FALMOUTH, Mass. – A man faces assault charges after allegedly striking another man with a golf club in an argument over manners. Police told the Cape Cod Times that a 50-year-old man leaving a gas station in town on Monday morning held the door open for a 38-year-old man.
Police said the 38-year-old man did not thank the other man, who responded by uttering a sarcastic “thank you.”
The two men got into an argument before the 38-year-old went to his car to get a golf club, which he allegedly used to strike the victim several times in the stomach and legs. Police said the victim suffered minor injuries.
The 38-year-old man pleaded not guilty to assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in Falmouth District Court on Tuesday and was ordered to stay away from the other man.
B.S. Report–One should always be polite…or else risk getting a golf club in the belly. I learned early on that it’s important to behave like a gentleman…these fellas taught me!
BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) – An infant boy was married off to his neighbors’ dog in eastern India by villagers, who said it will stop the groom from being killed by wild animals, officials and witnesses said on Wednesday.
Around 150 tribespeople performed the ritual recently in a hamlet in the state of Orissa’s Jajpur district after the boy, who is under two years old, grew a tooth on his upper gum.
The Munda tribe see such a growth in young children as a bad omen and believe it makes them prone to attacks by tigers and other animals. The tribal god will bless the child and ward off evil spirits after the marriage.
She's kinda hot...but is she single?
“We performed the marriage because it will overcome any curse that might fall on the child as well on us,” the boy’s father, Sanarumala Munda, was quoted as saying by a local newspaper.
The groom, Sagula, was carried by his family in a procession to the village temple, where a priest solemnized the marriage between Sagula and his bride, Jyoti, by chanting Sanskrit hymns, a witness said.
The dog belongs to the groom’s neighbors and was set free to roam around the area after the ceremony. No dowry was exchanged, the witness said, and the boy will still be able to marry a human bride in the future without filing for divorce.
Indian law does not recognize weddings between people and animals, but the ritual survives in rural and tribal areas of the country.
B.S. Report–There sure are some wacky customs around the world. I don’t understand the logic–kid grows a tooth on his upper gum and that means he’ll be attacked by a wild animal? Why? And why would marrying a dog stop the attack?
My guess on why he’d be attacked by a wild animal is because he lives in a rural village with lots of wild animals running around, and not because he grew a tooth in the wrong spot. If I grow a tooth on my upper gum there is still only a very small chance that I’ll be attacked by a wild animal here in Los Angeles.
However, there is a pretty good chance that I’ll be attacked by a wild human animal.
They didn’t mention whether the boy is marrying a male dog or a female dog…and does it matter?
I think I might put up a fuss… “Hey, I’ll play your silly game and marry a dog–but I’m not gay so please don’t embarrass me! If I’m going to marry a dog it just has to be a female dog! Also, I’m kind of partial to redheads–can I see something in an Irish Setter?”
"The Honeymoon Suite"
"Honey, what do you say we catch a movie tonight?"
Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) — U.S. President Barack Obama pledged $275 billion to cut mortgage payments for as many as 9 million struggling homeowners and enable Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to keep loan rates down.
Obama Dishing Out Some More... "Stimuli"
The plan includes $75 billion to reduce monthly payments for borrowers, helps homeowners with loans owned or backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance at lower rates and promises incentives to industry. Obama will double by $200 billion funding available for Fannie and Freddie to buy loans.
“It will give millions of families resigned to financial ruin a chance to rebuild,” Obama said today in Mesa, Arizona. “By bringing down the foreclosure rate, it will help to shore up housing prices for everyone.”
Super Obama cannot fail!
The program signals the Obama administration, which will release more details in two weeks, plans a more active stance to halt foreclosures than the Bush administration, which backed voluntary industry efforts. Record foreclosures in the past year are swelling the glut of properties on the market, forcing down home values and undermining homebuilders’ efforts to revive demand and lighten inventory by cutting prices.
“We tried voluntary, it didn’t work,” Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said today at a briefing in Mesa before Obama spoke. Bair has pressed the banking industry to accelerate loan modifications to keep people in their homes.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged to bolster Obama’s efforts by pushing foreclosure-prevention legislation, including a bill to let bankruptcy judges lower mortgage payments. Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said the proposal should succeed where other efforts have failed.
‘Likely to Succeed’
“The fact that this plan focuses on all the players involved, including servicers and investors, and uses sticks as well as carrots, makes it far more likely to succeed than past proposals,” Schumer, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said the Obama plan will help the bank expand its modification of mortgages. “The plan is good and strong, comprehensive and thoughtful,” Dimon said in an interview today. “I think it will be successful in modifying mortgages in a way that’s good for homeowners.” (Read more.)
B.S. Report–It is looking more and more obvious that Obama and his cohorts do not have the slightest clue as to what they are doing. Just throw a ton of money at problems and show the public that you appear to be busy trying to fix things. But these are not solutions. This is FDR all over again.
Furthermore, about the mortgage problem. Are we not rewarding the people who are most guilty of being irresponsible? It’s never been exactly explained just why the American public has to bail out individuals who can’t afford their mortgages.
I understand that some people may have a real “hard-luck” story that can make even some of us hard-cases out here shed a tear. I feel for those people–I really do. But those people should appeal to family, friends, and their local communities for financial aid and support.
The federal government is supposed to be the “court of final appeal” to be used only when all other avenues have been exhausted. Instead, it has become step 1 for the feds to come in and confiscate money on the behalf of the irresponsible from others who have nothing to do with their misfortune.
What about those people who are going to receive a bailout from us taxpayers when they put no money down on their homes? Isn’t that person really more accurately called a “renter.” There is no inherent right stating that everyone is entitled to own their own home. Many of these no-money down loans should never have been offered…again, pressure from the government played a role in many of these loans.
Obama says that we must fix this problem “collectively.” This is Marxist talk. He sounds like Mussolini when he uses those words. We didn’t have a chance to sit in on the negotiations for these homebuyers and yet we have to bail them out. This is just not right.
As always, California leads the country...in ineptitude!
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California legislative leaders on Tuesday made what they hoped would be a last push for one more Republican to support their $42 billion budget fix, warning of fiscal disaster if none of the holdouts puts aside opposition to tax increases.
The leader of the state Senate said the chamber would remain in continous session until the legislation is passed. Meanwhile, state officials were sending out layoff notices and ordered the shutdown of hundreds of public works projects employing nearly 92,000 construction workers.
Tax revenues have plunged by billions of dollars as the recession clobbers California, leaving the state without sufficient cash to pay its bills. The remedy offered by the governor and lawmakers is to reopen the budget in the middle of the fiscal year, enact deep cuts and tax increases, and work out a fix that will cover the state’s spending through June 2010.
The tax increases contained in the current legislative package, worth some $14.4 billion, could be an insurmountable hurdle. The state Assembly appears to have the votes to pass the budget plan, but it is snagged in the Senate, where three GOP votes are needed but only two Republican senators have signed on.
“I think it’s time that we need to stop treating the taxpayers of this state of California as a personal ATM,” Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Thousand Oaks, said during a Senate floor debate on the tax increases. “Funds are overdrawn.” (Read more.)
B.S. Report–One difference between the California plan and President Obama’s national plan is that California cannot print its own money. Otherwise, both entities have simply spent themselves into insolvency. Hats off to the California Republicans who haven’t simply caved in on a bad budget deal…but they probably will soon.
There are other differences, of course. A glaring case-in-point is the federal government’s mismanagement of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which brought about the mortgage market melt-down. Government interference in the market rarely leads to anything positive.
Woman Accused of Tampering with Jars of Baby Food At Grocery
TAMARAC, Fla. — A South Florida woman is accused of trying to poison jars of baby food at a Tamarac supermarket. Police arrested Shirley Ybarra, 50, of Sunrise on Thursday after workers at a Publix store on West Commercial Boulevard noticed her wearing latex gloves in the store and using an eye dropper to mix a black liquid with some of the items in her shopping cart, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
She was mixing food for her son...her 21-year-old son?
Surveillance video showed her in the aisle. It is unclear what the black liquid was, but a detective said in court on Tuesday morning that a jar of baby food bananas and a bottle of baby juice had been tainted. BSO said the liquid smelled of ammonia, and that Ybarra had it in a Victoria’s Secret body splash bottle.
The detective also said police found an open bottle of pine-scented cleaner in the cart, as well. “The effects of the chemicals I can’t testify to. I just know they were tampered with, and there’s some unknown substance in there,” Detective Jeff Kogan said. Investigators said Ybarra was trying to leave the store with the contaminated items, but workers stopped her and held her there until BSO deputies arrived.
Ybarra told store employees that she was mixing food for her son, BSO said. Police said there is nothing to indicate that Ybarra put any tainted items back on the shelf. All of the contaminated food was there in her cart. That was little comfort to the judge, who set her bond at $250,000. (Read more.)
B.S. Report–She said she was mixing food for her son…she has a 21-year-old who lives in Orlando. We can assume, however that he has most likely graduated to solid food by now.
I never understood the thrill some people get from hurting others from afar. This woman is no different from an arsonist in that regard…although an arsonist gets to see the result(s) of his or her handiwork on the news (and usually in person).
This woman was (allegedly) trying to kill babies…gee, what a sweet, cheery gal!
She should be prosecuted for attempted murder and she should spend many, many years in jail followed by a long stint in a psychiatric facility. So long Miss Happy!
High School Basketball Game Erupts into Free-For-All Melee
MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) – The Executive Director of the Alabama High School Athletic Association stopped at the WSFA 12 News studios late Tuesday night to get a look at the full length video that has tarnished the game of basketball and good sportsmanship in Alabama.
“Well, I’m not going to overreact,” said AHSAA’s Steve Savarese. ” We’re going to look at all the facts and look at the video, and we’ll assess the situation and make some decisions.”
WSFA 12 Sports reporter Derek Steyer was covering the AHSAA sponsored Central Region Basketball Tournament, which is being hosted by Alabama State University, when a fight broke out on the court between players from G.W. Carver High School and Valley High School.
Carver High School was winning the game 52-37 but tensions ran high in the fourth quarter. Around 3:45pm the foul that apparently started the mess was called. Several players began pushing each other, and the scuffle quickly escalated to an all-out melee when fans rushed out of the stands and onto the court. (Read more.)
B.S. Report–I think President Obama needs to look into this immediately! Maybe someone should quickly eliminate those midnight basketball programs from the new “stimulus” bill-I’m just assuming they’re in there, isn’t everything in there?
Just a disgraceful display of southern sportsmanship and hospitality. Without a doubt this was the worst brawl I’ve seen since the last time I went to Chuck-E-Cheese (see here). I hope the NBA players don’t see this and pick up on the bad example set by these “student” athletes and… “fans.”
A pet chimpanzee which once starred in TV commercials has been shot dead by police after mauling a woman and injuring two police officers.
Travis, who weighed 14 stone, had been raised like a child by his owner Sandra Herold.
The 15-year-old, who appeared in several TV adverts including one for Coca Cola, was potty trained and could log on to a computer, brush his teeth, dress himself, drink wine from a glass, and use the TV remote to change channels. Friends said Mrs Herold, 70, treated him as her son.
But when a family friend called at her home, in Stamford, Connecticut, he suddenly went beserk.
Mrs Herold, a widow, had phoned Charla Nash after Travis,who had been unsettled, snatched keys from the kitchen table, unlocked a door and let himself into the garden, police said.
She tried to lure him back inside, but failed, so she asked Mrs Nash, who knew Travis well, to help.
But as Mrs Nash stepped from her car, the chimp pinned her to the floor and began mauling her face and hands.
Mrs Herold tried to pull Travis off but was no match for him. She called police, grabbed a knife and stabbed her pet several times.
‘Sandra is 70 and a 200lb chimpanzee is much, much stronger than a 200lb human
being,’ said a police spokesman.
When officers and paramedics arrived, Travis bolted into woodland.
Police formed a protective cordon around Mrs Nash, who was bleeding heavily – but paramedics were too afraid to treat her as the animal was still on the loose.
Suddenly Travis returned. He smashed a wing mirror of a police car with a swipe of his arm, then ran round to the driver’s side, opened the door and attacked.
The trapped officer drew his service revolver and shot the animal several times.
Mortally wounded, Travis limped away to his playroom where he crawled back in his cage and died.
Following the attack, Mrs Nash, 55, is fighting for her life in hospital. Authorities said most of her face had been ripped away. She is also reported to have lost all of her fingers as they were so badly bitten. (Read more.)
B.S. Report–This is just another case of celebrity “arrogance.” Like most actors, Travis thinks the world revolves around him and was just behaving like a typical “stuck-up” actor. Sandra Herold, Travis’ adopted mother raised Travis just as if he were her own natural son…and just like any other son, Travis was mostly unappreciative and ungrateful.
I think Travis was also more than a little frustrated. It’s been a while since he’s been offered a juicy part in any film or commercial and his career was definitely on the down-turn. Often that’s enough to make a former star like Travis just simply snap.
In this case the results were more tragic, partly because Travis has sharper teeth and stronger hands than most of his fellow actors. An unsubstantiated rumor has been going around that, in the past, Travis had been abusive and crude. He even threatened an unnamed individual, saying that he was going to “rip your face off and then bite off all your fingers.” It appears that he made good on that threat. Another Hollywood tragedy.
People, a chimp is a wild animal. He’s not like a cat or a dog. When he gets pissed off he can kill you–or others. Wild animals do not belong in private homes in residential areas.
Households would be charged for each flush of the toilet
The scheme would replace the current system, which sees sewage charges based on a home’s value – not its waste water output.
CSIRO Policy and Economic Research Unit member Jim McColl and Adelaide University Water Management Professor Mike Young plan to promote the move to state and federal politicians and experts across the country.
“It would encourage people to reduce their sewage output by taking shorter showers,recycling washing machine water or connecting rainwater tanks to internal plumbing to reduce their charges,”Professor Young said.
“Some people may go as far as not flushing their toilet as often because the less sewage you produce, the less sewage rate you pay.”
Aussie toilet to become a "one-armed" bandit
Professor Young said sewer pricing needed to be addressed as part of the response to the water crisis.
“People have been frightened to talk about sewage because it is yucky stuff, but it is critically important to address it, as part of the whole water cycle,” he said.
“We are looking at reforming the way sewage is priced and this plan will drive interest in the different ways water is used throughout Australia.”
The reform would see the abolition of the property-based charge with one based on a pay-as-you-go rate and a small fixed annual fee to cover the cost of meter readings and pipeline maintenance, Professor Young said. (Read more.)
B.S. Report–It should be fairly easy to tell whether the policy is working or not. If people are flushing their toilets less, than the “sweet smell of success” should be wafting all around Australia…
DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Corp (NYSE:GM – News) said on Tuesday it could need a total of up to $30 billion in U.S. government aid — more than doubling its original aid — and would run out of cash as soon as March without new federal funding.
The request for additional aid from the top U.S. automaker came in a restructuring plan GM submitted to U.S. officials on Tuesday.
The GM restructuring plan of more than 100 pages was posted on the U.S. Treasury Web site.
The request came on the same afternoon that No. 3 U.S. automaker Chrysler requested an additional $5 billion from the current $4 billion in U.S. government aid, saying it expected the brutal downturn in the U.S. market to run another three years.
GM also said it had not reached deals with bondholders and its major union to reduce some $47 billion in debt but would work to reach those agreements by the end of March.
In response to signs of a prolonged slump in demand for new cars and trucks, the automaker also said it would step up cost-cutting, reducing its global workforce by 47,000 jobs this year and cutting five additional U.S. plants by 2012.
In addition, GM said it would cut its U.S. workforce by another 20,000 jobs by 2012 with most of those reductions coming earlier.
GM has been kept afloat since the start of the year with $13.4 billion in loans from the U.S. Treasury. Its expanded aid request for up to $30 billion includes a $7.5 billion credit line in the event that the autos market remains depressed. (Read more.)
B.S. Report–Will we ever reach a point where we can simply say that a business has failed despite the fact that we keep pumping taxpayer money into it? GM has failed and sometimes it is more cost-effective to admit that and allow someone else who has a better business model to come in and pick up the pieces.
Using other people’s money to prop up a failing enterprise is not only unwise, but immoral. Yes the auto industry is important but the failure of one company, even a large iconic company like GM, opens opportunity for another company. GM’s plants and assets would still exist, but GM would not. Why is that such a bad thing?–short term it would be tough for those employees who now find themselves out of work, but hasn’t that always been the case?
THE B.S. REPORT 