April 30, 2006
She says he is a kind, loving man who wouldn't hurt anyone.
But I think his explanation of the events hurts himself almost as much as it did the victim.
[Damien Patrick] Holland is charged with killing Christopher Bailey, 17, an aspiring rapper who was staying at the home Holland shares with his mother, girlfriend and five-year-old daughter.Holland testified earlier this week that he never intended to kill Bailey when he poked at him with an M-16 assault rifle. The two had been discussing an affair the younger man claimed to have had with Holland's girlfriend.
Holland cried in court as he recalled how Bailey fell to the floor, bleeding from his face.
Yeah, I always go around poking folks with the official weapon of the US military. Seems to me that he is either a murder, or too stupid to be allowed to walk free.
After all, one of these can (and in this case did) do more than put out an eye.
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10:41 PM
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Can Roger come out and play?That's the question the Astros plan to pose today to the representatives for free-agent pitcher Roger Clemens, though it's unlikely the ballclub — or anyone else — will get an answer any time soon.
Today is the first day the Astros can officially start negotiating with Clemens, who has said in recent weeks that he likely won't have a decision on his future until June or July.
Still, Astros general manager Tim Purpura plans to call agents Randy and Alan Hendricks to begin laying the groundwork to lure Clemens back for a 23rd season, which would be his third with his hometown Astros.
The only question is -- are the Astros willing to spend the money on one of the greatest living pitchers, despite the fact he is my age? After all, estimates are that he will cost the club that signs him some $20,000,000.
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10:36 PM
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EVERY house which is either built or refurbished in Scotland will from today have to be fitted with new valves restricting the temperature of the hot water.Ministers decided to act in an attempt to prevent children from being scalded in the bath and regulations forcing the change on house builders came into force today.
The new rules mean that £80 thermostats will have to be built in to all new hot water systems, regulating the temperature to 48C or less. The new rules represent a major success for the petitions process in the Scottish Parliament.
The campaign for a change in the law was started by the Scottish Burned Children's Club, which presented a petition to the Scottish Parliament in November 2004 and which has now seen its request adopted by ministers.
The club is fronted by Darren Ferguson, a teenager from Stenhousemuir who suffered permanent facial disfigurement from scalding hot bath water when he was a baby.
Mr Ferguson appeared before the public petitions committee and persuaded the convener, Michael McMahon, to write to ministers with the club's concerns.
After all, we can't expect the people to responsibly set the temperature of their own water heaters -- government must do it for them.
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10:29 PM
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WHAT JURY COULD spare accused Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui from capital punishment? Mr. Moussaoui does not just admit his role in the attacks, he boasts of it. He claims more culpability than the government can prove. He revels in the attacks' success and sneers at and insults the grieving families of the victims. He mocks the justice system that would hold him accountable. What jury could find the mitigating factors in his case outweighing the aggravating ones? Only a jury -- or individual jurors -- both wise and courageous.We oppose the death penalty as a matter of principle. But in Mr. Moussaoui's case, there are at least two reasons for sparing him, independent of one's views on capital punishment. The first is that Mr. Moussaoui's actual connections to the attacks are tenuous. The government wishes to put him to death because, by lying to investigators at the time of his detention, he allegedly prevented them from unraveling the conspiracy. This is an emotionally powerful argument, because everyone wants to be able to rewind the clock and have another shot at stopping what happened that day -- or, at least, to hold someone responsible in lieu of 19 hijackers unavailable for trial. And it ironically dovetails with an apparently powerful emotional need on Mr. Moussaoui's part to take credit for the attacks. It may even be correct, as the jury found in holding him eligible for death.
But the government's theory is inherently speculative, and America shouldn't administer lethal injections based on speculation. Mr. Moussaoui is a braggart and at least a little bit nutty. He didn't actually kill anyone. Allowing his execution would potentially open the door for executions of low-level conspirators in other crimes, not for actual participation but for allowing them to happen. It's a dangerous road.
The second reason to spare Mr. Moussaoui is to avoid martyring him -- both in his own mind and, more important, in the minds of al-Qaeda sympathizers around the world. Al-Qaeda is, among other things, a death cult; Osama bin Laden once described his fighters as "The Nation of Martyrdom; the Nation that desires death more than you desire life." Everything about Mr. Moussaoui's behavior throughout his trial testifies to his yearning for martyrdom. Prosecutors are happy to oblige, but it's not the smart response.
I've got to disagree.
First, I've got no qualms about the death penalty -- and ultimately, that is what the opposition to executing Mousaaoui is about. The rest is just window-dressing to support a pre-determined position for the Post's editorial board.
Second, this is not judt speculation -- had Moussaoui disclosed what he knew, American would have been in a position to stop 9/11. As it was, our nation was blind-sided because of a wall built between intelligence and law-enforcement. Cooperation by Moussaoui would have allowed that wall to be breached.
Third, while a dead Moussaoui is a martyr, a live Moussaoui is a prisoner to be traded for by the Islamists. Just as Israel will never stop asking for Jonathan Pollard, hostage-takers will include Moussaoui's freedom as a condition for the release of their freedom.
Kill him -- and every other terrorist we capture. They would have no hesitation about killing us.
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10:21 PM
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Suspected Islamic militants raided a village and killed 22 Hindus after lining them up outside their homes in India's portion of the disputed territory of Kashmir, police said Monday.An additional five Hindus were wounded in the attack Sunday night in Thava, a village 105 miles northeast of Jammu in India's Jammu-Kashmir state, said Sheesh Pal Vaid, inspector-general of police.
Some villagers rushed to a nearby army camp and sought help, and the assailants fled the village by the time security forces reached the area, Vaid said. No other details were immediately available.
No one claimed responsibility for Sunday night's killings. But Vaid said, "It is definitely a terrorist attack," meaning that police suspect that Islamic militants were to blame.
Nearly a dozen insurgent groups have been fighting for Kashmir's independence or its merger with Pakistan since 1989.
Regardles of where one stands on the isue of Kashmir -- and there are good arguments on all sides -- no one can legitimately support murder. The Kashmiri issue cannot be solved in this manner.
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10:11 PM
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A Freeburg High School driver's education instructor and professional wrestler, whose ring name is "The Teacher," has been charged with breaking the neck of 17-year-old Ashley Reeves of Millstadt and leaving her in dense woods to die.She was found by police at 2 a.m. Saturday. First listed in critical condition, Reeves had improved somewhat as of late Saturday afternoon after being evacuated to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis.
On Saturday evening, hospital spokesman Bob Davidson listed Reeves' condition as serious.
The sheriff's department held a press conference at 11 a.m. Saturday to announce the charges against Samson "Sam" R. Shelton, 26, of Wildwood Lake Estates in Smithton. Shelton was charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of kidnapping. He is being held at the St. Clair County Jail with bail set at $1 million.
Shelton teaches both driver's and physical education and is a volunteer assistant baseball coach at Freeburg High School.
The formal charges state that Shelton "used his forearm with such force as to break the neck of Ashley Reeves," and also used his belt in an attempt to strangle her. The 6-foot, 1-inch, 200-pound Shelton is listed as a wrestler in the Ultimate Wrestling Alliance and has appeared in several metro-east prize rings, including in Fairview Heights and Cahokia.
After spending more than 30 hours over a rainy night in thick brush and trees behind a baseball diamond at Citizens Park in Belleville, Reeves, a student at Columbia High School, was discovered about 2 a.m. Saturday by sheriff's investigators.
She was reported missing by her family about 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
Now I will say that this guy clearly was not Ashley's teacher -- she attended school in a different district. Knowing what I do of the geography of the area, I suspect he may have been a neighbor or a member of the same church.
But regardless, this is a horrifying crime. It sounds like there is much more to come out -- but hopefully not in a manner that resembles the circus unfolding in North Carolina.
May this young lady recover and be restored to health to whatever degree is possible.
UPDATE: Just read the article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch -- this guy was a real freak!
A profile of Shelton on the Web site for his fast-pitch softball team says: "Sammy is single and currently looking for a female companion. This may include long term or short term relationship. Age does not matter, must be cute or hot."The profile also said his hobbies include "touching hookers" and pornography, and described his occupation as a "teacher, pimp, pimp teacher, pro-wrestler."
Why do I get the impression that there may be some guys in the Illinois prison system who are hoping to have Shelton as a cellmate?
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Those participating in tomorrow's boycott may congest our streets, and may provide a certain disruption of the economy Certainly that is their goal.
Now that immigrants have grabbed the nation's attention, what next?Monday has been set aside for immigrants to boycott work, school and shopping to show how much they matter to their communities. But with some growing tired of street protests, and others afraid they'll be deported or fired for walking out, people are planning to support the effort in myriad ways.
Some will work but buy nothing on Monday. Others will protest at lunch breaks or at rallies after work. There will be church services, candlelight vigils, picnics and human chains.
The range of activities shows both how powerful the immigrants' rights movement has become in a matter of weeks, and that organizers don't yet have a clear focus on its next step.
But this boycott won't be absolute.
No, they aren't boycotting everything American.
They are not boycotting American liberties, the likes of which they are not guaranteed in their own homelands and which are specifically prohibitted to foreigners in Mexico and a number of other Latin American countries.
They aren't boycotting American social services -- they will still use the free health care and cash the welfare checks provided by the American taxpayer.
They will still use our roads and mass transit, again heavily subsidized by American citizens and legal immigrants.
Personally, I urge those participating in tomorrow's events to boycott one -- and only one -- American thing.
Boycott American air.
Hold your breaths until you turn blue -- for the entire 24 hours.
And meditate upon this paraphrase of a MeCHA slogan.
“Para los ciudadanos, todo. Para los mojados, nada.” -- For the citizens, everything. For the wetbacks, nothing.
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Why, then, is Duke welcoming this group and permitting them to be active on campus? And why is the prosecutor apparently going to meet with these thugs?
The national chairman of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense says his group intends to march at Duke University on Monday to "deal directly" with lacrosse players about charges of rape of an escort service dancer at a team party.Duke's campus police are coordinating with the Durham Police Department to prepare for the black-separatist group, which has a reputation for coming to its protests armed.
Malik Zulu Shabazz, a Washington lawyer who is the leader of the New Panthers, said he will be in Durham to rally with local black leaders and monitor progress of the criminal case against Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, the two students charged with raping and kidnapping the dancer.
"We are conducting an independent investigation, and we intend to enter the campus and interview lacrosse players," Shabazz said Thursday. "We seek to ensure an adequate, strong and vigorous prosecution."
Duke is a private institution, and its campus is private property. Shabazz said he has not sought permission to enter but that his group has "received no word that we are not welcome."
John Burness, Duke's vice president for public affairs and community relations, said Thursday that the university will allow a controlled march on campus, as long as the New Black Panthers follow specific rules.
"As an institution we support free speech, and we will treat them like any other group," Burness said. "But we do not permit weapons. We will take necessary steps to keep the campus safe."
One of the key tenets of the New Black Panthers is owning firearms and knowing how to use them, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a national Jewish group that has monitored Shabazz and his followers for years.
In other words, the violent racists are allowed on campus to harrass students not charged with any crime, provided they leave tehir guns at home. What a double standard -- though one that has operated throughout the development of this case. Could you imagine the smae courseof action being followed by the university or the prosecutor if this case involved the alleged rape of a white stripper by the Duke basketball team?
Could you imagine the Klan being allowed to march on the Duke campus and freely "conduct an independent investigation" and "interview players" at that private school? Certainly not! But the Panthers are welcome, out of a typical academic desire to be "sensitive" and "politically correct".
I don't know if any of these boys are guilty. If they are, I hope they get the maximum available penalty --I've had too many girls and women in my life face the trauma of sexual assault (heck, "one" is "too many" -- and ther have been more than that) to want to see anything less than every ounce of justice received. But in this circus-like kangaroo court atmosphere, the introduction of a violent racist group to the mix is prejudicial to both the safety of the students at Duke and the right of the accused to a fair trial under the laws and constitutions of both the United States and the State of North Carolina.
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To intentionally destroy archaeological treasures without giving scholars time to fully examine and study them is an act of barbarism! To do so TO BUILD A PARKING LOT is a move that shocks the conscience.
THE archeologists could barely hide their excitement. Beneath the main square of Ecija, a small town in southern Spain, they had unearthed an astounding treasure trove of Roman history.They discovered a well-preserved Roman forum, bath house, gymnasium and temple as well as dozens of private homes and hundreds of mosaics and statues — one of them considered to be among the finest found.
But now the bulldozers have moved in. The last vestiges of the lost city known as Colonia Augusta Firma Astigi — one of the great cities of the Roman world — have been destroyed to build an underground municipal car park.
Now i'll grant you that Europe is full of Roman ruins, but this city is one o some importance.
The Roman city has proved to be one of the biggest in the ancient world. Its estimated 30,000 citizens dominated the olive oil industry. Terracotta urns from Ecija have been discovered as far away as Britain and Rome.The region produced three Roman emperors — Trajan, Theodosius and Hadrian — and the research has shown that Ecija was almost as important in the Roman world as Cordoba and Seville.
The socialist governmetn of the town offers this appalling justification for their actions.
The socialist council says that had it not dug up the main square, Plaza de Espana, to build the car park in 1998, the remains would never have been found. But it insists the town must press ahead with the new car park.
In other words, since it was not discovered until the preparations to build began, it obviously couldn't be as important as 299 parking spaces.
“Nonsense,” says the town’s chief archeologist, Antonio Fernandez Ugalde, director of the municipal museum. “For some reason, the politicians here think it is more important to park their own cars. It simply does not make sense.”But despite opposition from numerous other archeological groups and the Spanish Royal Academy of Art, there is now no possibility of restoring the 2,000-year-old Roman town.
The most exquisite discovery was a statue, known as the Wounded Amazon, modelled on an ancient Greek goddess of war. Only three other such statues are known to exist. The one in Ecija is in by far the best condition with some of its original decorative paint intact.
So much history -- destroyed in the name of commercial development. What the Islamists do not destroy of Western Culture, we will destroy ourselves.
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10:31 AM
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Unfortunately, this hope seems to have been dashed today.
China's state-sanctioned Roman Catholic Church ordained a new bishop Sunday, rejecting the Vatican's request to delay the appointment and threatening efforts to restore official ties between the sides after five decades.China's Foreign Ministry defended the official church's right to ordain bishops without Vatican input and called the Holy See's criticism of such appointments "groundless."
The ordination could damage recent efforts to restore Sino-Vatican ties, cut in 1951 after the Communist Party took control in China. One of the stumbling blocks in improving relations has long been a dispute over who has the authority to appoint bishops.
"The recent ordination of bishops at some diocese have been unanimously well-received by church members and priests," the Foreign Ministry said in a faxed statement. "The criticism toward the Chinese side by the Vatican is groundless."
China's church - the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association - held a ceremony for the new bishop, Ma Yinglin, in the city of Kunming in southwestern Yunnan province.
Hong Kong Cable TV showed Ma wearing his new bishop's hat and carrying an ornate gold staff as he waved to the faithful.
Lett me make one thing clear -- there is no "state-sanctioned Roman Catholic Church". There is a counterfeit Catholic Church used as a propaganda piece by the Red Chinese. Roman Catholics are persecuted for their faith, for they refuse to join the state-controlled body.
Will the UN, or the nations of the world, stand up and condemn this fundamental violation of religious freedom and intereference in the internal affairs of the Catholic Church by a govenrment which officially denies the that God exists?
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10:19 AM
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"The US soldiers were sent to the desert for 122 days and they sat in the same tent and did nothing, except a little too much masturbating."
I'd love to say I'm astounded -- but I'm not given that stars in Hollywood are required to prove their contempt fo the nation before they can succeed.
This America-hating dolt forgets that the reason there was so little combat was the fact that the Iraqis folded like a house of cards -- they were trying to surrender to news crews, unmanned drones, and particularly attractive camels. Not to mention the fact that the US irrationally listened to the demands of the UN to leave the Iraqi dictator in power after liberating Kuwait from its invaders -- resulting in a dozen years of continued oppression of the Iraqis and the need to clean up the mess today.
My wife's cousins was one of those wounded when a SCUD hit his barracks. One of my co-workers had a nephew who was MIA after his unit met up with an Iraqi patrol -- and who thankfully turned up alive in an allied medical unit with wounds that were not life-threatening. I wonder if Jake would be willing to face either of them and make such a comment -- and if he would walk away under his own power if he did.
Americans -- time to do our duty. Let's make sure this Saddamite pretty-boy no longer has a career in film or television, and that he ends his days doing dinner theater outside Hoboken for the rest of his life.
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04:41 AM
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They weren't far off.
A newspaper promotion for Tom Cruise's upcoming "Mission: Impossible III" got off to an explosive start when a county arson squad blew up a news rack, thinking it contained a bomb.The confusion: the Los Angeles Times rack was fitted with a digital musical device designed to play the "Mission: Impossible" theme song when the door was opened. But in some cases, the red plastic boxes with protruding wires were jarred loose and dropped onto the stack of newspapers inside, alarming customers.
Sheriff's officials said they rendered the news rack in this suburb 35 miles north of downtown Los Angeles "safe" after being called to the scene Friday by a concerned individual who thought he'd seen a bomb.
Times officials said the devices were placed in 4,500 randomly selected news boxes in Los Angeles and Ventura counties in a venture with Paramount Pictures designed to turn the "everyday news rack experience" into an "extraordinary mission."
It was just that, at least for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department arson squad, which destroyed the box.
"This was the least intended outcome. We weren't expecting anything like this," said John O'Loughlin, the Times' senior vice president for planning.
The devices are to remain in the boxes until May 7, two days after the film is scheduled to open.
The Tom Cruise flick should have proved itself a bomb by that date.
With luck, it will self-destruct and save the bomb squads of major American cities the trouble of blowing it up.
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04:06 AM
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But I do have one question.
Why do I feel like I have been assimilated?
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03:58 AM
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April 29, 2006
But whose interests are really bing looked out for by the major players mentioned by Chris Elam in his outstanding political blog, "Texas Safety Forum"?
What to do about empty precinct chair positions? Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace wants them filled -- and he just happens to have a list of candidates who support David Wallace for the nomination. Opposition to the move by Wallace is fierce in Harris County, strong in Brazoria County, and even exists in Fort Bend County as well.
David Wallace may have pressed too hard for the election of new precinct chairs in Harris County. Resistance to his efforts to find sympathetic, NEW chairs in that part of the world has been named as one of the main reasons that Bill Borden stepped forward and advised the party leaders to withhold new nominees to the Exec. Comm. until after the CD 22 nomination is complete. His campaign to find new precinct chairs is in full force in the counties of Brazoria and Fort Bend, and I understand from sources in Brazoria that he is being met with resistance there by leaders who are concerned about appointing single-issue precinct chairs who will not remain involved in the party past the nomination process. Also, its rumored that in Fort Bend, should a slate of new nominees to the Exec. Comm. be offered, opponents to the process of their nomination will not attend the meeting at which they are to be voted upon, thereby preventing a quorum from being reached (which according to Bill Borden, will also prevent the appointments). We'll see what happens in this strateg-ory as the weeks go by.
Sounds like a strategy that is self-serving and destructive to the long-term health of the GOP in CD22. Wallace deserves to fail in this move -- and has probably cooked his goose among the precinct chairs who are responsible for selecting the new candidate.
Chris has more at his site -- but I don't want to steal his thunder.
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Via Tapscott and Captain's Quarters -- as heard on Don Imus.
"He [Michael Graham] also mentioned my abridgement of First Amendment rights, i.e. talking about campaign finance reform....I know that money corrupts....I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I'd rather have the clean government."
And how, precisely, would we know that it was clean if freedom of speech and freedom of speech have already been eliminated? Sounds like a recipe for Fascist Italy or Communist Russia to me.
I'll stand with Jefferson, the genius behind the Declaration of Independence and passionate advocate for a Bill of Rights.
The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to.
Those who would suppress freedom of speech in the name of "clean government" are, in fact, those who would impose the most vilest forms of government known to human history. Such men and women are dictators-in-waiting, seeking only the proper moment to impose their foul will upon an unconsenting populace, rendering free men and women into slaves in the blink of an eye.
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08:01 AM
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Legendary White House correspondent Helen Thomas has sharply questioned U.S. presidents for 46 years, but when she spoke at Centre College Thursday, she had a question for the American people.“Where is the outrage?”
The subject of that outrage, Thomas said, should be the war in Iraq and President George W. Bush.
We've always known of your preference for foreign dictators over Republican presidents.
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Let's hope that the money put out by Bob McNair and the Houston Texans to sign Mario Williams was even smarter than the "smart money".
Mario Williams, Reggie Bush and Vince Young all went in the top five of the NFL draft Saturday as expected. Not Matt Leinart.The 2004 Heisman Trophy winner took a slide to No. 10, finally picked by Arizona after several teams in desperate need of a signal caller passed on the Southern California quarterback.
* * *
Williams went No. 1 overall to Houston, one day after the North Carolina State standout defensive end signed a six-year, $54 million contract. Bush, who teamed with Leinart at USC and was projected to be the top pick overall, next went to New Orleans.
The Titans went for a younger, faster version of the aging Steve McNair, taking Young of national champion Texas at No. 3. And the Jets, who have Chad Pennington recovering from his second rotator cuff injury, pleased their large, loud contingency by choosing Virginia left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson fourth.
Let's be honest -- the Texans were awful last year, and their defense ranked 31 our of 32. Williams isn't a bad pick, when considered in that light. Heck, nobody would have been a bad pick, given how bad the Texans were last year.
And I still think they should have taken D'Brickashaw Ferguson.
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07:12 AM
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No other comemnt necessary.
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards was hospitalized for a mild concussion he suffered while vacationing in Fiji, reportedly after falling out of a palm tree.
I guess a Rolling Stone gathers no moss -- but might try to harvest a few coconuts.
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07:00 AM
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But now I do have a few minutes -- and can only say that this case horrifies and disgusts me.
The brutalized teen was a popular student and high school football player in Spring once featured in a fashion layout in the school's yearbook.Two older teens accused of attacking him were described by other youths as troublemakers and "skinheads."
In a case that's garnering national attention, the 17-year-old victim clings to life at Memorial Hermann Hospital while the other two are in the Harris County Jail — charged with aggravated sexual assault after prosecutors accused them of sodomizing him with a pipe because they think he tried to kiss a 12-year-old girl.
"How do you muster up that much hatred?" asked Carolyn Cook, the mother of one of the victim's friends.
The brutal night began about 11:30 p.m. Saturday when the teen went to a party at a home in the 21300 block of Glenbranch. Investigators don't know how many people were there but said the group included David Henry Tuck, 18, of the 3400 block of Nutwood, and Keith Robert Turner, 17, of the 21000 block of Star Grass.
Incensed at the teen because of the girl, Tuck and Turner dragged him in the back yard and began beating him, detectives said.
"They stomped his head with their boots," said Harris County Sheriff's Lt. John Denholm. "They stripped him naked and sodomized him with the PVC pipe used to hold up a patio umbrella."
Tuck then kicked the pipe, causing even further damage, prosecutors said at a Thursday morning hearing.
"I don't mean just a little bit," Harris County prosecutor Mike Trent told District Judge Michael McSpadden. "He kicked it in and shoved it so far in that he has caused major internal injuries and organ damage." Tuck wore steel-toed boots when he attacked the teen and kicked him in the head, Trent said.
The attackers slashed his chest with a knife and hurled ethnic slurs at the teen, who is Hispanic. Then they apparently tried to cover up the crime, authorities said. "They poured bleach on his body to destroy any evidence," Denholm said.
The victim was left for dead in the yard for 10 hours before help was called.
I don't have words to express my level of outrage. Those who would do this are sick, and need a long period of jail time for their inhumanity to their fellow man.
But from what the media is reporting, this isn't necessarily about race -- at least not if the decision not to file hate crime charges is an indication. It isn't about sexual orientation. It seems like it is simply about folks who are twisted and violent -- and who took the opportunity to do serious damage to another human being based upon a trumped-up motive.
Unfortunately, deatils keep changing from day to day -- now it appears there was an adult in the house the whole time, the assult may have happened later than originally suggested, and other changes in the story.
But it doens't change one thing -- there are at least two young men who deserve to spend a lot of time in jail.
UPDATE: The Houston Chronicle has a typically inane editorial about the case.
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he Democrat leaders of the California State Assembly have decided to call their own boycott for May 1, canceling legislative session that day in deference to the protests. But, showing that their commitment only goes so far, they declared Monday a “check-in” day so as not to forfeit their $459 tax-free per diem for the weekend and Monday. A true legislative walkout would have led to lawmakers losing per diem pay for Saturday and Sunday, as well as Monday since spending more than three consecutive days away from the Capitol triggers a halt in the highly-prized extra pay.
The audacity of the move is simply stunning -- I'm absolutely speechless.
But I do love the response of one California Republican legislator.
The legislative protest by the Democrats caught Republican Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy’s attention. Mountjoy remarked at the close of Thursday’s session that he had spoken to former members of the legislature who where willing to come to work on Monday for half price. The only issue was that they were, “undocumented by the Secretary of State.” Does that mean that “undocumented” lawmakers are willing to do the work that American lawmakers aren’t willing to do?I wonder -- any chance of actually using the "undocmumented legislators" to pass some good legislation for a change? After all, we keep being told that "no person is illegal." Shouldn't that logic apply here, too?
Or will teh Democrats suddenly become supporters of law and order?
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Mexican lawmakers issued a declaration of support for immigrant protests planned in the United States on Monday and said they will send a delegation to Los Angeles to show their solidarity.The declaration, issued late Thursday by all the political parties in the lower house of Congress, contrasts with the position of Mexico's Foreign Department, which has said it will discipline any consular officials who take part in the protests.
The delegation of lawmakers will meet with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, it said in a news release from Congress.
"The only thing we are looking for is to end this dehumanizing situation and get the recognition of the migrant labor force," Federal Deputy Maria Garcia said. "People who go looking for work should not be treated like criminals with the risk of being tried in federal courts."
Activists are urging immigrants across the United States to skip work, avoid spending money and march in the streets to demonstrate their importance to the U.S. economy.
The protest, dubbed "A Day Without Immigrants," comes as the U.S. Congress debates immigration bills proposing everything from toughened border security to the legalization of all 11 million undocumented migrants in America.
Interestingly enough, such participation would be illegal if it were reversed – say, a group of American politicians traveling to Mexico to participate in a rally against the corruption endemic in the Mexican political system or the official collusion with drug trafficking. You see, this little provision is a part of the Mexican Constitution.
"Foreigners may not in any way participate in the political affairs of the country."
So you see, these individuals are coming here to participate in a rally that US government officials would be forbidden to participate in if it were held in Mexico. Heck, if the situation were reversed, many of those protesting would be forbidden to participate in the protest, and would be subject to summary deportation without due process!
Once again, we see Mexico's leaders demanding the US act in a manner that Mexico itself would not -- and could not -- act under its own Constitution.
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April 28, 2006
Rush Limbaugh was arrested Friday on prescription drug charges, with his attorney saying he has reached a deal with prosecutors that will eventually see the charges dismissed if he continues treatment for drug addiction.Limbaugh turned himself in to authorities on a warrant issued by the State Attorney's Office, said Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the State Attorney's Office.
The conservative radio commentator came into the jail at about 4 p.m. with his attorney Roy Black and left an hour later after posting $3,000 bail, Barbera said. The warrant was for fraud to conceal information to obtain prescriptions, Barbera said.
Black said his client and prosecutors reached a settlement on a charge of doctor shopping filed Friday by the State Attorney, which Black said will be dismissed in 18 months if Limbaugh complies with court guidelines.
As a primary condition of the dismissal, Limbaugh must continue to seek treatment from the doctor he has seen for the past 2 1/2 years, Black said.
Limbaugh entered a plea of not guilty in court Friday on the charge and Black maintained his client's innocence.
"Mr. Limbaugh and I have maintained from the start that there was no doctor shopping, and we continue to hold this position," Black said in an e-mailed statement.
I'm not in a position to speak to the exact details of the case, but I read that the concern was about 2000 pain pills over a 6 month period. That number may seem shocking to most of you -- but then again you do not live with an individual that suffers from a chronic condition that causes high level of pain. I do -- and calculating how many pills my dear wife takes for pain in the same period, I'm shocked by the small number of pills he was on for what everyone acknowledges was a seriously painful condition.
Personally, I think this agreement was about making the case just go away -- and I cannot blame him for doing so. I also note that it is similar to most drug-related diversion programs that I've read about. That means, for all that the liberals will claim otherwise, that Rush Limbaugh was treated just like everyone else.
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But I wonder if this story changes things.
Reggie Bush's parents failed to pay $54,000 in rent for the year they lived in a house owned by an investor in a sports marketing agency that sought to represent Bush, the owner of the house said late last night in an interview at The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Yeah, that's right -- Reggie the Golden Boy is now the subject of an NCAA investigation, hours before the name of the top pick is going to be called out. Does this concern the Texans, especially given that owner Bob McNair has gone out of his way to cultivate a squeaky clean image for his team? Will McNair, Kubiak, Casserly and Reeves not merely break the hearts of Texans fans by drafting someone other than the Young man who grew up here, but do so with a player who appears to be dirty and whose team was out-classed by Vince and the Longhorns in the Rose Bowl? Does the appearance of impropriety change the equation?
We'll wait and see.
* * *
And while we are at it, let's take this opportunity to begin our all-weekend Linkfest and Open Trackback celebration.
Link back here with your posts that you believe should go high hin the draft -- your blogs "franchise players" if you will. I won't limit the number of posts you link back with, but do ask you to exercise prudent judgement.
But remember the Rhymes With Right Rules.
No Porn. No Ads. No Problem.
OTHER OPEN TRACKBACKERS -- Voteswagon, TMH Bacon Bits, Stuck on Stupid, Adam's Blog, Third World Country, Liberal Wrong Wing, Blue Star Chronicles, Conservative Cat, Tor's Rants, Uncooperative Blogger, 123Beta, Church and State, Cigar Intelligence Agency
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April 27, 2006
A professor and six students at Northern Kentucky University have been charged with vandalizing an anti-abortion display on campus, a prosecutor said.Professor Sally Jacobsen and six students face misdemeanor charges of criminal mischief and theft by unlawful taking, Campbell County Attorney Justin Verst said. Jacobsen, who teaches in the literature and language department, also faces a charge of criminal solicitation because she allegedly encouraged students to participate in the destruction, Verst said.
Four hundred crosses representing aborted fetuses were pulled from the ground and thrown in trash cans around campus on April 12. A sign explaining the temporary display, which had been approved by university officials as an expression of free speech, was also removed.
Jacobsen told The Kentucky Enquirer that she had "invited" students in her graduate-level British literature course to exercise free-speech by destroying the display. She said she was offended by the simulated cemetery, which she considered intimidating to women who might be considering abortions.
* * *
Jacobsen would plead not guilty, Grubbs said, adding that the dismantling of the display didn't amount to a criminal act.
"The intent was just an expression of freedom of speech," Grubbs said. "She saw harm coming from it, and she was just expressing her attitude toward the harm."
The six students charged were Michelle Cruey, Katie Nelson, Heather Nelson, Stephanie Horton, Sara Keebler and Laura Caster. A court date was set for May 11.
That Jacobsen is still unrepentant is a sign that her only sorrow is related to being caught and punished. She is not at all sorry for violating the civil rights of the student group which had requested and received permission to erect the display, as is permitted in a number of public areas on the campus
Students do have a right to free speech on a college campus. That includes setting up displays on controversial political matters and not having them destroyed by individuals with fascist mindsets.
The real shame here is not that Jacobsen and her brainwashed acolytes will face criminal charges -- it is that there is not a felony charge included, and that Jacobsen will be allowed to retire and receive a pension after violating the Constitutional rights of students at the university. Moreover, it is my hope that the students involved receive severe disciplinary action from the University for the same reason --preferably expulsion, but a suspension of at least one year should be sufficient.
And before you ask, I would feel just as strongly if the display were one on behalf of a cause or issue I reject. The First Amendment knows no ideological limits. I wish that the Left would learn that lesson.
MORE AT The Moderate Voice and The American Moderate
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The threats began after the College Republicans sued the school over discriminatory distribution of student funds and violations of the First Amendment by the University. I’m not familiar with the merits of the suit, and will not address them here. What is undeniable is the campaign of racial and sexual harassment that began against the head of the campus chapter of the College Republican. Mike Adams sums the situation up well, in his usual colorful style.
Currently, the Pride Alliance at Tech receives funding from the SGA. The College Republicans do not. Now that Tech has been sued by a Republican over the funding issue the tension is palpable. Gays and their allies are calling the suit “intolerant†because, among other things, it seeks to allow the Republican group to be funded on an equal footing with Tech’s homosexual group.But the gays and their allies don’t want that. They want two things: 1) For the school to keep funding the Pride Alliance and 2) For the school to keep denying the Republicans equal funding.
The fact that the gays and their allies a) see themselves as open-minded for supporting a one-sided presentation of gay issues and b) see the Republicans as narrow-minded for supporting a more diverse presentation of viewpoints speaks volumes about both their intellectual prowess and emotional stability.
But pointing out the lack of intelligence and emotional grounding of the Georgia Tech Gay Gestapo isn’t enough to make them angry. The way to really make them mad is to point out their intolerance. Lately, that’s been easy to do.
Gay Yellow Jackets and their allies have started a campus group condemning a plaintiff in the lawsuit. They have sent emails to that plaintiff (from Georgia Tech addresses) saying things like “bitch I want to choke you.†Some have expressed a desire to throw acid in her face. They have posted pictures of her adorned with swastikas on the internet. They have also passed out posters in dorms calling her a “Twinkie bitch†– this to suggest that she is Asian on the outside and Caucasian on the inside.
In other words, these people are more than just dumb and emotionally unstable. They are also intolerant, not to mention violent
Now let me make a couple of observations here. I have serious qualms about using student fees about student fees funding ANY political groups – but if political groups are to get funds, they must receive them on an equitable basis. I have serious issues with “status†groups receiving funds – whether we are talking gay groups, ethnic groups or gender groups, though I believe that they should also receive funding on an equitable basis. Heck, I’ve never believed in the notion of student fees being used to fund student groups, feeling that they should be self-funded and self-sustaining.
But whatever issues I might take on the question of funding, I can see no legitimate basis for threats of violence, gender-based insults, or the distribution of racist materials. I realize that such basic moral principles are not generally shared by the Left (see the treatment of Michael Steele by Maryland Democrats or the racist insults directed against Condi Rice).
Unless, of course, “tolerance†policies are simply an “Endangered Species Act†to protect liberal interest groups – and intended to turn convert conservatives into road-kill.
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The threats began after the College Republicans sued the school over discriminatory distribution of student funds and violations of the First Amendment by the University. IÂ’m not familiar with the merits of the suit, and will not address them here. What is undeniable is the campaign of racial and sexual harassment that began against the head of the campus chapter of the College Republican. Mike Adams sums the situation up well, in his usual colorful style.
Currently, the Pride Alliance at Tech receives funding from the SGA. The College Republicans do not. Now that Tech has been sued by a Republican over the funding issue the tension is palpable. Gays and their allies are calling the suit “intolerant” because, among other things, it seeks to allow the Republican group to be funded on an equal footing with Tech’s homosexual group.But the gays and their allies don’t want that. They want two things: 1) For the school to keep funding the Pride Alliance and 2) For the school to keep denying the Republicans equal funding.
The fact that the gays and their allies a) see themselves as open-minded for supporting a one-sided presentation of gay issues and b) see the Republicans as narrow-minded for supporting a more diverse presentation of viewpoints speaks volumes about both their intellectual prowess and emotional stability.
But pointing out the lack of intelligence and emotional grounding of the Georgia Tech Gay Gestapo isnÂ’t enough to make them angry. The way to really make them mad is to point out their intolerance. Lately, thatÂ’s been easy to do.
Gay Yellow Jackets and their allies have started a campus group condemning a plaintiff in the lawsuit. They have sent emails to that plaintiff (from Georgia Tech addresses) saying things like “bitch I want to choke you.” Some have expressed a desire to throw acid in her face. They have posted pictures of her adorned with swastikas on the internet. They have also passed out posters in dorms calling her a “Twinkie bitch” – this to suggest that she is Asian on the outside and Caucasian on the inside.
In other words, these people are more than just dumb and emotionally unstable. They are also intolerant, not to mention violent
Now let me make a couple of observations here. I have serious qualms about using student fees about student fees funding ANY political groups – but if political groups are to get funds, they must receive them on an equitable basis. I have serious issues with “status” groups receiving funds – whether we are talking gay groups, ethnic groups or gender groups, though I believe that they should also receive funding on an equitable basis. Heck, I’ve never believed in the notion of student fees being used to fund student groups, feeling that they should be self-funded and self-sustaining.
But whatever issues I might take on the question of funding, I can see no legitimate basis for threats of violence, gender-based insults, or the distribution of racist materials. I realize that such basic moral principles are not generally shared by the Left (see the treatment of Michael Steele by Maryland Democrats or the racist insults directed against Condi Rice).
Unless, of course, “tolerance” policies are simply an “Endangered Species Act” to protect liberal interest groups – and intended to turn convert conservatives into road-kill.
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A controversial video game attached to an e-mail making the rounds of in-boxes around the country is highlighting just how some people feel about the immigration issue.Many local residents have been forwarded an e-mail with the words "Border Patrol Game." However many are saying it is less a game and more an invitation to violence. In the game, players try to shoot and kill Mexican border crossers.
Inside the game there are three targets: a Mexican nationalist, a drug smuggler, and a pregnant woman running with two children which the game labels a "breeder."
Border Patrol spokesman Doug Nosier tells ABC-7, "They only perpetuate hate, not to mention show Border Patrol in a false light....it's horrendous and really unfortunate that these kind of games exist."
The perpetrator of this sick “game” is Tom Metzger, the Klansman.
Figures that this would come out of a sick mother f*cker like him.
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The vigilante border patrol groups have operated for several years but have expanded greatly in the past twelve months, spurred on by the media attention given to the so-called "Minuteman Project." In April 2005, Chris Simcox, who founded the Arizona-based Civil Homeland Defense, a border vigilante group, and Jim Gilchrist, based in California, joined forces to create the Minuteman Project, whose purpose was to gather thousands of volunteers for a month-long watch for illegal border crossers in Arizona. The project, which was highly publicized among right-wing extremists and white supremacists, attracted far fewer volunteers, many of them armed, during its first week. However, the publicity generated by the event resulted in numerous Minuteman chapters and spin-offs forming across America, even in states such as New York, Virginia, Vermont, and Illinois. These groups use the same radical rhetoric: that the United States is being "invaded" by Mexicans who must be stopped.That message was clear at a three-day summit, "Unite to Fight Against Illegal Immigration," held in Las Vegas, Nevada, in May 2005. More than 400 anti-immigration activists gathered at the event to hear speakers describe illegal immigrants as "the enemy within" and "illegal barbarians," while suggesting that America was "at war" with illegal immigrants and urging people to "take America back."
Many of these anti-immigrant extremists have switched their focus from the border to day laborer centers, where they photograph Hispanics whom they assume are illegal aliens. This racial profiling has also occurred at fast food restaurants and other businesses where Hispanics are employed across the United States. White supremacist and anti-government groups continue to express interest and take part in these activities, and their rhetoric has become more and more confrontational.
Such tactics are repulsive and despicable.
And I don’t mean those of the patriots who seek to secure our borders against the stream of border-jumpers breaking our nation’s laws – efforts that are brutally misrepresented in the report.
I mean those of the ADL, which attempts to paint any opposition to its open-borders agenda as racist. In fact, it is anti-American hate-mongering, and unworthy of an organization that at one time merited a reputation as a fair-minded and responsible advocate of human rights.
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But then again, why should we be surprised. They like real dictators like the tyrant in Havana. And so they don’t mind the use of tactics like beating up old women.
A leading Cuban dissident has said she was badly beaten up by government supporters as she headed for a meeting organised by United States officials.Martha Beatriz Roque said about a dozen people pushed her to the ground in front of her Havana home and one of them punched her in the face.
The 60-year-old economist was jailed in 2003 with 74 other dissidents but was freed a year later on health grounds.
Fidel Castro's government says its opponents are paid agents of the US.
Ms Roque said that a group of people gathered outside her home on Tuesday.As she left to go to a meeting at the residence of the head of the US interests section, Michael Parmly, they pushed and shoved her to the ground.
A man then entered the building and hit her in the face after she shouted "Down with Fidel".
"They have been bothering Martha for months, but this is the first time she has been treated so brutally," Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights, told Reuters.
What a pity that JFK lacked the manhood to support the heroes of the Bay of Pigs – nearly half a century of brutal oppression by this molester of grandmothers would have been prevented.
Death to Castro!
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But then again, why should we be surprised. They like real dictators like the tyrant in Havana. And so they donÂ’t mind the use of tactics like beating up old women.
A leading Cuban dissident has said she was badly beaten up by government supporters as she headed for a meeting organised by United States officials.Martha Beatriz Roque said about a dozen people pushed her to the ground in front of her Havana home and one of them punched her in the face.
The 60-year-old economist was jailed in 2003 with 74 other dissidents but was freed a year later on health grounds.
Fidel Castro's government says its opponents are paid agents of the US.
Ms Roque said that a group of people gathered outside her home on Tuesday.As she left to go to a meeting at the residence of the head of the US interests section, Michael Parmly, they pushed and shoved her to the ground.
A man then entered the building and hit her in the face after she shouted "Down with Fidel".
"They have been bothering Martha for months, but this is the first time she has been treated so brutally," Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights, told Reuters.
What a pity that JFK lacked the manhood to support the heroes of the Bay of Pigs – nearly half a century of brutal oppression by this molester of grandmothers would have been prevented.
Death to Castro!
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Or to bust in on a five-year-old’s birthday party and stop the entertainment.
Clinton was preparing to hit his second shot on the fifth hole at Las Vegas Country Club on Saturday when Secret Service agents halted a birthday party fireworks event.It's a birthday that Savanna Muirhead, the 5-year-old daughter of 28-year-old porn star Sophia Rossi, won't forget.
Savanna was preparing to launch a remote control 18-inch rocket when Clinton's bodyguards "came out of nowhere" and had the launch scrubbed.
Bobby McKelvey, who had just set up the rocket on the edge of the fairway in the backyard of Rossi's home on Bel Air Drive, recalls hearing the stern words, "Sir, do not fire that rocket."
He looked up and saw two badge-flashing Secret Service agents running toward him, while three more agents came out from behind trees.
"We cannot have you shooting rockets at President Clinton," said one of the agents as he approached the party of 80, said McKelvey.
Clinton, in a party of more than a dozen, was about 50-75 yards away, said McKelvey, 41, who described himself as Rossi's manager.
The rocket, fired later, includes a parachute that explodes when the missile reaches a height of 300-350 feet, McKelvey said.
I’d have fired the damn thing anyway, and dared them to take me in. After all, the fireworks were legal, their use was legal, and there was clearly no threat to Billzebubba. I would have also not-so-politely suggested that they get the hell off my property until they had obtained a warrant
On the on the hand, I might have been amenable to a request that I let Clinton play through – a matter of golf etiquette. But such an overreaction by the Secret Service merits no respect.
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Or to bust in on a five-year-oldÂ’s birthday party and stop the entertainment.
Clinton was preparing to hit his second shot on the fifth hole at Las Vegas Country Club on Saturday when Secret Service agents halted a birthday party fireworks event.It's a birthday that Savanna Muirhead, the 5-year-old daughter of 28-year-old porn star Sophia Rossi, won't forget.
Savanna was preparing to launch a remote control 18-inch rocket when Clinton's bodyguards "came out of nowhere" and had the launch scrubbed.
Bobby McKelvey, who had just set up the rocket on the edge of the fairway in the backyard of Rossi's home on Bel Air Drive, recalls hearing the stern words, "Sir, do not fire that rocket."
He looked up and saw two badge-flashing Secret Service agents running toward him, while three more agents came out from behind trees.
"We cannot have you shooting rockets at President Clinton," said one of the agents as he approached the party of 80, said McKelvey.
Clinton, in a party of more than a dozen, was about 50-75 yards away, said McKelvey, 41, who described himself as Rossi's manager.
The rocket, fired later, includes a parachute that explodes when the missile reaches a height of 300-350 feet, McKelvey said.
IÂ’d have fired the damn thing anyway, and dared them to take me in. After all, the fireworks were legal, their use was legal, and there was clearly no threat to Billzebubba. I would have also not-so-politely suggested that they get the hell off my property until they had obtained a warrant
On the on the hand, I might have been amenable to a request that I let Clinton play through – a matter of golf etiquette. But such an overreaction by the Secret Service merits no respect.
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Just reading the lyrics makes me realize that this CD is gonna suck.
LetÂ’s impeach the president for lying
And leading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the doorHeÂ’s the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
And bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to warLetÂ’s impeach the president for spying
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephonesWhat if Al Qaeda blew up the levees
Would New Orleans have been safer that way
Sheltered by our governmentÂ’s protection
Or was someone just not home that day?LetÂ’s impeach the president
For hijacking our religion and using it to get elected
Dividing our country into colors
And still leaving black people neglectedThank god heÂ’s racking down on steroids
Since he sold his old baseball team
ThereÂ’s lot of people looking at big trouble
But of course the president is cleanThank God
False, inaccurate, and just plain ignorant. And it doesnÂ’t have a beat you can dance to.
I still think the best response to the political ravings of Neil Young was made over three decades ago -- and I'll just update it slightly.
Well I heard mister Young sing about him
Well, I heard ole Neil put him down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Red State man don't need him around anyhow.Sweet home America
Where we're red, white and blue
And the president's true
Sweet Home America
Lord, we still are true to you.
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April 26, 2006
I've once again been struck by the ignorance that abounds in the media regarding the Constitution and what it means when it uses certain terms. It is as if there is an intentional rejection of the history of certain words and phrases, in the interest of getting a story.
Take this comment from none other than Bob Novak, who should know better (after all, he covered the Constitutional Convention along with Helen Thomas)
The U.S. Constitution prohibits a religious test for public office, but that is precisely what is being posed now. Prominent, respectable Evangelical Christians have told me, not for quotation, that millions of their co-religionists cannot and will not vote for Romney for president solely because he is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If Romney is nominated and their abstention results in the election of Hillary Rodham Clinton, that's just too bad. The evangelicals are adamant, saying there is no way Romney can win them over.Romney is well aware that an unconstitutional religious test is being applied to him, but he may be seriously minimizing the problem's scope as limited to relatively few fanatics. He feels the vast majority of conservative voters worried about his faith will flinch at the prospect of another Clinton in the White House. But such a rational approach is not likely to head off a highly emotional collision of religious faith and religious bias with American politics.
No, Bob, there is no "unconstitutional religious test" being applied to Romney, based upon what you have written in this column.
As used in the COnstitution, the term "religious test" refers to oaths or actions that are required of a citizen BY GOVERNMENT before they might hold office or receive some government benefit. Such tests existed to one degree or another in most of the colonies prior to the Revolution, and were common in England into the 1800s. Many of them were directed at Catholics, and required that the officeholder take an oath that they rejected the authority of the pope and certain "false and pernicious doctrines" which were part of the Catholic faith. Quakers and Baptists were also often targetted by such oaths. The prohibition, therefore, is one on GOVERNMENT ACTION, not private action.
Unless I missed something in the Novak piece, no such religious test is being required by government.
What is happening, for better or for worse, is that questions are being raised in some minds about voting for a Mormon, given that faith's divergence from certain historical doctrines of the Christian faith. Now I've never heard such questions raised in the Republican or religious circles in which I run, but the media keeps telling me that they are. But assuming that they are, that does not constitute a violation of the prohibition on religious tests -- for the Constitution cannot and does not dictate what factors may be considered by individual citizens when they enter the voting booth, as the individual vote of a citizen is most decidedly NOT a government action.
Which is not to say that I approve of those who would let Romney's religion enter into their calculations. If it goes on, I find it offensive -- just as I did when Ted Kennedy raised the religious issue against Romney when he was the GOP nominee for Senate.
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And one of those who was stung was the local hero himself.
Former University of Texas quarterback Vince Young had been aware of media reports that the Houston Texans had no intention of selecting him with Saturday's first pick in the NFL draft, but he was still surprised when general manager Charley Casserly admitted it publicly on Wednesday.On the day the Texans made their first breakthrough in contract negotiations with Southern California running back Reggie Bush, Casserly explained at the team's annual pre-draft news conference why the team believes it's necessary to draft a player at another position, either Bush or North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams.
"Yeah, I was still surprised when I heard about it," said Young, who came to New York this week to participate in events leading up to this weekend's draft. "I know what the media's been saying about them not taking me, but I wanted to play for my hometown team.
"If they don't want me, well, I know it's a business. I'm kind of disappointed, but I have to get ready for the draft and be prepared to play for the team that wants me."
I'm disappointed by the announcement, but only because it confirms that D'Brickashaw Ferguson will go elsewhere, even though he best fits the team's needs.
As for Young, the local boy will likely match up against the Texans twice a year -- division rival Tenessee will likely take him.
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Take this case of a Canadian man who still, after a week, has received no medical care from Mexican doctors despite serious, possibly life-threatening, injuries.
A Cape Breton woman whose son survived a fall from a sixth-floor balcony in Mexico says doctors there wonÂ’t set his broken bones without cash up front.Carol Campbell says her son, Jason Campbell, broke both legs and his pelvis in the fall last Wednesday at a Mexican tourist resort in Puerto Vallarta, where he remains in hospital.
His mother says since then, the 25-year-old has been given only pain medication and antibiotics.
"My son is still laying there with broken legs, broken pelvis, bones coming out of his legs," the woman told Global News on Monday in Sydney.
"His legs are swelling worse than balloons, his eye, I donÂ’t know what state his eye is in, his teeth, heÂ’s bruised everywhere."
Jason Campbell was in Mexico with friends. His family admits he had been drinking before he fell.
His father, Wallace Campbell, says "all I know is, from the doctors down there, is he is going to be paralyzed for the rest of his life and as far as internal bleeding, they wonÂ’t let me know anything."
The family says doctors are demanding up to $40,000 to treat CampbellÂ’s broken bones.
His mother says he didnÂ’t have a health plan in Alberta, where he now works in the oil industry.
Now the family is trying to raise money to get him home.
"We have some fundraising going on in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Alberta," says Theresa Petrie, the young manÂ’s sister-in-law.
Carol Campbell says she has turned everwhere to get help for her son — the Canadian Consulate in Mexico, the Canadian Foreign Affairs Department in Ottawa, friends, family and politicians.
Gordie Gosse, an NDP member of the Nova Scotia legislature, says itÂ’s a sad situation.
"We have a Canadian citizen that’s stuck in a foreign country in very severely, bad shape at this time and needs medical attention right away — and has been injured now for almost a week, and has no medical attention."
As i have asked in the past -- can't we treat those who have broken our nation's laws with as much disdain as Mexico shows foreigners in their country -- legal or otherwise? That would solve the illegal immigration problem in short order.
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No, they are the assesment of the decision by the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times -- a group which is generallly knee-jerk in its support of gay rights and not too friendly towards conservatives Christians.
But in this case, I think ithe paper has put together an editorial that says what i've been trying to say, only better.
Free-speech fashionIF STUDENTS AT A PUBLIC SCHOOL have a 1st Amendment right to wear black armbands as an antiwar protest — and they do, according to the U.S. Supreme Court — does a Christian student have a similar right to wear a T-shirt proclaiming "Homosexuality Is Shameful"? He should, despite a recent federal appeals court ruling so sweeping and loosely reasoned that it virtually begs the Supreme Court to overrule it.
Offended by the fact that Poway High School near San Diego had declared a "Day of Silence" designed to teach tolerance of gay and lesbian students, sophomore Tyler Harper wore a T-shirt with the "Homosexuality Is Shameful" message on the back and this message on the front: "Be Ashamed, Our School Embraced What God Has Condemned." A teacher told him that the shirt violated the school dress code and was inflammatory. When he refused to remove it, he was kept in a school office for the rest of the day.
Harper and his parents asked a U.S. District Court to issue an injunction preventing the school from interfering with his constitutional rights. The court declined, and its ruling was affirmed last week by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Unfortunately, in explaining why the school was within its rights, Judge Stephen Reinhardt misapplied the Supreme Court's 1969 armband decision and created a "right" that doesn't exist: the right not to be offended.
The armband case gave schools the constitutional authority to suppress student speech only when it poses a "substantial disruption of or material interference with school activities." A federal district judge had cited that exception in ruling for the school district in the current T-shirt case.
But Reinhardt, joined by another circuit judge, tacked on a spongier rationale: that the T-shirt was "injurious to gay and lesbian students and interfered with their right to learn." He maintained students should be protected not only from face-to-face harassment but also from "derogatory and injurious remarks directed at students' minority status such as race, religion and sexual orientation."
There are several problems with this broad formulation. Harper's T-shirt did not feature lewd or "fighting" words. It did not attack individual gay students. Reinhardt's expansive definition could cover all sorts of utterances that gay students might find offensive — like a classmate's praise for the pope's opposition to gay priests or a civics class comment that states shouldn't legalize same-sex marriage.
Students certainly have a right to learn, free of bullying and harassment. But they also have the right to express opinions that their classmates might find offensive — as long as doing so doesn't pose a substantial threat of disruption.
Thirty-seven years after the armband decision, some may wish the high court had never let the genie of student free speech out of the constitutional bottle. It is also true that gay students have been victims of bullying that no one believes is protected by the 1st Amendment. But Reinhardt's opinion does gay students no service by endowing them with a "right" to be shielded from the offensive opinions of others.
Precisely right -- and if I may extend the principle beyond the scope of this editorial, I'd like to say that no student, regardless of race, sex, orientation, ethnicity, or religious faith is well-served by giving them the right to be shielded from views which offend them if it involves permitting them to invoke the censorship of their fellow students.
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Stepped-up immigration enforcement in South Texas has made a long-standing predicament even worse: Increasing numbers of undocumented residents find themselves trapped, unable to get past beefed-up highway checkpoints.Many are teenagers who rarely stray from their towns and neighborhoods for fear of getting deported.
''These kids go to school here, they've grown up here, and are as American as anyone, except they have no documents," said Kyle Brown, a McAllen immigration lawyer. "They can't go back to Mexico and can't go out of the Valley. It's a problem we see over and over."
Such immigrants are thought to number in the tens of thousands, Brown and other immigration lawyers say, and their ranks are growing as the illegal immigrant population swells.
Typical is the Carrizales family. Irma Alvarado de Carrizales is a legal U.S. resident. But two of her four children have no documents.
Travel is risky, said Carrizales, who lives in the McAllen area. And family getaways — jaunts to Sea World, the Alamo or Six Flags Over Texas — are out of the question.
"South Padre Island is the only place we can go," she said. ''We are prisoners of the Valley."
No, you are foreign invaders who refuse to return to your proper side of the border. You are lawbreakers who think your crimes should be without consequences. The fact that you have to hide out from the authorities is no more a violation of your rights or dignity than the need of an escaped convict to avoid attracting the attention of the police while on the lam.
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In today’s columns, he recaps some of his “most offensive†(to liberals) lines from his columns. I’ve taken the liberty of excerpting a few.
“When I talk to liberals, I don’t expect them to understand my positions on various issues. I spend most of my time trying to help them understand their own.â€* * *
“When I am hunting and I know I see a deer in the brush, I pull the trigger. When I know it is a human, I hold my fire. When I don’t know, I also hold my fire. The feminist who doesn’t know whether it a fetus is a person, has the abortion anyway. In other words, she just pulls the trigger. Nonetheless, feminists still feel they are morally superior to hunters.â€
* * *
“Over the last couple of years, I’ve been tying to see things from a liberal perspective. Unfortunately, I can’t get my head that far up my ass. I guess it takes a lot of flexibility to be a liberal. It also takes a considerable lack of backbone.â€
* * *
“Men are fully capable of masturbating without taking a seminar. For men, it’s a natural talent. For campus feminists, it’s another excuse to seek funding from the university administration.â€
* * *
“Bringing American professors to laughter is nearly as tough as bringing American feminists to orgasm. It’s a theoretical possibility that is seldom achieved without a workshop.â€
* * *
“I do not believe that surgically applying a breast to a man’s chest can make him a woman any more than surgically applying a horn to a man’s forehead can make him a unicorn.â€
* * *
“If you are easily offended by free speech on campus, I have just the solution: Get the hell out of college.â€
Well done, Dr. Adams! Academia is in need of many more men and women with your clarity of vision.
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In today’s columns, he recaps some of his “most offensive” (to liberals) lines from his columns. I’ve taken the liberty of excerpting a few.
“When I talk to liberals, I don’t expect them to understand my positions on various issues. I spend most of my time trying to help them understand their own.”* * *
“When I am hunting and I know I see a deer in the brush, I pull the trigger. When I know it is a human, I hold my fire. When I don’t know, I also hold my fire. The feminist who doesn’t know whether it a fetus is a person, has the abortion anyway. In other words, she just pulls the trigger. Nonetheless, feminists still feel they are morally superior to hunters.”
* * *
“Over the last couple of years, I’ve been tying to see things from a liberal perspective. Unfortunately, I can’t get my head that far up my ass. I guess it takes a lot of flexibility to be a liberal. It also takes a considerable lack of backbone.”
* * *
“Men are fully capable of masturbating without taking a seminar. For men, it’s a natural talent. For campus feminists, it’s another excuse to seek funding from the university administration.”
* * *
“Bringing American professors to laughter is nearly as tough as bringing American feminists to orgasm. It’s a theoretical possibility that is seldom achieved without a workshop.”
* * *
“I do not believe that surgically applying a breast to a man’s chest can make him a woman any more than surgically applying a horn to a man’s forehead can make him a unicorn.”
* * *
“If you are easily offended by free speech on campus, I have just the solution: Get the hell out of college.”
Well done, Dr. Adams! Academia is in need of many more men and women with your clarity of vision.
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01:02 PM
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