J's Cafe Nette

Archive for April 23rd, 2007

A case in Long Beach, California which began with a horrific attack on three young women has reached its conclusion. Tracy Manzer of Presstelegram.com has followed this adjudication from the beginning and presents possibly the most stunning headline at its end.

Judge is served papers
Family of beating victims wants Gibson Lee removed for sentences.

LONG BEACH – A Long Beach Superior Court judge who received harsh criticism for his sentencing of nine local youths he found guilty in a hate crime beating last Halloween was served with a notice Thursday demanding his recall from the bench.

The judge has seven days to reply to the notice once he is served and it is filed with the secretary of state’s office.

If the petition is granted, recall proponents will have to gather an estimated 200,000 to 500,000 signatures from Los Angeles County voters for the issue to appear on the next ballot, he said.

Below is a brief description of the attack and a partial list of the injuries incurred by the victims.

The victims – along with throngs of other people – had gone to the 3800 block of Linden Avenue around 9:30 p.m. for a popular Halloween block party. As they walked up to an elaborate haunted house, they said, a group of about a dozen males began taunting them.

The taunts and jeers grew more aggressive, the victims recalled, as did the size of the crowd.

The suspects also began to gradually separate the girls, first by grabbing Laura by her long hair and yanking her backward.

She said she tried to fight off a group of girls who surrounded her and were clawing and hitting her, but then a man came up and slammed her in the head with a skateboard, knocking her unconscious.

Lauren was the first at Laura’s side, and a group of people immediately jumped on her and began punching her in the face and back of the head simultaneously.
Lauren suffered 12 fractures in her face, including four to her eye socket, three to her nose and three to her cheek.

Michelle said she saw the group drag Lauren down as she rushed up and knocked the man with the skateboard off Laura. But then he then turned on her, punching her in both sides of her face and in the ribs.
Her face, like Lauren’s and Laura’s, is bruised and swollen. The lining that surrounds her lungs is also bruised.

The arrest and ensuing charges.

Shortly after the attack, police arrested 10 juveniles on a charge of felony hate crimes, including counts for assault with a deadly weapon, battery and robbery.

Some of the 10 youths – nine girls and one boy ranging in age from 12 to 17 – were found wearing the victim’s earrings – which were ripped from their flesh – and had Lauren’s cell phone.

(Charges against one of the juveniles was dismissed prior to trial)

The trial was quite lengthy and peppered with racial unrest, witness intimidation and claims of incorrect identification of certain defendants. This was the result.

The nine teens, eight girls and one boy age 13 to 18, were convicted last month in the attack on the three victims on Halloween in Bixby Knolls. Hate crimes were found to be the motivation for eight of the teens’ actions and six were also convicted of an enhancement that they personally inflicted great bodily injury on their victims.

And finally the sentence.

All but one of the teens was sentenced to 60 days house arrest and probation during a disposition hearing that revealed many of the youths had not been the scholars claimed by their parents and attorneys.

Crimes which involve juvenile defendants are I believe among some of the saddest. It makes no difference the color of the skin of the offender or the offended it is the lack of respect human to human that is abhorrent.

The question is, should this judge be removed for the sentence he imposed for the crimes committed?

(Ms. Manzer was the only journalist I located who had completely detailed this saga, hence all the links. She has further links on a right sidebar if you are interested in reading further.)

Tweet This Post

This was written by Joshua Harris, an author and now, senior pastor at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD. “The Room” was originally published in the Spring, 1995, issue of Harris’ “New Attitude” magazine.”The Room” was re-printed in April, 1997 as part of Harris’ 1995 book I Kissed Dating Goodbye.

Subject: Does Jesus cry with you??

THE ROOM

In that place between wakefulness and dreams , I found myself in the room. There were no distinguishing features except for the one wall covered with small index card files. They were like the ones in libraries that list titles by author or subject in alphabetical order. But these files, which stretched from floor to ceiling and seemingly endless in either direction, had very different headings. As I drew near the wall of files, the first to catch my attention was one that read “Girls I have liked.” I opened it and began flipping through the cards. I quickly shut it, shocked to realize that I recognized the names written on each one. And then without being told, I knew exactly where I was.

This lifeless room with its small files was a crude catalog system for my life. Here were written the actions of my every moment, big and small, in a detail my memory couldn’t match. A sense of wonder and curiosity, coupled with horror, stirred within me as I began randomly opening files and exploring their content. Some brought joy and sweet memories; others a sense of shame and regret so intense that I would look over my shoulder to see if anyone was watching.

A file named “Friends” was next to one marked “Friends I have betrayed.” The titles ranged from the mundane to the outright weird “Books I Have Read,” “Lies I Have Told,” “Comfort I have Given,” “Jokes I Have Laughed at.” Some were almost hilarious in their exactness: “Things I’ve yelled at my brothers.” Others I couldn’t laugh at: “Things I Have Done in My Anger”, “Things I Have Muttered Under My Breath at My Parents.” I never ceased to be surprised by the contents.

Often there were many more cards than I expected. Sometimes fewer than I hoped. I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the life I had lived. Could it be possible that I had the time in my years to fill each of these thousands or even millions of cards? But each card confirmed this truth. Each was written in my own
handwriting. Each signed with my signature.

When I pulled out the file marked “TV Shows I have watched”, I realized the files grew to contain their contents. The cards were packed tightly, and yet after two or three yards, I hadn’t found the end of the file. I shut it, shamed, not so much by the quality of shows but more by the vast time I knew that file represented.

When I came to a file marked “Lustful Thoughts,” I felt a chill run through my body. I pulled the file out only an inch, not
willing to test its size and drew out a card. I shuddered at its detailed content.

I felt sick to think that such a moment had been recorded. An almost animal rage broke on me. One thought dominated my mind:

No one must ever see these cards! No one must ever see this room! I have to destroy them!” In insane frenzy I yanked the file out. Its size didn’t matter now. I had to empty it and burn the cards. But as I took it at one end and began pounding it on the floor, I c ould not dislodge a single card. I became desperate and pulled out a card, only to find it as strong as steel when I tried to tear it.

Defeated and utterly helpless, I returned the file to its slot. Leaning my forehead against the wall, I let out a long , self-pitying sigh.

And then I saw it.. The title bore “People I Have Shared
the Gospel With.” The handle was brighter than those around it, newer, almost unused. I pulled on its handle and a small box not more than three inches long fell into my hands. I could count the cards it contained on one hand.

And then the tears came. I began to weep. Sobs so deep that they hurt. They started in my stomach and shook through me. I fell on my knees and cried. I cried out of shame, from the overwhelming shame of it all. The rows of file shelves swirled in my tear-filled eyes. No one must ever, ever know of this room. I must lock it up and hide the key. But then as I pushed away the tears, I saw Him.

No, please not Him. Not here. Oh, anyone but Jesus. I watched helplessly as He began to open the files and read the cards. I couldn’t bear to watch His response. And in the moments I could bring myself to look at His face, I saw a sorrow deeper than my own.

He seemed to intuitively go to the worst boxes. Why did He have to read every one? Finally He turned and looked at me from across the room. He looked at me with pity in His eyes. But this was a pity that didn’t anger me. I dropped my head, covered my face with my hands and began to cry again. He walked over and put His arm around me. He could have said so many things. But He didn’t say a word. He just cried with me.

Then He got up and walked back to the wall of files. Starting at one end of the room, He took out a file and, one by one, began to sign His name over mine on each card. “No!” I shouted rushing to Him.

All I could find to say was “No, no,” as I pulled th e card from Him. His name shouldn’t be on these cards. But there it was, written in red so rich, so dark, so alive. The name of Jesus covered mine. It was written with His blood. He gently took the card back. He smiled a sad smile and began to sign the cards. I don’t think I’ll ever understand how He did it so quickly, but the next instant it seemed I heard Him close the last file and walk back to my side.

He placed His hand on my shoulder and said, “It is finished.” I stood up, and He led me out of the room. There was no lock on its door. There were still cards to be written..

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens
me.”-Phil. 4:13

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only son,
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

It’s all signed and sealed by Jesus, ready to be delivered to you if just reach out your hand to receive it.

Tweet This Post

It’s a pretty well-known fact al-Maliki’s government is supported by and supports the al-Sadr faction of the Iraqi insurgency taking place right now. Some call it a civil war, and maybe that’s the correct definition.

Maliki has been told in no uncertain terms there are limits to the patience of the United States and he must do something to stop the killing of Iraqis by Iraqis.

The US Military, as part of the surge strategy began building a wall separating Sunnis from Shias in Baghdad.

Maliki’s response? Tear it down.

CAIRO, Egypt – Iraq’s prime minister said Sunday that he has ordered a halt to the U.S. military construction of a barrier separating a Sunni enclave from surrounding Shiite areas in Baghdad after fierce criticism over the project at home.

The challenge to the U.S. initiative came as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki began a regional tour to shore up support from mostly Sunni Arab nations for his Shiite-dominated government as sectarian violence persists despite a nearly 10-week-old security crackdown.

The U.S. military announced last week that it was building a three-mile-long and 12-foot-tall concrete wall in Azamiyah, a Sunni stronghold in northern Baghdad whose residents have often been the victims of retaliatory mortar attacks by Shiite militants following bombings usually blamed on Sunni insurgents.

U.S. and Iraqi officials defended plans for the barrier as an effort to protect the neighborhood, but residents and Sunni leaders complained it was a form of discrimination that would isolate the community. A large protest was scheduled for Monday in the area.

In his first public comments on the issue, al-Maliki said Sunday that he had ordered the construction to stop.

I think Maliki better come up with a Plan B then.

Tweet This Post

We’ve probably all heard of the dust-up between Sheryl Crow and Laurie David, producer of former Vice President Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth.

From the Washington Post we get this version, which is the shortened version of what was posted on the Huffington Post.

Global warming was the talking point last night at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner when singer Sheryl Crow and “Inconvenient Truth” producer Laurie David walked over to Table 92 at the Hilton Washington to chat with Karl Rove — and the resulting exchange was suitably heated.

“I am floored by what I just experienced with Karl Rove,” David reports. “I went over to him and said, ‘I urge you to take a new look at global warming.’ He went zero to 100 with me. . . . I’ve never had anyone be so rude.”

Rove’s version: “She came over to insult me and she succeeded.”

Things got so hot that Crow stepped in to defuse the situation and then got into it with Rove herself. “You work for me,” she told the presidential adviser, according to singed bystanders. “No,” was his response. “I work for the American people.”

News of the dust-up filtered quickly through the room. Some witnesses said David was very aggressive with Rove; a shaken Crow later said that Rove was “combative and unresponsive.”

From the NRO Corner we get this version:

Karl Rove, Laurie David, and Sheryl Crow — The Real Story [Byron York]

I just got an eyewitness account of the Karl Rove-Laurie David-Sheryl Crow encounter at the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday night, and it suggests that David and Crow were a bit more confrontational than they portrayed themselves in their own account of the incident, published in the Huffington Post. In their story, David and Crow write, “The ‘highlight’ of the evening had to be when we were introduced to Karl Rove. How excited were we to have our first opportunity ever to talk directly to the Bush Administration about global warming.”

The eyewitness says the person who introduced David to Rove was the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd. I want you to meet Laurie David, Dowd said to Rove. (These are all approximate recollections, so no quotation marks.) Dowd said David would like to say hello.

According to David and Crow, the encounter began with a polite request. “We asked Mr. Rove if he would consider taking a fresh look at the science of global warming,” they write. “Much to our dismay, he immediately got combative. And it went downhill from there.”

The eyewitness remembers it a bit differently. Immediately after Dowd’s introduction, the witness says, David began lecturing Rove about global warming. This administration has done nothing on the issue, she told Rove. We face a crisis. The time to act is now. This administration has done nothing…

At that point, Rove broke in to say, Well, actually we have done something. Rove mentioned global climate research, at which point David broke in herself to say, You just don’t understand. All these questions have been answered. That’s worthless. That’s useless.

In their account, David and Crow write, “We reminded the senior White House advisor that the U.S. leads the world in global warming pollution and we are doing the least about it. Anger flaring, Mr. Rove immediately regurgitated the official Administration position on global warming which is that the US spends more on researching the causes than any other country.”

The eyewitness says Rove asked David if she had read the IPCC report, referring to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which, while confirming a human role in climate change, substantially undermines some of the most catastrophic charges made in Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” which David produced. David said she had read the report. “We felt compelled to remind him that the research is done and the results [the IPCC report] are in,” David and Crow write. “Mr. Rove exploded with even more venom. Like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum, Mr. Rove launched into a series of illogical arguments regarding China not doing enough thus neither should we. (Since when do we follow China’s lead?)”

In the eyewitness’ version, again, David and Crow are a bit more aggressive than their own story suggests. The eyewitness says David told Rove, You need to bring in new people to tell you the truth. Rove mentioned Dr. John Marburger, the White House science advisor. At that point, according to the eyewitness, Crow began poking Rove’s chest with her finger, demanding to know what corporations were underwriting Marburger’s work. Rove said Marburger had been in academia most of his career.

With Crow jabbing him in the chest, Rove turned to take his seat. Then, the witness says, Crow grabbed his arm. A few more words were exchanged, and it was over. At the Huffington Post, David and Crow described the ending this way: “In his attempt to dismiss us, Mr. Rove turned to head toward his table, but as soon as he did so, Sheryl reached out to touch his arm. Karl swung around and spat, ‘Don’t touch me.’ How hardened and removed from reality must a person be to refuse to be touched by Sheryl Crow? Unfazed, Sheryl abruptly responded, ‘You can’t speak to us like that, you work for us.’ Karl then quipped, ‘I don’t work for you, I work for the American people.’ To which Sheryl promptly reminded him, ‘We are the American people.’”

In light of the eyewitness’ account, another way of saying it might be, How hardened and removed from reality must a person be to refuse to be jabbed in the chest by Sheryl Crow.

We report, you decide.

Tweet This Post

I will make no comment but instead send you to the link with the email from Marine Corporal Tyler Rock.

Today, from Corporal Tyler Rock in an outpost in downtown Ramadi. His first sentence is in response to an email from me:

“yeah i know how you feel. its going to be very weird leaving this place and going back to america. weve been here for almost an entire year and have lived in the center of it the whole time. its crazy that when we got here it was so hectic and now its calmed down so much. so it was awesome to be able to see that turn out.

yeah news worth reporting…. well ramadi was once dubbed by everyone as the worst city in the world. but we have done such a great job here that all the families in the area have worked with us on driving out the insurgency and that we work directly with the IA and the IP’s. the city has been cleaned up so well that the IP’s do most of the patrols now and we go out with them to hand out candy and toys to the children. you can tell that the people want us here to protect them from the thugs and gangs (insurgents). granted they would rather have peace and quit but they know that if we arent here they will be thrown around by the insurgents. a good example is this one mission we did. long story short we got blown up in multiple buildings and had to run into a families house. i spent my christmas holidays covered in ash from the mortar fire and the IED’s, sleeping under a dirty rug i found in the house. everyone was sleeping way to close for comfort just to stay warm. anyways. a family was there and they obviously didnt want us there. atleast at first. the daughters were very sick so our corpsman treated them. they didnt have electricity so we got them a generator for power, they were cold so we got them gas heaters, we got them food and water and then we gave them $500. by the end of the week long visit with them we were drinking tea with them. when we left we cleaned their house better than it was when we got there. i even have pictures with the family. they told us that they liked marines and they would help us as much as they could and they gave us some information on the insurgents in the area. we ended up catching a HUGE target down the road from there house because of it.

Now follow the link and read the rest of the email from this Marine.

Tweet This Post

Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin has died, reportedly and unofficially of heart failure.

It was Yeltsin who stood up to the Soviet government when Mikhail Gorbachev was under house arrest, and it was Yeltsin who led Russia into a more free direction.

MOSCOW (AP) – Former President Boris Yeltsin, who engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union and pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy, has died, a Kremlin official said Monday. He was 76.

Kremlin spokesman Alexander Smirnov confirmed Yeltsin’s death, but gave no cause or further information. The Interfax news agency cited an unidentified medical source as saying he had died of heart failure.

Although Yeltsin pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy, many of its citizens will remember him mostly for presiding over the country’s steep decline.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, summed up the complexity of Yeltsin’s in a condolence statement minutes after the death was announced. He referred to Yeltsin as one “on whose shoulders are both great deeds for the country and serious errors,” according to the news agency Interfax.

Yeltsin was a contradictory figure, rocketing to popularity in the Communist era on pledges to fight corruption – but proving unable, or unwilling, to prevent the looting of state industry as it moved into private hands during his nine years as Russia’s first freely elected president.

Yeltsin steadfastly defended freedom of the press, but was a master at manipulating the media. His hand-picked successor, Vladimir Putin, has proven far more popular even as he has tightened Kremlin control over both Russia’s industry and its press.

Yeltsin amassed as much power as possible in his office – then gave it all up in a dramatic New Year’s address at the end of 1999.

Yeltsin’s greatest moments came in bursts. He stood atop a tank to resist an attempted coup in August 1991, and spearheaded the peaceful end of the Soviet state on Dec. 25 of that year. Ill with heart problems, and facing possible defeat by a Communist challenger in his 1996 re-election bid, he marshaled his energy and sprinted through the final weeks of the campaign. The challenge transformed the shaky convalescent into the spry, dancing candidate.

It’s too bad he hand-picked Putin because he seems to be taking the country back to a ruthless dictatorship.

I hope he rests in peace and will pray for his survivors in their hour of grief.

Tweet This Post

Betsy Newmark has a very interesting post about the Duke ‘rape’ case.

Rick Reilly has a column at Sports Illustrated about Duke lacrosse coach Mike Pressler who was forced out because of the trumped up charges against his team. SI doesn’t have the column up yet, but Liestoppers has this telling quote.

On April 5, Pressler says, Duke athletic director Joe Alleva called him in and said, “Mike, I’ve got to let you go.”

“But Joe,” Pressler pleaded. “You stood up before my players and said you believe it never happened. The DNA is coming back any day. Wait for the truth.”

“It’s not about the truth anymore,” Pressler says Alleva told him. “Its about the faculty, the NAACP, and the special interest groups.”

“Its not about the truth anymore.” Well, that was certainly true, wasn’t it?

Go over and read all of it.

Tweet This Post

They say she’s a singer, but from what she is quoted saying in this article, I don’t want to be in the same room with her no matter how famous she may be.

Crow (4/19, Springfield, Tenn.): I have spent the better part of this tour trying to come up with easy ways for us all to become a part of the solution to global warming. Although my ideas are in the earliest stages of development, they are, in my mind, worth investigating. One of my favorites is in the area of forest conservation which we heavily rely on for oxygen. I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. Now, I don’t want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where 2 to 3 could be required.

Do we have any people ready to be toilet paper police?

As a small child would say: Stinky, stinky, poo, poo.

Maybe she could use an old dried up leaf or some dried up corn cobs instead. Then throw them back into the compost heap.

Tweet This Post