Thursday, May 29, 2008

Actor Gary Dourdan gets slap on the wrist in drug arrest

First, there was sportscaster Marv "YESSSSSSSS!" Albert getting his wrist slapped years ago; after being arrested on sexual assault charges, Albert plea bargained his way into a sweetheart deal that expunged the charges from his criminal record if he kept his nose clean and didn't arrested within a year.

Now, it's CSI star Gary Dourdan's turn.

Remember? He was arrested last month outside Palm Springs when police reportedly found heroin, cocaine and ecstasy in his car. All three are felonies.

Dourdan pled guilty to two of the three counts. Not only will he not go to prison (he could've served more than three years), but after completing 30 hours of a diversion program, his case will be dismissed completely.

Makes me sick. When John Q. Public gets arrested on drug charges, most likely he will have to figure out how to avoid becoming a girlfriend of one of the prison's most feared inmates. All Dourdan has to wonder now is whether or not he'll be returning to CSI for its ninth season (his character was shot in the season finale).

Some justice.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

$4.09 per gallon

That's how much I paid today at the Simon's Citgo gas station in Arbela Township (about five miles west of the village of Millington), Michigan.

It's cold in them there hills!

It got into the upper thirties last night up here in Michigan. Chilly at around 55 degrees.

And to think June's almost here.

My mother, who lives in South Texas, told me that a few days ago it was 101 degrees there.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Memorial Day thoughts

I had posted a blog of actress Jessica Lange's scathing comments about President Bush and the war during her daughter's college commencement address. After some thought, I've removed the posting for a few reasons. One, it's Memorial Day. Two, Lange is entitled to her opinion and I've grown tired of constantly addressing celebrities' thoughts on war and peace. Three, frankly, I found her comments to simply not be worthy of dignification.

I think Ms. Lange is a great actress and, yes, 20 years ago, I had a huge crush on her. I'll leave it at that.

I wish everyone a very happy Memorial Day.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day

I'll be thinking about Specialist Larry Dahl, father of an Army buddy. Spc Dahl posthumously won the Medal of Honor in Vietnam by throwing himself onto a grenade to save the lives of his comrades.

Wow.

There's more thoughts I have on the day, but this thought deserves its own blog post.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

My newest column preview--new Dirty Harry movie

Just sent out my latest column "Will Dirty Harry follow Indiana Jones’ in his walker-aided footsteps?" to my hometown newspaper, the Beeville Bee-Picayune. When Clint Eastwood announced there would not be another Dirty Harry film while the latest Indiana Jones has been released, I just couldn't resist.

Below is an excerpt. If you don't get the Bee-Pic and would like to read the rest, or if you're interested in syndicating my column Richard's Ramblings, feel free to drop me a line at richardzowie@gmail.com:

Among the scenes:

1) A TV reporter (played by Eastwood’s real-life wife, former reporter Dina Eastwood decides to interview Harry to get into his sensitive side.

Reporter: Inspector Callahan, your adoring female fans that haven’t died yet from natural causes have a question for you: Boxers or briefs?

Harry: Depends.

Reporter: Depends on the situation? Such as briefs for cold days but boxers for—

Harry: No, Depends as in Depends Undergarments!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

McCain rejects Hagee's endorsement


Republican presidential candidate John McCain has rejected the endorsement of San Antonio megapastor John Hagee.

Hagee, pastor of the Alamo City's Cornerstone Church, endorsed McCain three months ago, sparking a controversy among Christians who view the Arizona senator as a RINO (Republican In Name Only).

McCain was said to have formally rejected Hagee's endorsement due to Hagee's controversial comments on the Catholic Church and on the state of Israel. His rejection reminds me of Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama finally getting around to rejecting the controversial statements made by his pastor Jeremiah Wright.

According to the Huffington Post, McCain's decision stemmed from a controversial statement Hagee once made about God allegedly using Adolf Hitler to usher in the State of Israel. Hagee, according to HP, has claimed his comments have been taken out of context. Maybe so, but it really illustrates for me that ALL pastors--from the staunchest conservative to the most ardent liberal--should focus on three things: preaching the Gospel, encouraging believers in their growth and teaching what the Bible says.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

A very interesting tombstone


I saw this recently while writing a story about changes in store for Clio, Michigan's Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery. It's one of those pictures I take because there's something very, very unusual about it. Can anyone tell me what's so unusual about this tombstone?

Voting in 2008--go third party?

My brother-in-law Jason, like me, is politically conservative. Like me, he's not very impressed with John McCain.

Jason told me recently that he will likely vote third party for these reasons: he doesn't see much of a difference between McCain and Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama and he'd rather vote for a candidate that better reflects his own views.

At present, I am still leaning towards McCain. However, it would be that lesser-of-two-evils thing. I keep thinking that in the future I could certainly go third party. Perhaps I'll do it if I see a truly viable candidate, or I might do it to show my disgust at the GOP continuing to ignore their conservative base.

Interesting note: Michael Reagan, the son of Ronald Reagan, bills himself on his radio show as "The very independent Michael Reagan." Mike (one of the very best talk show hosts in terms of content) said he left the GOP because it's no longer the party of his father.

As for my wife, the lovely Jennifer, I've told her that if she's voting for the candidate she feels is the best one, she has nothing to be ashamed about--as long as it's not Barack or Hillary (or, as Jay Leno calls them, The Pleaser and The Freezer).

Writing jobs

Am in hot pursuit of a writing job. I don't want to jinx anything, but one in particular looks very promising. We'll see what happens.

Ahhh, is there anything better in life to get paid to do what you love?

Monday, May 19, 2008

Enjoyed a mini-vacation

Spent Saturday with my wife, her brother and his wife. We got into a car and drove to Western Michigan...first, up to Muskegon for a few hours visiting with Jenn's maternal grandfather. Then, down to Holland (Michigan, not the country) where we attended Jenn's grandparents' 60th-anniversary wedding party. It was a very nice time spent with Grandma and Grandpa Dalman (the parents of Jenn's stepdad, Clif). My gosh, looking at Clif's brothers I could definitely see the resemblance!

Part of the dinner included onion rings. Though I like onions, I've never really been a big onion ring fan. These, however, were very delicious. Must be something in the water.

Didn't get a lot of sleep that evening before work, but it was worth it.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

In a perfect world...

...myself and others would realized that Sean Penn is just a chain-smoking buffoon desperate for excessive attention and ignore him. He spoke recently in France. You know, the usual: Bush lied, troops died, I'm gonna smoke no matter how many innocent lungs my smoke invades.

Very tired today

Due to things I had to get done, I didn't get any sleep yesterday evening before going into work. Too much to do. Almost fell asleep while working, if you can believe that. When I went home, I intended to take a three-hour nap and then get busy. Those three hours turned into seven. Tomorrow will be my work day to get stuff done.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Latest on Chip

Chip was discharged this weekend and is on solid foods. Woo-hoo!

Monday, May 5, 2008

Latest on Chip

Chip's still in the hospital and is slowly recovering. Docs have told him he can have ice chips and popsicles. They gave him the option of transferring back to Lapeer Regional Medical Center from Flint's Hurley Hospital, but he and my wife both wisely told the medical officials "no." Hurley is more advanced in some ways, Chip's developing a good rapport with the doctors and nurses and we didn't see any rationalization for going through the trouble of transferring him to Lapeer again. Chip likes this place much better and, with all due respect to the folks in Lapeer, Chip being happy will be helpful in his recovering quickly.

I made him laugh the other day, when describing to Jennifer my trip to the cafeteria as a scene from The Shining. Can't wait for him to get home since I miss both of them. House seems very empty right now.