I have to admit I’ve been a slacker and didn’t get a post in for the weekly Cotillion round-up. But glove-covered hand clapping goes out to the Girl on the Right for putting together a great round-up (and for reminding me that my domestic side has been horribly neglected due to work and many episodes of 24).

Please stop by and see the round up and let RightGirl know I sent you!

This was a little experiment in cooking that actually worked out and hubby suggested I post it. Hmmmm….must have been good!

Chicken Parmesan Rolls

1.5 pounds of boneless chicken breasts (4 large, cut into 8 smaller pieces)
Fresh Flat Leaf Italian Parsley, finely chopped
2 gloves of garlic, finely chopped
4 pieces sundried tomatoes in oil, finely chopped
dried thyme and dried oregano leaves for seasoning
kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
Mozzarella cheese slices (8 large slices or 16 small slices), or grated
1 cup (or more) freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs
EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

Directions:

Cut 4 large chicken breasts in half, so you have 8 chicken breast pieces. Pound out to about 1/4″ thickness. If you are using large mozzarella cheese slices, cut them in half, so you have a total of 16 slices.

Heat a large skillet over medium to medium high heat, coat bottom with a few turns of EVOO.

In a separate pan, heat up the spaghetti sauce (of course you can substitute your own!).

Layer the following evenly on each chicken breast piece: parsley, garlic, sundried tomatoes, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper, 1 small slice of mozzarella cheese, a small handful of parm (reserve about half of the parm to put on top of the rolls in the end). Once you have done this, roll each chicken breast into a log, taking care to tuck in the cheese and other ingredients, secure with toothpick. Roll in bread crumbs, assuring you have a generous coating.

Brown the rolls in the skillet on both sides. Most of the cooking will be done in the skillet, but the rolls will finish off in the oven, so you do not need to ensure they are fully cooked in the skillet - just nice and brown on both sides.

Pour about 1/2 of the spaghetti sauce into the bottom of a glass rectangular dish and place the chicken rolls in the dish. Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the chick rolls. Place the last pieces of mozzarella on top of each roll. Spread the remaining parm across the top of the dish. Heat in a 400 degree oven until the chicken is fully cooked and the cheese has melted.

YUM! I served this with a sundried tomato cheesy orso pasta dish, which is a take on one of Rachael Ray’s recipes. I’ll be sure to share this recipe with you as it is a good one. I just layered the pasta on the plate, placed the chicken roll on top of it and spooned out a bit of sauce as well. It was a nice meal!

How could I resist joining a web ring for 24 fanatics? Hubby did, and he has a picture of Kim posted. Um, isn’t she like 12 or something? Me, I go for Jack…eye candy, ain’t he?

Paula Eleazar Mendez tells authorities that she smothered her three young children, between the ages of 6 and 8.

DE QUEEN, Ark. — In Arkansas, authorities said a mother accused of smothering her three young children wrote notes that could help determine what led to the killings.

Her priest said the woman has expressed “tremendous remorse.”

You know, remorse is fine if a crime was committed that didn’t involve killing three children - especially your own. It’s so nice that she is remorseful….la dee dah. Remorse won’t change what she did…and it certainly won’t bring her children back from the dead. She was so remorseful, she intended on poisoning herself so she wouldn’t have to face up to the horrific crime she committed. Luckily that didn’t work and now she’ll have to serve her time, whatever that is.

I see an opening for “innocent for reasons of insanity” or some other “don’t blame me” plea. Hers is a story that is eerily like the one of Andrea Yates - who hunted down and methodically drown her children. I don’t see much difference here.

I know the three little children are in the arms of Jesus in Heaven and they no longer feel pain or fear. I pray for the rest of the family and those who were in their lives - that their hearts are not as heavy and they find the will to go on.

It’s nice when something that had a purposeful and expected bad ending doesn’t quite turn out that way.

SAO PAULO, Brazil - A baby girl found inside a plastic bag floating on a lake in Brazil was released from hospital Sunday in good condition, doctors said.

The girl, apparently two months old, was rescued Saturday afternoon by a couple who heard her crying in the Pampulha Lagoon in Belo Horizonte, a city about 300 miles northeast of Sao Paulo.

Amateur footage broadcast on Brazilian TV showed rescuers using a long tree branch to pull the black plastic bag out of the water. They opened the bag and found the girl inside, dressed in a pink dress.

Just how did this little one, only 2-months-old, end up in a plastic bag in a lake? We may never know…

Authorities arrested the mother of the baby later Sunday, but she denied throwing the girl into the lake, Globo reported. The mother said she gave the baby away to a group of homeless people because she didn’t have enough money to raise the child.

While it is important to find out who did this so justice can be served, it is a joy to know that this little girl survived. I wish for her a safe and happy life, away from anyone who doesn’t care enough for her that they thought it was okay to throw her away like every-day trash.

Okay…once I get past the natural gagging reflex that is triggered when I think of Cindy Sheehan, perhaps her running for Senate isn’t so far-fetched. I mean, she’d be in good company, right? Hillary and Kerry, Boxer and Kennedy and even good ole Chuck Hagel would welcome her with open arms. But this comment….I could help but laugh when I read it:

Sheehan said running in the Democratic primary would help make a broader point.

“If I decided to run, I would have no illusions of winning, but it would bring attention to all the peace candidates in the country,” she said.

I wonder how those “peace candidates” would feel with Cindy Sheehan in their corner? I suspect they’d want to run - and run away fast!

Think of it, though. Sheehan would run against current liberal queen extraordinaire Dianne Feinstein. Who would be the lesser of two evils?

Hi everyone!

This is just a quick post to let you know I am still among the living. There have just been certain things that have gotten in the way of me posting anything of note:

The next “Every Day with Rachael Ray” is on my nightstand. Review will commence once I’ve read it cover to cover!

Work has been unbelievable! I’m running a million miles a minute there and I just don’t want to do anything when I get home so my excuse is…

We are now on Season 2, Disc 3 of “24.” Hubby and I have been averaging oh, about 3-4 hours a night immersing ourselves in terror plots, assassinations and wannabe first ladies. The suspense! Pretty soon we’ll be throwing our kids a loaf of bread and some juice bags for dinner as we watch “the next episode.” Whatever will we do when we reach the end of season 4? I don’t know if I can wait a WEEK between episodes! Gah!!! Which is my reason for…..

Laundry, cleaning and bills are waiting in the wings to get done. It’s really sad when you wash a load of mismatched laundry in “cold” with Woolite, just to get you through tomorrow. But it’s “24.” Gimme a break!

Don’t you love my new skin? THANKS AGAIN SADIE LOU! I figured that for those of you who come here for Rachael Ray, John Cusimano and recipes, a nice “food” skin would be just the thing. do you like my Wusthofs? Heh!

Well…back to our warped world of counter-terrorism. I’ll peek my head out from under my rock again soon!

I have to say that I’m not speechless very often (ask anyone who knows me), but this story did it. Not for the weak-hearted and for those of you with children, you’ll want to hug them extra tight.

NEW YORK (AP) - In the eyes of her stepfather, 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown was an out-of-control troublemaker. She stole money from her parents and broke her siblings’ toys, she stole milk from a younger sibling and broke their computer printer, he said.

And when he found that she had gone into the refrigerator and taken a cup of yogurt she wasn’t supposed to have, he flew into a rage.

Police say Cesar Rodriguez beat the little girl to death, then tossed her on the floor of what was known in the family’s apartment as the “dirty room,” a rodent-infested room where she had been tied up and left with only a litter box as a toilet.

There are only a few people in this world that I would classify as fully lacking a soul - this bastard would be one of them - and I’m pretty convinced that the mother is a close second.

Rodriguez, 27, and Nixzmary’s mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, 27, are charged with multiple felony counts, including second-degree murder. Rodriguez also is accused of molesting Nixzmary and abusing her five siblings.

Both have pleaded not guilty.

NOT GUILTY? Assholes. Let’s just draw this out because you have a little anger-control problem…your “emotions” get carried away. If I had any influence, I’d ask to serve justice myself and it would taste like lead.

There had been warning signs.

Last May, a guidance counselor at Nixzmary’s school reported the child had missed 47 days of school. The city’s Administration for Children’s Services responded immediately but closed the case weeks later.

The agency failed to find “educational neglect when it was clear the girl had not been attending school,” said ACS Commissioner John Mattingly.

They not only failed in their findings. They failed a now dead little girl.

An indictment alleges that, beginning on New Year’s Day, Rodriguez used anything he could to subdue the little girl he described as “a handful,” including a belt, a piece of wood, a bungee cord.

Authorities said he bought yogurt for his children but refused to give Nixzmary any.

On the night of Jan. 10, Nixzmary’s mother discovered one of the yogurt cups was missing, and she went to Rodriguez. The frightened girl denied taking it, but one of the other children tattled, authorities say.

Later, Rodriguez discovered his computer printer was broken.

He stripped Nixzmary of her clothes and beat her in front of Santiago, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said.

He dragged her into the bathroom and repeatedly dunked her head under the cold water, and loud banging noises and screams of “Mommy” were heard throughout the apartment, authorities say. Rodriguez carried Nixzmary’s limp body into the dirty room and tossed her to the floor, Hynes said.

I can’t help but leave that exerpt in this post. I think people need to see this. So they keep the heat on these agencies who can’t do their job and what the consequences are. So they can keep their ears and eyes open and protect little ones from abusive parents, caregivers, etc. So the next young girl can live and not get killed over a container of yogurt.

Before Nixzmary’s little white coffin was laid to rest, the Rev. Robert O’Neil said her nightmare was finally over.

“Nixzmary is now surrounded by love, beyond the touch of evil,” he said.

Amen.

I started watching “24″ with the 5th Season Premiere last weekend. I was hooked immediately within 1-2 minutes of our 4-hour Tivo viewing.

We had bought season one on DVD, and I’ve been neglecting life in general (sleep, work, cleaning, dishes, cooking) as I’ve been immersed in the life of Jack Bauer.

I just returned from Wal-Mart and Best Buy, during which time I bought seasons two, three and four on DVD.

Is there a 12-step program for this show?

This is no mother:

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A mother is convicted in the slaying of her children.

After six days of testimony, a jury deliberated only about three hours before returning its verdict: Leslie Demeniuk is guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of her 4-year-old twin sons in 2001.

Prosecutor Noah McKinnon told the jury it was a brutal case of first-degree murder.

Mr. McKinnon is right. This woman shot both of her four year old boys. Nothing else but brutal could come close to describing it. The prosecutor stated that this woman looked her son in the eye, put the gun to his forehead and shot him. I call that calculated…the defense calls it insanity (emphasis mine).

The defense argued that alcohol mixed with antidepressants led to the shocking incident and that Demeniuk was delusional when she shot the boys.
::snip::

In his closing arguments defense attorney Bill Sheppard passionately disagreed with the prosecution, claiming that prescription drugs and alcohol mixed to cause Demeniuk to become temporarily insane.

“Why it happened was because Leslie Demeniuk did not know the difference between right and wrong at the precise moment that she pulled the trigger,” Sheppard said.

“The only explanation for these hideous actions is that she thought she was saving her children. She was taking them to a better place,” Sheppard said. “It was because of a total delusion.”

You have got to be kidding. Reread that piece. This woman had four-year-old twin boys who she SHOT and killed - her own sons! The prosecution stated that she had been on phone calls prior to the murders and was anything but delusional or insane, which is why the defense came up with the “insane at the moment she pulled the trigger” bullshit.

The jury saw through the bullshit, they only deliberated three hours. This bitch is no victim. She slayed her kids…kids that had a full life ahead of them. If there is one saving grace, they are free from her…if she had it in her to kill her poor kids, I can’t imagine what she did to them while they were still alive.

What happened here?

OMAHA, Neb. – Council Bluffs police are investigating a fetus abandoned in cemetery Saturday.

A couple walking in the Cedar Lawn Cemetery made the discovery in the crest lawn section and they called Council Bluffs police.

An autopsy was performed on the fetus at 10 a.m. Monday Investigators said it was a 17-week-old male.

“We have a fetus; we believe it’s about 17 weeks in term and it’s possibly been outside for two weeks,” said Sgt. Jerry Mann, of the Council Bluffs Police Department.

My heart breaks thinking about him being abandoned. Understandably this could have been a miscarriage, but to abandon the child’s body in a cemetery (obviously he hadn’t been buried as a couple happened upon his body as they were walking) invokes such sadness in me.

I can’t help but think those who rally to allow women to suck their babies out of the womb and into a sink has had some influence on the woman who abandoned this baby. Human life should mean more than this.

I usually check the local news before work, mostly to see what the weather is like. But when I see a headline like this, I feel compelled to stop by and rant for just a minute:

“Senior Citizen Loses Bid to Avoid Execution”

You can’t tell me the author of this story doesn’t have bias one way or the other - I mean, c’mon! The senior citizen in question is Clarence Ray Allen, a 76-year-old who could be the oldest man to ever be executed in California. I guess the author has forgotten what Clarence Ray Allen is guilty of.

He was sentenced to death in 1980 for hiring a hit man who killed three people at a Fresno market. Allen already was serving a sentence for murder at the time the hit was ordered.

He had murdered someone, was serving a sentence, and then ordered a hit from his prison cell which caused the death of three additional people. Ah….this guy is just your normal grandfatherly type, right?

It’s interesting that the news station where I got this story is running a poll to see how many people think this death row inmate should get his sentenced reduced to life (I mean after all the poor guy is a sick, elderly man and execution at this point would be inhumane) or whether the execution should take place. When I looked at the poll this morning, 83% of voters felt he should be executed for the crimes he committed. Surprise, surprise…yet another MSM author who doesn’t have the pulse on readership. Go figure.

Update: So I come home from work to find they’ve changed the article’s title to “76-Year-Old Man Faces Execution in California.” Interesting how things change in a matter of hours. It doesn’t mean they still aren’t looking for our sympathy. The article references that his birthday was Monday (today?) and that he is legally blind, nearly deaf and in a wheelchair. What they fail to point out directly is that his victims aren’t legally blind, nearly deaf and in a wheelchair…they are DEAD.

Please pray for a fellow MuNuvian. He needs our support!

Roger Keith Coleman was executed in 1992 and up until his death claimed innocence regarding his conviction for raping and murdering his wife’s sister.

The case has been watch closely because DNA testing was being done to confirm his guilt. Had the test results come back showing he did not perform these acts, it would have opened a flood-gate as it relates to capital punishment. The test results have come back and, indeed, they confirmed his guilt.

The tests, announced by the governor earlier this month, prove Roger Keith Coleman was guilty of the 1981 rape and murder of his sister-in-law, Gov. Mark R. Warner said.

Coleman was convicted and sentenced to death in 1982 for the murder of 19-year-old Wanda McCoy, his wife’s sister, who was found raped, stabbed and nearly beheaded in her home in the coal mining town of Grundy.

The report from the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto concluded there was almost no conceivable doubt that Coleman was the source of the sperm found in the victim.

“The probability that a randomly selected individual unrelated to Roger Coleman would coincidentally share the observed DNA profile is estimated to be 1 in 19 million,” the report said.

I’m satisfied with the results of the DNA testing in Coleman’s case. I am a proponent of the death penalty. My support of the death penalty goes way back to my high school days on the debate team. Our debate coach would make us argue on the side we disagreed with in order to build strategy. It really only affirmed my support and belief in it. As the years have passed, and DNA tests and other tests have been able to bring forward more evidence, the death penalty seems even more relevant to me. Now the chances of convicting an innocent person are not as likely as they were in the past.

I’ve seen the legal wranglings over the years reduce the effectiveness of the death penalty as in many cases they are nothing more than life sentences on steriods. Appeal after appeal and after that years of waiting to actually carry out the sentence. It isn’t the penalty itself that’s flawed, it’s the lack of carrying it out expeditiously that reduces its intended effect - deter criminals from performing such terrible acts.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe that in such cases, an appeals process can and should be offered and in some cases, I could possibly be convinced that a life sentence may be fitting. But to see a criminal sentenced to death sit on death row for years and years and years is almost criminal itself. To the families impacted by their crimes, to the tax payer who is paying for their care and to the officer’s who risk their lives managing within the prisons they reside.

James McCloskey, executive director of Centurion Ministries, had been fighting to prove Coleman’s innocence since 1988. The two shared Coleman’s final meal together — cold slices of pizza — just a few hours before Coleman was executed.

“I now know that I was wrong. Indeed, this is a bitter pill to swallow,” McCloskey said, describing Thursday’s findings as “a kick in the stomach” and adding that he felt betrayed by Coleman.

It’s unfortunate, Mr. McCloskey, but murderers are typically pretty good liars, too.

Look around, get comfy and enjoy the view! I’m so happy you found your way here!

Thanks to Sadie over at Apothegm Designs, I’m settling into my new mu.nu digs…don’t you think they look just awesome? Please share your comments about the site so Sadie can get the proper kudos she deserves!

More to come….just getting my feet wet! Thanks for coming over this way…good to see you in da house!