Weekend Update

I've been busy this weekend, mainly playing my guitar and writing some original songs that will never get posted online until after they get copyrighted.

Yep, this is truly a weekend update as I have not blogged since Thursday. So, in addition to movies I want to see and CD's I still need, I am truly on backup. I knew I should have blogged last night but I chose to play my guitar instead. I'd be done with this earlier if my family did not have dial-up.

Kentucky is raising the license renewal fee to $20. It was at $8. This is a tax hike if you ask me. I didn't think Republicans raised taxes. Twenty bucks is outrageous. For those making minimum wage, that's like four hours wage! It would make more sense to raiise to $10-$12 but $20 is flat out absurd.

Dan Aykroyd celebrates a birthday this week. He'll be 53. Speaking of which, the car chase stunts were real!

To pursue the Blues Brothers, filmmakers bought more than 60 old police cars at $400 apiece, according to news reports at the time, and also hired real police to participate in some chases. They reinforced them with steel cages and ran a 24-hour body shop on the Near West Side to fix them for later use. Most of those cars were destroyed by the end of filming.

Chicago and State Police shut down countless city and suburban streets -- even the interstate and Lake Shore Drive -- for filming. The only thing that slowed production? Pope John Paul II's October visit -- and the Chicago Bears. "They told us when the Bears lose and the fans are pissed off, even the Chicago Police can't stop them," Sosna said

For more, check out the special section here.

Where would we be without improv? Probably as far as we'd be without Elvis or Bill Haley.

I'll do all the game notes at once here for a change. Matt Morris has started out as good as Daffy Dean...almost. Dean started 9-0 in 1944. Morris was looking good until he got the loss the other night. Chris Lambert was selected for the All-Star Futures game. Raul Gonzales, Chris Gissel, and Kevin Jarvis were selected to the PCL All-Star team. Jim Edmonds had his 22nd multi-HR game.

Citzens Bank Park was the 60th Park where the Red Sox have played at. The Sox now own 1st place.

On with the show...Democrats tell Rove to apologize or resign. I'll tell you right now, I am no traitor to this country. Where has the civility in this country gone?

Speaking Wednesday at a fundraiser for the New York Conservative Party near the World Trade Center site in New York City, Rove said conservatives and liberals had differed over how to respond to the terrorists.

"Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers," he said. "Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war."

Democrats responded by noting their enthusiastic support for the war against the Taliban regime that harbored al-Qaida terrorists in Afghanistan. They also released statements from President Bush in 2001 praising Congress, including Democratic leaders Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Dick Gephardt of Missouri, for their support.

"Our entire country came together after the 9/11 terrorist attacks," Pelosi said Thursday. "His shameful comments trying to revise history insult the victims of 9/11 and all of us who support them."

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., called it "an insulting comment."

Dean, now the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Rove was trying to distract attention from the failure to capture terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

"Given the miserable failures of Bush's foreign policy, it's no wonder Rove would launch this desperate attempt to deflect from the real issues and distort what Democrats say than admit what Republicans have done," Dean said.

A group of families whose relatives died on Sept. 11 issued a statement condemning the politicization of the tragedy. "We are calling on Karl Rove to resist his temptations and stop trying to reap political gain in the tragic misfortune of others. His comments are not welcome," their statement said.

Exploiting 9/11 and the events of that day is the tragedy.

Shana Alexander has died. She invented point/counterpoint.

“Point-Counterpart” was so popular it was frequently parodied in a “Saturday Night Live” skit. Jane Curtin played the liberal Alexander role and Dan Aykroyd, in the Kilpatrick role, began his remarks with the line, "Jane, you ignorant slut."

Evan Bayh and Susan Collins introduce new legislation dealing with trade practices.KentuckyDem.com has opened up a CafePress store. The items on there look fantastic!

Evan Bayh knows how to win a red state.

"It's one of the things I really don't like about the culture in Washington - so acrimonious and divisive. I've always tried to be more of a force for reconciliation and consensus building. My sense is that that's something the Midwest has always embraced - I know in Indiana we embrace it. I think the country would be better off if Washington embraced it. You're reaching out trying to bring people together to move us forward rather than all of these ideological disputes or partisan bickering."

And as to the current governors of Wisconsin and Iowa, he agrees with their centrist leanings. "Well, I don't know too many governors who are flaming ideologues. Being governor, at least from my experience, is a pretty practical undertaking."

But being a New Democrat doesn't mean he's afraid to criticize Republicans and Bush. Bayh says Bush lost a golden opportunity to lead on energy independence and other key issues after 9-11. He's also against changing the Senate filibuster rule.

Will he run for president? Bayh won't set odds, but he admits he may be following in the footsteps of father Birch Bayh (presidential candidate in 1976) and make a run for the highest office in the land.

Democratic lawmakers keeping up fight to prevent Amtrak cuts. Northern Kentucky family held a DFA house party last week. Had I been in the area, I would have definitely been there.

Rumor has it that both Dave Armstrong and John Yarmuth are considering runs for Congress. Ed Hatchett might be running for State Auditor. Billy Ray Smith is eyeing the Treasurer's post.

BlueGrass Report has uncovered a possible scandal in addition to the merit one. It appears to be that Ernie Fletcher made a deal with Chief Justice Joseph Lambert.

As most people now know, John Roach was nominated by Governor Fletcher last week to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Supreme Court Justice James Keller. Today, Fletcher issued a press release announcing Deckard as Roach’s replacement. Deckard, 35, has served as general counsel to Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert for the past seven years.

What the press release conspicuously fails to mention is that Deckard was the person responsible for receiving all nominating forms for Keller’s replacement, that he attended, along with Chief Justice Lambert, all meetings of the Judicial Nominating Commission, the group charged with determining the three finalists to be sent to Governor Fletcher, and Deckard and his staff were responsible for providing the seven Commission members with the nominating applications, information, and any other materials they might need during their deliberations.

This could get very messy.

Jon Stewart issues a warning: "Do not break DVD."

Bush losing support. Why am I not the least bit surprised? Oh, and he thinks about Iraq every day, every single day.