Once you’re under her spell
Things ain’t gonna end well
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (AP) — Police may have ignored a warning years ago that a woman with five dead spouses was trying to hire a hit man to kill one of the men, investigators in North Carolina said Monday.
Authorities charged 76-year-old Betty Neumar last month with one count of solicitation of murder in the July 1986 death of Harold Gentry.
…Neumar has been married five times since the 1950s, but each union ended with the death of her husband. Investigators are urging police elsewhere to look into those deaths.
Every public group of people has one. Well, at least every random group of commuters into Manhattan that I’ve ever been a part of does. Along with Young Intense Guy and Cranky Immigrant Guy and Shriveled Old Lady there’s always Chatty Old Guy.
You know the one. The slow moving guy with the bright eyes and the perpetual half-smile who always says “good morning;” who always has a story about the weather or the grandkids or a gentle kvetch about the latest fare hike or gas price. The COG helps you kill the time until the bus shows up and everyone settles in their own private Idaho for the trip into the city.
This morning was no different. SOL was trying to figure out if the $5 increase on the weekly ticket meant she should be bold and buy a monthly ticket. She should, of course, as buying four weekly tickets costs about 20% more than buying a monthly…but this would be a change, and that’s something that SOLs avoid if at all possible. CIG was complaining about how hot it was at his job site, and as he’s a welder on a construction project I can only imagine how hot it really gets for him.
COG arrived and worked the crowd as usual, saying his “good mornings” and “boy that breeze feels nice-s” before taking his place in line with the other five or six of us. He told SOL a story in a somewhat louder than usual voice, and it was a bit more risque than his usual offerings as well, but it was interesting none the less and the few minutes awaiting the bus passed not disagreeably.
I settled in to my usual seat against the window, CIG a few rows behind me, COG and YIG more or less catty corner across the aisle and SOL in front of them in her usual place of honor in the front row. I dozed on and off for the next few minutes as we made our last stop before the run into the city, and the bus filled with its usual assortment of construction workers and early-rising office types like myself.
As we trundled up the Parkway I kept hearing a rather loud voice…COG. It was odd. He had never done this in the six or seven weeks I’d been riding the bus with him. He was fidgeting about, kicking the seat in front of him, talking aloud to no one in particular, repeating the same story over and over, grabbing the back of his head, wincing in obvious pain and dropping the occasional F-Bomb. SOL started repeatedly asking him if he was ok, and his half muttered “yes” convinced none of us. She got the driver’s attention, and he was our normal driver and thus knew COG well, and he became concerned to the point where he pulled the bus to the side of the road right past the tolls on the entrance to the Turnpike and called for State Police and an ambulance. COG was not right, not well, not at all.
Within five minutes the next bus came and took most of us, myself included, to continue on in to the city. As we exited the bus some of the other passengers offered their diagnoses to the driver: “stroke” and “brain embolism” and “cranial bleeding” were some of the phrases I heard uttered as we changed from one bus to another amidst the blank stares of those folks on the second bus who knew only that some trouble of ours had inconvenienced them. We drove off into the rising hot June sun, leaving our original driver and COG alone to face what ever demons were tormenting him on that sad Friday the 13th morning.
I never learned his name.
I hope to see him again.
ZING.
A 22-gun British warship that sank during the American Revolution and has long been regarded as one of the “Holy Grail” shipwrecks in the Great Lakes has been discovered at the bottom of Lake Ontario, astonishingly well-preserved in the cold, deep water, explorers announced Friday.
Shipwreck enthusiasts Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville used side-scanning sonar and an unmanned submersible to locate the HMS Ontario, which was lost with barely a trace and as many as 130 people aboard during a gale in 1780.
The 80-foot sloop of war is the oldest shipwreck and the only fully intact British warship ever found in the Great Lakes, Scoville and Kennard said.
…on the News Hour last night. Alongside the Obamania platitudes, some surprising observations surfaced from the global participants :
…JUDY WOODRUFF: And in the Middle East, Hisham Melhem, he’s certainly — John McCain is certainly known as someone who supports strongly the Bush administration in the war.
HISHAM MELHEM: Absolutely. He’s a hawk on Iraq; he’s a hawk on Iran; he’s a hawk on the Arab-Israeli conflict; he’s a strong supporter of Israel. So, in that sense, he’s a known quantity. I mean, he’s known.
At the same time, those who are concerned in the Arab world about the rise of a more belligerent Iran, those who are concerned about the rise of the Islamist movement, some in Lebanon who are concerned about Syria’s continuing role, negative role in Lebanon, would like to see John McCain to keep the fire under the foot of the Iranians and the Islamists in the region.
So they are somewhat conflicted. And as far as Obama, some people are saying, well, there’s a perception that he may not be tough enough. And they wonder, will he have the steel and the depth and determination of Abe Lincoln or is he going to be sanctimonious like Jimmy Carter?
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Nayan Chanda, a final word about McCain and how he’s seen?
NAYAN CHANDA: McCain is, as our previous speakers said, I think McCain is a known character and he’s known as being very tough on security policy, so the Chinese ought to be concerned about McCain’s tough line on security policy.
But on the other hand, in India, McCain is viewed with favor, because he is known to have supported the Indo-U.S. civil nuclear agreement. And in India, there is actually concern, because, although Obama signed on to the legislation supporting the civil agreement, Obama has shown some ambivalence and concern about the impact of the civilian nuclear agreement on nonproliferation.
And so while Indians overall favor Obama, there is concern about Obama coming to power and perhaps not following through the civil agreement that India and the U.S. has signed.
Excluding the Euroweenies as a given…
… I would have to say the ‘balls’ category was Maverick’s, game, set, match.
…my Illudium Pu-36 Explosive Space Modulator?!?!?
A Lakeland man has been arrested after authorities say he had a fake rocket launcher and a fake rocket projectile among his weapons arsenal.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office says Hiram Angus Melvin was charged Wednesday with possession of…
a hoax weapon of mass destruction…
That’s a whole new felony category to me, but my plastic Pu-36?
Outta my cold, dead fingers, guys…
He gives the Goreacle a thumping.
…If Al Gore and his global warming scare dictates the future policy of our governments, the current economic downturn could indeed become a recession, drift into a depression and our modern civilization could fall into an abyss. And it would largely be a direct result of the global warming frenzy.
My mission, in what is left of a long and exciting lifetime, is to stamp out this Global Warming silliness and let all of us get on with enjoying our lives and loving our planet, Earth.
Yet another millionaire carpetbagger mulls tossing his hat into our ring
It’s a hot topic in Republican political and fund-raising circles: CNN’s Lou Dobbs is thinking of running for governor of New Jersey.
Several well-connected Republicans say they’ve heard the buzz that Dobbs, famous for his sharp commentary about Washington policies and politics, may be turning his sights on Trenton and has inquired about the steps necessary to start a campaign.
Reached by telephone Wednesday at his home — a 300-acre horse farm in Wantage, Sussex County — Dobbs would not say whether he has any such plans. Asked if he wanted to deny it, Dobbs said, “I’m just not going to comment.”
It’s an outrage!
CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. corn futures soared more than 4 percent to a fresh record high for the fifth consecutive trading session on Wednesday as flooding expanded in the U.S. Midwest, harming the 2008 corn crop.
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“There’s still no indication that we’re getting ready to change this pattern. Concerns continue from planting issues to emergence to crop development,” Mike Palmerino, forecaster for DTN Meteorlogix, said.
Corn prices on the Chicago Board of Trade have surged 80 percent over the past year, with nearly 17 percent of that tacked on just this month.
What will Obama do to help drinkers?
It’s gobschmacked I am. Shock and awe.
Report: Troubling texts at Va. Islamic school
The books say it’s OK for Muslims to kill adulterers and converts
McLEAN, Va. – Textbooks at a private Islamic school in northern Virginia teach students that it is permissible for Muslims to kill adulterers and converts from Islam, according to a federal investigation released Wednesday.
Other passages in the school’s textbooks state that “the Jews conspired against Islam and its people” and that Muslims are permitted to take the lives and property of those deemed “polytheists.”
The passages were found in selected textbooks used during the 2007-08 school year by the Islamic Saudi Academy, which teaches 900 students in grades K-12 at two campuses in Alexandria and Fairfax and receives much of its funding from the Saudi government.
…The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a panel formed by Congress, last year recommended that the school be closed amid concerns that it promotes violence and too closely mimics the conservative Saudi educational system.
I mean, get the f*ck out, even! The ingratitude of it all.
We need more understanding, subterfuge, submission, repression, virgins, burquas and bombers to go with that oily, ignorant bunch of seventh century misogynists. Imagine all the gas we’ll conserve if we go to their schools HERE. Think green!!
…for a reason
A girl of 12 brought up by her parents on a strict vegan diet has been admitted to hospital with a degenerative bone condition said to have left her with the spine of an 80-year-old.
Doctors are under pressure to report the couple, from Glasgow, to police and social workers amid concerns her health and welfare may have been neglected in pursuit of their beliefs.
The youngster, fed on a strict meat- and dairy-free diet from birth, is being treated at the city’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children. She is said to have a severe form of rickets and to have suffered a number of fractured bones. The condition is caused by a lack of vitamin D, which is needed to absorb calcium and is found in liver, oily fish and dairy produce.
Dr Faisal Ahmed, the consultant treating the child, said he believed the dangers of forcing children to follow a strict vegan diet needed to be highlighted. “Something like this needs publicity,” he said. However, he refused to blame the parents, who are understood to be well-known figures in Glasgow’s vegan community: “We shouldn’t name and shame \. Mum feels guilty about the whole thing and feels bad about it.”
Tough poop about how poor “mum” feels; what about the girl? I’m sure this fine doctor wouldn’t hesitate to name the parents if they had done something truly outrageous, like say spanking her instead. As my Bride just commented, parents who place their ideology ahead of the well-being of their children deserve public scorn…and constant visits from the Child Welfare Agencies.
(h/t to HotAir)
…dolls.
A jury will learn that the creator of the popular Bratz doll erased files from his computer two days before handing it over as evidence in a federal trademark infringement lawsuit filed by Mattel Inc , a judge in California ruled on Tuesday.
Mattel has sued family-owned MGA, claiming it owns the original Bratz concept drawings and that doll’s creator, Carter Bryant made them and other Bratz drawings and models while he was under contract to Mattel as a Barbie designer.
Mattel contends that MGA poached Bryant to shore up sagging toy offerings, then tried to hide the connection when Bratz became a runaway hit in 2001.
I’d sure want my six year old dressing like that.
And they are so proud of their British traditions and heritage that they’ve spent an astronomical amount promoting the holiday.
Or not
They were happy to fly the flag of St George on the patron saint’s day.
But it seems ministers aren’t quite so keen to put their money where their mouths are.
For, in the past five years, Labour has spent just £230 promoting St George’s Day.
In 2008 they spent £116. In 2007, £114… and in the previous three years, nothing was spent at all.
I wonder how much the Dept. of Culture spent on education and sensitivity training for their employees?
Hell, I wonder how much they spent on paper clips.
That would make life rather…messy, wouldn’t it?
The Russians undermined Opec’s attempts to talk down the oil market yesterday by warning that crude prices could almost double to $250 a barrel within 18 months.
The prediction from Alexey Miller, chairman of Gazprom, came as the price of oil leaped $2.75 to $137.10 a barrel even though Opec insisted everyone was already “panicking” unnecessarily and stressed there were no shortages.
…Analysts said the latest Russian energy estimates were hard to support and noted they were not backed up with specified research data. “It’s crazy… maybe they know something we don’t,” said one. Abdullah al-Badri, the secretary general of Opec, had earlier appealed for calm. “Really we need some calm. We are panicking too much,” Badri told a global energy summit. “The situation is unbearable as far as we are concerned. I want to say, there is no shortage now and in the future.”
Yes, yes, it really must be unbearable for your, poor Abdullah. I mean, just what the hell do you do with all those dollars? I certainly would be quite flummoxed if my income doubled in a year.
That executive corpse is worth a buttload.
You still can’t take it with you. But some executives have arranged for the next best thing: huge corporate payouts to their heirs if they die in office.
Take Eugene Isenberg, the 78-year-old chief executive of Nabors Industries Ltd. If Mr. Isenberg died tomorrow, Nabors would owe his estate a “severance” payment of at least $263.6 million, company filings show. That’s more than the first-quarter earnings at the Houston oil-service company.
I keep wondering what I have to do to score of these gigs. Maybe be a Corzine girlfriend or sumpthin’, eh?
Straight from major dad’s mailbag:
The Post Turtle
While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old Texas rancher whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Obama and his bid to be our President.
The old rancher said, ‘Well, ya know, Obama is a post turtle.’ Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a post turtle’ was. The old rancher said, ‘When you’re driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that’s a post turtle.’
The old rancher saw a puzzled look on the doctor’s face, so he continued to explain. ‘You know he didn’t get up there by himself, he doesn’t belong up there, he doesn’t know what to do while he is up there, and you just wonder what kind of idiots put him up there to begin with.’
Man, I can hear the backlash now:
“Bitter rednecked bigots got Obama as a dull REPTILE on a dumb POST!!!!“
Damning, inflammatory stuff.
Being a curious type, I wondered if “post turtle” was a commonly used expression based on regular events in pastures. It appears to have some basis in fact, according to my earnest Google research ~ they even have pictures. Behold the first “post turtle“:
So I’m, er, going to keep on hiding
TRENTON — New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine says the dispute over his e-mails
will go all the way to the state Supreme Court.
Corzine, speaking Tuesday on WOR radio, predicted the fight will go the high court no matter who prevails at the appellate level.
A Superior Court judge has ordered Corzine to release e-mails he and his staff
exchanged with a state worker union leader Corzine once dated.
“Once dated” being defined in this case as, well, peruse the time line yourself. Some estimates are that he’s given her at least $6 million. But really, nothing to see here folks. Move right along.
…else to do.
Antarctica base gets 16,500 condoms before darkness
One of the last shipments to a U.S. research base in Antarctica before the onset of winter darkness was a year’s supply of condoms, a New Zealand newspaper reported Monday.
Bill Henriksen, the manager of the McMurdo base station, said nearly 16,500 condoms were delivered last month and would be made available, free of charge, to staff throughout the year to avoid the potential embarrassment of having to buy them.
The base only has a skeleton staff through the long winter.
I guess that explains “boner”…
–A giddy Antarctic scientist learns of the condom delivery, leaps for joy and chants the Explorer’s Theme: What happens in McMurdo stays in McMurdo!
…is obviously at hand.
Hertz Slashes Refueling Prices: Pay Pump Prices or Less; No Need to Worry About Refilling the Tank
…Under the new program — which goes into effect for rentals commencing July 1, 2008 at all corporate and participating licensee airport and off-airport locations in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas — both the Hertz Fuel & Service Charge (FSC) and the Fuel Purchase Option (FPO) will reflect new, lower pricing bases upon the average price per gallon as set by the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) in the geographical area where the car is rented. The Hertz FSC — for customers who don’t refill the fuel tank before returning the rental vehicle and elect the option of then having Hertz refuel the vehicle — will be based upon local market fuel prices, plus a one-time Refueling Fee of $6.99. The FPO — for customers who elect the option to purchase a tank of gas at the outset of the rental — will reflect local market fuel prices minus a small discount of approximately $0.15 per gallon.
Well, actually, it’s taxpayers’ money
The BBC paid expenses to a disgraced academic who has pestered families bereaved by the 7/7 bombs, claiming the attacks were an intelligence agency plot.
Nicholas Kollerstrom was recompensed by the corporation for his part in Conspiracy Files, a documentary about theories surrounding the terrorist outrage.
He has admitted he phoned the father of one victim to tell him how he believed the man’s daughter’s body had been planted at the site of the Tavistock Square bus bombing.
What a goddamned scumbag.
Dr Kollerstrom believes the four bombers who murdered 52 people almost three years ago were ‘innocent patsies’, set up by a combination of the British, US and Israeli secret services.
Ah yes, those darn jooooos and their cabals.
Obviously he was carefully vetted by the BBC’s crack research staff, who were most impressed by this bit of his resume:
Dr Kollerstrom was last month stripped of an honorary research fellowship at University College London after it emerged he had written a paper entitled The Auschwitz “Gas Chamber” Illusion on a far-Right website – claiming it was like a holiday camp where inmates sunned themselves by an ‘elegant’ swimming pool and listened to orchestras.
What a vile piece of excrement. I am so disgusted by this “Oh I’m not agreeing with the terrorists but I’m only raising questions because we just don’t know.
Dr Kollerstrom denied he was harassing the bombers’ victims but admitted he was wrong to phone the father of one victim who died at Tavistock Square, to explore his theory that the victim may not have been on the No 30 bus at all.
The ex-academic said: ‘It was wrong to do that but somebody urged me to do it because they said it was vital information. I raised the question ‘”was she on the bus?” and the family were very upset because they are convinced she was on the bus… I just don’t know.
‘It is a possibility this victim was not on the bus and her body was placed besides the wreckage at a later time.’
What weasel crap. Pure and unfiltered.
But I’m having trouble determining what’s the former and which qualifies as the latter.
Report: Maryland Textbooks on Islamic Teachings Dumbed Down
A textbook monitoring group said that Maryland middle and high school students will be required to read about Islamic teachings that have been dumbed down and are products of political correctness.
According to the New York Examiner, a new report issued by the American Textbook Council said that administrators who approved books for use in the Montgomery County school district caved into pressure by pro-Islamic groups seeking to present a less violent interpretation of Islam.
So I’ll settle for the whole frickin’ thing being about as ridiculous as…well…most ANYTHING ridiculous I could think of.
…is shutting the mill
The owner of a mill which produced 95% of all Harris Tweed has ceased production for the rest of the year.
Brian Haggas told the BBC he would make no more tweed until the end of the year, depending on demand.
The decision raises doubts about the future of his remaining 40 staff and 130 weavers who depended on the mill on Lewis for their livelihood.
The weavers said the situation had never been so bleak and fear many of them will have to leave the industry.
Cloth produced at the former Kenneth Mackenzie mill has gone into making tweed jackets.
With close on 70,000 jackets now ready, Mr Haggas said he would not weave any more cloth until the end of the year.
The prices have just gotten crazy on this stuff, so I’m not surprised that sales are slow.
And I have to say, having a staff of 40 in addition to 130 weavers seems a bit top-heavy from an overhead point of view.
A rather tasty and cheap wine from Chile
The Concha y Toro Casillero del Diablo Carmenere 2006
Carmenere is one of the original Bordeaux grapes which has in fact nearly completely disappeared from Bordeaux thanks to the philoxera problems that started in the 19th century, and it was only relatively recently re-discovered in Chile where it is thriving. A deep deep purple wine, this has soft tannins and loads of cherry and blueberry fruit with just a slight bite at the finish. For $9 it’s well worth the price.
Life | Mr. Bingley | 
June 16, 2008 1:27 pm | 
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