A special guest this year, my moms tracked down one of my dad's old dear friends no one has seen or heard from in 30 years.  Word is he is or was a serious character, can't wait to grill him on some of my dad's antics even my moms does not know about from back in the day:)  This is the guy my dad up and ran off to Vegas with one time, he left a note to my moms on the kitchen table "Gone to Vegas, I gotta do what I gotta do."  

Always a pleasure to hang with my dad's brothers, their wives, and all my crazy cousins...we're a tight knit clan, and thats what its all about.

Anyhow his doctor gave him a prescription for xanax, the doctor approved it but had to leave the office so his nurse practitioner who has permission working under him to prescribe (and this prescription has his specific blessing) wrote the script.

I kept Josh in the dark as to how close his surgery was so he would not anxiety build before I hopefully got some medication for him.  But when your mom takes you to the doctor this morning the cat is out of the bag.

The nurse practitioner asked me who usually fills our prescriptions and I told her Walgreens.  She asked me to not take it to them though because they kick back all of her prescriptions in some attempt to boycott nurse practitioners prescribing?  She said they would probably kick it back again and demand to speak directly to the doctor because of Josh's age, they would say that she was making a prescribing error and she said by the time they could track the doctor down and get his voiced prescription it could easily be tomorrow and Josh starting to already throw up and not be able to eat properly.

""If the question is `Will she run,' I think she's putting her track shoes on,'' said Tufts University political science professor James M. Glazer. "It's pretty clear.''"

Link

Citing the Defense of Marriage Act, the Obama administration denied immigration benefits to a married gay couple from San Francisco and ordered the expulsion of a man who is the primary caregiver to his AIDS-afflicted spouse.

This is now unshakeable dogma within the Republican Party regardless of circumstances and regardless of how it's accomplished. And yet, when the congressional super committee fails to reach agreement on a deficit reduction package later this year? It'll be a failure of "Washington," of course. Some things never change.

Not your future grocery bill caused by hyperinflation, but the fine for violating federal law...I sh*t you not.

The riots broke out after a still-unresolved shooting by police in a poor North London neighborhood. However, that was just the spark.

Many Londoners initially assumed the violence was a backlash from chronic unemployment, slow economic recovery and cuts to public service spending by the country's new government.

But there were no slogans, no chanting, no demands. And it soon became clear to many that this was something different.

Geography Professor Chris Hamnett, of King's College, lives in North London, not far from some of the worst rioting.  

"Essentially, what we've seen is rioting for fun and profit. This is not people expressing their anger against an oppressive state," said Hamnett. This is people thinking it would be nice to get a slice of the action."

The riots were concentrated in neighborhoods with large African and Caribbean populations, which have a history of tension with the police.  Hamnett said those Londoners generally have less education, more unemployment and higher crime rates than other Britons.

"There's a racial dimension to the rioting and the looting, but it's not one of racial oppression. But there is undoubtedly a quite strong class and economic element," said Hamnett.

Not far from the professor's house, police stood guard as crews worked to clean up the damage from the previous night's rioting. Basani Mabyalane lives in the neighborhood.

"I feel there is maybe more that could be done to empower the young people because, from what I saw yesterday, to me it looked like they don't have much to do," said Mabyalane. "They have got the time. They have got the energy. But they are using that energy on negative things."

In the North London neighborhood of Haringey, some young people are trying to do something positive, through a group called HYPE - "Haringey's Young People Empowered." One of them is Erica Lopez.

"To be honest, I think at the moment it's mainly to do with looting. A majority of people are just looting to loot, with no reason, just because they want to do it. Simple as that," said Lopez.

ATLANTA (AP) -- A federal appeals court panel on Friday struck down the requirement in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul package that virtually all Americans must carry health insurance or face penalties.

The divided three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the so-called individual mandate, which is considered the centerpiece of the law, siding with 26 states that had sued to block the law. But the panel didn't go as far as a lower court that had invalidated the entire overhaul as unconstitutional.

Government attorneys can -- and likely will -- ask the full 11th Circuit to review the panel's ruling. They also can appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which many legal observers expect to have the final say on the issue. link

Roomate throws a little shindig, lets an obvious junky dirtbag in the house with the other guests, dude lifted some cash off my dresser.  More p*ssed at my roomate than the thief, he shoulda known better.  And p*ssed at myself for leaving cash laying around.

Took it all out on the junky thief's junky pad when I attempted to retrieve the loot, which was in his arm or down his throat by then...dumb thing to do, but satisfying:)  Very out of character for me, but the principle ya know...water under the bridge now, never seen the guy since.