- Oh, if only the other Korea had been involved in the following incident, we all would be witnessing the start of freaking World War III right now. But instead of the Communist whackadoos in North Korea, it was their neighbors in South Korea who saw one of their navy’s ship sink in the Yellow Sea near North Korea early Saturday. The navy also shot at an unidentified ship toward the north, according South Korean government officials. Navy officials were quoted as saying Friday that a ship carrying 104 crew members sank off the Seoul-controlled island of Baengnyeong in a flashpoint maritime border area between the Koreas. Just before 10 p.m. Friday, the 1,500-ton corvette Cheonan went down near the island. Officials claimed that they did not know the cause of the incident, but I highly doubt they are completely in the dark on this one. There were initial reports of some sort of explosion occurred in the rear of the ship and in the statement it released, the South Korean government did not rule out some sort of military engagement. A rescue operation launched just hours after the sinking and there were no immediate reports of casualties, so hopefully all 104 crew members made it out alive. The South Korean Defense Ministry said 58 members of the crew have been rescued, so 46 remain unaccounted for at this point. Later in the night, another South Korean vessel fired at a ship toward the north, but it isn’t known if the target of those shots was involved in the sinking of the Cheonan. Local residents reported hearing gunfire for about 10 minutes, but that doesn’t tell us all that much at this point without more context. The ship that fired at the unidentified vessel after the sinking was the Sockcho, another South Korean navy vessel patrolling nearby. The sinking led to an emergency meeting of South Korean ministers handling security-related matters. Undoubtedly that meeting featured quite a bit of talk about the recent statements by North Korea that it is bulking up its defenses in response to recent joint South Korean-U.S. partnership in the region. Whatever comes of this, I will forever wonder what could have been if only it had been a North Korean vessel that had been sunk. My man Kim Jong Il would already have launched two nukes by now, possibly more, and the world would be on its way to total annihilation…………
- I have a serious problem with a few select people whose names and identities I don’t know. You might wonder how I can have such a large beef with people I not only don’t know, but whose identities I have yet to ascertain. But rest assured, these ass hats are deserving of not only my scorn and outrage, but yours as well. They were bidders in the Hibiscus (Fla.) Children’s Center’s “The Little Auction that Could” in November and won various silent auction items for large sums of money, to be donated to the center. The live silent auction, held in November, featured an impressive selection of children’s books signed by celebrities including Tiger Woods (pre-SkankGate), Jimmy Buffet and President Obama. For some odd reason, the item fetching the highest bid was “The Travels of Babar,” signed by former Gov. Jeb Bush and former U.S. first lady Barbara Bush. Yes, I am a huge fan of my main elephant Babar, but a book signed by the brother and mother of the worst president in U.S. history fetches the most money? But I digress……..an anonymous donor threw down $850,000 for the book and also pledged $3,200 for “Strawberry Girls,” signed by Oprah Winfrey. Now, someone plunking down almost a million dollars for a book signed by Jeb Bush should have been a clue, but the auction accepted the bid and that turned out to be a mistake. Four months later, the money from that anonymous donor still has not come in. “We are extremely disappointed that the anonymous donor who made a major pledge and a second bid during our auction did so without any intention of fulfilling the bids,” said Tom Maher, executive director of the Hibiscus Children’s Center, located in Jensen City, Fla. Despite being made a fool of by this anonymous ass hat of a donor, Maher said he plans to abide by his charity’s policy of not disclosing the identity of anonymous donors. “When any potential donor requests to remain anonymous, we honor the request,” he said. “We are deeply disappointed with this serious breach of confidence.” Hibiscus was not the only local charity that received the offer of a large donation that has yet to materialize. The only positive of this situation is that the donor never actually took possession of the books, meaning they could still be auctioned off again. Of course, it also means that his or her actions may not qualify as criminal, which is sad because whoever this idiot is, he or she needs to spend some time in the hole. “In the charity world, that’s like stealing from kids,” said Elliott Paul, who served as the auctioneer for Hibiscus’ “Little Auction that Could.” “I would have been able to auction those books to someone else and it would have raised thousands of dollars.” Hopefully the anonymous bidder’s identity is “accidentally” leaked out at some point and all the ridicule and derision that person is due comes crashing down on them…………
- Many fans and critics have been extremely vocal about labeling the current season of Fox’s hit drama 24 as the show’s worst so far. I would love to argue with that and although the eight seasons kind of run together in one giant mishmash of Jack Bauer ass-kickings and catch phrases, I have to admit that several of this season’s storylines (I’m looking right at you, Kate Sackhoff and Freddie Prinze Jr. and your characters, Dana Walsh and Cole Ortiz) have been extremely week, extraneous and lame. That being said, I am not rooting for the eighth season of the show to also be the final season. Sure, a movie version of 24 is already in the works, but I could go for another bad day for Jack Bauer. Maybe I’m a sucker, but I always have faith that shows which were once great can be again. Not too many people appear to share my enthusiasm and when the producers put out a casting call for roles to occur in the final few episodes of this season, they were rather cryptic in referring to the show’s future. In a casting call for the secretary general role that eventually went to ER alum Eriq La Salle, the following proclamation was included: These are the final episodes, so if some of your name people would like to do something on the show, this is the time for them to do it.” That was enough to lure La Salle into auditioning for the part and he won the right to play the U.N. Secretary General. Fox hasn’t officially announced whether 24 will return for a ninth season, but this news certainly doesn’t add a heaping helping of hope to the mix. There are rumors that NBC might be interested in picking the show up if Fox decides it’s time for Jack to go, but that seems like a long shot at this point. Here’s hoping that Jack treats the disinterest of the suits at Fox like he treats the plots and lives of the terrorists he encounters each and every season: with utter contempt, disregard and a burning desire to defeat them……….
- Allow me to put on my imaginary law enforcement hat and solve a bit of a problem for police in Mexico, if you all don’t mind. They are currently looking for 40 inmates who escaped from a prison in Matamoros, Mexico on Thursday. In case you don’t know, Matamoros is just across the border from Brownsville, Texas, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. What that means is each and every one of those inmates has either already or will soon be on the opposite side of that border and looking to ingratiate themselves into the American culture. In other words, don’t bother looking for them south of the border. If, as authorities believe, there were individuals responsible for helping the inmates escape, then those same individuals certinaly had to be part of a post-escape plot to get their newly sprung friends across the border. The Mexican Attorney General's office said in a statement they are also looking for two guards who are missing, although they did not say whether Jose Angel Reyes Segovia and Agapito Uvalle Escalante were believed to have been involved in the escape plot. The prison break happened before dawn on Thursday, so the escapees should be deep into the Texas wilderness by now. They could have easily joined the parade of fellow illegals looking to border crash on any given day, so finding them once inside the U.S. may not be such an easy task. Having said that, hopefully I have saved some time and energy for those who would search for them south of the border…………
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