‘Kid who doesn’t exist’ looks to future

A few weeks ago, Brent Jones was on the verge of graduation but facing an uncertain future because of a simple yet frustrating problem. He couldn’t prove his identity.

I heard about the 18-year-old senior from an administrator at Manual High School. She told me the story of a boy who had gone through life without learning the basics of his background — where he was born, where he could find his birth certificate, who his birth parents were, and even if the name and birth date he used were really his. The questions weren’t only frustrating; they threatened his future as the end of his high school years approached.

Because Brent has gone through life without answers, and without the birth certificate or Social Security number he needs, everything from a driver’s license to a job has been denied him. School administrators told him he couldn’t receive financial aid for college. He faced a post-graduation black hole.

Full Article

Very, very, worth the read.  Trust me.

Posted in Interesting | 1 Comment

Bush Possibly Poisened While President

From Laura’s new book, the following in mentioned in the NY Times:

Mrs. Bush also suggests, apparently for the first time, that she, Mr. Bush, and several members of their staff may have been poisoned during a visit to Germany for a G8 Summit. They all became mysteriously sick, and the president was bedridden for part of the trip. The Secret Service investigated the possibility they were poisoned, she writes, but doctors could only conclude that they all contracted a virus. After noting several high-profile poisonings, she wrote, “we never learned if any other delegations became ill, or if ours, mysteriously, was the only one.”

Posted in Interesting, Political | Comments Off on Bush Possibly Poisened While President

Gov Good Hair Packs Heat While Jogging

AUSTIN, Texas – Pistol-packing Texas Gov. Rick Perry has a message for wily coyotes out there: Don’t mess with my dog.

Perry told The Associated Press on Tuesday he needed just one shot from the laser-sighted pistol he sometimes carries while jogging to take down a coyote that menaced his puppy during a February run near Austin.

Perry said he will carry his .380 Ruger — loaded with hollow-point bullets — when jogging on trails because he is afraid of snakes. He’d also seen coyotes in the undeveloped area.

When one came out of the brush toward his daughter’s Labrador retriever, Perry charged.

“Don’t attack my dog or you might get shot … if you’re a coyote,” he said Tuesday.

Perry, a Republican running for a third full term against Democrat Bill White, is living in a private house in a hilly area southwest of downtown Austin while the Governor’s Mansion is being repaired after a 2008 fire. A concealed handgun permit holder, Perry carries the pistol in a belt.

“I knew there were a lot of predators out there. You’ll hear a pack of coyotes. People are losing small cats and dogs all the time out there in that community,” Perry said.

“They’re very wily creatures.”

On this particular morning, Perry said, he was jogging without his security detail shortly after sunrise.

Full Article

Posted in Political, Texas | Comments Off on Gov Good Hair Packs Heat While Jogging