From the N.Y. Daily News:

Christians who mostly turned the other cheek as "The Da Vinci Code" climbed the best-seller list are launching a counteroffensive now that Dan Brown's novel is set to hit the big screen.

As the movie's May 19 opening draws nearer, Roman Catholic and other Christian leaders are unveiling new Web sites, taking out full-page ads to "debunk" the work's claims and speaking out in the media and from the pulpit.

The archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, denounced the book's controversial premise that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children, calling it "the stuff of imagination."

iTunes is currently playing: The Book I Read from the album Live at the Sun Palace (Tokyo) by Talking Heads.

... it's time for MARSHMALLOW PEEPS!!!!



Did you know:

Just Born, a candy company that was formed in 1910, got into the Peeps market by buying the Rodda Candy Company of Lancaster, Pa., in 1953. Though Rodda was best known as being technologically advanced in the art of jellybean making, they also produced Peeps.

At that time, the making of Peeps was a time-consuming process. When Just Born bought the company, it took 27 hours to make one Peep. Today it takes 6 minutes. Also, before the Peep-making technology was streamlined, Peeps were squeezed through a pastry tube, one at a time and then the eyes were painted on by hand. It wasn't exactly high-tech candy making. Just Born revolutionized the Peep-making technology and now 3,500 Peep eyes are created every minute.

And for the health conscious:

Each Peep has 32 calories (160 per five-chick serving) and 0 fat grams.

Want to know more about Peeps? Here ya go!



iTunes is currently playing: Candy Everybody Wants from the album MTV Unplugged by 10,000 Maniacs.

Kiefer Sutherland Signs on for THREE MORE SEASONS of '24'.

How do they cover all those tattoos? And why does Kiefer have Our Lady of Guadalupe tattooed on his arm?



iTunes is currently playing: Hero's Dream from the album Picture This by Jim Brickman.

... because I have three cats and my cat allergies have gotten worse of late. The article referred to a medication being developed for cat allergies but gave no information about when it might be available:

... a new study on pet allergies found that using a new compound made from the allergy-producing protein in cat saliva might help end cat allergies — almost like a cat-allergy vaccine.

The story did, however, offer this interim solution:



I don't think I could get my kitties to wear an outfit like that, even if it came in cat sizes!

iTunes is currently playing: You've Got A Friend In Me from the album Guilty: 30 Years Of Randy Newman by Randy Newman.

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

From the Drudge Report:

Poll: Republicans Are Happier Than Democrats
Wed Mar 15 2006 10:14:36 ET

The Pew Research Center recently updated a question about happiness that the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago has been asking since 1972.

In every asking of the question, ROLL CALL reports, Republicans have been happier than Democrats.

Republicans tend to be better off than Democrats, and that is one explanation for the happiness gap. But when the researchers controlled for household income, Republicans at all income levels were happier than Democrats at those same income levels.

As for ideology, conservative Republicans were happier than conservative Democrats, and moderate to liberal Republicans were happier than comparable Democrats.

iTunes is currently playing: Laugh and Be Happy (Demo) from the album Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman by Randy Newman.

... to an angel who would have turned 32 today.

Love, Mom.



iTunes is currently playing: Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear from the album Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman by Randy Newman.

... that this year's Oscar show was the worst ever ... totally BORING!!!!!!!!! And apparently we are not alone.



Here are a few suggestions for next year:

1) Get Steve Martin or Billy Crystal to do the show. (DO NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER or your show will suck.)

2) Nominate FIVE songs, not three.

3) Make a rule forbidding rap music from being nominated.

4) Don't put together montage after montage of film clips to break up the monotony of the show. (HINT: If the show is not monotonous, it won't NEED to be broken up.)

5) Don't keep telling us how great movies look ON THE BIG SCREEN in a pathetic attempt to increase theatre attendance. (HINT: If you stop making crappy movies, you won't have to do things to increase attendance.)

6) Make sure that at least ONE celebrity wears a dress that will have people talking the next day. (Think Bjork and her swan dress or Nicholson's ex-girlfriend in her tutu.)

iTunes is currently playing: I Love L.A. from the album Trouble in Paradise by Randy Newman.

It's hard to find time for romance when you are the leader of the free world!

NEW DELHI [News Wire Services] - President Bush is taking some ribbing on his trip to India for failing to take his wife to one of the world's most romantic sites - the Taj Mahal.

Toasting his guests at a luncheon yesterday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh couldn't resist teasing Bush.

"I am truly sorry the President is not taking you to Taj Mahal this time," Singh told the Frist Lady. "I hope he will be more chivalrous next time you are here."

The President said Singh wasn't the only one to notice the omission.

"I've been hearing about it from Laura ever since I told her that we weren't going," he said.

The majestic 17th-century white marble mausoleum is a monument to love, built by Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

iTunes is currently playing: Life During Wartime from the album Fear Of Music by Talking Heads.

... was "necessary to satisfy immediate emergency needs" ???

From a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) regarding fraud and abuse by alleged victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita:



Your tax dollars at work, folks!

iTunes is currently playing: Money, Money, Money from the album Mamma Mia! - Original Cast [5th Anniversary Release with Bonus Tracks] by Louise Plowright, Jenny Galloway, Neal Wright & Siobhan McCarthy.

an aging actress stares at a photo in a silver frame.
speaks to her husband dead forty years of anniversary roses.
white for truth, red for passion.
all we ever needed, she says.

from "Flowers on Ice (1988)"



iTunes is currently playing: Hearts And Flowers from the album Hearts And Flowers by Joan Armatrading.