Morning Blog News Update: Thursday Edition

It is Thursday, right? Anyway, I have one speech and three cartoons to draw today. The speech is to a Baptist Hospital leadership retreat -- I think I still owe them money, so I am working some of that debt off. I then have a speech tomorrow in Tupelo at 8:15 in the morning. It's speech talking about cancer, survivorship and how I have used humor to keep from being scared to death. Speaking of scared to death, here is the morning blog news update.

Weather
Global warming has taken a few days off. A cold front blew through last night (and hopefully blew some of the leaves I haven't had a chance to get to down the street) and now, we are getting closer to seasonal temps. Today will be windy and cool, with a high of 59 (compare that to the 80's yesterday). Winds will blow at around 20 mph.

If you removed a chief that made no sound, would she be removed?
Well, well. Frank gave Chief Shirlene Anderson the ax, reassigning her to "special duties" and has appointed a hostage negotiator, Lt. Gerald Jones. (I turned down the job). Dale Danks said Frank was "man enough to make the call." If she takes the new job, her duties will be to "coordinate emergency services, including police, fire and disaster response. She also would oversee interagency communications with local, county, state and federal law enforcement." No word whether she will drive kids in patrol cars to Frank's BBQ's. But the reason for the pre-Thankgiving massacre seems to be over the bodyguard promotions. From the story: Tension existed between the two because Anderson did not sign promotion forms for Assistant Chief Michael Recio and several other officers Melton bumped up without Anderson's input. The officers have not received raises. Now the questions are whether the Chief will take the new job and of course, how the city will pay for having another leadership position. The story even had a quote from Electionman himself, former Mayor Harvey Johnson. He is rested and ready.

Trial of the Century: Part II
Judge orders O.J. to stand trial for his memorabilia rescue mission gone bad. A recovered Nancy Grace will have something to cheer about now. "If I have any disappointment it's that I wish a jury was here," Simpson told The Associated Press before he left the courtroom. "As always, I rely on the jury system." Why yes, Juice, you sure do.

It's a cartoon world after all
The Spongebob TV movie sucked up 9 million viewers. I will end up seeing 9 million times. And Ratatouille, a great movie, was the top DVD in sales and was #3 in rentals. We already own it.

Long-time legislator challenges election results
John Reeves (Jackson) is challenging the results that left him 221 votes behind his Hinds County District 71 race challenger, Adrienne Wooten. At question are precincts with split districts -- thus two different ballots. Wooten came out with 1,524 votes to Reeves' 1,303 in the Nov. 6 general election.

No ho, ho, ho: It's offensive to women
Merry PC Christmas: Santas in Sydney, Australia are being warned not to used Santa's tradition greeting because it may be offensive to women. Sydney's Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say "ha ha ha" instead, the Daily Telegraph reported.