Iran condemned over anti-Israel remark, regime unrepentant - Yahoo! News

He said the West "was right to be afraid, because two decades ago when the Imam (Khomeini) called for Israel to be wiped off the map they thought it was a slogan, but as time passes we are seeing signs of unity in the Islamic world."

"We have no doubts that at the end of the road, the victory of Muslims and the defeat of Israel is inevitable," Jazihiri told the Fars news agency.
---
Yeah... well umm... what's that saying about history? Me thinks those muslims that try to defeat Israel will know pain once again.

MLB, Astros Argue Over Opening of Roof

If the home team wants the roof closed, then get to closing that roof! It's the Astros' home field, not MLB's home field advantage. Some things should go without saying, this is one of them, but no, leave it to some freekin yankee to try and screw things up.

Go Astros!

---
By RONALD BLUM, AP Baseball Writer 1 hour, 6 minutes ago

HOUSTON - Major League Baseball must decide an open-or-shut case for Game 3 of the
World Series: whether the roof at Minute Maid Park will be open or closed. []

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Afghan Clerics Outraged at Desecration

Afghan Clerics Outraged at Desecration

Remember when muslims dragged dead U.S. soldiers around in Samolia? So... there ya go. War's a bitch.

The First Casualty of the DeLay Conspiracy - Todd Baxter

Is the Hammer Nailed?
BY AMY SMITH
Austin Chronicle

Monday's indictment of DeLay and associates John Colyandro and Jim Ellis charges the trio with conspiracy to launder money – a first-degree felony that carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. The three are accused of sending $190,000 in corporate money to the Republican National Committee, which then sent separate checks totaling $190,000 to GOP candidates in seven competitive legislative races, including those of Austin state Rep. Todd Baxter and former Reps. Jack Stick of Austin and Rick Green of Dripping Springs.
---
---
By Laylan Copelin
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, October 15, 2005

Lawyers for Jim Ellis and John Colyandro, indicted with DeLay on charges that they conspired to launder corporate money into political donations, complained that prosecutors had not provided the list of candidates' names that Ellis allegedly gave officials at the Republican National Committee.

The three are accused of giving $190,000 in corporate money to the RNC which, two weeks later, gave the same amount in political donations to seven Texas candidates during the 2002 election.

In court, prosecutors provided a list but declined to promise it was the same list cited in the conspiracy indictments. They suggested that the list, which included the names of 17 Texas candidates, might have been a precursor to the final list given to the committee.

Two Austin candidates, Jack Stick and Todd Baxter, received money from the committee, as did Rick Green of Dripping Springs.
---
---
Candidates Who Received Donations Believe They Were Legal
Money Came From DeLay's Political Action Committee
POSTED: 8:04 am CDT October 7, 2005
UPDATED: 8:20 am CDT October 7, 2005
The Associated Press

Rep. Todd Baxter, who received a check for $35,000 from the RNC, did not return calls from the AP, but issued a statement calling DeLay a "loyal public servant to the people of Texas."
---
---
Baxter to resign House seat
10/20/2005 11:49 AM
By: News 8 Austin Staff

State Rep. Todd Baxter is stepping down. The two-term republican lawmaker narrowly won re-election last November against challenger Kelly White by 147 votes. His resignation becomes effective Nov. 1

How About Them ASTROS!

The Houston Astros have made it to the World Series! I want to go but my loan application to pay for the tickets would probably get disapproved. I'll pray that I'm somehow able to go see them play in the World Series, but even if I don't I sure hope they win it all. WOOT! God Bless the Astros!

NAEP Reading Mathematics 2005 - Reading: State Results: State Achievement Levels

NAEP Reading Mathematics 2005 - Reading: State Results: State Achievement Levels

Navigate around this a bit and check out how 4th and 8th graders are doing. Results are also segregated by gender, race, and economy (ability to afford lunch). I found Washington D.C. to be most dramatic/startling when looking at overall and then races. I'm still surprised at what was seen on the race charts... what's the matter? I mean, these are 4th and 8th graders, how can this be? I never knew things were so, apparently from these charts, lopsided.

I was taught in college that roughly 10% of any population was born genius. If "population" includes race, then they must not have done enough research, or these test results are flawed or otherwise not reflective of what's actually out there. One of the two is wrong. Either way, I'm really taken aback and wondering what's being done, been done, or anything to address why so many people at 4th and 8th grade have lower than basic understandings for reading and math.

I'm guessing because it's race related, people may not want to address it with candor. But if anything, because it looks so bad, maybe that's exactly what needs to happen. Let's figure out what's wrong and see what can be done to improve the apparent disparity.

Barry Bonds*

BALCO's Conte and Bonds' trainer Anderson sentenced to jail terms - Yahoo News

If Barry Bonds comes back after his "injury" this year and manages to break Babe Ruth's or Hank Aaron's records next year, then there better be a big, fat, conspicuous, make-no-mistake-about-it notation that the guy got it by cheating/doping. Maybe have the name italicized and in a smaller font so as further separate it from legitimate players.

Same goes for the other players who were pumped up on steroids and broke records, like McGwire. Maybe Bonds saw McGwire getting all that attention, knowing that everyone either knew or suspected that he was pumped full of steroids, and decided that if McGwire can do it, then why shouldn't he. So the old fart suddenly gets huge and goes on a little homerun sprint of his own. He probably felt justified in doing so... but just because someone else cheats does not make it acceptable, and the poisonous fruits of the cheating should be discarded.

Anyway, maybe it's just a matter of time before using steroids, chemicals and whatever else is found becomes just a part of the game. Where fetuses are bio-engineered to be athletes. Where athletes are no longer admired for being born/blessed with extraordinary athletic ability or skill. Was it Barry Bonds/Mark McGwire, or was it the steroids? What percentage of it was Bonds/McGwire or steroids? Who knows, who cares, they're losers.

America Unsatisfied

Summary of Findings: Plurality Now Sees Bush Presidency as Unsuccessful: "Plurality Now Sees Bush Presidency as Unsuccessful"

This month, October 2005, the percentage of people saying they are dissatisfied with the way things are going on in this country has shot up from 58% in July, to 65% now. That's HUGE! Why? Hmm... probably a combination of things. Like DeLay's grand jury indictment being pinned down as an extortionist, money-launderer; Rove's potential indictment looming in the air for exposing a spy; Frist's SEC investigation for dumping his stocks just before some bad news was made public; WMD's not being found in Iraq, nor the near-nuclear bomb capability; the failure to foresee resistance to America after defeating Saddam Hussein's Iraq; the lies upon lies upon more lies followed up with a "trust me" for Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court; the hiring of someone from a polo or horse association to be the head of F.E.M.A., a polluter as head of E.P.A., and a few other people that are the antithesis of what they lead; the lackluster performance of rendering aid to those affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita; the badgering and drawn out demise of the bad idea to privatize Social Security (private...social); the realization that this administration is not representing the public's interest, but rather corporate interests, and that they were duped by someone so dumb and ineffectual.

Pretty pathetic no matter how you look at it.

How ironic it is that this administration, Bush's, was put into office by those claiming moral superiority. Christians, fundamentalist or otherwise, were persuaded by their church leaders that voting for Bush was critical to keeping ungodliness from overtaking America. I'm a Christian, but I also believe like Paul did and choose not to be a mindless person, but one that thinks and has discernment. Bush is deceptive and has deceived many, but hey, to him it's all part of winning. It's a shame that so many Christians appear almost eager to be deceived. Probably no different than the radical Muslims who want to blow themselves up for jeehad, jihad, gee-hawd, whatever... or is it martyrdom? Anyway, same thing, different religion and way of doing it. If only fundamentalist Christians and radical Muslims knew how much they have in common, they'd probably rule the earth and nothing would happen for a thousand years. Boring.

Anyway, I'm so sick of Bush being in office that I can't wait until the next election. But if America votes in another thinking-challenged person, i.e. retarded in the head like Bush, then I'm going advocate that intelligence standards be implemented before allowing one to vote. =) And no, I'm not a Democrat, I'm an independent thinker and simply vote for who I believe to be most qualified, or has the better name... yeah, I voted for some local level candidates and had no idea what either stood for. But this next election coming up I'm going to know.

My cousin didn't even vote last election, so I tell him he can't gripe. Well, his counter to that is that he's a veteran and so that gives him the right to gripe. Being one myself, I'll go ahead and agree. But, interestingly, even though he would generally be better represented with Democrat representation, he shows distaste for them. Why? He doesn't know. I think he just likes the toughness exuberated by Republican commercials.

Back in the day, Clayton Williams probably put out the most hard-core, tough-minded, take-no-shit commercials a person could have had. He let it be known in the commercial that he would crack down on youth criminal activity by taking away their driver's licenses and putting them in a boot-camp like atmosphere where they'd be breaking rocks. He had other shocking things, but all that toughness exuberated on the TV made him a shoe-in for Governor of Texas. At least until he took off the shoe and stuck his foot in his mouth, a couple of times. Be that as it may, if you want to win in Texas, you need to be tougher than your opponent, natural selection at its finest.

Felonious Photography

CityBeat: Death of Innocence (2002-04-18)

In photography, you're lucky or highly skilled if the photo you take is "final" without doing any post processing... fooling with negatives, making adjustments, burning, dodging, using photoshop or other programs to manipulate colors, contrasts, sharpness... all sorts of things to help refine the image to what the artist desires. Sometimes, one mixes images or parts of images together to get a desired effect.

Unfortunately for one photographer, he never got a chance to make his art because of his local film developer. Film developers are not necessarily artists and need only know which chemicals go into which container, and can make certain adjustments when printing film to help push out something recognizable in the event of someone using bad camera settings. So this technician sees some photos she doesn't like and the next thing you know, a photographer, artist, is sent to jail for years on several counts of a felony, all for unfinished, unpublished work.

This is a travesty of justice. It's not justice at all, just a mock semblance that was similarily used in the past to hang witches.

This case needs to be appealed to the Supreme Court if needed. And if this backwoods trial court isn't reversed, then photographers still using film better heed this as a big "You've Been Warned."
___

Death of Innocence

Out of the darkroom, into the limelight: Thomas Condon breaks his silence

By Maria Rogers

The same haunting face stares out from most of the pieces of art in Thomas Condon's studio in Walnut Hills. It's the face of a baby inspired by a photo he took 10 years ago.

A teddy bear covered in plaster sits below a photo of another baby. The innocence of the toy, and the face above it, are captured forever in the art.

Condon feels that childhood, and the emotions and changes that come with it, are topics to be explored in his art. He says he's always wondered how we maintain the morality and honesty we had as children in our adult lives, when worries of credit cards and jobs consume most of our day.

"There's a dilemma in losing that innocence of childhood but also wanting to grow up," Condon says in his studio during his first media interview since being charged with crimes resulting from photographs he took at the Hamilton County Morgue.

Part of growing up also means realizing that death is an aspect of the experience of life, Condon says. He'd hoped to capture that aspect of life in his morgue photography.

Instead of hanging next to birth photos as he had intended, however, the morgue photos ended up in a courtroom, causing a heated battle about what art is and what death really means.

A question of permission
Condon was convicted in October 2001 on eight counts of gross abuse of a corpse for taking photos of corpses in the county morgue. On April 16, he was sentenced to serve two and a half years in prison.

Standing before Common Pleas Judge Norbert Nadel prior to sentencing, Condon turned to the families of the deceased who were photographed and asked for their forgiveness. He also told Nadel he had an understanding with the Hamilton County Coroner's office that he was allowed to work on his project.

"That is the truth as much as anything that was said here," Condon said.

Condon said he had shown some of the prints of the photos he took in the morgue to Dr. Gary Utz, a pathologist at the coroner's office. He said he gave a list of symbolic objects he wanted to use in the photos to Terry Daly, an administrative aide for the coroner.

According to Condon, he was allowed to work on his project in exchange for making a training video for the coroner's office.

Robert Folchi, father of Christina Folchi, whose body was photographed by Condon, told Nadel what he'd gone through. He said his daughter had been killed in a car accident.

"We donated our daughter's organs, and we signed a release form," Folchi said. "I'd like to know what a symbolic object would be taking a picture of my daughter's pubic hair."

Robert Martineck, Folchi's grandfather, said the morgue photograph controversy had touched the lives of more than 35 members of his family and that whenever the family gets together the subject of the photos comes up. He pointed out that Folchi left behind a young daughter when she died.

"She'll never know her mother," Martineck said, adding that the girl would certainly hear about the photos taken of her mother's body.

Before sentencing Condon, Nadel said that the blame for what was done in the morgue ended with the defendant.

"Mr. Condon can assume what he wants to assume, but there was no permission here," he said.

Nadel also turned art critic before passing sentence and discussed the merits of Condon's photography.

"They're not art," he said. "They're sick, they're disgusting, they're disrespectful and really the worst invasion of privacy."

Nadel called the photo project "idiotic" and pointed out that Hamilton County was being sued because of the situation, which could cost taxpayers money.

The brutal truth
A week before his sentencing, Condon sits in his studio reflecting on what he's learned from the experience of being charged with and convicted for a crime associated with his art.

"I think so many people in their lives have never done what they love to do and they're miserable," he says.

For Condon, being in the morgue was a spiritual experience, a chance to view death from a more positive point of view. Part of what he finds so refreshing about children is their honesty.

"I think in depicting death and using death as a subject matter, it's being brutally honest," he says.

During his time spent in the morgue, Condon says he began to experience the place in the same way the people who work there did. The morgue workers, he points out, treated the situation as what it was -- a job. On television, he says, morgue scenes are often shown in dimly lit rooms full of solitude, but in fact the morgue workers talked about their weekends, listened to the radio and left the lights on.

"I just kind of lived in their shoes for a while and experienced it that way," Condon says. "There were difficult days. It was never matter-of-fact for me."

Condon says that his hope in working with the morgue imagery was to make death something less negative for people.

He says it's hurt him immensely to know that the morgue project has caused people pain. This, he feels, was the opposite of his goals of helping people see death as part of the overall experience of life and of maybe making a positive impact on the way they regard death.

"I feel and felt very strongly I was capturing something that was going to happen regardless of my presence or not," he says. "In pursuing the project, I would and could put myself in the place of that person who was photographed and deceased."

Condon's attorney, Louis Sirkin, says Condon is pained by the controversy's affect on family members of those photographed in the morgue.

"I don't think that was ever Tom's intention on anything," Sirkin says. "He certainly feels it and is regretful and feels the remorse of that."

Sirkin says death is a difficult subject.

"It's a subject matter that none of us really wants to think about," he says. "I guess that's the conflict artists have to go through when they take on a very controversial subject matter. He's a religious young man, a believer in God. Tom is dealing with it all."

Sirkin points out that he brought in testimony during Condon's trial from an Art Academy of Cincinnati professor to explain that what Condon was doing was art and the testimony went unchallenged. During the prosecutor's closing arguments, however, the art was dismissed as "bullshit."

"To refer to this bullshit project as art is an insult to you, to the victims," Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Longano said at the end of the trial in October.

Sirkin believes that, during the trial, the prosecution made a mockery of what Condon felt in his mind.

"Where does our government or our prosecutor all of a sudden become an art critic?" Sirkin asks.

Condon says many people told him he'd been convicted before his trial ever began.

"Art never entered the courtroom," Condon says.

Who was reckless?
Condon says he took care to ensure that those photographed in the morgue would not be identifiable, even to the point of making sure that tattoos or unusual birthmarks wouldn't show. He says he told colleagues that he was working on the project out of state to keep the identities of those photographed from being revealed.

According to Condon, the way the photos were developed wasn't how he would have produced them. The photo lab that processed his negatives alerted police to the photos in January 2001, and charges were subsequently brought against Condon and Assistant Coroner Dr. Jonathan Tobias. (Tobias was sentenced April 16 to five months in the Hamilton County Justice Center.)

Condon says he was planning to crop and manipulate the photos before displaying them and wouldn't have shown faces or identifiable marks.

"When they printed the images, most of them were just printed from negatives," he says. "I hadn't even began to work with them yet. They just took the film and printed it full frame in shitty harsh contrasts, real hard black, real hard white."

Condon says there are many ways to crop a photograph and that features can be masked using different techniques and textures.

"If it hadn't been disseminated the way it was, if the media didn't completely take it as an opportunity -- they made it an opportunity for a very entertaining story for them," he says.

He questions why the photos were shown on television news and allowed to be released to the public in the first place.

"They didn't care," he says, refering to county prosecutors, the police and the media, "and they're calling me reckless."

Condon says he had "no immediate plans" for the photographs. They were a work in progress, he says, and could have eventually been used in a gallery exhibition or a book project.

Looking ahead
Before Condon was branded "the morgue photographer," he was Chris Jones' brother, the man who took pictures of her son's birth and captured his baby smiles in photographs displayed proudly in her living room.

Jones says the way her brother has been portrayed in the media is not how he really is.

Condon says he's received more than 60 letters from family, friends and colleagues offering their support, something he likes to think of as a sort of "living eulogy." Leafing through a stack of letters of support, Jones reads aloud some of the positive things they contain.

"I think every letter just about said the words 'gentle' and 'trusting,' " she says.

Condon's family says he would never intentionally hurt other people. In fact, they say that the purpose of the morgue photos was to try to make death less difficult for people to think about.

"Maybe it would help people value more their own lives and the people they love," says Kelly Blank, Condon's wife.

For more than a year, Condon's family has been waiting to see what would happen to him. First they experienced the shock of his indictment and then heard the guilty verdicts.

On April 15, they sit together and prepare for what would happen the next morning at his sentencing.

"Everything's just been hinging on this one day, it seems," says Kathy Condon, Thomas' mother.

Jones says her brother held a benefit event last September to help pay for his legal defense but instead decided to give all the money to the victims of the Sept. 11 attack.

"It bothers me that people have such a false impression of him," she says.

Kathy Condon says her son had permission to take the photographs in the morgue.

"No one should be allowed to say Thomas does not see this as art," she says. "They may not like it, but that doesn't mean it's wrong."

Jones says people often ask her how she would feel if it were her family member in the photos. She says she tells them that of course she'd be upset but that she would try to understand what the artist's intent was in taking the photo.

"He's totally opposite of what's been reported," Jones says. "How do you undo the damage that's already been done?"

Blank says news crews used to surround Condon's home at all times. In order to leave the house, she'd have to drive around the block two or three times to distract them, and then Condon would make a run for his car.

Despite all that's happened, Blank is excited about the future. On April 13, the weekend before Condon's sentencing, Blank and Condon were married.

She sees good things to come.

"Sometimes the only way through something is through it," Blank says, pointing straight ahead. "We have a long road ahead, positive things. Everything's going to be OK, because we're strong." ©

E-mail Maria Rogers

Some conservatives not assuaged by Bush's defense of Supreme Court nominee

...because they know Bush and his tendency to not know what the hell he's talking about and/or lie.

Here's something. In a single press conference, Bush first declares that Miers will not change her view, that he knows her, trusts her, friends, etc., and then says in response to a question that he has never discussed abortion with her. Reminds me of someone saying they never had sexual relations with [Monica].

Taser, the deadly less-than-lethal force

East Austin is mainly occupied by minorities, and you could call it "economically challenged" in an attempt to be politically correct. If you live on the east side, when you make you enough money to get out of there, it has been shown that you will likely move north to Round Rock or Pflugerville (Flu-ger-vil). Anyway, it's an area where they're attempting to "revitalize" and such. So, probably not surprisingly, it also happens to be an area with lots of crime.

Now, maybe it's just me, but if someone is threatening a police officer, I'm thinking they're either extremely pissed off, crazy, doped up, trying to impress, or some combination thereof. But if one is acting a fool, they shouldn't be surprised if they're treated accordingly. BUT THAT IS NOT ENOUGH TO KILL SOMEONE!

What happened? Not enough police to wrestle this guy to the ground and handcuff him? The police that were present were female or not big enough to do so? Or... is it just faster and less physically demanding to simply taser a person into submission? Yeah, I think the laziness factor is in play here. It gets hot here in Texas, and if you have to wrestle someone down to the ground, you might break a sweat and then you might feel some discomfort for the remainder of your shift.

Maybe it's just me again, but I was under the impression that Tasers were supposed to be used in lieu of times when an officer would normally shoot a suspect in the leg... so instead of shooting them with a bullet to a less-lethal area of the body that the chest, they could use a Taser. Was that the case in this incident, who knows? What's the policy for when Taser use is authorized? That should be found somewhere on APD's website.

Thing is, the police probably didn't anticipate the guy would die, and I'm betting they thought simply using the Taser would quickly put an end to whatever the situation was. However, it's this trend to use a jolts of electricity instead of manually forcing a person down that's causing these deaths. Think of Rodney King, if those officers had Tasers back then, King would likely have died instead of receiving the beating. Sure, beatings can kill too... but when was the last time APD beat someone to death for resisting arrest?

Therefore, Austin needs to rethink its use of Tasers to make sure that its use isn't killing more people than it's saving.

___
DA to review Clark case; NAACP sponsors forum
10/5/2005 7:43 AM
By: News 8 Austin Staff

The Travis County district attorney's office is reviewing the case of Michael Clark. He died last Monday in police custody. Police used a Taser on Clark to subdue him. The DA's office says it will present the case to a Travis County grand jury.

East Austin community members also discussed the case. The NAACP held a town hall meeting Tuesday night where they talked about what they can do to stop what they believe is excessive violence toward minorities by police. 'We believe that when our community is properly educated, properly informed, and properly mobilized, we can solve this problem. The city of Austin, to us, is part of the problem,' Austin NAACP President Nelson Linder said.

A number of issues were discussed including asking the police department to put more veteran officers on patrol in East Austin. The city's assistant police monitor and members of the Texas Civil Rights Project also attended the meeting."

---

FROM THE AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT WEBSITE:

At 1:09 p.m., Southeast Area Command patrol officers were dispatched to a nature
unknown call at 6400 East William Cannon Drive. Upon arrival officers located a
male and female who were engaged in a physical disturbance.

Officers made contact with the male who was displaying behavior that was violent
and irrational. The suspect threatened the officers and did not comply with officer
commands as the officers went to arrest him. Officers had to use less lethal force
to control the suspect. The suspect was taken into custody and went into medical
distress. He was transported to South Austin Hospital by EMS for medical
attention.

He was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. at the hospital. The cause of death is
pending the results of an autopsy by the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office.
This incident is under investigation by the APD Homicide Unit and Internal Affairs.

A History of Violence - Review

I did my research before seeing this movie. The impression I got was that this movie would start off peacefully slow, and then suddenly switch gears with lots of shocking action and violence.

WRONG!

This is a dull movie with just a few spurts of action. I would call it more of a character driven movie rather than an action flick. I was in the mood and ready for a action movie, and this movie simply doesn't fit the bill. I was decieved, and felt like my money was stolen.

There are some funny moments, in fact this movie could have been labled a comedy by the same critics that declared it an action film since there is probably more comedy in it than action.

The best scene is a toss up between a botched strangulation and the scene involving a cheerleading outfit. One was funny, one was pretty sexy and graphic.

Save this movie for the dollar theater or rent it.

Why Do These People Have Children

Court Grants New Trial to Convicted Killer

(AP) - KNOXVILLE, Tenn.-An appeals court has ordered a new trial for a woman convicted of killing her 4-month-old son by giving him a pacifier coated with the powerful narcotic OxyContin.

The state Court of Criminal Appeals said Friday that the trial judge improperly allowed testimony about three days of partying and drug use by Debra Elaine Kirk and her estranged husband before the 2002 death of her baby, Lacie.

"To say that (Kirk's) lifestyle was `unwholesome' or her parenting skills questionable would be excessively charitable," Appeals Judge Thomas Woodall wrote. "However, a jury cannot be allowed to convict a defendant for bad character."

Authorities said Kirk, 24, put the wet pacifier in some crushed OxyContin and stuck it in the baby's mouth to make him go back to sleep.

She was convicted of aggravated child abuse and criminally negligent homicide and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Hurricane Aid

My cousin got the hell out of Beaumont after Rita. He's been worried sick because his job there is in limbo since they have no electricity, and his rented house received a lot of water damage as evidenced by a collapsed ceiling on most all of his posessions and lots of mold. So, no job, no home, he brought a handful of clothes with him and has been looking for work here in Austin. Yesterday was his 30th Bday, and he was pretty depressed.

But my oh my what a difference a day can make. He's been told that Dal Tile wants to hire him here, and he happened to check his bank account and found $2,000 deposited! Now he's looking forward to working and using that $2,000 to get him settled here in Austin. So the next time I or any family member of mine is looking to have some flooring done, I'm pointing them to Dal Tile and noone else*. And if anyone asks me about the relief effort, I'm telling them it made a HUGE difference.

*EDIT: Correction, Dal Tile is the suck. My cousin went in to interview with the boss of the boss, and he expressed some concern over the work history. But he was going to talk with a couple of people and let my cousin know something. After waiting a fews hours, my cousin leaves a message at noon asking for a call back, checking on the status. Then at 4 p.m., my cousin gets a hold of the guy, but he doesn't have an answer yet since he's still waiting to hear from my cousin's last boss. Yesterday, no call back at all. What an arse.

Good news is, looks like my cousin may get a job blowing things up at some limestone place, which pays even more than Dal Tile would've. Blessings in disguise. =)

Is Harriet Miers Lesbian

59, never married, no children... but a Republican. If she was a Democrat there wouldn't be hesitation in concluding that she MUST be a lesbo. But this gal hails from the inner circle of a very right wing president dependant on the hardcore Christian vote, thus the pause. If she's not lesbo, then is she "living in sin" with a man? Is she a Republican Feminist? Does it matter?

Probably not. She's likely a workaholic who has sacrificed having relationships for personal success. I read that she's one of the first people to arrive for work each morning and one of the last to leave. Such dedication with fewer emotional attachments to real world factors might make her the best damn Supreme Court Justice ever. Or it may make her the most bitter and despised, it's a toss up.

It's hard to tell what will happen once she no longer has to kiss any arse. I say that because any woman who goes out to help Bush do yardwork is obviously kissing arse above and beyond the call of mandatory presidential arse kissing for nice favors. And was any of it fake? Sure, but how much? We'll find out if she gets the lifetime appointment.

My prediction if she gets appointed (having never heard her voice or read anything she wrote) is that she's going to make some good decisions and some bad decisions, just like almost every Justice, every lawyer, every human being before her no matter what their political or sexual leanings. Hopefully she'll make more good decisions than bad... as determined by me of course!

___
Bush Nominates Harriet Miers for Supreme Court

By James Gerstenzang
Times Staff Writer

October 3, 2005, 7:24 AM PDT

President Bush today nominated Harriet Miers, his White House counsel and a long-time political supporter and personal friend, to be the 110th associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.