"I'm always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I'm listening to it."
* If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.
* Death is caused by swallowing small amounts of saliva over a long period of time.
* Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.
* The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.
* Always do whatever's next.
* When you step on the brakes your life is in your foot's hands.
* Just cause you got the monkey off your back doesn't mean the circus has left town.
* Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
ALSO at DBKP: * George Carlin: Comedian Dead at 71 * George Carlin: Twelve Amusing Questions by Carlin * George Carlin Quotes: 30 Observations by Carlin |
* When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front row seat.
* Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit.
* Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
* You know an odd feeling? Sitting on the toilet eating a chocolate candy bar.
* One can never know for sure what a deserted area looks like.
* One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.
* I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it.
* Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
* Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that.
* May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house.
* I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven't tried that for a while. Maybe this time it'll work.
* Women like silent men; they think they're listening.
* I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
"I'm always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I'm listening to it."
* I'm not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a PART of hell will break loose... it'll be much harder to detect.
* Honesty may be the best policy, but it's important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy.
* I recently went to a new doctor and noticed he was located in something called the Professional Building. I felt better right away.
* If we could just find out who's in charge, we could kill him.
* I don't have hobbies; hobbies cost money. Interests are quite free.
* There's no present. There's only the immediate future and the recent past.
* The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.
* Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
by Mondoreb
Sources:
* George Carlin Quotes
* George Carlin Quotes
* lesliehawes
The NHRA lost a former World Champion yesterday in a deadly crash.
Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta, 46, died June 21 from multiple injuries suffered after his car went out of control and crashed in a high-speed racing accident at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park during the fourth and final round of qualifying at the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals. Kalitta was extracted from his car by NHRA emergency services officials and transported to Old Bridge Township Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Kalitta, a two-time NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Top Fuel champion and one of only 14 drivers in NHRA history to earn victories in both premier nitro categories, earned 18 victories during his career, his last coming in Chicago in 2005 in Top Fuel.
Rest in Peace, Scott Kalitta.
by Mondoreb & RidesAPaleHorse
Source:
* Former NHRA world champ Kalitta succumbs to injuries in accident
Nancy Morgan
RightBias.com
June 14, 2008
NBC's Tim Russert died of a heart attack on Friday. Only the deaf, dumb and blind can be unaware of this fact. Ever since the unfortunate death of one of the major players in the field of media and politics, non-stop media coverage has drummed this fact home to millions of Americans. Enough, already.
This media coverage, still going strong, is becoming quite unseemly. Granted, Russert seemed an affable, good man. I could see this in his eyes the few times I saw him on television. Granted, his death was a shock. A shock that affected me personally, even though I never met the man, as it rudely reminded me of the fragility of life and the importance of time. He died too soon, and if it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone. Life is not fair.
That said, the continuing coverage of his death has turned into a circus. It is no longer about Tim Russert.
In a frantic rush to burnish their own social credentials, scores of B and C list players are desperately maneuvering to get coveted national face time. "Tim was a good friend of mine" is the pass word of the day as the networks fill hour after hour with the burnished recollections of has-beens, wanna-bes and actual sorrowing friends.
These tales, the cute stories, the hitherto unknown tidbits issuing forth ad naseum are less about Tim Russert than about the blind scramble by hangers-on to be considered part of the story, to be considered 'still relevant' by virtue of their association with a beloved media figure.
The coverage of Russert's death has ceased being about celebrating the life and mourning the death of Tim Russert. Instead, it has evolved into a platform designed to assure fragile egos that they, the media, are still relevant. Every morning talk show, every channel on every network is indulging in a mass celebration of their own importance. And they're using Tim Russert's death to do it.
This orgy of sentiment feels wrong to this writer. Sincere feelings of loss and sadness are to be expected when a respected personage dies before his time. But the orchestrated outpouring currently monopolizing the airwaves is saying more about the media itself than the death of Russert.
The rush to televise what should normally be private feelings of loss has cheapened Russert's passing. Just as it cheapens every celebrity who decided to use his passing to bolster their own credentials.
If I had been lucky enough to have known Russert personally and been his friend, I would hesitate to make hay from his death. I most certainly wouldn't use a personal tragedy to assure myself and the nation that I'm special by virtue of being part of his circle. Color me old fashioned.
I'd put my ego on hold out of respect. Respect for a man who accomplished much. Respect for a man who valued family and tried to be the best he could be. That's all I know about Tim Russert. The cute stories and humble monologues from Russert's supposed friends and colleagues tell me more than I want to know about them.
I'll remember Tim Russert because of the look in his eye. He looked happy and at ease with himself and the world. That is one of life's most important achievements. I'm sad for him and his family. His family that is rightly doing their mourning in private.
by Nancy Morgan
Nancy Morgan is a columnist and a news editor for RightBias.com
She lives in South Carolina, where she writes "Culture Watch" weekly, as well as other articles.
images: cnet; smh
"The best aphrodisiac is loving your partner".
--Stefan Anitei, Science Editor, Softpedia
One man's search for the enhanced sexual performance and desire that only an aphrodisiac can give, ended with death instead of desire. Now New York health officials are warning residents to refrain from an illegal aphrodisiac made from--toad venom?
What won't humans do for love and sex?
The alert went out Friday after New York City's poison control center received a report from an area hospital that a 35-year-old man had died earlier this month after ingesting a small chunk of the hard, brown substance.
The product is sold at sex shops and neighborhood stores under names including Piedra, Love Stone, Jamaican Stone, Black Stone and Chinese Rock. It is banned by the Food and Drug Administration, but shipments from overseas suppliers still occasionally slip past customs.
According to Wikipedia:
An aphrodisiac is an agent which is used in the belief that it increases sexual desire. The name comes from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sensuality. Throughout history, many foods, drinks, and behaviors have had a reputation for making sex more attainable and/or pleasurable. However, from a historical and scientific standpoint, the alleged results may have been mainly due to mere belief by their users that they would be effective (i.e., the placebo effect). In particular, medical science has not substantiated claims that any particular food increases sexual desire or performance.
The most famous of aphrodisiacs is probably "Spanish fly". Made from crushed beetles, more than a little can kill a human. It works--on farm animals--by irritating the mucous glands, creating an urge to scratch the itch with sex.
If sex is what one thinks of when their mucous glands are afire, then "Spanish fly" might be the Ticket to Paradise.
Some of the many substances considered by people as useful in increasing sexual desire are listed below.
* Arugula (Rocket) (Eruca sativa)
* Chocolate
* Damiana (Turnera diffusa)
* Epimedium grandiflorum (Horny Goat Weed)
* Ginkgo biloba
* Ginseng
* Kelp
Kelp?
Powdered rhino horn, oysters and yohimbe bark are also big--so to speak--on aphrodisiac lists. Alcohol, porn and money were also mentioned--most frequently by teen-age boys with the car keys on a Friday night.
Back to the New York aphrodisiac warning.
Buyers may have no idea they are dealing with anything illegal or dangerous. The various types of ``stone'' are often sold packaged in plastic, with a barcode, a price tag and official-looking instructions for use.
City health officials said the 35-year-old victim developed an abnormal heart rhythm after eating some ``Piedra'' he purchased at a neighborhood store.
He was admitted to the hospital complaining of chest and abdominal pain. Doctors recognized the problem and treated him for two days but couldn't save his life. His name was not released.
Health officials say the culprit was a hardened resin, made at least partly from venom collected from toads of the Bufo genus, containing chemicals known as bufadienolides that can disrupt heart rhythms. The aphrodisiac was supposed to have been applied to the skin, not eaten, but authorities said even that use can be harmful.
In case anyone is thinking, "But, I'll bet there's a safe way to do that," one poison control official had a few cautionary words.
``There is no definitely safe way to use it,'' said Dr. Robert Hoffman, director of the city's poison control center.
``Don't buy it. Don't sell it. If you have it, don't use it. Throw it out.''
Our advice to anyone thinking of buying black-market "aphrodisiacs": DON'T.
The New York man is only the latest in a long line of deaths associated with the pursuit of pleasure that aphrodisiacs promise.
If one is determined to pursue pleasure, a word to the wise:
Rent a XXX movie.
by Mondoreb
hat tip: Roxanne of WCBSNewsRadio880
Source:
* Aphrodisiac Kills New York Man
* Aphrodisiac
* seasonedwithlove
* midaswelby
* Aphrodisiacs: Between Bogus and Reality
* Let's Get it On: The Ten Best Aphrodisiacs
ASSASSINATION
1968 The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was shot to death as he stood on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn.; the killing sparked a wave of riots across the U.S. (James Earl Ray later pleaded guilty to assassinating King, then spent the rest of his life claiming his innocence and attempting to withdraw his guilty plea; he died in prison in 1998.)
WAR!
1945 During World War II, U.S. troops on Okinawa encountered the first significant resistance from Japanese forces at the Machinato Line.
2003 U.S. forces seized Saddam International Airport outside Baghdad.
TERRORISM
2007 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced the surprise release of 15 captive British sailors and marines.
DISASTER
1905 Earthquake in Kangra India, kills 370,000.
1933 US Dirigible Akron crashes off coast of New Jersey, 73 die.
1971 Marine clay under houses liquifies, 31 die (St-Jean-Vianney Québec).
1975 More than 130 people, most of them children, were killed when a U.S. Air Force transport plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crash-landed shortly after takeoff from Saigon.
1994 KLM Saab 340B crashes at Schiphol, 3 killed.
1998 Sixty-three people were killed in an explosion inside a Ukrainian coal mine.
PATENTS
1828 Casparus van Wooden patents chocolate milk powder (Amsterdam).
REVENGE
1975 Steve Miller is arrested for burning his girlfriend's clothes.
1984
1984 Winston Smith in Orwell's "1984" begins his secret diary.
JEWS
1920 Arabs attack Jews in Jerusalem.
1949 Israel & Jordan sign armistice agreement.
WILE E. PELOSI
2007 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad despite White House objections.
FLAGS
1818 Congress decided the United States flag would consist of 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars, with a new star to be added for every new state.
PC VICTIM
2007 Radio host Don Imus made offensive on-air remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. (Despite a subsequent apology, Imus was fired by CBS Radio and cable network MSNBC; he was hired elsewhere by year's end.)
IMPEACHED!
1988 The Arizona Senate convicted Gov. Evan Mecham of two charges of official misconduct, and removed him from office. (Mecham was the first governor to be impeached and removed from office in nearly six decades.)
BORN
1821 Linus Yale US, portrait painter/inventor (Yale cylinder lock).
1908 Ernestine Gilbreth Carey author (Cheaper by the Dozen).
1915 Muddy Waters [McKinley Morganfield], guitarist (Hoochie Coochie Man).
BIRTHDAYS
Author-poet Maya Angelou is 80. Sen. Richard Lugar, R.-Ind., is 76. Recording executive Clive Davis is 76. Bandleader Hugh Masekela is 69. Author Kitty Kelley is 66. Actor Craig T. Nelson is 64. Actor Walter Charles is 63. Actress Caroline McWilliams is 63. Actress Christine Lahti is 58. Country singer Steve Gatlin (The Gatlin Brothers) is 57. Writer-producer David E. Kelley is 52. Actor Phil Morris is 49. Actress Lorraine Toussaint is 48. Actor Hugo Weaving is 48. Rock musician Craig Adams (The Cult) is 46. Actor David Cross is 44. Actor Robert Downey Jr. is 43. Actress Nancy McKeon is 42. Actor Barry Pepper is 38. Country singer Clay Davidson is 37. Rock singer Josh Todd (Buckcherry) is 37. Singer Jill Scott is 36. Rock musician Magnus Sveningsson (The Cardigans) is 36. Magician David Blaine is 35. Singer Kelly Price is 35. Rhythm-and-blues singer Andre Dalyrimple (Soul For Real) is 34. Actor James Roday is 32. Actress Natasha Lyonne is 29. Actress Jamie Lynn Spears is 17.
DEATH
1841 President William Henry Harrison succumbed to pneumonia one month after his inaugural, becoming the first U.S. chief executive to die in office.
1979 Edgar Buchanan actor (Uncle Joe-Petticoat Junction), dies at 77.
1979 Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto former Pakistani President, hanged in Pakistan at 51.
April 4, the 95th day of 2008. There are 271 days left in the year.
compiled by Mondoreb
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
* DBKP Today in Weird History: April 4 2008
* Today in Weird History: April 4 2008
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Back to DBKP at Blogger Front Page
BAGGED
1939 Dutch hunter shoots English bombers down.
WAR!
1738 English parliament declares war on Spain (War of Jenkin's Ear).
2003 American-led forces in Iraq dropped thousand-pound bombs on Republican Guard units guarding the gates to Baghdad and battled for control of the strategic city of Nasiriyah. President Bush warned of "further sacrifice" ahead in the face of unexpectedly fierce fighting.
TERRORISM
1986 Extremist Sikhs kill 13 hindus in Ludhiana India.
2007 Iran aired a video of 15 captured British sailors and marines; the lone female captive, shown in a white tunic and a black head scarf, said the British boats had "trespassed." (The crew members were released April 4, 2007.)
DISASTER
1960 Scotch factory explodes burying 20 firefighters (Glasgow Scotland).
1970 1,086 die when 7.3 earthquake destroys 254 villages (Gediz Turkey).
TRIAL LAWYERS
1866 1st ambulance goes into service.
PATENTS
1797 Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire patents a washing machine.
NUKES
1979 America's worst commercial nuclear accident occurred inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa.
HOSTAGES
2007 In the Philippines, dozens of children were taken hostage on a bus by a day-care center owner armed with grenades and guns; the crisis ended peacefully 10 hours later with the hostage-taker's surrender.
SUICIDE
1941 Filling her pockets with stones, novelist and critic Virginia Woolf walked into a river near her home and died in Lewes, England.
IMMIGRATION
1898 The Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants was a U.S. citizen.
SWAP
1930 The names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora were changed to Istanbul and Ankara.
JEWS
1917 Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv & Jaffa by Turkish authorities.
ZULUS
1994 Armed Zulus demonstrate in Johannesburg, over 53 killed.
BIRTHDAYS
Former White House national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski is 80. Country musician Charlie McCoy is 67. Movie director Mike Newell is 66. Actress Conchata Ferrell is 65. Actor Ken Howard is 64. Actress Dianne Wiest is 60. Country singer Reba McEntire is 53. Olympic gold-medal gymnast Bart Conner is 50. Actress Tracey Needham is 41. Actor Max Perlich is 40. Movie director Brett Ratner is 39. Country singer Rodney Atkins is 39. Actor Vince Vaughn is 38. Rapper Mr. Cheeks (Lost Boyz) is 37. Actor Ken L. is 35. Rock musician Dave Keuning is 32. Actress Julia Stiles is 27.
DEATH
1953 Athlete Jim Thorpe died in Lomita, Calif.
1958 W.C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues," died in New York at age 84.
1969 Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, died in Washington at age 78.
March 28, the 88th day of 2008. There are 278 days left in the year.
compiled by Mondoreb
image: azgfd
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
TOP TEN
1950 FBI's "10 Most Wanted Fugitives" program begins.
WAR!
1951 During the Korean War, United Nations forces recaptured Seoul.
TERRORISM
1991 a British court overturned the convictions of the "Birmingham Six," who had spent 16 years in prison for an Irish Republican Army bombing, and ordered them released.
2007 The Pentagon released the transcript of a military hearing in which Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said he "was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z."
DISASTER
1940 27 killed, 15 injured when truck full of migrant workers collides with a train outside McAllen TX.
1960 14 die in a train crash in Bakersfield CA.
1980 A Polish airliner crashed while making an emergency landing near Warsaw, killing all 87 people aboard, including 22 members of a U.S. amateur boxing team.
1997 Iranian military plane crashes, killing 80.
1998 An earthquake killed at least five people and left some 10,000 homeless in southeastern Iran.
NICE GUYS
1983 OPEC cut oil prices for 1st time in 23 years.
MAINSTREAM MEDIA
1968 CBS TV suspends Radio Free Europe free advertising because RFE doesn't make it clear it is sponsored by the CIA.
PATENTS
1794 Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that revolutionized America's cotton industry.
NOT GUILTY
2003 Actor Robert Blake was released from jail on $1.5 million bail, 11 months after he was arrested on charges of murdering his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. (Blake was later acquitted at trial.)
IMMIGRATION
1907 President Theodore Roosevelt signed an executive order designed to prevent Japanese laborers from immigrating to the United States as part of a "gentlemen's agreement" with Japan.
CLINTONS
1997 President Clinton trips & tears up his knee requiring surgery.
LEVIATHAN
1923 President Harding became the first chief executive to file an income tax return.
1971 The Rolling Stones leave England for France to escape taxes.
JEWS
1965 Israeli cabinet approves diplomatic relations with West Germany.
GUILTY
1964 A jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy.
POLITICS
1629 England granted a royal charter to Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1644 England grants patent for Providence Plantations (now Rhode Island).
SPIES
2003 Christopher Boyce, whose Cold War spying was immortalized on film in "The Falcon and the Snowman," was released from a halfway house in San Francisco after a quarter-century in prison.
BORN
1879 Albert Einstein Ulm Germany, (E=mc²/Theory of Relativity, Nobel 1921).
BIRTHDAYS
Former astronaut Frank Borman is 80. Singer Phil Phillips is 77. Actor Michael Caine is 75. Composer-conductor Quincy Jones is 75. Former astronaut Eugene Cernan is 74. Actor Raymond J. Barry is 69. Movie director Wolfgang Petersen is 67. Country singer Michael Martin Murphey is 63. Rock musician Walt Parazaider (Chicago) is 63. Actor Steve Kanaly is 62. Comedian Billy Crystal is 60. Country singer Jann Browne is 54. Actor Adrian Zmed is 54. Prince Albert II, the ruler of Monaco, is 50. Actress Tamara Tunie is 49. Actress Penny Johnson Jerald is 47. Producer-director-writer Kevin Williamson is 43. Actor Gary Anthony Williams is 42. Actress Megan Follows is 40. Rock musician Michael Bland is 39. Country singer Kristian Bush is 38. Rock musician Derrick (Jimmie's Chicken Shack) is 36. Actor Jake Fogelnest is 29. Actor Chris Klein is 29. Actress Kate Maberly is 26. Singer-musician Taylor Hanson (Hanson) is 25. Actor Jamie Bell is 22.
DEATH
1883 German political philosopher Karl Marx died in London.
1932 George Eastman US industrialist (Kodak-camera), suicide at 77.
1961 Akiba Rubinstein Polish chess player (opening theorist), dies at 78.
March 14, the 74th day of 2008. There are 292 days left in the year.
compiled by Mondoreb
image: morning-calm
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
Name at birth: Robert Craig Knievel
Evel Knievel brought the spirit of P.T. Barnum to daredevil motorcycle jumps in the 1970s. Dressed in his signature red, white and blue jumpsuit, Knievel would race his motorcycle up steep ramps and over obstacles, including the fountains in front of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (in 1968) and a row of 13 double-decker buses at London's Wembley Stadium (in 1975). Often he crash-landed, thrilling viewers while breaking dozens of bones. His most famous stunt was an attempted jump over Idaho's Snake River Canyon in a rocket-powered "motorcycle" in 1974. The attempt failed when the craft's parachute opened prematurely, but Knievel survived. He retired in 1981; his son Robbie Knievel succeeded him as the family motorcycle daredevil. Evel Knievel received a liver transplant in 1999, due to hepatitis C presumably contracted through blood transfusions after his many crashes.
Extra credit: George Hamilton portrayed Knievel in the 1971 movie biography Evel Knievel... George Eads played Knievel in the 2004 TV movie Evel Knievel... Knievel played himself in the 1977 film Viva Knievel.
More Evel photos and career statistics at Evel Knievel 
The crippled grandfather of extreme sports inhales deeply. He sits in his leather easy chair, mind clouded by meds, bones throbbing with arthritis. As he watches an NFL game, on which he has bet $1,000, the cantankerous stuntman clutches oxygen tubes supplying life to hardening lungs.
It is a shock to the senses, if not the sensibilities, to see ultra-cool Evel Knievel, 68, looking so feeble, so frayed around his graying daredevil edges, right down to his gnarled knuckles and wobbly gait.
His ravaged, 155-pound body isn't composed of original parts. He has a new liver and a replacement hip, and most recently doctors inserted a drug pump in his abdomen. It gives little reprieve from the excruciating pain in a fused spine mangled by hundreds of perilous, cringe-inducing motorcycle jumps from the 1960s and '70s.
"Ever see one of them before?" Evel asks, lifting a pajama top to reveal a pain-relief gizmo under his pale skin. "This sends morphine and synthetic heroin into my back 24 hours a day. It's awfully strong — it affects your thinking, your brain."
by RidesAPaleHorse
note: mondoreb
[graphics: top-RAPH; bbc]
Sources:
Evel Knievel - who2
Evel Knievel, long retired, frail, feisty, still cheating death - USA Today
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
by RidesAPaleHorse
[graphics: top-RAPH]
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
Sean Taylor was sometimes called "half-man, half-beast" for his unbelievably hard hits.
Two days ago, the part of Taylor that was a man lost his battle to a beast with a gun.
Because of his prowess at football, Taylor, free safety for the Washington Redskins, was a young, well-known black man. The funeral won't be long over before the usual suspects use his death to try and advance whatever line they're selling that day.
Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star and weekly columnist at Fox Sports.com writes an angry piece and it's well it was read. "Taylor's Death a Grim Reminder to Us All" is well worth reading in its entirety. It might make you think about old things in a new way.
You don't have to be a sports fan to feel the power his anger at another needless death brings to the piece. You also need not be a sports fan to recognize what he says is true.
One thing that stands out is his condemnation of the Black KKK.
The perspective he offers is one you may never have considered before.There's a reason I call them the Black KKK. The pain, the fear and the destruction are all the same.
Someone who loved Sean Taylor is crying right now. The life they knew has been destroyed, an 18-month-old baby lost her father, and, if you're a black man living in America, you've been reminded once again that your life is in constant jeopardy of violent death.
The Black KKK claimed another victim, a high-profile professional football player with a checkered past this time.
No, we don't know for certain the circumstances surrounding Taylor's death. I could very well be proven wrong for engaging in this sort of aggressive speculation. But it's no different than if you saw a fat man fall to the ground clutching his chest. You'd assume a heart attack, and you'd know, no matter the cause, the man needed to lose weight.
Well, when shots are fired and a black man hits the pavement, there's every statistical reason to believe another black man pulled the trigger. That's not some negative, unfair stereotype. It's a reality we've been living with, tolerating and rationalizing for far too long.
When the traditional, white KKK lynched, terrorized and intimidated black folks at a slower rate than its modern-day dark-skinned replacement, at least we had the good sense to be outraged and in no mood to contemplate rationalizations or be fooled by distractions.
Our new millennium strategy is to pray the Black KKK goes away or ignores us. How's that working?
After laying out an air-tight case, he brings the hammer down.You're damn straight I blame hip hop for playing a role in the genocide of American black men. When your leading causes of death and dysfunction are murder, ignorance and incarceration, there's no reason to give a free pass to a culture that celebrates murder, ignorance and incarceration.
He lines up the cultural culprits and mows them down--just like they've mowed down so many young black men themselves.
He's aiming his fire at one group, one color; though the culture he's speaking of has plenty of admirers who are white, brown or yellow.
But today, he's speaking to, and about, a particular group.Let's cut through the bull(manure) and deal with reality. Black men are targets of black men. Period. Go check the coroner's office and talk with a police detective. These bullets aren't checking W-2s.
The three closing sentences should be required reading of anyone--any color, any age--who thinks there's nothing wrong with the glorification of failure and perversion.
Rather than whine about white folks' insensitivity or reserve a special place of sorrow for rich athletes, we'd be better served mustering the kind of outrage and courage it took in the 1950s and 1960s to stop the white KKK from hanging black men from trees.
But we don't want to deal with ourselves. We take great joy in prescribing medicine to cure the hate in other people's hearts. Meanwhile, our self-hatred, on full display for the world to see, remains untreated, undiagnosed and unrepentant.The Black KKK is enforcing the same crippling standards as its parent organization. It wants to keep black men in their place — uneducated, outside the mainstream and six feet deep.
Read his entire story, "Taylor's Death a Grim Reminder to Us All".
In all likelihood, the Black Klan and its mentality buried Sean Taylor, and any black man or boy reading this could be next.
It's too late for Sean Taylor. For someone reading Jason's Whitlock, if they listen: it doesn't have to be.
by Mondoreb
[image:nypress & redskins.com]
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."--Albert Einstein
2-year-old Riley Sawyers was savagely and repeatedly beaten and tortured until she was dead. The punishment was inflicted on her by her alleged mother--the one person a defenseless toddler turns to for protection and comfort.
Kimberly Dawn Trenor and her accomplice/boyfriend/husband completed their vile deed and then stashed the little girl's body in a storage shed. After many days, they took a trip to buy their Wal-Mart version of Riley's casket: a cooler commonly used for picnics.
At that moment, Trenor's mothering instinct apparently asserted itself: Riley Sawyer's body was found wrapped in plastic and laid in her temporary resting place. It was set adrift in Galveston Bay, to be found on a sandbar by a fisherman.
It's a mystery why they treated Riley's body more gently after she was dead than when she was living through what must have been her last confused, hurting, terror-filled moments.
Her mother described to police how she "beat the child with leather belts and held her head under water in the bathtub. She said Zeigler picked the girl up by her hair and also threw her across the room, slamming her head into the tile floor."
Speculation
The charges currently against the pair consist of tampering with evidence and injuring the child. What additional charges they face is speculation at this moment.
The final scene described by Trenor is one where acts were committed that were devoid of any human emotion.
That would seem to rule out various "done in haste" or "in the heat of the moment" defenses. What the charges will be and what kind of defense will be offered, if any, is again speculation.
Zigler reportedly tried to end his life last week as the police closed in, leaving behind a note that "his wife was not responsible". He was less successful at ending his own life than that of his companion's 2-year-old.
Was that an attempt at achieving a nobility in death that was missing in his life?
The questions heard most often asked by readers who emailed or commented at this point: How could a mother do this to her baby? Why did it have to be so violent? Why not give the child to someone who loved her?
It's hard to say why little Riley death was so gruesome.
If the child was a bother, why not contact the grandmother in Ohio or the father?
Both made repeated efforts to contact Kimberly Dawn Trenor.
There has been talk of a custody struggle between the Kimberly Dawn Trenor and Riley's father.
The final sadistic acts committed on the person of Riley Sawyers are easier to understand if Riley isn't viewed as a human being; as a little, defenseless child.
Those acts are a little easier to understand if one sees her two-year-old daughter, Riley Sawyers, not as most would view her--a helpless toddler, crying out in fear and panic at her final treatment--but as Kimberly Dawn Trenor apparently saw her.
Not as a child, but as a pawn.
by Mondoreb
Sources:
Mother's Grim Tale of Abuse and Death
Toddler Tortured: Little Riley Never Had a Chance
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
Major Ray Tuttoilmondo, Galveston County
The grim details of the last days of little Riley "Baby Grace" Sawyers life have begun to emerge.
From today's Galveston County Daily News:In an interview, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 19, of Spring, told investigators that she and her husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler, 24, beat her daughter with two leather belts the morning of July 24, an affidavit says.
Kimberly and Royce went to Walmart for the specific purpose of picking out a "suitable" container to dispose of little Riley's dead body. One can imagine the two walking the fluorescent lit aisles, looking at various sized plastic containers until choosing the "right" one.
They also held her head underwater in the bathtub and Zeigler picked her up by her hair and threw her across the room, slamming her head into tile floor, the affidavit says.
An autopsy on Oct. 30 found that the child had three skull fractures on the back of her head.
The pair also smothered the girl by pushing her face into a pillow in her room and into the cushions of a couch, the affidavit says.
Trenor told investigators that, during the beating, her husband gave the girl child’s pain medication and covered her with a purple towel after she was dead, the affidavit says. [1]
They then wrapped her in plastic and placed her in a blue plastic tote. They put the tote out in a storage shed in the backyard of their Spring home. The authorities are not quite sure how long little Riley's body was kept there, anywhere from one to two months.
One could see Kimberly looking out the kitchen window to the storage shed where her daughter's body lay while she washed the dishes or cooked dinner. Of Royce mowing the lawn or waving to the neighbors, the children who played in the yards next door. Of Kimberly and Royce talking in quiet whispers, discussing where they could take Riley, where no one would ever find the evidence of what they had done.
The couple took the remains in their car and tossed them into the water near the Galveston Causeway, the affidavit says.
When the plastic storage tote containing Riley's body was found resting on a sand bar the Galveston County Sheriff's Department took over the investigation. They found her wrapped in plastic, she wore a little pink skirt and matching blouse, little tennis shoes that flashed bright lights from the heels. No one had reported a little girl missing. No one knew who this little girl in the plastic tote was. They released a composite sketch of Riley and dubbed her "Baby Grace." [2]
On Oct. 29, a fisherman found the plastic bin with the little girl inside.[1]
Did Kimberly and Royce see the newspaper and media reports about the unidentified "Baby Grace" case? Did they discuss the case with neighbors? Did they believe that dumping Riley's body into Galveston Bay would be the end, that somehow, they would be in the clear?
They both sit in Galveston County Jail. One wonders what possible defense their attorney's will present. Bets are, they'll soon point the finger of blame at each other.
[1] - Galveston County Daily News
[2] - Baby Grace and the Little Lost Girl, Riley Sawyers
By LBG
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
Baby Grace, Riley Sawyers Mother Beat, Tortured Toddler "Little Riley Never Had a Chance"
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UPDATE: 00:22 EST 11-27-07 AP: Zeigler attempted suicide last week:Zeigler attempted suicide last week and wrote a note saying, "My wife is innocent of the sins that I committed," according to the court documents, which were filed Saturday and first reported Monday by Houston television station KTRK.
"Little Riley Sawyers never had a chance".
That was one staff reaction after reading the gruesome details of the last days of 2-year-old Riley Sawyers and the trauma she underwent.
A picture of a mother beating and torturing her 2-year-old toddler with help from the step-father has just emerged from police records.
The last days of the little girl were not pleasant ones.
The mother, Kimberly Tenor, originally told investigators that the girl was handed over to "someone with papers from Ohio".
The latest story told investigators how the the little girl was handed over to Death.
From the AP's Documents: Mom Describes Killing Girl, 2:A woman believed to be the mother of a 2-year-old whose body was found in Galveston Bay told police she and the girl's stepfather beat and tortured the child to death, court documents show.
The details, in a statement Kimberly Dawn Trenor gave to police, paint a chilling picture of the last days of the girl investigators called "Baby Grace" as they worked for weeks to learn her identity.
Investigators are awaiting DNA test results but said Monday they are "fairly confident" that the body a fisherman found in a plastic box Oct. 29 is that of Riley Ann Sawyers. Trenor, 19, and her husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, were in custody on charges of hurting the girl.
"It was a few weeks ago I held up this little shoe and asked, 'Who is Baby Grace? Who does this belong to?'" sheriff's Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo said at a news conference. "We're now fairly confident we know the answer to that."
An autopsy revealed three skull fractures, but the cause of death has not been determined.
Tuttoilmondo said he could not discuss details of the little girl's death, but Trenor said in her police statement, first reported by Houston television station KTRK, that she and Zeigler, 24, killed her July 24.
The girl was beaten with leather belts, had her head held underwater in a bathtub and then was thrown across a room, her head slamming into a tile floor, Trenor said in the document. She said they kept the body in a storage shed for one to two months before they put it in a plastic bin and dumped it into Galveston Bay.
Trenor's attorney, Tom Stickler, said she has cooperated with authorities. He declined to comment about her statement to investigators.
"But from what she said, there is no doubt that the girl found is Riley Sawyers," Stickler said.
Trenor and Zeigler were arrested early Saturday and charged with injury to a child and tampering with evidence, Tuttoilmondo said. Bail was set at $350,000 each. The couple's next court appearance was expected to be scheduled on Tuesday.
Wendell Odom, Zeigler's attorney, declined to comment on the case except to say Zeigler grew up in Spring, about 75 miles north of Galveston, and works as an instrument technician in the oil industry.
Trenor and Zeigler met a couple of years ago playing an online game, World of Warcraft, and she moved with her daughter from suburban Cleveland to Spring in June, Stickler said.
Riley's paternal grandmother, Sheryl Sawyers, hadn't seen her granddaughter in months when she saw a police sketch of "Baby Grace." Thinking it might be Riley, she called authorities in Texas.
In Mentor, Ohio, on Monday, Sawyers wiped away tears at a news conference and held up the Elmo doll she had already bought Riley for Christmas.
"It's hard to think that I'll never see her again," she said.
The Sawyers family's attorney, Laura DePledge, said they take comfort in knowing that the girl is "resting peacefully and is no longer subject to abuse."
DePledge said Trenor and Sawyers' son, Robert Sawyers, also of Mentor, had been high school sweethearts. Sheryl Sawyers said she has not seen Riley since the girl and Trenor moved to Texas.
Robert Sawyers, who works in an auto-parts store, was never married to Trenor but lived with her and their daughter in his parents' home for about two years. He and Trenor split up after March 31, when he was charged with domestic violence against her.
DePledge said there was insufficient evidence to support the charge, which was reduced to disorderly conduct. Robert Sawyers is now married and has a 3-month-old son.
Riley "had a very big imagination for such a little girl," he said of his daughter. "She could play with anything and have fun with it."
Tuttoilmondo said Trenor had told relatives that someone claiming to be a social worker from Ohio took the girl in July.
Tuttoilmondo said investigators became emotionally involved in determining the little girl's identity.
"Any way you look at it, we carry a piece of her with us and will always carry a little piece of her with us," he said. "She's still our little girl."
From CNN, "Mother describes beating of 2-year-old, hiding her body":Before dying, 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers was beaten with belts, picked up by her hair, thrown across the room and held under water, according to an affidavit from the Galveston County Sheriff's Office.
Kimberly Trenor's testimony raises some troubling questions.
Why?
Was Kimbler Trenor like this prior to moving to Texas?
Why did she fail in any mother primary job: that of protecting her offspring?
How can a mother kill a defenseless, little girl who couldn't fight back? A little girl whose only protection was her mother?
After the violent beating death of the two-year-old, why carefully lay the baby in a cooler, wrapped in plastic?
Why did the pair stay in place in Harris County instead of attempting to flee?
Probably more information will come out in the weeks to come and in the trial. For now, however, the details are enough to anger or sadden any parent.
More charges should be forthcoming, as it is evident that more than tampering with evidence and injury to a child occurred.
For those who have followed the story, the mysterious case of establishing the identity of Baby Grace appears to be over and, like most stories will be forgotten at some point.
For a family in Ohio, it will take longer and the story will not be forgotten.
The gruesome details of the death of Riley Sawyers stick in one's mind.
by Mondoreb
notes by Little Baby Ginn
The thoughts and prayers of DBKP go out to Riley's father and his family
MORE ON RILEY SAWYERS, BABY GRACE in upper left-hand corner of page.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Mr. Common Sense. Mr. Sense had been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.
He will be remembered as having cultivated such value lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm and that life isn't always fair. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not kids, are in charge).
His health began to rapidly deteriorate when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Mr. Sense declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student; but, could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Finally, Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense finally gave up the ghost after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, spilled it in her lap, and was awarded a huge financial settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by two stepsisters; My Rights and Ima Whiner.
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
By arctromba on 10/31/2007 at 7:36 a.m.
[spotted at Drudge by & graphic:RidesAPaleHorse]
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