Say Anything: Reader Blogs

Sotomayor’s Speech at UC Berkely

andophiroxia — 2009-06-03T13:42:47+00:00

The following is the text of the Judge Mario G. Olmos Memorial Lecture in 2001, delivered at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, by appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor. It was published in the Spring 2002 issue of Berkeley La Raza Law Journal, a symposium issue entitled “Raising the Bar: Latino and Latina Presence in the Judiciary and the Struggle for Representation,” and it is reproduced here with permission from the journal.

Nuclear weapons and killing against Islam

andophiroxia — 2009-05-31T23:37:32+00:00

Cleric ‘bans’ Muslim use of nuclear weapons

Muslims should not use weapons of mass destruction and possess them only as a deterrent, a top Islamic cleric says.

Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa said using such weapons would violate Islamic teachings as Muslims as well as non-Muslims could be killed.

He issued the religious ruling, or fatwa, following reports that the use of such weapons was legitimate, the state news agency MENA said.

His ruling comes just days before the visit of US President Barack Obama.

Mr Obama, who arrives on 4 June, is expected to give a speech on US relations with the Muslim world.

On a recent visit to Turkey he said the US was not at war with Islam and called for a greater partnership with the Muslim world.

Cairo has said it does not want to make atomic bombs and in the past has called for a region free of nuclear weapons.

Correspondents say that is a reference to Israel - the only Middle Eastern power suspected of possessing such an arsenal.

Pakistan is the only Muslim country known to have nuclear weapons, although Western powers and Israel suspect Iran of trying to develop an atomic bomb.

The grand mufti, who is state-appointed, also said it was also not allowed for Muslims to kill civilians even during a declared war.

Biden Reveals Location of Secret Bunker

andophiroxia — 2009-05-18T02:04:34+00:00

Vice President Joe Biden, well-known for his verbal gaffes, may have finally outdone himself, divulging potentially classified information meant to save the life of a sitting vice president.

According to a report, while recently attending the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, an annual event where powerful politicians and media elite get a chance to cozy up to one another, Biden told his dinnermates about the existence of a secret bunker under the old U.S. Naval Observatory, which is now the home of the vice president.

The bunker is believed to be the secure, undisclosed location former Vice President Dick Cheney remained under protection in secret after the 9/11 attacks.

Eleanor Clift, Newsweek magazine’s Washington contributing editor, said Biden revealed the location while filling in for President Obama at the dinner, who, along with Grover Cleveland, is the only president to skip the gathering.

According to the report, Biden “said a young naval officer giving him a tour of the residence showed him the hideaway, which is behind a massive steel door secured by an elaborate lock with a narrow connecting hallway lined with shelves filled with communications equipment.”

Clift continued: “The officer explained that when Cheney was in lock down, this was where his most trusted aides were stationed, an image that Biden conveyed in a way that suggested we shouldn’t be surprised that the policies that emerged were off the wall.”

In December 2002, neighbors complained of loud construction work being done at the Naval Observatory, which has been used as a residence by vice presidents since 1974.

The upset neighbors were sent a letter by the observatory’s superintendent, calling the work “sensitive in nature” and “classified” and that it was urgent it be completed “on a highly accelerated schedule.”

Women, Stop Watching Oprah and Learn to Love Guns

andophiroxia — 2009-05-12T20:16:22+00:00

Women never cease to amaze me. The majority of them are still “afraid” of guns. Afraid, as in “oohhhh, they are so scary.” They say things like “I don’t like them around” and “they’re dangerous.” I know of women who have defense-minded, pro-gun husbands and they will not let their guy talk about those nasty things in their presence. Shhh, the children will hear, or, they might actually see an evil gun! Keep them locked away. Don’t tell the neighbors you have a gun in our house, or we’ll be outcasts. And in the background you can almost hear another feeble Oprah sermon keeping women stupid, but oh, they feel good about themselves and their newfound self-esteem.

All the time, women are shocked, shocked! to hear that I have a gun, and worse, I have several guns. And then, oh no, I actually carry one with me. That’s so odd, they think. Oh she’s different. Why more than one gun? She must be the aggressive type. After all, the Oprah way is to trust everyone and insist that all people have good intentions always.

Although I tend to think that most women don’t make sense, period, I especially believe this concerning the gun issue. It’s not only difficult to get women to come around to wanting a gun of their own, but they still can’t get to the point where they will understand and accept why others want to own them.

Let’s face it – women are more vulnerable to attack because, most likely, their aggressor will be a man. Women are physically weaker, and criminals know that we are less willing to be mentally prepared for aggression because, unlike men, most of us just aren’t wired to be combative. A woman’s attacker will be bigger, stronger, and faster than her, and by nature they will be more aggressive, and that’s before considering any mental or drug problem that may be associated with a criminal attack. So why do women not want to take that into consideration and equalize the situation by learning to use and love guns? Dr. Thomas Szasz, libertarian scholar and Professor of Psychiatry at Syracuse University, once stated, “self-defense is not merely our legal right but our moral duty; because women are more vulnerable than men, their need and obligation to defend themselves is even greater than that of men.” Dr. Szasz is a wise man.

Here’s my favorite scene: a woman is walking in a parking garage or parking lot, all alone, wearing 3-inch skinny heels, head down, flicking her mane of endless hair, and chatting mindlessly on the phone. “Blah, blah, blah, blah, and blah,” but not a single shred of awareness about the inherent dangers of time and place, who is around her, and what they are doing. She is a Bambi in the woods.

I witness this kind of thing all the time. Women tend to function in the fog of the unknown, making themselves easy targets. The first rule of self-defense is awareness. Situational awareness can, and will, save your life. Be conscious about your surroundings. Stay off the phone, keep your head up, and survey the area around you. Walk boldly. You do not want to give a potential attacker the impression that you are an easy target. Avoidance is the ideal. How many times do women think about this? Probably never. But then again, this is not meant to be a self-defense, how-to guide for women, but rather, a call to women to stand up and take control of their personal security. Women who have the habit of entering the mindless, no-think zone while consistently ignoring potential threats are ripe for something awful to happen. Remember, criminals who attack women frequently scrutinize potential prey for easy pickings. They don’t want to tangle with a woman who appears to be alert or tough as nails. They are looking for women who are unaware, unassertive, and fragile.

Drug Usage: Case in Personal Destruction

andophiroxia — 2009-05-06T13:05:36+00:00

When Club Kid Michael Alig joined his friends on Joan Rivers’ talk show in 1990, he wasn’t the most conspicuous of the group. That would have been Leigh Bowery, the London-based drag performance artist after whom the New York club kids were modeling themselves. Bowery, a gargantuan and imposing figure, was wearing an orange Afro-style wig that totally covered his face, giving him the look of a giant with a bushy circle for a head. As he made his way onto the stage, he waved to the crowd, who watched open-mouthed as the willfully freakish crew made their way onto the stage.

[...]

As the years wore on, Alig’s antics became more and more absurd. It started innocently, if somewhat childishly, enough: he had kicked off his career with a “Filthy Mouth” contest in which the contestants would shout obscenities; later, he had a Disco Truck—an eighteen-wheeler and trailer complete with a disco ball and heavy speakers that weren’t properly secured (thus toppling over onto the clubbers inside when in motion)— that literally made the 200-odd revelers he recruited for the cruise around Manhattan breathless, as the trailer was completely lacking ventilation for its human cargo. He held underground renegade spontaneous parties in subway cars and at Burger King, long before the Internet made such instantaneous “flash” happenings easy. When confronted, he gleefully outran the police and treated such brushes with the cops as part of the anarchic fun.

[...]

What started as an Ecstasy dream became cocktail drug nightmare.

Alig and the Club Kids’ descent in the darker, harder drugs perfectly mirrored what was happening in rave scene throughout the rest of America. Ecstasy use gave way to multiple drug use. Soon, Alig and his clubbers were combining Ecstasy with methamphetamine or ketamine—Special K, and even heroin and crack. By the mid-90s, Alig’s drug use had gone from abstinence, to occasional recreation, to full-blown addiction. With addiction comes an obsession for an endless supply of drugs, and there’s no better way to procure drugs than to be “friends” with a drug dealer.

Kim Jong Il finds love via evil capitalist US company eHarmony

andophiroxia — 2009-04-22T04:26:04+00:00

Pac Man Creating Havoc in A French Supermarket

andophiroxia — 2009-04-22T02:46:21+00:00

Obama half-brother linked to ‘UK Sex Attack’

andophiroxia — 2009-04-13T05:02:45+00:00

Dominic Tobin

BARACK OBAMA’s half-brother has been refused entry to Britain after reportedly being accused of an attempted sex attack on a 13-year-old girl on his last visit.

Samson Obama, who runs a mobile phone shop in Nairobi in Kenya, was on his way to the president’s inauguration in January when he tried to stop over in Britain to visit relatives. But he was turned away by immigration officers who declined to issue a visa on the grounds of deception.

Biometric tests carried out at East Midlands airport showed that he was linked to the attack on a girl in Berkshire last November but never charged, according to a report last night. Further checks identified Samson as the half-brother of President Obama, leading to a hurried call to the White House.

A Home Office source told the News of the World: “This was obviously an extremely sensitive issue when it was flashed up by the database.” Officers had noticed that one of the documents that Samson had supplied with his visa application was false which led them to make further inquiries, according to a Home Office spokesman.

Details on the database suggested that he was the same man who had been arrested by police in Berkshire after approaching a group of young girls, including a 13 year-old, and allegedly trying to sexually assault one of them, the News of the World reported.

He then followed the girls into a cafe where he became aggressive and was asked to leave by the owner. Police were called and Samson was arrested. He reportedly gave officers false identification details and supplied his mother’s address in Bracknell.

Last night a Home Office source said: “The individual applied for a visa which we refused. We considered that to issue a visa in this situation would not be conducive to the public good. He was refused a visa on deception grounds.”

“Chia Obama” Plants removed from stores: Called “Racist”

andophiroxia — 2009-04-10T06:04:14+00:00

Please Keep Them Safe

andophiroxia — 2009-01-20T22:31:00+00:00

Link here.