John Walsh Promotes Anal Implants --originally posted Thursday, July 27, 2006 is one of Smashed Frog's most widely read posts.
Time for a second run.
This blogger, a 43 year resident of Florida, very much remembers the circumstances leading to the kidnapping of Adam Walsh. As a young parent during this time, the blogger grieved with the Walsh family at the loss of their child and empathized with Reve Walsh regarding her decision to leave her son unsupervised to play video games at Sears.
John Walsh recently lent his efforts to "protect America's children" against predators that offend children. So many empathize with this family and because of the horror of the child's loss, all common sense completely flies from the heads of anyone who has ever cared for a child...parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, sisters, brothers, and extended family and friends.
This "association by proxy" stuffs the incredibly disturbing finding of Adam's partial remains way back into the most primitive parts of our brain.
We don't want to question the facts many don't want to remember.
Two career criminals lured Adam from Sears.
One guy was a serial killer.
The boy was left unsupervised. In South Florida. And in the blink of an eye, Adam was gone... forever.
The Walsh's attempted to sue Sears. Sears argued that Adam's abduction was caused by the "negligence of the mother."
John and Reve Walsh later dropped their lawsuit with the promise of no further legal action. (A Child's Tragedy, A Parent's Character, Steven J. Milloy, CNSNews, 2000).
Sears is a retail business, not a day care facility.
Mr. Walsh effectively lent his strong arm lobby behind the recent passage of the Adam Walsh Act because the original bill, The Children's Safety Act, was heading no where fast.
The man who appears on America's television once weekly is difficult to ignore, especially when he speaks of the circumstances of his son's kidnapping and death; however, his continued statements that the boy was sexually abused are simply inaccurate.
No one will ever know if the sexual abuse occurred. Adam's body was not found.
My first question behind Walsh's involvement in this bill, was why now? Why 25 years later? Why not then?
With the recent Yates verdict, "guilty by reason of insanity", what I find compelling is the obsession of the press with the ex-husband of Andrea Yates, the charges fired by the press regarding how he could leave his five children in the care of such a woman? Didn't he realize the extent of her mental illness? Did he compromise the safety of his own children?
Which leads to my point.
Did Reve Walsh protect her child to the best of her ability?
The truth behind Walsh's support of the Adam Walsh Act lies in the answer of that question.
The article below is provided the reader as an insight into the mind of John Walsh, a man who should be extremely satisfied that this legislation was pushed through, regardless of the misinformation, mistruths, and the manipulation of procedures used by the 109th Congress in order to push this bill through both Houses.
The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act is signed into law by the Prez today, July 27, 2006.
The federal government is now officially parenting your children.
An Explosive Interview
By Lisa de Moraes Wednesday, July 26, 2006
PASADENA, Calif., July 25 People who molest children should have chips embedded in the rectum that would explode if they violate their parole, "America's Most Wanted" star John Walsh told a photographer for Fox and father of two at Summer TV Press Tour 2006 as a couple dozen speechless TV critics looked on.
Bet all those other critics who'd bailed out early felt pretty silly missing what turned out to be the highlight of the now 16-day-old tour.
A minute or so later Walsh said he'd been kidding, though he had a "not really" look in his eyes. He said it was the second time he'd used the joke and no one laughed last time either.
Meanwhile, the freelance photographer, who'd been hired to take photos during Fox's two days of the tour, was relieved of his responsibilities for the rest of the day for monopolizing Walsh's onstage time with their interesting exchange about child-tracking technology, sex-offender-tracking technology -- "pervert alert," the photographer called it -- and a comparison of repeat molesters to rabid dogs that need to be put down.
Both Walsh and the photographer, who declined to give his name, said bracelets on sex offenders did not work. "Bracelets are [horseradish]," the photographer said to Walsh as stunned critics looked on. Walsh agreed, saying, "I love your attitude." Walsh told the critics that when he was talking to senators about electronic monitoring of sex offenders, "I said implant it in their anus and if they go outside the radius, explode it, and that would send a big message."
Walsh said it was a joke, adding, "Nobody thought it was funny."
Continuing his riveting performance, he said his wife had suggested that when he went to Washington to stump for the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, he ask all the congressmen who he thought were holding up the legislation named in honor of his son whether they were child molesters or if they had child porn on their computers.
"I said, 'Reve, I don't really use that tack walking through the halls.' But leave it to the mother of a murdered child to cut to the chase."
That would seem to include Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who, Walsh said, had slowed things down by attaching to the bill "a huge hate-crimes piece of legislation that was very controversial." Kennedy eventually removed the hate-crime bits, Walsh said. The bill passed on Tuesday.
Walsh appeared at Summer TV Press Tour 2006 to promote the fact that on Saturday his popular series will be a taped broadcast of the White House signing on Thursday of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which will create a national sex-offender registry.
July 27 marks the 25th anniversary of the abduction and murder of Walsh's 6-year-old son. This September marks the start of the 20th season of Walsh's catch-a-perp series on the Fox network.
Hey kids. Sorry for the inconstancy of posts this past week. I've been busy working late on some Projects and it's literally causing me to have no free time outside of work. Its 3 AM right now as I'm writing this message. I haven't been home earlier than 10:30 PM for the past two weeks. I know -- I'm being a "debbie downer" right now, but hopefully posts will resume to their normal blog schedule next week.
Constitutional guarantees can't be selective. It either works for all of us, regardless of the crime one commits, or it doesn't work for any of us.
Nominated for Best Ongoing Series, the Dave Aronberg posts address the difficulty in repealing unconstitutional laws that serve as politically powerful vote-getters for elected officials playing on the fears of parents.
Sex offenders (a status which differs from sex predator) and their families--are forced to live where The Law tells them to live.
And in many Florida municipalities, that place is not in their community's backyard.
Dave Aronberg attempted unsuccessfully to address the NIMBY attitude through proposing legislation that would repeal the hodge-podge of residency restrictions implemented by many Florida municipalities choosing to increase distance from areas where children may gather beyond the current state law of 1000 feet. The result of the local control iron fist has forced many persons from their communities to live under bridges, in the Everglades, in trailers on church property and on and on and on.
Some have simply gone underground.
While reading these posts, keep in mind. Many citizens convicted of a sex offense have never touched anyone physically, much less a child.
Take your time. It's a heavy subject. The posts will be available for viewing throughout the weekend.
What's most important? Pass along the truth.Educate, educate, educate.
If you feel the need to give the Frog a 2008 Florida Netroots Award nod for Best Ongoing Series, vote here.
The Julia Tuttle Gang vs. a couple of Sunshine State lawmaking Davids.
As a member of the Florida Netroots, I'm challenging state Senator David Aronberg and Representative David Simmons to utilize this moment to propose research-based laws and turn this nightmare around.
Although Dave Aronberg appears responsive to changes in the sex offender laws, the Florida state senator is still "selling" his bill to "protect the children" inferring that all persons listed on the Florida Sex Offender Registry are child molesters.
Many persons so listed have never touched anyone physically, much less a child.
These two phrases--Protect the Children--Child Molesters--are straight up Republican frame references. Perhaps Aronberg--a Democrat-- has to talk the talk of the Rethugs, who outnumber him in the state legislature.
The truth is only 3 % of those forced to register on the Florida Sex Offender Registry are truly dangerous. The rest are low level offenders caught up in a broad net of offenses that Florida has deemed sex offenses.....read more here.
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 offendersmess.
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......read more here.
Aronberg's bill died in messages at the close of session.
And that's not such a bad thing.
The political long arms of those who support such blatant unconstitutional ex post facto punishment became quite evident as their sticky fingers got into the legislative mix, with the end result downsizing 128 bad laws into 1 really bad law.
Aronberg himself slid in this caveat at the ninth hour:
775.215 Residency distance limitations for persons convicted of certain sexual offenses; certain local ordinances preempted and repealed.--The adoption of residency distance limitations for persons convicted of sexual offenses, including, but not limited to, violations of s. 787.01, s. 787.02, s.794.011, s. 800.04, s. 827.071, or s. 847.0145, regardless of whether adjudication has been withheld, is expressly preempted to the state. The provisions of ss. 794.065, 947.1405, and 948.30 establishing such distance limitations supersede the distance limitations included in any such municipal or county ordinances. Any such residency distance limitations adopted by a county or municipality prior to July 1, 2009, are hereby repealed and abolished as of July 1, 2009. However, after July 1, 2009, the governing body of a county or municipality, may, upon the written recommendation of the chief law enforcement officer of such county or municipality and upon a finding of public necessity by said governing body, adopt by a 2/3 vote an ordinance that increases the distance limitations contained in s. 794.065 up to a maximum distance of 2,000 feet. Any person who is subject to the residency distance limitations in s. 794.065, s. 947.1405, or s. 948.30 who changes his or her place of residence after July 1,2009, is subject to the residency distance limitations adoptedpursuant to such county or municipal ordinance.
Dave caved.
All that talk about a uniform state residency restriction and within a few years, a municipality could change it right back.
Dave, darling...that's going on NOW. Good Lord, do your homework.....read more here.
It's a split decision among the candidates regarding No Child Left Behind.
Signed into law six years ago, No Child Left Behind is considered one of President Bush's signature domestic achievements. The goal was to close the gap between high- and low-achieving children by holding their schools accountable. But while it passed with bipartisan support, the law has been widely panned for its rigidity by parents, teachers and education policymakers -- particularly among the heavily Democratic teachers unions.
Sen. Obama, too, wants to take a fresh look at the testing models. The campaign says the law unfairly puts the responsibility for student performance heavily on schools. Sen. Obama wants to see parents -- not just schools -- held accountable, by requiring districts to adopt school-family contracts that lay out expectations for student behavior, attendance and homework, the campaign says.
Sen. McCain says the No Child law has succeeded by shining a spotlight on how effectively schools are teaching. His campaign says the threat of tough sanctions gives schools a big incentive to improve.
Hillary's viewpoint? (Is she still in this race?)
Clinton aides say she wants to see testing models that distinguish between failing schools and schools that are just falling short. The New York senator's campaign says she wants to move beyond testing to other indicators of progress.
Here's a no-brainer.
How leaving the task of educating children up to professional educators?
Just for kicks.
Propose a bill that bars politicians from the classroom.
Police say 57-year-old Dora Nance has been charged with aggravated robbery and felonious assault for entering Florence Holmes' apartment, hitting her with a vacuum and stealing money from the woman's purse. Police say Holmes suffered cuts and broken bones in the attack early Monday. Police say Nance has confessed to the crime. She could face 20 years in prison.
The cabdriver, he pulled over on an unknown street sometime before 10 p.m. and Gappa began driving, with the cabbie in the passenger seat and Couch in the back. The men -- who police say already appeared inebriated -- stopped to buy beer.
They then began driving north, while they were driving the cabbie became concerned for his safety, because Gappa was driving erratically. As the cab began to slow near Thoroughbred Drive, the cabbie jumped out and ran to nearby home where police were called, Parker said. Read more.
Glad-handing was taken to new heights - or maybe it was a new low - in San Francisco Monday, when two buddies apparently set a new handshaking world record.
"My elbow feels like it's about to fall off, but it was worth it," Whittaker said. "Some achievements are marked by small things. That can be a handshake, it can be a trip to the moon or a vaccine that cures a disease. We're part of that. It's epic because it's the first time this has been done in human history."
The foot, still wearing a shoe, was discovered on Thursday on a small uninhabited island south of Vancouver in the Strait of Georgia, and is the fourth discovered in the region in the past 10 months.
The previous cases all involved right feet still in sneakers, and each was found on a different island. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have not said if the latest discovery was a right or left foot. DNA testing has failed to link the earlier discoveries to any missing person cases.
In order to vote for the the nominated bloggers and netroots activists, you will be asked for your name and e-mail address and asked to vote in--at a minimum--the required categories (those marked with an *).
Good luck to all.
May the best bloggers and activists win!
And incidentally--
Smashed Frog is nominated for Best State Blog and Best Ongoing Series for what has quaintly been identified as "Dave Aronberg and the Sexual Predator Laws".
At the very least--and whatever it takes--we've got folks reading about Florida's Draconian laws here at the Frog.
In Florida, many state legislators feel the laws against those convicted of a sex offense can't be too strict.
Dan Gelber (D-Miami Beach) is of such an opinion.
"I imagine if the state of Florida could simply expel sex predators they would," Gelber said. "I've always said on this issue, I think we should push the envelope and courts will push us back as appropriate."
I imagine Gelber sounds like a man running for the Florida state Senate (District 25).
Currently a state rep, Gelber led the charge against Florida state Senator Dave Aronberg's (D-Greenacres) failed bill that would have created a uniform statewide residency standard, preventing sex offenders from living within 1,500 feet from places children frequent.
Aronberg's proposed 1,500-foot statewide buffer actually increased distance by 500 feet; current state law dictates that sex offenders cannot live within 1,000 feet of places such as schools, although dozens of Florida cities have adopted their own, tougher laws.
His defense of local control over residency restrictions sounds a lot like NIMBY thinking.
Gelber said he regularly checks the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Web site to keep track of the offenders in his neighborhood. He has to do whatever he can, he said, to keep offenders away from children -- including his own.
Multiple convictions of public urination could land habitual public urinators on a sex offender registry. The law goes into effect in 2009.
See what one stroke of the pen can do? What's next? Habitual public affection?
Oh and by the way, Dan.
The Florida courts have spoken on residency restrictions. Aronberg's effort to replace all the local ordinances with a single state law has legal grounding. Last year, a Duval County judge ruled that state standards trump those of local governments when it comes to monitoring sex offenders.
Get your head outta of the political sandbox with lobbyist and fellow Miami Beach resident Ron Book and do your homework, Representative Gelber.
Lidia Vitielo, 58, was approaching a toll booth when she found she was short of the fee. The road was packed because of a national holiday but, undaunted, she headed back against the flow of traffic. Highway police tailed Vitielo and warned other motorists to steer clear. She drove 5 miles in the wrong direction, passing about 350 vehicles and ignoring a police roadblock, before she stopped, police said.
Vitielo told police in a statement she turned back as she had no toll money. Police said a blood test showed she had been drinking.
Christina Wilcox and her children stood at an Omaha street corner on Thursday night. One son held a sign that said: "I'll never have a girlfriend. I can't respect my mom." Another son's sign proclaimed him a thief.
"They'll learn by embarrassment," Wilcox said. "They'll learn. I've tried grounding them and disciplining them in every form and way, and this the only way I can get through to them." Mason, 7, is being punished for stealing.
"He's starting down the wrong road of thieving and then lying about it," Wilcox said. "He's thieved from a couple of friends, from a store, and I just don't want it to proceed."
Bob Roebuck is my sweetheart's name, He's off to the wars and gone, He's fighting for his Nanny dear, His sword is buckled on, He's fighting for his own true love. His foes he does defy, He is the darling of my heart, My Southern soldier boy.
Yo ho! Yo ho! Yo ho ho ho ho ho ho He is my only joy He is the darling of my heart, My Southern Soldier Boy
When Bob comes home from war's alarms, We'll start anew in life, I'll give myself right up to him, A dutiful, loving wife. I'll try my best to please my dear, For he is my only joy, He is the darling of my heart, My Southern soldier boy.
Oh, if in battle he was slain, I am sure that I should die, But I am sure he'll come again And cheer my weeping eye. But should he fall in this our glorious cause, He still would be my joy, For many a sweetheart mourns the loss Of a Southern soldier boy.
I hope for the best, and so do all Whose hopes are in the field, I know that we shall win the day, For Southerns never yield. And when we think of those that are away, We'll look above for joy, And I'm mighty glad that my Bobby is A Southern soldier boy.
Today is National Missing Children's Day, a day dedicated to making child protection a national priority.
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has chosen this day to promote to promote 'Take 25,' a national campaign designed to encourage parents to take 25 minutes to talk to children about safety. In today's tech-savvy environment, CyberSafety is one of the most important aspects of keeping our children safe.
Agreed. Talk to your kids, parents. You protect your children, not the government.
Headlines are attention-grabbers, brainstormed by editors to promote the dropping of quarters into a newspaper stand, so I drew a deep breath and hoped for a read that served more educative and less scare tactic.
I was encouraged by what was reported.
The process of the still suspect legal use of the sting by law enforcement was aptly described but what stood out for me was the fact that law enforcement was up front with the fact that chatting inappropriately online--without travel--is a felony in Florida.
Solicitation carries the same sentencing weight as if the actual act was committed.
It's a warning. We are out here. We will get you. And if convicted, you will be made a sex offender.
In fact, a quick breeze through the registry will prove such conviction on the part of LE. Pay special attention to the resulting forensics into the impounded computers. These crackerjacks are looking for pornography--not only to "bolster ... cases"--but to add one heckuva heavyweight charge that all but guarantees an ankle bracelet monitoring device, if not prison time upon conviction.
At this point, folks--stop playing around online. Let the cyber-cops get the really bad guys, but don't be one of the foolish that thinks it won't happen to them.
The article is offered in its entirety, to pass along the education. Although I do feel that the AG is indeed promoting his own self-interest in the maintaining of these cyber-crime units--which came close to the legislative budget-cut knife--I feel the more John and Jane Doe learn about how a sex offender is made in this country, the better, offering up communication about the different levels of offense.
But remember--only 3% of those listed on the Florida Sex Offender Registry are truly dangerous, hiding behind those who have been convicted of low-level offenses such as online solicitation--never physically touching anyone--much less a child.
Read on.
And 'Take 25' to tell your friends how to be safe online from those who will ruin their lives for typing words on a keyboard.
May 25, 2008
Brevard officers patrol Internet for sex predators
BY KAUSTUV BASU
FLORIDA TODAY
Michael Spadafora surfs the Internet for several hours a day, posing as a teenage girl or boy in chat rooms and on social networking sites.
Some days, all it takes is a few minutes before the Brevard County sheriff's agent gets a bite from a would-be sexual predator, usually an older man.
On a recent weekday, he posed as a 13-year-old girl in a chat room, and soon a man was offering $500 to see a nude picture of her. In 30 minutes, as Spadafora stalled and the conversation meandered, the offer was raised to $1,500.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that one out of seven children receives a sexual solicitation online. Internet predator cases tackled by the sheriff's office rose by 38 percent to 65 in 2007.
"We are only scratching the surface here," Lt. Tod Goodyear said about the possibilities on the Internet for sex crimes against children. He heads the sheriff's unit that handles sex predator cases.
Once in a while, Spadafora, who works in the unit, will find predators who are local and will ask to meet. Sometimes, he will pass on information to other law enforcement agencies around the country.
A typical chat might begin with the exchange of "ASL," online lingo for age, sex and location. Those trolling for juveniles are sometimes brazen enough to use sexually suggestive language right away.
"Wud u like share sex chat?" asked a 24-year-old man in a recent chat, thinking he was communicating with a 14-year-old girl in Florida.
"Mature can give u more enjoy," he told Goodyear, who had logged on as a teenage girl.
Online solicitation of a minor is a felony, as predators soon find out.
"They do not have to travel to be charged," Spadafora said.
If they do, it becomes a bigger crime.
Nicholas Campbell, 19, was arrested near a gas station on Merritt Island in June after a series of conversations with agents. He was investigated after the parents of a 13-year-old girl complained about him, suspicious that he had met their daughter for sex and was planning more encounters.
Agents posing as the girl talked to Campbell online, and when he tried to meet her, he was arrested. The charges against him: online solicitation of a child under 14 and attempted lewd and lascivious battery on a child.
Numbers climb
Nancy McBride, safety director for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said her organization had received 36,000 tips about online sexual solicitation or enticing a child to run away in about a decade.
In one recent week, the office received 186 reports, she said.
In Brevard, arrests by the sheriff's office increased by 75 percent in 2007, with 15 people jailed for trafficking in child pornography and six for online solicitation.
Spadafora and Agent Dan Ogden also assisted agencies in Alabama, Georgia, Colorado and Ohio, leading to the arrest of suspects in those states. Other police agencies in Brevard often fall back on the sex crimes unit of the sheriff's office for help in investigating sexual predators.
After arrests are made, an agent at the sheriff's office usually takes apart the suspect's computer to inspect it. In Brevard, that job usually goes to Agent Francis Dufresne. His job, too, is getting busier by the day.
In 2007, he examined 131 computer hard drives. He also is trained to inspect and retrieve records from cell phones, digital memory cards and Apple computers, a rare skill among Central Florida officers that has seen Dufresne's services requested by law enforcement agencies in other counties. His office space usually is a mess of disassembled computers and stacks of hard drives.
It is this evidence, collected and researched painstakingly, that helps the sheriff's office bolster its cases in court.
When a 12-year-old girl ran away from her Port St. John home in April, it took Dufresne less than 30 minutes to find out who she had been corresponding with through her MySpace account. The information and a vehicle tag number helped law enforcement trace her to the 19-year-old man from Quincy who had encouraged her to run away.
Shows alert parents
Predators are becoming more careful, too, because of saturation coverage of Internet sex crimes and TV shows like NBC's "To Catch a Predator."
Sometimes it might take a while of chatting before they let their guard down, Ogden said. But predators are persistent. It just takes a little ingenuity to find them.
"It is like a fishing trip," Spadafora said. "The show has brought more of an awareness that this is out there and it happens."
"It has woken up some parents," said Goodyear, though he is uncomfortable with the made-for-TV quality of the show.
Goodyear is a proponent of actively policing chat rooms and social networking sites to prevent children from being solicited and abused -- even though the work is painstaking, many predators do not live locally, and budgets are tight.
"Even if you can prevent one child from being sexually battered, it is worth it," Goodyear said. "You can't put a cost on that."
One would think the Bosnia story or the JFK/Johnson reference would cause Hillary Clinton to stop and think before committing political suicide.
“We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.”
Wince.
Although thisfroggy Barack Obama supporter believes that this reference by HRC was an attempt to demonstrate that Bobby Kennedy still sought the nomination of the Democratic party at the time of his tragic death forty years ago this June, I also believe the comment was a bit more veiled than what is currently under the media microscope.
Being the name-dropper-associater that she is, Hillary's words just prior to the ill-conceived RFK reference referred to her husband, Bill Clinton and how he also had not yet garnered the presumptive Democratic nomination status until the month of June.
In my opinion, Hillary's misstep was her opportunistic way to link her husband--who role-modeled himself after the President and was once photographed as a young man with JFK--to the legend of the Kennedy family.
Her per usual self-serving words were made in sad effort to diminish the much discussed comparison of Barack Obama and John F. Kennedy, via use of a war room calculated statement made to lob the Kennedy mystique back over the campaign net to the Clinton side of court.
Not only was the the comment simply horrible bad form, Hillary Clinton may be the only Democrat to ever mortally ace her candidacy through citing of an event with such instantaneous immediate recall for every American who lived through that moment in history where hope was once again shot down.
"...it was a big one, a bigger pouch. Like this around his waist. And he opened it up and was playing with something and I look over at him and I see this hair. And he says, 'It's my pet monkey.' And I'm thinking, oh, no it's not," she said."
Oh no. It's not...what you're thinking.
But laugh as we might, airline passenger Mikie Mallory was not monkeying around. She went all Darwin on the primate, turning in the little fella and his Man in the Yellow Hat counterpart.
Man and monkey were escorted off the Cleveland-bound Continental flight.
Crackerjack TSA saw no cause for elevated monkey chatter. "Whether the monkey came through security overtly or covertly, the monkey was screened."
Frat boy #1: Dude! Look at that girl in that store... She's checkin' me out. Frat boy #2: Dude, that's a mannequin! Frat boy #1: Oh. --Rockefeller Center
Well-meaning volunteer: Help yourself, free condoms from the department of public health. Hugely pregnant passerby: Too late. --Grand Central Terminal
Store clerk with thick accent: Condoms? Which one? Old man: No! Cough drops! Cough drops! Store clerk: Condoms? [points at condom boxes] Old man: Look at me... What the heck do I need condoms for!? Cough drops! --Port Authority
Mother: Oh, guess what, honey? Debbie's having a baby! Six-year-old daughter: She's going to be a horrible mother. --The Met
Little girl: Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad: Stop pulling on me. What? Little girl, pointing up at an enormous black man: He looks like a big chocolate bar! Dad, with a forced grin: She's five. --Line, Grace's Market Place
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
Ocala police said 18-year-old Chamborg Hecht sustained lacerations to his head and fingers as well as bite marks to his chest and arm. He told investigators he was trying to get away from his mother, whom he lives with, when she wouldn't let him close a bathroom and began attacking him.
Chamborg said his mother, Brenda Hecht, obtained a large meat cleaver and attacked him with it. He also told investigators she put the knife to his neck and threatened to cut off his head and other parts of his anatomy. Police said Brenda told them she was acting in self-defense and admitted to hitting Chamborg in the head with the meat cleaver. She was arrested and charged with attempted murder and jailed.
A day after Senator Barack Obama gathered a majority of pledged delegates in the Democratic presidential nominating contest, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton defiantly sent out new signalsWednesday that she might take her fight for the nomination all the way to the party’s convention in August.
It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to Cry if I want to, cry if I want to You would cry too if it happened to you.
I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words... How wonderful life is 70 delegates shy of the finish line.
BARACK OBAMA: How’s it going, Iowa? (APPLAUSE)
It is good to be back in Iowa.
(APPLAUSE)
I love you back, Iowa.
(APPLAUSE)
First of all, let me say thank you to Candy Smeeter (ph) for the wonderful introduction and the unbelievable work that she did on behalf of our campaign, and still does.
There are too many good friends and people who work tirelessly on my behalf to thank. You know who you are individually.
I just want to say, first of all, thank you, to all of you, for the great work that you did in helping to kick off this campaign.
And I do want to take a point of personal privilege and just say that I sure have a nice-looking wife and kids.
(APPLAUSE)
You know, there is a spirit that brought us here tonight, a spirit of change, and hope, and possibility. And there are few people in this country who embody that spirit more than our friend and our champion, Senator Edward Kennedy.
(APPLAUSE)
He has spent his life in service to this country, not for the sake of glory or recognition, but because he cares, deeply in his gut, about the causes of justice, and equality, and opportunity.
So many of us here have benefited in some way or another because of the battles he’s waged and some of us are here because of them. And we know he’s not well right now, but we also know that he’s a fighter.
And as he takes on this fight, let us lift his spirits tonight by letting Ted Kennedy know that we are thinking of him, that we are praying for him, that we are standing with him and Vicky, and that we will be fighting with him every step of the way.
(APPLAUSE)
You know, 15 months ago, in the depths of winter, it was in this great state where we took the first steps of an unlikely journey to change America.
The skeptics predicted we wouldn’t get very far. The cynics dismissed us as a lot of hype and a little too much hope. And by the fall, the pundits in Washington had all but counted us out.
But the people of Iowa had a different idea.
(APPLAUSE)
From the very beginning, you knew that this journey wasn’t about me or any of the other candidates in this race. It was about whether this country, at this defining moment, will continue down the same road that has failed us for so long or whether we will seize this opportunity to take a different path, to forge a different future for this country that we love.
That’s the question that sent thousands upon thousands of you to high school gyms and VFW halls, to backyards and front porches, to steak fries and J.J. dinners, where you spoke about what the future would look like.
You spoke of an America where working families don’t have to file for bankruptcy just because a child gets sick, where they don’t lose their home because some predatory lender tricks them out of it, where they don’t have to sit on the sidelines of the global economy because they couldn’t afford the cost of a college education.
You spoke of an America where our parents and our grandparents don’t spend their retirement in poverty because some CEO dumped their pension, an America where we don’t just value wealth, but we value work and the workers who create it, as well.
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You spoke of an America where we don’t send our sons and daughters on tour after tour of duty to a war that has cost us thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars, but has not made us safer.
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You spoke of an America where we matched the might of our military with the strength of our diplomacy and the power of our ideals, a nation that is still the beacon of all that is good and all that is possible for humankind.
You spoke of a future where the politics we have in Washington finally reflects the values we hold as Americans, the values you live by here in Iowa: common sense and honesty, generosity and compassion, decency and responsibility.
These values don’t belong to one class or one region or even one party. They are the values that bind us together as one country.
That is the country…
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That’s the country I saw in the faces of crowds that would stretch far into the horizon of our heartland, faces of every color, of every age, faces I see here tonight.
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You’re Democrats who are tired of being divided, but you’re also Republicans who no longer recognize the party that runs Washington, and independents who are hungry for change.
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You’re the young people who’ve been inspired for the very first time…
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… and those not-so-young folks who’ve been inspired for the first time in a long time.
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You’re veterans and churchgoers, sportsman and students, farmers and factory workers, teachers and business owners, who have varied backgrounds and different traditions, but the same simple dreams for your children’s future.
Many of you have been disappointed by politics and politicians more times than you can count. You’ve seen promises broken, good ideas drowned in the sea of influence and point-scoring and petty bickering that’s consumed Washington.
And you’ve been told over and over and over again to be cynical, and doubtful, and even fearful about the possibility that things can ever be different, can ever be better.
And yet, in spite of all the doubt and disappointment, or perhaps because of it, you came out on a cold winter’s night in January, in numbers that this country has never seen, and you stood for change.
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You stood for change. And because you did, a few more stood up, and then a few thousand stood up, and then a few million stood up.
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And tonight, Iowa, in the fullness of spring, with the help of those who stood up from Portland to Louisville, we have returned to Iowa with a majority of delegates elected by the American people…
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… and you have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination for president of the United States of America.
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AUDIENCE: Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama!
OBAMA: You know, the road here has been long. There have been some bumps along the way. I’ve made some mistakes.
But also it’s partly because we’ve traveled this road with one of the most formidable candidates to ever run for this office.
You know, in her 35 years of public service, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has never given up on her fight for the American people. And tonight I congratulate her on her victory in Kentucky.
You know, we’ve had our disagreements during this campaign, but we all admire her courage, and her commitment, and her perseverance. And no matter how this primary ends, Senator Clinton has shattered myths and broken barriers and changed the America in which my daughters and your daughters will come of age, and for that we are grateful to her.
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Now, some may see the millions upon millions of votes cast for each of us as evidence that our party is divided. But I see it as proof that we have never been more energized and united in our desire to take this country in a new direction.
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More than anything, we need this unity and this energy in the months to come, because, while our primary has been long and hard- fought, the hardest and most important part of our journey still lies ahead.
We face an opponent, John McCain, who arrived in Washington nearly three decades ago as a Vietnam War hero and earned an admirable reputation for straight talk and occasional independence from his party.
But this year’s Republican primary was a contest to see which candidate could out-Bush the other, and that’s a contest that John McCain won.
The Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans that once bothered John McCain’s conscience are now his only economic policy.
The Bush health care plan that only helps those who are already healthy and wealthy is now John McCain’s answer to the 47 million Americans without insurance and the millions more who can’t pay their medical bills.
The Bush Iraq policy that asks everything from our troops and nothing of Iraqi politicians is John McCain’s policy, too. And so is the fear of tough and aggressive diplomacy that has left this country more isolated and less secure than at any time in recent history.
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The lobbyists who ruled George Bush’s Washington are now running John McCain’s campaign. And they actually had the nerve the other day to say that the American people won’t care about this.
Talk about out of touch. I think the American people care plenty about that.
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Now, I will leave it up to Senator McCain to explain to the American people whether his policies and positions represent long-held convictions or Washington calculations, but the one thing they don’t represent is change.
Change is a tax code that rewards work instead of wealth, by cutting taxes for middle-class families, and senior citizens, and struggling homeowners, a tax code that rewards businesses that create good jobs here in America, instead of the corporations that ship them overseas. That’s what change is.
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AUDIENCE: Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can!
OBAMA: Change is a health care plan that guarantees insurance to every American who wants it, that brings down premiums for every family who needs it, that stops insurance companies from discriminating and denying coverage to those who need it most. That’s what change is.
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Change is an energy policy that doesn’t rely on buddying up to the Saudi royal family and then begging them for oil, an energy policy…
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Change is an energy policy that puts a price on pollution and makes the oil companies invest their record profits in clean, renewable sources of energy that will create millions of new jobs and leave our children a safer planet. That’s what change is, Iowa.
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Change is giving every child a world-class education by recruiting an army of new teachers with better pay and more support, by promising four years of tuition to any American willing to serve their community and their country, by realizing that the best education starts with parents who turn off the TV, and take away the video games, and read to their children once in a while. That’s what change is.
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Change is ending a war that we never should have started.
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Change is finishing a war against Al Qaida in Afghanistan that we never should have ignored.
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Change is facing the threats of the 21st century, not with bluster or fear-mongering or tough talk or suspending due process, but with tough diplomacy and strong alliances and confidence in the ideals that have made this nation the last best hope on Earth.
That is the legacy of Roosevelt and Truman and Kennedy. That, Iowa, is what change is. That is the choice in this election.
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The same question that first led us to Iowa 15 months ago is the one that’s brought us back here tonight. It’s the one we will debate from Washington to Florida, from New Hampshire to New Mexico, the question of whether this country, at this moment, will keep doing what we’ve been doing for four more years or whether we will take that different path.
It’s more of the same versus change. It’s the past versus the future. It has been asked and answered by generations before us. And now it is our turn to choose.
We will face our share of difficult and uncertain days in the journey ahead. The other side knows they have embraced yesterday’s policies, so they will also embrace yesterday’s tactics to try and change the subject.
They’ll play on our fears and our doubts. They’ll try to sow discord and division to distract us from what matters to you and your future.
Well, they can take the low road if they want, but it will not lead this country to a better place. It will not work in this election. It won’t work because you will not let it work, not this time, not this year.
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AUDIENCE: Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can!
OBAMA: My faith in the decency and honesty and generosity of the American people is not based on false hope or blind optimism, but on what I’ve lived and what I’ve seen in this very state.
For in the darkest days of this campaign, when we were dismissed by all the polls and all the pundits, I would come to Iowa and see that there was something happening here that the world did not yet understand.
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It’s what led high school and college students to give up their vacations to stuff envelopes and knock on doors.
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It’s why grandparents have spent all their afternoons making phone calls to perfect strangers. It’s what led men and women who can barely pay their bills to dig into their savings and write $5 checks and $10 checks and why young people from all over this country have left their friends and their families for a job that offers little pay and less sleep.
Iowa, change is coming to America.
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Change is coming.
It’s the spirit that sent the first patriots to Lexington and Concord and led the defenders of freedom to light the way north on an Underground Railroad.
It’s what sent my grandfather’s generation to beachheads in Normandy, and women to Seneca Falls, and workers to picket lines and factory fences.
It’s what led all those young men and women who saw beatings and billy-clubs on their television screens to leave the safety of their homes and get on buses and march through the streets of Selma and Montgomery, black and white, rich and poor.
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Change is coming to America, Iowa.
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It’s what I saw all those years ago on the streets of Chicago when I worked as an organizer, that in the face of joblessness and hopelessness and despair, a better day is still possible, if there are people who are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it.
That’s what I’ve seen here in Iowa. That’s what is happening in America.
Our journey may be long. Our work will be great. But we know in our hearts we are ready for change. We are ready to come together. And in this election, we are ready to believe again.
Thank you, Iowa. And God bless you. God bless America. Thank you. --Barack Obama, Kentucky/Oregon Primary Speech Iowa, May 20, 2008
"It basically came from about my seven o'clock or eight o'clock," he said. Right before it hit, the official started to say 'Look out! Look out!' and I started to look over to the javelin right when it went through. There was the kind of tight feeling in the skin where I could say, 'oh yeah, it went through me,' but it wasn't real painful."
Astonishingly, the javelin missed all tendons, bones, and arteries in McGeeney's leg, lodging through the skin like the world's most extreme but benign piercing. McGeeney got a good patching up at a local hospital, but not before calling a co-worker over and snapping photos of the damage himself as a Marine who served a tour of duty in Afghanistan would.
