Those close call stories always give me the chills.

I really only have one of which I'm aware:

What occurred at the 99 in Charlestown on Nov. 6, 1995 must have looked like a scene from a movie: As the crowd of lunchtime diners watched in horror, a father and son opened fire, killing four North End men in the restaurant in broad daylight, and wounding a fifth. Richard C. Sarro Jr., then 27, survived the attack. But his uncle Robert C. Luisi Sr., his cousin Luisi, his brother Antonio Sarro, and friend Anthony Pelosi Jr. were killed.

How did this unfold? Damien Clemente and Vincent Perez, who had been sitting in another booth, were allegedly threatened by the Luisi. Damien called his father from his cell phone. His father arrived, an argument turned into a bloodbath.

Anthony P. Clemente Sr. and his son, Damien, were later convicted of first-degree murder. Perez was aquitted on murder charges. The elder Clemente, who turns 54 on Sept. 14, is in custody at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, while his son is doing time at the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater.

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Scott and I ate lunch there that day. I was pregnant with Ben (who was born in January, '96). We left, got in the car, saw these guys walking into the 99 who just looked so out of place for Charlestown. They looked like Italian mobsters out of Central Casting.

Scott and I traded cracks about them being in the wrong neighborhood (Charlestown, like Southie, is one of the traditionally Irish neighborhoods in Boston; the traditionally Italian neighborhoods include East Boston and the North End) and looking like walking stereotypes and we started imagining scenes from a mobster movie.

We got back to work, and the radio in my office was playing and story of the shooting broke. I spent the next hour frantically trying to track down my mother. Her secretary only knew she went out for lunch, and I knew she often ate at the 99, too.

ION, this is cheering:

It all started when Pam Spaulding of the blog Pam's House Blend read an op-ed column in Philadelphia's Evening Bulletin which was critical of General Peter Pace's assertion that being gay is "immoral." The author was Joe Murray---the same Joe Murray who wrote columns and served as a staff attorney for the rabidly anti-gay American Family Association. Pam's reaction was, "What the hey??" So she contacted Joe, who agreed to an interview to explain his change of heart.

What emerges is the story of an influential Christian who finally had the good sense to question the tactics and beliefs of his earthly superiors, thanks to a fresh assessment of what The Bible really says...and his own two eyes:

How could preachers preach such vehement messages towards gays when it was clear that the Bible was unclear at best, and silent at worse, on the issue? Why recklessly condemn a group of individuals? Why fixate on them when your congregation is knee deep in divorce (Jesus had some pretty clear words on that issue)? And as for gluttony, how could preachers lecture gays on restraint when churches host pot luck dinner after pot luck dinner and not be deemed hypocritical?

It was this hypocrisy that caused me to open my eyes. Those on the Christian right, for whatever reasons, have become fixated on homosexuality. They are obsessed by it and perverse form of vengeance appears to be fueling their inquisition. I may be wrong, but I think actions are speaking much louder than words here.

The whole gay issue is no longer about the quest for the Truth; it is about fear and loathing. It is about shame and sorrow. It is anything but Christian.

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I can't even . . . I don't know what to . . . I just . . .

See for yourselves:

Rapping Rove

Damn. Something happened between my drive to work and now that has completely turned me into Cranky McBitchpants.

Would like earlier personality please.

Rapping Rove

I saw that when I got up this morning and thought I was hallucinating.

See for yourselves:

I think it's best for my psychological wellbeing that I don't....

I have the dumbest snippet of a song batting around my head. What's annoying me is not that it is rolling around my head, it is that it is the misheard version I can't dislodge. The actual line is "going against your mind" except I'd been hearing it as "going to Chennai" until fairly recently and so that is what is stuck.

I woke up this morning (the first full day of my layoff) and immediately thought of various tasks at work that I had to do... then remembered it's not my responsibility any more.

I felt the same way the next morning as well, Theo. I think I woke up that way off and on for about a week. It is kind of fun, in a completely vindictive way, to think about all the little things that are going to trip them up when you're not there to do them, though.

Sorry to hear about your job as well, Nutty.

My close calls so far have all been getting out of immediately dangerous situations unscathed, rather than chance keeping me away from those situations. Either way, there's certainly a feeling of there being a lot of luck involved.

Oh, and since I missed the official announcement, congrats on job-having, ita!

It is kind of fun, in a completely vindictive way, to think about all the little things that are going to trip them up when you're not there to do them, though.

Yep. And all the stupid things you didn't want to do anyway... and now don't have to!

My close calls so far have all been getting out of immediately dangerous situations unscathed, rather than chance keeping me away from those situations.

...it's been a while since I've told a story where the phrase "and then some dude pulled out a knife" appeared. I am not ita, so I think I'm okay with that.