The listeria outbreak blamed on cantaloupes grown in Colorado has now claimed 16 lives, making it the deadliest outbreak associated with a food item in more than ten years.  Since the offending melons from the Jensen Farms in Holly, Colorado are not necessarily marked clearly or at all, it would be wise to get rid of cantaloupes you may have in your fridge or on the kitchen counter, even though they issued the recall earlier in September.  Healthy adults are hardly at risk, but the elderly, pregnant women, and anyone with a compromised immune system are.

We spoke on Monday about the ridiculous shenanigans going on in Washington again re: a budget dispute that involved an emergency allocation of money for FEMA that turned into a possible government shutdown.  FEMA took another look at their coffers and decided they could make it until October 1, when the new fiscal year begins, at which point a stopgap measure to fund the government will kick in.  So the threats disappeared and the Senate voted easily to pass the funding measure and the House will follow suit, but once again, the damage has been done.  The majority of Americans think our government can’t do the job.  I think they can but won’t until we replace some congressional idiots with individuals who understand math, human nature, and urgency.  Tough combo.

It’s far away, I know.  Most of us don’t personally know a soldier over there and so, in our day-to-day lives, we forget, or don’t care, or try to but come up short.  And yet, a new UN report indicates that violence in Afghanistan is up 39% over a year ago.  We should at least care enough to ask questions.  It wouldn’t get big ratings but is it possible that General John R. Allen could take to the airwaves and illuminate our plan over there?  Do we have one?  That will ever work?

The constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act will be questioned in front of the Supreme Court sooner rather than later.  Representatives from twenty-six states and a group of business leaders have asked for their day in front of the nine judges, filing their petitions Wednesday.

The Republican party appears to be at odds within itself regarding the presidential candidates and the primaries which will decide their nominee.  Herman Cain, after winning Florida’s straw poll last week, has been dismissed by Sarah Palin as “the flavor of the week.” Will Palin run?  Will New Jersey Governor Chris Christie? Why does Florida want to jump the gun and have their primary as early as January 31^st?

The trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, accused of manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson, continues today in Los Angeles.  According to the promoter of Jackson’s final concert tour at the Staples Center, Murray asked for a CPR machine and a second doctor to help him take care of the singer.  I can’t imagine this will turn out well for Murray, who administered doses of propofol, an anesthetic used in surgeries, to help Jackson fall asleep at night.  Listening to Jackson slur his words weeks before his death is disturbing.

“L’shanah tovah” is what I’ll be saying over the next two days to my Jewish friends celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the new year, which begins this evening at sundown.  Yonah Bookstein at the Washington Post does a nice job of breaking down the holiday and its traditions.

It’s come down to the wire in Major League Baseball, with playoff contenders still undecided on the final day of the regular season.  The Yankees, Phillies, Detroit, Texas, Milwaukee, and Arizona are in, although whom they will play and where is a little muddy.  The ‘maybes’ are the Red Sox, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and St. Louis.  Big night in baseball.

Via Stumble Upon, these “10 Laws of Productivity” came across my desk(top) and it would be a crime to keep them from all of you.  Who doesn’t want to be more productive?

Some posts I write are so much jabberwocky, I won’t even let you read them.

There’s some news of late that I’ve just got to catch up on, like our fabulous government threatening a shutdown.  Don’t you just love how they’re all doing business in Washington?  And as far as I’m concerned, party affiliation has little to do with how much any of us can support the bunch of them.  For instance, this from (the Washington Post) Virginia’s Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat:

“The Senate is saying . . . why should we, in effect, rebuild schools in Iraq on the credit card but expect that rebuilding schools in Joplin, Missouri, at this moment in time have to be paid for in a way that has never been in any of the previous disaster assistance that we’ve put out before?”

Why did we EVER pay for our war in Iraq on the credit card?!  So, yes, Mark, it’s not fair about Joplin, but let’s not be irresponsible.  I get that the Republicans – particularly those Tea Partiers who should all be thrown out of office – shouldn’t make disaster relief, right now, the contentious issue as far as offsetting the costs, but why not assure them and us that you will continue to dissect our government budget in other areas to offset these expenses?  There’s a way to do this, and threatening a government shutdown is irresponsible (the markets hate it) and so ‘yesterday’.  Been there.  Done that.  If Congress were in the private sector, the lot of ‘em would be fired.  Figure it out, today.

At least we’re not Saudi Arabia and I can rant and drive as I please (often at the same time), and have had the right to vote since I was eighteen.  While it’s big news today in the Middle East kingdom that women may be allowed to vote for the first time in the 2015 elections and hold public office sometime this century, they still can’t get a driver’s license to allow them to zip around town.  Oh, those wacky Saudi men have their reasons and each one is more ridiculous than the next.

Ladies, may we all be inspired by the life of Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.  She rejected the idea that in a man’s world she couldn’t make a difference — by going out and making one.  She died of cancer late Sunday.  She was 71.

Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, imprisoned in Iran for the past two years after accidentally crossing the Iranian border while hiking (along with Sarah Shourd who was freed a year ago), arrived in New York after being released last Wednesday.  They had a few words to day about their ordeal.

Arch West is credited by Frito-Lay as the man who invented Doritos.  As they’ve been a junk-food staple of mine for 40 years, I’ll mourn his passing (last week) and delight in the news that he will be buried along with the chips that made him famous.

From Mark W. Smith at the Detroit Free Press, via USA Today, we’re given “Ten things to know about the new Facebook.” Also, Zuckerberg and his gang have fixed the “unfriending” bug so you can once again delete people from your Facebook life without hurting their feelings.

“Terra Nova” premieres tonight on Fox (8pm) and boy are the creators and network hoping you’ll watch.  It’s apparently costing more than the GDP of certain South American countries to put this series on the air.  Steven Spielberg is partly responsible for the apocolyptic/time travel story about a family looking for a better life.

My Jets lost yesterday to one of my least-favorite teams, Oakland, and I’m still hurting.  Do you have a team?  How did they do? As well as Buffalo versus New England in the upset of the day?

Enjoy your Monday.  Before you know it, it’s Tuesday.

Recent news regarding the enormous tax breaks afforded to video game companies such as EA, maker of Mortal Kombat and Battlefield, had gamers anxious to come up with something big to prove that they were worthy.  The tax incentives, written in 1954 and expanded in 1969, were put in place to encourage technological innovation. With today’s news that gamers made a significant breakthrough in unlocking the code of a protein involved in the spread of HIV, a goal scientists have tried to reach for years, the fight to make gaming companies pay their fair share of taxes may have just gotten more difficult.

President Obama today unveiled his plan to cut $3 trillion from the federal deficit in the next ten years.  The reduction comes in the form of phasing out our involvement in two wars, a reversion to tax rates on the wealthy from before the Bush era, and cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.  It’s complicated, for sure, and the super committee tasked with implementing the changes is not a committee I’d like to be on, but tough times demand tough choices.  They have until Thanksgiving or else.

The Emmys were last night.  I love Jane Lynch and I thought she did an admirable and enthusiastic job with some awful material hosting the show.  And what the heck was that musical number with Andy Samberg, Michael Bolton, and Maya Rudolph?  But Margo Martindale won for “Justified” and the leading comedy actresses got on stage like they were part of a beauty pageant, so I wasn’t totally disappointed with the broadcast.  EW.com has comprehensive coverage, including photos and dish.  Charlie Sheen?  Who thought that was a good idea?

In case you weren’t aware (or didn’t care), fighting is still going on in Libya.  Rebels continue to fight forces loyal to Moammar Gaddafi, even as they search for the elusive ‘former’ leader.

Dominque Strauss-Kahn was interviewed Sunday in France and gave few details of the sexual encounter he had with a New York hotel maid last May, other than to say it was “consensual” and involved no violence.  He continues a fine tradition of political sex scandals, exhibiting upstanding character and moral vigor.

Friday’s Reno air show tragedy claimed its tenth victim early Monday morning.  Several who attended the ill-fated National Championship Air Races are still in critical or serious condition.

Some new or returning shows to watch on television tonight: “Dancing with the Stars” on ABC at 8pm with Hope Solo, Chaz Bono, and others; “Two and a Half Men” on CBS at 9pm with Ashton Kutcher and not the ‘winning’ Charlie Sheen; and “Two Broke Girls” right after is supposed to be funny.

My Jets won handily, Michael Vick went out with a concussion, the Patriots look unstoppable, the Steelers were back, and Tim Tebow played wide receiver.  It was an interesting Sunday, though my picks were far from exceptional.

In baseball, the Yankess, Detroit, and Texas are the American League leaders (and Detroit has already clinched a playoff spot), and the Red Sox and Angels remain hopeful.  In the National League, Philly has already clinched, with Milwaukee and Arizona likely to soon, while St. Louis and San Francisco cross their fingers.

A sperm bank in Denmark doesn’t want donations from redheads because, according to Ole Schou, the director of the bank, “I do not think you choose a redhead, unless the partner – for example, the sterile male – has red hair…”  Well, that just hurts my feelings.

Okay, so you’re trying to start a fire.  You don’t have kindling but you do have chips.  (This would be a familiar scenario in my life.)  Use the chips – Doritos might be best – and voila! you have a fire.  I love this MacGyver tip from a Reddit user via Lifehacker.com.

I’m in the mood for a coming-of-age novel, or bildungsroman.  Any suggestions?

Solyndra, the solar power company that secured a large government loan and then proceeded to go bankrupt, is getting a lot of press today.  Republicans smell a scandal on which to grow and thrive.  Democrats are trying to get to the bottom of it all and decide what part political influence played in awarding the loan to Solyndra.  But let’s not poo-poo solar power just because of this.  It’s a growing, evolving industry that will become a mainstay in our efforts to harness new sources of power.  My friend Brad Plumer at the Washington Post (I don’t know him at all) breaks down the Solyndra scandal beautifully.

A Taliban faction laid siege to the US Embassy in Kabul on Tuesday.  Reports now confirm that the last of the nearly dozen men responsible for the attack have been killed.  From the Wall Street Journal: “…by Wednesday afternoon five policemen and 11 civilians—half of them children—were confirmed dead.”

Edward Daly, the former bishop of Derry in Ireland, believes the Vatican should end celibacy for Catholic priests and allow them to marry.  Ya think?!  Don’t get me started.  Celibacy for the clergy, like so many other conventions within the religion I grew up with, is a man-made policy that Jesus and his Dad are still slapping their foreheads over.  End it now!  (I realize there are more subtle and gracious examinations of the policy of abstinence and bachelor-hood.  I choose not to entertain them.)

Republicans are saying that their win on Tuesday in New York, where GOP Bob Turner defeated Democrat David Weprin in the contest to replace former congressman Anthony Weiner, is a referendum on the Obama presidency.  I say it’s a referendum on Democrats continued inability to get their act together and take it on the road.

“We Are What We Loathe” was an article much cited on Facebook and elsewhere last Sunday on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  While I don’t agree with all that former New York Times reporter Chris Hedges implies, it is a reminder that our reaction to 9/11, and subsequent actions, have often been misguided and as tragic as the events that unfolded that Tuesday ten years ago.  The case of  Shoshana Hebshi-Holt, an Arab-American woman who was removed from a flight last Sunday in handcuffs, speaks to this.

Read this article, “Soaring Poverty Casts Spotlight on ‘Lost Decade’” by Sabrina Tavernise, at the New York Times.  Over two and a half million more people in this country fell into poverty last year and the average middle class income hasn’t changed since 1997.  There are causes still worth examining – wars paid entirely with credit, the subprime loan debacle, tax cuts for those who don’t need them – in order to develop solutions for the short and long term.  That’s just talk, I know, but there is value in believing in a way out and a way forward.  If only we could get our elected leaders to take action and stop campaigning.

The Tuesday launch of the Missoni line at Target was madness.  Sartorially conscious consumers just wanted to enhance their wardrobe at prices they could afford, so nasty eBay-ers took advantage, smelled an opportunity, and bought up what wasn’t already purchased.  Now, you can get a Missoni throw pillow, sold yesterday at Target for $29.99, for the Buy-It-Now price of $134.75.  This makes no sense.

I’m looking forward to the series premiere of “Up All Night” on NBC this evening at 10pm.  (Its regular time-slot will be 8pm.)  Though I know the stars are Will Arnett and Christina Applegate, it’s Maya Rudolph that’s got me interested.

Use the word ‘distaff‘ today in a sentence.  My husband is outnumbered in our largely distaff family.

There can’t possibly be anything left unsaid regarding the tenth anniversary of 9/11.  The physical memorial at Ground Zero actually got it right: solemn and breathtaking at the same time.  The same can be said for the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  I was moved to tears by the FDNY bagpipers before the New York Jets game last evening.  We move on but never forget.

Monday morning, President Obama held in his hands the American Jobs Act and urged Congress to pass it immediately.  We know that won’t happen, but what will?

Well, Bank of America clearly isn’t going to help.  Only moments after Obama sent the jobs bill out into the world, B of A said it will eliminate 30,000 jobs over the next few years.  Thanks a lot.

It’s highly unlikely that the New York congressional district, formerly represented by Anthony Weiner, will stay in the Democratic column.  The special election to fill the seat vacated after Weiner was exposed as icky takes place tomorrow.  Democrats look to be losing another house seat in Nevada Tuesday in their vote to replace Dean Heller, who moved over to the Senate.

Cargill has announced another ground turkey recall due to fears of salmonella poisoning.  I still haven’t gotten that Kitchen-Aid attachment so I can grind my own meat.  Guess it’s really, really time.

No one expected the Arab Spring to come off without a hitch, but re-implementing emergency law in Egypt has its citizens reeling.  The crackdown is being threatened after protestors stormed the Israeli embassy in Cairo.  Israel has always considered itself living in a bad neighborhood, but after recent events throughout the region, Benjamin Netanyahu has more to concern himself with than the Palestinians and their imminent U.N. request for statehood.

Officials in Kenya fear more than 100 people have died after an oil pipeline leaked into an open sewer and was ignited near the site of a Nairobi slum, sending residents fleeing for their lives, many in flames.

The Tea Party, along with CNN, is hosting a GOP presidential candidate debate tonight in Florida at 8pm Eastern.  (Yes, it conflicts with Monday Night Football.)

Speaking of, it’s a double-header tonight, with New England traveling to Miami to take on the Dolphins at 7pm Eastern (4pm for me), and then Oakland visiting Denver at 10:15pm Eastern, which will be about the time I’m home from soccer and sitting down for a delicious home-cooked meal.  Both games, naturally, are on ESPN.

My Jets had a shaky start in last night’s game against the Cowboys, but Plaxico Burress, the former Giant, finally stepped up and into the end zone when it was crucial.  Too many turnovers, but the Jets squeaked it out in the final seconds with a field goal.  For all the highlights from opening Sunday, check out NFL.com.

Serena Williams did not have her finest day on Sunday at the U.S. Open women’s final in New York. After shouting out during a point that she won, the official correctly awarded the point to her opponent, Australia’s Samantha Stosur.  Williams had more than a few unkind words for the umpire during the changeover.  Stosur won the championship 6-2, 6-3 over Williams.

It’s Monday, September 12th.  In light of the tragedy and our memories of 9/11, be grateful for another day.