Kudos to the Los Angeles Times for uncovering corruption that makes Cuyahoga County look like a rookie league. Maybe you saw the story today.

In the town of Bell, California, a blue collar community south of Los Angeles, the city manager makes $787,637, the assistant city manager makes $376,288 and the police chief makes $457,000.

Well, what the hell. The town of Bell can afford it. The population is 40,000 and the poverty rate is only 17 percent.

When the Times came out with its story last week, the shameful city manager, assistant manager and police chief resigned.

There are five part-time city councilmen. Four of them make in the vicinity of $100,000. The other councilman, Lorenzo Velez, makes only $8,000, more in line with what councilmen usually make for attending one meeting a week. I’d like to give him a pat on the back for honesty, but he must be incredibly stupid to be the only one who didn’t know how the game works in Bell. He should be run out of office for incompetence.

I haven’t mentioned the mayor yet. His name is Oscar Hernandez and the Times story did not list his salary. The mayor is a part-time position, mainly ceremonial, in a city manager type of government. But Oscar is responsible for signing off on those salaries. Last week he defended the salaries, but this week he says that he will step down when his term expires in March. In the meantime, he says, he will finish his term without pay. He probably has enough stashed away.

In this kind of company, our former sheriff Gerald McFaul couldn’t get a job as a garbage collector.

Greed is usually a moral issue, but this is so egregious, surely it must be a legal matter. I have an idea. Those crooks should be put back on the city payroll as garbage collectors at a dollar a year until they have worked off every last dollar they extorted. I know one thing. They’ll never be in that 17 percent. What a shame.

Early Friday morning, the Washington D.C. area was shaken by a minor earthquake. The quake was centered in the Rockville, Maryland area, and hit at 5:04 a.m. EDT with a magnitude of 3.6.

Police from Washington and nearby in Montgomery County Police Dept. said that they had received numerous calls from people wondering what had happened.

Many slept through the earthquake, while others were jolted awake. President Barack Obama smiled and said that he hadn't felt a thing.

Sheyla Hershey of Houston, Texas broke the world record when she got breast implants in a size 38KKK. The Brazilian model has had over 30 breast augmentations over the years, and the one she most recently had is likely to force her to relinquish her reign as the world's largest-breasted woman.

Hershey flew to her native Brazil to have another breast surgery in June. Unfortunately, she contracted a severe staph infection in both of her breasts. She returned to Texas for medical assistance and the doctor there said that she would be in danger of death if the infection spread.

An aggressive course of antibiotics has helped stop the infection in one breast, but hasn't worked on the other. Yesterday, she underwent surgery to have the latest implants removed.

She's not out of the woods yet, but if she pulls through and beats the infection maybe she'll learn her lesson and cool on the implants. If it's not already obvious, getting cosmetic surgery that a US doctor wouldn't do in Brazil is a really bad idea.

Antiquated and complicated liquor laws have long made it difficult to purchase a bottle of wine in the state of Pennsylvania, but thanks to new wine vending machines, it's become a whole lot easier. The state recently unveiled the United States' first wine kiosks, or vending machines.

In Pennsylvania, the law prohibits the sales of wine in grocery stores. It can only be sold in a state-owned store. Thanks to the new machines, however, consumers can buy wine with the groceries by swiping an ID, looking in a camera, and blowing into a breathalyser to prove their sobriety. There's also a $1 convenience fee tacked onto the wine's price.

Okay, so it's not really that simple, but it does make it possible for Pennsylvanians to buy wine at the grocery store like most of the rest of the US. Despite the technological advancement, residents still won't be able to purchase wine on Sundays or holidays.

State employees remotely monitor the machines and checks your face to make sure that it matches that on your ID. According to officials, the process takes a mere 20 seconds.

The new kiosks are being tested in two stores, and could expand to 100 others if successful.

After having been relieved of his post as commander of the war in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal has decided to call it quits on his military career. McChrystal has told the Army he intends to retire.

According to Army spokesman Col. Tom Collins, McChrystal notified them of his plans yesterday, however he has not yet submitted his formal retirement papers. It is not clear when he will leave, but the process generally takes a few months.

While President Barack Obama had praised McChrystal's long career in the Army, he said that his disrespectful remarks in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine could not be ignored. McChrystal apologized for the remarks and flew to Washington last week where he would be either fired, or resign.

Talk about dumb criminals. A strapped for cash couple in California attempted to sell their 6-month-old baby outside a Walmart store for the bargain price of just $25.

Patrick Fousek, 38, and Samantha Tomasini, 20, were arrested just hours after the allegedly incident in which he went up to two women and asked if they were interested in purchasing his chlid. According to Salinas spokesman Officer Lalo Villegas, the woman first thought that Fousek was joking. However, once he became pushier they grew suspicious and called police.

Police found Fousek and Tomasini at home around 1am. The two appeared to be high on methamphetamine, and the house was in shambles. Child Protective Services took the baby away. Tomasini also told CPS that she breastfed the baby while she was under the influence of drugs.

Fousek and Tomasini will be arraigned in court on Friday.

Evenflo, Delta Enterprise and five other child furniture manufacturers recalled more than 2.2 million cribs this week after federal regulators documented dozens of infants who became trapped of fell. Seven of the eight recalls involve drop-side crib models, which the agency has labeled a "deadly hazard".

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has documented 32 deaths since 2000 and recalled many drop-side cribs. CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said:

“This new recall announcement is part of a larger effort by CPSC to clean up the marketplace. Many of these recalled cribs have dangerous drop sides.”

Last month, the CPSC issued a warning to parents after more than 9 million cribs had been recalled in the past five years. By the end of the year, the agency plans issue federal regulations on crib safety and the rules would eliminate drop-side designs.

The recall involves:

- 750,000 Jenny Lind drop-side cribs distributed by Evenflo Inc.

A magnitude 5.5 earthquake shook the Ontario-Quebec border region in Canada on Wednesday, with reports of the tremors being felt as far away as Chicago, Illinois and Cleveland, Ohio. The earthquake, whose epicenter was about 33 miles north of Ottawa, Ontario, struck at 1:41 PM ET.

Stay tuned for details.

You've heard of turkey burgers and bison burgers, but have you ever come across a lion burger? One restaurant in Arizona is serving up feline meat on a bun in honor of the World Cup being held for the first time ever on the continent of Africa.

For just $22, you too can take a bite into a lion burger, complete with spicy homemade chips and roast corn on the cob on the side.

Not unsurprisingly, the eatery has received many complaints about their decision to cook up lions. Animal rights activists are particularly enraged. The owners say, however, that the endangered animals are not being hurt by this and that the lions actually come from a farm in Illinois where they are bred.

According to the US Coast Guard, BP was forced to remove a containment cap that had been containing some of the oil currently gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. This has significantly increased the flow of oil entering the Gulf, resulting from the April 20th explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig.

Coast Guard Admin. Thad Allen indicated that an underwater robot had bumped into the venting system, which sent gas rising through the vent that carries warm water to prevent ice-like crystals from forming in the cap. The cap has been removed, and crews are now checking to see whether or not crystals have formed before they put it back on.

While that is going on, another system is burning oil on the surface of the water.

On a possibly related note, the Coast Guard reported two deaths on Wednesday. It is not immediately known whether they were related to the containment efforts.

At worst, it is currently estimated that 2.5 million gallons of oil is spewing into the Gulf of Mexico on a daily basis.