Hey, I broke 10,000 today, and I am very pleased. I wanted to do it before my bday, which is the 3rd, and we did it. Thanks to all of ya'll. Always remember never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. Oh yea, and thanks so very much to this young fella for all the land line help and patience he gave me untill I got it sort of right. http://charmingjustcharming.blogspot.com/
Sphere: Related ContentThursday, January 29, 2009
SICK AGAIN
I got it bad this time, headache, backache, sinus bad, coughing constant and a low grade fever. Not only that I am ugly. Ha. The weather must be the culprit. The temps in Houston have been up and down for the past few weeks, and many are sick. I have been attempting to avoid sick people, but the wife got sick and my son, plus both grandkids had it bad, and that is where I think I got it from. When they come up to you for a hug as they allways do you have no choice. Oh, well I am staying home tomorrow and I still have some left over anti biotics from last time.. I'll see what happens. Hell of a waste of a weekend though.
A Little Funny For Everyone
Elderly Part Time Job at Walmart
As many of you know, I had ambitions of finding a simple, uncomplicated part time job after coming here from Texas.
Unfortunately, as I have gotten a little older, I have become a little less sensitive. So after landing my new job as a Wal-Mart greeter, a good find for us older folks, I lasted less than a day......
About two hours into my first day on the job a very loud, unattractive, mean-acting woman walked into the store with her two kids, yelling obscenities at them all the way through the entrance. As I had been instructed, I said pleasantly, 'Good morning, and welcome to Wal-Mart.. Nice children you have there. Are they twins?'
The ugly woman stopped yelling long enough to say, 'Hell no, they ain't twins. The oldest one's 9, and the other one's 7. Why the hell would you think they are twins? Are you blind, or just stupid?'
I replied, 'I'm neither blind nor stupid, Ma'am, I just couldn't believe you got laid twice. Have a good day and thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart.'
My supervisor said I probably wasn't cut out for this line of work........
Killer executed for deaths of ex-girlfriend and children
Come on down
HUNTSVILLE — Texas has executed a former Houston security guard for gunning down four people, including his ex-girlfriend and her two small children, during a 1996 shooting frenzy.
Virgil Martinez, 41, was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. CDT Wednesday.
Martinez was the fourth Texas inmate executed this year and the first of two on consecutive nights this week in the nation’s most active death penalty state.
Martinez was condemned for the slayings of Veronica Fuentes, 27; her son, Joshua, 5; her daughter, Casandra, 3, and an 18-year-old neighbor, John Gomez. Gomez, mortally wounded, told a police officer at the slaying scene in October 1996 that Fuentes’ former boyfriend was the gunman.
In a rambling final statement, Martinez told relatives he loved them, then blamed Gomez for three of the slayings.
“I know what you’ve been told and that’s all a lie,” he said, looking toward the victims’ relatives watching through a window. “ John Gomez killed your kids and sister.
“I wish I would have shot him in the leg, then he would be here. Those investigators were just trying to convict somebody.”
He was recalling the slaying scene when prison officials, who warn condemned inmates they will have only a couple of minutes for their final comments, began pumping in the lethal drugs.
Nine minutes later, he was pronounced dead.
Lawyers for Martinez had hoped to get the punishment postponed, raising questions he may be so mentally ill that he could be disqualified for execution. Appeals pending in the federal courts briefly delayed the lethal injection beyond the scheduled 6 p.m. time.
Martinez, who declined to speak with reporters in the weeks preceding his execution date, was picked up by police in Del Rio, ranting about voices telling him to kill. He was taken to the Kerrville State Hospital for a mental evaluation. Two weeks later, authorities determined he had given them a false name and that he was the man wanted for the four slayings 300 miles away in Alvin, just south of Houston.
Prosecutors said Martinez faked the mental illness to avoid police.
Fuentes had been shot 14 times. Her son was shot five times and her daughter three times. Gomez, who had been helping the woman watch her children, was shot eight times.
Witnesses testified they saw Martinez shoot Fuentes. Her two children were found dead in their beds, both shot in the head at point-blank range. Gomez was gunned down as he ran to Fuentes’ aid.
“Anybody that saw these two little kids, laying out like cordwood with a bullet in their heads, shot for no reason — that sort of sticks with you,” said Dale Summa, a former Brazoria County district attorney.
In earlier appeals in the courts, lawyers argued unsuccessfully that temporal lobe epilepsy suffered by Martinez was responsible for the shooting spree.
“The problem was, it was a bad crime,” said Don Vernay, who handled some of Martinez’s earlier appeals.
At trial, Martinez was defended by Jeri Yenne, who later was elected district attorney in Brazoria County. After she took office, the Texas Attorney General’s Office took over the case, handling all appeals for the state.
In 2004, a federal appeals court ordered a hearing to look into Martinez’s claims that defense lawyers didn’t present enough evidence about his medical condition blamed for the shootings. Lawyers said that would have contradicted Martinez’s stance going into the trial that he didn’t do the shooting.
Prosecutors combined all four slayings into a single capital murder charge. Police concluded a single 9 mm gun fired all the bullets. A holster for the gun was recovered in Martinez’s car, and a box designed to house the same caliber weapon was found in his mother’s Houston home, where he lived. The murder weapon, however, never was recovered.
The shootings occurred a short time after Fuentes ended a relationship with Martinez.
On Thursday, Texas prisoner Ricardo Ortiz is set to die for the retaliation killing of Gerardo Garcia, 22, a fellow inmate at the El Paso County Jail, in 1997. Garcia died of a lethal injection of heroin.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Wednesday Hero
This Weeks Post Was Suggested And Written By Cynthia
27 years old from Hollywood, South Carolina
1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
January 28, 2008
James, 27, was killed on January 28, 2008, in Mosul, Iraq, along with four other soldiers when the unit encountered an IED, followed by an ambush from a nearby Mosque. It has been a year since James was killed. I miss him each day.
James was on his third deployment to Iraq. There are so many things about James that I admired. He was 'loud' and funny and articulate and sweet - even calling himself 'Sweet Soldier' - and brave and tough. He was a devout Christian and more comfortable with telling people he was than anyone I ever knew - he had a enviable, easy comfort with this faith. It would be so easy to write and write about James, but let me share some portions of his letters - his long and articulate letters.
"...I am very much looking forward to this war being over. However, I fully support everything that is going on over here ever since I saw first hand what the real situation was. Our media doesn't portray the truth of this operation or the necessity to the people here. They need freedom and desperately cry out for someone to help them. ... I know one thing, God wants me here."
"The war here is stating to come to an end. It will be a slow transition period where the responsibility of the battle space is handed over to the growing Iraqi Army. It all depends on the Iraqis if we are able to leave them with it safely."
"...it is a tale of my wonderful journey where I made memories I will never forget and stood up for something that I believe in...that sweet taste of freedom when the day is done and the knowledge that I have done something to ensure the positive future of my loved ones. And, you should know that it comforts me the most that what I do protects wonderful people like you."
To read more about Sgt James Craig, go here.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
HEROES HONORED
A job well done and Welcome Home Troops.
By Kelly Moore
Leesville Daily Leader
Mon Jan 26, 2009, 08:31 AM CST
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Fort Polk, La. -
Hundreds gathered at Fort Polk’s Honor Field Friday afternoon to show their appreciation and support to the more than 3,000 members of the 4th Brigade 10th Mountain Division who have spent the past 14 months deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The ceremony began as the soldiers, in formation, made their way from the back of Honor Field to the front. As troop movement began, cheers from friends and family members of the returned soldiers resonated through the air.
“I am proud that you have decided to share in their victory with us,” Brig. Gen. James Yarbrough, Commander, JRTC and Fort Polk told the audience of the brigade.
“We rest easy tonight and America rests easy tonight due to your service,” he continued, speaking to the soldiers.
Though cheers prevailed throughout the field, a hush resonated just as loudly in the moment of silence to honor the nine soldiers of the brigade who gave their lives while in combat.
Gold Star Families, those families of the fallen soldiers, also attended the day’s ceremony, and with tears in their eyes, looked across the field at their extended Army family, those with whom their soldier had lived, fought and died for the cause of freedom, not only for Americans, but for the families in Iraq who have lived in fear and terror for the past years.
The fallen soldiers of the 4th Brigade 10th Mountain Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom are:
Pvt. Daren A. Smith
Sgt. Austin D. Pratt
Sgt. Timothy M. Smith
Sgt. Joseph A. Richard III
Sgt. Mark A. Stone
Sgt. Marcus C. Mathes
Spc. Jeffrey F. Nichols
Sgt. 1st Class David R. Hurst
Staff Sgt. Matthew J. Taylor
As the units of the 4/10 prepared to uncase their unit colors, Gold Star Family members and wounded soldiers of the brigade entered the field.
The Gold Star Family members were asked to install the Operation Iraqi Freedom Campaign Streamer to the flag of the unit in which their fallen soldier had served. The streamer, placed by mothers fathers, wives, brothers, sisters and children, serves as visible proof that the brigade’s mission is complete.
A wounded warrior, pushed onto the field in his wheelchair by a fellow soldier, attached the Campaign Streamer for the 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry “Warriors” with a steady hand and unwavering eyes.
The final streamer was attached to the flag of the 4th Brigade 10th Mountain Division by Sgt Nathan Hunt who was injured by an Explosively Formed Penetrator on May 10, 2008 in Baghdad.
Now a double amputee, Hunt made the journey back to Fort Polk to see the soldiers with whom he once lived and fought.
“I came back to see my soldiers,” said Hunt, who also wore on his t-shirt his Bronze Star with Valor device earned in Iraq. “I wanted to show them that I support them.”
Hunt is currently assigned to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio where he undergoes daily therapy.
Hunt’s injuries prevent his wearing a uniform.
The soldier was joined by his wife and children at the ceremony.
His younger son impatient, wiggled and played with an action figure throughout much of the ceremony, but when his dad made the journey to install the Campaign Streamer, the boy’s eyes widened and focused on his father.
“At first when I came home, it was hard on my wife and my kids, to see me like this,” Hunt said. “But soon they realized that I was just more determined.”
After the ceremony, many family members of the 4/10 made their way to thank Hunt for his service.
Thank you so much; you are an inspiration and a true American hero,” said one woman, with tears in her eyes.
The day’s activities were dedicated to the heroes of the 4/10, both those who stood in formation on the field and those who were lost in combat.
Police sniffer dog dies of nose cancer after sniffing cocaine
This is sad, but I'll bet he died with a smile on his face..
Springer spaniel Max, aged nine, may have caught the disease because of the effect of cocaine and other drugs he was taught to detect.
Police Inspector Anne Higgins, the dog's owner, fears the training may have led to the disease which led to him being put down last week.
Max worked as a drugs dog with the Avon and Somerset police but lived with Insp Higgins, who is based at Tiverton police station in Devon.
She said: "It is ironic the wonderful organ that made him successful in his work has been his demise.
"It may or may not have been connected with what he used to do. Up until a couple of weeks ago he seemed fine and was doing well but it was an aggressive tumour.
"It was very hard to have him put down but we had to do it.
"I took him to the police station which he usually loved and was his favourite place but he did not show any reaction to being there and we knew he was not right.
"He was a fighter until the end and always very dignified. He has had a good life and a successful one as a police dog. Just think of all the bad people he managed to put away."
Max retired from police work last year after arthritis in his back legs led to him being fitted with a trolley so he could still run around.
Inspector Higgins said the cancer caused an infection in his front legs which threatened to leave him completely immobile.
Kate Fairclough, the dog's vet, his work may have caused his death from nasal cancer, which is rare in dogs.
She said: "Sniffing drugs may well have been a factor. I certainly cannot rule it out.
"Nose cancer in dogs is not at all common. It represents only one or two per cent of all cancers.
"It is difficult to know what caused it as there are so many different factors involved. Environmental factors can plat a part.
"He had done so well since 2006 when it was thought he would have to be put down so he had an extra three years of life.
"It is always hard to do and he was such a lovely dog."
Friday, January 23, 2009
Police: Man fathered 4 children with daughter, killed 1
Libs at work.
HARRISONVILLE, Mo. — A man suspected of fathering four children with his teenage daughter faces charges of killing at least one after human remains were discovered at the rural home where the family once lived, authorities said Friday.
The 47-year-old man is charged with second-degree murder, endangering the welfare of a child, statutory rape, two counts of incest and two counts of abandoning a corpse.
Three of the children are dead. The abuse of his now 19-year-old daughter allegedly began when she was 13, Cass County prosecutor Teresa Hensley said.
The Associated Press is withholding the suspect’s name to protect the identity of the teen daughter, an alleged sexual assault victim.
“For six years (the daughter) was under his control,” Hensley said.
At an arraignment later Friday, the man said he did not yet have an attorney and indicated to a judge that he didn’t understand the murder charge. Another hearing was scheduled for Jan. 29.
According to court documents, the teenage daughter told police he had fathered all four children, while the father told detectives he was certain two of them were his. Both said all of the children were delivered at home by the father and his wife. The wife is charged with endangering the welfare of a child for not reporting the alleged sexual abuse. She is free on $10,000 bond.
The father was arrested Wednesday night in Daviess County after two sealed coolers with the remains of two infants were found. The third child is believed to have died in Oklahoma. The surviving child, a 3-year-old boy, is in state custody.
After receiving a tip from the sister of the 19-year-old, Cass County authorities in October used cadaver dogs to search the rural property. Nothing was found during that search, but on Jan. 1 new owners found the sealed coolers and contacted police.
The father is charged in the death of a boy born Nov. 17, 2006, and believed to have died of pneumonia on Feb. 28, 2007. Authorities believe the baby became ill and that the suspect and his daughter, who has not been charged, never sought medical attention.
Investigators are still looking into the death of the other infant. The daughter told investigators her father assisted with the birth in April and that he told her the child was stillborn, according to a probable cause statement.
Theresa Sims, a relative who attended Friday’s arraignment for the father, said the extended family didn’t know about the alleged sexual abuse or the 19-year-old’s children until October, when one of the teenager’s sister contacted police.
“We never knew anything, never seen any babies. When we first heard about it, it was just hard to believe,” Sims said.
The 18-year-old sister who contacted authorities and another sister told KMBC-TV in Kansas City that the family lived in seclusion behind locked gates and that the children were told never to report what was happening.
“Our dad told us if we’d say something, we’re dead. We’d get in trouble,” the 18-year-old said.
According to court documents, the wife told police she was jealous of the close relationship between her husband and her daughter but desperately wanted a son — even one as a result of incest.
Calls to multiple phone numbers listed under the wife’s name were not answered Friday. It wasn’t immediately clear whether she has an attorney.
The man’s mother said he and the teen had lived in a trailer beside the house where she lived north of Harrisonville, and she wasn’t allowed to go back there.
“I didn’t know there was a baby,” she told The Kansas City Star. “He’s my son and I love him, but I can’t go along with this.”
Obama reverses Bush abortion-funds policy
Playing God. What is next.
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday struck down the Bush administration’s ban on giving federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide abortion information — an inflammatory policy that has bounced in and out of law for the past quarter-century.
Obama’s move, the latest in an aggressive first week reversing contentious Bush policies, was warmly welcomed by liberal groups and denounced by abortion rights foes.
The ban has been a political football between Democratic and Republican administrations since GOP President Ronald Reagan first adopted it 1984. Democrat Bill Clinton ended the ban in 1993, but Republican George W. Bush re-instituted it in 2001 as one of his first acts in office.
“For too long, international family planning assistance has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a back and forth debate that has served only to divide us,” Obama said in a statement released by the White House. “I have no desire to continue this stale and fruitless debate.”
He said the ban was unnecessarily broad and undermined family planning in developing countries.
“In the coming weeks, my administration will initiate a fresh conversation on family planning, working to find areas of common ground to best meet the needs of women and families at home and around the world,” the president said.
Obama issued the presidential memorandum rescinding the Bush policy without coverage by the media, late Friday afternoon. The abortion measure is a highly emotional one for many people, and the quiet signing was in contrast to the televised coverage of Obama’s announcement Wednesday on ethics rules and Thursday’s signing of orders on closing the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and banning torture in the questioning of terror suspects.
His action came one day after the 36th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion.
The Bush policy had banned U.S. taxpayer money, usually in the form of Agency for International Development funds, from going to international family planning groups that either offer abortions or provide information, counseling or referrals about abortion as a family planning method.
Critics have long held that the rule unfairly discriminates against the world’s poor by denying U.S. aid to groups that may be involved in abortion but also work on other aspects of reproductive health care and HIV/AIDS, leading to the closure of free and low-cost rural clinics.
Supporters of the ban say that the United States still provides millions of dollars in family planning assistance around the world and that the rule prevents anti-abortion taxpayers from backing something they believe is morally wrong.
The ban has been known as the “Mexico City policy” for the city a U.S. delegation first announced it at a U.N. International Conference on Population.
Both Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will oversee foreign aid, had promised to do away with the rule during the presidential campaign.
Clinton said Friday evening that for seven years Bush’s policy made it more difficult for women around the world to gain access to essential information and health care services. “Rather than limiting women’s ability to receive reproductive health services, we should be supporting programs that help women and their partners make decisions to ensure their health and the health of their families,” Clinton said.
In a related move, Obama also said he would restore funding to the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA). Both he and Clinton had pledged to reverse a Bush administration determination that assistance to the organization violated U.S. law known as the Kemp-Kasten amendment.
Obama, in his statement, said he looked forward to working with Congress to fulfill that promise: “By resuming funding to UNFPA, the U.S. will be joining 180 other donor nations working collaboratively to reduce poverty, improve the health of women and children, prevent HIV/AIDS and provide family planning assistance to women in 154 countries.”
Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund, said: “The president’s actions send a strong message about his leadership and his desire to support causes that will promote peace and dignity, equality for women and girls and economic development in the poorest regions of the world.”
“We are confident that under the new president’s direction, the U.S. will resume its leadership in promoting and protecting women’s reproductive health and rights worldwide,” Obaid said in a statement issued at U.N. headquarters in New York.
The Bush administration had barred U.S. money from the fund, contending that its work in China supported a Chinese family planning policy of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization. UNFPA has vehemently denied that it does.
Congress had appropriated $40 million to the UNFPA in the past budget year, but the administration had withheld the money as it had done every year since 2002.
Organizations and lawmakers that had pressed Obama to rescind the Mexico City policy were jubilant.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the move “will help save lives and empower the poorest women and families to improve their quality of life and their future.”
“Today’s announcement is a very powerful signal to our neighbors around the world that the United States is once again back in the business of good public policy and ideology no longer blunts our ability to save lives around the globe,” said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Population Action International, an advocacy group, said that the policy had “severely impacted” women’s health and that the step “will help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, abortions and women dying from high-risk pregnancies because they don’t have access to family planning.”
Anti-abortion groups and lawmakers condemned Obama’s decision.
“I have long supported the Mexico City Policy and believe this administration’s decision to be counter to our nation’s interests,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
“Coming just one day after the 36th anniversary of the tragic Roe v. Wade decision, this presidential directive forces taxpayers to subsidize abortions overseas — something no American should be required by government to do,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.
Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., called it “morally wrong to take the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro-life Americans to promote abortion around the world.”
“President Obama not long ago told the American people that he would support policies to reduce abortions, but today he is effectively guaranteeing more abortions by funding groups that promote abortion as a method of population control,” said Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee.
Texas Sen. Cornyn challenges Obama agenda
Somebody gota keep an eye on what's happening to us. Lets not be blinded by all the bling, high fives and crap.
WASHINGTON — Texas Sen. John Cornyn is leading an early charge against President Barack Obama, seeking to blunt the new administration’s momentum in Congress while lighting the way for a GOP comeback in the next election.
The conservative Republican, the new head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, delayed Senate confirmation proceedings for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Attorney General-designate Eric Holder. He challenged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. And he orchestrated a GOP plan that blocked Democrat Al Franken — embroiled in a contested race with Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota — from taking a Senate seat.
“I think he has decided that the only chance Republicans have is to be very aggressive,” political scientist Larry Sabato said of the Texan, who come to Washington six years ago as a defender of President George W. Bush.
Cornyn said the campaign committee role makes him a key player in the Senate GOP leadership as well as the architect of the party’s Senate campaign in 2010.
“It’s a lot of work,” he said, “but I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think it would help the people of Texas.”
Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, who served on Cornyn’s Senate staff, said his former boss has no ulterior motives.
“He’s not the kind of guy to act in a very partisan manner just to advance partisan causes,” Olson said.
But some critics have a different take.
Critics
New York Gov. David Paterson, who appointed Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand as Clinton’s successor, called Cornyn’s maneuvering “grandstanding and self-promotion.”
And some Republican Senate colleagues want less partisanship and more collaboration. As Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., put it: “The message that the American people are sending us now is that they want us to work together and get to work.”
Cornyn said he won a commitment from Clinton that she “would be open” to an across-the-board donor disclosure requirement. He then voted for her confirmation — with 93 other senators.
Cornyn said he put the “hold” on Holder’s confirmation to win a commitment that he would not press prosecutions against anyone who used harsh interrogation techniques during the Bush administration.
And Cornyn pointedly challenged Reid about alleged ties to lobbyists. A Reid spokesman dismissed the criticism by Cornyn as having “everything to do with raising money.”
Pleasing conservatives
Larry Hufford, a political scientist at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, said Cornyn’s high-profile challenge to Clinton’s confirmation will please many conservative Republican donors.
“There is no better name than Clinton to go after,” Hufford said.
Cornyn, a master fundraiser who spent at least $28.5 million on his two Senate races in Texas, stands to gain political IOUs from his colleagues and a network of donor contacts as he heads the campaign committee.
Sabato said Cornyn, who has declined to rule out a future run for the White House, might use the campaign post as a springboard in 2012.
“There’s not exactly a stampede of candidates throwing their hats into the ring,” Sabato said, “but a 10-gallon hat from someone like Cornyn would be a pretty big hat.”
Jennifer Dlouhy contributed reporting from Capitol Hill.
stewart.powell@chron.com; gmartin@express-news.net
Man convicted of strangling stepmother executed
If your are going to be stupid and kill someone, you better think twice before doing it in Texas.
HUNTSVILLE — A convicted rapist and suspected serial killer was executed Thursday evening for strangling and robbing his stepmother in Fort Worth more than eight years ago.
Asked by the warden if he would like to make a statement, Reginald Perkins responded, “I already made my statement. Appreciate it. Love y’all.”
About an hour before he was executed, Perkins had summoned a prison official to his cell and gave him a statement professing his innocence.
“They didn’t link me to nothing. I did not kill my stepmom,” he said. “I loved her. Texas is going to kill an innocent man.”
On the other deaths, Perkins said, “There’s other suspects they questioned besides me. They let them go. I don’t know what they’re talking about. I can’t tell you who killed them. I ain’t killed nobody. I’ve never killed.”
As the drugs were being administered, he said, “I can feel it going in.” Just before the drugs took effect, he looked at the sister of his victim and told her he loved her.
He was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m., eight minutes after the lethal drugs began to flow.
For Full article got HERE
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Powder prompts partial evacuation of Journal HQ
Didn't we have that big Anthrax scare soon after Bush was elected...?? Humm.
NEW YORK — Police have evacuated The Wall Street Journal’s mailroom and another floor of the newspaper’s building after several envelopes were opened that contained a suspicious white powder.
Police say at least four envelopes were opened and others were left unopened in the mailroom Wednesday. The Journal said it had received more than a dozen envelopes containing the substance.
The newspaper says on its Web site that the mail was addressed to several executives. The return address was Knoxville, Tenn.
One of the evacuated floors is used by newspaper executives and editorial page employees.
The powder is being tested, and those who came into contact with it have been isolated.
The Journal is published by Dow Jones & Co., a division of the media and entertainment company News Corp.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Wednesday Hero
This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Cindy
29 years old from Garden Grove, California
September 29, 2006
In April 2008, Michael Monsoor (who had already been posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions in a May 9, 2006 incident, when he and another SEAL pulled a wounded team member to safety amidst gunfire) was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. His funeral, attended, in the words of President Bush, by "nearly every SEAL on the West Coast," was held on October 12, 2006 at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego. During Monsoor's funeral service, as the casket was taken from the hearse to the gravesite, fellow SEALs lined up in two columns to slap and embed the gold Tridents (a pin awarded for successful completion of SEAL Qualification Training) from their uniforms onto the top of Monsoor's coffin.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Mike A. Monsoor's Summary Of Action.
"The procession went on nearly half an hour, and when it was all over, the simple wooden coffin had become a gold-plated memorial to a hero who will never be forgotten." - President George W. Bush
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
Obama Defends Secretary Pick
I found this little tidbit over at Sid's Place It is a new blog with a funny slant on politics. I really liked it, give it a look if you get a chance.
President-elect Barack Obama has been fending off controversy over his selection of Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary. Republicans have raised concerns regarding Geithner’s failure to pay the correct amount on his taxes between 2001 and 2004.
“It’s not what you think,” said Obama, “Tim’s just not that good at math. It was a simple mistake that anybody could have made. He’s still the best pick for Treasury Secretary.”
President Reagan 1981 Inaugural Address
For those of us who may be feeling a little down after the events of this day, this vdeo may make you feel a little better. Funny though the comments and problems addressed are the same today as they were then.
So Long Mr President
Nothing more needs to be said about our President. This video pretty much sums it all up. He is a good and honorable man and he will be missed. Hand Salute.
Police shoot woman suspected of wounding man with arrow
From The Houston Chronical.
This has got to beat all I have ever seen.
A woman was shot by a police officer and two civilians after she walked into a northwest Houston office building and shot a man with a bow and arrow Monday afternoon, authorities said.
Witnesses told investigators Julie Parker, 30, came into the Texas Components Corp.. office in the 1600 block of West Sam Houston Parkway with a bow and arrow and what appeared to be a handgun about 3 p.m., said Houston Police Department Sgt. John Chomiak.
As she walked in, an employee spotted her and the two argued as he tried to keep her from moving farther into the building, Chomiak said.
During the confrontation, the gun, which authorities later determined was a fake weapon, fell to the floor. That’s when Parker shot Armando Silva, 55, in the chest with an arrow, Chomiak said.
The armed employees ran outside the office building, where they continued to shoot. She was struck an unknown number of times, Chomiak said. Witnesses at other nearby businesses took cover and called police.
Police arrived about 3:15 p.m. and were told the woman was hiding in one of the rooms inside the office building.
When officers found Parker, she was still armed with the bow and arrow, police said.
A police sergeant ordered the woman to drop the weapon several times, Chomiak said.
“She refused and wheeled around towards the officers,” Chomiak said.
The sergeant, a 23-year veteran of the department, then fired an unknown number shots at the woman, striking her, Chomiak said.
Emergency medical personnel took Parker, along with the man shot with the arrow, to Ben Taub General Hospital. Chomiak said she is in stable condition and Silva is expected to survive.
Investigators are still trying to determine the motive for the crime. Chomiak said the woman was not employed by the company, but her father, who was present during the attack, worked there. Police were interviewing the man late Monday. The owner of the company where the incident took place declined to comment.
Employees of other businesses in the strip center appeared stunned as officers investigated Monday evening.
Michael Barrera, who works at an optical company in the strip center, said employees had opened the door to enjoy the cool breeze that day.
“Next thing you know, we hear five or six gunshots,” the 44-year-old man said.
Minutes later, he saw police arrive and enter the building before hearing another hail of gunfire.
George Dustin, who owns a pool service company in the strip center, said he also heard several gunshots. Dustin said he saw paramedics bring out the woman as well as man with an arrow in his chest.
“They had to get a bolt cutter to get the arrow out and put him in the ambulance,” he said.
Chomiak said Parker could face charges of aggravated assault of a police officer along with additional charges for shooting the man with the arrow.
“It’s a very, very unusual, as well as chaotic, situation,” he said.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Thank You President Bush
Thank You for making America strong again. Many may not agree with the things you have done, myself as a retired military man, and most of the active duty and retired military salute you.
Happy Birthday General Lee
Robert Edward Lee was born on January 19, 1807, at "Stratford" in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He was the fifth child born to Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee and his second wife, Ann Hill (Carter) Lee. He grew up in an area where George Washington was still a living memory. Robert had many ties to Revolutionary War heroes
Friday, January 16, 2009
FW: Flight 93 blogburst: 1 in 131 billion, the movie
Set to another Ennio Morricone masterpiece.
Synopsis
Architect Paul Murdoch split his giant Crescent of Embrace memorial to Flight 93 into two separate arcs at the top, in effect creating two separate crescents:
Detail view shows the pair of thousand foot long, fifty foot tall, Entry Portal walls. Both walls roughly follow the line of the circle that is symbolically broken by the flight path (seen coming down from the NNE).
The crescent defined by the end of the inner Entry Portal Wall points 1.8° north of Mecca, ± a tenth of a degree. The crescent defined by the end of the outer Entry Portal Wall points exactly at Mecca (± 0.1°):
The hidden exact Mecca orientation of the giant crescent is only one of the ways that Murdoch proves he pointed the crescent towards Mecca on purpose (making it a mihrab, the Mecca direction indicator around which every mosque is built). He also proves intent by exactly repeating both of the Mecca orientations of his giant central crescent in the crescents of trees that surround the Tower of Voices part of the memorial.
That two different crescent structures would by chance turn out to have this exact same multi-Mecca oriented geometry is 1 in 131 billion. Just run the numbers (with some help from Mr. Morricone):
The previous two parts of this video series here and here.
To join our blogbursts, just send your blog's url.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
This is the President Bush That I Will Remember
Some may not agree, but I could care less. He did what he thought was necessary for the good of America, and I back him to this day.
From The London Times
Ready for a shock? Below is an article from the London Times about our military. Interesting, it is! Our media coverage is shameful!
Winning Isn't News By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Iraq: What would happen if the U.S. won a war but the media didn't tell the American public? Apparently, we have to rely on a British newspaper for the news that we've defeated the last remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq .
London's Sunday Times called it 'the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.' A terrorist force that once numbered more than 12,000, with strongholds in the west and central regions of Iraq, has over two years been reduced to a mere 1,200 fighters, backed against the wall in the northern city of Mosul.
The destruction of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) is one of the most unlikely and unforeseen events in the long history of American warfare. We can thank President Bush 's surge strategy, in which he bucked both Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington by increasing our forces there instead of surrendering.
We can also thank the leadership of the new general he placed in charge there, David Petraeus , who may be the foremost expert in the world on counter-insurgency warfare. And we can thank those serving in our military in Iraq who engaged local Iraqi tribal leaders and convinced them America was their friend and AQI their enemy.
Al-Qaida's loss of the hearts and minds of ordinary Iraqis began in Anbar Province, which had been written off as a basket case, and spread out from there. Now, in Operation Lion's Roar the Iraqi army and the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment is destroying the fraction of terrorists who are left. More than 1,000 AQI operatives have already been apprehended.
Sunday Times (London) reporter Marie Colvin, traveling with Iraqi forces in Mosul, found little AQI presence even in bullet-ridden residential areas that were once insurgency strongholds, and reported that the terrorists have lost control of its Mosul urban base, with what is left of the organization having fled south into the countryside.
Meanwhile, the State Department reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government has achieved 'satisfactory' progress on 15 of the 18 political benchmarks 'a big change for the better from a year ago.' Things are going so well that Maliki has even for the first time floated the idea of a timetable for withdrawal of American forces. He did so while visiting the United Arab Emirates, which over the weekend announced that it was forgiving almost $7 billion of debt owed by Baghdad, an impressive vote of confidence from a fellow Arab state in the future of a free Iraq.
But where are the headlines and the front-page stories about all this good news? As the Media Research Center pointed out last week, 'the CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 were silent Tuesday night about the benchmarks 'that signaled political progress.'
The war in Iraq has been turned around 180 degrees both militarily and politically because the president stuck to his guns. Yet apart from IBD, Fox News Channel and parts of the foreign press, the media don't seem to consider this historic event a big story.
Copyright 2008 Investor's Business Daily. All Rights Reserved.
Addendum: The reason you haven't seen this on American television or read about it in the American press is simple--journalism is 'dead' in this country. They are controlled by Liberal Democrats who would rather see our troops defeated than recognize a successful Republican initiated response to 9/11.
Media probably are holding 'til after coronation of BHO in order to give him credit.
Man Accidentally Shoots Toilet
What a dumbass this guy must be.
CENTERVILLE, Utah — The man escaped with a few cuts to his arm, but the toilet made out much worse.
Police say a man's gun fell out of its holster while he pulled up his pants after using the bathroom at a Carl's Jr. restaurant Tuesday. The gun fired when it hit the floor and shattered the commode.
A few shards of porcelain cut the man's arm, and a woman in an adjacent restroom who was frightened by the noise reported she was having chest pain. Both people were checked at the scene and released.
Police say they confiscated the 26-year-old man's firearm while they review the incident. The man had a concealed weapons permit. No charges are being filed.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Wednesday Hero
This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Deb
Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)
While reading the info on Cpt. Freeman, I found that I couldn't have put it better than this.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
Day in the life of a military working dog handler
By U.S. Army photo/ By STAFF SGT. MATT MEADOWS/Special to the Leader FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq - Air Force Staff Sgt. Travis Hazelton (right), a military working dog handler from Sachse, Texas, observes as his dog, Sinda, "attacks" Staff Sgt. Robert Moore, a specialized search dog handler and kennel master from Charleston, W.Va., during aggression training Nov. 12. Hazelton is assigned to the 37th Security Forces Squadron at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas; Moore is assigned to the 217th Military Police Detachment at Fort Lee, Va.; and Sinda is a German Shepherd trained as a patrol explosives MWD
Forward Operation Base Loyalty, Iraq -
FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq - Many Soldiers work outside of their military occupational specialties when they deploy to Iraq; but for some who do not, it's a dog's life - or something very close to it.
Although a dog's life is associated with an easy and lazy existence, that's not the life of a military working dog or the military professionals who handle them. They earn their money each and every day.
"We give them as much down time over here as we possibly can, but still, training has to be conducted because it's a diminishing skill," explained Staff Sgt. Robert Moore, a specialized search dog handler and kennel master from Charleston, W.Va. "We try to put them on odors every day so that we can keep them in tune to what they are doing."
Deployed in support of Multi-National Division - Baghdad's 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division units at Forward Operating Bases Loyalty and Rustamiyah, Moore said MWDs and their handlers' schedules vary according to requests from various maneuver units they support.
Therefore, keeping the dogs on a regular schedule doesn't always work out, but he at least tries to feed his dog, Wisky, about the same times every day: once in the morning and once in the evening.
"Everything revolves around what missions need to be done," commented Moore, who is assigned to 217th Military Police Detachment at Fort Lee, Va., and attached to Multi-National Division - Baghdad's 4th Infantry Division Provost Marshal Office while deployed to Baghdad. "We are Soldiers just like everybody else. We have to mold (our schedules)
around missions the way that everybody else does."
Moore has been in the Army for 19 years and has been a SSD handler since 1997. Although he just deployed here Oct. 27, he has previously deployed 10 times and has served in Surinam, Honduras, Ecuador, Peru, Kosovo, Bosnia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Iraq. He has worked with his canine partner, Wisky, a 2-year-old Weimaraner, since March 2008, when he went to specialized search dog handler school at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
New Addition To The Old Home
Now this is just what I needed. My wife and kids (big kids) are like pack rats when it comes to animals. Hell we allready have two dogs, and what next, they got another one. What can I say, but live with it. Now we have three. This little shit was added this past week.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
The Sheepdogs By Russ Vaughn
I saw this over at http://www.yankeemom.com/ and thought it was appropriate for what our heros are all about.
Fox News Special on Gary Sinese
I don't know how many of you watched the Fox special tonight on Gary's last vist to Iraq, but if you missed it you missed a great show. Gary is one of thoese unique people who just seems of the knack for doing the right thing. He has been over there 4 times, and is probably the most highly respected of any who have before before him. The theme of tonights show was 5000 handshakes, and he did just that. It seems that he was addressed as Lt. Dan from the movie Forest Gump, more than anything else. The troops just loved him. I served in Vietnam, and had the honor of seeing some of the best of the best, but we didn't have a Lt. Dan. Those folks who give their time to the USO, are some of America's best, and I salute them.
Inmate rips out eye, then claims he ate it
This guy is a real nut job. Crazy or not he needs to be terminated.
Judge ruled him competent to stand trial after similar incident in 2004
By MICHAEL GRACZYK Associated Press
Jan. 9, 2009, 10:26PM.
AP
Texas death row inmate Andre Thomas is shown in this undated handout file photo released today in Huntsville.
With a history of mental problems pulled out his only good eye, authorities said Friday.
Andre Thomas told officers he ate it.
Thomas, 25, was arrested for the fatal stabbings of his estranged wife, their young son and her 13-month-old daughter in March 2004. Their hearts also had been ripped out. He was convicted and condemned for the infant's death.
While in the Grayson County Jail in Sherman, Thomas similarly had plucked out his right eye before his trial later in 2004. A judge subsequently ruled he was competent to stand trial.
A death-row officer at the Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice found Thomas in his cell with blood on his face and had him taken to the unit infirmary.
"Thomas said he pulled out his eye and subsequently ingested it," agency spokesman Jason Clark said Friday.
Thomas was treated at East Texas Medical Center in Tyler after the Dec. 9 incident. Then he was transferred and remains at the Jester Unit, a prison psychiatric facility southwest of Houston.
"He will finally be able to receive the mental health care that we had wanted and begged for from day 1," Bobbie Peterson-Cate, Thomas' trial attorney, told the Sherman Herald Democrat. "He is insane and mentally ill. It is exactly the same reason he pulled out the last one."
Thomas does not have an execution date.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in October upheld his conviction and death sentence for the death of 13-month-old Leyha Marie Hughes. Also killed March 27, 2004, were his wife, Laura Christine Boren, 20, and their son, Andre Lee, 4.
Thomas, from Texoma, walked into the Sherman Police Department and told a dispatcher he had just murdered the three and had stabbed himself in the chest.
Thomas told police how he put his victims' hearts in his pocket and left their apartment, took them home, put them in a plastic bag and threw them in the trash.
Officials: Military part of plan if attacks spill over border
Things are getting pretty bad along our border.
EL PASO — If Mexican drug violence spills across the U.S. border, Homeland Security officials say they have a contingency plan to assist border areas that includes bringing in the military.
"It's a common sense extension of our continued work with our state, local, and tribal partners in securing the southwest border," DHS spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said Friday.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who described the contingency plan in an interview with The New York Times this week, said he ordered specific plans to be drawn up this summer as violence in Mexico continued to mount.
The plan includes federal homeland security agents helping local authorities and maybe even military assistance from the Department of Defense, possibly including aircraft, armored vehicles and special teams to go to areas overwhelmed with violence, authorities said.
Kudwa would not give specifics on the so-called "surge" plan, but said it does not create any new authorities.
In the past year, more than 5,000 people have been killed and police and military officials have become common targets for violent drug cartels who are fighting with each other and the government for control of lucrative drug and human smuggling routes across Mexico.
More than one-fifth of the deaths have occurred in Ciudad Juarez, the hardscrabble border city just across the Rio Grande from El Paso.
Officials in Mexico reported about 1,600 homicides in Juarez in 2007 and at least 20 people have been killed in the first nine days of this year.
To date, there has been no significant violent spillover from the drug war in Mexico, but U.S. authorities have spent a tense year watching and waiting.
In October, Hidalgo County officials issued fully automatic weapons to deputies patrolling the river in the Rio Grande Valley. Sheriff Lupe Trevino also authorized his deputies to return fire across the border if smugglers or other criminals took aim at them.
In El Paso, the country's largest border community and one of the safest metropolitan areas in the nation, Sheriff Richard Wiles said that while he doesn't anticipate the city or county being overwhelmed by border violence he applauded the DHS plan to quickly respond if the worst should happen.
"I think it's appropriate for the federal government to have a contingency plan all the way up to the worst case scenario," Wiles said.
The contingency plan was news to most border states.
"At this point, DHS has not contacted the California National Guard to bring any forces ... to support first responders, i.e. (U.S.) Border Patrol, at the border in California," California National Guard spokesman Jonathan Guibord said Friday.
He said National Guard officials in California know only "what's been publicized" about the plan, but added that state military officials routinely train and prepare to respond to any order from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger or the president.
Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, said Texas officials were briefed on the plan but were not consulted beforehand about a plan to fight Mexican drug cartels on the 2,000-mile U.S. border, more than half of which is in Texas.
Cesinger said the state has its own specific security plans for each area of the Texas border should violence from Mexico become an issue. She declined to give specifics of those plans.
Officials with New Mexico's Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management said they are in constant contact with federal Homeland Security officials but weren't aware of any specific security plan that could include Department of Defense assets.
"We haven't seen a specific operational plan for a specific region or specific threat. The use of Defense Department resources ... would have to be an extreme situation," said Tim Manning, the New Mexico Homeland Security director.
Homeland Security officials did not respond to questions about which local or state agencies were notified about the surge plan.
Associated Press writer Eileen Sullivan in Washington contributed
Friday, January 9, 2009
My Internet Is Out Again
Well it's been 3 days now and I am a little pissed off. This happens more often than not lately. Must be some carry over problems from Ike. I have a tech comming out today and hopefully I can be back up again. I have missed reading my friends blogs. I am posting this from work, which is not a good idea.
Sphere: Related ContentWednesday, January 7, 2009
Determined not to miss PE, 6-year-old crashes car
I guess this little fella will either be a Nascar driver or the POTUS someday. Loves to drive and damn sure didn't want to miss school.
WICOMICO CHURCH, Va. — A 6-year-old Virginia boy who missed his bus tried to drive to school in his family's sedan — and crashed.
His parents were charged with child endangerment.
State police said the boy suffered only minor injuries and authorities drove him to school after he was evaluated at a local hospital for a bump on his head. He arrived shortly after lunch, Sgt. Tom Cunningham said.
It happened around 7:40 a.m. Monday on Route 360, about 61 miles east of Richmond.
The boy, whose name wasn't released, missed the bus, took the keys to his family's 2005 Ford Taurus and drove nearly six miles toward school while his mother was asleep, police said.
He made at least two 90-degree turns, passed several cars and ran off the rural two-lane road several times before hitting an embankment and utility pole about a mile and a half from school.
The boy told police he learned to drive playing Grand Theft Auto and Monster Truck Jam video games.
"He was very intent on getting to school," said Northumberland County Sheriff Chuck Wilkins. "When he got out of the car, he started walking to school. He did not want to miss breakfast and PE."
His parents, Jacqulyn Deana Waltman, 26, and David Eugene Dodson, 40, are each charged with child endangerment, Wilkins said. Waltman is being held without bond. Dodson was released on a $5,000 bond.
It was not clear if they had attorneys.
The boy and his 4-year-old brother were placed in protective custody.
"This really is a story of miracles," Wilkins said. "The Lord was with him, along with everybody else on the highway."
Wednesday Hero
Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Equipment) Airman Melissa Pyle mans a jet blast deflector station on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) in the Gulf Of Oman. Theodore Roosevelt and embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 are deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Have Every Right To Dream Heroic Dreams. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
Monday, January 5, 2009
The National Guard
We sometimes forget about these fine folks and the excellent job they do for our country. I just want to say Thank You.
I guess it’s appropriate that the 372nd birthday of the National Guard passed quietly and without fanfare on December 13th, because the National Guard does its duty in the same manner every day - quietly, and without fanfare. But its actions speak volumes.
Its soldiers lead double lives. On one hand, they are civilians. They work in civilian jobs and contribute their skills and time to making our country strong. They are the people next door. But when the nation needs them they pick up their weapons, put on their uniforms, and serve. They are the true manifestation of the citizen-soldier.
They serve overseas - in Iraq, Afghanistan, or wherever the nation needs them. And they have proven to be fierce warriors in combat.
They also serve at home, showing their compassionate side when disaster strikes. They protect. They fight forest fires. They search for victims. They provide aid and comfort to those whose lives have been turned upside down.
And they have done that for over three centuries. Born out of necessity in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1636, the Guard is one of the oldest military organizations in the world. According to the National Guard Bureau, “The Swiss Guards, who protect the Vatican are older (1512), and so is London’s Honorable Artillery Company (1537), a unit of citizen-soldiers which is the oldest in the British Army. Amazingly, considering how much older Britain is than the United States, only one other regiment of the British Army, the Royal Scots (1633), predates our National Guard’s oldest units.”
Their motto: “Always ready. Always there.” For 372 years.
On this last day of 2008, I can’t think of a better way to end the year than salute - and thank - the citizen-soldiers of the National Guard. And although it is two weeks late in coming, let me add a heartfelt Happy Birthday.
You are our heroes of the week.
Officer shoots man fighting her, police say
I don't know what in the hell could have been going through this dumbass's mind. This female officer is very lucky.
A Pasadena Texas police officer shot and injured a man who started a fight with her during a traffic stop Saturday evening, authorities said.
The officer, whose name was not released, attempted to pull over a speeding vehicle in the 2500 block of Randolph near Red Bluff around 5:15 p.m., said Pasadena Police Department spokesman Vance Mitchell.
However, the driver of the vehicle, Raymond Daniels, 28, drove three more blocks before pulling over, authorities said.
As the officer got out of her squad car, Daniels got out of his vehicle and advanced toward her, Mitchell said.
Although the officer ordered him to stop several times, Daniels kept advancing, Mitchell said.
The officer deployed her Taser but missed, he said.
She pulled out her gun, but Daniels tried to take it from her, Mitchell said, and the two struggled over the gun.
"He'd actually turned the gun towards her," Mitchell said.
The officer was able to turn the weapon back toward Daniels and fired one shot, striking him in the upper shoulder area, Mitchell said.
Daniels was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital, where hospital officials said he was treated and released. Any charges against him are unknown at this time.
The officer suffered a broken finger, Mitchell said.
Police also questioned a passenger in Daniels' car, who was reportedly cooperative. The case is being investigated by the department's Homicide Division and Internal Affairs Division, as well as the Harris County District Attorney's Office.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
What A Perfect Day It Is In Houston
I'll tell you I could not ask for a better day. The sky is clear, no breeze and the temp is 80 degrees. It has really been strange weather over the past couple of weeks or so, one day it is freezing and the next we are in shorts. Suppose to turn cold for Monday, high in the 40's. I don't care, I am enjoying it while it lasts. I just finished cleaning my pool, and actually enjoyed doing it. I may just wash my truck to. Sorry for you folks in the cold country, but while I BBQ this afternoon and have a couple of adult beverages, I will think of you.
Sphere: Related ContentFriday, January 2, 2009
HPD: Man fatally stabbed over six pack of beer
Now how stupid is this. Killing a man over beer. But then again it is rude to take beer with you when you leave someones house.
A 59-year-old Houston man has been charged with fatally stabbing another man on New Year's Day during an argument over a six-pack of beer, police said.
Michael Cisneros is accused of killing Serapio Chavez, 39, of Houston.
According to investigators, Chavez and two of his friends were drinking beer at Cisneros' house in the 8000 block of Tuffly about 5:40 p.m. when Chavez told Cisneros he was leaving and decided to take a six-pack of beer Cisneros had purchased.
An argument escalated into a physical fight between the men, investigators said. Cisneros picked up a knife from the coffee table, stabbed Chavez in the chest and threw him out of the house, investigators said. A neighbor spotted Chavez on the grass and called 911.
Chavez died at Ben Taub General Hospital.
Patrol officers arrested Cisneros, who later gave a statement admitting his involvement in the incident, investigators said.
Trooper takes shotgun blast from wanted man, but kills him
It dosen't pay to shoot a Texas State Trooper.
EDEN — A man sought on a murder warrant in the death of a San Angelo woman died in a shootout with a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper.
The DPS said Manuel Alcantar, 20, shot the trooper with a 12-gauge shotgun while the officer was trying to identify Alcantar and the driver of a car the trooper stopped in Eden Wednesday night. The trooper, whose name was not immediately released, returned fire, fatally wounding Alcantar. The trooper was treated and released, the San Angelo Standard-Times reported in its online edition Thursday.
Alcantar's body has been sent to Lubbock for an autopsy.
Texas Rangers are investigating.
The driver of the car, Dionisio Anibal Saucedo Jr., 21, was being held in the Tom Green County Jail on Thursday on a charge of attempted capital murder of a peace officer. His bond was set at $1 million. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney.
Trooper Shawn Baxter, a DPS spokesman, said the charge against Saucedo, Alcantar's cousin, stems from the portion of the penal code that says a person can be charged with the same offense as a suspect if he fails to make a reasonable effort to stop the suspect, the newspaper reported.
Authorities had been looking for Alcantar, who was named in a murder warrant for the shooting death earlier Wednesday of Lynda Fairchild, 38, of San Angelo. Fairchild's daughter, 18-year-old Heather Flores, was wounded in the shooting at a San Angelo home.
Sabrina Castro, 18, told the newspaper that an argument led to the shooting. She said Flores and Alcantar had a relationship and a baby.
Eden is about 40 miles south-southeast of San Angelo in West Texas.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Very Quiet New Years Around Here
This was a very strange kind of New Year it seems to me. Usually most folks around here are very up for the big parties and fireworks, but not last night. I don't know what it was but it was just different. Very little noise or fireworks, the two parties I went to were very quiet and no one was drunk. That to me is strange. The mood seemed subdued for some reason. Several of my friends made mention of the fact that they just couldn't get into the mood to party. I guess we may not think about it, but with all of the bad things that happened to us (as a country) this past year is stuck in the back of our minds and put people in a somber mood. I know I don't feel very festive, and I got up today and didn't have a hangover, of course, I didn't drink very much. I sat with my two sons and my two grandsons for hours last night playing internet games and just not really doing anything. I got home around 2am and went to bed.
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