Today the movie Man of the Year comes out on DVD.

Comedy superstar Robin Williams (RV, Birdcage, Mrs. Doubtfire) plays Tom Dobbs, a comedian who made it to the top by telling it like it is. When he decides to run for President to unleash his trademark comic rants on the powers-that-be, something extraordinary happens - he wins! From the director of Good Morning Vietnam and Wag the Dog comes an irreverent comedy hit with a hilarious all-star cast that is sure to win your vote for best comedy of the year!

Buy it, rent it, just see it! It was hilarious.

It was so nice outside today. I went for a walk to get some lunch: 1 pepsi, 1 slice of cheese & pepperoni, 1 slice of white pizza, a few breadsticks & bleu cheese on the side.

Yummy!

I read on Rus Thompson’s blog:

Some mull idea of Sen. Bill Clinton

If Hillary Rodham Clinton wins the presidency, some top Democrats would like to see her husband, former President Bill Clinton, appointed to serve out Hillary’s unexpired Senate term.

This is the best idea I’ve heard in a long time!

A few weeks ago my man & I went to a birthday party at Paradise Island. We had our kids saving up their money so we could have a family fun day soon. They could have played video games, went rockclimbing & enjoyed laser tag. My son wanted to go swimming. Those plans are now canceled. My man showed be the front page of the Buffalo News this morning:

Family center proves a paradise lost

Page’s Paradise Island in Elma was paradise lost Monday, when the ceiling over the tropical island-themed pool caved in, sending wood and drywall crashing down in an area popular with families and children.
“Thank God nobody was hurt,” said Bryan Page, owner of the family entertainment center, which opened 10 months ago at 4701 Transit Road.

Employees saw the ceiling starting to buckle at about 3 p.m. and got everyone out of the pool before it fell, he said.

One of the center’s managers did get hit in the back of the head by some debris and left the facility on a stretcher, but he didn’t seem too badly injured, Page said.

Paradise Island has been popular with families since it opened last spring. The center offers families with young children food and entertainment. It features a climbing wall, a laser tag maze, restaurant, arcade games and an indoor pool.

The pool makes Paradise Island distinct from other entertainment centers and is a popular place to host birthday parties.

Michael and Monica Haun of Lancaster were scrambling to come up with a Plan B as they sat in the parking lot with a car full of children Monday afternoon.

They were supposed to celebrate their daughter’s birthday in the pool area with nearly 30 other adults and children at 4 p.m. A pink and purple birthday cake sat on the dash for Matilda, who turns 5 today. “We’ve been able to make back-up plans,” Monica Haun said.

After a series of calls, she moved the party to Bounce Magic, another play-and-party entertainment center, in Orchard Park.

Gregory Gillis, a structural engineer and chairman of the civil engineering technology program at Erie Community College, saw the collapsed ceiling and said he thought the moisture from the pool caused the ceiling’s wood paneling and drywall to weaken.

“I think the material just got too wet,” he said.

Gillis happened to be at Page’s Paradise Island because he is related to the Hauns and was a guest at Matilda’s party.

Page said he was frustrated by the event, saying that Paradise Island was his way of doing something good for the community.

He added that he will be working with an engineer and the town building inspector to resolve the ceiling problem. In the meantime, while the pool area is closed for now, he said he intends to keep the rest of the facility open.

Officials from the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, which responded to the accident, could not be reached to comment.

“We’re going to see what happened,” Page said, “and we’re going to fix it.”

This was waiting for me in my email inbox this morning. It said “For Immediate Release”:

The Bell tolls for the Tolls~Thruway Authority Exposed
For Immediate Release

Bell tolls for the Tolls~Thruway Authority Exposed

http://albanysinsanity.com/?p=1091

Read the whole report http://www.nogitolls.com/Foil.html

For years and years the people of Western New York have been asking and demanding the tolls be removed from the thruway, the 190 and the Grand Island Bridges. For years the politicians in Albany have told us that the Thruway Authority needs the toll money for the upkeep and maintenance of the roads and bridges.

Truth be told, much more of the toll dollars goes to the employment of the staffing, senior executive compensation ranging from $115,000.00 to $164,000.00. Tollbooth managers receive about $68,000.00 a year and toll takers receive approximately $20.00 per hour. Fringe benefits total 36.75% of their salary. Benefits include a very liberal health insurance plan, vision care, dental insurance, free EZ Pass for life, 401k, long term care insurance, flexible spending accounts,a tuition assistance program that pays 90% of the tuition, life insurance and more.

Even when Governor Pataki proposed legislation to establish the New York State Canal Corporation as a separate and independent entity from the Thruway Authority, saving the toll payers of Western New York $110 Million, still nothing changes.

Last year when the tolls came down in Buffalo we all praised the Albany politicians as the Republicans stepped up to take 14 Million from their pork accounts to pay the Thruway Authority for revenuse lost. Assemblyman Hoyt made a deal giving back a section of downstate thruway back to the NYSDOT, which would save the thruway Authority the 14 Million in lost revenue.

All this only came from pressure applied to our legislators from a lawsuit filed by Joel Giambra, Carl Paladino and Mike Powers. Then and only then were the tolls taken down. I do not even think the lawsuit was necessary, but they had that on their side. I think that when this information got out about this FOIL, which would have been an embarrassment enough to remove the tolls from New York State, not just Western New York.

A job that should only be worth 8 to 10 dollars an hour we now find out pays double that with benefits the regular working man and woman in this state will never see. This should be an outrage to every working person in this state. For an unelected Authority to be able to bury this state in debt while paying for the lavish life time of yet more government workers is appalling. Par for the course, but appalling by rational standards.

How many millions of dollars do we already receive from the Federal Government in Highway funds that are sent into the general fund in Albany, or how many millions have we forfeited because this state chooses to have taxpayers and commuters pay the tolls in this state.

I formerlly request the Governor to remove the tolls at the Grand Island Bridges to relieve the commuters and residents of Grand Island of this commuter tax. I also ask the Attorney General and the Comptroller to investigate this critical issue.