Open Thread ... Thursday (Friday Eve)

The Open Thread -- our blog's space for off-topic comments and discussion -- is up and running on a lovely Thursday. This is a good spot for linking to stories, if you've seen an interesting piece somewhere else!

Please sign your comments, and please avoid profanity, as well as racially and sexually abusive language. And when you sign your comments, please use only one nickname. I read the OT, but if you need to contact me directly, my email is jhart@kcstar.com. Thanks, and have a great day!

Comments

[JUNGLE JIM]

Good morning Abbots, Costellos, dudes, dudettes, and all the ships at CSKC.

It turns out yesterday's story about the mailman selling pot on his route shows he's just ahead of his time...
Mailmen might deliver meds in next anthrax attack. If there ever is another anthrax attack, the letter carrier may deliver your antibiotics. Federal health officials are beginning a project in Minneapolis-St. Paul to let letter carriers stockpile a personal supply of emergency antibiotics so they are protected and ready to deliver aid to the rest of the city at a moment's notice.

The project aims to overcome a big hurdle of emergency planning. The government has much drugs stockpiled in case of future bioterrorism, but few ways to get them quickly to panicked citizens. Leavitt noted that if someone possibly has inhaled anthrax, the chances of survival are best if antibiotic treatment begins within 48 hours.

[JUNGLE JIM]

UPDATE: L.A. County sheriff's deputy charged in sexual torture of his wife, 2nd man. After tricking his wife into introducing him to her lover, a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy held the couple captive overnight at an Irvine apartment complex where he beat them, forced them to undress at knife point and ordered the woman to castrate her younger suitor, authorities alleged Wednesday.

Deputy Robert A. McClain then allegedly sodomized his wife and chopped off her hair with the knife, Orange County prosecutors said as they announced the filing of mayhem, torture and sexual assault charges against the 34-year-old ex-Marine, who faces a potential life sentence if convicted.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Good morning, fellow Costellos and Mr. Abbott. You may have seen reports of Tuesday's $330,000 armored car robbery in NYC. The jig is up for the not-too-bright perp - it was an inside job! SNIP:

Here's a new definition of insider trading.

A dumber-than-dumb guard for an armored-car company has been busted on charges of ripping off another guard and escaping with $330,000, cops said yesterday.

After allegedly carrying out the brazen heist Tuesday, Robert Blackmon texted the co-worker, Janell Nelson, asking if she was OK.

Blackmon, 34, of Hillside, NJ, was a rich man for only 12 hours because he allowed a surveillance camera at an ATM machine to take his picture six times, police said.

And a reminder of who (or what) we are voting for next month: The Star's "The Buzz" column notes "An aide to Minnesota congressional candidate Ashwin Madia (a Democrat) was caught, allegedly, "stealing a child's scooter while door-knocking."

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Good morning, JJ! You're up before breakfast.

[JUNGLE JIM]

My rooster went off early today.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

No, JJ...you're not getting me to comment on that straight line.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Good new is, I'll be having some delicious roast chicken for dinner tonight.

Police: Rialto Hatchet Attack Leads To Weapons Cache, Hand Grenade. A hatchet attack and subsequent gunfire on what neighbors describe as a typically quiet street led police to the discovery of a weapons cache, including a hand grenade, police said.

Rogerio David Rodriguez, 29, was hospitalized outside his mother's home at 531 N. Park Ave. on Tuesday night after a fight with his girlfriend.

"They had a dispute. He was hit in the head with some type of weapon -- a hatchet, we were told," said Rialto Police Lt. Joe Cirilo.

Tax Charges Filed Against Alleged Ex-Hooker, Stanford Law Grad. A Stanford law school graduate is facing tax evasion charges over thousands of dollars she was allegedly paid while working as a prostitute.

In court papers filed in San Jose federal court Tuesday, prosecutors allege that Cristina Warthen failed to pay taxes on more than $133,000 they say she earned as a prostitute in 2003.

Since then, the 34-year-old Schultz has married David Warthen, the co-founder of the online search engine Ask Jeeves, now known as Ask.com.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Ask and you shall get it. Or something like that. Mrs. Warthen will no doubt be screwed by the attorneys and the IRS, too. That screwing will be deductable, however.

[JUNGLE JIM]

I think atty. fees are only deductible if they're for purposes of gaining taxable income, like alimony....

[JUNGLE JIM]

Students’ Guide to Police Practices courtesy of the San Jose P.D. and the Independent Police Auditor.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

For those of you who cowardishly cowered at the udderly fantastic puns the other day, check out Dilbert this morning. Cowabunga, dudes and dudettes!

[JUNGLE JIM]

8 People Arrested In Massive Peninsula Pot Bust. A nine-month investigation into illegal marijuana growing operations in San Mateo County ended Tuesday with the arrest of eight suspects charged with growing millions of dollars worth of marijuana using stolen electricity valued at nearly as much as the drugs.

A San Bruno police officer apparently provided the San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force with an investigative lead in January that started the investigation into the indoor marijuana growing operation, task force officials said.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

At the rate weed stories are breaking, we may have McCain and Obama running on "Some pot in every chicken" campaigns instead of "Some chicken in every pot."

[Keith G. in P.V.]

This may come as a total shock to some, but the Washington Post reports

The Maryland State Police "significantly overreached" when they spied on peaceful opponents of the death penalty and the Iraq war and were oblivious to their violation of the activists' rights of free expression and association, an independent review concluded yesterday.

It's hard to buck the establishment when the establishment controls police and prosecutorial functions and re-election is Job One. Just because you have rights on paper doesn't translate into having rights in reality.

[JUNGLE JIM]

From a story James so deftly posted Sept. 11th...
UPDATE: Assualt by peanut butter — student faces assault charge. A city prosecutor filed an assault charge Tuesday afternoon against a 19-year-old man who allegedly smeared peanut butter on the forehead of a classmate he knew has a severe allergy to the nut. (Article does not specify if "the nut" refers to the peanut or the assaulter. But who doesn't like assaulted peanut?)

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Magnificent pun there, JJ!

[JUNGLE JIM]

First they stopped making "The Muppet Show", then they close the strip club. Where will our friend "Beaker" turn up next? Maybe working with David Duchovney....
Charitable Organization Receives Building In Screemin' Mee-Mees Plea Deal. A former strip club owner in Janesville is donating the building to a local charity.

The owner of Screemin' Mee-Mees agreed to a plea deal that includes him closing the facility and donating the building to the 12-and-12 Drop In Center, WISC-TV reported.

That's a Janesville organization that provides a safe place for residents battling addiction.

A 06/30 article on the same site notes: Janesville police said they have made two more arrests in connection with a prostitution investigation at a Janesville strip club.

Police said the arrests are in connection with an investigation at Screamin' Mee-Mees.

Sex Addiction Cases Rise After Duchovney Goes To Rehab.

[Searching]

So, it will still be a flop house?

Good Morning everyone!

[JUNGLE JIM]

Eating kangaroos could help fight global warming: scientist. An offbeat suggestion that Australians should eat kangaroos instead of cattle and sheep has been given a scientific stamp of approval by the government's top climate change adviser.

The belching and farting of millions of farm animals is a major contributor to Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, Professor Ross Garnaut noted in a major report to the government on global warming.

Kangaroos, on the other hand, emit negligible amounts of methane gas.

[The_Golfer]

Morning JungleJim, Keith.

You two have been busy this morning.

I have been changing about 50 to 60 passwords. Never got it done yesterday.

[Searching]

NO hello for me...:( LOL

[The_Golfer]

Did not see you having listed Search, sorry.

Morning Searching!!!!

[James Hart]

Good morning, everybody!

[Searching]

I know, golfer.. just razzing on you. I came in this morning to find out one of our supervisors is quitting.. I am a little pissed she is the only one that holds herself accountable and works with a No BS attitude... figures we couldnt keep her around....

[The_Golfer]

Yeah, the good bosses always leave.

Morning James.

[Searching]

It would be helpful if upper management stood behind their supervisors... why is it that always seems to be the case. You put someone in charge. You hold them accountable, yet give them no back up?

[Searching]

James... clean up in aisle three... more specifically.. potty mouth in Hisler thread.

[James Hart]

On it.

Also, what is your supervisor going to go do now?

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Good morning, Searching, Golfer and James. Another hump day under our belts, and on a downhill slide now!

[Searching]

I am not sure. She is one of my friends here and I am going to miss her. She is a little older than me, and really doesnt HAVE to work. She could retire, but says she is not ready to. We sat down and had a long discussion at 6:30 this morning.

Since she has been here for 15years, she probably has about 3mths of vacation and PTO to go on if she is going to look for another job.

If she wants to.. she will find other work, she is experienced and has a lot of computer skills... so, we'll see.

[Searching]

James, why is it lately, that I will post, it will show up, but if I go into another thread and then back again.. a lot of times my post will be gone until someone else, or my self posts again?

[James Hart]

I don't know. It's happened to me, too. I usually just refresh the page. Maybe there's a lag with Typepad's servers?

[The_Golfer]

Search - isn't that the wonderful world of typepad?

[Searching]

Apparently..
James. I do refresh, it doesnt work until someone else posts.. luckily this is not a problem.. someone always seems to post.
I can get it to work, by leaving crime scene all together and coming back in.

[James Hart]

I'm sorry about that. I'm not sure what else to do about it, but I'll look in the Typepad official blog, see if there's anything there.

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

Good morning folks?

Whats the good word?

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

Newsweek has a great "Beer" bingo game that you can use for tonights debate

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

Guess what the Hippies are ecstatic about being legal in BC now?

[James Hart]

Morning, R2!

[The_Golfer]

R2 - Legs, let's spread the word!!

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

Morning James... Golfer, and others that will have posted greetings after Golfer. :)

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

And Golfer... Lets not spread my word too much.. I have a lil bit of decency... (Not much though.)

[James Hart]

It's weird, but my Spidey-Sense tells me that Palin is going to do a lot better tonight than people think. Not sure why. Maybe she's just due for some good luck!

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

James... I don't think they can fix stupid. I'm sure the moderator will ensure that Sarah answers the question and doesn't turn every one into a folksy story that has little to nothing to do with the question.

Oh, REscuers have found Steve Fosset's wrecked plane

[*sexy*]

good morning everyone!

[James Hart]

Morning, sexy!

r2: Ifill is a pretty good moderator, so we'll see.

[*sexy*]

Back at ya James! How was your evening?

[James Hart]

Pretty low-key. I came home in a foul mood, but I felt a lot better after I took a nap. Today's better, too.

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

Morning Sexy! Whats up chica?

And I agree James, I don't think that Ifil will let her get away with a non answer. Of course I have already heard from some republican's that are dismissing her credentials to be the moderator for this debate and are screaming for her to step aside for someone "Fair and Balanced".

BTW, did you listen/watch that interview McCain had with the Des Moines Register Editorial board this week? He was getting quite sarcastic and rude with them towards the end with the questions they asked him. You could tell that he was angry during it, even though he did admit that he's never been an astronaut.

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

And James... is it bad that I refer to Palin as "Caribou Barbie"?