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Tuesday, 02.22.11

Fla. Police: Dispute over Thin Mints gets physical

This booking photo provided by the Collier County Sheriff's Office shows 31-year-old Hersha Howard. Howard is charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after a brawl between Howard and her roomate over Girl Scout cookies.

Collier County Sheriff's Office / AP Photo

The Associated Press

Egyptian Father Names Baby 'Facebook'

The Huffington Post 

Catharine Smith 

First Posted: 02/21/11 11:09 AM 

Updated: 02/21/11 02:28 PM

Egyptian father Jamal Ibrahim has reportedly named his newborn daughter "Facebook" to honor the social media site's role in Egypt's revolution.

According to TechCrunch, Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper reported the following:

A young man in his twenties wanted to express his gratitude about the victories the youth of 25th of January have achieved and chose to express it in the form of naming his firstborn girl "Facebook" Jamal Ibrahim (his name.) The girl's family, friends, and neighbors in the Ibrahimya region gathered around the new born to express their continuing support for the revolution that started on Facebook. "Facebook" received many gifts from the youth who were overjoyed by her arrival and the new name. A name [Facebook] that shocked the entire world. 

Facebook was used to organize the initial January 25 protest in Tahrir Square. Since then, Egyptians taking part in the uprising used Twitter, YouTube and a host of other sites, in addition to Facebook, to communicate and coordinate.

Rahm Emanuel appeared on track to win 55 percent of the vote for mayor Tuesday, scoring a big enough victory to avoid a runoff and establish an indisputable mandate from just about every geographic and ethnic bloc in Chicago.

With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Emanuel had 55 percent of the vote to 24 percent for Gery Chico, and 9 percent each for Miguel del Valle and Carol Moseley Braun. Both Chico and Braun have conceded victory to Emanuel.

“Two things are surreal: the nature of the victory and how fast it got counted. What is this California? I’ve only been gone two years. What happened?” said campaign strategist David Axelrod, who worked together with Emanuel in President Obama’s White House.

Emanuel appeared to garner more black votes than Braun, and his victory, on top of victories by President Obama and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, offer evidence Chicago voters are looking beyond race to what they see as candidates’ qualifications.

“The most important thing for the city was the multi-racial, multi-ethnic nature of this victory. It was truly a citywide victory. To do that in one round is a remarkable feat,” Axelrod said. “There were people who doubted his strength in the African-American community, but it was real. It is much healthier for the city and it will give him the foundation from which to attack the problems of the city.”

Emanuel had a hard-to-beat resume.

“It’s tough to beat somebody who’s worked for two presidents, had experience in Congress and can actually point to things at the national level that everybody is aware of, said Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th), whose North Side ward delivered a 65 percent vote for Emanuel. “He’s also a prodigious fundraiser and a tireless campaigner. That’s a resume and a record that’s hard to match.”

Emanuel rode a $12 million media blitz, a near endorsement from President Obama and the full endorsement of former President Bill Clinton to a one-and-done victory over three major rivals.

“We’ve elected a mayor tonight,” Chico said. He and Emanuel had just spoken on the phone, and Chico offered any help Emanuel would need.

“I want with all of my heart for Rahm Emanuel to be successful as mayor. I again offered my service to him in any capacity he wishes and he couldn’t have been more gracious in the phone call. Our future is very very bright and Rahm will lead us in the right direction. Let’s all work together to get behind the new mayor and make this the best city on the face of the Earth.”

With the election now over, Emanuel can use the millions he has left on the aldermanic runoffs to help shape the new City Council to his liking. If longtime Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th), who supported Chico, does not cut a deal with Emanuel, his days could be numbered.

The sweeping victory left the Emanuel campaign positively giddy.

“The job of mayor is one that people look to for strength, leadership and larger-than-life personalities. Rahm fit the bill. He seems big enough and tough enough and strong enough to lead the city forward,” Axelrod said. “And the effort to throw him off the ballot was incredibly ill-conceived and strengthened him. It was a combination of him running a great campaign and some of the tactics employed against him that propelled his momentum.”

Before the outcome became apparent Emanuel appeared briefly with his wife and kids in a back room at his election headquarters at a near West Side union hall and made only small talk with the media.

“OK, I’ll see you guys at Thanksgiving,” he said smiling, Emanuel, who has the largest campaign war chest in the state, is selling beer, wine, soda and water at his election headquarters at a near West Side union hall. Water is going for $2 a bottle. 312 beer goes for $4 for a draft.

The crowd ramped up as election results are posted on a giant screen in the hall. Cheers erupted at numbers showing Emanuel’s widening lead.

“This is unbelievable,” said Dwight Nash, putting his hands on his head and staring at the numbers that rolled in — early and overwhelmingly in favor of Emanuel.

Nash, a bricklayer, and Patrick Deliberto, an electrician, who both volunteered for the campaign, said they couldn’t believe how quickly the results were coming in for Emanuel.

Daniel Comeaux, an intern with the campaign who helped coordinate some of its phone efforts, said they kicked it into high gear this weekend. Over the past four days, volunteers made 50,000 phone “contacts” with potential voters, he said.

“We were working to get out the vote and apparently it worked,” the University of Chicago student said, motioning back at a giant screen showing Emanuel with 54 percent of the vote with 84 percent of precincts reporting.

Comeaux said volunteers were making calls and knocking on doors until 7 p.m. today.

“I told one woman who was getting her hair done to stop and run out and vote,” he said.

Emanuel himself kept campaigning right up until the last minute, hoping to catch a few voters who still had a chance to hit the polls.

Chico, Moseley Braun and del Valle also were working up until the moment the polls closed.

If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote today, the top two will meet in an April 5 runoff.

A morning snow helped keep voting numbers low in the morning and an expected afternoon surge never happened. So instead of a 50 percent turnout, the low 40s looks more likely.

Who does that help or hurt?

All of the candidates confess they really don’t know but they all are doing their best to find good news in the numbers. Turnout seems higher on the lakefront and Northwest Side and lower in the black wards. That would seem to favor Emanuel, said one Emanuel colleague: “My head tells me he will avoid a runoff. My gut is uncertain. It’s very hard with six candidates to get to 50 percent.”

But with turnout so high on the Southwest and Northwest corners of the city where police and firefighters live, one election official referred to it as “A police and fire election” with turnout as high as 60 percent in the 19th Ward — Beverly — and close to that in the 41st Ward on the Northwest Side.

That would bode well for Chico, who has the strong backing of the police and fire unions, afraid that Emanuel will cut their pensions.

Del Valle hit “L” stop after “L” stop trying to defy the odds up until the very last minute

“The low turnout could work for us or against us, we don’t know, it depends where it is,” del Valle said.

Emanuel, shaking hands with his son, Zach, 13, at the Merchandise Mart, said he couldn’t read the tea leaves either.

“Like you, I’ll be waiting to see. There’s nothing I can do about that,” he said.

Emanuel will be greeting supporters Tuesday night at the Plumbers Hall on the Near West Side. The plumbers were one of the few unions that endorsed Emanuel.

Braun is watching the results at the Parkway Ballroom in Bronzeville.

Chico is downtown at The Westin and del Valle will gather with supporters at the Revolution Brewing Company in Logan Square.

Mayor Daley touched off the political sweepstakes with his stunning, Sept. 7 decision to choose political retirement over a seventh term.

“Simply put, it’s time. Time for me. And time for Chicago to move on…It just feels right,” Daley, 68, said on that fateful day.

“I have always believed that every person — especially public officials — must understand when it is time to move on. For me, that time is now.”

From the moment Daley uttered those words, Emanuel was the frontrunner, a status that was only reinforced after Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart took a pass on the mayor’s race.

Emanuel had gotten a running start nearly five months earlier when he declared his intention to run for mayor of Chicago if Daley didn’t.

The remark was so calculating and out of the blue, some political observers wondered whether Emanuel had gotten a heads-up on the mayor’s decision.

Conspiracy theories were put to rest by a decision that Emanuel made a few days before the mayor announced his retirement. Emanuel had renewed the lease of the tenant who rented Emanuel’s Ravenswood home when the North Side congressman agreed to become President Obama’s chief-of-staff.

That set the stage for a residency challenge that dominated much of the campaign.

The hearings attracted national attention, in part because of the spectacle of having a former White House chief-of-staff who once dictated negotiating terms to Congressional leaders and auto industry executives sitting in the basement of the Cook County administration building answering questions from private citizens for nearly 12 hours.

Emanuel got a four-day scare in late January, when the Illinois Appellate Court temporarily knocked him off the ballot. But by the time the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously reversed that ruling, it was abundantly clear that the entire episode had backfired.

Not only did the residency challenge suck the air out of a debate that should have focused throughout on the serious issues facing Chicago, it turned Emanuel into a sympathetic figure. That’s not easy to do to a politician known for his cut-throat, take-no-prisoners style.

When the residency fight ended, two polls—one by WLS-TV Channel 7, the other by the Illinois Retail Merchants Association—showed Emanuel avoiding a run-off with nearly 60 percent of the vote.

It just might turn out to be what the Emanuel campaign likes to call a “sugar high.”

Black voters who initially sympathized with Emanuel could cast enough of their votes for Braun to keep Emanuel under the magic, 50 percent-plus-one benchmark he needs to avoid a run-off.

The race for second place, if there is one, is likely to go to Gery Chico, the former Daley chief-of-staff and school board president who was outspent by Emanuel by a 3-to-1 margin.

Braun’s inability to light a fire with black voters was the surprise of the campaign.

She had come rolling into the new year as the consensus black candidate for mayor after Congressman Danny Davis (D-Ill.) and State Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) bowed out after talks brokered by the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.

Braun had convinced the other two that she and she alone had the backing from black business leaders needed to raise at least $1.5 million and compete with the big boys on TV.

But, a series of missteps prevented Braun from raising more than $500,000. She initially refused to release her federal income tax returns because, “I don’t want to,” only to suffer through a week of embarrassing revelations about her personal and business finances.

Even more damaging was Braun’s surprise attack against nominal rival Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins.

It happened after Watkins dared to say that Braun “hasn’t been around for 20 years” and that Watkins “did not even know the woman lived in the city” because she hadn’t heard Braun’s “voice out there on the street.”

“Patricia, the reason you do not know where I was for the last 20 years is because you were strung out on crack,” Braun said.

Watkins demanded an apology and got it a few days later. Although she has admitted to a drug problem that lasted until she was 21, she insisted she has never seen crack, let alone used it.

Despite the unprecedented fundraising — $12 million for Emanuel and $3.6 million for Chico—the campaign generally avoided the ugly racial and ethnic pitfalls that have characterized past mayoral campaigns.

An exception was when a labor leader backing Chico denounced Emanuel as a “Wall Street Judas” who sold out union jobs for “bags of silver” when he muscled NAFTA through Congress.

Daley denounced the remark by Jim Sweeney, business manager for Operating Engineers Local 150, as an anti-Semitic “disgrace.”

Chico initially defended the remark, then apologized to anyone, including Emanuel, who might have been offended.

Emanuel’s NAFTA history and his threat to reduce the pension benefits of existing city employees have prompted a majority of the city’s unions, including police and fire, to line up behind Chico.

Chico and Emanuel have both offered to at least consider lifting the city’s residency requirement.

At Emanuel’s insistence, debates between the four major candidates were scheduled late in the campaign to minimize their impact.

They turned into “gang up on Rahm” affairs that saw del Valle try and portray Emanuel and Chico as “cut from the same cloth” after using their public positions for personal financial gain.

Arvada Police arrest 11-year-old over 'inappropriate' stick figure drawing

Julie Hayden

FOX 31 

Reporter

7:50 a.m. MST

February 22, 2011

LINK TO VIDEO:

 http://www.kdvr.com/videobeta/f6e1ad76-d4bf-4439-9ab0-855344d12a94/News/11-year-old-boy-arrested-for-stick-figure-drawing

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/02/22/2011-02-22_rare_footage_shows_jfk_night_before_assassination.html

Wisconsin protests: Do Americans agree with tea party view of unions?

Mark Trumbull

Staff writer

February 19, 2011

The tea party movement casts it as a battle to take state politics back from labor-union bosses and liberal interest groups. Union supporters say Republican lawmakers are putting the basic rights of working class Americans at risk.

Which view do more Americans agree with?

As union contract issues reverberate as state-budget sticking points in Wisconsin and other states, the American public doesn't fall neatly into either camp. The public's view on the subject is evolving, and how it shifts in coming months could help determine the near-term course of state politics and finances.

In one survey taken early this month, the Pew Research Center asked a cross-section of Americans whether their view of labor unions is favorable or unfavorable.

Although the share of respondents taking some form of favorable view (45 percent) was slightly larger than the camp with unfavorable views (42 percent), support for unions has clearly ebbed over the past decade. When Pew asked the same poll question in 1999, the margin was 59 percent "favorable" to 36 percent "unfavorable."

Moreover, deeply held views of unions are more likely to be negative (17 percent say their view is "very unfavorable") than positive (11 percent say "very favorable). The opposite was the case as recently as 2007.

At the same time, the poll underscored views that don't tend toward either extreme.

Asked about "when you hear of a disagreement between state or local governments and unions that represent government workers," more Americans say their first reaction is to side with the union (44 percent) than with state or local governments (38 percent). And substantially more Americans see union contracts as ensuring that workers are "treated fairly" than as giving workers an "unfair advantage."

As to their role in the private sector, the view is also mixed. A majority says unions have a positive impact on work conditions and worker pay, although many Americans worry that unions make it harder for US companies to compete globally.

Not surprisingly, Democrats have a much more favorable view of unions than Republicans. Among those who call themselves political independents, 42 percent voiced a "favorable" of unions view this month, down from 54 percent when Pew asked the question in January 2007.

Against this backdrop, advocates for and against unions are seeking to sway voter opinions in budget-strapped states across the nation.

The latest states to grab the spotlight are Wisconsin and Ohio. In both places, public-employee unions are seeking to counter Republican efforts to strip or reduce collective-bargaining rights.

Wisconsin's capital city, Madison, became the venue for dueling rallies Saturday. Buses brought in tea party adherents to express support for proposed union pay cuts. Meanwhile the ranks of union supporters swelled in their own rally nearby.

It comes after days during which many Wisconsin schools closed because teachers went to join protests at the capitol building. On Saturday, according to Associated Press reports, supporters of Gov. Scott Walker (R) sported signs reading, "I was at work yesterday. Where were you?" and "Sorry, we're late Scott. We work for a living."

Midwestern states aren't the only ones facing difficult budget choices, involving everything from union compensation to education and other services.

As Wisconsin has become a prominent national news story this week, politicians on the national stage have also weighed in with their own efforts to sway public opinion.

"Some of what I’ve heard coming out of Wisconsin, where you’re just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain generally seems like more of an assault on unions," President Obama said. He said public employees like teachers and social workers shouldn't be blamed for budget problems.

House Speaker John Boehner (R) of Ohio said Obama was "colluding with special-interest allies across the country to demagogue reform-minded governors who are making the tough choices that the President is avoiding."

In recent years, public support for labor unions has begun to wane. Will this trend continue as state and local governments face budget challenges? Protests in Wisconsin may be an indicator.

Tuesday, February 22nd 2011, 4:00 AM

TheRock

FMA radio station contest where the winner get a Ukrainian wife is drawing outrage.

Auckland might earn the name ICKland thanks to an outrageous stunt by a local radio station.

The New Zealand station The Rock FM has sparked international ire for its "Win a Wife" contest, reports MsMagazine. 

The contest winner would be able to choose a Ukrainian bride from an agency that matches women with Kiwis and then receive an all-expenses paid trip to the Ukraine.

But that's not all: the winner also scores $2,000 to spend on his first meeting with his catalogue bride.

The radio station, whose tagline is "Bands, Babes, Balls n' Bull," told listeners to send a contest application, "If you're interested in holy matrimony with a potentially hot foreign chick."

"Some people think it's a little stupid, others see it as what it is, a tongue-in-cheek idea that gives someone the opportunity of a lifetime to travel on an all expenses paid trip to the Ukraine," The Rock program director Brad King told NZ Herald News.

A Facebook protest called "Stop the Rock's 'Win a Wife' campaign'" was soon posted and attracted over 1,300 followers. Government officials from both New Zealand and the Ukraine blasted the radio station for its offensive contest and demanded the plug be pulled. 

Bowing to legal and government pressure, the radio station made a quick edit.

They changed the name of the contest from "Win a Wife" to "Win A Trip To Beautiful Ukraine For 12 Nights And Meet Eastern European Hot Lady Who Maybe One Day You Marry."

Critics are crying foul at the mocking tone that radio station has taken toward its critics.

"The Embassy of Ukraine, the existing Ukrainian New Zealand community and general public opinion in your country… take it as the indecent demonstration of low taste and cultural standards as well as utter disrespect and violation of human dignity directed not only at Ukrainian women but at the entire better part of the humankind," the Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia Valentyn Adomaytis wrote to the NZ Broadcasting Standards Authority.

In the meantime, the contest goes on and the winner will be selected on Feb. 28.

Knicks swing trade Carmelo

Last Updated: 5:19 AM, February 22, 2011

Posted: 2:25 AM, February 22, 2011

The Knicks finally got their man, giving them two superstars -- with a strong chance of adding a third in 2012.

Carmelo Anthony is finally a Knick, not a Net.

"It's a done deal," a league source said.

The deal was agreed upon last night when Knicks owner James Dolan caved in and added Russian center Timofey Mozgov to the deal after the Nuggets threatened to trade him to the Nets if they did not.

A source said Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov was contemplating doing a deal without an extension in place for Anthony -- confident he would not turn down $65 million with labor strife possibly coming this summer.

Charles Wenzelberg

PRIZE GUY: Carmelo Anthony has something to smile about -- he is set to join the Knicks, his preferred destination, after they swung a mega-deal with the Nuggets for the superstar forward.

N.Y. Post: The long-talked-about trade -- a three-team blockbuster that includes the Knicks, Nuggets and Timberwolves -- is expected to be announced today, and Anthony looks to make his Knicks debut tomorrow night at the Garden against the Bucks.

The Knicks traded Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Mozgov, Anthony Randolph, Eddy Curry's contract, a 2014 first-round pick and two second-round picks, and $3 million in the three-team deal.

They get back Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Renaldo Balkman (a former first-round pick drafted by Isiah Thomas), Shelden Williams and Anthony Carter from Denver, plus Corey Brewer from Minnesota. The Timberwolves take on Curry and Randolph. The Denver Post first reported the deal on its website.

Anthony will play alongside Amar'e Stoudemire, giving the Knicks a potentially powerful 1-2 punch.

A person familiar with the Knicks' strategy said, "It sets them up for the future. You have two huge pieces, everything else works itself out."

The Knicks are giving up a king's ransom -- three starters and their sixth man -- but it will be all worth it if they land star point guard Chris Paul as a 2012 free agent, which was part of the thinking.

The deal will have negative connotations only because of the perception that Thomas, Dolan's loyal friend, was a major advocate of the deal.

League sources said Knicks president Donnie Walsh would not have given up as many pieces -- or at least called Denver's bluff of trading him to the Nets -- had he been completely calling the shots. Walsh often said he did not want to break up the team for Anthony, an All-Star whose teams have never gone further than the conference finals and who some league scouts believe will not fit well into coach Mike D'Antoni's system because he doesn't pass the ball enough.

But the Knicks feel relieved they did not have to give up starting rookie shooting guard Landry Fields, who they felt was a more crucial piece than Gallinari, a small forward like Anthony.

Anthony stayed in Hollywood yesterday following Sunday's All-Star Game to do the Conan O'Brien show, which was taped before the deal was completed.

"I wish it would just come to an end," Anthony said. "It's all fun and games. It's exciting to know so many people want me to come and represent their city or their organization. But at this point, it's just, enough is enough already. Let's get something done and make something happen."

And so it did. The scenario of teaming Stoudemire, Anthony and Paul began at Anthony's wedding this past summer with the point guard's infamous Champagne toast.

Billups will replace Felton at point guard, and the club does not look at the swap as a downgrade for the short term.

The Knicks still need to add a center to offset the loss of Mozgov. They hope to pursue Jared Jeffries if he gets bought out, ex-Knick Earl Barron or a D-League player.

The bigger picture to the trade is having a shot to add a third superstar in Paul or Deron Williams in 2012 to compete against Miami.

A league source said Dolan has been hell-bent on getting Anthony to keep him from the Nets' Russian owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who has become a rival. Denver preferred the Nets' draft-pick-laden trade offer until Mozgov was added.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/knicks_swing_trade_for_sought_after_yRPewfRTOixZOu8nYYRZPP#ixzz1EgbqK63e

Monday, February 21st 2011, 4:25 PM

Herbert/AP

First lady Michelle Obama, seen here at a "Let's Move" event, angered Rush Limbaugh with her dietary choices last weekend.

Edmonds/AP

Rush Limbaugh disapproved of her choice of ribs.

He may be no model of fitness himself, but Rush Limbaugh thinks Michelle Obama could stand to shed a few pounds.

Especially before telling other people what to eat.

The conservative talk show host slammed the First Lady in his radio show Monday after she was spotted in Colorado snacking on some short ribs. The vacation dinner, Limbaugh charged, went against the First Lady's emphasis on promoting nutrition and exercise.

And he didn't exactly mince words.

"The problem is, and dare I say this, it doesn't look like Michelle Obama follows her own nutritionary, dietary advice," he said. "And then we hear that she's out eating ribs at 1,500 calories a serving with 141 grams of fat per serving ... I'm trying to say that our First Lady does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue or of a woman Alex Rodriguez might date every six months or what have you."

The First Lady's health initiatives encourage people to make better choices about what foods they eat, and emphasizes getting enough fruits and vegetables daily. She also encourages everyone, especially children, to get outside and exercise in her "Let's Move" campaign.

"We want to make sure that people understand this is about overall health and physical fitness is ... something that I stress in my household. It is a part of that. It's a natural part of your life," she said on Good Morning America earlier this month. "My kids have to get up and move. They can't sit in front of the TV. I have my girls involved in sports because I want them, as young women, to understand what it feels like to compete and to win and to run and to sweat. ... This is about all of that, as well."

When the diet report was published by a Colorado newspaper, she was at a Vail resort skiing with daughters Sasha and Malia. She took them to Restaurant Kelly Liken in Vail Village on Saturday night, according to Vail Daily, where she ate a braised ancho-chile short rib with hominy wild mushrooms and sautéed kale. She also began the meal with a pickled pumpkin salad with arugala.

"Yes, it's true, the first lady dined at our restaurant tonight and seemed to really enjoy it," restaurant chef and owner Kelly Liken told the newspaper.

Limbaugh's not the first conservative to slam her nutrition choices. Fellow conservative darling Sarah Palin often ridicules the First Lady's efforts, arguing it's not up to the Obamas or the government to tell Americans what to eat.

"What she is telling us is she cannot trust parents to make decisions for their own children, for their own families in what we should eat," the ex-Alaska governor told radio host Laura Ingraham in November. "Instead of a government thinking that they need to take over and make decisions for us according to some politician's or politician's wife's priorities, just leave us alone . . . "

Limbaugh suggested he just didn't think the Obamas were following their own advice.

"She's a hypocrite. Leaders are supposed to be leaders. If we're supposed to go out and eat nothing, if we're supposed to eat roots and berries and tree bark, show us how," he ranted.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/02/21/2011-02-21_rush_limbaugh_calls_michelle_obama_a_hypocrite_after_first_lady_reportedly_eats_.html

Texas poised to pass bill allowing guns on campus

20 February 2011 10:53 PM

AUSTIN — Texas may be preparing to give college students and professors the right to carry guns on campus, adding momentum to a national campaign to open this part of society to firearms.

More than half the members of the Texas House have signed on as co-authors of a measure directing universities to allow concealed handguns. The Senate passed a similar bill in 2009 and is expected to do so again. Republican Gov. Rick Perry  , who sometimes packs a pistol when he jogs, has said he’s in favor of the idea.

Bills are still in committee so nothing has come up for a House or Senate vote yet.

Texas has become a prime battleground for the issue because of its gun culture and its size, with 38 public universities and more than 500,000 students. It would become the second state, following Utah  , to pass such a broad-based law. Colorado gives colleges the option and several have allowed handguns.

Supporters of the legislation argue that gun violence on campuses, such as the mass shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007 and Northern Illinois in 2008, show that the best defense against a gunman is students who can shoot back.

“It’s strictly a matter of self-defense,” said state Sen. Jeff Wentworth  , R-San Antonio  . “I don’t ever want to see repeated on a Texas college campus what happened at Virginia Tech, where some deranged, suicidal madman goes into a building and is able to pick off totally defenseless kids like sitting ducks.”

Until the Virginia Tech incident, the worst college shooting in U.S. history occurred at the University of Texas, when sniper Charles Whitman went to the top of the administration tower in 1966 and killed 16 people and wounded dozens. Last September, a University of Texas student fired several shots from an assault rifle before killing himself.

Similar firearms measures have been proposed in about a dozen other states, but all face strong opposition, especially from college leaders. In Oklahoma, all 25 public college and university presidents declared their opposition to a concealed carry proposal.

“There is no scenario where allowing concealed weapons on college campuses will do anything other than create a more dangerous environment for students, faculty, staff and visitors,” Oklahoma Chancellor of Higher Education Glen Johnson said in January.

University of Texas President William Powers has opposed concealed handguns on campus, saying the mix of students, guns and campus parties is too volatile.

The majority of adult Texans, 70 percent, surveyed in a poll in December and January opposed allowing guns on campus. The poll for The Dallas Morning News and other large newspapers in the state had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

Guns on campus bills have been rejected in 23 states since 2007, but gun control activists acknowledge it will be difficult to stop the Texas bill from passing this year.

“Things do look bleak,” said Colin Goddard, assistant director of federal legislation for the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence, who was in Austin recently to lobby against the Texas bills.

Goddard was a student at Virginia Tech when he was shot four times in his French class. Student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people, including 10 in Goddard’s classroom, before shooting himself. Goddard dismisses the idea that another student with a gun could have stopped the killer.

“People tell me that if they would have been there, they would have shot that guy. That offends me,” Goddard said. “People want to be the hero, I understand that. They play video games and they think they understand the reality. It’s nothing like that.”

Texas enacted its concealed handgun law in 1995, allowing people 21 or older to carry weapons if they pass a training course and a background check. The state had 461,724 license holders as of Dec. 31, according to the state Department of Public Safety  .

Businesses, schools and churches can set rules banning guns on their premises. On college campuses, guns are prohibited in buildings, dorms and certain grounds around them.

Opponents of campus gun rights say students and faculty would live in fear of their classmates and colleagues, not knowing who might pull a gun over a poor grade, a broken romance or a drunken fraternity argument.

Frankie Shulkin, a first-year law student at the University of Texas, said he doesn’t think he’d feel safer if other students in his classes had guns.

“If I was taking an exam and knew the person next to me had one, I don’t know how comfortable I would feel,” Shulkin said. “I am in favor of guns rights and your typical conservative guy, but the classroom thing bugs me.”

Wentworth said he heard the “blood on the streets” warnings when Texas first passed the concealed handgun law. “They said we’d have shootouts at every intersection,” he said. “None of that has happened.”

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/hillsborough/mom's-public-punishment-stirs-debate-02162011

Facebook remark wasn’t racist, Hagan says

Published: Sun, February 20, 2011 @ 12:09 a.m.

In this undated photo released by Ohio House of Representatives, Rep. Robert F. Hagan, D-Youngstown, is shown.

(AP Photo/Larry Phillips Photography Inc. via Ohio House of Representatives)

Denise Dick

YOUNGSTOWN

A Broadview Heights woman is accusing state Rep. Robert F. Hagan of using a term that some believe has a racist connotation on a social networking site.

Hagan, D-60th, of Youngstown, used the term “buckwheat” in a Facebook posting Saturday.

He said the posting wasn’t racist, and the attack on him is the tea party’s attempt to make him look bad.

“I have a history of supporting equal rights and civil rights,” Hagan said.

The Facebook discussion started between Hagan and Maggi Cook, of Southwest Ohio, regarding Wisconsin Senate Democrats not showing up at their Statehouse because of their governor’s attempts to remove collective bargaining rights and cut benefits for public workers.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich has proposed similar cuts.

Hagan opposes the cuts.

Rachel Mullen Manias, a GOP activist from Broadview Heights, outside Cleveland; a man named Kevin Crowther and others joined the discussion.

The discussion continues, with Manias, Cook and Crowther, who is black, arguing for the need for cuts and Hagan against what’s bee n proposed.

Manias then wrote, “I’m guessing your (sic) from an entrenched area ripe with corruption. I don’t recognize your name as a Cuyahoga County resident, but I’m guessing you’re from the land of Traficant...”

Hagan responds that she’s not making sense. Two others comment and then Crowther returns to the discussion of public unions.

Then Hagan writes, “I ran against Traficant buckwheat ... so take your personal shots, and shove them where the sun don’t shine.”

Hagan said “buckwheat” is a term he’s been using since he was a kid and that it carries no racial connotation for him.

He said he wasn’t aware of the race of any of the people involved in the discussion and that his comment was directed at Manias, not Crowther.

Manias, who e-mailed the discussion to The Vindicator, believes the word is inappropriate in any case.

“I find it completely unacceptable that a career politician finds the word ‘Buckwheat’ to be socially acceptable and appropriate in any situation,” Manias said in an e-mail. “If my children used that racially offensive term towards anyone, I’d wash their mouths out with soap.”

She said her Facebook profile picture is of the Hello Kitty cartoon character.

“If he was directing it to me, how did he know what race I am?” she said in the e-mail. “Also there were African-Americans reading and commenting. How are they to feel? Since Al Sharpton is coming to Akron, maybe he should swing by Youngstown and ask Bob about the appropriateness of the term ‘Buckwheat.’”

Crowther of Liberty Township in Southwest Ohio, believes the term was directed at him.

“I was offended by that,” Crowther said.

He called it an odd and inappropriate thing for Hagan to say.

“I felt it was beneath somebody that we’d elect” to say it, Crowther said.

Hagan said it’s an attempt to make him look bad.

“They are so full of ----,” he said. “They’re so negative, these teabaggers.”

He said that Republicans, as the ones who are cutting programs for the poor and rights for public employees, should be the ones defending themselves.

“I have no apologies for telling her to shove it where the sun don’t shine,” Hagan said. “I’m a liberal. I’m happy to be a liberal. I’m a progressive liberal and I have a record of fighting for equal rights, for civil rights, for women’s rights. The only thing I regret is responding to them at all.”

LINK TO GALLERY OF FACEBOOK COMMENTS:

http://www.vindy.com/photos/galleries/2011/feb/19/bob-hagan-facebook-comments/

February 21, 2011

Michelle Obama's big 'sacrifices' on her Vail vacation

Jeannie DeAngelis

It has been almost a month and a half since the Obama family returned from 10 days in Oahu.  With all the breastfeeding advice she's been giving out lately, an exhausted First Lady is long overdue for some R & R. 

Relinquishing her role as tireless workaholic, Michelle decided to revisit last year's mother/daughter ski trip to the Ski Liberty Resort in Carroll Valley, Pennsylvania.  Only this year, the Obama women have taken to the slopes in Vail, Colorado on a "private family trip" accompanied by "several close friends."

When unveiling his budget, Michelle's husband reminded Americans, "Everybody's going to have to give a little bit."  The President even suggested: "If you're a family trying to cut back, you might skip going out to dinner, you might put off a vacation."

According to Obama, "Just like every family in America, the federal government has to ... live within its means."  Which is exactly what Mrs. Obama is doing, spending time with her daughters at a resort that is much more modest than she's used to.

Actually, the whole excursion to Vail Mountain is one of self-sacrifice.  According to administration officials, the First Lady and friends are merely "chaperoning...children on a ski trip," otherwise Michelle would likely be home hunkered down, tirelessly working in the "Let's Move" office of the White House. 

On a tight budget, the ski trip is but a few steps above a school-sponsored field trip.  The chaperones are staying at the Sebastian Hotel, where lodging starts at "$605 per night ... and head north of $2,000 for multi-bedroom suites."  Those rates are certainly more modest than the $6,600 a night Mrs. Obama was rumored to have spent at the Hotel Villa Padierna in Costa del Sol. 

The Sebastian touts "spas, a Frost Bar, a Market for nibbles, a mountain-view pool, hot tubs and a fire pit."  A bevy of ski valets assist patrons "into warm boots and out onto the mountain," which is just the kind of pared-down amenity that penny-pinchers across America can easily relate to.

Michelle arrived with "A motorcade of about a dozen vehicles, including 15 state and local law enforcement officers, traveled from the Eagle County Regional Airport to Vail...Roads were temporarily blocked to make way for the motorcade."

Despite the extravagant entourage, when it comes to frugality Mrs. Obama is a pro.  A flight from DC to Colorado is 1,700 miles and takes approximately 3 hours.  Although the First Lady usually employs a large Air Force jet to ferry her from vacation spot to vacation spot, this time she answered the call to live within the Obama family means in the following way: To save money, instead of Air Force One, which costs about $100,000 per hour to fly, Michelle chose a less expensive jet. 

Not including the weight of ski equipment, a fair guesstimation would be that the Michelle Vail Vacation one-way flight cost much less than what would otherwise have set the American taxpayer back $300,000. 

Moreover, Michelle's savvy decision to travel as often as possible without Barack also eliminates about 180 pounds of excess baggage weight, and in the long run helps in tamping down overall costs. 

As an added budgetary bonus, the President joined Michelle in setting an example of prudence.  Barry saved coaching fees for Sasha's basketball team when another coach failed to show up.  Although Sasha was on the bunny slope with Mom in Vail, our thrifty President paused stirring up union trouble in Wisconsin long enough to serve America as a "parent coach" for a team of nine year-old girls, and selflessly did it for free.

UPDATE:

The Obamas Continue With Non-stop Partying and Vacations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd37FMzUBtw&feature=player_embedded

http://www.reporternews.com/news/2011/feb/21/presidents-day-quiz/?partner=yahoo_feeds