I walked into Lisa’s office and flopped into the visitor’s chair. Leaning my head on the back of the chair, I skewed my eyes around to look at her. Head bent over the document on her desk, her fingers twined in her long disheveled hair, she said, “What?” She hadn’t looked up. I knew she didn’t want to acknowledge my presence. “The budget on the new book cover and interior…what are you going to need?”

Now she looked up with a wry grin and opened her mouth. Before she could say it, I blurted out, “There’s not enough time, Lisa, Editorial is 3 weeks behind, it went back to the copy editor after the last revision, and the layout is already thousands over budget…” my voice quieted at the look on her face.

“Calm down. He doesn’t want the big image cover. He’s decided he wants this.” At “this” she tossed a magazine face down into my lap. I looked down. The back cover was black with little fluorescent… things floating on it. What was it? The items looked like little neon candies or, well, actually they looked like little squishy gnomes. I raised my eyebrows and looked up at her. “He wants little gnomes on it?” The new on-line dating guide would have little fluorescent gnome girls and boys on it? I giggled and then laughed, but the laughter sounded more hysterical than funny. The lot of us had tried and failed to talk him out of doing this book. The more we worked on it the more it looked like a $50,000 sink hole. I picked up the magazine and tossed it onto the table, the back cover flying open as it landed. There in all her lurid glory was a very buxom naked woman, suggestively posed with the words, “Just talk to me!” emblazoned across the picture.

But at least one thing has gone right for the Prince of Wales in the unusually tense preparations for his marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles. On Wednesday, Britain's top legal authority, Lord Falconer, declared that the wedding, planned for April 8 at the Guildhall in Windsor, was not, in fact, illegal."

Gosh and I was soooooo stressing over that!!

It is time to be worried about the budget deficit. There are consequences to spending more than you bring in. The administration needs to wake up from it's "we can do anything we want to" stance.
Excerpts from Bloomberg:

" 'People are going to have to be paid more to hold the U.S. dollar,'' said Tony Norfield, head of currency strategy at ABN Amro Holding NV in London. ``It's not looking very attractive and that spread will have to widen.''

In the administration's view, suicide is not a "legitimate medical purpose" under regulations that carry out the federal Controlled Substances Act. Consequently, the administration will argue before the Supreme Court, as it did unsuccessfully in the lower federal courts, that doctors who prescribe drugs for committing suicide violate the federal law and are subject to revocation of their federal prescription license. The license applies to broad categories of medications and is necessary, as a practical matter, for a doctor to remain in practice.

The 10th Amendment from Wickepedia:

Amendment X (the Tenth Amendment) of the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, states:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The Tenth Amendment is generally recognized to be a truism. In United States v. Sprague1931) the Supreme Court noted that the amendment "added nothing to the [Constitution] as originally ratified". That said, it makes explicit the idea that the federal government is limited only to the powers it is granted in the Constitution. However, this amendment is very liberally interpreted, so that a law will generally not be overturned if there is even a remote connection to a constitutionally-given power, usually the power to regulate interstate commerce.

The Federal government has found clever ways to circumvent this amendment. One common way is liberally interpret the interstate commerce clause so that acts which have even the slightest potential effect on interstate commerce can be regulated by the federal government. Federal drug laws and gun laws use this justification. Another way is to deny states federal funding if certain state laws do not conform to Federal guidelines. The national 55 mph speed limit and the national 21 year drinking age were imposed through this method; the states would lose highway funding if they refused to pass such laws.

In United States v. Lopez, {{514|549|1995}}, a federal law mandating a "gun-free zone" around and on public school campuses was struck down because there was no clause in the Constitution authorizing it. The opinion did not mention the Tenth Amendment."

I think Big Brother is trying shoulder in on us again...

Subject: ANNUAL NEOLOGISM CONTEST

ANNUAL NEOLOGISM CONTEST
Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning
submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked
to supply alternate meanings for common words.
And the winners are:
1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
3.Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.
6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly
 answer the door in your nightgown.
7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are
 run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by
 proctologists.
13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with
 Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), The belief that, you die, and your
 Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent (n.), an opening in the front boxer shorts
worn by Jewish men.

Will Collier E-Mails With a Question

And I ask one back: Is the point to have a dialogue with the MSM or cause its destruction? Please advise.

Will Collier from VodkaPundit e-mails:

Jay, a serious question. When a former Philadelphia Inquirer managing editor and current managing editor of the Columbia Journalism Review's website refers to presumably-conservative critics of Eason Jordan as "salivating morons" constituting a "lynch mob" of "Liliputians," doesn't that suggest that the "hate" between conservatives and the MSM at the very least runs both ways?

--Will Collier (see his reply to Lovelady.)

If your point is "this is not a one-sided transaction," yes. Runs both ways, but not in a tit for tat manner. Steve was definitely saying: I have contempt for... He would tell you that, I think.

Here's another read. Lovelady was acting like bloggers do-- but also letter writers to Romenesko. He e-mailed his reaction, which was one part emotion, one part attitude, and one part argument.

Did he follow it up by engaging in dialogue at your blog? (He did, with the same "attitude" but not only that.) Did he cause reaction, get people to talk back? (It's good blogging.)

Read the rest...

They arrested a woman for causing an accident while on her cellphone...she
was charged with driving while intalksicated.

There was a inebriated man taking a dip in a Scotland tourist spot where
there is a law that says you can't be intoxicated while swimming in the loch
...he was charged with public drunk in Ness.

An Irishman named O'Leary, who loved to sing as he worked, bought a mule to farm his garden. The mule worked well but was almost totally deaf. So, when his owner yelled, "Whoa!", the animal often continued plowing. Asked how the mule was working out, O'Leary shook his head. "There was a time," he said, "when all the neighbors could here was me singing my lilting melodies." "Lately, I'm afraid, they've heard nothing but .... my riled Irish whoa's!"

SCENE II. Capulet's orchard.

Enter ROMEO

He jests at scars that never felt a wound.

JULIET appears above at a window

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
It is my lady, O, it is my love!
O, that she knew she were!
She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that?
Her eye discourses; I will answer it.
I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks:
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!

Ay me!

She speaks:
O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

What man art thou that thus bescreen'd in night
So stumblest on my counsel?

By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am:
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee;
Had I it written, I would tear the word.

My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words
Of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound:
Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?

Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike.

How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?
The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,
And the place death, considering who thou art,
If any of my kinsmen find thee here.

With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls;
For stony limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do that dares love attempt;
Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me.

If they do see thee, they will murder thee.

Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye
Than twenty of their swords: look thou but sweet,
And I am proof against their enmity.

I would not for the world they saw thee here.

I have night's cloak to hide me from their sight;
And but thou love me, let them find me here:
My life were better ended by their hate,
Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.

By whose direction found'st thou out this place?

By love, who first did prompt me to inquire;
He lent me counsel and I lent him eyes.
I am no pilot; yet, wert thou as far
As that vast shore wash'd with the farthest sea,
I would adventure for such merchandise.

Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face,
Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek
For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night
Fain would I dwell on form, fain, fain deny
What I have spoke: but farewell compliment!
Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say 'Ay,'
And I will take thy word: yet if thou swear'st,
Thou mayst prove false; at lovers' perjuries
Then say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo,
If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully:
Or if thou think'st I am too quickly won,
I'll frown and be perverse an say thee nay,
So thou wilt woo; but else, not for the world.
In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond,
And therefore thou mayst think my 'havior light:
But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true
Than those that have more cunning to be strange.
I should have been more strange, I must confess,
But that thou overheard'st, ere I was ware,
My true love's passion: therefore pardon me,
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath so discovered.

Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear
That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops--

O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.

What shall I swear by?

Do not swear at all;
Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self,
Which is the god of my idolatry,
And I'll believe thee.

If my heart's dear love--

Well, do not swear: although I joy in thee,
I have no joy of this contract to-night:
It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden;
Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be
Ere one can say 'It lightens.' Sweet, good night!
This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
Good night, good night! as sweet repose and rest
Come to thy heart as that within my breast!

O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?

What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?

The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine.

I gave thee mine before thou didst request it:
And yet I would it were to give again.

Wouldst thou withdraw it? for what purpose, love?

But to be frank, and give it thee again.
And yet I wish but for the thing I have:
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.

Nurse calls within

I hear some noise within; dear love, adieu!
Anon, good nurse! Sweet Montague, be true.
Stay but a little, I will come again.

Exit, above

O blessed, blessed night! I am afeard.
Being in night, all this is but a dream,
Too flattering-sweet to be substantial.

Re-enter JULIET, above

Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed.
If that thy bent of love be honourable,
Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow,
By one that I'll procure to come to thee,
Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite;
And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay
And follow thee my lord throughout the world.

[Within] Madam!

I come, anon.--But if thou mean'st not well,
I do beseech thee--

[Within] Madam!

By and by, I come:--
To cease thy suit, and leave me to my grief:
To-morrow will I send.

So thrive my soul--

A thousand times good night!

Exit, above

A thousand times the worse, to want thy light.
Love goes toward love, as schoolboys from
their books,
But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.

Retiring

Re-enter JULIET, above

Hist! Romeo, hist! O, for a falconer's voice,
To lure this tassel-gentle back again!
Bondage is hoarse, and may not speak aloud;
Else would I tear the cave where Echo lies,
And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine,
With repetition of my Romeo's name.

It is my soul that calls upon my name:
How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night,
Like softest music to attending ears!

Romeo!

My dear?

At what o'clock to-morrow
Shall I send to thee?

At the hour of nine.

I will not fail: 'tis twenty years till then.
I have forgot why I did call thee back.

Let me stand here till thou remember it.

I shall forget, to have thee still stand there,
Remembering how I love thy company.

And I'll still stay, to have thee still forget,
Forgetting any other home but this.

'Tis almost morning; I would have thee gone:
And yet no further than a wanton's bird;
Who lets it hop a little from her hand,
Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,
And with a silk thread plucks it back again,
So loving-jealous of his liberty.

I would I were thy bird.

Sweet, so would I:
Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.
Good night, good night! parting is such
sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

Exit above

Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast!
Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest!
Hence will I to my ghostly father's cell,
His help to crave, and my dear hap to tell.

Exit