Self-portrait.

Another self-portrait.
Originally uploaded by Arkanssouri.

Dunno that I've publicized this over here yet.

But if it's a boring news day, and this blog is filled with boring posts, like today, you might want to take a look over at Dude Musings.

Romney calls the Danger Hole a "tar baby."

[H/T 2 memeorandum.]

Did he drive drunk BECAUSE he hates Jews?

Jewish groups call for hate-crime probe on Mel Gibson.

In order for it to be a hate crime, doesn't there have to be a linkage between the hate and the crime, sort of a cause-and-effect relationship?

I seriously doubt Mel sat around and stewed about how the Jews are ruining the country and then, in order to do something about it, decided to get drunk and go for a drive.

Just because hate and crime happen in close proximity to each other doesn't mean it's a hate crime.

[H/T 2 memeorandum.]

Eminent domain polls.

Take one here.

And one here.

And here.

And here.

And here (Right column.).

And here.

And here (left column; this one's a good one!).


[H/T 2 Independent Country & HoT]

Apparently, he wasn't a CUNNING linguist.

Army Dismisses Gay Arabic Linguist.

Cheap pun, I know. But sometimes cheap is satifying; like ramen noodles.

[H/T 2 Drudge.]

Credit where due.

I've often blogged about the absurdity which is the Glenn Beck Show.

Too much wardrobe from the Patsy Montana Collection

(Note the pearly snappy-snaps and the little double triangle flaps on the pockets. And, I'm not kidding, he's worn a bright pink one on the show.)

and not enough airtime for the studmuffiny Dave Glover, whose show site is here.

But I have to give him his props when he earns them. Yesterday, he absolutely nailed both the Shrieker and the media at the same time:

I think all you have to know about the Howard Dean speech is just the
headlines. Here are the headlines, and they`re all headlines from the same
speech, I kid you not. Look at this. The first one is from the Associated Press.
"Dean Calls Iraqi Prime Minister an Anti-Semite."

OK, same speech, different headline. This one from the "Sun Sentinel."
"Howard Dean Compares Katherine Harris to Stalin." Got him?

OK, last headline -- I love this -- from the A.P. again. Same speech. "Howard
Dean Calls End to Divisiveness."

Heterosexuals suck.

No, literally.

From our Straight People Are Perverts desk:

A 27-year-old woman told police that on July 11 Colella asked to kiss her
feet. She turned him down but said she relented when he repeatedly insisted, and
he began kissing her foot and then sucked on a toe.

She pulled her foot away and the man asked her reaction, to which she
replied she was freaked out.

Freaks.

[H/T 2 BuzzPage.]

Laws are for the little people to obey.

Wisconsin police chief totals city's SUV and is cited for driving without a license.

How many tickets has he given people over the years for that very offense?

[H/T 2 brainhop.]

What kind of asshole calls the cops about this?

From Ananova:

A widow was told by police to remove a notice on her fence which read: "Our dogs are fed on Jehovah's Witnesses."

The sign had hung on Jean Groves fence for thirty-one years without complaint.

[snip]

Jean who lives in Bursledon, Hants, said: "My husband Gordon hung it up and it's been there ever since. No one has said anything in all that time. The police said it was 'distressing and offensive and inappropriate'."

[snip]

A Hampshire police spokesman insisted there had been a complaint.

Apparently, however, Jean has been reading Martin Luther King's letter from the Birmingham Jail.

[S]he put the sign back on the fence after the police left.

Rage on, heroic Jean. Rage on.

I suggest demanding the police identify your accuser. Then make his life a living hell.

And now I teach REASON magazine a lesson.

My subscription to Reason is up this month, and I had planned on renewing it. Then, last night, I got telemarketed from the phone number 205-408-4817 to try to get me to renew it. So, now, I shall not be renewing my subscription.

A little internet digging traced the number to EBSCO Industries, a company which apparently has been harassing many, many people with hangups and multiple calls a day and no one being on the line when the person answers the phone, and nobody at the company answering any questions when we call the number.

Bad business practice, Reason, and in my humble opinion contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of libertarianism.

I managed to mail in my little card to renew the subscription last time, didn't I? Now, do you think I am somehow incapable of doing it again? Do you think I need a rude phone call to remind me?

There is a reason I did not give you my phone number, Reason. I don't want to be telemarketed. And yet you subcontracted me out to a company that apparently trolled through all the Hutchisons in the phone book until they hunted me down. You see, Reason, I don't have a phone, and yet your little attack dog subcontractor harassed all the Hutchisons until they caught me at my mother's number, which, incidentally, is on the DO NOT CALL list. You know, that thing your subcontractor ignored?

I looked up and posted what contact info I could find for EBSCO over on whocalled.us. I am also posting it here in the hopes that any spiders looking for phone numbers to telemarket will latch onto it. Hey, they can't complain, given that their practices suggest they are in favor of playing fast and loose with others' personal information.

EBSCO Industries, Inc.
P.O. Box 1943
Birmingham, AL 35201-1943

5724 Hwy. 280 East
Birmingham, AL 35242

Main line: (205) 991-6600

website: http://www.ebscoind.com/industries/

And while I'm at it, here is some contact info for Reason:

Editorial & Production Offices:
3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd. Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-2245

I hope my readers will find these phone numbers handy any time they need a fictional phone number.

Toodles,
John Hutchison, former subscriber.

What Common Breed of Dog Are You?

Doberman
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Dooku AND Snape? I would make someone quite the catch!

Update.

[I seek your indulgence if a dupe of this entry posts later; I tried to email it in, and it went somewhere. It seems to be floating around out there in the ether but hasn't showed up here at the blog in the two hours since.]

Still under a boil water order. Managed to finish cleaning up the yard. In order to chop up some of the leftover small branches, I had to do the backyard with the Dead Dino mower, but I was able to do the front yard with the Osama Defiance Whirligig.

The combination of the dying fridge and power outage transformed over a case of Rolling Rock and Budweiser Select into snail bait.

Other than that, things are pretty much back to normal.

Areawide News has three stories on the storm up, here, here and here.

Benny Parsons fighting lung cancer.

I'd noticed Benny hasn't been quite as engaged on the NBC's NASCAR telecasts as he had been in past years.

Although I'm a bigger fan of FOX's NASCAR coverage, I'm pullin' for ya, Benny!

Unfortunately, it wasn't Joey.

Lance Bass busts the myth that gay men are by definition good dancers. Seriously; dude's as graceful as Frankenstein on the dance floor.

But here's what I don't get:

"I knew that I was in this popular band and I had four other guys' careers in my hand, and I knew that if I ever acted on it or even said (that I was gay), it would overpower everything," says Bass, referring to bandmates Joey Fatone,
Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez and Justin Timberlake.

"I didn’t know: Could that be the end of ’N Sync? So I had that weight on me of like, ‘Wow, if I ever let anyone know, it's bad.' So I just never did," he says speaking about his sexual orientation for the first time with PEOPLE.

Bass was never the big chick magnet for N'SYNC. That honor fell to Justin or JC. So revealing it then wouldn't have driven a lot of teenybopper females away, and it might have drawn in his own untapped audience of gay young men.

Ban The Sun.

The sun kills more people each year than not wearing a seatbelt.

Sun: 60,000 annual kills.

Lack of seatbelt usage: 40,000 annual kills.

Shouldn't Congress pass legislation banning the sun? Or fund research into methods to put the murderous thing out?

What's that, you can't legislate nature? Some try. For example, Indiana once tried to legislate scientific law by redefining pi as 3.2. And I remember in the late 80's, the courts decided the value of pi was 22/7 in a billing dispute. I don't remember the specifics of the case. Perhaps Mr. Hanna does; he is who I was discussing it with. Never mind that it's inaccurate. Can't let reality get in the way of a good legal ruling, now can we?

And Glenn Beck and Pat Gray tongue-in-cheekedly suggest that to protect the good people of Houston from TV's falling on their heads, legislation should be introduced making the law of gravity more of a suggestion or guideline than a law.

BECK: ...OK, I think. TVs falling on people`s heads. What`s the seeming
epidemic in Houston?

GRAY: It`s actually been declared by a physician a public health crisis.
And we`ve had -- we`ve had probably five kids killed by falling TVs. And in the
last few months, and that`s just reported by one hospital in town. We`re not
really sure how many times it`s actually happened in the last year, but it`s
happened many times, five times at least in the last few months, and it`s gotten
to the point where people want something done. I`m not sure what`s to be done.

BECK: How about parents not putting the TVs up on shaky tables?

GRAY: You might think it`s a parental thing, but I think we`re thinking
more along the lines of governmental intervention. BECK: Oh.GRAY: Yes.BECK: So
they could fix shaky tables?

GRAY: Well, no. I think what needs to be fixed is that law of gravity.

BECK: Sure.

GRAY: Make it not so much a stringent law.

BECK: It is the law. It is the law.

GRAY: We need to make it more rule of thumb, I think. Or maybe -- maybe we
need signs in every home in America that say, "Caution, falling TVs."

BECK: Please, you know what? Let`s not even go down this road, because with
the flag burning amendment and everything else that they`re doing just for the
election, they might actually try to take on the law of gravity in Washington.

GRAY: It wouldn`t surprise me.

BECK: Pat, thanks a lot, talk to you soon.

Gravity optional? I LIKE it!

Or we COULD just ban televisions.

[H/T 2 Drudge.]

If you were Wal-Mart . . .

. . . and this piece of socialist vomit got signed into law, why wouldn't you move all your business out of Chicago proper and into the suburbs?

And how many Chicago residents would have to quit Wal-Mart because the commute would be too expensive?

And if you're the City of Chicago, and your position is that the lowest pay a person can live on is ten bucks of money with three bucks of benefits an hour, then why are you paying your own crossing guards $9.38 an hour?

Maybe we should contact the city and ask them.

[H/T 2 memeorandum.]

BBC: News is HARD!

From Arutz Sheva:

The British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) has admitted that many of the victims of Israeli retaliation in Lebanon are terrorists and not innocent civilians. A BBC reporter said he saw Hizbullah terrorists using a private home and added, "It is difficult to quantify who is a terrorist and who is a civilian."

[H/T 2 brainhop.]

Quick entry to let you know . . .

... that I have not been incarcerated or kidnapped. First, the fridge repairman never came, and didn't TELL us he wasn't coming. Even avoided answering our voicemails. So we stayed home and waited. Yesterday, after I made a quick trip to the local hardware store to try and find someone else, and began telling people how he was jerking us around, we received a call from him. By that time, however, we had a confirmed appointment from someone else, who showed up yesterday afternoon and took a look at the fridge cleared some of the ice around the drain hose and suggested we wait a couple of days and if that didn't fix the problem, give him another call. Didn't even charge us to come and look at it. That is because Rick Clark, unlike Gary Bowers, appreciates potential customers. Then there was the storm Friday (Video here) that tried to blow Thayer away. I have yet to find any estimates of windspeed, but I've been through a tornado passing directly over my house before, and this one was scarier. The sky was as dark as I've ever seen it when it wasn't dark. And from the looks of it, my little house was right in the middle of it. Uprooted trees and broken branches all over Thayer, including three in my backyard and two in the alley between my yard and the next. The biggest was about 18 inches at the base. I don't know how they missed the house, garden, and garage. Trashed Thayer's electrical system. Our power was out 15 hours, most of Thayer's wasn't restored until Sunday, and there are still some that aren't restored yet. Cable was out until Sunday, and one of the librarians said Internet access was still down when they left the library yesterday. My chainsaw-for-hire uncle and I got all the big stuff cleaned up in the backyard yesterday and piled it into a huge brushpile right in the middle of the backyard. Gonna be one helluva campfire one of these days, after it dries out a bit. The pile is a cone about ten feet tall and close to twenty feet in diameter. It would be even more gigantimongus if we hadn't cut the logs into about four-foot sections. So, I'm going to spend the rest of today cleaning up the rest of the yard, and I'll probably have to take tomorrow off to recover. The Quill's got a story up, but look fast because their setup over there is retarded and the story will disappear in a day or so.

---

No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding.
Make My Way your home on the Web - http://www.myway.com

Are you sure it wasn't a shrew or a gopher?

Ananova: Twin has mole grafted onto her face.

Came across this in my stats today.

Somebody got here by asking Google "what does "memorials preferred" mean?"

It means the deceased or his or her family doesn't want you to send flowers. Flowers you buy at a florist are marked up outrageously at every level before they even get to the florist and as such are a huge waste of money.

Instead, they'd like you to make a donation to the listed organization or charity.

Hope that helps.
John, The Answer Dude.

Gotta cut blogging short today.

Hafta go home and wait for the fridge repairman.

See yaz.

[7/21 Update: STILL waiting.]

But I thought it didn't occur in nature?

Transsexual English fish deliver blow to Pat Robertson's stand on homosexuality.

A third of male fish in English rivers are changing sex due to 'gender-bending' pollution, alarming research shows.

If homosexuality is a choice, then does this not mean fish have free will and should be accorded the rights and responsibilities of human beings?

Answer THAT one, Fatwa Patty!

[H/T 2 Drudge.]

When does one person's need equal another's obligation?

Missouri ordered to provide Socialized Inmate Abortion Taxi Service.

Let me make this clear. I am pro-choice.

But having the right to an abortion does not mean you have the right to force others to participate in the act, or to provide you with the means to get one.

[H/T 2 memeorandum.]

Nanny Huckabee: It's not what you did; it's who you are.

Mike Huckabee Pardons Keith Richards.

Richards was fined $162.20 for reckless driving in 1975 after being stopped in tiny Fordyce, 70 miles south of Little Rock, between shows in Memphis and
Dallas.

His car swerved when he tried to adjust the radio, Richards explained, but
police said they smelled marijuana and took him and three others to jail. All
were freed after a Stones lawyer posted bond, and Richards paid the fine by
mail.

Huckabee, who plays bass guitar in an amateur band, said he talked to
Richards backstage at a Rolling Stones concert on March 9. He said he suggested
the rocker apply for a pardon after Richards joked about his past. The governor
even assisted with the necessary form.

But wait; there's more!

"I realized that his impression of our state was marred by a misdemeanor traffic stop," Huckabee said. "I wanted to clear his record in Arkansas as a goodwill gesture."

Asked whether there might be objections from Arkansas voters, Huckabee deadpanned, "Not from anybody with an IQ above plant life."

I had no idea that only plant life was pro-rule-of-law.

So much for law-and-order. So much for equal justice under the law.

Someone please tell me how this is ANY different than Slick Willie's pardoning of his cokehead brother.

Fucking arbitrary and subjective nannystatist. I guess in Arkansas, some are more equal than others.

I wonder whether it was in the Bible or the Arkansas Constitution that he found that it is okay to disrespect the law if you are a fan of the offender.

[More thoughts at Jeff Keezel's Place, It Shines For All, HecklerSpray, Mark A. Kilmer, Mr. Irresponsible's Bad Advice, and others.]

Imagine that!

A bill of attainder is invalid under federal law. Whodathunkit?

Kip's got some thoughts up.

[H/T 2 memeorandum.]

Amuse yourself while I try to deal with a dying refrigerator.

Click Here to get this from FreeFlashToys.com!

In this case, length DOES matter.

Shortnews lobs a bomb, reporting on a study declaring that male bisexuality, like Bigfoot, is a myth.

Problem is, the article is so concise it doesn't identify the study. Only that it occurred in Chicago.

Maybe it was funded by People Against Bisexual Bigfoots.

Love your kids? Shackle them in.

From Chron:

Texas political leaders say they are willing to consider a new law that
would require seat belts in buses — a safety issue already mandated by several
states but defeated in past Texas legislative sessions.

From HistoryLink:

Yeah; that's just what schoolbuses need, a way to shackle any drowning kids in and keep them from escaping.

Recycling: Not always a good thing.

From our "Ick" Department: Man investigated for stealing used tampons.

I don't know that "stealing" is exactly the right word for this.

More like "liberating."

Or "recycling."

But at least he is polite and sends the tampons' previous owners a nice letter detailing his actions.

But here's what I don't get:

A Dutch man is being investigated by police after complaints were received in reference to a bizarre and seemingly sick fetish.

[snip]

Police can't legally stop the man, as digging through public trash cans is not a crime.

If it's not a crime and they can't arrest him, why are the police investigating him? What's there to investigate?

Curiously . . .

... the culture of corruption in the Missouri Democratic Party isn't getting any play on Fired Up Missouri.

But not to worry, Gateway Pundit's on it.

[H/T 2 memeorandum.]

To the Doofus Wagon!

That's what I'm renaming my little titty-pink Escort, because it seems that it's primary driver suffers from an incurable case of chronic doofism.

Awhile ago, I bought a water-saving attachment for the kitchen sink. And by "awhile" I mean a really, really long time.

This morning by accident I discovered it has a "spray" setting which makes washing dishes much easier and more water efficient.

How many thousands of dishes did I wash before I discovered it?

I am a doofus.

Um, Newt?

We have BEEN in World War III (or IV, if you count the Cold War as III) for for almost six years, maybe even 23 years. Most of us realized it almost five years ago.

You're a little late to the party, Newt.

[H/T 2 Drudge.]

Welcome Home, Discovery.

Space Shuttle Discovery Returns Safely.

Three things:

1. There seemed to be some smoke trailing from the wingtips as Discovery approached the runway. I don't remember seeing that before.

2. In all the coverage, there were lots of mentions of Discovery and Atlantis, but I don't recall any mentions of Endeavour. Has it somehow fallen off the radar?

3. It is sad that the shuttle program will end without there being a Space Shuttle Odyssey.

[H/T 2 Drudge.]

[Update: Museums are already squabbling over who gets to pick over the remains of the shuttle fleet. Vultures. Looks like the Smithsonian already has it's hands on Enterprise.]

To misquote Cap'n Kirk, "Genesis? Who's funding Genesis?"

Well, I know who's not funding Genesis-- the taxpayer.

Thanks to a boost today from a Russian and Ukrainian rocket-for-hire
company, a U.S. private space firm has sent a novel expandable module toward
Earth orbit—and a step forward in providing commercial space habitats.

Good job, guys.

Note that, without government strings attached, the project was not stymied by such a notable adversary as foam.

Currently listening to . . .

... The Wolf Rocks CFWF out of Regina, Saskatchewan, on RadioTower.com.

When they're not dodging bullets, crack hos, Communists, and the Drama Club, that is.

NYT: Performance of students in welfare schools close to that of private school students.

Education is neither horseshoes nor hand grenades, people.

Kevin is apparently unhappy . . .

Me
Originally uploaded by PubliusTX.

. . . with his position in the Bloods organization as Vice-President of Giving Directions.

The bastards are doing it again.

They're manipulating the water meter readings again. Gotta cut blogging short so I can go home and get on it.

One of the things I miss about Houston . . .

. . . is real radio stations.

Currently listening to Jimi Hendrix on Rock 103.7.

Now all I need is a pitcher of Shiner from La Carafe, a vodka martini from Marfreless, or a frozen margarita from La Halicienca {sp?).

I never *did* get around to visiting the tree-shaded (not tree-shaped, as I originally misread) patio of Baba Yega.

What would they do to Libertarian Girl?

Mountain Home AR man gets jail time for fictitious online profile.

A 58-year-old Mountain Home man will serve 30 days in jail after being sentenced Tuesday in District Court on a charge of endangering the welfare of a minor after he posed as a 16-year-old girl on the Internet.

You think we have prison overcrowding now? Just wait until they go after every person who's less than honest in their online identities, particularly the personals sites.

Clean up your profiles, folks. No more using your high school graduation picture as your photo. No more underestimating your weight. No more saying you're into chick stuff, honest. Just to be safe, make sure you tell them you occasionally belch, fart, and play air guitar.

Two incidents this morning that would NEVER be tolerated in the private sector.

1. The Thayer Public Library, which is supposed to open at 8:30 AM, unexpectedly and unannouncedly did not open until 9:00 today because painters were at the head librarian's house and she "had to unlock all the windows."

2. While standing in front of the library waiting for it to open, across the street at city hall I noticed two workers watering a small flower bed. Apparently it takes two people to accomplish such a monumental task; one to do the actual watering from a garden hose, and one to stand with his hands in his pockets, watching the other.

My Tax Dollars At Work.

Government is ALWAYS much less efficient than the private sector.

Vote Libertarian.

The end of live sports TV is near.

FCC has gone totally flippin' daft:

In its continuing crackdown on on-air profanity, the FCC has requested
numerous tapes from broadcasters that might include vulgar remarks from unruly spectators, coaches and athletes at live sporting events, industry sources said.

The only way to stop the airing of someone in the crowd at a ballgame lamenting a dropped pass with "SHIT!" is to put the broadcast on tape-delay. Or put them all on cable, which would deny millions of viewers access to them.

The FCC should be abolished, if not tarred and feathered.

[H/T 2 Drudge.]

Who says Wal-Mart doesn't care about the little guy?

New Wal-Mart Policy: Big-time shoplifters BAD; small-time shoplifters, not so much.

According to internal documents, the company, the nation’s largest retailer and leading destination for shoplifting, will no longer prosecute first-time thieves unless they are between 18 and 65 and steal merchandise worth at least $25, putting the chain in line with the policies of many other retailers.

So I'm thinking; how many $24.99 five-finger discounts could a person get away with before the first time he gets caught? Let's just say it's 20; that sounds like a reasonable number. One per day for twenty days. He'd get away with almost five hundred bucks worth of stuff and, if caught, get a warning and nothing on his police record.

So I'm also thinking; is there a way for this to replace welfare? The poor can eat pretty well on $24.99 a day in stolen food. Why do we need food stamps anymore?

[H/T 2 Drudge.]

Allah emerges from chicken's ass.

A chicken in a Kazakh village has laid an egg with the word "Allah"
inscribed on its shell, state media reported Thursday.

Good thing it didn't have a picture of Mohammed on it. Because then there'd be a jihad on all of chickendom.

Did his helmet act as an anchor?

Police officer drowns after jumping into river to chase student.

TAKAHASHI, Okayama -- A police officer was found drowned at the bottom of a
river on Wednesday morning after he jumped into the water the previous evening
to chase a university student, police said.

[snip]

Watanabe was found on Wednesday morning some 450 meters downstream from
where he jumped into the river.

Watanabe was wearing a police uniform and helmet when he jumped into
the river.

The Age: Wash the Dishes or DIE, Grandma!

THE simple activities of life, such as washing dishes, walking to the car
or even fidgeting, may help older people live longer, according to a study that
is the first to measure the energy used for these tasks and its effect on
longevity.

Seniors who were most active, regardless of whether they exercised, were
nearly 70 per cent less likely to die during the six-year study period than
those who were most sedentary, the study found.

I'm thinking "Untapped Labor Pool." We wouldn't want Granny to die early, now would we?

I'll get the whip.

Boston's $15 Billion Danger Hole Claims Life of Woman.

BOSTON -- At least 12 tons of concrete fell from the ceiling of this city's Big Dig late Monday, crushing a woman and fueling questions about the safety of the $15 billion underground highway and tunnel system.

[snip]

The ceiling collapse in a connector section of Interstate Highway 90 followed a winter in which America's most ambitious urban infrastructure project was plagued by falling debris, floods, leaking walls and concerns about construction methods in the transportation labyrinth.

Your Tax Dollars At Work.

The Danger Hole is the perfect example of a government projects.

Wikipedia's entry on the Danger Hole demonstrates this quite well:

Reports of substandard work and criminal misconduct

On August 11, 2005, it was announced that the Massachusetts State Police searched the offices of the Big Dig's largest concrete supplier in June and found evidence of faked records that hid the poor quality of concrete delivered for highway project. However, it is not believed that the low-quality concrete is connected to the hundreds of leaks discovered in the tunnels that take vehicles under Boston.

On March 19, 2006, the International Herald Tribune reported that Massachusetts "Attorney General Tom Reilly plans to sue Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff and other companies if the two sides do not reach an agreement over 200 complaints of poor work in the construction of a highway system under the center of Boston, the Boston Globe reported Saturday. Reilly was said to be seeking $67 million from Bechtel and $41 million from other companies."

On May 4, 2006, six current or former employees from the concrete supplier Aggregate Industries Inc. were arrested and charged for falsifying records regarding the poor quality concrete.

On May 5, 2006, due to the controversy, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney announced he would return some $3,500 in political contributions from employees of Aggregate Industries.

On July 10, 2006, at approximately 11:00 p.m., a steel tieback that suspends the concrete ceiling inside the tunnel structure failed near the eastern portal of the eastbound I-90 Connector tunnel leading to the Ted Williams Tunnel in South Boston, causing four three-ton sections of ceiling to collapse. A section of ceiling fell on top of a car traveling through the tunnel, killing newlywed 38-year-old passenger Milena Del Valle and slightly injuring her husband Angel Del Valle, who was driving.

And that doesn't even mention the flooding and previous falling debris. Good thing CNN's on it:

There have been water leaks and at least one incident when dirt and debris from an air shaft fell onto cars.

[Quick aside here; it looks like Chicago's subway system may be it's own Danger Hole. Or, as Kevin Whited would call it, "Danger Train Hole." And is it just a coincidence that both Danger Hole incidents happened on the same day as the terrorist attacks on Mumbai's train system?]

Piranha 3: Menace 2 Minnesota!

[H/T 2 BuzzPage.]

KSDK: There's Muthafukken Mice On The Muthafukken Plane!

Well, the snakes have to eat something, don't they?

[H/T 2 Drudgeypoo.]

There They Go Again.

Dennis Redmon, representing the Thayer Community [*ahem*] Betterment Association, addressed the Thayer City Council at their meeting last night.

Once again, they want to put a sales tax increase on the ballot, to hire an economic developer for the city. He suggested November or April.

The Association also wants to do away with city real estate and personal property taxes and replace them with an additional sales tax.

The Council agreed to meet with the Chamber of Commerce and work out a ballot proposal to possibly place on the April ballot.

How many times do we have to tell these people "No"?

Dennis Redmon was on the radio this morning. I'll paraphrase what he said, but it was along the lines of "One way or another, we [the TCBA] are going to get an economic developer." Despite the fact that the majority of voters in Thayer don't want one. We like capitalism; we don't want to turn Thayer into a European-style socialist economy.

[Xposted to TTA.]

P.S. If this does make it onto the ballot, I will simply defeat it again. In a perfect world, there would be nothing wrong with putting it on the ballot to let the voters decide. But as noted previously, I have seen the tactics of the pro-tax side. They are willing to break the rules to win. Not putting it on the ballot would deny them that opportunity.

Huckabee: Man Equals Pet.

Or rather, a man marrying a man equals a man marrying a pet. Or rather, homosexuality equals bestiality.

"Marriage has historically never meant anything other than a man and a woman. It has never meant two men, two women, a man and his pet, or a man and a whole herd of pets," he said.

1. The statement is an out-and-out lie. History is rife with men with multiple wives.

2. Marriage is a contract, the foundation of which is consent. Pets cannot legally consent.

3. Man > Animal.

The article is about Nanny Huckabee wanting a ban on gay people serving as foster parents in Arkansas.

John Brummett of the Arkansas News Bureau has more.

[H/T 2 Arkansas Times Blog.]

Syd Barrett Dead.

[H/T 2 H&R.]

Do they wobble to and fro?

From nbc5i.com:

The Arlington school district has expanded its dress codes to include bans on mouth jewelry known as "grills" and the earlobe-stretching practice known as gauging.

Perhaps the welfare schools* should spend more time teaching students how to read, write, and do arithmetic and less time studying the length of their earlobes.

[H/T 2 Drudge.]

Branson Invaded By Swarm of Santa Clauii.

[FYI: "Clauii" is the plural of "Claus."]

More than 280 Santas and 250 Mrs. Clauses attended the first convention of the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas.

I'm guessing the other 30 Santas consisted of 15 same-sex Santa couples.

[H/T 2 BuzzPage.]

Scientists: 'Shrooms can subdue the blues.

From the Daily Mail:

Scientists are to investigate a hallucinogenic chemical in "magic mushrooms" as a possible new treatment for depression, anxiety and drug dependence.

The move follows an unusual study which showed that the compound, psilocybin, can prompt long lasting positive changes in mood and behaviour.

And yet . . .

Under the [UK] Drugs Act 2005 they are now classified as a Class A drug, like heroin or cocaine.

Possession may be punishable by several years in jail, while supplying the mushrooms could result in a life sentence.

Probably won't post again 'til Tuesday.

Family shit.

Things that make you go "WTF?!?!?"

From this article, here's a quote for you:

Kobayashi’s victory reminded me of happier, younger and fewer anal times when overeating was still considered an act of heroism.

Fewer anal times? What? Can I get a clarification, please?

I am hoping this is a case of something being lost in the translation.

Fewer anal times. My God.

Note to Pute: Boy <> Kitten.

While less sinister than initial appearances, the explanation of Vlad's boy-kissing episode is certainly more bizarre.

He seemed to me very independent, very serious, but at the same time a boy is always vulnerable. He was very sweet. I'll be honest, I felt an urge to
squeeze him like a kitten and that led to the gesture that I made, there was nothing behind it really," he said, smiling.

[H/T 2 BuzzPage.]

Congrats, world-class city of Houston! You are REDEEMED!

blogHOUSTON finds validation for the Land of Mosquitos and Tejano in, of all places, Wikipedia.

I stole this idea, but I don't think they'll mind.

Are you familiar with the Paper Clip Project?

It began as an attempt to show schoolchildren what it means that six million people died in the Holocaust. Six million is a hard number to put your head around, so the educators decided to gather six million paperclips, each one representing a person, and show the kids what it looked like. The success of the idea spawned a museum for the paperclips.

When I saw this story, I thought something similar should be done to demonstrate the 2,948 people confirmed killed in the 9/11 attacks. I don't know if that number includes the hijackers; I hope not. They don't deserve to be remembered.

My first thought was Lego's. I could build a model of the Twin Towers with 2,948 of them. But that presented a couple of problems -- I wanted the individuals to all be the same shape and color (if building a WTC model, gray would be the obvious choice) and that's not really possible buying Lego's down at the local Wal-Mart. The other problem is price -- I wanted it to be available as a classroom project if any teacher wanted to try it, and 2,948 Lego's aren't exactly inexpensive, especially if you buy them like most stores sell them, a few dozen at a time.

So I fell back on the original idea of a paperclip. I can buy a hundred of them for 38 cents. But I wanted something a little different, so I decided I would chain them all together and see how long the chain would be. #1 paperclips are an inch and a quarter long apiece. 2,948 of them should stretch out a little more than the length of a football field. That should be a vivid visualization of what 2,948 means.

I bought and chained together three boxes of them yesterday. I should be able to finish it by the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

If you know a teacher, or anyone else, who might want to do something similar, please feel free to pass the idea along.

Just what we need . . .

. . . a Statue of Theocracy.

A church in Memphis, TN, is spending approximately $260,000 to erect a
72-foot-tall version of the Statue of Liberty, only holding a cross instead of a
torch and carrying tablets containing the 10 Commandments instead of the "Give
me your poor, your tired, your hungry...."

Kudos to wizeGurl for this zinger:

As Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 25:

Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me, *and instead you wasted your money on a giant, useless statue.'

Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?'
He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.'

And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

*not actually in the Bible, but maybe it should have been.

[H/T 2 brainhop.]

Does Glenn Beck Read Southern Missouri Blogs?

I must stress that I can find no direct evidence that he does.

But take a look at something I posted about Little Kim yesterday at 12:14 PM Central:

Dude's been watching way too many Austin Powers movies. He's patterning himself after the batshit-insane villians. All he needs is a Mini-Me. No, wait; he is his OWN Mini-Me!

Now take a look at something Glenn Beck said last night on his CNN Headline News show, which first airs at 6:00 PM:

You know, for a time there I was really looking forward to the end of the Cold War, but now, do you remember when you were a kid and you were underneath the blanket. And you were like, "They`re going to vaporize you tonight." Now, I kind of find myself pining for those simpler times when our enemies were -- sure, they were going to vaporize us. But they were only half insane.

Now, our enemies, like Kim Jong-Il, they`re not just nuts; they are Courtney Love make out with a homeless person nuts, and they have weapons. Of course, Courtney Love has weapons, too, but those are S.T. -- anyways.

It`s kind of like we`re Austin Powers, and he`s Dr. Evil, except I don`t think we`re going to be able to trap Kim Jong-Il in outer space with his hairless cat. I don`t know for sure, but I`m thinking.

Now take a look at something Dennis posted over on Dennis' Ramblings yesterday at 12:09 PM:

Ken Lay of Enron fame is dead... I give it one, maybe two days before some nut-case claims that Lay paid off the appropriate officials, faked his death, and is living well in the Caribbean- avoiding the potential 20 year prison sentence... Just wait, it will happen.

Now take a look at this exchange between Glenn Beck and Erica Hill, later in the same show which, I remind you begins at 6:00 PM Central:

BECK: How are things?

HILL: Things are not bad. How are things on your end?

BECK: Hey, I could be Ken Lay.

HILL: That`s true. Yes. That is actually getting a lot of attention today. You`re talking about the, of course, founder of Enron, Ken Lay, who we learned today passed away early this morning.

BECK: Oh, that`s what they`d have you think. No, I`m just saying -- no, I`m just -- it`s big oil. They`re faking his death just like Walt Disney, and he`s someplace...

HILL: So he`s cryogenically frozen somewhere?

BECK: I don`t think so. I think he`s got a frozen drink in his hand, and he`s somewhere on the island or something, spending all that dough that they claim to have taken away from him.

HILL: Well, that`s the Glenn theory. We should say, though, according to a family spokesperson, Lay died early this morning of a massive heart attack in Colorado, outside Aspen where he...

If you thought "Carl Edwards Shirtless" Guy wasn't baffling enough . . .

. . . let me introduce you to "Jeff Gordon Shirtless" Man.

I don't know what's more confounding, Shirtless Hellboy or Shirtless Girlyman.

When you pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Freddie Ssengooba calls for compulsory circumcision of men.

In places where circumcision of females is mandatory, Oprah calls it "Female Genital Mutilation." Does she plan on coming to OUR defense, guys?

This is one man who wonders if Freddie Ssengooba shouldn't undergo cumpulsory castration.

This may be absolutely nothing. In fact, that's what I'm hoping.

Take a look at this video of yesterday's launch of the space shuttle Discovery.

Specifically, take a look at about 30 to 35 seconds into the video.

More specifically, look in the upper right quadrant. You see the white thing with the two circles, one on top of the other, so that it looks like a colon?

Is it normal for those things to blow out like that?

I'll put in an email to NASA and see what I can find out.

Well, that's ONE way to get away without serving time in the joint.

Ken Lay, Dead at 64.

More here, from the Comical.

While awaiting sentencing, Lay was confined generally to the coastal Texas region including Houston except for the Aspen area, where the couple had a home in Snowmass.

Sounds like a pretty good retirement to me.

Kim Jong Illin'

Dude's been watching way too many Austin Powers movies. He's patterning himself after the batshit-insane villians. All he needs is a Mini-Me. No, wait; he is his OWN Mini-Me!

I hadn't planned on attending the local fireworks last night, but at the last minute decided it would be a good way to tell Little Kim "Fuck You!"

The talking heads over at CNN keep wondering why he launched all the short-rangers. My theory, which so far I haven't seen raised by the MSM, is that he wanted to test the capability of Ronald Reagan's Missile Defense System in dealing with simultaneous multiple targets, and to find out how long it would take such a system to react.

But it never got to that. Instead, Little Kim was faced with the utter shame of total failure of his prized long-ranger. What a loser. I bet he's sittting alone in his room today singing about how lonely he is.

If television can't satisfy your jones for a Ned Reynolds fix...

... KY3 now has a blog.

I got dibs on it's inclusion in Blogshares.

Happy Independence Day.

Post-Apocalyptic Lawncare 2.0.

My uncle brought me a 20-year-old-but-used-three-times-and-sat-in-his-barn-ever-since reel mower to see if I could take the handle off and use it to replace the one on my dead mower.

If I could resurrect the giant, aged beast, I was going to name it The Lazarus Amalgam.

I couldn't, but with some WD-40 I was able to get the one my uncle brought me going again. It is much lighter.

I took the dead one to the scrapyard yesterday. It weighed 36 freakin' pounds, even without the handle. I doubt the replacement one weighs 10.

Anyway, I got a buck twenty out of the old one. I was just glad to get it out of my way. Next time you buy a car, a frying pan, or anything iron or iron-containing, it may be haunted with the ghost of the thing.

Yesterday afternoon, I mowed almost the entire backyard and both side yards with the new one.

I call it the Osama Defiance Machine.

Hi Drunk; I'm Mom!

Classic case of do-as-I-say, not-as-I do, or I'll send your ass to jail:

Utah Police Officer Cited for DUI.

[H/T 2 BuzzPage.]

I think they transposed the second and third words.

Elderly Man Spotted Mowing Yard Naked.

[H/T 2 Buzzpage.]

Can you use the words "Russian," "Children," "Hermaphrodite," and "Puzzle" in a sentence please?

MOSNEWS.com: Hermaphrodite Dolls Puzzle Russian Children.

[H/T 2 brainhop.]