Month: February 2009

Ryan Skipper’s Accused Killer Appears in Court with Face Tattoo Marking Him As a Murderer

Jon Ponder

Witness testimony began yesterday in the trial of Joseph Bearden, one of the two men accused of the cold-blooding killing of Ryan Skipper, an openly gay man, in Florida in March 2007. The trial of William Brown, the other accused killer, has not yet been scheduled. Both men face the death penalty if convicted.


Joe Bearden with teardrop tattoo

It is encouraging to learn that TruTv (formerly Court TV) is broadcasting Bearden’s trial live. In the channel’s preview of the case in the video above (which we found at Unfinished Lives), we learned that there have been a couple of interesting developments.

The first is that the prosecution has decided that the alleged killers’ motive for the murder was not violent homophobia — although the record indicates that Bearden and Brown must have been aware that Skipper was gay. Instead of prosecuting the murder as a hate crime, however, the state contends that Bearden and Brown decided to steal Skipper’s new car and sell it, most likely to get money for drugs.

Despite the fact that they stabbed Ryan at least 20 times inside the car before leaving him to die on the side of a road, Bearden and Brown reportedly attempted to sell the car several times in the few days before they were arrested.

From the TruTv report we also learn that during his nearly two-year incarceration, Joe Bearden has tattooed his face and upper body. The tattoo on his face appears to depict a teardrop, which in gang culture is a sign that the bearer has committed murder.

But mainly the report confirms what we already knew: Joe Bearden and William Brown are two of the biggest dumbasses ever to walk the planet. The tragedy is that a young man like Ryan Skipper, who had a wide circle of friends and a loving family, and whose life held such promise, ever crossed their paths.

Regular readers of these pages will remember that we covered this case extensively. You can catch up on it here.

Bush Not the Worst President Ever?

Trish

A survey commissioned by C-Span has found that, despite Pensito Review’s opinion, George W. Bush is not the worst president ever. There were, esteemed presidential historians found, six even worse.

Ironically, Bush might have Barack Obama to thank for his relatively mild assignment by historians

This is hard to imagine, given some of the categories on which the former presidents were judged. For example, Bush ranked only 40th (out of 42, of course) on economic management. His score on crisis leadership — 25th — is especially surprising, since one of the survey’s leaders is Douglas Brinkley. Brinkley wrote The Great Deluge about Hurricane Katrina, which he witnessed firsthand as a faculty member at Tulane. And in international relations, Bush was only 41st. William Henry Harrison, who died 32 days into office, was rated worst.

Ironically, Bush might have Barack Obama to thank for his relatively mild assignment by historians to the ranks of bottom ten (36th, to be exact). The world began to hold America in a different light on Nov. 4, 2008 and relations only continue to improve since Obama’s inauguration. Had the prissy and hot-headed Sen. John McCain been elected, Bush’s failed policies would have continued and been allowed to run their faulty course. Instead Obama is reversing almost every Bush initiative, blunting some of the damage.

One other interesting note is that only four of the top ten presidents were Republicans: Lincoln (1st), Teddy Roosevelt (4th), Eisenhower (8th), and Reagan (10th).

Quote du Jour

Trish

“This town talks to itself and whips itself into a frenzy with its own theories that are completely at odds with what the rest of America is thinking. If you watched cable TV, you’d see our support was plummeting, we were in trouble. It was almost like living in a parallel universe.”

— David Axelrod (1955 – ), Obama senior advisor, describing how Republicans and the media keep mistakenly counting Obama out, most recently on the stimulus bill

Bill Clinton Breaks with Gays, Crosses Prop 8 Picket Line to Collect Speaking Fee

Jon Ponder

Bill Clinton deserves credit for being the first president to court support from the gay community. But more often than not, gays have been rewarded for their support with disappointment.

You’d think Clinton would have wanted to avoid giving aid and comfort to the Yes on 8 side, which is being led in the state by his old nemesis, Whitewater prosecutor Ken Starr.

His good intentions about lifting the ban on gays in the military resulted in the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and its bizarre institutionalizing of the closet. And he will forever be remembered as the president who signed the Defense of Marriage Act at the same time he was conducting an extramarital affair.

To his credit, Clinton opposed California’s Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment that repealed gays’ right to marriage last year. But yesterday he broke decisively with supporters of gay marriage by crossing a picket line to speak at a hotel under boycott because its owner was a major Prop 8 donor.

Clinton’s visit to the hotel was met with a robust protest:

[…]

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

The last thing that I think we are looking for at this juncture is advice on fiscal integrity or ethics from Karl Rove — anyone who’s read the newspapers for the last eight years would laugh at that.

— Obama strategist David Axelrod, quoted in the Washington Post, criticizing Karl Rove, who held the same job during the Bush administration.

At Last, a Political Use for Pink Underwear

Trish

There’s a great campaign going on in India against a very, very bad campaign. It takes as its symbol the pink “chaddi,” or “underwear” in several Indian languages, and seeks to fight the Taliban-style oppression by both Hindus and Muslims that leads to things like the recent Mumbai massacre. Sourahb Mishra explains.

Right-wing Hindu organizations have, over the last few years, taken on the role of moral authority, policing against what they perceive to be activities going against the grain of Indian and Hindu culture. This moral policing often takes on the form of vigilantism, which is a sure-fire recipe for media coverage. They typically target young couples in parks and beaches, and the smaller shops selling Valentine’s Day-related merchandise. They physically intimidate these soft-target victims, usually after giving sufficient notice to the press and TV channels, to ensure that the cameras are there to put them in the news.

The latest such incident took place on Jan. 24. Hooligans claiming to be from a little known right-wing Hindu outfit called Shri Ram Sena attacked a pub in the coastal city of Mangalore and mercilessly beat up the young men and women spending a Saturday afternoon there.

Enter the Pink Chaddis, via Facebook.

A bunch of agitated people, mainly women, created a group called “A Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women” and launched the “pink chaddi campaign,” which exhorts everyone to send the Ram Sena a pink chaddi on Valentine’s Day, “because chaddis are forever.”

The Pink Chaddis plan to do more than mail as many pairs of pink underwear as they can to the Sri Ram Sena on Valentine’s Day, although that holiday is when they’ve chosen to fire the first shot.

On Valentine’s Day we do a Pub Bharo action. Go to a pub wherever you are. From Kabul to Chennai to Guwahati to Singapore to LA women have signed up. It does not matter if you are actually not a pub-goer or not even much of a drinker. Let us raise a toast (it can be juice) to Indian women. Take a photo or video. We will put it together…and send this as well to the Sri Ram Sena.

And after that?

After Valentine’s Day we should get some of our elected leaders to agree that beating up women is ummm…AGAINST INDIAN CULTURE.

I hear you, sista.