Cheney follows in the footsteps of Aaron Burr...

(I was supposed to publish this two months ago, but left it in my "edit" file by mistake. I herby post it, too little, too late.)

And shoots a guy in the face.

That guy is Harry Whittington.

Here's a recent story about him, predating his Veep mauling. Apparently, he's pretty well to do...

But wait! There's more! He took over the Texas Funeral Service Commission after former executive director Eliza May "sued the state, Houston-based SCI, and SCI's CEO Robert Waltrip, alleging that she was fired after she and other agency employees found numerous violations of state law by the company's funeral homes. As a result of the investigations done by May, the agency recommended that SCI be fined $445,000. So far, the company has not been required to pay the fine.

"May, who was fired by the The FSC's board in February, claims that state legislators and Bush's office interfered with her agency's investigation in order to help SCI, the world's largest funeral company. Waltrip is a longtime friend of the Bush family and has contributed at least $45,000 to Bush's political campaigns; CNN reported recently that Waltrip and his associates have contributed nearly $62,000 to Bush's campaign."

And he's still in charge of it:

I've read nothing to suggest that Whittington isn't a decent public servant. But I hope this story brings one of W.'s worst pre-presidential scandals back to the forefront.

Netflix & Me

My Friend is disappointed I've joined the Netflix cult. He's right, it's killing the local video stores, but everyone knew the Home video rental store would not be around forever. Heck, Netflix will be lucky to be viable for the next five years. When people can get 250 movies on their TV on demand, why wait for the mail?

Reviews are more fun on Netflix. Only people with memberships can post or read, so you get less attack stuff like you do on Amazon.Com, where liberals and conservatives are always waiting to dump on a book they have no intention of reading.

But, like Amazon, the movies get "helpful" and "unhelpful votes from review readers, and the more "helpful" votes you get, the higher your review appears.

I've learned that for me, the magic formula is to post your review early, and it generally helps to like it. People usually check out a movie because they hope they like it, or like the star, director, etc. Also, you don't ant to be bumped off the first page. Once that happens, your odds of making it back to page 1 are slim.

The best thing that can happen is that you post a good review and there are two or three other reviews that go something like, "I hate this movie it's stupid and not in color." People will rush to punish them by rewarding your review instead.

I recently posted a "4 out of 5" review of "Son of Kong", a personal favorite of mine. (I probably would give it 3/5 anywhere else, but Amazon bases its recommendations on the star ratings you give movies you've seen, so it pays to be honest, and I honestly like "Son of Kong." The other review are mixed, but the most recent review is the funniest "please hate my review" review I've ever seen.

I quote:

"I liked this movie, But it is so sad at the end when kong Jr drowns. A few things you could tell are fake. Plus how can someone die just by a bottle hitting his head. You have to be realy weak for that."

Don't you love how it gives away the ending in the first sentence, and how the guy decided you can't kill someone with a bottle? Of course, I suspect the reviewer is someone under the age of 18, but still...