Vincent Price On Racism And Religious Prejudice

Dolphin and Dog Swim Buddies

I saw this YouTube video where a dolphin and Labrador swim and play together in a small bay in the UK.  So charming.  I hope you like it as much as I.  It's just... so gentle.

AZ Gov Jan Brewer Said She Was Wrong About Beheadings In AZ Desert

The headlines said Gov. Jan Brewer admitted she was wrong about beheadings in the Arizona desert - a statement that she had cited to bolster her take no prisoners approach to implementing the draconian measures against illegal immigration in her state.  To wit: 

"That was an error, if I said that," the Republican told The Associated Press on Friday. "I misspoke, but you know, let me be clear, I am concerned about the border region because it continues to be reported in Mexico that there's a lot of violence going on and we don't want that going into Arizona."
She said she was referring to beheadings and other cartel-related violence in Mexico in comments she made earlier this summer about decapitated bodies found in the state's southern region.
So what I want to know is, why say that those terrifying crimes were being committed in Arizona?   The answer can only be racism.  Pure and simple.   It was the lie that led to a bad law in the same way that Bush/Cheney's lie about WMDs let them set up and start the war in Iraq.

Goodbye, Billie J.

The last eight months, I've been taking care of an elderly lady with dementia.  It has been one of the most pleasant jobs I've had in my working career.  Billie was part of a loving, lovely family and this evening she passed away. She had been in a short term nursing facility after a fall left her with a broken pelvis and she seemed to be ok.  But tonight Billie died suddenly and peacefully.  I'm going to miss her like the dickens.

Her daughter Judy called to let me know right after calling her brothers and sister-in-law which was a pretty nice honor and I was able to go to short term facility to say goodbye to her before her mortal body was taken away, and to hug and cry with the people who've loved her best for over 65 years.  Billie and her husband Larry were married for 67 years this year and she was the love of his life.

Gods, I was so blessed to get to work for her and to get to know her family.

Geography of Unemployment Over The Last Decade

And we've tolerated this from corporations and government for what reasons, exactly?

A Travesty In Iran

Today the AP reported that the woman facing death for alleged adultery, Sakineh Mohammdi Ashtiani has "confessed" to being "an unwitting accomplice" in her husband's murder.  I'm sure she did confess -- after being tortured, deprived of sleep, tortured some more, left to go hungry and then tortured some more.  This confession is how the Iranian state is going to rationalize her death to the masses.

The thing is that we know that torture is a tool the state uses to get people to say what the state wants them to say -- it doesn't get to the real truth.  It merely gets people to say what the state wants.  The Greeks and Romans used torture, the Spanish Inquisition used torture, Henry the VIII used torture on witnesses, evidence from which was used to execute Anne Boelyn,  the Salem witch trial used torture, and on it goes.

The thing we need to be clear on is this:  if Iran executes Ms. Astiani as it surely plans to do:  We here KNOW she was tortured to get what the Iranian state wanted so they can legitimize executing her.  We know the truth doesn't matter to them.  Even if they don't stone her to death, which may not happen because of world outcry, they will end up killing her by hanging or some other way.  But we still know their only goal is executing yet another human being whom they pervertedly see as being a threat to their regime.  We don't buy their torture purchased version of the truth. 

Hey Montana

Just a clue, girlfriend:  Making a porno is not a great way to jump start a legit acting career.  So sorry to see you were afraid of putting in the real work necessary to doing the job right given the path of your dad's career.  As part of the over 50 crowd, it just comes across as so sad.  The Kardashian girls, Paris Hilton and all the other celebutantes who've done porno (deliberately or inadvertantly), are NOT on the star track the way other young entertainer/actresses like Jennifer Hudson are.  Get a grip and keep your stuff private.

Thoughts On The Wrongfully Convicted

There was a story in the ABC news about two men, Michael Anthony Green and Alan Wayne Porter, released from Texas prisons after having been wrongfully convicted of rape and sentenced to lengthy terms and another story from Colorado about another man, Tim Masters, who is now seeing his police office accuser on trial for perjury and other crimes in his wrongful conviction.

These are my thoughts:

This stuff makes me so heartsick -- cases like this will make even the most honest citizens rightly afraid justice system. The level of misconduct on the part of police and prosecutors is appalling. The police who manufacture evidence, perjure themselves, and persecute the innocent out of whatever dreadful place their hearts hold become criminals in their actions as well.  Those prosecutors in the District Attorney's Office make their professional "bones" at the expense of genuine justice while pandering to the howls of whichever audience they want to win later elections from and who screams for the most blood become morally bankrupt. As a consequence, they sacrifice the safety of the community while the real perpetrators runs free to commit more crimes.

Now there is something to be said regarding the slavering mob howling for the cops and District Attorney to put someone behind bars ... y'all in the slavering mob don't give a rat's ass about whether an innocent person is convicted either! Y'all settle for the dog and pony show and to my way of thinking, that makes you as complicit for a bad prosecution as the District Attorney's office. Oh.. what it is to be said isn't very flattering so don't be congratulating yourself for 'demanding justice' when the end result is unjustly depriving an innocent person of their freedom, their life, their family, their livelihood and their civil rights (in no particular order). Y'all don't look so bright either.

I'm not the only one to wonder how many genuinely innocent men and women sit behind bars serving time for crimes committed by someone entirely different -- who're there solely because the crime was so bad, the mob's anger so heated it could only be slaked by a craven attorney who aspired to a higher office and a great conviction rate paved the way and which said attorney didn't have the courage to tell the mob to shut up and insist on following all due process(es).  Politicizing criminal prosecutions ought to be a crime in and of itself.  It is pretty corrupt if you ask me.


The galling thing is how many of those prosecutors and former prosecutors, when faced with the fact of their wrongful convictions and the exculpatory evidence, will still glibly insist they were right or angrily demur that they were 'just doing their jobs'.

The danger to liberty aside, from a human perspective it is pathetic. Yes. It is hard to own a mistake. It's embarrassing to make a mistake and have to admit it in public. But the only way we can learn from our mistakes and correct whatever system we failed in is to ruthlessly examine the evidence and then do the same with our own consciences.

But until we do, we good citizens will find our communities putting innocent people behind bars... some even facing the death penalty -- because we're too indolent to demand the best from our police and prosecutors in the first place.   Y'all have given up the right to bitch when the wrongfully convicted receive financial settlements that are burdensome to taxpayers... and they're owed that for having their lives stolen from them.

Mad Mel Good Riddance!

Ok, so I used to be a Mel Gibson fan. Not anymore. Sad that someone with such talent proves to have such a deep nasty streak riddled with sexism and racism. Well, I don't have to go see his movies or buy videos of them. I sure don't have to subsidize him and his irrational prejudices. It almost feels creepy knowing I had a crush on him way back to the original Mad Max. Time to go take a shower.

GOP Stand On Immigration

"GOP: During Bush's presidency, only nice hard-working immigrants snuck across the border. Now, under Obama, they are all violent criminals." --- Unknown