Austria and Its "Dirt" II

So now almost a week into th Austria case of the father who kidnapped his daughter and held her for 24 years.....raping her.....and collecting seven kids along way.....we are left with a couple of questions still.

The steel door at the entry of the hidden area in the basement.....is way more than a normal man could lug around or hang on the hinges. So how did this guy....alone.....do it? We are told by the local cops that there was this guy, and no one else. But some things don't work.

Then we come to the three trips he made in recent years. In one case, he was gone for three weeks to Thailand. He left his wife and the three kids upstairs at the house, but no one will explain how the folks in the basement were fed for three weeks. Again, we are told that no accomplishes were involved with the guy.

The original basement did not have all of the security that he had built in the past ten to fifteen years. So how did he keep his daughter captive in the first four or five years?

These are all curious points...and maybe it was just him but if it was.....one has to wonder what would have happened had this guy had a heart attack on the street and the wife would have only discovered the prison a year or two later.

My Artistic License

Goodnight Scotland

I don’t know how to say goodbye
Our even if I can,
Each time I think of you
My mind’s like shifting sand.

In my childhood you were so good to me
You nourished me and give me life,
It was not you that let me down
It was my choice, that’s life.

I turned around and walked away
Without a second thought,
In all the years since then
Time just seemed to stop.

I wonder through your glens
In the early morning mist,
Sometimes I sit and ponder
On all the things I missed

I have followed your rivers
Your mountains and lochs,
Walked through your meadows
And worshiped you’re cross

You are my homeland
Where I belong,
I sing your praises
I sing your songs.

Your shadows linger wherever I go
I think of the winter, the hard frost and snow.
The long summer days, dark clouds overhead
Goodnight Scotland I am off to bed.

Ian McCrae
2006

A Swell Fella From Bama

The SEC woke up this morning and announced a lawsuit against the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama (a poor Democrat), who apparently will be the largest abuse in US history with municipal bonds. It appears that Mayor Larry Langford took almost $156k from a deal with a bond.....which is pushing the local county toward bankruptcy. Apparently Larry gave a local company authoritity to handle all bond issues over the past two years. In return, Larry got "paid back".

Apparently there was another guy involved in this episode....who worked with the bond company boss (those two were good friends of Larry, strangely enough)......and tossed the money back and forth enough times before handing it to Larry.....to make it look real confusing. But those SEC guys are accountants....and apparently at the end of the day.....a dollar is still a dollar in their minds.

The neat thing about this case....is the recent case where ex-governor Don Siegelman from Bama got a exit ticket from jail (temporary)....to try to fix up his briberly case. Don....another democrat...was upset because of those Karl Rove Republicans got him. Well.....Don says that but the fellow who bribed Don is still in jail and Don ain't talking much to him

So now we have Larry....another democrat....says that the same Karl Rove crowd got him. And he also says that the SEC has no authority over state bonds. Larry hasn't said much on the $156k given to him.....except this was a loan of sorts.

Larry, for those of you who ain't from around Bama....was the same fellow that approached the state legislature in the mid-1990s and arranged for a $65 million dollar loan to build an amusement park in central Alabama. The funny thing.....five years after opening......it declared bankruptcy. Some folks around Bama have forgotten this.....especially if you were a Democrat. The park was named "Visionland", and got bought by some investment group for an amount that is not talked much around the state. They now call it "Alabama Adventure" and its connected with some mall operation next door. Strangely enough....it draw around 350,000 customers per year.

Larry is also the fella who has vowed to build a indoor football stadium by hook or crook.....although the locals have turned this back via county voting, and Larry may have to bend every state rule to get this indoor stadium built, or may get a fancy municipal bond up.

So Larry is a swell fellow around Bama, who has money just flowing through his veins.....although its mostly state money.....not his own money.

A Fine Fella

Up in Alaska, they have one representative....a Republican by the name of Don Young. Don has been around in congress since 1973 and is a fine fella. In fact, in addition to representing Alaskan interests..there in 2005 Don set up a "earmark" with congressional funding and rules......for $10 million to study widening the road down near Naples, Florida. This little earmark apparently came out and is public knowledge now. The Senate got all upset about this, and a bunch of these politicians are disturbed that Don may have bent every rule that they used to be corrupt and then gone to a new level. So the Senate is asking for a fancy investigation....to learn how to write earmarks like this. Don says they are out of order and this isn't within the rules. As of yet, Don has not explained how a Alaskan representative works up road deals for the state of Florida.

I'm guessing that some Alaskan folks are asking some stupid questions about Don this morning. Its nice to have a representative representing your state....and it'd be nice if he would earmark this widening projects for Alaskan roads instead. I'm thinking Don has screwed up nicely, and might be spending some time in jail. You Alaskan folks might want to start looking for a new guy. On the positive side...maybe Don will move to Florida.....and represent those folks.

City Crops

There is a great article over at Fox News over the growing trend of folks living in the "burbs" and growing mary-j-u-wanna.

The deal is....you take basically three dozen plants and figure four "crops" a year, and you turn almost $600,000 a year off those plants. The problem is....its illegal. And by the time you figure the heating lamps and and the other electrical-use items....you are pulling the electrical usage of three houses, in one house. This is the easiest way for cops to suspect something isn't right.

It surprises me that a simple garage operation, could turn $600k a year, all-tax free. And the man-hours? Well....unlike the farmer who is working 60 hours a week on average.....you might work 20 man-hours a week, and a bit extra around harvest season.

Its amazing that none of these guys ever think about the electrical usage and have solar panels on the roof. An investment of $80k would put enough panels up to cover an entire roof (on the back side away from the public view), and still keep yourself attached to the city grid and use the average amount of power. And then the last trick is to avoid selling out of the house....and market to some guy who lives out of town. But then....as we all know....mary-j-u-wanna smokers....are typically burnt out and unable to comprehend things.

The amusing part of this story....is the next door neighbor, who is in his seventies...who said that more of these type businesses would show up because of the economy. I'm thinking he might be right. A guy could pay his house off and live a honest life....well....ok....maybe not totally honest.