From:   Top5 Productions
Date:   December 13, 1999 15:10 PST
Subject:   The Daily Probe -- December 13, 1999

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    [ Copyright 1999 by Chris White     in-@dailyprobe.com ]
        

                         December 13, 1999

==================================================================[                          DOMESTIC NEWS                          ]
==================================================================
        CLOSE ESCAPE FOR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE GARY BAUER

ELK CANYON, MT (DPI) - In a bizarre twist of events early Saturday
morning, presidential candidate Gary Bauer gnawed off his own foot
after catching himself in a weasel trap while fleeing from a local
rancher. "It was the damndest thing," said local rancher Floyd
Grant, who owns the weasel trap in question, "I swore it was a
giant weasel or rat trying to illegally cut down one of my pine
trees, so I start shooting and this thing just goes running."
Grant pursued Bauer for approximately two miles before losing
track of Bauer, who had concealed himself in a reedy swamp area
to evade Grant. After several minutes, Grant concluded, "I guess
that beady-eyed, pointy-nosed little monster just scurried down
some hole to its nest or something. Damn, I wish I'd gotten a
good shot off."

Bauer hid for approximately one hour before concluding that Grant
had indeed cut the chase short, and was proceeding back to his car
when he ensnared his right foot in the trap in question.
After struggling mightily for several hours and suffering the
early stages of hypothermia, Bauer concluded that his only
alternative was to gnaw off his right foot. "It hurt a lot,"
remarked Bauer from his hospital bed, "but not as much as you'd
think. It was the only thing to do--the Family Research Council
has 455,000 members and a $14 million budget. I have work to do,
and lots of it. These things happen all the time." When asked if
the injury will affect his chances in the 2000 presidential
election, Bauer replied, "Who sent you? Was it W? That's who sent
you, wasn't it?" Bauer then added, "I'm OK, I'm OK, I'm OK," before
trailing off into a flurry of nonsensical babble and drooling.

Grant was surprised when informed of the incident, and met Bauer
at his hospital room. "Look at him. Little beady eyes, pointy nose.
Man, anyone could have made that mistake." Grant apologized in his
own way by poking Bauer with a long twig several times and not
shooting at him again.

- Reported by Mark Niebuhr

------     -----     -----     -----     -----     -----     ------

           RENO ADDS "EVERY-DAMN-BODY" TO MICROSOFT SUIT

WASHINGTON DC (DPI) - In a move that will cement her place in
history, Attorney General Janet Reno today announced a surprise
indictment of everyone who ever purchased a software product from
or signed a business agreement with the evil, widow-hurting, child-
slapping, Everyman-not-elevating, bad bad bad company, Microsoft.
"The precedent for this is clear," a grinning, skull-faced Reno told
a crowd of shivering semi-nude reporters who had been rounded up at
gunpoint by Justice Department goons and brought to the entrance of
her apartment building at 2:00 AM EST. "Microsoft does not exist in
a vacuum, except insofar as the entire planet Earth floats in a
vacuum. I'm speaking figuratively because this close to the Sun we're
not really in an absolute vacuum. But I digress; I didn't call you
here to discuss natural science or even physics-- Execute that
terrorist man over there!" Upon that utterance, one of Ms. Reno's
goons then shot a reporter who was yawning during her speech.

Ms. Reno continued, "That was close--he almost overthrew the
government. Where was I? Oh, yes. Microsoft could not have become
the big mean giant of the world if millions of computer users had
not conspired to help them do so. We're talking a major conspiracy
involving everyone who ever turned on a computer, except for Apple
and Amiga users. We also examined every agreement that Microsoft
had ever signed with computer-makers who include Microsoft products
in their machines, and our experts found that there were other,
suspiciously non-Microsoft signatures on the contracts. Look, we
have the entire country surrounded, and as soon as everyone in the
country surrenders, peace will be restored. Any questions?" There
were no questions, because the smart reporters remembered Ms.
Reno's propensity for shooting first and making up "rules of
engagement" later. They were afraid that in her volatile mood,
with her armed goons at hand, and given the skimpy negligee that
she was wearing in the nipple-chafing predawn cold, she could
easily open up a can of Aunt Janet's Waco-Ruby-Ridge Whup-ass on
*their* worthless, conspiring, militia-loving, monopolistic asses.

- Reported by Chris Jones

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==================================================================[                           WORLD NEWS                            ]
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                   JUST WHAT IS "AN ACT OF GOD"?

VATICAN CITY (DPI) - In a stunning Papal Bull, Pope John Paul II
admitted today that "Acts of God" as used in disclaimers and
insurance contracts is, "pretty much just the weather." "God's got
nothing to do with it," the Pope wrote. "God told me that while
He'd like to continue to receive all the credit when a tornado rips
through a trailer park killing four generations of a miserably poor,
inbred family, or when softball-size hail craters your new
Jaguar XK8 convertible, He can't. It's just the weather. He's known
it all along, and now we know it." The Pope added, "On the other
hand, you die of lung cancer after smoking two packs a day for
50 years, or choke to death on a piece of chicken at your son's
Bar Mitzvah, that's 'Act of God' all the way."

Reaction to the Papal Bull was mixed with the man on the street.
While some claimed they always thought God was a little weasely
in His dealings with mortal man, others are grateful for the news.
One man who claimed to have been struck by lightning no less than
seven times was relieved. "I thought God really, really, really,
really, really, really, really didn't like me. At all. Like I was
being punished for being a bad person or something. I feel much
better knowing it's just the weather that doesn't like me. That I
can live with."

- Reported by Martell Stroup

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                           MOTH'S DIARY
                           ------------

Sunday 12th December

Damn these magazine stands, damn them all to hell! Is there no
escape from Mariah Carey, the singing hoochie? Will the government
be forced to bust the budget and purchase her an Arctic parka?
I too get on the floor for endless push-ups and sit-ups every day,
mainly to offset my gourmandizing ways, but you don't see me
rubbing everyone's nose in my navel. Tish tosh, young lady.
I stewed about her attempts to out-belly and out-tit my newest
girl, Laetitia, over a filet bearnaise and oysters Rockefeller
at Galatoire's, washed down with a tide of pink gins. Desperate
times, desperate times. Bought 17 silver snuffboxes from an as yet
unarrested criminal. Ian Bannen, RIP.

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[                   Copyright 1999, Chris White                   ]
[                      Edited by Peter Bauer                      ]
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