Open Thread ... Sweet Merciful Friday

Welcome to the Open Thread, our blog's space for off-topic comments and discussion. Feel free to post links if you've seen an interesting story 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 again, and have a great day!

Comments

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Good morning, Mr. Abbott and fellow Costellos.

The LA Times has an interesting look into Nebraska’s "Child Dump" law that goes beyond "Parent from [insert city or state here] Dumps Kid(s), Age(s) [insert age(s) here]."

In suburban Chicago, a judge has thrown out gun charges against Scott Peterson. The State's Attorney's office got caught cheating, and the judge was not impressed. Like Caysee Anthony, Peterson is one of those "persons of interest" you want to hang before going to court and trying to prove anything.

In more bad news for news consumers, Reuters is reporting the AP will cut staff by 10% in 2009.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

James, the Wisconsin grave-robbing story is just too funny. Thanks, I needed that!

[The Golfer]

Good morning Keith and all to follow!!

Worried that it was going to be a REALLY long, bad day. Compared to last Friday, we are about 10 hours AHEAD. So, all should be done before the next schedule needs to run.

Should be a nice easy day. Knock on wood.

[James Hart]

Uh-oh, sounds like somebody just jinxed himself! :)

[The Golfer]

Could be James, why I put the wood comment in.

Only 10 hours to go until my house is invaded. lol

[JUNGLE JIM]

I'm guessing Golfer should break tradition and post on a weekend. As soon as he gets up tomorrow. Around 6AM or so.

[The Golfer]

Maybe, but 6 am might be a tad early.

Movie starts at 9:55, previews anyway, and is a 2 hour movie. So, it will be after midnight before we get home. Then a couple of hours for the girls to burn down. Even though I will probably go to sleep LONG before then.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Morning, y'all.

[James Hart]

Morning, JIM!

[The Golfer]

Morning Jungle!!

[JUNGLE JIM]

Now that they can't export them to skid row...
Bed shortage forces L.A. County mental health staff to rely on police. Alarmed by reports that Los Angeles County mental health staff -- hobbled by a countywide shortage of beds for the mentally ill -- are increasingly forwarding emergency calls to police, commissioners overseeing the department on Thursday asked that a plan to end the practice be presented by early next month.

Department of Mental Health workers have turned to law enforcement officials because hospitals are required by law to take emergency mental health patients transported by police. If a county mental health worker brings a person in for treatment, facilities are not compelled to accept them.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Tap tap tappity CLOMP (Rudolph!) Tappity tap...
Tap-dancing reindeer join Santa Claus at tree lighting.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Good morning, Golfer and James and Jungle Jim. Broke out the gloves this morning. I need a heated garage.

[The Golfer]

This woman hacked somebody off.
Online Hooligans Hijack Woman's Life

[JUNGLE JIM]

if you drive a car, - I'll tax the street;
if you try to sit, - I'll tax your seat;
if you get too cold, - I'll tax the heat;
if you take a walk, - I'll tax your feet.
Man's Best Friend Could be Next Thing to be Taxed. The next place you might to have to tighten your budget belt is the vet.

You can thank Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for that. He is pushing for a pet tax as a way to raise revenues.

But pet owners are fighting back with plenty of bite.

Veterinarians say they're already seeing a decline in pet visits due of the slumping economy, and worry an added tax will only make things worse.

(Der Govenator is a believer in Caturday.)

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Well, Ahnol's shot at the presidency is going to the dogs on this one.

[The Golfer]

Nice Beatles reference Jungle.

Yeah, most cats are unlicensed by their owners since they NEVER go outside. And a lot NEVER take them to the vet.

While us dog owners take pride in keeping our pets vaccinated and licensed. You know, legal.

Go for it cat-lovers. lol

[JUNGLE JIM]

UPDATE: Witness uneasy about Web hoax that led to suicide. The business assistant of a Missouri mother accused in an Internet hoax that prosecutors say led to the suicide of a 13-year-old girl testified Thursday the woman allowed the scheme to continue despite a warning that it might lead to trouble.
Testifying under a promise of immunity, Ashley Grills, 20, told jurors it was her idea to create a fake identity account on MySpace for "Josh Evans," a fictitious boy who befriended Megan Meier online in September 2006.

[JUNGLE JIM]

How did you know that i never, uh, oops! I mean, uh, I only posted that so I could reference The Beatles, since the headline mentions dogs. But cats are included. Next he'll prolly tax guns or something. But only the licensed ones.

[JUNGLE JIM]

How many definitions of "might" are there?
Prosecutor might face charges in sex case. The state attorney general's office has indicated it will file charges against a Contra Costa County sex crimes prosecutor in connection with the alleged sexual assault of a colleague, the suspect's defense attorney said Thursday.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Gressett, 51, was arrested by Martinez police Oct. 2 on suspicion of four felonies - rape, oral copulation, sodomy and penetration with a foreign object. To avoid the possibility of conflict of interest for the district attorney's office, the case was handled by prosecutors under state Attorney General Jerry Brown.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Court: Sex-offender law unfairly restrictive. A voter-approved law prohibiting sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or a park amounts to additional punishment for the offenders' original crimes, a state appeals court has ruled in a case that could affect thousands of parolees.

[JUNGLE JIM]

It made his bank account healthy...
Daly City nonprofit's ex-treasurer pleads no contest to embezzlement. The former treasurer of a Daly City nonprofit that helps connect Bay Area residents with health and wellness services has pleaded no contest to embezzling $82,000 from the group, prosecutors said today.

[JewwellsP]

Good Morning, Happy Friday. Weekend looks like the time to hang Christmas lights. My kids have been asking now for two weeks.
Will have to mow again tomorrow, I can't beleive how many lawns I am still having to do. Oh well $ is king in times like these.

Pet license = tax cat or dog. Why the heck should I pay to own a pet? Doesn't that seem to be a bit much? Shelter's get tons of private donation's & money from the city & county. Heck people donate more to animal's than they donate to homeless.
I have a 10 yr old feral cat( No license), goes to the vet once a year. I know of just as many unlicensed dogs as I do cats. Everyone I know though is dumb as I.
Would drop couple grand on the animal, if it became sick.
I do agree with ya though golfer, there are a whole lot of pet owner's who shouldn't be pet owner's. You know, the dog walkers who leave the dropping's in neighbor's lawns.

If they just made in mandatory to spay or neuter every single cat & dog unless your a licensed/insured & inspected breeder, we wouldn't be in the mess we have today.

[James Hart]

It'll be nice to see Christmas lights on houses again!

[JUNGLE JIM]

When you said "so long"
Left me standing all alone
Alone and crying, crying
Crying over you...
Pot smugglers toss 5 tons of marijuana into sea. Marijuana smugglers dumped bales of pot worth $32 million into the sea when a Newport Beach-based Coast Guard cutter started chasing a suspicious boat about 100 miles southwest of San Diego.

. A Merced County woman with back and neck pain and a clean 37-year driving record is the latest California medical marijuana patient to have her driver's license yanked by the Department of Motor Vehicles, says an advocacy group that has sued on her behalf.

(Okay, now I can exhale.)

[JUNGLE JIM]

Oops.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Whoa, dude. Keep your hands off my gym, 'kay...
Arrests in credit card, ID thefts. Authorities have broken up a gang of gym thieves they say was responsible for using stolen credit cards to buy computers and other electronic equipment, which was then sold for millions of dollars on eBay, according to federal charges.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Prime Suspect In Cold Case Murder Sends Letter To KIRO. A 7-page letter from the prime suspect in a cold case of the suspect’s wife who disappeared 15 years ago is telling his side of the story.

Mark Vannausdle is currently in prison for shooting a cab driver during a robbery attempt in 2002.

He declined a KIRO 7 request for an on-camera interview, but did send KIRO reporter Richard Thompson a letter saying he had absolutely nothing to do with his wife's disappearance and he says he did not kill her.

(But they don't post the letter.)

[Patty PV]

Good morning everyone!

Golfer - enjoy the crowd tonight. I'm already getting tired of the Twilight hype - but I'll bet your daughter & friends are gonna be thrilled.

Jewells: It's hard for me to enjoy houses with Christmas lights before Thanksgiving, but with all the stores putting up decorations since Hallowe'en, a lot of families will be doing their lights this weekend.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Suicide notes left behind by Middleton father who shot his son and himself (with audio). The man's voice is calm and matter-of-fact.

"There's a dead guy in a black jeep," he tells the 911 operator.

The operator asks the caller to repeat the address of the emergency but is met with silence. The call ends.

Madison police believe the caller was Ryan Dutter, 36, the Middleton man who shot his 12-year-old son and then himself Tuesday. Police, led to the scene by the 911 call, found the two in a sport utility vehicle at Haen Family Park on Madison's Far West Side.

The boy, Kyle Dutter, died Tuesday. His father died the next day.

[JewwellsP]

Tommy Chong 70 years old, dang didn't know that. Cheech 62 the article says. Neither smoke anymore. Or so they say.

[JUNGLE JIM]

UPDATE: Neb. lawmakers give approval on safe-haven age limit. Nebraska lawmakers have given final approval to adding a 30-day age limit to the state's safe-haven law.
The original safe-haven law was intended to prevent newborns from being dumped in trash bins or worse. Every state has such a law, but Nebraska's is the only one that lacks an age limit.

Since July, 35 children have been abandoned at state hospitals — many of them preteens or teenagers as old as 17.

Gov. Dave Heineman was expected to sign the bill Friday afternoon. If he does, the age limit will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday and Nebraska will join 13 other states with a 30-day age cap.

[The Golfer]

I am going to do some this year.

Next year I am going to see how many I can get switched to LED provided I can do a deal like they had earlier this month. Bring in the old one, get a coupon for $3 off a new LED string. But you could only get 5 coupons and you only had about 5 hours to do it in.

Need at least a week, and up to 10 at a time. And small, medium and large bulbs to LED.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Authorities Believe Wife Arranged Shooting. A shooting incident in Stevens Point has taken a strange twist.

Authorities say a 23-year-old woman accused of shooting the 50-year-old man had been hired by the victim's wife to kill him, but he survived despite being wounded four times.

The shooting Tuesday caused nearby Stevens Point High School to be temporarily locked down.

[JewwellsP]

Patty, I have three reasons for doing it this weekend. 5 & 6 yr old. 50 degree's or more.
The sucker's who don't do it this weekend, will find it be 30 or less for the next 4 weekends in a row. Crawling up & down the ladder 28' high- wind blowing & 25 degree, this is my normal. LOL

[The Golfer]

Nebraska came up with the right age limit. I always thought 3 days was too short. To many mothers, those first 3 days are hell, but after about a week things seem to level out.

At least what I have been told by many moms. We dads are easier, all the kid has to do is smile and grab one of your fingers, you are hooked for life.

[JewwellsP]

LED is the way to go, I have almost everything switched over now. The thing I really like- you can string several strand's (300')end to end. C4's & C7's only allow about 50-75' run.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Our long, breast-coned nightmare is over...
Madonna, Ritchie granted preliminary divorce.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Parliament-Funkadelic once sang "Tear The Roof Off The Sucka"...
UN PUTS CITY IN DANGER. The United Nations is stonewalling Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD on security - endangering countless New Yorkers.

Artist Barcelo unveils $23 million ceiling at UN.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Report offers 10 steps to curb urban violence. A gubernatorial task force issued a 70-page report today that offered 10 recommendations to curb urban violence.

The report is the product of the Anti-Crime Council, a task force created by Governor Deval Patrick in April 2007. It includes a foreword from criminologist James Alan Fox of Northeastern University that urges Massachusetts to reinvest in violence prevention efforts.

[JUNGLE JIM]

A thin line between love and hate...
McHenry man accused of assaulting fiancee twice in same day!

[JUNGLE JIM]

You can run. You can even hide. But changing your name...
Court says name change didn't invalidate case. An appellate court has ruled that changing your name is no escape from criminal charges.

[Patty PV]

Jewwells: Believe it or not, I too am thinking about completing that job this weekend. I have no young ones, but the thought of freezing weather later is a buzzkill.

[Jellybean]

This is just the funniest thing I've seen in a long time - I had to share:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/vp/27838743#27838743

Whatever your politics - you've gotta love that chick.

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

Morning folks!

Finally... It's Friday and the weekend will be upon us soon.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Sheriff: Student died in fraternity initiation. The preliminary investigation into the death of Lenoir-Rhyne University student Harrison Kowiak found he died of injuries sustained in a game of capture the flag while participating in a fraternity initiation activity.

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

And for those pet lovers...

This cat can Meow in Stereo

[JUNGLE JIM]

The answer to prison overcrowding...
Juveniles get longer terms as arrests dip. Young offenders assigned to Harris County's juvenile detention facilities will be spending a little more time in lockup now that a reduction in arrests has eased chronic overcrowding in the system, juvenile probation chief Harvey Hetzel said.

Yesterday it was reporters reporting and editors editorializing. Today...
2 say Texas Education Agency fired them for investigating fraud. Two inspectors who were fired from the inspector general's office at the Texas Education Agency are suing the agency, alleging wrongful termination after they tried to investigate fraud and waste in the TEA, officials said.

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

Ahhh man...

Yesterday was "Kick a Ginger" Day.

Why wasn't I notified? It could have been fun to kick those evil monstrosities...

Ok... Red Head women are fine, and in fact, perfect... mmmmmmm red heads.

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

If you are 18,

It may be unlikely to be a Sergeant in the Army, and if you try to cash a $40,000 check as well.