.- A California jury found on Tuesday that four firefighters, who were ordered by their superiors to participate in the city’s “gay pride” parade were sexually harassed, and awarded them monetary damages from the city.The case dates back to July 2007 when four San Diego firefighters were informed by their superiors that they would be participating in San Diego’s annual “Gay Pride” parade. Though the four men protested, they were ordered to dress up in full uniform and ride on the fire engine along the parade route.
During the event, explains a statement from the Thomas More Law Center, the firefighters were subjected to “vile sexual taunts and gestures.”
Some of the comments hurled at the firefighters along the parade route included: “you can put out my fire; you’re making me hot; give me mouth-to-mouth.” When the firefighters did not respond, some people in the crowd turned hostile and started yelling obscenities at them.
Other bystanders directed lewd acts at the firefighters, such as exposing their genitals, grabbing their crotch, and blowing kisses.
Shortly after the parade, the four firefighters filed a lawsuit against the City of San Diego. The first trial ended in a hung jury. However, the jurors of the retrial, which ended yesterday, found in favor of the four firefighters “on all nine questions in the verdict form,” reports the Thomas More Law Center.
The four men were awarded a combined total of $34,300 for emotional distress. In addition, Fire Chief Tracy Jarman has stated that participation in future parades will be voluntary.
Charles S. LiMandri, West Coast Director of the Thomas More Law Center, reacted to the ruling, saying, “This is a victory for all people who are willing to stand up for what is right when it comes to defending our basic freedoms of speech and religion. No one should be forced to be subjected to sexual harassment on the job – not even male heterosexual firefighters who are being harassed by homosexual men at a Gay Pride Parade. All city officials should now think twice before ever making such a wrongheaded decision to violate their employees’ rights in such an improper manner again.”
Co-counsel in the case, Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Joe Infranco added in a statement, “Many people may mistakenly think the ‘gay pride’ parade is merely a ‘fun’ event. They never would have imagined the crude sexual harassment these firefighters were forced to endure.”
Deputy City Attorney Don Shanahan stated that the city will appeal the verdict.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Firefighters forced to participate in ‘gay pride’ parade win lawsuit
B&Es ACORN-style... Outrageous. (CBS)
A community organization breaks into a foreclosed home in what they are calling an act of civil disobedience.
The group wants to train homeowners facing eviction on peaceful ways they can remain in their homes.
Derek Valcourt reports their actions are not without controversy.
Near Patterson Park, the padlock on the door and the sign in the window tell part of Donna Hanks foreclosure story.
"The mortgage went up $300 in one month," said Hanks, former homeowner.
She says the bank refused to modify her loan and foreclosed, kicking her out of the house in September.
The community group ACORN calls Hanks a victim of predatory lending.
"This is our house now," said Louis Beverly, ACORN.
And on Thursday afternoon, they literally broke the foreclosure padlock right off the front door and then broke into the house, letting Hanks back in for the first time in months.
"We are actually trespassing, and so this is a way of civil disobedience to try to stay in the house," said Beverly. "Legally it's wrong, but homesteading is the only means that she has left to stay in her house. And we feel as though this is the right thing to do at this particular time to save this family."
[snip]
Saul Alinsky on "Change"
Obama is simply following The Leader.
Saul Alinsky
Courtesy of FR's ETL:
Saul Alinsky on "Change"...
From Rules for Radicals, Alinsky outlines his strategy in organizing, writing:"There's another reason for working inside the system. Dostoevsky said that taking a new step is what people fear most. Any revolutionary change must be preceded by a passive, affirmative, non-challenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people. They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and change the future. This acceptance is the reformation essential to any revolution."
Saul Alinsky, The Latter Rain
http://latter-rain.com/ltrain/alinski.htm
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The Brilliant Steyn ::: Headless Body in Legless Story
Headless Body in Legless Story [Mark Steyn]
Kathryn, that self-pitying imam is part of a now familiar pattern: Pay no attention to that dead body; the real victim here is Islam.
Beheaded woman in Buffalo? "Shocked friend says murder damages Islam's image."
Hindus, Jews and Christians massacred in Bombay? "The recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India highlight the dangerously vulnerable situation of India’s Muslims."
But enough about all these corpses: Let's talk about me.
Yet we never do. Jonah writes today about the reluctance of journalists (a profession that congratulates itself on its "bravery" and "courage" far more than, say, firemen do) to speak truth to politically correct power — or, as I put it in my testimony in Toronto last week, their willingness to serve as eunuchs to the PC sultans.
Oddly enough, the one story that did decline to take spokesimams at face value came from, of all people, The Toronto Star's reporter:
Aasiya Hassan recently filed for divorce, authorities said. According to Buffalo News reports, she obtained an order of protection on Feb. 6, barring her husband from their home in Orchard Park.
Under sharia law followed by Muslims, a woman can ask for a divorce, but only a man can grant the request, and he can refuse, according to a book on sharia published last month, Cruel and Usual Punishment, by Egyptian-born American author Nonie Darwish.
Under Islamic law, crimes such as apostasy (leaving Islam), adultery, theft or drinking alcohol are punishable by beheading, stoning, amputation of limbs or flogging, the book says.
As a Canadian reader wrote: "Wow. Someone at the Star hasn't been reading the employee handbook."
But that's the point. Spousal murder is not unusual. Beheading your wife is. If Muzzammil Hassan decapitated his as an Islamic ritual, then his entire professional life — Mister Moderate Muslim — was a lie. In other words, it would be the work of moments for even the laziest hack to work up exactly the same "hypocrisy" angle that the press stampede after when some evangelical preacher turns out to have a thing for fetching young rent boys.
As I noted at the weekend, when Mr. Hassan launched his Bridges TV station to counter "negative stereotypes" of Muslims, he got the traditional tongue baths from NBC's Brian Williams, NPR's "All Things Considered" et al - even though the station was entirely unwatched. Don't they have a responsibility to revisit the story now that it's got a little more complicated - or, as old-school editors would say, "newsworthy" - than the press releases they read out a couple of years back?
From The Chicago Tribune, November 30th 2004:
Although many may welcome the channel as a vital voice missing from the mainstream media, scholars say it must transcend a number of obstacles to survive.
John Voll, director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, said some audiences might have a hard time accepting Islam and modernity in the same package, which is exactly what the network hopes to demonstrate.Not as hard a time as Mr. Hassan had reconciling Islam and modernity.
From NBC Nightly News, December 9th 2004:
[REPORTER RON] ALLEN: It's the brainchild of Aasiya Zubair, an architect, and her husband, Muzzammil Hassan, a banker, who are disturbed that negative images of Muslims seem to dominate TV, especially since 9/11.
Ms. AASIYA ZUBAIR: I did not want my kids growing up to watch Muslims being portrayed as terrorists.No, indeed. Instead, it's their father who turned out to be the terrorist — no different from the London School of Economics-educated British subject behind the beheading of Daniel Pearl.
That's what makes this a story rather than one family's tragedy. If you're not intrigued by the apparent fraud at the heart of this man's life and work — a fraud in which the U.S. media cheerfully colluded — you lack the elementary curiosity necessary to be a journalist.
Letterman Top Ten ::: Things Hillary Wants To Accomplish On Her Trip Overseas
Top Ten Things Hillary Clinton Wants To Accomplish On Her Trip Overseas
10. Exchange U.S. dollars for currency that's worth something
9. Win respect defeating Japan's top-ranked sumo wrestler
8. Shift world's perception of America from "hated" to "extremely disliked"
7. Personally thank all of her illegal campaign donors
6. Three words: stylish Indonesian pantsuits
5. Visit burial site of revered Chinese military leader, General Tso
4. Get drunk with that Japanese finance minister guy
3. Convince China to switch from lead-tainted products to mercury-tainted products
2. Catch Chinese screening of Benjamin Button entitled "The Strange Adventures of Freaky Grandpa Baby"
1. Pick up carton of duty-free smokes for Obama
Boehner Statement on Obama's Housing Plan
Washington, Feb 18 - House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today issued the following statement on the housing plan outlined by President Obama in Phoenix, Arizona:
“The housing crisis is at the heart of our economic troubles, and House Republicans want to work with the President on a plan that keeps families in their homes without asking taxpayers to bail out irresponsible lenders, scam artists, and borrowers who knowingly made bad decisions. While we hope to work together, there are many unanswered questions that remain about the proposal that was announced today. Why should we reward Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with $200 billion in taxpayer dollars without first reforming these housing entities that were at the heart of the economic meltdown? Will taxpayers be forced to subsidize the scandal-plagued activist group ACORN under this proposal? Should a responsible plan include a ‘cramdown’ provision that could increase the monthly mortgage payments for responsible borrowers?
“Taxpayers and homeowners who are playing by the rules expect their leaders in Washington to work together on solutions to get our housing industry – and our entire economy – moving again. The President’s announcement of his plan is an important step in that process, and Republicans look forward to working with him and our Democratic colleagues in Congress on this issue in the weeks and months to come.”
NOTE: Boehner and Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) sent a letter to President Obama earlier today seeking clarification on six common sense questions about his housing proposal. Specifically, Boehner and Cantor asked:
- What will your plan do for the over 90% of homeowners who are playing and paying by the rules?
- Does your plan compensate banks for bad mortgages they should have never made in the first place?
- Will individuals who misrepresented their income or assets on their original mortgage application be eligible to get the taxpayer funded assistance under your plan?
- Similarly, will you require mortgage servicers to verify income and other eligibility standards before modifying mortgages?
- What will you do to prevent the same mortgages that receive assistance and are modified from going into default three, six, or eight months later?
- How do you intend to move forward in the drafting of the legislation and who will author it?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
TSUCMU ::: Putin Warns The US Against Socialism
Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin has said the US should take a lesson from the pages of Russian history and not exercise “excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence”.
“In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute,” Putin said during a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.”
Sounding more like Barry Goldwater than the former head of the KGB, Putin said, “Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors, and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state.”
Putin also cautioned the US against using military Keynesianism to lift its economy out of recession, saying, “in the longer run, militarization won’t solve the problem but will rather quell it temporarily. What it will do is squeeze huge financial and other resources from the economy instead of finding better and wiser uses for them.” Putin’s comments come in sharp contrast to Russia’s own military buildup and expansion.
Putin also echoed the words of conservative maverick Ron Paul when he said, “we must assess the real situation and write off all hopeless debts and ‘bad’ assets. True, this will be an extremely painful and unpleasant process. Far from everyone can accept such measures, fearing for their capitalization, bonuses, or reputation. However, we would ‘conserve’ and prolong the crisis, unless we clean up our balance sheets.”
(Neofascist) Holder: US is nation of cowards on racial matters
WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Eric Holder described the United States Wednesday as a nation of cowards on matters of race, saying most Americans avoid discussing unresolved racial issues.In a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.
"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," said Holder, nation's first black attorney general.
Self-segregate = neofascist-speak for "spending time with the family".
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
TSUCMU ::: Prominent Orchard Park man charged with beheading his wife
Orchard Park police are investigating a particularly gruesome killing, the beheading of a woman, after her husband — an influential member of the local Muslim community — reported her death to police Thursday.
Police identified the victim as Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37. Detectives have charged her husband, Muzzammil Hassan, 44, with second-degree murder.
"He came to the police station at 6:20 p.m. [Thursday] and told us that she was dead," Orchard Park Police Chief Andrew Benz said late this morning.
Muzzammil Hassan told police that his wife was at his business, Bridges TV, on Thorn Avenue in the village. Officers went to that location and discovered her body.
Muzzammil Hassan is the founder and chief executive officer of Bridges TV, which he launched in 2004, amid hopes that it would help portray Muslims in a more positive light.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Rush Transcript ::: 02/13/2009
RUSH: Okay, Bill Clinton has said we gotta have enforced media accountability. “All the big money has gone to support right-wing talk shows.” Mr. President, if I may, all the big money is not in talk radio. It’s all your Library and Massage Parlor. What I wouldn’t give for the amount of money that’s been donated to Bill Clinton and his Library and Massage Parlor! That’s where the big money is in this country. Now, how unhappy can these Democrats be? They’ve got 60 votes in the Senate. They own the House of Representatives. They occupy the White House. They control the media. Just what do they want? Karl Marx said it. You know what “peace” is in Karl Marx’s definition? The absence of opposition to socialism. That is peace. The absence of opposition to a leftist, to a socialist, and that’s what they’re aiming for this is a major transformation of the United States, as Obama promised. Let’s not forget Clinton in 1994, June. He was flying in to dedicate some train station in St. Louis, and he called the morning show in our blowtorch affiliate there, KMOX.
CLINTON: After I get off the radio today with you, Rush Limbaugh will have three hours to say whatever he wants —
HOST: Would you like to leave a message?
CLINTON: — and I won’t have any opportunity to respond. And there’s no truth detector. You won’t get on afterwards and say what was true and what wasn’t.
RUSH: Isn’t this amazing? That sounds like exactly what I’m saying about the Drive-By Media today. And he had the Drive-By Media totally in his tank, too. That was 1994. They’re writing stories about the power crackling in his tight-fitting jeans as he strolled Catalina Island. We had Nina Burleigh promising a “Lewinsky,” promising a BJ just to thank Clinton for keeping abortion legal. I mean, the press was totally in the tank. It’s not really a new concept for them with Obama. It’s just total now. It’s 100%. Gone is any curiosity. Gone is any attempt to keep people in power, honest. They have aligned themselves with the Democrat Party and the leftist machinery of Obama. Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals number 13: “Isolate the target, polarize it, paralyze it.” Make sure you pick an individual, not a group or a company. It has to be an individual. That’s exactly what they did to Bush. Bush didn’t respond. I do. Nevertheless, this is their attempt going forward.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: One more thing. Bill Clinton knows this. “All the big money’s in talk radio.” What big money? Where does this money come from? All the money in talk radio comes... Do you know where the money in talk radio comes from, Snerdley? Where does...? (interruption) Well, wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. Well, you’re getting closer as you keep taking these wild guesses. I asked Snerdley, “Where does all this big money in talk radio come from, in any radio?” He said, “From advertisers, from big business, from commerce.” Yeah. Where does that come from? Where does that money come from? From the audience, exactly right, the people that buy.
Mr. President, the big money in radio or the big money in Super Bowl or the big money in American Idol or wherever you want to go that there’s big money, in the private sector, the big money comes from our audiences. The big money comes from listeners. Without them there wouldn’t be any money. We don’t run around fundraising. We don’t run around asking for donations. Listeners! Loyal, lovable, totally appreciated listeners who purchase products and services advertised on radio. There is no “big money.” There’s no George Soros here as there is in Air America. There’s no party behind talk radio, as with Air America and the Democrat Party. There’s no big money here at all. There’s certainly not any big money like you got, Mr. President, from the ChiComs and your illegal campaign donations. We in talk radio don’t engage in crooked real estate deals.
We didn’t bring in people to our studios for coffee and shake ‘em down, promising not to criticize them on the radio if they will just pay us off. We don’t bring in interns here and start using cigars in nefarious ways. We don’t have massage parties here in our broadcast studios. Well, I can’t speak for some of the long-haired, maggot-infested FM types and what they’re doing in their studios. (laughing) But I haven’t had one visit from a ChiCom advertiser. I haven’t had a guy that owns a Chinese restaurant in Little Rock walk in to some office with $200 million in unsigned money orders for me for big money. I haven’t people from Dubai, from the United Arab Emirates, from Saudi Arabia pay me 150 to $400,000 for a speech ripping my own country while I’m in theirs! I don’t do things like this, Mr. President. My money, our money comes (just as government’s does) from the American people — and our money is puny compared to yours. Clinton Global Initiative? We don’t have anything like that. What big money, Mr. President?
END TRANSCRIPT
Friday, February 13, 2009
Parse of the Week: Octuplets' Mom On Welfare, Spokesman Confirms
LOS ANGELES — The Southern California mother of octuplets receives $490 a month in food stamps and three of her first six children are disabled and receiving federal assistance, her publicist confirmed Monday evening.
Spokesman Michael Furtney said Suleman did not want to disclose the nature of the disabilities, or the type or sum of the payments.
Furtney confirmed the public assistance payments after two sources told The Los Angeles Times that Suleman was receiving food stamps and federal supplemental security income.
"In her view these are just payments made for people with legitimate needs and are not, in her view, welfare," Furtney said. "She just believes that there are programs for people with needs and she and her children qualify for some of them."
Raping Men as a Terrorist Recruiting Tool
Posted By Phyllis Chesler On February 5, 2009 @ 5:41 am In Uncategorized | 77 Comments
Fancy that! Al Qaeda does not discriminate on the basis of gender or religion. They not only kill both men and women, Muslim and infidel alike, they also recruit men and women by raping them!
[1] Pink News, which bills itself as “Europe’s largest gay news,” outlet has just confirmed that al-Qaeda uses male rape as a tactic to recruit male human bombers in Algeria.
We have just [2] learned about a [3] Sunni al-Qaeda related plot in Iraq in which terrorists raped eighty Muslim girls and women, then turned them over to [4] Samira Jassim who patiently and persistently persuaded the rape victims, (many of whom had been targeted because they were depressed or mentally ill), to cleanse their shame by blowing themselves and other Muslims up. Twenty eight women did so.
In an interview with Dr. Anat Berko, the author of The Path to Paradise. The Inner World of Suicide Bombers and Their Dispatchers, she pointed out that there is “always a woman” behind the female suicide bomber, who functions like a “pimp or a Madam in a brothel.” Potential women suicide bombers are never alone again, they are always accompanied by at least one, usually older woman, who encourages, manipulates, guards, and supports the potential shaheeda–just like a mother might do. Dr. Berko, who is currently a Visiting Professor at George Washington University, is a criminologist, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Israeli Defense Forces, and a research fellow at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism and lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herziliya.
In a terrible sense, “Madam” Jassim only exaggerated what is routinely and normatively done to many girls and women today in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, and increasingly in countries such as Egypt, Iraq, Algeria, etc. After all, Jassim did her Evil Stepmother maternal dirty work in a culture which fears, despises, shrouds, genitally mutilates, force-marries girls to their first cousins, and perpetrates honor killings. How different is raping them so that they may find glory through jihad? In a sense, isn’t this a quantum career leap and sacred opportunity?
I have [5] written about the routine rape of both male and female children by older boys and men in Arab and Muslim societies many times in the past, in both books and articles. This is one factor which may account for a characteristic life-long “paranoia” and a super-vigilance about shame and honor which afflicts these cultures.
According to Pink News, an Algerian militant, Abu Baçir El Assimi, confirmed in the pages of The Sun that:
“The sexual act on young recruits aged between 16 to 19 was a means to urge them to commit suicide operations…that “intense social stigma and fear of more gay sex attacks leaves Muslims prepared to die.”
Apparently, a suspected 22 year-old terrorist bomber was killed in an attempted attack on a security installation in the Tizi Ouzou province of Algeria last month. The ongoing autopsy has revealed that he may have been raped. “There was a large tear in the anus of the terrorist, (as well as semen), which confirms the sexual abuse.”
We can’t say we didn’t know, that no one told us. We now know–I am telling you–that we are dealing with terrorists who engage in the human sacrifice of their own people, including their own children; who hide behind their own civilian populations whom they force into becoming their “human shields;” who use rape as a systematic weapon of war in Darfur, (I have called this “gender cleansing”), and who now use rape as a way to recruit young men and women into becoming human homicide bombers.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Leno ::: Wednesday Feb 11 2009
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Prosecutors have asked a federal judge to send former Washington, D.C., mayor Marion Barry to jail for failing to file tax returns for eighth time in nine years. He hasn’t paid taxes for eight years straight. So it’s either jail or a Cabinet position in the Obama administration. Take your pick.
Walmart announced this week they're laying off 800 people at their headquarters. And of course there’s a ripple effect here — for every Walmart employee that's laid off, 200 kids in China lose their jobs.
Happy birthday Gov. Sarah Palin — 45years old today. I thought this was nice. She got a lovely card with $5 in it from John McCain.
Afterwards, I guess she did some shots. Two moose and a caribou.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Angry survivors blame 'green' policy | "We've lost two people in my family because you dickheads won't cut trees down"
ANGRY residents last night accused local authorities of contributing to the bushfire toll by failing to let residents chop down trees and clear up bushland that posed a fire risk.
During question time at a packed community meeting in Arthurs Creek on Melbourne's northern fringe, Warwick Spooner — whose mother Marilyn and brother Damien perished along with their home in the Strathewen blaze — criticised the Nillumbik council for the limitations it placed on residents wanting the council's help or permission to clean up around their properties in preparation for the bushfire season. "We've lost two people in my family because you dickheads won't cut trees down," he said.
"We wanted trees cut down on the side of the road … and you can't even cut the grass for God's sake."
Later, the meeting was cut short when Mr Spooner's father, Dennis, collapsed in his chair and an ambulance had to be called. Despite losing his wife and son and everything he owned, a friend later said he had not stopped or slept since the weekend.
Another resident said she had asked the council four times to tend to out-of-control growth on public land near her home, but her pleas had been ignored.
There was widespread applause when Nillumbik Mayor Bo Bendtsen said changes were likely to be made about the council's policy surrounding native vegetation.
But his response was not good enough for Mr Spooner: "It's too late now mate. We've lost families, we've lost people."
More than 500 people spilled out of the small hall during the meeting, at which the CFA, Victoria Police, Department of Human Services and Telstra provided updates.
Many expressed anger that police road blocks were stopping them from reaching survivors trapped in fire-ravaged areas with no water, power or other basic needs. One man present spoke of counselling a woman whose two children had been killed and whose grief had been compounded by not knowing where they were because the area had been declared a crime scene and she had not been allowed to return.
Most of those present were tired, grieving the loss of relatives and friends and with little more than the smoke-coated clothes on their backs. Some were still showing symptoms of shock after experiencing the worst natural disaster in the nation's history.
Scattered around the hall and outside were trestle tables with clothing sorted in neat piles, toiletries, food and bottled water. On the floor were dozens of pairs of shoes. There was also a section dedicated to baby clothes and another for children's toys.
Of all the speakers who addressed the meeting, it was Arthurs Creek CFA Captain David McGahy who got the most rousing reception.
Choking back tears he told them: "I'm so terribly sorry. We desperately wanted to protect you but we couldn't.
"In the cold analysis of light, it wouldn't have mattered if we'd have had 200 units here, all that would have happened is we would have ended up with a whole lot of dead firefighters. I've been at this game for about 40 years and I haven't experienced anything like that, not even remotely like it."
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Abuse At Chicago Public Schools (and the guy in charge has become U.S Sec of Education)
'Painful Lessons': Abuse At Chicago Public Schools
CHICAGO (CBS) ―Hundreds of students have allegedly been beaten by teachers, coaches and staff at Chicago Public Schools. Our 2 Investigators continue their ongoing investigation involving the illegal use corporal punishment. Investigative reporter Dave Savini's findings have city officials promising to investigate "Painful Lessons."Related Stories
- Treveon Martin, 10, is one of at least 818 Chicago Public School students, since 2003, to allege being battered by a teacher or other staff member.
- CPS Takes Action On Corporal Punishment (10/7/2008)
- Painful Lessons: Students Face Corporal Punishment (9/24/2008)
Treveon Martin, 10, is afraid of a teacher at his school.
"I've seen him hit five of them in the classroom," Martin said.
Martin says he and others have been hit, grabbed and even struck with a belt.
"He's threatened almost all the kids in his classroom," Martin said.
He says it happened at Robert Emmet Academy in November but a Chicago Public School investigator didn't talk to him until last week - 70 days after the case was reported, and not until after we started asking questions.
"He holded my arms and he picked my body up, and then he just slammed me on the desk," Martin said.
An exclusive CBS 2 investigation discovered Treveon Martin is one of at least 818 Chicago Public School students, since 2003, to allege being battered by a teacher or an aide, coach, security guard, or even a principal. In most of those cases - 568 of them - Chicago Public School investigators determined the children were telling the truth.
"I'm thinking that I don't really feel safe," Martin said.
The 2 Investigators found reports of students beaten with broomsticks, whipped with belts, yard sticks, struck with staplers, choked, stomped on and pushed down stairs. One substitute teacher even fractured a student's neck.
But even more alarming, in the vast majority of cases, teachers found guilty were only given a slap on the wrist.
CBS 2 informed former Chicago Public School CEO Arne Duncan of our investigative findings shortly before he was promoted to U.S. Secretary of Education.
"If someone hits a student, they are going to be fired. It's very, very simple," Duncan said.
Before heading to Washington, he vowed to take action.
"Any founded allegation where an adult is hitting a child, hitting a student - they're going to be gone," Duncan said.
But that's not what happened under Duncan's watch. Of the 568 verified cases, only 24 led to termination. Records show one teacher who quote "battered students for several years" was simply given a "warning" by the Board of Education.
And another student was given "100 licks with a belt." The abuse was substantiated, but the records show the teacher was not terminated.
Alderman Pat O'Connor is on the City Council Education Committee. He wants all these cases re-examined including the way Treveon Martin's was handled.
"I'll tell you what it is - it's deplorable," O'Connor said. "I really believe that the Board has dropped the ball in this instance."
He says this information was never brought to the committee's attention until now.
"You rely on them to follow the law, and clearly here, it doesn't appear that they have," O'Connor said.
There is a state law that bans corporal punishment. But as our 2 Investigators first exposed in September - students are being hit by coaches too. Paddles were confiscated, and we exposed this gym security tape at Simeon Career Academy showing a coach paddling volleyball players reportedly for missing serves.
Martin says the teacher injured him after he got into a scuffle with a classmate over an eraser.
"My back really hurted, and then at the end of the day, I had to go the hospital," Martin said.
His mother, Courtney Smith, says he was taken by ambulance and treated for a contusion on his back. It is children around his age who appear to be most at risk. The 2 Investigators found the students with the most complaints are in Kindergarten through 8th grade.
"He doesn't have very much faith in anyone at his school," Smith said.
"He hurt my feelings," Martin said.
So why did it take over two months to look into Martin's case? School officials say it's because they have many cases to investigate. But just a few hours ago, an investigator determined the allegations against the teacher were unfounded. We are also told only two students were interviewed.
Incoming Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman is troubled by all these cases, including the case of Treveon Martin and promises to further review them, and that includes the process by which they are examined and investigated.
ReportingMonday, February 09, 2009
WSJ: in Canada, 57 is "too old" for hip surgery
By NADEEM ESMAIL
President Obama and Congressional Democrats are inching the U.S. toward government-run health insurance. Last week's expansion of Schip -- the State Children's Health Insurance Program -- is a first step. Before proceeding further, here's a suggestion: Look at Canada's experience.
Martin Kozlowski
Health-care resources are not unlimited in any country, even rich ones like Canada and the U.S., and must be rationed either by price or time. When individuals bear no direct responsibility for paying for their care, as in Canada, that care is rationed by waiting.
Canadians often wait months or even years for necessary care. For some, the status quo has become so dire that they have turned to the courts for recourse. Several cases currently before provincial courts provide studies in what Americans could expect from government-run health insurance.
In Ontario, Lindsay McCreith was suffering from headaches and seizures yet faced a four and a half month wait for an MRI scan in January of 2006. Deciding that the wait was untenable, Mr. McCreith did what a lot of Canadians do: He went south, and paid for an MRI scan across the border in Buffalo. The MRI revealed a malignant brain tumor.
Ontario's government system still refused to provide timely treatment, offering instead a months-long wait for surgery. In the end, Mr. McCreith returned to Buffalo and paid for surgery that may have saved his life. He's challenging Ontario's government-run monopoly health-insurance system, claiming it violates the right to life and security of the person guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Shona Holmes, another Ontario court challenger, endured a similarly harrowing struggle. In March of 2005, Ms. Holmes began losing her vision and experienced headaches, anxiety attacks, extreme fatigue and weight gain. Despite an MRI scan showing a brain tumor, Ms. Holmes was told she would have to wait months to see a specialist. In June, her vision deteriorating rapidly, Ms. Holmes went to the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, where she found that immediate surgery was required to prevent permanent vision loss and potentially death. Again, the government system in Ontario required more appointments and more tests along with more wait times. Ms. Holmes returned to the Mayo Clinic and paid for her surgery.
On the other side of the country in Alberta, Bill Murray waited in pain for more than a year to see a specialist for his arthritic hip. The specialist recommended a "Birmingham" hip resurfacing surgery (a state-of-the-art procedure that gives better results than basic hip replacement) as the best medical option. But government bureaucrats determined that Mr. Murray, who was 57, was "too old" to enjoy the benefits of this procedure and said no. In the end, he was also denied the opportunity to pay for the procedure himself in Alberta. He's heading to court claiming a violation of Charter rights as well.
These constitutional challenges, along with one launched in British Columbia last month, share a common goal: to win Canadians the freedom to spend their own money to protect themselves from the inadequacies of the government health-insurance system.
The cases find their footing in a landmark ruling on Quebec health insurance in 2005. The Supreme Court of Canada found that Canadians suffer physically and psychologically while waiting for treatment in the public health-care system, and that the government monopoly on essential health services imposes a risk of death and irreparable harm. The Supreme Court ruled that Quebec's prohibition on private health insurance violates citizen rights as guaranteed by that province's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
The experiences of these Canadians -- along with the untold stories of the 750,794 citizens waiting a median of 17.3 weeks from mandatory general-practitioner referrals to treatment in 2008 -- show how miserable things can get when government is put in charge of managing health insurance.
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Friday, February 06, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Dalai Lama says non-violnce doesn't work with terrorists... and he loves W! LOL.
Non-violence can't tackle terror: Dalai -India-The Times of India
Non-violence can't tackle terror: Dalai
NEW DELHI: The Dalai Lama, a lifelong champion of non-violence on Saturday candidly stated that terrorism cannot be tackled by applying the principle of ahimsa because the minds of terrorists are closed.
"It is difficult to deal with terrorism through non-violence," the Tibetan spiritual leader said delivering the Madhavrao Scindia Memorial Lecture here.
He also termed terrorism as the worst kind of violence which is not carried by a few mad people but by those who are very brilliant and educated.
"They (terrorists) are very brilliant and educated...but a strong ill feeling is bred in them. Their minds are closed," the Dalai Lama said.
He said that the only way to tackle terrorism is through prevention. The head of the Tibetan government-in-exile left the audience stunned when he said "I love President George W Bush." He went on to add how he and the US President instantly struck a chord in their first meeting unlike politicians who take a while to develop close ties.
