Pussy Riot Update...

...or, Thanks Mrs. Ciccone-Penn-Ritchie [I think that's the up-to-date list], you've been a big help...

Russian punk band convicted of hooliganism, given 2 years

...or, Czar Vlad is not amused... 

Three members of Pussy Riot--a Russian punk band and feminist collective that mocked Russian president Vladamir Putin during a "punk prayer" in a Moscow cathedral--have been found guilty of  hooliganism and sentenced to two years in jail.

Judge Marina Syrova announced the verdict from a district court in central Moscow, about two miles from the Christ the Saviour Cathedral where the guerrilla group performed its "flash" stunt.

"The girls' actions were sacrilegious, blasphemous and broke the church's rules," Syrova said.

Yep, that looks pretty blasphemous.

Now, kiddies, you know ol' Fyodor is no fan of blasphemy, but the "Orthodox" churches have been in schism for almost a millenium and the Russian church not only laid down with the commie fleas, it had sex with them. 

I have no doubt these young ladies are loud-mouthed, no-talent morons but two years in a Russian prison is way too much. 

I'm guessing they'll learn a few unpleasant truths there...

The band members--Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30--were arrested on March 3, several weeks after the performance, and charged with "hooliganism." They've been in jail ever since.

The trio sat behind a class-walled cage inside the courtroom and laughed as the verdict was read. 

Prosecutors had sought a three-year sentence.

[Slideshow: Russian feminist punk band on trial]

Supporters outside the courthouse chanted "Shame!" as news of the verdict spread.

"They are in jail because it is Putin's personal revenge," Alexei Navalny, one of them, told Reuters. "This verdict was written by Vladimir Putin."

If you don't want Putin's Revenge, don't drink the Kool-Aid, my Russian cousins.

The trial drew enormous international interest, sparking catcalls from international free-speech advocates and spawning dozens of protests. There were several impromptu protests in Moscow, London, Paris, Barcelona and elsewhere on Friday, and numerous reports of arrests.

Madonna, Bjork, Paul McCartney and Courtney Love were among a long list of musicians to come out in support of Pussy Riot, calling on the Russian government to set the band members free. Last week in Berlin, more than 400 people joined a protest led by electro-singer Peaches.

 

"In one of the most extravagant displays," the Associated Press said, "Reykjavik Mayor Jon Gnarr rode through the streets of the Icelandic capital in a Gay Pride parade ... dressed like a band member--wearing a bright pink dress and matching balaclava--while lip-synching to one of Pussy Riot's songs.

"What started as "a punk-infused political prank," London's Independent said, "has rapidly snowballed into one of the most notorious court cases in post-Soviet Russian history."

Five members of the group, which formed in 2011, were arrested in January after a video of a Putin-baiting performance in Moscow's Red Square circulated online. They were detained for several hours by police, fined and released, NPR said.

But the 10-member Pussy Riot, inspired by the American "riot grrrl" movement and bands like Bikini Kill, vowed more protest performances.

Don't bother looking it up, kiddies. It's just spoiled bourgeois kids trying to be heard above the din of something or other in their lives [with some zoo-sex perversion thrown in to piss off mom and dad].

Come to think of it, that's exactly what the execrable Rolling Stones were. And still are.

Pussy Riot's stunt at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox church, was a response, they said, to Patriarch Kirill's public support of Putin in the build-up to Russia's presidential election. Putin won a third term as president in March.

They are making an excellent point. Putin is a dictator and the Russian church needs to be on the side of freedom.

That being said, anyone who knows anything about the history of ol' Mother Russia knows this is the way it has always been and will always be until the Russian people grow up and rise up in a real revolution. Only then will they be able to put down the rabid dogs that have always plagued them - from Ivan to Lenin to Stalin to Putin.

It would be nice if everyone over there could wake up one morning and magically be small "d" democrats...

But that might only happen if everybody starts praying for real...

"Holy Mother, send Putin packing!" the group sang.

I find it interesting these ladies implored the Blessed Mother's help. Odds are this was a puerile and cynical farce designed to highlight what they believe is the only exception [that proves the rule] to the "patriarchal fascism" of the heavenly order. [This isn't the place for a litany of the holy women in heaven, so I'll just type this: St. Cecelia, patroness of music and musicians, pray for them.] But I'm sure Our Lady can distinguish between the sincere and the insincere. I'm also sure she has no problem asking Our Lord to help those who don't believe.

Remember, kiddies, when the Blessed Virgin appeared in Fatima last century she asked us to pray for the conversion of Russia. Many assumed she meant we should pray for an end to the Soviet regime, but would the Queen of Heaven and Earth really want us to merely replace one murderous system with another that is much less murderous?

It's obvious Our Mother wants us to pray for the conversion of the Russian people and their return to full communion with Rome. [And, by extension, the healing of the Great Schism as well.] So, let's get to it, kiddies.

The Guardian called the trial, which began on July 30, "worse than Soviet era."

Now that's just stupid...or The Guardian is a left-fascist organ of obscurantism...

Silly Fyodor, everybody knows the answer to that one!

"By the end of the first week of Pussy Riot's trial," the Guardian's Miriam Elder wrote last week, "everyone in the shabby Moscow courthouse was tired. Guards, armed with submachine guns, grabbed journalists and threw them out of the room at will. The judge, perched in front of a shabby Russian flag, refused to look at the defense. And the police dog--a 100 [pound] black Rottweiler--no longer sat in the corner she had occupied since the start of Russia's trial of the year, but barked and foamed at the mouth as if she were in search of blood."

Lawyers for the women complained during the trial that the trio were being starved and tortured in prison. Two threatened to go on a hunger strike after they were initially jailed.

"Their treatment has caused deep disquiet among many Russians, who feel the women are--to coin a phrase from the 1967 trial of members of the Rolling Stones--butterflies being broken on a wheel," the BBC's Daniel Sandford wrote.

[Related: Paul McCartney sends support to Russian punks]

But don't marry him, girls. He'll just kill you [Oops, I mean "let you die"] when he's bored with you.

Syrova was subjected to unspecified threats during the trial, Russian authorities announced on Thursday--assigning bodyguards to protect her before and after she announced the verdict.

Several Russian pop stars, though, questioned the outpouring of support for Pussy Riot.

"What is so great about Pussy Riot that all these international stars support them?" Russian singer Valeria wrote on her website, according to Reuters. "They must be saying this because someone ordered them to."

No, sweetie. Remember Fyodor's Rule #10: You do not need a conspiracy if everyone thinks the same way. Western celebrities hate God and freedom, so they see everything through hate colored glasses. They don't care about Pussy Riot or Russia or anything but themselves. Support for Pussy Riot is merely today's pose. Tomorrow they will shout just as vociferously in support of spaying and neutering.

"Art and politics are inseparable for us," the band said in an interview with the online newspaper Gazeta.ru in February. "We try to make political art. Performances and their rehearsals are our job. Life in Pussy Riot takes a lot of time."

That's pure dumbassery. [Isn't this national neologism month?] On a personal note, I'm really digging the colorful hoods they wear. Once upon a time, there was a little girl who wrote a song called "Every Girl Needs A Little Black Mask".

Non-moderate mohammedans are a notoriously tough crowd.

From AmnestyUSA.org:

Somalian Comedian Shot and Killed Outside Home 

Amnesty International demanded today [August 1, 2012] that Somali authorities and the international community take action to reestablish the rule of law in Somalia, following the killing of a popular radio and television comedian and satirist, who was shot to death outside his home on Tuesday.

Abdi Jeylani Malaq 'Marshale,' a popular comedian, was shot and killed by two men armed with pistols as he entered his home at about 5:30 p.m. in the Waberi district of Mogadishu. He was buried Wednesday in the capital.
The motives for his killing remain unclear. 'Marshale' previously received death threats from al-Shabab, the Islamist armed group fighting against Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, for producing and broadcasting satirical programs for the Somali Radio Kulmiye and Universal TV...

What, lying with impunity and eating babies in a single gulp aren't enough?

From Yahoo's The Ticket:

Obama admits he’d like a ‘weird superpower’

Wait, I get it. He wants to be the Soviet Union or Slave China. Those are really weird superpowers.

5 Guys Burgers ARE the best.

Seriously, kiddies. Find your nearest 5 Guys and order a cheeseburger and fries. 

Seriously.

[Thanks to Scott Linn of The Steve Czaban Show for the head's up.]

From The Death Of The West Department:

Are you feeling sorry for your dog because he's feeling like he's less than a man?

Neuticles.com

"Testicular prosthetic implants for neutered pets."
[Thanks to Scott Linn of The Steve Czaban Show for the head's up.]

Here's more from the site:

Fill your cart with the latest in NeuticleWare including Neuticle T-Shirts, Ballcaps, Necklaces and Keyrings. Each crafted from an actual Neuticle or bearing the unique Neuticles name- with even more items coming soon! 


I find the earrings particularly disturbing...

The First Hair Straightener has a pair like these, but they aren't made of polypropylene [hee-hee]...

The Michael and Cathryn Borden Memorial Book of the Day.*

From Behind The Steel Curtain:

Spygate: The Untold Story

A new book has hit the market. It’s called Spygate: The Untold Story. Do yourself a favor and buy it. I was contacted by the author prior to the writing of this book. Frankly, I had my doubts that any "outsider" could write a good book about Spygate, but Bryan O’Leary did just that. He really did his homework with research and was careful to footnote all his facts. You will enjoy O’Leary’s sarcastic wit and "wordsmanship." This book is an easy read, about 46,000 words, that is both easy to follow and clear to understand.


As the title implies, the book is about Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots and the videotaping scandal (or curious non-scandal) that was uncovered in September, 2007. Among the many fascinating touchpoints of this informative and thought-provoking manuscript:

• If Bill Belichick innocently "misinterpreted" the video policy (after all teams received a written warning less than a year earlier), why did the "innocent" videographers (including Matt Walsh) lie to sideline security about what they were doing?
• Wasn’t it strange that the NFL decided to minimize the escapade before talking to Walsh, the star witness? Why is Walsh under a gag order now? Why was the evidence destroyed quickly, an act that defies all logic of investigative process?
• Who is Ernie Adams and why is he the most powerful football mind that no one has ever heard of? Belichick brought Adams to Cleveland in 1991 and after a few years, Browns owner Art Modell offered $10,000 to anyone who could tell him what Adams did! Players still to this day chuckle at the shroud of secrecy that surrounds that man.
• Belichick claimed that he didn’t use the taped signals during the games in question, his "misunderstanding" loophole. Why then did he tape games of teams he wouldn’t see again that year, including our 2004 AFC Championship Game, which Senator Arlen Spector stated on the Senate floor that Steelers players thought the Patriots knew everything that Pittsburgh was going to do?
• Why does Belichick continue to hire cardboard cutouts for coordinators – young people with no experience or older failures – or hire no coordinators at all? Is it interesting that one such young failure, Josh McDaniels, was caught video cheating soon after he moved to Denver?

In addition to the above intriguing discussion points, O’Leary’s book goes into some very interesting statistical phenomena which defies explanation. Why does New England always win at home? Yes, they’re good, but five seasons with perfect 8-0 records? A 31-game home winning streak? An unbelievable record of beating the point spread? The book gives some eye-popping data that will make you think, or perhaps re-think.

You may not agree with everything O’Leary concludes (surely Patriots fans will have an answer for everything), but if you put all the pieces together, like O’Leary does, what can be concluded? The book reminds me of an old saying: If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, sounds like a duck and acts like a duck, guess what – It’s a damn duck!

You can buy the book at Amazon.com and from the following site.



Here's some audio from Yahoo Sports Radio's The Steve Czaban Show. The Czabe interviews Bryan O'Leary about his book on the NFL's worst cheating scandal ever that was made to disappear in four days...

Spygate: The Untold Story

 *Huh? Look here.

Breast Nazis.

From Takepart.com via Yahoo News:

NYC Mayor Bloomberg Latches on to Controversial Breastfeeding Program

Now that's what I call a headline.

Is the nanny state alive and well in New York City? Many residents think so, as they mouth off against mayor Michael Bloomberg’s restrictions on hospital baby formula meant to encourage women to breastfeed.

On the heels of his proposed ban on supersized sweetened beverages comes “Latch on NYC,” a citywide initiative that asks maternity hospitals to stop giving breastfeeding babies formula unless it’s medically necessary, restrict access to formula and track its distribution, counsel women on breastfeeding, and stop giving out free promotional formula and materials that endorse formula.

The initiative was announced in May and launches on September 3. The city’s health department said so far 12 private hospitals and 11 public hospitals run by New York City Health and Hospitals Corp. are onboard.

While 90 percent of mothers start out breastfeeding, only 31 percent are still doing it exclusively after two months, a health department release says. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months or so, then breastfeeding along with adding food until at least a year. After that, breastfeeding should be a mutual agreement between mother and child.

The New York Post called the plan “the most restrictive pro-breast-milk program in the nation,” and judging by comments being left on stories about the program, New Yorkers are as happy about this as they are about having their mega-size sodas possibly taken away.

“What is next? Laws against caesarean births? How about laws prohibiting epidural or any other pain killer for the woman in labor?” one commenter wrote on the Post story.

The next "logical" step for Herr Bloomberg the Teat Nazi [Yeah, yeah, I know he's Jewish.] is to ban breast milk from breasts big enough to hold more than a Big Gulp worth of milk. [Thanks to David Martosko, the head honcho of The Daily Caller, for this gem.]

Wrote another, “I have 4 sons and I can tell you from experience that you run a risk when you mess with a new mom. I walked on egg shells around my wife, so I want to see what the hospital does when a woman requesting formula says she doesn't want to hear the lecture before getting the formula. Good luck, administrators.”

“New York City is definitely ahead of the curve,” the Post quoted Eileen DiFrisco of NYU Langone Medical Center as saying. At Langone, the paper reported, the breastfeeding rate has gone from 39 to 68 percent since the program started.

Since 2007 the Health and Hospitals Corporation has banned formula from maternity swag bags and promotional materials from labor and delivery rooms in an effort to encourage women to breastfeed.

CBS News reported that Massachusetts birth hospitals also agreed earlier this month to nix formula-enhanced goody bags for new mothers.

 

The battle to close the babytoirs continues apace.

From The "Christian Science" Monitor:
Judge saves Mississippi’s only abortion clinic ... for now

But so far, the clinic has had little luck in abiding by the law, which requires it to get “admission privileges” from local hospitals. One hospital recently told the clinic “not to bother.”

The ruling by Judge Dan Jordan on Friday was seen as a partial victory both for the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which provides the bulk of the state’s annual 2,000 abortion, as well as state anti-abortion activists and sympathizers, including Gov. Phil Bryant, who said he hoped the law would make the state “abortion-free.”

While the 1972 Roe v. Wade decision made abortion legal in the US, the situation in Mississippi is testing the limits of the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey ruling, which said states can regulate abortion clinics as long as those laws don’t essentially harm women’s underlying right to choose an abortion for an unwanted pregnancy.

While anti-abortion activists have stated the law is intended to ensure better medical care for women, it’s also clear that it’s intended to make operating a clinic in Mississippi so difficult that it’s no longer worth it, thus abolishing abortion in the state while never expressly outlawing it. If lawmakers succeed in closing the clinic, women in the state would have to travel up to 200 miles to clinics in other states.

In his ruling, Judge Jordan said the clinic need not fear for criminal or civil penalties by continuing to operate as it works to adhere to the new law.

“Given the highly charged political context of this case and the ambiguity still present, the Court finds that there would be a chilling effect on the Plaintiffs’ willingness to continue operating the Clinic until they obtained necessary privileges,” he wrote. “Therefore, an irreparable injury currently exists.”

The battle over the Jackson clinic is tinged with religion, philosophy, legalities, and deeply personal feelings. The owner of the clinic, Diane Derzis, has embraced the nickname “abortion queen” after fighting for years to keep clinics open in the Bible Belt. It was one of her clinics in Alabama that was bombed by Eric Rudolph, the Olympic bomber, who escaped capture for five years before being captured in the early 2000s.

On the other side is an anti-abortion activist named Terri Herring, who has fought equally long to abolish abortion in the state by working to put legal restrictions, such as parental notification, on the practice. Those laws have helped curtail the total number of clinics in the state from 14 in the 1980s to the current one.

Conservative Mississippi, which has some of the lowest educational achievement and highest teen pregnancy rates in the country, has long been dismissed by some critics as a hopeless backwater whose misogynistic instincts have to be constantly tempered by federal judges.

Yet some observers say the “bottlenecking” strategy employed in Mississippi has emerged as perhaps the boldest test yet of the limits of Roe v. Wade. And activists in other conservative states are clearly watching closely, underscored by the passage of some 162 state laws attempting to restrict abortion last year alone.

Feelings about abortion in Mississippi are not far out of line with national averages, where 52 percent of Americans believe abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances, such as rape.

At the same time, Mississippi’s strict views on reproductive rights are far from monolithic. Last year, a “personhood” referendum that would have extended constitutional rights to fetuses, thus turning at least some abortions into possible murder cases, was rejected by 55 percent of voters.

According to the state’s Health Department, the clinic will get about 10 months to follow the new mandates before losing its license. At that point, it can appeal to a state court for relief, potentially setting off another round of injunctions and constitutional clarifications.

So far, none of Mississippi’s abortion restrictions have been overturned by the courts, and the newest mandates mirror state clinic rules in many other states.

Hey, dumbass! Your job isn't happiness, it's the economy!

From AP via Yahoo News:

Are you happy? Ben Bernanke wants to know

Ben Bernanke wants to know if you are happy.

The Federal Reserve chairman said Monday that gauging happiness can be as important for measuring economic progress as determining whether inflation is low or unemployment high. Economics isn't just about money and material benefits, Bernanke said. It is also about understanding and promoting "the enhancement of well-being."

Bernanke and Fed policymakers rely on reports on hiring, consumer spending and other economic data when making high-stakes decisions about the $15 trillion U.S. economy. The Fed's dual mandate is to maintain low inflation and full employment.

"We should seek better and more-direct measurements of economic well-being," Bernanke said Monday in a video-taped speech shown to a conference of economists and statisticians in Cambridge, Mass. After all, promoting well-being is "the ultimate objective of our policy decisions."

Bernanke acknowledged that many people aren't too happy right now. 

Unemployment rose in July to 8.3 percent, and economic growth has slowed sharply from the start of the year. He called the recovery "frustratingly slow" when he testified to Congress on July 17.

Aggregate statistics can mask important information about how individual Americans are faring, Bernanke says.

His speech Monday was the latest foray into a relatively new specialty in economics known as "happiness studies." Bernanke attracted widespread notice when he spoke about the economics of happiness in a May 2010 commencement address at the University of South Carolina.

In that speech, he said research has found that once basic material needs are met, more wealth doesn't necessarily make people happier...

Golly, I wonder what a real football team is worth...

From AP via yahoo News:
Cleveland Browns sold for $1 billion

Here's one to make Cleveland fans shake their heads: A partial owner of the hated Pittsburgh Steelers is buying the Browns.

A person with knowledge of the sale told The Associated Press on Thursday that Browns owner Randy Lerner has reached a deal to sell the team to Tennessee truck-stop magnate Jimmy Haslam III — a minority stockholder in the rival Steelers.

Lerner will sell 70 percent of the Browns to Haslam now, with the other 30 percent reverting to him four years after the closing date, the person said on condition of anonymity because the sale has not officially been announced.

While the papers have been signed, the NFL still must approve the sale. Approval from 24 of the 32 teams is required, and no date has been set for a vote because the sale has not been presented to the league yet. The person said approval is expected by the end of September.

ESPN reported the sale price was more than $1 billion. For comparison, the Miami Dolphins sold at a value of more than $1 billion in 2009.

The Browns were valued at $977 million last year by Forbes magazine, 20th in the NFL.

Asked about last week, Browns President Mike Holmgren said: "He is a very impressive man when you read about him, and people that I have talked to who know him say he is a tremendous guy."

Lerner, whose family has owned the franchise since it returned to the NFL in 1999, first announced he was in negotiations to sell the club last week. The late Al Lerner, Randy's father, purchased the franchise from the NFL in 1998 for $530 million after the original Browns moved to Baltimore in 1996 and became the Ravens. The expansion Browns entered the league in 1999 and have made the playoffs once, a 2002 first-round loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. They've had only two winning records in 13 seasons and are 68-140 since they returned.

Babykilling Über Alles!

On July 30, 2012 children in Arizona were for a short time recognized as fully human...

From Roto-Reuters:

Judge clears Arizona late-term abortion ban

A federal judge refused on Monday to block an Arizona law banning most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, saying it does not impose a "substantial obstacle" to the procedure, and cleared the way for the statute to take effect on Thursday.
 

The ruling marked a stinging legal defeat for abortion-rights advocates who cited the Arizona law as the most extreme example of late-term abortion prohibitions enacted in more than half a dozen states, and they vowed to immediately appeal the decision.

U.S. District Judge James Teilborg ruled that the measure, passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature and signed into law in April by Republican Governor Jan Brewer, was consistent with the standards that federal courts have set on limits to late-term abortions.

The statute was challenged this month by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights in a lawsuit believed to be the first court case of its kind against late-term abortion bans, attorneys for the plaintiffs said.

Under the Arizona law, physicians found in violation of the ban would face a misdemeanor criminal charge and possible suspension or revocation of their licenses.

Teilborg said Arizona's law "does not impose a substantial obstacle" to abortions generally and that Arizona had the right to enact such a measure.

The Arizona statute bars doctors from performing abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy except in the case of a medical emergency, a circumstance critics say is defined more narrowly than exemptions permitted by other states with similar laws.

The Arizona ban provides an exemption only in cases in which an "immediate" abortion is required to avert death or risk of "substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function."

Late-term bans elsewhere, by comparison, generally allow an abortion when the mother's life or health would otherwise be in jeopardy, abortion-rights advocates say...

You see, kiddies, the less specific the law's language, the easier it is for the babykillers to to chop up kids whose mom's have colds.

 ...then, on August 1, 2012 the same children were declared to be chattel...

 From The "Christian Science" Monitor:

 Federal appeals panel blocks restrictive Arizona abortion law

A federal appeals court on Wednesday temporarily blocked enforcement of a tough new Arizona abortion law that bars doctors from routinely terminating a pregnancy after 20 weeks.

The emergency injunction granted by the three-judge panel of the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals prevents the law from taking full effect as scheduled on Thursday. 

The ruling was not a decision on the merits of the law itself, but was still hailed by activists who had appealed to the Ninth Circuit after a lower court judge upheld the measure this week.

“We are relieved that the court blocked this dangerous ban and that women in Arizona will continue to be able to get safe, appropriate medical care,” Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a statement. 

The statute, signed on April 12 and known as SB 2036, reduces by three to four weeks the amount of time a woman would have to decide on whether to end her pregnancy or carry the child to term. It allows doctors to perform an abortion after 20 weeks, but only in cases of “medical emergency.”

Arizona is among 10 states that have enacted laws seeking to regulate the provision of abortions during the time in a pregnancy when the fetus is unable to survive on its own outside the womb.

Doctors consider the point of fetal viability to arrive 23 or 24 weeks into a pregnancy. 

A group of physicians in Arizona asked a federal judge to block the law and rule that it violates a woman’s right to decide whether to have an abortion. 

On Monday, US District Judge James Teilborg found that the state law was a permissible regulation of abortion and did not violate constitutional protections.

In her motion to the court, Janet Crepps, a lawyer with the Center for Reproductive Rights, said her clients perform more than 50 pre-viability abortions at or after 20 weeks of pregnancy per year.

$20 says Judge Teilborg is now on the Death Squad's list.

They were “very likely to have such a patient within the next several days and almost certain to have such a patient within the next 21 days,” she wrote.

Lawyers for Arizona had urged the Ninth Circuit panel to reject the appeal, saying the lawsuit was an impermissible challenge to an abortion regulation under the terms of a 2007 US Supreme Court precedent. 

Douglas Irish, deputy county attorney in Maricopa County, said in his brief that any challenge to the Arizona law must be made on behalf of a pregnant woman seeking an abortion at or beyond the law’s 20-week limit.

Irish said Supreme Court precedent has shifted since a key ruling in 2007 when the high court approved a ban on so-called partial-birth abortions regardless of when they were performed during a pregnancy.

Arizona lawyers argue that the 2007 decision opens the door to state regulations extending into the pre-viability period of a pregnancy.

The judges ordered both parties to file appellate briefs in September and October. The order said the case would be expedited.

A tiny victory for reality in Missouri.

From Takepart.com via Yahoo News:

Missouri Protects Kids’ Right to Pray in Schools

The right to pray in public schools is an ongoing battle, especially in the Bible Belt South and Midwest.

This week Missouri voters overwhelmingly passed a “right to pray” amendment to the state’s constitution that strongly protects students’ religious expression in public schools. The amendment also stated that students could be exempted from classroom activities that violate their religious beliefs.

Legal scholars immediately predicted that the amendment would head to court with costly lawsuits for the state.  

Fascists.

“This right has already been established by the U.S. Supreme Court,” says Adam Laats, an assistant professor in Binghamton University's Graduate School of Education, who has researched this issue for years. “The kinds of school prayer deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in the 1960s were those imposed by the state and led by a teacher or school official. The right of students to pray on their own has never been constitutionally threatened.”

Still, the argument about school prayer lingers.

Prior to 1949, public schools could employ religious education teachers who taught Christian faith and moral values. Then, in 1962, New York State’s Board of Regents allowed a daily morning prayer in schools that pled to an “Allmighty God” and a Pennsylvania school had similar ritual. The Supreme Court intervened and an array of cases followed including Abington School District v. Shemp. The Court struck down New York and Pennsylvania’s mandatory prayer.

It’s OK to bring your Bible to study hall.

Bible Belt states and the Roman Catholic Church were none too happy. Several states including Arkansas, Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, and Idaho passed laws requiring religious services in public schools. Eventually, these laws were fought and overturned in courtrooms.

Amendment 2 in Missouri passed with nearly 80 percent of the vote. State Rep. Mike McGehee, who sponsored the bill, said he simply wanted it to clarify what students can do regarding religion in public schools. He said earlier this week before the amendment’s passage, “It’s OK to bring your Bible to study hall.”

It’s always been fine to do so, Laats said, but often school officials are scared to even mention the word “religion.”

“Parents and school administrators have been confused about what is or isn’t allowed,” Laats said. “But this kind of amendment is still symbolic in gesture and not about pure theology, but more of a concept that Christians are under fire. 

"You’re putting up a flag to say I am in favor of school prayer.” 

Kerry Messer, legislative liaison for the Christian Life Commission of the Missouri Baptist Convention, said in an interview for the website Opposing Views that the Missouri amendment was the “very first time that any state has voted on this issue since the early 1960s, when prayer was removed from public schools.”

The Missouri Baptist Convention actively campaigned for the measure, putting 186,000 inserts in church bulletins.

Earlier this summer, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant advocated for nondenominational school prayer.

“I don't think it hurt us at all,” the governor told students at the American Legion Boys State. “I think it built our character, and I think it is what we should continue to do.”

In Alabama, Governor Robert Bentley proclaimed the last Friday in March “Day of Prayer Over Students Across Alabama,” where people pray over students, teachers, school administrators and support staff, and schools in public events.

Church leaders hope other states will follow Missouri’s lead. That’s very likely as much of the country adopts a “take back” attitude, craving a more wholesome era of God, apple pie and George Washington.

“Politicians and activists have long insisted that SCOTUS kicked God out of public schools,” Laats said. “This amendment is meant as a sort of line in the sand.”

Why We Fight.

Charles Koch, the most hated man in America, has done nothing but work hard, make money, and provide jobs for others his whole life. That's why they want him dead.

From Newsmax.com:

Charles Koch: Why We Fight for Economic Freedom 

In 1990, the year before the collapse of the Soviet Union, I attended an economic conference in Moscow.

Like my father during his visits to the U.S.S.R. in the early 1930s, I was astonished and appalled by what I saw.

Simple necessities, such as toilet paper, were in short supply. In fact, there was none at all in the airport bathroom stalls for fear it would be stolen. Visitors using the facilities had to request a portion of tissue from an attendant beforehand.

When I walked into one of Moscow’s giant department stores, there was next to nothing on the shelves. For those shoppers who were lucky enough to find something they actually wanted to buy, the purchase process was maddening and time-consuming.

Although the government provided universal healthcare, I never met anyone who wanted to stay in a Soviet hospital. Medical services might have been “free,” but the quality of care was notoriously poor.

Reality Check

My experiences in the Soviet Union underscore why economic freedom is so important for all of us.

Nations with the greatest degree of economic freedom tend to have citizens who are much better off in every way.

No centralized government, no matter how big, how smart or how powerful, can effectively and efficiently control much of society in a beneficial way. On the contrary, big governments are inherently inefficient and harmful.

And yet, the tendency of our own government here in the U.S. has been to grow bigger and bigger, controlling more and more. This is why America keeps dropping in the annual ranking of economic freedom.

Devil’s Bargain

Citizens who over-rely on their government to do everything not only become dependent on their government, they end up having to do whatever the government demands. In the meantime, their initiative and self-respect are destroyed.

It was President Franklin Roosevelt who said: “Continued dependence on [government support] induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit.”

Businesses can become dependents, too. If your struggling car company wants a government bailout, you’ll probably have to build the government’s car – even if it’s a car very few people want to buy.

Repeatedly asking for government help undermines the foundations of society by destroying initiative and responsibility. It is also a fatal blow to efficiency and corrupts the political process.

When everyone gets something for nothing, soon no one will have anything, because no one will be producing anything.

Cronyism

Under the Soviet system, special traffic lanes were set aside for the sole use of officials in their limousines. This worsened driving conditions for everyone else, but those receiving favored treatment didn’t care.

Today, many governments give special treatment to a favored few businesses that eagerly accept those favors. This is the essence of cronyism.

Many businesses with unpopular products or inefficient production find it much easier to curry the favor of a few influential politicians or a government agency than to compete in the open market.

After all, the government can literally guarantee customers and profitability by mandating the use of certain products, subsidizing production or providing protection from more efficient competitors.

Cronyism enables favored companies to reap huge financial rewards, leaving the rest of us – customers and competitors alike – worse off.

One obvious example of this involves wind farms. Most cannot turn a profit without the costly subsidies the government provides. Meanwhile, consumers and taxpayers are forced to pay an average of five times more for wind-generated electricity.

We see far too many legislative proposals that would subsidize one form of energy over another, penalize certain emissions from one industry but not another, or place protective tariffs that hurt consumers.

Legacies

Karl Marx famously said: “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”

The result of this approach is not equality, but rather a lowering of everyone’s standards to some minimal level.

Some people worry about the disparity of wealth in a system of economic freedom. What they don’t realize is that the same disparity exists in the least-free countries.

The difference is who is better off.

Under economic freedom, it is the people who do the best job of producing products and services that make people’s lives better.

On the other hand, in a system without economic freedom, the wealthiest are the tyrants who make people’s lives miserable.

As a result of this, the income of the poorest in the least-free countries is one-tenth of what it is in the freest.

Elected officials are often asked what they would like as their legacy. I’m never going to run for office, but I can tell you how I would answer that question.

I want my legacy to be greater freedom, greater prosperity and a better way of life for my family, our employees and all Americans. And I wish the same for every nation on earth.

Amen to that, brother.

Charles Koch is the Chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, Inc.

If you commies, thieves, babykillers, and other perverts want to vote your consciences...

Roseanne [and Cindy Sheehan, looking for her second 15 minutes] is truly a drooling, whacked-out psycho cow with pieces of baby stuck in her teeth. She was too much woe-man for those pansies in the Green Party to stomach, so you know she's ready to start shooting all enemies of progress next January 20th.

Be true to your vision of our utopian future and dump that jug-eared reactionary [He's actually a hetero!] in November!

From Mediaite.com:

Roseanne Barr Gets Presidential Nomination Of The "Peace And Freedom Party"

You may recall that comedienne Roseanne Barr attempted to run for president on the Green Party ticket, and was even seriously considered as the party’s vice presidential nominee. Now Barr has joined up with another third party called the Peace and Freedom Party, and won the party’s nomination vote in Los Angeles yesterday, making her the official presidential nominee of the party.

Barr is running on the Peace and Freedom ticket with Cindy Sheehan, a strong anti-war advocate known for leading a protest outside of George W. Bush‘s Texas ranch. Barr is using her candidacy to tap into the frustrations voters have with both parties.

“Cindy and I are the ‘Throw the Bums Out’ ticket and the ‘Ballot Access’ ticket. The American people are sick and tired of this ‘lesser evil’ garbage they get fed every election year,” said Barr before the party’s convention vote, which was held at the United Methodist Church in Los Angeles. “Both the Democrats and the Republicans do the same evils once they’re in office…”

Said Barr, “I’m here to tell the voters: if you want to tell the government and the two domineering parties that you’re sick and tired of all their evil, register in the Peace and Freedom Party and vote for me and Cindy.”

Ronald Paolillo, Requiescat in pace.

From AP via Yahoo News:

Ron Palillo of 'Welcome Back, Kotter,' dies at 63

Ron Palillo, the actor best known as the nerdy high school student Arnold Horshack on the 1970s sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter," died Tuesday in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He was 63.

Palillo suffered an apparent heart attack at his home about 4 a.m., said Karen Poindexter, a close friend of the actor. He was pronounced dead at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center.

Palillo was inextricably linked with the character he played from 1975 to 1979 on "Kotter," the ABC sitcom, in which the title character returns to his Brooklyn alma mater to teach a group of loveable wiseguys known as the Sweathogs. Horshack was the nasally teen who yelped, "Oooh, ooh," and shot his hand skyward whenever Kotter posed a question.

The show was a ratings success and pop cultural phenomenon, injecting smart-Alec phrases such as "Up your nose with a rubber hose" into the mainstream and propelling co-star John Travolta to stardom. But the series only lasted as long as a high school education and its end, for Palillo, brought difficulty.

He said he felt exiled throughout the 1980s, unable to find parts, sinking into depression, and rarely venturing from his apartment. When offers did come, he felt typecast as Horshack.

"While I loved him, I really loved him, I didn't want to do him forever," he told the Birmingham News in 1994.

Ronald Paolillo was born April 2, 1949, in Cheshire, Conn., eventually dropping the first "o'' from his surname. His father died of lung cancer when he was 10 and he developed a stutter. His mother thought getting him involved in a local theater might help. He fell in love with the stage and overcame his speech impediment.

You should've kept the other "o", paisan.

He attended the University of Connecticut and earned parts in Shakespearean productions before his big break.

When he auditioned for "Kotter," he thought he'd be passed over for others who had more of a tough-guy New York look. He told interviewers that his dying father's voice inspired his character's trademark wheezing laugh. And he said Horshack tapped into feelings any teen could relate to.

"I think he was the smartest kid in school," he told the Miami Herald in 2009. "He was giving up his aptitude in order to be liked. Then and now, that is a very common thing in teenagers."

Palillo went on to get a host of bit parts in shows from "The Love Boat" to "Cagney and Lacey" to "The A-Team," and played himself for a time on the series "Ellen." But "Kotter" remained his most well-known acting part, and he focused on stage directing and writing.

His last act in life mirrored his most famous one, in a real-life classroom instead of one at the fictional James Buchanan High School. Palillo taught acting at G-Star School of the Arts, a high school in West Palm Beach. He was due to return for the school year Tuesday morning, Poindexter said, and classes were to resume next week.

Palillo is survived by his partner of 41 years, Joseph Gramm; two brothers, and a sister. Poindexter said that while her friend might, at times, have resented the shadow Horshack cast over him, he remained fond of the character and knew the part was always more of a blessing than a curse. He remained close to his co-stars, she said, and knew how closely fans related to the characters.

Forty-one years is impressive, especially for those afflicted with same-sex attraction disorder, but that doesn't make it right. May God have mercy on both their souls.

"All of us have been or known one of those Sweathogs," he told The Los Angeles Times last year.

From The Death Of The West Department:

I have nothing against Senor Bambaataa personally. Back in the day he was pretty cool. But please...
 
From AP via Yahoo News:

Afrika Bambaataa named Cornell visiting scholar

Hip hop pioneer DJ Afrika Bambaataa (bam-BAH'-tah) has been appointed to a three-year term as a visiting scholar at Cornell University.

The appointment announced Tuesday was made by Cornell University Library's Hip Hop Collection in conjunction with the Ivy League school's music department.

Bambaataa will visit Cornell's upstate New York campus several days each year to talk to classes, meet with student and community groups, and perform the music he helped create and expand. His first visit will be in November.

Cornell officials say the university's library contains the largest national archive on hip hop culture, documenting its birth and growth by preserving thousands of recordings, fliers, photographs and other artifacts.

Nonsense. Zombie golfers just use steroids to recover more quickly and bulk up.

Amusing trifles to help me get through the day.

 Chicks, man...

 




 


 







 

WAIT! THAT'S NO ZOMBIE, THAT'S KURTSEY FRAUSUN!

Oh, never mind. 

From PRWeb via Yahoo News:

OpticsPlanet Z.E.R.O Zombie Kit Sets New Standards for Zombie Preparation

OpticsPlanet is setting new industry benchmarks in zombie preparedness with a $24,000 “zombie extermination, research & operations” kit that addresses all facets of survival in a post-apocalyptic world.

Northbrook, Il (PRWEB) July 20, 2012 

OpticsPlanet has released a new Zombie Survival Kit to satisfy the public’s growing fascination with all things zombie-related. With 49 separate items in the Z.E.R.O. (Zombie Extermination, Research and Operations) Kit and a discounted price tag of nearly $24,000, the kit is attracting a lot of attention around the web. Garnering over 3,000 Facebook “likes”, and coverage from hundreds of news, technology, business, hobby and survival websites around the world in just one week, it’s clear that the enormity of the kit is drawing the interest of a wide spectrum of society.
 

Part of the appeal of the Z.E.R.O. kit is that in addition to a wide variety of weapon accessories, night vision optics and survival gear, the kit also comes with a professional microscope and a variety of science equipment to help “research a cure”. Some of the other products included in the kit are branded as zombie specific fighting tools, such as the Leupold VX-R Zombie Rifle Scope and the EOTech Zombie Stopper Red Dot Sight , but many items are legitimate tactical weapon accessories used by military and SWAT teams around the world such as the SureFire Benelli M1 Shotgun Forend Weaponlight and the Leupold Mark 4 Tactical Spotting Scope.

With dire predictions related to the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012, possible world economic collapse, viral pandemic, world war, extreme weather and natural disasters floating around (as well as a recent spate of bizarre cannibalistic attacks), it seems that the zombie apocalypse has captured the public’s imagination - for some, to make light of what many are predicting as the potential collapse of society as we know it; for others, as a real possibility. OpticsPlanet is not in the business of making such predictions, but stands ready to assist all those for whom preparation has become a way of life.

I think the Mayans would simply kill and eat the zombies, Euro Zone pols, Heat Nazis, and boring musicians after offering them up to their gods and then buy a new calendar at Barnes & Noble before their old one ran out.

Or, is that the Aztecs?

About OpticsPlanet, Inc.

Founded in 2000, OpticsPlanet, Inc. is the leading online destination for technical and high-performance gear. OpticsPlanet, Inc. serves demanding enthusiasts and professionals who are passionate about their jobs, serious about their recreation, and devoted to their service. Currently offering over 700,000 items from 2,500 brands in 300 niche specialty categories, OpticsPlanet, Inc.’s wide selection of riflescopes, holsters, sunglasses, flashlights and more combined with great prices, in-house customer service and a knowledgeable team of specialists has helped it grow into one of the largest online retailers in the world.

In 2012, the company was recognized for the sixth straight year by Internet Retailer Magazine as one of the top 500 e-retailers in the United States. 

OpticsPlanet, Inc. has also been recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the top 5,000 fastest growing companies in the country, and the Better Business Bureau has ranked them as A+. 

Some of the stores in OpticsPlanet, Inc.’s portfolio include OpticsPlanet.com, Dvor.com – the world’s first members only store devoted to gear – EyewearPlanet.com, Tactical-Store.com, and LabPlanet.com.

Yelena Khavkhalyuk
OpticsPlanet
847.513.6193
Email Information

Hmmm...Whom do you think would win, a Russian capitalist babe who can make an ordinary press release

sound hot or a terminally constipated Aryan [Sorry, India, but those are the breaks history often foists upon us.] retromingent [Look it up, kiddies.] slave master wannabe?