LJWorld.com

Just going to post the list and the link.... Your thoughts?.....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100216/sc_livescience/happieststateshawaiimovesintofirstplace

If you needed an extra twist of the arm to set off on a Hawaii vacation, here it is: The big-wave state was the happiest place to live in 2009, according to a newly released national survey.

Topping the well-being list among all 50 states, Hawaii pulled ahead of the 2008 leader Utah. But Utah and its neighbors still have plenty to smile about. Nine of the top 10 well-being states reside in the Midwest and the West. The south didn't fare so well, taking seven of the 11 lowest well-being spots on the list.

The results come from interviews with more than 350,000 American adults who took part in the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index in 2009. This is the second year of the survey.

The well-being score for each state is an average of six sub-categories, including: life evaluation (self-evaluation about your present life situation and anticipated one in five years); emotional health; work environment (such as job satisfaction); physical health; healthy behavior; basic access (access to healthcare, a doctor, a safe place to exercise and walk, as well as community satisfaction).

The top 10 states and their average well-being scores (out of a possible 100 points):

Hawaii: 70.2 Utah: 68.3 Montana: 68.3 Minnesota: 67.8 Iowa: 67.6 Vermont: 67.4 Colorado: 67.3 Alaska: 67.3 North Dakota: 67.3 Kansas: 67.2

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Rod Blagojevich apologized Monday for saying he's "blacker than Barack Obama," but the disgraced former Illinois governor said he probably won't try to make amends directly to the president.

"I'd be happy to but, you know, I don't have the phone number," he told reporters outside his Chicago home.

In the February issue of Esquire magazine, the ousted governor, semi-professional Elvis impersonator and reality TV contestant refers to Obama as "this guy" who was elected based simply on hope, implying that the president isn't genuine.

"What the (expletive)? Everything he's saying's on the teleprompter," Blagojevich told the magazine. The story hits newsstands on Jan. 19.

"I'm blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived," Blagojevich said. "I saw it all growing up."

On Monday, Blagojevich said the comment was "stupid, stupid, stupid."

He said it was meant as a metaphor for his disappointment with Obama, whom he accused of doing more to help Wall Street than Main Street.

The White House declined to comment.

The response — or lack of response — is in contrast to the reaction Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has received after it was disclosed that he once discussed Obama's presidential prospects in terms of his skin color and whether he had a "Negro dialect." Reid immediately apologized and Obama accepted, though some Republicans are calling for him to step down.

There was no way Obama could avoid acknowledging the statements from Reid, an important Democratic leader and legislative ally, but the president has far more leeway to ignore Blagojevich's latest strange behavior.

The twice-elected Democrat was impeached and removed from office last year after federal prosecutors arrested him on corruption charges that included trying to sell Obama's old U.S. Senate seat. He has pleaded not guilty.

Ahead of his trial, which is expected to start in June, Blagojevich is appearing on NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice."

He also continues to accuse prosecutors of persecuting him for routine political deals.

One of those deals, he said, was the possibility of naming Attorney General Lisa Madigan to Obama's Senate seat in exchange for cooperation on important programs from her powerful father, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

He used an infamously coarse word to refer to the attorney general.

"If I can get this, how much do I love the people of Illinois to make that (expletive) senator?'" Blagojevich said in the interview.

But on Monday, Blagojevich said, "I don't think I said that."

http://omg.yahoo.com/news/blagojevich-blacker-than-obama-comment-stupid/33846#comments

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - The warden of a Topeka woman's prison is accused of making racially insensitive comments. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported on the allegations against Topeka Correctional Facility Warden Richard Koerner as part of an ongoing investigation.

The claims include that Koerner made a lynching reference while criticizing two black women who were reorganizing their office. One of the women, Mary Carr, says Koerner said something "to the effect that, 'You two wouldn't be happy if I hung you with a new rope."'

Another black employee, Willie Tabor, says Koerner repeatedly called him "boy."

Koerner confirmed he made both remarks. But he says the hangman's line was a joke and use of the term "boy" was intended as an affectionate reference rather than a racial put-down.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Okay, so I am reading my hometown's newpaper website, The Salina Journal online (http://www.saljournal.com/) and I noticed that our Chamber of Commerce has paid for Ms. I-Can-See-Alaska-From-My-Backyard to speak here in February. Not only that, but check out the list of names of former speakers... I must admit that I agree with my boyfriend when he termed Salina as being "the conservative, boring sister of Lawrence" (although I am sure some people would prefer Salina's atmosphere to Lawrence's just for the Republican'ness alone).

http://www.salina.com/news/Story/chamber-speaker

"On Monday afternoon, the chamber announced that former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will be the guest speaker at its annual banquet Feb. 5.

Past guest speakers have included former President George H.W. Bush, former First Lady Barbara Bush, New York City Mayor and presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former British Prime Minister John Major and former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft."

Did you catch it? I just happened upon it... Was waiting for Leno to go off and the news to come on. Anyway, he asks a different famous person 10 random questions every night and this time it was our esteemed former governor.

Hopefully this link will work. I can't access youtube at work. ;P

Help me out if you can put up a better link...

Anyway, I thought she was pretty deadpan (as usual), BUT i really liked her answer to the question about keeping our children safe-- She actually was pretty funny w/ her response. I also liked her answer when asked who would in in a game of horse, Kathleen or Obama.

This is going to be a very short blog because its basically just a rant. As most of y'all know by now, I am a former resident and still a semi-frequent visitor of your charming little hamlet. I love Lawrence... It has such a embracing spirit about it that I haven't encountered in any other town I've lived in or have even visited. Everyone I know, from California to Chicago, who have been to Lawrence (most of them musicians who are friends of my boyfriend and are scattered throughout) have nothing but positive things to say about it.

BUT.... I happened to drive though Lawrence yesterday and encountered the crappiest traffic clusterf**k I have seen in many years. I knew that there was construction on 23rd BUT i didn't know that it was for pretty much the entire length of the street, from Iowa to K-10, and that BOTH sides of the street would be messed up at the same time, making the flow of cars not flow at all.

Salina is my home and I do have my issues w/ it. Like most of Kansas, it is occupied by alot of right-wing boomers who see no other way of doing things other than the ways that their parents and grandparents carried on. My boyfriend (who is a Chicago native) calls Salina "Lawrence's boring, conservative sister". So don't get me wrong-- I'm not trying to act like my hometown doesn't have its problem. HOWEVER the public works department here does have the good sense to know that, when you are fixing a major thoroughfare, you do NOT close off BOTH lanes at the same dang time! When we are fixing a major artery like Crawford, Broadway, Ohio or South 9th street here, we fix one lane at a time just so atleast in one direction, traffic can still flow normally.

What the hell, Larryville? You almost had me cussing you out yesterday morning and afternoon!! Don't inconvenience me like that again, understand?!