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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

MONDAY, NOV. 9, 2009

Monday Wildcard PM Version 18 

Homeless hubcaps. You see them on street corners, strewn along I-90, and loitering in parking lots. How do they get there? Do they just roll along until they can't take it anymore and throw themselves from the wheels they've been attached to? Last week I…

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Bent offers a little light reading

For those who'd like to know just what's in the Health Care Bill passed by the House, Bent offers a link and a few words of advice: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery…@ME, just a friendly suggestion. That bill is huge… and the Senate has not passed its version yet,…

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Utah School Suspends Girl for Nose Piercing 

"To 12-year-old Suzannah Pabla, piercing her nose was a way to connect with her roots in India. To Suzannah's school, it was a dress-code violation worthy of a suspension.To other Indians, the incident was emblematic of how it can still be difficult for the American…

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A soldier reads a Bible during a church service Sunday at the 1st Cavalry Division Memorial Chapel at Fort Hood, Texas.  (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

Fort Hood Shooter Awake and Talking 11 

A soldier reads a Bible during a church service Sunday at the 1st Cavalry Division Memorial Chapel at Fort Hood, Texas.According to CNN: "Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspect in last week's mass shooting at the Fort Hood Army Post, is conscious and talking, according…

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For Those About to be Divorced... 

There are Bridal Fairs, Baby Fairs and now from the City of Love: a Divorce Fair. "The city of romance got a lesson in love’s hard knocks Sunday, as thousands flocked to the French capital’s first divorce fair.In France, nearly one out of two marriages…

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Cis is multilingual MAD! 21 

Cis: "I AM MAD AS HELL AND NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE… I got an ad in the mail today from Verizon with the usual stuff…Why am I MAD!! Because when I opened it, it was in SPANISH!!! except for my name. The English…

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Too polite, too tanned and too magnetic

In this CareerBuilder.com survey, managers listed the strangest complaints they received from employees about their coworkers: http://www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?id=pr516&sd=8%2f12%2f2009&ed=12%2f31%2f2009&siteid=cbpr&sc_cmp1=cb_pr516_Complaints includeEmployee has big hair.Employee eats all the good cookies.Employee’s aura is wrong.Employee smells like road ramps.Employee wants to check a co-worker for ticks.Employee has bells on her shoes…

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A juvenile Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit was born in captivity at Washington State University in Pullman. Biologists are trying to reintroduce the species into the wild.Associated Press
 (File Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

Put the bunny down 11 

"A contest that involves children seeing how far they can throw dead rabbits has been banned in New Zealand following outcry from animal welfare campaigners." http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?Dead_rabbit__throwing_contest_banned&in_article_id=757008&in_page_id=2"Organiser Jo Moriarty claims banning the bunny contest is "political correctness gone mad."Must be a New Zealand thing, but the…

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Andre Agassi is shown after losing to Patrick Rafter at the U.S. Open in 1997, the year he failed a drug test.File  (File Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

Agassi Interview 

Andre Agassi is shown after losing to Patrick Rafter at the U.S. Open in 1997, the year he failed a drug test.In an interview on 60 Minutes, Agassi said, "...hating tennis was a deep part of my life for a long, long time." http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/05/60minutes/main5537569.shtmlHis story…

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Good News 

Stocks are jumping: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/nov/09/stocks-jump-after-g-20-pledge-aid-economies/And the Seahawks roared: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/nov/09/hawks-roar-back/Do you have any good news to share?

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Long, cold night 

"After spending a cold, restless night huddled against a tree in a North Idaho forest, Alisa Franck walked out early Sunday, greeted by two members of a search-and-rescue team.Throughout the night, she said, she knew enough to stay focused. “I was not going to let…

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Press Letter Writer Sez: Shame on you! 

In this letter to the CDA Press the writer chides residents for their low-voter turnout. She concludes: "Someday, when your kids reminisce about how great it must have been to live under the Constitution of the United States of America, just explain to them that…

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is joined by  House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, left, and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.,  on Saturday in Washington.  (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

House OK's health care bill 36 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is joined by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, left, and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., on Saturday in Washington."The House of Representatives on Saturday passed, by a 220-215 vote, historic health care overhaul legislation that would require nearly all Americans to obtain…

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Attention-getter: The Joe Fan statue at Albi Stadium gets a kiss from two  girls attending the Central Valley/Kamiakin 4A play-in football game on Saturday. The statue sits in the lower southwest stands. The Central Valley Bears lost 21-0, ending their season. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)

APhoto of the Day 

The Joe Fan statue at Albi Stadium gets a kiss from two girls attending the Central Valley/Kamiakin 4A play-in football game on Saturday.#1 Obviously confused when her cell phone rings, the liitle blonde girl ran over to Joe Fan and answered “Statue, Joe?” JohnA#2 My…

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OTV Eats Politically Correct Chicken 

"On a recent visit to the Chicken Basket on Northwest Boulevard in Coeur d’Alene, I was immediately greeted by several large placards endorsing a particular mayoral hopeful. They were scattered around the property and several were taped at eye level to the front door. Inside,…

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Howard White stands in front of the former Saddle Up Grill in Athol on  Oct. 30 and recalls the night his business burned in 2008. (Kathy Plonka / The Spokesman-Review)

Fire at the Saddle Up Grill

Howard White stands in front of the former Saddle Up Grill in Athol on Oct. 30 and recalls the night his business burned in 2008."It was a crisp winter night in Athol. The Saddle Up Grill had closed for the night. Owner Howard White was…

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The different signs of the zodiac.  (The Spokesman-Review)

Horoscope Horror 

Count me in with those don't regularly read their horoscope. However, while browsing this week's Inlander, I paused to read mine. Here it is: "I would love it if you could find a sword that could cut itself. Or a fire that could burn itself.…

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Washington Mutual CEO Kerry Killinger  told Wall Street professionals in June 2005:  “We have a significantly above- average risk in housing today.” He’s shown here in 2007.   (File Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

Arm-twisting? 

Washington Mutual CEO Kerry Killinger shown here in 2007.I've read with interest, David Heath's stories about the demise of WaMu. In Sunday's article he writes: "The new WaMu used huge sales commissions and misleading marketing to hawk risky and overpriced loans to borrowers." Full story…

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Huckleberries Online

D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.