Hard News

The 911 call is finally released, the original caller mentions that the "two men have suit cases and could actually live there." She doesn't mention that they're black. Crowley admits he arrested Gates for yelling, not a threatening movement, it's false arrest if you read the report.

John Ridley  of  thatminoritything.com  joins Lawrence O'Donnell, with an admission of having had a feeling "Here we go again."  He some horrifying incidents of actual profiling that "you expect to see, unfortunately." "The teachable moment" of which Obama speaks, what is it? The words "I'll show you who's boss" DO sound like a stupid moment. Hopes for The Beer Summit: Next time we don't see things, just bits and pieces from one side or the other, we'll look at the entire picture before jumping to a decision.

In this case, I feel the media jumped in before anyone had all of the facts. Facebook | Digg | Reddit | Stumble | Buzz it! | Email Article |

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In Walter Cronkite's long career he more than earned the affectionate nickname "Uncle Walter" and "The Most Trusted Man In America." He wasn't in it for the ratings or the money, though he was always on top, he was there to bring us the news, both good and bad. When Walter Cronkite said it, you knew it was the truth. Our most emotional moments as a nation were reported by this man who was one of the first to chance broadcasting on that wacky new invention the television.

He was with us in one form or another from Normandy to D-Day, the emotional tragedies such as the assassination of President Kennedy, and the Jubilant moon landing. He may well have hastened the end of the Viet Nam war with his nightly coverage.

He was rightly worried about the fate of journalism, and I fear we won't see the like of him again. "And that's the way it is," good-night Uncle Walter. Facebook | Digg | Reddit | Stumble | Buzz it! | Email Article |

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There are some things the media (as in everything you see and hear) cannot talk about.

First that Neo Cons and the Neoconservative movement is all Irish.

The other thing is connected, hey? One cannot disparage religion. The problem in Iran is they have a SUPREME LEADER who makes all decisions based upon 7th Century crap. As opposed to making decisions based upon 1st Century crap, 4000 year old crap, or even 6000 year old crap. It is not one or the other, it's the very idea of OFFICIALLY putting faith above reason. And most importantly, how much control governments give these Gods, Demigods and crappy old books. That's the rub.

Disparaging religion is not tolerated on American Television, radio, mainstream print or even at the movies. Which is why we are the most criminal, violent, gun toting, conservative, uneducated, bigoted First World nation on Earth. If it weren't for the money we would be rated along side Somalia and Ireland.

Neda died because Iran has no separation of church and state.

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Gitmo-Gate: Brendan Neely was following orders, and under the impression that each of the prisoners was a killer of Americans. He now lives with shame, guilt, and remorse. Listen to Cheney, "They're living in the tropics, they have everything that's needed." It makes Gitmo sound like a tropical resort. If you get queasy easily, I suggest you skip this. Facebook | Digg | Reddit | Stumble | Buzz it! | Email Article |

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Damage-Done-Gate 4200 american service men and women killed. Iraq did not choose, 4 million are displaced. 95,236 died so we could "liberate" them.I can see where someone might not choose "liberation" under these circustances.

How We Know They're Evildoers Gate: (It just keeps getting better) ONE example: Judge recently ordered release of 21 yr old, imprisoned since the age of 14. Neither the judge nor anyone else trusted him,an informant. For all of the impossible information he gave, he was rewarded for his lying with video games,CD's, coffee, McDonald's apple pies, chewing tabaccie, trucking mags...to name a few. When I say impossible, most of the people he pointed to, were known not to have been in Afghanistan at the times he told of their activities there.

Legacy-Gate : Limbaugh (whom everyone reveres, claims Bush had no division. - at a time we haven't been so divided since the Civil War? Jerry Moran sums it up much better, it was. "Are you with me or against me?" Facebook | Digg | Reddit | Stumble | Buzz it! | Email Article |

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I was awed to see the skill with which the pilot landed flight 1549 in the Hudson river. Awe has turned to rage against U S Airways after learning that they had experienced an incident two days before in which they told passengers to prepare for a crash landing. It was the same craft and the same route. Passengers heard a series of loud bangs just after take off from LaGuardia.

Steve Jeffrey of Charlotte, North Carolina, told CNN he was flying in first class Tuesday when, about 20 minutes into the flight, "it sounded like the wing was just snapping off.""The red lights started going on. A little pandemonium was going on," Jeffrey recalled."It seemed so loud, like luggage was hitting the side but times a thousand. It startled everyone on the plane," Jeffrey said. "We started looking at each other. The stewardesses started running around. They made an announcement that 'everyone heard the noise, we're going to turn around and head back to LaGuardia and check out what happened.'

Two other passengers remember hearing that there was a malfunction with compressor via an announcement from the pilot.

NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said as part of its investigation into the Hudson River crash, it will be looking at all maintenance activities, but has no indications of any anomalies or any malfunctions in the aircraft, so far in the investigation.

Following CNN's inquiry, he confirmed that the Airbus 320's maintenance records show "there was an entry in the aircraft's maintenance log that indicates a compressor stall occurred on Jan. 13."

Why would a spokesman deny any indications of anomalies when pilots announced them to the passengers, and the maintenance log clearly points out the stall, but no effort to fix it once it was safely down, and before it went out again!

It seems the very least we can expect of an airline is to repair problems they are aware of! We all assume that they do, and that they look for potential problems. The heroics of January 19th might not have been necessary if U S Airways had done their maintenance. Passengers report scare on Same Flight 1549 Two Days Prior To Hudson River Landing
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Police work has never been considered an extremely safe vocation, perhaps it is different in Australia? Police in Western Australia's Perth consider themselves to be "under siege." You see, two cars belonging to officers were torched while parked in the police compound. Even more brazen was the next attack at another station. Someone set a utility vehicle on fire and sent it right through the front doors!  The blazing vehicle caused a great flap and a lot of damage to the station. What could they do but call 911 (or (000) in Australia). The sad realization soon dawned that they would be summoning themselves, and obviously weren't up to the job.

When you read of their unique solution to this problem, Perth citizens might be well advised to make other plans as to whom to phone when an emergency arises. Concerned for their safety at work, the police are now considering hiring private security guards to protect police stations. Yes, that is irony and it has sped directly over police commissioner Karl O’Callaghan's head.“I’m concerned about any threat on police, obviously my first concern is for the officers, to make sure they are safe and we will be looking at security as a matter of priority,” Mr. O’Callaghan said. No word as to whether security will do "ride alongs" with officers on patrol, or will take over the duty of making the donut runs. Needed: Security guards for police stations in Perth AU, must do donut runs
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You cannot imagine kindly Doc Welby and his young assistant performing the job expected of Dr. Marc Stern of WA state. There may be a very small similarity however. Dr. Stern has resigned his secure state position, rather than perform executions as part of his job, or the jobs of the 700 people he oversees in the state system.  Dr. Marc Stern spoke with The Olympian Newspaper after announcing his resignation. Stern stated "That using doctors to prepare for an execution is unethical, adding that the American Medical Association and the Society of Correctional Physicians oppose doctor involvement in executions". It is difficult to argue that point, when the very first line of the Hippocratic Oath is "First, do no harm", and makes one wonder why a physician need be on hand for the gruesome proceedings.

Publically,Scott Blonien, assistant secretary of the Department of Corrections chose to rewrite Sterns' reasons for objecting as personal, moral objections. Dr. Stern protests from a professional viewpoint, and has always maintained that the ethical conflict isn't personal as represented by Blonien at all."This has nothing to do with my personal opinion of the death penalty. It has strictly to do with the recognized professional ethics," he said.

For those who do protest executions on the basis of ethics and morality, the growing number of findings proving that there are at the very least one in seven on death row who are innocent, and no one knows how many have died for the crimes of someone else. In my personal opinion, one is too many.

Whatever Dr. Sterns reasons, I tend to think this is a step in the right direction. Sadly, corrections officials shrug this off, as you'd expect that they would. Incarcerating and executing others is their bread and butter. Prison Doctor in WA Resigns Over Capital Punishment
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In the continuing saga of the Wasilla Hillibillies we find the mother of Levi Johnson, Sherry Johnson 42, in jail with a six count felony accusation concerning Oxycontin, or as it is known on the street, Hillbilly Heroin.

Previously we have been treated to pictures of Levi and his soon to be wife 17 year old Bristol Palin covered in guns in Bonnie and Clyde photos and not a few stories of Levi and his hard party nature regarding alcohol and drugs. Which leads one to wonder if he was living with his mom at the time and if she was taking the hit. Bristol Palin's baby-grandmother, Sherry Johnston, busted

The baby is due any moment which will obviously take place before the much talked about possible marriage to be. This of course puts Gay Marriage several moral and ethical steps above Hetero-Hillbilly marriages. In fact perhaps it is time to keep Hillbillies from marrying at all, you know, what with the Darwin Awards this time of year, the genetic pool is bad enough in not only Alaska but the hills and hollars of the lower lower 48.

The Hillbilly Marriage Act - Defines marriage as the union of two people who have IQs above 75.

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The Runner Up for 2008

Employees in a west Texas warehouse noticed the smell of a gas leak. Management evacuated the building, careful to extinguish all potential sources of ignition; lights, power, etc. That is when the experts were called in, the gas company dispached two technicians. Upon entering the building, they found they had difficulty navigating in the dark. To their frustration, none of the lights worked. Perhaps the flashlight had yet to be invented in that corner of west Texas? Witnesses later described the sight of one of the technicians reaching into his pocket and retrieving an object that resembled a cigarette lighter. They were correct. Upon operation of the lighter-like object, you can well guess there was a large explosion sending pieces of the warehouse as far as three miles away. Nothing was found of the technicians, but the lighter was found in fairly good shape. The technician suspected of causing the blast had never been thought of as ''bright''by his peers. Not strangely, this is often said of the winners of Darwin Awards.

Now, to the winner of this year's Darwin Award (awarded, as always,posthumously) The photo above is of an Impala similar to the one used by this award winner. This stunt has been attempted in previous years. Perhaps this year's winner thought he could perfect it with the device he used. The Arizona Highway Patrol came upon a pile of smoldering metal embedded in the side of a cliff rising above the road at the apex of a curve. The wreckage resembled the site of an airplane crash, but it was an unidentifiable car.

Proving again that a little knowledge is a bad thing. An amateur rocket scientist had somehow managed to get a JATO unit (Jet Assisted Take Off),a solid fuel rocket, used to give heavy military transport planes an extra push in taking off from short airfields. They are not easy to acquire,with good reason. Driving his Chevy Impala out into the desert, he found a long, straight stretch of road, attached the JATO unit to the car, jumped in, got up some speed and fired off the JATO for the (last) ride of his life! The best that can be determined is that the operator of the 1967 Impala hit the JATO ignition approximately 3..0 miles from the crash site, judging by the scorched and melted asphalt. The JATO, could well have reached maximum thrust within 5 seconds, causing the Chevy to reach speeds well in excess of 350 mph and continuing at full power for an additional 20-25 seconds.The driver, and soon to be pilot, would have experienced G-forces usually reserved for dog fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners, at which point he was just along for the ride. It is a credit to the Impala that it was still in one piece at this point. The Impala did stay on the straight highway for about 2.5 miles (15-20 seconds) before the driver applied and completely melted the brakes, blowing the tires and leaving thick rubber marks on the road surface. He then became airborne for an additional 1.4 thrilling miles, to be halted by the cliff face at a height of 125 feet leaving a blackened crater 3 feet deep in the rock. Most of the driver's remains were not recoverable, and some debris believed to be a portion of the steering wheel was found.

Epilogue: It has been calculated that this moron attained a ground speed of approximately 420-mph, though much of his voyage was not actually on the ground. There is no real moral to this story, except perhaps if your car is meant to fly, a JATO unit will be a standard option on it. 2008 Darwin Award Winner and Runner Up
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