Monkey Musings Daily Open Discussion #10 1/23 - 6/12/2008

[Blonde]

O/T  Background:

Time reported that Ted had been drinking more heavily since his brother's death, and "he has been a different and deeply-troubled man". Those close to Kennedy saw signs of a recklessness at odds with his expanding presidential prospects. Accepting an assignment from Life to cover Ted Kennedy after his brother's assassination, writer Brock Brower concluded that the insecurities, fatalism and fast-living showed Ted was seeking to escape the inevitable candidacy for President. "Some thought his drinking had got beyond the strains it was supposed to relieve," he said.
~ Senatorial Privilege by Leo Damore


Senator Kennedy's Driver's License had Expired
 
- Senator Kennedy's driver's license had expired on February 22, 1969 (nearly 5 months before the accident) and had not been renewed.
- Although driving with an expired license was only a misdemeanor, it did provide the evidence of negligence needed to prove a manslaughter charge in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne.
- The license problem was "fixed" by officials at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, under the direction of Registrar Richard McLaughlin, before the legal proceedings began
 
Ted Kennedy's Driving Record:
 
- Ted Kennedy had a record of serious traffic violations. Their nature formed a pattern of deliberate and repeated negligent operation. Particularly bothersome was a June, 1958 conviction for "reckless driving."

- On March 14, 1958, Deputy Sheriff Thomas Whitten had been on routine highway patrol outside Charlottesville, Virginia, when an Oldsmobile convertible ran a red light, sped off, then cut its tail lights to elude pursuit. A license check revealed the car belonged to Edward M. Kennedy, a 26-year-old law student attending the University of Virginia. Kennedy had previously been fined $15 for speeding in March 1957.
- Whitten was on patrol at the same intersection a week later, he testified, "And here comes the same car. And to my surprise, he did exactly the same thing. He raced through the same red light, cut his lights when he got to the corner and made the right turn." Whitten gave chase. He found the car in a driveway, apparently unoccupied. Looking inside, he discovered the driver, Teddy Kennedy, stretched out on the front seat and hiding. Whitten issued a ticket for "reckless driving; racing with an officer to avoid arrest; and operating a motor vehicle without an operator's license (Mass. registration.)"
- Kennedy's attorneys were able to win numerous postponements, but eventually he was convicted on all charges and paid a $35 fine. Court officials never filed the mandatory notice of the case in the public docket, however, and Kennedy's name had not appeared on any arrest blotter. Instead, a local reporter discovered the case when he spotted 5 warrants in Kennedy's name in a court cash drawer.

- Three weeks after his trial, Ted Kennedy was caught speeding again, and still operating without a valid license.

- In December 1959, Kennedy was stopped again for running a red light and fined $10 and costs. In Whitten's view, "That boy had a heavy foot and a mental block against the color red. He was a careless, reckless driver who didn't seem to have any regard for speed limits or traffic ordinances."


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- The offenses in Virginia had occurred on Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts driver's license, but mysteriously neither the Registry of Motor Vehicles nor the office of probation in Cambridge had any record of the out-of-state convictions. Had it been revealed at the inquest, the Senator's history of negligence and reckless driving would have been further evidence to support a charge of manslaughter in the Chappaquiddick accident.

[Blonde]

O/T  Background:
Chappaquiddick has been called "the most brilliant cover-up ever achieved in a nation where investigative procedures are well developed and where the principles of equal justice prevail, at least during some of those moments where people are watching."
~ The Last Kennedy by Robert Sherrill


http://tinyurl.com/3opocx

[Nut44x4]

Thank you Blonde.....I was just about to post "Remember Chappaquiddick"

They say what goes around comes around.....too little, too late IMO.

[Kat_Gram]

The Kennedy stars shone bright enought to reach Canada.
If only, the world might not be in the state it is in at the moment.
I usually keep quiet about American politics, but the Kennedy family did so much for America and the world. They gave and didn't ask what the country could do for them.
That included Ted in my books.

[Kat_Gram]

 
 
-------Original Message-------
 
JOKES :
 

TWENTY NINE LINES TO MAKE YOU SMILE

1 .. My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn't .

2 .. I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.

3.. Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.

4.. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke .

5.. Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.

6.. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.

7.. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder .

8.. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe .

9.. I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are missing.

10.. Out of my mind. Back in five minutes .

11.. NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy, why-the-heck-is-the-room-spinning medicine.

12.. God must love stupid people; there are so many.

13.. The gene pool could use a little chlorine.

14.. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.

15.. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?

16.. Being 'over the hill' is much better than being under it!

17.. Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When Grew up!!!!

18 Procrastinate Now!

19.. I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts; Do You Want Fries With That?

20.. A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

21.. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.

22.. Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!

23.. They call it PMS because Mad Cow Disease was already taken .

24 ..He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless DEAD.

25.. A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.

26 .. Ham and eggs...A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.

27.. The trouble with life is there's no background music .

28.. The original point and click interface was a Smith & Wesson.

29.. I smile because I don't know what the hell is going on.
 
Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends!
Life is too short and friends are too few!
 
 



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[BTgirl]

If all goes well, hubby and I will be having dinner tomorrow night with our own TerryD, as he passes through my home town.

How cool is that?

He will be the 10th monkey I've met live in person. 

[Bearlyhere]

If all goes well, hubby and I will be having dinner tomorrow night with our own TerryD, as he passes through my home town.

How cool is that?

He will be the 10th monkey I've met live in person. 

Way cool.  Are you going to dinner on his bike?

[Bearlyhere]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g3XVo5LawdNeCcDBoxu9YP45ZVJgD90PT2I00

Lost parrot tells veterinarian his address

TOKYO (AP) — When Yosuke the parrot flew out of his cage and got lost, he did exactly what he had been taught — recite his name and address to a stranger willing to help.

Police rescued the African grey parrot two weeks ago from a neighbor's roof in the city of Nagareyama, near Tokyo. After spending a night at the station, he was transferred to a nearby veterinary hospital while police searched for clues, local policeman Shinjiro Uemura said.

He kept mum with the cops, but began chatting after a few days with the vet.

"I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.

"We checked the address, and what do you know, a Nakamura family really lived there. So we told them we've found Yosuke," Uemura said.

*************************
Take me to the monkey cage, squawk!

[BTgirl]

If all goes well, hubby and I will be having dinner tomorrow night with our own TerryD, as he passes through my home town.

How cool is that?

He will be the 10th monkey I've met live in person. 

Way cool.  Are you going to dinner on his bike?

We'll only go on his bike if he's really a squirrel. 

[Jerry from Ohio]

  Kat _Gram  Mam  I enjoy your sense of Humor sooo much !     
  Your Man is very lucky to have you and I sincerely mean that and hope
that he realizes it . There are so many good women on SM  Very smart ones as well as pretty I imagine .
  I am just going through a very sad break up with my lady Jessica so I suppose that I am just super sensitive to what good woman can mean to their partners .
  ( Hugs to all of you)   Ol Jer from Ohio 

  Quote from Jerry from Ohio : A good woman should be not only a partner of life ,, she should also be A mans BEST FRIEND that he can tell anything and not be afraid and think he has to omit or lie to her .

 
-------Original Message-------
 
JOKES :
 

TWENTY NINE LINES TO MAKE YOU SMILE

1 .. My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn't .

2 .. I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.

3.. Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.

4.. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke .

5.. Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.

6.. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.

7.. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder .

8.. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe .

9.. I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are missing.

10.. Out of my mind. Back in five minutes .

11.. NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy, why-the-heck-is-the-room-spinning medicine.

12.. God must love stupid people; there are so many.

13.. The gene pool could use a little chlorine.

14.. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.

15.. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?

16.. Being 'over the hill' is much better than being under it!

17.. Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When Grew up!!!!

18 Procrastinate Now!

19.. I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts; Do You Want Fries With That?

20.. A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

21.. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.

22.. Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!

23.. They call it PMS because Mad Cow Disease was already taken .

24 ..He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless DEAD.

25.. A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.

26 .. Ham and eggs...A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.

27.. The trouble with life is there's no background music .

28.. The original point and click interface was a Smith & Wesson.

29.. I smile because I don't know what the hell is going on.
 
Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends!
Life is too short and friends are too few!
 
 



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Observer]

Calif. quake scientists detail impact of 'Big One'(snip)

 LOS ANGELES - The "Big One," as earthquake scientists imagine it in a detailed, first-of-its-kind script, unzips California's mighty San Andreas Fault north of the Mexican border. In less than two minutes, Los Angeles and its sprawling suburbs are shaking like a bowl of jelly.

The jolt from the 7.8-magnitude temblor lasts for three minutes — 15 times longer than the disastrous 1994 Northridge quake.Water and sewer pipes crack. Power fails. Part of major highways break. Some high-rise steel frame buildings and older concrete and brick structures collapse.

A team of about 300 scientists, governments, first responders and industries worked for more than a year to create a realistic crisis scenario that can be used for preparedness, including a statewide drill planned later this year. Published by the U.S. Geological Survey and California Geological Survey, it is to be released Thursday in Washington, D.C.

Researchers caution that it is not a prediction, but the possibility of a major California quake in the next few decades is very real.

Last month, the USGS reported that the Golden State has a 46 percent chance of a 7.5 or larger quake in the next 30 years, and that such a quake probably would hit Southern California. The Northridge quake, which killed 72 people and caused $25 billion in damage, was much smaller at magnitude 6.7.

The scenario is focused on the San Andreas Fault, the 800-mile boundary where the Pacific and North American plates grind against each other. The fault is the source of some of the largest earthquakes in state history, including the monstrous magnitude-7.8 quake that reduced San Francisco to ashes and killed 3,000 people in 1906.

In imagining the next "Big One," scientists considered the section of the San Andreas loaded with the most stored energy and the most primed to break. Most agree it's the southernmost segment, which has not popped since 1690, when it unleashed an estimated 7.7 jolt.

The scenario: The San Andreas Fault suddenly rumbles to life on Nov. 13, 2008, just after morning rush hour. The quake begins north of the U.S.-Mexican border near the Salton Sea and the fault ruptures for about 200 miles in a northwest direction ending near the high desert town of Palmdale about 40 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.

Scientists chose the scenario because it would create intense shaking in the Los Angeles Basin and neighboring counties — a region with nearly 22 million people.

Here are the major elements:

_10 a.m.: The San Andreas Fault ruptures, sending shock waves racing at 2 miles per second.

_30 seconds later: The agricultural Coachella Valley shakes first. Older buildings crumble. Fires start. Sections of Interstate 10, one of the nation's major east-west corridors, break apart.

_1 minute later: Interstate 15, a key north-south route, is severed in places. Rail lines break; a train derails. Tremors hit burgeoning Riverside and San Bernardino counties east of Los Angeles.

_1 minute, 30 seconds later: Shock waves advance toward the Los Angeles Basin, shaking it violently for 55 seconds.

_2 minutes later: The rupture stops near Palmdale, but waves march north toward coastal Santa Barbara and into the Central Valley city of Bakersfield.

_30 minutes later: Emergency responders begin to fan across the region. A magnitude-7 aftershock hits, but sends its energy south into Mexico. Several more big aftershocks will hit in following days and months.

Major fires following the quake would cause the most damage, said Keith Porter, of the University of Colorado, Boulder, who studied physical damage for the scenario.

The quake would likely spark 1,600 fires that would destroy 200 million square feet of housing and residential properties worth between $40 billion and $100 billion, according to the scenario.

Once the shaking stops, emergency responders would do a "windshield survey" that involves rolling through neighborhoods to tally damage and identify areas of greatest need, said Larry Collins, captain of the Urban Search & Rescue Task Force at the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Collins said the scale of the disaster means firefighters would not be able to put out every flame.

"We're going to have to think about out-of-the-box solutions," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/calif_quake_scenario

[klaasend]

[Observer]

Kicking the habit may be contagious, study finds   

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080521/hl_nm/smokers_quitters_dc

[2NJSons_Mom]

Jerry in OHIO......I'm sorry about the break up with Jessica....

*******, I just read about the kicking the habit....mmmmm...I need to network better.

[MumInOhio]

Hi Jerry...sorry to hear about you and Jessica. I have been wondering how you were doing, Buddy. Thanks for checking in and letting us know.

[klaasend]

Tornados in Colorado today.  My son works and lives not far from Windsor.  I did hear from him and they are OK.

I think ******* doesn't live far from where the tornado hit as well.  Hopefully ******* will check in with us when he can.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,357283,00.html

Large Tornado Reportedly Touches Down in Northern Colorado
Thursday , May 22, 2008



 MILLIKEN, Colo. —

A tornado caused heavy damage in the northern Colorado towns of Windsor and Greeley on Thursday, but no serious injuries were immediately reported.

"We have a lot of damage at this point," said Brenda Stoman of the Windsor Fire Department.

She the tornado knocked down trees and shattered windows as well as damaging buildings.

Weld County sheriff's spokeswoman Margie Martinez reported building damage in Greeley, about 10 miles east of Windsor.

Click here to track the storm.

She said the tornado also flipped over two tractor-trailer rigs.

High winds, heavy hail and rain were also reported.

Television video showed homes and buildings with roof damage and farm irrigation equipment crumpled.

Xcel Energy said electricity was knocked out to about 20,000 customers in northern Colorado.

Interstate 25 was closed in northern Colorado.

[Observer]

Hi Klaas..I am fine and was sent home from work as we have tornado warnings until 8 PM. A lady at work lost her house and her Mom's house and as reported we had no power for a few hours. The hail was bigger then a golfball and the skies are dark and nasty  We arent' supposed to get tornadoes this close to the mountains but we did today 

[Jerry from Ohio]

 Thank you 2NJ sonsmom
 Yes it was a shock to me also after all we had both been through with her mother almost dieing and being in a coma and all but her mom has now regained the reins of power for both she and Jessica and that was the end of that ..
  she saw that I had taught Jessica a lot about how to be independent and this is what she feared all along, all of her lifelong
work at training Jessica that she could NOT make it without her
staying right at home  waiting on her mother had almost undone all of her mothers plans .
  I am truly sorry but I couldn't come in between her and her mother  nor would I ever want to, but her mother said that it was either Jessica choose her mother and her home  or for her to get the few meager positions and leave to be with me .
  SO  instead of making Jessica make that choice I stepped back out of the picture and wished her all the best in that controlling life and I walked away .
  It hurt something terrible but it was the only thing that would allow Jessica to remain with her mother and not to have to choose between us .
  How a mother could do that to her child I will never quite understand her mother is so terrified of being left alone but yet she has driven all but Jessica  her youngest
away from her by her actions and general negative attitude.
but hoping  Jessica is still young enough to hopefully have a new start when her mother does leave this life  but I just don't have that much more time to wait until she does and on the chance that her mother would have planted the seed of doubt that took me so long to replace with the seed of hope and confidence .
  Life has so many many funny turns but I do believe that our Higher Power is still in control and only he knows the master plan for us .
  Again NJ MOM  thank you for your concern and caring about one of your fellow SM friends .
                               Jerry from Ohio   

Jerry in OHIO......I'm sorry about the break up with Jessica....

*******, I just read about the kicking the habit....mmmmm...I need to network better.

[klaasend]

Hi Klaas..I am fine and was sent home from work as we have tornado warnings until 8 PM. A lady at work lost her house and her Mom's house and as reported we had no power for a few hours. The hail was bigger then a golfball and the skies are dark and nasty  We arent' supposed to get tornadoes this close to the mountains but we did today 

******* - glad you are ok too.  My son said the weather was really nice last time I talked to him.  Said the sky was now clear with a couple of clouds.  He and his wife were in Longmont most of the time although my son was south in Parker I think when the tornado hit.

Sorry to hear about your co-workers loss 

[Observer]

  
When I lived in chicago as a young lad we saw this all the time at the end of summer..