CINCINNATI - A would-be street robber in Mount Auburn suffered the more serious injuries when his victim pulled out a gun and shot him three times.
It all happened around 11:30 p.m. Thursday night on Boal Street in Mount Auburn. Cincinnati police officers at the scene tell 9 News that the would-be victim was possibly looking for help with directions.
That's when he was approached by one or two men attempting to rob him.
What the robbery suspects didn't know was the man they approached is an Iraq War veteran, has a gun permit and a loaded gun in the car.
The attempted robbery victim fired at least three shots, some of them hitting the would-be robber in the mid-section.
One of the robbery suspects was also carrying a gun, and he fired at the victim, hitting the victim in the arm, possibly grazing a passenger and smashing the rear window of the victim's car.
Police have not released the identities or conditions of any of the people involved in this attempted robbery and gunfight at the foot of Mount Auburn.
#2
This happens about once a year in the Cinti area. Crooks never even consider the possibility that their prey is armed. It's usually hilarious when they get their arse handed to them, but in this case it looks like the guy got off a lucky shot back at him.
Other rats in the neighborhood will no doubt be thinking of this, at least for a while.
Awesome photo at link.
The David and Goliath story of Yang Youde, the farmer who decided to fight off land eviction teams with his homemade cannon, attracted our attention and the team flew down to learn more. What follows are details that didn't manage to make into our broadcast report, but which I feel are important as they highlight issues concerning domestic media censorship and local government operations.
A mystery vehicle followed us after our morning visit with Farmer Yang, all the way back to Wuhan city proper. Five minutes after returning to my hotel room, I was told some officials were waiting to speak to us. I walked into the hotel lounge -- and lo! Seven of them.
#2
Yes indeed. In China, hired thugs beat you on the face with bricks. In the US, lawyers beat you on the face with bricks, and you also have to pay court costs.
#3
Huh. In China, it would seem that "The Cultural Revolution isn't dead. It isn't even past." Especially when you're standing in the way of some Princeling's development project.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/09/2010 13:01 Comments ||
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'Tis sounds like another OLD DREAM/VISION of mine, but where, when, D *** NG IT?
A Muslim man charged with setting fire to a Marietta mosque may be in the country illegally, law enforcement officials confirmed Thursday. Tamsir Mendy, 26, a native of Gambia, has been charged with first-degree arson and is being held without bail at the Cobb County detention center, said Scott Tucker, Marietta assistant fire chief. Federal authorities have placed an "ICE detainer" on Mendy -- meaning he will be handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for possible deportation after his case is adjudicated, said Cobb sheriff's department spokeswoman Nancy Bodiford.
While Mendy sat in jail Thursday, his wife's cousin, Momodou Njie, was proclaiming his innocence. "[Mendy] is not a criminal. It makes no sense for a Muslim to set fire to a mosque where he goes to pray everyday," Njie told the AJC. "I think the authorities are looking for a quick answer and there he was. I still think this was a hate crime."
Njie also insisted that Mendy was in the country legally. "He has been staying with me for the past two weeks and I have known him for six or seven years, he is not that kind of guy," Njie said. "I would like to see the evidence against him."
Firefighters got the call about 11:30 p.m. Monday that the Masjid Al-Hedaya (Islamic Center of Marietta) was on fire. When they arrived at 968 Powder Springs St., flames were coming from the front and back of the converted house. Firefighters saved the structure, but damage is estimated at $100,000, Tucker said.
Mendy emerged as a suspect during an investigation by the Marietta Fire Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officials, Tucker said. He was taken into custody at about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Marietta Fire Department headquarters. There are currently no other suspects, Tucker said.
Officials said accelerants were used in the fire, but they would not elaborate on any of the evidence found during the investigation, or on any possible motives. Investigators have ruled out the possibility that the arson was a hate crime.
The mosque's leader, Imam Hafiz Inayatullah, said members had ended a prayer service at the mosque at about 10:25 Monday night. After locking the doors, a member noticed Mendy sitting a short ways off, Inayatullah said. Inayatullah has known Mendy for just two weeks. He was not a regular member of the mosque, praying there only a few times a week, the imam said. During the time Mendy had been at the mosque, Inayatullah had only asked him his name.
"It's obviously quite disturbing to hear that a member of the Muslim community is accused of this crime," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. I'm sure that the disappointment must be overwhelming for Hoop.
Earlier this week, the council -- instinctively playing the victim card noting other alleged acts of alleged violence against alleged Muslims nationwide -- had asked the FBI to investigate the fire. "You never know these things going in. You have to use the information you have at the time. We want to see justice done no matter who committed the crime," Hooper said.
In addition to questioning members of the mosque, investigators were also questioning members of an adjacent mosque nearby. A land disagreement almost three years ago divided the members into two factions.
California parole agents spoke with alleged kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard during her apparent captivity but failed to follow up despite her alleged captor's sex offender status, according to a new report.
People magazine's issue with recently freed, alleged kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard on the cover appears on a newstand in Washington, D.C., in this Oct. 16, 2009 photo.
Dugard, now 30, made mention of the visit during negotiations that led to the state's recent decision to pay her $20 million for failing to properly supervise her alleged captor, registered sex offender Phillip Garrido."
State agents also spoke to Dugard's oldest daughter, one of two children she bore, allegedly to Garrido, during her 18-year ordeal, according to the report, which was prepared by the state attorney general's office and initially obtained by The Associated Press.
The report did not mention exactly when Dugard spoke to the parole agents.
It is the latest in an embarrassing string of apparent missteps on the part of the state's parole system.
A scathing investigation last year by the California Office of the Inspector General concluded that Garrido's state parole officers had missed numerous opportunities to locate and rescue Dugard and her children from their backyard prison.
She was eventually found last August when two UC-Berkeley police officers notified authorities after finding Garrido handing out religious materials on campus, Dugard's daughters in tow.
Dugard, kidnapped in broad daylight in 1991, had been living in a dirty backyard labyrinth of tents and sheds. She has been living in an undiclosed location in northern California with her daughters, now 12 and 15, and her mother.
The $20 million settlement was reached with Dugard and the Department of Justice on June 24.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2010 00:00 ||
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Anything worth shooting is worth shooting four times. Coincidentally, the number four has the connotation of ill fortune and death in Chinese culture.
That cop was using a Model 77. It is a compact, pocket-sized, blowback-operated handgun that fires the indigenously developed 7.62x17mm round. Love the star grips.
#3
Shooter's technique looked real shaky - didn't aim, just threw her arm out and fired while the arm was till moving. One lucky hostage. Still _ all's well that ends well
Parrots are now taught to recite the Quran and perform prayers; a trend taking place in Saudi Arabia with big money to be made.
“Teaching parrots Quran is not new, it goes back to eight years ago when people started teaching parrots to sing, and then the trend to teach them Quran caught up,” said Abd Al Rahman al-Arwan, one of the amateurs raising parrots.
“Now when people know that someone has a parrot, the first question the parrot owner will be asked is whether the parrot has memorized some verses from the Quran, if the answer is no, they will reply promptly that the parrot does not deserve a high price,” al-Arwan added.
Aya is the shortest division of a Quranic text into a phrase or a sentence, while a Sura is the division of the Quranic text into a chapter or part, set apart from the preceding and following text.
If the parrot memorizes Ayas from the Quran with pellucid clarity, the price range will be around 12-13 thousand Riyals, and if the bird has Suras stored in its intelligent memory, its price will go up to 20 thousands, however the price can go much higher if the bird can recite Suras and ham it up with performing prayers, and uttering the calling “Labyak Alahuma Labayk” that the Muslim devotees utter aloud when performing Hajj, one of Islam’s five pillars, which means literally “at your service Allah”. al-Arwan said.
“It comes gradually each day I teach the parrot one Aya, and so on for the following days, until it memorizes the whole Sura. At times I teach the parrot by comparing with my replies, I can ask the parrot “who is your god?” to teach him to say Allah, and I repeat the question, or the parrot asks me the same question and I answer “Allah”, he added.
Old and young parrots have glaringly different abilities in learning. The young birds can start with simple words such as “Hello” or “Baba” (Arabic for Dad), while the old birds can start up with Ayas and long sentences.
Also, the best time to teach this intelligent bird vocabulary and speech is early morning, catching up with the birdÂ’s peak in vitality, and alertness, explained al-Arwan, addiing that the bird is extremely loyal and sensitive.
“The parrot knows his owner even if the owner changes location, and if the parrot notices that the owner is not speaking to one particular person, the bird will follow suit. The bird can also stop from speaking if meals are changed,” he said.
The highest price paid for a parrot so far is 40,000 Saudi Riyals or around $10,600.
(The word is derived from the Latin term for parrots psittaci in an analogy with the ability of some parrots to speak human words but without any knowledge of their meaning.)
[Bangla Daily Star] The students of class-V of ebtedai madrasa will sit for a terminal examination for the first time this year along with primary school students.
Only school students of class-V participated in the previous primary terminal examination introduced last year.
Students of the ebtedai madrasas that follow the curriculum of Bangladesh Madrasa Education Board will take the examination likely to be held on November 22 this year, said officials of primary and mass education ministry yesterday.
Mohammad Yusuf, chairman of Madrasa Education Board, said around five lakh madrasa students are expected to sit for the exam, which will be supervised by the primary and mass education ministry.
Around 21 lakh students of primary schools will also take the exams and the results are likely to be published within December 20-25, said ministry officials.
The government last year replaced the primary scholarship examination with the terminal examination, now the largest public exam in Bangladesh.
Nearly 19 lakh students of class-V from 81,372 schools sat the exam. Of them, 16 lakh passed.
The government now mulls increasing scholarships in terminal exam considering the swelling number of primary students, the officials said.
"We will try to raise the number of scholarships to one lakh from last year's 50,000," said Abu Alam Mohammad Shahid Khan, secretary-in-charge of the ministry.
Of the scholarships, 50,000 will be given in talent pool and the rest in general category, he said.
The examinations of six subjects for both school and madrasa students will be held in six days instead of three, said officials of Directorate of Primary Education (DPE).
The students must pass the terminal exam to get enrolled in class-VI, they said.
The ministry organised a daylong workshop on preparation for holding the exams at the DPE yesterday in presence of Primary and Mass Education Minister Afsarul Ameen, DPE director general, and other high-ups.
The minister said last year's experience in holding the exams would help them make it foolproof this time.
The officials proposed bringing a few amendments to the policy on terminal exams.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Article has neither irony nor sense. I suspect it is not a requirement.
#3
FYI,
A lakh = 100,000.
Thus 2.1 primary school students will take these exams.
Last year 1.9 million students took the tests and 1.6 million passed.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/09/2010 11:24 Comments ||
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#4
It seems unfair to expect Class V madrassah students to be able to actually read, write, and cipher like normal students. After all, they've been memorizing Suras for five years without let-up at this point -- no time for petty endeavors like literacy.
#1
Spies are icky and embarrassing. Don't you Russians have a some folks we could trade for? Let's get this nastiness over quickly before the political campaign contributions, home and student loan applications, and potential terrorist connections are examined.
#2
What's sad is that I - for one - would be happy to take the ten Russian agents - who I frankly know little about - and have them replace Obama, Biden, Emmanuel, Holder, Napolitano, Pelosi, Reed, and a few other administration officials - and I would then sleep a lot easier at nights, believing that the ate of the USA was in better hands than before.
I have no reason to believe that these ten had any animosity toward the USA, or wished to harm the country. They probably should have just been fined, and required to register as foreign agents.
It is so sad that our nation is led by such damage-inducing individuals.
#4
Indeed, getting ones guys back is supposed to be an important trust tool. Perhaps the clanfolk on the eastern side will get a ticket to ride. Where will they do this act? There is a lack current, of checkpoints and bridges, I suggest Lisbon for it's historical attributes and atmosphere proto-noir. Or halftime at world cup for security and irony.
#5
Obama administration officials said the deal illustrated the good working relationship between the former Cold War enemies.
Officials also indicated that the spies had provided little useful information after their arrests.
Obama bent over on missile defense, looked away from the Gibraltar incident, and acquiesced on the sanction language for Iran. And now, had the roles been reversed it’s impossible to fathom that Putin would have been as cordial with our spooks. But official word is that after a decade of counter espionage with this many actors there weren’t any loose ends and everyone is buddy-buddy. “Good working relationship”? What am I missing?
#6
From everything I've read about this crew, they sound like The Gang That Couldn't Spy Straight. I have a feeling the four we're getting back were far more effective.
At least one of the four — ex-colonel Alexander Zaporozhsky — may have exposed information leading to the capture of Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames, two of the most damaging spies ever caught in the U.S.
#8
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree pardoning the four Thursday after officials forced them to sign confessions. The Kremlin identified them as Zaporozhsky, Igor Sutyagin, Gennady Vasilenko and Sergei Skripal.
Zaporozhsky, a former colonel in the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, sentenced in 2003 to 18 years in prison for espionage on behalf of the United States. He was convicted on charges of passing secret information about Russian agents working undercover in the United States and about American sources working for Russian intelligence.
Skripal, a former colonel in the Russian military intelligence, was found guilty of passing state secrets to Britain and sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2006. He was accused of revealing the names of several dozen Russian agents working in Europe.
Sutyagin, an arms control researcher convicted of spying for the United States, asserts his innocence despite the confession. He worked with the U.S.A. and Canada Institute, a respected Moscow-based think-tank, before being sentenced to 15 years in 2004 on charges of passing information on nuclear submarines and other weapons to a British company that Russia claimed was a CIA cover. Sutyagin says the information he provided was available from open sources.
Gennady Vasilenko, a former KGB officer employed as a security officer by Russia's NTV television, was sentenced in 2006 to three years in prison on murky charges of illegal weapons possession and resistance to authorities. It was not exactly clear why he was involved in the spy swap.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Rival politicians in Taiwan's parliament have traded blows over a controversial trade pact with China, injuring several lawmakers.
The fisticuffs broke out immediately after the debate started on the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement on Thursday.
At least four lawmakers were injured as lawmakers threw objects and kicked each other.
Two MPs, one from the ruling party and the other from the opposition were hospitalized.
"He was bleeding after he was hit in the corner of the eye, and doctors had to stitch him up," Premier Wu Den-yih told reporters referring to Wu Yu-sheng, a member of the ruling Kuomintang party.
Negotiators from Taiwan and China signed the trade pact last week.
The ruling party politicians have hailed the agreement, saying it will bolster the island's economy.
Opponents claim the flood of Chinese imports will hurt small local businesses.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Those dudes are always mixing it up on the floor.
Nothing new here.
#3
S-o-o-o IOW, IIUC TAIWAN'S GOVT is having the overt internal quarrel that KIMMIE + NOKOR'S REGIME should be having, oer the Sino-DPRK agreement to set up near-term, likely CHINESE-CENTRIC/DOMINATED FREEPORTS OR SEZS-EEZS in North Korea.
Where once low-tech factories and scant wages were welcomed in a China eager to escape isolation and poverty, workers are now demanding a bigger share of the profits. The government, meanwhile, is pushing foreign companies to make investments in areas it believes will create greater wealth for China, like high technology.
Many companies are striving to stay profitable by shifting factories to cheaper areas farther inland or to other developing countries, and a few are even resuming production in the West. Interesting article...
#2
Purpose of Western company in China:
1 Finance building of factory.
2 Provide samples and designs of product and train Chinese partners to make same.
3 Go away and not bother me anymore, your purpose is finished now.
Posted by: Grunter in Sydney ||
07/09/2010 20:52 Comments ||
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Its a sorry-ass state of affairs when China has become too expensive for the wage slavers.
A new study from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce shows that small businesses shoulder a sizable burden of the nation's tort liability costs, having paid $105.4 billion in 2008-- a third of it out of their own pockets. I wonder what the number was for small Chinese businesses.
According to the report, small businesses bore 81 percent of business tort liability costs but took in only 22 percent of revenue.
Noting that small businesses have created 64 percent of all net new jobs in the U.S. over the past 15 years, ILR President Lisa Rickard said the tort system is costing jobs. "As America struggles out of this current economic downturn, this study shows that our lawsuit system continues to be a drag on job-creating small businesses," she said. I'm sure that with this study in hand, Obama's laser-like focus on job creation will now turn to tort reform.
Posted by: Matt ||
07/09/2010 11:04 ||
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#1
Obama's laser-like focus on job creation will now turn to tort reform
Yeah, and make it easier for tort lawyers to sue small businesses.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals swiftly denied the U.S. government's request to restore the ban on deepwater drilling while the case is on appeal in a 2-to-1 decision shortly after oral arguments Thursday afternoon. Nothing say "bitchslap" quite like a federal appeals court ruling on the same day it heard oral argument.
The ruling came as a surprise, because at the conclusion of the hourlong hearing Thursday afternoon, Judge W. Eugene Davis of Lafayette, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, and a damn fine appointment it was
said the three-judge panel would rule by early next week. "Fooled you, suckas."
"The secretary has failed to demonstrate a likelihood of irreparable injury if the stay is not granted; he has made no showing that there is any likelihood that drilling activities will be resumed pending appeal," the decision reads.
The ruling, however, did say that the Interior Department can apply for "emergency relief" if it can show that drilling has begun or is about to begin. In legal terminology, this is known as a "double-dog dare."
The court also announced that although the Interior Department has not asked for the case to be heard on an expedited basis -- something that has been interpreted to mean that the federal government sought to maintain a de facto moratorium by extending the legal limbo of the appeal for as long as possible -- it will hear the full appeal of the merits of the case on an accelerated basis the week of Aug. 30. "So bring your toothbrush."
Posted by: Matt ||
07/09/2010 09:08 ||
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#1
The practical effect of this is minimal, since there is a de facto drilling moratorium until this is finally settled in the courts three or four years from now.
#2
I noticed that none of the major oil company's opposed the moratorium. I think it is a very well established legal precedent that the government can not sell oil leases and then impose a moratorium which prevents the oil company's from drilling the leases.
Rather than fight a presidential moratorium the oil company's simply turn around and sue the Interior Department for expenses and lost potential profits and then laugh all the way to the bank. The oil company's have their profits and don't even have to set up a rig.
Thousands of people are put out of work and the states lose billions of dollars in oil revenue.
The oil company's don't care where they drill. They go where ever they can make the most profit.
#10
Gorb, That car has to be uglier than a Pacer. It belongs on some movie set and not on the streets.
I almost bought a PT when they came out. It had an $8,000 dealer "availability add on". I promised the dealer I would never buy one. I liked the car, but not extortion. I walked.
But for some reason, and I dont think its just greed, companies seem to go down this road. They seem to think the consumer will continue to but no matter what. Then they are stunned when the consumer walks. Its not just the Auto industry, I've seen it in the aviation industry from aircraft sales to avionics. And I've watched them go under. Our corperate leaders need to learn that what is important to the consumer is ultimately important to business survival. Sort of a "Know your enemy" thought process. Until our business figure this out, wil will get to whitness more of these failings.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/09/2010 16:40 Comments ||
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#11
Ah yes, Gorb - the fabulous "cracker box on a skateboard"...
#13
...when I was shopping around for a good recycled car, I saw an ad for a PT Cruiser at a local dealership. Listed rather new and low mileage. Ran the car fax on it. They listed the previous location as Metairie, LA. It was a Katrina child from some rental agency.
#15
I got a Chevy HHR (their version of the PT) business trip rental one time - POS. Got caught in a downpour in Rocklin, CA and thought I was gonna die
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2010 18:56 Comments ||
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#16
I rented a PT a few years ago, so I don't know about the initial production run, but the 2006 model was an exemplar of cheapness. It was a rolling exhibit of how to cut costs in every facet of an automobile.
At least Ford still makes trucks I can drive, but we'll see how bad the current administration can "regulate" those.
German fans are upset and calling for psychic octopus Paul's head after he successfully predicted Germany's defeat to Spain in the World Cup semi-finals.
"Throw him in the frying pan," wrote the Berliner Kurier newspaper in a popular sentiment echoed by Die Welt, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the Hamburger Abendblatt and other newspapers.
Octopus Paul has gotten a great deal of attention for his uncanny abilty to correctly predict the outcome of each of Germany's soccer games in this year's World Cup.
Sky News reports that Paul is the talk of social network sites and has "topped Twitter trends."
When Paul predicted Germany's defeat to Spain, covered in this Digital Journal article, the Germany fans were hoping he was wrong, just as he had been wrong in his only mistake of the 2008 Euro tournament predictions. That mistake concerned the Germany vs Spain final.
Paul's keeper, Oliver Walenciak, said before Wednesday's match: "We know that all octopuses have nine brains so we know he has exceptional powers. In the European Cup he got one game wrong. It was the final between Germany and Spain and he picked Germany which was wrong and this time he has picked Spain so we are thinking he must be wrong again."
But Paul was not wrong in this year's prediction. His 100% success rate for the 2010 World Cup predictions has the world waiting to see if this psychic octopus can successfully predict the result of the World Cup final between the Spanish and the Dutch, as well as the third-place play-off where Germany goes up against Uruguay this Saturday.
Many Germany fans, however, would like to see the psychic octopus served up on a platter as revenge for Germany's defeat to Spain.
"Nothing beats grilled octopus," said Germany fan, Dolores Lusch. "Cut him up in thin slices and grill him on all sides with a dash of lemon juice, olive oil and garlic on it. Delicious!"
According to Reuters, German newspapers and websites have been filled with suggestions of what to do with psychic Paul -- "most involved cooking and eating him."
Posted by: john frum ||
07/09/2010 15:36 ||
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"Nothing beats Grilled Octopus" > Pfffftt, save OCTOPUS IN COCONUT MILK + TARO + STRING BEANS, or OCTOPUS KELAGUEN.
#2
ION NOT-AN-OCTO, GUAM > KUAM TV > IIRC local Twitters repor that somebody caught a 1400-plus Lbs BLUE MARLIN? yesterday or very recently.
NOT confirmed yet.
IIRC HISTORY > GUAM had a World record for a while until forgot-who someone caught a bigger Marlin off Hawaii relegating Guam's Marlin to being a local record, + no lnger an international one.
I believe Guam's Marlin still hangs on one of the walls inside our Airport [tourists].
Faced with a ballooning deficit in Germany's health care system, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government decided yesterday to raise premiums and cut into the profits of doctors, dentists, hospitals, and pharmaceutical manufacturers. The decision was reached after months of wrangling within Merkel's coalition over a fundamental overhaul of the system and after a series of political blows to the chancellor and plummeting support in the polls. Government officials said the decision was reached harmoniously, but the opposition immediately criticized the changes, saying they basically consist of everybody paying more.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2010 00:00 ||
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Ay-Pee . . .
Website contributions came from all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, including nearly 2,000 from Arizona. Donations ranged from $5 to $2,000, with the vast majority between $10 and $100.
The AP examined about a quarter of the fund's total contributions, and found only two that came from businesses.
If this doesn't drag the "Racist" card out into the sunlight, nothing will.
Mention the new "tan tax" in a major news outlet and cries of discrimination and reverse racism often follow.
The complaint surfaced on reader comment boards to blogs and news Web sites back in December, when it became clear that the levy -- a 10 percent surcharge on the use of ultraviolet tanning beds -- was likely to be included in the new health-care overhaul bill. Since then, it's been repeated by conservative commentators such as Rush Limbaugh and Doc Thompson, a fill-in host for Glenn Beck who intoned in March, "I now know the pain of racism." Oh no! People might have to resort to tanning the old-fashioned way . . . .
When an article about the fallout from the tax -- which took effect last week -- appeared on the Washington Post's Web site Wednesday, dozens of commenters questioned the tax's legality.
The case can seem deceptively simple: Since patrons of tanning salons are almost exclusively white, the tax will be almost entirely paid by white people and, therefore, violates their constitutional right to equal protection under the law.
But does the argument have any merit? Not remotely said Randall Kennedy, a professor at Harvard Law School specializing in racial conflict and law.
"There is no constitutional problem at all, because a plaintiff would have to show that the government intended to disadvantage a particular group, not simply that the group is disadvantaged in effect," he said.
Kennedy said that this is why courts have upheld a raft of other laws that also happen to have a disproportionate impact on particular groups. For example, laws that impose higher penalties for possession or trafficking of crack cocaine as opposed to powder cocaine resulted in far harsher sentences for African Americans compared to whites. And laws that offer preferential treatment for veterans are much more likely to benefit men than women. But in both cases judges ruled that, because lawmakers did not intend to disadvantage black people or women when drafting those laws, they are legal.
What would it take to prove that President Obama or members of Congress intended to discriminate against white people when they included the tan tax in the health-care law? There would have to be some record of direct or indirect comments by the officials involved, Kennedy said. Or there would have to be no possible alternate reason for adopting the tan tax.
But the levy's supporters argued from the start that it had a dual purpose: to raise funds to cover some of the cost of extending health coverage to the uninsured and to discourage a habit that scientific studies have linked with increased risk of cancer.
"To say that this health rationale was a mere pretext for wanting to stick it to white people is completely implausible," Kennedy said. I'm sure that applying affirmative action quotas here could solve this problem, too.
#1
There is no such thing as "reverse" racism. There is only racism. The term "reverse" racism implies that discriminating against whites is not racism. It certainly is.
Anyone using the term "reverse racism" is on the "other side".
All races should be treated equally and discriminating against any of them is racism, pure and simple.
#3
My daughter has a bad case of psoriasis on her arms and legs. She goes to a tanning place once a week at Dr.s orders to help with the psoriasis. Now she has to pay more.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/09/2010 8:48 Comments ||
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PS. Since her Mother was Puerto Rican the Government says she's Hispanic. She says she's American.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/09/2010 8:50 Comments ||
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I blame... THE MAN!!!
I always wanted to say that.
#8
My daughter has a bad case of psoriasis on her arms and legs. She goes to a tanning place once a week at Dr.s orders to help with the psoriasis. Now she has to pay more.
I can reveal that Dr Jeffrey John, the openly gay but celibate Dean of St Albans, has been blocked from becoming a bishop once again. He has not been chosen as the next Bishop of Southwark. Liberals will be dismayed that the Church has lost its nerve -- but there is no reason for evangelicals to celebrate, either. This is bad news whichever way you look at it:
1) The Church has missed an opportunity to show that it is inclusive of homosexuals.
2) Jeffrey John has gained a reputation as a gifted preacher and effective pastor at St Albans cathedral and would have been a popular bishop.
3) It indicates that the Crown Nominations Commission is afraid of appointing any bishops who might bring a bit of colour.
4) A dignified and talented cleric has been embarrassed again.
5) The row over homosexual clergy could have been brought to a head, but will now fester until a gay priest is finally made a bishop.
It is also bad news for Rowan Williams. Although he is only one of 14 members of the Commission, liberals will be perplexed as to why he allowed John's name to be included on the shortlist if it was only to be rejected at the last minute. To be fair, he didn't know that this fact would be leaked to me, and he is said to have been livid with the Commission that it was. But, given what happened in 2003 and his apparent distress at forcing his old friend to stand down from becoming Bishop of Reading, it will surprise many that he didn't use his influence to try and sway the few undecided members who could have secured his selection.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2010 00:00 ||
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if you were on a list, but didn't get picked, perhaps a better response is to look at why you first made the list. Possibly you are not as fabulous! as you or your agenda-driven backers assume? Possibly, you only made the list because of your gay status? Tokenism isn't self-esteem boosting, is it?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2010 19:32 Comments ||
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That's the law under consideration by San Francisco's Commission of Animal Control and Welfare. If the commission approves the ordinance at its meeting tonight, San Francisco could soon have what is believed to be the country's first ban on the sale of all pets except fish.
That includes dogs, cats, hamsters, mice, rats, chinchillas, guinea pigs, birds, snakes, lizards and nearly every other critter, or, as the commission calls them, companion animals.
"People buy small animals all the time as an impulse buy, don't know what they're getting into, and the animals end up at the shelter and often are euthanized," said commission Chairwoman Sally Stephens. "That's what we'd like to stop."
San Francisco residents who want a pet would have to go to another city, adopt one from a shelter or rescue group, or find one through the classifieds.
The Board of Supervisors would have final say on the matter. But not before pet store owners unleash a cacophony of howling, squeaking and squawking.
"It's terrible. A pet store that can't sell pets? It's ridiculous," said John Chan, manager of Pet Central on Broadway, which has been in business 30 years. "We'd have to close."
Joe Taylor, bird manager of Animal Connection on Judah Street, called the proposal "ludicrous."
"What difference does it make if you get a parrot at the SPCA or a pet store? If it doesn't work out, in either case, you just bring it back," Taylor said. "This would be terrible for our business."
The idea originated about two years ago, when the commission began looking into a ban on dog and cat sales as a way to discourage puppy and kitten mills. But the city's animal control staff said that excess puppies and kittens are not the problem at the city shelter, thanks to the plethora of rescue groups. In any case, only one or two pet stores in San Francisco sell dogs and cats. The rest stick to small animals.
The real problem, staff said, is hamsters.
People buy the high-strung, nocturnal rodents because they're under the temporary impression that hamsters are cute and cuddly. But the new owners quickly learn that hamsters are, in fact, prone to biting, gnawing through expensive wiring and maniacally racing on their exercise wheels at 2 a.m.
So the animals end up at the shelter. Just about every species has its own rescue group in San Francisco, but no one seems to want hamsters. Hamsters are the No. 1 animal euthanized at the city's shelter, said San Francisco Animal Care and Control director Rebecca Katz.
"It's definitely a concern," she said. "They're an impulse buy, and we do sometimes get tons of them, especially babies."
On Wednesday, the shelter, which is on 15th Street in the Mission District, had six hamsters, nine rabbits, nine mice, nine rats, two guinea pigs, a bowl of goldfish, two birds, a leopard gecko, a bearded dragon and a hermit crab named Charlie.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#4
If you find you don't like your hamsters (or other small rodents), try a snake. No noisy wheels at 2 am and they'll eliminate your unwanted hamsters. If your wife can't deal with your snake, maybe a mongoose would work?
#6
Freedom? In San Francisco? Surely you jest. The only thing you'll find in that benighted tourist trap is hedonism.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/09/2010 13:06 Comments ||
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#7
I am so relieved that the Government will now decide for me what living things I can purchase. The burden was affecting my health and my ability to commit to progressive causes. Big Brother is such a friend!
Nearly 100 years old, The Girl Scouts of the USA say they're showing some signs of aging. "We heard that our logo looked a little tired, weathered, worn and discolored. Like it been out on the picnic table all summer," reveals Laurel Richie, Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President at GSUSA. The organization says they're giving themselves a makeover, inside and out, in an attempt at revitalizing and re-energizing its brand to reach a new generation of girls.
This week marks the first time in 30 years Girl Scouts have launched a national marketing campaign. Sharon Lee, Senior Brand Manager for GAUSA, says they're combating a limited and old fashioned public perception that Girls Scouts are only associated with "cookies, camping, and crafts." The organization hopes to broaden their image and show they do more.
The most noticeable change is the new Girl Scout logo. Their distinctive trefoil mark, which also adorns their shortbread cookie, has gotten a makeover. Branding and design agency, Original Champions of Design, updated the logo with modern hairstyles, perkier noses, and longer, thinner necks.
Lee says the new look has the seal of the approval from their Girl Scout focus groups. "The strength of the new logo is we've kept what's recognizable but we've given it a facelift and brought it in to 2010."
The iconic Girl Scout color will also change - to a bolder green, and the font will be all lowercase -- in an attempt to make the logo feel more casual and approachable.
Organizationally, the revamp is part of a "What Did You Do Today?" campaign. Its goal is to be more relevant to the lives girls are leading today.
"We're not telling them how to spend their day but asking them to reflect on how they spend their time," says Richie.
A staggering one out of every 10 girls participates in Girl Scouting -- but CEO, Kathy Cloninger says they're striving for more. "We have literally revamped our entire organization to appeal to that 90 percent of girls who aren't benefiting from the Girl Scout Leadership Experience. And with our new brand work, we think we have the right message at the right time."
Most well known for their $700 million dollar cookie business, the Girl Scouts of American was founded in 1912 and boast 3.3 million girl and adult members worldwide.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2010 00:00 ||
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The most important changeover will be to make their uniforms look more like the costumes used on Bratz dolls.
"Slutty is the way for success for girls. The use of revealing clothing on underage girls is a steppingstone to excessive makeup and an upward career track. We are using Lindsay Lohan as the role model for girls."
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/09/2010 8:58 Comments ||
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#3
Minds in the gutter. Elevate, people. Women and girls aren't just jokes. Predictabley, they are, however, are the last bastion where discrimination is approved, even celebrated.
I constantly hear comments about comfortable shoes. WTF is wrong with being comfortable? Oh wait, women are supposed to contort themselves to look sexy for men at all times. Rantburg's own photos run toward pictures of a women wearing sexy, revealing or cute clothing or in a non-ridiculous pose? What about a picture of an average woman in workout gear? Or a suit without heels, hose, full makeup and jewelry. I guess these depictions of women aren't racy enough. Also, how about celebrating women's minds?
cookies, camping and crafts...how about hostile negotiation, self defense against other people's assaholic children, and leadership combined with study skills?
Ours is a country that uses underage barely legal models on the fashion runway shows. Some designers have begun to stop this practice, notably Calvin Klein *supposedly* It would be nice to see women treated as something other than a joke, and that starts with how our girls are raised to view themselves.
Posted by: Ford Maude Elle ||
07/09/2010 13:16 Comments ||
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#4
I am excited about the red neckerchiefs and the red covers on the manuals.
#5
These organizations are extremely important, given the popular culture of the Big Stupid and the near-collapse of the public schools as vehicles for transmitting either basic or advanced skills (not to mention enlightened values and preferred modes of behavior--aka "character").
Whether Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts, the nation would benefit hugely from efforts by a trusted, reputable, experienced youth organization to impart some or all of the following:
-- a love of craftsmanship, of building/making stuff, of figuring out how things work
-- initiative, drive, basic business / marketing sense, ie the core of entrepreneurship
-- a deep love of this nation and of our land, and a deep appreciation for our historical legacy and institutional foundations
If you haven't figured out where this is going, here's the punchline: our country's economy and the educational system supporting it are in danger of real, rapid and permanent decline. THe only way out is for Americans to re-learn how to build products and technologies here at home that can be sold around the world. We can do so IF we rediscover, and transmit to our daughters and sons, those near-forgotten yankee virtues of ingenuity, innovation, frugality/investment, practical application of scientific concepts, superior organization to get big things done superbly and ahead of time etc.
Our joke of a school system won't get us there. It's up to families, communities, and social organizations like the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and thousands of local private-sector teaching organizations/tutors to teach what the culture of the Big Stupid and its dopey stepsister, the public schools, will not do.
#6
I agree with you on most points LEX. With one big exception. It's not the schools fault the education system sucks, it's not the governments fault either. It is also no suprise that most scouting is sponsored by the local churches. Teaching our kids is the parents responsibility, period. The school and scouts provide a venue but without parental involvement it is a joke. My kids are getting a great education in a public school. Not because the school is so great but because we, ok my wife, sits with the kids every nite and goes over their homework and helps them to learn. Education is the parents responsability from start to finish. And I dont buy a bit of that crap that both parents have to work and we dont have time, bla bla bla. Parents trade their time educating their kids or just raising them for that matter, for a swimming pool and a new car every year.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/09/2010 16:53 Comments ||
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#7
Ditto, I'm with you, in exactly teh same boat. Quit bitching over a year ago and faced the fact that my wife and I, plus our kids' Russian math tutor, are going to have the shoulder the burden of ensuring our elementary school-aged kids acquire the skills they need and have outlets to satsify their curiosity about science, art, history, etc. In effect, we're home-schooling our kids, and sending them to the local Socialization Center for 6 hrs of socialization skills training 180 days per year.
#8
The Girls Scouts in my part of the world tend toward crafts and business. Despite having been a troop leader for two years (because nobody else would step up for trailing daughter #2's troop, not because of personal passion), I far prefer the girls' auxilliary of the Boy Scouts, who do all the things the boys do. I was unable to interest my troop or their mothers in anything related to hiking, camping, or making fires.
I'm told that Girl Scout troops in the South are much more active outdoors, so perhaps its a Midwestern thing.
Ford Maude Elle, if your sexy shoes aren't comfortable, you're wasting money. It is impossible to feel and be sexy when one is in pain. (F-150, right?) There is no reason a woman, or a man for that matter, cannot be both comfortable and attractive. I mean, have you seen the glasses the DoD issues? A slightly different style would still be effective, I promise!
#9
drink up! The "comfy shoes" remark is a joke my ex-sister-in-law, a lesbian, made herself. It's common knowledge among that crowd. Wallet chains, Subarus, and Flannel shirts are optional. See: Janet Napolitano and Elena Kagen.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2010 19:28 Comments ||
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#10
As long as they don't replace thin mints with organic tofu chips, I'll be ok with it.
#11
Not quite the F150. I actually was a model in a department store catalogue when I was little- hence the disgust with use of industry standards of beauty for children and adults. I just think people look like what they look like, and its ridiculous the overemphasis placed female pulchritude at any age. And the societal buy in. Billion dollar industry directed at making people feel ugly and like they should wear these hooker boots or that eyeshadow. People look like what they look like. It is what it is, but it shouldn't dislocate a person sense of self or value, or supplant the life of the mind.
Now, I don't have the tall lithe body of a size zero runway model as an adult. I am okay with that. I am average stature build, and such. There is nothing wrong with comfortable shoes, tofu chips and original Girl Scout Cookies of all variety. All have their place. But women's brains, I fear, are the cookies that get brainwashed with too much consumer hype, denigration to intellect, Cosmo Magazine and all that junk. Some women are stuck in perma girlhood, malibu barbieland style. And, yes, I buy shoes made in Europe, Brazil and Spain, which can be comfortable and attractive.
Posted by: Ford Maude Elle ||
07/09/2010 22:30 Comments ||
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#12
I wear Timberland Pro-K series Composite-toe safety boots and they're the most comfortable safety shoes I ever wore. I also like women. Ipso facto!
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2010 23:38 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A Muslim man charged with setting fire to a Marietta mosque may be in the country illegally, law enforcement officials confirmed Thursday. Tamsir Mendy, 26, a native of Gambia, has been charged with first-degree arson and is being held without bail at the Cobb County detention center, said Scott Tucker, Marietta assistant fire chief. Federal authorities have placed an "ICE detainer" on Mendy -- meaning he will be handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for possible deportation after his case is adjudicated, said Cobb sheriff's department spokeswoman Nancy Bodiford. 
German fans are upset and calling for psychic octopus Paul's head after he successfully predicted Germany's defeat to Spain in the World Cup semi-finals.
