Dean Paxton

Category: News

  • It Was A Good Day in the Death Business

    electric_chair_icon.jpgDaniel Basile was executed Wed. night in Missouri. He was given a 22 hour reprieve to allow a new witness to give new testimony. Hoping that she would help clear his name. She didn’t.

    Meanwhile in Texas later this evening, Mexican national Javier Suarez Medina, was also put to death for the killing of a police officer. Medina was executed despite the Mexican ambassador, the Pope, and numerous pleas to stay the execution.

    “Court appeals and protests against the execution argued Suarez was not told he could contact the Mexican consulate for help after his arrest, violating the 1963 Vienna Convention of Consular Relations, which the United States has signed.

    Dallas authorities have said Suarez, 33, gave conflicting information when asked about his birthplace, identifying both Mexico and Texas. He spent most of his life in the United States and spoke English.”

    I’ve already spoken my piece about the death penalty:

    “I cannot tolerate the fact that we are allowing the government to murder members of our own society. I do not trust the political, judicial, or any other entity established by our government not to personalize an issue such as this. Hence, this is the real key to the debate on the death penalty. Personalization. No one, in my opinion, can prevent themselves from personalizing decisions made that determine the nature of a punishment as final as the death penalty.

    I’ve never heard a death penalty argument (either pro, or con) that is strictly empirical and impersonal. They always start, or end with: “If your (insert relative here) was (insert heinous crime here), what would you want done?” Good god, has anyone thought that that is exactly what jurors are doing? Isn’t anyone else uncomfortable with construct that we have given our government the power to determine the life and death of it’s citizens? Finally, what system other than appeals, have we established to make sure that an innocent person isn’t put to death?

    So, it’s impossible to impersonalized these decisions and cases? How about this for personalization:

    If I were an innocent man standing accused of a capitol crime, facing death, with my life in the hands of lawyers and career politicians, I would try and find a way to take my own life.”

    I still feel this way.

  • 9/11 Survival Breakdown

    For many on Sept. 11, survival was no accident

    Riveting. Be sure and check out the special grapical report on the side.

    Also, in USA Today: Terror attacks brought drastic decision: Clear the skies.

    Equally riveting. Both links via metafilter.

  • Multi-Nation, Multi-State Network of Pedophiles Busted

    U.S. Customs Cracks Parental Pedophile Ring

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. and European law-enforcement officials have cracked a ring of pedophile parents who sexually abused their children and traded photographs over the Internet, the U.S. Customs Service said on Friday.

    The cross-border sweep resulted in 20 arrests and removed 45 children aged 2 to 14 from abusive parents, Customs officials said. More arrests were likely, they said.

  • On This Day, August 6, in 1945

    The Guardian is running an interview entitled: “One hell of a big bang” with Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay by none other than Studs Terkel. (found on metafiter).

    Google on: Studs Terkel, Enola Gay, Paul Tibbets

  • Wonderful Oz Episode Guide

    Rob’ss OZ episode guide is a nearly perfectly comprehensive body of work. Documenting the entirety of the series, plot summaries, and charaters. Quite a find.

  • Andy and His Friends

    Need a computer? You may ask Andy and his friends to build you one

  • Eat Your Music and Shut Up!

    nirvana.jpg VH1 ran a series called “The 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock” recently. In fact, it just ended a few minutes ago here. Now I can deal with the majority of the list. In fact, I’m sure Led Zeppelin deserves to be on top. If you were to make “The 100 Craziest Bastards of Rock-n-Roll” then, of course Ozzy would be on top. Or, if you were to run “The 100 Most Mysterious People in Rock-n-Roll” then, probably Jimmy Page may well be on top of that list. But of you look below at the list, there is one glaringly out of place band:

    1. Led Zeppelin
    2. Black Sabbath
    3. Jimi Hendrix
    4. AC/DC
    5. Metallica
    6. Nirvana
    7. Van Halen
    8. The Who
    9. Guns N’ Roses
    10. KISS

    Um, Nirvana? Sweet weeping Jesus! Why on earth would they stick that band in there. Based upon what? The fact that they single handedly killed not only heavy metal and punk rock with one fell swoop? Based upon the fact that they were basically the turd in the punch bowl of hard rock-n-roll? Or was it because Kurt Cobain wore a fucking yellow evening gown to the “Head Bangers Ball” on MTV. Get it? Gown? Ball? Get it? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge?

    Don’t get me wrong, I like Nirvana. But, please keep them out of this genre of music, as well as the mainstream. They were hammered into the mainstream by MTV and marketroids. Not by the fans. They certainly don’t belong in this group. They have their own special genre of music that they can always be on top of. Forever.

    Ignore the fact that Deep Purple is way down at #22 on the list. Despite the fact that “Smoke on the Water” helped launch more guitar careers than any sounds assembled, before and since. Deep Purple gets #22 and there isn’t even a statue of Ritchie Blackmore with a dedication to this accomplishment.

    Marketing. It really gets worse later on in the list. Green Day? Neil Young and Crazy Horse? Marylin Manson? The Pixies? The Misfits? Hole? Foo Fighers? Meat Loaf?!? Who the hell was smoking crack at VH1 Quick, get a social worker, it’s time for an intervention. They need help.

  • 45 Pilot Whales Die in Second Day of Strandings

    Forty-five pilot whales died today in what marine experts said was the largest beaching of the creatures on Cape Cod in more than a decade. Most of the whales were euthanized after stranding themselves for a third time in two days.

    The reason for the mass stranding ? illness or the peculiarities of Cape Cod geography that have led to similar disasters in the past ? was not clear.

    Of course, there probably isn’t a simple explaination but, some are looking for one.

  • Cowboys, I’m Telling You… Riding Around in the Desert

    The U.S. possibly covered up evidence relating to the the attack on the Afghan wedding and village. Discussed earlier here, as well.

    The investigation isn’t a result of Clintonites looking for satisfaction. The U.N. is heading this up. There were 48 people killed and 117 wounded.

    U.S. forces had also committed human rights violations by tying up the hands of women at the scene, the paper said.

    In a statement provided to the Times, a U.N. spokesman said that the report contained judgments that were not sufficiently substantiated and that a comprehensive report was being finalized and that would provide a more detailed and accurate pattern.

    How long will we allow our military to operate in Afghanistan with a free pass to kill anything that moves? How long are we going to support this ambiguous campaign? How long are we going to trust the White House, Ashcroft, and the military to behave in a properly, gentlemanly, and orderly manner? Do we even know what/whom we are now chasing? Finally is it up to history to hold oversight in this matter or, has the Bush administration so deftly side-stepped responsibility in this matter in front of the world, that there is no oversight authority? (via metafilter).

  • WorldCom Chapter 11

    WorldCom Inc. said it will file Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection later Sunday in the nation’s largest insolvency after the long-distance telephone and data services company buckled under a $3.85 billion accounting scandal and a mountain of “junk-rated” debt.

    Remind me, why are the markets spiraling again? Oh yeah, every major corporation in America is getting their ponderous posteriors handed to them at the auditors offices…

  • Army Plastic Used At Strip Clubs

    Click for story Military use of credit cards includes strip clubs, computers, and god knows what.

    “GAO also found that Army charge cards were used for fraudulent purchases of more than $100,000 of computers and other electronic equipment; for fine china, cigars, wine and a $2,250 tree for planting on Earth Day; for cruises and a trip to Las Vegas; and for two pictures of Elvis Presley purchased at his Graceland mansion in Memphis”

    Fine china, cigars, wine… you name it. God, why didn’t they have these when I was in the Army? Apparently, I just missed it.

  • Tragic

    Afghans: U.S. aircraft attacked local wedding. Nothing much I can say about this that won’t just be an angry and personalized rant.

    I guess the war on terror is going very well, I’ll leave it at that.

  • Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

    ren_stimpy_icon.jpg TNN is bringing back Ren & Stimpy. Hiring back John Kricfalusi (John K.), they have purchased rights to 52 episodes of the show from Nick and have signed a deal to have John K. producing new shows as well. Ren & Stimpy will be the flagship show in a new series of animated venues. Shows including Kelsey Grammar’s voice as a lawyer turned into a 6 foot tall rat, and Stripperella featuring Pamela Lee Anderson’s voice (and probably likeness). Stripperella has been created by none other than Stan Lee, Marvel Comics heir and creator of (among many things) Spiderman.

    I am very enthusiastic to see the return of John K. onto television animation. Probably the worst thing they (John K. and Spumco) ever did was think that Nick was the best venue for his work. That would be assuming that any MTV exec. “gets it.” Perhaps that’s a gross underestimation of the situation. Still, there was nothing like it in animation before and since that comes close to what Spumco did with that show. Nickelodeon butchered it, threw Spumco out, fired John K., and took over production while planning Ren & Simpy’s demise. There is only full season (and part of another) that Spumco was responsible for. Nick execs. pushed John K. out of the show and basically ruined Spumco…. at least, that’s what the rumors say. I’m sure that the planned shows were of questionable nature for children, as well as a childrens network. No doubt they were pushing things beyond the realm of understanding for children. Still boogers, rude flatulent noises, as well as the grotesque imagry that was the patents of the show were what propelled it to such fame. You can see, without too much effort, John K. (and Bob Camp’s) influence in an endless line of “newtoons:” Dexter’s Laboratory, Catdog, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Spongebob Squarepants… the list goes on.

    I remember being instantly hooked after watching the first episode. I’d never seen anything like it. I taped all of the first and second season during their first run. I still have that tape around here somewhere. Regardless of what Nick execs. think or did during those days, it is now apparent to all that Ren & Stimpy pulled Nick out of the third (fourth?) tier of cable networks.

  • Please Support The War Against Terror, in Flint Too

    support_twat.jpg CNN is running a particularly fluffy piece that speaks about the cost of terrorism to Israeli lives:

    One of every 26,392 Israelis has been killed in a terrorist attack in the past six months. The same ratio applied to the population of the United States would equate to 10,888 American citizens. That’s more than three times the number of people killed in the September 11 attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and aboard United Airlines Flight 93.

    These numbers are interesting indeed. However, when taken into the context of good old fashioned American murder, these figures aren’t very impressive at all. Even when doubled, or even tripled:

    In Flint the murder rate is 1.7 in 10,000 or, to use their numbers 4.25 in 25,000. Even when their numbers are doubled and ours are cut in half… they don’t match. Flint is still a far, far more dangerous place to live than even the settlements in the West Bank. The national rate is 1.3 in every 25,000 or 5.5 every 100,000… still far more than terrorism in Israel…

    I’m not trying to say that we don’t feel some empathy for their plight, believe me when I say that I don’t understand senseless killing anymore than they do. However, I do feel that it is not necessary to use such dramatic words, numbers and pictures to illustrate one side over another in that conflict, label it Terrorism, and likened it to our own struggle. The article goes on to mention that if that were translated to American lives, then 10,888 people would be dead because of terrorism. This is over and above approximately 12,000 people that have been murdered this year alone. Not counting justifiable homicides.

    So, bullshit you say? It’s not the same thing at all? Then tell me: Where’s Flint’s “Office of Homeland Security(soon to be Department)?” Where’s Flints Mossad? Where are the armed soldiers protecting me and seeking out potential “terrorists” to be killed on sight? Why must I be more afraid as a parent than another parent in a war-torn nation “rife with terrorism.” Why is it statistically more likely that I will be killed moving around or about Flint, Michigan, than if I were moving around or about Jerusalem?

    I call upon the media, the press, our glorious politicos… Enough of the rhetoric, enough of the hate-speech against terror. Of course there will be another terrorist event soon. Of course there are people who operate outside the perimeters of society that they can only resort to guerilla acts of violence to remain heard. We have far too many problems that remain ignored in this country, in our streets, and in our schools to allow our attentions to be diverted into hysteria.

    And if they aren’t listening… then let it start with you.

    Pic via filepile, link via metafilter

  • Inside Hacking More Damaging that Virus’

    anarchy_icon.jpgBBC tech feature: Foiling the fools and the fraudsters.

    “Despite all the stories and scares about malicious hackers, computer criminals and destructive web worms, the biggest threat to the security of a company does not come from outside.”

    If not malicious intentional acts from the inside, then investigators usually find pornography on 95% of all investigated machines. The feature mentions virus’ in brief but, states that intentional wrong-doing causes far more financial impact.

    I’m not sure I can agree with that given the lenght of time it takes to remove virus’ from a network. Multiply that by the amount of personnel resources it takes to actually do the work. Then multiply that by the number of years spent fighting virus (I’m on my 10th or 11th year)… and your have an acurate cost. Something like:

    TY + (VPY x N x S x IT) + (L x TY) = Total Cost of Virus

    VPY = Virus’ Per Year
    N = Number of Virus’
    S = Number of Seats
    IT = Number Of Techs
    TY = Number of Years
    L = Cost of Antivirus Software Licenes Per Seat

    If most companies took time to acurately fill in that formula, then I would think this may offer slight dispute to what the above BBC feature claims. But, I’m just a geek in Flint, what do I know?

  • Loosing Faith in the World

    No words for this.

  • The Transition Meltdown and 9/11–Is There a Connection?

    Intervention Magazine asks: The Transition Meltdown and 9/11–Is There a Connection?

    On September 4, 2001, more than two months after Louis Freeh?s last day as FBI director, Robert Mueller finally took his oath of office and settled into his new job at the J. Edgar Hoover building. One week later, four passenger airplanes smashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and an open field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing 3,000 people in the worst terrorist attack ever in U.S. history. This week, the U.S. Congress opens an investigation into how the sprawling U.S. intelligence community–both foreign and domestic–completely failed to predict, let alone stop, 9/11. (by Lowell Feld)
    (more…)

  • From the “Amazing Stories” Dept.

    Kenyan Maasai give precious cattle to mark Sept 11 “Arrayed in red robes and bead jewellery, impoverished Kenyan Maasai tribespeople gave a U.S. official their most precious possession — cattle — on Sunday to show sympathy for the bereaved of September 11.

    He said his tribespeople had been moved to hear his account of the day more than 3,000 people were killed in attacks by hijackers of four passenger airplanes in New York, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon outside Washington.”

    This, to me, was a truely beautiful and wonderful gesture, marred by one thing:

    “Brencick said the embassy would find it difficult to ship the cattle to the United States and had decided to sell the animals to raise funds to buy beadwork made in the village for display at a September 11 memorial in New York.”

    I would think that the US should have brought the animals here… no matter what the cost or, the complications involved. They should have been placed in a place of honor here. It shows how we regard the acts of others. They use cattle much as the indians used buffalo. What did we do to the buffalo? History tells us. As for what we do to cattle, head over the McDonalds… (link via Metafilter, attutude adjustment via Jeff Pfund).

  • Baltimore Priest Shot by Accuser

    catholic_icon.jpg A 26 year old man is in custody for shooting a catholic priest years after he allegedly abused him sexually. The suspect says that beginning in 1993 the victim molested him over a 3 year period.

    “Police said Stokes (the shooter) told them he shot Blackwell (the priest) because the priest rebuffed his demand for an apology over the alleged sex ual assault, which friends and relatives say torments Stokes.”

    Blackwell has been on involuntary leave since 1998 after being accused of similar crimes that took place 20 years ago. The church, understandably, is being tight mouthed.

    Why understandably? What can they possibly say at this point to defend themselves. Even they know that. They’ve known that for the last 50 years.

  • Fla. family takes in brave new data chip

    Fla. family takes in brave new data chip

    Doctors yesterday implanted microchips providing access to medical information into the arms of three members of a Florida family, the first people to get what the manufacturer hopes will become a standard way of retrieving such data in the future.

  • Life Imitates Art

    fight_club.jpg Late yesterday, the FBI revealed that mailbox bomber Lucas Helder was planting pipe bombs in a pattern to show a happy face during his five-state weekend spree (click for map here).

    Earlier than that, metafilter scooped another major story when user Kevin Skomsvold spotted the “message” 11 hours before the guy was even arrested. A story was featured in The Omaha World Herald but, they screwed up the relationship to Metafilter and attributed it to a chat room.

    Yet another bit of evidence that independent news filtering can be faster and more acurate than “Big Brother and His Matrix of Media.” So much faster that Big Brother and his Brethren don’t even realize what happened or, what they are dealing with (ie: calling metafilter a chat room in the article). Of course we can be proud here as well, we’ve scooped The Brethren and even the venerable metafilter once or twice in the past.

    All that aside… The very first thing that sprang into my mind was the scene from Fight Club, where they set fire to offices in a large building in the shape of a smiley face. Later on, someone also made the Fight Club connection. Cute, nice try… but, at least it’s not Hamas, PLO, or Al Queda driven. Just a stupid rip-off prank… it is too bad that people were hurt in the process. Another “center of the universe” dweller at work?

  • Deep Throat Star Dies

    dt_icon.jpgLinda Lovelace, AKA Linda Boreman, dead at 53

    DENVER (AP) – Linda Boreman, who starred as Linda Lovelace in the 1971 pornographic film Deep Throat and later became an anti-porn advocate, died Monday from injuries she suffered in a car crash. She was 53. Boreman was in a car accident April 3 south of Denver and was taken to Denver Health Medical Center with massive trauma and internal injures, hospital spokeswoman Sara Spaulding said.

    She was taken off life support and died about 3 p.m., Spaulding said.

    Boreman’s ex-husband Larry Marchiano said he and their two children, ages 25 and 22, were at the hospital when she died. “Everyone might know her as something else, but we knew her as mom and as Linda,” Marchiano said. “We divorced five years ago, but she was still my best friend.”

    No snarky comments, no lofty editorials, just a minute of silence…

  • U.S. Concludes Bin Laden Escaped

    binladen_icon.jpg The Bush administration has concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the battle for Tora Bora late last year and that failure to commit U.S. ground troops to hunt him was its gravest error in the war against al Qaeda, according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge.

    Funny, just yesterday I e-mailed this to Gary:

    “Have they even a slight clue as to whether he’s alive or dead? I mean, to committ half the free world’s emotions, military strength, not to mention cash to the killing and/or capture of just one man… you’d think that a corpse would have surfaced by now. For God’s sake they can find the teeth of 5 million year old sub-humans… they can find one hair or fingernail from this guy? They can spot fly shit from orbit and they can’t find this guy? They can “see” through mountains using all manner of technology to find people? And they can find him? Nonsense…

    To which, he replied:

    “My guess is they are not looking all that hard, but wheeling out the cart and pony act of looking for him. As long as there is threat out there, the politicians can keep our attention. That is really all there is too it, in my opinion, playing the voters like puppets!”

    For a minute, I thought… no, they wouldn’t be doing that. Not given the emotional state of the nation after the attacks. The wouldn’t have the nerve to try that… sort of like Ronnie’s war on drugs… I.E. “Keep an enemy in the face of the people at all times” mentality. But, after reading this I really think that Gary is right. Quite right.

    And why not, it is common knowledge now that F.D.R. manupilated the Pearl Harbor disaster to rally the nation behind the war effort… for whatever inexplicable reason, it is more than a fact that we looked the other way when the Japanese flew in. Back then politics was about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the head. Imagine what can be done with an incident like 9/11, given the tools and techniques politicians have now.

    Why would we think for a minute that they would not exploit this situation?

  • Climber Recalls Mountain Tragedy

    John Griber was inching his way down a 45-degree ice face on Mount St. Elias, choosing his route to avoid almost certain death if he fell, when he heard the swishing. About 40 feet away, fellow climber Aaron Martin was off his skis and on his side, sliding with no way to stop.

  • Moore or Less the Truth, I guess…

    moore_icon.jpg Rumor had it that George Bush flew Osama’s brother and other family members, depending on what version you hear, out of the country and back to Saudi Arabia. This was alleged to have happened two days after the Sept. 11 attacks, during the FAA grounding. This rumor has been nationally spread by Michael Moore on television and at his small talks during his book tour. This is evidently not the case at all. In fact, there were no flights two days after the FAA grounding.

    This should not be called a lie rather, a bending of the truth. There were flights that carried Bin Laden’s family members back to Saudi Arabia. However, they were not directed by the president, they were not protested by the FBI, and this was not an evil plot by the Bush administration to preserve profitable relationships at all times.

    Casual and faithful readers of paxtonland alike will agree that this is not exactly the George Bush fan club. Despite that, I felt compelled to direct your attention to this… Stay tuned to more counter Moore propaganda. Since truth surely is stranger than fiction, why would he try and profit from easily refutable half-truths when there is so many horribly honest things to direct attention to?