2003

Some websites don't keep material a real long time, so some of these links will expire.

"Fire Hero" updates
Good Samaritan's life mostly series of stumbles
Leija denies starting fire
Explaining decision to irate public difficult
No CBR. No WMD. No Al Qaeda link Did our leaders lie? Do we care? "Everyone knows he lied about weapons of mass destruction being the point of the war."

Bride upset over "goofy" photo in newspaper

Bush to proclaim end of Iraq combat
South Texas reactor leak "extraordinary"
FBI to fire agent who reported Ground Zero theft
Newspaper lists Osprey problems
The odd, unfolding story of the mystery boy
FBI lab work questioned in OKC Bombing
Worms survived shuttle crash

Spurs' Tony Parker among "50 Most Beautiful"

Thousands of little blue jellyfish beached
Labour fears Iraq war backlash from voters
The Bush administration appealed to the Supreme Court to keep the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance
Wrongly imprisoned man gets $100 for each day served
Teen dead after argument over which car brand is best
Scientist says fish feel no pain
Fish lack brains to feel pain
Fish pain claim disputed
Love music? Thank your fish ancestors
12-year-old genius accepted at medical school "One person said he thought patients would be shocked."
The guy who helped Jessica Lynch Iraq hero tipster gets job as D.C. lobbyist

May 2
Lung Ass'n air pollution report
Dixie Chicks concert "enjoyed southern grace" News report | Concert review
San Antonio considering No Smoking law
Express-News copycat leaves NY Times
Wrongly imprisoned man seeks reforms
DNA clears Montana man convicted of rape
11-year-old said driving in truck crash
The Fog of Peace "... soldiers from the Third Infantry Division in Baghdad found a truckload of bombs. They were hidden inside soccer balls."
President says Iraq military phase is over
Final tests show no nerve agent in Iraq
Government taking homeowners' property
Colorado climber cuts off trapped arm
Whites-Only prom party planned in Georgia
Can old people's senses be restored?
Patriot Act is needed, but so are revisions

May 3-4 (weekend)

Killer Ds hiding in Ardmore House Dems break quorum Texas Democrats want to kill Republican redistricting plan

Odd theory: the underwater anthrax caper
SBC's 117 Texas lobbyists fight tax bill
Workers could lose pay during Bush speech "We're losing a lot of money because of his visit. His speech is supposed to be about what the family can get from his tax breaks. It doesn't really make sense."
No Patriot Act abuses noted so far
Iran seen ready to develop nuclear arms
"Assault weapon" ban makes little sense
Mental ward needs Klingon speakers
May 13
Statement from Killer Ds
Walkout shuts down House
Dems break quorum to kill GOP redistricting plan
Wal-Mart sues over S.A. tree ordinance remarks
Microsoft: Internet-ready toilet project a hoax
Media ownership sellout: big fish will get bigger
Goodbye competition: new media ownership rules ".. the most important rewriting of the ownership rules in decades, permitting the largest media conglomerates to expand into new markets and own more properties in a single city."
Mom beat 11-year-old rooting for "wrong" team
May 14
Old Master of pulp art to be honored
Nation watching Texas Killer Ds walkout
DeLay keeps the pressure on

Nurse charged with killing sick woman with bagel
House GOP will let assault weapons ban expire
Exposed-breast portrait has school in tizzy
Illinois lawmakers consider ban on tongue-splitting
Senators balk at new media consolidation rules
Health costs of obesity near those of smoking
DEA saving USA, gets Tommy Chong for bong sales
Maryland county close to strict smoking ban
Mexican-border watchers testing civilian drones
Bill Gates and Tom Brokaw skip bill, leave no tip
Anti-terrorism drills begin
Belgian sues Gen. Tommy Franks over Iraq war
May 15

Mischief: the "perfect wedding" photo
Mayor wants recharge zone TIFs
In Mexico, tragedy is another blow to pride
Mexican official laments horror, misery of deaths
Mexicans blame US policy for migrants' truck deaths (!)
Killer drunk driver ordered to visit grave
Oregon diocese sued over abuses can transfer assets
Returning soldiers face mandatory emotional screenings
3rd Infantry stops sending troops home
France says Bush and Friends spread false stories
Redistricting crisis in Colorado, too
Oreo cookie lawsuit dropped
Dead man left on gym floor as people exercise
May 16
Democrat Killer Ds return to Austin
Trailer deaths: Dad begged 6-year-old son to not die, but then they both did
Someone's butt may be in a wringer over whether the DPS did or did not request Homeland Security to search for a plane used by the Killer Ds
Aquifer authority under fire Brief note on what this is about: in a commentary last December, I said, "After the Sierra Club's evil lawsuit which everyone knew about, a law was passed that not everyone heard about. San Antonio must reduce our use of Edwards Aquifer water. Never mind the city is expanding like crazy. Instead of getting to use more water as the population grows, the law says we will have to use less and less. Not even as much as we use now. The Aquifer Authority would like to have San Antonio's water limit raised. But towns around here will fight that. They've already started."
San Antonio's heavy garbage cans trashed
U.S. strikes fear and loathing in North Korea
BBC reports "Saving Private Lynch" story phony As this website reported two weeks ago, the Toronto Star newspaper interviewed numerous people in Nasiryah and learned that doctors had tried to return Jessica to the coalition army two days before the "rescue" but the ambulance carrying her was fired on. The May 5th Toronto Star story also said the fedayeen had left the hospital a day before the "rescue" raid so there was no enemy for SpecOps to confront.
Man blames pole-dancer for honeymoon-wrecking injury
Cop made teens go topless
Vienna gets steel toilets for dogs
Man lied for 13 years to stay in bed
May 19
Annika is ready to play: men nervous
986th most-popular name for babies is Baby
Lawyer "rubbed and kissed" weeping client
WMD hunters find vacuum cleaners
New skepticism about secondhand smoke claims
Complaints about candidate Bush restricting airspace
Iraq's slide into lawlessness squanders goodwill for US
N. Carolina counties get car emissions testing
Berkeley prof studies masturbation (homework joke here ___)
Embed: a woman at war in a man's world
Who killed Laci! Cult? UFO aliens? OJ?
Goldfish in blenders "not cruel"
Klingon Update Mark Morford, San Francisco Chronicle: "Sorry, potential Klingon interpreters and stunningly and adorably deeply lost Star Trek ubergeeks still locked somewhere in 1975 and who haven't seen the sun since the Carter administration and who to this very day fully believe Lt. Uhura was an underappreciated divine goddess incarnate who spawned a million frenetic smasming late-night Vaseline fantasies second only to that cool sexy all-blue lizard woman from that one episode who tried to seduce Kirk with that weird sexy dance. Officials have said they won't be needing your services, after all. The office that treats mental health patients in Multnomah County, Oregon had included Klingon, the uber-geeky completely made-up Star Trek language that sounds like you're hacking up phlegm while choking on bottlecaps as you snore, on a list of 55 languages that could be spoken by really, really geeky incoming patients who never outgrew their mad desire for Hot Wheels cars and Kraft Mac 'N' Cheese and Charlie's Angels on TV Land. But the inclusion drew a spate of tongue-in-cheek headlines. And now the county has rescinded its call. County officials had said that no patient had ever come in speaking only Klingon, well maybe that one ranting rabid gibberishy Defense Department guy who claimed to have seen Lynne Cheney do things with a radioactive fuel rod that scorched his soul for all eternity and was screaming uncontrollably and had to be euthanized, but that the county would pay a Klingon interpreter in the case one was actually needed."
Best of the weekend:
Nora says she was one of "JFK's girls"
Portland "frantic" to find its time capsule
U.S. interrogations in Iraq utilize heavy metal and kids' songs as instruments of coercion
May 20
CAN YOU SAY "RECALL ELECTION"? Mayor Ed Garza trying to quietly fast-track scheme to put $50-60M in pocket of developer who made his own (Aquifer recharge zone) property a blighted area and now wants tax money to fix it up Editorial Background: Mayor pushing TIF over aquifer
golf.com Ready or not, here she comes
Dallas News The Annika Factors USA Network plans to show each of Ms. Sorenstam's shots no matter when she plays ... and cover the rest of the field after that, if time allows
First public hearing this Thursday Garza proposes bar smoking ban Would prohibit smoking "within 25 feet" of a business So does that put River Walk tourists in the middle of the water to smoke?
Texas Comptroller for $1 tax hike on smokes
Grandma charged with beating death of 4-year-old while Ft. Hood mom was deployed in Iraq
Vegans who kept daughter on diet sentenced: "too weak to cry" Prosecutors argued that the Swintons treated Ice like a gerbil, feeding her ground nuts, fresh-squeezed juices, herbal tea, beans, cod liver oil and flax seed oil.
DNA clears man of rape after 11 years in prison
José remains favorite name for Texas boys
Three more arrests in Victoria truck deaths
Data analysis concludes 4 in 5 still virgins at age 15
BUSH TO SEND US TROOPS TO PHILIPPINES
Alliances against media ownership rules
Mavs stun Spurs 113-110: made 49 of 50 freethrows
BLACK ANTS KILL NAPPING PHOENIX INFANT
May 21
Heidi Klum ad campaign too popular

golf.com Is Annika just the beginning?
Dallas News Showtime: media throng for Annika
No-Smoking Dallas bar losing 90 percent of its business
Licked envelope nets arrest in 20-year-old murder case
Eight birds at rescue facility beaten to death
NY Times' Maureen Dowd Walk this way Not since Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks has a government devoted so much money and study to watching our steps.
US will take away Iraqis' guns
US joins worldwide anti-smoking agreement
Anti-terrorism powers used in unrelated cases
Artist's neighbors don't like her 150 plastic flamingos
Pentagon's new spy system gets a new name
BONSAI KITTENS RAISED INSIDE GLASS JARS

Need to check on questionable reports such as this? Always go to www.snopes.com and, in this case, use the search term "bonsai kittens"
May 22
Oregon may give illegals in-state college tuition rates
Lost dog found 800 miles from home
Annika stuff live on USA Network (TW cable Ch. 31)
River doesn't run thru it: Rio Grande dry at Big Bend
House votes to exempt military from environmental laws
CIA pre-war Iraq intel being investigated
1 Chicks booed at ACM awards show
2 Carter and McBride show up in same dress (with photo)
Dancing With the Devil Bob Herbert on Dixie Chicks and Halliburton
Texas and other states lower test standards
Dems fume over DPS destroying Killer D records
1 Macarena comments on NY Times Blair stories
2 I was Macarena's mentor at the NY Times "She once told me that her father's only goal for her back then was that she land a job in a building with air-conditioning."
May 23
Grand jury grills DPS on Killer Dees hunt
DeLay had role in DPS hunt for Dees
Pentagon throws $$$ into "gait analysis"
Gait recognition research strides ahead
Tailpipe Emissions Test Issue Mark Langford of Citizens Organized for Good Science attended a meeting of the AACOG Air Tech Advisory Committee at which recommended control strategies were presented to the Executive Committee. Tailpipe emissions testing WAS recommended. Yeah, I know, you're shocked, shocked! There are several more steps in this Clean Air Plan proposal before it would become final. If you have an opinion on the $40 car inspection proposal NOW is the time to email or call the San Antonio mayor and your council member if he isn't in jail. Council links are always in my left column and the Clean Air issue is there, too (at the bottom)
Drones considered for Mexico border patrols
"Homeless" are cops giving red light tickets
Army probing capture of Pvt. Lynch
May 24 25 26 Memorial Weekend
May 27
Iraqi hid inside wall 20 years supposedly
Stone faces prehistoric?

email Here’s one to compliment the Happy Face rocks article: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0305/17happyface/ Bryan
Texans at war with WD-40 idiots?
Why is Bush withholding 9-11 report? Newsweek
Red Cross denied access to US-held Iraqi POWs London Observer
San Antonio water in danger Bruce Davidson, Express-News
Macarena's take on NYT Blair case L.A.Times Op-Ed
Accused priest dies in escape jump
Most drivers admit they are a risk on the road
Paris Air Show getting much less US support
Here we go again: Iran supposedly wants nukes
Iran's nuclear reactor to be target? Maureen Dowd commentary
Broken promises in Iraq Washington Post "They came and said, 'I'll give you freedom and democracy.' So what? People should have food first, then democracy."
Suspensions for handing out laxative-laced donuts
Nun accused of ordering girl to "submit" herself
Hoaxes on radio almost never bring punishment
Brazilian makes up with wife who cut off his penis
May 28
Council runoff election final results
Donation database
Next Stop Tehran? With Iraq beaten, the US is now playing the same dangerous WMD game with Iran
War ends, Iraq battle over small arms begins
The curse of the quarters A strange series of coincidences befalls the 50 State Quarters
Red Rover, Red Rover upcoming Mars missions
Probe of DPS role in Killer Ds hunt ends
Nando Times news site shuts down
Canada may okay small amounts of pot: US uptight
Priest gets 20 prison years for sex abuse of children
Bravo cable to air gay dating show
Man with polka-dot house wins remodeling battle
Jacko never gave me what I wanted in bed says Lisa Marie
Neighbors petition against woman's noisy sex
May 29
Council votes today on Gunn Honda's request for exemption from aquifer protection rules, to build a new auto repair facility over the recharge zone
COMMENTARY
Dallas to buy no more Crown Victorias Thanks Vic
Mayor Garza proposes gutting TIF rules
Judge tells lawmaker to reveal DPS source
Some low-income child care axed from tax law
"Critical habitat" program out of money
WAR stuff

• Iraq trailers thought for biowar chemicals
• CBS reports no bunker at site where US bombed "leadership headquarters"
• No WMDs found? Who cares?
  Officials have begun to lay the groundwork for the possibility that it may take a long time, if ever, to find evidence of Iraq's banned weapons program. "Rumsfeld said Tuesday in response to questions at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, that the Iraqis "didn't have time to . . . use chemical weapons. . . . They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer."
• U.K. dossier on Iraq weapons 'unreliable'
  The classic example," the BBC quoted the intelligence officer as saying, "was the statement that weapons of mass destruction were ready for use (by Iraq) within 45 minutes."
• Pentagon Eyes Massive Covert Attack on Iran

• The case for war is blown apart London Independent
• Rumsfeld: WMDs may not exist London Independent
• Iraqis increasingly hostile to some G.I.s NY Times
  "We do not want to be ugly Americans. We are here to be a friend."
• Iraq: a Wag The Dog story Krugman commentary
  What part of this would you say is untrue?
• "First popular uprising" against G.I.s
  "...an invader, however well-intentioned, unfamiliar with traditions running up against a fiercely conservative people infused with ideas of pride, dignity and honor."

Local officials eye tax boost
San Antonio #1 in killing cats and dogs
Update: Laci-and-baby autopsy reports
Dueling reports: Anthrax in pond, or not?