A Blog devoted to progressive politics, environmental issues, LGBT issues, social justice, workers' rights, womens' rights, and, most importantly, Cats.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The incredibly evil stinking psychopathic bitch Ayn Rand
I'm sure it is no secret that the so called Tea Party and worshipers of Ayn Rand are out to get her into national awareness so we will all worship her and live by her psychopathic tenets. But what they probably don't want you to know is that she was in love with a psychopathic murderer, William Edward Hickman. You can read about one of his unbelievably heinous kidnapping and murders here.
William Edward Hickman was a hero to her, her ideal man and the ideal for her books and her philosophy. And this is what the Republicans are pushing on America? Oh my god. Oh my god. And I thought Hitler was evil. Oh my god. Oh my god. This is insane. We need to push back hard and expose these bastards.
Great info is ammo and there is a ton of it out there except most people don't know of it. If you want to see a short video and interview of the psychopathic bitch Ayn Rand, the Democratic Underground has one on their page here. What a hideous evil philosophy.
And here, this stinking bitch who hated any government social programs took Social Security and Medicare before she died. Hey you stupid dumb fuck RepigiCONs, there is your heroine for you!
The Foofaraw-Of-The-Day (hereinafter FoTD) was that some motherfucking idiot butthole surfer decided to create a poll asking whether his fellow FaceBookers thought that President Obama deserved assassination.
For those who don't use FaceBook, lots and lots of third-party developers write little apps that you can use to do silly stuff on FB, like create stupid polls that actually go to your FB account and pull all kinds of data about you and your friends and then sell it to people who want to pay money to find out what kind of people use FB and how dumb they are and also how likely to pay money for the dumb things these people want to sell them.
So there's this third-party app that lets you create polls. And most of the polls are really silly, harmless stuff like "What flavour of ice-cream are you?" and "Do you wear frilly panties?" and shit like that.
Well, this bright soul (not) decides to create this fucking poll about whether the President should be assassinated, and the choices it gives you are (Yes), (Maybe), (If he cuts my healthcare), and (No).
Some 700 or so other idiots found this poll and decided to take it. Well, actually, the first person to take it probably sent it to five other friends, who sent it to 25 other friends, and it snowballed. To the credit of most of the idiots who took it, the answer was NO by a staggering margin. And the total number of responses was very small in terms of the total number of users on FB. And, the Internets responded by reporting the dumb motherfucker to the Secret Service.
To FB's credit, they immediately suspended polls when this was brought to their attention. They then had a little talk with the app developer, asking him to fix his code so that no one could ever do such a revoltingly swinish thing again. Which he is, I believe, doing as we squeak. They also had their little session with the Secret Service and, no doubt, have turned over captured IP addresses and the like.
Welp. It won't be too long before the Men In Black have a little conversation with the feckin' eejit who wrote that feckin' poll, will it, now?
Good luck, you scum-sucking swine. You're going to need all of it that you can get. Not that we think you should be allowed much of anything, with the exception of bread, water, and shelter from the elements in a jail cell for some years, but hey. You get your day in court while the prosecutor tries to prove you guilty.
Maybe this will stop the likes of Annhole Coulter, Glen Blech, and Flush Rimbowl from making their unacceptable and unwarranted cracks about poisoning Supreme Court Justices, or the Speaker of the House, or shootingat the Speaker or thePresident.
Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof— Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction. If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction. As used in this section, the terms “organizes” and “organize”, with respect to any society, group, or assembly of persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.
So before you form into astroturfer organizations carrying placards advocating the violent overthrow of the government, please note that it is a fucking CRIME as defined by law. There are penalties for this kind of hate speech. You can't run around flapping your ugly gobs about killing people without consequences.
Do you understand, you cone-headed dimwits? The Free Speech amendment to the Constitution gives you the right PEACEABLY to assemble. Read it, idiots:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
If you're not assembling PEACEABLY, without guns or hate speech or threats or incitements to crime, well, there are consequences for that kind of behaviour. You have to take responsibility for your bullshit, assholes. Better start sending money to the ACLU now, motherfuckers, because they're the only ones that will bail your oversized useless lardy asses out of the hoosegow.
Moreover, these heah threats you're making against your freely and fairly elected President? That shit is laid out in the same fucking code, you worthless buttfucks. Read it and meep: TITLE 18 PART I CHAPTER 41 § 871.
Threats against President and successors to the Presidency
(a) Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits for conveyance in the mail or for a delivery from any post office or by any letter carrier any letter, paper, writing, print, missive, or document containing any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, the President-elect, the Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President of the United States, or the Vice President-elect, or knowingly and willfully otherwise makes any such threat against the President, President-elect, Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President, or Vice President-elect, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. (b) The terms “President-elect” and “Vice President-elect” as used in this section shall mean such persons as are the apparent successful candidates for the offices of President and Vice President, respectively, as ascertained from the results of the general elections held to determine the electors of President and Vice President in accordance with title 3, United States Code, sections 1 and 2. The phrase “other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President” as used in this section shall mean the person next in the order of succession to act as President in accordance with title 3, United States Code, sections 19 and 20.
OK, assholes? Didja get that? Do you understand the words of more than one syllable here? The next time one of you motherfuckers starts making that cocksucking pout of the lips and spouting off about the tree of liberty being watered with the blood of tyrants? Y'awl better be prepared to see some Men In Black coming through the front door, the back door, or both.
What part of PEACEABLY TO ASSEMBLE do you pointy-headed assholes not get? "Peaceably to assemble" does not mean "bring your fucking Uzis and AK-47s to the town hall and terrify little children and old ladies," do you get that yet?
Because by all you fucking hold holy, you brainless walking excrement, if you harm one hair on the head of our lawfully elected President, our Vice-President, or our Speaker of the House, be prepared for some real patriots to kick the holy fucking shit out of your cheetos-laden ass.
OMG WTF, where do they FIND these guys? Raw Story is reporting that one Wayne Simmons, a "pro-assassination CIA analyst," (fortunately now retired from the CIA) called Dick "Dick" Cheney:
“one of the most honorable men on the planet”
who would never break the law.
Are you fucking kidding me? Dick "Satan-spawn" Cheney, who has repeatedly lied to Congress, the President of the United States (his boss), and probably deity itself at this point? What the fuckin' fuck does this guy mean by honorable? A lying chickenshit chickenhawk who had "other priorities" keeping him out of the Vietnam War (five, count 'em, FIVE fucking deferments), but had no problem sending soldiers to die in a pre-emptive war in Iraq? The son-of-a-syphilitic-turtle dropped out of college as soon as he had spawned the sprog required to keep him from shedding his precious blood in foreign wars, but had no shame — none — about sending other people's sons and daughters to get killed, maimed, and permanently injured.
This is "honorable?" What dicionary is this motherfucker using?
FTA:
A story in the New York Times this past weekend, corroborated by the Washington Times on Monday, said that Cheney was aware of a secret CIA program that had been kept hidden from Congress for more than six years, and was part of the decision process to keep it from Congress — something that, if true, would be a violation of federal law.
Simmons told Fox News, “For anyone to think that Vice-President Dick Cheney would do anything illegal is nothing more than political grandstanding.”
You know, here Dick is openly and blatantly busted for violating federal law, i.e., committing a crime. And this brain-infected moron actually has the chutzpah to sit in front of a mike and say that the founding member of the Chickenhawk Brigade would never do anything illegal? Bud, is the sky blue on your planet, or is it some other colour?
Oh, wait, look, the scumsucking puke had this to write in a letter to the NYT:
“Suggesting that we intentionally misled the American people for partisan political purposes or some quid pro quo personal gain is an unconscionable attack on our honor and long service to this nation, [...].”
This, of course, was in response to an article in said paper that had exposed the fact that certain elements of the government and its agencies had "intentionally misled the American people for partisan political purposes or some quid pro quo personal gain."
I wonder if Simmons EVER served in the military? Or is he a member of the 82nd Chairborne? It seems one of the biggest problems with the military-industrial complex that Eisenhower warned against is the fact that so many "military analysts" and theoreticians never actually had to serve on the ground.
Perhaps that's why they misunderstand the meaning of common terms such as "honourable" and "illegal." Perhaps that's why they have lied and continue to lie to us about virtually everything.
I'm about to embark on some serious reading about the Vietnam War. The only way to stop war is to understand it — its roots, its beginnings, its place in the history of our individual and collective lives. We must stop people like this from poisoning the well of common discourse. If this country is to be saved intact with its honourable Constitutional roots, we must all work together, Republicans and Democrats, Liberals and Libertarians.
We cannot pretend that a government that is supposed to be "of, by, and for the people" is best served by those who would lie to us and kill our children. There is no honour in lying a trusting people into giving up their children's lives and saddling their grandchildren with debt just so that some very nasty, creepy old men can live with riches beyond what they can ever use.
While KBR — remember KBR? An "offshoot" of Halliburton, the company that Dick "Dick" Cheney helmed, and ran into the ground fiscally until he rescued it with no-bid contracts after finding himself the best possible candidate for VP? — was electrocuting the military in Iraq with substandard facilities and poisoning them with substandardfood and water, it was using our tax dollars to buy — and throw away — people, as well as machinery, in the great swindle that we've been taught to call "Operation Enduring Freedom," or, more accurately, "This fucking hideous unprovoked war in Iraq."
That last link is to a Rolling Stone story about an ex-military man who went to Iraq as a civilian contractor and got seriously fucked up, so if you have a sensitive stomach, you might not care to read it. Alternatively, if you're, like, contemplating eating or anything like that, don't click any of the links about the poisoned food and water. I think I just gave up eating permanently. Jesus, what vomitous little shitbags like Dick Cheney and Wayne Simmons have done, and are doing to the military is enough to make you puke blood.
Those of you who are into that kind of thing might wish to let Faux Noise know that you don't approve of Mr. Simmons' somewhat cavalier interpretations of polysyllabi like "honour" and "illegal," and such. It appears words of one syllable are more his speed. Mr. Simmons also believes in assassinating foreign leaders. Something tells me the Founding Fathers would have happily given him a trial for such undemocratic beliefs, which would have surely led to a justified firsthand experience of execution, since they did not believe in assassination. What a walking enema!!
As we've mentioned before, a Class A war criminal is anyone who participated in "the planning, preparation, initiation, or waging" of aggressive war, or violated the laws and customs of war. Like, for example, the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Which Convention would certainly apply to Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Jay Bybee, John Yoo, and possibly also David Addington, Condoleeza Rice, George Dumbya Bush, and a score of their immediate underlings, highly placed officials all. Today, I'm reading a fine book on the Kempeitai and their crimes in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, by Raymond Lamont-Brown. Mr. Lamont-Brown's father was a PoW, captured by the Japanese in Shanghai, China, and subjected to the tender ministries of the Kempeitai, who, as brutal torturers go, might rank higher than any other similar body heretofore known.
Here, a little excerpt for your — I can't say entertainment, it certainly isn't entertaining — perusal:
You are a man of education, of intelligence, even in a sense of culture. Yours is the cunning brain under whose direction your instruments of torture performed their evil task. You were well aware of all the moral implications of your policy. In these last six weary years many men have willingly suffered and died in the hope and belief that out of their sacrifice would arise a higher morality in dealings of one nation with another, an international morality soaring above the narrow bonds of patriotism and blind obedience. If, as I believe, some of your victims, Sumida, were amongst those who made their sacrifice in that hope and belief, let this be their epitaph, that they died for an undying cause. To those of us who survive falls the supreme and difficult task of establishing and maintaining that higher morality between nations, of supplanting the rule of force and fear by the rule of law, of ensuring that they did not make their sacrifice in vain.
You, Sumida, have shown by all that you did, ordered, and willingly allowed, that to you there is nothing of higher consequence than domination by brute force and fear.
You were prepared, for the glorification, as you thought, of your country, to reduce men and women below the level of beasts and to send them without pity or compunction to an agonizing death. You did not realize that your actions have not glorified, they have degraded, your country. As in the past, so in the future, you would always be the implacable enemy of that great cause for which so many made their sacrifice. You and men like you cannot be allowed to hinder the fulfilment of that cause. Accordingly it is in no spirit of vengeance upon a fallen foe, no desire to have an eye for an eye, a life for a life, that this Court has solemnly decided that you must die. Nor is it merely to rid the world — and your country now preparing for its moral rebirth — of one man who is a danger to all moral progress. Rather it is a stern example to all who would willingly support the powers of evil and brute force against the rule of law, justice, and humanity.
— Lt.-Col S.C. Silkin, R.A., barrister, at War Crimes Trial of Chusa Haruzo Sumida, Supreme Court Building, Singapore, 18 March 1946
It is my sincere and heartfelt hope to hear words of similar import being spoken one day soon at the trial of those who "planned, prepared, initiated, or waged" the war of aggression against Iraq which is only now winding down.
Oh, gee, looky dat. Someone from Sairy Failin's hometown has apparently decided to point out (ever since Sarah NailsonChalkboard started screeching about Obama palling around with them terr'ists) that Sairy's li'l paws ain't none too clean.
At least Obama never tried to hire Ayers. At least Ayers was never convicted of any crimes. At least Ayers has, apparently, reformed and gone on to become a respected academic and an activist who preaches, as well as practices, putting people first. The only connection between Ayers and Obama is a very loose one. They both served on the board of a charity; their kids attended the same school; they live in the same neighbourhood.
Apparently, li'l Sairy tried to hire G. Gordon Liddy as spokes_swine for the drilling of ANWR. Alaskan writer Shannyn Moore gives you the facts over at AlaskaReport.
Prize quote:
“I think it’s terrible. If Alaska wants to put the best face on things it’s probably best to not hire felons,” Senator Kim Elton said.
Seriously, Governor, what were you thinking? This guy is a convicted felon who served four years in prison of a 20-year sentence.
For his role in Watergate, which he coordinated with Hunt, Liddy was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and illegal wiretapping, for which he received a 20 year sentence. He served four and a half years in prison before his sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter.
[...]
In 1982, Liddy published an autobiography, titled Will, which sold more than a million copies and was made into a television movie. In it he states that he once made plans with Hunt to kill journalist Jack Anderson.
From Liddy's biography. And that's not all. The guy is fucking NUTS. Plain and simple batshit crazy, fruity as a nutcake, a visitor from Planet Loopy. Dudine! Just take a look at this:
Is this how one is supposed to treat the flag? Wrap yer nuts in it? Not to mention a more horrifying sight is rarely seen and what-all. You don't have to look into those soulless little cigarette-holes-in-a-blanket eyes to know that this guy is fucking crazy, sister. You wanted to hire him? For what? To eviscerate opponents of ANWR drilling with his teeth? Girlfriend, this dude bobs for French fries, you got that? Bobbing for small shards of deep-fried potato in a vat filled with boiling oil. That has to be the textbook definition of stark raving mad.
And you're getting your knickers in a big ole bunch about William Ayers.
There's plenty of reason for Democrats, Independents, and many Republicans not to like Sarah Palin. She's greedy, ambitious, unprincipled, a liar, ignorant, uneducated, incapable, unethical, and too limited to realize her limitations. This does not mean she is stupid. Like Gee Dumbya, she has a certain shrewd cunning that allows her to manipulate those around her quite well. This makes her a dangerous person, because her ignorance and her inability to realize the depths of her ignorance tend to predispose the less-ignorant into underestimating her ability and willingness to go for the throat and cling on until the kill. This woman has no principles. She recognizes no limitations. Decency, morals, ethics, the greater good, all these are concepts with which she has a very limited acquaintance.
In case you need an example to convince you of the truth of the preceding, consider this:
Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."
[...] Palin, speaking to a sea of "Palin Power" and "Sarahcuda" T-shirts, tried to link Obama to the 1960s Weather Underground. "One of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers," she said. ("Boooo!" said the crowd.) "And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, 'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,' " she continued. ("Boooo!" the crowd repeated.)
"Kill him!" proposed one man in the audience.
Whipping up the frenzy of misinformed and frustrated, angry people is not a wise tactic. What happens if one of these bozos (and we have bozos aplenty, in this country) decides to pick up a gun and start killing people? Is the Secret Service paying attention to Palin's people? They'd better be. She is calling for murder.
Well, well, well. We haven't always liked former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad. In fact, when AnwarIbrahim was running against him and he brought Anwar down and even had him set up, arrested, and jailed, we thought he was one of the most disgusting politicians and human beings we had ever come across.
But this week, Mister Ten Per Cent has almost completely redeemed himself in our eyes. He just called for Tony Blair, George Dubya, and John Howard to be tried for war crimes based on their actions in Iraq. From The Australian:
In a speech at Imperial College in London overnight, Mr Mahathir called for an international tribunal to try US President George W. Bush, Mr Howard and former British prime minister Tony Blair for their part in the conflict [...].
Spokesman Mohammed Shafiq said Mr Mahathir, who was in office from 1981 to 2003, wanted to see the trio tried "in absence for war crimes committed in Iraq".
"He said that people have to stop killing each other and use arbitration, negotiation and discussion as an alternative to violence, war and killing."
On the war in Iraq, Mr Mahathir spoke about "the thousands dying, the economic war, the power of oil and how we could utilise some of these tools to have a leverage against the people who commit countries to war", Mr Shafiq said.
[...]
More than 450 people attended the speech and about 200 more had to be turned away.
Why isn't any other Leader of Teh Free World stepping up and putting their support on the line? Mahathir is saying what millions of ordinary people have been thinking for a long time. Tony Blair is a war criminal. Gee Dubya is a war criminal. John Howard is a war criminal. These three stinking fetid pigballs are responsible for the deaths of one million human beings, maybe more.
We went into a secular nation that was not threatening us in any way based on the 935 lies of Gee Dubya Pigball, and we killed women, children, old people, sick people, the disabled. We destroyed families and homes, and now we can't even leave because the entire country is trembling on the verge of a civil war that threatens to destroy more millions. We took that secular nation where women had jobs and freedom, and we turned it into an Islamic fundamentalist state where honor killings have become the order of the day. From The Guardian:
Last year 133 women were killed in Basra - 47 of them for so-called 'honour killings', according to the Basra Security Committee. Out of those 47 cases there have been only three convictions for murder.
Since January this year, 36 women have been killed.
That's Basra alone. Just one city in Iraq. Who knows how many more women are being murdered in honour killings, or for failing to conform to the fundie codes of dress and behaviour that did not exist in this country when Saddam Hussein was in power.
It's a sad and shameful day indeed when a democratic nation does more harm to the rights of women in another land than its totalitarian dictator.
Meanwhile, somewhere between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden laughs his ass off watching us drown under the rising tide of debt, the cost of financing two wars, the armless, the legless, the wounded and maimed who come back to a system that can't take care of them. We can't give health care to our own children, but we're creating hundreds of thousands of potential recipients of health care, disability payment, and support services that we haven't bothered to put in place or pay for.
All the people associated with this crime against humanity need to face the gallows for their part in it. While Blair rakes in the millions, Howard has disappeared, afraid to face his countrymen, and Gee Dubya is relegated to dancing in front of reporters and acting like a cheap drunk with foreign dignitaries.
They all need to be in the Hague. Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, Pearle, Rice, Cheney, Addington, Yoo, Dumbya, Gonezales, Tenet, the whole bloody lot. For shaming this once-proud nation. For destroying our system of laws. For thinking up ways to violate human rights. For approving torture. For planning and carrying out the murder of a million people. For causing soldiers who obeyed orders to commit suicide in despair due to homelessness, depression, injuries physical, mental, and spiritual. For failure to care for those they put in danger. For burdening the nation with inflation, debt, suffering, death, poverty, joblessness and misery.
A pox on all their houses! May they suffer every day of the rest of their lives from nameless fears and miseries and sickness, plague and disease.
Where are the European politicians and the other Asian politicians and the African politicians? Why are they not standing behind Mahathir in this moment? If the whole world called for these war criminals to be tried, and made it unsafe for them to travel outside the country, perhaps they would understand how much suffering they have created.
Here's to hoping Paraguay arrests the Chimpenfuehrer when he tries to flee there, and turns him over to an international tribunal.
Nothing would make us happier than to see this madman put away for life. But a defendant who represents himself has a fool for a client, and the court will do its utmost, as it must, to ensure that Mr. Duncan has adequate legal representation.
We've been following Mr. Duncan's case since it first hit the papers because it involves the mistreatment of children. If you've forgotten who Mr. Duncan is, a brief recap:
Joseph E. Duncan claims to have committed his first sexual crime in 1975 when, as a child of 12 years' age, he attacked and brutally raped a 5-year-old boy, according to The Cellar, a blog that has detailed information about the life and criminal career of Joseph "Jet" Duncan.
He subsequently sexually assaulted a 9-year-old boy at gunpoint when he was 15 years old (1978).
In 1979, at the age of 16, he claimed to have sexually assaulted six other boys. He also claimed that he had raped a total of 13 young boys by that time.
In 1980, the then nearly-17-year-old Duncan broke into a neighbour's house, stole a gun, and used it to kidnap a 14-year-old boy. He sexually assaulted the boy, beat him, and burned him with a cigarette. Subsequently, he let the boy go. He was arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In 1994, despite many indications that Duncan was a high-risk offender at risk to re-offend, he was released on parole.
Although he was rearrested and jailed several times, it appears this was for minor parole violations, and he was ultimately re-paroled. However, he did have "unauthorized contact" with minor children during the years of his parole, and several crimes committed against various children might still be linked to him. His parole was revoked in 1997, and he was re-incarcerated. Even though the Washington Department of Corrections, which had custody of him, considered keeping him incarcerated for life, they were overruled by the Parole Board, and Joseph Duncan was released from prison without probation or parole in 2000. He was 37 years old.
In July of 2004, Duncan molested one young boy and apparently tried to molest another.
In the period between his release from prison and his next offense in 2004, he appears to be implicated in the disappearance of one or more children.
In March of 2005, Duncan was charged with the offenses committed in 2004, and a court date was set for the following month.
In April of 2005, Duncan rented a vehicle and dropped out of sight. He wrote in his blog, Blogging the Fifth Nail, that he was under pressure. His blog posts seem to indicate that the stress was causing mental health problems. However, his actions seem to indicate the planning activities of a classic psychopath. During the period after his release from prison, Duncan managed to find employment and his various employers seemed impressed with his intelligence and skills. He also enrolled at university and made the Dean's List, choosing to major in Computer Science.
On 16 May 2005, Joseph Edward "Jet" Duncan III broke into the home of Brenda Matthews Groene in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where she lived with her fiance Mark McKenzie and her children by a previous marriage &mdash 13-year-old Slade, 9-year-old Dylan, and 8-year-old Shasta.
He held Brenda, Slade, and McKenzie at gunpoint, tied them up, and ordered Brenda to call Dylan and Shasta. When the children arrived, he took them to his rented vehicle, then returned to the house and bludgeoned the inhabitants to death with a framing hammer. He took off with the two children. The bodies were found the same day and an Amber Alert was issued for the children the next day.
Meanwhile, although the authorities had not yet connected Duncan to the murder and abduction of the Groene children, he failed to appear for a court hearing set for May 16, so a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.
On June 1, a federal warrant was issued for Duncan's arrest. The FBI also obtained a warrant against Duncan.
Meanwhile, Duncan had the children with him and was occupied with torturing and sexually abusing them, and videotaping the abuse. Approximately three weeks later, he murdered Dylan Groene.
On July 2, Joseph Duncan took Shasta Groene to a convenience store and then to a fast-food restaurant in Coeur d'Alene, where she was recognized by a sharp-eyed waitress. He was arrested shortly after.
On July 4, police investigators found human remains at a campsite Duncan had occupied. They were positively identified as Duncan Groene's on July 10th.
Duncan has pled guilty to ten criminal counts in the kidnapping and murder of the Groene children. He also pled guilty in Idaho state court to the murders of Brenda and Slade Groene and Mark McKenzie. The kidnapped children saw their older brother emerge from the family home staggering, incoherent, and bloody. Shasta Groene also witnessed the murder of her brother Dylan.
After kidnapping the Groene children, Duncan transported them across state lines to Montana, where he held them for nearly a month. Thus, he is being charged with federal crimes regarding the two children, and state crimes regarding their older brother, their mother, and her fiance. The State of Idaho has sentenced Duncan to life in prison for the kidnappings of Brenda and Slade Groene and Mark McKenzie. It has not yet sentenced him on the murder charges. It is not clear whether Duncan is serving a single life sentence, or a life sentence for each crime, to be served consecutively. If he does not receive the death penalty for the 10 Federal counts to which he pled guilty, the State of Idaho will then move to request the death penalty for Duncan in the Groene/McKenzie murders.
Duncan is currently being prosecuted by the federal attorney in Kootenai County, Idaho. Extensive ongoing coverage about the Groene/McKenzie murders and kidnappings is available at the Idaho SpokesmanReview.
Why are we blogging about this now? Because although Duncan agreed to plead guilty in 2007 with the understanding that Shasta Groene would not have to testify against him in court, we're afraid that, now that Duncan is attempting to represent himself, he might be permitted to cross-examine her. She is the only witness to the murders of Dylan, Slade, and Brenda Groene, and Mark McKenzie. She is also the only person who can testify to her own sexual abuse and the sexual abuse of her brother Dylan.
Why he didn't kill the child is beyond us. Surely he realized that she could send him to the chair or death chamber. And he certainly showed no mercy at all to the other members of her family.
Shasta Groene is now eleven years old. She has lost her mother and both her brothers. She has lost the comfort and security with which every child faces the world. It was brutally torn from her by Joseph E. Duncan. Shasta's father, Steven Groene, has throat cancer and is unable to work. As a result, he and his daughter have suffered through a period of homelessness.
Their community has responded by banding together to build them a house, which will be held in trust for the child when she reaches the age of 25 years. At that time, she will also have access to donated funds that have been set aside for her.
But right now, we're too busy worrying if Joseph Duncan planned to represent himself with the intention of ripping open the half-healed wounds he inflicted on this little girl. Perhaps even he is not that cruel. We fear for her fragile mental health.
Torture. It's bad, no matter who is on the receiving end.
To help Shasta and Steven Groene, send your shekels to:
Chimpy McDimwit has just given an interview to the Times of London in which he claims that the violence now erupting in Iraq is "a very positive moment in the development of a sovereign nation that is willing to take on elements that believe they are beyond the law."
That violence includes fighting raging in Kut, where some 42 people have already died and over 100 have been wounded; Baghdad, where Iraqi authorities have imposed a curfew from 11 p.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Sunday after hundreds of thousands of people marched in the streets against Maliki's government setting off days of clashes between government troops and Shiite Muslim militia fighters &mdash leading a Canadian newspaper to speculate that the militias that support the various factions of the Iraqi government are trying to eliminate smaller factions before the coming elections. U.S. Embassy workers in Iraq have been told to remain in secure buildings. Two Americans have died in the attacks so far; Hilla, Karbala, and Diwaniya; and Basra, where Nouri al-Maliki has personally showed up to posture right before he gets his ass kicked all the way back to the Green Zone. Incidentally, multiple rocket attacks are taking place inside the "secure fortress" of the Green Zone, indicating that perhaps it is neither as secure nor as fortress-like as the morons in charge and their sycophants in the press would have us believe.
In Basra, police chief Major General Abdul Jalil Khalaf survived a suicide car bomb attack around 1:00 am on Thursday (2200 GMT Wednesday) in which three policemen were killed.
The International Committee of the Red Cross put the toll from the Basra clashes at 20 dead but other, unconfirmed reports said 40 were killed. Altogether, about 130 are reported killed and hundreds injured. Saboteurs have also blown up a key oil pipeline, which Iraqi authorities estimate will take approximately 72 hours to repair. Needless to say, this has sent oil prices back up again.
In addition, gunmen have kidnapped Tahseen Sheikhly, a spokesman for the Baghdad security plan launched in February 2007 to stabilize the capital. Sheikhly has appeared frequently at news conferences alongside U.S. officials. The abduction occurred in the afternoon, according to officials in the Interior Ministry. The attackers shot and wounded at least one of Sheikhly's guards and ransacked his home before fleeing with him.
Mr Bush, who had spent the morning being briefed on Iraq by the Pentagon before an imminent announcement on US troop levels, said that despite “substantial gains” since the US military surge began last year, much work was needed to “maintain the success we’ve had”.
During his interview with the Times, Bush disparaged those who want US troops to come home, and reinforced his power, saying as he has before, "I'm commander in chief."
He averred that decisions would not be made by those who “scream the loudest” in calling for troops to come home.
“I understand people here want us to leave, regardless of the situation," he said, "but that will not happen so long as I’m Commander-In-Chief.”
How long before Drunky McCokespoon goes back to chopping brush in Crawford and leaves the rest of the world in peace?
In other news, although why call it "news" when it's not new and should come as no surprise to anyone, Drunky McStaggers once again attempts to tie 9/11 and his old friend Osama bin Laden (hey, where is Osama, anyway?) to Iraq.
"The surge has done more than turn the situation in Iraq around -- it has opened the door to a major strategic victory in the broader war on terror. For the terrorists, Iraq was supposed to be the place where al-Qaeda rallied Arab masses to drive America out. Instead, Iraq has become the place where Arabs joined with Americans to drive al-Qaeda out. In Iraq, we are witnessing the first large-scale Arab uprising against Osama bin Laden, his grim ideology, and his murderous network. The significance of this development cannot be overstated."
Remember that picture? Five years ago, this idiot told us the war was over. Since then, 4,000 American troops have died; over one million Iraqis have died, men, women, children, old people, sick people, blind, deaf, and otherwise disabled people; between 3 and 5 million Iraqis are refugees, either in neighbouring nations, or internally displaced, because Shrinky McBrainless hasn't done squat to have the U.S. take in those Iraqis who worked with us and are now targeted by death squads; over 30,000 U.S. servicemen are maimed, injured, and disabled; and who knows how many Iraqis we have left wounded.
For a little perspective on how much this war is costing us and a comparison of timelines, drop by Gordon and Fixer's. Take a bucket, you'll need to puke.
Drunky's liege lord, Senior Puppetmaster and professional impersonator of human life, Snarly McCrashcart, meanwhile, flew his wife and daughter on a junket to the middle-east, that tinderbox of explosive politics. What are they doing, you ask, you humble American taxpayer whose dollars are financing that junket, even as you work your ass off without an inflation-matching raise for a decade? Goin' fishing. No, no kidding. Even as the reptilian bastard snarls in public about the nonexistent links between al Qaeda and Iraq.
When informed that two-thirds of the American people don't support the illegal, immoral war of occupation in Iraq, Snarly gave the American public the rigid digit. See the video clip for yourself.
So, you the two-thirds of the American Public who are against this war? Better get off yer asses and do something about it. And no, electing John McInsane is not the answer, because he can't tell his al Qaeda from a hole in the ground, and wants to start another war &mdash in Iran &mdash so the economy can go even furtherinto the hole than it is already.
This depraved wretch is Mark Dixie. He has repeatedly been convicted of sexual assault and harrassment of women in two continents at least, that police know of.
Most recently, he stabbed a teenager to death and then had sex with her corpse, or soon-to-be corpse as she lay in a pool of her own blood. This wretch is only 35 years old.
Today, a court sentenced this recidivist piece of walking waste to life in prison.
La Casa de Los Gatos, having blogged some truly horrific stories over the past week, was not interested in diving back into the sewers of human depravity. However, we have been reflecting on an ugly and disturbing trend of violence against the female of the species, of late. We refer you to the case of AlexisGoggins, a child who was shot by her mother's ex-boyfriend. Nailah Franklin, whose only crime was to be an attractive woman who briefly dated, and was murdered by, a jerk with a history of domestic violence. Hope Steffey, whose only crime appears to have been calling the police for assistance after an assault. Angela Gabarino, arrested for driving drunk, videotaped in reasonably good condition shortly after her arrest, then taken to a hospital with horrific injuries that the police claimed occurred when she "fell."
All of these cases are horrific in their own way. However, we want to point out our support of the death penalty in some cases, and not others, and Mark Dixie is a perfect illustration for our argument.
There are many people in the world who are sick, or twisted, or deeply damaged in one way or another. And many of these people hurt, maim, or kill other people. Sometimes they hurt other people because they, like Calvin Tillie who shot little Alexis Goggins, are very flawed and damaged human beings. Sometimes, like ex-police officer Wiley Willis of Shreveport, LA, or the police officers who stripped a screaming distraught Hope Steffey of Stark County, OH, or Reginald Potts of Chicago, Ill. who is on trial for the murder of Nailah Franklin, they are bullies who are used to getting their own way and lack any empathy with others. If they cannot bully their victims into compliance, they kill them.
And then there is Mark Dixie.
For the record, we don't have a whole lot of compassion or understanding for any of the other criminals mentioned above. We feel they all deserve some sort of punishment. However, they are not beyond redemption and rehabilitation.
Mark Dixie, however, is in a different class. Here, in the words of Auntie Beeb:
Police said Dixie enjoyed hearing details of his crimes being re-told in court by his victims.
Det Supt Stuart Cundy said: "Dixie has made his victims re-live horrific ordeals. He made Sally Anne's family sit through horrific evidence."
[...]
It was only after British police made inquiries following Dixie's arrest during a minor scuffle in a pub in Surrey that his DNA was matched to an unsolved attempted murder and rape of a student in Perth.
This man is a repeat sex offender who has attacked many many women and has yet to pay the price for a single one of his crimes. He has exhibited no remorse whatsoever. Worst of all, he seems to have enjoyed the suffering of his many victims. It is the element of enjoyment that causes us to espouse the death penalty for people such as Mr. Dixie.
How any human being can be so lacking in the basic human qualities as to enjoy the suffering of another living creature is beyond us. That is not something that can be fixed with drugs or therapy or anything else. This man is lacking in a quality so basic that he can never be repaired or made whole again. And as long as he lives, he is a danger to all other living creatures, because the source of his enjoyment is another creature's suffering. Because we do not relish any other creature's suffering, we would prefer that he be put out of his misery immediately and by painless means. Barring that, we sincerely hope that until he draws his last breath he is never again in a position to cause pain and suffering to a single other creature, not man or beast.
Overpopulation, Reproduction, And The Preponderance of Stupid
This is why it's a really really bad idea not to use birth control.
We here at La Casa de Los Gatos are convinced that the only way to save women from the fate of Amelia Sookdeo, whose boyfriend set her on fire when she said she was pregnant with his child, is to give them access to birth control, information, education, jobs, and plenty of reason to establish their independence. Hopefully this will curtail their desire to breed thoughtlessly, a desire that is killing our planet.
We can understand people wanting to have a child. We can even understand people wanting to have two children. But when, like Tom Lantos' two daughters, you have 8-9 children each, you have, as The Old Man says, fucked yourself out of the right to sit at the dinner table.
And when you don't give young women access to birth control and information to teach them why they need to use it judiciously, you have a Nixzmary Brown case.
And when you don't teach young girls and women that their value is not primarily derived from their reproductive capacity, you have an Amelia Sookdeo.
The most horrible thing about this is, she wasn't pregnant. She lied to her boyfriend and convinced him that she was. So he set her on fire and burned her to death. He's on trial for his life now, the schmuck. She was only seventeen years old.
Girls? Telling your boyfriend that you think you're pregnant and he's the daddy is not always the best option. If you're seventeen, you can't afford to have a baby. Especially if the babydaddy decides he wants no part of it. You can't work a fulltime job (which you'll need to do because at that age, your skills will only get you low-paid work) and raise a child. Why? Because the cost of childcare will eat up your entire salary.
You can't count on anyone else to raise your child for you. You have no idea whether your parents (however willing they may be) have the physical and mental capacity to raise a young child. Besides, they already served their time raising you. Why the hell should you expect them to provide free childcare to your kid? You have no idea whether the babydaddy will want to pay one penny towards child support. And if he doesn't, he might want to kill you rather than have his wages garnisheed for the next 18 years.
You have no idea whether your childcare provider, if you can find and afford one, is a child sexual predator or has a child sexual predator sharing their home.
And finally, you can't afford to give your kid a decent environment - reasonably affordable yet safe housing, nutritious meals, decent clothes, good schools - hell, these days you can't even gamble on the air, water, food, and baby products you use.
So if you can't keep your legs together (and realistically, who wants to?) be sure to use birth control. Use two or three methods. Go for redundancy. Be extra careful.
And finally, be sure the guy is NOT a psycho before you commit to him. No matter how "in luv" you are, you'll get over it if you need to.
The Pretzeldunce Chimperor opens his mouth, sticks in a foot, and decides he lurves the taste of boot. Buy him peppermint-flavoured shoes, y'awl, his foot's in his mouth so often he needs 'em.
Today's prizewinning demonstration of idiocy: Bush visits tornado victims, tells them life is unfair. Raw Story has the video clip.
Yeah, Georgie Porgie, that's the thing to do. Go see folks who have just had their lives, homes, and peace of mind destroyed and tell them, "Hey, life sucks, you guys. Uh, your life, that is. My life? I'm just sittin' in this big, expensive House being waited on by a staff of servants at your expense, futzing along. Great job, huh? Lifetime free health care and security to keep the peasants from strangling me, like so many want to. Tough shit on y'all, see you around."
What a motherfucker. What a rancid piece of walking pigshit. Come to think of it, the peasant in the forefront of that video don't look so happy either. Sheesh.
Well, so much for entertainment. Much as we've come to despise politics since the Idiot Boy won the presiduncy, we can't stay away. So, this brief foray.
Casa de Los Gatos is unashamedly progressive in its politics, as is Casa Manitoba, and both casas find it infuriating to read or listen to the "pundits" of the right-wing, as a rule. But we do it anyway, because we care. That's right. We do it so you won't have to.
So, without further ado, we hereby admit that we put on our wading boots to schlep over to the Wall Street Journal, that infernal hive of naked capitalism at its greediest and blindest and most selfish. But it was worth it, my children, for we have returned with this gem for you.
Peggy Noonan, chin quivering, eyes moist, says today the words that will make you shriek and snort coffee (or other beverage of choice) out yer noz:
George W. Bush destroyed the Republican Party, by which I mean he sundered it, broke its constituent pieces apart and set them against each other. He did this on spending, the size of government, war, the ability to prosecute war, immigration and other issues.
NOOO!!! Ya think?
Sheesh, Peggy, you couldn't fawn on the guy enough when he first ran, or even when he second ran. Even though Molly Ivins (a journalist with far more wit and integrity than you will ever have) pointed out (as many others have done in the ensuing years) that our Pretzeldunce was nothing more than a dry-drunk, druggie frat-boy with a penchant for bullying and torture, with the manners of a rabid ape and all the dignity of a butt-sniffing dog, unable to string five words into a coherent sentence. A fool who overestimated his own puny wisdom and underestimated the difficulty of any task because he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and a father who cleaned up his messes his entire life. A lackwit who also lacks good common sense, empathy, compassion, integrity, sincerity, honesty, decency, and any other moral quality that you would want in a human being.
And now, at last, as the emperor's arse sags in the chilly breeze, you and yours are finally admitting that the "new clothes" he promised to wear are nothing but a pigment of your collective imagination.
If the idiot hadn't irreparably damaged the army, the nation, the constitution, the treasury, and the people, we would laugh out loud. Unfortunately, this is as funny as the subprime mortgage meltdown.
No linky because it is the WSJ, after all, but it's today's edition and available online, so feel free to google it for yourself. Caveat: Lots of ranting about how it's all Clinton's fault (what, you ask? Everything).
Cheney and his hunchmen (thanks, FZ!) keep trying to start World War III, because that's what an attack on Iran will do, you know. Propel the world into WWIII. Raw Story tells us today that the US is using an international criminal investigation into a 1994 terrorist attack in Argentina to keep the drums of war beating.
The 14-year-old probe claims Iranian agents planned the bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.
"One U.S. goal is to cause legal problems for some of Iran's political leaders," report Jay Solomon and Evan Perez. "Administration officials also hope to use the matter to highlight Iran's alleged role in financing and supporting terrorism around the world."
Dick and Bush aren't doing a thing about Darfur, or the instability in Pakistan, the renewal of the Taliban, galloping inflation here at home, and the general horrendous state of the U.S. economy. The latest news on the economy is so depressing, we don't even want to link to it. We'll post separately about it, though, when we feel a little better. Might take a couple of barrels of alcohol.
Meanwhile, Bush's Arab "allies" are seemingly remarkably lukewarm about his various yawps. Raw Story tells us:
While Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia has voiced concern over the rise of Shiite Iran, it is opposed to another war in the region after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq that has strengthened the Islamic regime in Tehran.
What's more, he's all but begging them to lower the price of oil or produce more, and they're flipping him the metaphorical finger.
"Our interest is to keep oil supplies matching demand with minimum volatility in the oil market," Oil Minister Ali Naimi told reporters. "We will raise production when the market justifies it. This is our policy."
[...]
Earlier Tuesday in Riyadh, Bush warned that soaring oil prices could cause an economic slowdown in the United States.
Could cause. He means "has already caused," the dumbkopf. Tete-de-merde. Imbecile. Moron. Scheisskopf. Pendejo. Kundemaire. Jhatarbari. Lokhisara. Onibaba. Bakaru. We can't find enough words in enough languages to describe this miserable pathetic little excuse of a man. He reminds us of someone's mentally and emotionally defective relative, the one that nobody invites over because the last time they did and left him alone for a few minutes, he shit on the floor, smeared it all over the walls, broke all the crystal and china, pissed on the brand new carpet, wiped his shitty hands all over his new clothes and hair, and then accidentally set the house on fire.
And he thinks he's going to get Israel and Palestine to sign off on a peace treaty this year. No doubt Dick sent him off to keep him out of trouble while he plots and connives to start World War Three.
How to stop them? Well, the Wexler for Congress Campaign has posted a diary over at DailyKos, outlining the steps they are taking to impeach Dick, at least, if not The Idiot In Charge. They need your help. Please, if you value your children's and grandchildren's and friend's and relatives' and pets' lives, go read the diary and take the recommended action. These people are crazy enough to destroy every living thing merely to gratify their egos.
So please do your bit. Get the murderous warmonger Cheney out, and Idiot McChimpy might be easier to handle. And you and the ones you love might just live to see another day, month, year.
Maru at WTF ably points out how the Deciderer-in-Chief is blatantly breaking laws passed by Congress to ban the sale of milk and meat from cloned animals, to permit Mexican trucks on American roadways (last I heard, it's American taxpayers who pay the cost of maintaining those roadways; are we charging Mexican trucks for some portion of the upkeep?), and to reinstate the mining safety hack who has presided over the mine disasters of the past year.
How much longer do we have to put up with incompetent assholes raiding the Treasury, robbing the taxpayer blind, stealing our investments and homes and jobs and lives?
Meanwhile the Plunderer 'n Thief tells us the economy is solid and strong. Is he insane? The Dow is down by ~257 points, Nasdaq is down by ~100 points, and the S&P is down by ~36 points. Banks and other financial institutions have announced that they will cease paying dividends as a result of the rising loan defaults, which are expected to peak in 2009, with losses totalling up to $150 BILLION.
Job growth is anemic at 18,000 for the month, and unemployment has hit a high of 5%. For a look at the number of jobs we need to create per month, go here.
Oil is at $100 a barrel. And the idiot in charge thinks the economy is strong. Worse yet, he wants to CUT TAXES.
Fucking impeach the motherfucker already before he can destroy what's left of this country, OK? Please. I'm begging heah.
To find all posts about Nailah Franklin, type "Nailah Franklin" in the box at the top left corner of this page and hit RETURN. To find all posts about Reginald Potts, type "Reginald Potts" and do not include his middle initial or honorifics. Thanks.
The continued hearing on Reginald M. Potts Jr's case resulted in a grand jury indictment in the September 2007 murder of Nailah Franklin. The court advised Mr. Potts against acting as his own attorney. However, Mr. Potts, who seems to think that his cunning which has permitted him to avoid serious punishment for his various crimes over the past years, is worth more in a trial for his life than years of training.
He insists on defending himself, and the court has permitted him to do so. Apparently, Mr. Potts is not happy with his public defender. Mr. Potts also argued to the judge, against his counsel's advice, that he was not being permitted to contact a private attorney, and that he has sufficient funds to afford a retainer.
We, at this blog, understand that when a man is on trial for his life, he must secure the best possible representation. Public defenders try their best, but they are terribly overworked and underpaid, and might not have the criminal trial experience that a private attorney might have.
However, our interest was piqued by Mr. Potts' representation that he has sufficient funds to retain private counsel. The last time he was in court, Mr. Potts claimed he was unemployed and indigent. Where did he get the money? Criminal defense attorneys don't come cheap.
The prosecutor denied Mr. Potts' claims that he had been on lockdown 23 hours a day and not permitted to use the telephone except in the very early hours of the day. The prosecutor also claimed that Mr. Potts has made hundreds of calls during work hours.
Prosecutors like to win their cases, and most are not above, er, stretching the truth. However, if the prosecutor cannot back up claims, she might find the judge inclined to rule for the defendant.
In any event, Judge Donald Panarese, before whom the hearing was held, declined to address Mr. Potts' claims and referred him to his coming hearing next Thursday before Chief Justice Paul Biebel, at which time Mr. Potts' trial judge will be assigned. At that time, Mr. Potts can broach the subject of his jail privileges. Judging by his comments so far, he undoubtedly will.
It's a scandal and a shame, and a sad day indeed, but outside of Detroit, few papers are covering the story of heroic little Alexis Goggins, the seven-year-old girl who saved her mother's life.
Alexis will celebrate her seventh Christmas in a hospital because the jackass loser whom her mother dumped as soon as she realized he was a psychopathic loon fired seven shots into Alexis' tiny body as she desperately tried to shield her mother from danger.
Alexis started life with several counts against her. As an infant, she suffered a massive cerebral stroke which left her with a limp and labeled as a "special-needs" child. She is an epileptic, and she has worked hard to overcome her disabilities. Most important, she is a true hero. She shielded her mother's body with her own when the crazed Kelvin Tillie attempted to kill her mother. As a result of her incredibly courageous act of sacrifice, she has lost one eye, and is in hospital recovering from multiple surgeries with more to come.
It makes us happy to be able to tell Content Black Woman over at Why Black Women Are Angry that some papers are finally covering this story.
Meanwhile, if you have a little Xmas dosh, instead of tossing it away on commercial crap that will probably go into the garbage before next Xmas, send it to Alexis. Details of her fund:
Checks should be made out to the Alexis Goggins Hero Fund and sent to Campbell Elementary School in care of the Alexis Goggins Hero Fund, 2301 E Alexandrine St, Detroit, 48207. For information, call (313) 494-2052.
And keep an eye out for more coverage about Alexis and the man who nearly killed her, Kelvin Tillie. Who is definitely headed for a jail sentence and, if there is a God, a very very warm place thereafter.
Well, well, well. It looks as if Mike Huckabee actively tried to cover up his son's involvement in the cruel killing of a stray dog in Arkansas in 1998. And this wretched excuse for a human being was a counsellor to other children? What was he teaching those children? That torturing and killing an animal is enjoyable? That being connected means you never have to say you're sorry? Sheesh!
Newsweek has the details. One particular detail deserves further mention:
John Bailey, then the director of Arkansas's state police, tells NEWSWEEK that Governor Huckabee's chief of staff and personal lawyer both leaned on him to write a letter officially denying the local prosecutor's request. Bailey, a career officer who had been appointed chief by Huckabee's Democratic predecessor, said he viewed the lawyer's intervention as improper and terminated the conversation. Seven months later, he was called into Huckabee's office and fired. "I've lost confidence in your ability to do your job," Bailey says Huckabee told him. One reason Huckabee cited was "I couldn't get you to help me with my son when I had that problem," according to Bailey. "Without question, [Huckabee] was making a conscious attempt to keep the state police from investigating his son," says I. C. Smith, the former FBI chief in Little Rock, who worked closely with Bailey and called him a "courageous" and "very solid" professional.
What kind of person kills a stray dog? Dogs are loyal to the point of stupidity, and generally pretty friendly to humans, not wary of them.
David, you blot upon the escutcheon of humanity, one rescues stray dogs, one doesn't torture and kill them. For all you know, the dog was some little kid's beloved pet who had run away or otherwise gone missing, and an anxious family was waiting for its return.
Sadly, animal cruelty is only a misdemeanor in Arkansas.
Good grief. Lambert at Corrente has all the disgusting details. Why do people do this sort of thing? What pleasure can they possibly get from causing so much pain to an innocent animal?
Latest update here. To find all posts about Nailah Franklin, type "Nailah Franklin" in the box at the top left corner of this page and hit RETURN. To find all posts about Reginald Potts, type "Reginald Potts" and do not include his middle initial or honorifics. Thanks.
From Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune comes the details of Reginald Michael Potts Jr's arrest record. And it's not a pretty sight:
2005 - 3 years Probation for Intimidation case in Lake County (01CF-1794). Details: In June of 2001, Defendant (Reginald Potts) was being investigated in several cases (of car theft according to some reports). Defendant spoke directly to the victim, a Highland Park Police Detective and told him,“I will blow your brains out and your family’s brains out. Your family will never be safe. You’re going to feel the end of my .45.”
A warrant was issued for Defendant’s arrest. After Defendant was arrested, he escaped from federal custody. Note:He was at large for two weeks during which time he made taunting calls to the police. He was subsequently recaptured.
2003 - 2 years IDOC on an Aggravated Battery of a Peace Officer (02CR-1166). Details: Defendant was an inmate in Cook County Jail. Defendant punched the victim, a Deputy Sheriff, in the face. After this incident, Defendant stated in the presence of more than one Sheriff, that when he got out of jail, he was going to kill a certain Lt. and his entire family.
Consecutive to:
5 years IDOC on a Class 1 PSMV (01CR-521). Details: Defendant was in custody on this case when he committed the aggravated battery on the Cook County Sheriff’s Deputy. In this case, Defendant was found in possession of a $100,000 Mercedes stolen from the Motorworks Dealership in Barrington earlier that day. After being put in lock-up, the defendant kneed a detention aide in the groin.
2002 – 30 months IDOC on Obstruction of Justice in Iroquois County
1997 – convicted in 4 separate aggravated PSMV cases and sentenced to 7 years IDOC concurrent on all cases. Details: In those cases, on multiple occasions during the Spring of 1996, the defendant was found to be in possession of cars totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars stolen from dealerships throughout Cook County. In one case, five days after the defendant was released on bond in Atlanta, he re-stole the Mercedes from the police pound in Atlanta. Six weeks later, using yet a different name, he took the car to an auto shop in Chicago, where it was recovered by police.
3 Misdemeanor convictions:
11-26-07 – Defendant PG to counts of Violation of Order of Protection. Details: The victim was his former girlfriend. Defendant was sentenced to 100 days in Cook County Jail. He is currently serving that sentence.
2004 - 6 months CCJ on an assault
1997 - 180 days CCJ on a theft
5 cases pending:
Aggravated Battery of a Peace Officer, Maywood. 11-26-07. Details: While in the main lock-up at the Maywood courthouse, Defendant repeatedly kicked a lock-up cell door causing it to remain open after being ordered to stop this activity. Cook County Sheriff’s entered Defendant’s cell and ordered Defendant to turn around and put his hands on his head. Instead, defendant struck the victim Sheriff in the face. Defendant kicked a second Sheriff in the knee.
Battery and Resisting a Peace Officer, Maywood. 10-30-07. Details: Defendant refused to comply with County Sheriff’s Deputies’ request to put his cell phone away while in a courtroom. Defendant was asked to step out of the courtroom and place his phone on the ground. Defendant refused to put the phone down. Defendant then resisted arrest by striking the victim Sheriff several times in the chest and stomach. Defendant told the victim “F--- you. Touch me so I can sue you.” NCD 12-21-07.
Assault of gas station attendant in Chicago and Battery of a maintenance man in a condo building in Chicago. NCD: 1-9-08 in Branch 43.
Violation of an Order of Protection in DuPage County. Victim in that case is the Defendant’s ex-wife.
In addition, the defendant has used multiple aliases and social security numbers when arrested in the past.
We all know that there are police officers who deliberately provoke incidents or mistate facts especially if they don't like the defendant. However, most police officers are simply trying to do their job, and it's a very stressful job. We've found that the police, just like any other group of people, has its bad apples and its good eggs.
It's always possible that Reginald Potts has, through a run of unbelievably bad luck, encountered the worst cops on the force. However, given his demonstrated fondness for lying and manipulation, we could probably safely bet that he is a manipulative career criminal who instigated repeated violent interactions with the police, who, of course, are only too happy to oblige anyone who wants to fuck around with them.
Looking at his interactions with the women in his life, who, unlike the police, actually like or love the guy and are smaller, weaker, less able to whup his butt, he certainly seems like a violent, controlling, bad-tempered bully. So what was a lovely talented intelligent professional woman like Nailah doing with this all-time loser?
I don't think she expected him to be the psychopathic loon that he is. She was raised in a very loving and close-knit family, and from what we can tell, her siblings are all educated, successful, middle-class professionals. She had no way to assess just what kind of monster Reginald Potts really was.
Now we're well aware that Potts has not yet been convicted of the murder of Franklin. But even if he is ultimately proven to be completely innocent of that crime (and we have our doubts), he is still a bully and an arrogant, deceitful, manipulative, conscienceless jerk.
Nailah called him on this, and that made him angry enough to attempt to destroy her reputation and her life. In fact, we can't help but wonder if the emails leaked over the internet tell the real story at all. We're guessing that he never told Nailah anything about himself until she found out. When she ran the criminal check she found out about the convictions. At that point, she would probably have been very angry. He acknowledges that she found out and was furious that she had to hear it from someone other than him.
We suspect that after finding out about the criminal record, she then started to find out about the other women. She probably tried to break it off then. She sent him a furious email stating that she was angry with him over his comments to mutual friends and his flirting with her friends. She was also angry that she had trusted him enough to have unprotected sex with him, and he had lied to her, and stolen from her (videotapes depicting sexual acts).
At that point he decided to write her that nasty email. Even if it contained no truth, by circulating it to his friends and family, he was damaging her reputation and hurting her feelings. Things had started to fall apart for Mr. Potts. First one, and then the other of the two mothers of his children filed restraining orders against him. His divorce had occurred fairly recently and there were child custody issues. His ex-wife filed for child support. His condo association filed suit to collect outstanding fees. His house was in foreclosure, there were bills to be paid, and Nailah was threatening to send him back to jail.
It's doubtful that he kidnapped her at gunpoint from her house. More likely, he turned on the charm, talked about dinner or a weekend together, offered to carry her laptops, walked her past the security guard in her building, and then drove her to some distant location where he murdered her.
However he got his hands on her, what he did was unforgivable. The prosecutor is seeking the death penalty. A member of her family has stated that the death penalty was too lenient for Potts' crime. His next hearing is on the 28th of this month, so we should know by then how things in this case will go.
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Alexis with her mother, Seleithia Parker
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