The Volokh Conspiracy is controversial once again.
Man, I'm telling you, those conspirators are always getting themselves involved in this or that controversy.
Now we find out from Crooked Timber that the conspirators are causing controversy by merely being. That's right, merely being.
There also seems to be a question about what the Volokh Conspiracy really is. I know and I'm going to tell you, and you don't even have to pay me money for this scoop. I'm going to put the secret of the Volokh Conspiracy in italics because, well, I just like italics.
The true reason the Volokh Conspiracy exists is to take over all the punk rock clubs in LA in order to turn them into bookstores where Randy Barnett can meet groupies.
I know, I know, sleaze of this magnitude should be hidden from the public but this is, after all, a really sleazy blog.
The loonies are getting loonier. I just got a call on the telephone tonight, around 8: PM, from an officer with the Beaverton Police Department. It seems one of the female loonies called up the Beaverton Police Department and accused me of causing popups to appear on a website whenever she uses her computer.
I didn't really understand what the officer meant but I believe he said I was causing popups to appear on the female looney's website. I don't think the female looney even has a website, but if she does, I'm not the one causing the popups to appear. It's probably the hosting company's fault.
Further inquiry reveals the female looney has a Hotmail account. Apparently, Hotmail now has popups.
Anyway, the officer went on to say that if I didn't quit causing the popups to appear he would come out and arrest me for telephonic harassment. I tried to tell him that what the looney was accusing me of was impossible for me to do. I don't own any servers and there is no way I could cause popups to appear on her computer from my computer. I could put popups on my website if I wanted to, but I detest popups and won't put popups on my website. Besides, even if I did put popups on my website and she visited it, it still couldn't be considered telephonic harassment.
The officer then told me he would send out some computer experts to check the computer to see if I had a program on the computer that could cause popups. He then asked me to go check the computer to see if there was anything on the computer that could cause popups to appear on the complainant's computer. I did, but there was no program on the computer in this house that could cause popups to appear on the complainant's computer.
So now I sit, waiting to see if I'm going to be popped for telephonic harassment.
By the way, the loonies have been going to various police agencies for the last twenty years and falsely accusing me of the most outrageous crimes, a lot of them supernatural crimes and, believe it or not, they have actually managed to get some cops to waste a lot of time investigating me for crimes that are impossible to commit.
From the Oregon State Statutes - ORS 166:
166.065 Harassment. (1) A person commits the crime of harassment if the person intentionally:(a) Harasses or annoys another person by:
(A) Subjecting such other person to offensive physical contact; or
(B) Publicly insulting such other person by abusive words or gestures in a manner intended and likely to provoke a violent response;
(b) Subjects another to alarm by conveying a false report, known by the conveyor to be false, concerning death or serious physical injury to a person, which report reasonably would be expected to cause alarm; or
(c) Subjects another to alarm by conveying a telephonic, electronic or written threat to inflict serious physical injury on that person or to commit a felony involving the person or property of that person or any member of that person’s family, which threat reasonably would be expected to cause alarm.
(2) A person is criminally liable for harassment if the person knowingly permits any telephone or electronic device under the person’s control to be used in violation of subsection (1) of this section.
(3) Harassment is a Class B misdemeanor.
(4) Notwithstanding subsection (3) of this section, harassment is a Class A misdemeanor if a person violates subsection (1) of this section by subjecting another person to offensive physical contact and the offensive physical contact consists of touching the sexual or other intimate parts of the other person. [1971 c.743 §223; 1981 c.468 §1; 1985 c.498 §1; 1987 c.806 §3; 1995 c.802 §1; 2001 c.870 §2]
Even if I could cause popups on the female looney's computer, I don't see how it could be telephonic harassment.
These are the same loonies who send emails to the authors of the blogs on my blogroll telling them how evil, nasty and disgusting I am. I've seen a couple of the emails and they usually start out with "I've got to tell you about John" or "You need to know what John's really like." Then the rest of the email consists of false allegations, slander, lies and the usual nonsense. It's the same stuff they've told some of the women I've gone out with and even some of the relatives of some of the women I've gone out with.
These are also the same loonies who have told mass quantities of people, including my two daughters and their mother, that I'm part of an intergenerational Satanic cult that does all sorts of magical atrocities and murders.
On an unrelated note: Oregon has outlawed abusing the national and state flag.
166.075 Abuse of venerated objects. (1) A person commits the crime of abuse of venerated objects if the person intentionally abuses a public monument or structure, a place of worship or the national or state flag.(2) As used in this section and ORS 166.085, "abuse" means to deface, damage, defile or otherwise physically mistreat in a manner likely to outrage public sensibilities.
(3) Abuse of venerated objects is a Class C misdemeanor. [1971 c.743 §224; 1995 c.261 §2]
Margaret Marks has a post entitled "Judge cuts lawyer's fees for typos / Anwaltsgebühr vom Richter wegen Tippfehler gekürzt". The post is about a lawyer who is incompetent at writing legal papers. Her post highlights an article at law.com. An excerpt from the article is below:
Finding that attorney Brian Puricelli's courtroom work was "smooth" and "artful" in securing a $430,000 verdict in a civil rights suit, but that his written work was "careless" and laden with typographical errors, a federal magistrate judge has ruled that his court-awarded fees should be paid at two rates -- $300 per hour for the courtroom work, but $150 per hour for work on the pleadings."Mr. Puricelli's complete lack of care in his written product shows disrespect for the court. His errors, not just typographical, caused the court a considerable amount of work. Hence, a substantial reduction is in order. We believe that $150 per hour is, in fact, generous," U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacob P. Hart wrote in his 12-page fee opinion in Devore v. City of Philadelphia.
In the suit, plaintiff John Devore, a former Philadelphia police officer, claimed that he was harassed and ultimately fired in retaliation for reporting that his partner had stolen a cell phone.
Hart said he recognized that the case was a complicated one, but said he found some of Puricelli's writing in the amended complaint to be "nearly unintelligible."
Maybe Puricelli needs to get some help from a couple of experts in legal writing, Eugene Volokh and Howard Bashman.
The Global Corruption Report 2003 is now online.
There's also the The ANTI-CORRUPTION GATEWAY FOR EUROPE AND EURASIA. The ANTI-CORRUPTION GATEWAY FOR EUROPE AND EURASIA is a significant entrance way to information about combating corruption. It offers primary materials and direct links to major information sources for anti-corruption practitioners and analysts engaged in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. The GATEWAY serves as an easily accessible repository of anti-corruption project documentation, legislation, regional and international agreements, news, survey results, reports, and research. By sharing this information widely, it is hoped that new and productive initiatives will be generated to reduce corruption in these regions.
Looks like the water supply in Washington DC is almost like that in a third world country. The Washington Post has an editorial about the sad state of affairs in Washington DC, part of which is below:
D.C. Needs AnswersSaturday, February 28, 2004; Page A20
OFFICIALS OF THE D.C. Water and Sewer Authority, as well as the mayor and members of the D.C. Council, should not be surprised that Congress is taking on the problem of excessive lead in the District's water supply. The performance of WASA, the District government and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been far below what citizens have a right to expect from their public officials. City officials belatedly emerged from behind closed doors yesterday to say that, beginning next week, they will hold news conferences three times a week. They also said that they will begin offering free blood tests at D.C. General Hospital in Southeast Washington this morning and that they intend to distribute free water filters to day-care centers next week. And Carol Schwartz (R-At Large), who chairs the council's WASA oversight committee, has joined the mayor in asking for congressional investigations. It's long past time for action. Local and EPA officials have clearly fallen down on the job.
Maybe the problem is too many bureaucrats and nobody willing to take responsibility for anything.
ABC Action News in Tampa has a story entitled "Are bad cops the ones being promoted in Tampa?". The following is an excerpt:
Are bad cops the ones being promoted in Tampa?
an ABC Action News report 5/02/03TAMPA - They carry badges and guns, but some have broken the law.
ABC Action News investigator Mike Mason did some digging, and found some disturbing examples of Tampa police behavior, including sex on-duty, drunk driving, bar room brawls.
Now, some officers wonder why bad cops are the ones getting big promotions.
For example, surveillance tape obtained by ABC Action News shows Sgt. Pete Brevi, on-duty, heading into a cubicle, where he had sex with a female employee. At the time, Brevi had just been promoted.
Sex while on duty is an obvious flaunting of police department policy, yet Brevi (above) was merely suspended and allowed to keep his new rank.
"Mike, do me a favor and go away, all right?" was all Brevi had to say when Mike Mason asked him about the incident.
In another case, Officer Donna Noblitt was reprimanded for lying in a police report about how she handled evidence at a crime scene. When she complained to her major, he gave her the benefit of the doubt and dropped the charge that she lied. However, Noblitt was still reprimanded for mishandling the crime scene.
Officer Donna Noblitt as she appeared in her mug shot.
Later, Noblitt went to jail for ignoring a court order to return her children to her ex-husband. Even after all of that, Noblitt was promoted to detective.She, too, brushed off Mike's request for an interview.
In a third example, off-duty officer Paul Luscynski head-butted another officer during an argument at a bar in Ybor City. He was only given a written warning, and has since been promoted to corporal.
"I think I've earned my promotion, my assignment. Obviously the chief of police and the staff did," he said.
A fourth case involves officers Keith and Mary O'Connor. When deputies arrested Keith for drunk driving, his wife, Mary, tried to kick out the windows of the patrol car and punched one of the deputies.
Mary was suspended for 165 days. However, she and her husband were both recently promoted; he is a corporal, she is a detective.
"The joke around the department is, you've got to get in trouble first before you get promoted," John Bushell told Mike Mason.
Bushell worked at the Tampa Police Department for 30 years, and said he has had enough. He just retired as a deputy chief, one of the chief's top staff members.
Former deputy chief John Bushell called the police department "a good ol' boy system."
"There's still too much of the friendship going on rather than real performance," Bushell said, adding that since Bennie Holder became chief, "you still have a good ol' boy system."However, Chief Holder defended every one of his promotions.
"I do mine different than a lot of most folks, I get complete staff input, which a lot of times, people don't do. So I'm very comfortable with the process, you know no system is perfect," he said.
It may not be perfect in St. Petersburg either, but Mike Mason found that police department would never stand for such behavior. Action News looked through dozens of police personnel records and discovered officers there would have been punished much more severely.
For instance, if Sgt. Brevi were a St. Petersburg cop, he would have likely been fired for having sex on the job.
Mary O'Connor would have likely been fired for punching another officer.
Even Keith O'Connor's drunk driving arrest would have landed him a 30-day suspension, five years of probation, and he would have had to sign an agreement never to drink alcohol again.
Detective Mary O'Connor declined to comment about her status.
Back in Tampa, Cpl. Steve Thurman has been trying to get promoted for years. He has a clean record and scored high on the promotions test, but he says Chief Holder told him he would never be promoted because he investigated city corruption.
"We need officers that are corrupt out. We need officers that have integrity and smarts promoted," he said. "We're not promoting the brightest and the best and that's quite unfortunate."
In the course of investigating this story, Mike Mason was contacted by some Tampa cops who said they were afraid to come forward for fear of retaliation by the chief of police and the police union, which, they say, the chief controls.
Well, the psycho ex-wife (the one I divorced in 1980), her family, and their mentally ill, disbarred, white supremacist, Sovereign Citizen legal advisor, Roger Weidner, sent some people over to remind me I was still married to Faye Marie Oekerman and that if I go out with any other women, I'm committing adultery. They also reminded me I should come back to my wife.
Man, I'm telling you, these people live in a fantasy world all their own. You can't reason with them because they are NUTS to the max.
The following was written by somebody to an email list.
Bell sat on the King's Bench, presided over by Chief Justice Charles Stewart of the Multnomah County Common Law Court (MCCLC), with such luminaries of the common law as Roger Weidner, the deputy district attorney for fraud, the man who discovered it in the system and went mad, forcibly interred at the state hospital for the insane by Judge Dorothy Baker, of the Multnomah County District Court, who, 13 years ago was in the same office Bell is suspected of bombing.And on the other side of Bell, on the King's bench, sits Lunch, Dick Lancial, who the editor met in the back of a donut shop, magnificent guy, clerk for the MCCLC, charged with simulating court process, rousted from bed in his underwear and his computer seized by Portland city police the same moments the Feds were kicking in the door of Bell's elderly parents in their sweet Vancouver, Washington home to seize his computer.
A document found on Bell's computer reportedly bragged about bombing the editor's office 13 years ago.
Twelve angry men. Some quiet, reserved, others open and talkative. Some with grievances. Some with quieter agendas.
All of them white men. Calvinist Jeff Weakly, pastor for the court, who the editor met in a bookshop, standing behind a counter expounding on the true lost tribes of Israel.
Jim Bleakly, campaign manager for a gubernatorial candidate in Washington State, who the editor met while doing a talk show in a radio station.
The following is an excerpt from an Oregon Judicial Watch newsletter dated October 2003.
Next meeting will be Saturday, Nov. 8, 2 – 4 pm, at the Beaverton Public Library, 5th & Hall. Come and listen to Roger Weidner explain how successful he believes the Weidner Method is. For those who wonder what is the Weidner Method, it’s preparing and filing in court a Request for Summary Judgment; get a court hearing date, then go to court with a group of sup-porters; state the facts of your case; the opposition states their position; and the judge hands down a decision. At the October meeting Roger faced down a dissident group asking him to resign as President of OJW. Dissidents are unhappy with his charging for helping prepare legal papers to represent themselves in court as he is a disbarred lawyer and they are unhappy also for charging to publish their story in THE OREGON OBSERVER. When does a reputable newspaper charge for a news worthy story? They ask does the Weidner Method get back our children? Our land? Our property? Keep us out of prison? No, it does not. Beautiful little Melissa Gaston has been adopted away. The legal heir of the multi-million dollar Kettleberg Estate did not receive a dime. Hartford VanDyke is in prison. Lanny Mateir is in prison. The Reussers did not prevail against Washington Mutual (Ken tells us though Roger has not charged them a dime). In these and many other court battles where the Weidner Method has been tried, including Roger’s own attempt to save his investment in a houseboat, all lost. Can it honestly be said failure was due to a corrupt judicial system? Or can it be said that fine points of law were missed? And that judges being human beings retaliate to name calling and threats and intimidation from what appears to them to be vigilantes? The Oregon Bar doesn’t seem to care what Roger does. Why is that? Because they see him as inconsequential? Or is it because he prevents Oregon Judicial Watch from being well accepted and a moving force for constructive change?
There is evidence that retired Washington County Sheriff Jim Spinden had close ties to the Victor Oekerman/Roger Weidner gang. This leads to some questions:
Under Jim Spinden's watch as a mediocre sheriff of Washington County, Oregon, Washington County became a favorite hangout of a crazy, white supremacist gang.
Under Jim Spinden's watch, did this crazy gang stash a bunch of weapons and explosives for their End of Time, imminent war against the "inferior" races in various rural areas of Washington County?
If the crazy gang did hide a bunch of weapons and explosives, did Jim Spinden know about it?
If Jim Spinden knew about it, did he have a legal or a moral obligation to inform the ATF or the FBI?
Was Jim Spinden involved in Thomas Huffman's bizarre schemes to get me drunk and then to get me to drive?
If Jim Spinden was involved with the crazy gang and Roger Weidner, did Jim Spinden engage in any actions which would protect the gang from being caught by various law enforcement authorities?
Was Jim Spinden involved in the bizarre, homophobic, racist labor practices of Stream International in Washington County?
The One True b!X has a post at the link below about the latest anti-gay marriage initiatives here in Oregon.
The One True b!X's PORTLAND COMMUNIQUE: Draft Ballot Titles Released For Anti-Marriage Initiatives
The Oregon Blog has info about the Oregon Bus Project.
The following will tell you what the Oregon Bus Project is:
The grassroots Oregon Bus Project started up in 2001 as the result of motivated youth deliberations over some of the most pressing needs in Oregon and the U.S.: the need for meaningful dialogue between urban and rural parts of the state; the need to connect young people with experienced political leaders; and the need for a grassroots progressive movement. By the 2002 election, more than 4,000 people had engaged with the project as volunteers, supporters, listeners, and leaders.Throughout 2002, we cruised around Oregon in our 1978 charter bus and supported fourteen candidates throughout the state. We zoomed through Salem and Siletz, Madras and Medford, joined together to rap politely on nearly 70,000 doors, and educated voters about progressive candidates running for state legislative seats. Voters elected seven of these candidates to office - tying the Oregon Senate for the first time in more than a decade. Hundreds of Oregonians found a meaningful way to meet their neighbors and work toward change - many of them canvassed, supported a candidate, or volunteered for the first time.
Psychscape has a post that says while English may not be the world's dominant language, nevertheless, it will be the language that promises greater international unity. An excerpt from the post is below:
According to David Graddol, "The world's language system is undergoing rapid change because of demographic trends, new technology, and international communication." Both written and spoken commuication are affected. Contrary to what seems to be the current trend, English may not be the dominant language - it may perhaps be Mandarin. The author looks at the current languages spoken (the top 4 are Chinese, English, Hindi/Urdu and Spanish) and he projects that according to population statistics the top 4 in the year 2025 will be Chinese, Hindi/Urdu, Arabic and English.Globalization of scientific English seems to promise greater international unity. English has become the language of choice for international meetings, for corporate science, multinational research programs, and official Web sites.The implications are important and have both positive and negative aspects. The role of English greatly increases the possibilities for international commerce in scientific work, on many levels but the dominance of English can weaken the relevance of other tongues. Scientists with a limited command of English may find it more difficult to publish in international journals and thus to reach a corresponding audience. "Such dominance can yield the illusion of a communicational tyranny by English and the underdog psychology that goes with it."
I believe the military should be able to present it's recruiting propaganda on high school campuses and college campuses. Students should be allowed to hear the presentations from the various services and make their own choices. I'm not saying this just because I'm a veteran. I'm saying it because censoring the military is not a good idea.
Phil Carter has a post entitled "Military's Right to Recruit on Law School Campuses" wherein he posts:
Three student organizations representing veterans of the armed forces have filed a "friend of the court" brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to reject a lawsuit that threatens the ability of the military to recruit on campus, on the grounds that allowing law schools to ban on-campus military recruitment would hurt both the military and law students."[A]llowing law schools to exclude military recruiters without facing the consequences provided for in the Solomon Amendment would cause serious harm to the Nation, to those individuals who are now serving or who in the future will be serving in the military, and to law students with an interest in military service," the brief argues.
The brief was filed by Howard J. Bashman, a Philadelphia-based appellate lawyer who edits the How Appealing weblog, on behalf of three veterans organizations: the UCLA School of Law Veterans Society, Washburn University Veterans Law Association, and the College of William & Mary School of Law Military Law Society. It marks the first time in the current series of court battles over this issue that a student organization has filed a brief supporting the military’s unrestricted ability to recruit on law school campuses.
Phil Carter's post has all the links and more info about this subject.
According to a report from the Federal Register, the following seems to me to be a good idea.
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Vessels Catching Pacific Cod for Processing by the Inshore Component in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of AlaskaAGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Closure.
-----------------
SUMMARY: NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by vessels catching Pacific cod for processing by the inshore component in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the interim 2004 total allowable catch (TAC) of Pacific cod apportioned to vessels catching Pacific cod for processing by the inshore component of the Western Regulatory Area of the GOA.
DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), February 24, 2004, until superseded by the notice of Final 2004 Harvest Specifications of Groundfish for the GOA, which will be published in the Federal Register.
Outside the Beltway has an interesting post entitled "Amending the Constitution".
James Joyner says:
If we’re going to amend the Constitution so regularly, I’d much prefer that we do it in the manner actually prescribed in the Constitution, with a supermajority of the representatives of the people in Congress and three quarters of the states having their say, rather than have it done by unelected judges. Indeed, I find this whole discussion ironic, since George W. Bush has infinitely less power to amend the Constitution than does Sandra Day O’Connor.
I agree with him on this. I would like to add that I believe the constitution's basic purpose is to define what the federal government can and can not do. Also, it limits the power of the states to enforce certain laws passed by any particular state. In certain instances, for example, if the states pass laws that infringe on an individual's rights under the US constitution, then those state laws can be declared unconstitutional.
The 18th Amendment - the Prohibition Amendment, I believe, was the first "social engineering" amendment. It failed miserably.
The constitution, it seems to me (I'm not a lawyer or, even worse, a law prof) should be confined to what the government should be able to do or not to do. Amendments to the constitution seeking to define what an individual can do or can not do is way out of line.
James goes on to write:
Michael cites Kevin Drum’s post pointing out that President Bush has called for, at one time or another, five amendments (Flag burning, Victims rights, Abortion, Balanced budget, and Gay marriage) and quip, “He really seems to think the constitution is just a rough draft, doesn’t he?” Says Michael, “Just think. If every president supported five new amendments and they all passed, how many would we have?”
Bush's call for the following amendments: Flag burning, Victims rights, Abortion, Balanced budget, and Gay marriage, is, in my opinion, just plain ridiculous.
Here in Oregon we have a constitution with a Bill of Rights which restricts the state's power even more, in many instances, than the U. S. Bill of Rights restricts the federal government's ability to violate a person's rights.
As we all know DB's Medical Rants is blatantly opinionated but I read the blog anyway. Right now DB's Medical is studying existentialism. The following seems relevant, mainly, because it's posted on the post at or on about existentialism.
- Mankind has free will.
- Life is a series of choices, creating stress.
- Few decisions are without any negative consequences.
- Some things are irrational or absurd, without explanation.
- If one makes a decision, he or she must follow through.
Some existential thought says there is no God. I believe there is a God. I believe God created valium because he knew someone would invent existentialism. It could be worse, though, it could be Marxism.
Quotes by Groucho Marx courtesy of Nikke's Index.
The Oregon Legislature spends a lot of its time with the respresentatives and senators from urban and suburban Oregon warring against the legislators from rural Oregon. However, occasionally they get together to come up with ridiculous schemes and one of their schemes is now going to affect the Oregon Health Plan, and the effect is not going to be favorable. Rob Saltzman posts that the Oregon Health Plan might lose about 63 million smackers.
The war between the two Oregons continue.
Janet Jackson's historic performance at the Super Bowl half-time show seems to have far reaching implications. But, seriously, would this make her a flibbertigibbet.
We report, you sleaze out.
Senator Ron Wyden is is now a co-sponsor of S. 1925, a bill to amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish an efficient system to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts, and for other purposes.
Good. I think this is much needed legislation.
Sometimes people take stuff much too seriously. The Beatles often thought people took the Beatles too seriously, so many times the Beatles would say outrageous things just for fun. I like the Beatles but, after all, they were just a great rock and roll band, among other things.
In January 1967, the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein hired playwright Joe Orton to write their third film. Orton produced a script called Up Against It, which was never produced. According to Paul McCartney:"The reason why we didn't do Up Against It wasn't because it was too far out or anything. We didn't do it because it was gay. We weren't gay and really that was all there was to it. It was quite simple, really. Brian was gay ... and so he and the gay crowd could appreciate it. Now, it wasn't that we were anti-gay -- just that we, The Beatles, weren't gay."
"Wherever we went there's always a few seats laid aside for cripples and people in wheelchairs... they're pushing them at you like you're Christ or something. You'd open up every night, and instead of seeing kids there you'd just see a row full of cripples on the front... It seemed like (we were) just surrounded by cripples and blind people all the time. And when we'd go through corridors, everybody would be -- they'd be all touching us. It got horrifying." --John Lennon
REPORTER: I'd like to direct this question to messrs. Lennon and McCartney. In a recent article, Time magazine put down pop music. And they referred to "Day Tripper" as being about a prostitute...PAUL: Oh yeah.
REPORTER: ...and "Norwegian Wood" as being about a lesbian.
PAUL: Oh yeah.
REPORTER: I just wanted to know what your intent was when you wrote it, and what your feeling is about the Time magazine criticism of the music that is being written today.
PAUL: We were just trying to write songs about prostitutes and lesbians, that's all.
Then there's the American Conservative Union Foundation. They have devoted a full article to analyzing John Lennon's song "Imagine".
I imagine when John Lennon wrote "Imagine" he didn't imagine that "Imagine" would be the muse for the following deep, philosophical paragraph from the article:
"Imagine" envisions a world made more peaceful, first, by the disappearance of religion, an old idea that may have gained new resonance on September 11, 2001. Besides such excesses of what Gibbon drolly referred to as "enthusiasm", religion has frequently shown a willingness to support an unsavory status quo, often at the side of unappetizing allies. It is seems fair to concede that if fanaticism and reaction were religion's sole products, few would hesitate to join Lennon in his wish to see it gone. But religion may have other effects worth considering before it's tossed over the side. For example, it's often claimed that people commonly have a need to invest themselves in some transcendent purpose, with religion providing a relatively benign outlet. Better to sing "Amazing Grace" in church than the "Horst Wessel Song" at a torchlight rally, the argument goes. But Quakerism does not exhaust the range of religious possibilities, so without consideration of, say, Jihadist Islam, the argument falls a bit short. There are other ways, though, that religion may resist the demise of liberal democracy and the development of oppressive rule.
Link via Clayton Cramer.
Critical Mass has post entitled " Due process and domino effects".
The post, in part, says:
Here's an extreme example of how the "guilty until innocent" approach to campus sexual misconduct accusations can play out for the accused.In this unfolding tragedy, Shaoqiang He came to the U.S. from China in the 1990s in order to undertake graduate studies at the University of Memphis. He was expelled in 1998 after a female student accused him of fondling her. Having lost the graduate stipend they were living on, He and his wife then entered such dire financial straits that they surrendered their daughter to foster care, thinking they could get her back when their circumstances improved. The Hes supported themselves by working in Chinese restaurants while they awaited trial. At the trial, He was acquitted. But that is not a happy ending to an awful story.
Not only has He's career been destroyed by an accusation that proved baseless, but the foster parents are moving to adopt the Hes' daughter. The Hes are now embroiled in a nasty custody battle, which in turn is the only thing staving off their imminent deportation.
Had officials at the University of Memphis accorded Shaoqiang He due process, had they held firmly to the tenet that in this country a person is always innocent until proven guilty, he would not have been expelled on the basis of an accusation. He would not have been deprived of his education, he would not have had his career prospects ruined, and he would not have lost his daughter.
One hopes He's accuser is satisfied. And one hopes the Memphis administrators who trampled He's rights in their eagerness to prove their commitment to women's safety will take a moment or two out of their busy days to reflect on what they have done.
Looks like three examples of sleaze combined to produce extreme injustice. First, there's false accusations from a sleazeball.
Then the school administration jumps the gun and does away with due process and objectivity. Gosh, I wonder if the administrators believe in the international, homosexual, intergenerational Satanic Ritual Cult and the space aliens who kidnap students.
Then, get this, a foster couple wants to rip of someone's kids just because the parents of that kid have been having a tough time. Man, if every family that had tough times had their kids ripped off, why then, why then, we might become a nation of voodoo school administrators.
TalkLeft has two posts dealing with the Oklahoma. The first is here. The second is here. In the second post TalkLeft has an excerpt from an AP story that says:
The FBI believed Timothy McVeigh tried to recruit additional help in the days before the deadly 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and gathered evidence that white supremacist bank robbers may have become involved, according to government documents never introduced at McVeigh's trial.The retired FBI chief of the Oklahoma City investigation, Dan Defenbaugh, said he was unaware of some evidence obtained by The Associated Press and that the investigation should be reopened to determine whether the robbery gang was linked to McVeigh.
The evidence never shared with Defenbaugh's investigators or defense lawyers includes documents showing the Aryan Republican Army bank robbers possessed explosive blasting caps similar to those McVeigh stole and a driver's license with the name of a central player who was robbed in the Oklahoma City plot.
I believe that retired FBI agent Dan Defenbaugh, chief of the Oklahoma City bombing investigation, is correct in saying that the investigation should be reopened.
On a related note: A government agency tasked with gathering evidence, intelligence, etc. can amass quantities of evidence and intelligence, but if the agency lacks the manpower to adequately analyze the evidence or intelligence, then the evidence or intelligence is often not used to its full worth or ignored completely. I believe the CIA, the FBI and other agencies need more people to sift through all the stuff that is collected in order to be able to make connections of the various pieces of the puzzle, identity trends, collate data, and do all the other things needed in order to optimize the effectiveness of the various agencies involved in law enforcement or collecting intelligence on threats to America.
America needs more analysts.
What is good is a huge stack of evidence if there is no one to sift through it to determine what is crap and what is not?
What good are mass quantities of intelligence data if there is no one to sift through it and see trends or make sense of the various pieces of the puzzle or differentiate between that which is useless and that which is of value?
Know of corruption in the Customs Service? Then contact John Carman at "Corruption on the Border".
I'm getting a lot of guff from supporters and members of the American Family Rights Association (AFRA) in the comments section at this post. Despite overwhelming evidence that Leonard Henderson, co-founder of AFRA, and many of his associates here in Oregon are in bed with white supremacist, lunatic Roger Weidner and his group, members and supporters of AFRA continue to deny that AFRA is a front for a bunch of Christian Identity and Sovereign Citizen fanatics.
The following is an email I received from Susan Detlefsen, Director of Oregon Family Rights Association, and a close of associate of Leonard Henderson and his buddies.
Date: 11/18/2003 15:06:57 -0800 From: "Susan Detlefsen"To: editor
Subject: Dear Sleazer Editor
I found some of your anonymous Websites over the Internet, namely the ones you put up regarding Roger Weidner, who is one of the most courageous people I have known in Oregon. Mr. Weidner sacrificed a law career by standing up to corruption and taking on the people's fight. I found your comments about him very cowardly.I wonder what happened to you that has made you say these things? Mr. Weidner wonders if perhaps there has been a misunderstanding that has prompted your slanderous attacks on him.
Here is his number if you would like to speak to him: 503-232-6691. Knowing the kind of man he is, I'm sure he would welcome the opportunity to speak to you in person to discuss your opinions of him.
Susan Detlefsen
If it's true that AFRA is not a front and that I'm mistaken about AFRA, then it wouldn't be difficult for them to publicly repudiate their association with Roger Weidner and his merry band of morons.
As long as people are going to associate with lunatic Roger Weidner and his racist, homophobic buddies, they are never going to be taken seriously by the average citizen. In fact, the average citizen will look upon them with disgust.
Maybe they ought to listen to more Beatles music.
Revolution by the BeatlesYou say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world.
Tou tell me that it’s evolution,
Well, you know
We all want to change the world.
But when you talk about destruction,
Don’t you know that you can count me out.
Don’t you know it’s going to be alright,
Alright, alright.
You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We’d all love to see the plan.
You ask me for a contribution,
Well, you know
We’re doing what we can.
But if you want money for people with minds that hate,
All I can tell you is brother you have to wait.
Don’t you know it’s going to be alright,
Alright, alright.
You say you’ll change a constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head.
You tell me it’s the institution,
Well, you know
You better free your mind instead.
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao,
You ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow.
Don’t you know it’s going to be alright,
Alright, alright.
This report from the GAO says that the Department of Defense still has a huge backlog of security clearances to process. The following is from the report:
DOD did not know the size of its security clearance backlog at the end of September 2003 and has not estimated the size of the backlog since January 2000. DOD cannot estimate the size of its backlog of overdue reinvestigations that have not been submitted for renewal, but prior estimates of this portion of the backlog suggest it was sizeable. Using September 2003 data from DSS, OPM, and nine adjudication facilities, GAO calculated the size of investigative and adjudicative portions of the backlog at roughly 270,000 and 90,000 cases, respectively. Because these estimates were made using time-based goals that varied from agency to agency, the actual backlog size is uncertain.Several impediments hinder DOD’s ability to eliminate—and accurately estimate the size of—its clearance backlog. Four major impediments slowing the elimination of the backlog are (1) the large numbers of new clearance requests; (2) the insufficient investigator and adjudicator workforces; (3) the size of the existing backlog; and (4) the lack of a strategic plan for overcoming problems in gaining access to state, local, and overseas information needed to complete investigations. Two other factors have hampered DOD’s ability to develop accurate estimates of the backlog size. DOD has failed to provide adequate oversight of its clearance program, including developing DOD-wide backlog definitions and measures and using the measures to assess the backlog regularly. In addition, delays in implementing its Joint Personnel Adjudication System have limited DOD’s ability to monitor backlog size and track when periodic reinvestigations are due.
DOD’s failure to eliminate and accurately assess the size of the backlog may have adverse effects. Delays in updating overdue clearances for command, agency, and industry personnel who are doing classified work may increase risks to national security. Slowness in issuing new clearances can increase the costs of doing classified government work. Finally, DOD’s inability to accurately define and measure the backlog and project future clearance requests that it expects to receive can adversely affect its ability to develop accurate budgetary and staffing plans.
In December 2003, advisors to OPM’s Director recommended that the authorized transfer of DOD’s investigative functions and personnel to OPM should not occur for at least the rest of fiscal year 2004. That recommendation was based on uncertainties over financial risks that OPM might incur. An alternative plan being discussed by DOD and OPM calls for leaving investigative staff in DSS and giving them training for, and access to, OPM’s case management system. A DOD official estimated that using the OPM system, instead of DOD’s current system, would avoid about $100 million in update and maintenance costs during the next 5 years. Also, as of December 16, 2003, the Secretary of Defense had not provided Congress with certifications required prior to any transfer.
I wonder if tranferring the responsibilities of one incompetent bureaucracy to another incompetent bureaucracy would help the situation. Nah, probably not.
This story from PalmBeachPost.com points out:
Healthy profits for a private company caused dangerous conditions and inmate injuries at a local prison while state officials looked the other way, according to a grand jury report released Monday.Premier Behavioral Solutions Inc. skimped on staffers and training at its prison in suburban West Palm Beach, grand jurors determined. Leaders at the Florida Institute for Girls locked inmates in their cells and canceled school because there weren't enough guards to watch them.
Low-paid staffers did not have enough training to prevent violence and injuries. Officials for the state responded to the critical report and ongoing problems Monday by ending its three-year, $15.6 million contract with Premier. The company will run the prison until a replacement is found.
The story goes on to say:
The prison's plan to control the girls' behavior was taken from programs that worked with less-troubled boys, jurors wrote. Yoga, aerobics and dance programs fizzled without workers to run them. When staff was short, girls were locked in bare cells and forced to miss school and outdoor activities. Classes were canceled 41 times in less than seven months during 2003 because the prison did not have enough staff to supervise them.The "inexcusable" cancellations frustrated the girls and caused them to act out, the jury said. In was not a coincidence, they wrote, that a violent struggle that fractured a girl's arm in July happened after the girls had been locked up nearly all day.
Staff shortages also compromised security and left the girls at risk, according to the report. The prison assigned only one staff member to monitor 32 security cameras, often without a lunch break. And though company policy prohibited male guards from working alone with teenage girls, they sometimes did. One guard left alone on the wing was arrested on charges that he fondled an inmate. He was convicted of assault.
Another male guard had sex with two inmates in the bathroom. Many employees were dedicated, but work at the prison was almost intolerable, grand jurors wrote. Staffers were paid $8.50 an hour -- far less than the state pays -- to deal with troubled girls who often made up abuse reports and physically attacked the staff.
It's beyond me how this situation could have developed in the first place. What's even more amazing is that the situation was allowed to go on until some investigative reporting revealed it. What the hell is going on in Florida???!!! Is Jeb Bush too incompetent to run the state properly?
This is one more reason why some government responsibilities should not transferred to the private sector. There are many government functions that could and should be transferred to the private sector, but prisons and police responsibilites are not among those functions.
a week in the life of a criminal defense attorney... is so depressing. Time to break out the blood and the guts and the beer. Hmmm...I just mopped the floor, maybe I'll just break out the beer.
Link via Crimlaw.
The One True b!X has a post about how Urban Renewal Areas (URA) are financed. It's quite an interesting post. I, personally, believe many URA's are political pork and only benefit a few, mostly those with a little more wealth and political influence than the rest of us.
The One True b!X's post is part of an ongoing dialogue going on in the city of Portland, Oregon concerning a couple of URA's.
Check out some beautiful pictures of Portland's waterfront and a boat. Here is the boat and here are boats and a bunch of guys in a kayak. Man, when I was in the Navy we never had a boat like the boat with all the guys in it. Check out the party boat here. Photos courtesy of Rivrdog.
Question : Why, when the last three or four times I called my parents, John McClelland Hays and Neta Hays, they told me they had never known where I was? This is obviously not true. I went to my sister's wedding, my relatives helped me move into various apartments, and I even went to church with them in Beaverton. They also went to court in Hillsboro, Oregon with me when I was trying to get visitation for my girls.
I had to go to court because somebody convinced the mother of my two daughters I was involved in an intergenerational Satanic Ritual Abuse Cult, and that not only was I a victim of Satanic Ritual Abuse, but that I engaged in Satanic Ritual Abuse. I'm not the only one this foolishness has happened to. Another guy had a sister who believed almost everybody was controlled by a Satanic Cult after only three or four visits to a crooked therapist.
I wonder why my parents are lying to me and why they haven't visited me once since I moved into the house where I'm living. I've been living here for a couple of years and yet they haven't visited or called me since I moved into this house. I wonder what's going on behind my back.
There's a ninth amendment controversy simmering in the blogosphere among some bloggers. The Legal Theory Blog weighs in on this controversy as well as supplying a lot of links to various opinions about this controversy.
The ninth amendment is a part of the first ten amendments to the Constitution known as the Bill of Rights. It is as follows:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Believe it or not, the interpretation of the ninth amendment has been debated for a long time, even before the advent of the internet.
There is an argument advanced by Hamilton that since the government wasn't given the power to disparage this or that right, then what need is there for an amendment to say the government can't do this or that when the government has never been given the right to do this or that. The following is in his words posted on the Legal Theory Blog.
For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do? Why, for instance, should it be said that the liberty of the press shall not be restrained, when no power is given by which restrictions may be imposed?
The following from Hamilton posted on the Right Coast Blog says
I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and to the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed Constitution, but would even be dangerous. They would contain various exceptions to powers not granted; and, on this very account, would afford a colorable pretext to claim more than were granted. For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do? Why, for instance, should it be said that the liberty of the press shall not be restrained, when no power is given by which restrictions may be imposed? I will not contend that such a provision would confer a regulating power; but it is evident that it would furnish, to men disposed to usurp, a plausible pretense for claiming that power. They might urge with a semblance of reason, that the Constitution ought not to be charged with the absurdity of providing against the abuse of an authority which was not given, and that the provision against restraining the liberty of the press afforded a clear implication, that a power to prescribe proper regulations concerning it was intended to be vested in the national government. This may serve as a specimen of the numerous handles which would be given to the doctrine of constructive powers, by the indulgence of an injudicious zeal for bills of rights.
In a way, Hamilton is sort of right. If you have a Bill of Rights that says the government can't take away certain rights then somebody who wants more, more, more, more power if elected might say, "Well, gee, now that we have a definite set of rights, maybe we can chisel down any unmentioned rights and have a government that should do what I say it should do".
Others, most notably Jefferson and Madison, thought that somebody would assume only those rights enumerated explicitly explained might be the only ones that were really important and that rights not explicity explained and protected might fall by the wayside. They also knew that if they prohibited the government from violating all the rights the government didn't have the power to mess with anyway, they would have a zillion amendments instead of the few. Having a zillion amendments would have been cost prohibitive because Franklin is said to have said, "A penny saved is a penny earned" and he should know because he was a printer who became rich and charmed the women of France.
So somebody came up with the ninth amendment. Again, the ninth amendment says
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
I will try to put the ninth amendment into the everyday language of white trailer trash like myself. It is as follows:
Hey, man, just cause we said the government can't mess with the rights explained in the Bill of Them Damn Rights, doesn't mean the government can mess with our other rights. We don't need to explain every damn right we have and make an amendment for it, do we? That would cost too much damn money. We're not like those damn northerners, y'know. Damn northerners come down here with some fancy food called hogs feet and expect us to eat it. We'll just pretend to eat it while they really eat it and we'll secretly eat bison steaks.
Reasons Hits and Run Blog has a post leading to a a news story at MLive.com. This story is true and it's so bizarre that no one could have made it up. Below I'm going to put excerpts from the story and my comments.
The news story starts off by reporting
SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. (AP) — An assistant high school principal is being investigated after police say he admitted to planting marijuana in a student's locker. Police say Pat Conroy told them earlier this month that he placed the marijuana in the male student's locker at South Haven High School last year because he suspected the student was a drug dealer. Conroy told police he was trying to get the boy expelled.But the plan failed because a police drug dog didn't find the contraband during a school search, The Herald-Palladium of St. Joseph reported in a Friday story.
Ok, so far we have a lunatic assistant principal and an incompetent drug dog. This lunatic assistant principal has more power over more people than many of us do and this is how he responds????!!!! I wonder if he tried to frame any teachers.
The news story goes on to say:
Conroy stated he had "lost his perspective" and had done something "stupid, arrogant and unethical," according to a police report. But he stressed to police that he only planted evidence once.
"Lost his perspective"??!! I'd say he'd lost his mind, if he ever had one in the first place.
There's more:
After Conroy told police his story, they searched his office Feb. 9 and found a drawer filled with packets of suspected marijuana and assorted pills, the police report said. He was placed on administrative leave that day, said Superintendent Dave Myers, who read a statement at Wednesday's school board meeting.
What was this clown's motto? Frame a student there, frame a student here, frame a student everywhere.
And more:
Conroy told police he had been collecting the drugs, which he said had been confiscated from students, ever since he came to the high school in August 1999.He said he kept the drugs in his office so they could be used at student expulsion hearings in front of the school board to show as evidence.
But school board President Ed Bocock, who has been on the board since Conroy joined the district staff, said he never saw drugs displayed at any student expulsion hearing he attended.
"Those drugs are supposed to be given to the police," he said.
Well, y'know, some people collect stamps, some people collect coins, some people collect bottles, I guess this guy just collected drugs. Maybe this guy should have been a pharmacist instead.
More, give me more:
The Van Buren County prosecutor's office is reviewing the case to see whether the assistant principal could be charged with possession of marijuana.
Please, oh please, oh please, give the guy a break. After all, he wasn't possessing pot to smoke, he was just possessing pot to frame people.
I know a little what it's like to have somebody try to frame you. Once, some years ago, somebody placed some pot in my car on the front seat and then called the Tigard, Oregon cops. The cops were too smart to fall for it, though. I mean, no pot smoker would ever put pot right smack dab in the middle of the passenger seat right out where everyone can see it. Besides, in Oregon a little bit of pot is treated as a traffic infraction.
Another time it happened to me is described below:
A moron who was my supervisor at the downtown, main Portland Postal Facility by the name of Kim Anderson decided one way to "get" me was to have somebody plant drugs on me. One night while I was working at the downtown main post office in Portland, Oregon he called me and a bunch of my co-workers together on the floor and told us that he had received a tip that one of us had illegal drugs. So he made a big show of searching my coat, my person, my locker, etc. and found nothing. He did the illegal search in front of a lot of my co-workers. The whole thing was secretly being videotaped by postal inspectors who were always secretly spying on the postal employees to make sure they weren't stealing any mail or doing anything else illegal. Guess what...the American Postal Workers' Union (APWU) of which I was a member did absolutely nothing to protect my rights during this incident.
Kim was supposed to plant some sort of illegal drugs in my coat but because he's a moron he forgot. I believe he was asked to frame me as a favor to Jim Spinden, but I can't prove it at this time.
The link below leads to one of the most eloquent posts I've read.
Let the real mudsling begin. Andrew R. Cline has a post entitled "Pure pathos...". In it he remarks
Howard Kurtz outlines what may be the Bush re-election strategy regarding ads targeting Sen. John Kerry: focus on his 32-year record in politics and political activism.
Cline then goes on to say
Because most Americans get their political news from television, and because television is a picture-driven, emotion-enhancing, drama-highlighting medium, such a rhetorical tactic will be effective. If I were advising the President I would be suggesting exactly this approach.
I believe this is a valid opinion. I also believe it is an opinion I agree with. I think most Americans like mudslinging during a campaign even though they say they don't.
I like it when politicians resort to mudslinging. I don't vote for a candidate because he's a good guy or not. I don't much care how sleazy a politician is because I figure if a politician gets too crooked, he or she will eventually get caught and prosecuted. I vote for a person because that person's view of the issues match mine. Since I'm not a one issue voter it doesn't bother me to vote for a candidate who doesn't agree with me on everything.
The mudslinging between the various Democratic prez candidates was wimpy. When the Democrats finally decide who will become the number one contender, then I hope there will be some real mudslinging. I also hope that most of the third party candidates get a chance to be in any debate spirited question and answer period that occurs once the Democrats have gotten their act together.
I hope Aaron Russo has a chance to be heard all across America.
A lot of people have asked me lately, "Why do we have Rhode Island? Can't we sell it to Haiti to help pay off the national debt?" Ok, maybe not a lot of people. Ok, maybe only a Howard Dean political strategist.
First of all, get the facts straight. The name is State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Second of all, Haiti can't afford Rhode Island. Thirdly, why would anybody want to pay off the national debt?
Rhode Island is so puny it has only a half of a tennis court.
Rhode Island is so puny its online newspaper can only find enough space for five webpages.
It's got too many people trying to sail to Haiti.
My own personal opinion is we ought to make Rhode Island a suburb of Los Angeles.
I really wasn't going to bring this up but there is an open source business application called Compiere 2.5.1. It's based on Java J2EE from Sun Microsystems. Because I don't have a life I screw around with these types of applications. I'm not an expert, but....but....but...don't tell MS, I think checking out Compiere might be advantageous to some businesses. Click on the link below to learn more.
Smart Open Source ERP Software Solutions with integrated CRM Software Solutions - Compiere
Today we're going to critique blogrolls. I've decided to critique CrimLaw's blogroll. My opinions are below.
1. Yeah, I like that one.
2. That one....I don't know. It's iffy.
3. Man, that one's cool.
4. Damn, a legal blawg. Still....if you think about it, it's not a bad legal blawg.
5. That one is cool because of the boobies.
6. Latin!!??? That one is written in Latin. What the hell is going on???
7. Good grief!!! I wonder what, "Don't read this blog or I'll sue your sleazy butt" means.
8. Macbeth
Act 5. Scene 5. Dunsinane.She should have died hereafter.
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle.
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Number eight seems a little flaky but all in all, not a bad blogroll.
What??? No more geography lessons from Howard Dean??? But...but....but I've been stealing his material and I have a presentation to give tomorrow.
I wonder if I can blag my way through it.
I get weird emails. Somebody writes, "Why do you sound like an idiot when you write?"
It probably has something to do with acoustics where you're at. Besides, my philosophy is, "It's not what you get on the internet that's important, it's if you can get it on the internet that's important".
Porphyrogenitus has a post that leads to this post by Asparagirl.
In the post by Asparagirl she reflects and comments about this post by Andrew Cholakian wherein he writes:
When I speak of this endemic techno-racism, I point to the tendency of Americans to wish to subjugate other cultures until they become American. Unfortuanately subjugation does not produce a society like America at all. Thus discrimination arises.As for problems with intention there is little to say. Sins are defined culturally, not globally. Altruism may be in our hearts but it is only a mask. Altruism masks a desire for perfection. Is this not what also drives a torturer? What we're asking isn't whether or not something is right or wrong, but whether or not something satisfies one's personal desires; and then how effectively.
I disagree with Andrew and I agree with Asparagirl when she writes:
I think Germany and Japan--two societies we "subjugated" for their own good (and, not coincidentally, ours)--might disagree with your assessment. You're right that neither one has become little America-clones; they both strongly retain their cultural uniqueness and individuality. But they became like us in the aspects that really matter: capitalist, egalitarian, democratic, relatively tolerant of dissent. But where's the supposed discrimination? If anything, both societies are far-more integrated and tolerant thanks to our interference. Do you really think a Japanese woman of the 21st century feels wronged that she has full civil rights only because of American "subjugation" in dictating her country's constitution in the 1940's?I don't think anyone would argue that American "subjugation" of those two societies has been anything but of the most benign kind, considering that historically, I can't think of any other "conqueror" who went on to fully rebuild their enemies' states, compete with them in a global rather than a military market, and most importantly give back all the land save for a military base or two.
So...what's the problem here?
American culture and personal freedoms (what's left of them) are what people from other countries want. Nobody is forcing people in other countries to buy fast food from fast food companies or buy music from American artists. However, making a buck is a small part of the American freedoms people from other countries want.
It seems like the small ruling elite who want to keep the cultures from other countries from being contaminated by American culture are the ones (and their sympathizers) who believe America is trying to subjugate other countries.
A lot of American culture is crap, I mean, that's obvious. But in order to get rid of the crap a government would have to throw out the baby with the bathwater. As long as there is American culture with freedoms, there is always going to be crap.
It is my belief that most people in most countries would like to have the freedom to be able to choose which crap they want to enjoy and which crap they don't AND they don't want a government of a small ruling elite to decide for them.
Which reminds me, it's time to say something about those purists who want to keep the French language uncontaminated. Hahahaha! Fat Chance, vous les idiots!
The The National Association of Scholars (NAS) has an opinion post by Thomas C. Reeves. Personally, I think most super-duper academic leaders are mediocre people who've mastered the bureaucratic chess games of higher educational institutions and I also think mediocre academic bureaucrats should be way overpaid so their money will trickle down to the masses. If you don't agree with me, though, check out the following.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004How To Find The Right Academic Leader
Thomas C. Reeves, The Wisconsin Policy Research InstituteWhen a campus, especially a highly regarded campus, begins to search for a new top administrator, salaries and recruiting costs often make the news. Unlike professors, whose salaries almost always go unmentioned in the media, the compensation packages for the suits in executive suites receive widespread attention. Indeed, the higher the cost of finding the "right" person, and the more grandiose the paycheck and perks advertised, the more prestige the campus appears to accrue.
The University of Wisconsin System has recently announced that its president is leaving and that it may cost more than $100,000 to find a replacement and $500,000 a year to secure the services of a "great administrator." UW System regents have declared that the search will be international. While UW officials have promised to pay for this pursuit of greatness with private gifts and grants, the salary, plus lavish living quarters, a new car, and assorted expenses, will be paid by the ordinary citizens who work for government well into may each year to pay all of their taxes.
While top academic administrators' compensation packages often do not match the financial bundles that leading corporate executives amass for themselves (legal and otherwise), many are handsome indeed. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, four executives in private schools get more than $800,000 a year, and 27 earn more than $500,000. When corporate board income is added, some university chiefs make more than a million dollars a year.
On the less lofty academic levels, Chancellors and Presidents of campuses are almost always compensated far beyond the levels of the most senior faculty. The pages of the Chronicle are filled perpetually with lucrative offers from scores of institutions. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, officials have announced that they will spend as much as $90,000 to find a new top executive. This is announced with much pride, for UWM has the ambition to be a notable number two institution in the state. In fact, the campus is rated by the U.S. News & World Report survey as a Tier 3 (next to the bottom) doctoral institution, has virtually open undergraduate admission (31% of the freshmen come from the bottom half of their high school class), and is constantly starved for funds. UWM is more likely, one day, to become Oregon State rather than Michigan State. But it still needs a "great administrator" who will cost the taxpayers a bundle.
What makes a President or Chancellor "great"? That question is often answered with some of the blandest generalities known to the English language. In fact, those selected in "leading" and ambitious institutions very often have Ivy League graduate degrees, previous service in the administration of a more highly regarded institution, the proven ability to raise money, and the race and gender required among the politically correct. The last two qualifications are important everywhere in academia. An easy conscience and a gift of gab are valuable at all levels.
I hereby propose a radically new approach to the search for presidents and chancellors, one that may well please taxpayers, faculty members, and students, if not the educational establishment. After forty years of teaching in colleges and universities for a living, I'm convinced that the time to rethink the meaning of academic leadership is at hand. The inability of the public, let alone the media, to identify a single major campus president or chancellor is a statement in itself about the need for change. That and the endless reports of sinking academic performance.
In the first place, the campus (or System) should place a single ad in the Chronicle. Along with the normal networking, this will insure a more than ample supply of candidates and avoid the expensive nonsense offered by "prestigious" educational consulting firms. People on campus with the necessary qualifications and attributes would not by definition be excluded from the search.
Second, the compensation package offered should not surpass the highest salary paid to a professor of philosophy on campus. The ad will declare that the tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars saved (the mansion will be sold, as well) will be given to the legions of wretched instructors and ad hocs who toil in the classroom for next to nothing. What is left over can go to student scholarships. The ad will also describe the administrator's office as one no larger than that assigned to the most distinguished historian on campus. The Chancellor or President will be the first among equals, required to spend at least ten hours a week talking with faculty and students.
Third, high character will be a top priority. The ad will spell out what good character is (one can assume nothing these days), and on the list, along with honesty and marital fidelity, will be a commitment to free speech and a pledge not to discriminate on the grounds of race, creed, or sex. For or against.
In the fourth place, the ad will note that the successful candidate will be a much-respected, and widely published scholar. Mere politicians need not apply. The new Chancellor or President will know what it is to labor in an academic field, and will thus respect and make every effort financially to assist those on the cutting edge of meaningful research. (Textbooks and papers designed for delivery at Modern Language Association meetings don't count.)
Lastly, the ad will require all candidates to spell out exactly how many courses in the campus catalogue should be eliminated (if that number does not exceed two dozen -- no matter the size of the campus -- then the application should be tossed), and how he or she would immediately raise academic requirements and standards. A statement about the applicant's commitment to the campus library and bookstore will also be pondered seriously.
Would no one apply? Would the ad be denounced in academia as "right wing" or "Nazi"? Would the campus's reputation be forever tarnished by those "educational experts" who talk endlessly about "quality" without defining it? Let the first brave campus redefine the routine process and the normal standards and discover for itself. It may just find that the innovation has won a measure of excellence at the top of the pyramid that will transform a campus in the most positive ways imaginable.
NAS10:33 AM
Yep, folks, believe it or not, we have a bunch of psycho white supremacists pretending to be mainstream people. They're not mainstream, though. They are anti-government zealots who want to set up a white supremacist dictatorship. The white supremacist organizations are "Judicial Reform Investigations" and "Dads Are Dads". They are based in Oklahoma City. They ought to be ashamed of themselves for following the same philosophy of those two guys who blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City many years ago and murdered many people, including little kids.
One of the white supremacist guys goes by the name of Aaron Burr. He is a buddy of loony Roger Weidner. Aaron Burr, who in reality is an idiot who pretends he's an expert at law, has managed to infiltrate some fathers' rights groups.
Sleaze Report Ruminations has inside information from Scrappleface that the Mayor of San Francisco has declared Monopoly money to be legal tender. For all taxpayers who owe money this means that you can go out, buy a Monopoly game, and pay your taxes easily.
Pentagon accountants are said to be overjoyed.
The following is a newsflash about an important person in Hillsboro, OR. The local news rag won't cover it because of monopolistic concerns, but we here at Sleaze Report Ruminations do not care about local monopolistic economic realities AND, even more important, we have no compunction about stealing other people's news reports.
The whole horrible story is at the link below:
Day Job Officially Becomes JobHILLSBORO, OR—Another human dream was crushed by the uncompromising forces of reality Monday, when the restaurant day job of 29-year-old former aspiring cartoonist Mark Seversen officially became his actual job.
"After four years of washing dishes to support my drawing projects, I've made the transition to washing dishes to support myself," Seversen told reporters after punching out at the end of his shift at Tres Café. "Let's face it, this is it. This is my job. I'll never forget that moment when I transformed from an aspiring underground cartoonist into a non-aspiring restaurant worker."
Since I'm an intrepid reporter I had to go out and get an interview from a spokesperson for the Hillsboro, Oregon Chamber of Commerce.
I intrepidly asked the spokesperson, "What can you tell me about this horrible story with such a victimless victim?"
She replied, "Why do those damn Mexicans keep coming to OUR Cinco de Mayo celebrations?"
I asked her, "Can I quote you on this?"
She said, "Ok, but no more quotes because I'm going to eat Mexican food."
We'll keep you updated on this important story.
Wizbang: Can I Go Pee . . . Please? is about the foolishness of administrators at Lawrence Middle School. Here's an excerpt:
Under a new policy at the Lawrence Middle School, seventh- and eighth-graders are allowed to leave class for the bathroom a maximum of 15 times a month. As a result, some are afraid to use up their bathroom passes too quickly and end up with a full bladder and nowhere to go.
Personally, I think kids have it too easy these days. When I was a kid I had to walk through fifteen miles of snow, eight miles of alligator infested swamp, ten miles of desert, four mountain ranges and that was just to get to the outhouse. The school was still fifty miles over yonder. The school didn't have an outhouse so nobody at the school went to the bathroom for about twelve years.
P.S. Nobody at the school survived and that's why I'm dead.
In beautiful downtown Portland, OR there is a tram that is mighty important to some strategically placed rich people. Some of the financing is coming from the less wealthy taxpayers of Portland. For background information you can go here and here and here.
For those of you who don't want background information or, for that matter, don't even read my blog, I'll save you the time of doing exhaustive research and try to put the "Tram Scam" in littly bitty sentences that I can understand.
There's a hill in Portland where the Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) hangs out and underpays their lowest paid employees but overpays their highest paid employees and it's vitally important for them to be able to get up and down the hill lickety-split.
The tram doesn't go a long distance but it does go downhill from the top of the hill. In fact, it goes from the top of the hill down to South Waterfront Urban Renewal Area. South Waterfront Urban Renewal Area sounds pretty important, doesn't it? It doesn't really exist except on plans to get money from somewhere. However, when the urban renewal area is finally brought into physical reality, it will house, theoretically, rich people and places where rich people can party.
The architects who were awarded the project came up with a plan and design that would cost millions of dollars. They revised the plan and the design when they realized the towers for the tram had to actually support the tram. They revised the costs upwards. (There's a rule among those who get contracts from the government that all costs are revised upward instead of downward. It's the unwritten law of corporate welfare.)
The tram is a good idea for the few who will go from the top of the hill to the bottom of the hill and vice versa.
Unfortunately, the building of the tram has run into problems. One of the little problems that has arisen is that new revised cost estimates exceed the money that had been set aside for the project, which was based on optimism in the first place.
The second problem is structural integrity. The people who support the tram have come to the conclusion that a tram should have structural integrity. This is good. However, structural integrity costs money and since this is a government project it will cost MORE money and not less money.
Another problem that has arisen is the design of the tram itself. Because of brilliant committee work it has been decided that the tram should be able to carry people. But some people don't want the tram to look like a tram because that would be tacky and rich people don't like to hang out in tacky trams.
All in all, the tram scam is ongoing at the moment.
I'm on various email lists, everything from forensic science lists to various investigators lists. I get on the lists by telling the moderators I'm not an expert, but I just want to learn. Most of the time I'm let on the lists.
On each list there are some crazies. They make up silly names instead of using their own. What they don't know is that any email address a person uses can usually be traced back to that person's computer and the date and time when that user sends out email can also, usually, be established.
On one of my email lists there's crazy lady who always tells us how evil and mean her two ex-husbands are. She then wants the people on the list to side with her against her two husbands. Most people don't though.
The other day, though, she wrote that she went through therapy for seven years because of the divorces and she now realizes that the present wives to her vile, mean, nasty and disgusting ex-husbands are also out to get her. So this crazy lady wants the list's help to get the wives of her ex-husbands before they get her.
Then there are really, really loony emails sent to lists, such as the following:
TO SKANNER NEWSPAPER (Portland Newspaper focused on the African American community in Oregon)
HERE IS A NEWSPAPER WHO IS VIOLATING THE PUBLIC TRUST BY PROTECTING STATE AGENTS WHO ARE ABUSING CHILDREN AND FAMILIES - WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THEY PRINTED A FAMILYS STORY WHO HAS BEEN DESTROYED BY THE FAMILY POLICE? NONE OF THAT IS REPORTED SO THAT THE FRAUD CAN BE MAINTAINED FOR THE $$$$$.
I AM GLAD THAT THE PUBLIC CAN NOW SEE THE STAND THAT YOU HAVE TAKEN THAT YOU THINK IT IS OK TO PUT ACTIVE LESBIANS AND HOMOSEXUALS WITH VULNERABLE LOW INCOME CHILDREN, AND ASSESS LOW INCOME FAMILIES - DESTROY THEM ON THE OPIONIONS OF THE PERVERT BIG BROTHERS AND SISTERS - WHO ARE NOTHING MORE THAN CASEWORIKERS GETTING INTO THE HOMES AND SHAMING THE POOR PARENTS ABOUT HOW THEY CAN'T PROVIDE ALL THESE PERKS FOR THEIR CHILDREN AND THEY ARE JUST LOSERS ANYWAY -
THE LIES OF THE MANDATORY REPORTERS TAKE CHILDREN AND DESTROY FAMILIES EVERY DAY, WITH NO RECOURSE FOR THE LOW INCOME PEOPLE , WHOSE ONLY CHANCE THEN IS TO COMPLY WITH THE STATE - BACK TO YOUR MONEY MAKING MACHINE ON HUMAN FLESH YOU ARE PROMOTING.
THIS IS THE ATITUDE OF THE WHOLE SYSTEMIC FRAUD THAT THE STATE IS THE PARENT OF THE CHILD - GO FOR IT - YOU ARE RESPONSBILE FOR THEIR DESTRUCTION TO PROMOTE THESE PROGRAMS.
LAWSUITS? WE ARE FILING THE LAWSUITS TO SHUT DOWN THIS ABUSE AS WELL AS THE ABUSE ASSESSMENT CENTERS. WE HAVE ALREADY PROVEN IN COURT UNDISPUTED THAT THE STATE AGENCIES ARE ABUSING THE CHILDREN AND THESE CRIMES ARE COVERED UP. NO CRIME IS NECESSARY TO TAKE THE CHILDREN. WE ARE TEACHING PEOPLE HOW TO DEFEND THEMSELVES AND FILE LAWSUITS WITHOUT ATTONORNEYS WHO WORK IT FOR THE MONEY, AND AGAINST ANY WHO PROMOTE IT - LIKE YOURSEVES.
I am sending this to the list - I want them to see that your paper is not protecting your low income readership by promoting these child abuse programs. We have seen your paper do articles promoting Kay Toran, and Volunteers of America, when she is a KNOWN pedophile, international black market child procurer and child abuser - this already UNDISPUTED COURT RECORDS - THAT MEANS LEGAL FACT, IN CASE YOU DON'T KNOW THAT.
Libel???? go for it!!! We have subpoenaed these abusers for four years and they fail to appear,. default, do not answer and judges quash their subpoeneas so the facts of their henious abuse do not come out on the Record. These people wont come into court at all !!! We have subpoenaed them and they know if they ever come into court it all comes out about the abuse that is being routinely COVERED UP.
You do a great disserviced and people are losing their children because of your attitude and failure to investigate the information we send out. We do not make any statment that we cannot back up. These programs are dangeous to Oregon and you are being greatly deceived by a HUGE money interest who wants to attach to every low income child in the state of Oregon.
I guess you promote the Oregon Children Plan too, to assess every newborn? These are the socialist programs being entrenched by people likie Avrel Gordly and Margarter Carter, and other exploiting legislators.
THEY ARE SELLING ALL THE BLACK CHILDREN TOO !!!! TAKE THIS FOR A TITLE - THE SOSCF HAS A PROGRAM CALLED 'OVER REPRESENTATIN OF MINORITIES IN FOSTER HOMES" WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT MEANS? IT MEANS THEY ARE NOT GETTING AS MUCH MONEY FOR THEM CAUCASIONS AND SO THEY CAME UP WITH OTHER WAYS TO INTERVENE AND GET THEM IN THE HEAD START AND GET INTO THEIR HOMES. THIS IS A BEAST WITH TENACLES AND ALL THESE PROGRAMS ARE MANDATORY REPORTERS - SO T HESE POEPLE HAVE PAID, GAY SPIES ASSESSING THEIR ON THEIR FAMILES AND BEFRIENDING THE CHILDREN -- THAT IS OK WITH YOU ????? HELL WHO NEEDS SEX ABUSE LAWS WHEN YOU ACTIVELY PAY PEDOPHLIES TO 'BEFRIEIND" THE CHILD - EVERY PROGRAM YOU GO TO FOR SELF DEFENSE SAYS THAT IS THE FIRST TIP OFF YOU WARN YOUR CHILDREN AGAINST !!!!!!
We have testified in the Senate in these matters and told Carter right there how she is selling out the African American people NOT teaching anyone about their rights but instead expopliting them all for money for the state/fed programs.
IT IS AN UNBELIEVABLE DECEPTION AND FRAUD BEINGPERPETUATED ON THE PEOPLE AND YOU ARE PRMOMOTING IT.
ALL WE CAN EVER DO IS SHOW THE PEOPLE WHAT WE SEE AND YOU HAVE SHOWN YOURSELF AND YOUR PAPER AS A MOUTHPIECE FOR THE STATE.
THIS IS A DAY OF CHOICE. GOD KNOWS THE CHOICE YOU MADE PERSONALLY AND NOW PUBLICLY. YOU WILL LIVE AND DECAY ACCORDING TO YOUR CHOICES.
pamela gaston a voice for children
The following was one of the responses to a flurry of emails sent out by a cult of loonies, of which Pam Gaston is one:
From: The Skanner News Department To: A Voice For Children Date: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 9:41 AM Subject: stop emailing us
Please do not send us any more homophobic materials about Big Brother/Big Sister. You are clearly spreading false information and opening yourselves to a libel suit.
Lisa Loving, news editor, The Skanner News Group.
Some email lists are helpful, some are informative, some are useless, some are downright ridiculous, some are interesting, and some are humorous, regardless of the subject matter of the lists.
According to his fan club, Dr. Ron Turco is still brilliant. I don't know if he's as brilliant as Diane Humenansky, M.D. who got her license as a doctor and a psychiatrist revoked for diagnosing everybody she came into contact with as having the dreaded "repressed memories of childhood satanic ritual and sexual abuse syndrome", but I figure, why quibble about important stuff when there's some questions to ask.
Who tried to use Cathy Winters in an attempt to frame me?
Who ordered Cathy Winters to destroy my Fiat?
According to postal inspectors and the FBI somebody tried to tamper with my military records after I got out of the Navy. Why is it so difficult for the Navy to find out who the miscreants are? I mean if they tried to tamper with my records maybe they also tried, and succeeded, at tampering with the military records of a whole passel of veterans.
Even though I don't understand postmodernist jive, it certainly seems to make sense.
It is worth briefly recalling the prehistory of the book Intellectual Impostures. In 1996 Sokal, who is a physicist at New York University, submitted an article for publication in a magazine called Social Text which is regarded as an influential left-leaning periodical devoted to sociology and the relatively newly developed field of “cultural studies”. Sokal named his article Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity.In the course of few pages he included as much gobbledegook and pseudo-science as imagination and space allowed. With the indulgence of the reader, a small example: “the pi of Euclid and the G of Newton, formerly thought to be constant and universal, are now perceived in their ineluctable historicity; and the putative observer becomes fatally de-centred, disconnected from any epistemic link to a space-time point.” The editors of the magazine, including prominent left-wing radical Stanley Aaronowitz, cofounder of the journal and professor at City University of New York, welcomed the piece as a serious contribution and published it.
Only after its appearance and the admission by Sokal that the article was a hoax did the backsliding on the part of the magazine's editors begin. Sokal had put his finger on a sore spot, and in Intellectual Impostures he attempts to probe and deepen the wound.
Bill Hobbs is propagating blogging professors. I know this is a terrible thing to perpetrate on the poor citizens of Tennessee but I say, "Fear not!"
"0 Little Flock, Fear Not the Foe"
by Johann M. Altenburg, 1584-1640
Translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1829-1878
Text From:
THE HANDBOOK TO THE LUTHERAN HYMNAL
(St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1942)p.1941. 0 little flock, fear not the Foe
Who madly seeks your overthrow;
Dread not his rage and power.
What though your courage sometimes faints,
His seeming triumph o'er God's saints
Lasts but a little hour.
2. Be of good cheer; your cause belongs
To Him who can avenge your wrongs;
Leave it to Him, our Lord.
Though hidden yet from mortal eyes,
His Gideon shall for you arise,
Uphold you and His Word.
3. As true as God's own Word is true.
Not earth nor hell with all their crew
Against us shall prevail.
A jest and byword are they grown;
God is with us, we are His own;
Our victory cannot fail.
4. Amen, Lord Jesus, grant our prayer;
Great Captain, now Thine arm make bare,
Fight for us once again!
So shall Thy saints and martyrs raise
A mighty chorus to Thy praise,
World without end. Amen.
Damn it, the agent for the dead guy (Shakespeare) wants me to link to another damn poem.
In today's Poynter Online - Wednesday Edition: Birds Vs. Glass has a story about how glass used in buildings is killing more birds than even cats and hungry people.
The solution seems to be pretty simple. I hope something is done about this.
On a related note: Cauliflower sucks, but asparagus and broccoli don't, especially when a cheese sauce is poured on the asparagus and broccoli.
My sister, Chris Andrea Hays, lies to her children everyday. I just found out about this. She tells some really outrageous lies about the International Satanists who control the New World Order who control America, Europe and all points in between.
My sister also tells smaller lies like how the Satanic Jews are murdering white Christian babies and drinking their blood in Satanic rituals. For years, behind my back, my sister has been telling people lies about me. She's even told people I'm adopted, I'm Jewish and that I've killed white Christian babies and drank their blood in weird rituals.
My sister has also told my children a bunch of lies. Again, this was done behind my back. Telling lies to my children was an effort to get my kids to hate me as much as my sister has learned to do.
My unhinged mother, Neta Hays, has been reinforcing these lies. They've been working like a team of psychopaths behind my back for years.
They have rewritten my life's history to include some of the most outrageous nonsense you can imagine. AND IT'S ALL BAD.
They've actually managed to get people to believe some of the lies.
The weird thing was, whenever I was around them they pretended they liked me so I never knew what they were doing behind my back.
Another guy had a sister who went nuts and made up some silly lies. The following is an excerpt from A Letter to My Sister.
What happened in the summer of 1996 was not your fault. Like tens of thousands of other people, you have been misled by a well-meaning but misinformed therapist. She meant well, but she misdiagnosed your symptoms as evidence of repressed memories of ritual satanic abuse. She gave you a simple, easy answer for the very real pain you've been feeling-- that all your problems are your family's fault and the result of ritual satanic abuse--instead of the true answer--the sadness we all felt due to Mom's long illness and repeated hospitalizations. Your therapist's "memory recovery" techniques are extremely dangerous because they carry the risk of creating a strong belief in "false memories," seemingly-real memories of events which in fact never occurred. Her "theories" of "memory recovery" are grounded in a misunderstanding of how memory works and have been rejected by every responsible scientific and medical organization that has examined them. Please read the official practice guidelines issued by the Royal College of Psychiatrists in a report called Reported Recovered Memories of Child Sexual Abuse: Recommendations for Good Practice and Implications For Training, Continuing Professional Development and Research, the Statement by the Board of the American Psychiatric Association on Memories of Sexual Abuse, and the American Psychological Association's Questions and Answers about Memories of Childhood Abuse and Report of the Working Group On Investigation of Memories of Childhood Abuse. Please compare these statements by professional organizations to the claims made by your therapist.Here are some examples of the false beliefs that developed in your mind during this therapy:
- You wrote in your letter that both of us were the victims of ritual satanic abuse as children, but I'm quite sure I've never been abused physically, sexually, or emotionally by anyone.
- You broke up with your ex-boyfriend because you felt he was under the control of a satanic cult, and you told him in your letter to him that "it was in my third therapy session" that you realized that he too was the victim of satanic abuse as a child. But he is quite sure that nothing like this has ever happened to him either.
- You wrote in your letter that your body bears scars from sexual abuse and efforts to conceal it. Would you please see a doctor and ask her to confirm this?
- You wrote that there are hundreds of bodies buried under a gazebo on our grandparents' old property. There was never a gazebo on that property.
- You wrote that there are bodies buried in the backyard of our home. I'll be happy to get out shovels and dig with you until you're satisfied that this is not true.
The reason I created this web site is that I want to prevent other young women from being misled the way you were and other families from having their hearts broken the way ours was. After all the pain that I have been through, I cannot sit silently by while this cult--and that's what it is--exploits other emotionally troubled young women for their money and shatters other innocent families. The Memory Recovery Cult must be stopped, and I'm going to do everything I can to stop it.I wish you had given me a chance to talk with you about these things before you made the accusations, cut off all contact with us, and disappeared. Again, what you did is not your fault. The Memory Recovery Cult teaches its victims to make "hit and run" accusations and to cut off all contact without giving the accused people a chance to defend themselves. It has to. People who have been through so-called Memory Recovery Therapy quickly come to believe things which aren't true and often things which can easily be proven false, just as you have. If the movement gave the accused family members a chance to defend themselves, it would quickly be exposed for the fraud that it is. To prevent that, the movement teaches its believers to make the accusations and cut off all contact.
Making false accusations and cutting off contact is what my sister did to me. She still sends around morons to bug me, though. My mother still talks to me sometimes but it's usually to scream, "YOU'RE EVIL! YOU'RE EVIL! YOU MUST BE DESTROYED! YOU ABANDONED YOUR WIFE!"
They've become so out of touch with reality that one day they think space aliens have kidnapped half the kids in Washington County and the next day they'll tell people I'm sacrificing half the kids in Washington County in bizarre satanic rituals, in which case members of two loony churches, the Beaverton Foursquare Church and the Aloha Church of Christ, come over, give me ridiculous lectures and then try to get me to take prozac, or turn myself in to local law enforcement or go to the local mental health clinic.
Maybe they should read "A Parent's Guide to Satanic Cult Ritual Abuse".
In a post entitled "Ernie The Attorney: Political Blogging", Ernie brings up some interesting points. In this post at Insight Mag, it is pointed out that the major media is more interested in titillating, profitable nonsense rather real breaking news.
Most of the major news stories seem to be "entertainment news" rather than the everyday occurences that happen in the ordinary, average citizen's daily life.
Don't believe anything Amish Tech Support says because, according to the space aliens, Laurence did, indeed, kill all the dinosaurs. As my daughters tell me, "Gee, Dad, when you were a kid you had a pet dinosaur, why can't we?"
I'm not going to break the hearts of my two daughters and tell them they can never have a dinosaur for a pet because of the evil Laurence. All I can say is, "Shame, shame. You're probably a buddy of the 'Puppy Blender', aren't you?"
Bag and Baggage - Denise Howell, appellate and intellectual property lawyer writes
Q: What do you get when babies file share? A: A pee-er to pee-er network.
Lord help me. This is the beginning of the end.
Read the blogs on my blogroll. You probably won't. That's ok. I've tried bad humor, sick humor, satire, smart ass comments, and everything else I know of to draw attention to the blogs (not necessarily the famous ones) on my blogroll. I refuse to stand outside naked with a sign that says "Read My Blogroll".......unless......of course....you pay me mass quantities of moolah.
Want to study the aberrant aspects of human nature without reading Dostoevsky? Then watch a kid who has been brought up to be a white supremacist from the kid's birth. The kid will lie, cheat, steal, and even commit murder for the cause.
Watch how Jim Spinden raises his kids.
I don't want to piss off the sergeant so I'm not linking to this post, because, you never know, he might be so pissed off at me that he might ask me the dreaded "twenty questions". But, since he is in the military, it might be known as the "we'll pass this information up the chain of command and get back to you" questions.
Where I live it's been raining for about eighteen hours. I decided to go for a walk for a couple of miles. When I got home I noticed my clothes were wet. I figured that, "Hey, your clothes are wet, time to take a shower".
After the first two hours of my shower I noticed I was getting all wrinkly. Even my nose hairs were starting to fall out.
I figured to myself, "Hey, if your nose hairs are starting to fall out, it's probably cause you're not clean enough". So I kept taking my shower. Then all of sudden some neighbors appeared with signs and they said, "Put on some damn clothes and get out of the driveway and get in the house because you're starting to scare our pets, you moron".
I noticed that my soap was almost gone so I went inside.
If you were a grandparent and some bully, liar, bigot, racist moron by the name of Jim Spinden told you not to see your grandkids, would you obey him? Guess what? John McClelland Hays and Neta Hays did.
Jim Spinden has a rather interesting way of proselytizng his bizarre religious beliefs. He screams at you and if you're not persuaded, then he beats you up.
As many people who read this website know, I've been exposing a network of crazy white supremacists who've been operating in Washington County, Oregon for the last twenty years or so. It's somewhat difficult to identify the actual leaders sometimes because they try to blend into the populace. One of the secret leaders over the years was Jim Spinden.
It seems some of the leaders over the years have locked horns with each other. Some examples: Lon Mabon, Roger Weidner, Victor Oekerman and Jim Spinden and some psychopaths who go to the Beaverton Foursquare Church all have the same goal but tend to get bugged at each other. If they can keep their act together they can assault women for religious reasons for years just like Portland Foursquare Church does.
Remember, any and all information about Jim Spinden, including info about his childhood, will be welcomed.
Jim Spinden likes to play juvenile head games. He did everything he could to get me fired from my last job and he succeeded. Now he sends people over to where I live, including my two daughters, to tell me what a bum I am. He also had somebody come over to a previous residence and slice up some clothes I got in Europe and then he had people come over and tell me I dressed like a bum. I actually went out and got some more new clothes, but they were also sliced up.
I figure if crazy Jim Spinden is sending people over to slice up my clothes, it's a waste of time to buy new clothes. Even though crazy Jim Spinden moved to Idaho, he still seems to have a few people here in Washington County willing to take orders from him.
DANGER! HATE NEVER TAKES A REST!Former Georgia Sheriff and two others charged with murder of new sheriff-elect.
You think these people are exceeding their "sleaze quotient"?