The Good, the Bad and the Fuzzy November 4, 2009
Posted by judylobo in Politics.Tags: Bloomberg, Christie, Jon Corzie, Maine, New Jersey, Virginia
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Election day is always an emotional roller coaster. I was most nervous about Jon Corzine and guess what? New Jerseyans decided they wanted the ‘fat guy’ not the ‘rich guy’ to run their state for the next four years. As we say in Yiddish ‘ gey gezunterheyt’ (fine – do whatever you like – don’t listen to me – see if I care’). Living across the river from New Jersey gives me a semi-interest in their politics and lots of laughs about their corruption and scandals. Sometimes New Jersey makes the crowd in Albany look almost competent. The Jersey crowd has thrown out Corzine. Let us see what Governor Christie can do with their economy.
I was not at all optimistic about the craziness in upstate New York in the 23rd district. But I was interest in the Repugnant in-fighting over who was going to be Repugnantly Conservative enough to win the backing of the big shots in their shambles of a party. Democrat Bill Owens took a surprising victory in the special election, winning a House seat that Repugnants had controlled since 1872 and in the process, has probably cause more fighting amongst the Repugnants for control of the party. This is going to be good watching.
Bloomberg did not win by the huge (or as we say in Brooklyn -’yooge’) margin they thought he would. Only one million New Yorkers came out to vote. Shame on you if you did not vote. You could not find 10 minutes out of a 15 hour polling day to exercise your right to vote? Bah! Since he did not win by a huge amount I can already hear the rustling for position by the Democrats who now think 2013 is theirs. Anthony Weiner? Is it your turn?
The ugliest vote was out on Maine. Once again, the bigots, the homophobes and the supposedly Christian believers have denied other people their rights. Maine voters repealed a state law granting same-sex couples the right to marry, defeating an effort by gay activists who hoped the state would become the first to approve gay marriage at the polls. Shame on Maine.
Virginia was not a contest from the beginning.
So what does it all mean? Who knows? The blathering TV heads will spin this anyway they choose. The Dems are already saying it had nothing to do with Obama – well – I am not so sure of that. The Repugnants will play down NY’s 23rd district in favor of bathering about NJ and Virginia. I am going on vacation.
I Love the Smell of Voting Booths in the Morning November 3, 2009
Posted by judylobo in Photography, Politics, Videos.Tags: Bill Clinton, Nixon - McGovern, Reagan, Robert F. Kennedy, White House
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I love election day. I have always loved politics and was raised in a very vocal, politically active family. I guess you could say I was genetically built with ranting in my veins. The photo on the left is of my father, my sister and little pudge-ball me standing in front of the White House, circa 1956. Notice how close you could get to the White House in those very innocent days where the only thing to fear was nuclear bombs dropping in your back yard. Apparently, if you ducked for cover under your school desk – you would be all right. Election days bubble with the hope of change, upsets and the possibility that everyone in the city (state or country) suddenly thinks like me. (oh, that was just a dream).
So, I grab the front section of the New York Times and head out the door at 7:01AM to vote. I anticipate long lines like last year (what was I thinking?) I enter the school where I vote and there it is – an empty gym. I look around and what do I see? An overweight NYPD cop busily looking at his Blackberry and two tables of smiling election workers. They greet me with hearty “hellos” and a loud “welcome.” I said “Where is everybody?” They laughed and said – “Maybe later.”
I vote straight party line – ALL DEMOCRATS and the head to the gym wondering if this is the year that apathy reigns. It is too early to tell.
I have never missed an election. Go out and vote. It is your civic responsibility. It feels good.
- While lumbering on the treadmill at the gym thoughts of election days past flowed through my head. Here are some standouts:
- My first vote was as an absentee in 1964. I had just turned 21 (which was the age to vote back then) and I got to vote for Robert F. Kennedy to be the next Senator for New York State. It was thrilling as my friends stood around our kitchen table in Providence RI and watched me mark my ‘X’ very proudly. My first vote was memorable and we won. I thought that this was going to be the way it would be always — that we would win. Oy vey – how wrong I was.
- In 1972, my former husband and I were living in North West NJ and were poll watchers for the Nixon – McGovern Presidential race. We stood for hours, working for the Democrats, making sure the voters were not denied their right to vote. As the day wore on we realized that we were probably the only two that had voted for McGovern. I remember turning to my husband and saying ‘Let’s move.’
- In 1980, we were living in California. I had not even gotten to vote when the media had declared Reagan the winner. I believe that was the first time I actually saw flames shooting out of my head. I went to vote anyway. Nothing has ever been the same since that disastrous election day.
- In 1992, living back in NYC, I met a group of like minded thinkers at the Central Park Zoo. We were all Bill Clinton backers. I am the only one that is still working at the Zoo but we still are all friends and meet periodically to discuss the politics of the day. I can thank Mark, Linc and Sarah for helping me sort my thoughts which eventually turned itself into the LOBO RANT.
Keep the faith – I have.
While the Repugnants Stare at Shiny Objects November 2, 2009
Posted by judylobo in Animal Videos, Politics.add a comment
While the Repugnants are busy wailing and flailing over Socialism, Government takeover of their precious health care system and other fruit loop topics, the Obama Administration is quietly passing laws. Check out this article from today’s The Wall Street Journal (yes, the WSJ) -
From the article:
- The legislation includes, ‘defense-policy legislation that included an unrelated measure widening federal hate-crimes laws to cover sexual orientation and gender identification — 12 years after it was first introduced. The same legislation also tightened the rules of admissible evidence for military commissions, an issue that consumed Congress in debate in 2007 but received almost no attention this go-round. The hate-crimes bill became law 11 years after the slayings of the men it is named after: Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay man left for dead on a split-rail fence in Wyoming, and James Byrd, a black man dragged to death behind a pickup truck in Texas’.
- ‘Other new measures signed into law since the administration took office, all of which kicked up controversy in past congresses, make it easier for women to sue for equal pay, set aside land in the West from development, give the government the power to regulate tobacco and raise tobacco taxes to expand health insurance for children. Congress and the White House, in the new defense-policy bill, also killed weapons programs that have survived earlier attempts at termination, among them, the F-22 fighter jet, the VH-71 presidential helicopter and the Army’s Future Combat System’.
- ‘ The new public-lands law signed this spring was also once hotly debated. Among other things, the new law declares 1.2 million acres of Wyoming range land off-limits to oil and natural-gas development. Regarding the new tobacco law, the Food and Drug Administration and allies in Congress have been seeking regulatory authority over tobacco since the early 1990s’.
I hope they keep staring at those shiny objects for a long, long time.
And just for fun:
Why I am not voting for Mike Bloomberg October 28, 2009
Posted by judylobo in Photography, Politics, Zoos, wildlife.Tags: Clyde Haberman, David Dinkins, Mike Bloomberg, Rudy Giuliani
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‘I know, I know — but’ - is the response I have been getting from all of my friends when I tell them that I am not voting for Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Some friends look away with a momentary guilty look. Some hang their heads down and say ‘but I don’t like the other guy (Bill Thompson).’ Some just say ‘ well, he cannot be bought.’ To all of them, I say, as Rachel Maddow always says, ‘Bull Hockey.’
Here is why I am not voting for Mayor Mike.
1. I am still angry that Bloomberg brought the RNC to NYC in 2004 and even more angry at the illegal arrest and detention of over 1800 individuals by the authorities during the Republican Nation Convention. The 1800 arrests and detentions were a record for a political convention in the U.S. Many people were detained longer than 24 hours on relatively trivial charges. However, 90% of those charges were eventually dropped. I have ranted about these arrests before and also ranted about the fact that I can never GET arrested while demonstrating. I definitely will have to try harder next time. There are a slew of details here.
2. I hated his trying to shove the West Side Stadium down our throats in 2005. Luckily, he lost that battle.
3. However, it is his overturning of term limits that put me over the top. Long story short, in the fall of 2008, Bloomberg successfully campaigned for an amendment to New York City’s term limits law, in order to allow him to run for a third term in 2009. There was plenty of time for him to pay for (about $40 million) a special election so that the people, who had already voted twice on this issue, could decide if Bloomberg could run for another term. He decided not to go that way – and essentially bought the City Council and overturned the law. He thought we would forget. Well, most have – or just do not care. I have not. (For the record – I voted NO to term limits two times but that is beside the point. It was the LAW).
Clyde Haberman, says that Bloomberg Is Betting on Voters With an Elastic Approach to the Law. “The mayor used to believe fervently in a two-term limit — until it became inconvenient for him. His “complete and utter disregard for the democratic process,” Mr. Thompson said, “was a defining moment for all of us.” “Does the richest man in New York City get to live by one set of rules while the rest of us live by another?”
4. Obscene amounts of his own money have been spent on his campaign. Bloomberg, the richest man in New York City, has spent $85 million on his current re-election campaign — a U.S. record for most personal money spent in a campaign for public office. The election is less than a week away and Bloomberg may wind up spending up to $140 million. This is plain wrong. I do not care if it is his own money. It is offensive.
5. He can’t be bought, some say. When a man has billions of dollars, he doesn’t need to be bought. He can do all of the buying and that is just what has happened in the last eight years. New York Magazine, in a lengthy piece. details how and why Bloomberg has become as successful as he has, in this uncontrollable City. ‘A remarkable number of dominoes have fallen Bloomberg’s way. The city’s ethnic politics are at a transition point: Black activists trained in the civil-rights model are fading, and though the city’s Latino and Asian communities have rising population numbers, they have yet to coalesce around any leaders, though the primary victory of John Liu is perhaps a sign of things to come. The speaker of the City Council is usually a mayoral antagonist. But the current speaker, Christine Quinn, decided that the best way to be elected mayor herself was to ingratiate herself with Bloomberg. Then Quinn was further neutered by the council’s slush-fund scandal’.
6. He brought Rudy Giuliani in to campaign for him. Did he really need to do that? There is no one who is more divisive than Rudy. He still makes most of us shudder whenever his punim shows up on TV or in the press. Rudy then did what he does best – he pulls the fear factor out of his ass and goes for broke. He invokes those code words and we all get nauseous. Yesterday, the New York Times’ Michael Powell revisited the Dinkins years that Rudy was brewing and stewing about. The record gets straightened out and Dinkins gets some of the credit he deserves.
- As Rudy Giuliani comes to town to campaign for Mayor Bloomberg, remember that Republicans stick together.
7. And why oh why is it that Bloomberg cannot decide whether he is a Democrat, Republican or an Independent. Is that such a hard thing to do?
- Did Mayor Bloomberg do a good job as Mayor for the past eight years? Yes. He did some fine things – but you know what? That is what we elect people to do – their job. And when it is time to go — it is time to go. As far as I am concerned, the best thing about Mayor Mike was his bringing The Gates Project to Central Park in 2005.
- Will Mike Bloomberg win a third term? I would be crazy to bet against him. The only thing Bill Thompson has going for him is the fact that many people will not go to the polls. Only 7% of eligible voters turned out for the run-off two weeks ago.
- Mayor Michael Bloomberg was bitten by groundhog, Staten Island Chuck during the Staten island Zoo’s annual Groundhog Day event.
The Rise and Thud of Bernie Kerik October 27, 2009
Posted by judylobo in Photography, Politics, Videos, Zoos.Tags: Bernie Kerik, Wonder Woman
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Yes, I have been obsessed with the Bernie Kerik scandal since it started to unravel before our very eyes. Schadenfreude always works when we discuss old Bernie. Jeff VanDam, of New York Magazine did a nice short chronological piece on the Rise and Thud of Bernie Kerik.
“Bernard Kerik used to run the city jails (1998–2000) and then the whole NYPD (2000–2001) and then, almost, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. But last week, he went to jail himself for leaking sealed information from his corruption trial, which begins this week. His fall has been drawn-out, and very public”.
9/11/01: As police commissioner, Kerik shares the credit with his boss Mayor Giuliani for resolute action on the day of the attacks. The two team up the next year to help form Giuliani Partners, a consulting firm.
2/28/02: Kerik pays a $2,500 fine for having two police officers travel to Ohio to research his autobiography, The Lost Son.
3/16/02: Newsday reports that an aide requested 30 seven-pound busts of Kerik from the nonprofit Police Foundation at a cost of $3,000.
2/9/03: The Daily News reports that Kerik oversaw a prison foundation that received nearly $1 million from tobacco companies that sold cigarettes to inmates; the Kerik aide in charge of the foundation’s finances later pleaded guilty to defrauding the fund of $142,733, partly to pay phone bills accrued when inmates called him collect to have phone sex. Much of the rest of the money is unaccounted for.
12/2/04: Kerik, apparently with Giuliani’s backing, is President Bush’s reported choice to run Homeland Security.
12/8/04: Nine former employees allege in the Washington Post that Kerik illicitly spied on women in relationships with his supervisor as investigation chief at a Saudi hospital twenty years earlier.
12/10/04: Kerik withdraws his nomination, citing a nanny with questionable immigration status. Newsweek reports that a warrant for Kerik’s arrest was issued in 1998 during a New Jersey civil dispute over $5,000 in condominium fees. Kerik said he’d paid the fees and the warrant had been withdrawn.
12/12/04: The Daily News reports that Kerik failed to disclose thousands of dollars in gifts, including a jewel-covered Tiffany badge, when he headed the NYPD and Correction Department. Some were given to him by a friend with ties to Interstate Industrial Corporation, a construction company suspected of mob ties that happens to have hired Kerik’s best man and brother; Kerik spoke to the city’s Trade Waste Commission on the friend’s behalf while Correction commissioner.
12/13/04: The Daily News reveals that Kerik had an extramarital affair with The Lost Son publisher Judith Regan, using a Battery Park City apartment—originally provided to ground-zero cleanup workers—for “passionate liaisons.”
12/16/04: The Bronx D.A. begins looking into the 1999 renovation of Kerik’s Riverdale apartment by Interstate.
12/22/04: Kerik quits Giuliani Partners.
6/30/06: Kerik pleads guilty to two misdemeanors, admitting he accepted the renovations from Interstate, spoke to city officials about the company, and failed to report a $28,000 loan from a real-estate developer. He pays $221,000 in fines but serves no jail time.
9/27/06: News of a new federal investigation involving Kerik emerges, this time about his alleged role in a 2005 plan to secretly record the husband of attorney-general candidate Jeanine Pirro, whom Pirro suspected of having an affair.
10/22/07: A Houston law firm sues Kerik for more than $200,000 in unpaid legal fees.
11/9/07: Kerik is indicted on sixteen federal counts that lead to two separate trials, one for tax fraud and one for corruption; he pleads not guilty.
12/2/08: The indictment against Kerik is expanded and now includes failure to pay taxes on a free luxury sedan given to him in 2004 by an armored-car company. He pleads not guilty to the new charges.
4/7/09: Kerik is seen training a dog in the background of a Real Housewives of New Jersey scene.
5/26/09: Kerik is indicted again, this time in Washington for making false statements to White House vetters; he pleads not guilty.
10/20/09: Kerik is jailed by the judge in his New York corruption trial, who believes he helped leak e-mails containing information from sealed court papers to the Washington Times.
- On a completely different note: A good friend (Ann) asked me to help out a friend of hers who wanted to promote the upcoming return of Wonder Woman, the play. We had 10 seconds to spin, like Wonder Woman. Guess what? I made the cut. It is grainy and only a second or two, but if you look closely, at the 43rd second of the clip you can see me spinning. Fun.
For those Still in Search of a Religion October 25, 2009
Posted by judylobo in Animal Videos, Dogs and cats, Photography, Politics, Religion, Videos, Zoos, wildlife.Tags: gibbon, Orangutan, Philadelphia Zoo, Religion, service dog
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I found this chart ‘How to Choose a Religion’ on Mock, Paper, Scissors who found it on The Friendly Atheist.

- We took a drive to visit the Philadelphia Zoo hoping to see the newborn orangutan. Sadly the baby was not out for the public to adore just yet, but we did encounter a wonderful meeting between a service dog and an adult male orangutan among other fabulous sights.

- I was able to video some of the encounter between the Orangutan and the very well behaved service dog seen at the Philadelphia Zoo. The orangutan was dressed as a ghost for Halloween.
Ding Dong – the Thug is Jailed October 21, 2009
Posted by judylobo in Photography, Politics, Videos.Tags: Bernard Kerik
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I was out all day yesterday and it was not until about 6 PM that I heard the news that the former NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik (under Chief of the Thugs, Rudy Giuliani) was jailed when a federal judge revoked his bail a week before his trial on conspiracy and fraud charges was due to begin. Schadenfreude is an apt word for this story.
A federal judge granted the prosecutors’ request to revoke bail because of new accusations of criminal contempt for disclosing nonpublic case information in order to influence the upcoming jury and to garner public sympathy before the trial. Kerik had been allowed to remain free under a $500,000 bail package after he pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges in November 2007. He also faces other charges — including other fraud and tax charges as well as lying to White House officials during their background checks on him — that will be prosecuted separately at a later date. Judge Stephen C. Robinson of Federal District Court in White Plains described Mt Kerik as a “toxic combination of self-minded focus and arrogance.” Whoa!
Kerik is accused of receiving apartment renovations from a construction firm that had been suspected of organized crime ties in exchange for helping the company win city contracts, according to his indictment. He tried to convince city regulators the contractors were free of mob ties and should be approved to do business requiring city permits, the indictment alleges. His career began to unravel upon being subjected to background checks when President George W. Bush nominated him in 2004 to become Homeland Security secretary.
Here is the story with one of those funny verbal slips (‘top cock’) on Local News Channel 7:
Schadenfreude:
Vile vs Bile October 19, 2009
Posted by judylobo in Links, Photography, Politics, Videos, Zoos, wildlife.3 comments
It is hard to say who makes me more nauseous – Al Sharpton or Rush Limbaugh.
Whenever I see Al Sharpton’s head pop up like Zelig I immediately change the channel or think negatively about whatever he is protesting for or against. It is a Pavlovian knee jerk reaction that began in 1987 with the Tawana Brawley debacle.
My favorite NYC Police Detective, Matt, used to tell me that ‘Reverend Al was a cop’s favorite overtime pal.’ Translation – whenever Al Sharpton was around you could guarantee there would be a need for additional police presence.
Now it seems that an equally vile individual, Rush Limbaugh, is embroiled in a brouhaha with Al Sharpton. It is hard to decide who to root for in this mud-fest. I find myself essentially snickering at the entire windbag-fest. It seems that when Limbaugh wanted to buy the St. Louis Rams, Sharpton sent a note to Commissioner Roger Goodell urging officials to reject Rush’s bid because of racist comments that he had made in the past. Then, Limbaugh, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece, Limbaugh said Sharpton “played a leading role in the 1991 Crown Heights riot (he called neighborhood Jews ‘diamond merchants’) and 1995 Freddie’s Fashion Mart riot.”
Oh boy, oh boy – now Sharpton is threatening a defamation lawsuit against Rush. Can this get much better? This is one of those stupid situations that gives these two blowhards even more allotted air time. Argh!
- Speaking of blowhards – Rudy Guiliani is back in the news. Gasp! He struck an all too familiar fear mongering tone on the campaign trail Sunday, saying the city is still “at great risk.” Without mentioning Bloomberg’s Democratic opponent, Giuliani warned that crime in New York City, which declined under him and has continued to fall under Bloomberg, is also a gamble.“This city could very easily be taken back in a very different direction,” Giuliani said. “It could very easily be taken back to the way it was with the wrong political leadership.” Why can’t this guy just go quietly into the night. Blech.
- And then there is the balloon boy and his family. Maybe we should all treat this episode like a bad Halloween trick and let them all float quietly into the night.
- For a much needed smile, check out this terrific short video about a Repugnant App:
Eyes on the Prize October 11, 2009
Posted by judylobo in Photography, Politics, Videos, Zoos, wildlife.Tags: Keith Olbermann, Al Gore, Rachel Maddow, Maureen Dowd, Nobel Peace Prize, Alan Grayson, Andrew Sullivan, polar bear
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What is wrong with so many people? Why can’t we all be proud (even for just a short while) that our young President won the biggest prize of all – the Nobel Peace Prize. I did not expect the virulent Right to say anything positive about this honor (although I never can figure out what crazy shit will actually come out of their collective mouths). However, I was a bit taken aback by the Left side of the spectrum. The man has been in office for only eight months. Did you think he was going to give you everything you wanted in those first few days? Weeks? Months? Or even years? Were you listening to his campaign speeches? Or were you simply so excited that we were finally getting rid of the Bush thugs that your thoughts were clouded.
True, I have been horrified by some of the previous Nobel Peace Prize winners. Often the committee awards the Prize as encouragement for positive steps even if the end goal has yet to be reached. For instance, Yassir Arafat’s prize made my blood boil and no one was surprised to see that he proceeded to back out of the Middle East Peace ideas, take all the money and run. My ire still enrages at the Peace Prize award that was given to Henry (top of my war criminal list) Kissinger, during the Vietnam War. President Obama has created a new international climate, the committee declared, and the world cheers that effort. Insulated Americans, have no idea how horrified most of the rest of the civilized world has been by the thuggish, brutal, go it alone approach of the Bush Administration. Obama’s international efforts to start speaking through diplomatic channels to undo those wrongs cannot be taken lightly. Or, maybe they awarded the prize to Obama simply because he can pronounce the word ‘nuclear’ correctly.
Here is an alphabetical listing of all previous Nobel Peace Prize winners. Check out who you hate on this list.
Andrew Sullivan chimes in with some interesting thoughts about the prize. “I don’t think Americans fully absorbed the depths to which this country’s reputation had sunk under the Cheney era. That’s understandable. And so they also haven’t fully absorbed the turn-around in the world’s view of America that Obama and the American people have accomplished. Of course, this has yet to bear real fruit. But you can begin to see how it could; and I hope more see both the peaceful intentions and the steely resolve of this man to persevere. This president has done a huge amount to bring race relations in this country to a different place, which is why the far right has become so vicious in attacking him and lying about him. They know he threatens their politics of division and rule. He has also directly addressed the Muslim world, telling some hard truths, and played a small role in evoking a similar movement of hope and change in Iran, and finally told the Israelis to stop cutting their nose off to spite their face.”
I must say when I heard the news early on Friday morning that Obama had won the prize, an audible gasp could be heard throughout Casa Lobo. Little Benny the dog, came over to see if my gasp involved a treat for him. Madison, the cat – yawned. I was torn between racing thoughts about the prize and watching NASATV as we were about to bomb the moon in our search for water moon sources. I thought that the decision by the Olympic Committee to choose Rio over Chicago now probably seemed like a ‘who cares.’ I thought that Bill Clinton is probably blowing a fuse about not being chosen for the Nobel Peace prize. In fact, Maureen Dowd has one of her funny columns today about a fictional conversation between ‘W’ and Bubba. A fun read.
So, I say, bravo to President Obama. Perhaps this Prize will elevate his goals even higher. Nuclear disarmament is a fine goal, as is peace between arch enemies. Did anyone ever think that Northern Ireland would get over ‘the troubles?’ This President was handed a fine mess on every front. It couldn’t hurt to try to support his International efforts, could it? How about let us all sit back and congratulate the President on this encouraging award. We can always go back to criticizing him next week.

- If you want to follow Keith Olbermann’s lead and donate to the National Association of Free Clinics here is the website. I have donated, how about you?
You can make your tax deductible online donation to the National Association of Free Clinics by mailing a check directly to them at:
The National Association of Free Clinics
1800 Diagonal Road Suite 600
Alexandria VA 22314
- Rachel Maddow Goes After Idiot Republican Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert
- My new favorite Congressman of the week is Alan ‘I’m not apoligizing’ Grayson:
- Former vice president and Nobel Laureate Al Gore is calling President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize win extremely well deserved and an honor for the country. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his work on global warming.
- And you must watch this:
Talk about strange overlaps. While walking my dog Benny (who does not yet acknowledge the fact that we turned the clock back an hour last night), I noticed the Halloween revelers were still walking home while the NYC Marathon buses filled with anxious runners, were headed to Staten Island to await the start later this morning. I guess that there are both party marathoners and running marathoners, right?
- Since people are taking part in both activities at the same time I decided I can write about the Marathon and still be celebrating Halloween. So, the above photo of Benny is my little Halloween greeting to you and yours.