Well, there is good news and bad news about my Christmas decorations this year 

Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down. First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by. Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard. 

Kind of feel like I gave in to the  man by taking him down but my neighbor did confirm to near miss accidents on the busy street next to my house. I think I made him too real this time 

So it was fun while it lasted 

not much but it did stick. pond got it's first icy crust 

kitty was pissed because he had to navigate thru this to get to the river for swill. he seemed confused by the frozen pond surface. I'm going to drop the cow trough heater in today - hopefully it will keep a hole open for kitty

oh... and look who's back. He walked up to me hissing so I got the cup of seed and he dug right in. He was the only one that would do that. I've decided to name him Jose - that's a nice Canadian name, eh?

In a recent survey carried out for a leading toiletries firm (Brut), people from Detroit and Chicago have proved to be the most likely to have sex in the shower!

In the survey, 86% of Detroit's and Chicago's inner city residents (almost all of whom are registered Democrats) said that they have enjoyed sex in the shower. 

The other 14% said they hadn't been to prison yet.

WASHINGTON -- The head of the Secret Service asserted Thursday that the security breach at last week's White House state dinner was an aberration and President Barack Obama was never at risk. Mark Sullivan said three uniformed officers have been put on administrative leave.

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, said the country is fortunate the affair didn't end in a "night of horror."

Appearing before Thompson's panel for questioning, Sullivan acknowledge mistakes were made and that the Secret Service must have a "100 percent" performance record.

Thompson, D-Miss., also said that Congress needs to talk not only to Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the couple who got in without invitations, but also to White House social secretary Desiree Rogers. All three have declined to appear. He'd said Wednesday night that if the Salahis didn't show up, subpoenas should be authorized "to compel their appearance."

Rep. Peter King of New York, ranking Republican on the committee, accused the White House of "stonewalling" in not permitting Rogers to appear and said he favors subpoenaing Rogers as well.

Thompson said: "This hearing is not about crashing a party at the White House. Nor is it about wannabe celebrities." He said the purpose is to better protect the president.

"We're not concerned about agency embarrassment," he said. "The security gaps at issue cannot be explained away as missteps by a few frontline employees. There were undeniable planning and execution failures of the entire Secret Service apparatus," Thompson said. "We're all fortunate that this diplomatic celebration did not become a night of horror. ... We must dissect every fact ... and after we do these things, we need to give thanks that no lives were lost," he said.

Said Sullivan: "In our judgment, a mistake was made. In our line of work, we cannot afford even one mistake."

"I fully acknowledge that the proper procedures were not followed," he said. " ... This flaw has not changed our agency's standard, which is to be right 100 percent of the time."

Thompson asked Sullivan what went wrong. "What we find is if the protocols are followed, we would not run into this situation," the Secret Service chief replied. He said in this case, normal procedures were not followed, although he did not elaborate.

Asked whether there was a risk posed to people attending the dinner for the visiting prime minister of India, Sullivan said he was confident there wasn't.

Sullivan said there was no threat to Obama, noting that "last week we took him to a basketball game, and there was 5,000 people sitting around the president."

In response to a question from Del. Eleanor Holmnes Norton, D-D.C., he said Obama had not had an extraordinary number of threats against his life, contrary to her assertion, and said that Obama had received no more such threats at this point in his term than his two predecessors.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs earlier this week described both Obama and his wife, Michelle, as angered by the incident.

Attending a White House event shouldn't be like "going to a bigbox retailer the day after Thanksgiving," Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., told Sullivan.

Asked by King if the pair would have been able to penetrate the White House if a representative of the White House had indeed been present for clearance assistance, the Secret Service chief replied, "It would have helped."

From now on, the White House has said, someone from the social office will be present to help the Secret Service if questions arise.

On the eve of the hearing, Thompson said: "The Salahis' testimony is important to explain how a couple circumvented layers of security at the White House on the evening of a state dinner without causing alarm."

Thompson's statement swiftly followed one by the couple's publicist, Mahogany Jones (hahaha! seriously? this is someone's name?), who said the Salahis had already provided information to Thompson and the committee's top Republican, as well as to the Secret Service.

The Salahis believe "there is nothing further that they can do to assist Congress in its inquiry regarding White House protocol and certain security procedures," the statement said. "They therefore respectfully decline to testify."

Jones said the couple's information makes clear they broke no laws, that White House protocol at the dinner "was either deficient or mismanaged" and that "there were honest misunderstandings and mistakes made by all parties involved."

The White House also took some responsibility for the foul-up. "After reviewing our actions, it is clear that the White House did not do everything we could have done to assist the United States Secret Service in ensuring that only invited guests enter the complex," Jim Messina, deputy chief of staff, wrote in a memo to staff Wednesday.

Still, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs cited the separation of powers and a history of White House staff not testifying before Congress in explaining why Rogers, herself a guest at the dinner, wouldn't be coming.

A senior White House aide, Valerie Jarrett, defended Rogers' refusal to appear, telling a network news show Thursday morning that executive staff members have been allowed to testify to Congress only in rare circumstances in the past.

Jarrett said on ABC's "Good Morning America" that there was no need for Rogers to attend the hearing and answer questions because "we think we've really answered the questions fully."

Copies of e-mails between the Salahis and a Pentagon official have clouded the couple's claims that they were invited to the state dinner honoring the visiting Indian prime minister.

The Salahis have been trying to land a part on a Bravo reality show, "The Real Housewives of D.C.," and were filmed by the TV show around town as they prepared for the White House dinner.

White House memo:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/091202-messing-state-dinner-review-new-guidelines.pdf

so, finally, 9 days after this happens barry & co are going to make it look like they give a shit. and the people aren't fired... they are on leave. amazing how everyone involved is trying as hard as they can to explain this away. oh, and all this reality tv shit needs to go away. look how stupid people get when trying to get their 15 minutes of fame - remember balloon boy? pathetic losers

holy crap

btw, Tiger Woods so far apparently has had at least 3 girlfriends.... but no more than 15 additional will show up....I mean,  everyone knows you can't play more than 18 holes....

conversely, we're not sure if his wife, Elin, can use a putter but she sure proved she can hit a driver!

 bahahahahahahahaha!!!

check out their new family photo!

which is why I plan on taking every one of their postage paid "JOIN US" envelopes and attaching it securely to a brick and shipping it to them on their dime. talk about being out of touch with reality...  assholes

Students watch a health worker explain the use of a condom on World AIDS Day in Lima, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009.(AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

I have no idea what to say here....  obviously, this ain't your momma's sex ed class

The team from ABC's heartwarming and popular reality series "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" may give worthy families a whole new house. But yet another family who appeared on the show learned that they don't guarantee you'll keep that house forever.

The Wofford family of Encinitas, California, got their house from the show five years ago, but now claim that after struggling for two years to pay their bills, they're facing foreclosure . Dr. Brian Wofford, a widower and father of eight, explained the crisis, telling 10News: "A lot of people think when you get the house, you get the mortgage. Well, you don't."

The Woffords aren't the first family featured on the show to face serious financial problems after their home makeover. The Harper family of Atlanta, who received the show's biggest house to date, along with the money to pay taxes on it for 25 years, famously faced foreclosure last year after taking out an ill-advised $450,000 loan using the house as equity. And at least four other "Extreme Makeover" recipient families have had to sell or lose the homes they won on the show. ABC is probably considering changing the show's rules (maybe the houses don't need to be quite so lavish, for example) to help avoid such disasters in the future.

However, there's still hope for the Woffords. Loan modification papers are being promised by their bank, OneWest, next week. If they don't go through, the house will be auctioned by the bank in two weeks, but Dr. Wofford is optimistic about his family's future: "If I have my family and I live in a tent, I'm in good shape. Better be a big tent though."

when this show first started didn't they just re-do the family home? now they tear it down and put up some bohemouth. I'm sure they found that most of the time it's just more cost effective to raze the place but if this is the end result, who needs it? I'd rather have my hovel that I can afford to live in.