This is cute
Dante
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Anna Nicole Trial today
"We will not allow elements which want to sabotage the ongoing peace process succeed in their nefarious designs," Pakistan state media quoted Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as saying.
Leaders in both India and Pakistan are saying they are not going to allow the attack on a train in India to derail the advance they are making towards peace. The name of the train "Samjhauta Express", means understanding and it was that connection and understanding between the two countries that may have been the real target of the attack.
A judge has ruled in favor of the Bush administration over the right for detainees in the Guantanamo bay facility to challenge their detentions in a court of law. In effect the court ruled in the 2-1 finding that these detainees did not have the rights that are granted to American citizens arrested in criminal cases. This sides with the policy that the Bush administration has held all along that these are not criminals, but enemies of the state and should be dealt with as such. Following this there is talk in congress of moving forward a bill that would focus on granting the detainees the right to challenge their detention. I think that some middle way needs to be found to give those who are in the detention centers the right and the ability to prove to those holding them that they may be innocent of the charges while understand the position by the Bush Administration that what we are dealing with in real terms is different than a criminal case as it is standardly understood.
TMZ is reporting that Britney Spears has re-entered rehab at an unknown facility, a representative for Spears has confrimed to People Magazine, "Britney Spears has voluntarily checked herself into an undisclosed rehab facility today. We ask that the media respect her privacy as well as those of her family and friends at this time." According to sources, Britney entered into rehab after pressure from her mother and other members of her family. It was just last week that Spears entered into rehab, to leave the facility the next day, we can only hope that this is a move that will bring order and healing to Britney and her life.
Reuters is reporting that the satellite companies behind the merger of XM Radio and Sirius Radio are expecting that the merger will be complete by the end of they year. They still need to hold votes among the share holders of the two companies and the deal needs to pass regulatory approval. Company officials are not expecting that either of these hurdles is going to create a difficulty for the merger.
In Florida a court is in session to determine the location for the burial of Anna Nicole Simpson's body. Her mother wants her to be buried in Texas, where he family is from, Howard K. Stern is saying that Simpson wanted to be buried in the Bahama's near where her son is buried. The case needs to be settled soon, as the medical examiner in Florida has said that the condition of the body is deterioration faster than was expected. There is some concern about a clause in the contract that states that all future children will be witheld from any of her estate upon her death. The judge in the case seems to be very impatient, driving the session forward, saying over and over again, "I have no time for this...". He is going at both the lawyers, telling one that you want me to look at things in isolation, like you take me to a museum and tell me just to look at this wall. The judge has allowed Stern to return to the Bahama's tonight on the condition that he would fly back tomorow and appear in court at 9am.
Nicole Richie has entered a plea of not-guilty in the DUI case resulting from her strange drive down the wrong side of the highway on December 31st. At the scene she admitted to officers that she had taken Vicodin.
Jury selection for the Jessica Lunsford case is going on today, as they attempt to gain enough jurors to move forward with the trial. The jury is going to be sequestered, and this could prove a difficulty for jurors who are unable to set aside the time from work or other obligations. The other pressing concern is to find jurors that have not been tainted by the coverage of the case in the news, and do not have a bias either for or against the defendant. In four days, Feb. 24, will be the two year anniversary of her disappearance.
Dante
Leaders in both India and Pakistan are saying they are not going to allow the attack on a train in India to derail the advance they are making towards peace. The name of the train "Samjhauta Express", means understanding and it was that connection and understanding between the two countries that may have been the real target of the attack.
A judge has ruled in favor of the Bush administration over the right for detainees in the Guantanamo bay facility to challenge their detentions in a court of law. In effect the court ruled in the 2-1 finding that these detainees did not have the rights that are granted to American citizens arrested in criminal cases. This sides with the policy that the Bush administration has held all along that these are not criminals, but enemies of the state and should be dealt with as such. Following this there is talk in congress of moving forward a bill that would focus on granting the detainees the right to challenge their detention. I think that some middle way needs to be found to give those who are in the detention centers the right and the ability to prove to those holding them that they may be innocent of the charges while understand the position by the Bush Administration that what we are dealing with in real terms is different than a criminal case as it is standardly understood.
TMZ is reporting that Britney Spears has re-entered rehab at an unknown facility, a representative for Spears has confrimed to People Magazine, "Britney Spears has voluntarily checked herself into an undisclosed rehab facility today. We ask that the media respect her privacy as well as those of her family and friends at this time." According to sources, Britney entered into rehab after pressure from her mother and other members of her family. It was just last week that Spears entered into rehab, to leave the facility the next day, we can only hope that this is a move that will bring order and healing to Britney and her life.
Reuters is reporting that the satellite companies behind the merger of XM Radio and Sirius Radio are expecting that the merger will be complete by the end of they year. They still need to hold votes among the share holders of the two companies and the deal needs to pass regulatory approval. Company officials are not expecting that either of these hurdles is going to create a difficulty for the merger.
In Florida a court is in session to determine the location for the burial of Anna Nicole Simpson's body. Her mother wants her to be buried in Texas, where he family is from, Howard K. Stern is saying that Simpson wanted to be buried in the Bahama's near where her son is buried. The case needs to be settled soon, as the medical examiner in Florida has said that the condition of the body is deterioration faster than was expected. There is some concern about a clause in the contract that states that all future children will be witheld from any of her estate upon her death. The judge in the case seems to be very impatient, driving the session forward, saying over and over again, "I have no time for this...". He is going at both the lawyers, telling one that you want me to look at things in isolation, like you take me to a museum and tell me just to look at this wall. The judge has allowed Stern to return to the Bahama's tonight on the condition that he would fly back tomorow and appear in court at 9am.
Nicole Richie has entered a plea of not-guilty in the DUI case resulting from her strange drive down the wrong side of the highway on December 31st. At the scene she admitted to officers that she had taken Vicodin.
Jury selection for the Jessica Lunsford case is going on today, as they attempt to gain enough jurors to move forward with the trial. The jury is going to be sequestered, and this could prove a difficulty for jurors who are unable to set aside the time from work or other obligations. The other pressing concern is to find jurors that have not been tainted by the coverage of the case in the news, and do not have a bias either for or against the defendant. In four days, Feb. 24, will be the two year anniversary of her disappearance.
Dante
Monday, February 19, 2007
Who is the father?
The top of the news today is talk going around that Barack Obama may not really be black enough for some people. It turns out that in the changing politics of what it means to be black in America, the fact that he is half-white, not a decedent of slaves and that he was raised in a white family adds up to make him less than black. First of all this is such a strange stand on the issue of race in this campaign, second in most places in the country if you look black then you are treated like you are black, people don't stop and ask if your mother was white. The matter of his lack of history of poverty is another issue in itself, the reality of the situation is that the first American black president is not going to be a poor black man, I don't know how to explain it better than to say that in the modern era at least, a poor man of any race has a slim chance of becoming president, and as harsh as it sounds, and as much as some would like to pretend it is not the case, a black poor man stands even less of a chance. To be clear on my point here I think that in a race, a rich black man has more of a chance that a poor white man, it isn't a simple race issue or class issue but a combination of the two forces.
If you listen to satellite radio - like my roommate wishes she could but the building next door blocks the view of the southern sky - you might be interested to note that the two companies that control the market are in talks to merge. It is an interesting development in the last couple years the ideas of mergers has changed. It used to be that a merger was a sign that a business was doing well, and sometimes that is still true such as in the case of Google buying out YouTube. However in many cases now that is simply not that case, take the case of SBC buying out ATT, this is not two companies who are doing well joining together to do even better, no it is two companies that are dying holding on to each other for support. The local and long distance phone markets business has long been in the hands of the companies that control the landlines. With cell phones everywhere, the first to suffer was the local markets, but they still had some advantage in the long distance market, but with more cell phone companies offering free long distance, like mine does, they are losing their share of that market as well. When you ad in the factor of email, phone services like Vonage and the fact that cable companies are providing phone service through their cables you see that the old phone companies are facing a greater and greater competition for the market that they used to own. Right now I have a landline in order to connect to the internet, in the next couple years if the price of cable internet access goes down, or if the technology and the price improve to make accessing the internet through cellular channels easier and more affordable, they will lose even more of the market share that they cling to. It is possible that within ten years ATT will be gone as a company.
There was a peace talk between leaders of the Palestinians and Israel that resulted in little more than to an agreement between the parties to meet again soon. Secretary Rice who was also a part of the meeting came alone to the meeting in Jerusalem said that she would also attend future meetings. While people will say that they is no point in attempting to talk peace deal through, I think that is like saying that these people deserve to live lives of poverty, violence and death - they don't - and if we can do something to bring about an improvement in their conditions then I say it is worth the effort.
Police in Chicago are saying that they have found the bodies of three womyn in two apartments, beaten to death with a hammer. The police were responding to a domestic violence call when they encountered a man hitting himself in the head with a blunt object in an apparent attempt at suicide. The man was taken into custody, the womyn were his wife, her sister and her mother, the mother was in the second apartment.
The surge of troops in the capital of Iraq is having some success, but there are concerns that some of the militants will go to the south where there are other concerns that are developing. According to one source there are actually four wars going on inside Iraq right now, the war of the American's verses the Islamic Terrorists, the war between the Shia and the Sunni - mostly in Baghdad, there is also the conflict in the north between the ethnic Kurds and the Arabs that in some cases were given Kurdish land under the rule of Saddam, in the south in the brewing conflict between various Shia sects who are fighting for power. At the end of the day, I know we have an obligation to help the people of Iraq, but at some point that obligation ends when the people of Iraq cannot or will not work together for their own peace, where is that point, I don't know.
TMZ has a video of Anna Nicole Smith with her face painted like a clown, that was shot by Howard K. Stern, in the video she talks to a baby in a carriage as if it were real, and Stern asks her if she is on a mushroom trip to which she replies, "what does that mean?" Later in the clip you can hear him telling Simpson how much money it will be worth. I am beginning have have strong doubts about that concern that this man had for Simpson or has for her baby. Stern has claimed that he cannot go to the court hearings because the baby needs him in the Bahama's but that didn't stop him and Simpson from leaving the baby to buy a yacht, it was this trip to Florida without the baby during which Simpson died. Meanwhile Mary Carey is claiming in a video on the Splash News website to have inside knowledge that Stern is not the father, that is it Larry Birkhead.
Thank you for reading, I shall report more tomorrow.
Dante
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Breaking News, IRAQIS PLAN
Breaking news from the New York Times, our enemies in Iraq, are not only able to plan their attacks, but there seems to be documents showing that they are planning their attacks. For those of you who have not been enlightened by this recent front page news making story from the Times, the idea that attacks on American forces in Iraq had been done randomly (perhaps between fares the cab drives do some helicopter hunting), is a thought of the past. The enemy we face is even smarter than that, not only can they plan, but when the plans are not working they can change their plans to adapt. I don't know about the rest of you, but this changes the whole math of the war in Iraq, to think we are not fighting a bunch of thoughtless Arabs with guns.
From the New York Times:
WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 — Documents captured from Iraqi insurgents indicate that some of the recent fatal attacks against American helicopters are a result of a carefully planned strategy to focus on downing coalition aircraft, one that American officials say has been carried out by mounting coordinated assaults with machine guns, rockets and surface-to-air missiles.
In other news a helicopter in Afghanistan was shot down and a series of bombs have gone off in Baghdad. I am not trying to make these events sound un-important, the lives of our troops and the lives of the people in Iraq are very important, but I don't think those are items I am going to spend a great deal on. In journalism class one of the things you look at to see if a story is news worthy is the uniqueness of the event, and as sad as it is these events are turning out to be regular events.
Shocking news from the land of LA, Britney Spears has shaved her head, now you see here is a unique story. According to MSNBC Spears went to a hair saloon to get her hair shaved off, when the worker refused to do it for fear of a lawsuit, she took the clippers and did it herself. The pictures are crazy, what is going on with this womyn, how many people are going to watch her fall into this crazy destructive lifestyle and do nothing to step in and help her. Where is her family, where are her friends that should be helping her. The worker at the hair saloon said that she just wasn't there emotionally. After that she got some new tattoos.
The Senate is moving towards more of a confrontation with President Bush over the war in Iraq. While I support the politics of balance of power that seems to be at work here, I am concerned that politics and making gains of power against the republicans and the White House could become more important than the issues that need attention. The lives of our troops in the battle in Iraq demand the respect that a solution be given the first priority and politics given second, the lives of the people of Iraq demand a solution to this war that we have started that will give them the fair chance to create a stable society.
From Voice of America:
In Latin America Hugo Chavez is taking on the powers that have just been granted to him and using them to nationalise industries, he is promising to oust foreign capital interests from the oil sector. Critics are calling his abuse of power a blow against democracy in the country.
In a unanimous vote, Venezuela's national assembly, in effect, temporarily disbanded itself. Assembly President Cilia Flores was jubilant afterwards.
"Long live the sovereign nation of Venezuela," she said. "Long live Hugo Chavez. Long live socialism. Fatherland, socialism or death!"
Two bombs have exploded aboard a train in India headed towards Pakistan, at least 64 passengers are determined to have been killed in the blast. Officials are calling it an act of terror and claim that it is an attempt to undermine the peace process going on between the two countries.
Well, it is late and it is time for me to sleep. I know I could have done something better than I have out up here, and I promise to do better in the future. Time is so fleeting and you think you have so much time to get things done, and then you look and the time is much shorter than you thought, and you scramble to get things done, and in the haste you do them poorly. I am sorry to say that is the case I find myself in this day.
Dante
From the New York Times:
WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 — Documents captured from Iraqi insurgents indicate that some of the recent fatal attacks against American helicopters are a result of a carefully planned strategy to focus on downing coalition aircraft, one that American officials say has been carried out by mounting coordinated assaults with machine guns, rockets and surface-to-air missiles.
In other news a helicopter in Afghanistan was shot down and a series of bombs have gone off in Baghdad. I am not trying to make these events sound un-important, the lives of our troops and the lives of the people in Iraq are very important, but I don't think those are items I am going to spend a great deal on. In journalism class one of the things you look at to see if a story is news worthy is the uniqueness of the event, and as sad as it is these events are turning out to be regular events.
Shocking news from the land of LA, Britney Spears has shaved her head, now you see here is a unique story. According to MSNBC Spears went to a hair saloon to get her hair shaved off, when the worker refused to do it for fear of a lawsuit, she took the clippers and did it herself. The pictures are crazy, what is going on with this womyn, how many people are going to watch her fall into this crazy destructive lifestyle and do nothing to step in and help her. Where is her family, where are her friends that should be helping her. The worker at the hair saloon said that she just wasn't there emotionally. After that she got some new tattoos.
The Senate is moving towards more of a confrontation with President Bush over the war in Iraq. While I support the politics of balance of power that seems to be at work here, I am concerned that politics and making gains of power against the republicans and the White House could become more important than the issues that need attention. The lives of our troops in the battle in Iraq demand the respect that a solution be given the first priority and politics given second, the lives of the people of Iraq demand a solution to this war that we have started that will give them the fair chance to create a stable society.
From Voice of America:
In Latin America Hugo Chavez is taking on the powers that have just been granted to him and using them to nationalise industries, he is promising to oust foreign capital interests from the oil sector. Critics are calling his abuse of power a blow against democracy in the country.
In a unanimous vote, Venezuela's national assembly, in effect, temporarily disbanded itself. Assembly President Cilia Flores was jubilant afterwards.
"Long live the sovereign nation of Venezuela," she said. "Long live Hugo Chavez. Long live socialism. Fatherland, socialism or death!"
Two bombs have exploded aboard a train in India headed towards Pakistan, at least 64 passengers are determined to have been killed in the blast. Officials are calling it an act of terror and claim that it is an attempt to undermine the peace process going on between the two countries.
Well, it is late and it is time for me to sleep. I know I could have done something better than I have out up here, and I promise to do better in the future. Time is so fleeting and you think you have so much time to get things done, and then you look and the time is much shorter than you thought, and you scramble to get things done, and in the haste you do them poorly. I am sorry to say that is the case I find myself in this day.
Dante
Note: I am avoiding links as to avoid being labeled a spam blog by Google, being labeled as such means that you have to enter a key every time you post and this system does not always work with my computer. I am getting my taxes back in a couple weeks and one of the things I have thought about is getting a new computer with the money. I have other things I need to get better at though that the computer isn't a factor in, like typing and learning to relax while I am typing, one of the main reasons I am doing this blog no one is going to read. I try and type it all at once and to get the words on the page as fast as I am thinking them but that makes me nervous and makes my hands shake which makes it harder for me to keep my homeroom placement and makes it harder for me to find the letters which makes me a slower typer which makes me try harder, which makes my hands shake more, which makes me slower, which makes me upset when I make mistakes, which makes me more nervous and I get frustrated and I don't think about the fact I am writing a sentence that goes on forever and ever, or a post with a note on it that is half as long as the post itself.
PIT BREAKUP VIDEO HIGH QUALITY( ANGLE 1 OF 2)
This guy thinks it would be cool to break up with is girl friend in front of a thousand people and cameras.
Dante
My First Post
What are my goals, my goals at this time and place is to produce something of real value here everyday. I begin today and I attempt to the best that I can do. I am not going to be doing a lot of linking, and sourcing back to other pages right now. I am working on this as a way to increase my writing skills. I will be addin adsense at some point in the future in an attempt to make some money off the site, but at this time I am going to keep it as simple as I can. I don't have very many skills at this point so I have to ask that you are not to expect this to be top of the line, I am working on getting there and to that end I welcome all comments on how it is believed I could perform a better job. That means in style, content or just basic errors of spelling or gramar that you may be aware of that I might have missed. I really want to be posting here every day, and I am going to focus on that end, but working a full time job and going to school full time means that my plate is full of other things that need to get themselves done, and not a whole lot of time. I don't imagine anyone is reading this, but if you are I would love a comment just to know that you are out there. The blog world can be a cold place when you feel like you are working on a post that no one is ever going to read. I have stopped writing in my other blog, at least for the time being because I lost faith that it was actually being read and enjoyed by anyone. I want to be a writer, and as much as all writers want to write for the joy of it, they also want to be read and when they are not being read at least for me there is a feeling that something is missing. I write to communicate maybe the best way to think about it and if no one is reading than it is a failure to communicate more than anything else. I have to take my leave now. I am going to post a video from YouTube for you enjoyment, I hope to be posting some videos, but at the same time not depending on them to move my site forward. I really want this site to be an original content site, with news and culture items that excite people and make them want to read.
Dante
Dante
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