Focus on the Family narrator arrested in teen sex sting

I still can't believe anyone takes advice from Focus on the Family after James Dobson endorsed beating children and issued other truly sick writings about parenting.

Now the rank sickness that is Focus on the Family has struck again.

Juan Ovalle, 42, is a narrator for Focus on the Family. The Colorado Springs man narrates CD's and radio shows for this totalitarian organization.

But now he's been arrested on 2 felony counts related to using the Internet to lure a girl under the age of 15 for sex. The teen he tried to lure was actually an undercover investigator posing as an under-age girl.

In an attempt to pick up the decoy teen, Ovalle actually asked, "Do you like older guys?" and made explicit statements.

Another "family values" hypocrite busted.

Any adult would have to be pretty damn stupid now to try to pick up teens online, because they ought to know by now about these sting operations. But nobody ever said Focus on the Family was comprised of intellectual giants.

(Source: http://coloradoindependent.com/25840/focus-on-the-family-narrator-charged-with-luring-teenage-girl-for-sex-on-net;
http://coloradoindependent.com/25918/arrest-report-do-you-like-older-guys-focus-employee-asked-teenage-girl)

Tedisco campaign makes fraudulent calls to rig vote

A week after that congressional election in upstate New York, it still hasn't been finalized.

Which of course means Jim Tedisco is still trying to rig the vote count.

And man, does he try. Not without some success, I might add.

Disco Duck is gutting the concept of a secret ballot by having his campaign call absentee voters (a list of whom is publicly available) and ask them who they voted for. That way, he knows which ballots to challenge so he can have them tossed out.

As an added element of fraud, the Tedisco campaign is telling the voters being called that it's an exit poll - which is an outright lie.

If Tedisco is declared the winner, do you honestly expect anyone to believe the election wasn't stolen, following this shenanigan?

(Source: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/6/717194/-NY-20:-Republicans-OBLITERATING-secret-ballot;
http://www.thealbanyproject.com/diary/6214/ny20-tedisco-making-a-list-of-absentees-to-challenge)

Sarkozy the copyright-violatin' hypocrite

Right-wing French President Nicolas Sarkozy has championed tough government crackdowns against file-sharing networks. He accuses these networks of facilitating copyright violations.

A lot of musicians might take exception to that assertion. Nowadays, the only way that most recording artists can get their music distributed is on file-sharing systems, because radio seldom plays anyone who hasn't won on 'American Idol'. I guess Sarkozy likes it when musicians go out of business.

Now Sarkozy is the target of a lawsuit for his own unauthorized use of copyrighted music.

Sarkozy and his right-wing political party, the UMP, have been using MGMT's smash hit song "Kids" ("The wa is warm...") for partisan events and videos. Now the band is suing Sarkozy for using the song without permission.

The embattled French leader has offered MGMT one euro - the equivalent of about $1.33 - to make the big, mean lawsuit go away. But the band won't accept this insulting offer.

Sounds like Sarkozy is taking cues from McCain's campaign, which was known for repeatedly using songs without permission.

What astounds me is that Nicolas Sarkozy thinks everyone else is violating copyright laws by using Soulseek or Limewire, but he doesn't even obey the copyright laws himself.

(Source: http://www.nme.com/news/mgmt/43064;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7912423.stm)

Iraqi journalist's sentence reduced

After Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi threw his shoes onto a stage where Bush was speaking - an act that was intended as a grave insult, not to cause physical injury - he became a worldwide folk hero.

Last month - to the outrage of Iraqis - al-Zeidi was sentenced to 3 years in prison for this deed. This despite the fact that an ABC poll showed that 62% of Iraqis considered al-Zeidi a national hero.

Three years in prison just for insulting one of the most hated political leaders in the world?

Now a court has reduced this sentence to one year. This occurred after defense attorneys pointed out that the law imposes a maximum of only 2 years for publicly insulting a visiting foreign leader.

What's that again?

Why is insulting a political figure even a crime in a supposedly "free" and "democratic" Iraq?

If insulting political leaders is such a crime, the Cincinnati Tea Party crybabies would be in jail now for their sign that portrayed President Obama as the Joker.

Is this anything like how a supposedly "free" and "democratic" leader like Italy's Silvio Berlusconi wants to clamp down on journalists who report his blunders?

Al-Zeidi is actually lucky in a way, because everyone knows that if the world wasn't watching, he would have been killed by Bushist thugs.

So much for joining the "league of democracies", huh?

Senator from Wal-Mart against EFCA

Arkansas Democrats will remember this story in the next Senate primary.

And if the DLC juggernaut isn't defeated, don't be surprised if the Greens pick up quite a few votes in the general election.

Meet Sen. Blanche Lincoln - a DLCer from Arkansas. She's proving to be the senator from Wal-Mart - the most influential corporation based in her state.

Despite corporatists' claim that Big Business does not take stances on political issues, Wal-Mart has opposed the much-needed Employee Free Choice Act from the get-go. In fact, the retail giant has even intimidated workers who support this bill.

In an apparent cave-in to Wal-Mart's influence, Blanche Lincoln said yesterday at a meeting of the Little Rock Political Animals Club that she will oppose EFCA.

And this is a Democrat?

It's a sad day when more Democrats in the Senate support the Patriot Act than EFCA.

(Source: http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=113645)

Berlusconi may censor news agencies for covering gaffes

If Italy's far-right Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi doesn't want people to think of him as a dictator, then he should stop being a dictator.

A dictator he is. Make no mistake about it. I've been hoarding articles about Berlusconi's administration for ages, and now this story shifts his dictatorial demeanor back to the frontburner.

Berlusconi is now threatening to clamp down on news agencies and journalists who dare to report his many humiliating gaffes. He says he will take "hard measures" against reporters.

Among Berlusconi's gaffes are his yakking on his cell phone during a group photograph of NATO leaders and his shouting at President Obama during another photo shoot. This display prompted an annoyed Queen of England to say, "Why does he have to shout?"

Berlusconi's Italy doesn't exactly sound like part of the "league of democracies" the EU claims to be, does it? I can post other examples of this too, and I will.

(Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/5110631/Silvio-Berlusconi-threatens-news-blackout-after-reports-of-latest-gaffes.html)

German school shooter took antidepressant

Whenever there's a shooting massacre at a school or elsewhere, it's 99% safe to say that the shooter was under the influence of psychiatric drugs.

Now it's been revealed that the school shooter in Winnenden, Germany, who left 17 dead including himself, had been taking an unspecified antidepressant. This fact is only now coming to light in America.

I know what the excuse is going to be. Detractors will say this is just an isolated incident, and that it's just a coincidence that someone taking psychiatric drugs would participate in a shooting like this.

Except this isn't an isolated incident. And most other shootings or incidents like this have also occurred under the influence of psychotropic toxins:

Omaha (2007) - Mall shooter took antidepressants and Valium.

Joleka, Finland (2007) - School shooter took antidepressants.

Cleveland (2007) - School shooter took the antidepressant Trazadone and the ADHD drug Clonidine.

Virginia Tech (2007) - University shooter took antidepressants.

Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota (2005) - School shooter took Prozac.

Greenbush, New York (2004) - School shooter took antidepressants.

El Cajon, California (2001) - School shooter took Effexor and Celexa.

Wahluke, Washington (2001) - Teenager who held class hostage with rifle took Effexor.

Williamsport, Pennsylvania (2000) - School shooter took Prozac.

Conyers, Georgia (1999) - School shooter took antidepressants.

Littleton, Colorado (1999) - At least one of the Columbine shooters took Luvox.

Notus, Idaho (1999) - School shooter took antidepressants.

Taber, Alberta (1999) - School shooter took Dexedrine.

Springfield, Oregon (1998) - School shooter took Prozac.

Why is the media continuing to live in denial that there's a link between shooting rampages and psychotropic drugs? This denial isn't doing society any good.

I think it's time for a full-on government investigation into this link.

Supreme Court upholds Mumia Abu-Jamal verdict

Let me be clear: I firmly believe Mumia Abu-Jamal is innocent.

Abu-Jamal is serving time for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. I've read the facts of the case many times before, and I have no doubt that he's innocent of this crime. Detractors have raked me through acid over this belief, but I've studied the case for years.

A man named Arnold Beverly has actually admitted to killing Faulkner. But there's other evidence pointing to Abu-Jamal's innocence (which probably doesn't need to be rehashed here).

Today, however, the U.S. Supreme Court may have dashed Abu-Jamal's last hopes at ever getting out of prison. The court refused to take up his claims that prosecutors wrongly excluded blacks from the jury that convicted him. Thus, there's no way he'll ever receive a new trial.

This underscores the larger issue of how hard it is for defendants to remedy a questionable conviction - especially now that courts are so weak at making sure everyone gets a fair trial. If someone commits a serious crime, I'm all for serious punishment. But if there's any doubt at all about the guilt of someone who was convicted, we need to make sure they get tried impartially.

(Source: http://www.kyw1060.com/pages/4150446.php?contentType=4&contentId=3783975)

Backstabbin' Burr

Uh, Richard Burr? Your party is background noise now. Go away.

Burr - the Republican senator from North Carolina - is now delaying the confirmation of injured Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth for an important VA post.

Why? Just because Burr feels like it. He's mad that things haven't been going his way as much lately, so by golly, he's going to make sure the entire VA gets mired in the mismanagement that's defined the past 8 years. Just for political reasons.

Did Richard Burr ever serve in the military? Nothing in his biography says he did. So why does he think he knows more about the needs of veterans than Tammy Duckworth? Burr should be thanking Duckworth for her service.

Burr's obstructionism also continues a pattern of right-wing big shots intentionally trying to gut public services just to find an excuse to let private, for-profit companies pick up all their business. This is what led to problems in the VA under Bush. The VA had long been known for providing better medical service than for-profit providers, but the Bush regime deliberately neglected the VA - again because of politics.

Ideologues like those who compose the Republican Right today conceal a knife behind their backs with which they stab America's brave veterans. Richard Burr is disgusting.

(Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1470194.html)

EU requires Internet records to be stored for a year

Is this Europe's version of the NSA spying scandal?

It's hard to top Bush's eavesdropping, but the European Union sure as shit tries. The EU - which represents a mishmash of undemocratic, greed-driven ideas - is now starting to require all ISP's to keep records of customers' e-mails, website visits, and even phone calls for 12 months.

These items will be stored for use by government authorities.

The policy was established with no public input.

For those who think the innocent have nothing to fear, think again. How is this any different from making traditional phone companies record phone calls? How is it any different from making the postal service open up mail and keep copies of it?

Just as bad, this policy lays the foundation for a far more detailed spying program planned by British authorities. A privacy advocate said this would be "probably the world's most comprehensive surveillance system."

The EU's modus operandi seems to be to think up of moronic ideas and then spring them on the public without asking or caring what they think. Who's running the EU? Ernie Fletcher?

(Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/5105519/Internet-records-to-be-stored-for-a-year.html)

Ban on covering war dead lifted

At last, the Obama administration has reversed an outrageous policy that was put in place 18 years ago by the elder Bush.

During the '91 Gulf War, the senior Bush instituted a ban on news coverage of returning war dead. The ban was introduced for government propaganda purposes - namely, to keep public support for the war from eroding. Frankly, it amounted to government censorship.

By reversing this policy, families now have a choice of whether the media may cover ceremonies at Dover Air Force Base, the American entry point for military personnel who are killed abroad. If a family doesn't want the ceremony covered, then it won't be covered. But it will be their decision.

For 18 years, war casualties were politicized by the ban. Dead soldiers and their families were treated with disrespect just to save face for our political "leaders." Worse, the government misled the public for years about the intent of this policy.

Now this outrage is coming to an end.

(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/04/05/us/AP-Pentagon-War-Dead.html)

Clear Channel to ruin Arkansas station

KIYS in Jonesboro, Arkansas - renamed from KJBR in the '90s - is the legendary radio station whose sticker I found stuck on a toilet in a motel room in Kennett, Missouri, in 1996.

Even that recently, KIYS still had more variety in its music than you'd hear on almost any American commercial station today. One heard Metallica's "Until It Sleeps", Air Supply's "All Out Of Love", and George Michael's "I Want Your Sex" all on the same station.

I'm under no delusions that KIYS might have that much variety now. But at least it's still a Jonesboro station.

That, however, is about to change.

Although the station's ownership was taken over by Clear Channel, it has been operated by a local group under an LMA. Now, however, Clear Channel is ending the agreement and moving KIYS to Memphis - where the company already owns 6 stations!

Remember when this used to be a big no-no? As late as 1996, the limit was 4 per market. For decades until about 1990, it was 2 per market. Any broadcasting student has heard a zillion times that the FCC has a duty of making sure stations operate in the "public interest, convenience, and necessity." If you study broadcasting, that phrase will be drilled into your head for life.

Because the radio spectrum is limited, that means the FCC is supposed to award broadcasting licenses to different owners - guaranteeing a diversity of voices. But the FCC neglects this obligation. Every station sale to Crap Channel or some other corporation is rubber-stamped.

So is every effort by these corporations to abandon smaller markets like Jonesboro to build an impenetrable monolith in larger cities like Memphis. Having your small city mentioned once between ads at the top of the hour means nothing anymore.

Then again, radio means nothing anymore. The industry could have adapted, but instead it self-destructed.

So is there much interest in keeping KIYS in Jonesboro? There ought to be. They've had nearly the same basic format for years, so at least they're consistent there. When they move to Memphis, they'll be a new signal there, and will probably be one of these stations that just ends up switching its format once every 6 months.

Despite the poor quality of today's music, radio can still perform a valuable service by announcing local events and emergencies. It's also important to note that when Clear Channel owned most of the stations in Minot, North Dakota, it left its stations on autopilot, so listeners weren't informed when a train derailed and released poisonous chemicals.

I think maybe Arkansas legislators need to tell the FCC where they stand. Jonesboro needs its stations.

(Source: http://radioinsight.com/clear-channel-preparing-memphis-move-in)

Keep nuke plants out of Kentucky? ('Pail Poll)

As usual, you passed last week's 'Pail Poll with flying colors. When presented with evidence that the War on Drugs in its current form has failed, you voted 14 to 1 to end the drug war.

This week's 'Pail Poll asks whether you'd favor states like Kentucky continuing their bans on constructing new nuclear power plants.

After reading about the Three Mile Island cover-up, this is sure to become a major issue. Apologists for the nuke industry say nuke plants are safer than ever, but that's what they said 30 years ago too.

So if you allow new nuclear plants in your state, don't be surprised if there's another Three Mile Island.

Energy is a serious matter, but it's not worth the trouble of the most dangerous form of energy ever devised.

Carrying oversized packs of gum: an international sport! (Bubble Gum Weekend)

This feature has been legendary for not just its ridicule of American gum commercials but of foreign spots as well. But I'm not quite sure what to make of this.

I found what appears to be an '80s-era Wrigley's spearmint gum commersh from the Soviet Union.

I didn't know the Soviet Union even had commercial TV! I figured it had gum, because most places did. But I thought TV there was just a government organ that broadcast ruling party propaganda all day.

Anyway, you'll be amused by this ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCWxEQhP20k

That ad has all the trappings of an American commersh, including people riding bikes down steps.

It also uses the same theme that was reportedly used in the American ads for Wrigley's spearmint gum in the '70s - namely, people carrying around oversized packs of gum. Even the jingle is reported to be nearly the same, with the "gum gum gum" low notes. Apparently, that campaign was mocked hilariously by a sketch on 'The Electric Company'.

I wonder if Wrigley's could have been sued for false advertising, if anyone buyed a pack of gum and expected it to be the size shown in the ad.

Proof of insurance required to buy gas?

You can tell the right-wing Hawaii Senate has the insurance racket in its back pocket caressing its pelvic area.

Last month, lawmakers approved a resolution to urge the state insurance commissioner to find a way to require motorists to present proof of car insurance just to buy (ppphh!) gas.

The resolution appears to be typed on a typewriter and thus looks like an old Last Word from 1993 - except that its political stance is the precise polar opposite:

http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2009/Bills/SCR101_.pdf

Let's get a few things straight here. While lawmakers complain that 1 in 5 drivers in Hawaii are uninsured, studies keep showing that a much lower percentage of cars involved in accidents are uninsured. Sounds to me like uninsured drivers are actually safer than the insured! And I would believe that.

And since the resolution cites the fact that the rate of uninsured drivers will increase because of unemployment, why aren't legislators doing anything about unemployment?

This insurance card proposal is driven by insurance company greed. Its legality is highly questionable too, as it runs roughshod over the notion of requiring probable cause.

Is this the country's future? Unless people push back, prepare for the worst. How many Americans 30 years ago would have ever thought we'd see fascist policies like Real ID?

But this may not matter much. I can seriously see the day when right-wing lawmakers require cars to carry an electronic box that lets authorities shut the car off by remote control if they find out the driver flunked high school 20 years earlier or has an outstanding cable bill.

So it looks like most folks won't even make it to the gas station to have to worry about being carded.

Holder proposes pot crackdown

Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. signaled an era of long-awaited change when he vowed to abandon trite War on Drugs rhetoric and stop prosecuting medical marijuana patients in states where medical use of the herb is legal.

But in modern America, no positive changes last too long before political pressure kicks in.

The violence on the Mexican border lately is fueled entirely by the War on Drugs. So what's Holder's solution now? Why, expand the failed drug war, of course.

Holder now says he wants to find a way to lower the minimum amount of marijuana required for federal prosecution for possession.

Really?

Because we've all seen how well this type of stuff has worked before, right?

One has to ask how strong the political pressure to expand the War on Drugs has become. All the drug war has done for decades is expand, and it's never worked.

This idea is probably fueled by the corrupt drug warriors trying to hit up the government for yet more money to buy snazzier toys to play with.

(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/world/americas/04mexico.htm)

Three Mile Island carnage covered up for 30 years

Nuclear power has become sacred to our political "leaders." The McCain campaign even said nuclear energy was a green technology. Kentucky lawmakers are trying to gut rules that have prohibited nuke plants from being built in the state.

Seven years before Chernobyl, Pennsylvanians were confronted with the disaster at Three Mile Island. The official story was that the 1979 incident caused no real damage, let alone any deaths of humans or pets. Industry big shots ran slick magazine ads crying about being the biggest victims themselves because of whatever bad press the meltdown did generate.

But the official story is a Big Lie. It's taken 30 years for the truth to come out, but at long last, it's emerging. Years ago, I saw a photo of an eyeless dog whose condition was attributed to the meltdown, but other details of the damage have been mostly hushed up until now.

Radiation from the Three Mile Island accident killed pets and farm animals for miles around. There were plenty of human costs as well. Ten miles away from the meltdown, a woman's kidney practically vanished. Cancer rates soared in the surrounding valley. Babies were born with serious deformities. In addition, valuable plants were destroyed.

The cover-up is extensive. The would-be writers of a book about the Three Mile Island accident were later run off the road in their car. One of them was killed, and the manuscript for the book vanished from the car's trunk.

Through it all, however, lawmakers continue to insist nuclear power is the safest form of energy.

Energy companies are now seeking to build 26 nuclear reactors across the country - the first new applications since the Three Mile Island disaster. In Georgia, legislators actually approved a law to force utility customers (such as average households) to pay for the reactors that are about to be built in that state. In Florida and South Carolina, folks have also seen an increase in their bills to pay for new reactors.

The real costs, however, may be in the illnesses and deaths that are sure to result the next time there's a meltdown.

If you happen to find a phone book for Campbell County, Kentucky, from the '80s - before the Zimmer plant converted from nuclear to coal - it may feature a terrifying map. This map showed a nuclear cloud covering much of the county and gave detailed instructions on how to evacuate in case there was a meltdown at Zimmer.

Many locals who are my age grew up with that map, and the renewed interest in nuclear power should send a shiver up the spine of all of us.

What excuses are the nuke apologists going to come up with to defend this dangerous form of energy now?

(Source: http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/04/post-4.html)

Public schools require Bible reading over summer (a blast from the past)

Since we're on the topic of separation of religion and state, here's a story from 4 years ago about how this constitutional doctrine had already been gutted by mid-decade.

In 2005, 2 public high schools in Boca Raton, Florida, required students to read the Bible while they were on summer break. One of the schools required all 11th grade students to read 9 Bible chapters (or 11 if they were in advanced placement courses). The other school required it only for students in advanced classes.

One has to ask why all of the 11th graders at one of the schools were being given homework over the summer anyway. One also has to ask how the school expected to get away with violating the establishment clause right out in the open.

This followed a proposal by one of that area's high schools to offer a Bible class.

It's unknown how long this requirement lasted, or if these schools still require students to read the Bible over the summer. I guarantee you that if I went to a public school that required Bible reading, I'd be on the school's case immediately.

Why? To me, few things are more offensive than such unmistakable violations of the Bill of Rights. Sure, there's things in the Constitution that have to be interpreted. But I thought this issue was settled at least 50 years ago.

(Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel 5/26/05)

State tries to give money to religious university

The U.S. Constitution has what seems to be an ironclad safeguard of separation of church and state. It has tended to shield us from controversies seen in other countries. Even in Canada, for instance, religious bodies claim they have a legal right to taxpayer funding - a claim that might not get very far in the good ol' U.S. and A.

Until now.

The Kentucky Constitution is every bit as clear as the U.S. Constitution. It says tax money can't be used to subsidize religious schools.

Naturally, however, Kentuckians' tax dollars are used for religious schools anyway. The state had established a $10,000,000 appropriation for the University of the Cumberlands, a Southern Baptist institution.

Just to make things clear: The state can't legally do this. It's unconstitutional.

The appropriation was first approved by the right-wing administration of then-Gov. Ernie Fletcher. This was particularly controversial because of the university's anti-gay views. (The university also had supporters of a gay rights group arrested for trespassing even though they were on a state highway.) The state's funding of the university has been fought through the courts ever since.

Last year, a judge correctly ruled that the state can't spend money on religious schools.

Now, however, this case has gone to the Kentucky Supreme Court. I guess the university didn't learn, did it?

If the court restores the appropriation, one has to wonder what's next. Will every denomination demand that the taxpayers fund its schools? Does this mean the state can actually erect school systems based on denominational lines? Once we're obligated to fund religious schools with our tax dollars, where does it stop?

(Source: http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-au-and-aclu-say-funds-for-religious-univ-unconstitutional)

Sick around PBS

After the Bush regime stacked the Corporation for Public Broadcasting with right-wing cronies, PBS has become as corruptible as the commercial networks.

Respected journalist T.R. Reid made a documentary for 'Frontline' called 'Sick Around America'. Observers have described this work as excellent. In this film, Reid travels around the country to interview doctors, patients, and insurance execs to shed some light on the horridity of America's broken health care system.

When PBS showed 'Sick Around America', however, the network cut out Reid's commentary and replaced it with editorializing by some insurance company hack. The insurer rant said America could get decent health care if only it would force everyone to buy insurance from for-profit companies.

Because we've all seen how well mandatory insurance has eliminated road rage, right? (That's sarcasm, people.)

Maybe PooBS didn't want to alienate its sponsors. Thirty years ago, you'd probably never see a commercial on PBS. Try watching PBS now, and you'd be shocked at the amount of what are literally ads - often insurance ads.

If Big Bird wasn't a nudist, he'd be shitting his pants right about now.

Reid was so outraged at PBS bowdlerizing his documentary that he said, "'Frontline' will never touch me again – they are done with me."

After PBS's neocon hit piece on a democratically elected political leader abroad, I think we're about done with PBS - at least until the CPB gets rid of all the Bush cronies who have an agenda.

(Source: http://counterpunch.com/mokhiber04022009.html)

Missouri wastes stimulus money

I've said it before: The stimulus is good, but you have to keep a very, very close eye on where stimulus money goes.

This money can be used for a lot of things that make life better for the public: schools, bridges, libraries, firehouses, and so on.

But the Republican-controlled Missouri Senate has different ideas. They want to spend most of the stimulus money on a database to track anyone who buys over-the-counter pseudoephedrine drugs.

The country would be better off if Missouri just rejected this stimulus money outright. Seriously. This is the type of waste the Obama administration ought to clamp down on.

Who decided to squander federal tax dollars on this nonsense? Well, the Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee is chaired by an ultraconservative bully named Gary Nodler - who may be best known for his temper tantrum in which he started an argument with a caretaker for the developmentally disabled at a movie theater.

What a disgrace.

(Source: http://www.kctv5.com/money/19068566/detail.html)

School lies about harassment that caused suicides

In 2007, a high school student in Mentor, Ohio, committed suicide because of a pattern of harassment at school. The school knew about the harassment - but chose not to do anything about it. In fact, much of the harassment took place right in front of the teachers (much like at Brossart).

Now his parents are suing. They aren't seeking monetary damages, but the suit attempts to force the school to acknowledge serial bullying and take steps to prevent it.

It turns out that this wasn't the only harassment-induced suicide in that class in 2007. That same year, 3 other students in the very same class also took their own lives as a result of school harassment.

In addition, a schoolmate of the 4 suicide victims threatened to kill himself. His father said, "What it boils down to is, the football players, cheerleaders, and kids with money have a different set of rules than everybody else."

This is the exact same very thing I've been saying for 20 years. Some kids don't have to follow the rules like everyone else. Anyone who doesn't have their head up their ass can see this.

Despite this, an official with the Mentor school system denied the school had any harassment problem at all. He said the suicides had nothing to do with harassment. But that is an out-and-out lie.

Furthermore, school officials had urged students not to cooperate with the police investigation into the suicides.

If a poor inner-city school system has an attendance rate of less than 95%, the freeposphere goes bonkers and demands the state take over the school system. And this has happened before in Ohio. But a wealthy suburban district like Mentor has far worse problems, and nobody is held accountable.

School officials and harassers in this case need to be prosecuted for murder. And the state needs to step up its oversight over the Mentor schools.

There's no bully worse than a privileged suburban bully. They've had everything handed to them their whole lives yet have no appreciation for it. And they're the corrupt politicians and corporate tyrants of tomorrow.

Once they get past their mid-teens, these Hitler Youth cannot be rehabilitated. At minimum, they shouldn't be allowed to attend regular schools, should be barred for life from employment that involves interaction with young people, and should lose their driver's license.

If the family that filed the lawsuit was seeking monetary damages, I'd have no problem awarding them everything the school is worth.

(Source: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3812739;
http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=cincinnati&sParam=30480001.story)

DHS wasted thousands on Jerkoff book

I got so sick of hearing Michael "Skeletor" Chertoff run his stupid mouth that sometimes I wished they'd bring back TV Brick.

Now it turns out that the then-Chertoff-led Department of Homeland Suckyurity wasted almost $16,000 of the taxpayers' money publishing and distributing a 315-page book of his speeches.

Aaah! Wasted!

This despite the fact that probably all of Chertoff's speeches are available online.

When this waste was first revealed, a DHS spokesperson said the project cost less than it did. This turned out to be wafto gas.

One has to ask who the hell would actually buy a book of Jerkoff's speeches.

What an egomaniac.

(Source: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/01/dhs-wastes-16000-chertoff)

GOP wants new election because they lost

Hey, I thought April Fools' Day was over!

What? You mean they're serious?

Damn. Their babyishness never ends, does it?

In Alaska, Republicans want to hold a new Senate election all because their candidate, embattled longtime incumbent Ted Stevens, lost. They've demanded that the winner in that election, Democrat Mark Begich, resign his Senate seat.


You can't make up stuff like this, folks.

This follows the droppage on a technicality of a felony corruption case against Stevens. Republicans cry that a new election is needed because the case supposedly influenced the election and was carried out by a "corrupt" Justice Department.

Uh, Repubs? At the time of the election, Bush was still in the White House, so it was Bush's Justice Department. The Obama Justice Department is the one that dropped the charges after Stevens was convicted of 7 felonies. It was the Bush Justice Department that botched the case.

Naturally, Sarah Palin has joined the demand for a new election.

Aw, did the widdle crybabies lose?

I'll let the Republicans have their stupid election do-over when they finally admit that they've rigged most federal elections of the past 15 years.

(Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5giw_d3ifmIHJza3Hv5dJ8cuOv_LAD97AHMVO0;
http://newsminer.com/news/2009/apr/02/alaska-republicans-call-begich-step-down-seek-new-)

Operation Contours: 33.33333% complete

My side job of drawing bicycling maps of Cincinnati area neighborhoods bips in a big way, like so many other things we know and love.

In conservaworld, a map is just a bunch of lines scrawled on a page or a computer screen. You can settle for that, if you choose. But where's the heart?

My maps are different in that they challenge rightist convention by appealing to the bicycle commuter - and look so pretty in the process.

Now I've launched Operation Contours - to add elevation contours to my maps. I've finished the contours for 2 of my 6 otherwise completed maps: Kenton Vale and Cincinnati's Pendleton neighborhood. This data comes to us from the unabashedly public domain topographic maps put out by the United States Geological Survey.

To see my maps, point your pooper here:

http://bunkerblast.info/maps

Suit over power company's sweetheart deals dismissed

Just because something's legal doesn't mean it isn't greedy and obnoxious.

Utility giant Duke Energy has been embattled lately for its series of rate hike demands that have followed the Blackout of '08.

And for Duke's deals that gave out millions of dollars in rebates to major Cincinnati area corporations to win support for an earlier rate increase.

These deals were outrageous and were really a payoff. And they cost Duke's other customers - namely, small businesses and families, who were forced to subsidize it.

But someone sued 'em to court for antitrust violations.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in Duke's favor. Now, a federal court has done the same.

The judge cited a 1922 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said that rates approved by regulatory bodies like Puke-O aren't subject to antitrust suits.

I'm being really restrained regarding the latest development. Man, do I mean restrained! The 1922 decision was probably an activist ruling itself, which the Supremes probably carved out of whole cloth.

At the same time, however, the federal judge in the recent case said PUCO can still address allegations of unlawful discounting by Duke in a separate case.

There ought to be a law that says rates approved by regulators can still be subject to antitrust claims.

(Source: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090401/BIZ01/304010066)

Go fly a kite, 'Sesame Street'! ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

'Sesame Street' is a fantasy world where kites actually work the way they're supposed to.

The only time I remember trying to fly a kite was in grade school when they had us put together kites with the White Cloud toilet paper logo on them. When the school took the student body to a nearby field to fly these kites, most of our attempts were hilariously unsuccessful, as the kites opted to rest limply on the ground.

Maybe it was because my schoolmates kept throwing rocks through each others' kites and ripping them, but I don't know.

I didn't try to fly a kite again - especially after the Kite-Eating Power Line in my neighborhood slowly devoured someone's snazzy bat kite.

On 'Sesame Street', however, life is different. It's a cheery world where nothing goes traumatically wrong, where they have 8-foot-tall talking birds, and where kites really work.

That last point is proven by this clip that I remember seeing as a child in the '70s:



The acoustic guitar music used for this clip has also been used for other shows. It reportedly was played on an episode of 'The Odd Couple' and on a children's radio show in Chicago.

Although there is nothing scary or humorous about that clip, 'Sesame Street' needs to bring it back anyway. It's certainly more educational than what usually fills the airwaves these days.

EU proposes car surveillance

If there's any doubt remaining that the European Union is an undemocratic, right-wing, authoritarian construct, this story should flush those doubts right out of your mind.

When I saw this story today, I thought it had to be some sick April Fools' Day joke. But nope. It's sadly real.

The EU is proposing a policy for new cars to carry a "communication box" to constantly transmit their whereabouts to authorities. EU leaders claim the box will help reduce highway accidents. Of course, they never explain how.

Privacy advocates are outraged - as we should all be.

The measure is backed by car makers and the telcom industry - who'll profit from it. The graft never ceases, does it?

Initially, the boxes wouldn't be mandatory in every car. But only the very naive wouldn't know that's where this is headed. Paul Kompfner, who manages the program, says he sees the EU making the boxes a requirement. In fact, there have been proposals in the United States to make similar devices obligatory.

I'd like to be able to say that mandatory boxes in cars would be illegal, but this is the EU we're talking about, where nobody seems to have any legally guaranteed rights - at least not in practice. This is the same EU that allows member countries to persecute people because of their religion, so human rights obviously aren't the priority they should be.

You can always count on the European Union to serve the corporate overlords.

(Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/31/surveillance-transport-communication-box)

ConservaFool blog turns 4

Remember the Conservative Fool Of The Day blog?

This great project beginned on Blog-City on April 1, 2005 - April Fools' Day, to you and me. It lasted until 2007, when Blog-City announced it was becoming a pay service. (Seen any blogs on Blog-City since it went pay? Didn't think so.) It was known as ConservaFools for short.

On almost every weekday, that blog exposed not only right-wing lawbreaking and graft, but also every bigoted remark, public temper tantrum, or stupid idea a right-winger might generate. We profiled politicians, commentators, entertainment celebs, and everyday rightist clods.

One entry profiled a GOP patronage employee in Kentucky who refused to answer phones because he considered it beneath him. Another dealt with a congressman who wasted a government grant on an investigation into Goth culture. Inductees were usually limited to just one entry, but I'm pretty sure that exceptions were made for Ann Coulter and Geoff Davis.

The first person profiled on the ConservaFools blog? I'll give you a hint: His initials were G.W.B. The era in which the blog ran featured some of the most colorful right-wing meltdowns in recent memory.

I and the other participants of that now-defunct blog are proud to say that the Far Right endured heaps of much-deserved ridicule at our hands.

Long live the Conservative Fool Of The Day blog! Like it's a big ol' Kentucky highway marker!

Jindal rejects Medicaid money

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is a lean, mean "soak-the-poor" machine.

First, Jindal rejected money from the stimulus package that would have aided the unemployed. With the country just now coming out of the worst economic woes in 75 years, he sure picked a hell of a time for that, didn't he?

Now he's rejecting more stimulus money - money that would have gone to Medicaid programs.

In other words, Jindal rejected money that was supposed to go to medical care for the poor and uninsured. He came up with the usual bullshit excuses.

Poor in Louisiana? Well, now you're not going to get the medical care you should get, all because Bobby Jindal decided not to let you have it.

Bobby Jindal is supposed to be working for the people of Louisiana - not for the Republican faithful who want him to show what a big conservative he is.

(Source: http://www.nola.com/elections/index.ssf/2009/03/jindal_team_rejects_another_pa.html)