• A trail of Cheetos led police to thieves, the Pioneer Press reports. It seems that three teens were suspected of pilfering candy from a vending machine. Here’s how it happened: “Police followed a trail of Cheetos from the rec center, around the side of the building and to a home in the 600 block of Rose Avenue, where a witness said she saw the suspects go, the complaint said.” Apparently they don’t believe in Holy Cheesus!
• It’s the invasion of the pigeon-snatchers in New York City’s Chinatown, the New York Times blogs. Apparently this happens all the time in the city.
• The Center for Disease Control released its list of the hardest drinking cities, with Austin ending up on top, ABC News reports. Milwaukee ranks second, followed by Providence, R.I., Chicago and San Francisco. Just one Northeastern state — how odd.
  

Nooooooo!

There’s the ‘race card’

The Obama is like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears (we’re really going to try to make that connection?)

‘The One’?

For his part, Obama doesn’t seem to be engaging in ridiculous attack ads, unless I just haven’t seen them. He released an ad today about his energy policy, attacking McCains, but its not in the same light as McCain’s ads which don’t seem to really say what McCain will do so much as try to point out Obama’s flaws.

He doesn’t know how to text, blog, or Twitter and relies on young staffers to keep up his Facebook page as well as other internet doings.

While it’s not really essential for a president to know how to use the Interwebs, it would be useful for those occassions when a threat comes to light that deals with the Internet. If some terrorist is using the Internet as a way to get his message across and coordinate attacks, will McCain know enough about the web to be able to make a good decision about what should be done (without relying on the expertise of others?)

Just a few thoughts.

A rash of decapitations spanning the globe seem to be taking place. In the last few days alone:

• A Brazilian man has confessed on Friday that he decapitated and dismembers his British girlfriend.
• A Greek man is being held after he allegedly killed and beheaded his girlfriend on Sunday.
• A man on a Greyhound bus decapitated and dismembered his seatmate on Thursday.

Remind me to never ride a Greyhound bus. Or have a psychotic boyfriend for that matter…

Fresh from his presidential-style world tour, during which foreign leaders and American generals lined up to show him affection, Obama settled down to some presidential-style business in Washington yesterday.

Traffic was shut down for him as he zoomed about town in a long, presidential-style motorcade, while the public and most of the press were kept in the dark about his activities

Remind me to be thankful that I don’t have to commute to D.C.

Secret Service entered with Obama through a side door at the Cannon Caucus Room. Capitol Police cleared the halls — both of these events were what would take place for the actual president.

The press has begun to complain about Obama’s behavior, saying Obama’s campaign was “acting like the Prom Queen” and being more secretive than Bush.

After meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister, Obama’s aides issued a presidential-like statement, “I had a productive and wide-ranging discussion. . . . I look forward to working with the democratically elected government of Pakistan.”

But aren’t all campaigns about confidence — about saying you’re going to win? No one wants to listen to a candidate who says, “I will try to win, but I’m not sure I will.” And doesn’t Secret Service have a right to protect the candidate as they see best? I would think Obama would face more threats than McCain as he is more controversial. Still, Obama’s recently dealings with the media do raise some concern as to whether he’s restricting access.

Here’s the problem — the GOP insignia in the right hand corner of both pages is not readily noticeable. I first visited BarackBook without realizing that it was run by the Republicans. I thought it was odd Obama would be “friends” with Tony Rezko and would have the status, “Barack is hoping to settle on an Iraq policy before November.” It was then I finally noticed the GOP header.

The other problem is that BarackBook looks like Facebook — and I wonder if there are any copyright or infringement issues there? Also, will people quickly see the that the site is run by the GOP or will they believe its a legitimate site about Obama?

With both sites, its easy to see that the RNC is targeting youth voters — those familiar with Facebook and other social networking sites — but won’t older Republicans or even Democrats be confused by the design?

While I’m sure we will see both sides attacking one another over the issues, I would hope the Democrats would not use the same tactics that the RNC has taken.

The only John McCain Web site that I can find that is somewhat similar is John McCain is Really Old. The site is clever and funny (see: Naps for America, and No Child on My Lawn), and, most importantly, is not run by the Democratic National Committee. While the DNC does launch similar attacks on its main Website — it is much clearer who the attacks are coming from — the opponents.

Both sites, however, do focus on a number of mistakes both candidates have made in speeches and interviews, as well as “flip-flops” in policies — which is good so long as they link to reputable sources.

To both candidates: I get tired of the back and forth that surrounds presidential elections. Don’t all these attacks just even themselves out? Couldn’t you find a better way to spend donated money?

In January, Illinois State Rep. Ken Dunkin, introduced legislation that would fine residents $25 and a misdemeanor if caught using a cell phone while traversing streets.

“This legislation is not laughable. On the surface it’s like, ‘Oh wow, what is this?’ But it’s becoming more and more of a common problem with people haplessly crossing an intersection and almost killing themselves.”

Research has shown that while the brain has the ability to multitask and text-walk, it’s a delicate balancing act. A number of people nationwide have apparently been killed while text-walking and young adults are frequently seen for injuries after text-walking into something or someone.

While the bill has good intentions, its language may need updating — does it ban anyone from using a cell phone in any regards when crossing the street? Or just it just ban text-walking while crossing streets?

Nearly 1,800 community members helped build the home, the largest Extreme Makeover had constructed, and raised $250,000 for the family to pay for their children’s college as well as home maintenance.

“It’s aggravating. It just makes you mad. You do that much work, and they just squander it,” Lake City Mayor Willie Oswalt, who helped vault a massive beam into place in the Harper’s living room, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

I’ve watched the show a few times and I always like when they help out families in desperate need of assistance — such as the family who’s child had a rare disease that didn’t allow her to properly regulate her body temperature — but I’ve always thought the homes were a little too big. While special designs are needed in some cases — take the family who’s husband and father was blinded after an accident — I don’t think you necessarily need to make the house so large in order to meet the families needs.

Perhaps if Extreme Makeover hadn’t made the Harpers house so large, just big enough to fit their needs, the family would not be going into foreclosure since they would not have been able to take out such a large loan — although the family could have used common sense to not take out such a loan in the first place.

The Washington Post also has an essay on the subject.

While Obama has stood on a podium with a faux presidential seal and adorned his jet “O-Force One,” McCain gave a speech looking back on his first term in office and recently began giving radio addresses every Saturday.

It is unclear when the two presidential candidates will hold their first state dinners, spend their first weekends at Camp David or welcome this year’s N.B.A. champions, the Boston Celtics, to the Rose Garden.

Oh, wait, neither of these guys has been elected yet.

The article is extremely interesting and I cannot do it justice by paraphrasing it — so go read it!

Also, read the Times Opinion piece by Frank Rich, which also touches on the same subject.

With a more streamlined and aesthetically pleasing look, one could prematurely think that Cuil would be a good alternative to the most popular search engine — Google. But, upon closer inspection, there are issues with Cuil that need to be ironed out before it can come up to Google’s standard.

During a couple searches I got this result:

Apparently the UK is facing an invasion of rabbits — leading the Army to take on the new enemy after the fuzzy little creatures began destroying the remains of ancient buildings under a military training site.

The Roman and Bronze Age artifacts underneath the site have been under attack for ages.

At least this species of rabbit aren’t the spawn of the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog.

“Runaway!”

Sorry, I can’t resist a Monty Python reference.

(To see video — go to Jeff Jarvis’ post.)

Among memorable quotes:

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”

In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.

And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them.

And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child’s journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.

And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.

Go read the rest!!

The publication has drawn criticism from many, including a Rabbi,Shmuel Rabinowitz, supervisor of the wall.

“The notes placed between the stones of the Western Wall are between a person and his maker. It is forbidden to read them or make any use of them,” he told Army Radio. The publication “damages the Western Wall and damages the personal, deep part of every one of us that we keep to ourselves,” he said.

The note reads:

“Lord — Protect my family and me,” reads the note published in the Maariv daily. “Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will.”

UPDATE 11:55AM July 29

An Israeli student is apologizing for taking Obama’s prayer from the Western Wall, according to Religious News Service.

“I’m sorry. It was a kind of prank,” the student, identified only by the Hebrew initial “Aleph,” told reporters Sunday. “I hope (Obama) wasn’t hurt. We all believe he will take the presidency.”

The article also reports that the newspaper that originally published the prayer faces legal sanctions. Obama’s prayer has also since been reinserted into the Wall, the article says.

In an interview with CNN Friday, John McCain had interesting comments on Obama’s 16-month withdrawal plan.

“I think it’s a pretty good timetable,” Mr. McCain said Friday in an interview on CNN’s “The Situation Room,’’ before adding that it should be based “on the conditions on the ground.’’

This is basically exactly what Obama has been saying lately, even as people have accused him of flip-flopping for saying he would listen to top commanders and tweak his plan if necessary.

McCain did go on to elaborate more about the 16-month withdrawal — trying to differentiate himself from his Democratic running partner.

“I think it’s a pretty good timetable, as we should — or horizons for withdrawal. But they have to be based on conditions on the ground. This success is very fragile. It’s incredibly impressive, but very fragile. So we know, those of us who have been involved in it for many years, know that if we reverse this, by setting a date for withdrawal, all of the hard-won victory can be reversed.’’

This is nearly 2 and a half years different than what McCain said in his rejected New York Times letter:

I have said that I expect to welcome home most of our troops from Iraq by the end of my first term in office, in 2013.

Is this all a reaction to al-Maliki practically endorsing Obama’s plan?