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The 'Sympathy for the Devil' Edition...
Glen Beck(-elzebub) - or perhaps some unearthly entity clothed in Glenn Beck's skin - on Faux and Fiends, discussing the Miranda Rights of alleged Times Square car bomber Faisal Shahzad said… "He is a citizen of the United States, so I say we uphold the laws and the Constitution on citizens… If you are a citizen, you obey the law and follow the Constitution. He has all the rights under the Constitution… We don't shred the Constitution when it is popular. We do the right thing"...
You weren't expecting that, were you? I don't think anybody was...
Quote Unquote: Glenn Beck on Faisal Shahzad's Rights | Indecision Forever | Comedy Central
and Huff Post
Sooooooo....
Who among you has the courage to stand with Beck(-elzebub) and for the record
state that you agree with him on this issue?
(haha! This too delicious!)
A goodly collection of stalwart souls did (some sorta) and here they are!
maw succinct as ever was responded...
Agree, what's not to agree with?
(No fair! My answer!)
Adam in NoHo is back with...
Argh- I dallied too long answering the double-header... (We missed ya!)
Anyway...I do stand with Glen Beck on this (I think he did this just to make the crazy seem more palatable- 'well, honey', he was right about that Miranda thing...'). Shahzad is a legal US citizen (unlike John McCain whose provenance is dubious, at best). He gets his Miranda rights just like everyone else.
DRD sent...
Regardless of the messenger, the message stays the same. If Mr. Beck agrees with the intent of the Founding Fathers then we have little choice but to clone his words, admiring or disliking him matters not! Men of the caliber of Adolph Hitler are reported to have uttered phrases that were right on in their truthfulness, though this was very rare indeed!! So, from this we find that each of us has the ability to spew forth good speech as well as rotten speech and the ears of the hearer must define the difference. Me, I'm very pleased to hear of him holding this position and would hope more were willing to step forward and speak from the heart their true feelings on this subject matter! Remember, it is not what a man puts into his mouth, but rather what comes out of his mouth that defiles him! (I like that...)
bebo said...
even a blind sow will find an acorn.
(A wise old Russian proverb, I believe. Too true...)
Baron Dave insightfully wrote...
Glenn Beck can be right now and again. He's an amoral sociopath who's only in it for the money. If he knows the difference between right and wrong, he doesn't show it very often, What he says is irrelevant to the law, one way or the other. I'm glad he came down on the right side in this incident, but it was an accident.
That having been said, you hit on one of my (many) bugaboos: People don't have "Miranda Rights". They have "Constitutional Rights". The ruling in MIranda v. Arizona did not establish any new rights for anyone. The ruling said that everyone needed to know their constitutional rights and be given a "Miranda Warning".
Ignorance of the law is no excuse for a crime, and ignorance of your rights is not an excuse for the legal system to deny them.
This is not a difficult concept, I should think. We're the good guys. We follow the rule of law. We either have enough real evidence to convict someone, or they are presumed innocent. The law says that everyone (not just citizens) can't be run roughshod over.
There is a reasonable explanation and discussion at http://www.usconstitution.net/miranda.html which concludes: "As for Ernesto Miranda, his conviction was thrown out, though he did not become a free man. The police had other evidence that was independent of the confession, and when Miranda was tried a second time, he was convicted again. After release from prison, Miranda was killed in a barroom brawl in 1976."
Of course Faisal Shahzad should have been read the Miranda Warning. Are we so afraid that we have forgotten what America is all about? I regard the whole discussion as demonstrating that the terrorists have won.
Boston Jane exclaimed...
Why, you rotten . . . This is entrapment!
(Haha! The object of the exercise, as it were)
Nonetheless, BECK IS RIGHT this ONE time.
(Yup, and that's a fact)
Richard McD. hesitates...
I'll wait for him to finish his thought process before passing judgment. Past history shows he thinks in parts, and finishes in fits of madness.
(A good plot for a Stephen King novel, perhaps?)
DanD expounded...
Well, I've stood along Pope Benny-the-Rat when he stated that (and -- since I don't speak Latin -- I paraphrase), "All us guys who wear funny dresses while we work at church should avoid buggering little boys (and girls ...) while doing the Lord's work, and if we can't, we should get a different job!"
I Stood with George W. when he insisted: "Let's teach our childrens gooder English~"
... and I've even (kinda') wanted to vote for Al Gore as a preferred leader (right before he started industrially endorsing fake "Climate-Change" science).
Beck may also say, "It's after midnight!" and he will always be right, at the most, 23 hours and 59 minutes previously, was a previous midnight for it to be after.
It's not the truth that evil will depend on in order to fulfill its agenda. Instead, it's how very clever little (or monstrous) lies are sparingly peppered throughout all those many truths. This is also how a clever con man "Poisons the Well" with what really is true ... he simply gets a fraud to endorse it!
This is what has happened with the Tea Party crowd. Fundamentally, the T-Partier's focus on how illegal (or criminal) migration (mostly from south-of-the-border) is destroying the rule of law throughout America is quite accurate. Unfortunately, because the bagger version of this movement is so extreme in its pseudo-religious meanderings and misconceptions, their handjobedness simply overshadows even the expert realities of the more expansive problem. Nobody wants to be associated with a "Tea-Bagger," even when they do cross a Rubicon of truth.
And, Jencin, running late, added...
Oh sure, I'll agree with what he said and his right to say it because to disagree would be to compromise my own beliefs and principles and nobody - especiall a Faux denizen - is going to cause me to do that.
McCain, Cantor and others who differ are members of the "peace through strength" pontificators. That, loosely, translates to pumping the iron and flinging testostorone in an effort to intimidate the world at large - attitude they hope will translate to votes in November.
It's wicked hard to agree with anything Beck says. He and Sarah Palin take turn-about on my worst person in the world list. Plus, I suspect an ulterior motive somewhere in the mix.
However ... in for a penny, in for a pound. I'll stand by my initial comment.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Most satisfactory and I must say... Thankyewverymuch... (Plus) Yer the Best!
BadToTheBoneBob
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New Question
The 'Petitioning for Polanski' Edition
CANNES -- To sign or not to sign is the big question at this year's Festival de Cannes, and there's not a deal memo in sight. But then a petition in support of director Roman Polanski, who is under house arrest in Switzerland in connection with a 33-year-old sex scandal, is always going to set tongues wagging... The petition, posted on a website overseen by French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, asks for "justice" from the Swiss authorities...
Roman Polanski petition circulating at Cannes
What manner of "justice" do you think would be appropriate for Roman Polanski?
Send your response to
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Going to Extreme (nytimes.com)
Has the Republican Party become more extreme, or is the country just beginning to notice?
Carolyn Foster Segal: "To Grade or Not to Grade: That Is the Assessment" (irascibleprofessor.com)
Topping The Chronicle of Higher Education's list of most "e-mailed" articles for several weeks this spring was a piece on outsourcing grading (Audrey Williams June, "Some Papers Are Uploaded to Bangalore to Be Graded").
Roger Ebert: Hey! Don't call ME a dirty Commie!
The impression is spreading that I have drawn an equation between the American flag and the hammer and the sickle. I'm currently serving for target practice on some right-wing websites, and a group of Tweeters are having jolly fun portraying me as an America hater and worse.
Polly Stenham: I ploughed on and made lucky rookie choices (guardian.co.uk)
Polly Stenham, the acclaimed English playwright, talks to Hermione Holby about opening in New York, her crippling shyness and why we need more dogs.
Anjelica Huston: My father John's wildest shoot (guardian.co.uk)
Poisonous snakes, filthy water, a diet of whisky and a leading lady throwing up between takes . . . Anjelica Huston tells Steve Rose how her father filmed his classic,'The African Queen.'
Chris Riemenschneider: "David Letterman: The greatest TV host in the world!" (Star Tribune)
Taking the stage for the pre-show warm-up, he ran out like a champion fighter with surprising speed and grace. And then he leaned over in anguish, feigning lower back pain.
Kevin Thomas: "Remembrance: 'Metropolis' director Fritz Lang" (Los Angeles Times)
The German expatriate was a force to be reckoned with, but he also had a softer side.
Kenneth Turan: "MOVIE REVIEW: 'Metropolis'" (Los Angeles Times)
Fritz Lang's newly restored 1927 masterwork includes 25 minutes of lost footage that adds wonders to the film's narrative energy.
Amanda Mitchison: "Maxine Peake: The misfit" (guardian.co.uk)
Maxine Peake has gone from prog rock-loving student to one of Britain's great acting hopes. Why did it take so long?
Mary McNamara: "Hugh Laurie: Cantankerous heart and soul of 'House'" (Los Angeles Times)
When "House" debuted on Fox in the fall of 2004, coverage quickly evolved into two basic story lines: Sherlock Holmes and Hugh Laurie.
Madeleine Marr: "Joan Cusack: mom first, then movie star" (Los Angeles Times)
Fans of 1984's teen classic "Sixteen Candles" probably can't imagine Joan Cusack as a mom. It's hard to erase the image of her playing the ultimate geek in a head retainer trying unsuccessfully to grab a drink at a water fountain.
Roger Ebert: "Cannes #1: On a darkling plain"
Fifty years ago, the Palme d'Or winner at Cannes was Fellini's "La Dolce Vita." More every year I realize that it was the film of my lifetime. But indulge me while I list some more titles.
wrote:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast and cool.
Stars Raise Funds
Tennessee
Country music singers Brad Paisley, Keith Urban and Lady Antebellum joined other entertainment stars in performing and answering phones to help raise more than $1.5 million for flood relief for Tennessee.
Paisley kicked off the telethon with an energized version of his song "Welcome To The Future."
Sheryl Crow took the stage to perform a new song, calling herself a newcomer in Nashville since moving here five years ago.
Other performers included Martina McBride, Rodney Atkins, new artist Randy Montana, gospel singer CeCe Winans, blues singer Keb' Mo', and Christian artist Jaci Velasquez.
Tennessee
Winners Announced
Polar Music Prize
Italian composer Ennio Morricone and Icelandic singer Bjork have won the 2010 Polar Music Prize, the prize committee said Monday.
They will be invited to accept the award, which includes 1 million kronor ($130,000) each in prize money, at a ceremony in Stockholm later this year.
The Polar Music Prize is Sweden's biggest music award and is typically shared by a pop artist and a classical musician. It was founded by Stig Anderson, manager of Swedish pop group ABBA, in 1989.
Polar Music Prize
To Direct Movie Of His Comic 'Black Pearl'
Mark Hamill
Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the original three "Star Wars" films, said Monday he plans to direct "Black Pearl," a low-budget thriller adapted from his comic book about a mentally troubled masked vigilante.
"Black Pearl" is one of three movies on the inaugural slate of Berkeley Square Films, a production company for which Hamill is a board member. Hamill discussed the project at the Cannes Film Festival, sitting alongside his cousin and writing partner on the comic book, Eric Johnson, and Berkeley Square partner Paul Tamasy, both of whom co-wrote the screenplay with him.
Hamill and Johnson originally wrote "Black Pearl" as a script, but Dark Horse Comics took an interest and asked them to turn it into a graphic novel.
Mark Hamill
Walking Tour For Fans
Joy Division
Joy Division are to be commemorated with a walking tour of locations which had a formative influence on the band in their youth.
Fans from around the world already make pilgrimages to Macclesfield to find the home of late singer Ian Curtis and venues which played a part.
Now a more formal guide is to be produced, taking in more than a dozen points of interest as the Cheshire town prepares to host a celebration of the band - also featuring Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Peter Hook - to mark the 30th anniversary of Curtis's death.
The tour takes in the house at 77 Barton Street in which the singer lived with wife Debbie - and the place in which he hanged himself exactly 30 years ago on Tuesday.
Joy Division
Fox Rupert Shakes It Up"American Idol"
The search to replace Simon Cowell on "American Idol" will be the biggest issue for Fox television this summer as it tweaks the sagging TV singing contest next year to shorten the weekly results show.
Senior network executives told reporters on Monday they had listened to feedback from audiences, which have slipped by some 9 percent this year in a lackluster season that has seen challenges to "Idol"s long reign as the most-watched show on U.S. television.
There was no news on a replacement for acerbic British judge Simon Cowell -- arguably "American Idol"s biggest star -- who leaves at the end of the current season in late May.
Fox entertainment chairman Peter Rice said nationwide contestant auditions would start in September -- a month later than usual -- giving "Idol" producers and the network some breathing space.
"American Idol"
Hot Again
Peggy Lee
Music buyers still have the fever for Peggy Lee.
Perhaps best known for her smooth, sultry 1958 cover of the rhythm-and-blues hit "Fever," the late pop-jazz singer, songwriter and actress has returned to the "Billboard" Top 200 album chart hit for the first time since 1970.
A Starbucks compilation of Lee hits and lesser-known tracks, "Come Rain or Come Shine," sold some 10,000 units the first week after its release April 20, and landed at No. 51 pop, and at No. 2 on the jazz-album chart.
"She is also on the charts over in the U.K. right now," added Lee's granddaughter, Holly Foster-Wells, who is vice president of Peggy Lee Associates, which supervises her grandmother's estate. "A Serbian DJ named Gramophonedzie just did a remix of (Lee's star-making 1943 smash) 'Why Don't You Do Right?' and it is on the charts in the U.K., in Belgium and the Netherlands."
Peggy Lee
Wins Round 1
Sam Moore
A federal judge in Tennessee has rejected a bid by the Weinstein Company to dismiss a lawsuit from soul legend Sam Moore that contends the studio's 2008 film "Soul Men" violated his trademarks and rights of publicity.
The judge let company principals Harvey and Bob Weinstein off the hook personally due to jurisdictional issues, but the surviving lawsuit against the studio could be important. The case could determine whether studios have a free speech right to make biographical movies about public figures without getting permission.
Moore alleges that in 2003, the Weinstein brothers became familiar with him while producing the soul music documentary "Only the Strong Survive." A few years later, the Weinsteins began work on a new film, "Soul Men," starring Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac. The picture portrays "fictional" soul singers with similar background and experiences as Sam & Dave. The main characters even sing Moore's songs.
Moore complained to the Weinsteins after reading the script because he was concerned about his reputation, considering that the main character uses racial slurs, swears, refers to woman as "bitches" and brandishes weapons. He was told he had no case but was offered a cameo role, which Moore found to be insulting.
Sam Moore
U.S. Court Won't Hear
Cablevision/FCC
The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday that it would not hear an appeal by Cablevision Systems Corp to the Federal Communications Commission's must-carry requirement that forces cable systems to carry programing of broadcast television stations.
The high court in 1997 upheld the 1992 law that obligates cable television companies to carry local broadcast stations. But Cablevision said circumstances have since changed and the monopolistic nature of the cable industry has been replaced by vigorous competition.
The justices rejected Cablevision's appeal without any comment, siding with the FCC.
A U.S. appeals court in New York last year upheld the FCC's decision to require Cablevision's cable systems on Long Island to carry WRNN, a station from upstate New York that broadcasts mostly home-shopping programing.
Cablevision/FCC
Pleads Not Guilty
Juan Carlos Cruz
Former "Calorie Commando" TV chef Juan Carlos Cruz pleaded not guilty Monday to charges involving an alleged plot to hire two homeless men to kill his wife.
Unshaven and in handcuffs, Cruz, 48, entered the pleas to charges of attempted murder and solicitation of murder during his arraignment in Superior Court.
The former Food Network host could face life in prison if convicted.
Bail was set at $2 million, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for June 23.
Juan Carlos Cruz
Judge Nixes Ankle Monitor
Fernanda Romero
A Mexican-born actress accused of having a fake marriage can have an unglamorous accessory removed - her ankle monitor.
A federal judge granted the motion Monday after Fernanda Romero pleaded not guilty last week to a charge of marriage fraud.
Agents for Romero filed letters to U.S. District Judge Manuel Real requesting removal of the monitor. They said the bracelet clashed with her wardrobe for auditions and photo shoots.
The case is scheduled for trial Aug. 24.
Fernanda Romero
A&E's "The First 48"
Detroit
Police who carried out a raid on a family home that left a 7-year-old girl dead over the weekend were accompanied by a camera crew for a reality television show, and an attorney says video of the siege contradicts the police account of what happened.
Geoffrey Fieger, an attorney for the family of young Aiyana Jones, said he has seen three or four minutes of video of the raid, although he declined to say whether it was shot by the crew for the A&E series "The First 48," which has been shadowing Detroit homicide detectives for months.
Police have said officers threw a flash grenade through the first-floor window of the two-family home, and that an officer's gun discharged, killing the girl, during a struggle or after colliding with the girl's grandmother inside the home.
But Fieger said the video shows an officer lobbing the grenade and then shooting into the home from the porch.
Detroit
Threatened By Money Woes
New York Racing Association
The New York Racing Association is running out of money and may have to shut down in less than three weeks, the day after the Belmont Stakes.
One leading horseman described the situation as "catastrophic" and said that even Saratoga - the jewel of New York racing - could be threatened by the turmoil.
NYRA president and CEO Charlie Hayward said Monday that cash problems must be resolved with the state "to make it through the entire Belmont Park race meet."
He did not give a timetable for a possible closing, but several horsemen said racing could be halted June 6 - a day after the Belmont is run without any star power since Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver and Preakness winner Lookin At Lucky are bypassing the final leg of the Triple Crown.
New York Racing Association
Asylum For Obama's Aunt
Zeituni Onyango
A U.S. immigration court has granted asylum to President Barack Obama's African aunt, allowing her to stay in the country and setting her on the road to citizenship after years of legal wrangling, her attorneys announced Monday.
The decision was made by a judge in U.S. Immigration Court in Boston and mailed out Friday. It comes three months after Kenya native Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Obama's late father, testified at a closed hearing in Boston.
The basis for Onyango's asylum request was never made public, but her lawyer Margaret Wong said last year that Onyango first applied for asylum "due to violence in Kenya." The East African nation is fractured by cycles of electoral violence every five years.
Medical issues also could have played a role. In a November interview with The Associated Press, Onyango said she was disabled and was learning to walk again after being paralyzed from Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune disorder. At her hearing in Boston earlier this year, she arrived in a wheelchair and two doctors testified in support of her case.
Zeituni Onyango
In Memory
Hank Jones
Jazz pianist and composer Hank Jones, whose 70-year career included a stint as Ella Fitzgerald's pianist and Marilyn Monroe's accompanist when she sang "Happy Birthday" to President John F. Kennedy, has died, his manager said Monday. He was 91.
Jones, who won a Grammy lifetime achievement award last year and received the National Medal of Arts in 2008, died Sunday night at a New York hospital after a brief illness, Jean-Pierre Leduc said.
A tireless musician who performed his blend of swing and bebop until the end, Jones came from a family of jazz musicians who included brother Thad, a trumpeter, composer and arranger, and brother Elvin, a drummer known for the polyrhythmic beat that propelled John Coltrane's classic quartet.
In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts named Jones as a Jazz Master, the nation's highest honor in jazz.
Born in Vicksburg, Miss., and raised in Pontiac, Mich., he was influenced by such legendary pianists as Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson and Nat King Cole.
He began performing at the age of 13, playing with territory bands that toured Michigan and Ohio. During those tours he met saxophonist Lucky Thompson, who helped him land a job in trumpeter Hot Lips Page's band in 1944.
After moving to New York in 1943, Jones embraced bebop and toured with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic from 1947-51. As part of the ensemble, he became Fitzgerald's pianist, touring with her from 1948-53.
In 1962, he accompanied Monroe on the piano when she sang "Happy Birthday" to President Kennedy at Madison Square Garden.
He also worked with such consummate musicians as Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Milt Jackson and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. He joined CBS as studio pianist, a position he held for 17 years, performing on the Ed Sullivan Show and others.
Hank Jones
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