Tonight’s Music Selection…Johnny Cash

Celeb-Obsessed Teens Used Internet To Find Celebrity Homes And Plot Robberies

A video still from a surveillance camera shows three females attempting to enter the Hollywood Hills home of actress Lindsay Lohan in August. (Los Angeles Police Dep't)

From the L.A. Times

Los Angeles – Like many teenage girls, these friends were fascinated by the high fashion and flashy bling of such young Hollywood celebrities as Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Audrina Patridge.

But unlike other fans, they allegedly didn’t stop at Hollywood fantasy.

According to Los Angeles police detectives, the group studied television shows, celebrity magazines and websites picking out clothing and jewelry they wanted. Then they figured out where the celebrities lived and, after casing the homes, broke in and took what they wanted, detectives allege.

“This is a no-brains caper. There’s not a lot of self-awareness,” LAPD Det. Brett Goodkin said. “They saw it, they wanted it, they took it and continued taking it.”

LAPD sources said detectives have linked the teenagers to break-ins at the homes of Hilton, Lohan, Patridge, “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor Orlando Bloom and “The O.C.” star Rachel Bilson.

Four teens — Rachel Lee, 19; Diana Tamayo, 19; Courtney Ames, 18; and Alexis Neiers, 18 — were arrested last week on suspicion of burglary in several of the cases. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has not filed charges against them.

“This is a case of someone in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Jeffrey K. Rubenstein, Neiers’ attorney. “When the truth comes out, Alexis will be cleared of all these allegations.” Attorneys for Tamayo, Lee and Ames could not be reached for comment.

Most of the group were classmates at Indian Hills High School, a continuation campus in Agoura Hills, set atop a leafy incline in an upscale neighborhood next to a traditional high school. BMWs and Audis were parked in the student lot Monday, and some of the nearby roads mark off horse trails for equestrians.

At the school, rumors about students burglarizing celebrity homes had surfaced weeks before the arrests, students said.

“I’ve heard them girls are rich now,” said Alex Badolato, an 11th-grader.  (Read more.)

B.S. Report–Most of these kids come from affluent upscale homes.  This isn’t a question of poor choices, too much internet use, celebrity obsession, or anything else they wish to conjure up.  This is an example of poor values.

The teens stole some of Lindsay Lohan's and Paris Hilton's bling...

Sting: Obama Divine Answer To The World’s Problems; Sure…And Sting Is The Best Person To Find A Cure For Cancer

NEW YORK (AP) – Sting isn’t a religious man, but he says President Barack Obama might be a divine answer to the world’s problems.

“In many ways, he’s sent from God,” he joked in an interview, “because the world’s a mess.”

But Sting is serious in his belief that Obama is the best leader to navigate the world’s problems. In an interview on Wednesday, the former Police frontman said that he spent some time with Obama and “found him to be very genuine, very present, clearly super-smart, and exactly what we need in the world.”

“I can’t think of any be better qualified because of his background, his education, particularly in regard to Islam,” he said.

Still, Sting acknowledged the president had a “difficult job” ahead of him.

The British singer, who released the seasonal album “On A Winter’s Night” this week, said he’s fascinated by American politics, Obama, and also by Obama’s opponents on the right.

“It’s aggressive and violent and full of fear,” he said of the backlash against Obama. “They don’t want change, they want things to feel the same because they feel safe there.”

Sting, 58, said he’s hopeful that the world’s problems can be dealt with, but is frustrated that “we seem to be living in a currency of medieval ideas.”

“My hope is that we can start talking about real issues and not caring about whether God cares about your hemline or your color,” he said. “We are here to evolve as one family, and we can’t be separate anymore.”

Another "genius" taken in by the empty suit that is Obama...

6-Years Well Spent? Man Constructs World’s Largest Rubber Band Ball

Joel Waul, 28, climbs on top of his rubber band ball on the driveway of his home in Lauderhill, Fla., Friday, Oct. 23, 2009.

LAUDERHILL, Fla. (AP) — Look, over there. Under that blue tarp in a suburban driveway. That thing that’s the size of a Smart car?

It’s Joel Waul’s rubber band ball.

Waul has spent the last six years carefully wrapping and linking and stretching rubber bands of various sizes into the ball shape. The Guinness Book of World Records declared it the world’s largest rubber band ball in 2008.

On Thursday, Waul will say goodbye to his creation. A team from Ripley’s Believe it or Not will come to his driveway with a crane and haul the 6-foot, 7-inch tall, 9,032-pound behemoth away. The ball will eventually be displayed in a far-off museum yet to be determined, so folks can marvel at Waul’s obsession.

Waul got the idea six years ago, when he saw a Ripley’s television special that showed the then-largest rubber band ball being dropped into the desert from an airplane.

“I just thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen,” said Waul, a 28-year-old who works nights restocking a Gap clothing store.

The idea of setting a world record always appealed to Waul; he recalls that as a 7-year-old in Jamaica he pored over his father’s Guinness Book of World Records.  (Read more.)

B.S. Report–There’s no harm in having a hobby…but this is a little on the obsessive side.  I think the fact that the Guinness people will take the ball away from him, housing it in a museum, is the best thing to happen for this guy so he can focus his time and energies on something a little more productive than stretching rubber bands.  Not that there’s anything wrong with stretching rubber bands…

Dogs are famous for having obsessions…I had a friend whose dog would do nothing else but play with a tennis ball, until finally he took it away from the dog.  It was good for the dog and I think it will be good for Mr. Waul as well.

Sean Penn May Film Movie In Venezuela

Sean Penn--still clueless after all these years...

(AP) – President Hugo Chavez said he met privately with actor Sean Penn on Wednesday, and that the Oscar-winning celebrity may film a movie in Venezuela.

Penn may shoot a film based on a novel by Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier, which is set largely in the jungle along Venezuela’s southern Orinoco river, Chavez said. He appeared to be referring to Carpentier’s 1953 novel, “The Lost Steps,” about an American anthropologist and composer’s journey into the jungle region.

Penn’s publicist could not immediately be reached for comment.

Chavez added that he discussed politics with Penn, who said he would soon see U.S. President Barack Obama. Chavez said he’d asked Penn to tell Obama he should take action to earn his Nobel Peace Prize, and should scrap a plan for the U.S. military to increase its presence at bases in Colombia.

“They gave him the Nobel Prize, very well, now he should earn it,” the socialist leader said, paraphrasing an open letter by documentary filmmaker Michael Moore to the U.S. president.

Kindred spirits: Chavez & Penn

Chavez also applauded Moore’s work, and dismissed comments the director made during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel on ABC earlier this month. Moore said he’d drunk tequila with Chavez at the Venice Film Festival and offered the Venezuelan president suggestions for an upcoming speech at the United Nations.

The comments drew criticism from some Chavez’s supporters in Venezuela. But Chavez dismissed the controversy.

“They don’t understand humor,” he said, pointing out the interview was held on a talk show hosted by a comedian.

Penn arrived in Venezuela from Cuba, where he was reportedly seeking an interview with the nation’s ailing former leader, 83-year-old Fidel Castro. Last year, Penn was the first American to obtain an interview with Castro’s younger brother, current President Raul Castro, after he was named interim president in late July 2006. The interview appeared in the Dec. 15 edition of The Nation magazine and on the magazine’s Web site last November.

This is Penn’s third visit with Chavez, who has welcomed a host of celebrities to the presidential palace, including supermodel Naomi Campbell and actors Danny Glover and Benicio del Toro.

B.S. Report–This really is America’s “Dark Ages” when it comes to intelligence–especially among the elite.  We’re constantly subjected to idiot actors extolling the virtues of their left-wing Marxist “flavor-of-the-month” leaders like Chavez.

Penn has always had a love affair with the murderous thug dictator Castro, of whom he has nothing but kind things to say.  But somehow, when speaking of the United States, he’s never at a loss to spout some sort of venom.

Columnist Of The Day: Ann Coulter

From Townhall.com  (Pics added by B.S. Report)

The Democrats’ all-new “opt out” idea for health care reform is the latest fig leaf for a total government takeover of the health care system.

Democrats tell us they’ve been trying to nationalize health care for 65 years, but the first anyone heard of the “opt out” provision was about a week ago. They keep changing the language so people can’t figure out what’s going on.

The most important fact about the “opt out” scheme allegedly allowing states to decline government health insurance is that a state can’t “opt out” of paying for it. All 50 states will pay for it. A state legislature can only opt out of allowing its own citizens to receive the benefits of a federal program they’re paying for.

It’s like a movie theater offering a “money back guarantee” and then explaining, you don’t get your money back, but you don’t have to stay and watch the movie if you don’t like it. That’s not what most people are thinking when they hear the words “opt out.” The term more likely to come to mind is “scam.”

While congressional Democrats act indignant that Republicans would intransigently oppose a national health care plan that now magnanimously allows states to “opt out,” other liberals are being cockily honest about the “opt out” scheme.

On The Huffington Post, the first sentence of the article on the opt-out plan is: “The public option lives.”

Andrew Sullivan gloats on his blog, “Imagine Republicans in state legislatures having to argue and posture against an affordable health insurance plan for the folks, as O’Reilly calls them, while evil liberals provide it elsewhere.”

But the only reason government health insurance will be more “affordable” than private health insurance is that taxpayers will be footing the bill. That’s something that can’t be opted out of under the “opt out” plan.

Which brings us right back to the question of whether the government or the free market provides better services at better prices. There are roughly 1 million examples of the free market doing a better job and the government doing a worse job. In fact, there is only one essential service the government does better: Keeping Dennis Kucinich off the streets.

So, naturally, liberals aren’t sure. In Democratic circles, the jury’s still out on free market economics. It’s not settled science like global warming or Darwinian evolution. But in the meantime, they’d like to spend trillions of dollars to remake our entire health care system on a European socialist model.

Sometimes the evidence for the superiority of the free market is hidden in liberals’ own obtuse reporting.

In the past few years, The New York Times has indignantly reported that doctors’ appointments for Botox can be obtained much faster than appointments to check on possibly cancerous moles. The paper’s entire editorial staff was enraged by this preferential treatment for Botox patients, with the exception of a strangely silent Maureen Dowd.

As the Times reported: “In some dermatologists’ offices, freer-spending cosmetic patients are given appointments more quickly than medical patients for whom health insurance pays fixed reimbursement fees.”

As the kids say: Duh.  (Read more.)

Students Brand Each Other With Heated Coat Hangers

Scarred: Fifteen students at Exeter University, pictured, branded themselves using heated coat hangers in a 'group challenge.'

MAIL ONLINE- UK – Fifteen students were left with permanent scars after branding themselves with heated coat hangers at a house party. The ‘group challenge’ saw each student brand themselves with the initial of the hall they lived in last year.

Participants held a reshaped metal coat hanger to heat on a hot stove for 30 seconds. A burns specialist also warned they will have permanent scarring, following the incident at a private house party for students at Exeter University.

Individually, they then took turns to have the burning metal pressed against their chests for ten seconds.

After visiting hospital, at least three of the students were given antibiotics to fight infection.

One of the branded students, who asked not to be named, told student newspaper Exepose: ‘We are a tight group, all very close friends.

‘It wasn’t a spontaneous thing, we had talked about it before.’

He added that the whole episode was viewed as a ‘group challenge’ and that within the group of friends there is ‘a bit of a daredevil culture’.

Onlookers said large amounts of alcohol were consumed at the party, but another unnamed student added there was no coercion involved.

He said: ‘No one was pinned down. It was all optional, everyone just stood there and did it.’

A spokeswoman for Exeter University said it would not be investigating the matter.

B.S. Report–School fraternities are so much fun–all fueled by alcohol, of course.

"Hey cow, I didn't know you went to Exeter too?"

Edmunds.Com: Cash For Clunkers Program Cost Taxpayers $24,000 For The 125,000 Vehicles That Would Not Have Been Sold Anyway

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — A total of 690,000 new vehicles were sold under the Cash for Clunkers program last summer, but only 125,000 of those were vehicles that would not have been sold anyway, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the automotive Web site Edmunds.com.

Still, auto sales contributed heavily to the economy’s expansion in the third quarter, adding 1.7 percentage points to the nation’s gross domestic product growth.

Is the economy really getting better?

The Cash for Clunkers program gave car buyers rebates of up to $4,500 if they traded in less fuel-efficient vehicles for new vehicles that met certain fuel economy requirements. A total of $3 billion was allotted for those rebates.

The average rebate was $4,000. But the overwhelming majority of sales would have taken place anyway at some time in the last half of 2009, according to Edmunds.com. That means the government ended up spending about $24,000 each for those 125,000 additional vehicle sales.

Taxpayer theft is always "in season."

“It is unfortunate that Edmunds.com has had nothing but negative things to say about a wildly successful program that sold nearly 250,000 cars in its first four days alone,” said Bill Adams, spokesman for the Department of Transportation. “There can be no doubt that CARS drummed up more business for car dealers at a time when they needed help the most.”

In order to determine whether these sales would have happened anyway, Edmunds.com analysts looked at sales of luxury cars and other vehicles not included under the Clunkers program.  (Read more.)

B.S. Report–The D.O.T. spokesman is livid at Edmunds.com for not defending the legal theft of taxpayer money taken to “stimulate” the car industry.  All these taxpayer-funded programs are wonderful when you’re either a government hack or on the receiving end of Santa’s largess.

But while the government takes a bow for their so-called benevolence, Santa is actually the taxpayer who’s on the hook for each demonstration of government extravagance.

Say good-bye to more "stimulus."

Rep. Steven King Questions NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell On Rush Limbaugh Comments

Cockroach Crawls Out During Rachael Ray’s School Visit

NEW YORK, Oct. 27 (UPI) — Officials at a New York elementary school have promised to investigate after a visit by TV chef Rachael Ray was briefly interrupted by a lone cockroach.

Isn't it a little early to start cooking your turkey Rachael?

The roach was spotted crawling across a countertop a few feet from where Ray, who was visiting Public School 89 Monday to unveil her “sizzling soft tacos” school lunch, was espousing the health benefits of her food, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

Ray said she did not see the roach, which was swatted by her publicist, Charlie Dougiello.

“I did not see that. It’s unfortunate if there was (a bug). I think that these schools strive to be the best across the board; I’m sure that includes cleanliness,” she said.

Eric Goldstein, chief executive for school foods, was asked about the cockroach and promised to “take care of it.”

“We have the highest standards,” he said. “If there is any reported problem, we aggressively jump on it.”

"Hi, I phoned in a take-out order for Rachel Ray's tacos."