Bush, Kerry Set for Crucial First Debate
President Bush and Democratic rival John Kerry made final preparations for their nationally televised debate on Thursday, as Kerry praised his foe as “a very clever debater” and Bush made another tour of Florida storm damage. The 90-minute session on the University of Miami campus starting at 9 p.m. will give voters their first chance to compare the candidates directly and could play a big role in tipping a White House race that most polls show is close but leaning toward Bush. Polls indicate as many as one-quarter of American voters could be swayed by the debates, which often provide insights into not only the candidates’ views but their demeanor and personalities. The session will focus on the war in Iraq, where the U.S. death toll now stands at 1,055, and the war on terror. A series of car bombs across Iraq on Thursday killed more than 40 people, many of them children, as instability mounted there. Read the story here.
Mayor asks Border Patrol to investigate day laborers
During a time when federal immigration agencies are focusing more on terrorism and hardcore crime than on deporting illegal workers, Temecula Mayor Mike Naggar has asked the U.S. Border Patrol to investigate groups of day laborers congregating on various street corners in the city to see if any are illegal immigrants. Naggar said Wednesday he has received a handful of complaints from residents regarding workers gathering in the morning at Rancho California and Butterfield Stage roads, Rancho California Road and Meadows Parkway and Old Town Front Street adjacent to Dan’s Feed Store. In response, Naggar sent a letter on Sept. 14 to Wes Knippler, the acting agent in charge of the Temecula Border patrol station, asking him to “take the appropriate actions necessary to ensure that these areas are clear of illegal immigrants.” Read the story here.
Peterson Defense Picks Away At Grogan Testimony
A day after the lead detective assigned to investigate Laci Peterson’s disappearance told jurors Scott Peterson seemed disinterested in the status of the case, defense lawyers challenged the contention, noting Peterson was regularly checking in with police and family. Modesto police Detective Craig Grogan has been on the witness stand for more than week. Defense attorneys used him to accuse police of narrowly focusing on their client while ignoring other possible leads. Prosecutors methodically noted Peterson’s apparent duplicity after his wife’s disappearance in their questioning of Grogan, and implied, according to Grogan, that Peterson inquired with police only about once a month. Read the story here.
Wednesday, September 29th, 2004
California voters asked to defy stem cell limits
The U.S. government spent $25 million last year on studies involving human embryonic stem cells. But California, in an act of political and scientific rebellion against limits on stem cell research imposed by the Bush administration, may be on the verge of spending $300 million a year for the next 10 years on such research. A coalition of Hollywood producers and actors, technology billionaires, scientists, patient advocates and business organizations, including Michael J. Fox and Bill Gates, has marshaled emotion, scientific argument and money to underwrite a proposal that would let Californians make the decision. The initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot, Proposition 71, would authorize the state to issue $3 billion in bonds to pay for a range of stem cell research. This promising but ethically controversial field of biomedical research is severely limited by President George W. Bush’s policy of restricting federal money for research on embryonic stem cells. Read the story here.
Peterson Defense Implies Botched Investigation
Scott Peterson’s defense lawyers are again accusing police of narrowly focussing on their client while ignoring other possible leads. Defense lawyer Mark Geragos spent his fourth day Wednesday cross-examining Modesto police Detective Craig Grogan and pointing out how police failed to follow up on a number of reported sightings of Laci Peterson on the day she vanished. Geragos on Tuesday mentioned four calls to the police tip hot line within days of Laci’s disappearance—one from a man who said he saw a woman who looked like Laci “being forced into a van, correct?” Geragos asked the detective. “Yes,” Grogan replied. Read the story here.
Tuesday, September 28th, 2004
Transcript: Bush Talks to O’Reilly
Here is the transcript of President Bush on the Fox News Channel last night.
Oakland DUI checks back on
Mayor Jerry Brown on Monday ordered the on-again, off-again vehicle checkpoints back on track, calling the stoppage “a dumb idea.” Oakland police officers will restart the roadblocks next week, despite complaints from the Latino community and City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente (Glenview-Fruitvale). The last checkpoint happened more than a month ago. “The so-called moratorium is hereby terminated,” Brown said Monday. “The whole thing was a dumb idea.” According to law enforcement officials, the checkpoints are an effective way to get drunken and unlicensed drivers off Oakland’s streets. However, the roadblocks also swept up dozens of illegal immigrants without licenses or insurance, leaving many without transportation to get to work or the grocery store and causing hundreds of dollars in fines and fees. John and Ken will talk to Mayor Brown at 6p! Read the story here.
Statue of Jesus Found Floating in the Rio Grande
A life-size fiberglass statue of Jesus Christ found on a sandbar in the Rio Grande sits in the evidence room of the Eagle Pass police station as the faithful flock to it and officials begin contemplating its next stop. Many in this border town’s Catholic community have made the trip to the police department to see the crucified Christ lacking the cross propped against two doors in the entryway of the evidence room. Because no one has come forward to claim it and because of its mysterious discovery in the river, the Catholic faithful have embraced the statue as a religious message from God. Read the story here.
Al Qaeda seeks tie to local gangs
A top al Qaeda lieutenant has met with leaders of a violent Salvadoran criminal gang with roots in Mexico and the United States – including a stronghold in the Washington area – in an effort by the terrorist network to seek help infiltrating the U.S.-Mexico border, law enforcement authorities said. Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, a key al Qaeda cell leader for whom the U.S. government has offered a $5 million reward, was spotted in July in Honduras meeting with leaders of El Salvador’s notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang, which immigration officials said has smuggled hundreds of Central and South Americans – mostly gang members – into the United States. Read the story here.
Peterson Prosecution Taking Longer Than Expected
Judge Alfred Delucchi this morning told the jury in the Scott Peterson double murder trial that the prosecution’s case is taking longer than he expected and would not finish this week and possibly not even next week. Modesto police Detective Craig Grogan remains on the witness stand for a sixth day and is scheduled to testify all day today and at least part of tomorrow. In addition, the prosecution added three more names to their witness list on Monday. “It looks like we’re not going to finish the prosecution case this week, we’re going to finish next week,” Delucchi told jurors. However, Delucchi left open the possibility that the prosecution case would last into the second week of October shortly before allowing defense attorney Mark Geragos to resume cross-examining Grogan. Read the story here.
Monday, September 27th, 2004
Lawmaker Acts in Wake of Talk-Show Pressure
Targeted for defeat by a pair of radio talk-show hosts who believe he is soft on immigration, Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) introduced legislation last week aimed at getting tough at the U.S. border.Read more here(scroll down half way on the page).
Save Our License
The Attorney General’s office issued the official title and summary for the Save Our License initiative today clearing the way for proponents to begin gathering signatures. “We’re planning an aggressive signature gathering campaign,” noted Mike Spence, one of the proponents of the initiative. “Within hours of receiving the official title and summary, we began printing hundreds of thousands of petitions for distribution.” More.
Day laborers ask nonprofit for help against recent sidewalk citations
Roberto Arreola is ready to work but he needs a place where people can find him. For the last month, that’s been tough for the undocumented immigrant from Mexico. His livelihood is taking a beating because the city is cracking down on loitering. Arreola and other day laborers who gather near the Home Depot at 21st Street and Highland Avenue say they have been unfairly targeted for violating city codes. City Hall seems to be of two views on the issue: “The Police Department has been hearing dozens and dozens of complaints for over a year,’ City Attorney James F. Penman said. “It sounds like somebody finally decided to do something about it.’ But Mayor Judith Valles said she was unaware of any problems with day laborers near the Home Depot. Read the story here.
Oakland police halt DUI checkpoints
Oakland police officers have stopped setting up roadblocks to check whether drivers are under the influence because of a rash of complaints from the Latino community and City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente. The checkpoints, which allow officers to demand licenses and proof of insurance, are an effective way to get drunken drivers off Oakland’s streets, city leaders agree. But the checks also have ensnared dozens of illegal immigrants who are not licensed to drive yet otherwise obey the law. “These checkpoints make people’s lives miserable, not make them safer,” said Jesus Rodriguez of Oakland Community Organizations, which filed most of the complaints about the checkpoints. “I’ve watched while the police have towed away cars (full) of groceries, leaving children crying on the sidewalk.” Read the story here.
Geragos Continues Cross-Examination Of Grogan
The lead detective assigned to investigate Laci Peterson’s disappearance backed up a key defense theory Monday that the pregnant schoolteacher had planned to walk the couple’s dog the morning she vanished. Defense lawyer Mark Geragos also used the prosecution witness to attempt to show that Laci Peterson knew about her husband’s relationship with massage therapist Amber Frey. The affair was his motive, prosecutors allege, for the murder. Modesto police Detective Craig Grogan has spent a week recounting why authorities maintain Scott Peterson is the only person who could have killed his wife. But Geragos used Grogan on Monday to offer a host of reasonable explanations for some of Peterson’s behavior that police deemed “suspicious.” Read the story here.
Phil Spector Blames Murder Charge On ‘Hitler-Like DA’
Music producer Phil Spector was charged Monday with murder with the special allegation of using a firearm in the 2003 death of a B-movie actress at Spector’s Alhambra mansion. The 64-year-old creator of rock music’s “Wall of Sound” leaned on the arm of his attorney as the murder indictment charging him with killing Lana Clarkson was read. Outside court he railed at prosecutors, comparing District Attorney Steve Cooley to Adolf Hitler. “The actions of the Hitler-like DA and his storm trooper henchmen are reprehensible, unconscionable and despicable,” said Spector, who remains free on $1 million bail. The charges were returned by a grand jury whose indictment superseded a murder case previously filed by prosecutors in November 2003, seven months after Spector’s arrest. Read the sory here.
Friday, September 24th, 2004
A couple of listeners took the time to create their own Political Human Sacrifice websites.
Check out:
&
Yes on 64
It’s time to close the legal loophole that is letting personal injury lawyers file shakedown lawsuits and demand attorneys’ fees from California businesses even though:
No one has been harmed,
And no one has asked that the lawsuit be filed!
The Legislature could stop this abuse, but it will not. For years sensible reforms have been blocked in Sacramento by the rich and powerful personal injury lawyers’ lobby. In the meantime, the list of shakedown lawsuit victims has been growing. Thousands of small businesses—nail salons, auto repair shops, restaurants, and many others—have been hit by frivolous lawsuits filed by personal injury lawyers using a loophole in California law. That’s why a broad-based coalition has formed Californians to Stop Shakedown Lawsuits (CSSL) to ask the voters to do what the personal injury lawyers have blocked lawmakers from doing—to close the legal loophole and stop shakedown lawsuits by voting YES on Proposition 64. Read more here.
THE FORGOTTEN
I love a good “is she crazy or not” movie every now and then. It’s “fun” to sit back and try to figure out if the main character is on to some major conspiracy, or is just out of their mind. When it comes to a Mom and her kid, there can’t be anything more intense.
Julianne Moore plays the Mom (a woman named Telly – funny, I thought only bald TV detectives would have the name “Telly”) and she’s still recovering from the death of her son in a plane crash. Suddenly one day, her therapist and her husband tell her she never had a son. Is she bonkers or is this a cover-up? Not the most complicated premise, but I’ll go along.
I can’t help myself – I do sometimes enter movies with expectations, and this one excited me. It only happens a few times a year, but it did. Too bad – the first half hour was dramatic and mysterious, then everything fell apart. Instead of a twisting, turning psychological drama, we end up with a “run and chase” movie on its way to a long episode of “The X-File”. (more…) 
