IT HARDLY MATTERS Back to Main Index Browse the Archives	Wednesday, August 30, 2006 ( 06:16 PM ) From the Onion: Survivor To Be Segregated The new season of Survivor will feature four racially-segregated teams this year. What do you think? "This is an affront to a civilized society. I mean, another damn season of Survivor?" - Don Weisczech, Dump Truck Driver "What a predictable season. Obviously the whites will win. Specifically, Les Moonves and Mark Burnett." - Piper Hanes, Sign Language Interpreter "I'm offended by this, but I still plan on watching the show. Unless, of course, one of the contestants is fat." - Ed Strayhearn, Machinist ( 09:08 AM ) Ya know, sometimes it just feels like they're 10-year-olds out on the playground calling each other names. Like when kids learn a new word, they go around using it ALL the time. The new GOP buzzword: Fascism POSTED: 9:29 a.m. EDT, August 30, 2006 WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush in recent days has recast the global war on terror into a "war against Islamic fascism." Fascism, in fact, seems to be the new buzz word for Republicans in an election season dominated by an unpopular war in Iraq. Bush used the term earlier this month in talking about the arrest of suspected terrorists in Britain, and spoke of "Islamic fascists" in a later speech in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Spokesman Tony Snow has used variations on the phrase at White House press briefings. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania, in a tough re-election fight, drew parallels on Monday between World War II and the current war against "Islamic fascism," saying they both require fighting a common foe in multiple countries. It's a phrase Santorum has been using for months. And Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday took it a step further in a speech to an American Legion convention in Salt Lake City, accusing critics of the administration's Iraq and anti-terrorism policies of trying to appease "a new type of fascism." (Full story) White House aides and outside Republican strategists said the new description is an attempt to more clearly identify the ideology that motivates many organized terrorist groups, representing a shift in emphasis from the general to the specific. "I think it's an appropriate definition of the war that we're in," said GOP pollster Ed Goeas. "I think it's effective in that it definitively defines the enemy in a way that we can't because they're not in uniforms." The right term? But Muslim groups have cried foul. Bush's use of the phrase "contributes to a rising level of hostility to Islam and the American-Muslim community," complained Parvez Ahmed, chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Conservative commentators have long talked about "Islamo-fascism," and Bush's phrase was a slightly toned-down variation on that theme. Dennis Ross, a Mideast adviser to both the first Bush and Clinton administrations and now the director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said he would have chosen different words. "The `war on terror' has always been a misnomer, because terrorism is an instrument, it's not an ideology. So I would always have preferred it to be called the `war with radical Islam,' not with Islam but with `radical Islam,"' Ross said. Why even mention the religion? "Because that's who they are," Ross said. "Fascism had a certain definition. Whether they meet this or not, one thing is clear: They're radical. They represent a completely radical and intolerant interpretation of Islam." While "fascism" once referred to the rigid nationalistic one-party dictatorship first instituted in Italy, it has "been used very loosely in all kinds of ways for a long time," said Wayne Fields, a specialist in presidential rhetoric at Washington University in St. Louis. "Typically, the Bush administration finds its vocabulary someplace in the middle ground of popular culture. It seems to me that they're trying to find something that resonates, without any effort to really define what they mean," Fields said. Memories of World War II Pollster Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, said the "fascist" label may evoke comparisons to World War II and remind Americans of the lack of personal freedoms in fundamentalist countries. "But this could only affect public opinion on the margins," he said. "Having called these people `evildoers,' fascism is just a new wrinkle," he said. The tactic recalled the first President Bush's 1990 likening of Iraq's Saddam Hussein to Adolf Hitler. "I caught hell on this comparison of Saddam to Hitler, with critics accusing me of personalizing the crisis, but I still feel it was an appropriate one," the elder Bush later wrote in a memoir. It was one of the few times the younger Bush has followed his father's path on Iraq. Charles Black, a longtime GOP consultant with close ties to both the first Bush administration and the current White House, said branding Islamic extremists as fascists is apt. "It helps dramatize what we're up against. They are not just some ragtag terrorists. They are people with a plan to take over the world and eliminate everybody except them," Black said. Stephen J. Wayne, a professor of government at Georgetown University, suggested White House strategists "probably had a focus group and they found the word `fascist.' "Most people are against fascists of whatever form. By definition, fascists are bad. If you're going to demonize, you might as well use the toughest words you can," Wayne said. After all, the hard-line Iranian newspaper Jomhuri Eskami did just that in an editorial last week blasting Bush's "Islamic fascism" phrase. It called Bush a "21st century Hitler" and British Prime Minister Tony Blair a "21st century Mussolini." Saturday, August 26, 2006 ( 04:48 PM ) Who would have guessed that funerals in China were so frickin' awesome? China cracks down on striptease funerals Thu Aug 24, 10:13 AM ET BEIJING (AFP) - China may be giving striptease funerals the last rites after officials arrested five people and ordered an end to the practise, state media said. Strip shows have been commonly used to attract more mourners to funerals, as villagers believe a crowded send-off brings more honor to the deceased, Xinhua news agency said. But police took action after state television exposed the "obscene performances" at a funeral in Donghai county, Jiangsu province, with 200 people including children in attendance, it said. "When the performance reached a climax, two performers started stripping and to show their charm. They even dragged audiences onto the stage to join them," Beijing News said, citing the television report. Wealthier families in villages often employ two troupes of performers to try to draw a crowd at the funerals of their loved ones. After the television report, the local government quickly issued an order to stop the practice and demanded that village committees have to report details of each funeral plan within 12 hours after a villager dies. A hotline was also set up for residents to report on "funeral misdeeds," it said. The funeral striptease is also a popular custom in parts of Taiwan. Thursday, August 24, 2006 ( 12:20 PM ) Everything I thought I knew about outer space just got thrown out the window. Pluto gets the boot Pluto no longer a planet, say astronomers Thursday, August 24, 2006; Posted: 10:27 a.m. EDT (14:27 GMT) PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight. After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930. The new definition of what is -- and isn't -- a planet fills a centuries-old black hole for scientists who have labored since Copernicus without one. Although astronomers applauded after the vote, Jocelyn Bell Burnell -- a specialist in neutron stars from Northern Ireland who oversaw the proceedings -- urged those who might be "quite disappointed" to look on the bright side. "It could be argued that we are creating an umbrella called 'planet' under which the dwarf planets exist," she said, drawing laughter by waving a stuffed Pluto of Walt Disney fame beneath a real umbrella. The decision by the prestigious international group spells out the basic tests that celestial objects will have to meet before they can be considered for admission to the elite cosmic club. For now, membership will be restricted to the eight "classical" planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Much-maligned Pluto doesn't make the grade under the new rules for a planet: "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit." Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's. Instead, it will be reclassified in a new category of "dwarf planets," similar to what long have been termed "minor planets." The definition also lays out a third class of lesser objects that orbit the sun -- "small solar system bodies," a term that will apply to numerous asteroids, comets and other natural satellites. It was unclear how Pluto's demotion might affect the mission of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which earlier this year began a 91/2-year journey to the oddball object to unearth more of its secrets. The decision at a conference of 2,500 astronomers from 75 countries was a dramatic shift from just a week ago, when the group's leaders floated a proposal that would have reaffirmed Pluto's planetary status and made planets of its largest moon and two other objects. That plan proved highly unpopular, splitting astronomers into factions and triggering days of sometimes combative debate that led to Pluto's undoing. Now, two of the objects that at one point were cruising toward possible full-fledged planethood will join Pluto as dwarfs: the asteroid Ceres, which was a planet in the 1800s before it got demoted, and 2003 UB313, an icy object slightly larger than Pluto whose discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, has nicknamed "Xena." Charon, the largest of Pluto's three moons, is no longer under consideration for any special designation. Brown was pleased by the decision. He had argued that Pluto and similar bodies didn't deserve planet status, saying that would "take the magic out of the solar system." "UB313 is the largest dwarf planet. That's kind of cool," he said. Saturday, August 19, 2006 ( 09:46 AM ) Proof that there are no stupid questions, only stupid people: "I don't know why it's about football players. Why isn't it about student council or track?" Howard the Dumbest Man in America asked. Well, if you really must know, it's because your son expects to PLAY FOOTBALL before he goes to the Big House. Right now, we don't see any students planning to RUN TRACK or VOTE ON IMPORTANT SCHOOL ISSUES before going to the Big House. On the other are those who say either the boys deserve another chance or that they will stay out of trouble if they're part of the team. Okay. Weren't they ALREADY part of the team when they did this? How will things change this season? Will they all of a sudden have LESS free time on their hands in the middle of the night? If they screw up sometime during the season, will they THEN get kicked off the team? In my opinion, they screwed up bad enough to seriously hurt other people, so they should be shipped off directly to juvenile hall. Would finishing out the season be an issue if they had pranked somebody to death? Probably not. What if they had beat the hell out of somebody and broke their neck and caused brain damage? They'd still be sent off. Where the hell did the judge draw the line? If society wants true justice, there should be calls for the kids to be allowed to be on the team during the season, but they shouldn't be allowed to play even one second on the field. Judge's ruling divides 'big football town' Teens allowed to play before going to jail Saturday, August 19, 2006; Posted: 9:47 a.m. EDT (13:47 GMT) KENTON, Ohio (AP) -- It was intended to be a prank: steal a decoy deer, place it on a country road and watch as motorists swerved to avoid it. It ended with two teenagers suffering serious injuries when their car hit the decoy and rolled into a ditch. When a judge ruled this week that two boys -- both high school football players -- can complete the football season before they serve 60-day sentences at a juvenile detention center, it caused a division in this northwest Ohio city. On one side are those who say allowing a 16-year-old quarterback, and his 17-year-old teammate to play shows that football players get preferential treatment. On the other are those who say either the boys deserve another chance or that they will stay out of trouble if they're part of the team. "I've never seen anything that has been so much an issue in the community," said Arch Rodgers, principal of 670-student Kenton High School. "The worst part is this has drug out so long and the longer it drug out, the more it created friction in the community." Robert Roby Jr., one of the injured teens, said he believes the boys received special treatment because they're football players. "They could have killed me and my friend so easily over a stupid prank. For me it feels like they got a little slap on the wrist," said Roby, 19, who graduated from Kenton High in 2005 and played baseball and golf. "Kenton is a big football town and a lot of people don't look past that to see what really happened," he said. The Wildcats, which won state championships in their division in 2001 and 2002, draw about 4,000 fans for games in this city of about 8,000. Taunts and crude remarks The 17-year-old's father, C.J. Howard, said members of the community have made crude remarks when his family shops at a nearby Wal-Mart store and that his younger children are taunted by older youth when they play in the yard. He said his son would not be the focus of such attention if he didn't play football. "I don't know why it's about football players. Why isn't it about student council or track?" Howard asked. "He admitted what he did and he faced the consequences like a young man should." School Superintendent Doug Roberts said the crash has drawn attention because the emphasis the news media and the community placed on football. Authorities say a group of teenagers stole the two-legged decoy deer from a yard, rigged it so it would stand and placed it in the road on November 18. The decoy was at the top of a hill on the curving road, Roby said, and he didn't see it until it was right in front of his car. "I panicked and swerved to go around it," he said. Roby's seat belt gave way, his head broke the car's sun roof and he fell to the ground. He heard his passenger, Dustin Zachariah, hit the ground. Prosecutors say Zachariah, now 18, suffered brain damage. Investigators say the 17-year-old, was among the boys who watched the cars. He and the younger teen, pleaded no contest in juvenile court to vehicular vandalism, possession of criminal tools and petty theft. When Judge Gary McKinley announced his decision Tuesday to delay the sentence, he said, "I shouldn't be doing this, but I'm going to. I see positive things about participating in football." Donna Deisler, the mother of the younger teen, declined to comment on the case. Messages seeking comment were left for her son's attorney, Mike Hood. Zachariah's mother, Kathy Piper, did not return calls seeking comment. Roby is recovering from broken bones in his neck, arm and leg. He spent about three months in a neck brace and has had 10 surgeries. He faces one more surgery on his leg and said he hopes soon to return to the University of Northwestern Ohio. "It's been a long tunnel, but it's getting shorter," he said. The two football players are to remain on house arrest once released, pay fines, perform community service and each write an essay titled "Why I Should Think Before I Act." Trials are pending for three other defendants. The mother of the oldest boy, Valerie Berry of Ashland, Kentucky, said her son has a strong support system and will be able to move on. "With this stunt he was a child," she said. "He's an adult now." Thursday, August 17, 2006 ( 09:54 AM ) This is a total trip, man. Who would have thought they would ever "catch" the "killer"? Some thoughts on this latest development: 1. Okay, he certainly is a creepy fellow. I wouldn't want him to be my kid's teacher. And living in Bangkok? Although the article doesn't say it, you can guess with a large amount of confidence that he was being investigated for pedophilia this time around. Another article indicates that he was arrested for kiddie porn a while back. 2. If he had been caught in America, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have had a press conference to openly admit to his guilt. I wonder if anything he says in a foreign country is admissible in a U.S. court. Gonna make for a great Law & Order episode! 3. That being said, all of this admission business is a little TOO convenient. 4. And if he really loved Jon Benet, what's he doing leaving a ransom note? If he really is a pedophile, my television detective drama education tells me he would have just taken her to keep her for himself. 5. Karr's EX-wife is giving him an alibi. What motive would she have for lying about it? And it's not like she'd likely forget where he was the day after Christmas 1996. 6. Things just aren't adding up. It doesn't jive, you dig? Suspect confesses to JonBenet Ramsey killing Ex-teacher claims death wasn't intentional: 'I loved her' Thursday, August 17, 2006; Posted: 10:11 a.m. EDT (14:11 GMT) BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- An American arrested in Thailand said Thursday he was with child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey when she died in 1996 and called her death "an accident." "I was with JonBenet when she died," suspect John Mark Karr, 41, told reporters in Bangkok. "I loved JonBenet, and she died accidentally." Asked by a reporter if he was an innocent man, Karr replied, "No." Karr's arrest Wednesday came nearly a decade after the 6-year-old girl's body was found in the basement of her Boulder, Colorado, home -- setting off a media sensation. The arrest also came less than two months after JonBenet's mother, Patsy Ramsey, died of cancer at 49. Karr, a former teacher, was arrested at his apartment in Bangkok. According to colleagues at the Thai detention center where Karr was questioned, the suspect asked police what charges he was facing. When they replied first-degree murder, he said: "No, it's second-degree -- it wasn't intentional," said Lt. Gen. Suwat Thamrongrisakul, chief of Thai immigration. Karr will be extradited to Boulder within the next week and has been charged with murder, kidnapping and sexual assault on a child, said Ann Hurst, a Department of Homeland Security attache at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok. Karr had been a suspect for a while, Hurst said, adding that her office and the Thai police worked closely for two months before a judge believed probable cause existed for an arrest. The suspect was "surprised" when he was arrested at his apartment, said Hurst, who was present. Karr was under investigation for an unrelated sex crime when information led to his arrest in the Ramsey case, two law enforcement sources said. Karr's ex-wife, Lara Karr, told KGO-TV in California that she does not believe her former husband killed JonBenet because he was with her in Alabama at the time, The Associated Press reported. The arrest likely will dispel the cloud of suspicion that has hung over JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, ever since the girl's death on December 26, 1996. John Ramsey discovered his daughter's body after the girl had been reported missing that morning and Patsy Ramsey said she found a ransom letter demanding $118,000. Suwat quoted Karr as saying that he tried to kidnap JonBenet for $118,000 ransom but that the plan went awry and he strangled her, according to an AP report. Autopsy results showed JonBenet received a massive blow to the head and was strangled with a rope that the killer tightened by twisting an attached paintbrush handle. The Ramseys maintained an intruder killed their daughter, but they remained the subject of suspicion in the case. A grand jury investigation ended with no indictments. Officials: Online communications key to probe Karr confessed to some elements of the crime, law enforcement officials said, and had been communicating with someone in Boulder working with officials on the case. Earlier, CNN affiliate KUSA had reported that the elements the suspect had confessed to were unknown to the public. Karr's online communications were a key part of the probe, officials said. The arrest came too late for Patsy Ramsey, who died in June. However, John Ramsey said he and his wife knew investigators were pursuing a suspect. "Patsy was aware that authorities were close to making an arrest in the case, and had she lived to see this day, would no doubt have been as pleased as I am," the statement said. Pam Paugh, Patsy Ramsey's sister, said, "I don't feel that I need to stand here and say to the world, 'I told you so.' We are a family that has lived on the truth, and the truth as we knew it was that neither John nor Patsy, Burke [JonBenet's older brother] nor any other family member had ever laid a hand on JonBenet." Suspect's brother: 'Whole thing is ridiculous' Ramsey attorney Lin Wood said Karr "has some background" in Conyers, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb. Karr's father and brother live in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs. Karr's brother, Nate, said: "This whole thing is ridiculous." Asked whether he knew the suspect, John Ramsey told KUSA, "To my knowledge, no, I didn't, but I don't know enough yet to say for sure." The Ramseys lived in the Atlanta area before moving to Boulder. Patsy Ramsey was laid to rest beside her daughter in Marietta, Georgia. On Wednesday, a family friend taped a note to her grave. It read, "Dear Patsy, justice has come for you and John. Rest in peace." Tuesday, August 15, 2006 ( 10:39 PM ) "You made a woman meow?" Bruno Kirby, 1949-2006 Friday, August 4, 2006 ( 10:27 AM ) This is easily one of the most poorly-written articles ever. Sometimes it seems like an intern just cuts and pastes a few reports together to make one long crappy report. Two men held in Phoenix serial killings 'Serial shooter' probe one of two investigations Friday, August 4, 2006; Posted: 9:11 a.m. EDT (13:11 GMT) PHOENIX, Arizona (AP) -- Authorities arrested two men Friday in an investigation into a series of fatal shootings that have terrorized Phoenix area residents, according to a law enforcement official. The men were arrested at a Mesa apartment complex, the official with knowledge of the investigation said. They were being questioned in connection with the "Serial Shooter" case -- one of two serial predators whom authorities say have been operating in the Phoenix area for more than a year. Authorities have said that the "Serial Shooter" is believed to be responsible for killing six people and wounding 17 others, most pedestrians and bicyclists, since May 2005. The most recent was Sunday in Mesa when a 22-year-old woman was fatally shot as she was walking from her parents' home to her boyfriend's house, authorities said. Phoenix police have had about 200 officers working to solve who is behind more than a dozen slayings in the area. A $100,000 reward is being offered for any information leading to the capture of either killer. Loraine Salyers, a resident of the apartment complex, said she lives near where police came in early Friday. "I came out and there were like a hundred cops," Salyers said. "I was so scared. My heart's pounding." Collette Kemp, the owner of the house next to the apartment complex, said she saw police officers pulling trash out of a garbage bin. Authorities say the so-called "Serial Shooter" is responsible for three dozen shootings of people, as well as dogs and horses. The shootings have generally happened late at night, with no witnesses. Six people have been killed and 17 -- mostly pedestrians and bicyclists -- have been wounded since May 2005. On Thursday police linked the death of a woman who was gunned down while walking to the so-called "Serial Shooter" because of similarities and forensic evidence. Robin Blasnek, 22, was walking to her boyfriend's home in Mesa, a suburb east of Phoenix, at about 11:15 p.m. Sunday when she was gunned down. Neighbors heard a shot and ran to help the young woman, but she soon lost consciousness and died at a hospital. Her father told the East Valley Tribune that Blasnek grew up as a special needs child and lived part-time with her parents in Mesa and at a group home in Tempe. "She was just a great kid. Very, very naive, and pure as far as not understanding the dangers of the world," Steve Blasnek said. "I guess my only regret is that I didn't give her a big hug." Trapani said Mesa police were beefing up patrols and had assigned a detective to the Phoenix police serial criminal task force. That unit already has about 200 officers working to try to solve the serial shooter case, plus another case involving a serial criminal dubbed the Baseline Killer. The Baseline Killer is believed responsible for killing seven women and one man and sexually assaulting 11 women and girls during the past year. Police think his most recent killing was the shooting death of a 37-year-old woman at a Phoenix car wash June 29. Wednesday, August 2, 2006 ( 02:39 PM ) Really? People are surprised that a very rich and very powerful man (who is a staunch supporter of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Dept. to begin with) received special treatment? What kind of fantasy world do those people live in??? For the most part, anything that Gibson actually said during the rest, short of threatening the cops, is irrelevant to the DUI charge. He was drunk, he failed the Breathalyzer, and he was driving. There you go. If he had been yelling that aliens had abducted him and taken him to Mars, who would have cared? THE MAN WAS FAIRLY WASTED. How much credence can you really put into what a really drunk man is yelling? From the LA Times: Gibson Arrest Probe Centers on Why Information Was Withheld Civilian watchdog is investigating whether the actor got special treatment. After the star was booked, a deputy drove him to his car. By Richard Winton, Andrew Blankstein and Megan Garvey, Times Staff Writers August 2, 2006 The head of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department civilian oversight office said Tuesday that he has concerns about what motivated sheriff's officials to try to conceal Mel Gibson's anti-Jewish statements and belligerent behavior from the public and is troubled by the department's initial description of the arrest as uneventful. At the same time, Mike Gennaco, who heads the Office of Independent Review, said an initial review of the case found that no laws had been broken and that the arrest had been handled within departmental policy. Still at issue is whether Gibson — who issued a second apology Tuesday explicitly acknowledging that he had made anti-Semitic remarks and asking to meet with Jewish leaders — was given special treatment by sheriff's officials because of his celebrity status. Sheriff's Department officials confirmed to The Times on Tuesday that a uniformed deputy drove Gibson from the Malibu-Lost Hills station to a tow yard to retrieve his Lexus LS sedan after he was released on bail Friday morning. Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said the 10-mile ride in a marked patrol car was not unusual. "We do this for someone from time to time at all of our stations," he said, adding that officials decided to drive Gibson to avoid a confrontation with gathering media. But one department source, who asked not to be identified because of the case's sensitivity, said it was a courtesy rarely extended to other suspects at the station. Gennaco expressed surprise that Gibson had been driven by a deputy and said he would look into it. He said the decision to drive the actor could well be within policy, depending on why it was made. Earlier in the day at a news conference outside his office in Commerce, Gennaco criticized the department's initial handling of the case. Reporters were not initially informed of Gibson's profane outbursts, attempt to escape custody and repeated threats to the arresting deputy. Instead, Whitmore initially described the arrest as "without incident." "If I described what I know about the arrest, I'm not sure I would have used those words," Gennaco said. In his comments Tuesday, broadcast live by cable and local media, Gennaco confirmed that the part of the arrest report detailing Gibson's "increasingly belligerent" behavior had been removed from the original report and purposely placed in a supplemental document by station-level supervisors. However, Gennaco said he had found no evidence so far that the decision had been directed, or even discussed, by Sheriff Lee Baca or other top officials. Gennaco said it was not necessarily unusual to break an arrest report into more than one part, adding that it is sometimes done to protect the integrity of an investigation. "Was the modification of this report done in a way so that the disclosure of information to the public would somehow be altered?" Gennaco asked. "I don't have the answer to that question." Gennaco said that his probe was in its early stages and that he still had "some concerns about the access to that information."