Communities Devastated by the Loss of Ricky Holland; Parents Stand Accused

The nightmare surrounding the disappearance of seven-year-old Ricky Holland has turned a corner.

The boy's body was found six months after he disappeared; both foster parents are accusing the other of killing Ricky.

Things came to a head earlier this week when the mom tried to kill the dad; both spoke to the police, and after detailed conversations, police pinpointed the boy's exact resting spot, twenty miles from his adopted home. Both parents are under arrest; the mom is charged with assault with a deadly weapon for trying to kill her husband; both are charged with obstruction of justice with more charges to follow.

Many CERT team members, neighbors, friends, family members, law enforcement officials, community members and people from all over the area converged on Williamston to hunt for the boy when a massive search was initiated on July 2nd. A vigil was held Sunday night in Ricky's memory; his brothers and sisters are being cared for by other relatives.

Like many in our community, I was deeply saddened to learn of Ricky's fate. Many were holding out hope that the boy would reappear as mysteriously as he disappeared, but that hope was dashed when the Williamston police announced that Ricky was gone and that his foster parents were accusing the other of complicity in Ricky's death.

Ricky can be lain to rest now; he's in God's loving care.

The truth will soon be known as to exactly what happened to him, and the guilty will be punished for this act of unspeakable evil.

The complete story can be found at the Lansing State Journal.

Hamas Says No to Peace with Israel: Won't Renounce Violence

Hamas has said 'no' to peace with Israel and 'no' to renouncing their goal of destroying Israel.

Their stance has guaranteed that the bloodshed will continue.

Except now, the Palestinians are moving toward a civil war, so Palestinians will be killing each other in addition to the Israelis, who will continue striking back wherever and whenever they can.

The Palestinians fell victim to groupthink; the ruling Fatah party was widely seen as being corrupt, and the Palestinians voted for Hamas's platform of clean government, even though they didn't support the rest of Hamas's stated goals and ambitions.

Voting for a candidate on a single issue is extremely unwise; this is true anywhere in the world, including here. Here's an example of this kind of groupthink:

A candidate's stated goal is to change the U.S. flag, but is also a crime lord who has murdered politicians, judges and ordinary people for supporting strong laws against crime and against changing the Pledge of Allegience and the U.S. flag.

Johnny Voter and many like him decide to vote for the crime lord candidate because they don't like the current U.S. flag either. They ignore the crime lord's stand on abortion, gun control, the death penalty, taxes, and everything else because of the U.S. flag issue. This is in spite of the fact that they totally disagree with the candidate on his views of the issues mentioned above.

That's exactly what the Palestinian voters did. And now the entire peace process is in chaos because of their shortsightedness.

Mexico Must Stop Violating U.S. Territory and Close the Border to Illegal Border Crossings

Mexico shouldn't be providing maps of the southwestern U.S. to illegals preparing to go over the border into the United States.

Nor should the U.S. hesitate in arresting or firing on uniformed Mexicans OR Americans who appear to be protecting border crossers or drug dealers on our side of the border. Mexico has said that these men are imposters and that they are actually Mexican gangs who have access to military uniforms and weapons.

Mexican gangs are not welcome here; nor is Mexican government interference in the protection of our border. It could be argued that Mexico is helping al-Qaeda and other extremist groups around U.S. security measures, thereby weakening our civil liberties by forcing the government to tighten up security measures. It isn't right.

More to follow on this.

Scope of Hamas Victory Widens Overnight: Big Trouble in the Works

It appears that Hamas has captured 70-75 seats of the 132-seat Palestinian parliament, which means they will be running Palestine.

Last night, exit pollers were predicting that Hamas would capture 40% of the seats, but now it looks like Hamas got 57% of the seats.

The consequences are already beginning: the Palestinian cabinet has already resigned as Fatah does not wish to participate in a coalition government with Hamas. The peace process is definitely on hold as Israel and the U.S. have said that they will not deal with Hamas until it gets rid of it's platform of calling for Israel's destruction. Should that happen, however, both governments have signalled a willingness to deal with Hamas.

Any hope of a bi-lateral peace now rests with Hamas and their attitude toward Israel.

The sad part about this is that Fatah and Israel failed to work together to bring peace to the Holy Lands. They blew it.

Now they have radicals in charge of the Palestinian territories who have no interest in recognizing Israel or working toward peace. Additionally, Fatah's corruption problems and Israel's hard-line stance brought this about. So they shouldn't blame the Palestinian people too much for what has happened. Their own stubborn attitudes are more responsible than the Palestinians voting in free and fair elections for the government of their choice.

Hamas Victory in Palestinian Elections Should Cause U.S. to Reconsider Diplomatic Relations with Palestine

"The United States does not negotiate with terrorists."

That mantra has been the bedrock of U.S. conduct toward hostage takers, terrorists, and other scum who use terrorism to get the U.S. government to do their will for decades.

The huge question now is: what will the U.S. do now that the terrorist group Hamas is a legitimately elected force in the Palestinian territories?

If they capture control of the Palestinian government, we ought to be looking at breaking off relations with the Palestinians.

Hamas is still dedicated to destroying Israel; there can be no peace as long as Hamas is dedicated to this goal. If they change their tune and work WITH Israel to establish a viable Palestinian state that will be at peace with Israel, then the U.S. should do all it can to support peace in the Middle East.

But Hamas is at war with Israel; until that is resolved, peace will not be coming to the Middle East anytime soon. It leads one to wonder how many Palestinians and Israelis will end up dying because the Palestinians chose Hamas's message of hatred instead of electing those who are continuing to work for peace.

It's a sad state of affairs in the Middle East.

Utter Chaos: Saddam Trial Nearing Collapse as 2nd Chief Judge Steps Down

As was widely feared, the trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has turned into an utter farce.

The trial has been delayed again with the removal of another chief judge after it was discovered he had close ties with Saddam's regime and was under investigation. The first judge in the trial stepped down due to political pressure being brought on the court by the new Iraqi government.

The new judge is a Kurd whose hometown (near Halabja, Iraq) was attacked with chemical weapons, leaving nearly 5,000 dead. The new judge has said that this will not affect his judgment. Maybe, maybe not, but the mere possibility cannot be tolerated. That leaves two judges left on the five-judge panel. And neither of those judges were properly vetted by Iraqi authorities either.

It's high time to end this fiasco, declare a mistrial and either wait until the judiciary is up and running properly, or send him to the Hague. Either choice is better than allowing him to get off for what he has done to his people.

Does the Iraqi government want the world to think that kangaroo court convicted him? That's how it looks right now. They've got to step in and get control of the proceedings before the court loses any more credibility in the eyes of the Iraqi people and the international community.

This man cannot be allowed to escape justice, and that's what is happening. More attention is being paid to the court itself instead of the trial and the testimony of the witnesses.

Iranian and Syrian Belligerence Will Lead to War

How far will this go?

Iran clearly intends to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency in developing nuclear weapons. There can be no other conclusion.

On Friday it was learned that Iran began transferring $50 billion out of European banks to protect it's foreign assets from possible (likely) U.N. sanctions.

In addition, the terrorist President of Iran met with Hamas and Islamic Jihad while visiting with the Syrians. You can bet that they were not swapping recipes for cajun gumbo; they were talking about destroying Israel. The meeting took place one day after a bombing killed 20 people in Israel; that attack was claimed by Islamic Jihad.

Fact: Iran doesn't need nuclear power to generate electricity. They want the weapons, pure and simple, and are telling the world to go screw itself. Their vast oil reserves are more than sufficient to meet their immediate needs; they have no need for nuclear power in the timetable that they're talking about. In fact, they have surplus energy already.

Israel is now hinting at military options to deal with the Iranians. And they won't be bluffing either.

Syria is also misbehaving, refusing to cooperate in the investigation that has implicated the top Syrian leadership in the killing of a former Lebanese prime minister. They've also publicly allied themselves to the Iranians, and have allowed Hamas and Islamic Jihad to operate out of their territory for years.

If these two countries are not careful, they may become the latest target for "regime change" and it won't just be the U.S. and Britain coming after them either.

This is going to get worse before it gets better.

Castro Says U.S. is Afraid to Play Cuba in Baseball

Cuban President Fidel Castro accused the U.S. government of being afraid to let the Cuban national baseball team play at the World Baseball Classic, which is to be held in Puerto Rico and then in the U.S. itself.

Castro should be thanking the American government for considering not letting the Cuban team play: by the time the tournament is underway, the entire Cuban team will have defected to this country, as so many other Cuban baseball players have.

It would be so sad if the Cubans were to forfeit due to their entire team showing up in the Cuban exile communities in Florida en masse. . and they had signed major league baseball contracts in hand. The Cuban coach and Castro would have so much egg in their faces!

So it's only out of a sense of sportsmanship that the U.S. government may not want the Cuban team to show up, Mr. Castro. They want the Cubans to field a team elsewhere so that the U.S. team won't have to accept a forfeit from the Cubans due to lack of an entire team!

(I know, it's the embargo, but this was too good of an opportunity to pass up!)

Clinton Unashamedly Uses MLK Day to Score Political Points

Senator Clinton used a speech at a MLK Day observance to call the GOP-dominated government 'one of the most corrupt in U.S. history' and said that the House and Senate were run like a 'plantation' where 'voices of dissent were quashed'.

It's simply amazing that Senator Clinton would toot her own horn on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and to launch an attack on her rivals by means of one the most mean-spirited and culturally insensitive ways imaginable. She also showed a unique misunderstanding of what plantations were and what was done to slaves there. Coming from a white southern woman, it was an incredibly dumb thing to say.

I don't see any Democrats in Congress being whipped, being forced to work out in the cotton fields, being shot, being raped by their overseers, being severely beaten, having parts of their feet being cut off to keep them from escaping, being starved (plenty of overweight Senators and Congressmen to go around), and other unspeakable terrors inflicted on African American slaves in the South.

Senator Clinton's side can't get their legislation through Congress, nor can they stop GOP legislation due to their lack of numbers. And they're whining about it. Consider this: if they had the same amount of control over both houses that the GOP has, they would be really sticking it to the GOP in the SAME way that the GOP is sticking it to them right now.

The Democrats ought to get over it, and campaign for what they believe in, not for what they think people want to hear. Honesty and establishing where they stand on specific issues will gain them more points than Senator Clinton's misinformed and insensitive comments will.

Next U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier Should be Christened USS America

Construction is set to begin next year on the U.S. Navy's newest aircraft carrier (CVN-78).

The new vessel should be named to honor the ship that was sacrificed to improve the safety of the next generation of aircraft carriers, the Kitty Hawk-class carrier USS America, and to honor the veterans of today's wars.

Many do not realize this, but the Navy used the retired carrier for target practice last year, and then scuttled the ship in 6,000 feet of water, much to the resignation of veterans who served aboard her.

The ex-America is the largest warship to have been sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic ever.

Explosions above and below the waterline were carried out on the carrier, via explosives planted inside the ship, as well as from gunfire, missile and torpedo attacks from U.S. Navy warships, to determine how much punishment a supercarrier could take and what the effect of anti-ship missiles would have on such a huge ship. Detailed sensors relayed data to nearby Navy vessels for analysis.

After three weeks of tests, the sea chocks were opened and the USS America (CV-66) was sent to the bottom. The picture to the left was taken moments after the carrier sank on May 14, 2005.

The next Nimitz-class carrier that will come out of the shipbuilding yard at Newport News, VA, is to be the massive USS George HW Bush (CVN-77), named for the last war veteran President.

After that, CVN-78 is to be laid down.

It appears that CVN-78 will be a new class of carrier that will have incorporated the lessons learned from the USS America's final mission. Even in death, the ship served the Navy that had built her, so it seems appropriate that the next carrier be named to honor both yesterday's and today's veterans, as well as honoring the decommissioned USS America.

Hopefully the Navy does the USS America veterans justice and honors their sacrifice with the naming of an entire class of carriers after their famed ship.

Why Does Iran Need Nuclear Power at All?

With 125.8 billion barrels of oil in proven oil reserves, what does Iran need nuclear power for? It's not to generate electricity cheaply--they can already do that.

Iran's threat to shut off their oil taps to the West is another illustration as to why we should be developing native alternative fuels, so we can tell them to go screw themselves and their oil. Do we REALLY want to be held hostage (economically) by a terrorist leader of an oil-producing nation if we don't allow him to have nuclear weapons?

Silence of the House Ethics Committee is Deafening: Where Did They Go?

The swirling scandal about Jack Abramoff is causing some members of Congress to run and hide.

Most notably, the House Ethics Committee appears to be missing in action. This is the group of Congresspeople who should be working their butts off, crafting fixes to the problem that have been revealed in the wake of the Abramoff deal. Instead, they are silent. They're so paralyzed by infighting that a deal had to be reached to restore civility in the committee--at the cost of being able to do their work.

This committee needs to do a major revamp of the rules and get rid of gray areas to restore black and white in campaign finance and lobbying. Most of today's problems with ethics occur in the gray areas, as well as the arguments. And the rules should be applied to ALL, not just some.

An action is either right or wrong. There is no in-between, and that should be reflected in their rules.

This panel needs to quit hiding and set a speed record in getting stuff done and restoring public confidence in a flawed system if they wish to keep their jobs.

Does the phrase "We'll remember in November" ring a bell?

Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings Last Week Were Useless

Did anyone catch the fact that the Democratic Senators had thirty minutes to ask Samuel Alito questions about his judicial philosophy and spent at least twenty minutes reading prepared statements, while spending a fraction of the time actually quizzing the Supreme Court nominee?

Was he really that unstoppable? Or was it because the Democrats fumbled the ball over and over, and asked all the wrong questions?

Or was it because they had already made up their minds, despite repeated statements that they had open minds?

In spite of Senator Biden's windbag routine during his time, he did say something afterwards that I generally agree with: do away with the hearings and have the nomination go straight to the Senate floor for debate.

While it's probably unwise to completely get rid of the hearings, they can probably be streamlined so that time isn't wasted on Senatorial windbag routines like what we saw last week.

But everyone knows that will NEVER happen; who has ever heard of a Senator or Congressperson who doesn't like to hear themselves talk? For them to lose the golden opportunity to get their names in the press...it would be like a preacher trying to impart a lesson from the Bible without using the Bible or any quotations or reasoning from it to a non-religious person. It will never happen.

Translation of What Iraqi Politician (Should Have) Said

Iraqi politician Harith al-Ubaidi recently made a grand statement about how the violence in Iraq was the fault of the Americans and that if "the occupier would leave, Iraqis would live as brothers."

In my humble opinion, what he meant to say was that if "the occupier would leave, Iraqis would turn their guns on their brothers."

This is because his political party, the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), is a front for Sunni insurgent groups who are targeting everyone in sight, including the international forces, ordinary Iraqis of every religious affiliation, non-combatants of every nationality and their enemies abroad.

The IAF is like Hamas in Palestine: a terrorist organization first, then a political party.

He denounced the bombing of a Shiite mosque by terrorists on one hand, while trying to shift the blame away from his allies who had carried out the bombing and focus it on the U.S. military in the other.

What a vicious circle. And the Shiites and the Kurds have to deal with the IAF in order to form the new government.

Postal Service Budget Shortfall is Artificial: Congress Needs to Correct Legislation to Get It Right

Most of the American public is now aware that the cost of sending a first-class letter jumped up two cents to 39 cents. Other rates were also changed, too, but for our purposes here, the rate increase affecting the most people will be the first-class rate hike.

According to the USPS, there will also be another rate hike in 2006.

Why? The Post Office is already a huge moneymaker for the government.

A few years ago, Congress had concerns that the USPS coudn't handle it's own money, and the post office had already made record profits (to the tune of $70 billion) that particular year. Congress passed a law that required extra moneys made to be put into an escrow account. So the postal system starting making regular deposits in this account.

That particular legislation expired in 2004, but still remains in effect until new legislation is passed. The problem is that the payments are now cutting into the profits that the postal system makes and has caused the Postal Service to go into negative territory, necessitating the need for rate hikes that are being paid for by the American public.

So with this hike and the next one, rates will have gone up by (up to) 15% in two years.

Two bills that fix the problem are in Congress, but they are stalled.

They ought to consider getting rid of the escrow, and LOWERING the rates for the American public. But there's no way that that will happen as the government likes the escrow as it is recorded as income for them. Yet the postal service belongs to them, so their profits end up with the government regardless. So what is the problem?

Health care? That can be paid for out of the huge surplus that they will be making. They will still have a huge surplus after health care costs are deducted too.

The feds created this problem; they should now fix it and quit screwing the American public.

Microsoft is No Friend of Free Speech: Company Shuts Down Blog of Chinese Blogger Deemed as an Enemy of the Chinese Government

Microsoft Corp. has shut down the blog of a Chinese journalist who expressed his opposition to Communist China's policies. Microsoft did so at the request of the Chinese government after the Chinese blogger supported the Beijing News staff who staged a one-day strike to protest the removal of an outspoken news editor who wouldn't keep quiet either.

The blogger also commented on China's planned war of aggression against Taiwan, which "offended Chinese sensibilities." China's policy toward Taiwan has been ANYTHING but sensible.

To hell with the Chinese government. Any government that fears the exchange of ideas between its citizens doesn't deserve to exist.

Microsoft and other companies shouldn't support immoral laws that stifle free speech and the exchange of ideas through cyberspace.

Washington Needs a Good Scandal to Expose the Corruption

The Abramoff scandal in Washington has many politicians shaking in fear as to what's going to happen to them for their participation in the graft.

GOOD!

Lobbyists already have too much power in Washington and many Representatives and Senators and other officials are much too cozy with them for comfort.

There's no doubt that both political parties have their fingerprints all over dirty money, so one party has no leverage over the other. Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi shouldn't be crowing too loudly; read here and here as to why.

So let the chips fall where they may; those who have done wrong should be shown the door. This is what happens when people stay in office too long.

Aid and Comfort from the Dead: Miners Leave Notes of Comfort to Families

There is word that some of the trapped West Virginia miners left behind messages to loved ones and to family members of other miners who had already perished.

Most of the notes describe the men as simply falling asleep, which will be a tremendous help to families who are struggling with visions of their loved ones suffering before they passed away.

They knew that they weren't going to make it, and instead of sucumbing to despair, they reached out to their loved ones with their final thoughts and actions.

That is a precious gift that will aid the families in their time of grief.

Mining Company Releases More Information on West Virginia Mining Disaster

Company officials at the Sago Mine in West Virginia continued to release information as to what went wrong with the disasterous communications failure that added to the pain and anguish of the families.

Rescuers did their jobs and located the place where the survivors had gathered before they all died. We have no idea what they had to go through to find them, but it must have been extremely difficult.

The company says that because the rescue team had to keep their oxygen masks on in order to breathe, they had no choice but to communicate on their radios with the masks on. As a result, the communication was not clear, someone misunderstood the message and the families were notified with all the wrong information.

The company also added other reasons why things happened the way they did, but the above explanation makes the most sense.

Having worn a similar type of oxygen mask and having tried to communicate with others wearing similar types of masks, I can tell you that it isn't easy. One's voice is muffled quite badly. The experience was like being in a room with ten other people who all spoke different languages with only a few common words. I couldn't imagine trying to talk on a radio under those conditions.

Under those circumstances, why use code? Plain language would have been better in this instance. True, someone could have monitored the communication and reported it to the families themselves, taking that job out of the hands of the company, BUT the information would have been accurate and this screw-up could have been avoided.

Hopefully other mines are taking notes on all of this and upgrading their disaster plans.

Major Screw-Up in Communications at Scene of West Virginia Coal Mine Disaster: Cruel "Miscommunication" Dashes Hopes of Elated Relatives

Of all the incredibly STUPID blunders!

People all around the world rejoiced in the discovery that twelve miners were discovered alive in a West Virginia coal mine some 40+ hours after a major explosion rocked the mine and caused the ceiling to cave in. For some three hours, relatives of the trapped miners rejoiced in the knowledge that their loved ones would be returning to them in one piece.

But it was not to be. It never was.

A coal mine official came out at three o'clock in the morning and announced that the miners were all dead, save one who was barely alive. Fury, shock and grief overcame the jubilation that the mining company allowed to continue for three frigging hours. They blew it. It was a cruel and devastating turn of events.

The heart and soul of the mining community was torn to pieces. It should never have happened this way; it's bad enough that the miners didn't make it, but for their families and their community to suffer like this is utterly heartbreaking.

It is unknown who spread the story that the miners were alive, but the apalling damage they inflicted on the community is almost beyond belief.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and to this devastated community who have endured so much, had three hours of happiness and then lost all their hope. We also pray for the recovery of the miner who survived.

Conspiracy Theorists Point to Existing Executive Orders as a Way for a Future President to Establish a Dictatorship

Wandering around the Internet, I came across several web sites that were devoted to FEMA as being the instrument that would be used to establish a dictatorship in the United States of America.

Before exploring the subject in a future post, one has to know which Executive Orders have the conspiracy theorists so upset. All of these orders were prepared by the Kennedy Administration during and after the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.

The theorists are wrong in their arguments. They forget that the Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land, not FEMA, and not the President.

These particular Executive Orders were prepared for use if the United States fell victim to a massive nuclear attack from the Soviet Union and large parts of the country were destroyed in the resulting nuclear holocaust. Control would have to fall to the government to get the country back on it's feet.

So read the orders below with a grain of salt and understand that Executive Orders have no legal standing to supplant the Constitution. Executive Orders that attempt to make law are illegal as the Constitution trumps that notion. Also, Congress can override an Executive Order by passing a bill that directly opposes it and then is able to override a Presidential veto with a 2/3 majority.

Here are the Executive Orders in question:

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows the government to seize and control the communication media.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310 grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11049 assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921 allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months.

Take these orders as you will.

British Nutter Marries....Dolphin??!

A crazy British woman decided to marry a dolphin recently.

And it's amazing that the media coverage of this...story...is somewhat serious. This story is an example of what happens when environmentalism combines with mental illness.

It's gotta be a slow news week around the world for so many international media outlets to cover this.

And what kind of guy's name is Cindy??!

1992 Execution in Virginia May Have Been Wrong: DNA Tests Will Settle Issue Once and For All

Virginia is considering doing DNA testing to see if it executed an innocent man in 1992.

The case and execution stems from a brutal rape and murder of the executed man's sister-in-law. Police arrested him and charged him with raping and murdering her. A court convicted him and sentenced him to death. The sentence was carried out on May 20th, 1992.

DNA has apparently been preserved in a freezer and death penalty opponents want the DNA to be tested to determine whether the man they executed was the right man. The state justice system is opposing this action as it could (would) undermine faith in Virginia's criminal justice system IF the DNA pointed to another man.

It appears from the mountain of evidence against him that Virginia did have the right man and so would be vindicated...to a degree. The death penalty is an example of fighting evil with evil and should be outlawed.

If it's scientifically proven that the death penalty was misapplied in this case, it will energize the movement to ban the death penalty and begin to sway some hearts that are, thus far, in favor of the ultimate sanction.

If Virgina did it's job in convicting this man, then it shouldn't be afraid of what the tests will show. Should it?

Family Undergoes Terrible Experience and Reaches Out to Irresponsible (Unknown) Driver via Local Newspaper

I'm going to post a letter that was sent to my hometown newspaper from a family that has undergone a catastrophe due to the careless actions of someone who left the scene of an accident like a coward and left his victim to die.

This is the most powerful letter that I have ever read, and I hope the person responsible owns up to what he/she has done.

To the editor:

This is addressed to the person that drove into the back of Don Morlan's car around 10:30 p.m., Dec. 1. After ramming his car and forcing him to go directly into the path of the oncoming snowplow, you just sped away.

Did you even look back at the devastation you caused?

Have you been enjoying your holiday? Don has been lying in the ICU at Marquette General Hospital in traction, on a ventilator, fighting for his life. He sustained 39 broken bones.

Both of his arms and legs were broken in many places, including both femurs. He had compound fractures, a broken hip, pelvis, both elbows (one was also dislocated), and his sternum was split open. The doctor said that he never saw anyone with that many broken bones who was still alive.

Don has already had four long surgeries to try and put him back together and has more to look forward to. He will have a long, hard road of therapy ahead of him to try to get back the use of his arms and legs. It is very doubtful that he will ever fully recover.

Don is a father and grandfather. He will spend his 40th birthday next month still in the hospital. He has always worked very hard and was going to his job at the Goodwill Farm when you changed his life forever. Don often has nightmares of the accident. Everyday he relives seeing himself being pushed into the plow and feeling his bones being broken and crushed. He never lost consciousness, so he was awake the whole time they were cutting the roof off of his demolished car and pulling him out.

He was awake and screaming in pain on the ride to Keweenaw Memorial and the trip to Marquette in the ambulance when the muscle spasms set in. It was the first thing his mother, daughter and other family members heard when we walked in the emergency room.

Maybe you can live with yourself and what you have done. Maybe it doesn't bother you that you left him to die in a ditch on that cold, dark night. We want to make sure that you at least know how badly you have hurt a good and decent man. Our family would like to thank the driver of the snowplow who called for help and stayed with Don until they arrived. We would also like to thank everyone else who helped. We encourage anyone who saw anything or knows anything to contact the police, if they have not already done so.

Thank you.

KM Family

Hancock

Iran's Terrorist President Continues Verbal Assault on Israel; Says European Nations Created Jewish State to Finish the Holocaust

He's at it again.

Now instead of denying the Holocaust, Iran's hostage-taking President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that European nations created Israel to rid the continent of Jews and that their intent was to have the Muslims in neighboring lands around Jerusalem finish the job.

He's been on the outs with the international community since he called Israel a "blot on the map" and said that Israel should be wiped off that map. Last month he called the Holocaust a myth; after the world protested he said that Europe should give up land to establish a Jewish state there and remove it from where it currently is.

This man is an idiot who doesn't know when to shut up. He's definitely the rudest leader on the planet with no concern about what he says and when he says it. And this man thinks the world will trust him with nuclear arms?