That's why it's called "CAPITAL PUNISHMENT" and not "CAPITAL DETERRENCE!"
And Israel understands the difference big time. Israel remains unbowed and unafraid. Take the time to look at this video.
Nice job JB!
Friday, July 28, 2006
Lethal injection worries stir death penalty debate
Lethal injection worries stir death penalty debate
By Carey GillamThu Jul 27, 8:23 AM ET
As the mother of a convicted murderer, Linda Taylor feels the nationwide debate over the death penalty in both her conscience and her heart.
Less than six months ago, the Kansas City grandmother sat outside a prison cell and said good-bye to her 39-year-old son Michael, prepared to see him put to death with a dose of lethal drugs in Missouri's execution chamber.
"That was the worst time in our family's life. Waiting, praying," said Taylor. "The crime he did was horrendous. But why do we kill people ... to show that killing people is wrong?."
A late reprieve spared Michael Taylor, who pleaded guilty to the 1989 rape and murder of a Kansas City school girl, and he remains alive on the state's death row.
And though initially it seemed only a technical delay, all executions in Missouri are now blocked because of evidence that state executioners might be inadvertently causing inmates to feel undue pain when they are killed.
The revelations are contributing to a broad reexamination of the death penalty across the country. Indeed, a series of recent court rulings in several states, along with new concerns raised by doctors and lawyers about lethal injection -- the most-used method of execution in the United States -- has raised the debate to a new intensity.
Given the developments, some legal scholars speculate that the Supreme Court may ultimately reimpose a moratorium on capital punishment as it did in 1972. That ended in 1976 and currently 38 states have death penalty statutes on the books.
"We're in the middle of a slugfest," said New York University of Law School professor and capital punishment proponent Robert Blecker.
TIDE TURNING?
Recent polls show a majority of Americans, about 65 percent, support capital punishment, a level relatively unchanged over the last few years, but significantly lower than the 80 percent support level in the mid-1990s.
Americans are increasingly favoring life without parole for murderers, polls are showing, and the number of people sentenced to death has dropped 55 percent from 1999.
"Sentiments are changing," said Death Penalty Information Center director Richard Dieter. "The evidence is very strong."
The advent of DNA testing that has proven innocent people have been wrongly convicted, along with evidence of inconsistent applications of the death penalty, are chief among the factors leading to fewer executions, according to Dieter.
But concerns about lethal injection are further feeding those doubts and forcing people who have considered lethal injection as an ethical, pain-free method of execution to evaluate anew how far public punishment should go.
The issue rose to the forefront last year when a British medical journal published research showing dozens of U.S. inmates had been given anesthetic at lower levels than required for surgery and that guidelines in several states were flawed. Without proper anesthesia, potassium chloride administered to stop the heart can cause excruciating pain.
The inmates could have been unable to show their suffering, the study found, because of the paralyzing effect of another of the drugs commonly used in lethal injection executions, which typically take two to five minutes to kill the inmate.
"Some people (have been persuaded) that what appears to be a very painless death is as gruesome as the electric chair or the gas chamber," said David R. Dow, professor at the University of Houston Law Center.
COURT CONCERNS
Lawyers for death row inmates are increasingly using the concerns about pain to argue that lethal injection violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Such appeals have delayed executions in several states, including Arkansas, California and Florida.
The fears gained further standing when the U.S. Supreme Court on June 12 said death row inmates could challenge the constitutionality of lethal injection as a civil rights violation.
Earlier this month, lethal injection fears led Virginia to use an electric chair to execute 27-year-old Brandon Hedrick because Hedrick feared injection might be a more painful way to die, according to his attorney.
Back in Missouri, U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan has ordered the state department of corrections to make a series of improvements to its execution protocol, including employing a board-certified anesthesiologist to ensure that the drugs used in lethal injections were properly prepared.
The action came after the doctor who had been overseeing Missouri executions admitted he was dyslexic, often mixing up numbers, and after Taylor's attorneys discovered records showing doses of anesthesia were half what they should have been for some executions, including the dose that awaited Taylor.
In response to the judge's order, Missouri has said it cannot find an anesthesiologist willing to participate and plans to appeal. The American Medical Association this month reminded doctors that it views participation in executions to be a violation of medical ethics.
"This is unprecedented. We've never had executions blocked to this extent," said Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Hauswirth.
Taylor and his family hope his execution will be permanently stayed. But for some, concerns about a painful death for convicted murderers remain irrelevant.
"So they suffer a little pain," said Gladys Wimberley of Winchester, Mo., who says she will not support a politician who opposes the death penalty. "There are a lot of us out here who feel that way. If you commit anything as heinous as a murder, then you should die too."
*Thanks Buddy*
By Carey GillamThu Jul 27, 8:23 AM ET
As the mother of a convicted murderer, Linda Taylor feels the nationwide debate over the death penalty in both her conscience and her heart.
Less than six months ago, the Kansas City grandmother sat outside a prison cell and said good-bye to her 39-year-old son Michael, prepared to see him put to death with a dose of lethal drugs in Missouri's execution chamber.
"That was the worst time in our family's life. Waiting, praying," said Taylor. "The crime he did was horrendous. But why do we kill people ... to show that killing people is wrong?."
Boo-Hoo, you raised a murderer. No we don't have a death penalty to be an example to others, as most murderers and offenders of crimes that carry the death penalty are pathologic anyway. It won't deter them in the slightest seeing others play the leading role in "Dead Man Walking". Executions is this country are for the purpose of protecting society from people like your son from EVER EVER doing it again. The recidivism rate for executed offenders remains at a very satisfying "0". In other words the penal system is based on a simple concept. Criminals that have been convicted of crimes are incarcerated under less than pleasant conditions in the hopes that being divorced from free society will permit them to examine their behavior and return to society with a lesson learned- Don't break the Rules. The death penalty is reserved for :
1) Those crimes decided by society that irrevocably prohibit the offender from correcting his behavior, i.e. Mortal Sin in the civil arena.
2) Society protecting itself from pathological behavior
The offender that commits a capital offense is only mariginally less a hazard to society inside the penal system. He (or she) by definition can not be reformed and presents an ongoing and permanent hazard to his fellow inmates, corrections staff, clergy and medical personnel working in the system. Should the person ever escape the system he/she will again be at large in open society and revert to the same behavior.
A late reprieve spared Michael Taylor, who pleaded guilty to the 1989 rape and murder of a Kansas City school girl, and he remains alive on the state's death row.
In isolation at cost to the taxpayers and STILL an immediate hazard to his fellow man.
And though initially it seemed only a technical delay, all executions in Missouri are now blocked because of evidence that state executioners might be inadvertently causing inmates to feel undue pain when they are killed.
Moral equivocation at it's worst. This reversal of roles with the criminal now being presented as a victim has worn out with the public. What about the victim? What would Jessica Lunsford say about this, if she were able to tell us? Do you think the filthy scumbag that murdered her after repeatedly abusing her cared about her pain? No he enjoyed it thoroughly and he had his fun and brutally killed a child. How dare you posit that society as a whole is concerned about whether it hurts the criminal? Personally I would choose a method that causes the convict to experience at LEAST equal pain as that he caused to his victim with BONUS pain for their families still living remembering that FOREVER. I have personally seen what evil incarnate hiding behind an outward shell of humanity is capable of doing to humans. You wouldn't like it, the nightmares come back again and again, TRUST me and the additional assault on your own humanity having to notify next-of-kin.
The revelations are contributing to a broad reexamination of the death penalty across the country. Indeed, a series of recent court rulings in several states, along with new concerns raised by doctors and lawyers about lethal injection -- the most-used method of execution in the United States -- has raised the debate to a new intensity.
Given the developments, some legal scholars speculate that the Supreme Court may ultimately reimpose a moratorium on capital punishment as it did in 1972. That ended in 1976 and currently 38 states have death penalty statutes on the books.
"Some legal scholars" Unamed sources to puff up your argument with "speculation" about the Supreme court made up out of whole cloth. Don't mistake the shrillness of a few nut-jobs for intensity of the debate (by implication large numbers of debatees). We get your real motivation, that you are losing control of the activist bench. You showed us your cards with that seemngly innocuous statement. Why would anyone say hey "The courts should make a law"? Doesn't our government provide a representative form of doing that, you know through legislation, not by Writ of Certiorari. Liberals once again prove they really do know they can't get their ideas shoved down our throats EXCEPT by an activist court system perverting the will of We the People.
"We're in the middle of a slugfest," said New York University of Law School professor and capital punishment proponent Robert Blecker.
Simpy amazing, an actual professor that has rational thoughts, as opposed to selected quotes from the Communist Manifesto or Chairman Mao's Little Red Book.
TIDE TURNING?
Recent polls show a majority of Americans, about 65 percent, support capital punishment, a level relatively unchanged over the last few years, but significantly lower than the 80 percent support level in the mid-1990s.
Americans are increasingly favoring life without parole for murderers, polls are showing, and the number of people sentenced to death has dropped 55 percent from 1999.
"Sentiments are changing," said Death Penalty Information Center director Richard Dieter. "The evidence is very strong."
Polls are based on statistics. Their accuracy is directly in proportion to many factors, all of which can be manipulated to achieve their desired results. Simply put, you can show me polls by the gazillions. I'm not buying your argument that polls should be a basis of governing. We've tried it that with the predictable results, again and again. "Clinton Happens"
Death Penalty Information Center- Go take a look here, play find Waldo while you're at it and see exactly where they are coming from. It won't take long.
Professional mourners right out of the dark ages, getting paid to be sooo concerned for the victims, except the victim in their context is the perpetrator. Is it possible that Mr. Dieter is more concerned with hyping the alleged "intensity of debate" and "sentiments are changing" out of concern for his own enrichment, than true justice?
The advent of DNA testing that has proven innocent people have been wrongly convicted, along with evidence of inconsistent applications of the death penalty, are chief among the factors leading to fewer executions, according to Dieter.
DNA testing has equally provided prima facie evidence of guilt as well. That blade cuts both ways now doesn't it? Inconsistencies exist in the application of the death penalty as it's use is determined by the individual states as it should be. Lookup the term: Federalist....here's a hint it doesn't mean what you think it does.
But concerns about lethal injection are further feeding those doubts and forcing people who have considered lethal injection as an ethical, pain-free method of execution to evaluate anew how far public punishment should go.
The issue rose to the forefront last year when a British medical journal published research showing dozens of U.S. inmates had been given anesthetic at lower levels than required for surgery and that guidelines in several states were flawed. Without proper anesthesia, potassium chloride administered to stop the heart can cause excruciating pain.
"Concerns" by who? Directors of Death Penalty Information Centers or the families and friends of the real victims. KCl does indeeed burn, but it's just a preview of the heat they will feel a few seconds afterwards and that excruciating pain is for eternity. Why should anyone with a minimal sense of humanity CARE what the animals feel before they are sent off to the just rewards?
The inmates could have been unable to show their suffering, the study found, because of the paralyzing effect of another of the drugs commonly used in lethal injection executions, which typically take two to five minutes to kill the inmate.
"Some people (have been persuaded) that what appears to be a very painless death is as gruesome as the electric chair or the gas chamber," said David R. Dow, professor at the University of Houston Law Center.
Tahh Dahhh...Drag out a professor from the other side of the aisle, how convenient? One question though, wouldn't that statement be more credible coming from a professor of medicine?
COURT CONCERNS
There you go again, if your argument was valid it might say something like " (fill in the blank) State referendum Bans Capital Punishment" More scary hyperbole.
Lawyers for death row inmates are increasingly using the concerns about pain to argue that lethal injection violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Such appeals have delayed executions in several states, including Arkansas, California and Florida.
And said lawyers are increasingly see their profits go up by litigating on prevaricating pollsters and law professors validating their phony arguments. The constitution doesn't ban cruel and unusual punishment. It's in the Bill of Rights, and taken out of context conveniently finding it's way into discourse. If the Constitutional Bill of Rights banned the death penalty as a form of inflicting cruel and unusual punishment, why does violations of certain Federal Statues expose guilty parties to the death penalty?
Timothy McVeigh could not be reached for comment.
The fears gained further standing when the U.S. Supreme Court on June 12 said death row inmates could challenge the constitutionality of lethal injection as a civil rights violation.
Whose fears? Or is that a new and improved form of citizen "The Fears Clan"....unsourced scary words...again......we've already ruled out the Supremes until a few more retirements take place. Nonetheless, careful parsing of the ruling is in order. Some of us can actually read WITH comprehension you know. The court ruled that challenges could be made on basis of civil rights. This being said the court could also rule that pigs could challenge barbecue pits on the basis of civil rights too. It's not a imprimatur that said challenges would be upheld.
Earlier this month, lethal injection fears led Virginia to use an electric chair to execute 27-year-old Brandon Hedrick because Hedrick feared injection might be a more painful way to die, according to his attorney.
As he cried about how to pay his country club fees next year, since his former attorney-client relationship came to an abrupt end.
Back in Missouri, U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan has ordered the state department of corrections to make a series of improvements to its execution protocol, including employing a board-certified anesthesiologist to ensure that the drugs used in lethal injections were properly prepared.
The action came after the doctor who had been overseeing Missouri executions admitted he was dyslexic, often mixing up numbers, and after Taylor's attorneys discovered records showing doses of anesthesia were half what they should have been for some executions, including the dose that awaited Taylor.
Well you might have a point there...perhaps we should go the fall-back position- a very sudden stop at the end of a rope. You could get Eagle Scouts to tie the knots for you. Besides, the very clever (in his own mind) judge makes a ruling that appears on face value reasonable. Except for one little poison pill in his ruling- requiring a board certified physician to prepare or participate in the execution creates an connundrum called the Hippocratic Oath. Judge Fernando Pilate in a slick move pushed the argument into a different venue for somebody else to challenge from an alternate direction.
In response to the judge's order, Missouri has said it cannot find an anesthesiologist willing to participate and plans to appeal. The American Medical Association this month reminded doctors that it views participation in executions to be a violation of medical ethics.
Told you so....
"This is unprecedented. We've never had executions blocked to this extent," said Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Hauswirth.
And we've never had the small, screechy numbers of professional hand-wringers being fawned over by the media and adopted by the loony left. Terrorists or murderers now are guaranteed that somebody, somewhere will advocate for them regardless of their brutality or lack of basic humanity. Put panties on the head of the swine that hack peoples heads off- IT'S TORTURE- What about the people that actually hack the heads-off- THEY HAVE GRIEVANCES and the jooos make them do it.
Taylor and his family hope his execution will be permanently stayed. But for some, concerns about a painful death for convicted murderers remain irrelevant.
*Raising hand in favor of sentence #2* I am so inhumane. If you are so concerned about this stick your head back in the sand (or wherever it was, before you pulled it out to open your piehole) and let me take care of it. I'll supply the bullet, gladly. The maggots will perform the interrment pro bono.
"So they suffer a little pain," said Gladys Wimberley of Winchester, Mo., who says she will not support a politician who opposes the death penalty. "There are a lot of us out here who feel that way. If you commit anything as heinous as a murder, then you should die too."
Tip of the Hat to Gladys, you tell em' ma'am.LC JackBoot IC/A-OBR
*Thanks Buddy*
Say Hi To Jackboot
I'd like to welcome a buddy of mine, Jackboot, as a co-blogger. He is a LEO with a great sense of humor and a tenacious grasp of the issues of our day. He has been active in other blogs such as The Anti Idiotarian Rottweiller. Please make him feel welcome.
Or not. But be careful, he bites.
Or not. But be careful, he bites.
Ah Gee Mel!
Drudge Report has a flashing alert up notifying all that:
It appears that actor, producer, director Mel Gibson may have had a toddy too many. And I'm kinda sad to hear this. I like Mel and his craft. His movies are funny, entertaining as all get out, and in one instance --- profoundly moving.
I appreciate that he is still married to the same woman, in Hollyweird that in itself is quite an achievement. I appreciate that he has a pants load of kids that he cares deeply for. As far as I know, he adheres to the dictates of his religion.
The above items I just cranked off should be the balance for the news that came out today. I hope Mel comes out of this ok and if he has a problem, that he will get help for it. If he doesn't have an abuse issue, then he probably will be more careful in the future. It would be a crying shame to lose him in a DUI related accident. I wish him and his family well.
UPDATE:
I knew it wouldn't take long. As soon as a dog squats and leaves a calling card on your front lawn the flies show up. And as soon as Gibson's arrest is on a website the moonbats show up. You'd think from their comments that he drove his car into their livingrooms and killed grandma.
FOX NEWS has confirmed that actor Mel Gibson has been arrested in Los Angeles County for DUI... DEVELOPING...
It appears that actor, producer, director Mel Gibson may have had a toddy too many. And I'm kinda sad to hear this. I like Mel and his craft. His movies are funny, entertaining as all get out, and in one instance --- profoundly moving.
I appreciate that he is still married to the same woman, in Hollyweird that in itself is quite an achievement. I appreciate that he has a pants load of kids that he cares deeply for. As far as I know, he adheres to the dictates of his religion.
The above items I just cranked off should be the balance for the news that came out today. I hope Mel comes out of this ok and if he has a problem, that he will get help for it. If he doesn't have an abuse issue, then he probably will be more careful in the future. It would be a crying shame to lose him in a DUI related accident. I wish him and his family well.
UPDATE:
I knew it wouldn't take long. As soon as a dog squats and leaves a calling card on your front lawn the flies show up. And as soon as Gibson's arrest is on a website the moonbats show up. You'd think from their comments that he drove his car into their livingrooms and killed grandma.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Help Solve A Murder
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Sheriff's investigators say they have been flooded with telephone calls and e-mails since releasing photographs of women they fear might have been raped or killed decades ago by the condemned murderer who took the photographs.
Posing as a photographer, this sick piece of work took pictures of victims and potential victims. He picked out the ones he liked... and killed them.
Except that one of those women was found in 1978. With her head cut off.
A decapitated woman's body dumped in a canyon twenty-eight years ago. Yeah Counselor, I guess that's old news.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF'S HOMICIDE BUREAU
SERGEANTS ROBERT TAYLOR AND ALFREDO CASTRO
(323) 890-5500
EMAIL: rltaylor@lasd.org or ascastro@lasco.org
Posing as a photographer, this sick piece of work took pictures of victims and potential victims. He picked out the ones he liked... and killed them.
These photographs were recovered as evidence in Bradford's home in 1984 but have not been released until now. His attorney states that since these photos are twenty years old that they are"old news" and that since her client was a photographer, no one should be surprised that he took photographs of women.The photographs belonged to William Richard Bradford, who is on death row for killing two aspiring models in the early 1980s. Authorities say Bradford, now 60, posed as a freelance photographer and shot photos of women he met at bars and elsewhere.
In the penalty phase of his 1987 trial, Bradford asked jurors to sentence him to death, telling them, "Think of how many you don't even know about."
Except that one of those women was found in 1978. With her head cut off.
A sheriff's official said Tuesday that the body was found a few days after the woman met Bradford at a bar. Bradford was never charged in that case.
A decapitated woman's body dumped in a canyon twenty-eight years ago. Yeah Counselor, I guess that's old news.
"Bradford was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1984 stranglings of Shari Miller, 21, who he met in a bar, and Tracey Campbell, 15, a neighbor. Prosecutors said he lured them into accompanying him with promises to help their modeling careers."
"The photos date to the mid-1970s and could have been taken in any of several states: Bradford's past whereabouts extend to Illinois, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Oregon and elsewhere."Again, these photographs are here. If you recognize any of these women, please contact:
LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF'S HOMICIDE BUREAU
SERGEANTS ROBERT TAYLOR AND ALFREDO CASTRO
(323) 890-5500
EMAIL: rltaylor@lasd.org or ascastro@lasco.org
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Israel's Unexpected Response
As Iarael continues "juicing" southern Lebanon, Hurtzbollah is now claiming that:
The truth is_ let me say this clearly, it appears that Israel has had enough of your murderous treachery. Israel will no longer sit and watch it's children blown to pieces in deli's and pizzza parlors. Now it's time to pay the piper.
Wrong. Let me say this clearly feznuts, Israel isn't "snatching" anything but ass now. You are not dealing with another United Nations swap meet brokered by Jimmah "Drool Along With Me" Cahtear. Israel demands that the kidnap victims (not hostages) be returned.
So Hurtzbollah views their murderous intrusion as simply a hostage gathering excursion. Maybe they stopped on their way back home with the one soldier they didn't murder and picked out some shower curtains. The U.S. also had hostages back in 1979-80. For over 400 days negotiations were conducted. Negotiations ended with the election of a new president who hadn't forgotten where he left his balls.
So much for the liberal meme that Israel was shocked by the strength of the Hurtzbollah attack. Now these bottom feeders of the Near East are crying in their qahwah (coffee) about the strength of the Israel armed forces. Doh! Where have you guys been for the last fifty-eight years that Israel's been kicking your asses?
Let me say this clearly, pour yourself another cup of qahwaaaaaaaah!
the guerrilla's leadership had not expected a massive offensive when it snatched the two Israeli soldiers.After all, when tunneling under the border of a sovereign nation in violation of international law, killing two soldiers and kidnapping another, shouldn't one expect a more"naunced" response? These ragheads must have been coached by John Kerry.
How dare Israel exploit murder and kidnapping!
"The truth is _ let me say this clearly _ we didn't even expect (this) response ... that (Israel) would exploit this operation for this big war against us," he said.
The truth is_ let me say this clearly, it appears that Israel has had enough of your murderous treachery. Israel will no longer sit and watch it's children blown to pieces in deli's and pizzza parlors. Now it's time to pay the piper.
Instead, he said Hezbollah had thought Israel would respond to the soldiers' capture by snatching Hezbollah leaders in commando raids and that negotiations for a swap would start, giving Hezbollah the chance to try to win the release of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel.
Wrong. Let me say this clearly feznuts, Israel isn't "snatching" anything but ass now. You are not dealing with another United Nations swap meet brokered by Jimmah "Drool Along With Me" Cahtear. Israel demands that the kidnap victims (not hostages) be returned.
He called the Israeli assault "unjustified" and said Hezbollah would not lay down its weapons.
So Hurtzbollah views their murderous intrusion as simply a hostage gathering excursion. Maybe they stopped on their way back home with the one soldier they didn't murder and picked out some shower curtains. The U.S. also had hostages back in 1979-80. For over 400 days negotiations were conducted. Negotiations ended with the election of a new president who hadn't forgotten where he left his balls.
So much for the liberal meme that Israel was shocked by the strength of the Hurtzbollah attack. Now these bottom feeders of the Near East are crying in their qahwah (coffee) about the strength of the Israel armed forces. Doh! Where have you guys been for the last fifty-eight years that Israel's been kicking your asses?
Let me say this clearly, pour yourself another cup of qahwaaaaaaaah!
Sunday, July 23, 2006
We WishThem Well Too!
This AP story from David Bauder in the SF Gate trashes Fox News for snarky well wishing, and we're not talking about the kind where you throw a coin at a hole in the ground.
Other examples of over-the-top Foxiness abound:
Now that's a HOOT!
And all you news readers/commentators, I wish you well also.
"If someone at Fox News Channel wishes you well, watch your back. The seemingly benign sentiment is a creative signature of Fox's public relations, usually accompanied by a kneecapping. It's something like a kiss from a Mafia don."Mr. Bauer compares a sarcastic retort from the Fox News PR people to a threat of death from an organized crime capo. Over reacting a bit Princess? It seems to me that Fox just has the stones to tell it like it is. A primo example:
Ewwww, they're so meeeeean! How dare these people speak their minds! It's so, so... honest. Come one, it's not like Irena came out and stated that Keith Olbermann tried to get out of potentially dangerous military duty by enlisting in a National Guard unit. That was just news professionals doing their jobs in covering the BushCheneyHitlerJudas (gotta take a breath here) AttilaHalliburtonSatanKaiserWilhelm administration."MSNBC host Keith Olbermann was the latest to visit the wishing well. When The New York Times recently asked Fox its opinion of Olbermann, who has repeatedly used Bill O'Reilly as a pinata on his nightly news countdown, spokeswoman Irena Briganti replied:
"Because of his personal demons, Keith has imploded everywhere he's worked. From lashing out at co-workers to personally attacking Bill O'Reilly and all things Fox, it's obvious Keith is a train wreck waiting to happen. And like all train wrecks, people might tune in out of morbid curiosity, but they eventually tune out, as evidenced by Keith's recent ratings decline. In the meantime, we hope he enjoys his paranoid view from the bottom of the ratings ladder and wish him well on his inevitable trip to oblivion."
Other examples of over-the-top Foxiness abound:
Ted Turner: The CNN founder called Fox a "propaganda voice" of the Bush administration and compared its popularity to Adolf Hitler's rise in Germany before World War II. Briganti: "Ted is understandably bitter having lost his ratings, his network and now his mind. We wish him well."Heh. I mean, that's funny.
George Clooney. Fox News branched out to Hollywood after the actor criticized O'Reilly. "We are disappointed that George has chosen to hurt Mr. O'Reilly's family in order to promote his movie," Schur said. "But it's obvious he needs publicity considering his recent string of failures. We wish him well in his struggle to regain relevancy."I don't care who you are, that there's funny!
Jonathan Klein. On the day the CNN U.S. president was hired, Briganti offered: "We wish CNN well in their annual executive shuffle." She later stuck the knife in further with: "We wish Jon well in his battle for second place with MSNBC."
Now that's a HOOT!
Plainly, public relations is a contact sport at Fox News Channel — with, as Fox PR chief Brian Lewis explains, a sense of mischief sprinkled in.How dare Fox News ridicule the eleventy hundred levels of fact checking, naunced, impeccibly credentialed, caring news professionals of the MSM? It seems to me that they are just as confounded by a snarky body check as they are by a fact check. Brian Lewis defines the Foxy strategery:
Make mine extra spicy with Jalapeno adverbs and Cayenne rhetoric please."Not every attack on us deserves a response," he said. "It could be no response. That's a strategy. It could be mild, medium or spicy, depending on what our needs are."
And all you news readers/commentators, I wish you well also.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Good Night And Good Riddance
Doug Thompson, the editor and publisher of The Society for the Advancement of Bush Derangement Syndrome, AKA Capital Hill Blue, has cried "Uncle." In a post titled, "Good Night and Good Luck", Thompson tells his readers that:
And just in case anyone should start to feel sorry for this sad sack of journalistic excrement, read this nonsense from his 2003 truth debacle:
In his explaining the affaire de Wilkinson, Thompson says this:
The entire Intertube Community is better served if you go hide yourself in the hills of Virgina and spend the next forty years digging deer tics out of your ass.
My thanks to Classical Values for the excellent work in exposing this fraud.
"The plan two years ago was to spend more time on my photography, video documentary work and community service. That was the plan. Didn't quite work out that way. I tried to walk away from Blue two years ago but a number of factors drew me back in."Yuppers, his good friends George Harleigh and Terry Wilkinson conned him into it.
"Over the past few weeks it has become more and more obvious that I should have stuck to my guns two years ago and walked away. It was past time and I had a good team in place to take over. Instead I waded back in like a savior that wasn't needed and mucked up the whole mess."Hindsight is always a remarkable teacher when a few conservative bloggers rub your face in the "Intertube turd" you just shat out.
"We've made some mistakes over the past few years and too many of them have been my doing. I've been too eager to jump on a story, too willing to go public without all the facts and too determined to be first, even if it meant going with improperly sourced material. I've been lazy and too willing to use material that someone gave me without verifying the material ..."Seeing as though you've been so busy editing out all the lies you've published over the years, we wonder how you managed to get this out at all.
"or even making sure the source was who they claimed to be."Or even making sure they exist at all. Let's go back to his self-serving introduction:
"I've spent some 40 years in journalism and/or politics and 12 years with this web site/mistress called Capitol Hill Blue."Forty years of laziness, incompetence, lies and slander.
"Some of the stories I chose to publish did not meet the standards of journalism that I had spent the previous four decades striving to meet. They may have been true or at least I believed them to be true but "may" and "believe" are not good enough."I wonder how hard his "striving" really was. Probably on the same level as Dan Rather and Mary Mapes. "May" and "believe" were good enough for forty years Gunga Doug, what happened?
And just in case anyone should start to feel sorry for this sad sack of journalistic excrement, read this nonsense from his 2003 truth debacle:
"The bottom line is that someone has been running a con on me for 20 some years and I fell for it like a little old lady in a pigeon drop scheme. I've spent the last two hours going through the database of Capitol Hill Blue stories and removing any that were based on information from Wilkinson (or whoever he is)."First, Thompson swallows everything this Wilkinson source feeds him for two decades without ever establishing any credentials whatsoever. Second, he goes and attempts to hide his incompetence by removing all references to these stories.
In his explaining the affaire de Wilkinson, Thompson says this:
It will be a long time (and perhaps never) before I trust someone else who comes forward and offers inside information. The next one who does had better be prepared to produce a birth certificate, a driver's license and his grandmother's maiden name."BZZZZZZZT! Wrong. Thompson learned absolutely nothing from his debacle, Quite the contrary, he does it all over again! Another exercise in advocacy journalism that gets shot down by someone who has fifteen minutes to spare. Bush Derangement Syndrome in extemis.
The entire Intertube Community is better served if you go hide yourself in the hills of Virgina and spend the next forty years digging deer tics out of your ass.
My thanks to Classical Values for the excellent work in exposing this fraud.
Friday, July 21, 2006
Hizbollah, The ROP and Zarqawi's Master Plan
rubble of the safe house. I believe that the intelligence officers uncovered documents that have direct bearing on the deadly situation Israel is facing today in Lebanon and Gaza.
One of these documents starts off thusly:
And noble is the exact word I want to use to describe the efforts of American men and woman in Iraq and Afghanistan. Noble, defined as having or showing qualities of high moral character, such as courage, generosity, or honor. American character in conjunction with American force of arms is defeating the likes of OBL and Zarqawi. So they must react in the only way they can, by spreading more death, more fear, more unrest and more instability.
Almost exactly six weeks after this document was unearthed, Israel faced a sudden onslaught of murder, kidnapping and missile attacks from Hamas and Herbollah. And six weeks would be just long enough to sneak the thousands of additional missiles needed into southern Lebanon (through Syria no less) and to train Hamas/Herbollah scum (I refuse to honor them with the term fighters, insurgents, militants or combatants) in their use. It wasn't enough time to train these goons on how to set up and maintain more advanced military systems such as radar guided anti-ship missile so Iranian troops were needed to assist these types of endeavors.
Zarqawi realizes that since the end of World War II, all hostilities between the major powers have been fought by surrogates on behalf of the communists/statists. This happened in Korea and Viet Nam, in El Salvador and Nicaragua, and is happening again today. Our struggle today is against Islamofacism and its surrogates are Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and the alphabet soap of cowards, cut throats and kidnappers.
Zarqawi further defines his intentions:
In the aforementioned conflicts, the USSR and Red China deployed their surrogates against the West; Iran is now the bankroll for terror and its surrogates have been very busy.
It is time to divert Iran's attention from spreading Islamic terror to simple survival. Iran and it's lunatic leaders have never been presented with the scenario prepared by President Reagan for Col. Muammar "Fresh Skivvies Please" Khadafi. It. Is. Time.
One of these documents starts off thusly:
"The situation and conditions of the resistance in Iraq have reached a point that requires a review of the events and of the work being done inside Iraq. Such a study is needed in order to show the best means to accomplish the required goals, especially that the forces of the National Guard have succeeded in forming an enormous shield protecting the American forces and have reduced substantially the losses that were solely suffered by the American forces. This is in addition to the role, played by the Shi'a (the leadership and masses) by supporting the occupation, working to defeat the resistance and by informing on its elements."It sounds like the Resistance is on the ropes. The terrorists' practice of spreading murder and mayhem could only go so far to accomplish the goals of Al-Quaeda. Hearts and minds do not necessarily follow slaughter and bloodshed; in fact, it appears that the growing Shia support of the "occupation" is showing that these tactics have the exact opposite effect. The noble sacrifice of our troops is proving to speak much louder than the explosions of IED's and the rattle of small arms.
And noble is the exact word I want to use to describe the efforts of American men and woman in Iraq and Afghanistan. Noble, defined as having or showing qualities of high moral character, such as courage, generosity, or honor. American character in conjunction with American force of arms is defeating the likes of OBL and Zarqawi. So they must react in the only way they can, by spreading more death, more fear, more unrest and more instability.
"Consequently, to embroil America in another war against another enemy is the answer that we find to be the most appropriate, and to have a war through a delegate has the following benefits:1. To occupy the Americans by another front will allow the resistance freedom of movement and alleviate the pressure imposed on it.
2. To dissolve the cohesion between the Americans and the Shi'a will weaken and close this front.
3. To have a loss of trust between the Americans and the Shi'a will cause the Americans to lose many of their spies."
4. To involve both parties, the Americans and the Shi'a, in a war that will result in both parties being losers.
And what better way to involve America in another front then to have Iran's lackies launch an assault against Israel? No nation on earth receives the amount of American largesse that Israel does. Although a fiercely independant nation, Israel could be seen as an American "client state" due to the enormous amount of aid it receives every year.
Almost exactly six weeks after this document was unearthed, Israel faced a sudden onslaught of murder, kidnapping and missile attacks from Hamas and Herbollah. And six weeks would be just long enough to sneak the thousands of additional missiles needed into southern Lebanon (through Syria no less) and to train Hamas/Herbollah scum (I refuse to honor them with the term fighters, insurgents, militants or combatants) in their use. It wasn't enough time to train these goons on how to set up and maintain more advanced military systems such as radar guided anti-ship missile so Iranian troops were needed to assist these types of endeavors.
Zarqawi realizes that since the end of World War II, all hostilities between the major powers have been fought by surrogates on behalf of the communists/statists. This happened in Korea and Viet Nam, in El Salvador and Nicaragua, and is happening again today. Our struggle today is against Islamofacism and its surrogates are Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and the alphabet soap of cowards, cut throats and kidnappers.
Zarqawi further defines his intentions:
"Drowning the Americans in another war that will engage many of their forces.
The last item on his agenda is exactly what happened within the past few days. The anti-ship missiles that struck an Israeli destroyer and an another merchant vessel took military authorities completely by surprise.The possibility of acquiring new weapons from the Iranian side, either after the fall of Iran or during the battles."
In the aforementioned conflicts, the USSR and Red China deployed their surrogates against the West; Iran is now the bankroll for terror and its surrogates have been very busy.
It is time to divert Iran's attention from spreading Islamic terror to simple survival. Iran and it's lunatic leaders have never been presented with the scenario prepared by President Reagan for Col. Muammar "Fresh Skivvies Please" Khadafi. It. Is. Time.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
The ROP Strikes Again in Brussels
I picked this up at Hillbilly White Trash. I must admit, it caught my attention because it is happening here because we don't control the free-for-all at our borders. Now while the leftists won't allow a prono site to be blocked, they certainly would like to see a lot of political dialogue eliminated. The political dialogue is at The Brussels Journal where the blogger, Paul Belien, writes:
This morning, a police officer from the "Projectcel Mensenhandel en Vreemdelingen" (Project Cell Human Trafficking and Foreigners) came to my door to question me about alledged "racist" articles on this website. I was not in.
And I wonder what they would have done if he was in.
"My son was told to tell me to contact the police asap in order to make an appointment for interrogation. Apparently crime statistics in Belgium are so low that the police have nothing better to do than harass journalists. "
Check out the crime stat links, it is very revealing. The murder rate per 100,000 in Belgium (9.1) is 65% higher than the murder rate in the US (5.5). Must be all the racist articles wrotten over there. Furthermore, the murder rate in Belgium has increased by 11% from 2003 to 2004 while in the US it has decreased by- 3.3%.
Move on, nothing to see here folks, keep it moving, nothing to see...
Our esteemed blogger goes on to describe the assault and murder being committed on public transportation in Belgium. Remember the Brussels teen who was beaten to death two months ago by a group of "immigrant youths?" Well, it happened again. This time a "54-year old Flemish train conductor on his way to work, was kicked to death by six "youths" on a crowded bus near Antwerp's Central Station."
The conductor was attempting to stop these youths from assaulting other passengers. The Belgiums were very critical of the people who refused to intervene when the teen, Joe Van Holsbeeck, was killed last April, so this brave man decided to step up to the plate. And they killed him while the other passengers fled. I imagine they kicked him to death in honor of the World Cup games.
Want to guess where these "youths" were from? Morocco.
Three Moroccan "youths" were arrested but a fourth escaped when "dozens of youths came to his rescue. Witnesses had described the culprits as immigrant youths of between 18 and 21 years of age. During the weekend the police had called for witnesses as only four people had come forward. The police offered the witnesses absolute confidentiality and promised not to reveal their identities. "Obviously people fear reprisals," Gazet van Antwerpen wrote today."
If the cops can't keep a few dozen "youths" from interfering in an arrest for Murder, how can they protect a witness from getting his/her throat cut by a few more "youths?" Clearly Belgium is, or will shortly be, on the ropes.
I guess the "hate" speech the Belgium cops want to check out is that they "hate" to be shown up as incompetent. Public officials can no longer guarantee the safety of any Belgium citizen. So in a flash of sheer genius, the cops now quiet all public fears of violence by simply locking up anyone who says they aren't safe! Brilliant!
And equally brilliant is the Belgium campaign to rid public schools of violence by forcing homeschoolers to attend public schools. Smashing! If you want your children to escape the violence and disruptions of public schools by homeschooling them, as of 2003, you must sign a UN sponsored delaration that you will instruct your children in a manner "respecting the respect for the fundamental human rights" blah blah blather. But there is a craveat, a big one:
"The declaration does not specify what "respecting the respect for the fundamental human rights and the cultural values of the child itself and of others" means. It states, however, that government inspectors decide about this and adds"and here is the crux of the matter, that if the parents receive two negative reports from the inspectors they will have to send their child to an official government recognized school."
Just like the UN sponsored Resolution 1559 respected Israel's right to remain involiate from terrorist activities, huh? Another UN resolution/declaration/manifesto replete with inspectors goes down the tubes.
And Mr. Belien makes an incredibly salient point:
"Belgians do not have a constitutional or legal right to bear arms, not even purely defensive arms such as peppersprays. With the police and the government failing to protect law-abiding citizens the latter are, however, totally unprotected. Saturday’s murder has shocked bus drivers and train conductors, but they stress that they are not in the least surprised. Violence on public transport has become a fact of life."
This is what happens when you surrender your sovereignty. You lose control of your borders, you lose control of your population, you lose control over your children, you lose your freedoms, you lose your country and finally you lose your life.
Oh, and what to see why perhaps the librarians refuse to filter out pornographic web sites? Check out Article 13, Section 1, of the 1990 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child:
"The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice."
It seems like they forgot to read Section 2.
Read this Convention, it is truly scary stuff, the stuff that nightmares and Hillary Clinton are made out of.
This morning, a police officer from the "Projectcel Mensenhandel en Vreemdelingen" (Project Cell Human Trafficking and Foreigners) came to my door to question me about alledged "racist" articles on this website. I was not in.
And I wonder what they would have done if he was in.
"My son was told to tell me to contact the police asap in order to make an appointment for interrogation. Apparently crime statistics in Belgium are so low that the police have nothing better to do than harass journalists. "
Check out the crime stat links, it is very revealing. The murder rate per 100,000 in Belgium (9.1) is 65% higher than the murder rate in the US (5.5). Must be all the racist articles wrotten over there. Furthermore, the murder rate in Belgium has increased by 11% from 2003 to 2004 while in the US it has decreased by- 3.3%.
Move on, nothing to see here folks, keep it moving, nothing to see...
Our esteemed blogger goes on to describe the assault and murder being committed on public transportation in Belgium. Remember the Brussels teen who was beaten to death two months ago by a group of "immigrant youths?" Well, it happened again. This time a "54-year old Flemish train conductor on his way to work, was kicked to death by six "youths" on a crowded bus near Antwerp's Central Station."
The conductor was attempting to stop these youths from assaulting other passengers. The Belgiums were very critical of the people who refused to intervene when the teen, Joe Van Holsbeeck, was killed last April, so this brave man decided to step up to the plate. And they killed him while the other passengers fled. I imagine they kicked him to death in honor of the World Cup games.
Want to guess where these "youths" were from? Morocco.
Three Moroccan "youths" were arrested but a fourth escaped when "dozens of youths came to his rescue. Witnesses had described the culprits as immigrant youths of between 18 and 21 years of age. During the weekend the police had called for witnesses as only four people had come forward. The police offered the witnesses absolute confidentiality and promised not to reveal their identities. "Obviously people fear reprisals," Gazet van Antwerpen wrote today."
If the cops can't keep a few dozen "youths" from interfering in an arrest for Murder, how can they protect a witness from getting his/her throat cut by a few more "youths?" Clearly Belgium is, or will shortly be, on the ropes.
I guess the "hate" speech the Belgium cops want to check out is that they "hate" to be shown up as incompetent. Public officials can no longer guarantee the safety of any Belgium citizen. So in a flash of sheer genius, the cops now quiet all public fears of violence by simply locking up anyone who says they aren't safe! Brilliant!
And equally brilliant is the Belgium campaign to rid public schools of violence by forcing homeschoolers to attend public schools. Smashing! If you want your children to escape the violence and disruptions of public schools by homeschooling them, as of 2003, you must sign a UN sponsored delaration that you will instruct your children in a manner "respecting the respect for the fundamental human rights" blah blah blather. But there is a craveat, a big one:
"The declaration does not specify what "respecting the respect for the fundamental human rights and the cultural values of the child itself and of others" means. It states, however, that government inspectors decide about this and adds"and here is the crux of the matter, that if the parents receive two negative reports from the inspectors they will have to send their child to an official government recognized school."
Just like the UN sponsored Resolution 1559 respected Israel's right to remain involiate from terrorist activities, huh? Another UN resolution/declaration/manifesto replete with inspectors goes down the tubes.
And Mr. Belien makes an incredibly salient point:
"Belgians do not have a constitutional or legal right to bear arms, not even purely defensive arms such as peppersprays. With the police and the government failing to protect law-abiding citizens the latter are, however, totally unprotected. Saturday’s murder has shocked bus drivers and train conductors, but they stress that they are not in the least surprised. Violence on public transport has become a fact of life."
This is what happens when you surrender your sovereignty. You lose control of your borders, you lose control of your population, you lose control over your children, you lose your freedoms, you lose your country and finally you lose your life.
Oh, and what to see why perhaps the librarians refuse to filter out pornographic web sites? Check out Article 13, Section 1, of the 1990 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child:
"The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice."
It seems like they forgot to read Section 2.
Read this Convention, it is truly scary stuff, the stuff that nightmares and Hillary Clinton are made out of.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
2006 Syracuse Nationals
Today the wife and I traveled to the NYS Fairgrounds to gawk at the cars in the 2006 Syracuse Nationals. The day started off with heavy rains this morning so we weren't sure if we would go, but by midafternoon everything cleared up so we took the short ride over to the Fair.There were four thousand vehicles preregistered for the event and most of them were scattered throughout the Fair. From a 1934 Packard to wild customs and stock Ford Fairlanes (why oh why would anyone bother?), there was something there for everyone.
And everyone was there.Senior citizens riding in their motorized scooter chairs reminisced about the cars they once had. Young tattooed women manuvered their baby laden strollers through the crowds and swilled water from plastic bottles. Kids were every where.
Many cars had Do Not Touch signs on the windows. Most people I observed ignored them.
And the muscle cars were on parade.
You didn't have to worry about some under aspirated, over muffled sedan sneaking up on you. Not at the Syracuse Nationals. The ground shook from the exhaust of these vehicles.
If you stayed in their way you just vibrated off the road like an old sixties game piece on an electric hockey board. They thundered and rumbled like, well, like the sound of Freedom. This is what I heard as a kid when the "big" kids with the packs of Malboroughs rolled up in theor T-shirt sleeves would bring their cars down to Woolworths in our downtown section.
It was a nice show (it always is), but we were disappointed because some of the exhibits were not open. We wanted to see the custom motorcyles over at the International Pavilion, but for some reason it was closed.
The gray car at the top of the post is a 1973 Dodge Challenger. I included it because my wife had one, white with green trim, and she's always looking for one whenever we go to one of these shows. She sold it for a crappy '78 T-Bird just before I met her. This was the first 1973 Challenger we've seen.
We also looked at a 1987 IROC Camaro that was for sale for $5,000. If we didn't have two kids in college we might have made some phone calls right from the Fair. It needed some TLC but it was all there. The two sets of camera batteries I brought with me both went dead by this time or else I'd have a picture of the IROC to show you.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Car 63 Where Are You?
Late this afternoon we were wondering what to get for dinner. It's hot and very muggy so no one feels like cooking. The topic of pizza arose but we're getting tired of the pizza places that deliver around our area; the pizza isn't bad - but it's not terrific and I was in the mood for terrific pizza. So I thought of my favorite pizza place up on the Hill, Cosmo's Pizza. I occasionally go there for lunch when I'm in the University area but I have never taken the family there. The Hill is how the locals refer to Syracuse University because, well, it occupies a high area just east of the downtown section of the City.
I graduated from Syracuse University in 1971. Cosmo's was my hands down favorite source of pizza because he made it in a fashion that strongly reminded me of my Uncle Pat's pizza . Back in the late 1950's my uncle had an Italian restaurant in Babylon, Long Island. He had the red and white checked tablecloths and candles stuck in Chianti bottles covered with runny wax. And he had wonderful pizza.
Eating my Uncle Pat's pizza was a balancing act. As a hungry kid, I wanted to scarf it down as fast as I could but it was too hot to eat fast, so I would grab a huge bite, chew a little and swallow some soda to cool down the cheese. It was a sure recipe for burning the roof of my mouth. I knew it was a great meal when on the way home my tongue would explore the shreds of flesh hanging from the roof of my mouth. Cosmo's pizza does the same thing for me.
Most of the Hill was located in Beat 63 and was included in the Crime Control Team concept that deployed from 1968 through 1979. CCT used teams of cops to service a high crime rate beat. The team usually consisted of a sergeant and at least six or seven cops in each beat. We were divided into service and crime cars depending on training, skill and longevity. Since I was an SU grad and also worked in campus security as a student I fit right in.
Working 63 (pronounced six-three) was interesting in that it combined SU students and faculty with some rather nasty violent crime. Two of the city's biggest hospitals (Upstate Medical Center and Crouse Irving Memorial) are in 63 which means that their emergency rooms are also in 63. Take the ambulance traffic coming into the ER's (along with some craaaazy relatives and friends of the sick/injured) and throw in twelve thousand undergraduate students only two blocks away from the low income public housing projects and you get a volatile mixture that can blow up in your face very rapidly.
But the best part of 63 was Marshal Street. Marshal Street, or M Street, was the Hill's central business district. M Street was the melting pot for Towns and Gowns to eat, drink and fight together. M Street was also the scene for Syracuse Big East and Final Four sports triumphs and defeats, all usually accompaned by a general mobilization of uniformed cops who had to somehow find all that riot shit we hadn't used in years and which now lay all nasty and funky at the bottom of our lockers. That's if it was even there.
The way around it was was to steal a gas mask from someone else at the mustering point when no one was looking. Someone did that to me after the NCAA Championship game between Syracuse and Indiana in 1987. Indiana won 74 - 73 on a last second 16 footer from the baseline by Keith Smart. And it literally was a last second shot! The game ending buzzer sounded when the ball hit the basket and I remember thinking that we might be in for it when that shot went in.
I never did get that gas mask back and the armory sergeant was looking for it when I retired eleven years later. Oh well.
M Street was where I encountered one of many lunatics throughout my career. One night I stumbled across what we called a 9:41 (the section of the NYS Mental Health Law that authorizes a LEO to bring a nutjob in for psychiatric evaluation)and called it in. I asked the dispatcher for assistance in investigating, "a very large black male wearing a red plaid shirt, jeans, tin foil, hamburger grills and carrying a large axe." The tin foil and hamburger grills were wrapped around his calves. And I confronted the Master of the Moonbat BBQ right in front of Cosmos Pizza.
When I walked into Cosmo's with my wife and daughter it was like stepping back almost forty years. For crying out loud Leon was still making pizzas in the front window right by the oven! Leon is getting on in years and only works two days a week now. I asked him how long he has worked there (I first laid eyes on him in 1967). He replied "When we opened in 1959." Almost fifty years making pies. The owner, George, wasn't there but Leon said he still works most days and he is now 80.
A few of the table juke boxes still worked and some of the hits from the sixties were still listed; and they played three for a quarter! We listened to the Beach Boys, the Mamas and Papas, the Zombies, Steppin Wolf, Patsy Kline and Johnny Cash. But the best part was the pizza.
It is funny how some experiences have the power to transport us. Right now my tongue is exploring the burnt part of the roof of my mouth.
Tonight I feel like a kid.
I graduated from Syracuse University in 1971. Cosmo's was my hands down favorite source of pizza because he made it in a fashion that strongly reminded me of my Uncle Pat's pizza . Back in the late 1950's my uncle had an Italian restaurant in Babylon, Long Island. He had the red and white checked tablecloths and candles stuck in Chianti bottles covered with runny wax. And he had wonderful pizza.
Eating my Uncle Pat's pizza was a balancing act. As a hungry kid, I wanted to scarf it down as fast as I could but it was too hot to eat fast, so I would grab a huge bite, chew a little and swallow some soda to cool down the cheese. It was a sure recipe for burning the roof of my mouth. I knew it was a great meal when on the way home my tongue would explore the shreds of flesh hanging from the roof of my mouth. Cosmo's pizza does the same thing for me.
Most of the Hill was located in Beat 63 and was included in the Crime Control Team concept that deployed from 1968 through 1979. CCT used teams of cops to service a high crime rate beat. The team usually consisted of a sergeant and at least six or seven cops in each beat. We were divided into service and crime cars depending on training, skill and longevity. Since I was an SU grad and also worked in campus security as a student I fit right in.
Working 63 (pronounced six-three) was interesting in that it combined SU students and faculty with some rather nasty violent crime. Two of the city's biggest hospitals (Upstate Medical Center and Crouse Irving Memorial) are in 63 which means that their emergency rooms are also in 63. Take the ambulance traffic coming into the ER's (along with some craaaazy relatives and friends of the sick/injured) and throw in twelve thousand undergraduate students only two blocks away from the low income public housing projects and you get a volatile mixture that can blow up in your face very rapidly.
But the best part of 63 was Marshal Street. Marshal Street, or M Street, was the Hill's central business district. M Street was the melting pot for Towns and Gowns to eat, drink and fight together. M Street was also the scene for Syracuse Big East and Final Four sports triumphs and defeats, all usually accompaned by a general mobilization of uniformed cops who had to somehow find all that riot shit we hadn't used in years and which now lay all nasty and funky at the bottom of our lockers. That's if it was even there.
The way around it was was to steal a gas mask from someone else at the mustering point when no one was looking. Someone did that to me after the NCAA Championship game between Syracuse and Indiana in 1987. Indiana won 74 - 73 on a last second 16 footer from the baseline by Keith Smart. And it literally was a last second shot! The game ending buzzer sounded when the ball hit the basket and I remember thinking that we might be in for it when that shot went in.
I never did get that gas mask back and the armory sergeant was looking for it when I retired eleven years later. Oh well.
M Street was where I encountered one of many lunatics throughout my career. One night I stumbled across what we called a 9:41 (the section of the NYS Mental Health Law that authorizes a LEO to bring a nutjob in for psychiatric evaluation)and called it in. I asked the dispatcher for assistance in investigating, "a very large black male wearing a red plaid shirt, jeans, tin foil, hamburger grills and carrying a large axe." The tin foil and hamburger grills were wrapped around his calves. And I confronted the Master of the Moonbat BBQ right in front of Cosmos Pizza.
When I walked into Cosmo's with my wife and daughter it was like stepping back almost forty years. For crying out loud Leon was still making pizzas in the front window right by the oven! Leon is getting on in years and only works two days a week now. I asked him how long he has worked there (I first laid eyes on him in 1967). He replied "When we opened in 1959." Almost fifty years making pies. The owner, George, wasn't there but Leon said he still works most days and he is now 80.
A few of the table juke boxes still worked and some of the hits from the sixties were still listed; and they played three for a quarter! We listened to the Beach Boys, the Mamas and Papas, the Zombies, Steppin Wolf, Patsy Kline and Johnny Cash. But the best part was the pizza.
It is funny how some experiences have the power to transport us. Right now my tongue is exploring the burnt part of the roof of my mouth.
Tonight I feel like a kid.
Monday, July 10, 2006
World Class Boredom
The World Cup is finally over. Thank the Lord.
I actually watched the final game, or was "charmed" into it by the administrations of one of my daughters who, because she is half Italian and took Italian as a language, wanted to see the Italians play the French. Neither side could score more than one goal apiece in two hours of exertions.
Run, run, fall, run, run, kick, fall, trip, run, run, kick, kick, kick, run, slide, run, run, run.
KaBoom!
An unholy head butt provides the only interesting moments of the entire 120 minute ordeal. It was spectacular! The French player nearly drove the Italian's sternum out between his shoulder blades. The replays showed the players jawing at each other shortly before the incident and now there is much speculation on what kind of provocation the frenchman suffered before responding as he did.
This is simply nonsense compounding the stupity of a basically criminal act.
We see this from time to time in every sport and we see it more often as time passes. The referees reacted as they should, ejecting the frenchman from the game and possibly sealing the fate of his entire team. As well it should.
From the London Times, the following is a list of Zidane's ejections during his career:
Sep 1993: Marcel Desailly, the Marseilles defender, punches him and the Bordeaux midfield player retaliates in kind.
Aug 1995: Slaps Thorsten Fink, a Karlsruhe player, in the face.
Oct 1995: Sees red for a tackle from behind on Frédéric Mendy, a Martigues player.
Sep 1996: At Juventus, sent off against Perugia after two bookings.
Jan 1997: Punches Enrico Chiesa, of Parma.
June 1998: Stamps on Fuad Amin, the Saudi Arabia captain, during World Cup finals.
Oct 1998: Commits a two-footed challenge on Paolo Sousa, the Inter Milan player.
Oct 1999: Receives a second yellow card for diving against AS Roma.
Sep 2000: Late challenge on Emerson, the Deportivo La Coruña midfield player, in Champions League.
Oct 2000: Butts Jochen Kientz, of SV Hamburg, and receives five-match ban.
Feb 2004: First sending-off at Real Madrid for thrusting hand into face of Pablo Alfaro, the Seville defender.
May 2004: Sent off for second booking after a rash challenge on Djalminha, the Deportivo midfield player.
April 2005: Tries to punch Quique Álvarez, the Villarreal defender.
July 2006: Butts Marco Materazzi in chest during World Cup final
And this was his final game, a game that ended his career on a very sour note. He should have spent more time perfecting his self control than the physical skills that ultimately failed him at the end.
I actually watched the final game, or was "charmed" into it by the administrations of one of my daughters who, because she is half Italian and took Italian as a language, wanted to see the Italians play the French. Neither side could score more than one goal apiece in two hours of exertions.
Run, run, fall, run, run, kick, fall, trip, run, run, kick, kick, kick, run, slide, run, run, run.
KaBoom!
An unholy head butt provides the only interesting moments of the entire 120 minute ordeal. It was spectacular! The French player nearly drove the Italian's sternum out between his shoulder blades. The replays showed the players jawing at each other shortly before the incident and now there is much speculation on what kind of provocation the frenchman suffered before responding as he did.
This is simply nonsense compounding the stupity of a basically criminal act.
We see this from time to time in every sport and we see it more often as time passes. The referees reacted as they should, ejecting the frenchman from the game and possibly sealing the fate of his entire team. As well it should.
From the London Times, the following is a list of Zidane's ejections during his career:
Sep 1993: Marcel Desailly, the Marseilles defender, punches him and the Bordeaux midfield player retaliates in kind.
Aug 1995: Slaps Thorsten Fink, a Karlsruhe player, in the face.
Oct 1995: Sees red for a tackle from behind on Frédéric Mendy, a Martigues player.
Sep 1996: At Juventus, sent off against Perugia after two bookings.
Jan 1997: Punches Enrico Chiesa, of Parma.
June 1998: Stamps on Fuad Amin, the Saudi Arabia captain, during World Cup finals.
Oct 1998: Commits a two-footed challenge on Paolo Sousa, the Inter Milan player.
Oct 1999: Receives a second yellow card for diving against AS Roma.
Sep 2000: Late challenge on Emerson, the Deportivo La Coruña midfield player, in Champions League.
Oct 2000: Butts Jochen Kientz, of SV Hamburg, and receives five-match ban.
Feb 2004: First sending-off at Real Madrid for thrusting hand into face of Pablo Alfaro, the Seville defender.
May 2004: Sent off for second booking after a rash challenge on Djalminha, the Deportivo midfield player.
April 2005: Tries to punch Quique Álvarez, the Villarreal defender.
July 2006: Butts Marco Materazzi in chest during World Cup final
And this was his final game, a game that ended his career on a very sour note. He should have spent more time perfecting his self control than the physical skills that ultimately failed him at the end.
Friday, July 07, 2006
Kitty Hoynes Irish Pub Meets Joe The Bum
The wife and I went out to dinner tonight in Syracuse's Armory Square district and found a wonderful place to eat: Kitty Hoynes Irish Pub. The food was excellent, the service fast and congenial and the ambiance, well, suitably Irish. It really is a nice place to eat or drink. Everything was immaculate, the bar room was expansive and well appointed, the dining area roomy with the tables adequately spaced for comfortable seating. China cabinets were used to separate small dining areas and they contained lovely Irish china in a variety of patterns. There aren't many restaurants where I like to meander about and look at the fixtures, but Kitty Hoynes was one of them.
The restaurant is located right next to the city's central business district, actually a part of it, and has seen an enormous amount of revitalization and development in the past fifteen years. Once known for empty warehouses, rowdy clubs and bar fights, it is now full of good restaurants with sidewalk accommodations (in good weather), arsty-fartsy boutiques and trendy clothing stores. It is quite enjoyable just to stroll the area and watch the crowds.
During our dinner there was only one thing that interrupted my enjoyment of the premises. My memories of what it used to be and what I did there almost thirty years ago. Thirty years ago sweet Kitty Hoynes was not so sweet, it was the Crown Hotel. It was a dive, a raw festering sewer where criminals, stew bums and whores drank, fought and slept. It was the last stop for the desperate and destitute before sleeping on the sidewalk. And the uniforms were in and out all night long.
I was one of those uniforms when we carried Joe The Bum's fat, dead ass down the stairs of the Crown. I assisted the stretcher crew as we sweated and grunted our way through the narrow filthy hallways and heaved his vast bulk into the meat wagon. Joe was never the most cooperative person when alive and in death he proved no different.
Joe The Bum...I can't remember any cop who ever called him by his given name. He was always just Joe The Bum. Or Joe The %$@&# Bum when the occasion arose. Joe died alone, resting on top of a deeply stained mattress that provided his bedding. I don't think he was much past his mid-fifties. His room was on the third floor of the Crown.
Still, it was an unattended death and had to be investigated for evidence of foul play. That's why I was there.
Like so many alcoholics, Joe was in poor health and probably died from a whole host of ailments and afflictions, both minor and major, directly or indirectly related to the way he abused his body. Unfortunately anorexia was not one of those ailments, ergo the stretcher crew's discomfort and curses. We all sweated our asses off in that hot, fetid, filthy hole giving Joe his final escort.
As I ate my lamb chop and talked with my wife, I looked around and marveled at the transformation of the Crown and enjoyed the Irish music and the people having a good time all around me. I debated whether or not to tell her what was on my mind. I didn't want to spoil her evening, so I didn't.
So I'll tell you.
The restaurant is located right next to the city's central business district, actually a part of it, and has seen an enormous amount of revitalization and development in the past fifteen years. Once known for empty warehouses, rowdy clubs and bar fights, it is now full of good restaurants with sidewalk accommodations (in good weather), arsty-fartsy boutiques and trendy clothing stores. It is quite enjoyable just to stroll the area and watch the crowds.
During our dinner there was only one thing that interrupted my enjoyment of the premises. My memories of what it used to be and what I did there almost thirty years ago. Thirty years ago sweet Kitty Hoynes was not so sweet, it was the Crown Hotel. It was a dive, a raw festering sewer where criminals, stew bums and whores drank, fought and slept. It was the last stop for the desperate and destitute before sleeping on the sidewalk. And the uniforms were in and out all night long.
I was one of those uniforms when we carried Joe The Bum's fat, dead ass down the stairs of the Crown. I assisted the stretcher crew as we sweated and grunted our way through the narrow filthy hallways and heaved his vast bulk into the meat wagon. Joe was never the most cooperative person when alive and in death he proved no different.
Joe The Bum...I can't remember any cop who ever called him by his given name. He was always just Joe The Bum. Or Joe The %$@&# Bum when the occasion arose. Joe died alone, resting on top of a deeply stained mattress that provided his bedding. I don't think he was much past his mid-fifties. His room was on the third floor of the Crown.
Still, it was an unattended death and had to be investigated for evidence of foul play. That's why I was there.
Like so many alcoholics, Joe was in poor health and probably died from a whole host of ailments and afflictions, both minor and major, directly or indirectly related to the way he abused his body. Unfortunately anorexia was not one of those ailments, ergo the stretcher crew's discomfort and curses. We all sweated our asses off in that hot, fetid, filthy hole giving Joe his final escort.
As I ate my lamb chop and talked with my wife, I looked around and marveled at the transformation of the Crown and enjoyed the Irish music and the people having a good time all around me. I debated whether or not to tell her what was on my mind. I didn't want to spoil her evening, so I didn't.
So I'll tell you.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
The Beginning
For a short,concise read on how economic considerations fueled the American Revolution, check out the Tax History Museum and click on the 1756 - 1776 section of the logo.
We'd all like to think that only the highest moral and philosophical motives were involved in the founding of our Republic, but that always isn't so. The Declaration of Independence celebrates individual rights and there is nothing as individual and personal as how a person spends his hard earned money without the government grabbing a fistful every chance it can. You want to motivate someone? Mess with his living.
The Stamp Tax was the first tax in colonial history paid directly to England. Prior to that, all taxes were imposed by the colonies' own legislatures. For an idea on the ways that some colonies imposed taxes, look at Virgina. You could be forced to do manual labor on roads and since money was scarce, you had to pay your taxes in tabacco.
The Brits were primarily interested in raising tax revenues to pay down their debt to foreign banks incurred during the French and Indian War. The Brits believed that the colonies did not pay their fair share of the war and were determined to ease some of the tax burden imposed on English subjects.
Perhaps the American Revolution was the Law Of Unintended Consequences in action.
We'd all like to think that only the highest moral and philosophical motives were involved in the founding of our Republic, but that always isn't so. The Declaration of Independence celebrates individual rights and there is nothing as individual and personal as how a person spends his hard earned money without the government grabbing a fistful every chance it can. You want to motivate someone? Mess with his living.
The Stamp Tax was the first tax in colonial history paid directly to England. Prior to that, all taxes were imposed by the colonies' own legislatures. For an idea on the ways that some colonies imposed taxes, look at Virgina. You could be forced to do manual labor on roads and since money was scarce, you had to pay your taxes in tabacco.
The Brits were primarily interested in raising tax revenues to pay down their debt to foreign banks incurred during the French and Indian War. The Brits believed that the colonies did not pay their fair share of the war and were determined to ease some of the tax burden imposed on English subjects.
Perhaps the American Revolution was the Law Of Unintended Consequences in action.
An Enlightened Citizenry
"In the absence of the governmental checks and balances present in other areas of our national life, the only effective restraint upon executive policy and power in the areas of national defense and international affairs may lie in an enlightened citizenry -- in an informed and critical public opinion which alone can here protect the values of democratic government. For this reason, it is perhaps here that a press that is alert, aware, and free most vitally serves the basic purpose of the First Amendment. For, without an informed and free press, there cannot be an enlightened people."
- Justice Potter Stewart in New York Times v. United States (403 U.S. 713)
After reading The Dread Pundit Bluto and his post of the Declaration of Independence, I was immediately struck by the realization that the assault on our God-given rights has been meticulously crafted over several generations.
It began a double pronged attack by first reducing our educational system from it's once prominent place as the envy of the free world to a mockery of its former self. Public education was initially created to foster the reading of the Bible. This is a direct reflection of the public schools created by the Hebrews thousands of years ago so that their children could read the Torah. Most Hebrew children were educated in this fashion until ten or twelve.
A century ago our public education system taught concepts of self-reliance, self-restraint and self-governance. This has been supplanted by condom placement. Many high school graduates are lucky to read at a 5th grade level. George Washington only occupies a few paragraphs in our history books while entire chapters are devoted to entertainment figures. Marilyn Monroe gets mormention then Benjamin Franklin.
The second prong was directed at our religious institutions, to weaken them and remove all religious expression from public discourse. But this also weakened the moral fabric of our nation. Depravity that would have shocked this nation fifty years ago is now taken for granted or has support structures that argue for the legalization of unspeakable acts.
A social gospel has replaced personal salvation in many denominations. It is now acceptable to bugger your neighbor but Heaven forbid if you try to convert him. Children are forced by their teachers to study Islam as part of their "cultural awareness curriculum" but bible studies are forbidden.
Instead, we are now surrounded by a deafening cacophony of sex, violence, sports and material acquisition. Television is a wasteland where desperate producers pursue the Holy Grail of advertising, the 18 to 34 year old viewers. The self-absorbed hippies of the sixties are the producers and directors of today or, even worse, the journalism professors. Newspapers are losing circulation not only because of their leftist bias but also due to the poor reading skills of the general population and astoundingly poor comprehension of how current events are now shaping our society for the next hundred years. Entertainment rather than enlightenment is the liberal media mantra. Our minds have been freed but for what purpose?
Over 80% of my nephew's engineering class were foreign students. The same holds true for many of our hard science graduates. We are preparing an army of idiots to fight a new type of war that is based on how well we process massive amounts of often disparate information. As responsible citizens, we must make public polity decisions based on the kinds of information we receive. And it is appalling that our people are so ill prepared to do so. Thank you National Education Association.
During the period leading up to the Revolutionary War, the only mass communication device available was the newspaper and church sermons. People would ride miles out of their way to listen to a two hour sermon, sometimes longer if the minister had a good set of lungs and something to say. People listened to what was being said, ; they read books and newspapers voraciously, they focused and remembered and then told others. The subject matter was discussed at length and heated debates would flourish where opposing views were conjoined.
Thus began our Revolution, in homes and churches and taverns. Over a neighbor's fence or at the sundries counter in the general store.
Now we are oppressed by another tyranny, it is the Tyranny of the Urgent. We are lulled and pounded into insensibility by 225 channels of digital manure. We work overtime to afford things we don't need, like cellular telephones to promote idiotic chatter (ever listen to some of these people on a cell phone??). We work two jobs to pay an ever increasing tax burden that supports a bloated bureaucracy that rules instead of governs. Taxes are imposed to promote political longevity rather than public good.
I believe that the time is approaching for another Revolution based on the original. Happy Fourth of July.
- Justice Potter Stewart in New York Times v. United States (403 U.S. 713)
After reading The Dread Pundit Bluto and his post of the Declaration of Independence, I was immediately struck by the realization that the assault on our God-given rights has been meticulously crafted over several generations.
It began a double pronged attack by first reducing our educational system from it's once prominent place as the envy of the free world to a mockery of its former self. Public education was initially created to foster the reading of the Bible. This is a direct reflection of the public schools created by the Hebrews thousands of years ago so that their children could read the Torah. Most Hebrew children were educated in this fashion until ten or twelve.
A century ago our public education system taught concepts of self-reliance, self-restraint and self-governance. This has been supplanted by condom placement. Many high school graduates are lucky to read at a 5th grade level. George Washington only occupies a few paragraphs in our history books while entire chapters are devoted to entertainment figures. Marilyn Monroe gets mormention then Benjamin Franklin.
The second prong was directed at our religious institutions, to weaken them and remove all religious expression from public discourse. But this also weakened the moral fabric of our nation. Depravity that would have shocked this nation fifty years ago is now taken for granted or has support structures that argue for the legalization of unspeakable acts.
A social gospel has replaced personal salvation in many denominations. It is now acceptable to bugger your neighbor but Heaven forbid if you try to convert him. Children are forced by their teachers to study Islam as part of their "cultural awareness curriculum" but bible studies are forbidden.
Instead, we are now surrounded by a deafening cacophony of sex, violence, sports and material acquisition. Television is a wasteland where desperate producers pursue the Holy Grail of advertising, the 18 to 34 year old viewers. The self-absorbed hippies of the sixties are the producers and directors of today or, even worse, the journalism professors. Newspapers are losing circulation not only because of their leftist bias but also due to the poor reading skills of the general population and astoundingly poor comprehension of how current events are now shaping our society for the next hundred years. Entertainment rather than enlightenment is the liberal media mantra. Our minds have been freed but for what purpose?
Over 80% of my nephew's engineering class were foreign students. The same holds true for many of our hard science graduates. We are preparing an army of idiots to fight a new type of war that is based on how well we process massive amounts of often disparate information. As responsible citizens, we must make public polity decisions based on the kinds of information we receive. And it is appalling that our people are so ill prepared to do so. Thank you National Education Association.
During the period leading up to the Revolutionary War, the only mass communication device available was the newspaper and church sermons. People would ride miles out of their way to listen to a two hour sermon, sometimes longer if the minister had a good set of lungs and something to say. People listened to what was being said, ; they read books and newspapers voraciously, they focused and remembered and then told others. The subject matter was discussed at length and heated debates would flourish where opposing views were conjoined.
Thus began our Revolution, in homes and churches and taverns. Over a neighbor's fence or at the sundries counter in the general store.
Now we are oppressed by another tyranny, it is the Tyranny of the Urgent. We are lulled and pounded into insensibility by 225 channels of digital manure. We work overtime to afford things we don't need, like cellular telephones to promote idiotic chatter (ever listen to some of these people on a cell phone??). We work two jobs to pay an ever increasing tax burden that supports a bloated bureaucracy that rules instead of governs. Taxes are imposed to promote political longevity rather than public good.
I believe that the time is approaching for another Revolution based on the original. Happy Fourth of July.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
The Faces Of Iraq
The High Desert Wanderer is posting photographs of Iraq taken by Sgt. R.L. Klika, a military photographer. The photos are compelling and deserve some attention. Here is his story:
This is my second consecutive tour of Iraq. My title this time is Non Commissioned Officer in charge of Team Bravo of the 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment of the Tennessee Army National Guard. We are a team of 20 Soldiers who record history for the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell Ky. My team of five covers the famed “RAKKASANS”. We go where they go.
Prior to joining the National Guard, I worked for several large newspapers on the West and East Coast. Prior to that, I was a Combat Photographer for eight of the twelve years I spent in the Marine Corps...
Part of my desire to be a photographer is because I like people. I enjoy documenting the missions we go out on but sometimes it is very overwhelming, because the missions are so quick. You have to pick a direction and run with it or you get nothing. To enter into the flow of peoples lives and to find that unexpected moment or the essential soul peeking out is an everyday challenge...
I have three sons, one of which just recently graduated from Army Basic Training, the other two live in Texas. This coming October my tour will end here. I will go visit my sons for a few weeks and then will embark on a journey to China to photograph the countryside for a few months. That’s all I have…Enjoy the photos.
So give HDW a look see and post something to let Sgt Klika know his work is appreciated and that we pray for his safe return home.
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