As everyone knows by now, Tim Russert died at work earlier this afternoon. His death was sudden and unexpected. He apparently collapsed, probably from sudden heart failure, and was unable to be revived. He was 58-years-old.
Aside from the obvious sadness at any death, it is always something that takes me aback that someone can be here one minute and gone the next. I know that obviously, but we don’t think of it very often. When something like this happens, its a reminder that nothing is guaranteed. I take it as a reminder to be thankful for the blessings we have today as opposed to looking for something tomorrow.
The Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, was not home when the Governor’s mansion burned over the weekend. Fortunately, no one was at home as the 152-year-old mansion was destroyed by fire. Today he spoke for the first time about the fire. He vows that the mansion will be rebuilt to its landmark status once again.
The cause of the fire is being investigated and thought to have been arson.
I don’t even know what to say about this! I think that if they were seriously trying to sell their baby they would have surely offered to sell him for $5 instead of a buck-fifty … but what do I know. We all get frustrated when our babies are little … you know, lack of sleep and dirty diapers get old pretty quickly. But usually if we joke about selling the baby we are really just joking. At least we would think better of it by the time we got to the computer and actually went through the process of posting an offer to sell the child.
I would say they just can’t be that bright, but they are bright enough to use the computer. I’m glad the State took the baby away.
Eight Belles was the only filly to run in the Kentucky Derby today. She ran the race of her life. Read more and see photo of her below.
Eight Belles
Eight Belles ran with the big boys today and she did herself and all around her proud. She was the only filly to run the Kentucky Derby since 1999. Only three fillies have ever won the Derby, the last being Winning Colors in 1988.
Today’s race was reminiscent of the race run by Ruffian and Foolish Pleasure. In that race the filly gave it all she had as Eight Belles did today. Eight Belles came in second to Big Brown, who was favored to win. She ran her heart out … literally.
As Eight Belles crossed the finish line in a phenomenal second place, her heart gave out. She slumped to the ground. Her jockey slid off her. Both of her front ankles were broken. The on-site veterinarian was called in and she had to be euthanised on the track immediately after the race.
She was a grand and beautiful horse who literally went down in a blaze of glory.
Kristie Brown was raped by Marcus Dixon while they attended high school together. He spent some time in jail, but became a cause celeb and now has NFL dreams while Kristie was run out of town and accused of racism and ruining Marcus’ life.
Kristie Brown (Photo)
In the interest of full disclosure, I will state up front that I have personal knowledge of this case and know some of the people peripherally involved. I also know the community very well. Lindale, Georgia is a community that suffered economically as a result of NAFTA. The cotton mill in town shut down leaving the community without an economic base and turning it into a bedroom community for surrounding areas. To some extent, the people there have used an exceptional football team as a central element that maintains a sense of community.
That being said, the entire case is outrageous and angers me at a very deep level. I know that I’m a cynical person and I have known that the news media slants things in whatever way they choose to slant it. This case was the first time I saw the slanting up close knowing that the way the case was being presented on the national news was just flat out not true.
I am compelled to write about this today because I saw an article that reports that Marcus Dixon is finishing up his college education and is hoping to get picked in the NFL Draft on Saturday.
I will pass on repeating everything that’s been written about Marcus Dixon and the incident that resulted in his being put in prison on a ten year sentence. He only served part of that sentence. His supporters claim that his accuser had claimed she was raped because she was afraid of her racist father when in fact it was consensual sex. She HAD claimed she was afraid to tell her father, but never claimed it was anything other than rape.
The facts that supported her claim of rape that are rarely, if ever, reported in the news are the fact that she was hospitalized following the attack on her at school because she was so badly beaten and torn as a result of the attack. From that perspective it didn’t have the appearance of a consensual act.
Another factor that supported the rape charge was that Marcus Dixon was known to have had incidents of sexual misconduct in the past. He was never charged and the incidents were kept out of the news because Marcus was a star football player. Do you think that sounds ridiculous? It does unless you know the mentality at that school. Football is everything there and a star player is well protected by his teachers, coaches and the administration of the school.
Two alleged incidents got him suspended from school for a total of 10 days. In March of his sophomore year, Dixon exposed himself in a classroom, and a year later he allegedly touched a 14-year-old girl inappropriately after track practice. Neither situation was reported to the Floyd County police despite his suspension.
The previous incidents weren’t reported because of the protection of his mentors. All of those people, as well as the adoptive parents of Marcus, jumped to his defense as soon as his behavior went too far for them to keep it under wraps. He had to face trial.
The first thing his defenders did was declare that it was an issue of race. Kristie Brown is white and Marcus is black. Kristie Brown’s father had made some racial statements. Even more incriminating, it happened in Georiga. It was a piece of cake to paint the entire incident as racially motivated and an attempt to keep a black boy from doing well by a bunch of white racists in a Southern town. After all, you know how we keep our black people down (that’s sarcastic - so don’t get all huffy on me!).
Bryant Gumbel came down and took Marcus’ part. He stood in front of an old raggedy barn with a huge Confederate flag painted on the side of the barn to do his report. I have been in that area a lot and have NEVER seen that barn. I have no idea how or where he managed to find a barn painted as a Confederate flag, but the visual point he was making was right there. This is the South and WE KNOW HOW THOSE RACIST SOUTHERNERS ARE!!! They will do anything to keep this gifted black boy from making it big.
The problem with that point is that there are a lot of gifted black people in the South who do quite well for themselves - so why did the entire State of Georgia line up to stand in the way of this particular black kid? Hmmm …. Its a mystery. But apparently we all stood in line to stand in the way of Marcus Dixon making it in football and getting to go to Vanderbilt University. It was a vast White Southern Conspiracy against Marcus Dixon. Meanwhile, please take a look-see at how many people at Vanderbilt or any other university are black and southern before you tell me that Southerners go out of their way to keep black people from being able to go to college. The accusation against the community was ludicrous and insulting. No one has every apologized for making such reckless accusations against the community.
Oprah Winfrey and Marcus Dixon (Photo)
Oprah Winfrey took up the cause of Marcus Dixon. The claim was that his ‘real crime’ was being black and having sex. That plays well with the rest of the country that thinks the South is full of characters straight out of Deliverance. The rest of the country eats that stuff up … and worse, they believe it. Oprah told Kristie Brown that Marcus had told her he forgave her.
Oprah: He says he forgives you.
Kristie: Forgives me? How could he forgive me if I didn’t do anything?
Oprah: What would you want to say to him if he were sitting here right now?
Kristie: I would want to know why he would even want to think about raping anybody.
At the height of the publicity of this incident there were rumors in town that Jesse Jackson was coming to town to stage a rally and march to protest the conviction of Marcus Dixon. His basic assumption appeared to be that the whites in the town were racist and keeping the blacks down and the blacks in the town were just too kept down to stand up for themselves. The black community insisted that Jesse Jackson stay out of town. They made it clear they didn’t want him here. One thing I heard frequently was that people were insulted that people seemed to think that Southern blacks were so ignorant and weak they couldn’t speak for themselves.
Did it ever occur to anyone to question whether or not MARCUS was lying? Did it ever occur to anyone that this girl who was badly beaten might be telling the truth? Apparently not. Her family ended up having to leave town because of threats against them. All the while, Marcus’ defenders claimed he was the one being threatened. Oddly, even with him being ’scared for his life’, when he was released from prison and returned to town he was given a big party. He went on to college on a football scholarship and now may get the opportunity to go on to play for the National Football League.
Please, tell me … who suffered from this incident? Who was the victim and who was the perpetrator? Who has gain notoriety and money from it? Who had to leave town due to threats on their lives? Who has been consistent in their story and who has had a history of writing off bad sexual behavior to the ever popular, ‘boys will be boys’.
There is a reason that the people in town were not as outraged about this as people from other parts of the country. Its a close community and people know the people involved. People here knew that the justice system had worked and that it wasn’t about race.
This entire case is NOT about race. Its about football. Pepperell High School in Lindale, Georgia is all about football. The football players there can and do get away with bad behavior. The students who are NOT involved in football there, in one way or the other, do not have the privilege of students who are involved in the sport. I’ve seen it up close and personal and I know it to be true. When a football player there is injured and is of no use to them anymore he is thrown into the heap with the other students who are not of value.
On the other hand, a football player that has the ability to play the game on a level that might draw the attention of universities and even someday the NFL is immune from consequences regardless of his behavior.
I once had a football coach at Pepperell High School tell me not to worry about my son’s grades or studying. I was told he’d get all A’s …. regardless. After all, he was breaking records for the school at the time and they had big plans for him. I protested and said I had big plans for him too. I wanted him to build his mind as well as his body. The coach looked at me as though he was confused. He said, ‘He’s breaking records, he doesn’t need to study. Don’t worry. We’ll make sure he makes A’s. We’ll take care of him.’
There are twelve researchers stranded on a remote Pacific island. Palmyra Island is 1,000 miles southwest of Hawaii.
Palmyra Island (Photo)
The story about the researches stranded on an island in the south Pacific caught my interest because that is the general area my father was during World War II. Its also interesting that there are people stranded on a tropical island. I guess we don’t think of that sort of thing happening these days! At least they are able to communicate with the outside world as opposed to just being there and no one knowing where they are!
It seems that a certain type of plane is needed to transport people back and forth between Hawaii and Palmyra Island. The plane that is used to do that has broken down and needs a new engine. This isn’t good for the people who are currently on the island. The special plane is needed because Palmyra has a coral runway.
The island is a wildlife refuge and nature preserve that is owned by the Nature Conservancy of Hawaii. Scientists, environmentalists and researchers go there from all over the world to study the wild life and nature. This group of twelve trustees from Louisiana went down there last Saturday to do whatever it is they do. Now they are stuck there.
The Nature Conservancy is working with Pacific Air Charters based at Honolulu International Airport to use a twin-engine Cessna to retrieve the stranded travelers. they have to fit the Cessna with a special 75-gallon fuel tank so that they can get the plane to Christmas Island which is about 300 miles from Palmyra. From there they will shuttle the trustees from Palmyra in two trips. Before it can make the trip they have to go through the bureaucratic paperwork necessary for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) clearances and approvals. I’m sure they prefer to wait for the plane to be airworthy!
Meanwhile, the trustees are waiting on the island. Fortunately, the island is set up to be a research outpost and therefore has running water, cabins and other supplies.
At least it looks like a lovely place to be stranded!
There was an earthquake in Illinois this morning! About 5:30 a.m. this morning people in Illinois and throughout the Midwest were awakened by a 5.2 earthquake, the largest ever for that area.
The earthquake was in Southeastern Illinois but rattled skyscrapers in Chicago, was felt in Michigan, Ontario, Indiana as well as other areas in the Midwest. People were shaken out of bed and had the reactions you could expect for people living in an area not used to earthquakes.
I can only imagine how that would be. That’s a decent size earthquake, especially for that area. I suppose people in California wouldn’t be impressed, but I am.
The Midwest earthquake happened on the Wabash fault. That’s a northern extension of the New Madrid fault. It happened about six miles outside of Mt. Carmel, Illinois.
People in the area are still experiencing aftershocks from the Midwest earthquake.
Baltimore teachers, including Jolita Berry, claim they are under attack by their students and the school system does nothing to stop it.
When I see videos and read stores like these I just think there HAS to be something done to bring values back into our society.
(CNN) — Two teachers at a Baltimore, Maryland, high school say they were attacked by students, and one says such assaults are commonplace, according to CNN affiliate WBAL.
The school district says it is investigating and will take appropriate action, but both art teacher Jolita Berry and English teacher Marc Standish say the administration has failed to protect and support them.
“I looked over, and her friends were cheering her on. And before I knew it, she hit me in the face,” Berry told WBAL after cell-phone video depicting what she said was a student beating her last Friday appeared on the social networking Web site MySpace.com.
This particular incident happened at Reginald F. Lewis High School in Baltimore. Unfortunately, its not isolated to that one area.
Jolita Berry goes on to talk about how frustrating it is to her that she can’t teach her students. She says that no place of learning should be that violent. She’s absolutely right.
At some point, some time down the road, we are going to have to come back to old fashioned ideas like ‘honor’, ‘integrity’, ‘honesty’. Meanwhile, our society is going down the toilet.
These kids actually get rewarded for this behavior. They videotape it, put it on YouTube or MySpace and get a lot of fans. The more outrageous their behavior, the more attention they get. They might even get to be on Oprah or some other television show and get to be really famous. There are NO consequences for bad behavior that really matter to these people!!
The last few decades seem to have been more about entitlements and not ever expecting anyone to suffer the consequences of their own behavior. We avoid testing so that students don’t feel bad if they aren’t as successful as another kid in their classroom. We avoid scores in sports because we want all the kids to be exactly equal in all things. The problem is that holds back kids who DO excel and doesn’t challenge anyone to try harder or do better. It also excuses VERY bad behavior.
Time to start having consequences for behavior. And consequences that actually MEAN something. If it doesn’t hurt there is no motivation to change. I have to live by the rules, you should too.
Just when I’ve been hearing how the United States feeds people what they are supposed to think from people who say they haven’t got the freedom to speak openly even while they are openly speaking …. I see a press release from China’s official Olympics website.
According the the Chinese, the Olympic torch relay is going fantastically! Its being warmly received and there is strong worldwide support of the relay and the Beijing Olympics.
Under the theme of “Journey of Harmony,” the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay started its worldwide journey on April 1, 2008. The sacred flame has so far passed through Almaty in Kazakhstan, Istanbul in Turkey, St. Petersburg in Russia and London in Britain. People along the Torch Relay route have extended the flame a warm welcome and the relay is proceeding successfully as planned.
Ain’t propaganda a wonderful thing. Unfortunately for the Chinese, it doesn’t work so well in the society we now live in. They have a bit of a hard time holding an event in front of the whole world while spreading their own form of propaganda. It has to be a bit confusing for them.
After discussing the enormously enthusiastic reception the Olympic Torch has received in city after city throughout the world, they do acknowledge that there have been a very few “pro-Tibet independence” activists who have made unsuccessful attempts to ruin it for everyone else.
The press release states that the Chinese strongly condemn the attempts of anyone who tries to condemn China for their human rights violations.
For reasons that are beyond anything that I can comprehend, the powers that be made the decision that the only North American city that will host the Olympic Torch as it makes its way to Beijing will be San Francisco. Someone or some group of people sat down in a board room somewhere and decided that was a good idea.
SAN FRANCISCO — In this city where protests are as much a part of the landscape as the Golden Gate Bridge, the impending arrival of the Olympic torch is drawing out thousands of activists critical of Beijing, even as many residents celebrate San Francisco’s cultural ties to China.
The torch makes its only North American stop in San Francisco on Wednesday. The torch is expected to arrive at San Francisco International Airport early Tuesday morning.
Its path around the globe already has been marked by protests against China’s policies toward Tibet and Sudan, and more demonstrations are expected worldwide before it reaches the Summer Games.
Chinese officials have dismissed the demonstrations as the actions of a few who are trying to hijack a historical event for their own purposes.
There have been rallies, vigils, news conferences and demonstrations already in anticipation of the arrival of the torch. The protests related to the Olympic Torch are less likely to be violent than the ordinary protests that go on in San Francisco on any given day. After all, the usual groups of communists (Code Pink) are not likely to show up to protest a communist country.
Then again, we might do well to remember how monks so poignantly brought down governments in Vietnam and other wars/conflicts. They do it in their ‘non-violent’ way, generally by setting themselves up to be abused and killed by whoever the target of their protests might be. Or, as we all recall from the 1960s, setting themselves on fire. Those kinds of protests aren’t soon forgotten. The message of those protests is clear. Tibetan monks are not to be messed with.
If a Tibetan monk grabs the Olympic torch in San Francisco this week and immolates himself, nobody should be astonished. If the 19th anniversary on June 4 of the Tiananmen Square crackdown passes quietly, everyone should be surprised. [source]
There’s gnashing of teeth on both ends of the issues of human rights in China. Many claim that China has made enormous progress in the area of human rights. The Tibetans have legitimate concerns that they are facing cultural extinction at the heavy hand of the Chinese communist.
So some people sat in a board room and decided San Francisco would be their best choice for a non-violent reception in North America. As it turns out, they might be right. If the communists stay at home and the Richard Gere- type Buddhists are the protesters, it might be the most non-violent demonstration San Francisco has seen in a long time.
l-r Bobbie Jo Stinnett, Victoria Stinnett, Lisa Montgomery
The AP is reporting the Lisa Montgomery was sentenced to death today by a Missouri court for the murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett.
Evidence in her trial showed that Lisa Montgomery strangled Bobbie Jo Stinnett in order to steal her baby. Stinnett was eight months pregnant at the time. Montgomery used a kitchen knife to cut the baby from Stinnett’s womb.
Montgomery’s attorney based her defense on childhood sexual abuse. He stated that while he didn’t want to diminish the horror of what Montgomery had done, but he really wanted the jury to know that she’s really a sweet person. I’m not kidding. He actually said that!!!!
“The thing that happened here is horrible and we can’t say anything differently about that and wouldn’t even try, but what we’ve tried to express to everybody who would listen is just the sweet person she is,” Duchardt said.
There was a bit of excitement on a flight from Colorado to North Carolina on Saturday. It seems that a gun being carried by the pilot discharged during flight. The pilots are being trained to carry weapons in order to help ensure the security of passengers during flights. The incident is still under investigation and the airplane has been grounded to ensure it is safe to fly. There’s no word on how or why the gun fired. We do know that guns don’t generally fire by themselves …. I’m just saying …..
Luckily, none of the 124 passengers and five crew members on the flight from Denver to Charlotte, North Carolina, was injured, according to US federal officials and the airline.
The US Airways Airbus A319 plane landed safely in Charlotte, according to a statement issued by the airline.
The incident occurred on Saturday on full flight 1536, which was in the air between 6:45 and 11:51 a.m., according to US Airways officials.
The pilot, who was not identified, was allowed to carry the gun through the U.S. Federal Flight Deck Officer programme run by the Transportation Security Administration, officials said.
The programme trains pilots to carry guns on flights as part of American’s anti-terrorist protection policy. It was launched in 2003.
The circumstances of the incident remain unclear. TSA spokeswoman Andrea McCauley said the gun discharged in the cockpit, but she could not release how the gun was being transported at the time.
The TSA issued a statement saying that the plane was never in danger but that the agency and Federal Air Marshals Service take the matter seriously and it is receiving immediate attention.
An airline spokeswoman said the plane has been taken out of service to make sure it is safe to return to flight.
Officials said that the pilot was re-qualified in the programme last November.
I’m sure the passengers on the flight were shaken up a bit. I just have this image of the pilot playing cowboy or showing off his gun as they are flying through the air at 37,000 feet.
