What a pain in the ass this was. ( A short story of my day) I was at work, about 1645 hours, and just minding my own business setting up a system, and drinking water. (I also have GERD by the way), but it hasen't bothered me for several months, anyhow, for some reason the water kinda got stuck and I forced it up which I guess created a lot of pressure and when it came up, it was blood. Not a lot, but enough that it scared me. I called my doctor, and he said got to the ER right away. Being the good troop I am, I went. Well I'll tell you, sitting in an emergency room is not my idea of fun. Got moved to a room after 5 hours. The nurse who took care of me spent 13 years in the Air Force, so we got along just great. Lots of war stories. She put in a IV and drew 6 tubes of blood, and sent them to the lab. The Doc came in talked to me, and stuck his finger up my personality, and damn, he didn't even kiss me. Anyhow cutting it all short, no blood there. All the tests came back negative, and I got to go home at midnight. What a day. He wants me to follow with some other doc to let them put a tube down my throat and look around, I said right, i'll get right on that. Not gonna happen. If it happens again perhaps, but not now.
Sphere: Related ContentFriday, August 29, 2008
Russia tests out new lethal nuke
Now this is some scary crap. I don't understand why Russia wants to start another Cold War Era, but it looks like it is going to happen.
RUSSIA last night provoked fresh fears of a Cold War by boasting it has tested a new long-range nuclear missile.
Moscow’s military chiefs revealed their Topol intercontinental stealth rocket had been fired successfully.
Watchful ... Medvedev with a Topol missile
The chilling declaration was aimed at sparking international alarm about the conflict in the Caucasus, diplomats claimed.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband tried to calm the crisis by saying no country wants “all-out war” with Russia.
But he admitted the invasion of Georgia has brought an end to peace in Europe.
Russia’s Interfax agency said: “The experimental warhead section of the rocket hit its pre-determined target with high accuracy at the firing range.”
The RS-12M Topol, designed to dodge defence systems, has a range of 6,125 miles — enough to reach Britain — with a 550-kiloton warhead capable of devastating a 14-mile wide area.
It was launched from the spaceport at Plesetsk to the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s Far East. But Russia’s own allies condemned leaders Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation slammed the Kremlin for its aggression against neighbouring Georgia.
Distance ... journey of missile in test
The SCO, made up of China and Black Sea states, said: “Relying on the use of force has no prospects and hinders a settlement of local conflicts.
“We urge the sides to solve problems peacefully.”
The EU talked of sanctions unless Moscow backs down.
Britain postponed September’s military exercises in Georgia — a day after Moscow warned such moves could be tantamount to a declaration of war.
But Russia last night accused the UK of direct involvement in helping Georgia’s armed forces.
General Anatoly Nogovitsyn alleged the charity Halo Trust, once linked to Princess Diana, is training bomb technicians.
The conflict in Georgia continues with South Ossetia claiming to have shot down an unmanned Georgian spy plane.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
ICE: Nearly 600 detained in Miss. plant raid
You can run but you can't hide
LAUREL, Miss. (AP) - Federal officials say nearly 600 suspected illegal immigrants were detained in a raid on a manufacturing plant in southern Mississippi, making it the largest such sweep in the country.
A spokeswoman says more than 100 of those caught up in Monday's raid on Howard Industries were released based on humanitarian concerns, mostly because they have children.
Most of the rest were transferred to a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Jena, La. Nine 17-year-olds were transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
The Mississippi raid was one of a series of recent high-profile crackdowns on illegal immigrants. In May, officials swept into the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Iowa and detained 400 workers.
Russia threatens military response to US missiles
I hope nobody gets stupid over this. We are the ones that will pay in the end.
MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is warning his country may respond to a U.S. missile shield in Europe through military means.
Medvedev says that the deployment of an anti-missile system close to Russian borders "will of course create additional tensions."
"We will have to react somehow, to react, of course, in a military way," Medvedev was quoted as saying Tuesday by the RIA-Novosti news agency.
Russian officials have already warned of a military response to the U.S. plans, but the statement by the Russian leader was likely to further aggravate already tense relations with the West. The comments come after Medvedev recognized two Georgian regions as independent nations, prompting criticism from the U.S. and Europe.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
FBI: Couple Offered Sex With Girl, 5, for Used Car
Now aren'these some nice parents.
SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio couple is accused of trying to trade sex with the woman's 5-year-old daughter for an apartment, a used car and child care for her 10-month old daughter.
Jennifer Richards, 25, and her married boyfriend, Sean Michael Block, 40, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Stein Nowak on Friday. Richards is charged with using interstate facilities to transmit information about a minor. Block is charged with distributing child pornography.
Nowak ordered Block held. Richards' detention hearing was delayed until Tuesday, the San Antonio Express-News reported Sunday.
According to an affidavit unsealed last Tuesday, the investigation began when an informant told the FBI about a text message allegedly sent by Block reading: "Nice piece 5 yrs old belongs to my gf and she wants to sell it."
Richards and Block crafted a deal that, in addition to the apartment and used car, included child care for Richards' 10-month-old daughter, whose sexual service the couple intended to sell later, Rex Miller, the FBI's lead agent on the case, testified.
The couple had also hoped to blackmail the informant, Miller said.
Richards "was of the belief that these sexual interactions would be a positive experience for (her daughter) and that Richards would receive sexual gratification" from watching, according to the affidavit.
Authorities said both children are no longer in Richards' custody and that neither child was sold for sex.
After reviewing computers the couple used and listening to taped conversations, Miller determined Block and Richards were making further plans to abduct, rape and "carve up" a teenage runaway.
Block allegedly sent an e-mail with a link to a Russian child pornography site, according to the affidavit.
Ronald Guyer, Block's lawyer, acknowledged the severity of the charges. But Guyer told the judge that there was no evidence that the behavior progressed beyond Block's fantasy.
"There has been no action on his part," Guyer told Nowak.
Richard's attorney did not immediately return a call or e-mail left Sunday by The Associated Press seeking comment.
The couple worked at the Cheesecake Factory at North Star Mall, where he was a bartender and she was a waitress.
Court records show that Block's now-estranged wife Sarah Block filed for a protective order earlier this week on behalf of the couple's 14-month-old child. Her lawyer said she filed for divorce Friday.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Now This Is Just Sick.
No comments are necessary to describe this love fest. Sick, Sick, Sick
Been Off For A Week
Well I took a well deserved vacation this past week. The wife got back after three months overseas and so I decided that was a good excuse. Didn't do to much other than the normal house and yard projects. It rained for most of my vacation, but we needed it. Glad she is back. It's hard running a household. I don' envy any of you women out there. It may look easy, but it is very hard. Just organizing meals is bad enough, but cleaning, now that is a monster unto itself. The kids did a really good job of helping out. Once we got everythng organized it went pretty smooth. Now at least I can start to read a few blogs. Anyhow back to normal now and glad of it.
Sphere: Related ContentFriday, August 22, 2008
Well My Better Half Got Home
Well the three months of single live is over. Wife arrived at 2330 hours on Wed night. Me my son and daughter got to Bush Airport at 2230 and had an hour wait. I didn't mind, I like sitting in the airport watching all of the visitors arrive in our little town of Houston. I found these chairs in the airport that were installed with the opening of the new section of Bush. They are great. You can let it give you a massage (1.00 for 3 minutes) up to 15.00 for longer) but the cool part is, the chair also has headsets and you can pick the music you want to listen to. Also has Internet, telephone, and outlets to plug your razor into for a quick shave. I would love one in my house. Anywho, she arrived, got her bags and were back home by 0030 hours. We all got to bed around 0400. Now things are getting back to normal, and I don't have to cook anymore. It was kinds hard to turn over the reins though. I had the house and kids so organized, well that's all out the window now. Back to her way to doing things. Well that is fine with me. Now I can sit in the garage and enjoy my tv and cold beer. I am currently watching Dalls and Houston in a preseason game. Ahh the good life.
Sphere: Related ContentTuesday, August 19, 2008
ProEnglish praises Wichita English Court Ruling
Well this is a surprise..
ARLINGTON, Va.—“St. Anne’s Catholic School is fully within its rights as an educational institution to curb bullying, profanity and exclusionary behavior among its students by requiring that English be spoken, and we are pleased that U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten agrees,” says K.C. McAlpin, executive director of ProEnglish, a national English advocacy organization. The group gave assistance to the Wichita, Kansas, school’s legal team and hired a local attorney to represent two St. Anne’s students that were caught up in the lawsuit over the “speak English” rule.
“Spanish is taught in the school’s curriculum and St. Anne’s Catholic Church is one of the few churches in the Wichita diocese that offers a Spanish mass every Sunday,” McAlpin notes. “Plaintiff and student Adam Silva, whose parents alleged the speak-English rule was discriminatory, had no basis for such a claim. The language someone chooses to speak and their national origin are not the same thing, and courts have never ruled otherwise,” McAlpin added.
“It was young Adam’s parents who protested the rule—a policy implemented for non-discriminatory reasons. In fact, Adam is bilingual, with English as his first language. So he could easily have complied with the rule. This court case was a battle between a school’s right to have rules to protect students and maintain the discipline required for learning, and a set of aggrieved parents whose child refused to comply with the rules,” McAlpin said. “The judge found discrimination had nothing to do with it.”
“It is regrettable that members of the legal profession who see the law merely as a tool for conflict or to use to advance their personal political agendas, are using linguistic diversity as a weapon,” McAlpin continued. “This case should never have been in court.”
ProEnglish’s main involvement in the Silva v. St. Anne’s Catholic School case was to engage Wichita attorney Mark Shoenhofer to represent St. Anne’s students who were deposed or required to sign an affidavit responding to questions from the plaintiff’s attorney.
Do You think This guy has a point!!! I sure do!!!
This was written by a construction worker ... he sure makes a lot of sense to me!
Read on...
I work, they pay me.
I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit.
In order to earn that pay check, I work on a rig site for a construction project.
I am required to pass a random urine test, with which I have no problem.
What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test.
Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them?
Please understand - I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do on the other hand have a problem with helping someone sit on their ass drinking beer and smoking dope.
Could you imagine how much money would be save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check?
Monday, August 18, 2008
This is just pathetic
It must be pretty bad in Mexico, for people to do this. I just don't get it.
Well My Better Half Will Be Home on Wednesday
I'll tell you this much, I'll never complain again about how my wife does things. Now don't get me wrong, I can take care of myself for a few weeks, but throw in a 16 year old and a 23 year old, and it gets a little harder. But after a few weeks, my military training kicked in, and my work load got a little better. All I did was set it up to be like a GI Party. I took care of cleaning the living room, daughter took care of the bathrooms, son took care of the kitchen and yard. They were not happy, but everyone pitched in. After their work was done they would come and get me and I would hold an inspection. Well I only had to do that two times, and then I knew things were done right the first time. We rotated on the cooking, so we had a hot meal everyday. It was up to each to decide what they wanted to cook. My obvious choice was BBQ. Funny how much work there is to do on a daily basis to keep a house up. Well after three months of it, I have had enough. She is due to arive on Wednesday at 2230 hours at Bush Airport, so that will be a long night for sure. I am taking three days vacation that week to catch up etc. Happy days are here again.
Lessons Learned:
1. Cleaning sucks
2. Cooking Sucks
3. Washing clothes sucks
4. Ironing clothes sucks
5. Washing dogs sucks
6. No wife for three months sucks.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
HPD officer shoots sword-wielding man in chest
Stupid to bring a knife to a gunfight, even a big knife. What an asshat this nutcase is. He is very lucky he is not dead. Thank you from me to all of our Police everywhere for doing a great job of protecting us all.
A Houston police officer shot a man who was wielding a sword at him Saturday night, officials said.
Police found the man in a driveway in the 3300 block of Hastings. The man, whose name was not released, approached police with the sword.
Officers retreated, asking the man to put down the weapon. Police said the man continued to advance toward the officers.
One of the officers shot him once in the chest.
The man was transported to Ben Taub General Hospital, where he underwent surgery. Police said he is in fair condition.
No further information was immediately available
Friday, August 15, 2008
Authorities: 3-year-old tried to free himself from hot car
There isn't much I can say about this.
As the temperatures rose in his mother's locked truck on Thursday, authorities said the little boy managed to free himself from his car seat and climb to the front of the vehicle, where he put a key in the ignition.
But the 3-year-old died before he could escape the sweltering heat that soon overtook him in the truck's cabin, the Harris County Sheriff's Office said.
Cameron Thomas Boone, who celebrated his third birthday last month, was the second child within less than 24 hours to die in the Houston area after a loved one drove to work, locked the vehicle and forgot about them. The boys were the third and fourth children to die in hot vehicles in Harris County this year.
On Thursday, authorities said Cameron was trapped in his mother's truck — parked in a hospital parking lot — for nine hours before the woman discovered her son's body. The frantic mother used a rock to break the back windshield of the truck because the woman was unable to use the remote door locks with a key already in the ignition, authorities said.
In both the northwest Harris County case and Wednesday's incident in Webster, authorities say the driver forgot to take the child to daycare and drove straight to work leaving the child secured in the back seat of the vehicle.
In Thursday's case, authorities said the boy's father usually dropped him off at a daycare facility on Thursdays. It was unclear why he didn't make the trip Thursday morning, said Lt. John Denholm, Harris County Sheriff's Office.
The mother arrived at work at North Cypress Medical Center at 21214 Northwest Freeway about 6:30 a.m. and parked her white four-door Chevrolet pickup truck in the parking lot near Huffmeister.
When she walked out to the truck after her shift ended at 3:30 p.m., she found her son dead in the front seat of the truck.
Temperatures reached 97 degrees Thursday.
"Texas sun is very unforgiving. Temperatures inside cars escalate to fatal levels quickly," Denholm said.
Evidence indicates the boy spent his last minutes fighting to escape the unbearable heat.
"He was able to free himself from his car seat and climb to the front. We also found a key in the ignition, like he was trying to start the car, maybe open a window," Denholm said.
After breaking the back windshield, the mother grabbed her son and ran into the nearby emergency room where he was pronounced dead.
Hospital employees paused when walking to their cars late Thursday, some unaware of the tragedy, some in shock.
"I can't believe it — that poor child. That poor woman," said a nurse who asked that her name not be used.
"It's tragic — there's no other way to put it," said Denholm, who declined to comment on whether the mother may face criminal charges.
A Harris County grand jury will consider whether to charge the grandmother of the other 3-year-old boy who died Wednesday after being left in a car for about 10 hours.
The grandmother was leaving work about 5:45 p.m. at 421 E. NASA Parkway when she noticed the boy in the backseat.
Webster police said she apparently forgot to take him to day care.
Capt. Tom Claunch said his department will continue its investigation into the incident before submitting a complete report to the grand jury.
Child Protective Services spokeswoman Estella Olguin said that deviation from routine is a common denominator in such cases.
"Anytime you are doing something out of the ordinary you have to be extra vigilant. Put your purse, cell phone or wallet in the back with the baby," Olguin said.
She also said parents can keep a stuffed animal in the car seat and place the stuffed animal in the front seat when a child is in the backseat as a visual reminder.
"We all get distracted and have a lot on our minds so it's important that parents do anything they can do as a reminder that there is a child in the backseat," Olguin said.
'Texas 7' escaped fugitive executed
And another one bites the dust.
HUNTSVILLE — Condemned inmate Michael Rodriguez, convicted of taking part in killing a Dallas-area police officer nearly eight years ago while a member of the infamous "Texas 7" gang of escaped fugitives, was executed Thursday.
Rodriguez, who had dropped all appeals and volunteered for lethal injection, apologized profusely.
"My punishment is nothing compared to the pain and sorrow I've brought you," Rodriguez said. "I'm not strong enough to ask for forgiveness because I don't know if I am worthy...
"I ask the Lord to please forgive me. I've done horrible things that brought sorrow and pain to these wonderful people," he said, looking directly at the widow of the slain police officer and Rodriguez's former sister-in-law.
"I'm sorry, so sorry," he said repeatedly.
As the drugs took effect, Rodriguez, 45, was praying in a whisper. "I'm ready to go, Lord," he said.
Seven minutes later, at 6:20 p.m. CDT, he was pronounced dead.
Outside the prison, several dozen police officers stood at attention while the execution was carried out, their hands clasped in front of them.
He was the eighth convicted killer executed this year in the nation's busiest capital punishment state and the fourth this month. Another is set for next week. He was the first of the six surviving "Texas 7" band to be put to death.
Body proves Bigfoot no myth, hunters say
Is it real, or just another hoax..
CNN) -- A policeman and a former corrections officer say that on Friday they will unveil evidence of what they claim is their biggest find ever: the body of Bigfoot.
The thawed body of a creature reputed to be Bigfoot reportedly weighs more than 500 pounds.
1 of 2 Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, a pair of Bigfoot-hunting hobbyists from north Georgia, say they found the creature's body in a wooded area and spotted several similar creatures that were still alive.
The carcass of the furry half-man, half-ape is 7 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs more than 500 pounds, they say. However, the two are not disclosing the exact location of their discovery to protect the remaining creatures.
Tom Nelson, chairman of the biology department at North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega, said he's "pretty skeptical" the world will feast its eyes on a new species Friday.
"That would certainly rock mammalogy," joked Nelson, who specializes in the study of mammals. "I see a research grant in my future."
Whitton and Dyer plan to unveil what they say is DNA and photo evidence of the discovery in Palo Alto, California, in conjunction with a group called Searching for Bigfoot Inc.
A photograph on that group's Web site shows what appears to be the body of a large, hairy creature with an ape-like face, stuffed into a large freezer.
According to a written release, the two announced the discovery on an Internet radio show, "Squatch Detective," several weeks ago. iReport.com: Do you believe in Bigfoot?
"The only person we would allow to come down and verify the body was 'the Real Bigfoot Hunter,' Tom Biscardi," Dyer said, referring to Searching for Bigfoot's CEO, who has been looking for the elusive, legendary creature in the United States and Canada since 1971.
Whitton is a Georgia police officer who is on administrative leave after being shot in the wrist during a pursuit. Dyer is a former prison guard.
DNA tests on the body have begun, said the statement, and "extensive scientific studies" will be done on the body by scientists, including a molecular biologist, an anthropologist and a paleontologist.
Nelson, the university professor, acknowledged that new species of animals have been discovered in recent decades and that, in science, "we always acknowledge the possibility of something new."
But he said that even in north Georgia, home to the Blue Ridge Mountains and the foot of the Appalachian Trail, it stretches the imagination to think a family of 7-foot-tall creatures could have eluded hunters, hikers and creeping development until now.
"To the average person, these places just seem like extreme wilderness where you'll find lions and tigers and bears," he said. "The reality is that you're never more than a mile from a road."
The group says the animal is male, has reddish hair and "blackish-gray" eyes and human-like feet, hands
North Texas school district will let teachers carry guns
Why not be the first. Let us see how many more follow. We have to protect our own.
HARROLD, Texas — A tiny Texas school district may be the first in the nation to allow teachers and staff to pack guns for protection when classes begin later this month, a newspaper reported.
Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change last October so employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings, provided the gun-toting teachers follow certain requirements.
In order for teachers and staff to carry a pistol, they must have a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun; must be authorized to carry by the district; must receive training in crisis management and hostile situations and have to use ammunition that is designed to minimize the risk of ricochet in school halls.
Superintendent David Thweatt said the small community is a 30-minute drive from the sheriff's office, leaving students and teachers without protection. He said the district's lone campus sits 500 feet from heavily trafficked U.S. 287, which could make it a target.
"When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that's when all of these shootings started. Why would you put it out there that a group of people can't defend themselves? That's like saying 'sic 'em' to a dog," Thweatt said in Friday's online edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Thweatt said officials researched the policy and considered other options for about a year before approving the policy change. He said the district also has various other security measures in place to prevent a school shooting.
"The naysayers think (a shooting) won't happen here. If something were to happen here, I'd much rather be calling a parent to tell them that their child is OK because we were able to protect them," Thweatt said.
Texas law outlaws firearms on school campuses "unless pursuant to the written regulations or written authorization of the institution."
It was unclear how many of the 50 or so teachers and staff members will be armed this fall because Thweatt did not disclose that information, to keep it from students or potential attackers. Wilbarger County Sheriff Larry Lee was out of the office Thursday and did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment, the newspaper said.
Barbara Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Association of School Boards, said her organization did not know of another district with such a policy. Ken Trump, a Cleveland-based school security expert who advises districts nationwide, including in Texas, said Harrold is the first district with such a policy.
The 110-student district is 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth on the eastern end of Wilbarger County, near the Oklahoma border.
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On the Web:
Harrold Independent School District, http://harroldisd.net/
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Welcome Back to the Segregation of Public Schools!
Seems like a little school outside of Mobie Alabama is under siege by the communist libs. According to http://thebullspeaks.com/. This type of crap is what is killing our nation and hurting our kids, molding them this way and that way. I say bullshit to all of them. Go over to thebullspeaks site and read the rest of this article and get mad, real mad.
In my son’s middle school, Hankins Middle School of Theodore, AL, (a suburb of Mobile, AL), the principle has taken it upon herself - without any form of notice to the parents drom either the school or District offices - to segregate the students by their sex - males in one set of classrooms and the females in another set of classrooms. Moreover, Ms. Cheryl Wittner has the full support of the Mobile County School District.
Or maybe she only thinks she has… The District would not discuss it with The Bull save to say that in their opinion “children have no ‘rights’ and that it is entirely a school-by-school decision to be made by the principle of the school“.
Muslim father burns Christian daughter alive
And just think how bad we have it in America. Right.
Man slices out girl's tongue, ignites her after 'heated debate on religion'
A Muslim father cut out his daughter's tongue and lit her on fire upon learning that she had become a Christian.
The child became curious about Jesus Christ after she read Christian material online, the Gulf News reported.
Her father read her Internet conversation, detached her tongue and burned her to death "following a heated debate on religion," according to an International Christian Concern report.
The Muslim man lives in Saudi Arabia and is employed by the muwateen, or Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The muwateen are police tasked by the government with enforcing religious purity. The man has been taken into custody, and his identity has not been released.
(Story continues below)
According to the report, Saudi Arabia's school curriculums and teachers deliberately instill hatred toward Christians and followers of non-Muslim religions.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a press release stating that textbooks at the Saudi Arabian government school in Northern Virginia teach, "It is permissible for a Muslim to kill an apostate (a convert from Islam)."
The ICC claims Saudi Arabian authorities have begun exporting Wahabbism – a version of Islam that is said to be least tolerant toward non-Muslims – to other nations including the U.S.
Saudi oil money is said to be used to encourage countries such as Ethiopia and Indonesia to kill Christians and destroy their possessions.
ICC president Jeff King said, "Saudi Arabia has to treat Christians with the same respect that it wants Muslims to be treated in other countries. It has to stop exporting hate and persecution against Christians in other countries."
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Violent Texas Inmate Executed for Double Slaying
If you come to Texas and kill, Texas will kill you. Another one bites the dust.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 8:00 PM
Article Font Size
HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- Texas has executed a 32-year-old man convicted of gunning down two video store workers during a robbery 14 years ago in Dallas.
The execution of Leon David Dorsey IV on Tuesday was seventh this year in the nation's most active death penalty state. Three other Texas inmates are scheduled to be executed in the next two weeks.
Dorsey pleaded guilty in 1994 to killing a woman during a convenience store robbery and was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
While in prison, Dorsey was convicted in 2000 of killing 26-year-old James Armstrong and 20-year-old Brad Lindsey at an East Dallas Blockbuster Video store where they worked.
Video shows Burger King employee bathing in sink
XENIA, Ohio (WDTN) - Some workers at a Greene County restaurant are in hot water with the health department, after an employee took a bubble bath in a store sink.
It happened at the Burger King on Orange Street in Xenia.
A four-minute video posted on MySpace.com captured the employee, self-described as Mr. Unstable, bathing nude in a large stainless steel sink as several other employees and a store manager looked on.
The video began making its rounds on the Internet Monday morning. One of the recipients was Greene County Health Commissioner, Mark McDonnell.
"My first thought was oh my God," said McDonnell.
McDonnell immediately sent staff to restaurant to investigate the numerous health code violations.
He said the restaurant was aware of the incident and had already taken steps to clean up, including disposing of all the utensils and sanitizing the sink twice.
All of the employees involved were fired.
"You can't account for everyone's stupid actions but when things do happen if you respond to it and take the appropriate action that's reassuring," McDonnell said.
Some Burger King patrons don't agree.
"That's just, it's wrong it's a place where families come to eat and them taking a bath in the sink that's just not work ethic," said Crystal Dodge, who said she used to eat at Burger King all the time.
2News reporter Megan O'Rourke went to the Xenia Burger King Monday afternoon looking for comment, but was met at the door by an employee who asked her to leave and referred comment to Burger King's corporate office.
Burger King spokesperson Denise Wilson emailed the following statement to 2News Monday afternoon:
"Burger King Corp. was just notified of this incident and is cooperating fully with the health department. We have sanitized the sink and have disposed of all other kitchen tools and utensils that were used during the incident.
We have also taken appropriate corrective action on the employees that were involved in this video. Additionally, the remaining staff at this restaurant is being retrained in health and sanitation procedures."
But for diners like Crystal, it may be too little, too late.
"That's just disgusting. I wouldn't want to eat here after I heard something like that, that's just not appropriate for employment," Dodge said.
"This kind of stunt really is a black eye for the restaurant itself."
Health Department officials plan to talk with prosecutors to see if any criminal charges will be filed, but they don't have any plans to issue fines at this time.
Ark. City Neighborhood Under 24-Hour Curfew
I see nothing wrong with the way this situation is being handled. The damn ACLU is all over it though.
HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. (AP) - Helena-West Helena Mayor James Valley says he ordered a round-the-clock curfew and heavy police patrol in a ten-block section of town because the neighborhood was "under siege with repeated gunfire, loitering, drug dealing and other general mayhem."
Valley ordered the emergency curfew Thursday, effective immediately. It was still in place today. He said it would remain in place as long as the problems persist or until the city council can come up with a long-term plan at its August 19th meeting.
Thursday night, 18 to 20 police officers carrying M-16 rifles, shotguns and night-vision scopes patrolled the "curfew zone." They arrested about eight people and confiscated drugs and loaded weapons.
Under Valley's order, officers do not tolerate loitering or "hanging out." Officers can stop and investigate all foot traffic, bicycle, horseback, mo-ped, motorcycle, riding mower, golf cart or other means of transportation.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas says the curfew is "blatantly unconstitutional" and has demanded that Valley lift the order immediately.
Friday, August 8, 2008
So You Think Barack Can "Dance"
I read this over at The Astute Bloggers and thought it was great. I am borrowing it. Hope you don't mind.
Today Thursday, August 7, 2008 Barack Obama told a 7 year old in a classroom that America is not doing well - that it is NOT an exceptional country - letting his enormous black racist resentment bubble to the surface on national television. Tonight two Hip Hop street dancers, who happen to be black were the finalists on "So You Think You Can Dance". They beat out over 100,000 dancers who tried out for the show in that America Barack so despises. They garnered over 60 million votes for the finale. Hey Barack - some racist unexceptional country - right?
Barack is racially disconnected from both dancers who were from welfare families who never had the money to pay for dance lessons much less be go to college and become a stuck up better-than-everyone elite snob lawyer. On top of that Barack doesn't even wear the meanest racist pants in the family - that is reserved for Michelle who has never been proud of "mean" America.
Somewhere there is a message for this pretender who preaches hope for an America gone wrong - who arrogantly thinks he and he alone can solve its problems. Obama is a charlatan who stumps for reparations - then claims he is not talking about cash reparations. The "change" he preaches is only the change you'll have in your pocket after he imposes his new punishing street organizer's tax regime on America.
Delightfully "Joshua" and "Twitch" are men - strong men with an abiding faith in God. Joshua upon winning praised God above all others. Apparently they did not go to Trinity United and whine like a bunch of babies. They got to work with what they had and performed ballet, contemporary, jazz, ballroom, Latin better than and with more heart than all those with years of training and experience.
It is the strength of Twitch and Joshua that makes America great. Joshua's final thought was "Don't let anybody say you can't do it." Now that is an American. Obama on the other hand tells grammar school kids their country is crap. What a loser the Democrats have nominated as their candidate for President.
Too bad Barack Obama is not from the America we love and cherish and truly believe to be an exceptional country and society. He is from a distant place not worthy of recognition or comment.
Bus from Houston crashes north of Dallas; 'multiple fatalities' reported
What is going on with all of these major crashed the last couple of days?? I am not getting on any busses anytime soon. The dead count at noon on the local news was up to 19.
Federal safety investigators today were speeding to the scene of a North Texas bus crash that killed 13 Houston religious pilgrims and injured at least 40 others, 12 of them critically.
The chartered bus, carrying 55 members of Vietnamese Martyrs Catholic Church in southeast Houston and Our Lady of Lavang Church in northwest Harris County, smashed into a bridge guardrail on U.S. 75 near Sherman at 12:45 a.m.
Authorities said the bus, bound for the annual Marian Days religious festival at Carthage, Mo., skidded along the guardrail across a creek, then slid down a 12-foot embankment.
An early report said the driver may have lost control of the vehicle when a tire blew out.
A National Transportation Safety Board spokesman said investigators have arrived at the crash site. The investigation could take a year to 18 months, he said.
It is believed the accident is the worst bus crash since 2005, when a bus evacuating nursing home residents from Bellaire during Hurricane Rita's approach caught fire on a gridlocked Dallas freeway, killing 23.
Ten victims of this morning's crash were airlifted to area hospitals; the rest were transported by ground ambulances, Sherman Fire Chief Jeff Jones told The Associated Press. At least six area hospitals were treating victims.
"I saw crushing wounds," Jones said, "but there were very few walking wounded."
Authorities say 12 people died at the scene. Officials at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas said one person died there. Jones had said a 14th person also died in a hospital, but Sherman police Lt. Robert Fair said later today that it was a miscommunication and only 13 had died.
Workers this morning loaded the wrecked bus onto a flatbed truck and cleared the accident site of the victims' belongings — luggage, a sandal, a blood-soaked pillow and scattered clothing.
"Please pray for us," said Holly Nguyen, 38, who had been following the bus in her car but did not witness the crash.
Nguyen anxiously was awaiting word about her father, who was on the bus.
The bus left Houston on Thursday night after boarding parishioners from the Vietnamese Martyrs Church, 10610 Kingspoint, and Our Lady of Lavang Church, 12320 Old Foltin Road.
The Rev. Dominic Trinh, pastor of Our Lady of Lavang, said he learned about the crash in a 3 a.m. telephone call. He was told at least three of his church members had died.
The Rev. Thamh Vu, pastor of Vietnamese Martyrs Church, was en route to Sherman with Pham Nguyen, a church deacon, a church spokesman said.
"They are my friends," Vu said by phone. "We are praying for the healing."
Trinh said he will conduct a Mass for the victims at 6 p.m.
The regular 6:30 p.m. Mass at Vietnamese Martyrs Church will be conducted as a memorial service, said a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.
Lt. Fair said an initial investigation indicates U.S. 75 was clear and dry when the accident occurred. The bus, he said, rolled down an embankment after leaving the roadway.
Police Lt. Steve Ayers said it appeared that a right front tire on the bus had blown out.
The driver, who was not identified, was conscious and talking with authorities at an area hospital, Ayers said.
Houston's American Red Cross chapter has established an information line for relatives of those on the bus: 866-438-4636.
The Marian Days festival, honoring the Virgin Mary, patron saint of refugees, typically draws about 50,000 Vietnamese-American worshipers to the tiny Ozark town.
The religious observance and festival grew out of the arrival of 185 Vietnamese refugees, who were taken to Fort Chaffee, Ark., after the fall of Saigon.
They were allowed the use of a vacant seminary at Carthage, which grew into the site of a sizable Vietnamese congregation.
This report was compiled by Chronicle reporter Allan Turner. Reporter Dale Lezon and The Associated Press contributed information.
Chronicle reporter Dale Lezon and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
kevin.moran@chron.com
Legislators tell school kids to celebrate homosexuality
Not much I can say about this load of bullshit. Just glad to live in Texas.
Plan requires 'suitable commemorative exercises' honoring 'gay' Harvey Milk
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 08, 2008
12:00 am Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
Homosexual former San Francisco leader Harvey Milk
Only a year after banning all negative messages about homosexuality in public schools throughout the state, the California Legislature now is ordering school children to celebrate "gay" lifestyle choices.
"If signed into law, AB 2567 will mean an official day commemorating homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality in California government schools," said Randy Thomasson, president of the Campaign for Children and Families.
"This will harm children as young as kindergarten," he said. "Every May 22, AB 2567 will positively portray to children homosexual experimentation, homosexual 'marriages,' sex-change operations, and anything else that's 'in the closet.' Gov. Schwarzenegger should say no to this very inappropriate bill, which has nothing to do with academic excellences."
Thomasson said the passage by lawmakers of AB 2567 will require all California public schools to "conduct suitable commemorative exercises" in honor of the anti-religious, sexual-anarchy agenda of Harvey Milk, the late San Francisco supervisor who was a homosexual activist.
The California Assembly approved the plan 43-26 and the Senate 22-13, with both votes along party lines of Democrats supporting the homosexual agenda.
The plan comes on the heels of last year's school sexual indoctrination laws, Thomasson said. "When fully implemented, SB 777 and AB 394 will teach children in California government schools to support homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality via instructional materials, programs and activities, and school 'safety' guidelines," he said. "In addition, the California State School Board this year implemented SB 71 requiring public schools that provide sex education to promote unmarried sexual activity with no restraints other than mutual consent."
Federal Officers to Obama: We’re No Terrorists
This guy is so FOS, the he dosen't know which end is up.
The president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association has sent a blistering letter to Barack Obama castigating him for a remark he made that the organization says equates its members with “terrorists.”
Speaking at the National Council of La Raza convention in San Diego on July 13, Obama told the largely Hispanic audience that the nation’s immigration system "isn't working." According to Obama, the problem with the system is that "communities are terrorized by ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] immigration raids" and "nursing mothers are torn from their babies."
The letter from the Association’s National President Art Gordon states: “On behalf of the 26,000 members of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA), I take great exception to your disparaging remark, ‘…communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids.’
“While the dedicated men and women of ICE endeavor to carry out their dangerous and noble missions, you somehow felt compelled to characterize their efforts as something akin to terrorizing…
“It’s one thing to remark intelligently on the need for immigration reform, but it’s quite another to berate ICE law enforcement officers who are risking their lives to enforce the laws passed by Congress.”
Charging that Obama and his fellow members of Congress have not passed any “meaningful legislations” on immigration reform, Gordon goes on to say: “Your bi-partisan fumble should not translate into labeling our members as terrorists by implication…
“ICE employs patriotic men and women who are outstanding law enforcement officers, not rampaging home-wreckers.”
Gordon concludes by inviting Obama to meet with FLEOA officers, saying he would come away with an understanding “that those carrying the ICE shield are heroes, and not terrorists.”
Grandma Arrested for Driving with 3-Year-Old on Roof
I wonder if GuyK knows this grandma.
Marathon, Fla. (AP) - Authorities say a grandmother was arrested for driving around the parking lot of a Marathon grocery store with her 3-year-old child sitting on the roof of the car.
Monroe County Sheriff's Office deputies were called to the Publix store Tuesday and arrested a 54-year-old woman after she was driving around with her three-year-old granddaughter on the roof of her car.
The grandmother was released from jail 15 hours later.
The woman said Thursday she would never let anything hurt her granddaughter. She says she was driving at "snail-speed" and holding the child's leg.
Authorities say the woman told police she was giving the child some air and letting her have fun.
She faces charges of child abuse. The child is back with her mother.
Texas executes illegal immigrant from Honduras
I wonder why this one didn't get the hype the one killed yesterday got?? Express Lane running.
HUNTSVILLE — An illegal immigrant from Honduras who claimed his treaty rights were violated when he was arrested for a robbery-murder near Dallas was executed Thursday evening.
"God forgive them, receive my spirit," Heliberto Chi said in English. In Spanish, he told a friend watching through a window that he loved him and appreciated his hard work. He appeared to be whispering a prayer in Spanish with a tear at the corner of his right eye as the lethal drugs began to take effect.
One of Chi's cousins, who was among the witnesses, sobbed uncontrollably. Two sons of his victims watched through another window and Chi glanced at them briefly but didn't appear to acknowledge them.
Chi was pronounced dead nine minutes later at 6:25 p.m. CDT.
Lawyers for Chi had claimed in appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court that he should have been told he could get legal assistance from the Honduran consulate when he was arrested in California and extradited to Texas to face charges for killing his former boss, Armand Paliotta, at a men's clothing store during a robbery 7 1/2 years ago. Chi had once worked for Paliotta as a tailor at the store in Arlington, between Dallas and Fort Worth.
The Supreme Court, ruling about 2 1/2 hours before his scheduled execution time, rejected his appeal without dissent.
The arguments in his case, focusing on rights of foreigners under international treaty, were similar to those used unsuccessfully Tuesday by lawyers for condemned Texas prisoner Jose Medellin. In that case, the Supreme Court, with four of the nine justices dissenting, rejected his appeal and the Mexican-born Medellin was executed for participating in the gruesome gang rape and murders of two teenage Houston girls 15 years ago.
Unlike Medellin, Chi was not among some 50 death row inmates around the country, all Mexican born, who the International Court of Justice said should have new hearings in U.S. courts to determine whether the 1963 Vienna Convention treaty was violated during their arrests. Mexico had sued in the court on behalf of its citizens condemned in the U.S.
President Bush asked states to review those cases and legislation to implement the process was introduced recently in Congress, but the Supreme Court ruled earlier this year neither the president nor the international court could force Texas to wait.
Chi's attorneys argued that unlike the Vienna Convention obligations with Mexico, the 1927 U.S. Bilateral Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Consular Rights with Honduras was specifically between the U.S. and Honduras and was self-executing, meaning it didn't require legislation to have effect. They said the treaty also conferred individual rights and incorporated international law into enforceable domestic law.
"There can be little doubt that this issue — the proper construction of treaty provisions — is sufficiently meritorious to warrant review," Chi's lawyers said in their Supreme Court request for a reprieve.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, late Wednesday rejected a similar appeal.
Chi had visited the suburban Dallas store in 2001, then returned after closing and was let in by Paliotta after saying he'd left his wallet behind. Once inside, he pulled out a gun and demanded a money bag.
Paliotta was shot and killed. Another employee was wounded trying to run away and a third hid among clothing racks and called 911 for help. On a recording of the call played at his trial, Chi can be heard calling the hiding employee, in Spanish, to "Come to the front" of the store.
With police on the way, he fled a few minutes later, jumped into a waiting car and sped off.
He was arrested in Reseda, Calif., northwest of Los Angeles, about six weeks later. His 18-year-old pregnant girlfriend had turned him for assaulting her and told authorities he was wanted for murder in Texas. The couple had been on the run, crisscrossing the country.
Terry O'Rourke, a lawyer on Chi's legal team who teaches international law at Houston's University of St. Thomas, said Chi's guilt wasn't the issue.
"Chi is a murderer, Medellin is a murderer," O'Rourke said. "But we don't kill all murderers. We don't execute all murderers. We do it according to the law.
"When your state violates international law to kill somebody, it has very negative consequences."
Chi was set to die last September, but his execution was stopped because the Supreme Court was looking into whether lethal injection procedures were unconstitutionally cruel. When the justices earlier this year upheld the method as proper, his date was reset for Thursday.
The getaway driver at the murder scene, Hugo Sierra, who is the brother of Chi's girlfriend, is serving a life prison term.
Chi would say little about the crime in an interview with The Associated Press shortly before his then-scheduled execution last year.
"My situation is not about being innocent or guilty," he said. "My rights were violated."
"If it's the Lord's will" and he was executed, Chi said he had "great peace in my mind and soul."
Four other Texas prisoners are set to die this month, including two more next week. They're among at least 15 Texas inmates with execution dates in the coming months.
Olympic Terrorism Threat Video
The threat, attributed to the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), is contained in a new video which shows a burning Olympics logo and an explosion imposed over a venue to be used for the Beijing Games.
It claims the communist regime's alleged mistreatment of Muslims justifies holy war.
The TIP is an ethnic Uighur and Muslim organisation that is seeking to create an independent state in China's heavily Muslim Xinjiang province.
It is believed to be based across the border in Pakistan, where security experts say it has received training from al Qaeda.
Earlier this week, a bomb attack in the city of Kashgar in Xinjiang killed 16 policemen.
The August 1 video, called "Call to the Global Muslim Nation", was picked up by two US terrorism monitoring firms - the SITE Intelligence Group and IntelCenter.
The tape said: "Do not stay on the same bus, on the same train, on the same plane, in the same buildings, or any place the Chinese are."
A speaker appeared on the video holding an AK-47 assault rifle and wearing a black turban and face cover.
He spoke in front of a black banner carrying the words in Arabic: "There is no God other than Allah, Mohammad is the messenger of God".
The speaker called on Muslims to offer support financially, physically, spiritually and verbally.
"China ... rejects Islam and forces Muslims into atheism by capturing and killing Islamic teachers and destroying Islamic schools," he argued.
In July, Chinese authorities denied claims by the group that it was behind a series of bombings ahead of the Olympics.
The TIP had previously released a video threatening the Games and claimed responsibility for deadly bus blasts in Shanghai and in Kunming, capital of the southwestern province of Yunnan.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
A Texan's opinion
T. B. Bechtel, a part-time City Councilman from Midland , TX , was asked on a local live radio talk show, just what he thought of the allegations of torture of the Iraqi terrorist. His reply prompted his ejection from the studio, but to thunderous applause from the audience.
'If hooking up an Iraqi prisoner's balls to a car's battery cables will save one Texas GI's life, then I have just three things to say,
'Red is positive'
'Black is negative'
'Make sure his balls are wet.
Mexican Troops Cross Border, Hold Border Agent
Guess it is gettng time to REMEMBER THE ALAMO again. Last time it took 5000 to take it over. The odds are better for them this time as they have millions in place this time.
Mexican troops crossed the border into Arizona and held a U.S. Border Patrol agent at gunpoint on Sunday, according to a published report.
Agents assigned to the Border Patrol at Ajo, Ariz., said the Mexican soldiers crossed the border into an isolated area southwest of Tucson and pointed rifles at the agent, who has not been identified.
The Mexicans withdrew after other American agents arrived on the scene, The Washington Times reports.
It’s not known why the troops crossed the border, but American law enforcement authorities have said that current and former Mexican soldiers have been hired to protect drug and immigrant smugglers.
“Unfortunately, this sort of behavior by Mexican military personnel has been going on for years,” union Local 2544 of the National Border Patrol Council said on its Web site.
“They are never held accountable, and the United States government will undoubtedly brush this off as another case of, ‘Oh well, they didn’t know they were in the United States.’ It is fortunate that this incident didn’t end in a very ugly gunfight.”
Ricardo Alday, a spokesman at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, told the Times on Tuesday: “Law enforcement operations have led, from time to time, to innocent incursions by both U.S. and Mexican law enforcement personnel and military units into the territory of both nations…
“We always try to solve these incidents in a cooperative fashion, and as acknowledged by the Border Patrol, this was the case in the episode at Ajo.”
The General Accounting Office estimates that $23 billion in illegal drugs flow across the border each year.
According to The Times, a coalition of border sheriffs has demanded that the American and Mexican governments probe incursions into the U.S. by heavily armed drug escorts dressed in Mexican military uniforms.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Medellin executed for rape, murder of Houston teens
I love Texas justice. I was worried that they would cave in to the media, but didn't. I saw the protesters on the news last night, and almost got sick. Total strangers outside of the Huntsville Prison, crying like babies when the killed the scum. These people make me sick.
HUNTSVILLE — The state of Texas defied an international court and executed Jose Ernesto Medellin late Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of execution for the killer in the 1993 Houston gang rape-murders of two teenage girls.
Medellin, 33, was pronounced dead by lethal injection at 9:57 p.m., nine minutes after receiving the fatal cocktail and nearly four hours after his scheduled 6 p.m. execution.
In his final statement, Medellin apologized for his crime: "I'm sorry that my actions brought you pain. I hope this brings the closure to what you seek," he said. "Don't ever hate them for what they do. Never harbor hate."
He then looked toward the witness room in which his friend, Sandra Crisp, was watching, crying softly, and smiled. "I love you," he said.
In the adjoining witness room, relatives of the two victims watched with little apparent emotion.
Medellin, a Mexican national who spent most of his life in the United States, was condemned for the June 1993 murders of Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Peña, 16.
The girls were raped and strangled with a belt and shoelace after they stumbled into a drunken gang initiation rite while cutting through the park to get home before their curfew.
Four days after the crime, a tip from a gang member's brother led authorities to the bodies, then to the suspects.
Within three hours of his arrest, Medellin admitted his role in the gruesome murders, appalling authorities with his boastful, callous description of the night's events.
At issue in Medellin's last-minute appeal was his assertion that authorities refused his right to contact the Mexican Consulate after his arrest. By doing so, his attorneys argued, officials violated a 1963 treaty signed by the U.S. and 165 other countries that should have granted him access. His case stirred international controversy when the United Nations' high court found his rights had been violated. The court ordered the execution be stayed.
While some cheered Texas' decision to execute him on Tuesday, others warned that his death could render the treaty void, putting the lives of American citizens arrested overseas in jeopardy.
The fathers of the victims, however, expressed relief.
"It's a long time coming," Adolfo Peña said, "Fifteen years is a long time. I wish those two girls could've lived that long."
Randy Ertman stood with his arm around Christina Alamaraz, a close friend. He said recent media attention had been too focused on Medellin and not their daughters.
Sandra Babcock, a law professor at Northwestern University in Chicago and an attorney for Medellin, said the case was not just about one Mexican national on death row.
"It's also about ordinary Americans who count on the protections of the consulate when they travel abroad in strange lands," she said. "It's about the reputation of the U.S. as a nation that adheres to the rule of law."
Hours before the execution, death penalty supporters and opponents gathered at Huntsville's Walls Unit, site of the state execution chamber.
Elaine Jackson of Houston, who identified herself as a friend of the Peñas, was among those supporting the execution.
"The girls didn't get a second chance, why should he?" Jackson demanded. "Why should he keep on breathing?"
On the other side of the street, Nancy Bailey was among those opposing the execution. Putting Medellin to death, she said, would flout the nation's treaty commitments and endanger Americans arrested abroad.
Medellin, who granted few interviews on death row, told a Mexican news reporter that he'd had 15 years in prison to compose his emotions. On Monday and Tuesday he visited with his parents, whom he had not seen since 2001, and spoke by phone with his younger brother, who is serving 40 years for his part in the crime.
Jose Medellin had insisted he told police he was a Mexican citizen; Gov. Rick Perry's office said he did not. In 2004, the world court, acting on a Mexican lawsuit against the U.S., ordered hearings to determine if the cases of Medellin and dozens of other Mexican nationals in custody had been damaged by the treaty violations.
President Bush urged the hearings be held. Texas, however, appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which held that only Congress had authority to demand such hearings.
Weeks after the decision, a bill retroactively calling for the hearings was introduced in Congress. The bill, however, remains in legislative limbo.
"Outside of Texas this is a huge diplomatic misstep," said Columbia Law School professor Sarah Cleveland. "Unfortunately, I doubt the international community is likely to brush this off as simply the actions of Texas. In the international community ... the United States is responsible for Texas' actions."
Judge Cathy Cochran, of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, took a different view.
"Some societies may judge our death penalty barbaric," she noted. "Most Texans, however, consider death a just penalty in certain rare circumstances. Many Europeans disagree. So be it."
Medellin was the second person executed for the attack.
Derrick O'Brien was put to death in July 2006. Gang leader Peter Cantu remains on death row. Two others, 17 at the time of the crime, had their death sentences commuted to life in prison.
allan.turner@chron.com
rosanna.ruiz@chron.com
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Medellin execution on after pleas fail
Murder two girls and go to the head of the express lane.
Prison officials moved Jose Ernesto Medellin from his death row cell to another just steps from Texas' death chamber Monday.
The 33-year-old is set to die by lethal injection this evening, barring a reprieve, for the 1993 gang rape and murder of Houston teenagers Elizabeth Peña and Jennifer Ertman.
On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Medellin's request for a 240-day reprieve and a request to commute his sentence to life in prison.
Donald Francis Donovan, one of Medellin's attorneys, said in a prepared statement he was disappointed with the board's action, saying it went against "the interests of the nation and risks the safety of thousands of Americans traveling and living abroad."
If the sentence is carried out, Medellin would be the first of 51 Mexican nationals on American death rows whose cases were at the center of a 2004 U.N. International Court of Justice order. The U.N. court ordered a review of the cases because the men had not been allowed to speak with their nation's consular officials following their arrests, in violation of international treaty.
President Bush directed state courts to abide by the court's decision, but the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year ruled the president had overstepped his authority.
The U.N. court last month called for a stay in the cases of Medellin and four other Mexican nationals at the behest of the Mexican government.
Gov. Rick Perry, Texas courts and the Attorney General's office agree the execution should be carried out.
Medellin will be the second person involved in the Ertman-Peña murders to be put to death. Derrick O'Brien was executed two years ago. Gang leader Peter Cantu awaits an execution date.
The two teenage girls were attacked and strangled after stumbling into the scene of a gang initiation as they took a short cut through T.C. Jester Park on their way to Peña's home.
Death row inmates typically are moved the day of the scheduled execution, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said. Medellin was moved to the Walls Unit in Huntsville, the site of Texas' death chamber, a day early as a security precaution because of the high-profile nature of his case and pending execution.
rosanna.ruiz@chron.com
Some Much Needed Rain
Well the big storm was kind of a bust, which is fine with me. It is right over the top of Kingwood now, with very heavy rain and a little wind, the eye will pass in the next couple of hours and then the other half of the storm, and more rain. We are forcasted to have around 6 inches today. I'll take it, and my lawn loves it.
Sphere: Related ContentSaturday, August 2, 2008
Just A Short Note On Looking Before Your Leap
It was 100 degrees today in town, and me and my son had been out for a while. He decided to wash his car, and I got a beer and went to the backyard for a quick swim/cooldown. Anyhow I got in and the water was perfect. Well I turned around and what was swimming up to me but a damn snake. It wasen't very big, about a foot, but it scared the crap out of me for a minute. Anyhow, I grabbed him and slung him into the side of the pool, just to stun him, it did. I think it was a hog snake, don't really know or care. Anyhow he was terminated. Now don't think that I like to kill snakes, but he died by accident. I continued to enjoy a few more cold beers and thats about all there is to this story. I am going to rake next to my house tomorrow, because I am sure there are a few more. Oh and I am not going to just stick my hand down in the skimmer anymore without looking first.
Sphere: Related ContentFriday, August 1, 2008
House Dems turn out the lights but GOP keeps talking
Sounds like some ass kinckin on the horizon.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats adjourned the House and turned off the lights and killed the microphones, but Republicans are still on the floor talking gas prices.
Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other GOP leaders opposed the motion to adjourn the House, arguing that Pelosi's refusal to schedule a vote allowing offshore drilling is hurting the American economy. They have refused to leave the floor after the adjournment motion passed at 11:23 a.m. and are busy bashing Pelosi and her fellow Democrats for leaving town for the August recess.
At one point, the lights went off in the House and the microphones were turned off in the chamber, meaning Republicans were talking in the dark. But as Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz..) was speaking, the lights went back on, and the microphones have been turned on as well.
But C-SPAN, which has no control over the cameras in the chamber, has stopped broadcasting the House floor, meaning no one is witnessing this except the assembled Republicans, their aides, and one Democrat, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who has now left.
Only about a half-dozen Republicans were on the floor when this began, but the crowd has grown to about 20 now, according to Patrick O'Connor.
"This is the people's House," Rep, Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) said. "This is not Pelosi's politiburo."
Democratic aides were furious at the GOP stunt, and reporters were kicked out of the Speaker's Lobby, the space next to the House floor where they normally interview lawmakers.
"You're not covering this, are you?" complaing one senior Democratic aide. Another called the Republicans "morons" for staying on the floor.
Update - The Capitol Police are now trying to kick reporters out of the press gallery above the floor, meaning we can't watch the Republicans anymore. But Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is now in the gallery talking to reporters, so the cops have held off for a minute. Clearly, Democrats don't want Republicans getting any press for this episode. GOP leaders are trying to find other Republicans to rotate in for Blunt so reporters aren't kicked out.
Update 2 - This message was sent out by Blunt's office:
"Although, this Democrat Majority just Adjourned for the Democrat 5-Week Vacation, House Republicans are continuing to fight on the House Floor. Although the lights, mics and C-SPAN camera's have been turned off, House Republicans are on the Floor speaking to the tax payers in the gallery who, not surprisingly, agree with Republican Energy proposals.
All Republicans who are in town are encouraged to come to the House Floor."
Update 3 - Democrats just turned out the lights again. Republicans cheered.
Update 4 - Republican leaders just sent out a notice looking for a bullhorn and leadership aides are trying to corral all the members who are still in town to come speak on the floor and sustain this one-sided debate.
Also, Republicans can thank Shadegg for turning on the microphones the first time. Apparently, the fiesty Arizona conservative started typing random codes into the chamber's public address system and accidentally typed the correct code, allowing Republicans brief access to the microphone before it was turned off again.
"I love this," Shadegg told reporters up in the press gallery afterward. "Congress can be so boring...This is a kick."
» Continue reading House Dems turn out the lights but GOP keeps talking
Update 4 - The scene on the floor is kind of crazy. Normally, members are not allowed to speak directly to the visitor galleries, or visitors are prohibited from cheering. But in this case, the members are walking up and down on the floor during their speeches, standing on cheers, the visitors are cheering loudly. Some members even brought in visitors, who are now sitting on the House floor in the seats normally filled by lawmakers, cheering and clapping. Very funny.
Democrats faced a choice here - should they leave the cameras on and let Republicans rip Pelosi & Co. on C-Span, or should they leave the cameras off and let the Republicans have their "tantrum," as one Democratic aide characterized it, with the cameras off. So the cameras are off, but Republicans, and the crowd, are clearly enjoying the scene.
Uodate 5 - Republicans are literally hugging each other on the House floor. Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.), not normally known as an distinguished orator, just gave a rousing speech, accusing Democrats of stifling dissent. He referenced President John Quincy Adams, who returned as a House member after being defeated in his bid for re-election as president. Waving his arms and yelling, Manzullo brought the crowd (including a lot of staff shipped in by GOP leaders to fill up the place), and he left the floor to hugs from his colleagues. You don't see that up here every day.
Update 6 - Rep Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) just pretended to be a Democrat. He stood on the other side of the chaber and listed all of the GOP bills that the Dems killed.
He then said "I am a Democrat and here is my energy plan" and he held up a picture of an old VW Bug with a sail attached to it. He paraded around he house floor with the sign while the crowd cheered.
By John Bresnahan 11:56 AM
Australian doctors warn against 'designer vagina' craze
Ya just gotta love it. Make me a virgin again. Put away the two by 4, it's new again.
Australian doctors have raised concerns about clinics offering vaginal cosmetic surgery, warning the trend towards so-called "designer vaginas" may be exploiting vulnerable women.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said procedures being offered included "vaginal rejuvenation, revirgination, designer vaginoplasty and G-spot amplification".
"What is involved in these procedures is often unclear since recognised clinical nomenclature is not being used," it said in a position paper released this week.
The college labelled the procedures dangerous, expensive and unwarranted, and said it strongly discouraged surgery that was not backed by scientific evidence or clinical trials.
"The real risks of potential complications such as scarring, permanent disfigurement, infection, dyspareunia and altered sexual sensations should be discussed in detail with women seeking such treatments," it said.
The college said women should understand that there were a large number of variations in the appearance of normal female genitalia.
"The college is particularly concerned that such surgery may exploit vulnerable women," it said.
Ted Weaver, chairman of the college's women's health committee, said most of the operations cost at least 10,000 dollars (9,500 US), which he described as an "extraordinary amount of money".
"We feel these operations might prey on people with insecurities and fears who actually need psychological help," he told Australian Associated Press.
"They are also not very anatomically-based and have the potential to cause serious harm."
Doctors in the United States and Britain have raised similar concerns about the surgery.
Obama's 'emergency' economic plan
This about the dumbist load of crap that I have ever heard. Rob the rich and pay the poor. I don't need no stinkin handouts.
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Friday announced an “Emergency Economic Plan” that would give families a stimulus check of $1,000 each, funded in part by what his presidential campaign calls “windfall profits from Big Oil.”
Details are in this six-page policy paper.
The first part of Obama’s plan is an emergency energy rebate ($500 to individual workers, $1,000 to families) as soon as this fall.
“This rebate will be enough to offset the increased cost of gas for a working family over the next four months,” Obama said. “Or, if you live in a state where it gets very cold in the winter, it will be enough to cover the entire increase in your heating bills. Or you could use the rebate for any of your other bills or even to pay down debt
Separately, Obama’s plan includes a $50 billion stimulus package that his campaign claims would save more than 1 million jobs.
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Half of the money would go to state governments, which are facing big budget shortfalls, and half would be used for national infrastructure, including replenishing the Highway Trust Fund, rebuilding roads and bridges, and repairing schools.
Obama announced his plan 27 minutes after a Labor Department report showed unemployment hit a four-year high of 5.7 percent in July — the highest rate since March 2004, when it was 5.8 percent.
“We need to do more,” Obama said in a statement. “That’s why today I’m announcing a two-part emergency plan to help struggling families make ends meet and get our economy back on track.
McCain reacted to the surprisingly dour jobs report with a two-paragraph statement: "Across this country, Americans are hurting and today's job numbers are just the latest reminder of the economic challenges we face. ... Unlike Sen. Obama, I do not believe that raising taxes is the answer to our economic problems. There is no surer way to force jobs overseas than to raise taxes on businesses.”
Obama announced his plan for a windfall profits tax on oil companies on June 9 in Raleigh, N.C., as he launched a two-week economic tour after clinching the Democratic nomination.
Friday’s proposal says Obama “is proposing to offset the cost of his emergency energy rebates over the next five years by enacting a windfall profits tax on big oil companies.”
“Obama simply asks that big oil companies contribute a reasonable share of the windfall profits they receive from high oil prices over the next five years to pay for emergency assistance for families right now,” the campaign says.
