Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Sunday, March 28, 2010

LIZARD BIRTH

If you have raised kids (or been one) and gone through the pet syndrome, including
toilet flush burials for dead goldfish, the story below will have you
laughing out LOUD!

Overview: I had to take my son's lizard to the vet.

Here's what happened:

Just after dinner one
night, my son came up to tell me there was 'something wrong' with one of
the two lizards he holds prisoner in his room.

"He's just lying
there looking sick," he told me. "I'm serious, Dad. Can you help?"


I put my best lizard-healer expression on my face and followed
him into his bedroom. One of the little lizards was indeed lying on his
back looking stressed. I immediately knew what to do.

"Honey," I
called, "come look at the lizard!"

"'Oh, my gosh!" my wife
exclaimed. "She's having babies."

"What?" my son demanded. "But
their names are Bert and Ernie, Mom!"

I was equally outraged.


"Hey, how can that be? I thought we said we didn't want them to
reproduce," I said accusingly to my wife.

"Well, what do you
want me to do, post a sign in their cage?" she inquired (I think she
actually said this sarcastically!)

"No, but you were supposed to
get two boys!" I reminded her, (in my most loving, calm, sweet voice,
while gritting my teeth).

"Yeah, Bert and Ernie!" my son agreed.


"Well, it's just a little hard to tell on some guys, you know,"
she informed me (Again with the sarcasm!).

By now the rest of
the family had gathered to see what was going on. I shrugged, deciding
to make the best of it.

"Kids, this is going to be a wondrous
experience," I announced. "We're about to witness the miracle of birth."


"Oh, gross!" they shrieked.

"Well, isn't THAT just
great? What are we going to do with a litter of tiny little lizard
babies?" my wife wanted to know.

We peered at the patient. After
much struggling, what looked like a tiny foot would appear briefly,
vanishing a scant second later.

'We don't appear to be making
much progress," I noted.

"It's breech," my wife whispered,
horrified.

"Do something, Dad!" my son urged.

"Okay,
okay." Squeamishly, I reached in and grabbed the foot when it next
appeared, giving it a gentle tug. It disappeared. I tried several more
times with the same results.

"Should I call 911?" my eldest
daughter wanted to know.

"Maybe they could talk us through the
trauma." (You see a pattern here with the females in my house?)


"Let's get Ernie to the vet," I said grimly. We drove to the vet
with my son holding the cage in his lap.

"Breathe, Ernie,
breathe," he urged.

"I don't think lizards do Lamaze," his
mother noted to him. (Women can be so cruel to their own young. I mean
what she does to me is one thing, but this boy is of her womb, for G~d's
sake.)..

The vet took Ernie back to the examining room and
peered at the little animal through a magnifying glass.

"What do
you think, Doc, a C-section?" I suggested scientifically.

"Oh,
very interesting," he murmured. "Mr. and Mrs. Cameron, may I speak to
you privately for a moment?"

I gulped, nodding for my son to
step outside.

"Is Ernie going to be okay?" my wife asked.


"Oh, perfectly," the vet assured us.. "This lizard is not in
labor. In fact, that isn't EVER going to happen. Ernie is a boy. You
see, Ernie is a young male. And occasionally, as they come into
maturity, like most male species, they um... um... masturbate. Just the
way he did, lying on his back." He blushed, glancing at my wife.


We were silent, absorbing this. "So, Ernie's just, just . . .
excited," my wife offered.

"Exactly," the vet replied , relieved
that we understood.

More silence. Then my vicious, cruel wife
started to giggle. And giggle. And then even laugh loudly.


"What's so funny?" I demanded, knowing, but not believing that
the woman I married would commit the upcoming affront to my flawless
manliness..

Tears were now running down her face. "It's just
that... I'm picturing you pulling on its... its... teeny little..." She
gasped for more air to bellow in laughter once more.

'That's
enough," I warned. We thanked the vet and hurriedly bundled the lizard
and our son back into the car. He was glad everything was going to be
okay.

"I know Ernie's really thankful for what you did, Dad," he
told me.

"Oh, you have NO idea," my wife agreed, collapsing with
laughter.

Two lizards: $140.

One cage: $50.


Trip to the vet: $30.

Memory of your husband
pulling on a lizard's winkie: Priceless!

Moral of the
story: Pay attention in biology class.

Lizards lay eggs!

Saturday, March 27, 2010

A Maddow Must watch


I love The Rachel Maddow Show, but I don't always get a chance to watch her show, but I watched last night. If you didn't, here are some of the best parts, in no particular order, that you 'must watch.'

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Friday, March 26, 2010

Today's News

Today was an oddly busy news day for a Friday. A Sarah Palin, no a John McCain Rally and a press conference by Somer Thompson's mother Diena Thompson making national news. Iraq elections toping international news. Locally, a cold case heats up and the Raucci trial could be over sometime next week.

First, we begin with a press conference given by Somer Thompson's mother Diena Thompson. Somer was abducted and killed on her way home from her Florida school. News 4, Jacksonville reports:
Somer's mother, Diena Thompson, approached the same podium at Orange Park Baptist Church where the girl's funeral was held, thanked the investigators for their work and the community for its continuing prayers and support for her family.
Watch Diena's press conference here, and read more about this case here.

Then, this afternoon Sarah Palin spoke at a McCain rally. I think the best part of her speech was when she said:
Only dead fish go with the flow.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



Now to the Iraq elections, Richard Engel reports:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



Happening locally, Vigina Gratto is said to have been forced to confessed to starting a fire in Cohoes back in 1978. WTEN had an "exclusive" interview with the brother:


News Channel 13's Beth Wurtmann also reported on the fire tonight:


Something that didn't lead the local newscasts, I watched, but is non-the-less a big story is a health care "conference" held by Scott Murphy this afternoon. Bill Lambin reports.

Also happening today, the defense rests in the Steve Raucci trial, and the final police chief interviews were held yesterday. Capital News 9 appears to be the only loal station covering these interviews.

And, Andrew Catalon broke this story last night; in it he says that:
Penn State and BYU will meet at Times Union Center on December 18th.

Finaly, a dog ate a cop car today, there's only one place in New York state you can drive under the Erie Canal, and Nancy Pelosi turned 70.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Yes, He Can

Health Care Reform: Not a Government Takeover

Late Sunday night the house passed the Health Care Reform Act. That happened only after months of downright hatred. In the few hours leading up to the vote, African-American representatives were called the N-word, spat on, Bart Stupak was called a "baby killer," and an epithet was yelled at Barney Frank because he is an out, Gay American. How ridiculous.

Andrea Mitchell has more on the protests and unacceptable hatred here:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



Michael Steel discussed these issues on Meet The Press on Sunday:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



Now the facts, PoliticFact -a non-patrisn fact check gives us a list of the facts, and lies about Health Care Refore:


Here's a member of PoliticFact on MSNBC's Hardball explaing those lists more.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



So there you go Republicans, America is not turning into Communist Russia, people have decided to start helping others; you know, one of the reasons America was founded.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Siena Coverage, so far:

While I'm not a sports fan, I think local news channels are doing some great pre-Siena coverage. You must check out NewsChannel's Andrew Catalon's almost 'Jay Walking' story -it's by far the best.









News10, CBS6, FOX23 and Capital News 9 have all set up special Siena sections on their sites. Click the links to be taken t0 their respective sites.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Today's News

It was so nice out today, I didn't get to watch any local news. So, here's what I, and maybe you, missed:








Also today there was another Paterson bombshell, more details in the Raucci case, and new Poverty numbers.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

SNL: The funny Parts

Here are some of the best parts from last nights Saturday Night Live





Health Care Reform: The Road To Passage

This morning on NBC's Meet The Press; Tom Brokaw, subbing for David Gregory, started the program by outlining the next steps that lawmakers will need to take if they want to pass the health care bill. I thought it was very informative, I hope you do as well. If you want to watch all of today's Meet The Press log onto mtp.msnbc.com

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Odds and Ends...


Capital News 9's Kid Critic was on FOX NEWS' Fox and Friends this past Friday, video from that appearance below. Jackson has the second part of his appearance on FOX here. Jackson is up for a New York Emmy, that is also discussed in this video.



Staying with the Time Warner Cable theme, Time Warner has started to change their on screen 'television navigator.' Capital News 9 has more on that story here.

It's time to vote for bobble heads. The Try-City Vally cats are again running this promotion, Vic has more on his blog here. And you can vote for who you would like see made into a bobble head here, you know you want a Liz Bishop bobble head!

Finally, on a more serious not there is a major sex offender problem in the City of Amsterdam. The Recorder is doing a great job covering this issue. Here's today's article and an editoral the paper ran eariler this week.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Hey, Hey, Hey!

Bill Cosby is in the area this weekend. He was on WTEN & WNYT, if you missed them here they are:



Here's Bill Cosby talking to Christina and Lydia on WTEN's News10 at 4. Here's part 2 of the interview.

This is great...Cosby & Caporizzo with the weather:

What I'm watching...

The Paterson issue has blow up in the past day, and the story has gone national. Here's FOX23's Jeff Saperstone's story from last night.

Also last night, on MSNBC's Chris Matthew's Hardball show Chirs discussed what Paterson should do with "black leader" Al Sharpton and NY Daily News columnist Elizabeth Benjamin:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


I should note that the interview was taped at 5pm and sense then we know the "black leaders" do not want Paterson to resign, according to this AP report.

___________________________________________________________
Another topic Chris talked about in his show is a report out by Politico saying that the Republican's new plan is to cater to "fear." Very interesting watch this:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


___________________________________________________________
And finally, here's an interesting piece from Nightline about Hoarders:

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

COMPLETE COVERAGE: Corbitt Retires

In case you haven't heard, the head of the New York State police (Harry Corbitt) is stepping down, today. And yesterday he spoke exclusively to Capital News9. Some exclusives are not so exclusive, however this interview was. Watch that interview here.

News10 had their own exclusive of the night, as well. They ran after the governor, literally, and spoke to him. Watch that exclusive video here. Perhaps, because WTEN had their own exclusive is why they didn't use the video of the Capital News 9 interview with Corbitt, as the other news channels did. However, the exclusive interview by Capital News9, I think, is integral to telling the story.

Here's Kumi Tucker's 11pm story, from NewsChannel 13:


Here's Jeff Saperstone's story from FOX23.

Finally, CBS6's Marci Natlae was the only reporter to actually go to Corbitt's house (what's interesting is in his Capital News 9 interview Corbitt addresses reporters, like Natale who show up in his driveway):


While the local news channels used Capital News9's exclusive, so did the AP, here's their story.

And, of course the late night comedians had to say something about NYS's mess:
The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The New York Crimes - David Paterson & Charles Rangel
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Political HumorHealth Care Reform


Watch This!

If you haven't watched these three very compelling stories, I urge you to do so now. First from ABC station, WABC. Their investigative reporter has found that the NYPD does use quotas. The second, from WRGB, Marci Natale looks into what college students are doing once they have a degree, but can't get a job. And finally, Lydia Kulbida from WTEN has a very sad report about a child who died, at age 5, because of a seizure he had in his bathtub.






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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Watch This!

If you haven't seen these videos, I urge you to watch them.

The first about Sen. Bunning hating on an ABC News Reporter. The second, an intense report from last night's Nightline.