2nd baby for Hennessy

Jill Hennessy, from TV’s Crossing Jordan, has confirmed she is almost six months pregnant with her 2nd child.  She and hubby Paolo Mastropietro have a son, Marco, born in 2003.

Source: Contact Music

Holy Crap-Britney can read?!

Yeah, I know; that’s mean.  But I really just don’t like this walking trainwreck.  Anyhow, X17 caught pix of her with Alli Simms at the drugstore buying, amongst other things, a little inspirational book called 50 Truths Worth Knowing.

 A collection of fifty true-life experiences, this uplifting and unforgettable book offers convincing proof that the most important truths are often revealed in simple and surprising ways. (Hallmark.com)

Interesting…

Source: X17

He’s an alcoholic car thief…and he’s only nine years old

A horrifying story in the Sydney Morning Herald today. A nine year old boy is now Victoria’s (Australia) youngest criminal prisoner.

He has been committing crimes since he was seven, including

car theft, stealing from cars and chroming [The process of getting high from aerosol cans sprayed into a paper bag and inhaled]. He was also a suspect in a violent assault on a train.

He is too young to be charged, and knows it, taunting police.

He is receiving intensive help from the state according to Dpt Human Svcs spokesman Brendan Ryan.

“He receives daily intensive case management with specialist child support workers and has an additional case worker,” Mr Ryan said.

“We are continuing to work with support agencies and police to manage this child’s challenging behaviour.

“A lot of people have been working hard to try to turn this child’s life around.”

I can only imagine the kind of home this poor child comes from to act this way, and at such a young age!

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Chroming definition courtesy of Urban Dictionary

Church denies memorial service for gay vet

A church in Arlington TX cancelled a memorial service for a gay veteran, one day before the service. The church contends they were not made aware of the fact that the deceased was gay. The family says they knew that he was.

Allegedly, the issue came to light as a photo tribute was being arranged by a church official who claims that included in the photos were pictures of men hugging and kissing. The family member who provided the pictures says not so.

She said she provided numerous family pictures of Sinclair, including some with his partner, but said none showed men kissing or hugging.

Church officials said the church offered to pay for another site for the service, made the video and provided food for more than 100 relatives and friends.

My response to this story is this:

How many memorial services have been held in that church for lazy people (sloth), greedy people, gluttonous people, jealous people (envy), prideful people, lustful people, or angry people (wrath)? Those are the seven deadly sins.

And how many times has a service been held for a divorced person, someone divorced not for a reason now sanctioned by Church, such as abuse, but for ‘irreconcilable differences’ per se…?

How many memorial services have been held for someone who was a never-married single parent, and the child was not the product of a crime? Or someone who was living in sin, ’shacking up’ out of wedlock?

If this church holds a memorial service for ANYONE who has committed ANY of these sins (and face it, every one of us has committed at LEAST two or three of these!!) then they had NO RIGHT to refuse this service on the grounds of morality.

And I’m thinking it’s safe to say that not every sinner whose service was held at this church repented, by the way.

Take the related poll. (Sorry to make it a link, but for some reason, I can’t enter the poll here).

Source: Military.com

Edited 14 Aug- On followup reading, I learnt that the information regarding the church paying for another facility and for food is false.

Were the trapped miners concerned for their safety before the collapse?

No news may or may not be good news in Utah. Six miners remain trapped in the Crandall Canyon Mine, some six days after the mine caved in.

In that time rescuers have drilled a 2.5″ (6.35cm) hole, followed by a 5.5″ (approx. 14cm) hole. They had no response from the cavern in which miners are believed to be trapped either time. Not even when

Rescue workers pounded on the drill steel several times. Miners are trained to respond to these series of taps as loud as they can on anything metallic, but there was no reply.

A source, who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity, has reported that

In recent weeks, the floors in that part of the mine had been “heaving,” or buckling up, from intense pressure… Supervisors at the mine knew of the problem.

He goes on to say that several miners, supposedly including Manuel Sanchez, one of the trapped miners, were fearful.

Seeming to back up the source, a member of Sanchez’s family has also said that Sanchez

had expressed concern about safety in one part of the mine.

When asked why they didn’t complain about safety concerns, a number of miners replied that to complain was to effectively lose your job.

The mine’s owner, Bob Murray–CEO of Murray Energy Corp.–denies that saying, ‘I don’t operate that way.’

But another former employee, Paul Riddle, has said that in his experience it was always profits first, then safety.

Miners who work for Murray are sometimes forced to push the envelope when it comes to safety, he said, and are afraid to speak up for fear of being fired.

“I’m not the only one,” he said. “There are many, many people that feel this way and are afraid to speak up.”

From what MSHA records show, Riddle and the other, anonymous, miners could well be telling the truth. The mine was cited for 30 violations just this years, and around a third of those were for serious violations, that could lead to injury or death.

Murray has been insisting that an earthquake caused the collapse, despite the experts stating that the seismic patterns matched those of previous mine collapses.

It’s now looking to be Tuesday-Thursday before they reach the cavern where they believe the miners are located.

I wish I had better news to bear.

Finally, CNN has confirmed the identities of the missing men, not with the mine, but with their families.

• Manuel Sanchez
• Kerry Allred
• Carlos Payan
• Brandon Phillips
• Luis Alonso Hernandez
• Don Erickson

Source: CNN.com