Insanity on Parade

Al Gore. What more can you say.

Daisy Lynum, Orlando City Commissioner. Her son was pulled over because he had a headlight out. I work at night and 4 times now I have left home or work and one of my headlights had gone out and I have been pulled over every time. Every time. Twice within 4 blocks of my house. It is frustrating, it's a pain in the ass, and it makes you wonder if the police don't have better things to do. I have not received a ticket for it and her son did not receive a ticket until after Daisy Lynum went crazy and started calling the police "white boys" and making a Federal case out of it. They had to cover their asses because of the situation, that's why he got the ticket. It's only $11.00. Get over it.

White boy is not a racial slur only in her little world where blacks can't be racist. Actually it's not her world alone, that is widely taught in liberal institutions. They tried to get me to believe that too, reality won out.

"Two Saudi men accused of boarding a school bus full of students won't be prosecuted if they complete a pretrial intervention program for first-time offenders"

"They have to write an essay in English documenting their experience," said state attorney's spokeswoman Pam Bondi, adding that it would "aid other students from other cultures" by showing them "what is allowable and acceptable in our country."

Jessica Lunsford Case The confession of a man charged with kidnapping, raping and killing 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford isn't admissible in court.

Actually, when they discovered the body and the fact that what he said in his confession was true they should have buried him right there in the same hole, wrapped in the same plastic. Truth doesn't matter in our legal system.

Outlaws in Orlando

Two men shot in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Orlando. Meanwhile, a woman is found shot in her car. Orlando has a big problem with violence this past year. Not just gun violence, all kinds. It's getting crazy.

Of course they are looking into the problem.

Deadly Game?

Here's a video that says it's a man catching a cobra in his mouth. First of all, it's not a cobra. No way, no how. It's difficult to say exactly what the snake is as the video is not that great but he's got two of them wrapped around his arms while he is doing it. I wouldn't be surprised if they were not even venomous snakes at all, although there are enough crazy people in the world - wish I could determine the species. It's not something I would do regardless.

Here's a video of a cobra.

Eminent Domain Abuse

Legalized Theft. Unhappy Birthday, Kelo

Somin goes on to point out that the political ignorance of the general public regarding eminent domain abuse and the relatively superior knowledge of the issue brought to the table by developers helps give politicians an incentive to pass "toothless" reforms purporting to curb eminent domain abuse. These "toothless" reforms are sufficient to cause the general public to believe that something substantial is being done to curb eminent domain abuse, when in fact nothing is being accomplished and politicians inveighing against abuse in public are still able to curry favor with developers and associated interest groups in private. And he has a point.

This should be up there with illegal immigration in popularity. I guess people don't think it will happen to them.

New York Times Crimes

Peggy Noonan seems to have a pretty good handle on the problem with that newspaper. In part:

But one senses the people who run the Times now are not so much living as re-enacting. They're lost on the big new playing field of American media, and they're reenacting their great moments--the Pentagon papers, the Watergate days. They're locked in a pose: We speak truth to (bad Republican) power. Frank Rich is running around with his antiwar screeds as if it's 1968 and he's an idealist with a beard, as opposed to what he is, a guy who if he pierced his ears gravy would come out.

Stuck in the 60's, unable to grow.

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster

Another child died Thursday after riding a roller coaster at Disney World. Maybe it's because it is so close but I don't hear of this happening at other parks as often as at Disney. Not that I think it is their fault, people need to be aware of their medical condition and the effect the ride can have on them.

Upadate: The boy had a congenital heart defect.

Ex-Parrot

There's a guy who owns a parrot which never talks. So he goes to the pet shop to get some advice. The pet shop owner says he knows exactly what the problem is.

"Your parrot has too much hook in it's beak, what you have to do is file it's beak back and it will be able to talk just fine. You've got to be careful not to file it too far though, because if you take too much off the bird will drown the first time it has a drink."

The parrot owner asks how much the pet shop guy charges to do this beak modification and he says $100. So the parrot fancier decides he'll do it himself.

A week or so later they bump into one another in the street. The pet shop guy enquires how the parrot is and whether it is talking yet? The parrot owner says "the parrots dead". Pet shop guy says "I told you not to file the beak back too far, did he drown when he had a drink?".

Ex-parrot owner says "Heck no, he was dead before I got him out of the vice!!"

Attack of the Giant Penguin

Man, not beast

Sixty years ago this summer, something scary happened on the beach. A monster emerged from the Gulf of Mexico and wandered around in the dark.

Nothing changes, people love to believe the wildest stories. P. T. Barnum had it right, he knew.

Dead Rabbit

I came home yesterday to find this dead rabbit on my lawn. We've been having a lot of rabbits around lately, more than usual. Not dead, though. On close examination it has a small hole just in front of the hind legs, on it's side. Best I can figure is someone shot it with a pellet gun and it lived long enough to wander over to my yard.

James and Joshua are not home, they went with my sister-in-law to the Magic Kingdom. When I spoke to James I told him about the rabbit and he said he wanted me to save it so he could look at it. I told him I put it in the woods, but he said I should bring it in the house and put it on the counter until he got home to see it. That's why I have a picture of it, so James can see it - and you too.

Go Geno's

Would you like 'queso' on that sandwich?

Some would say Geno's is directing hatred toward non-english speakers but that is not the truth.

As for Joey Vento, his reason for the sign is as clear as the words on the sign itself. ''They don't know how lucky they are. All we're asking them to do is learn the English language.'' He also told the Associated Press: ''We're out to help these people, but they've got to help themselves, too.''

Is it too much to ask for a little effort in learning English? Probably one of the most annoying aspects of teaching is when you get a student who doesn't even try. How frustrating to know the world that can open up to someone and see them ignorantly remain blinded to it - not because they can't learn, but because they won't.

I'm struggling with that with Joshua right now, he won't read. Anything. He knows how to read already and doesn't have to read anything anymore. He won't even read Harry Potter, although he loves the movies. I'm trying to get him to read "The Old Man and the Sea," a short, easy, interesting read. He won't try.

Like it or not, a society works best if everyone is able to communicate with one another and this society speaks English. If you volunteer to come here, it is your responsibility to learn English - for you're own good. It doesn't hurt the rest of us if you're a prisoner of your own ignorance.

Whether you believe it happened or not, the story of Babel (Genesis 11) in the Bible is very illustrative of this situation. That civilization spoke the same language and were on the brink of great things until God stepped in and caused them to break into different tribes, unable to understand one another. The city and the tower remained unbuilt and the people separated.

People who speak different languages become untrustful of one another. Getting along with others is hard enough if you can talk to them, miscommunication happens, with a language barrier it becomes so much harder. There are so many ways in which it is wrong to enable non-English speakers to remain non-English speakers. There is no hatred involved in wanting others to learn, only love.

The hatred is keeping them from becoming all they can become.

Hate

It's growing. The world's favorite four-letter word

Fact is, I'm glad the world is angry with us. I don't want to please all the people in the world for that would mean pleasing people who live to do evil. I don't want murderers happy with me, I want them in jail so they can't kill anymore. I don't want radical Muslims who want us dead to be pleased with us; I want them to accept the truth, leave me alone or die. I don't want those who need our help to take the help only to tell us they hate us afterwards.

Evil is growing, and evil doesn't like you to shine light on them. Just ask Ann Coulter. Or George Bush.

Ban Guns

and people will just use something else to kill or hurt people: knives, baseball bats, tire irons, cars, fire, swords, bombs, poison, dead puppies. People can be pretty resourceful when they want to be.

You can ban the weapons all day long, if you don't solve the underlying problem it will do you no good. Won't even help.

News From Norway

Egg kills hen

And I thought we had problems.

Hu?

Hu's in China

Cancel the Account

The nightmare of cancelling AOL

Wishful Thinking

Steven Hawking says humans close to finding answers to origin of universe

The 64-year-old also said his unfulfilled ambitions, among many, were to find out what happens inside black holes, how the universe began and how the human race can survive in the next 100 years.

Florida Life

Sinkhole Suspected In Disappearing Lake

Residents say the private lake dropped several feet this week. Late Wednesday, it receded at least 20-feet from the shoreline, destroying docks and gazebos and breaking apart one home. The South Florida Water Management District believes a sinkhole opened up at the south end of the lake.

Hey, it happens down here. I remember as a kid reading a fishing magazine that described Lake Jackson in northern Florida. The fishing was fantastic but the lake would go through cycles and once in a while sinkholes would open up and swallow the lake (and everything in it). Here's a description:

Lake Jackson is known nationally as a premiere bass fishing lake. And over the years, aquatic weed and water quality concerns in the lake have been the subject of countless homeowners' meetings and of primary interest to lake management personnel. However, its bass reputation and aquatic weed problems became much less consequential on September 16, 1999 when a sink hole suddenly drained more than half the lake of every last gallon of water, not to mention every last fish and alligator. It is now possible to walk from shore to shore--but steer clear of the sink hole.

Jess Van Dyke, long-time regional biologist with the Bureau of Invasive Plant Management (Florida Department of Environmental Protection) was there when it happened. "It was spectacular: animals trying to scramble out; a whirlpool of gators, birds and bass went down the hole," said Van Dyke. Lake Jackson is one of Florida's disappearing lakes, lakes with sinkholes that are known to drain periodically. Lake Jackson, for example, has drained 4 times previously in the 20th century, in 1907, 1933, 1957, 1982 and now in 1999.

There are some incredible photos on that page of the sinkhole.

Unwanted Pets

Florida's Python Problem

Reading this reminded me of something that happened recently and it's the very reason Florida has this problem.

I took James to a pet shop a few days ago and they were remodeling. It recently changed hands and they were changing things around. They had a huge tank with about 10 large fish, mostly Oscars, but a couple of Red Devils and some other large Cichlids.

The guy kept trying to get me to take some off his hands, he was letting them go very cheap. I have a large tank and I want to get an oscar but it is empty now and I am refinishing the stand/cabinet. I could not take any fish right now. I wish I could have because he said if he didn't sell them that day he was going to put them in the lake. I don't know how serious he was or if he did it, I never went back.

I don't think oscars can survive the winter here in central Florida, but I know they do in Miami and you can actually catch them down there in the canals. And you can catch a Burmese Python in the Everglades. That is not cool.

I never did understand the attraction of the giant constrictors as pets. As the articles states:

But they don't stay young for long, and they don't stay small. In time, they become too much to handle as pets.

"You have to regularly kill large animals, like rabbits, to feed it, and it can grow to 200 pounds, and it defecates like a horse," Mazzotti says.

I have a Red-Tailed Boa (Boa Constrictor) and that is not a giant snake despite it's reputation but it is larger than I wish. There are so many small and awesome pythons and boas that don't get larger than 6 feet. Do a little homework before purchasing a monster.

And whatever you do, please don't just let it go when you don't want it anymore. I don't care what it is.

Watch Out For That Motel

Car Crashes Into Motel In Osceola County

Again. Just a couple of weeks ago or so a car demolished a brick wall in front of the same motel. I've posted at least twice before about cars hitting that motel.

The last accident at the intersection of SR-535 and US-192 was just two weeks ago. It took out part of a decorative wall.

And in January of this year, three people were killed when a driver lost control at the same intersection slamming right into the Golden Link Motel. Troopers said speed was a factor in that crash.

The wreck also prompted DOT to conduct a study of the intersection and already the department had some thoughts on how to make the end of SR-535 more obvious to drivers.

DOT believes more pavement markings and a sign in front of the motel pointing drivers left off of SR-535 may help responsible drivers. As for impaired or reckless drivers DOT is less confident.

More pavement markings and a bigger sign ain't gonna cut it. I don't know what they are called but I've been on some roads that have little slots cut into the road that make a loud noise when you go over them to warn you to slow down or stay on the road. When you come to the end of a road they have 3 or 4 sections of this, closer together as you come nearer to the end and it seems to me this would help a lot at that intersection.

Why it takes the DOT so long come up with their thoughts, I don't know. Since January they "already" had some thoughts. It's their job, they should already know what works and what doesn't. Maybe they should assign a committee to research the idea, spread a little more of that taxpayer money around.

Gitmo Suicides

Rusty Humphries has some things to say about what happened down there and why. I've listened to his radio show when he's been to Gitmo and reported from there. He has had almost free rein on his visits, they let him go where ever he wanted with very few restrictions - for his safety. Some facts about Gitmo suicides

Let me clear some things up.

I have been to Guantanamo Bay on numerous occasions. According to press and attorney reports, the three men who committed suicide had been cut off from their families and "driven to despair." What a load of garbage! These men were not "driven by despair." These were crazies who believed a dream by a Muslim leader living at Gitmo. He claimed that in his dream, three "brothers" (Muslims) would have to die before the U.S. would shut the camp down. Since then, the "brothers" have been lining up to martyr themselves. I have reported on this "dream" for over two years. The media has known this as well and have chosen not to report it, even now after the prisoners have achieved the first part of their goal.

This was an act of an al-Qaida operative, a terrorist recruiter and a front-line Taliban fighter - in other word... terrorists. They are seeking to manipulate the weak-minded.

And the weak-minded are eating it up.

People Are Funny

Woman Cited For Exposing Herself In Store

The woman was riding a motorized cart inside Lin's Market Place on Thursday with her pants around her ankles and not wearing underwear.

Customers didn't notice the woman until she would stand up from the cart and bend over to look at items on the shelf, exposing her buttocks.

The woman told police she arrived in Cedar City with a circus but was left behind.

Falling Star

Record meteorite hit Norway

"This is simply exceptional. I cannot imagine that we have had such a powerful meteorite impact in Norway in modern times. If the meteorite was as large as it seems to have been, we can compare it to the Hiroshima bomb. Of course the meteorite is not radioactive, but in explosive force we may be able to compare it to the (atomic) bomb,"

This is not the first time this has happened. Besides the huge impact in Tunguska, Russia in 1908, there were at least two large impacts (smaller than Tunguska) said to have happened. I posted about them here but I can't find them now.

The odd thing though is that these events don't make it into any major news source. You would think this would be big news. You would think scientists would make a beeline for the area and pictures would be taken, studies done. Let's see what happens with this one.

"Little pig, little pig, let me come in,"

Guess who's coming to dinner?

A 6-foot-long alligator pounded on the front door of their Penny Creek Drive home at around 7:45 p.m. and started scaling the wall at the entryway -- its front left claw inches from the doorbell.

It's cool that they got a picture of it.

Like Keeping Tigers?

Keeping palm trees is like keeping tigers? Have they gone completely mad?

Palm tree ahead danger

The headline doesn't even make sense.

"What if one of those leaves caught a child in the eye, for example? It is a little bit like keeping tigers: they are beautiful to look at but you wouldn't want them wandering the streets.

Yes, I suppose palm trees wandering the streets would be a bit much. Are they sure this wasn't just a Monty Python skit?

"Tiger brand coffee
It's a real treat
Even tigers prefer coffee
to real meat."
-- M. Python

"... the nanny state has gone absolutely mad."

Defending Ann

Why Ann Coulter is right

Matt Lauer, Hillary Clinton and Alan Colmes have been laughable in the trumped-up outrage that they share for the statements Coulter makes in "Godless" in reference to the "Jersey Girls." The Jersey Girls are four wives who lost their husbands on 9-11. They jumped into the 2004 election debate early on, cutting commercials for John Kerry, and they are on record for saying some rather hideous remarks about Condoleezza Rice and Karl Rove, not to mention President Bush.

She wasn't talking about 911 widows in general, which you would never know by listening to or reading most news reports. She was talking about four widows specifically, the Jersey Girls, who have been very outspoken in criticism towards George Bush and his administration.

But what if they're wrong? What if, even in as much pain as they have endured at the hands of terrorists, the substance of what they argue for is as loony as the day is long? Even if Cindy Sheehan lost her heroic son in the War on Terror, does that now mean that everything Cindy Sheehan says is correct?

Which is Ann's point.

Ann's criticism is legitimate. If liberals in America wish truly to have a debate on the issues that we all have strong emotions about, then stand and make the point, but don't hide behind those who are ineffective, unskilled and often wrong in their views, simply because they're victims.

Precisely.

Another Alligator Attack

Man Bitten On Head By Alligator At Rock Springs In Apopka

Rock Springs is very popular for swimming and snorkling. I almost went there once, it was so busy we couldn't get in.

Zarqawi Dead

Zarqawi killed in Iraq air raid

They got Zarqawi finally, with an airstrike in Iraq. Identified and confirmed.

Godless

You can read the first chapter of Ann Coulter's new book, Godless, here.

She's not pulling any punches, does she ever?

Prager On Marriage Amendment

Good stuff here: Liberal reactions to the marriage amendment are not deep

That most liberals cannot understand conservatives' views about marriage as anything but bigotry and/or pandering is part of a narcissism that characterizes much of the Left. The very definition of narcissism is an inability to see the world through the eyes of another. Whatever conservatives' flaws, far more conservatives understand liberals' views on same-sex marriage. Most opponents of same-sex marriage appreciate that liberals feel bad about gays' inability to marry a person of the same sex. In fact, as a proponent of a marriage amendment, I not only understand the liberal desire to enable people to marry someone of the same sex, I feel genuine compassion for gays on this matter.

But such empathy for ideological foes is all but absent from the narcissistic world of the Left. To virtually every liberal writer and spokesman, only liberals mean well, only they are sincere, only they are compassionate, and only they are intellectual, rational and tolerant.

Psycho-Economics

Another thing about liberals I can't begin to figure out is their abiding devotion to failed economic theories. The fact that communism hasn't worked anywhere in the world doesn't cool their ardor in the slightest. The fact that Marx's brainstorm invariably metastasizes into a despotic tyranny-be it in the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, Cambodia or Venezuela-doesn't make the slightest impression on them. Neither does the fact that socialism has brought much of Europe to the brink of moral and financial bankruptcy faze them in the least.

In our own country, the most obvious failure of socialism is social security, the single largest pyramid scheme ever conceived by the mind of man. When Ponzi did it he went to jail for fraud; when Roosevelt pulled it off he was hailed as a savior. As someone or other once observed, if you're going to steal, steal big.

From Psychoanalyzing the loony left -- Burt Prelutsky

Twenty-Six and Counting

Orlando police are a step closer to finding the teenager who committed the city's 26th murder this year.

It's insane how often I have been hearing of murders, carjackings, robberies, beatings and every other form of violence in the Orlando area lately. It seems like every day there is something major.

apparently, there are a record number of people in Orlando right now willing to use a gun over just a few bucks.

Smokin'

The '94 Cadillac Seville smokes badly when it sits idling for a few minutes or starting while hot. The problem is fuel leaking into the intake manifold from the fuel pressure regulator or a leaking injector. In this case there is gas sitting on the bottom of the manifold. It gets sucked up through those black intake pipes - of which most have been removed for the picture. The square holes are the air intake and the small round holes above them are where the fuel injectors go. The fuel pressure regulator is at the top of the picture.

FairTax Please

GE's 24,000 page tax return

But he says G-E will save "many (m) millions" by shifting from paper.

Imagine how much they will save if we abolish the IRS for the FairTax. Corporations pass every penny they pay on to the consumer - we pay for it.

I Wonder Who The Baby Will Look Like?

Charmed woman marries cobra in India

Earlier this year, a tribal girl was married off to a dog on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.

You have to be careful getting kissed by a cobra, you never know when it will be your last.