a The Indianapolis 500 b The Daytona 500 c A figure 8 stock car race d The Washington 500 e Chrysler about to "merge" with FIAT f A Government Motors executive board meeting g d,e&f
If you guessed "g" (d,e&f) you win the checkered flag!
"We have made great progress here in London in creating a world........."
"Hurt me again! Oooh, it feels so good..... Yes!"
News item:
During the G-20 Summit in London, Obama Administration officials handed out a special phone number for journalists to call to receive a pre-recorded "foreign policy briefing" from Hillary Clinton and National Security Advisor Jim Jonas. When journalists called the number, they were answered by a sulty-sounding female asking for their credit card and promising something "nasty".
I attended a funeral service for a dear friend Saturday, not something I would normally post on my blog. By the time the service was over, however, I had decided that this one was of interest to my readers.
My friend, Ronaldo Tomas, passed away a few days ago after long years of illnesses and physical ailments. He was just a few days past his 70th birthday when death came. In his last years, he had suffered from diabetes, undergone a kidney transplant, several toe amputations, and, finally, succumbed to cancer of the liver and pancreas.
My wife and I had visited him in the hospital just days before he passed. We were in Las Vegas when his wife called with the news.
I hadn't known a great deal about Ronaldo's life in the few short years I knew him. I knew that he had been born in Panama and immigrated to the US when he was young. I also knew he had served in the US Air Force and was teaching English as a Second Language to the immigrant community in Orange County. His mother-in-law, Argentina, was roommate to my mother in a local board and care until she (Argentina) passed away a couple of years ago. Ronaldo's wife and mother-in-law were from Argentina, and so it was natural that our families became friends since my own wife is from Mexico. Even after Argentina's passing, we kept in contact on a social basis. When my Mom had to go into a hospital or skilled nursing facility, Ronaldo and Maria would make it a point to visit her as well as at the board and care.
Unfortunately, many of our visits with Ronaldo occurred at hospitals and skilled nursing facilities as he continued to have one medical problem after another. Yet, he seemed to keep his good cheer. It was also obvious that Ronaldo was a person who loved people. Between him and I, our communication switched back and forced between English and Spanish (he spoke both perfectly). When greeting and saying good-bye, the abrazo and kiss on the cheek was obligatory. He usually called me hermano.
The last time my wife and I visited him, we knew the end was near. He was greatly emaciated and had just learned of the cancer. When we entered his room, he had just been served dinner and was saying a silent grace. As we chatted, my wife spoon-fed him.
At his service, most of the time was spent listening to his family, friends and associates telling stories about their experiences with Ronaldo. As I said above, there was a lot I didn't know about his early life.
After his military service, Ronaldo joined his family in South Central Los Angeles, where he became active in the Catholic Church. During that time, he engaged in much community work and became closely associated with Father John Coffield, who was a major civil rights leader in Los Angeles and, in turn, a colleague of Cesar Chavez. Coffield also marched in Selma with Martin Luther King. When Coffield died, Ronaldo was a spokesman quoted by some of the local papers.
A few months ago, while I was visiting him in the hospital, the topic of race came up somehow (I don't remember how). Ronaldo, who was of African descent, told me that while growing up in Panama, he had never known about prejudice and discrimination. At his service, one of his close friends from those early LA days described how racial attitudes were found even within the Church, something Ronaldo had to contend with. In those years, the LA Archdiocese was under Cardinal James Francis McIntyre, who did not enjoy a good relationship with his Latino and black parishioners. In 1962, Ronaldo entered the seminary to study for the priesthood. He eventually left the seminary and pursued a career in community work, business, education and counseling, earning his PHD in the 1970s. Ronaldo spent his life helping other people as his career and his life spanned three countries, Panama, Argentina and the US.
Aside from being just a time for mourning Ronaldo's loss, Saturday's service was more a celebration of his life. Though his family shed tears, it had to be acknowledged that Ronaldo's suffering was at an end and that he was in a better place with his Lord.
"American Leadership? World-wide Stimulus Plan? More troops to fight in Afghanistan? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha"
Now that this 20-chair circle-jerk in London has concluded, it's time to ask-what did President Obama accomplish for the USA? It seems his biggest "win" was getting the Gang of 20 to join in on giving another 1.1 trillion dollars to the always-developing nations of the world via the International Monetary Fund. Maybe that's what all those rioters in the streets of London were there for. They were hoping that the 20 would throw the 1.1 trillion dollars down to them from the top of the London Bridge................(I know, I know. The bridge is now in Arizona).
Less successful was our president in convincing our erstwhile European allies to join in on the "Stimulus Fever" and make it a world-wide venture. After all, the Europeans are starting to wake up to the fact that nannie state socialism isn't all it was cracked up to be. I guess they finally realized somebody has to pay for it.
So what did Obama do in London? He told us that among other things, he intended to "provide American leadership". Well, not quite.
One of his goals was to make it up to British Prime Minster Gordon Brown, whom he had (probably unintentionally) snubbed during the latter's recent visit to Washington. Someone forgot to tell the president that a diplomatic nicety would have been to hold a joint press conference with the prime minister to underline the importance of the relationship. (Hey Hillary-that's your department!) Don't think that Brown's rivals in the UK didn't make note of that. The other snafu was when Obama gave Brown some CDs that are not adaptable to the UK current. He can blame that on Her Excellency also for not giving him the proper advice and guidance.
Then Obama gets to London, where he and the missus go to see the Queen. Don't get me wrong; I am no fan of the British Monarchy, but when in the UK, one should follow protocol and CURTSY before the Queen (much as I hate to even say it). Michelle committed a boo-boo by hugging the Queen instead. Then they give the Queen just what she has always wanted but could never afford-an ipod! Yes, indeed. Just what an 80-something year-old woman who has been sitting on a feather pillow all her life needs. An ipod!
My advice to Obama? Fire your Secretary of State.
As an American, I don't much appreciate Obama's remarks to his hosts that Americans have been arrogant and dismissive instead of celebrating Europe's leadership in the world.
What leadership? Leading us into two world wars? Inventing great concepts like Communism, Fascism, and Nazism?
Of course, just like Hugh Hefner's guests at the Playboy mansion parties who run upstairs with the bunnies, Obama had a chance for separate meetings with the Chinese and Russian leaders. In meeting with Russian "President" Medvedev, Obama also took an indirect shot at his predecessor in admitting that in recent years, we had let the US-Russian relationship "drift". Maybe it was the Russians' fault that the relationship "drifted": you know, little things like the invasion of Georgia-but, of course, that was all Bush's fault.
Gordon Brown, who is being painted as the big winner in organizing this boondoggle, is now proclaiming, "a new world order".
Where have we heard that before?
So now, Obama goes to a NATO meeting to ask our allies to send more troops to help out in Afghanistan, which I am confident they will do-like send a couple hundred mechanics to work on our jeeps.
The below article is cross-posted from Haaretz.com (a major Israeli news outlet), and was written by Assaf Uni, a Haaretz correspondent. The article concerns the rise in anti-Semitic incidents in various European nations. It is highly alarming.
Study cites dramatic rise in anti-Semitic attacks in Europe
By Assaf Uni, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Israel News, Jewish World
"The number of anti-Semitic incidences in Europe through the first three months of this calendar year exceeds the total number of such occurrences from all of 2008, according to a report issued by the European Jewish Congress.
The findings were announced by EJC president Moshe Kantor during a special session of the European Parliament which was devoted to the subject of anti-Semitism on the continent.
The report cites the reaction to this past January's Israel Defense Forces operation in Gaza as one of the key triggers of anti-Semitic attacks against Jewish communities in Europe. In addition, the current financial crisis is giving rise to age-old anti-Semitic stereotypes suggesting "Jewish control of the global financial system."
EJC members from all over Europe who gathered in Brussels for the special session reported a significant rise in the number of anti-Semitic incidents. The head of official Jewry in Finland, Rony Smolar, said that the 25,000-strong Jewish community living in the Scandinavian countries is subject to repeated harassment due to its support for Israel.
"Public opinion links Israel with the local Jewish community, which turns us into enemies," Smolar said, adding that his country has seen "a dramatic rise" in the number and severity of anti-Semitic attacks.
Smolar said that Molotov cocktails have been thrown into synagogues and Jewish cemeteries in Sweden and Norway have been vandalized. He also cited a shooting incident in which two Israelis were wounded by a gunman in Denmark during Operation Cast Lead.
"Cartoons likening the Star of David to the Nazi swastika have become commonplace in Scandinavia," Smolar said.
Richard Prasquier, the head of the umbrella organization representing the Jewish community in France (CRIF), also pointed to a rise in anti-Semitic incidents. "France is home to the largest Jewish community in Europe and the largest Muslim community in Europe," Prasquier said, hinting that the sizable immigrant community from North Africa is most responsible for instigating the anti-Jewish violence. European politicians have shied away from blaming Muslim immigrants for attacks against Jews.
The EU's human rights arm, the FRA, told the gathering that increases in anti-Semitism have been reported in Holland, Belgium, France, and Britain. An organization representative said the reasons for the phenomenon must be studied and examined.
Peter Feldmeier, the head of the Jewish community in Hungary, said that anti-Semitism in his country still features historical overtones "as we knew them in the interwar years."
While noting that "there is barely a Muslim community in Hungary," Feldmeier brandished a copy of a widely circulated newspaper affiliated with a far-right party. The newspaper made waves after featuring on its cover a Hungarian politician bearing a fictitious yellow Star of David. The paper demanded that the politician admit to his Jewish roots."
Related articles:
Spanish Holocaust survivors testify in U.S. Nazi extradition case
Greek court clears far-rightist of Holocaust denial
New French Web site aims to work against Holocaust denial
Fousesquawk comment: Europeans know better than most other populations around the world where this phenomena leads to. It is critical that they confront this issue directly with the public, condemn it and identify its perpetrators. This cannot be tolerated. Unfortunately, it appears that European willingness to react strongly may be limited by the fact that much of the anti-Semitism is being instigated by Muslim immigrants. It would be simple for the Europeans to react strongly against anti-Semitic acts perpetrated by their own native populations. Are they reticent to confront said anti-Semitism on the part of another minority group-in this case, by Muslim immigrants? If so, that would just constitute another sorry example of political correctness in action. The targeting of people because of their ethnicity, religion, nationality etc cannot be tolerated no matter who the perpetrators are and no matter who the victims are. (It would be just as wrong to carry act acts of hate against innocent Muslims.)
Europe has a problem on its hands. In many major European cities, Jews are not free to walk in certain areas of town in security and safety. The fact that European countries now have relatively small Jewish populations (and we all know why) doesn't minimize the issue. Those Jews who remain in Europe have every right not to be returned to an existence comparable to the 1930s and early 1940s.
I would encourage each of my readers to visit the below site for Project Meredian Foundation, a great organization that is working with government and police agencies to help rescue and provide treatment for girls and women in America who have been abducted for sexual purposes. Part of their goals are to establish a safe and secure location where victims can receive help, treatment and referrals on to longer-term care facilities if needed. They are having a gala event on May 14, 2009 to raise funds in support of their mission. This event will take place at the Vanderbilt South Beach, New York. Additional details are contained in the below site. Even if you are not able to attend, you might consider making a contribution to this worthy organization.
The below article was written by conservative columnist Don Feder regarding his disrupted speaking appearance at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst on March 11, 2009. The article is copyrighted by Grasstops blog. It is cross-posted here with Mr Feder's consent. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SIMIAN STUDENTS THROW FECES AT CONSERVATIVE SPEAKERS GrassTopsUSA Exclusive Commentary By Don Feder 03-24-09
On March 11, I joined a growing fraternity – conservatives who’ve been prevented from speaking on college campuses.
Student storm troopers have become the final arbiters of who may speak and what views may be expressed in academia – once dedicated to free inquiry and open discussion, now as intellectually open as a Stalinist gulag. The academic archipelago?
I was invited by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Republicans and Young America’s Foundation to speak on hate crimes laws as a threat to free speech and religious freedom.
That there is a national epidemic of hate crimes incited by hate speech – which drastic action is needed to curtail – is sacred dogma for the sensitivity goons.
To question these assumptions is sacrilege. When challenged here, leftists react like Muslims in a murderous rage over Mohammed cartoons
That does a lot to explain what transpired when I tried to speak at the collegiate zoo in Western Massachusetts – that and the fact that the administration refuses to keep the animals leashed.
Half of the audience of 300 came not to listen, question or debate, but to disrupt.
The mob scene was coordinated by the International Socialist Organization (a group found only on college campuses and in the Obama administration), the Pride Alliance, the Coalition Against Hate and the Campus Anti-War Network. Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and the Committee for Justice for Sacco and Vanzetti were conspicuous by their absence.
Not more than 20 seconds into my address, the catcalls and heckling began. A group of young scholars turned their backs on me – a potent argument to their way of thinking. I felt like I’d stepped into Mr. Peabody’s Wayback machine and been transported to my student days at Boston University, circa 1969.
The honorary citizens of Crete unfurled banners, waved signs, chanted slogans, shouted insults and taunts, jeered, laughed derisively and generally demonstrated the self-control of toddlers with Tourette syndrome.
Their signs read, “Hate Speech Leads to Hate Crimes” (this from people who insist there’s no connection between pornography and sex crimes), “Free Speech Does Not Equal Hate Speech” (who decides what speech should be censored in the name of countering hatred? They do, of course) and – my favorite – “Abolish Hate.” Bravo! After that, we can abolish lust, greed, sloth and unhygienic habits (though the protestors might consider that a personal attack). My terrier has taken to toting around a sign that says “Abolish Cats!”
Some of the protestors had flyers pinned to their tiny chests to represent the victims of hate crimes. “My name is Hollywood Montrose, and I’m a bisexual, bi-racial, bi-lingual transgendered person of color who was stabbed 27 times because the Family Research Council says gays can change.”
Among other antics, a barefoot girl tried to bring a rat into the lecture. Rumor had it that Rat Girl planned to let the rodent loose to raise the level of discourse. Then again, perhaps it was her boyfriend. Besides supporting cross-dressers, activists are in to cross-species dating.
Before I gave up, I was interrupted roughly once every 15 seconds. Finally, I decided that attempting to speak over the tumult served no useful purpose and the speech was cancelled. I stayed at the podium for another 20 minutes talking to those who came with questions instead of slogans.
After the room had cleared, 50 or so of us – some supportive, others curious – repaired to the offices of the Republican club, where I spoke impromptu and answered questions for about an hour.
Perhaps conservative speakers should go to campus lectures armed, thereby exercising their Second Amendment rights to forestall violation of their First Amendment rights.
March 11 was my bar mitzvah under fire. Here are some of the other conservative speakers who’ve experienced the open-minded student body of today.
• In 2005, at the University of Connecticut, Ann Coulter called it quits 15 minutes into a lecture to 2,600, when boos and jeers made it impossible for her to continue. She switched to a question-and-answer session. “I love to engage in repartee with people who are stupider than I am,” Ann joked. She’ll be in 7th heaven if she ever speaks at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
• In 2007, when commentator Daniel Pipes tried to speak on “The Threat to Israel’s Existence,” at the University of California-Irvine, he was disrupted minutes into the lecture by people of the jihad persuasion and their Marxist allies. Pipes could barely be heard over chants of “anti-Israel,” “anti-oppression,” “anti-racism” and “anti-hate.” On the college campus, to support the Jewish state is the supreme act of hate speech. Oppression is unknown elsewhere in the Middle East, but especially in Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia (if you’re an independent-minded woman) or Egypt (if you’re a Coptic Christian).
• When Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol tried to speak at the University of Texas in 2006, he was almost eaten alive. Kristol’s topic – political events in the aftermath of 9/11 – provoked Oliver Stone paranoia. “We’re here to expose the truth about 9/11,” film student Aaron Dykes proclaimed. Presumably, that would be the truth about the Zionist-CIA-Karl Rove-AIG Executives cabal (cleverly disguised as Saudi citizens) responsible for the deaths of 3,000 Americans in 2001.
• When she attempted to speak at Penn State in 1999, black conservative Star Parker was forced from the stage. Parker described the experience as “very frightening” and said she “feared for my life.” Parker’s hatefullness was her contention that single mothers are better off with jobs than on welfare, based on her own experience.
• At Emory University in 2006, David Horowitz gave a lecture as part of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week. To show their outrage at the comparison of radical Islam to fascism, protestors behaved like fascists. A mob of over 300, from groups like Amnesty International, Veterans for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine, waved signs and shouted, “Does George Bush respect anybody’s rights?” and “Why don’t you talk about fascism in America?” mixed with chants of “Racist, sexist, anti-gay, David Horowitz go away!” (They can’t reason. But they sure can rhyme.) “Are we going to talk about who killed JFK?” one protestor demanded. (The Zionist-CIA-Karl Rove-AIG Executives cabal?). Horowitz (who had to be escorted off stage) observed, “This is exactly what the fascists did in Germany in the 1930s.” True, but at least they weren’t hypocrites claiming they were motivated by concern for minority rights.
• In October 2006, leftists (this time flying the colors of the Chicano Caucus and the International Socialist Organization) rushed the stage and knocked over tables and chairs to prevent Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, and his colleagues from speaking. “Minutemen, Nazis, KKK – racist fascists go away,” they cleverly chanted. (“Duck, frog, pig, pup – you spread hatred, so shut up!”) To prove their commitment to fighting racism, protestors shouted the “N-word" at black Minuteman Marvin Stewart. But it was in a good cause, combating hate speech. Even New York’s liberal Republican Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, was appalled: “Bollinger’s (Columbia’s president) just got to get his hands around this…. There are too many incidents at the same school where people get censored,” the mayor complained. But not Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s Holocaust-denier-in-chief, invited by Bollinger to speak at Columbia in 2007.
With honorable exceptions, administrators do nothing to discipline the bundists, either for fear of making themselves targets or because they’re in league with them.
My encounter on the 11th was videotaped. It would be relatively easy for the university to identify those who kept me from speaking and punish them. One group, the Socialist Workers (an oxymoron if there ever was one), even bragged about their performance on their website and pledged to keep disrupting Republican events.
On the other hand, administrators have no trouble coming down like a ton of bricks on conservative students for almost any reason.
On February 19, two students from California’s Claremont McKenna College attended a public lecture by a Planned Parenthood representative at neighboring Pomona College. The conservative students asked challenging questions and videotaped the response. (They turned off the camera when requested to do so by the speaker.)
Two Pomona deans went postal, claiming the students “interrupted the event” with “disruptive questions,” which constituted “harassment or hostile behavior.” The Claremont students were summarily banned from the Pomona campus. The ban was later lifted after a public outcry.
The Claremont students didn’t chant. They didn’t heckle or shout slogans. They didn’t wave signs or laugh derisively. But, two (count ‘em, two) conservatives were the equivalent of a lynch mob, in the eyes of pro-censorship administrators.
The left’s double-standard on speech goes back to Herbert Marcuse. A new left icon, Marcuse taught ‘60s radicals that it was their moral duty to censor the right.
In his essay, “Repressive Tolerance” (published in 1965), the Marxist scholar explained that because conservatives are “oppressive,” revolutionaries should be “intolerant towards the protagonists of the repressive status quo.”
Marcuse’s dictum was a great excuse for cowards and intellectual weaklings unable to deal with opposing views.
The kiddies also learned from their elders that any opinion can be censored in the name of spreading sweetness and light.
Campus speech codes – promulgated by sensitivity-besotted administrators (with the avid support of leftist faculty and whining student interest groups) – have exactly the same effect as demonstrators shouting down opposing views.
Not just epithets, but words which make certain groups feel uncomfortable (because they challenge their worldview) are officially banned at many colleges and universities.
In their 1993 book, “The Shadow University,” Harvey Silverglate and Alan Kors showed the lengths to which this is often taken.
Students are punished for “intentionally producing psychological discomfort” (at the University of North Dakota), “inconsiderate jokes” (University of Connecticut), “inappropriate laughter” (Sarah Lawrence College), “eye contact or lack of it” (Michigan State University), “communication with sexual overtones” (Lincoln University) and comments which “annoy” or “offend.” The foregoing is quoted by John Leo in his essay “Free Inquiry? Not on Campus,” City Journal (Winter 2007).
At Ohio State University’s Mansfield campus in 2006, the entire faculty voted to file charges of sexual discrimination and harassment against librarian Scott Savage for recommending three conservative books to incoming freshmen. Let no hate speech go unpunished. In Germany, those who began by burning books ended by burning people.
Leftist students have learned from leftist administrators that they have an absolute right to be intolerant in the name of tolerance.
Thus, because speech criticizing affirmative action, feminism, abortion, same-sex marriage, hate-crimes laws, illegal immigration, global terrorism and attacks on Israel are “hurtful and hateful,” they should not be tolerated at institutions supposedly dedicated to the free exchange of ideas.
Not surprisingly, only conservatives cause psychic pain.
Burning the American flag (which offends veterans and patriots), parodies of Catholicism (to which Catholics object), accusing U.S. forces in Iraq of atrocities (which might hurt the families of our war dead) and comparing Israel’s self-defense to the Holocaust, are examples of free expression which must be defended, while criticizing hate-crimes laws is hate speech at its most vicious and must be crushed.
Revolutionary consciousness and repressive tolerance aside, there are other factors driving student brown shirts.
The modern college campus is an ideological echo chamber. Day in and day out, leftist ideas are inculcated by professors, assigned reading, campus lectures (the one which aren’t censored), and commencement speakers.
Horowitz notes the stark political imbalance of most faculties, writing in 2006: “Tulane Law School – one of the institutions I visited this spring – has not a single Republican or conservative faculty member; the Duquesne Law School – where I also spoke – has one. The students I met at the University of Michigan could not identify a single conservative on their faculty, although they could name several Marxists…. Out of 15 professors in the Department of Political Science at the University of Richmond, a private school with a decidedly conservative student body, there is one Republican.”
Like mental patients who become agitated when their delusions are challenged, the student left goes bonkers when encountering a worldview that contradicts their own. This provokes temper tantrums and other infantile behavior.
In a way, I’m glad I experienced just how vile these creatures can be. It’s one thing to read about students in armbands and jackboots and quite another to be subjected to the catcalls, heckling and other intimidation tactics.
After I announced that I would not continue speaking, demonstrators applauded and cavorted. The odious hatemonger had been driven from the podium – hooray, hooray! They had won.
Or had they?
Suppose a man visiting a zoo stops at the monkey cage whose denizens begin throwing feces at him. If the man decides to take himself out of range, have the monkeys won?
The preceding commentary can also be found at http://www.grasstopsusa.com/df032409.html. Don Feder is a former Boston Herald writer who is now a political/communications consultant. He also maintains his own website, DonFeder.com.
Fousesquawk comment: This, sadly, is hardly an isolated event. Unfortunately, scenes like these are all too common on American university campuses. Why did not the campus police restore order and remove the hecklers, who were stripping the rights of the audience to hear Mr Feder's words? Where were the leaders of the university? What action has been taken against the ones who disrupted the event? Does UMass at Amherst have a student code of conduct? Obviously not.
The problem is that leftist, anarchist students, who have been brainwashed by leftist professors, have determined that they have the right to shut down any speech with which they disagree. On the other hand, leftist radicals who come to speak at college campuses get much more respectful treatment when they stand up to give their rants. Often, no one even raises a voice in disagreement or asks a critical question. When they do, they are greeted with the same reaction Mr Feder received.
What a pathetic disgrace our universities have become.
Now that Ted Stevens' corruption conviction has been reversed, and the Justice Department is dropping the charges, the ex-senator from Alaska and his supporters are claiming vindication. The reason for the reversal is alleged prosecutorial misconduct, specifically, that prosecutors failed to turn over some investigators' notes to the defense under the rule of discovery, thus depriving Stevens of his right to a fair trial.
Without passing judgement on the misconduct allegation, as a retired federal agent, I know full well how original notes pertain to the laws of discovery. Basically, an investigator's handwritten notes taken during the course of an investigation must be preserved and available to the defense prior to trial-even after the formal investigative report has been written, at which time, it used to be customary to discard the written notes. If I recall correctly, that ended sometime early in my career when a federal court ruling dictated that original hand-written notes had to be preserved. Thus, it was our custom to keep those notes-from all agents participating in an operation, arrest, surveillance, etc-in an envelope within the case file. The reason was that original notes or the notes of other agents might differ from testimony given at trial, thus, giving the defense an opportunity to impeach a prosecution witness' testimony.
So does this turn of events vindicate Stevens? In the eyes of the law, of course. But what about in the eyes of the public? That depends on the question of whether in the eyes of the public, Stevens was an innocent man unfairly prosecuted. Unfortunately for Stevens, that will always remain divided. There are plenty of high-profile cases that we all remember where a famous defendant got off the hook, but many in the public continued to believe he or she was guilty (OJ Simpson, Robert Blake, Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant, etc.) Only in rare cases, is a case resolved to the point that the overwhelming majority of the public concludes that the defendant was really railroaded and thus, fully vindicated. The Duke rape case comes to mind.
The fact is that the public is always entitled to its opinion, and no law can change that. Ted Stevens will enjoy his freedom and all legal privileges that come with the reversal. That's about it, however-no matter how much his former colleagues in the Senate rally to his defense and give him standing ovations. Alaska Republican Party Chairman Rudy Ruedrich has already called for Mark Begich, the Democratic Senator who unseated Stevens in the last election, to step down and allow the running of a special election. That is ridiculous.
The legal process is done with Stevens. It is up to the public to decide what his ultimate legacy will be.
Hey tax-payers! It's that time of the year again. Tax time. This year, however, there's no need to get stressed out preparing those messy tax forms. Why not let us handle it for you? DC Tax Fixers Ass. has years of experience in using the tax laws for your benefit. We can't guarantee that your tax rates won't go up (in fact, we can guarantee that they will.) But you can sleep easy at night knowing that our team of experts knows how to work the system to your advantage.
First of all, while other tax firms boast of having retired IRS agents on their staff, we have the Secretary of the Treasury on ours! While others tell you they can save you thousands of dollars, we can save you hundreds of thousands. Just ask our Sr Vice-President Tom Daschle. While others boast of having the latest technology, Tax Fixers has Turbo-Tax at our disposal! Our CEO, Tim Geithner thinks so much of it, he has virtually lent his name to it (Tim Turbo-Tax Geithner).
We also have all the right contacts in Washington.
Need we say more?
Already owe money to the IRS? No problem. While others boast of being able to negotiate with the IRS so you only have to pay pennies on the dollar, our team of well-connected advisers can get you a high-paying cabinet position in the Obama Administration that will more than make up for any back payments and late penalty fees you may have to pay.
So don't be a sucker. Let us put the system to work for you.
Call us at DC Tax Fixers Ass.
* DC Tax Fixers Ass. is licensed only in the District of Columbia
For an administration that loves taxes, it is sure is ironic how many of President Obama's cabinet nominees have problems paying their own taxes. Now it has been disclosed that Kansas Governor and Health and Human Services nominee Kathleen Sibelius has repaid almost $8,000 in back taxes for the years 2005-07. As usually happens, once someone is nominated and the vetting begins, past errors are discovered-or the nominee decides it's time to pay up.
Nonetheless, even Republican senators like Charles Grassley are saying mox nix-no big deal. Honest mistake they say. Maybe so. (The errors have to do with charitable deductions, the sale of a home and business expenses.
But isn't it also ironic that Governor Sibelius' state, Kansas, has also delayed sending tax refunds to its citizens? No money they say.
At what point do people conclude that there are different rules for different people? At what point do people conclude that the series of Obama cabinet nominees who haven't paid their taxes in full represent not an aberration or two-but a pattern?
"Surely, those who believe, and the Jews and the Christians and the Sabians, whoever have faith with true hearts in Allah and in the Last-day and do good deeds, their reward is with their Lord, and there shall be no fear for them nor any grief." Qur'an 2:62
Taken from the website of the Center of Islamic Pluralism
I have just added a link on this website to the Center for Islamic Pluralism (CIP), which is located in Washington DC and is headed by Stephen Suleyman Schwartz. This is a Muslim organization which has spoken out publicly against the Wahhabi form of Islam as being the main source of Islamic extremism. CIP also has spoken out publicly against CAIR as not being truly representative of peaceful Muslims. They have applauded the action of the FBI in breaking off its relationship with CAIR. CIP also has singled out the Islamic Society of North America and the Muslim Student Associations for criticism.
I have seen Mr Schwartz several times on television, so I know where he stands. He, his organization, and all Muslims who reject the call to violent jihad, intolerance and imposition of Shariah law in the West deserve to be applauded and supported.
a A Soviet era show trial with a deranged judge, public clamoring for the death penalty while the UN stands silent
b The deranged President of Sudan sending his troops to kill and rape in Darfur while the UN stands silent
c A public demonstration in London with a deranged imam directing his clones to follow Jihad while the British Government wrings its hands
d A Nazi parade with a deranged party demogogue haranging the crowd while Neville Chamberlain proclaims peace in our time
e A typical US university graduation with a deranged commencement speaker, student drones, and an administration that stands silent
What's the answer? Well, this is a close one, but the deranged speaker is Ward Churchill, so that eliminates "d" since Churchill wasn't around in those days (wrong Churchill). Since he's not Russian and doesn't have the requisite degree, it can't be "a". He doesn't live in London, so I guess it can't be "c". He's not the president of Sudan, so that eliminates "b".
Born 1945 in Los Angeles. Worked from 1998-2016 as adjunct teacher at University of California at Irvine Ext. teaching English as a second language.
Served three years in US Army Military Police at Erlangen, Germany 1966-68.
1970-1973- Criminal Investigator with US Customs
1973-1995 Criminal investigator with Drug Enforcement Administration. Stationed in Los Angeles, Bangkok, Milan, Italy, Pittsburgh and Office of Training, FBI Academy, Quantico, Va. until retirement.
Author of Erlangen-An American's History of a German Town-University Press of America 2005,
The Story of Papiamentu- A Study in Slavery and Language, University Press of America, 2002, and
The Languages of the Former Soviet Republics-Their History and Development, University Press of America, 2000.
