Say Anything Blog

Does anyone know if Wal-Mart has offered any compensation to the family of the man who was trampled to death on Black Friday?

These guys win the “Dumbest Act by a Cop” award!

WOODBURN, Ore. - A bank employee found a bomb in the bushes outside — and officers responding to the threat inexplicably took the device into the building. It exploded, killing a local police officer and a state bomb disposal technician and critically injuring the police chief of Woodburn, in Oregon’s agricultural heartland. A bank employee was also slightly injured. Asked why officers took the bomb into the bank, Lt. Gregg Hastings, spokesman for the Oregon State Police, said Saturday: “That we don’t know.” But with a bomber apparently on the loose, authorities had more pressing things to worry about. They had no suspects and no motive in Friday’s bombing.
“That person is dangerous and needs to be found as soon as possible,” Hastings said. Federal authorities said they were offering a $35,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.The explosion around 5:30 p.m. Friday followed a bomb threat call to a nearby Wells Fargo branch bank. But the police said their investigation led next door to the West Coast Bank, where the bomb was found.Bank President and CEO Robert Sznewajs said the bank manager found the device Friday in a survey of the grounds undertaken after an employee got a call about the Wells Fargo incident and law enforcement officers had made a check. Hastings declined to describe the bomb in detail but indicated it was powerful. The inside of the bank was extensively damaged, state police said, and a female employee was treated at Salem Hospital and released. Another bank employee was uninjured.Police said late Friday that a Woodburn police officer had died. The State Police said Saturday that one of their bomb technicians had also died at the scene.

In the midst of all the shit we have to put up with, I heard a rumor on the national news today that some in the in-coming Obama administration, or Democrats in Congress, hatched the idea of a 9/11 type investigation of the Bush administration. I hope this is just that: a rumor. Congress had 7 years to investigate Bush. They didn’t. Now at a time when we have to pinch every penny, some idiot comes up with this. I have always thought that Bill Clinton could have been a great President had he not been slammed with accusations about Whitewater. And of course, Monica. George is gone. Obama talked about change we can believe in. Now is the time for him to show that he has the right stuff. This is no time to play gotcha. Grow up. Please.

I hate to start a post without knowing the full facts of a case. But here goes. As I was watching Fox News today a story aired wherein a drunk driver had killed a young child recently. It seems the drunk driver, had one previous
DUI. The driver was also in the country illegally. Of course this brought shouts of outrage from the newscasters and the local community. The family of the deceased asked for forgiveness for the driver. I can understand the anger at our kids being killed by illegal aliens. But the real problem lies in our collective failure to deal effectively with all drunk drivers. The penalties for drunk driving are too lax and vary widely from state to state. You can get more time in jail for copping a feel from a young hottie than you can for killing a person with a 4,000 pound vehicle while drunk. This is ridiculous. Lawmakers don’t seem to want to strengthen these laws either. Maybe its because so many of them drive drunk. Until we get the conviction to put our foot down on every drunk driver, it should not matter if the culprit is illegal or not.

Today workers in the city of Grand Forks, ND began installing Christmas lights, with a snowflake design,  along six (6) routes in the city. These lights cost $205,000 from city funds. City council members claimed they would attract more visitors to the city. Nobody really wanted the lights except a few well heeled snobs and five of the eight council members. In the meantime, the city talks about a budget deficit which will leave us without enough sand to cover the ice-slick streets this winter.The city road crews are underfunded by over $60,000. We will see a possible cutback in essential services and a rate increase for some others. But that doesn’t bother the snobs. They got their lights. And that is all that matters.

He hasn’t taken office yet and Barry has already pissed me off.
His support for a bailout of GM makes no sense to me. As one Republican said, let the Big 3 file for chapter 11 bankruptcy and continue doing business. Personally, I despise the Big 3. Let’s get rid of the management and get new blood into an industry that has utterly failed the American public. I don’t think it can be entirely blamed on the unions, either. Personally, I feel that this whole $700 billion dollar bailout was instigated by the GOP as a way of hijacking the incoming Democratic administration from day one.
Knowing how the Dems like to spend money in the name of saving the common man, it worked.
Then there is Barry’s assertion that we have to go after AlQuida because they threaten American interests. It seems to me that Al Quida is a bigger threat to Europe and the Middle East than the U.S. And why should we take the lead? Let’s play follow the leader for once, if necessary. I personally am tired of war. We have been at it for over 20 years somewhere in the world. And our all volunteer military has suffered. I do not hear any strategy setting a timetable for ending this pursuit of suspected terrorists. Could we be at war for the next 30 years. A wise Middle Eastern leader once said that it makes no sense to go traipsing all over the world in pursuit of one man. He is right.

AN Iraqi soldier on foot patrol with US forces in the northern city of Mosul shot and killed two American soldiers and wounded six more, the worst such case yet of US-trained local troops turning their guns on their allies.

The Iraqi soldier, identified as Barzan al-Hadidi, was part of a joint daytime patrol on the streets of the dangerous city, considered to be one of the last strongholds of Al-Qa’ida and its local allies in Iraq. He was quickly gunned down by other members of the patrol, officials said.

The Iraqi Interior Ministry said the soldier opened fire after he had been publicly slapped by an American colleague. Many Iraqi men, especially in the military, are intensely proud and conscious of any perceived slight to their honour.

I’m not saying that the American deserved to be killed. But, if you are stupid enough to slap another man who has a loaded weapon in his hand, then you better be ready to suffer the consequences.

COVINGTON, Louisiana (CNN)—The suspect in the shooting of a woman killed during a Ku Klux Klan initiation has at least a seven-year history of Klan activity, according to an organization that tracks hate groups nationwide.

Relatives describe Cynthia Lynch as having a deep need to feel wanted and eager to join groups.

Raymond “Chuck” Foster, 44, was the founding Imperial Wizard, or national leader, of the Southern White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a Klan faction formed January 1, 2001, in Watson, Louisiana, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

“During the next three years, the group developed chapters in three other states while maintaining a low profile,” the Montgomery, Alabama-based center said on its Web site.

By 2004, the Southern White Knights had chapters in Savannah, Georgia; Homosassa Springs, Florida; and Marion, Ohio. Its founding chapter relocated to Denham Springs, Louisiana. The group disbanded in early 2005, the center said.

Foster faces second-degree murder charges in the death of Cynthia Lynch, 43, of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

I was not surprised that this story was not posted in the blog. You would rathr spend time demonizing Obama. Seems someone determined that conservatives did not need to air their dirty laundry. How much you want to bet this guy called himself a patriotic Christian American?

Priest Blasts Catholic Obama Voters
By MEG KINNARD, AP

COLUMBIA, S.C. (Nov. 14) - A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him “constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil.”

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.

A shepherd leading his flock. Ridiculous!

An 8 year old boy shot and killed his father and another man at home. He went and told a neighbor what he had done. The police interviewed the boy without counsel or having a responsible adult present to represent the boy’s interest. Now the District Attorney wants to try the boy as an adult because if he is tried as a child, he will be free at age 18.
Numerous friends of the father claim that the man was a great dad who taught his young son to shoot. If you listen to them, the man was a saint.
I wonder when this bullshit is going to end. No one knows what really went on in that house. And history has told us that things are not always what they seem. Yet the people of this town and many Americans across the country tend to forget those things. This is no longer a country of justice. But, a country hell bent on vengeance. A country where everyone is a victim. Forgiveness is a foreign concept. The old excuse that if a minor commits an “adult” crime, he should be treated as one has destroyed the concept of childhood innocence. If we continue to allow authorities to abuse their powers, if we continue to throw away our youth I feel we are truly lost. In our qwest to stop the
rising crime rate and protect the innocent, we have turned justice upside down. Liberals and Conservatives are equally to blame for this sorry state of affairs. God have mercy on America.

I told you that the American people were not buying your conservative bullshit anymore. I told you we would make history. This is a proud day for all Americans who truly love their country and are determined to see that its promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is kept for us all.

Australia: No residency for boy with Down syndrome
Friday, October 31, 2008 9:16 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By TANALEE SMITH Associated Press Writer

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — A German doctor hoping to gain permanent residency in Australia said Friday he will fight an immigration department decision denying his application because his son has Down syndrome. Bernhard Moeller came to Australia with his family two years ago to help fill a doctor shortage in a rural area of Victoria state.

His temporary work visa is valid until 2010, but his application for permanent residency was rejected this week. The immigration department said Moeller’s 13-year-old son, Lukas, “did not meet the health requirement.”

“A medical officer of the Commonwealth assessed that his son’s existing medical condition was likely to result in a significant and ongoing cost to the Australian community,” a departmental spokesman said in a statement issued Thursday by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

“This is not discrimination. A disability in itself is not grounds for failing the health requirement — it is a question of the cost implications to the community,” the statement said.

Moeller said he would appeal the decision.

“We like to live here, we have settled in well, we are welcomed by the community here and we don’t want to give up just because the federal government doesn’t welcome my son,” he told reporters.

Moeller has powerful supporters. Victorian Premier John Brumby has pledged to support the family’s appeal, and federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said Friday she would speak to the immigration minister about the case.

Roxon said the case must go through proper channels — an appeal to the Migration Review Tribunal and then the immigration minister — but that “there is a valid reason for this doctor and his family to be eligible to stay here in Australia.”

“As a government, we understand the importance of having doctors working in our rural and regional communities and we support them in many ways and continue to do this,” Roxon said.

Don McRae, director of clinical services at Wimmera Health Care Group, said the hospital had invested a lot of time and energy in recruiting the German specialist to Horsham, about 100 miles northwest of Melbourne.

“We were very surprised by the decision,” he said of the immigration department’s rejection. “It’s distressing for Dr. Moeller’s family and distressing for the community who have welcomed him and relied on his medical services.”

Immigration Minister Chris Evans has no power to intervene in the case until the review tribunal or a court upholds the department’s decision.

David Tolleson, executive director of the Atlanta-based National Down Syndrome Congress, said he was disappointed by the decision.

“What is the cost implication to the community of a doctor shortage?” Tolleson asked. “I assume the son had the same costs for the last two years and they were happy to have the family and use the dad as a doctor.”

Down syndrome, caused by an extra chromosome, is characterized by mental retardation of varying degrees. Those with Down syndrome also can have other problems: Nearly half will have a heart defect, some serious enough to require surgery soon after birth.

Tolleson said that people with Down syndrome have a spectrum of abilities.

“Some need more support, some go on to graduate from college with a four-year degree, and most are somewhere in between,” he said.

The immigration department said it appreciates Moeller’s contribution to the community but said it must follow the relevant laws in considering residency applications.

“If we did not have a health requirement, the costs to the community and health system would not be sustainable,” the statement said.

More than 150,000 migrants settled in Australia in 2007-08, the department said.

Shortages of medical practitioners in rural parts of Australia have led a number of recent government initiatives to boost the numbers of doctors and nurses nationwide.

———

Associated Press Writer Carley Petesch in New York contributed to this report.

Think about it. Does it sound familiar to you?

School leader: Ex-teacher charged in sex with student had stellar recommendations
Gary Taylor | Sentinel Staff Writer
11:20 AM EDT, October 23, 2008

TODAY’S UPDATE: 11:20 a.m. The headmaster of Warner Christian Academy said today that Cynthia Horvath came to his school with excellent recommendations and this is the first time a teacher has been accused of having a sexual relationship with a student at the South Daytona school.

Mark Tress, the school’s headmaster, also said he is confident that the alleged activity is limited to one student, an unidentified 17-year-old.

Faced with termination, Horvath, an English teacher and cheer coach, resigned from Warner Christian Academy on Oct. 12, Tress said.

The next day he contacted South Daytona Police, who referred the investigation to police departments in Port Orange and Daytona Beach after determining the sexual activities between the teacher and student took place in those cities.

Police in Port Orange and Daytona Beach both charged Horvath on Wednesday with illegal sexual activity with a minor.

Tress said Horvath passed a background check before she was hired. “Her recommendations were stellar,” he said. “She had an excellent rapport with all the students.”

Although the teenager involved with the teacher still attends the school, the school has not yet decided if he will be allowed to remain at the school, Tress said. “That has not been resolved,” he said. “We want to do what’s best for the student and what’s best for the school.”

The school, in its 38th year, has about 650 students in nursery through 12th grade. “This is the first time we have ever experienced anything like this,” Tress said.

Tress said he is not sure there are any steps that could have been taken to prevent the incident since the school conducts thorough background investigations.

But he has met with the school’s faculty since the incident came to light.

“I’ve asked the teachers to immediately report anything that doesn’t look right,” he said. “We want to make sure we’re not missing any signs that indicate there is a problem.”

—————————————————————————

From the Oct. 23 print edition of the Orlando Sentinel:

A little more than a week after she quit her job at a private Christian school in South Daytona, a former teacher was charged Wednesday by two police departments with having illegal sexual activity with an underage student of the school.

It was the second time in a week that a Central Florida teacher was jailed on sex charges involving a student.

Cynthia Horvath, 45, was arrested by Port Orange police on Wednesday morning and taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach, where a short time later Daytona Beach police filed an identical charge against her. Investigators think the two carried on their relationship at hotels in those cities.

Bail was set at $20,000.

Horvath resigned as a teacher at Warner Christian Academy on Oct. 12, the day before a school official contacted South Daytona police about allegations she had a four-month sexual relationship with the student, according to a police report.

Headmaster Mark Tress told police that weeks earlier there had been rumors of a teacher and student having a sexual relationship and that the rumors were finally confirmed by the student’s father, according to the report.

Messages left Wednesday for Tress were not returned.

Horvath taught English and was the school’s cheer coach, according to Warner Christian’s Web site. A short biography on the site said she taught at the school for three years and elsewhere for five years and that she is married with four children.

South Daytona police did not investigate Horvath because it determined her involvement with the student did not take place in that city, South Daytona police Lt. Ron Wright said.

An investigation revealed the teacher and student were engaged in sexual activity in multiple locations in Port Orange between June and September, said Port Orange police Detective Capt. Frank Surmaczewicz. While investigators in Daytona Beach charged Horvath with a single incident in June, “We have other incidents that are still under investigations,” Daytona Beach police Sgt. Jimmie Flynt said.

Eustis High School English teacher Laura Pace, 38, was arrested Friday, accused of five counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office began investigating earlier this month after the School Board received an e-mail detailing sexual misconduct between her and two male students. Detectives spoke with the teens, who confirmed they had sex with Pace, sheriff’s Sgt. John Herrell said.

Pace has been suspended, Lake schools Superintendent Anna Cowin said. She tried to resign this week, but Cowin refused and said Pace’s employment status is pending.

Gary Taylor can be reached at 386-851-7910 or gtaylor@orlandosentinel.com.

Maybe when Christians admit that sex is a basic human need, incidents like this will cease.

To All:

John McCain pulled a coup with the choice of Sarah Palin as his VP. So, now the conservatives are jumping with glee at the prospect of a win in Novermber. Don’t count your chickens before the eggs are hatched. The following is why I do think the McClain/Palin ticket will be a failure.
1. John McCain is making promises we have all heard before and have not been kept. He’s going to shake up Washington and get rid of pork. Yeah, right. I remember that promise from the candidates over the past 30 years and it has not been kept.
2. His defense policies are the same-old, same-old. The American public has grown weary of the past 20 years of war. We are tired of sending our sons and daughters off to foreign lands to die so some politician can inlate his resume.
3. Many conservatives do not like McCain and do not see him as a “true conservative” because of his views on certain issues.
4. Palin goes against many fundamentalist, evangelical religious views on the role of women in society. She is a mother working outside of the home who may have been so engrossed in her career that she failed to pay attention to the needs of her family. Thus, a young daughter having sex and getting pregnant. Maybe if Palin was around this might not have happened. Palin has no more qualifications to be vice president,
or president, than anyone else.
You conservatives should enjoy the moment to the utmost. On November 5, 2008 you will be very unhappy.