The AP reported the winner in in San Jose State University’s annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. The challenge is to write the worst opening sentence to an imaginary novel. Here is David McKenzie’s winning entry:
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin’ off Nantucket Sound from the nor’ east and the dogs are howlin’ for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the “Ellie May,” a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin’ and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”
“I’m losing it,” my mother said this morning when I picked up the phone. Given her age and the fact that she lives alone, we’ve taken to having her call me every morning just to check in to let me know that she’s alive and well.
“What do you mean you’re losing it?” I asked her.
“Well, I kept trying to call you and it wasn’t working. Then I realized I was dialing your phone number on the remote control.”
At least we can laugh about it.
From the NY Daily News:
The Supreme Court refused Monday to hear a civil case brought by ex-CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson against Vice President Cheney and former top Bush administration aides Lewis (Scooter) Libby, Karl Rove and Richard Armitage.
The decision brings to an end a lawsuit that alleged the Bushies conspired to punitively expose Plame as a CIA agent after her husband ex-Ambassador Joe Wilson conducted a fact-finding mission ahead of the Iraq war. The trip helped debunk Bush administration claims that Saddam Hussein had tried to buy weapons-grade uranium in Africa to build a nuclear warhead.
Plame and her husband accused the quartet of violating their constitutional rights.
From Politico:
The justices denied certiorari without comment this morning. A district court judge also rejected the suit, as did the D.C. Circuit in a 2-1 ruling. The lower courts said individuals like the Wilsons could not sue government employees for alleged privacy violations because the law Congress wrote dealing with such violations, the Privacy Act, directs liability to the government.
Last month, the Obama administration’s representative before the high court, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, urged the justices not to hear the case (pdf).
Poor President Obama. He really wants to look different from his predecessor, but other than a few inches in height and shades of skin color, his actions look more and more like Bush43’s.
Was working on updating the Events calendar for the main site when I saw the following on SGM, LLP’s site:
Thursday, June 25th:
Tim Gleason (aka, Prince Charming) will represent Snow White in a mediation/arbitration challenging her termination by The Seven Dwarfs Ltd. OBA Labour and Employment Law section.
Beer Bistro, 18 King Street East, 5:30 p.m.
Clever. And holding it a beer bistro is a sure-fire crowd pleaser. 
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