Thursday, April 12, 2007
Zorn
Our new baby pup is very ill. He was not feeling well on Easter Sunday, but was still somewhat peppy. Monday he took a turn for the worst and my mother, who was frantic, took him to the vet. Turns out that his kidneys were failing . We did not know why. He was given an IV to clean out his kidneys which has helped a LOT. He was switched to a different hospital last night and I went to pick him up this am to take him back to the regular vet where he will stay for at least the next few days, and he was clearly feeling much better and was his usual peppy and active self. We don't know what he got into to cause the kidney problems( have not ruled out the dog food, but have not seen his food on the list of contaminated dog food) and he goes back to the emergency animal hospital tonight for observation and will go back to the reg vet in the a.m. I believe that Zorn will pull out of this. My family is cautiosly optimistic.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
This is horrible
Unprovoked beatings of homeless soaring By TODD LEWAN, AP National Writer
Sun Apr 8, 7:20 PM ET
ORLANDO, Fla. - It was a balmy night, the sort that brings the homeless out from the shelters, when the police were summoned to America Street. On the driveway of a condo, just a few paces from the gutter, lay a man. A dying man.
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He looked to be 50-ish, and a resident of Orlando's streets, judging by the moldy jacket. And he'd been bludgeoned — so badly bludgeoned that he could hardly move.
Before being rushed to the hospital, where he died of his head injuries, the man, August Felix, described his attackers. Young fellows did it, he whispered to the officers who got to him first. Kids.
Within three months, two 16-year-olds and three 15-year-olds had been charged with second-degree homicide in the March 26, 2006, attack. The motive? "I don't think there was a motive," Sgt. Barbara Jones, a police spokeswoman, said, "other than, 'Let's beat someone up.'"
That high-schoolers had turned — allegedly on a whim — into executioners brought pause to city officials and advocates for the homeless, not just because the killing was unprovoked, but because it fit into a trend larger than Orlando: a nationwide surge in violence largely by teenagers and young adults against some of America's most vulnerable citizens.
A 2006 report by the National Coalition for the Homeless found 142 attacks last year against homeless people, 20 of which resulted in death — a 65 percent increase from 2005, when 86 were violently assaulted, including 13 homicides.
By comparison, 60 such attacks were reported in 1999, the year the coalition — the only entity to gather such data — began to study the problem.
And these numbers are likely low because they only reflect the most egregious attacks reported in newspapers or by agencies that serve the homeless and some victims themselves, according to Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the Washington-based coalition.
The trend is particularly troubling, he says, because such attacks no longer occur just in major cities on the East and West Coasts, as was the case in the 1980s.
In its most recent study, "Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA," the coalition documented attacks against the destitute in 62 communities last year alone, in 26 states. Since 1999, such violence has occurred in 44 states and Puerto Rico, and in 200 communities nationwide.
An overwhelming majority of the attackers — 88 percent — were 25 or younger; 95 percent were male. No less than 68 percent of those accused and convicted in attacks were between the ages of 13 and 19.
This pattern of violence, in Stoops' view, hasn't gotten the attention it deserves from the public or law enforcement.
"Homeless people are the newest minority group in America that is 'OK' to hate and hurt," he said. "It's as though, somehow, they're viewed as less deserving, less human than the rest of us."
Americans did pay attention to the story of 58-year-old Jacques Pierre, a homeless man who'd been sleeping on a bench on a college campus when three teenagers woke him up, taunted him, then nearly killed him with baseball bats.
Why?
That Jan. 12, 2006, ambush in Fort Lauderdale was filmed by a surveillance camera, and broadcast worldwide.
"For once," says Sean Cononie, who operates a homeless shelter in that seaside city, "Americans saw with their own eyes how kids hunt down and kill homeless people as though it were a sport."
Such "sport" has occurred elsewhere:
_In Toms River, N.J., five high-school students were charged with beating a 50-year-old homeless man nearly to death with pipes and baseball bats — throwing hockey pucks at him for good measure — as he slept in the woods.
_In Butte, Mont., a 53-year-old homeless man was killed at a Greyhound bus depot because he refused to give another man a cigarette, according to court records. The victim's skull was fractured. The 22-year-old assailant received a 50-year prison sentence.
_In Spokane, Wash., a one-legged, 50-year-old homeless man was set on fire in his wheelchair on a downtown street; he died of his burns. Police charged a 22-year-old man with first-degree murder.
_In Nashville, Tenn., a 32-year-old homeless woman sleeping on a boat ramp was shoved into the Cumberland River, according to witnesses. Two men, ages 21 and 22, were charged with homicide in her drowning; authorities say the attack was unprovoked.
Cononie, who also publishes a monthly newspaper, "The Homeless Voice," reported another trend:
"Kids are even starting to videotape themselves hurting homeless people. That's something we never saw before."
He was referring to an February incident in Corpus Christi, Texas, in which a 22-year-old, a 16-year-old and a 15-year-old describe on camera how they are going to assault a homeless man, then do so.
On the tape, the attackers kick the man in the back, grab him, and flip him around to show off his injuries, according to police. The camera, which had been stolen, was recovered by the owner, who called police once she saw the footage.
Police have arrested one of the teens, and are looking for the other two suspects. The victim suffered a concussion but survived.
Some perpetrators are even younger. In late March, a homeless day laborer was walking at night through a neighborhood of Daytona Beach, Fla., when three boys on bicycles attacked him, striking him with a concrete block.
Two of the boys were 10 years old; the third was 17. Each has been charged with aggravated battery. "For a 10-year-old to pick up a cinder block and smash somebody's face with it, that defies logic," Michael Chitwood, Daytona's police chief, later told a reporter.
Though for the past decade assaults on the homeless have dotted the U.S. map, Florida is the state where such attacks are most frequent by far, the coalition's February report says.
Last year, the coalition documented 48 attacks in Florida, where 60,867 of the state's 17.8 million residents are homeless, according to federal figures. By comparison, 11 attacks were counted in California, where 170,270 of that state's 36 million people are homeless.
While some investigators believe the attacks are random, Sgt. Richard Ring, who investigated the murder of August Felix in Orlando last year, sees "a more deep-seated problem here."
As he puts it, "Our young people get prejudices from their parents in regard to homeless people. They don't identify with the homeless, and they don't seem to see them as important." With Felix, Ring adds, "the juveniles targeted him because he was easy prey."
Homeless advocates also link the trend to the popularity of "Bumfights," a video series created in 2001 and sold on the Internet. The videos feature homeless people battering one another for money.
A Bumfights DVD was cited as inspiration by a 19-year-old who pounced on a homeless man as he slept on a Los Angeles sidewalk, then pummeled him with an aluminum baseball bat. The 2005 beating put Ernest Adams, 56, into a coma for three weeks and cost him the sight in one eye.
Last July, a jury found his attacker, Justin Brumfield, guilty of assault; he is serving an 11-year prison sentence.
Internet site Bumfights.com, which sells the videos, says the purpose is to call attention to poverty and violence. "Please do not miss the point of these videos! Educate yourself. Help those who are less fortunate. Spread love not hate," the Web site says.
In 2002, Donald Brennan and Rufus Hannah, two homeless, army veterans, filed suit against the Las Vegas producers, alleging they were paid small amounts of money to bash their heads into walls, light their hair on fire, attack each other, and to tattoo "Bumfights" in bold letters across their hands and foreheads.
Later, the Bumfights producers agreed to pay an unspecified amount in damages and to no longer use Hannah and Brennan's images for promotional purposes.
The shock-video producers also pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to stage an illegal fight for their videos in 2003, and were ordered to perform community service. (In 2005, they were sentenced to six months in prison for having failed to complete the community service.)
The Associated Press sent an e-mail to Bumfights.com seeking comment for this story, but got no response.
A number of local governments have adopted ordinances that restrict where and when the homeless can sleep, stroll, beg, eat, bathe, or do laundry. And this trend may have an unintended effect — reinforcing negative stereotypes of homelessness, which contributes to the violence, some advocates say.
"When cities pass laws that target homeless people, they send a message to their communities that the homeless are not as valuable in the public eye as those with homes," says Tulin Ozdeger, a civil rights attorney at the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty.
Of late, there have been signs that lawmakers may be ready to crack down harder on those who assault the homeless without provocation — one being a recent push to categorize such attacks as hate crimes.
Currently, gays, along with racial, ethnic and religious groups, are covered by various hate crime laws around the country; convictions under these statutes usually carry harsher sentences than other types of crime.
Brian Levin, a criminologist and hate crimes expert at Cal State San Bernardino, says attacks on homeless people "fit the category like a glove," and should be punished as severely.
Hate crimes, he says, bear similar hallmarks: stereotyped victims, offenders who act on latent prejudices, offenders who seek thrills or feel superior to their victims, and a mob mentality that sweeps away caution.
"And on all these points," says Levin, "the attacks against the homeless are really indistinguishable from other hate crimes except for one difference — there are a heck of a lot more of them."
Between 1999 and 2005, 82 people were killed in America because of their race, ethnicity, or religious or sexual orientation, according to the FBI, which has been collecting data on hate crimes since 1990.
There were 169 homeless people murdered during that same period, the National Coalition for the Homeless says — a statistic that Levin describes as "astounding." It has caught the attention of some lawmakers.
Twenty-six members of Congress have asked the Government Accountability Office to determine whether attacks on the homeless should be classified as hate crimes under federal law.
In the meantime, homeless hate-crime bills are moving through the legislatures of six states: Maryland, California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Texas and Florida.
Sun Apr 8, 7:20 PM ET
ORLANDO, Fla. - It was a balmy night, the sort that brings the homeless out from the shelters, when the police were summoned to America Street. On the driveway of a condo, just a few paces from the gutter, lay a man. A dying man.
ADVERTISEMENT
He looked to be 50-ish, and a resident of Orlando's streets, judging by the moldy jacket. And he'd been bludgeoned — so badly bludgeoned that he could hardly move.
Before being rushed to the hospital, where he died of his head injuries, the man, August Felix, described his attackers. Young fellows did it, he whispered to the officers who got to him first. Kids.
Within three months, two 16-year-olds and three 15-year-olds had been charged with second-degree homicide in the March 26, 2006, attack. The motive? "I don't think there was a motive," Sgt. Barbara Jones, a police spokeswoman, said, "other than, 'Let's beat someone up.'"
That high-schoolers had turned — allegedly on a whim — into executioners brought pause to city officials and advocates for the homeless, not just because the killing was unprovoked, but because it fit into a trend larger than Orlando: a nationwide surge in violence largely by teenagers and young adults against some of America's most vulnerable citizens.
A 2006 report by the National Coalition for the Homeless found 142 attacks last year against homeless people, 20 of which resulted in death — a 65 percent increase from 2005, when 86 were violently assaulted, including 13 homicides.
By comparison, 60 such attacks were reported in 1999, the year the coalition — the only entity to gather such data — began to study the problem.
And these numbers are likely low because they only reflect the most egregious attacks reported in newspapers or by agencies that serve the homeless and some victims themselves, according to Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the Washington-based coalition.
The trend is particularly troubling, he says, because such attacks no longer occur just in major cities on the East and West Coasts, as was the case in the 1980s.
In its most recent study, "Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA," the coalition documented attacks against the destitute in 62 communities last year alone, in 26 states. Since 1999, such violence has occurred in 44 states and Puerto Rico, and in 200 communities nationwide.
An overwhelming majority of the attackers — 88 percent — were 25 or younger; 95 percent were male. No less than 68 percent of those accused and convicted in attacks were between the ages of 13 and 19.
This pattern of violence, in Stoops' view, hasn't gotten the attention it deserves from the public or law enforcement.
"Homeless people are the newest minority group in America that is 'OK' to hate and hurt," he said. "It's as though, somehow, they're viewed as less deserving, less human than the rest of us."
Americans did pay attention to the story of 58-year-old Jacques Pierre, a homeless man who'd been sleeping on a bench on a college campus when three teenagers woke him up, taunted him, then nearly killed him with baseball bats.
Why?
That Jan. 12, 2006, ambush in Fort Lauderdale was filmed by a surveillance camera, and broadcast worldwide.
"For once," says Sean Cononie, who operates a homeless shelter in that seaside city, "Americans saw with their own eyes how kids hunt down and kill homeless people as though it were a sport."
Such "sport" has occurred elsewhere:
_In Toms River, N.J., five high-school students were charged with beating a 50-year-old homeless man nearly to death with pipes and baseball bats — throwing hockey pucks at him for good measure — as he slept in the woods.
_In Butte, Mont., a 53-year-old homeless man was killed at a Greyhound bus depot because he refused to give another man a cigarette, according to court records. The victim's skull was fractured. The 22-year-old assailant received a 50-year prison sentence.
_In Spokane, Wash., a one-legged, 50-year-old homeless man was set on fire in his wheelchair on a downtown street; he died of his burns. Police charged a 22-year-old man with first-degree murder.
_In Nashville, Tenn., a 32-year-old homeless woman sleeping on a boat ramp was shoved into the Cumberland River, according to witnesses. Two men, ages 21 and 22, were charged with homicide in her drowning; authorities say the attack was unprovoked.
Cononie, who also publishes a monthly newspaper, "The Homeless Voice," reported another trend:
"Kids are even starting to videotape themselves hurting homeless people. That's something we never saw before."
He was referring to an February incident in Corpus Christi, Texas, in which a 22-year-old, a 16-year-old and a 15-year-old describe on camera how they are going to assault a homeless man, then do so.
On the tape, the attackers kick the man in the back, grab him, and flip him around to show off his injuries, according to police. The camera, which had been stolen, was recovered by the owner, who called police once she saw the footage.
Police have arrested one of the teens, and are looking for the other two suspects. The victim suffered a concussion but survived.
Some perpetrators are even younger. In late March, a homeless day laborer was walking at night through a neighborhood of Daytona Beach, Fla., when three boys on bicycles attacked him, striking him with a concrete block.
Two of the boys were 10 years old; the third was 17. Each has been charged with aggravated battery. "For a 10-year-old to pick up a cinder block and smash somebody's face with it, that defies logic," Michael Chitwood, Daytona's police chief, later told a reporter.
Though for the past decade assaults on the homeless have dotted the U.S. map, Florida is the state where such attacks are most frequent by far, the coalition's February report says.
Last year, the coalition documented 48 attacks in Florida, where 60,867 of the state's 17.8 million residents are homeless, according to federal figures. By comparison, 11 attacks were counted in California, where 170,270 of that state's 36 million people are homeless.
While some investigators believe the attacks are random, Sgt. Richard Ring, who investigated the murder of August Felix in Orlando last year, sees "a more deep-seated problem here."
As he puts it, "Our young people get prejudices from their parents in regard to homeless people. They don't identify with the homeless, and they don't seem to see them as important." With Felix, Ring adds, "the juveniles targeted him because he was easy prey."
Homeless advocates also link the trend to the popularity of "Bumfights," a video series created in 2001 and sold on the Internet. The videos feature homeless people battering one another for money.
A Bumfights DVD was cited as inspiration by a 19-year-old who pounced on a homeless man as he slept on a Los Angeles sidewalk, then pummeled him with an aluminum baseball bat. The 2005 beating put Ernest Adams, 56, into a coma for three weeks and cost him the sight in one eye.
Last July, a jury found his attacker, Justin Brumfield, guilty of assault; he is serving an 11-year prison sentence.
Internet site Bumfights.com, which sells the videos, says the purpose is to call attention to poverty and violence. "Please do not miss the point of these videos! Educate yourself. Help those who are less fortunate. Spread love not hate," the Web site says.
In 2002, Donald Brennan and Rufus Hannah, two homeless, army veterans, filed suit against the Las Vegas producers, alleging they were paid small amounts of money to bash their heads into walls, light their hair on fire, attack each other, and to tattoo "Bumfights" in bold letters across their hands and foreheads.
Later, the Bumfights producers agreed to pay an unspecified amount in damages and to no longer use Hannah and Brennan's images for promotional purposes.
The shock-video producers also pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to stage an illegal fight for their videos in 2003, and were ordered to perform community service. (In 2005, they were sentenced to six months in prison for having failed to complete the community service.)
The Associated Press sent an e-mail to Bumfights.com seeking comment for this story, but got no response.
A number of local governments have adopted ordinances that restrict where and when the homeless can sleep, stroll, beg, eat, bathe, or do laundry. And this trend may have an unintended effect — reinforcing negative stereotypes of homelessness, which contributes to the violence, some advocates say.
"When cities pass laws that target homeless people, they send a message to their communities that the homeless are not as valuable in the public eye as those with homes," says Tulin Ozdeger, a civil rights attorney at the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty.
Of late, there have been signs that lawmakers may be ready to crack down harder on those who assault the homeless without provocation — one being a recent push to categorize such attacks as hate crimes.
Currently, gays, along with racial, ethnic and religious groups, are covered by various hate crime laws around the country; convictions under these statutes usually carry harsher sentences than other types of crime.
Brian Levin, a criminologist and hate crimes expert at Cal State San Bernardino, says attacks on homeless people "fit the category like a glove," and should be punished as severely.
Hate crimes, he says, bear similar hallmarks: stereotyped victims, offenders who act on latent prejudices, offenders who seek thrills or feel superior to their victims, and a mob mentality that sweeps away caution.
"And on all these points," says Levin, "the attacks against the homeless are really indistinguishable from other hate crimes except for one difference — there are a heck of a lot more of them."
Between 1999 and 2005, 82 people were killed in America because of their race, ethnicity, or religious or sexual orientation, according to the FBI, which has been collecting data on hate crimes since 1990.
There were 169 homeless people murdered during that same period, the National Coalition for the Homeless says — a statistic that Levin describes as "astounding." It has caught the attention of some lawmakers.
Twenty-six members of Congress have asked the Government Accountability Office to determine whether attacks on the homeless should be classified as hate crimes under federal law.
In the meantime, homeless hate-crime bills are moving through the legislatures of six states: Maryland, California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Texas and Florida.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Here
Hi there. Well, things are going well for me, I am finally starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel on my finances. I have no mortgage. I paid off my house about two years ago. I only have 6 more car payments and the Toyota is mine.I will have my credit cards paid off by the end of next month. Then I will start saving like mad for my retirement! I will start putting money into my Roth IRAs and such. I have taken a complete and total interest in the subject of finance. I have been posting on the finance boards on AOL quite a bit. Those are very interesting, and not too many trolls over there. I just kinda got tired of the abortion boards. I have made some new friends, and gotten some great ideas on how to save money. I think that most of the posters over there are older than I am, but I think that is cool. Money is a great subject, it always interests everyone.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Hello again
Something that I have been dreading, something that has been in the back of my mind lately which is this: I have a doctor's appointment coming up , and that is going to be a physical. Yuck, I can tell that the doctor is going to chew me out for being oevr weight. I just know it. I also have type two diabetes. I control it with meds and I stay fairly active, working alot lately(this week I will have worked about 60 hours) . The appoint ment is a week from Friday. It will probably include a pap smear , a pelvic exam, and bloodwork, at least. I will be glad to get it over and done with. On the bright side, my personal war against poverty, I am finally winning. I am nearly out of debt. By the end of this Spring, I will have all of my credit cards paid off. I already have some decent funds in the bank. By the end of this Summer, I will have my car paid off, therefore, I will be COMPLETELY debt free! I have been so intense about paying off all of my debt, and I see a light at the end of the tunnel. My debt was not as big as most peoples, but it will be nice to be completely debt free and not even 39 years old yet! I will certainly be a rarity . .. now if I could just find a man. On that thought, on attracting the opposite sex, I don't really have any problem in that area. I have not had any trouble getting dates. I would like to get married someday.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Dr Tiller is a hero
Effort against Dr. Tiller fails
Legislator says move to have abortionist criminally charged appears dead
By James Carlson
The Capital-Journal
Published Thursday, March 29, 2007
The legislative push for the attorney general to charge the state's most prominent abortion doctor appears dead, Rep. Arlen Siegfreid, R-Olathe, said Wednesday.
"To my knowledge you will not see it on the floor this year," he said.
The pronouncement came after a bizarre series of events, including a rarely used law, a rally in the Statehouse and a committee hearing many said broke House rules.
House leaders last week sent a letter to Attorney General Paul Morrison urging him to press charges against Dr. George Tiller, who runs an abortion clinic in Wichita. Tiller is one of a handful of doctors in the nation who performs late-term abortions.
On Monday, social conservatives announced they would invoke a statute allowing the House to direct the attorney general to proceed with a prosecution.
At this point, some Democrats said Siegfreid ran afoul of procedure.
A resolution on Monday was drafted ordering Morrison to charge Tiller. The House Federal and State Affairs Committee, of which Siegfreid is the chairman, then met and voted to send the resolution to the full House, said Rep. Ann Mah, D-Topeka.
"You just can't do that," she said. "You have to introduce it in the House first."
According to House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, D-Greensburg, a bill has to be introduced in the committee, then read in to the House, where the speaker of the House then refers it to a committee.
"It's so important that we keep following the rules because that's what makes the process work," McKinney said.
Siegfreid, however, said nothing was done wrong.
"It was read in the same day we took action on it," he said.
According to the legislative journal, the bill was read in Monday, but after the committee had already taken a vote to send it to the House. Siegfreid said the problem arose because a reviser of statutes wasn't at the hearing, and as a result no committee report could initially be read in to the House.
About whether the sequence of events matter, Siegfreid said: "Oh, baloney. That's how it's always done."
At that point, the measure was sent back to the committee and another hearing was held Tuesday, but no action was taken.
Also on Tuesday, Kansans for Life led a group of 100 advocates in a rally calling for Morrison to charge Tiller.
The Tiller case has been in the middle of a bitter debate for years. Most recently, it played a part in the attorney general campaign.
Former Attorney General Phill Kline filed 30 criminal charges against Tiller in December, a month before he left office. Kline alleged in his criminal complaint that Tiller failed to report the details of 15 illegal late-term abortions he performed in 2003 on patients ages 10 to 22.
Those charges were later thrown out by a Sedgwick County District Court judge.
Abortion opponents have since called for Morrison to resurrect those charges.
The statute Republicans hoped to use states that any branch of the Legislature can direct the attorney general to bring charges in state court. The Legislature used the same law in 2002 to direct the attorney general to sue the governor over Medicaid money used on abortions, and it was Kline who acted on that resolution in 2005.
On Wednesday, Democrats on the House Federal and State Affairs Committee said Monday's hearing was only meant to bring attention to the abortion debate.
"I think they just wanted to have something for the rally folks," Mah said. "I think they got all the press they needed and they're done with it."
Rep. Nile Dillmore, D-Wichita, said Siegfreid wanted to have "a moment of glory" for the abortion opponents.
"Instead what he got was a big embarrassment," he said.
James Carlson
Legislator says move to have abortionist criminally charged appears dead
By James Carlson
The Capital-Journal
Published Thursday, March 29, 2007
The legislative push for the attorney general to charge the state's most prominent abortion doctor appears dead, Rep. Arlen Siegfreid, R-Olathe, said Wednesday.
"To my knowledge you will not see it on the floor this year," he said.
The pronouncement came after a bizarre series of events, including a rarely used law, a rally in the Statehouse and a committee hearing many said broke House rules.
House leaders last week sent a letter to Attorney General Paul Morrison urging him to press charges against Dr. George Tiller, who runs an abortion clinic in Wichita. Tiller is one of a handful of doctors in the nation who performs late-term abortions.
On Monday, social conservatives announced they would invoke a statute allowing the House to direct the attorney general to proceed with a prosecution.
At this point, some Democrats said Siegfreid ran afoul of procedure.
A resolution on Monday was drafted ordering Morrison to charge Tiller. The House Federal and State Affairs Committee, of which Siegfreid is the chairman, then met and voted to send the resolution to the full House, said Rep. Ann Mah, D-Topeka.
"You just can't do that," she said. "You have to introduce it in the House first."
According to House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, D-Greensburg, a bill has to be introduced in the committee, then read in to the House, where the speaker of the House then refers it to a committee.
"It's so important that we keep following the rules because that's what makes the process work," McKinney said.
Siegfreid, however, said nothing was done wrong.
"It was read in the same day we took action on it," he said.
According to the legislative journal, the bill was read in Monday, but after the committee had already taken a vote to send it to the House. Siegfreid said the problem arose because a reviser of statutes wasn't at the hearing, and as a result no committee report could initially be read in to the House.
About whether the sequence of events matter, Siegfreid said: "Oh, baloney. That's how it's always done."
At that point, the measure was sent back to the committee and another hearing was held Tuesday, but no action was taken.
Also on Tuesday, Kansans for Life led a group of 100 advocates in a rally calling for Morrison to charge Tiller.
The Tiller case has been in the middle of a bitter debate for years. Most recently, it played a part in the attorney general campaign.
Former Attorney General Phill Kline filed 30 criminal charges against Tiller in December, a month before he left office. Kline alleged in his criminal complaint that Tiller failed to report the details of 15 illegal late-term abortions he performed in 2003 on patients ages 10 to 22.
Those charges were later thrown out by a Sedgwick County District Court judge.
Abortion opponents have since called for Morrison to resurrect those charges.
The statute Republicans hoped to use states that any branch of the Legislature can direct the attorney general to bring charges in state court. The Legislature used the same law in 2002 to direct the attorney general to sue the governor over Medicaid money used on abortions, and it was Kline who acted on that resolution in 2005.
On Wednesday, Democrats on the House Federal and State Affairs Committee said Monday's hearing was only meant to bring attention to the abortion debate.
"I think they just wanted to have something for the rally folks," Mah said. "I think they got all the press they needed and they're done with it."
Rep. Nile Dillmore, D-Wichita, said Siegfreid wanted to have "a moment of glory" for the abortion opponents.
"Instead what he got was a big embarrassment," he said.
James Carlson
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOORKKKKKKKKKKK!
Yes I know I have not been posting here lately, but I have been UBER BUSY! And when I am back in front of the computer, I relax by playing popcap games. I AM THE CHUZZLE QUEEN! And I am addicted to Welch's purple grape juice!
Friday, March 16, 2007
LUCK
pick up pennies every time I see them on the ground. One day I found almost twenty of them-along with a ten dollar bill by a trash dumpster at work. I was just carrying the trash to the huge dumpster out back when I happen to look down and see some pennies there. I bend down to pick them up, and then look along the fenceline to see what appeared to be a dollar bill. Actually there were two one dollar bills and a ten spot. JOY! One time, my mother, who is a fabulous antiquester, found a crumpled up fifty dollar bill on the floor of an antique mall years ago. Anyone else had experiences like this?
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Camera
I finally have my camera figured out, and just when I get some pics down loaded to my computer, I cannot seem to get them added here. I can however send them in an attachement via email. So if you want a picture of my sweet baby Zorn, just ask and I will email it to you. Yesterday, he had to stay in a pen with one of the big dogs because if he came into the office, he would just make a mess of things and possibly get hurt because of all of the electrical cords. I let him out often and he just fluttered around my feet he was so excited to be with me.When I put him back in the pen he would whine and cry so loud. Poor guy. He has to get used to it though. He stayed home with mom and dad to day though. Thank GOD. One of the guys that I work with just discovered that he has gout, and does not need to listen to the whining and wailing from the lil guy.Zorn has a great big yard that he plays in when he stays at home with his mom and dad. He is already one spoiled little guy.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
New baby
I am sorry that I have not been keeping up here recently! Been busy with work and the new furbaby..
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Good article, Yahoo!
While I do not completely agree with this Yahoo! Article, I thought it was a good one:
Posted on Thursday, March 1, 2007, 3:00AM
"Maxed Out," a documentary that opens nationwide next week, examines the dark side of America's love affair with debt.
By turns humorous and heartbreaking, "Maxed Out" exposes the targeting techniques of credit card companies (the most profitable customers are broke); the gold rush mentality in the business of debt collection; an influential credit scoring industry riddled with errors; and the power of the credit card lobby at the highest levels of government. (MBNA, the biggest campaign contributor to President Bush, was behind the restrictive bankruptcy legislation of 2005.)
Submerged in Debt
"Maxed Out" is directed by filmmaker James Scurlock, a Wharton business school dropout and entrepreneur. Scurlock also wrote a book based on the film, which is due out next week from Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster.
Scurlock says he started out hoping to do a lighthearted riff on consumer irresponsibility, but was shocked by what he found: College students and housewives committing suicide over their credit card debt, and the nation's biggest banks involved in predatory lending schemes.
In one case, the film shows Citigroup's lending arm foreclosing on a Mississippi shack owned by developmentally impaired woman and her severely retarded 44-year-old son after they were refinanced into a loan they couldn't afford.
"I wanted to know why people are living so close to the edge," says Scurlock. "A lot of people just haven't been able to keep pace with expenses like health care, education, and housing. Credit cards become the life raft that people don't even have to reach for -- they're just there." Scurlock points to new "medical" credit cards, for example, which invite consumers to dive deeper and deeper in debt.
Conservative Consumer Advocacy
This indictment of the industry comes from a 34-year-old who was voted "most conservative" by his business school peers at the University of Pennsylvania, and who worked on the election campaign for George H.W. Bush.
"It's not in anyone's interest to have a financial industry that behaves like a used-car dealership," says Scurlock. "I think it's conservative to expect that credit will be regulated in this country. People need to have to have a strong financial industry that's trusted -- and to the extent that that erodes, that's very bad for the country and the economy."
In the film, Scurlock interviews the two young founders of People First Recoveries, a Minnesota collections and debt purchasing firm, who purport to represent the "kinder, gentler" side of the debt collection business. And yet they describe themselves as "pirates" -- using swashbuckling techniques like calling neighbors and relatives to intimidate debtors into paying.
In another interview, Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren recalls a presentation she did for financial services executives in which she discussed how many bankruptcies could be prevented simply by eliminating those customers on the financial edge. A member of the firm informed her that those consumers comprise the most profitable part of the business.
The Personal Accountability Gap
Unfortunately, Scurlock never directly addresses the personal-accountability aspect of debt in his film. I was hoping he would ask at least a few hard questions about the consumption choices that lead people into the red.
"A lot of people we talked to said, Gee looking back at the level of debt, there should be a Mercedes or a Ferrari in my driveway, but I have nothing to show for it,'" Scurlock says. "Most Americans are very optimistic. They think things will always get better from here, they'll make more money, they won't have any emergencies. Credit has become so ingrained in the culture that so many people can't imagine living without it. Once you decide you're never going to be out of debt, you can afford anything."
Other than my mortgage, which is fixed for 30 years at a low interest rate, I don't do debt. No revolving credit card debt, no auto loans, no home equity borrowing. Would I like to bust out the back of my home and create a designer kitchen and family room? You bet. Am I going to sacrifice my children's college savings or retirement goals on the altar of my extreme makeover? No way.
I had the good luck to have wise parents born during the Depression, who drew a very clear line about debt. They taught me that you buy things you can afford -- not things on which you can afford a monthly payment. You don't shop for recreation. And the only thing you should borrow to buy is an appreciating asset that will very likely, over time, pay you back more than you put into it, such as a home.
Anything But Maxed Out
Here's my problem with taking on debt: I have a profound respect for the unknown. For instance, my husband and I work for ourselves. This is an excellent way to avoid ruthless bosses and layoffs. But if one of us were to get injured or become ill, it would be pretty hard to keep business hopping.
Meanwhile, I'm optimistic that if I work hard, my income will continue to rise. On the other hand, I have dozens of friends and acquaintances who, despite their hard work, were downsized or squeezed out after a merger, spent long periods unemployed, and/or returned to jobs that paid less. The rosy scenario of a steadily climbing income that peaks just before retirement is the stuff of economic models -- not the real life of the middle-income Americans I know.
Here's the other irony: Credit card companies market their products by claiming they offer you a world of choices -- take that dream vacation, buy the 60-inch television. But by steering completely clear of credit card debt and saving on a regular basis over time, I found myself with much richer options -- choices about how I would balance work with family, health, and friendship. That satisfaction is more enduring than anything I could have purchased with plastic.
Buying with Blinders On
Why, I asked Scurlock, don't people understand this? Why do so many consumers buy things on credit and then pay double for them over time? Why do they sacrifice what they want most in life for what they want this very second?
It's pretty simple, Scurlock says: "I think there's a lot of denial. Most people can't do the math. There is very little, if any, focus on the balance sheet side of the equation."
Posted on Thursday, March 1, 2007, 3:00AM
"Maxed Out," a documentary that opens nationwide next week, examines the dark side of America's love affair with debt.
By turns humorous and heartbreaking, "Maxed Out" exposes the targeting techniques of credit card companies (the most profitable customers are broke); the gold rush mentality in the business of debt collection; an influential credit scoring industry riddled with errors; and the power of the credit card lobby at the highest levels of government. (MBNA, the biggest campaign contributor to President Bush, was behind the restrictive bankruptcy legislation of 2005.)
Submerged in Debt
"Maxed Out" is directed by filmmaker James Scurlock, a Wharton business school dropout and entrepreneur. Scurlock also wrote a book based on the film, which is due out next week from Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster.
Scurlock says he started out hoping to do a lighthearted riff on consumer irresponsibility, but was shocked by what he found: College students and housewives committing suicide over their credit card debt, and the nation's biggest banks involved in predatory lending schemes.
In one case, the film shows Citigroup's lending arm foreclosing on a Mississippi shack owned by developmentally impaired woman and her severely retarded 44-year-old son after they were refinanced into a loan they couldn't afford.
"I wanted to know why people are living so close to the edge," says Scurlock. "A lot of people just haven't been able to keep pace with expenses like health care, education, and housing. Credit cards become the life raft that people don't even have to reach for -- they're just there." Scurlock points to new "medical" credit cards, for example, which invite consumers to dive deeper and deeper in debt.
Conservative Consumer Advocacy
This indictment of the industry comes from a 34-year-old who was voted "most conservative" by his business school peers at the University of Pennsylvania, and who worked on the election campaign for George H.W. Bush.
"It's not in anyone's interest to have a financial industry that behaves like a used-car dealership," says Scurlock. "I think it's conservative to expect that credit will be regulated in this country. People need to have to have a strong financial industry that's trusted -- and to the extent that that erodes, that's very bad for the country and the economy."
In the film, Scurlock interviews the two young founders of People First Recoveries, a Minnesota collections and debt purchasing firm, who purport to represent the "kinder, gentler" side of the debt collection business. And yet they describe themselves as "pirates" -- using swashbuckling techniques like calling neighbors and relatives to intimidate debtors into paying.
In another interview, Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren recalls a presentation she did for financial services executives in which she discussed how many bankruptcies could be prevented simply by eliminating those customers on the financial edge. A member of the firm informed her that those consumers comprise the most profitable part of the business.
The Personal Accountability Gap
Unfortunately, Scurlock never directly addresses the personal-accountability aspect of debt in his film. I was hoping he would ask at least a few hard questions about the consumption choices that lead people into the red.
"A lot of people we talked to said, Gee looking back at the level of debt, there should be a Mercedes or a Ferrari in my driveway, but I have nothing to show for it,'" Scurlock says. "Most Americans are very optimistic. They think things will always get better from here, they'll make more money, they won't have any emergencies. Credit has become so ingrained in the culture that so many people can't imagine living without it. Once you decide you're never going to be out of debt, you can afford anything."
Other than my mortgage, which is fixed for 30 years at a low interest rate, I don't do debt. No revolving credit card debt, no auto loans, no home equity borrowing. Would I like to bust out the back of my home and create a designer kitchen and family room? You bet. Am I going to sacrifice my children's college savings or retirement goals on the altar of my extreme makeover? No way.
I had the good luck to have wise parents born during the Depression, who drew a very clear line about debt. They taught me that you buy things you can afford -- not things on which you can afford a monthly payment. You don't shop for recreation. And the only thing you should borrow to buy is an appreciating asset that will very likely, over time, pay you back more than you put into it, such as a home.
Anything But Maxed Out
Here's my problem with taking on debt: I have a profound respect for the unknown. For instance, my husband and I work for ourselves. This is an excellent way to avoid ruthless bosses and layoffs. But if one of us were to get injured or become ill, it would be pretty hard to keep business hopping.
Meanwhile, I'm optimistic that if I work hard, my income will continue to rise. On the other hand, I have dozens of friends and acquaintances who, despite their hard work, were downsized or squeezed out after a merger, spent long periods unemployed, and/or returned to jobs that paid less. The rosy scenario of a steadily climbing income that peaks just before retirement is the stuff of economic models -- not the real life of the middle-income Americans I know.
Here's the other irony: Credit card companies market their products by claiming they offer you a world of choices -- take that dream vacation, buy the 60-inch television. But by steering completely clear of credit card debt and saving on a regular basis over time, I found myself with much richer options -- choices about how I would balance work with family, health, and friendship. That satisfaction is more enduring than anything I could have purchased with plastic.
Buying with Blinders On
Why, I asked Scurlock, don't people understand this? Why do so many consumers buy things on credit and then pay double for them over time? Why do they sacrifice what they want most in life for what they want this very second?
It's pretty simple, Scurlock says: "I think there's a lot of denial. Most people can't do the math. There is very little, if any, focus on the balance sheet side of the equation."
Thursday, March 01, 2007
My dream
Last night . It was a really, REALLY wierd one. I dreamt that I went on a vacation with my family and we went to some national wetland/marshland place to take pictures of birds. Well, my maternal grandmother,(who in real life has been dead for years) was driving. She was not doing a very good job of it, and she ended up driving us into some sort of pond or marsh. We all somehow got out of the car ok, but I lost all my credit cards and cash at the bottom of that pond! At the end of the dream, The car was being pulled out, and no purse of mine was find. I was fretting on how to get my money back, and then the caymans came into the pond! It was creeeeepy because it seemed so real! Anyone ever had a dream like this?
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Hey VERIZON WIRELESS!
I am a little bit irked at Verizon Wireless now. Yesterday when I got home from work, I picked up my mail, and see this very thin envelope from Verizon wireless. Oh JOY! I think it is my fifty dollar rebate ! Finally HERE! NOT. Turns out it was just a letter letting me know about my account at Verizonwireless.com. Something I already have anyway. Those assholes! How could they toy with me this way! THEY KNOW that when they sent this out that I was going to think this was my check!!They are sooooo going to hear about this from me..just kidding about the last sentence lolololol
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Sick of it
I do not wish to speak ill of the dead at all, but I am so sick of hearing about anything even remotely that deals with Anna Nicole Smith. I am sorry, but not shocked to her of her and her son's death. I do feel very sorry for her new baby, little Dani Lynn. But I have had my fill of hearing about the custody case of her body and who is the father of her baby. I get to where I just change the channel on the radio station when I hear her name. Seems that in regards to her, everyone on the tv/radio (ok almost everyone) has their hands out for a dollar. That is ALL I AM GOING TO SAY ABOUT HER.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Forget
Forget the last post I made. The link takes you to the wrong place! Some foreign website. I just typed a question into Yahoo!questions and got an answer . I will post it here later!
Lifelong question FINALLY ANSWERED!
http://users.pandora.be/worldstandards/d... If the link does not work, just type into your browser!
Monday, February 19, 2007
February 17, 2007
My income tax refund came in the mail today. I won't say how much the refund is, but lets just say that I have changed my withholding status and I will never loan the money out to the government again. I am not one that normally complains a lot about the way that our government spends and invests our money, but I will say that the government does not do the best job in the way that they handle it. Yes, there are taxes that have to be paid. That is just part of being an American. This year, I am making some serious financial changes. My car is almost paid off. By the end of this month, I will be almost debt free, as my credit cards will be paid off. I really want to owe NO ONE any money, other than daily living expenses. There will always be taxes, just a part of life.A few years ago, I started funding a Roth Ira, but I kinda let that slide for a while. After the end of this month, I am really going to 'hit the bricks', and start saving more for retirement, as I see that Social Security will probably not be around anymore by the time I am ready to retire. I am only 38 years old, and have no kids,so this might make saving money a little easier.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Happy Valentine's Day
Happy Valentine's Day, every body! Yes, I know I know.. need to update. Will with my next post!
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Has it been so long
Well my folks have finally started on their trip to Atlanta this week. By the time you read this, they will be gone. There is a rental show going on in Atlanta and my folks chose to drive. No matter where the show is, they prefer to drive. If I go, I prefer to fly. Less expensive for me to fly anyway. Every year, different people get to go to the ARA show, and I am really glad that I get to stay home. I am in charge of payroll and the bills and books. So I kinda have to stay this year anyway.But this week, I will be back and forth between the stores quite a bit. Thank God that my cell phone and my Toyota are tough little bastards. Huh.
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