Year: 2006

Or so says the press.

Doctors started weaning Prime Minister Ariel Sharon off the sedatives keeping him in a coma Monday, and the stricken leader immediately began breathing on his own and reportedly moved his right hand.

Outside experts said that while independent breathing meant Sharon had better chances for survival, it gave no indication about his other physical or mental capacities in the wake of his massive stroke Wednesday. Doctors induced the coma Thursday to give Sharon’s brain time to heal from the stroke and subsequent surgeries.

Not to be overtly negative or anything, but isn’t this news just the kind of reporting we’d expect after a major world leader is incapacitated? It’s quite ironic if you think about it – the MSM spends every waking moment verbally assassinating political leaders, yet when they become sick, or when their life is at stake, the reporting turns around 180 degrees. Suddenly, the New York Times is the bedside attendant nursing them back to health. Weird.

I got home late last night, just as I thought I would, but I didn’t count on feeling like Mr. Death was knocking at my door. I slept most of the day today, and am now getting my head back in order. Must be some funky quick cold deal that kills you, albeit briefly, then exits your body with the speed only a demon would envy.

So, that explains my tardiness.

I’ll be back to full speed tomorrow.

Heading out of town today and won’t be back until late tonight, so, this will be a lonely place. Have a great weekend.

This has got to be the silliest thing I’ve read all day.

When you’re governor of the great State of Washington, you’re afforded things others aren’t, like state patrol protection for your dog.

According to the Seattle P-I,  the state patrol is now protecting Christine Gregoire’s Pomeranian from raccoons, coyotes and possums that live near the governor’s mansion grounds.  The State Patrol has gone so far as to hire a professional trapper to protect the 13-pound Franz.

“We have raccoons and coyotes in my neighborhood, but state troopers don’t camp out to protect my neighbors’ pets,” said Washington State Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance.  “I’m sure there isn’t a tremendous amount of money being spent here, but the arrogance is amazing.  It’s no wonder Christine Gregoire is one of the most unpopular governors in America.”

Nice use of the American flag there, Christine. Oh, and your dog is ugly too.

UPDATE – 02/09/06: The dog was hit by a car and died. I’m not kidding.

Apparently, Tom DeLay is too hot to handle.

Embattled Rep. Tom DeLay’s hopes of reclaiming his post as House majority leader suffered a setback Friday as fellow Republicans called for new leadership in the midst of a congressional corruption scandal.

Days after lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty in courtrooms in two cities, a pair of GOP lawmakers circulated a petition calling for elections to pick a permanent replacement for DeLay. The Texas lawmaker temporarily relinquished his leadership post last year following indictment on campaign finance charges in his home state.

Separately, Rep. John Kline (news, bio, voting record), R-Minn., said there was no room in the leadership for DeLay.

“The situation is that Tom’s legal situation doesn’t seem to be reaching clarity,” Kline told The Associated Press. “There are stories of more indictments or questions associated with Jack Abramoff. And I think that Tom DeLay is going to have to concentrate on that.”

Spokesman Kevin Madden said DeLay “appreciates that a majority of his colleagues recognizes that he remains committed to fulfilling his responsibilities as majority leader and that he’ll be quickly exonerated in Texas.”

“And he appreciates that a majority of his colleagues won’t give in to what is essentially character assassination by insinuation,” Madden said.

While we’re not at a critical point right now, DeLay could become a real distraction for Republicans as the mid-terms approach. Hopefully he’ll be wise enough to step aside when the time is right.

Goodbye Lou.

                                    1933 – 2006

For the second time in just over a week, an Alaska Airlines jet was damaged after making contact with a vehicle used to load baggage. This time though, the plane was on the ground when the damage was discovered.

Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Amanda Tobin said the Boeing 737-700 was being moved by a push tug at the time of the incident, but she could not immediately say whether the plane hit the loader or vice versa. A push tug is normally used to move an aircraft away from a gate or pull it toward a gate.

Tobin said about four people had boarded Flight 808 bound for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport around 11:30 a.m. when the damage occurred. The passengers exited the plane and were reaccommodated.

The airline immediately informed authorities and was still investigating, she said.

“We are looking diligently at the cause,” she said.

Apparently, they haven’t been diligent enough in dealing with this problem.

On Dec. 26, an Alaska Airlines MD-80 heading for Burbank, Calif., lost cabin pressure at 26,000 feet because of a foot-long gash in its fuselage.

Investigators said that in-flight scare occurred after a ramp worker struck the airplane with a baggage-handling vehicle while it was at the gate, but did not immediately report the accident. The hit caused a crease in the airplane’s aluminum skin, which opened up to a 12- by 6-inch gash as the plane reached 26,000 feet.

The plane landed normally and none of the passengers was injured. Alaska said that worker, who works for Menzies Aviation, was suspended. Other workers were given safety briefings.

Sounds harmless right? Wrong. 

This kind of thing is completely outrageous. I can’t even imagine what might be going through the mind of a baggage handler who punches a hole in the side of an airplane and simply walks away without telling anyone knowing that the plane won’t be able to sustain flight. Worse yet, he walked away knowing that the lives of everyone on board could be in jeopardy. I can’t even comprehend this kind of selfishness.

Now, not only will I have to be aware of the possibility of a terrorist act while flying on a plane, I have to worry about negligent baggage handlers who just might break part of the plane. UNBELIEVABLE.

Alaska Airlines has to get its act together NOW before a serious tragedy occurs.

Some of the 12 coal miners who died in the Sago Mine disaster left farewell messages to their families. They knew they were going to die.

“Tell all I’ll see them on the other side,” read the note found with the body of 51-year-old mine foreman Martin Toler Jr. “It wasn’t bad. I just went to sleep. I love you Jr.”

Tom Toler, Martin’s older brother who worked 30 years in the mine with him, said Thursday that the note was “written very lightly and very loosely” in block letters on the back of an insurance application form his brother had in his pocket.

“I took it to mean that it was written in the final stages,” the brother said. “I’d call it more or less scribbling.

No note was found on the body of 59-year-old machine operator Fred Ware Jr., but daughter Peggy Cohen said she and other relatives who went to identify bodies at a temporary morgue were told by the medical examiner that some of the men wrote letters with a similar message: “Your dad didn’t suffer.”

“The notes said they weren’t suffering, they were just going to sleep,” said Cohen, who planned to retrieve her father’s belongings to see if he had put such a note in his lunch box.

Cohen said her father had the peaceful look of someone who died of carbon monoxide, and the only mark on his body was a bruise on his chest.

“It comforts me to know he didn’t suffer and he wasn’t bruised or crushed,” she said. “I didn’t need a note. I think I needed to visualize and see him.”

The first of the funerals are set to begin on Saturday.

Hospital chief says Ariel Sharon has sustained vast brain damage as a result of the stroke and cerebral hemorrhage.