Frivolous Friday Open Thread

5 Comments

1. 

   Nancy LeTourneau on September 1, 2006 at 4:07 pm

   I have a favorite, but its a little old.

   Molly Ivins tells it much better than I can, but its about a whacko running for the state leggie in TX from my hometown – Longview. He ran on a platform designed to scare everyone about the pinko commies. During the course of the race, he was shot in the arm and got to escalate all his rhetoric about the pinko’s out to get him. Trust inbreeding for the inability to keep your mouth shut, because his cousin confessed to being hired by this guy to shoot him. Molly ends this story by pointing to the wisdom of the TX leggie in having a law on the books that makes it a crime to hire someone to shoot you!!

2. 

   Renee in Ohio on September 1, 2006 at 4:08 pm

   Aaarrh! Avast! Ahoy!
   …and other things that start with “A”.

   Talk Like a Pirate Day be on its way!

3. 

   Shalimar on September 1, 2006 at 5:06 pm

   You can now count me among the people who are happy the media wasted so much time and energy covering this case last week.  I just spent a quarter at Goodwill to get a paperback called “Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey?” by Cyril Wecht.  Based on rank, it should sell for $15 on Amazon within a week, and I doubt it was anywhere near that valuable before the recent coverage created a run on available copies.

4. 

   blueneck on September 2, 2006 at 12:16 am

   Yo BooMan,  I know that there is two diary per day per person rule here, but I can’t find it documented anywhere.  I made the mistake earlier tonight of claiming that this rule was in the FAQ, but I checked behind myself and I could not find any mention of it.

   It would be nice if there were an official statement on this issue that we could all point to when necessary, so that a new member could feel comfortable that whoever tells them of the rule is not just making it up to object to a specific diary.

5. 

   rumi on September 2, 2006 at 8:24 am

   Hey y’all,

     I ran across an article that is worth noting as a chance for Ds to make some gains in the public/media. It should be known that I’m not much of a Party guy unless it’s either a new 3rd or wild and debaucheried  🙂

     I do see our best chance for change in supporting the Ds and making what ever positive changes we can to that party. So, anyway, this article shows the disconnect of the DoJ/admin/Congress with the ‘on the street’ law enforcement professionals across the country. There are several points the Ds could take up as being able to enact positive change if in control, primarily by accountability and direction for funding. It’s good to hear the police officials from several major cities point to the Clinton admin and 10 years ago as a model for what we need now and would work in the future.

   DOJ Official Skewered At Crime Forum

   …The first question went right to the heart of the Bush administration’s policy on guns — and the fact that Congress “is making it harder for the police and ATF to track” them….

   …more

   McNulty clearly knew coming in that he was going to be grilled. But the criticism was much stronger than he seemed to have anticipated, and he did not seem to be very well-briefed on some issues of prime importance to the attendees.

   …more

   One official complained that President Bush had never met with police chiefs. “There’s a war on the streets and the President doesn’t meet with us. The federal government has given up on us,” he said.

   The official also indicated that the feds “came up with a remarkable solution 10 years ago — to send money to locals to take care of crime — but now they’ve given up on that,” referring to the COPS program, launched during the Clinton administration. COPS aimed to send money to states and local entities to hire, train and equip police officers. The goal was to get 100,000 police on the street.

   McNulty seemed taken aback, but said he understood very well how significant that funding had been.

   “You say there’s less police on the streets than before 9/11. That’s an important thing to know,” McNulty noted.

   Bill Bratton, Police Chief of Los Angeles, then noted that the surge in crime has a new and troubling element — it’s largely driven by young people who are disassociated from mainstream America. Bratton advised McNulty to relay that message to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and to President Bush and Congress. Bratton said the COPS program had “gotten it right” and asked for the federal government’s involvement anew.

   “Homeland security has become the monster that ate criminal justice!” Springfield, Mass., Police Commissioner Edward Flynn added.

   (full article linked above)