Things That Make You Go "Ooooooops!"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070921/ap_on_fe_st/odd_bungling_burglars

ANTIOCH, Calif. - Two men who police said broke into a building to steal copper wiring got more than they bargained for: a room full of police officers. Police said 26-year-old James Ayers and Frederick Guilliee, 38, broke into the 40,000-square-foot building at about 6 p.m. Tuesday.

What they hadn't planned for is the Antioch police K-9 unit who was holding a training session there.



Surprise! Surprise!

I know it's been six years

but this will make you cry. It was only aired once: During the superbowl in 2002, just months after 9-11, 2001. It has no narrative but is simple and clear in its message. It will tug at your heart strings.

To all the families of 9-11....we remember....

Stealing the title from Oprah's show today. She broadcast from New York and featured many of the families of 9-11 victims as well as the men and women who still serve NYC.

We visited the site of the trade centers while we were in NYC last April. It is a sobering experience. Seeing the gaping hole that's left where so many lives so sadly ended...

Yes, the attack was used as propaganda. Yes, we failed them by not continuing on to capture the man responsible. But the heart ache collectively felt by our nation on 9-11 has not disappeared.

My parent's generation asked the question: "Do you remember where you were when Pearl Harbor was attacked?" That event molded their future. The attacks on 9-11 have molded ours.

"Where were you on 9-11?" That's a question I've heard all day. Where was I? Traveling from one school to another. I walked into the office and the secretaries told me a plane hit the first tower. As we talked the second plane hit and we looked at each other, stunned, because when it was one plane we could hope it was an accident. Two meant something very bad was happening. I remember having to go to class and not speak of it to the kids. My heart hurt. I wanted nothing more to leave and get to my family.

Finally our principal allowed us to turn a sanitized news channel for kids on. The news was filtering through the school and he thought it best to tell the kids himself what was happening. We saw the towers fall. The kids asked such good questions and then asked if we were going to war. Ironically some of those, at the time, 7th and 8th graders are now in the military.

Soon tho, state police told our super to get us home. Remember flight 93 dropped its transponder somewhere over WV. They didn't know where the next hit would be or how many more were coming.

I left and went to my mom's. Stayed there until long into the night. I was just shell shocked.

My heart still hurts.

Regardless of what you believe politically, surely we can agree that the attacks on 9-11 were done by cowards to innocents. I don't care what Bin Laden's issues are with America. On 9-11 he sucker punched America and proved himself to be a coward.

We won't forget. We still mourn. Our hearts will remain heavy as long as one person lives that remembers that day of sadness.







Written 1 year after 9-11...


Threads of anger reached across the sea,
winding their way around innocent hearts.
Hate whipped into a frenzy tore sharply into
the fabric of America.

Fingers of rage closed around fragile
lives and claimed them as victims
of their impotent vengeance.

They sought to crush not just the life
but the spirit of America and her people.

Many angels traveled home that day.
Many tears were shed in anguish and sorrow.
Much loathing was returned to those nameless
and faceless mongers of destruction.

But their task failed.

We suffered greatly, but we survived.
We bent, but we were not broken.
We mourn, but we are not in despair.
We hurt, but we are not crippled.
We lost, but we gained in return.
We suffered, but we remembered our pride.
We questioned. We doubted.
But we found ourselves again.

Remember the brave.
Remember the souls that perished.
Honor their memory by
embracing the living.
Honor them by never forgetting.
Honor them by being Americans who live
and work with pride in
themselves as a people.

As long as the American Spirit continues,
we will never be broken.
And we will always remember
who the real heroes are.


In memory of those who perished
in NYC and Washington, DC
on September 11th, 2001
With compassion and a prayer for comfort
for their families and loved ones.

Bubba land is alive and well

When does this type of putrid stupidity end? I hope these cretins spend the rest of their lives in jail. Want to know what holds WV back? It is the lack of culture, the lack of acceptance of diversity. It is that stone age mentality of white man america that refuses to believe that another's success does not equal the decline of your own. It is the fertile ground of hate that gave birth to many a KKK member.

And it still exists today:

http://wvgazette.com/section/News/2007091022

YASUS!!! What is WRONG with people!?!?

What is wrong with people!?
The principal at McNair High School in Georgia led his students in a prayer for leniency for Michael Vick. I can not understand why anyone would support giving this man a break.

http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/mcnairhs/

http://countenance.wordpress.com:80/2007/08/27/school-prayer/

James Jones, the principal of McNair High School in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, held an assembly of his school this morning, wherein he had students pray that the Federal judge presiding over the case of the now-admitted Federal felon, Michael Vick, grants leniency in sentencing.

So...you tell me

Madeline McCann was a three year old from England on an exciting adventure, that being a vacation to Portugal, with her parents when she suddenly went "missing."

And how did she go "missing"? Well, the parents say they went to have dinner with friends and left the 3 year old in their motel room with her twin two year old siblings.

Yes, friends, that's right. The parents went out and left a 3 year old and two 2 year olds in the room alone.

Now immediately alarms flare in my head. What intelligent (did I mention both parents are lawyers?) and responsible parent leave three toddlers in a room alone in a foreign country? If they weren't complicit in her "disappearance" they were certainly negligent.

They claimed they checked on the kids as they ate. Again, this flies in the face of responsible parenting. If you want to be an adult, find friends and a restaurant that won't mind you bringing your toddlers with you OR ask the motel to find you a sitter. If you're both attornies and taking a vacation in Portugal it's not as if you can't afford it.

At first the search for Madeline focused on strangers but now the parents themselves have come under fire. There are a number of circumstances that I question.

1 - The "sniffer" dogs hit on the scent of a dead body in the room rented by Madeline's parents.
2 - Blood was found in the car they rented while in Portugal.
3 - The demeanor of Madeline's mother has been questioned as she has never shown emotion and remains stolic and calm through out this ordeal.
4 - But the thing that bothers me most is their blantent use of Madeline's disappearance as a fund raiser. If you go to their website you will see up front and apparently most importantly a plea for donations, a paypal link to use to facillitate those donations and an online "store" for Madeline products. Want to put up a poster of Madeline as a missing child? You can buy it there.

Madeline went "missing" in May and already in August they have made her disappearance as a business designed to bring in money. This bothers me as much as any of the other circumstances surrounding her disappearance.

So...
Is Madeline missing or was she murdered?
My further thoughts under the first comment tab as I don't want to preempty any comments that might be made with my own thoughts.

Sources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6983604.stm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20070907/wl_time/couldkatemccannbeamurderer
http://www.findmadeleine.com/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070907/ap_on_re_eu/portugal_missing_girl_chronolongy_1