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The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Monday, May 4, 2009

Intruder caught by camera hidden in cereal box

An audacious criminal who set up home in a Sydney office block, returning every night after staff left to eat, sleep and shower, has been caught with the aid of a tiny camera hidden in a box of cereal.

Full Story

"Incredible Shrinking Baby" Mystifies Doctors

Doctors are mystified by the case of 10-month-old Utah infant Maggie Agnew. Somehow, despite even being given a feeding tube, Maggie is literally shrinking, and she now weighs only 10 pounds 6 ounces, and is visibly very thin.

Full Story

New Charges Involving a Stripper Face Craigslist Killer

Accused "Craigslist Killer" Philip Markoff will be hit with more charges today as Rhode Island prosecutors prepare to announce an arrest warrant for him for allegedly robbing an exotic dancer who advertised her services on the craigslist.org.

Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch will announce the charges at a 2 p.m. news conference. He will be joined by Warwick Police Chief Stephen McCartney.

The victim was allegedly restrained with plastic handcuffs and robbed at gunpoint at the Holiday Inn in Warwick, R.I., on April 16.

ABC News has learned that police tied Markoff to the hold-up through his fingerprints left at the hotel crime scene and by tracking phone calls and text messages Markoff allegedly made in the vicinity of the hotel around the time of the robbery.

Surveillance cameras also captured pictures of the suspect as he walked through the hotel lobby while staring at his cell phone.

Markoff already faces charges of robbing and killing masseuse Julissa Brisman, 25, in Boston on April 14, and robbing another woman in another Boston hotel. All three women advertised on Craigslist.

While officials most likely won't prosecute him on the new charges until the more serious Boston cases are completed. The Rhode Island arrest warrant would preserve Rhode Island's ability to try him at a later date.

The woman in the Rhode Island robbery has not been publicly identified, and police sources said she was reluctant to cooperate with investigators.

Nevertheless, evidence piled higher against Markoff as he sat in an isolated cell in a Boston jail. Markoff is being held in the jail's psyche ward after two suicide attempts, sources have told ABC News. He isn't scheduled to appear in court until May 21.

In the meantime, the only thing Markoff, a second year medical student who was engaged to be married, appears to have said to family members was to forget him. Fiancee Megan McAllister has told Markoff their August wedding is off, and she has moved her belongings out of the Boston apartment the couple shared.

Investigators found a pistol under the couple's, bed along with women's panties that police believe were taken from robbery victims. One of the alleged "Craigslist" victims, Trisha Leffler, said that after she was robbed, her assailant snatched a pair of her panties that were lying on the floor. A law enforcement source told ABC News that police found 16 pairs of women's panties in the apartment, fueling concern that there might be other victims who have not yet come forward.

The gun was hidden in a hollowed medical textbook entitled "Gray's Anatomy," sources said.

Also found in the couple's apartment were plastic handcuffs identical to the ones allegedly used in the "Craigslist" robberies.

Warren Buffett's gloomy economic advice

Warren Buffett's gloomy economic adviceThe billionaire investor shares his sobering outlook, including the one American business he wouldn't buy "at any price."

Warren Buffett

Also:

Why your co-workers act like children

Why your co-workers act like childrenLook to family dynamics to explain why workplace stress can bring out hard-to-manage traits among your colleagues.

Co-workers act like children

Also:

Increasingly Deranged

From Right Wing Watch:

The increasingly deranged far-right is continuing to lie and scream about that DHS report, leaked a few weeks ago, concerning the increasing dangers posed by the deranged far-right.
They're now running an ad, sponsored by a coalition of conservative organizations, including the American Family Association, Religious Freedom Coalition, Let Freedom Ring, United States Justice Foundation, Vision America, and Faith2Action, that's full of lies and distortions, and basically confirms that the DHS is absolutely right to be concerned about these loons and goons.

More here.

Wing Nut Lies Kill More Police

From Crooks and Liars:

Another nut, convinced by wing-nut liars that the Obama administration is about to confiscate everyone's guns, has killed two cops.

I don't know what the solution is, but what Faux News and other well-funded bullshit artists are doing is somewhere between sedition and treason, and we tolerate it at the nation's peril.

More here.

Liars and Fools

Liars and Fools: The Faux News edition

Brick
Faux's Brick lies that under DHS report, "a teabag person is kind of a threat possibly to the United States"
They are but it wasn't in the report.

Faux's Brick defends wanting to pull out fingernails and peel skin off with a cheese grater
As long as it is him getting his fingernails pulled out and his skin peeled off with a cheese grater I think most people would have a problem with it either - even those opposed to torture in any form ... like being forced to listen to his lunacy.

In General
Faux News continues to hallucinate about a socialist/fascist menace — and it's causing real damage
Dropping too much Acid will do that.

Faux News' unhinged, irrational Obama attacks stir up violent wing-nut militants
That is exactly what they are trying to do.

Handjob
Faux's Handjob denies Texas secession threat he once touted
He speaks with forked tongue as usual.

Faux's Handjob says Obama will nominate somebody extremely radical" for Supreme Court, since Obama's policies have been "radically left" and "socialist"
Since when?

In General
Faux's Henneberg repeats wing-nut myth that hate crimes bill could gag ministers
Wrong, but most need gagging in the first place.

Faux's Miller suggests Obama wants to waterboard tea-baggers
Since they're used to wet things in their mouths ... oh, wait that's the 'real' teabaggers - he's meaning those nutcases ...

Faux's Napolitano peddles paranoia about "swine flu," Obama's health care plan
And we are surprised how?

O'Really
Faux's O'Really says New York Times and MSNBC execs, Soros, ACLU's Romero are "America-haters"
Coming from a true America Hater that means they are in reality America Lovers.

Spain to proceed with War Crimes Trials

A Spanish Judge, Baltasar Garzón, will proceed with war crime prosecutions against six Bush-Cheney administration officials: then-VP Cheney's chief of staff David Addington, former Assistant Attorney General and current Federal Judge Jay Bybee, former Under-Secretary of Defense Doug Feith, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former Defense Department general counsel William Haynes II, and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General and now law professor at the University of California at Berkeley John Yoo.

Thank you, Spain and Judge Garzón.

Wait, there's more.

Garzón has also announced a preliminary criminal inquiry into other as-yet un-named Bush-Cheney officials over US torture policies at Guantanamo.

More here.

Outsourcing

The state of Florida has outsourced jobs answering its food stamp hotline to a call center in India. The stupidity of American government is truly only challenged by the stupidity of American business.

More here.

Dimbulb Spews

Dimbulb Spews:

Dimbulb casts Obama as "attack number two ... follow-up to 9/11"
The traitor spews ...

To replace Souter, Dimbulb says Obama is looking for "a teenage single mother who's gay, is a lesbian, who's dirt poor, African-American, and disabled", or a radical who is a minority, or "somebody like Ward Churchill", or "an illegal alien"
Considering the wastes of DNA that are already on the court even a piece of driftwood would raise the intelligence level of the court as well as increase its understanding of the law and the Constitution.

Dimbulb lies that Obama will release Guantanamo prisoners "in Montana or wherever else"
Pulling things out of his ass again and no I don't mean some little boy this time.

Dimbulb says Obama "is weakening this nation's ability to defend itself"
Not the America I live in, he isn't.

Science and Health

Joke of the Week

Who knew repugicans were such comedians?!

"I don't think many Americans are going to agree that the Republican party has become too conservative."
Senator Jim DeMint (retard-South Carolina)

Damn, that's a good one, there Jimmy.

Liars and Fools

Liars and Fools today are:

Arch-right reaches out to gun-toting hatemongers
So, what else is new?

Anti-gay hate groups: Because of gay marriage, "people will die"
Yep. all those haters having strokes will do more than a few in all right.

Screeds of radio hosts Beck, Savage, and Jones fuel gun-enthusiasts' anger
Gun-nuts is the proper term guys and everythings fuels their misplaced anger.

Washington Post's Broder wants absolute immunity for everyone involved in torture
In a pig's eye Broder, in a pig's eye.

Washington Post's Krauthammer endorses torture
OK I wasn't going to go there ... but with a name like Krauthammer - what else is a Nazi to do.

Washington Post's Krauthammer says Obama is pushing a "radical domestic agenda" to "establish a more social democratic America"
Wrong, but again what is the big deal ... we're supposed to be a federated republic based on democracy - guess what fellas ... that is a social democracy - so he is pushing America to be what it is supposed to be, well I'll be damned, imagine that.

RedState editor writes that Souter is a "goat f*cking child molester"
Speaking from the voice of experience I see.

Disney's Savage attacks Muslims in rant on swine flu and eating pork
Again proving he is a putz of the lowest order.

Disney's Savage suspects that "our dear friends in the Middle East cooked [swine flu] up " with "open border policies" in mind
Hold on the guys in the white coats are on their way.

Disney's Savage and blogger Malkin use swine flu crisis to peddle their xenophobia
Tell us something we didn't know.

MSNBC's Scarborough declares "if planes go into buildings ... blame Dana Priest" for exposing use of waterboarding
The air is thin in LALA Land isn't it?

Wing Nut Yammering and Flap Doodling

Wing nuts blathering ...

Foxx (r-not for long-North Carolina) says murder of gay icon Matthew Shepard was "a hoax"
Yep, just like today is Monday is a hoax.

McConnell (reptile-Kentucky) says Specter's party switch is a "threat to the country"
Nope, it assures the well being of the nation - especially when he loses to a true Democrat in 2010.

Former Secretary of State Rice channels Nixon: The President authorized torture, and that makes it legal
It didn't work at Nuremburg, either, Condi.

More Rice: Al Qaeda is a greater threat to America than Nazi Germany ever was
Her delusions are getting way out of hand.

Repugican chair Steele accuses Democrats of pushing "socialism"
Now, if he only knew what socialism was in the first place

Wing-nut activist wishes swine flu on President Obama
Well, in that case the wing-nut in question deserves a case of it that is severe.

Repugican National Committee posts, then pulls, video of mock-Obama criticizing troops, thanking Ayers
Stupidity still reigns supreme among the wing-nuts I see.

Road rage among senior citizens

Beecher Davis, 82, was charged with assault for punching Charlie Bruener, 67, in the face, twice, in a moment of road rage in Alexandria, Kentucky. Bruener allegedly called Davis a son-of-a-bitch after Davis cut him off in his car. Davis followed Bruener and his wife to a Wal-Mart parking lot.

From WCPO:
When they pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot, Bruener says Davis approached their car.

"I said get away from here you s.o.b. like that and when I did that he punched me in the jaw," said Bruener.

The 67-year-old says that's when he reached for his Derringer pistol which he has a concealed carry permit but Davis he says was non-pulsed.

"He told me to shoot him! He pointed it right at his chest and he said shoot me! I said mister I will shoot you if you don't get away from me." said Bruener. "I said get away from me you s.o.b nut you know like that and then I get hit again in the chin! He hit me again in the chin..."

According to the police report, officers asked Davis why instead of calling police he approached Bruener's car. Davis told officers he doesn't take being called a s.o.b off of anybody.

Davis later told the officer, "If you call me a s.o.b., I'll slug you, too."

Words to the Wise

It is never wise to let any piece of electronic equipment know you are in a hurry.

Unusual Celebrations and Holidays

Today is:

Respect For Chickens Day

OK now we are getting a little bit silly with our celebrating aren't we?

Daily Alamanac

Today is Monday, May 4, the 124th day of 2009 with 241 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. The evening stars are Mercury and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus.

They include educator Horace Mann in 1796; English biologist and agnostic Thomas Huxley in 1825; American landscape painter Frederic Church in 1826; New York Roman Catholic Cardinal Francis Spellman in 1889; Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 1928 (age 81); musician Maynard Ferguson in 1928; actress Audrey Hepburn in 1929; opera singer Roberta Peters in 1930 (age 79); editor/columnist George Will in 1941 (age 68); singer Nickolas Ashford in 1942 (age 67); actress Pia Zadora in 1954 (age 55); and country singer Randy Travis in 1959 (age 50).

*****

This date in history:

In 1494, on his second expedition to the New World, Columbus discovered Jamaica.

In 1886, four police officers were killed when a bomb was thrown during a meeting of anarchists in Chicago's Haymarket Square protesting labor unrest. Four leaders of the demonstration, which became known as the Haymarket Square Riot, were convicted and hanged.

In 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea began. It was a turning point in World War II, with Japan losing 39 ships and the United States one.

In 1970, National Guardsmen killed four students at Kent State University in Ohio during a demonstration against the Vietnam War.

In 1980, President Joseph Broz Tito of Yugoslavia died at age 87.

In 1982, an Argentine jet fighter sank the British destroyer HMS Sheffield during the Falkland Islands war.

In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 7-0 to uphold a California law requiring the state's all-male Rotary Clubs to admit women.

In 1990, Latvia became the third and last of the Baltic republics to take steps toward secession from the Soviet Union.

In 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chief Yasser Arafat signed an agreement, establishing the terms of limited Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.

In 2000, the "I Love You" computer virus crashed computers around the world.

In 2001, Pope John Paul II flew to Greece to begin a journey retracing the steps of the Apostle Paul through historic lands.

In 2004, the U.S. Army said it was conducting 35 criminal investigations into the treatment of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. Twenty-five of those are said to involve deaths of prisoners, including 13 possible homicides.

In 2005, two days after U.S. Army Pvt. Lynndie England pleaded guilty to charges related to alleged prisoner abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison the judge threw out the plea and declared a mistrial. The judge said it was not clear whether the Army reservist knew at the time she was acting illegally.

In 2006, confessed terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced to life in prison without parole. The 37-year-old Moroccan, who implicated himself in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the United States, could have received the death penalty.

In 2007, U.S. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Iraq's creditors had agreed to cancel $30 billion in debt. The announcement came as representatives of the United States and 59 other nations met in Egypt to discuss Iraq's future.

Also in 2007, a boat carrying nearly 150 Haitian migrants capsized in the Atlantic off the coast of one of the Turks and Caicos Islands, killing at least 20 people.

In 2008, a passenger ferry boat reportedly carrying twice its maximum load capsized on a tributary of the Amazon River in northern Brazil. Close to 50 people were reported killed.

A thought for the day: Michel de Montaigne said, "There is no conversation more boring than the one where everybody agrees."

Dr Pepper's origin revealed?

This Monday, April 13, 2009 photo shows a recipe titled "D Peppers Pepsin Bitters" in a ledger book from the Waco, Texas, drugstore where Dr Pepper was invented. (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam)

Artifact may reveal soft drink's
origin

Poking through antiques stores while traveling through the Texas Panhandle, Bill Waters stumbled across a tattered old ledger book filled with formulas.

He bought it for $200, suspecting he could resell it for five times that. Turns out, his inkling about the book's value was more spot on than he knew. The Tulsa, Okla., man eventually discovered the book came from the Waco, Texas, drugstore where Dr Pepper was invented and includes a recipe titled "D Peppers Pepsin Bitters."

"I began feeling like I had a national treasure," said Waters, 59.

Dr Pepper's manufacturer says the recipe is not the secret formula for the modern day soft drink, but the 8½-by-15½ inch book is expected to sell between $50,000 to $75,000 when it goes up for auction on May 13.

Read the rest here.

Example 8,234,001 of Why Texting While Driving is Bad

Bus Crash

If you need any proof that while some states have such laws, we should probably have a federal law against text messaging while driving (or maybe even some technology), here's a great example.

Full Story

YouTube Helps in Baby Delivery

A father-to-be in Cornwall, England, when faced with the prospect of neither the midwife nor the paramedics making it to his house in time for the delivery, took matters into his own hands, with the help of YouTube.

What pharmacists don't want to tell you

What pharmacists don't want to tell youBeware of these practices that could cost you money or even make you sick.

What pharmacists don't want to tell you

Also:

Pot dealers nabbed after tailgating cops

They don't call it Dope for nothing you know!

Two suspected pot dealers were arrested after police said the pair tailgated an unmarked police car.

Police said 23-year-old Jonathan Gonzalez and 19-year old Felicia Deneen tailgated the police vehicle Wednesday and were later stopped.

Police said when officers asked the driver, Deneen, for her license and registration, several individually wrapped baggies of marijuana were "in plain view" in the glove box.

When Gonzalez got out, police said, he dropped cocaine from his pocket.

Both were charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of cocaine.

The pair pleaded not guilty Thursday in Framingham District Court in Massachusetts.

Cowboy ticketed for 'riding under the influence'

A man in a cowboy hat who rode a horse through a Denver suburb has been cited for riding an animal under the influence.

Police said Brian Drone was given a $25 traffic violation ticket in a strip mall parking lot Friday. Drone said that he was out for a "joyride" in Arvada with his horse, Cricket.

Sgt. Jeff Monzingo says the citation was the first he'd seen in 15 years of working in law enforcement.

Police say deciding what to do with the horse was a "tricky call" because "you can tow a car" in typical drunk driving cases.

A stable owner eventually offered Drone and his horse a ride home.

Where the streets have no name

It's not just a U2 song anymore.

Officials said some thieves turned a western Pennsylvania township into a place "Where the Streets Have No Name."

Winfield Township supervisor Glenn Nagle revealed at a meeting Thursday that every one of the township's road signs was stolen in a 48-hour period beginning April 6.

The township has since spent about $4,000 replacing the aluminum signs, which cost about $100 each.

Nagle assumes the thefts were some kind of prank because the value of the signs as scrap metal is negligible.

Nagle said the signs are especially important to emergency vehicles responding to homes and businesses.

State police in Butler are investigating. Winfield is about 25 miles north of Pittsburgh.

A man has a seizure and his daughter is arrested for calling 911

911 Dad Has Seizure: Daughter Arrested For Calling PoliceIn America - land of free speech - a man has a seizure. His daughter, Adrainne Ledesma dials 911 in Lincoln Park: “Get me a “f***** ambulance!”. The officer, Sgt Robert McFarland hangs up.

She tries to get help three times. But the officer is more interested in etiquette and language than he is in doing his job.

Adrainne is then cuffed and cited for disorderly conduct and “abusing 911″ - a charge that does not exist. Enjoy this video of the officer running from the media:



Some people really need to get a life - especially those idiots calling themselves police officers involved in this abuse! And YES, it was the officers that were abusive.

Boy nails hole-in-one at New Hampshire golf course

Where does he go from here?

A 10-year-old boy from North Hampton, hit a hole-in-one while golfing with his father during the weekend. Ryan Quinn hit the 164-yard shot Sunday at the Sagamore-Hampton Golf Club.

Club pro Tyler Sanborn said until then, no one under age 20 had hit a hole-in-one there.

The fourth grader said he and his dad jumped up and down and yelled. He told the Portsmouth Herald he's taking the ball to school next week to show his classmates.

Drunk driver caused $26K damages

Fremont, Nebraska Police say a woman arrested on suspicion of drunken driving hit fences, garages and a house as she left a $26,000 trail of destruction.

Sgt. Ed Watts says the woman's car struck a fence while she was trying to turn into an alley Thursday night. He says the car next hit a utility pole and then a garage while trying to turn into it. Wyatt says the car then crossed a yard, rammed a fence and hit a house and garage

.Police say they arrested 58-year-old Fremont resident Janis Brown, who posted a $200 bond and was released from jail. Authorities say the woman's car also had about $5,000 in damages.

Outhouses cushion small plane crash in Washington state

Must resist the 'potty humor' ...

A small airplane dropping from the sky after its engine failed wound up on a cushioning bunch of portable toilets - and the pilot was able to walk away apparently unhurt.

Gary Mayor of the Federal Aviation Administration says the Cessna 182 crashed Friday afternoon in Washington state after taking off from Thun Field, an airfield owned by Pierce County southeast of Tacoma.

Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer says the plane was about 150 feet in the air when the engine quit.

Troyer told The News Tribune that the pilot tried to turn around to land but didn't quite make it.

The plane hit a fence, flipped over and landed upside down on top of the portable toilets standing in a storage yard.

Authorities didn't immediately give the pilot's identity, who was 'blue' in the face (damn, I didn't resist hard enough). Portable toilets - blue water ... get it?

Check out this video .

Has alarm over swine flu been justified?

Has alarm over swine flu been justified?Officials may raise the threat level as the epidemic persists, but dire predictions have yet to come true.

Justified?

New scams targeting bank accounts

New scams targeting bank accountsProtect yourself from becoming a victim of the growing fraud aimed at your bank accounts.

New scams

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Kingston, Saint George, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Izmir, Izmir, Turkey
Athens, Attiki, Greece
Limoges, Limousin, France
Annecy, Rhone-Alpes, France
Prague, Hlavni Mesto Praha, Czech Republic
Bombay, Maharashtra, India
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Chester, England, United Kingdom
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
London, England, United Kingdom
Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Vilnius, Vilnaius Apskritis, Lithuania
Clermont, Picardie, France
Indore, Madhaya Pradesh, India
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

as well as Singapore, Serbia and Montenegro, and the United States

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

It's a good detail-planning day in terms of where you want to take your future. Life may be in a state of flux right now, but that won't last forever, so you should get prepared for when things settle down. Line up activities and projects for when your calendar loosens up again. There's no need to nail down every single goal of course, but it would be worth a few minutes of your time to pinpoint one or two interesting items you want to explore later on.

Awesome!