WTF-American held at Cairo airport with weapons

Reuters - An Egyptian-American was arrested at Cairo airport on Tuesday night after arriving on a direct flight from New York carrying two pistols, 250 bullets, two swords and 11 knives in his luggage, airport officials said....More

Stupid News - The running of the bulls through Pamplona

Stupid News - The running of the bulls through Pamplona
By JORGE SAINZ, Associated Press Writer
Tue Jul 8, 7:21 AM ET



PAMPLONA, Spain - The running of the bulls through Pamplona on Tuesday left one man gored and four slightly injured during the annual San Fermin festival, the Spanish Red Cross said.
Hundreds of people and six fighting bulls, accompanied by steer, sprinted the half-mile (850-meter) route through cobblestone streets in just over two minutes, a relatively clean and fast run by San Fermin standards.

One Spaniard was gored in the thigh and treated at a city hospital, but was not in serious condition, the Red Cross said. Four other Spaniards were treated for bruises.

The first run on Monday took over four minutes and injured 13 people. None of them were gored.

The runs to the city bullring take place at 8 a.m. daily and are the highlight of a centuries-old festival that became world famous with Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises."

Professional matadors fight, and invariably kill, the bulls each afternoon of the festival.

The fiesta, which ends July 14, is known also for its all-night street parties.

Tuesday's run used bulls from the southern Cebada Gago ranch, considered among the most dangerous in San Fermin. In 27 years, they have gored more than 35 people.

The festival attracts tens of thousands of foreigners.

One runner from Japan, Shinichi Hitano, 30, stumbled and fell during the run Tuesday but was uninjured.

"I suddenly found myself on the ground with everyone trying to jump over me," he told The Associated Press. "I knew the bulls were coming so I covered my head. Luckily nothing happened."

It was the first time for Greg Floris, 40 from Florida.

"It was an exhilarating flash," he said. "They just zipped past us at such speed."

Fourteen runners have died in the running of the bulls since record-keeping began in 1924.

The last fatality from a goring was a 22-year-old American, Matthew Tassio, in 1995. In 2003, a 63-year-old Pamplona native, Fermin Etxeberri, was trampled in the head by a bull and died after spending several months in a coma.

On Sunday, a 23-year-old Irishman died after falling from an ancient wall that encircles the old quarter of Pamplona.

Gas Prices:Who Is Screwing America-OPEC? or American Businessmen?

Gas Prices:Who Is Screwing America-OPEC? or American Businessmen?

Gas pushes above $4, oil falls on profit-taking
By JOHN WILEN, AP Business Writer


NEW YORK - Retail gas prices rose further above a national average of $4 Monday, as distributors and retailers hiked prices in response to Friday's unprecedented rally in the oil futures market. Oil futures, meanwhile, retreated as investors sold to lock in profits from the run-up, though oil prices may be headed even higher.

At the pump, the national average price of a gallon of regular gas rose 1.8 cents overnight to a record $4.023, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Prices first moved above $4 nationally on Sunday, though they've been higher than that in many parts of the country for weeks.

Consumers are cutting back on their consumption of gas in response to the high prices, but gasoline producers have little choice but to keep raising prices when the cost of their chief raw material — crude oil — rises. Friday's jump of nearly $11 in oil prices put new life into gas prices, which had appeared to be topping out.

Gas prices often peak around Memorial Day, then retreat over the course of the summer. But this is far from a normal year. Oil prices have been marching steadily higher since last fall, and occasional price corrections of $10, or more, have been followed by rapid rebounds to new heights. Last week, oil prices rose nearly 14 percent in two days, trading as high as $139.12 a barrel, after slumping more than $13 from a previous record high.

If oil continues rising, gas prices will follow, giving consumers little relief at the pump.

On Tuesday, light, sweet crude for July delivery fell $2.68 to $135.86 a barrel in volatile trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"There's some profit taking going on, which is understandable after that sort of move," said Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Conn.

One of the factors that underpinned Friday's rally — an Israeli cabinet minister's comment that his nation might attack Iran if it didn't halt its nuclear program — appeared to dissipate over the weekend as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert distanced himself from the comments and other officials noted that the minister, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, had not been expressing official government policy.

But other factors support high oil prices. An explosion last week at a natural gas production facility in Australia has boosted demand for diesel by that country's mining sector, Armstrong said. In Nigeria, a major U.S. oil supplier, a strike later this week could take 450,000 barrels in daily oil supplies off the market, Armstrong said. Both events highlight how tight oil supplies are.

Friday's price jump was aided by a Morgan Stanley analyst's prediction that strong demand in Asia and tight supplies in the Western Hemisphere could drive prices to $150 a barrel by early July. But the upward swing in crude began Thursday, after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet suggested the bank could increase interest rates in July to counter rising inflation.

"Trichet has managed what no war, no hurricanes, no OPEC has ever managed to do," analyst Olivier Jakob from Petromatrix in Switzerland said in a research report. Trichet's statements "shocked the financial system," Jakob said, and sent the dollar falling against the euro.

Many investors buy commodities such as oil as a hedge against inflation when the greenback weakens. On Monday, the effect reversed; the dollar gained ground, making oil less effective as an inflation hedge. Also, a stronger dollar makes oil more expensive to investors overseas.

Some analysts see warning signs in Friday's bold oil price jump.

"It was a freakish oil market Friday as the market's worst fears — some real and some imagined — exploded into a rhapsody of wild buying," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp., in Chicago, in a research note.

The $10.75 move had some of the hallmarks of a "blow-off top," Armstrong said, or a rapid, explosive runup in prices that's followed by steep declines. Still, it's far to early to tell for sure, he added.

"You never know you've been in a bubble until it's gone," Armstrong said.

In other Nymex trading Monday, July gasoline futures fell 10.29 cents to $3.4451 a gallon, and July heating oil futures fell 8.04 cents to $3.8936 a gallon. July natural gas futures fell 7.2 cents to $12.621 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, July Brent crude was down $2.70 to $134.99 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Associated Press Writer Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Hungary, and AP Business Writer Malcolm Foster in Bangkok, Thailand, contributed to this report.

Stupid News - New York's Original Kazoo Co. stays true to name

Stupid News - New York's Original Kazoo Co. stays true to name

EDEN, N.Y. - The name of the place says it all: The Original Kazoo Co. And, boy, do its owners mean original.
The same belt and pulley machines that stamped and shaped the world's first metal kazoos circa 1900 still stamp and shape kazoos today. The machines are still in the same building, making the same ker-thwunk sound as they perforate, fold and shape.

The finished product hasn't changed, either. The palm-sized, submarine-shaped musical instrument still makes a tinny vibration when someone hums into it.

If there was ever the temptation to modernize the kazoo-making operation as the business changed hands over the years, it didn't last.

"It really would kind of spoil the fun of coming here if you couldn't see things as they were," Karen Smith said as she scanned the factory floor, now more working museum than manufacturing facility. "It's wonderful for our country to know that long ago, they invented this way of manufacturing and it still works today."

The Original Kazoo Co. operates on Main Street in a farm town southwest of Buffalo known as much for its yearly corn festival as kazoos.

The plant opened in 1907 as a sheet metal workshop, producing stove and furnace parts and peanut vending machines. It began making kazoos in 1916 after its owner was approached about creating a metal version of the wooden instrument that had been around since the 1840s.

Inside her gift shop, Smith demonstrates the songs heard most often when adult visitors get hold of a kazoo: "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and "I've Been Working on the Railroad."

Children?

"`Jingle Bells,'" she said. "It doesn't matter if it's July or August, they're all playing `Jingle Bells.' It's amazing."

The place gets its share of tours by students and senior citizens, all eager to try out the product. To say it gets pretty noisy is "putting it mildly," shop forewoman Sue Cruz said with a laugh.

What has changed over the years is ownership. Today, the site is operated by Suburban Adult Services Inc., a nonprofit organization serving mentally and physically disabled adults. It inherited the factory in 2002 as a donation from Robert and David Berghash, after the Berghashes sold the rights to make the standard kazoo to its largest distributor, Woodstock Percussion in New York's Hudson Valley.

As part of the deal, the original factory stayed in Eden and is allowed to make and sell 5,000 standard kazoos a year. They sell in the gift shop for $1.99. The part-time work force of about 15 people from Suburban Adult Services spends the rest of the time making kazoo trumpets, french horns, trombones and other specialty kazoos that are sold on site and to distributors.

The deal also included rights to the name, Original American Kazoo Co., so the Eden operation became the Original Kazoo Co.

"It's someplace I enjoy walking into," Tony Annunziato, associate executive director of SASI, said of the shop, where more than 20 machines are run by a 10-horsepower motor spinning overhead shafts and leather belts. "It's a nice atmosphere. You don't see that in industry."

The operation gets visitors and orders from around the world, including a recent request for 200 kazoos destined for an orphanage in South Africa.

"Music transcends all language and kazoo really provides that to everyone," Smith said. "You don't have to be a practiced musician in order to participate."

There is a technique, albeit simple, to playing: Hum, don't blow. Some people struggle with that, Smith said.

The key is the small circular Mylar resonator covering a hole on the top of the kazoo, which is vibrated by the humming.

"If you were to blow into a kazoo, absolutely nothing would happen," Smith said.

The kazoo is believed to be the only musical instrument to be invented and produced in the United States. Today, the Eden factory produces the only American-made metal version.


On the Net:

http://www.edenkazoo.com/history.php

http://www.sasinc.org

Thank You - Veterans On Memorial Day

Thank You - Veterans For Your Sacrifice!

On Memorial Day, Americans honor those who have fought and died for their country.
Remember The Families and Children They have left behind.

The Final Inspection Youtube Video-




Fallen Soldier All Alone
Fallen Soldier Far From Home.
Trickling Down His Face A Tear,
Forgetting How It Feels To Fear
Death And All It's Fate And Glory.
Now It's Here, No Need To Worry.

Fallen Soldier All Alone
Fallen Soldier Far From Home
He's One Of Those They'll All Forget;
The Life He Lived, The Goals He Set,
The Ones He Loved, The Ones Who Wait
To See His Nearly Forgotten Face.

Fallen Soldier All Alone
Fallen Soldier Far From Home
Now Breathing's Just A Waste Of Breath
And Living's Just A Waste Of Death
As He Searches For A New Address;
A Brand New Home Free Of Loneliness.

Fallen Soldier All Alone
Fallen Soldier Far From Home
Lying Motionless On The Ground,
The Battle Raging All Around.
For Now He Is Not All Alone.
This Fallen Soldier Is Welcomed Home.

Branden Hidalgo


Memorial Day- C W Johnson
We walked among the crosses
Where our fallen soldiers lay.
And listened to the bugle
As TAPS began to play.
The Chaplin led a prayer
We stood with heads bowed low.
And I thought of fallen comrades
I had known so long ago.
They came from every city
Across this fertile land.
That we might live in freedom.
They lie here 'neath the sand.
I felt a little guilty
My sacrifice was small.
I only lost a little time
But these men lost their all.
Now the services are over
For this Memorial Day.
To the names upon these crosses
I just want to say,
Thanks for what you've given
No one could ask for more.
May you rest with God in heaven
From now through evermore.

Michigans Fallen Soldiers From Iraqi and Afganistan


Casualties4,579
Operation Iraqi Freedom 4082 Operation Enduring Freedom 497
As of 23 MAY 2008 10AM EDT

Website that support our Troops and Their Families
Our Fallen Soldier.com

Defend America Website

Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund a non-profit

U.S. military fires warning shots in Gulf at Iranian Boats

Here we go folks! The war with Iran will happen. Do not deny it, prepare yourself for $8.00 per gallon of gas and terrorist attacks in the USA. If you don't think it will happen you are living in a dream world. Why do you think we are hanging around in the Middleast? To make the streets of Bagdad safer! Not...

Here is todays lastest with Iran and The USA.

From Reuters

By Kristin Roberts
1 hour, 39 minutes ago

U.S. Navy fired warning shots at Iranian boats
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A cargo ship hired by the U.S. military fired warning shots at approaching boats in the Gulf, the U.S. Navy said on Friday, underscoring tension in the region as the Pentagon sharpened its warnings to Iran.

According to American defense officials, the Westward Venture cargo ship chartered by the U.S. Defense Department was traveling in international waters when two unidentified small boats approached on Thursday.

After the boats failed to respond to radio queries and a warning flare, the cargo ship's security team fired "a few bursts" of machine gun and rifle warning shots, according to Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet.

"The small boats left the area a short time later," she said by telephone. "They were able to avoid a serious incident by following the procedures that we use."

The news helped push oil prices up more than $3 to $119.50 a barrel -- within striking distance of the record $119.90 hit earlier this week -- as traders worried escalating tensions in the region could eventually disrupt crude shipments.

U.S. defense officials, speaking only on condition of anonymity, first said they suspected the boats were Iranian.

But a Fifth Fleet spokeswoman quickly backed away from that charge.

"We cannot speculate on who they are. We just don't know. We have no proof of who they were," said Lt. Stephanie Murdoch, another spokeswoman for the Fifth Fleet.

In Tehran, an Iranian navy source denied that any confrontation had occurred with a U.S. ship in the Gulf. But the source, quoted by a journalist for Iran's state-owned Arabic Al-Alam TV channel, said any shooting that may have occurred could have targeted a non-Iranian vessel.