That is wrong on a lot of levels.

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- A woman came into the Coggin Pontiac dealership on Blanding Blvd. looking to buy a car. But how she tried to pay for the car is what caught the salesman's attention.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office says Emma Harrison, 25, wrote the dealership a check for $67,768 for the purchase of a car, with the names Jesus Christ and Emma Christ on the account. The check was handed over to the financial manager for verification.

But when the funds didn't check out, he called police.

Reports show that Harrison would sign the checks as Emma Christ, or even sometimes sign both Jesus Christ and Emma Christ.

Emma told police Harrison was her maiden name, and she was married to Jesus Christ, and Jesus was coming in next week to sign the paperwork for the car.

She also said the dealership called the wrong company to verify the funds. Police looked into Harrison's accounts, and found that she had no money in any of her accounts, so she could not purchase the car.

When asked about work, Harrison told police she does not work, but she has a traveling website that people deposit money into.

She had three active credit cards in the name of Emma Christ.

Harrison was arrested on three fraud-related counts.

I don't know what is weirder about this story. 1. The fact that this runner's gender is in question. 2. It takes 3+ weeks to check if it's male or female.

Click link for full article and photos.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1207653/Womens-800m-gold-medal-favourite-Caster-Semenya-takes-gender-test-hours-World-Championship-race.html

A female runner accused of being a man tonight took gold in the 800m World Athletics Championship. South African Caster Semenya, 18, had to take a gender test after doubts were raised about her sex. But despite the furore, she easily took gold in the final in Berlin.

The teenage sensation has sparked controversy over her strikingly muscular physique. Today officials at the world athletics body, the IAAF, revealed that it ordered her to take a gender test three weeks ago. IAAF spokesman Nick Davies confirmed the tests were taking place, though he said the results would not be confirmed for several weeks. Until the results are confirmed, there was nothing to prevent Semenya from competing in tonight's final, he said. He added: 'At this moment in time we do not have any evidence to stop her running.'

South African athletics chiefs furiously denied the claims and stated Semenya was definitely female.

A grill to cook babies and roast body parts was offered by Sears, albeit unintentionally.

Until taken down today, the Kenmore Cooker was listed under "human cooking" on the retailers Web site.

Sears says a technical glitch allowed someone to get in and deface a number of product sites. It's been fixed.

The story is on the KTAR website.

Darwin award nominee.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/northvalley/articles/2009/08/31/20090831abrk-rollover31-ON.html

A man was killed early Saturday morning when he rolled his SUV in the parking lot of a north Phoenix bar after refusing offers for rides from witnesses and a cabbie, authorities said.

Witnesses told police that Caleb Schmidt, 21, had been drinking late Friday and into Saturday morning at a bar on Happy Valley Road.

When Schmidt got up to leave at about 2:30 a.m., several people tried to talk him out of driving, police said. One person even reportedly called a cab company. They followed Schmidt to his 1999 Dodge Durango to try to stop him from driving. Authorities said that a taxi pulled into the parking lot, blocking Schmidt's Durango.
According to police, witnesses said Schmidt sat behind the wheel of the SUV with the driver-side door open as he threatened the cab driver. The cab driver moved the taxi and parked.

Police gave the rest of this account:

Someone reached into the driver's side of the Durango and tried to get Schmidt's keys. Schmidt floored the Durango with the driver's door still open. He was apparently not wearing a seat belt.

He immediately lost control. The Durango did a 180-degree-turn, struck a concrete median and hit a tree, rolling onto Schmidt, who had fallen out of the SUV's open door.

Schmidt's blood alcohol content could not be determined at the time.

wow people are stupid.

This kind of fits with weird news.

http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2009/09/connecticut-budget-solitaire-photo.html

House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, far right, speaks while colleagues play solitaire on their computers as the House convenes to vote on a new budget for the fiscal year in the Capitol on Monday

A photo of two Democratic legislators playing solitaire has ignited controversy at the state Capitol and in the blogosphere.

The Associated Press picture has appeared in any number of venues, and it shows two lawmakers sitting in the back row of the historic Hall of the House in Hartford during the lengthy debate over the two-year, $37 billion state budget.

On the left is Rep. Barbara Lambert, a freshman Democrat from Milford who won her first legislative election in November 2008. She replaced longtime Milford Democrat James Amann, who ended his legislative career as the House Speaker and is now running for governor against Republican M. Jodi Rell.

Lambert is playing spider solitaire in the photo, while Rep. Jack F. Hennessy, a Bridgeport Democrat who has served in Hartford since 2005, is playing regular solitaire. They both voted in favor of the Democratic-written budget, while Cafero voted against it.

During the long debates at the state Capitol, legislators often work on their laptop computers - as seen in the photograph. Sometimes they are answering e-mails from constituents, while other times they are researching important information on pending bills. Other times, they are playing solitaire.

When asked Tuesday about the photo by Capitol Watch, Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell laughed and said, "I think if they'd spend less time playing computer games and more time looking for spending cuts, then we would have been out of here a lot sooner.''

Republican Tom Foley, who is running for U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat Christopher J. Dodd, said, "I was disheartened to see a Hartford Courant front page photo showing members of our Democratically-controlled legislature playing solitaire on their computers while debate was occurring on a new state budget that raises taxes and contains no net reduction in spending. This is not a time for the Democrats who control our legislature to be playing games with Connecticut's future. Our elected officials need to put away their computer toys and help working people by lowering taxes and keeping government spending down."

Im sure the guy looking at the sports page on his laptop was an evil Dem too...
How many times do we get online at work? I think its just over the top slow news day.

Yes We Cannibal

California authorities say a clash between opponents and supporters of health care reform ended with one man biting off another man’s finger.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Capt. Frank O’Hanlon says about 100 people demonstrating in favor of health care reforms rallied Wednesday night on a street corner. One protester walked across the street to confront about 25 counter-demonstrators.

O’Hanlon says the man got into an argument and fist fight, during which he bit off the left pinky of a 65-year-old man who opposed health care reform.
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/09/03/mike-tyson-strategy-replacing-cloward-piven/

Sent via email from Robert McNeeley

A lady was telling her neighbor that she saw a man driving a pick-up truck down the interstate, and a dog was hanging onto the tailgate for dear life. She said if the pick-up truck driver hadn't been going so fast in the other direction, she would have tried to stop him. A few weeks later, her neighbor saw this truck at the Bass Pro Shop in Daphne, Alabama .

The pick-up truck driver is a local taxidermist with a great sense of humor. And it's not a dog, it's a coyote. Can you imagine how many people try to stop this guy?

http://www.kansas.com/news/story/956813.html

Town's police shoot fire chief over traffic ticket dispute

JERICHO, Ark. —It was just too much, having to return to court twice on the same day to contest yet another traffic ticket, and Fire Chief Don Payne didn't hesitate to tell the judge what he thought of the police and their speed traps.

The response from cops? They shot him. Right there in court.

Payne ended up in the hospital, but his shooting last week brought to a boil simmering tensions between residents of this tiny former cotton city and their police force. Drivers quickly learn to slow to a crawl along the gravel roads and the two-lane highway that run through Jericho, but they say sometimes that isn't enough to fend off the city ticketing machine.

"You can't even get them to answer a call because normally they're writing tickets," said Thomas Martin, chief investigator for the Crittenden County Sheriff's Department. "They're not providing a service to the citizens."

Now the police chief has disbanded his force "until things calm down," a judge has voided all outstanding police-issued citations and sheriff's deputies are asking where all the money from the tickets went. With 174 residents, the city can keep seven police officers on its rolls but missed payments on police and fire department vehicles and saw its last business close its doors a few weeks ago.

"You can't even buy a loaf of bread, but we've got seven police officers," said former resident Larry Harris, who left town because he said the police harassment became unbearable.

Sheriff's deputies patrolled Jericho until the 1990s, when the city received grant money to start its own police force, Martin said.

Police often camped out in the department's two cruisers along the highway that runs through town, waiting for drivers who failed to slow down when they reached the 45 mph zone ringing Jericho, about 15 miles northwest of West Memphis. Residents say the ticketing got out of hand.

The frequent ticketing apparently led to the vandalization of the cruisers, and the department took to parking the cars overnight at the sheriff's department eight miles away.

It was anger over traffic tickets that brought Payne to city hall last week, said his lawyer, Randy Fishman. After Payne failed to get a traffic ticket dismissed on Aug. 27, police gave Payne or his son another ticket that day. Payne, 39, returned to court to vent his anger to Judge Tonya Alexander, Fishman said.

It's unclear exactly what happened next, but Martin said an argument between Payne and the seven police officers who attended the hearing apparently escalated to a scuffle, ending when an officer shot Payne from behind.

Doctors in Memphis, Tenn., removed a .40-caliber bullet from Payne's hip bone, Martin said. Another officer suffered a grazing wound to his finger from the bullet.

Martin declined to name the officer who shot Payne. It's unclear if the officer has been disciplined.

Prosecutor Lindsey Fairley said Thursday that he didn't plan to file any felony charges against the officer or Payne. Fairley, reached at his home, said Payne could face a misdemeanor charge stemming from the scuffle, but that would be up to the city's judge. He said he didn't remember the name of the officer who fired the shot.

Payne remains in good condition at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. He referred questions to his lawyer.

"I know that he was unarmed and I know he was shot," Fishman said. "None of that sounds too good for the city to me."

After the shooting, Martin said police chief Willie Frazier told the sheriff's department he was disbanding the police force "until things calm down." The sheriff's department has been patrolling the town in the meantime.

A call to a city hall number listed as Frazier's went to a fax machine. Frazier did not respond to a written request for comment sent to his office.

Alexander, the judge, has voided all the tickets written by the department both inside the city and others written outside of its jurisdiction — citations that the department apparently had no power to write. Alexander, who works as a lawyer in West Memphis, resigned as Jericho's judge in the aftermath of the shooting, Fairley said. She did not return calls for comment.

Meanwhile, sheriff's deputies want to know where the money from the traffic fines went. Martin said that it appeared the $150 tickets weren't enough to protect the city's finances. Sheriff's deputies once had to repossess one of the town's police cruisers for failure to pay on a lease, and the state Forestry Commission recently repossessed one of the city's fire trucks because of nonpayment.

City hall has been shuttered since the shooting. No one answered when a reporter knocked on the door on Tuesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090904/od_afp/usbankingoffbeat

US bank seeks thumbprint of armless man

Fri Sep 4, 12:03 pm ET
MIAMI (AFP)

A man who sought to cash his wife's check at her bank ran into an unusual problem: the teller wanted his thumbprint. Problem was, the man had no arms.

Steve Valdez, a resident of Tampa, Florida, went into a Bank of America branch in his home town to cash the check on his wife's request, local media reported Thursday.

The teller told him that a person without an account at the bank has to give a thumbprint to cash a check.

Valdez, 54, uses prosthetic arms since he was born armless.

"She said, 'Obviously you aren't going to be able to give us a thumbprint,'" Valdez told the St. Petersburg Times newspaper, which serves the Tampa Bay area of Florida.

Valdez showed the bank teller two picture identification cards, but the teller was not swayed.

She consulted the manager, who said that in order to cash the check Valdez could open his own account, or bring his wife. Valdez did neither and left.

Bank of America apologized.

"We should have offered alternative requirements if an individual is not able to give a thumbprint," the bank said in a statement.

Valdez said he was told the manager was following bank policy.

"That's just shocking to me. This can't have been the first time this has ever come up," Valdez told the newspaper.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We should have offered alternative requirements if an individual is not able to give a thumbprint," the bank said in a statement.

Um, ya think? Kind of sad the bank personnel did not have the ability to waive the rule this once. . .

d


.

Number 7 wrote:Um, ya think? Kind of sad the bank personnel did not have the ability to waive the rule this once. . ..

Don't be so quick to judge the bank. My boys sister-n-law was fired from Wells Fargo for virtually an identical incident. Customer she has worked with for 2 years comes in with a check for some amount over 1000. Normal policy would be to put a hold on a portion of the funds until the document clears. Well based on the relationship with the customer and whatever sob story they gave her she released all of the funds to them that day and it turned out to be fraudulent and the bank lost the money and fired her.

Dozzer wrote:Don't be so quick to judge the bank. My boys sister-n-law was fired from Wells Fargo for virtually an identical incident. Customer she has worked with for 2 years comes in with a check for some amount over 1000. Normal policy would be to put a hold on a portion of the funds until the document clears. Well based on the relationship with the customer and whatever sob story they gave her she released all of the funds to them that day and it turned out to be fraudulent and the bank lost the money and fired her.

Of course you're right. Rules are rules for a reason, especially for banks. Just seemed like such an odd situation. No thumb-print, no cash. Hey, why couldn't they use the guy's toe?

d

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Pa-man-fires-cannon-hits-neighbors-house-57650817.html

A Pennsylvania history buff who recreates firearms from old wars accidentally fired a 2-pound cannonball through the wall of his neighbor's home in Uniontown, Pa.

William Maser, 54, fired a cannonball Wednesday evening outside his home in Georges Township that ricocheted and hit a house 400 yards away. The cannonball, about two inches in diameter, smashed through a window and a wall before landing in a closet. Authorities said nobody was hurt.

State police charged Maser with reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.

No one answered the phone Friday at Maser's home. He told WPXI-TV that recreating 19th-century cannons is a longtime hobby. He said he is sorry and he will stop shooting them on his property, about 35 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

In a nutshell: Fishing, drinking, attacked by eel, screaming like a girl, more drinking, fight the monster, more drinking, attacked again, more screaming, more drinking, more fighting...

Nice. A lot of their articles read that way :)=) http://seabreezenews.com/

I wish all papers were like that!

lol

"the four brave men then ran to the wheelhouse like women and slammed the door shut. They never did identify which of them screamed like a girl"

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/weird/2642152/Mystery-beast-terrified-kids.html

CLICK LINK FOR PICTURES

TERRIFIED locals in a South American town are running scared after a strange creature they describe as "Gollum" crawled out of a lake and charged schoolkids.
The beast — which has "sparked fear and confusion" in the small town of Cerro Azul, Panama — was spotted on Saturday when four 14 to 16-year-olds were playing by the waterfront.

According to their account, reported by Panamanian news service Telemetro, the youngsters "screamed" when the five-foot creature emerged from a cave and started clambouring over rocks towards them "as if to attack them".

In a "desperate bid to defend themselves" the four terrified boys said they hurled rocks at the strange creature to kill it, before throwing its corpse in the water and running away.

Their disbelieving parents returned to the lake the following day — and were stunned to discovered the beast's body washed up on the shore.

Experts have yet to examine the images — or make any statements regarding their discovery.

But locals told Panama news channels, who ran the story, that the water-monster was "Gollum from Lord of the Rings".

One said: "I have only seen that creature once before - and it was in the Tolkien film."

The fictional Gollum — originally known as Smeagol — was a hobbit whose later name was derived from the "disgusting gurgling, choking cough he made".

JRR Tolkien — who wrote the Middle Earth adventures — said of the character: "He had become deformed and twisted in both body and mind by the corruption of the Ring.

"His only desire was to possess the Ring which had enslaved him, and he pursued it for many years after he lost it."