Blue Star Chronicles

Blackfive has an article that ought to just make you just shake your head in disbelief. It seems Chicago Lawyer Jay Grodner doesn’t like the military. He came across the car of Marine Sgt Mike McNulty who is fixing to be deployed to Iraq on his second deployment. McNulty went to see a friend to say good bye before he left on his second tour of duty. When he left his friends apartment he caught Grodner keying his car and confronted him. McNulty didn’t get physical but wanted to know what Grodner was doing. Grodner denied he was doing anything and then cried like a stuck pig basically and claimed McNulty was just picking on him because he’s Jewish. In other words, he only had the nerve to key the car when he thought he wouldn’t get caught. When he did get caught he lied, cried and tried to play the victim. Real courage there. WAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Here’s the police report:

Victim related to P/O that as he walked back to his vehicle, he observed the offender leaning up against his vehicle and rubbed/dragged his left arm and hand across the passenger side. As offender walked away from victim’s vehicle, victim observed a scratch along the rear trunk and passenger’s door area where offender dragged his arm and hand over. Victim and witness stopped offender and confronted him. Victim has military plates and decals on his vehicle and offender made anti war and military comments to victim. Upon P/O’s arrival to scene, offender denied scratch victim’s vehicle, but did admit to rubbing past it. Victim at this time did not sign complaint, because he is leaving tour for military duty. Offender said they accused him of scratching the car because he is Jewish. Offender’s statements/responses to P/O’s questions unreasonable.

Typically liberal tolerance is only tolerance for those who think and act just like them. The fact that this Marine has chosen to be a Marine and fight for our country and Grodner’s right to be a jerk is not to be tolerated by those of Grodner’s low caliber.

Grodner did $2400 worth of damage to McNulty’s car, which makes it a felony. Grodner has tried to slime his way out of the problem by offering to pay McNulty’s $100 deductible and have McNulty’s insurance pay the rest. McNulty is being pressured to settle because the state prosecutors say it’ll be difficult to get a conviction seeing as Groden is an attorney AND that McNulty has little time to pursue this prior to his deployment. He’s scheduled to leave January 2nd. Grodner knows this and is therefore playing legal games like filing for a continence so that it won’t come to trial prior to McNulty being deployed.

Of course, I know that all legal action is put on hold while our Soldiers are deployed, so that really doesn’t get Grodner off the hook, but it seems ridiculous for McNulty to have to have this hanging over his head while he’s deployed. Not to mention, it was obviously an act of hate (hate crime?) and malicious conduct for no reason other than that McNulty had Marine tags on his car.

Here’s the info on Chicago Lawyer Jay Grodner:

http://www.genelex.com/paternitytesting/paternityfamlawdir.html#IL

Jay R. Grodner
Law Offices of Jay R. Grodner
Principal Office-Deerfield
625 Deerfield Road –Suite 406
Deerfield, IL 60015
Phone: (847) 444-1500
Fax: (847) 444-0663
Downtown Chicago
30 N. LaSalle St. - Suite 1210
Chicago, IL 60602
Phone: (312) 236-1142
Fax: (312) 236-6036
Email: jayrg8@aol.com
Web: http://www.jaygrodner.com

I don’t understand the kind of hatred that some have for the military. Just exactly where do they think they would be without the military and what do they think the military has done to them to inspire the unreasonable and irrational acts perpetrated against them. Its bizarre in my estimation and shows a complete lack of common sense and common decency. Since Grodner wants to play himself off as a victim since he’s Jewish, I would ask him who exactly does he think liberated the concentration camps of the Nazis? It wasn’t lawyers and college professors who were sitting around whining and wringing their hands. It was American Soldiers.

Digg the story from Blackfive here.

This is the kind of thing that makes me crazy about the ‘blame America first’ crowd. Ron Paul, resident moonbat that calls himself a Republican for reasons I can’t discern, claims that the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is due to the ‘interventionist’ policies of the United States. He goes on to say that al-Qaeda has reason to be ‘annoyed’ with us. Here’s the link to the video.

I suggest that we have a reason to be a little more than ‘annoyed’ at al-Qaeda. I double-dog dare Ron Paul to go to Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan or any where in that general neck of the woods and make an announcement on their television network that we blame them and/or that we have reason to hunt down and kill al-Qaeda and other terrorist operatives. Ah naw - its safer to just blame America while you are sitting pretty over here in the safety of this country.

We got up about 4 a.m. yesterday and took the train to Munich. We arrived there about 9 a.m. and spent the day and evening walking from one end of the city to the other looking at the sights and taking in as much as we could in the time we had. Our taking in sights was punctuated by ducking into the nearest available store periodically to heat up our bones again. It was something like -2 degrees celcius. I’m not sure exactly what that translates to in American English, but I’m pretty sure the rough translation is really, really, really cold. I’ve bought more hats, scarves and boots since I’ve been here than I’ve bought in the last ten years.

We saw so many beautiful sights that its hard to describe it all. The Christmas Markets there are world renowned. The architecture is breathtaking. The Residenz was something out of a storybook. The shops and stores in the old downtown had every Bavarian treasure that could be had and priced outrageously for the tourists who walk those streets day and night regardless of how cold it is outside. As I’ve mentioned before, one of the things I have noticed about the Germans, they don’t let a little cold weather keep them from having festivals or keep them inside.

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What a cool t-shirt! I like the graphic illustration of how the issue of gun control really has confused and missed the point all together. You can click on the image to see a larger view of it. I found it over at formykountry where there are several others that are just as cool as this one.

Formykountry gives you information on guns, conservative politics and humorous as well as informative posts all in one place. For instance, their most recent post entitled, Lessons from Xbox, uses the Christmas gift of an Xbox to a child as a lesson in the basic differences between liberalism and conservatism and how it effects the economics of our generation and generations to come. Interesting lessons to be learned from getting whupped by a kid in an Xbox game and done in an interesting and humorous prose.

Find out more about gun safety, gun ownership, conservative and liberal politics and much more at Formykountry.

Even Santa wears red on Friday - who knew! Its that most magical of times - the week between Christmas and New Years. I just love this week every year. The regular troubles of the world don’t seem as troublesome. There’s a calmness about this week. The Christmas rush is over and the stresses of the New Year haven’t started. Its the in-between time.

Still, the blogs go on … so here’s a little of what people are blogging about this week.

The Pirate’s Cove asks an intriguing question. Should the improbable happen, would you vote for Ron Paul if he were the Republican nominee? What is worse? Ron Paul or one of the socialists/communists democratic possibilities. Wow. That’ll make you stop to think a little bit!

My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy writes about Self-loathing stupid Israeli moonbat of the day.

Jon Swift has a huge list of the best blog posts of 2007. Check it out. Its a good list.

Check out the CatHouse Chat Christmas Carnival! Its a must read!

Rosemary’s Thoughts is singing the blues.

Rant it Up reviews I Am Legend.

Ol’ Broad has some thoughts on Redneck Etiquette

Check out Woman Honor Thyself in her new digs and her Doozie of the Day: Tim the “Butcher”.

The Median Sib - 90 Minutes in Heaven - beautiful celestial music - and my grandmother.

Third World County gives us 13 reasons to jump on the Fred bandwagon.

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Disclaimer: trackbacks to this post do not necessarily represent the opinions or standards of the Blue Star Chronicles.

More great posts trackbacked below …

It hardly comes as a surprise that Benazir Bhutto was assassinated today. She was assassinated by a suicide bomber.

They’ve been trying to get her since she returned to Pakistan from her self-imposed exile in hopes of winning a general election in the country. The day of her triumphant return there was an attempt on her life which left over 150 others dead. There have been numerous other attempts. Each ended with words like, ‘She had just been waving to the crowd when the bomb went off, missing her by seconds’. Its was only a matter of time before they got their timing right and hit her while she was, indeed, standing with her head out of the top of her vehicle, waving to the crowd.

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We are finally home!!!! We had a sehr Frohliche Weihnachten! (very Merry Christmas!) in Bavaria. I believe it has been one of our best Christmases. The German’s certainly don’t have the flair for wanton consumer consumption that we have. What would the retail world do without Americans? They’d go under, I believe. We spent Christmas (the 24th) with our new German in-laws. I agonized about what to buy them. I didn’t have a clue what to expect. I didn’t want to show up with overly extravagant gifts or overly small gifts. I didn’t know them. I didn’t know what their customs were. I just didn’t know what to expect or what to take to give them.

I was pleasantly surprised when we showed up at their home to the freshly decorated (real!) tree trimmed with real lit candles. The slightly English speaking father of the house announced that they spend the evening celebrating the birth of Jesus, singing Carols and eating a traditional meal. The family exchanged simple, relatively inexpensive gifts and the rest of the evening was spent eating a fabulous meal and attempting to communicate in the odd way we found to communicate with none of us speaking the others language. We found common ground in laughter and love for our children who had married just the day before. I received gifts that included a porcelain angel, a metal plate with Bavarian scenes hand carved on it and a long leisurely evening around a dinner table spent with new family and new friends. It was a memorable and wonderful evening.

Now we are back in our own home. I’m looking forward to my own bed and a few days of relaxing rather than jamming across Bavaria. My son has two modes of operations, sleep and full throttle, so we fit a lot in to the two weeks we had there. Not to mention these semi-old bones need a couple of days of time zone recuperation and hopefully warmth seeing as these semi-old bones aren’t accustomed to walking around in the snow and cold as if its a summer afternoon stroll. Frozen to the bone pretty much sums it up. But in a good way.

We have been traveling for 24 hours and I can’t hardly think straight and I look like I’ve been rode hard and put up wet. My pen did something funky while I was filing out my declaration forms and leaked ink all over my fingers and hands leaving black stains all over them. I managed to break 5 fingernails during the trip today so my hands look pretty embarrassing at the moment. I spilled Mountain Dew on my sweater. When we were going through customs I dropped my passport and we couldn’t find it for about 15 minutes. We only found it (in the fold of one of my suitcases) after a frantic search through the entire customs area with a customs agent holding me at his station while Beloved Curmudgeon retraced our steps looking for it. The customs guys periodically told me that this was not a good thing. I suggested that perhaps I should look instead of Beloved Curmudgeon as he can’t find his socks in his sock drawer. The customs agent didn’t think that was funny and told me, rather forcibly, that I could not and WOULD NOT leave my bags to go look. When I finally looked down and saw the passport in a nook of the suitcase and gave it to the customs guy he just motioned us through. The irritated look on his face and his exasperation left us laughing that he undoubtedly figured we couldn’t possibly be terrorists when we were that incompetent. The whole thing was feeling a little like National Lampoon’s Our Family’s Christmas Vacation. We were a mess, exhausted, we hated the actual traveling but the overall trip was fantastic.

I hope you all had a special Christmas this year and spent time with the people you love and enjoyed the truly meaningful things in life, like schnitzel and the magical way that a well made bratwurst sandwich and gluhwein warms the body and soul when strolling through a Christmas Market when its 20 degrees. Its a wonderful thang!

Merry Christmas to all!

Some good Christmas video’s, all work friendly. Blue Christmas is a funny version of Porky Pig singing the song. Christmas To Remember is my favorite Christmas song. Sorry, do not know how to get them to embed here. Regular embed code not working.

Video: Blue Christmas

Video: Christmas To Remember

Also, make sure that you visit CatHouse Chat for the always wonderful yearly Carnival of Christmas!

I just thought this was a cool photo. Artist Julian Beever has created a magical illusion of Santa’s grotto on a street in Dover, England.

Viewed at the correct angle, an ingenious combination of reality and art makes this pavement painting appear 3D.

The red post box and the railings are real, but the main picture is all about clever chalk work, drawing on the flat surface of the pavement to create a convincing illusion.

The snowflakes have been added by sticking bits of white paper to the post box and railings, then using white chalk to add a few more here and there.

Pedestrians step around the apparent hole in the pavement, and peer down into the chasm below.

There they see a rosycheeked Santa, with Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, sifting through a pile of letters from hopeful children.

Artist Julian Beever, in Dover to spend Christmas with friends, posed with his 21-month- old daughter Jane moments after finishing the chalk picture.

Beever, 48, said: “The idea is that people on the street are interacting with the art, having their letters delivered straight to Santa. I didn’t know whether to call it ‘Letter to Santa’ or ‘Placing The Orders’.”

Known as the Pavement Picasso, Beever, from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, has created a series of similar mind-blowing images, including a swimming pool chalked on the street so realistically that shoppers swerved to avoid it.

Happy Monday! The start of a new work week, time to get busy, to shift some…..oops, I guess being the day before Christmas, a day designed (unintentionally) to drive progressives crazy. Notice that they are taking the paid day off, though. How ‘bought a beer?

I know some other people who need a beer, especially now that yet another news organization (yes, cBS still does news. Can’t just go by their tabloid 630pm broadcast) has turned on them

Home for the holidays and probably needing the break, the first Democratic- controlled Congress in a dozen years can point to some legislative success but, as CBS News correspondent Joie Chen reports, not where it counts the most.

Leading the way for the new kids on the block, Democratic house speaker Nancy Pelosi opened her first term in charge with a promise to turn away from old-fashioned political bluster. “Democrats pledge civility and bipartisanship in the conduct of the work here,” she vowed in November 2006.

Democrats pledged work would be the priority, even vowing longer workdays. But on issues key to activists, the “do-something” Congress didn’t deliver.

Rather then excerpting long sections, check the story out. It is basically a recitation of the Democrat led Congresses failures, which, of course, Democrats blame on Republicans. Apparently, the only time they think they have done something wrong is when terrorists attack the United States.

cBS does try and whitewash some of what went on, such as the minimum wage increase - they do not mention that 140 Dems in the House, including Pelosi, and 10 in the Senate, voted against the bill with the increase - and that despite the so-called ethics overhaul, it is pretty much business as usual with the Congress, what Pelosi and Reid called the culture of corruption when Republicans were in charge. I suppose we are to call it being “ethically challenged” now.

Send a trackback to this post, but don’t forget to link it. Otherwise, I will have Santa put coal in your stocking!

Political edition

Ron Paul: the chicken is our last best hope in saving the Constitution!

Hillary Clinton: well, Bill was getting a little frisky, so…..

Joe Biden: the chicken just wanted to get from one side of Delaware to the other

Mike Huckabee: the chicken was emulating my tax policies as governor

Fred!: The problem is that chickens sometimes lose sight of common sense as they create regulations

John Edwards: there are more then 47 million chickens in this country without healthcare, who are being forced to cross the road for back alley treatment

Oprah: rather then helping this chicken get an education and become a productive worker, I am giving the chicken a new car!

B. Hussein Obama: In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of chickens or a politics of roosters?

Rudy Giuliani: the chicken was in clear violation of the jay walking laws (I guess you have to be from the NYC area on that one!)

Mitt Romney: the chicken is on the move and just looking to improve itself

Dennis Kucinich: impeach the chicken!

Harry Reid: the chicken was getting away from the civil war. Plus, it is mostly Pelosi’s fault

Dick Cheney: We need to battle the chickens overseas so we don’t have to battle them here at home

Bush 43: the heat of the moon was turning the chicken into a zombie, so it was trying to escape from losing its head

What ya got?

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove.

I am new to blogging. I am also late to blogging. So, to catch up, I have been wandering, exploring the “blogoshpere” looking and reading and being pleasantly amazed. The great thing about this is that here it is a place ( is it really a place?) where people who want to share or exchange ideas, recipes or just discover new shades of humanity can do just that. Blogging has given more of us a wonderfully democratic platform of opportunity, a voice that is not dependent upon the permissions of others to raise and raise it some do. Everything from pith to pornography, but there is smoke coming out of the dragon’s cave.

And so, I am also despairingly amazed. I discovered a place where hate and vituperation are proliferating. Right Wing nuts, Left Wing nuts, Middle Wing nuts. In this world it is hard to express an opinion without drawing the fire of someone who disagrees with it. That’s OK, but very often that disagreement is expressed bluntly by a hateful attack upon the writer. The best rules for discussion, Civility and Respect, no longer apply. Rants of screaming derision, slander, pomposity and arrogance, hateful attitudes that are all way too common in today’s world are also common here. Apparently the weapon of choice for the these intellects is the blunt instrument of hot, turgid rhetoric.

When did we lose the ability to have a civil conversation of disagreement? Today there is little requirement for politeness, no respect for the opinions of others who are strangers. Civility, which used to be the presumption is on a losing streak. If we are to regain our civility, we must as a species and as a society put this compulsion, (it is a compulsion, hate is not the result of reason) aside and learn to tolerate our differences. Toleration is not the same as liking something or agreeing with everybody. It is simply toleration. It is living with a idea that you might not choose to think or an action that you might not take yourself. Toleration does not mean anarchy or lawlessness but rather it is the hallmark of a civil society. Civil society demands politeness, kindness and respect in all things. Face to face it is so much easier to be friendly, but behind the anonymity of the internet it is so much easier to not be. When looking someone in the eye it is much harder to differentiate, to hate, to accuse, to belittle, to defame him. It is so easy when one can hide in the ether, that is why there is so much of it here.

I like people. I like strangers. My wife, Marti, will tell you I stop and talk to anyone on the street if given half a chance. To me, everyone is fair game for a pleasant or humorous remark. Taking the high road always means a climb uphill, but the view is superior. So while you are out shopping this Christmas season listening to the carols or enjoying the company of officemates, or friends and family, even a stranger for that matter look into their eyes and pay attention to what you see. Smile at them, touch them, enjoy them. Share your humanity and say thank you or even, “I love you.”

It may not yet be too late and it is contagious. That’s a good thing.

Merry Christmas!

Crossposted at www.pickupthepen.com