Have no doubts that Code Pink is a group of complete loons.
The San Francisco Bay Area Code Pink has organized "Mother's Day Women's Week at the Marine Recruiting Station," site of many anti-Iraq war, anti-troops, anti-American protests.
In honor of Mother's Day, Code Pink is putting a call out for witches.
From Monday, May 5th until Friday May 9th, as a build-up to reclaiming the Mothers Day of Julia Ward Howe's Proclamation and as a protest against the $178 Billion more dollars proposed to continue funding the occupation of Iraq, we are planning a week of women-focused daily protests at the MRS! Such as:
Monday, May 5th: Grandmothers Day of Action: we call on Grandmothers to volunteer to be recruited, instead of our youth
Tuesday, May 6th: Mothers Day of Action: we Mothers bewail the loss of all our children, and as Mama Bears, we do not allow recruiters to take our youth
Wednesday, May 7th: Daughters Day of Action: we call on daughters to do a wailing, mourning the loss of our fathers, the toll on the humanity of our fathers, the sorrow and pain of our fathers who have paid the price for destroying and/or harming human beings.
Thursday, May 8th: Sistahs:
Friday, May 9th: Witches, Crones, Sirens: perform rituals of leaving, cast a spell of peace and love over the station, rendering nil the recruiting of our youth to become fodder for this occupation of Iraq.
Then on Sunday, Mother's Day, May 11th, we have the March over the Golden Gate Bridge at noon.
"Witches, Crones, and Sirens" will "perform rituals of leaving, cast a spell of peace and love over the station, rendering nil the recruiting of our youth to become fodder for this occupation of Iraq."
Witches, Crones, Sirens come to the MRS today to cast spells, weave magic, invoke the foremothers, share wisdom, lead rituals to banish war and violence and to bring peace to the MRS, to protect our youth from the powerful spells of pro-war forces, to lead the men of the marine recruiting station off into the oceans of peace! Some witches, crones and sirens are willing to risk arrest, others are not. We call on all crones, witches and sirens to come to the MRS, to bring your energy, your wisdom, your fierce determination to end war now and bring peace to our world. Contact Kali at sylviasoven@yahoo.com or Marie at keeptahoepink@yahoo.com
All actions this week are at the MRS (Marine Recruiting Station, 64 Shattuck Square, Berkeley - on Shattuck Ave just south of University where Shattuck runs one-way north - and two blocks north of the BART)
We're calling it a "Witch-Hunt" and we at MAF will be out in front of the Marine Recruiting Center this FRIDAY, May 9th from 8:00 AM - 12:00 Noon. Fox News Channel will be broadcasting live reports from the event - so stay tuned to Fox for updates and check back at our website: www.MoveAmericaForward.org for photos and after-action reports.
Finally, we'll be bringing our brooms (the symbol we're using to mock the anti-American witches of Code Pink), American flags and signs.
---Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble...
In this June 18, 2006 file photo, 105-year-old bowler Bill Hargrove reacts at the Yonah Bowl & Skate lanes in Cleveland, Ga. Hargrove died Monday May 8, 2008 at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Atlanta of congestive heart failure, just four days shy of his 107th birthday. (AP Photo/Ric Feld, File)
ATLANTA -- By the time Bill Hargrove was recognized last year as the nation's oldest league bowler, his eyesight had deteriorated so much he could hardly see the pins.
But he kept at it, armed with a mental image of them. He was still bowling last week, just before he was hospitalized and died Monday of congestive heart failure — four days shy of turning 107.
Hargrove died at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, a spokeswoman said Thursday. He lived nearby in Clermont.
He earned national attention in May 2007, after turning 106, when the United States Bowling Congress dubbed him "the oldest league bowler ever."
..."I love it," Hargrove said when the league honored his longevity. "It puts you on trial as far as your ability. And your ability comes and goes. I'm fighting it all the time."
Mr. Hargrove is an inspiration. He was blessed with a long life and he never stopped doing what he loved.
I'm thinking Mr. Hargrove, even at the age of 106 and with poor eyesight, was a better bowler than Barack Obama.
The state Justice Department has released new documents confirming an off-duty deputy who killed six people shot himself as he fled police last fall.
Forest County Sheriff's Deputy Tyler Peterson gunned down six people with an assault rifle at a Crandon party last October.
Investigators say he shot himself in the head three times in the woods hours later as police closed in. Questions have swirled about how Peterson could have shot himself three times.
The Justice Department released a summary Thursday of Peterson's autopsy that showed only one of the shots damaged Peterson's brain. Soot rings were found around the entrance wounds, suggesting the shots were fired at close range.
Why did it take so long to clarify this?
Why did the Justice Department allow questions to "have swirled about how Peterson could have shot himself three times"?
There were no reasonable excuses.
Permitting doubts to linger all this time certainly didn't boost people's faith in J.B. Van Hollen. _______________
It took three deaths, Jennifer Bukosky, her daughter Courtney Bella, and her unborn daughter Sophia, for some lawmakers, Governor Jim Doyle, and some Wisconsin residents to say, "No more."
Reacting to a fatal crash that is shining new attention on the state's drunken driving laws, Gov. Jim Doyle said Wednesday that a third conviction for intoxicated use of a vehicle should be made a felony, and a bipartisan group of legislators called for tougher penalties for repeat offenders.
The statements came in response to an accident April 25 in which Jennifer Bukosky, 39, her unborn child and 10-year old daughter, Courtney Bella, were killed when a sport utility vehicle slammed into the rear of their car.
Mark Benson, a former surgeon who faces three counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle, was under the influence of pills, authorities say. Two days before the accident, Benson stood before a Waukesha County judge on a third drunken driving offense.
Benson has a history of drug and alcohol abuse dating back to at least 1993, according to court records.
He was sentenced on April 23 to 75 days in the county's work release jail, but was given until May 9 to report there, with orders not to drive in the meantime.
"Since my days as a prosecutor, I have pushed for tough drunken driving penalties. A third offense should be a felony. The only way to protect the public from multiple offenders is to keep them off the streets," Doyle, the former attorney general, said Wednesday in a statement.
Also Wednesday, four legislators - two Republicans and two Democrats - called for revocation of driving privileges and confiscation of vehicles for people convicted of a third offense of driving under the influence.
They also said the law should prevent an individual convicted of a third offense from getting behind the wheel of a vehicle again by sending the person directly to jail.
"Just turning up the heat on our current DUI penalties a little more won't do it," Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer (D-Manitowoc) said.
"Immediate, permanent confiscation of the vehicle, any vehicle driven after a revocation by multiple DUI offenders will be the kind of game changer we need."
The group of legislators included Rep. Joel Kleefisch (R-Oconomowoc), whose district includes the crash scene, and who is chairman of the Assembly Criminal Justice Committee.
...The legislators, including Sens. Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee) and Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), said they plan to begin drafting the legislation while working closely with members of the Bukosky family, who are expected to testify in favor of the bills when a hearing is scheduled.
Wisconsin is far too lenient when it comes to punishment for the intoxicated use of a vehicle.
The current law has repeat offender built into it. Five strikes is ridiculous.
Seizing cars and jailing offenders is costly. So what?
If that's what it takes to ensure the public's safety, then that's what it takes.
Locking up Mark Benson is not enough. What we need is change.
...[Waukesha County District Attorney Brad] Schimel said he doesn't disagree with making third-offense drunken driving a felony, but said Wisconsin taxpayers need to recognize that it will require more resources.
...Schimel contends that the focus should be on prevention and treatment.
I agree with Schimel that prevention and treatment is important.
But it's not wise to gamble on hoping that offenders are treated successfully. It's a risk to assume they've managed to change their habits.
They're a deadly threat to innocents, like Jennifer Bukosky and her two daughters.
When it comes to prevention of such tragedy, it means taking the potential killers off the street.
No excuses.
Lawmakers need to enact legislation that protects the public from these repeat offenders. They can save lives.
Jason Castro's departure from American Idol was a couple of weeks overdue.
After his string of disastrous performances, including Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Memory" and Neil Diamond's "Forever in Blue Jeans" and "September Morn," it was time for him to go.
NEW YORK -- Simon Cowell once told Jason Castro that his face would save him from elimination. Not this time.
The dreadlocked heartthrob was voted off "American Idol" Wednesday as the show narrowed the competition to three finalists: David Cook, David Archuleta and Syesha Mercado.
Castro, 20, from Rockwall, Texas, started off strong in the show's seventh season but lost momentum in recent weeks. He gave weaker performances, and flubbed the lyrics to Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" on Tuesday's performance show.
Cowell predicted Castro's gaffe could spell the end of him. "Jason, I'd pack your suitcase," Cowell told the singer.
Castro took his fate in stride and didn't wipe the ever-present grin off his expansive face after learning the result.
Lately, it seemed like Castro was auditioning for a sequel to the movie Half Baked rather than trying to be the next American Idol.
...Castro had his share of spacey moments while he was in the running, like when a viewer asked Wednesday what the contestants' biggest challenges were in the competition. Castro answered: "Just the brain being dead."
As time went on, Castro's spacey moments appeared to be contrived. He developed a rather annoying persona, like he had been plucked off the street and didn't know quite what was happening.
He definitely didn't deserve to be in the final three.
Weeks ago, it was easy to see that the two Davids, David Cook and David Archuleta, would be contenders. I wouldn't have picked Syesha Mercado to be rounding out the final three, but she's had some strong performances in the later weeks of the competition. It seems right that she's there.
It was odd on Wednesday's show when she started talking about her emotions, how she's changed, and how we might have the first female or first African-American president. It was as if she morphed into spacey Castro for a while.
I bet Andrew Lloyd Weber has nightmares about Castro singing "Memory."
