hmmmmmm - is this Republicans trying to pose as compasionate conservatives? Also makes you wonder if anyone voted against this and why.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Having sex with corpses is now officially illegal in California after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill barring necrophilia, a spokeswoman said on Friday.
The new legislation marks the culmination of a two-year drive to outlaw necrophilia in the state and will help prosecutors who have been stymied by the lack of an official ban on the practice, according to experts.
"Nobody knows the full extent of the problem. ... But a handful of instances over the past decade is frequent enough to have a bill concerning it," said Tyler Ochoa, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law who has studied California cases involving allegations of necrophilia.
"Prosecutors didn't have anything to charge these people with other than breaking and entering. But if they worked in a mortuary in the first place, prosecutors couldn't even charge them with that," Ochoa said.
The state's first attempt to outlaw necrophilia, in response to a case of a man charged with having sex with the corpse of a 4-year-old girl in Southern California, stalled last year in a legislative committee.
Lawmakers revived the bill this year after an unsuccessful prosecution of a man found in a San Francisco funeral home drunk and passed out on top of an elderly woman's corpse.
The new law makes sex with a corpse a felony punishable by up to eight years in prison.
Letter to the Editor
It's been 3 years since Osama bin Laden destroyed the World Trade Towers and killed 3000 people. Bush said that bin Laden was wanted "Dead or Alive" he was going to "Smoke him out". But now Bush says bin Laden has been "marginalized" and Bush says. "I truly am not that concerned about him." Bush has let him get away with murdering 3000 people and is no longer pursuing him. Yet America remains in terror of being attacked by bin Laden again.
Seems to me that if Bush were serious about terrorism - he'd be going after the terrorists. We need a president who knows who the real enemy is and will go after those who really did attack us. This is the third anniversary of both a tragedy and Bush's continuing failure to deal with it.
This is what it's like. Here's a moonie that wrote me. This person has no idea she's brainwashed. Note - according to her - the Moonies are Republicans. Something I've known for years. Moomies hate paragraphs.
I get a lot of Moonie email like this and they all say I have no right to speak. I say - fuck them. Here's the letter. What do you think?
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Hello. I just wanted to comment on your sight. I happen to know more about some of these religious organizations more than you do. In fact a lot more. I was searching the web (curiously) wondering what kind of things are said about "moonies" on the web. I happened to come upon your sight, which I think is (to say the least) very one sided. You may be a democrat, but that gives you no right to criticize a religion just because they are republicans. I have attended more organizations with the Unification Church, than I believe many have. Let me just say that, you've only heard half of what is said about the Unification Church and Theology. Let me tell you, Rev. Sun Myung Moon is definately not trying to "take over the world." Let me also ask you, have you ever even heard ANY of the Unification Theology? If so, I doubt you would be so negative about this religion. You have no idea how amazing this man is. You have absolutely NO idea how much heartache and suffering this man has gone through, to change the world, little by little. For example, did you know that he spent years and years in prison, being tortured immensly, with 1 cup of rice a day, and that he couldn't bare to watch the other prisoners starve, so he gave his tiny little cup to the others, and starved himself. Did you know that, when he was 16 he received a revelation from Jesus Christ Himself and spent many tearfilled days pondering over this revelation. Rev. Sun Myung Moon is not and evil villain trying to obtain the world. He is simply a humble man striving for world peace. You may think that I'm "brainwashed" and that Rev. Moon has me under "his spell" but let me just say that, if the world is so dumb as to ignore Our Savior once again then this world will surely parish. I have so much more that I want to share with you, and to spread my knowledge about Rev. Sun Myung Moon, but that would take me a month. I just wanted to say that, you shouldn't try to "brainwash" people, and make them think that "moonies" are "brainwashing" people. You should be mature enough to let everybody else in the world ponder on their own, and let them decide which path to take, and which religion to believe in. I just want to leave you with the Unification motto, "Live for the sake of others." Sincerely: Amy Shank
Letter to the Editor
I remember when the Republicans were trying to get President Clinton kicked out of office saying, "it's not that he had sex with that woman - it's that he lied about it." Now we get to say the same thing. It's not that Bush has strings pulled to get him out of Vietnam - it's that he lied about it. It's not that he didn't show up for his national guard duty - it's that he lied about it. It's not that they didn't find weapons of mass destruction - it's that he lied about it. And - it's not that he got us into and unprovoked war against the wrong enemy that has crippled the economy and got 1000 soldiers killed - it's that he lied to get us in there.
Have you been wondering why real estate prices are so high? It's because of a huge amount of speculation in the market and cheap and easy to get loans.
First - the low interest rates are creating artificially high prices. When interest rates were 8% there was a limit to how much of a monthy payment someone could afford. But at 4% the same person can buy a house for almost twice as much for the same payment. Thus - real estate prices increase. Especially for people who are suckered into variable rate loans as low as 3%.
Because the market went up so fast banks started making loans with nothing down and bad credit - figuring the homes are going up so fast that the collateral will cover it. People are buying up homes like they were in 2000 day trading stock. It's called turn and burn. Your hairdresser might own 10 homes in different parts of the country. The bouy a house - sit on it for 6 months - and then sell it for 50 grand more than they paid for it. And it all works as long as prices continue to climb and it remains greed driven.
But this is artificial and at some point the reality will hit like it did for the artificially high dot com stocks. The greed driven market will turn fear driven and collapse extremely fast. And when it hits - real estate will drop to half price overnight - there will be huge losses - and banks will be stuck with property worth far less that the loans against it. And when that happens you'll see a huge banking collapse just like what happened in the 1980s under Reagan.
So - when you hear Bush say that home ownership is at it's highest level ever - this is why.
My accountant was telling me all about it because he's helping process a lot of these transactions for these people. At it all made sense. I had beeen confused about how it is with the deficit so high and economy so low - and real estate so high - how does anyone afford to buy a house? Well - now I know.
So - here's what the crash looks like. And it will be a small interest rate hike to will trigger it. Fear enteres the market. People realize the the rise is over and they start to sell. The houses sit on the market for some time and nothing sells - so people start lowering their price. Once the prices start going down everyone panics and all of a sudden - every turn and burn property is on the markey at the same time. While it sits there - they still have to make the payments on the property and quickly burn up the capital they have - often borrowed on credit cards - and then they can't make the payments anymore.
The homes get reposessed - but the banks can't sell them. Now not only is there a glut of turn and burn properties for sale - but there are forclosure sale properties on the market. And - as interest rates creep up - those people who got a 3% teaser loan that they could barely affors to pay are all of a sudden paying 6% and nearly double the payment. So home owners get hit as well.
With all the loan failures - the banks will start failing and torn to the federal government for yet another huge bailout. A government that already is setting records for deficit spending.
We still owe the money for the 1980s bailout of the Savings and Load industry. this collapse will be far bigger.
But - it won't happen till after the November election.
If you are playing this game - the time to get out is now.
Rape cases are difficult but I have some real problems with rape shield laws. I have seen both sides of the issue. Women who need the protection of the law - and women who lie about being raped for either money or to try to cover up infedelity. Most people are aware of real rapes and feel sorry for the women victims - as I do. But I have seen that the other side is extremely common.
Having said that - if I were on the jury and I were presented with the fact that the woman had sex with another man between the time she was raped and when she was examined by the police - I don't see how I could decide to convict.
Not only would I have a problem with her cerdibility - but how do you determine which sex act caused what results? Which sex act resulted in what?
The standard of the law is "beyond a reasonable doubt" which means that even if they convinced me that he probably did it - probably isn't good enough. And with the woman having sex with another man after the rape and before the medical exam - that's reasonable doubt. There was no case there - and it was properly dismissed.
Personally - I think the girl is lying. And I think she's in it for a buck. But that's just my opinion.
A little tip for those who are raped - go to the police first before having sex with someone else.
My 2 cents ....
Letter to the Editor
The numbers are out and at 422 billion dollars Bush has set a new record for deficit spending. But what is even scarier is the projections that in a decade that the annual deficit will be 2.2 trillion dollars a year. I don't believe that we will actually reach a 2.2 trillion dollar deficit (2200 billion dollars) because, like the World Trade Towers, the economy will totally colapse before then. If we are heading towards economic collapse - maybe it's time to change the direction of the country - elect a new leader - and put back in place the economy we had just 4 years ago when we had a surplus. It's time to get rid of Bush - tax the rich - and bring back peace and prosperity.
I'm inventing a new word. The name for a religious belief that is the opposite of evolution. I call the Extinctionists. Evolutionists are people who believe that people and animals are evolving - and getting better. Evolving into something greater - improving.. But and Extinctionist is the exact opposite. Not only don't they believe in Evolution - but they envistion ultimate destruction. To them the end of the world is near - the end of time - and we cease to exist. They justify this position by expecting an afterlife - but if they are wrong - we merely cease to exist. We become extinct.
I have made the opposite choice - to evolve - to move forward towards a better tomorrow. Becuase after all - our existence is all we have and if we lose that - we lose everything. And if we make the wrong choices - we will merely cease to exist along with millions of other species who have failed to evolve. I say - the extinctionists are wrong. And that we should resist the direction the are trying to take us in.
Letter to the Editor
People wonder why some of us are so dead set against a second Bush term. I can sum it up in a few sentences. When we look back at what happened in the last four years and seen America decline - we wonder if it's even repairable now. We fear that with four more years of Bush - there won't be anything left of this country. We feel that if Bush is reselected - that America as we know it will be gone. This country is in serious danger and if we don't turn it around - democracy as we have know it will be gone and all that will be left is war, debt, poverty, and lies. And that's not the kind of future that we can live with. That's why we oppose Bush.
I got the decision in small claims court in the mail and I got screwed. The judge - who really wasn't a judge but a fill in lawyer - complained that the case was too complex for small claims court and recommended I hire a lawyer.
The decision: Defendant (PayPal) acted within the scope of contrace and no legislation was presented to override.
This was a dispute arising from PayPal not liking what I posted on my web site and deciding to cut me off and seize my money for 180 days. I did get my money back after recording a conversation I had with them and posting it on the internet.
Details are at this link.
The battle isn't over yet however. The problem is that PayPal is acting like a financial institution without the responsibilities of a bank. They are playing a game of legal fiction playinf fast and loose with people's money. I want to see what I can do to bring PayPal under the same rules as other financial institutions so they can't just decide to arbetrarilly decide to grab someon'e money just for any reason they want.
Letter to the Editor
Arnold Schwarzenegger told the Republican convention "I saw tanks in the streets. I saw communism with my own eyes." and that as a child and that he left a "Socialist" country when he moved away in 1968.
The problem is that while what Arnold said was moving - the problem with it, like most Republican speeches, is that it just wasn't true. When Arnold was in Austria, the area of Styria and the neighboring province of Carinthia belonged to the British zone. The Soviets left Styria in July 1945.
Arnold also said: "As a kid, I saw the Socialist country that Austria became after the Soviets left". But when Arnold left in 1968, Austria was run by a conservative government headed by People's Party Chancellor Josef Klaus, a staunch Roman Catholic and a sharp critic of both the Socialists and the Communists ruling in countries across the Iron Curtain.
Arnold is trying to rewrite reality for the purpose of supporting a president who stands for the opposite of everything Arnold believes in. It was clear from the beginning that Arnold didn't want to support Bush but was pressured into it. There's a name Arnold gives people like him who can be pressured into lying. He calls them girly men!