Bring Back SchoolHouse Rock!

For those of us young (or old) enough to remember SchoolHouse Rock!, I ran across some of these great retro cartoon shorts that played in between popular cartoon shows on Saturday Morning's on ABC during the 70s and early 80s.

The videos are simplistic, the music is almost "folkish", but singable and sticks with you - in fact, God help you if one gets stuck in your head - "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly" and "A Noun's a person place or thing" come to mind. The stories wrapped around the lesson are fun and educational.

It's really unfortunate that shorts like these no longer air on Saturday mornings. Teaching kids about word usage, numbers, and a little bit of American History through the use of a jiggle is a great thing. How many kids today at the age of five can tell you how a Bill, becomes a Law or Recite the Preamble to the Constitution? Not many, I'm sure.

If you haven't seen these before - do a search on SchoolHouse Rock in Youtube, and you'll get a laugh. And some of you, like I did, will recall the songs nearly perfectly by memory. At a minimum, you'll certainly get a laugh!

A short history of Schoolhouse Rock! can be found here.

American Anglican Council Petition! Please disclose the expenditures and funding sources for these endless lawsuits!

The American Anglican Council sent this along. It's well worth the time and effort of anyone interested in helping traditional Christians in our the struggle against The national Episcopal Church's acts of aggression against churches and dioceses across the Nation.

Simply put, we want the Episcopal Church to disclose how they are funding the enormous number of lawsuits against churches, individuals, and dioceses. We demand full disclosure for who is paying the bill.

Please sign the petition!

You don't have to be Episcopalian or Anglican to help us!

Sushi Review: Zhang's Restaurant of Mystic (Connecticut)

Zhang's Restaurant is one of those secret little places that is worth the visit when venturing in and around downtown Mystic, Connecticut. For us mariners who are sushi addicts, we tend to frequent port towns, and need to know where the best places are for delicious sushi and sashimi - because when the body goes on "red alert" for sushi or sashimi fix - well, you've got to get there fast! (Those who are sushi addicts absolutely know what I mean).

Zhang's is another one of those Chinese-Japanese combo restaurants that I'm often suspect of because I find that its quite rare that such a combination restaurant does proper justice to either menu style. Yet, Zhang's manages to consistently please both myself and my company with outstanding Japanese and Chinese style meals. While I always head for the sushi, I've sampled a number of Chinese dishes that are just wonderful! The chicken, vegetables, steak, and noddles are perfectly prepared and have a unique taste of oils and spices that you almost never find in the usual generic Chinese restaurant.

What can I say about Zhang's Sushi? For three years that I've been eating there, the quality of the fish is first rate! Sushi goers understand that when you eat fresh sushi, you usually get a "mini-high" but only IF - THE FISH IS FRESH. Well, I can tell you that the sting that you get from Zhang's Sushi is consistent, and perfect every time. Salmon, Tuna, Eel, Whitefish, what have you ... not a mediocre piece in the serving. And even the presentation matches the quality.

The portion size is excellent (which makes me wish I could move the whole restaurant to West Hartford), and the prices range from $15-17 for Sushi Regular and Sushi Deluxe respectively - pretty much average. I usually get the Sushi Deluxe because its so delicious that you want two more pieces of what is being served. And Sushi Deluxe comes with the perfect spicy tuna roll, that is slightly crunchy on top and prepared so well that you will want to start with it, and save a few pieces at the end of the meal so you can walk away from the table with it as your last memory!

The average Chinese dish ranges from $10 - 18 depending upon what you select (obviously there are more expensive dishes depending upon what you desire). And another positive is that they are VERY family friendly. I have to say that the wait staff makes every effort to interact with your children and do everything they can to please. Moreover, Zhang's accommodates children by cutting regular portion meals in half and charging half price - even though its not presented as an option on the menu. And even those portions are "take-home" size.

Also, on the option of Sushi rolls, Zhang's has quite an assortment of handmade Sushi rolls that are to die for. There are so many options, that you'll need to find a reason to travel to Mystic just to try them.

The only problem with eating at Zhang's, is that once you eat their Sushi, it makes all of the restaurants up our way seem like they're serving grade "B" fish. When you set the bar that high for your palette, everything else is a tough sell!

So, I think I've popped about as much as I can for a Sushi Restaurant. What can I say, they deserve it. Oddly enough, Zhang's doesn't seem to have an online web page (that I can find) so I can't share the menu with you. But they are winners of many awards including Connecticut Magazine, Zagats (2004-2007), and others. So for folks, who don't feel like standing in a long line to dine at Mystic Pizza, you might want to venture down the street and give Zhang's a try.

Zhang's is located at 12 Water Street, Mystic (Groton side of the bridge next to Voodoo Lounge and Margarita's).

Bon Appetite!

Sushi West Hartford

Petit Case: Judge agrees that its capital felony material

It was good to read this week that Connecticut State Attorney Michael Dearington will seek the death penalty against murdering thugs, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky, who took the innocent lives of the Petit children and mother last week, after torturing and raping them, according to sources.

Further investigation shows that the geniuses over at the State of Connecticut Parole Board had incomplete information when they decided to release the two murdering thugs, Steven Hayes, Joshua Komisarjevsky from prison.

West Hartford's own Bob Farr, who joined the parole board in February, should provide State attorneys and investigators access to all pertinent information, and all methods and transcripts used to determine whether or not someone should be set free. Bob Farr, as a neighbor and West Harfordite, we look to you to clamp down on what is obviously an open sewer portal. You can't change what happened last week, but you can make sure that fewer rats slip through the cracks.

My personal view on the entire judicial system is that we need to focus less on criminal rights and more on the rights of law abiding citizens. This is yet another example where the judicial system failed again, and liberals - focused on the rights of criminals, rapists, murderers, thieves, drug dealers and the lot have hurt us once again.

For the record, its a fact - liberals are soft on crime and sentencing for villains in our midst. Conservatives and normal people believe that the Steven Hayeses and Joshua Komisarjevskys, and their friends aught to be put to death by the incineration as quickly as possible. No pony shows, no time allowed for liberals and religious anti-death penalty zealots to act up, just a quick, painful death. Sound tough? Well, tough s**t! Ask poor Mr. Petit, who will have to live with this nightmare for the rest of his life.

Also, check out the excerpts folks. It's a heart breaker. And yet there are actually people in this world criticizing the decision to seek the death penalty. Yeah, and those are the people who are on the public dole willing to sell out our safety to keep two murderers alive and well. You have to ask, what kind of person would have no sense of morality and common decency. Just ask Robert Nave and Thomas Ulman. They seem to be in the villain's court.

Mr. Dearington, put them out of business for good!