Carolina On My Mind

Just watch the video as James Taylor sings "Carolina on my mind" and you will understand why we are in heaven here in western North Carolina.

Charge dropped against man accused of passing gas

Finally some sense from somebody:

A West Virginia man accused of passing gas and fanning it toward a police officer no longer faces a battery charge. The Kanawha County prosecutor's office requested that the charge be dropped against 34-year-old Jose Cruz.

According to a criminal complaint, Cruz passed gas and made a fanning motion toward patrolman T.E. Parsons after being taken to the police station for a breathalyzer test. Cruz denies fanning the gas and says his request to use a restroom when first arriving at the station was denied.

An assistant says Magistrate Jack Pauley signed a motion to dismiss the charge Thursday.

Cruz, who was arrested Tuesday, still faces driving under the influence and other charges.

*****

While 'passing gas' is not the most polite thing to do it hardly rises to the level of 'battery' as Cruz was originally charged with so dismissing that charge was the only call to make ... now as to the DUI and other charges - if he was intoxicated throw the bum under the jailhouse.

Just in case you missed it ...

Two posts back I posted the news blurb that we all in North Carolina knew was fact but now the national pollsters are saying it as well:

Obama leads in North Carolina among voters.

This has always been a 'Blue' state. We have just been hijacked of late like Florida and Ohio were in 2000 and 2004.

Black Monday for the third Time!

Today - The Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 777.68 points, its biggest one-day drop in history.

It ended down 7% at 10365.45, down 9.3% since the crisis erupted a few weeks ago on Wall Street following the meltdown of Lehman Brothers holdings.

The three worst days in in economic history for the United States have all been under the repugicans allowing more and more greed.

So tell me .... What is that horseshit about repugicans being better for the economy, again?

Blurb

Obama leads McPain 47-45 in North Carolina.

Mysterious cargo on Iranian tanker kills Somali pirates

Somali pirates who hijacked an Iranian shipping vessel said to be carrying either "minerals" or "small arms and chemical weapons" have, en masse, fallen ill with a mysterious disease. The head of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme has been threatened with a lawsuit by the Iranian government for issuing spooky statements to the press to the effect that there was some kind of evil "chemicals" on the ship.

He told one news publication, The Long War Journal, that during the six days he had negotiated with the pirates, a number of them had become sick and died.

“That ship is unusual,” he was quoted as saying. “It is not carrying a normal shipment.”

The pirates did reveal that they had tried to inspect the ship’s cargo containers when some of them fell sick — but the containers were locked.

Osman’s delegation spoke to the ship’s captain and its engineer by cellphone, demanding to know more about the cargo.

Initially it was claimed the cargo contained “crude oil”; later it was said to be “minerals”.

And Mwangura has added: “Our sources say it contains chemicals, dangerous chemicals.”

But IRISL has denied that — and threatened legal action against Mwangura. The company has reportedly paid the pirates 200,000 — the first of several “ransom installments”, but that, too, has been denied.

Pirates die strangely after taking Iranian ship

South Dakota court asked whether profanity is disorderly

The South Dakota Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments over whether yelling profanities at a passing police officer is protected speech under the U.S. Constitution.

Attorneys for Marcus Suhn argued the First and 14th Amendments protected him and a misdemeanor disorderly conduct conviction should be overturned. He appealed to the high court after being convicted for a Sept. 2, 2007, exchange with Police Officer David Gibson.

The Constitution gives Americans to express ideas and opinions freely, Suhn's attorney, Robert Fite said. "That right also gives us the right to criticize our government and its agencies without fear of retribution."

But Assistant Attorney General Ann Meyer countered that a lower court judge was right in concluding Suhn's exclamations fell under the "fighting words" exception of the First Amendment.

Meyer also said the disorderly conduct charge was appropriate because Suhn uttered the profanities among a crowd of bar patrons, which created a risk, Meyer said.

"You've got 100 people coming out of the bars who presumably have been drinking," Meyer said.

Suhn, 23, and dozens of other patrons were gathered on the sidewalk in downtown Brookings, home of South Dakota State University and its nearly 12,000 students.

Gibson was on patrol when he saw and heard Suhn let out a string of obscenities that included several derogatory references to police officers.

Fite described the statement as 16 words amounting to profane criticism toward police. The lawyer, acknowledging the decorum of the court, told justices he would not expound unless they wanted him to read the entire quote.

Gibson confronted Suhn, but he was ignored until Gibson grabbed Suhn's arm and arrested him for disorderly conduct for the vulgar diatribe.

Fite argued it was only Suhn's words that prompted the arrest because Suhn had no direct confrontation with the officer, so the fighting words argument doesn't apply.

"I don't think there's any way Suhn can be convicted for speech only," Fite said.

Some justices asked the prosecutor whether there would be more arrests for language that has become common.

"Those particular words during my era, you would get your mouth washed out with soap. Now you hear them on television," said Justice Judith Meierhenry.

But Meyer argued that it was also the context, not only the words, that violated the law and created the risk.

"He just let it fly with his profanity towards police officers and the public and everybody's caught up in it and that's unreasonable noise," she said.

Suhn had been sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $150, plus court fees. His jail sentence was suspended before he served any jail time.

The high court is meeting this week at South Dakota State University. It's ruling in Suhn's case is expected in several months.

It's the (information) economy, stupid.

Shava Nerad shares a new essay, below, about the current economic crisis:

Accounting methods really haven't been updated to keep up with the changes as service and information economy overlays have changed the game. We have no way to account for our greatest assets in the modern economy -- talent, staff loyalty, team productivity in innovation, effective communication of information through media and business channels, and so on. These are all without accounting value in our current systems.

Today, value is added by shifting assets through complex smoke-and-mirror complexities in the financial markets. Or, value is created by applying talent (our largest intangible) stabilized by loyalty and passion to task (our least quantified intangibles, and the root of real innovation and productivity) in the information economy.

Tangible industries -- heavy industries, retail,... -- have been transformed by supply chain innovations, but even globalized, are well enough understood.

But a huge amount of the wealth creation since the invention of the transistor is intangible, and since we have no way to quantify and account for innovation, creativity, excellent records of technical teams, and so on, the market has tried to find tricks to value them, mostly through the stocks of information economy firms.

Since so few people really understand tech, PR, marketing and flim-flam have become the greatest influence on the value of any technical or informationally complex company.

Iconoclasm: Wall Street -- the chickens come home to roost

The scariest thing about Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern United States. As a representative of our political system, she's a new low in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl Rove. But more than that, she is a horrifying symbol of how little we ask for in return for the total surrender of our political power.

Not only is Sarah Palin a fraud, she's the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV -and this country is going to eat her up, cheering her every step of the way. All because most Americans no longer have the energy to do anything but lie back and allow ourselves to be jacked off by the calculating thieves who run this grasping consumer paradise we call a nation.

(...) The great insight of the Palin VP choice is that huge chunks of American voters no longer even demand that their candidates actually have policy positions; they simply consume them as media entertainment, rooting for or against them according to the reflexive prejudices of their demographic, as they would for reality-show contestants or sitcom characters.

The scariest thing about Sarah Palin isn't how unqualified she is - it's what her candidacy says about America

Woman's Eyes Randomly Shut For Days

Natalie Adler, 21, of Australia, has a bizarre and mysterious medical condition that cause her eyes to swell shut for several days each week. Physicians at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital have no idea what's causing the condition that has affected Adler since she was 17. The doctors had temporary success treating her with Botox. Their next step is to try electrical stimulation.

From ABC News:

"She's a one-off and we don't have a diagnosis," said Professor Justin O'Day of the hospital's neuro-ophthalmology department...

Ms Adler plans her life around her condition, but still misses some important dates.

"On my 18th birthday, my eyes were closed, but on my 21st they were open, so I had a party," she said.

"Not being able to go to the football or seeing my friends as much is what I miss the most."

"Woman unable to open eyes 3 days a week"

Gun groups to appeal decision to toss lawsuit

From the "They still don't have a clue" Department:

Gun rights groups are appealing a ruling that dismissed a lawsuit seeking the right to carry guns in parts of the world's busiest airport.

U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob tossed the lawsuit Friday, ruling that GeorgiaCarry.org offered no evidence why a new Georgia law would allow weapons into unsecured areas of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

State Rep. Tim Bearden, a repugican who co-sponsored the gun law, hopes to win on appeal.

*****

Now I am not the biggest fan of DHS but I get this feeling that even they can't be that stupid - allowing guns in Airports!?

These peckerwoods in Georgia (no surprise a repugican is 'pushing' the whacked notion) want to carry guns in the Airport ... and you wonder where the 'Hick' stereotype comes from ...

Peter Gabriel's Shock the Monkey

Shock the monkey to life
Shock the monkey to life

Cover me when I run
Cover me through the fire
Something knocked me out the trees
Now I'm on my knees
Cover me, darling please
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know when you're going to shock the monkey

Fox the fox
Rat the rat
You can ape the ape
I know about that
There is one thing you must be sure of
I cant take any more
Darling, don't you monkey with the monkey
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey

Wheels keep turning
Somethings burning
Don't like it but I guess I'm learning

Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey

Cover me, when I sleep
Cover me, when I breathe
You throw your pearls before the swine
Make the monkey blind
Cover me, darling please
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey

Too much at stake
Ground beneath me shake
And the news is breaking

Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey

Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey to life

Watch the video here.

"Alaska Women Reject Palin" Rally

The rally was held on September 13th and the piece below was posted on the 14th over on Kos.
I have waited to post anything about the rally until I saw the knee-jerking from the repugicans ... didn't need to wait this long as they jerked convulsively immediately - but give'em enough rope and all that.

Today I saw where one knot-head was saying there was only eight people at the rally so it is 'hardly a movement' ... he must have one of the 'faith-based calculators' mentioned in the piece below to come up with that bullshit.

So I post the photos and you can count the number of people attending for yourself.
(If you are using one of those 'faith-based calculators,' don't bother you have already been supplied with the number of people attending,)

From Kos:

"We begin in Anchorage, Alaska, where a group of average women decided to hold a small rally to let it be known that their Governor, Sarah Palin, does not represent their views on many of the issues that are important in their lives.

They put together a press release and sent it to the Anchorage media outlets. A local right-wing talk show host broadcast the names and phone numbers of the two organizers over the air. They began receiving a series of harassing phone calls for the remainder of that afternoon. The leading TV station picked up the story on Thursday. Alaska Public Radio Network put up some audio.

An anonymous caller contacted the local media on Friday afternoon and told them they were one of the organizers, and the rally had been cancelled. Someone even faxed forged a document saying the Secret Service had cancelled the permit for the rally, even though no permit is required. Some people were putting an awful lot of effort in to making sure no dissent would be heard from Alaska.

Well, it didn't work. Despite overcast skies and a forecast for rain, there was a rally here today. Oh man, was there! In fact, it was by most accounts the largest protest rally in the history of Alaska. The Anchorage Daily News wrote that the rally drew an "estimated" 1500 people. Let me be clear: the organizers used a hand-clicker and counted at least 1,483 Alaskans, mostly women, who showed up to say that Sarah Palin does not speak for them. They also counted 93 McCain/Palin supporters. The national media loves to say that Sarah Palin enjoys an "80% popularity rating" in Alaska. Do the math on todays rally, and you'd need a faith-based calculator to get 80%. This was grassroots activism at its best - Alaskans coming out to speak their minds on a host of issues."

The site of the rally.

At 10:30 AM, the sidewalk was empty.

So was the lawn.

Would anyone show up?

It started out small.

Then a few more showed up.

Was this it?

Nope - the rally gets bigger.

Holy cow!

Seriously. Wow.

Probably the biggest protest rally in Alaska history. I can believe that.

The Theme of the Day

This woman wasn't buying it.

And neither was this this one.

Or this whole family.

Oh, snap!

No shortage of Pitbulls and Lipstick.

A smart young girl.

Two of my favorites.

Another good one.

These two women weren't buying the hype, either.

An excellent question. Governor?

Lots of other folks here support her choice, too.

I sense a pattern developing here...

Folks weren't wild about her ideas on war, either.

Here's a hockey mom with a different opinion.

Less gas, more frustration

Dealing with Ike ...

Gasoline-starved motorists hoping that the start of the week would bring good news faced a disappointing reality this morning -- there was little improvement over the weekend.

The second week of the region's gas shortage began just like the first week ended -- with promises that more gas is coming, but little fuel available.

Motorists reported most stations closed again Monday morning, with long lines forming at the few spots were gasoline was available.

When is relief coming?

Nobody seems to know.

Officials from local government, the AAA and gas suppliers told motorists Friday to use the gasoline they had and wait for the supply situation to improve over the weekend. But the improvement never came.

Woman, 79, dies in home invasion

Gastonia police: Mary Parnell had a heart attack when a suspect fleeing officers entered her house.

David Hains spent Sunday night writing the eulogy for his 79-year-old mother-in-law, who died from a heart attack when a man invaded her Gaston County home, police said.

“It's bad enough to lose someone. But to lose someone in an unjust way like this – it's a very difficult thing to deal with.”

Mary Parnell was reading a novel in her home office Friday afternoon when police say a man burst into her home while police were hunting for two credit union robbery suspects.

Larry Whitfield, 20, and Quanterrious McCoy, 20, both of Charlotte, were being pursued by officers after the two men attempted to rob the Fort Financial Credit Union on New Hope Road in Gastonia.

Whitfield and McCoy wrecked their car on Interstate 85 at the Belmont/Mount Holly exit, and ran into the woods.

Gastonia police, working with sheriff's deputies, state troopers and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, found McCoy hiding under a car. Witnesses told police that a man identified as Whitfield first broke into one house and confronted the owner with a knife before running to Parnell's house.

An autopsy showed she died of a heart attack. Witnesses told police they saw Whitfield running away. A sheriff's deputy found him a short time later under a brier bush nearby.

Whitfield was charged with first-degree murder under the state's felony murder rule, which applies when someone dies in the commission of a felony, said Gastonia Police Capt. C.L. Shaw.

Whitfield also faces kidnapping charges, stemming from circumstances that occurred inside at least one of the homes he entered, Shaw said, declining to elaborate. In addition, Whitfield was charged with attempted robbery and felony breaking and entering, Shaw said. Whitfield was being held in the Gaston County Jail without bond Sunday night.

McCoy was charged with attempted armed robbery and was also being held in jail. His bond amount was not available.

Both men are expected in court today.

Parnell's family said she was in good health and didn't suffer any other injuries besides the heart attack.

Relatives remembered her Sunday as a “sparkling” woman who was devoted to her five grandchildren and her husband of nearly 50 years, Herman. He was attending a funeral Friday when the death occurred, said Hains, communications director for the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte.

Parnell grew up in the New Hope area of Gaston County and married her high school sweetheart. She worked at a bank while raising her four children and spent her retired years reading novels and mysteries and playing solitaire on her computer.

“When you spoke with her on the telephone or in person she literally was smiling all the time,” Hains said. “She seemed to always be delighted in your presence.”

Painter takes on North Carolina Battle

An influential Carolinas Revolutionary War battle may soon have a fresh perspective on canvas.

Kentucky painter Richard Luce has joined re-enactors on the Overmountain Victory Trail as they recreate the 1780 march that led to the Battle of Kings Mountain.

A militia of mountain frontiersmen worked their way from Virginia to North Carolina to defeat British troops and help set up the final American victory at Yorktown.

Luce intends to do a series of battle paintings and is taking photos and making notes of the re-enactment as part of his research.

He told the Kingsport (Tennessee) Times-News during a stop in Bluff City, Tennessee, last week that the re-enactors help him gather “magic moments” of action and emotion.

He hopes his trip with the Overmountain Men will lead to a series of paintings about the battle.

“I hope to make this a national campaign to spread the story,” he said. “It's a great story that needs to be told.”

British Gen. Henry Clinton called the campaign “the first chain of evils that … ended in the loss of America.” Thomas Jefferson described it as “the turn of the tide of success.”

Hot Tub in a Dumpster

Hey, he may not have been the first to think of it. But, he is the first to do it - we think.

Michel de Broin built a hot tub in a dumpster: "The dumpster is used to frame its contents - 1649 litres of filtered, chlorinated water. Its interior is lined with waterproof blue material while a pump and filter system ensures the purity of its contents. "

Read all about it @ Blue Monochrom | 2003