Way Out There Today

Wednesday is gone, Thursday is breaking, breaking news that is.


Fishing Couple Catch Dog in Florida Bay

KEY LARGO, Fla. - Ray Truche Jr. and Lisa Largrassa fished for hours and didn't catch anything - except a drowning dog. Motoring their 23-foot fishing boat earlier this month on Florida Bay, the two hit something unusual and turned around to check.

"As we came back upon it, I realized it was a little fat dog," said Truche, of Manchester, Mass. "It was having trouble keeping its head above water. Its big eyes were looking at us. It was almost as if it was saying, 'Don't leave me here!"'

The couple leaned over the boat and made their only catch of the day: a 5-year-old cairn terrier named Tigger.

Tigger was apparently thrown from Diane and Richard Beckman's boat on their way from Key Largo to Marathon.

The Beckmans searched frantically for 2 1/2 hours with no sign of the dog.

"We went back and forth, back and forth," Diane said. "Finally we just gave up, because we thought he couldn't have survived in the water for that long. I was just heartbroken."

Since there was no answer at the home listed on Tigger's tag, Truche and Largrassa dropped him off at the Upper Keys Animal Shelter.

Diane was elated when she got home and listened to her messages. She went quickly to pick up Tigger.

"He didn't know me. He was so terrified. As soon as he realized it was me, he jumped in my arms and wouldn't let go," she said.

This appears at first glance to be a happy story. However I am suspicious of the dog's owners.

They say "Tigger was apparently thrown from Diane and Richard Beckman's boat on their way from Key Largo to Marathon." They don't know?

They say, "They searched frantically for 2 1/2 hours with no sign of the dog."

Throw a dog that knows how to swim in the water and you will find him or he you.

The truth of the matter is that they don't know when he fell or was pushed out of the boat.

They say, "He didn't know me. He was so terrified."

Yeah, terrified that they would take him on another one-way boat ride!!!!









Millions in Government Milk Sold as Catfish Food

Agriculture Department Gave it to Mississippi Feed Mill

WASHINGTON - The Agriculture Department was faulted Wednesday for donating $20 million in powdered milk to a Mississippi feed mill that sold it as catfish food.

The department's inspector general said there was no legal authority for the department to donate the milk and urged Agriculture officials to try to recover the value of the milk and the $579,000 cost of shipping it.

At issue is a stockpile of powdered milk stored in manmade caves near Kansas City, Mo., and in warehouses across the country. The government buys the milk to prop up prices paid to dairy farmers, and it has spent more than $20 million annually to store it.

The department was looking for ways to get rid of the powdered milk when a Mississippi State University professor asked for some so he could study its use as a protein substitute in catfish food.

In their eagerness to unload the milk, agriculture officials "did not follow prudent business practices in donating" the milk powder, the audit said.

Officials offered the professor much more milk powder than he requested and also offered to pay for shipments.

The professor, who was not named in the report, worked out a delivery schedule with a privately owned catfish feed mill and its affiliated research center in Indianola, Miss.

"A small portion ... was used for research on catfish nutrition, while the majority of it was incorporated into commercial catfish feed and sold to feed mill customers," the report said.

Officials mistakenly assumed the professor was working with the department's research arm, the Agricultural Research Service, because he had done so on other research, the report said. In fact, the professor made clear in an e-mail that the research service was not involved in the powdered milk study.

The department realized its mistake when officials began trying to arrange for another year's worth of powdered milk for the feed mill, this time at a nominal cost. Shipments were halted and the inspector general was asked to look into the arrangement.

"The issues and problems highlighted by the audit report are serious and require immediate corrective and preventative action," Candace Thompson, acting deputy administrator for commodity operations, said in a written response to the report.

It's not the first time auditors have criticized the use of the taxpayer-funded powdered milk stockpile. A 2005 audit cited misuse of the milk in trading that developed after the milk was given to ranchers to help them get through a drought.

OK, OK let's reread this together: At issue is a stockpile of powdered milk stored in manmade caves near Kansas City, Mo., and in warehouses across the country.

The government buys the milk to prop up prices paid to dairy farmers, and it has spent more than $20 million annually to store it.

It appears to me buying powdered milk props up prices paid to powdered milk manufacturers, not dairy farmers.

If the government is going to buy this powdered milk, why store it at a cost of $20 million annually?

Why not destroy it, or pay the manufacturers not to produce it, or supply it to the school lunch program that the government is subsidizing now.

That way they save money there too. Oh wait, tax and spend, I forgot, silly me!!!!!!








City Sets Underwear Rule for Firefighters

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A Canadian city under pressure for alleged sexual harassment within its fire department has ordered firefighters to wear only boxer-style underwear.

Richmond, British Columbia will spend $16,000 Canadian dollars, or $14,200, to buy six pairs of underwear for each firefighter in a bid to make firehalls in the suburb of Vancouver more gender neutral, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

"We supply firefighters with various pieces of gear such as gloves, now it's underwear," city official Ted Townsend told the Vancouver Sun, saying it was part of the "integration of the sexes in the workplace."

A recent investigation of the department described its workplace culture as "characterized by juvenile and hostile behavior" toward female firefighters by their male colleagues.

Firefighters strip off most of their clothes in order to don protective gear when responding to fire alarms, although Townsend said the city is considering buying gear that can be put on over regular uniforms.

Am I missing something here? Now the female firefighters have to wear only boxer-style underwear?

Yes, that certainly will make things better for the male firefighters because with women wearing only boxers, that leaves their tops exposed.

If they think the juvenile and hostile behavior was bad before, are they in for a hot time in the old firehouse now!!!






Man separates from wife — and his ring finger

Austrian doesn't regret presenting digit to his ex-wife after divorce

VIENNA - A Viennese man cut off his ring finger and presented the digit, still holding his wedding band, to his ex-wife after an acrimonious divorce.

Charged with dangerous harassment and assault for the act, he told a preliminary hearing he did not regret having cut off the finger and had chosen deliberately not to reattach it.

“It was an act of breaking free,” the man was quoted as saying. He did not miss his finger, could work well without it and did not plan on getting married again anyway, he said.

See, men like this are what gives all us men a bad name. How stupid, if he wanted to send her a message then he cut off and gave her the wrong finger!! Duh!





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