Talk Show Host Leo Lyons Trapped in Bank!

Dear Emmett & Carter,

It seems that our feline friend and host of the "Leo Lyons Show" got locked in and was trapped in yet another failing bank when it closed unexpectedly and suddenly in Chicago last night...
Signed with LOVE, your Tia…

Recording Recorders...

This is going on You know What, Buddy!

Happy 5th Birthday to Carter!

...this is a TOP SECRET transmission

...from the Oort Cloud Galaxy...

Happy Birthday Earthling!

You Have Orbited the Oort Cloud 5 Times!

We of Globular Cluster #5 Salute You!

Signed,

Your Friends at the Oort Cloud Galaxy

...End Transmission Sequence...

Click on Image for more info...

The Bulls Matador: Kevin Blanchard

Like many women; not all of course, I don’t pay much attention to sports. I spend much of my free time studying politics and government instead. Recently though I read that sports as a national pastime is greatly influenced by politics and government. Professional sports team owners get tax breaks and subsidies in order to stay financially solvent and profitable. David Cay Johnston writes about these financial shenanigans in his new book, Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense and Stick You With the Bill.

Since I’m so oblivious to what’s going on in the world of sports I have to rely on some of the men in my life: one being none other than Kevin Blanchard, a member of the Bull’s Matadors Dance Team. Kevin is an absolute encyclopedia when it comes to sports and by-the-way, a lot of pop culture. He puts a vital and important spin upon what news junkies like me consider trivial:

Wednesday, March 12, 2008
There’s a Line between Decency and Filth
By Kevin Blanchard
Current mood: Angry
Category: Sports

“F#*k you Gordon!... F#*k you Gordon… F#*k you Gordon… ”

You would think we were at a Bulls game and Ben Gordon got traded, no, that was directed at Indiana phenom Eric Gordon and it came courtesy of almost 19,000 angry Illini fans whom have not forgotten that Gordon did an about face on his verbal commitment and chose to sign instead with Indiana. But he was not the last.
Kevin Love, the 6' 10" power forward/center from Oregon had signed a national letter of intent with UCLA, let’s just say the Oregon faithful were not happy with that call. Within days and weeks, Kevin Love received threatening phone calls from hecklers who threatened to blow his head off and blow up the hotel he stayed in when the very college team he plays for, UCLA’s Bruins, would be playing the Oregon Ducks.

But it got worse: A lot worse: Read the rest of Kevin Blanchard’s post.

Kevin Blanchard’s Page

Chicago Bulls Matadors

Friday June 27, 2008
Mercury Cafe, 1505 W. Chicago Ave Poetry Open Mic & Showcase,
featuring Rachel Javellana, Bob Rashkow, and Kevin Blanchard
7 to 9 PM sharp
Admission is FREE!

Baby Carter Presents: My Big Brother’s Movie Debut!

Hello. My name is Baby Carter.

I’d like to introduce my big brother Emmett who is celebrating his movie debut pretending to be a nihilist named Dieter from Sprockets.

Below my gorgeous picture you will find some sprockets of his brilliant and truly disturbing performance. Auf Wiedersehen!

Erika Poethig is an Obama Volunteer...

My friend Erika Poethig braved the bitter cold in Iowa to volunteer for the Barack Obama campaign this past week. I hope that she will allow me to include in this post some of her emails that describe her experience. Stay tuned people and thank you to Erika and all the other selfless campaign volunteers.
The Last Leg Of Iowa Caucus Begins by Mike Flannery

Baby Carter Presents: The Future is Here!

Baby Carter Presents: The Future is Here!

Baby Carter Presents the Future: Compressed Air Powered Cars...

Hello, I’m Baby Carter. As many of you fans of the Echo Report know, I am a frequent contributor to this blog. For many years now, I’ve been hosting and producing this “reality show” segment for the Echo Report. What you may not know, however is that I am avid fan and collector of cars and other motorize vehicles.
This week I read about some jazzy new cars that will satisfy my need for speed and my Tia, Annabelle Echo’s desire to protect the environment. Not only that but these cars look totally cool, exciting and space age!
On the Web:
Yahoo!® GREEN: Air-Car Ready for Mass Production
By Bob Ewing
Moteur Developpment International
CNN.com: Pneumatic-hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV)

Old News: Boris Yeltsin Blackmailed Clinton to IMF?

Old News: Boris Yeltsin Blackmailed Clinton?
I picked up Tom Fenton’s tome, Bad News (2005) at the library last week. I thought it would provide insights into what wasn’t and hadn’t been reported in the mainstream media. On page 30 I discovered and found this sentence intriguing:
“Democracy itself almost crumbled in Russia under the drunken incompetence of Presicent Boris Yeltsin, whose reelection the Clinton White House virtually planned and funded.”
Wow! Who Knew? The rest of the paragraph was ambiguous at best. I quickly googled the words Yeltsin, Clinton & IMF to find this shocker of a post that explains how this could have happened.
On the Web:
Boris, Bill and Monica: trouble ahead for Hillary?
By Dr. Jack Wheeler, BrookesNews.Com, Monday 13 November 2006
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin February 1, 1931 – April 23, 2007
Russians pay respects to Yeltsin
POSTED: 1743 GMT (0143 HKT), April 25, 2007
Midnight Diaries
By Boris Yeltsin & Valentin Yumashev
Bad News: The Decline of Reporting, the Business of News, and the Danger to Us All
By Tom Fenton

Superstar Poet Nikki Giovanni Sounds an Alarm...

I KNEW GOD IS A WOMAN BUT I DIDN’T KNOW SHE IS BLACK
Superstar Poet Nikki Giovanni sounds an alarm that is almost completely ignored.
Superstars can have self doubt even those with an abundance of fame talent and common sense. Until a couple of days ago I knew very little about poet Nikki Giovanni except that she is a highly revered African American poet. She’s part of the curriculum around these parts. I work in a college English department in Chicago, IL
I occasionally encounter crazy students and crazy people posing as students. The dean of Student Services, also an African American told me to deal with each instance with common sense. He told me that I wasn’t paid enough to deal with certain situations. Once I put up with crazy guy for at least 8 weeks until things got so bad it took 3 burly security guards to drag him out of the building. The dean told me that my department had waited much too long to deal with the problem student. Besides acting crazy, the student smelled crazy. Yes he smelled bad. It was worse than Jerry Seinfeld’s funkafied car. I do not exaggerate when I estimate that he could be smelled a block away.
The problem at Virginia Tech didn’t develop overnight. Teachers are not paid enough and students pay too much to put up with mentally ill students. Common sense and gut instinct should have won out over political correctness. Nikki Giovanni is the only one who showed at least some discernment when she insisted that Virginia Tech killer, Cho Seung-Hui be removed from her class.

From: CNN LARRY KING LIVE
Aired April 18, 2007 - 21:00 ET
KING: Now to Nikki Giovanni, who's back in Peoria, Illinois, the distinguished professor of poetry, who taught Cho (Virginia Tech killer, Cho Seung-Hui) in poetry class. What do you make when you see these things?
NIKKI GIOVANNI, POET, VIRGINIA TECH PROFESSOR: I think that the main thing that I think Larry said it was not obvious. This is all hindsight. And I think that Virginia Tech has taken a hit that we don't deserve right now because if we -- if we could have known that -- that this -- to me he was a mean boy, but I'm not a psychiatrist.
But if we -- if we could have known that he could have -- that he could or would have done this, don't you know we would have gotten rid of him?
I have four colleagues who are dead trying to stop him. One of my favorite students, Matt Laporte -- and I know that Matty died a hero because he was a great kid.
I've lost people that I care about.
Don't you think we would have stopped it if we had known it?
KING: Yes. In...
GIOVANNI: It wasn't obvious. And people are saying obvious. It wasn't obvious. It was a boy who -- who tried to intimidate people. He did ugly things. And I did, I thought he was a mean kid and I didn't want to be around him. And I did what I should do, which was tell my supervisor he's got to go or I'm going to resign.
KING: All right...
GIOVANNI: And I did that because I wanted people to know it was serious. I wanted Tech to know that it was serious.
KING: And the...
GIOVANNI: But it still wasn't obvious.
KING: In the package he sent to NBC, he put the name Ax Ishmael in the return address area.
Does that mean anything to you?
GIOVANNI: No, it does not.
KING: He never used that name...
GIOVANNI: No.
KING: ... in class or anything?
GIOVANNI: No, you know, he was monosyllabic. It was a constant battle. The reason that I decided I couldn't deal with him any longer and that I was not going to be of help to this boy is that every -- every class -- I teach the Tuesday/Thursday. He would come in with his sunglasses, come in with a cap, come in with the thing. And, you know, Einstein said that, that doing the same thing all over again and expecting different results is a sign of insanity.
And I found myself every Tuesday and Thursday doing the same thing over again...
KING: Did you...
GIOVANNI: ... and expecting a different result. So I figured one of us is nuts and it wasn't going to be me, you know?
KING: Did you fail him?
GIOVANNI: No, I did not. Actually, he -- I asked that he be taken out of my class. And I wrote a letter to my supervisor, to my department head, Lucinda Roy. And you've spoken to Lucinda. I think you spoke to him last night.
KING: Yes.
GIOVANNI: And I sent his -- his letters. I sent what he was writing, the -- what he called poetry, which was not. It was -- it was nowhere near it. It was a diatribe. And I sent all of that to Lucinda. And I said he's got to get out of my class or I've got to resign, because I cannot ask students to come into a classroom that clearly I'm not controlling.
And if I had left Seung in my class, he would have been controlling it.
KING: How, Nikki, did he get to be a senior?
GIOVANNI: I don't know, because, again, it's not obvious. We -- we are 26,000 students. There are students who commit suicide. There are students who have other problems. You can't just go plucking them out because they may do something. Some people get all right. And he obviously got under some radar -- we are learning. I am learning things now. I am a poet and so I just went on my instinct.
I don't want to be around him. I don't want...
KING: Yes.
GIOVANNI: I don't want him near me. And...
KING: You made a smart move.
GIOVANNI: And I'm not saying that I was right.
What if he had graduated and become something really wonderful and all of a sudden he's got a Nobel Prize and it's like yes, and Dr. Giovanni kicked me out of class?
Boom. Then I've got egg on my face. I'm willing to have egg on my face.
KING: Yes.
GIOVANNI: I am. Because all I know is that something -- to me, the term would be evil, Larry. Something evil came in.
KING: Obviously.
Thank you, dear. Nikki Giovanni.

There are those who have no doubts about what happened at Virginia Tech. Someone close to me is certain that there is a stigma about admitting Mental illness within the Asian community. Others respond by asking, “How many did Timothy McVeigh kill? What about the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski? They’re not Asian. No one in their community thought there was a problem until it was too late.”
I know that writing about this and introducing an instance I experienced is anecdotal and may be considered politically incorrect and possibly offensive to some. Yet I hope that by starting this discussion, all communities will be able to accept or at least acknowledge that when a family member has a mental illness and seek help before another tragedy occurs.
Part of my job is to monitor what students print. If I didn’t the majority of the paper would be used to print celebrity images, bank statements, phone bills, plane tickets etc. In addition, some enterprising students don’t think twice about using up the college’s paper running a business or to help a religious affiliation.
One day, I noticed a lovely young Asian women printing out what appeared to be personal business letters. I told her that she needed to pay for a print card to print personal items. I knew from the print queue that she was printing out copies of the same exact letter several times. I let her have one copy of each distinct letter but and I know this is snooping—I kept copies of each that remained on the queue. I was very suspicious and I wanted to know what she was up to.
The letters were quite bizarre and paranoid. I determined from the letters that the women had registered a website that was also full of bizarre paranoid delusions. A few minutes research on the web led me to the conclusion that this was no ordinary crazy lady. She had been a highly gifted child and had won prestigious scholarly awards and had earned advanced degrees from the most prominent universities in the United States. Some of her close acquaintances and former classmates were now eminent scientific and medical professionals. Some of her bizarre ravings were directed at these people. Yet no one seemed to notice or care that she was wandering around from city to city lost, crazy and far from home.

It’s an Annabelle Echo Saint Valentine’s Day in Chicago

Annabelle Echo reflects back almost a year to when she created her own version of a “Cartoon Controversy”.

Baby Carter Presents... Normal Weirdness

Baby Carter Presents...
Normal Weirdness:
a Taste of Winter Ahead or Tooth Fairy T.V.

Hello, I'm Baby Carter.
As many of you already know I often post special reports for my Tia, Annabelle Echo on this blog.
Recently I appeared on WCCO TV reporting on an early winter storm.
After sledding and falling face first into a snow drift my brother Emmett who just sent two teeth to the tooth fairy helped me shave off my snow beard and snow mustache. Emmett told Tia that he lost a tooth but because his mouth was a little confused from the rearrangement and confusing configuration he hadn't quite adapted and she thought he had said, “washed a goose” not “lost a tooth”. But that is neither hear nor there. Tia asked some probing questions about the tooth fairy. Did he wear pink spandex and tutu? What was it like meeting him? Did he have a magic wand? TIA IS NOT FUNNY! Besides which, Emmett never saw any Tooth Fairy but he did leave a Fantastic Four figurine under Emmett’s pillow. Tia told Emmett that she use to be one of the Fantastic Four when they were the Fantastic Five. NOT FUNNY, TIA! Whatever. Anywho... we then went home, shoveled the snow to build a snowman and just as the media showed up I was enjoying my first taste of snow. It tasted O.K. But next time I think I'll add a touch of maple syrup.

On the Web:
WCCO TV: Normal Weirdness-A Taste of Winter
WCCO TV: Heavy Storm Drops A Foot Of Snow!
Baby Carter Presents: Spiderman Returns!
Baby Carter Presents: Coal & Switches
Baby Carter Presents: Hail to Pay!
Fantastic Four
Tooth Fairy

Baby Carter Presents: Coal & Switches

Today a little bit of a palette cleanser if you will...
An exclusive to the Echo Report:
Baby Carter Presents from the Minnesota State Fair

Hello, My name is Baby Carter.
I’m reporting to you from the Minnesota State Fair where I met world renowned cult music icon Jeffrey Barnes of the band Brave Combo. Wizard that he is he spun the interview into a song from Brave Combo’s latest album CD Holidays!

Coal And Switches
By Jeffrey Barnes

Ho Ho Ho Little Boy, What Is It You Want?
“A Little Girl”
Yeah, Just What I Thought.
“Gee Santa Claus, You’re Sure Out Of Shape”
Hmm, Maybe I’ll Review Your Surveillance Tape.
Well Well Well.
You Blew Up The Toilet With An M-80,
You Told A Naughty Story To A Nice Lady.
You Back Talked Mom, You Told A Lie,
You Better Watch Out, I’m Telling You Why.

Coal And Switches, Coal And Switches.
That’s What The Bad Kids Are Gettin’ This Christmas.
Coal, Cold And Hard As Your Heart.
Little Thin Switches To Make You Smart.

Coal And Switches, Coal And Switches.
Either Way That Oughta Warm Your Britches.
Now, Ol’ Santa’s Mad,
‘Cause He Knows You’ve Been Bad.
What Are You Getting?
You Should Ask Your Dad.
Smack! Ow!
Do The Spank! Do The Spank!

Coal And Switches, Coal And Switches.
That’s What The Bad Kids Are Gettin’ This Christmas.
Coal, Cold And Hard As Your Little Heart.
Little Thin Switches, ‘Cause You Know That They Smart.
Coal And Switches, Coal And Switches.

That’s What You Get, You Little Sons Of Guns.
You’ve Done Had Your Fun, You’ll Get None For Christmas.
All You’ll Be Getting Is Coal And Switches.

Hey Jeffrey wasn’t kidding. Not only did I get a lot of Coal and Switches I got Brave Combo’s latest CD, Holidays!
Plus because Jeffrey is also kind of an evil wizard guy he whipped up a furious hail storm upon my cute little head.
You don’t believe me? I’ve got the pictures to prove it. My big brother Emmett was so scared he climbed up a street sign.

On the Web:
Brave Combo
Coal & Switches
Baby Carter Presents: Spiderman Returns!
Baby Carter Presents: Robot Invasion!

Baby Carter Presents: Hail to Pay!

Cartoon Controversy

Above: My fatgirls rio baton ode to the diaphanous FAXY, the Evil Wizard Guy & the dangerously agglutinated SQUASH GOBLIN.

I posted the comment below yesterday on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360° Blog. Some of the comments I post on the blog are published. This one wasn't. I'm not sure why. It may have been too similar to other comments or it may have been considered too controversial. Filtering hundreds of comments can't be easy but I wonder about the who and the why of this process. Here is my comment for what it is worth:
I wonder who is instigating these demonstrations. What do they have to gain? The protesters may want to pick their battles with more thought. Are they angry about US occupation and oppression that causes grinding poverty and shortages of basic necessities? Ignorance about what is really going on can cause people to lash out at what appears to be a mere slight yet it represents a deeper hurt. Just think about your family squabbles. They often ignite from the weakest of sparks.
If it isn't obvious the issue being discussed is the demonstrations in the Muslim world over the publishing of several cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

Update: According to AC, the 360° Blog got 300,000 hits so far. Does this mean that 300,000 people commented last night or since the blog began about 2 weeks ago? Or does it mean that 300,000 have addressed it with or without comment? Also AC says he reads all of the posted comments. I'm not sure this is such a good idea... There is only so much time in each day. If you like, you may comment on this blog. Before I had it set so that commenters had to be bloggers too. If I hadn't , Internet marketeers would leave bogus comments for their potency enhancement or weight loss products. This is an experiment. If you are an Internet marketeer please refrain from commenting. Thanks.

On the Web:
Anderson Cooper 360° Blog
Ravenscroft Dog Farm: Ice Cream Means War

Check out Annabelle Echo Chicago for a reports about Economic Hitman John Perkins, Welsh music icon & artist, Jon Langford and sculptor, Cynthia Plaster Caster

Check out My Closet for an upcoming review of Iraqi film, The Dreams of Sparrows.

"Gang Infested" Gold ! ?

Because of the war going on in Iraq, I haven’t paid much attention to the winter Olympics this time around. I feel too restless and a little frivolous watching something I now consider a distraction. I’ve been working on a couple of short essays about Jon Langford and Hayder Daffar and was going to try to post them today but instead this caught my eye in today’s Tempo section of the Chicago Tribune:
TURIN 2006 Winners & Lugers:11 days into the Winter Games and the Tempo Subcommittee on Feigning Interest is doing its best to keep the Olympic flame alive. Reported by Maria Mooshil, Linda Bergstrom, Lilah Lohr, Tim Bannon Lucinda Hahn Published February 20, 2006
NBC commentator Tim Ryan: He referred to the "gang-infested Chicago neighborhood" gold medalist Shani Davis grew up in. That would be Hyde Park, home of the University of Chicago and the Museum of Science and Industry. Somebody needs a geography lesson.
I grew up in the same Chicago neighborhood. While I have been mugged a few times, I wouldn’t call it “gang-infested.” One guy pulled a gun. When he wouldn’t let me go after I gave him my wallet, I decided to teach the mugger a lesson: Never get close with a gun. I grabbed the barrel and pushed it down towards the ground and started screaming. I fell on the ice. He was so stunned that I had tried to take his gun; he gave up on me and walked away. Another guy stole my bike from me with a shank. A shank is a homemade knife like weapon people usually make in jail. So I’m guessing this guy had been in jail before.
I asked my fellow blogger, Kevin Blanchard what he thought about Ryan’s comment about Hyde Park.
“If he thinks Hyde Park is gang-infested, he should come to my neighborhood, Englewood.”
Mr. Blanchard grew up in Englewood. It unlike Hyde Park does have a reputation for being “gang-infested.”
While I admit I don’t feel very safe going there, the folks I personally know who live there are among Chicago’s best and brightest.
But to return to our topic, I have admit to being mystified that there is so little coverage in the Chicago press about Shani Davis winning a Gold medal. You would think it to be the top story on every TV & radio news program and newspaper. I believe he is the very first African American man to win for speed skating. Vonetta Flowers is the first woman who in 2002 won Gold for bobsled. Although I’m sure some African Americans resent that there has to be a “Black History Month”, the Chicago press usually makes such a big deal about it.
On the Web:
TURIN 2006 Winners & Lugers
U.S. speed skater Shani Davis ices his place in history
Shani Davis does it his way, wins gold medal
Shani Davis rises above the criticism
Friend proud of Davis’ Olympic gold
Shani Davis

Free the Naughty Gnomes...

This edition of my blog is about gnomes. Specifically the Naughty Gnomes who live in my building. But before I begin and explain what I'm talking about I'd like to give credit to an amazing artist, Chad Walker who drew the image to the left. I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing this image but my scanner was broken and I needed something. Anyway his site is located @
http://www.devotedbee.com/

O.K. now back to business... The reason I call my upstairs neighbors the Naughty Gnomes is because they have reigned terror upon my building since they moved in this past spring. They put an evil ceramic gnome in the vestibule with a hat bigger than it's body. Scrawled down the length of its hat are the words:
"I EAT LITTLE BOYS". Every morning I turn the gnome's face into the corner revealing the skull & crossbones on its little butt. "Naughty Gnome!" I admonish as I leave the building. Sadly though the ceramic gnome is the least of it. This week, for example, they pee'd on and put used condoms on my neighbor's door. So when this past Sunday at 2:06am I heard shattering glass right outside my door did you think I'd jump up out of bed in terror and call the police or at least check to see if anyone was injured? Under normal circumstances of course, I would! But instead, I just rolled over, grumbled to myself, "those Naughty Gnomes are at it again...", and fell back into a sweet dream about ...
Anderson Cooper...
more about him later...
On the Web: http://www.freethegnomes.com/

Baby Carter presents Robot Invasion!

Happy Hallowe'en to my nephews Emmett & Carter.

LOvE... from Tia








On the Web:Baby Carter presents Robot Invasion !
News from the Oort Cloud Galaxy...


If you want to check out My Closet, go ahead...