Daily News October 16

Today is October 16, 2009.  It is the 289th day of the year with 76 to go.


Today's History


In 1793, during the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, was beheaded.
In 1859, racial abolitionist John Brown initiated the raid on Harper's Ferry.


Today's News


Red Light, Green Light
A brothel in Berlin is offering discounts for customers who think about the environment.  If you take public transportation or ride a bicycle to the whorehouse, then you can get a 5 euro discount (about $7.50) off your service!  The brothel owner said they are rewarding these customers because times are hard and they are seeing a drop off of business because of the economy.  Nobody is travelling for business anymore and the locals don't come around as often.  For those who are saving money with public transportation, they can also save money with their favourite hooker.  And in case you didn't know, prostitution is legal in Berlin.


I guess hoes want to go green too!  Save the earth.  Ride a hoe.


No Wedding Bells
A Louisiana justice of the peace refused to issue a marriage license for an interracial couple because he said he was worried about the children the couple might have in the future.  He said it was his experience that interracial marriages do not last long and if they had any children, they would suffer.  He insists that he is not a racist, but after having this discussion with white and black people, he has come to the conclusion that mixed children do not fit in well with black society and neither do they fit in well with white society.  The couple will be filing a discrimination suit.


Uhm, is it 1963?  I coulda swore it was 2009, but apparently we either went back in time or this is South Africa somewhere during the apartheid.  Some of us, white and black, feel the sting of racism more than others do.  Oh, wait, I forgot, he said he wasn't racist.  Whatever.  Some of us live this daily, and others either go through life blindly or maybe it truly has never happened to them.  When you see stuff like this, you can hardly believe it, but then again, it almost doesn't surprise you.  I'm just wondering how he thought he could actually get away with this unnoticed.  You do know it's against the law to deny a marriage license based on colour, right?  Just in case you didn't.


North Carolina, Anybody?
North Carolina could lose its appeal, if it ever had any, as a tourist attraction on October 29 after the state releases 20 very dangerous criminals based on an antiquated law.  Some of the criminals were convicted of murder, rape and sexual assault of minors but they will be released because a law states that a life sentence is defined as 80 years.  Most of these criminals have been denied parole repeatedly, but some earned good conduct credits which reduces the number of years they would have to spend in prison.  One man raped a 15 year old girl after he had escaped from prison back in the 70s.  Another woman murdered a state trooper while robbing a bank.  There are 20 to be released and all but ONE was convicted of murder and/or rape.  Law enforcement officials say that they hope these criminals have been rehabilitated but he doubts it, which is why they were given life sentences in the first place--because there is no hope for people like them.  The state is still looking at a legal recourse, but so far, they have found nothing.


Well, I guess I won't be visiting any of the southern states for awhile.  Just because they are in prison in North Carolina, don't mean they are going to stay there.  Most of them will try to jump ship as soon as possible because they know that law enforcement will be keeping an eye on them.  This is quite disturbing and once again our "humane" justice system is failing.  I'm all for equal rights and whatever, but this is kind of ridiculous.  Even if the law says eighty years, none of these people have been in jail for eighty years.  If they had, they would all be dead.  I can't see how their "good conduct" credits count for them.  If they want to be the letter of the law, then call me back at the end of eighty years.


Stepfather, and Not the Movie Either
A Florida man is under arrest on attempted murder charges after he shot his step-daughter's boyfriend when caught the two of them having sex.  The step-father went to the daughter's room and saw her and the boyfriend having sex.  Instead of confronting them right then and there, he closed the door and went back down stairs to get a .45.  He came back upstairs, opened the door and started blazing.  The boy was screaming, don't shoot, don't shoot, but the father shot him 4 times in the leg and hip while he was struggling to put his clothes back on.  The kid managed to get out of the house and down the street where a neighbour called the police.  When the father went to court, it was discovered that he also had assault and weapons charges in St. Croix, where he is from.


Just so you know, it is perfectly legal for a 16 year old to have sex with an 18 year old in the state of Florida, however, it may not be legal IN YOUR PARENTS' HOME!  Kids have sex, yeah, I know but seriously, at your house when your parents are home?  Not a smart move.  I feel sorry for everybody involved.  Dumb girl for getting her boyfriend shot, dumb boy for getting shot and stupid daddy for overreacting.  He should have just beat the kid up and threw him out the front door or something, but shooting him MULTIPLE TIMES, well, I hope you enjoy your 25 to life in prison.  The boy will be crippled for life.  The girl will be humiliated and the daddy is in jail.  Have a nice life.


Celebrity News


TLC will sue John Gosselin for breach of contract, claiming that he makes unauthorised public disclosures about the show and appears on other shows for money when he is an exclusive employee of TLC.  Even though he was fired from the show, he still made many appearances before he was fired.  Yes, this public abortion is still on-going.  TLC announced recently that Jon and Kate Plus Eight and any other version of the show, such as Kate Plus Eight will go off the air at the end of the month because Jon suddenly had an epiphany and thinks the show is bad for his children and the family.  *rolls eyes*  But apparently, he didn't think snatching over $200,000 out of the family bank account was harmful for the children.  Whateves.  The judge made him give back most of the money after Kate went crying to national television that she can't pay her bills.  Now she will have to actually work like the rest of America to take care of the kids she claimed were crying because the camera crews were gone.  Since daycare is outrageous these days, maybe she can ask the Octo-Mom to take care of them, since she obviously has some experience at exploiting multiple children.


For those of you who managed to be blissfully unaware of the Balloon Boy fiasco yesterday, it has been discovered that it was probably just a big publicity stunt.  The family is freakish about science and they are always inventing things and doing crazy scientific experiments.  The built some kind of hot air balloon that they will use to investigate extraterrestrials but it was alleged that the six year old unleashed the balloon that was tied to the house and jumped in it so he could go on his very own hot air balloon ride.  His older brother claimed that he saw the younger one get in the balloon and this sparked a state wide search of flight paths and crop circles to look for the little brat.  It turned out, he was hiding in the attic because "his father yelled at him."  When interviewed, the boy blurted out that it was "apart of the show."  Interviewers tried to further question him, but he clammed up and the daddy became "outraged" that such questions were even being asked.  The family appeared on the show Wife Swap some time ago, and perhaps they are just media-hungry that they would pretend that their kid was floating away a mile above the earth.  I bet if you slap their asses with some fines for the misuse of emergency personnel and services, they would keep all that scientific experimentation crap to themselves.  They even had the national guard fly Blackhawks across farm land to look for him.  Some people will do anything.


Today's Thought


What is time?  The shadow on the dial, the striking of the clock, the running of the sand, day and night, summer and winter, months, years, centuries--these are but arbitrary and outward signs, the measure of Time, not Time itself.  Time is the Life of the soul.  ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow