Melissa Etheridge, champion of gay rights, declared back in November 2008 that because the people of California voted to keep marriage between a man and a woman, she would no longer pay taxes.  Her “reasoning” (I call it emotional blabbering) for not paying taxes was that it made her a “second class citizen” so she no longer needed to pay taxes.  Taunting the government, she blogged that the government would not be getting her “half million” in taxes owed.  Too bad that California and the country are going through tough times Melissa stated, she was keeping the extra money.  Who cares that she still uses California services, she no longer needed to pay her share.  Here’s the story.  

Anyway, for some reason, this story is still “news”, as it was on the front page of my AOL welcome screen a few days ago, and it made me think.   

As a single mom, I have worked hard to make something of myself (despite not going to college), and this year I am told by the government I owe taxes.  You can imagine how reading Melissa’s little tantrum makes me a little bit frustrated. 

Here is some reality for Ms. Etheridge.  I will be paying over $1,200 in Federal taxes this year (may seem small compared to her amount, but let me tell you that the money is needed much more in my household).  Do I like the fact that I am paying the taxes…no.  However, do I understand it as being part of living in this society, yes.  Is it then my right to be ABOVE THE LAW just because I don’t feel like paying taxes for whatever whimsical reason I can concoct today?  Let’s see, I am upset at a lot of things lately – maybe I should withhold paying my taxes because I disagree with Pelosi spending it on contraception?  Maybe I should withhold taxes because Obama is now paying for baby murder with my hard earned money?  Maybe I should withhold it because greedy politicians will end up stuffing it in their pockets anyway?   

Where does it begin and end? 

Here’s the kicker – before Prop 8, Ms. Etheridge had the same rights she has today.  She is able to legally be with her partner (just without the use of the word marriage).  Nothing has changed.  She is no more a second class citizen now than she was last October 2008.  Come and talk to me about being a second class citizen when you are really mistreated and denied your rights, like not being allowed to vote, or denied access to a restaurant because you’re gay – not just because the majority of California has an opinion different than yours.   

In her blog, Melissa also asks “Since when did we start legislating morality?”  Here’s the answer - always.  Does she not realize that when the government says “Murder is wrong” it is legislating morality?  Or how about when the laws state that it is not okay for a 40 year old man to rape a 10 year old girl?  That is legislating morality is it not?   

Anyway, I expect that if this woman does not pay her taxes, the full authority of the law will come down on her.  I’d ask Wesley Snipes how he would feel about Melissa getting away with not paying taxes.  

If they allow one person to skip taxes based on ideology, then maybe it’s time we all did.  After all, how many people can the government actually fit in Federal prison?   My guess is there’s not enough room to hold every single American that hates to pay taxes.  

Last night he had Dr. Drew Pinsky as a guest.  Dr. Drew is pretty well known (recently has the celebrity rehab shown on VH-1. 

Glen and Dr. Drew were discussing the emotional reaction to the AIG bonus scandal (see a clip here).  Glen brought up the fact that United States SENATORS were making ridiculous statements such as suggesting AIG employees who received bonuses should commit suicide (Sen. Grassley – sadly a Republican from Iowa), and the apathetic reactions (like just shrugging your shoulders and continuing with nonsense) from the likes of Sen. Barney Frank when Liddy (current CEO of AIG) advised that AIG employees had received death threats (some as horribly descriptive as using telephone wire and involving their families and children) and that releasing their names publicly could bring serious harm to innocent families – yes, Sen. Frank just continued with his gibberish.   

The general nature of the discussion, and it’s worth watching the whole clip, was that these overreactions by United States Senators, people who are supposed to be the leaders and are the lawmakers, were narcissistic and borderline crazy.  Beck suggested that it was a mob mentality on behalf of these politicians – trying to overrule the law (by finding ways to void a legal contract) and letting their emotions rule instead of the law (emotions that are fake and hypocritical anyway - see yesterday’s post for more on that) .  

Dr. Drew compared what is going on now to pre-French Revolution times, where those at the top thought they were “above the law.”  It made sense since there are actually US Senators thinking that in “solving” these problems they can overstep laws, retroactively implement laws, and tax 100% of the money that an individual made privately in a legally binding contract, which is completely ridiculous.

Based on last night’s show, I did a little more research because the media is spinning this story every which way, except in the way of truth.  First, I want to make clear some things I learned, that I did not get from reading any MSM notes. 

* Of note, Ed Liddy, the current CEO of AIG, came out of retirement (called upon as a public service) to help out with the AIG mess.  He did not create the mess and for some people to call for jail time of Liddy is stupid and defies any common sense (even Sen. Frank had to openly admit that). 

* The so-called “performance” bonuses everyone is all in a “rage” over, are actually retention bonuses.  What’s the difference you ask?  Well, Liddy explained it very well.  AIG needs to get back on its feet in order to pay back the money they took from the Federal government.  AIG will never get back on its feet if the people working there now just quit and leave behind a mess, without winding down the sections of the company that created the problem.  In order to keep these people working there, they paid them money to stay and do a good job in winding these areas of the company down.  Once they were done with the winding down aspect, they were allowed to leave.  Ignoramus, Sen. Barney Frank, doesn’t get that.  He keeps saying that he wants the names of the people that took money from AIG and then just quit.  HELLOOO!!! That was the point of retention payments - pay these people to finish the job (even if it was “distasteful” to give them any money as Liddy stated), which is necessary to keep AIG afloat, and then get rid of them. 

Nobody likes the bailouts- nobody wants to hear about people getting million dollar bonuses, but what is making this situation worse is the lack of truthful explanation from the government, especially the Treasury and the President, and the media’s refusal yet again to be unbiased and to seek the full story. 

Politicians are so intent on holding on to their power, making money, and still looking like the heros in front of the American people, that they are crumbling.  You cannot have it all.  You cannot always have your way.  And most importantly, the truth always, always, always comes to light – even if it’s not at the moment. 

Michelle Malkin has a good take on it (btw she looked great on the Glenn Beck show and is very well spoken – I can say that even though I disagree with her delivery of message on certain issues). 

Update:  Friday’s CG here’s a good read from Michael Goodwyn at the NY Daily News.

On March 9, 2009, Obama lifted the ban on embryonic stem cell research.  President Bush had formerly placed restrictions, and was only funding embryonic stem cell lines produced before August 9, 2001.   

Once again, Barack Obama reveals his true stance on things – not the moderate BS he spewed day-in-and day-out while on campaign.  Worst of all, he is promoting bad science.  

I can easily argue why this is morally wrong from a religious standpoint, but I’ll stick to my argument of bad science.   

Obama has just approved the use of taxpayer money to fund a science that has had no success in its research.  The taxpayer money will fund embryonic stem cell research, which involves the murder of human embryos (babies), but has yet to be successful in treating diseases.  This, in spite of the fact that Adult Stem Cell research (which does not involve destroying embryos and is described as “fragments of skin to create stem cells”) has been recognized as a better alternative and has been successful in treating various diseases. 

Daniel McConchie wrote about the false hope of embryonic stem cell research on The Center for Bioethics Human Dignity website.  

Mr. Hughes at the COG For Life blog states it best (in my opinion):  

“Adult stem cells (or, more accurately, tissue stem cells) are regenerative cells of the human body that possess the characteristic of plasticity–the ability to specialize and develop into other tissues of the body. Beginning in an unspecialized and undeveloped state, they can be coaxed to become heart tissue, neural matter, skin cells, and a host of other tissues. They are found in our own organs and tissues such as fat, bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, placentas, neuronal sources, and olfactory tissue, which resides in the upper nasal cavity.[2] This simple fact has remarkable implications for medicine–diseased or damaged tissue can become healthy and robust through the infusion of such cells. This has consequently commanded the attention of many researchers as well as those suffering from disease.   

It is necessary to note that the power of adult stem cells is not nebulously potential, but tangible and real, as it has produced wonderful results in multiple cases. These have been documented in clinical trials, that is, treatments with human patients. With adult stem cells, physicians have successfully treated autoimmune diseases such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.[3] Furthermore, adult stem cells have helped to avert corneal degeneration and to restore vision in cases of blindness.[4] They have also restored proper cardiac function to heart attack sufferers[5] and improved movement in spinal cord injury patients.[”  

It is worth reading the whole thing (note that he wrote this in 2004).   

In 2007, the man who created Dolly the sheep by cloning, abandoned cloning altogether because he realized that adult stem cell research had the “best chance of leading to effective cures for chronic illnesses.”   

You can find many more articles about the success of adult stem cell research just by Googling.   

My point is this – why promote, and fund with taxpayer money, a science that has not yielded positive results and is at the center of a moral argument, when there is a better alternative?  I can find no real reason other than eagerness to promote your political views.   

If Obama were to admit that adult stem cell research has been more successful than embryonic stem cell research, he would essentially be saying that conservatives and many Republicans (including President Bush) were right, and that Democrats and liberal nuts were wrong.  

President Obama, the man who campaigned on bringing people together, would rather keep Americans separated by lies than united in truth.  Truth be damned with Mr. Obama – who needs truth when lies have gotten you the White House, and who needs truth when lies bring in more money to your causes, right?   

Update:  In doing further reading, I found someone that said it way better than I could and ties in the financial aspects of the argument.  Good read. 

“I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”

And, to drive the point “home”:

“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”

Those quotes are from Thomas Jefferson, found on a very interesting site. Seems the big city boys over in California and Oregon are neglectin’ some rural folks, who’ve had enough. So there are 51 counties who want to secede from their respective states to form the 51st state of the US. The state’s name: Jefferson, after you-know-who. I wish them luck in their movement to bring back self-government that looks after the interests of the people and not special interests. Hat tip to Conservative Grapevine, who linked to this SF Gate article about the movement to form Jefferson.

I don’t think I need to expand on how the banks and corporations and, mostly, Congress just screwed us out of $700 billion. However, in this case, the DIRECT cause of the crisis can be laid at the feet of Democrats. Even Saturday Night Live placed the blame where it needed to go (watch a copy of the skit here, while you can – though their server seems to be getting pounded from the Malkin link)…that is before the skit video mysteriously disappeared from history. According to others (via Michelle Malkin link that follows), Could it be the work of George Soros and his far-left comrades in their ongoing effort to silence the opposition? Probably…

Though, it wouldn’t surprise me if NBC made the decision on their own. Everyday more and more evidence comes out showing that the Main Stream Media is intentionally editing, censoring, and covering up anything that could hurt Barack Obama’s chances of getting elected (if you want more links, let me know). From Instapundit:

A READER AT A MAJOR NEWSROOM EMAILS: “Off the record, every suspicion you have about MSM being in the tank for O is true. We have a team of 4 people going thru dumpsters in Alaska and 4 in arizona. Not a single one looking into Acorn, Ayers or Freddiemae. Editor refuses to publish anything that would jeopardize election for O, and betting you dollars to donuts same is true at NYT, others. People cheer when CNN or NBC run another Palin-mocking but raising any reasonable inquiry into obama is derided or flat out ignored. The fix is in, and its working.” I asked permission to reprint without attribution and it was granted.

That also means making sure the Democrats don’t get blamed for this financial crisis, even though they are directly at fault. Here’s one of many examples: McCain has finally made a statement pointing the finger at the Democrats and Obama for this mess (he was apparently resisting out of fear of being labeled a racist, though, hell, every criticism against Obama is apparently racist). The L.A. Times covers this speech how? By cutting out the economics part and quoting Obama as saying that McCain is too scared to talk about the economy. When they get called out on it, how does the newspaper respond? By removing the story and replacing it (at the same URL/permalink) with a totally different story that’s not much better. Sound Orwellian? It should.

The real question is whether or not, come November, the public – that means all six of you reading this – buys into this fraud by voting for someone who has taken a page out of Stalin’s playbook (and here) or rejects it by voting for McCain, who has based his career on pissing everyone off (especially conservative Republicans) by doing what he believes to be right.

A British physicist has claimed he can explain the secrets of the Big Bang Theory, but his controversial experiment has scientists believing he could bring about the end of the world, the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported.

For centuries, scientists have sought unsuccessfully to unlock the secrets of the Big Bang Theory — a model explaining the birth of the universe. But 63-year-old Dr. Lyn Evans of Aberdare, England, popularly known as “Evans the Atom,” claims to know the answers, and will test his experiment on Wednesday by using a 17-mile-long doughnut-shaped tunnel that will smash sub-atomic particles together at the speed of light, the Mail reported.

Evans’ ambitions, however, have brought widespread concern among scientists who say the experiment could create a shower of unstable black holes inside the Earth, and subsequently bring destruction to the planet.
…

Really? Widespread concern? The experiment is controversial? What the hell is this nut case scientist doing that can destroy the world? Dammit, I don’t want to die on Wednesday. That’s Hump Day. At least wait until Monday morning of next week, right?

So I clicked over to the full article at the Daily Mail (this is the correct link from the broken Fox News link) since the Fox news article didn’t say much more than that. Guess what Dr. Crazy is going to do on Wednesday to destroy the world: he’s flipping a switch to turn on *da da dum* the Earth Destroyer 4000 Large Hadron Collider (LHC). I *knew* that they were referring to the LHC, but secretly, deep down, I was hoping for a lunatic scientist to destroy the world I did not want to believe that this was another perverted article about a very legitimate experiment supported by a lot of smart scientists who understand what the hell they’re doing. My beef here is with the Fox News article, as the Daily Mail article is actually a pretty good piece. Let’s start looking at the facts. (More below the fold.)

For those who didn’t catch it from the articles, Dr. Lyn Evans is the program director for the LHC. That means he’s an expert on particle physics and accelerator physics. He knows what he’s talking about. Let’s look at the critics mentioned in the Daily Mail piece, of which only the first one is mentioned in the Fox News article. This is from the Daily Mail piece, linked above, with emphasis mine:

One of them, Professor Otto Rossler, a retired German chemist, said he feared the experiment may create a devastating quasar – a mass of energy fuelled by black holes – inside the Earth.

‘Nothing will happen for at least four years,’ he said. ‘Then someone will spot a light ray coming out of the Indian Ocean during the night and no one will be able to explain it.

…

‘The weather will change completely, wiping out life, and very soon the whole planet will be eaten in a magnificent scenario – if you could watch it from the moon. A Biblical Armageddon. Even cloud and fire will form, as it says in the Bible.’

He said that attempts were still being made in the European Court of Human Rights to halt the experiment on the grounds that it violated the right to life. The court has, however, already rejected calls for a temporary delay in the project, and it is unlikely to come to a speedy decision about whether the CERN experiment should be halted for good.

Meanwhile Dr Walter Wagner, an American scientist who has been warning about the dangers of particle accelerators for 20 years, is awaiting a ruling on a lawsuit he filed a fortnight ago in his home state of Hawaii.

He fears the experiments might unwittingly create something he calls a ‘strangelet’ that could result in a fusion reaction that might ultimately turn the Earth into a supernova, or an exploding star.

But Dr Evans, the leader of the project, who has devoted 14 years of his life to building the vast particle accelerator, is dismissive of the doom-mongers.

…

He said that Prof Rossler was a ‘crazy’ retired professor who had invented his own theory of relativity.

‘We have shown him where his elementary errors are, but of course people like that just will not listen,’ said Dr Evans.

Meanwhile, Dr Wagner’s fears were ‘totally and completely’ unfounded. ‘There are thousands of scientists around the world who have been preparing this machine and they know what they are talking about, unlike these guys,’ he added.

Unlike those guys indeed. Rossler seems to be an accomplished professor according to Wikipedia, but he’s a biochemist. He is NOT an expert at particle physics. I can’t really call him a nut, but being an expert in chaos theory does NOT make him an expert on Relativity and particle physics.

“Dr” Walter Wagner, though, is a nut. Here’s his bio:

Walter Wagner graduated UC Berkeley with a Minor in Physics, and a Major in Biology. Later, he discovered a novel particle in a balloon-borne cosmic ray detector, initially identified as a magnetic monopole. Though its identity remains uncertain, it is definitely not within the standard repertoire of known particles. After a three-year break from science to attend law school, Dr. Wagner resumed work in Physics and Biology at the US Veterans Administration Medical Center in San Francisco, working in Nuclear Medicine and Health Physics. He then embarked on teaching Science and Mathematics, from grade school to college. Dr. Wagner developed a botanical garden in Hawaii, and continues involvement with several professional associations, including Health Physics Society and Society of Nuclear Medicine.

Where did he get his PhD from? It doesn’t even say that he has one, so I’ll assume that he doesn’t. Wagner was also behind previous lawsuits trying to get the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) shut down for similar doomsday fears. RHIC has been running for awhile, and we’re still here. Wagner, according to Discover magazine, (hat tip: Entropy Bound)is facing some criminal charges:

He may also be no stranger to lawsuits, The Register also noted, and is currently in a legal battle with the board of the World Botanical Gardens in Umauma, Hawaii, which he founded. “According to the Hawaii Tribune-Herald (free registration required), he and his wife were indicted last month by a grand jury on counts of identity theft and attempted theft relating to an alleged attempt to obtain $340,000 from the gardens company.”

He does claim to have participated in the discovery of a magnetic monopole back in 1976 (a google search revealed Wagner posted this reference to the discovery: “Evidence for Detection of a Moving Magnetic Monopole”, Price et al., Physical Review Letters, August 25, 1975, Volume 35, Number 8. Wagner’s name is not included in the author list, but I didn’t pull up the article to see if he’s mentioned in the acknowledgements.

Fox News did quite a distortion there when they painted the LHC as a doomsday experiment based on the claims of these two.

So let’s clear this up: the LHC will NOT destroy the Earth…regardless of what the seemingly more reliable Cracked.com had to say on the topic.

MT BEST, AUSTRALIA – New research compiled by Australian scientist Dr Tom Chalko shows that global seismic activity on Earth is now five times more energetic than it was just 20 years ago.

The research proves that destructive ability of earthquakes on Earth increases alarmingly fast and that this trend is set to continue, unless the problem of “global warming” is comprehensively and urgently addressed.
…

The article goes on to explain how if we don’t get global warming under control the Earth is going to shake us all to death, or something (paraphrasing), quoting solely Chalko and his work. I’ll leave the part where I explain why physically this is crackpot science and focus on the great journalism aspects of the article. At NO POINT does it say in the CBS article where Chalko is employed or what field he’s in or where his work was published. So I googled Tom Chalko and got links to several sites with his name on them, but I thought it surely had to be a different Chalko (because it’s SUCH a common name). Then I found the MSNBC article, which did a better job than the AP/CBS article in explaining at the end of the article:

For further information please read Dr Chalko’s scientific article published at NU Journal of Discovery. http://nujournal.net/EarthquakeEnergyRise.pdf

Dr Tom Chalko, MSc, PhD, former Melbourne University academic (between 1982-2001) is Head of Geophysics Division at Scientific Engineering Research, Mt Best, Australia.

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=782087

Contact:
Dr Tom Chalko
Scientific Engineering Research
ph (+61 3) 5681 6361
email Email Contact
© MarketWire 2008

Some things stand out. First, I’ve never heard of NU Journal of Discovery, and I have never heard of a reputable, peer reviewed…(more after the fold) journal, that links directly to the PDF titled in such a simplistic way. So I click on the PDF and it’s obviously not a professionally made journal article, and hacking the URL shows that NU Journal has a lot of publications from only one author: Dr. Chalko, who also happens to be one of the editors of the “journal.” And by the way, it’s NOT a professionally done website. The publisher of the journal is Natural University, which is NOT a real university, and shares the same logo as the journal. The logo, by the way, appears to have some physics equations that look similar to Maxwell Equations, but with some extra terms that I don’t recognize. However, the speed of light equals infinity on top and zero on bottom with the Earth inbetween is a clear indicator of crackpot science. Scanning the titles of Chalko’s work shows that the crackpot part is definitely true.

Second red flag: He’s no longer associated with Melbourne University as of 2001. Instead he’s running a division at “Scientific Engineering Research” (website found via a google search). Now going to the website shows that it is definitely HIS website/company. It even has his picture on the front page. Again, I’m not going to address why his work is crackpot science (Auras? Come on, do I really have to explain this? If you’d like me to, please leave a comment), I’m just pointing out the lack of journalistic oversight.

And by the way, my initial google search with all the sites that I dismissed as another Chalko? Here they are:
The Freedom of Choice (advertising Chalko’s book)
Thiaoouba.com (WTF?)
Bioresonant.com (also advertising his book about Auras)
SelfHealing.net (more auras)

SAME GUY.

This guy is NOT a scientist. He’s a crackpot. He’s certainly not a reputable scientist that ANY mainstream journalist or news site should EVER quote, link to, or take seriously. Somebody, and probably more than one, needs to be fired for not doing their jobs. How does something like this get by those guys? Has their desperation for news stories really gone that far? More than likely, I think, someone’s left-leaning, evironmentalism got the better of them and they took this doomsday idiot’s word that he was a reputable scientist and quoted him because he said what they wanted to hear.

Now, let’s look at the science. Global Warming theory (whether you believe it or not) states that more heat is getting trapped between the ground and the upper atmosphere due to green house gases. The model predicts a rise in temperature of the air of around 1 degree (give or take). At no point, does it predict a significant increase in the core temperature of the much more massive (compared to the atmosphere) Earth. Yea, surface temperatures rise, but not enough to trickle down and cause a significant increase in earthquake energy. There’s just not enough energy being absorbed and trapped for us to significanly raise the the temperature of the inner Earth. I’m not going to bother with the calculations. It’s just unreasonable. This article should never have made it to the presses. Someone with half a brain should’ve questioned the source, but someone should’ve asked for a second opinion. They didn’t. I wonder if Chalko wrote the article and sent it to someone who was foolish enough to post it?

And get this: in 2001, Chalko wrote an article theorizing that the “greenhouse effect” can actually cause a “meltdown condition” due to the nuclear reactions heating the inside of the earth. This could, he predicts, cause the planet to EXPLODE. Nevermind that the Earth was a LOT warmer in the past than it is today and didn’t explode – at least as far as I can tell, but what do I know? Crackpot.

Seriously, someone needs to be FIRED. I want this story retracted, and AP, CBS, and MSNBS (and Market Watch?), but any chance of that?

I sure hope some other bloggers run with this. This is quite an outrage. It offends my scientific sensibilities to the deepest levels, but as a somewhat intelligent and informed reader of the news, it’s quite an insult. What do we pay these journalists for again?

Updated: According to Climate Donkey / Climate Audit, Chalko’s findings simply aren’t true. Earthquakes have NOT been more intense since 1990; they may even have decreased.

Update 2: Other bloggers have picked on on this bit of nonsense, too, e.g., here. Back in Dec 2007, another Nashville blogger noticed Chalko’s exploding Earth theory. Amazingly, the man even made news back in 2005 on Treehugger.com.

Update 3: Just wanted to say thank you to D.S. Hube for the Newsbuster’s link. It is very much appreciated.

Thousands of people in Africa will be paid to avoid unsafe sex, under a groundbreaking World Bank-backed experiment aimed at halting the spread of Aids.

The $1.8m trial – to be launched this year – will counsel 3,000 men and women aged 15-30 in southern rural Tanzania over three years, paying them on condition that periodic laboratory test results prove they have not contracted sexually transmitted infections.

The proposed payments of $45 equate to a quarter of annual income for some participants

…

Carol Medlin from the University of California, San Francisco, one of the researchers, said: “We hope this ‘reverse prostitution’ will make people think hard about the long-term consequences of their short-term behaviour.”

The Tanzanian experiment is a big advance in efforts to test public health ideas more rigorously, with some participants placed in a control arm not offered payment in order to track the effects of the programme precisely.

“Conditional cash transfers” have already been used in Latin America to motivate poor parents to attend health clinics, and have their children vaccinated and schooled. Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, last year unveiled a project to boost school attendance.
…

So we’re now paying people to NOT do something that can lead to their death? Isn’t that like paying someone to not commit suicide? We’re paying someone to do something that they SHOULD be doing anyway cause if they don’t, then they die. I suppose if this works then it’ll be cheaper than having to take care of someone after they get HIV and can’t afford the medication. It just rubs me the wrong way.

In the spirit of the above, I propose they give free whiskey to men who promise not to drink and drive. Where do I sign up?

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) – State police say all lanes of Interstate 10 have been reopened. Troopers had closed I-10 in both directions Tuesday afternoon after an explosion inside a vehicle. Four people were injured, including a Louisiana State Trooper.

The shutdown was between Siegen Lane and Highland Road.

Early reports indicate a vehicle travelling down the interstate contained a meth lab that exploded, said State Police spokesman Sgt. Markus Smith.
…

It’s bad enough to make that crap in your own house and putting your family in danger, and it’s bad enough to sell it to others, ruining their lives. However, driving on the road with a meth lab puts people who aren’t making the choice to engage in meth-related activites in danger. This is why some people should just be shot.

ATLANTA – Cars passing O’Terrill’s pub screech to a halt at the sight of a 300-pound, waist-high robot marked “SECURITY” rolling through downtown long after dark.

The regulars hardly glance outside. They’ve seen bar owner Rufus Terrill’s invention on patrol before — its bright red lights and even brighter spot light blazing, infrared video camera filming and water cannon at the ready in the spinning turret on top.

“You’re trespassing. That’s private property,” Terrill scolds an older man through the robot’s loudspeaker. The man is sitting at the edge of the driveway to a child care center down the street. “Go on.”

The man’s hands go up and he shuffles into the shadows. Almost immediately, a group of men behind him scatters too.

The Bum Bot’s reputation, it seems, has preceded it.

That kicks ass. I want one. So Terrill, the ex-Marine who built it, uses the robot to chase bums and people away from his bar and the child care center next door. Of course, people typically get intimidated by robots for some strange reason (“I’ll be back…”). So the usual suspects are all up in arms at this: (click for more)

The electronic vigilante — on the beat since September — has enraged neighborhood activists, who have threatened protests. Street people say it’s intimidating. And homeless advocates question the intentions of its inventor, who uses the Bum Bot as a marketing tool and a political prop.

…

Terrill bought the bar four years ago, plowing his profit from selling an apartment complex into the smoky dive. He named it O’Terrill’s, gave it an Irish theme and decorated it with knickknacks he and his wife, Linda, had lying around.

At first, he walked around, indoors and out, with an assault rifle on his shoulder to scare away vagrants, but police told him to put away the gun. Then he used a spotlight. But the bar was still being vandalized, and guns were stuck in his face several times.

…

Some who live on the streets say Terrill’s going too far.

“This is going to intimidate a lot of people,” says Rosetta Watkins, who used to live in a nearby shelter and has worked for Terrill. “You’re going to intimidate a lot more people than you’re going to help.”

Homeless advocates agree.

“It’s a play for public attention for Rufus. He’s certainly got a lot of attention — but not the kind we need for housing, living wages,” says Anita Beaty, director of Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless. “This robot isn’t casting attention to the deep, deep poverty in Atlanta.”

So they question the guy’s intentions because they don’t like the fact that he chases homeless people away or because he uses a robot to do it? So what if he uses this as a publicity ploy? The problem with what the critics are saying is that they are ignoring this fact:

Terrill says he monitors only private property and never has blasted the cannon toward anyone. He also says he’s employed 70 people from the streets and shelters since he opened the bar and helped 18 move into other full-time gigs.

Beaty is unconvinced of his motives.

“I’m appalled by the whole idea. It’s a sham and a shame,” says Beaty. “Rufus is using this for his 15 minutes.”

Christensen at Georgia Tech is particularly concerned that the robot is a temporary — if entertaining — solution when Terrill could be helping find a permanent answer to vagrancy.

“He’s moving the problem elsewhere,” Christensen says. “And that works for him, but it’s really not solving anything.”

The man may be chasing the problem elsewhere, but it seems he’s still making an effort to help solve the problem by – Oh my God! – OFFERING JOBS. Sounds to me like he’s trying to protect his property AND help the needy. Employing 70 people off the streets and from shelters while helping 18 move in to permanent positions all within the 4 years he’s opened the bar is a pretty good record, I think…

But what do I know, I’m just an ignorant conservative…

From Skynews

A teenage schoolboy was pulled around his classroom on a lead and spanked by a stripper after a birthday surprise blunder.

The pupil’s mum had ordered an agency to give her son a “surprise” on his 16th birthday – and the teacher had even agreed to film the prank.

But it all went wrong when the unnamed company sent a stripper dressed as a policewoman instead of a “gorillagram” – in what it called a booking error.

One witness told reporters: “She asked the lad to stand up, which he did, and told him he had been a very naughty boy because… he hadn’t been doing his homework.

“Then she put on some Britney Spears music and got out a collar and lead from her bag and told him to put them on.”

After walking the boy round the classroom and spanking him with a whip – the action turned even more blue.

“She took off some clothes until she was down to her bra and pants, pulled out some cream, put it on her buttocks and told him to rub it in,” the source said.

It was at that point the shocked teacher – who had not been told what the surprise was – called an end to the show.

A spokeswoman for the local education authority, Nottinghamshire County Council, said they were investigating how the incident happened.

She confirmed nobody had been suspended from Nottingham’s Arnold Hill School and Technology College and the police were not involved.

The spokeswoman said: “We and the school are investigating into the situation.”

Wow…I think the stripper is a WAY better 16th birthday present than a silly gorilla-gram…now if it was a pet monkey, that’d be different…Lucky boy though.  What I want to know is why the heck did the teacher let it go as far as it did?