That Was The Week That Was (And It's Not Over) !

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.

New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to be made lieutenants or captains based on the results, the court said Monday in a 5-4 decision. The city said that it had acted to avoid a lawsuit from minorities.

The ruling could alter employment practices nationwide, potentially limiting the circumstances in which employers can be held liable for decisions when there is no evidence of intentional discrimination against minorities.

Now there's a novel idea! Hire and promote individuals based on their skills, abilities and test results. Wow, what a concept! Of course, this result may be short lived assuming Sotomayor, an Obama lackey, is confirmed as a supreme court judge.

Bernie Madoff, who bilked thousands of victims of over 65 billion dollars in a Ponzi scheme, was sentenced to 150 years in prison today by U.S. District Judge Denny Chin. Federal sentencing guidelines require the 71-year-old scumbag to serve at least 80 percent of that time, which means this sentence is in essence a life sentence. His lawyer had asked for a more lenient sentence of 12 years.

Last week, Madoff and his wife were stripped of all his personal property after a judge issued a preliminary $171 billion forfeiture order. His wife, Ruth Madoff, was left with $2.5 million far less that the $80 million she claimed was hers. The terms of the agreement require the Madoffs to sell a $7 million Manhattan apartment, where Ruth is living, an $11 million estate in Palm Beach, FL, a $4 million home in Montauk and a $2.2 million boat.

How Ruth Madoff, her sons and other partners got out of being prosecuted for the scam is beyond me, but it is satisfying to know Bernie Madoff will die in jail. Many of Madoff's "investors" had to have known that the returns on their investments were incredibly high, if not illegal. To them I say, life's a bitch, then you lose your ass and die.

Just when I figured it was safe to return to life's proverbial waters, another well known figure died. Television pitchman Billy Mays, who built his fame by appearing on commercials and infomercials promoting household products and gadgets, died Sunday.

Mays, age 50, was found unresponsive by his wife inside his Tampa, Fla., home at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday, according to the Tampa Police Department. Police said there were no signs of forced entry to Mays' residence and foul play is not suspected. Authorities said an autopsy should be complete by Monday afternoon.

Although Mays' sudden passage is unfortunate, it's nice to know that there will be one less annoying commercial on television. Kaboom!

CNN's Don Lemon, on the red carpet at the BET Awards last evening asked Joe Jackson, Michael's father, about the pending funeral arrangements. Joe Jackson, in turn, answered the questions by hyping his new record company. Joe Jackson, when confronted again today by Mr. Lemon to clarify his odd remarks, struggled with a plausible answer and was quickly escorted away by Al Sharpton and others, citing, "we gotta go."

Meanwhile, on E-Bay, "mourners" have over 50,000 pieces of Michael Jackson memorabilia for sale.

This Date In History: 1613; The original Globe Theatre, in London, burns down accidentally when a cannon discharged during a performance of Shakespeare's Henry VIII sets fire to the building's thatched roof. 1905; The Automobile Association (AA) is established with its inaugural meeting at the Trocadero Restaurant, in London.

1940; Swiss painter Paul Klee dies in Muralto, Switzerland, aged 60. 1954; The US Atomic Energy Commission refuses to reinstate the security clearance of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb," citing his past ties to Communists.

Picture Of The Day: Today's a day where I have more pictures than space and I pretty much had to pick and cull the graphics. The number of Bernie Madoff pictures alone were close to one hundred.

Suffice to say that I carefully selected today's pictorial offerings for your dinning and dancing pleasures. Drinks are two for one for the guys and, as per my usual, ladies drink free!

Birthdays: Giacomo Leopardi, Italian poet and scholar 1798, George Washington Goethals, American engineer 1858, George Ellery Hale, American astronomer 1868, Robert Schuman, French statesman 1886, Frank Henry Loesser, American composer 1910.

Printable Things I Never Told You: 1) "My Bonnie lies over the ocean. My Bonnie lies over the sea." I guess that pretty much confirms that your Bonnie's a damned liar. 2) I thought I saw an eye doctor that I knew on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian . 3) I was always getting a sharp pain in my eye when I drink coffee. My lady friend suggested that I try taking out the spoon. 4) Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you a mechanic. 5) The results of my weekend jaunt to AREA 51 ended in a tie score, with no hits, no runs, no errors and no one left on base.

The Hits Just Keep On Coming:

Leo came home with a birdhouse one day. His wife kidded him, asking how many birds could afford deluxe accommodations in their suburban neighborhood. Leo said, "Leave that to me." Soon that birdhouse was dangling from a tree with a neat sign that read: "Room for wren.....cheep!"

Little Nancy was in the garden filling in a hole when her neighbor peered over the fence. Interested in what the cheeky-faced youngster was up to, he politely asked, "What are you doing there, Nancy?" Nancy replied tearfully, "My goldfish died and I've just buried him."

The neighbor was very concerned. "That's an awfully big hole for a goldfish, isn't it?" Nancy patted down the last heap of dirt then replied, "That's because he's inside your fricking cat."

In my travels around Miami, I'm always searching for the perfect AREA 51 location. I came across this biker bar on Miami Beach, but the characters were a little seedy and too tough to handle.

A little girl walks into a pet shop and asks in the sweetest little lisp, "Excuthe me, mithter, do you keep widdle wabbits?" As the shopkeeper's heart melts, he gets down on his knees so that he's on her level, and asks, "Do you want a widdle white wabbit or a thoft and fuwwy bwack wabbit or maybe one like that cute widdle bwown wabbit over there?"

She, in turn blushes, rocks on her heels, puts her hands on her knees, leans forward and says in a quiet voice, "I don't think my pet python weally gives a thit."

A teacher, explaining biology to her 4th grade students says, "Human beings are the only animals that stutter." A little girl raises her hand and says "I had a kitty-cat who stuttered." The teacher, knowing how precious some of these stories could become, asked the girl to describe the incident.

The little girl said, "Well, I was in the back yard with my kitty and the Rottweiler that lives next door got a running start and before we knew it, he jumped over the fence into our yard!" The teacher said, "That must've been scary."The Litlle girl said, "It sure was! My kitty raised his back, went Fffff, Fffff, Fffff', and before he could say 'F**k', the Rottweiler ate him!"

That's it for today my little whipper snappers. More on Wednesday.

Stay Tuned !