Good morning.

India Gang-Rape Accused To Plead Not Guilty

NEW DELHI, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Three of the men accused of raping and murdering an Indian student in a case that has provoked widespread anger with the government and police will plead not guilty, their lawyer said on Wednesday, citing lapses in the police investigation.

The 23-year-old physiotherapy student died two weeks after being beaten and gang-raped on a moving bus in New Delhi, then thrown bleeding onto the street. Protests followed, along with a fierce public debate over the failure of authorities to stem violence against women.

Five men are facing various charges including murder, rape and abduction. A sixth suspect is being investigated separately to determine if he is below the age of 18, as he says he is.

Lawyer Manohar Lal Sharma, who is representing the bus driver, who is the main accused, his brother and another man, said he was keen for the case to go to trial so that the evidence police had presented could be tested in court.

“We will plead not guilty. We want this to go to trial,” Sharma told Reuters.

“We are only hearing what the police are saying. This is manipulated evidence. It’s all on the basis of hearsay and presumption.”

It is not known if the other two of the five accused men have a lawyer.

Charges against the sixth member of the group have not been brought while police complete an inquiry to confirm his age. If he is found to be below 18 he will be tried in a juvenile court and if convicted will go to a correctional home, not a prison, to serve a maximum term of three years.

Sharma said the police had rushed through the investigation against the five men even when they were not ready with the key detail of the age of the sixth member of the group, who lured the woman and a male friend into the bus and, according to leaked accounts, was the most brutal in the attack.

“When you have not even established the age of this person, how can you go to court bringing the charges against the others, and say your investigations are complete,” Sharma said.

“We all know how police investigations are carried out in India.”

FAST-TRACK TRIAL

For days after their arrest, soon after the assault on the woman and a male companion, none of the men had a lawyer. Most members of the judiciary refused to represent them because of the outrage over the attack.

Police conducted extensive interrogations of the men in the absence of any lawyer and they say they have recorded confessions.

Legal experts had said a lack of representation for the suspects could give grounds for appeal if they were found guilty. Convictions in similar cases have often been overturned years later.

Sharma and another lawyer, V. K. Anand, offered to defend the five men when they appeared in a New Delhi court for the first time on Monday.

The case has shone a light on a widespread problem of violence against women but also the failure of the criminal justice system to bring the guilty to justice in a country where official statistics show a rape is reported every 20 minutes.

The trial will be conducted in a special fast-track process, set up after the attack, but some legal experts have warned that previous attempts to fast-track justice in India had, in some cases, led to imperfect convictions that were later challenged.

On Wednesday, the court where pre-trial hearings are taking place rejected an appeal against a court decision to try the men in camera. Namita Aggarwal, the presiding magistrate, said on Monday that the trial would be held behind closed doors because of the sensitivity of the case.

One of the suspects, Akshay Thakur, was due to appear in court on Wednesday when police are likely to seek his remand in custody. Police say they could bring a supplementary charge-sheet if the sixth member of the group is found to be an adult.

The woman lived for two weeks after the attack but died on Dec. 29 in a Singapore hospital where she had been taken for treatment.

She was identified by a British newspaper on the weekend but Reuters has opted not to name her.

Indian law generally prohibits the identification of victims of sex crimes to protect their privacy in a country where the social stigma associated with rape can be devastating.

*********

Readers: How can any lawyer take on this case and defend these rapists? Reading this write just infuriates me. The young woman was raped, beaten, and left for dead on the side of the road with her guts ripped from her body. Unfortunately she’s not alive to point the finger. These men were charged, there is a witness – the perps made recorded confessions. Now we’re all caught up in the bureaucracy BS.

Instead of protecting women and having strong laws against rape, protecting women (A rape is reported every 20 minutes in India! And I am sure there are plenty that aren’t reported), as well as a justice system that prosecutes these disgusting perpetrators, they have a law instead that generally prohibits the identification of victims of sex crimes to protect their privacy in a country where the social stigma associated with rape can be devastating.

That is so sickening that instead of dealing with the cause of the problem, getting to the root of it – men are raping women and getting away with it – they come up with a bandaid of a law that protects women from the aftermath – the social stigma that’s associated with rape. Yes, women have to live with the devastation of being raped and the social stigma that goes along with it, while the men, the perpetrators, the ones who did the raping walk away untouched, unaffected.  Once again, another country where women are treated horrifically, blamed for what men do to them, and have to live with the consequences. When will men rise and evolve and stop this hatred of women?

Thoughts? Blog me.

Peace & Love….where is it?

Howie: Nice to see you here. How are you? What’s been going on with you?

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Lisa: What you posted the other day inspired me to look up what you may have read. I thought it was good to let my readers in on it as well. Thanks for broaching the topic!

Harris-Perry guest: Lead exposure in children correlated to violent crime

On Melissa Harris-Perry on Sunday, the host and her panelists discussed a recent Mother Jones article that presented evidence that lead exposure in children leads to lower I.Q.s and violent crime.

“The rise of emissions from leaded gasoline between the 1940s and the 1970s may have had a significant impact on the increase in crime rates from the 1960s through the late 1980s. When lead emissions went down, so did crime, with the appropriate time lag,” Harris-Perry said.

A similar correlation was found for teen pregnancy.

While correlation is not causation, findings show that “even the smallest bit of lead exposure has a significant effect of the I.Q. levels on the children under six.”

And, she said, her home in New Orleans lies in the middle of an area that shows high levels of lead in the soil and in old homes.

“Lead emissions mostly affect children, right, so it affects their brain development,” said Kevin Drum, political blogger for Mother Jones and author of the lead exposure article. “Now, we’ve known for a long time that lead affects I.Q. and school scores. But in the last ten years or so, there’s been a whole new line of evidence suggesting that it also affects areas of the prefrontal cortex of the brain. And those are areas that affect emotional regulation, judgment, impulse control, aggression. Things like that. All the things that you would think, hey, that might actually lead to more violent crime. And sure enough, when you look at the, when you look at the graphs you put up there, it sure does.”

He went on to cite a study that started in 1981 at the University of Cincinnati, which followed 400 children, measuring lead levels in their blood every six months.

“The higher the lead level [in the blood], the more likely to be arrested for violent crime,” Drum said.

Harris-Perry asked whether that might simply be because lead levels were higher in areas of poverty and other sociological indicators related to poor school performance and arrests of people “who are more likely to be policed.

Howard Mielke, research professor at the department of pharmacology at Tulane University, said that the most convinced data came from MRIs, which show brain damage in individuals with higher levels of lead as children.

“How much lead does it take to be lead poisoned?” Harris-Perry asked.

“Very small amounts,” Mielke said, going on to explain that children exposed to a mere six micrograms of lead daily are a focus of concern.

Harris-Perry voiced concerns over lawmakers and officials who could theoretically one day use that as evidence against people who haven’t even yet committed crimes.

Watch the video, via MSNBC, below.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

******

Readers: Thoughts? Blog me.

Florence: I read it. Interesting. And it is not surprising. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who is pregnant with twins and she was telling me that she was reading how parents have gone so overboard in praising their kids – “You are so smart, good, talented”, etc., at whatever they do, that they (their kids) are basically getting lazy and not striving to be better. And if they aren’t told immediately that they are doing good at whatever, they quit early and don’t strive to better themselves, because they are not getting the praising responses they are used to getting so easily from their parents.

Zen Lill: Thanks for posting those links. I saw both of the videos –  Kudos to the “dude” – Love what he had to say. And yes, more like him would be nice. Shocked when I listened to the  harassment that Anita Sarkeesian received. The notes that were posted on her FB were so sickening and mysogynistic – this kind of speak is no game.

Congratulations to Sarkeesian for persevering in her passion for a job well done in far surpassing her goal, and thereby releasing 13 videos. Her strength and courage along with her loud voice to the world, she is most definitely a “Wonderful Woman Of The World”, yes?

PEace OUt.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Women be aware….if you don’t support gay women, and their right to gay marriage…

Gay Women Will Marry Your Boyfriends (VIDEO)

Earlier this month, College Humor released a video with an ultimatum for all the straight guys out there: vote in favor of marriage equality, or gay men are going to start marrying your girlfriends.

But Unsolicited Project has taken things a step further by giving straight women the same tough love. They need to adjust their politics, or say goodbye to all their precious boyfriends.

Tuni: I asked the questions about women but didn’t address the questions about men, such as what you broached. Yes…Where is the prosecution of this sick men?! They should die a slow death in front of their peers, with tiny needles sticking inside their wee wee weapons, with their balls cut off and bleeding to death. An eye for an eye…that’s how I’ve always been. Especially when I am seething from the brutality of men towards women.

**********

Readers: Funny. You know this could happen though. Gay women would be the perfect mate for straight. Men would never have to worry about them cheating with their friends or any another man for that matter. And what is a man’s biggest fantasy? Hello…two (or more) women having sex. The only threat or competition a man has is if she leaves him for another woman. So girls…support your sisters or… :)

Zen Lill: Happy New Year to you!

Tuni: An eye for an eye.

Zora: My thoughts exactly.

Clayton: You stupid fuck. I’m so glad the girls of this blog spoke up – I wouldn’t expect anything less. Why do women need more protection? Wha’at?! Hello open your eyes – MEN are the ones doing the abuse, the perps, the rapists, abusers, etc…whatever you want to call them, they’re sick MEN. Don’t pretend you don’t know. I take that back, you’re not stupid – you know. You are pussy of a man (and I don’t even like calling you that name because a pussy is a good thing) pulling what’s equal to the “race” card – pulling the “women” card.

Ugh…I’m done with you. I’m out of here.

The forum is now open – Blog me.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

My mother brought this write to my attention. Thanks mom.

Bosses Can Fire Hot Workers For Being ‘Irresistible’: All-Male Court

IOWA CITY, Iowa — A dentist acted legally when he fired an assistant that he found attractive simply because he and his wife viewed the woman as a threat to their marriage, the all-male Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday.

The court ruled 7-0 that bosses can fire employees they see as an “irresistible attraction,” even if the employees have not engaged in flirtatious behavior or otherwise done anything wrong. Such firings may be unfair, but they are not unlawful discrimination under the Iowa Civil Rights Act because they are motivated by feelings and emotions, not gender, Justice Edward Mansfield wrote.

An attorney for Fort Dodge dentist James Knight said the decision, the first of its kind in Iowa, is a victory for family values because Knight fired Melissa Nelson in the interest of saving his marriage, not because she was a woman.

But Nelson’s attorney said Iowa’s all-male high court, one of only a handful in the nation, failed to recognize the discrimination that women see routinely in the workplace.

“These judges sent a message to Iowa women that they don’t think men can be held responsible for their sexual desires and that Iowa women are the ones who have to monitor and control their bosses’ sexual desires,” said attorney Paige Fiedler. “If they get out of hand, then the women can be legally fired for it.”

Nelson, 32, worked for Knight for 10 years, and he considered her a stellar worker. But in the final months of her employment, he complained that her tight clothing was distracting, once telling her that if his pants were bulging that was a sign her clothes were too revealing, according to the opinion.

He also once allegedly remarked about her infrequent sex life by saying, “that’s like having a Lamborghini in the garage and never driving it.”

Knight and Nelson – both married with children – started exchanging text messages, mostly about personal matters, such as their families. Knight’s wife, who also worked in the dental office, found out about the messages and demanded Nelson be fired. The Knights consulted with their pastor, who agreed that terminating Nelson was appropriate.

Knight fired Nelson and gave her one month’s severance. He later told Nelson’s husband that he worried he was getting too personally attached and feared he would eventually try to start an affair with her.

Nelson was stunned because she viewed the 53-year-old Knight as a father figure and had never been interested in starting a relationship, Fiedler said.

Nelson filed a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination, arguing she would not have been terminated if she was male. She did not allege sexual harassment because Knight’s conduct may not have risen to that level and didn’t particularly offend her, Fiedler said.

Knight argued Nelson was fired not because of her gender, but because her continued employment threatened his marriage. A district judge agreed, dismissing the case before trial, and the high court upheld that ruling.

Mansfield noted that Knight had an all-female workforce and Nelson was replaced by a woman.

He said the decision was in line with state and federal court rulings that found workers can be fired for relationships that cause jealousy and tension within a business owner’s family. One such case from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a business owner’s firing of a valued employee who was seen by his wife as a threat to their marriage. In that case, the fired employee had engaged in flirtatious conduct.

Mansfield said allowing Nelson’s lawsuit would stretch the definition of discrimination to allow anyone fired over a relationship to file a claim arguing they would not have been fired but for their gender.

Knight’s attorney, Stuart Cochrane, said the court got it right. The decision clarified that bosses can make decisions showing favoritism to a family member without committing discrimination; in this case, by allowing Knight to honor his wife’s wishes to fire Nelson, he said.

Knight is a very religious and moral individual, and he sincerely believed that firing Nelson would be best for all parties, he said.

“While there was really no fault on the part of Mrs. Nelson, it was just as clear the decision to terminate her was not related to the fact that she was a woman,” he said. “The motives behind Dr. Knight terminating Mrs. Nelson were quite clear: He did so to preserve his marriage.

“I don’t view this as a decision that was either pro-women or opposed to women rights at all. In my view, this was a decision that followed the appropriate case law.”

*******

Readers: So a woman can now be fired because her employer finds her too “irresistible?” Is this starting to sound like we’re not in America but the Middle East? A man can’t control his sexual urges because he finds a woman “irresistible”, so he puts the responsibility on the woman and if she doesn’t hold up her end by “monitoring” her bosses “feelings,” and “sexual desires,” she can legally be fired.  Wh’at?! What’s next, women will be required to don a burka because he can’t control himself?

This is absolutely crazy. A woman has to deal with enough discrimination, sexual harrassment, etc. Now a woman has to deal with managing whether her boss is going to get turned on or not. Once again, the woman, the victim here, is blamed because the man can’t handle his sexual desires and is afraid he might do something. Sick.

Knight making such remarks as “…if his pants were bulging that was a sign her clothes were too revealing,” is not something I would expect to hear coming from a man who claims he is a “religious and moral individual,” not to mention, saying these kind of remarks is sexual harassment.  No man who claims to be “moral” would say that sort of thing to a woman, a married woman. Not sure when Nelson looked upon Knight as a ”father figure,’ but I can’t imagine her thoughts remained the same after he made those sexual comments to her. Nelson should have sued Knight for sexual harassment as well.

And what about Knight’s wife? Where’s the support of women? Once again, the woman is blaming the innocent woman, when she should be looking at her husband, and telling him to get it together and get control of himself and his lust. Here the wife is working along side of the husband and he is making sexual remarks to his employee, Nelson, and the wife is blaming Nelson because her husband can’t control himself. Hello…your husband, a “moral married man,” shouldn’t be making such remarks to a woman. This is sexual harassment.

This “all-male” ruling in favor of firing this woman because of this man’s shortcomings shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Not only is the innocent blamed, but in my opinion this is just an excuse to give the man free reign to do whatever. He can sexually harass a woman and then if the woman doesn’t give in to his desires, his ego can get her fired because she was just too “irresistible.” This gives a man an option to fire a woman for whatever reason because she was too “irresistible.” Who’s going to argue with what turns a man on? A peek of an ankle? A lock of hair sweeping across her eye?

Yeah…firing Nelson was good for “all parties”. Right. “Preserve the marriage.” Yeah right…until the next pretty thing comes along and screws it all up again. Oh yeah – No problem, we’ll just fire her too.

What’s next? A man is walking down the street, sees an “irresistible” woman and because he can’t control his sexual desires, he can legally have a police officer arrest her? How far does this go?

Thoughts? Blog me. 

Peace out.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Thanks for all of the Christmas wishes – I HOPE all of you enjoyed the holiday too.

I too am saddened and upset about the shooting of the firemen – men whose jobs are to save others, were now targeted by a man who does what “he likes doing best – killing people.” I feel like lately all I’m doing is blogging about bad things and continually sending good wishes to the families of victims killed in horrific acts. Really…when is all of this killing going to be enough? When are we finally going to do something to help stop this madness?

I read your comments. I too read and heard Sirota’s comments on CNN, and I agree with him. In case some of you are wondering and haven’t read the write, here it is:

Salon’s David Sirota To Don Lemon: If Majority Of Mass Shooters Wasn’t White, ‘Conversation Would Be Much Uglier’ (VIDEO)

Salon writer David Sirota appeared on Don Lemon’s CNN show on Saturday to discuss that the majority of mass shooters in the United States have been white.

In Sirota’s recent article titled “Time To Profile White Men?” the Salon writer argued that nuanced conversations that grew out of the tragic Newtown shootings on mental health and gun control is due to the race of the shooter.

He wrote, “But the point here is that those tempered and nuanced conversations are only able to happen because the demographic at the center of it all is white guys.”

Speaking with CNN’s Don Lemon, Sirota said, “I think we should ask the question why is America 30 percent white guys, and 70 percent of the shootings in the last many decades have been at the hands of white guys … I do think it’s interesting to note that had 70 percent of mass shooters been let’s say Arab or African-American men, I think the conversation would be … much uglier.”

Lemon summarized one of the points Sirota made in his recent article. “If the suspect or the shooter was a black male [he'd be labeled as a] thug; Muslim, [a] terrorist,” Lemon said.

“Yeah,” Sirota said. “And and I think that it’s good we’re having a nuanced conversation about all sorts of things — mental illness, gun control — but I hope that the next time something bad happens … that if it’s not a white guy, that we remember that we shouldn’t ascribe to entire groups … the bad actions of individuals. Because we’re not doing that right now, and I’m not saying that we should, but I think we should remember that the reason we’re not, is because it’s a form of white privilege.”

*********

Readers: Did you click over to Sirota’s recent article “Time to Profile White Men?”. If not I thought I would make it easy for you. Here’s the write:

Time to profile white men?

Yesterday, during a cable news discussion of gun violence and the Newtown school shooting, I dared mention a taboo truism. During a conversation on MSNBC’s “Up With Chris Hayes,” I said that because most of the mass shootings in America come at the hands of white men, there would likely be political opposition to initiatives that propose to use those facts to profile the demographic group to which these killers belong. I suggested that’s the case because as opposed to people of color or, say, Muslims, white men as a subgroup are in such a privileged position in our society that they are the one group that our political system avoids demographically profiling or analytically aggregating in any real way. Indeed, unlike other demographic, white guys as a group are never thought to be an acceptable topic for any kind of critical discussion whatsoever, even when there is ample reason to open up such a discussion.

My comment was in response to U.S. Rep. James Langevin (D) floating the idea of employing the Secret Service for such profiling, and I theorized that because the profiling would inherently target white guys, the political response to such an idea might be similar to the Republican response to the 2009 Homeland Security report looking, in part, at the threat of right-wing terrorism. As you might recall, the same GOP that openly supportsprofiling — and demonizing — Muslims essentially claimed that the DHS report was unacceptable because its focus on white male terrorist groups allegedly stereotyped (read: offensively profiled) conservatives.

******

Should that question even be a question? Look at the stats of white men killing. If other races are “profiled”, shouldn’t white men be “profiled” too? Thoughts? Blog me.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"