Lawyers of Convicted Murderer Get $700K in Taxpayer Money


Judge: State must pay more than $700,000 in legal fees to attorneys of convicted murderer who wants sex change surgery

This is a perversion of the American legal system. First this murderer, who is jailed for life is allowed to bring suit to have the state pay for a sex change operation (which he won!!), now the state of Massachusetts is being billed by his lawyers – and the state looks to be required to pay.

We have lost our minds allowing this to happen. With this type of result it will open the floodgates for lawyers to file piles of frivolous lawsuits – easy money.

A federal judge said today that he would award more than $700,000 in legal fees to the team of lawyers who represented Michelle Kosilek, the convicted murderer who sued the state for a sex change operation to treat her gender identity disorder.

Chief US District Judge Mark L. Wolf said from the bench in court in Boston that he recognized the cost to taxpayers, but he said the costs derived from a hard-fought lawsuit to preserve Kosilek’s constitutional rights.

He noted that while the state Department of Correction is appealing his decision to order the surgery, Kosilek’s legal team has offered to dismiss their request for legal fees if the state drops the appeal and pays for the surgery.

“Resistance at all costs can end up costing the taxpayers quite a lot,” the judge said, adding that the Department of Correction has had to pay hundreds of thousands in legal fees to lawyers in other cases in which the department violated prisoners’ constitutional rights.

“The repeated violation of constitutional rights of prisoners … costs taxpayers money that is needed for other purposes,” he said.

Wolf said he would lay out the exact amount of legal fees owed to Kosilek’s legal team in the next several weeks, but said the total would climb to more than $700,000 based on early calculations. The judge held several hearings, including a nearly two-hour hearing today, to decide on how to make those calculations.

Thanks: boston.com

DNC to Host Islamic Prayer Session


What? The Democratic National Committee is Hosting an Islamic Prayer Session – ABSURD

What ever happened to the concept of the ‘Separation of Church and State’? The separation of church and state is the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state and in America at least this should be followed. In addition by the same breath, we also have enshrined ‘Freedom of Religion’. Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion.

If they want to worship, they have the right to do so and I would defend that right but outside the political arena. Given these two basic tenets of American constitutional protections and rights – I ask: Where does the DNC feel it has the right to do this? It is anathema to what we stand for as Americans. They should be ashamed and shamed.

DNC Proceeds With 2-Hour Islamic ‘Jumah’ Prayers After Rejecting Cardinal’s Blessing (And You Won‘t Believe Who’s Invited)

The Democratic National Committee is raising a number of eyebrows after choosing to proceed with hosting Islamic “Jumah” prayers for two hours on the Friday of its convention, though it denied a Catholic cardinal’s request to say a prayer at the same event.

Democratic National Convention to Host Islamic Jumah Prayers with Jibril Hough, Siraj Wahhaj

The event is being promoted on the official Charlottein2012.com page.

Watch the promotional video, via the Bureau of Muslim Affairs, which is partnering with the DNC for the event.

The first two minutes are rather dry, but around 2:04 a muezzin sings the call to prayer with an American flag background, and the video “picks up” considerably:

Up to 20,000 people are expected to attend the Friday prayers and Jibril Hough, a spokesman for the Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs (BIMA), said the purpose of the event is to hold political parties accountable for the issues faced by Muslim-Americans.

In particular, the event will target the Patriot Act, the NYPD, the National Defense Authorization Act, and anti-Shariah sentiment.

Democratic National Convention to Host Islamic Jumah Prayers with Jibril Hough, Siraj Wahhaj

(Photo: Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs)

And while Muslim-Americans undeniably face distinct challenges, those who are well-informed on the dangers of radical Islam are expressing their doubts about the event.

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and the Founder and President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, wrote:

The leaders of this event – Jibril Hough and Imam Siraj Wahhaj [are not] moderates. They are radicals. These individuals embrace Islamist supremacy and have demonstrated support for radical ideologies.

A quick Google search by the DNC would have shown them that Hough and Wahhaj are leaders in the separatist American Islamist movement. While they may be able to get a few thousand Muslims to attend the event, they are NOT going to be mainstream Muslims.  Most will likely come from Hough and Wahhaj’s radical networks that have long been entrenched in the Charlotte area. Make no mistake they are part of the Islamist movement.

[...]

Their jummah (group) prayer is…about empowering their Islamist and MB sympathetic groups into the very fabric of the political system so that Americans become anesthetized. We need American Muslims to speak up and marginalize these radicals. The DNC needs to understand and reject them because of their radical history and ideas.

Democratic National Convention to Host Islamic Jumah Prayers with Jibril Hough, Siraj Wahhaj

(Photo: Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs)

The mosque of Jibril Hough, mentioned by Dr. Jasser, is owned by the North American Islamic Trust, which was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial as one of the entities “who are and/or were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood.”

Siraj Wahhaj, the “Grand Imam” for Jumah at the DNC, is often considered a “moderate” because he was the first Muslim to give an invocation in the U.S. Congress, but as Robert Spencer notes, he has a number of troubling ties to dangerous radicals.  In the early 1990′s the man reportedly sponsored talks by “the Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel-Rahman in New York and New Jersey mosques, and told his followers that the United States will fall unless it “accepts the Islamic agenda.”

Wahhaj elaborated, according to bestselling author Brigitte Gabriel, to say: “If only Muslims were clever politically, they could take over the United States and replace its constitutional government with a caliphate.”

He continued: “Take my word.  If 6-8 million Muslims unite in America, the country will come to us.”

When an imam like Siraj Wahhaj says “it his duty and our duty as Muslims to replace the US Constitution with the Quran…we need to speak up!” Dr. Jasser reiterated in response, adding that Americans “should be concerned” if this is who the DNC is “consorting with.”

Robert Spencer speculates that the Democrat National Committee is simply so “in thrall with multiculturalism” that “few, if any” are even aware of the radical connections.

“To raise any concerns about such a speaker would be ‘Islamophobic,’ violating every rule of the anti-American, anti-Western ethos that prevails among so many Democrats today,” Spencer writes.

He concluded: “There is about as much chance of that as there is of the Democrats ditching Obama and nominating David Horowitz as their candidate for President of the United States.”

Thanks: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/dnc-announces-2-hour-islamic-jumah-prayers-after-rejecting-cardinals-blessing-and-you-wont-believe-whos-invited/#

Church Refuses to Marry Black Couple


How can this happen?

This story is one of the most disgusting and abhorrent I have seen in many years. Here we are in 2012 and a church (actually the Pastor) has refused to marry a couple simply because they are black.

“According to Pastor Stan Weatherford, some church members objected so strongly to breaking that precedent, they threatened to oust him from his pastorship.” He should have been strong enough to refuse the desires of his racist congregation and performed the marriage. The ‘precedent’ he would set would be to open the church (a term I would use loosely in this case) and dash the history of the church’s and congregation’s racist attitudes. So be it if he lost his ‘job’, he would do so with his head up high – now he is nothing more than a ‘continuer’ of racism – there is no place for this anywhere in the world and certainly not in AMERICA. His actions and those of his ‘followers will serve nothing more than to inculcate this evil attitude into future generations of people – it makes me sick.

 

Mississippi Church Refuses to Marry Black Couple

PHOTO: Te'Andrea and Charles Wilson were denied a wedding at Crystal Springs church in Mississippi.

Te’Andrea and Charles Wilson were denied a wedding at Crystal Springs church in Mississippi. (ABC News)
 By ALON HARISH
July 28, 2012

They had booked their wedding far in advance. The invitations had been sent, the programs printed. But one day before Charles and Te’Andrea Wilson were to be married at the Mississippi church they frequented, they said a pastor told them they would have to find another venue — because they were black.

There has never been a black wedding at the First Baptist Church in Crystal Springs, Miss., since its founding in 1883. According to Pastor Stan Weatherford, some church members objected so strongly to breaking that precedent, they threatened to oust him from his pastorship.

Rather than risk his job, Weatherford, who is white, said he decided to marry the pair at a black church down the road.

“My 9-year-old was going to the church with us. How would you say to your 9-year-old daughter, ‘We cannot get married here because, guess what sweetie, we’re black,’” Charles Wilson told ABC’s affiliate WAPT-TV.

Outrage over the wedding’s forced relocation swept the Jackson suburb of about 5,000 into a media firestorm.

The vast majority of Crystal Springs residents, blacks and whites alike, were “blown away” by the church’s decision, said Theresa Norwood, 48, who was born in Crystal Springs and has lived there her entire life.

Norwood said she believes Weatherford should have married the Wilsons regardless of the risk to his job.

“That church was their home,” she said. “What would Jesus have done? He would have married them, without a doubt, because it’s the right thing to do. We’re all God’s children.”

While the Wilsons were not members of the church, they often attended services there, and Te’Andrea’s uncle is an employee of the church, and her father is a member. Charles Wilson told WAPT that the couple had planned to join as members after their wedding, which was planned for July 20.

Weatherford told WLBT-TV in Jackson that he would have liked to marry the couple as planned, but he decided to perform the ceremony elsewhere as a compromise to ensure that the Wilsons could be married while “addressing a need within our congregation.”

Norwood, who is black, said her nephew came to worship at First Baptist Church while he was temporarily living with her, having been evacuated from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The church “made him feel at home,” she said, but now she wonders whether he would return there when he visits Crystal Springs.

The church is now holding internal meetings to figure out how it should respond to future requests by black couples to be married there, Weatherford told WLBT-TV.

For her part, though, Norwood, who is dating a white man, said that if she and her boyfriend decide to get married, they will likely look for a different venue.

Thanks: http://abcnews.go.com/US/mississippi-church-rejects-black-wedding/story?id=16878536#.UBS-fqMyfRg

Condi Rice For VP? Oh my!!!!


One of our political nightmares. Condoleezza Rice as VP. The only thing she did well was wave when she got on and off a government plane. But, she did that well.

The great ‘waver’

Here is a person who was bamboozled during the Bush administration into ‘believing’ that Iraq was awash in chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. (so was Colin Powers unfortunately – I liked him until the point he allowed himself to be swayed by Cheney and others – a shame).

Rice should stay in academia where discussion and concepts are more important than constructive action. The old axiom that ‘those who can’t, teach’ is cogent in this case. She was worthless as a diplomat and should not even be considered for a government post.

Fox News poll: Voters pick Condi Rice as Romney running mate

By Published July 18, 2012 FoxNews.com

  • rice.jpg
    AP

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is the top choice as Mitt Romney’s vice presidential running mate among both American voters overall as well as among Republicans.

Thirty percent of voters would like to see Rice on the ticket with Romney, according to a Fox News poll released Wednesday.

She receives the same level of support among Republicans — 30 percent select her as their top choice for Romney’s running mate.

That far outdistances the number of Republicans who choose Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (19 percent), New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (8 percent) or Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan (8 percent).

Fewer still would pick Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (5 percent), Ohio Sen. Rob Portman (3 percent), Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (3 percent), New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (3 percent) or former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (2 percent).

Republicans are most likely to say they want “a true conservative” (32 percent) on the ticket with Romney when asked about preferred attributes.  That’s followed by someone with military experience (17 percent), a woman (11 percent), a moderate (10 percent) or a foreign policy expert (7 percent).

For some Republicans, a pro-choice candidate such as Rice may not fit the definition of a “true conservative.”

Sec. Rice delivers a bit of a bump for Romney.  In the head-to-head ballot test, 45 percent of voters back Barack Obama and 41 percent Romney, if the election were held today.   Yet the race is tied at 46 percent each when the hypothetical Romney-Rice ticket is matched against the Obama-Biden ticket.

Independents give the edge to Obama over Romney by four percentage points in response to the ballot question, and are more likely to back the Democratic ticket by one point when the running mates are included.

In addition, Romney support among Republicans increases by five points (from 84 to 89 percent) with Rice on the ticket.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 901 randomly-chosen registered voters nationwide and is conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from July 15 to July 17.  For the total sample, it has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.  The sample of Republicans has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus five percentage points.

Thanks: Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/18/fox-news-poll-voters-pick-condi-rice-as-romney-running-mate/#ixzz215FEJcOM

Terrorist Drone Kill Families Want Compensation


Idiocy Never Ceases to Amaze Me

This story and the concept(s) behind it made me fall off my chair. Here we are with an absurd law-suit against the American government and officials being put in place. Families of people we have hunted and killed as a result of their terrorist actions are suing us for their deaths as being unconstitutional. (Gag me with a spoon please)

I believe that any court in it’s right mind will reject even hearing the merits of this filing.

In my opinion, what we should do is sue them for fostering terrorism and to recover the costs we incurred in searching for and killing the terrorists. The cost for a hellfire missile is about $60,000 and the entire program has cost upwards of $2,400,000,00 as of 2011. Where should we send their allocation of the cost?

Military sued over al-Awlaki Yemen drone death

Anwar al-Awlaki Anwar al-Awlaki was seen as an astute communicator and linked to several plots

Relatives of three Americans killed in drone strikes in Yemen are suing top Pentagon and CIA officials, saying the killings were unconstitutional.

Cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan died in September. Awlaki’s son Abdulrahman, 16, died in October.

Relatives accuse Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, CIA Director David Petraeus and two military commanders of approving and directing the strikes.

The legality of US use of drones has been in the spotlight in recent weeks.

Awlaki, a radical Islamist cleric born in the state of New Mexico, was a key figure in the Yemen-based group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). His 16-year-old son was born in Colorado.

Samir Khan was a naturalised US citizen who was involved with Inspire, al-Qaeda’s English-language magazine.

The lawsuit was filed by Nasser al-Awlaki, the father of Anwar al-Awlaki, alongside Sarah Khan, mother of Samir Khan.

‘Rights violated’

Military commanders Adm William McRaven – head of US special operations – and Lt Gen Joseph Votel were also named in the lawsuit, which is seeking unspecified damages.

“There is something terribly wrong when a 16-year-old American boy can be killed by his own government”

Pardiss Kebriaei Center for Constitutional Rights

“The killings violated fundamental rights afforded to all US citizens, including the right not to be deprived of life without due process of law,” the legal complaint says.

The Center for Constitutional Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union say they are giving legal assistance to the plaintiffs.

“There is something terribly wrong when a 16-year-old American boy can be killed by his own government without any accountability or explanation,” said Pardiss Kebriaei, a lawyer at the Center for Constitutional Rights.

A justice department spokesman told Reuters news agency the department had seen the complaint and was reviewing it.

Correspondents say the case could face procedural hurdles before it is settled.

In March, US Attorney General Eric Holder defended the drone strike policy, saying the US “may use force abroad against a senior operational leader of a foreign terrorist organisation with which the United States is at war – even if that individual happens to be a US citizen.”

The US government has not officially accepted responsibility for carrying out the strikes.

The Department of Justice, which is expected to represent the defendants, could contend that state secrets would be exposed as part of the evidence needed to argue the case.

Before the lethal strike took place, Awlaki’s father had tried to get a court injunction to stop US attempts to kill his son. The request was dismissed on the grounds that Mr Awlaki could not sue in place of his son.

Thanks: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18896232

Made in China! Team USA Olympic Uniforms (WTF)


Now I think I have seen it all. American Olympic team uniforms designed by Ralph Lauren and MADE IN CHINA

This is perhaps one of the stupidest things I have ever seen. Who ever approved this should be sent to the gulag i.e. China. Get a load of the answer from the US Olympic committee when asked about it – talk about someone not having the balls to answer a question directly. I only wish ABC would pursue this and not accept the feeble statement as an answer. (I think I need to vomit)

I would not be surprised to see that the material has some type of substance imbedded that slowly releases a substance that is banned in Olympic sports.

 

Have we become a nation of idiots?

Team USA To Be Decked Out in Uniforms Made in China

ap olympic uniform team usa jef 120710 wblog Team USA  To Be Decked Out in Uniforms Made in ChinaImage Credit: Ralph Lauren/AP Photo

They are the pride of America — Team U.S.A. — and for the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in London, they’ll be proudly wearing red, white and blue, from beret to blazer.

The classic American style — shown in an image above — was crafted by designer Ralph Lauren. But just how American is it?

When ABC News looked at the labels, it found “made in China.”

Every item in the uniforms that the U.S. athletes will be wearing at the opening ceremony in London will carry an overseas label.

Nanette Lepore, one of the top U.S. fashion designers, said she was shocked that none of the uniforms had been made in the states. Further, Lepore said that it was “absolutely” possible that the athletes could have been outfitted in U.S.-made clothing. She said U.S. manufactures could have easily made the uniforms — and for less.

Here’s how much the uniforms cost:

Men:
Beret – $55
Tie – $125
Belt – $85
Shirt – $425
Blazer – $795
Trousers – $295
Shoes – $165

Women:
Beret – $55
Scarf – $58
Belt – $85
Shirt – $179
Skirt – $498
Blazer – $598

“Why shouldn’t we have pride not only in the American athletes, but in the American manufacturers and laborers who are the backbone of our country?” Lepore said to ABC News. “Why? What’s wrong? Why was that not a consideration?”

ABC News reached out to Lauren and the U.S. Olympic Committee and asked why American-made clothing had not been selected for the athletes.

The committee said: “The U.S. Olympic team is privately funded and we’re grateful for the support of our sponsors. We’re proud of our partnership with Ralph Lauren, an iconic American company.”

THANKS: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/07/team-usa-to-be-decked-out-in-uniforms-made-in-china/

No Flags on Veteran’s Graves – Humbug!


They deserve much more than what this story shows. They should have our eternal and unwavering respect and we owe it to all military fallen and their loved ones total dignity and thanks.

This story is too important to pass on. It is a good example of what happens when people simply don’t think. If this is an example of how the city council of Mineral Well’s ‘thinks’ they should all be dumped and a smarter group put into office.

The only word I can use to define them is IDIOTS.

Texas Town Bans Flags on Veterans’ Graves

gty grave flag jef 120703 wblog Texas Town Bans Flags on Veterans Graves                                                                              (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

A Texas town is reconsidering a controversial ordinance that it approved earlier this month that would ban the displaying of flags at  gravesites.

The ordinance,  approved by the City Council of Mineral Wells, states that flags would be allowed on graves at the town’s Woodland Park Cemetery only one week before and after Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day. July 4 and Labor Day, other popular flag holidays, were not part of the approved time frame.

After citizens expressed outrage,  flooding  the city council office with calls Monday, the council  scheduled a public meeting for July 10 to reconsider the new flag policy.

Veteran Robert Veach, whose father is buried at  Woodland Park,  was one of the first to speak out against the ordinance, telling the Mineral Wells Index that  he believed he should be allowed to put a flag at his father’s grave 365 days a year.

The ordinance was adopted by the Woodland Park Cemetery Board, said Peggy Gustin, the administrative clerk for Mineral Wells, because the number of items placed at gravesites,  which included teddy bears, statues, bird baths and squirrel feeders, were becoming  a few too many.

“Excessive adornment at the cemetery was causing it to be unsightly, so the cemetery board came up with a solution that they thought would work for all,” Gustin told ABCNews.com.

After several public meetings were held over several months, the ordinance passed.  The last two meetings were held specifically for the public to voice opinions, according to a news release from the City Council. The final meeting was publicized on the front page of  the local newspaper. No one one showed up to voice objections, according to the news release.

But within days of the ordinance passing, the city received complaints from angry citizens, including  Veach.

“The city of Mineral Wells would like to clarify its position in that this action was not in any way taken with the intention of bringing any dishonor or disrespect to any of our Veterans, past or present,” a news release on the City Council’s website said.

The ordinance also  stated that flowers and decorations were  allowed  for  only 21 days after  a  funeral, and that the flowers must be in a nonglass vase and would  be removed once they became “unsightly.” But only the flag provsion of the ordinance is under reconsideration.

As for the July 4th  holiday,  flags will be allowed in the cemetery, Gustin said.

“People are welcome to do their flags on July 4,” Gustin said. “Nothing is going to be done considering the flags until after the meeting on July 10. They won’t be removed. People can place them.”