And Then There's Maude

God will get you for that, Walter.

I fell asleep last night and woke up early this morning with a nasty sinus headache.

Sinus headaches are not like regular headaches. Sinus headaches don't necessarily throb, they just sit there waiting for you to move. It just sits there waiting for its prey to move and then it pounces with its shooting pain. Ow, ow, ow! It hurts!

Anyway, I managed to exercise this morning and that gave me some relief because it opens up my sinus passages. Then I took a shower, got dressed and ate lunch. I had every intention to leave my apartment today, but I just didn't feel like it. You know...the pain.

Instead, I decided to watch Maude Season 1 on DVD. (I need to send it back to Netflix so I can get the next Big Love DVD.)

I'd seen Maude in reruns when it aired on Nick@Nite some years back, but I never caught it in chronological order. I always felt it was way too preachy and that Bea Arthur was too loud and overbearing. After six episodes, I still feel the same although it helps to see them in order because you can see the character development that you miss otherwise.

The first two episodes were so-so. Adrienne Barbeau, Bill Macy and Conrad Bain are Maude's daughter, husband, and husband's best friend. The addition of Esther Rolle, in the third episode, is what gives the series the spice that it lacked in the previous two.


I still say *give me Bea Arthur in The Golden Girls any day*, but in a pinch I'll watch Maude.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

I was getting my daily fix of entertainment news over at ew.com (entertainment weekly), when I read about inmates from the Philippines(Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines) dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller". It's an awesome sight.

They also have a video called "Algorithm March". Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjMd2Vabcv8




I've also included Jennifer Garner's version of the same dance from the movie, 13 going on 30. Just because she's adorable in the movie. Well, except for those huge shoulders she has.

Felicity

Felicity is:

• waking up after 9 am and not worrying that you've overslept for work.
  
• watching morning television while eating cereal and not worrying about much else.
• opening your blinds or curtains and letting the sun's golden rays stream in to your home. I love the light of early morning.
  
• watering my plants that I have managed to not kill since I bought them.
  
• walking downstairs and opening my mailbox to find a new Netflix DVD.
• La Madeleine's Raspberry Lemonade.
  
• cooking a meal and then having others enjoy it.
• taking a nap just cuz.
• reading a good book.
• cuddling with your boyfriend.
  
• spending time with your family.
• spending time with your friends.

Ludicrous

Here's a visual example of Debbie's ludicrous misuse of words.

--> Smokes Like A Fish <--


Smoking Fish, Fort Clinch State Park: Fernandina Beach, FL
Thanks to Chas @ http://www.cgm13.net/wordpress/?m=200604
He says it's untouched and I'll just believe what he says.

Patriotism or Insanity?

What do you think? Is this too much?

Laws Require Flags to Be Born in USA

Published: 7/3/07, 11:05 PM EDT
By BRIAN BAKST

ROSEMOUNT, Minn. (AP) - What's red, white and blue - and made in China? A move is on in state legislatures to ensure that the flags folks will be flying and buying this Independence Day were made on this fruited plain.

Minnesota has passed the strongest measure, a new law that goes into effect at year's end requiring every Old Glory sold in state stores to be domestically produced. Violations are a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail.

In Arizona, schools and public colleges were required starting July 1 to outfit every classroom from junior high up with a made-in-the-USA flag. Tennessee requires all U.S. flags bought via state contract to be made here, and similar bills are moving forward in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The Fourth of July is considered peak season for flag sales with millions of them lining parade routes and flying above back yard barbecues.

Most of the major domestic flag makers are privately held companies that don't release their sales figures, so it's difficult to gauge the inroads being made by foreign manufacturers.

The U.S. Census bureau estimates that $5.3 million worth of U.S. flags were imported from other countries in 2006, mostly from China. That figure has been steady over the past few years. The big exception was in 2001 when $51.7 million in U.S. flags were brought into the country, most on the heels of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Sandy Van Leiu, chairman of the Flag Manufacturers Association of America, said the imports are cause for concern even though U.S. companies still dominate the flag market.

"That door is going to keep opening," said Van Leiu, a sixth-generation executive at the family owned Annin & Co., a 160-year-old business that supplies retailers like Wal-Mart. "It starts small, then it gets big. You're just opening Pandora's box."

To help consumers identify the origin of their flags, the association created a certification program two years ago that bestows a seal-of-approval logo to flags made with domestic fibers and labor.

Whether Minnesota's law violates international trade agreements - and whether anything would be done about it - is an open question.

Under World Trade Organization standards, the U.S. government can't treat foreign products less favorably than those produced within its boundaries, said Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland and the former chief economist for the U.S. International Trade Commission. How the rules apply to states is debatable, he said.

Morici said a foreign business harmed by the law would have to get its government to take action against the U.S. government. Robert Litan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, said while the likelihood of Minnesota's law sparking a dispute is slim, the symbolic message is hard to miss.

"It's symptomatic of an anti-foreign bias moving through the country right now. It would not surprise me if other states copied it," Litan said. "It's hard to oppose politically."

When the bill was debated this spring, some legislators argued it sent the wrong message to close Minnesota's borders to foreign-produced flags.

"That flag should be made throughout the world because it is our message to the world that there is hope for freedom and justice," Republican Rep. Dan Severson said at the time.

The law's sponsor, Democratic Rep. Tom Rukavina, said the flag deserves extra protection. To celebrate his legislative victory, he plans to hand out 1,000 miniature flags at Fourth of July parades in his district.

"The biggest honor that you can give the flag is that it be made by American workers in the United States of America," he said. "Nothing is more embarrassing to me than a plastic flag made in China. This replica of freedom we so respect should be made in this country."

The new law doesn't spell out a penalty for violators. In Minnesota, the default punishment for prohibited acts is a misdemeanor offense, carrying up to a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail.

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On the Net:

http://www.fmaa-usa.com/