This sad and wonderful article on Corpsman Christopher Anderson attempts to illustrate the depth of what a Navy corpsman means to a Marine. It's also another example of heroes as victims. I'd be happy to read any newspaper article you can find where the hero is, well, alive for starters.
I honor the sacrifice of those who gave all in service to this country, but I find it very disturbing that we're being cheated out of hearing about the bravery and honor of those who happened to come home healthy and whole.
Not a new obversation, just another noting of a longstanding and irksome situation.
Do you ever feel like the AP is jerking your chain?
One AP-AOL poll, two AP articles:
INDC Bill has his first post from Baghdad up, and it's a good one. Arriving in town less than 24 hours after Saddam's execution, he hit the ground running, and the day passed in a whirlwind of socializing, hanging out at the PX, and flirting with girls. If you haven't already pitched in, help Bill buy some Tic-Tacs.
Two things that are much alike: a retarded third-grader trying to sculpt the Pieta out of dried potato flakes and cornstarch, and dunce journalist Terry Lane trying to quote the pithy, punchy phrases of master wordsmith Mark Twain. This reverse verbal alchemist's ability to turn a golden phrase to lead in uttering it has brought out the funny in everyone in this thread at Tim Blair's.
It's experiments like these that make science so fascinating.
Go join in the festivities as Say Anything wishes global warming a happy birthday. Making a wish will be a bit tricky, I'm afraid -- it's going to take a geraldo of Cat Fives to blow out all the candles.
In Haiti, deportees' grills are considered the mark of, well, a thug:
In Haiti, where deportees are widely thought to fuel gang violence and kidnappings, the struggle to assimilate is a perilous one. A misplaced pronoun can give you away, subjecting deportees to outright hostility. But no physical trait advertises a deportee's status more loudly than grills, which are virtually non-existent here except in the mouths of youths who have lived in the United States.
...
Haiti's roller-coaster ride through rebellion and lawlessness has included reports of deportees popping up in the ranks of insurgent gangs."They are killing us," said Gregory Basile, standing at a lottery ticket stall in Port-au-Prince, expressing a common view of deportees.
"They should not send them here. These guys are very good. They know how to use firearms. They can just lean against a car and open it without using a key."
Understandably, El Salvador doesn't care for our deportees either.
Video of Saddam before execution, getting noosed.
Video of Saddam after execution, in his shroud.
Cell phone video of Saddam during execution (graphic).
And some photos for posterity. The third is from a Sun article linked earlier:
In Baghdad, a bit of celebration after the fact with a dangling Saddam doll:
And Gateway Pundit shows how Saddam could have avoided this terrible end. It involves not killing gobs of people.
***
Previous posting:
Saddam About To Swing?
His hanging is on track and may come very shortly:
Saddam Hussein will be executed no later than Saturday, said an Iraqi judge authorized to attend his hanging. The former dictator's lawyers said he had been transferred from U.S. custody, but an Iraqi official said he was still in the hands of American guards.The physical transfer of Saddam to Iraqi authorities was believed to be one of the last steps before he was to be hanged, although the lawyers' statement did not specifically say Saddam was in Iraqi hands.
"A few minutes ago we received correspondence from the Americans saying that President Saddam Hussein is no longer under the control of U.S. forces," according to the statement faxed to The Associated Press.The statement said U.S. officials asked the lawyers to cancel a trip to Baghdad for a last meeting with Saddam, saying he was no longer in American custody.
Munir Haddad, a judge on the appeals court that upheld Saddam's death sentence, said he was ready to attend the execution.
"All the measures have been done," Haddad said. "There is no reason for delays."
No, no need to tarry. Let Saddam finish eating his Whopper (he loves Burger King) then conduct the execution according to the rules that he himself put into place 37 years ago -- if they've managed to make a final selection from the hundreds of volunteer hangmen, that is.
UPDATE:
It's being reported that it will happen before 10 p.m. Eastern. Saddam is balking about going into Iraqi custody; I can't imagine why. Perhaps it's because they won't feed him Whoppers.
UPDATE II:
Appeal to American courts denied.
UPDATE III:
CNN headline: Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is dead -- executed by hanging for killings committed during a brutal crackdown nearly 25 years ago –- Iraqi TV stations report.
UPDATE IV:
He makes them feel like dancin':
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been executed, a witness said."Saddam's body is in front me," said an official in the prime minister's office when CNN telephoned. "It's over."
In the background, Shiite chanting could be heard. When asked about the chanting, the official said "These are employees of the prime minister's office and government chanting in celebration."
The witness reported that celebrations broke out after Hussein was dead, and that there was "dancing around the body."
The UK Sun says thanks for the memories with some of their favorite pics.
UPDATE VI:
Saddam's last will and testament.
Who needs it when you have Hugo Chavez? He'll tell you all you need to know.
And should the media not wish to be his parrot...:
Venezuela will not renew the license of an opposition-aligned TV station when it expires next year, President Hugo Chávez said Thursday, accusing the broadcaster of backing plots to topple him.
...
''The television concession runs out on him [Radio Caracas Television Head Marcel Grenier] in March,'' Chávez said. ``So he had best start packing his bags and seeing what he's going to do after March. There will be no new concession for that coup-plotting television channel named Radio Caracas Televisión.''The channel, also known as RCTV, is among a number of private TV and radio networks that in recent years have strongly criticized Chávez's government and favored the opposition.
''No media outlet will be tolerated here that is at the service of coup-ism, against the people, against the nation, against national independence, against the dignity of the republic,'' said Chávez, wearing a red beret and fatigues in his year-end speech to troops.
...
There was no immediate reaction from RCTV, which is one of the country's oldest channels and began broadcasting in 1953.
But will this be enough to sway the opinion of his greatest American fan?
INDC Bill's account of his visit to Kuwait's Not To Forget museum is Not To Be Missed. The creativity of the person who designed a re-creation of the spider hole Saddam was hiding in and put the head of his toppled Tikrit statue coming out of it is much to be admired.
My unit had a Kuwaiti squad that sat side-saddle with us as we monitored the communications of Saddam's forces during the Gulf War. The day Kuwait was liberated, first they gave us a party, then they headed home...on foot. They had some serious family reunioning to do.
Just in time for the New Year, some good news about our future. According to the World Bank's just released "Global Economic Prospects 2007: Managing the Next Wave of Globalization," by 2030 world poverty will be halved. A by-product of that is that we're probably looking at a whole lot more democracy. The developing world's about to develop itself:
The report said that the output of the global economy would rise to $72 trillion in 2030 from $35 trillion in 2005.Though the incomes of developing countries will remain less than one- quarter of those in rich countries in 2030, it said, the two groups will continue to converge.
This would imply, the report said, that countries as diverse as China, Mexico and Turkey would all have living standards roughly comparable to that of Spain today.
"This is good news for the world's poor," the report said. "The implications of sustained growth for reducing poverty around the world are nothing short of astounding."
A New Year's toast to capitalism and a global economy for making so many people's lives better. Politicians who still rail against its evils while peddling hand-outs and protectionism should take note.
(Via Chris Judd.)
It appears the North Carolina Bar has had Duke lacrosse case prosecutor D.A. Nifong's number for quite a while, having opened a file on him within two weeks of Crystal Mangum's now fizzled accusation:
The North Carolina bar filed ethics charges Thursday against the prosecutor in the Duke lacrosse case, accusing him of saying misleading or inflammatory things to the news media about the athletes under suspicion.The punishment for ethics violations can range from admonishment to disbarment.
Among the four rules of professional conduct that District Attorney Mike Nifong was accused of violating was a prohibition against making comments "that have a substantial likelihood of heightening public condemnation of the accused."
The charges will be heard by an independent body called the Disciplinary Hearing Commission, made up of both lawyers and non-lawyers.
In a statement, the bar said it opened a case against Nifong in March 30, a little more than two weeks after the party where a 28-year-old student at North Carolina Central University hired to perform as a stripper said she was raped.
Another of the charges was "dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation." I can't imagine where they got that stuff.
More on the "quintessential bad DA" here, and The Smoking Gun has all the relevant papers here.
Complete analysis over at KC Johnson's.
And Mary Katherine Ham gives a guided tour of places in Durham where things didn't happen:
There was some instant karma for this hometown belligerent drunk:
A Fort Myers man was arrested Wednesday for punching a U.S. air marshal on a flight from Washington to Fort Myers.Andrew J. Kowalczyk was ordering Jack Daniels and coke while in first class of the U.S. Airways flight that left from Reagan National Airport to Southwest Florida International Airport, according to a federal complaint.
Kowalczyk “spoke in a loud voice and repeatedly used profanity” with “slurred speech” according to a federal air marshal, one of two on the flight. That’s when Marshal Jeffery Boyer, who was sitting in front of him, “felt a sharp blow to the back of my head that knocked my head forward.”
At first, he thought the hit was unintentional, but his partner, Federal Air Marshal Brian Pierog told them that it was planned.
Pierog told Boyer that Kowalczyk leaned over to him and said, “I don’t know who this guy in front of me thinks he is, but I’m going to whoop his ass,” the complaint states.
Both men then told Kowalczyk they were federal air marshals and arrested him.
You chose unwisely, my friend; that's interfering with a flight crew.
Andy faces up to 20 years for that little love tap, but he provided us with a brief moment's distraction from our cares, and that's all that really matters.
London mayor "Red Ken" Livingstone is giving a party:
Ken Livingstone is planning a "massive festival" across London to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution.The event, to be staged in 2009, will involve street parties, sports venues and some of London's leading museums as well as the closure of Trafalgar Square.
They should hold mock summary executions. What a thrill for the tourists that would be.
UPDATE:
The readers of Babalu blog have another party in mind, and I believe it involves folk dancing on the grave of a bearded dictator.
INDC Bill is now in Kuwait getting ready to embed in Iraq. He's listed the items he had to purchase to do this gig, but nowhere on the list do I see the word 'soap'. Is he planning on not bathing? Would any of us here be surprised if that were the case?
Kick in for some Irish Spring if you haven't done so already.
Jessica Cutler a babe? If babes are supposed to remind you of Ernest Borgnine, then I guess so. Can't say she's done much blogging this year either.
You'll be happy to note that Amanda Congdon's titties, profiled and in profile here, came in at number one.
I'm more bemused than anything that Gerald Ford will lie in state after never having been elected president. Under those circumstances to insist on an honor that most presidents don't avail themselves of is rather odd. Either he had to get in that last Trivial Pursuit entry or Betty is getting back at Nancy for eight-year's worth of snubbing.
It'll gall Nancy to no end if Jerry gets a nicer funeral than her husband. One thing she can be sure of: the turn-out for this one is going to be nothing in comparison to that of Mr. Reagan's.
UPDATE:
He's not going to be getting Reagan-style television coverage either.
Sorry if I'm not throwing laurel leaves, but this pomp is putting me off. And I don't think being human Alka Seltzer is anything to wax rhapsodic over anyway.
For when tears in your beer won't cut it.
Especially if getting them means making a winter journey across a pitchblack Antarctica in winter in temperatures of 70 below. "The Worst Journey In The World," Apsley Cherry-Garrard's memoir of the disastrous 1910 expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott, has been named by National Geographic as the greatest adventure tale of all time. It's available as an e-book for those who don't mind a long scroll.
Here's a video with the tale of the Emperor penguin eggs he and his comrades risked all to acquire, and how it all came to naught.
I'm not so sure about today's hot John Kerry story. Is Ben of Mesopotamia saying he took the Lonely Kerry photo, because I can't really tell. People certainly aren't identifying him as the photographer when they link him.
The scenario's plausible, but in light of the time stamp and the "This is a true story" intro, I'll sit this one out until there's more information.
UPDATE:
Here's a similar photo of him at the Basrah Air Station. Not any snubbing going on, well-deserved though it would be. Make of it what you will.
UPDATE II:
From Consonant Dude in comments:
Deserving or not, you don't snub VIPs that can have an impact on budgets or policies that are important to the DoD, not if you are military anyway.I suspect that this snapshot (in time) of Kerry nearly alone at a table does not show the reality of the visit. That said, I doubt many went out of their way to see him and I'm quite certain that the Senator was allowed to visit where he wanted to visit.
Put it this way - I've been in for nearly 18 years now and I've never seen a CODEL turned down and every aspect, to include guests at meals is prearranged by the name and number. If for no other reason, do you think a commander wants to tell the SECDEF why the senator might have been unhappy about his visit?
Sounds about right to me.
They copied the part in "Ocean's Eleven" where George Clooney cleared a thicket of casino employees with a machete:
A machete-wielding man helped two cohorts escape from Wal-Mart after a bungled burglary Tuesday night.The three men tried to steal 40 to 50-inch televisions in store carts at the Crawfordville store, 35 Mike Stewart Dr., about 10 p.m. The store was still open when the three men tried to run of the side fire exit with the goods in tow, Griner said. One of the men escaped with a TV, but two were confronted by employees. The man who got out came back with his machete and helped the others escape, Griner said.
A store employee followed the truck and wrote down the license-plate number.
The Alachua police broke up the criminal syndicate within minutes. There really should be a "nuisance robbery" category in the Florida Statutes.
Another in the series of pics of Duane during the Aretha Franklin sessions, this one with a nice view of his slide.
That there are still more of these to come sets this session at the most photographed of his that I know of. Though they were Muscle Shoals musicians, they were flown to New York to record after the Alabama locale was abandoned after a couple of songs due to a dust-up between the studio owner, Aretha's manager-mister, and a horn player who was supposedly hitting on her. Too bad no one snapped a pic.
Wail on, Skydog!
On this holiest of days, I bring you the gift of dog: Shiloh and Lilly:
A beautiful poser, Shiloh is not the dog with a foot in her mouth.
Eight foot Christmas tree, three foot Christmas shepherd.
If there are any pics or video of the season you'd like to share, feel free to send them in. Will they be as simultaneously charming and amusing as reader Owen's contribution? Of course.
Merry Christmas to all of you.
UPDATE:
On the other hand, Gmac, a generous father if I ever saw one, gave his 9-year-old son Alex the gift of tired:
"Best exercise device ever invented for hyperactive kids. Time tested and proven. Moms love them, dads swear by it.
After demonstrating how to use it (and bust my ass) he was finally able to bounce 4 times consecutivly before it got away from him. After 20 minuites of playing with it he was down for the count.
Old school toys never go away, they just get redesigned with better safety features. No exposed spring, foam all over it and better foot grippers."
Augusta, Georgia's Godfather of Soul has passed away at the age of 73.
I don't want to sound sappy, but I can't get enough of these feel-good Christmas stories:
A would-be home burglar was hospitalized Sunday morning after being shot by a homeowner, Dallas police said.The shooting happened at about 12 p.m. Saturday in the 9800 block of La Brett Drive.
Police arrested the burglar when they arrived.
His condition is unknown at this time.
I'd say his condition is pretty shot. On the bright side, come next Christmas what better place for a would-be Santa to be than in one of those large Texas workshops getting his stocking stuffed.
(Via FR.)
Merry Christmas to the legion of fact-checkers and editors at the UK Times. Maybe they should add a second-grader to the staff:
A blow to the honour of Washington familyTom Baldwin
A direct descendant of George Washington was held last night in a New York jail, facing extradition to France on charges that he beat a man into a coma with a bottle.
George Washington didn't have any direct descendants.
(Via FR.)
A Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all of you from the Florida Cracker family
The O'Hara girls always said it just wasn't a Christmas pageant without Mammy.
I'm not sure if 'I had other fish to fry' is a valid defense in North Carolina for a prosecutor's withholding of exculpatory evidence. 'It clean slipped my mind' and 'I plum forgot' might not work either:
More broadly, Mr. Nifong said, trying to explain his failure to disclose the DNA tests sooner, he had other work to attend to.“You know, it’s not the only case I have right now,” he said. “I have two. The other one’s a quadruple homicide. If you ask me, to everybody but a reporter for an out-of-town newspaper, the quadruple homicide is probably the more significant case.
“But because we have some of these other sexy issues here,” he added, “you all are flipping out over this particular case, which is not the most significant case in our office. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t get attention. What I’m saying is in the overall pecking order of things, it’s not the most important thing that we’re doing.”
UPDATE:
Nifong's trail of lies to the court over the DNA evidence.
*** (Via FR.)
Previous postings:
Rape Charges Dropped In Duke Lacrosse Case
Phony Rape Victims Need Our Support Too
Prosecutorial Misconduct In Duke Lacrosse Case
Duke Case
Accused Duke Lacrosse Player Guilty
The Duke Case
What's On The Menu
Twists And Turns
Posted by floridacracker at 11:48 PM
| Comments (5)
I dub thee 'Sir Pompous, knight of the Order of the First Class Traveling Hat':
Britain confirmed Saturday Bono will receive his honorary knighthood from the British ambassador to Ireland, David Reddaway, in a Dublin ceremony shortly after New Year's Day.
Gladsomely, a wizard charmed the hat with the spell of infinite expansion.
UPDATE:
The peasants are revolting. (They certainly are):
The honours system has been profaned before. Nicolae Ceausescu (for example) long disgraced the Order of the Bath, but that was nasty realpolitik, not cringing personal adulation.In general, aren't you supposed to sacrifice something you can't really spare, to be honoured?
To at least give up time or pleasure in the service of others, or even to risk your life?
Good heavens, if being a famous singer with fashionable views nets a KBE, then dozens of British servicemen surely qualify for hereditary Dukedoms.
UPDATE II:
In comments, reader rg shares his own priceless Bono encounter.
The seasonal affective disorder known as melancholia moonbatis strikes mainly during the Christmas and election seasons. In San Francisco it is pandemic:
A man used flammable liquid to light himself on fire, apparently to protest a San Joaquin Valley school district's decision to change the names of winter and spring breaks to Christmas and Easter vacation.The man, who was not immediately identified, on Friday also set fire to a Christmas tree, an American flag and a revolutionary flag replica, said Fire Captain Garth Milam.
Seeing the flames, Sheriff's Deputy Lance Ferguson grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran to the man.
Flames were devouring a Christmas tree next to the Liberty Bell, where public events and demonstrations are common.
Beside the tree the man stood with an American flag draped around his shoulders and a red gas can over his head.
Seeing the deputy, the man poured the liquid over his head. He quickly burst into flames when the fumes from the gas met the flames from the tree.
(VIa Lucianne.)
I'd never heard of raccoon dogs before they turned up trimming P. Diddy's clothing line. Here's what they look like.
They're not dogs as we know them, but they do kind of remind me of this fellow.
Unbelievable. I can't even pile my scorn high enough for lying nutjob stripper Crystal Mangum, DA Nifong, and the Duke University professors who wanted these guys' heads on a stick:
Prosecutors dropped rape charges Friday against three Duke University lacrosse players accused of attacking a stripper at a team party, but the three still face kidnapping and sexual offense charges.According to court papers filed Friday by District Attorney Mike Nifong, the accuser told a prosecution investigator on Thursday that she now does not know if she was penetrated during the alleged attack.
Lacking any "scientific or other evidence independent of the victim's testimony" to corroborate that aspect of the case, Nifong wrote, "the State is unable to meet its burden of proof with respect to this offense."
Nifong did not immediately return calls seeking comment, and a sign posted on his office door read, "No media, please!"
The accuser, a 28-year-old student at North Carolina Central University, has said three men raped her in a bathroom at a March 13 Duke lacrosse team party where she was hired to perform as a stripper.
The indicted players — Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann — all say they are innocent, and their attorneys have consistently said no sex occurred at the party.
The defense attorneys have repeatedly cited a lack of DNA evidence in the case as proof of their clients' innocence, while Nifong had said he didn't need DNA evidence to win convictions.
"It's highly coincidental," said defense attorney Joseph Cheshire, that the charges are being dropped a week after the director of a private DNA testing lab acknowledged that he initially, with Nifong's knowledge, withheld from the defense test results showing none of the players' DNA was found on or in the accuser's body.
Testing also showed that genetic material from several males was found on her undergarments and body.
"The reality is, what else could the DA do?" said Stan Goldman, who teaches criminal law, evidence and criminal procedure at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. "Once the DNA evidence came out last week, I can't imagine how they could sustain a rape charge."
That the accuser had again changed her story hurts Nifong's case on the other charges, as well, Goldman said.
"It strikes me that a case based on this particular complaining witnesses' credibility appears to be in jeopardy," he said.
Defense attorneys have said for months that the woman has told several different versions of the alleged assault, and Seligmann's attorney has said she has given investigators at least a dozen different versions of the alleged attack.
The defense also has argued that the woman misidentified her alleged attackers in a photo lineup and they have asked the judge to prevent the accuser from identifying the players from the witness stand.
***
Previous postings:
Phony Rape Victims Need Our Support Too
Prosecutorial Misconduct In Duke Lacrosse Case
Duke Case
Accused Duke Lacrosse Player Guilty
The Duke Case
What's On The Menu
Twists And Turns
Posted by floridacracker at 01:36 PM
| Comments (2)
Today's a happy anniversary for some Uruguayan rugby players.
More on the saga of the Andes survivors can be read at these comprehensive websites.
For those of you who love adventure tales as I do, I can't recommend the book "Alive" highly enough. In addition to the physical rigor of surviving in glacial conditions, that their ordeal lasted ten weeks makes for fascinating reading on the psychology of people in a long-term crisis. Then there's the cannibalism stuff.
Via Dorkafork, another inspired video from SNL's Andy Samberg:
(NSFW)
"Freedom Writers": a movie-synopsis-in-photos in which Lulu* Conrack uses her dangerous mind to tell the Ron Clark story while going up the down staircase. Working title: "If You've Seen One, You've Seen Them All"; alternate title: "The Kids Are Ait."
What Marc of With Cheese started, reader Chris Judd finishes.
*Professor Bayerbach's amusing reflections in his database of school-centered films viewed through the eyes of an enlightened liberal pedagogue compels me to note the offensive character of the Token Black Teacher in the genre.
There’s no WAY she can get through to kids like this.
“That enlightened liberal will never get past my hardened exterior!”
The kids are reluctant to play the silly game, but learn something about what “divides us” (while learning about themselves.)
“I shall NOT bow to this educator’s revolutionary methods of instruction!”
Administrator: “That’s not the way we do things here!”
“Toast for Change” You know, to change this awful country into something worth defending.
“And now it’s time for YOUR lesson, my bony little teacher.”
“I can be as tough as YOU!”
“It’s so tough teaching inner-city kids. What’s on CSI?”
She DID get through to them!
“Hey.”
-“What?”
“You all right!”
I know it's hard to keep up with all the beauty queen scandals this week-- it's like a flurry of firecrotch-- but our latest contestant, Katie Rees, is being identified as Miss Nevada when she's actually Miss Nevada-USA, one of what's known collectively as Donald's Strumpets.
Miss America tries to run an STD-free pageant, Vanessa "I was young and needed the money" Williams notwithstanding.
Not that any of this matters, but it does allow me to simultaneously link a really funny article by Andrea Peyser and pics of young Miss Nevada-USA literally showing her ass in public.
Can't beat that.
UPDATE:
After stripping off her pants and top, Katie's been stripped of her crown as well.
UPDATE II:
Via INDC Bill, The Damn Show gives their interpretation of Miss USA Tara Connor's press conference. (NSFW.)
After 40 years, some credit (and a large chunk of the future royalties) is going to Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher for "A Whiter Shade of Pale":
A judge awarded a 40 percent share in the copyright of "A Whiter Shade of Pale," one of the most famous pop songs of all time, to a former organist for Procol Harum.Lead singer Gary Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid always claimed credit for the hit, which became part of the soundtrack for the hippy "summer of love" of 1967.
But in his ruling, the judge decided that organist Matthew Fisher was entitled to both credit and royalties.
"I have come to the view that Mr. Fisher's interest in the work should be reflected by according him a 40 percent share of the musical copyright," the written judgment said. "His contribution to the overall work was on any view substantial but not, in my judgment, as substantial as that of Mr. Brooker."
The judge said the song's organ solo "is a distinctive and significant contribution to the overall composition and quite obviously the product of skill and labor on the part of the person who created it."
The BBC has an interesting series of articles and video news-clips on the trial.
Up to the point where it would actually cost them something, they will play against North Dakota's Fighting Sioux no more forever:
The University of Minnesota's athletic director said the school has not strictly enforced a 2003 policy that discourages games with teams using American Indian nicknames and mascots. But that's about to change, according to Joel Maturi, university athletic director.Maturi said his school won't compete against the University of North Dakota in any sport except men's and women's hockey because of UND's Fighting Sioux nickname.
Principles be damned when it comes to their most popular and highest-earning sport. Mustn't forget those ranking points either.
(Via FR.)
Duane in 1970 recording with Ronnie Hawkins at Muscle Shoals.
Wail on, Skydog!
It's not just Muslim women who have to fat for their rats :
A woman who reported a vicious attack by an ad-hoc "modesty patrol" on a Jerusalem bus last month is now lining up support for her case and may be included in a petition to the High Court of Justice over the legality of sex-segregated buses.Miriam Shear says she was traveling to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City early on November 24 when a group of ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) men attacked her for refusing to move to the back of the Egged No. 2 bus. She is now in touch with several legal advocacy and women's organizations, and at the same time, waiting for the police to apprehend her attackers.
In her first interview since the incident, Shear says that on the bus three weeks ago, she was slapped, kicked, punched and pushed by a group of men who demanded that she sit in the back of the bus with the other women. The bus driver, in response to a media inquiry, denied that violence was used against her, but Shear's account has been substantiated by an unrelated eyewitness on the bus who confirmed that she sustained an unprovoked "severe beating."
She says she kicked her attacker in the nuts and threw his black hat in the aisle, so that's a start.
They do have sex-segregated buses, but this wasn't one of them. It might go a long way to breaking the impasse if bus drivers, in addition to making change, were also authorized to distribute cootie shots.
(Via Drudge.)
Today marks my third year blogging. In honor of this I will bathe and put on some clothes.
UPDATE:
PhilTube was taken down, but someone saved the video. For those who missed it: "I'm Blogging."
Film maven With Cheese draws comfort from a fresh entry in the outsider-teacher-and-minority-students-inspire-one-another genre. He'll surely leap at the chance to pore through this database of teacher representation in film, where the worst thing that can be said is that there was a white male hero.
My personal favorite trend is the "revolutionary teacher" (See Ron Clark, Erin Gruwell) who actually only teaches in public schools a few years before his revolutionariousness sets him on the path of Oprah and the lucrative lecture circuit.
I'll reserve my respect for the good but Oprah-unworthy teacher who sticks it out in the classroom.
Radar has an enjoyable list, but it leaves off Clackers and I'd always considered them the crown jewel of bad toys -- if crown jewels were made out of glass likely to shatter into high-velocity jagged shards as a child clacked them with great force in front of his face.
Mr. Cracker had his own adventure with them. He lived near one of the glass factories that made them, and the defective ones were placed in huge pile in back. Kids would come from all around to play king of the mountain there on the summit of broken glass, raining flawed orbs down upon their fellows in a cavalcade of colors.
"Y'all were throwing broken glass at each other?"
-"We were on a mountain of broken glass throwing broken glass at each other."
"Ah."
(Via Lucianne.)
Good heavens. If all the kids who pulled food pranks were sent to jail...the cafeteria there would be serving one surprise after another.
When I was a young lass, I worked at a German deli-restaurant where the boys behind the meatcase would wipe their penises on the coldcuts. Cook your food at home if you want everything spooge- and smegma-free. The food-service industry is a bit like a circus, and it comes with its own version of clowns with seltzer bottles.
If they make an anti-jihadi tune, it's just icing on the cake. This is Atlanta's Stuck Mojo with "Open Season":
(Via Ace.)
I love survival tales.
Popular Mechanics has an in-depth article on how to increase your chances of coming out on top in the battle of man versus nature. What's more, a printed-out copy could be used to kindle a fire; while, if you had the whole magazine, it could be rolled up and used as a weapon against attacking animals. Also, a magazine store is an excellent place to seek shelter from the elements, so if you have one, use it. Many of those who've perished in the wilds have been found within just a few miles of a Barnes and Noble.
UPDATE:
This article lists all the things the rescuers involved in the Kim family search did wrong. In the PM article you'll be able to spot what the Kims did wrong. There's plenty of blame to go around, but unless a search party is particularly inept, the blame, if there's any to be assigned, is going to have to rest with those who initiated the crisis.
ABC News blogger Amanda Congdon has just done her very first videoblog. Will people watch it? I think so. This week she and her giant breasts splitting the seams of her skintight t-shirt and mainly filmed in profile will talk about snowflakes.
You'd have thought the Gainesville Wal-Mart had slashed prices on cell phones judging from the cutthroat displays there among those wanting to reach out and touch someone this holiday season:
One local teen went to a store to go shopping and ended up taking a trip to the hospital after a fight with an employee.Now the store employee is facing jail time after slashing her across the neck.
Gainesville Police say the 17-year-old teenage girl was visiting the Wal-Mart on Northwest 13th Street.
She had walked out of the store, but went back when she thought she left her cell phone in a shopping cart.
Detectives say she approached 18-year-old Wal-Mart employee Darius stacy, who was retreving the carts, and asked if he had the phone.
The two started arguing, and then shoving each other before Stacy pulled out a weapon.
"The employee had a box cutter and he cut the 17 year old in the throat," said GPD Sgt. Keith Kameg. "Fortunately, they were non life threatening injures."
The young woman was treated at Shands U-F for a cut that extended from her left ear to her windpipe.
Stacy is being charged with attempted murder.
And so the cursed cell phone continued its journey...
A Christmas message from Nancy Grace regarding the Duke lacrosse rape case:
(Via lax.com.)
After Vietnam but before Grenada came the "The War of Being Yelled at in Kentucky." My thanks to Mike Hudson, editor of the Niagara Falls Reporter, for bringing this long-overlooked conflict to our attention.
Arnold and Bruce have nothing on Cody for throwing out a good quip. He's the vicious psycho you can't help but love.
Third in a series:
A follow-up to the story of Arizona rancher Jim Chilton, who fought back against the slander of one of the West's largest environmental groups, the Center for Biological Diversity:
An Arizona appeals court has upheld a jury's $600,000 judgment in favor of a rancher in a defamation lawsuit, rejecting an environmental group's argument that documents it posted on the Internet were shielded by the First Amendment.
...
The trial jury found the center made false statements in photo captions, including one that implied that grazing by Chilton's cattle was responsible for damage actually caused by hundreds of people, including the photographer, who attended a May Day festival.
The Phoenix New Times did an interesting write-up on his discovery of the slander-captioned photos and his decision to fight a group that everyone assumed it was impossible to win against ("I laid in bed at night, wondering if I was a cowboy or a wimp. If you're a cowboy, you stand up and fight for truth, justice, integrity and honor. If you're a wimp, you lay there and go to sleep.") You can read that story here.
(Via Country Store.)
Florida makes the "Bizarre Food" show because of mullet roe and chicken gizzards? The host is supposed to talk about odd food, not Sunday dinner:
Andrew Zimmern bit into a fried morsel of mullet roe at Chet's Seafood, and his shocked look made it seem like he would prefer stir-fried bats than batter-fried fish egg sacs.And, truth be told, he would. And he has.
"On a scale of 1 to 10, that would be a negative 1." Zimmern, a nationally known food critic and chef, said of the fried, yellow mullet roe.
Zimmern isn't being cruel. He's being honest. That's his job as host of the new Travel Channel series "Bizarre Foods," which takes Zimmern across the globe in search of culinary oddities.
Zimmern, along with a crew of three, visited Chet's Seafood and the Fish House in Pensacola on Thursday to shoot an episode centered around Gulf Coast cuisine.
He should work his way through this restaurant's menu before talking about our gizzards.
And to think if only he'd come further south he'd have been in swamp cabbage territory. His loss.
But that's been apparent for some time. Here's some fuel for the fire:
The head of a private DNA laboratory said under oath today that he and District Attorney Mike Nifong agreed not to report DNA results favorable to Duke lacrosse players charged with rape.Brian Meehan, director of DNA Security of Burlington, said his lab found DNA from unidentified men in the underwear, pubic hair and rectum of the woman who said she was gang-raped at a lacrosse party in March. Nurses at Duke Hospital collected the samples a few hours after the alleged assault. Meehan said the DNA did not come from Reade Seligmann, David Evans, or Collin Finnerty, who have been charged with rape and sexual assault in the case.
Meehan struggled to say why he didn’t include the favorable evidence in a report dated May 12, almost a month after Seligmann and Finnerty had been indicted. He cited concerns about the privacy of the lacrosse players, his discussions at several meetings with Nifong, and the fact that he didn’t know whose DNA it was.
Under questioning by Jim Cooney, a defense attorney for Seligmann, Meehan admitted that his report violated his laboratory’s standards by not reporting results of all tests.
Did Nifong and his investigators know the results of all the DNA tests? Cooney asked.
“I believe so,” Meehan said.
“Did they know the test results excluded Reade Seligmann?” Cooney asked.
“I believe so,” Meehan said.
Was the failure to report these results the intentional decision of you and the district attorney? Cooney asked.
“Yes,” Meehan replied.
What a railroading this thing has been.
KC Johnson is covering the trial extensively if you'd like to know more.
Not a good outfit for a sex-offense trial, but a distinctive one nonetheless:
A former Allentown woman who admitted that she ordered her 12-year old son and 13-year-old daughter to take pictures of her in seductive nude poses showed up in court today wearing jeans with "Booty" emblazoned on the left rear pocket and "Licious" on the right in what appeared to be rhinestones.
Her new wardrobe will have the name of a correctional facility stamped seductively over her left breast area.
(Via Fark.)
Wiseman Al brings you the gift of ...well, Al. What'd you expect?
(Via Ace.)
Also, Leonardo Dicaprio's getting slapped around on Yahoo Answers. His appearance there as eco-evangelist didn't go over well. It might have been the jets, the mansions, the pollution-spewing film industry...
If only he'd set the example so we'd have something to aspire to.
Though there's a voter mandate that Michigan universities cease using racial preference for admissions, there are still ways to sniff out the Kulak.
Dr. De Cock: Circumcision halves the risk of HIV in heterosexual men.
Failing to win the fight with his antlers, the young buck started firing a pistol:
An alleged case of road rage involving deer antlers and a handgun sent two men to jail, according to a report obtained today.Keith Ransford, 23, of the 2100 block of Valencia Avenue, told sheriff's investigators that he and another man were involved in an altercation Wednesday as they traveled north on U.S. 1.
At Midway Road, Ransford and Ronny White, age and address not available, got out and started arguing. White then allegedly whipped out some deer antlers and tried to hit Ransford, the report says.
Ransford then followed White's vehicle to Starr Avenue where White fired a pistol, leaving a bullet hole in Ransford's windshield. Ransford reportedly rammed White's vehicle before the shot was fired, the report says.
The hunt for Jamil Hussein is on.
Be sure to check out Flopping Aces for the complete background.
USA Today's "On Deadline" blog is staying tuned for the Eason Jordan/Michelle Malkin Great Jamil Hussein Smokeout, and I guess we will too.
***
Previous postings:
Classical Values Town: The Two Takes
Centcom Demands Retraction From AP
The leaders of the Calorie Restriction Society don't mean for their videos to remind people of Marshall "Do" Applewhite and Heaven's Gate, but people just keep lumping all gaunt, crazy-eyed fanatics together.
Adorable song. Enjoy the vid:
Being murdered and having childhood cancer got nothing on one man's short stint in the slammer:
Seven former Miami cops, convicted in a gun-planting conspiracy, must surrender to federal authorities by noon Friday to begin serving prison sentences.Among them: ex-Lt. Israel ''Izzy'' Gonzalez, 47, whose wife, Lidia, was killed by Rolex robbers in '99 in Perrine. Gonzalez has two sons from a prior marriage, including a teenager battling cancer -- Ewing's sarcoma. Nevertheless, Gonzalez will report to the Federal Correctional Institution in Petersburg, Va. His term is 16 months.
''I can't help thinking that all the hardship that I've endured was for this very moment in time,'' Gonzalez says. He is not scared. He just wants it over with. ``Forget about closing the chapter. Let me just close the book.''
In prison Izzy will keep two shivs: one for protection and one for a throw-down.
(Herald login/pswd=crockett@tubbs.com/miamivice.)
I understand our Bill has been a naughty boy. Perhaps Senator Nelson's meeting with Assad was just a brief stop on his journey to deliver to all world leaders a box of delicious Florida citrus.
(Via Sandspur in e-mail.)
UPDATE:
And if he time travels to deliver scrumptious, vitamin-C-packed Florida oranges, what of it?
An Ohio carjacker gives a demo on how to permanently escape police pursuit.
In a major historical breakthrough, the elusive "cult of materialism" has been sourced:
Sick of the cult of materialism that Christmas has spawned, South Floridians like the Fishers have decided to celebrate it in their own fashion, with fewer gifts, more time with relatives and a focus on faith and charity.
There might have been a better way to put that.
On the gift-buying front, Mr. Cracker gave me a Williams-Sonoma catalog from which to select something for him. After pondering the panini-press options, I've decided to grab a piece of tinfoil and wrap up a post-it note that has the words "My Heart" written on it. Can't wait to see his eyes light up when he unwraps that one Christmas morn.
Duane acknowledging the overall superiority of the short female.
Wail on, Skydog!
This post of INDC Bill's reminded me of my soda-deprived childhood. My mom was (and is) fanatically anti-sugar. Imbibing "carbonated chemicals" was a treat that didn't come around often.
We had cold drinks only for birthdays or if we went to the beach. It was a very big deal, with each kid being asked to name his preference before the shopping was to be done. It was a tough choice -- it would be months before there'd be another chance to choose. Do I want something from the dark soda family, with its various colas and rootbeers, or something from the light branch: 7-Up, ginger ale, Fresca? What about the colorful Nehi clan, never named by its flavors but by its hues of purple, orange, and red? Then there were the loners: the deceptive black cherry, cola-colored yet fruit-flavored; and the stalwart Chocolate Soldier, an army of one, locked forever in a battle with Yoo-Hoo.
How shocked I was to one day go to my friends' house and find stacks of Coca-Cola cases in their utility room. These kids drank coke at will! They'd grab a bottle and start swilling for no other reason than "One Day At A Time" was coming on. I glanced from Julie Cooper's presumed soda-ruined teeth to my friends watching her as they sipped syrup to satiation. I declined their casual offer of the Atlanta Atrocity. As I walked home later that night I pondered why some kids had all the luck.
Short-term memory impairment on a country road in upstate New York:
Hey, let's ask this guy if he has any drugs:
An Amish man was robbed at gunpoint by two men early Monday morning in St. Lawrence County.It was about 2:30AM when Levi E. Hershberger, 23, of 594 Old Canton Road was riding in his buggy on County Route 15 when a vehicle went past him, turned around and pulled up along side him.
One of the occupants of the vehicle asked Hershberger if he had any drugs. When he told them no they drove off.
Hey, let's ask this guy if he has any drugs:
The car went up the road and turned around. This time the driver asked Hershberger if he had any drugs. Again they were told no.The men in the car, identified as Andrew W. Grant, 22, of 12 Cayay Road, South Colton and Jonathon A. Gagne, 19, of 1129 Downer Road, Utica, allegedly told Hershberger they were undercover troopers and pretended to show identification.
A long gun was pointed at Mr. Hershberger and he was told to get out of the buggy. The buggy was searched with the robbers taking a flashlight, pipe and pipe tobacco.
The perpetrators drove off and Hershberger got into his buggy and drove home.
Hey, let's ask this guy if he has any drugs:
When Hershberger got to his house he heard a car coming and it turned into his driveway. He realized it was the same car so he ran across a field to a neighbor and told them what happened. The neighbor called 911.Meanwhile the men in the car woke up Enos Hershberger, Levi’s father, asking the elder Hershberger where Levi had gone and if he had any drugs.
The police soon arrived to set all to rights, arresting the miscreants and returning to Mr. Hershberger his stolen pipe, pipe tobacco, and heroin-packed flashlight.
Next week it'll be three years since Florida Cracker came into existence.
Readers, how should I spend my blogiversary? In a warm bath with a sharp razor is not an option.
Some of my favorites so far are Alternate Titles for OJ Simpson's New Book and Potential Nicknames for the Star Player on My Son's Soccer Team. Many more to be perused here.
Today Cindy Sheehan was both convicted of trespassing at the UN and set free. Other charges against her for the March incident were dropped, including resisting arrest. That's the life of a rock star, I guess.
The Miami Herald's Jennifer Mooney has a novel idea of what turns a woman into a crack whore. Writing on serial-killer victim Kim Raffo, a local woman who abandoned husband and children for life as a drug-addicted prostitute in New Jersey:
Kim Raffo was the picture-perfect mother and housewife.She helped her two kids with science fair projects, decorated cupcakes for bake sales and volunteered for the PTA.
During the holidays, she opened her four-bedroom home in eastern Pembroke Pines to family and friends. She ''went all out'' for the gatherings, serving elaborate homemade meals that would have made Martha Stewart proud, her family said.
For her daughter's fifth birthday, she transformed her back yard into a petting zoo.
''She was Super Mom,'' said her mother, Joan Daniels, of Miramar. ``People looked at her in awe.''
But soon after she turned 30, the world of the well-liked, stay-at-home mom began to dissolve. Perhaps it was the continuous round of school trips, the endless birthday parties, the numerous visits to the park.
Then again it could have been the drug-addicted ex-con she started having an affair with and ultimately ran off with. In fact, I think that's just a bit more likely. Not that school trips, birthday parties, and park visits with the kids aren't gateway activities to turning tricks to support a rock habit --I'm sure they're in the top ten--, I'm just saying in this case it was probably the boyfriend's bad influence.
(Herald login/pswd=crockett@tubbs.com/miamivice.)
I'm not a big fan of podcasting, but the "spycasts" of the International Spy Museum in Washington are an exception. It's very interesting listening to old spies, American and Russian, talk about their big missions --sometimes against each other.
In Ft. Myers this past week there's been a massive hunt for a kidnapped baby. After more than a week, today the parents try a little honesty instead of the crap they've been peddling:
Baby Bryan Dos Santos Gomes, a one-month-old kidnapped at knifepoint more than a week ago in Fort Myers, was taken as retribution for his parents failing to pay human smugglers, Fort Myers Police said today.Chief Hilton Daniels said police have learned in the last 24 hours Maria Fatima Ramos Dos Santos and Jurandir Gomes Costa, Baby Bryan's parents, were smuggled into the country illegally from Brazil, but failed to pay the entire fee for that action.
The alleged kidnapper was part of the smuggling ring, and took the child as payment, police said. Previously, police surmised from profiling the kidnapper was likely a woman looking to steal a baby to claim as her own.
Nothing like wasting everybody's time with house-to-house searches for a non-existent crazy baby-coveter.
I hope they get their baby back safely and are then tucked cozily into a plane heading back to Brazil. That last part is unlikely, as the infant is likely an anchor baby. Hopefully now that the police have the truth they'll be able to focus their resources and bring this case to a successful close.
This turn of events should go over well in the News-Press forum. As with most alleged baby-kidnappings, people were suspicious from the start.
Five princesses cut through a Texas high school like butter:
It often seemed as if the "Fab Five" ran McKinney North High School.They walked out of classes. They wore low-cut tops banned by the dress code. They posed for salacious pictures and posted them on MySpace.
And the adults in their lives – from parents to teachers to administrators – did little to stop them.
A confidential report obtained by The Dallas Morning News tells the tale of five "ultra-cool" cheerleaders who took control of their squad, their classes and ultimately the adults around them.
Two school leaders could lose their jobs over the investigation into failures to discipline cheerleaders at McKinney North. But the report spreads plenty of blame among other administrators, parents and faculty members.
"Kids will be kids," investigator Harry Jones said in his report. "But adults have to be adults. Sadly, in this saga, I was struck by the reticence of many adults to accept the role of 'being the grown-up.' "
They weren't devious in their takeover of the school. They simply did as they pleased and the adults let them. Ta-dah!
UPDATE:
No fairytale ending.
Movie magic from a favorite film, "Night of the Comet." Willie's performance was cut short, but he was an E-ticket attraction while on screen. (Language warning.)
Second in a series:
Market Watch has an intriguing video segment on how the anonymous photographer whose photo of an execution in Iran won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize was identified.
I really like Market Watch's video set-up. It has a very smooth, professional flow that makes for easy viewing.
Senator James Inhofe's "A Skeptics Guide To Debunking Global Warming Alarmism" has just been released to the public. So far it's very interesting reading. You'll want to check it out.
A wild cat for entertainment at a child's birthday party? Why not? The adults attending would be so bored watching Pin the Ear on the Donkey:
A 4-year-old girl was mauled at a children's birthday party by a cougar that had been brought in by a wild-animal business to entertain the youngsters, authorities said.The girl was attacked on Nov. 18 at the home of Goya Foods president Francisco Unanue during a party for his 7-year-old child and suffered severe cuts on her eyelid, cheek and ear, authorities said. Doctors sewed back part of her severed ear.
Police said Wild Animal World owner and trainer Corinne Oltz removed the leashed cougar from its cage to show it to the children, but the girl sneaked behind Oltz and startled the animal. The declawed cat seized the child's head with its teeth.
I bet everybody's going to remember that party! Maybe even when they don't want to!
Believe it or not, this company's had this problem before:
In 2001, a Wild Animal World leopard attacked a child at a company picnic. Oltz received probation for wildlife-possession violations, records showed.
Did I say the company's had a problem? I meant the adults have had a problem -- they're the ones booking cougars and leopards for birthday parties and picnics. Why not employ a dingo as a nanny?
Yes, I know both Irwin children had dingo nannies, but those days are over.
Via William of the Florida Masochist, an update on the Kathryn Johnston shooting story:
It was Fabian Sheats' third felony drug arrest in four months. But on the afternoon of Nov. 21, according to a police report, he was looking to curry favor, so he told officers they could find a kilogram of cocaine in a house at 933 Neal Street N.W.That encounter led police to the home of Kathryn Johnston, an elderly woman who lived alone behind burglar bars and kept a rusty revolver. When officers burst into the house just three hours after talking to Sheats, a shootout ensued that left the woman dead and three officers wounded. No cocaine was found.
Sheats' arrest report, made public Thursday, sheds new light on why officers targeted Johnston's home.
Police say they used Sheats' tip to direct a confidential informant to the Neal Street house, where he made a drug buy, leading them to conduct the raid. A man named Alexis White later came forward to say he is a longtime informant and police asked him to lie after the shootings and say he bought drugs at the address. Police will not say who the informant was.
Also in the article is the tale of the strange call Alexis White made to 911:
On the 911 tape police released Thursday, White said he was waiting for agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to pick him up on Nov. 22 when he was approached by Atlanta police. He got into the car with them, he told the operator, but jumped out when he talked to federal agents by cellphone and they told him not to get into the squad car."They came and picked me up they asked me about that killing yesterday," White told the operator. "But, ah, they tryin' to play it off. So ATF told me 'Don't get in the car with them.' By that time then, I was already in the car with 'em."
The operator sounded incredulous. "OK, so you're calling the police to say the police are chasing you?" she asked.
"Listen to me," the frustrated White responded. "I don't know who's on whose side; they're playing dirty," he said. "There's a lot of stuff going on."
Sure sounds that way.
(AJC login/pswd=nojuan@spamnot.net/nojuan.)
***
Previous postings:
Atlanta No-Knock Death
Deadly Warrant II
The Kathryn Johnston Thanksgiving Open-House Thread
Death Warrant
As always, thank God most criminals are stupid. Instead of "disrupting Christmas with acts of jihad," would-be mall terrorist Derrick Shareef, a particularly inept individual, disrupted nothing more than than a stereo when he sold its speakers for grenades and a gun.
We have high-school kids who are better killers than this lame wanna-be. Very unimpressive. He probably made his "video will" at an Orange Julius.
Good Morning America recently hosted a question and answer series on race relations. The session host encouraged people to be brave and ask the tough questions. Here's a snippet from the exchange:
Question: So many others have been persecuted in history — Christians, Jews, Irish, as well as blacks. Do blacks know that they are not the only ones to have been slaves and/or persecuted?Answer:"Whenever somebody raises an issue like this … I find myself wondering about the depth of the racism that moves them to ask such a question."
That comic answer was given by a Harvard professor, by the way. Never think a "social ethicist" doesn't have a sense of humor.
I mean really hot. Get one for your little Ashleigh Sienna Sierra.
Dang if this Typhoid Fever one isn't just about the cutest thing I've ever seen; a real keeper. Little Jacob Joshua Jayden will get rid of all other stuffed animals before he sheds this one.
Good grief, some people have no shame. If you're a cop at a fellow cop's house consorting with his wife, and he walks in and tases your ass, don't run off crying to the police station. Honestly, don't cops have some sort of fraternal code about this stuff? Secret Rule #45 or something?
Even civilians know enough to take the hit and go home.
UPDATE:
They're probably both going to lose their jobs, but troublemaker and crybaby Corey Wilson might also be stripped of his law-enforcement certification. Throw in a good thumping and his butt painted red and the score will be just about settled.
Help me, Obi-Al:
LINDSAY Lohan is preparing to clean up her image and go to war with the media with the help of a high-powered friend - former Vice President Al Gore."Al Gore will help me. He came up to me last night and said he would be very happy to have a conversation with me," Lohan wrote last week in a rambling, semi-literate e-mail to her friends and lawyers.
In the bizarre message read by Page Six, Lohan burbled, "If he is willing to help me, let's find out. Hilary [sic] Clinton, Bill Clinton, and Evan Metroplis [sic], and John Daur who works with them would be willing, if we just ask. If we just ASK."
Go for it, Lindsay.
Aussie blogger Paul Bickford is back from hiatus and is sharing his surprisingly irreverent thoughts on Bananarama and the coup in Fiji.
Happily National Geographic has this article online as well as in print. You'll want to read it; it's outstanding writing on a fascinating topic. Don't miss the multimedia section while you're there. There's no point in excerpting -- it's all good.
Duane in fashionable neckwear at what I'm guessing is Muscle Shoals.
Wail on, Skydog!
Perusing his list of gear, I'd say future embedded blogger INDC Bill is going to waddle off to Iraq like a Randy Parker in a kevlar snowsuit. Chip in so he can buy a lovely Ghost Dance shirt instead, would you?
I was considering rioting, but a nap sounds so good right now:
TWO Muslim students have been expelled from an Islamic school in Melbourne for urinating and spitting on a Bible and setting it on fire.The explosive incident has forced the East Preston Islamic College to call in a senior imam to tell its 650 Muslim students that the Bible and Christianity must be respected.
Anxious teachers at the school have also petitioned principal Shaheem Doutie, expressing "grave concern" about an "inculcation of hatred and radical attitudes towards non-Muslims" at the school, including towards non-Muslim teachers.
(Via Lucianne.)
Gaia gives Vanity Fair writer James Wolcott something to savor along with his brandy as he watches the Weather Channel:
People slept in shelters during their search for warm surroundings as the region entered a sixth day Tuesday of a blackout caused by the first storm of the winter season.The Missouri National Guard was sent to the St. Louis area after Thursday's snow and ice storm to make sure people were surviving without electric light and heat.
The same was happening in neighboring Illinois, where Gov. Rod Blagojevich ordered National Guard troops to begin checking on Decatur-area residents Tuesday.
...
The number of deaths blamed on the storm rose Monday to at least 23, with three more deaths reported in Missouri and one more in Illinois. The causes included weather-related traffic accidents, fires, carbon monoxide poisoning and exposure, officials said.
That's just Mother Nature justifiably getting a lick in with her icy fist of fury.
In fact, only one lone mother, Kati Kim, showed up for the Bear Camp Road feed-in:
They ran the heater in their station wagon until the car was out of gas, then burned all the tires in a desperate attempt to keep warm. When the food ran out, Kati Kim breastfed her two young daughters to keep them alive.Hope was running low for the Kim family nine days after they became stranded in the snowy mountains of southwestern Oregon while making their way toward home in San Francisco. Then, at 1:45 p.m. Monday, Kim spotted a helicopter her family had hired to help in the search. She waved an umbrella on which she had taped reflective striping, and soon she and the girls were saved.
Good for her for keeping up production seven months after the birth of her youngest. I bet she never thought it would become a matter of life or death.
Things don't look good for the husband who went to look for help, but hopefully he found a place to hole-up and will be found alive.
This is why chickens frequently ask to be buried with cellphones:
In this rich agricultural region of Northern California, ranchers have been turning chickens too old to lay eggs into compost at a rate of a half-million hens a year.But some chickens not properly euthanized have been seen crawling out of the compost piles, earning them the name "zombie chickens"...
(Via Fark.)
The Associated Press helpfully identifies Bill Clinton in a group shot:
(Via Tim Blair and Currency Lad.)
Looks like the jig is up:
Could there be an inner racist in all of us?For white Americans, the answer might be "yes." At least that's the theory of Joe Feagin, a Texas A&M sociology professor who has spent decades studying race and racism.
Nearly all white Americans have what Feagin calls "the white racial frame," an extensive set of stereotypes, images and emotions that white people have used since the 1600s to justify holding black people as slaves and later treating black citizens unequally.
The harmless act didn't fool Joe Feagin, it didn't fool Kamau Kambon, and it certainly didn't fool the test-makers at Harvard. I am at a loss as to how to proceed with my atonement and re-education.
Two of the funniest blog posts I've ever read both involve food...and violent death. "If You Touch My Hoagie" and "Mike's Message" are longstanding faves that make me laugh every time I read them.
If you want to share you own favorites, leave the links in comments and we'll all have a look.
I couldn't find any naked criminality on the New York island or in the Redwood forest, so you'll have to settle for California and the Gulf Stream waters.
Is there anything more callous than driving home with the still-living pedestrian you hit sticking through your windshield? As it turns out, there is:
A woman accused of ramming her pickup truck into a boy being pushed in a stroller and dragging him three-quarters of a mile, killing him, is being held on $2 million bail, Baltimore County police said Saturday.Lazara Arellano De Hogue, 40, of Towson, has been charged with hit and run, and additional charges are pending, police said.
De Hogue slammed her Dodge Ram into 3-year-old Elijah Cozart and his grandmother, Majorie Thomas, 55, as Thomas pushed the boy in a stroller across a busy Towson street Friday afternoon, police said.
The stroller became trapped in the undercarriage of the truck, but De Hogue did not stop until the boy fell to the pavement on a side street closer to her apartment, police said. She allegedly got out and removed the stroller, then drove home.
Looks like she picked up a nail -- twenty of them. As for her being of Towson, I have my doubts:
Witnesses helped police find the truck and identify De Hogue. She was arrested and interviewed with the help of a Spanish-speaking interpreter.
That interpreter's going to get a workout. Ms. De Hogue has a lot of interaction with the authorities in her future.
Another 70's percussionist in a self-indulgent solo. At least it wasn't the delightful 20-minute variety so common to the era:
In a glancing blow to victimology, research has indicated that there actually weren't any ads in American newspapers that said "No Irish Need Apply":
The Irish American community harbors a deeply held belief that it was the victim of systematic job discrimination in America, and that the discrimination was done publicly in highly humiliating fashion through signs that announced "Help Wanted: No Irish Need Apply." This "NINA" slogan could have been a metaphor for their troubles—akin to tales that America was a "golden mountain" or had "streets paved with gold." But the Irish insist that the signs really existed and prove the existence of widespread discrimination and prejudice.The fact that Irish vividly "remember" NINA signs is a curious historical puzzle. There are no contemporary or retrospective accounts of a specific sign at a specific location. No particular business enterprise is named as a culprit. No historian, archivist, or museum curator has ever located one ; no photograph or drawing exists. No other ethnic group complained about being singled out by comparable signs. Only Irish Catholics have reported seeing the sign in America—no Protestant, no Jew, no non-Irish Catholic has reported seeing one. This is especially strange since signs were primarily directed toward these others: the signs said that employment was available here and invited Yankees, French-Canadians, Italians and any other non-Irish to come inside and apply. The business literature, both published and unpublished, never mentions NINA or any policy remotely like it. The newspapers and magazines are silent. The courts are silent. There is no record of an angry youth tossing a brick through the window that held such a sign. Have we not discovered all of the signs of an urban legend?
The po'baby myths are the hardest to eradicate. There's just too much pleasure in feeling that you or your people were somehow singled out for ill-treatment, yet persevered in the teeth of adversity and won the day through those innate qualities that are entirely unique to your particular stock. In the confines of American history, when you get out the yardstick, those groups whose members have actually earned the right to complain are very few indeed. The rest can only lay claim to the rattle of the po' little baby.
