I’ve been holed up writing writing writing to meet a book deadline and want nothing more than to be free, crawl outside and slither in the streets. As Jon Stewart said on the Daily Show last night, “The desire for freedom is universal.” If you’re in NYC, you’ve heard there’s a poisonous cobra on the loose after escaping from the Bronx Zoo. Here are the chronicles of Cobra the New York City tourist as he enjoys his free time in the city that never sleeps. Cobra, if you can make it here, you’ll make… the rest of us run out of the place!
Famous Pets – Cobra escape!
Dinner Party Talk – For your weekend

What?!
Psychological issues. Jared Lee Loughner, the Arizona crazy who pleaded not guilty to 49 counts of murder and attempted assassination, has been ordered to undergo a month-long psychological examination to decide whether he can be considered sane. Um, how about we save ourselves some money and just say, he’s a few peas short of a casserole. See how easy that was?
More crazy… Charlie Sheen was out and about this week. He’s still #winning! He appeared on Jimmy Kimmel to toss out a few t-shirts and kiss Jimmy on the lips, declaring it “moist.” Um, Jimmy call your doctor and tell him you have “Goddess residue.”
Crazy must be contagious… Florida pastor Terry Jones, who halted plans to burn the Quran on 9/11, decided March was a good time. According to USA Today, after a 6-hour trial at his church, in which he served as judge, he and 12 church member jurors, decided the Quran was guilty of something, so they soaked it in Kerosene for an hour and set it ablaze. Results? A few clowns short of a circus.
Maybe it’s just Florida. Did you hear about 92-year-old Helen Staudinger of Ocala, Florida, who is being held on an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge? Yep, when she knocked on 53-year-old neighbor Dwight Bettner’s door and asked to borrow a kiss, he refused. So, she marched back to her house, got her gun, and came back over to Dwight’s and fired four shots, one missing him by inches. Dwight, what are you crazy? Just kiss her!
Oochie coochie crazy. Scranton, PA police say Karin Mackaliunas was in a motor vehicle crash and was arrested when three bags of heroin was found in her coat. But wait! There’s more! According to AOL News, when officers noticed she was “fidgeting” in the backseat, Karin confessed she had a “few things inside her.” The strip search yielded 54 bags of heroin, 31 plastic baggies, 8.5 prescription pills and $51.22, all of which she had stuffed in her, um, hot pocket.
Higher education. You’ll be glad to know that New York University arts professor Wafaa Bilal has successfully had a camera surgically removed from the back of his skull. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, Professor Bilal believes that communication devices will be a routine part of our bodies in the future, so he decided to be a-head of his time. In November, he had a camera mounted to the back of his skull on titanium posts to record, at 60-second intervals, all the places he had left behind. Okay, now I’m an art critic: he’s crazy too.
Now, eat your dinner!
Life 101 – Spring!
Took this charming picture of crocuses yesterday, the official first day of spring. Today, they were covered in snow. I love a good weather joke.
I’m getting through by dreaming of tiptoeing through my tulips. Speaking of which, forget the snow, and sing along with me as Tiny Tim Tiptoes Through the Tulips on Laugh In. Which reminds me… you’ve gotta have a gimmick. So, I’m going to use the first week of spring to perfect my new act: riding a unicycle while hula-hooping, juggling, and playing the harmonica. I’ll be ready by summer.
Dinner Party Talk – For your weekend

What?!
Dog toy. Florida paramedic Cindy Economou has served six months probation for second-degree petty theft. What did she steal? Hold onto your stomach and your foot… sweet Cindy showed up at a nasty car crash and stole a disembodied foot. Why, Cindy, why? Oh, she had good intentions. She wanted to use the thing to train her cadaver-sniffing dog. “It was an unrecognizable mass of flesh,” she said. “It wasn’t a clean cut. You couldn’t even recognize it as a foot. If I had thought it was somehow reattachable and usable, I would have gone to my commander.” Oh, that makes it better. Foot theft victim Karl Lambert is now suing her for an arm and a leg.
Speaking of dogs… An extremely rare Red Tibetan Mastiff named “Hong Dong” (which means “Big Splash” in Chinese) was just bought by a Chinese industrialist for $1.5 million, making Hong (or is it Dong?) the Lamborghini of dogs, the most expensive dog in the world. “Oh, how many shelter pups would that have saved?” my dog Westminster woofed.
Tick tock. This week we “sprang forward,” and I found out something I never knew. Before “Standard time,” each city in America had its own clock. Noon was when the sun was at its highest point. It was the railroads that set the Standard and created our modern time zones in America. I know what you’re thinking, Pine Bush still has it’s own time zone.
$ingers. Perhaps you’ve seen and heard the viral video smash, “Friday.” How about “My Jeans?” Well, let me catch you up. For an price, LA based production company Ark Music Factory will fly your child to LA, write a song for him or her, and record the “hit” and shoot a video. 13-year-old Rebecca Black’s “Friday,” has 17 million views on YouTube. Why? It’s hilariously bad, which means everyone wants to blog, Tweet, and Facebook it to a friend. But with the autotune and bubblegum video, it makes me want to record my own. So much so, I feel like Veruca Salt in “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”—“Give it to me now!” Two things I’m sure of: 1) this is THE bar mitzvah must-have gift of the season. 2) Glee will do their version.
Speaking of Glee. In addition to a gay kiss, this week’s Glee featured Kathy Griffin as failed Tea Party candidate, Tammy Jean Albertson, who was brought in to judge the regional show choir competition. Griffin was a little bit Palin, a little bit O’Donnell. Tammy Jean announced before the competition that: “I am not a witch,” and says she “twittered” that “Obama is a terrorist.” When the judges discussed Kurt and Blaine’s duet, Griffin’s character declared, “Well, boys shouldn’t do a duet. The last thing we need to do is send a message to children that ‘gay is okay.’ It is not a legitimate lifestyle, and last time I checked, it’s not in the Constitution.”
Dateline Ellenville, NY. On 209 at the red light. A truck turns off Main Street with a sticker across the windshield that said, “REDNECK SEXY.” Oh, how I wish I could have seen the driver.
Now, eat your dinner!
Holidays – Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Wishing you a four leaf clover day!
Life 101 – American goodness
The one thing certain about Americans is that when others are hurt or suffering, we rally. My prayers, like yours, are going out this weekend to the people of Japan as they cope with catastrophe. If you’d like to help, Charity Navigator has published donating tips and a list of charities responding. The Red Cross is asking for donations to their relief efforts in Japan. You can easily donate $10 by texting from REDCROSS to 90999 from your phone. If your funds are tight and you want to help, if 100,000 people ‘Like’ the Dog Bless You Facebook fan page in the next 10 days, the Annenberg Foundation will fund $100,000 to relief efforts following the devastating tsunami in Japan. If that number is reached by Sunday, the donation doubles to $200,000. Spread the word.
Dinner Party Talk – For your weekend

Coming to you from a BUSY week!
Repost. If you’re a Facebooker, you might have seen this posted: “Charlie Sheen, 47, is all over the news because he’s a celebrity drug addict. While Andrew Wilfahrt, 31, Brian Tabada, 21, Rudolph Hizon, 22, Chauncy Mays, 25, Christopher G. Stark, 22 are all soldiers who gave their lives this week with no media mention.”
Speaking of Facebook. A new survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers says that two-thirds of divorce lawyers are now using Facebook as the “primary source” of evidence in divorce proceedings. According to The Guardian, the site is “a leading cause of relationship trouble.”
Kentucky yucky. Kentucky Republican Senator Mike Harmon wants to make it legal for Christian students to bully gay kids about their sexuality. He’s filed an amendment to an anti-bullying bill saying students should be allowed to condemn other students’ sexual preferences as long as the expression of a religious belief does not include physical harm. Seriously? Is this what we need to make our country better?
I’ve got gas. I don’t know about you, but these gas prices are giving me cramps. In the last two weeks, the average price of regular gasoline in the United States has jumped 33 cents per gallon. If this isn’t a rallying cry for alternative energies, I don’t know what is.
Parents of the Year. According to AOL News, a Georgia couple has pleaded guilty to having their 14-year-old daughter perform “sexual favors” for a 67-year-old manager of a car dealership so they could skip a few payments for their 1998 Dodge Caravan! The monthly payment was $281. These people are dumber than a bucket of mud. Who’d pay $281 a month for a 1998 Dodge Caravan?!
Cut it out! First, San Francisco outlawed plastic bags, then the Happy Meal, and now? Have you heard about the San Francisco man who is, um, heading up an effort to outlaw male circumcision in the city? Yep, Lloyd Schofield says he’s already collected half of the required signatures to put the issue on the city’s November ballot.
In honor of Women’s History Month, the shortest joke ever: A dyslexic walks into a bra.
Now, eat your dinner.