DOG FATALLY SHOOTS OWNER (REALLY)

See, this is yet another reason I'm a cat person (they're too small to lift a gun, they usually just try and stab you)...

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Houston-area man was killed in a hunting accident after his dog stepped on a loaded shotgun in the back of a pick-up truck, triggering a blast that pierced the vehicle and the hunter's leg, a local sheriff said.

Perry Price, a 46-year-old math teacher, shot a goose on Saturday then put his gun in the back of the truck where the dog was waiting to retrieve the bird.

"I've been in law enforcement 20 years and this is probably the strangest one I've had," said Chambers County Sheriff Joe LaRive.

Investigators found paw prints and mud from the dog, a chocolate Labrador retriever named Arthur, on the shotgun, LaRive said.

Price was taken to a local hospital, but died from a loss of blood after doctors were unable to revive him.

BASKETBALL FANS OUTRAGED OVER CARDINAL'S JUAN PALACIOS AND JERRY SMITH'S ON COURT KISS

A whole mess of folks have gotten their panties in a knot over the above photo...

A photo the Louisville Courier-Journal published following a match-up between the U of Louisville Cardinals and the U of Kentucky Wildcats caused such a fuss that a columnist yesterday was forced to publish an explanation. Some readers demanded apologies over the photo of Cardinals players Juan Palacios, left, and Jerry Smith, which some saw as a kiss. The negative reaction, the paper says, was "unprecedented."

Columnist Pam Platt writes: "Some of the comments registered by angry, offended and/or baffled readers: 'Awful,' 'an embarrassment,' 'horrible decision,' 'poor judgment,' 'distasteful,' 'a mystery' and 'shame on you.' I have to admit I was a little baffled by the response. Aren't sports the province of the ubiquitous fanny pat? Aren't players in each other's faces all the time during athletic matches? Yes and yes. So what's a little game-time hug in that universe?"

Here's the original story.

Platt explains: "Sam Upshaw Jr., who has been a photographer for 20 years, took the photo of Jerry Smith hugging Juan Palacios in the first half, after a big, emotional play that favored the Cards. In the original photo, there was more of a Kentucky player involved in the play in the frame; only his arm remains in the cropped picture that appeared in the paper...After looking at all the game photos submitted for publication and online posting, Bryan settled on the Palacios/Smith shot that was printed because the picture showed the game's top scorers and it showed them in a moment of celebration, with one congratulating the other...As for the theory floated by some readers, that this was a purposeful attempt to rile or humiliate Cards fans, it doesn't really deserve a response but [Sports editor Harry Bryan has one: We're not in the business of offending or agitating readers..."

Finally, Platt asks her readers, "What are you thinking? What is it about two athletes sharing a moment of physical and emotional close

BELOVED DRAG QUEEN BRUTALLY SLAIN

A popular Albuquerque New Mexico Drag Queen (pictured above in and out of drag) was the victim of that city's first fatal shooting of 2008...

Patrick Murphy was the queen of Albuquerque and New Mexico's drag scene.

She, as most people referred to the dainty 5-foot-3-inch man, could sew shimmering gowns for her drag performances in a matter of hours.

She could command the attention of a whole room with a performance as Diana Ross, then throw back a few drinks, or more, at her favorite bars.

She held the proudly won title of Miss New Mexico Gay Rodeo Association 2008.

"She was an icon in the community," said Wade Kuenzi, assistant manager and bartender at Murphy's favorite bar, Sidewinders Ranch gay bar near Central and Wyoming boulevards.

"Everyone knew Patricia," he said.

But few knew the man accused of killing her Jan. 8 by shooting her several times in the head.

Albuquerque police arrested Dana Madsen, 33, just hours after he called police reporting a shooting at his apartment near Gibson and San Mateo boulevards Southeast.

He'd been a little odd when he had started to frequent Sidewinders shortly after moving to Albuquerque in October from El Paso, patrons there said.

He'd wear a cowboy hat and talk about riding bulls. He was attracted to the drag queens at the bar, patrons said.

Of all the drag queens, Murphy, 39, was the one who started visiting him at his home and socializing with him at the bar.

The day of her death, Kuenzi said both Murphy and Madsen were in foul moods - Madsen because of a fight with his family.

"I served them their drinks, and then they left," Kuenzi said.

Police say the two had been drinking at Madsen's apartment, too. Then they got in some sort of fight.

Madsen told detectives that before he shot Murphy several times in the head - the last time to "put her out of her misery" because she was laying on the ground screaming and shaking - Murphy called him an "ass."

It's language Murphy's friends say was typical.

"She was feisty," said Sharon Hardin, who knew Murphy for 12 years. "But she didn't go around starting anything."

And she wasn't violent.

"She knew how to push buttons, and she did," said Shawn Arquette, Murphy's ex-boyfriend of 14 years. "But she never would physically do anything."

So the rest of Madsen's story - that Murphy was wielding a pocket knife and threatening to kill him in his sleep - isn't so believable, Murphy's friends say.

Even after a brutal attack by a mentally unstable man outside Sidewinders in August 2006, Arquette said he had to fight to get Murphy to carry pepper spray.

"He said he didn't want to hurt anybody, even if they wanted to hurt him," Arquette said.

The attacker, John Hevener, was shot to death three months after the attack by Bernalillo County sheriff's deputies as he tried to use a knife inside state District Court.

While a bit relieved, Murphy wasn't happy about Hevener's death, Arquette said.

"She had a heart of gold," Hardin said.

Murphy, half Acoma American Indian and half black, was adopted as an infant. Murphy's adoptive mother, sister and brother died, leaving him with his adoptive father, Hardin said.

"They had a relationship, not a bad one," Hardin said. "But she did her own thing, you know."

Murphy was working toward a nursing degree and was a caretaker to an elderly man suffering a broken hip.

Murphy had also recently adopted a puppy, a sort of salve for her distress about her breakup with Arquette.

The elderly man is now caring for Murphy's puppy.

Arquette and friends are cleaning out Murphy's trailer on General Bradley Street, just one block north of Sidewinders on Central Avenue.

And the community that held Patricia in such esteem have a memorial planned for Sunday evening at Sidewinders, a last night of "Reflections" of Patricia.

Meanwhile, Madsen, who once faced attempted murder charges in El Paso, is being held in the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center in lieu of $1 million cash or surety bond.

BEST BUY RUSHES IN TO EXPLOIT DEATH OF HEATH LEDGER

The corpse wasn't even cold yet Tuesday when an enterprising San Diego California Best Buy manager set up this display in an attempt to capitalize on the untimely death of 28 year-old actor Heath Ledger.

Commerce be a vulture.

MIKE HUCKABEE EQUATES HOMOSEXUALITY TO PEDOPHILIA AND BESTIALITY

In an interview with Beliefnet.com, Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee equated homosexuality with people who have sex with children and animals...

Q: Is it your goal to bring the Constitution into strict conformity with the Bible? Some people would consider that a kind of dangerous undertaking, particularly given the variety of biblical interpretations.

A: Well, I don’t think that’s a radical view to say we’re going to affirm marriage. I think the radical view is to say that we’re going to change the definition of marriage so that it can mean two men, two women, a man and three women, a man and a child, a man and animal. Again, once we change the definition, the door is open to change it again. I think the radical position is to make a change in what’s been historic.

NASA PHOTO CAPTURES POSSIBLE HUMANOID FIGURE ON MARS!

Ohhhhh...I love these kinds of things.

Does the creepy photo above feature a rock formation? Or, a robed, human-like form strolling the martian ladscape? Judge for yourself...

The image was among many sent back to Earth by Spirit, Nasa's Mars explorer vehicle which landed there four years ago.

Initial inspections revealed nothing unusual, but closer examination by amateur astronomers has thrown up this intriguing picture.

As one enthusiast put it on a website: "These pictures are amazing. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what appears to be a naked alien running around on Mars."

Another, dismissing cynicism about the somewhat stony look of the "alien", wrote: "If you show me another rock in another photo from Mars, or Earth, that naturally looks like that, I will reconsider."

ACTOR STEPHEN BALDWIN COMES OUT AGAINST GAY MARRIAGE

Born-again Christian, and brother of Alec Baldwin, Stephen Baldwin recently touted his full support of Mike Huckabee, including the presidential hopeful's stand on gay marriage:


"I don’t believe that gay marriage is in line with God’s Word, which is found in the Bible. So, what I think doesn’t matter; what I believe is what’s in the Bible and the Bible says that gay marriage is not acceptable."

BISHOP CLAIMS MANY CHLDREN SEXUALLY ABUSED WERE "ASKING FOR IT"

A Catholic bishop (above: foreground) had some stunning things to say regarding child sexual abuse, as well as his views on homosexuality...

There is outrage in parts of Spanish society following declarations made over Christmas from the Bishop of Tenerife, Bernardo Álvarez.

His comments were that there are youngsters who want to be abused, and he compared that abuse to homosexuality, describing them both as prejudicial to society. He said that on occasions the abuse happened because the there are children who consent to it.

‘There are 13 year old adolescents who are under age and who are perfectly in agreement with, and what’s more wanting it, and if you are careless they will even provoke you’, he said.

Regarding homosexuals, the Bishop said that homosexuality was something prejudicial to the people and to society, and that we would pay the consequences in the long term.
The Bishop claimed that both abuse of children and homosexuality would lead to future problems in society ‘as has occurred in other civilisations’.