Saddam Capture Drives Dems, Media Mad

Reaction of the Democrats and the media to the capture of Saddam Hussein.

Possible suspect arrested in councilman's carjacking

City councilman carjacked yesterday. Police arrested a suspect today.

Christian teen forced to become Muslim
How many others has this happened to? That we didn't find out about?

Bush Makes Surprise Visit to Troops in Baghdad

Huge morale boost for the troops, and it didn't hurt that the Commander-in-Chief's trip definately upstaged Senator Clinton's trip to Afghanistan.

Judge denies bond for 2 men charged with murder of sons

Suspect arrested in bank robberies

Jackson: The Bold, New City

Jackson: The Best of the New South

I can't believe they gave a wrong address!

Massachusetts has lost track of where one-third of their registered sex offenders live or work.

History in the making

For only the second time since Reconstruction, Mississippians elected a Republican for governor.

Sheriff denied funds for gate

Last week, a convicted murderer hot wired a vehicle and drove out of the Hinds County Penal Farm by way of a broken gate. This week, the Hinds County Board of Supervisors said that replacing the gate was not an urgent issue.

The replacement gate would have cost only $7,035.00, but some supervisors said that size expense required two price quotations, thereby delaying the purchase.

I went to the coin-operated laundry this afternoon. One of my pet peeves is the lack of consideration someone shows when they leave their laundry in a washer or a drier after the cycle has finished when someone is waiting to use that machine.

Well, both of the four dollar washers were in use when I got there. One of the machines finished, and no one took the clothes out. I waited for ten minutes. Still no one looked to see if the cycle had ended, so I removed the clothes and put them in one of the wheeled laundry baskets which the management provides.

My clothes were halfway through washing when a woman came looking for her clothes. I mentioned that I had removed her clothes. She was not a happy camper. Instead of apologizing for leaving her clothes in the washer after they had finished washing, she told me that I should have asked around to see if the clothes belonged to anyone in the laundry! I told her that I wasn't about to poll those in attendance and that I had only removed the clothes ten minutes after they had finished washing and when no one had shown any interest in them.

I should mention that in the laundry there is a sign stating that clothes may be removed from machines when patrons are waiting to use them. Harrumph!

Way to go, Reuters!

The United Methodist Church signed a contract through an agency to run a series of ads during the Thanksgiving season on the giant Times Square video billboard belonging to the Reuters news service. Reuters quickly nixed the deal, citing its long-standing policy against accepting religious or political advertising, but, when faced with withering criticism from religious liberty and free-speech groups, Reuters flip-flopped and will now permit the ads.

A statement by the National Council of Churches read, in part, "To imply that religious and political speech might be in the same class with messages that are ‘pornographic… libelous, misleading or deceptive in nature,’ as Reuters did in explaining its refusal to carry the United Methodist ad, is a frightening use of the power of media ownership."

Now, Reuters said that perhaps the company should accept any ads, as long as they aren’t confused with Reuters’ news coverage. If that happens, and if Reuters accepts messages that are pornographic, then, I predict, legitimate advertisers like the United Methodist Church will pull their ads, and Reuters will be left with nothing but ads that are "pornographic… libelous, misleading or deceptive in nature."

An Increase in the Number of Beggers?

This is getting ridiculous! I was panhandled out in the front yard, this morning! I went out to the car to put Mother's library books in the trunk, and a man came across the street from the store with a "sob story" about his car breaking down. He asked me for a ride. I told him that I couldn't give him a ride, because my eighty-two year old Mother lived with me, and I couldn't leave her. So he asked for some gas money, five dollars worth, to be exact. I didn't have a five, so I gave him two one-dollar bills, after getting him to agree not to replay me.

That's not too bad, but it comes on the heels of the man that panhandled me yesterday. It was at the Burger King restaurant on High Street. When he asked for help, I suggested that I buy him something to eat. Instead of saying, "Thank you," he wanted to know what I was going to buy him. I asked him what he needed. He replied that he was hungry enough to eat three sausage biscuits. I told him that was two too many and walked into the store. I bought my breakfast and got another to go. When I finished eating and went outside, the guy was nowhere to be seen. I took the breakfast back to the office and gave it to the company secretary, who was glad to get it!

The day before that, which was Thursday, I was panhandled in the parking lot of the Shell convenience store on High Street. I could go on. My point is that there seem to be more people asking for a handout than there used to be. If that is the case, I wonder why?

Trick or Treat!

Woman dressed as clown robs bank

Think of the Children

Chicago teachers take first step toward strike

Hatch proposal angers activists

"Conservatives are furious over a Republican proposal to create two new Michigan-based judicial seats in exchange for getting Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat, to lift his blockade on four of President Bush's nominees from that state."

Huge fires continue to burn in California.

Officials said that as of Wednesday night there were 18 confirmed deaths in Southern California, two in adjoining areas in Mexico and that a total of 2,427 homes were destroyed along with 634,000 acres.

Horrors! New study reveals that "more than a third of kids under 6 have a TV in their bedroom." Is it just me, or are children younger than six years of age probably not very discerning judges of what would be good, and what would be harmful, for them to watch on television?

Years ago, the then-Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Newton Minnow, proclaimed television to be "a vast wasteland." In my opinion, it hasn't changed for the better.

From an Associated Press article on MSNBC.com

The international Red Cross said Monday it is considering cutting back its operations in Iraq after a bomb attack on its Baghdad headquarters that shook the neutral Swiss-run organization.

Maybe it is self-evident; even so, it bears repeating: That's exactly what the terrorists want! That is why the Red Cross absolutely, positively must not cut back its operations.

After the Baghdad headquarters of the United Nations was bombed, that organization cut their staff back to a skeleton crew, and, sadly, I wouldn't be suprised if the International Red Cross did the same, which would, once again, leave the United States of America to do to do the work of others, with scant appreciation.

From the BBC, by way of Drudge Report, comes this story about how a Muslim in Italy succeeded in getting the courts there to ban crucifixes from classrooms in a state kindergarten, a move which has "shocked" the Roman Catholic Church.

"You cannot remove a symbol of the religious and cultural values of a people just because it can offend someone," said a leading prelate, Cardinal Ersilio Tonini.

A number of government ministers were similarly outraged.

"It is unacceptable that one judge should cancel out millennia of history," said Labour Minister Roberto Maroni.

Why didn't the Roman Catholic Church take such a stand in the United States of America were making the same types of rulings?

The number of arrests made by agents of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, under the leadership of Frank Melton, continues to mount.

Eric Stringfellow writes in The Clarion-Ledger newspaper about the lack of cooperation and the incompetance between and among criminal "justice" agencies and personnel in Jackson, Hinds County, and Mississippi.

UFO seen by several people in Colorado.

I followed a link on the Drudge Report to the following story. I never cease to be amazed at how the Democrats continue to side with law breakers. It is really quite disgusting, in my opinion. As you can see from the article below, Pelosi attacks employers and takes up for the illegal aliens. Also, she reiterates the Democrat desire to grant legal status to aliens who are in this country illegally.

Rep. Pelosi Says Wal-Mart Arrests 'Terrorizing'

Fri Oct 24, 6:43 PM ET

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Friday police raids on dozens of U.S. Wal-Mart stores in the search for illegal immigrants this week amounted to "terrorizing" workers.

"It instills a great deal of fear in people who are only trying to earn a living and put food on the table for their family," Pelosi, a California Democrat, told reporters on a Congressional visit to Mexico.

Hundreds of workers at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. locations across the United States were arrested on immigration charges on Thursday in an investigation into contractor cleaning crews.

"We think there might be a better way to go about this because the fact is that it is against the law for the employer to hire these people so there should be more focus on the employer and less in these terrorizing raids," Pelosi said.

She was speaking after meeting Mexican President Vicente Fox (news - web sites) for talks on immigration and border security.

Pelosi said the Wal-Mart raids showed the need to legalize undocumented workers in parts of the economy other than just the agricultural sector.

Several bills to grant legal status to illegal immigrants working in U.S. agriculture are before Congress, including the Berman-Cannon bill which would let an estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants earn legal residency.

Car accidents claim four lives in Jackson area, in less than twenty-four hours!

Four Jackson men held in separate carjackings

I wonder if the Chief of Police still maintains that Jackson doesn't have a crime problem, just a crime "perception" problem?

Four allegedly bilk government out of $11.2 million, face combined jail time of 1,415 years!

"I don't want people that have criminal records dealing with children."

Well, duh!

" ... another sad day in Jackson."

" ... another sad day in Jackson."

Two street thugs tried to rob a local jeweler, but he fought back, and they fled.

Saudis: Non-Actions Speak Louder Than Words

With "friends" like the Saudis, who needs enemies?

Man known as Mr. Fix-it Jackson's 31st homicide

A man known to his neighbors as Mr. Fix-it was fatally attacked in his northwest Jackson home, police said Thursday.

Gregory Acker, 49, of 471 E. Ridgeway St., suffered a blow to the head and two stab wounds in his neck, Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart said.

Police are searching for Acker's missing blue-grayish handyman's van. "No job too small" is written on the van.

Acker is Jackson's 31st homicide of 2003 and the second since Wednesday, when a homeowner fatally shot a man police say was trying to break into his house.

Order not to arrest illegals overturned

" ... we should all be disgusted; however, we should not be surprised."

It's not fair, but Jackson is defined too often by Stokes' histrionics. Not only does he undermine the council, but also he sabotages the city. Stokes should go.

After doing all that they could to obstruct the United States from deposing Saddam Hussein and freeing the people of Iraq from his cruel oppression, the French now want to suspend the sanctions that were imposed against his regime. Why? You can bet that it is not out of the goodness of their hearts. "Follow the money," is a phrase that probably applies here.

This is the fourth full day of military action by the United States of America, and others, most notably Britain, to liberate the people of Iraq from the regime of the sadistic, murderous dictator Saddam Hussein and to enforce United Nations Security Council resolution 1441.

War is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous, and, yet, some fairly certain information is coming out of Iraq, even as military action continues. Several thousand Iraqi troops have either capitulated or surrendered; many times that number are thought to have simply left their posts and returned to their homes. A smaller number are resisting, some fiercely. There have been some coalition casualties; some coalition troops have been captured by the enemy.

The regime of Saddam Hussein has already violated the Geneva Conventions, according to United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield.

So-called "anti-war" protests continue throughout the world, although to a lesser degree in the United States since the actual onset of hostilities, but the protests are increasingly seen as "anti-American" or "anti-Bush," rather than actually "anti-war."

In the middle of the afternoon, I was sitting at my computer, when, suddenly--crash, bang, crack-em-up! The computer monitor flickered and died. I looked outside and saw a candy apple red Chrysler PT Cruiser sitting in the front yard.

The utility pole was cracked. I telephoned to the electric company, to report the outage. Soon, there was a crowd of people in the front yard, some of them erstwhile passengers in the PT Cruiser, some merely onlookers. The other car involved in the accident, a black Pontiac Grand Am, was across the street, in the parking lot of the convenience store. Presently, there were three police cars, an ambulance, a fire truck, and two wreckers on the scene. I went across to the convenience store, ostensibly to get a soda pop, but, in reality, to talk to the clerk and to look at the other car to see what kind of condition it was in. The front of it was messed up pretty badly.

The emergency medical technicians put the driver of the Pontiac on a stretcher and took him away in the ambulance. I don't know how badly he was injured. Someone from the electric company came in a truck that had one of those devices consisting of a bucket on the end of an arm, designed to lift a person up to the power lines. He surveyed the situation, told me that some of the wires were shorted out, and that a crew would have to come to restore the power. Then he left.

One of the wreckers backed up to the curb, in front of the house, and removed the car from the front yard. I had been concerned that the car might have damaged the house, but it didn't touch it. Now, the lights are back on, and the only evidence of a wreck, other than the cracked utility pole, are a few shallow ruts in the front lawn, which I will fill with dirt in a day or two.

There was a car crash in front of the house on Friday evening, about 5:30. A small car turned in front of a sport utility vehicle, sending the sport utility vehicle skidding. When it slammed up against the curb, it flipped over. There were lots of emergency vehicles, including three police cars, a big fire truck, and two tow trucks, but, amazingly, no one was seriously injured.

Today, I got up at 4:50 a.m. News of the space shuttle disaster filled the headlines.

Mother saw a bird in her bedroom. She said that it perched on top of the door to her bedroom, before zooming off in the direction of the kitchen. We looked and looked for it, but couldn't find it. I turned off the computer, and sat very quietly, trying to hear it. I heard chirping coming from the direction of the back bedroom. Also, I heard what seemed to be rustling inside the computer room, from some boxes that are behind the computer table, and, therefore, very difficult to get to--so difficult, in fact, that I didn't make the effort.

It has been quite a while since I have heard the rustling. From where I sit, at my computer, I can see a gap between the top of the door leading to the back bedroom and the door frame--a gap which looks big enough for a small bird to go through. Since we haven't been able to locate the bird, I suppose that it is possible that it went through that gap, into the back bedroom. Still, I can't figure out what caused the rustling noise that I heard.

10:40 a.m. - Just finished helping Mother to wash her hair, which involves filling several pots and pans with water and pouring the water over her head, while she leans over the kitchen sink. We ate a lunch of Campbell's Chicken and Dumplings soup, before washing her hair.

I plan to take our dirty clothes to the coin-operated laundry, this afternoon, but I told Mother that I would wait as long as possible to see if the bird showed itself. I do want to leave early enough so that I can be back before nightfall.

All your base are belong to us.

Today, being the first day of the new year, I have an unhealthy desire to resolve to post to this weblog every. single. day. of 2003 (but I won't--promise, that is).

Traditionally, we have black eyed peas, greens, and cornbread on New Year's Day. Since we didn't have any of those things, I went to the grocery store today to get them. Actually, I went twice, because the delicatessan didn't have the cornbread ready the first time I went. Mom brought out some of the sliced, smoked turkey from our Christmas feast. We spooned the liquid from the peas and turnip greens over the warm cornbread and had milk to drink. Since today is a holiday, I said what was always called, in our family, the "special" blessing, because my Dad only used it on special occasions.

Hey, there goes what we used to call the "air raid" siren, but which, now, is activated to alert to severe weather. It is also cranked up at noon on the first of every month, supposedly to test it.