Tom Sneddon Just Got PUNK'D

I don't know what kind of testimony the prosecution thought Debbie Rowe was going to make but they are looking BIG stupid about now.

"In a blow to prosecutors in Michael Jackson's child sex trial, his ex-wife praised the singer as 'generous to a fault' and condemned his alleged co-conspirators as 'vultures.'

Offered as a star witness by the prosecution, Debbie Rowe ended up sounding more like a character witness for the defence, despite her legal battle with Jackson for the right to visit their two children.

'There's different Michaels. There's like my Michael,' Rowe said, her voice breaking with emotion. 'And there's the Michael that everyone else sees.'"

I've been trying not to pay too much attention but I've yet to hear where they've had a single, solitary, credible witness. Of course, who knows what the jury will do and there is still testimony to come but the prosecution's case is looking kind of raggedy and it's getting rather embarrassing.

Like Icarus? Puleese!

I'm hardly one to begrudge anybody a successful life but why does it seem that some of the scummiest people catch all the breaks?

"Jayson Blair, the disgraced New York Times reporter implicated in a plagiarism scandal the paper called a “low point' in its 152-year history, has turned up with a first-person column in the spring issue of bp, a magazine chronicling bipolar disorder. In it, Blair gives his account of being diagnosed as bipolar—a recovery that includes medication and speaking engagements—as well as his take on the May 11, 2003 “7,000-word above-the-fold, front page story (accompanied by a 6,400-word litany of corrections).” Blair writes: “As a team of Times reporters and researchers dug into my background pulling together loose threads for (the article), I was sitting in Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut following a suicide attempt only years earlier I would have thought unimaginable.” Blair says the disorder, combined with “trying to accomplish my job while I was sick without letting anyone know (what) was wrong with me,” led to “the dangerous territory of mania—high risk behavior in the form of fabricating and plagiarizing stories.”

The quarterly magazine, distributed mainly through mental health professionals and community organizations, has a ratebase of 50,000.

“Like Icarus, I soared like an eagle,” Blair writes, “but fell with a shattered wing.”

I thought I was trying to live my life like it's golden but I must be doing something waaaay wrong!

My Birthday Means ...

Your Birthdate: November 16

Your birth on the 16th day of the month gives a sense of loneliness and generally the desire to work alone. You are relatively inflexible, and insist on your being independent. You need a good deal of time to rest and to meditate. You are introspective and a little stubborn. Because of this, it may not be easy for you to maintain permanent relationships, but you probably will as you are very much into home and family. This birth day inclines to interests in the technical, the scientific, and to the religious or the unknown realm of spiritual explorations. The date gives you a tendency to seek unusual approaches and makes your style seem a little different and unique to those around you. Your intuition is aided by the day of your birth, but most of your actions are bedded in logic, responsibility, and the rational approach. You may be emotional, but have a hard time expressing these emotions. Because of this, there may be some difficulty in giving or receiving affection.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Cardboard Dummies On Duty

Let me just be blunt. This is a goddamn shame!

"US marines who suffered the highest casualty rate of any unit in Iraq have revealed that they were so short of soldiers that they used cardboard dummies to fool insurgents into believing that they faced more men.

Company E of the First Marine Division dressed the cutouts in camouflage shirts and placed them in observation posts to trick Iraqi rebels into thinking that they were manned.

More than one third of the unit's 185 troops were killed or wounded during its six-month tour last year in Ramadi, an insurgent stronghold west of Fallujah, during which it was targeted by 26 firefights, 90 mortar attacks and nearly 100 home-made bombs.

The deception was revealed yesterday when the marines broke the corp's code of silence to detail the shortages of equipment and manpower that they blame for many of their comrades' deaths."

So what's Rumsfeld's response going to be about this? "You go to war with the cardboard you have" ... ?

Bragging Wrongs

This fool! So busy bragging about his new toy that he gets caught in a big lie!

"A court has heard how a bigamist was caught after boasting about his new wife on the Friends Reunited website.

Cheating Carl Wallace, 45, could not help tell the world of the new love of his life, Selena McDonnell - 21 years his junior.

Father-of-four Wallace, known by old school pals as 'Wally' had left his wife for the younger woman and the couple enjoyed a romantic 'honeymoon' in Italy.

Unfortunately his wife of 20 years, Anne, 45, heard of the happy news via Friends Reunited - and the police were called in.

Wallace, from Oldham, pleaded guilty to bigamy and making a false declaration for the purpose of procuring a marriage certificate.

Adrian Farrow, prosecuting, told Bolton Crown Court a mutual acquaintance saw the entry on the school contact website and knew Wallace was still married to his wife, Anne, the mother of his four children.

He said the prosecution did not know to what extent, Miss McDonnell, 24, know of Wallace's true marital status.

Wallace was sentenced to a 16 week suspended sentence and ordered to pay $250 prosecution costs."

Moron!

Whose Nation Under God?

Indeed!

[...]
"For now, this coalition of the faithful (who literally believe that many of their allies of convenience are destined for eternal damnation) is willing to put aside differences that will be settled in the next life and join forces on behalf of the faith-based public trough and the ecumenical crusade against an independent judiciary.

I never thought I'd live to see a time when the Enlightenment -- the Enlightenment! -- was politically controversial. Democracy, like science, depends on debate, tolerance, and evidence. And in a democracy, nothing is scarier than a political force convinced it is getting irrefutable truth directly from God.

Mercifully, religious extremists do not represent anything like a majority. We still have a proudly independent judiciary--in the Schiavo case, Governor Jeb Bush could not find a single Florida judge willing to overturn the testimony of countless doctors. And mainstream denominations like the Presbyterians have begun speaking out vigorously on behalf of religious tolerance and pluralism.

But let's be clear: Our very democracy is under assault. History is filled with cases where a small minority was able to overturn democratic institutions.

Zeal on behalf of tolerance seems almost a contradiction. But the large American majority that believes in freedom of conscience and inquiry had better get organized with the same enlightened passion that drove America's Founders."
[...]

He Walked Right Into This One

It's not like you need Michael Moore to point out all of Bush's blunders. I realize that customs in the Middle East are different but this photo op is just too good for the average Bush heckler to pass up.

Check out this funny.

... and this one

Update: Looks like the hand holding is a regular thing. Check out this book cover. This book has been out for some time!

Do you think Prince Abdullah is squeezing Bushie's hand too hard? He seemed to be going "ow-wee."

Too Concerned With Justice?

I don't even know where to begin given a comment like that.

"Bishop Harry Jackson, from Hope Christian Church in College Park, Maryland, was Justice Sunday's only black speaker. Jackson had recently unveiled his 'Black Contract With America,' a document that highlights wedge issues like gay marriage that would presumably pry black churchgoers away from the Democratic Party. But so far he has been disappointed. 'Black churches are too concerned with justice,' Jackson lamented in his speech. Nonetheless, his association with the right wing has done wonders for his personal profile. Just after Bush's second inauguration, he was among a contingent of black clergy members invited to the White House for a private meeting."

Have these jack legged, black mega-church ministers lost their minds? This man has a platform that would ask me to lose sleep and prayer over the prospect of two men sleeping together before I worry about issues of justice? Does he have any idea how absolutely insane that sounds? What bible is he reading and preaching from where one nebulous verse out ranks The 10 Commandments and the thousands of verses that address poverty, fairness, compassion and even divorce (way more straight folks getting divorced than there are possible gay folks who want to get married)? He could preach for several lifetimes just using passages that address poverty alone. But he's making a "Black Contract" that obsessess over who somebody else chooses to spend their life with?

I don't know that bible. I don't know that Jesus. I don't know that God ... and don't want to!

(story link via steveguilliard.blogspot.com)

Still Stoning

With the wing nuts running around like screaming banchees over this handful of extremist judges, I imagine that if they get their way, America's right will be promoting this mentality very soon.

The Afghan government has the responsibility of protecting women from violence, committed not only by the state but also by private individuals and groups,'' Amnesty said in a statement issued after sifting reports of Amina's stoning to death.

Amnesty, citing eyewitnesses, said Amina's husband and local officials dragged her out of her parents' house before stoning her to death in public. The man accused of committing adultery with her reportedly was whipped one hundred times and freed.

Police officials and Afghan human rights commission workers, however, have told news agencies that local accounts also suggest the possibility that Amina's husband and his family may have killed her by some other means, not by stoning, and that they could have trumped up the adultery accusations against her to deflect her request for a separation.

Journalists also have reported that Amina's husband recently returned from Iran after five years away and that she asked him for a separation on the grounds that her husband could not support her. The husband, however, accused Amina of having a relationship with another man. It was not clear whether the couple had any children.

During the Taliban's rule, adultery provided a frequent basis or pretext for women to be stoned to death. At least one other woman reportedly was stoned to death in the same area as Amina in the three-plus years since the Taliban's removal. Amina's apparently was the first sanctioned execution of a woman for adultery, Amnesty said.

Lack of Democracy in the U.S.

Ralph Nader worked my nerves during the last 2 presidential campaign seasons. It's not that I didn't agree with most of his stances, but a democratic win was just too crucial for him to have his hat in the race. Anyhow, I think he is on target with this.

"But let's look at what Bush-Cheney is doing to democracy in the USA. First, these two authoritarians have centralized more power in the White House-Executive Branch at the expense of Congress, the courts and the states than previous Republican leaders would ever have done. From the Patriot Act to pursuing tort deform, from federalizing many class actions in federal courts (usurping the role of state courts) to the pre-emptive banking laws and regulations to the 'Leave No Child Behind' takeover, these two pro-Vietnam war draft dodgers have generated a cascade of powers into the Oval Office.

Second, the two-party Electoral College duopoly with its 'wealth elections', exclusive control of debates, and ballot access barriers, have effectively stifled competition by third party or independent candidates. Our country is dominated by a two-party elected dictatorship that carves up most districts into one-party monopolies - re-districted either by Republicans or Democrats who control the state governments. About 95 percent of House of Representatives' Districts are monopolized by one party and where elections are really coronations. Bush-Cheney and Representative Tom DeLay have worsened this downward trend.

No other country in the western world is down to a two-party duopoly. Many countries have four, six, eight, ten viable parties, instant runoff voting and often proportional representation so that more votes matter.

Bush-Cheney have set records for secret arrests and jailings without charges and without allowing defendants to have attorneys. Dragnet roundups have proved to be wasteful and harmful to thousands of innocent prisoners who were never tried, including people suspected just of being material witnesses. Bush and John Ashcroft have yet to catch and convict a terrorist, though they have arrested over 5,000 people suspected of terrorism. The two convictions they secured were overturned by courts in Michigan.

The violation of due process, probable cause and the rule of law has damaged America's standing in the world where billions of people believe, given the illegal invasion of Iraq under false pretenses, that the Bush's government stands for 'might is right.' Former General Wesley Clark has called the Bush Administration 'a threat to domestic liberty.' While the respected columnist and editor, Michael Kinsley, writing in the Washington Post, said 'in terms of the power he now claims, George W. Bush is now the closest thing in a long time to dictator of the world.'

In Cicero's words, 'freedom is participation in power.' Bush-Cheney have made sure fewer people are participating, while poverty, hunger, consumer debt, non-living wages, the uninsured, environmental damage, electoral shenanigans, tax cuts for large corporations and the wealthy, militarization of both foreign policy and federal budgets keep worsening."
[...]

I Know You Are, But What Am I?

If Sponge Bob Square Pants and Patrick The Starfish are gay because they were holding hands, what does that make Bush and Prince Abdullah?

Spreading Compassion For HIV/AIDS

While the Pope is threatening to remain a hard ass when it comes to church doctrine on the ban on condoms (even to prevent the spread of AIDS), Buddhist monks have embraced HIV/AIDS education and are teaching compassion for those already impacted. It would seem to me that this would be a top priority for the Catholic Church - particularly since AIDS is so rampant in the places where the church is growing the most.

"Hoeurn Som Nieng is one of the hundreds of Buddhist monks trained to educate people about HIV/AIDS to reduce the stigma and to promote care and compassion for the victims.

“I want to be able to restore confidence in the victims. I am happy when they are happy,” said Hoeurn. .

Buddhist monks are highly revered and respected by Cambodians, and are able to spread AIDS prevention messages effectively through home visits. People are more willing to share their problems and request for help as monks are highly regarded.

“The monks’ position of respect in Cambodian society has contributed to our success in reaching out. People open their doors for us because they trust us,” said Hoeurn.

Last year, monks working with the Salvation Centre visited over 7,000 households with AIDS prevention messages.

Monks also try to address the psychological distress caused by HIV/ AIDS by providing training in meditation techniques and by teaching the Dharma, the body of teachings expounded by the Buddha.

However, meditation is optional because not all those infected are Buddhists. "

And another thing ... notice that they are not forcing their religious views on those impacted in exchange for "compassion."

News Flash: God Is Not Christian

So says Bishop Desmond Tutu who was not exactly pleased at the new choice for the papacy.

"Tutu urged Pope Benedict to continue the work of his predecessor Pope John Paul II in promoting interfaith dialogue.

'God is not a Christian,' Tutu declared.

'We sometimes make out that God is in the preserve of one particular faith. We need to have church leaders who are open to interfaith dialogue who are aware that truth is not encapsulated only in the Christian faith,' he said, adding that one of the 'holiest people' he had ever met was the Dalai Lama, Tibet's Buddhist spiritual leader.

Pope Benedict once called Buddhism a religion for the self-indulgent. Speaking to cardinals as they went into the conclave that made him pope, he listed relativism - the ideology that there are no absolute truths - as among tendencies he considered dangers to the faith."

The new Pope also said that Buddhism was auto-erotic and somehow, from all that I've read about the practice, I don't understand his view. The Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) seem to be fixated on sex and purity. Buddhism isn't. Perhaps that is why Buddhist monks aren't under fire for sexual abuse.

Nice And Jesus-like

It's bad enough that this kind of thing still happens at all but this hate crime happened at a Christian college.

"Yet three letters arrived in the last two weeks with racially charged statements aimed at African-American and Latino students, school spokesman Gary Cantwell said. The latest letter, which arrived Thursday, included a threat of violence.

Police and school officials would not detail the threats but said two of the letters were sent on notebook paper through the campus' internal mail system, and professors were being asked to try to identify the handwriting.

Officials who examined the letters believe this was the act of one person and, because the letters were delivered on campus, someone at the college may have been responsible.
[...]
More than 1,000 undergraduates attend Trinity, 2065 Half Day Rd., and roughly 800 live on campus in residential halls. About 3,300 students total are enrolled at the university, a liberal arts Christian college affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church of America."

I wonder if the perpetrator invests this much energy in reading the bible?

Obsessed!

This administration is positively obsessed with uteruses - both domestic ones and global ones. It is one thing for Bush to try to impose his views on the nation, it is quite another for him to think he can impose them on the world.

"The US government is trying to block the World Health Organisation from endorsing two abortion pills which could save the lives of some of the 68,000 women who die from unsafe practices in poor countries every year.

The WHO wants to put the pills on its essential medicines list, which constitutes official advice to all governments on the basic drugs their doctors should have available.

Last month, an expert committee met to consider a number of new drugs for inclusion on the list. They approved for the first time two pills, to be used in combination for the termination of early pregnancy, called mifepristone and misoprostol. In poor countries where abortion is legal, doctors currently have no alternative to surgery.

The Guardian understands that the US department of health and human services has been lobbying the director general's office at the WHO to block approval of the pills, in line with President George Bush's neoconservative stance on abortion.

While the availability of pills might make abortion easier and could increase the number choosing it, the experts want them listed to reduce the deaths and damage caused by surgery. Every year, 19 million women have unsafe abortions - 18.5 million of those take place in developing countries. An estimated 68,000 women die as a result of botched or unhygienic surgery, while many others suffer long-term damage, including sterility.

The WHO's own department of reproductive health proposed the addition of the abortion pills to the list.

In a review of the drugs for the committee, a Brazilian professor of pharmacology, Lenita Wannmacher, wrote: 'There is great concern about the effectiveness and safety of surgical methods that may be less effective and may increase the risk of infection, uterine perforation, cervical laceration, incomplete evacuation, haemorrhage, miscarriage, future sterility and even death.'

The risk of death from abortion in developing countries is 100 times higher than in countries such as the UK, where mifepristone has been licensed since 1991. The pills were licensed in the US in 2000.

The WHO committee, which included two British and two US experts, recommended unanimously that the pills go on the essential medicines list. But although the director general's approval is usually a formality and the changes are published within days, more than a month has now passed.

On March 23, the director general's office wrote to committee members asking if they had considered a warning that mifepristone can, in rare cases, carry a risk of serious bacterial infections, sepsis and bleeding. The committee members replied that all side-effects had been considered, adding that the risks of infection and bleeding from surgery in poor countries were far greater.

One committee member told the Guardian that all the evidence on the risks and benefits of the pills had been on the WHO website for months.

A spokeswoman for the WHO director general's office said there had been delays because 'we had some questions and sought clarification.'

Asked whether there had been any contact between the US department of health and human services and the director general's office, she said: 'I can't answer that. I just don't know.' She said a decision would be made within days."

We hear so much about 'culture of life' yet don't seem to have any concern for a woman's life or well being. The question of abortion isn't even the issue. Impoverished women are going to have them - whether they are safe and sanitary or not - so impeding access to something that will aid in reducing death and injury is just wrong. The pro-birth people are so fixated on the lives in the womb yet don't seem to have a bit of concern for the lives of poverty, malnutrition and misery that too many of them (along with their mothers) will endure because they've also tried to hijack aid to countries where family planning and reproductive/sexual health is taught. Why is it such a priority for us to breed more and more poverty stricken human beings into hellish lives?

I'm No Cinderella

The fairy tales I remember most are the ones that scared me (like Hanzel and Gretel and The Three Billy Goats Gruff)- not Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. So, though while some women may grow up and fall prey to the Prince of Darkness rather than Prince Charming I grew up being afraid to walk across bridges for fear that some troll might be lurking underneath. Though I did like the black and white movie version of Cinderella starring Leslie Ann Warren and Stuart Damon (the man who would become General Hospital's Alan Quartermaine), for some reason I just didn't internalize the idea that some man with a shoe was going to look high and low to find me. So this definitely doesn't apply to me.

"Young girls who enjoy classic romantic fairy tales like 'Cinderella' and 'Beauty and the Beast' are at greater risk of becoming victims of violent relationships in later life, a British researcher says.

A study of both parents of primary school children and women who have been involved in domestic abuse claims than those who grew up reading fairy tales are likely to be more submissive as adults.

Susan Darker-Smith, a graduate student who wrote the academic paper, said she found many abuse victims identified with characters in famous children's literature and claimed the stories provide 'templates' of dominated women.

A more senior academic at the University of Derby said the topic was sure to spark debate but merited further research.

'They believe if their love is strong enough they can change their partner's behaviour,' Darker-Smith said. 'Girls who have listened to such stories as children tend to become more submissive in their future relationships.'"

Rosa Too Little was actually my favorite childhood story. It was the story off a little girl who was constantly told she was too little to do certain things (I was a teeny thing so I definitely identified with this story). Ultimately, the highlight of the story was that when she learned to write her name, she got a library card and was able to check out books (that, too, was me). Gees, somehow I missed out on the Prince fantasies. I was buried in books as a child and I'm buried in books now! LOL!

The Reign In Spain

I don't know if electing the German Pope was the church's way of giving Europeans their last hurrah in the faith or what but with dwindling parishoners in most European countries, low brith rates in "Catholic" countries like Italy and Spain, and secular laws which permit things that are in clear violation of doctrine, I think the Vatican knows that it's reign is all but over. I'm actually a little surprised that Spain has gone this far.

"Pope Benedict XVI has responded firmly to the first challenge of his papacy by condemning a Spanish government bill allowing marriage between homosexuals.

The bill, passed by parliament's Socialist-dominated lower house, also allows gay couples to adopt.

A senior Vatican official described the bill - which is likely to become law within a few months - as iniquitous.

He said Roman Catholic officials should be prepared to lose their jobs rather than co-operate with the law.

The bill would make Spain the first European country to allow homosexual people to marry and adopt children.

Belgium and the Netherlands only allow same-sex marriages. It is also a dramatic step in the rapid secularisation of what was once one of the most devoutly Roman Catholic countries in Europe.

The head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council on the Family, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, denounced the legislation as profoundly iniquitous.

Secular state

Interviewed in the Italian newspaper, Corriere de la Serra, Cardinal Lopez Trujillo said the Church was making an urgent call for freedom of conscience for Roman Catholics and appealing to them to resist the law.

He said every profession linked with implementing homosexual marriages should oppose it, even if it meant losing their jobs.

The cardinal insisted that just because something was made law it did not make it right.

Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero took office a year ago making it clear he intended to remove what he called the church's undeniable advantages and make Spain a secular state.

There are likely to be further tensions with Pope Benedict XVI. Mr Zapatero has made it clear that he intends to streamline divorce law and even to relax the conditions placed on abortion. "

Who Gives A Pope?

With all of the media coverage (and I mean I was just stunned to wake up every morning seeing live coverage from Rome on CNN, Fox News AND MSNBC) you would have thought that the Pope was the king of the world. But, now that things are dying down and peoples sentiments are either for or against the new Pope, who really gives a care? I follow the teachings of the Dali Lama and Thich Naht Hahn more than I do the Pope. I'm not even sure why I allowed myself to be sucked into the media driven drama of the papacy. The Holy Roman Empire ended long ago. For all intents and purposes, the Pope's power is nill.

"Anyone with a modicum of liberal inclination in the media is now all worked up over the selection of Joseph Ratzinger as the new Pope Benedict XVI. Oddly, many of the same people who were rightly offended by the orgiastic news coverage that followed John Paul II's death are the ones now devoting their energies to slamming his successor -- a choice that unfortunately only reaffirms the already inflated assumptions of the importance of the papacy.

The source of much of this indignation is, of course, Ratzinger's long and well-documented support of conservative positions on homosexuality, contraception, abortion, and gender equality. That the criticism of his track record is well-earned does not, however, make it any less misguided. And here's why: it's based on a vastly exaggerated assessment of the papacy's power. John Paul II -- or the newly dubbed 'rock star' pope -- was neither able to stop the war in Iraq nor the plummeting birth rates in his own backyard. Italy has the lowest birth rate in the EU, and not because its women practice the rhythm method.

In the past, liberals have been fond of attacking both the Church and its more visible emissaries -- be it the Pope himself or Mother Teresa -- of discouraging the use of birth control in countries that need it most, such as Mexico or India. Yet high population rates are more an effect of poverty and gender inequality than religious dogma. Change the socioeconomic equation, and cultural attitudes will inevitably follow -- with or without the Pope's blessing.

While the appointment of a liberal pope may well have been a cause for celebration, the victory would have been mostly symbolic. It is unlikely that the happy event would have led to a spectacular change in attitudes among less affluent Catholic nations in Africa, Asia, or Latin America. On the flip side, the winds of change are already blowing in some of these countries despite the ideological rigidity of the Catholic Church. As Kelly Hearn reports on AlterNet, in countries such as Brazil and Argentina, papal conservatism will likely do little to stem the popular tide in favor of more liberal policies on abortion and contraception. In the end it will be Lula and his supporters, not Pope Benedict XVI, who determines whether Brazilian women can choose to have a safe and legal abortion."

Given some of the points in this article, Catholicism - and organized religion in general - thrives on poverty, chauvinism and misogyny. Clearly, in countries that have evolved beyond traditional gender roles and unadulterated breeding of children, "faith" in the emergence of a better life (or afterlife) is not as prevalent. No doubt, the religious crusades here in America are focused on women, their bodies and whether they are permitted to breed at will. There is no focus on the life of Christ. The focus is on protecting the male specicies' ability to spread its seed (and this is key with the issues of abortion, contraception and same sex marriage). I really wish that people would look deep enough into themselves to find the difference between religion and faith ... doctrine and spirituality. With that in place, no Pope, law or doctrine can take it away.

Ike Turner In The House

After the release of What's Love Got To Do With It, I saw Ike Turner on a late night talk show (I believe it was Arsenio Hall). He was asked about the domestic violence that was so graphically portrayed in the movie. Somehow he got around to saying something to the effect that since Tina stayed so long, she "must have wanted to get beat." Now, that was some sheer "ig'nuncy" but, we are talking Ike Turner! This moron is in the State House of Representatives in South Carolina.

The State House took up two pieces of legislation this week aimed at protecting two different groups. Up for debate was cracking down on gamecock fighting and protecting victims of domestic violence.
[...]
A bill advocates say would protect victims against batterers was tabled, killing it for the year. Rep. Altman is on the committee that looked at the domestic violence bill, "I think this bill is probably drafted out of an abundance of ignorance."
[...]
Both cockfighting and domestic violence are currently misdemeanor crimes, punishable by 30 days in jail. If the bill passes, cockfighting will become a felony, punishable by five years in jail. Domestic violence crimes will remain a misdemeanor.

Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter (D-Dist. 66-Orangeburg) says of the two bills, "What we have said by the actions of the Judiciary Committee is we aren't going to create a felony if you beat your wife, partner. But now, if you've got some cockfighting going on, whoa! Wait a minute."

News 10 reporter Kara Gormley asked Altman, "That's fine if you feel you will never be able to explain it to me, but my question to you is: does that show that we are valuing a gamecock's life over a woman's life?"

Altman again, "You're really not very bright and I realize you are not accustomed to this, but I'm accustomed to reporters having a better sense of depth of things and you're asking this question to me would indicate you can't understand the answer. To ask the question is to demonstrate an enormous amount of ignorance. I'm not trying to be rude or hostile, I'm telling you."

Gormley, "It's rude when you tell someone they are not very bright."

Altman, "You're not very bright and you'll just have to live with that."

In the follow-up interview, Rep. Altman commented, "I wanted to offend that snippy reporter who come in here on a mission. She already had the story and she came in with some dumb questions and I don't mind telling people when they ask dumb questions."

Rep. Cobb-Hunter says, "The reality is the law says domestic violence regardless, first, second or third offense is a misdemeanor, and what they passed yesterday says cockfighting is a felony."

Rep. Altman spoke about domestic violence, "There ought not to be a second offense. The woman ought to not be around the man. I mean you women want it one way and not another. Women want to punish the men, and I do not understand why women continue to go back around men who abuse them. And I've asked women that and they all tell me the same answer, John Graham you don't understand. And I say you're right, I don't understand."

Gormley, "So it's their fault for going back?"

Start digging folks! Who wants to bet that this man has smacked around a few women in his day or is close to someone who does?

Unbelievable!

Skankosity Pays

Many bloggers are aspiring writers and for many, blogs are proving to be an avenue to getting published. However, with thousands of bloggers writing about a multitude of topics, the same old rule that sex sells turns is true for bloggers turned novelists. Via nykola.com we see a link to an article that proves, once again, that skankosity has its benefits. Yes, the little hooklet who blogged about her sexcapades with elected officials on Capitol Hill and got fired once it was discovered, has a book deal.

"Anything that helps someone who is writing come to the attention of the public is going to help them on their road to being published," says Robert Miller, president of Hyperion, which in June will release The Washingtonienne, a novel by Jessica Cutler. She's the woman who a year ago, on her short-lived blog, gained notoriety in Washington, D.C., for dishing about her sexual escapades on Capitol Hill.

To be fair, the article does mention that the young woman who blogs from Baghdad (Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq) about her experiences since the American occupation has a book deal as well. But, pardon me for thinking that some American women (and men) can learn a few things from someone who has more important things to blog about than their latest screw with married men.

Chinese Checkers

Filed under way, way too much information, I guess I never really plotted out a block of time and thought about the sizes of dicks across the globe. Moreover, I want to know who is going around the world measuring them? Do they have special rulers or tape measures?

"Chinese men have no reason to feel inferior about the size of their penises, according to a Hong Kong study which showed local men measured up to others elsewhere in the world below the belt.

'Our conclusion is that Hong Kong people are no smaller than Western men, where their penises are concerned,' said Chan Lung-wai, director of the Urology Center at the Union Hospital, who headed the study.

'There has always been the myth that westerners have bigger penises and their (sexual) ability is better.'

A group of scientists in Hong Kong spent five months from October last year measuring 148 ethnic Chinese volunteers aged between 23 and 93.

The average length of their flaccid penises was 3.33 inches, which compared favorably with similar studies on other men overseas.

Germans have average lengths of about 3.4 inches, Israelis 3.27 inches, Turks 3.07 inches and Filippinos 2.89 inches. Italians were the longest at 3.54 inches, and Americans averaged 3.46 inches.

The study did not measure the penises when they were erect.

It found that a man's height bore no relation to the length of his member, but those with higher body mass indexes, or fat content, appeared to have shorter penises.

'It seems that as someone gets older and fatter, his blood vessels change, so the penile size is not static. It may be a reflection of the condition of the person's blood vessels,' Chan said, adding that this could spur yet another study."

Sadly, I guess Chinese men (or Asian men in general), save Bruce Lee, don't seem to be ranked very high as far as sex appeal/sexuality so maybe this little factoid on where they rate on the dickometer will boost their market value. Now, if they really wanted to bust some myths (or not) then they would have done a racial breakdown in America (yes, I went there) instead of using an average. But, I find the results in Italy a little interesting. Who knew? I may have to make some quick glances at 'packages' when I go there next year.

Stop Faith Card Abuse

These faith frauds are so out of control, I can barely stand it. However, their attempts to hijack the government and dissolve the lines between church and state are becoming an outright and very real threat to the very nature of both democracy and faith. No one person, group or denomination owns the legacy of Jesus Christ. There are millions of people of faith who don't need to shout how religious they are from every rooftop. Nor do they feel the need to impose their particular beliefs on anyone else. Now, however, voices of faith, reason and justice need to make themselves heard before the extremists in the Senate try to rewrite laws and history in order to gain judicial advantage.

"Now the Religious Right is saying that supporting the president's judicial nominations is a test of orthodoxy. This is a dramatic new and serious breach in the relationship between faith and politics.

James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Prison Fellowship's Chuck Colson, and Southern Baptist leader Albert Mohler are hosting 'Justice Sunday,' a telecast this weekend from a mega-church in Louisville, Kentucky. Their message is that those who don't support President Bush's judicial nominees are hostile to 'people of faith.'

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist plans to join them by video to get political support for his effort to end the Senate practice known as the filibuster, which is designed to delay a vote on controversial issues in order to protect strong minorities from being overrun by majorities. The Republican leader's appearance at this event endorses the Religious Right's claim that the Democratic filibuster of a small number of very conservative judges is 'a filibuster against people of faith.'

Despite the fact that Democrats oppose these judges for their views on a variety of subjects, conservative leaders have singled out abortion and gay marriage as their chief concerns and only want judges who support their agenda. Despite the fact that many Democrats who oppose some of President Bush's nominees are themselves people of faith, Republicans and their religious supporters are questioning the faith and religious integrity of their opponents.

That is an escalation of the religious/political war. And the two together sound like assertions of a Republican theocracy. Behind these activities lies a fundamental assumption by Republican operatives and their conservative religious allies that they own religion in America. They demand that religious people vote only their way. They claim that 'values voters' in America belong to them, and they disrespect the faith of those who disagree with their agenda. There are better words for this than just 'politically divisive' or 'morally irresponsible.' For these are not merely political offenses, they are religious ones. And for offenses such as these, theological terms are better - terms such as idolatry and blasphemy."

These are scare times folks. As Americans, you'd think we'd be in the streets fighting for fairness and open democracy like the people of the Ukraine and the people of Lebanon. But, sadly, many people aren't even aware that their freedom is slowing being whittled away. But, it's not too late yet. One small thing you can do is make your voice heard. Take action and tell Bill Frist to stop playing the faith card!

Mama Oprah Save Me!

I like Oprah but, dang, now she's the center of the book universe? She's being summonsed to be saviour to the literary industry?

"Oprah, save us, we can't get by without you.

That's the message from a group of published and award-winning novelists in an open letter to influential television talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, begging her to resume picking new novels for members of her popular book club.

'There's a widely-held belief that the landscape of literary fiction is now a gloomy place,' Word of Mouth, a loose alliance of women's authors, wrote. It said fiction sales began to plummet when the The Oprah Winfrey Book Club went off the air in 2002 and stopped featuring contemporary authors.

'Book Club members stopped buying new fiction, and this changed the face of American publishing,' said the letter, which was signed by 158 authors.

Among those signing the letter were Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri and Amy Tan, author of 'The Joy Luck Club.' Several male authors also signed.

The letter expressed thanks for Winfrey's contribution to book sales and asked her to 'consider focusing, once again, on contemporary writers in your book club.'

'The readers need you. And we, the writers, need you,' it said. 'Oprah "

Gaaawwwd (rolling my eyes)!

Berlusconi Blinked

Yesterday he was all but defiant, today he cuts his losses and resigns.

"Silvio Berlusconi will today resign as Italian prime minister in a gesture intended to win the support of two rebel coalition partners for a new government to replace his struggling administration.

The move is a formality - Mr Berlusconi must resign as the head of the present government before he can form a new one - but he is now likely to see out the worst crisis in his four years in government without calling an early election.

Opinions polls suggest that a centre left coalition led by Romano Prodi, the former president of the European commission, would be the main beneficiaries of an election if Mr Berlusconi failed to resolve the crisis.

He had been expected to resign on Monday but made a U-turn in what appeared a last-ditch attempt to fulfil his ambition to become the first Italian prime minister since the second world war to lead a single government for the full five-year term.

'This time, no surprises. Today I resign and I go to the head of state,' Mr Berlusconi told the Italian Ansa news agency.

He told the Italian senate he would form a new government to strengthen the weakened coalition around his Forza Italia party."

My, my! It seems that friends of Bush aren't faring too well. Suckers!

That's A Whole Lot Of Falafel

Though the amount of the settlement was not disclosed, it should have made Bill realize that there can be price to pay for being a hypocrite and a pervert.

"Andrea Mackris, the former associate producer for Fox News Channel who made headlines by suing talking head Bill O’Reilly for sexual harassment, recently purchased an Upper West Side condo for $809,500, according to deed-transfer records.

Ms. Mackris, an alumna of Columbia University’s journalism school, had worked as a producer on The O’Reilly Factor before leaving for CNN in January 2004. However, in July of that year, she returned to Fox, reportedly at a $93,000-a-year salary.

Hours before Ms. Mackris filed her $60 million suit, Mr. O’Reilly sued for extortion. In the week that followed, the lurid details of the case—complete with explicit phone-sex allegations—served as endless fodder for late-night monologues (and fake news shows). On Oct. 28, Mr. O’Reilly agreed to settle the suit for an unspecified amount."

Keeping The Witch Out Of The Brew

Well this certainly isn't very nice! Why can't the Wiccan say a prayer? I'm certain that most people have no idea who Wiccans are nor how they worship.

"A federal appeals court Thursday ruled against a Wiccan priestess who argued she should be eligible to offer the opening prayer at a county meeting.

Cynthia Simpson sued Chesterfield County after she was excluded from a list of religious leaders allowed to pray at the Board of Supervisors' meetings. In a letter to Simpson, the county explained the invocations 'are traditionally made to a divinity that is consistent with the Judeo-Christian tradition.'

Wiccans consider themselves witches, pagans or neo-pagans, and say their religion is based on respect for the earth, nature and the cycle of the seasons.

A lower court judge in 2003 ruled the county's policy violated the Constitution by stating a preference for a set of religious beliefs. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed.

The appeals court wrote that Chesterfield County has done a good job of including leaders from a variety of religions to offer prayers and therefore abided by the Constitution by not advancing any one faith.

'This isn't right,' said Simpson, 49, a member of a local group known as the Broom Riders Association. 'I've been a separation of church and stater all my life, long before I was a witch. ... That's what was driving me all along.'

She said she'll appeal."

I find it incredibly ironic that people get all bent out of shape over Wiccans and other pagan religions yet fail to realize that many Christian holidays and traditions are steeped in the pagan rituals that were being practiced by people when Christianity was forced upon them. It made the transition easier. Further, some pagans have beliefs very close to the two wedge issues that Bush used to secure his base. So, I really don't see what the big deal would be in letting a Wiccan offer prayer. Maybe they're afraid she'll be casting spells on them.

Fire Me Dammit!

Bush's buddy is playing cowboy bad ass by choosing to face a vote of confidence rather than resigning and creating a new government with a new platform.

If he loses the government must resign and a general election may be called a year ahead of schedule.

Mr Berlusconi took allies and foes by surprise. He had been expected to resign on Monday, enabling him to make a major government reshuffle and announce major policy changes.

But instead he told the president he would put his authority to the test in a parliamentary vote."

I'm not sure how bold of a move this is if he feels he has support in his back pocket. He may be just grandstanding like the arrogant SOB he appears to be. But if this is a "bring 'em on" move, he may live to regret it.

Okay To Get Your Viagra On During Passover!

Men are a dang trip! They can't do without enhancement drugs for a weekduring a religious holiday?

"A leading Israeli rabbi has reversed a previous ban and says it's OK for Jewish men to take Viagra on Passover.

Viagra had been deemed not kosher since 1998 under strict dietary laws over the week-long Jewish spring holiday. But, Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu says the pill can be swallowed if it is encased in a special soluble kosher capsule first.

Viagra's Israeli manufacturers said they sought an answer after receiving queries from worried religious men, the BBC reported.

The drug was previously prohibited because its coating was considered inedible over Passover, when contact with everyday ingredients, known as hametz, is forbidden under Jewish law.

According to the Jerusalem Post newspaper, Rabbi Eliahu, a former chief rabbi, said men can take Viagra if they purchase special capsules made from kosher gelatin in which to put the pill before the holiday starts.

Passover begins at sundown Saturday, April 23."

Well, I think that's just plain nasty! Perverts! LOL!

They Picked The German

Okay, so I guess I knew they weren't going to pick the African Bishop. Too many folks running around quoting Nostradamus saying that a black pope would signal the end of the world. But, I was hoping they'd get out of Europe and, perhaps, elect one of the Latin American Bishops. Alas, they took the safe route - though I guess the safest would have been an Italian - and picked the German.

"Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany has been selected by the Roman Catholic church as the new pope.

Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez of Chile made the announcement to a cheering crowd in St. Peter's Square.

Ratzinger, who took the name Benedict XVI, appeared on the balcony of the Vatican Basilica to greet the people and deliver his first papal blessing."

What's In A Name?

I don't want to go into one of my long diatribes about the made up black names that seem to be so pervasive my community because, truly, my issue isn't so much with the names themselves (my compromise) but with the spelling of said names. Some of those names are just a bunch of letters thrown together with some accent marks tossed in as though they change the pronunciation of something that, in English, spells nothing and doesn't come close to the proper spelling in any other language. They've already done studies that show that candidates with identical resumes but one with a traditional name and one that is "black" renders the black candidate booty out at an exponentially higher rate.

By the early 70's, people were into naming children "African" or Arabic names and, God help them now, Roots caused quite a few babies to be named Kizzy and Kunta Kinte. But the names people are coming up with now just drive me up the freaking wall! Vagina is not Gina with a Va prefix. It's a sex organ. Imagine going through life with a name like that!

The California data establish just how dissimilarly black and white parents have named their children over the past 25 years or so—a remnant, it seems, of the Black Power movement. The typical baby girl born in a black neighborhood in 1970 was given a name that was twice as common among blacks than whites. By 1980, she received a name that was 20 times more common among blacks. (Boys' names moved in the same direction but less aggressively—likely because parents of all races are less adventurous with boys' names than girls'.) Today, more than 40 percent of the black girls born in California in a given year receive a name that not one of the roughly 100,000 baby white girls received that year. Even more remarkably, nearly 30 percent of the black girls are given a name that is unique among every baby, white and black, born that year in California. (There were also 228 babies named Unique during the 1990s alone, and one each of Uneek, Uneque, and Uneqqee; virtually all of them were black.)

What kind of parent is most likely to give a child such a distinctively black name? The data offer a clear answer: an unmarried, low-income, undereducated, teenage mother from a black neighborhood who has a distinctively black name herself. Giving a child a super-black name would seem to be a black parent's signal of solidarity with her community—the flip side of the "acting white" phenomenon. White parents, meanwhile, often send as strong a signal in the opposite direction. More than 40 percent of the white babies are given names that are at least four times more common among whites.

So, what are the "whitest" names and the "blackest" names? Click here for the top 20 each for girls and here for the top 20 each for boys. (For the curious, we've also put together a list of the top 20 crossover names—the ones that blacks and whites are most likely to share.) And how much does your name really matter? Over the years, a series of studies have tried to measure how people perceive different names. Typically, a researcher would send two identical (and fake) résumés, one with a traditionally white name and the other with an immigrant or minority-sounding name, to potential employers. The "white" résumés have always gleaned more job interviews. Such studies are tantalizing but severely limited, since they offer no real-world follow-up or analysis beyond the résumé stunt.
[...]
"The data show that, on average, a person with a distinctively black name—whether it is a woman named Imani or a man named DeShawn—does have a worse life outcome than a woman named Molly or a man named Jake. But it isn't the fault of his or her name. If two black boys, Jake Williams and DeShawn Williams, are born in the same neighborhood and into the same familial and economic circumstances, they would likely have similar life outcomes. But the kind of parents who name their son Jake don't tend to live in the same neighborhoods or share economic circumstances with the kind of parents who name their son DeShawn. And that's why, on average, a boy named Jake will tend to earn more money and get more education than a boy named DeShawn. DeShawn's name is an indicator but not a cause of his life path."

Yes, with a name like Susan, I'm sure I sound like an elitist snob and oreo. But, truth be known, I spent the better part of my freshman (or was it sophomore?) year in high school trying to come up with a new name. My mom said I could change it if I so desired. Oh, the current trend of adding a la, ta, de, tra, or ma to the beginning of semi-regular names wasn't popular then so I think I was leaning towards Courtney or something along that line. I just know that Susan sounded as white bread as you could get (though I still meet an amazing number of black Susans these days) and I wanted something a little less generic and BORING. My consession is that people should feel free to name their children whatever they choose. It's fine to get "creative" with the spelling. I'd just like to see some literacy go into the effort and knowledge of the English language (or any other language). If someone is comfortable with the fact that their child is named after a car, designer, alcoholic beverage or STD I cannot tell them otherwise. But if I double dare a recruiter to call someone named Gonereah Smith in for an interview and not choke trying to say it.

Every Shut Eye Ain't Sleep

... And every goodbye ain't gone.

Raise your hands! Who thought the Taliban was all rounded up and killed?

"Afghanistan's Taliban guerrillas launched a clandestine radio station on Monday, broadcasting anti-government commentaries and Islamic hymns from a mobile transmitter.

Called 'Shariat Shagh,' or Voice of Shariat, after the station the Taliban ran while in power, the broadcast can be heard in five southern provinces, including the former regime's old power base of Kandahar.

'We launched the broadcast today through a mobile facility,' said Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi.

'It goes on the air between six and seven o'clock in the mornings and same time in the evenings,' he said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Hakimi said the Taliban, fighting an insurgency in the south and east of the country since they were driven from power in late 2001, needed their own voice because the world's media were pro-American.

Many Afghans listen to the BBC and Voice of America which broadcast in the country's two main languages, Pashto and Dari. In addition to government-run radio, numerous small, private stations have sprung up, many funded by aid donors.

As well as Islamic hymns and anti-government commentaries, the Taliban station also criticized U.S. and other foreign troops operating in Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted.

Asked what the Taliban would do if U.S. forces detected and destroyed their transmitter, Hakimi said they would set up another."

This time, though, Karzai wants to play "Let's Make A Deal" with the brutal fundamentalist group. Let's see, what role could/should these nut jobs play?

Italian Politics

Whoa! I didn't know Italy had it like this! I'm not sure I am understanding how this works!

"Premier Silvio Berlusconi, expected to resign and form a new government to strengthen his conservative coalition, said after meeting Italy's president Monday that he had not stepped down, news agencies reported.

After an earlier emergency meeting of coalition leaders in Rome, Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini told reporters that Berlusconi would resign, ending Italy's longest-serving postwar government.

But when asked by reporters if he had handed in his resignation to President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Berlusconi responded, 'No,' the ANSA news agency reported. Berlusconi was quoted as saying he would explain the situation in parliament, but it was unclear when he would do so.

Berlusconi had been under pressure from his allies to resign since the coalition lost 11 of the 13 regions that were up for grabs in elections earlier this month.

Last week, a key centrist party headed by Deputy Premier Marco Follini pulled its ministers out of the Cabinet and demanded that Berlusconi form a fresh government with a new platform."

Huh?

Taliban In Pakistan

Let me try to get this straight. Pakistan's government is moving further and further into Taliban-like fundamentalism but they are our ally. Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban but we didn't approve and used that as one of the reasons for invading and deposing their government. The stench of hypocrisy just can't get any stronger!

"Pakistan’s conservative Islamist party alliance, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), introduced a bill to ban women from appearing in advertisements. The proposed bill seeks to imprison any ad agency that uses women models.

Last week the MMA stopped women’s participation in outdoor sports. In Punjab, hundreds of Islamist demonstrators armed with bamboo sticks blocked a ten kilometer race to protest the female runners, reports the Christian Science Monitor. The race ended in a gun battle that left many wounded.

Women’s rights and human rights advocates are concerned that President Musharraf has not done enough to loosen strict discriminatory religious laws that were instituted under General Ziaul Haq in the 1980s. A local columnist recently wrote that "that mullahs have already gained political power after attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq by capitalizing anti-US sentiments and are now flexing their muscles on social issues to capture the society," reports the Christian Science Monitor. In what is being described as Taliban-like rules, some areas of the country have instituted strict laws segregating women in schools, banning music, and even preventing male medical technicians from examining women.
"

The funny thing is, this fundamentalism is being fueled by anti-Americanism. Man, we sure are doing a good job of winning hearts and minds of Muslims throughout the world.

No Girls Allowed

This is starting to remind me of those old Leave It To Beaver/Little Rascals type shows where the boys had a clubhouse with signs prohibiting "girls" posted on every open space. Theoretically, at least, a woman could be elected President of the United States and, hence, leader of the free world. Imagine Condoleeza Rice or Hillary Clinton being relegated to "social and spiritual support" roles (okay, I'm sure there are many who'd like to see both of them taken down a peg or two). Though I won't get into why I am not a practicing Catholic again, things like this make it impossible for me to imagine returning to the Church as an active participant.

Though the first day of deliberations ended with black smoke coming from the Sistine Chapel's chimney, it seems to be all but guaranteed that views on the role of women will not change with the election of a new Pope.

"As conservative as the late pope was, this actually represents a step backward for the cardinals he appointed. In 1995, John Paul II wrote a letter to the women of the world. In it, he reiterated his opposition to women priests and clearly recast women in their traditional roles as social and spiritual support personnel. But he also explicitly apologized for the church's historical role in promoting sexism and affirmed that social injustices arising from gender inequality are contrary to both the spirit and the letter of Catholic theology. Something changed in the ensuing 10 years.

Swiss theologian Hans Kung, a progressive on whom John Paul II placed what amounted to a gag order in 1979 when he had the temerity to publicly dispute papal infallibility, recently told Reuters that he believes the papal conclave is being manipulated by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. As head of the College of Cardinals, and by some lights a serious papal contender himself, Ratzinger is arguably the most influential prelate in the Vatican.

In 2004, Ratzinger wrote a letter to the bishops of the world reaffirming the historical subordination of women and attacking feminism as a destructive force within Catholicism. Whether or not Ratzinger becomes pope or bends the conclave to his will in other ways (such as putting John Paul II on a fast track to sainthood), it is a sure bet that his colleagues and he will be in agreement when it comes to women's continuing limited role in the church."

Man Date Drama

Yeah, I always "wanna be startin' something" so I sent this to one of my internet lists to let the games begin as the men responded to the concept of the "Man Date." Man! It's been a funny day!

[...]
"Simply defined a man date is two heterosexual men socializing without the crutch of business or sports. It is two guys meeting for the kind of outing a straight man might reasonably arrange with a woman. Dining together across a table without the aid of a television is a man date; eating at a bar is not. Taking a walk in the park together is a man date; going for a jog is not. Attending the movie 'Friday Night Lights' is a man date, but going to see the Jets play is definitely not.

'Sideways,' the Oscar-winning film about two buddies touring the central California wine country on the eve of the wedding of one of them, is one long and boozy man date.

Although 'man date' is a coinage invented for this article, appearing nowhere in the literature of male bonding (or of homosexual panic), the 30 to 40 straight men interviewed, from their 20's to their 50's, living in cities across the country, instantly recognized the peculiar ritual even if they had not consciously examined its dos and don'ts. Depending on the activity and on the two men involved, an undercurrent of homoeroticism that may be present determines what feels comfortable or not on a man date, as Mr. Speiser and Mr. Putman discovered in their squeamishness at the Modern.

Jim O'Donnell, a professor of business and economics at Huntington University in Indiana, who said his life had been changed by a male friend, urges men to get over their discomfort in socializing one on one because they have much to gain from the emotional support of male friendships. (Women understand this instinctively, which is why there is no female equivalent to the awkward man date; straight women have long met for dinner or a movie without a second thought.)"
[...]

Not surprisingly, this article started quite a stir all over the place. Check out these reactions.

Hopefully, He Won't Be Back!

I was against the Governator as a candidate and as an elected official but I thought that since he was from a highly democratic state, he'd stay close to the middle on most things. But, unfortunately, he must have taken his win and his honeymoon year as a "mandate" because he's been trying to go waaay right of center in the same way that the President has.

After reaching out to Democrats and Independents and putting together a Cabinet that was varied politically, Arnie, as the home folks call him, stepped off the bipartisan path and started pushing policies that look like Washington West.

His pension reform plan is analogous to George Bush’s social-security privatization with the same disastrous reception, and his redistricting proposal to gain Republican advantage looks like Tom DeLay’s Texas all over again. Emboldened by the reception he received at the Republican Convention last summer, Schwarzenegger fell into the trap of thinking he has national potential and that he could bypass the Democratic-controlled legislature and govern by initiatives propelled onto the state ballot.

Of the four initiatives he proposed for a possible special election in November, none are popular beyond the Republican base, and he’s already had to withdraw his signature proposal to privatize the state’s pension system. Switching from defined benefits to individual 401-K plans as Schwarzenegger wanted meant widows of deceased policemen wouldn’t get disability or death benefits. Not many Californians fit into that category, but those who do made heart-wrenching 30-second ads.

The remaining three initiatives are all in trouble. Turning redistricting over to a panel of retired judges won the endorsement of the liberal group Common Cause, but the plan reeks of partisan self-interest in California where Republicans would stand to gain. Introducing merit pay and cutting back teacher tenure in the public schools has won the enmity of the powerful state teachers union, and an initiative to give the governor broad new powers to cut the budget across the board looks like a non-starter since voters thought Arnold had already fixed the problem with his last initiative. Adding to Arnold’s woes, the cost of taking these measures to the public in a special election carries a price tag of $65 to $70 million dollars.

I saw Arnold's wife Maria on Oprah last week. She was introduced as The First Lady of California. But, I always had the feeling that Arnold jumped into the re-call race without consulting Maria or thinking about his family. That action hero sized ego got to the best of him and he announced his candidacy while riding a wave of arrogance on late night TV. From Maria's comments on Oprah, I gather that I was right about her not liking the idea of her husband being Governor and she said that she'd rather have him home than in Sacramento. Well, so would I. If my vote has anything to do with it, he'll go home and he won't be back.

Bad Boy Out Of Control

Uh Oh! Sound the alarms! Yet another black mogul is selling part of his business to a big conglomerate with the hopes of making even more money! Was I not just talking about this yesterday? Now we can add record/fashion/reality show powerhouse, P. Diddy to the list.

P. Diddy agreed Thursday to sell a 50 percent stake in Bad Boy Records to the Warner Music Group. The deal, reportedly valued at $30 million, would give the label joint control over the Bad Boy catalog, which includes three hit albums from Notorious B.I.G. and Diddy's solo albums, among others.

Diddy will continue to serve as the CEO of Bad Boy, whose roster includes new boy band B5 along with Mase, Carl Thomas and Mario Winans. Neither side would comment on the terms of the deal, according to a Reuters report.

The rapper/entrepreneur bought back full control of Bad Boy three years ago from Arista Records and in 2003 estimated that the label was worth $100 million. But Bad Boy's fortunes have flagged of late, with releases slowing to a trickle. Welcome Back, last year's heralded return of former platinum-selling rapper Mase — who gave up rapping in 1999 to join the ministry — fell flat. And a comeback album by New Edition has sold only 244,000 copies, according to SoundScan.

The promise of cash and marketing resources from Warner Bros. could boost Bad Boy's output to eight to 10 albums a year, though, with the first release under the new deal coming from Atlanta rap crew Boyz N Da Hood, followed by the debut from B5.

"There have been a lot of boutique record labels that come and go, and we're still here," Combs told the AP. "This has ensured for the next couple of years that we have the right financial backing, the right financial structure, the right partners to remain a force in the music industry."

The Big Negro Tip Jar

Yeah, I seem to be focused on black folks this week. This time it is because BET announced that it would be canceling its nightly news program in lieu of one-minute news briefs. It's not like I've been a big fan of BET. I really only pause on the station while surfing. But when this gets announced, almost every bourgeois person of American Negro descent had something to say about it. Unless there was a special interview with someone timely and prominent (like when they interviewed Trent Lott and John Kerry), I never tuned into that news program anyway. I just didn't see the need for a black news program when I'm a CNN/MSNBC junkie. Anyhow, people got all disjointed and harped, once again, that Bob Johnson had sold his company to a white conglomerate (Viacom). I basically agree with this guy over at The Black Informant.

I seriously do not think that it would not have mattered if Bob Johnson still owned BET. It was already heading down this path a long time ago.

On the other hand, I can'’t be mad at BET, after all it is Black ENTERTAINMENT Television. I think that this really ticks off many blacks because of something I talked about a while ago on this site: One black person’s success equals community-wide representation.

Are successful Black businesses "selling out" or "cashing in"?

This does shine some light on the much bigger issue that there is a lack of significant news coverage within the black community. Most black newspapers today steer clear of discussing issues NOT RELATED TO RACISM. If you want to know how the trade deficit has an impact on blacks here in America, stock and investment news (besides Blackenterprise.com), and other issues on an international level, don’t pick up most black newspapers ...

On the issue of black entrepreneurs selling their businesses for a profit to bigger, better corporations, I say more power to them. But there is this contingent which seems to be under the odd delusion that every successful black person's business and bank account is one big negro tip jar to be split up amongst "the peoples" at the end of every day. BET was not the black PBS station. It was a for profit business owned by a black man who had every right to make some green from who-some-ever gave him the best return on his dollar. The same was true for Essence Magazine, Soft Sheen, Johnson Products (of Ultra Sheen, Afro Sheen, Optimum fame).

The BET Nightly News being phased out is an indication that the demographics of the viewing audience don't want news programs mixed in with their booty shake videos and slapstick Comic View comedians. Obviously they feel no profits will be lost by letting these folks get their news from "the Jet.". That's business!

The Negro Who Would Be Pope

Honestly, I haven't really been keeping up with the Pope race. Since I don't agree with a lot of Catholic doctrine (aint-female priests, anti-married priests, anti-contraception in a world of AIDS, anti-choice) it won't make me a difference who gets the big cross, the ring and the fancy robes. But, with the exponential growth of the church in Africa, people are somehow fixated on (excited or worried about) on the African contender for the role. The upcoming Newsweek will feature an interview with Biographer Gerard O'Connell on his knowledge of who this Cardinal is.

[...]
Do you think, as some suggest, that it's too early for an African pope?
Too early for whom?

For the church?
I think this is a strange argument because you've had three popes of African origin in the first 500 years of the Christian Church, and you have 200 million Catholics of African origin today. Furthermore, there should be no question of ethnic differences in the leadership of the Church; that would be alien to the Christian Gospel. Then, in the wider world, you have had Africans as secretary general of the United Nations, UNESCO and FAO. So it is a very weak argument to say it is too early. I think it would be a truly dramatic, not to say revolutionary step, if the conclave were to elect him, just as it was revolutionary when the cardinals in 1978 chose the first non-Italian Pope for 450 years, John Paul II. In 1978, the major division in the world was East-West, today it is North-South.

How much would Arinze’s personal history influence his leadership style?
He's had first-hand experience of civil war, famine, great poverty, and of reconstructing a church after the missionaries were thrown out after that war. Later, as the Vatican's point-man for dialogue with other religions, he's gained invaluable experience in this all important area for world peace. He has dialogued with leaders of all religions, and has done so with ease, without ever giving offense. He firmly believes the religions of the world can and must work together for world peace and the good of humanity. Like Pope John Paul II, he rejects the notion of a clash of civilizations and insists that all believers should work hard together to prevent this theory becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
[...]

Black Holy Father?

I was raised in a black Catholic school and church in a black neighborhood in Chicago and, looking back, I was probably a very religious child. However, going off to a predominately white Jesuit University (Marquette), gave me an introduction to the reality of religion and race in America. That commonality I thought I'd have with my classmates because of faith, ended up going down in flames because I was black. I just find it ironic that my first constant contact with racism came at the hands of my white, ethnic (Irish, Italian, Polish) Catholic peers. If it wasn't the drunk guys on weekends yelling slurs as I maneuvered the campus, it was ignorant white girls in the dorm attempting to put me down with smirky remarks like "I though all you guys were Baptist" - mind you, I was the only one of "them guys" most of them ever seen in the flesh prior to college.

So if this poll pans out and Francis Arinze of Nigeria becomes the new pope, I wonder how my former classmates (and their children) will feel about him being black? I know the white Catholics in Chicago, relatively recently, took great issue with having black schools in their sports leagues.

Oh wait! I know! Most of them will suck it up and say "well, it's not like he's like the blacks here!" I just pray they don't choke trying to call him "Holy Father."

Plymouth Rock Landed On Them Too!!

Considering that we still have a federal holiday commemorating Christopher Columbus for discovering this land that was already inhabited by "Indians" , (fool didn't even know where the heck he was) I wonder if we'll ever come to this?

"A statue in Sydney of Captain Cook bearing the inscription that he 'discovered' Australia has been denounced as offensive to Aborigines.

Linda Burney, an Aboriginal MP in the New South Wales parliament, said the claim was insulting because it ignored the fact that Aborigines had lived in Australia for 60,000 years when the 18th century explorer arrived.

She conceded that the statue needed to be seen in its historical context; it was erected in the city's Hyde Park in 1879. But she said: 'It is insulting in the sense that it is wrong.'

The issue was raised by a councillor who recently noticed the inscription.

'It's stating by implication that people of indigenous background did not exist,' said Michael Lee. He wants to see a new statue, commemorating an Aboriginal leader.

Richard Waterhouse, a historian from Sydney University, argued that the inscription should not be changed.

He said: 'It relates to the fact that all nations need a foundation myth and Cook is part of the British foundation myth of Australia.'

Speaking of foundation myths, when are the Brits going to stop calling the United States the former colonies? I heard that phrase, again, last weekend during coverage of the Royal Wedding. It's been a couple hundred years, UK folks, and we fought a war to get rid of you. We won!

Playing Politics at Kids' Expense

What kind of doctor would do this?

"Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has buried a provision in the 'Protecting America in the War on Terror Act' to insulate the pharmaceutical industry from liability for venal actions that may have poisoned an entire generation of Americans.

Mounting evidence suggests that Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative in children's vaccines, may be responsible for the exponential growth of autism, attention deficit disorder, speech delays and other childhood neurological disorders now epidemic in the United States.

Prior to 1989, American infants generally received three vaccinations. In the early 1990s, public-health officials dramatically increased the number of Thimerosal-containing vaccinations without considering the cumulative impact of the mercury load on developing brains.

Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative in children's vaccines, may be responsible for the exponential growth of autism."

With this, they are making it perfectly legal to poison our children without consequence.

The Black Harvard Beats Harvard

I guess this means that more Johnny Cochrans are on the way.

"The Howard University Law School's moot court team took first place in the American Bar Association Mock Trial Competition, the first team representing a historically black college or university to do so.

'We are the best trial advocates,' said a member of Howard's Huver I. Brown Trial Adovocacy Moot Court Team.

Eighteen law schools, including two-time, reigning champion Harvard University, competed.

'It solidified the fact that although others think we are a third-tier law school, we are the best trial advocates,' said Chris Stewart, a third-year law student and a team member.

'No mathematical equation can calculate our excellence in trial advocacy.'

Stewart was named best advocate in the April 2 competition.

The Huver I. Brown Trial Adovocacy Moot Court Team includes 20 law students in their second and third years. The tournament, now in its 15th year, hosted teams of four.

Stewart, Adonna Bannister, Nisha Brooks and Derrick Simmons represented the law school"

Thanks, But No Thanks

I saw Charles Barkley promoting his new book on The Big Idea with Donny Deutch last week and they got on the topic of politics. He went on to express some of his views - one of which was that he didn't need Bush's tax cut. He basically said that all that savings would be to him is gambling money for Vegas. They say that people who eat, drink, shop too much are gluttons whose inner voice never tells them that they've had enough. I'm hardly wealthy and could definitely use a tax cut (or a raise) but I am doing better than most and, ultimately, any tax cut would probably not help me individually as much as the collective tax cuts would help someone who needs it more. With this administration's power being bolstered by a so-called Christian element, I just find it ironic that material wealth for those who already have more than enough seems to be a bigger priority than watching out for those who have next to nothing. But, at least some of the nation's wealthiest, like Charles Barkley, are able to see that the greater good is more important than a relative few extra bucks in their pockets.

"'It's irresponsible to put America deeper into debt to give tax cuts to millionaires,'' the tax pledge stated.

It said it was ''wrong to give tax cuts to the wealthy instead of investing in education, research, job training, affordable housing, a healthy environment, vaccines, and emergency services.''

The pledge called on Congress ''to reject more tax cuts for wealthy Americans, roll back the existing tax cuts for the very wealthy instead of making them permanent, and support responsible, fair, and adequate taxes.''

Taxpayers who made more than $1 million received an average federal income tax break of $123,592 in 2004, according to the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution think tanks. This compared to $383, the average tax break in 2004 for the two-thirds of taxpayers who made less than $50,000 per year.

''The next time a politician says we can't afford to fund something you care about, ask yourself if $69 billion per year would help,'' said Scott Klinger, Responsible Wealth's co-director. ''When you hear that the only choices we have are to cut budgets, increase the deficit or increase your taxes, remember that $69 billion in tax breaks went to people who made more than $200,000 last year.''

Bill Gates Sr., co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation--the largest foundation on Earth--and father of the Microsoft Corp. co-founder, has spearheaded Responsible Wealth's campaign to oppose regressive changes to the tax code and to reform and preserve the estate tax."

President Butthole

Naturally ...

Bush Indifferent Over Falling Poll Numbers:

"The Republican president's job approval is at 44 percent, with 54 percent disapproving. Only 37 percent have a favorable opinion of the work being done by Congress, according to an AP-Ipsos poll.

Bush's job approval was at 49 percent in January, the same month in which he was sworn in for a second term, while Congress' was at 41 percent.

The president was asked Friday about his falling ratings in some polls, and he claimed indifference.

'Some of them were going up the other day,' he responded as he flew back from Rome on Air Force One. 'You can find them going up and you can find them going down. You can pretty much find out what you want in polls is my point.'"

The DeLays Of Our Lives

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the DeLays of our lives ... I wish! I still don't know how deep in the quicksand this guy will have to sink in order for people to stop trying to rescue him. But while his partisan cohorts had been previously slow to back away from the deep hole, it seems as though his constituency is wearing thin a little faster.

Democratic activists in the suburban Houston district have been composing a wish list of possible candidates as the embattled DeLay answers questions about his record.

In past elections, the Republican who won his House seat in 1984 has coasted to victory, often with more than 60 percent of the vote. Last November he won by 55-41 percent.

This week, a Houston Chronicle poll in the district found that 49 percent said they would vote for someone else. That number has sparked the most interest in a Democratic primary in the district in years.

"Now that DeLay is being pushed ever closer to the political brink, everyone is realizing that any of these challengers on his worst day might be better than DeLay on his best day," said longtime Democratic strategist Kelly Fero.

One can only hope that Tom DeLay, too, will pass.

Camera Or Gun?

Two years into the Iraq war and our soldiers still cannot tell the difference between a camera and a gun?

Reporters Sans Frontieres today called for an investigation after a freelance cameraman working for CBS in Iraq was shot by US troops who mistook his camera for a gun.

The cameraman, an Iraqi national who has not been named, sustained a hip injury after he was shot near the northern city of Mosul.

It is the second time US forces have mistaken a camera for a weapon; the Reuters journalist Mazen Dana was killed on August 17 2003 in Baghdad when his camera was mistaken for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

RSF called the shooting "unacceptable" and called for a "thorough and transparent investigation".

"Once again the US forces have targeted a journalist just doing his job," the press freedom organisation said.

With the other "accidents" involving journalists, it's getting rather hard to believe that some of these incidents aren't done on purpose.

In Other News ...

There is more goin on in the world than a dead pontiff.

"While all the media's eyes are on Rome, and as the networks shuttle their celebrities to makeshift studios at Vatican City, other stuff--real news--is happening.

A U.S. chopper goes down in Afghanistan, killing at least 16 people and underscoring the fact that this forgotten war is still raging.

A study by the National Academy of Sciences reveals that our nuclear power plants, and especially the pools of spent fuel around them, are highly vulnerable to attack, three and a half years after 9/11.

And 32 Nobel Prize-winners come out with a statement urging the members of the nuclear weapons club to take their lethal loads off of hair-trigger alert.

The statement, signed by the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, among others, notes that 'thousands of nuclear weapons in the US and Russia are on launch-on-warning status, and that the megatonnage involved remains more than enough to destroy civilization and perhaps the human race.'"

...

Shipments Of Children

As the pope is laid to rest today, I find it ironic that one of the most Catholic countries in the world is one of the purveyors this kind of sin

"Together with four other teenage girls, Julia boarded a passenger ship bound for Manila last November, one of the dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Filipino children being trafficked to Manila every day, most of them ending up in prostitution dens or in warehouses and factories where they are treated virtually as slaves.

It is a modus operandi that is being repeated all over the country, particularly in the poorest areas. As a result, the Philippines is now one of the hot spots in Southeast Asia for trafficking in persons, especially children, which generates approximately $10 billion a year worldwide, according to the Unicef, the UN agency that protects children.

According to the Unicef, a 'good proportion' of the estimated 60,000 to 100,000 exploited children in the Philippines have been trafficked. A decade ago, a national survey determined that a quarter million Filipino children were working and living away from their homes.

While most trafficking is done domestically, many of the Filipino victims end up as prostitutes in Japan, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Europe."

Blogger Sucks !!

I don't know what the deal is but I had problems trying to post all day yesterday, lost posts this morning and am seriously ready to give MovableType or WordPress a chance. The problem is that I am using Tripod to host my domain and they don't support PHP. So that means I'll have to change hosts and may end up having to be down for a while because they aren't exactly supportive when you try to move (same thing with Geocities).

In any case, blogger has been truly frustrating over the past few months so I'm going to have to do what I have to do.

The Issue Is Consistency

I hate to post an entire article or essay but I so wholeheartedly agree with Jim Wallis's take on the Pope, Terri Schiavo and other recent events that I can't help it.

"It's sadly rare for a church leader, or for the leaders of most of our dominant institutions, to demonstrate a spirituality that attracts millions of people around the world - particularly so many young people. But the scene of millions lining up to simply pass by the body of John Paul II in Rome this week is remarkable indeed. The enormous attraction to this pope goes far beyond agreement with all the positions of the Catholic Church or even all of the decisions of his papacy. Indeed the 'ecumenical' and even 'interfaith' attraction to John Paul II reflects his own practice of reaching out to more people in more faith traditions than any other pope ever has.

One of the great attractions of Pope John Paul II's spirituality was his consistency. At the core of Catholic social teaching is the idea of a 'consistent ethic of life,' an ethic that seeks to protect and defend human life and dignity wherever and whenever they are threatened, and which challenges the selective moralities of both the political left and right.

As I've been watching the non-stop coverage of the pope's death, I have been struck by how many people - especially political leaders - would like to claim the pontiff as their own, as someone who affirmed their causes and commitments. At the same time, they tend to ignore the other things this pope said and did that directly challenge their own political decisions.

Many conservatives are pointing to the pope's clear teachings on abortion, euthanasia, and sexual morality, which are often contrary to the positions of many liberals. But they seem to forget the strong and passionate opposition of this pope to the war in Iraq, capital punishment, and the operations of a global economy that neglect the poor and deny human rights for millions. This pope helped bring down communism, but also was no capitalist and constantly lifted up a vision of economic justice. Promoting a 'culture of life' was the language of John Paul's papacy before it became the rhetoric of President Bush, and its meaning goes far beyond the narrow interpretations of the Republican Party. Yes, Pope John Paul II certainly opposed John Kerry's views on abortion, but the White House did not get the photo op they wanted when the president visited the Vatican and the pope shook his finger disapprovingly at George W. Bush over the American war in Iraq.

Consistency is deeply attractive to people who long for public integrity - particularly to a new generation. The same lack of consistency in the politically selective eulogies of the pope also characterized the highly politicized responses to the sad story and death of Terri Schiavo.

Personally, I cannot understand why parents willing to take care of their disabled daughter were not allowed to by a husband who had moved on to another life and family. Terri Schiavo was severely mentally disabled but was not dying, and we don't decide to end the lives of many similarly disabled people, even children, whose mental capacities greatly diminish their quality of life. As my wife, Joy Carroll, put it, 'the issue is not their quality of life, but the ethical quality of our society.' And in situations of medical, scientific, or legal complexity, the morally safer course is always to err on the side of life. However, it became painfully clear that for many political partisans the issue wasn't so much the life of this young woman but other related political issues and agendas. And a leaked Republican memo about firing up the conservative base of the party and even defeating Democratic opponents in Florida were way out of line.

Again, the issue is consistency. Will Schiavo's defenders now also care more about the loss of civilian lives in Iraq or prisoners (even innocent ones) put to death on death row? Will they refuse to accept the silent tsunami that takes the lives of 30,000 children every day due to hunger and disease, or even support the Medicaid funding for vulnerable people that helped sustain Schiavo's life for many years? Somehow I doubt it.

Consistency is spiritually and morally attractive. We didn't see much of it in the tragic drama of Schiavo. But the life of John Paul II is a lesson of its truth and power for all of us."

The bolded text is for my emphasis as it mirrors what I've been thinking all along. The good news is that the grip that the zealous right has had on Bush's adminstration seems to be loosening and what looks like crazy (on an ordinary day) is finally being seen as such.

And Speaking Of Petty!

Given Bush's track record of only surrounding himself with people who agree with him and of retaliating against those who disagree, there is not a doubt in my mind that he deliberately snubbed Jimmy Carter by leaving him off the official delegation to the Pope's funeral.

The president was leading a small U.S. delegation that included former President Clinton and Bush’s father, the first President Bush, first lady Laura Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Carter had hoped to go as well, but backed off when told the Vatican had limited the official delegation to five "and there were also others who were eager to attend," said Jon Moore, a spokesman for the Carter Center in Atlanta.

Carter, a Democrat, was a strong critic of Bush in last year's U.S. election campaign.

The White House sought to play down any rift with the former president. "We did reach out to him to participate in the delegation," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "It was his decision to make. We would have been more than happy for him to be part of the delegation."

Moore said the Carters "always relish memories" of the pope’s 1979 visit to Washington, the only time a pope has been to the White House.

President Bush is more than juvenile and this is yet one more illustration of that. They can sugar coat it however they want but Ms. Laura needs to step aside so that the first and only President to host a pope in the White House can go. It is also more than ironic that the man whose life closely mirrors the life of the Pope, moreso than anyone else in the delegation, is shunned!

... Just shaking my head!

I Wanna Be A Cowboy Baby!

While I may not agree with President Bush's plans for amnesty for thousands of illegal immigrants, I do understand that somebody, on both sides, is benefiting - big business (the only thing Bush is truly interested in) and poor Mexicans looking for more money than they can make at home doing the most menial of jobs. There wouldn't be a constant stream of people sneaking in if something wasn't working. Still, these crackpots in disguise have formed a volunteer, "minuteman" militia group to help the official border patrol do its job. Maybe it's just me but why have I conjured up images of red neck yahoo's packing pistols out in the desert playing cowboys and Indians?

After a blitz of media attention and a boisterous kick-off rally, the ''Minuteman Project" mustered only a few isolated outposts of border-scanning volunteers during its first official overnight shift yesterday.

Instead of bands of ''minutemen" stationed every few hundred yards across 23 miles, as organizers had hoped, the only volunteers in the porous, cactus-dotted border near here consisted of 11 men, some armed and many visibly nervous. A group of undetermined size was stationed more than 15 miles to the west, volunteers said.

''I feel this is one of the most important things I've done in my life,' Tim Donnelly, 38, of Twin Peaks, Calif., said early yesterday. As he stood near his pickup truck, Donnelly wore a Colt .45 handgun strapped in a holster.

What's sad is that people have convinced themselves that they are doing the right thing - against the President's wishes (who wants to bet these same people didn't vote for John Kerry?). I think it is quite sad that this effort is "one of the most important things" some people have ever done in their lives ... guarding a border trying to keep desperate and willing workers from fulfilling the same dreams that they, themselves, must have. This whole mentality, I feel, is a result of the "bring it on" stance the president took in Iraq. The mock cowboy routine is now seen as an acceptable standard of behavior where the ends justifies the means - regardless of the law or the well being of others. Yes, this too I'm blaming on Bush! He set the standard for crazy and every nutcase in the country will be trying to reach it!

You're Out Of The Woods, You're Out Of The Dark, You're Out Of The Night

Are the effects of the poppies wearing off of those who allowed their party to be hijacked by religious extremists? Here's hoping!

The controversy over Terri Schiavo has raised concerns among many Americans about the moral agenda of the Republican Party and the political power of conservative Christians, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll finds.

In the survey, most Americans disapprove of the efforts by President Bush and Congress to draw federal courts into the dispute over treatment of the brain-damaged Florida woman. She died last week.

Some old stereotypes about the two parties have been reversed:

• By 55%-40%, respondents say Republicans, traditionally the party of limited government, are "trying to use the federal government to interfere with the private lives of most Americans" on moral values.
  
  
• By 53%-40%, they say Democrats, who sharply expanded government since the Depression, aren't trying to interfere on moral issues.
  [...]
  

The long and disastrous sleep that the Rove/Bush machine lulled many supporters into seems to be slowly ending with a new dawn. I just hope it's not too late.

Na Na Na Na Na!

Is it me or is this just petty?
We won! We invaded Iraq, decimated the country, captured and jailed Saddam Hussein and helped stage elections. Saddam has a trial pending. Other than rubbing his nose in it, what was the point in this?

"Two months after elections, Iraq's new government finally began to take shape Wednesday as lawmakers elected as president a Kurdish leader who promised to represent all ethnic and religious groups in a session broadcast across the country - and shown to Saddam Hussein in his jail cell.

A prominent Shiite Arab was expected to be named on Thursday as prime minister, the most powerful post in what will be Iraq's first democratically elected government in 50 years. That would open the way to picking a Cabinet.

Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani was chosen for the largely ceremonial job of president, while Adel Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite, and current interim President Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni Arab, were elected vice presidents.

Talabani's selection and the expected choice of Ibrahim al-Jaafari as prime minister further consolidate the power shift in Iraq, where both the Shiite Arab majority and the Kurdish minority were oppressed, often brutally, under Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime."

Can we please invest efforts in getting the electricity back on 24/7, children nourished and treated for disease and gasoline back to normal availability and prices? I could care less about sticking it to Saddam for good measure. That is what his trial is for.

From OJ's to No J's

Between the deaths of Terri Schiavo and the Pope, Johnny Cochran's death seems to have been lost in the chaos. But, on the evening of his death, I did catch a segment on MSNBC's The Abrams Report where Dan Abrams asked a guest if Cochran regretted getting OJ acquitted. I don't remember the guest or the response because my own response came flowing out. Why should he have regretted doing his job - a job he was paid very well to do? The best case could not have been shattered had it been air tight. I was also sick of hearing about him using the alleged race card when it is and has always been a documented fact that the LAPD has racist and corrupt practices.

Heck, had I been on the jury and had doubts about police carelessness, tampering and racism I would have let OJ off too. There has to come a time when white police officers stop acting like Southern cops of yesteryear and begin to act as the color blind protectors and servants like they are supposed to be. Ironically, Johnny Cochran had been defending men with far lower profiles and financial means than OJ for years and, sadly, the cases weren't dissimilar. He basically had the defense down pat because it was the same old story ... different negro. The OJ case may have made him a household name but some of his best work had been done in the years prior.

In 1966, Cochran defended Leonard Deadwyler, an unarmed black motorist shot by an LAPD officer while he was taking his pregnant wife to the hospital. The LAPD had long been recognized by many as America's poster police department for brutal treatment of blacks. Deadwyler was the latest in the legion of blacks that had been shot by the police under dubious circumstances. During the coroner's inquest into the Deadwyler killing that was televised, Cochran riveted public attention on the LAPD's policies and practices. The officer was exonerated, but Cochran's skill at fingering police abuse heightened public awareness of racism, police violence, and the need for major reforms in police practices.

Over the years, Cochran's fame and reputation grew, and he got richer in the process. Yet, he still continued to battle police abuse. He waged a quarter century fight to free Black Panther Elmer Geronimo Pratt who was falsely convicted of the murder of a white woman in 1972. Cochran exposed how the government used paid agents to frame black militants and disrupt black organizations.

"The Simpson case was yet another example to Cochran of how a black defendant, even a rich, black, celebrity defendant such as Simpson, could be victimized by the criminal justice. The issues again were racism, and police misconduct. Cochran did not as I mistakenly believed play on race to manipulate the jurors and get Simpson off. He meticulously picked apart the flaws, contradictions and inconsistencies in the prosecutions case. The case was won on the evidence or lack thereof, and not race, and Cochran paid a steep price for his skill. Much of the public enraged at the verdict, blamed him for letting a murderer skip away free.
[...]
In his final years, Cochran railed at the Bush administration for trampling on civil rights in the war on terrorism. In one of his last major speeches at the mostly white, upper crust Commonwealth Club in Los Angeles in 2002, Cochran blasted then-Attorney General John Ashcroft for eroding civil rights and warned, 'They're not going to say later, hey, you know, we're just taking those for a little while until we work this little problem out.' Cochran understood that civil rights were not a 'little problem' but were precious commodities that had to be safeguarded at all costs, and that the Bush administration imperiled those rights. That's why Johnnie Cochran should be remembered for much more than O.J."

On the one hand, I'm sorry that he is so defined by a case that, once again, highlighted the vast racial divide in this country. It was no big coincidence that most blacks thought OJ was innocent while most whites thought he was guilty - before the trial even began. His acquittal still has regular citizens and cable TV pundits frothing at the mouth and it's been a decade. Ironically, Robert Blake was recently acquitted of murdering his wife too. I think I'm more convinced of his guilt than I was of OJ's. Yet, where is the outrage, venom and certainty that a killer is back on the loose? Was his plump, unattractive wife's life less valuable than the younger, prettier Nicole's? Not only do I think it was less valuable in many people's eyes, I believe that the outrage over Nicole was because a black man stood accused? That's the same old pathological fixation that people have had with black men and white women since the very first slave ship was docked. I'm not sure that will ever change and as long as it doesn't, we will need many a Johnny Cochran to save the day.

Oddly, during the coverage of Johnny Cochran, many law professors mentioned that many of their students - of all races - sited Cochran as the reason why they decided to study law. Though he was hated and villified by many for effectively defending his client, people recognized the sheer brilliance of his efforts and, no doubt, would call him in a New York minute if they ever found themselves in need of legal services. I didn't watch much of the trial back then because once I saw him mock the theory of OJ using a disguise by putting on that black wool hat and asking "Who am I," I knew that the games had begun and there was a good chance that Johnny Cochran would be victorious. So, rest in peace Brother Cochran. I personally will never be sure if OJ did it. But, I will remember the man who gave me reasonable doubt.