It seems, about five years ago, that Mr. Cohen separated from his wife and the next day started dating one of the local Chicago damsels. It turns out that said damsel was a hooker, but after living with her for a year, the relationship soured. After one final big spat, Cohen grabbed her around the neck, held a knife to her throat, banged her head against the wall and issued threats. Chicago's finest threw him in the klink, but the ex-girl friend did not show up in court and the case was thrown out.

In the meantime the woman lawyered up with Gloria Allred and after Cohen's victory, the merde hit the fan and the story came out.

The Chicago newspapers have almost collapsed in a lather over the story the last week. Cohen swore to stick with it, but then during a Superbowl party on the North Side on February 7, gave up the ghost, called reporters and resigned.

The Chicago Machine is now contemplating a replacement. I wonder if Barack Hussein has been consulted?

His death sets the stage for a possible pivotal special election to fill the vacancy. The Pennsylvania 12th is the only district in the country that voted for Kerry, the Democrat, in 2004 and then for McCain, the Republican, in 2008.

The district is heavily gerrymandered to favor Murtha so the Democrats have an edge.

Murtha was one of the three Democrats who won previous Republican seats during the Watergate crisis signaling voter discontent with the Nixon Administration. Perhaps it will be a signpost for the Obama Administration and a preview of the 2010 elections.

Many alleged that Murtha was ethically challenged starting the the Abscam sting in 1980 and moving forward through many other scandals. He was even mentioned in the film Charlie Wilson's War.

Murtha was closely contested in the 2008 election but won with about 58% of the vote.

McMahon in the cheetah thong is an admitted groaner, but all in fun.

I once visited the Denver Works of AT&T where many of those phones were made. I learned AT&T engineered the those phones to be dropped from a second story window and still work! That was a telephone!

The problem evolved that such a well built telephone hindered improvements and technology. Why? Those telephones were extremely expensive to make, and AT&T had to amortize them in the rate base over the course of many years. As you will recollect, dear readers, various regulatory agencies set the rates in those days. Naturally when you had a perfectly good telephone in the hands of Joe Sixpack, and you had not recovered your costs, you were reluctant to throw it away.

That all was swept away with breakup of AT&T, deregulation and divestiture.

Now we are the the midst of an even more epic change, the cell phone.

Get a flat round steak of fairly good size. Usually this cut is a bargain. Pounding it a little with a tenderizing mallet won't hurt. Shred a small onion, a carrot, maybe a small chunk of cabbage, a crushed clove of garlic and some bread crumbs if you have them. Smashed crackers work o.k. Throw in a little green spice such as thyme, sage, rosemary, tarragon or such. Don't overdo it. Half teaspoon or so. Get wine, water or whatever to mix it together. An egg is a good touch to make the mixture stick together. Mix the whole batch in a mixing bowl.

Take some cooking oil and slather one side of the round steak. Put a pile of the mixture on the steak lengthwise and then roll it up like a blanket. Get some ordinary string and tie it up about four or five times so it stays rolled.

Get a skillet, and brown the rolled and tied steak on both sides. Then throw it into a roaster lined with foil. You can add red wine and other cooking vegetables such as spuds, carrots, onions and such. 350 degrees--an hour and half to a couple hours more or less--take off the cover of the roaster about a half hour before you are done.

When you serve, slice the steak. You can use the liquid left in the roaster for au jus or gravy. Serve with salt, pepper and whatever else you want. Don't eat the string.

Get a roaster and line with foil. Peel and quarter three or four spuds. Peel and chunk up three or four carrots. Chunk up a couple sticks of celery. Two-three bay leaves. Two nice onions--peel, slice and heave 'em in. Half teaspoon of rosemary if you have it--crush the leaves if they aren't already crushed. Crush a couple cloves of garlic--in. You can also add sage sprinkled on top of the chops. I also use thyme as a personal choice. Thyme and sage are good on game. If you use both, hold it down. About a half teaspoon each is fine. Line all the veggies around the chops.

Throw in a couple cups of red wine. Preheat the oven to 350 cover and let them cook. I suppose a couple hours should do the trick--more or less. It depends on the altitude and your taste.

If you want to do some extra work, brown the chops before you put them in. I don't mind the color; however, some people don't like roast meat that is gray.

About a half hour before you are done, take off the cover off the roaster and let them brown a little in the oven.

Serve with horseradish. If you think about it, a couple of sliced apples are good cooked in the roaster with the rest. Leave the apples on top so the wine doesn't soak them.

I don't cook meats with salt or pepper. They can be added for your taste at the table.

The wine sauce left in the roaster makes a great au jus for the meat and spuds. If a lot has boiled off, you can add a little hot water. If you want it thicker for gravy, CAREFULLY sift and stir in some good flour. Bring the gravy to a boil in a sauce pan. If you are not careful, it will be chunky with flour chunks if you sift too fast.

One key Scripture reference to being "born again" or "regenerated" is John 3:5, where Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

This verse is so important that those who say baptism is just a symbol must deny that Jesus here refers to baptism. "Born again" Christians claim the "water" is the preached word of God.

But the early Christians uniformly identified this verse with baptism. Water baptism is the way, they said, that we are born again and receive new life—a fact that is supported elsewhere in Scripture (Rom. 6:3–4; Col. 2:12–13; Titus 3:5).

No Church Father referred to John 3:5 as anything other than water baptism.

I am sure you are glad to know all this.