we saw that...

leo honeycutt interview about his edwin edwards authorized biography book

length 18:37
link to audio page

EXTERNAL LINK

kitv honololu: rush limbaugh rushed to hospital

excerpt:

HONOLULU -- Conservative radio talk host Rush Limbaugh was rushed to a Honolulu hospital on Wednesday afternoon with chest pains, sources told KITV.

Paramedics responded to the call at 2:41 p.m. (6:41 p.m. cst) at the Kahala Hotel and Resort. Limbaugh suffered from chest pains, sources said. Paramedics treated him and took him to Queen's Medical Center in serious condition.

He was seen golfing at Waialae Country Club earlier this week. The country club is next to the Kahala Hotel and Resort.

The radio show host had been in the islands during the holidays. Coincidentally, his visit comes at a time when two of the nation's most powerful Democrats, President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are also staying in Hawaii. ~ read more

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third circuit appeals court judge michael sullivan dead

we were surprised and saddened to see this news. since we're in the third circuit's district we read some of their opinions from time-to-time and judge sullivan's name (being that he was a fellow irishman) was one that was always familiar to us.

UPDATE: A Memorial Eulogy Service will be held on Monday, January 4, 2010, at 4:00 PM in La Chapelle de Martin & Castille in Lafayette, for Judge Michael Gene Sullivan, 68, who passed away peacefully on Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center in Lafayette.

Survivors include his beloved wife, Shelley Vincent Sullivan; one daughter Caitland Sullivan; one son, Patrick Sullivan and his wife Jean; one grandchild, Andrew Sullivan; one brother, Rick Frayard and his wife Kiki; numerous nieces and nephews; and his longtime secretary, Janell Broussard.

He was preceded in death by his sister, Paula Sullivan; and his parents, Paul Ford Sullivan and Mildred Geneva Casey Frayard.

Judge Michael Sullivan was born on December 2, 1941 in Effingham, IL. He graduated from Cathedral High in Lafayette and from Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL with a BA in Philosophy. He proudly served our country as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army as a Thai interpreter/advisor in N.E. Thailand. He later graduated from Loyola Law School, was a City Court Indigent Defender, was elected Judge, Lafayette City Court, Division "B" from 1983-1994 and elected Judge, Third Circuit Court of Appeal from 1995-present.

He was a Past President of Pinhook Rotary Club, Past Executive Director of Evangeline Area Boy Scouts, a Member of the Acadiana Chapter of Inns of Court, Past Vice-President of City Court Judges Association and a member of the Leadership Lafayette, Class VII, which he was presently serving on the Board of Directors.

Michael had a zest for life. He enjoyed dining out, dancing, cocktails with friends, cooking for celebrations, music and traveling with friends and family. Holidays were special to him and he loved participating in all the festivities, especially Mardi Gras. He was a voracious reader and was well spoken on so many diverse topics. His friends and family will sorely miss his expertise and advice on computer technology and electronics, of which he was always current.

There are numerous friends and family members who will miss his ability to patiently listen to their problems and questions and to counsel them in an assuring and impartial way that was unique to him.

The family would like to thank Dr. Stephen Salopek, Dr. Vernon Valentino, Dr. Richard Dearman, Dr. David Foreman and Dr. Kevin Hargrave for all of their relentless efforts and support to help Michael stay well.

The family requests that visitation be observed in Martin & Castille's Downtown Lafayette location on Monday, January 4, 2010 from 1:00 PM until the time of service.

View the obituary and guestbook online at www.mourning.com

Martin & Castille, 330 St. Landry St.-Lafayette, 234-2311

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click here to download a two page .pdf of judge sullivan's obituary. [236 kb]

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UPDATE-2: david chatelain named to fill judicial vacancy, baton rouge advocate link || click here to download 1 page .pdf [20 kb].

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see also
gannett/the advertiser
appeals court judge mourned

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related posts

third circuit affirms judge swent's ruling in smith v goins

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irma muse dixon qualifies to run for vacant state senate seat

we dont know that much about ms. dixon (other than she has a catchy name) but anyone would be better than current state rep. and big tax freak karen carter peterson the only other candidate to qualify so far.

ms. dixon served on the louisiana public service commission from 1992 - 2004.

this is for the state senate seat vacancy created by the resignation of cheryl gray evans.

ms. dixon ran for this seat (district 5) in 2007 when it came open due to diana bajoie being term limited out but didnt make the runoff.

EXTERNAL LINK

cocktails with kristin

wst... note: this afternoon, we received this unsolicited notice of fundraiser email from the committee to elect kristin palmer. we've often observed that if you want to get on lots of mailing lists just open yourself a blog.

we suspect though that in this instance ms. palmer's committee obtained our email address from a purchase of or an in kind contribution of email addresses.

we're not complaining about receiving "unsolicited" emails at all. in other words what we're saying is just because we post a political campaign (or any) press release doesnt mean that we endorse that candidate or, that, the candidate was expressly reaching out specifically to wst... to post something. unless otherwise disclosed.

disclosure: our real motive for posting this email is because after the election we're probably gonna add ms. palmer's website favicon to our collection.

anyhooo we logged onto ms. palmer's website and skimmed over it. it's not readily apparent to us what political party if any, that she belongs to. the names of the people who are hosting this event dont mean anything to us politically. the only name we recognize is of course mr. brennan, but we dont know his politics.

ms. palmer's committee says that she is a non-profit executive of over twenty years. has three daughters. shes into "building bridges and crossing boundaries."

she has some issues with "blight" on crime and safety ms. palmer wants to reduce the time spent processing non-violent misdemeanors by the police, da and criminal courts in favor of "encourag[ing] more arrests and convictions of violent felons." unfortunately she doesnt explain what she means by reducing the time spent processing.

ms. palmer is endorsed so far by the alliance for good government and the forum for equality. the forum for equality we've seen testify before lots of committees concerning various laws the lege is considering and if memory serves they're kinda kooky.

the person who currently holds the district c counsel seat is named james carter but lucky for ms. palmer and the other candidates, mr. carter isnt running - he is running for congress against flaky nola rino anh cao.

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2009 ends with a full blue moon and partial lunar eclipse

The New Year's Eve blue moon will be visible in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America and Africa.

The Eastern Hemisphere will see a partial lunar eclipse on New Year's Eve when part of the moon enters the Earth's shadow. The eclipse will not be visible in the Americas. ~ read more

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did blogspot just get hacked?

last night we started a post about how new years eve will see a blue moon as well as a partial lunar eclipse.

we couldnt remember the name of the observatory out in lafayette, california that has lots of photos and information about the full moon.that we always try and link to.

so inside our dashboard we can search posts by keyword which we did to find an old post about the moon to get that link from.

when we clicked to view the post from the web we were surprised to see that we were instead redirected to the vietnamese website you see the screen grabs of above. also trying to visit the main url www.wesawthat.blogspot.com also redirected.

at first we thought that blogspot was under some kind of cyber attack and it would be over in a bit. then we thought that we should look at another blogspot.com blog and see if it was affected too.

the first one that came to mind was oyster @ your right hand thief so we jammed over to the dead pelican and scrolled down to click oyster. his blog was fine.

then we tried next blogging for a little while and those that came up were ok.

we tried the blog search and google to see if any blogs were talking about this. there were no recent posts we could find.

next we went to the blogger help forum to see if there was anything. we chose the "something is broken" discussion category to start. but there was nothing there either. there was one guy daryze who probably noticed the problem much earlier but didnt tell how he solved it.

so we started another discussion "blogspot.com redirecting to vietwebguide.com" it took a couple of hours, we were beginning to wonder if our blog was the sole target of mysterious vietnamese hackers and what did we do to piss them off? -- when someone with a similar issue posted a reply.

then a little while later another guy peter from south africa was experiencing the same thing. a few hours after that, another blogger yoddah said it was happening to him as well.

apparently what happened was that the vietwebguide.com domain had expired. because the script source was based from that domain and the domain was now dead, the script instead of doing what it was meant to do (block trolls and spammers by ip number) was now acting to redirect everyone to the domain which had been replaced with that domain parked notice. or something.

so no, blogspot wasnt hacked. it was just a simple script went bad that webmasters found handy to help keep trolls, spammers and nutters at bay. we'll miss it.
http://code.vietwebguide.com/?fp=RG1y%2FCOxVg8FdtMUYn8c5tOt2QNH0iIGx4Q
2zPRc8YgV%2BovYTGgLF5lWi2U%2Fr%2BVWhTDWQBa1g4jkb2UeLisy1A%3D
%3D&prvtof=yNe14f3e%2FN5YdO4NUqtu9rMvUBIO8xw1Ke%2FekpM7GtY8J%
2FzARwkNHJjPuZ%2Bjo5ksikbvZb9SjqPFRlLkjuOCPQ%3D%3D&cifr=1

pope got knocked down

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

nbc news just reported with video tape of how some mentally defective person rushed and knocked to the ground pope benedict as he was making his way inside the basilica for midnight mass.

the video showed that the pope got up and carried on.

while we're certainly glad that the pope wasnt seriously hurt and was able to carry on his duty, in these times we cant help but remember the prophecy of st. malachy concerning the popes.

according to the prophecy about the pope to follow benedict xvi it says:

In extreme persecution, the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman, who will feed the sheep through many tribulations, at the term of which the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the formidable Judge will judge his people. The End.

In 1139 St. Malachy went to Rome to give an account of the affairs of his diocese to the pope, Innocent II, who promised him two palliums for the metropolitan Sees of Armagh and Cashel. While at Rome, he received (according to the Abbé Cucherat) the strange vision of the future wherein was unfolded before his mind the long list of illustrious pontiffs who were to rule the Church until the end of time. ~ source Catholic Encyclopedia 1913 edition

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a shocking case of animal neglect in alexandria, la?

UPDATE: 13 march 2010: the person who posted this video informs us that s/he was the one who actually fed the puppies.

somehow we stumbled across this vid from the related videos box in our account at youtube.com. although the youtuber cloversweed in the description box at the videos watch page lays the fault of these apparently 8 abandoned or neglected dachshund puppies -- hence the term 8dots in the title -- at the feet of city of alexandria, la. mayor jacques roy, from what we see on the vid we're not ready to make that leap.

for one thing we're not convinced that the puppies are actually, truly abandoned or neglected.

the puppies arent terribly thin -- a few of them could be wormy though. all the puppies that we can see appear to be active, playful and energetic.

at the very beginning of the video the house is numbered 1920 that part of the video shows a regular residential neighborhood. whoever that is talking on the video says that the animal shelter has been there before so the house should be easy enough to find.

the person in the video says that there were nine puppies before and now only eight suggesting something ominous. but all that could mean is that whoever owns the puppies is just leaving them there until they can sell or give them away. maybe thats why there were eight this time because they sold one. it seems that you would be able to smell or see signs of a dead puppy nearby.

the vid titled "ANIMAL ABUSE: ABANDONMENT is MEAN INTENT......8DOTSLEFT.. (Alexandria Louisiana Mayor Jacques Roy)" was added to youtube on 20 november 2009 and has already received an incredible 934 views.

a dog's life

put a tiger in your tank? how about a pit bull in your motor!

a pointer earns best of show

doberman's rock

yum

polar bear meets dogs

lost puppy

sportsman's paradise

"slab riding sundays" @ frank o. hunter park alexandria, louisiana

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alligator chili

COMMENT:
Although alligator is served only as an appetizer in sausage form at Lafitte’s Landing, I see it served in many ways around the state. The dish seems to have found renewed popularity over the past few years. Here is an old camp recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

* 3 pounds alligator meat, diced
* 1/2 cup oil
* 2 cups diced onions
* 1 cup diced celery
* 1 cup diced bell pepper
* 2 tbsps diced garlic
* 2 tbsps diced jalapenos
* 1 (16-ounce) can pinto beans
* 3 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce
* 1 cup chicken stock
* 1 tbsps chili powder
* 1 tsp cumin
* salt and cracked black pepper to taste

METHOD:
In a heavy dutch oven, heat oil over medium high heat. Add alligator and sauté twenty minutes to render juices. Add onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic and jalapenos.

Sauté until vegetables are wilted, approximately three to five minutes. Add pinto beans, tomato sauce and chicken stock, bring to a low boil and reduce to simmer.

Add chili powder and cumin, stir well into mixture and allow to cook one hour, stirring occasionally.

Once alligator is tender, season to taste using salt and black pepper.

This dish is always served at hunting camp dinners over spaghetti. ~ chef john folse & company

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country chick from clueless died

via: find-a-grave

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dallas cowboys 24 humble new orleans saints 17 in the superdome

late in the 3rd quarter nfl.com gave us a glimpse into the inner workings of wwl's fine color commentary by jim henderson, hokie gajan and crew.

watch live on nfl.com here

maybe "13" was unlucky after all, we just didnt realize how at the time.

10:36 dallas wins! dallas 24 @ new orleans 17

10:36 brees sacked!
06 seconds left ball goes to dallas

10:20 dallas misses field goal! dallas 24 @ new orleans 17
2:12 left in game

10:01 new orleans scores dallas 24 @ new orleans 17
8:00 minutes left in game

9:46 new orleans scores dallas 24 @ new orleans 10
12:35 left to go in the game

9:39 end of the 3rd quarter dallas 24 @ new orleans 3

drew brees sacked three four times.

9:19 dallas 24 @ new orleans 3
8:00 remaining in the 3rd qtr

9:12 pm 3rd quarter dallas 17 @ new orleans 3
8:58 pm halftime
8:21 pm cst 2nd quarter 723 hartley 34 yd field goal dallas 14 @ new orleans 3

update 8:15 pm cst 2nd quarter 9:48 remaining same score
====
2:27 remaining in the 1st quarter
dallas 14 at new orleans -0-


if you want, you can go to espn and "watch" it this way -- its not too bad. click where it says gamecast in the top left box marked nfl

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project censored's list of top 25 censored stories from the past year.

via mike rivero @ whatreallyhappened.com

Top Censored Stories of 2009/2010

* 1. US Congress Sells Out to Wall Street
* 2. US Schools are More Segregated Today than in the 1950s
* 3. Toxic Waste Behind Somali Pirates
* 4. Nuclear Waste Pools in North Carolina
* 5. Europe Blocks US Toxic Products

* 6. Lobbyists Buy Congress
* 7. Obama’s Military Appointments Have Corrupt Past
* 8. Bailed out Banks and America’s Wealthiest Cheat IRS Out of Billions
* 9. US Arms Used for War Crimes in Gaza
* 10. Ecuador Declares Foreign Debt Illegitimate

* 11. Private Corporations Profit from the Occupation of Palestine
* 12. Mysterious Death of Mike Connell—Karl Rove’s Election Thief
* 13. Katrina’s Hidden Race War
* 14. Congress Invested in Defense Contracts
* 15. World Bank’s Carbon Trade Fiasco

* 16. US Repression of Haiti Continues
* 17. The ICC Facilitates US Covert War in Sudan
* 18. Ecuador’s Constitutional Rights of Nature
* 19. Bank Bailout Recipients Spent to Defeat Labor
* 20. Secret Control of the Presidential Debates

* 21. Recession Causes States to Cut Welfare
* 22. Obama’s Trilateral Commission Team
* 23. Activists Slam World Water Forum as a Corporate-Driven Fraud
* 24. Dollar Glut Finances US Military Expansion
* 25. Fast Track Oil Exploitation in Western Amazon

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hugo chavez says barky stinks like jorge dubya boosh

FAUX News: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he "still" smelled sulfur after President Obama made a keynote speech at the Copenhagen climate conference Friday, accusing the American president of carrying the same satanic scent that Chavez believes followed Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush. read more

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one of two oldest log homesteads in louisiana listed on national register of historic places

wst... has learned that on 08 december 2009 [6 page .pdf 27 kb] the national park service -- national register of historic places, listed the moore, bouey, homestead, located at 19068 moore road., near franklinton, washington parish, louisiana. it was assigned the national park service reference number of 09001059. see also federal register two page .pdf [48 kb].

one of the family members responsible for their homeplace, jalon beech, said:

"it is my understanding that our home is one of two log homes that is on its original land site in the state of louisiana. our old home is in the heart of washington parish where it needs to stay.

this act should make it more difficult for the washington parish reservoir commission or any other government entity to expropriate our property. nothing is sacred with our government these days, but this should help our cause.

my family and neighbors appreciate all of the support that we have gotten over the last few years in our effort to fight the injustice of an unwanted and unneeded reservoir/pleasure lake. the fight continues."

the national register of historic places is the feds official list of the nation's historic places worthy of preservation.

this lpb report from 2005 which features some footage of the homestead and moore - pittman family members said that over a dozen homes, including the historic moore, bouey homestead and seven cemeteries are in danger of being expropriated by the state of louisiana to build a 3,000 + acres [1,200 hectares] pleasure reservoir.

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comments 'temporarily' switched off

this morning we received notice that haloscan is changing their commenting service to a paid service.

while we've enjoyed having the haloscan commenting system installed here for several years and have no complaints about it -- comments are simply not important to us -- at least enough to pay for.

so we've removed the haloscan code and plan to reintroduce comments if and when we find a commenting system that we like.

google/blogspot commenting system is pretty lousy and we dont plan to use that again.

we've noticed that some bloggers like c.b. forgotston have never allowed for comments and we might adopt that policy as well.

fred baden former mayor of pineville, la dies

fred baden, former pineville, la. mayor dies.

baden died early thursday morning at rapides regional medical center, alexandria, la.

baden was mayor of pineville, from 1970 - 1998.

according to gannett/the town talk, funeral arrangements will be announced from hixson brothers funeral home.

more later...


Services: 2:00 p.m., Saturday, December 19, 2009, at the First Baptist Church, Pineville, under the direction of Hixson Brothers, Pineville

Visitation: Friday, December 18, 2009, at the First Baptist Church, Pineville from 2:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. and from 10:00 a.m. until service time Saturday.

Services for Frederick Herman Baden will be held at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, December 19, 2009, at First Baptist Church, Pineville with Dr. Stuart Holloway and Reverends Jim Lofton and David Roberts officiating. Burial will be at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, under the direction of Hixson Brothers, Pineville.

Mr. Baden, 75, of Pineville, passed away Thursday, December 17, 2009, at Rapides Regional Medical Center.

Fred H. Baden was born and raised in Pineville. At the age of 18 he served his community as a volunteer fireman and worked as an auxiliary policeman. Fred became a plumber attaining the level of Master Plumber by age 28. He was elected Pineville City Alderman in 1966. In 1970, he ran for Mayor and was elected.

During his first term, he built a new Municipal Complex that housed the City Hall offices, the Police Department and the City Court and a Central Fire Station located behind City Hall.

Through his twenty eight years as Pineville's Mayor, he was dedicated to the awareness of the needs of the senior citizens. In 1978, he and the city council assisted the Rapides Senior Citizens Center in establishing a Center in Pineville. Mayor Baden was also instrumental in helping to establish the apartment complex for the elderly located on Highway 28 East. He diligently worked with Congressman Gillis Long to purchase the old Pineville Post Office on Main Street to be converted into a Pineville Senior Citizens Center.

Mr. Baden served on many Boards and Committees. He was one of the original members of the Rapides Area Planning Committee, the Salvation Army Board, Louisiana College Board of Development, Rapides Parish Solid Waste Committee, Advisory Council Member for Central Louisiana Chamber of Commerce, the Rapides Senior Citizens Board, the Renaissance Board for Youth, and served three terms as Vice President of the Louisiana Municipal Association.

He was presented the Hometown Leadership Award which recognized elected officials for providing exemplary leadership. He also received the Louisiana College Trustee's Distinguished Service Award and the Louisiana National Guard Commendation Award.

In a newspaper article when he left office in 1998, he called himself a true public servant. "What we get out of life is what we do for others," he said. If there was one thing Baden never strayed from during his time as Mayor, it was his love of Pineville and its citizens.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Herman & Maude Baden; daughter, Andrea Baden Broussard; sisters, Linnie Murray, and Louella Gatlin Bradford.

Those left to cherish his memory include his wife, Roxan Babb Baden; sons, Mark Baden & wife Kathy, Gary Baden & wife Brenda, Tony Baden & wife Ludie, Freddy Baden & wife Celeste, Joshua Baden & wife Hope; daughters, Sara Edwards & husband Steve, Leah Baden, Tracy Goudeau & husband Steve; sister, Vivian Nugent; grandchildren, Micah Baden, Addyson Baden, Kalyn Baden, Clay Baden, Jerry Baden & wife Misty, Jennifer Tyler & husband David, Anna Baden, Sean Broussard, Melissa Baden, Freddy Baden, III, Celdan Baden, Elissa Baden, Nat Wolff, Gavin Wolff, Brady Baden, Carla Carpenter & husband Mike, Mandy Lowry & husband Ethan, Christopher Weatherford & wife Danielle, Steven Goudeau, Katie Goudeau, Victoria Thiels, Anita Moran & husband Eric; Great Grandchildren, Trenton, L. J., Kaci Clark, Jerry Baden, Jr., Kyllie Mae Tyler, Drew, Mathew, Caitlyn Carpenter, Hayley, Brady, Layla Weatherford, Tanner, Tate, Kade Moran.

Pallbearers will be his sons and sons-in-law. Honorary pallbearers will be his Grandsons and Great Grandsons and a host of special friends.

Visitation will be Friday, December 18, 2009, at First Baptist Church, Pineville, from 2:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. until service time on Saturday.

Memorials may be made to the First Baptist Church, 901 Main Street, Pineville, LA 71360.

source: hixsonbrothers.com

EXTERNAL LINK

cheryl gray evans resigns from louisiana state senate

this the best news we've read all day. we challenge all of senator gray evan's fellow state senators and state representatives to follow her lead and resign as well.

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gregory willis et al v cleco corporation

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1st orleans mayoral debate forum 15 december 2009

this is a very entertaining and almost eclectic group. all-in-all it was a very good forum. since we dont give a damn about the democrats or rethuglicans and would never vote for one when there is another choice, we were very pleased to see the independents receive pretty fair coverage. norbert p. rome was the only third party candidate who didnt participate.

of the independents there is first jonah bascle -- he says that he is mostly running to bring awareness to the lack of access for all to new orleans. particularly, with the st. charles streetcars lack of handicapped access. "new orleans is dysfunctional" and you "cant get anything done" he said.

jerry jacobs was asked: what would you do to address the racial divide in new orleans? he believes that it all comes back to "finances and crime." he points out that all the other candidates all they talk about is doing is hiring more consultants to do more studies and never get anything done. he believes that if you legalize marijuana that will cut a great deal of the crime that nopd has to respond to now. resulting in a falling crime rate which will save money as well as free up the police, jails and court system to deal with violent crime. also taxing marijuana will bring in a lot of money to help out as well. norman robinson said "so legalize marijuana and everybody will just chill, all the races will be cool - because they're more mellow." lol

all of the candidates got caught looking in a couple of questions (that were eerily familiar to the time the late gas bag tim russert caught david duke with his pants down on meet the press) when none could answer what the dollar amount the city is in bonded indebtedness for? correct answer $524 million. or what percentage is the city's cut of the parishes 9% sales tax? 2.5%

manny bruno believes that corruption is the biggest problem facing new orleans. "how can we stop crime when our elected officials, our police officers are committing crimes themselves?" mr. bruno also wants to legalize marijuana and "tax the hell out of it." use that revenue on the city's infrastructure.

the question on what is the candidates specific strategy for reducing blight was pretty good. we especially liked mr. bascle's answer which was that they could turn blighted areas into "community urban garden plots... so that the citizens could grow their own food and create our own economy that way."

so if you live in new orleans vote for one of these guys and forget about the rest of those polished turds.

EXTERNAL LINK

oral roberts dead at 91

TULSA, OK -- Founder of ORU, Oral Roberts, has died at the age of 91 due to complications from pneumonia. read more

EXTERNAL LINK

REMINDER: 15 december 2009 date for first orleans mayoral debate forum

This event is open to the public. Parking is available.
Questions may be submitted from the audience during the event.
For more information, contact Joel Myers (972) 754-6604.
via megan hargroder
neighborhoods partnership network

New Orleans Mayoral Debate

The earliest mayoral forum to be held after qualifying closes is scheduled for Tuesday, December 15, 2009, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Xavier University Center Ballroom.


All candidates who have qualified to run for Mayor of the City of New Orleans will be invited to participate.


The forum will be broadcast live by WDSU-TV, Channel 6, and Norman Robinson will moderate; WWNO-Radio, 89.9 FM will also broadcast it live as well as stream it on line.

The public is invited to attend.

Questions will be taken from the audience as time permits.

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klarens tatum is no tip-toe burglar

heres a run of the mill crime report about a person who the police believe is responsible for a string of burglaries in downtown alexandria, la.

the police say they caught him inside the rapides parish library and his muddy shoes and foot prints helped link him to the other break-ins.

we thought it was pretty kewt how kalb's videographer, sherman desselle interspersed footage of someones shoes walking around. it reminded us of an old sanford and son episode in which fred after pilfering around his house found a hidden present to him from lamont that rollo had acquired.

fred thinks that rollo had stolen the ring from frank sinatra after smitty and hoppy describe a similar looking ring as fred's that was stolen from sinatra's hotel room by the tip-toe burglar.

vid playlist

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related posts

arrest some white drivers

steve coco: it's time to start shooting thugs

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colorado's medicinal marijuana law spawns a whole new industry

in this cnn report they tell us about how regular people are making a living in colorado operating and stocking a medicinal marijuana dispensary.

as you might imagine establishing a dispensary isnt the problem -- the problem is that because in colorado medicinal marijuana is an emerging industry the establishment of dependable, hi-quality supply sources hasnt caught up to the hi-standards required for medicinal-grade marijuana.

or something like that,

jason irwin who holds a state permit to operate his dispensary describes it thusly:

"The connections are underground. They're not mainstream at all," Jason Irwin said. "We can't call the growers union. There is no such thing.

"Instead of placing your order through a typical system ... you get a dude who comes down from the mountains and slaps a duffle bag on your desk. It's full of weed, and he's like 'Here, pick what you want. Do you want any?'

And you've got to dig through it, inspect it for yourself, make sure it looks kosher, weigh it, pay thousands of dollars. It's all cash at this point."

so he enlisted that aid of his mother who had recently sold her salon to get out of the city for the country and was looking for something else to do.

they bought a piece of land (37 acres [15 hectares] according to cnn) which turned out to be situated between two other first time marijuana farmers.

she just completed her first grow. her garden consisted of sixty-two plants which yielded thirteen pounds. [6 kg]

jason says that he wants to develop a business model for medicinal marijuana dispensaries along the lines of starbucks and whole foods.

"We hope to develop a business model that proves to be successful, that we can expand upon, hopefully to other states and communities, become like a really reliable consistent supplier of safe, tested cannabis," he said. ~ read more

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upgrade your eyes to hd

Sky News: Patients are having their eyes fitted with an artificial lens that allows them to see in high definition.

Surgeons begin the process by implanting the lens into the eye using the standard procedure for cataracts.

Then, for the first time in Britain, they can fine-tune the focus of the lens several days later. The technique gives patients vision so sharp that it is even better than 20/20 – the best an adult can usually hope for.' ~ read more

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washington state: 'gunman' executes 4 police officers

sunday 29 november 2009

note: that sunday morning we happened to be -- for want of better words -- in the right place at the right time to observe the seattle media reports of this shocking and horrific crime as it unfolded. we feel bad for everyone involved. especially, those who lost their life and wish it wouldnt have happened.

much of this post consists of notes we made from sunday morning (29 nov) through friday 04 december. if it doesnt make any sense -- its because this crime is senseless. nevertheless, there should be enough information here for you to start to figure it out for yourself.

one other thing...although we didnt necessarily agree with everything pierce county sheriff's office public information officer, detective sergeant ed troyer said or the way he said it, you have to admire him for doing such a tremendous job getting the police departments word out.

lakewood police independent guild blog: "stories of our fallen"
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king tv live breaking news clip
sunday morning 29 november 2009
length 12:37
two gunmen; one black one white 'execute' four police officers
from the lakewood, pierce county, washington
police department while they sat in a cafe
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"this was a targeted, selected, ambush. four officers inside the coffee shop working on their computers, marked cars in the parking lot, baristas were inside and customers, the only people hit were law enforcement officers. thats what happened" ~ det. sgt. ed troyer, pierce county sheriff's office from the scene.

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vid playlist
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later that evening det. troyer responding to the press said that "we have no sense of motive, we can tell you that two of them was just flat executed sitting, writing reports."

no doubt these are perilous times we're living. sunday morning in lakewood, washington, these lakewood cops (king tv first reported from their website five cops. four men and a woman although this could have been a typo. nevertheless, here's a .pdf of their website text then) three men and a woman were sitting around in the forza coffee company café at 11401 steele street south preparing to start their shift, when in walks in (it was first reported) two gunmen one white one black who open fire on the cops killing four of them before its believed they could return fire.

oddly, this comes less than a month from the halloween murder of seattle police officer tim brenton. the police did arrest a suspect in that case though, 41 year old christopher monfort.

in the king tv breaking news clip king 5's reporter drew mikkelsen, reported initially that there four officers were sitting in the cafe forza when someone walked in and opened fire, shooting and killing all four officers. baristas and customers werent hit or targeted at all.

the police were looking for two males one black and one white in an unidentified car. they expect to recover surveillance cam footage from the other stores around to help see what happened.

back in the studio king 5's jim forman, seems to be intent on instilling fear and anger in the cops. "in some cities, four officers cant sit in a coffee shop in uniform. it's just not done, because they've had such terrible incidents." then he gives some vague example of a policeman killed in philadelphia who was walking into a dunkin-donuts. "so police are apparently targets wherever they are sitting and today for whatever reason around eight-thirty this morning at the cafe forza there somebody walked in and unloaded their rage in a gun at four police officers." what? is the media trying to make the cops fearful of congregating in groups in public. are they trying to put a buzz in some crazy persons head into thinking groups of cops are good targets?

anyway, the next time the media catches up to det. troyer (vid one in the playlist) is on the road. he said they had been called out on a hoax. someone had phoned in a confession to the shooting but turned out he was trying to impress his girlfriend. in this presser det. troyer reveals that they believe that the shooter (id still unknown or so he said) had in fact been involved in a struggle with one of the officers. they believe the cop shot the suspect "in the trunk" and likely mortally wounded him.

the next time the media caught up to det. troyer again was apparently back at the crime scene later that evening after dark. thats when we first learn that the police have a person of interest: maurice clemmons, aged 37, date of birth 06 february 1972. det. troyer said that clemmons is a person of interest because "of some past run-ins with law enforcement and some evidence that we believe that he was here and we want to know why he was here."

det. troyer also complains about arkansas letting clemmons out of prison.

a reporter points out that the police were showing around a flyer with maurice clemmons's name on it to customers at the ampm convenience store [11109 s steele st] as early as 3:30 pm.

on the sunday night late news, drew mikkelsen reported that there were two baritsas and two customers in the cafe at the time of the shootings. none of them were harmed. curiously, none of the witnesses including the baristas have been interviewed by the media to give an eyewitness account of what they saw happen.

the next day (monday) the seattle times posts a mysterious interview of humberto navarrette who says that during the shooting, he was going into the ampm store to buy a pack of smokes where he spoke to two female witnesses, baristas from the farza coffee company cafe who had fled there to summon help. they tell him that as they drove past the store it looked like one of the officers was in a struggle with the suspect.

kiro's investigative reporter, chris halsne reported sunday night, that clemmons was a "career criminal" who should have been sitting in an arkansas prison. halsne said he learned that clemmons had been set free after gaining clemency from the huckster.

kiro also reported that clemmons abandoned truck ( a white chevrolet or gmc pickup) was found by the scene in a nearby parking lot.

king tv also reported on the huckster's granting clemency to clemmons. they showed a few seconds of footage of clemmons who they had interviewed last year after his house caught fire from a fireworks accident.

king tv gave some background to the officers. between the four officers they left behind nine children.

monday morning clemmons was still nowhere to be found. overnight the police had searched and then cleared a house in what they described as an 11 hour standoff in the leschi neighborhood. det. troyer who joined king tv by phone said that they know that clemmons suffered a gunshot wound. indeed late into the night seattle media reported that clemmons was likely laying dead somewhere from his wound.

around mid morning city of lakewood police chief bret farrar gave held a news conference where he said that all four officers where original members from when the police department was formed only five years ago in 2004.

in one part that will be remembered for a long time chief farrar says that hes been asked over and over is "how is everybody doing?" chief farrar then raised his arm to present the department that had gathered around him and said "this is how they are doing. they're here, they're doing their jobs, they're working hard, they're dealing with their loss but they're here for the citizens, we're here to carry on. this is what we do and this is where we're good. in the face of adversity is where we triumph."

at noon monday the media reported that the police were chasing down every single tip that they've gotten in the search for maurice clemmons. king tv's tim robinson was at the university of washington where police were working several reports of suspicious individuals.

monday evening king tv's glenn farley says he's near the corner of ranier ave s and renton ave not far from the renton airport. police were conducting an operation in renton. det. troyer is reported to have told them that it was one of many such operations going on. police followed up tips in seattle, leschi, the u district and beacon hill and i-90 at exit 45.

police also investigated a lot of blood found on a bench in cowan park.

tuesday am press conference
length 24:53

early tuesday morning det. troyer held another press conference to announce that clemmons was dead. shot by a seattle patrolman. over night they had also arrested three people for rendering criminal assistance. they also arrested someone who they believe drove clemmons off in the get-a-way vehicle (the white pickup truck) from the crime scene. they are also expecting to arrest some of clemmons family members who aided-and-abetted in his get away.

the gun recovered from the suspect was taken from one of the lakewood officers after he was killed. clemmons also had the tell-tell gunshot wound.

a spokesman from the seattle police department said that the officer who shot and killed clemmons is a seven year veteran assigned to the south precinct. he works the night shift . right now the policeman will be reassigned and their will be an inquest review board per routine.

the patrolman later identified by the media as benjamin l. kelly. he was on a routine patrol when he came across a car with its engine idling and hood up parked at the side of the road. patrolman kelly realized that the car an acura integra had just been reported stolen.

according to the official story, as he was investigating the stolen car, he detected some motion behind him, he turned to look and recognized the person who was approaching him as the lakewood suspect. kelly ordered clemmons to put his hands in the air, when clemmons didnt and reportedly tried to run around the car, kelly fired hitting him at least twice.

"when you help a criminal, you become a criminal"
~ pierce county prosecuting attorney, mark lindquist
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wednesday morning kiro posted the declaration for determination for probable cause for rendering criminal assistance in the first degree [our copy three page .pdf 60 kb] against eddie lee davis and douglas edward davis.

from it we learn that the white pickup truck shown in several media reports being towed and at first reported registered to clemmons and being near the crime scene -- that according to the baristas was the truck they observed parked at a nearby carwash that clemmons walked up to and got in the passenger side which then fled the area at a high rate of speed.

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source: mapquest driving directions
11401 steele s tacoma, wa 98444-1436 to 13300 pacific ave s tacoma, wa 98444-4864

in the declaration it says that the police found the white truck a short time later at an address that according to mapquest is around 2 1/2 miles from the crime scene. mapquest estimates the driving time as six minutes.

the truck is registered to a business thats address is in the 1100 block of 131st street south. the property is owned by maurice clemmons. the distance from where the pickup truck was found to the 131st street south property is about one mile.

although the declaration doesnt say, it was probably pretty easy for the cops to locate a drivers license or mug shot photo of clemmons after they got a name from the truck registration. this is probably the reason they had his picture to place in a photo array so quickly earlier -- like the reporter was asking about.

in the declaration, the states attorney, mark lindquist, doesnt give a precise timeline of how clemmons got from point a to b and c, etc but does believe that he has enough evidence to link them to helping clemmons at least for part of the day sunday.

back at the crime scene the police find a .38 caliber revolver with six spent shell casings and a nine millimeter handgun and one spent 9mm shell casing.

both guns were believed to have been used by clemmons. a side arm from one of the policemen is missing.: a .40 caliber glock. the police believe that clemmons threw down his weapons, picking up one of the dead officers.

the pierce county medical examiner reported that officers griswold, richards and renninger all died from a gunshot to the head -- while officer owens died from a gunshot wound to the neck. this account from the news tribune says that it was officer greg richards who struggled with and shot clemmons in the torso before being shot in the head.

as of wednesday night six have been arrested for what the police believe were their roles in aiding-and-abetting clemmons evasion.

(1) darkus dewayne allen the suspected get-a-way driver. 4-counts rendering criminal assistance 1; 1-count murder 1, 1-count false statements, 1-count driving without a valid operators license, 1-count fugitive - fugitive from another state.

(2) rickey hinton supposedly clemmons half-brother. 4-counts rendering criminal assistance 1

(3) eddie lee davis 1-count of rendering criminal assistance 1 and probation hold

(4) douglas edward davis 1-count of rendering criminal assistance 1
- both accused of driving clemmons while he was on the run

(5) quiana maylea williams 4-counts rendering criminal assistance 1 (driver of white car)

(6) letricia nelson 4-counts rendering criminal assistance 1

on friday #7 clemmons sister latanya kaye clemmons 4-counts rendering criminal assistance 1, 1-count murder 1

~source: pierce county, washington corrections jail roster

later it was revealed that the object of the 11 hour standoff in the leschi neighborhood [3800 block of east superior street] was the home and property of clemmons aunt, chrisceda clemmons. ms. clemmons told kiro that on sunday she received a telephone call from maurice who was enroute to her home, who told her that he had murdered four police officers and that he needed a place to hide and to rest.

ms. clemmons took her children and family and fled going to the east precinct on capitol hill to report what they knew.

ms. clemmons said that she told the police that maurice probably wanted to stay in a trailer on her property. sure enough, after the 11 hour standoff, during which the police destroyed ms. clemmons home that her family had lived in some 22 years, police say that they did find evidence in that trailer like bloody bandages that clemmons had been there.

amazingly, during all this time -- according to the declaration, the police were actually on their way to chrisceda clemmons home. the police saw clemmons walking around in the neighborhood after just being dropped off. they stopped the car he got out of and learned that it was the one that he had ridden over in. the driver, quiana williams admitted that she had picked clemmons up and had him at her residence.

the declaration isnt clear on clemmons whereabouts from the leschi neighborhood standoff (sunday night - monday morning) until his final encounter on south kenyon street at 245 am tuesday morning with seattle patrolman benjamin kelly.

the standoff described as 11 hours long began around 8:44 pm and lasted until early monday morning. during this time clemmons apparantly, gut shot, made his way through this dragnet for another six miles.

on the map point a is the leschi neighborhood of 3800 east superior street and point b is the 4400 south kenyon street, seattle, wa. google maps estimates a distance of 6.1 miles and 13 minutes by car.

clemmons stole a 1990 acura integra from the 4800 block of south chicago street which is less than a mile from where it broke down at south kenyon. clemmons exact route from leschi sunday night to 4800 south chicago st. is unknown for now. the length of time from 8:44 pm sunday night until around 2:45 am tuesday morning is around 30 hours unaccounted for.

on friday clemmons aunt chrisceda clemmons spoke with kiro's news reporter essex porter. in a series of vid clips posted here ms. clemmons spoke candidly about maurice and what happened sunday.

she said that maurice first starting displaying signs of having a mental problem in may. from what we gather from this kiro report, it was in may that he was arrested and charged with assaulting "pierce county police officers." this charge stemmed from clemmons going on a rampage and breaking out windows in his neighborhood. then in july pierce county charged clemmons with rape of a child in the second degree.

ms. clemmons said that he had spent 130 days in the pierce county jail and he was angry at the way the sheriff's office treated him and that he did it for revenge.

we havent been able to find out if any of the slain officers were any that had arrested him or had worked in the jail.

that sunday evening he called her and said that he had murdered four police officers and that he needed a place to hide and to rest. he told her that he was already enroute. she said that she was so shocked and stunned she couldnt move for a few minutes. ultimately deciding, in panic, to get her family together and flee.

one unfortunate 'side-effect' of the police stand off was that her house was wrecked from all the tear gas and flash bang charges they had shot in through all the windows and doors. ms. clemmons told the police that before fleeing they had locked all the windows and doors so that maurice couldnt get in and that he would be going to a mobile home they owned on an adjacent lot anyway. despite the way that her home and possessions were destroyed unnecessarily by the police, ms. clemmons said that she would do it all over again.

one weird report that was circulating was about clemmons cross-country trip to new york to see bishop bernard jordan who clemmons followed on twitter and apparently live chatted with. the guy that they say came with clemmons introduced him "maurice clemmons, thats jesus christ." to which the bishop replied "we're all jesus christ sir." so you know this preacher is no good. a glance at the zoe ministries website leaves one with the impression that this is another prosperity gospel sham.

isnt it a shame that in his time of need clemmons couldnt find a real man of god? how different things might have turned out.

on the other hand an a report released early on 01 december based on documents relating to clemmons 19 october court ordered mental health exam from his earlier arrest(s) and incarceration:

[S]aid Clemmons threatened to kill jail workers, saying, "I'll kill all you bitches," and described hallucinations in which he saw people drinking blood and eating babies.

The report said at the time of his arrest, Clemmons made "religiously-themed comments, told the officer President Obama and Lebron James are his brothers, Oprah is his sister and referred to himself as 'the beast.'"

another report was of two of clemmons friends. one mai pettes said she had lived by him for three years and that he was always a helpful person. jeff horning, clemmons neighbor said that in all the time he knew clemmons he never saw a jekyll and hyde personality. that clemmons was happy, charismatic and congenial. clemmons was a "very generous person and he helped everybody that i know, he helped several people financially including our family," horning said.

in yet another report one of clemmons neighbors, scott davis, was interviewed and talked about all the undercover police that were constantly watching clemmons. "when i pull up there will be undercover cops sitting all the time. you know, just surveillance, just sitting there, i mean literally right by his house, not trying to be nonchalant or anything, just blatantly sitting there watching him." davis said.

on 01 december someone on twitter under the alias emhicks00 posted a picture of clemmons dead body. with the caption:

Pic of the suspected cop killer in Seattle, Washington.... Justice?

responding to a query from kiro's reporter david quinlan, emhicks00 tweeted:

@David_Quinlan law enforcement took the pic and a friend that lives in Seattle sent it to me. His source works with the postal inspectors

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lots of things dont add up. hopefully, the police after they have had some time to deal with their grief and anger will honor their fallen officers by fully investigating everything about this crime.

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