The! Biggest! News! of! the! Day! - Not Retail Sales, Wal-Mart's Raised Guidance, or Outlook on Google

Here are some of the contenders for today's biggest...news...of...the...day...

• A raised outlook from Wal-Mart Stores (WMT)...
• Concerns from retail sales reports "that consumers are feeling tapped out and that retailers are headed for a very difficult holiday period"...
• Expectations that Google (GOOG) may pullback on its earnings release but will then bounce back to new highs...
• A slightly upbeat look into eBay (EBAY)...
• Questions about "stock sales made by Angelo R. Mozilo, chief executive of the mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, [CFC] in the months before its shares plummeted amid the deepening mortgage crisis"...
• Skepticism [subscription required] on Progressive Corp. (PGR)...
• Concerns that earnings growth could turn negative...
• Data on jobless claims...
• An end to the United Auto Workers strike at Chrysler...

While those are all stories worth watching, I think it is obviously clear that the biggest story is this - Dog saves family from fire blamed on cat...yes, you read that correctly - a cat burns down a family's home but "Thumper, a black Labrador retriever, is getting credit for saving a Greenville man when a fire swept through his home"...

For some time now I have been compiling evidence of an "animal conspiracy". In a post yesterday, we saw yet another example of this. But today brings us hope. Perhaps the animals aren't yet full united? An alliance with the canines could prove quite useful. Be nice to your dogs!

On a more disturbing note - I can't seem to get away from this video - Man goes for long leg hair record. It keeps popping up and I don't why it is even out there. What I do know is this - if you have some sort of freak hair growing - cut it off! Don't put it on video!!!! This could start a very bad trend...