Tangential, eh?

Governor Blago says the federal probe into wrongdoing in his administration or him is tangential, and not relevant to the people of Illinois (see http://www.sj-r.com/extras/breaking/index.asp#4126). Check this out, tangential. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1).

Retrieved January 02, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tangential –adjective

1.	pertaining to or of the nature of a tangent; being or moving in the direction of a tangent.

2.	merely touching; slightly connected: tangential information.

3.	divergent or digressive, as from a subject under consideration: tangential remarks.

4.	tending to digress or to reply to questions obliquely.

I say perhaps this statement fall under meanings #2,#3 and # 4

Therefore, using his own statement, the probe is relevant to the people of Illinois. Darla

Minor Ode to Benazir Bhutto

I am no Pakistan expert but I remember when Benazir Bhutto was first elected to be Prime Minister of Pakistan, I could not believe a Muslim nation elected a female leader before my good old USA did (and still has not). Not only that, she was pregnant. Now I do believe she had a few faults, but she was one damn courageous woman who stood up for what she believed. She knew she would be targeted for death if she came back to her homeland and went anyway. That is pure guts. I never have too many heroes or heroines but she is right up there. Darla

Adult Bullies and how to handle them when not avoidable

All my 42 years have been sprinkled with bullies, both as a child and an adult. I have been thinking about this since yesterday when my sob of a brother in law played a rude and demeaning joke with me and I did not catch it. I never do. In this case I reacted poorly, obviously he was successful in pushing my buttons. My problem is I really do not know what to call his behavior and I told him to quit f***ing with me, in front of everyone, including children. That was my fault in this. In my opinion what he does is and old fashioned form of control oriented humiliation type of "joking" in which he makes you thing one thing, you are prompted to apologize, and then some time later, reveals the "joke". I have always hated this type of behavior, and I never "get" it. I know the best way to deal with this is to ignore it, as I usually do. But this caught me off guard. I have always hated this type of "joking", in j0kes, or most types of joking as I just do not get it. I will be trying to learn more about this, and try to remove myself as a target. Any sincere advice will be appreciated! Darla

Goodbye Evel!

Goodbye Evel Knievel, I did not not pay attention to you lately but when younger I spent hours with my siblings and neighborhood kids reenacting your stunts on our bikes. Jumping ditches, flying over trashcans, flying down hills into traffic, jumping off the barn roof, oh the thrills we had emulating your fearlessness. Our parents however were not amused, when arms got broken, or property damage occurred. Thank you for living your life like you did and for inspiring all those crazy childhood stunts we carried out, pop a wheelie out there man! Darla

Family values indeed!

Oh this angers me so much. Another total hypocrite! Mr. Craig states "I am not gay, I have never been gay. I love my family, my wife, family values". Ok, first of all, who says gays cannot have family values? Why is that impossible? Second, why have there been "rumors" he was having sex with males since 1982? Thirdly, what is it that he was doing in the airport bathrooms? How come Mr. Family Values did not tell his wife about his arrest, I would think if he loved his family so much he would have told them, it is kind of important don't you think? Also, if he did have sex with strangers, is that not putting his wife at risk for STDs and Hiv, and other diseases? That is some real family values right there. If he was a real man, straight, gay, bisexual, or whatever, he would be truthful with those who care and not lie. I never heard of this fellow before this, and if I did, it did not stick to my brain. Frankly I do not care who he has had sex with, I really do not. I am just so tired of these pompous politicians blowing it out their pie holes about family values, and then do things that do not fall under that category. Darla, grr

Rain falls on sad situation

My neighbor, her life has continually gone down hill since we moved here 3 years ago. Now she is having another "moving" sale. I do not know if she is really moving or just raising cash by selling her stuff. She had a moving sale 2 years ago and sold her ballgowns and evening clothes. Then her bmw and Jeep vanished. Her second husband is mainly gone, maybe for good now. Her house has been in default a few times, though not recently. Her utilities are regularly disconnected.

Earlier this summer she closed her office and sold her office furniture. Now she is selling her furniture and professional clothes. The crowds looking for a bargain are getting wet now. Frankly I would not want anything of hers, all the angry words, the yelling, the obscenities soaked into the varnish. These objects are just silent witnesses to the chaos. Not to mention all the dog hair, saliva, and other dog fluids all over everything. Darla

Storm pictures from Tues July 10

             We went to the Magic Kitchen Restaurant in the old Romanesque building on N. Lewis St. Right after we arrived the storm came in. I took these cell pics from the window at our table. The direction is looking north. The dark cloud is the windy roll cloud preceding the gray horizontal streaky rain area. It was so dark the streetlights blinked on. The UFOs in the pictures are the table light over our table reflected in the window. Darla