Octuplets in California

Info is coming out about the woman who had the in vitro octuplets. Her other 6 kids were in vitro babies too:

There were frozen embryos left over after her previous pregnancies and her daughter didn't want them destroyed, so she decided to have more children.

Oh, no,
don't waste an embryo!

Her mom has been helping out, but is now getting stressed out:

"It can't go on any longer," she said in a phone interview Friday. "She's got six children and no husband. I was brought up the traditional way. I firmly believe in marriage. But she didn't want to get married."

But even if marriage is bad,
why haven't I heard of a dad?

Her mother told the Los Angeles Times all the children came from the same sperm donor but she declined to identify him.

Sperm donors don't have to pay
for their offspring the old fashioned way.

Yolanda Garcia, 49, of Whittier, said she helped care for Nadya Suleman's autistic son three years ago.

Ms. Garcia deftly inquired about the expenses involved:

"She told me that all of her kids were through in vitro, and I said 'Gosh, how can you afford that and go to school at the same time?'" she added. "And she said it's because she got paid for it." Garcia said she did not ask for details.

Somehow I suspect that a great
part of that pay comes from the state.

A Trifling Sum

Tom Daschle, Obama's nominee for Secretary of HHS, has really impressive tax troubles:

Mr. Daschle also didn't report $83,333 in consulting income in 2007.

If I failed to report 83 thou
I'd be in the hoosegow.

Parenting: Inheritance of Traits

Frequently offspring exhibit annoying traits
you know are your own or your mate's.

If you think they're neither, just wait.
Soon enough you'll get the news
that this behavior's "just like you."
And, generally, it's true.

The person who tells you may be biased,
but their familiarity with the facts is of the highest,
since this informer in the house
is typically your spouse.

So whatever you regret
about yourself... your children get.

Get used to it. 

Thus we are endowed,
timid or reckless, quiet or loud.

You learned over the years 
to cope,
so put away your fears - 
embrace the hope.

No one's more qualfied to help
with your own traits than you, yourself.

And your mate,
who has learned to love
or at least to tolerate
your quirks
may also be a workable candidate.

White House Goes Hot House

Obama has cranked up the temp at the Oval:

“He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”

But this is the guy who admonished the country:

We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times . . . and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK.

Turn it into a sauna.
See if I care.

But that's not orchids
growing in there.

Something was Stinkin' in the Land of Lincoln

Blago is out.
Quinn is in.

The conviction on a sweeping article of impeachment means the governor was immediately removed from office. The Senate also unanimously voted to impose the "political death penalty" on Blagojevich, banning him from ever again holding office in Illinois.

I guess he could still run for federal office representing Illinois.

Assuming, that is, that he doesn't end up spending excessive time in other federal facilities.

You know like the facilities in Indiana where another former governor currently resides.

Blago's best bet is to run in disquise -
shave his head bald, dye his skin green,
and claim he's a Martian come down from the skies
to reform Illinois and mop it all clean.

Alliterative Endeavor

I spent about an hour this morning working with 9 to 12 year olds on alliteration. They wanted practice writing something highly alliterative, so I helped them write a little story. It was their idea - boys mostly - to write about a barfing baby soiling a sofa. It came out quite cute, although I don't have a copy with me.

Kudos to these clever kids 
for lining up lots of letters 
to tell the terrible tale 
of a baby behaving badly! 

I gave my guidance gladly.

Banks In Need Of Dough

Banks, already in trouble due to the financial crisis, are now struggling with changes in customer behavior:

"It doesn't seem to be a change in being more prudent about non-sufficient fund fees or anything like that," Cooper replied. "It more of just they're spending less so they have fewer incidents" involving bounced checks and their subsequent fees.

Your poor old bank
is on its knees.

So bounce some checks
and pay some fees.

Thermoregulation

When it's zero fahrenheit outside, I look at the birds and wonder how they do it. 

Talk about warmblooded, I think. Then I remember - that word is out:

Both the terms "warm-blooded" and "cold-blooded" have fallen out of favor with scientists, because of the vagueness of the terms, and due to an increased understanding in this field.

"Endothermic" is more of a current term.

"Warmblooded' is old-fashioned -

and carries connotations which concern
personal lives that burn 
with persistent passion.

Cop For A Day

Deb Ross alerted me to this story of a 14 year old Chicago boy who impersonated a police officer - fooling other police officers - even riding around on patrol with one of them!

After his tour was over, a ranking officer became suspicious of the boy. Police said the officer discovered the teen was not a real police officer when he couldn't produce any credentials. The boy was wearing police-issued pants, shirt, vest, sweater and skull cap, police said.

Turns out he had been arrested once before for impersonating an officer. To me it sounds like something a boy would think was fun. But tonight we are told this behavior was "a cry for help".

He's copycat cop
with excellent props 
from a uniform shop
but I guess, after this, he must stop.

The Trial Begins

Our governor is now on trial. Well, they call it a trial, but it's not in court. It's in the Illinois Senate. It sounds like they may have some federal eavesdropping tapes to play.

But the gov himself is out of state, visiting network TV shows. I assume he's thinking that he will reach over the heads of the Illinois Senate to the people themselves. It has worked for him in the past.

I should be preparing a proper salute
to wish him farewell when they give him the boot.

Dragon Dance Days

We ate Chinese for my brother-in-law's birthday. The restaurant had a dragon dance with drums, to help ring in the lunar new year. It's the year of a certain big mammal.

It's a new year - so open the box -
out jumps an obdurate ox
ready to take on a world of hard knocks.

Patio Table Revisited

The snow cake, though diminished,
is not finished.

Inaugural Hindsight

I've decided that the musicians were the smart ones. The Justice and the President should follow their example.

I hope next time they pre-record the oath.
Lip-synching would have been better for them both.

How About An Anime Version?

The Atlas Shrugged movie is once again up in the air. Angelina Jolie is no longer attached to the project.

Actresses who have expressed interest in the role and are reading the script include Cate Blanchett, Keira Knightly, Julia Roberts, and Charlize Theron. Randall Wallace, who wrote the current version of the script, is a strong possibility as director.

My money is on Abigail Breslin. She's 12. Which should make her about the the right age in 2030 - when the pic finally gets made.

For Abigail, we'll have to wait.
I predict she'll do just great.

How Stimulating

Obama puts Limbaugh off limits:

"You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," he told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package.

I haven't listened to Limbaugh lately, but this will be great for his ratings.

When it's time to divvy up the smackers,
there's no room for partisan attackers.

In Sync But Not In Tune

If you watched the inauguration, you saw Yo-Yo Ma on cello and Itzhak Perlman on violin, playing a John Williams piece. But what you heard was prerecorded.

"This isn't Milli Vanilli," Florman insisted, referring to the late 1980s group stripped of a Grammy for lip-syncing. "They had to perform in such cold weather, the instruments couldn't possibly be in tune. They were able to play in sync with the tape. It's not unusual."

I'd say it's Milli Vanilli
as played by Chilly Willy.

Ontology for Kids

Maybe there's an elephant in the room,
I used to tell them,
one that you can't see or touch or smell
that no one can know about 
in any way
except for the fact I say
it may be there.

They grasped it was a joke
some fatherly nonsense
and they laughed
and wondered why I went on so.

I hoped that many years hence,
when the same idea came before them
in rather more noumenal guise,
it wouldn't be such a surprise,
and they would be immunized.

Inauguration Records

Reagan reportedly beats Obama for inauguration viewership:

Nearly 38 million Americans watched inauguration coverage of President Barack Obama on Tuesday, the most popular inauguration day on television since Ronald Reagan took office in 1981. Nielsen Media Research said Reagan's 41.8 million remains the record.

But the stations ran more stories
about this president's glories.

May Cause Drowsiness

In a flipped clip, a Roman poet puts part of his audience to sleep.

Ann Althouse says she turned off mentally when yesterday's inauguration poem began. She thinks that rap would have been better:

It would have been exciting, surprising. It would have thrilled us or at least amused us with humorous rhymes.

Better to amuse
than let your audience snooze.

Numbers Don't Lie, But They May Mislead

After he took his slightly rearranged oath, our new President declared:

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.

Strangely enough, this is incorrect. That's because Grover Cleveland is counted as being BOTH the 22nd and 24th president.

So though Obama's known as "44"
there were only 42 persons before.