The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
Well, by now most of you have heard the story of the fake FEMA press conference. Apparently, a couple of weeks ago during the height of the California wildfires, Deputy Secretary, Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, was asked questions by other FEMA employees posing as reporters. Real reporters were notified of the conference only 15 minutes before it started, and were only allowed to listen via a listen-only conference line.
Read moreThis is the news wrapup for the week ending Friday, November 2, 2007. It includes notes on a beach house fire in Ocean Isle, N.C., the anniversary of the NYC Subway system, A story about a couple both being arrested for drunk driving, and a story about a man being shot by his hunting dog. In Ohio, a gay person is appointed to a judgeship.
Read moreMy oh my, it seems another gay bashing homophobic republican has been caught with his pants down, or rather his lingerie up. Richard Curtis, a Republican in the Washington State House has had to resign after an extortion attempt resulted in the disclosure of some pretty kinky sexual behavior.
Read moreI watched most of an excellent and touching Frontline episode last night on PBS. It was called The Undertaking. Thomas Lynch is a writer and poet in a small town in Michigan, and he’s also a funeral director. His family has been caring for the dead in his hometown for three generations. Given my background, this certainly caught my attention. I was not disappointed.
Read moreThe film is based on Mariane Pearl’s account of the terrifying and unforgettable story of her husband, Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl’s life and death.
Read moreHigh-school student Sam Witwicky buys his first car, who is actually the Autobot Bumblebee. Bumblebee defends Sam and his girlfriend Mikaela Banes from the Decepticon Barricade, before the other Autobots arrive on Earth. They are searching for the Allspark, and the war on Earth heats up as the Decepticons attack a United States military base in Qatar. Sam and Mikaela are taken by the top-secret agency Sector 7 to help stop the Decepticons, but when they learn the agency also intends to destroy the Autobots, they formulate their own plan to save the world.
Read moreAccording to a report in the USAToday, the Terrorist Watchlist now contains 755,000 names. Approximately 200,000 names have been added each year since 2004. Obviously this raises a ton of concerns by those interested in civil liberties. The list is quickly headed to a million, and it’s shear size makes it impossible to use it effectively.
Read moreA Reuters report by John Hurdle reports that the Kansas based Westboro Baptist Church has been ordered to pay $2.9 million in compensatory damages to the family of a gay marine killed in Iraq. They had cheered and protested at his funeral, as they have done at many of the funerals for soldiers killed in the war, claiming it to be God’s vengeance on America for the way it treats them, and for letting gay people live here.
Read moreThis is a collection of news items for the week ending October 28, 2007. It includes stories of drunken elephants, a necrophilia plot in Citrus County, and a classic trash to treasure story.
Read moreI read an article on MSNBC a few days back about a small but growing practice of “home funerals.” It’s touted as a way for people to reclaim their death rituals. Having been a funeral director in the past, the title certainly caught my eye.
Read moreWhen three small town National Guardsmen bound for Iraq are unknowingly dropped into Mexico, their confusion leads them to “liberate” a small village from a band of corrupt Federales.
Read more