I think most of the people involved in any art always secretly wonder
whether they are really there because they're good
– or because they're lucky.
Katharine Hepburn

You were here because you were good, and we were damn lucky to have you.

In an effort to reduce the family deficit we proudly announce the newest member of our family:

Brand new, 2003, 1.9% financing, and saving us $300 per month. A welcome addition indeed.

In what appears to be yet another coincidental "passing of three",

Strom Thurmond, the South Carolina legend who dominated state politics for more than 50 years, died at 9:45 p.m. Thursday at Edgefield County Hospital.

But many black and white people credit Thurmond for changing his views on racial issues. He became the first Southern member of Congress to appoint a black person to his professional staff. He voted for the Voting Rights Act of 1982. And he was honored in 1995 by the presidents of historically black colleges and universities for his support of those schools.

Rest In Peace, Strom.

Lester Maddox — the restaurateur who became a symbol of segregationist defiance and then Georgia governor in a controversial election — died this morning at an Atlanta hospice. He was 87.

Maddox, the only Atlantan to serve as Georgia's governor, served from 1967 to 1971. He might have been elected to a second term had the state constitution then allowed governors to succeed themselves. Instead, he settled for lieutenant governor from 1971-75, leaving little doubt that he would try to regain the governor's office.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Maddox.

Take a moment out of your day to check out All Sewn Up, Gidget's new business venture.

For a while now she has been trying to find, "just the right job", which would allow her as much time with the kids as possible, and I think she may have found it.

She decided to put her quilting and sewing talents to use and she started "All Sewn Up", Custom Quilts and Unique Gifts.

Of course, I am not biased or anything, but I highly recommend the Sketch-A-Quilt&trade. The kids made one for me for Father's Day. They are incredible (the quilts and the kids).

Check it out, and tell her I sent you.

The longer the United States and Britain occupy Iraq without finding weapons of mass destruction, the more conceivable it is that Baghdad destroyed them after the first Gulf War in 1991, chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said on Monday.

"I'm simply saying that the longer we are in this situation without finding anything, the more we have to ask ourselves is it conceivable that they did destroy in '91," Blix told Reuters Television after the event.

Note to Mr. Blix: If you had been a little more demanding in your inspections and you had been a little more forthcoming in your reports to the now irrelevant Security Council, maybe Saddam Hussein would not have had enough time to hide the weapons of mass destruction that everyone, including you, knew he had.

Just saw a report on our local TV station that Maynard Jackson, the first black mayor of Atlanta died in Washington, D.C.

I will post an update when I find a link.

Update [10:40 AM] from USAToday:

Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first black mayor, died Monday in Washington, Democratic party officials said. He was 65.

Jackson was 35 when he was elected Atlanta's first black mayor in 1973. In two four-year terms, he took on the predominantly white business establishment and demanded that doors be opened to blacks. He also oversaw the expansion of Hartsfield Atlanta Airport and the opening of a rapid rail system.

Update [11:15 AM] :

I still have not heard a cause of death, but I am sure that is because of the media hype from the Supreme Court rulings on Affirmative Action that came down this morning.

Update [12:00 PM] :

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting he died from a heart attack.

A police officer who was fired for violating an obscure state law banning smoking among public safety workers plans to fight his dismissal, which was based on an anonymous letter.

Wayne Jeffrey, a seven-year veteran of the Fall River force, was fired May 29 after an internal investigation, prompted by an unsigned letter that claimed he smoked tobacco at a party.

Can you believe it? He wasn't smoking marijuana. He wasn't shooting heroin. He wasn't smoking crack. He was smoking a regular legal type cigarette.

Just wait until the media finds out the Chief has been eating Froot Loops every morning for breakfast. That is sure to send them all into a frenzy.

Some rambling thoughts for the weekend:

Just wait until you see what my wife has up her sleeve. She has been trying to decide what to do with a domain name she owns to generate some income. All I can tell you right now, is she has been pretty darn busy planning things.

With all the rain around here the last couple weeks we have had a hard time mowing the lawn because the grass is never dry enough to actually cut all of the grass before it lays down. We are planning to conquer it all this weekend. Of course, the front yard is almost a foot tall (and it did get cut last weekend), while the backyard is probably 18 inches tall in places.

I have a couple ideas that will begin to take shape late in this coming week. This past week I was approached by a publisher and asked to collaborate on a book, and my creative juices have begun flowing again.

Have a good weekend!

Who is good, and just what did she do?

Her name is Kate and she made me blow Coca-Cola out my nose all over the keyboard and monitor. That's the first time that has happened to me in a long, long time.

What did she say?

Well, it seems Al Gore is thinking of starting a liberal TV network. Kate quoted part of the article, then summed it all up with this:

Your station for 2000 Election Coverage. Again

Coming Next: Al Gore and the No-Win Zone

Damn, that was good. snork. My nose hurts.