DarkStar Spouts Off

O'Malley Supports Dumbing Down Black Kids

Martin O'Malley supports the idea of dumbing down Black kids in the majority Black Baltimore Public School System. That's the only thing I can say to this:

Mayor Martin O'Malley rallied yesterday to the defense of city school board members who lowered the passing grade for key subjects taught in Baltimore's schools, but the move drew criticism from several City Council members and a spokesman for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

During an appearance at an East Baltimore middle school, O'Malley said lowering the minimum passing grade from 70 to 60 changed the grading scale, but it did not lower standards. He said the school board acted properly by aligning the city school system with others around the state that use 60 as the minimum passing grade. "We do not want standards lowered," O'Malley said.

Interim schools Chief Executive Officer Charlene Cooper Boston, who joined O'Malley for a cleanup campaign at Northeast Middle School yesterday, said she also supports the new policy, though it was enacted in early June, before she took the top school's job. Boston's comments mirrored some of the same points that were made by O'Malley.

What the article doesn't mention is the lowest score a student can receive is a 50.

[ Update ]

Think about that for a minute. If a student gets a 50 in the first quarter, then gets a 70 in the second quarter, they have the minimum passing grade of 60 for the semester. Before, when the student needed a minimum passing grade of 70, they needed to get a 90 in the second quarter to pass the semester.

They lowered the standards, period. And the interim  schools chief is a Black woman.

And some Black people want O'Malley to become governor?!?!?!?

[ Update ]

O'Malley is being quoted as saying that this is just an adjustment of the 4.0 scale. Well, that's bunk.

A 'D', no matter what, is 1.0. A 'C', no matter what is 2.0. If the BCPSS scale means a 'D' is now 2.0, they have to explain this scale to colleges when they request the student's transcripts.

O'Malley is showing how little he thinks about the parents and children of kids in the school system. At this point, I will mention that O'Malley sends his kids to private school. And add to that, he sends them to private school in Baltimore COUNTY!

Education Involves Parents

I've been posting about the mess in the Baltimore City Public School System, but I haven't mentioned the parents yet. I will get to that point, even if it is stating the obvious.

The Media Are Sick B*******

The media are sick bastards!

They are releasing yet even more recordings of people making calls during 9/11! There is no need to do this except for their sick need to display people in distress!

Who wants to hear this!?!?!?!?

Blow Up The Baltimore City Public School System

[Update 9:35 PM EDT]
The school board of the Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) has decided to lower the passing grade standard for students. They are lowering the minimum passing grade from 70 to 60. This is an effort to raise the graduation rate of the school system.

When city school students return to class Aug. 28, they'll find it easier to advance because the minimum passing grade for key subjects has been lowered from 70 to 60, a change that abandons a six-year-old policy once hailed as shock therapy for a troubled system.

With little fanfare or public input, the city school board voted 6-1 in early June, with one abstention, to reduce the minimum passing marks in reading, math and some science classes in the first through 12th grades.

Minutes of the board's June 13 meeting show that despite concerns about the lack of public debate, the board made the significant policy change in an unusually hurried fashion.

The sole vote against the change was cast by board member Anirban Basu, who argued that the new policy was, in effect, a lowering of academic standards.

Recently, a study was released that showed that the BCPSS was next to last in the graduation rate of its students. But, the bad thing is (if it can get worse), is the board making this change when the news was focused on the resignation of the BCPSS school chairman.

I'll state it again: It's time to blow up the BCPSS.

This is what should happen:

1. All public school students in the state of Maryland must be allowed to transfer to any school that has space. If the student wants to go to a school outside of his school system, the money to educate that student must follow the student to the new school system.
2. All schools in Baltimore that meet the state standards must be allowed to become charter schools without review.
3. All schools in Baltimore that do not meet standards must present a plan to become a charter school. These schools will be forced to under go intense monitoring and are subject to being paired with educational institutions to turn the schools around.
4. Parents of Baltimore city school students will be offered the chance to use school vouchers.
5. All parents of Baltimore city school students will be offered the chance to have tutors and tutoring service paid for until the students leave the public school system via graduation. This holds true even if the students leave the state.
6. All current members of the school board must be terminated.
7. A new school board must be created comprised of the following (I understand this is a huge board and is prone to problems):
   • One board member appointed by the state.
   • One board member appointed by the city.
   • One board member appointed by elementary school teachers. This member must be an elementary school teacher in good standing.
   • One board member appointed by middle/Jr. school teachers. This member must be a teacher in good standing.
   • One board member appointed by high school teachers. This board member must be a teacher in good standing.
   • Four board members who are at large members who are voted into office.
8. All current board members must be blind folded and shot.

That is my plan and it has been emailed to state legislators.

"Black Leaders"

It seems to me that "Black leaders" were defined early on, in the early era of television, because television couldn't focus on the many Black people who made up the Civil Rights Era. The idea of "Black leaders" made it "easy" to deal with Martin Luther King, Jr. and the people who followed him. But I maintain that while he was a prominent voice and indeed did lead, he wasn't a leader of the Black masses but a symbol of the southern Black masses. In fact, what seems to get lost is, many Blacks were against the "agitating" of the Blacks who were a part of the effort.

That is not to diminish the MLK's work, because he did a lot in the short time. However, at the same time, the laziness of the media and the aggressiveness of some have made the idea of "Black leadership" essential to deal with the many people in the Black community. Think about this point for a moment: how many other "unsung" or "unknown" people took part in the Civil Rights struggle?

For example, now that Corretta Scott-King has passed, more of what she did before she started her family with Martin. The same goes for the background of Rosa Parks. Again, think about it. Who helped organize the marches? Who helped with the strategy meetings? Why aren't they also Black leaders?

Let's get to today. Why does the media look at Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson as Black leaders? I think it is because, in our sound bite, microwave society, they have mastered the art of the sound bite.

But look at Al Sharpton. He leads the National Action Network but what have they done on a large scale?

Bueller? Bueller?

After the Democrat presidential primaries, it was reported that Sharpton won only one majority Black voting district during his run for the "nomination of the Democrat candidate for president." That's right, one voting district. So, on a national level, is he really a "Black leader"?

The idea that the Black community -- the phrase which in itself can be said to be suspect -- needs a leader or has a leader is wrong and does a great disservice to Blacks and to America at large, in my opinion.

The men who happen to be friends and family, and who are doing what it takes to raise a family, are they not Black leaders? How about the people who help raise the children of family and/or friends? Are they not Black leaders? How about the people who volunteer? Take a peek at Black Self Help Information. Are the people involved in those efforts not Black leaders?

The media wants to focus on a few people because it is easier for the media to handle. But that doesn't mean that "we" have to focus on those few people. Frankly, it is my contention that those who focus on "Black leaders" such as Sharpton and Jackson, do so to advance their own agenda, be it quick sound bits to show their world view of the Black community or to build themselves up as critics of the Black community.

That's what I think and the more I see, the more I become sure of it.

This Should Speak For Itself

OK, this is from the Weekly Standard. This should speak for itself. Enjoy.

Strange Allies

George Michael's "The Enemy of My Enemy" details the unlikely alliance between militant Islam and the extreme right.

The extreme right and militant Islam now possess the same enemies. They both loathe the Jews and believe that the American government is controlled by a shadowy Jewish elite. Both movements also have revolutionary aspirations, seeking to replace the existing order with "monocultural states built around racial or religious exclusivity."

While both sides began to recognize these ideological similarities in the 1990s, 9/11 hastened the convergence of interests. After the Twin Towers collapsed, many far-right leaders exulted at both the punishment inflicted on the United States and the courage displayed by the hijackers. As National Alliance organizer Billy Roper said shortly thereafter: "The enemy of our enemy is, for now at least, our friends. We may not want them marrying our daughter, just as they would not want us marrying theirs. . . . But anyone willing to drive a plane into a building to kill Jews is all right by me."

Since then, here have been intensified efforts to build bridges between radical Islam and the extreme right. Ahmed Huber, a Swiss convert to Islam who is a self-proclaimed admirer of both Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden, jubilantly declared that 9/11 would help align the two movements: "The eleventh of September has brought together [the two sides] because the new right has reacted positively. . . . They say, and I agree with them 100 percent, what happened on the eleventh of September, if it is the Muslims who did it, it is not an act of terrorism but an act of counterterrorism."

In the United States, late National Alliance founder William L. Pierce praised Osama bin Laden prior to his death. The Aryan Nations established a Ministry of Islamic Liaison, and the group's head August Kreis declared his solidarity with Osama bin Laden during an interview with CNN. Kreis even advised bin Laden that his followers were willing to fight on al Qaeda's side: "They might not be cells of Islamic people, but they are here and they are ready to fight."

I Admit, I Don't Get It

I admit it. I just don't get it.

When I purchase day spa treatments for my wife or female relatives, I specifically look for, and find, spas that are Black owned and operated so that when they get their hair done and their makeup done, it is by someone who should know how to work with the complexions and hair textures that Black people have. I KNOW there has to be a Black owned spa in the area of Vienna, Virgina.

A Spa Day That Was Anything but Relaxing Reinstated Suit Alleges Racial Bias in Va.

Seandria Denny wanted to do something special for Mother's Day. So she treated her mom to a full package at the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon and Spa in Vienna -- manicure, massage, hairstyling, the works.

During her mother's visit to the upscale spa in 2002, Denny showed up and tried to add a hair coloring. It was then, she said, that a receptionist uttered the words that turned a day of pampering into a protracted legal battle.

"We have a problem," the receptionist and then the manager allegedly told Denny. "We don't do black people's hair."

Outraged, Denny told the salon to send her mother home. She said the salon tried to style Jean Denny's hair anyway but did a shoddy job. "Her hair looked like her finger was in a socket," she said. "They just blew-dry it out and sent her out the door."

I she had taken the time to find a Black owned spa, which I know Black women in D.C., MD, and VA suburbs take the time to do, none of this would have happened. So, I just don't get it.

A Very "Simple" Mind Teaser

How can people who state they believe in "personal responsibility" lay at the feet of media appointed "Black leaders" the "failures" of some in the Black community by stating the "Black leaders" aren't doing enough?

I Was Wondering...

[ Updated ]

I was wondering how long it would take and how we would find out that terrorists tried or wanted to try to blow something up using liquid materials for explosives.

When my bride and I returned from our honeymoon in Aruba in 2001, we weren't allowed to bring aboard cell phones or cameras. I tried and they took my cell phone apart and later gave it to me in a plastic bag. They did the same for my 35 mm camera. I carried my camera because I wasn't about to let them steal lose my camera and film of our honeymoon.

I knew that cell phones could be used to set off explosive devices or be the explosive device itself. So, why does this not get more media attention?

There is a lot more I can write and may do so later. But I know that most people really don't have a clue what could happen.

Think about this: why would 14(?) Egyptian citizens, who are enrolled in colleges in the U.S., NOT show up for school and NOT be involved in terrorist activities? If they are not doing something to actively destroy something, then are they scouts?

Sharpton, Jackson, and Lieberman

Is the war the real reason why Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, Sr. are against Lieberman?

Faye Anderson gives this reason:

My beef with Lieberman stems from his unilateral disarmament during the Florida recount. In the documentary that I wrote and produced, I tell how Lieberman caved on national TV and said disputed military ballots should be given the “benefit of the doubt.”  The double standard led to thousands of ballots cast by black voters being tossed while similarly flawed military ballots were counted.

And looking up affirmative action gives:

Senator Lieberman: Right. The DLC doesn't have what would be called a completed position, but the DLC is involved in and wants to be very much a part of the reevaluation of affirmative action and group preference policies in our country. The work is going on now within the Progressive Policy Institute. In fact, the next issue of The New Democrat, which is the DLC magazine, will be devoted primarily to affirmative action, but I think it's fair to say...that...both as the...an individual who is chairman of the DLC, but I think reflecting the point of view of the DLC...that you can't defend policies that are based on group preferences as opposed to individual opportunities, which is what America has always been about...and...when we...when we have such policies, we have the effect of breaking some of those ties in civil society that have...that have held us together because they're...they're patently unfair...and those who are the victims of them and lose out when choices are made, based on group preferences as opposed to individual ability naturally, become disaffected from the process. So, I think we're very much...we're headed in the direction of change. We ought to be headed in the direction of change...and I think...in the next period of months, you'll see the DLC come out with a more complete statement on it. I certainly favor change.

In fact, Sharpton stated:

Sharpton on Wednesday called the flier's accusation "ridiculous," noting that Lamont is a volunteer teacher at an inner city school in Bridgeport. He also said he considers Lieberman weak on affirmative action.

Well, we wait.

Michael Steele: Race Baiting?

After Michael Steele has been on Black and white (conservative) radio stations stating that he an Mfume are friends and if they went head to head, it would be a clean race on issues, and after Steele has said over and over that his candidacy is about bringing people together, Steele is quoted in The U.S. News & World Report as saying:

If Cardin wins the primary, Steele has made no secret that he will vie for black votes with an economic empowerment message. "Dr. King's mission was getting a seat at the lunch counter," he says. "I talk about owning the diner." Last spring, a study by the Democratic National Committee found that as many as 44 percent of black Marylanders would consider supporting Steele. But Bositis notes that black Republican candidates have yet to prove they can win black votes. Steele recently admitted he compared running as a Republican to wearing a "scarlet letter."

And if Mfume wins the primary? Steele has a message ready, though it's aimed more at white voters who polls suggest will be less inclined to support a black activist like Mfume. "Voters have to ask who's going to better serve them." he says. "[Someone] who represents all the people, or just one particular race?"

A Sun reporter made a blog entry about what was published:

Great stuff. Just what we need. Aren't Republicans and conservatives always screaming about the injection of race into politics and debate? Aren't they -- and Steele -- the ones who always complain about this newspaper's editorial in 2002 that dismissed Steele as a candidate for lieutenant governor, saying he had little to offer in qualification but the color of his skin?

Mfume's camp had no comment to make when The Sun contacted them about Steele's cynical wink to white voters. Smart move. Mfume has nothing to gain by engaging Steele on this level, and everything to lose -- along with the rest of us -- in a campaign that becomes about race instead of character or ideas.

I've contacted the Steele campaign to find out if what was published is accurate. Steele set the bar by making a promise concerning how his campaign would be run.

How About SorryAssBabyMomma?

Last week I blogged about the female who bore multiple children, one of which she let be around a man she knew was a pedophile. The end result is the pedophile killed the female's son, Irvin Harris. If you want to read what I wrote, go here and here.

Shanda Harris, the female, is 41, drug addicted, has a criminal record, and has multiple children. And, as I later said, I think the pedophile used her drug addition to get access to her son, Irvin Harris. But that's my speculation with nothing to back it up but "a feeling."

Last week I blogged about a "social commentary" web site called SorryAssBabyDaddies.

Today, I was looking at the referral links and I noticed a high number of searches for that web site. So, I clicked one of the searches and started looking at some other links. That's when I came across a story by Glenn Sacks and Jeffrey Leving of the Philadelphia Daily News. The article seems to be geared towards why non-custodial men are "dead beat" dads, and this article is something for another time. What caught my eye is this:

Ward excoriates dads and calls on her fellow sisters to publicly humiliate them, saying “our men have got to get it together…the only way to do that is to take their manhood away.” Ward, who at age 27 has had four children by four different fathers, eschews any personal fault for her own situation, claiming that none of her four births were intended.

OK.

She has 4 (four, fo', three plus one, five minus one, two squared) children by 4 (four, fo', three plus one, five minus one, two squared) different men.

This is what I wrote in the entry about SorryAssBabyDaddy:

I have no problem with the concept of the web site. These males need to be "called out" and shamed into doing the minimal, which would be child support. But it would be better if they became a good influence in their children's lives.

When I went to the list of "baby daddy's," something struck me. Unless I'm misunderstanding how the listing works, it looks like the creator of the web site has 3 kids. If this is the case, then maybe more should be said about the choices women make?

I was wrong! Sistah gurl has FOUR KIDS AT 27!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH YEAH, WHERE THE HELL IS HER RESPONSIBILITY IN ALL OF THIS!?!?!?!??!?!?!

Naw, you get one in my book. One. After that, you are just not being careful.

I don't see her taking responsibility for her mess!

Again, put the males who ain't manin' up out there!!!!

But there needs to be a web site called SorryAssBabyMomma and Fadia Ward's mess needs to be put there along with Shandra Harris. Sure, put them in totally different categories, but DAMN!!!!!

Lastly, why should men who are listed as being a dead beat, but provide proof that they are not dead beats, still have to pay $20 to be taken off of the website?

[ Update ]

I should have waited and followed more links.

If you can't muster any compassion for a woman who had her first child at 13, and three more by 24, stop reading. Ward already knows some people won't like her, or her plan. Her Web site invites women to post pictures of the men who knocked them up and the stories of how they took off without living up to a father's responsibility. But that's not about to stop her.

OK, that's enough. I'm done.

I understand why she's mad, but DAMN. Just DAMN.

[ Update 2 ]

OK, I kept reading links and refined the search a bit and came up with this link. So, to be fair...

Pregnant with her first child at age 12, she has four children - ages 3, 7, 10 and 14 - by four men. But she got pregnant with her two middle children despite using birth control, she said. Her fourth pregnancy came after the man "bamboozled" her by secretly removing his condom during sex, she said.

OK, you STILL ain't takin' responsibility...

Responsibility?

This post is going to be snarky only because I don't like the first sentence in this article.

Former White House adviser Claude A. Allen took responsibility yesterday for shoplifting from stores in Montgomery County last year, saying that the months leading up to the thefts were marked by huge stress and sleep deprivation.

Claude Allen pleaded guilty to reduced charges. So much for his twin brother being involved. Do you remember that excuse being floated?

Claude Allen took responsibility?

Really?

In the same article:

"Stealing is not something that I ever thought that I would ever do, and I did," he said. "I accept full responsibility for my actions and what I did. I am intensely, immensely sorry for that and very remorseful for the harm that I've caused so many. Something did go very wrong. I lost perspective and failed to restrain myself."

He accepts full responsibility?

Really?

In the same article:

His wife cited Hurricane Katrina as one of the stressful issues that Allen was grappling with last fall.

...

She said the months that led up to the thefts were trying for Allen. "In addition to the demanding household of four young children, we lived out of storage boxes in a friend's basement," Jannese Allen said. "Claude's 14-hour workdays became more demanding after the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina."

If he accepts responsibility then his wife accepts her husband's responsibility.

Fie.

How did he come up with this scheme? Chances are he's done it before. He just got caught this time.

Random Stuff

Some random stuff:

• It appears  Gregory Kane agrees with me about life after Castro in Cuba and reasons why those "Cubans" celebrating in Miami may be off base.
• Somewhere on the 'net, someone commented that some people were mad at demonstrators flying the Mexican flag during immigration rallies, but those same people aren't saying a thing about "Cubans" in Miami flying the Cuban flag.
• I took a roll of pictures at my family reunion and I promptly loss the roll. :-( But, I do have the video tape. I just hope that one segment of me "acting the fool" doesn't appear on YouTube.
• [ Update ] I saw a trailer for "Barnyard." Can someone tell me why a bull, a MALE, would have udders? Is this part of the GLTG agenda?
• No matter what, life goes on.
• I'm blessed.

All Hail The Living Wage...

All hail the "living wage"...

Chicago's controversial big- box ordinance has produced its first casualty: Target has pulled out of a 32-acre shopping mall at 119th and Marshfield and will likely cut and run from the North Side's Wilson Yards project as well, city officials said Wednesday.

Target's decision to follow through on its threat to avoid Chicago comes just one week after a bitterly divided City Council defied Daley by requiring retailing giants to pay their employees a "living wage" of at least $10 an hour and $3 in benefits by 2010.

NOT!!!!!!!!!!

Social Commentary Web Sites

I heard about this web site the other day on the radio and I just took a look at it.

Wow.

SorryAssBaby.Daddy.com.

Fadia Ward is a 27 year old single mother and lupus survivor who, like many other women in the U.S., is fighting the struggle of attaining due justice & support for her 4 beautiful children.

While undergoing research on the issue of back child support, Fadia stumbled across the following alarming statistic:  From 2002-2004, the "back child support epidemic" in the United States soared from $49 billion dollars to a whopping $89 billion.

Fadia was compelled to become an activist to do something about this growing national dilemma, while others just stand by.  She founded SorryAssBabyDaddies to warn, serve, and to protect, with hopes that lawmakers will be inspired to take action.

I have no problem with the concept of the web site. These males need to be "called out" and shamed into doing the minimal, which would be child support. But it would be better if they became a good influence in their children's lives.

When I went to the list of "baby daddy's," something struck me. Unless I'm misunderstanding how the listing works, it looks like the creator of the web site has 3 kids. If this is the case, then maybe more should be said about the choices women make?

Combine that web site with Don't Date Him Girl and these are two resources that women should probably use to screen their prospective romantic interests.

The More I Hear

The more I hear about the sorry ass excuse of a female whose son was killed by a pedophile, the more I'm starting to think that she allowed the pedophile access to her son in exchange for drugs.

Formatting and more information later...

[ 8/4/06 Update ]

Sorry about the delay, we lost power for half of the day on Thursday.

Here are quotes from another article in the Baltimore Sun about this mess:

Baltimore prosecutors yesterday launched a child welfare investigation of the Harris family, saying possible charges against relatives and acquaintances of the 11-year-old boy who allegedly died at the hands of a registered sex offender could include child abuse and neglect.

...

Bertha Reid, Irvin's grandmother, said she was suspicious of Jones because he hung out with children often.

"I told her I thought something was wrong," said Reid, 59, of Shanda Harris. "I told her when I first met him. She had a drug problem, so she couldn't see."

Irvin, who would have been a fifth-grader this fall at Collington Square School, grew up in a Baltimore family strained by violence, financial problems and drug abuse, court records and interviews show.

His mother has struggled with a longtime heroin addiction; his father has been in prison for murder since Irvin was 3 years old.

Shanda Harris has been arrested and cited about a dozen times in Baltimore, according to court records.

She was found guilty last month in District Court of petty theft and put on yearlong probation.

Found guilty LAST MONTH?

I'm going to say this again. I bet she let that beast have access to her son for drugs or drug money.

A "Mother" And Her Pedophile Friend

I'll get back to this later to give more detail, but right now I am livid, disgusted, and out for blood.

A mother woman female who bore a child befriended a person in 2000. Two years later, she learns that person is a convicted pedophile. Instead of ending all contact with that person, instead of ending contact of her child and that person, she still maintained a friendship with the pedophile. Her "rule" was that he was not to be left alone with her child.

You see it coming...

The man molested the child. On Friday, the man killed the child. On Monday, the man was captured.

[ Update : 6:36 PM ] Around July 4th, the man tried to strangle the child and the police was called. But the police could not locate the woman who bore the child.

The man had prior convictions for sexual assault against children. The man was on parole.

More later. The mother failed the child. She is irresponsible and I wanted to throw a brick at her when I saw her on television crying, saying she is going to kill him. Lady, I want to kill YOU! But that ain't all...

More later for this sad ass tale...

[ Update : 6:36 PM ]

I'm providing a link to a long article about this sorded mess. There is a lot of blame to go around, but, to me, 90% of the blame lies with the woman who bore the child. There is no way on this earth I would allow my child to be around a man, "friend" or not, who is a convicted pedophile!

I'll also point out things in the article which shows where the system failed, but the woman who bore the child bears most responsibility. Please note a refuse to call this woman a m****r. Note where I bold things.

Shanda Harris, 41, Irvin's mother, said Jones was "like a male role model" to Irvin and baby-sat him and his siblings for years as she worked through a drug treatment program. She said she became aware of Jones' 2002 conviction about a year ago but continued to let him spend time with her family. "I thought that everyone could change, and I see now I was really wrong," she said.

She said she never suspected Jones of molesting any of her six children. Police would not say yesterday whether Irvin's body showed signs of abuse.

Time and again, Baltimore court records show, Jones - who told police during an interview in August 2001 that he was "a pedophile who needed help" - escaped serious prison time in cases of sexual abuse.

...

Jones' first arrest, at age 16 in 1970, was on a charge of rape, said Joseph Sviatko, a spokesman for the city state's attorney's office. A second-degree sex offense charge followed in 1989. City prosecutors dropped both of those cases but could not say why yesterday.

Jones was convicted in 1990 of child sexual abuse and sentenced to seven years in prison, with all but seven months and seven days suspended. Details about that case were unclear yesterday.

...

In May 2000, Jones' sister called police to report that her daughter - Jones' niece - had been abused by Jones for four years, beginning when she was 4 years old, court documents show.

The alleged abuse took place at Jones' mother's house in the 3500 block of Old Frederick Road in Southwest Baltimore. That's where Jones has lived for years, according to court records, and that is the residence listed for him on the state's sex offender registry.

The 2000 case was not pursued because the victim's mother and Jones' parents wrote letters saying they would testify that he had never been alone with the girl, said Margaret T. Burns, a spokeswoman for the city state's attorney's office.

...

The three then agreed to give Jones a plea deal of a year in prison. The sentence was two concurrent terms of 10 years in prison, with all but one year suspended, and five years of supervised probation with special conditions.

...

Harris, a mother of six and grandmother of seven, said she met Jones about four years ago, when she was dating his brother. That would have been just after Jones' release from prison.

About a year later, Harris moved with her children into a shelter and sought treatment for heroin addiction, she said. Jones baby-sat the children while she was in treatment, making sure that they were fed and watching movies with them, Harris said.

...

Harris told Jones he could no longer go into her house and could not be alone with her children. But she did allow Jones to maintain contact with her family.

...

Harris said she and her family are devastated by the killing and the thought that a trusted family friend may have taken the life of the boy. "I keep thinking that if I didn't have so much trust, he would be here," Harris said.

I'm disgusted.

On television, the woman's mother was on the news saying she told her daughter not to let him around the boy. Where was she in this? Where is the father in this? Where is the family in this?

And the court system failed all around, but if the family had stepped up, Irvin Harris would not be dead.

Brand New Heavies: Get Used To It

HOT!!

HOT!!

HOT!!

HOT!!

HOT!!

WHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

That is all

A Frivolous Lawsuit

This is a frivolous lawsuit.

From what I know, libel involves intent to do harm to a person and knowledge that what the person is saying or writing is false. This one quote strikes against all of the libel requirements:

Wuterich's lawsuit alleges that Murtha made defamatory statements after receiving inaccurate and false information from Pentagon officials this spring, but Murtha's office yesterday pointed to reports that said Pentagon officials believe evidence collected in the Haditha investigation supports allegations that the Marines "deliberately shot" civilians.

If Murtha's comments were based on information that was received from other sources and if Murtha had no reason NOT to believe the information was false, how can a libel lawsuit succeed?

Castro's Sick And People Party In MIA

I understand why Cubans are partying in Miami because Castro is ill, but they seem to be missing something. Just because Castro kicks the bucket, it doesn't mean that communism on the island dies with Castro.

I'm sure the leading officials don't want to give up their lifestyle just because the old ruling classes return to Cuba. And given that the "Afro-Cubans" have more of a stake in ruling Castro's Cuba than pre-Castro, why would those who think they are better off, welcome the returning "Euro-Cubans"?

If I am living on confiscated land, and someone comes back and tell me to get off of their land, there is going to be a fight to the death about it.

I'm not discounting the people who are living badly in Cuba right now. I don't discount them because I know they want a better life. I'm sure the "underground sex trade" "workers" want to get out of that life, but I still don't see a fight happening when the Miami Cubans return.

Or maybe it's just me.