Weekend Update

The San Francisco Chronicle takes a look to see what has happened lately with actress Rachel Leigh Cook. She's still acting, you just haven't seen her on the big screen lately, only at your local video stores.

"Mostly, I've made independent films that don't see the light of day," sighs Cook, who is on a round of publicity chats to promote her new film 11: 14, which co-stars Hilary Swank, Patrick Swayze and Barbara Hershey. "I've made about 30 -- I'm all over Blockbuster, but not in movie theaters."

Mark Warner talks 2008 at dinner in West Virginia. I like him as a candidate but not as much as I like Evan Bayh to run in 2008.

Warner was slated to be the Jefferson Jackson Celebration Dinner’s keynote speaker Saturday night. More than 1,200 Democrats from across the state were expected to attend the annual fundraiser.

Before the dinner, Warner spoke to the media about the importance of the party restoring the "sensible center."

"The Democrats can reclaim it," he said. Warner, the immediate past chairman of the National Governors’ Association, has not yet officially announced that he will run for the nation’s top governing spot.

Warner did announce that he had nominated Gov. Joe Manchin for the vice chairmanship of the Democratic Governors’ Association. Meanwhile, Manchin predicted that the next U.S. president will come from within the organization.

I beg to differ Gov. Manchin. The next president will be former member.

Brad Thompson picked up the win in today's St. Louis Cardinal game. Mark Mulder was out with a stiff neck. Cal Eldred did make his first start since 2001! Unfortunately, Albert Pujols was ejected for arguing a call.

Mike Timlin, with five more appearances, will be the first to make 70 appearances in three different seasons.
This hilarious email was sent to me today. Hope you enjoy.

Headlines from the year 2029!
Ozone created by electric cars now killing millions in the seventh largest country in the world, Mexifornia, formerly known as California.

White minorities still trying to have English recognized as Mexifornia's third language.

Baby conceived naturally -- scientists stumped.

Couple petitions court to reinstate heterosexual marriage.

Castro finally dies at age 112; Cuban cigars can now be imported legally, but President Chelsea Clinton has banned all smoking.

George Z. Bush says he will run for President in 2036.

Postal Service raises price of first class stamp to $17.89 and reduces mail delivery to Wednesdays only.

85-year, $75.8 billion study: Diet and Exercise is the key to weight loss.

Average weight of Americans drops to 250 lbs.

Japanese scientists have created a camera with such a fast shutter speed, they now can photograph a woman with her mouth shut.

Supreme Court rules punishment of criminals violates their civil rights.

Average height of NBA players now nine feet, seven inches.

New federal law requires that all nail clippers, screwdrivers, fly swatters and rolled-up newspapers must be registered by January 2036.

Congress authorizes direct deposit of formerly illegal political contributions to campaign accounts.

Florida voters still having trouble with voting machines.

Could the Beatles soon be appearing on British money?

Calls for Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the late John Lennon and George Harrison to be the first 20th century faces to adorn the monetary paper have been made to the Bank Of England.

Liverpool Culture Company's Professor Drummond Bone says the band "inspired a generation". A spokesman for the Bank Of England says the institution will "consider" the request.

It would be the British GBP20 note. Anyone know how much that is?

Charlotte Church is a musician I don't care for after the comments she made. She doesn't care for the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and even Coldplay?!? Oy, gevault.

Rep. Ben Chandler is concerned with China's economic power. Guess what? So am I.

Another email sent to me has a more important issue at hand.

How they vote in the United Nations:
Below are the actual voting records of various Arabic/Islamic States which are recorded in both the US State Department and United Nations records:

Kuwait votes against the United States 67% of the time
Qatar votes against the United States 67% of the time
Morocco votes against the United States 70% of the time
United Arab Emirates votes against the U. S. 70% of the time.
Jordan votes against the United States 71% of the time.
Tunisia votes against the United States 71% of the time.
Saudi Arabia votes against the United States 73% of the time.
Yemen votes against the United States 74% of the time.
Algeria votes against the United States 74% of the time.
Oman votes against the United States 74% of the time.
Sudan votes against the United States 75% of the time.
Pakistan votes against the United States 75% of t he time.
Libya votes against the United States 76% of the time.
Egypt votes against the United States 79% of the time.
Lebanon votes against the United States 80% of the time.
India votes against the United States 81% of the time.
Syria votes against the United States 84% of the time.
Mauritania votes against the United States 87% of the time.

U. S Foreign Aid to those that hate us:

Egypt, for example, after voting 79% of the time against the United States, still receives $2 billion annually in US Foreign Aid.
Jordan votes 71% against the United States and receives $192,814,000 annually in US Foreign Aid.
Pakistan votes 75% against the United States receives $6,721,000 annually in US Foreign Aid.
India votes 81% against the United States receives $143,699,000 annually.

Perhaps it is time to get out of the UN and give the tax savings back to the American workers who are having to skimp and sacrifice to pay the taxes.

Pass this along to every taxpaying citizen you know. And send to your congressman, who should be disgraced but couldn't care less.

No wonder the world has no respect for the US.

That's pretty saddening if you ask me.

Del Close would probably have had the last word during the Improv Olympic 25th anniversary celebration if he were still with us.

On Saturday, some of the performers spoke reverently of improv icon Del Close who joined the group in 1984.

Close, who died in 1999, promoted the idea that improv is an art that can be learned and watched by audiences, and not just used as a tool to create sketches.

"Once you had Del say that you were good, you were good," Meadows said. "To be able to make him laugh or impress him...once you got his respect, you were home free."

The beginning of Saturday's performance was delayed by 45 minutes because of a glitch with the microphones, but Halpern said Close might have approved.

"He always said, 'Don't worry about planning your future so much because what happens is going to be a lot more interesting than what you planned,'" she said.

See you later.