I'm Sure Oprah Is Crushed

I don't like 50 Cent. Why do people interview him like he is is a voice that needs to be heard - particularly about politics (can nukka even vote?) or potentates (like Oprah)? Why would a woman who has been raped and molested have performers, who call women bitches and hos, on her show?

He usually saves his beefs for other rappers; this time, 50 Cent is going after Oprah Winfrey.

In an interview with The Associated Press, 50 complained that Winfrey rarely invites rappers on her talk show: "I think she caters to older white women."

"Oprah's audience is my audience's parents," the 29-year-old rapper said. "So, I could care less about Oprah or her show."

He's not alone in his resentment toward the talk show host cum media mogul.

Rapper-actor Ludacris, aka Chris Bridges, said in the May issue of GQ magazine that Winfrey was "unfair" during a show he appeared on last October with co-stars from best-picture Oscar winner "Crash."

"She edited out a lot of my comments while keeping her own in," he said. "Of course, it's her show, but we were doing a show on racial discrimination, and she gave me a hard time as a rapper, when I came on there as an actor."

Winfrey's representative at her production company, Harpo, told the AP that Winfrey was unavailable for comment.

But, as 50 Cent said, Winfrey's purported disapproval might enhance a rap star's street cred.

"I'm actually better off having friction with her," he said.

Ludacris needs to be glad she let him on her show at all. The fact that he now acts does not change the fact that he is a rapper, first and foremost, and made his initial millions singing about having "hos in different area codes." That is hardly the kind of music that a woman, who is all about empowering women, would feature on her show. But, proving true to their lack of insight or empathy for how violated some women feel by the words in their songs, they choose to whine like "bitches" because one of the most respected women in the WORLD isn't giving them props. I'm so sure she cares about their pissant complaining and, definitely, is better off ignoring anything they have to say.

(Note: please don't ever get me started on the nimrods who think that the word ludicrous is spelled "Ludacris.")

Technorati Tags: 50 Cent, Oprah, Ludacris

Speaking Of Pedophiles: Update

You know how they say that if you put something out into the universe, it will happen? Well, while I have no proof that I can literally call this guy a pedophile, my suspicion that he is a possible abuser became much more real this week.

I am in a technical position and report to the same manager as this guy. He is a team lead for his team and my team has been working with his on getting ready for an enhancement release of our software. My personal opinion (and that of several co-workers) is that he is BS'ing as far as what he knows. He has managed to con himself into a job where he does no technical work but merely doles out work to everyone else and "plays with" spreadsheets all day making it seem as though he is some king of test metrics. Anyhow, I disagreed with him on an issue and took the side of another co-worker who was in the middle of a conflict with him over a task he was trying to complete. All I said was that I understood where the other guy was coming from and that it seemed that the scope of the original task was creeping into something beyond what we'd originally planned at a time when we needed to stay on schedule.

Well, you would have thought I pulled his dick off. I wasn't even talking directly to the guy. I was chiming in through my cubicle. The guy took offense, got defensive and tried to make an argument of it. I stated that I was just expressing my opinion (this is still America, right?). He then informs me that he had an errand to run and he would take care of this issue when he got back! He said it in a tone like he was my daddy and would be back to punish me. But, I laughed, muttered something to the effect that he was a moron, and blew it off.

Sure enough, a couple hours later, while I am at my desk lunching on a nice, hot bowl of my homemade chili, he stomps his way over to my cube to tell me he wants to talk about my issue with his plans. When I looked up, saw his chest all puffed out and that red Uncle Fester looking face and bulging eyes, I knew it was not the right time for either of us to have a discussion. So, I told him that it wasn't a good time for me. Did this fool stand there and tell me that it WAS a good time and that we WERE going to talk about it? Did he refuse to leave my work area? Did he stand there talking while I turned the other way, continued to type or take a bite of food? Did he tell me that he was going to keep talking even though I was ignoring him (who the fuck does this motherfucker think he is)? Did I feel trapped an unsure what he would do if I tried to leave my cube? Did I tell him he was a micro-manager and that he irritated me? Did I tell him that I didn't think he knew what he was doing? Did it ultimately escalate, because he wouldn't leave, into me chanting "control freak/wife beater?" (Did you note that I can be an unabashed ABB in situations like this)?

Since he was lording over me as I remained in my chair(and because I'd gotten my digs in), I found it best to tell him that I was long over the need to be right in any given situation. The difference of opinion was hardly worth all of his rage so I told him that whatever he said was gospel because he knew everything there was to know about everything. I told him that whatever he wanted the team to do was fine with me and I would do whatever he said was the right thing to do . He finally left but I'd seen all I needed to see. This man aggressively invaded my space over a small difference of opinion. It wasn't critical. I'm not the team lead. He is. I'm just a satellite helper so God knows it wasn't worth all of that.

As far as I am concerned, if he would flip out on me like that over something so small, I don't want to imagine how he behaves at home with his concubine wife. My original abuse suspicions were raised because I heard him snap at her (in front of several of us ... in the kitchen) over something that he thought he heard her say. My eyebrow has been raised ever since.

Meanwhile, said wife was sitting in the kitchen the whole time (this was just after lunch). She had a laptop but was she hooked up to the office WiFi? No! On the few trips I made to the break room that afternoon, I noticed her either staring at her screensaver or playing solitaire. It was after 6pm when I went to wash my coffee cup and leave for the day. I still want to know what grown assed woman (and I cannot verify that she is or that he didn't adopt her instead of marrying her) has nothing better to do than sit in the cold kitchen of her husband's job for hours on end ... doing NOTHING? She started bringing the computer, it seems, after I offered her some magazines - which she declined. She also declined my offer to find her a desk (we have several empty cubicles). I do think she is dominated and abused and now the "pedophile" knows I know. Men just don't talk to women the way he talked to me unless they have the delusional view that they have the right to and are used to doing it.

After thinking about it overnight, and not knowing how crazy this guy is, I documented my recollection of the incident (giving myself full credit for my ability to stand up to him and not be bullied) for my manager. We discussed it with a third party and I made it an official complaint. Of course, like a classic wife beater, he was totally nice the next day and agreeable with everything I said. But that horse is out of the barn. I cannot confirm that I'll be seeing him on any Dateline stings, but I can confirm that he has a temper that flares up over minor issues and that he felt he had power enough to talk to me like I was his property (didn't say slave but he was acting like Mr. Tom, the plantation overseer, who was going to teach this gal a lesson ... I think he learned the lesson and got snapped out of his time warp too).

I have no plans on interacting with him anymore than I absolutely have to. I just hope he didn't beat his wife when they got home that night.

Does He Know The National Anthem Himself?

I'd like to believe that our President knows the words to our National Anthem but given his track record, I'd say it is a 50/50 shot either way. I do know that there are probably an embarrassing number of American citizens who don't know the anthem and the recent botching of it by Musiq Soulchild at a basketball game just highlighted it - yet again. With the immigration debate in high gear and Bush desperately needing to find a way to play both sides of the fence, I guess this comment was music to some ears and an insult to others.

President Bush, who has worked hard to court the Latino vote during two election campaigns, made it clear today that he does not welcome a new National Anthem sung in Spanish. Bush was asked in a Rose Garden press conference if he thinks the anthem will carry the same meaning in Spanish.

"No I don't,'' Bush said. "Because I think the National Anthem ought to be sung in English. And I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English, and they ought to learn to sing the National Anthem in English.''

I know I could care less if folks sing the anthem in Spanish. Unlike many Americans, at least they'll know the frickin' song!

Must Be The Money

I suspect it is pretty hard to see anything when you are buried in a pile of profits!

Bush sees no evidence of gasoline "rip-off".

Haven For Terrorists

If we keep it up, they'll be breeding terrorists on farms.

Sunni and Shiite extremist groups are working inside Iraq to create a terrorist haven, where foreign fighters can operate, a U.S. State Department report said Friday.

Militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq group and others 'view Iraq as a potential safe haven and are attempting to make it a reality,' said the annual report on worldwide terrorism.

The study said Syria and Iran, whom the United States consider to be state sponsors of terror, are supporting terrorists in Iraq.

Syria 'was used as a facilitation hub for terrorist groups operating in Iraq' and Iran 'has provided political and ideological support for several terrorist and militant groups active in Iraq,' the report found.

It also noted the 'proliferation of smaller looser networks that are less capable but also less predictable.'

These terrorist groups loosely associated with al Qaeda 'represent the most prominent current terrorist threat to the United States' and allies because they are 'smaller, harder to detect and more difficult to counter,' the report found.

'These micro-actors are launching more attacks, and they are more local and more lethal,' said a senior State Department official involved in the preparation of the report.

The View Will Be Buck Wild Now

The dynamic will soon change on ABC's "The View." It seems that Rosie O'Donnell will be replacing ditzy-acting, middle-aged mom, Meridith Viera. Rosie, another middle aged mom, is a politically astute, very outspoken but hardly a ditz who forever is whining something (and, I'll bet, won't be giving Wesley Snipes a lap dance on air). It's about to get wild!

Rosie O'Donnell is expected to make a surprise return to daytime television by taking over exiting Meredith Vieira's slot on the talk show 'The View.'

O'Donnell's appointment was reported Thursday by the newsmagazine 'Extra.' It was confirmed by a person close to the show who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because 'The View' wanted to make the announcement on Friday's show.

ABC officials declined comment on the report on Thursday.

Dubbed 'The Queen of Nice' when her syndicated talk show went on the air in 1996 and became an instant hit, O'Donnell won six Daytime Emmy Awards in six years as best talk-show host. She left the show to help raise four children with her partner, Kelli Carpenter O'Donnell.

The most interesting thing will be to see how this change will impact the chemistry. Joy, my favorite, has a straight from the hip style that I can relate to. Star Jones wants to be larger than life and the Diva of the show but I don't think that Rosie sitting in Meridith's old seat next to Star will work. I'm not sure if placement on the other end next to Elizabeth would work either (would probably scare little miss Republican to death). At the same time, I think that placing her on either side of Joy (thus plopping her to the opposite side of either Star or Elizabeth) would be one raukus mess - which might be fun for me but not sure about the average morning viewer.

In anycase, I think it is a good choice and am looking forward to the new show. Meanwhile, I have to say that I will not be following Meridith to The Today Show. I am a diehard Good Morning America fan and shall not be moved (unless they get stupid and get rid of Charlie and Diane again).

It's Like De Ja Vu All Over Again

This post at Shakespeare's Sister is about the sexual assault of a Hispanic boy over the weekend but it raises the larger issue of the panic that seems to be emerging in the larger, dominant culture. The current generation seems to have no knowledge, karmic or otherwise, of the treachery of their forefathers. The rape and beating of this young man because he supposedly made advances towards a white girl is horribly reminscent of the Emmett Till story. But, I think she is right on with this conclusion:

And we need look no further than the GOP, as each is representative of their key wedge issues: gay marriage, abortion, and immigration.

When there are politicians—including our president—spouting off about gays undermining the sanctity of marriage, abortionists commiting murder, and mostly Hispanic undocumented workers threatening both our national security and economy, and those politicians’ words are repeated ad infinitum by their supporters, and the conservative echo chamber comprised of media shills and the rightwing blogosphere led by disgusting characters like Michael Savage and Michelle Malkin, who have millions of listeners and readers, put their own overtly vicious spin, rooted in bigotry and hatred of The Other, on these policies, we should expect nothing less for a disingenuous wedge issue designed by the likes of Karl Rove to exploit the prejudices of the GOP base to translate into action that leaves victims of policy also victims of violence.

This shit doesn’t happen in a void. When real people are used as fodder to garner votes born of bias, those real people are inevitably endangered. Politicians cannot continually demonize a group of people and then claim naivety that the fuckwit homophobes, radical anti-choicers, and racists on whose votes they are dependent for their continued supremacy actually treat those groups as demons, monsters under the bed who threaten our very way of life.

The GOP is no longer a legitimate political party. They are a collection of hatemongers who overtly seek to convince poor white trash that they are privileged, and that their privilege can be used to oppress the weak, scaring them through policy and their loyal shills that life would be better if only gays and feminists and racial minorities weren’t around. They use these people’s hatred of others to mask the real reasons life sucks for poor whites—tax breaks for the rich, rewarding companies who offshore, largesse toward corporations designed by lobbyists at the expense of Americans’ pocketbooks. As long as the gays, feminists, and racial minorities stand between the GOP and their poor base with targets on their backs, the GOP will continue to hide behind them, shouting, "Ready, aim, fire!"

Have Western Men Become Asexual?

There are many times when I agree with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and many times when he works my nerves. But, this article is rather thought provoking.

The greatest cultural story since the 1960’s is the decline and fall of the Western male, and how women have accommodated that fall by allowing themselves to be treated like garbage by men. It’s now 40 years since the second wave of feminism, and yet to be a guy today is to have your pick of hundreds of women who will sleep with you and expect not only no commitment, but not even courteous treatment. You can burp in their presence, break wind, and they will still go to bed with you. To be a guy is to have women move into your apartment and cook and clean for you, even as you endlessly push off the question of marriage, which you have no intention of addressing anyway.

Once, when I lectured at Yale, a female student perfectly identified for me how it is a man’s world and how it all begins at university: "When it comes to love and relationships the men here sit and pick us out, like a man sifting through a jar of jellybeans for the colors and tastes that he likes, leaving behind all the ones that don’t appeal to his taste buds at the moment."

To be a man today means having access to a seemingly endless array of women who take off their clothes on TV to sell you everything from beer to cars to hamburgers. But in becoming boastful beasts of female prey and losing their sense of awe for women, men have guaranteed their own boredom.


If you’re a man, and a woman can no longer excite you, what will? A bunch of guys hitting a ball with a bat? Watching race cars go in a circle for 500 miles? Do men realize just how pathetic they have become as they endlessly pursue cheap substitutes for a lost sense of erotic excitement? Most of the men I meet aren’t even that attracted to their wives and live in predictable and monotonous drudgery in their marriages as a result. Yes, there is a price to pay for disrespecting women.

Male overexposure to women has even led to the death of the heterosexual man as we know him. If the definition of a heterosexual man is a male who is attracted to women, then most men today are barely heterosexual.

I recently told my mom that marriage might be a nice hobby for me when I retire (she, being retired and having a long-term boyfriend, laughed and politely nixed that logic) but it is definitely not in my range of view or on my list of desires in this lifetime. Fairly recently, on one of my yahoo groups, someone posed the question "what makes a woman marriage material?" The list is co-ed and this is what the replies were reduced to: "she gotta be a fine azz ... doctor who swallows" and "I need a woman with Ambition and earning potential, I aint saying im a gold digga but I aint messing with no broke women! Not to mention the head game must be on point!"

How exactly do you word that in marriage vows?

Is She High?

I watch America's Next Top Model (ANTM) regularly and every, single "cycle" they have one aspiring model who is off the chain. This year it is Jade. I've cringed at a couple of her malapropisms and mispelled words (nearly passed out when she said gendre) but this clip of her shows that she makes a habit out of it:



To many, she's the one to hate. But to me, she is sheer comedy - whether she is butchering English or messing with one of the other model's mind. After this clip, however, I am starting to wonder if the chick is high or something? What the hell [do she be] talking about?

Newsflash: Anti-Rape Bill Is An Impediment To Marriage

Talk about some f'd up isht!

Kenyan women's rights activists have condemned an MP who told parliament that women usually say "No" to sex, even if they mean "Yes".

During a debate on a new sex crimes law, Paddy Ahenda said Kenya women were too shy to openly say "Yes" and warned the law could prevent marriage.

Twelve of Kenya's 18 female MPs walked out in protest, saying Mr Ahenda and other MPs were "trivialising" rape.

Many Kenyans are alarmed by a huge rise in the incidence of sexual abuse.

"This is a nation that should be in shame because its leaders are laughing at offences committed against women and children," said Kenya National Commission on Human Rights official Catherine Mumma.

'Impediment to marriage'

Several male MPs feared that the bill went too far and could lead to a spate of false accusations by women.

"If the bill is adopted the way it is, it will prevent men from courting women and this will be a serious impediment to the young who would want to marry," said Mr Ahenda.

"In our culture, when women say 'No', they mean 'Yes' unless it's a prostitute."

The AFP news agency reports that many of his male colleagues laughed and applauded his comments.

He also called women "God's creatures", prompting women in the public gallery to leave, followed by female MPs, led by Health Minister Charity Ngilu.

A group of women's rights activists wearing red T-shirts marched to parliament as the MPs prepared to debate the Sexual Offences Bill, urging them to pass it.

They were turned back by police.

Trauma

Earlier in the debate, MP Njoki Ndungu had said the bill would act as a deterrent to the rising number of rapes and other sexual crimes.

She said rape was the "most traumatic experience that happens at the most private part of you" and had nothing to do with sex.

She said the bill would introduce 21 new sexual offences and provide for the treatment of victims, including publicly funded counselling.

The bill's first version recommended that rapists be castrated but this has now been dropped.

Last year, Ms Ndungu told parliament that two Kenyan women were raped every hour and accused the police of being lax in prosecuting rapists.

Did I read this right? If you are a prostitute, men believe you if you say no. If you are a desireable woman or girl, no really means yes?
---
Rewind/Regurgitate: Wait a minute! I am still trying to process the logic these men use. They really think that only a whore would say no to them? Not only a whore would say yes?

Okay. Got it!

Well, Thank God For Some Small Favors

Not only do I not ride public transportation anymore but I also never had more than a couple problems with disgusting pigs when I did ride the bus and train. Other cultures need to catch up (even though America, in many ways, is going backwards).

Rio De Janeiro just started to run women-only subway cars this week...they’re pink striped.

How Brazilian women actually feel about the sex-segregated cars is something that remains to be seen. A Reuters headline screams Women applaud no-men, pink-striped metro cars, but another article says that women aren’t fans:

“Separation (of the sexes) is a throwback to my grandmother's era. It's a big step backward in the fight for women's equality," said Rogeria Peixoto, head of a Brazilian women's group.

I know I’ve said this before, but whatever: while I understand the need for immediate safety concerns, putting the responsibility on women not to get harassed rather than on the men to stop harassing is really problematic.

And I do agree that this might be the wrong approach. Next women will be walking around like those in the Middle East instead of demanding that men keep their hands and their comments to themselves.

And He Wasn't "Just A Stripper"

Via ABB, here we go again. What is up with these folks' obsession with beating and sodomizing people?

Two white teenagers severely beat and sodomized a 16-year-old Hispanic boy who they believed had tried to kiss a 12-year-old white girl at a party, authorities said.

The attackers forced the boy out of the house party, beat him and sodomized him with a metal pipe, shouting epithets "associated with being Hispanic," said Lt. John Martin with the Harris County Sheriff's Department.

They then poured bleach over the boy, apparently to destroy DNA evidence and left him for dead, authorities said. He wasn't discovered until Sunday, a day after the attack.(Watch how a neighbor described the victim's injuries -- 1:34)

The victim, who was not identified, suffered severe internal injuries and remained in critical condition Thursday.

Keith Robert Turner, 17, and David Henry Tuck, 18, are charged with aggravated sexual assault, investigators said.

Prosecutors are considering whether to attach hate-crime charges, but unless the victim dies, the possible penalty would be the same. If the boy dies and it is ruled a hate crime, the attackers could face the death penalty, authorities said.

The case has been turned over to the homicide division, Martin said, normal procedure in severe assault cases.

Authorities set bond at $100,000 for Turner and at $20,000 for Tuck.

Spring is a middle-class, largely white suburb of 36,000 residents, located about 10 miles north of the Houston city line.

Oh Ye Of Two Faiths

I get into more religious debates than I'd like but every once in a while I have to explain how being Christian doesn't have to be mutually exclusive with certain. Buddhist practices.

“My typical Sunday consists of church in the morning and the Buddhist center in the afternoon,” said Betty Levy, a practicing Catholic and a resident of Whitehouse Station near the Pennsylvania border.

Unlike an earlier generation of aspiring Buddhists, Levy didn’t discover the center while on a spiritual trek. Instead, she met Diana Cutler while both women were waiting for their cars to be repaired at a local auto dealership.

And after three years of classes, Levy said Buddhism is making her a better Christian.

“In the Gospels, Christ is teaching how to live,” Levy said. “And Buddhism helps give me the tools to live like we should — to put others first, to control anger and to be compassionate.”

The Cutlers, now in their late 50s, still embrace a quiet, austere lifestyle that they learned from their mentor, a Tibetan monk named Geshe Ngawang Wangyal.

But they also said the new wave of students is an encouraging sign that Buddhism is gaining mainstream acceptance.

“It’s gotten to the point where people stop me in the supermarket and ask me about the Dalai Lama,” Diana Cutler said. “They want to know how he’s doing and when he’s coming back.”

Snowball Rolling Down The Hill

Among other things, as gas prices rise and soar, President Bush's approval ratings get lower and lower and lower.

President Bush's approval ratings have sunk to a personal low, with only a third of Americans saying they approve of the way he is handling his job, a national poll released Monday said.

In the telephone poll of 1,012 adult Americans carried out Friday through Sunday by Opinion Research Corporation for CNN, 32 percent of respondents said they approve of Bush's performance, 60 percent said they disapprove and 8 percent said they do not know.

That's a significant drop from the way Americans perceived the president a year ago. In a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll carried out April 29-May 1, 2005, Americans were split on their assessments of Bush's performance, with 48 percent saying they approved and 49 percent saying they disapproved.

Works For Me!

Do I need to sign anything?

State legislators in Illinois and California have introduced proposals to impeach President Bush. In California, the amendment provides for impeaching Vice President Cheney as well.

So, Is This Assualt Or What?

Can you get away with punching people like this?

Pink Is Getting Deep

Looks like Pink is finally calling her own shots and using her music to say exactly what she wants to say. I just hope the Bush Administration doesn't retaliate for this one:

Speaking Of Pedophiles ...

Okay! I know I am wrong for this even though it creeps me totally out to no end. I have a co-worker who is probably (I am assuming he is over 40 but I think I am still older than him) middle-aged. I consider him to be a typical, nerd-like, reject (as in had a hard time getting/keeping women) white dude. He's not very attractive and seems to have an anal retentive/control freak personality to boot.

Well, when he first started working here and I saw his wedding ring, my radar went off and I immediately assumed that he had an Asian wife (of one nationality or another). Sure enough, I was right. BUT, this chick is really tiny (as in has a childlike body), talks in a baby voice and, apparently doesn't have much to do with herself at any given time during the week because she drops him off in the morning, picks him up after work and is often found in our cold kitchen area in the afternoons, presumably, waiting for him to get off of work - which often means hours.

Being only one of two females left on my team and, in general, surviving this industry for so many years being the only black, only woman or both, I have heightened sensitivity to sexism/racism in the workplace. Working around a bunch of chauvinistic pigs isn't always an easy task and when I see the kind of women these guys have at home, I realize why I get into conflict with some of them sometimes. I am probably their worst nightmare: independent, making as much money as them, speak with knowledge and authority in my voice and look at them like they are pedophiles when they bring women, who look and act like children, to work with them. It's NASTY!

Anyhow, it is this guy's birthday today so, of course, he gets flowers/balloons. Now I hear her over the cubes, talking in that baby voice and it is grating my nerves. It just grosses me out a) because he is so creepy b) because he obviously had to go trolling the Philippines for a bride.

I don't begrudge anyone the right to be happy but there is some stuff that just gets under my skin. How do you buy a woman in modern society? My manager too, it seems, is in the market for a mail-order. He just returned from the Philippines a few weeks ago and is always having these whisper conversations with the other co-worker in question (I guess his trips to Russia didn't pay off). He's an obnoxious prick too and I'm not sure he's taller than me (I'm 5 ft). Oh well, as long as it is legal I don't suppose there is anything wrong with it. But, like I said, it just skeeves me out! It's hard for me to take these guys seriously in a professional environment.

Pe-do-phile!

I've been seeing this all over the blogsphere so I finally decided to post it. Is this man so inbred that he does not understand that offering to purchase a 12 year old virginal girl is considered a crime? Heck, why would a 24 year old woman (virgin or not) want a creep like this? I need a shower and some calamine lotion! This makes me itch!

A man has caused an uproar in this southwestern Oklahoma town by advertising in an unusual manner that he'd like to pay for a virgin to be his bride.

A sign that 45-year-old Michael Thelemann posted in his yard Sunday said that he'll pay $1,000 for a virgin bride between the ages of 12 and 24.

"I feel like I'm living down the street from a pedophile," said neighbor Christy Sternadel. "We want him out of this neighborhood. Who asks for a 12-year-old virgin bride?"

As of Wednesday, no one had taken up Thelemann on his offer, but he had heard several negative comments from neighbors, which he said he didn't understand. He said his grandmother married "a much older man" at age 14.

"I'm just somebody who is getting up there in years, and I'm looking for a born-again, God-fearing virgin between the ages of 12 and 24 who can bear me children," said Thelemann, who was divorced in 1989. "What's the problem? I just think I have some wicked neighbors."

Neighbors asked the Stephens County sheriff's department to stop Thelemann from displaying the sign, but Undersherriff Bob Hill said the sign was gone by the time deputies visited Thelemann's home.

That's because it was stolen, Thelemann said. He put up another sign Wednesday that didn't include the minor ages. The new sign also noted he's not interested in a "pig-worshipping, heathen, white-supremacist wife."

Free Samples You Won't Get At Costco

Aside from the fact that it is just, plain bold and brazen for drug dealers to feel free enough to pass out samples of heroin, it's just plain insane that so many people took them up on their offer ... and died!

As word circulated this week of people passing out from potent heroin on Chicago's South Side, drug users didn't recoil with fear, police said.

They turned out in droves for a taste.

By the end of Wednesday, 25 people between the ages of 17 and 73 had overdosed, including a 51-year-old woman who died at her home.

"It's a sad commentary when people are racing to a place they know may overdose them," Police Supt. Philip Cline said Thursday.

With 66 heroin overdoses since August, including 11 deaths, police announced they are teaming with federal officials to try disrupting the drug's flow into the city and to staunch the street deals plaguing the South and West Sides.

Though there are close to 250 fatal drug overdoses in Chicago every year, officials said, incidents involving heroin are becoming more concentrated. Fifteen of Wednesday's overdoses happened near the Ida B. Wells public housing complex. In February, 10 people died near the Dearborn Homes after taking heroin that, authorities said, was cut with Fentanyl, a prescription drug often used in anesthesia.

Though Fentanyl is believed to be contributing to most of the heroin overdoses, Cline said, it is unclear if the drugs passed out Wednesday were cut with the substance or if they were simply extremely potent doses.

What is known about Wednesday's outbreak is that samples were being given out in pink baggies in the 500 block of East Browning Avenue and at 64th Street and Ashland Avenue, Cline said.

I think this is taking product marketing and sampling much too far!

Fetus Freaks Set Up Fake Clinics

I just wonder if these pro-birth zealots invest this much time and creativity into making sure that the babies/children who are already here have viable lives?

An Indiana mother recently accompanied her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend to one of Indiana’s Planned Parenthood clinics, but they unwittingly walked into a "crisis pregnancy center" run by an anti-abortion group — one that shared a parking lot with the real Planned Parenthood clinic, and was designed expressly to lure Planned Parenthood patients and deceive them.

The group took down the girl’s confidential personal information and told her to come back for her appointment, which they said would be in their "other office" (the real Planned Parenthood office nearby). When she arrived for her appointment, not only did the Planned Parenthood staff have no record of her, but the police were there — the "crisis pregnancy center" had called them, claiming that a minor was being forced to have an abortion against her will.

The "crisis pregnancy center" staff then proceeded to wage a campaign of intimidation and harassment over the following days, showing up at the girl’s home and calling her father’s workplace. Our clinic director reports that she was "scared to death to leave her house." They even went to her school and urged classmates to pressure her not to have an abortion.

Behind the Story: The anti-choice movement is setting up so-called "crisis pregnancy centers" across the country. Some of them have neutral-sounding names and run ads that falsely promise the full range of reproductive health services, but dispense anti-choice propaganda and intimidation instead. And according to The New York Times, there are currently more of these centers in the U.S. than there are actual abortion providers! What’s more, these centers have received $60 million of government grants. They’re being funded by our tax dollars."

What about the sick children already here? What about the starving children already here? What about the abused children already here? What about the neglected children already here? Does their mission stop once the forced pregnancy comes to term?

Wusses!

How transparent is this? This is akin to taking your ball and stomping home when you lose the game.

Yesterday, Broadsheet noted that a teenage girl won a boys tennis championship in Pennsylvania. Just one day after Annie Houghton's win, league officials congratulated her on her achievement, while taking steps to make sure something like this doesn't happen again. (Thanks to Broadsheet reader Bethany L. Ruhe for the tip.)

Officials from Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League asked school administrators to come up with new rules to prevent such "gender crossing" in the future, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I think that the concern isn't so much with girls playing boys'
sports. It's the other way, with boys playing girls' sports," the league president, Rich Constantine, told the newspaper. Recently, some boys in the region have taken up girls volleyball and girls field hockey.

Still, it's puzzling why the high-profile victory of a girl in a boys tennis championship so urgently reminds officials that the fairer sex really needs to be protected from competing with boys. Is Houghton giggling into her trophy about the irony right now?

Technorati Tags: Annie Houghton

Fetus Freaks in LA Pass Bill

Yet another poor, dumb state is following South Dakota's lead in attempting to ban all abortions. Now, Louisana has jumped on the band wagon.

Senate Bill 33 by Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, cleared the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare after the provision was added. The bill would allow abortions only to save the life of the mother. But Sen. Diana Bajoie, D-New Orleans, said she wanted to "make it more pro-life" by not allowing any exceptions.

She did not offer the amendment but served notice she will on the Senate floor, where Nevers is expected to take up the bill next week. "I do have some concerns about this bill," Bajoie said. "It should be all or nothing. . . . Life is life."

Nevers said he will work with Bajoie to "get as much of a pro-life bill as I can."

Sen. Joel Chaisson II, D-Destrehan, a member of the panel, told Nevers he thought the committee was going to have a chance to vote on an amendment to allow abortions in cases of rape and incest. "My concern for your bill is if we don't have such amendments, that lessens your chances of getting rid of abortions on demand (in the state)," he said. "Think about that between now and the (Senate) floor" debate.

Amendments to add those exceptions are expected to be offered on the Senate floor, although Nevers said he would oppose them.

These people really are stupid. They want no provision to save the woman's life because it would make the bill more pro-life? Let the mother die to save the fetus (that cannot survive without the mother). Two dead people instead of one terminated fetus? That's pro-life? How about doing some math!

(link via feministing.com)

Technorati Tags: pro-life, pro-choice, Bajoie

The Way It Should Be

As fringe elements on the far right aim to ram through legislation to deny women adequate access to reproductive health and services, the democrats came up with their "prevention first" plan. Here is a great joint statement by Harry Reid (who is pro-life) and Hilary Clinton (pro-choice) coming together on this issue.

As two senators on opposite sides of the abortion debate, we recognize that one side will not suddenly convince the other to drop its deeply held beliefs. And we believe that, while disagreeing, we can work together to find common ground. We believe that it is necessary for all Americans to join together and embrace policies that will reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, decrease abortions and improve access to women's health care.

There is no question that the rate of unintended pregnancy is too high in the United States.

Half of the 6 million pregnancies each year in this country are unintended, and nearly half of these unplanned pregnancies end in abortion. It doesn't have to be this way.

Most of these unintended pregnancies -- and the resulting abortions -- can be prevented if we eliminate the barriers that prevent women from having access to affordable and effective contraception.

In the Senate, we have long championed the Prevention First Act. This legislation would help to reduce the rates of unintended pregnancy in our nation, decrease abortions and improve access to women's health care.

Our proposal includes common- ground, common-sense policies.

It makes family-planning services more accessible to low-income women. It improves awareness and understanding of emergency contraception, a poorly understood yet highly effective form of contraception.

It ensures that government-funded sex education programs provide medically accurate information about contraception.

It also ends insurance discrimination against women. Right now, many policies cover Viagra, but not prescription contraceptives. That is wrong, and our legislation will change it.

Wanted: White Muslims

It was only am matter of time.

Terrorists have been working to recruit non-Arab sympathizers — so-called "white Muslims" with Western features who theoretically could more easily blend into European cities and execute attacks — according to classified intelligence documents obtained by The Associated Press.

A 252-page confidential report jointly compiled by Croatian and U.S. intelligence on potentially dangerous Islamic groups in Bosnia suggests the recruitment drive may have begun as long as four years ago, when Arab militants ran up against tough post-9/11 security obstacles.

"They judge that it is high time that their job on this territory should be taken over by new local forces ... people who are born here and live here have an advantage which would make their job easier. By their appearance, they are less obvious," the report reads.

Arabs, it adds, "have become too obvious, which has made their job difficult."

Bosnia's minister of security, Barisa Colak, acknowledged the existence of the intelligence report but said authorities had no concrete evidence that recruitment efforts are widespread. There are no known cases of a Balkan "white Muslim" recruit being involved in an actual attack.

"Even so, we have to be extremely careful and serious and not miss anything," he told the AP.