Every once in awhile we get a story of triumph over tragedy and survival against all odds that warms the heart and touches the soul. This isn't one of those stories. It's half of one of those stories. It seems a North Carolina girl was able to survive two nights trapped in the wreckage of a Government Motors Monte Carlo by eating Pop Tarts.

I'm sure that some of my readers are ingredient hawks, and you never eat anything without knowing what is in it. Others, like myself, are more concerned with how the food tastes. But somewhere beyond the trans fats and monosodium glutamate, there might be something in your food that you don't know about. Might be. Oklahoma Senator Ralph Shortey hasn't found any instance of a specific case of a human fetus being used in the production of food, but his internet research has led him to believe that a law banning the process is necessary. Of course, he wasted no time in getting the wheels of justice in motion to stop this horrific practice, assuming of course that it has even started. He said the bill would also "raise public awareness", which is naturally low, since this isn't actually happening.

As much as it pains me to do this (ok, maybe it doesn't) it is that time of the election cycle once again. It seems that every four years, Ron Paul shows up at a debate and says some things that are so good on domestic issues that some Republicans forget the insanity of his foreign policy and they start getting excited about his candidacy. Perhaps you are one of those people. If not, you may know one. If you are not one and you don't know one, you can usually find one on an internet forum board typing in all caps with horrible spelling. If you recognize any of these traits in yourself, or someone you know, please read this and share it with the others. Ron Paul will never be President of the United States, and his candidacy is a complete non-starter to most Republicans because Ron Paul is a bigot. Now I know, that is strong language. And perhaps you don't want it to be true so badly that you will convince yourself it is not. That is fine too, because you will see here that I can make such a convincing case that it doesn't matter if it is true or not. He can never win.

I know many of my readers will have a hard time with this one, but recent research suggests that humans and spiders may have something in common, and it just might be one of the last things that you expected. It appears that male spiders, when preparing to mate, bring the female a gift. Now of course, in our society we consider this to be par for the course, unless of course the gift is cash. Then it is illegal in most jurisdictions. But the study revealed something that I found to be even more interesting.

It's amazing how much can change in 3 years. In 2008, it was a Senator who told us that it was the policies of a President that were responsible for the shape of the economy. Now that Senator is President, and he is telling us that it is the failure of the Senate to work with him that is shaping our economy. 3 years ago, 7.2% unemployment was the worst economy since the Great Depression. Today, 9% unemployment is a recovery. $8 trillion in debt was unsustainable then. $12 trillion isn't enough now. It has been only 3 short years since the man who is complaining about Congress not working with him told us we should not vote for the other guy because he voted with the President 80% of the time. Yes, a lot has changed in the last 3 years. But do you remember then Senator Obama's reaction to Phil Graham's take on the economy?