Open Thread ... Thursday (Friday Eve)

Welcome back to the Open Thread, our blog's space for off-topic comments and discussion. Feel free to share links to any interesting stories you've seen 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. I stopped by the print edition's "THE BUZZ" column on page A-2 and found two items of interest. The first is the puppy photo. Kudos to the Star for its honesty. ;-)

Second, the final item "We salute you." I was hoping for a 3-month break from campaigning, but it appears that yesterday was it. Quoting Bill Manzi of the National Review,

“There are about 1,460 days until the next presidential election, and I assume that I will spend approximately the next 1,459 of them opposing Barack Obama. But I’m spending today proud about what my country has overcome.”

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Overlooked in yesterday's news was the passage of a ballot initiative to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana in Massachusetts. LEOs are trying to figure out how to implement the law. I'd suggest they just sit back, light up and relax.

[Simone]

Good morning Keith!
Good morning all!

I´ve found some interesting stories from all over the world...

Australia: Fireman filmed his own death on mobile phone

USA: Store clerk stabbed as he tries to stop man from stealing beer

[Simone]

Seems like it´s messed up...

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_299042.html

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/crime/story/529961.html

[Keith G. in P.V.]

The Star reports Kelly Moorhouse was elected to stay at her job as Jackson County Circuit Judge by 70% of the voters. Moorhouse died October 7th, too late to change the ballots. Missouri may lose its bellweather status in Presidential elections, and though voting by the dead remains controversial, Missouri's strong support of dead candidates continues unabated.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Good morning, Simone! Thanks for the stories. May I ask where you are? Your stories seem always to be from such diverse international sources.

[The Golfer]

Morning Keith, Simone.

Working from home today, my cough kept me up most of the night.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Good morning, Golfer. Hope you get to feeling better.

[The Golfer]

So do I Keith.

Tryihg to set up the kid to get to the doctor this afternoon, looks like she has gotten an ear infection.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Good morning all.

4 charged with lying about buying guns for felons. In an effort to disrupt a pipeline of guns for felons, federal officials have charged four people with lying to buy firearms for people they knew could not legally own them. The defendants are charged separately, and court documents don't suggest they were working together, though three purchased firearms from Badger Guns and its predecessor, Badger Outdoors, both high-volume gun stores in West Milwaukee.

Federal prosecutors noted that at least three other straw buyer cases it has prosecuted since early 2007 resulted in felony convictions and probation. All involved guns purchased from Badger Outdoors, the agency said.

[JUNGLE JIM]

James, massive clean-up is needed on this blog. An anonymous poster has left several posts regarding a "jonathon" on the other threads.

JIM: Thanks for pointing that out. I just sat down at my desk and will take care of this problem immediately.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Note, glasses led to arrest of 'Cadillac Bandit': FBI. It wasn't what the "Cadillac Bandit" took out of a bank that tripped him up.

It's what he left behind.

Apparently thinking about pulling off a robbery in a Clarendon Hills bank last August, he left a pair of glasses on a customer work station along with a note that read: "This is a robbery."

But the robber decided not to hit the bank.

[James Hart]

Our anonymous poster was someone named "truthhurts," and he's been banned permanently.

[Searching]

AT least describe what was going on with truth hurts... I missed the whole thing! dangit.. stupid month end reports!

[Patty PV]

Good morning everybody! Simone, thanks for your tales from across the pond - I enjoy the them.

Golfer - maybe you, too, should see the doctor??

My good news of the day: the car has been determined to be totalled. I collected my things from it last night. We'll see what kind of value the insurance company places on the loss.

[Searching]

James, he is posting w/no name now.. go to american held as immigrant story.

[Searching]

Oh, and you CAN argue that value by the way.. they will try and low ball you.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Hollywood movies become instruction videos...
'PIMP' BUSTED. A violent pimp who called himself "King" was busted for allegedly forcing young girls into prostitution and teaching them the world's oldest profession by screening hooker-themed movies "American Pimp" and "Hustle and Flow."

[James Hart]

Actually, I deleted all his comments based on IP. He should be gone now.

[Searching]

Yeah, but now my comment in the bank robbery story, looks like I am talking to myself... Oh, well, wouldn't be the first time!

[Simon]

Hey Keith,

finally - I´m online again. I wonder why we´ve hired IT services if the server is down all the time. :-(

Anyways, I´m sitting at work in Germany. But most of the headlines in Germany are from foreign countries. Seems like we don´t have enough news of our own. ;-) As nobody would understand the german newspapers I always try to find the english version of the headline.

Oh, and to explain why I hang around in here - I´m planning to move to the US (to the Kansas area). It´s pretty interesting what´s going on over there.

[Searching]

Are you a German national, or American working oversees? What do you do for a living?

[James Hart]

Patty: Did you say you had a Mini? I love those cars. They're beautifully designed. Do you think you'd try to get one like your old one?

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Thanks, Simone. I'm a typical mono-lingual American, so I hit British and Australian papers, but don't often get to French, German or Italian sites. I continue to be surprised by how little U.S. papers cover international stories, and how much (what for us is) the foreign press covers U.S. news. I guess it helps that our criminals are prolific and creative. ;-)

[Simone]

Hello Searching,

I´m born and raised in Germany so actually I´m German (raised bilingual so you won´t notice I´m German). My son is American. ;-)

I wanna give him the chance to see a little bit of both cultures. That´s why I wanna move to the US.

I´m working in the Key Account Managment of a food company.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Good morning, PattyPV. Sorry to hear of your loss. See today's Dilbert for a worst-case type of scenario.

[The Golfer]

I will set me up something in the future. Need the basic physical done too.

Need to set the daughter up for the booster shots at her age. Also the new Gardasil series and the new one for encephalitis.

[JUNGLE JIM]

All that hard work and now, Wanted: Landscaper needed...
Man pleads not guilty in 80-year-old's slaying. A parolee accused of killing an elderly man and encasing the body in a large concrete “egg” pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges that could lead to the death penalty.

Thomas Jeffrey Brooks, 39, of San Diego is charged with murder and identity theft in connection with the slaying of Edward Clayton Andrews, 80, who lived in Riverside County. Andrews died of asphyxiation, authorities said.

About two months before his arrest on Aug. 8, Brooks agreed to do some landscaping at his landlord's home on Alabama Street in North Park, the prosecutor said. The centerpiece of a rock garden he created was an egg-shaped concrete structure, or orb.

Neighbors in North Park who had some knowledge of the case suspected Andrews' money or other belongings might be found inside, so they started to break it open Sept. 5. Inside, they found a human foot.

[Searching]

I lived in Germany for 2 years. In Hochheim.
I have a friend that has a bar and restaurant in Nurnberg at the Castle at the top of the hill. It is called The Bergkaus... the owl of the castle, it is a late night bar.

I loved Germany.. funny part is when you get here... they look a lot alike, I think that is why some many Germans settled in this area, They got here and went.. ok, we're home! Is your son's father in the Military?

[JUNGLE JIM]

She has her "Not a happy camper" look down...
St. Petersburg woman arrested after bank robbery. Jessica Strole, 1650 Seventh Ave. N, Apt. C16 (pictured), was arrested Wednesday night after St. Petersburg police identified her in a surveillance tape of a bank robbery.

All for $200.00.

[Simone]

Hello Searching,

we live in Mannheim (close to Heidelberg). I´ve also have been to Nurnberg for a couple of months due to my job. It´s a very nice city - especially during winter.

Yes, my son´s father is in the Military. Currently he´s in Iraq.

[winkyb2me]

Actually, Patty PV, it might not be too bad. My (used) car was totaled in July. I had just bought it 3 months earlier for $7500. The insurance company gave me $8900 as settlement.

[The Golfer]

Morning Jungle, Patty, Search, James, and everyone else that has come in.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

James, 2 of today's stories really caught my eye - The dog's vest and the O'Bama Celebration streakers. I protest. Dogs, cows, cats, horses, even chickens can run around totally naked and nobody (well, almost nobody) objects. But let a human run around nekid and all of a sudden there's a mass panic and LEOs out the wazzoo! I'm udderly amazed that they even let dairy cows get close to the road. And did you see that stallion? OMG! Even the zoo exposes more genitalia than all the strip clubs in town.

Where's PETA when you need someone to mock?

[The Golfer]

Patty - I had a 2000 Saturn wagon that got totalled last summer and still got around $6200 to $6500 for it. Only about $17k when we bought it. It had 120K miles on it.

[The Golfer]

Guess I should hang on to the KC Star from yesterday since there is now a premium on the election.

[James Hart]

Golfer: Or you can save all copies in case there's another Depression. The paper doubles as a rough, but adequate toilet-paper substitute.

[Twinkie]

Good morning CSKC...

I am beyond upset this morning after hearing about the gay marriage ban in California...why the hell did they let homosexuals get married in the first place if they were going to put the ban on the November ballot? Makes no damn sense. Let em get married if that's what they really want. They are citizens of this country and should be given the same privileges as the rest of us. Who are we to tell them they can't have a little piece of paper stating that they are married to someone of the same sex...its a double standard if you ask me.

Anyways...had to vent...

[The Golfer]

Had it on the news this morning that Obama buttons are already at $15 each and the NY Times from yesterday is at like $200 plus already.

Weird.

[The Golfer]

As for gays/lesbians marrying, they should be allowed to enjoy the fun of a divorce and custody of the cat. lol

[Twinkie]

LOL, exactly! (or the dog) :)

[Searching]

Simone, I know exactly where Mannheim is. .I loved Heidelberg. There is a Chinese restaurant there I cant remember the street, but it is right downtown and the restaurant is on the second floor, all lined with windows.. man it was good food.

Did a LOT of shopping there. We shot the photography for the US military on all the bases in Germany, Austria, Italy and Belgium.. had a blast, I was not military, we were civilians hired by the military.

[Searching]

Twinkie.. and for those CITIZENS that obviously out number the others that do not want a marriage to include anything but a Man/Woman combo... I guess they should all just stick it?

You guys are great a celebrating when the majority votes your way, but refuse to understand when they don't.. why is that?

[Twinkie]

They already allowed it searching! and now they have taken it away! How the hell is that fair????

[JUNGLE JIM]

Latest animal rescue news: Cats win over dogs by 2...
79 Feral Cats Rescued From Rundown Home. Seventy-nine feral cats were rescued from a rundown home in northeast Houston on Wednesday, KPRC Local 2 reported.

Officials with the Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said the home belongs to an 82-year-old woman whose son uses the home to house his collection of cats.

Authorities take 77 dogs from Riverview puppy business. A sign outside dubs the business "The Happy Puppy Place," but Hillsborough County Animal Services officials say it's anything but.

PM Tinies, a puppy sales business at the home of Patricia Martin Walters, 13605 Highway 301 in Riverview, was shut down today after officials say they found 77 small-breed dogs living there in squalor.

[J]

Morning all

Morning J...how are you today?

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Wrong-O, Searching. Again.

I support gay marriage (as long as it's not mine, but that's whole other story.) I also understand why it failed. I'm old enough to remember the anti-mysogyny laws (still in force in some states when O'Bama was born, by the way.)

I contend that if your marriage suffers because the two girlie-boys down the street get the same legal rights, your marriage is already in deep doo-doo and probably beyond redemption.

There is ALWAYS a "minority" group to look down upon, to discriminate against, to criticize and condemn. It makes the rest of us feel sooooo superior.

[James Hart]

Morning, J!

Twinkie, Searching: How do you guys feel about "civil unions" -- which give gay couples all of the rights, tax benefits, etc., of being married, but they just don't actually call it being married?