Dude breaks out of jail, attacks biker with a 32-inch ice scraper
An east side man was riding his bicycle about 2 p.m. Friday when three young men in a small SUV began yelling at him. One of the men then jumped out of the SUV and, as the biker rode by, swatted him in the back of the head with a 32-inch ice scraper, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.
The victim said he "saw stars" when he was hit and asked in not-very-polite language what the assailant's problem was. "I just got out of jail. I'm trying to have fun and whoop some ass," the assailant, Kevin J. Diaz, 19, said, according to the complaint. » Full article here
The victim said he "saw stars" when he was hit and asked in not-very-polite language what the assailant's problem was. "I just got out of jail. I'm trying to have fun and whoop some ass," the assailant, Kevin J. Diaz, 19, said, according to the complaint. » Full article here
Smarter woman have worse sex.
Brainy babes find it harder to have an orgasm – because they are too busy thinking, a study claims. The German survey found that the more educated a woman was, the less likely it was that she would be satisfied by sex.
In the study 62 per cent of women who had completed their education said they often had problems achieving orgasm. Only 38 per cent of women with a lower educational qualification said they had such problems.
The study conducted by a German lifestyle website surveyed over 2,000 women between the ages of 18 and 49. » Article here
In the study 62 per cent of women who had completed their education said they often had problems achieving orgasm. Only 38 per cent of women with a lower educational qualification said they had such problems.
The study conducted by a German lifestyle website surveyed over 2,000 women between the ages of 18 and 49. » Article here
Pregnant woman survives 85-foot jump off bridge
A pregnant woman survived a jump off a bridge over the weekend and landed 85 feet below. The woman's fiance says the U.S. Coast Guard rescued her and her unborn baby is fine.
An incident report says the couple was having an argument while driving across the bridge. She demanded she be let out of the car. He stopped the car, and she ran to the railing.
Authorities say the fiance says he left the car and told her to come back. Instead, she climbed the rail and jumped. The woman told authorities she jumped to get away from her fiance. » Article here
An incident report says the couple was having an argument while driving across the bridge. She demanded she be let out of the car. He stopped the car, and she ran to the railing.
Authorities say the fiance says he left the car and told her to come back. Instead, she climbed the rail and jumped. The woman told authorities she jumped to get away from her fiance. » Article here
Overheard on the streets of New York:
Chick: Since we broke up you've been smoking a lot.
Guy: Yeah...
Chick: You shouldn't smoke.
Guy: You shouldn't suck so much dick but you don't hear me criticize you five times a day.
Chick: [Mouth wide open in shock.]
Guy: To start you should try closing your mouth!
--B Train
Dad to pre-teen daughter about mom: She is on the rag today. Don't talk to her this moringing, she's got an attitude.
--R Train
Homeless man: Hello, everyone. My name is Mike*, and I'm homeless and starving. If you have any- [His cell phone rings.] Excuse me. [Picks up phone.] I'm working, man, what's up?
--Q Train
Woman dragging her dog away from another dog who is barking frantically: You know what? You're just cuter than her. That's why she's so upset.
--Ditmars Blvd, Astoria
White Girl: I'm leaving this city, it's all just bed bugs and bad drugs.
--Queensboro Plaza
Upper-East-Side lady on cell: I know, but I was at a funeral all day...Yeah, it was sad, but I really didn't know him at all...This saddest thing was seeing his daughters upset. They're the same ages as--Wow! This shirt is only $19!! You can't even buy a freaking Frappuccino for $19! I'm getting it in blue.
--Banana Republic, 86th & 3rd
Male student #1: Your sister has the best tasting punani in New York.
Male student #2: I'll pay for lunch if you promise not to say that again.
--Columbia University
via
Guy: Yeah...
Chick: You shouldn't smoke.
Guy: You shouldn't suck so much dick but you don't hear me criticize you five times a day.
Chick: [Mouth wide open in shock.]
Guy: To start you should try closing your mouth!
--B Train
Dad to pre-teen daughter about mom: She is on the rag today. Don't talk to her this moringing, she's got an attitude.
--R Train
Homeless man: Hello, everyone. My name is Mike*, and I'm homeless and starving. If you have any- [His cell phone rings.] Excuse me. [Picks up phone.] I'm working, man, what's up?
--Q Train
Woman dragging her dog away from another dog who is barking frantically: You know what? You're just cuter than her. That's why she's so upset.
--Ditmars Blvd, Astoria
White Girl: I'm leaving this city, it's all just bed bugs and bad drugs.
--Queensboro Plaza
Upper-East-Side lady on cell: I know, but I was at a funeral all day...Yeah, it was sad, but I really didn't know him at all...This saddest thing was seeing his daughters upset. They're the same ages as--Wow! This shirt is only $19!! You can't even buy a freaking Frappuccino for $19! I'm getting it in blue.
--Banana Republic, 86th & 3rd
Male student #1: Your sister has the best tasting punani in New York.
Male student #2: I'll pay for lunch if you promise not to say that again.
--Columbia University
New York woman, 44, drives 18 hours for sex with teen boy
An woman who drove roughly 18 hours to northwestern Wisconsin, allegedly in hopes of having a sexual tryst with a teenage boy she befriended online, remains jailed on attempted sex assault charges.
Tracy Taylor, 44, was in Circuit Court Monday morning. A judge set bail at $50,000 bail before Taylor was sent back to county jail pending another appearance next week.
Wisconsin authorities were tipped off to the planned sexual encounter by the teen's mother after the boy confided to his sister that he been corresponding online with a woman he believed to be 30 years old, according to a criminal complaint. The document says the boy, identified in the court document as "JJF," told his sister he planned to spend the weekend with the woman. The woman said she would bring condoms, according to the court papers.
As part of the investigation, the county sheriff's detective on the case reviewed text messages, including one from April 22 where the boy asked "Will we be able to have sex?" to which the woman allegedly replied: "I hope so. I love you."
Police obtained a search warrant. After Taylor checked into Room 103, police found condoms, candles, baby oil and bottles of alcoholic beverages. Additionally, they found a letter from the teen giving his age, said the criminal complaint.
Taylor and the boy had been chatting online for about three months before they started talking on the phone and via text messages, Hanson said. » Article here
Tracy Taylor, 44, was in Circuit Court Monday morning. A judge set bail at $50,000 bail before Taylor was sent back to county jail pending another appearance next week.
Wisconsin authorities were tipped off to the planned sexual encounter by the teen's mother after the boy confided to his sister that he been corresponding online with a woman he believed to be 30 years old, according to a criminal complaint. The document says the boy, identified in the court document as "JJF," told his sister he planned to spend the weekend with the woman. The woman said she would bring condoms, according to the court papers.
As part of the investigation, the county sheriff's detective on the case reviewed text messages, including one from April 22 where the boy asked "Will we be able to have sex?" to which the woman allegedly replied: "I hope so. I love you."
Police obtained a search warrant. After Taylor checked into Room 103, police found condoms, candles, baby oil and bottles of alcoholic beverages. Additionally, they found a letter from the teen giving his age, said the criminal complaint.
Taylor and the boy had been chatting online for about three months before they started talking on the phone and via text messages, Hanson said. » Article here
The Jeremiah Wright Contradiction
To understand why Barack Obama finally severed his ties with pastor Jeremiah Wright, one only needs to reach for a copy of Dreams from My Father.
After meeting Wright for the first time, Obama recalls thumbing through a church brochure, reviewing the guiding principles of Trinity United. He described one particular passage that stood out for him.
"While it is permissible to chase middle incumbness with all our might, those blessed with the talent or good fortune to achieve success in the American mainstream must avoid the psychological entrapment of black middleclassness that hypnotizes the successful brother or sister into believing they are better than the rest and teaches them to think in terms of we and they instead of us."
That statement speaks of community, of not forgetting where you came from.
Whatever we might think of the now infamous Wright sound bites, the tapes were released by a third party. Although responsible for his harsh words, the pastor did not put himself under the sharp glare of the media. Obama did what most politicians would not, but what most Christians would. After expressing his extreme disappointment, he turned the other cheek.
While speaking at the National Press Club, not only did Wright seek out the media spotlight, his remarks expressed undercut the very principle that drew Obama to the church in the first place. Wright became all about Wright, hypnotized by his fifteen minutes of fame into believing that he was better than the we of who he preached.
He didn't practice what he taught others to follow and apply to their own lives.
For Obama--a Yes We Can type of guy--the betrayal rocked the foundation of his steadfast faith in coming together as community. To keep his vision for change front and center, he cut Wright loose.
By doing so he proved his faith to be his guide.
It is now America's turn to have faith in Barack Obama.
“His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate, and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church,” Mr. Obama said, his voice welling with anger. “They certainly don’t portray accurately my values and beliefs.”
(...)
"At a certain point, if what somebody says contradicts what you believe so fundamentally, and then he questions whether or not you believe it in front of the National Press Club, then that’s enough,” Mr. Obama said. “That’s a show of disrespect to me. It’s also, I think, an insult to what we’ve been trying to do in this campaign.”
The Healthy Americans Act
Is the need for health insurance shackling you to your present 9-5?
What would your career look like if the insurance bennies suddenly went portable?
How quickly would we look for greener employment pastures if we could take our insurance with us?
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden says the time is now for health care that can never be taken away.
What would your career look like if the insurance bennies suddenly went portable?
How quickly would we look for greener employment pastures if we could take our insurance with us?
What dream would you follow?
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden says the time is now for health care that can never be taken away.
Whether you love your job or hate your job, you deserve to keep your health care when you quit or lose your job.
Whether you want to go back to school, start a business, find a new job, or just tell your boss to shove it your health care coverage should stay with you. No matter what you choose.
Every American should be guaranteed health care that can never be taken away. Not by your boss, not by the government, not by an insurance company.
And Senator Ron Wyden's Healthy Americans Act will do just that.
It's time for universal health care.
Freedom to follow our dreams is a benefit we haven't seen in a long time.
Check out Wyden's Stand Tall for America video.
Pass it along.
Support the Healthy Americans Act.
Health care you can keep!
Check out Wyden's Stand Tall for America video.
Pass it along.
Support the Healthy Americans Act.
Health care you can keep!
Obama Watch Over
"Well, it takes me about 772 days to prepare for these questions. But I think there was a leap year in there so I think it’s only 771."
And with that opening comment by Barack Obama, the tick-tock on the Fox News Obama watch stood still.
The transcript (and corresponding videos) of the Wallace/Obama one on one is provided in its entirety.
CHRIS WALLACE: Senator Obama, welcome to FOX NEWS SUNDAY.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you for having me.
WALLACE: Long time, no see.
OBAMA: Well, it takes me about 772 days to prepare for these questions. But I think there was a leap year in there so I think it’s only 771.
WALLACE: We checked - anyway. Your defeat in Pennsylvania raises new questions about your candidacy and especially about some of the pillars of the Democratic base. Let’s take a look at the numbers. Among white union households, Clinton beats you 72 percent to 28 percent. Among white Catholics, again, same margin, 72 percent to 28 percent.
Senator, why are you having such trouble convincing white, working class voters that you’re their guy?
OBAMA: Keep in mind that Senator Clinton was well-regarded in the state of Pennsylvania. Just as she was well-regarded in the state of Ohio. The fact that they voted for her shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. We started off 20 points down in that race. Just like we started 20 points down in Ohio. And we actually made significant progress there.
And when you look at the polling that’s now being done, post Pennsylvania, about how we match up in a general election, I think Senator Clinton does a couple points better than I do. But it’s not substantial. Most of those voters will vote for me.
But they are more familiar with her. They shared a - she is from a bordering state. On the other hand, in Wisconsin I won those same voters over Senator Clinton. In Virginia I won those voters over Senator Clinton. In Iowa I won those voters over Senator Clinton.
So I think - I am confident that when you come to a general election and we are having a debate about the future of this country, how are we going to lower gas prices? How are we going to deal with job losses? How are we going to focus on energy independence? Those are voters that I will be able to appeal to.
WALLACE: But some observers, and some liberal observers say is that part of your problem is you come off as a former law professor who talks about transforming politics when the lunch bucket crowd really wants to know what you’re going to do for them. Bob Herbert, columnist for the “New York Times”, happens to be a black man, says that Hillary Clinton seems tougher than you do.
OBAMA: Well, look, after you lose then everybody writes these anguished columns about why did you lose? After Iowa, everybody said Obama is transforming folks because he’s bringing in all these voters we never expected would vote for a black guy. This is the nature of politics.
The fact of the matter is that we have done well among every group because people are less interested in dividing the country along racial lines or regional lines. They’re really focused on how we’re going to solve these big problems right now.
WALLACE: But when you see yourself among these groups losing 70 percent to 30 percent, you aren’t troubled by that? Don’t you think to yourself maybe I need to have a different message or a new message? A different way of reaching out to them?
OBAMA: Look, what we have done has been successful throughout. It’s not like I have been winning in states that only have either black voters or Chablis-drinking limousine liberals. We’ve been winning in places like Idaho. We’ve been winning in places like Colorado.
There is this selective memory about how this campaign has proceeded. There’s a reason why we’ve won twice as many states and more delegates and won a larger popular vote.
Now, what I think is absolutely true is that Senator Clinton ran good campaigns in Ohio, she ran a good campaign in Pennsylvania. She deserves credit for that.
What I also think is true is that I am less familiar with some of these blue collar voters - she is less familiar, they are less familiar with me than they are with her. So we probably have to work a little bit harder. I’ve got to be more present. I’ve got to be knocking on more doors. I’ve got to be hitting more events. We’ve got to work harder because although it’s flipped a little bit, we’ve always been the underdog in this race.
I mean, think about it. When we started off, I think nobody thought that we would ever be where we are today. And part of the reason is because I’m relatively new to the national scene and I’m running against the best brand in Democratic politics.
WALLACE: There’s something else that we saw in Pennsylvania. And take a look at this. Whites backed Clinton 63 percent to 37, while blacks voted for you 90 percent to 10. And if anyone has any doubts, 12 percent of those whites admitted that race was a factor, and they went for Clinton by more than 3-1.
Senator, for all your efforts to run a post-racial campaign, isn’t there still a racial divide in this country that is going to make it very hard for you to get elected president?
OBAMA: Well, Chris, if you look at the general election polls, we are doing better against John McCain than Senator Clinton is. And we are putting states in play like Colorado and Virginia that have not been in play for a very long time. Here in Indiana, we just — you just saw polling by “The Indianapolis Star” showing me beating John McCain.
And so, look, is race still a factor in our society? Yes. I don’t think anybody would deny that. Is that going to be the determining factor in a general election? No, because I’m absolutely confident that the American people, what they’re looking for is somebody who can solve their problems.
What they’re looking for is somebody who can pull the country together and push back some of the special interests that have come to dominate the agenda, who will tell them the truth about how we’re going to bring down gas prices, how we’re going to bring back jobs. And if I fit the bill, then they will vote for me.
If I lose, it won’t be because of race. It will be because, you know, I made mistakes on the campaign trail, I wasn’t communicating effectively my plans in terms of helping them in their everyday lives. But I don’t think that race is going to be a barrier in the general election.
WALLACE: Congressman James Clyburn, one of the top African-Americans politicians in this country, said this week that blacks are furious with Bill Clinton for playing the race card. Do you agree with him that there’s been a deliberate effort by the former president and some Clinton supporters to make race an issue in this Democratic race?
OBAMA: I don’t think there’s been a deliberate effort. You know, I take the president at his word that he is –
WALLACE: Which one?
OBAMA: Well, oftentimes, you know, I think that he’s been going after me hard. He may not have intended it in a racial way. I think he just sees me as competition against his wife. And that’s what, you know, husbands do, hopefully, or spouses do in political contests.
WALLACE: Clumping you in with Jesse Jackson?
OBAMA: Well, you know, I thought that that was probably somewhat dismissive after we had won that contest pretty handily. But look, you know, I’m confident that once this primary is over, the Democratic Party will come together. And I know that everybody’s feeling anxious right now and fretful, and, you know, all these articles are being written about, you know, isn’t the base being divided? But the fact of the matter is, is that come August, that convention, whoever’s the nominee, I think the Democratic Party will say, look, we’ve got a big fight ahead of us in November, and we are going to be unified to take the country in a different direction.
WALLACE: I wasn’t sure whether I was even going to ask you about your former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, but he made it easy for me because he’s now begun this –
OBAMA: Right.
WALLACE: — public campaign to redeem his reputation. The other night he said to Bill Moyers that he has been the target of a smear campaign.
Question: Do you think that Reverend Wright is just the victim here?
OBAMA: No. I think that people were legitimately offended by some of the comments that he had made in the past.
The fact that he is my former pastor I think makes it a legitimate political issue. So I understand that.
I think that it is also true that to run a snippet of 30-second sound bites, selecting out of a 30-year career, simplified and caricatured him, and caricatured the church. And I think that was done in a fairly deliberate way.
And that is unfortunate, because as I’ve said before, I have strongly denounced those comments that were the subject of so much attention. I wasn’t in church when he made them. But I also know that I go to church not to worship the pastor, to worship God. And that ministry, the church family that’s been built there, does outstanding work, has been I think applauded for its outreach to the poor.
He built that ministry. And I think that, you know, people need to take a look at the whole church and the whole man in making these assessments.
WALLACE: Did you talk to Reverend Wright recently about his decision to make public — a series of public appearances at this particular point?
OBAMA: You know, I didn’t talk to him about that. I had talked to him after all this had happened, partly because I regretted — I always regret people who are civilians, essentially, being dragged into these political fights. And the — and I expressed to him.
I said, “Look, we have very strong differences. I do not agree with the comments that you made. On the other hand, I regret that you have drawn so much attention.” And I also regretted the church drawing so much attention.
I mean, you had reporters who were coming in and taking church bulletins, you know, the sick and the shut-in (ph), and they were getting phone calls from reporters. And so that was something that I regretted, and I talked to him about that.
WALLACE: But you didn’t try to discourage him from going public? It obviously isn’t helpful to your campaign to have him on the scene right now.
OBAMA: Yes, I understand. But look, he is a former pastor of mine. He is somebody who has obviously been the subject of, you know, some pretty sharp attacks over the last — over the last month. And it’s understandable that somebody after an entire career of service would want to defend themselves.
WALLACE: By the way, in your speech on race, you said that while you haven’t heard these remarks that have been public, that you had heard controversial remarks from the pulpit.
OBAMA: Right.
WALLACE: But you’ve never said what those were.
OBAMA: Well, you know, I didn’t have any particular examples.
WALLACE: Can you tell us anything that you heard him say?
OBAMA: Well, you know, I think that he has oftentimes talked about some of the problems in the black community in very controversial ways. I mean, I think — or in sharp ways, in ways that are provocative.
You know, he will talk about the failure of fathers to look after their children in ways that sometimes people might be taken aback by. He can use street vernacular in his sermons in ways that people wouldn’t expect to hear–
WALLACE: But did he ever say anything about America or about white racism that troubled you?
OBAMA: Well, you know — well, I think that, you know, he has certainly preached in the past when I was there about the history of race in this country in very blunt terms, talking about slavery, talking about Jim Crow. The problem — and I pointed this out in my speech in Philadelphia — was where oftentimes he would err, I think, is in only cataloguing the bad of America and not doing enough to lift up the good. And that’s probably where he and I have the biggest difference, but –
WALLACE: Did you ever go to him after a sermon and say, you know –
OBAMA: Well, but keep in mind, it’s not as if his sermons were constantly political. I mean, I think most of the time he was talking about church and family and faith and scripture, and that’s what I got out of — out of church.
So I don’t want to exaggerate this notion that somehow he was on the soapbox each and every day. But the important point, though, that I tried to make in Philadelphia is that some of this is generational. I mean some of it is - he went through experiences that I never went through. I’m the beneficiary of the civil rights movement.
People I think noted that, if you run back some of Dr. King’s speeches, we always play “I have a dream,” but if you look at his sermon in Riverside church for example, when he spoke out fiercely against the Vietnam war, there’s some pretty jarring comments there as well. And part of it has to do with a very specific experience, a generation that was raised under Jim Crow, saw a lot of violence, saw a lot of racial discrimination.
I have a different experience and in part have a much more hopeful vision of where America has been and where it can go in the future.
WALLACE: Senator, you say a lot of good stuff. Reverend Wright (INAUDIBLE) are distractions from the real issues. But especially for someone like you, who’s a newcomer to the national scene, people don’t know a lot about, don’t voters have a legitimate interest in who you are and what your values are?
OBAMA: Absolutely and so the question becomes, how do voters draw conclusions about my values? Do they talk about, do they look at the 20 years in which I’ve devoted my life to community service? Do they about the work I did as a community organizer working with Catholic parishes and churches to bring people together to set up job training programs for the unemployed and the poor. That’s a reflection of my values.
Do they look at how I’ve raised my children and how I speak about my family? That’s a reflection of my values. I don’t think that the issue of Reverend Wright is illegitimate. I just think that the way it was reported was not I think a reflection of both that church that I attend and who I am.
I don’t think - let me just use another example. On flag pins, I have worn flag pins in the past. I will wear flag pins in the future. The fact that I said that some politicians use the flag pin and then aren’t acting in a particularly patriotic way, for that to someone be translated into me being anti-patriotic or anti-flag, I think that is a distraction.
I think that that is not reflective of me or the love that I have for this country. Keep in mind, I think (INAUDIBLE) the scene nationally at the Democratic convention, giving what I would say was about as patriotic a speech about what America means to me and what this country’s about as any speech that we’ve heard in a long time.
WALLACE: Let me ask you one other (INAUDIBLE) which some will call the distraction, some will call values. In the last debate, you were asked about your relationship with William Ayers, the former ‘60s radical and you said that you were no more responsible for what he did back in the 1960s than for your friendship with Tom Coburn, senator from Oklahoma, pediatrician, who has made comments about possibly taking the death penalty for cases of abortion. Do you really feel moral equivalency between what Ayres did and what Tom Coburn said?
OBAMA: No of course not. The point I was making and I actually called Tom Coburn afterwards, because I thought that people were suggesting that I had drawn a moral equivalent, so that’s what I was, what I was doing.
All I was saying was is that the fact that I know somebody, worked with them, had interactions with them, doesn’t mean that I’m endorsing what they think and Chris, I’m sure you’ve got people who you serve on a board with or have dinner with who you would never expect that somehow have that seen as an endorsement of their views.
Now, Mr. Ayres is a 60 plus year old individual who lives in my neighborhood, who did something that I deplore 40 years ago when I was six or seven years old. By the time I met him, he was a professor of education at the University of Illinois.
We served on a board together that had Republicans, bankers, lawyers, focused on education, who worked for Mayor Daley. Mayor Daley, the same Mayor Daley probably who when he was a state attorney prosecuted Mr. Ayres’s wife for those activities, I (INAUDIBLE) the point is that to somehow suggest that in any way I endorse his deplorable acts 40 years ago, because I serve on a board with him.
WALLACE: No, I’m just surprised that you brought Coburn in, because it seems to me it’s so apples and oranges.
OBAMA: No, no, no, no. The point I was making was that I’ve got a lot of - nobody is saying, you know what, Barack, he’s got a bunch of Republican friends or he’s got a bunch of people who are considered on the religious right who he gets along with, who he shares stories with, who he does work with. The focus is on this one individual whose relations with, whom I have a relationship is for more tangential than it is with somebody like a Tom Coburn who I’m working with all the time and who I consider a close friend. And yet that’s the relationship that gets the focus.
WALLACE: Senator Obama, we have to step aside for a moment, but when we come back, we will ask Barack Obama about his plan to change the way Washington works. Back in a moment.
WALLACE: And we are back now with Senator Barack Obama. Senator, one of the central themes of your campaign is that you are a uniter, who will reach across the aisle and create a new kind of politics. Some of your detractors say that you are a paint by the numbers liberal and I’d like to explore this with you.
Over the years, John McCain has broken with his party and risked his career on a number of issues, campaign finance, immigration reform, banning torture. As a president, can you name a hot button issue where you would be willing to cross (ph) Democratic party line and say you know what, Republicans have a better idea here.
OBAMA: Well, I think there are a whole host of areas where Republicans in some cases may have a better idea.
WALLACE: Such as.
OBAMA: Well, on issues of regulation, I think that back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, a lot of the way we regulated industry was top down command and control. We’re going to tell businesses exactly how to do things.
And I think that the Republican party and people who thought about the margins (ph) came with the notion that you know what, if you simply set some guidelines, some rules and incentives for businesses, let them figure out how they’re going to for example reduce pollution. And a cap and trade system, for example, is a smarter way of doing it, controlling pollution, than dictating every single rule that a company has to abide by, which creates a lot of bureaucracy and red tape and oftentimes is less efficient.
I think that on issues of education, I have been very clear about the fact, and sometimes I have gotten in trouble with the teachers union on this, that we should be experimenting with charter schools. We should be experimenting with different ways of compensating teachers. That –
WALLACE: You mean merit pay?
OBAMA: Well, merit pay, the way it has been designed I think that is based on just single standardized I think is a big mistake, because the way we measure performance may be skewed by whether or not the kids are coming in the school already three years or four years behind.
But I think that having assessment tools and then saying, you know what, teachers who are on career paths to become better teachers, developing themselves professionally, that we should pay excellence more. I think that’s a good idea. So –
WALLACE: But, Senator, if I may, I think one of the concerns that some people have is that you talk a good game about, let’s be post-partisan, let’s all come together — just a couple of quick things, and I don’t really want you to defend each one, I just want to speak to the larger issue.
The gang of 14, which was a group — a bipartisan coalition to try to resolve the nomination — the issue of judicial nominations. Fourteen senators came together, you weren’t part of it. On some issues where Democrats have moved to the center, partial-birth abortion, Defense of Marriage Act, you stay on the left and you are against both.
And so people say, do you really want a partnership with Republicans or do you really want unconditional surrender from them?
OBAMA: No, look, I think this is fair. I would point out, though, for example, that when I voted for a tort reform measure that was fiercely opposed by the trial lawyers, I got attacked pretty hard from the left.
During the Roberts –
WALLACE: John Roberts, Supreme Court.
OBAMA: John Roberts nomination, although I voted against him, I strongly defended some of my colleagues who had voted for him on the Daily Kos, and was fiercely attacked as somebody who is, you know, caving in to Republicans on these fights.
In fact, there are a lot of liberal commentators who think I’m too accommodating. So here is my philosophy. I want to do what works for the American people. And both at the state legislative level and at the federal legislative level, I have always been able to work together with Republicans to find compromise and to find common ground.
That’s how I was able to provide health care for people who needed it in Illinois. That’s how I passed ethics reform, both at the state and the federal level. That’s how I have worked with people like Dick Lugar, from here in Indiana, on critical issues like nuclear proliferation.
It is true that when you look at some of the votes that I’ve taken in the Senate that I’m on the Democratic side of these votes, but part of the reason is because the way these issues are designed are to polarize. They are intentionally designed to polarize.
On partial birth abortion, I strongly believe that the state can properly restrict late-term abortions. I have said so repeatedly. All I’ve said is we should have a provision to protect the health of the mother. And many of the bills that came before me didn’t have that.
Now part of the reason they didn’t have it was purposeful, because those who are opposed to abortion, and I don’t begrudge that at all, they have a moral calling to try to oppose what they think is immoral, oftentimes what they are trying to do was to polarize the debate and make it more difficult for people so that they could try to bring an end abortions overall.
So the point I’m simply making is that as president, my goal is to bring people together, to listen to them. And I don’t think there is any Republican out there who I’ve worked with who would say that I don’t listen to them, I don’t respect their ideas, I don’t understand their perspective.
And I do not consider Democrats to have a monopoly on wisdom. And my goal is to get us out of this polarizing debate where we are always trying to score cheap political points and actually get things done.
WALLACE: I want to ask you about more area during this segment. Tax and spending, the Republicans are keeping a running total of all of your plans. They say it’s $662 billion over four years. They say for all your promises not to raise taxes on the middle class that in fact you want to raise the cap on the Social Security payroll tax, and you also want to — let me get this straight here, you also want to increase capital gains.
Question, John McCain is going to go after you as another classic liberal tax and spender.
OBAMA: Well, I’m going to go right back at John McCain, because look at his tax proposals. He just went out there and not only wants to continue some of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and corporations, he actually wants to extend them and he hasn’t told us really how he is going to pay for them.
It is irresponsible and the irony is he said it was irresponsible. When George Bush initiated these tax cuts in 2001, he said this is shameful. He said that it offended his conscience. He said for us to give tax breaks to the wealthy, particularly at a time of war. Where somewhere along the line, you know, his conscience took flight because he was looking to get nominated for the Republican — as the Republican nominee.
And so I’m happy to have that debate. If you look at my approach to taxation, what have I said? I’ve said I would cut taxes for people making $75,000 a year or less. I’d cut taxes for seniors who are making $50,000 a year or less. It is true that I would roll back the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans, back to the level they were under Bill Clinton, when I don’t remember rich people feeling oppressed.
In terms of capital gains, I’ve suggested we might go back up to 20 because –
WALLACE: You have suggested 28.
OBAMA: Well, but what I’ve said is, I certainly would not raise it higher than it was under Ronald Reagan. But the fact is, is that I’m mindful that we’ve got to keep our capital gains tax to a point where we can actually get more revenue.
But that’s not something that’s going to affect the average person with a 401(k). When people start talking about how, well, there are millions of Americans who own stock, most of them own stock in 401(k)s that — where their taxes are deferred and they pay ordinary income taxes when they finally cash out.
And in terms of raising the payroll tax — raising the cap on the payroll tax, right now everybody who is making $102,000 or less pays 100 percent — a payroll tax on 100 percent of their income. There are about 3 to 4 percent of Americans who are above $102,000 in income every year.
So if you want to talk about who is middle class, me giving cuts to folks making, $60,000, $70,000 and potentially asking more from friends of mine like Warren Buffett, who I have no idea what he made last year, you know, that’s a debate I’m happy to have with John McCain.
Because it’s the people making $75,000, $50,000, $60,000 who are hurting. And when John McCain promises tax cuts to corporations that are not paid for, then what we are doing is loading up this nation with debt and if we’re not paying for it now, our kids and our grandkids are going to have to pay for it and I think that’s objectionable.
WALLACE: Senator, we have to take one more break. But when we come back we’ll ask Barack Obama some questions about foreign policy and also how he thinks this long, tough Democratic campaign will finally get resolved. Stay tuned.
WALLACE: And we are back for one final segment with Senator Barack Obama. Senator, this week President Bush named David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, to be the head of Central Command, which controls overseas military operations across the Middle East and Central Asia. Will you vote to confirm his nomination?
OBAMA: Yes. I think Petraeus has done a good tactical job in Iraq. I think as a practical matter, obviously that’s where most of the attention has been devoted from this administration over the last several years.
I was also a big respecter of Admiral Fallon, who Petraeus is now replacing and I think it was unfortunate that the administration wasn’t listening more to the observations of Fallon that we have to think about more than just Iraq. That we’ve got issues with Iran and Pakistan and Afghanistan and our singular focus on Iraq I think has distracted us.
My hope is that Petraeus would reflect that wider view of our strategic interests.
WALLACE: I want to ask you about presidents and listening to generals. Petraeus, I don’t have to tell you, is the architect of the troop surge, a strong advocate of our continued engagement in Iraq. If you become commander-in-chief and he says your plan to get out of Iraq is a mistake, will you replace him?
OBAMA: I will listen to General Petraeus, given the experience that he has accumulated over the last several years. It would be stupid of me to ignore what he has to say.
But it is my job as president, it would be my job as commander in chief to set the mission. To make the strategic decisions in light of the problems that we’re having in Afghanistan, in light of the problems that we are having in Pakistan, the fact that al Qaeda is strengthening as our National Intelligence Estimates have indicated since 2001.
And so we’ve got a whole host of tasks and I’ve also got to worry about the fact that the military has no strategic reserve right now. If we had an emergency in the Korean Peninsula, if we had an emergency elsewhere in the world, we don’t have the troops right now to deal with it. And that’s not my opinion, that’s –
WALLACE: So would you replace him or would you just say, I’m the commander-in-chief, here’s my order.
OBAMA: What I would do is say — what I will do is say we have a new mission. It is my strategic assessment that we have to provide a timetable to the Iraqi government. I want you to tell me how best to execute this new assignment and I am happy to listen to the tactical considerations and any ideas you have.
But what I will not do is continue to let the Iraqi government off the hook and allow them to put our foreign policy on ice while they dither about making decisions about how they are going to cooperate with each other.
WALLACE: Senator, we sometimes do a lightning round her. Quick questions.
OBAMA: I’ll try to be –
WALLACE: Let’s clear out this campaign business. Why are you ducking another debate with Hillary Clinton?
OBAMA: I’m not ducking one. We’ve had 21 and so what we’ve said is with two weeks, two big states, we want to make sure we’re talking to as many folks as possible on the ground, taking questions from voters.
WALLACE: No debates between now and Indiana?
OBAMA: We’re not going to have debates between now and Indiana.
WALLACE: You say it’s premature to discuss running mates. Are you at least open to the possibility of running with Hillary Clinton with places on the ticket to be determined?
OBAMA: I’m going to punt on that question until I’m the nominee.
WALLACE: That’s quick.
If the voting ends in June and you are still leading in superdelegates - I’ll ask again. If the voting ends in June and you’re still leading in the popular votes and delegates and the superdelegates hand the nomination to Hillary Clinton, do you think the young people, the African American people, the young first time voters you brought into this campaign, aren’t they going to be awful angry?
OBAMA: I think there would be some frustration there. It’s not just young people, by the way. This event that we just had here in Marion, Indiana, I had a 48 year old white woman come up to me and say she is voting for the first time. Never voted before. She probably would not vote. It’s possible.
But here is my strong belief. Democrats are going to be unified. I think we should find that person who is going to be best able to not just defeat John McCain but also lead the country. I happen to think I’m that person. I will make that argument forcefully to the superdelegates prior to the convention.
WALLACE: The Wall Street Journal says that you are prepared to run the first privately-financed campaign - presidential campaign since Watergate. True?
OBAMA: Look, we’ve done a wonderful job raising money from the grassroots. I’m very proud of the fact that in March, in February for example, 90 percent of our donations came over the Internet. Our average donation is $96. And we’ve done an amazing job, I think, of mobilizing people, to finance our campaigns in small increments.
I have promised that I will sit down with John McCain and talk about, can we preserve a public system, as long as we are taking into account third party, independent expenditures, because what I don’t intend to –
WALLACE: If you could get that agreement you would go for a publicly financed campaign?
OBAMA: What I don’t intend to do is to allow huge amounts of money to be spent by the RNC, the Republican National Committee or by organizations like the Swift Boat organization and just stand there without –
WALLACE: If you get that agreement?
OBAMA: I would be very interested in pursuing public financing because I think not every candidate is going to be able to do what I’ve done in this campaign and I think it’s important to think about future campaigns.
WALLACE: Finally, and we have about a minute left, what have you learned in this campaign? And I don’t mean, gee, what a great country this is answer.
What mistakes have you made? What have you learned about running for president? What have you learned about yourself?
OBAMA: I’ve learned that I have what I believe is the right temperament for the presidency. Which is, I don’t get too high when I’m high and I don’t get too low when I’m low. And we’ve gone through all kinds of ups and downs.
People forget now that I had been written off last summer. People were writing many of the anguished articles that they’re not writing after our loss in Pennsylvania. On the other hand, after Iowa, when everybody was sure this was over, I think I was more measured and more cautious.
That I think is a temperamental strength.
In terms of what I’ve learned or mistakes that I’ve made, I’m making them all the time and usually it has to do with me talking too much instead of listening. And what I’ve also learned is how much I’ve missed my family and my kids and my wife and that’s been the biggest hardship of this campaign.
I knew I’d miss them but sometimes you’re just - physically you need those two little girls in your arms and that’s something I’m looking to fix in the months to come.
WALLACE: Senator Obama, thank you so much for talking with usOBAMA: I enjoyed it.
WALLACE: Don’t be a stranger.
OBAMA: I won’t.
"The Joy of Painting..." with my friend Nick.
This weekend I asked my friend Nick to create an abstract replica painting of "Allen Field House", the arena where my Alma Mater (KU) plays basketball. Here's a quick video blog of the entire experience:
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Hillary Clinton's New Math
I remember as a kid learning the New Math.
My parents couldn't figure it out and neither could I.
The old mathematical rules didn't apply anymore. The equations didn't quite figure with the old strategies.
In spite of my cognitive disconnect with the subject matter, there was no going back. I had to learn this stuff. My parents hired a math tutor and once a week, I grappled to understand this puzzling new unknown.
Hillary Clinton is sort of in the same place, befuddled and resistant to new mathematical theory.
As a result, she's become the John Nash of the political world by developing her own theories of mathematical dogma.
By dredging up the Florida and Michigan vote, HRC is attempting to convince us once again that her New Math is the only math that counts.
Clinton computes that through recognition of the unrecognized vote of the two sanctioned states, the total of the popular vote would prove acceptable to the her campaign, a total that adds by adding up in Hillary's favor.
The problem being, Hillary is the only one who is utilizing this New Math, sort of like my eighth grade music teacher-assigned-to-teach-Algebra.
You see, my parents found out years later, Miss Music wasn't qualified to teach the New Math. Just like me, she had no concept of the concepts of the subject matter. As a result, I missed one year of accurate instruction--a gap that set the stage of constant struggle for my remaining years as a math student.
The Foundation for my Math Future was compromised.
Hillary Clinton's continued insistence that the rules don't apply to her compromises the future of all Democrats. Her disrespect for the ground rules is blatantly obvious through her persistent effort to undermine the process.
If I just spin hard enough, the very rules to which I agreed will be rewritten. I'll get the sum total needed to win the Democratic nomination.
Her constant drilling of math reversed serves only to crack the Foundation of those who honor Democratic values.
With the entire world watching, if Clinton's New Math results in the deduction of the first viable political change agent to hit this country in my lifetime, she alone is responsible for the implosion of the constant formerly known as the Democratic Party.
Mathematician John Nash's work on game theory--the mathematical capture of behavior in strategic situations through analyzing competitions where one individual does better at another's expense--truly encapsulates the Clinton War Room strategy.
Nash once spoke about his personal struggles with mental clarity.
"I would finally renounce my delusional hypotheses and revert to thinking of myself as a human of more conventional circumstances and return to mathematical research."
Game over, Hillary.
Florida's Rattlesnake: F.S. 800.04
When hiking along a Florida trail, never reach inside a palmetto bush.
Before the sound of the rattle registers danger in your brain, it's too late.
You've already been bit.
One rattlesnake of a legal surprise hides inside F.S. 800.04 --Lewd or lascivious offenses upon or in the presence of a person under 16.
F.S. 800.04--the bread-and-butter of the Florida Sex Offender Registry--is the the Law with Bite that most likely made your neighbor a sex offender.
To understand its sting, one must be introduced to the snake handlers.
During today's Brevard County Commission workshop discussion of the budget cut effects on anti-crime initiatives, Lt. Tod Goodyear described the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office’s monitoring of about 700 registered sexual offenders and predators in Brevard County, and efforts to catch new ones.
A prosecutor from the state Attorney General’s Office offered a presentation on the office’s expanded Cyber Crime Unit.
“There are so many (offenders) out there, it’s shooting fish in a barrel,” said Assistant Attorney General Catherine Marlowe.
Think about that statement.
“There are so many (offenders) out there, it’s shooting fish in a barrel.”
The question we should be asking law enforcement is to explain how did America become so deviant so quickly?
It's all about the rattlesnake.
Picture your neighbor online, logged on to a chat room. Everyone has an alias and all are present for one thing.
The fantasy.
Sure, everyone hears that law enforcement frequents the chats, but those "stings"--that happens to other people.
Your neighbor begins a regular communication with someone who professes to be a teenager under 16. Fantasy turns real very quickly and your friend your crosses a dangerous (and inappropriate line) by giving out his cell phone number.
He--she--is reaching inside the palmetto.
But something's a little weird, a bit askew. The calls have grown tiresome and have become non-stop. The "teen" wants to meet. Your neighbor resists, weary of the game and after awhile, asks that the calls end.
And not just once.
Several times.
The "teen" insists on meeting.
Sure. Whatever. Just stop calling me.
Finally, your neighbor stops answering the phone.
Couple of weeks later, the knock on the front door is law enforcement. The "teen" is actually a cop, part of the sting operation.
Your neighbor's been bit.
Having never met or physically touched anyone, he--she--is arrested on F.S. 800.04.
The computer is seized. The officers search for inappropriate photos because that's where the big bite of the law lies. Five years jail time per picture.
The chats act as the front door for the cyber fighters. Say or do anything that could be construed as an invitation and these guys walk right in.
Sure. Whatever. Just stop calling me.
Life becomes a living hell for your neighbor. A picture of a high school cheerleader is found on the hard drive. No way to determine the age of the teen but hey, the cyper sleuths figure she looks under 16.
Law enforcement decides to charge your neighbor for the picture.
For several weeks, a very expensive waltz is danced between your neighbor's attorney and the cyber crime fighters. Finally, the state attorney tosses out the picture charge as long as your neighbor pleas to solicitation of lewd or lascivious offenses upon or in the presence of a person under 16.
Whew. Sounds like everything will be okay.
Wrong.
Solicitation is a third degree felony in the State of Florida and carries the same sentencing weight of the law as if the act was actually committed.
And that, dear Froggers is the rattlesnake behind F.S. 800.04.
Although the law refers to specific acts committed upon or in the presence of a real person under 16, your neighbor is now a registered sex offender for tapping words on a keyboard.
Your friend is the new fish floating on the top of the cyber barrel. His/her life becomes a life sentence of ruination--loss of job, professional credentials, friends, privacy rights to family members--all shot to hell and leaking collateral damage punishment in addition to the legal consequences.
On top of that, everybody thinks your neighbor is John Couey.
With the Florida budget crisis and less money to fight such "crime", this Frog expects the numbers of 800.04 arrests to drop. Expect the spin to be all about the success of law enforcement efforts.
When in reality, less shooting will be going on in the barrel.
"There's millions of them and there's 13 of us, so the odds are certainly in their favor," said Assistant Attorney General Maureen Horkan . "The positive side of that, for our purposes, is that we can't lose. As many bodies as we put at the computer, that's how many we could arrest."
But many of its members are the victims of created crime at the hands of those who wear the badge.
It's time Florida politicians took a retroactive pen to 800.04 and give citizens their lives back--commute sentences, grant immediate clemency and remove the distinction of "sex offender" from your neighbor's good name.
The Florida Sex Offender Registry.
It's no fantasy.
Be careful out there.
Policeman tases dude, sets his pants on fire.
A man Tasered by police is in hospital after the stun gun ignited a "flammable object" in his pants, burning him.
The incident is under review by Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, which probes all police-related deaths and serious injuries.
"Three officers went there in response to a disturbance call," said SIU spokesman Frank Phillips yesterday. "During the interaction, an officer discharged his Taser. A flammable object the man had in the waistband of his pants ignited." The man, 31, was burned on his hand and thigh. He was taken to Hamilton General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. » Article here
The incident is under review by Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, which probes all police-related deaths and serious injuries.
"Three officers went there in response to a disturbance call," said SIU spokesman Frank Phillips yesterday. "During the interaction, an officer discharged his Taser. A flammable object the man had in the waistband of his pants ignited." The man, 31, was burned on his hand and thigh. He was taken to Hamilton General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. » Article here
Blind dude beats up intruder and holds him till police arrive
A legally blind man beat up an intruder and held him at knifepoint until police arrived. Allan Kieta, 49, told police he was at home Monday morning when his small dog began barking and he encountered the man.
"I opened the door and just ran into him. I had him pinned in the laundry room and just kept pummeling," said Kieta, a former wrestler in high school.
He said he grabbed the intruder by the belt and dragged him into the kitchen, where he put a knife at the man's throat and tried to dial 911. "Being visually impaired, I couldn't get the buttons because I was using my left hand," he said. "It took me about 20 tries."
Police arrived within minutes and arrested Alvaro Castro, 25, on an initial charge of residential entry, Sgt. Matthew Mount said. Lt. Jeff Duhamell was impressed with Kieta's feat. » Article here
"I opened the door and just ran into him. I had him pinned in the laundry room and just kept pummeling," said Kieta, a former wrestler in high school.
He said he grabbed the intruder by the belt and dragged him into the kitchen, where he put a knife at the man's throat and tried to dial 911. "Being visually impaired, I couldn't get the buttons because I was using my left hand," he said. "It took me about 20 tries."
Police arrived within minutes and arrested Alvaro Castro, 25, on an initial charge of residential entry, Sgt. Matthew Mount said. Lt. Jeff Duhamell was impressed with Kieta's feat. » Article here
Trying to have a boy? Eat more.
Women who eat more calories around the time of conception are more likely to have sons, according to a study. Researchers said it is the first evidence that a child's sex is linked to the mother's diet.
Teams at the University of Exeter and Oxford studied 740 women who were pregnant for the first time. They gave records of their eating habits and were then put in three groups based on calories consumed per day.
In the group that consumed the most energy, 56 percent had sons. In the group that consume the least, 45 percent had sons. Women who ate the most also were more likely to have higher levels of potassium, calcium and vitamins C, E and B12. » Article here
Teams at the University of Exeter and Oxford studied 740 women who were pregnant for the first time. They gave records of their eating habits and were then put in three groups based on calories consumed per day.
In the group that consumed the most energy, 56 percent had sons. In the group that consume the least, 45 percent had sons. Women who ate the most also were more likely to have higher levels of potassium, calcium and vitamins C, E and B12. » Article here
'Penis theft' panic causes alarm in city.
Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.
Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.
Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure. » Full article here
Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.
Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure. » Full article here
Police officer performs lewd acts on cows
A police officer who was charged earlier this month with sexually assaulting three girls faces new allegations that he performed lewd acts on animals.
Robert Melia Jr., 38, of Cottage Avenue in Moores-town was charged yesterday with four counts of cruelty to animals.
Burlington County Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Morgan said Melia committed the acts on cows in Southampton at various times from June to December 2006. » Full article here
Robert Melia Jr., 38, of Cottage Avenue in Moores-town was charged yesterday with four counts of cruelty to animals.
Burlington County Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Morgan said Melia committed the acts on cows in Southampton at various times from June to December 2006. » Full article here
Bridging Dave Aronberg's Law
I've been tooling about the Florida Senate, checking up on the progress of S1430, Dave Aronberg's (D-Greenacres) proposed bill dealing with the residential restrictions for sex offenders mess.
Quick to jump on board the Fear Train, over 100 Florida municipalities decided to one-up the state 1000 feet guidelines, extending residency restrictions in their communities by prohibiting those residents convicted of a sexual offense from living 1000 to 1500 and in many cases 2500 feet where children are known to gather.
In many cases, these "personalized" restrictions banished an offender from living within the community...period.
Within a couple of years of such jerking away of the welcome mat, the DOC was evicting those so exiled by their city and town fathers from beneath bridges, state parks and anywhere else one kicked out of their community might escape the measuring wheel.
Additionally, I'm fairly certain the State might have caught of whiff of impending unconstitutionality once newspapers world-wide ran the story of those living under the Julia Tuttle Causeway, as a result of the 2500 feet residency restrictions deed-restricting Miami from those people, many who have never laid a hand on anyone physically, much less a child.
Since introduction, the Aronberg proposal has been kicked around a bit through committee, but I see a glimmer of proactive thinking, i.e. the establishment of no-loitering zones and the spelling-out of what exactly constitutes a kid hang-out; however, rationalization for the continuation of residency restrictions still reigns supreme through Tallahassee. Although the state finally cites research indicating most cases of sex offenses against children are committed by someone who has developed a relationship with a child, our elected officials twist the logic through insinuation of what better way for an offender to develop said relationship than if a child passes the home of such everyday?
A counterpoint is that residency exclusion zones at least limit the opportunity for an offender to begin the initial process of breaking down the child’s natural wariness of strangers. For instance, if the child goes by the house of a man who waves a friendly greeting every day, he or she may be less likely to consider that person as a stranger. The offender could use that as a point of vulnerability to begin cultivating an exploitative relationship with the child.
Sort of like those senior citizens who approach your child in the mall and start talking to them without parental permission--you know, snow-haired friendly strangers cultivating a relationship with a "how cute" and "can I have a hug" and "here's a piece of candy".
A huge tip of the logic stretch of the hat to you, state Senators.
The state guys and gals are still attempting to handcuff judges as well, legislating just what the court can and cannot do in such matters of sexual offense. While skimming through the further judicial stripping of our judges, the one single statute that has so effected the lives of so many Floridians--and their families--jumps out at me like a strobe-light.
800.04.
Lewd or lascivious offenses upon or in the presence of a person under 16.
Sounds pretty terrible, doesn't it?
Well, it gets worse.
Imagine being charged, convicted and sentenced under 800.04, having never committed anything upon or in the presence of a person under 16....
...because there was no person--no victim--under 16.
F.S. 800.04--the bread-and-butter of the Florida Sex Offender Registry--is the the law with the loophole that most likely made your neighbor a sex offender and the ultimate victim of the State of Florida.
Come back Friday and I'll tell you how this law hides a rattlesnake.
Dude finishes Boston Marathon, then tries to kill wife
Hours after he finished the Boston Marathon, a South Korean man tried to kill his wife in the parking lot.
Kim Yong Sik, 41, was arrested Monday at the Sheraton Framingham after hotel security stopped him from strangling his wife in the parking lot, police spokesman Lt. Paul Shastany said. » Full article here
Kim Yong Sik, 41, was arrested Monday at the Sheraton Framingham after hotel security stopped him from strangling his wife in the parking lot, police spokesman Lt. Paul Shastany said. » Full article here
Hillary Clinton: The Perfect 10?
Is the Clinton PA point spread the perfect 10?
Not according to the AP.
Obama maintains a clear delegate advantage as well as the lead in the popular vote, and there are not many opportunities left for Clinton to turn that around. Moreover, party leaders are growing impatient with the drawn-out struggle and have watched nervously as McCain, his nomination race long settled, has climbed in opinion polls.
Against those forces, Clinton clings to hope that she can persuade convention superdelegates to swing behind her en masse. She's touting her record winning most of the big states and hoping superdelegates will see her Pennsylvania victory as validation of her ability to appeal beyond a narrow base in the general campaign.
The big picture from the local PA front further examines the Clinton primary win.
Before you go crazy about Hillary Clinton's big momentum on display here in Pa, just a few things to consider:
1) The race for the Democratic nomination is a 50-state competition, and going into it, you would have handicapped Pa. as one of the worst of those 50 for Barack Obama, maybe the worst. His weakest voting blocs have included the elderly and union households. Pennsylvania is the third-oldest state in the nation, the most heavily unionized, and one of the most economically distressed.
Given the demographics, which is a bigger surprise? That Obama once trailed here by 20 points, or that in the end he lost by only 10 points. Bill Clinton didn't need to win Utah to become president, John Street didn't need to win Port Richmond to become mayor of Philadelphia. Any Obama strategy for the nomination would aim to get the most delegates and votes nationwide -- knowing that you would surely lose Pennsylvania.
Which he did. As expected. And, yes, he still leads in delegates and votes -- all because HE won the states he was expected to win, and needed to win.
2) Obama came to Pennsylvania after a weak showing in a state with similar demographics, Ohio. And after his loss in the Buckeye State, Obama really was hit with the kitchen sink, most of it not new activity but dirt-digging by political opponents in both parties into his past associations, including former pastor Jeremiah Wright. In spite of that, exit polling suggests that Obama actually dramatically improved his standing with the voters that cost him Ohio, most notably voters over age 60 and white males in general. But as noted in 1), Pa. has A LOT of voters over 60, more than Ohio.
3) Clinton's main argument as pertains to Pennsylvania is that it's a November battleground state, and that she'd be a better fall candidate here than Obama. Perhaps -- she'd almost certainly run a little stronger in the Pittsburgh area. But most experts think the state will be won or lost in the Philadelphia suburbs, where McCain is also more popular than the typical Republican. And Obama won those Philadelphia suburbs with more than 60 percent of the vote (at least according to the exit poll).
I think too often we get caught up the day-to-day, whether it's a heated debate or a new gaffe or a bowling score of 37. Truth is, the story line in Pennsylvania was cast long before 4/22/08.
- Jackson 5 Lyrics
The New York Times--who endorsed home girl Hillary Clinton--slapped her win with a condemnation of her choice of "low road" campaign tactics.
The Pennsylvania campaign, which produced yet another inconclusive result on Tuesday, was even meaner, more vacuous, more desperate, and more filled with pandering than the mean, vacuous, desperate, pander-filled contests that preceded it.
Voters are getting tired of it; it is demeaning the political process; and it does not work. It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election.
If nothing else, self interest should push her in that direction. Mrs. Clinton did not get the big win in Pennsylvania that she needed to challenge the calculus of the Democratic race. It is true that Senator Barack Obama outspent her 2-to-1. But Mrs. Clinton and her advisers should mainly blame themselves, because, as the political operatives say, they went heavily negative and ended up squandering a good part of what was once a 20-point lead.
On the eve of this crucial primary, Mrs. Clinton became the first Democratic candidate to wave the bloody shirt of 9/11. A Clinton television ad — torn right from Karl Rove’s playbook — evoked the 1929 stock market crash, Pearl Harbor, the Cuban missile crisis, the cold war and the 9/11 attacks, complete with video of Osama bin Laden. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,” the narrator intoned.
If that was supposed to bolster Mrs. Clinton’s argument that she is the better prepared to be president in a dangerous world, she sent the opposite message on Tuesday morning by declaring in an interview on ABC News that if Iran attacked Israel while she were president: “We would be able to totally obliterate them.”
By staying on the attack and not engaging Mr. Obama on the substance of issues like terrorism, the economy and how to organize an orderly exit from Iraq, Mrs. Clinton does more than just turn off voters who don’t like negative campaigning. She undercuts the rationale for her candidacy that led this page and others to support her: that she is more qualified, right now, to be president than Mr. Obama.
Mr. Obama is not blameless when it comes to the negative and vapid nature of this campaign. He is increasingly rising to Mrs. Clinton’s bait, undercutting his own claims that he is offering a higher more inclusive form of politics. When she criticized his comments about “bitter” voters, Mr. Obama mocked her as an Annie Oakley wannabe. All that does is remind Americans who are on the fence about his relative youth and inexperience.
No matter what the high-priced political operatives (from both camps) may think, it is not a disadvantage that Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton share many of the same essential values and sensible policy prescriptions. It is their strength, and they are doing their best to make voters forget it. And if they think that only Democrats are paying attention to this spectacle, they’re wrong.
After seven years of George W. Bush’s failed with-us-or-against-us presidency, all American voters deserve to hear a nuanced debate — right now and through the general campaign — about how each candidate will combat terrorism, protect civil liberties, address the housing crisis and end the war in Iraq.
It is getting to be time for the superdelegates to do what the Democrats had in mind when they created superdelegates: settle a bloody race that cannot be won at the ballot box. Mrs. Clinton once had a big lead among the party elders, but has been steadily losing it, in large part because of her negative campaign. If she is ever to have a hope of persuading these most loyal of Democrats to come back to her side, let alone win over the larger body of voters, she has to call off the dogs.
"I spent my weeks with greener pastures
I still aint found what I was after
I got the blues
And that is why I sing
I just wanna do my thing
I'm going back to Indiana
Indiana here I come
I'm going back to Indiana
Cause thats where my baby's from...."
I still aint found what I was after
I got the blues
And that is why I sing
I just wanna do my thing
I'm going back to Indiana
Indiana here I come
I'm going back to Indiana
Cause thats where my baby's from...."
Carnie has part of his thumb bitten off, is beaten with a stick.
A carnival worker had part of his thumb bitten off in a midnight fight, then he was beaten with a stick hours later Sunday morning in a continuing clash, Medford police said.
The string of fights landed five men in jail on assault, harassment and disorderly conduct charges. » Full article here
The string of fights landed five men in jail on assault, harassment and disorderly conduct charges. » Full article here
Dude urinates on 3-year-old boy.
A man in Clermont is charged with child abuse for allegedly urinating on a 3-year-old boy.
Investigators said Aaron Hunter abused the child during a fight with the boy's mother. Hunter was hurt during the disturbance. Police said the child's mother punched Hunter to defend herself and her son. Investigators said Hunter admitted being drunk and confessed to the abuse. » Article here
Investigators said Aaron Hunter abused the child during a fight with the boy's mother. Hunter was hurt during the disturbance. Police said the child's mother punched Hunter to defend herself and her son. Investigators said Hunter admitted being drunk and confessed to the abuse. » Article here
Groundhog Day in PA
Just who will Pennsylvania grant six more weeks of a campaign season?
Who the poll knows?
Suffolk University poll in Pennsylvania shows Sen. Hillary Clinton leading Sen. Barack Obama, 52% to 42%
A new Quinnipiac poll in Pennsylvania shows Sen. Hillary Clinton leading Sen. Barack Obama, 51% to 44%.
The latest Zogby tracking poll results show Sen. Hillary Clinton leading Sen. Barack Obama, 51% to 41%.
American Research Group survey in Pennsylvania shows Sen. Hillary Clinton leading Sen. Barack Obama by a 54% to 41% margin.
MSNBC/McClatchy/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette poll of Pennsylvania shows Sen. Hillary Clinton leads Sen. Barack Obama, 48% to 43%.
PPP? Obama's up by three.
Because the margin of close will prove the real winner of today's PA primary.
Judge to AWA: Local Does Not Federal Make
"The time has surely come, for the laws to fit the crime."
--John Mayall
--John Mayall
An Orlando federal judge has ordered the release of two jailed, out-of-state sex offenders who moved to Florida, ruling that part of the Adam Walsh Act requiring their registration is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell on Friday ruled that the 2006 federal law requiring state sex offenders to register with law-enforcement officials when they move across state lines was largely a local issue.
The ruling, made in two unrelated sex-offender cases pending in Orlando, led to the dismissal of charges against Robert D. Powers, 43, and Tommy William Buckius, 60, both of Orlando. Powers was released Friday from the Seminole County Jail, but Buckius remained in the Orange County Jail.
Powers was convicted in 1995 in South Carolina of sexual assault, freed in 1997 and later arrested for failing to register as a state sex offender. In 2002, he registered in North Carolina but absconded in 2005 and did not register with Florida authorities when he repeatedly visited Orlando in the late 1990s and lived with his mother in 2007.
Buckius, who pleaded guilty to the attempted rape of a 13-year-old Ohio girl in 1986, was freed from prison there in 2000 and later registered as a sex offender. He previously was convicted of assault with intent to commit rape in Texas in 1973, court records show. But in November 2006, Buckius moved from Liverpool, Ohio, and did not notify local authorities of his new address. He was documented living in Orlando as early as March 2007 and arrested in February 2008.
Assistant Federal Public Defenders Michelle Smith and Stephen Langs argued that Congress lacked the authority to force state sex offenders solely convicted of local offenses to register. Powers had an IQ of 68, a second-grade reading level and did not understand state sex-offender forms he had signed, Smith argued.
They also contended both men were convicted of crimes before the new law was passed and should not be subjected to them. But federal prosecutors argued that an Attorney General's rule applied to sex offenders before the new took effect in 2007.
Known as the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, it was passed in honor of Adam Walsh, a South Florida boy killed in 1981. It was designed to help identify up to 200,000 unaccounted-for sex offenders nationwide.
Failing to register carries a prison term of up to 10 years. The law requires states to notify all sex offenders in or out of prison about the federal provision, but Florida has yet to comply with the new federal rules deadline of July 2009.
"The Adam Walsh Act was enacted with a commendable goal -- to protect the public from sex offenders," Presnell wrote. "However, a worthy cause is not enough to transform a state concern [sex-offender registration] into a federal crime."
Ironically, three other Central Florida federal judges have upheld the law's constitutionality in other cases, though one last year said he wished he could have dropped the case the next day if the suspect had registered. He sentenced the suspect to probation.
Presnell's problem with the federal law centered on the "mere unrelated travel in interstate commerce" to link it with local criminal conduct. Such reasoning would subject virtually all criminal activity to federal scrutiny, he wrote.
"Surely, our founding fathers did not contemplate such a broad view of federalism," Presnell wrote.
The Orlando Sentinel
4/20/2008
The Orlando Sentinel
4/20/2008
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