I can't believe it's not a democracy!

This is potentially explosive:

Phone hacking: Metripolitan police wins access to Glenn Mulcaire statement. Who is Glenn Mulcaire? Just the private investigator who was hired to hack phones on behalf of News of the World. And the high court has just ordered that the police are to have access to a statement in which he "names those who he says ordered him to hack phones at the News of the World." I know it would be too much to have James Murdoch or even--gasp--Rupert named, but a girl can dream. Still, if it's Rebekah Brooks, then she's toast and maybe she will offer to show where the real bodies are buried. And remember, only recently have we heard about the computer hacking that also apparently was going on....

Instead of being all antagonistic and everything, maybe we should try to learn something from Iranians:

Iran sentences four to death over bank fraud. The other 35 criminals got away with lighter sentences. In any event, all I'm suggesting it that instead of sending some poor schmoe to Gitmo for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, maybe we can just round up the bankers and let the Iranians sort them out. Just a thought.

In a just world, things could be very different. Proof:

How Iceland stalks its banksters. Investigate. Arrest. Indict. Prosecute. Convict. Jail. It can be done.

Thanks to Jim for the link.

Q: Hey, what's way more fun than an annual mammogram?

A: A colonoscopy!  

Ok, not way more fun.  The crap they make you drink tastes like, well, crap.   And paying a stranger to shove a camera up your ass....priceless!  (Actually, it has a price, and it's not cheap.)  But once you get that first screening over with, it is all worth it to hear this: your colon is healthy.  

I won't lie, it's not a fun rite o' passage, and like most people I know, I have no family history of colon cancer.  That said, there are some question marks concerning ancestry on my dad's side, and haven't we all have heard of someone who had no symptoms/no family history/no whatever who was diagnosed with stage 3 or 4 cancer?  If caught early, colon cancer is very treatable.  So you do it.  And if the results are good, you don't have to think about doing another screening for 7-to-10 years (that's what my doctor told me).  I'm just glad to cross this chore off the list for a long while.

And one important thing I've learned going through this process is this: No matter how hungry I am, I will never be happy to eat jello.  I can't believe people eat it on purpose.  

Mammogram is scheduled for two weeks from now.  Then doctors visits are done for the year.  Gotta say, I love having a doctor-free second half of the year.  I go because I want to preserve a good quality of life, but honestly, those people who love going to doctors must be sick.  

Nova Scotia is beautiful. Baddeck (the town where my father was born) was fabulous.

And our welcome couldn't have been more perfect: 

That's about 40 hard shell lobsters, caught that morning.  Another 80 were cooked up after this batch was gone.  My cousin cooked the lobsters in water he got from the salt water spring about 100 yards away--it was where our ancestors got salt water to produce their table salt.  Heat up the water, drop in the lobsters, boil for 12 to 18 minutes, and then enjoy the best lobster you have ever tasted.  No melted butter needed.  Honestly, I don't think it can get any better. 

Wow, shit does die:

Charles Colson, Watergate criminal, dead. May he soon be joined by the other criminals in that administration and those that followed. All of them.

Why? It's called reason. And yes, it's about fucking time:

The rise of atheism in America: Why many are leaving religion. Look, I have no complaint with people who are spiritual or who want to believe in some higher power, I am just tired of them trying to impose thier beliefs on others and interfering with the operation of government and the education of children.

I believe that some of the filthy rich are desperately trying to maintain a vast class of uneducated sheep who are willing to live marginal lives because they think god and Jesus or Allah or whomever will reward them in heaven. But the filthy rich who are manipulating these people are doing it at a time when we don't have the luxury of arguing over whether global climate change is happening (it is). We need reason to govern us, now. And the whore media, by giving legitimacy to the religious spokeswhores who are willing to go on tv and lie about the state of the world, well, they need to be replaced. I'm just glad for the good news that despite these efforts--or because of them?--Americans are finally waking the hell up. I mean, it's 2012 for christ's sake (figure of speech). I realized that the religious tripe that I was being fed was bullshit by the time I was 8 years old.

I wondered if the (future?) government would ever try to track every one of us, but that seemed paranoid:

These Boots Are Made for Tracking: GPS Technology Comes to Shoes. Doesn't seem so paranoid anymore, huh? And yes, the reason for the tracking mentioned in the article is legitimate--to track patients with Alzhemiers or dementia would get and start walking and get lost. My grandmother had Alzhemiers and I recall when we lost here on the street of South Philadelphia in the Italian market. Oh, we found her, but it was really frightening for a while (she could walk quickly when she wanted to). That said, I guess it's easier to accept chips in our shoes then embedded in our asses. There's that, no?

Regular visitors to this blog know that I left my tiny apartment

in a horribly maintained building on one of the prettiest blocks of Manhattan for Dumbo in Brooklyn this past August.  I was a bit anxious about leaving the village because I lived there for 15 years--my entire time in New York City.  But I'm really happy in Dumbo.  There are fewer restaurants and shops, but who eats dinner out every night (not me, I eat a big lunch and don't do dinner--it works for me)?  In any event, one of the best things about my new place is that even though it is a studio, it has much more livable space and a real kitchen with a real stove and convection oven.  And a real-sized refrigerator.  And a dishwasher!  Yes, having a dish washer in one's apartment is a big fucking deal in New York City. 

So tonight, as I type this, I have a pot of tomato sauce with meatballs and sausage slowly cooking on the stove.  I will make enough for at least eight to ten lunches.  And yes, I'm loving it.  

Light posting ahead.

This weekend I go down to S. Jersey to celebrate my Uncle Bob's 75th birthday.  Uncle Bob married into my family.  At first my brother and I were not exactly thrilled when he married my Aunt Mary because she moved out of the house we lived in (with our grandparents), and it meant that we had to share her.  But then he helped filled the obviously empty spot where my father should have been (divorced parents and many complications).   My mother's family is not athletic, so Uncle Bob was the one who went out back to toss a baseball around to me and my brother, or show us how to properly throw a football.  And he has always stood in our corner.  Always.  So posting will be light, as we all get together for a fabulous birthday celebration for a fabulous uncle.  

I hope you have a fabulous weekend too.