It takes celebrity to get people to notice. And act

Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese people have been tortured and killed, over many years, by their government in the African nation of Sudan and little action is taken by the nation and peoples of the world. What, finally, gets us all to sit up, take note and do something about the atrocities? Celebrity. As has so truly been said by me and many others, if they had oil, we'd have been in there years ago. As it is, they don't, so we aren't. At any rate, now, perhaps, at long last, the world's attention may, possibly go to helping these poor people. We'll see. Here's hoping. Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/9148839/George-Clooney-arrested.html

Kansan disarmed Monday prior to President's visit

A Kansan was going to institute a citizen's arrest on President Obama earlier this week, when he came to Osawatamie.

The story: Secret Service takes guns, handcuffs from Kansas birther threatening Obama A Kansas birther, who publicly announced that he was planning a citizen’s arrest of President Barack Obama, was told Monday by the Secret Service that he would be arrested if he came near the president. Neil Jednoralski claimed that he contacted Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the Kansas Highway Patrol, and the Saline County Sheriff’s Office to ask for their help in arresting the president for illegally holding office as a foreign citizen, according to KSAL. For clarification, I don't know why they say he's a "birther" so don't attack me. Links: http://www.ksallink.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=20034&format=html; http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/07/secret-service-takes-guns-handcuffs-from-kansas-birther-threatening-obama/#.Tt_vQPV-aUc.facebook

Rep. Vicky Hartzler has constituent arrested in her office waiting room

Watch live video from OccupyKC on www.justin.tv According to "Fired Up Missouri": "In Representative Vicky Hartzler's office this afternoon, a number of contituents visited her office in an effort to meet with her and were forcibly removed. One of her constituents opted to wait for Hartzler in her waiting room and was subsequently arrested." Nice, Congressperson Hartzler, really nice. Links: http://firedupmissouri.com/content/hartzler-has-constituents-arrested; http://www.justin.tv/occupykc#r=-rid-&s=em

Those 3 students released from Egypt?

One was from right here in Missouri: Mo. student gives more details on arrest in Cairo "It was the most frightening experience of my life, I believe," Derrik Sweeney said. Speaking to The Associated Press by Skype from Jefferson City, Mo., Sweeney said the evening of Nov. 20 started peacefully in Cairo, with Tahrir Square "abuzz with ideas of democracy and freedom." Who knew? Link: http://news.yahoo.com/mo-student-gives-more-details-arrest-cairo-204345883.html

Breaking local news

From KMBC 9 News:

Priest Arrested, Accused Of Possessing Child Porn

This will not go well.

KCMO Police Dept: Credit where it's due

So many times, with so many things, if something is done badly, everyone screams bloody murder about it.  Right?

You bet.

But done right, done correctly?

Virtually no matter what it is, with too few exceptions, certainly, you don't hear a thing.

That seems especially true with any government office, in general, but police departments, perhaps, particularly.

So when I saw an article at the Star about how the KCMO Police Department apprehended and arrested 3 men for a "robbery attempt" ahead of the robbery---before it even happened, I had questions.

The biggest question was how did they do that?

How did they arrest 3 men for a robbery attempt BEFORE it happenend?

It sounded like something out of Tom Cruise's "Minority Report" movie, of course, with the police arresting people prior to an act.  Again, how could and did they do that?

So it was an interesting article to read (see link below) and I have to say, kudos, salutations and congratulations to these officers and the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department for a terrific job, extremely well done.

If you read the article--as everyone in KCMO should--you can see it took some homework and at least 3 mornings in a row of extremely early wakeup calls.  (Wanna' deride it?  YOU get yer butt outta' bed 3 days in a row at about 4 am to catch some would-be thieves, try to remain anonymous and be successful in catching the clowns.  See if you like it or it's easy.)

Just don't forget:  "Let's be careful out there."

Links:  http://www.kansascity.com/2010/12/20/2533968/robbery-attempt-allegedly-thwarted.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181689/

How I can--occasionally--love Republicans and Conservatives

Breaking news, boys and girls and it's hot.

It seems 4 clowns tried to tap the phones of Moderate Louisiana Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu.

It sounds like it was a real cluster truck, too:

"A conservative activist who posed as a pimp to target the community-organizing group ACORN and the son of a federal prosecutor were among four people arrested by the FBI and accused of trying to interfere with phones at Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu's office."

Get that, already--"posed as a pimp." Man, these people are fun. And they didn't want to stop there so they figured they'd just walk into a Senator's office and tap the phones.

And it doesn't stop there:

One of the two guys--they were 24 years old--is "the son of acting U.S. Attorney Bill Flanagan in Shreveport..."

This just gets better and better.

And this is only day one of the scandal. I'm sure more terrific, juicy stuff will come of it.

So, as I said, this is why and how I can--occasionally, anyway--love my fellow Republican and Conservative brethren.

Part of it is because they'll do anything to attempt to "get ahead."

But the other part is because they never learn or they just never learned their American history.

They never heard of Watergate.

Stupid move but fortunately, it turned out well

More proof of why we need a good local newspaper (Tony):

From The Kansas City Star:

Armed KC robber loses fight with Starbucks manager

A Starbucks manager in Kansas City thwarted a robbery Sunday night by disarming the gunman and slashing him with a box cutter.

The 30-year-old suspect showed up at a hospital for treatment of a cut to his chest. After being released from the hospital, he was booked into jail.

The failed holdup occurred about 10:45 p.m. at the coffee house at 4140 Main St. The suspect walked into the back office where the manager was counting money and told the manager to get into a freezer. The manager refused and fought the suspect, who hit the manager in the head with the butt of his gun. The manager pulled a box cutter out of his pocket and cut the suspect. The manager took the gun away and shoved the suspect out the door.

The manager suffered a cut above his eye, which was closed with glue at a hospital.
____________________________

As I said, stupid move, as the police would tell him--the manager--but fortunately it turned out well.

Good on ya', mate.

Everyone's tired of taking this kind of stupid crap, wherever it happens.

http://www.kansascity.com/679/story/1602134.html

At least someone's trying

Whatever happened to conservative government and keeping it out of our lives?

I'll Trade You the 2nd Amendment for the 4th
by Cenk Uygur
Fri Jun 27, 12:22 PM ET

Conservatives are thrilled about the Supreme Court decision settling the 2nd amendment issue in favor of individual gun owners (versus the idea that gun rights are only within the framework of a well-regulated militia). They are celebrating the constitution today. God bless their hearts. I wish they did that more often and about more amendments.

I believe in gun control. I believe that guns do kill people. In fact, they are designed to kill things. It is indisputable that they make killing a lot easier. That's what they're made for.

But I believe my side has lost this issue for now in the court of public opinion and in the Supreme Court. There are actually two different issues here. One is the policy argument concerning how much gun control we should have. The other is the constitutional argument of what the second amendment means.

I think it is reasonable to disagree on the meaning of the second amendment. In fact, I'm torn on it. If I heard this case myself as a judge and ultimately came down against the majority decision (which is not a certainty at all, I think this presents an excellent and close constitutional question -- apparently the Supreme Court agreed since they split 5-4 on it), I still wouldn't find the majority position unreasonable.

So, I am happy to concede that we should follow the second amendment to the letter of the law (as interpreted in this case). Now, can conservatives find it in their heart to agree that we should also follow the fourth amendment to the letter of the law? And if they can't, what possible logical or constitutional arguments can they have for fervently defending one amendment and rejecting another?

The fourth amendment clearly states that the government needs a warrant with probable cause in order for it to conduct a search or seizure. The Bush administration has been in flagrant violation of this for seven years now. They refuse to get warrants to wiretap conversations of Americans speaking with or emailing people abroad. This is clearly illegal and unconstitutional. But here conservatives find the constitution a little more inconvenient.

Justice Scalia warned after the recent Guantanamo Bay case, that the majority had almost certainly caused the deaths of many Americans with their decision. I think that's absurd hyperbole. But what is entirely possible is that the second amendment decision written by Scalia will lead to many more American deaths. But I don't begrudge him that. If he thinks that's the correct interpretation of the amendment, then our only recourse is to pass another amendment overriding it (not going to happen). We'll have to live with the extra deaths. Freedom isn't free.

But here, I propose a very fair trade. I will trade the second amendment for the fourth amendment. If the Bush administration releases the fourth amendment that it is currently holding hostage, I'm happy to consider the Supreme Court decision on the second amendment final and decisive. You keep the second amendment, we keep the fourth.

That seems like the fairest possible trade. My guess is that conservatives won't bite. They will continue the party line about how crucial it is that we follow the constitution when it comes to the second amendment and how important it is that we ignore the constitution when it comes to the fourth.

(original Yahoo post here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20080627/cm_huffpost/109531

_______________________________________________________
Back to yours truly here, with a weekly/monthly note: More than 40 American soldiers died in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq in the last month, with 20 coming in just the past week. Thanks, as ever, "W".

Oh, and to each and every person who voted for George W. Bush for President in either 2000 or 2004 or, God forbid they did it twice, both, our nation would like to give you a big, hardy "thank you" for the arbitrary war in Iraq, the largest deficit spending in the history of our nation, the division of the American people, $142.00 per barrel for oil and $4.00 per gallon for gas.

It's a real treat.