I am tired of Rosie....Please just go away quietly. As for Paris Hilton....just throw away the key!

Tell us who you wouldn't care if you never saw in the news again!

claramae: You and me too!!

parts of Colorado, the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, Utah, Lake Tahoe

These are all in my part of the country---consider yourself welcome!

From where I live in the NW corner of New Mexico, I can drive North for less than an hour, and be in the mountains (14,000 feet)at fabulous ski resorts---star spotting in Aspen even, in just over an hour! Or I can drive South, for that hour and be smack dab in the desert! Cactus, and sand as far as you can see. I can drive 50 miles, and stand in 4 states (New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, & Utah) as well as 2 Indian reservations (Navajo and Ute), all at one time! People say you cannot be 2 places at once, there you can be in 6!!!

If given the choice I too would go to Italy. I have been to Hawaii many times, my DD used to live there!!! But, I would do Italy while I was able to enjoy it totally! I see how the older I get the less inclined I am to just take a chance and experience things! I am much more careful, I plan, and make reservations, and such instead of just wingin' it! Hawaii is beautiful though, and there is so much to see and do, I highly recommend it---at some point you gotta go!!!

Kat

Well, I would love to go to the Mediterranean countries, as well as the Far East. But above all, I am an avid wildlife nut (degrees and everything). I would KILL to go to Africa and to Madagascar and to the South American rainforest. There are lots of animals out there that I'm determined to see in the wild before I die. It's incredible how thrilling it is to be almost within arm's reach of a threatened or endangered species. It's totally different from seeing them in a zoo. I got a taste for it when I saw American Crocodiles when I went to the Everglades a couple of years ago. There are only about 1,600 of them living wild in the U.S., and I got within 10 feet of two of them. It's a wonderful experience for anyone who's into that kind of stuff.

I have been to Nepal and found it very beautiful. We did this when on a tour which also covered certain cities in India. Going by tour made the experience less strenuous for us because they did all the logistics of humping us from place to place, ensuring we had rooms in nice hotels, and that we got to see and learn a great deal in a short period of time. It was a wonderful trip but it was taxing in that the locals view strangers as walking treasure chests. You simply cannot walk in public without being beseiged by beggars and people wanting to sell you things and all of these people are most persistant. India is a country where timidly polite Canadians learn to get in touch with their inner rudeness. Nepal was very relaxing after this, and is very beautiful as well. The food in both countries was fabulous if you are a fan of Indian cuisine.

Both my husband and I do like travelling in exotic places. We want to get as far away from home as possible when we travel. We really do want everything to be utterly different, the food, the architecture, the people and the way they dress and lead their lives, the landscapes. This has the effect of emotionally and intellectually waking us up and allowing us to see life with new eyes. Even when we take one of those all inclusive beach vacations in Mexico we pick a resort which is either in or within walking distance of a Mexican town, not one which is isolated in a hotel zone.

Well, I would love to go to the Mediterranean countries, as well as the Far East. But above all, I am an avid wildlife nut (degrees and everything). I would KILL to go to Africa and to Madagascar and to the South American rainforest. There are lots of animals out there that I'm determined to see in the wild before I die. It's incredible how thrilling it is to be almost within arm's reach of a threatened or endangered species. It's totally different from seeing them in a zoo. I got a taste for it when I saw American Crocodiles when I went to the Everglades a couple of years ago. There are only about 1,600 of them living wild in the U.S., and I got within 10 feet of two of them. It's a wonderful experience for anyone who's into that kind of stuff.

A friend of mine has a son who is doing post-doc work in entomology and he has lived in a lot of exotic bug-infested tropical areas doing field work, places like the Amazon and Borneo. He currently works at a university in Australia. You may well end up living a similar life, you know, and then you can send us dispatches from weird and wonderful swamps, rain forests, and the like.

These are all in my part of the country---consider yourself welcome!

From where I live in the NW corner of New Mexico, I can drive North for less than an hour, and be in the mountains (14,000 feet)at fabulous ski resorts---star spotting in Aspen even, in just over an hour! Or I can drive South, for that hour and be smack dab in the desert! Cactus, and sand as far as you can see. I can drive 50 miles, and stand in 4 states (New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, & Utah) as well as 2 Indian reservations (Navajo and Ute), all at one time! People say you cannot be 2 places at once, there you can be in 6!!!

If given the choice I too would go to Italy. I have been to Hawaii many times, my DD used to live there!!! But, I would do Italy while I was able to enjoy it totally! I see how the older I get the less inclined I am to just take a chance and experience things! I am much more careful, I plan, and make reservations, and such instead of just wingin' it! Hawaii is beautiful though, and there is so much to see and do, I highly recommend it---at some point you gotta go!!!

Kat

I definitely want to go to your part of the world, Kat.

A friend of mine has a son who is doing post-doc work in entomology and he has lived in a lot of exotic bug-infested tropical areas doing field work, places like the Amazon and Borneo. He currently works at a university in Australia. You may well end up living a similar life, you know, and then you can send us dispatches from weird and wonderful swamps, rain forests, and the like.

I can't help but hope so.

kat: I want to live where you're living!!! We have seriously discussed moving to New Mexico when the DH retires.

Have you ever been to Cuchara, CO? I left my heart there once. I've always wished we could live in a place in the mountains, that is, high desert. I love Santa Fe (except for all the stupid transplants, hee, hee) 30 years ago it was wonderful.

Do you mind me asking where you live? I imagine it to be a very small town?

Back to the topic......I have had enough of Michael Vick and every other sports figure or actor who breaks the law and then gets off easy because of who they are......Just because you can throw a ball, you are not above the law!!!!

Back to the topic......I have had enough of Michael Vick and every other sports figure or actor who breaks the law and then gets off easy because of who they are......Just because you can throw a ball, you are not above the law!!!!

Right on!!!!:clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2:

The other night Letterman said they should make Michael Vick eat the tainted dog food from China instead of putting him in jail.

P.S. As to the great New Mexico, Colorado and Utah mountains: my LB doc's 17 yr. old son was with a group scaling some mountains a couple of weeks ago. He contracted the Hanta Virus and nearly died. If his father weren't so saavy regarding medical stuff, he'd probably be dead right now. Fortunately, he survived after spending time on a respirator, etc. 50% of people who get it do not survive.

It is an airborne illness - from Deer mice poop. Gawd, I would have much preferred not knowing about that possibility when considering mountain life.

The other night Letterman said they should make Michael Vick eat the tainted dog food from China instead of putting him in jail.

That is hysterical!!!!

Have any of you seen the dog chew toys in Michael Vick's image?

The thing I am most sick of right now is the President of our country. Here is one example of why I am sick to death of him and his politics!

This is an article from USA Today:

President Bush's speech at the state capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on Independence Day in 2004, invoked the nation's highest ideals: "On this Fourth of July, we confirm our love of freedom, the freedom for people to speak their minds. ... Free thought, free expression, that's what we believe," Bush told the crowd.

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Ringing words. Unfortunately, the White House advance team didn't get the memo. Or the message.

More than an hour earlier, the advance officials, working with local police, had confronted and ejected a young couple who had come to the speech wearing T-shirts that fit any reasonable definition of free expression. The front of both shirts bore the name "Bush" surrounded by a circle with a slash through it; the back of Jeffery Rank's shirt carried the slogan "Regime Change Begins at Home" and Nicole Rank's shirt read, "Love America, Hate Bush."

The Ranks refused demands to take the shirts off, turn them inside out or leave. Though they were on public property and not being disruptive, they were handcuffed, arrested and charged with trespass. The charges were later dropped, and with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Ranks sued the White House advance personnel for violating their First Amendment rights.

Last week, the government settled the case, admitting no wrongdoing but agreeing to pay the Ranks $80,000. That avoidable expenditure of taxpayer dollars speaks volumes about who was wrong here.

It would be one thing if the Charleston incident were an isolated case of overzealousness. But it's not. People have been kicked out of a Bush event in Denver because their car bore a "No More Blood for Oil" bumper sticker. Others have been kept out for wearing a Young Democrats shirt. Extraordinary efforts were made to prevent protests from marring the GOP convention in 2004 at which Bush was renominated.

During the Ranks' suit, the White House was forced to cough up a heavily censored copy of its advance manual, which reads like something Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez would love. Among the advice: Advance personnel should ask the local police department to designate a protest area, "preferably not in view of the event site or the motorcade route."

It's vital, of course, that the Secret Service protect the president from physical threats when he appears in public. And it's understandable that the White House wants to have the president speak without disruption from people who disagree with him. But it's important that cloistered presidents know that there are people who disagree with them, and there are disorderly conduct laws to deal with protesters who cross the line.

Dissent is a bedrock of our system. The administration, with its penchant for secrecy and order, never quite gets that and repeatedly tries to draw the line too broadly.

Even people who might be sympathetic toward Bush are tiring of this cavalier arrogance. When he returned to Charleston in 2006 for a fundraiser at a private home, the Secret Service demanded that the local police keep protesters off a bridge the motorcade would cross. Charleston Mayor Danny Jones, a Republican, refused. The Secret Service compromised, and protesters got onto most of the bridge.

If you profess to love "the freedom for people to speak their minds," as Bush told the Charleston crowd in 2004, you have to assume you're not always going to love what they say. Instead of a lengthy manual on preventing and handling demonstrators, Bush's advance people need a refresher course on a somewhat older manual. It's called the Constitution of the United States.

The White House declined to provided an opposing view to this editorial because, according to spokesman Tony Fratto, the Presidential Advance Manual is an issue in two other pending lawsuits.