Why wait for the will to be read?

Weekend at Bernie's come to life...

Pair Brings Corpse to Store to Cash Check

By MARCUS FRANKLIN,

AP

Posted: 2008-01-09 15:42:30

Filed Under: Weird News

NEW YORK (Jan. 9) - Two men wheeled a dead man through the streets in an office chair to a check-cashing store and tried to cash his Social Security check before being arrested on fraud charges, police said.

David J. Dalaia and James O'Hare pushed Virgilio Cintron's body from the Manhattan apartment that O'Hare and Cintron shared to Pay-O-Matic, about a block away, spokesman Paul Browne said witnesses told police.

"The witnesses saw the two pushing the chair with Cintron flopping from side to side and the two individuals propping him up and keeping him from flopping from side to side," Browne said.

The men left Cintron's body outside the store, went inside and tried to cash his $355 check, Browne said. The store's clerk, who knew Cintron, asked the men where he was, and O'Hare told the clerk they would go and get him, Browne said.

A police detective who was having lunch at a restaurant next to the check-cashing store noticed a crowd forming around Cintron's body, and "it's immediately apparent to him that Cintron is dead," Browne said.

The detective called uniformed New York Police Department officers at a nearby precinct. Emergency medical technicians arrived as O'Hare and Dalaia were preparing to wheel Cintron's body into the check-cashing store, Browne said. Police arrested Dalaia and O'Hare there, he said.

Cintron's body was taken to a hospital morgue. The medical examiner's office told police it appeared Cintron, 66, had died of natural causes within the previous 24 hours, Browne said.

"He was deceased in the apartment when he was removed by these two," Browne said.

Dalaia and O'Hare, both 65, were being held by police and faced check fraud charges, Browne said.

A call to a telephone number listed for Cintron at the apartment he shared with O'Hare went unanswered Tuesday evening. Police said they didn't have an address for Dalaia or attorney information for him or O'Hare.

The easy way out

I just read that Michael Vick will take a plea deal. How convenient for him. I guess once he figured out his friends were going to rat him out; he had to do something to save his own ass.

Seems to me there is some sort of pattern going on between these brothers. One of them is a dog killer and the other one is a rapist and does drugs. How can one let "fame" go to their heads to the point that these two have? Dog killing? Who the hell thinks they are high enough in the social hierarchy that they won't get punished for that?

From what I have read, their mother gave everything to these boys. She was a young mother and worked her butt off. She taught them morals. How can they look their Mama is the face? I just don't understand.

Michael Vick takes plea deal, avoids additional dogfighting charges

By Dave Forster and Tim McGlone
The Virginian-Pilot..

Atlanta Falcons quarterback and Hampton Roads native Michael Vick has accepted a plea deal – and a likely prison sentence – to avoid additional federal charges related to a professional dogfighting operation, according to one of Vick's attorneys.

Vick is going to enter a guilty plea to the felony conspiracy charge next Monday at 10:30 a.m., said Lawrence Woodward, one of Vick's defense attorneys.

"Mike's accepting full responsibility," Woodward said. "He's going to do everything he can personally and professionally to make this situation right."

Vick's decision came after his last two co-defendants pleaded guilty Friday and agreed in deals with prosecutors to testify against Vick if they were called to do so at trial. A third co-defendant pleaded guilty in July under similar conditions.

With his plea deal, Vick is expected to avoid more serious charges related to a large dogfighting venture called "Bad Newz Kennels" that he is accused of almost entirely funding from 2001 to 2007.

The deal, in its form last week, was expected to include a recommendation from prosecutors that Vick serve at least a year in prison, according to two sources familiar with the discussions. The judge will have the final say in sentencing.

It is unclear how the plea deal will affect Vick's NFL career. League Commissioner Roger Goodell said last week that the NFL was still working on its own review of the case and is closely monitoring talks between Vick's lawyers and prosecutors.

"We're going to do what we always said we were going to do, which is rely on the facts," Goodell said. "If there is some type of a plea agreement, then we will obviously take the time to understand what that plea is and we'll see how it fits into our personal conduct (policy)."

Players and coaches began reacting to a potential plea deal by Vick when the possibility surfaced last week. Redskins coach and team president Joe Gibbs, a friend of Falcons owner Arthur Blank , said the case has been tough "for everybody in the NFL."

"Michael Vick's one of the premier players in the league and no one wanted this to happen," said Gibbs, who owned a small piece of the Falcons before he returned to the Redskins in 2004.

Redskins defensive back David Macklin, a close friend of Vick's who played against him growing up in Newport News, said last week that the case has been hard on Vick.

"We're keeping him in our prayers," Macklin said. "It's a situation he's going to be able to get through. He's going to overcome. We're behind him 100 percent. I've been able to speak with him and he's realizing a lot of things right now. We'll just see how it goes."

At Virginia Tech, where Vick starred in college, his former coaches said last week they didn't want to talk about the case until it was over.

"Nobody condones any of that stuff, if it's true, but when somebody asks me about Michael, I think about being front-row center for a highlight show," said Tech offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring. "I think about him playing pitch and catch with my 6-year-old son at that time before practice. That stuff is the highlight of my son's life. Now his heart is breaking."

Said head coach Frank Beamer: "Michael is one of ours, and we want the best for him. But I'm going to wait until I hear the final word."

The NFL's recently toughened player conduct policy empowers Goodell to fine, suspend or impose a lifetime ban on a player for criminal behavior. He's levied harsh penalties on players even for being arrested.

Goodell suspended Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones for the 2007 season after he was arrested five times since being drafted in 2005.

In another move, Goodell suspended Chris Henry of the Cincinnati Bengals for eight games this year after a 14-month span in which he was arrested four times and served a previous two-game suspension for his behavior.

Tank Johnson , who served jail time for violating probation related to a gun charge, was also suspended for eight games this year. Johnson's team, the Chicago Bears, released the defensive tackle in June after he was pulled over on suspicion of driving drunk.

Goodell banned Vick from attending the Falcons' training camp after the star quarterback was indicted in July with his three co-defendants. An NFL spokesman said Goodell would withhold further action until the league had completed its review.

In a July interview with SI.com, Goodell said Vick had assured him he was not involved in dogfighting.

"His comments to me were very consistent with what he has said publicly: That he does not have any interest in that, that it wasn't happening at his property, and that was his discussion," Goodell said. "And I was very clear with him that if it's happening on your property, it's your responsibility."

A hearing date is expected to be set soon for a judge to accept Vick's deal. It could be months before he receives his sentence. Sentencing dates of Nov. 30 and Dec. 14 have been set for his co-defendants.

Vick, 27, Quanis L. Phillips, 28, Purnell Peace, 35, and Tony Taylor, 34, are accused of starting the pit bull fighting venture in early 2001, the spring Vick became the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft after his final season at Virginia Tech.

In May of that year, Taylor found a location in rural Surry County that looked suitable for housing and training the dogs, and Vick bought the property, at 1915 Moonlight Road, in June, according to a summary of facts that Taylor signed for his plea deal, indicating that he agreed the information was accurate.

Peace joined the operation later that year, and the men began buying dogs and puppies, Taylor's summary said. In 2002, according to the indictment, the group put a name to the outfit: "Bad Newz Kennels."

A source close to the case said prosecutors have a photograph of Vick and his co-defendants sporting that name on headbands and shirts.

The dog "testing" sessions began in summer 2002, followed by the first executions, Taylor's summary said. All four defendants, Vick included, put some of their dogs through fights to determine which ones were good fighters, the summary said.

According to Taylor's summary, Peace and Phillips, a childhood friend of Vick's, each shot at least one dog after those testing sessions. Taylor shot one and electrocuted another, according to his summary.

When the men fought their dogs in real matches, they placed bets with the competing dog's owner, and the purses rose through the years, according to the indictment and the signed fact summaries from Peace, Phillips and Taylor.

One of the earliest fights, in spring 2002, involved wagers of $500 with a dog owner from North Carolina. In March 2003, Peace and Vick sponsored a fight with bets of $13,000 per side, according to the indictment.

In April 2007, Vick, Peace and Phillips executed about eight dogs that performed poorly in another testing session, according to the fact summaries of Peace and Phillips. The summaries say Vick took part in the executions, done by hanging and drowning.

According to his co-defendants, Vick almost exclusively funded the operation and the gambling money. Peace, in his fact summary, said Vick paid him about $3,000 a month to be the dogs' primary caretaker.

Stupid People

I am sure you have heard me saying I hate stupid people. And other people actually get MAD at me for saying this. So, to clarify, I'm not talking about IQ, intelligence or what type of job you hold. I'm talking about common sense.

Now, I'll be the first to admit most people who know me think at times I can be an airhead. Yes, I can be. Most of the time it comes from not thinking things out before I say them. In other words my mouth runs before my brain processes what it is saying. Then there are the times where I truly am baffled and am clueless. I chalk that up to some sort of brain synapses. In other words, my wiring is a little loose at times.

So below is an example of what I'm talking about when I say I hate stupid people. These are the ones that make me want to castrate mankind so they can not reproduce. Oh, and as a side note, these people are every where. And you know what? I think I have met most of them.

~I am a medical student currently doing a rotation in toxicology at the poison control center. Today, this woman called in very upset because she caught her little daughter eating ants. I quickly reassured her that the ants are not harmful and there would be no need to bring her daughter into the hospital. She calmed down, and at the end of the conversation happened to mention that she gave her daughter some ant poison to eat in order to kill the ants. I told her that she better bring her daughter into the Emergency room right away.

~Seems that a year ago, some Boeing employees on the airfield decided to steal a life raft from one of the 747s. They were successful in getting it out of the plane and home. When they took it for a float on the river, a Coast Guard helicopter coming towards them surprised them. It turned out that the chopper was homing in on the emergency locator beacon that activated when the raft was inflated. They are no longer employed at Boeing.

~Guy walked into a little corner store with a shotgun and demanded all the cash from the cash drawer. After the cashier put the cash in a bag, the robber saw a bottle of scotch that he wanted behind the counter on the shelf. He told the cashier to put it in the bag as well, but the cashier refused and said, "Because I don't believe you are over 21." The robber said he was, but the clerk still refused to give it to him because he didn't believe him. At this point the robber took his driver's license out of his wallet and gave it to the clerk. The clerk looked it over, and agreed that the man was in fact over 21 and he put the scotch in the bag. The robber then ran from the store with his loot. The cashier promptly called the police and gave the name and address of the robber that he got off the license. They arrested the robber two hours later.

~This is from a radio program, a true report of an incident in Michigan:
A guy buys a brand new Lincoln Navigator for $42,500 and has $560 monthly payments. He and a friend go duck hunting in winter, and of course all the lakes are frozen. These two guys go out on the lake with the guns, the dog, and of course the new vehicle. They drive out onto the lake ice and get ready. Now, they want to make some kind of a natural landing area for the ducks, something for the decoys to float on. In order to make a hole large enough to look like something a wandering duck would fly down and land on, it is going to take a little more effort than an ice hole drill. So, out of the back of the new Navigator comes a stick of dynamite with a short, 40-second fuse. Now these two Rocket Scientists do take into consideration that they want to place the stick of dynamite on the ice at a location far from where they are standing (and the new Navigator), because they don't want to take the risk of slipping on the ice when they run from the burning fuse and possibly go up in smoke with the resulting blast. They light the 40-second fuse and throw the dynamite. Remember a couple of paragraphs back when I mentioned the vehicle, the guns and the dog? Let's talk about the dog: A highly trained Black Lab used for RETRIEVING. Especially things thrown by the owner. You guessed it, the dog takes off at a high rate of doggy speed on the ice and captures the stick of dynamite with the burning 40-second fuse about the time it hits the ice. The two men yell, scream, wave their arms and wonder what to do now. The dog, cheered on, keeps coming. One of the guys grabs the shotgun and shoots the dog. The shotgun is loaded with 8 buckshot, hardly big enough to stop a Black Lab. The dog stops for a moment, slightly confused, but continues on. Another shot and this time the dog, still standing, becomes really confused and of course terrified, thinking these two geniuses have gone insane. The dog takes off to find cover, under the brand new Navigator. ----BOOM!---- Dog and Navigator are blown to bits and sink to the bottom of the lake in a very large hole, leaving the two idiots standing there with this "I can't believe this happened" look on their faces. The insurance company says that sinking a vehicle in a lake by illegal use of explosives is not covered. He still had yet to make the first of those $560 a month payments!

Yup I still want a diamond

One of my friends posted a bulletin this morning with the following pictures. She is a really great person, but one person can't save the world. To me, these pictures, while they may show the truth, also are what I like to call a guilt trip. They are intended to make you feel guilty for buying such things. It brings to your attention things that you would rather not see or hear about. The unpleasantries of life, so to speak. (Yes, you grammar Nazis, I made up a word, hehe)

Some of you may remember the days of the Ethiopia campaign. My parents would tell me things such as "eat all your liver, there are starving children in Ethiopia." I would then ask if we could send my portion of liver to all the starving countries. After picking myself up off the floor, I soon learned that I couldn't save the world with one plate of liver.

I have always maintained the fact that there was only one person in this world who can make me feel "guilty" about my actions. And sadly, she is no longer here. I never felt so bad in my entire life as when she would tell me "you never spend the night with me anymore." What I wouldn't give to have that chance now. Unreasonably, I still carry that guilt around with me.

At any rate, I will look at these pictures, say, "wow, I didn't know that or that's a shame", but will it change the way I look at a diamond, food or even a pair of jeans? No, it won't. Does that make me a bad person? I hope not, because I'm looking forward to the day that I get my next diamond. HINT, HINT Steve.

So, are there pictures, news articles, etc that you have seen that makes you completely stop buying a product or stop using something? I'm just curious because I wonder if I'm being a cold hearted b*tch.

Drug induced thoughts

I think I have brain fog or something like that. I swear, I can't make a coherent sentence when talking to save my life.

Anyway, I just spoke to Dale, who is going to take care of Andrew for me this week. I'm sure this will come back to bite me in the butt. He was really nice about it, but I have this feeling that in return, either I'll have to deprogram my kid or somehow pay Dale back. I just don't feel like trying to chase the kid around, nor do I feel like fighting and fussing with him. I feel like such a bad mother.

On to other things, we are closer to getting our house. Hopefully, on Friday, we will know something more. It's so complicated. I wish we could just say "we'll pay this much" and they accept the check. But no, we have to go through appraisals and deed searches and who knows what else. But it will be worth it in the end. I can't wait. I can see us in this house. I can finally think about the future, something I haven't done for years and years.

I got a really nice surprise today; Steve got me a Coach bag. If you don't know what those are, go here: Coach

Mine is one of the Campton's Weekend Bags and it has a matching wallet. Pretty cool. I already collect Etienne Aigner bags. (Again here: Aigner) I think last count, I had 7 of those with 3 of the wallets. So, I might start collecting Coach, since this makes my 2^ndone. What an expensive hobby. But he has his guns; I have my bags and shoes. Poor Steve, next week is his birthday and he got me a gift.

On to other news, Virginia's Governor Tim Kaine signed an order to make sure mentally ill people cannot purchase guns. Pretty much what it is saying is if a court has ever issued you to get mental help or you have been remanded into a mental health facility, you can't purchase a gun. So, my question was, what if you were court ordered to a facility due to drug use? Well, I got my answer. That is not considered "mental illness." Pppfftt. Whew, now all us former drug addicts can still purchase guns to protect ourselves from the other drug users in our lives.
And while he's at it, will he tell my insurance company that drug use is not a mental illness? Because according to ICD-9/10, it is a mental illness. I'll step down off my soapbox now, 'cause that is a whole other subject.

Well, I'm off to lala land, a place where I have stayed for most of the day. More soon, hopefully, not drug induced ramblings.

What do you say in a moment like this?

As I made my way home yesterday, my cell phone rang. It was Andrew. The conversation went something like this:
"Where are you?"
"Trying to make my way home, I'll call you when I get closer, I can't talk right now baby"
"Okay Mama, but I have a question"
"Andrew, I really need to get off of here"
"But Mama, why would someone shoot all those kids? Will they do it at my school?"
"I don't know, baby, I just don't know"

Reba McIntire has a song that says "what do you say in a moment like this?, when you can't find the words to tell it like it is."
That is how I felt yesterday. I wasn't sure what to tell my son, other than (God willing) it won't happen at his school. I had to wait until we were at home to tell him what had happened. Of course, by this time, his little mind had been tainted by his PawPaw Wayne and kids on the bus. It's a shame that any parent should ever have to tell their child about such tragic events.

As most of you know, Steve lives in the area of VT. So when waking up yesterday for the 2nd time, I went into the living room and turned on the scanner and television. I sat there mesmerized and trying to grasp the enormity of it all. Here 24 hours later, I still have not. My phone started ringing, friends asking about other friends, family asking if I was ok and my brother asking if I had heard from a girl from church. It began to sink in.
No, it was not my alma mater, but I spent a fair amount of time on that campus, whether it was going to one of the frat's keg parties to working there for the Red Cross. Now, as I have "grown up", the campus is still a part of my life. Whether it is hanging out in the parking lot before a game or trying to find a duck pond, the campus has always seemed larger than life to me.
I realized a few minutes ago while reading through the list of victims, I had one of the professors. He was a foreigner. I only remember a little bit about him, he was a small man with a big voice. I remember the class more so than the professor, it was one of the hardest classes I ever took on the bachelor's level.

It pisses me off to no end when everyone wants to blame video games, movies or God forbid, music. Makes me wonder if these people who profile have children. Did it ever occur to these people with a professional opinion, that maybe if parents had smacked their kids on their ass when they were younger, things may have been different? I'm not saying this would have solved everything, but no one ever wants to take the blame for their child being something other than perfect.

So what do you say when your child asks about such things? Usually I can come up with some sort of explanation for his questions. Yesterday, I could not come up with any answer. I don't think there are answers for such questions.

All he wanted was supper

I'm so happy I don't have to hunt and forage for my food. Andrew and I would probably starve. Or worst yet, end up like this eagle.

Eagle lugging deer head causes blackout

JUNEAU, Alaska - About 10,000 Juneau residents briefly lost power after a bald eagle lugging a deer head crashed into transmission lines.

"You have to live in Alaska to have this kind of outage scenario," said Gayle Wood, an Alaska Electric Light & Power spokeswoman. "This is the story of the overly ambitious eagle who evidently found a deer head in the landfill."

The bird, weighed down by the deer head, apparently failed to clear the transmission lines, she said. A repair crew found the eagle dead, the deer head nearby.

The power was out for less than 45 minutes Sunday.

Do you think he's a military prick?

Ok, people are messing with friends again..so ya'll back us up here.......

Funny, I still prefer to be called Sergeant Military Prick...or perhaps Disabled Veteran .

Read my blog:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=53089855&blogID=182399210&MyToken=037aec27-a38f-49a1-87fa-5e9c51a1954f

Tell me what you think...Was I wrong to tell him that I disagreed with his views and no longer wanted to be his friend?

Did I call him names like I'm still a 3rd grader or name calling an automatic reaction from some people.

Best Idea yet. After you post comments to my blog...send him an email.

http://www.myspace.com/roanoke_va

Best Idea ever....Repost this bulletin in 90 seconds or a military prick will hide a murdeous clown doll in you little brothers bedroom at 2:01 am tomorrow!

Wasn't justice still served?

The guy had 15 hours to go. It doesn't say what method they were going to use. So, my thoughts are, if he was going to kill himself, couldn't he just left a note, to tell the family of the victim whether or not he was truly guilty or innocent. What did he have to lose after that? He would be dead. I wonder if he was trying to save his family from knowing he was a murderer. In my opinion he could have at least given the family closure.

Texas inmate kills self day of execution

By MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 26 minutes ago

A death-row inmate slit his own throat with a makeshift knife early Thursday, committing suicide about 15 hours before he was scheduled to be executed, a prison official said.

Michael Dewayne Johnson, 29, was on death row for the 1995 killing of a convenience store clerk near Waco.

Early Thursday, he slashed his own throat and arm with a makeshift blade fashioned from a small piece of metal attached to a wooden stick, said Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville.

Prison guards had been checking on Johnson's welfare every 15 minutes, as is customary, when they found him unresponsive in a pool of blood in his cell, Lyons said. He was taken to a hospital in nearby Livingston, where he was pronounced dead, Lyons said.

"At a 2:30 a.m. check, Mr. Johnson was talking to prison staff, and had just eaten breakfast," Lyons said. "He had made no indications that he was contemplating suicide, nor has a note or other explanation been found."

Johnson's execution had been scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday. His last-minute appeal was still pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

His was at least the seventh suicide on death row in Texas.

In a recent prison interview, Johnson had denied gunning down 27-year-old Jeff Wetterman, who helped pump gas at the family store off Interstate 35 near Waco. Johnson blamed his companion, David Vest, for the killing.

"I never even saw the dude," Johnson said. "(Vest) jumped back into the car and we took off. He hollered: 'Go! Go! Go!'"

Vest blamed the shooting on Johnson, took an eight-year prison term in a plea deal and testified against his friend. Vest is now free.

Johnson's attorney Greg White argued in his client's Supreme Court appeal that Vest had admitted to the shooting but that the confession was improperly suppressed, depriving Johnson of a fair trial.

Johnson would have been the 22nd Texas inmate executed this year. The state now has 390 people on death row.

Idiots explain it all

Well, this just explains it all, does it???? HMMM, so all these years I thought my height was just for my good looks *rolling eyes since the freaking smileys won't work*

They totally screwed up on the better health part for me...damn, why couldn't I have been a participant? And where do they get these people???

Taller people are smarter: study

Fri Aug 25, 5:53 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - While researchers have long shown that tall people earn more than their shorter counterparts, it's not only social discrimination that accounts for this inequality -- tall people are just smarter than their height-challenged peers, a new study finds. .. "As early as age three -- before schooling has had a chance to play a role -- and throughout childhood, taller children perform significantly better on cognitive tests," wrote Anne Case and Christina Paxson of Princeton University in a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The findings were based primarily on two British studies that followed children born in 1958 and 1970, respectively, through adulthood and a U.S. study on height and occupational choice.

Other studies have pointed to low self-esteem, better health that accompanies greater height, and social discrimination as culprits for lower pay for shorter people.

But researchers Case and Paxson believe the height advantage in the job world is more than just a question of image.

"As adults, taller individuals are more likely to select into higher paying occupations that require more advanced verbal and numerical skills and greater intelligence, for which they earn handsome returns," they wrote.

For both men and women in the United States and the United Kingdom, a height advantage of four inches equated with a 10 percent increase in wages on average.

But the researchers said the differences in performance crop up long before the tall people enter the job force. Prenatal care and the time between birth and the age of 3 are critical periods for determining future cognitive ability and height.

"The speed of growth is more rapid during this period than at any other during the life course, and nutritional needs are greatest at this point," the researchers wrote.

The research confirms previous studies that show that early nutrition is an important predictor of intelligence and height.

"Prenatal care and prenatal nutrition are just incredibly important, even more so than we already knew," Case said in an interview.

Since the study's data only included populations in the United Kingdom and the United States, the findings could not be applied to other regions, Case said.

And how tall are the researchers?

They are both about 5 feet 8 inches tall, well above the average height of 5 feet 4 inches for American women.

A copy of the paper can be found at http://papers.nber.org/papers/w12466.pdf.