Jerome Ticker, dressed in a captain's Navy whites complete with prestigious Navy Cross, Silver Star and Purple Heart decorations, was quite the striking figure at his wedding in Slidell. The problem is, he never served in the Navy, or in any branch of the military. Yes, well...that could be a minor problem.
Ticker, 42, of the Holden community in Livingston Parish, had convinced his fiancee that he was a war hero, a Navy Seal festooned with medals, and so it was only fitting for him to decorate himself to a T in his deceit for their April 12 nuptials. Geez, they're always friggin Navy SEALS... ... and always a Navy Cross ...
While the bride may have fallen for Ticker's tale, at least one person at the ceremony didn't buy it, and notified authorities. One's all it takes...
On Tuesday, Ticker pleaded guilty in New Orleans to a federal charge of illegally wearing the medals and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey to 12 months of home confinement, followed by two years of supervised release and a $500 fine. "He said he was motivated as a desire to impress his wife," U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said. Should've sent him away. Then he could impress her with PMITA prison stories...
The Stolen Valor bill, passed into law in 2006, expanded and increased federal penalties for falsely claiming to have earned any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the armed forces.
Ticker bought the uniform online and the awards from a local military surplus store, according to Special Agent D'Wayne W. Swear, the New Orleans investigator for the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Ticker, who works for a building maintenance company in Gonzales, posed as a Navy captain, the rank just below rear admiral. Previously, with his first wife, he had played the part of a lieutenant commander in the Navy, Swear said. Oh, good. He got promoted.
For his April wedding, Ticker mistakenly wore his lieutenant commander's hat with his captain's uniform. The proper captain's hat has gold leafing on the bill, leafing that Navy men call "scrambled eggs." Oh...yeah. It's a new rank we're trying. Lieutenant commander captain.
Swear tracked Ticker down after Swear received an anonymous tip from someone at the wedding. The tip directed him to online wedding photographs that showed Ticker in his full, illegal and improperly configured regalia. But I'll bet he looked...dashing.
#2
I'm protesting. I think this story should be in "Today's Idiot" classification. Hope the guy spends his honeymoon (if there is one now) in the hoosegow for an extended time.
#3
So he waits till the wedding to tell the (dimbulb) bride to be that he wuz a genuine war hee-ro. how come that didn't come out way early in the relationship when he was trying to score a little sumpin' sumpin'?
Chicks dig Sailors!
Didja ever see Top Gun? it weren't the AF or Army gettin it on, but the Navy!!
MINOT, N.D. A Minot Air Force Base officer admitted taking a missile launch control device as a souvenir because he thought it would be a cool thing to have, one of his supervisors testified Tuesday at a hearing to determine whether the officer will face a military trial.
Four witnesses testified at the one-day hearing in the case of Capt. Paul Borowiecki, a missile combat crew member assigned to the bases 91st Missile Wing. Borowiecki, 27, was given a chance to speak on his own behalf, but declined. His attorneys declined comment after the hearing.
Borowiecki is accused of taking the launch control device in July 2005, rather than destroying it as required when it was no longer in use. Officials say he admitted the theft in May and returned the device. The domino-sized device is obsolete but Borowieckis supervisor, Capt. David Walbeck, testified that had the technology been compromised, it could have led to unintended detonation of a nuclear missile.
An Air Force spokeswoman, Maj. Laurie A. Arellano, said later that the launch device is one of many safeguards that must work together to ensure 100 percent security and that Walbeck was referring to the absolute farthest end of the spectrum. The loss of that technology alone would not lead to unintended detonation. There would also have to be many other safeguards in conjunction with this that would have to be compromised, Arellano said.
Borowiecki is charged with dereliction of duty, making false official statements, wrongful appropriation of military property and mishandling of classified items in violation of federal law.
The launch control device was placed over other code components inside an underground missile launch control center to detect tampering, officials said. The missile crews work 90 feet underground behind huge blast doors, prepared to launch the weapons.
Borowieckis attorney, Capt. Tiwana Wright, asked Walbeck during Tuesdays hearing if the device was the only safeguard for the weapons system. Walbeck replied that many safeguards are in place. Walbeck said Borowiecki told him he had kept the device in a green, hard-bound notebook.
Officials said the theft came to light when Borowiecki was given a lie-detector test in applying for a job with the governments National Reconnaissance Office. As part of the test, he was asked if he had ever stolen classified material. Walbeck said Borowiecki answered yes and asked to meet with his supervisor.
This was a shock to me, Walbeck said. At the time, he said, Borowiecki had performed his duties flawlessly.
Maj. Michael Sweetland, who supervised Walbeck and Borowiecki, described Borowiecki as top notch and very professional.
The Air Force said Borowiecki also told officials that another officer had lied in saying he destroyed a launch component. That device remains missing. The other officers name has not been released. The Air Force says it is handling the cases separately.
Walbeck said codes were changed at the Minot base and at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming as a result of the incident. He also said it led to changes in the procedure for destroying the launch devices after they are no longer in use. In the past, the devices were burned in an old ammo can within the launch capsule by airmen who sign a paper saying they destroyed them, Walbeck said. Now, he said, the devices are destroyed at the base under the supervision of two people with top-secret clearance.
Borowiecki has been reassigned to a helicopter wing, Arellano said. His access to classified documents has been suspended and he is barred from using Air Force computers. Arellano said Tuesdays hearing was similar to a preliminary hearing in civilian court. If tried and convicted, Borowiecki could lose his officer commission and could be ordered to prison for a term determined by a military judge, Arellano said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/02/2008 14:10 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#4
Never heard of the 91st Missile wing. Minot used to have the 5th Strategic Missile wing (Minuteman 3's) and the 5th Strategic Bomb wing, along with tankers, F106 interceptors, rescue units, etc.
More patrol officers on Phoenix streets will soon be carrying semi-automatic rifles, a move that officials say will provide a better match for criminals and more accurate tool in high-risk encounters.
But a union representative says rank-and-file members are dissatisfied with department restrictions on who may access the additional firepower.
Officers are allowed to buy and use their own handguns and shotguns as long as the firearms meet department standards and the officer participates in required training. So far, the department has no plans to expand policy to include rifles.
Phoenix council members on Wednesday approved a request for the police department to purchase 60 Bushmaster AR-15 rifles from Clyde Armory at a cost of $44,813.28. Officials anticipate having the order fulfilled in time for the first set of 20 officers to train with the rifles in early November.
There are currently 60 rifles assigned to patrol officers. Once the additional 60 are implemented, each squad will have access to a rifle. The eventual goal is to have three per squad, said Sgt. Andy Hill, a Phoenix police spokesman.
Special units have used the high-powered gun for years, and some patrol officers have been carrying them since 1999.
Police say AR-15 rifles rival the speed and accuracy of handguns and shotguns, allowing officers to fire from a greater distance. The rifle rounds are fired at about 3,000 feet per second, roughly three times the speed of a bullet fired from a handgun.
Tactical units used an AR-15 to fire the fatal shot at the man suspected of killing Officer Nick Erfle on Sept. 18, 2007. Commander Dave Harvey said the shot had to be precise: Erik Jovani Martinez was holding a gun to the head of a hostage inside a vehicle.
Mark Spencer, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, said early response from a member survey shows that officers want the ability to purchase and use their own rifles on patrol. Spencer said allowing private purchase would ease department costs in a lean budget year and keep officers safer on the streets.
#1
Big mistake. City police don't need this firepower for their regular duties. It's better to have a small unit equipped and trained for the worst situations (and not let that unit serve drug warrants in their spare time). This is the sort of move that will keep Randy Balko busy with more unfortunate deaths and imprisonments. Big mistake.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/02/2008 9:50 Comments ||
Top||
#2
It's a deterrent. 60 sticks won't make a difference,not knowing where they are will.
It won't work against the crazies, but it will give any guys confronting an armed encounter an edge.
#3
The Alaska State Troopers each are issued a Glock 40 cal sidearm, an M-16, and a 12-ga shotgun, and the training to use them all.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/02/2008 10:22 Comments ||
Top||
#4
AP, given the stuff Alaska State Troopers might face (grizzlies, moose, polar bears), I'd think they should have been equipped with M1As. I'd sure rather have that to face a bear down with than an M16. .308 just packs a lot more punch...
#5
An M-16 AP? Really? I would think a M-14 would be superior in Alaska. Operating from a vehicle, the extra weight isn't an issue. But in Alaska the extra range and stopping power of the M-14 would be an advantage. At close range, Mr 12 gauge is your BEST friend.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
10/02/2008 10:56 Comments ||
Top||
#6
I don't think it's a mistake to be prepared. Any mistake would be lack of training on how to use the AR-15. AZ has plenty of AK47s and more coming up from Mexico and need the firepower.
Posted by: Phosh Dark Lord of the Hatfields8580 ||
10/02/2008 11:01 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Can we expect the sheriff to escalate by equipping his deputies with roof ring mounted M2s? Shows remarkable ability to take out an engine block of a vehicle refusing to pull over. Tonight on COPS...
#8
City police don't need this firepower for their regular duties
This is Phoenix. One has to read between the lines here.
There are Mexican drug gangs. They have been operating in Phoenix, either in kidnapping, or killing defectors/snitches/family members of people they want to influence.
A few months back, three of them were arrested wearing 'police' apparel. Fortunately an experienced officer who came on the scene figured it out and got the right sort of backup. A normal patrol unit would have been out-gunned and slaughtered.
It got mentioned in the Arizona Repugnant and the local media, but in the press equivalent of a mumble.
#9
It's gonna take more than a few M16's to stop La Raza.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
10/02/2008 11:44 Comments ||
Top||
#10
It's not La Raza they have to worry about in the immediate time frame. It's MS-13 which has, among other things, openly bragged about assasinating US police officers who cross the gang.
#11
With all due respect to those who say that Phoenix doesn't need the firepower....sure, it's been a while since I worked there, but from what my buddies on the force say, the situation has only gotten worse. The "hardworking" illegals that the activists are all mushy over are trickling out, but the bad guys aren't by any measure.
Please also keep in mind that the traffic there beyond sucks, and the city proper is well over 400 square miles in area. If you are stuck up in the mountains in north Phoenix and the guys with the heavy weaponry are in central Phoenix, you may be waiting for an hour. You may not have that luxury.
#12
Pappy's got it. Mexican cartels are sending hit squads into Phoenix to get those seeking safe haven in US. They are using armored vehicles and full-auto weapons. Phoenix cops just want to have equivalent firepower. But, for those of us familiar with them, we realize the consequences of spraying shots downrange with these babies. You could be 2 blocks away, loading groceries, and get your head blown apart. So things get a little dicier. Don't worry though, LAPD and CHP, have been packing these for several years after the N. Hollywood bank robbery, when they were outgunned and had to go down and beg for autos at B&B Guns, one of my favorite shops, at the time. Nothing too untoward has occurred. Phoenix, though, may have street fire fights, due to their proximity to the border. Anyone questioning why these Mexicans can come over here in the first place ? It is and will jeopardize real US citizens. I hope they understand this.
#13
In Idaho the Idaho State Police have a shotgun in the front and a rifle in the trunk (quite often full auto). Local entities vary in policy.
I'm sure the LA cops (10 years ago) were wishing they didn't have to borrow from the local guns shops during that bank robbery shootout where the bad guys had armor and full auto (illegal by the way) rifles. These were just professional bank robbers, not MS-13.
#14
It's not that they don't need the firepower. It's that a dozen M16's aren't enough. They need more than guns. Like, intel and stuff would be nice.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
10/02/2008 13:06 Comments ||
Top||
#15
I thought some of the 9-11 hijackers had spent time in Phoenix, as well. AR-15's are nothing. I'm all for military hardware, including armed drones, in the border areas. We have to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and if that doesn't include the home turf, its a meaningless oath.
I'll show her!
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Authorities say a Fort Myers man shot himself in the arm after his girlfriend refused to have sex with him. The Lee County Sheriff's Office reports that 29-year-old Jonathon Guabello and his girlfriend returned home from a bar early Wednesday morning. Ah. Alcohol. Not always our friend...
The girlfriend told deputies that Guabello had wanted to get intimate, but she wanted to go to sleep. C'mon, schnookems. Ya know ya wan it. BUUUURRRRP...
When Guabello became irate, authorities say the girlfriend went to a spare bedroom, and several minutes later she heard two gunshots. She told deputies Guabello came into her room and threatened her. He then stumbled into the kitchen and knocked himself unconscious. Not a good night for Jonathan...
Guabello was charged with threatening violence and firing a weapon in an occupied dwelling. He was being held on $100,000 bail. Hey, baby, ya wanna come down a bail me out?
#1
Additional charges being filed: seems his drunken state had impacted his ability to perform (so to speak) and was the real reason for the rejection.
Cops are going to charge him with 'Assualt with a dead weapon..."
MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. - Wreckage found in the rugged eastern mountains of California is that of Steve Fossett's airplane, the Madera County sheriff said Thursday, adding that missing adventurer's craft appeared to have crashed head-on into the mountainside.
Crews conducting an aerial search late Wednesday spotted what turned out to be the wreckage in the Inyo National Forest near the town of Mammoth Lakes, Sheriff John Anderson said. They confirmed around 11 p.m. that the tail number matched Fossett's single-engine Bellanca plane, he said.
Anderson said no human remains were found in the wreckage. Teams led by the sheriff's department would continue the search for remains Thursday, while the National Transportation Safety Board was en route to probe the cause of the crash, he said. Most of the fuselage disintegrated on impact, and the engine was found several hundred feet away, Anderson said.
Searchers began combing the rugged terrain on Wednesday after a hiker found identification documents belonging to Fossett earlier in the week. The wreckage was found about a quarter-mile from where hiker Preston Morrow made his discovery Monday. The IDs provided the first possible clue about Fossett's whereabouts since he disappeared Sept. 3, 2007, after taking off from a Nevada ranch owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton.
Aviators had previously flown over Mammoth Lakes, about 90 miles south of the ranch, in the search for Fossett, but it had not been considered a likely place to find the plane. The most intense searching was concentrated north of the town, given what searchers knew about sightings of Fossett's plane, his plans for when he had intended to return and the amount of fuel he had in the plane.
A judge declared Fossett legally dead in February following a search for the famed aviator that covered 20,000 square miles.
#2
If i remember correctly, he took off in marginally VFR weather; suspect it closed in on him and he ran out of altitude before he ran out of the wx and tried to fly through a cumulo-granite.
#6
Fawcett was incredibly self-centered and inconsiderate. A lot of people donated their time and risked their safety looking for him in a HUGE area. It is easy and free to file a flight plan, and there are RCOs (radio outlets) around to announce your position to Flight Service. Speeds up the search and saves time and energy.
Wonder if he bailed out and disappeared. Just an Art Bell kinda thought.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/02/2008 21:09 Comments ||
Top||
(SomaliNet) Police said on Wednesday that three people died in Malawi after they were forced by a herbalist and a mob of villagers to drink a potion meant to cleanse them of witchcraft. Looks like it worked.
"The three died after they were forced to drink the concoction. They collapsed and died within a few minutes," police spokesperson Dave Chingwalu said.
Sources say the herbalist who prepared the potion, identified as 41-year-old Patricia Chimutu, has been charged with murder, which can carry the death sentence in this poor southern African nation.
Two women aged 72 and 68, as well as a 64-year-old man, were suspected by villagers in the southern district of Mwanza of practising witchcraft and teaching it to children, Chingwalu said.
Chimutu had prepared the potion to prove if the three were witches, and a mob forced them to drink it, he said.
The herbalist had told the three that they would vomit if they were witches, but nothing would happen if they were not, he added.
After the deaths, Chimutu threatened that anyone who informed the police would also die and began preparing to bury the dead in secret. But a village chief reported the crime to authorities, the spokesperson said.
Belief in witchcraft runs deep in this conservative nation.
In March, two sisters allegedly torched to death two young children to exorcise them of witchcraft. They were arrested and charged with murder.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I wonder how many previous generations, before the big global grid, guys like him have been pulling the scam.
Far fewer people than previously thought may have died in the infamous Allied firebombing of Dresden at the close of World War II, according to a new assessment by historians.
Until now, the number of dead from the February 1945 attack on the eastern German city has swung wildly from 35,000 to half a million victims. But a panel of historians commissioned by the citys former mayor in 2004 has just determined it was likely far smaller.
The results of the commission determine that 18,000 died in Dresden from the air raids, daily Die Weltquoted an official statement on Thursday. The commission assumes a maximum of 25,000 people lost their lives in the February attacks on Dresden.
The British and American air raids on the city once known as Florence on the Elbe are widely considered to have been unnecessary and responsible for the deaths of innocent civilians. The city has rebuilt much of its historic centre and long since moved on, but the bombing continues to stoke controversy.
Neo-Nazis have repeatedly used it for propaganda purposes and members of the far-right NPD party in the Saxon parliament have scandalized the city by referring to it as the Bombing Holocaust.
Curfew was reimposed in nine major locations in Kandhamal on Wednesday amid fresh attacks on Christian prayer halls in some parts of the riot-ravaged district.
Police, for the first time since the violence erupted, arrested a number of saffron leaders of the region, giving rise to tension and protests in different areas.
Stray incidents of violence continued and an enraged mob of around 100 tribals damaged at least 16 houses and a prayer hall in worst-hit Raikia area, said official sources.
At least four houses were gutted at Beheragaon. Torching of some houses was also reported from Gochhapada, while some agitated locals protesting against arrests gheraoed the police station at Tumudibandh.
Another church attacked in TN
COIMBATORE : Another church in Tamil Nadu came under a spell of stone pelting by miscreants -- this time, in communally sensitive Coimbatore. The glass door of Scion Assembly of Church in Kuppanur near Perur in rural Coimbatore was damaged on Tuesday evening.
This is the sixth incident of stone pelting on churches in Tamil Nadu in the aftermath of attacks on Christians and churches in Orissa and Karnataka. Last week, the statue of infant Jesus kept at a church in Dharapuram in Erode was damaged barely a couple of days after the statues of Mary were desecrated in Nagercoil and Madurai.
According to the Perur DSP, Kumarasamy, a local ''rowdy, Mayilsamy, was taken into custody.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
Inventor Casey Jones says the £350 gadget uses ultrasound technology to recreate the effects of decades of ageing by colliding alcohol molecules inside the bottle.
The Ultrasonic Wine Ager, which looks like an ordinary ice bucket, takes 30 minutes to work and has already been given the thumbs up by an English winemaker.
Mr Jones, 53, said: "This machine can take your run-of-the-mill £3.99 bottle of plonk and turn it into a finest bottle of vintage tasting like it costs hundreds.
"It works on any alcohol that tastes better aged, even a bottle of paintstripper whisky can taste like an 8-year-aged single malt.
"The look and bouquet of the drink is improved and because of the chemical changes, the alcohol is easier to absorb by the kidneys and therefore, hangovers are virtually eliminated.
"I have even tried it with orange juice after I saw a similar device being used in the US. It didn't just make the juice taste fresher, it made it look brighter too."
He added: "I see thousands of inventions every year and there are a lot of crazy ones, but in every ton of coal there is a diamond.
"Of all the inventions I deal with, this one has amazed me the most in the effects it has on alcohol."
Andre Jones, no relation, a winemaker who produces 40,000 bottles-a-year at his family-owned Buzzard Valley Vineyard, near Tamworth, Staffs, said he was impressed by the gadget.
He said: "Casey took one of our bottles and brought it back for us to try after it had been in the machine. I was amazed, it had definitely aged.
"Obviously it can't change the grape variety used, but it does mean a relatively poor variety can be made to taste a lot higher market.
"I would like to see it used on some of the Mediterranean varieties like a Rioja or a Shiraz.
"This could definitely have some applications for those restaurants who are buying wine for £10,000 a case.
"Technically I suppose you could buy a good wine at two or three years old and age it so it tastes like a 20-year-old vintage.
"Wine is at it's best five or so years after it's made, so this could help homebrewers taste aged wine more easily."
However, he warned restaurants and bars against trying to pass off a cheaper bottle of wine as a more expensive one just because it had been through the machine.
"You would have to tell customers it wasn't quite the real thing," he said.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
10/02/2008 20:31 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Will this work on my homebrew?
Maybe not with beer, but should work well with wine.
I'm interested in enhancing my distilling output. To smooth it I use a lot of charcoal, maybe this could be a better option. i had looked at using ultrasonic at the mash stage but it changed the sugar makeup, might try using at the finished stage.
BYW Palin seems to be doing OK
#3
This year's drink to invest in is 100% agave tequila. This year all the farmers tore out their agave, to plant high value produce. The US and Mexican governments are also cracking down on tequila manufacturers over all the pollution they create.
So right now there is a glut on the market. In 5-10 years, there will be a profound shortage, and prices will be sky high.
The one-time sex tycoon who would be mayor wants to clean up this sprawling, gritty city where he grew rich overseeing an empire of flesh. But weeks of shaking hands and giving speeches have left him longing for the days of massage girls and hot tubs. "Politics is so dirty, so ugly," Chuwit Kamolvisit sighs. "I would rather sit tight in the nightclub, surrounded by girls, smoking cigars, drinking brandy, champagne. That was the perfect life."
But that life ended, thanks to a series of scandals that made him a celebrity. Now, Chuwit is an underdog candidate in Bangkok's governor race, financing his own campaign to take on what he sees as the hypocrisy and deceit rotting Thai politics. Who better to wipe out bribes, he argues, than the former king of sleaze who got rich paying them? "I tell the truth," Chuwit, 47, said in an interview. reeling off a list of issues from graft to traffic to unemployment. "If you want to listen to the truth, you listen to me."
On Thursday, three days ahead of the vote, Chuwit punched a newscaster in the face and then kicking him when he fell to the ground. Chuwit was being interviewed by the Channel 3 reporter in the network's studio and erupted after the taping ended, saying the reporter made him look bad by asking confrontational questions.
Before Chuwit became a crusader against corruption, he employed some 1,300 women in a string of brothels thinly disguised as massage parlors named Victoria's Secret, Emmanuelle and Honolulu. Prostitution is illegal in Thailand but widespread and rarely prosecuted. He became a local hero in 2004 when he exposed corruption in the unpopular police force by listing the bribes he paid to senior officers Rolex watches, free services and, he said recently, "money in a garbage bag because it was too much for an envelope."
He says he made one million baht the equivalent of $30,000 a night at the massage parlors and he went public only because the police failed to protect him when he ran into his own legal troubles. Chuwit sold the parlors and rode his popularity to a strong but unsuccessful finish in the last mayor's race. This year, farther from the scandal and tougher from the political loss, he is pouring his personal fortune into a new and, he says, final bid for mayor.
A tireless man with a thin mustache and a square jaw, Chuwit, always quick with one-liners, is honest about his limitations: "I cannot fix the traffic. Nobody can fix the traffic." But he promises to fight government stasis and instead of kissing babies he has adopted an angry man persona. His campy posters show him glowering over a pair of binoculars meant to suggest a penetrating gaze. There are concerns that Chuwit is perhaps too comfortable in the economy's "gray areas" to trust with a seat like the governor's but Chuwit says his years as a marketer of sleaze were successful enough that he doesn't need to become a sleazy politician. As for those who disapprove of his years in the hot tubs, Chuwit shrugs. "The sex business is not a problem," he said. "If you don't have sex, that's a problem."
#2
"Politics is so dirty, so ugly," Chuwit Kamolvisit sighs. "I would rather sit tight in the nightclub, surrounded by girls, smoking cigars, drinking brandy, champagne. That was the perfect life."
Honesty in a public figure. A rare quality these days.
I saw the ad for this in the paper yesterday. The local news anchorwomen get together and run a fundraiser for the place. And I said to myself why the hell would a woman's shelter want a woman who makes jokes about gang rape in their program?
BOSTON - Comedian Sandra Bernhard said shes "terribly upset" that a Boston womens shelter cut her act from its annual benefit because she said Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin would be gang-raped if she ever visited New York. Bernhards made the remarks last month during her one-woman show in Washington D.C., before Palin visited New York to campaign. Bernhard said Palin would be "gang-raped by my big black brothers" during a diatribe in which she also criticized Palin for opposing abortion rights. Oh, Sandra, you're such a card! Waiter, another white wine spritzer please...
Rosies Place announced yesterday that Bernhard would not take part in their Oct. 16 luncheon "Funny Women ... Serious Business." Many women at the shelter have been victims of violence, public relations director Leemarie Mosca said. "In light of our mission, we dont think violence against women is a laughing matter," she said. Ah, c'mon, ya rube. The Manhattan smart set thought it was hilarious.
In a statement yesterday, Bernhard said Rosies Places decision was based on a misleading account of what she said, and her words were taken out of context. Yeah...out of context! That's the ticket!
Bernhard said the gang rape comment was part of a larger piece from her show about "women, racism, freedom and the extreme views of Governor Sarah Palin. In no way am I making any sort of joke about crimes against women quite the contrary. Im speaking out about someone who doesnt do enough to protect women," Bernhard said. "I think if you look at the real issues Im addressing, my intent becomes clear. I am a die-hard advocate for womens rights, and fully support the work of Rosies Place." You know, "nuance", and all that good shit...
Mosca said the shelter expected to book a replacement. "Right now, our main focus is our event and making sure the event is a success," Mosca said. "And for us, that means not including Sandra Bernhard at this time." Lovely picture of her at the link. Yeeeeeesh...
#1
She is an ugly bag of nasty vagina envy. I'd love to see these west-side new yorker Candace Bushnell wannabe's have a little one on one with Palin. I don't mean some kind of policy debate or a bunch of silly-ass gotcha like Couric pulled. No, I mean in round one its knives, in round 2 its guns and in round 3 you have to fight mano y mano. Its easy to run your mouth especially if you have nothing to say.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/02/2008 13:25 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"Senator Obama, Rantburger News here.
'Comedian' Sandra Bernhard recently said that if Sarah Palin were to visit New York, she would be 'gang-raped by my big black brothers.'
So tell us, Senator, as a half-black man, what do you think of Ms. Bernhard's announced belief that all black men are rapists?"
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/02/2008 13:46 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Rex to Bernhard: tough shiite!
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/02/2008 15:11 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Some background from the Globe. I guess the local newswomen don't read the blogs...
Rosie's Place has dumped Sandra Bernhard from its annual fund-raiser in the wake of the comedian's caustic comments about vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin. Last month, Bernhard said during her show in Washington, D.C., that Palin would be "gang-raped by her big black brothers" if she came to Manhattan. The comment caused a furor, but didn't reach event organizers at the Boston women's shelter and social service agency until Tuesday.
"I got an e-mail [Tuesday] from a viewer," event emcee and Channel 5 anchor Susan Wornick told us yesterday. "She was appalled that Rosie's Place and I would be associated with Sandra Bernhard after she said these things. I couldn't believe she said it. It was racist and sexist and wrong." Wornick immediately rang up Rosie's Place executive director Sue Marsh, who was already on the case. "We were horrified," Marsh said. "It's not a good match given the comment she made and the work that we do."
Bernhard was observing Rosh Hashana yesterday and was unavailable for comment, according to her manager's office. But, on her website, Bernhard wrote: "[T]hat comment is part of a much larger, nuanced, and yes, provocative (that's what I do) piece from my show about racism, freedom, women's rights, and the extreme views of Governor Sarah Palin - a woman who doesn't believe that other women should have the right to choose, even in cases of rape or 1ncest."
Marsh said the Oct. 16 luncheon, "Funny Women, Serious Business," at the Hynes Convention Center will go on, featuring local newscasters Lisa Hughes, Kate Merrill, Frances Rivera, Emily Rooney, Maria Stephanos, and Karen Swensen. Wornick said she and Marsh are lining up replacement talent, and local comedian Patty Ross has already signed on.
Rooney also expressed relief that Rosie's Place moved quickly to ax Bernhard. "I'm a free-speech advocate," Rooney said. "But for me it was the political angle. I felt uncomfortable with my position in the news world standing side-by-side with someone who's so partisan. And just the vile nature of it. A lot of the women in Rosie's Place are victims of everything she describes."
A day after a poll showed a new employer-sanctions proposal passing handily, some of the state's staunchest foes of illegal immigration called the ballot measure a sham.
"Proposition 202 is a fraud on the voters," said Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas. "In fact, it would enable illegal hiring."
Prop. 202 is the Stop Illegal Hiring Act, created by business groups unhappy with the state's employer-sanctions law. They say their aim is to keep the framework of the 2007 law intact, but to close loopholes, such as the current law's inability to go after employers who pay their workers only in cash. The measure, which goes before voters in the Nov. 4 general election, loosens the screening requirement placed on Arizona employers for new hires and raises the threshold for filing complaints about illegal hires by requiring complaints to be signed, rather than anonymous.
A Cronkite/Eight poll released Tuesday showed Prop. 202 passing with 63 percent, with 19 percent opposed.
But state Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, who authored the state's sanctions law, said he believes if voters understood what was in Prop. 202, the measure would fail. "Prop. 202 is just the opposite of what it says," Pearce said at a news conference also attended by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Minuteman Civil Defense Corps president Chris Simcox and several Republican lawmakers.
Pearce and his colleagues said they would spread the word about the ballot measure.
Simcox said the Minutemen will launch an educational effort on Prop. 202.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Captain admitted taking nuclear missile launch device
The one-time sex tycoon who would be mayor wants to clean up this sprawling, gritty city where he grew rich overseeing an empire of flesh. But weeks of shaking hands and giving speeches have left him longing for the days of massage girls and hot tubs. "Politics is so dirty, so ugly," Chuwit Kamolvisit sighs. "I would rather sit tight in the nightclub, surrounded by girls, smoking cigars, drinking brandy, champagne. That was the perfect life."
