Israel Drops Bridges - Signals Of Broader War Strategy?
Today's Big Story:
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Israeli aircraft blasted main roadways north of Beirut for
the first time in the three-week conflict on Friday, knocking out four key bridges. This seems to signal a shift
in strategy as the IAF struck key infrastructure in Lebanon's christian heartland.
The attacks severed the last major overland route for relief supplies into Lebanon, international aid agencies told The
Associated Press on Friday.
"This is Lebanon's umbilical cord," Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Program told AP. "This [road] has been the
only way for us to bring in aid. We really need to find other ways to bring relief in." Israeli ambassador to the U.N. Dan
Gillerman told CNN that Israel is cooperating with the United Nations' relief program.
(Wall Street Financial) While the credit card business has become, for all intents and purposes, an unregulated industry
the past five years they have also been incredibly successful at tightening the screws on borrowers. With bankrupcty all
but removed as an option many Americans are finding themselves faced with losing their homes or paying off credit card debt
that can be as much as 70% fees and interest. More and more American's are turning to a new option for a fresh start. One
of the nation's top economists has revealed a radical plan to rejuvenate credit while actually reducing monthly debts immediately.
Many legal experts agree that America's largest lenders have crossed the line from fair lending to usery...
(Mitchell Torek is the Reinvented Daddy. In his hilarious column this hairy-knuckled Erma Bombeck explores the American
Evolution as working Dads elect to stay at home and become "HomeDaddys")
Daddy has to be a master of distraction if he wants to protect his brood. Children are constantly running into situations
and temptations that seem irresistable in the moment. Rational warnings and stearn limitations only shine forbidden fruit.
Sometimes you need to take a lower road. Slight of hand and downright fibbery can be invaluable tools in child management.
This is perhaps the one area in which men are more naturally gifted than woman. It really comes down to knowing your audience
and telling them what they want to hear.
Woman are by nature honest and communicative (Example; Did you see what a clumsy adjective I just used? Come on. A woman
would express this sentiment far better because they cared). Men by nature would prefer to abbreviate everything. If you
can say it with two words why use twenty? If you can avoid the subject completely, better yet. This apparent personal
shortcoming can be a gold mine when dealing with little cubs. Logic and discussion are losing propositions with a three
year old...
Over the past 50 years the wealth in this great nation has shifted from the middle-class and even more dramatically, from
the poor, to the wealthiest 20% of Americans. This is not opinion but fact as shown here by the U.S. Census Dept:
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Share of aggregate income
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This is our governments numbers not mine. Clearly you can see that between 1991 and 2001 the piece of the pie going to
the top 5% of American families has increased by almost 4%. That means that the richest Americans received a whopping 23%
raise in relative income over 10 years. So much for Bill Clinton being against the rich!...
The President giggled as he tossed the "Fairly Odd Parents" shaped cheeze crackers into his mouth. He did so love
the amenities on Air Force One. Suddenly, startled, he looked up as Don Rumsfeld burst into his in-flight office.
"Mr. President, we've got a crisis of unholy proportions on our hands. It appears that thousands...maybe millions
of people have vanished from around the world. But mostly from the southern United States."
"Oh my gracious me. Don, does this look like the evil doings of Al Qaeda?"
"Anythings possible Mr. President but the modus operandi just doesn't make sense. We are getting credible reports
of people simply vanishing into thin air. Not so much as a theatrical 'poof'. Mr. President, this looks to me to be...dare
I say it...a "rapturous" event as your ilk would call it."...
FAIRER & BALANCED'ER': Space Aliens Sprucing Up Motown?
(In our effort to be "fair and balanced" we leave this spot open for divergent views and opinions. While these
items may often stretch the credibility of the reader it is important that we make the information available for you. You
can decide for yourself because, this is the U.S. of America.)
(Editor's note: Thanks to Det W.of the Detroit P.D. for providing the following account at considerable professional risk.)
August of 1992 was one of the hottest on record in Detroit. As a cop you learn to brace yourself for the worst when the
thermometer cracks ninety and it stayed closer to a hundred all month. This particular case still burns hot in the minds of
everyone it touched. Everyone still alive that is.
Sunday, August 3rd @ 3:00AM: Four alarm fire torches up half of a city block in the treacherous Huntingdon-Marsh section
of town. Eyewitness accounts vary. Most give accounts of a bright auto careening into a vacant building, but at least three
observers from different points of view described a brightly lite aircraft peeling over Old Champlain Park, careening down
Cumberland Drive thiry feet above traffic and well over the speed limit. Of course, since crank, crack and smack are the prime
retail trade on Cumberland Drive these reports were taken with more that a gram of salt. However, around 7:30 AM as the fire
subsided, the Fire Marshall gave us an initial report that changed our thinking...
(updated 12/29/2005) The Pirates will announce soon that they have signed 3B Joe Randa to man the hot corner for them in 2006.
This will be the second go-round for the player, affectionately called "the Joker" due to his ever-present smile.
Randa had a solid 2005, accumulating a 787 OPS between Cincinnati and San Diego. He will earn up to $4 million.
The signing of Randa may not be a significant upgrade over incumbant Freddie Sanchez who played very well at the plate
and in the field after being handed the starting job in August. However Sanchez figures to get over 400 at bats this season
taking over from Rob Mackowiak as the teams super-sub...
No, not Bobby Darren who we all know has passed "Beyond The Sea". We're talking about Gidgets' Moon Doggy from
the sixties and one of T.J. Hookers sidekicks in the eighties. Can he possibly be alive in the new millenium?
