False Confessions

I said it before: If anything has been learned in this investigation it has been to not jump to any conclusions.

John Mark Karr became a suspect in the murder of JohnBenet Ramsey after over four-hundred pages of e-mails between him and a University of Colorado journalism professor named Michael Tracey, who has produced three television documentaries on the case.

On May 9th, Karr wrote, "The Ramseys need to know that JonBenet had a lover named Daxis, that a dashing Prince was with her when she died; that she was not viciously murdered; that I cared for her and tried to revive her when I thought she was dead. I loved her so much and I am so sorry that she died in my arms. Her and I were engaging in a romantic and very sexual interaction. It went bad and it was my fault.”

The e-mails led to eleven phone calls between Tracey and Karr, which were eventually traced to Bangkok. Investigators arranged with Tracey for him to ship a photo of JonBenet to a Mail Boxes Etc. branch in Bangkok in order to learn his identity. Thai police traced him to an apartment building, and investigators finally learned the identity of Tracey’s correspondent on Aug. 11th. They arrested him five days later.

After his arrest Karr stated that he’d been with the Ramsey child when she died and that her death was an accident, but confessions aren’t very reliable unless they contain inside information only known to a killer. Karr's confession included odd details that didn't align with the crime itself, and descriptions of events that seemed unbelievable not only to law enforcement but to the public at large.

After all that it took only three little letters to get him off the hook: D-N-A.

Prosecutors decided not to charge John Mark Karr in the slaying of JonBenet Ramsey, after his DNA failed to match unidentified DNA of a white male found on the underwear the six year old was wearing when she died.

What could lead this sorry sack of shit into making a false confession?

Karr obviously has problems, he's a lousy scum-bag pedophile, he was obsessed with the Ramsey murder case, and he probably has a pathological need for attention. But could this all have been a clever ruse? He got himself out of a Bangkok jail, none too pleasant a place to be, and back stateside. Also, movie producers have come out of the woodwork willing to tell his tale.

He's not home free, though. California wants him on child pornography charges. I suggest not to send him back to California though. If it's too much trouble to just put a bullet in his head authorities should buy him a one-way ticket back to Bangkok.

Anal Glaucoma

Have you ever had one of those days when you want to keep hitting the "snooze" button until the clock quits bothering you?

A day where you just don’t feel like facing the traffic, facing the growing pile of work at your desk, facing the boss, and facing those annoying clients...

Of course you have, we all have, but what can you do about it?

You've already called into work with the same old excuses that have been used so many times; for example: car trouble, alarm didn't go off because of a power outage last night, dead relative, sick child, etcetera, etcetera...

All used so many times that they hold as much water as a sieve.

Next time call in to work with a case of a new malady...

Anal Glaucoma!

Just remember...Anal Glaucoma...it's so new that they will be scratching their heads at work long enough for you to get a couple of days out of it. You might even get a "Get Well Soon" card and a gift.

Caption This...

It's "Caption This" Sunday again!

OK, it's said that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Test your wit and come up with a funny caption for this photo.

Here are a few to get you started...

1. After numerous lawsuits, Milton Bradley was forced to recall the home version of "Fear Factor".
2. Florida's Death Penalty got much more interesting after James Bond Supervilllain Ernst Stavro Blofeld is elected as governor.
3. Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin tries out his new jacuzzi.

Iran Defies UN, Opens A Nuclear Power Plant

Iran's hard-line president inaugurated a new phase of a nuclear facility today. A facility that will probably be used to develop a nuclear weapon, just days ahead of a United Nations deadline that requires Tehran to halt uranium enrichment.

Was this the big "surprise" we were told to expect? Many expected Iran to do something irrational as part of its millenial ambitions to bring back the 12th Imam. Could this just be a stepping stone toward that goal?

The U.N. has called on Tehran to stop the separate process of uranium enrichment, which also can be used to create nuclear weapons, by Thursday or face economic and political sanctions.

Ahmadinejad said in a speech that Iran would never abandon what he once again called its purely peaceful nuclear program.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that "There is no discussion of nuclear weapons," and that "We are not a threat to anybody even the Zionist regime, which is a definite enemy for the people of the region."

That seems like a contradictory statement considering everything President Ahmadinejad has stated previously point to Iran's Islamic regime being determined to bring about the end of the world and it is likely to begin with the destruction of Israel.

A senior Israeli lawmaker is taking it seriously though and warned in a statement that the plant inauguration marks "another leap in Iran's advance toward a nuclear bomb."

Though the West's main worry has been enrichment of uranium that could be used in a bomb, it also has called on Iran to stop the construction of a heavy-water reactor near the production plant.

I read over at Captain's Quarters Blog that the Germans tried using heavy water for its own atomic-weapons program during World War II, and for a solid technical reason: it eliminates the need for uranium enrichment to fuel reactors, which can then yield weapons-grade fissile material. It seems as though the Iranians want to cover all their bases in creating the fuel for nuclear weapons; they continue to pursue enrichment in parallel.

Ahmadinejad's construction of the heavy-water plant puts a stake in the heart of the argument that Iran only wants peaceful nuclear energy. Their multiple-tracked efforts to achieve plutonium production shows quite clearly that they have spent more effort than necessary to get simple civil nuclear power production. The incentive package offered by the West would have given it to them in any case.

The United Nations has decided to go back on a previous deadline, that had already passed anyway, and extend the deadline to August 31st for Iran to stop enriching uranium. If Iran fails to do so, the UNSC will be forced to do a lot of public blustering while still not forcing Iran to pay any serious consequences.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says it is premature to talk about sanctions, calling for more time to resolve the dispute through negotiations. That was the Russian position on Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein as well, and in the latter case, Russia made itself one of the chief reasons that sanctions failed.

Russia and China both know that they are pretty much immune to a nuclear attack from Iran, so they sit back and stick it to the US safe in the knowlege that we are in this almost alone. The rest of the world is gambling that less support for the US will keep them out of the terrorist’s sights, so they tacitly do everything possible to keep Israel, Britain and the US at the forefront of Islamic hatred.

That leaves the US with few options, short of militarily, to stop the Iranian nuke. The Bush administration wants to still try to apply international sanctions, and may attempt a coalition of nations to join, but for sanctions to work they must have near-universal acceptance and application and this has never been the case.

Ahmadinejad said that Iran would pursue its right to develop nuclear technology even if sanctions are imposed.

Perhaps Mr. Ahmadinejad might be meeting up with his hidden Imam sooner than he thinks.

Treadmill Dance Video...

Socks With Sandals Manifesto

I don’t wear sandals. I personally don’t like them.

My opinion is that men should not wear them.

Men are not known for their nicely pedicured feet. Usually what you are granted a full view of in sandals are smelly, fungally challenged, yellow-nailed, unclipped, hairy, bulging red toes. Almost as if they were angry that they were ever trapped inside an actual shoe and just need to show the world how they have been mistreated.

I don’t mind women wearing sandals, since the female foot can actually be very attractive. They paint their toenails and can buy a wide range of different types of sandals and end up looking stylish. Just like my little hottie, Season.

I am not sure what I hate most. Men in sandals with exposed feet or guys who insist on wearing socks with sandals. Socks have one plus though, they hide those nasty feet. Other than that socks with sandals look plain stupid and dorky.

In my new office the dress-code is casual and there seems to be an epidemic of socks with sandal wearers. Perhaps men wear socks with sandals to avoid the atrocious tan lines without them?

I don't know for sure what their reasons are, but I have created a manifesto for these misguided souls:

I will wear socks with sandals.

I will feel the open comfort of sandals blended seamlessly with the embracing warmth of a good pair of socks. I will live wild, fearless and free. The fashion police have no jurisdiction here. I will wear white socks with black sandals and black socks with brown sandals. Velcro and rubber will be interchangeable. I will be like Jesus, but with warmer toes.

I will draw power from my comfortable feet. I will defy all convention. I will remain steadfast, unwavering and boldly unapologetic in the face of all adversity for I will be comfortable and comfort will be my guiding light.

I will wear SOCKS with SANDALS!

Caption This...

It's "Caption This" Sunday again!

OK, it's said that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Test your wit and come up with a funny caption for this photo.

Here are a few to get you started...

1. Cindy, I appreciate you "working it out" with that cop who wanted to give me a parking ticket. Baby your great! Oh, you got something on your nose.
2. That bloodstain by the parking meter? Oh, sweetheart it's not important. On an unrelated note, if you had to ditch the body of a meter maid, where would you go?
3. Parking meters make you horny? Hey, me too! Thanks eHarmony!

Its Not The Heat Or The Humidity...

Texas' oppressive streak of 100-plus degree weather continued today with little chance of relief on the horizon and have some people worried about the well-being of the elderly.

At least nineteen people have died in Texas during this summer's heat wave. Fifteen of the deaths have been confirmed in Dallas County.

If you are like me, your mind recoils in horror at this fact: The old and decrepit are dying by mere dozens?

Fifty years ago, a heat wave of this magnitude and duration would have claimed the lives of hundreds, perhaps thousands of shriveled-up old codgers. The streets would have been littered with their withered carcasses.

Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. By providing today's elderly with unprecedented access to air conditioning and situating them in safe, supervised retirement communities, we have thrown Mother Nature's natural-selection process completely out of sync.

Some people think air conditioning is about comfort, but in Texas, it is a matter of life or death.

Like you, I had high hopes for this summer. Like you, I am deeply disappointed in the low death toll among the elderly. But I'm not just going to throw up my hands and accept the fact that Grandmas and Grandpas aren't spontaneously combusting from coast to coast. Just because global warming has failed to keep pace with the increase in this country's septuagenarian and octogenarian population doesn't mean I have to accept this ever-worsening old folk surplus.

If the heat doesn't kill the elderly, we should.

No society can survive for long unless patriots are willing to step forward and dedicate themselves to keeping its senior population in check.

Mother Nature has done what she can to curb the elderly population. It is now up to us to pick up the slack. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. My Grandfather taught me that, God rest his soul.

Snakes On A Plane Video Break...

Enough is enough! I've had it with these motherfuckin' snakes on this motherfuckin' plane!

The World's Biggest Prison For Journalists

For bloggers in America, usually the only things that prevent us from expressing our opinions to the rest of the world are schedule conflicts or the periodic disruption of our internet connections.

However, in Cuba, it's the threat of close to a lifetime in a filthy Cuban prison.

Val Prieto of Babalu Blog, has written a great article over at Townhall.com that details the risks independent journalists take simply to report the truth in Cuba.

The r on the typewriter no longer works and there’s no ñ key. The ink being engraved into the paper isn’t ink; it’s shoe polish. Typewriter ribbons are hard to come by and paper is old, brittle and scarce. There’s no copy machine, no scanner, no fax and there is no phone next to the typewriter on his desk. Computers aren’t allowed. Satellite dishes receiving the latest world news aren’t allowed. There’s no software or hardware, and no staff. There are only a few sheets of old paper, a typewriter, a pencil and a candle to see by.

He works by candlelight not because of the frequent “apagones” – power outages – but because any light shining though his window late at night is but a beacon to those who want to silence him. It would serve as proof that he’s up to no good by the standards of his government and an excuse to be picked up and taken into custody.

The morning daylight is his only editor. It is in the mornings when he can truly see his night’s work. He sits with the document and a half empty cup of café cubano brewed with a mixture of last week’s coffee grinds and soy, and he pencils in his edits. He inserts all the r’s and ñ’s by hand. He corrects his spelling. He adds slashes where the old Smith Corona failed to add a space. Right there, with his pencil stub, he edits for grammar and moves words here and there for impact.

He will not retype the piece when he’s done with his morning edit. Paper is scarce. He’s got very little shoe polish left for the typewriter ribbon. Had his last sheet of carbon paper not been used up, typed down to whiteness, he would have had another copy. Now, he must travel almost all of Havana looking for a phone owned by a friend to his cause.

His article won’t get Xeroxed or faxed. It won’t get typeset and printed. His article will be read, by him, over the phone a dozen times, perhaps more, with the hopes that the person on the other end of the line in Miami or New Jersey will do justice to his work. Each call is made hoping that the person in charge of monitoring his conversation from some government office in Havana won’t cut the transmission, and turn him in for a pound of rice as reward.

That is the life of the Independent Journalist in Cuba: Clandestine meetings, clandestine writing, clandestine transmissions with clandestine words of a clandestine truth.

Read the rest of Mr. Prieto's article here to learn what it's like to be a Cuban independent journalist.

Suspect Arrested In JonBenet Ramsey Case

Almost two thousand children were murdered in the United States during 1996, but none of those murders fascinated the American public and attracted mass media attention like that of JonBenet Ramsey.

On December 26, 1996, John Ramsey found the body of his 6 year old daughter and a three-page ransom letter in the basement wine cellar of the family's sprawling Boulder home. According to the police report, JonBenet was covered with a blanket, her wrists were tied above her head, her mouth was covered with tape, and a nylon cord was wrapped around her neck. The autopsy report revealed she might have been sexually abused and that she suffered a blow to her head that left an eight-and-a-half inch fracture.

The case also opened a window on the weird and little-known world of child pageants, as videotaped images of JonBenet in competitions showed her to be a precocious kindergartner, but strangely dressed like a grown woman in sequins and rhinestones, and wearing eye makeup and lipstick.

The Ramseys said an intruder committed the crime, but they remained under an 'umbrella of suspicion' and speculation even though in 2003 a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against the Ramseys, blaming the Police and the FBI for bungling the investigation...until today

A suspect was finally arrested for the murder of JonBenet Ramsey in Bangkok, Thailand, following "several months of focused and complex investigation.

A law enforcement source identified the suspect as 41-year-old John Mark Karr, a one-time schoolteacher, but if anything has been learned in this investigation it has been to not jump to any conclusions.

I can't really understand why it took so long to nab this slime-ball, but the authorities have conceded that the investigation was compromised, in large measure, by mistakes the Police made early on.

I hope that this arrest will bring some closure to the Father, John Ramsey. Unfortunately JonBenet's Mother, Patsy Ramsey died in June of ovarian cancer.

Hopefully this arrest will mean vindication for JonBenet's parents and also a speedy route to eliminating another child sexual predator off the face of the Earth.

New Car

Season and I bought a new car today!

Well, not a "new" new car, a "new for me" car.

It's a 2002 Mitsubishi Galant.

It was an excellent purchase (practically a steal) in great condition and a much needed replacement for the old "Blue Bullet" which was fatally damaged and beyond repair.

I look forward to many, many, many miles of happy motoring in my new car, the "White Lightning".

Castro's Eightieth Birthday

Photos of Fidel Castro have appeared in the news today...

However, their authenticity can not be confirmed, so until the bearded bastard makes an actual appearance, everything is still up in the air.

In case he is in fact alive, today, on his would be 80th birthday

I have a message for him:

Fuck off and die already, you piece of shit.

If You're A Muslim - It's Your Problem Too

Face up to your problem, Muslims told...

London's most influential former police chief has rounded on Britain's Muslims, blaming them for the terrorist networks in the country. "When will the Muslim community in this country accept an absolute, undeniable, total truth: that Islamic terrorism is their problem?" wrote John Stevens, former commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

In an inflammatory opinion column, he called on Muslims to "stop the denial, endless fudging and constant wailing that somehow it is everyone else's problem and, if Islamic terrorism exists at all, they are somehow the main victims".

Some people may think that John Steven's words are inflamitory. I tend to think that it is much less inflamitory than a jet airliner filled with several hundred people bursting into flames all in the name of jihad.

I would love for some brave American politician or public figure to have the courage to reiterate this speech.

The British have finally even realized airports need to introduce a screening system that allows security staff to focus on those passengers who pose the greatest risk.

And what group of passengers might that be?

The passenger-profiling technique involves selecting people who are behaving suspiciously, have an unusual travel pattern or, most controversially, have a certain ethnic or religious background.

Millions of Muslims immigrated to Western democracies to escape the limitations of their homelands. When will Muslims thank the democracies who welcomed them by demonstating against criminal terrorist groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, Al-Qaeda & cohorts?

Muslims have had five years since 9/11 to show us their sincerity about not supporting terrorism, about being on the side of civilization and about abhorring the “extremist minority” who have “hijacked” your “peaceful” religion.

At last count, they have done absolutely nothing.

What he have heard from Muslims is a steady stream of incitement, encouragement and support of terrorism coming out of their mosques, hysterical outrage about an ever non-existent “backlash” whenever their co-religionists decide to slaughter more innocents, street theater with toddlers shouting “We are all Hezbollah” and smug assurance that the “weak infidels” will never see through your little game of “Jihad on the sly.”

The argument that terrorism is a response to Western actions overseas is and has always been a lie.

The first Islamist terrorist plot against New York's World Trade Centre was carried out on 26 February 1993 with a car bomb under one of the twin towers. It killed six people but failed in its aim of bringing the whole building down. To achieve that, another plot was hatched.

American and British and foreign policy was focused not on the Islamic world, but on the unstable transition of former communist countries to democracy. Twice during the Nineties, Nato launched military interventions in the Balkans, both aimed at protecting Muslim populations in Bosnia and Kosovo. What Middle East policy there was focused on diplomatic efforts to negotiate lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

America and Britain spent a long time trying to prevent conflicts or to resolve them. At worst, as shamefully in Rwanda, they simply ignored them. They were transparently not running a conspiracy to trample the Muslim faithful underfoot. There has never been an overt Western war against Islam.

Regardless the West and Israel have constantly had problems with Muslims extremists and the so called protectors of Islam.

Muslims can not face up to their problems, and now they have become everyone's problem.

Muslim terrorism isn't going away. We need to consider everything in our battle to defeat it. But that's the responsibility of all.

Not least the community where, sadly for them, it is festering.

UK Thwart Massive Terror Plot

British authorities thwarted a terrorist plot to blow up several aircraft mid-flight between the United States and Britain using explosives smuggled in hand luggage, officials said Thursday.

"A major terrorist plot to allegedly blow up aircraft in mid-flight has been disrupted in a joint, pre-planned, intelligence-led operation by the metropolitan police anti-terrorist branch and security services," a police spokesman said.

Police arrested a number of people overnight in London after a major covert counterterrorism operation that had lasted several months, but did not immediately say how many.
The national threat level was raised to critical — a warning level that indicates the likelihood of an imminent terrorist attack. The threat rating was posted on the Web site of Britain’s MI5 — the British domestic spy agency.

The U.S. government raised its threat level to the highest level for commercial flights from Britain to the United States early Thursday.

The terrorist attack foiled by British authorities on Thursday was aimed at blowing up as many as 10 airplanes on trans-Atlantic flights, and plotters hoped to stage a dry run within two days, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

The actual attack would have followed within days.

One official said the suicide attackers planned to use a peroxide- based solution that could ignite when sparked by a camera flash or another electronic device.

The test run was designed to see whether the plotters would be able to smuggle the needed materials aboard the planes, these officials said. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject matter.

The Department of Transport advised all passengers that they would not be permitted to carry any hand baggage on board any aircraft departing from any airport in the country.

The suspected terror plotters arrested in Britain had planned to conceal their liquid or gel explosives inside a modified sports beverage drink container and trigger the device with the flash from a disposable camera.

ABC News has learned exclusively that the plotters planned to leave the top of the bottle sealed and filled with the original beverage but add a false bottom, filled with a liquid or gel explosive. The terrorists planned to dye the explosive mixture red to match the sports drink sealed in the top half of the container.

This, they thought, would ensure that they would be able to pass through security -- even if they were asked to unseal and drink the beverage.

The flash in a disposable camera has enough electrical power, they apparently believed, to set off the homemade explosive.

Thank God the New York Times didn't get wind of the ongoing efforts. I hope this illustrates why the NSA programs and money tracking programs are so important. And makes clear to the NYT that there are times when human lives should supersede the selling of newspapers...

For some good news, the stock market shrugged off the plot. The Dow was up 48 and the Nasdaq ended up 11. And the price of oil dropped.

You're Hired!

Today I started my new job and I think I am really going to like it.

A couple of weeks ago I quit my old job, but it had been in the cards for some time...

People were starting to drift away from the company, people with a lot of experience and knowledge. Then my supervisor was asked to leave the company at a point when our department needed her the most. I hung on even though it was starting to get to the point where I disliked going in to work. The environment had changed.

Then came the last straw. I was passed over for promotion.

Being that I constantly excelled at any given task and quickly rose through the ranks in the year that I was there, that I was consistently the highest producer in my department, and that I was voted the company MVP two months prior this wasn't a case of "sour grapes".

Two people were promoted instead of me...

One definitely had me on seniority, but she was always the lowest producer in the department. She had even been assigned a lesser workload and she still remained with the lowest numbers.

Now the second one had only been in the department for a month and was the manager's cousin, so I am thinking nepotism on that one. She did not merit a promotion at all.

Not only was I shocked at who was promoted, so were my co-workers.

Of course I brought my concerns to the new supervisor's attention and she tried to placate me by saying that she would promote me in September, maybe. Not good enough, so I took up my case with Human Resources and when she started in with her tap dance I had no choice but to tell them to "Take this job and shove it".

I was a little depressed, but Season stuck by me, cheered me up, and supported my decision. Now I have a much better job with a big increase in pay and incentives. Excellent.

Thank you Season for all your love and support, you rock!

The icing on the cake came when I spoke to a couple of co-workers at my old job and they told me that they had to hire two people to replace me since the workload had piled up and that many in the department were looking elsewhere for employment too.

Good luck guys!

Caption This...

It's "Caption This" Sunday again!

OK, it's said that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Test your wit and come up with a funny caption for this photo.

Here are a few to get you started...

1. A hunka hunka burnin' love?
2. Nope, sorry buddy...in my expert opinion, you are not hung like a horse.
3. Here Elvis records the first take of "Heartbreak Corral" later changed to "Heartbreak Hotel"...for obvious reasons.

Movie Review: Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby

Friday was date night, Season and I had dinner at Red Lobster, caught a movie over at South Freeway Cinema 8, then over to Rack Daddy's for some billiards and karaoke.

The movie we saw was "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby". It's one of those cheerfully asinine comedies that had tears of laughter streaming down my face during some of the scenes. The movie is a goof on NASCAR with Will Ferrell playing Ricky Bobby, a dim-wit who grows up following the edict his absentee father once told him - "If you ain't first, you're last."

I may live in Texas now, but I still don't really get the excitement of NASCAR. Everyone babbles on about skill, drafting, knowing fuel mileage, knowing when to pit, and who to bump out of the way on the last lap, but in the end you're still just driving fast in an oval.

Yawn...

Whatever floats your boat though...I'd rather be laughing...

**Begin Spoiler**

Ricky Bobby is a boy who is literally born for the sport, his mother gives birth to him in the backseat of a speeding car. Ricky grows up nursing one thought -''I wanna go fast''!

He is working as a pit crewman when his team's driver decides to quit giving Ricky the chance to becomes a NASCAR superstar. Fame does not improve Ricky's intelligence, he marries a trashy driver groupie and they have two sons which they name Walker and Texas Ranger, in tribute to the old Chuck Norris television show.

There is a hilarious scene where Ricky and family are enjoying a family meal, which he mentions has been sponsored by PowerAde, then as he is blessing the food, an argument breaks out over which version of Jesus is better to pray to.

Not much later, there is another at a bar where Ricky and his red-blooded American friends country-loving good time is ruined by the jazz an accented stranger plays on the jukebox.

The stranger's name is Jean Girard, a gay, French, Formula One racer who has just been hired by the same family that owns Ricky's team.

A heated race leaves Ricky's car a wreck and him in the hospital. Suffering from shock, Ricky is certain he's paralyzed and has to be convinced otherwise by his friends, but the accident has taken its toll. Ricky is a shadow of his former self, afraid to break speeds above thirty miles per hour. Unable to keep his shallow marriage intact his wife leaves him for his equally dim-witted teammate and best friend, proclaiming "I am a driver's wife. I DO NOT WORK"!

Ricky is forced to take his sons and bunk up with his mother while he reevaluates his lot in life. He reunites with the Father who abandoned him and in his unique way his Father retrains Ricky to be the driver that he really is. With this help he is able to take on his rival again in a race to end all races and show that there is more to life than coming in first.

**End Spoiler**

If you are a NASCAR fan then you might enjoy this movie. I heard that unlike "Days of Thunder", the 1990 Tom Cruise movie that was panned by NASCAR fans who found it stereotypical and unrealistic, Talladega Nights took pains to avoid that. The way the cars look, the way the cars handle, all of that is quite authentic. Also the racing action and the wrecking look realistic.

Obviosuly if you like Will Ferrell's type of humor, as I do, then this movie is for you. It's very clever, but absurd humor. It pokes fun at NASCAR, but not in a mean spirited way at all. It's just plain fun! Some new jokes, some old ones, but on the whole I can't help but recommend it.

I give this movie: Three And A Half Out Of Five Dale Earnhardt Jrs!

Texas: Scams & Cons

Season and I were recently flipping through the channels and caught this show: The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch.

The topic was scams and cons and two of the features were from right here in Texas.

First, a company that took advantage of the rising price of gas...

BioPerformance, also know as the "Little Green Pill", a comapny started by an evangelist minister from Dallas, Texas named Lowell Sims. Apparently it was marketed as a "top secret" gasoline additive that could extend gas mileage by up to twenty-five percent or more and cut polluting emissions. The gas pill seemed to have a cult following with hundreds of wannabe millionaires singing "I'm Proud To Be An American" while waving their hands in the air and randomly shouting out "Amen"!

The thing is the pill is nothing more than mothballs dyed green and made into pill shape!

Lab results showed they’re chemical makeup to be virtually one hundred percent Naphthalene, which is what mothballs were made of years ago. BioPerformance claims right on the bottle that the little green pill is non-toxic, but Naphthalene is toxic. In fact, it’s extremely poisonous.

During the gas crisis of the 1970s, some people put mothballs in their tanks to try and save money, and it didn't work then and it doesn't work now.

What's worse is that also on the bottle in tiny print is a bizarre disclaimer: "BioPerformance, Inc. doesn't guarantee anyone any results".

For the straight unadulterated, unbiased, and purely factual scientific assessment of "the Little Green Pill" you must read this investigative report by an Orlando area TV news crew.

Recently, the Texas attorney general's office filed a suit and obtained a temporary restraining order against the company which is based in Irving, Texas. They are still under investigation.

The second story was about a woman from Fort Worth who faked having cancer for donations and sympathy. Jennifer Dibble, a thirty year old mother of five boys, told people she had terminal cancer and only had months to live.

Family, friends and others rallied to her aide. They supposedly knew nothing about the disease and, had never even known anyone with cancer. But with five boys and Jennifer’s husband working two jobs to make ends meet; they knew the family would need a lot of emotional and financial support.

They offered to care for her boys, searched the Internet for the best cancer treatments and attended and organized fundraisers and donated money.

Apparently she used the donations to take trips to Mexico, France, Las Vegas and Disney World.

Nine months later she looked better than ever. She is fit/tan and nobody understood why, especially since she was supposed to have been undergoing chemotherapy, radiation, and dialysis treatments that normally debilitate people. Weird, right?

Well, a friend's husband finally woke up to the truth and hired a private detective to check out her story. They followed her when she told people she was going for her treatments and instead of a doctor's office or hospital she was actually going to a tanning salon, a gym or the mall.

She doesn't now or ever did have cancer. Since she's been caught she still hasn't even given her family or friends an explanation for this treacherous behavior.

She might have raised as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars. Seems like an "open and shut" case of fraud to me.

In stories I wondered "How could people not know it was a scam"?

What ever happened to critical thinking?

Perhaps we all want to believe in something...

The moral of the story is, some people are messd up, and will hold back nothing to mess you up too.

Human Shields, Terrorist Propaganda, Martyrs, Or Innocent Civilians?

At least fifty-six Lebanese, including thirty-four children, died in an Israeli air strike on a neighborhood that Hezbollah had been using to launch rockets into Israel.

Hezbollah was firing rockets from this area and then running inside the building hit and others nearby for cover. They knew Israel would track the rockets back to their location and engage in counterbattery fire.

Hezbollah purposefully put people in this area in danger by launching rockets from outside their location, knowing full well the Israeli response. Hezbollah targeted Lebanese children with Israeli missiles.

To Hezbollah they served their purpose. They're martyrs now.

The building may have even collapsed almost eight hours after the Israeli air strike. The IDF thinks that Hezbollah explosives stored in the building may have detonated, causing the collapse.

Since 1982, Hezbollah—"The Party of God"—has spread throughout the Lebanese Shiite culture. Inspired by Ayatollah Ruhollah Sayed Khomeini's Islamic Revolution in Iran, it is far more than just a terrorist group. Hezbollah sponsors social programs, runs hospitals, schools, and newspapers, and its political arm holds seats in the Lebanese Parliament and Cabinet. Hezbollah is involved in every facet of Shia life in Lebanon. A July 26 poll by the "Beirut Center for Research and Information" purports to show that 87% of Lebanese support Hezbollah's current war against Israel. For all intents and purposes Hezbollah is Shiite Lebanon.

This is Hezbollah...

So is this...

And this...

Hezbollah seeks to set up an Islamic government in Lebanon modeled after the one in Iran. Hezbollah officially supports the destruction of the state of Israel; the eradication of Jews from the Mediterranean. From birth, Hezbollah trains Lebanese Shiite to hate and desire to kill Israelis. It trains man, woman and child to do what they can to drive Israel into the sea and end the Jewish state. That is why Lebanese Shiites accept Hezbollah rockets, barracks, and weapons depots in their neighborhoods, and why those killed today will be celebrated as martyrs.

The thirty-four children who died in this Israeli strike were innocent civilians used by Hezbollah. Their lives have been corrupted by an organization that will gladly use them as human shields to be killed and then use their death as a sensationalistic news/propaganda tool.

The brunt of the blame in this sad loss of life goes to Hezbollah.

Castro Cedes Power To Brother Rául

Fidel Castro, who took control of Cuba in 1959, rebuffed repeated U.S. attempts to oust him and survived communism’s demise almost everywhere else, temporarily relinquished his presidential powers to his brother Rául on Monday night due to ''an intestinal crisis'' that requires ''complicated surgery,'' according to a letter read on Cuban national television.

"Intestinal crisis" - I always knew he was full of shit.

Hopefully his prognosis will soon be upgraded to “died screaming in indescribable agony."

A couple of weeks ago the internet and Wall Street were reeling about a rumor that Cuban leader Fidel Castro had died. So far the news of his imminent death has been greatly exaggerated, but time will eventually catch up with him and his death will bring about the island's day of reckoning.

Castro has been in power for more than forty-seven years. He has ruled his island ruthlessly, seizing property and crushing dissent. He remains a Communist a generation after communism has been proven to be an enemy of freedom and progress.

The Bush administration has plans in place to aid post Castro Cuba. They just issued a new "Assistance for a Free Cuba" report, and the biggest emphasis is to help to promote democratic opportunity, to help promote an independent civil society that can form the basis of support for democracy later on when it's possible.

Fidel Castro will die some day. And when he does, Cuba will change.

All of this we know. What we don't know is what Cuba will be like after he dies. The fervent prayer of freedom lovers everywhere, and especially refugees from the Castro dictatorship, is that the next Cuba will be free, prosperous and peaceful.