Bloodiest Month Since January

He can nominate a wingnut for SCOTUS but he can't hide behind the dead! October has been the deadliest month since January for American soldiers - despite the bogus milestone of Iraq accepting a new constitution.

A car bomb killed 20 people in Iraq's second city of Basra on Monday at the end of the bloodiest month for U.S. troops in Iraq since early this year.

Witnesses said a suicide bomber targeted Iraqi troops.

Seven U.S. troops were killed by bombs near Baghdad, the military said on Monday, taking October's death toll to 93, the highest in one month since January, when 107 died. The number of Americans killed in Iraq passed the 2,000 mark a week ago.

A More Paternal Feeling

Well gee! Yathink? Of course it has a more paternal feeling to it! He could be the chick's GRANDPA!

Woody Allen says his relationship with wife Soon-Yi Previn, which has a 'more paternal feeling,' is 'one of the truly lucky things that happened to me in my life.'

Allen, a two-time Oscar winner, married Previn in 1997. She is the adopted daughter of Andre Previn and Mia Farrow, Allen's former girlfriend.

In 1992, Allen was discovered to be having an affair with Previn, then 22, while he was dating Farrow. He and Previn have two daughters, ages 5 and 6.

'I'm sure there are things that I might have done differently,' he says in an interview in Vanity Fair magazine, on newsstands Nov. 8. 'Probably in retrospect I should have bowed out of that relationship (with Farrow) much earlier than I did.'

But Allen, who will be 70 on Dec. 1, says age hasn't brought wisdom.

'I've gained no wisdom, no insight, no mellowing. I would make all the same mistakes again, today,' he tells the magazine.

Despite the calamitous beginnings of his relationship with Previn, he says, 'It was just completely fortuitous. One of the truly lucky things that happened to me in my life.'

'I don't ever feel that I'm with a hostile or threatening person. It's got a more paternal feeling to it.'

I'm sure he's not with a hostile or threatening person. Seducing children tends to leave them pretty brainwashed. Perverted daughter rapist!

Activist Judges

This is a perfect pick for the radical right who has somehow managed to twist the term "activist judges" into something that defines any judge who doesn't agree with their fringe views. Instead of calming the seas of an already stormy country, Bush chooses to further incite strife by trying to appease the nutjobs who want a judge who will interpret the constitution the way the founders intended (you know, the ones who barred women from voting and owned slaves).

Unlike the nomination of Miers, which was derailed Thursday by Bush’s conservative allies, Alito faces strong opposition from liberals.

On abortion rights, and based on a 1991 case in which he supported spousal notification, Alito favors more restrictions than either the Supreme Court has allowed or O’Connor has supported.

On gun rights, Alito in 1996 was the only appeals judge to vote against upholding Congress’ authority to ban fully automatic machine guns. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence sarcastically described “Machine Gun Sammy” as a “perfect Halloween pick.”

Alito had argued for greater state rights in reasoning that Congress had no authority to regulate private gun possession.

In the Senate, Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said lawmakers must “find out if the man replacing Miers is too radical for the American people.”

“President Bush would leave the Supreme Court looking less like America and more like an old boys club,” Reid added, referring to the fact that Alito is neither a woman nor a minority.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called it a “needlessly provocative nomination. Instead of uniting the country through his choice, the president has chosen to reward one faction of his party, at the risk of dividing the country.”

Well, let the games begin!

No Policy To Rebuild

Though I'm certainly not surprised, it seems that along with no plans for exit, there was no plan for rebuilding the place we decimated either.

The US government had “no comprehensive policy or regulatory guidelines” in place for staffing the management of postwar Iraq, according to the top government watchdog overseeing the country’s reconstruction.

The lack of planning had plagued reconstruction since the US-led invasion, and been exacerbated by a “general lack of co-ordination” between US government agencies charged with the rebuilding of Iraq, said Stuart Bowen, the special inspector-general for Iraq reconstruction, in a report released on Sunday.

His 110-page quarterly report, delivered to Congress at the weekend, has underscored how a “reconstruction gap” is emerging that threatens to leave many projects planned by the US on the drawing board.

“Nearly two years ago, the US developed a reconstruction plan that specified a target number of projects that would be executed using the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund.

“That number was revised downward [last year]. Now it appears that the actual number of projects completed will be even lower,” Mr Bowen says in his report.

Increasing security costs were “the most salient” reason behind the shortfall, he concluded.

Brit Needs A Beat Down

When I first read this I brushed it off because, even though it sounded bad, I assumed I knew what he meant. Yet, this is exactly the problem with the nuances of "unintentional" racism.

From Fox News Sunday this morning:

JUAN WILLIAMS: You can try to minimize it, but the fact that you have Scooter Libby, so involved in justifying going to war, and in the posture of trying to smear a critic of that justification. I think is pretty revealing and pretty damaging to the Bush White House. I think they'’re going to have to rebuild a sense of trust with the American People. And that'’s why when Brit asked this question, why did he have to lie, he felt the need to lie if he did lie, but by all indications he'’s going to say I didn'’t remember it quite the way this person remembered and all the like. That’s not very strong in my book, and I think Fitzgerald did a terrific job on Friday. But the reason he felt the need was to make it clear that he was not involved in what really was a conspiracy to defame Joe Wilson.

BRIT HUME: Juan, somebody needs to hose you down.

At some point, there has to be a certain level of sensitivity and enough understanding of history to respect what black people have gone through in this country. It's ironic that the same day that Rosa Parks lies in state in the Capitol, Brit Hume makes a reference to "hosing" a black man. The scenes of dogs and hoses being unleashed on ordinary black citizens who were having a peaceful march were some of the most vivid of that era. Brit Hume is certainly old enough to have seen that footage live in his own living room and, albeit it was probably a freudian slip, he should have learned something from being in the company of Juan week after week. If I thought Juan let that statement go over his head, I was wrong once I saw the clip. The look Juan gave him sent a chill up my spine. I don't know what happened when the cameras stopped but I have a feeling that Brit may have gotten more than a mere history lesson from Juan.

Nutjobs Galor

It's bad enough I have to be subjected to the wingnuts and nutjobs who have jijacked the Bush Administration in America but, for Pete's sake, why do these folks have to come out of the woodwork at the same time?

Iran's ultraconservative president - spurning international outrage over his remarks about Israel - joined more than a million demonstrators who flooded the streets of the capital and other major cities Friday to back his call for the destruction of the Jewish state.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stood fast behind his assertion that Israel should be wiped off the map and repeated the call during the nationwide protests Friday, the Muslim day of prayer.

But in an apparent attempt to blunt international outrage over Ahmadinejad's comments, the Iranian Embassy in Moscow issued a statement saying the Iranian leader did not want to 'engage in a conflict.'

Marching alongside the protesters, the 47-year-old former mayor of Tehran and one-time Republican Guard commander renewed his criticism of the West.

'They become upset when they hear any voice of truth-seeking. They think they are the absolute rulers of the world,' he said during the al-Quds - or Jerusalem - Day protest, which was among the largest since they were first held in 1979 after Shiite Muslim clerics took power in Iran.

His fellow marchers carried placards reading 'Death to Israel, death to America.' It is not uncommon for an Iranian president to join marches in the capital. Ahmadinejad was accompanied by five bodyguards, but otherwise security was not out of the ordinary for such an event.

This Iranian kook wouldn't have even been elected had the US not continued to demonize Iran. Now, they are battling our crazy rhetoric by spewing some even crazier ... and it's getting old!

What Rock Heads!

You know the wingnuts are going to try to spin lying, perjury and obstruction of justice into something that is not so bad but, Jeebus, at least make sense. It should not matter if Valerie Plame was under deep cover when she was outed. Once you reveal that someone is/was a CIA agent who does/has done undercover operations, you ruin her career and possibly jeopardize the safety of those who worked with her. The fact remains that Libby had no business calling reporters to gossip about Wilson's wife. Then he lied about doing so! Period!

Last night, Sean Hannity said this:

"I don’t think anybody exposed anything. I think everybody knew in town what [Valerie Wilson] did for a living. There’s no evidence that she was covert. None.”

And two nights ago, Anne Coulter said:

“She hadn’t been a covert agent for six years, and everyone in Washington knew she worked for the CIA.”


Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald knocked that talking point down hard today in the Libby indictment:

At all relevant times from January 1, 2002 through July 2003, Valerie Wilson was employed by the CIA, and her employment status was classified. Prior to July 14, 2003, Valerie Wilson’s affiliation with the CIA was not common knowledge outside the intelligence community.

What part of "against the law" aren't they getting?

Can We All Just Get Along?

I flipped through Fox when Bill was foaming at the mouth over this. Sorry, but if a community has enough people of one faith, I think local holidays can be adjusted accordingly.

On the October 27 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly called the idea of closing public schools for the observance of Muslim holidays 'absurd in a Judeo-Christian country.' O'Reilly made this remark during a discussion with Hillsborough County, Florida, commissioner Brian Blair, who opposed the Hillsborough County school board's decision to keep public schools open on Yom Kippur and Good Friday during the 2006-2007 school year, a departure from the school district's earlier practice of closing schools on those days. In December 2004, Hillsborough County Muslims, with the backing of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, asked the school board to close schools on the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Instead of giving students the day off on Eid Al-Fitr, the school board voted to keep schools open on Yom Kippur and Good Friday during the 2006-2007 school year, reasoning that the school district could close schools on days when a substantial number of students would be absent but could not close schools specifically for the observance of religious holidays. The school district will continue its practice of allowing students to take days off on religious holidays, although schools will remain open.
[...]

Bill needs to wake up to the fact that no matter what this country was founded upon, 200+ years later the cultural landscape has changed and we must change with it. I find it perfectly acceptable (particularly since there are probably more Muslims than Jews in America) for at least one Muslim holiday to be acknowledged. Christianity, Judaism and Islam are all branches of the same Abrahamic tree. I know we can all get along!

Book 'Em Dano!

One down ...

Vice presidential adviser I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby Jr. was indicted Friday on charges of obstruction of justice, making a false statement and perjury in the CIA leak case.

Karl Rove, President Bush's closest adviser, escaped indictment Friday but remained under investigation, his legal status a looming political problem for the White House.

The indictments stem from a two-year investigation by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald into whether Rove, Libby or any other administration officials knowingly revealed the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame or lied about their involvement to investigators.

The five-count indictment accuses Libby of lying about how and when he learned about CIA official Plame's identity in 2003 and then told reporters about it. The information was classified.

Get Over Yourself!

Bill O'Reilly clearly sniffs his own stinky socks every night to get high because he certainly has a warped view of his own importance.

On the October 25 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly unveiled his list of invited guests who he said will not appear on his television or radio programs. O'Reilly explained that the list contains 'people who are afraid to answer any questions.' Earlier in the show, O'Reilly described the list as 'people who will not stand up and answer questions about their bomb-throwing statements,' adding 'You have a moral obligation to do that. If you don't, you're a coward.'

The list:

• Dick Cheney (Vice president. O'Reilly acknowledged, 'He must be sick of getting our calls.')
  
• Michael Chertoff (Secretary of Homeland Security)
  
• Jeb Bush (Governor of Florida)
  
• Samuel Bodman (Secretary of Energy)
  
• Tom DeLay (Representative, R-TX)
  
• Howard Dean (chairman of the Democratic National Committee. According to O'Reilly, 'the biggest coward in the country')
  
• Cindy Sheehan (anti-war protester, founding member of Gold Star Families for Peace)
  
• John Kerry (Senator, D-MA)
  
• Brad King (state attorney for Florida's 5th Judicial Circuit)
  
• Jon Corzine (Senator, D-NJ)
  
• Jane Fonda (actress)
  
• Jesse Jackson (founder, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition)
  
• Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Senator, D-DE)
  
• George Pataki (Governor of New York. O'Reilly, 'He's so unsure of himself on TV.')
  
• Sheldon Silver (Speaker of the New York State Assembly)
  
• Al Gore (former vice president)
  
• Bill Clinton (former president)
  
• Andy Rooney (journalist, syndicated columnist, regular contributor to CBS' 60 Minutes)
  
• Richard Clarke (former counterterrorism adviser to presidents Clinton and Bush)
  
• Roger Mosey (Director of BBC Sport, former head of TV News at BBC News)
  
• American Civil Liberties Union (O'Reilly: 'Anybody from the ACLU is afraid.')
  
• National Public Radio (O'Reilly: 'The executives over there are afraid.')
  
• Oil and gas industry (O'Reilly: 'The heads of the oil companies are afraid.')
  
• Bill Moyers (journalist. O'Reilly: 'biggest mouth in town')
  
• Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (Governor of Louisiana)
  
• Ward Churchill (Professor of ethnic studies, the University of Colorado at Boulder)
  
• Barbra Streisand (Singer, actress. O'Reilly: 'All of these Hollywood people ... I mean, they're way out of control there.')
  

Is he frickin' kidding? Not going on his show to listen to his blowhard logic, yelling and bullying makes one a coward? Who on earth does he think he is? God?

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor

Just don't give me your old and fat-assed (and presumeably unhealthy)! At least that is what Wal-Mart says. This comes on the heels of yet another debate I was having regarding shopping at Wal-Mart vs. Target. I'm a Target person (though if they keep supporting pharmacists who want to deny women access to birth control, they will lose my dollars too) but many swear by Wal-Mart. I'd guess that any number of obese people swear by Wal-Mart too. They just better not expect to get a job there. While I understand that they want to maintain healthcare costs, this company does everything it can to ensure the largest profit possible no matter who gets ripped off in the process.

The paper said in the memorandum Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart's executive vice president for benefits, also recommends reducing 401(k) pension contributions and wooing younger, and presumably healthier, workers by offering education benefits.

The memo is quoted as expressing concern that workers with seven years' seniority earn more than workers with one year's seniority, but are no more productive, said the paper, which posted the memo on its Web site (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/business/26walmart.ready.html ). To discourage unhealthy job applicants, the paper said, Chambers suggests Wal-Mart arrange for 'all jobs to include some physical activity (e.g., all cashiers do some cart-gathering),'

The memo also proposed that employees pay more for their spouses' health insurance, called for cutting the company's 401(k) contributions to 3 percent of wages from 4 percent and for cutting company-paid life insurance policies.

The memo acknowledged that Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, had to walk a fine line in restraining benefits because critics attacked it for being stingy on wages and health coverage. Chambers in the memo acknowledged 46 percent of the children of Wal-Mart's 1.33 million United States employees were uninsured or on Medicaid.

Spiritual Not Religious

You fit in with: Spiritualism Your ideals are mostly spiritual, but in an individualistic way. While spirituality is very important in your life, organized religion itself may not be for you. It is best for you to seek these things on your own terms. 60% spiritual. 80% reason-oriented.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

You Don't Need A Sign

Look! Black people are generally "funny" about who cuts their hair and how it looks. Unless someone is living in an isolated area, I don't know many people who go to non-black salons because, culturally speaking, it's not just a haircut, it's an adventure. The last thing anyone wants is someone who is not familiar with how to cut hair that comes in a variety of textures cutting their hair. All this man had to do is tell any potential customer who came into his shop, I have never cut African American hair before and I don't think you want me to try on you. But putting up a 'Whites Only' sign is both silly and insensitive.

While America remembers Rosa Parks, some in North Lafayette are being reminded of Jim Crow. A whites only barbershop owner says it's not what you think. Or is it?

Barber Herb Leger says, 'I tell them you want a haircut, go across the street. They can give you a professional haircut, but I can't.' Most people are shocked when they see whites only on Leger's barber sign. Like Victoria Cenales who stopped by to ask Leger why doesn't he accept black customers.

Leger told her, 'It's not that I don't want black people in the shop. It's just that I'm not qualified to give them professional service.' Cenales told him, 'People will misunderstand that sign. That was back in the 60s.'

Leger says he's inexperienced and not trained to cut black hair. 'Completely different way of cutting hair. It's not the same,' he says. The owner of Platinum Kutz, another barbershop across the street, says Leger has never sent customers his way, and customers inside can't believe Leger thinks it's okay to put up a whites only sign. Thirty-year-old Nick Milton says, 'I had to think about what year I was in - whether I was in the 60s or the 2000s.' 'Just plainly state I don't do black haircuts. You don't have to say whites only,' Ellis Banks says. Barber Ron Landry tells KATC, 'It's a racial sign. It makes a statement. I don't like it.'

Leger is 72-years-old and clearly remembers the animosity and hurt that 'whites only' signs spread during the civil rights era. He says he's not racist, just not qualified. Cenales says his sign is 'the way society is.' 'Most people are closed-minded,' she says.

Leger understands the sign could send a mixed message. 'In today's life, I can see. People, especially your black people are not very broadminded,' he says. Platinum Kuts owner Jason Walker says, 'I feel it's ignorance, and it has no place.

Leger says in a few days he's replacing his temporary sign with a permenant one without whites only. Since he only opened two months ago, he used it to establish the kind of services he offers.

People really don't stop to think sometimes! I actually find it hard to believe that he has that many black people rolling up into his shop anyway.

A Murderer Or A Crackhead

See! This is how you know this chick has a problem with impulse control. She had a problem with crystal meth and she obviously has a problem keeping her mouth closed. She could have kept the information about the "ice" to herself instead of making it a sallacious detail of her book. I could have told the woman that the guy was going to say that she had a couple of hits of the stuff herself!

Ashley Smith used some of the methamphetamine that she gave Brian Nichols in the hours before he was arrested, according to a man who claims to be a close friend of the shooting suspect who says the pair knew each other prior to that too.

Smith responded 'that was a lie' to WSB-TV, which reported Tuesday that Maurice Lovemore, a friend of Nichols, said Nichols had known Smith before he held her captive for several hours in March.

Smith also said it was 'totally ludicrous' to suggest she took some of the drugs that she gave Nichols in her apartment where he holed up for several hours before surrendering to police the morning of March 12, just 24 hours after he escaped from the Fulton County Courthouse.

Nichols is accused of killing four people after he broke out of the courthouse March 11 before he was arrested the next day at Smith's Gwinnett apartment.

Lovemore, who said he was Nichols' best friend, told WSB that Nichols described Smith's account of those hours in her Duluth apartment as a 'Hollywood' story and 'totally fabricated.' According to the television news story, Lovemore was vague, offering no details as to how he knew Nichols.

Sgt. Nikita Adams-Hightower, spokeswoman for the Fulton Sheriff's Office, which runs the jail, said Lovemore visited Nichols on Oct. 16, bringing with him a copy of Smith's book for Nichols to autograph.

Adams-Hightower said Nichols also used his own blood to leave a fingerprint in the book.

She said Lovemore had visited Nichols at the jail only once.

Smith wrote in her book, 'An Unlikely Angel,' that she had given Nichols methamphetamine but that she did not use the drug with him. She has insisted in subsequent interviews that she had quit using drugs.

According to Lovemore, Nichols' response to that claim was ' 'How many crack heads do you know are going to let you get high in front of them on their supply?' '

Lovemore also said Nichols claimed he and Smith had 'some kind of relationship before that day' Nichols allegedly came up on Smith outside her Duluth apartment as she was returning from a 2 a.m. trip to the store for cigarettes.

Smith issued a statement through her publicist Tuesday disputing all of Lovemore's claims.

'As I say in my book and have said in countless interviews, my first encounter with Brian Nichols was when he pulled a gun on me and forced me into my apartment,' the statement read. 'My life has changed completely as a result of this ordeal, which put me face to face with my God and my drug addiction. As a result, I not only refused to do drugs with Brian Nichols that night, but more importantly I have no desire to ever do drugs again. I feel that God used this encounter with Brian Nichols to free me from this addiction and I want to help others experience the same freedom.'

The cynic in me, and a lot of other people I know, has kept me looking over the top of my glasses everytime I hear her tell her story. The pancakes, the drive to dump the truck (and back) and now the drugs ... somethin' ain't right. But who are you going to believe? A murderer ... or a crackhead?

Can't Help Myself

But, they left themselves wide open on this one! They need to be monitoring the "predators" in their own ranks rather than trying to do a parent's job and monitoring internet activity in their homes.

When students post their faces, personal diaries and gossip on Web sites like Myspace.com and Xanga.com, it is not simply harmless teen fun, according to one Sussex County Catholic school principal.

It's an open invitation to predators and an activity that Pope John XIII Regional High School in Sparta will no longer tolerate, the Rev. Kieran McHugh told a packed assembly of 900 high school students two weeks ago.

Effective immediately, and over student complaints, the teens were told to dismantle their Myspace.com accounts or similar sites with personal profiles and blogs. Defy the order and face suspension, students were told.

While public and private schools routinely block access to noneducational Web sites on school computers, Pope John's order reaches into students' homes.

Bad call!

Mr. 2000

He hit it! We've officially lost 2,000 American soldiers in Iraq for Bush's big lie.

President George W. Bush, bracing for the fallout when the U.S. military death toll in Iraq reaches 2,000, said on Tuesday the Iraq war will require more time and sacrifice and rejected calls for a U.S. pullout.

'Each loss of life is heartbreaking, and the best way to honor the sacrifice of our fallen troops is to complete the mission and lay the foundation of peace by spreading freedom,' Bush said, his voice breaking with emotion as he spoke at a luncheon of military wives at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington.

Bush's remarks were aimed at addressing criticism expected when the U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 2,000.

'This war will require more sacrifice, more time and more resolve,' said Bush. 'The terrorists are as brutal an enemy as we have ever faced.'

The only sacrifice that needs to be made is offering the Bush Administration up to the penal system. His day will come!

Reporting For Duty

I don't live in Ohio but I am passing this article along to voters I know there. This guy's bid for the Congressional race was much to close for comfort for his highly Republican district. His toughest competition may even come from his Democratic rival. But, I'll be paying attention to this race:

Marine Reservist Maj. Paul Hackett might be the one to put some real fight back into the Democratic Party. In a head-turning first run for office, Hackett, the first Iraq war veteran to enter the national political arena, narrowly lost a congressional bid against Republican Jean Schmidt in a special election held last summer in Ohio's most conservative district. Despite a serious financial handicap, little political experience and a blunt political demeanor -- he called George W. Bush "chicken hawk" and "son of a bitch" with regard to the war -- Hackett's strong showing fired up Democrats nationwide.

[...]

You supported invading Afghanistan, but you've said you think we went to Iraq based on lies. You do agree with the president, however, in that you don't think we can 'cut and run.' What would you do differently in Iraq?

First of all, if this president wanted to succeed in Iraq, the first thing he would have done is listen to the generals in the very beginning when they said it would take more than 150,000 troops. General Shinseki said that and was summarily fired. That was before the invasion of Iraq.

But what would you do now?

If I were the president, I'd tell the military to figure out how we systematically and in organized fashion get our troops out of there, because the war's over. It's not going to get any better.

When you ran for Congress, you favored better training for Iraqi forces. Now you're saying we should get out?

There are two options: Increase troop strength or train the Iraqi military with a match of one American soldier for every Iraqi soldier. That's not going to happen. Everybody knows that, so if we're not going to train the Iraqi military, let's quit spending our money and spending our lives.

Here's the problem: We've been there two-plus years and there's nothing objective this country can point at and say, 'This is what we've improved since we've been over there.' The infrastructure is worse -- the electrical grid, the water grid, the sewage grid, the road system. All that infrastructure is worse today than when we got there two-plus years ago.

The Bush administration says there's progress.

Bullshit. I've been there. There's no success unless you call painting schools success. We've painted a lot of schools."

Rosa Parks

It's definitely a small world. It must have been nearly twenty years ago that my great aunt, whom we called Big Aunt Eva (my mother's sister was named for her), passed away in Atlanta. Her name was Eva Parks. One of my mother's other sisters and my cousin decided to represent the family at the funeral. When they returned, they announced that we were related to Rosa Parks. I believe that Rosa and Eva were married to brothers. My extended family isn't exceptionally large or close knit but that was an interesting connection so the death of this particular civil rights has special meaning.

Nearly 50 years ago, Rosa Parks made a simple decision that sparked a revolution. When a white man demanded she give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus, the then 42-year-old seamstress said no.

At the time, she couldn't have known it would secure her a revered place in American history. But her one small act of defiance galvanized a generation of activists, including a young Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and earned her the title 'mother of the civil rights movement.'

Mrs. Parks died Monday evening at her home of natural causes, with close friends by her side, said Gregory Reed, an attorney who represented her for the past 15 years. She was 92.

Moral And Religious Objections My Behind!

This is sheer madness! A pharmacist's job is to dispense medicine, not make judgements on the people with valid, legal prescriptions!

Although it is safe, effective and legal, emergency contraception - the 'morning after' pill - can be hard to find in Tucson.

After a sexual assault one recent weekend, a young Tucson woman spent three frantic days trying to obtain the drug to prevent a pregnancy, knowing that each passing day lowered the chance the drug would work.

While calling dozens of Tucson pharmacies trying to fill a prescription for emergency contraception, she found that most did not stock the drug.

When she finally did find a pharmacy with it, she said she was told the pharmacist on duty would not dispense it because of religious and moral objections.

'I was so shocked,' said the 20-year-old woman, who, as a victim of sexual assault, is not being named by the Star. 'I just did not understand how they could legally refuse to do this.'

Marriage: It Doesn't Do A Body Good

With all other things being happy and balanced, I suppose a modicum of an increase in health benefits might be a reason to get married. But that assumes a healthy, supportive and productive marriage and too many aren't.

But when it comes to physical health, marriage is worse than neutral for black women. Listen to the report, newly published by the New York-based Institute for American Values:

'Our research finds that marriage brings small health benefits to black men -- and none to black women. In fact, married black women are significantly less likely to report having excellent health than are unmarried black women.'

Understand that the report is from people and organizations who could fairly be called a part of the 'marriage movement.' Many of those involved have long touted the benefits of marriage -- to men, women and children. The female health finding must have caught them by surprise.

Most of them, anyway. Linda Malone-Colon, one of the five scholars conducting the review, said she wasn't exactly blindsided by the finding.

'Overall, the study shows the smallest benefit to black women -- but it's still an important benefit,' said Malone-Colon, a psychologist who is director of the Washington-based National Healthy Marriage Resource Center, a clearinghouse for resources for strengthening marriages.

The Delaney sisters both lived to be over 100 years old. Neither of them ever married and they claimed that not having a man around to "worry them to death" was the reason for their longevity. I tend to think this would be the case with me. Fortunately/unfortunately I have a very independent spirit that, I'm certain, was spawned both by me being an eldest child and a latch key kid who learned to make "executive decisions" at a very early age. Most women (married or not) that I know who are like me are either in combative relationships (that usually don't last) where there is a constant power struggle or (and this seems more common) are in dog/leash relationships where their sole role seems to be telling their husbands what to do and when to do it. Some folks function quite well this way and while I may be perceived as bossy (I don't think so. I just know what I want to do and others seem to follow), living life playing "big mama" does not appeal to me because I think I'd die of frustration much to early.

Note: Some guy in the comment section at this blog keeps making me laugh. Did you know that men become drunks and deadbeats because women don't love them (and that is their job) and that if blacks listened to country music, they'd learn something (Like what ... "You Took A Fine Time To Leave Me Lucille?").

And Your Point Is?

Chef Ramsey has discovered that women can't cook! Well give him a giant soup ladle for a prize! So What!

'When they eat, they cheat - it is ready meals and pre-prepared meals all the way,' he said in the Radio Times.

Ramsay, 38, who has an award-winning female chef at one of his restaurants, is known for his fiery temper as much for his culinary skills.

'I've been visiting ladies' houses up and down the country with our film crew and you would be amazed how little cooking the girls are doing,' the chef said ahead of the launch of his latest television show.

'Seriously, there are huge numbers of young women out there who know how to mix cocktails but can't cook to save their lives, whereas men are finding their way into the kitchen in ever growing numbers.

Well, lots of young men can't fix cars, make household repairs or even adequately mow the lawn! The world has changed. Modern conveniences have changed norms for both genders. So, what's his point? I guess I'm really not young anymore but I was the only one of my roommates in college who knew how to cook full course meals and am one of a few in my current group (OLD like me) who can cook. Also, being able to prepare a meal doesn't mean that one can cook. I figured that out in college when kids were gobbling down dorm food like it tasted good because it was better than what their mom's made (but was like dog food to me).

House Quake

Uh oh, he's going there! I cannot even begin to speculate where this could lead but if Fitzpatrick is bold enough and thinks he has evidence enough to pursue it, he won't get any argument from me.

The CIA leak inquiry that threatens senior White House aides has now widened to include the forgery of documents on African uranium that started the investigation, according to NAT0 intelligence sources.

This suggests the inquiry by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald into the leaking of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame has now widened to embrace part of the broader question about the way the Iraq war was justified by the Bush administration.

Fitzgerald's inquiry is expected to conclude this week and despite feverish speculation in Washington, there have been no leaks about his decision whether to issue indictments and against whom and on what charges.

Two facts are, however, now known and between them they do not bode well for the deputy chief of staff at the White House, Karl Rove, President George W Bush's senior political aide, not for Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis 'Scooter' Libby.

The first is that Fitzgerald last year sought and obtained from the Justice Department permission to widen his investigation from the leak itself to the possibility of cover-ups, perjury and obstruction of justice by witnesses. This has renewed the old saying from the days of the Watergate scandal, that the cover-up can be more legally and politically dangerous than the crime.

The second is that NATO sources have confirmed to United Press International that Fitzgerald's team of investigators has sought and obtained documentation on the forgeries from the Italian government.

Fitzgerald's team has been given the full, and as yet unpublished report of the Italian parliamentary inquiry into the affair, which started when an Italian journalist obtained documents that appeared to show officials of the government of Niger helping to supply the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein with Yellowcake uranium. This claim, which made its way into President Bush's State of the Union address in January, 2003, was based on falsified documents from Niger and was later withdrawn by the White House.

This opens the door to what has always been the most serious implication of the CIA leak case, that the Bush administration could face a brutally damaging and public inquiry into the case for war against Iraq being false or artificially exaggerated. This was the same charge that imperiled the government of Bush's closest ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, after a BBC Radio program claimed Blair's aides has 'sexed up' the evidence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

Are They All Lying Liars?

I honestly don't understand these folks? Is it that they think they are too brilliant to get caught?:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) was given considerable information about his stake in his family's hospital company, according to records that are at odds with his past statements that he did not know what was in his stock holdings.

Managers of the trusts that Frist once described as 'totally blind,' regularly informed him when they added new shares of HCA Inc. or other assets to his holdings, according to the documents.

Since 2001, the trustees have written to Frist and the Senate 15 times detailing the sale of assets from or the contribution of assets to trusts of Frist and his family. The letters included notice of the addition of HCA shares worth $500,000 to $1 million in 2001 and HCA stock worth $750,000 to $1.5 million in 2002. The trust agreements require the trustees to inform Frist and the Senate whenever assets are added or sold.

The letters seem to undermine one of the major arguments the senator has used throughout his political career to rebut criticism of his ownership in HCA: that the stock was held in blind trusts beyond his control and that he had little idea of the extent of those holdings.

... Or is it that they don't think anything will happen to them if they are exposed?

Broken Bonaduce

Whitney and Bobby's daliances with addictions have NOTHING on Danny Bonaduce and his co-conspirator of a wife. Breaking Bonaduce makes Being Bobby Brown look like Father Knows Best. The filming of a man who is an alcoholic, drugged out, sex addicted, bi-polar, emotional abuser is even a little too rich for my blood.

There was something disturbingly grown-up about the wry, gnomelike, wisecracking pre-adolescent he played on The Partridge Family (1970-1974). But now that he is an adult, the 45-year-old Danny seems like a child—albeit one afflicted with premature aging syndrome, to judge by his haggard, sad-eyed (yet still freckled) face. In addition to being a recovering alcoholic and former crack addict who once lived in his car behind Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, he admits to being addicted to sex, exercise, and steroids (in Episode 2, we see him shoot up some 'roids before heading to the gym to pump iron). His impulse control is near nil, and his judgment is terrible; in last week's episode, he freely admitted he was too drunk to drive before getting behind the wheel anyway, telling his producers, "You don't have a show if I don't crash." (In the end, the cameras were turned off while the producers wrested the keys away.)

Yet Bonaduce never comes across as the villain of the show (like one of the orchestrated bad guys on Survivor) or the object of ridicule (like the title buffoon of Being Bobby Brown). In the couple's filmed therapy sessions with Dr. Garry Corgiat, he is laceratingly aware of his shortcomings as a husband and father. The Bonaduces married the same night they met, after a seven-hour blind date; according to Danny, Gretchen refused to have sex before marriage, so he arranged for a quickie ceremony—a stunt he credits with bringing them together, since "nobody would get to know the real me and still marry me." Bonaduce's self-loathing is epic in proportion: "I'm guessing that you guess by now that I'm not my biggest fan," he tells Dr. Corgiat in one early session, later referring to himself as "soulless." Yet he also seems perversely proud of his outsize personality: "I don't want my anger managed," he boasts to Corgiat and Gretchen. "I like my anger. You guys walk around and be all gray. I'm colorful."

In one masterpiece of convoluted logic, Bonaduce even argues that his children, 10-year-old Isabella and 4-year-old Dante, will benefit from being kept in the dark about their father's problems: "I teach them all the things I don't know," he explains to the shrink. "They will be better people than I for not knowing me." In a wrenching one-on-one session between Gretchen and the doctor, she tearfully recounts how their daughter Isabella responds to their marital meltdown by becoming a mini-enabler: "I can fix this, Mommy. Tell him you'll never leave. We can fix this together."

I think my "breaking point" in watching this was the part where Gretchen recounted her daughter's hysteria over the seemingly unavoidable demise of her parent's marriage. In addition to the quickie marriage, I also recall hearing accounts of her literally laying in the driveway behind his car to keep him from going out to buy drugs. I cringed at the idea of that kind of sick co-dependency but, as an adult, she chose this man, this marriage and this life. The issue I have is that she has now subjected two children with this man and relationship and the daughter, without therapy, may very well end up in a relationship just as horrific as the one her parents have.

Addictions and mental illness aside, I see a big, self-absorbed baby who is married to a parent/wife who has finally gotten tired of playing that role. I don't feel sorry for her (or him) but cannot fathom how she can even consider continuing to expose her children to that madness.

Oh, How Sweet ...

Not much I can say about this ...

Known as 'Prussian Blue' — a nod to their German heritage and bright blue eyes — the girls from Bakersfield, Calif., have been performing songs about white nationalism before all-white crowds since they were nine.

'We're proud of being white, we want to keep being white,' said Lynx. 'We want our people to stay white … we don't want to just be, you know, a big muddle. We just want to preserve our race.'

Lynx and Lamb have been nurtured on racist beliefs since birth by their mother April. 'They need to have the background to understand why certain things are happening,' said April, a stay-at-home mom who no longer lives with the twins' father. 'I'm going to give them, give them my opinion just like any, any parent would.'

April home-schools the girls, teaching them her own unique perspective on everything from current to historical events. In addition, April's father surrounds the family with symbols of his beliefs — specifically the Nazi swastika. It appears on his belt buckle, on the side of his pick-up truck and he's even registered it as his cattle brand with the Bureau of Livestock Identification.

'Because it's provocative,' explains April of the cattle brand, 'to him he thinks it's important as a symbol of freedom of speech that he can use it as his cattle brand.

Well I guess I do have one thing to say. The State of California is not exactly the place to seek pure whiteness. While I am sure there are pockets, you don't have to drive far to see a host of brown, yellow or black folks. Perhaps they should relocate to Idaho.

Bring The Big B Home

George W. Bush is an idiot! I have no idea why he thought that he could send that big, lumbering Karen Hughes to the Middle East to clean up our image. She keeps speaking to women's groups in Muslim countries and she gets a tongue lashing every time.

U.S. goodwill envoy Karen Hughes got a earful from a group of mostly female Indonesian Muslim students on Friday, who expressed anger at the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and attacked Washington's foreign policies.

Tasked by U.S. President George W. Bush to polish America's image overseas, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy is in Jakarta to meet leading Muslim clerics and students during a tour of the world's most populous Muslim nation.

'Why does America always act as if they were the police of the world?,' Barikatul Hikmah, a 20-year-old student at the Syarif Hidayatullah University asked Hughes.

Lailatul Qadar, a petite 19-year-old student wearing colorful headscarves, added: 'It's Bush in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and maybe it's going to be in Indonesia, I don't know. Who's the terrorist? Bush or us?'

The U.S. embassy organized the session with some 15 students at the university, a moderate Islamic center of learning that has received U.S. funding and which produces some of the country's most influential Muslim thinkers.

Hughes, who was largely composed and subdued during the session, defended the invasion of Iraq as necessary to protect the United States following the September 11, 2001, attacks because the administration saw Saddam Hussein as a security threat.

This mission is not working. He needs to send word for her to come home!

More Black On Black Crime

Not this time. But seriously, this is just a shame! I just don't understand WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?!!!

Authorities have arrested a 16-year-old boy who lives near homicide victim Pamela Vitale, the wife of well-known defense attorney Daniel Horowitz, in connection with the killing, and sources told The Chronicle her slaying stemmed from a credit-card theft scheme.

Investigators arrested Scott Dyleski late Wednesday night at a relative's house after obtaining a warrant alleging murder, and one source close to the investigation told The Chronicle that Dyleski will be charged as an adult.

Authorities believe Dyleski killed Vitale, 52, on Saturday by striking her 39 times in the head with a piece of crown molding, then carved some kind of gothic signature into her back, the source said.

When arrested, Dyleski, who is 5'5' tall and weighs 110 pounds, had scratches on his face and legs consistent with a violent struggle, the source said."

...

The motive for the killing appears to stem from a credit-card theft scheme allegedly carried out by Dyleski and another teenage friend, who has not been implicated in the killing, one source said on condition of anonymity.

Investigators believe Dyleski and his friend planned to start a marijuana-growing operation, with Dyleski in charge of raising money, one source said. Dyleski is believed to have stolen credit card bills from mailboxes and used the cards to order supplies, the source said.

Dyleski ordered supplies Oct. 12 and believed they were delivered to Vitale's house on Hunsaker Canyon Road in Lafayette, although they never were delivered, the source said, adding that Dyleski is believed to have gone to the property Saturday morning to find the supplies, but got into a confrontation with Vitale.

Dyleski drank a glass of water after the killing, washed his hands in the sink, took a shower at the house and left the weapon behind, the source said. The youth lives about a mile up the road from Horowitz and Vitale, but a trail through the secluded canyon places the two houses much closer.

This is positively senseless!