In the “unlucky criminals” category last week: The man who tried to mug a UFC fighter. Seems he ended up shot with his own gun and severely pummeled. Ouch! Also, the man overwhelmingly apprehended in Wal-Mart’s distribution area stealing electronic gear. “Shop With a Cop Day” was not the ideal time for this venture.

Interesting news from the University of Chicago. In experiments, rats worked diligently to free another rat whether they were acquainted or not. Usually the release ended with an impromptu celebration. High-fives all around! Furthermore, the free rats would often save food for their trapped brethren. Hmmm, the rats in Congress may not be the most advanced of their species.

Sadly, Brandon Roy is retiring from the NBA at the tender age of 27 due to injuries after five seasons. An All-American at UW and 3-time NBA all-star with the Portland Trail Blazers, Brandon, we will miss you. We all loved watching you play.

“When the Leaves Fall Early” an e-book from Flatsnake Publishing, is on sale for 99 cents during the holidays. A riveting story of a rekindled romance threatened by a psychopathic killer’s increasing obsession. Available from Amazon.com for Kindle, B&N.com for Nook, and many other formats including PDFs and IPods using Smashwords.com. Go ahead, splurge!

Headline from the IBTIMES: “30 Major U.S. Corporations Paid More to Lobby Congress Than Income Taxes, 2008-2010”. Twenty nine of these well known corporations paid no taxes at all. Think of that when you buy your next GE engine, Boeing plane or fulfill your contract with Verizon Communications. How does expending $84 million on lobbying grab you when the same company is paying a federal tax rate of negative 45% on more than $10 billion in profits?

In Afghanistan a few weeks ago, President Hamid Karzai pardoned a woman who was serving a 12-year prison sentence for having sex out of wedlock when she was raped by a relative. The condition of her release is she marry the man who raped her. On how many levels is this wrong? These countries with abysmal women’s rights are the ones most likely to spawn groups out-of-control machine-gun-toting crazies. Maybe letting the women have more control would temper some of these problems before they turn into teenagers with guns.

And driving automobiles would lead to Saudi women losing their virginity? If you say so. Got to save up those virgins for the misled martyrs.

Bless you all anyway.

When the Leaves Fall Early