Pop Culture Update 9/29/06-Madonna,O'Donnell, 25 WORST Web Sites...Ever

Time for a Pop Culture update and we must keep our finger on the pulse.

We've got the 25 worst web sites ever, some Rosie O'Donnell gossip and the always fun Blind Item guessing.

Pic of the Day

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Quote of the Day He Tried Bill Clinton on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, 9/24/06: "At least I tried," he said of his own efforts to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. "That's the difference in me and some, including all of the right-wingers who are attacking me now. They had eight months to try; they did not try. I tried. I really really extremely really tried. They didn't try and I did, and this is the real difference, the trying. And also, I tried."

Web Site Worth the Visit Navigating the Perils of Fatherhood A list of resources on being a better Dad. Maybe the men won't check it out but ladies, click in and see what the father of your children needs to read. BEING A BETTER DAD

TIDBITS Redneck Medical Terms Benign......................What you be after you be eight. Bacteria...................Back door to cafeteria. Barium.....................What doctors do when patients die. Catscan..................Searching for Kitty. Cauterize................Made eye contact with her. Colic.......................A sheep dog. Coma.......................A punctuation mark. D&C........................Where Washington is. Dilate......................To live long. Enema.....................Not a friend. Fester.....................Quicker than someone else. Fibula......................A small lie. G.I.Series................World Series of military baseball. Hangnail..................What you hang your coat on. Impotent.................Distinguished, well known. Labor Pain..............Getting hurt at work. Medical Staff.........A Doctor's cane. Morbid....................A higher offer than I bid. Nitrates..................Cheaper than day rates. Node.......................I knew it. Outpatient.............A person who has fainted. Pap Smear...............A fatherhood test. Pelvis......................Second cousin to Elvis. Post Operative.......A letter carrier. Recovery Room......Place to do upholstery. Rectum..................Damn near killed him. Secretion...............Hiding something Seizure...................Roman emperor. Tablet....................A small table. Terminal Illness......Getting sick at the airport. Tumor....................More than one. Urine.....................Opposite of mine. Varicose.................Near by/close by.

 


25 Worst All Time Web Sites

Copied verbatim from PCWORLD unabashedly, the following list is insightful...and true. If you're a web denizen you'll recognize many of the nominations.

25. Rentmychest.com
Look up the word hunk in any dictionary, and you will not find a picture of a bare-chested Chris Pirillo, the guy behind download sites such as lockergnome.com. But you used to be able to find several such pictures at this site, where the pasty, paunchy Pirillo auctioned off messages, written on his chest with magic marker, for $20 a pop. These days the marker-based messages are gone, replaced by a single background image that I wish I hadn't seen and a bunch of linked keywords. Believe it or not, the keywords are actually more expensive, starting at $200. Look, Chris may know his downloads, but please, somebody buy this man a gym membership.

24. IKissYou.org
For a brief period in 1999, an accordion-playing Turk named Mahir Cagri was the most famous man on the Net, which really says more about us than it does about this mostly harmless Web destination. His site, which featured personal photos, charmingly fractured English, and the phrase "Welcome to my home page...I Kiss You!!!" became a minor Web sensation, for reasons that are now entirely obscure. Mahir's legacy lives on in Sacha Baron Cohen's "Borat" character, who bears more than a passing resemblance to the Turk.

23. InmatesForYou.com

This site helps you find that special someone, even if you have to wait 13 years for her parole to come up.

22. Digital Entertainment Network (den.com)
This DEN of iniquity blew through more than $100 million before it shuttered its doors in January 2002. A sex scandal involving the site's CEO didn't help matters.

21. Golden Palace Casino

Web sites used to do just about anything to make headlines, and Golden Palace's ad campaigns took that idea just about as far as it could go. From buying the "Holy Toast"--the grilled cheese sandwich that looks like the Virgin Mary--to buying William Shatner's kidney stone, no promotional gimmick is too cheesy for this online casino.

20. Hotmail.com

In the mid to late nineties, Hotmail was a virtual Switzerland for spammers, who operated with impunity across the free e-mail service. Hotmail account holders were routinely buried in a blizzard of junk--in part because new subscribers were automatically added to a public directory of e-mail addresses, making them easy pickings for spam harvesters. A massive "dictionary attack" on the site's user base in August 2002 didn't help matters. Later that year Microsoft finally began implementing serious antispam measures, but by then many subscribers had already had their fill of canned luncheon meat.

19. WebVan
The big daddy of dot bombs, WebVan ripped through $1.2 billion of investment capital before checking out for the final time in July 2001. The costs of building a national network of grocery distribution centers proved too great for the online grocer. It's a classic example of a great idea without a viable business model. The only reason it's not higher on our list is that its delivery service was actually pretty good, while it lasted.

18. Beenz.com and Flooz.com (tie)
These ambitious schemes to float a Web-based e-currency both sank like a rock in August 2001. The sites hoped wary Netizens would rather trade credits for goods online than use credit cards, but consumers said No Sale. The biggest difference between the two? Flooz featured Whoopi Goldberg as spokesperson. Her career hasn't been the same since, either.

17. Boo.com

This symbol of dot-com excess burned through cash so fast you'd think its executives worked for the federal government. The fashion retail site featured a 3D avatar named Miss Boo, but the real stars of Boo were its founders, who spent money like it was going out of style--$120 million in six months on lavish apartments and expensive gifts, as well as a site that was too unwieldy for the largely dial-up world of 2000. Amazingly, Boo.com is scheduled for a comeback later this year under new owners. Be afraid, be very afraid.

16. Microsoft Windows Update
Microsoft could have escaped our notice if we didn't have to visit this cryptic and difficult-to-use site so often. It's the only reason to ever use Internet Explorer--and then simply because Microsoft's update site won't work with any other browser. But it's not reason enough.

15. Neuticles.com
Are your pets embarrassed about being neutered? Their four-legged friends need never know, thanks to Neuticles--implants that restore the look if not the function of their recently removed body parts. In an especially nice touch, the site opens with a flash animation of a bouncing ball (naturally). Yes, these cosmetic cojones are no joke; prices start at $73 a pair. Not to be confused with BumperNuts, which provide a similar service for your car.

14. BidForSurgery.com
Sadly, this site is exactly what it says it is. Think Priceline for face-lifts and tummy tucks. No, we are not joking.

13. Whitehouse.com
Not the virtual home of our president--that's Whitehouse.gov--Whitehouse.com began life during the Clinton era as a site devoted to political discourse. In September 1998 it helped distribute the Starr Report, but by then it had also become the most notoriously named porn site on the Web--featuring, among other things, a White House Intern of the Month. Today the site hosts a white-pages listing.

12. The Dancing Baby

Both strangely amusing and deeply disturbing, the famous dancing toddler boogied its way across the Internet and into the spotlight, appearing on both Ally McBeal and a Blockbuster video commercial during the mid-nineties. There are now dozens of variations on thousands of sites. If you're looking for the parties responsible for giving birth to this phenomenon, blame its parents at Burning Pixel Productions.

11. Rabies for Kids

Here's what happens when good intentions meet really bad design. Published by the Viral and Rickettsial Zoonoses Branch of the Centers for Disease Control, the Rabies for Kids site is an orgy of graphical offal. You'll be foaming at the mouth long before you reach the "Activities" section, which features a photo of a dog's brain being sliced with a scalpel.

10. MyLackey.com
This Seattle-based site offered to walk your dog, pick up your dry cleaning, and do all other manner of scut jobs for a fee. (Isn't that what kids and younger siblings are for?) The dot com contracted with local service providers for the dirty work, but apparently applied the "lackey" notion to its own employees as well. An infamous memo from cofounder Brendon Barnicle berated the company's 65 employees for not putting in 11-hour days, making MyLackey a symbol of the dot-com work ethic. Sixteen months after it began, the last lackey still standing closed the doors and shut off the lights.

9. Hamsterdance.com
Quite possibly the most irritating site on earth. Earplugs recommended.

8. BonziBuddy

This animated purple gibbon called itself "your best friend on the Internet," but many who downloaded this free program weren't feeling too friendly afterward. Buddy could tell jokes, recite your e-mail, manage your schedule, download files, and more. But the grape ape also tracked users' surfing habits, hijacked home pages, and installed several of his adware buddies. Depending on your browser settings, merely visiting Bonzi's Web site or clicking a banner ad could install Buddy on your machine. In 2002 annoyed Netizens had enough of this monkey business and sued Bonzi for deceptive advertising. By 2005 Buddy was history.

7. Pets.com
Who let this dog out? Back in the heady days of 1999 it must have seemed perfectly normal to spend $175 million making a sock puppet famous. But the notion of saving some coin on kibbles and kitty litter never caught on with consumers, and by November 2000 Pets.com had been euthanized--going from IPO to liquidation in just nine months. Before it got sent to the pound, however, the dot com filed suit against Triumph the Comic Insult Dog for allegedly defaming its moth-friendly mascot. Apparently, even sock puppets have feelings.

6. Pixelon.com
More dot con than dot com, this streaming media company boasted of a revolutionary new technology that would deliver high-quality audio and video over the Net. But Pixelon CEO and founder "Michael Fenne" was in reality a grifter named David Kim Stanley, who spent the majority of investors' money--some $16 million--on a launch party in Las Vegas featuring Tony Bennett, KISS, and The Who. Prior to starting Pixelon, Stanley had pleaded guilty to swindling friends and neighbors out of $1.5 million; he was on the lam and living out of the back of his car when he founded the company. Pixelon's revolutionary new streaming technology was equally spurious.

5. AllAdvantage

This site had the brilliant idea of paying people 50 cents an hour to surf and watch banner ads all day, plus another 10 cents per hour for every friend they convinced to sign up. All users had to do was install a "Viewbar" that displayed ads and clocked how much time they spent online. Stunningly, the company managed to raise $135 million in venture capital and convince 2 million users to sign up before it folded in February 2001. For some reason, advertisers failed to see any advantage in trying to reach the $4-a-day demographic. Go figure.

4. CD Universe
In December 1999 a Russian hacker named Maxim broke into the music retailer's site, stole 350,000 credit card numbers, and then demanded $100,000 ransom. When CD Universe refused to pay, Maxim posted 25,000 of the numbers to a Web site. At the time CD Universe was owned by eUniverse, which combined its site and its customer database on an unprotected server. "Basically, they put the candy jar in plain sight and left the cover off," says current CD Universe owner Chuck Beilman. "It was only a matter of time until someone stole the candy." CD Universe's customer database is now separate from the Web site, encrypted, and protected by a firewall.

3. Cartoonnetwok.com
No that's not a typo; it's "typosquatting," where a site owner deliberately registers a misspelling of a popular domain in the hopes of attracting the actual site's traffic. Cartoonnetwok was one of some 5500 deceptive domains owned by John Zuccarini, d/b/a/ "Cupcake Confidential." But that wasn't Zuccarini's only nasty bit of business. FTC investigators visiting one of his sites found their screens filled with 29 new browser windows for instant credit, online psychics, gambling, and porn sites. When they hit the Back button, another 7 windows opened--a technique known as "mousetrapping." Worse, many of Zuccarani's typosquatting sites were aimed at children. In 2003 Zuccarini pleaded guilty to violating the Truth in Domain Names Act and was sentenced to 2.5 years in the federal pen.

2. CyberRebate

The phrase "the check's in the mail" took on new meaning with this dot com. CyberRebate offered to refund 100 percent of what you paid for electronic goods, provided you a) paid up to 10 times their normal retail value, and b) let CyberRebate hold onto your money for at least 10 weeks. The site banked on people simply forgetting to apply for the refund. Unfortunately for CyberRebate, not enough of them did. The company filed for bankruptcy in May 2001 owing $60 million in refunds. Aggrieved customers had to settle for roughly 9 cents on the dollar.

1. MySpace.com

Yes, we know. With more than 90 million users, MySpace is now more popular than Elvis, "American Idol," and ice cream. But the Web's most visited destination is also its most poorly designed and counterproductive.

The ease with which anyone of any age can create a page, upload photos, share deeply personal details of their lives, and make new "friends" quickly turned MySpace into a one-stop shopping mall for online predators. That in turn has made the site an easy target for politicians who pander for votes by playing on parental fears. In an era when the basic tenets of the Net are under attack by both Ma Bell and Uncle Sam, MySpace is a headache we don't need.

But let's put all that aside for a moment. Graphically, many MySpace pages look like a teenager's bedroom after a tornado--a swirl of clashing backgrounds, boxes stacked inside other boxes, massive photos, and sonic disturbance. Try loading a few of those pages at once and watch what happens to your CPU. Watch out for spyware, too, since it turns out that MySpace has become a popular distribution vector for drive-by downloads and other exploits. And in a place where "U are soooooooo hot!!!" passes for wit, MySpace isn't doing much to elevate the level of social discourse.

In response to a public backlash and some well-publicized lawsuits, MySpace has begun modifying its policies--for example, limiting adults' ability to contact minors. That's hardly enough. Requiring some kind of authentication from MySpacers--or their parents--to validate their ages and identities would go a long way toward scaring off the creeps and making the site a kinder, gentler social network.

Is MySpace totally bad? Not at all. Are we old farts? Yeah, probably. But the Web's most popular site needs a serious security reboot. And probably a makeover. Until then, MySpace won't ever be OurSpace.

Princess Diana-A Decade from Her Death Coming Up

I am not at all sure who this "Taki"- and author of the linked article- is. Which is no mind because the more important item of note here is a new film about the princess that premiered recently at the Venice Film Festival.

Next September will mark ten years since that fateful day when a drunken chauffer rammed the car carrying Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed into a Parisian tunnel cement pole. This movie is a precursor to the sorrowful hype, I must suppose.

Which gives me a chance to post a mini-rant.

Princess Diana, God rest her soul, was a bit of a dolt. First, did she really think that Prince Charles loved her? In my many readings on the manner, I understand Diana knew all about Camilla even before she married Charles. I also recall she once made the comment that she was little more than a brood mare.

Well, duh.

Second, Diana was a master of publicity and she adored her adorers. She often phoned them up herself to inform them of a photo opportunity. Third, Diana was a bit of a nut.

I am sure the British royal family treated her with disdain. No matter her heritage, Diana was beautiful but classy? NOT!

At any rate, it will soon be ten years since her very tragic and unnecessary death. That stupid Dodi Fayed’s father has been making casting aspersions and doubt on the death of Diana into a living.

Hey, Princess Di died because an idiot with too much booze in him thought it would be really neat to drive over a hundred miles in a tunnel.

It’s not rocket science.

From the American Conservative:

Ironically, I was among the last to speak to her on that fateful day of Aug. 31. I rang her around six in the evening and asked her what was going on with Dodi Fayed. "Will you be wearing a chador any time soon?" "You know better than that," came her answer. I have always insisted that the romance with Dodi was a sham, a publicity stunt. She wanted to annoy the royals; he needed good publicity. I already knew she was seeing a Pakistani doctor who kept a very low profile. We all know the rest.

Diana died for a blurred picture. If Helen of Troy's face launched a thousand ships, Diana's launched a million tabloid front pages. She never once uttered, at least in my presence, a word against her in-laws or ex-husband and tried hard to live a useful life and to be a good mother. But it's a sad day indeed when publicity-seeking conspiracy theorists like Mohamed Fayed involve the queen and Prince Philip in their ludicrous conjectures. Conspiracy theories are almost as bad as the crime they profess to uncover

BLIND ITEM FUN
From: **NY Post Page 6 BLIND ITEMS 9/18**
ASKED

WHICH young actress is jealous of a leading lady of the same tender age who is getting better parts? (They also both had sex with Jared Leto.) While visiting a friend's house, the jealous actress spotted a DVD of a movie starring her rival, ripped open the box, threw the disk on the floor and stomped on it

GUESSED

Young Actress = Ashley Olsen
Leading Lady = Lindsay Lohan
Both born in 1986 and both reportedly slept with Jared Leto.

Those Skinny Models

It’s been said that fashion designers actually design their fashions with their “male friends” in mind. In other words, they want thin and man-like to sport their fashions down the runways.

I don’t know whether that’s true or not but I do think these wafer-thin models are really getting old. Someone needs to tell these fashion designers that skin and bones is just not how us idiots out here in la-la land view healthy women. Some of those gals look as if they’ve escaped from a concentration camp!

So Spain now bans skinny models but I’ve no idea just what is the definition of “skinny”, never having been there or done that. Many pundits consider this an affront to the fashion models. I think it’s a start. If they keep getting so damn unreal they’ll continue to lose credibility.

From YAHOO.com:

Madrid's fashion week has turned away underweight models after protests that girls and young women were trying to copy their rail-thin looks and developing eating disorders.

Organizers say they want to project an image of beauty and health, rather than a waif-like, or heroin chic look.

”Queen of Nice” Not So Nice

Heh. Rosie O’Donnell is one bitter-assed woman. I don’t know why. But I can spot her anger and vitriol a mile away. Now rumor has it that The View’s co-hostess, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, are at odds and that Rosie regularly makes Hasselbeck cry.

While this sounds a bit over the top (chin up, Elisabeth, tears add nothing to the debate), I can well imagine that the former Queen of Nice can be one mean ass bitch.

Excuse my language.

From Celebslam.com:

She is crying every day," an insider tells us. "No one can control Rosie, and Elisabeth can't contain her feelings. She gets so upset all the time." Some on-set sources think that Rosie's outwardly liberal views have been upsetting the show's conservative voice.

Ending With a Smile

Quotes from entertainers and others who want to run this country’s foreign policy.



More Gossip/Speculation HERE

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Delaware's Big Fish Grill Has a Major Problem; Local Delaware Politics 2006

We re-visited Delaware's Big Fish Grill and while the food's still good, there's one major problem with this eatery that will keep us away from now on.

And a look into those local Delaware races, including son of Senator Joe Biden's bid for Attorney General against the Thomas Capano prosecutor.

Beau Biden has NEVER prosecuted a criminal case; his main qualification for the office would seem is being the son of a loud-mouthed Senator.

And you'll never guess who's endorsing Beau Biden.

Pic of the Day

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Quote of the Day A baby is born with a need to be loved - and never outgrows it. Frank A. Clark

Web Site Worth the Visit Country Western Music Anyone? It’s a veteran’s site but provided at the link below, many of the favored country-western tunes of wise veterans. Country Western Music

TIDBITS How to Get Your Baby to Sleep Let her cry it out? Rock her till dawn? Here, six things to consider when deciding what works best for you 1. Your baby's temperament Your baby's personality is a key factor in determining the right sleep strategy. Some babies are born self-soothers. Others (usually active ones) may put up a big fight at night. Maryland mom Mary Kay tried for months to put 15-month-old Sophie in her crib while she was still awake, but Sophie screamed so hard she'd actually throw up. Finally Mary Kay decided to rock Sophie to sleep -- cry-it-out books be darned. "Sophie winds herself up so much we all end up awake and upset," she says. "I've decided to go with my gut, and if rocking works, so be it." 2. How much sleep your baby's getting Sleep experts say 6-month-olds should doze 12 to 13 hours a day, including naps. A baby who isn't getting adequate rest may be clingy, short-fused, and uninterested in exploring, or she may go into overdrive and have a harder time nodding off. Sound familiar? Then rethink your bedtime approach. While she may love your 3 a.m. strolls around the house, too much stimulation could be keeping her from drifting off. Would letting her try to soothe herself work? Some babies wail in their cribs because they aren't tired or calm enough: What can you do to make her sleepier at night (aside from skipping naps, which isn't a good idea)? Could rocking her to sleep help? 3. How much sleep you're getting Parents lose more than 200 hours of sleep in their baby's first year, according to the National Sleep Foundation. That's no surprise: When your infant is still eating around the clock, getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep a night is unlikely. If your baby is no longer a newborn, though, and you're a total zombie from rocking and feeding all night long, it's time for a change. After three sleepless months with her twins, Tampa mom Angela felt she would die of exhaustion. Instead she hired a sleep coach, and she stopped giving the babies bottles to get them to sleep. "They cried a lot, and that was really hard for me," she says. "But I was at the end of my rope. The crying was less painful than the agony of getting up." 4. Your personality Thinking about your own needs when choosing a sleep strategy doesn't make you selfish. In fact, it can help you pick a plan you'll be able to stick to. If you're schedule-oriented, you may function best knowing your baby will fall asleep at a certain time. More laid-back? You might not mind following his lead. But remember, whatever your ideal routine, life with a child can throw it for a loop. New York City mom Hilary always stuck to a tight schedule. But her son Jake's up-every-few-hours sleep pattern put an end to well-planned evenings. "Now I roll with the punches," she says. "I think that's really helped Jake." 5. Your history Issues from your past can also shape your views on getting your baby to sleep. A mom who feels she didn't get enough attention from her own parents may feel strongly about comforting her baby when he cries at night. And moms who had fertility issues, difficult pregnancies, or preterm babies may not want to let their infants cry. Still others may react to their own chaotic upbringing by making sure their kids have predictability early on. As long as feelings about your past don't keep you from creating a sleep environment that works in the present, do what feels best. 6. How much help you have While you and your partner may not always agree on how to get your baby to sleep, you'll need each other's support, whether it's another set of arms when yours ache, or a hand to squeeze when your child's crying it out. If your current sleep methods are pulling you apart instead of bringing you together, it's time to regroup. Georgia mom Claire spent so much time rocking her daughter to sleep in the first year that some nights she didn't see her husband. "It put a strain on our relationship," she says. After months of his urging, she tried putting Mia in her crib while still awake. Mia's wails made Claire frantic, but her husband convinced her to keep trying. Now, says Claire, "She's asleep in five minutes. She's better off -- and so are we." -- Hollace Schmidt

 


Delaware Attorney General Race Most Interesting of All

Who’d think that a local race for state Attorney General would be so interesting? Yet here in the swamps of Delaware we’ve just such a local race underway.

One candidate is Beau Biden. If that name looks familiar, think Joe, think hairplugs, think plagiarism. Give up? For sure we have Delaware’s Senator Joe Biden’s son, Beau, up against Ferris Wharton, who has his own claim to fame.

Let’s begin with First Delaware Son, Beau. It began when the elected DA left office to take another job. Nanny Minner, Delaware’s Governor who has people shot on sight for smoking, was about to appoint Beau Biden to the position. The hue and cry of the electorate caused her to back down from this stupid idea. Thus First Delaware Son, Beau, must get elected all by his own self.

And First Delaware Son, Beau, is fighting mighty hard for the job. He’s even, get this, managed to get famous crime commentator John Walsh to do a commercial for him. John Walsh’s son Adam was a murder victim of a child predator and John is currently host of the TV series “America’s Most Wanted”. I used to like John Walsh. I will never watch his TV series again because, hey, I’m a Delaware voter. I do NOT think that being the son of a Senator is enough of a qualification to hold the highest legal position in the state. If John Walsh thinks this is a good criteria than hey, I’m not going to watch his show. I can do this. I live in America. I hope Beau’s campaign paid John Walsh well for his nosy insertion into a local race that he had no business in.

There is a reason why John Walsh endorses Beau Biden in so many of those sycophant commercials now airing across Delaware’s air waves. Beau Biden has made a campaign promise to establish a Delaware “child predator” unit. John Walsh then became Beau’s perfect pitchman what with Walsh’s son himself dead at the hand of just such a predator.

Come on folks. With a properly function police department, there should be no need for any vaunted child predator unit. Said unit would be nothing more than slapping a name on a door somewhere while using the same resources as currently used to prosecute child predators. Delaware is notorious for starting up special committees and units, all for window dressing. Governor Nanny Minner loves to hire big political contributors to investigate something or other, conclusions of these special groups which are never used.

Ferris Wharton is Beau’s Republican competition for the AG position. Ferris Wharton’s claim to fame is that he was the successful prosecutor for one of Delaware’s more notorious True Crimes. When you’re talking true crime you’re talking right up my alley.

For Thomas Capano currently sits on Delaware’s death row, prosecuted for the murder of Anne Marie Fahey. Thomas Capano was himself once a state deputy attorney general.

Capano Blog posts HERE, and HERE and HERE.

Only Ferris Wharton has some issues himself, at least by me, and he too fell for Beau Biden’s proposal for setting up new Delaware special units. Recently Delaware voters have been promised a new special unit on crime and I’ve got a sneaking feeling this is in response to ole Beau’s vaunted Child Predator section. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not at all keen on promises of more bureaucratic layers, especially here in the swamps of Delaware where they practically live by these things.

Ferris Wharton’s Site here.



Some campaign hype from the Ferris web site:

“If Beau Biden thinks that he should be the Attorney General having never prosecuted a criminal in Delaware, what’s to say he won’t appoint someone to lead the sex crimes unit who has no experience prosecuting rapists and child molesters. That’s a scary thought.”

“Delawareans can be certain that with Ferris Wharton as Attorney General, if one of their loved ones is the victims of rape, murder, or any crime, they’ll have experienced and proven prosecutors fighting for them.”

Wharton is right, of course, as regards the precious Beau and his total inexperience for such an important position. But I have a question for Mr. Wharton. Which he may or may not be able to answer but it’s a question on the minds of Delawarians.

Thomas Capano got the death penalty. SO WHEN IS HE GOING TO GET THAT NEEDLE?!!

It’s a double-edged sword for Mr. Wharton. He was the successful prosecutor in this case but he’ll also be forever associated with this case. Thus I must wonder if this so-called death penalty Capano got will ever come to fruition. Capano’s crime was especially heinous. He killed Anne Marie for the crime of breaking up with him then cut her body to pieces to fit it into a Styrofoam cooler. With a little help from his brother, Capano dumped Anne Marie’s body in the ocean.

Yet like so many blue states, Delaware gives the death penalty but never actually does the deed.

I predict that Wharton will win the election but only because of mighty conservative Sussex county. There are only three counties in Delaware. Two of them are bluer than blue and one great big one, Sussex, is solid conservative. Sussex county will never elect Beau Biden. Everyone here already dislikes Joe Biden and will likely have no urge to elect his son.

Ehrlich Fights O’Malley in Merryland

Getting a clue, the hopelessly liberal Merryland followed the trend of so many blue states and elected a Republican Governor.

Martin O’Malley is the Mayor of Baltimore and as corrupt and as entrenched a Democrat as there ever was. O’Malley is fighting an uphill battle although the Baltimore dead vote will give him some help. It’s doubtful the rest of Merryland, save the liberal counties surrounding D.C., will elect O’Malley over Ehrlich.

Below some campaign hype from the Ehrlich web site:
·

Under Martin O'Malley the City school board recently LOWERED standards and reaffirmed their failed policy of social promotion.
· While the state has increased funding to the City school system by $176 million, Martin O'Malley has only increased funding to his own school system by less than one third of one percent.
· Martin O'Malley's public charter school funding is so low that the courts ordered him to double funding to these public schools.
· "This school system right now is broken." (Doc Cheatham, Baltimore NAACP, on the Chip Franklin show: April 26, 2006)
· Martin O'Malley says he cares about education, but the facts just say otherwise.

It might be campaign hype folks, but every word of it is true. Merryland schools, especially Baltimore schools, are hopeless. O’Malley’s had almost eight years to fix it. So why hasn’t he?

Michael Steele Running for Merryland’s Senator


Scuttlebutt has Steele as a dark horse and this may be. Already the nasty Merryland Dems have been doing really mean hit pieces on Steele, including illegal investigation into his credit report by the Senate’s Chuck Schumer.

This race is too close to call. How great it would be if Merryland would overthrow those entrenched and entitled Democrats that have ruined that state so much that we had to move just to get away from the liberal craziness?

More Delaware posts HERE
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Delaware’s Big Fish Grill-A Re-visit and A Vow to NOT Re-visit again



This is a second review of this Rehoboth Beach, Delaware famous eatery. Original review HERE

Although I’m not sure that “famous” is the correct adjective here in that I certainly never heard of this eatery before moving to the swamps of Delaware. Yet go there on a Saturday night, and this AFTER Labor Day, and you’ll have an hour and a half wait, easily. Somebody’s obviously heard of this place.

It was time for a mother-in-law visit and as I stated in the first review in the link above, she does adore the Merryland crab cakes made from lump backfin crab meat and broiled to perfection.

But is it worth the hour and a half wait?

As a group, husband, myself and mother-in-law, we decided it was not.

Which is not to say there isn’t fine food offered at the Big Fish Grill, including fresh fish perfectly prepared. The restaurant also has a busy carry-out section and if looking for fresh seafood to prepare for dinner, one can’t go wrong here.

On this most recent visit I had two “whale” sized soft crabs and as a native Merrylander (not that I’m necessarily proud of this fact) I consider soft crabs God’s gift to the weary earth.

Soft crabs are, however, a tricky thing to make but I was confident Big Fish Grill would do a good job. And they did.

Those soft crabs were huge and fried to crispy perfection. My mother-in-law was amazed that people even eat such things. Just for effect, I pulled off the claws of the soft crab one by one and munched on each joyfully as if potato chips.

Soft crabs are usually blue crabs caught during the act of molting off their old shell and right before a newer, harder shell replaces it. The crab is cleaned of what Merrylanders call “the devil”, really the crab’s lungs, and the eyeballs are removed for aesthetic purposes. Although I’d eat the eyeballs, no problem. Beyond that, the soft crab is then simply dipped in seasoned flour and fried quickly to a precise crispness. That’s all there is to it. The entire soft crab is served, complete with legs and the now crispy outside shell. The legs, if eaten correctly, are removed one by one and eaten right on down. The body of the soft crab can then be cut with a knife or torn apart by hand and again, sent down to a happy stomach.

The soft crabs were indeed “whale” sized and I could only eat one that night of the visit. The other made a delicious lunch later in the week.

Husband had a barbecued shrimp appetizer and a fried flounder for his dinner. Mother-in-law had her signature crab cakes and it’s a treat she’s come to enjoy on her annual visits.

Big Fish Grill serves above-average side dishes with their seafood offerings. Their mashed potatoes rates an A+. I had a side of stewed tomatoes, a side dish not offered nearly often enough. All entrees usually include the Grill’s cole slaw, a good side with large shreds of regular and red cabbage, lightly dressed.

Husband’s barbecued shrimp appeared to really be barbecued in that black grill marks on the skewered shrimp indicated they’d actually been cooked on some sort of grill affair. The flounder was perfectly prepared as would be expected from this restaurant’s specialty.

Beyond the very good food, and make no mistake Big Fish Grill does their seafood job well, there’s no way that long wait is worth it. At some point a diner has to decide and these diners decided that the wait is simply too long. We have lives out here in la-la land and whiling away hours waiting to eat is a waste of a busy life. And no, we didn’t get to the front of the line in honor of our name…FISH. Heh.

In addition, the Big Fish Grill is so crowded and noisy that we couldn’t talk to each other without strain as we enjoyed our meal.

Nope. Just not worth the bother. Perhaps a weeknight visit or in the dead of winter, maybe. Unfortunately mother-in-law visits revolve around a weekend. She specifically arrives after Labor Day in the resort area just to avoid the crowds.

Next year we intend to avoid the crowds at the Big Fish Grill. Too bad. They really do serve excellent seafood.

Big Fish Grill web site.

Below some selections from the Big Fish Grill’s menu:

Seafood Offerings

FRESH ½ LB PEEL & EAT SHRIMP “SERVED COLD” W/ COCKTAIL & OLD BAY

FRESH BAKED MUSSELS W/ GORGONZOLA & LIGHT LOBSTER SAUCE

FRESH FIELD GREENS W/MANDARIN ORANGES, PINE NUTS, GORGONZOLA, & HONEY DIJON

FRESH SMOKED SALMON NAPOLEON W/ FRIED WONTONS, WASABI & HAWAIIAN BBQ GLAZE

FRESH HAND ROLLED SHRIMP&VEGETABLE SPRING ROLLS W/HAWAIIAN DIPPING SAUCE

FRESH PRIME 14OZ VEAL CHOP OVER MASHERS W/ GORGONZOLA & PORT WINE DEMI

Appetizers
=========
Chopped Salad
Romaine, carrots, tomatoes, corn and cucumbers tossed in our buttermilk garlic dressing

Caesar Salad
Homemade recipe using pasteurized eggs

Grilled Charcoal Shrimp
Served with melted butter

Fried Grouper Fingers
Served with homemade tartar sauce

House Smoked Fish Dip
available for take out

Homemade Garlic Bread
Soup of the Day

Other
==========
Big Sirloin
A 10oz. sirloin over mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy and your choice of one sides

Big Chops
Twin center-cut chops served over mashed potatoes, homemade gravy and baked spiced apples

Steak and Shrimp
A petite filet and our grilled charcoal shrimp

Big Shrimp
Twelve large shrimp sprinkled with our famous char-seasoning served over saffron rice

Big Chicken
A juicy 10oz breast served over mashed potatoes

Mom's Meatloaf
Served with mashed potatoes and gravy

Big Chicken Sandwich
Grilled 10oz. breast topped with cheddar and bacon served with fries and a pickle

Fried Grouper Sandwich
Hand-Breaded "Farm Raised" Grouper filets served with fries and tartar sauce

Political Tidbits 9/27/06-Clinton Loses It; NJ's McGreevy Fools Us All

It's time for some Political Tidbits and first, let us pay attention to New Jersey's "Gay American" Governor McGreevy. For this nice fellow has a book out and it's no mind that he embarrasses his family and insults us, Matt Lauer loves him and Oprah adores him. While he is still a creep who hired his lover to cover NJ homeland security and it's no mind his sexual preferences, this is just plain sleezy.

Also, come on, Hugo Chavez is really a nut, eh?

Also, Walmart strikes back in a capitalistic manner that will confound its critics.

Finally, Bill Clinton loses it re his pathetic 8 year record on fighting terror.

Pic of the Day

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Quote of the Day THE WHITE FLAG PARTY "(Pennsylvania governor and former Democrat Party chairman Ed) Rendell was asked what he would do about Iraq if he were president. "He said he is not running, but if he were and he won, on the day after his inauguration, 'I would go to Iraq and ask to be on TV throughout the Middle East and I'd say, 'We came here with the best of intentions and wanted to create freedom and democracy for all and 3,000 Americans have died. It is clear to me we have become the main problem. I'm going to ask the international community to develop a peacekeeping force and reduce our presence. We're going to help you build houses, provide aid and economic opportunity for your people.'' "That isn't a peace plan; it's a plan for surrender. . . . This is why liberal Democrats cannot be trusted to run the foreign policy of the United States." - Columnist Cal Thomas

Web Site Worth the Visit Know Someone Cheating the Government? Be it an elected official or a conniving citizen, the link below is the site to report it. Put enough eyes out there and they’ll HAVE to be honest. Report Public Corruption

TIDBITS +-------------- Bizarre Names of Real Places ---------------+ Frozen Run, West Virginia: A man saved his own life by wrapping himself in the skin of a recently killed buffalo. His friends had to thaw it to get him out. Preacher's Head, New Mexico: A rock resembling the face of a serious-looking man overlooks the town. Dildo, Newfoundland: Coincidentally, it's the birthplace of Shannon Tweed, Playboy magazine's 1982 Playmate of the Year. Anxiety Point, Alaska: Sir John Franklin, a British explorer, was afraid that bad weather would prevent his team from reaching a point on the Alaskan coast. They made it, and left this permanent reminder of his nervousness. Nipple Mountain, Colorado: One formation on the mountain is named "Clara's Bird's Nipple." Chilly Buttes, Idaho: A cold place in the winter. Art Texas: As one resident explained, "Well, it's not for Arthur or Artesian, and far as I know people here weren't ever especially arty. We've heard they picked it just because they wanted a real short name." Sacul, Texas: A reverse spelling of (John) Lucas, an early settler in the area. Lake Italy, California: The lake is shaped like a boot. Accident, Maryland: In 1774, surveyors marked off a parcel of land by mistake. They decided to immortalize the error.

Political Tidbits

He’s a Proud “Gay American”. No Mention That He’s Corrupt

Former NJ Governor James McGreevey has a new book he’s hawking. Titled “The Confession”, the book reportedly is a tell-all book ostensibly to blind the reader with lurid details of roadside homosexual trysts along with details of the angst suffered by a public official forced to keep his sexual identity a secret.

The real truth is that McGreevey ran an administration that was so corrupt, even by NJ standards, that his resignation from the NJ governorship was because of the evil deeds he foisted on NJ citizens via their taxpayer dollars. Appointing his poet-lover to head NJ’s Department of Homeland Security would be one such example of corruption.

In keeping with the historical plan, McGreevey then goes on to pull the wool over our collective and stupid eyeballs by declaring that he is a “Gay American” when he resigned, a popular phrase that some PR spin firm deduced goes over well in the ears of busy Americans out here in la-la land. Add the word “American” to any other adjective and it tends to legitimize everything.

James McGreevey wasn’t forced to resign because he was gay, although polls show many New Jersey citizens still think that is the case. Hiring a poet with absolutely no experience in security to protect NJ citizens isn’t exactly good governance. Said poet, reminding again, being McGreevey’s then current male flame.

McGreevey continues to follow the PR spin plan and recently appeared on Oprah. Yes, you read it right, Oprah. And yes, Oprah clucked and sympathized and oohed and aahed. The audience, both in the studio and across the fruited plains, didn’t buy it. McGreevey’s been excoriated for his silly appearance on the afternoon talk show for Kumbaya singers. Somehow reports of McGreevey’s corruption keep following him around and boom, sympathy disappears.

Jonah Goldberg has a good assessment of McGreevey HERE:

In his memoir, "The Confession," McGreevey offers any number of revelations, but they don't add up to a confession. "Some things I'd done, or allowed to be done in my name, were morally repugnant to me," he writes, presumably referring to the various aides, mentors and backers facing criminal charges or mired in scandal. But he dealt with that by "forgetting" or never allowing himself to know. "I had my people strike back-room deals I kept myself in the dark about or forced from my mind if I learned too much. Obviously this is one root of my memory problems."

Matt Lauer gave McGreevey a chance to garner sympathy points as well. Below a video of parts of this pathetic interview.

While McGreevey is viewed as a hero to America’s gay community, the poor, persecuted gay Governor vilified for his sexuality, the rest of the country ain’t buying it.



The WTC Illness

Here’s a new illness that makes a perfect case for the trial lawyers. The “victims” are the first responders to the 9-11 trade center. Right there is insured protection from the Compassion Police. These are people from all parts of the country who came to New York to help with the search for bodies and possible living victims from the collapsed trade centers.

Another clue: the politicians who immediately responded with brow-furrowed concern were all from New York. Hillary, Chuck Schumer, and Rudy Guilliani all held press conferences, the summation being that those who helped dig through the rubble of the World Trade Center are now suffering with lung diseases that could only have come from breathing bad air.

Finally, one more clue…the Lamestream Media, especially the New York segment, jumped on the bandwagon.

It’s a PR Spin Expert’s dream. First responders to the attacks in New York on 9-11-01 are considered heroes. Dare to question them is to cast aspersions on heroes.

I was suspicious just as soon as the manufactured hype hit the air waves. Some element of common sense began to overwhelm me. Sure it was a smoky and likely uncomfortable environment around those collapsed trade towers in September 2001. I simply could not believe that limited exposure to these conditions caused so many to have lung problems the rest of their lives. Human beings have spent their entire lives working under far worse conditions.

If there was anything suspect about this story, soon enough it would come out.

It has.

All the hype comes from release of a study by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. There have been other reports on the effects on the lungs of first responders to the WTC but the Mount Sinai report fits an agenda.

Only this Mount Sinai report is very suspect.

From the American Spectator:

This study looked only at the minority of responders who came to Mount Sinai to have their health monitored. People who "self-select" to participate in such medical studies tend to do so because they believe they're sick. So you can't make any meaningful comparisons to responders who didn't volunteer for the study or to the general public. This problem alone wholly invalidates the significance Mount Sinai and the media gave the report.

All this hype is based on VOLUNTEERS for this study? As stated above, those who volunteer to have their health monitored have a vested interest in insuring that the study shows that they are not nuts. Or, hey, given enough of an impetus, such as money or political favors, well volunteers then come easy to recruit.

I know the Compassion Police will be on my case for daring to suggest that this form of outright bribery for more money is a genuine cause for our sympathy, not our suspicions. Anyway, those people who actually died in the WTC got a whole bunch of money. Why shouldn’t those who dug through the rubble get a few extra bucks medical compensation for their service?

Hey, I’d go along with that. Give the first responders some extra bucks, perhaps free health care for the rest of their lives. Give it to them for their quick response and good intentions.

Please don’t go making more victims and stop peeing on our feet and telling us it’s raining.

They need money? They think they deserve money? The politicians who represent them want them to get more money?

By all means, give them some.

Just tell what it’s all about. Don’t create a new reality to meet the greed of a few.

Getting Out of the Plame Game

Now that the hoopla is over and after we’ve discovered that the leaker of Valerie Plame’s status as a so-called covert CIA agent was Richard Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State under Colin Powell, isn’t it time for Patrick Fitzgerald to be put out to pasture? This guy has already spent millions investigating essentially nothing and, indeed, could be guilty of getting involved in a political witch hunt instead of spending taxpayer money wisely.

Below, two ways to end this joke of a prosecution.

From MSNBC.com:

The judge in the CIA leak case ruled Thursday that if Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald feels that admitting certain classified documents at the upcoming trial of I Lewis "Scooter" Libby can jeopardize national security, Fitzgerald can then move to dismiss the perjury charges against Libby.

In the above possibility, the judge hands Fitz a way out. All Fitz has to do is declare that releasing classified documents in order to prosecute the very innocent Scooter Libby is a danger to the country, well Fitz can just drop the charges.

From The American Thinker.com:

H. Marshall Jarrett, Counsel

Office of Professional Responsibility

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 3266

Washington, D.C. 20530

Re: Patrick Fitzgerald’s handling of the Plame Case

Dear Mr. Jarrett:

I am writing to suggest that if one is not underway yet, it is long past due to undertake an investigation into the circumstances of the appointment of Patrick Fitzgerald and the way in which he has conducted this matter.

Above, Clarice Feldman of the American Thinker has written a letter to the Office of Professional Responsibility as regards Patrick Fitzgerald’s questionable conduct and decisions during this investigation. Click on the link and see the many legal misjudgments Fitz might have made, at least according to Feldman. She makes a compelling case.

Seems to me that the Department of Justice is going to have to at least RESPOND to Feldman’s letter, even if they tell her she’s all wet and to get lost.

It also seems to me that somehow, some way, Patrick Fitzgerald and his witch hunt have GOT to be stopped. There are thousands of Katrina victims who could have new homes with the money this investigation has wasted. The problem is that the only way to stop independent prosecutor Fitzgerald is by an Act of Congress. Don’t hold your breath waiting for that lily-livered bunch to do their jobs. This is the problem with “independent” prosecutors. They report to no one. Our founding fathers crafted a government and incorporated many checks and balances specifically to stop placing so much power in the hands of one person.

Whether Fitz bows out by choosing the softball thrown by the judge or is investigated should the Department of Justice do its job, as Feldman requests, it’s time for him to go.

Middle Class Continues to Supply Soldiers

Gather all the singers, actors and actresses in Hollywood, the political elites and ivory tower professors and there still aren’t enough of them to populate the United States’ Army.

Our soldiers come from the Middle Class, that’s you and I guys, and don’t ever forget it. Juries come from this same class and notice now that the things that make this country hum rely on the common sense that Middle Class brings. They call it common sense for a reason. Only the common man has it.

So the Army continues to meet its recruiting goals and this fact gets little notice from the Lamestream. For all the trouble in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Middle Class continues to send its sons and daughters out to protect us from those who would kill us. Don’t wait for the Dixie Chicks to do it.

From the WAPO:

The Army is ending its best recruiting year since 1997 and expecting similar success in 2007, despite the weight of grim war news from Iraq, Army Secretary Francis Harvey said Thursday.

In an Associated Press interview, Harvey said the Army will enlist its 80,000th soldier on Friday, reaching its goal for the year with eight days to spare. That is a considerable turnaround from last year when the Army missed its target for the first time since 1999 and by the widest margin in more than two decades.

The Democrats and Silly Hugo Chavez

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez came to town last week and he really put on a comedy routine. How often has an American president went to another country and called that country’s leader the devil? Talk about your poor taste.

But we’ll allow that ole Hugo has no class and that he amuses. The bigger scandal here is how the opposition party-in this case the Democrats-came out in defense of the President. Which they sure should have because to tolerate such attacks on our President on our own soil could cost political points.

More intriguing, and currently flying below the national radar, is how so many of these Democrats have allowed Hugo to buy them lock, stock and barrel, and this in our own country.

From Investors.com:

They have, like Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., gone on junkets to Venezuela to admire Chavez's "revolution" in his dog and pony shows.

Worse, they've willingly gotten themselves into Chavez's political debt by accepting subsidized heating oil for their supposedly underserved residents. Rangel had nothing but praise for Chavez in February upon taking low-cost heating oil for his Harlem district.

So Hugo gives New York and Massachusetts low cut heating oil and how is this fair to the rest of America? One of these days this nasty little tidbit is going to register on the national conscience. I pay top dollar for my heating oil while these same hypocrites who criticized Chavez ponied up and took his oil for easy votes, now didn’t they?


U.N. Experts Say Gitmo Should Be Closed

Heh. Talk about your oxymoron.

First, these “experts” refused a visit to Guantanamo when there were told they would not be able to interview detainees. Well go with me here, but who in the world would trust the UN to talk to these terrorists? Besides, why didn’t they visit and just observe the surroundings, the food, the atmosphere? Why insist on talking to detainees?

And just who are these UN “experts”? One is Algerian Leila Zerrougui, a specialist on arbitrary detention. A specialist on arbitrary detention? What the hell?

Since they couldn’t help the terrorist cause by passing along information to the Gitmo detainees, these UN “experts” relied on, well I don’t know what they relied on but go with me here, how can they condemn Guantanamo Bay when THEY’VE NEVER BEEN THERE???

From SF Gate

U.N. human rights investigators criticized the United States on Thursday for failing to take steps to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison for terror suspects, which they say facilitates torture and violates international law.

Walmart’s PR Coup

The liberals, with the help of the mighty labor unions, are hell bent on destroying Walmart. In an astounding PR coup, Walmart announced a major prescription reduction program that will allow 30 day supplies of certain generic drugs be purchased for $4.00 a prescription.

Heh.

So good to see Walmart fight back. And how can this be anything but a good thing?

From Yahoo.com:

Wal-Mart will make nearly 300 generic prescription drugs available for $4 per prescription for up to a 30-day supply at 65 stores in the Tampa area.

In the Interest of Fair and Balanced

A funny compendium of Bush’s “Top Ten Moments”. It’s a bit of a jab but hey, all in good fun.



While We’re Looking at Videos

For posterity, and in keeping with fair and balanced, a little of Clinton’s performance on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. Surely you’ve heard?

View a bit of Clinton’s wrath when a journalist dares to ask the man a real question.



Clinton Minions Still Insane

Madeline Albright, former Secretary of State for Clinton and total failure, now asserts, get this, that “evil depends on different perspectives”. Heh. What the hell does that mean? I suppose the serial killer doesn’t think of himself as evil. His victims, however, disagree.

Ah, the hell with it. These Clinton minions are so pissed off that they did a lousy job all they can do is criticize. So very small.

From Gwhatchet.com:

Albright was the guest of honor at the fourth annual Snowdon Lecture, a speech by a public figure addressing the intersection of faith and social justice in the world. In the speech sponsored by the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, Albright attacked Bush's policies in Iraq and in third world countries.

"I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid that Iraq is going to go down in history as the greatest disaster in American foreign policy," she said. "We took our eye off the ball."

Bush's practice of calling terrorist organizations and governments haroboring them "evil" was challenged by Albright, who said that human nature does not lend itself to the absolutes Bush emphasizes.

"Evil depends on different perspectives," said Albright, who was the country's first female secretary of state. "This does not imply moral relativism, as critics may suggest, but instead acknowledgement that with great evil often comes a conviction of doing great good."

Bolton Nomination-Why the Delay?

Why does a lawfully elected president, TWO TIMES, have all this crap in confirming his choice for ambassador the UN?

So it seems the UN does not like Bolton. Well by all means, then. Let’s stop this appointment because if Kofi’s mad, well we can’t have that.

From Human Events.com:

Senate Republican Whip Mitch McConnell sat down Tuesday for a heart-to-heart talk with Chafee, pleading with him to permit Bolton's nomination to reach the Senate floor. The reason Chafee is in this pivotal position can be attributed to Sen. Christopher Dodd's fierce open opposition to Bolton, and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's stealthy sabotage, executed by his deputy, Mark Malloch Brown.

Click on the link below and join the Blogosphere’s campaign to get this man nominated.



More Political Tidbits HERE
=============

True Crime 9/26/06-Baby Ripped from Womb; Duckett; Anna Nicole

It's a True Crime post and there's a plethora of True Crimes in process and we have updates and backgrounds.

Another baby stolen from its mother's womb and we've got details on this and that former crime of this same heinous caliber.

Also, you'll never believe what these future grandparents tried to do to their unborn progeny.

Lots on Melinda Duckett, who killed herself even while her toddler is still missing.

And baby Abby is returned to her mother, whose throat was slashed and baby stolen by a deranged woman.

What's this about a fake penis and a drug test?

Those Katrina deaths, Anna Nicole and what's happening with those premie baby deaths?

Pic of the Day

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Quote of the Day On Dogs The average dog is a nicer person than the average person. -Andy Rooney We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made. -M . Acklam Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate. -Sigmund Freud I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult. -Rita Rudner A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down. -Robert Benchley Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog. -Franklin P. Jones If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons. -James Thurber If your dog is fat, you aren't getting enough exercise. -Unknown My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to $3.00 a can. That's almost $21.00 in dog money. -Joe Weinstein Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul -- chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth! -Anne Tyler Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

Web Site Worth the Visit Most Wanted Cyber Criminals Here's a handy site you might want to bookmark. For it seems that there's a new breed of criminal across these fruited plains and they use the computer and Internet to do their evil deeds. This site allows the user to report a cyber-crime and it's handy. If you come across a creepy predator or a serious phish email, here's the place to report it. Cyber-Crimes

TIDBITS Inner Strength ============== If you can start the day without caffeine, If you can get going without pep pills, If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains, If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles, If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it, If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time, If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when, through no fault of yours, something goes wrong. If you can take criticism and blame without resentment, If you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct him, If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend, If you can face the world without lies and deceit, If you can conquer tension without medical help, If you can relax without liquor, If you can sleep without the aid of drugs, Then you are probably The Family Dog! ~Author Unknown~

 


Melinda Duckett and Precious Trenton

The crime chapter of Melinda Duckett and her 2 year old son, Trenton, will soon be closed. For Melinda did the world a favor and ended her own life. No one with two brain cells to rub together does NOT believe that this woman didn’t kill her precious toddler son.



Trenton was last seen at his grandparents at 4:00 pm on 8/26/06. We assume that Melinda picked up the boy on that day but this is not clear. The investigative reports simply state that he was last seen alive by his grandparents.

From approximately 4:30 pm that day until 8:00 am the following morning, 8/27/06, Melinda's whereabouts are unknown and her testimony is meandering and garbled as to where and what she was doing during that time.

There are records of cell phone calls made by Melinda on 8/27/06 at 12:08 pm, 12:30 pm, 12:45 pm,3:42 pm, and 3:47 pm. All calls were made at various locations and there has been nothing published as to who she called. It is known that Melinda went to a retail store that day as well as to a bank. All of these errands were before 11:00 am that day, 8/27/06.

Melinda Duckett was seen entering her apartment at 4:00 pm that same day, 8/27/06. A friend of Melinda's, Chris Pierce, arrived at her apartment at 6:55 pm to watch movies. Melinda phoned 911 that evening (time of report is unclear) to report Trenton as missing. She said she'd put the child to bed around 7:00 pm and indicated a slit in the screen near the child's crib. She claimed that Trenton had to be abducted through that screen.

On 9/7/06 Melinda was interviewed on the "Nancy Grace" show. On 9/8/06 Melinda committed suicide. She'd refused to take a polygraph and continually gave confusing accounts of her whereabouts on those two days, 8/26/06 and 8/27/06.

In addition to this timeline, there's been much more scuttlebutt about Melinda, including the fact that she'd once gotten a restraining order against Trenton's father and she'd hacked into his MYSPACE.com and posted an incriminating email that pointed the finger at her ex-husband.

It's also been reported that Melinda painted the baby's room soon after his disappearance and made arrangements to sell many of Trenton's toys and baby equipment, including his car seat.

Link with Video of Duckett

From The Daily Sun:

Anyone with information regarding Trenton's disappearance, current
whereabouts, or Melinda Duckett's whereabouts on Aug. 26 or 27 is urged
to contact authorities at (800) CALL-FBI (225-5324).

It would seem that Melinda conducted a very orchestrated campaign to rid her life of Trenton forever. She went to great pains to implicate Trenton's father in his disappearance, arranged for a friend to watch movies at her apartment shortly before she reported Trenton missing and reported the child as missing while the friend was there or shortly after he left, this is unclear.

While on the subject, this "friend" of Melinda's has been curiously absent from all the PR hype on this crime although no doubt he's been interviewed by investigators. I have a link with this fellow's name but since investigators have refused to release his name due to some sort of security law.

It defies the laws of physics that any abductor could possibly pull this toddler through a ten inch ripped screen almost three feet from the child's crib. In addition, her behavior once she reported Trenton missing has been confusing, to say the least. Hysterical mothers of missing toddlers do not generally re-paint their rooms and sell their toys.

It also appears that Melinda planned Trenton's disappearance carefully. She not only went to lengths to cast aspersions on Trenton's father, who knows what that deal is with that "friend" and the movie watching? It's even been reported that on her 911 call to report Trenton missing that she told the dispatcher that the movie lasted two hours. An odd factoid to be reporting during what would ordinarily be a distraught call to authorities about her missing child.

What's unknown is if Melinda's friend actually saw the child when he came to watch movies or if he was there when she reported Trenton as missing. For now, it all appears to have been a setup. Melinda might have invited her friend in for their pre-planned visit, indicated that she had to go in the nursery and tend to Trenton, then watched the movie, that friend all the while assuming Trenton was in his room and safely tucked in for the night. At the conclusion of this "2 hour movie" I assume Melinda took time, as mothers are wont to do, to check on Trenton and conveniently found him missing. The friend was there, as was possibly Melinda's plan, to report to authorities that so far as he knew the child was in his bedroom and...why Melinda tucked him before we watched the film!

The above is only my own personal speculation, I must stipulate.

What likely happened is that Melinda picked up the child from his grandparents and sometime between the hours of 4:30 pm on 8/26/06 and 8:00 am the following day, 8/27/06, she managed to make Trenton disappear. Searches for the child have concentrated on heavily forested areas, I'm not at all sure why but common sense says that there was a logic on the locale of the searches. For sure a time span of 16 hours would allow Melinda to kill Trenton and dispose of his body before she was seen out and about after 8:00 am on 8/27/06. As reported, Melinda cannot account for where she was during those hours, or she outright lied about it. The following day, 8/27/06, Melinda ran her errands, perhaps picking up supplies for her home-movie date that evening. As per her plan, her friend was the "witness" to Trenton's disappearance right out of his own crib.

On 9/8/06 Melinda Duckett did the world a favor and committed suicide. Ladies and gems, this woman did not kill herself from grief over her missing child. How much grief was in her when she re-painted his room and sold his car seat?

She killed herself because she killed Trenton and again I speculate, but I'd bet she knew investigators were closing in on her but were stringing it out in hopes of finding Trenton's body. Nancy Grace did grill Melinda on her show but hey, that's Nancy Grace's job and if Melinda couldn't take the heat she should have stayed the hell out of the kitchen.

Recently the suicide note of Melinda Duckett was released by investigators. This selfish woman who is probably now burning in hell didn't even leave information about where her son could be found. Dear Lord, it's the least she could have done given that she was dead and everything. Had she indicated where Trenton's body could be found she might have only had to serve some time in Purgatory but as it is, well the devil welcomes her with open arms.

From Kansas City.com:

The letter, Duckett wrote, was "a last minute idea but, I have felt myself sinking after 1 week mark of Trent being gone. I love him dearly and he is all I was breathing for. He was and always will be my essence and as he grows, I want him to know that."

"I only wish you do not push anyone else," Duckett wrote. "I do not bleed my emotions to the public and throughout this situation you did not understand that. There were many more errors you made in understanding me, but time is short and I have more important people to speak to."

First Blog Post for this crime.

Unwanted Grandchild

The father of this very unwanted grandchild was in jail. Which caused this very lovely couple to kidnap their 19-year-old pregnant daughter in a quest to drive her to New York to get a forced abortion.

How this plan could have succeeded is confusing in that the pregnant daughter was very much against the idea and indeed did escape from her lunatic parents and managed to get help. Surely no physician would have performed an abortion against the young woman’s will.

From a Google newsgroup, attributed to AP:

SALEM, N.H. (AP) - A Maine couple upset that their 19-year-old daughter was pregnant tied her up, loaded her in their car and began driving to New York to force her to get an abortion, police said.

The daughter, Katelyn Kampf, escaped Friday at a shopping center and called police, who arrested her parents, Nicholas Kampf, 54, and Lola, 53, of North Yarmouth, Maine. They were jailed on a kidnapping charge and were being held on $100,000 bail each.

Petition to Free Duane Chapman-the Bounty Hunter

We still believe this phony baloney arrest of famed bounty hunter Duane Chapman by Mexico was spurred on by rich rapist Andrew Luster. Luster was brought to justice by Chapman and now Mexico has Chapman. This case has gone all the way to Condoleeza Rice in the scope of the delicate diplomacy involved.

Bounty hunting is illegal in Mexico. So Mexico arrests the bounty hunter. Heh. So why can’t Mexico arrest all those illegal aliens they send our way every day? With a little money from Max Factor Mexico will go to great lengths to enforce their laws.

I hope you will sign the petition to free Dwayne "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman. Details available below and via a Search at Yahoo.

Hawaii Reporter
Freedom to Report Real News

Sign the Petition to Free Duane 'Dog' Chapman and Family
By John Buffam, 9/15/2006 3:39:07 PM

Duane Dog Chapman captured a rapist who terrorized women and was about to do the same thing in Mexico.

He never received the bounty for his capture of Max Factor heir Andrew Luster, but he is proud of his accomplishments.

Luster's victims said Chapman gave them their lives back – and there would have been many more future victims had Duane not put an end to it all. Again, many thanks for your support!

Please pass this on and let's send a message out there that doing the right thing should not be punished, but rewarded! Please email Alberto Gonzales at AskDOJ@usdoj.gov and ask them to drop all warrants against Duane, Leland his son, and Tim Chapman.

Please sign the petition for the Chapmans at HERE.

LA Nursing Home Operators Indicted

The owners of St. Rita’s Nursing Home, the lovely Salvador and Mabel Mangano, were warned to evacuate their patients to higher ground. They made a bad call, deciding to keep the patients of the home in place rather than undergo the expense of re-locating them. 35 patients in that nursing home died as the flood waters rose from the broken levees caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Three more medical people from this nursing home are also being tried for deliberate murder as the discovery that patients were deliberately put to death, ostensibly to relieve their suffering as the isolated patients waited for assistance.

Hurricane Katrina was a blight on this nation and I’m not for one minute blaming the federal government. It’s not the federal government’s job to tend to local disasters. Frankly, it’s not even the state’s job to protect individuals in the event of an emergency. It IS the job of individuals to protect themselves and their families, at least first. There was plenty of warning about the incoming major hurricane and yet many chose to do nothing than whined when the government couldn’t get to them quick enough.

In the case of these poor nursing home patients, they were helpless. They couldn’t very well just up and walk out the door, those aged and infirmed patients that paid someone else to take care of them. Only in this case, the owners of St. Rita took the money and didn’t do the job. Now they are indicted for their crime.

Good.
From Chron.com:

The owners of a nursing home where 35 patients died in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina were indicted today on charges of negligent homicide and cruelty to the infirm.

Salvador and Mabel Mangano initially were arrested about two weeks after the Aug. 29, 2005, storm. The Louisiana attorney general booked them on negligent homicide charges, but a grand jury was unable to convene for months because the court system was hobbled by damage to government buildings and the displacement of residents.

Premies' Strange Deaths

There may be a recent update to this story. I came across some allusion to possible errors by nurses as regards overdoses of blood thinners given to three premature babies at the same hospital.

How on earth could such a monumental error as this go on in a medical institution, with that same error leading to unexplained deaths?

From Clickondetroit.com:

INDIANAPOLIS -- A premature baby girl has died at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, the third to pass away after being given an overdose of a blood thinner there.

A spokesman for the hospital said the baby had been transferred to Riley Hospital For Children and had been in critical condition since receiving the overdose on Saturday.

The baby -- identified as Thursday Dawn Jeffries -- died late Tuesday night.

Two other premature newborns, D'myia Nelson and Emmery Miller, died on Saturday and three others remain hospitalized. Methodist Hospital officials said the three are no longer showing effects from the overdose.

Ripped from Womb

A pregnant woman, 23-year-old Jimella Tunstall, was found dead in a weeded lot, her stomach butchered, cut open by scissors and her unborn baby ripped from her womb. Tunstall’s cousin, Tiffany Hall, 24, showed up at a local hospital with a dead baby that she says was stillborn. At the baby’s funeral, Hall confessed that the dead baby belonged to Tunstall.

From Comcast.net:

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - A woman was charged Saturday in the deaths of a pregnant friend and the fetus authorities believe she cut out from the slain woman's womb after knocking the victim unconscious.

Tiffany Hall, 24, was charged as authorities implored the public for help in their search for the victim's two sons, ages 7 and 2, and 1-year-old daughter. Authorities say they were last seen with Hall on Monday, three days before she was taken into custody.

From KMOV.com:

ST. LOUIS, Ill. — Officials charged an East St. Louis woman in the deaths of a pregnant woman and the fetus authorities believe she cut out from the womb.

Authorities returned Saturday to a thickly weeded lot where a woman's body was found two days earlier - her fetus missing, cut from her womb perhaps with scissors - in hopes of finding her three children they say were last seen with a woman now in custody.

Even more horrific, Tunstall’s three children were missing. An extensive search for the missing children was launched. The three babies were found dead and stuffed into Tunstall’s washer and dryer.
From Yahoo.com:

Authorities on Sunday were trying to pinpoint the cause of death for three children an investigator says were found decomposing inside the washer and dryer of their apartment, hours after a woman was accused of killing their pregnant mother and her fetus.

Saturday night's discovery inside apartment 28J at the John DeShields public housing complex came two days after the mother of the children - ages 7, 2 and 1 - was found in a weedy lot, her abdomen torn open and the fetus missing.

It’s anybody’s guess what this nut Hall was up to. Later reports indicate that Hall said the children had been drowned and stuffed into the appliances after death. It’s not yet clear just who drowned the children but Hall seems like a good guess.

An incredibly tragic story.

John Karr-We Told You So

I launched into a rant re Boulder Colorado’s prosecutors and that majorly idiotic act of using taxpayer money to import a child predator back into this country from Thailand, all to obtain a DNA sample from the man to test for involvement in the Jonbenet Ramsey murder. Go to hell, Patsy Ramsey killed Jonbenet by accident and yet these naïve Colorado fools dance to the Ramsey tune as if paid puppets.

Read the link for my scenario on the Jonbenet crime because I’m not going to repeat my good common sense here. For now I refer yon reader to my prediction that once this nut job Karr was found unconnected to Jonbenet’s murder (how could he when Patsy did it?), that he would be released to prey upon innocent American children. For which we can thank the idiots in Boulder.

Now my prediction appears to be coming true. John Karr was released to the state of California for an outstanding charge of storing child porn on his computer. Even if he were to be found guilty in California for this crime, it is only a misdemeanor in California. There would not be much jail time for a misdemeanor but now it’s even worse. John Karr will be released soon.
From MSNBC.com:

Child porn case against Karr hits a snag

Prosecutors can’t find computer that allegedly contained illegal images

SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Efforts to prosecute one-time JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect John Mark Karr on child pornography charges should not be jeopardized even though his computer that allegedly contained the images was lost, Sonoma County authorities said Wednesday.

John Karr has an excellent lawyer, as I predicted for what aspiring legal beagle wouldn’t want the notoriety of this case? Said lawyer is advising his client NOT to accept any plea deal as regards this case. Which Karr should not because go on, the California authorities LOST the evidence?

Again, as I predicted, John Karr will be released upon us, to molest and/or prey upon our children. We can thank the idiots in Boulder Colorado, who I am going to sell a bridge in Brooklyn first chance I get. As for John Karr, smile. The man got a free trip back to the states, now has a great big country full of children on which to prey, and please don’t forget the man’s movie and book deal.

All to protect the Ramseys.
Another Baby Stolen-This One Already Born but Mother’s Throat Slashed

Thank God that baby Abigale Woods has been found, alive and well. Fortunately, Abby’s mother is expected to survive the throat slashing she received by Abby’s abductor.

Baby Abby was taken by Shannon Beck, a woman who lived near Abby’s mother, Stephanie Ochsenbine. Baby Abby was known to have a huge birthmark on her forehead and Beck’s sister-in-law, Dorothy Torrez, noticed that Beck’s new baby, which Beck alleged was her own, had makeup on its face. Torrez removed a smudge of makeup and discovered Abby’s famous birthmark. She then urged Beck to take the baby to an emergency room and alerted authorities as to the location of baby Abby.



From CNN.com:

UNION, Missouri (CNN) -- An 11-day-old baby missing since a knife attack on her mother Friday was found alive Tuesday, said Gina Petzold, a spokeswoman for the girl's family.

Investigators had been searching for Abigale "Abby" Lynn Woods since her mother, 21-year-old Stephanie Ochsenbine, turned up at a neighbor's home with a cut throat and several stab wounds, claiming someone had stolen the baby.

This should be an interesting case when it goes to trial. It’s unclear whether Beck had ever been pregnant but scuttlebutt abounds that she’d recently suffered a miscarriage. Could be a perfect case for temporary insanity.
Illegal Alien Arrested in Gruesome Dragging Death

I could smirk and state that this is yet another example of the woes wrought upon us by illegal aliens. But this is just one crime and to blanket the illegal population with such murderous and heinous behavior would be unfair. What’s not unfair is to point out that this creep should now be sitting in a Mexican jail yet our taxpayer money must be used to deal with him.

From Google newsgroup, attributed to AP:

A man was arrested in the gruesome dragging death of a woman after a stained and tattered photograph of him was found at the crime scene, police said Wednesday.

Jose Luis Rubi-Nava, 36, was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of murder and jailed without bail. Investigators said they were still trying to identify the victim, who was dragged behind a vehicle with a rope, leaving a trail of blood more than a mile long.

Dear Lord, this nice fellow tied an orange tow rope around the victim, said to be his roommate even though Rubi-Navi has a wife and children still in Mexico, and dragged her through the streets from a nearby Interstate. Residents of a small community found her body, which was not recognizable from the extent of her injuries. It doesn’t come more heinous than this, folks.

Anna Nicole Smith Starts Cashing In On Son’s Death

Whatever the cause of Anna Nicole Smith’s son’s death, it’s not clear just who is selling those last images of her and her son before his sudden death from reasons now unknown. Getty Images was hawking the pics and in the link below there HAD been the same pics eventually sold to a big tabloid for a rumored almost $400,000.

Now how did Getty Images get those pics? Did Getty happen to have a photographer in Smith’s hospital room that morning? Alas, I’d linked to the site with intention to download the pics later. But someone else got to Gawker.com and the pictures have been removed. The picture below I found through a Google search.

Whether marrying a man with one foot in the grave or selling pics of her dead son, Smith knows how to eek a dime when there’s a dime to be eeked.

From Gawker.com:

As first reported on Friday afternoon, Getty Images sent an email out to celebrity weekly editors hawking photos of Anna Nicole Smith, her newborn daughter, and her son, Daniel. The pictures were taken in the Bahamian hospital where, the next day, Daniel was found mysteriously dead. For an initial asking price of $200K, Getty would provide a handful of the tender! heartbreaking! tragic! images, the only caveat being that the buyer had to refrain from running the photos with any sort of negative press -- which may be easier said than done if and when toxicology reports are released.

Fake Penis Arrest

So Vincent Bostic, 31, gives Leslye Creighton, 41, a fake penis. Said fake penis being evidently hollow or something because Bostic filled it with his urine. They then wrapped the thing in a towel and asked a convenience store clerk to warm it up in a microwave. The clerk thought the thing was a real severed penis and phone up the police to report it.

It’s not clear where the case went from there but we must assume the authorities discovered it was a fake penis. We must also imagine the store clerk’s horror at his discovery of a severed penis wrapped in a towel. The clerk evidently did microwave the thing; perhaps he discovered what was in the towel when he removed it. Because this couple had to pay a fine of $425 to replace the store’s microwave as, go with me here, a urine filled fake penis warmed within might be a health hazard.

Creighton was supposed to undergo a drug test that day so the mind reels with the possibilities. I suppose she was going to put that fake penis inside of her somewhere (use your imagination) and “pee” out of it, all with urine from her assumedly drug-free boyfriend if the plan had went as planned.

Heh.
From Boston.com:

MCKEESPORT, Pa. --A woman pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in connection with a bizarre incident in February that resulted in a fake penis being microwaved at a convenience store.

More True Crime Updates HERE
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