- Church is about much more interesting in Michigan. No, members of the clergy won't be working cartoons into their sermons or handing out cash instead of expecting the faithful to place their own scratch in the offering plate. Rather, a state senate committee on Thursday approved changes to Michigan’s concealed weapons law that include allowing people to carry concealed guns in churches, schools and sports arenas. While allowing rage-aholic sports parents already pondering the best way to accost their child’s coach for a lack of playing time or the referee for daring to call a foul in the fourth quarter on darling little Tiffany to come to games strapped sounds dangerous, why not hear the senators out? After all, the law still must be voted on by the full Senate. The new law would allow citizens to carry their weapons into churches, schools and sports arenas while also eliminating the state’s 83 county gun boards and transferring the power to issue CCW permits to local sheriff’s departments. “Basically it’s a pretty huge rewrite of the concealed weapons permit law,” said WWJ Lansing Bureau Chief Tim Skubick. Technically, the law would allow “highly trained” permit holders to carry in the gun-free zones. To qualify, a person would have to complete hours of training and fire more rounds at a shooting range than those looking to meet the current basic requirements. State Sen. Arlan Meekhoff made his support of the amended law emphatically clear with a visual example, pulling back his jacket in a committee hearing to reveal his holstered gun. He illustrated what he calls the “absurdity” in Michigan’s current concealed weapons law by pointing out that he could openly carry in schools and churches, but it would be illegal if he covered the pistol with his coat. “What we’re trying to do is to have the most highly trained citizens who are CPL holders to … give them the opportunity to defend themselves even in these areas, and carry concealed,” Meekhoff said. Yes, and where is there more of a need to defend oneself than in the pew or sitting in the bleachers at a youth basketball game…………..
- Qualifications to be a cast member of any reality show are not rigorous. Qualifications to be a cast member for a “Real Houseskanks” franchise are lower than normal: be rich, be cougar or cougar in training and be willing to act like a spoiled, entitled b*tch in every situation. Notice that one entry missing from that list is intelligence. Being a Houseskank doesn’t require a person to be all that bright and perhaps no one drives that point home more emphatically than "The Real Houseskanks of New Jersey" cast member Teresa Giudice. Giudice, who is also a contestant on the current season of Donald Trump’s “The Celebrity Apprentice,” seems to have no clue what being a vapid, upper–tax bracket houseskank is all about or that there is nothing less real in the world than reality television. For Giudice, people acting differently on camera than they do when no one is filming is shocking.
"I am still saddened by what transpired. There are a lot of hurtful and shocking moments," she said of filming for the most recent season of the show. , "One thing I have noticed is that some people tend to change when the cameras are rolling." Whoa. So people narcissistic and self-absorbed enough to allow TV cameras to film their daily lives in a futile attempt to become a real celebrity would act fake on camera? That is an Earth-shattering revelation. Giudice has drama with sister-in-law Melissa Gorga and former friend Caroline Manzo on the show, but with that overwhelming smarts and savvy she clearly possesses, it’s difficult to imagine that she won't figure out a solution soon enough………..
- Duck and cover, International Space Station crew members. With a large a piece of space junk hurtling towards the path of the ISS, crew members scrambled into escape capsules ready to fire off for an emergency return to Earth. NASA officials spotted the remnants of a discarded Russian satellite, but not until it was too late to maneuver the space station into a safer orbit. The crew currently consists of three Russian, two American and Dutch astronaut, all of whom were ordered by ground control to take shelter in the emergency Soyuz spacecraft. The debris ultimately passed the ISS within an estimated nine miles. Although nine miles seems like a sizeable distance, it’s not such a steep margin in space, where both the station and the junk were travelling at 17,500 miles an hour in orbit. Although the danger was averted in this case, it does highlight growing concerns about a collision in space as a growing volume of such junk floats to and fro. NASA is actively tracking some 22,000 pieces of space debris, but those are merely some of the millions of objects left over from decades of space travel drifting in Earth's orbit. The debris ranges from ridiculously small (less than one centimeter in diameter) to large chunks of rockets, defunct satellites or discarded fuel tanks. The National Research Council warned recently that the increasing volume of space debris has become a significant hazard. Still, the incident is only the third time in 12 years that ISS astronauts have had to seek shelter from space junk. Following the near-miss, the astronauts were allowed to return to the main spacecraft at 2:38 a.m. GMT. "Everything went by the book and as expected, the small piece of cosmos satellite debris passed the international space station without incident,” a NASA spokesman confirmed. Barring any additional theatrics, an unmanned cargo vehicle is due to dock with the space station next week………
- It may sounds cynical, but Russia’s lower house of parliament passing a law that will make it easier to register political parties seems fishy for some reason. The law is an attempt to placate the angry masses jammed by the rigged March 4 presidential vote that returned the despotic Vladimir Putin to power. Massive protests in Moscow and across the country demanded Putin’s ouster and the holding of legitimate elections, but instead parliament will allow parties with at least 500 members to be registered. The legislation still needs approval by the legislature, but that is assumed to be a mere formality. Presently, 40,000 are needed to legally form a party and as a result, there are just seven recognized parties in Russia. Sergei Udaltsov, a leader of December’s demonstrations, recognized the reform an “important first step” but knows the fight is far from over. “If further steps are not made, this will be an imitation aimed at preserving the monopoly of power,” Udaltsov said. A cynic might argue that with Putin’s United Russia party in power and willing to use voting fraud and strong-arming tactics to keep their iron grip on the country behind the former Iron Curtain, an “imitation aimed at preserving the monopoly of power” is all this law will ever be. Some opposition groups don’t even like the bill, arguing it makes no allowance for creating multi-party blocs and could confuse voters. That the bill was introduced in January by Putin’s puppet and current “President” Dimitry Medvedev does give reason for pause. Way to keep up the illusion of freedom and choice, Russia………
- New Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine is determined to start a fight with the rival Yankees. His first attempt was taking a run at Yankees icon and future hall of famer Derek Jeter for his decision-making on a play that happened a decade ago. Valentine threw another punch in the fight Thursday when he cracked Yankees manager Joe Girardi's decision to tell the umpires his team did not want to play extra innings in a 4-4 tie between the two rivals in a spring training game in Ft. Myers. Girardi decided his team did not need to play into extra time and in spring training (and Major League Baseball All-Star Games), a tie is allowed. However, Valentine was irate about the decision and claimed it was because he had instructed reliever Clayton Mortensen to warm up for the 10th. "It was regretful that Mortensen warmed up and we were told we were not playing any extra innings," Valentine said. "I didn't think that was very courteous. I have to answer to a pitcher trying to make the team.” When informed that Girardi said he wanted to preserve his pitching and the Yankees "had a long day tomorrow," Valentine quipped, "They had plenty of pitching. Probably too long of a ride." For the record, the bus ride from Fort Myers to the Yankees' complex in Tampa takes about two hours. Girardi also could have used the fact that the Yankees' scheduled starter, David Phelps, had been scratched after his wife went into a labor. The Yankees used five pitchers in the game, including three in the last two innings, when the Red Sox rallied from a 4-0 deficit to tie the score. Valentine was clearly playing to win and his team tied the game on a suicide squeeze executed by outfielder Jason Repko. The only pitchers the Yankees would have had for extra innings were situational lefty, Mike O'Connor, and five extra pitchers called up from minor-league camp. "I used a lot in the last two innings," Girardi said. "We've got a long day tomorrow too. We need pitching. I don't want to run out." Many of the 9,595 fans in attendance booed when the game was called and Valentine was just as upset about the outcome. Joe knows better than I," he said sarcastically. “Not very courteous.” Sounds like a long year is in store for baseball’s two most bitter rivals…………
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