Good Morning All!

OK, I got the cast off and #$%^@#$ do I hurt!  Ouch, ouch and DOUBLE ouch, now that the support of the cast is gone, I am in SO MUCH PAIN...but it is nice none the less to be free of my cast!  Free at last, free at last.  I am REALLY excited about my upcoming morning shower, and not having to wrap my arm in a 100 weight plastic sheild.  It's the little things I tell you.  In the meantime, have a bunch of starter physical therapy I have been assigned, and have to make and appointment with the physical therapist.

Pina is swamped at work, and today is a nervious wreck, since she gets her YEARLY evaluation from her boss the VP.  I know she will do fine, know as usual her boss will tell her she cannot have a riase, and life will go on...same old same old if you will.

Have started trying to do some of the small stuff around here that I can do with one hand...IE, have started painting the wrought iron on our front porch, since I only need one hand for that.  Tomorrow, going to try to bring in some help and start working on our yard for the year.  Gets frustrating though on days like today...looked out side, and see it is one of our quarterly JUNK days for garbage, and I have some stuff I would love to get rid of...problem is, do not have the strength to carry it to the curb.  Which means, it now has to sit there until July, or I will have to pay for a special pickup.

On WITH NEWS!

We have a new Pope!  BIG DEAL...no offense, but only 25 percent of Americans are Catholic, so why was 100 percent of the news yestertday about the election of a new Pope?  If American Catholic are so tired of the STRICT and UNFAIR rules, let them separate from the Vatican much like the Anglican church did way back when....take our Arch Bishops and Bishops and strike off on our own path and stop the complaining....it seems simple enough.  As for the guy elected....do not like hijm, seems like A STICK IN THE MUD EGO MANIAC...but hey, not Catholic here, so none of my business.

Benedict Sets Out His Papal Goals in Conciliatory Language

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
International Herald Tribune

Published: April 20, 2005
http://www.times.com/2005/04/20/international/worldspecial2/20cnd-mass.html?ei=5094&en=dcf68db208870d67&hp=&ex=1114056000&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1114002190-VOORsyU3uBdW3ZsQiFNjMg

OME, April 20 - In his first Mass as pope, Benedict XVI reached out to the church today, setting out some of the themes of his papacy in conciliatory language.

He specified some of the top priorities of his papacy: the promotion of the unity of Christians and a commitment to ecumenism, the continued dialogue with other religions and the fulfillment of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

Speaking in Latin, as is customary, in the brightly frescoed Sistine Chapel, where he was elected only a day before, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 78, also made repeated references to his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, confirming that his own papacy would be one of continuity.

He told the gold-robed cardinals in attendance that he would assume as his primary task the "full and visible unity of all the followers of Christ."

Dishonest DeLay is at it again, railing against ACTIVIST REPUBLICAN judges as he singles out Kennedy for some of his IRE...DeLay, GET A CLUE, we could care less about your verbage, you are a scumbag who needs to resign.  Not even going to put the article up as De Lay does not deserve that much attention in my Blog.

As our democracy under Bush seems to slide further into the abyss, as he screams for the Patriot Act to be not only renewed, but strengthened, as he calls Minutemen vigilantes for doing what he refuses to do, are we seeing the end to Freedom of our Press?

2 Reporters Suffer Another Court Setback

By ADAM LIPTAK

Published: April 20, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/20/politics/20media.html?oref=login

wo reporters facing up to 18 months in jail for refusing to testify about their sources lost another round in the courts yesterday. The reporters, Judith Miller of The New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, now have only one appeal left, to the United States Supreme Court.

The decision, by the full federal appeals court in Washington, declined to reconsider a unanimous decision of a three-judge panel of the court.

The earlier decision, in February, required the reporters to testify about conversations they may have had with government officials concerning Valerie Plame, an undercover C.I.A. agent whose identity was first disclosed by Robert Novak, the syndicated columnist.

Seven judges participated in yesterday's decision, which noted only that a majority of the court's active judges had not voted in favor of a rehearing. Two active judges did not participate, for unexplained reasons. One judge, David S. Tatel, published an explanatory concurrence. None of the judges noted a dissent.

In the refried Rice department...is it just me, or should she have some cosmetic dental work done?  Also, EAT SOMETHING, too damn SKINNY if you ask me...but, she is out there beating Bush's drum in the hopes of starting more revolutions.

Rice: Belarus is 'dictatorship'

Wednesday, April 20, 2005 Posted: 1243 GMT (2043 HKT)

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/20/rice.belarus/index.html

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has denied that the Bush administration's policy of promoting freedom and democracy around the world is aimed at "fomenting revolution" but praised efforts by people in other countries to "throw off the yoke of tyranny."

In an interview Wednesday with CNN, Rice took aim at the leadership of Belarus, a former Soviet republic that is now an independent country.

While not naming Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, Rice called Belarus "truly still the last remaining true dictatorship in the heart of Europe" and said she would hope "that you would begin to see some democratic development" in that country.

I leave with this GET A LIFE story on the latest Mother Mary Sighting....HELLO, Like Elvis, she is DEAD!

Some see Virgin Mary in underpass stain

Wednesday, April 20, 2005 Posted: 1227 GMT (2027 HKT)

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- A steady stream of the faithful and the curious, many carrying flowers and candles, have flocked to an expressway underpass for a view of a yellow and white stain on a concrete wall that some believe is an image of the Virgin Mary.

Police have patrolled the emergency turnoff area under the Kennedy Expressway since Monday as hundreds of people have walked down to see the image and the growing memorial of flowers and candles that surround it. Beside the image is an artist's rendering of the Virgin Mary embracing Pope John Paul II in a pose some see echoed in the stain.

"We believe it's a miracle," said Elbia Tello, 42. "We have faith, and we can see her face."

Tuesday morning, women knelt with rosary beads behind a police barricade while men in work shirts stood solemnly before the image, praying. A police officer kept the crowd of about three dozen from getting too close to the traffic but didn't stop them gathering around the stain.

The stain is likely the result of salt run-off, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. The agency does not plan to scrub it off the wall.