New Folk Hero???

Yup. Of course although I love Motown I was always more of a Stax man, which drives my brother crazy.

Gordy's former mansion is a nice place but I would be very surprised if it gets anywhere close to asking price.

Some guys can't win for losing...

Prison officials cite Kilpatrick for misconduct with wife
Major violation of prison rules can affect probation, privileges
Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News
Kwame Kilpatrick has been accused of sexual misconduct in prison for allegedly groping his wife during a July 4 visit to the Oaks Correctional Facility near Manistee.

The former Detroit mayor, imprisoned for 14 months to 5 years for probation violations, was caught on video surveillance, reaching with his right hand to touch Carlita Kilpatrick's left breast while she met with him in an open room furnished with tables and chairs where other prisoners also meet with friends and family, according to prison officials. Carlita Kilpatrick was fully clothed, according to prison authorities.

Misconduct with wife

Why am I not surprised that the Nation's fattest people are located in sothern states?

State Obesity Rates for Adults

1. Mississippi 33.8%
2. Alabama 31.6%
3. Tennessee 31.6%
4. West Virginia 31.3%
5. Louisiana 31.2%
6. Oklahoma 30.6%
7. Kentucky 30.5%
8. Arkansas 30.1%
9. South Carolina 29.9%
10. North Carolina 29.4%
10. Michigan 29.4%
12. Missouri 29.3%
13. Ohio 29.0%
13. Texas 29.0%
15. South Dakota 28.5%
16. Kansas 28.2%
17. Pennsylvania 28.1%
17. Georgia 28.1%
17. Indiana 28.1%
20. Delaware 27.9%

I'm fairly certain there's a correlation between obesity and poverty. I noticed that New York didn't make the list. But if you broke it down by zip code, I'm sure that the more poverty ridden areas of the Bronx and Brooklyn would be right up there. It's really an interesting paradox. Conventional wisdom says if you can't afford to eat you'll be thinner. But the truth is, if you can't afford to eat right, you're going to be heavier. Unfortunately, fruits and vegetables are a lot more costly than Doritos and sugared soft drinks. When you couple that with the lack of education that's so prevalant in those areas, many people just don't know enough to eat right until they already have diabetes and/or heart disease. And by that time, a lot of them just say f**k it.

Good points PB. I wonder if it's also a cultural/geographic preference for fried/sugary foods.

Lilo,

A bit off topic but how do you like your governor (Jennifer Granhom??) I've seen her several times on tv and she seems quite down to earth and concerned about Michigan's unemployment problem. Is she well liked generally? My family doesn't seem to mind her to much and since they lean right these days it might say something.

TIS

I think most fair minded people recognize that there's a sea change that took place in manufacturing over the past two decades that really really hurt Michigan and no matter who was governor was going to have big problems dealing with that.

That said, I'm not so sure that she's well liked politically as much as it is that the Republican opposition just couldn't make a case. I think people do like her personally.

She is a deceptively mild person and is probably stronger than people give her credit for. She did after all come out of the same Wayne County political machine that had Ed McNamara as godfather. The deceased McNamara was also something of a mentor to former Mayor Kilpatrick.

But we have term limits. She can't run again, so likely people that don't like her don't really care at this point.

Maybe it will sell after all. Pictures.
http://www.detnews.com/article/20100716/BIZ/7160346/Motown-mansion-draws-interest

Motawi tiles. These are a takeoff of the popular local Pewabic tiles. I wouldn't mind getting a few of these for a foyer.

Article

Hey, a walk thru, in a mansion, in Detroit no less, during this kind of economic downturn.....I'd say that's a positive sign hu?

Nice tiles. I can imagine how much it'd cost to tile the place.


TIS

Several Atlantic City casinos/hotels are shut due to air conditioning malfunction; a major leak in a water-cooling pipe. The casinos "purchase" their air conditioning from a centralized air conditioning/heating plant. With the outside temps in the 90s, this is a major FUBAR. They've brought in dozens of temporary units on trucks and trailers. Some casinos will reopen on Sunday pm. Not all casinos were affected. Boardwalk Hall was also affected. The leak will take at least a week to locate and fix. The pipe is down several feet underground. When you dig down 2 feet the water table is there. Quite a mess. Someone will hang for this one.

Coppell [Texas] mayor wrote she and her daughter 'were lost, alone, and afraid' 02:45 PM CDT on Saturday, July 17, 2010 By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News

Coppell Mayor Jayne Peters wrote in one of the suicide notes that her 19-year-old daughter hid her pain from her friends and that mother and daughter "were lost, alone, and afraid."

But in the notes, Peters never directly addressed what caused the hurt she described or led her to kill her herself and her daughter, Corinne. She also didn't mention mounting financial problems, including the multiple times in the past year her house was posted for foreclosure.

City officials now suspect money troubles may have led her to use her city-issued credit card for personal purchases such as groceries and clothes.

Cedar Hill mayor lent Coppell mayor gun used in shootings

I'm not from Seattle, but I remembered the park at Lake Sammamish from reading about Ted Bundy. He actually kidnapped and murdered two women in one day from the park.

Yesterday, two people were murdered and others injured when a gunfight broke out at a party held there.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012385325_sammamish18m.html

NWCN.com Posted on July 19, 2010 at 3:09 PM

SEATTLE – Conservative commentator Glenn Beck says he has been diagnosed with macular dystrophy, a progressive eye disorder that could cause him to go blind.

Speaking to an audience over the weekend, Beck, a Mount Vernon, Wash. native, talked about how he's been losing the ability to focus his eyes. He says he went to his doctor a couple of weeks ago.

"He did all kinds of tests and he said, 'you have macular dystrophy ...you could go blind in the next year. Or, you might not,'" said Beck.

OAKLAND, Calif. – A California man known for his anger over left-leaning politics said after a freeway shootout with CHP officers that he had been planning an attack on the ACLU and another nonprofit group, police said Tuesday.

Byron Williams, 45, a parolee with two previous bank robbery convictions, wanted to "start a revolution" by killing people at the American Civil Liberties Union and Tides Foundation, both in San Francisco, Oakland police Sgt. Michael Weisenberg said in court documents.

....and he is probably the type of guy who would take advantage of that guns-in-church law in Louisiana.

Not really my neck of the woods, but Blago's (aka Rod Blagojevich)trial has ended already. All his talk about telling his side of the story is over, without his testimony OR without any defense testimony. I find Rod very amusing actually. It's almost as though he loves the limelight so much that he has no idea how serious these charges are. He reminds me of what my father would call a "bullshitter."

Testimony in the federal corruption trial of Rod Blagojevich wrapped up Wednesday without the ousted Illinois governor taking the stand in his own defense.

After months of professing his innocence in impromptu news conferences, on T witter and even on Donald Trump's show "Celebrity Apprentice," Blagojevich's testimony had been highly anticipated. But his lawyers rested their case Wednesday morning, and closing arguments are set to begin Monday.



http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/21/illinois.blagojevich.trial/index.html


TIS

Blago's attorneys, a father & son team, were at odds about Blago taking the stand. The son professed that Rod is an excellent communicator (Your dad is correct - a true bullshitter!) and could put all the questions and doubt of his innocence to rest by taking the stand. The father attorney wouldn't hear of it and did not let Blago testify. We are all waiting to see how doing things "The Chicago Way" ends up!

I've not bothered to hear all the recorded conversations. I know there was "bribe" indications and trying to sell Obama's seat and such, but do we know if any of it actually was implemented??

I ask because wouldn't there be a difference (sentence wise) between attempting to do it and actually following thru with it?

Of course I don't know, but I have a feeling Blago won't get much of a sentence.

TIS

P.S. Remember when this story was fairly new and Blago was doing his tv appearances? He went on Letterman saying, "I wanted to be on here in the worst way." Letterman replied, "Well, you are here in the worst way."

I didn't follow the trial but his best defense was to argue that he was discussing normal political horse trading and not god forbid, bribery or extortion. Because it's not a defense against charges of racketeering & extortion to argue that you got busted before you could bring your schemes to fruition. If convicted I think he's gonna do some time. If he had gone through all the way to the bank with it so to speak, I guess his possible sentence would be worse..

Faux prince pleads no contest to deadbeat dad charge
Mike Martindale / The Detroit News

Pontiac -- A former Beverly Hills, Mich. man who worked as an FBI informant while living as an Austrian prince appeared in Oakland Circuit Court today and pleaded no contest to non-payment of more than $200,000 in child support.

A pale-looking, bespectacled Josef von Habsburg-Lothringen -- formerly Josef Meyers of Beverly Hills -- has been in the Oakland County Jail awaiting an Aug. 31 trial on child neglect charges for a longstanding debt to his Michigan wife and three children, whom he allegedly abandoned in 1993.

The 50-year-old von Habsburg-Lothringen was arrested May 17 by the U.S. Marshal's Office in New York, where he was found hiding in a closet. He said little during his brief appearance before Judge Wendy Potts. He quietly acknowledged he understood his right to a trial but gave up that and other rights to plead no contest to the charge, which can normally carry up to 15 years in prison.

Von Habsburg-Lothringen was remanded to jail in lieu of $75,000 bond. He is to be sentenced Aug. 11. Under a sentencing agreement and state guidelines, he could receive between five and 44 months in a state prison

Deadbeat "Prince" gets busted

Gel that can help decayed teeth grow back could end fillings By Pat Hagan

A gel that can help decayed teeth grow back in just weeks may mean an end to fillings. The gel, which is being developed by scientists in France, works by prompting cells in teeth to start multiplying. They then form healthy new tooth tissue that gradually replaces what has been lost to decay.

Researchers say in lab studies it took just four weeks to restore teeth back to their original healthy state. The gel contains melanocyte-stimulating hormone, or MSH.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/articl...l#ixzz0uuqwkPpo

At least 16 miles of the Kalamazoo River system have been touched by crude oil in what could rank as the Midwest's worst spill.

An unexplained rupture of an underground pipe south of Marshall has released more than 800,000 gallons of oil that has made its way to the river via Talmadge Creek.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm activated the Michigan's Emergency Operations Center in Lansing to help coordinate state resources.

Granholm toured the area by helicopter Tuesday evening, then met with state and federal officials for a briefing. She said more resources should be devoted to cleaning up the spill.

"From my perspective, the response has been anemic," she said.
...

Oil Spill in Kalamazoo River

I read that headline yesterday and was wondering which river in Michigan it was. 800,000 gallons is a lot of oil.

Btw, they are waiting for a ruling on the Arizona illegal immigration law any minute now.


TIS

updated 8/2/2010 10:52:48 AM ET BUCHAREST, Romania

A 25-year-old Romanian woman weighing 528 pounds who gave birth to a baby girl more than 5 months ago, has died.

Relatives of Victoria Lacatus say she died of a heart attack Sunday after developing a high fever and breathing problems.

9 dead in shooting at Conn. beer distributor
MANCHESTER, Conn. — An employee who had been asked to resign went on a shooting rampage Tuesday at a family-owned beer distributing company, killing eight people and wounding others before fatally shooting himself, officials said.

The shooting took place at Hartford Distributors Inc., about 10 miles east of Hartford.

Lilo,

This spill has taken a back seat to the Gulf. Unfortunate since it's affects can be just as bad and the cause just as disturbing.

Oli,

Didn't know you had tri-citizenship in Texas, Romania and Connecticut. Interesting. Must be a mess during tax time.

Good news in Jersey (my neck-o-the-woods) The state is taking over parts of Atlantic City. Of course it's driven by money. The state sees A.C. as a cash cow. Now it's leaking money all over the place and a lot is going into the pockets of incompetent local government and money-grubbing casino administration.

Exactly. "Michigan" and "Oil Spill" are not two concepts that easily go together in most people's minds.

Blind man beaten, robbed by group of Mt. Clemens teens
Christine Ferretti / The Detroit News

Mount Clemens -- Daniel Perron was returning from a party store Tuesday night with a money order to pay his rent and the remaining $600 he had left for the month in his pocket.

Out of nowhere, the 50-year-old -- who is legally blind and walks with a cane -- said he was ambushed from behind by a group of young people.

Perron said his head was slammed into a wrought-iron fence on North River Road near the Gibraltar Trade Center.

He was knocked to the ground, kicked in the head, beaten and tipped upside down as the crooks worked to retrieve the Social Security disability cash from his pocket. After the beating and robbery, the group fled.

"It's pretty bad that people would do something like that," Perron said. "I don't want vengeance, but I would like to see them prosecuted."

Full Article