Remember a few days back when I blogged about the couple who was too busy playing D&D to care for their starving children? Well, Gloria Ramirez and Anthony Moya of Lubbock, TX probably consider them to be "amateurs."
A judge Wednesday ordered seven children removed from their rat-infested home strewn with dirty diapers after the mother's miscarriage led to the discovery of the dead fetus in a baby wipe box in the refrigerator. [full story]
And that's just the first paragraph from the story. And no, it doesn't really get better from there, either.
When bad dogs won't fight, there's one man who's your best friend.
Michael Vick.
"No dog is too much for me to handle. I train fighting dogs, and if they don't fight, I kill them. I am the Dog Murderer."
(not a real quote - I was just paraphrasing the intro to The Dog Whisperer)
So, it seems like Vick and some of his pals were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of competitive dogfighting, procuring and training pit bulls for fighting, and conducting the enterprise across state lines. Not only that, but if the dogs wouldn't fight (or, "not ready" to fight), then they were killed by electrocution, hanging, and one dog was even killed by just being repeatedly slammed to the ground. Can you fucking believe that? Throwing a living creature to the ground over and over until it's dead. That is some seriously fucked up shit.
Let's hope that he's in prison for a long time. Let's hope that this guy never gets a chance to play in the NFL again. Let's hope that some dog loving prison gang slams Vick and his friends repeatedly to the ground.
I'll never understand this kind of thinking. Over at the Cryptic Philosopher's, I read this little bit:
RED OAK, Texas - An 18-year-old man was arrested Friday and accused of killing a zebra named Zambi in a drive-by shooting.
Zambi was shot dead July 5 as he grazed in a pasture at HiView Farms outside of Waxahachie, about 30 miles from Dallas, said Lt. Kevin Ketchum of the Ellis County Sheriff's Office. The farm is also home to camels, llamas and ring-tailed lemurs.
...
Joshua Romano and four friends were swimming in a creek but had to leave because of rain. They spotted the zebra as they were driving down a road near the farm. That's when Romano pulled out a deer rifle and shot Zambi dead, Ketchum said. [full story]
I mean, seriously, WTF? If you saw a zebra while out and about, would your first instinct be to kill it? I don't know about you, but my first instinct would be to find my camera. I guess I'm weird that way.
And did you hear about this? Some dickwad was New York's resident hawk. Now, I'm not sure how beloved this hawk (named Pale Male) is, but really, what's the point of throwing rocks and spitting at a bird that's not bothering you? To show how "cool" you are? Wha, didn't you outgrow that childish bullshit back in 4th grade? How'd you like it if random people threw rocks and spit at you?
I'm not a parent myself, so I try not to talk about what parents should do. You know, how to raise their kids, blah blah blah. But, I don't think I'm wrong in saying this: if you can find time to fuck, then you should be able to find time to raise your kids.
The children of Michael and Iana Straw, a boy age 22 months and a girl age 11 months, were severely malnourished and near death last month when doctors saw them after social workers took them to a hospital, authorities said. Both children are doing well and gaining weight in foster care, prosecutor Kelli Ann Viloria told the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Police also said that they had to shave the girl's head, because her hair was matted with cat urine. Cat urine. She also suffered from a mouth infection, dry skin, and dehydration. The boy had a genital infection, and was also treated for starvation. And, his lack of muscle development meant that he had difficulty walking.
So, what, you ask, were the parents doing while their children were rotting away?
Viloria said the Reno couple were too distracted by online video games, mainly the fantasy role-playing "Dungeons & Dragons" series, to give their children proper care. [full story]
Seriously.
Like I said, if you can find the time to fuck (which they obviously did), you should be able to find time to raise your children. Don't worry; the game will still be there when you get back.
For those who didn't see it, I strongly, strongly urge you to see Keith Olbermann's special comment on Tuesday, July 3rd.
Our generation’s willingness to state “we didn’t vote for him, but he’s our president, and we hope he does a good job,” was tested in the crucible of history, and far earlier than most. And in circumstances more tragic and threatening.
And we did that with which history tasked us.
We enveloped “our” President in 2001.
And those who did not believe he should have been elected — indeed, those who did not believe he had been elected — willingly lowered their voices and assented to the sacred oath of non-partisanship.
And George W. Bush took our assent, and re-configured it, and honed it, and sharpened it to a razor-sharp point, and stabbed this nation in the back with it. (emphasis mine)
Paris Hilton spent more time in jail than convicted felon Scooter Libby.
Paris' offense? Violation of probation stemming from a reckless driving charge. She spent 23 days in jail.
Scooter's offense? Obstruction of justice (which, by the way, is the offense that brought about Bill Clinton's impeachment) during an investigation into the outing of a covert CIA agent. That agent was part of an operation tracking distribution and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction technology to and from Iran, which means that everybody else working covertly under this operation was also outed. His jail time has been commuted, and he's now looking at a full pardon.
Seriously. Would you eat a cloned turkey? With the cloning technology that we have now, would you eat a cloned turkey? Or drink milk from a cloned cow? Yes? No?
Me? A resounding FUCK NO.
And the FDA ruled this safe? Really? Fucking Dumb Assholes. I thought they were supposed to look out for the best interests of consumers, not the meat and milk lobbies. Oh, and did I mention that the FDA also ruled that cloned food is so safe, that it won't need special labeling? Yup, that's right, they want as many unsuspecting people eating cloned food as they can.
You know what? If the FDA truly, truly thinks this shit is safe, then I'd like to see the head of the FDA have Thanksgiving dinner with his/her entire family, where they eat a cloned turkey. Hell, I'd like to see everybody in the FDA have a cloned turkey for Thanksgiving. How many do you think would do it? All? Many? None? And how many of their family members do you think would suddenly "have other plans" for that day?
Seriously, FDA. Put your fucking money where your mouth is.
BEIJING - The long arms of the world’s tallest man reached in and saved two dolphins by pulling plastic material out of their stomachs, state media and an aquarium official said Thursday.
The dolphins got sick after nibbling on plastic from the edge of their pool at an aquarium in Liaoning province. Attempts to use surgical instruments to remove the plastic failed because the dolphins’ stomachs contracted in response to the instruments, the China Daily newspaper reported.
Veterinarians then decided to ask for help from Bao Xishun, a 7-foot-9 herdsman from Inner Mongolia with 41.7-inch arms, state media said. Bao, 54, was confirmed last year by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s tallest living man.
They would have asked Yao Ming to do it, but the Rockets had a game that night.
But, that puppy chewing an infant's toes off is just a sad story all around.
BOSSIER CITY, La. -- A pit bull puppy chewed off four of a baby girl's toes while the child's parents slept, police here said Monday. The parents were booked on charges of child desertion and criminal negligence and were being held in the Bossier Parish Jail pending an initial court appearance.
Police said the parents were sleeping on a mattress in the living room of their residence and the month-old girl was in an infant seat beside them when the puppy began chewing on their baby's toes. [full story]
*gasp* a pit bull! See, they're evil, even when they're puppies!
Please.
I really hope that dog isn't put down, but it probably will be. Poor dog.
Whenever I fly, I always try to get the window seat. I always pay for my tickets using a credit card. My meal, if there is one? I'll take the beef or chicken over the fish.
Why am I telling you this? Why does it matter?
Because the government has a system in place that rates travelers to determine their terrorist potential. So, like, if Osama bin Laden prefers window seats, then my terrorist potential goes up. This is beyond any "watch list," mind you. And the best part? "Assessments Cannot Be Viewed or Challenged." In other words, if they say I'm a terrorist, then... I'm a terrorist. And I can't argue that ruling. Nice.
I know, I know. "If you've done nothing wrong, then you don't have anything to worry about." That's not the point. The point is, this isn't freedom. This isn't what our forefathers fought for.
"So, what (Thomas) Jefferson was saying was, we left this England place because it was bogus. So if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, and pronto... we'll just be bogus, too."
It's kinda sad that Spicoli knows more about freedom than our current administration.
I was just wondering... how was aspirin discovered? I'm not talking about the blends you find in today's pills; I'm talking about the original powder that today's blends are derived from. I know it's derived from some sort of tree bark... but how did people figure out that it cures headaches? Did some suffering caveman just start chewing on a tree, and then notice "Hey, Zog's head feel better!"? I mean, it's been around for centuries, right? The Greek physician (and the dude known as the "father" of western medicine) Hippocrates used it. Ancient Native Americans used it. As far as I know, they didn't have the internet back then... so how did so many different cultures discover it?
Yeah, I think about things like this sometimes. Intellectual curiousity, I guess.
Maybe it was "discovered" the same way many foods were discovered - people saw animals eating it. But then, how did people know that [whatever animal] had a headache?
I dunno. Stuff like that just makes me wonder.
Speaking of things that make me wonder... how is it that we live in a society that allows this: OJ Simpson has a new book coming out. It's titled "If I did it," and it describes how he would have committed the murders of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson... if he did them. Now, I know he was acquitted of the crime, but still. Let's even go so far as to say for sure that he didn't do them. It's still in wayyyyyy fucking poor taste.
Yeah, yeah. He's exercising his first amendment rights. I have to support that. I don't like what he's saying, and I think he should shut the fuck up and disappear into obscurity, but I still have to support his right to free speech. Freedom certainly is tough.
Now, I take this with a bit of a grain of salt. This seems a bit "Day After Tomorrow"-ish. But at the same time, they're probably right (just maybe not on the right time scale). At the same time, we need to stop over-fishing areas. We need to stop dumping pollutants into the water.
When are we (humans) going to realize that it's not our world. It's every creature's, every plant's world. Who in the fuck are we to come along and fuck it all up? What gives us the right?
Back in 2002, Arizona Cardinals safety Pat Tillman quit the NFL to serve in the U.S. Army with his brother, Kevin. Pat was killed April 22, 2004, in Afghanistan. Kevin was discharged in 2005. And now, Kevin has this to say:
It is Pat’s birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice… until we get out.
Much has happened since we handed over our voice: [read on...]
When bad dogs won't fight, there's one man who's your best friend.
mikey: ...and I said "What about Breakfast at Tiffany's"? She said "I think I remember that film."