Well, it's been two days since the Arvada Colorado shooting, and the media trucks have left my neighborhood. The only sign that they were here are the deep ruts they left by hurridly parking in wet, muddy ground along the main road. Like migratory vultures, their trucks and satellite dishes and blow-dried reporters have moved south, to more fertile feeding grounds.

One group of reporters is hovering in Englewood, home of the gunman, interviewing family and friends and collecting every possible scrap of information about this sick nut.

Another group is camped out in Colorado Springs, where they are broadcasting damn-nearly-hourly "special reports" that are focusing on the sick psychopath who gunned down innocent people in an effort to emulate other sick psychopaths.

A second shooting has occurred in Colorado today, and additional victims have been reported.

Complete details are not being released, but this second shooting occurred at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. New Life Church, along with Focus on the Family, helped establish Colorado Springs' reputation as a lynchpin of Christian fundamentalism. Its congregation was estimated in 2006 at 14,000 members.

New Life Church was founded in 1984 by Ted Haggard, who was implicated in a drugs-and-sex scandal in November 2006 and resigned his position shortly afterwards.

I am a big fan of Craigslist.

In the last six months, I've located scarce sports tickets on the site, found a terrific, responsible pet sitter, and collapsed in snorting, helpless laughter while reading their "Best of..." compilations.

I've found it's a great place to pay about .10 on the dollar for gently-used or never-used merchandise, and of course it's a terrific recycling/reuse of natural resources.

This Christmas, I have two teenagers, two in-laws, nieces, one sister, one mother, and a husband to buy for - in addition to all the assorted neighbors, teachers, and friends. Normally I put aside $100 a month and end up plunking down the entire $1200 in gifts.

This year, I am determined to only spend $600, max, and I'm going to buy nice stuff, quality stuff, mainly from Craigslisters. The rest of my budget goes to charity.

I started out yesterday morning by surfing the site at 5:30 a.m. After several hours of emailing, phone calls, and strategizing, I committed to visiting four different people who were selling their stuff online.

I found great gifts, and paid great prices for everything, but what I found also depressed me and left me heartsick.

More....

After being examined for a persistent cough, Vice-President Dick Cheney has been admitted to George Washington University Hospital for atrial fibrillation.

In the upper chambers of the heart, an irregular rhythm was found, according to FOX News.

More below....

All the angst from the Edwards and Obama camps tonight about their candidates being booed roundly!

A dozen or so posts in tonight's liveblog thread stated that these were "Hillary Plants" deliberately disrupting the CNN debate.

But there's a simple, straightforward explanation for the audience's reaction:

Your average Democratic voter doesn't enjoy, or appreciate, a "circular firing squad" among the Democratic Presidential candidates.

And the audience was not packed chock-full of Clintonistas.

How do I know this?

The Nevada audience wildly applauded Kucinich's "Impeachment!" answer, his " I didn't vote for the Patriot Act... because I read the thing" statement, and everything else he managed to interject.

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All day long, ever since I was listening to NPR's now-infamous waitress interview on "Morning Edition", I've been nagged by a feeling of deja vu.

What was it that itched at my subconscious so?

Mystery solved! Within the last 10 minutes or so, after an exhaustive 15-second Google search,  I discovered the source of my remembrance of Hillary-bashing past.

This story - that Hillary Clinton is a cold, unfeeling rich bitch who stiffs poor single mother waitresses out of their hard-earned tips - has been used before!

Nearly word for word, image for image, you can find a comparison of the two stories below the fold....

So... the inevitable happened to me this week.

I have two jobs, two kids, two cars, two pets, and (obviously) too many commitments. Add in a nasty proclivity to procrastinate by hiking around in the glorious autumn sunshine or watching my more-than-glorious Colorado Rockies, and trouble is just around the corner.

How do I handle it? I revert to acting like the college girl I was a quarter of a century ago. I grind up some fresh dark roast, grab a six-pack of diet Mountain Dew, and go to work.

Usually around noon the day before a big project is due - when my anxiety has peaked and my task list has spilled over onto several sheets of paper - I sit myself down at my huge work table, plug in my two laptops, and settle in for thirty hours of straight, focused work.

Let me grab another cup of coffee, then join you below ....

Yes, yes, yes.

We ALL know about the Mets. But - hold on there, fellows.

There's a team in the NL West that is doing just what the Mets are doing - with LESS than half the payroll, and an attitude that is as wholesome and fan-friendly as, well, apple pie.

It's my beloved Colorado Rockies.

Let's just anoint the Rocks as the Team of the People, The Workingman's (and woman's) Team, the Bluecollar Boys of Autumn.

While you're at it, stick the Mets and the Phillies in the Country Club Column. Why? When you compare their payrolls, you'll be amazed at what my team did on their dime.

No one's heard of us, or really cares - but we're there in the thick of the National League, grinding it out night after night with no respect from ESPN or Fox (not that we care)......

My faith, recently shaken, in the American college student has been restored today.

With their laser-like wit, ability to penetrate to the core of an issue, and linguistic skills fit for this new millenia, the frat boys of Columbia University have brought us the following message:

http://s216.photobucket.com/...

Translated, the Columbia frat boys are saying this: "Ahmadinejad? He's just a squirrel trying to get a nut... a hushpuppy-wearing, alley-cat-coat crumbcake catching nobody"

More derision to be heaped below the fold ....

A weekend summer night in 1977, and I was a 13-year old babysitter walking across an Army post to a babysitting job. No air conditioning in the enlisted quarters, so every window was open and most of the heavy canvas military-issue drapes were tied back to allow even the slightest breeze.

As I walked from one end of the large housing complex to the other, I could hear every detail of my neighbor’s domestic lives: pots and cutlery clattering into sinks, televisions on to “The Love Boat,” parents and kids relaxing and unwinding from a long hot week.

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