rolls eyes

This is Elian Gonzales all over again. Only, less patriotism, more catfights.

A house wren is inspecting the awning over our front door. I'ma have to put on my scary Gardening Hat and go in and out a few times, I think.

"Sorry, little dude, you have to cease work on that structure at once, you don't have the proper permits. Trust me, you wouldn't like it here anyway, too much traffic. Plus, the waking you and the missus up at all hours of the night with the comings and the goings, and disorienting you with the light so you fly inside the house. Although that usually ends well for all concerned, it also leaves me with a messy cleanup. And nobody wants that."

We got monsoon rain, hail, and a tornado last night. Whee! No snow, though.

Hec, I left a sympathetic post in old Natter about Oh Dark Thirty this morning. If you didn't see it, I'm so, so sorry about Emmett's injury and all the gut-churning his family got put through because of it. It's good he's already expecting to attend his team's games. His natural talent and love for the game will take over, and he'll be wanting to get back out there before he's medically cleared to play, I'll bet. Excellent healing-ma to him--and to his adults, too.

A lot of neo-cons whose roots run libertarian are unhappy about congress and the POTUS.

Hmm, it may be a semantic difference, but I tend to differentiate neo-cons from libertarian conservatives. YNCMV. In any case, it's the folks in congress who've been pushing and pushing this (and the administration) that I was mainly thinking of.

And HOLY CARP on the eye bobbing all around.

Wait, what? Do I want to know?

Skyline Ranking: [link]

This listing ranks cities by the visual impact of their skylines.

Yay! Chicago is #4!

Do I want to know?

brenda, no.

Hmph, SF is down at 32 after Caracas and Makati. I don't even know where Makati is.

Not that the SF skyline is particularly distinguished. Most of the architectural fun around here is in the Victorians.

This listing ranks cities by the visual impact of their skylines.

Personally, I don't think visual impact is determined solely by the heights of the buildings. One of the things I like about the Madison skyline (from the far side of Lake Monona) is the way the buildings have been purposely placed to draw attention to the Monona Terrace Convention Center and the Capitol building. They put in an ordinance years ago that none of the buildings can obstruct the view of the Capitol, so we don't get anything much above 15 stories and we wouldn't want it.

Schiavo definitely not over.

Gov. Bush and the state's social services agency filed a petition in state court to take custody of Schiavo and, presumably, reconnect her feeding tube. It cited new allegations of neglect and challenges Schiavo's diagnosis as being in a persistent vegetative state. The request is based on the opinion of a neurologist working for the state who observed Schiavo at her bedside but did not conduct an examination of her.

The neurologist, William Cheshire of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, is a bioethicist who is also an active member in Christian organizations, including two whose leaders have spoken out against the tube's removal.

Ronald Cranford of the University of Minnesota, a neurologist who was among those who made a previous diagnosis of Schiavo, said "there isn't a reputable, credible neurologist in the world who won't find her in a vegetative state."

The custody request by Bush was made before Judge George Greer, who has presided over the case and ordered the feeding tube removed last month. Greer planned to decide by noon Thursday on whether the case would go forward. He issued an emergency order Wednesday to keep the Department of Children & Families from reconnecting the tube.

Tom Delay's Comments:

“Mrs. Schiavo’s condition, I believe, has been at times misrepresented by the media, but far more often has simply gone unreported all together. Terri Schiavo is not on a respirator; she can breathe on her own. Terri Schiavo is not brain-dead; she talks and she laughs, and she expresses happiness and discomfort. Terri Schiavo is not on life-support.

“She’s not being ‘kept alive’; she is alive. It won’t take a miracle to help Terri Schiavo; it will only take the medical care and therapy that all patients deserve. Mrs. Schiavo is not being denied heroic measures; she’s being denied basic, basic, basic medical and personal care.