Pirate1974

I don't think I've ever read anything more disturbing in my life than the transcript of Andrea Yayes confession. It gives you cold chills to hear her say how she fed the children cereal for breakfast that morning and then started drowning them one by one, how she called the oldest child into the bathroom so he could see his little sister dead, how he ran and she had to chase him, how she killed them because they weren't "developing correctly." Horrible. Its impossible to comprehend how somebody could do such a thing, especially to their own child. Randy Yates blames shoddy medical treatment that allowed his wife to reach that point, but he never even sought medical help until she tried to kill herself with an overdose of pills two years before she killed the children. This was a woman who says she had thoughts of killing her first child right after he was born, who believed that Satan could only be defeated by George W. Bush, who believed cartoon characters were speaking to her, who thought the number 666 was marked on her head, who thought she was receiving messages from a character in "O, Brother, Where Art Thou," who was pulling her hair out to the point she had bald spots and scratching her arms and legs until they bled. And he claims he didn't know that this was a psychosis until she finally became suicidal. I doubt it. The thing that creeps me out about him is that he never seemed to be the least bit upset that his children were dead. You always heard him say that he supported his wife, that he still loved her, that he didn't blame her, but he barely mentioned the kids. Then he supported his wife on the day she was sentenced by going to New York to be interviewed by Katie Couric in the morning and then being on Larry King that night, where he took calls from people. Very nice. My personal opinion is that Andrea Yates should be locked up in a mental institution for the rest of her life. I don't see how she could ever be let out.

That costume designer is Phillip Morris who owns Morris Costumes here in Charlotte. He's made gorilla costumes used in the movies for years and he claims he sold one to Roger Patterson in 1967. Morris has been interviewed on local tv about this several times and he says he recognized "Bigfoot" as somebody wearing one of his gorilla costumes as soon as he saw the film the first time. He says the costume had been altered to give it longer arms and a little different face, but it was one of his. Supposedly, he's going to recreate the costume for this book.

I'm no fan of marching bands at all which is why I like Stanford's. Division 1AA has 121 schools, and they manage to have a playoff system that determines the national champion on the field, like it should be. Division 1 can't do the same thing with 117 schools? There's only one real reason that there is no playoff in Division 1 yet - money. Not too long ago a bowl invitation used to be the reward for having a great season. Teams had to win at least 8 games to even be considered. Now all a team has to do is win 6 games and they can be rewarded with a trip to Boise to play in the MPC Computers Bowl, or a trip to beautiful Detroit to play in the Motor City Bowl. The school picks up a nice check, gets some tv exposure, which helps recruiting, and, if they win, they can call themselves "bowl champions." No matter that there are 28 bowl games and every team except Akron that won 6 games got to go to one. The University of North Carolina finished 6-5, got blown out by Virginia and Utah and Louisville and Florida State and was rewarded with a trip 140 miles down I-85 to Charlotte to play in the Continental Tire Bowl, where they got blown out by Boston College. They got on tv, made a little money and probably consider their .500 season to be a success because they went to a bowl game. With a playoff, they would be sitting home where they belong. The NCAA basketball tournament has become one of the biggest events in sports, probably second only to the NFL playoffs. An NCAA football playoff might be bigger than the NFL. Division 1AA takes 16 teams for the playoffs. Using the final BCS standings to pick the top 16, just for the sake of argument, this could have been the first round of the playoffs this year: #16 Florida State at #1 USC #15 Tennessee at #2 Oklahoma #14 Miami at #3 Auburn #13 Michigan at #4 Texas #12 Iowa at #5 California #11 LSU at #6 Utah #10 Louisville at #7 Georgia #9 Boise State at #8 Virginia Tech Think those games might generate any interest? Might be a little better than 6-5 Minnesota playing 6-5 Alabama in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl or 6-5 Wyoming playing 6-5 UCLA in the Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl. Oh, well. Pardon my rant. It won't happen. The college presidents don't want it because they say the players will miss too much class time. Right. That doesn't seem to come up when they send basketball teams all over the country in March. What they'll miss is that payoff for having a mediocre season.

I thought Stanford had the best marching band in the nation. Too bad Southern Cal and Auburn can't play now. That might actually be a game. Division I football needs a playoff system. The BCS is a joke. Speaking of jokes, who ever told that Ashlee Simpson person she could sing? God, that was awful!

One hand. Two ducks. Three squawking geese. Four limerick oysters. Five corpulent porpoises. Six pairs of Don Alversos tweezers. Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array. Eight brass monkeys from the ancient sacred crypts of Egypt. Nine apathetic, sympathetic, diabetic old men on roller skates with a marked propensity towards procrastination and sloth. Ten lyrical, spherical, diabolical denizens of the deep who haul, stall around the corner of the quo, of the quay, of the quivey all at the same time! The idea is supposed to be to say it all without taking a breath. I heard one time that it was originally an exercise for radio announcers.

Here's a sampling of the predictions for 2005: Bigfoot will be captured and "classified." Bigfoot is always a popular subject on Art's show. Russian forces will invade Alaska. Since it didn't blow up in 2004, let's invade it. Canadian citizens will rally to become part of the U.S. Not likely. Islamic terrorists will take over the government of Saudi Arabia. Possible. Terrorists will release a virus in New York City. A computer virus? The Ark of the Covenant will be discovered. By a Dr. Jones, no doubt. A disease will cause red armpits all over the U.S. Yuck.

Aren't there any other Cub Scout leaders here that know this?

At the end of every year, radio host Art Bell invites folks who believe they have psychic powers to make predictions for the coming year. If you don't know Art Bell, his guests and callers tend to be a little different. Folks who claim they've visited Venus or had Venusians visit them or they were Alexander the Great in a past life or they've talked to Jesus on the phone or they have regular out-of-body experiences or the ghost of Abraham Lincoln lives in their house. Folks the rest of the world might think are just a little odd. In most markets, he's on from midnight to 4:00 AM or 1:00 AM to 5:00 AM, a time period which really brings out the borderline loonies. Let's take a look at some of the predictions for 2004 and see how they came out: Bigfoot will be captured. or Bigfoot will be struck by a car on an Arizona highway and will show up at a local hospital. Wrong and wronger, but #2 certainly shows imagination. The Pope will pass away during Lent and the new Pope will be black. Wrong. A giant asteroid will hit the Earth. I don't think so. If this had happened, we probably would have heard about it. Evidence of an ancient civilization will be discovered on Mars. Nope. Huge bombs will be detonated in 12 U.S. cities. Wrong - unless you count the movies "Catwoman" and "New York Minute." Osam bin Laden will be captured/killed/tried and executed (take your pick.) Wrong/wrong/wrong. A huge hurricane will destroy New Orleans. I don't think so. A huge tidal wave will destroy most of southern California. Nope. A huge earthquake will devastate New Mexico. Wrong. A natural nuclear-strength explosion will destroy much of Alaska. Wrong. A huge volcano will erupt in Yellowstone Park. Wrong again. Natural disasters in the U.S. are very popular with Art's gang. Dick Cheney will not be Bush's running mate in 2004. Condoleeza Rice will take his place and then be elected president in 2008, beating Hillary Clinton. One of President Bush's daughters will become pregnant. Can't be sure about that one yet. Tennessee Titans will defeat Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl. Very wrong. The Boston Red Sox will win the World Series, predicted by two separate "psychics." Well, even a blind pig will find an acorn every now and then.

One hand. Two ducks. Three squawking geese. Four limerick oysters. Five corpulent porpoises. Six pairs of Don Alversos tweezers. Seven thousand Macedonians in full dress battle array.

One hand. Two ducks. Three squawking geese. Four limerick oysters. Five corpulent porpoises.

One hand. Two ducks. Three squawking geese.

People began lining up over two hours before the public visitation today. Estimates are that more than 5,000 people paid their respects. Reggie White was definitely one professional athlete who used his celebrity to make a difference.

Even though he didn't look it, Jerry Orbach was quite a song and dance man. He was on Broadway for almost 40 years. Orbach was the original Billy Flynn in the musical "Chicago." The lights on Broadway were dimmed for one minute tonight in his memory.

Kids who have a chance to really get to know their grandparents are truly blessed. All of mine lived 1000 miles away for most of my life and I saw them maybe once a year. My wife's dad passed away in October. He was a good man who loved his four grandchildren very much. Fortunately, they got to spend a lot of time with him, but that also made his death a lot harder for them. It's been kind of a tough Christmas this year without Papa.

The NHL hasn't been playing this year? Who knew?

It almost sounds like an episode from "The Twilight Zone." You expect Rod Serling to be there, saying "Submitted for your approval... Kevin Montgomery, a seemingly normal electrician living in the the small town of Melvern, Kansas. His wife, Lisa, tells him that she's pregnant and due in December. Kevin, who has other children from a previous marriage, apparently did not notice that his wife had not gained an ounce during her pregnancy. On Thursday, December 16th, supposedly goes shopping in Topeka. Later that day, she calls Kevin to tell him that she has gone into labor and had her baby at a women's clinic. Kevin drives to Topeka and meets her, not at a women's clinic or a hospital, but in the parking lot of a Long John Silver's restaurant. They drive back to Melvern, stopping off at a diner to have some bacon and eggs, while this hours-old infant lies in a car seat on the floor. Kevin seems oblivious to all these odd circumstances, including the fact that the baby looks nothing like him or his wife, until there's a knock at the door. It's the FBI, bearing the news that the baby girl may not be his wife's at all, but may belong to a Bobbie Joe Stinnett of Skidmore, Missouri. Bobbie Joe, who was eight months pregnant, had been strangled and her baby cut out of her womb. Lisa Montgomery soon confesses to murdering Bobbie Joe Stinnett and taking her baby. Kevin Montgomery claims "I had no idea" when asked about his wife's actions, and no charges have been filed against him - yet. "Submitted for your approval...Kevin Montgomery, the stupidest man in America or accessory to murder?"

Juggalos and Juggalettes are fans of the Insane Clown Posse, the type of group for which the parental advisory label was developed.

He's the personification of arrogance. I can't even watch the commercials for "The Apprentice" let alone the show itself.

I don't really look like Henry VIII, in case anybody was wondering.

I don't know about "the word," but "the way" cost me a very special relationship. Still ticks me off when I think about it, almost 30 years later.

Never seen this guy except on Letterman, where he seems kind of goofy. Is he anything like Dr. Laura?

I didn't expect too much from this movie, but the wife wanted to see it. I mean how many different ways can you do Peter Pan. This is an amazing movie. Very well written and acted, beautiful photography. Johnny Depp is excellent as James Barrie, who wrote the orinal Peter Pan play, and Kate Winslet is very good too. Yes, its not historically accurate and yes, it does go for a few obvious tearjerker moments, but its a very enjoyable experience. Check it out.

"Stand By Me" from a Stephen King story, directed by Rob Reiner, starring Wil Wheaton and River Phoenix. You probably have to be a guy to really appreciate this one because it captures perfectly the way 12-year old boys talk and act. Has some priceless moments.

You should post a warning with something like that, Sudo. I hadn't heard that voice in over 27 years. Gives me cold chills. It does sound like the beginning of "Love of Life" or one of those other soaps from the 50s. How appropriate.

Why didn't they choose Madonna to be the Madonna?