Air Evac Lifeteam Supporter Goes on Internet To Defend Their Greed

Thank you Christy G., whoever you really are (an employee of Air Evac Lifeteam or the CEO's mistress?) for coming so rapidly and logically to the defense of your company and the masssive debt they inflict on people hapless enough to be hoisted by them into the air for a few minutes.

Christy G., we can find your argument here at the Rushville Truth blog, but I'll summarize the most important points you make, points made time and time again by health care greed-mongers all over the world, from pharmaceutical executives to heart doctors to employees of Air Evac Lifeteam: WHAT IS YOUR LIFE WORTH?

Arguably, even a simple trip to your internist for a check up is worth MILLIONS since it might potentially reveal a cancer or a condition that is life threatening--kinda like an Air Evac Lifeteam ride on one of their debt choppers. If you didn't let them chopper you for $17,000.00 for 30 minutes or so, you might not make it to the hospital in time to save your life--assuming of course, it is a life threatening condition. And what if it is?

Is your life not worth more than $17,000.00 for a 30 minute ride?

I ask you! C'mon, AEL is doing you a huge favor for only charging you such a small sum to save your life. Really, a far less compassionate managerial culture might well charge $250,000.00 or even half a million, or even MILLIONS. After all, WHAT IS YOUR LIFE WORTH?

That is the true measure, isn't it, Christy G.? As long as you and other health care sociopaths remain in control of costs, we are assured that not only will they balloon to cosmic proportions served with a side of self-serving LIFE WORTH logic, but that in a very short time, only a tiny percent of Americans will be able to afford such costs. And once that happens, Christy G., you and all your buddies will still be sailing high, sure, cause then you'll be charging a quarter million for a single 30 minute ride, cause there must be enough super rich getting in accidents to keep stock prices at growth levels, eh?

Oh, and btw, if Medicare is stupid enough to subsidize Air Evac Lifeteam costs with American taxpayer money, then it's only because your lobbyists made sure it happened.

And we're all so happy that you, Christy G., and your AEL exec buddies are humane in your approach to collections. How many innocent and hapless Americans have you saddled with outrageous debt in the name of WHAT IS YOUR LIFE WORTH?

No, Christy G., you are obviously posturing for the Air Evac Lifeteam management team at corporate headquarters. I hope you get a raise for your efforts, or at least a Christmas bonus.

The Historic Rape of The American Treasury, and America's Future, Continues in The Final Days of the Bush Administration

And I thought the deficit was ONLY two trillion? OMG. WE ARE UP TO $7.4 trillion AND COUNTING!

The organized Bush mob are looting and pirating sums that even the wildest fantasy could not conceive. According to a few media patriots at CNBC who are keeping close tabs on the money, we've just spent in the past year, twice the amount of money we spent for all of World War II! And yes, that is inflation adjusted!!!

This is insanity, absolute criminal insanity. We need a revolution. If Obama doesn't clamp down on this and get our money back, he is no one to be trusted.

My poor country!

I have no words to express my rage. America, awake! Please.
_____

BBC Reports Garry Kasparov Jailed Over Rally - Ya Gotta Love Garry!

I've always loved Garry Kasparov and I'm proud of him. He's throwing his own shoe at injustice and tyranny, and Americans should learn something from him.

According to the BBC report:

He and other opposition figures were detained during a rally organised by Mr Kasparov's Other Russia coalition. Police moved in when protesters marched on the election commission. Mr Kasparov was charged with resisting arrest and organising an unauthorised protest.

The incident came a week before polls which supporters of President Vladimir Putin are widely expected to win. Other Russia brings together a broad coalition of mainstream politicians, leftists and nationalists, all of whom are opposed to the Kremlin.

Garry can be bit of a showboat, but whatever helps the cause of true democracy in hammer-and-sickle land is ok with me.

Here is some "Real Time with Bill Maher" starring Garry:

A PROFILE IN GREED - Air Evac Lifeteam Charges College Student $17,000 For a Ride in a Helicopter

This isn't just David vs. Goliath, this is Erin vs. Air Evac Lifeteam, an American college student returning home from a mission of mercy vs. a mercenary helicopter service that charges insanely outrageous fees for the privilege of ferrying helpless accident victims to a hospital, and later, to a lifeteam of crushing debt.

THIS IS AN UPDATE TO THIS BLOG POST MADE SEVERAL YEARS AGO. THE AVERAGE COST FOR A 30 MINUTE TO 60 MINUTE MEDICAL HELICOPTER RIDE, REGARDLESS OF INJURY OR NON-INJURY, HAS RISEN TO $39,0000 - $50,000+ PER TRIP, AND THE RISE IN COST SHOWS NO SIGNS OF SLOWING. THIS IS A LUCRATIVE BUSINESS FOR RUTHLESS SOCIOPATHS WHO KNOW THAT INSURANCE WILL NOT PAY EVEN HALF OF THIS BILL IN MOST CASES. 

Now, I support capitalism, but what Air Evac Lifeteam does to unfortunate people unable to compete in a fair marketplace for air ambulance services is unconscionable unless one is a confirmed corporate sociopath, the Enron likes of which intentionally cut the electricity in California to drive up prices.

Now comes the victim, Erin Neff (daughter to the editor of Web del Sol)--returning home from a long trip, organized by her school to help Katrina casualties. Her van spun out of control and Erin was thrown from the vehicle and onto the highway. Miraculously, she did not break anything, but authorities on the scene thought it best to evac her to the nearest hospital for tests. And guess who arrives? AIR EVAC LIFETEAM with a transport price tag that would make even millionaires pause--I mean, who in their right mind would pay $17,000+ for a 30 minute helicopter ride? No one, of course.

Erin didn't mind getting picked up and flown to the hospital. It was fun, in a way. Little did she know that this angel-of-mercy company was going to send her a bill that would potentially burden her with bills at high interest rates for years to come (on top of her student loans!). A copy of that bill can be found here. Note they charged her a whopping ten grand just to step on the copter! The rest of it is a per mile fee that adds up to close to seven more thousand.

Erin Neff cannot pay this bill. She is working with her college to pay some of it. Insurance is covering zip. But even as around-the-block as I am, this kind of story floors me!
Okay, so what is really responsible for the dizzying rise of health care costs in America? One word ... GREED.

Just pure f**king GREED!
Thank you, Air Evac Lifeteam.
_________

Lobbyist Ronald Klain Chosen for Top Post in Obama's New Ethical Administration

After a strong and repeated campaign pledge to “wrest the federal government out of the hands of lobbyists” our upcoming PRESIDENT OF CHANGE, Barack Obama, has just appointed Ronald A. Klain, a former lobbyist for various corrupt organizations, as CHIEF OF STAFF to future Vice President Joe Biden.

Isn't this how it always begins? They claim they will change things, then later deny that business as usual is business as usual. Excuses are made. Negative no-go-with-flow types are fired or ignored. Deluded followers pretend things are still different and refuse to see the truth.

According to the NY Times:

"[Ronald Klain] worked until 2005 as a lobbyist at the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers, where he lobbied for clients including the failed mortgage giant Fannie Mae; an industry group seeking help with asbestos lawsuits; a drug maker under federal investigation ..."

Fannie Mae? Drug makers? Yeah, this guy's got moral backbone, I can feel it driving a sharp knife into my backbone even as I type this.

Course, the new "rules" supposedly prohibit Klain from "directly" "working" on any "matter" related to his "employers" over the previous two years. Do we have loopholes here? Is there a potential for lying? Zero application of the new "rules" and so forth? And who the hell is going to enforce these rules, some lower level White House ethics attorney? Sure, sure. He or she will just get on the phone and scold Biden's chief of staff whenever the need arises.

But the bigger question remains: why hire the LOBBYIST in the first place? Are we naive enough to believe that so-called ethics rules will prevent the corrutpion that lobbyists bring with them from job to job rather like pigs slopping bacteria from pen to pen?

Comic Relief - Letter From Red States to Blue States

Though sworn to centrism, and disliking both major political candidates running for president, I find the note below (now circulating on Internet) to be definitely worth a look and a laugh:

Dear Red States:

If you manage to steal this election too we've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.

To sum up briefly:

You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.We get stem cell research and the best beaches.

We get the Statue of Liberty.You get Dollywood.

We get Intel and Microsoft.You get WorldCom.

We get Harvard.You get Ole' Miss.

We get 85% of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs.You get Alabama.

We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22% lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families.You get a bunch of single moms.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq , and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80% of the country's fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines, 90% of all cheese, 90% of the high tech industry, 95% of the corn and soybeans (thanks Iowa!), most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92% of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the war, the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% believe that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.

Finally, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico

Peace out,
Blue States

They Want to Believe, They Are Religious About Obama as Messiah

But do they know his #1 corporate-bundled contributor is GOLDMAN SACHS, followed closely by LEHMAN BROTHERS?

I know I've harped on this, but go tell the U.S. to face the facts.

Oh, and what exactly is his plan for ending the war?

And for ending the incredibly damaging budget deficit by cutting more taxes, as opposed to cutting the overbearing size of government?

And so forth, on and on?

America is headed for a bad rebound marriage, Oprah notwithstanding.

Gods save us.

Debate on Palin Earmarks, etc - So She's Lying About Being a Reformer? No!

A Majority of Republicans in the House Voted Against the Wall Street Bail-Out, But A Majority of Democrats Voted For It!

Yes, it's true, and I was originally blaming the Republicans as a whole/hole when in fact many of them remained very opposed to the corporate welfare package. Much to their credit, many of the Dems didn't cave until they were able to add their own personal wasteful pork products to the bailout bill--$150 billion extra in lard. I suppose you could say, they were bribed? Does that happen in America?

And guess what? Obama's top corporate buddy in terms of bundled donations is GOLDMAN SACHS. More shockers from the NY Times:

When you break it out by individual companies, you find that employees of Goldman Sachs gave more to Obama than workers of any other employer. The Goldman Sachs geniuses are followed by employees of the University of California, UBS, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, National Amusements, Lehman Brothers, Harvard and Google. At many of these workplaces, Obama has a three- or four-to-one fund-raising advantage over McCain.

Shine, Perishing Democracy!

Obama is a total fraud and a sellout.

Bush Pushes $700 Billion Bail-out Plan -- Just When We Thought He Could Not Get More Ruinous or Foolish - Shine Perishing Democracy!

The last biggest lie of George Bush Jr with regards to the $700 billion corporate welfare package for fellow Republican golfers in the predatory financial industry:

"And that over time, we're going to get a lot of the money back."

Kinda like NAFTA, eh? Another crock of outrageous poop from the Republican party and George Bush Jr. Another instance of the corporate Democrats knuckling under. And Obama? Are you kidding? Do you really think he will stand up to this historical rape of the American wallet? ... No, really, we're talking mega-criminal activity here on a scale never before seen. This is the result of the insurance the financials bought with all their political contributions over the years ... or should I say, bribes? Don't fool yourself.

Also, this is an historic opportunity outside of the Iraq War to so strain the budget as to force deep and permanent cuts in social programs, social security, and everything else mainstream Republicans hate.

Also, it is an opportunity to keep press focused on a Republican plan to HELP AMERICA just before a pivotal presidential election. (Will McCain whore himself out to this also?)

And, oh, um, what happened to supply side economics? This "bailout" is going to terribly burden all Americans with large-scale, ruinous taxes. And for what??? To give free money to a pack of Wall Street speculators and scoundrels who should be learning a big lesson? It's not a matter of IF, only a matter of WHEN. The politicians are avoiding the consequences, and hiding, depending on the usual media schizophrenia to confuse the issue, as well as the American penchant for ADD, and the formidable skills of their Big Lie marketing teams to rescue them from the consequences of reality.

The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) put it best in call to protest the bailout:

It is clear that the Federal Reserve and the Administration continue to blame homeowners facing hard financial difficulties in making payments on mortgages that were structured to fail, while using billions of taxpayer dollars to bailout the same predators who created this mortgage crisis and have hugely profited from it. The Federal Reserve’s orchestration of JPMorgan/Chase’s takeover of Bear Stearns with taxpayer dollars is an outrage.

_____

McCain Attack Ads - Some of The Most Despicable

Did Tom Jenks and Carol Edgarian, Editors of Narrative Magazine, Fix The 2008 First-Person Story Contest for Friend Gina Oschner?

Getting back to the "Arts" in this blog, I was just tipped off about potential fraud in a recent, showboat-and-yahoo contest held online by one of the biggest players in the literary arts biz: Narrative Magazine. Given Narrative's young history, I found it hard to believe that the editors would really be guilty of anything unethical. Usually that only comes after many years of status and power finally add up to an equal measure of hubris and arrogance.

Upon first glance, it appears that Narrative Magazine is more interested in running a lucrative business than anything else. Everything about it feels corporate. Money-making contests abound. The editors, Tom Jenks and Carol Edgarian, look like celebs with their air-brushed faces poking out in sharp digi-color from the slickly designed web pages. Is this "vision" of corporate cut and egoistic self-promotion the future of literary journals on the Internet? ... Well, argh. Let's hope not. Perhaps good news for some, but a lot is potentially bad news.

Tom Jenks and Carol Edgarian recently judged their latest contest, the 2008 First-Person Story Contest. I find it highly irregular that the editors, rather than choose an independent judge or a panel of judges, picked themselves to judge. Egoistic? Foolish? All the above? Regardless, it definitely opens them up to charges of favoritism, and more importantly, fraud, especially if the winner of their expensive, big pay-off contest turns out to be someone they know, e.g., an associate or friend in the literary world.

Writer blogs across the Internet helped Jenks and Edgarian publicize their contest. Narrative Magazine tapped everyone on their huge mail list (mail fraud?) and generally let out all the stops to push this competition.

Years ago, a poet board run by Alan Cordle, Foetry.Com, made it a holy mission to expose fraud in poetry contests. It made everyone realize (despite the overzealousness of some Foetry followers) that favoritism was rampant in the literary world and that closer scrutiny was needed to asssure contest-paying customers got a fair shake.

Now, back to Narrative Magazine's contest. Here is the announcement of the winners broadcast all over the Internet.

THE 2008 FIRST-PERSON STORY CONTEST
First Place ($3,000) Gina Ochsner On Principle

Second Place ($1,750) Heather Brittain Bergstrom Celilo Falls

Third Place ($1,000) Holly Wilson Night Glow

Now, here is where it gets ugly. A simple google search with Edgarian's name and Gina Oschner, the big $3000.00 winner, reveals what appears to be a strong relationship between the two writers before the judging of the contest in question.

As follows:

http://www.ugapress.org/0820323144.html
Gina Ochsner writes with the delight and knowing of a born conjurer. Her world is that liminal space, that disconnect, between nature and our lives-heaven's winking outside the office window, grass pushing up around the casket, umbrellas opening like the great beating of wings. — Carol Edgarian

Okay, so after reading this gushy blurb we are able to place Oshsner and Edgarian close enough in relationship that the Narrative editor agrees to blurb her book.

Next we have this little eye opener right from the pages of Narrative:

http://narrativemagazine.info/pages/rcntbks.htm

Ochsner's story collection The Necessary Grace to Fall won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction from the University of Georgia Press. Afterward, Ochsner wrote to Tom Jenks and Carol Edgarian to say, "Many thanks for your superb editing of 'Signs: Markings.' It found a happy home with Image: A Journal of Arts and Religion. Thanks to you, Carol, for your encouragement and excellent teaching.

"Thanks to you, Carol, for your encouragement and excellent teaching."

I believe this proves without doubt that Ochsner had pursued a relationship with the editors of Narrative Magazine and had established that relationship effectively. She personally thanks Carol for "encouragement and excellent teaching."

One can't but wonder if Edgarian also helped edit the winning piece that Ochsner submitted to the contest.

Narrative ... I'll be watching you closely, as I hope will thousands of others.

______________________

Paul Shanley Deserves a New Trial - When Will Prosecutor Martha Coakley and Judge Lynn Rooney Admit They Were Horribly Wrong?

Was Paul Shanley jailed by people who themselves should be in jail?

Before anyone goes berserk on me, let's agree that facts are facts. You can hate Catholic priests all you want, you can believe all the negative, biased press you want, you can point to the theatrics of sobbing accusers (remember the Salem witch trials?), you can quote Freudian nonsense till you verge on Oedipus Complex, but facts are facts, and only those should matter when it comes to deciding guilt or innocence.

Several years ago, a priest named Paul Shanley was accused by prosecutors Martha Coakley and Lynn Rooney of the Middlesex District Attorney's office (Rooney is now a district court judge who, like Coakley, made her reputation with "recovered memory" cases) of sexually molesting a boy in his parish 20 years earlier. Without a single witness to corroborate a single charge, Lynn Rooney put on a theatrical performance in the court room worthy of an Oscar. Why? Because she had no choice. All she and Martha Coakley had on the accused were the "recovered memories" of a solitary man, Paul Busa, who had a background of gambling and questionable ethics.

Other accusers seeking millions in compensation were shouting to be heard, also claiming the accused priest had fondled them, but apparently the honorable district attorney of Middlesex decided they were utterly unreliable (which they were), dropping three of them (buddies of Paul Busa-what a surprise!) before the trial. God, what I would give to have a video tape of the meeting between Martha Coakley and those guys!

Anyway, let's review the proper sequence of events involving Paul Busa, his recovered memories, and Lynn Rooney's crowning achievement--the prosecution of her victim in a kangaroo court:

- Paul Busa suddenly remembered the sexual abuse on the afternoon of Feb. 11, 2002, when his girlfriend told him about a newspaper article that reported someone he knew (Gregory Ford -- dropped as a credible witness by Martha Coakley because of his changing story and mental history) had alleged molestation by Father Shanley.

- The next day, brimming with recovered memories, Busa was talking to a personal-injury lawyer about pursuing a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Church (according to testimony by his own psychologist, Dr. Drozd, and documents presented in the criminal trial).

- Busa and his personal-injury lawyer, Roderick MacLeish, make the outrageous public claim to the press that the accused was "a founding member of NAMBLA and openly advocated sex between men and little boys." (NAMBLA is the North American Man Boy Love Association -- It was later proven this charge was a total fabrication.)

- The honorable Lynn Rooney decides to prosecute. The public and the press are frothing and demanding justice! The window is open!

- Not a single juror in the case had not heard of the false NAMBLA charge (they had all been biased by the press).

- Busa testifies that Shanley pulled him out of Christian doctrine classes and molested him in the church bathroom, the pews, the church confessional and the rectory.

- Not a single witness of the prosecution confirmed any of Busa's "recovered memories" of Paul Shanley removing him from classes or doing anything else that Busa claimed had taken place over a SEVEN YEAR period in the 1980's. (Not a single teacher or classmate of Busa could be found to agree with him, not a single person who Busa had been in contact with for seven years, SEVEN WHOLE YEARS during which he alleged he was repeatedly sexually abused.)

- At the end of the trial, Paul Busa declares, "I want him [Paul Shanley] to die in prison, whether it's of natural causes or otherwise. However he dies, I hope it's slow and painful."

Wouldn't you say that Paul Shanley deserves a new trial with an unbiased jury?

A few useful links on this subject:

The Railroading of Paul Shanley (interesting facts about his accusers and their mental history)
http://www.ncrj.org/Shanley/JimShanley2.html

http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn02192005.html

http://www.chicagoreader.com/hottype/2005/050218_1.html

http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/x1878563848/Lawyer-for-ex-priest-questions-repressed-memory-science

http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/September-October-2004/feature_wypijewski_sepoct04.msp

Uncle Jay Explains The News - August - This One is a Keeper

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

And this one is old news, but still funny.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Why Does Katherine Spillar, Editor of Ms. Magazine, Support NOW and Their Bid To Censor "Sexist" Speech?

Page 19, Ms. Magazine, Summer 2008: MAD AT MEDIA SEXISM? WE ARE TOO! JOIN NOW'S CAMPAIGN FOR FEMINIST MEDIA.

Once again, Katherine Spillar, editor of Ms., approved a full page ad that attempts to foment a movement against free speech. How? By using that vast and never-satiated feminist reservoir of bitterness and hatred towards men (and female stooges of the Patriarchy) and focusing it on those who make "sexist" remarks in the television news media. And who are we talking about? Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann, and Maureen Dowd???

As our eyes glance over this full page ad from NOW, we see a shot of Keith Olbermann with a cartoon balloon coming out of his mouth, and inside the words: KATIE COURIC IS THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD. Um, ok. So this is an example of the pernicious influence of sexist male media? It's laughable! What in hell is Katherine Spillar of Ms. Magazine thinking??? Also, did Olbermann actually say this, or is NOW lying?

Okay, so Olbermann doesn't like somebody who happens to be female. Fair enough. I guess he has that right, yes? So according to NOW and Ms. Magazine he should therefore be censored? ... And by who? The American government? The FCC? What exactly do Katherine Spillar and NOW want? New federal laws that will slap fines or jail time on any male or female media personality who dares criticize or express displeasure with any female human being for any reason?

BTW, is the truth, sexist?

And sure, it's fine if Olbermann slams George Bush, Jr., no problem. But if he doesn't like Katie and says so, he should be jailed, fined, or at least fired from his job? Let's read on: NO MORE SEXIST INSULTS, SLURS AND ATTACKS, NO MORE RACISM, HOMOPHOBIA AND OTHER "ISMS" THAT PROMOTE INEQUALITY. Wow! I have to refer to my piece on Jeremy Waldron and his need to censor speech for similar reasons.

And who makes the rules? Who? ... Very scary.


Why can't supreme hypocrites like Katherine Spillar and her stooges of the Ms. Magazine Matriarchy do something useful for a change, like maybe supporting the boycott of products that advertise on Black Entertainment Television (the most sexist channel this side of the galaxy) or any of the many horrible programs and reality shows that encourage young women and girls to emulate shallow and foolish behavior? (Wouldn't that be more productive than bashing Keith Olbermann?) Why? Because they won't risk making powerful enemies of big corporate advertisers and major media execs, and they especially don't want to attract negative attention by potentially harming popular TV shows watched by millions of young women.

Their consultants won't let them.

It's simply best to stick to the same old formula, i.e., continue to foment causes that efficiently tap the black well of feminist hatred. After all, it's the safest way to assure donations and grants, no?

SOME VINTAGE KEITH OLBERMANN

____________

Proof That a Vesitge of Democracy Still Exists in America - Voting Machines Scrapped - Deborah Hastings of AP Reports

Excerpt of Article By DEBORAH HASTINGS (AP National Writer) From Associated Press, August 19, 2008 6:23 PM EDT:

The demise of touch-screen voting has produced a graveyard of expensive corpses: Warehouses stacked with thousands of carefully wrapped voting machines that have been shelved because of doubts about vanishing votes and vulnerability to hackers.

What to do with this high-tech junkyard is a multimillion-dollar question. One manufacturer offered $1 a piece to take back its ATM-like machines. Some states are offering the devices for sale on eBay and craigslist. Others hope to sell their inventories to Third-World countries or salvage them for scrap.

A few more are holding out hope that the machines, some of which were purchased for as much as $5,000, could one day be resurrected.

"We store them very, very carefully in the hopes that someone, someday may decide that we can use them again," said San Diego County Registrar Deborah Seiler, whose jurisdiction spent $25 million on the devices.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. After the disputed 2000 presidential recount, Congress provided more than $3 billion to replace punch card and lever-operated machines. State officials across the country said the new systems would eliminate human error and political tampering.
But problems with the machines soon followed: vanishing votes, breakdowns, malfunctions and increasing evidence that the devices were vulnerable to hackers.

Beginning last year, states including California, Ohio and Florida abruptly ordered election officials to mothball their electronic machines. Over the last two years, the percentage of registered voters relying on touch-screen technology dropped from 44 percent to 36 percent.

The Comic Book Murder - Prosecutor Steve Kaplan Convicts Michael George After Miraculously Finding a Lost Note in The Cold Case File!

If it takes a great prosecutor to convict an innocent man, can we therefore consider Steve Kaplan of the Macomb County Cold Case Unit to be one of the greats? I believe so. Indeed, it takes art, tenacity, and skill to generate the credible witness testimony necessary to convict an accused "wife killer" after a full 17 years of peace and silence--not to mention the incredible and lucky miracle of finding a crucial, pivotal, personal note concerning THE NEW key witness jotted down by the homicide detective 17 years ago and then mysteriously forgotten and neglected till our hero Steve Kaplan looked in the case file box and just saw it sitting there.

Now we got that wife killing bastard! he must have shouted.

Thank God that you found that overlooked and forgotten note that might have turned the case around 17 years ago, eh Steve? Thank God it was just sitting around, plain as day and waiting for you to find it, eh Steve? What luck! I mean, if not for that homicide detective being so inexplicably careless 17 years ago, you might not be such a big shot now, a real celeb after appearing on television and posturing for the camera, looking all righteous and wrathful! What a career-boosting miracle for you, Steve Kaplan. Will you be running for office any time soon?

Ahhhh, the mystery of fate!

Because of that note, that terrible wife killer, Michael George, is finally behind bars after 17 years of serving a peaceful and productive life as a businessman, father, husband, and pillar of his small community. The fact that he collapsed and wept at the verdict is only further vindication for you, isn't it? As well as for your bosses, the media, and the idiotic jury enthralled by the theater of court you directed like a true professional. Did you test juror IQs before they took their seats? Did they all score in the low 20 percentile? Whatever. At least they had enough collective brain power to take at face value the witnesses you coached before they took the stand a full 17 years later to accurately recall the wife killer and his wife arguing with each other before the murder. And it didn't matter that the defendant had no history of domestic violence, or any criminal history whatsoever. Because your "witness" recalled some "yelling" from 17 years ago, that was enough to help secure a conviction. After all, what did you term the defendant, "The husband from Hell?" Wasn't that it?

And rumors were started, whispers in the media. That husband from Hell, Michael George, had not even cried at the funeral, not wept a tear as he went about town looking cruel-eyed behind his sunglasses. Isn't that what your minions told everyone? Certainly, every juror knew Michael George had it coming! And now, every gullible spectator watching you perform on television knows he had it coming. It takes skill to manipulate the media into tainting a jury pool to help get a conviction. Is that what you did? Hmmmmm ...

And you claim Michael George, the Comic Book Murder guy, did it for the insurance, and oh, because he wanted a new wife? Well, then why wasn't the policy he took out years before well above the minimum? He only got $130K, Steve. That's a small pot for such grand plans. Why didn't Michael George take out $500K, or more? Isn't that what killers almost always do? Such a modest sum. And if he wanted a new wife, Steve, why didn't he just get a divorce? How does a guy with no mental history, zero criminal or domestic violence background, just wander into his own store one day and savagely shoot his wife in the head? Kinda strange. I mean, he doesn't fit the profile at all. Did the jury consider that?

And why didn't the jury believe his mother and daughter who said he was home when the murder took place? Why? Because of the mysterious note you found! ... The note jotted down by the homicide detective, then immediately forgotten, the note that a witness claimed he called the store and spoke with Michael George when the defendant was supposed to be home sleeping on his couch, as his mother said. Then you wheeled out the witness to tell everyone that the note was true. He had told the homicide detective 17 years ago that he called Michael George and thereby placed the wife killer in the store, thus canceling the wife killer's alibi. Finally, the truth was out. The homicide detective had just forgotten all about it!


But wait ... Did you or Judge James Biernat inform jurors of the notorious unreliability of witnesses, especially when it comes to confirming times? No, don't think so. You wanted them to believe that the key witness, Michael Renaud, could accurately recall the time of a phone call (without any corroborating phone records whatsoever) after 17 years. And it was easy, you had the mysterious note to prove it. Police had jotted down Renaud's claim 17 years ago. The note was proof. It must be a fact. Time for a conviction. Besides, everyone knows that mothers and daughters lie!

A note to Judge Biernat: please explain why you didn't throw this incredible crap out of the court room. Did you actually believe a man should spend the rest of his life in prison based on such flimsy and easily corruptible testimony? Did you actually believe that no forensics were necessary in this case? Did you actually believe police overlooked or lost or forgot the presumably crucial testimony of Renaud written down on a note 17 years ago and then quite suddenly discovered it again just sitting there in the cold case file? Or is it more likely that the note never existed in the first place and was invented at the last minute to help bolster testimony in this flashy Comic Book Murder case destined for a two-hour special on the lynch-mob television channel?



Regardless, the networks reaped the rewards of advertising revenue. At least someone is getting rich due to Michael George's conviction.

U.S. District Judge John Bates Denies Immunity To Rove and Other Cretins

At last! A judge who defends democracy, unlike the one who let Bush get away with losing emails.

Judge John Bates rejected Bush's contention that his White House employees don't have to obey subpoenas, thus siding with Congress and handing a victory to Democrats probing the dismissal of nine federal prosecutors.

The ruling undercut three presidential confidants who have defied congressional subpoenas for information that Bush says is protected by executive privilege.

Judge John Bates, who was appointed to the bench by Bush, issued a 93-page opinion that strongly rejected the administration's legal arguments. He said the executive branch could not point to a single case in which courts held that White House aides were immune from congressional subpoenas.

"That simple yet critical fact bears repeating: The asserted absolute immunity claim here is entirely unsupported by existing case law," Bates wrote.

Repressed Memory Therapy ( RMT ) Is Almost Dead, But Ellen Bass Lives On As a Poet and Teacher at Pacific University

If your life shows the symptoms and you don't remember it, you were still abused. - Ellen Bass
_______________

In America, a psychological war was fought in the 90's and into the 21st century for the souls of women everywhere. It began when pop psyche author, Ellen Bass, invented a non-fiction book entitled, THE COURAGE TO HEAL, a masterpiece of deception and pseudo-science that was immediately and uncritically praised to the skies by second wave feminists everywhere. Talk show appearances, testimonials by weeping women, and the acid tongue of leading second wavers left no doubt that tens of thousands of women in America had been secretly raped by their fathers, and that these rapes took place when they were only toddlers. As long ago as 2001, the Council Against Health Fraud summed it up quite well:

According to proponents of "repressed memory therapy" (RMT), numerous mental health problems in adults are due to subconscious damage from repressed memories of sexual or Satanic ritual abuse experienced in childhood. RMT practitioners claim to be able to help their clients recover memories of trauma and heal. Many mislead their clients into believing they have multiple personality disorder (MPD) and into accusing family members of abuse. The consequences have included divorces, family feuds, loss of employment (as charges have become public), lawsuits, and criminal convictions.

And from one of the many Ellen Bass survivors, Olivia McKillop, in the book Victims of Memory:

I gobbled up The Courage to Heal—just read it, read it, read it, particularly the stories by Survivors at the back of the book, like "Michelle and Artemis" and "Gizelle." They were so awful. The phrase kept coming back, "If your life shows the symptoms and you don't remember it, you we re still abused." I just lived with that phrase .... By the time I went for my next appointment, I was an Incest Survivor, and there was no turning back.

For those of you who recall the hysteria and torrent of accusations against shocked families and fathers that flooded our country like a toxic spill, you will also recall that whoever dared to speak out against the pseudo-science and fraud of RMT was instantly condemned (like those in the 17th century who refused to believe in witchcraft), and none more so than Elizabeth Loftus who wrote the book, The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse.

And where is Ellen Bass, the repressed-memory perpetrator and feminist celebrity who brought so much anguish, suicide, jail time, and destruction to so many? Like an ex-Nazi living another life in America, Bass has invented a new identity for herself. She is now a poet. No kidding! She is loved by her students, has won various prizes for her poetry, and now teaches peacefully at Pacific University in California.

Only in America?

Should I ask Vincent Bugliosi to prosecute her for murder, along with George Bush? ... I guess I have to admit, if I were going to have a hate list, she would be right under Bush. Why? Because her hateful writing attacked me in a personal way, and caused the death of a friend's father--falsely accused by a daughter who had become a devoted and deluded disciple.

To get the latest on the war and the efforts of real reasearchers to tell the truth, I strongly suggest a stop by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation ... Subscribe to their newsletter while you are at it. If you are contemplating a trip to a therapist, please familiarize yourself with the material, read the studies.

Please. And here are two new books that effectively debunk "The Courage to Heal" and repressed memory therapy and its mob of followers and disciples:

-Return of the Furies: An Investigation Into Recovered Memory Therapy (Paperback)

-Lost Daughters: Recovered Memory Therapy and the People It Hurts

And if you are still a victim of the poet Ellen Bass, my advice is that you find the courage to heal. It's not your fault. You were duped.

And if you are no longer a victim, please write the Pacific University in California, by email or otherwise, and freely express your views.

By the way, here is the poet in question, reading some of her awful work:

Return of The Citizen Legislator: Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma Won't Give "Yes" For an Answer Because His Country Needs "No"

Mark Twain once observed, "There is no distinctly native American criminal class, except Congress." Today, in this era of horrendous budget deficits, even Twain would be stunned at the magnitude of untouchable fraud and waste perpetrated daily by politicians and government officials, all eager to strip the American wallet of every possible dime in their own selfish interest. And who stands against them?

A guy named Tom Coburn?

Wait a minute ... Wasn't he the guy who pissed off Congress by ranting about the infamous bridge to nowhere in Alaska. As George W. noted back as far back as 2006:

Coburn came to the nation's attention last October when he proposed taking the $223 million earmarked for Alaska's "Bridge to Nowhere" and using it to repair a New Orleans bridge destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Because this threat to Alaska also threatened Congress's code of comity -- mutual respect for everyone's parochial interests -- his proposal lost by 67 votes. But rather than do the decent thing -- apologize, tug his forelock and slink away chastened -- he refused to stop talking about it, made it an embarrassment to the Senate and catalyzed revulsion against spending that is both promiscuous and parochial.

A lone warrior in a mire of corporate greed, soft money kick-backs, and home-grown sociopathology, Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and his staff struggle daily to restore some semblance of integrity to Congress. According to their estimates (which agree with mine), our government dedicates upwards of $300 billion per year to fraudulent and wasteful spending, i.e., enough money to build a fleet of spaceships and colonize the entire nation of Zimbabwe in lavish terra-domes on the planet Mars (minus Mugabe).

As I've said before, our government is like a morbidly obese human being, weighted to debilitation by an excess of budget fat resulting from a never-ending infusion of unneeded tax calories. Sure, the calories are good to a point, but once that point is passed, they only create layers and layers of pointless bureaucracy, and stagnant Treasury pools of money waiting to be pirated by the best and brightest. Arguably, the worst thing that ever happened to American government was income tax.

But, oh God, how can we live without it? Well, we've been conditioned my friend. If this government had a single accounting system that worked, if we had zero tolerance for reckless spending, if we stopped allowing the White House to facilitate the thievery, the average American could easily have his or her tax burden cut in half, or even more. Considering that the average American loses 40% or more of his or her income to taxes, is that such a bad idea?

Back to Senator Tom Coburn, also known as Dr. No because he says NO to all types of wasteful spending. Why? Because he understands that Congress is constantly earmarking money for programs and sprees that are not only pointless but often duplicated elsewhere. His yes-man enemies in Congress, like Nancy and Harry (of course), are attempting to end-run Coburn's tactics of delaying wasteful spending bills. Coburn, unlike most yes-woman and yes-man politicians in Congress, is not interested in doing favors to get ahead (he even imposed term limits on himself!), so he rejects earmarks without hesitation. Like any rational being, he understands the true costs. And unlike those without moral compass, he takes responsibility.

How dare he? What could make a politician more angry than a colleague who stands in contrast and in doing so reveals their perpetual complicity and hypocrisy?

According to The New York Times:

[Senator Coburn] said the Senate was shirking its duty by failing to give closer review to the hundreds of bills that slide through by unanimous consent. And he said Congress should not be clearing the way for billions of dollars in potential new spending — even on meritorious projects — without making reductions elsewhere. Fearful of the public debt piling up, he said he wanted the opportunity to at least propose those cuts.

You go Big Tom!

When Will She Stop Throwing Knives at Me, or IS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE A GENDER ISSUE, OR A HUMAN ISSUE? McNeely, Cook, and Torres Speak Out.

This issue is almost old to valid observers of domestic violence, but to everyone else (except for second wave feminists who make their living bashing half the human race), the truth contained in this study by McNeely, Cook, and Torres comes as a shocker.

As the study puts it, "These findings were, and are, stunning to casual observers of the domestic violence phenomenon. This is because people have difficulty with the notion of women inflicting injuries on men because men, on average, are larger, stronger, and more adept at fighting. But the average man's size and strength are neutralized by guns and knives, boiling water, fireplace pokers, bricks, and baseball bats. Many fail to realize that domestic assaults do not involve pugilistic fair play, or to consider that attacks occur when males are asleep, or incapacitated by alcohol, age, or infirmities."

If you want a true picture of domestic violence, you should have the courage to review these studies and their methodology.

However, if you firmly buy into the notion that men alone are responsible for the vast majority of domestic violence, then skip this study and go pick up the latest issue of Ms. magazine.

Obama The Flip-Flopper Defines My Politics and Vision for America

Obama's pro-NAFTA (death to unions!), pro-gun (flip-flop on D.C. gun control), pro-Church subsidies (doing his part to weaken our foundation of church-and-state separation), pro-BIG-Money donations (flip-flop on promise to accept public funding--influenced no doubt by Hillary's corporate bundlers?), and so forth, have effectively cemented my argument to liberals and conservatives that a vote for either major party is a vote wasted.

Yes, that's right!

If you vote for Obama or McCain, you are simply throwing your vote away, and more, you are making yourself an accessory to their fraud and sociopathology, and thus doing your part to wreck your nation.

So what is to be done, you ask?

Citizen activism, organization, and working towards the creation of a new political party. Meanwhile, vote independent, even if the candidate is Ralph Nader. At least you won't have a charlatan working for the corporation instead of the nation. You might not even like Nader, but he's telling you what he really believes.

Wake up, America. You might actually send a message to the CEOs that you are mad as hell and won't take it anymore.

Karl Rove Snubs Congress and Refuses To Show - When Will This Bush Pig Be Arrested?

Karl Rove must be arrested to maintain at least a semblance of democracy! Proving his guilt by defying Congress, he has refused to show and testify on the DOJ firing of federal prosecutors. According to sources, a placard with his name sat in front of an empty chair while protesters in the room demanded his arrest. House Republicans, supporting his snub, blamed Democrats for not taking Rove up on an offer to discuss the matter informally.

What will the House Republicans do next? Suspend the Constitution for the benefit of Karl Rove?

This is outrage upon outrage! Almost as bad as the Bush White House pretending that Congress cannot compel their people to testify. This is truly a government way out of control ... Well, yeah, you tell me? I say this is a new form of intolerable impotence. If I could, I would form a posse and put Rove under citizen's arrest and let the Republican devils arrest me for performing my patriotic duty.

So I got passion? Sure, so shoot me.

We need to stop taking it up the ARSE!!!

Obama Says Amen to The Bush Merger of Church and State - "Faith Based" Subsidies

And this man wants change?

Obama has now decided to continue one of Bush's worst programs by promising half a billion per year to Evangelicals and groups (who he believes might support him in the election--of course). But didn't liberals howl about this when Bush did it?

Are we looking at a major act of extreme hypocrisy?

According to Washington Wire/WSJ.Com, Obama’s proposal earned praise today from John DiIulio, a former director of the Bush administration’s office of faith-based initiatives, who called it “a principled, prudent, and problem-solving vision for the future of community-serving partnerships involving religious nonprofit organizations.”

OMG. Will I eventually despise Obama even more than Hillary?

The Tree-Killing Poet of Santa Cruz - Glendale City and Santa Cruz Rob Locals of Their Green

This is a case of Xtreme Green PC fusing in a most horrific way with petty government bureaucracy to form a hybrid and ruthless monster that continues even now to oppress and frighten the California natives. Is this poetic justice? ... I have permission from THE POTOMAC to reprint this priceless piece written by the poet victim himself, Robert Sward.
____________________________________

THE KILLER OF KILLER TREES OUT ON A LIMB IN SANTA CRUZ -- so the headline read, but "Robert Sward, 68, of Santa Cruz, doesn't look, sound or act like a tree murderer."

The Sacramento Bee, after a few kind words about my poetry (“his verse, more lovely than any weed tree...”) went on, “One might suppose Robert would obey the city ordinance that protects heritage trees. Instead, he flings it down and dances upon it.”

The blue gum eucalyptus—or “gasoline tree,” as firefighters call it—is an invasive exotic from Australia that evolved with fire. Fire doesn’t kill blue gums. Instead, it clears out the competition and opens their seed pods.

After ten years of appealing to The City, I took the law into my own hands and murdered a tree. A few weeks later, I stood before Santa Cruz City Council, our lawyer present, facing a $9,000 fine. The tree resided in what PC officials choose to call a “grove.” The grove in question, four or five shallow-rooted, fire-prone monsters endangering our home, is situated on our property, on which we pay taxes.

Our property, our trees, our taxes.

Yes, I was once politically correct, a stoned, well-intended, holier-than-thou innocent. That was in the days before political correctness became a force that would determine the outcome of elections. That was back before I became “an enemy of the people.” That is, an enemy of the blue gum euc.

You don’t run for office, certainly not in this area, unless you’re PC and pro-euc. Hence the power of those who would fine us $9,000.

True, City Council later reduced the fine to $1,500, which our lawyer suggested we pay.
“All of which has Santa Cruz’s tree-killing poet [and his neighbors] bewildered,” said the Los Angeles Times in a Column One, front page feature. Yes, it’s true. I am bewildered.
“Sward doesn’t see the sense of it: These are his trees. This is his danger. “ There are some in Santa Cruz who believe the blue gum is more important than human life.” And that’s not an exaggeration. An esteemed arborist who himself works for the city told me, “There are people on Santa Cruz City Council who wouldn’t move a eucalyptus if it were lying across the body of a small child.”

And my problems are small compared to those of Ann Collard.

Back last November I picked up a copy of the Los Angeles Times. The headline: OUT ON A LIMB OVER A TRIMMING FIASCO. And the lead: “Everybody's got a horror story about a bureaucratic nightmare, but if you can top this one, call me collect at your earliest convenience.”

According to the Times: “. . . Ann Collard was seven months pregnant with her third child in June when an abatement notice came from the Glendale Fire Department. She and her husband, Mike, were ordered to clear some foliage and maintain 5 feet of 'vertical clearance between roof surfaces and overhanging portions of trees.' ”

The Collards knew their oaks and sycamores needed a trim. And so they talked to neighbors, did a little research and called a recommended tree trimmer based in Orange County. For $3,000, the guy said, he'd remove about 15% of the foliage and they'd be in the clear. The Collards asked if a permit was necessary. Not at all, said the licensed trimmer, who told the Collards he'd done lots of work in Glendale.

On the third day of the three-day job, the city's urban forester happened to be in the neighborhood, and noticed the tree trimmer doing his thing. “She saw what was happening and said, ‘Stop! Cease and desist!’” says Mike, a work-at-home software and computer guy.

Finally, a letter arrived. It was from Glendale's Neighborhood Services administrator. “Dear Owner,” it began. “The city of Glendale is committed to maintaining a community with quality streetscapes that include the care and well-being of protected indigenous trees.”

The letter informed them they had improperly pruned 13 trees, some of them on city property because they were near the street, and some on their own property. The fine was listed on Page 2, where the Collards were informed they would be charged “two times the value of the damaged tree(s).”

“Total: $347,600.”

The Collards hired an attorney who got hold of the arborist's report, which alleged they'd had up to 60% of the foliage whacked on some trees. The trimmer used spiked shoes, too. A no-no. But they dispute the 60% allegation and have before-and-after pictures to argue their point. The Collards then called City Hall repeatedly to see if someone might offer them an option other than robbing a bank. When they got no satisfaction, they started a website to lay out their case and call for revision of the tree-cutting ordinance.

The Collards soon found out they weren't the only victims of excessive fines.

One can't help but wonder if the city of Glendale wasn't waxing judgmental in order to conveniently pad the budget?

Profile of a Fox News Slogger and Sociopath, Michelle Malkin, Doing Her Part to Keep The War Money Flowing

One of the favorite darlings of the oil and debt Republicans, slogger (sleazy + blogger) Malkin, is at it again. Taking the Fox News-Corporate-Right-Murdoch party line because she is utterly incapable of doing anything that actually smacks of free will, Malkin has pronounced on her slog (sleazy + blog) that anyone who dares prefer Obama over Bush Redux is automatically supporting terrorists and wants America to "fail" ... As if we succeeded with Bush and now we just want to undo his grand accomplishments?

Michelle Malkin's view is so infantile and brown-nosing, I don't know where to start. Should I roll with pigs and get slop on me? Here is what she says:

If a bin Laden tape comes out tomorrow singing “I’m a vote Obama-way”, it would no longer be new information to me. Yeah, we get it. People who want to see America humbled and defeated reliably and continually advocate Obama. Something about his presidency, they think, will bring more success to their nefarious plans and fulfill their interests.

If she didn't get her paycheck from Fox News, I would believe her a paranoid schizophrenic in need of a thorazine dart. Late breaking news, Michelle: you stop terrorists by cutting off their funding and attacking the leadership. Do your homework! Spending billions funding your favorite corporate contractors with enough left over to make sure our people die useless deaths, does nothing to combat terrorism. It only helps Fox News execs who own shares in companies that are growing richer and richer in Iraq.

Stop being a sociopath for a few minutes, k?

VINTAGE MICHELLE MALKIN

Clinton-appointed Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly Rejects FOIA, Sides With The White House, and Thereby Gives Democracy A Strong Slap in The Face

Anxious to avoid future criminal trials brought by a Justice Department not puppet-mastered by George Bush Jr., White House staff have been burning, losing, and generally destroying records of its wrong-doing. Stepping forth to assist them in this horrendous and thankless task is Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly (a favorite of former Chief Justice Rehnquist). Prior to her involvement, the White House office in question, the Office of Administration, had routinely responded to FOIA requests, that is until a request from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) wanted paperwork that might prove incriminating. And why? Because they were hot on the trail of millions of "lost" White House emails.

CREW argued that the Bush White House may have been covering up links to a lobbying scandal, alleged political influence at the U.S. General Services Administration and other problems by deleting the e-mail. White House staffers sometimes used outside e-mail accounts to conduct official business, CREW said in an April 2007 report. Rather than producing the requested materials, the Office of Administration quite suddenly reversed its decades-long policy of complying with FOIA requests.

Surprise!

According to Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director: "The Bush administration is using the legal system to prevent the American people from discovering the truth about the millions of missing White House e-mails," she said in a statement. "The fact is, until CREW asked for documents pertaining to this problem, the Office of Administration routinely processed FOIA requests. Only because the administration has so much to hide here, has the White House taken the unprecedented position that OA is not subject to the FOIA."

By splitting hairs with FOIA, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly was able to effectively dismiss the CREW lawsuit and thus deliver yet another blow to democracy in America.

How can we thank her enough?

Why Professor Jeremy Waldron is Wrong in His Desire to Censor Speech

Arguments for limiting freedom of speech are being heard in America, and some advocate adopting a more European model, the kind that recently resulted in that outspoken French xenophobe Bridgette Bardot being fined over $20,000.00 in France because she dared to criticize an Islamic sheep-killing ceremony.

An American "legal philosopher" quoted recently in the NY Times, Professor Jeremy Waldron, believes American laws and courts should be in the business of fining and punishing Americans for speech that doesn't show "respect." In the NY Review of Books last month, Professor Jeremy Waldron said, "It is not clear to me the Europeans are mistaken when they say that a liberal democracy must take affirmative responsibility for protecting the atmosphere of mutual respect against certain forms of vicious attack."

The problem, of course, is how to define emotional flashpoint terms like "vicious" ... And whose opinion do you accept? If a judge comes under political or social pressure, he will strike the gavel and fine Bridgette Bardot tens of thousands for "recklessly offending" the Islamic culture with her "hate speech." But are we assured that punitive actions will always be fair and balanced? Of course not. Imagine the media in America being fined heavily or editors jailed for criticizing the Catholic Church for coddling guilty pedophiles.

Perhaps, if Jeremy had his way, I would already be in prison?

Therefore, we're back to the good old American model. Debate and disagreement in a public forum of ideas, in the open. Isn't that a much more effective way of diluting and defying hate speech than any attempt to impose government censorship? I ask you.

Censorship only creates smoldering resentment and martyrs for a cause. Bardot is one of them.

Are you listening, Professor?

Burmese Comedian, Zarganar, Once Again Jailed by Paranoid Generals

Zarganar, who has a history of helping the Burmese people and defying the brutal dictatorship in charge, was once again detained and abused according to formula. Burma is a thumb in the eye of any U.N. or U.S. hypocrite who calls for world peace and justice while doing an ostrich routine as the ruthless oppressors of Burma go about their sworn duty to bully and murder anyone who doesn't agree with their viewpoint.

Generally, I would not call for military intervention. But here it would be perfectly moral, like the NATO war in Bosnia to finally halt the "cleansing of bad blood" from holy Serbia.

I say, let there be blood.

And I don't give a damn if the Chinese don't like it.

Bush Appointed Judge Wendell P. Gardner, Jr. Does His Part to Censor Free Speech

Pardon my passion, but this pushes a big button in me. In an act that I can only define as despicable, Bush-appointed Judge Wendell P. Gardner, Jr., sentenced several protestors to jail time on May 30 for exercising their First Amendment rights at the Supreme Court. How dare they! According to one of the protestors, Michael Foley, a history professor at City University of New York (interviewed by Common Dreams):

When a few people attempted to unfold a banner, and others attempted to expose their Shut Down Guantanamo t-shirts, the police went wild. It was mayhem, as they literally pounced on a whole bunch of people who had not yet said a word. I saw several officers tear the banner out of someone’s hands, even though it never got unfolded so you could see what it said. After all of this started to happen, about a dozen people on either side of the Great Hall knelt down — maybe to avoid being knocked over, maybe to pray — while others read a statement. I know I saw Susan Crane and Bill Streit try to read statements after the arrests began, but the police just snatched the statements out of their hands. There was so much noise from the police and their radios, though; one could not hear anything being said. I saw Nancy Gowan who had knelt down get practically body-slammed by a police officer and dragged away.

And further:

We were not disruptive in any way. And who knew that free speech would be restricted just steps from the Supreme Court chamber? You know, I teach the U.S. Constitution to undergraduates, and if you told me that an American could be arrested or exercising the right to free speech just twenty feet from where the justices decide First Amendment Cases, I would have said you were crazy.

True to form, the D.C. police acted brutally and without regard to human rights, Constitutional provisions, or anything else that might redeem them and make them appear less than the gangsters they really are.

As for Judge Wendell P. Gardner, Jr., he was utterly predictable.

NYC or DC More Corrupt? NYC Council and Mayor Adrian Fenty - Same as The Old Boss

Not needing more than ten minutes of googling research, I was able to effectively capture the feel for the ongoing and pervasive corruption in two major American cities--getting worse by the year, and yet, perhaps more ignored than ever--reminding you of the manner in which so many Americans will just turn off to bad news as it gets worse and worse. It's too much for them, too disruptive to their day, too surreal for reality.

Let's start with NYC, from Judicial Watch:

City Council members in New York have legally steered millions of tax dollars to relatives, spouses and friends thanks to a city measure that grants lawmakers large slush funds to be spent however they please.

Each of New York’s 51 council members gets a chunk of cash that can be spent at the discretion of the council member. Ideally, the money is supposed to provide valuable community services but no one bothers to follow up, leaving the system rife with fraud, corruption and conflict of interest.

So far, at least seven of the city’s 51 lawmakers have been caught distributing millions of public dollars to relatives, spouses and friends. One lawmaker, Larry Seabrook of the Bronx, actually gave nearly $1 million to a suspicious group—Bronx African American Chamber of Commerce—with the same address as his office.

A pair of councilmen from Manhattan and Queens, each gave questionable nonprofits $400,000. One group was operated by the lawmaker’s top aides and the other featured the councilman’s sister on the board of directors. A Brooklyn Councilman gave $356,000 to a nonprofit operated by his chief of staff, who got caught embezzling $145,000 and another Brooklyn councilman gave a group that employs his wife nearly $200,000

Now onto D.C., and mayor Adrian Fenty. A small sample of what is available:

What D.C. Elves Do With Your Taxes (Colbert I. King)

BNET number crunching on DC school waste

The soccer stadium fiasco led by Marion Barry

Colbert I. King, a respected columnist for the Washington Post, recently and strongly bemoaned the fact that while D.C. school students still lack basic stuff like buildings with heat and leak-free plumbing, Mayor Adrian Fenty and his cronies continue, no different than past regimes, to push the agenda of the city's corporate power brokers--you know, the gals and guys that want D.C. taxpayer funds to go for more important things like soccer stadiums and centers for the arts.

It's all in the record, for anyone to see. I suggest the Black and White left conduct their studies on the role city corruption plays in depriving Black youth of opportunities. But I doubt this will ever happen? Why?

You know why. It has something to do with religion.

"Denver! Denver!" Hillary's Campaign Throws a Collective Tantrum and Promises Scorched Earth - Starring Harriet Christian of New York

Howard Dean was shouted down, booed, and heckled by Hillary's supporters, as were other members of the Democratic committee that met recently to hash out the contentious Michigan/Florida delegate issue. Once it became clear that Hillary would not get the Michigan votes she wanted (where Obama was not on the ballot) her supporters chanted "Denver! Denver!" as a collective threat ... meaning, they will earth-scorch the Democratic party if Hillary doesn't get the delegates she wants.

Such behavior by the Hillary/Bill mob is now soooo beyond the pale. Her followers apparently will bring more war to this country if their candidate doesn't win. They will hand the RNC the victory they need to continue the looting of the American treasury and the killing of Americans.

Oh, and Howard Dean must now be the biggest misogynist in the universe, no?

Regardless, here is a bit of tragicomic relief. Is there such a thing as a liberal redneck? Let's ask Harriet Christian, a Hillary supporter from New York City:

And in case Harriet should forget: