SHILOHMAN'S NEWS AND COMMENT

NEWS COVERAGE FOR THE QUADBLOG

Senator Ted Kennedy was flying home from North Adams, Mass. last Saturday afternoon when the Cessna jet in which he was flying was struck by lightning. All the electrical functions on the plane were blown out including the instruments. The pilot had to fly the plane manually and it landed safely in New Haven, CT. Wouldn’t you wonder if this was a warning? When will this guy ever get the message?

Speaking of Kennedys. U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy, Teddie’s son, had a little traffic problem of his own in DC. Seems he leaped out of bed around 2:00 AM, jumped into his car and dashed off to the Capitol. He thought he was late for a vote. (Well I guess he WAS at 2:00AM!) Anyhow, a security barrier jumped in the way and he smashed up his ’97 Mustang and got pulled over by the Capitol Police. He swore he wasn’t drinking. Next day he revealed that he is entering rehab for addiction to prescription pain meds. (Wouldn’t it have been funny if Rush Limbaugh was his roommate?) Teddie said he was so proud of his son for recognizing he had a problem. Good thing there aren’t any rivers or bridges between Patrick’s townhouse and the Capitol!

Did you see this one in the news on Sunday? HARTFORD, Conn. U.S. military troops with sever psychological problems have been sent to Iraq or kept in combat, even when superiors have been aware of signs of mental illness. Doesn’t that make you stop and think? And you were wondering how the Smoking Christian passed his military psych screen?

Does anyone recognize the name Sheila Kuehl? You people in SoCal might have heard of her. She’s a California state senator representing West Los Angeles. If she isn’t famous as a politician you older readers might remember her because she played Zelda on the Doby Gillis Show. She was so cute the way she wrinkled her nose at Doby and aggravated Maynard G. Krebs (who later turned into Gilligan). I had a crush on her back in the 60s. Anyway, she has introduced a bill intended to insure that future history textbooks include gay and lesbian history. Turns out Zelda is gay! Say it ain’t so, Zelda! That's almost like finding out Christie Brinkley is a lesbian!

The Pope has excommunicated two Chinese bishops that were recently appointed by the Chinese government. Apparently, the Vatican just doesn’t appreciate the help of the politicians in an atheistic country. The church says it only recognizes the bishops they themselves appoint. Huh! I mean, who do they think they are? I just want all our loyal readers out there to know that the Church of the Smoking Christian reserves the right to appoint all its own church officials regardless of what the Vatican thinks. As Cardinal of the COTSCO I would like to say, and I’m sure my protonotary agrees with me, we will not be frightened away! We will fearlessly take our stand against any persecution or prosecution!

Finally, I give you a direct quote, dateline May 4 Budapest, Hungary. Hungarian builders who drank their way to the bottom of a huge barrel of rum while renovating a house got a nasty surprise when a pickled corpse tumbled out of the empty barrel, a police magazine website reported. According to online magazine www.zsaru.hu, workers in Szeged in the south of Hungary tried to move the barrel after they had drained it, only to find it was surprisingly heavy and were shocked when the body of a naked man fell out. The website said that the body of the man had been shipped back from Jamaica 20 years ago by his wife in the barrel of rum in order to avoid the cost and paperwork of an official return. According to the website, workers said the rum in the 300-liter barrel had a "special taste" so they even decanted a few bottles of the liquor to take home. The wife has since died and the man was buried in a proper grave.
There must be a lesson here somewhere!

You guys are all great! Thanks for stopping by!