truesee's Blog

Bob Egelko

Chronicle Staff Writer

 

Friday, March 12, 2010

"To be a real American, you believe in God, and the judiciary unfortunately sometimes can't be trusted to uphold our constitutional rights when you're a disenfranchised minority." -- Michael Newdow, a Sacramento atheist who filed suit, on the messages sent by the ruling.

 

Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, File / AP

(03-11) 17:32 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- The federal court that touched off a furor in 2002 by declaring the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance to be an unconstitutional endorsement of religion took another look at the issue Thursday and said the phrase invokes patriotism, not religious faith.

The daily schoolroom ritual is not a prayer, but instead "a recognition of our founders' political philosophy that a power greater than the government gives the people their inalienable rights," said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in a 2-1 ruling.

"Thus, the pledge is an endorsement of our form of government, not of religion or any particular sect."

The dissenting judge, Stephen Reinhardt, said statements by members of Congress who added "under God" to the pledge in 1954 show conclusively that it was intended to "indoctrinate our nation's children with a state-held religious belief."

In a separate ruling, the same panel upheld the use of the national motto, "In God We Trust," on coins and currency. The language is patriotic and ceremonial, not religious, the court said. Reinhardt reluctantly joined the 3-0 decision, saying he was bound by the court's newly established precedent in the pledge case.

Atheist sued

Both suits were filed by Michael Newdow, a Sacramento atheist who has brought numerous challenges to government-sponsored religious invocations. He said he would appeal the rulings to the full appellate court and the U.S. Supreme Court, but was not optimistic.

The rulings sent two messages, Newdow said: "To be a real American, you believe in God, and the judiciary unfortunately sometimes can't be trusted to uphold our constitutional rights when you're a disenfranchised minority."

Former Justice Department lawyer Gregory Katsas, who represented the Bush administration in the pledge case when the court heard it in 2007, heard a different message: that "one nation, under God" suggests a government that "is limited and bound to respect individual rights."

Swift reaction

Newdow first challenged the Pledge of Allegiance in 2000 on behalf of his daughter, a student in a Sacramento-area elementary school. The appeals court ruled in June 2002 that the addition of "under God" was religiously motivated and sent "a message to nonbelievers that they are outsiders," in violation of the constitutional separation of church and state.

Congress reacted furiously, passing a resolution with virtually no dissenting votes that denounced the decision. The court put its ruling on hold until the case reached the Supreme Court, which sidestepped the constitutional issue and ruled that Newdow could not represent his daughter's interests because her mother had legal custody.

Newdow then refiled the suit on behalf of the parent of a kindergartner in the Sacramento suburb of Rio Linda. He won the first round before a federal judge in 2005, but a new appeals court panel issued a 193-page ruling Thursday upholding the pledge.

Pledge isn't prayer

In the majority opinion, Judge Carlos Bea acknowledged that "the words 'under God' have religious significance," but said they do not "convert the pledge into a prayer." Reinhardt, a member of the 2002 panel that found the language unconstitutional, said Thursday's majority ignored overwhelming evidence of religious motivation by the 1954 Congress.

He cited statements by numerous lawmakers denouncing atheistic communism and declaring a belief in God to be part of the American way of life. Reinhardt also pointed to President Dwight Eisenhower's signing statement that millions of schoolchildren would now proclaim "the dedication of our nation and its people to the Almighty."

During the same period, Reinhardt said, Congress adopted "In God We Trust" as the national motto, ordered it inscribed on paper money and established an annual National Prayer Breakfast.

By inserting religious language into the pledge, Reinhardt said, "we abandoned our historic principle that secular matters were for the state and matters of faith were for the church."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/12/BAS71CEC9F.DTL&sfgabt=ttmabta#ixzz0i7A2Yx0A

Woman, 92, charged with murder

ALICIA WOOD

Sydney Morning Herald

March 14, 2010

A 92-YEAR-OLD woman has been charged with murdering her 98-year-old husband in their Sydney home.

Clara Tang, of Surry Hills, was assisted by a Mandarin interpreter when she faced Parramatta Local Court yesterday via video link.

Police had found her husband in the lounge room of their home in Connaught Apartments, on Liverpool Street, about 9.40pm on Friday.

He had head injuries. A relative had contacted police and expressed concerns for his welfare.

Mrs Tang, who did not apply for bail, showed no recollection of what had transpired in the apartment when she appeared in court.

Magistrate Kevin Flack agreed that MrsTang was apparently suffering from severe dementia. She was taken to a psychiatric facility.

Mrs Tang will appear in Central Local Court tomorrow.

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/pets/2010/03/13/2010-03-13_golden_retriever_swallows_20000_diamond.html

http://www.wbaltv.com/weather/10165358/detail.html

http://www.ketv.com/news/22816836/detail.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/the-beatles/7427178/New-photos-of-Beatles-John-Lennon-appear-after-40-years.html

March 12, 2010 06:44 PM

New Rule: Let's Not Fire the Teachers When Students Don't Learn -- Let's Fire the Parents

New Rule: Let's not fire the teachers when students don't learn - let's fire the parents. Last week President Obama defended the firing of every single teacher in a struggling high school in a poor Rhode Island neighborhood. And the kids were outraged. They said, "Why blame our teachers?" and "Who's President Obama?" I think it was Whitney Houston who said, "I believe that children are our future - teach them well and let them lead the way." And that's the last sound piece of educational advice this country has gotten - from a crack head in the '80's.

Yes, America has found its new boogeyman to blame for our crumbling educational system. It's just too easy to blame the teachers, what with their cushy teachers' lounges, their fat-cat salaries, and their absolute authority in deciding who gets a hall pass. We all remember high school - canning the entire faculty is a nationwide revenge fantasy. Take that, Mrs. Crabtree! And guess what? We're chewing gum and no, we didn't bring enough for everybody.

But isn't it convenient that once again it turns out that the problem isn't us, and the fix is something that doesn't require us to change our behavior or spend any money. It's so simple: Fire the bad teachers, hire good ones from some undisclosed location, and hey, while we're at it let's cut taxes more. It's the kind of comprehensive educational solution that could only come from a completely ignorant people.

Firing all the teachers may feel good - we're Americans, kicking people when they're down is what we do - but it's not really their fault. Now, undeniably, there are some bad teachers out there. They don't know the material, they don't make things interesting, they have sex with the same kid every day instead of spreading the love around... But every school has crappy teachers. Yale has crappy teachers - they must, they gave us George Bush.

According to all the studies, it doesn't matter what teachers do. Although everyone appreciates foreplay. What matters is what parents do. The number one predictor of a child's academic success is parental involvement. It doesn't even matter if your kid goes to private or public school. So save the twenty grand a year and treat yourself to a nice vacation away from the little s.

It's also been proven that just having books in the house makes a huge difference in a child's development. If your home is adorned with nothing but Hummel dolls, DVD's, and bleeding Jesuses, congratulations, you've just given your children the gift of Duh. Sarah Palin said recently she wrote on her hand because her father used to do it. I rest my case.

When there are no books in the house, and there are no parents in the house, you know who raises the kids? That's right, the television. Kids aren't keeping up with their studies; they're keeping up with the Kardashians. We're allowing the television, as babysitter, to turn us into a nation of slutty idiots. By the way, one sign your 9-year-old may be watching too much One Tree Hill: if she has an imaginary friend with benefits.

Clinton Slams Israel's Settlement Plans: 'Deeply Negative Signal'

MATTHEW LEE | 03/12/10 09:26 PM |

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday delivered a stinging rebuke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his government's announcement this week of new Jewish housing in east Jerusalem, calling it "a deeply negative signal" for the Mideast peace process and ties with the U.S.

The State Department said Clinton spoke to Netanyahu by phone for 43 minutes to vent U.S. frustration with Tuesday's announcement that cast a pall over a visit to Israel by Vice President Joe Biden and endangered indirect peace talks with the Palestinians that the Obama administration had announced just a day earlier.

 

The length and unusually blunt tone of Clinton's call underscored the administration's concern about prospects for the negotiations it has been trying to organize for more than a year and its anger over Israel's refusal to heed U.S. appeals not to make provocative gestures.

"The announcement of the settlements on the very day that the vice president was there was insulting," Clinton said in an interview with CNN Friday. "It was just really a very unfortunate and difficult moment for everyone, the U.S., our vice president who had gone to reassert America's strong support for Israeli security, and I regret deeply that that occurred and made that view known."

Clinton called "to make clear that the United States considered the announcement to be a deeply negative signal about Israel's approach to the bilateral relationship and counter to the spirit of the vice president's trip," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters.

"The secretary said she could not understand how this happened, particularly in light of the United States' strong commitment to Israel's security and she made clear that the Israeli government needed to demonstrate not just through words but through specific actions that they are committed to this relationship and to the peace process," he said.

The harsh criticism of America's closest Mideast ally and questions about its commitment to the U.S.-Israeli relationship followed equally blunt condemnation of the housing announcement from the White House and Biden himself.

It also comes ahead of a trip to the region by U.S. Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell and a meeting in Moscow next week of the Quartet of Mideast peacemakers that Clinton will attend.

Hours after the call to Netanyahu, the Quartet – the U.S., European Union, United Nations and Russia – denounced the Israeli announcement in a statement from the world body's headquarters in New York where Clinton was addressing a commission on the status of women and meeting with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon.

"The Quartet has agreed to closely monitor developments in Jerusalem and to keep under consideration additional steps that may be required to address the situation on the ground," the statement said.

It did not elaborate on what steps it would consider but said the Quartet members "would take full stock of the situation" when they meet in the Russian capital next Friday.

The Quartet has long urged both Israel and the Palestinians not to take any steps that could hinder peace talks. Crowley stressed that the United States objected to both the content and timing of the announcement and said Clinton had "reinforced that this action had undermined trust and confidence in the peace process and in America's interests."

Netanyahu has apologized for the timing, though not the substance, of the announcement to approve 1,600 new homes for Jews in east Jerusalem. The international community does not recognize Israel's annexation of east Jerusalem – captured in the 1967 Mideast war – and the Palestinians see that part of the city as their own future capital.

Earlier Friday, an Israeli cabinet minister said the government is moving to amend the country's planning procedures on sensitive political decisions because of the embarrassing diplomatic flap. Netanyahu has said he was not aware the announcement was going to be made during Biden's visit.

The Israeli announcement enraged the Palestinians and Arab states, jeopardizing the proximity talks Mitchell is to mediate. An Arab League advisory committee has already withdrawn its endorsement of the discussions.

In a bid to salvage those negotiations, Mitchell and the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, Jeffrey Feltman, called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Arab League chief Amr Moussa and the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates over the past two days, Crowley said.

That's my corpse! Funeral director scrambles to retrieve body after tow truck hooks his minivan

 

 

A funeral van carrying a body was towed from Redden's Funeral Home on West 14th Street.

 

 

Smith for NewsFuneral director Paul DeNigris said the minivan had a windshield placard (below), but admitted it had fallen flat and was hard to detect.

 

 Smith for News

On the road to eternal peace, a body left inside a funeral home minivan wound up at hell on earth: the city tow pound.

The unscheduled stop came after a police tow truck hooked the illegally parked vehicle outside Redden's Funeral Home on W. 14th St.

The dearly departed was soon heading for a lot off the West Side Highway, with the truck driver handling the last rights - and a few lefts - on the ride through Chelsea.

Funeral director Paul DeNigris said he nearly died after walking outside the business Monday afternoon to find his client no longer resting in peace.

"I was just a wreck," DeNigris told the Daily News. "I was frantic. When something like that happens, you go into panic mode."

The corpse was finally rescued after 90 undignified minutes in Manhattan's most miserable locale, trapped amid scofflaws and irate out-of-towners.

DeNigris had parked his silver 2002 Dodge in a "No Parking Anytime" zone outside the funeral home. The body, in a white cardboard box, was headed for Newark Airport and a flight to Miami for cremation.

DeNigris said he stepped inside to pick up some paperwork, took a phone call, and returned to find ... nothing.

"The car was just gone," he said yesterday.

The NYPD said the van was ticketed at 9:22 a.m. - and then towed nearly three hours later, at 12:07 p.m.

"There was nothing to indicate it was more than just an illegally parked car," said NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne.

The terrified DeNigris was at the pound within minutes, explaining his improbable plight and showing his funeral home paperwork.

"I tried not to be too loud," he recounted. "I didn't want to scream, 'I'm the guy from the funeral home with the car with the person in the back.'

"We try to be discreet."

The car and its human cargo were returned at 1:40 p.m., with Redden driving to Newark in time to put the body on the Florida flight.

He declined to provide any information about the victim.

DeNigris said the minivan had a windshield placard reading "Funeral Director on Official Business," but acknowledged it had fallen flat and was hard to detect.

The van's tinted windows helped obscure the box packed in its rear, he said.

Redden's will start putting signs identifying its vehicles in the rear and side windows to prevent a repeat.

The tow pound, in a show of respect despite the bizarre circumstances, waived the $185 fee when returning the minivan.

DeNigris said he planned to fight the $115 parking ticket, claiming a funeral business vehicle transporting a body is immune to parking regulations.

If he loses, DeNigris said, that's the cost of doing business in the city.

"It's frustrating," he said. "It's aggravating. But this is New York City. Things like this are not uncommon."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/03/12/2010-03-12_tow_no_thats_my_corpse_he_undertakes_mission_to_get_back_body_from_the_city_poun.html#ixzz0i0tvytVw

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=18594318

Cops: Man hit kids at store for thrill

68-year-old arrested Wednesday in Ohio

Updated: Friday, 12 Mar 2010, 1:47 PM EST
Published : Friday, 12 Mar 2010, 1:38 PM EST

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Police in Ohio say a man in a Walmart store punched children with a key protruding from his fist and told investigators it was a thrill.

Sixty-eight-year-old Ralph Conone was arrested at a Columbus Walmart Wednesday after a mother told the store her 6-year-old son said Conone hit him.

The boy was treated for a minor cut on the head. Police say a brother also had been struck.

Sgt. John Hurst says Conone told police it was exciting to hit children with their parents nearby.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.woodtv.com/dpps/news/strange/police-man-hit-children-at-walmart-for-thrill-jgr_3269141

When Conone was in court Friday on two counts of assault, a judge set bond at $150,000 and told him to keep out of Walmarts. His public defender said Conone is manic depressive.

Police say they're looking for two other children seen getting struck on store video.

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/22804577/detail.html

Japanese woman graduates from school at age of 91

 RIA Novosti

Vladimir Fedorenko

10/03/2010

A 91-year-old woman has graduated from evening school in southern Japan, the daily Mainichi Simbun paper reported on Wednesday.

The Kobe evening school is for people who failed to receive a secondary education because of difficult circumstances.

"I had to sacrifice a lot and give up a lot," Sidzue Hirai said.

Hirai was orphaned in early childhood and had to start to work at the age of twelve. She married at the age of 18 but her husband was killed in World War Two. After marrying again, her house was destroyed by an earthquake in 2007.

"This school has returned my youth to me. I've received back everything I lost. I would like to continue my education further and I believe this day is to be a start of a new path in my life", she said at a graduation ceremony.

 

TOKYO, March 10 (RIA Novosti)

http://www.click2houston.com/news/22812566/detail.html

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/orl-cartgal-dana-summers,0,3460047.cartoongallery

 

Syndicated Cartoons

 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/orl-syn-cartgallery,0,5557099.photogallery