JUNE 4th HISTORY

2010	Joran van der Sloot is extradited from Chile to Peru to face charges of killing a Peruvian woman; he is suspected of killing Natalie Holloway in Aruba
2000	Tony Awards, Copenhagen, Contact, The Real Thing revival, and Kiss Me Kate revival won major awards
1995	"Jackie Mason: Politically Incorrect" closes at Golden New York City at 347 perf
1995	49th Tony Awards: Love! Valour! Compassion! and Sunset Boulevard win
1995	8th Children's Miracle Network Telethon raises $1,331,000
1995	Dale Eggeling wins LPGA Oldsmobile Golf Classic
1994	Haile Gebre Selassie runs world record 5 km (12:56.96)
1992	San Jose voters reject Giants plan to build a new stadium

JUNE 4th MUSIC HISTORY

1934 - The Dorsey Brothers recorded "Annie’s Aunt Fanny." Glenn Miller also sang in the song.

1942 - Glenn Wallichs for Capitol Records came up with the idea of sending out "promotional" copies of records to radio announcers around the U.S.

1963 - The Searchers released their debut single "Sweets For My Sweet."

1977 - Supertramp's "Give A Little Bit" was released.

1984 - Bruce Springsteen released his "Born in the U.S.A." album. 

1984 - The Sheila E. album "The Glamorous Life" was released.

1992 - The U.S. Postal Service announced that people preferred the "younger Elvis" stamp design in a nationwide vote.

1996 - The Metallica album "Load" was released.

1997 - The body of Jeff Buckley was found floating in a harbor leading to the Mississippi River. Buckley had disappeared the previous Thursday while swimming in a Memphis harbor.

1998 - Brooks & Dunn, Reba McEntire and the pop group Hanson performed a benefit for Children's Miracle Network hospitals.

VIDEOS BLOW CASEY ANTHONY'S DEFENSE OUT OF THE WATER

On day 9 of the Casey Anthony trial, jurors watched jailhouse phone conversations between Casey and her parents.  She continues to praise her parents and tell them how much she loves them. When told she could only meet one family member in person, Casey chose her Dad, stating that he was the one she could talk to the most. These conversations should make it difficult for jurors to view George Anthony as the sexual abuser and monster the defense would like to present. 

In one particular conversation Cindy tells Casey that the “latest” gossip is that Caylee drowned in the pool. Casey shows no reaction other than to say “Surprise, surprise!” No reaction was noted from George Anthony at that time. Experts looked for a glimmer of recognition or sign of some hidden message between Casey and her father, but there was absolutely nothing, again refuting the defense’s claim that George tried to cover up an accidental drowning.

As the trial proceeds, it seems to be picking up momentum. More and more people have become “hooked” on watching the trial and speculating on the outcome.  It has truly become our #1 daytime drama!  The crowds lining up to be one of the 50 people allowed in the courtroom grows daily, showing the concern and curiosity of the masses.

Again, all we can hope for at this point is that the truth will be uncovered and that little Caylee can rest in peace knowing that justice has been served.

SOUL FOOD

Barbara Ward-Finneran

Find the dreams in your heart and use everything you have to create them. Foster them with dedication and tenacity for when you work towards your own unique vision you will be empowered to clearly see and embrace the blessings in your life. Happiness will decorate your soul with beauty and light. Challenges often come - push through - in the aftermath they will have only sweetened your victory.

Keep the promises that you make to yourself!

Photo Courtesy of Barbara Ward-Finneran and Drawn 2 Design, LLC

All Rights Reserved

WANNA LAUGH?!?!

Tony Walker

How many perverts does it take to screw a light bulb?

One... but it takes a whole team of doctors & surgeons to remove it.

LUNCH TIME POLL

This morning 'The Associated Press' reported that a federal grand jury, in Raleigh, NC, who has been investigating the case for two years, has indicted former senator John Edwards who has been a two time presidential candidate.  The charges being that he violated campaign finance law during the 2008 presidential election campaign by receiving contributions in excess of federal limits, which were not properly reported. Additionally, misusing the funds for the purpose of hiding his extramarital affair in order to save his candidacy.  The case includes six counts, including conspiracy, four counts of illegal campaign contributions and one count of false statements. His lawyers have stated that he has refused to "bargain" a plea agreement and plans to fight the charges.  It has been reported that Mr. Edwards has supposedly stated and maintains, that he used the money to hide the affair, but for private purposes--- to conceal  it from his wife.   If the "ex-poster child" of the Democratic Party pleads guilty or loses in court he could be stripped of his law license, and could face five years in prison, and fines as high as $250,000 per count.

In 2008 Edwards admitted to the affair with Rielle Hunter, his campaign videographer.  In 2010 he admitted to being the father of Hunter's child.  Stories and rumors are swirling that he is trying to get Ms. Hunter to cover for him and even to marry him.  A marital relationship would protect him from her statements in a court of law.

"Trial or not, John Edwards is the Charlie Sheen of American politics - great hair and no chance for rehabilitation," Democratic consultant Jack Quinn told the AP.


Guilty?  Innocent? Can a tarnished image be repaired?  Do you care?  Should marital affairs matter in politics when they run rampant through the country?  Should marriage after the fact protect you from the laws if broken before the marriage?

Editor's Note:
Post of similar interest by DRL's The Good Girl
The Ugly Truth

Your thoughts............ 

CASEY ANTHONY TRIAL: A DAY OF JAILHOUSE RERUNS

Marion Pellicano Ambrose

Today was a day of jailhouse “reruns” in the Casey Anthon trial. The jury watched videos of phone conversations between Casey and her brother Lee as well as with her parents George and Cindy. Casey complained about investigators twisting her words and stated that she did not trust 2 of the detectives assigned to her case. She gave her brother a list of people she felt she could trust which included her parents. In her conversation with dad, George, who she has since accused of sexual abuse, she told him he was a great dad and the greatest grandfather ever.  She stated that if she couldn’t have Caylee there is no one else she would want the child to be with than her parents.

At one point, Cindy told Casey that everyone was looking for Caylee but then asked Casey to look into her eyes and asked, “Are we going to be able to find her?” Casey’s response was simply “I hope we can, Mom.”

Casey’s parents assured her that they wanted her and Caylee back home. George compared the family to a hand missing 2 fingers.  Both parents expressed concern that Casey was getting thinner and she complained about the “crappy food”.  Twice during the conversation, Casey had to leave the phone and go back to her cell as another prisoner was being brought through the area. She is in isolation for her own protection.

Casey sat stone faced as the videos were played. One juror stared at her as the interviews went on.  Onlookers seemed a bit stunned to actually see Casey telling what has now been shown to be lie after lie to police, her brother and her parents. The details were so convincing that detective Yuri Melich stated that he had difficulty suspecting Casey, even after she led them through the ruse of going to Universal and looking for her office only to have her confess that she made it all up.

It’s hard to know what direction the trial will take in the coming days. Many people fear that the defense will be able to plant a small seed of “reasonable doubt” in the minds of the jury.  Remember, they have not seen the reports, pictures, and other damaging information that is available to us on the news or on the internet. They will make their decision solely on what was presented and proven in a court of law.  Let’s all just pray for the whole truth to be revealed and for justice for little Caylee.

The Orlando Sentinel link has video of both phone conversations with Casey.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/caylee-anthony/

THE WATERS AROUND HERE

Dawn Boyle
I have lived on Long Island my entire life. I was born in December, but by the summer my parents had me on their boat. We were North Shore water folk then and hung out at Hempstead Harbor and Centre Island beaches when not boating in the Long Island Sound. I get my love for the water from my parents. My mother used to take us to the beach Monday through Friday. We stayed til dinner time every day. During that time we also summered out in East Hampton. We spent our time in the waters of Gerard Drive, playing by the point and trying not to walk past the "dip".

In my early teens I started hanging out on the South Shore religiously, it has been my stomping grounds since. We love Tobay and are there almost every day, but something odd has happened over the past few years.

I remember when I was VERY young finding starfish and hermit crabs. When I was a teen I was too busy finding and catching lifeguards and surfers to worry about sea creatures, but would remember if I did.

It started with my girls finding starfish. I mean LOTS of starfish about two summers ago. A few months after the starfish began they found sand dollars. Then the middle of last summer while sitting at the ocean we saw a school of dolphin swimming and jumping along the coast. This past weekend we had a rather large seal swimming along the shore and two days ago, a little further out east we had sharks.

This all makes my ten year old daughter thrilled because she loves the ocean and hopes to be an oceanographer some day, to me it kinda makes me think something else is going on in our waters. What is with the big change....whatever happened to that Montauk Monster???  LET THE SUMMER BEGIN!!

PARANORMAL PUB -THE VISIT: A TRUE IRISH GHOST TALE

Marion Pellicano Ambrose

This week’s Paranormal Pub is dedicated to our friends in the UK!

From the time I was a little girl, I remember my father’s relatives talking about “visits”.  These visits were appearances of relatives or friends at the time of a death or shortly after. Apparently, this is not unusual in Irish families.

A tale is told as a  personal experience by the Archdeacon of Limerick, Very Rev. J. A. Haydn, LL.D.
"In the year 1879 there lived in the picturesque village of Adare, at a distance of about eight or nine miles from my residence, a District Inspector, with whom I enjoyed a friendship of the most intimate and fraternal kind. At the time I write of, his good wife was expecting the arrival of their third child. She was a particularly tiny and fragile woman, and much anxiety was felt as to the result of the impending event. He and she had very frequently spent pleasant days at my house, with all the apartments of which they were thoroughly acquainted—a fact of importance in this narrative.


On Wednesday, October 17, 1879, I had a very jubilant letter from my friend, announcing that the expected event had successfully happened on the previous day, and that all was progressing satisfactorily. On the night of the following Wednesday, October 22, I retired to bed at about ten o'clock. My wife, the children, and two maid-servants were all sleeping upstairs, and I had a small bed in my study, which was on the ground floor. The house was shrouded in darkness, and the only sound that broke the silence was the ticking of the hall-clock.


I was quietly preparing to go to sleep, when I was much surprised at hearing, with the most unquestionable distinctness, the sound of light, hurried footsteps, exactly suggestive of those of an active, restless young female, coming in from the hall door and traversing the hall. They then, apparently with some hesitation, followed the passage leading to the study door, on arriving at which they stopped. I then heard the sound of a light, agitated hand apparently searching for the handle of the door. By this time, being quite sure that my wife had come down and wanted to speak to me, I sat up in bed, and called to her by name, asking what was the matter. “I must go” I heard. “Go where ?” I asked, still believing it to be my wife. “Farewell, farewell” was the last sound I heard. I struck a match, lighted a candle, and opened the door. No one was visible or audible. I went upstairs, found all the doors shut and everyone asleep. Greatly puzzled, I returned to the study and went to bed, leaving the candle alight. Immediately the whole performance was circumstantially repeated, but this time the handle of the door was grasped by the invisible hand, and partly turned, then relinquished. I started out of bed and renewed my previous search, with equally futile results. The clock struck eleven, and from that time all disturbances ceased.
On Friday morning I received a letter stating that my friend’s wife had died at about midnight on the previous Wednesday. I hastened off to Adare and had an interview with my bereaved friend. With one item of our conversation I will close. He told me that his wife sank rapidly on Wednesday, until when night came on she became delirious. She spoke incoherently, as if revisiting scenes and places once familiar. 'She thought she was in your house,' he said, 'and was apparently holding a conversation with you, as she used to keep silence at intervals as if listening to your replies.' I asked him if he could possibly remember the hour at which the imaginary conversation took place. He replied that, curiously enough, he could tell it accurately, as he had looked at his watch, and found the time between half-past ten and eleven o'clock—the exact time of the mysterious manifestations heard by me."


Adapted from True Irish Ghost Stories, by St. John D. Seymour and Harry L. Neligan, [1914],

WANNA LAUGH?!?!

Tony was complaining to his friend Greg that love making with his wife was becoming routine and boring.

 "Get creative, Tony. Break up the monotony. Why don't you try playing doctor for an hour? That's what I do," Greg said.

"Sounds great," Tony replied, "but how do you make it last for an hour?"

"Hell, just keep her in the room waiting for fifty-five minutes!" replied Greg.

STICKY SWEET

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY
Patty B
"I am a woman of many moods and they all require chocolate."


"If I had a chocolate every time I thought of you, I'd have a butt the size of Texas."


"Whoever said it's not good for chocolate to be in the heat obviously never had a hot fudge sundae."

"Want to break the ice at a party? Put some chocolate in a bowl. People will gather around it."

 

"If you ever meet anyone who says, " I can't finish this chocolate, do you want it ?" , marry him."

 

"If you have kids , the best way to eat chcolate is in the bathroom, with the door locked and the water running to cover the sound of the crackling wrapper."

LUNCH TIME POLL

Dawn Boyle

At a party last night (shout out to my Bunco girls) the trail of Casey Anthony came up. Everyone was very passionate about their feelings towards this animal who killed her daughter. I know, I know, innocent until proven guilty...that is BS when it comes to this lunatic in my eyes! A few of the ladies spoke of how they are tuning in to watch the trail, very similar to watching the OJ Simpson fiasco years ago.

I must admit, I watched OJ. I even remember where I was (Locust Valley Tavern) when the slow speed chase of the white bronco was on TV. I have tuned in a few times to the Anthony case as well.

What is it about these cases that make us glued to the boob tube?

Will you watch the Anthony case?

Do you remember where you were when verdicts were read for high profile cases?



THE UGLY TRUTH

The Good Girl

The other day hanging out with a friend we got to the subject of Arnold Schwarzenegger's infidelity revelations. After the obligatory "Sperminator" joke, he said that he had seen a recent photo of the woman in question and was surprised by how unattractive the woman was and wondered why Arnold would have chosen her to cheat with.

My reaction went along the lines of: Excuse me? Your more surprised at the unremarkable looks of the woman as opposed to say the fact it was such a long relationship with an employee or that his wife and mistress were pregnant at the same time? Oh I forgot, celebrities (and non-celebrities for that matter) only cheat with people who are better-looking than their current mates. Otherwise, why cheat at all?

I have come to the sad realization that my friend is not alone in his attitude. Apparently, analyzing the attractiveness of the lady Arnold cheated with is going on everywhere. Since she doesn't look like a model, people wonder what could possibly possess him to sleep with her. He has a very attractive wife at home, it only makes sense that his lover should be hotter and younger. But she's not, so what's going on with him? There must be some other reason. One theory is that being the center of attention is so essential to Arnold that he didn't want to compete with someone too strikingly pretty. I have a couple of theories myself: maybe Arnold actually found her attractive and maybe some guys have different ideas of what makes a woman attractive. Radical, I know.

After a celebrity cheating scandal, the woman in question usually come under great scrutiny. And woe to the woman that doesn't live up to traditional Hollywood standards of beauty.

And, besides... She's OLD & UGLY!!!

Cheating on your wife with a conventionally hot woman is totally understandable, but not if you do it with somebody who doesn't look like she stepped out of a Vogue spread (or porn movie). When stories broke about Bill Clinton, there was a lot of snipping about Monica Lewinsky's weight and Paula Jones's nose. More recently in discussions of Jesse James and Tiger Woods, the women they cheated with were held up against the untouchable beauty of their wives. And the question was if you have someone like Sandra Bullock at home, what are you doing with Bombshell McGee?

Of course it goes back even further. I remember after the revelation of the true relationship between Prince Charles and Camilia Parker-Bowles, it was quite common to hear remarks about how old and ugly Bowles was. And many seemed incredulous that Charles would cheat on his hot young wife with a dried-up old hag. I clearly recall a talk show host seemingly stunned at this. But Diana is beautiful, why would he cheat on her with someone less attractive and older? That doesn't make sense.

All this seems to be saying that cheating is one thing, but there's something really wrong with you if cheat with someone who isn't even hot. I'm not sure why so many are willing to overlook the fact that infidelity often isn't just about sleeping with someone better-looking than your partner, and that an especially attractive lover doesn't make it more or less of a betrayal. The pain is just as deep and the devastation just as real no matter what the other person looks like. And that is the ugly truth.

Editors Note:  Other posts to check out by "The Good Girl"
Just Say No
The Good Girl's Dilemma

WHAT DOES HIS GIFT REALLY SAY?

Marion Pellicano Ambrose

So many women find that after a while the gifts become impersonal and are given without thought or concern. Some find the gifts don’t come at all. And some wind up receiving the worst gift a husband or lover can give – the dreaded GIFT CARD!  This says “I just want to grab something and not think about it.”  It ranks right up there with the toaster, vacuum cleaner or blender for a gift. (unless of course that’s what your heart really desires!)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I need expensive gifts to feel loved. I just love the thought and time that goes into the choosing of the gift. The financial value truly doesn’t matter as much as knowing that my husband knows me, knows my likes and dislikes, my hobbies and habits. Many times the gift is not jewelry or flowers, but something I longed for but never mentioned because I really didn’t need it. Somehow he knows what’s in my heart and it magically appears under the Christmas tree or in my Easter basket!

When I was first married, I didn’t have the money for a set of good china. Besides that, I preferred a good sturdy set of stone wear. A few years ago I decided that I really wanted that delicate, classy china! But because of my love of history and all things from the past, I wanted antique china! My husband found a set of Noritake Azalea China from 1929 in perfect condition.  He surprised me with it on my birthday and had my mother in law get me the serving set to match.  Go on girls; tell me you can top that?  I don’t think so!

So if you’re wondering what the gift he gives you is saying, here’s a partial interpretation:

He got you: Holiday-themed chocolates

What it says: “I bought this at the supermarket on the way over here, probably because I’m surprised that we made it to the holidays and hadn’t planned on getting you anything.”



He got you: Plane tickets for a romantic getaway What it says: “I think our relationship is strong enough to withstand non-stop quality time and hearing/smelling each other’s bodily functions through the hotel’s bathroom door.”


He got you: A couple-friendly sex toy
What it says: “I’m tired of being on top.”



He got you: A solo sex toy just for you
What it says: “I’ve been fantasizing about this since the first time I saw you naked.”



He got you: A gym membership, after you’ve been complaining about how you want but can’t afford a gym membership

What it says: “I’m a little clueless, but thoughtful.”



He got you: A gym membership, despite you never mentioning your weight, exercise, or visiting a gym

What it says: “I’m clueless, and I’ll be sleeping on the couch this week.”



He got you: Anything he made himself

What it says: “If you weren’t sure how into you I am, the answer is very.”



He got you: A promise that your gift is on its way, coupled with mumbling about it being held up at the post office What it says: “I just ordered it yesterday and didn’t even splurge for overnight shipping.”



He got you: Lingerie that’s totally your style

What it says: “I know what makes you feel sexy and I’m willing to spend an hour at Victoria’s Secret looking creepy to give it to you.”





He got you: A framed picture of the two of you
What it says: “I’m a cheesy romantic.”



He got you: A framed picture of the two of you, blown up to the size of your bedroom wall

What it says: “I hope the cheesy romance factor conceals the fact that I have a shrine to you in my room and am knitting mittens out of your hair.”



He got you: A pet for the two of you

What it says: “I’ve already booked a caterer and reception hall for our wedding, just in case. Don’t mind the shelf of baby name books in my living room.”



He got you: A pair of earrings

What it says: “I think you’re worth a million bucks—but I could only afford $79.99 at Zale’s.”



He got you: A gift certificate to a spa

What it says: “I want you to feel completely pampered while I picture you being oiled up and rubbed down.”

List compiled by Diana Vilibert

I remember the Mother’s Day right after my daughter was born. My husband surprised me with a beautiful gold necklace and red roses. I felt special and loved, as I’m sure was his goal. As my children grew older and were able to buy gifts for themselves, I expected the Mother’s Day gifts from my husband to stop. They didn’t. Each year he gives me something personal, thoughtful, and beautiful. It means SO much because it tells me he still cares.