May 2005 Archives
Originally seen in LiveJournal community liberal.
I'm sure my librarian friends will enjoy this list. From Human Events Online. (Coulter and Novak are columnists for this site, if that's any indication of their leanings.)
1. The Communist Manifesto
2. Mein Kampf
3. Quotations from Chairman Mao
4. The Kinsey Report
5. Democracy and Education
6. Das Kapital
7. The Feminine Mystique
8. The Course of Positive Philosophy
9. Beyond Good and Evil
10. General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
What I love most about this site is that they have links for each book back to Amazon, so that you can buy them, and Human Events Online gets "affiliate" credit for the sale. They're the most harmful books in 200 years, but they're not so bad that these folks won't take a nickel a book from Amazon.
"strong" passwords and basic user security.
A couple of years ago, George Will said that the greatest gift we could give the Greatest Generation was Viagra, so WW2 vets could continue to make up for the years they lost fighting the war. I chuckled at the remark, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt it was appropriate. It appears that the bill is targeted at denying convicted felons access to Viagra, but the net result is to cut off anyone who gets their prescriptions via the feds, including vets who go to VA hospitals.
Republicans oppose, er, intimacy amongst our troops
To provide that no Federal funds may be expended for the payment or reimbursement of a drug that is prescribed for the treatment of sexual or erectile dysfunction.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Prescription Drug Coverage Stewardship Act of 2005'.
It's interesting that NPR's Morning Edition did a piece on "Elder Abuse" on the same moring that Da Paper reports on a local lawyer who is going on trial for allegedly bilking a rich, elderly client. From the NPR story:
When the Elderly Become Financial Targets
Morning Edition, May 31, 2005 Though California has some of the strictest elder abuse laws in the country, few cases of financial abuse are actually prosecuted. But a local district attorney is testing a novel legal strategy to put perpetrators of financial abuse in jail. And the case may have far-reaching impact. Judy Campbell of member station KQED reports.
One of the problems advocates for the elderly have in dealing with elder abuse cases is the fact that many old people refuse to report the abuse. Doing so is often considered an acknowledgement of helplessness.
The Louisiana legislature should take a hard look at this issue, particularly in light of the case of ex-lawyer Nicholas Estiverne:
Nicolas Estiverne, 60, is charged with exploitation of the infirm for allegedly taking over [92-year old client Angie] Neil's finances in 1997 and bleeding her accounts dry by the time she died in January 1999. If convicted in a trial now set to begin Wednesday in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, Estiverne, an outspoken man and a firebrand of a lawyer, could be sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
We are quick to recognize that children are vulnerable and need extra protection by (and from) society. We need to recognize that the elderly are often as vulnerable as children.
Pope backs Italy bishops on fertility vote
5/31/2005, 7:01 a.m. CT
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON
The Associated Press
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI on Monday endorsed efforts by Italy's Roman Catholic bishops to restrict assisted fertility treatments, stepping into an emotionally charged Italian referendum battle.
The German-born pope contended that next month's plebiscite on scrapping parts of a law that regulates assisted fertility treatments posed threats to life and the family.
...
The current law forbids sperm and egg donation, limits the number of embryos created with in vitro techniques to three and bans all embryo research.
The referendum would abrogate the law's provisions on embryo research, the three-embryo limit, the ban on egg or sperm donation from outside the couple and the attribution of rights to the unborn.
Opponents of the law complain it restricts scientific research and a woman's reproductive rights. Some also say it harms women, since it bars the freezing of embryos and thus forces women to be implanted with as many as three embryos.
IVF is 900-pound gorilla sitting in the room with the pro-lifers, particularly Catholic ones, that they just don't want to talk about. If life begins at conception, why do they allow doctors to dump "lives" down the sink when they don't use all the fertilized eggs they create?
The reason is simple: IVF procedures usually start at US$10,000. Abortions are a couple of hundred bucks and aren't done by all that many doctors anymore. Mess with the fertility industry and the doctors will come down on you like a ton of bricks for threatening their lifestyle.
I love moral absolutism.
you work hard to afford that place across the lake. You commute at least an hour daily to your job on the south shore, so you can live amongst good catlicks and bible-believin' christians. You picked Mandeville or Covington because they're the most Republican areas in the most Republican parish in the state. Here's your reward:
Mandeville Man Accused Of Video Voyeurism
NEW ORLEANS -- A Mandeville man was arrested on suspicion of video voyeurism Thursday after police caught him allegedly videotaping women in a shopping center parking lot.
Investigators began watching Philip Christopher Ales, 37, on May 20 in response to a complaint that he was videotaping women in the 3400 block of U.S. Highway 190.
Ales' video camera and the tape were seized as evidence.
Police said the tape shows women walking into and out of stores, and leaning in and out of their cars.
"You can tell on the tape that he would focus in on the buttocks of the woman as she was walking by," said Mandeville Police Sgt. Ron Ruples.
Ales is a respiratory therapist with a wife and two children, neighbors said.
He is jailed In St. Tammany Parish in lieu of $35,000 bond. If convicted, he faces a maximum two years in jail and a $2,000 fine.
between the batshit-crazy drivers and now the perverts, I'll take my chances with all these evil coloreds here on the south shore.
not the behavior, but the punishment:
Teenager Gets House Arrest For Negligent Homicide In Wreck
COVINGTON, La. -- An 18-year-old from Slidell must spend a year under house arrest and make three safe-driving lectures at area schools after being convicted of negligent homicide.
Shane Hall flipped his car into a ditch, drowning his passenger.
District Judge Reginald Badeaux told Hall last week that he wants Hall to think every night about the nightmare that Alexis Keoka-Marie Wilkins' family must face every day.
About 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 26, Hall's four-door car hit a driveway embankment and flipped into a ditch on the other side of the driveway. Water quickly filled the car.
Wilkins' mother, Shirley Wilkins, told the judge she was afraid something like that would happen again if he went unpunished.
The year of house arrest is part of five years on probation for Hall.
Buy the kid a computer and some self-study courses, and he'll be a lot better off than if he was up on the farm. His family will no doubt pay whatever fees are associated with house arrest to keep him out of Angola. Unless the kid is an unrepentent slimeball, this is a good idea.
I would suggest an extension of this punishment: when you get a person or family that can buy the convict's way out of jail and into house arrest, they should be charged 1.5 times the costs associated with home incarceration. That way the parish could build up an indigent home incarceration fund. It's not just white kids with money that deserve a break.
On a side note, this kid and the dozens like him annually that create fatality and near-fatality wrecks in St. Tammany are the reason I get scared to death everytime I drive on the north shore.
Why should he be given that responsibility when they can't get the war right?
Bush strategy lacks clarity, report asserts
Aim of effort against terror found wanting
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | May 29, 2005
WASHINGTON -- A newly published US Army War College assessment concludes that more than three years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush administration has failed to define the overall aim of the war on terrorism. The report also warns that the cost of not having a coherent strategy is quickly rising as the insurgency drags on in Iraq.
Da Paper, in its continuing efforts to pander to conservatives in the metro area, ran three page-one stories about the trial of Clinton aide David Rosen in Los Angeles:
18-May
Demos' hijinks may stay secret
Rule 'salacious' tape off-limits, judge urged
19-May
Witness says gala expense fudged
Clinton fund-raiser is accused of lying
20-May
Lavish Clinton gala costs detailed
N.O. politico testifies expense was no secret
All three stories were about the prosecution's side of the case; the defense presentation was not reported.
Rosen was acquited today:
Sen. Clinton's Former Aide Acquitted
LOS ANGELES - The former national finance director for Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate campaign was acquitted Friday of lying to the government about a lavish 2000 Hollywood fundraising gala.
David Rosen was charged with two counts of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission about the cost of the star-studded gala, which attracted such celebrities as Cher, Melissa Ethridge, Toni Braxton, Diana Ross, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston.
The jury of seven men and five women deliberated about six hours before reaching its verdict.
I'm wagering the story will be around A16 if they publish it at all.
The Hammer is Atrios' wanker of the day. Who do you think will win?
DeLay, in a letter to NBC:
Dear Mr. Zucker,
It was with grave concern I learned this morning of the disturbing misuse of my name on last night's episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In the episode, a police officer investigating the murder of a federal judge suggested "put[ting] out an APB for somebody in a Tom DeLay t-shirt." This manipulation of my name and trivialization of the sensitive issue of judicial security represents a reckless disregard for the suffering initiated by recent tragedies and a great disservice to public discourse.
I can only assume last night's slur was in response to comments I have made in the past about the need for Congress to closely monitor the federal judiciary, as prescribed in our constitutional system of checks and balances. I have explained all such comments - even those inartfully made and taken out of context - on numerous occasions, including with representatives of your network. When a responsible journalist like Brit Hume made an inquiry into such comments, he quickly understood them to be limited to Congress's oversight responsibilities and nothing more.
There's more, but make sure you're not drinking that you might spit on your monitor when you start laughing.
Here's Dick Wolf's reply:
Every week, approximately 100 million people see an episode of the branded 'Law & Order' series. Up until today, it was my impression that all of our viewers understood that these shows are works of fiction as is stated in each episode.
But I do congratulate Congressman DeLay for switching the spotlight from his own problems to an episode of a TV show.
Wow, it's interesting that I got a very obnoxious e-mail from someone purporting to be a tour guide earlier this week, saying that I was reckless in my description of the practice of marking the Glapion tomb in St. Louis Cemetery Number One. The tomb is reputed to be the burial place of Marie Laveau, the most notable "voodoo queen" in the city's history.
The front page of Da Paper today has an article about the tomb. In my section on St. Louis #1 on CitiesOfTheDead (dot net), I talk about the tradition of marking the tomb with an 'X' to curry favor with the spirit of Laveau. While I don't see my description of the practice as encouraging the desecration of the tomb, I now see a need for a re-write. If tourists are using pens and permanent markers on the tomb, this is a bad thing. Usually the marks were left with piece of red brick. The dust from the brick is like chalk and disappears in a short amount of time.
Since Da Paper still hasn't found the money to buy a scanner for the webmaster, here's a photo of the Glapion tomb:
I'm also in agreement with Dr. Martha Ward from UNO:
The "word on the street" is that only Elvis Presley draws more visitors to his grave, said Martha Ward, University of New Orleans research professor and author of "Voodoo Queen: The Spirited Lives of Marie Laveau."
Ward sees no end to the tradition of marking Laveau's grave with X's.
"Marking on the tomb is not a good thing to do, and I don't do it or encourage people to do it -- but it's not going to stop," she said. "This is a spiritual impulse that people have, a very human thing to do."
The marks are a way of "paying homage" to the woman who "rules the imagination of this city," Ward said. Those who make the marks "want spiritual contact."
Rather than punish people for continuing the practice "we need to make it OK," she said.
Ward suggested encouraging the custom of using the dust from red brick to make the marks, or selling tokens that people can leave at the site.
I particularly like the idea of selling tokens to leave near the tomb. It's an excellent way to pay for the whitewash needed to keep the tomb pristine.
Tom Benson doesn't like the Superdome:
"Nobody's been able to show me that the Dome will be able to be renovated to compete with all of these stadiums that are out there today and the ones that are coming out, the new one in Arizona, Dallas, Indianapolis," said Benson, who also pointed out that New Orleans wasn't in the running for the 2009 Super Bowl, which was awarded to Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday.
I don't understand how Da Dome is in competition with these other stadiums. Da Dome is more than acceptable to the NFL as a venue for the Super Bowl. There are so many other factors in Super Bowl site selection that he can't blame it on just the statidum.
He also doesn't think the city supports the team, but his vision is not even what-have-you-done-for-me-lately, it's a demand to know what we're going to do for him in the future:
Superdome Commission president Tim Coulon, the state's chief negotiator in its dealings with the Saints, said he agrees with Benson that the community needs to show its support for the team. But he believes the community has done exactly that, "year after year."
"There's no doubt in my mind that this is an NFL city," Coulon said. "Look at the track record in attendance over the years."
The Saints sold more than 50,000 season tickets in each of the past two seasons, but as of last week the team had sold fewer than 26,000 and had more than 40 suites available. Coulon said he doesn't believe the economy has changed that much in one year, so he believes other factors are at play.
For one, the Saints raised ticket prices for the first time in four years by $10 per ticket in all eight seat locations, bringing them to the middle of the pack in the NFL with an average ticket price of $62.
Why did Benson feel the need to raise ticket prices $10 across the board when the team is merely mediocre? It's not like they just won the NFC, or they drafted the football equivalent of Shaq.
Why doesn't anyone ask Benson where his committment to winning is?
We hear this term a lot during election cycles, how the Democrats are in thrall to "Hollywood Liberals." When it's not an election cycle, however, we see corporate Hollywood acting anything but liberal. From Salon:
Same as it ever was
George Lucas can sleep easy tonight. The FBI saved "Star Wars" from the evil rebels of the Internet file-sharing alliance.
The latest news in the file-sharing wars was delivered via a press release from the Department of Justice with all the solemn portentousness of an announcement that a major terrorist had been captured. "This morning, agents of the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) executed 10 search warrants across the United States against leading members of a technologically sophisticated P2P network known as Elite Torrents."
...
What precisely prompted this most recent crackdown? Given the suspicious timing, it appears to be the horrifying news that "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" was being made available six hours before it started appearing in theaters, and that all told, some 10,000 copies were transferred before the authorities quashed the rebels. As of Tuesday, "Sith" had only raked in some $339 million worldwide, so something clearly had to be done. After all, "Internet pirates cost U.S. industry hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue every year from the illegal sale of copyrighted goods and new online file-sharing technologies make their job even easier," said Michael J. Garcia, Homeland Security assistant secretary for immigration and customs enforcement.
Hollywood is as much about corporations than any other industry. It's time to flip this one back around when conservatives try to say otherwise. The article also shows why the strategy is flawed and a new paradigm needs to be nurtured, like with music:
I'll tell you who the most bummed-out people are today, excluding those whose doors were knocked upon by FBI agents. It's not the would-be movie stealer, desperate to avoid paying $10 at the theater. It's the person who missed "American Idol" last night, or the season finale of "Lost," or the second part of a two-part "West Wing" rerun, and is now freaking out because he or she is terrified that plugging the words "Lost" and "BitTorrent" into Google will be laying out the welcome carpet for a posse of federal officers.
It should go without saying that these are the same people who'd likely be happy to cough up a few bucks if they had the ability to head over to some iTunes-like service and dial up the show they missed. If iTunes has proven anything, it is that the existence of widespread piracy points directly at a marketing opportunity. Where there is desire, there is money to be made.
The cable companies want to sell us TiVo, but TiVo requires a user to be pro-active. If we could buy programs we missed, forgot to record, whatever, people would pay.
From a technical perspective, this article is interesting because it describes how file-sharers have adapted over time. Napster led to peer-to-peer, then to BitTorrent, and now developers are working on a version of BT that can't be traced.
via humid haney
After reading a story in the NYT, Jim's wife Heidi came up with a method to fight back against the obnoxious cell phone users that we all have to deal with in stores, restaurants, trains and pretty much everywhere else. Can design ride to the rescue? Jim and the incomparable Aaron Draplin think it can. So, as a public service, we introduce the reasonably polite SHHH, the Society for HandHeld Hushing.
1. www.bestofneworleans.com
2. www.wwoz.org
3. www.offbeat.com
4. www.frenchquarter.com
5. www.theneworleanschannel.com
6. www.gumbopages.com
7. www.jfolse.com
8. www.wwno.org
9. www.norta.com
10. www.nola-blogs.com
Add to this the fact that the president is clocking in at under 30% support on Social Security and most Americans now understand that he wants to dismantle the program and the whole thing really becomes a no-brainer.<p> In fact, Dems should really start making the point now that they are the ones who stopped President Bush from phasing out Social Security this year.<p> Be loud, be proud.</div>The most infuriating thing about Democrats is their fear of standing loud and proud. Rub it in their faces. Make sure American knows who killed Bush's attempts to dismantle social security. As Atrios notes, don't be afraid of what Russert and Broder and Tweety say. Fuck them. They aren't important. And any sort of "compromise" should be completely off the table.<p> It's time to press the advantage.
3 Chalmette Teens Accused Of Running Prostitution Ring
Tricks Turned In Back Seat Of Cabs, Police Say
CHALMETTE, La. -- A 16-year-old girl has been accused of running a prostitution ring that involved two 15-year-old friends.
Authorities said the girls allegedly had sex with four men in the past month, including encounters with two taxi drivers in the back seats of their cabs.
must be something in the water down there...
The Promise of Benedict XVI
Evangelicals can be glad that the new pope is not likely to be a mere caretaker.
by Timothy George | posted 05/26/2005 09:00 a.m.
John Paul II will long be remembered as the greatest pope since the Reformation. His successor, Benedict XVI, may well turn out to be the harbinger of a new reformation. I say this despite the fact that the selection of this particular pope was a surprise to many.
This is the sixth article in Christianity Today about Fr. Ratzinger since April 20th. What does it say about a pope when American Evangelicals are happier with his selection than American Catholics?
Three in Durham, NC, last night. Three separate locations, 7' crosses made of 2-by-4s...
This is a concern. But then...
When I was in college, I was active in SGA. We did some things that would make followers of Don Segretti proud. Given that Charles Pickering is one of the judicial nominees at the center of the current filibuster debate, I can see burning a cross or two to shift the focus of the judge debate out of Washington and into the "real world."
But that's just me talking. Liberals rarely employ tactics like that, so the crosses are a serious concern.
Man Accused Of Attacking Official At Daughter's Softball Game
NEW ORLEANS -- A Franklinton man was arrested Tuesday night at a Folsom ballpark after he allegedly punched an official May 16 at a girls' softball game.
Dale Huffman III, 35, faces charges of battery and disturbing the peace.
According to investigators, police responded May 16 to a report of a disturbance at Henry Keller Park. When they arrived, they found Lacombe Youth Association commissioner Harold Lewis, 57, with injuries to his face.
Lewis told police that he had asked a woman to leave after she became hostile following her daughter's team's loss. Witnesses said the woman's husband, Huffman, intervened and struck Lewis twice in the face.
This one of the reasons why a) I'd never move to St. Tammany Parish, and b) I'll never umpire baseball...
The tomb of Laure Beauregard Larendon in Metairie Cemetery. Mrs. Larendon was the daughter of Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, Confederate General and New Orleans civic leader. The tomb was designed by the General. Beauregard is also buried in Metairie, in the Army of Tennessee (Louisiana Division) tumulus.
Derrick Shepherd's Senate win, OPSB vote, kenner council suing mayor, nagin settles cop lawsuit.
Well, one thing we know: Never give Bush the benefit of the doubt. He will certainly fuck us, and in an uglier and more damaging way that we can possibly imagine (no matter how hard we try).Bottom line, though, for me, is that The Deal has no strategic significance at all. It does give us some minor tactical advantages, and that's good. Still, it's hard for me to believe that the filibuster would have been the right ground for a strategic battle; not enough people understand it. I do think that the Dems need to stop respecting [cough] Frist's ability to run the Senate immediately, drop the comity, and start pushing our own agenda. Let's make the Republicans vote down what the majority of the country wants. Very visibly, and starting now.
He's the only US President we've seen at Dover AFB to welcome our fallen servicemen and women in the last five years.
George W. Bush is by far the most direspectful piece of crap to have ever occupied the White House.
Grocery Stores in New Orleans (10:04, 8.5MB)
Reminiscing about grocery stores in New Orleans and first impressions of the new Whole Foods store at Severn and Veterans in Metairie.
Caught this while reading Kos:
KILLEEN, Texas Army Capts. Dave Fulton and Geoff Heiple spent 12 months dodging roadside bombs and rounding up insurgents along Baghdad's "highway of death" the six miles of pavement linking downtown Baghdad to the capital city's airport. Two weeks after returning stateside to Ft. Hood, they ventured to a spartan conference room at the local Howard Johnson to find out about changing careers.
OK, so there are some O-3s who want to leave the Army. That's a normal thing; not everyone is cut out to be a career soldier. The numbers are of concern, of course, and that's the main thesis of the story. Here's what concerns me, however:
"This is a real eye-opener," said Fulton, a West Point graduate who saw a handful of cadets from his class. "It seems like everyone in the room is either from my squad or from my class." [emphasis mine]
There are much easier ways for guys who want a free college ride to get one than going to a service academy. Mot of you know that my son is contemplating a Navy career. He wants to study Nuclear Engineering, and the US Navy is the largest consumer of nuclear power in the world. Last fall, we had some serious conversations about college choices. He ruled out the USNA because he really wasn't interested in a 20-year career in the Navy. His thinking is to do his six-year committment and then stay as a reserve officer.
Guys who go to West Point, Anapolis, or that nutball school out in Colorado Springs do so because they see the military as their job/home until retirement. They know that "ring-knockers" (as Anapolis grads are called in the Navy) become flag officers. When service academy graduates start to bail on the military in large numbers, that's indicative of a problem way beyond guys who don't want to get blown up.
Jones sails a contrarian course, scolds Bush, bucks GOP leaders
The words "freedom fries" are still on the menu in the U.S. House cafeteria, and are likely to appear in the first line of Walter Jones' obituary, perhaps with their lesser-known cousin, freedom toast.
...
Jones is no favorite of the White House these days, or of his fellow Republicans, particularly those in leadership roles. The same impulse that prompted him to get mad at the French now makes Jones criticize the war and, lately, House ethics rules. Jones accepts that his emotions cost him influence, but he insists he can live with the consequences.
Of course he doesn't like the war now, he's got to go to town hall meetings where he's confronted by Gold Star moms, widows, and fatherless children. All of a sudden, being a member of the House of Representatives isn't anywhere near as fun as it was when he was France-bashing on "Nightline."
Sure, they don't like it when one of the braves goes off the reservation, but the real proof in the pudding here is voting records. Unless Jones puts his vote where his mouth is, he's just another piece-of-crap Congresscritter.
[via Atrios]
Chavez: Venezuela interested in nuclear technology
Sunday, May 22, 2005 Posted: 2:26 PM EDT (1826 GMT)
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday his government was interested in nuclear energy and could start talks with Iranian partners to study possible atomic and solar power projects.
I really thought we could ride out the remaining years of this presidency, but now I'm getting really scared.
credit the catch to jabber
I could have sworn I had votes for the podcasts on Podcast Alley, but now there's none for YatPundit and only one for YatCuisine. I'd appreciate it if y'all would go vote for both podcasts. Go to:
www.podcastalley.com
search on "new orleans" and you'll see both podcasts come up in the list. Please comment/vote on them. I'll gladly return the favor for anyone else with a podcast listed there. Thanks!
The notion of chaining a woman in labor to a bed is barbaric. Unless the woman is a serious escape threat, we should be humane. Thing is, I can hear the folks down here, dismissing these concerns because the people are either black, druggies, or both...
...is the Louisiana Legislature censoring their books:
Gay book not child's play, says lawmaker
BATON ROUGE -- Books "containing the theme of homosexuality" and other "age-inappropriate" topics should not be on public library shelves accessible to children, a St. Tammany Parish lawmaker said Thursday.
Rep. A.G. Crowe, R-Slidell, has filed House Concurrent Resolution 119, calling on all public libraries to remove such material from the children's book sections and confine it "exclusively for adult access and distribution."
Crowe said he filed the resolution after being contacted by a constituent, Dan Danese of Slidell, who said his 4-year-old daughter had picked out a book titled "King and King" from the children's section of the St. Tammany Parish Library on Roberts Boulevard.
The book deals with a queen mother who tries to introduce her son to potential princesses, but the prince instead prefers one of the women's brothers. "The last page of the book clearly shows men kissing and clearly promotes the homosexual lifestyle," Crowe said. He said the book is labeled as appropriate for children 6 and older.
"I'd prefer to get them out of the library," Crowe said. "Somebody (in St. Tammany Parish) should be held accountable for allowing this to get into the hands of our children.
I suppose he'll want to burn the copies that are already in the library...
It's no huge surprise that corporate America isn't buying into Wi-Fi very much. It makes sense for public-access places like coffee shops and the like to invest in Wi-Fi, since it's a method to draw in customers. For a business, though, Wi-Fi is really a pain in the butt. Corporate IT types usually play the wait-and-see game with any technology, and that actually makes sense for Wi-Fi. Throughput has been improved over the last couple of years, and the idea of "cellular modems" that can provide a mobile user access wherever there is a cell tower is more attractive to most companies anyway. In the office, heavy users will demand the faster speeds of a wired connection over the flexibility of wireless.
This is the part that made me scratch my head, though:
Companies are still concerned about network security and accessing business systems through Wi-Fi hot-spots. "One problem is that individual users tend to turn off the firewalls set up by the company to increase throughput, and this gives CIOs really little control over how employees use Wi-Fi," Yankee Group analyst Roberta Wiggins says.
Any company that has these concerns should be using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). If a user wants to "be at work" when they're out and about, then they should be inside the work network. If the company is too cheap to do it right, they shouldn't do it.
Businesses Have Lukewarm View Of Wi-Fi Hot-Spots Even with tens of thousands of hot-spots available to mobile workers, analysts say adoption of the technology among businesses has been slower than expected.
Kenner Police Chief race, District 6 State Senate Race, "nuclear option" debate - Vitter vs. Landrieu, savory french toast, live music.
Blaise Michael Carriere, Metairie Cemetery
Mr. Carriere was one of the co-founders of the New Orleans Recreation Department, and was very active promoting youth sports programs in the city. He is shown on his headstone with his trademark boutonniere in his lapel, and two boys playing baseball and dreaming dreams of the big time. This tombstone was carved long before laser-powered etching was a reality.
Two interesting articles, one from Media Matters, the other from The New York Review of Books providing insight into the the foaming-at-the-mouth of wingnut pundits over the Newsweek Qu'ran story.
While the news media have devoted substantial coverage to Newsweek's retraction of an article that the White House says incited deadly riots in Afghanistan, one key part of the Newsweek story has largely escaped scrutiny: the checkered journalistic record of Newsweek investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff, who shares a byline on the story with John Barry. Isikoff's May 9 "Periscope" article cited "sources" who "tell Newsweek" to report that U.S. investigators found evidence that interrogators at Guantà namo Bay, Cuba, flushed a Quran down a toilet. Newsweek retracted the article, acknowledging that in fact, only one source actually reported the allegation, and that source backed away from it.
Isikoff's role as a leading reporter on the so-called "Clinton scandals" in the 1990s, including the Paula Jones, Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky cases, has gone virtually unnoticed in broadcast, cable TV and print reports so far on the Newsweek story.
Yet again, you and your site look pretty silly because you don't post the graphics that go with a page-one story. While this isn't as silly as the time you photo-shopped an old streetcar to make it look like a new one, I still think it's time you guys bought a good scanner. That way you could go out and take a photo of the right streetcar for your story, or you could actually scan the graphics that match the stories.
Seriously, folks, nobody is going to see the graphics on-line and decide "wow, I don't have to buy Da Paper anymore since the photos are on-line." Anyone who has decided to drop their subscription because of on-line availability has done so ages ago. Readers can get more comics than you publish (like "The Boondocks,") from other sources. Your op-ed page is mostly NYT columnists anyway, so you don't have much going for you there. No, anyone who is still with you has other reasons for keeping their subscription than your web version. Given this fact, what's the harm in working to make your site a quality one?
Love,
YatPundit
Very interesting page one article this morning on the future of Louis Armstrong International Airport. The two proposals outlined both have a lot of good points. The notion of building in the Bonnet Carre' Spillway sounds odd at first, but if the water flow can be directed so that we can still re-direct the river in flood conditions, what the heck. One of the downsides of the spillway location is that it's just north of the Waterford 3 nuclear power plant:
Though the Corgan study suggests an airport and flood relief are compatible in the spillway, the site has other problems. The spillway is almost directly across the river from Entergy's Waterford 3 nuclear power plant, and catastrophic damage could ensue if an airliner crashed into it. The Corgan study suggests that the runway alignments could be altered, however, to keep normal air traffic away from the plant.
This is a legitimate concern, but when you consider that the current airport is almost due north of Cytec's plant in Waggaman, you realize we're already living with this threat. The Waterford 3 tower is hardened a lot more than the ammonia storage facilities at the Cytec plant. If a jet were to come down now in the scenario mentioned for the new airport, it would land smack into a lot of things made at that plant that are very nasty to breathe.
The proposal to build a new airport in New Orleans East has one big thing going for it for the city--it's actually in the city. It's the most expensive option, however, because it requires that the land be reclaimed from Lake Pontchartrain. Still, it might be worth the $8.5billion price tag to not have to deal with Phil Capitano.
Speaking of Capitano, you gotta love a mayor who advocates kicking his city's largest economic incubator out of town. Kenner stands to take a huge hit if either of these proposals becomes reality:
"There would be a lot of opportunities for redevelopment," said David Campbell, Kenner's representative on the Aviation Board. "But Kenner would lose a lot of revenue both from the airport and from businesses in the city around it.
"It's the situation where you should be careful what you wish for," he said, referring to many Kenner residents' complaints about its noisy neighbor.
What's encouraging about this report is that the city is actually looking forward a bit:
The new openness of Armstrong officials to other sites comes at a time when political opposition to expansion of the airport, owned by New Orleans but located mostly in Kenner and partly in St. Charles Parish, is mounting. In addition, research suggests air traffic won't grow enough to crowd Armstrong's existing runways for at least a decade, which gives New Orleans officials more time than they thought they had to examine the airport's future.
Translation: the political hacks that have dominated airport management for so long have concluded that there's no way to make a quick buck on the airport, so it's time to go after the slower (but much larger) buck. That's a good thing for the city in the long run.
EDIT: Here are the graphics from the story:
I've noticed that people come to YatPundit occasionally because they Google the term "Hubig's Pies." When I originally wrote the subtitle of the blog as "Politics, Funky Music, and Hubig's Pies," I pretty much assumed that everyone knew what a Hubig's Pie was, or wouldn't really care.
Hubig's Pies are a fried turnover, originally created in Dallas by Simon Hubig. Hubig was a German immigrant who set up his first bakery in Dallas. When he saw the popularity of his hand-held fried pies, Hubig expanded operations into Houston, New Orleans, Birmingham, even into Illinois and Georgia. Simon Hubig's dreams of going national were crushed in the stock market crash of 1929. Hubig was forced to sell his all of his bakeries and warehouses except for the one in New Orleans. Hubig also had to take on a partner, which is how the Bowman family came to be the current owners of the bakery.
Hubig's makes three main items: hand-held fried pies, individual deep-dish pies, and nine-inch "family pies."
This is the classic fried Hubig's pie. It's cut from the same half-moon die they've used on Dauphine street for over 80 years. The pies are fried, smothered in sugar icing, packaged, and sent to over 3500 retail outlets in southern Louisiana. They come in a number of flavors, including apple, lemon, peach, pineapple, chocolate, cherry, coconut, blueberry, banana, blackberry and sweet potato.
In addition to the fried pies, Hubig's sells individual deep-dish baked pies. While not as popular (and only marginally healthier) than the fried pies, the deep-dish pies nonetheless have a strong following.
Mr. Hubig didn't start out thinking he would be the king of hand-held fried pies in the south. His original plan was to sell regular-sized "family" pies. The Dauphine St. factory still makes nine-inch pies in a number of flavors. These are served as dessert in a number of New Orleans restaurants, and are sold at many local groceries, as well as local Wal-Mart stores.
Linux is so widespread outside the US that this makes good marketing sense for HP. Given how much of a pain in the ass it is to get Linux up on laptops/notebooks, to have a distribution come ready-to-go would go a long way in influencing a purchasing decision.
It's a shame that HP is Microsoft's bitch and we'll never see this sort of thing in the states.
HP Will Offer Customized Linux in Notebooks
from the why-don't-we-get-it? dept.
diegocgteleline.es writes "According with Tom's Hardware, HP is working with Ubuntu to offer a customized GNU/Linux version that works 100% - wireless, bluetooth, IrDA, IEEE1394 - with HP hardware. This offer will be restricted to Europe, Middle East and Africa. The CD includes free support through online resources as well as paid support through Canonical, the developer of Ubuntu."
via slashdot
On Thursday we mentioned an article about Dr. W. David Hager, a Bush appointee to the FDA's advisory panel. Even though he is vehemently opposed to abortion, RU-486, and even considers regular birth control as a form of abortion, he didn't have a big problem with anal rape of his wife. Well, it now seems that the good doctor won't be returning to the FDA's advisory panel when his term expires in June.
It appears that White House support of their appointees and nominees does have its limits. You can do or be for a lot of things, but if you anally rape women, you have to go.
George W. Bush - Restoring Honor and Integrity to gubmint.
Spiritual Saturday: raising energy, Scottish Rite Masonry.
(7:21 min, 6.6mb)
Via New Orleans Metblog, here's an article that lays out just how good a deal Benson's got with the State of Louisiana. Here's the heart of the matter:
Benson wants no part of a very generous new deal constructed by the new administration because it's not nearly as generous as the old deal. Nothing beats cold, incentive-free cash. Perhaps not even a Super Bowl ring in Benson's bottom-line mind. No one will ever beat this Foster deal. It's the gold standard, literally and figuratively. It might just keep the Saints in the state . . . if there is still a state after it's all paid.
The state's new proposal -- or life preserver -- in the long run could actually make Benson and the Saints richer through a renovated Superdome with new suites and luxury boxes from which the team could earn its own money like other NFL teams. But that would involve some things the Saints organization apparently do not like to do -- work and risk.
Tom Benson may be a good businessman, but he is not good for New Orleans. He doesn't care about this city, nor does he care about anything with the team except the bottom line. If it wasn't for the "we may never get another NFL team" argument, I'd say show him the door now and not even try to negotiate.
Friday Potpourri: Friday the 13th Origins, news items (base closings, Hornets, Loyola), savory french toast idea, rose wines, hurricane season.
A real potpourri today!
(11:59, 10,9mb)
Academy critic says she was fired
An Air Force Academy chaplain who co-wrote a report last year that criticized "strident" evangelizing of cadets by Christian officers said Wednesday that she was fired by the academy's head chaplain.
According to the article, Captain Melinda Morton will remain as an officer assigned to the USAFA. She was scheduled to rotate into an overseas assignment next year.
Da Paper does another page-one story on the pseudo-controversy between Loyola University and the Archdiocese of New Orleans. At issue is the university's plan to honor the Landrieu family with an honorary doctorate for their good works in the city. I say "pseudo-controversy" because an outsider like Fr. Alfred Hughes, who is under such a cloud of darkness for his role in the pedophilia scandals of the Archdiocese of Boston, really isn't going to be able to lay a glove on a family that has done as much good for the city of New Orleans as the Landrieus. And let's not forget that the university is owned and operated by the Society of Jesus, and the Jesuits have a lot more credibility in New Orleans than Fr. Hughes will ever have, even if he was totally innocent of the charges that have followed him down south.
All but the most hardcore abortion foes will acknowledge that this sort of position taken by Fr. Hughes is merely a smoke screen set up in an attempt to personally regain the moral high ground. When you take pot-shots at prominent people who have dedicated their lives to making this city a better place, however, expect those shots to ricochet:
Some faculty members and students aren't pulling their punches in reacting to Hughes' snub of commencement events.
"I'd rather be on the podium with the Landrieus than an archbishop who protected pedophiles in Boston," communications professor Larry Lorenz said.
Hughes served as the top aide to Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law in the early 1990s. While he played a peripheral role in the handling of John Geoghan, perhaps the most notorious of the era's sexually abusive priests, and generally implemented Law's policies in Boston, Hughes' name has not been directly linked to most of the sex-abuse cases that came to light in that archdiocese.
OK, now I don't know if the reporters on this story are just lazy, or if a stronger characterization of Hughes' criminal behavior in Boston was edited out of the story. Still, one would think that either reporter or editor would realize it's not too terribly hard to Google sources that contradict their description of Hughes' role as "peripheral." For example:
From Gambit Weekly:
In Jan. 30 editions of The Clarion Herald, the bi-weekly newspaper of the archdiocese of New Orleans, Hughes admitted he failed to adequately monitor the treatment regimen of now-defrocked Father John J. Geoghan, who is serving a 10-year sentence for sex crimes against children. "The continued acceptance of John Geoghan for priestly assignment was a tragic error," Hughes said earlier this year. "My predecessors and I thought we were addressing the issues at hand and providing for the appropriate protection of the potential victims. We had no idea of the extent of his abuse of children."
In fact, a Gambit Weekly review of Hughes' testimony in the deposition of a civil suit against Geoghan showed that Hughes never checked the confidential file on the troubled priest ("Deposing the Archbishop," May 21, 2002).
Or perhaps this from the Boston Phoenix:
Fortunately, one thing that has changed since the scandal became public is the awareness that new laws must be enacted to prosecute rapists and those who cover up their crimes. Last year, the state legislature finally added clergy to the list of mandated reporters of suspected child abuse, which already included teachers, therapists, doctors, and other professionals who come into regular contact with children. For years, the Catholic Church in Boston had successfully lobbied against the inclusion of clergy on this list. (It was a move that paid off for the Church and its leadership when Reilly concluded that it would not be possible to indict Bernard Cardinal Law, Bishop Thomas Daily, Bishop Robert Banks, Bishop Alfred Hughes, and others who covered up for pedophile priests, given that their actions violated no state laws. Clergy-sex-abuse victims’ advocates have since called on US Attorney Michael Sullivan to investigate the actions of Law and his subordinates under criminal conspiracy laws or the RICO Act.) Meanwhile, the legislature also passed a law making it a crime to recklessly endanger children, as Law, Daily, Banks, Hughes, and others most certainly did.
Those suspects that a district attorney wants to indict tend to be more than merely "peripheral players."
And let's not forget the fact that Fr. Hughes is a documented liar:
In fact, like most everyone else covering this story, I have been dumbfounded by the insensitivity to victims that church officials have sometimes demonstrated, and secrecy has been part of that pattern. The recent report by the Massachusetts attorney general, for example, highlights the appearance of Bishop Robert Banks before a sentencing hearing in 1984 on behalf of Fr. Eugene O’Sullivan, convicted of sexually assaulting a minor. Banks successfully argued against incarceration, even though he had knowledge of other victims of O’Sullivan that he withheld from the court. Similarly, Bishop (now Archbishop of New Orleans) Alfred Hughes in 1992 rallied to the defense of Fr. John Hanlon, indicted for sex abuse charges, even though Hughes knew of more recent allegations that he did not reveal. (emphasis mine)
Fr. Hughes needs to go patch up his own glass house before he throws more stones at the Landrieus.
People for the American Way has set up the "'Nuclear Option' Mass Immediate Response" system to notify you if/when Dr. Frist goes boom:
Please take a moment to fill out the short form below to sign up for our "Nuclear Option" Mass Immediate Response. By giving us your cell phone number, we will text message you as soon as Senate Republicans trigger the "nuclear option." Embedded in that text message will be a link to the Senate switchboard. With the push of a couple buttons, your call – along with thousands of others – goes right through to the corridors of power demanding preservation of the filibuster.
via TPM
...and I have a pretty strong stomach. Original catch by Atrios:
by AYELISH MCGARVEY
[from the May 30, 2005 issue]
Late last October Dr. W. David Hager, a prominent obstetrician-gynecologist and Bush Administration appointee to the Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), took to the pulpit as the featured speaker at a morning service. He stood in the campus chapel at Asbury College, a small evangelical Christian school nestled among picturesque horse farms in the small town of Wilmore in Kentucky's bluegrass region. Hager is an Asburian nabob; his elderly father is a past president of the college, and Hager himself currently sits on his alma mater's board of trustees. Even the school's administrative building, Hager Hall, bears the family name.
...
Up on the dais, several men seated behind Hager nodded solemnly in agreement. But out in the audience, Linda Carruth Davis--co-author with Hager of Stress and the Woman's Body, and, more saliently, his former wife of thirty-two years--was enraged. "It was the most disgusting thing I've ever heard," she recalled months later, through clenched teeth.
According to Davis, Hager's public moralizing on sexual matters clashed with his deplorable treatment of her during their marriage. Davis alleges that between 1995 and their divorce in 2002, Hager repeatedly sodomized her without her consent. Several sources on and off the record confirmed that she had told them it was the sexual and emotional abuse within their marriage that eventually forced her out. "I probably wouldn't have objected so much, or felt it was so abusive if he had just wanted normal [vaginal] sex all the time," she explained to me. "But it was the painful, invasive, totally nonconsensual nature of the [anal] sex that was so horrible."
oh, and here's my favorite:
Sometimes Hager would blithely shift from vaginal to anal sex. Davis protested. "He would say, 'Oh, I didn't mean to have anal sex with you; I can't feel the difference,'" Davis recalls incredulously. "And I would say, 'Well then, you're in the wrong business.'"
OK, ladies, which of you thinks your husband/boyfriend could get away with that excuse? *snark*
Every public appearance by this man should be picketed, and someone should ask his colleagues if it's OK for a husband to butt his wife without her consent.
"It's the Constitution, not just a nice rule we can follow or not follow. We all raised our hands and said we'd follow it, and that includes the First Amendment, that includes not using your power to advance your religious agenda."
Capt. MeLinda Morton, USAF, Air Force Academy Chaplain and Lutheran Minister. Capt. Morton's comments came during an interview where she blows the whistle on Christian Evangelical proselytizing at the Colorado Springs school.
Which of our CongressCritters are in DeLay's pocket. Notice that it didn't take Jindal long to reach that status. At least none of them have given to the defense fund.
Louisiana
* took $30,034 from ARMPAC
* gave $0 to DeLay Defense Fund
Rank Full Name District Party $ from DeLay (ARMPAC) $ to DeLay (legal fund) Vote % DeLay Rankings
171 Bobby Jindal 1 R $5,000 $0 97.73% 3.45
326 William J Jefferson 2 D $0 $0 14.79% 0.30
234 Charles J Melancon 3 D $0 $0 45.45% 0.91
157 Jim McCrery 4 R $20 $0 93.08% 4.36
226 Rodney Alexander 5 R $5,000 $0 47.57% 2.45
182 Richard Baker 6 R $5,014 $0 94.69% 3.39
116 Charles W Boustany Jr 7 R $15,000 $0 97.67% 4.95
But Amanda at Pandagon always manages to make me chuckle...
There was a time when I could go days, weeks, and dare I say months without thinking about anal sex. Those were the days before my self-appointed role as wingnut watcher, that is, and now their obsession haunts my every waking moment.
If the hypocrisy of the Kooky Kristian Krazies makes you laugh, keep going, it's a hoot...
I'll be the first to admit that I'm an old fart when it comes to music. That said, I enjoyed the NPR segment referenced below. Diplo's tunes are interesting, and M.I.A. has a great sound. What I also find interesting is Diplo's take on the music business. He's not a pirate, he wants to make money in the business legally, but I'm sure the RIAA would take issue with his theory of "underground distribution." It's another indication that the paradigm has dramatically shifted.
DJ Diplo Melds Eclectic Sounds The Philadelphia producer and DJ known as Diplo has built his reputation by combining wildly different styles of music. He recently released an underground mix of rapper M.I.A.'s critically acclaimed Arular to generate buzz before the CD's official release date. Joel Rose of member station WHYY has a profile.
They pay taxes, they send their young men and women off to war, but these nutballs just don't get it. Rather than hold their republican politicians and the disrespectful piece of shit that occupies the white house accountable, they'll fund-raise to buy body armor.
OKLAHOMA CITY (Feb. 15, 2005) -- Legislation that would create a specialty license plate to help purchase body armor for Oklahoma’s military personnel has been approved by a House committee.
If the measure becomes law, Oklahoma drivers would be able to purchase “Patriot License Plates” to demonstrate support of local troops while contributing to their safety. For every $35 plate purchased, $20 would be deposited into a fund administered by the Oklahoma Military Department for the purchase of body armor for Oklahoma soldiers.
This is just wrong. If we are going to ask our military to step in harm's way, we should arm them like bloody star wars clone troopers. And the gubmint should pay for it.
If there are any Republicans left reading this, you should really be ashamed.
Yeah, I know, geeky stuff. But it's what I do for a living.
The OpenSSI Project at sourceforge.
Jim Lampley makes a very interesting observation in the Huffington Post:
The Biggest Story of Our Lives
At 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on Election Day, I checked the sportsbook odds in Las Vegas and via the offshore bookmakers to see the odds as of that moment on the Presidential election. John Kerry was a two-to-one favorite. You can look it up.
People who have lived in the sports world as I have, bettors in particular, have a feel for what I am about to say about this: these people are extremely scientific in their assessments. These people understand which information to trust and which indicators to consult in determining where to place a dividing line to influence bets, and they are not in the business of being completely wrong. Oddsmakers consulted exit polling and knew what it meant and acknowledged in their oddsmaking at that moment that John Kerry was winning the election.
And he most certainly was, at least if the votes had been fairly and legally counted. What happened instead was the biggest crime in the history of the nation, and the collective media silence which has followed is the greatest fourth-estate failure ever on our soil.
OK, I know we've been through this before, but when the bookies got it wrong, that's enough to make you say hmmmmm...
original catch from over at Eschaton.
YatPundit Podcast is a daily audio presentation on various subjects focused on the city of New Orleans. The podcast, distributed via RSS as a MP3 file, usually runs between 8 and 10 minutes long. We try to stick to the following basic topic schedule:
Monday - Red Beans and Rice Monday - Food commentary. Note that this is in addition to the weekly "long format" podcast on YatCuisine (food.yatpundit.com).
Tuesday - Tech Tuesday - technical subjects ranging from Windows and desktop topics to server concepts.
Wednesday - Hump Day Politics - Metro New Orleans and Louisiana Politics. There are so many commentaries on the national scene that YatPundit Podcast will stick to local stuff.
Thursday - Top Ten Thursday - Various "Top Ten" lists of things to do/see/eat/experience in New Orleans.
Friday - Friday Potpourri - A mixed bag of subjects related to New Orleans.
Saturday - Spiritual Saturday - Religions and spiritual thoughts.
Sunday - Streetcar Sunday - Items on New Orleans history.
Getting the Podcast
The Podcast is distributed via RSS 2.0 and Atom:
Who is YatPundit?
YatPundit is Edward J. Branley. Born just north of Boston in 1958, Branley has lived in the New Orleans area since he was two. A former high school History teacher, he is currently a computer consultant, trainer, web developer, and writer. Branley has co-authored two computer books and wrote New Orleans: The Canal Streetcar Line, published in 2004 by Arcadia Publishing.
Branley also is webmaster of CanalStreetCar (dot com) and Cities Of The Dead (dot net). He writes and edits CanalStreetCar (dot com) Weekly, an e-newsletter about streetcars and New Orleans.
Kenner Mayor Phil Capitano is always good for a laugh. Shame that it's really not a funny issue. Witness this exchange during budget hearings last night:
Council members questioned the amount of overtime worked during the current fiscal year -- such as the $439,470 of overtime in the Public Works Department, far above the $61,640 budgeted for the year. The same amount is budgeted for next year.
"Would it be better for us to hire additional people rather than pay all that overtime?" Councilman Michael McMyne asked.
Capitano said some of that overtime is from people working during Hurricane Ivan and because of grass-cutting needs. He said some salaries are so low that people have to work overtime just to earn a living wage.
It's one thing to offer overtime work to employees who want to make more money, but having to work more than 40 hours a week in a single job because it pays so bad is serfdom.
Pete Finney is right, it's time for the New Orleans City Council to respect the wishes of an overwhelming majority of Orleans Parish voters and pass an ordinance allowing the New Orleans Fair Grounds to operate slot machines at the racetrack.
Mr. Finney cites a number of reasons why this is a good idea, and sums it up nicely with this:
It's quite simple: Slots mean bigger purses. Bigger purses attract better horses. Better horses mean bigger business.
Indeed. Da Track is owned by Churchill Downs now, not the Kranz family or the Roussells. It's big business now, not a group of "colorful" horse-racing types.
The podcast today is a quick review of Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro, both locations.
That's where the abuse is, not in the future:
Blair asks priests to help fight amended abuse bill
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
The Toledo Catholic Diocese is stepping up its efforts to defeat a bill that would rewrite Ohio's statutes of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse.
Bishop Leonard Blair sent a letter to diocesan priests this week stating that Senate Bill 17 "should be of serious concern to all of us," and urged them to contact their state representatives to voice opposition to the legislation.
...
But Bishop Blair and the state's other Catholic bishops strongly oppose an amendment that would set a one-year "look back" period during which victims could file civil suits over abuses that occurred as long as 35 years ago.
...
Bishop Blair called the bill "hastily amended" and said the look-back period "does nothing to protect our children in the future," but has "the potential to embroil both victims and the church in lengthy lawsuits, thus diverting our legal and financial resources away from our continuing efforts to protect children and from our ministries as a church."
If Fr. Blair was truly worried about doing something "to protect our children in the future," he doesn't need the help of the Ohio legislature. He could turn over any pedophiles in his diocese to authorities and take steps to make sure that pedophiles do not become Catholic priests in the future.
Original catch by AMERICAblog...