Thursday, July 31, 2008
They're Out There...And They're Weird!!!
The only problem is he's not alone with that line of thinking. Truly tired!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Is This Why So Many Are Denied Their Disability Claims
The following is a statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, regarding the White House projection of a $482 billion deficit for Fiscal Year 2009:
How's that for a legacy?
"The real budget deficit is therefore $789 billion.
Taser-Related Death
Statesville suspect dies
after Taser hits in jail
At least two officers are put on administrative duty until SBI can complete its investigation.
By Victoria Cherrie
vcherrie@charlotteobserver.com
A Statesville man died after being shocked multiple times by Tasers at the Iredell County jail over the weekend, sources say.
Anthony Davidson, 29, was unresponsive when he was taken to Iredell Memorial Hospital Saturday afternoon. He was put on life support and died late Sunday night, police said.
His death is the second Taser-related death this year in the Charlotte area. In March, 17-year-old Darryl Wayne Turner, died after Charlotte-Mecklenburg police used a Taser on him at a Food Lion store in Charlotte.
The officers involved in Davidson's arrest – at least two from the Statesville Police Department – were put on administrative duty until the State Bureau of Investigation completes a probe into the incident.
Assistant Chief Tom Anderson of the Statesville Police Department said he was unaware how many officers or deputies may have fired their Tasers and the duration of the shocks.
But a source familiar with the investigation told the Observer that Davidson was shocked at least three times by several different law enforcement officers. Family members told the Observer that police said he had been shocked at least twice.
The incident began about 3 p.m. Saturday at a Statesville grocery store. Employees at the Food Lion on N.C. 115 told police they tried unsuccessfully to stop Davidson from leaving the store with a full cart of groceries after his debit card was declined. He left the parking lot without the groceries, police said.
When officers caught up with Davidson a short time later, he was carrying an Applebee's gift card from the store that hadn't been paid for, Anderson said.
Officers took Davidson to the Iredell County Jail where he appeared before a magistrate on a larceny charge. Davidson was behaving abnormally from the time officers first encountered him, Anderson said.
While being booked, Davidson became “physically aggressive and was communicating loudly,” Anderson said. That's when officers used one or more Tasers to get him “back under control,” police said.
A nurse who screened Davidson afterward told officers he needed further medical screening because he appeared to be “under the influence of some type of impairing substance.”
Paramedics took Davidson to the hospital Saturday. His condition continued to decline and he was unresponsive when he arrived, Anderson said. He was admitted to intensive care and was taken off life support about 10:30 p.m. Sunday.
Statesville police and the sheriff's office are reviewing the incident internally to determine whether the arresting officers followed procedures. The sheriff's office did not return phone calls Monday.
Davidson, who was unemployed, had been in jail previously – mostly on charges such as possessing marijuana, simple assault and misdemeanor larceny, all of which were dropped by a district attorney, according to court documents. In 1999 and again in 2000, he was found guilty of violating a domestic violence protective order. In 2006, he pleaded guilty to driving while impaired, documents show.
Davidson's family said they weren't aware of him using or having a problem with drugs or alcohol.
“He was a very happy, joyful person – the life of the party type of person who lit up a room when he walked in,” said his uncle, Jerry Moore. “Whether he used or had used substances, we don't know.”
They said police told them Davidson fell while being subdued and may have hit his head.
An autopsy is scheduled later this week, Moore said.
Last month, the officer involved in the Charlotte Taser incident was cleared of criminal charges but was suspended for five days for violating the department's policy when he continuously shocked Darryl Turner for 37 seconds, a factor that contributed to his death.
A Taser is a weapon that typically uses compressed nitrogen to shoot two tethered needle-like probes that penetrate skin and deliver an electric shock. It's designed to temporarily subdue a person. Studies suggest that multiple shocks might increase the risk of serious injury, which has prompted some agencies to limit the number of times an officer can shock someone.
Officers are taught to pull and immediately release the Taser trigger to deliver a five-second shock. They may repeatedly pull the trigger in extreme circumstances when necessary to control a suspect. But the goal is to use the minimal force necessary to control a suspect, Anderson said.
Taser-related deaths across North Carolina prompted a coalition to study Taser use. The N.C. Taser Safety Project surveyed the state's 100 sheriff's offices and found that 70 issued Tasers to some or all of its deputies, but many agencies lack clear policies about when and how they should be used.
ANOTHER ANGLE 30 - 07 - 08
News others won't tell you
NATIONAL:
Obama says he'll order review of executive orders (AP)
Barack Obama told House Democrats on Tuesday that as president he would order his attorney general to scour White House executive orders and expunge any that "trample on liberty."
McCain Fails McCain’s Commander-in-Chief Test
Sadly, when it comes to the war in Iraq, it is the Arizona Republican who failed his own commander-in-chief exam. At almost every turn in the run-up to the invasion and the ensuing American occupation, McCain’s judgment was almost always wrong, often disastrously so. From his predictions of a short war, claims U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators and that the U.S. would find weapons of mass destruction to his announcements of mission accomplished, his ongoing confusion over friend and foe in Iraq and so much more, John McCain the would-be wartime president gets failing marks.
Another McCain Involved In Bank Collapse?
Another McCain Gaffe?
Aide to U.S. Senator Jim Webb found dead from apparent gunshot wound
Caught on tape: Army recruiters threaten high school students
Army recruiters aren’t sticking to the program and are bullying and even lying to potential recruits and their families to keep them from dropping out.
Top Advisor to U.S. Military Confirms The War on Terror Is a Hoax: "There is No Battlefield Solution to Terrorism"
A leading advisor to the U.S. military, the Rand Corporation, just released a new study called "How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering al Qa'ida".
The report confirms what we have been saying for years: the war on terror is a hoax which is actually weakening national security (see this, this and this).
As today's press release about the study states:
"Terrorists should be perceived and described as criminals, not holy warriors, and our analysis suggests that there is no battlefield solution to terrorism."Can we drop the "war on terror" charade now?
Pelosi Says She Would Impeach Bush If Somebody Knew of a Crime He'd Committed
INTERNATIONAL:
Haiti: Mud cakes become staple diet as cost of food soars beyond a family's reach
In Cité Soleil, one of Port-au-Prince's worst slums, making the clay-based food is a major income earner. Mud cakes are the only inflation-proof food available to Haiti's poor.
Brittle and gritty - and as revolting as they sound - these are "mud cakes". For years they have been consumed by impoverished pregnant women seeking calcium, a risky and medically unproven supplement, but now the cakes have become a staple for entire families.
The only thing stopping an exodus are US coastguard patrols, said Herman Janvier, 30, a fishermen on Cap Haitian, a smuggling point. "People want out of here. It's like we're almost dead people."
Russia takes control of Turkmen (world?) gas
Gazprom, Russia's energy leviathan, signed two major agreements in Ashgabat on Friday outlining a new scheme for purchase of Turkmen gas. The first one elaborates the price formation principles that will be guiding the Russian gas purchase from Turkmenistan during the next 20-year period. The second agreement is a unique one, making Gazprom the donor for local Turkmen energy projects. In essence, the two agreements ensure that Russia will keep control over Turkmen gas exports.
BUSH CRIME FAMILY:
Bush Reveals True Reason for War in Push for Iraqi Agreement
All this was laid bare this month as the Iraqi government went on the offensive in its call for U.S. withdrawal by 2010. Far from embracing the desires of a sovereign Iraq, the White House instead feebly attempted to claim Prime Minister Maliki's statement was mistranslated, while the McCain camp argued that Iraqi's really want the U.S. to stay until 2020. Apparently their view of a "free Iraq" is an Iraq that is free to do what we tell them to do.
OP-ED:
Black moments in White continuum
Recently a friend told me there was no such animal as a "white moment." What whites do is a normal part of their system. "How can you call it a moment? It’s the way American society functions," she said. Since then I rephrased white moments into white continuum. There’s more to it than we can see with our eyes. It’s a unified spiritual connection they have with each other that shaped their thought patterns and this has worked for them for hundreds of years. Constant mental focus in many individual white Americans has created an unseemed thread between them that has manifested itself into material reality.
Economy hitting the elderly especially hard
“We’re having to put people on waiting lists for home-delivered meals, and we have a waiting list for air conditioners.
'Laser jumbo' testing moves ahead
According to an American Physical Society report in 2004, the Airborne Laser could shoot down a typical liquid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from up to 600km away.
HEALTH&FITNESS:
"The Business of Being Born" Documentary
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Memories of Music Past
The first piece is from French TV. And it's the only footage I've ever seen of the first band.
I present YES
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Tom Tommorrow
The internets are full of declarative statements about satire these days, the most common of which being that "satire does not work unless it portrays its intended target."
So let's consider this image:
Clearly this cartoon doesn't work at all, because there is no way for the reader to understand that its intended target was not Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden themselves. So let's see what we can do to clarify things:
That makes the intention of the cartoon clearer -- but there's still room for improvement.
There! That's much better! But maybe, just to be safe, we should take it one step further:
Okay then! With no room for misinterpretation whatsoever -- that's comedy gold!
Remember: satire does not work unless it literally portrays the intended target!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Another Angle 11 - 7 - 08
On July 11, 2008, IndyMac Bank, F.S.B., Pasadena, CA was closed by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named Conservator. All non-brokered insured deposit accounts and substantially all of the assets of IndyMac Bank, F.S.B. have been transferred to IndyMac Federal Bank, F.S.B. (IndyMac Federal Bank), Pasadena, CA ("assuming institution") a newly chartered full-service FDIC-insured institution. No advance notice is given to the public when a financial institution is closed.
But We are Whiners, right?
'Whiners?' Phil Gramm is a pimp for corporate criminals
Brown blunders in pledge to secure Nigeria oil
Gordon Brown is being accused of preparing for a military adventure in Africa after he pledged to provide backing to the Nigerian security forces. His announcement prompted the collapse of a ceasefire in the oil-rich Niger Delta and helped to drive up crude oil prices on world markets.
ACLU Challenges Unconstitutional Spying Law
What I ask you to remember is this...When Sen. Obama announced he would try to strip the immunity provision from the bill but would vote for it otherwise, he made a telling statement. He said it was a poorly written law. That signaled his strategy on this. He cannot get bogged down with a fight over something that WILL NOT pass constitutional muster. Now here come the folk that will make it go away.
Keep focused and keep fighting!
Gay-Bashing Alabama A.G. Caught Having Gay Sex?
What are the odds of a dude named Troy King getting caught in bed with a Homecoming King from Troy University? This seems like a wacky sitcom plot, on a gay porn channel. (Is this what Will & Grace was about?)
Iran's "provocative missile test"
If it were not so serious, it would be laughable that the USA accuses Iran of being provocative in testing a missile. Our government-controlled BBC shows a map with a potential threat to all countries within 2400 kilometres, as if the Iranians want to attack every country possible.
As provocation, I would have thought that a much better example was the approval recently given by the US Congress for a USD 400 million package for clandestine operations against Iran.
Ron Paul *Iranians Tested Missiles AFTER Israel had WAR GAMES!
Flashback: 2004 Bush Interview Banned In America - An Insight Into Insanity
This 2004 interview should be required viewing for every journalism student. I admit that I had not seen this video until today, but apparently over a million people already have and I hope that millions more will watch it as well.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
René Marie~Thanks,But I Don't Dance
So in keeping with this site's tradition of throwing some serious jams at you....
Birth of a Groove | |
Making It Live | |
Love for Sale | |
Inspired by Ella |
Thanks to NPR.
So while others try to trash her, we take a good look at a great talent.