We are considering not offering betting on reality shows that have been pre-taped.
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley urged state legislators yesterday to give more protection to victims and witnesses and to more harshly punish those who try to intimidate them.
Witnesses are intimidated in 90 percent of cases involving guns, gangs, and serious violence that pass through his office, Conley said. He recounted the story of one woman who worked up the courage to testify, only to turn around and flee when she saw friends of the defendant, a gang member, sitting in bench after bench in the courtroom.
"She cried to the Victim Witness advocate from my office that she might as well just put a bull's-eye on her back," Conley told members of the Joint Committee on Public Safety, who called the hearing to explore possible legislative solutions to surging gang violence throughout the state.
Witnesses are especially critical to police when it comes to solving crimes committed by gang members, Conley said, so the Legislature must allocate funding so the district attorney's office can pay for emergency relocation and housing for witnesses.
(State Senator, Jarrett) Barrios said he plans to pursue the matter. "I sincerely hope that the governor, who talks tough about preventing gang violence, will come through with the resources communities are going to need to combat gang violence," Barrios said in an interview.
ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) Authorities are investigating the case of a fake FBI agent who was nosing around Skyhaven Airport in Rochester, asking questions about security.
Police say a man wearing a jacket that said "FBI Anti-Terrorism" showed up at the airport last Wednesday and began asking about airport entrances and security. He took off when Skyhaven employees chased him away from hangars and called police.
Police said airport personnel were immediately suspicious of the man, who was wearing flip-flops and could not produce proper identification.
This is the uncensored blog of Scott Allen Miller. Be warned: There are no FCC or corporate limitations on what I can blog. The following content is Rated R... for Real.
Mommy, do I have to stand next to the creepy metallic snow bunny with the huge red vulva?
Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart apologized Wednesday for saying in a televised worship service that he would kill any gay man who looked at him romantically.
To make the first movie more diverse, Snoop Dogg has been added as one of the pilots flying against the Death Star. After the Death Star is destroyed, Han Solo's line of, "That was one shot in a million, kid," has been replaced with Snoop Dogg saying, "That shot was the shiznit, honkey!"
New Bedford homegirl Heather Casey, 22, is the "hottest teacher in America," according to the October issue of FHM. The editors of the lad rag moved Casey to the head of the class after grading some 150 photo submissions to their Hot for Teacher competition this summer.
A 23-year-old father of three was gunned down yesterday, moments after buckling his children into their car seats upon picking up take-out food from the Backwoods Pizza restaurant in Roxbury, according to witnesses and a state official.
Another resident, who gave his name as Armando Montero, described the shooting as senseless.
"He was in the car with his kids," he said while standing near the scene last night. "If you're gonna pull that, do it when they're by themselves."
BEIJING (AP) A man slashed 25 children with a kitchen knife Monday at a grade school in eastern China and held a 9-year-old girl hostage for an hour before police captured him, the government said.
It was the third time in six weeks that a knife attack has been reported at a Chinese school or day care center. The earlier attacks left one child dead, injured a total of 42 people and caused widespread concern about school safety.
[snip]
Most gun ownership in China is illegal but explosives, knives and other weapons are readily available.
Suspect wielding machete cuts cop
Boston police officers shot and wounded a machete-wielding man after he sliced one cop in the leg last night, police said.
Police said two officers were responding to a report of two brothers fighting at 214 Princeton St. in East Boston at 9:10 p.m. One of the brothers came out the door of the second-floor apartment brandishing a machete and swung at the cops, cutting one in the knee.
[snip]
The shooting will be investigated by internal affairs officials to determine whether the use of force was appropriate, a police spokesman said.
I'm honored to be here today at your 126th Convention. I can't tell you how proud I am to stand before you -- and how grateful I am to have the opportunity to talk with you today.
I came out here because I wanted to look you in the eye and say thank you. Thank you for your service; thank you for caring; thank you for the sacrifices you and your families make for our country.
Except, for your boss, the Commander-in-Chief. He's a disgrace to the Guard and the uniform. Shit, did I just say that out loud? [Note: This paragraph is not in the transcript I linked to, but I have an authentic re-creation of the actual transcript, from an unimpeachable source, which, although it might be forged, is accurate.]
I come from a state with a great tradition of service and a great understanding of who you are. You can't live in the shadow of Bunker Hill, Lexington Green, the Bridge at Concord, and not know the meaning of Minutemen and citizen service to country.
For more than three centuries...
...as you know better than anyone, our National Guard has stood on the frontlines of freedom. The Guard fought in that first great revolution, and has defended our country ever since, here in America and around the world.
Kathryn Harrington was flying home from vacation last month when screeners at the Tampa, Fla., airport found her bookmark. It's an 8.5-inch leather strip with small lead weights at each end.
Airport police said it resembled a weighted weapon that could be used to knock people unconscious. So the 52-year-old special education teacher was handcuffed, put into a police car, and charged with carrying a concealed weapon.
A Sandwich High School football captain shouted "freshmen beatdown," inciting a brutal gang rush against the school's youngest players, gravely injuring one boy, officials said.
Nine football players were suspended as of yesterday and face possible criminal charges as 14-year-old Garrett Watterson recovered from extensive surgery to remove his ruptured spleen.
MILFORD -- Police plan to seek animal cruelty charges against a Rhode Island teen who allegedly shoved a stray dog 30 feet down a cliff into a water-filled quarry off Cedar Street yesterday.
One of a group of evil-spirited teens who destroyed a Taunton family's home and tortured their pets is the son of a major at the Suffolk County sheriff's office, neighbors and officials said.
"They're dangerous kids. This is terrible. They destroyed everything I own. It keeps us awake at night," Bill Humphrey said yesterday while standing in his home, which has been unlivable since last month's ransacking.
The Humphreys said that while they were vacationing in Maine, the teens broke in through a basement window and killed their fish, shot one cat, egged another cat, plucked out their bird's feathers and covered their turtle and lizard with dishwasher detergent.
They also urinated on clothes, broke furniture, smashed electronic equipment and new kitchen appliances, dumped paint on new carpets and walls, destroyed kitchen cabinets and poured out food, officials allege.
The teens stole two guns, ammo, jewelry and Humphrey's correction officer badge, said officials, who estimate the damage at $110,000.
BOSTON -- Mayor Thomas M. Menino has ended the city's decades-old ban on night high school football, saying he wants to help heal communities scarred by a recent spike in crime.
[snip]
"This is about building relationships between different kids from different neighborhoods," Menino told The Boston Globe. "Getting them to understand each other, work with each other, play against each other and become friends with one another."
Night high school football was banned after a 1958 brawl broke out during a preseason exhibition involving all the teams in Boston. The fight spilled into the streets of Egleston Square and sparked outrage around the city.
"Our city kind of had a tough summer, so sometimes it's good to bring in some good security, some free ice cream, have people come sit in the stands and just enjoy themselves," said Kenneth Still, athletic director of the Boston public schools.
If the documents are not what we were led to believe, I'd like to break that story.
Correction: Because of an editing error...
TORONTO -- Beer, a health food? That's what some Canadian researchers report.
A study from the University of Western Ontario finds a brew could be good for you. The researchers say beer has antioxidant boosters that could help fight cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
But the key is moderation. The researchers found three beers would have the opposite effect.
The study was funded by beermakers Guinness and Labatt. But the university says the financial support had no influence on the outcome.
A window into his character
September 11, 2004
I APPRECIATE the recent Globe articles and the "60 minutes" segment Wednesday that include recent revelations about George W. Bush's record in the Texas Air National Guard. However, it's regrettable that this information did not come out sooner so that it could have been considered by people who voted for either George H.W. or his son.
We now know three things:
Bush would not have made it into the Guard without his father's intervention. His father attempted to change or prevent negative reports about George W's performance. The elder Bush's influence made the honorable discharge happen, and prevented Bush's being sent to Vietnam for not fullfilling [sic] his duties in the guard.
The privileged young man who thumbed his nose at the system and then used his Guard service to aggrandize himself politically is now the arrogant president who believes, in his own words, "I don't have to explain anything. I'm the president."
The new information is a valuable window into his character.
JON WHEATLEY, Cambridge
Sept. 9, 2004 — Questions are being raised about the authenticity of newly discovered documents relating to George W. Bush's service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War.
[snip]
Among the points Flynn and other experts noted:
The memos were written using a proportional typeface, where letters take up variable space according to their size, rather than fixed-pitch typeface used on typewriters, where each letter is allotted the same space. Proportional typefaces are available only on computers or on very high-end typewriters that were unlikely to be used by the National Guard.
The memos include superscript, i.e. the "th" in "187th" appears above the line in a smaller font. Superscript was not available on typewriters.
The memos included "curly" apostrophes rather than straight apostrophes found on typewriters.
The font used in the memos is Times Roman, which was in use for printing but not in typewriters. The Haas Atlas — the bible of fonts — does not list Times Roman as an available font for typewriters.
The vertical spacing used in the memos, measured at 13 points, was not available in typewriters, and only became possible with the advent of computers.
Many Democrats are worried that if they are found to be forgeries, it will be a setback for Sen. John Kerry's campaign to defeat Bush in November.
But previously unseen documents from Killian's personal file obtained by 60 Minutes include a memorandum from May 1972, where Killian writes that Lt. Bush called him to talk about "how he can get out of coming to drill from now through November."
Lt. Bush tells his commander "he is working on a campaign in Alabama . and may not have time to take his physical." Killian adds that he thinks Lt. Bush has gone over his head, and is "talking to someone upstairs."
In August 1973, President Bush's superior officer in the Texas Air National Guard wrote a memorandum complaining that the commanding general wanted him to ''sugar coat" an annual officer evaluation for First Lieutenant Bush, even though Bush had not been at the base for the year in question, according to new documents obtained and broadcast last night by CBS News.
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) Teresa Heinz Kerry says "only an idiot" would fail to support the health care plan proposed by her husband, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
[snip]
"Only an idiot wouldn't like this," Heinz Kerry told the Intelligencer Journal of Lancaster for a story in its Thursday editions. "Of course, there are idiots."
The common man doesn't look at me as some rich witch.
As any trained terrorist or criminal knows, Sept. 13 is a banner day this year, the moment when assault weapons will once again be legal after a decade of government controls on these weapons of choice.
The National Rifle Association, which hates government control above all, will also be celebrating the apparently inevitable expiration of a ban that has worked.
We cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation's recent drop in gun violence. And, indeed, there has been no discernible reduction in the lethality and injuriousness of gun violence,
A sweeping federal review of the nation's gun control laws - including mandatory waiting periods and bans on certain weapons - found no proof such measures reduce firearm violence.
Unlike desperate demagogues like Dick Cheney this week, I wouldn't dream of taking the obvious cheap shot of linking my ideological opponents to terrorists and criminals (as Cheney did by saying that the wrong vote in November could set the stage for another attack on the United States).
It's more accurate to say that the NRA's antigovernment ideology along with terrorists and criminals have a coincidental but identical hope where the 10-year-old assault weapons ban is concerned.
On the Senate floor this week, the mother of the ban, California Senator Dianne Feinstein, offered an example of what America can look forward to. A fellow appeared on the street in the small, northern Ohio town of Geneva this week with what is now an illegal 50-bullet clip on his gun and started shooting - less than 200 yards from an elementary school.
In addition, a well-known Illinois gun company, ArmaLite, is pushing consumers not only to order assault weapons now for shipment after the ban expires, but also to add bayonets and even flash suppressors to their weapons.
I can't quite figure out how a flash suppressor helps a hunter just because the deer can't see where the shot is coming from, but it sure helps a crook, which is why they were previously banned.
The ban, however, will expire. Bush will get his endorsement. And people are going to die.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Monroe County Coroner David Toumey was hospitalized with a leg wound after accidentally shooting himself while trying to demonstrate gun safety.
Toumey told The Herald-Times for a story published Saturday that he was demonstrating gun safety to some people at a Lake Monroe boat ramp about 11 p.m. Wednesday when he accidentally shot himself.
He said that as he checked to make sure his weapon was unloaded, the gun discharged, and a bullet struck him in his left leg.
The facts are clear. John Kerry opposes banning this gun and always will. John Kerry was proud to receive this union-made gun at the United Mine Workers Labor Day picnic in Racine, West Virginia.
(30) The term `semiautomatic assault weapon' means any of the following:
[snip]
(L) A semiautomatic rifle or shotgun originally designed for military or law enforcement use, or a firearm based on the design of such a firearm, that is not particularly suitable for sporting purposes, as determined by the Attorney General. In making the determination, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that a firearm procured for use by the United States military or any Federal law enforcement agency is not particularly suitable for sporting purposes, and a firearm shall not be determined to be particularly suitable for sporting purposes solely because the firearm is suitable for use in a sporting event.
In West Virginia, Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, gave Kerry a rifle as a gift. Kerry, a self-described gun-owner and hunter, quipped: "I thank you for the gift, but I can't take it to the debate with me."
Was Dem presidential hopeful John Kerry seen this weekend waving a gun which would have been banned if legislation he co-sponsored became law?
Kerry co-sponsored S. 1431 last year (“The Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2003) which would have banned a "semiautomatic shotgun that has a pistol grip.”
Opponents of the bill successfully argued how nearly all guns have "pistol grips," inluding [sic] millions of Browning Auto-5 shotguns produced since 1903.
Photos show Kerry's hand resting on the "pistol grip," as loosely defined in the bill.
Kerry's bill would ban millions of semi-automatics, including those with "pistol grips." [Section SEC. 2; (H) (ii)]
(42) PISTOL GRIP- The term `pistol grip' means a grip, a thumbhole stock, or any other characteristic that can function as a grip.
But Kerry's gun bill would also banned [sic] any "gift" transaction!
It is not clear if Kerry submitted to a waiting period and completed the required paperwork (Form 4473) or Brady background check before he claimed the gun.
Also, since the Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed, it has been illegal for an unlicensed individual (a non-dealer, non-collector, non-manufacturer, etc.) to obtain a firearm in a state in which you are not a legal resident.
Hingham High School is getting off to a sorrowful start today as students mourn the death of a standout lacrosse player killed in a high-speed car crash after an end-of-summer party, classmates and cops said.
(16-year-old Ted) Cochran was behind the wheel of his dad's BMW driving at least 100 mph when he lost control of the car and took out a utility pole before careening into the woods about 11:30 p.m. Sunday, police said. Neither teen was wearing a seat belt.
Cochran, who would have started his junior year today, got his driver's license in June and under state law wasn't permitted to be driving with another teen in the car.
In March, a Hingham High baseball player broke his ankle after he and another student were in a car accident after a party at Cochran's house, classmates said.
BOSTON- Mayor Thomas Menino on Monday called on members of the community to help stem a summer spate of violence that most recently claimed the lives of three men who were shot in Dorchester over the weekend.
"There has to be a sense of responsibility out there," Menino said. "The police can't do it alone. It has to be all of us working together to make this city safe."
NEW YORK (AP) The New York Yankees asked the commissioner's office to award them a forfeit over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays after they failed to arrive in time Monday because of travel problems due to Hurricane Frances.
Three men were shot to death in a vehicle parked on a Dorchester street last night and a fourth man was then critically wounded when he was shot while inside a vehicle on an adjacent street, police said.
[snip]
"When individuals are sitting in a car and someone comes up and shoots them while they're in the car, its not a random act," Foley said. "It's obviously a planned act, and sometimes in those types of incidents police can't do much about it."
BESLAN, Russia - A shaken President Vladimir Putin made a rare and candid admission of Russian weakness yesterday in the face of an "all-out war" by terrorists after more than 340 people - nearly half of them children - were killed in a hostage-taking at a southern school.
Putin went on national television to tell Russians that they must mobilize against terrorism and promised wide-ranging reforms to toughen security forces and purge corruption.
"We showed weakness, and weak people are beaten," he said in an address aimed at addressing the grief, shock and anger felt by many after a string of attacks that have killed some 450 people in the past two weeks, apparently in connection with the war in Chechnya.
Yesterday's horrific end of the hostage crisis in Russia's Republic of North Ossetia, with a death toll in three figures, illustrates above all the hostage-takers' pitiless cruelty. The chaos surrounding the unplanned rescue operation and the manner in which Russian special forces lost control of the situation also suggest a lack of competence that had tragic consequences.
Nothing can be done now to bring back those lost lives. But if Putin were to admit the failure of his war policy in Chechnya and explore a political solution, he would have a chance to end the rationale for such outrages as the hostage-taking and save the lives of many Chechens and Russians.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Kevin Brown's frustrating season finally reached a boiling point, and now his hot temper could cost the New York Yankees at the most important time.
Brown broke his non-pitching hand when he punched a wall in the clubhouse Friday night during a 3-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles that cut New York's lead in the AL East to just 2 1/2 games over Boston.
"Stupidity," Brown said, choosing his words carefully.
BESLAN, Russia (CNN) -- Hundreds of people held hostage at a school in southern Russia fled to safety Friday, but scores are reported dead as pitched battles continue between troops and hostage-takers.
Interfax quoted a Defense official as saying that "the terrorists planted a lot of mines and booby-traps filled with metal bolts in the gym" where hostages were held.
NANTUCKET, Mass. (Reuters) - Democrat John Kerry hit back at Dick Cheney on Thursday by raising the Republican's failure to serve in the Vietnam War and asking voters to weigh his two tours of duty against the vice president's five
deferments.
"He thought it was over, and that's when he got shot," Santana said. "I was just a few feet away. He got hit in the head. . . . It was pretty bad."
Saladin, 20, who lived in the Dorchester development with his mother and brother, was clinging to life last night at Boston Medical Center, but his mother, speaking at times through a translator, said funeral arrangements were underway.
In January 2000, according to press reports, Saladin was arrested at Dorchester's Jeremiah E. Burke High School for allegedly carrying a loaded gun in his school backpack.
BESLAN, Russia (AP) Russian officials negotiated fruitlessly through the night to end a standoff with militants who threatened to blow up a school they seized 24 hours before with about 350 hostages, including children, trapped inside.
...militants who threatened to blow up a school...
The hostage-takers had demanded...
...had told the militants they would be promised...
The raiders reportedly have threatened...
...where separatist rebels have been fighting...
Suspicion in the raid fell on Chechen militants...
Heavily armed militants wearing masks...
...the militants placed a sniper on an upper floor...
...some of the militants had been identified...
...the militants sent out a list of demands...
...there were between 15 and 24 militants.
...the insurgents increasingly strike civilian targets...
President Bush called Putin and "condemned the taking of hostages and the other terrorists attacks in Russia," White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said. Bush offered "assistance" to Russia in dealing with the crisis if requested, but no request had been made so far, the White House said.
After an emergency session called for by Russia, the United Nations Security Council condemned "the heinous terrorist act" and demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
It is not their patriotism - it is their judgment that has been so sorely lacking. They claimed Carter's pacifism would lead to peace.
They were wrong.
They claimed Reagan's defense buildup would lead to war.
They were wrong.
And, no pair has been more wrong, more loudly, more often than the two Senators from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.
WASHINGTON - As the school year begins, more than 1,000 students are using a new voucher program to escape troubled public schools in the nation's capital.
Critics, including Democratic presidential contender John Kerry, say vouchers strip money fromteachers unions' campaign contribution cofferspublic schools and funnel it to private schools thathave the audacity to spend that money on educating our youthface little accountability.
The program provides up to $7,500 per child to cover tuition, fees and other educational expenses. While tuition rates range from $3,000 to $22,415 per year, participating institutions have waived costs exceeding the grant limit, or provided other financial aid.
Numerous problems in the D.C. Public Schools have fueled interest in the program. The system has its fifth permanent superintendent in nine years. In February, a student was shot dead inside a high school, allegedly by another student. Enrollment is down, including more than 10,000 students who departed for publicly funded charter schools.
Opinion and commentary, garnished with a sprig of cynicism, served with a heaping side order of sarcasm, and washed down with a tall glass of common sense, by a gun-toting political refugee from the People's Progressive Republic of Massachusetts, currently residing in New Hampshire and doing what he can to keep the Granite State beautiful and free.
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