MONDAY, OCTOBER 6 This week of discontinued cookies, skeezy she-pimps, and rejuvenated American hopefulness kicks off today with Kory McFarren, the 37-year-old resident of Great Neck, Kansas, who first made headlines back in February. That's when McFarren called police to report that his girlfriend had refused to come out of the bathroom for two years, leading deputies to a woman who'd spent at least a month not moving from the toilet, during which time the toilet seat adhered to sores on her body. On July 29, McFarren pleaded no contest to misdemeanor mistreatment of a dependent adult and received six months probation. Which brings us to today, when McFarren won $20,000 in the Kansas State lottery. As the Associated Press reports, this was McFarren's second state lottery win of 2008. Contacted for comment, karma said, "Clearly, I don't exist."

•• Meanwhile in an upscale gated community of the San Fernando Valley: Police came upon the grisly scene engineered by Karthik Rajaram, a 45-year-old unemployed financial manager described by the Associated Press as "despondent over extreme money problems." In his suicide note, Rajaram wrote of having two ways out, the first of which was to simply kill himself. Tragically, Rajaram chose the second way, which he deemed "more honorable," and sometime between late Saturday night and early Monday morning Rajaram shot and killed his wife, his three children, his mother-in-law, and finally himself. Last Days apologizes for repeating ourselves, but as we head into what's sure to be a dark and challenging era, remember: If you're considering a murder-suicide, do the suicide part first.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7 The week continues with 2008's second presidential debate, 90 minutes of polite back-and-forth that nevertheless seemed to herald a changing of the tide so solid and significant even the most protectively cynical lefties couldn't deny it. The almost preternaturally calm Barack Obama appeared more and more presidential, while John McCain cemented his stature as a crotchety old fool in way over his head. (Bomb bomb Iran, indeed.) The rest of the week will get exceedingly ugly, as the Republican attacks on Obama grow ever more garish. Most notably, Sarah Palin will continue to repeat her line about Obama "pallin' around with terrorists," an allegedly damning fact that McCain couldn't be bothered to address during the debate, and a particularly ludicrous claim coming from a politician who repeatedly appeared before a radical Alaskan secessionist group. By week's end, McCain and Palin will have endured several telling face-offs with a key GOP constituency: ludicrously misinformed racists, who'll spend the week casting racial epithets at African-American news-crew workers and greeting mention of Obama's name with cries of "Kill him!" On Friday, a Republican-led bipartisan legislative council will conclude that Palin abused her power as Alaska's governor by pushing for the firing of her ex-brother-in-law, while in New York's Rensselaer County, 300 absentee voters will receive ballots listing the Democratic presidential candidate as Barack Osama. Stay tuned.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8 Readers will remember our gloating last week over Jerome Eugene Todd, the 29-year-old Everett man sentenced to 26 years in prison for his crimes as a suck-ass pimp. Today brings the opportunity to show that our antipimp sentiment transcends gender, thanks to Chomphoonut Dongird, the Seattle woman indicted today for conspiracy to transport individuals in furtherance of prostitution. Details come from the Seattle Times, which quotes the federal grand jury's unsealed indictment in alleging that Chomphoonut "Lisa" Dongird was responsible for running "a trio of brothels disguised as massage parlors in Kirkland, Bellevue, and SeaTac," staffed with women brought from Thailand and California. According to the indictment, these women "were required to perform sex acts as part of their employment. In one instance, Dongird brought a woman from Thailand to the U.S. and then told her she owed $25,000 for her immigration paperwork and travel"—a debt Dongird allegedly required her to work off at the brothels. On Friday, Dongird will plead not guilty and be ordered held pending a detention hearing next week.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9 Nothing happened today, unless you count news of the sudden death of Mother's Cookies, the beloved American ass-fattener whose 92 years of excellence was brought to an abrupt halt by rising fuel and food prices and a difficult credit market. Further details come from the San Francisco Chronicle, which reports that company representatives told workers last Friday of the impending closure, with the company filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on Monday. Even worse: Due to "unforeseeable business circumstances," the company won't comply with the federal law requiring a 60-day notification for any layoffs. RIP Mother's (and a moment of silence for those grossly delicious frosted-and-sprinkled animal cookies).

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10 Today brings a blast of good news from the East, as the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled 4–3 in support of same-sex couples' constitutional right to marry. "Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal-protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same-sex partner of their choice," wrote the majority. "To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others."

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11 Nothing happened today, unless you count the southeast Capitol Hill/northwest Central District blackout, tracked by the Central District News to a falling tree branch that took down a power line on 22nd Avenue near Marion Street and knocked out power from Pine Street to Main Street and from 24th Avenue to 12th Avenue, from roughly 9:00 p.m. Saturday till sometime Sunday (for some it was morning; for others, near evening). In Last Days' household, we enjoyed a lovely evening of candles and previously downloaded This American Life podcasts played through a battery-powered MP3 speaker system. But not everyone had such pleasant experiences, as evidenced by Slog commenter Cochise's report: "I sat in the dark until 3:00 a.m. and stared at the moonlit wall with deep concern about the pork ribs I have in the freezer. Then I went to sleep."

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12 Nothing happened today (unless you count the resolution of yesterday's nothing).

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