TChris is back this weekend. We got a third shot of cortisone in our wrist yesterday for our DeQuervain's Tenosynovitis --it's the last and final one before it either gets better or we have to do the surgery--so we are very grateful that TChris has been so generous with his weekend time. We are going to snowshoe in the mountains instead of type, but we'll check in and write a little over the weekend.

TChris says it's not necessary, but we'd like to share some paypal donations with him anyway--so any donations this weekend that end in $.11 will be passed on to TChris. In lieu of contributions, comments are fine.

If any of you have any experience with DeQuervain's or the surgery for it, please share your info in the comments. Thanks.

by TChris

CBS, guardian of the nation’s moral fabric, has reportedly pressured producers of the Grammy awards to rescind Janet Jackson’s invitation to appear at Sunday night’s award presentation in light of her decision to expose some or all of her right breast to Superbowl viewers. Jackson had been scheduled to introduce a tribute to Luther Vandross. Oddly, CBS will apparently allow Justin Timberlake to sing the Grammy-nominated “Where Is the Love?” with Black Eyed Peas during the broadcast. Timberlake, who removed a portion of Jackson’s costume at the end of their Superbowl performance, has been aptly labeled as Jackson’s co-conspirator.

While this is not a criminal conspiracy (and certainly not worthy of all the hand-wringing, including an ill-conceived FCC investigation), it would be interesting to ask CBS why it decided to ban Jackson but not Timberlake. The criminal law generally decrees that individuals who join together to commit a crime are equally guilty of the crime. Does CBS view Timberlake, who took an affirmative step to expose the breast, as having less responsibility than Jackson, who passively allowed the exposure? Was not this act that CBS regards as an affront to decency jointly planned and executed?

Of course, the criminal law recognizes that shared responsibility is not the same as shared culpability, and some offenders therefore deserve lighter sentences than others. But why is Timberlake (whose actions are described by some, perhaps unfairly, as "a pantomime of sexual assault") less blameworthy than Jackson? Is it her fault that she’s the one who happened to have the breast?

Criminal law doesn’t apply here, but civil law might. Should CBS and/or the Grammy producers be worried that treating the white male more favorably than the black female runs afoul of civil rights laws? Perhaps CBS views presenters differently than it views performers, although it is difficult to draw a principled distinction that justifies the disparate treatment of Jackson and Timberlake. At the very least, the decision betrays an alarming insensitivity that is more offensive than the Superbowl mishap.

*****

For those who were emotionally scarred or traumatized by catching a fleeting glimpse of a woman's breast, help is on the way. A Tennessee woman has started a class action lawsuit "for exposure to lewd conduct" on behalf of the millions of people who saw Jackson's performance. While complaints of frivolous litigation are largely overblown, this may be the silliest lawsuit in recent memory.

Calpundit does Friday cat blogging, we thought we'd try something along those lines--a little humor on Fridays. Here's today's entry, courtesy of Deb in Chicago:

John Aschroft was visiting an elementary school. After 15 minutes of speaking, he asked the class if they had any questions.

Robert stood up and said, "Mr. Ashcroft, I have four questions:

1) How did President Bush win the election with fewer votes than Al Gore?
2) Why are you using the Patriot Act to limit civil liberties?
3) Why haven't you caught Osama Bin Laden?
4) Where are the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?"

Just then, the bell rang. The kids ran out to play.

Upon their return, Mr. Ashcroft said, "I'm sorry we were interrupted. I will answer any questions you have."

A little girl named Julie stood up and said, "I only have two questions:

1) Why did the bell ring twenty minutes early?
2) Where's Robert?"

Such sad news to report: police have found the body of 11 year old Carlie Brucia, who was kidnapped from a car wash this week.

The body of an 11-year-old girl whose abduction was captured by a surveillance camera was found Friday in a church parking lot, and a mechanic has been charged with her murder. Sarasota County sheriff's officials said Carlie Brucia's body was found about 1 a.m. outside a church a few miles from the car wash where she was abducted. Authorities did not say how she died or whether she had been raped.

Sheriff Bill Balkwill said Joseph P. Smith, 37, has been charged with the girl's murder. Smith, who could face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder, is believed to be the tattooed man in a mechanic's shirt who was seen in the surveillance video leading Carlie away by the arm Sunday evening, authorities said.

Investigators found the body after negotiations with Smith, said a law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity. Earlier, authorities had said Smith was not cooperating.

Don't miss this audio collection from the Mike Malloy Radio Show with one quote after another about the fictitious WMDs. Many are from Bush, but the other culprits are here as well... Rumseld, Colin Powell , Ari, Condi Rice and the rest of the gang. It's near the bottom under the heading "WarGate" (If you have windows and want to save a copy, right click the mp3 fileand select 'save target as')

Another good related flash video is here ...

[thanks to Kelley of Demopower for the tip]

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President Bush will appoint John McCain to a nine member panel to investigate intelligence failures regarding Iraq.

We've never been particularly fond of McCain. Is this supposed to be good news? Since the results of the panel won't be released until after the November election, does it even matter?

With Massachussetts front and center in the controversy over gay marriages, some news articles are speculating that John Kerry's position on the issue may take on increased significance. He supports civil unions but opposes gay marriages. Yet, he was one of 14 senators voting against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 that defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Here's an article describing all of the Democratic candidates positions on civil unions and gay marriage.

Michael Meehan, a senior adviser for the Kerry campaign, told Fox News yesterday that Mr. Kerry opposes homosexual "marriage," but that he still "thinks there's a lot of gay bashing going on, and he won't stand for that."

...Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean has said he was "proud to sign the nation's first law establishing civil unions for same-sex couples," but has also said he opposes raising that status to official marriage. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina has said he favors letting states decide the question of gay "marriage." Wesley Clark has generally avoided the issue on the campaign trail, but has said that "families come in many shapes and sizes" and was in favor of giving same-sex couples the "same rights and responsibilities" as heterosexual couples.

Since all the major candidates oppose gay marriage, we're not sure why it is perceived to be that big of an issue. The issue to us is Bush's plan to push a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage--now that, must be stopped.

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Yesterday we wrote about Roderick Johnson, a black, gay male who endured being raped in a Texas prison nearly every day by more than 100 men over an 18 month period.

Today we learn that a Texas grand jury has refused to indict anyone in the case.

Gina DeBottis, the chief of the state's Special Prosecution Unit that prosecutes prison crimes, said the grand jury considered allegations concerning sexual assault by convicts and organized criminal activity. None of the 49 convicts alleged to have committed the attacks against Roderick Johnson was indicted, she said Thursday.

In April 2002, seeking compensation, Johnson filed a lawsuit against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and more than a dozen prison officials. He alleged officials looked the other way while he was repeatedly beaten and raped by prison gangs who sold him as a sex slave while he was incarcerated at the Allred Unit near Wichita Falls. The lawsuit is pending in federal court in Wichita Falls.

Prison officials have denied the allegations and on Thursday for the first time made public their investigative report refuting Johnson's allegations with new ones -- that he had consensual sex with several of the alleged attackers, that he concocted his story for money, that he even wrote letters to two convicts he alleged raped him.

He consented to sex with "several" of the inmates? What about the remaining ones who raped him? Out of the 49 inmates investigated, not one was indicted. Not a single guard or prison official. We smell a whitewash.

Dick Gephardt has given his support to John Kerry. Kerry is leading in Michigan.

John Edwards has pledged to stay in the race through Wisconsin, even if he loses Tennessee and Virginia next Tuesday. Edwards raised $200k over the internet in the 24 hours after his South Carolina win.

New York City yesterday became the 251st "civil liberties safe zone" when its City Council passed a resolution rejecting portions of the Patriot Act. You can read the text of the resolution here. From an e-mail from the Bill of Rights Defense Committee:

The Council of the City of New York approved a resolution denouncing parts of the Patriot Act and affirming that “security measures [must] enhance the public safety without impairing constitutional rights or infringing on civil liberties.” The resolution makes New York the 251st ‘civil liberties safe zone,’ and raises the zones’ population to 43 million nationwide, according to the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, which tracks the movement and encourages communities to join in a national debate on these issues. Four of the country’s five most populous cities—New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia—are now ‘safe zones,’ along with the states of Alaska, Hawaii, and Vermont.

Say hello to Media for Democracy:

Media For Democracy 2004 is a non-partisan citizens' initiative to monitor mainstream news coverage of the 2004 elections and advocate fair, democratic and issue-oriented standards of reporting. The project links voters with more than 100 independent media reform groups in a targeted campaign to prevent the types of media mistakes -- such as early, erroneous and politically biased projections -- that plagued the 2000 election.

Here's a heads-up on tomorrow's article, Campaign Roadkill: Pay-To-Play
Formula Steamrolls Underdogs, accessible now:

The murky relationship of money, media and politics becomes crystal clear when it comes to advertising. If a candidate can't deliver cash to buy political spots from local broadcasters, his or her run for office is dead on arrival.

Republican Senator Charles Grassley has a prediction: Osama bin Laden will be caught before the November 2 election.

Grassley also says John Edwards is a bigger threat to President Bush than John Kerry:

Although President Bush’s re-election prospects would no doubt be boosted if bin Laden is found, Grassley said Democrats may have a better chance if Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) wins his party’s presidential nomination rather than the current front-runner, Sen. John Kerry (Mass.).

“ I would say that Senator Kerry is more of a threat than [Howard] Dean but less of a threat than Senator Edwards” because of the latter’s strength in the South, he said.

[link via Cursor.]