It’s too bad that it’s illegal to shoot the bastards who did this:

A gasp of disbelief, a sad shake of the head and a feeling of general disgust.

That’s how San Marcos residents reacted Saturday morning at the sight of graffiti spray-painted on the still under construction Hays County Veterans Memorial.

Sometime overnight, someone used yellow spray paint to write “Kill Bush” on a section of the memorial where names of local veterans are displayed on a sloping wall. The same slogan, along with others, was repeated on the back of the memorial.

“It’s very disgusting,” said Robert Guerrero, who served in Germany during the Vietnam era. “I have a lot of friends right there who gave their lives for this country,” he added, pointing to the portion of the monument where the names of soldiers killed in action – which wasn’t vandalized – are displayed. “It’s just disgusting.”

Comments of some others who stopped by the memorial Saturday morning are unfit for publishing in a family newspaper.

This memorial is being funded through donations and it isn’t yet finished.

Donations to help complete the marker can still be made, and are indeed more crucial now as clean-up will add to the overall cost. Contributions can be mailed to: Hays County Veterans Memorial, P.O. Box 1503, San Marcos, TX, 78667-1503.

For general information, visit www.sanmarcos.net/veteransmemorial or contact Cruz at (512) 245-2502 or (512) 393-8400.

My online bill payment service will send a check in the mail on my behalf, which makes this as simple as entering their name and address and entering an amount, so I sent them a few dollars to help them along.

On the back cover of this month’s NRA magazine there’s an ad for Kimber tactical pistols.  Kimber recently had a big win when the LAPD SWAT team went to 1911 pistols made by Kimber.  What caught my attention was the disclaimer at the bottom, which said:

LAPD™ is a trade and service mark of the City of Los Angeles.

I did a little digging around and sure enough, here’s their trademark registration.

It just had never occurred to me that a police department would register a trademark.  It turns out that a search on the trademark database for the term “police” turned up a number of other departments with trademarks.

In this article about the gorilla that escaped from the Dallas Zoo last week, I came across this little gem:

Meanwhile, animal activists are planning a memorial service and candlelight vigil for Jabari at 7:30 tonight at Dallas City Hall.

Excuse me?!  WTF?!

I’m coming to believe that there isn’t anything too stupid that “animal activists” won’t try it.  There were people injured in this incident and they’re mourning a freakin’ gorilla?!  Give me a break!

I’d like to find the bastard that did this and do the same thing to him (registration may be required for that link).

Fort Worth police are investigating the apparent torture death of a dog.

A construction worker at the former Bank One Tower on Taylor Street downtown found the animal Tuesday morning. The dog had been skinned and left to die.

It’s odd, but in some ways I find the abuse of an animal worse than that of a person.  Don’t misunderstand.  I’m not turning into some kind of animal-rights PETA-head.  Maybe it’s got more to do with my ambivalence towards people than it does with animals in particular.  It may also have to do with the idea that most dogs are trusting of people and never have a chance of defending themselves against the scum who would do something like this.

It would be bad enough to fall for the ad and buy the product.  But it takes quite a brave soul to admit it and sue the bastards.

A California man on Thursday sued a slew of international companies, including a Greeley distributor, alleging the penis-enlargement products they market and distribute do not work.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Denver, seeks class-action status to represent an estimated 1 million people who ordered the products in response to advertisements on television, radio and spam e-mail.

If this goes to trial, it could be a really embarassing discovery phase…

Caveat emptor.

Silence may be golden, but now, thanks to iTunes, it can be downloaded for a mere 99 cents.

Among the hundreds of thousands of downloadable songs for sale at Apple Computer’s online music store are at least nine tracks of silence, a fact that has prompted quite a bit of discussion. The chatter over the inaudible music tracks began this week at Mac enthusiast site As The Apple Turns.

As the site notes, Apple treats the silent songs just like their more musical counterparts. The silent tracks sell for the same 99 cents as other songs, feature free 30-second “previews” and are all wrapped in Apple’s usual digital-rights management software to prevent unauthorized copying.

…

For those looking for the best value, Schaeffer offers nearly two minutes of silence, almost twice as much as any of the other tracks.

Meet Kozo, the sumo-wrestling dancing hippo.  (I disclaim all responsibility for any song that gets stuck in your head if you follow that link.)

Thanks to my friend Rodney for the link.

What is it with Brazilians and Nazi references?  (see fourth paragraph, provided you make it that far   )

This player may just be taking the game a little too seriously.

A Chilean striker was shot by a player on the opposing team after he scored a last-minute winning goal.

The 90th minute goal gave amateur club Bandera de Chile victory over rivals La Gonzalina in a bitterly disputed match.

The referee had already had to suspend the game during the second-half after rival fans brawled on the pitch.

But he decided to restart play and Bandera’s top striker, El Rulo, scored just before the final whistle.

An opposition player immediately pulled a revolver out of his shorts and fired three times at the celebrating striker.

Talk about a tough game…

I’m not sure whether this is cool or a particularly successful exercise in bad taste:  Rifle cartridge toilet seat