PARTY TIME

Monday is my mother's seventy fifth birthday so today Mary Anne, Steve, Sam & Bridget are coming in for tomorrow's big party. Unfortunately, Michael's not available. He has to go to school. All the local kin are expected. The weather was particularly cold this morning so I was forced to warm up the car for a few extra minutes. Yesterday there was only the slightest little bit of snow. Lately, besides the Citizen's Voice, I've been getting other papers too. Yesterday I got the N.Y. Times again & today I got the N.Y. Daily News. The News was always a very familiar fixture in my old neighborhood when I was a kid in Queens. It pays to keep track of differing points of view. I've been trying to keep up with things as conscientiously as possible lately. Yesterday I read quite a bit more of that Flannery O'Connor book. I've already read it a few times before anyway. It always pays to re read these books at least a few times. That's the best way to get the gist of things.

INSPECTION TIME

Yesterday was time for my car inspection. I went over to one of my very favorite places, Jack Williams. Mario was in charge of the job. I got there at 7:30 a.m. & was kept waiting until around 5:30 p.m. because it was a major job. I made sure I went home for the whole time because I would have gone stark raging nuts over there all day. I've finished reading "Northanger Abbey" & started Flannery O'Connor's "Wise Blood". Uncle Frankie went to visit Fran yesterday. My father has a very bad cold or something & is extremely seriously hoarse lately. When I first got up yesterday & turned on my TV set, I found out about the death, on Tuesday, of Heath Ledger. Suzanne Pleshette died a few days ago. I remember her from "The Bob Newhart Show". Recently an ESPN anchorwoman, Dana Jacobson, attacked Jesus Christ by saying, on TV, "F*&% Jesus". Hey I wonder where all those left_wing(ACLU etc) anti_defamation activists are when Christianity gets unjustly attacked. Oh that's right. They only defend(read: bow & scrape to) non_whites, non_Christians etc. Of course, ESPN isn't taking her uconscionably disgusting behavior_she was intoxicated at the time, on top of that_even the least bit seriously. According to the New Oxford Review they've only suspended her for a week. Sarah Silverman & Kathy Griffin have also also gotten entirely out of hand with that kind of thing lately.

ROE V WADE/DOE V BOLTON

Today is a very happy day for all the folks on the left wing. On this day in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Warren Earl Burger, handed down both its Roe v. Wade & Doe v. Bolton decisions. These were the decisions that guaranteed a women the right to murder her own pre_born child by abortion. Of course, we now condone suicide & are on the verge of allowing cloning. According to liberal logic, man, not God, must have the final authority on when life may begin & end. Today, besides the usual Citizen's Voice, I got the Times Tribune. I most certainly agree with Maria Vitale, the guest columnist, about the kind & degree of damage those decisions have done. I've finally finished that book about Chaucer. It's a really good book for somebody like me because I've always been extremely seriously interested in western culture. Uncle Frankie came over yesterday for supper. He drove my father to the Saturn dealership. Today I went to the dollar store in the Midway on Wyoming Avenue to get some aa batteries. The girl on the phone specifically told me they'd be open at 9:00. I got there at precisely 9:00. Of course, she never even bothered to open the place until around 9:10.

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I'm old enough to remember his assassination. A kid in my old neighborhood always called him Martha Luther King. Today I got the Philadelphia Inquire & the Citizen's Voice. Because Philadelphia has such a significantly large Black population, the Inquirer was full of articles about King & his impact on the U.S., the civil rights movement & mankind in general. Most things are closed down today. The paper argued that if King could have lived, even the current war in Iraq could have been avoided. Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday & ate supper with us. Xanga's question for today is asking each of us whether he celebrates King Day. I don't really bother to think twice about it. Of course, I know that it has quite a major degree of significance. Mary Anne sent out a video from Youtube. It's Michael's latest adventure. He made a short film with some friends of his. It's called "Free Your Mind". I was quite happy to be able to see it. He's extremely heavily into film study & does quite well at things like that. Today & yesterday the weather has been absolutely bitter cold. There's no snow or ice though so I'm quite happy with it. I just got forced to warm my car up a bit more than I'm used to. I know it must already be common knowledge by now, but today is penguin awareness day & tomorrow is hugging day.