The Alpha Fetal Protein test came back negative, so no spina bifida or any of the other birth defects that they screen for.
The only worry we have now, is that I have developed gestational diabetes. We screened early for it due to a family history of diabetes, and because I tend to be sugar intolerant. My sugar was high enough that I will be on insulin injections as well as a restricted diet. I will see the dietitian this week, and follow up with my Dr next week. My Dr is confident that since we caught this early we can control the diabetes with Insulin and Diet and diminish the risks to Morgan.
-Deb

My Movie Pilgrimage – March 15 2007

Arrive Redondo Beach Station: 10:20am
Green Line: 10:31 -10:55
Blue Line: 10:58 – 11:23
Red Line: 11: 28 – 11:44
Arrive at Hollywood Station: 11:44

Hooters Buffalo Plater – 12:30
Mann Chinese ‘“ Hollywood – 1:00pm

Trip home:
Arrive at Hollywood Station: 3:10
Red Line: 3:15 – 3:33
Blue Line: 3:40 – 4:03
Green Line: 4:12 – 4:36
Arrive Redondo Beach Station: 4:36

The Honorable Tom Harkin
731 Hart Senate Office Building
Phone (202) 224 3254
Washington DC, 20510

Dear Senator Harkin,

As a native Iowan and excellent customer of the Internal Revenue Service, I am writing to ask for your assistance.
I have contacted the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to determine the process for becoming an illegal alien and they referred me to you.

My primary reason for wishing to change my status from U.S. Citizen to illegal alien stems from the bill that was recently passed by the Senate and for which you voted. If my understanding of this bill’s provisions is accurate, as an illegal alien who has been
in the United States for five years, all I need to do to become a citizen is to pay a $2,000 fine and income taxes for three of the last five years. I know a good deal when I see one and I am anxious to get the process started before everyone figures it out.
Simply put, those of us who have been here legally have had to pay taxes every year so I’m excited about the prospect of avoiding two years of taxes in return for paying a $2,000 fine. Is there any way that I can apply to be illegal retroactively? This would yield an excellent result for me and my family because we paid heavy taxes in 2004 and 2005.

Additionally, as an illegal alien I could begin using the local emergency room as my primary health care provider. Once I have stopped paying premiums for medical insurance, my accountant figures I could save almost $10,000 a year.

Another benefit in gaining illegal status would be that my daughter would receive preferential treatment relative to her law school applications, as well as “in-state” tuition rates for many colleges throughout the United States for my son.
Lastly, I understand that illegal status would relieve me of the burden of renewing my driver’s license and making those burdensome car insurance premiums. This is very important to me given that I still have college age children driving my car.

If you would provide me with an outline of the process to become illegal (retroactively if possible) and copies of the necessary forms, I would be most appreciative.
Thank you for your assistance.

Your Loyal Constituent,
Donald Ruppert
Burlington, IA

Just in case you wanted to know what she added to the IRAQ FUNDING PACKAGE:

$1.5 billion to the Army Corps of Engineers for recovery along the coast, including funding for Hawaii for an April 2006 flood;
$850 million for Department of Homeland Security grants ($625M for rail/transit grants, $190M for port security grants, and $35M for urban area security grants);
$660 million for the procurement of an explosives detection system for the Transportation Security Administration;
$640 million for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program;
$425 million for education grants for rural areas;
$388.9 million for a backlog of Department of Transportation projects;
$165.9 million (including $60.4 million for salmon fisheries in the Klamath Basin region) for fisheries disaster relief;
$75 million for salaries and expenses for the Farm Service Agency;
$48 million in disaster construction money for NASA;
$25 million for grants through the Safe and Drug Free Schools program;
$25 million for asbestos abatement at the Capitol Power Plant;
$24 million to sugar beet producers;
$22.8 million for geothermal research and development;
$20 million for reimbursements to Nevada for ‘œinsect damage;’
$12 million for Forest Service money requested by the president in the non-emergency FY2008 budget
$3.5 million for guided tours of the Capitol;
$3 million for sugar cane; and allows the transfer of funds from holiday ornament sales in the Senate gift shop.
$500 million for emergency wildfires suppression; the Forest Service currently has $831 million for this purpose;
$400 million for rural schools;
$283 million for the Milk Income Loss Contract program;
$120 million to compensate for the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the shrimp and menhaden fishing industries;
$100 million for citrus assistance;
$74 million for peanut storage costs;
$60.4 million for salmon fisheries in the Klamath River region in California and Oregon;
$50 million for asbestos mitigation at the U.S. Capitol Plant;
$48 million in salaries and expenses for the Farm Service Agency;
$35 million for NASA risk mitigation projects in Gulf Coast;
$25 million for spinach growers;
$25 million for livestock;
$20 million for Emergency Conservation Program for farmland damaged by freezing temperatures;
$16 million for security upgrades to House of Representatives office buildings;
$10 million for the International Boundary and Water Commission for the Rio Grande Flood Control System Rehabilitation project;
$6.4 million for House of Representative’s Salaries and Expenses Account for business continuity and disaster recovery expenses;
$5 million for losses suffered by aquaculture businesses including breeding, rearing, or transporting live fish as a result of viral hemorrhagic septicemia;
$4 million for the Office of Women’s Health at the Food and Drug Administration; and
A minimum wage increase, which is the subject of separate legislation.

No Line item veto for the prez (whole other argument) so this gets big fat veto.
Of course we can always go the democrat way… pass it’¦and just not enforce’¦.hmmmm

Antoine Fuqua understands gritty’¦Training Day’¦Replacement Killers’¦and the unexpectedly good but not widely seen King Arthur. Here he took a standard fare government conspiracy flick and turned into a headshot extravaganza. He blows up two multi million dollar homes’¦.drops helicopters with ease’¦and shows you how to wage a personal jihad with a Costco card. So guess what’¦it was fun!! Walberg is a Army sniper (a very good one by the way) who during an Ethiopian mission gets hung out to dry. 30 months later his mountain top solitude is disturbed by Danny Glover (as a G-man) who wants to know which city was best to kill the president from a mile away’¦.so he can stop it. Mark comes in to help’¦gets framed for the snipe attack’¦and is the subject of a nationwide manhunt. I truly delightful scene happens in a old man’s cabin in the hills of Tennessee. Where the best line in the film comes from ‘œ I still have the shovel’…not going to spoil it’¦it is worth a viewing. A now pissed off Walberg decides to ‘˜Burn their playhouse down’™ and while effectively he does’¦.twice’¦in the end he decides to give the government one last chance to redeem itself’¦.the scene while important was almost comically bad in regards to Glover. But that’s ok’¦Headshots coming!!
There are tons of technically accurate dialog concerning Secret service shortcomings, FBI follies and lots of a great sniper speak from Walberg’¦but the movie derails a bit politically. I mean’¦I would hate to believe that so much worldwide and domestic power would fall into the hands of one senator and a black op leader. Despite what today’s liberal nutroots think. Look at it as a Iraq era ‘˜Above the Law’™’¦but with more headshots. Cinematography was nothing unique’¦oh how I miss Replacement Killers’¦were did that filmmaker go Antoine’¦but he did cover a wide gamut of terrain well throughout the movie’¦.but an action packed ‘˜Sniper’™ movie is a tough thing to make.

This was a case of dull performances and ‘˜haven’t I seen this movie before’™ moments that totaled itself into a muddled mess. Sandra is a stay at home mom that gets a strange message on her answering machine…then she gets the news her husband has died in a car accident. The next day she wakes up to see he is alive. You see today is the next day in the week’¦but the week before. Here lemme help with that’¦she is replaying a week by alternating days. Today is Tuesday’¦tomorrow will be last Wednesday’¦the next day is back to the original Thursday. I’™m making it sound much better that it is. I found myself so bored I was looking to see if Sandra was wearing a bra in her scenes (not most) or for the flaws in the print (every five minutes or so a strange image of a domino style dots appears somewhere in the frame) After bouncing around a few days she figures out about an affair’¦where the crash will be and the reason for her daughters scars. Sounds kinda cool huh?…well its not. No tension’¦no feeling’¦no nothing. In the end he still bites it ‘¦but it was because she tried to stop it’¦and because she figured out the affair afterwards then bounced before she could head it off’¦ make up and have sex’¦..leading to the final scene’¦standing up pregnant 5 months after his death’¦whooo hooo. Those who saw the original ending of Final Destination’¦know who truly lame that is. Now I spoiled this on purpose’¦avoid the movie like the plague if it entails giving money to view. We can’t encourage this stuff from studios. TV maybe’¦but not my beloved cinema. My first thoughts at the end were if M. Night Shamalan did this’¦it could have been average’¦instead of uninspired. Deb said it best while walking back to the car, ‘œwell’¦that was unsatisfying’.

He will now oversee three of the jobs he once headed. The County ‘˜Troubleshooter’™ moves to upper management. I like this report best’¦cause it came from Mike’s old newspaper:

County looking for registrar —- again
By: GIG CONAUGHTON – Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO —- The county of San Diego is looking for a new chief elections officer for the second time in as many years after county officials said Friday that current Registrar of Voters Mikel Haas is being promoted.

County spokesman Mike Workman said that the 49-year-old Haas, who has worked for the county for 13 years and served as registrar twice —- from 1995 to 2001 before taking over as the county’s director of animal services, and from 2005 to the present —- was being promoted to take over as director of the county’s Community Services Group.

Alex Martinez, the group’s former director, retired last week.

In his new role, Haas —- who was out of town Friday and could not be reached for comment —- will oversee the general management of not only the registrar of voters office, but also the departments of animal services, housing and community development, purchasing and contracting, and the county library system.

Workman said Haas’ salary was still being negotiated. As registrar, Haas earned $145,000 a year. Martinez was earning $172,000 when he retired.

County Chief Administrative Officer Walt Ekard, who was also out of town Friday, issued a statement through Workman praising Haas, who had been something of a “troubleshooter” for the county during his 13 years.

For much of 2004, Haas served as a special consultant to Ekard on election matters, in addition to his duties in animal control. He also previously served as the county’s interim head of housing and community development. Before working for the county, Haas also worked for a short time as a reporter for the Oceanside Blade-Tribune, a newspaper that was a predecessor of the North County Times.

“(Mikel) has been asked to fill several different roles over his career and done exemplary work,” Ekard stated. “He is without a doubt a top-notch executive and has been a stellar manager for many years.”

The big questions now facing the county, however, are how it will find a new registrar, and how difficult the search might be.

County officials readily admit that the registrar position has become an increasingly difficult, and often publicly criticized, job in recent years.

Ekard, speaking in 2005 when Haas began his second stint as county registrar, said, “Quite frankly, it’s getting harder and harder to find somebody who wants to do this job, with the kind of scrutiny from disparate groups out there.”

Elections officials jobs nationwide have become more high-profile with increased pressure from the federal government to improve outreach to minority non-English-speaking voters, and the switch by many counties to still-controversial electronic voting machines.

The electronic voting machine controversy has stung officials in San Diego County.

Haas resumed his role as registrar in 2005 when Sally McPherson —- who replaced Haas in 2001 —- retired after 32 years with the county that featured a sometimes rocky final 18 months.

Anti-electronic voting groups sharply and publicly criticized McPherson as she helped San Diego County move from old paper-ballot systems to electronic voting machines.

That switch was marred by a debut in March 2004 that saw electronic “glitches” cause 36 percent of the county’s polling places to open late.

Haas’ first elections with electronic machines, meanwhile, last November, ran more smoothly. But Haas was also the target of electronic-voting critics who unsuccessfully sued the county to force it to stock enough paper ballots at polling places to serve the county’s 1.3 million voters.

Workman said Friday that the county planned to immediately begin a nationwide search for a new registrar. However, he also said that the county tentatively planned to hire a “recently retired” registrar who could serve as an interim registrar while the county conducted its search.

Former Riverside County Registrar Mischelle Townsend —- who helped introduce one of the first electronic voting systems in the state in Riverside —- retired in 2004.

Attempts to reach Townsend on Friday were unsuccessful.

Workman said that Ekard and Haas planned to sit down together next week to begin talking about how his transition to community services would be done, and to finalize salary negotiations.

Staff writer Lorell Fleming contributed to this story. Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

3393 Americans will never become doctors and save lives, will never run businesses and feed families that build a nation. They’ll never teach subsequent generations, create and share unique art, and they’ll never add to American literature or culture again.

They died under a false pretense that they were fighting to free others and open the door to Democracy for those ‘oppressed’-I mean really, you canNOT force someone to vote, and if they really wanted Democracy they could have risen up and fought for it like Americans did in the Revolution

3393 Americans are dead because our President needed a war to pull this nation out of the economic toilet!

They fought for each other, they hoped to survive, and everything else…the mom, apple pie, and politics of Saturday night is just BS!

3393 Americans are dead because this nation was attacked by suicidal wackos who got the nation’s blood pressure up, and happened to have a ‘relationship’ with another ‘Axis of Evil’ power. COME ON! A relationship? There’s NO evidence at all of a “COOPERATIONAL RELATIONSHIP” BETWEEN THE TWO!!

We now know from British documents that intelligence before the war was being focused and manipulated to make the case for war almost a year before it started.

3393 Americans are dead! They died on June 6th 1944 Invading France to impose democracy on a people who should have risen up for it themselves, to fight a dictator who never attacked the US but considered himself at war with the US, and who had no cooperational ties to Japan-the nation that DID attack the US.

3393 Americans are dead now.
By Sam Pender

For those of you whose German is a bit rusty…The mullah on the right is labeled ‘Cliche’ and the one on the left, ‘Reality'

P.S. MSM is avoiding this photo like the plague!!

Remember that your answer needs to be honest, yet spontaneous.

Please scroll down slowly and give due consideration to each line.

THE SITUATION: You are in Florida, Miami to be specific. There is chaos all around you caused by a hurricane with severe flooding. This is a flood of biblical proportions. You are a photojournalist working for a major newspaper, and you’re caught in the middle of this epic disaster.

The situation is nearly hopeless. You’re trying to shoot career-making photos. There are houses and people swirling around you, some disappearing under the water. Nature is unleashing all of its destructive fury.
—————————————————————————————————–
THE TEST: Suddenly you see a woman in the water. She is fighting for her life, trying not to be taken down with the debris. You move closer. Somehow the woman looks familiar. You suddenly realize who it is. It’s Hillary Clinton!

At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take her under forever. You have two options–you can save the life of Hillary Clinton, or you can shoot a dramatic Pulitzer Prize winning photo, documenting the death of one of the world’s most powerful women.
——————————————————————————————————-
THE TEST QUESTION: Here’s the test question, and please give an honest answer……

Would you select high contrast color film, or would you go with the classic simplicity of a black and white photo?

The squared away Marine guard snaps to attention, Salutes, and says: “Nice pigs, sir.”

The President replies “These are not pigs. These are authentic Arkansas Razorback Hogs. I got one for Senator Hillary Clinton, and I got one for Speaker of The House Nancy Pelosi.”

The squared away Marine again snaps to attention, salutes, and says, “Excellent trade, sir.”

Catch and Release (1.5 of 5)

Chick Flick alert!! Deb was up for double feature, and this was number 2 (In more ways than one.) Ok Jenifer Garner is still cute in an alien kind of way, and she has the charm from ‘˜13 going on 30′™ but her excitement from Alias and Daredevil is nowhere to found. The story starts with wedding flowers being delivered to a funeral, you see her fiancée died during the bachelor party, funny’¦ I know, but not in this movie. By the end of the film, I am fairly sure he died during a fishing accident but seeing it would have helped this film tenfold. The rest is the banter between his two best friends (one of which is played like a hippy fuzzball by Kevin Smith) and a ‘˜Movie Director’™ friend from Hollywood. During the banter we find out that the fiancée was rich, no one knew and was paying $3000 a month to a woman in Los Angeles. It sounds like a lot of drama…but basically it was boring. Kevin wasn’t that funny, kind of sad mostly, Jennifer hooks up with the wrong guy in the end. And we find out the kid wasn’t really her fiancée’s. A chick flick’¦ directed by a chick’¦ for chicks, depressed ones.

The man thought a moment then replied? “A martini, please”.
The robot clicked a couple of times and mixed the best martini the man had ever had.

The robot then asked, “Sir, what is your IQ?”
The man answered “oh, about 164.”

The robot then proceeded to discuss the ‘theory of relativity”interstellar space travel’, ‘the latest medical breakthroughs’, etc… the man was most impressed. He left the bar but thought he would try a different tack. He returned and took a seat. Again the robot clicked and asked what he would have.

“A Martini please?”
Again it was superb. The robot again asked “What is your IQ sir?”
This time the man answered, “Oh, about 100″. So the robot started Discussing Nascar racing, the latest basketball scores, and what to expect the Dodgers to do this week end.

The guy had to try it one more time. So he left, returned and took a stool…. Again a martini, and the question, “What is your IQ?” This time the man drawled out ” Uh….. bout 50″..??

The robot clicked then leaned close and very slowly asked,
“A-R-E Y-O-U-R P-E-O-P-L-E G-O-I-N-G T-O N-O-M-I-N-A-T-E H-I-L-L-A-R-Y – ?-?-?-?”