AUBURN, Calif. - A 3-pound Chihuahua mix named Tink helped police bag their chalupa.
The pint-sized McGruffs Christmas Day adventure began when four suspects on the run from the cops crashed a stolen minivan in the plucky poochs neighborhood. One of the suspected car thieves bolted on foot.
Tink, a Pomeranian and Chihuahua mix - but no skittish lapdog - sniffed out one man under a neighbors motor home and chased him into the woods, said proud owner Wendy Anderson.
Her son and husband then directed a law enforcement helicopter to where the 20-year-old suspect was hiding.
The Chihuahua gave him up, California Highway Patrol officer Jeff Herbert confirmed. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
12/29/2007 13:23 ||
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I can't decide if Fred needs to be the first one in line for this or the US military.
In what sounds like a dream for millions of tired coffee drinkers, Darpa-funded scientists might have found a drug that will eliminate sleepiness. A nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests. The discovery's first application will probably be in treatment of the severe sleep disorder narcolepsy.
The treatment is "a totally new route for increasing arousal, and the new study shows it to be relatively benign," said Jerome Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA and a co-author of the paper. "It reduces sleepiness without causing edginess."
#4
So with a little nasal spray and a handful of meth I could pretty much stay up forever? I foresee some seriously long online gaming marathons in the not too distant future.
#5
I beleive that sleep is essential for proper learning. If you are not learning anything then it probably won't do much harm, however students will have problems if they use this drug.
President Bush may soon have a new reason to avoid left-leaning Vermont: In one town, activists want him subject to arrest for war crimes. Reason #1 being that the water supply is apparently contaminated by lead.
A group in Brattleboro is petitioning to put an item on a town meeting agenda in March that would make Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney subject to arrest and indictment if they visit the southeastern Vermont community. Dang. How's he going to get his work done now?
"This petition is as radical as the Declaration of Independence, and it draws on that tradition in claiming a universal jurisdiction when governments fail to do what they're supposed to do," said Kurt Daims, 54, a retired machinist leading the drive. It may be as radical, but it is not as sane.
As president, Bush has visited every state except Vermont. He's not ignoring you. In fact, upon hearing this news, he has just directed the Navy to design a new inflatable warship, the Vermont Class Dinghy, the magnitude of which will surely stun any sane observer.
The town meeting, an annual exercise in which residents gather to vote on everything from fire department budgets to municipal policy, requires about 1,000 signatures to place a binding item on the agenda. With this kind of notoriety, it should fetch a pretty good size bid on ebay.
The measure asks: "Shall the Selectboard instruct the Town Attorney to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution, and publish said indictment for consideration by other municipalities?" Careful, the federal government might counter by making stupidity a crime.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. The press office did not immediately respond to an e-mail. Yeah, the press secretary is still trying to compose a straight face.
Support for the measure is far from universal, even in Vermont, where the state Senate voted earlier this year to support impeaching the president. Anti-war rallies are regular occurrences here, and "Impeach Bush" bumper stickers are common. Must not have cable TV.
"I would not be supportive of it," said Stephen Steidle, a member of the town's Selectboard, which oversees its government. Hmm. Must have graduated from high school.
"It's well outside of our ability. From my perspective, the Brattleboro Selectboard needs to focus on the town and the things that need to be done here." Now there's some radical thinking.
Daims has been circulating documents that claim the community acquires a "universal jurisdiction" to take such steps "when governments breach their highest duties." Huh? Did you mean to say radical, or LSD-induced?
"We have the full power to issue indictments, conduct trials, incarcerate offenders and do all other acts which Independent jurisdictions may of right do," the statement says. And if your landlord pi$$es you off by knocking on your door, do you declare yourself to be an Independent jurisdiction and go after him, too?
Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell, a Democrat whose office has repeatedly sued the Bush administration over environmental issues, said the move was "of very dubious legality." Note Vermonters: This is diplo-speak for "you have lost your last marble".
"I have not seen the proposal, and I've done no legal research on any of the issues nor do I need to," Sorrell said. "But at first blush, if this passed, they'd have really uphill sledding trying to have it be legal and enforceable." Besides, they'd have to deal with the wrath of the Black Presidential SUVs, which could very well lay waste to the town's entire law enforcement system without much trouble.
Not gonna be much sledding (or any hills, for that matter!) after the evil Chainey sends his personal fleet of bulldozers and war zeppelins to straighten this out.
#3
just for grins, we need a squadron of unmarked black helicopters to make a couple runs over the town, hovering over Daims' home with spotlights.... just a couple days of that should really knot their panties
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/29/2007 10:14 Comments ||
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#4
If I was up there I would vote for this. Then I would demand that it be made mandatory that every dime of the city's budget be thrown in to the effort. No cops, no teachers, no trash pickup, no fire protection, NOTHING until the evil scourge of Bush/Cheney is eliminated from the face of the earth.
Put your money where ya mouths are, ya fuckin dirty hippies...
#5
Vermont is my home state. I live here by choice. That said, Vermont is odd. In the parking lot of the company I work for, it is not uncommon to see bumper stickers like the one noted above sharing bumper space with an NRA decal. Dichotomies abound. At the range, apparent rednecks swap load data with apparent hippies. It is a free carry, concealed carry state, so radical in its gun laws (there basically aren't any to speak of, other than "don't do bad things" and "no silencers" and "no loaded shotguns or rifles in the front seat") that no other state (except maybe Alaska) has any reciprocity with Vermont. You want to talk to the head of the State Police? Call him, he'll answer immediately. Nice guy too. You can call the State Attorney General as well, and he will answer; nice guy, too. Dichotomies. Really, really old Yankee.
Brattleboro is a looney bin, IMHO. Most of the rest of the state would agree. The Brattleboro police suffer (somewhat) silently. Pity them. Or, buy them a beer when you can (my preferred course of action). They will accept.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/29/2007 10:31 Comments ||
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#6
Hey WM didn't B'boro get overrun by the dregs to the south? I'm down in MA and this sounds like something out of Amherst or the PRoC.
Take this earnest query from a self-described "potter" from Exeter: "I've had a U.N. flag flying from my front porch since the beginning of the war. It pains me to think of how our respect for the United Nations has been drained away in these years under the current administration. I want to know what you would do to restore our respect as a country for the United Nations and the United Nations' respect for America?"
#9
Fine. I'll get a similar law passed here in Vidalia, but naming Kurt Daims as a traitor to the United States. We'll award ourselves universal jurisdiction too, then go out there, arrest the bastard, and all 1000 co-signers as co-conspirators, haul their pimply yankee asses back here, and get to work.
I am sick and tired of jackass SOBs who think they can change the rules of the game while thinking we'll abide by the old rules. Betcha they'll whine "it's not fair!" quicker than a second grader when faced with a 20 gauge "Back At'cha!".
#11
AlanC: Yes, I think you're probably right. Kind of an influx from Amherst, Greenfield and North Hampton at a guess. Same types. There are some good people in western Mass, but the commie-types tend to flock together.
I like the idea of the "right back at'cha", they'll be dumbfounded.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/29/2007 15:47 Comments ||
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#12
The measure asks: "Shall the Selectboard instruct the Town Attorney to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution, and publish said indictment for consideration by other municipalities?"
The hippies need to read the Constitution themselves. Note that they do not ask the Selectboard to instruct its attorneys to seek an indictment from a legitimate court, they ask it to draft an indictment and present it other municipalities, that is, other legislative bodies.
The measure they request is a Bill of Attainder, a declaration of guilt by a legislative body, and specifically forbidden by Article I, Section 9; Clause 3:
"No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed."
The Constitution of every state also forbids bills of attainder.
Posted by: Gromomble Oppressor of the Iowans8916 ||
12/29/2007 15:52 Comments ||
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#13
The population of VT has shifted from manure shovelers to manure packers in a single generation.
Posted by: regular joe ||
12/29/2007 15:54 Comments ||
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#14
If Kurt Daims is named a traitor, I can still shoot him legally because of the oath I swore.
The question is, are you man enough for Hello Kitty? AP:
The cute cuddly white cat from Japans Sanrio Co., usually seen on toys and jewelry for girls and young women, will soon don T-shirts, bags, watches and other products targeting young men, company spokesman Kazuo Tohmatsu said Friday.
We think Hello Kitty is accepted by young men as a design statement in fashion, he said.
The feline for-men products will go on sale in Japan next month, and will be sold soon in the U.S. and other Asian nations, according to Sanrio. . . .
A more rugged, edgy, masculine Hello Kitty. I could see that. Though having some passing familiarity with Asian male T-shirt design preferences, I wasnt aware cuteness was a barrier.
I told Jim, the production editor, You know what this means. If youre secure enough in your masculinity, you can go ahead and start wearing the original cute bubble-headed Hello Kitty.
Im not, said Jim.
Yeah, me either.
As bad as this is, it could be worse, you know. Much worse.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/29/2007 13:12 ||
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#1
Finally! I am sooo tired of getting those kind of looks when I take my Hello Kitty laptop to the library.
And it's blue-on-blue on the playing fields of Blighty.
Boys should be allowed to play with toy weapons at nursery, according to government advice that contradicts guidance from police and teachers. Police and teachers - what do they have in common?
Ministers do not mention toy guns specifically but they claim that some form of weapons play could help to engage boys in education. However, teachers said that the guidance, published today, had no basis in educational practice, could encourage aggression among pupils and would anger and confuse parents.
Children have been suspended from school previously, or even arrested, when caught playing with toy guns.
The advice, from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, says that nursery staff should ignore their natural instinct to stop young boys playing games with weapons. It says that such activities can help to engage them.
Boys begin falling behind girls in education before they have even started school and the Government is desperate to tackle this pattern. Its guidance says: Images and ideas gleaned from the media are common starting points in boys play and may involve characters with special powers or weapons. Adults can find this type of play particularly challenging and have a natural instinct to stop it. Creating situations so that boys interests in these forms of play can be fostered through healthy and safe risk-taking will enhance every aspect of their learning and development.
The advice, Confident, Capable and Creative: Supporting Boys Achievements, was drawn up to help to raise boys educational achievement by creating the right conditions for boys learning before they start primary school. The document says: Sometimes practitioners find the chosen play of boys more difficult to understand and value than that of girls. [Stopping it] is not necessary as long as practitioners help the boys to understand and respect the rights of other children and to take responsibility for the resources and environment.
Two years ago one chief constable called for a ban on parents buying toy guns for their children. Michael Todd said that 70 per cent of incidents attended by Greater Manchester Polices armed response unit turned out to be children with replica guns.
Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teachers union, said that parents could be confused or annoyed if their children were allowed to play with toy guns at school or nursery. She said: There could be concern that it goes against the values they want to establish in the home. It doesnt seem to have any basis in educational practice.
Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: The real problem with weapons is that they symbolise aggression. The toy gun is often accompanied by aggression. We do need to ensure, whether the playing is rumbustious or not, that there is a respect for your peers, however young they are.
Beverley Hughes, the Childrens Minister, defended the advice, saying that it did not refer specifically to toy guns. She said: It takes a common-sense approach to the fact that many children, and perhaps particularly many boys, like boisterous physical activity. The guidance also impresses upon staff the need to teach children that they must respect one another and that harming another person in the real world is not acceptable.
#1
Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Leftits Teachers, said: The real problem with weapons is that they symbolise aggression. The toy gun is often accompanied by aggression. We do need to ensure, whether the playing is rumbustious or not, that there is a respect for your peers, however young they are.
The problem is not toy weapons. Boys of my generation had alot if respect for their peers and played a lot with toy waepns. I still remember the pair of real-sized revolvers I won at a raffle (515 was the winning number). But we had positive models: cowboys who confronted bullies, cops (who were still not the cyniacl corrupt ones from the movies you favour) aressting criminals and last but not least allied soldiers fighting that incarnation of antechrist who was Nazism. We learned that man must fight evil, that thios will noty just go away if you shut your eyes and to hope one day we would be lucky enough to fight for the widow and the orphan
while you the oh so; enlightened british teachers and the oh so enlightened British police teach to your pupils and your citizens that they should cooperate with burglas to avoid angering tem, tell them where is the money, opmen the safe and, you didn't dare to tell it explicitly but I am sure you were tempted, the victim should help them opening the legs of his wife in case they want to have a bit of fun. And you instilled in your pupils, you gave them as role models who would help destroying their sense of decency: pot-smoking actors, punk and rap values and criminals were no longer considered repulsive but poor victims of the eeeeeeevil western society while the sufering of the victims were either ignored or you told they had it coming.
In order to make better more decent men of British boys the solution is not to ban toy weapons, the solution is to massively fire British teachers.
#2
JFM, you rule. I wish I could add to that, but I can't.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/29/2007 7:31 Comments ||
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Police and teachers - what do they have in common?
Besides hating guns [in other people's hands]. Generally, a fascist's mentality of a dominating central government imposed paradise determined by their peers. POWER, but only in the hands of the "right" people. SUBSERVIENT fellow 'citizens' that act robotic in response to their declarations. You serve the state, the state doesn't serve you.
#4
The problem is not toy weapons. Boys of my generation had alot if respect for their peers and played a lot with toy waepns. ... But we had positive models: cowboys who confronted bullies, cops (who were still not the cyniacl corrupt ones from the movies you favour) aressting criminals and last but not least allied soldiers fighting that incarnation of antechrist who was Nazism. We learned that man must fight evil, that this will not just go away if you shut your eyes and to hope one day we would be lucky enough to fight for the widow and the orphan ...
Simply outstanding, JFM.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2007 12:29 Comments ||
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GARLAND, Texas - An essay that won a 6-year-old girl four tickets to a Hannah Montana concert began with the powerful line: "My daddy died this year in Iraq."
While gripping, it was not true and now the girl may lose her tickets after her mom acknowledged to contest organizers it was all a lie.
The sponsor of the contest was Club Libby Lu, a Chicago-based store that sells clothes, accessories and games intended for young girls.
The saga began Friday with company officials surprising the girl at a Club Libby Lu at a mall in suburban Garland, about 20 miles northeast of Dallas. The girl won a makeover that included a blonde Hannah Montana wig, as well as the grand prize: airfare for four to Albany, N.Y., and four tickets to the sold-out Hannah Montana concert on Jan. 9.
The mother had told company officials that the girl's father died April 17 in a roadside bombing in Iraq, company spokeswoman Robyn Caulfield said.
"We did the essay and that's what we did to win," Priscilla Ceballos, the mother, said in an interview with Dallas TV station KDFW. "We did whatever we could do to win."
She had identified the soldier as Sgt. Jonathon Menjivar, but the Department of Defense has no record of anyone with that name dying in Iraq. Caulfield said the mother has admitted to the deception.
"We regret that the original intent of the contest, which was to make a little girl's holiday extra special, has not been realized in the way we anticipated," said Mary Drolet, the CEO of Club Libby Lu.
Drolet said the company is reviewing the matter, and is considering taking away the girl's tickets. Here's to that "Texas Cheerleader Mother of the Year" mom.
#2
"he died trying to save a puppy from being run over by a Bradley, driven by a maniacal Private, Scott Thomas Beauchamp. You could look it up in The New Republic"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/29/2007 10:07 Comments ||
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Drolet said the company is reviewing the matter, and is considering taking away the girl's tickets.
NORTHAMPTON - Northampton police have arrested a man in connection with a string of flag burnings around western Massachusetts. Sixty-five-year-old Douglas Wight was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon and charged with trespassing and defacing personal property.
A 5-by-9 foot American flag that hung from a birch tree outside of a home on Bridge Street in Northampton was reduced to ashes Friday night. A typewritten note left at the home and signed by the "American Patriot Liberation Front" claimed the United States was oppressing millions of people around the world.
Similar incidents were reported in Palmer, Greenfield and Amherst. Investigators allege that a search of Wights truck turned up items connected to the flag burnings, including a copy of the "Liberation Front" letter.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Please hang Mr. Wight from.... that birch tree on Bridge Street in Northampton.
#2
Just to keep the evil ACLU off of this case, what they should do is simply charge the guy with however many counts of malicious destruction of property are equal to the number of flags he burned, give him the maximum sentence for each, and have them served consecutively instead of simultaneously. That will keep him in jail for maximum time and "free speech" issues don't enter into things.
Of course, seeing that it happened in Massachusetts, he'll probably get a week of probation.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/29/2007 7:35 Comments ||
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#3
Dear Doug,
No doubt high school Civics was a long time ago for you but try to follow along: burning a flag is political speech protected by all that wordy stuff in the Bill of Rights, but only if it is YOUR flag. Otherwise, the act is merely petty vandalism.
We note in passing that protesting government oppression by flag burning will get you tossed in the pokey or worse in countries that actually have oppresive governments. However, since that involves irony - a subject from Lit class - forget we ever mentioned it.
#4
Northampton has a lot of released-on-their-own- recognizance mental patients as well as a lot of burned out hippies. Very difficult to distinguish between the two. WMass homes are mostly 19th century tinderboxes so this flag burning exercise could end very badly -- a hate crime like church burning -- not that this obvious link will be entertained in Happy Valley.
Posted by: regular joe ||
12/29/2007 9:52 Comments ||
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#5
Ah, yes, The Pioneer Valley. The Land That Time Forgot...
Posted by: regular joe ||
12/29/2007 15:49 Comments ||
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#9
See, he should have tried this in Texas. Had he done so in Texas, his 'free speech' rights would have run across that quaint Texas legal situation involving strangers, guns and private property.
"It's my right to bu-"
*BANG*
"What was he saying when I shot him Mildred?"
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
