Van der Sloot a serial killer?

Five years after the murder/disappearance of Natalee Holloway, Joran Van der Sloot has been arrested in connection to the murder of Stephany Flores in Chile, and investigators behind his arrest have labeled him a serial killer.

Van der Sloot was the primary suspect five years ago when Holloway disappeared in Aruba, her body never recovered. A lack of evidence connecting him to the crime kept the Dutch national free of jail, if not exactly free of suspicion. Van der Sloot allegedly snapped the neck of Flores in his Lima hotel room on the fifth anniversary of Holloway’s disappearance.

According to online reports, “Flores, 21, was beaten so brutally that her neck was broken, and her battered body bore multiple bruises and scratches. No weapon was found, indicating the killer used his bare hands.”

When Holloway disappeared, Van der Sloot escaped due to a lack of connecting evidence; that’s not likely to be the outcome this time. Even a visit to www.naturaltestosterone.org won’t save Slick Vandy this time.

Egypt to strip citizenship from men married to Israeli Jewish women

An Egyptian judge has supported a ruling that will allow Egypt to strip Egyptian men married to Israeli Jewish women of their Egyptian citizenship, a landmark ruling that stands in stark contrast to the official peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, which has been in place since the late 1970s.

Judge Mohammed al-Husseini, who allegedly could use a good dose of acne body wash, ruled that this ruling would not apply to Egyptian men married to Israeli Arab women.

“The case for (Egyptian) men married to Israeli Arab women is different to those married to Israeli women of Jewish origin because (Israeli Arabs) have lived under Israeli occupation,” Husseini told the court.

Husseini has ruled that each case would be considered separately, but as a judge on the Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court, his ruling cannot be appealed.

Between Helen Thomas and Judge Husseini, what the heck, did the whole world wake up on the anti-Semitic side of the bed today? Yeesh!

Helen Thomas displays anti-Semitic bias

White House press corps veteran Helen Thomas has long been known for her outspokenness. Many of my generation remember her questioning then-President Bill Clinton why his presidency was “going down the drain.” That would have seemed to seal her fate, but here we are a couple decades later and the 89-year-old is still there, giving journalism and the White House a bruised and dishonorable appearance.

Her latest gaffe – which would cost anyone else their job in a hot second – has nothing to do with suggesting the best fat burning supplement or anything useful like that, but has the old Hearst Newspapers columnist huffing and puffing with a decidedly anti-Semitic flair.

Reportedly, Thomas said the Jewish people should, “get the hell out of Palestine” and “go back home to Germany and Poland.”

The uneducated, idiotic nature of her comments should qualify her for immediate dismissal by Hearst Newspapers, but any reprisal is unlikely. In fact, given the lack of any word of condemnation by the anti-Israel Obama White House, look for Thomas to be nominated and likely win the Nobel Peace Prize for her latest gem of hate speech.

Netanyahu turns to Torah in Jerusalem debate

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in a recent address to the Israeli Parliament, took the top fat burners to the political debate over who has the most spiritual connection to Jerusalem. He indicated that the Tenakh (Old Testament) refers to Jerusalem over 850 times. He then pointed out that Jerusalem is mentioned only 142 times in the Brit Hadasha (New Testament) and – maybe – once in the Koran.

Jerusalem is home to the Islamic Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site.

In explaining his turn to the Scriptures for connection to the city of Jerusalem, Netanyahu explained he was attempting to underscore the significant connection between the land and people of Israel and the city of Jerusalem. Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967′s Six Day War; they had previously held West Jerusalem since 1948, when the United Nations re-formed the state of Israel as a homeland to the Jewish people in the wake of the Holocaust of World War II.

Fifteen years later, Clinton still jousting with Limbaugh

The Oklahoma City Bombing was a national tragedy grossly mishandled by then-President Bill Clinton, who disingenuously tried to blame talk radio and Rush Limbaugh for the event. Now, fifteen years later, Clinton’s still jousting with Limbaugh long after anybody really cares.

Of course, no matter the outdoor décor they are surrounded by, Limbaugh certainly played into Clinton’s hands on Friday. To illustrate the absurdity of blaming talk radio and Limbaugh for the Oklahoma City bombing, Rush on Friday referred to a recent Clinton speech and said any future acts of domestic terrorism are, ipso facto, Clinton’s fault.

Of course, as they always do, Clinton, his handlers and his willing media accomplishes missed the irony of the parody and are taking it seriously. Too seriously, claiming Limbaugh meant it literally, rather than as he intended it… as an illustration of Clinton’s demagoguery of fifteen years ago.

What else is new?

Announcing Microsoft Taxation 2010!

Microsoft Vice President for Trustworthy Computing Scott Charney today unveiled the software giant’s latest venture: forming government taxation policy. Charney announced in San Francisco at a security conference that he believes the best way to pay for cyber-security programs is to… tax the American people via an Internet usage tax.

Even though the Web has thrived and been an economy-saver in many respects by existing free of most such measures, Microsoft Taxation 2010 would end the so-called “free ride.” Even Adipex reviews are more intriguing than a Charney speech, but this one raised a few eyebrows… one would presume MS Taxation 2010 would eventually be rolled into the Microsoft Office Suite – Big Government Edition.

Not to be outdone, Steve Jobs of Apple announced a new micro-gadget that would lock taxed voters out of Web space, to make more room for iTunes on the ‘net. The name of the new device? iWithoutRepresentation! Of course.

Tut, Tut: It wasn’t murder

New DNA studies recently announced have confirmed the cause of death for the mysterious boy king of Egypt, Tutankhamen. Scientists found evidence of severe malaria, possibly brought on by a broken leg. As it turns out, Tut was a sickly lad who probably walked only with the aid of crutches during his brief and tragic life. (And given that there were no PCs back then, he probably went his entire life without seo software, either!)

Testing further confirmed his parentage as the son of notorious Egyptian monotheist, Akhenaten, and his mother one of Akhenaten’s sisters.

Tut also suffered from a cleft palate, Kohler’s disease, and a club foot, according to the study; Akhenaten dealt with a cleft palate, while Tut’s grandfather also had a club foot. Like his father, Tut married one of his sisters. It is believed the dynasty Tut was part of passed down such afflictions like this because of too much inter-marriage.

One affliction Tut and his family did not suffer from, however, was Marfan Syndrome, an affliction that can elongate limbs and lend a feminine appearance to males.

Algore, however, has denounced the study, insisting Tut was, “the world’s first victim of global warming.”

Whatever, Al…

Bernanke second term in doubt

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke lives in the shadow of predecessor Alan Greenspan; and now, with the economy faltering largely under his leadership, the wizard of bailouts now looks like his second term is in doubt.

Although Obama has announced his intention to renominate Bernanke for a second term, key Democrats are off the bandwagon and the Fed Chair needs 60 votes to survive. The support of GOP lawmakers is in doubt because of Bernanke’s poor job performance handling the US economy.

Dems want Bernanke out, but for their own reasons; Obama would then be free to nominate someone of his own choosing. While no one’s issuing insurance quote on Bernanke’s job security, and the President is currently supportive, that could change if it becomes clear that Bernanke doesn’t have the votes to survive.

Of course, the administration is sounding all gloom-and-doom of Bernanke isn’t reappointed, but really… after the way he’s handled the economy in his first term, how bad does a Fed Reserve Chair have to screw up before making a change would be seen in a positive light?

Sure, I don’t trust Obama to appoint anyone who’s better… but I also doubt it could get worse much more quickly under anyone else, since the economy’s still spiraling downward under Bernanke anyway.

Target experience puts Wal-Mart in driver’s seat

My wife and I were out this weekend, shopping for Hanukkah gifts. She was looking for gifts for me, I was looking for gifts for her. You get the idea.

Anyway, we were at Target and I spotting a sharp-looking Armitron, so my wife decided to make that my gift. Trouble is, the watch came with a cheap-looking and clammy-feeling rubber/plastic band. So we looked over their selection of leather watch bands to find something more appealing.

When I found one I liked, we moved to the jewelry counter to ask them to put the new leather band on the watch for us – something I’ve done all my life, whether shopping at Target, Wal-Mart, ShopKo or even K-Mart.

The young man, who couldn’t have been much older than 17 if that, pointed out a sign on the counter.

“We have a new policy,” he explained. “We don’t do that anymore. Target figured our time was too valuable to mess with putting bands on watches. There’s not enough money in it for us.”

Now, jewelry counters in department stores always have the right tool to pull off an operation like changing a watch band, which requires a VERY SMALL screwdriver to pull back the little pin. It’s not something one can do at home very successfully with a tweezers or something, since the metal is too thick to get the pin down. And it’s hazardous to try; you can cut yourself fairly easily in a failed attempt.

Of course, with the proper tool, it’s a breeze, which is why we went to the jewelry counter in the first place. So I was shocked that this teenager who probably makes seven dollars an hour or so, felt his time was “too valuable” to help out a paying customer.

I very nearly canceled the entire purchase, but I loved the Armitron so much, I just decided not to buy the watch band.

“We’ll go for that to a store that actually cares about customer service,” we told him.

The next day, we went to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart employees tend to make less than those at Target, but guess who was a whole lot more interested in having us leave their establishment happy?

That’s right; Wal-Mart sold us a nearly identical leather band and put it on for us with a smile and a “thank you for shopping Wal-Mart!” even though the watch had been purchased elsewhere!

Take that, Target! Customer dis-service like that is why Wal-Mart is more successful than you, and will remain so. And don’t worry… I’ll never ask a Target employee to install a watch band for me again… I’ll be getting all my future watches… and wrist bands… at Wal-Mart from now on.

And here I thought it would be me…

A CBS News/Vanity Fair poll listed radio host Rush Limbaugh as the nation’s most influential conservative voice, according to results released Sunday. Limbaugh was named by 26 percent of respondents, followed by Glenn Beck with 11 percent and politicians Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney at 10 percent each.

That Limbaugh is the nation’s leading conservative voice should come as no shock, given its a position he held – poll data or not – since the early 1990s. The only true shock is that CBS News is actually acknowledging the radio host’s existence without attempting to tie him to an appetite suppressant scandal or something like that. Refreshing! Thanks for telling us what we already knew, CBS!

REVIEW: Sun Belt Software’s Vipre Antivirus

I’m not someone who changes my antivirus program every single year; I prefer to find a solution I like and stick with it until it becomes obvious there’s something better on the market. For the past couple years, Kaspersky has been my preferred solution, but that may be changing next time my license comes due.

When it comes to antivirus software, I’m willing to spend a bit more of a superior technology is in play; that’s why I chose Kaspersky a couple years ago. But it’s the most expensive solution on the market, and I only get one license for it. Sure, it’s the best on the market. But perhaps that’s not the case anymore.

Sun Belt Software has released a new technology called Vipre Antivirus, and for about half the price of Kaspersky, it offers an unlimited home site license – meaning as long as it’s a home computer, I could put it on both my wife’s desktop and laptop, as well as my desktop and laptop, all for one low price. That’s quick attractive. No one else offers that. Sure, a single-user license is still cheaper at $29.99; but for $49.99, to cover all four of my household computers? That’s a huge savings. HUGE!

But more importantly, it uses fewer system resources than anything else out on the market, while offering some new virus-preventing technologies that no one else – not even Kaspersky – has caught up to yet. As long as they offer hourly virus definition updates like Kaspersky, I believe Sun Belt Software’s Vipre Antivirus may become my new solution!

I’ll want to make sure once March rolls around, but I have a feeling it’s time to switch.

REVIEW: Lewis University Online

It’s not always a safe world out there, and trusting everyone until they give you a reason not to is a good character quality, perhaps, but a dangerous approach when protecting your personal and business data. That’s why data security is now so big a concern that sharp online-savvy universities like Lewis University now offers a master’s degree program in information security.

The best thing is that this is definitely a growth area in terms of employment, even in the midst of a down economy. Who wouldn’t want to be in a field where not only are there companies hiring, but there’s a vast shortage of properly-trained professionals? Isn’t that what everyone’s looking for? That’s why Information Security Colleges like Lewis University Online are filling the gap with their degrees in this in-demand field.

Check it out. Unless you’re not among the 10 percent unemployed and can’t imagine a better job than the one you already have, that is…