HELLO FROM EAU CLAIRE, WISCONSIN:

HELLO FROM EAU CLAIRE, WISCONSIN - merchants slogan: "We don't have it but we can get it for you."

Monday, August 9, 2010

BEND OVER - I HAVE A CORPORATION THAT WANTS TO DRIVE YOU HOME

So Verizon and Google are planning the hostile takeover of the internet. No surprise to me. The corporatocacy hasn't sucked enough of our blood and they finally found a vein that hasn't collapsed - the internet. What the hell took you asses so long? And why not make your move when the country is already down? Kick 'em when they're up! Kick 'em when they're down! Isn't that how the tune goes?

Let's all sing the real Star Spangled Banner:

Corporate greed, corporate greed, corporate greed corporate greed
GREED GREED GREED GREED GREED GREED!

'NUFF SAID.

I am gonna call my damn worthless, toothless congressman and ask him what the hell he's gonna do about one more usurping of one of the few freedoms we have left.

Poop on everything!

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NEW YORK — A JetBlue flight attendant got into an argument with a passenger on a jetliner arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday, cursed the passenger, grabbed a beer from the galley and then deployed an emergency exit slide and fled the plane, authorities said.

Flight attendant Steven Slater was arrested at his nearby home in the Belle Harbor section of Queens by Port Authority of New York And New Jersey police on charges of criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing.

Slater, 39, remained in custody Monday night. His attorney's name wasn't immediately available, and there was no home telephone number listed for him.

JetBlue Airways Corp. said in a statement that it was working with the Federal Aviation Administration and Port Authority police to investigate the matter. It said the safety of its customers and crew members was never at risk.

Slater was working on JetBlue Flight 1052 from Pittsburgh when he got into an argument with the passenger, who was pulling down baggage from an overhead bin, the Port Authority said. The luggage apparently struck the attendant in the head, and he asked for an apology, but the passenger refused, the agency said.

As the plane was landing, Slater got on the public-address system and cussed at the passenger, the Port Authority said. He then grabbed at least one beer, activated the slide, slid down and went to his car, it said.

Port Authority police were notified about 25 minutes later.

JetBlue would not say how long Slater had been employed by the company.


Do Not Piss The GIRL off!

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Today, with the help of Doctor Thomas Carmody's astute skill as a surgeon at Luther Hospital, Eau Claire, one of my very best friends, Douglas Scott Cox , will live through the night with the expert care of Luther's nursing staff. Hopefully sometime tomorrow he will be fully conscious and able to start taking the first baby steps to full recovery.

Any body who remembers the glory days of Wisconsin State College at Eau Claire's summer drama program, the Patio Playhouse, started by Dr John Manlove and torch-passed to Dr. Wil Denson will remember just how skilled a comic Doug Cox really is.

Doug's favorite comic of all time is a fellow Chicago boy - Jack Benny. Doug, I think, studied Jack Benny's every move and nuance. Doug Cox is hands down the very best "physical" comedian/actor I have had the privilege to share a stage with.
The master of upstaging, the king of mugging, a guy who can make you laugh just by moving across a room.

I visited him several days ago in his hospital room and the hospital room became his stage setting. Within minutes of joining him, I was laughing to tears.

At one point in the many years of summer theatre, we did "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum". Doug played the absolute funniest Hysterium in the world! If you are not familiar with the story line, this from YAHOO (f--- Google):

In ancient Rome, some neighbors live in three adjacent houses. In the center is the house of Senex, who lives there with wife Domina, son Hero, and several slaves, including head slave Hysterium and the musical's main character Pseudolus. A slave belonging to Hero, he wishes to buy, win, or steal his freedom. One of the neighboring houses is owned by Marcus Lycus, who is a buyer and seller of beautiful women; the other belongs to the ancient Erronius, who is abroad searching for his long-lost children (stolen in infancy by pirates).
One day, Senex and Domina go on a trip and leave Pseudolus in charge of Hero. Hero confides in Pseudolus that he is in love with the lovely Philia, one of the courtesans in the House of Lycus. Pseudolus promises to help him win Philia's love in exchange for his freedom. Unfortunately (as the two find out when they pay a visit on Lycus), Philia has been promised to the renowned warrior Captain Miles Gloriosus, who is on his way to claim her. Pseudolus, an excellent liar, uses Philia's cheery disposition to convince Lycus that she has picked up a plague from Crete, which causes its victims to smile endlessly in its terminal stages. By offering to isolate her in Senex's house, he is able to give Philia and Hero some time alone together, and the two fall in love. But Philia insists that, even though she is in love with Hero, she must honor her contract with the Captain, for "that is the way of a courtesan." To appease her, he tells her to wait ("that's what virgins do best, isn't it?") inside, and that he will have the captain knock three times when he arrives. Pseudolus comes up with a plan to slip Philia a sleeping potion that will render her unconscious. He will then tell Lycus that she has died of the Cretan plague, and will offer to remove the body. Hero will come along, and they will stow away on a ship headed for Greece. Satisfied with his plan, Pseudolus steals Hysterium's book of potions and has Hero read him the recipe for the sleeping potion; the only ingredient he lacks is "mare's sweat," and Pseudolus goes off in search of some.
Unexpectedly, Senex returns home early from his trip, and knocks three times on his own door. Philia comes out of the house, and, thinking that Senex is the Captain, offers herself up to him. Surprised but game, Senex instructs Philia to wait in the house for him, and she does. Hysterium arrives to this confusion, and tells Senex that Philia is the new maid that he has hired. Pseudolus returns, having procured the necessary mare's sweat; seeing that Senex has returned unexpectedly and grasping the need to keep him out of the way, Pseudolus discreetly sprinkles some of the horse-sweat onto him, then suggests that the road trip has left Senex in dire need of a bath. Taking the bait, Senex instructs Hysterium to draw him a bath in the long-abandoned house of Erronius. But while this is happening, Erronius returns home, finally having given up the search for his long-lost children. Hysterium, desperate to keep him out of the house where his master is bathing, tells the old man that his house has become haunted—a story seemingly confirmed by the sound of Senex singing in his bath. Erronius immediately determines to have a soothsayer come and banish the spirit from his house, and Pseudolus obligingly poses as one, telling Erronius that in order to banish the spirit, he must travel seven times around the seven hills of Rome (thus keeping the old man occupied and out of the way for quite a while).
When Miles Gloriosus arrives to claim his courtesan-bride, Pseudolus hides Philia on the roof of Senex's house; told that she has "escaped," Lycus is terrified to face the Captain's wrath. Pseudolus offers to impersonate Lycus and talk his way out of the mess but, his ingenuity flagging, he ends up merely telling the Captain that Philia has disappeared, and that he, "Lycus," will set out in search of her. Displeased and suspicious, Miles insists that his soldiers accompany Pseudolus, but the wily slave is able to lose them in Rome's winding streets.
Complicating matters further, Domina returns from her trip early, suspicious that her husband Senex is "up to something low." She disguises herself in virginal white robes and a veil (much like Philia's) in order to try and catch Senex being unfaithful. Pseudolus convinces Hysterium to help him by dressing in drag and pretending to be Philia, "dead" from the plague. Unfortunately, it turns out that Miles Gloriosus has just returned from Crete, where there is of course no actual plague. With the ruse thus revealed, the main characters run for their lives, resulting in a madcap chase across the stage with both Miles and Senex pursuing all three "Philia"s (Domina, Hysterium, and the actual Philia -- all wearing identical white robes and veils). Meanwhile, the courtesans from the house of Marcus Lycus – who had been recruited as mourners at "Philia"'s ersatz funeral – have escaped, and Lycus sends his eunuchs out to bring them all back, adding to the general pandemonium.
Finally, the Captain's troops are able to round everyone up. His plot thoroughly unraveled, Pseudolus appears to be in deep trouble -- but Erronius, midway through his fourth circuit of the Roman hills, shows up fortuitously to discover that Miles Gloriosus and Philia are wearing matching rings which mark them as his long-lost children. Her betrothal to the Captain obviously nullified by the unexpected revelation that he's actually her brother, Philia weds Hero; Pseudolus gets his freedom, Gloriosus receives twin courtesans to replace Philia, Erronius gets his children, and a general happy ending prevails.


Thank you, Yahoo. How much do I owe you?

So tonight if you are a person who believes in the power of prayer, please say a prayer for Douglas. I have already lost a best friend in Gerald Fitzgerald. Please, God, not another one.

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