Nothing New Under The Sun

New vibrating exercise machine

The new exercise machine removes the need to actually work out.

Now there's something that's never been tried before.




Yeah, I know, the new one really works.

Our Educational System Was

Designed to Keep Us Uneducated and Docile

We live together, you and I, in a dark time when all official history is propaganda. If you want truth, you have to struggle for it. -- John Taylor Gatto - The Underground History of American Education

Safe Landing

James and I watched the space shuttle land on TV Monday morning. It's been awhile since one has landed and I forgot how loud the sonic booms are. I opened the window and told him he would hear 2 booms. He wasn't prepared. They sounded like a shotgun going off five feet from you - He jumped! I really didn't have to open the window.

Don't Play With Fire

Israel doesn't seem to play with the news agencies (good for them!) and let the world know what they plan to do before they do it. You see the reporters over there giving a blow-by-blow of missles hitting Israel and trying to catch the action on camera. Explosions are great for ratings, I suppose. None of them really know what is going on and it gets tiring to watch.

Israel knows what they are doing though, you can count on that. OPFOR probably has it right in Prepping the Battlespace.

"What we are witnessing in southern Lebanon is concurrent with actions designed to prep a battlefield for the insertion of ground forces. So far, Israel has relied on its dominance in sea and air forces to isolate Hezbollah, rather than focusing their brunt of their superior forces on actual enemy positions. By blockading the coast, neutralizing Beruit's airport, and damaging roads and bridges into and out of Lebanon, the IDF has cut off Hezbollah's supply routes by land, sea, and air, and blocked all lines of escape.

These isolation actions are eerily similiar to Coalition movements prior to Operation Hail Mary during the first Gulf War, where allied aircraft severed supply lines to foward deployed Iraqi Army units.

The end result is a battlespace that traps the now ill-equipped enemy force, the ideal environment for Israel to crush Hezbollah forces.

I think that in the coming days, we will see a sizable Israeli ground incursion into southern Lebanon, a campaign designed to exploit the favorable conditions that Israel has created for itself. I have the feeling that once that invasion comes, Hezbollah's ability to launch rocket attacks into Israel proper will be severly reduced, if not eliminated."

Thanks to LGF for pointing out that post.

Sad, But True

In his commentary, How Will Israel Fare Against Hezbollah and Hamas?, Barry Farber relates some very interesting stories about Israel. I had not heard any of them before. He saved the best for last though, when he interviewed General Haim Herzog after the 6-Day War in 1967. For the first 37 hours, even though Israel was wiping out their enemies, as far as the world knew, Israel was losing. Israel said nothing at all about their battlefield victories. His first question for the General:

I would simply repeat Gen. Herzog's eight-second answer to the question "Why did Israel for the first time in military history try to conceal battlefield success?"

"You see," replied Gen. Herzog, "we knew that as long as the world believed the Egyptians, as long as the world thought Israel was losing, THE UNITED NATIONS WOULD TAKE NO ACTION!"

Superman is Satan

I saw Superman Returns with James and he really loved it. He has added Superman to his favorite character list. He didn't care for him before. While watching, and I've known this before but I'm not really a fan, I heard them use his original name - Kal-El. Interesting, because this time I remembered the Hebrew name of Satan - heleyl, ben shachar (shining one, son of dawn). I'm not sure how you pronounce that but I think they use a hard 'H', sounding like a 'K'. Another interesting fact is that 'EL' is a name of God, usually combined with another descriptive word.

I'm not really going anywhere with that, it's just interesting, that's all. Don't get your tights in a knot.

P.S. Turns out someone put a little more thought into it. Who knew?

P.P.S. I found another site with an explanation of how Superman is Jesus and how Superman is gay - no mention of Superman being Satan though.

I will stop looking now.

Lost in Space

The Earth seems so large to us, even with modern technology. How long is a flight to Japan, close to 24 hours? How many people have been shipwrecked in the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean and never see anyone again, floating for weeks in the seemingly endless expanse of water. How big is the Grand Cayon? It is 217 miles long, varies in width form 4 to 18 miles and it's 1 mile deep, deep enough to put the worlds tallest skyscraper inside.

But the size of the Earth pales in comparison to many other heavenly bodies out there in deep space. Take a look at The Size of Our World.

Putin, the Observant

Putin Thinks Israel 'Pursuing Wider Goals'

Ya think? Well, I would say so, since Israel has stated it intended to put Hezbollah out of business. Good call.

What Would We Do Without The Arab League

Arab League Says Peace Process in Mideast is 'Dead'

The Mideast peace process has been a zombie for years, thanks for noticing. Of course, to Arabs, the Mideast peace process is code for buying time to buildup strength to destroy Israel.

Strange Lobster

A lobster was caught that is half normal color and half orange/red. The strangest thing is how evenly divided the colors are. Go to the article to see a picture.

Not Guilty!

A man on trial for theft actually stole keys from the judge trying his case.

Frankenstein's Monster

Watching government eliminate our borders

At the root of the problem is an evolving concept of what America is or was or should be. For nearly a century, America led the world in freedom and prosperity, not because government decided what is best for America, but because a free people decided what government could and could not do.

Somewhere along the way, the people got too busy earning a living or watching ball games or shopping or vacationing or getting rich off government projects, so that the idea of limiting government initiatives fell out of favor. The idea of a citizen legislature became obsolete. Government became the domain of the professionals. Professional bureaucrats and professional legislators now run the government, and they are aided by professional NGOs – non-government organizations – that take tax dollars to serve as "partners" with government to give the appearance of public involvement.

Most of America seems perfectly content to let government do whatever it wants. Aside from complaining, there is little evidence that the majority of Americans care enough about what the nation is becoming to do the work necessary to return government to the people.

The government we had has morphed into something we never intended, becoming something of a Frankenstein's monster and turning on the very people who created it. If only it were confined to the open borders problem.

Time's Up?

World War IV's shooting phase has begun

I don't know if that is true but I suspect it is. Israel has played the nice guy until, now, it's back is against the wall.

Evil exists in the world. Just like it existed in Nazi Germany and pre-war Japan, it exists in the same form in the Muslim world today. Israel has let it get dangerously close to the point of it's own annihilation. Europe and America are doing the same. It will NOT go away on it's own, it must be forced out of existance as it was in Germany and Japan.

Ahmadinejad believes that the world is at a historic moment when Israel might just be destroyed, fulfilling one of Ayatollah Khomeini's last yet unfulfilled predictions. Khomeini's other outstanding prediction is that the United States, too, will fall, in large part because we have supported Israel with such determination. When Hamas gained control of the Palestinian authority through a democratic election, Iran had the last laugh, showing the world that President Bush was wrong - democratic elections alone do not assure a moderate outcome. Now, with Hamas in control of the Palestinian Authority, there is no strategy Israel can pursue that will lead to permanent peace - except capitulation and annihilation.

Israel knows that this time the fight is "for keeps." When the Jews left Europe at the end of World War II, those fortunate few who escaped Hitler's death machine swore "never again." Unfortunately, Israel has had to come to the recognition that the world has largely abandoned the Jewish state to defend itself.

When I concluded "Atomic Iran" two years ago, I predicted the "Samson Option" would be the final act in the drama with Iran. Today, I continue to see that outcome looming.

Letting Go

Is there a connection between insanity and collecting huge numbers of cats in your home?

I'm not talking about a cat-lover or someone who has a few cats, I'm talking about cats literally overrunning the home. Perhaps it's just because you hear about it when they are discovered and hauled off to where ever they haul them off to. The house is almost always condemned. Keeping the dead ones in tupperware doesn't help and it might lead to more sick collections - like keeping your mother in rubbermaid after she passes.

You have to read the article.

I guess it's not the cats, it's something to do with not being able to let go. That takes many forms.

Orwell On Pacifism

"Pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side you automatically help that of the other. Nor is there any real way of remaining outside such a war as the present one. In practice, "he that is not with me is against me." The idea that you can somehow remain aloof from and superior to the struggle ... is a bourgeois illusion bred of money and security. In so far as it takes effect at all, pacifist propaganda can only be effective against those countries where a certain amount of freedom of speech is still permitted; in other words it is helpful to totalitarianism." -- George Orwell

Some Things Never Change

"The average intellectual of the Left believed, for instance, that the war was lost in 1940, that the Germans were bound to overrun Egypt in 1942, that the Japanese would never be driven out of the lands they had conquered, and that the Anglo-American bombing offensive was making no impression on Germany. He could believe these things because his hatred for the British ruling class forbade him to admit that British plans could succeed. There is no limit to the follies that can be swallowed if one is under the influence of feelings of this kind. I have heard it confidently stated, for instance, that the American troops had been brought to Europe not to fight the Germans but to crush an English revolution. One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool." --George Orwell - 1945, Notes on Nationalism

Another quote from that essay:

Indifference to Reality. All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts. A British Tory will defend self-determination in Europe and oppose it in India with no feeling of inconsistency. Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage - torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians - which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by 'our' side.

Doomed To Pass Away

The wisdom of God is in sharp contrast to the world's wisdom: "Not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away" (NIV, "coming to nothing"). When he speaks of the rulers of this age he means more than government officials. The phrase refers to the leaders of thought in any age, the movers and shakers, the mind-benders not only statesmen, but philosophers, thinkers, scientists, educators. "Doomed to pass away," describes their transient character. Their plans and ideas are in a constant flux. They swing from one extreme to another, or flow in cycles of acceptance like fads in fashion. Everyone knows that no science textbook more than ten years old is worth owning today. Economic theories change like the tides, ebbing and flowing with the Dow-Jones averages. Educational policies come in cycles, alternating between extremes of permissiveness and heavy control. Political programs, all promising boundless prosperity, appear every election year. (I have now lived through the New Deal, the Fair Deal, the Great Society, Camelot, Peace with Honor, the Camp David process, and now Reaganomics--all promising much, but delivering little.)

In sharp contrast, the Word of God remains unchanged and unchangeable. Always relevant, always up-to-date, always perceptive and penetrating--eternally accurate! --Ray C. Stedman, The Primacy of Preaching

Ain't That The Truth

"The final conclusion would seem to be that whereas other civilizations have been brought down by attacks of barbarians from without, ours had the unique distinction of training its own destroyers at its own educational institutions and providing them with facilities for propagating their destructive ideology far and wide, all at the public expense."

"Thus did Western man decide to abolish himself, creating his own boredom out of his own affluence, his own vulnerability out of his own strength, his own impotence out of his own erotomania, himself blowing the trumpet that brought the walls of his own city tumbling down. And, having convinced himself that he is too numerous, labors with pill and scalpel and syringe to make himself fewer, until at last, having educated himself into imbecility and polluted and drugged himself into stupefaction, he keels over, a weary, battered old brontosaurus, and becomes extinct." -- Leslie Fiedler , Quoted in The Trousered Ape by Duncan Williams -1971

Out of Hand

Orlando Shooting Victim Crashes Into Tree - July 7

The driver of a rental car was shot to death about a block from Bentley Street and police believe the car continued on and slammed into a tree. He was driving with his family on Lee Avenue in Parramore when the bullets started flying.

They still don't know who did the shooting or why.

Orlando had a sheriff who was cracking down on crime but he was villified by the press until now, it seems, he can't do anything. Can't have anyone actually arrest criminals, you see. The judges just let the all go anyway. What, you killed someone and the police chased you? They tased you? The barbarians! It must have been terrible for you, you poor thing. I'm so sorry you had to shoot at them in self-defense. Don't worry, we'll suspend those evil police officers and investigate the hell out of them.

3-Year-Old Boy Shot In the Head - July 7

Home Invasion Victim Dies At Hospital - July 7

This is just one day, and it's only the big headlines.

Double Standard

Commissioner May Have Violated City Harassment Policy

Lynum lead the vote for the city's harassment policy for employees, which prohibits comments that denigrate or show aversion toward someone because of color or race which create an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

What she did, short story:

The controversy centers on Lynum, who referred to a police officer as a "white boy." The officer had pulled over Lynum's son for a traffic violation. So far, the commissioner has refused to apologize to the officer or to the union and defends her comments.

In her world, minorities can say anything they want, it is not possible for them to be prejudiced against "white boys" by definition.

The policy protects Commissioner Lynum from harassment, but doesn't mandate that she follow it.

PC540 has the example of racial profiling by Orlando police that they came up with.

Update: Power Tool Control

They arrested the guy who used a power tool to try to kill someone in the New York subway.

Power tools don't kill people, people kill people.

Roadkill

Driving home from work Thursday morning on busy Hwy 192, I saw a police car stopped on the other side of the road ahead with his lights on, blocking traffic. there was something laying in the road in front of the car, I couldn't make it out. I thought someone was hit by a car, what else could it be? Must have just happened.

As I got closer I realized it was not a person but a Sandhill Crane. I realize that link is from Michigan, not Florida, but it shows the best picture and description of the bird. I have never seen the police stop traffic for road kill before. It is a protected bird, I guess that's why. What a shame really, they are very beautiful birds. They show no fear at all about walking in the road and everyone stops for them - well, everyone but the person who hit that bird.

Power Saw Ban Needed

Subway Rider Sliced in Power Saw Attack

At the very least we must register these dangerous weapons and require them to be in locked cabinets when not in use.

Icon Wars

What do computer icons do when you're not looking? Icon's Story

Global Warming

Don't Believe the Hype

Lastly, there is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition. An earlier attempt at this was accompanied by tragedy. Perhaps Marx was right. This time around we may have farce--if we're lucky.

Don't Feed the Gators

Brent Carey said he was at a park in Charleston with his girlfriend and her dog, Chance, when an alligator jumped out of the water and started to drag Chance into the lake.

Man Jumps On 10-Foot Alligator's Back To Save Dog

Carey jumped on the alligator, grabbed it near the back legs and began to fight to free the dog.

The dog was finally released and it ran to the shore.

This happened in South Carolina, usually these stories come out of Florida. Or maybe I hear about them in Florida because I live here. Brent has some advice:

"They informed me that I should not jump on the back of alligators," Carey said. "I agree with that. The take home message is not to jump on the back of a gator."

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.

Gators Bite

A friend of James from school lost his dog to an alligator the other day. He lives on a lake, Aligator Lake. It was a ten footer and it took of one of his legs. They got the dog back and took it to the vet but were unable to save it.

Huh?

Saudi Men Who Rode School Bus Arrested

Why did the bus driver even let them on?

Students on the bus became alarmed, as did the bus driver, who called ahead.

You stop the men as they are trying to board the bus, you ask them what they are doing, and you politely explain that the bus is for school children only. If they made an innocent mistake they will realize it and leave, if they are uncooperative, you call the police. You don't just drive on as if nothing happened and worry all the way to school what they are doing, possibly putting the kids in harms way. If you can't do that you shouldn't be driving a school bus.

Liberal Nirvana

Castro's True Wealth

A Cuban resident is most valuable to Castro when he wants to escape Cuba. This writer's family paid $15,000 to get a cousin out of Cuba in the early '60s. This was not an easy amount for destitute refugees to round up at the time, but the firing squads were working triple shifts and Cuba's prisons were filled to suffocation. You weren't paying only for a loved one's freedom, you might also be paying for his (or her) life.

Armando Valladares, who somehow escaped the firing squad but spent 22 torture-filled years in Cuba's gulag, described his trial very succinctly: "Not one witness to accuse me, not one to identify me, not one single piece of evidence against me." Valladares had been arrested in his office for the crime of refusing to display a pro-Castro sign on his desk.

One day in early 1959 one of Che's Revolutionary Courts actually found a Cuban army captain named Pedro Morejon innocent of the charge of "war criminal". This brought Che's fellow comandante, Camilo Cienfuegos, to his feet. "If Morejon is not executed," He yelled. "I'll put a bullet through his head myself!" The court reassembled frantically and quickly arrived at a new verdict. Morejon crumpled in front of of a firing squad the following day. As Castro's chief executioner, Che Guevara, explained it: "Judicial evidence is an archaic bourgeois detail."

So you can see the sense of urgency of getting a relative out, especially if the authorities had set their sights on him as a counter-revolutionary. Elsewhere they call such a judiciary process at the hands of dictators "death squads."

Most Cuban-exile families can relate similar cases of ransoming relatives. Elsewhere they call this "kidnapping and extortion."

Save The Gators

A woman was issued a citation for hunting without a permit for shooting an alligator that came through the dog door on her patio and was attacking her dog. What is that all about. It was only a warning citation but still. That's crazy.

It's not hunting to shoot a gator attacking your dog. The first story in the article is about a dog that was eaten by a gator. It happens, but if a gator comes on my property and attacks my dog - it's a dead gator. You know where to put the citation.

Don't Go In The Water

Alligator attacks are in the news lately, 3 people dead this month. You can get away with it but it's not a good idea to swim in the lakes and rivers in Florida. If you can't see bottom, forget it.

There are some springs and beach areas where it is OK. St. Cloud has a nice little beach on East Lake Toho. It's a large, shallow area. Blue Springs State Park has a nice, clear swimming area that's very popular.

You have to be very aware of your surroundings. If in doubt, stay out. Be careful at the edge as well, especially children and pets. More than a few dogs have been taken at parks, much to the horror of the owner.

Here are some tips for avoiding alligator attacks. You can have fun on Florida waterways, you just have to follow the rules.

Fatal Flaw

I listen to Rusty Humphries most nights on my way to work. He wrote his first column recently and I just wanted to point out something he said in it.

We, as a country, have a fatal flaw: We are no longer comfortable with the word, "no." We are afraid to hurt feelings, we are afraid of discipline and we are afraid of merely being (falsely) accused of being intolerant.

He points out that this country has lost it's resolve. Resolve is elusive because we've thrown truth out the window with God. We don't know what is true anymore. Just when we think we've found it, it slips through our fingers like sand.

Often, truth hurts. People don't like truth, not real truth. They only like their version of it.

The love of the truth means you love being hurt, you love being let down. You love being disappointed, because the truth will hurt you, it will let you down, it will disappoint you. Especially the truth about other human beings, the truth about human action, human activity, human deeds. It will hurt, it will cut, and the truth about yourself will hurt and cut more deeply even than the truth about other human beings. Most of us have difficulty facing the truth about others, especially others we love or others we respect, but most of find it utterly impossible to face the truth about ourselves. - Garner Ted Armstrong 1930-2003

How true.

Giant Shark - No Fry

Shark caught off Boca Grande may set world record

They buried the carcass in an Orange Grove in LaBelle.

Giant Fish Fry

Check out this giant catfish they caught in Thailand. The 4th photo shows them cutting the steaks. None for me thanks, I don't eat catfish.

They Call Light, Darkness & Darkness, They Call Light

Please, America, Hide Your Flag!

I'm talking about the upcoming World Cup in Berlin ... German security has asked the American team to use unmarked buses for fear of violence against any vehicle displaying the American flag.

Just America was asked to slink around Germany anonymously. Not Iran. Not North Korea. Not Libya. Not Communist China. Not Syria. Not even countries that have almost as many torture chambers as we have voting booths were asked to strike their colors and go bland.

The rest of this commentary by Barry Farber is well worth reading. He describes a trek across Europe he took shortly after WWII.

Just because someone hates you doesn't mean what you are doing is wrong - it very well could mean what you are doing is right. Doing the right thing is often a swim upstream.

No Playing Allowed

Just another symptom of the sickness gripping this country: Is litigation taking the 'play' out of kids' playgrounds?

In Broward County, Florida, there's a new rule on the playground: no running.

Some Things Never Change

This is very interesting and eye-opening: America's First War on Terror

... that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise. - Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, 1786

... they live by the bow, the sword and debauchery, finding pleasure in taking slaves, devoting themselves to murder, pillage, spoil...and not only do they commit these crimes, but even-what an aberration-they believe that God approves of them.

Guess who?

Creative Marketing

Godzilla Eggs

Overkill

To Kill a Snake

Oops, she missed.

Some People ...

... have a lot of time on their hands. Looks cool though.

Here's more in video format.

Self-Destruction

America is collapsing because, as a people, we have chosen to embrace lies over the truth. We have cursed that which is good and applauded that which is patently false.

Says Mychal Massie. He's not far off the mark. It's not just an American problem though, it seems the whole world is deluding itself.

We are in a state of decline because the threats and peril our Founding Fathers faced ... are now embraced by those we elect and those who instruct our children.

That's true. See How to identify America's totalitarians by Dennis Prager and think about who is rewriting history - in America and worldwide.

Judges and the courts have forgotten their role. They routinely undermine the work of law enforcement. They aide and abet pedophiles and serial rapists by giving them less severe sentences than can be expected for mistreating animals. Instead of enforcing our laws and the Constitution, those we elect find ways to circumvent and subvert same for their personal gain. They support anarchy by assisting those sworn to destroy our way of life. Laws that have been established to protect society as a whole are disregarded so as to aid criminals. Witness the protests of illegal aliens and the support they enjoy from the White House down.

Not only is that sickenly true in America but take a good, hard look at the United Nations - a bastion of corruption.

We have a duty to the present and whatever future remains. And that duty will not be accomplished by what amounts to a pagan worship of the Earth. It will be accomplished by reminding people of that which our forefathers held dear - the "Truth" that this great nation was founded upon.

This cannot be done by changing parties nor as it stands at present, by simply replacing one elected person with another. We must first reclaim our historical traditions, i.e., "Godly" worship, Godly families, and Godly educational institutions - many of which, lest we forget, were founded as church schools.

Amen.

Internet Explorer 7

Although I use Firefox for everyday web surfing, there are a few sites I visit which require Internet Explorer. The newest version (Beta) of IE is available for download here and it's seems to be quite nice. It takes a little getting used to, very little really, and I like it much better than the old one.

I will still use Firefox for everyday surfing, though. I like the bookmarks toolbar feature of Firefox and I don't see this available in IE, although I really haven't investigated very much yet. Give it a try.

Gas Prices

A Primer on Gas Prices

In 2004, the price of crude oil averaged $36.97 per barrel, and crude oil accounted for about 47% of the cost of a gallon of regular grade gasoline (Figure 1). In comparison, the average price for crude oil in 2003 was $28.50 per barrel, and it composed 44% of the cost of a gallon of regular gasoline. The share of the retail price of regular grade gasoline that crude oil costs represent varies somewhat over time and among regions.

The cost to produce and deliver gasoline to consumers includes the cost of crude oil to refiners, refinery processing costs, marketing and distribution costs, and finally the retail station costs and taxes. The prices paid by consumers at the pump reflect these costs, as well as the profits (and sometimes losses) of refiners, marketers, distributors, and retail station owners.

Federal, State, and local taxes are a large component of the retail price of gasoline. Taxes (not including county and local taxes) account for approximately 23 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline.

Refining costs and profits comprise about 18% of the retail price of gasoline.

Distribution, marketing and retail dealer costs and profits combined make up 12% of the cost of a gallon of gasoline.

Instead of joining the lynch mob we need to educate ourselves and look for the real reasons the price of gas is so high. Some of those things we can't do anything about and some we can. More refineries, less taxes and opening up drilling in the U.S. are things we can control, one or a combination of which will help.

"Big Oil" is not the problem. Our biggest problem is the lynch mob mentality and the people inciting it. More taxes will not help. More taxes are not the answer. More taxes will hurt. More taxes for oil companies means higher prices for you. It all gets passed on to you. Just say no to more taxes.

Here's a great page about oil: Some interesting oil industry statistics

The Mushroom Cloud is on its Way!

Islamist protest in N.Y.

Yes, New York. Another peaceful message brought to you by peaceful Muslims. Neal Boortz has more.

The mushroom cloud is on its way! The real Holocaust is on its way!"

"Israel won't last long ... Indeed, Allah will repeat the Holocaust right on the soil of Israel"

Maneater?

We went to a reptile show and James got his picture taken with a tiger! Go figure. But it was cool! Baby tigers are so cute, I would love to take one home. They are adorable! Too bad they grow big enough to eat you. I wanted to get a picture of him holding a snake but my batteries (and backup batteries) went dead. Damn rechargable batteries.

New Addition To The Family

This is my new Viper Boa (Candoia Aspera). We had a good time at the Florida International Reptile Show.

Puppy

I saw the cutest puppy today at the petshop. Someone threw it out of a car and they are trying to find a home for it. She said it was a Shepherd/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix. I don't know but it does have German Shepherd in it. It was just laying on the floor sleeping. Kids were gathered around petting it but it was just so calm. I thought a little too calm. The owner said he was playing around with her earlier and he was just hot now. Still, puppies aren't usually that calm.

I know they will find it a good home, I don't want a large dog and Irma doesn't want a dog right now at all. James sure loved it though. I wish James was that calm sometimes.

Capitan Insano

Wave of Violent Crime Sweeps Venezuela

"The rich are condemned to hell. Christ himself condemned them," Chavez said in a speech Tuesday. "I say it from the heart: to be rich is evil."

To be rich is evil, unless you happen to be one of the "political elite."

Ann Coulter

You may not like her style but ... I like her latest column.

Lie down with strippers, wake up with pleas

The liberal charge of "hypocrisy" has so permeated the public consciousness that no one is willing to condemn any behavior anymore, no matter how seedy. The unstated rule is: If you've done it, you can't ever criticize it -- a standard that would seem to repudiate the good works of the Rev. Franklin Graham, Malcolm X, Whittaker Chambers and St. Paul, among others.

Every woman who has had an abortion feels compelled to defend abortion for all women; every man who's ever been at a party with strippers thinks he has to defend all men who watch strippers; and every Democrat who voted for Bill Clinton feels the need to defend duplicity, adultery, lying about adultery, sexual harassment, rape, perjury, obstruction of justice, kicking the can of global Islamo-fascism down the road for eight years and so on.

This is crazy. (I can say that because I've never been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder. Although I did test positive for "Olympic fever" once.)

In no area except morality would a sane person believe he can't criticize something stupid because he's done it. How about: If you've ever forgotten to fill up your car and run out of gas, you must forevermore defend a person's right to ignore the gas gauge. Or if you've ever forgotten to wear a coat in cold weather and caught a cold, henceforth you are obliged to encourage others not to dress appropriately in the winter.

This deep-seated societal fear of being accused of "hypocrisy" applies only to behavior touching on morals.

Intermission

Blue Ball Machine

I have no clue as to the usefullness of that page.

Brainiac

'Watch This!" Man Injured In Waterfall Jump

A Georgia man was hospitalized after jumping from the side of Alabama's DeSoto Falls and plunging 150 feet before hitting the water.

Something Fishy

Another fishy missing link

The Tiktaalik is no more a missing link between sea life and land life than a Tic Tac is a missing link between a Lifesaver and an Altoid.

Mob Rule

Amnesty for U.S. citizens!

Mark my words: If you don't stand up to be counted today, your birthright as a U.S. citizen will be rendered meaningless. The rule of law will be a thing of the past. The will of the people will mean only mob rule.

Pigs In Space

A C-5 cargo plane crashed near Dover AFB today but it's hard to find information. I just saw something on Fox News about it, everyone survived. That's good news.

I used to work on those planes while in the Air Force and they are huge. It's quite a climb to get to the cockpit. There is also a passenger section above the cargo hold but you have to climb down from the cockpit, make your way around the cargo and climb up again to get to it. When taking off and landing they look like they are just hanging there, hardly moving.

At Least He Wasn't On A Cell Phone

Traffic tip of the week: Don't drive with a pet snake around your neck

I sense a new law in the works.

China Driving Test

Take test here

I like #11.

Man's Best Friend

Joseph Farah writes about his dog, Bosco, who died this week.

That About Covers Everything

Mr. Moussaoui said there were times when a Muslim can lie without being immoral: to reconcile Muslims, to answer "yes" when a wife asks, "Am I beautiful?" and to carry out jihad.

So ... always assume a lie.

Charges Dismissed

It looks like Abdul Rahman has had the charges dismissed against him and is seeking asylum. I hope he gets it soon:

Earlier Monday, hundreds of clerics, students and others chanting "Death to Christian!" marched through the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif to protest the court's decision to toss out the case.

Several Muslim clerics have threatened to incite Afghans to kill Rahman if he is freed, saying that he is clearly guilty of apostasy and deserves to die.

Meanwhile, 2 more Afghan Christians reportedly thrown into jail

Religion of Peace Death Strikes Again

Michelle Malkin (and not a few others) want to know Who Will Save Abdul Rahman?

Abdul Rahman is a man of faith. "I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in Christ. And I am a Christian," he declared this week.

Unfortunately for Rahman, he was originally born a Muslim in Afghanistan -- and he has been forced to defend his religious conversion in his home country's court, where he now faces the death penalty for turning to Jesus.

Rahman's family has denounced him as mentally ill. Afghan officials are thirsting for his blood. "We will cut him into little pieces," jail employee Hosnia Wafayosofi told the Chicago Tribune, as she "made a cutting motion with her hands."

This is beyond outrageous. What will it take for the world to see Islam for what it is?

It's funny, they claim the God of the Bible (God is love; vengeance is mine, I will repay saith the Eternal, etc.) is Allah and Jesus was a prophet, yet they hate with vitriolic hatred Jews and Christians. They take vengeance into their own hands for Allah as a often as thay can. They believe almost the exact opposite of what is said about God in the Bible. It's as if they believe the God that "so loved the world" decided one day, "screw it, you know what, I really hate these people, I take back everything I said, I scrapping the whole plan I've had from the beginning. From now on I'm going to raise up a new prophet (and disown my own Son) and wipe out anyone who believed what I said before.

Sorry, no.

Puppykat?

A new breed of cat has been developed - "the puppykat craves the attention of humans and is much more playful."

But will it fetch a stick?

A Breath Away?

Speaking of the Middle East: Peace just a breath away, says Sharon Stone

Peace often seems just a breath away, that's one of our eternal problems. We just don't know how to bridge the gap.

"It feels to me that we have an opportunity ... to choose understanding in a new way," she told a press conference in Paris when asked about her trip.

"And it really is just a breath. It's just an agreement that's just a breath. We are not far apart. We can choose to have this alternative kind of growth that is a collective nuance of understanding.

"We are just that breath away from a peaceful co-existence,"

Sounds nice, but really it's B.S. We want peace, Israel wants peace, but the other side wants death and destruction. They live for it and it's taught to them from birth. How do you reverse that? They refuse to look inside themselves and see any fault. They cannot see any problem within their little sphere of understanding. The answer is, it's beyond the ability of mankind. All the good intentions in the world cannot change that. Only God can do that and you can't even bring that up without eyes rolling.

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; To preach the acceptable year of the LORD." Luke 4:18,19

What difference can God make?

In fact, everyone in the world is affected by the resurrection of Jesus. Nobody can live unchanged by that great fact. If it didn't happen, your life is going to be changed tremendously. And if it did happen, your life is going to be changed tremendously. It is, as the Bible makes clear, the central fact of history. Nothing is more important. And everything is different, depending upon whether this did or didn't happen. I'd like to think with you a little bit about this great fact, and consider with you what life would be like if Jesus did not rise, and what would life be like if he did, and what effect it would have upon you.

I Wish I Had Seen This

Flying Cow Leaves Two Police Cars in Flames

Watson told News 4 WOAI, "We believe the gate of the cattle trailer came open, and the cow, for lack of a better phrase spilled out onto the Interstate. It was pretty chaotic for a while."

Several cars hit some of the cows. One cow died. DPS troopers called for backup.

That's when one officer was nearly run down by a speeding truck, carrying two illegal immigrants inside.

Seguin Police were out looking for those illegal immigrants. They parked their cars in the hot grass, burning two of them including that brand new 2006 Crown Victoria. Watson said, "Well, all of a sudden, another officer who'd arrived on the scene, alerted the sergeant that there was a fire."

Everything inside was destroyed, including tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment designed for the patrol cars.

"You start off with kind of a bizarre accident with these cows spilling onto the interstate. That leads to other accidents, that leads to a car chase, that leads to a foot chase," Watson recalls.

Catchin' Some Rays

A lizard catching some rays in the Florida sun.

I took James to the lake today. They recently renovated the lakefront and added a nice playground and water play area for the kids. Here's James getting splashed.

Sidewalk Artist

Believe it or not, that is a drawing done in chalk on the sidewalk. Check out more of his work here.