"And I come back to you now, at the turn of the tide"
PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. -- A jury awarded the widow of teacher Barry Grunow $1.2 million from a gun distributor Thursday.Those of you who watch too much cable news probably remember Brazill's criminal trial. Anyway, this is good news, and a good precedent.
Pam Grunow's lawsuit accused Valor Corp of distributing a gun that was "unsafe, defective and lacked features that would have prevented a minor from using it."
"I hope that this will be a clarion call to other suppliers and distributors -- get that Saturday Night Special off your shelves," said Grunow's attorney Bob Montgomery (pictured, below right).
"This gun ... had legal uses, legitimate uses. It wasn't the piece of junk that we heard the plaintiff's call it. It was a good self-defense gun," said Valor attorney John Renzulli.
The case stems from the murder of teacher Barry Grunow by one of his students. Nathaniel Brazill, 16, shot Grunow to death two years ago in a West Palm Beach classroom. (full story)
LEWISTON, Maine (AP) - A preacher led a group in shredding copies of Harry Potter books on the eve of the release of the movie "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."First off, I hope you enjoyed your stay at the Ramada Inn. Was the local Motel 6 full?
"I feel like I'm in a cutting mood tonight," the Rev. Douglas Taylor told 30 supporters before bringing out the scissors.
Taylor said he had wanted to burn the Potter books in protest, but the city would not issue him a permit. He settled for the book-chopping party Thursday night at the Ramada Inn.
(snip)
"It's no secret that I enjoy what I'm doing right now," Taylor said, ripping up a book. "Hallelujah," said supporter Walter Stradt as he tore and tossed a page out.
(snip)
Taylor charges the Potter books were full of witchcraft and pagan religion.
"You get involved in this," he said, gesturing toward a Potter book. "It's gonna make you dirty." (full story)
Before his remarks on the election, Mr. Rove gave a 30-minute speech to an audience of about 600 on the qualities of a successful president, citing obvious examples like Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt and some, perhaps, not so obvious, like McKinley.Hey Karl, we know that you're pretty handy with PowerPoint, howbout whipping up a chart that shows how one American life is equal to about sixty-seven Iraqis, as you just said. Are there similar ratios for other countries, like North Korea? Syria?... Saudi Arabia? And can they follow your lead and have similar ratio policies to your own? You can imagine that upon hearing this, Crown Prince Abdullah or someone is saying to himself, "Oh boy, not only can I pre-emptively invade another sovereign nation if I want to, but I can also kill a huge amount of their civilians proportional to my own armed forces! Thanks, George and Karl!"
The audience included several dozen protesters who held signs critical of various issues, including war against Iraq. But they were largely quiet and respectful. In the question-and-answer session, a woman politely asked Mr. Rove if the administration was concerned over the possibility that 200,000 innocent Iraqis might die in an American-led invasion.
Mr. Rove responded, "I'm more concerned about the 3,000 who died on 9/11." (emphases mine)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Wednesday took on the Christian right core of his political base, denouncing anti-Islamic remarks made by religious leaders including evangelist Pat Robertson.As you may have noticed, he made these comments in the presence of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, so obviously they served the purpose of making Dubya look good in front of an international audience, particularly the Muslim community.
Bush said such anti-Islamic comments were at odds with the views of most Americans.
"Some of the comments that have been uttered about Islam do not reflect the sentiments of my government or the sentiments of most Americans," Bush told reporters as he began a meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites).
"By far, the vast majority of American citizens respect the Islamic people and the Muslim faith. After all, there are millions of peaceful-loving Muslim Americans," Bush said.
"Ours is a country based upon tolerance ... And we're not going to let the war on terror or terrorists cause us to change our values."
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will decide if the government can restrict Internet surfing at public libraries, the third case pitting free-speech concerns against efforts to shield children from online pornography to reach the justices.He's been looking forward to this one all summer, I imagine. But shouldn't he recuse himself? After all, Justice Thomas puts the "stain" in "abstain".
The court will resolve whether federal funding can be stripped from libraries that don't install filters on computers to block sexually explicit Web sites.
The decision would affect more than 14 million people a year who use public library computers to do research, send and receive e-mail, and, in some cases, log onto adult sites. (full story)
Days after winning unchallenged control of the government, the Bush White House and the incoming Republican congressional leadership have scaled back their ambitious tax cut proposals and dampened expectations for an overhaul of Social Security.This is a very, very sticky situation for the Chimp In Chief. He doesn't want to repeat the perceived mistakes that Clinton made in his first two years (when he had strong Democratic majorities in congress). He wants to get re-elected in 2004, and to do that he'll need the backing of the wingnut conservative base of his party, you know, the Bob Jones types. But if he promotes too much of their kooky agenda, he'll piss off not only the left but the center, and that will hurt both the congressional Republicans in 04, but his own re-election prospects.
So what was Trent Lott vowing in Churchillian tones? Homeland security legislation? An economic stimulus package?
Well, Lott wants those, too, but his vow was to pass a ban on what opponents of the procedure call "partial-birth" abortions. In an interview with American Family Radio the morning after the GOP midterm election triumph, Lott told the Christian radio network: "We will move the partial-birth abortion bill through. The House did it this year. Once again, Tom Daschle would not call it up. I will."
Such public pronouncements on the Hill worry Bush aides. It's not because the president objects to the policy -- he had said he would sign a ban on the controversial procedure -- but because he does not wish to be seen as a captive of his party's ideologues, as President Bill Clinton did when he moved quickly on gay rights in the military. "I don't take cues from anybody," Bush said at last week's news conference.
On Thursday, the White House held a conference call with social conservatives and pleaded with them to be patient. "They're saying the president's priorities are already known, but let's be prudent and not just aggravate the Democrats by putting it in their face," said Deal Hudson, the editor of Crisis Magazine and an ally of the White House. "It may not be the first thing that this administration pushes because it's not this administration's style to get the controversial thing out there at the beginning."
"I think he should push his agenda as far as he can push it," said Paul Weyrich, an influential conservative activist. "I think he's going to be pushing a conservative agenda."Let the games begin, indeed.
In particular, Weyrich said, Bush should take a no-compromise view on welfare policy and judicial choices. If Bush stiff-arms conservatives, he said, "There would be consequences to pay."
There is no mention in the article whether Bush found the name of the guy who went and died in his place after he first hid out in the Texas Air National Guard only to later desert. Bush did indicate that the Viet Nam war was a "very tragic era for America" which was why he stayed in a tequila-and-cocaine-fueled haze for the duration of the war.Heheheh.
Bush was scheduled to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery later Monday
...only if his anti-smirk medication is still working that late in the day.
What I am saying is this: If the Republicans see this as a mandate for their domestic policy agenda they're fools. Yet I think they will see it that way. Indeed, they're telling reporters they see it that way. There is going to be heavy pressure -- and pressure not bucked by the White House -- to push through a lot of very conservative and not-particularly-popular legislation. And that will hurt him.Good point, Josh! (-:
Moe: I ain't had front row seats since my Moonie-wedding!I would guess that as sophisticated as the Simpsons audience is, no more than 10 to 20 percent of them get that joke (and an even lower percentage of people my age). Anyway, this appears to be a reference to the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, founder of two kooky things. One is the Unification Church (occasionally claiming himself to be a new messiah), a weird sect (sect: noun, "cult" with a large membership) that, among its quirks, holds large mass weddings. Sun Myung Moon is often referred to, primarly by his detractors, as "Moonie".
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