California Woman offered sex for McNuggets!

You CANNOT make this shit up!

Smiles are free, but sexual favors might cost you your McNuggets.

That is, if there were any takers when a women at a Los Angeles McDonald's allegedly offered customers sexual favors in exchange for theirs.

Khadijah Baseer allegedly tried opening customers' doors as they went through the drive-thru around 11 p.m. last Wednesday, asking to be paid in the breaded chicken bits if she performed sex acts, according to the Burbank Leader.

The paper didn't specify which acts were allegedly on offer, nor how many McNuggets the woman expected in return.

Various reports say she is known as a panhandler in the area.

Baseer, 31, was arrested on "suspicion of prostitution."

Are McNuggets THAT GOOD????

Mysterious misslie launch off the coast of California, yesterday.

I really don't believe in conspiracies. But weird it is!

Pacific Ocean (CBS 8)- A mysterious missile launch off the southern California coast was caught on video Monday evening by a KCBS news helicopter.

The spectacular contrail could easily be seen up in Los Angeles, but who launched this missile and why, remain a mystery for now.

The magnificent images were captured from the KCBS chopper around 5pm. The location of the missile was described as west of Los Angeles, north of Catalina Island, and approximately 35 miles out to sea.

A Navy spokesperson tells News 8, this wasn't its missile. He said there was no Navy activity reported in that part of the region.

On Friday, November 5, Vandenberg Air Force Base launched a Delta II rocket, carrying the Thales Alenia Space-Italia COSMO SkyMed satellite, but a sergeant at the base tells News 8, there have been no launches since then.

News 8 showed the video to Robert Ellsworth, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO and a former Deputy Secretary of Defense.

He said it didn't appear to be a Tomahawk missile and said it would be safest to wait for definitive answers to come from the military.

Based on pure speculation, however, Ambassador Ellsworth said, with President Obama in Asia, perhaps this could have been a show of our military muscle.

"It could be a test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile from an underwater submarine, to demonstrate mainly to Asia, that we can do that," he said, stressing that it was just a theory.

I think it's...The New World-Freemason-Lizard-Alien-Moon Hoax-Jewish Banking-Denver Airport-Mayan Calendar-conspiracy group!!!!!

AHHHHHH!!!!!!

Sheesh!

Katy Perry skit pulled from "Sesame Street" for being inappropriate!

"Sesame Street" started previewing its 41st season on the Web this week, releasing teaser clips featuring stars like Jude Law, Will.i.am, Colin Farrell, and Run-DMC's Reverend Run. One of the shorts, however, got a lot more attention than the rest: a two-and-a-half minute video of pop star Katy Perry singing a reworked version of her 2008 hit "Hot N Cold" with Elmo. The issue: the perception that Perry's outfit wasn't appropriate for a show geared toward children ages one to six.

After the clip hit YouTube Monday, Gawker ran a story that called attention to the video and Katy's look. Parents checking out the video began leaving critical comments like, "Couldn't she wear something that was more, oh I don't know, APPROPRIATE" and "I DO NOT want my five year old looking at [that]!" But, as TMZ notes, Perry wasn't actually half-naked -- her outfit featured a flesh-colored mesh top that went all the way up to her neck, like a figure-skating costume.

Sesame Workshop, the company that produces the show, responded to the controversy this morning by announcing that producers have decided to pull the song from the broadcast version of the program. The clip will remain online at KatyPerry.com, however, so the singer's more mature fans can watch it. "'Sesame Street' has always been written on two levels, for the child and adult," reads a statement from the show. "We use parodies and celebrity segments to interest adults in the show because we know that a child learns best when co-viewing with a parent or caregiver. We also value our viewers' opinions and particularly those of parents. In light of the feedback we've received on the Katy Perry music video, which was released on YouTube only, we have decided we will not air the segment on the television broadcast of 'Sesame Street,' which is aimed at preschoolers."

The original version of "Hot N Cold" depicts a less kid-friendly on-and-off romance, and includes words that wouldn't end up on network televsion, let alone a children's show. Perry cleaned up the song for "Sesame Street," singing instead about wanting to play dress-up with Elmo, who has decided to run off and play tag instead. As the singer chases the beloved puppet around a cartoon city, she sings, "You're up and you're down/You're running around/You're fast then you're slow/you stop then you go."

Neither Perry nor her representatives have issued any statements about the video being pulled from the show.

Here's the "controversial" video!

Body found at Los Angeles Int'l Airport

Is not that they found the body, that's not unusual. Read what the coroner's office thinks!

LOS ANGELES – Officials say a body has been found in a men's restroom at Los Angeles International Airport.

Airport spokesman Albert Rodriguez says a cleaner made the discovery around 7:45 a.m. Wednesday in a restroom in Terminal 3.

An official with knowledge of the investigation, who asked not to be named because the probe was ongoing, says the coroner's office is looking at the death as a possible suicide.

The official says the body was found with a bag on its head and its hands bound.

Yup! That's a suicide...Chicago's style!

It was 10 years ago today. Remember Elián González?

On April 22, 2000, the Elián González saga came to an end in the early hours in the morning on a hushed Hialeah street.

The boy, who was taken by his mother on the perilous 90 mile illegal boat trip from Cuba to Key West, was the center of controversy between the United States and Cuba. Elián's distant relatives claimed that her mother, who drowned when the boat capsized, had wanted that Elián stayed in America. His father, still living in Cuba, was asking for his son to be returned, and to resume a normal life in that island.

At the end International law prevailed, and in a daring raid, Elián was whisked away by FBI agents to be reunited with his dad and back home to Cuba.

If you are asking whatever happened to Elián, well he's 16 now, and a member of the Pioneers, the cadre of Communist party cadets.

In an antiquated political system, that holds to the ideas of a discarded cold war, it's almost quaint to see little Elián playing Political Officer.

What will happen in another 10 years. Probably Elián will become a Tele-communications executive with ATT.

Wannabe Dracula bites taxi driver in NYC!

Welcome to Fail Friday! Enjoy the telling of the case of the would-be Dracula of NYC!

NEW YORK (CBS) -

The NYPD is looking for the public's help in finding a man wanted for the attempted robbery of a city livery cab.

Police say the suspect pulled a black semi-automatic handgun and demanded the driver's money, but when a struggle ensued, the suspect proceeded to bite the cabbie repeatedly on the neck, arm and back.

The suspect entered the cab at East 130 Street and Lexington Avenue around 3 a.m. on March 13. He then asked to be taken to a location near Bronx Community College.

Police said when they arrived to the destination, the suspect pulled the gun and demanded the cabbie's money.

The suspect is described as a 6-foot Hispanic male in his 30s, wearing a black leather jacket.

We have to stop this man, before he bites again! Get your garlic, crosses and Holy Water together!!!!

US Airways jet lands after religious item mistaken for a bomb.

Paranoia or stupidity? You be the judge!

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – A US Airways passenger plane was diverted to Philadelphia on Thursday after a religious item worn by a Jewish passenger was mistaken as a bomb, Philadelphia police said.

A passenger was alarmed by the phylacteries, religious items which observant Jews strap around their arms and heads as part of morning prayers, on the flight from New York's La Guardia airport heading to Louisville.

"Someone on the plane construed it as some kind of device," said officer Christine O'Brien, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia police department.

No one was arrested or charged, O'Brien said.

The plane landed without incident and the passengers and crew were taken off the plane, a spokesman for US Airways said.

Phylacteries, called tefillin in Hebrew, are two small black boxes with black straps attached to them. Observant Jewish men are required to place one box on their head and tie the other one on their arm each weekday morning.

Thursday's incident was the latest of several false alarms on U.S. flights since the December 25 incident in which a Nigerian man attempted to detonate a bomb in his underpants from materials he smuggled onto the plane just as his flight was about to land in Detroit, authorities said.

The device did not explode and only burned the man, who was pounced on by fellow passengers.

Since then several flights have been diverted by security scares that have turned out to be harmless.

Ok! Here at the Les'Shyerar laboratories and Fried Chicken Shack have produced a audiovisual demonstration of the differences between a Tefillin and a suicide bomb...

This is a Tefillin. There are two squares, one on the forehead and one on the arm with a wrapping that goes across it. The person who mistook this for a bomb must be very ignorant of Jewish customs (Probably, the majority of Americans!), as this is a very ackward way of blowing oneself up (Then again so was the shoe bomb and the underwear bomb)! These objects are to pray to their invisible man of their choice; a jealous, mad desert god who will strike without any hesitation, unless you pray every day tying two boxes to your body! It's all very silly. But dangerous, no.


This is a suicide bomber. Look at the menacing look, the borrowed US Army surplus fatigues, the worn out AK 47, the dead man's switch and explosive sticks of fake dynamite. If you see one of those in your airport or flight, it's a poor soul that wants to die really, really soon by commiting "Suicide by Cop". Again, they do this to apeace the same desert, mad god, with the sacrifice of innocent lives. Seriously, this madness has to stop! Wait a minute...come to think this dude is actually a lady! And has cute eyes! I wonder if she would date an infidel like me?

But I digress...

Usually terrorists don't look like this...





They look like this.


Any questions?

Study defines who are the angriest Americans

Apart from the Republican Party...

Anger is more likely among the young, those with children at home, and the less educated, a new study finds.

A national survey of 1,800 Americans aged 18 and older questioned participants on how and when they feel angry in order to build "a broader social portrait of anger in the United States," said study researcher Scott Schieman, now at the University of Toronto.

These angry emotions range from mild annoyance to yelling and feelings of outrage.

While anger is a normal human emotion, it could be detrimental if you hold on to it too long. And those who express their anger might actually live longer than those who keep it bottled in, one study found.

The results of the survey, conducted in 2005 and to be published next year, showed several key connections to anger.

For one, people under 30 experienced anger of all forms or intensities more frequently than did older adults. This was mainly due to the fact that young people are more likely to be affected by three core stressors that can trigger angry feelings, Schieman said:

* Time pressures
* Economic hardship
* Interpersonal conflict at the workplace

Time pressures had the strongest link to anger, especially low-grade versions termed "feelings of annoyance," the study found.

Those who were under financial strain tended to report higher levels of anger, a connection that could be particularly important in today's flagging economy, Schieman noted. The financial influence tended to be stronger among women and younger adults.

Having children was also associated with angry feelings and behaviors, such as yelling, particularly in women, the survey found.

"There's obviously a lot of joys and benefits that come with parenthood," but other aspects of parenting, such as having to discipline a misbehaving child, can cause feelings of anger and annoyance, Schieman said.

Those with fewer years of education were also more likely to report feelings of anger and were less likely to respond proactively in a situation that made them angry (for example, talking about what made them angry).

"It underscores the power of getting more education," Schieman said. Education has been linked to feeling more self-control, which could be why those with more education tend to manage their anger more proactively, he told LiveScience.

Schieman's findings will be detailed in a chapter of the forthcoming International Handbook of Anger, to be released in January 2010.

The angriest Puertoricans...
Anybody who voted for Fortuño.

Ft. Hood shooter was to be deployed to Afghanistan.

More on the Ft. Hood shootings

A US major believed to have killed 13 people in a gun attack at a Texas army base was due to be deployed soon to Afghanistan, a military official said.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, a US-born Muslim, opened fire on soldiers at Fort Hood on Thursday.

Relatives of the army psychiatrist said he had strongly opposed his deployment and had wanted to leave the army.

US officials said investigations into what prompted the attack had continued through the night.

At an early morning news conference at Fort Hood, military officials said 12 soldiers and one civilian had been killed

About US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, he is US-born Muslim raised in Virginia.
Joined the army and trained to be a psychiatrist. Treated soldiers returning from combat zones. Described as a devout Muslim who attended prayers regularly
It's said to have been unhappy about imminent overseas deployment

Of the 28 people who remained in hospital, 14 had required surgery but all were in a stable condition, Col Dr Steven Braverman said.

There was no comment on what might have triggered the attack.

"We're not going to speculate about motives. We'll let investigators find that out," deputy base commander Col John Rossi said.

Maj Hasan was shot four times during the attack and is currently on a ventilator in hospital, under armed guard.

The policewoman who shot him first is in a stable condition in hospital, officials said.

President Barack Obama described it as "a horrific outburst of violence".

He said: "It is difficult enough when we lose these brave men and women abroad, but it is horrifying that they should come under fire at an army base on US soil."

Images AFP, Microsoft

12 Dead, 31 injured in shooting at Ft. Hood in Texas!

It looks that Iraq and Afghanistan are not the only places a US Soldier can die.

FORT HOOD, Texas – The U.S. Army says 12 people have been killed and 31 wounded in a shooting rampage on the Fort Hood Army base in Texas. Lt. Gen Bob Cone said at a news conference that one shooter has been killed and two suspects were apprehended on Thursday. He says they are all U.S. soldiers.

The shooting began around 1:30 p.m. Cone says that all the casualties took place at the base's Soldier Readiness Center where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening.

He says the primary shooter used two handguns in the attack.

More as it becomes available.

Hotel owner makes Hispanic workers to change their names!

In something out of the 1950's, this is happening in today, 2009, in New Mexico.

TAOS, N.M. – Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel.

The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names.

No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark.

Whitten's management style had worked for him as he's turned around other distressed hotels he bought in recent years across the country.

The 63-year-old Texan, however, wasn't prepared for what followed.

His rules and his firing of several Hispanic employees angered his employees and many in this liberal enclave of 5,000 residents at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, where the most alternative of lifestyles can find a home and where Spanish language, culture and traditions have a long and revered history.

"I came into this landmine of Anglos versus Spanish versus Mexicans versus Indians versus everybody up here. I'm just doing what I've always done," he says.

Former workers, their relatives and some town residents picketed across the street from the hotel.

"I do feel he's a racist, but he's a racist out of ignorance. He doesn't know that what he's doing is wrong," says protester Juanito Burns Jr., who identified himself as prime minister of an activist group called Los Brown Berets de Nuevo Mexico.

The Virginia-born Whitten had spent 40 years in the hotel business, turning around more than 20 hotels in Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and South Carolina, before moving with his wife to Taos from Abilene, Texas. He had visited Taos before, and liked its beauty. When Whitten saw that the Paragon Inn was up for sale, he jumped at it.

The hotel sits along narrow, two-lane Paseo del Pueblo, where souped-up lowriders radiate a just-waxed gleam in the soft sunshine as they cruise past centuries-old adobe buildings. One recent afternoon, a woman slowly rode her fat-tire bicycle along a cracked sidewalk, oversized purple butterfly wings on her back and a breeze blowing her long, blonde dreadlocks.

The community includes Taos Pueblo, an American Indian dwelling inhabited for over 1,000 years, and an adobe Catholic church made famous in a Georgia O'Keeffe painting.

After he arrived, Whitten met with the employees. He says he immediately noticed that they were hostile to his management style and worried they might start talking about him in Spanish.

"Because of that, I asked the people in my presence to speak only English because I do not understand Spanish," Whitten says. "I've been working 24 years in Texas and we have a lot of Spanish people there. I've never had to ask anyone to speak only English in front of me because I've never had a reason to."

Some employees were fired, Whitten says, because they were hostile and insubordinate. He says they called him "a white (N-word)."

Fired hotel manager Kathy Archuleta says the workers initially tried to adjust to his style. "We had already gone through four or five owners before him, so we knew what to expect," Archuleta says. "I told (the workers) we needed to give him a chance."

Then Whitten told some employees he was changing their Spanish first names. Whitten says it's a routine practice at his hotels to change first names of employees who work the front desk phones or deal directly with guests if their names are difficult to understand or pronounce.

"It has nothing to do with racism. I'm not doing it for any reason other than for the satisfaction of my guests, because people calling from all over America don't know the Spanish accents or the Spanish culture or Spanish anything," Whitten says.

Martin Gutierrez, another fired employee, says he felt disrespected when he was told to use the unaccented Martin as his name. He says he told Whitten that Spanish was spoken in New Mexico before English. "He told me he didn't care what I thought because this was his business," Gutierrez says.

"I don't have to change my name and language or heritage," he says. "I'm professional the way I am."

Hummm. Let's do this. Let's change this guys name to "El Pendejo". That sounds better tham Larry Whitten. And this guy was a Marine? What a disgrace to Corps!
Racism by any other name or guise, still smells as bad!

Neighbors mistake rotten corpse for Halloween decoration

Seriuosly, that's effe'd up!

A 75-year-old dead man sat decomposing on his Marina del Rey balcony for days because neighbors thought the body was part of a Halloween display and didn’t call police.

Mostafa Mahmoud Zayed had apparently been dead since Monday with a single gunshot wound to one eye. He was slumped over a chair on the third-floor balcony of his apartment on Bora Bora Way, said cameraman Austin Raishbrook, who owns RMG News and was on scene Thursday when authorities found the body.

Neighbors on the 13900 block of Bora Bora Way told Raishbrook that they noticed the body Monday “but didn’t bother calling authorities because it looked like a Halloween dummy," he said.

"The body was in plain view of the entire apartment complex [and] they all didn’t do anything,” Raishbrook said. “It’s very strange. It did look unreal, to be honest.”

Officials with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department could not immediately be reached for comment.

Coroner’s officials were called to the complex at 6:42 p.m. Thursday, according to Capt. John Kades of the county coroner’s office. Physicians will examine the body today to determine the cause of death.

"Balloon Family" ready for jail!

The fakers are ready to face the music...or so they say.

A couple accused of faking the disappearance of their son in a weather balloon are ready to turn themselves in to police, their lawyer says.

David Lane said he expected police in Colorado to bring charges against his client, Richard Heene, by Wednesday.

"These folks are absolutely willing to turn themselves in, so I don't want to see a 'perp walk' done for media consumption," Mr Lane told NBC TV.

Mr Heene and wife Mayumi are accused of planning the hoax as a publicity stunt.

The disappearance of their son, six-year-old Falcon Heene, last Thursday became a media drama, but he was later found at home.

His parents appeared on several TV networks with Falcon and his two brothers to talk about the incident and insist it had not been staged.

Mr Lane told the Associated Press news agency that the Heenes should be presumed innocent of wrongdoing unless convicted.

"If [the prosecutors] can prove their case beyond reasonable doubt, that's one thing. If they can't prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, that's another," he said.

Official details of any charges the Heenes might face have not yet been made public.

However, Sheriff Jim Alderden said on Sunday that charges might include conspiracy and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Some of the most serious charges each carry a maximum sentence of six years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Sheriff Alderden said that at first the parents' acting abilities had made them appear credible to the police.

But it had become clear when the son referred to his hiding as part of "a show" during a television interview that they were not telling the truth.

Sheriff Alderden said the authorities were investigating whether anyone else may have been involved, including a media outlet that may have been in on the hoax.

"We certainly know that there's a conspiracy between the husband and wife, you've probably seen some of the e-mails and some of the things on the internet suggesting that there may be other conspirators," he told reporters.

Investigators have said they want to question Robert Thomas, an associate of Mr Heene's in Denver, who provided the website Gawker.com with e-mail exchanges from several months ago in which he and Mr Heene talk about a possible balloon stunt to promote a proposed reality TV show.

People will do anything for fame.

Charges to be filed in the "Balloon Boy" Hoax.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Deputies searched the home of a couple caught up in Colorado's "balloon boy" saga Saturday night after the sheriff said he was pursuing criminal charges in a case that at first sparked fear for the child, then relief he was okay, then suspicions of a hoax.

The boy's parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, met with Larimer County investigators for much of Saturday afternoon amid lingering questions about whether he perpetrated a publicity stunt when his 6-year-old son Falcon vanished into the rafters of his garage while the world thought he was zooming through the sky in a flying saucer-like helium balloon.

But Sheriff Jim Alderden didn't say who would be charged or what the charges would be. His deputies later showed up at the Heene's Fort Collins home with a search warrant and at least three of them began a search. Sgt. Ian Stewart declined so say what they were after.

Investigators were seen leaving the home just after midnight carrying several boxes and a computer.

Alderden didn't call Thursday's hours-long drama a hoax, but he expressed disappointment that he couldn't level more serious charges in the incident, which sent police and the military scrambling to save young Falcon Heene as millions of worried television viewers watched.

"We were looking at Class 3 misdemeanor, which hardly seems serious enough given the circumstances," Alderden said. "We are talking to the district attorney, federal officials to see if perhaps there aren't additional federal charges that are appropriate in this circumstance."

Suspicion that the balloon saga was a hoax arose almost immediately after Falcon was found hiding in a cardboard box. Heene, a storm chaser and inventor whose family has appeared on the reality show "Wife Swap," and his wife had said one of the boy's older brothers had said Falcon was aboard the homemade balloon when it took off.

Alderden initially said there was no reason to believe the incident was a hoax. Authorities questioned the Heenes again after Falcon turned to his dad during a CNN interview Thursday night and said "you said we did this for a show" when asked why he didn't come out of his hiding place.

Falcon got sick during two separate TV interviews Friday when asked again why he hid.

After the sheriff spoke to reporters, Richard Heene and his wife walked out of his office after meeting with officials for several hours. As reporters yelled questions, all Heene said was, "I was talking to the sheriff's department just now." He then walked to his car with his wife and a friend, and they drove away.

It wasn't clear where the family was late Saturday night. By 9 p.m., an AP reporter at the family home said the couple hadn't returned after leaving the sheriff's office. Their three sons were believed to have been at home being watched by sheriff's officials earlier in the day, but their whereabouts also weren't known to reporters in the evening.

The day began with Richard Heene knocking on the windows of journalists camped outside his home and promising a "big announcement." A few hours later, he did an about-face when he told reporters that they should leave questions in a cardboard box on the front doorstep.

As Heene walked away, a reporter shouted, "Can you tell us once and for all if this is a hoax?"

"Absolutely no hoax. I want your questions in the box," Heene said, waving a cardboard container before going back into his home.

A circus-like atmosphere formed outside, including men holding signs and occasionally yelling "balloon boy." One sign read, "Put balloon boy on TV: America's Most Wanted."

Other gawkers carried aluminum-foil stovetop popcorn makers that resembled the a flying saucer-like helium balloon launched from the family's backyard Thursday, with 6-year-old Falcon Heene believed to be onboard.

The Heenes have said the balloon was supposed to be tethered to the ground when it lifted off, and no one was supposed to be aboard. A video of the launch shows the family counting down in unison, "3, 2, 1," before Richard Heene pulls a cord, setting the balloon into the air.

"Whoa!" one of the boys exclaims. Then his father says in disbelief, "Oh, my God!" He then says to someone, "You didn't put the (expletive) tether down!" and he kicks the wood frame that had held the balloon.

Falcon's brother said he saw him inside the compartment before it took off and that's why they thought he was in there when it launched. Heene said he had yelled at Falcon before the launch for getting inside.

Over the years, Richard Heene has worked as a storm chaser, a handyman and contractor, and an aspiring reality-TV star.

He and his family appeared on the ABC reality show "Wife Swap," and the show's producer said it had a show in development with the Heenes but the deal is now off. TLC also said Heene had pitched a reality show to the network months ago, but it passed on the offer.

Despite his attempts to get on TV, Heene insisted Saturday that he didn't know what kinds of questions were being asked about him because he didn't have cable.

"I'm going to place the box out front. Please write your questions down, because friends are telling me they're saying this and that. I have no idea what the news is saying," Heene said.

Are the media whores afraid now!

Balloon Boy stunt launches criminal investigation!

The Larimer County Sheriff's Department will conduct interviews with Balloon Boy and his family, which may lead to a criminal investigation due to filing a false report.

According to a Sheriff's official, the interviews will begin tomorrow because "their physical and emotional state as of this morning is not well."

Considering the on-camera barfing and back-to-back shameless interviews, they could probably use a breather before they're taken for all they're worth!

As always, The Simpsons did it first and much better!

Feast on this blast from the past from season 16.



Photo - Getty Images/AP

Was the Balloon Boy adventure a hoax?

When news broke yesterday that a six-year-old boy from Colorado had been swept away in a flyaway balloon, it captured the world's attention in a way not seen since the media last found a character it could summarise in a snappy sobriquet (see Canoe Man, Octomom).

Balloon Boy was born. Sensing an opportunity to unite the country in a collective moment, American TV networks streamed live coverage of the nail-biting search for Falcon Heene. Before long, the New York Times had started a minute-by-minute blog, and Americans were glued to their televisions. Was a small boy really inside that homemade helium balloon, whizzing past clouds at a frightening rate? They stayed tuned to find out.

When, at around 6pm last night local time, the boy was found alive and well and hiding in the attic (where he apparently went after being scolded by his dad earlier in the day), there wasn't much time for elation before the tide turned and the great American public directed suspicion and then anger at the Heene family.

It was a live interview with CNN that set tongues wagging that this heartwarming story wasn't quite what it seemed. The anchor asked Falcon whether he was aware of the hoo-ha going on outside as he hid. There was a pause as the boy faltered and said he had heard them shouting. Why didn't you come out, then? asked his father, Richard. "Umm," said Falcon, "you guys said we did this for the show."

The show? What show? Journalists did some Googling and it emerged Falcon's parents had appeared on the tv show Wife Swap – twice. Could Falcon's adventure have really been little more than an attempt by his fame-hungry mum and dad to get on tv for a third time?

Richard Heene said later he was "appalled" by intimations the family did all this for publicity but it was too late. The backlash was in full flow. Soon an online poll was asking internet users to vote whether it was all a publicity stunt, a petition had been set up demanding the parents be charged, and T-shirts bearing the legend "Go Falcon, Go!" were on sale. The most cynical minds pointed out similarities between the story and the plot of Disney's latest animation, Up, in which a 78-year-old man ties balloons to his house and flies away, with an eight-year-old stowaway.

This morning, "balloon boy" was the second most trending topic on Twitter (with many wags demanding he be rechristened Attic Boy), and the inevitable jokes had begun. The best so far comes from a Twitter user: Naughty Balloon Boy has let himself down, he's let his parents down …

A hoax by any other name, will still smell as bad!

Photo - John Moore/Getty Images

Kid found safe and sound, was never on the balloon!

Whew!

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – A 6-year-old boy was found hiding in a cardboard box in his family's garage attic Thursday after being feared aboard a homemade helium balloon that hurtled 50 miles through the sky on live television.

The discovery marked a bizarre end to a saga that started when the giant silvery balloon floated away from the family's yard Thursday morning, sparking a frantic rescue operation that involved military helicopters and briefly shut down Denver International Airport.

But Sheriff Jim Alderden turned to reporters during a news conference and gave a thumbs up and said 6-year-old Falcon Heene is "at the house." "Apparently he's been there the whole time," he said.

The boy's father, Richard Heene, said the family was tinkering with the balloon Thursday and that he scolded Falcon for getting inside a compartment on the craft. He said Falcon's brother had seen him inside the compartment before it took off and that's why they thought he was in there when it launched.

But the boy fled to the attic at some point after the scolding and was never in the balloon during its two-hour, 50-mile journey through two counties. "I yelled at him. I'm really sorry I yelled at him," Heene said as he hugged his son during a news conference.

"I was in the attic and he scared me because he yelled at me," Falcon said. "That's why I went in the attic."

Richard Heene adamantly denied the notion that the whole thing was a big publicity stunt. "That's horrible after the crap we just went through. No."

The flying saucer-like craft tipped precariously at times before gliding to the ground in a field. With the child nowhere in sight, investigators searched the balloon's path. Several people reported seeing something fall from the craft while it was in the air, and yellow crime-scene tape was placed around the home.

But in the end, the boy apparently was in the garage the whole time, even as investigators scoured the house and neighborhood for any sign of him.

Neighbor Bob Licko, 65, said he was leaving home when he heard commotion in the backyard of the family. He said he saw two boys on the roof with a camera, commenting about their brother.

"One of the boys yelled to me that his brother was way up in the air," Licko said.

Licko said the boy's mother seemed distraught and that the boy's father was running around the house. The Poudre School District in Fort Collins, where the boys attend, did not have classes for elementary schools Thursday because of a teacher work day.

That was close!

Image UPI

Balloon lands on a field! Kid is missing!

A runaway balloon has touched down in Colorado after a 6-year-old boy untied it from his family home in Fort Collins.
The dome-shaped balloon is 20 feet long and 5 feet high, Larimer County Sheriff's Office says.

The dome-shaped balloon is 20 feet long and 5 feet high, Larimer County Sheriff's Office says.

The boy was not inside the helium aircraft when it landed, CNN affiliate KMGH reported.

A sibling saw the boy get into the craft Thursday morning. Officials were concerned that the boy may have fallen out of it, an undersheriff said.

Margie Martinez of the Weld County Sheriff's Office said a sibling saw Falcon Heene climb into the basket before the balloon took off from his parents' Fort Collins, Colorado home.

Since the door on the balloon was unlocked, it's possible the boy had fallen out, Martinez said.

The balloon appeared to be a saucer-shaped, Mylar-coated helium balloon, similar to a party balloon. The craft was drifting eastward, authorities said. The helium balloon was tethered to the boy's family home, the Larimer County Sheriff's Department said. The boy got into the craft Thursday morning and undid the rope anchoring it.

The department said the dome-shaped balloon is 20 feet long and 5 feet high.

"The structure at the bottom of the balloon that the boy is in is made of extremely thin plywood and won't withstand any kind of a crash at all," said Erik Nilsson, Larimer County emergency manager, according to CNN affiliate KMGH.

Photo KMGH

6 year old floats away in a home made balloon!

A 6-year-old boy has floated away today in a homemade balloon in northeastern Colorado!!!

The balloon is saucer-shaped and covered with foil. The compartment where the boy is located sits below the balloon filled with helium and it is made of thin plywood. Apparently it was a project between the boy and his dad.

The balloon is currently about 8,000 feet in the air and projected to rise to 10,000 feet!

The Fort Collins police are among the authorities tracking the aircraft and it could wander into the Denver International Airport's air traffic control corridors.

Photo KMGH