Monday, February 28, 2005
Hootbaker, Bustin Out, Deception, & Illusion ?
Hoots got some issues Hiding behind some bodacious tatas @ www.cityofbrownwood.com ? Q: If hoots a man and posts as a woman (see his photo) is he a drag queen ? Hoot, why no posting from you on the cross dressing conversation at www.cityofbrownwood.com ?
Judge Davis’s "Right Wing Christian Boom-a-rang" !
“ Phelps, who spent Tuesday evening at his home with family and friends, blamed his loss on a “character assassination” campaign that took place in the letters-to-the-editor section of The Eagle over the past two weeks.
“ I have no other explanation for what happened,” he said, describing letters from Davis supporters as “vindictive and hateful, digging up any piece of dirt they could find.”
Among the most painful accusations, Phelps said, was an assertion from Davis supporters that he isn’t Christian. In a press release from Quinn announcing his support for Davis, the former candidate referred to Phelps as someone “who claims no religious ties in this community and ... is considered by some to be agnostic.”
Davis has declined to comment on Quinn’s assertions. The judge has, however, expressed similar outrage at Phelps’ campaign for what he said were attacks on his work ethic.”
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Davis takes reprimand spat to the Web
& the Brownwood Bulletin Editorializes on Mortar, Brick & Metal Detectors !
On School Shootings
By WilliamPitt,
Mon Mar 28th, 2005 at 10:00:14 AM EST :: Human Rights ::
The Schiavo Saga has managed to bury most stories about the second-worst school shooting in our history, which occurred last week at Red Lake. Rather than get into the detailed specifics of that one incident, I'd like to share a story of a very good friend of mine, because it illuminates an aspect of these awful incidents that, in my opinion, does not get discussed enough.
My friend, whom I will call Gordon, was That Kid. You all had a That Kid in your school; some of you may have even been That Kid. That Kid is the one whose clothes weren't quite right, whose hair wasn't quite right, whose social skills weren't quite right. That Kid was the one singled out for destruction.
Gordon was That Kid. He got beaten up at school several times a day for years, and the school administration did nothing to stop it. When not under physical assault, he endured a moment-to-moment hell of taunts and emotional abuse. Gordon was afraid to go into the cafeteria, into the locker room for gym class, into any empty hallway where his tormentors might find him. By the time middle school was over, he displayed every sign of having combat stress disorder, and he was twelve years old.
Try to imagine what that's like. Try to imagine staring at the clock on a Friday afternoon, feeling the bruises from the three beatings you took already that day and the fifteen you took over the past week, remembering the hundred beatings you'd absorbed that month, knowing that you'll probably have to endure at least one more before you can get the hell out of there and get home.
And we wonder why some kids go for a gun.
I do not condone someone shooting up a school, of course. But I remember Gordon, and what he went through, and the look in his eyes when it got really bad and he felt like it was never going to stop. Easy access to weapons is only part of the problem; as the drill sergeant in 'Full Metal Jacket' said, it is the hard heart that kills. They hardened Gordon's heart - it is a wonder that he became the excellent person he is today - and I am thankful his father had no pistols in the house.
I haven't seen a single 'popular kid' go on a shooting rampage in any school, anywhere. The shooters are always some variation of That Kid, the one singled out for destruction because we don't teach our children that cruelty scars. Get rid of all the guns in the world but ignore the part about cruelty, and That Kid will bring a hatchet or a knife or will make a bomb out of gasoline and concentrated orange juice.
My point: Teach your children. Cruelty is forever, and everyone has a breaking point. This is hardly a solution; parents came out of the same socialization process that made this kind of protracted torture acceptable, and it is difficult to imagine how they will rise above that. But a discussion of the problem is a good place to start.
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Very well said!
Here in Colorado you would think that we would have learned. I will never forget that day in April when all hell broke loose. I will never forget the drive home from my job in Boulder...people crying while they were driving home. The pain was
everywhere, in every face, everywhere one went. People wondered how this could have happened. Some said that if teachers were armed students could have been saved. Some would blame the police for not storming the school. Some blamed the teachers of Harris and Klebold. Some blamed the parents. If we really look at this it becomes very apparent that it does take a village to raise a child. It takes community where people talk to each other. In my neighborhood there are lot's of kids and they don't get away with much because we are all parents here on the block and all kids are under watchful eyes...not spying eyes, watchful eyes. When the little guy down the street rides out into the street without looking both ways, he gets scolded by any parent seeing it. The kids all hangout together and when they start singling out one kid, it gets nipped in the bud by any one of us parents. They learn. This isn't about little kids, this is about all the kids. There's mostly middle school aged kids in my neighborhood and that's where I think it starts getting dicey. The parents talk with each other and we expect that if our kid is doing something that is not ok, another parent will communicate that to us. We go to each other with concerns. It takes a community to raise a child. The kids are expected to help the elderly neighbors, EXPECTED. They are expected to keep their eyes on the younger ones. They are expected to treat each other with respect. Maybe we're onto something here, maybe we aren't...but it seems to be working. The one thing that I believe is at the root of all of this is FEAR. Kids get into gangs for protection, for a feeling of family that they may not have, to belong, to get respect. I think they are afraid...of attack, of being left out, of never belonging anywhere, of not being respected, of being attacked for being different. They believe in strength in numbers and if they don't have numbers there's always a weapon.
What if, instead, we offered community.
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace." Jimi Hendrix
by Christine on Mon Mar 28th, 2005 at 10:32:47 AM EST
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Gosh, do you think it's possible...
...that the childhood and adolescent culture of bullying could be carrying over into adult behavior in the world at large? ;-)
by Mutternich on Mon Mar 28th, 2005 at 11:24:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]
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On School Shootings
For a lot of years in elementary school, I was one of the 'That Kid' sorts. I spent many long hours hiding in the school library, skulking around the halls trying to be self-effacing, and quite often failing to succeed, only due to the fact that other kids wanted to keep out of the sights of the bullies and would point me out to them. For an awfully long time, I truly hated those kids that would rat me out, even more than I hated the bullies that would lay beatings on me for the fun of it.
My first forays into 'counter-ratting' failed miserably, and increased the amounts of beatings I took. Then, I discovered something very useful indeed, or so I thought at the time. Rats and bullies like others around them, compliant souls that feed their ego, and validate their actions. But even bullies and rats find themselves alone at times. One bully in particular had made my life a living hell, and I wanted nothing more than to get even with him at all costs. I planned for weeks, and I followed him around to get to know when and where would be the best place to 'get him'.
Being a moody sort, he often left his toadies behind, and would wander off alone. I followed along one day as he left his group behind, to wander into the patch of wild bush and trees most of the children avoided. I caught up and shadowed him for quite a distance, keeping him just in sight. He entered a small clearing, and I crept up close to the edge, listening as I heard his voice. Imagine my shock when I heard him talking to God, asking Him why a lot of the kids hated him, and thought he was mean and cruel.
As I listened, I heard many things that to this day I swore to him I would never reveal to anyone, but what shocked me the most was his wish that his FATHER would stop beating him, and forcing him into being a bully, when all he really wanted was to get along with the rest of the kids. I couldn't stop myself from stepping out, and saying something to him, even if he beat me up for doing it. I HAD to let him know, or I would be worse than a rat I thought. I stepped out from behind the bushes, and shocked the daylights out of him. He asked me how long I had been listening, and I told him. He started to cry, and all I could say was that I was sorry for listening, but that he shouldn't let his father make his life miserable. He asked me 'What can I do? He'll just beat me, and make me do things I don't want to do. I can't do anything.'
I realized then that he was as helpless as I was, in a different way, but still powerless to stop the cruelty his father was inflicting on him. So, I offered to be his friend, and told him that even though we were victims, we might be able to change things enough to make it better. I asked him if he had talked to anyone about how his father had treated him, and he said no, he couldn't let anyone know that. It would destroy him in the eyes of everyone, or so he thought. I told him if he wanted, I would go with him, just to be there as a friend and support.
We talked about it for a long time, and I went with him to the church, and talked to the priest about it. He called the fellow's mother, who had long ago left his father, and after things had settled out, he ended up living with her. It changed his life, and mine. I still hear from him, even though we long ago parted ways. I realized then that many things make bullies do what they do, but they can change, if someone reaches out to them. It's just getting through the shell that can be the hardest part. After that, you find out there are people under there, just like the rest of us, that are hurt and confused over why they are being treated they way they are. I think that's one of the things a lot of people forget about when they deal with the cruel behaviour of bullies. A lot of them are just looking for something or someone to connect to, and fit in. Too often they wander off looking in the wrong places, and things go way off track. It's a problem that won't go away overnight, but if enough people realize where and how it starts, at least they are on the way to dealing with it.
by PaganPriest on Mon Mar 28th, 2005 at 11:08:22 AM EST
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Amazing post
Thank you for sharing that.
by WilliamPitt (fyi@truthout.org) on Mon Mar 28th, 2005 at 11:14:22 AM EST http//:www.truthout.org
[ Parent ]
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Incredible
May your courage and compassion be an inspiration to us all. Blessed be.
by Michele (Cutback@nflfreaks.com) on Mon Mar 28th, 2005 at 11:45:06 AM EST http://nflfreaks.com
[ Parent ]
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Red Lake Memorial Fund
Hi Will,
I'm sure it's just an oversight; however, I couldn't help but notice that both here and in your previous post abut the shootings in Red Lake, you forgot to include the addresses for the Memorial Funds that have been set up for the people in Red Lake. Since I know how conscientious you are in generating money for people in need, I'm sure you'll be diligent about getting these addresses out to people.
Has anyone considered setting up a paypal account? Maybe spreading the word on the fundraising efforts in the rest of the blogosphere? DU? PDA? People For Change?
Would be great if you could use your influence and widespread popularity to distribute these addresses and news of these efforts widely.
Efforts to help people on the Red Lake Reservation include:
* Red Lake National Memorial Fund: Any Wells Fargo Bank office or by mail to P.O. Box 574, Red Lake, MN 56671.
* Red Lake School Tragedy Assistance Fund: St. Philip's Catholic Church, 702 Beltrami Av. NW., Bemidji, MN 56601.
* Food and fuel: Gasoline cards ($25 recommended) and grocery gift certificates are needed to help families get back to the reservation. Send them to the Red Lake urban office at the Franklin Business Center, 1433 E. Franklin Av., Suite 13A, Minneapolis, MN 55404.
* Funeral expenses: Victims' Families of Red Lake Memorial Fund at First National Bank Bemidji, P.O. Box 670, Bemidji, MN 56619.
by tombstoned (lfried5atuicdotedu) on Mon Mar 28th, 2005 at 11:29:05 AM EST
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Monster Kids
For ten years I taught "at risk" high school kids. Most of them had some kind of criminal behavior on their records. Many of them had rather serious charges against them. Two of them in those 10 years were facing murder raps. These were tough kids, and some were very large and strong and skilled at all manner of combativeness. A few could have kicked my ass quite easily. Many times I had to get between them to separate them so that they wouldn't fight. In ten years never did a kid lay a violent hand upon me.
Anyone who thinks that arming teachers is the way to go is out of their freaking mind! Never have I heard a stupider suggestion. These kids want someone to treat them as human beings, valuable human beings. Basically, that is what they want and hunger for, just a little decent attention from another human being. The marvelous story you told of "That Kid" is not unusual. There are thousands of those kids out there somewhere waiting for someone to treat them decently.
You may not be able to save them from their drug addictions, or from an entire legion of psychological or personality problems, but you can be their friend, and at least allow them a chance at a decent human relationship.
If America really wants to help such kids, they must certainly do what you recommend, as well as re-visit the idea of getting professional help to these kids in a more timely and efficient manner; it would be expensive, yes, but not as expensive as housing them in the prisons they will most probably end up in. Currently nobody much pays any attention until it is too late.
Finally, just an observation: for the most part kids aren't born monsters - they're turned into monsters.
by Traesom on Mon Mar 28th, 2005 at 12:15:49 PM EST http://marchenheim.blogspot.com/
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I know folks want to help
....... but, money is not a panacea here, nor is it just a problem of a kid who didn't fit in that teaching your children to be nicer will solve.
The difference here is that this was an Indian boy who had nowhere to go and nothing to dream on. His world has all of the above and quite a bit more (or less, depending on how you look at it).
Our kids have a higher suicide rate than all other groups combined. They are killing themselves because they feel life is not worth the living in an environment that is as much a trap as steel jaws.
If your entire belief system and way of life is at odds with everything that equates as success, and you see no one honoring that spirit or even giving it credence, then you start going ballistic in one way or another, just to stop the screaming inside your head.
If you really want to help, you could put pressure on Congress to pay out the billions stolen from the BIA trust funds, stop the use of Native land for dumping of nuclear waste, stop the renting out of Native land to whites for the rape and pillage of sacred sites, and most of all stop the coopting of made-up nuage cultural ripoffs that demean our traditions.
Until these kids are allowed the space and respect to find meaning in their lives, they remain at risk.
by senexa on Mon Mar 28th, 2005 at 12:47:52 PM EST
source: http://forum.truthout.org/blog/story/2005/3/28/10014/6882
Howard Payne News
Abilene Reporter News
03.01.05
March 1, 2005
Jazz concert tonight
Howard Payne University's Jazz Ensemble is performing a big band concert featuring jazz worship music at 7:30 p.m. today in Mims Auditorium. Featured selections include sound tracks from Billy Graham films as well as other gospel and spiritual arrangements. The concert is free and open to the public.
HPU hosts lectureship
David L. Hudson Jr., an attorney at the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, will be the speaker Friday Howard Payne University's Spring 2005 Brand Chair Lecture.
His topic will be ''The First Amendment in Public Schools.''
The event is 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Adams Street Community Center, sponsored by the Academy of Freedom. The program will conclude with a roundtable discussion on religious liberty in the public schools, involving the speaker and representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Liberty Legal Institute.
Hudson is a First Amendment contributing editor for the American Bar Association's Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases. His articles have been published in The National Law Journal, the ABA Journal and the Tennessee Bar Journal.
President Bush, Drugs and Opinions
From: Steve Harris and Steve Puckett
Date: Sun Feb 27, 2005 10:57:09 AM US/Central
To: bmoos@dallasnews.com
Cc: bflatt@dallasnews.com
Subject: " Bush on Tape" letters inquiry
Was trying to locate & view letters (Bush on Tape - Sunday Reader - page 3h) on your internet site and could not locate them. I would like to share them, and mark davis' column, with friends. Are they posted ? Any help would be appreciated.
Regards, S Harris
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From: "Flatt, Brenda"
Date: Tue Mar 01, 2005 09:54:44 AM US/Central
To: "'Steve Harris and Steve Puckett'"
Subject: RE: " Bush on Tape" letters inquiry
Dear Steve Harris:
Following is a copy of Mark Davis' last column. The Bush on Tape letters
weren't posted due to an oversight. They should be posted some time later
this morning when our copy editor arrives. Sorry for the oversight! And we
thank you for calling it to our attention.
Regards,
Brenda Flatt Lilley
Administrative Assistant
Editorial Department
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Mark Davis
Bush betrayed in the name of history? Yeah, right
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
How does one begin a conversation with Douglas Wead? I chose a standard
approach: "Hey, Doug, how are you doing?"
His answer spoke volumes. "Not real well."
I believe him. Since he made the choice to release conversations taped
without the knowledge of then-Gov. George W. Bush, his name and reputation
have been savaged from coast to coast.
That cannot be fun. As I got my opportunity to question him on his book tour
yesterday, I sensed he was already beaten to a pulp by the reaction to his
betrayal.
"I wish I had it all to do over again," he told me. "This has just been
horrible."
Well, how handy that there is no time tunnel for him to step into, offering
the chance to retroactively do the right thing. As it is, he will simply
have to live with the status quo, which means he is momentarily the most
sought-after author in America, on tour to promote a book that will now sell
far better than it would have without the secret tapes.
Poor baby.
Mr. Wead wants to dissuade you from thinking he is a money-grubbing Judas.
"I could have released the book in the campaign season and made about a
million dollars more," he insists.
Oh, really? The book, The Raising of a President, is a happy walk through
some presidents' family histories, not a work of hardball politics. The
tapes would have attracted a spike of attention last fall, but I don't know
whether that would have sent waves of readers to bookstores to get Mr.
Wead's take on Joe Kennedy.
Meanwhile, the author peddles the narcissistic notion that, but for his
account, history would somehow suffer. "I'm not doing this for the money or
to sell books," he told me - during his book tour designed to sell books
that make money. He insists that it is his regard for accurate history that
motivates him.
All right, let's review what new historical perspectives the tapes reveal.
As this newspaper's Tuesday editorial properly observes, that answer is:
none.
Faced with this fact, Mr. Wead begins his awkward plea for public sympathy.
He describes how he wanted nothing more than to provide a full historical
account. Faced with skepticism, he wanted to be believed.
Skepticism from whom? First, from his own publisher's attorneys. He chose to
attribute to an anonymous source a story of youthful indiscretion from Mr.
Bush's own lips. The lawyers needed more, so he coughed up the tapes.
The story then stumbles into offices at The New York Times, where a
newspaper that's had it in for Mr. Bush since he began running also needed
corroboration. Once again, tapes satisfied the beast.
Today, Mr. Wead asserts with a straight face that this was all somehow
beyond his control.
"At what point did you lose the right to make decisions about the release of
the tapes?" I asked.
"It's all so painful now and so complicated that I can't put my finger on
it." Do tell.
And as for this notion that his words would not pass muster without tapes, I
asked why Bob Woodward can publish reams of stories about the most public of
figures, many of which have been criticized as embellished fantasy, and
never cough up tape No. 1. "Why didn't you just tell the publishers, the
lawyers and The Times: This is my story, I obviously know the Bushes, my
credibility is not suspect, and stand your ground, refusing to betray a
friend?"
He paused. "Wow, I wish I'd had you with me in those negotiations."
Flatterer.
Somehow I think Mr. Wead had enough smarts and decency to reach that
conclusion himself. But he weaseled out when faced with the temptations of
opportunism.
The Mark Davis Show airs from 9 a.m. to noon weekdays on WBAP News/Talk 820.
His column regularly appears Wednesdays on Viewpoints, and his e-mail
address is mdavis@wbap .com.
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Letters: Bush on tape
10:40 AM CST on Tuesday, March 1, 2005
Deniability now gone
Re: "Bush betrayed in the name of history? Yeah, right," by Mark Davis, Wednesday Viewpoints.
Mark Davis took Douglas Wead to task, not for revealing what George Bush said but for allowing others (publishers, lawyers and The New York Times) to hear the tapes.
In past political campaigns, the president steadfastly refused to talk about an earlier, dark period in his life. There was some vague mention that he needed to give up drinking but no admissions about drugs. That provided deniability. Now, his own words – on tape – blow that deniability.
Had Mr. Wead not exposed the tapes, conservatives could have brushed off his revelations as the rantings of a troubled mind.
Tom O'Connor, Dallas
This wastes our time
George W. Bush is a terrible president, but this recent fascination with whether he may have admitted trying drugs is an absurd distraction from the real issues.
How does whether Mr. Bush has ever been high matter to the millions of Americans with no access to health care? Or to those lied to and strung along about the reasons for going to war?
Let's elevate our dialogue to issues that actually affect the country and not waste time with extraneous sensationalism.
Jacob Bilhartz, Dallas
What we learned
Re: "Et Tu, Weadie? – A Bush friend sells out cheap," Tuesday Editorials.
This is a good example of partisanship at The Dallas Morning News . President Bush lied about a felony, that he possessed and used cocaine and marijuana. Let's look at what the rest of us learned:
•That Mr. Bush thinks it is OK to lie. Oh, right, we knew that from his claims about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction.
•That, as a role model, Mr. Bush teaches our children that admitting to a wrong should be avoided. Overcoming addiction requires honesty, so what kind of role model is he to drug users?
•Finally, that he is a hypocrite. He promised to restore integrity to the White House; he should restore integrity to his own house first.
Gary Beason, Carrollton
Legacy of hypocrisy
Re: "Et Tu, Weadie? – A Bush friend sells out cheap," Tuesday Editorials.
A good editorial except for one error, and it was a big one: "You can accuse George W. Bush of many things, but hypocrisy is not one of them." Apparently, no one at your paper has a dictionary.
"Hypocrite" contrasts a person's actions with his words. Saying the same thing in private and public does not mean one is free of hypocrisy. Saying you are a "fiscal conservative" while running up the largest deficits in history is a great example of hypocrisy.
Starting a war, justifying it with lies and professing to be a Christian would be another.
John Pouland, Fort Worth
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brownwood "Christians" & Oscar Bashing?
This morning on KXYL-Brownwood Talk Radio- Marion Bishop and Connie Carmichael after expressing condolences to family members at their church who had lost loved ones and expressing how sad they both (Connie & Marion) were, immediately launch into bashing people at the Oscars and Hollywood in general: " Those people in Hollywood are as shallow as a plate of water", "Did you see Barbara Streisand, she's as big as a house", "Barbara must be hanging out with Michael Moore", "If you need a windbreak, just stand behind Barbara", etc., etc., etc.....What Kind of Christians ? Indeed !
Posted: Sun., Feb. 27, 2005, 9:29pm PT
The 77th Annual Academy Awards
Host: Chris Rock
By BRIAN LOWRY
If Sunday's showcase wasn't quite a Rock or Oscars for the ages, it was a smooth and appealing telecast -- and somehow the republic, red and blue states alike, seems destined to survive it. For all the hand-wringing about the awards descending into the muck, the 77th Academy Awards proved a classy affair, with precious little red meat to satiate Hollywood bashers. Even the potentially awkward decision to bring some nominees onstage had a salutary effect, investing the presentation with a rather collegial feel.
source: http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117926368?categoryid=31&cs=1&s=h&p=0
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Note: Below what Connie and Marion Don't want you to see or hear about !
February 27, 2005
FRANK RICH
Hollywood Bets on Chris Rock's 'Indecency'
THE total box office for all five best-picture nominees on Sunday's Oscars is so small that their collective niche in the national cultural marketplace falls somewhere between square dancing and non-Grisham fiction. But if this year's Oscars are worthless as a barometer of the broad state of American pop culture, there's much to learn from the hype spun by ABC and the motion picture academy to seduce Americans to watch even if they can't distinguish Clive Owen from Catalina Sandino Moreno. The selling of the Oscar show is the latest indicator of the most telling disconnect in our politics: in the post-Janet Jackson era, "indecency" is gaining in popularity in direct proportion to Washington's campaign to shut indecency down.
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The signs are everywhere that the indecency campaign is failing anyway in the months since "moral values" supposedly became the unofficial law of the land. To see how much so, forget about the liberal Hollywood of Oscar night and examine instead the porn peddlers of the right.
Rupert Murdoch's Fox, always a leader in these hypocrisy sweepstakes, made pious hay out of yanking the second scheduled broadcast of the GoDaddy.com commercial after its initial Super Bowl appearance. But Fox Sports promptly plastered the "GoDaddy girl" alongside Playboy bunnies and other pinups on its "Funhouse Fox of the Week" Web site, where every adolescent teenager could ogle it to his libido's content. No less a bellwether is the decision of Adelphia, a cable giant known for its refusal to traffic in erotica, to change its image radically now that its moralistic founder and former C.E.O., John Rigas, has been convicted of looting the company. Shortly after President Bush's inauguration Adelphia acknowledged that it is offering XXX, the most hard-core porn, to some subscribers - a cable first, outdoing even the XX porn on Mr. Murdoch's DirecTV in explicitness. "The more X's, the more popular," an Adelphia spokeswoman told The Los Angeles Times.
As Jake Tapper reported on ABC News, Adelphia is a big Republican contributor. Its beneficiaries include Rick Santorum, the Republican senator from Pennsylvania who has likened homosexuality to "man on dog" sex, a specialty item that his campaign donor might yet present some day. Sift through the Center for Responsive Politics' campaign contribution site, and you will also find that Fred Upton, the Republican point man in the Congressional indecency crusade, is one of the many in his party (President Bush among them) raking in contributions from Comcast or its executives. Comcast subscribers are awash in porn. In Mr. Upton's own Kalamazoo district, its pay-per-view networks have offered such hard-core fare as "Young, Fresh & Ripe" and "As Young As They Come No. 8" even as the congressman put the finishing touches on the penalty-enhanced Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005.
Cheering Mr. Upton on is the Parents Television Council, the e-mail factory that Mediaweek magazine credits with as much as 99.9 percent of all indecency complaints to the F.C.C. in 2004. It is also quite a little fount of salacious entertainment in its own right. On its Web site, the organization's tireless "entertainment analysts" compile a list of every naughty word used on television and invite visitors to "Watch the Worst TV Clip of the Week." An archive of past clips - helpfully labeled individually by sin ("gratuitous teen sex," "necrophilia") - is there for your pleasure, with no requirement for the credit card number or membership fee that porn Internet sites use as a roadblock for children.
That politicians and public scolds like these have succeeded in the temporary laundering of live TV shows, and even "Saving Private Ryan," is a symptom of the political moment. It won't last long. The power of the free market, for better or worse, will prevail, and the market tells us that it is still the American way to lament indecency even while gobbling it up. This is the year that Sports Illustrated for the first time published the number for its subscribers to phone if they wanted to skip the swimsuit issue - and almost no one called. Sandra Dee really is dead, and no fire-and-brimstone speeches by James Dobson are going to bring her back.
But that does not mean that the indecency campaign is benign. Even if it barely slows the entertainment industry juggernaut, it inflicts collateral damage elsewhere - whether casting a chill over broadcast news or crippling public broadcasting by inducing it to censor even the language of American troops in a "Frontline" documentary about Iraq. The Parents Television Council may purport to complain about "The Simpsons," which last Sunday presented an episode both sympathetic to same-sex marriage and skeptical of a Bible-thumping minister. ("If you love the Bible so much," Homer asks him, "why don't you marry it?") But that's a game; this organization knows full well it can't lay a finger on Fox or its well-connected proprietor, Mr. Murdoch. The same anti-indecency forces, however, can and did set the stage for the new secretary of education, Margaret Spellings, to go gunning for a far milder evocation of same-sex parents in the children's show "Postcards From Buster" on PBS.
Fresh from sending a cartoon rabbit to the slaughterhouse, Ms. Spellings will figure out ways to discriminate against real-life lesbian moms in other departmental policies that have nothing to do with entertainment. And she's not the only administration official empowered by the decency crusaders to apply censorship to public policy well removed from the TV screen. No sooner were PBS's lesbians sent to the indecency gulag than The Washington Post reported that the Department of Health and Human Services had instructed the presenters of a federally funded conference on suicide prevention this month to remove the words "gay," "lesbian," "bisexual" and "transgender" from the name of a talk heretofore titled "Suicide Prevention Among Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Individuals," thereby rendering it invisible and useless.
At least President Bush is now on tape saying he won't "kick gays." He leaves that to surrogates. It's gay people and teenagers being denied potentially life-saving sex education who ultimately are the real victims of the larger agenda of the decency crusaders, which is not to clean up show business, a doomed mission, but to realize the more attainable goal of enlisting the government to marginalize and punish those who don't adhere to their "moral values." For its part, show business will have no problem fending for itself. My favorite moment in the whole faux Oscar controversy came on a "Today" show segment weighing the Drudge Report blast of Chris Rock. "Still ahead this morning on 'Today,' " said Katie Couric without missing a beat as that report ended, "former teacher Mary Kay Letourneau is planning to marry the student who fathered two of her children." America just can't stop itself from staying tuned.
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Howard Payne: Congratulations
HPU nets ASC women's title
Lady Yellow Jackets run away in second half to top McMurry
By Joshua Parrott / Reporter-News Staff Writer
February 28, 2005
Although the game finished nearly 20 minutes earlier, Howard Payne University's Kami Collins still remained lost in the moment.
The senior forward posted a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds as the Lady Yellow Jackets stung McMurry University 75-49 in the American Southwest Conference Women's Basketball Championship Tournament title game Sunday afternoon at Hardin-Simmons University's Mabee Complex.
With the win, HPU (24-4 overall) earns the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, where it will serve as host to Trinity University on Wednesday at a time to be determined.
''Really, I don't think it's hit me. I haven't even cried yet,'' said Collins, who was named the tournament's most valuable player. ''I haven't had a chance to think about us winning the conference or me being named MVP. Just a minute ago they called my name, and I didn't know what for. My teammates and I were jumping up and down, and I asked, 'What are we jumping up and down for?'
source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/sp_lc_howard_payne_univ/article/0,1874,ABIL_8788_3581928,00.html
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HPU Spring Sing 2005 Results
Saturday, February 26, 2005
Brownwood: Beware Wolves in Sheeps Clothing !
Note: Will Brownwood's KXYL James Williamson blame this on Democrats, Hollywood, Liberals, Clinton etc. like he did with the recent Fort Worth (Underwood) murder case ! As Ben (Coleman) stated well this morning on his call-in to KXYL's Connie & Marion Show.
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Cub Scout Leader Arrested in BTK Killings
Sat., Feb. 26, 2005
By ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press Writer
WICHITA, Kan. - A 31-year manhunt for a serial killer who taunted police with letters about his crimes ended Saturday when authorities said they finally caught up with the man who called himself BTK and linked him to at least 10 murders.
The suspect was identified as Dennis L. Rader, a 59-year-old city worker in nearby Park City, who was arrested Friday. Police did not say how they identified Rader as a suspect or whether he has said anything since his arrest.
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Rader, a Cub Scout leader who was active at his Lutheran church, lived with his wife, neighbors said. Public records indicate they have two grown children. Messages left for family members were not returned on Saturday, and no one answered the door at the home of his in-laws.
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The BTK slayings began in 1974 with the strangulations of Joseph Otero, 38, his wife, Julie, 34, and their two children. The six victims that followed were all women, and most were strangled.
Along with his grisly crimes, the killer terrorized Wichita by sending rambling letters to the media, including one in which he named himself BTK for "Bind them, Torture them, Kill them." In another he complained, "How many do I have to kill before I get my name in the paper or some national attention?"
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"The way they made the link was some DNA evidence, that they had some DNA connection to the guy who they arrested," Sebelius said in an interview with The Associated Press. She did not elaborate.
The two newly identified cases were similar to the early ones with one exception, Sedgwick County Sheriff Gary Stead said: The bodies had been removed from the crime scenes. One of the victims lived on the same street as Rader.
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On Friday, investigators searched Rader's house and seized computer equipment.
On the Net:
Wichita Police: http://www.wichita.gov/cityoffices/police
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Ex-church members keep open mind in pastor's case
They describe suspect in molestations as happy, religious man
Underwood Speaks
A Mother's Heartfelt Stance April 30, 2000
by Sharon Underwood For the Valley News (White River Junction, VT)
Many letters have been sent to the Valley News concerning the homosexual
menace in Vermont. I am the mother of a gay son and I've taken enough from
you good people.
I'm tired of your foolish rhetoric about the "homosexual agenda" and your
allegations that accepting homosexuality is the same thing as advocating sex
with children. You are cruel and ignorant. You have been robbing me of the
joys of motherhood ever since my children were tiny.
My firstborn son started suffering at the hands of the moral little thugs from
your moral, upright families from the time he was in the first grade. He was
physically and verbally abused from first grade straight through high school
because he was perceived to be gay.
He never professed to be gay or had any association with anything gay, but he
had the misfortune not to walk or have gestures like the other boys. He was
called "fag" incessantly, starting when he was 6.
In high school, while your children were doing what kids that age should be
doing, mine labored over a suicide note, drafting and redrafting it to be sure his
family knew how much he loved them. My sobbing 17-year-old tore the heart
out of me as he choked out that he just couldn't bear to continue living any
longer, that he didn't want to be gay and that he couldn't face a life without
dignity.
You have the audacity to talk about protecting families and children from the
homosexual menace, while you yourselves tear apart families and drive children
to despair. I don't know why my son is gay, but I do know that God didn't put
him, and millions like him, on this Earth to give you someone to abuse. God gave
you brains so that you could think, and it's about time you started doing that.
At the core of all your misguided beliefs is the belief that this could never
happen to you, that there is some kind of subculture out there that people
have chosen to join. The fact is that if it can happen to my family, it can
happen to yours, and you won't get to choose. Whether it is genetic or
whether something occurs during a critical time of fetal development, I don't
know. I can only tell you with an absolute certainty that it is inborn.
If you want to tout your own morality, you'd best come up with something
more substantive than your heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; it was
given to you. If you disagree, I would be interested in hearing your story,
because my own heterosexuality was a blessing I received with no effort
whatsoever on my part. It is so woven into the very soul of me that nothing
could ever change it. For those of you who reduce sexual orientation to a
simple choice, a character issue, a bad habit or something that can be changed
by a 10-step program, I'm puzzled. Are you saying that your own sexual
orientation is nothing more than something you have chosen, that you could
change it at will? If that's not the case, then why would you suggest that
someone else can?
A popular theme in your letters is that Vermont has been infiltrated by
outsiders. Both sides of my family have lived in Vermont for generations. I am
heart and soul a Vermonter, so I'll thank you to stop saying that you are
speaking for "true Vermonters."
You invoke the memory of the brave people who have fought on the battlefield
for this great country, saying that they didn't give their lives so that the
"homosexual agenda" could tear down the principles they died defending. My
83-year-old father fought in some of the most horrific battles of World War II,
was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart.
He shakes his head in sadness at the life his grandson has had to live. He says
he fought alongside homosexuals in those battles, that they did their part and
bothered no one. One of his best friends in the service was gay, and he never
knew it until the end, and when he did find out, it mattered not at all. That
wasn't the measure of the man.
You religious folk just can't bear the thought that as my son emerges from the
hell that was his childhood he might like to find a lifelong companion and have a
measure of happiness. It offends your sensibilities that he should request the
right to visit that companion in the hospital, to make medical decisions for him or
to benefit from tax laws governing inheritance.
How dare he? you say. These outrageous requests would threaten the very
existence of your family, would undermine the sanctity of marriage.
You use religion to abdicate your responsibility to be thinking human beings.
There are vast numbers of religious people who find your attitudes repugnant.
God is not for the privileged majority, and God knows my son has committed
no sin. The deep-thinking author of a letter to the April 12 Valley News who
lectures about homosexual sin and tells us about "those of us who have been
blessed with the benefits of a religious upbringing" asks: "What ever happened
to the idea of striving . . . to be better human beings than we are?"
Indeed, sir, what ever happened to that ?
Suicide Hotlines
Mental Health Association in Abilene
24 hours / 7 days
(325) 677-7773
Serving Callahan, Jones, Shackelford, Stephens, & Taylor Counties
24-Hour Crisis Hot Line
Betty Hardwick Center: A Community Mental Health Resource
24 hours / 7 days
1-800-758-3344
source: http://suicidehotlines.com/texas.html
Friday, February 25, 2005
Brownwood Blogging & Catjuggling ? Read on......Truth & Facts: Indeed !
Op Ed: Columnists Steve Nash- Brownwood Bulletin
'Catjuggler' finds a home somewhere on the World Wide Web
“There's no politics on my Web site, not even any social commentary about catjuggling. No blogging. No references to black books or conspiracies.”
source:http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2005/02/26/op_ed/columnists/opinion05.txt
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The new age of `news'
Published February 26, 2005
Fittingly for someone who fancied himself a journalist, it was a question that brought Jeff Gannon's downfall. It was an obviously slanted question, tossed like a softball to President Bush at a recent news conference. Gannon, who billed himself as a reporter for two conservative Web sites, asked Bush how he could work with Senate Democratic leaders "who seem to have divorced themselves from reality."
You can almost hear the other reporters in the room muttering to themselves, Who is that guy? Soon afterward, Gannon was exposed on liberal blog sites as James Dale Guckert, a man with thin if nonexistent journalism credentials whose naked pictures had appeared on gay escort Web sites.
Gannon was admitted into the splashiest press fishbowl in the world--the White House. Gannon infiltrated this select group as a reporter for the Web sites Talon News and GOPUSA, both owned by a Texas Republican activist. He never got full White House press credentials, which require an FBI background check. He quit after his background was exposed.
That touched off lots of debate about whether the White House had let a conservative political partisan--a rather unusual one at that--slip into the White House press pool.
But as The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, the White House briefing room has become a home for all manner of partisans who call themselves journalists. At a Feb. 1 briefing, White House spokesman Scott McClellan had this question tossed at him: "Does the president believe in Commandment No. 6--`Thou shalt not kill'--as it applies to the U.S invasion of Iraq?"
It's safe to say that one didn't come from a conservative Republican plant.
The flash of heat and light around the Gannon story illuminates a far bigger struggle. It's a battle for minds and eyeballs--yours--that has often been touted as New Media vs. Old Media.
In the latter category are mainstream newspapers and network TV news, which tout their objectivity and promise coverage that is not tainted by partisan politics. It seems that more people are suspicious about that, but that's the intent.
In the former category are the Internet bloggers, cable television news shows and talk radio, all of whom traffic in clear, often loudly expressed opinion that frames everything they report. They're doing "opinion news--news that reflects one's own beliefs and preferences and tends to filter out dissenting views," as a recent report from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press put it.
Is that new? Nah. It's actually as old as the republic, when newspapers from front to back were clearly identified with a political philosophy and a Thomas Paine could rally Americans to embrace independence by distributing "Common Sense" far and wide.
What's new is how the news spreads. Those who prefer "opinion news" tend to find it on cable TV, talk radio and a dizzy proliferation of Internet sites.
Daily newspapers still separate objective reporting in their news pages from opinion writing by columnists and the editorial page.
The idea of objectivity in news reporting is, relatively speaking, a fairly recent development. In the earliest days of American journalism, newspapers were expected to present a partisan view. Newspapers took sides in their news columns and made no secret of it. It was that vigorous, partisan press that prompted President John Adams to make the terrible decision to sign the Sedition Act in 1798.
After World War I, the idea of objective coverage began to take hold. Papers were still identified by political ideology, but a concerted effort was made by many mass-circulation dailies to scrub such bias from the news columns. There were many reasons for this. But among the most prominent: science. In his book "News Values," former Tribune Publisher Jack Fuller argues that the idea of objectivity arose from those seeking greater legitimacy for newspapers in an era of scientific discovery. Papers that promised the unvarnished truth flourished when readers demanded verifiable facts, not just conjecture and sensationalized opinion, in news columns.
So perhaps we're going back to the future.
The bloggers have scored some impressive scoops in recent months. They're a force. According to a Pew Research Center poll, "more people are turning away from traditional news outlets, with their decorous, just-the-facts aspirations to objectivity, toward noisier hybrid formats that aggressively fuse news with opinion or entertainment or both."
There has been a great deal of concern in television and newspaper shops about the splintering audience. The upside, for readers and viewers, is that they have more choices for news and opinion than they've ever had.
The cable channels and bloggers have rising audiences. It's worth noting, though, that the audience for NBC Nightly News is still roughly seven times as large as Fox News Channel's flagship news show, "Special Report with Brit Hume." Objective reporting still commands by far the largest audiences.
Once unleashed, new media cannot be shoehorned back into oblivion. But they do tend to evolve.
People vote with their dollars, their remote controls and their mouse clicks. It's a robust marketplace of ideas and different approaches. But the truth is still what makes this business go. Finding things out and telling people the facts remains the surest way to success.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Near Brownwood: Strange Metal Orb Found in Texas
“ Given the manner in which it was found it is very likely that it was not produced by the military, but by individuals that had intended to down grade the technology to create a "dirty bomb". Why? Who knows in this day and age, but the photos and radiographs do indicate that it was created as a weapon and not as a simple radio device of some type. The tube in the middle is very specific to this type of device and is the actual container for the nuclear material used in the device.”
Brownwood UFO
The UFO Phenomenon -- Seeing Is Believing
Two-Hour Primetime Special Airs Thursday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m.
Feb. 7, 2005 - Almost 50 percent of Americans, according to recent polls, and millions of people elsewhere in the world believe that UFOs are real. For many it is a deeply held belief.
For decades there have been sightings of UFOs by millions and millions of people. It is a mystery that only science can solve, and yet the phenomenon remains largely unexamined. Most of the reporting on this subject by the mainstream media holds those who claim to have seen UFOs up to ridicule.
On Feb. 24, "Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs -- Seeing Is Believing" takes a fresh look at the UFO phenomenon. "As a journalist," says Jennings, "I began this project with a healthy dose of skepticism and as open a mind as possible. After almost 150 interviews with scientists, investigators and with many of those who claim to have witnessed unidentified flying objects, there are important questions that have not been completely answered -- and a great deal not fully explained."
"Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs -- Seeing Is Believing" airs Thursday, Feb. 24 from 8-10 p.m. ET on ABC. The program will be broadcast in High Definition.
This two-hour primetime special reports on the entire scope of the UFO experience -- from the first famous sighting by Kenneth Arnold in 1947 to the present day. The program draws on interviews with police officers, pilots, military personnel, scientists and ordinary citizens who give extraordinary accounts of encounters with the unexplained. Also included are the voices of professional skeptics about UFOs, including scientists who are leading the search for life forms beyond Earth elsewhere in the universe.
The program explores the facts behind the enduring mystery of the incident at Roswell, N.M., and looks into the strange stories of alien abductions. Among the UFO cases presented:
Minot Air Force Base, N.D., October 1968 -- Sixteen airmen on the ground and the crew of an airborne B-52 witness a massive unidentified object hovering near the base.
Phoenix, March 1997 -- Hundreds witness a huge triangular craft moving slowly over the city.
St. Clair County, Ill., January 2000 -- Police officers in five adjoining towns all independently report witnessing a giant craft with multiple bright lights moving silently across the sky at a very low altitude.
Today if you report a UFO to the U.S. government you will be informed that the Air Force conducted a 22-year investigation that ended in 1969 and concluded that UFOs are not a threat to national security and are of no scientific interest. But as one of the world's leading theoretical physicists says in the program, "You simply cannot dismiss the possibility that some of these UFO sightings are actually sightings from some object created by ... a civilization perhaps millions of years ahead of us in technology."
"Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs -- Seeing Is Believing" is produced by PJ Productions and Springs Media for ABC News. Mark Obenhaus and Tom Yellin are the executive producers.
source: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Primetime/story?id=468496
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ELDERLY MOSS ? MARTIAN DANDRUFF ?
The Texas Department of Public Safety investigated a mysterious white substance found clinging to trees and powerlines after a UFO was sighted near the Brownwood airport.
source: http://www.texasmonthly.com/mag/issues/1974-02-01/feature.php
------------------------------------
From:
Date: Wed Dec 31, 2003 07:42:50 AM US/Central
To:
Subject: Brownwood UFO’s
You and I may be the only ones who will admit seeing the objects (2) in the air right after spotting the white "spider webs" clinging above the restaurant on the powerlines on Monday December 29, 2003. I'm not interested in letting anyone else know of what we
saw ! Thought you would find this site interesting.
http://www.bibleufo.com/angelhair.htm
Regards,
" Brownwood, Baptists & UFO's ?" !!!!!!!
“ I used to know a fellow from Brownwood whose mother belonged to a Baptist UFO cult. These folks would actually go out and hunt for flying saucers as a kind of religious exercise, believing them to be heavenly vehicles piloted by avenging angels. Interestingly, my old friend more or less dropped out of sight a number of years ago. You don't suppose. . .?!?
At any rate, early Friday afternoon I was about to post some news stories to Applelinks, when all of a sudden it wasn't there. The site, I mean. Poof, vanished like my old buddy from Brownwood.”
source: http://www.applelinks.com/farrsite/nov15.shtml
A Can Do Attitude and Hospitality
Abilene Reporter News
A Can-Do Attitude
Wig shop owner caters to variety of customers
By Celinda Emison / Reporter-News Staff Writer
February 24, 2005
BROWNWOOD - Making sure every hair is in place is serious business to Erma Allen.
Allen, 47, has more than 300 wigs and 150 hairpieces at her store, It's My Hair & Things, in Commerce Square in Brownwood.
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She caters to everyone from cancer patients to cross dressers.
''It doesn't matter to me what the situation is,'' she said. ''I want to make everyone feel comfortable and welcome in my shop - and if need be, I'll go to them.''
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''I love what I'm doing, and I love to stay busy,'' she said. ''It's all about being productive in every aspect of your life.''
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view entire article @: URL: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_business/article/0,1874,ABIL_7948_3571197,00.html
"You have a right to know"......Begins Locally
Your Right to Know: 'Shield laws' help media provide information
10:03 PM CST on Sunday, February 27, 2005
Why do you read the newspaper?
Beyond the ads and advice columns, comics and cooking tips, we believe it's because you want to understand how the world and your town work. Our goal is that you will find in your front yard each morning important information that some people would rather you not know.
And sometimes that means quoting "sources close to the investigation," "a senior administration official" or even "a family friend who asked not to be identified."
An anonymous source is never a newspaper's first choice and always faces higher internal and external scrutiny. But if not for the protection of anonymity, you might remember Richard Nixon for his trip to China, instead of Watergate.
Or, closer to home, you would not know about steroid use among athletes at Colleyville Heritage High School if not for one brave mother who initially spoke to us on the condition that we not publish her name.
If you value those stories – and the thousands of others in between that hinge on a journalist's promise to protect a source's identity – join us in encouraging our Legislature and Congress to pass legislation to provide state and federal "shield laws."
In Austin, Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and Rep. Aaron Pena, D-Edinburg, have filed bills that would give journalists qualified privilege to not reveal confidential information, including the name of an anonymous source. Texas would join the more than 30 states that already offer similar protection.
In Washington, Reps. Mike Pence, R-Ind.; Rick Boucher, D-Va.; and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., have introduced the "Free Flow of Information Act," which protects reporters from being forced to testify in federal criminal or civil cases, without meeting strict criteria.
This newspaper and other responsible news organizations do not promise confidentiality without serious consideration. Before we publish or broadcast that information, one argument will trump all:
You have a right to know.
Read the bills
State: www.capitol.state.tx.us (Search for SB604)
Federal: www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2005/s340.html
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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/022805dnedishield.2f0d6.html
Brownwood: "Don't Mind If I Take a Look, Do Ya?"
Race a Factor in Texas Stops
Study Finds Police More Likely to Pull Over Blacks, Latinos
By Sylvia Moreno
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 25, 2005; Page A03
AUSTIN, Feb. 24 -- A study commissioned by minority advocacy groups released Thursday found that police throughout Texas stop and search black and Latino drivers at higher rates than whites but that officers are more likely to find drugs, guns and other contraband on whites.
The study, called "Don't Mind If I Take a Look, Do Ya?," examined 2003 statistics provided by 1,060 law enforcement agencies on consensual searches of vehicles during traffic stops and how often contraband was found.
to view the entire article visit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51613-2005Feb24.html
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
CDC Explores Pregnancy-Homicide Link
Killings Cited Among Top Causes of Trauma Death for New, Expectant Mothers
By Donna St. George
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 23, 2005; Page A05
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that homicide is a leading cause of traumatic death among new and expectant mothers, with higher risks for women who are younger than 20 or black. It was the CDC's first national look at pregnancy and homicide.
source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45626-2005Feb22.html
"If you try that again, I'll ram my fist up your ass." Say What ?
Rocky Mountain News
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion/article/0,1299,DRMN_38_3571025,00.html
On Point, February 24
February 24, 2005
CRANKY CADMAN
At the time this was written Wednesday afternoon, Rep. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, still hadn't forthrightly apologized for warning a colleague Tuesday on the floor of the House, "If you try that again, I'll ram my fist up your ass."
Instead, Cadman was splitting hairs. He insisted the responsibility was reciprocal: The fellow he'd threatened, Rep. Val Vigil, D-Thornton, should have to apologize, too, because Vigil had told Cadman he was "garbage." In fact, Cadman suggested, Vigil should apologize first, presumably because he'd "started it," to use the playground lingo appropriate for these two legislative titans.
Well, of course Vigil should have apologized immediately, too. But an individual's responsibility to do the right thing is not contingent on others acting first. What is shocking is not only Cadman's reluctance to express regret but the fact that he wasn't absolutely mortified by what he'd stooped to say. It would never occur to most people to use such an expression even in private, no matter how incensed they were over an affront, let alone utter such words in public before other elected officials.
With Tuesday's outburst and its aftermath, Cadman has revealed himself as a sanctimonious loose cannon - someone to whom it might be wise to give a wide berth.
Brownwood Domestic Violence
“ In Texas, three women are killed every week by an intimate partner, said Ms. Flink, who didn't know how many of those were pregnant women.”
Homicide the No. 1 cause of death for pregnant women
1,367 expectant and new mothers have been murdered since 1990
01:02 AM CST on Wednesday, February 23, 2005
By DAVID TARRANT / The Dallas Morning News
The killing of a pregnant woman is horrifying enough. But the murders of Lisa Underwood, who was carrying a baby, and her 7-year-old son underscore a problem largely unknown to the public: Homicide is the leading cause of death among pregnant women.
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For more information or to help with domestic violence issues, contact:
The Family Place: A Dallas-based, nonprofit organization that provides assistance to victims of family violence. www.familyplace.org, 214-559-2170
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 24-hour phone line with Spanish and English counselors. 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
Texas Council on Family Violence: A nonprofit organization aiming to end violence against women through partnerships, advocacy and direct services for women, children and men. www.tcfv.org
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/022305dnnewmaternalhomicides.42c3e.html
--------------------
Brownwood Help:
Pecan Valley Regional Domestic Violence Shelter, Inc.
Serving Brown, Coleman & Comanche Counties
The ARK
PO Box 1202
Brownwood, TX 76804
Fax 325-646-5366
Executive Director
325-646-5939, ext 212
laurie@bwoodtx.com
24 Hour Crisis Line 325-643-2699 or 1-888-313-2699
Pregnant Women at Risk: Be alert to signs of abuse, and ask questions
10:04 PM CST on Wednesday, February 23, 2005
It is horrifying that Lisa Underwood of Fort Worth, who was seven months pregnant, and her 7-year-old son, Jayden, are dead. It is even more horrifying that, as this case reminds us, violent death is a risk factor of pregnancy.
Researchers in both the United States and the United Kingdom have found that homicide accounts for as many women's deaths during or immediately after pregnancy as any medical complication. In addition, one study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that pregnant women were nearly twice as likely to become homicide victims as women of similar ages and races who were not pregnant.
Also Online
The Family Violence Prevention Fund has a comprehensive set of "National Consensus Guidelines for Identifying and Responding to Domestic Violence Victimization in Healthcare Settings."
Copies can be ordered at 1-888-792-2873.
The document is also online at endabuse.org/programs/healthcare/files/Consensus.pdf.
Perhaps we shouldn't be shocked. Pregnancy is a stressful event even if it is planned – and even more so when it is not. Unsurprisingly, the incidence of homicide is especially high among women who did not plan their pregnancies.
What matters is that we face the fact that not all relationships and not all pregnancies conform to our romanticized notions. Doctors, nurses, other medical personnel and even just those of us who know a woman who is pregnant must be alert to signs that she is in distress or being abused.
It's never easy to ask delicate questions, but that's another thing research has shown: Women are far more likely to disclose domestic violence if they are asked than if they must screw up the courage to make the admission on their own.
Nevertheless, another study found that only one in 10 gynecologists routinely asks patients whether their partners are abusing them. That's not to blame the doctors – medical schools have not traditionally recognized domestic violence as a public health issue.
But a few simple questions – "Is someone hurting you? Is someone threatening you?" – asked by a doctor or a concerned co-worker could save the life of the next Lisa Underwood.
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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/022405dnedipregnant.d12.html
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
"Some Reporters" are the Checks and Balances
Wednesday February 23, 2005
Op Ed: Columnists
Threats of jail time against reporters not good for public -- Bill Crist
“ It is time to remove the threat of jail-time from reporters as they go about their job of gathering and reporting news. Without that protection, not only reporters, but also their sources, will be less likely to get involved in bringing controversial issues to the public's attention. As long as those issues remain below the public's radar, city state and federal governments, the local police and sheriff's offices, and every other public agency will be free to act without anyone reporting on their potentially controversial actions and decisions. That's not good for reporters, their sources or the general public. ”
Civil Unions (Equal Responsibility & Benefits) ? You bet !
Doubts Raised Over Bush's Faith-Based Commitment
By Terry M. Neal
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 22, 2005; 8:32 AM
“ Those who supported gay marriage went overwhelmingly for Kerry.
Bush had a slight edge among those who supported civil unions, and an overwhelming edge among those who opposed any legal recognition. With the more moderate voters splitting their votes, Bush needed the most conservative voters to come out in big numbers to assure his reelection, those on the left argue.”
source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43532-2005Feb22.html
(R) Tom Delay: One More Reason We are Independent Voters
Published on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 by the Houston Chronicle
If Newt is Warning DeLay About Ethics, Times Are Bad
by Cragg Hines
No matter. Gingrich is currently as cautionary, if not as vocally indignant, about the House Republican leadership's slide into the muck as he is about debating "patriotic immigration" or "the myth of judicial supremacy."
As usual, Gingrich is taking the long view, not something that current House leaders such as Tom DeLay are regularly accused of doing.
"Republicans in the House have to look at the reality that if we make sense as a party right now it's because we are the reform party, and anything that risks being the reform party is more dangerous for us than it is for the Democrats," Gingrich told a journalists' breakfast Tuesday sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. "They should be very careful."
Well, of course, House Republicans are not being careful. They are profligately displaying their power, including the power to abuse the House's tenuous-at-best policing of itself.
Gingrich's advice, minus some more general outcry, may be of limited effect. But Gingrich may have had a hand in stemming some of the abuses lately intended by DeLay & Co. Gingrich spoke out quickly late last year against the House Republicans' rule change to allow indicted leaders to retain their positions at least temporarily.
The rule was reversed. But the rollback turned out to be a temporary expedient.
DeLay, sometimes through House Speaker Dennis Hastert, has since exacted revenge against the House Ethics Committee for repeatedly citing him.
As a result of subsequent changes in House rules, it is now harder to institute an ethics complaint against a member. Hastert also replaced the fair-minded chairman of the House ethics committee, Joel Hefley, R-Colo., with a leadership stooge, Rep. Richard "Doc" Hastings, R-Wash., and replaced two of the Republicans on the panel. Two of the newly appointed members, including Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, have been contributors to DeLay's legal defense fund.
If DeLay's message was not clear enough, Hastings fired the two long-serving senior committee staff members, who were, in effect, the panel's institutional memory.
"It was terrible," Hefley told the Chronicle's Gebe Martinez of the staff firings. "Those two guys are very good, very competent professional staff. There was never a nuance of partisanship in either of them."
Gingrich made clear he thinks DeLay is on thin ice.
"The Republican Party's majority comes from the Perot voters who want real reform," Gingrich said. "Anything which weakens that is difficult."
The replacement of Hefley and the staff firings are "a fait accompli," Gingrich judged. "But as they move toward the future they should be careful about understanding that to the degree that we are seen as no longer the reform party, we create space either for a third party or for people to just stay home. And both are dangerous for our majority."
For readers freshly arrived from Mars, Gingrich was the mischievous Moses who led conservative Republicans as they took control of the U.S. House in the 1994 election, for the first time in 40 years. He barely got to see the political promised land.
Gingrich was House speaker (1995-1999) but was essentially run off after his party only narrowly hung on in the 1998 elections.
In his brief reign, Gingrich was assessed a $300,000 penalty for misleading the House Ethics Committee about his use of a tax-exempt organization for political purposes. He edged past other ethics skirmishes, including 22 checks bounced in the House bank scandal and a $4.5 million book advance from conservative media magnate Rupert Murdoch, which looked a touch too lucrative to be strictly a business deal. He gave it up for a sweet royalties arrangement.
Gingrich also was having an affair with a congressional aide amid one of his divorces, even as he condemned President Clinton for dalliances with a White House intern. "I'm a sinner," a well-practiced Gingrich said when questioned about moral authority. On old form, he quickly told his questioner: "And I expect you are too."
Given his own aggressively partisan background, Gingrich expressed surprise that Democrats aren't piling on more on issues such as Republican contracts with conservative commentators and the White House's admission of a pro-Republican male hooker to the press corps.
"It's fair to say that in my career I would probably have found an opportunity to comment on it," Gingrich said.
As for running for president, Gingrich will be in Iowa and New Hampshire soon, but, "It strikes me as implausible." So, there's more than one thing on which Newt and I agree.
Hines is a Houston Chronicle columnist based in Washington, D.C. (cragg.hines@chron.com)
© 2005 Houstin Chronicle
.........To Utopia !
“ like Mark Twain and Winston Churchill, the more I see of life the less I appreciate people and the more I appreciate animals."
source: http://www.utopiarescue.com/death.htm
What's Going on in Bwood ?
More Than One Way to Kill a Cat
Kinder, gentler euthanasia at the city pound.
By Greg Sargent
Manny Mondaca pulls a small black cat out of its cage in a room where the walls are painted a comforting pastel blue. He lays the animal gently on a steel table covered by a soft quilt and scratches it behind its left ear. He strokes it a few times. He takes care to treat the cat especially kindly, because he is about to kill it. With Smooth Jazz 101.9 playing in the background, Mondaca’s colleague, Leticia Arroyo, picks up a hypodermic needle filled with a blue poison called “Fatal Plus.” It lulls an animal to sleep before it dies. The cat registers the needle’s soft entry into its belly with just a twitch of an ear.
Welcome to the new era of reduced-cruelty euthanasia. Mondaca is a technician with Animal Care & Control of New York City, the nonprofit that runs the city’s animal shelters, which take in more than 50,000 stray dogs and cats a year. Last year, it had to put down 23,745 of them. That’s the smallest number in AC&C’s history, thanks to adoption outreach and increased funding for spaying and neutering. The goal of the center’s director, Edward Boks, is to be “no-kill” by 2009. In the meantime, he’s instituted steps to make an animal’s passing a little easier. Shelters in some parts of the country still kill animals en masse with carbon monoxide, says Boks. And while many shelters use injections, he adds, most don’t bother with soft music, comfortable tables, and soothing wall colors. Some even allow doomed animals to witness another’s death. “Animals can sense fear in other animals,” Boks says.
These changes might actually be more about reducing cruelty for the humans performing the procedures. Some technicians at the shelter have trouble coping with their roles—one repeatedly became hysterical before euthanasia sessions. “Pastels might make the people feel better,” says Colorado State University animal-behavior expert Temple Grandin. Though she points out that relaxing the staffers could make the animal’s last moments more relaxed as well.
“Until we achieve no-kill,” says Boks, “we should create comfort in their last moments. This may be the first loving touch they’ve ever had—even if it’s their last.”
From the March 7, 2005 issue of New York Magazine.
source: http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/columns/intelligencer/11274/index.html
Brownwood / PETA / Education / Euthanasia Rate / Christianity, Religion & Morality
FYI - Thousands of dogs and cats are put to death annually at the Brown County Humane Society Facilities. Education and personal responsiblity play a pivitol role in reducing these numbers !
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Mahatma Gandhi famously said, " The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. "
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Has a pet ever made a difference in your life? Brought a smile or comfort to you? Offered you companionship, friendship, and unconditional love? You can show your appreciation by learning about the needs of spaying and neutering cats and dogs in our community.
National Spay Day USA will be celebrated on Tuesday, February 22nd. The nationwide spay and neutering day was organized in 1995 by the Doris Day Animal Foundation to encourage all Americans to have their pets spayed or neutered.
Just look at the facts on why spaying and neutering is crucial. According to the Humane Society of Animals (HSUS) it only takes seven years for one unsprayed female cat and her offspring to produce 420,000 cats. In six years, one unsprayed dog and her offspring can give birth to 67,000.
The HSUS estimate that eight to ten million cats and dogs go to shelters each year and that at least half of them are euthanized. In Brown County the euthanasia rate is much higher. For cats alone, less than 10% are adopted out to homes leaving about 90% to be euthanized.
Some benefits of having your cat and dog spayed or neutered are:
Deceased unwanted pet population
Better health by decreasing the risk of cancers and infection of the reproduction system
Decrease in injuries from fighting or wandering while searching for a mate
Better companions for the family because the pet’s focus is on their human family
Spay Day USA organizers want the program to “inspire each humane American to take personal responsibility for preventing the births of surplus litter.”
Anyone can participate by having their pet spayed or neutered, helping a friend or family member have their pets spayed or neutered, and by supporting the Brown County Humane Society with donations of time, goods, and/or money.
We all need to be a part of the solution of eradicating pet overpopulation and unwanted litters. One of the most concrete and simplest ways to do this is by having your cat and dog spayed or neutered. We owe it to our pet companions.
If you need more information, contact the Brown County Humane Society or visit www.ddaf.org. We owe it to our pet companions.
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Spay & Neutered Info Visit: http://www.peta.org/feat/diego/
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Tuesday February 22, 2005
Quick depletion of grant money to spay, neuter pets shows need
By Candace Cooksey Fulton -- Brownwood Bulletin
"The statistics that we publish are that more than 3,000 animals are brought to the shelter here in a year, and only 14 percent of those are ever claimed or adopted. Really it's more than 3,000, because if the dogs and cats are wild and can't be handled, they're taken straight to the gas chamber. They're never entered into our computer."
source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2005/02/22/news/news03.txt
Brownwood Bulletin Op Ed
Addressing pet overpopulation
Sponsored by the Doris Day Animal Foundation, the Spay Day USA observance is the premier national day of action designed to promote the spaying or neutering of pets. Whether or not local humane societies, veterinarians or similar groups formally register as participants, they all share the message behind today's 11th annual event. Spaying or neutering of pets will help control animal overpopulation, and thus remedy problems that situation creates, especially with abandoned dogs and cats.
Spay Day USA was developed for several reasons. It helps raise the public's awareness of the severe companion animal overpopulation problem in the United States and throughout the world. It promotes spay and neuter surgery as a primary means of addressing overpopulation. It also helps inspire every humane American to take personal responsibility for preventing the births of surplus litters by sponsoring the spaying or neutering of at least one companion animal or feral cat.
Statistics show that animals who have been spayed or neutered usually enjoy better health and make more desirable companions than those who have not been altered. In addition to benefiting animal guardians and their pets, spaying and neutering will benefit communities by not adding to the number of homeless animals burdening local humane shelters and U.S. taxpayers, who pay more than $1 billion to deal with the problem of pet overpopulation.
It may seem like a small step, but it's one which -- if not taken -- can result in thousands upon thousands of consequences. That's the geometric growth in population an area can experience if one dog or cat gives birth to puppies or kittens which are not adopted. Then, the numbers multiply as succeeding generations reproduce. Taking steps to spay or neuter pets is one way individuals and communities across the nation can work together to make a difference in the lives of animals and people.
The problem of pet overpopulation affects every citizen, and it is a problem for which the best solution is prevention. Today's national observance of Spay Day USA reminds us to take action.
Brownwood Bulletin
source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2005/02/22/op_ed/editorial01.txt
Monday, February 21, 2005
We Believe in Women in the Pulpit. Some "Christians" Don't
Baptist women, denied pulpit, fill stadiums
Patrik Jonsson
Special to The Christian Science Monitor
published 06.07.00
Blessed with her father's steely blue eyes and arresting stage aura, Anne Graham Lotz stirs thousands of women to sway in prayer as her revival tour "preaches and teaches" its way through the heartland.
Once a Sunday school teacher in Raleigh, the Rev. Billy Graham's daughter has become a symbol of a women's revival movement.
But bowing to the beliefs of the 15-million strong Southern Baptist Convention, she's careful to refer to herself as a "Bible expositor," as opposed to a preacher.
Still, the popularity of Ms. Lotz, and a handful of female evangelical leaders like her, is putting church dictums to the test, as tens of thousands of women from Nashville, Tenn., to Minneapolis flock to their revival tours.
Amid this surge of feminine power, the Southern Baptist Convention - the largest Protestant denomination in America - is poised to formally bar women from the pulpit when it holds its annual meeting next week.
"These female evangelists are coming into their own in a group that's been traditionally ambivalent about women leaders," says Mickey Maudlin, a writer at Christianity Today magazine. "This trend has been evolving for years, but it's now taking that next step."
The popularity of Lotz, who has launched a world revival tour that is filling 25,000-seat arenas, has emerged as one of the biggest challenges to the prohibition of women preachers.
Though she maintains she has no interest in being ordained as a minister, the idea of a powerful woman preaching the Bible has in the past spurred men to literally turn their backs on her. And it irked many male evangelicals that she was named last year by The New York Times as one of five possible candidates to take over her father's mantle.
Lotz is the best known of a growing number of female evangelists across the US. Texas evangelist Beth Moore, whose women's Bible studies course focuses on "magic, romantic, and majestic" Bible interpretation, is also touring extensively.
And Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Kay Arthur encourages practitioners of her nondenominational approach to interpret the Bible for themselves.
Vital in Baptist churches for decades, women's ministries have in many places gone from small midweek meetings to Bible studies that draw thousands. In the past decade, for example, attendance at Lotz's home missionary in Raleigh has gone from 300 to 3,000.
"There's a large and growing contingent of very significant and vital ministries by and for women," says Danny Akin, a dean at the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Ky. "We're very understanding of teaching ministries of an Anne Graham Lotz or a Beth Moore, and, at the same time, when it comes to leadership positions in local churches and in the home, we see that God still calls men to that."
When the convention meets next week in Orlando, Fla., it is expected to add a clause to the "Baptist Faith and Message" that only men should serve as pastors. The new sentence would read: "While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture."
The decision would prohibit future ordination and would not affect the status of the roughly 100 Southern Baptist women who currently lead congregations. It comes two years after the convention formally instructed Baptist women to submit graciously to their husbands' leadership. Patriarchs within the church say their decision to bar women from the pulpit is not a knee-jerk reaction. Instead, they see women in leadership roles as a "novelty" that does not jibe with a strict interpretation of the Bible.
Those beliefs have caused some congregations, such as those affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, to distance themselves from the convention. Other Protestant denominations have allowed women to be ordained as ministers for decades. Such concessions admit that "culture makes the church, instead of the church the culture," Mr. Akin contends.
Indeed, the decision to put its foot down on a feminist movement many see as threatening Christian lifestyles is not "so much of a backlash as a proactive statement," says Akin.
"It's to state clearly, this is who we are, this is what the Bible teaches and has always taught. We're delighted to take a stand and make known this is where we are and what we believe."
Lotz herself has agreed that "God has closed the door" on ordination for women. She recently told 3,500 women in Raleigh that, "When people have a problem with women in the ministry, they need to take it up with Jesus."
The growth in popularity of women evangelists has risen in an age in which people are less interested in being identified with a specific religious denomination. Age, too, appears to be part of it, as Americans under 40 seem to be more ready to accept women as church leaders.
"If you went to one of her rallies, you'd see singing and preaching, lifting hands, people giving evidence of certain charismatic expressions of spirit that are becoming the new ecumenism, where you're seeing the cooperation of a variety of denominations in a unified action," says Bill Leonard, dean of Wake Forest Divinity School in Winston-Salem, N.C., which was established by moderate Baptists.
Mimi Haddad, executive director of Christians for Biblical Equality in Minneapolis argues that fundamentalist women must shape church culture much as their forbears did - in obscurity.
"History has largely forgotten these amazing women leaders in the church," says Ms. Haddad.
And although denominations such as Lutherans, Episcopalians, and Methodists have allowed women to preach from the pulpit, few have attained key church leadership roles, she says.
Throughout the history of Christianity, women have always played roles as de facto pilots, says Wayne Flynt, a history professor at Auburn University in Alabama.
He cites women within the Baptist tradition such as Mrs. Perry, a "dynamo preacher" who turned one Alabama parish upside down in the late 1870s, baptizing church members and forcing out the local preacher. Other examples include Paula, a rich widow who in the second century funded a library to put the Bible into extensive circulation.
"Most women ministers have never argued they were radicals," says Professor Flynt. "They've always argued that they're just called by God. And the result is often a warm religion, a brand of faith that is healing and nurturing. What we're seeing emerge now is a more feminized form of Christianity."
source: http://www.csmonitor.com/atcsmonitor/specials/women/religion/religion060700.html
Bush & Brownwood " Coffee Talk " ?
Time for Bush to define 'independent press'
By Dante Chinni
WASHINGTON - The cafes and restaurants here were atwitter again last weekend. Finally, after years of talking about things like terrorism and deficits and Social Security reform, the capital's chatterers had a story they could discuss without reading a briefing paper.
Thank you, Jeff Gannon or James Guckert or whatever your name really is. It seems like old times again inside the Beltway.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Birds of a Feather & Brownwood Fair Trade Coffee
Note: It didn't take boycotts and protesters to help us make our decision to be the first promoter of FairTrade Coffee and products in Central Texas ! Although we're glad when large corporations realize and implement policies that reflect respect and dignity starting with the very first cup of java !
Global Exchange : Starbucks Campaign
... Since 2000, consumers have been demanding that Starbucks offer BREWED Fair Trade coffee as well as whole bean. Many Starbucks cafes ...
www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/ fairtrade/coffee/starbucks.html - 32k - Cached - Similar pages
Coffee a popular topic on college campuses
Professor Beau Weston listens to a discussion about coffee in the Three Babes and a Monkey cafe in Danville, Kentucky.
DANVILLE, Kentucky (AP) -- For years, sociology professor Beau Weston has held informal office hours off campus in a local coffee shop, sipping his mocha latte while advising students.
As he did, he formed relationships with other coffee shop regulars who might otherwise have remained strangers. That caused a sort of academic epiphany, and now he's one of a handful of teachers across the nation who have developed courses that study coffee and its effect on society.
Don't drop your morning cup of joe. Weston's class, offered during a recent intensive three-week term at Centre College, was hardly "Starbucks 101," although the 15 students who enrolled in "The Cafe and Public Life" could be forgiven if that was their original impression.
Audrey Rogers, a freshman from Dallas, said she initially wondered about the academic strength of the class: "I didn't know how it was going to last a week."
Weston understood such skepticism and designed his course to focus not only on coffee as a drink, but on how its consumption has changed society through the centuries.
Brownwood: Why we Buy, Drink, and Sell Coffee
The Coffee Controversy ..............
In both the Muslim and Christian worlds coffee was seen as morally and physically degrading, and, perhaps most alarming, politically destabilizing. Coffee houses were seen as potential threats to the status quo for the simple reason that they provided a forum for people of all walks of life to get together and start talking. Open discussion about religion and/or politics was not necessarily approved of by the powers that be. Coffee drinking was often seen as the real culprit behind associated vices such as gambling and dancing girls.
source:
source: http://www.harvardespresso.com/cofhist.htm
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Native Americans & Spirituality
"We learned to be patient observers like the owl. We learned cleverness from the crow, and courage from the jay, who will attack an owl ten times its size to drive it off its territory. But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of its indomitable spirit."
Tom Brown, Jr., The Tracker
The subject of Christianity has long been a touchy topic. To many Native Americans, as well as millions of Americans who came from all over the world, Christianity is associated with great tragedy and injustice to the indigenous peoples of North America. The Europeans saw the indigenous peoples as barbaric and savage, their spiritual practices as pagan. Those who came to "Christianize the Indians" also sought to supress indigenous spirituality. Today, the arrival of Europeans to the Americas with the sword and the cross has become an indelible symbol of shame.
An important casuality results from focusing on our collective shame. In focusing on this master image, we have ignored the details. We lack fundamental understanding of how Christianity impacted Native American spirituality and vice versa. As Gill notes,
"[w]e have been far too narrow-minded in appreciating the important influence of Christianity on Native American cultures and religions, preferring to set the acceptance of Christianity as synonymous with the loss of native tradition (1988:149)."
To be sure, some Christian missionaries and many ethnographers have had enormous insights into the nature of Native American spirituality, but this knowledge base has largely escaped our collective consciousness. In truth, just as with every culture that has conquered a people and imposed its religion on the conquered, the indigenous religions of the Americas have made their mark on the faith of the conquers. We need to better understand this phenomenon.
The failure of the typical white American to understand how profoundly our cultural values have been influenced by indigenous belief in the harmony of all life on Mother Earth has resulted in a diminution of understanding of ourselves. Our receptiveness today to the necessity of creating technology that is in harmony with the natural environment is possible because of the nourishing these values have achieved through the influence of Native Americans. On the other hand, Native Americans who view Christianity as synonymous with "religion" have similarly experienced at least some diminution of their own spirituality.
Perhaps the most overlooked dimension of Native American spirituality is the fact that many Native Americans did become Christians. Further, there is considerable evidence to indicate that Christianity preached by Native Americans for Native Americans is a vibrant development today in indigenous communities.
Understandably, this development is troubling to many Native Americans. Students and scholars alike should recognize that this response is not very different from reactions to other new religions on the spiritual landscape. Our goal should be to understand how this phenomenon may impact the communities of Native Americans.
Several Native American Christian groups now have a presence on the Internet. This presence helps us identify and begin to know something about these groups. We have included a set of links at the end of the links section of this page. Annotations and additional groups will be added later.
source: http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/naspirit.html
Friday, February 18, 2005
James Williamson or James Robinson ? Sounds like Brownwood's James Williamson !
February 20, 2005
In Secretly Taped Conversations, Glimpses of the Future President
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 - As George W. Bush was first moving onto the national political stage, he often turned for advice to an old friend who secretly taped some of their private conversations, creating a rare record of the future president as a politician and a personality.
Signs of Concern
Early on, though, Mr. Bush appeared most worried that Christian conservatives would object to his determination not to criticize gay people. "I think he wants me to attack homosexuals," Mr. Bush said after meeting James Robison, a prominent evangelical minister in Texas.
But Mr. Bush said he did not intend to change his position. He said he told Mr. Robison: "Look, James, I got to tell you two things right off the bat. One, I'm not going to kick gays, because I'm a sinner. How can I differentiate sin?"
Later, he read aloud an aide's report from a convention of the Christian Coalition, a conservative political group: "This crowd uses gays as the enemy. It's hard to distinguish between fear of the homosexual political agenda and fear of homosexuality, however."
"This is an issue I have been trying to downplay," Mr. Bush said. "I think it is bad for Republicans to be kicking gays."
Told that one conservative supporter was saying Mr. Bush had pledged not to hire gay people, Mr. Bush said sharply: "No, what I said was, I wouldn't fire gays."
As early as 1998, however, Mr. Bush had already identified one gay-rights issue where he found common ground with conservative Christians: same-sex marriage. "Gay marriage, I am against that. Special rights, I am against that," Mr. Bush told Mr. Wead, five years before a Massachusetts court brought the issue to national attention.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/20/politics/20talk.html?ei=5065&en=3d3a7b4f99465096&ex=1109480400&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print&position=
SRT- "Same 'Rove' Tactics" Employed in Brownwood by ID Thief @ www.cityofbrownwood.com !
Saturday, February 19, 2005
GOP dirty tricksters trying to sabotage AMERICAblog
by John in DC - 2/19/2005 02:38:00 PM
Well, isn't this interesting. Defenders of Gannon are now phoning people who post comments on AMERICAblog, they pretend to be me, and ask the person to stop posting on the forum. This happened to a good friend of mine who posts here (guys, get a clue, don't call a friend of mine and pretend to be me), and now it's happened to someone else.
First off, when you use a phone, there's an electronic paper trail. Second of all, when you pretend to be someone else, you're very likely bordering on a crime. If this story is so hot that Gannon's, and/or the White House's defenders, are feeling the need to try to sabotage this blog, well all I can say is thanks, and I'm posting this publicly so perhaps we can get another media story out of this.
In the meantime, folks, maybe you shouldn't post your full name to your comments, and be assured I'd never phone any of you.
One more point, this is pure Karl Rove. His MO is to contact people during a campaign and pretend he's representing the other candidate, then do something obnoxious. Good to know we're getting to them, and if any reporter wants the story, give me a holler.
source: http://www.americablog.org/
Rove-Gannon Connection?
WASHINGTON, Feb. 18, 2005
Karl Rove (Photo: AP)
Karl Rove's hope to become a respected policymaker will be hampered if the dirty tricks from his political past are more apparent than his desire to spread liberty around the globe.
(CBS) Dotty Lynch is the Senior Political Editor for CBS News. E-mail your questions and comments to Political Points
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Karl Rove took a victory lap at an SRO lunch at the Conservative Political Action Committee meeting at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington on Thursday. After a glowing introduction by Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association, Rove proclaimed "conservatism as the dominant political creed in America," but warned Republicans not to get complacent or grow "tired and timid." He recalled the dark days when the Democrats were dominant and cautioned that that could happen again if they let down their guard. The new White House deputy chief of staff also called on conservatives to "seize the mantle of idealism."
Tired and timid are two adjectives never applied to Rove. The architect of the Bush victories in 2000 and 2004 came through the ranks of college Republicans with the late Lee Atwater, and their admitted and alleged dirty tricks are the legends many young political operatives dream of pulling off. So when Jeff Gannon, White House "reporter" for Talon "News," was unmasked last week, the leap to a possible Rove connection was unavoidable. Gannon says that he met Rove only once, at a White House Christmas party, and Gannon is kind of small potatoes for Rove at this point in his career.
But Rove's dominance of White House and Republican politics, Gannon's aggressively partisan work and the ease with which he got day passes for the White House press room the past two years make it hard to believe that he wasn't at least implicitly sanctioned by the "boy genius." Rove, who rarely gave on-the-record interviews to the MSM (mainstream media), had time to talk to GOPUSA, which owns Talon.
GOPUSA and Talon are both owned by Bobby Eberle, a Texas Republican and business associate of conservative direct-mail guru Bruce Eberle who says that Bobby is from the "Texas branch of the Eberle clan." Bobby Eberle told The New York Times that he created Talon to build a news service with a conservative slant and "if someone were to see 'GOPUSA,' there's an instant built-in bias there." No kidding.
Some of the real reporters in the White House pressroom were apparently annoyed at Gannon's presence and his softball, partisan questions, but considered him only a minor irritant. One told me he thought of Gannon as a balance for the opinionated liberal questions of Hearst's Helen Thomas. But what Gannon was up to was not just writing opinion columns or using a different technique to get information. He was a player in Republican campaigns and his work in the South Dakota Senate race illustrates the role he played. It is also a classic example of how political operatives are using the brave new world of the Internet and the blogosphere. Gannon and Talon News appear to be mini-Drudge reports; a "news" source which partisans use to put out negative information, get the attention of the bloggers, talk radio and then the MSM in a way that mere press releases are unable to achieve.
One of Gannon's first projects was an attempt to discredit the South Dakota Argus Leader, South Dakota's major paper, and its longtime political writer, David Kranz. According to the National Journal, which reported on this last November, Gannon wrote a series of articles in the summer of 2003 alleging that Kranz, who went to college with Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle, was not only sympathetic to him but was an actual part of the Daschle campaign. These articles then got a huge amount of play on the blogs of John Lauck and Jason Van Beek, and were picked up by other conservative sites and talk radio. The paper was bombarded with messages about its bias and acknowledges that these had an impact on its coverage.
Daschle opponent John Thune's campaign manager was Dick Wadham, an old political crony of Karl Rove's; the kind of pal Rove could ask to hire his first cousin, John Wood, a few years back. Wadham put the bloggers on the campaign payroll and the symbiotic relationship between the campaign, the bloggers and "reporter" Gannon” continued. On September 29, Gannon broke the story that Daschle had claimed a special tax exemption for a house in Washington and the bloggers jumped all over it. According to a November 17 posting on South Dakota Politics – a site that Van Beek, who has become a staffer for now-Sen. Thune, has bequeathed to Lauck – "Jeff Gannon, whose reportage had a dramatic impact on the Daschle v. Thune race (his story about Sen. Daschle signing a legal document claiming to be a D.C. resident was published nearly the same day Thune began to run an ad showing Daschle saying, "I'm a D.C. resident) has written an analysis of the debacle."
Daschle aides told Roll Call, "This guy (Gannon) became the dumping ground for opposition research." The connections are so strong that there is an FEC challenge which could be a test case on the limits of the use of the Internet in federal campaigns.
Gannon also had Thune on his radio show "Jeff Gannon's Washington," and the White House correspondent for Talon became touted as the "resident D.C. expert on South Dakota politics" by the bloggers. Thune and Wadham (who has been hired by aspiring White House Republican Sen. George Allen) have become go-to guys on the use of blogs in campaigns. Thune was cited in The New York Times as introducing "Senators to the meaning of 'blogging,' explaining the basics of self-published online political commentary and arguing that it can affect public opinion."
This week Democrats, who have serious case of Rove envy, went a little nuts and started sending around information and graphic pictures of Gannon and his porn Web sites. But it is the more routine part of Gannon's life that deserves serious scrutiny. Planting or even just sanctioning a political operative in the WH press room is a dangerous precedent and Karl Rove's hope to become a respected policymaker will be hampered if the dirty tricks from his political past are more apparent than his desire to spread liberty around the globe.
source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/18/opinion/lynch/main675050.shtml
Heard on KXYL " The Bashing Continues "
JR Williams on Iran: " Nothing but an organized pile of rocks " !
FYI:
Christians In Iran
Iran's indigenous Christians include an estimated 250,000 Armenians, some 32,000 Assyrians, and a small number of Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Protestant Iranians converted by missionaries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Armenians are predominantly urban and are concentrated in Tehran and Esfahan; smaller communities exist in Tabriz, Arak, and other cities. A majority of the Assyrians are also urban, although there are still several Assyrian villages in the Lake Urmia region. Armenians and Assyrians were recognized as official religious minorities under the 1906 constitution. Although Armenians and Assyrians have encountered individual prejudice, they have not been subjected to persecution. During the twentieth century, Christians in general have participated in the economic and social life of Tehran. The Armenians, especially, achieved a relatively high standard of living and maintained a large number of parochial primary and secondary schools.
The new, republican Constitution of 1979 also recognized the Armenians and Assyrians as official religious minorities. They are entitled to elect their own representatives to the Majlis and are permitted to follow their own religious laws in matters of marriage, divorce, and inheritance. Other Christians have not received any special recognition, and there have been a number of incidents of persecution of Iranian Anglicans. All Christians are required to observe the new laws relating to attire, prohibition of alcohol, and segregation by sex at public gatherings. Christians have resented these laws because they have infringed on their traditional religious practices. In addition, the administration of the Armenian schools has been a source of tension between Christians and the government. The Ministry of Education has insisted that the principals of such schools be Muslims, that all religion courses be taught in Persian, that any Armenian literature classes have government approval, and that all female students observe hejab inside the schools.
Brownwood: Southern Baptist Rhetoric
Southern Baptist Rhetoric
Stephen J. Pullum
Carl Kell and Raymond Camp. In the Name of the Father: The Rhetoric of the New Southern Baptist Convention. Carbondale, Ill: Southern Illinois University Press, 1999. vii + 176 pages. $34.95.
If people have been wondering what exactly has been going on in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) over the past twenty years, reading this book will put an end to their questions. Carl Kell and Raymond Camp contend that, since 1979, "the South has been the scene of a rhetorical civil war . . . for the hearts and souls of fifteen million people" in the world's largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Church. This "war" has raged between "those persons loyal to the exclusively male pulpit autocracy in Nashville, which is the home of the male-dominated denominational Executive Committee, and those dissidents organizationally confederated in Atlanta, Richmond, and elsewhere in the South" (1).
The authors argue that the "climate [of the SBC] is fundamentally repressive" in that it "neither allows for nor encourages dissent among or within member churches" (4). Since the 1979 takeover of the SBC by "loyalists," the all-male oligarchy has preached a "rhetoric of fundamentalism," a "rhetoric of inerrancy," and a "rhetoric of exclusion" wherein "attack," "exposition," "expulsion," "fear," "blame," and "accusation" are commonplace (5). All of these rhetorics are propelled primarily by the oral word through pulpit sermons, beginning with the presidents of the SBC and trickling down to local congregations. As a consequence of these rhetorics, suggest Kell and Camp, the denomination is "a failed communication system" that "does not encourage . . . open and free communication" or "spirited dissent." Moreover it does not use the pulpit "to diminish the rifts among its followers," nor does it offer members "the option to adopt varying choices in their theological beliefs and yet remain within the denomination" (7).
source: http://www.natcom.org/pubs/ROC/one-one/pullum.htm
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Brownwood News
Thursday February 17, 2005
News
Assailants shoot Mills County man, burn home
Bulletin Staff Report
A Mills County man was shot, and his house was burned down after two assailants confronted him Tuesday night in his home about a mile beyond the Brown-Mills county line, Mills County Sheriff Doug Storey said.
The man who was shot, who Storey declined to identify, was shot in the shoulder and treated and released at Brownwood Regional Medical Center, Storey said.
The victim told deputies he arrived home and was feeding his dogs when he was confronted by the two. One of the assailants told the victim they were "hired to cause him pain," Storey said.
After he was shot, the victim ran out of the house and into a pasture, and the house then caught fire, Storey said.
There was no sign of the suspects when authorities arrived, and the motive is unknown, the sheriff said.
HPU students urged to serve, respect others
By Rebekah Lawson
Howard Payne University
Chester Clay, assistant deputy executive director of the Texas Youth Commission, encouraged Howard Payne University students to make the most of their time in college by learning to serve, respect and appreciate others. He spoke in Student Assembly during this week's Black Heritage Week celebration.
Clay, a 1977 alumnus of HPU, was awarded the university's Medal of Service two years ago in recognition of his exceptional work in supporting and serving the university.
Clay said that the years he spent at HPU shaped and prepared him for a career of service to others.
"I learned here what it meant to be a servant," Clay said. "I grew up at HPU. This is where I developed my purpose. My purpose is service -- service to mankind."
Clay acknowledged key figures in American history who he said made what he has accomplished possible -- Fredrick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington and Martin Luther King Jr. and others.
"They opened doors and avenues for many more to follow," Clay said. "They are why we are here today."
Clay encouraged the students to appreciate the chance for higher education while in college and emphasized their responsibility to lead future generations.
"Look deeply inside yourself and find out your purpose," he said. "God will keep you and guide you as you face the many challenges ahead."
Clay urged the students to reach out and build relationships with new people. He also encouraged them to remain involved with HPU after graduation.
"Expand your horizons," Clay said. "Participate. Get involved. You never know what may serve you in the road ahead."
Black History Month dinner here Saturday
By Gene Deason -- Brownwood Bulletin
Dr. Sherleen Jackson, administrator of the office for civil rights for the State of Oklahoma, will speak on "United We Stand" at the fourth annual banquet celebrating Black History Month on Saturday.
The event, hosted by the Bangs Black History Committee, will be held at the Mabee Center on the campus of Howard Payne University. A reception will be held at 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m.
"This dinner continues to serve as a foundation for the Bangs Black History Committee to display to our communities and fellow citizens the tremendous contributions that African-Americans have made and continue to make in enhancing the quality of our lives on a daily basis," said Cassandra Evans, committee secretary.
All proceeds from the banquet will benefit the Gloria Anderson Memorial Scholarship, named after the first African-American teacher in the Bangs Independent School District. Last year's recipients, LaTonia Gray of Brownwood High School and Samuel Gleaton of Early High School, are using their awards to attend Texas A&M University-Commerce and Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, respectively.
The committee is collaborating with Howard Payne in supporting its Black Heritage Week events and activities under way this week. In addition, the committee will present Wayne Reece with its Community Achievement Award in recognition of his heroic service in Afghanistan.
The Bangs Black History Committee was founded in October 2001 with a mission of "building diverse communities through hearts and hands." It has coordinated events such as the Back to School Bash to encourage students to stay in the classroom and the African-American Heroes program during Black History Month with the Bangs ISD.
Sandra Bradshaw is president of the committee, and Douglas Boone Jr. is marketing director.
source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/news/
Blaise Pascal
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
Take KXYL's Connie Carmichaels Advice: "Follow the Money" !
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Follow the Money
by Joe in DC - 2/19/2005 08:30:00 AM
Memo to the MSM:
"Follow the Money" was the term used in a White House Scandal thirty years ago. It came from a source named "Deep Throat" (not related to the porn movie, although this current Gannon/Guckert scandal has elements of that, too.) "Deep Throat" helped two young, inquisitive, enterprising reporters break open the story. They followed the money. They became very famous. Wrote books and movies. I mean, really famous. You may have heard of Watergate....it really was a big scandal. Actually, the reason some in your ranks call this Gannongate comes from that...get it?
The bloggers, who many of you in the MSM disdain, have done a lot of leg work for you in this story. Now, it's time for someone to Follow the Money in the Gannon/Guckert affair.
Clearly, someone was paying Jeff Gannon to be in the White House. Who? (And for this one, don't settle for an answer from Jeff....he hasn't been really completely accurate for some of your colleagues.)
Who funded GOPUSA/Talon News?
Did Jeff/Jim get paid by any campaigns or campaign committees? Lots of work was done for John Thune who was, in fact, paying bloggers.
Jeff, as a patriotic, god-fearing, country-loving, conservative American, MUST have been paying taxes. Wouldn't it be something to see his tax forms for the last few years?
GOPUSA is based in Texas. Its leader was a delegate for Bush to the GOP convention in 2000. How did GOPUSA get off the ground? Who funds that organization?
These are just a couple ideas. See, the point here, in case it's not clear, is that there is a lot of this story still untold. But, if you FOLLOW THE MONEY, it may just lead to some answers.
source:http://www.americablog.org/
Editorial: Phony journalist/Pimping for the White House
February 18, 2005 ED0218A
Heard about the Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert muck-up in Washington? If you are an aficionado of the blogs, you've heard plenty. They're having a field day with it. But underneath all the fun lies a serious problem that hasn't got its due from the mainstream press: This White House employs a lot more kinds of fakery than the budgetary smoke and mirrors described in the editorial above.
Here's a summary: For more than two years, a reporter named Jeff Gannon turned up at White House briefings and press conferences, where he asked softball questions with a decidedly pro-Bush bent. For example, at President Bush's Jan. 26 press conference, Gannon asked how Bush could work with lawmakers like Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Hillary Clinton, "who seem to have divorced themselves from reality."
Well, it turns out that "Jeff Gannon" is really Jim Guckert, and he was a reporter for an online outfit called "Talon News," which was associated with the online group GOPUSA. com, owned by Texas Republicans. It also turns out that Guckert, in addition to reporting for a phony Web site, has no real journalism training and is a $200-an-hour gay prostitute. He ran numerous Web sites like militaryescortsm4m. com. The photos of Gannon that were displayed on those Web sites left nothing to the imagination about his physical attributes.
So the question becomes, just how did this character get White House press credentials, despite supposed post-Sept. 11 security requirements? Bruce Bartlett, a conservative columnist who worked in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, says that "if Gannon was using an alias, the White House staff had to be involved in maintaining his cover." In other words, the White House wanted him at those briefings and wanted him to ask his softball questions, most likely to divert attention when legitimate reporters were getting too pushy.
This is part of a pattern by Bush's minions to construct a phony reality in news coverage. Consider:
• To promote Bush's Medicare prescription bill, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) paid for phony "newscasts" that were distributed to television stations nationwide.
• Columnist Armstrong Williams was paid $240,000 by the Department of Education to promote Bush's No Child Left Behind Act.
• Columnists Michael McManus and Maggie Gallagher were paid to "advise HHS on the Bush administration's marriage policies."
• Every Bush "town hall" forum during last fall's campaign was carefully limited to supporters who would ask fawning questions. No demonstrators -- indeed, no one wearing an offensive lapel pin -- were allowed in.
• The Bush Pentagon launched an Office of Strategic Influence to provide "news" to foreign media. When it became known, it was shut down in embarrassment.
The pattern is clear: This administration will do pretty much anything to shape reality to fit its agenda.
Another powerful tool in its arsenal is intimidation. This is by far the most vindictive administration since Richard Nixon's. Ask the wrong question or write something the White House doesn't like, and your access is cut off. Unfortunately, too many of the real journalists have gone along meekly. As columnist Michael Kinsley observed, if this White House said two plus two equaled five, there would be no shortage "of media to report both sides of the question."
Once it was fairly easy to distinguish real reporters from hacks and charlatans, objective news from partisan rant. That has become increasingly difficult, thanks in part to a Bush White House that finds the confusion useful, to its everlasting dishonor.
source: http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5247250.html
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
The Rest of the Story That KXYL's Connie Carmichael Failed to mention !
City of Oakland Defends Constitutionality of Anti-Discrimination Policy (3/04)
Oakland, CA (March 22, 2004) - Oakland City Attorney John Russo announced today that United States District Court Judge Vaughn Walker has dismissed 9 out of 10 causes of action in a lawsuit filed by the Good News Employee Association (GNEA) against City officials.
Filed in July 2003, the GNEA lawsuit attacked the City's policy that provides strong protection against harassment and discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, religion and other protected categories. The lawsuit contends that the City's policy is unconstitutionally overbroad and vague, and that the defendants "promote homosexuality and its views on religion, and openly denounce Christian views which have been doctrine for thousands of years" and have "shown an unlawful preference for human secularism and homosexual world views."
The case stems from the fact that GNEA posted a flyer on an employee bulletin board which was removed by the City in accordance with its anti-discrimination, non-harassment policy. Entitled "Preserve Our Workplace with Integrity," the flyer read, "Good News Employee Association is a forum for people of Faith to express their views on the contemporary issues of the day. With respect for the Natural Family, Marriage and Family Values." The flyer, which was posted near a lesbian employee's workspace, was apparently in response to an e-mail sent to City employees which announced the time and place of a meeting of a new gay and lesbian employees' association.
After receiving a complaint about the flyer, the City removed it and distributed a copy of its anti-discrimination policy with a cover letter that explained that recently "staff has inappropriately posted printed materials that are in violation of (the policy). Specifically flyers were placed in public view which contained statements of a homophobic nature and were determined to promote sexual orientation-based harassment."
The GNEA lawsuit alleges that the City's policies and actions resulted in numerous constitutional violations: First Amendment (free speech, right to peaceable assembly, right to privacy and free exercise of religious beliefs, and Establishment Clause-fostering excessive government entanglement with religion); Fifth Amendment (Takings Clause); Fourteenth Amendment (Due Process Clause, Equal Protection Clause); Ultra Vires Claim (beyond the power authorized by law), and Article I, Section 1 of the California Constitution.
Last week United States District Court Judge Vaughn Walker dismissed 9 of the 10 causes of action. In addition he granted the City's request for attorneys' fees in the amount of $1,353 as a sanction for plaintiffs' lawyers' failure to appear at a February 5 hearing.
The court recognized that the City has "significant interests in restricting discriminatory speech about homosexuals. . . .(and has) a duty under state law to prevent workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation." The court further found that the plaintiffs (GNEA) failed to demonstrate that the City's anti-discrimination policy is "unconstitutionally vague," or that the City prevented group members' association, intruded on their privacy rights or interfered with the expression of their religious beliefs. In fact, the order confirmed that the City's "policy expressly protects employees from religious discrimination."
The court also threw out plaintiffs' due process, equal protection, Establishment Clause and takings claims and found that "the anti-discrimination policy is designed to further 'equal employment opportunity' and to ensure that all employees are free from harassment and discrimination."
Finally, the court granted the City's motion to dismiss the City of Oakland with prejudice, barring future action against the City, leaving one remaining claim to be litigated: whether then-City Manager Robert Bobb and then-Deputy Director of the Community and Economic Development Agency, Joyce Hicks, violated the free speech rights of GNEA members by removing the flyer from the employee bulletin board.
"The City of Oakland will tolerate no form of workplace harassment, whether it is based on sexual orientation, religion, gender, race, age or national origin, and we will fight vigorously to defend the policies and practices which protect employees from any form of discrimination," said City Attorney John Russo. "We are extremely gratified that the United States District Court recognized our right to maintain a productive work environment."
This case was litigated for the City of Oakland by Morrison & Foerster partner Angela Padilla. "Our clients acted reasonably to prevent discrimination in the workplace," she said. "We look forward to proving that the Plaintiffs' only remaining claim lacks merit, too."
source: http://www.mofo.com/news/print.cfm?MCatID=&concentrationID=&ID=1192
------------------------------------------
Now, Here's the KXYL - Connie Carmichael version of the story !
LAW OF THE LAND
City can bar 'family values' message
Flier with no mention of homosexuality deemed 'homophobic'
Posted: February 17, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
A federal court ruled the city of Oakland had a right to bar two employees from posting a flier promoting traditional family values on an office bulletin board.
Employees Regina Rederford and Robin Christy posted the flier in response to an e-mail to city employees announcing formation of a gay and lesbian employee association. The two responded with a promotion of their own -- the start of an informal group that respects "the natural family, marriage and family values."
But supervisors Robert Bobb, then city manager, and Joyce Hicks, then deputy director of the Community and Economic Development Agency, ordered removal of the flier, stating it contained "statements of a homophobic nature" and promoted "sexual-orientation-based harassment," even though it made no mention of homosexuality.
A July 2003 lawsuit by Rederford and Christy claimed the city's anti-discrimination policy "promotes homosexuality" and "openly denounces Christian values."
U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker dismissed the case Tuesday, ruling the two women did not have their First Amendment rights violated.
Richard Ackerman, whose public-interest law firm Lively and Ackerman represents the two women, said he will fight the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"The notion that an employee cannot mention the natural family in the workplace is absurd," he told WorldNetDaily. "Cities should not be run by neo-fascist homosexual advocates. This ruling allows just that."
City Attorney John Russo said in a statement the city "will fight vigorously to defend the policies and practices which protect employees from any form of discrimination."
Ackerman said the case is significant, because a decision against the employees could silence debate about homosexuality and related issues in the state of California.
The flier in question was posted Jan. 3, 2003, on an employee bulletin board where a variety of political and sexually oriented causes are promoted. Titled, "Preserve Our Workplace With Integrity," the entire text said:
Good News Employee Associations is a forum for people of Faith to express their views on the contemporary issues of the day. With respect for the Natural Family, Marriage and Family values.
If you would like to be a part of preserving integrity in the Workplace call Regina Rederford @xxx-xxxx or Robin Christy @xxx-xxxx
The flyer was removed the same day, however, by order of Hicks.
In a Feb. 20 memo announcing a newly revised workplace anti-discrimination policy, Hicks noted recent incidents of employees "inappropriately posting materials" in violation of that policy.
"Specifically," she wrote according to a copy obtained by WND, "flyers were placed in public view which contained statements of a homophobic nature and were determined to promote sexual orientation-based harassment."
The complaint charges Hicks and Bobb violated their clients' constitutional right to "pray, associate, communicate religious ideas, and worship" according to the U.S. Constitution and the laws and regulations of the city of Oakland.
Ackerman said he will file an appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals within 10 days, but expects the case to be settled by the Supreme Court.
"This case sets a horrible precedent that suggests that the only thoughts and words allowed in a public workplace are those that support the homosexual agenda," he said. "The city of Oakland has interpreted this ruling to mean that Christianity has no place in our society and should be subject to punishment."
source: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42888
Bush's Barberini Faun (& The Texas Connection)
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Bush's Barberini Faun
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: February 17, 2005
WASHINGTON
I am very impressed with James Guckert, a k a Jeff Gannon.
How often does an enterprising young man, heralded in press reports as both a reporter and a contributor to such sites as Hotmilitarystud.com, Workingboys.net, Militaryescorts .com, MilitaryescortsM4M.com and Meetlocalmen.com, get to question the president of the United States?
Who knew that a hotmilitarystud wanting to meetlocalmen could so easily get to be face2face with the commander in chief?
It's hard to believe the White House could hit rock bottom on credibility again, but it has, in a bizarre maelstrom that plays like a dark comedy. How does it credential a man with a double life and a secret past?
Advertisement
"Jeff Gannon" was waved into the press room nearly every day for two years as the conservative correspondent for two political Web sites operated by a wealthy Texas Republican. Scott McClellan often called on the pseudoreporter for softball questions.
Howard Kurtz reported in The Washington Post yesterday that although Mr. Guckert had denied launching the provocative Web sites - one described him as " 'military, muscular, masculine and discrete' (sic)" - a Web designer in California said "that he had designed a gay escort site for Gannon and had posted naked pictures of Gannon at the client's request."
And The Wilmington News-Journal in Delaware reported that Mr. Guckert was delinquent in $20,700 in personal income tax from 1991 to 1994.
I'm still mystified by this story. I was rejected for a White House press pass at the start of the Bush administration, but someone with an alias, a tax evasion problem and Internet pictures where he posed like the "Barberini Faun" is credentialed to cover a White House that won a second term by mining homophobia and preaching family values?
At first when I tried to complain about not getting my pass renewed, even though I'd been covering presidents and first ladies since 1986, no one called me back. Finally, when Mr. McClellan replaced Ari Fleischer, he said he'd renew the pass - after a new Secret Service background check that would last several months.
In an era when security concerns are paramount, what kind of Secret Service background check did James Guckert get so he could saunter into the West Wing every day under an assumed name while he was doing full-frontal advertising for stud services for $1,200 a weekend? He used a driver's license that said James Guckert to get into the White House, then, once inside, switched to his alter ego, asking questions as Jeff Gannon.
Mr. McClellan shrugged this off to Editor & Publisher magazine, oddly noting, "People use aliases all the time in life, from journalists to actors."
I know the F.B.I. computers don't work, but this is ridiculous. After getting gobsmacked by the louche sagas of Mr. Guckert and Bernard Kerik, the White House vetters should consider adding someone with some blogging experience.
Does the Bush team love everything military so much that even a military-stud Web site is a recommendation?
Or maybe Gannon/Guckert's willingness to shill free for the White House, even on gay issues, was endearing. One of his stories mocked John Kerry's "pro-homosexual platform" with the headline "Kerry Could Become First Gay President."
With the Bushies, if you're their friend, anything goes. If you're their critic, nothing goes. They're waging a jihad against journalists - buying them off so they'll promote administration programs, trying to put them in jail for doing their jobs and replacing them with ringers.
At last month's press conference, Jeff Gannon asked Mr. Bush how he could work with Democrats "who seem to have divorced themselves from reality." But Bush officials have divorced themselves from reality.
They flipped TV's in the West Wing and Air Force One to Fox News. They paid conservative columnists handsomely to promote administration programs. Federal agencies distributed packaged "news" video releases with faux anchors so local news outlets would run them. As CNN reported, the Pentagon produces Web sites with "news" articles intended to influence opinion abroad and at home, but you have to look hard for the disclaimer: "Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense." The agencies spent a whopping $88 million spinning reality in 2004, splurging on P.R. contracts.
Even the Nixon White House didn't do anything this creepy. It's worse than hating the press. It's an attempt to reinvent it.
E-mail: liberties@nytimes.com
source:http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/17/opinion/17dowd.html?hp&oref=login
USA > Domestic Politics
from the February 17, 2005 edition
Bush administration blurs media boundary
Controversy over a 'journalist' adds to the buzz about message control in capital.
By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – First came video "news releases" produced by the Bush administration using a TV news format. Then came three conservative columnists who got big paychecks from federal agencies. Now, there's Jeff Gannon (not his real name), a journalist (maybe) who gained surprisingly easy access to the president, only to lob a sympathetically slanted question.
No evidence has surfaced that Mr. Gannon was directed by the White House, but the circumstances ignited a debate over the inner workings of the White House press room.
Presidents from George Washington on down have struggled with a news corps viewed as hostile. And in the age of television, the art of message management has been increasingly vital to the modern presidency.
But taken together, these recent controversies suggest that the Bush administration may be pushing that craft into new territory - and testing the limits of presidential public relations.
"The public has a reason to be concerned about the ways in which political manipulation is influencing journalism," says Larry Gross at the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California.
Of course, the line between salesmanship and manipulation can be blurry. The White House's ability to stay "on message" has won respect even from its critics, albeit grudgingly. At the same time, other moves by the administration have raised concern.
In January came news that commentator Armstrong Williams, a syndicated broadcast host, had received a $240,000 payment from the Education Department to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. On a lesser scale, commentators Maggie Gallagher and Michael McManus were paid $21,500 and $10,200, respectively, to advise the Department of Health and Human Services on its marriage initiatives. Unlike Williams, neither were paid explicitly to promote White House policy in their columns.
A 2004 video produced by the Health and Human Services Department to promote the administration's new Medicare prescription drug law ended with the tagline in journalese: "In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting."
A number of local TV stations aired this spot and others produced by federal agencies, without disclosing their source.
Last May, the General Accounting Office ruled that the prepackaged news report segment violated a law prohibiting the use of federal funds for propaganda because it did not identify the government as the source of the news report.
It is unclear whether such activities occurred with any sanction from within the White House. In the wake of the publicity about Mr. Williams, President Bush has disavowed the practice of paying journalists. "All our Cabinet secretaries must realize that we will not be paying ... commentators to advance our agenda," he said. The Federal Communications Commission is investigating the payment to Williams.
Still, the climate of the administration has been one of growing public relations initiatives. Since President Bush took office, contracts for public relations work with the federal government have jumped from $39 million to $88.2 million last year, according to a report by Democratic staff of the House Government Reform Committee. These contracts cover everything from promoting the newly revised food pyramid to funding major initiatives from schools to Social Security.
The Bush administration isn't the first to pay journalists to promote their causes. President Jefferson hired journalist James Callender to attack his rival John Adams, only to have Callender later turn on him with reports that he had fathered a child with his slave, Sally Hemings.
The classic presidential tack for managing the news is to shut off access to journalists. Deeply frustrated by the coverage of the Watergate scandal, President Nixon directed his staff to ban any representative from the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time Magazine, Newsweek, CBS, and a UPI reporter from the press pool - an order his staff largely ignored. But during the 2004 campaign, a New York Times reporter assigned to cover Vice President Cheney was routinely excluded from the press plane.
And adversarial relations with the media aren't limited to Washington, D.C. In Maryland, a federal judge ruled Monday that Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R) can bar state employees from talking to two reporters for the Baltimore Sun - a move described by Sun editors as "scary."
While such actions rankle the press, they don't always disturb the public.
"Over the past several years, the Bush administration has learned that it can engage the press in an adversarial way, and the public won't mind. It's yet another step in managed news," says Tom Hollihan, another journalism expert at USC's Annenberg School.
These include screening the people who attend meetings that appear to have a town-hall format, and bypassing the national media to go directly to local media where, he says, "there are more softball questions."
In a preemptive move last month, senior House Democrats called on the White House to halt "use of propaganda" to push the president's plan to create private or personal accounts in Social Security. Democrats are requesting all materials created for radio, TV, or newspapers and other venues to promote the plan.
"There is a pattern of propaganda by the Bush administration that must be stopped," said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.
The Gannon case raises the tougher question of who gets to be a journalist. In Washington, credentialing standards vary among the different branches of government. Gannon, who wrote for the GOP-linked Talon News website, was first criticized by liberal Internet bloggers, who objected to the pro-administration slant in his questions, such as "...How are you going to work with [Democrats] who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?"
Turned down for a congressional press pass because he did not meet the standards set for a journalist, James Guckert (Gannon's real name) has had access to the White House briefing room for more than two years on day passes. "Many seasoned journalists have not had the honor of attending the events or enjoying the access Mr. Guckert has," said Rep. Louise Slaughter (D) of New York. This week she asked for release of information on Gannon's credentialing.
source: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0217/p01s01-uspo.html
What kind of Christian ?
IGNORANCE AND RELIGION
Religion is always based on ignorance and misinformation.
People did not know what caused lightening and thunder; so religious explanations were created to fill in the ignorance gap. The entire history of religion is an exercise in exchanging one level of ignorance for another. To question and discard religious ignorance does not mean that one rejects God. It simply means that you question and reject a particular destructive illogical view of God.
examples:
Coffee was believed by some Christians to be the devil's drink. Pope Vincent III heard this and decided to taste it before he banished it. He enjoyed it so much he baptized it, saying "coffee is so delicious it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it."
source: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/coffee/history.htm
Tattoos
Tattoos are extremely prevalent in Shan society. In fact, it has been said that this practice existed prior to Buddhism. Tattoos are known for their ability to bring prosperity, to attain victory over evil spirits, to protect from gunshots, knives and other weapons, and to extend one's life.
It is believed that tattoos gain their power when they are being applied. The person applying the tattoo, primarily a spirit doctor, blows a spell into a tattoo while simultaneously making a clicking noise. Tattoos are usually written in Shan script because it is believed that spirits cannot read. In addition, it is thought that when a spirit comes close to a tattoo the spirit gets hot and goes away.
Different tattoos cost different prices depending on the power that is needed, i.e. protection from being killed costs more than being healed. The most difficult tattoos to get include those that bring honor, high position and wisdom.
Many civilian men who believe in the supernatural power of tattoos tell both legendary and personal stories of being untouched in battle because of the powers afforded by tattoos. The tattoo has in many cases, transcended its practicality. Today, many use tattoos to serve as promises not to do certain evil acts.
source: http://www.surehope.net/perspectives/shan%20buddhism/elements_of_animism.htm
WASHINGTON SQUARE COIN EXCHANGE
Notes on Gargoyles
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Before written history began (about 8,000 years ago) China, Egypt, Bali, South America, and other forgotten lands and peoples created symbolic sculptures of gods and unseen spirits that had power over their daily lives. The artists made idols out of them, fetishes, door guards, keepers of gates, of cities, and of both, public buildings and individual houses, huts, and caves. In the beginning it was the worship of Animalism (animal worship), in simpler terms, it was the belief in animal or nature spirits. As my Native American Grandfather use to remind me of, all living things are made of spirit and have a spirit. The Great Mother (Earth), the Great Father (Sun), and the Soul of Darkness (Lucifer or the Moon).
Coming out of the last Ice Age when human spirits began their migration and expansion they covered the Earth, it was their local animals that taught them survival methods and their flesh sustained their lives. Out of this symbiotic relationship grew the worship of animal spirits.
According to ancient beliefs, all spirits both good and bad have the power to fly through time and space. People of all ages have believed that their individual spirits evoluted through animals of lesser intelligence. Look at the Egyptian gods, all had animal heads on human bodies. Look at American Indian tribal clans, the bear, beaver, otter, wolf, eagle, snake, and other animal clans. In fact you can look at folks today, some look like pigs, hawks, and other assorted animals.
You can see these deep seated belief structures not only in gargoyles and totems (poles of wood with ancestral spiritual ancestors) of all types, but on all coins down through 3 or 4 thousand years, including modern world and U.S. coins adorned with totem animals. In fact, almost every American coin has an eagle spirit on it.
Almost all gargoyles when shown with complete bodies have wings like angels. Added wings on all animals denotes their spiritual powers of movement through time and space. Like winged angels, gargoyles are protectors and keepers of the human spirits.
During the 5th and 6th centuries large churches, castles, public buildings were becoming the new rage.
Architects of the day followed both Roman and Greek thought about building adornment. Mythical animals began to appear on building corners as spiritual protectors and guardians.
Their job was to keep away evil spirits and demons. Plus, the architects of the day also put them to work by making them water-down spouts.
Stone and wood buildings had edge gutters that caught the water, much as we have today. The water was channeled through the gargoyle's mouth in such a way as to make the stream of water pour out several feet away from the sides of the building and into the street. In small buildings a gargoyle was placed at the four corners of the building, in larger buildings there might be 5 to 6 gargoyles spouting water. The gargoyles had the utilization purpose of preventing erosion and keeping mosses from growing on the stone castles and buildings of the day.
The use of gargoyles on buildings reached it's zenith during the middle ages and gothic period with sculptures being designed and created by the thousands.
You can still find the gargoyles doing their jobs as water spouts and protectors in the older cities and towns around the world.
Many gargoyles, garudas, dragons, and other types of fierce looking totems have been created to scare off demons and evil or dark powers of the universe. Today, most people still believe they have guarding angels with wings that will protect them from evil spirits or they prey to Jesus, Buddha, or one of the myriad of saints or devils.
source: http://www.wscoin.com/Info/Gargoyles.htm
Wind Chimes
The origin of chimes and bells has long been debated, as both Eastern and Western Asia have claimed its invention. However, regardless of region, the use of chimes and bells is widespread throughout Asia. In temples, the sound of bell tolls signifies a period of prayer and meditation. In the home, chimes and bells are believed to frighten away evil spirits, or used to cast or remove spells. They are also instrumental in channeling positive energy to create a harmonious environment.
source: http://www.asianideas.com/luckycharm.html
The Coffee Controversy
In both the Muslim and Christian worlds coffee was seen as morally and physically degrading, and, perhaps most alarming, politically destabilizing. Coffee houses were seen as potential threats to the status quo for the simple reason that they provided a forum for people of all walks of life to get together and start talking. Open discussion about religion and/or politics was not necessarily approved of by the powers that be. Coffee drinking was often seen as the real culprit behind associated vices such as gambling and dancing girls.
Although persecution of coffee and coffee drinkers in both the Islamic and Christian worlds was sporadic, the penalties could be quite severe. At one time even the Turks had a ban- punishable by death. However, because the prohibition depended more upon the individual whims of the local rulers rather than on any general consensus among the elite as to it's supposed subversiveness, every prohibition was eventually repealed.
One Islamic scholar and preacher in 1532 expressed the moral concerns of the times:
"What do you think of a drink they call qahwa, which they gather about and drink, and which they claim is allowed, in spite of the fact that many wicked things spring from it...?"
In 1765 a German potentate made the following proclamation:
"Our subjects all and sundry in the countryside and similarly the artisans, workers and day-labourers in the towns, shall upon pain of payment of a fine of five golden florins and the confiscation of their crockery, refrain forthwith from thye injurious habit of drinking coffee..."
Coffee was not without its supporters however.
"Why, this Satan's drink is so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it. We shall cheat Satan by baptizing it." Pope Clement VIII
In 1688 the Dutch physician Cornelius Bontekoe had this to say about the "disgusting Turkish habit":
"Although they are not Christians, and on occasion are of somewhat wild disposition, nevertheless in this respect they are not foolish or Turkish, indeed they can be said to be superior to the Christians who consume wine, beer and other cool drinks..., the general custom demonstrates furthermore that coffee is not unhealthy, and no unpleasant effects are experienced afterwards, as is the case when drinking wine or beer."
source: http://www.harvardespresso.com/cofhist.htm
Brownwood Drugs: "Deep in the Heart of Texas" !
crystal meth
to view the above article cut and paste this address: www.doitnow.org/pdfs/comeback.pdf
(crystal methamphetamine, tina, crystal meths, krank, tweak, ice)
Crystal meth is an intensive stimulant with disinhibitory qualities
Once very big amongst some of the US gay community but now spreading fast into mainstream culture, meth was originally used by bikers and truckers to stay awake on long journeys. Crystal is made of highly volatile, toxic substances (based on such chemical "precursors" as methylamine and amyl amine) that are melded in differing combinations, forming what some have described as a "mix of laundry detergent and lighter fluid."
The mixes are never exactly the same, but basic types are a rough yellow substance called Hydro and a smooth white blend called Glass. Half a gram costs around £25 and a £15 hit would probably keep you going for a few days.
The drug can either be snorted or injected, or in its crystal form 'ice' smoked in a pipe, and brings on a feeling of exhilaration and a sharpening of focus. Smoking ice results in an instantaneous dose of almost pure drug to the brain, giving a huge rush followed by a feeling of euphoria for anything from 2-16 hours.
For some this could result in obsessive cleaning or tidying, but for many the biggest bonus is the sense of sexual liberation which can result in mad, abandoned sex for hours - sometimes days - on end.
It's ability to keep users awake and feeling good for long periods have resulted in the drug making heavy inroads into the US gay dance scene, although its use is still rare in the UK.
Side effects: The biggest risk is from the increased chance of HIV infection through unprotected and uninhibited sex while under the influence of meth. The liberating nature of the drug means that often safe sex is discarded while sexual activity increases greatly. It has been reported in the States that in almost half of the new AIDS cases, crystal meth has been a factor.
Smoking ice results in body temperature rises and rapid cardiac and respiratory rates developing as the blood pressure increases. The drug can lead to hallucinations, paranoia, and bizarre, aggressive and psychotic behaviour.
Health risks: The effects and dependence potential of meth are similar to that of amphetamine misuse, although as the stuff is a lot stronger, the dangers involved are greater with an increased chance of overdose.
Overuse can bring on paranoia, short term memory loss, wild rages and mood swings as well as damage to your immune system. As far as we know, it is not physically addictive, although many have quickly developed a very strong psychological and damaging dependence for the drug.
Overdosing can lead to severe convulsions followed by circulatory and respiratory collapse, coma and death. Some people have died after taking small doses.
source: http://www.urban75.com/Drugs/meth.html
Deadly Behavior: HIV 'supervirus' must be seen as a warning
10:01 PM CST on Sunday, February 20, 2005
In a scathing screed delivered last November, AIDS patient and ACT-UP founder Larry Kramer roared, "One of these days the miraculous drugs we have to keep us alive are going to stop working ... What are we going to do when they don't work any longer?"
We may be about to find out. Health officials in New York City have identified what they suspect is a drug-resistant "supervirus" form of HIV, one that can take the patient from infection to full-blown AIDS in only three months. The supervirus was discovered in an unidentified male patient who admits to unprotected sex with hundreds of men, often while high on crystal methamphetamine, which has become popular as a sex enhancer.
It's too early to know whether the mutation will spread, but AIDS activists fear the worst. The New York Times reports that some gay leaders are considering radical steps to fight risky sexual behavior in the gay community. Good. Silence or timidity could cost lives.
AIDS experts have warned for some time that a reckless gay subculture, in which carriers of different strains of the virus have frequent unprotected sex, would eventually produce a drug-resistant HIV mutation. If that has happened, we must face the stark possibility that 25 years of progress in controlling AIDS could be in jeopardy. There are political risks as well: Those who peddle homophobia will surely exploit any evidence that gay men themselves are prolonging the epidemic through suicidal acts.
For too long, well-meaning people, both gay and straight, have been reluctant to denounce this shadowy underside of the AIDS epidemic because of what New York City's health commissioner referred to last week as "the population and political context in which it arose." Yet who is served by such reticence? Deadly behavior is deadly behavior – whether sharing needles or indulging in unprotected sex. If we care about someone, we have an obligation to call them on it.
Begging his peers to grasp the seriousness of the threat – even before the revelation of this new HIV strain – Mr. Kramer told them, "You cannot continue to allow yourselves and each other to act and live like this!"
He's right. Now is not the time for the band to play on, again.
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/022105dnediaidsnyc.8de9a.html
also see:
[PDF] Crystal's Comeback
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
... They’re just shooting what they’re making.” And Brownwood chemists take crystal ...
There’s even purple meth.” The drug’s effects are as different as ...
www.doitnow.org/pdfs/comeback.pdf - Similar pages
Brownwood: Moms, Dads and Drugs: Talk to your kids for all our sakes
Moms, Dads and Drugs: Talk to your kids for all our sakes
10:01 PM CST on Wednesday, February 23, 2005
When the president of the United States more or less implicitly admits that, when young and foolish, he dabbled in the demon weed, it's not surprising that a growing number of parents seem to be losing their voices when it comes to warning their kids against the dangers of drugs.
Having grown up at the height of the drug culture themselves, many of them probably aren't eager to face the question: "Oh, yeah, well what did – or didn't – you do in high school, Dad?"
And frankly, we can't tell the guilty parent how to answer, because the best answer may depend not only on the facts of the matter but also on the relationship and the kid. In some cases, a forthright admission may foster trust; in others, a deft evasion may be best.
But, for all our sakes, have the conversation. Don't avoid it for fear of uncomfortable moments or from the mistaken belief that drug use is a negligible risk. Yes, many of today's adults survived their fits of youthful experimentation. Their children may or may not be so lucky.
Parents who dismiss the dangers – and 8 percent recently told pollsters that they consider regular cocaine use to pose "slight or no risk" – should rent the movie Traffic. Or, if they live here in North Texas, they should refer to this week's news stories about the Zetas, a drug cartel spawned from rogue elements of the Mexican military that is credited with three slayings thus far in Dallas.
That's what we're supporting if we turn a blind eye while our children take drugs. That's the kind of society we're building for them. Think about it.
----------------
February 21, 2005
Bush smoked out by Wead
President Bush can't seem to escape his past. As he was leaving for Europe new audio tapes were released with the President discussing his past drug use. Douglas Wead, a longtime Bush family friend, secretly recorded the conversations with George Bush as he was gearing up to run for President.
Our extended entry contains the transcripts of the tapes heard on ABC news.
And send us your thoughts on this subject, do you think the President was right to lie about his past to protect children from following his example?
Email us.
GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, Doug, but it's not -- it doesn't matter,
cocaine. It'd be the same with marijuana. I wouldn't answer the
marijuana question. You know why? Because I don't want some little
kid doing what I tried.
DOUGLAS WEAD: Yes, and it never stops, of course.
BUSH: But you got to understand, I want to be president. I want
to lead. I want to set -- Do you want your little kid say, Hey,
Daddy, President Bush tried marijuana, I think I will?
BUSH: Al Gore -- (as Gore) I tried it. It wasn't a part of my
life. He doesn't give a damn, you know.
WEAD: You promised you would not appoint gays to office.
BUSH: No. What I said was, I wouldn't fire gays. I'm not going
to discriminate against people.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Dean and Downtowns
“ During the Dean tenure, more than 41,000 new jobs have been created, the state's minimum wage has climbed twice,
incentive programs have expanded to help downtowns attract new businesses,
and tax incentives were created to attract and keep new companies. “
http://www.deanforamerica.com
Have you seen this yet ?
Teen a synch as cyberstar
BY TRACY CONNOR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
A chubby New Jersey teen has become the hottest sensation on the Internet with an amateur video of himself singing and dancing to a Romanian pop song.
Gary Brolsma, 19, who lives with his parents in Saddle Brook, has the lip-synching talent of Ashlee Simpson and the physique of the Pillsbury Doughboy.
But a clip of him manically bopping to O-Zone's international hit, "Dragostea Din Tei," which translates "Love Among the Linden Trees," has blazed through cyberspace and made him a global icon.
His derriere never leaves the chair, but he flails his arms in the air like one of the Supremes and vogues for the Web cam like Madonna.
The highlight may be the moment when he flicks his tongue at the lens. Or maybe when he raises one eyebrow twice over his wire-rimmed spectacles.
Imagine William Hung of "American Idol" channeling the Star Wars Kid - the last big cult hit in computerland - and you get the picture.
In just a few weeks, the video has gotten more than 1 million hits on one Web site and has been featured on CNN and VH-1.
And Brolsma, who calls his star vehicle the "Numa Numa Dance" after a line in the song, is more surprised than anyone about the fuss.
"You people are crazy!" he wrote to fans on one Web site.
Ed Han, a Saddle Brook High School senior who has known Brolsma since third grade and works with him on the local cable TV channel, was equally stunned.
"I never really saw it in him," Han said, but admitted he likes his buddy's video.
"But it's the funniest thing I've ever seen in my entire life."
Originally published on February 16, 2005
source: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/281301p-241042c.html
Brownwood Education & "Meth Mouth"
From Donald Nitkin, DDS, MS,
Your Guide to Oral Health.
A Highly Addictive Substance That Rots Teeth
Methamphetamine is a highly addictive substance. Its use is growing in the United States. One of the many problems this drug produces is rampant tooth decay with the teeth literally falling apart.
Methamphetamine can be made with a mix of substances, including over-the-counter cold medicine, fertilizer, battery acid, lye and hydrogen peroxide. Recipes are readily available on the internet.
Methamphetamine reduces the amount of a person’s saliva. Saliva is important for neutralizing acids and clearing food from the teeth. Decreased saliva flow allows the build up of bacteria to ten times over normal levels. Without saliva, acids can eat away tooth enamel which in turn causes cavities. Many drink high-sugar containing beverages to alleviate dry mouth. In addition to poor oral hygiene and neglect, the drug “high” that users get produces a lot of nervousness and anxiety.
The drug also causes constriction of the blood vessels to the gums and soft tissues. When a person smokes Meth, the corrosive ingredients are heated, vaporized in the user's mouth. They irritate and burn the soft tissues of the mouth. The result is gum disease, mouth sores, infection, and damage to tooth enamel. Snorting draws the caustic substances down the nasal passages and ends up on the teeth.
Also, a potential danger exists for drug interactions with dental anesthetics. These, in turn, could cause major episodes of high blood pressure or other health problems.
The resultant oral problems have become known as "meth mouth”. It is especially evident among prison inmates. Because it is difficult to tell the difference between very poor oral hygiene and that caused by drugs, there are no good statistics on the magnitude of the problem. Many states have seen a dramatic rise in the cost for inmate dental care.
Methamphetamine is not likely to disappear any time soon. The profit is huge. According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration , Methamphetamine prices vary throughout different regions of the United States. At the distribution level, prices range from $3,500 per pound in parts of California and Texas to $21,000 per pound in southeastern and northeastern regions of the country. Retail prices range from $400 to $3,000 per ounce.
The DEA also reports that where methamphetamine production is prevalent, the environmental suffers. Chemicals from dumpsites contaminate water supplies, kill livestock, destroy national forest lands, and render areas uninhabitable. Methamphetamine laboratory fires or explosions have destroyed buildings and homes, injuring occupants and endangering neighboring residents and buildings. Every year, hundreds of children are neglected by parents who are meth “cooks”.
Health care professionals are being asked to be on the alert for symptoms of drug use or for patients who are high when they come for treatment.
Last year, Oklahoma became the first state to classify such common cold remedies as Sudafed and Claritin-D as Schedule V narcotics. These drugs, formerly available anywhere are forbidden to be sold in stores other than pharmacies. In pharmacies, the pills have to be placed behind counters. The amount sold to any customer is limited and purchasers must show a photo ID and sign a register. Important disclaimer information about this About site.
Pledge Of Allegiance: "Under God" and " With Liberty and Justice For All ? "
The U.S. Pledge of Allegiance.
The "under God" phrase.
Quotation:
"From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our Nation and our people to the Almighty." President Eisenhower (1954) after signing into law a bill to have "under God" added to the original pledge. 1
"The statement that the United States is a nation 'under God' is an endorsement of religion. It is a profession of a religious belief, namely, a belief in monotheism," Rulings by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2002-JUN and 2003-FEB. 2
"If you doubt that the phrase "under God" is religious, then try substituting 'under Buddha' or 'under Allah,' or 'under Krishna,' and repeat the Pledge." From an E-mail received by this web site.
"...the Pledge of Allegiance presents a vision of a monotheistic Judeo-Christian country, and ignores the fact that there a large number of Buddhist Americans who do not adhere to monotheistic beliefs." Ken Pierce of the New York law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP.
Since 1954, tens of millions of school children in America recited the Pledge of Allegiance without much controversy:
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands; one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
But in 2002-JUN, Michael A. Newdow, an Atheist from Sacramento, CA, was successful in having the phrase "under God" declared unconstitutional by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
------------------------------
A BuzzFlash Reader Commentary
June 27, 2002
The Pledge of Allegiance
by Cheryl Taylor
The Pledge of Allegiance was attributed to clergyman Francis Bellamy. It was first published in 1892.
After a proclamation by President Benjamin Harrison, the pledge was first used in public schools on October 12, 1892, during Columbus Day observances.
The original pledge was: "I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it stands: one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
It has been changed a few times since. In 1924 for flag day, "the flag of the United States of America" was officially adopted as a substitution for the phrase "my flag."
In 1954, the words "under God" were added, after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men's service organization. This was during the era of the House un-American Committee or better know as the "McCarthy era." The belief was that the pledge needed to be distinguished from similar orations used by "godless communists." Dwight D. Eisenhower directed Congress to add the two small words.
The news has been shouting all day that the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals declared the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals said the phrase, "under God" is unconstitutional! The pilgrims came to this country fleeing religious prosecution. I believe in the father, son and holy ghost, but I also believe in the separation of church and state, as did our founding fathers. They, as I, believed in not imposing one's belief on another. We live in a country that has christians, atheists, and holders of certain non-judeo-christian beliefs.
I stood next to a men who said, "This just handed the Republicans a landslide in November. I can't believe those liberal Democrats." Correct me if I am wrong, I explained, that Circuit Judge Goodwin, was a Nixon appointee and a Republican. He was joined by Circuit Stephen Reinhardt, a Carter appointee in this decision. There was nothing partisan about this ruling. He also said, "That his father in WW II and himself in the Gulf War, did not fight to see this." I again corrected him, "There were two world wars fought without 'under God' in Pledge of Allegiance and my husband also defended the Constitution for 23 years in the Navy."
I preceded to tell this gentlemen about Eleanor Roosevelt.
In 1947 Eleanor Roosevelt found herself in a similar situation while serving as Chair to the UN Human Rights Commission. This was an 18-nation diverse committee of Christians, muslims, an atheist and some holders of certain non-judeo-christian beliefs. There were not many disagreements, until it came to the wording of the declaration.
One muslim member of the commission could not support a declaration without mentioning the deity and Russia would not support it if it did. For Eleanor Roosevelt, the declaration meant every thing. What was she to do? Where was the solution?
Mrs. Roosevelt sought out the help of an expert in the Koran. She put forth this question, "Does it matter if God is mentioned in the declaration?" The expert said, "It does not matter if God is mentioned in the declaration, as long as he is in the room (hearts & minds of those who believe).
Jerry Falwell in a statement today: "My good friend Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel and a man who has fought next to me in a few religious freedom battles, stated, 'The absurdity of this opinion is what mandates that it be overturned. There is absolutely nothing unconstitutional about the phrase "under God" in our pledge.'"
"Mr. Staver noted that to issue this ruling because one person said they were offended is 'an outrage.'"
Well, Mr. Falwell and Mr. Staver, to that I say, "It took only the campaigning of a select group, to have the words added." The pledge has taken on many changes in its life and it is about time for another change. It is after all a living document. It is a pledge that EVERY ONE should be able to recite. I will recite the pre-1954 version and keep God in the room (my heart & mind).
Cheryl Taylor
Frost Texas
Monday, February 14, 2005
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Brownwood Blogging
Terry Eastland: When everyone has a say, sound will be hard to ignore
01:00 AM CST on Sunday, February 13, 2005
By TERRY EASTLAND
If you're reading this column in its original – which is to say, paper – format, you're having an old media experience. If you're reading it at DallasNews.com, you're getting it in cyberspace, and you're a click away from the so-called new media of the blogosphere.
note: to read the entire article please visit our November 5, 2004 post : Brownwood Blogging
Friday, February 11, 2005
Conservatives or Neo Conservatives ?
David Brock: Conservatives 'Willing to Lie' to Influence Media
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
February 15, 2005
Washington, D.C. (CNSNews.com) - David Brock, a former investigative reporter for conservative publications before flipping his political ideology and writing a book titled, "Blinded by the Right," said Monday that the best way for liberals to expose the current conservative influence in the media is to show how conservatives are "simply willing to lie."
Brock is currently the president and CEO of Media Matters for America, a liberal media watchdog that takes on some of the biggest names in conservative media. In authoring the 2002 book, "Blinded by the Right, The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative," Brock not only distanced himself from the conservative movement, he disclosed his homosexuality.
Monday, he noted examples of how the "professional" or "mainstream media" are influenced by conservative talk radio, the Internet and think tanks. That influence, Brock said, will diminish as the conservative "lies" are exposed.
"The conservatives seem to be particularly vulnerable because the quality of their research is particularly low. There is typically self-interested money behind it and of course they are simply willing to lie," Brock told a group of interns at a luncheon at the Center for American Progress headquarters in Washington D.C.
Brock urged the young media activists to challenge what he views as the conservative media bias.
"I think that all of that has to be confronted in a systemic way. If you shine light on propaganda over time, it does cease to have an effect," Brock said. "Their words can be used against them. The fact that the claims that they make are often dubious can also be brought up in a very effective way," he added.
Brock told the interns that conservatives "bully" the media.
"We have seen the mainstream media increasingly accommodating conservatism and this is not an accident. This is the result of coordinated and financed effort by the right wing to pressure, push and bully the media to do that," Brock said. "The media today is a political issue. I believe it is conservatives that have politicized it," he added.
Brock identified what he considered the dominant conservative media outlets.
"It includes newspapers like the Washington Times and the New York Post, it includes the Fox News Channel, it includes talk radio and several highly trafficked Internet sites," Brock said.
He and fellow panelist Judd Legum, a writer for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org cited Cybercast News Service, Newsmax.com and WorldNetDaily.com as examples of the most influential websites.
'False and wrong article'
To illustrate how the conservative media generates a news story, Brock referred to his old employer, The Washington Times and how the newspaper has evolved.
"In 1986, the Washington Times only reached those 100,000 subscribers. Today what we have is a situation where a false and wrong article in the Washington Times is read by Rush Limbaugh on the air. It reaches 20 million people. The author of that article can go on "The O'Reilly Factor" and reach another 5-10 million people. Matt Drudge can post that article on his Internet site and reach another 6 million people," Brock explained.
"So the capacity and the reach for conservatives to communicate their messages, their propaganda and their attacks [have] really increased exponentially over that time," he said.
Brock also emphasized that the "right wing media" has an impact far beyond its conservative base.
"We ought not to dismiss the impact of specifically and explicitly right wing media. If you look at the demographics of the reach of a place like the Fox News Channel or talk radio, they are not simply speaking to the converted or the choir," Brock said.
"They are reaching middle of the road, independent voters and of course there is a huge echo effect of that right wing media into the mainstream media, so that even people who are not consuming right wing media are affected by its messaging and I think it's long overdue that we recognize that reality as well," he added.
Brock explained how conservatives can generate the news they desire. "Things can develop on rather obscure conservative websites that you may never even have heard of and then given a life," Brock said.
Fox News Channel "uses these conservative websites as kind of tip sheets to fill their content, their time on the air. The wall between that type of media and the mainstream media is just so porous today that you often see that it seeps through," he added.
'We are not there yet'
Brock lamented that conservatives have much more firepower in dispersing their ideas than do liberals.
"There is a conservative group called the Media Research Center (the parent organization of Cybercast News Service) which is run by a guy named Brent Bozell that does the kind of media watch-dogging and monitoring from the conservative side that we do. The difference is that Rush Limbaugh reads their material verbatim on the air," Brock said.
"Now I go on (liberal Air America Radio) Al Franken's show once a week -- every Wednesday -- which is a great means for us to be able to disseminate our material, but the fact is Limbaugh is still reaching 20 million people and we are not there yet. But I am encouraged,' he explained.
Brock also said that the "mainstream media" is not really on the side of liberals, as many conservatives contend. "As far as the mainstream media is concerned, know that it is not on your side as much as the conservatives will like to claim that the media is liberal," he said.
"My view is that the conservatives have been able to work, both with media and against the media at the same time and that is something that has really not been perfected on the progressive side," he explained.
Conservatives have created a "structural imbalance" in the media because of their organized efforts "proactively pitching (their point of view) to the media," according to Brock.
"The result of this is as anybody who watches, not just Fox, but CNN or MSNBC -- there is a structural imbalance across all of those political talk shows, where there is a severe under-representation of progressives, and part of that is the fault of progressives," he claimed.
Brock offered NBC's "Meet the Press" as an example of how progressives are under-represented.
"The lack of balance is just so apparent if you look at your composition of your typical Meet the Press roundtables, where they have [syndicated columnist] Bob Novak, a conservative ideologue debating John Harwood, a reporter from The Wall Street Journal and that's the debate," Brock said.
"Who goes in and sees [Meet the Press anchor] Tim Russert and says, 'Here is what you have done for the last 52 weeks and it's unacceptable.' That is the kind of aggressive approach that [conservatives] take and I do think they are being more bold about it lately," he added.
Conservatives also use their media power to push more than ideology, according to Brock. "Part of the conservative game plan is simply to confuse people, so that they are not necessarily trying to win these arguments on a factual level," Brock said.
Brock cited the Vietnam War record of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry and the opposition to his campaign mounted by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth as an example of how conservatives seek to confuse Americans.
"If at the end of the day, the average consumer of news isn't sure what to think (about Kerry's Vietnam War record), [conservatives] have made progress because they have planted seeds of doubt that weren't there before and so it's very difficult to confront that kind of thing," Brock said.
source: http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewPolitics.asp?Page=\Politics\archive\200502\POL20050215a.html
Beware Wolves in Sheeps Clothing ! ( Married with Children ! )
Police Nab Dallas' 'Singing Dentist' In Sex-With-Minors Sting
Undercover FBI Agent Met With Men At North American Man/Boy Love Association Convention
DALLAS -- A Dallas dentist's office is closed and the man known as the "singing dentist" is behind bars, arrested in an undercover sex sting over the weekend.
The FBI arrested Phillip Todd Calvin, 43, of Dallas. Calvin, who is married with two children, has a thriving dental practice in the Dallas suburb of Lakewood and now faces serious charges of traveling across state lines to have sex with a minor.
Calvin is known to many in Dallas as the "singing dentist" because of his musical past as well as his penchant for singing while at work.
An undercover FBI agent said he met with Calvin and several other men at a convention for the North American Man/Boy Love Association, or NAMBLA. The FBI said he spoke to them about their lifestyle, including trips they'd taken to Acapulco and Southeast Asia to have relations with boys.
The agent then volunteered to make arrangements for a trip to Mexico, and that is what the led to the arrest of the men.
Also arrested on a boat dock on Harbor Island in San Diego, Calif., were David Corey Mayer, 49, of Chicago and Paul Ernest Zipszer, 38, of Deland, Fla.
"This investigation was part of an undercover operation for the past year in which a San Diego FBI agent became a trusted member of an organization known as NAMBLA," said Daniel R. Dzwilewski, the special agent in charge of the San Diego Division of the FBI.
On Saturday, the FBI executed a search warrant and searched the Lakewood home that Calvin shared with his wife and two children.
Calvin remains in a San Diego jail.
source: http://www.nbc5i.com/news/4199005/detail.html
Thursday, February 10, 2005
" Liberal Media " ? What the KXYL "Neo-Con" Talking Heads Don't want you to see !
Published on Wednesday, February 16, 2005 by the New York Observer
‘Liberal’ Media Silent About Guckert Saga
by Joe Conason
Proof that "the liberal media" is but a figment of right-wing mythology has now arrived in the person of one James Guckert, formerly known as Jeff Gannon. Were the American media truly liberal—or merely unafraid to be called liberal—the saga of Mr. Guckert’s short, strange, quasi-journalistic career would be resounding across the airwaves.
The intrinsic media interest of the Guckert/Gannon story should be obvious to anyone who has followed his tale, which touches on hot topics from the homosexual underground and the investigation into the outing of C.I.A. agent Valerie Plame to the political power of the Internet. But our supposedly liberal media becomes quite squeamish when reporting anything that might humiliate the Bush White House and the Republican Party.
Until very recently, Mr. Guckert served as the White House correspondent for Talon News, a Web site owned and operated by a group of Texas Republican activists who also run a highly partisan site called GOPUSA.com. Mr. Guckert resigned from his Talon job after liberal bloggers exposed his ties to Web sites promoting homosexual prostitution. On Valentine’s Day, AmericaBlog.org posted new evidence indicating that Mr. Guckert not only constructed those gay-play-for-pay sites, but worked as a male escort himself—and continued to do so until he got his first White House press pass in 2003.
Using his "Jeff Gannon" alias, Mr. Guckert soon became a familiar face in the briefing room, where White House press secretary Scott McClellan would call on him as "Jeff." No doubt Mr. McClellan welcomed his mushy-soft, Democrat-baiting questions.
George W. Bush called on him during his most recent press conference—a signal honor for a reporter from an obscure Internet publication, and quite a surprise to the dozens of actual reporters bypassed by Mr. Bush on Jan. 26.
Mr. Guckert’s archived writings suddenly disappeared from the Talon News Web site, but several of his greatest works have been preserved by the watchdogs at MediaMatters.org. They show that he had no journalistic purpose, let alone experience. His copy featured long passages lifted directly from White House press releases. Last year, during the Internet frenzy over Senator John Kerry’s "intern girlfriend," he falsely wrote that the young woman had "taped an interview with one of the major television networks at Christmas substantiating the alleged affair."
He also made a curious cameo appearance in the Valerie Plame controversy. In late 2003, Mr. Guckert called former Ambassador Joseph Wilson. During that interview, the Talon correspondent mentioned a C.I.A. document that supposedly showed Ms. Plame had dispatched Mr. Wilson, her husband, on a government mission to Niger to investigate rumored Iraqi uranium purchases. That allegation was meant to discredit the former ambassador, who had exposed White House intelligence abuses. Administration leaks to the press about Ms. Plame’s C.I.A. work are currently under investigation by a special prosecutor.
What Mr. Guckert seems to have been is not a journalist but a Republican dirty trickster. He was schooled at the Leadership Institute—an outfit run by veteran right-wing operative and Republican National Committee member Morton Blackwell. (It was Mr. Blackwell who distributed those cute "purple heart" Band-aids mocking Mr. Kerry’s war wounds at the Republican convention last summer.) His former employers at Talon News include leading Republican fund-raisers and former officials of the Texas Republican Party who have been active in partisan affairs for the past two decades.
How did this character obtain a coveted place in the White House? What did the White House press staff know about him? How does his story fit within the larger scandal of payola punditry, with federal funds subsidizing Republican propagandists in the press corps? Did someone in the Bush administration give him a classified document?
Such questions are evidently of little concern to our liberal media outlets, whose leading lights prefer to deliver prim lectures about the unwarranted invasion of Mr. Guckert’s private affairs and his victimization for his conservative views. In fact, everything known about him comes from material he posted on public Web sites, but that’s beside the point.
Imagine the media explosion if a male escort had been discovered operating as a correspondent in the Clinton White House. Imagine that he was paid by an outfit owned by Arkansas Democrats and had been trained in journalism by James Carville. Imagine that this gentleman had been cultivated and called upon by Mike McCurry or Joe Lockhart—or by President Clinton himself. Imagine that this "journalist" had smeared a Republican Presidential candidate and had previously claimed access to classified documents in a national-security scandal.
Then imagine the constant screaming on radio, on television, on Capitol Hill, in the Washington press corps—and listen to the placid mumbling of the "liberal" media now.
© 2005 New York Observer
source:http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0216-21.htm
note: see our other Post "Glass Closets & Throwing Stones" for more on this topic.....
U.S. Aides Cite Worry on Qaeda Infiltration From Mexico / Bush budget scraps 9,790 border patrol agents
U.S. Aides Cite Worry on Qaeda Infiltration From Mexico
By DOUGLAS JEHL
Published: February 17, 2005
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 - New intelligence information strongly suggests that Al Qaeda has considered infiltrating the United States through the Mexican border, top government officials told Congress on Wednesday.
In a wide-ranging assessment of threats to American security, including those posed by Iran and North Korea, the officials also said intelligence indicated that terrorist organizations remained intent on obtaining and using devastating weapons against the United States.
"It may only be a matter of time before Al Qaeda or another group attempts to use chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons," Porter J. Goss, the new director of central intelligence, told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The warnings from Mr. Goss and other top officials came as part of a stark presentation that described terrorism as the top threat to the United States despite what they described as successes in the last year. Mr. Goss said that the war in Iraq had served as a useful recruiting tool for Islamic extremists, and that both the low Sunni Muslim turnout in elections there and the violence that followed demonstrated that the insurgency remained a serious threat.
He warned that anti-American extremists who survive the war were likely to emerge with a high level of skills and experience, and could move on to build new terrorist cells in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other countries.
Intelligence that "strongly suggests" that Al Qaeda operatives have considered using the Mexican border as an entry point was cited in written testimony by Adm. James M. Loy, the deputy secretary of homeland security. But he wrote that there was "currently no conclusive evidence" that this had succeeded.
In the past, law enforcement officials have said Al Qaeda might try to use the Mexican border, but the testimony on Wednesday seemed to suggest increasing concern. In response to questions from the senators, Admiral Loy described it as a "very serious situation," while Robert S. Mueller, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, listed first among his current concerns what he said might already be "the threat from covert Al Qaeda operatives inside the United States."
"Finding them is the top priority for the F.B.I., but it is also one of the most difficult challenges," Mr. Mueller said. He said covert operatives could include "a true sleeper operative who has been in place for years," or someone who entered the country recently.
In his written testimony, Admiral Loy cited recent information from investigations and detentions as the basis for his concern about the Mexican border. He added, "Several Al Qaeda leaders believe operatives can pay their way into the country through Mexico and also believe illegal entry is more advantageous than legal entry for operational security reasons."
The appearance by Mr. Goss was his first in public since he took over as intelligence chief more than four months ago. In response to a deadline set by the White House, he also sent a classified memorandum to President Bush on Wednesday with recommendations about how to improve the C.I.A.'s abilities, particularly in terms of clandestine intelligence gathering.
Among related recommendations, aides to Mr. Goss said, is the view that the C.I.A. should retain its ability to conduct paramilitary operations, despite a recommendation last summer from the Sept. 11 commission that such roles be transferred to the Department of Defense. A joint review by the C.I.A. and the Pentagon concluded that both agencies should have paramilitary abilities, officials said.
In questioning Mr. Goss about the possibility that terrorists might use nuclear weapons, Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the top Democrat on the intelligence committee, called attention to a report sent to Congress in November by the National Intelligence Council that addressed the safety and security of Russian nuclear facilities and military forces.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/17/international/americas/17intel.html?ex=1109307600&en=37339b21ead176a6&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY
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Bush budget scraps 9,790 border patrol agents
President uses law's escape clause to drop funding for new homeland security force
- Michael Hedges, Houston Chronicle
Wednesday, February 9, 2005
Washington -- The law signed by President Bush less than two months ago to add thousands of border patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico border has crashed into the reality of Bush's austere federal budget proposal, officials said Tuesday.
Officially approved by Bush on Dec. 17 after extensive bickering in Congress, the National Intelligence Reform Act included the requirement to add 10,000 border patrol agents in the five years beginning with 2006. Roughly 80 percent of the agents were to patrol the southern U.S. border from Texas to California, along which thousands of people cross into the United States illegally every year.
But Bush's proposed 2006 budget, revealed Monday, funds only 210 new border agents.
The shrunken increase reflects the lack of money for an army of border guards and the capacity to train them, officials said.
Retired Adm. James Loy, acting head of the Department of Homeland Security until nominee Michael Chertoff takes over, said funding only 210 new agents was a "recognition that we need to balance those things as we go on down the road with other priorities."
The White House referred questions about the border agents to the Homeland Security Department.
The law signed by Bush had a caveat that went virtually unreported at the time. A summary, published by the Senate Government Affairs Committee, required the government to increase the number of border patrol agents by at least 2,000 per year, "subject to available appropriations."
Democrats were unhappy that the proposed budget used the escape clause so soon after the president approved the huge boost in border agents.
"We know we must do more to shore up security along our borders," said Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, top Democrat on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. "The president's budget does not even attempt to meet this challenge."
Some Republicans also were displeased.
"This is an area of homeland security that needs to be ramped up in order to increase surveillance and patrols of our nation's vast and often remote borders," said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
A Jan. 24 letter signed by leading Republican lawmakers implored the president to fully fund the new law "in order to secure our borders against infiltration by terrorists."
The lead signer was Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a leader of GOP efforts to toughen immigration laws and anti-terrorism statutes.
Page A - 8
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/02/09/MNGOKB837T1.DTL
Posted for JR Williams (Brown County Juvenille Probation Director)
JR is involved with our community's youth and has spoken out often against the James Byrd Hate Crime Bill on KXYL on numerous occasions (2nd to James Williamson !). These two men are the two most vocal opponents of the James Byrd Hate Crime Legislation.
--------------------------------------
LETTER TO THE EDITOR...............................
REEVALUATE YOUR CHRISTIANITY ?
Who has publicly opposed the proposed James Byrd Jr Hate Crime Act currently being debated in the State of Texas Capitol:
Young Conservatives of Texas
The Texas Eagle Forum
The American Freedom Center
The Texas Christian Coalition
The American Family Association
The Free Market Foundation and
The Ku Klux Klan
The following recent statements of Austin pastor Jim Rigby speaks volumes:
“ If you can’t tell the difference between your Christianity and the beliefs of the KKK, then you should revaluate your Christianity . “
"Do you really think that the Klan just disappeared 15 years ago about the same time the Christian Coalition started its work ? “
I fully support the James Byrd Jr Hate Crimes Act and its supporters. I know where they stand and what they stand for.
They are, after all, the ones who have been targeted for violent acts of hatred !
When was the last time a member(s) of the above listed groups was chained and drug behind a pickup truck or was tied to a fencepost, beaten, and left to die in the cold ? Please tell the victims and their loved ones that there is no need for this bill.
Reevaluate your Christianity ? Indeed !
Regards,
Steve Harris
Brownwood Texas
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HATE CRIME ACT NOT NEEDED ?
HAS ANYONE NOTICED THAT THOSE WHO ARE OPPOSED TO THE JAMES BYRD JR HATE CRIME ACT ARE NOT MEMBERS OF THE MOST FREQUENTLY TARGETED GROUPS FOR HATE CRIMES AS LISTED BY THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY ?
WHO ARE THE TARGETED GROUPS ?
ACCORDING TO THE DPS 1999 CRIME IN TEXAS REPORT, RACE AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION ARE AT THE TOP OF THE CHART.
THE DPS ALSO STATES “ VIOLATION AGAINST SELECTED GROUPS WITHIN TEXAS HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED AS A THREAT TO THE SAFETY OF TEXANS. “
THIS BILL SHOULD NOT BE A DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN ISSUE.
BUT SINCE IT IS APPEARING TO BE JUST THAT, MAYBE IF MORE REPUBLICANS, AND THEIR LOVED ONES, WERE INCLUDED IN THE TARGETED GROUP, THE SENATE WOULD MOVE ON THE BILL “ POST HASTE ” !
TO THOSE ELECTED LEADERS WHO ARE FIGHTING THE HATE CRIME ACT, WHAT IS YOUR SOLUTION TO DETERRING THESE TARGETED ACTS OF DOMESTIC TERRORISM ? UNTIL WE HAVE A PERFECT WORLD, THESE TYPE OF LAWS WILL REMAIN NECESSARY IF FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN TO SEND A CLEAR MESSAGE THAT HATRED, ACTED ON, WILL NOT BE TOLERATED AGAINST FELLOW TEXANS OR OUR VISITORS !
MY THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS TO THOSE TEXAS FAMILIES, (PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE), WHO HAVE SUFFERED A LOSS DUE TO HATRED.
STEVE HARRIS
BROWNWOOD TEXAS
What the Brownwood "Neo-con-Republican" Talking Heads don't want you to see or hear !
By Howard Kurtz
The Washington Post
Published February 10, 2005
WASHINGTON -- A conservative reporter who asked President Bush a loaded question at a news conference last month resigned Wednesday after liberal bloggers uncovered his real name and raised questions about his background.
Jeff Gannon, who had been writing for the Web sites Talon News and GOPUSA, is actually James Dale Guckert, 47, and has been linked to online domain addresses with sexually provocative names. He has been under scrutiny since he asked Bush how he could work with Senate Democratic leaders "who seem to have divorced themselves from reality." The information about Gannon was posted on liberal sites including Daily Kos and Atrios.
Under the headline "A Voice of the New Media: The Voice Goes Silent," Gannon wrote on his personal Web page that because of the attention, "I find it is no longer possible to effectively be a reporter for Talon News," and that he is quitting "in consideration of the welfare of me and my family."
Brownwood Hotel & Vote Republican Banner
“ With a collection of architecture that spans more than 140 years, the city could capitalize on this wealth instead of letting it be destroyed. Towering above the eclectic collection of buildings is the once-grand Brownwood Hotel, an early-20th-century luxury hotel that now stands vacant.
The owner of the old hotel, Virginia businessman and former Brownwood resident Mitchell Phelps, was recently fined more than $13,000 after the 11-story building was cited for numerous safety violations.”
source: http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2000-07-07/cols_daytrips.html
--------------------
Texas law liens on landlord
By KATHARINE CARLON
Journal staff writer
Local landowner Mitchell Phelps got some unwanted publicity earlier this year when he was accused of renting a run-down and unsafe townhouse to failed 51st District House of Delegates candidate Debra Wilson during her trial for election fraud.
Now, Phelps, the owner of about a dozen rental properties in Prince William County, is under attack by officials in a Texas town for allegedly failing to properly maintain his properties there.
``Basically, his buildings have had a series of serious code violations ... from inadequate plumbing and inadequate electricity to leaking roofs and windows out," said Gary Butts, city manager of Brownwood, a central Texas town of about 19,000 residents.
``When the elements are allowed to get in, it's not long before deterioration sets in. And the majority of his buildings are deteriorating badly."
According to city officials, Phelps owns a number of buildings in Brownwood, including several rental homes, an apartment complex, a three-story commercial building located directly across from city hall and the 11-story Brownwood Hotel.
Several of the buildings, including the hotel, have historic significance, Butts said. But, he added, nearly all of them have fallen into disrepair and pose safety hazards for both inhabitants and passers-by.
``It's unfortunate it's this way," Butts said. ``These are nice structures that could be worth a lot if they were taken care of. But these are not being taken care of, and it can't go on."
Butts said he and his staff have repeatedly encouraged Phelps to fix his buildings. In several cases, he said, the city has placed liens on his properties and made the repairs itself.
But now, in hopes of sparing the town money and aggravation, Brownwood is in the process of toughening its enforcement efforts and passing ordinances allowing officials to fine negligent owners as much as $1,000 a day.
Neither Mitchell Phelps nor his wife, Myrna, the former chairwoman of the Prince William County Republican Committee, returned phone messages left at their home Wednesday and Thursday.
Butts said Brownwood city staff also had a hard time reaching Phelps. The city has issued several letters notifying him corrective action needed to be taken, he said, but in most cases the work was never completed.
``He comes in and does a little, but then he disappears and we can't reach him," Butts said. ``In some cases, we have had to step in and file liens and do the work ourselves."
In one case last fall, Butts said the city had to fill in a swimming pool owned by Phelps because the wooden fence around it kept getting blown over by high winds.
``In order to feel comfortable we were doing our due diligence for public safety, we had to do it," he said.
In another case last year, he said, the city had to complete demolition of a Phelps-owned hospital after Phelps walked away from the project.
Butts said Phelps met with city officials around the first of the year and promised to do some electrical work on the historic Brownwood Hotel.
``He said he was going to bring it up to code so he could put it up for sale," he said. ``But as far as I know, not much work has been done."
Butts said the condition of Phelps' properties was not the only reason for the city's decision to revamp its code enforcement, hire a new zoning code administrator, establish a new building standards commission and pass new ordinances allowing the city to fine neglectful owners.
But, he added, ``given the nature and size of the buildings [Phelps owns], I would have to say they were a major factor."
The Journal Newspapers
04.05.1998
Landlord lambasts property criticism
By KATHARINE CARLON
Journal staff writer
Mitchell Phelps, the owner of dozens of properties in Virginia and Texas, defended his reputation as a landlord and a landowner Friday in response to accusations he has failed to properly maintain buildings in both states.
In an interview Friday, Phelps chalked up criticism that some of his rental properties in Prince William County are dirty, dilapidated and even dangerous to ``disgruntled" former tenants whom he evicted for not paying rent.
Phelps also denied Texas officials' claims he failed to properly maintain properties in his hometown of Brownwood, charging the accusation was little more than small-town politics.
``There were 18,000 people living there when I was a kid, there are 18,000 there now and everybody down there talks about everybody else because there's nothing else to do," Phelps said in response to Brownwood City Manager Gary Butts' claim many of the Brownwood buildings owned by Phelps' corporation have serious code violations and present a menace to public safety.
``I am one of the only people who left there and became successful and I guess they don't like that."
In an interview last week, Butts said his city was forced to file liens against several Phelps-owned properties in order to complete corrective work and was in the process of tightening up its code enforcement efforts in hopes of forcing negligent owners, including Phelps, to fix up their decaying buildings.
``Basically, his buildings have had a series of serious code violations ... from inadequate plumbing and inadequate electricity to leaking roofs and windows out," Butts said.
``When the elements are allowed to get in, it's not long before deterioration sets in. And the majority of his buildings are deteriorating badly."
Phelps, who was accused by a number of witnesses of renting a run-down and unsafe townhouse to former 51st District House of Delegates candidate Debra Wilson during her trial for election fraud in Prince William County, did not return phone calls seeking comment prior to a Journal story on
The Journal Newspapers (Background information Blurbs)
Party players turn on Phelps
By KATHARINE CARLON
and MEREDITH DEWEY
Journal staff writers
Several Prince William County Republicans are blasting local Republican Party Chairwoman Myrna Phelps now that the candidate she promoted for the 51st District House of Delegates seat has been convicted of election fraud.
On Tuesday, a six-man, six-woman jury found Debra Wilson, a 42-year-old single mother of three, guilty of misrepresenting her address on sworn documents filed with the county registrar's office and recommended sentencing her to 30 days in jail.
But supporters and fellow Republicans argue she did not act alone and shouldn't take the fall by herself.
``This is a girl who was just done in by some people - mainly the Phelpses," said Ella Shannon of Woodbridge, a member of the local Republican Committee. ``Maybe people are jumping on the bandwagon and saying, `It's the Phelpses, it's the Phelpses.' But I guess the more and more I heard about this, I just felt she was being led by her nose."
------------------------
Fallen pawn
ALTHOUGH HER STORY of naivete rang true, failed delegate candidate Debra Wilson was convicted this week of election fraud.
That's as it should be.
Wilson bears ultimate responsibility for her decision to file as a candidate despite not living within the boundaries of the district she hoped to serve as a delegate. She might have been roped into running, but she could have slipped the knot once she knew she couldn't live in the house allegedly offered her by Republican Committee Chairwoman Myrna Phelps and her husband, Mitchell.
--------------------------------
Jury votes to convict Wilson
By KATHARINE CARLON and
MEREDITH DEWEY
Journal staff writers
Defense attorneys claimed Wilson was a pawn in a ``political conspiracy'' that originated with Myrna Phelps, chairwoman of the Prince William Republican Committee.
Steketee said Wilson was having financial troubles and looking for a place to live when she met Myrna Phelps, who conveniently knew of an place she could rent - a townhome her husband, Mitchell Phelps, owned.
Defense attorneys said the Phelpses gave Wilson a key to the Beale Court townhome in late March and told her she could move in rent-free with only a verbal lease.
``I don't know what color glasses she was wearing,'' Steketee told the jury. ``But obviously they were not as clear as they could have been.''
Steketee said it was obvious the townhome was uninhabitable.
Shortly after the Phelpses made her this offer, defense attorneys said they presented her with an additional opportunity - potential political office.
These offers, Steketee said, fall nothing short of a setup.
``She was snookered,'' Steketee said of his client. ``They put the bait on the line, and she took it.''
Prosecutors said Wilson was no pawn in the Phelpses' master plan.
And, they said, if there was a political conspiracy, Wilson was part of it.
``The Republican party is not on trial,'' Nichols said. ``[Wilson] is. And if she was wearing colored glasses, they were colored with political aspirations.''
Several Republicans who attended portions of the trial said they were outraged by the verdict.
``This is a miscarriage of justice," said Lois Battistoni, Wilson's neighbor. ``Yes, she was wrong. She was stupid. She was naive. But I blame this all on Mitch and Myrna Phelps, who recruited her. Those people are despicable."
--------------------
Candidate's trial to open
By KATHARINE CARLON
and MEREDITH DEWEY
Journal staff writers
If Debra Wilson is convicted next week on charges she misrepresented her address during a failed run for the state's 51st District House of Delegates seat, there are those who will say she got what she deserved.
But a growing number of prominent Prince William County Republicans say the only thing the 42-year-old single mother of three is really guilty of is political naivete and listening to bad advice.
And some say Wilson isn't the only one prosecutors should be investigating when her trial on charges of election fraud opens Monday morning.
``Some people think the Phelpses are partly responsible,'' said James Young, a member of the Prince William Republican committee, referring to local Republican Party Chairwoman Myrna Phelps and her husband, Mitchell. ``But I wouldn't say they did it alone.''
------------------
Defense: Politics hooked Wilson
By KATHARINE CARLON
and MEREDITH DEWEY
Journal staff writers
When Debra Wilson's trial on charges of election fraud started Monday, prosecutors and defense attorneys found more areas of agreement than disagreement.
Both sides agreed that for much of the campaign the failed candidate for the state's 51st District House of Delegates seat wasn't living at the 3541 Beale Court address she claimed on official campaign documents. Both agreed politics played a part in the residency controversy.
And both agreed the fact the Beale Court home was owned by prominent local Republican Mitchell Phelps, husband of Republican Party Chairwoman Myrna Phelps, raised eyebrows.
-----------------
About two months after permanently moving into the home, Wilson was indicted by a grand jury on charges of election fraud. The next day, she lost the 51st District seat to Brickley and just a few months later, the Phelpses filed suit against her in an attempt to collect $1,800 in back rent.
``[The Phelpses] gall rose even further after the election when they filed an unlawful retainer against her" for not paying the rent," Steketee said. ``The truth is they didn't need her anymore."
Under oath, both Mitchell and Myrna Phelps denied playing a major role in recruiting Wilson for the 51st District race and claimed the Beale Court townhome was in move-in condition.
``There were no problems that I know of," Myrna Phelps said. ``I know she was concerned about the front door lock and the privacy fence and we fixed them. Later, she asked me to take care of some cosmetic things, but that was all."
But Ronald Turner, the former vice chairman of the Neabsco District Republican Committee, said he quit his position in disgust after learning of Wilson's indictment.
Turner said he visited the Beale Court home in October, one month's before Wilson's indictment and nearly fell through a rotting staircase in the basement.
``I resigned because I knew of someone who had actually committed a conspiracy and it wasn't Debra Wilson," he said. ``It was Mitch and Myrna Phelps."
------------------
Wilson fraud trial starts
By KATHARINE CARLON
and MEREDITH DEWEY
Journal staff writers
If Debra Wilson is convicted next week on charges she misrepresented her address during a failed run for the state's 51st District House of Delegates seat, there are those who will say she got what she deserved.
But a growing number of prominent Republicans say the only thing the 42-year-old single mother of three is really guilty of is political naivete and listening to bad advice.
And some say Wilson isn't the only one prosecutors should be investigating when her trial on charges of election fraud opens Monday morning.
“Some people think the Phelpses are partly responsible,'' said James Young, a member of the Prince William County Republican committee, referring to local Republican Party Chairwoman Myrna Phelps and her husband Mitchell. ``But I wouldn't say they did it alone.''
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Sunday, March 12, 2000
Brownwood fights downtown blight
By KEN ELLSWORTH
Senior Staff Writer - Abilene Reporter News
BROWNWOOD — Sitting at a table in his downtown restaurant, Steve Harris could look across the street and see where the new post office is supposed to be built, but might not be.
That’s because two of the old, empty buildings it would replace may have architectural or historical significance. And even though the new post office would be a boon to his business, he was not happy.
“This community has not shown interest in maintaining these historical buildings,” he said, referring not only to the post office property, but the state of downtown Brownwood in general.
Harris is the co-owner of Steve’s Market and Deli. He says there are too many run-down, empty buildings, too much downtown vandalism, too much carousing when the teen-agers come downtown to cruise, too many irresponsible landlords, and not enough being done about all the problems.
“There is a relationship between how adults handle things and the way kids handle things. If adults don’t care about downtown and the buildings, why should the kids?” Harris asked.
Downtown Brownwood is at a crossroads. Steps have been taken to improve it, but changes aren’t coming fast enough for some.
Harris has addressed the Brownwood City Council, talked to city officials, talked to his customers and written letters to the editor. He has rankled some nerves and admits it.
“I’d rather work on recipes than fight these battles, but sometimes you have to offend some people and shake things up,” he said.
Some believe Harris has gone too far and hurt the cause more than he helped, but few in Brownwood would deny that the downtown has serious, though not unusual, problems.
Brownwood’s downtown is a maze of crooked streets and about a dozen buildings are vacant, as well as some lots. Graffiti and signs of vandalism mar some buildings.
One business owner refuses to repair a fist-size hole that was broken in his front window more than 10 years ago. It is his way of protesting what he considers the lack of downtown law enforcement. Plastic and tape cover the hole.
That many of the downtown buildings are old is both a blessing and a curse. If they are deemed historically or architecturally significant, then general renovation could turn the downtown into an attractive destination.
But old buildings are more expensive to maintain. Historically accurate renovations are expensive. Unoccupied, the old structures become unsafe and their owners may be cited for city code violations.
“A big part of the problem is that they’re hard to keep up,” City Manager Gary Butts said. “Most of these buildings are in excess of 100 years old.” But progress is being made, he said.
More than two years ago, the city created a Code Enforcement Department with the authority to inspect buildings and cite violators. The city also created a Buildings and Standard Commission to hear and rule on the appeals of those accused of building code violations.
“Unfortunately, we just can’t jump through magic hoops,’’ he said. “And really, we are more interested in achieving compliance with the codes than issuing code violations and fining people.”
The four-person Code Enforce-ment Department has given the city more authority, said the department’s director, Joe Taylor.
His department has issued four code violations for downtown businesses. One owner voluntarily complied, the city eventually boarded up and placed a lien on another property and two code violations are still pending.
One of those is against the 11-story Brownwood Hotel, but officials and others have raised hopes that the situation there will improve. The hotel is probably the most complained-about building in Brownwood.
Built in the 1920s, it was later converted into a dormitory for Howard Payne University students. The building was purchased in 1985 by Mitchell Phelps and has since stayed vacant.
Phelps is a Brownwood native but a resident of Virginia. He also owns much of the property where the proposed post office is supposed to be built. Phelps has always paid his taxes, but fails to maintain his buildings, city officials say.
The deteriorating hotel became the city’s main eyesore. It also became a safety problem, City Manager Butts said.
But repairs on the safety violations have been going on for some time and word of a possible sale, followed by renovations, has also raised expectations for an im-proved downtown.
Phelps’ representative in Brown-wood is attorney William Ruth, who said he has been negotiating with two possible developers.
One wants to buy the building to pursue a $2.5-million remodeling project featuring shops, a hotel and apartments. The other developer has talked about converting the building into a retirement center, Ruth said.
Ruth also represents Phelps in negotiations for the post office property. Architects have drawn plans that incorporate the architecturally and historically significant buildings on the site into the façade of the new post office. The plans hopefully will meet the requirements of the Texas Historical Commission, Ruth said.
Ruth defended Phelps, saying, “He helped out HPU when he bought the old hotel and he’s always paid his taxes.
“And, in truth, he paid a lot for these properties and I don’t think he is selling any of these properties for more than he paid for them.’’
A Brownwood organization called Downtown Inc. also is pushing for change. Formed in 1965 it currently has 79 members. Most are downtown merchants and professionals, but corporations and individuals make up a portion of the membership.
“Our goals are to revitalize downtown and the historic buildings and in cooperation with the Economic Development Corp., said board president Nancy Mark.
The organization uses its resources and seeks grants to help encourage businesses to move downtown.
“We’re also looking at buying some stuff for downtown. We want to plant some trees and furnish some benches,” Mark said. “We want the downtown to be a place where we can bring people who are interested in coming to Brownwood. We want it to be the focus of the city, not the embarrassment of the city.”
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Brownwood Religious Boycotters & Crusaders
Recently, in a front page photo (covering the Stars of Texas Juried Art Exhibit) in the Brownwood Bulletin, appeared Denise Sommer who instigated, participated & encouraged others in a Boycott directed at our business because she did not approve of our Artwork (Nun by Aguilar Sister). We've even been told by another Crusader that we would have more "Christians" eating with us if we would remove the Gargoyles. Understandably, both pieces of artwork have remained !
As have the wind-chimes, menorah's, kwanzaa art, crosses, wire sculptures, flying pigs, photographs, books, and other assorted items from across the globe. For in-depth information on the Aguilar sisters and their work, we make the following information available to those interested in this subject:
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The Aguilar Sisters-
There are four Aguilar sisters: Josefina, Guillermina, Irene and Concepcion The sisters all live next to each other in large extended families just outside the town of Ocotlan in Oaxaca, Mexico Each sister works in clay, but each has a distinctive style that reflects their own view of the world - whether they are capturing scenes of the local market, ladies of the evening, religious events or historical figures. The Aguilar family art is collected around the world and is represented in the International Folk Art Museum of Santa Fe, the Rockefeller wing of the San Antonio Art Museum, and the Mexican Museums of San Francisco and Chicago.
source: http://www.casamexicanafolkart.com/Pottery/The_Aguilar_Sisters/the_aguilar_sisters.html
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The Treasures of Oaxaca
Indigenous artisans continue an ancient tradition of hand crafting
By Marion Bayer, Siesta Tours, Inc.
Meet the Aguilar sisters
The town of Ocotlán is the home of the world-renowned Aguilar sisters, Josefina, Irene and Guillerma. Their specialty, hand-built clay figures painted in garish colors, can be found in art museums and galleries all over the world. The figures are primarily of people and include Frida Kahlo, ladies of the evening, mermaids, the devil, skeletons dressed in painted finery, market dioramas, manger scenes, wedding parties and other social situations.
The sisters live next door to one another, so it’s easy to visit each workshop. When you step through the doorway onto Josefina’s patio, you’ll find her on her knees in the corner, putting the finishing touches on another masterpiece. Her newest grandchild will be nearby, swinging in a basket hung from a tree limb. Her husband brings the clay from a nearby hillside and works it with his feet, adding water as needed to make it malleable and ready to use. Josefina’s finished works are displayed on tables and shelves and she’ll stop what she’s doing to sign the piece you purchase.
source: http://www.theculturedtraveler.com/Archives/AUG2004/Oaxaca.htm
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Winter 1998
The Women of Oaxaca:
Gender, Poverty, and Art
by Lois Wasserspring
For the last four years I have spent several weeks each year in the homes of six women artisans in Oaxaca, Mexico, talking with them about their lives. I became interested in the life experiences of these women because of the seeming contradiction between their stature as folk artists and the difficult economic circumstances of their lives. In contrast to male artisans of comparable stature, who have often been able to translate their status into concrete, substantial material gain, these female artisans seemed locked into lives of hardship enmeshed in rural poverty.
All of the women I have studied have become famous. All have remained poor. Four are sisters who live in Ocotlán de Morelos, a village to the south of the capital. (Henry Glassie refers to "the brilliant Aguilar famly" in The Spirit of Folk Art.) Two live in the pottery producing village of Santa María Atzompa, which lies to the west of the city of Oaxaca. The fame and achievements of each of these six women is remarkable: they are among the most internationally renowned of contemporary Mexican folk artists. Their work is in museums and private folk art collections throughout the world; individually they have represented Mexico at international art competitions and have received scores of national awards. My research uses the story of these women's lives as a vehicle to explore the meaning, and impact, of gender in the Mexican countryside.
What is particularly intriguing about these women is that their fame and success as artisans have seemingly had little impact on their lives as rural, poor women. All work long hours struggling against poverty. All continue, despite their international exposure, to be committed to, and deeply rooted in, the traditional cultural values of their own village communities. Like other Mexican rural women, these artisans continue to spend their resources and energy participating in the annual cycle of religious village festivals. Only one of these women attended primary school for more than one year, and although all are mothers, most are not committed to the value of more education for their offspring. Education continues to be perceived as valueless activity, particularly for daughters.
Their lives must be understood in the context of their birthplace in Oaxaca, one of the most marginal states in the Mexican Republic preeminently poor, rural and Indian. It is part of the "invisible" Mexico of the Third World, far from the glittering modernity of Mexico City and industrial Monterrey. The world in which these six artisan women live is a poverty belt in which 44% of the potentially economically active population receives no income at all and fully one-fourth of all paid laborers receive less than the official minimum wage of $3 per day. Oaxaca's women are especially disadvantaged. Among all Oaxacans, the illiteracy rate is 27%, but among Oaxaca's women, a dismaying 37% are illiterate.
Yet Oaxaca is also famous for its artisan creativity. The Mexican government has encouraged the production of popular folk art in an effort to develop symbols of national identity, and the expansion of both tourism and an international crafts market have further helped to encourage traditional handicraft activity. It is indeed ironic, as scholars have noted, that the art of rural, often women, who are the most marginal producers in rural areas, have come to be seen as symbols of "Mexicanness," coveted by tourists, gallery owners, and art collectors the world over.
The four Aguilar sisters' reputation stems from their father's fame as an artisan and it is said that they each learned their craft from him. In fact, he never created earthenware figures at all, but he did sign his own name to his wife's pieces since she did not know how to write. Concepción, the youngest Aguilar sister, only eight when her mother died, had to become "mother" to her two younger brothers and "housewife" to her increasingly alcoholic and abusive father. These responsibilities prevented her from attending even one day of school in her lifetime. Angélica Vásquez, of Atzompa, never knew each time she won four major national competitions, because her father-in-law, with whom she lived following patrilocal custom, took her entries and signed his own name to them. Dolores Porras, also of Atzompa, was beaten by her husband after each of her first five pregnancies for the "sin" of producing only daughters.
Clearly all of these women have lived lives of hardship, suffering and poverty. The simple fact of being born female has dramatically affected each of their lives. Yet their life stories are not maudlin or depressing. Quite the contrary, like the inherent vitality of the art which they produce, these women's life struggles reflect indomitable spirits, the ability to strategize cunningly, and the essential triumph of human spirit over dire material circumstances. My research examines the myriad relationships connecting these women to their personal and economic worlds. It focuses on household labor production and the gendered division of labor embedded in it. It emphasizes these women's relationships to their children and the creation of generational chains of gendered constraints. It examines the relationship of these women to Mexican government artisan bureaucracy and to the shop owners and gallery dealers who buy their works, as well as the different ways with which the international art community deals with female and male artisans. And it links prevalent Oaxacan myths and legends, and their underlying conceptions of gender, to the folk art output of these artisans, showing how popular art in Mexico produces moral lessons about appropriate female behavior.
My research in Oaxaca has led me to believe that our understanding of "tradition" has remained so flawed because of the underlying male lens of political science in this area. The brittle zero-sum relationship between "tradition" and "modernity" that political science posits misses the complex richness and continuing dynamic innovation of customs and values in Mexican rural life and women's central role in this on-going process. The study of gender also has other implications for rural development. In the world of Oaxacan women today, education is not a valuable option in rural women's fight for survival. Understanding why can help us create educational options of use to women in their real-world struggles. Studying women artisans also helps us understand the impact of the critical process of globalization in Mexico, since folk art has created vital economic options in an economy characterized by low levels of industrialization and limited agricultural production. Tourism is now the fastest growing industry in Oaxaca, leading to the remarkable development of the contemporary arts and crafts market there. The story of female artisan lives in Oaxaca thus also becomes an opportunity to analyze the ways in which the global economy, and tourism in particular, affect the process of development in rural Mexico.
source: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~drclas/publications/revista/women/wasserspring.htm
Aguilar Sisters Creations at Steves'
" DeBussy understood that a work of art, or an effort to create beauty, was always regarded by some people as a personal attack. "
Steves’ Market & Deli
Since 1996
Good Food, Good Drink, Good Times
& Yes, Even Good Art !
Denial : It starts right here. Name your topic !
Winning Isn't Everything? Our obsession with victory fuels steroid use
Dallas Morning News Editorial
07:00 PM CST on Tuesday, February 8, 2005
Denial.
That's where we seem to be – parents, coaches, school administrators, adults generally – concerning the problem of steroid use among high school students. In two recent stories, reporters Gary Jacobson and Gregg Jones talked to students from several schools who said steroids are common, while coaches and parents professed ignorance and disbelief.
So, what does denial tell us? It tells us that we've got an addiction. Not an addiction to steroids; they're just a symptom. An addiction to winning, and, in particular, winning at sports, from Little League on up.
An addict will sacrifice anything – home, family, security – to acquire the desired hit. Are we willing to sacrifice the health and even the lives of talented high school athletes (and the non-athletes who emulate them) for the exhilaration that comes with championships and college scholarships and perhaps even the dream of a pro contract?
Oh, we're not pushing the stuff on them. When did high school kids ever need adult encouragement to experiment with drugs? All we have to do is look the other way, while they willingly, even eagerly endanger their own health in pursuit of the glory that comes with being a winner.
The situation is doubly troubling, considering the time, money and energy we spend to warn kids against the dangers of alcohol and other illegal drugs. Why are we, for the most part, resoundingly silent on the dangers of steroids, which are as serious as many other substances? Could it be that we in the adult world experience a payoff from steroid use that's absent with the rest?
Fine, you say. What can I do about it?
For starters, go to www.taylorhooton.org and read the research about the liver damage, impotence and depression associated with steroid use. (The site honors Taylor Hooton, a Plano West Senior High pitcher and covert steroid user who took his own life the summer before his senior year.) Take note of the symptoms. Think carefully about whether those symptoms fit any kid you know. If so, talk to the kid and talk to the relevant authorities. Really press for answers.
Because denial is deadly.
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/020905dnedisteroids.4c13a.html
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UIL considers testing statewide for steroids
Group says report of use may prompt schools to request intervention
03:29 PM CST on Saturday, February 5, 2005
By TIM MacMAHON / The Dallas Morning News
The University Interscholastic League will consider instituting a statewide steroid-testing program, UIL athletic director Charles Breithaupt said Friday.
Past UIL surveys have indicated that schools do not want the organization involved in testing for steroids and other drugs. However, Dr. Breithaupt said, that might change with news of the Colleyville Heritage case, the first report in the state of high school athletes admitting steroid use.
"If our schools want us to step in and be the deterrent, then so be it," he said, adding that the UIL's legislative council and its medical advisory committee would study the issue. He expects steroid use to be a major point of discussion during the UIL's summer meetings.
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spe/2005/steroids/stories/020505dnsposteroidside.939dd.html
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Bangs in uproar over 3 bodies
By Celinda Emison Reporter-News Staff Writer
October 28, 2003
......................Denial........................
" It ’s not what you expect to hear coming from around this community, "
Bangs residents expressed disbelief that such a crime could occur near their community, located 10 miles west of Brownwood.
" We talked about it in chemistry class," said Amy Fuqua, a junior at Bangs High School. "It’s very freaky. All the kids said they could not believe something like that could happen in Bangs."
" My thinking was those things happen in a big city, they just don't happen in a small town like Brownwood," said Don Greeley, an evangelist at Brady Avenue Church of Christ. " We're just a good, quiet conservative community. It's a good place to live and raise your kids. And it was just a shock."
..........................Reality..........................
Steve Harris, who owns Steves' Market Deli in downtown Brownwood, said he was not surprised by such a discovery.
" The same things happen here that happen in big towns but a large number of people are in denial," he said.
source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_state/article/0,1874,ABIL_7974_2381324,00.html
Things Like That Do Happen Here
The New York Times Sunday, June 7, 1998
" Live here long enough and you discover that at the heart of small-town life there is special form of communal cowardice. It's called "being neighborly," a coded phrase for enforced silence about our sins, failures and nasty secrets. This small-town omerta enshrouds all acts, from child abuse to abuse of our countryside." (and the animals !)
source: http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=25&row=1
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Bush, Brownwood, & Main Street
( What's the plan ? Go it alone and Bankrupt the country then act like your being forced to cut social services and call this being a "compassionate conservative" ? )
Bush's Budget Cuts Would Fall near Main Street
By Ron Scherer
The Christian Science Monitor
Wednesday 09 February 2005
From fewer Head Start programs to outdated police gear, the proposed federal budget calls for spending cuts close to home.
NEW YORK - Chief Joseph Estey in Hartford, Vt., won't be replacing the 15-year-old guns worn by his officers or buying new digital cameras for his police cruisers.
In New York, the Head Start program on the Upper West Side may have to start laying off staff members and eliminate the program for children with special needs.
In Seattle, the fire department, already constrained by a tight city budget, won't be getting federal funding to put more firefighters on each truck as it had hoped.
More than at any time in the four years of the Bush administration, Main Street will be feeling the impact of the federal budget if the president's spending plan is adopted.
From Altoona, Pa., where Amtrak stops, to the nation's congested airports, Americans could be looking at changes that will affect their everyday lives - everything from after-school programs to cotton harvests - as a result of bigger-than-normal cutbacks.
The Bush administration, for its part, argues that the reductions are needed to help keep the federal deficit - which, by its own estimate, will still hit a record $427 billion in fiscal 2005 - in check, while freeing up enough money to boost Pentagon spending and other select initiatives. Since almost 85 percent of the budget represents such items as interest on the debt, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, the bulk of the cuts are coming in domestic programs.
The White House, of course, won't get all, or even many, of the cuts it wants, if history is any guide. Nonetheless, the proposed budget, as a starting point, is stirring concern in precinct houses and principals' offices across the country as another great lobbying war gears up over the nation's checkbook.
"If the cuts are put into place, the pain will be spread more broadly than in the past," says Stan Collender, an expert on the federal budget. "But I am sure they will not stand up."
In fact, many Americans would be right in feeling as if they were watching a television rerun. The president in past years has proposed budget cuts only to see Congress fund the programs anyway after intense pressure from groups facing the ax.
"This is a little like doing business in an Arab souk in Istanbul," says Bill Frenzel, a former Republican congressman, now at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "The President makes the first offer, they sip a little tea and make a counteroffer, then everyone goes for a walk before there are other counteroffers."
Yet this year is somewhat different because the president's economic advisers have warned him that the spiraling deficits may have ramifications for the US dollar and interest rates. "He's not really been tough about the budget, but now he is," says Mr. Frenzel. "Like Reagan in 1981, he's trying to get Congress to slow down the rate of increase."
Many of the 150 programs scheduled for elimination by the administration have been to the brink before. That's the case with Amtrak, which under the president's proposal would lose its $1.2 billion in subsidy.
In 2003, the Bush administration budgeted $521 million for Amtrak and, last year, increased that amount to $900 million, half of what the company requested. Congress increased the subsidy to $1.2 billion on both occasions.
For Altoona, Pa., a mountain town where many residents travel by train to Pittsburgh, the subsidy is watched closely."It [the budget proposal] is not going to do us any good," says Mark Geis, a city council member. "[We're] a train town."
Along the Northeast corridor, officials described worst-case scenarios. Acting Gov. Richard Codey of New Jersey warns that without rail transportation, he would have to add 600 miles of roadsto handle the extra traffic.
The nation's airports will also take a hit. The president is proposing to cut the Airport Improvement Program by $600 million dollars, reducing funding to $3 billion this year. That money goes to paying for expansions and infrastructure improvements at the nation's airports. In 2000, the Federal Aviation Administration estimated the nation needed to build 50 more miles of runways nationwide to prevent aviation gridlock.
The proposed budget also calls for a hike in airport security fee, from $2.50 to $5.50 on one-way tickets. If a flight has a layover, it jumps to $8.00 each way.
Some powerful groups will be making their presence felt in Washington. One of those is the farm lobby, which is facing a 5 percent cut which totals $5.7 billion over the next decade.
"Five percent in a big year wouldn't be much," says William Lovelady, a cotton farmer working 1,000 acres in Fabens, Texas, near El Paso. "But if you barely made it last year, a 5 percent reduction in subsidies could break you."
In fact, farm groups warn if the cuts are enacted there will be damage to crop plantings and rural real estate prices and rural unemployment would increase.
Arthur Ilse, the owner of Agri-Insurance in Hondo, Texas, understands that concept. "Anything cut or taken away from the farmers will have a trickledown effect, from the gas-station owners to the equipment dealers to the field hands," he says.
He also says when considering whether to grant a farmer a loan, banks factor in not only the income from the sale of their goods, but the amount of their government subsidies as well. "And if you go messing with subsidies, that could drive some farmers out of business."
Still, others warn that the cuts could imperil public safety. For example, the proposed budget would cut $1 billion from law enforcement. One potential casualty would be Edward Byrne grants which allow police departments to hire replacements for officers working on drug task forces. "I'm afraid a lot of those drug task forces will go out of business, and they are very effective," says Chief Estey, who is also president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Firefighters also warn that a 30 percent cut to the FIRE Act, which provides equipment, training, and staffing to local fire departments could harm public safety. In Seattle, for example, federal funds have provided protective "bunker gear."
"We need to maintain certain equipment and response levels," says Dennis Karl, executive secretary of the Seattle firefighters' union. "If that goes away it puts more strain on the men."
The tight budget may also take a toll on some family dinner tables.
About 300,000 working poor with children could be cut from the the food stamp program, according to Stacy Dean of the Center on Budget and Policy priorities in Washington.
The program that provides heating assistance for low-income families during the winter would also be cut by $182 million to $2 billion even as heating costs rise.
"This is not the time to reduce assistance for families that already can't afford to heat their homes," says Ms. Dean.
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Staff writers Alexandra Marks in New York and Kris Axtman in Houston contributed to this report, as did Robert Tuttle in New York.
source: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/020905F.shtml
Letters for Sunday: President Bush's budget proposal
01:00 AM CST on Sunday, February 13, 2005
Cooking the books
Both parties have a long history of cooking the books when it comes to budgets, but this one takes the prize. President Bush conveniently left out costs of the war in Iraq, fixing Social Security and the alternative minimum tax.
In America's first 200 years, we accumulated $900 billion in national debt. The 2004-05 budget deficits total $839 billion. Some have asked where all the fiscally conservative Republicans have gone. They left town long ago. The last Republican president to balance a national budget was Herbert Hoover in 1930.
Richard Davis, Frisco
Where are morals?
Budgets are moral documents. President Bush's budget reflects priorities in clear opposition to biblical values.
The budget includes the elimination of block grants that aid poor communities, making it more difficult for working poor families with children to be on Medicaid; the elimination of 48 educational programs; a $355 million cut to programs that promote safe and drug-free schools; and cuts to housing and urban development programs.
Paying attention to the poorest among us is a central biblical imperative – not increased spending on nuclear warheads and tax cuts for the rich.
Jan Rhodes, Dallas
Our needs first
Our administration wants huge increases in areas like foreign aid but even larger cuts to programs like Medicaid, which our disabled, elderly and veterans depend upon. That's like telling your kids, "Sorry, no food this week. I have to send my paycheck to Israel to help them build a bridge." Shouldn't we take care of our needs here at home first?
Beverly Daniel, Garland
Don't forget borders
I am trying to see the logic in President Bush's proposed cuts to our border patrols. Isn't that where terrorists are sneaking into our country? Now that we have made it harder for them to use airlines, we let them just walk in?
Mr. President, Texas has a big border down here. Have you forgotten?
Shirley Malone, Holly Lake Ranch
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/letters/vitindex.html
Did you know this ? It was left to an NAACP chapter in faraway Brownwood to sue and force final desegregation of the midway and eating establishments.
" Anybody black in Dallas whose family has been here more than 50 years knows all about "Nigger Day." Throughout the 1930s and '40s, that was the one day African-American families were allowed to attend the State Fair of Texas. And that's what it was called.
Even though it was the "state" fair, the fair was tightly dominated by the white Dallas hierarchy. Black leaders from all over Texas brought pressure on the Dallas white leadership to eliminate the ugly practice of Nigger Day.
In the early 1950s, Dallas leaders, always trying to cut a deal, renamed it "Negro Achievement Day." Didn't wash. Black people continued to bring pressure for open admissions to the fair.
In 1953 Dallas white leaders offered a new deal: open admissions during the full run of the fair, except that black people were barred from the midway and restaurants except on Negro Achievement Day.
Dallas black leaders thought this was an adequate deal. It was left to an NAACP chapter in faraway Brownwood to sue and force final desegregation of the midway and eating establishments.
But even when black people finally were admitted to the midway and restaurants, Dallas leaders, headed by banker R.L. Thornton, insisted that two particular rides on the midway--"Laff in the Dark" and "Dodge 'em Scooter"--could never be and would never be desegregated. Those two rides involved the possibility of actual bodily contact between white and black persons. The two rides stayed segregated at least through the 1960s, possibly into the 1970s.
So we think what? Black people are going to forget this stuff? If anything, the politics and culture of old Dallas, black and white, is a contorted tangle of all those strange "Laff in the Dark" and "Dodge 'em Scooter" memories. The white folks and black folks who have been around Dallas all that time have one thing in common: Neither side can make up its mind if desegregation was a good thing. It's all painful and unresolved. "
source: dallasobserver.com | originally published: September 9, 2004
http://www.dallasobserver.com/issues/2004-09-09/schutze.html
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Steve & Steve,
Thanks for your inquiry and the opportunity to offer some information from the records of the State Fair of Texas. I know and admire Jim Schutze, but I don’t agree with all of the conclusions he has drawn from his research (some, yes, but not all), and I welcome the chance to correct a few facts. First and foremost, despite what it may or may not have been called in the black or white communities of that time, the fair day set aside for African American participation was never called “Nigger Day” in State Fair publications, advertising or internal records. It was called “Colored People’s Day” in 1900, when Booker T. Washington spoke, and “Negro Day” became an official calendar event starting in 1930. After World War II, attendance on Negro Day climbed to 100,000, and there were two calendar dates positioned as “Negro Achievement Days” in 1947 (Duke Ellington was the featured entertainer on the first Monday). That designation and the practice of scheduling special activities and outstanding entertainment (Louis Armstrong gave four concerts on one day in 1956) continued through 1959. In 1960, the programs remained, but the day was simply called “Achievement Day.” That was the last time the designation was ever used.
It is commonly thought that African Americans were admitted to the fairgrounds only on these special days. That is not exactly true, although it was in effect the case, since they were not admitted to the rides or restaurants except on the specified days. In 1951, Joe C. Thompson, coordinator of Negro Day activities and president of City Ice Delivery (forerunner to today’s 7-Eleven stores) proposed lifting the ban that kept African Americans from riding the rides, but the board responded that the time was not right. Two years later (1953), the State Fair and the Dallas Negro Chamber of Commerce announced a new policy that admitted African Americans to amusement rides on all 16 days of the Fair, as long as there were separate facilities available and no physical contact involved. Civil Rights leader Juanita Craft and 22 members of the NAACP Youth Council protested in 1955 and passed out materials charging that Negroes were routinely barred from two rides and all restaurants, while being placed at the back of other rides. The Fair’s response was to open the previously restricted rides to everyone. In 1961, the last remaining barriers fell, and all State Fair activities and facilities were fully integrated.
This is not intended as a defense of State Fair policies and practices in the 1950s. Institutional racism was everywhere in this part of the country at that time, and the State Fair of Texas, under the leadership of R.L. Thornton (who was also Mayor of Dallas from 1953-61), was as guilty as the next. But then, as now, the Fair was more visible than most institutions, and photos of the protests and picketing at the Fair are frequently published in connection with that era.
If you would send us a mailing address, we would be happy to send you a copy of the book (no charge) with an inscription to the diners at your restaurant.
Hope this is helpful,
NancyWiley
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What a ride: State Fair official retires
08:41 PM CST on Friday, February 4, 2005
By DAVID FLICK / The Dallas Morning News
She introduced former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to the corny dog, single-handedly halted a runaway golf cart and juggled the television appearances of two gubernatorial candidates and a pig act.
Now, after 33 years, Nancy Wiley is relinquishing her title as senior vice president of public relations and marketing for the State Fair of Texas, but she will stay on as a consultant – keeping one key duty.
"Institutional memory, that's my job description," said Ms. Wiley, 67, who retired Monday.
Although she served for more than three decades as the public voice of the fair, Ms. Wiley is perhaps best known as the author of The Great State Fair of Texas – An Illustrated History. The book has gone through three editions in the 20 years since it was first published and won the Texas Historical Commission's 1985 T.R. Fehrenbach Award.
The book is now available only through the State Fair. Ms. Wiley is unsure how many copies it has sold.
"I definitely did not get rich," she said.
But she had the pleasure of presenting copies to visiting celebrities such as Willie Nelson and Mr. Gorbachev.
"I'm sure it still sits on his coffee table," she said of Mr. Gorbachev.
State Fair Favorites
After 33 years, Nancy Wiley has a few State Fair favorites:
Favorite food – the patty melt at Katie's Cafe
Favorite ride – the Texas Star
Favorite entertainment – the Tiger Island show, 1996-97
She met him in 1998 when he was in Dallas to speak at Southern Methodist University. While here, he expressed a wish to see a more traditional part of Texas, specifically the State Fair.
Ms. Wiley led the former Soviet leader and his entourage around the fairgrounds in a 10-golf-cart motorcade, making stops at the auto show and the Creative Arts Building, where the results of the canning and handicraft competitions were on display. Finally, Mr. Gorbachev insisted on sampling a corny dog.
"He liked it," Ms. Wiley recalled. "He said it tasted just like a Russian sausage."
She also served as a guide for actress Carrie Fisher, who, among other stops, asked to meet the people in the midway freak shows. Though the visit came soon after Ms. Fisher's appearance in Star Wars, she walked the grounds unnoticed.
"She wasn't wearing her Princess Leia braids, so no one recognized her. Absolutely no one," Ms. Wiley said.
Someone who did attract crowds in the 1970s was Iola Johnson, who had just become the first black woman to anchor a Dallas newscast. As Ms. Wiley drove her through the fair, Ms. Johnson asked to see the Dancing Waters at the Esplanade reflecting pool.
As they walked toward the fountains, Ms. Wiley glanced back to see a horrifying sight – teenagers had turned on the ignition of her golf cart and released the brake. The driverless vehicle was now heading down the steps toward her.
Ms. Wiley rushed back, grabbed the steering wheel and stopped it, using only, as she recalled, "sheer brute force."
"It was a foolish thing to do, I guess. Somebody told me, 'Lady, you shouldn't have tried that,' " she said. "But I know what kind of trouble I would have gotten into if it had plunged into the water while a celebrity was coming to visit."
The '70s were a difficult time all the way around, she said. When she joined the fair staff in January 1972 as an assistant public relations director, she found a venerable institution that was struggling.
The Dallas Cowboys had moved from Fair Park to Irving the previous year. The Dallas Museum of Art was already thinking of leaving for downtown. The '60s had produced racial tensions between the fair and the largely African-American neighborhoods surrounding the park.
Meanwhile, the fair itself had lost popularity with younger audiences, who considered it old-fashioned.
"Those weren't the best of times," she recalled. "It was, like, 'The last person to leave Fair Park, please turn out the lights.' "
At the same time, stirrings of revival were afoot. Among Ms. Wiley's first assignments was to research the history of the Fair Park Music Hall, which was then undergoing renovation. The work sparked her interest in the wider history of the fair, which eventually led her to write The Great State Fair of Texas.
The turnaround accelerated in the 1980s, with the renovation of the fair's signature art deco structures, especially the Automotive Building. The group Friends of Fair Park also was born.
Meanwhile, fair officials sought to make the grounds safer and more attractive to modern audiences.
"We have to compete with theme parks now; we have to be everything they are and more," Ms. Wiley said.
At the same time, the more traditional aspects of the fair, such as the livestock barn, might hold an interest for city kids, she said.
"It's a way to see and touch animals they only know from the supermarket freezer bin," she said.
Sometimes, her hardest task over the years was to keep a sense of humor.
In 1994, after former President George Bush had cut the ribbon to that year's fair, Gov. Ann Richards, who was in a bruising re-election campaign, called to ask if there was some high-visibility event that she could participate in.
"I told her that Willard Scott [from the Today show] was going to be broadcasting from the fair, and we might be able to set up something with that," Ms. Wiley said. "She didn't want to get up that early in the morning, but she said she'd do it."
Campaign officials for her opponent, George W. Bush, heard about the governor's intentions and wondered if he, too, could appear with Mr. Scott. Ms. Wiley set it up.
"It was quite a scene," she recalled. "All the while they were doing the show, we had to keep Ann Richards over there and George Bush over there, so the two of them wouldn't actually meet.
"On top of that, they [Today] had a pig act on that day, and the pigs kept acting funny, and the farmer that brought them said it was because they didn't like to get up that early either.
"It was a great morning for TV.
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/020505dnmetfair.50bd9.html
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Harris and Steve Puckett [mailto:steve_squared@verizon.net]
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 8:58 AM
To: Candis Wheat
Cc: Nancy Wiley
Subject:
I'm working with our local & regional reporters to cover the story of the State Fair of Texas during the early 50's and was wondering if you had any knowledge or information that could help us place this time/events in better context regarding Racial issues. I read in the Dallas Morning News recently of the book by Ms Wiley and am already looking forward to purchasing a copy for our restaurant (www.stevesmarketanddeli.com) in Brownwood, Texas. Any chance that I could purchase one directly with a signature and message for the diners at Steves' ? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Steve Harris
Steves' Market and Deli
Brownwood Human Rights Committee
State Fair of Texas / Midway / Brownwood NAACP
This is interesting Brownwood Civil Rights History. Several years ago we tried to secure a memorialization of a local street in honor of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. This attempt was met with much opposition from several Influential Brownwoodians . Needless to say this attempt was "put to rest" by those "at the table" From our experience with this issue, the two most vocal opponents of this request came from former elected Brownwood Police Chief Joe Robbins and Bob Beadel..
State Fair of Texas & Black History
Midway was once far from fair for blacks
08:56 PM CST on Friday, February 11, 2005
By MICHAEL E. YOUNG / The Dallas Morning News
Marion Butts/Dallas Public Library
Protesters picketed during the final years of segregation at the State Fair of Texas, which once banned blacks from amusement rides and food stands.
Fifty years ago, when the State Fair of Texas opened for its annual autumn run, visitors looking for a day on the midway came face to face with black America's struggle for civil rights.
The NAACP began marching outside the gates of Fair Park in 1955, demanding full equality in fun, as they had over education, voting rights and jobs.
"Most people think African-Americans weren't admitted to the fair except on a special day or two, but that wasn't the case," said Nancy Wiley, former public relations director for the fair and author of The Great State Fair of Texas – An Illustrated History. "They were admitted on any day, but they couldn't ride the rides or eat at the restaurants."
Florence Keller Butts, widow of photographer Marion Butts, remembers those days none too fondly. "All these black people came from small towns and what have you, and the fair would be so crowded, and everything was closed down to them," she said.
The fair board refused to end the ban on amusement rides in 1951 but changed the policy two years later, Ms. Wiley said. Blacks and whites could ride the same rides except for two where there was the potential for contact.
The criticism and picketing continued, though. And in 1956, the Negro Chamber of Commerce withdrew its support because of lingering discrimination, particularly at fair food stands. That last vestige of segregation wouldn't disappear until the next decade.
E-mail myoung@dallasnews.com
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/news/localnews/stories/021205dnmetnubuttsphoto.a60b6.html
Historians focus on photos of racial struggle
09:58 PM CST on Saturday, January 29, 2005
By MICHAEL E. YOUNG / The Dallas Morning News
History unfolds in the images, history from a different angle. A way of life blooms in black and white.
The photos, often the work of men and women unknown beyond the limits of their own communities, depict the struggles of a people forced to the margins of society, celebrating victories and ruing defeats with clarity and grace. In Dallas, Marion Butts Sr. was perhaps the most notable of the photographers chronicling the final days of racial segregation, mostly for the Dallas Express, one of three newspapers serving African-American readers.
"Initially, I think this was a job to him," said Brian Hurdle, Mr. Butts' grandson. "Back then, if you had a black event, you had to call a black photographer.
"But he definitely realized over time that what he had was special, and that not a lot of people had anything like it."
"Marion was one of the greats," said Alan Govenar, author of Portraits of Community – African American Photography in Texas and co-founder, with wife Kaleta Doolin, of the African American Photography Archive in Dallas.
"He excelled among his contemporaries – but he did have contemporaries."
In Dallas and across Texas, dozens of African-American papers flourished in the 1950s and '60s, covering news the mainstream publications often ignored. But in the years since, some of the photographic record they provided has disappeared.
"The reality is there was a vibrant African-American press," Dr. Govenar said. "In our archives, we have photographs taken at the same event by different photographers, many photographers.
"But this is an area that has barely been documented. We're just beginning to scratch the surface."
The Dallas Public Library recently purchased roughly 58,000 photo negatives taken by Mr. Butts, who died in 2002. The work of R.C. Hickman, a contemporary who worked for the Dallas Star Post, resides at The Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin.
But as other photographers retire or die, their files can end up in an attic, or worse, a Dumpster. Finding and preserving as much as possible is crucial, Dr. Govenar said.
His book lists 117 African-American newspapers that operated in Texas between the mid-19th century and the turn of the 21st. And during the same period that Mr. Butts and Mr. Hickman were working for Dallas newspapers, A.B. Bell, Dewitt Humphrey and others were covering news assignments as well.
Photo studios flourished, too, though photography may have been a second or even third profession for some.
Calvin Littlejohn photographed Fort Worth's African-American community for six decades, shooting everything from visiting celebrities and church groups to evidential photos for court cases involving the NAACP.
Alonzo Jordan operated a combination photo studio-barber shop for 41 years in Jasper, Texas. Eugene Roquemore worked as a janitor during the day and a porter at the Lubbock bus station at night, shooting photos whenever he could.
"He was an incredible talent, chronicling the black hipster lifestyle at a place called The Cotton Club in Lubbock," Dr. Govenar said. "You look at his photos and wonder, 'Why have I never seen this kind of work before?' It's like, 'I never knew this existed!' "
Mr. Roquemore's photos were found stored in cardboard boxes after his death.
Their combined works cover the breadth of photographic topics, from school photos to weddings and funerals, parades and nightclub events, studies on poverty and the protests that traced the fight for equality and justice.
"My grandfather was very aware of the discrimination blacks faced, as I'm sure everyone growing up in that era was," said Mr. Hurdle, Mr. Butts' grandson.
"Growing up, he actually worked on a plantation, and I remember him telling me some white men brought a black worker up front and beat him, kind of whipping him, so they'd know what could happen to them."
The routine slights of everyday life shaped him in certain ways, as it did his generation, his grandson said. And though Mr. Butts was a quiet man, he understood that many of the things he photographed were powerful documents in the history of Dallas and the United States.
"The photos he made during the desegregation period, those are good for history," said his widow, Florence Keller Butts. "I'm sure now that everyone knows how the blacks were treated, and sometimes still are.
"It's hard to get over that bitterness. I think I've overcome it," she said, "I guess until it happens again."
And while her husband was quiet, Mrs. Butts was feisty, waging her own little battles for civil rights with her husband's full support.
If sales clerks at the department store would call her "girl" when she was out shopping with her three children, she'd let them know how she felt, she said.
"It upset my children something awful. They thought I was about to get arrested or something," Mrs. Butts said. "But my husband, he was behind me 100 percent.
"I remember when I was in high school, there were water fountains marked 'Colored' and 'White.' And my parents didn't really like us doing this, but we would drink from the 'White' fountain, just to see if anyone would correct us.
"I decided if anyone said anything to me, I'd just say, 'I'm colored. I don't know how to read.' "
During his career, including the 20 years he spent at the Dallas Express, Mr. Butts photographed many of the small events that marked a people's progress.
He photographed the first black students admitted to Southern Methodist University and the first black doctors given operating privileges at a white hospital. He shot the first desegregated soda fountain in South Dallas and a lone picket protesting segregation at the State Fair of Texas.
One day, he photographed Dallas' first black police officers standing in front of a patrol car, a picture both historic and ironic.
"The officers could only drive that car during Negro Achievement Day at the State Fair," Mr. Butts said in a 1998 interview with The Dallas Morning News. "They couldn't make an arrest. They'd just have to detain the lawbreaker until a white officer arrived.
"And they had to dress at a housing project called Roseland Homes off Roseland Street, because they weren't allowed to dress with the other officers."
Each of those photos has historic value. But the scope of work by African-American photographers across Texas might have had even more significance in their own towns.
"My husband was proud to have the chance to make pictures of Martin Luther King and Arthur Ashe," Mrs. Butts said. "And the celebrity things he was able to do were great.
"But I personally like just the everyday goings-on that he photographed."
In his book, Dr. Govenar places Mr. Butts and dozens of others in a new genre of photography that he called "community photographer."
"There were many African-American photographers working in Texas during the years of segregation, and they recognized in a bigger sense that photography was a way to document and build esteem in community life," he said.
They accomplished that with photos of debutante balls and day-care center graduations, Masonic ceremonies and business openings. The people pictured worked hard to make their way in life, and the photos shared their celebrations. The work showed lives worthy of pride, despite the overwhelming problems that surrounded them.
"So Marion was a man who was always on the go, at community and church gatherings, anything that was important to his community," Dr. Govenar said.
"And while he made a livelihood as a photographer, he had a much bigger sense of the world and the work he was doing."
E-mail myoung@dallasnews.com
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/013005dnmetblackphotogs.61442.html
Photographer captured '60s protest
Taking aim at injustice, paving a path toward equality
09:19 PM CST on Monday, January 31, 2005
By MICHAEL E. YOUNG / The Dallas Morning News
The walls of segregation still held in 1960, but nearly a decade of African-American protests had already forced changes at the State Fair of Texas and the Dallas school system.
The latest targets included the city's segregated lunchrooms, including the "white" lunch counter at the H.L. Green department store.
Marion Butts
A protester's sign says 'H.L. Green Co. Insults Human Dignity with Segregated Food Services. Why Pay for Segregation!'
Protesters began marching outside the store in October 1960, and the protests continued for months before black customers could freely use the ground-floor restaurant rather than the lunchroom in the basement designated for blacks.
The changes came grudgingly, even though the color line had been broken at least six months earlier.
On April 25, 1960, an African-American student at the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University sat down for lunch with two white students.
"The fact that the other two were willing to go in with me made it much, much easier," the Rev. Richard Stewart, now retired in Nashville, Tenn., said Monday.
"But it was risky. I was about to graduate, and this could have jeopardized that."
The waitress refused to bring them food. But when they called the manager, they were served.
"There was a group of white businessmen who wanted to make a statement that Dallas didn't have the same kinds of problems as Birmingham and other places," Mr. Stewart said. "They wanted to make certain that if anyone asked for service that it would be granted."
But real change, for everyone, would take another year.
E-mail myoung@dallasnews.com
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/news/city/dallas/stories/020105dnmetbuttsphoto.5f7e8.html
Right-tilted owner of site unfazed by reporter flap
Talon leader says White House coverage will go on despite resignation
11:34 PM CST on Friday, February 11, 2005
By KAREN BROOKS / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN – The politically conservative owner of the online Talon News Service said Friday that his site would continue its coverage of the White House despite harsh criticism of one of his reporters.
Bobby Eberle Jr., a Houston activist and engineer who also runs the popular GOPUSA political Web site, told The Dallas Morning News that he plans to replace reporter James Guckert, who went by the name Jeff Gannon. The reporter resigned Tuesday after reports that he had used the fake name in White House press briefings for two years and was employed by a politically active and partisan company.
"We haven't stopped our operations at all," Mr. Eberle said in a telephone interview from his Houston home. "We've got four new stories up there today."
Founded by a young, Texas-based board of directors, GOPUSA has half a million subscribers and sends Talon News stories to its audience daily. Among the founding members of GOPUSA are Richard Powell, a former policy adviser to Gov. Rick Perry; Bill Fairbrother, chairman of the Williamson County GOP; and Steve Findley, a member of the state GOP's executive committee.
GOPUSA began about five years ago with 400 subscribers, Mr. Eberle said. A native of Chicago who moved to Texas at age 11, Mr. Eberle, 36, went to Texas A&M and worked as an aerospace engineer while he developed GOPUSA. Now, he said, the sites are his full-time job.
Both sites make money from advertisements, Mr. Eberle said.
Mr. Findley said Friday that he had not heard about the resignation of Mr. Guckert and said he was not involved with Talon News.
"I can tell you that we're all good folks," he said. "We're not in the business of stirring up bad things. We like to do good things."
Mr. Guckert came to the attention of the media when, at President Bush's most recent news conference, he referred in a question to Democratic leaders who "had obviously divorced themselves from reality."
The backlash on liberal Web sites, in Congress and eventually in the mainstream media was strong, with accusations by Capitol Hill Democrats that Mr. Guckert had been planted in the White House briefings to spread propaganda.
Mr. Eberle said he would not comment on specific reports about Mr. Guckert, including that the reporter owned several sexually oriented Web sites.
Mr. Eberle said he strives to keep his 2-year-old news site "completely separate" from the partisan GOPUSA and said that if he, as editor, came across a story that was critical of Republicans, "you bet we'd be covering it."
"It's important to maintain the line between opinion and news, and I try very hard to do that," he said. "GOPUSA is overtly partisan; it says so in our name. But if you look on the Talon news site, it's just news."
Mr. Eberle neither apologized for nor defended Mr. Guckert's actions, saying instead that the question obviously "got attention because it was coming from the right" and that he would "counsel any new reporter to just be aware of the environment that they're in.
"I think there's a way of asking pointed questions from either perspective that don't necessarily come loaded with political bias," he said. "I don't think anyone should ask softball questions. ... Republicans and conservatives want to know what's going on, too. They have a lot of tough questions to ask, too."
E-mail kmbrooks@dallasnews.com
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/washington/stories/021205dntextalon.4e644.html
Monday, February 07, 2005
Purchasing the Pulpit
By Jasmyne Cannick, The Black Commentator
Posted on March 3, 2005, Printed on March 4, 2005
"I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves ... ."— Harriet Tubman
Recently, a group of black pastors under the name of the High Impact Leadership Coalition, held a press conference and summit in Los Angeles to announce the kick off for their "Black Contract with America on Moral Values." Led by Bishop Harry Jackson of Washington and white Christian evangelical Reverend Lou Sheldon and his Traditional Values Coalition, the press conference and summit gave new meaning to the phrase "sleeping with the enemy."
According to the newly formed coalition, topping the list of issues that black Americans need to focus on is the protection of marriage. Never mind the war, access to health care, HIV/AIDS, education, housing and Social Security, the number one problem facing black America is same-sex marriage.
Standing before the press in their Sunday best and eager to get their 15 minutes of fame and achievable share of President Bush's Faith-Based Initiative, these black pastors seemingly allowed their pulpits to be purchased by the GOP and Lou Sheldon, who is to gay people what Strom Thurmond was to blacks. Sheldon at one time even went so far as to support the quarantining of people with AIDS and accused the federal government of "running a network of whorehouses," when the U.S. responded to the AIDS crisis with resources.
Later that afternoon over one hundred black pastors gathered at Rev. Fred Price's Crenshaw Christian Center, another prominent mega-church, where Sheldon showed his infamous "gay rights, special rights" video and urged the pastors to have their congregations lobby African-American legislators who hadn't taken a position on the issue of same-sex marriage.
Listening from the outside, one might have thought they were listening in on a Klan meeting, but after one look around the room, I remember thinking of Dave Chappelle's portrayal of a blind black white supremacist who had never been told he was black.
Black pulpits are for sale to the highest bidder and black Christians are quite possibly being sold to the GOP under the guise of protecting America's moral values. With claims that gays are "high-jacking" the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr.'s message, Sheldon is bribing black pastor after pastor and church after church with check after check to take another look at the GOP and partnering with their white Christian counterparts all while using the Bible as a justification for their commonality. Yes, the same book that was used to justify racism, sexism and anti-Semitism has both black and white Christian evangelicals reading from the same page.
Few remember, that there were significant members of the black church including the National Baptist Convention led by Dr. J.H. Jackson in the '50s that vehemently opposed the civil rights movement and didn't want progressive ministers like Dr. King to have any confrontations with the government. So much so, that was one of the major factors in Dr. King's decision to create the Southern Christian Leadership Conference along with Los Angeles ministers Rev. James Lawson and the late Dr. Thomas Kilgore.
These black pastors who have aligned themselves with white Christian evangelicals and Conservatives, are the ideological descendents of the same people who opposed Dr. King in the '50s but today want to claim his message as their own in the name of protecting the institution of marriage, thereby giving new meaning to the name "Uncle Tom."
However, don't think that these new partnerships come without strings attached. The black vote is expected to be hand delivered on legislation that supports discrimination against gays and lesbians and their right to protect their families, denying a woman's right to choose and pushing the president's abstinence only campaign. In addition, our religious leaders are also expected to remain silent and not be the prophetic voices they should be on issues of critical importance to blacks. In exchange for money, they've essentially sold their congregations to people who continue to oppose universal access to health care, education and housing, the very issues at the core of the black struggle.
There's a coordinated religious campaign to get ministers across the state to speak out against gays and the debate is not about religion but more about politics, power and keeping that political power in the hands of people who stood in the schoolhouse door, fighting for segregation and against the full inclusion of blacks in society.
Zora Neale Hurston once said, "Not all black skin is kin."
Can I get a witness?
Brownwood Black History
Black history vote baffles some
By Celinda Emison / Reporter-News Staff Writer
January 28, 2004
BROWNWOOD — Brownwood City Council voted Tuesday to approve a proclamation to recognize February as Black History Month, despite the dissenting vote of one city councilman.
When the vote was called, Councilman Grady Chastain voted against the proclamation while Councilmen Darrell Haynes, Dave Fair and Ed McMillian voted to approve the measure. Councilman Charles Lockwood who was serving as mayor pro-tem in Mayor Bert Massey’s absence, did not vote.
All of the members of the council are white.
Chastain, pastor of Cornerstone Fellowship, said afterward his decision was not racist or ethnically motivated.
"I did not vote that way to belittle or in any way disparage the black community, and I sure would not want this to be taken that way," Chastain said. "I think we need to get on as Americans and pull together because that’s what we all are — we’re Americans."
McMillian expressed shock that Chastain voted against the proclamation recognizing the contributions of the black community. McMillian, who sits next to Chastain at the council table, rolled his chair away when Chastain confirmed he opposed the proclamation.
"We need to all get along, and I represent members of the black community and would not deny them the right to have Black History Month," McMillian said.
Comments from the community were mixed.
Aaron Blake, a black pastor of the Greater Faith Community Church, called Chastain a friend who "is not a man who would make any prejudice gesture or hurt anyone of any color."
"I regret that this was a public statement," he said.
"I would like to visit with him (Chastain) to educate him on the national history behind the establishment of Black History Month."
Others were concerned about Chastain’s vote.
"I am disappointed in this day and time he would choose not to vote for an American institution such as Black History Month," said Douglas Boone, marketing director of the Bangs Black History Committee. "Respecting his right to do this, I hope he respects the right of voters in the future in their convictions. This decision may go a long way to define his ability to be elected in the future."
Contact Brownwood staff writer Celinda Emison at emisonc@reporternews.com or 325-641-8804 or 325-668-4622
Brownwood kudos
January 30, 2004
The Brownwood Human Rights Committee would like to thank those Brownwood City Council members who voted in favor of our request to proclaim February as Black History Month in Brownwood.
Americans have recognized black history annually since 1926, first as Negro History Week and later as Black History Month. What you might not know is that black history had barely begun to be studied — or even documented — when the tradition originated. Although blacks have been in America at least as far back as colonial times, it was not until the 20th century that they gained a respectable presence in the history books.
Again, we appreciate the council vote and invite all Brownwood residents and guests to read the proclamation designating February as Black History Month in the city of Brownwood.
Steve Harris
Brownwood
What's new?
February 4, 2004
As a former Brownwood resident, I feel compelled to respond to a councilman’s dissenting vote in a proposal to recognize Black History Month in Brownwood.
In defending his dissent, Councilman Chastain alluded to the need for a "coming together" as Americans and moving away from particularized recognition. In his assertion, Chastain fails to recognize the intellectual endeavor of historical analysis.
History provides a means to recognize the accomplishments of individuals despite the existence of insurmountable odds, and it offers an opportunity to avoid repeated mistakes.
Admittedly, being Americans is our strength. However, particular Americans have made great sacrifices and overcome great difficulties to improve our country.
Unfortunately, our legacy of inequality has had a residual effect on the understanding of our history.
While many are familiar with Albert Einstein and Mark Twain, the names Elijah McCoy or James Weldon Johnson are seldom uttered in the classroom. Recognition of those who are conspicuously absent from pedagogical discussion is hardly divisive.
Though we share a nationality, we do not all share the same history.
Today we have come to a place that is much improved over our segregated past. In this time we have a chance to become better-acquainted with those different from ourselves. As a result, we discover wonderful things about each other, things we did not know.
With this in mind, consider former President Harry Truman’s poignant remark, "The only thing new in the world is the history that you don’t know."
Samuel Garcia
Kirkland, Wash.
Bush, Saudia Arabia, & Religious Extremism
With Friends Like These: Stop Saudi jihad proselytizing in U.S.
09:23 PM CST on Sunday, February 6, 2005
The 9/11 Commission report said America isn't fighting a war on "some generic evil" called terrorism, but a war on Islamist terrorism. What are we to make, then, of the startling fact that some of our Saudi allies are seeding U.S. mosques with enemy propaganda?
The nonpartisan Freedom House recently released a report on the spread of Saudi-sponsored hate literature. In 2003, investigators visited leading American mosques and collected written material available to congregants. The documents, originating either with the Saudi government or Saudi-funded sources, advocate Wahhabism, the extremist form of Islam that Freedom House describes as a "fanatically bigoted, xenophobic and sometimes violent ideology."
According to the report (available at freedomhouse.org/religion), investigators gathered literature that teaches contempt for Jews, Christians and tolerant Muslims, as well as hatred for America. Material found in a Houston mosque even commands the faithful to establish a revolutionary fifth column.
Some of these documents came from the Dallas Central Mosque in Richardson. Unfortunately, this kind of thing is not altogether alien to this mosque. Last spring, it hosted a youth quiz competition, sponsored by two national organizations closely tied to the worldwide Islamist movement. Kids were tested on the work of premier jihad ideologist Sayyid Qutb.
The mosque's imam, Dr. Yusuf Kavakci, has publicly praised two of the world's foremost radical Islamists, Yusuf Qaradawi and Hasan al-Turabi, as exemplary leaders. Dr. Kavakci also sits on the board of the Saudi-backed Islamic Society of North America, described in congressional testimony as a major conduit of Wahhabist teaching. Yet Dr. Kavakci tells The Dallas Morning News he rejects Wahhabist teaching. Something doesn't add up.
To be clear, Freedom House's study is not comprehensive. It examined a small number of U.S. mosques, choosing the larger and more influential ones. It would be unfair to conclude that these findings represent all American mosques, or for that matter all American Muslims. The Saudis are the real villains in this study.
Still, these findings are alarming. The report identifies the spread of Wahhabist thought in this country as a national security threat. The war for the hearts and minds of Muslims is being fought here, too. The U.S. government allows the foreign enemies of freedom and tolerance to spread jihad ideology on the home front. Why? Congress should get to the bottom of this.
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/020705dnedisaudi.9ded6.html
Letters for Sunday: Controversy over wahhabi writings
01:00 AM CST on Sunday, February 13, 2005
Stop the hate talk
Re: "Anti-American writings found at U.S. mosques – Wahhabi material also at Richardson center; imam says he doesn't follow teaching," by Jeffrey Weiss, Feb. 5 news story, and "With Friends Like These – Stop Saudi jihad proselytizing in U.S.," Monday Editorials.
The unrealistic connotation that the Dallas Central Mosque is Wahhabi or is teaching Wahhabism simply because an insignificant amount of outdated materials are found in the mosque library is absurd. I have been a member and visitor to this mosque for over 10 years and would like to remind readers that:
•Imam Yusuf Kavakci, in almost every sermon, reminds us that we are blessed to be in this country where we can practice our religion freely. As devout Muslims, we do not hate Americans or people of any other religion.
•Muslims are reminded to respect all other religions, and the mosque has very good relations with churches and synagogues. Imam has invited priests, rabbis and their followers to the mosque by holding several interfaith events and open houses.
•Finally, I hear more hatred preached against Muslims.
This hate talk should stop so we can live freely and love our religion, as well as our country.
Moaz Khan, Garland
Accusations not true
The finding of objectionable material at a mosque does not mean that the mosque administration subscribes to that philosophy. As a Muslim, I assure you that accusations made in the news story and editorial are not true.
Mosques across the United States promote tolerance and understanding, and to accuse them of promoting anti-Americanism is wrong. However, mosque administrations should do a better job of screening the material that is displayed on their premises.
There is a double standard, however. Anti-Muslim remarks are acceptable under the First Amendment, but American Muslims are subjected to harsh criticism in incidents like these. What about freedom of expression for American Muslims?
Abdul Hadi Khan, Frisco
Stop the generalizations
Merely having literature to "know" about a topic does not constitute support of it. If that is the case, all of our libraries must be shut down, including most church and seminary libraries.
What about books on the Ku Klux Klan? Does that mean that the Plano Public Library system is preaching those beliefs?
It's time we stop generalizations, specifically when it comes to Muslims. The writers of the news story and editorial have no clue about the scholars of Islam, specifically Dr. Yusef Qaradawi.
If we are talking about extremism and misrepresentation, how about Billy and Franklin Graham?
Mona Abou-Sayed, Plano
Wahhabis in control
This editorial was timely and right to the point. As American Muslims, we have to hang our heads in shame when we hear Wahhabi imams in our mosques castigating Christians and Jews and condemning fellow Muslims who think otherwise.
Most of the big mosques in America have been taken over by the Saudi-funded Wahhabi lobby. As one who knows, I would add that most of the major U.S. Muslim organizations – ISNA, AMA and CAIR – are controlled by the hateful Wahhabis, while moderate Muslims are left with no voice.
The officials of most Muslim organizations have two faces: one for the American public as peace-loving, tolerant and law-abiding citizens; and the other, true face of hate, vengeance and intolerance.
Their activities under the garb of minority rights pose a serious threat to our security. Do not be fooled by the pious faces of these radical Islamists in our midst.
K. Khan, Arlington
More Islam-bashing
Right now, anyone can write or say anything negative about Islam and cash it. Islam-bashing is the new fad among money-hungry writers.
The article refers to having collected Saudi-sponsored literature in 2003. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the Dallas Central Mosque and all other mosques in the area held open houses for the public and media. All literature is placed in the rotunda of the mosque and publicly available.
People from Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and all other faiths visit the mosque regularly.
As to the contemptuous reports of preaching hate against other faiths, it is not exclusive to Islam fanatics. You will find that fundamentalism within most groups.
As a responsible newspaper, I am glad The News chooses to publish another point of view. I do hope, if a group is accused of anything, it will be checked out first.
Mike Ghouse, Carrollton
Letters for Monday
08:33 PM CST on Sunday, February 13, 2005
Muslims angry, too
Re: "Too many Muslims in denial," by O.A. "George" Lively, Wednesday Letters.
It is people like Mr. Lively with their invective that make people like his neighbor so apprehensive. It is not the Islamic religion that espouses such heinous actions as 9-11, but terrorists who misconstrue its preaching.
Not all Muslims are terrorists and support attacking America. Terrorists can be of any race or religion. Muslims all over the country are probably angrier at the 9-11 terrorists than you are, for not only did they kill so many innocent people, they alienated their religion in the eyes of many ignorant people like Mr. Lively.
Gurpreet Singh, Dallas
Try condemnation
Since the Feb. 7 editorial concerning Saudi Arabian-produced Wahhabi materials being found in U.S. mosques, few Muslims have condemned the practice and many attempt to blame Americans for "whipping up a frenzy against Muslims" or discount the materials as minor and unimportant.
Were I to enter my place of worship and find materials displayed from radical American organizations – say, any group that advocates death to or superiority over any other group – I would be infuriated. I would demand the materials' removal and an apology.
Why have so many Muslims writing in done everything but condemn the fact that these materials are in their place of worship?
Robert Thickman, Murphy
Don't tread on me
It does not matter to me if one worships Christ, Buddha, Islam, Wicca or a pecan tree, but when any faith teaches that my country and family are evil, then, Houston, we have a problem.
Warren D. Caldwell, Richardson
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/letters/stories/021405dnedimonletters.9d156.html
Sunday, February 06, 2005
MLK Holiday In Brownwood/Brown County
A just holiday
January 28, 2005
In the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr., Linda Lewis Parker, Brown County Tax Assessor, acted on the day of the observance of his birthday to right a wrong by closing the assessor's office to observe a holiday that is long overdue in Brown County. As a result of her actions, she was reprimanded by County Judge Ray West and was told to remedy her actions by having her office compensate for the day taken off.
If Linda was wrong, Martin Luther King Jr. was wrong. King, writing to a group of clergy, explained his obligation to violate unjust laws. He wrote in his famous Letter from a Birmingham jail, ''One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that 'an unjust law is no law at all.''' It was only after King violated unjust laws that attention was given to the seriousness of the issues.
Our nation made a statement, through representative government, concerning the way the King Holiday is to be viewed. On August 21, 1983, the U.S. House of Representa-tives passed a bill creating a legal public holiday in honor of King. President Reagan signed the bill into law. Obviously, the sentiment of our representative government is that it is not just another holiday but is on par with other national holidays.
The Rev. Jesse Turner Sr.
Pastor of Little Zion Baptist Church
Brownwood
source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/op_letters_editor/article/0,1874,ABIL_7984_3504072,00.html
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Lynn: Moral values and taxes
( see our other archived posts 4/30/2004 )
RALPH LYNN Board of Contributors
Monday, February 07, 2005
This story from the Dec. 12 San Francisco Chronicle is on the "man-bites-dog" level of news.
A professor at the University of Alabama Law School persuaded the Republican governor of Alabama "to sponsor a liberal tax measure that would have revolutionized the collection of taxes in Alabama, a state with the most regressive tax system in the nation."
Maybe we should remind ourselves that a regressive system shifts the burden from the rich to the poor.
However unsurprising the statement may be, it is necessary to state that the governor in question is a Southern Baptist whose voting record is "conservative enough to make most Religious Right leaders" give him an enthusiastic "amen."
How did this latter-day miracle (I use the word loosely) come about? The professor in question, Susan Pace Hamill, has, in addition to her legal training, a degree from Beeson Divinity School, an "explicitly evangelical" seminary in Birmingham, Alabama. Beeson is connected with Samford University, a Southern Baptist school in Birmingham.
Her law-review article, "An Argument for Tax Reform Based on Judeo-Christian Ethics," came to the attention of Gov. Bob Riley. He endorsed Amendment One, the liberal tax measure that went before Alabama's voters on Sept. 9, 2003.
Perhaps readers need to be reminded that about 90 percent of Alabamians are Christians, with a considerable percent being Southern Baptists of one kind or another.
No doubt some readers need to be reminded, also, that most Southerners – not just those in Alabama – have been voting for tax-cutting Republican presidents since the mid 1960s. That was when LBJ rammed the Civil Rights Acts through the Congress.
That consummate politician then sadly but accurately observed that he had just lost the South's support of his beloved Democratic Party for a generation.
Thus, nobody was surprised when the Christian Coalition was instrumental in defeating Gov. Riley's quixotic attempt to right serious wrongs by a margin of 2-to-1.
No psychoanalysts are needed to explain why there has been no organized Baptist opposition to the Texas sales tax system, which exploits the poor in our rich state.
But we do need psychiatrists to explain the fact that some Baptists oppose the state lottery on the grounds that the poor would – quite voluntarily and enthusiastically – bet and lose their money in the vain hope of easing their poverty.
The Chronicle got its news item from a speech which Professor Hamill gave at the Jesuit-run University of San Francisco in 2004. There, she observed that she was waging a sort of holy war to restore "traditional moral values to the collection of taxes."
There, also, in answer to questions as to how and why the Religious Right always out-organized any religious forces on the left, she unhesitatingly replied in a single word, "Greed."
Asked to amplify, she observed that it is obvious to informed, honest people that "soup kitchens and all that" can never substitute for economic justice. Dr. Ralph Lynn is a member of the Board of Contributors, Central Texans who write columns regularly for the Tribune-Herald. He is a retired professor of history at Baylor University.
source: http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2005/02/07/20050207waclynn_board.html
Why, after Tulia, Texas should re-think its Big Government ...Or at Least Get Insurance !
Taylor County to require drug task force insurance
By Jerry Daniel Reed / Reporter-News Staff Writer
February 9, 2005
Spurred partly by a busted undercover drug investigation that cost the city of Amarillo $5 million last year, Taylor County commissioners voted Tuesday to require this area's drug task force to carry liability insurance.
The liability insurance requirement is no reflection on the performance of the area agency or the necessity of its mission, but is simply prudent, said County Judge George Newman.
The experiences of task forces elsewhere, including the Texas Panhandle town of Tulia, were a spur to seek liability coverage, said Newman.
''What happened in Tulia is certainly fresh on our minds,'' he said.
The Panhandle Regional Narcotics Trafficking Task Force was disbanded last year after the city of Amarillo, which supervised the agency, paid $5 million to settle a lawsuit.
The claimants where more than 30 Tulia residents who were convicted in 1999 on drug trafficking charges brought solely on unsupported testimony of an undercover agent.
source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_local/article/0,1874,ABIL_7959_3533859,00.html
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note: [PDF] Why, after Tulia, Texas should re-think its Big Government ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... ACLU of Texas * Too Far Off Task * December 2002 6 ... in Floresville shows Tom Coleman
and Tulia were not ... In Brownwood, 10 cases were dismissed in 2001 because an ...
www.aclutx.org/news/NarcoticsTaskForceReport.pdf - Similar pages
2003 Legislative Fact Sheet
... In Tulia and Dallas, long term undercover operations sent innocent people ... In Brownwood,
10 cases were dismissed in 2001 because an undercover ... ACLU of Texas, Inc ...
www.aclutx.org/projects/police/ legislature/undercovercorroboration.htm - 11k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages
Drug Money
... probe of Coleman's actions and last summer's arrests in Tulia, the ACLU also is
pushing for federal probes of the task force actions in Brownwood and Brady. ...
www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1638/a01.html - 45k - Cached - Similar pages
[PDF] House Judicial Affairs Committee The Committee’s Oversight of ...
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... a rash of hate crime in Brownwood, Texas ... Our continuing commitment to bring justice
to Tulia combined with ... On July 20, 2002 ACLU submitted a Petition for Review ...
www.aclu.org/Files/OpenFile.cfm?id=11167 - Similar pages
source: http://www.google.com/search?q=brownwood+tulia+aclu&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1
Brownwood: "Whatever God is doing, it has to start right here.''
Brownwood to welcome new priest at Ash Wednesday service
By Celinda Emison / Reporter-News Staff Writer
February 9, 2005
BROWNWOOD - The congregation of St. John's Episcopal Church in Brownwood is singing praises since the new priest-in-charge accepted the top position at the church.
The Rev. Nelson Koscheski will hold his first service at St. John's today, Ash Wednesday. Koscheski sees meaning in the timing.
''I look at Lent as a time of positive preparation,'' he said. ''Lent is not a time to give up but rather to praise.''
''They wanted a pastor and a spiritual director, and I am intensely interested in those things in both study and practice,'' Koscheski said. ''Plus, who can complain about living 22 miles from the center of Texas - whatever God is doing, it has to start right here.''
source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_local/article/0,1874,ABIL_7959_3533860,00.html
Friday, February 04, 2005
Kinky Friedman Salsa & Steves’ Market & Deli: Why The Hell Not ?
http://www.kinkysprivatestock.com/
Read Kinky Friedman with a heap of salt
Sunday, January 30, 2005
By Curt Schleier
The Grand Rapids Press
Kinky Friedman is going to die.
No, not that Kinky Friedman: the singer-turned-writer-turned-politician. But that's all he wrote for the character he created.
A word of explanation: Kinky Friedman has written 16 mysteries featuring a private eye named Kinky Friedman, a former country western singer who solves crimes from his home in the country western section of Greenwich Village. His next novel, "Ten Little New Yorkers," is due out in March.
Advertisement
At the moment, Friedman has more pressing concerns. For one, there is his latest book, "'Scuse Me While I Whip This Out," a series of irreverent essays on music, politics and life. Unlike the P.I. novels, this, of course, is a non-fiction book, and Friedman knows the difference.
"There is a fine line between fiction and non-fiction, which I believe I snorted in 1978," he says. Clearly, interviewing the irreverent Friedman is, well, unusual. It's best if you take everything he says with a grain of salt; better still, come with a bushel of the spice.
Oh, yes. He is also running for governor of Texas in 2006.
His campaign slogan: "If you elect me the first Jewish governor, I'll reduce the speed limit to 54.95." Perhaps two bushels of salt.
Friedman, 60, was born in Chicago but raised in Austin and Houston. His father was a psychologist and University of Texas professor and his mother a speech therapist in the Houston school system.
After graduating from UT, young Friedman joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to Borneo. "I was an agricultural extension worker. My job was to help people who'd been farming successfully for 2000 years improve their agricultural methods." He also was responsible for moving seed down river. He says he did that -- but not exactly the seed the government expected.
When he returned to the States, Friedman formed that famed C&W band known as Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys. He composed such hits as They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore and Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in Bed, a song that inexplicably failed to become the rallying cry for the feminist movement.
"I've always been ambivalent about performing," he says. "Of course, any country singer who uses the word ambivalent should never have been a country singer."
"I wouldn't see us as a novelty act. I would see as more as a combination of Lenny Bruce and Hank Williams. But it's all in the eyes of the beerholder."
A gift for 'stand-up tragedy'
The group broke up in the mid-'70s and he moved to New York City. He performed regularly at the Lone Star Caf?nd at the Bottom Line. It was at the latter that he met Don Imus, who, in addition to his radio gig and drugs, was doing "stand up tragedy."
The mysteries came at his father's suggestion. He knew Kinky loved them and he knew that Kinky didn't really have a whole lot else going on at the time. His first, "Greenwich Killing Time," was published in 1984 -- after it had been turned down by 20 publishers.
Of course, running for governor was a logical extension of everything else he's done. What will the Kinkster do if he wins? "Well, after I demand a recount, I guess I'm stuck with it. I'm going to legalize gambling. I'm for nondenominational prayer in schools. What's wrong with a kid believing in something?...I may come out against the death penalty. I may come out against hunting. I may come out against coming out.
"If I don't win, I'm going to retire to a goat farm in a petulant snit."
Actually, Friedman is a vegan who runs the Utopia Rescue Ranch, a shelter and no-killing zone for homeless animals. He supports the ranch through sale of Kinky Friedman's Private Stock Salsa (866-32-SALSA or www.kinkysprivatestock.com).
He's also selling Farouk &Friedman's Olive Oil. The Farouk is Farouk Shami, Friedman's Palestinian hairdresser and the man he will appoint ambassador to Israel if elected governor. The olives come from his family's groves, making this "the only oil as far as we know from the Holy Land." All of the proceeds go to Israeli and Palestinian children affected by the hostilities. The oil can be ordered from faroukfriedman.com.
Curt Schleier is a free-lance reviewer based in New Jersey. He can be reached at yourlife@grpress.com
source: http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grpress/index.ssf?/base/features-0/1107094710205890.xml
Kinky Friedman : Why the Hell Not ?
One of the great political stories in generations is about to unfold, as Richard 'Kinky' Friedman, humorist, performer, mystery writer and Texas Monthly columnist, has announced his run for the governorship of the state of Texas in 2006. Friedman certainly will bring a whole new ballgame into Austin 's capitol building, and he will do so as an Independent candidate and political amateur.
"The professionals gave us the Titanic, amateurs gave us the Ark. Career politicians are ribbon cutters. They see the governor's office as a job; I see it as an opportunity to make that Lone Star shine again.”
“I'm an Independent, which is the party of George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, Sam Houston, and Davy Crockett.”
As Governor, Kinky, or “the Kinkster”, would:
• Legalize casino gambling to fund education
• Abolish political correctness “We didn't get to be the Lone Star state by being politically correct”
• Take a good look at death row. “We need to make sure that we're not putting innocent people to death, which I believe we are”
• Outlaw the de-clawing of cats
• Bring young people into his administration. “Young people are less corrupt. They are the future of Texas ; it's theirs to win or lose.”
I'm a Jew, I'll hire good people.
“If elected, I would ask Willie Nelson to be the head of the Texas Rangers and Energy Czar and Laura Bush to take charge of the Texas Peace Corps to improve education in the state. I'd ask my Palestinian hairdresser, Farouk Shami, to be Texas ' ambassador to Israel . We've worked together to create Farouk & Friedman olive oil. The oil comes from the Holy land and all of the profits go to benefit Israeli and Palestinian children.”
One thing is for sure: this is not going to be politics as usual and Kinky's campaign, or anti-campaign, is not expecting to have a massive war chest from which to buy the Governor's office. Rather, “the coin of the spirit” will sweep Kinky into the Governor's office.
source: http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/
Where is Diversity not a Dirty Word ? KXYL's James says: "Diversity is Perversity"
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With all the bashing taking place on Brownwood Airwaves, “ I am an American” , created by GSDM, Should be in rotation on Brownwood Hate Radio ! To see/hear this ad, please visit their site @ http://www.gsdm.com
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Esera Tuaolo Lands National Television Campaign
By Cyd Zeigler jr.
Esera Tuaolo is back on TV. This time, though, he’s not playing football or coming out of the closet. He’s promoting steak.
Tuaolo is the centerpiece of a new television campaign for Chili’s, a national chain of restaurants that is the centerpiece of Brinker International.
The commercial is part of Chili’s “Tastemonials” campaign series. “It shows people who are not professional entertainers,” says Chili’s public relations representative, Louis Adams, “expressing their love for Chili’s through their performance.”
This particular installment features Tuaolo – 30 pounds lighter than his HBO Real Sports appearance eight months ago – sporting a beaming smile, playing a ukulele, and singing about Chili’s Hawaiian steak. The setting is quintessentially Hawaiian – complete with the big Hawaiian centerpiece from the NFL.
The conceit of the campaign series is that Tuaolo is not a professional entertainer. His resume says otherwise. On top of singing the National Anthem at more sporting events than Whitney Houston, Esera has a commercial CD titled, “One Man’s Island,” has appeared on several NFL music compilations, and has no less than a half dozen theatrical performances under his belt.
It was during an audition for one of those theatrical productions that he first heard about the Chili’s promotion. In St. Paul to audition for the 70’s send up, 8-Track, last January, someone in the casting office told Tuaolo that Chili’s was looking for a Hawaiian person to use for their upcoming commercial. Tuaolo knew Chili’s well, having eaten there countless times while traveling with teammates during his playing years in the NFL. “It must be a jock thing,” Tuaolo says. “I love the ribs.”
“I went to the audition with my ukulele, jeans and a tight shirt, and I sang the Baby Back ribs commercial song.” That song has become one of Chili’s signatures, with ‘N Sync performing it on a desert island in a commercial the premiered two years ago. “They said they wanted something different.”
What they didn’t expect is to get an openly gay former NFL player. Adams says that Tuaolo’s sexual orientation never entered the decision-making process. And, given the campaign’s theme of average people expressing themselves, they didn’t realize until very late in the process that they had a former professional athlete on their hands.
In the commercial, Tuaolo isn’t billed as a former NFL player, or a gay person. He is simply labeled: “Esera – Retired Athlete.”
“He’s not a celebrity in the context of this commercial,” Adams said. “He’s just Esera – from Hawaii and talented.”
Asked if someone’s sexual orientation would ever affect the company’s decision to work with them in a marketing campaign, Adams was adamant:
“No way. It runs contrary to our company policy. We don’t discriminate on any basis, in the hiring of any employees, in serving customers, in any capacity.”
Michael Wilke, from ComercialCloset.org, sees Chili’s handling of the campaign as a solid message. “It is encouraging to see that he has gotten an endorsement so soon after his coming out process. “
Certainly other closeted professional athletes should take notice. While Tuaolo’s sexuality seems to not have played a part in him getting the role, Chili’s is not shying away from the issue of his sexuality. Given his experience with the company, Tuaolo isn’t surprised.
"Everybody who was involved treated me first class,” Tuaolo says. “They were really interested in my family. I showed them pictures of my kids and my husband.”
“I loved Chili’s before, but now I love the company even more.”
Sports and gay athletes and sports fans: information on jocks, sports news and more. We encompass the sporting passions of gay and lesbian sports fans everywhere.
source: http://www.outsports.com/entertainment/20030703esera.htm
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Gay former NFL player lands role in restaurant ads
Any sports figure who's openly gay, goes the hoary truism, can forget about being marketable.
That might be one reason there has never been an openly gay athlete in the major pro sports. So Esera Tuaolo, who played nine NFL seasons before retiring, stands out. He came out last year on an HBO show, then made the TV talk show rounds to talk about it.
Now he's featured in new national TV ads for the Chili's restaurant chain, aimed at mainstream audiences.
Tuaolo, who grew up in Hawaii, is seen playing his ukulele and singing. It wasn't a stretch: As a player, he regularly sang pregame national anthems and sang on two CDs marketed by the NFL. He has performed in eight musicals or plays in Minneapolis, where he lives with his partner and adopted 3-year-old twins.
"They didn't give me the spot because I'm gay," says Tuaolo, turning 35 Friday. "They thought I was talented. But it's a huge statement they put me in there."
That wasn't the game plan. Eric Webber of GSD&M, which is Chili's Austin, Texas-based ad agency, says, "We didn't set out to make a statement." Tuaolo had an audition — his first for an ad — and was hired before Chili's or its agency knew everything about him. But when they found out, says Tuaolo, "they had no problem. It's a beautiful thing."
The Chili's ads are supposed to show average people. Inevitably, Tuaolo — identified in the ad as "Esera, retired athlete" — will draw extra attention. Chili's spokesman Louis Adams says some people recognized Tuaolo when the ad was tested in focus groups and the company is getting "mostly favorable" calls from consumers who've recognized him on-air.
Adams says "the only statement we are making is that we're a fun, casual restaurant. We're not taking a stand on any of his political issues." But, he also says, "At the end of the day, it's about what your company is all about. And we don't discriminate on any basis."
Cathy Renna, news director for Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, suggests Chili's might have a mixed message: simultaneously aiming at mainstream and at niche audiences. Tuaolo, as a defensive lineman with five NFL teams before retiring after the 1999 season, was hardly a sports superstar. But, says Renna, his widely publicized coming-out resonated among gays — "the gay press is fascinated by him" — and would make it likely his ad would be especially noticed in that demographic niche.
"The ad sends a message of inclusion," she says. "It's smart business to include someone so high profile because it will generate interest in the gay and lesbian community."
Bob Garfield, ad critic for Advertising Age and a National Public Radio commentator, also suggests Chili's is pragmatically trying to fly below the mainstream consumer's radar: "Chili's is very discreetly cultivating the gay community, and its considerable discretionary income, without being publicly recognized as trying to be gay-friendly and alienating its core consumers."
Bob Dorfman, who evaluates athletes as endorsers for Pickett Advertising, a San Francisco agency, didn't recognize Tuaolo when he first saw the Chili's ad. And he doubts marketers would use gay athletes, even if they were all-stars: "Unfortunately, there's still a puritan ethic in this country. Advertisers would worry about a backlash in middle America."
Still, some see a breakthrough. "A lot of people don't understand the true significance of this," says Tyler Hoffman of the Gay and Lesbian Professional Athletes Association, which hopes to create an online hall of fame for gay athletes. "It sets a precedent for other companies." Says Michael Wilke, whose commercialcloset.org chronicles gay images in ads: "This is a great step forward, in terms of marketers and consumers seeing (gayness) as a neutral, not a negative."
If Tuaolo's coming-out ends up helping his marketability, he says that wasn't his point. "A lot of people think I came out for my singing career. But I didn't. I wanted my children to know their parent is proud of who he is — no more lies."
His eseratuaolo.com Web site usually gets 240,000 hits monthly but got more than 170,000 within days of the ad's debut. "A lot of e-mails were about the ad, with (gay) kids seeing the commercial and feeling inspired. I want them to know they're not alone." And Tuaolo, who played at 270 ponds, isn't worried about any backlash. "I'm Mr. Aloha. I treat everybody with respect. It's hard to hate anybody like that."
source: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand/2003-07-09-hiestand_x.htm
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Brownwood, Let's Get Kinky !
Abilene Reporter News
URL: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_lc_columns/article/0,1874,ABIL_8856_3527312,00.html
Kinky puts the fun in our politics
By Ken Ellsworth
February 6, 2005
Kinky Friedman officially announced his hopeless, unfunded Texas gubernatorial candidacy Thursday, and I'll bet lots of Texans are still in the throes of the giggles and aching mightily.
I am, too. It feels sort of good.
I'll bet Gov. Rick Perry is still shaking in his Texas boots - and not with political fear, but with joy. Kinky is unlikely to cost his campaign money or effort. Perry is more likely to be shaking in fear over the possible candidacies of two Republican women - U.S.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Carol Keeton Rylander, the comptroller of public accounts for Texas.
Politics haven't been this funny since Dan Quayle. Before that, Will Rogers kept us in stitches over government antics. Before that, it was Mark Twain. So, thank you, Kinky, for bringing us back to the rare state of being able look at politics from a proper, absurd perspective.
A friend of mine welcomed funny Kinky's announcement.
''We have a lot of jokers in politics, but not many humorists,'' he said, or words to that effect. I wasn't taking notes.
Kinky, 60, writes detective novels in which the hero is Kinky Friedman. The real Kinky says he will kill off the fictional Kinky in the plot of his next book.
He writes a column for Texas Monthly. He writes kinky songs and sings them.
He once was the leader of the Texas Jewboys, a band. He's Jewish and lives on his Texas family's ranch. He once ran for justice of the peace in Kerrville and lost. He wears a black cowboy hat and cowboy boots. He constantly smokes exotic cigars.
Kinky's money supports the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch near Kerrville. Living there are 62 dogs, 22 horses, three donkeys, nine pigs, 16 chickens, two goats, 11 cats and two turkeys, according to Kinky's February Texas Monthly column.
He's slept in the White House twice, once the guest of President George W. Bush and once the guest of then-President Bill Clinton. He's a political independent and has nothing good to say about the Republican or Democratic parties.
Instead, he saves his kinder words for dogs, cats and other pets. His band toured with Bob Dylan's band. Kinky once played a round of golf with John Lennon, John Belushi and Willie Nelson.
Kind of makes Rick Perry seem one-dimensional, don't you think? But then, Kinky is having fun - a lot more fun than Perry. Perry has to carefully watch what he says.
Kinky would rather not.
A University of Texas graduate, Kinky served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Borneo in the 1960s and says he'd like to create a Texas version of the Peace Corps. I like Kinky for his notion, though I've no idea whether it's a good one. Another thing I like Kinky for is that he's promoted the preservation of the culture he found in Borneo ever since he left it.
Kinky's a friend of Bob Dylan's and Willie Nelson's. I think lots of people around here would vote for Nelson for governor, especially considering the reception Nelson got when he performed in Abilene in December. It was one we generally reserve for deities, soap opera stars and football players.
However, I don't think Kinky's friendship with Willie will pull down many area votes.
Kinky's book-signing event in Abilene in October, however, did reveal Kinky has many local fans, if not voters.
My political advice: Don't spend your own money on this, Kinky. Your animals, your true friends, are a worthier cause. But thanks for brightening the dreary political landscape.
Contact City Columnist Ken Ellsworth at ellsworthk@reporternews.com.
“ Brownwood Hate Radio: Pushing The Envelope ? ”
Congress likely to boost broadcast indecency fines
By GENARO C. ARMAS
Associated Press
"With passage of this legislation, I am confident that broadcasters will think twice about pushing the envelope."
source: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3023643
Kinky Friedman, Brownwood, Independent Politicians
Friday, February 4, 2005
Singer Kinky Friedman begins run for Texas governor
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
THE NEW YORK TIMES
HOUSTON -- As threatened, Kinky Friedman, the gadfly country singer and humorist, declared for Texas governor yesterday as an independent candidate in the 2006 race, saying, "The choice should be something besides paper or plastic."
Appearing live from the Alamo in San Antonio on the Don Imus television and radio show broadcast nationally on MSNBC, Friedman, 60, said that although "a fool and his money are soon elected," he had high hopes of beating the Republican incumbent, Rick Perry, who "appears to be more interested in ironing his shirts than ironing out the problems of Texas."
"I'm a Jew," said Friedman, who provided a rabbi for an invocation, "trust me; I'll hire good people." He said he had received 37 write-in votes in the Iraqi election.
Luis Saenz, director of Texans for Rick Perry, responded that "Kinky has the potential to enliven the debate" but he added, "It appears that the Democrats are not the only ones who have been smoking something."
Clad in his trademark black cowboy outfit and hat and chewing on a cigar, Friedman, whose given name is Richard, said he had chosen the Alamo backdrop "to wake up the great slumbering giant of Texas independence" and change the state's position as "No.1 in executions" and near the bottom in financing public education. He said he was not anti-death penalty -- "just anti the wrong guy getting executed."
"I come with no strings attached," he said. "The only two things that influence me are my fellow Texans and my heart."
Friedman said in an interview in 2003 that he hoped to avenge his 1986 defeat for justice of the peace in Kerrville, his hometown, where he runs an animal rescue ranch and writes mystery novels and a column for Texas Monthly magazine.
To get on the ballot he needs 45,000 signatures, none from anyone voting in a Republican or Democratic primary. But he voiced confidence, saying, "There's so much apathy; that leaves me a lot of people."
source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/210720_kinky04.html
visit his site @ http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/
Billy Calzada / Associated Press
Kinky Friedman greets Rick Pratt and his dog, Shorty, on Thursday after Friedman announced his candidacy during a gathering in front of The Alamo.
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Kinky mounts bid for governor
February 4, 2005
Who: Kinky Friedman, writer and entertainer.
What: On Thursday, he announced his candidacy for Texas governor
Political affiliation: None.
Getting on the ballot: He'll have up to two months in 2006, following the March primary, to collect 45,540 valid signatures on petitions to get him on the ballot later in the year as an independent. That's 1 percent of the votes cast in the November 2002 governor's race.
But according to filing rules, signatures he collects can't come from people who voted in that primary. And if there's a primary runoff, the signature period shrinks to 30 days after the runoff.
In his words: ''I call for the unconditional surrender of Rick Perry,'' he told about 200 friends and supporters and likening his journey to boarding a pirate ship.
On some other matters, he said, ''Read my lips: I don't know.''
Recap: Kinky Friedman, clad in blue jeans, a black Western shirt, a black leather fringed jacket, a black cowboy hat and puffing on a Cuban cigar, stood Thursday in front of the Alamo at dawn to make the formal announcement of his bid to unseat incumbent Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican.
Friedman, who is Jewish, got a prayer from a rabbi, a song from singer and songwriter Billy Joe Shaver, and ''The Yellow Rose of Texas'' from a group of small children playing violins and another song from the Western swing group Asleep at the Wheel.
- Associated Press
source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_state/article/0,1874,ABIL_7974_3522431,00.html
Thursday, February 03, 2005
KXYL Investigative Reporting of www.cityofbrownwood.com
NEWSFLASH:
Why would Dave Fair invite me to go onto this station. Read his email.
-----------------------
From: "David Fair"
Date: Thu Feb 03, 2005 04:21:34 PM US/Central
To: steve_squared@verizon.net
Subject: NewsTalk
Steve,
I left a phone message. I wanted to invite you to come to the radio station ( NewsTalk) and join me on the show at 5:15PM today. If you can't come, please listen and call in.
Regards
Dave
--------------------------------------
There are going to be some shocked and dissapointed KXYL listeners (Buddies of James and Phil) when they report on the host/administrator of the website www.cityofbrownwood.com which has many critical statements of Newstalk969, many of which I agree with ! After listening to James W and Phil W try and stir it up at the "Great Mystery" of the www.cityofbrownwood.com website, Shayne, Jimmy, Gloria, (Fly Boy) Harold, Jeff, Danny, Roy and other supporters of James W and Phil W will be shocked that it's not being hosted by me (Steve Harris). Note: I don't have to post anywhere else to get my points across ! KXYL Caller Steve Mc___ says he's concerned about what prospective residents of Brownwood might think when they see the www.cityofbrownwood.com site ( I wonder what Steve Mc____ thinks of hate radio (name calling & demonizing,etc on a daily basis.) and what prospective visitors / residents think ? ) Feels like home ? I've never heard Steve Mc____ speak of the venom soaking the airwaves of our community. For more info. on www.cityofbrownwood.com on our site go to our archive Nov. 27, 2004 "Identity Thief at work in your neighberhoods". The person or persons who fraduantely used my name, and now a prominent local Doctor , will be traced and prosecuted. The same computer that was used to post my name fraduantely was used to post newstalk969's advertising message. Was this someone at KXYL trying to stir it up ? I would put nothing past Watts Communication including evening phone calls to relatives of Hate Radio critics (caller ID folks ?). I've heard the deception coming from KXYL talking heads/employees/callers in something as simple as Farenheit 911 ticket purchases (at Early/Brownwood Theatre). Encouraging listeners to buy a ticket to another show and slip in to see F911. Talk about "closeted and deceitful" ! I'm amused of those who are pointing fingers at the www.cityofbrownwood.com website yet have remained quiet admist all the hate ( see our archives 9/01/2004 ) that has been spewed from KXYL for the last two years ( I guess they must approve of the name calling and bullying being broadcast on the airwaves of Brownwood and Central Texas ! Their silence speaks volumes ! ) My only problem with the www.cityofbrownwood.com website is allowing people to post messages fraduantly using someone elses identity.( But then again I know for a fact that Watts employees have called in to their own shows using bogus names in order to spike the show and besides any "reputable talk radio station" knows to employ delay buttons when callers use "on air" profanity and slurs ! The Black Bashing continues on James W's show and from his "Best Students" ! Can we all say Clem ? Even JR W finally spoke up against the direction on JW's direction of the conversation and lack of accountability.) From listening to KXYL recently, I understand that Brownwood City Councilman, Brownwood Police Chaplin and KXYL Employee Dave Fair will be leading the investigation..........Oh yeah, he's the one who calls listeners idiots on the air ! And he calls www.cityofbrownwood.com "Trashy" !
FYI- Brownwoods KXYL & Talking Heads upset at being critiicized on www.cityofbrownwood.org website ! This all sounds like a marketing ploy coming from KXYL.
My point: Local Talking Heads getting paid to daily tear people down but call it “trash” (Connie) when they themselves are treated the same way by folks who are not getting paid. I have a name for that !
James Williamson questioning callers sexual orientation on air and yelling over call in guests to his show who have an opposing viewpoint and lying about callers positions on issues ! How very " Christian " !
" All of this reminds me of Luigi Pirandello's writing, "Right you are if you think you are," which shows that a community pays when it is driven by gossips to find out "the truth" about people's private lives."
source: http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-0312/cols_postmarks.html
* A CurtainUp London Review - " The townspeople are gossips fascinated by the story, they voraciously consume each piece of additional information in an attempt to solve the puzzle. "
source: http://www.curtainup.com/absolutely.html
Brownwood Hate Radio / Pirandello / Gossips / Economic Development
“ No wonder we can’t get enough people to fly to Brownwood to keep air service, even with millions in dollars of Goverment Subsidies ! ”
I guess word is getting out about Brownwood and it’s “venom of the airwaves” broadcasters !
Tuesday January 25, 2005
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Venom over the airwaves
A dose of the venomous talk radio so prevalent in the major cities across the U.S. apparently hit the Central Texas airwaves Wednesday morning during a discussion on a local station. During a session on news and talk station 96.9 FM between hosts Bob...
5.5K - Jun. 8, 2001; scored 1000.0
source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/shared-content/search/index.php?search=go&o=0&q=venom+of+the+airwaves&d1=01-11-2000&d2=01-25-2005&s=relevance&r=Subject%2CAuthor%2CContent&l=20
-----------
From: "Ann
Date: Wed Mar 31, 2004 01:42:28 PM US/Central
To: "Steve Harris and Steve Puckett"
Subject: Re: Brownwood crime rate
Reply-To: "Ann
Steve - I have been told that it is our police dept. that tells citizens
our crime rate statistics are high due to how they fill out their reports.
They say most communities do not report stolen plants, etc. If that is
true, why aren't they more uniform with other communities of our size and
economic base? I was once told - that is just how Brownwood like to do
their reports. If that is so, then why would our police chief and the
police force want to have Brownwood appear to have such a high crime rate?
I continue to be baffled.
Speaking of "Hate Radio" - I was in Austin about six weeks ago meeting
with a business man. He asked is it true that Brownwood has a hate radio
station and what is going on in Brownwood?
Ann
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Harris and Steve Puckett"
To: "Ann
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 12:37 PM
Subject: Brownwood crime rate
I heard from our local "Hate Radio" talking heads that our high crime
rate is because we report all the bicycle thefts and thefts of potted
plants and water-hoses ! What a crock ! I suggest the DPS crime
report for a detailed report of the situation in our community as we
compare ourselves to others. I also find the SBA numbers very telling
about our community as we compare ourselves to others !
Regards, Steve Harris
Brownwood Media & Information Highway & Agendas
With the current enviroment found in Brownwood Texas, I am so thankful for Sattelite Radio (XM), Satellite Television, Internet Websites and Bloggers. This access is a direct result of communities which were/are hungry for more facts and opinions. Those who control the Media outlets control the message (Local, State, National, International). Maybe we will all get better by facing our problems head on as we progress forward in building a community that provides and encourages a place at the table for "everyone" ! The funniest thing I've heard recently on Brownwood "Hate" Radio was from one of the Talking Heads when he stated
"We don't have an agenda" ! To some extent don't we all have an agenda ?
Definition of Agenda:
" items to be discussed or acted upon, often listed in an order that facilitates the work of a group
or committee " www.elca.org/wo/glossary.html
Brownwood, KXYL, "Neo-Con" Republican Owned & Controlled" Talk Radio, Delay Switches & Taking Responsibility
Eventide Model BD941/42 Obscenity Delays
Obscenity Protection So Cost-Effective, No Station Can Afford To Be Without It.
Today's talk radio is wilder and looser than ever before. For some listeners, waiting for words "you can't say on the radio" may be a big part of the fun. But many listeners are sensitized against obscenities and other inappropriate remarks. As what goes on in the studio gets more free-wheeling, maintaining effective control on what goes out on the air has become more important than ever.
Fortunately, it's also more affordable than ever. That's because Eventide has developed the BD941 and BD942 Broadcast Audio Delays. The mono BD941 is available in both 6 and 12 second versions. The stereo BD942 offers 3 or 6 seconds of delay. Both offer obscenity protection and deletion that's so economical, any station can take advantage of it, whether your format calls for all-talk, an occasional talk show, or "incidentals" like on-air dedications.
The BD941 and BD942 give you ample time to keep a "no-no" from offending your listeners (or arousing the ire of government regulators). And they perform this key function at less than half the cost of our industry-standard BD980. Of course, we had to leave out the BD980's elegant automatic Catch-up function and some of its other advanced features. But the BD941 and BD942 have an easy, convenient system of their own.
Here's how it works. OK, you're on the air, and someone has just opened his or her big mouth a little too wide. Hit the Delete button, and the show is instantly in real time: The obscene caller or out-of-control studio guest never reaches the air. The Delete function also closes a relay contact. With an easily built relay box, this can automatically start a six (or three or twelve) second cart - a short program promo, a station ID, a funny "zapper," anything you want. When the delay period "plays out," your BD941 or BD942 switches you back "almost live" on the air with full delay protection restored. The whole operation takes just one button. What could be simpler?
Designed to broadcast specs with balanced inputs and outputs, the BD941 and BD942 deliver 5 - 20,0000 Hertz audio frequency response with true 16 bit resolution and a 44.1 kHz sampling rate. Plus negligible distortion, full stereo separation and phase integrity. In short, their superior audio performace is everything you'd expect from Eventide. So your listeners will never know the difference between live and delayed sound. With audio quality this high and a price this low, the BD941 and BD942 are perfect for DJs that take live dedications. Sonic integrity, convenient operation, effective protection - the BD941 and BD942 Broadcast Audio Delays have it all, at a price that makes talk cheaper than ever. Now that the cost of "worry-free" talk radio is so low, no station can afford to be without the reliable obscenity protection the BD941 and BD942 can provide - even if that station programs live talk only on Sunday mornings.
source: http://www.eventide.com/broadcst/bd941.htm
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Brownwood: Bang Bang You're Dead
“From a student’s perspective”
“ The year is 2005, not 1976, We find ourselves in a time with more hatred and crime. Is the school prepared
for this ? ” ..............
“ Couldn’t you help give us a healthy, safe and enjoyable learning enviroment ? ” ...............
Kami Powell - Sophmore at Brownwood High
Brownwood Bulletin
Letter to the Editor
Page 4a Wed. February 2, 2005
please visit our entire post found in the December Archive (December 25, 2004)
Shock-Talk or Hate Talk ? Ownership of Station sets the tone !
Shock-Talk Radio
Commentary by: Mark Shook
Aired February 27, 2003
Talk radio exists in two parallel universes. In the one universe, experts, opinion makers, politicians, scientists and journalists--- exchange information, answer questions and offer their best guesses on the topics of the hour. Guests and callers are treated with respect. Persons not able to defend themselves on the air, are not disparaged with demeaning ad homonym attacks.
And then there is the other talk radio universe. In the world of so-called "Shock Talk" radio, only the host is perfect. Only the host has a clear vision of the future. Only the host's opinion is correct and true. Shock talk radio leaves no public or private institution unscathed. No hero is too mighty to be pulled down from a pedestal. No flaw, however minor, is free from their over hyped hysterical magnification. Truth is politicized and spun into unrecognizeable forms. Shock-Talk exists because we are amused and titillated by it.
I used to shrug-off the shock-talk programs and change the channel. I imagined that they were of little or no significance in a world of great stress and crisis. I was wrong. Their vicious ridicule and invective eats away at our sense of national unity and common purpose. In their narrow world, their opponents cannot be merely incorrect in their assumptions. They must be evil, stupid, or both. They are the bullies of the airwaves. They deserve our contempt.
source:
http://kwmu.org/Programs/Commentaries/commentary.php?cid=127
What's being Written
Racism lives
February 2, 2005
I recently moved into a south-side residence. My daughter's family lives here also. My daughter is in the military.
Twice, our cars have been egged and keyed. The last time, I phoned the police department. The officer suggested that we keep the cars off the street and in our driveways as a way to prevent this from happening again. I thought we were free to park my cars in front of our property if we so desired.
Most of my life, I have chosen to live in the northern regions of America, because of negative acts and incidents, that tend to be prevalent in the South. People keep telling me that it is a New South, but I say it is the same old South with a few new faces. Today, perhaps crosses are not being burned on lawns, but destruction of our property is still ongoing. I am a Christian, and I pray that the situation was isolated and will not continue. We like our house and yard, and we keep it up; and yes I am a member of an ethnic minority.
This was so ironic as I was just reading about the ''sharing of bread'' in the local Abilene community a week ago and how many people joined together to eat, talk and get to know each other. My only question is where were the ''jerks'' that are bent on making my family's life miserable? They evidently were not in attendance!
Dr. Fredi J. Jackson
Abilene
source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/op_letters_editor/article/0,1874,ABIL_7984_3515316,00.html
Seems Like Old Times: Religious militants' tactics resemble Nazis'
06:05 PM CST on Tuesday, February 1, 2005
In the Netherlands, threats to the lives of artists have not been made since the Nazi occupation – until now, reports The New York Times. Rachid Ben Ali, a Dutch artist of Moroccan descent whose latest gallery show offers paintings tastelessly critical of Islam, has gone underground after receiving death threats from Islamic militants.
Hiding places for artists are getting pretty crowded in Holland. Also living there: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born Dutch parliamentarian and feminist critic of Islam. As we have reported on this page, she has had to live off and on in seclusion for the past few years because Islamic militants have threatened to kill her. Last November, they slit the throat of Theo van Gogh, a filmmaker and her collaborator on Submission, a short film protesting the way women are treated in some Islamic cultures. These thugs mean business.
And the Dutch, to their everlasting shame, are letting them get away with it. Last week, the Rotterdam Film Festival canceled a screening of Submission, with festival organizers saying they feared violence.
It's not just Holland and not just Muslims. In December, a theater in Birmingham, England, ended its run of a play featuring elements critical of the Sikh religion after violent street protests by hundreds of Sikh militants. The play's author, a young Sikh named Gurpreet Kaur Bhatt, went into hiding after threats to her life.
We do not believe that any community should have to accept criticism of itself without protest. You don't have to be Muslim, for example, to be offended by Mr. Ali's childishly provocative paintings, which among other things depict imams having sex. But a clear and bright line is crossed when protesters use violence – either the threat of it or the real thing – to silence speech with which they disagree.
This is precisely the kind of tactics the fascists used in Germany and elsewhere to intimidate and brutalize opposition. It must always and everywhere be resisted. The Dutch, the British and indeed all of us must learn that the surest way for all of us to lose our right to free expression is to be too
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/020205dnedifreespeech.1b2f2.html
Bumpy ride ahead
Muslim fundamentalists are intent on converting the whole world to their understanding of the Quran and Islam.
Christian fundamentalists are intent on converting the whole world to their understanding of the Bible and Christianity.
President Bush is intent to convert the whole world to his version of democracy.
Fasten your seat belts, we're in for a bumpy ride.
Gus Delaloye, Murphy
Night off for Oscars?
Surely, in view of the tsunami disaster and continuing Iraqi conflict, the ostentation and opulence that is the Academy Awards must be canceled.
How can those people, in good conscience, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on flamboyant dress, parties, celebrations, security, limousines and food when there is such need in the world?
Fredda Klock, Corsicana
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/letters/stories/020205dnediwedletters.29b2b.html
Tracking Down Brownwood ID Thief / Imposter
IP Address Helped Detectives Trace Woman Accused of Taking Baby After Killing Mom-To-Be
By Matt Sedensky, The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - In the end, it wasn't a fingerprint or a blood spatter that led authorities to the woman suspected of strangling a mother-to-be and cutting the baby from her womb.
It was an 11-digit computer code.
Police zeroed in on Lisa Montgomery by trolling computer records, examining online message boards and - most important - tracing an IP address, 65.150.168.223, to a computer at her Melvern, Kan., home.
"That in and of itself led us to the home," FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said of the IP, or Internet protocol, address, the unique number given to every Internet-connected computer.
Investigators say that, just before the slaying, Montgomery corresponded over the Internet with the victim, Bobbie Jo Stinnett, about buying a dog from Stinnett. The same technology that makes instantaneous communication possible enabled authorities to crack the case in a matter of hours and rescue the premature baby.
Montgomery, 36, made her first appearance Monday before a packed courtroom in Kansas City, Kan., where her attorney refused to waive her right to preliminary and identity hearings. Both hearings have been scheduled for Thursday morning.
Montgomery is charged with kidnapping resulting in death.
Her attorney and Assistant U.S. Attorney Terra Morehead declined to comment. Authorities have said Montgomery confessed to the crime. The 4-day-old girl was released from a hospital in Topeka, Kan., Monday.
The suspect's husband, Kevin Montgomery, told reporters outside the courthouse he knew nothing about his wife's alleged actions. He has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
"My family has suffered a tragedy, but I am not the only family," he said. "This has to be as hard or harder on them as it is on me. I sure hope they get as much support from their church and community as I have, because we are all going to need it."
Within hours of Stinnett's killing Thursday at her home in Skidmore, Mo., investigators realized that information on her computer might help find the killer.
Stinnett, 23, raised rat terrier dogs at home and had been expecting a potential customer the afternoon she was killed.
When Stinnett's body was discovered, detectives took her computer.
At the lab, clues seemed to pour out of the computer within minutes - who Stinnett had been e-mailing, what sites she had been visiting. Important tips from the public came in, too. Among them: A North Carolina dog breeder pointed to communications on a rat terrier message board.
"My adrenaline just started rushing," said the breeder, Dyanne Siktar. "I knew they could track the IP."
Investigators traced an IP address to a dial-up connection from Montgomery's home in Melvern, about 120 miles southwest of Skidmore. On Friday, less than 24 hours after the slaying, investigators found the baby at the home and arrested Montgomery.
source: http://www.policeone.com/policeone/frontend/parser.cfm?object=News&tmpl=&operation=full_news&id=94759
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
What's Being Written
The New Mexican
March 3, 2005
We are a Catholic, Christian, straight couple opposed to “defense of marriage” legislation. These bills are fear-based efforts to deny to people born gay an equal right to pursue happiness, guaranteed to all Americans.
We studied Scripture for many years and see nothing there that Jesus said about homosexuals. Denying them equal rights to form legal, committed, lifelong relationships is un-Christian, un-American and inhumane. We support civil domestic partnerships as a beginning of social justice.
We have been married for 37 years and there is no way our marriage — or any one else’s marriage — is threatened by or needs “defending” from gay unions.
The divorce rate steadily increased long before gay unions became an issue. Blaming gays is unfair and cowardly. We could use some defending against religious zealots legislatively imposing on everyone their un-Christian and discriminatory beliefs.
Mary Ellen and Dan Duran
Santa Fe
---------
Ban Divorce
The pious posturing at the Roundhouse around the issue of marriage is pandering to the public in its basest form. It is simply posing by members of the political right. If these elected officials truly want to “defend marriage” and impose a Christian sharia on our public life, they should well remember that the Christian belief also includes the matrimonial mandate: “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”
Despite this clear injunction, as many as 50 percent of marriages in the United States today end in divorce. This is a much greater threat to marriage than my relationship with my companion of 26 years.
If our legislators want to “defend marriage,” they should be pounding the tables in support of legislation — or a constitutional amendment, if that’s the only way — to outlaw divorce and ensure that marriages are truly “until death do us part.”
Louis Bixenman
Santa Fe
---------------
Media corruption
It is disturbing to hear of the release of more Sept. 11 commission reports after the Bush administration stalled the release of these documents until after the election.
The documents report that there were 52 memos to this administration in a six-month period before Sept. 11, 2001. The memos, warning there was going to be an attack on our country, were ignored and lied about to the commission.
We also hear that the administration pays reporters to sell their agenda to the public against the law. And we hear of fake journalist -Jeff Gannon- James Dale Guckert allowed to attend press briefings to ask softball questions of President Bush and Scott McClellan, the White House press spokesman.
This obvious smear campaign against White House enemies, and to interfere with real White House reporters, is unacceptable in a democracy .
J.D. Gonzales
Santa Fe
About Me
-
- Name:Steves' Market & Deli
- Location:Brownwood, Texas, United States
Links
Previous Posts
- WELCOME TO STEVE'S BLOG
- A Brownwood ASS Whooping on the airwaves of KXYL
- twisted logic: honor the fallen by killing another 2,000 troops in a broken policy ?
- Candy Barr, former Brownwood resident, dies
- "The Steves" Wolfcreek Colorado Snow/Ski Update
- HAPPY NEW YEAR
- Republican "family values" poseur
- Cross Plain Texas Fire forces Towns Evacuation
- " Mr and Mrs Santa Claus "
- " Speaks for itself ! " and yes it's found in Brownwood !
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