Day: November 29, 2005

Another Sign that Miami Is a Third World City — Thousands of Chickens Range Freely Through Our Streets

Buck Banks

Nothing to crow about: It is illegal to keep barnyard animals in the City of Miami, but that doesn’t stop our fellow residents from keeping thousands of chickens and roosters that wander our palm-shaded streets.

Many of these yardbirds are used in santeria rites, and the city even has a special detail to clean the chicken carcasses and other ritual matter off the courthouse steps early each morning. Such rituals are intended to influence the outcome of court cases, for instance, Tio Sanchez’s speeding ticket or Abuela Gonzalez’s citation for keeping a pit bull in Miami-Dade County.

In certain areas of Miami, the concentration of chickens that wander neighborhood streets is alarming. Since April 2003, a joint team of firefighters, code enforcement officers, and NET personnel has dedicated time (once a month) to ridding neighborhoods of these chickens. They are known collectively as the Chicken Busters.

Because of the ongoing operation, we Miamians have come to realize that loose chickens are a greater problem than we previously thought, with captured chickens numbering in the thousands. Captured birds are sold to farms in Homestead and the proceeds go to local charities.

The most frequent response (in English, Spanish and Creole) when people are confronted by a Chicken Buster regarding a chicken wandering on their property is — and I am not making this up — “What chicken?”

Since April 2003, the Chicken Busters have caught 6,427 fowl, generating $10,650 in revenue from chicken sales.

Thanks to KRB for the stats.

Swedes: Gay-Bashing OK If Done In Church

Buck Banks

Scandinavian scandal: Reuters reports that Sweden’s supreme court on Tuesday cleared an evangelical preacher of inciting hatred after he labeled homosexuality “a cancerous tumour” responsible for AIDS during a 2003 sermon.

The case has acted as a rallying point for Christian groups in Sweden and abroad that have defended the pastor’s right to freedom of speech and faith. One gay rights group said it would open the door to further pressure from right-wing Christians.

The highest court upheld a ruling by a lower tribunal affirming Pentecostal Pastor Ake Green’s right to preach religious views even if many found them offensive.

Green told Swedish radio he was relieved, adding: “There will be no limitations on the way we can preach.”

The court said his comments could not be considered hate speech as they were made in church on a biblical theme.

It also said the European Court of Human Rights would likely find a conviction of Green to be against the European Convention on Human Rights, which Sweden has signed.

The lower court had overturned a sentence of one month in jail for inciting hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Gay rights group RFSL said the verdict showed Sweden’s hate speech law needed reform to include the religious sphere.

“It is very serious that the church has been made into a free zone of persecution. We will now unfortunately experience growing religious persecution from extreme right religious groups,” RFSL chairman Soren Andersson said in a statement.

Sweden’s Lutheran church, of which 80 percent of the country’s 9 million people are nominal members, faces a revolt by more than 700 of its 5,000 priests over a decision to bless gay couples.

The church separated from the state in 2000 and attendance is low in one of the world’s most secular countries. It ordained its first woman priest in 1960 and in 1998 the late Pope John Paul II canceled an audience with its head, Archbishop K.G. Hammar, over his pro-gay views.

Pastors from Sweden’s west coast protesting at the ordination of women and gays have called in an archbishop from Uganda to anoint their own first bishop.

Replacing Scottie: Let America Pick Next White House Spokesman with TV Show, ‘America’s Top Liar’

Jon Ponder

Vox populi: Think Progress speculates that White House spokesliar Scott McClellan may be out of a job soon. (Probably because his credibility was shot when he lied to the press when he denied that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby were involved in leaking the name of secret agent Valerie Plame.)

Here’s the pitch: “Today’s he’s a used car salesman in Dallas – tomorrow he could be the spokesliar for the President of the United States!”

Talk about bread and circuses, maybe its our Hollywood roots but here at the PR we see this as a fabulous opportunity for the Bush team to reconnect with the American public by turning the vetting process for a new spokesman into a realty/game show like “American Idol.”

Think about it: What better way to shift the public’s attention from Iraq and the administration’s other scandals than a multi-week televised extravaganza to find “America’s Top Liar.”

The contest would be structured like “Idol” – and, what the heck, broadcast on Fox – with candidates winnowed down by a panel of celebrity judges and call-in votes from viewers. (Sorry, Democrats, Republicans from Red states only!)

In the show, contestants would be given a set of “facts” – some true, some not – to present to the audience. The audience would have to decide whether or not the contestant was lying. Through an elimination process, the prospective spokesperson who is the most successful at convincing the public that that his or her lies are true would be the winner.

Replacing “Idol” judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, any number of GOP experts on disseminating falsehoods could serve as celebrity judges – Rush Limbaugh, Karen Hughes and Armstrong Williams come to mind. And instead of “Idol” host Ryan Seacrest, we would propose some with high “Q” appeal (so to speak), the quintessential media whore himself, Jeff Gannon.

This show would definitely have a populist appeal. Here’s the pitch: Today’s he’s a used car salesman in Dallas – tomorrow he could be the spokesliar for the President of the United States!

Brent Bozell, GOP Blowhard and Coward

Jon Ponder

All talk: From former CIA agent Larry Johnson:

I was contacted by an MSNBC booker late today (Monday, 28 November) who asked if I would appear tonight on the Joe Scarborough Show to discuss whether or not the media are hypocrites when it comes to covering the leak to the Washington Post about the CIA secret prisons. The booker told me that Brent Bozell, head of the Media Research Center, was accusing the media of focusing too much on the leak of Valerie Plame and not enough on the leak about the prisons.

I agreed to come on air to debate Mr. Bozell. My point was simple–the leak to Dana Priest came in part from CIA officers who were concerned that the effort by the Vice President and Director Goss to allow a torture loophole would discredit and destroy the CIA’s future effectiveness.

This is a far cry from the President and Vice President authorizing the leak of CIA clandestine operative’s identity because her husband had the temerity to blow the whistle on the White House trying to bamboozle the people of the United States. I was looking forward to discussing the issue with Mr. Bozell.

Apparently, Mr. Bozell is a coward. He told MSNBC he would not appear if I was on the show, even if they scheduled me before or after him. He couldn’t handle a man-to-man debate. Typical conservative coward. I think the term is “Girly Man”. Tough talker when he is alone but unable to handle an informed debate. What is really sad is the MSNBC is caving into Bozell, rather than insisting that its audience hear both sides of an issue.

Shocked, anyone?

Rove ‘to Be Charged Or Make Plea’

Jon Ponder

Obstruction: Raw Story says Patrick Fitzgerald’s case against Bush lackey Karl Rove appears to hinge on instructions Rove gave his assistant for logging calls from reporters:

Why does this alleged felon, who is accused of lying to the U.S. government, still have a top-level U.S. security clearance?

Rove has remained under intense scrutiny because of inconsistencies in his testimony to investigators and the grand jury. According to sources, Rove withheld crucial facts on three separate occasions and allegedly misled investigators about conversations he had with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper.

The attorneys say that Rove’s former personal assistant, Susan B. Ralston — who was also a special assistant to President Bush — testified in August about why Cooper’s call to Rove was not logged. Ralston said it occurred because Cooper had phoned in through the White House switchboard and was then transferred to Rove’s office as opposed to calling Rove’s office directly. As Rove’s assistant, Ralston screened Rove’s calls.

But those close to the probe tell RAW STORY that Fitzgerald obtained documentary evidence showing that other unrelated calls transferred to Rove’s office by the switchboard were logged. He then called Ralston back to testify.

Earlier this month, attorneys say Fitzgerald received additional testimony from Ralston — who said that Rove instructed her not to log a phone call Rove had with Cooper about Plame in July 2003.

Ralston also provided Fitzgerald with more information and “clarification” about several telephone calls Rove allegedly made to a few reporters, including syndicated columnist Robert Novak, the lawyers said.

If true, this is perhaps the most significant evidence Fitzgerald has obtained suggesting Rove deliberately sought to mislead investigators. Her testimony may help Fitzgerald prove that there were inconsistencies in Rove’s account of his role in the leak and assess why he withheld a crucial fact from the prosecutor: that he had spoken with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper as well as Novak about Plame and confirmed that she was an undercover CIA agent.

Which brings us back to an important question: Why does this alleged felon, who is accused of lying to the U.S. government, still have a top-level U.S. security clearance?