said......"I just lost my freakin cable!!!!!!!!!" LOL
I thought for sure Comcast had sent me down the river again! But alas...........after 10 of the longest seconds on television..........the credits started to roll.........then I knew it was over. It appears that the only people who were going to be killed off last night was the audience and they did it by the quick black screen.

Truly great programming from HBO on this one. My two favorite programs are now in the HBO history books.........Sex in the City and The Sopranos. I hear that a movie is in the works for SITC and that's fine, but I really don't care if a movie comes out for The Sopranos or not. It was a great six seasons!

Now they will run it for eternity on the A&E Channel..............

Pride Patrol

Sun
Dogs
Babies
Beads

That's the short list of what I saw most of at today's Cincinnati Pride Alive fest. We made the trek from our suburban homes to the heart of Cincinnati's Northside neighborhood for the parade and fest. A few impressions as I take advantage of Rita's generous addition of me as a 'contributor' to Working the Room.

• 72 units in the parade. About five early-campaigning politicians. GLBT groups from three of the region's largest employers -- gotta love that in this conservative town, so they were appropriately applauded.
• Jack Russell terriers. Can someone please tell me why so many gay men own these dogs? On second thought, maybe I don't want to know.
• Lesbians still seem to prefer retriever/border collie mixes... though I'd have to say most lesbian couples seem to have added two-legged children to their families and left the pups at home. Wow. Aside from the contingent of lesbian mom's walking in the parade, they, and their baby paraphernalia, added a terrific family tableau to the park today.
• I heard the protest contingent was out in force for last night's fest activities -- I guess they had to spend today at the Creation Museum. Today's parade included proud and supportive walking groups from local Episcopal, Unitarian, and Presbyterian churches to name a few I spotted.
• Beads. When did they become the 'not just for Mardi Gras' accessory?

Campaign contributions

Ok....so by now we have all had an opportunity to watch one or two debates for the Democrat and Republican parties. Perhaps you have already formed an opinion on who you would like to support?

Here is a campaign donation "draw" for which you may not be aware. Several of the candidates are having raffle-type fund drives to gather as much money as possible.

• For a $100 donation to Mitt Romney's campaign, you will be entered into a drawing for a night at a Major League Baseball game - including box seats and travel expenses paid - with Mitt's son Tagg. Contest ends on 6/12.
• For a $10 or more donation to Barack Obama's campaign, you could be one of five people selected to join Barack in a private dinner - all travel expenses paid - to share your story and ideas with him one-on-one. Contest ends on 6/13.
• Last but not least..........if you donate at least $6.10 to the John Edwards campaign before his birthday on 6/10, you will receive a copy of the Edward's family recipe for their "famous" pecan pie.

So....ok.....just how far will you go to support your candidate? I must say the Obama contest is quite ingenious and should gain him more funds in his war chest. He actually needs it because Hillary doesn't have a gimmick and she is about $12 million dollars ahead of him. To date, Hillary is not having a donation contest.

As the race continues to heat up and becomes more expensive, I am sure we will see more desperate attempts to collect more funds by each candidate or ultimately they will simply retreat quietly and in six months we won't even remembered that they were a candidate.