FOX News: “Illegal immigrant mother of seven given food stamps, meds, housing, and Social Security—for 20 years.” … Read More
An Honor for the Creator of the GIF
Steve Wilhite, who invented the enduring GIF file format in 1987, will receive a lifetime achievement Webby Award. … Read More
Rhode Island legalizes gay marriage
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island on Thursday became the nation’s 10th state to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed, as a 16-year effort to extend marriage rights in this heavily Roman Catholic state ended with the triumphant cheers of hundreds of gays, lesbians, their families and friends.Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed the bill into law on the Statehouse steps Thursday evening following a final 56-15 vote in the House. The first weddings will take place Aug. 1, when the law takes effect.”I’ve been waiting 32 years for this day, and I never thought it would come in my lifetime,” said Raymond Beausejour, a 66-year-old gay North Providence man who has been with his partner for 32 years. “For the first time in my life, I feel welcome in my own state.”After Chafee signed the bill, the hundreds of people who gathered on the Statehouse grounds erupted into cheers as a chorus sang “Chapel of Love.”"Now, at long last, you are free to marry the person that you love,” Chafee told the crowd.The day was bittersweet for Deborah Tevyaw, whose wife, state corrections officer Pat Baker, succumbed to lung cancer two years ago. Months before she died, Baker, relying on an oxygen tank, angrily told lawmakers it was unfair that Tevyaw wasn’t considered her wife in Rhode Island despite their marriage in Massachusetts.Continue Reading… … Read More
21 and bi: Should I marry?
Hi Cary,I’m a 21-year-old woman, and I’ve been engaged since 18. (We’re not really religious or anything, so that’s not a factor.) When we decided to get married, for me it was kind of on a whim. I was young and didn’t really get what it means to make a lifetime commitment. So now we live together and plan to get married later this year. I love him more than anything. He’s my best friend and knows me better than anyone else. We get along great and rarely fight. He would make an incredible husband. But at the same time, I don’t feel ready to make a lifetime commitment. I feel I haven’t had enough time to experience life independently and develop myself. I know that he doesn’t feel the same way. He’s very serious about getting married and seems to have no second thoughts. We’re the same age. To make things more complicated, he recently lost a parent and lost his job, and he’s going through a hard time, and I love him and want to support him, not make things worse. I don’t know what to do. Continue Reading… … Read More
Documentarian Les Blank dies at 77
BERKELEY, Calif. – Les Blank, an acclaimed documentary maker who focused his camera on cultural corners ranging from blues music, to garlic lovers, to shoe-eating artists, died Sunday at age 77, his son said. Blank died at his home in Berkeley, Calif. nearly a year after being diagnosed with bladder cancer, Harrod Blank said.Blank’s 42 films earned him a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute.”I think he’s a national treasure,” filmmaker Taylor Hackford, president of the Directors Guild of America, told the New York Times. “Although his films are not well known at the moment, they’ll take their place”The Florida-born Blank’s early documentaries focused on musicians, including 1965′s “Dizzy Gillespie” and “The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins,” a portrait of the Texas bluesman that won Blank his first wide renown.He shifted to food with documentaries like 1980′s “Garlic is as Good as 10 Mothers,” and 2007′s “All in This Tea.”Blank was known for following his curiosity anywhere. No topic was too strange , or too ordinary. His 1987 film “Gap-Toothed Women” was a series of interviews on the subject spurred by an old high school crush.Continue Reading… … Read More
Gov. Jerry Brown Pardons Some Drug War Convictions – Anger Follows
Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown celebrated Easter
by pardoning
65 people, most of whom had been convicted of drug-related
crimes. As is common for pardons, none of those selected are
currently incarcerated and hadn’t been for years. Some of them were
never actually incarcerated at all. The governor’s clemency,
though, restores their rights to serve on juries, work jobs that
are typically closed off to those with felony records, and even own
guns again (if their crimes did not involve weapons).
The number of pardons is a pittance compared to the number of
people who have been caught up in California’s prison system. Gov.
Brown’s record, though, is still better than the past two
governors. Brown has granted 200 pardons while in office so far.
Arnold Schwarzenegger granted only 16 during his two terms in
office and Gov. Gray Davis never granted any.
The fact that none of the pardons went to people who were
actually incarcerated right now and had been living free and clean
for years didn’t stop
KCRA in Sacramento from doing their best to put a scary spin on
it. One of the 65 people had been convicted of murder (but
completed his sentence like the others), and so the whole list is
tainted now:
“Now we’re pardoning murderers,” said Lynne Brown.
Brown is the founder of Advocates for Public Safety. She told
KCRA 3, “When does it stop, and when does justice for the victims
take priority?”
The pardons are also troubling for Sandy Friend, whose
8-year-old son Michael Lyons was kidnapped and killed by a twice
convicted sex offender in 1996 near Yuba City.
“This is a lifetime sentence for us. And I don’t feel that they
deserve a second chance,” Friend said.
What does the horrible case of Michael Lyons have to do with
these pardons? Some drug dealers or users don’t deserve a second
chance because Sandy Friend’s son was killed by a sex offender?
That’s some pretty lazy (but not surprising) journalism. … Read More
Grammy Award-winning producer Phil Ramone dies at 79
NEW YORK (AP) — Phil Ramone, the masterful Grammy Award-winning engineer, arranger and producer whose platinum touch included recordings with Ray Charles, Billy Joel and Paul Simon, died Saturday of complications stemming from heart surgery, his family said. He was 79.Ramone, who lived in Wilton, Conn., had elective surgery on Feb. 27 to prevent an aortic aneurysm, son Matt Ramone said. He later developed pneumonia and died Saturday morning at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, the son said.Few in the recording industry enjoyed a more spectacular and diverse career. Phil Ramone won 14 competitive Grammy Awards and one for lifetime achievement. Worldwide sales for his projects topped 100 million. He was at ease with rock, jazz, swing and pop, working with Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney, Elton John and Tony Bennett, Madonna and Lou Reed.One of the biggest names not to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Ramone was on hand for such classic albums as The Band’s “The Band” and Bob Dylan’s “Blood On the Tracks.” He produced three records that went on to win Grammys for album of the year – Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years,” Joel’s “52nd Street” and Charles’ “Genius Loves Company.”Continue Reading… … Read More
