One more reason not to shop at Wal-Mart

After the delicate way they've handled this case... (my bold)

HOUSTON -- A college student’s trip to Wal-Mart last month ended with her in handcuffs and a two-day stay in the Harris County jail.

Nitra Gipson was charged with felony forgery after the Meyer Park Wal-Mart manager accused her of passing bogus money orders. Thing is, the money orders were legit and had been purchased at Wal-Mart to begin with.

The cash-strapped college student had just sold her car to pay for her last two semesters at Texas Southern University, where she is studying criminal justice. She was paid with Wal-Mart money orders, which the giant retailer advertises as “good as cash.”

In Gipson’s case, they were as good as time behind bars.

“Humiliating is not the word for it,” said Gipson. “I was horrified. I think they singled me out because of the amount of money that it was and (thought) I was trying to get over on them.”

No manner of effort by Gipson to show that the money orders were legit worked. The store manager insisted she be charged.

The district attorney’s office saw it differently. Charges were dropped after the money orders were verified when Gipson provided the purchase receipts.

But after spending 48 hours behind bars, the damage had already beeen done.

“Wal-Mart should be held responsible and accountable for letting this child go to jail for two days. All because she was doing what any customer of Wal-Mart should do,” said community activist Quannel X.

Gipson said Wal-Mart then added insult to injury when she got a letter in the mail.

“I started to read it and thought, ‘Oh my God.’ They are asking me to pay them when it was clearly their mistake,” said Gipson.

The letter demanded Gipson pay Wal-Mart $200 to settle a shoplifting charge. It is a charge that never existed, though.

When 11 News contacted Wal-Mart officials they said they were looking into the case and would provide no further details.

The spokesperson did claim that the decision to pursue charges was up to the law enforcement officials on the scene. But the copy of the criminal complaint obtained by 11 News, shows that the store manager is who pressed charges.

Lawsuit anyone?

crossposted at SteveAudio

Next they'll be telling us they're actually people

Instead of evil doer terrorist enemy combatant non-entities:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the Constitution to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts.

In its third rebuke of the Bush administration's treatment of prisoners, the court ruled 5-4 that the government is violating the rights of prisoners being held indefinitely and without charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The court's liberal justices were in the majority.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court, said, "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times."

Yeah? Well I betcha these EDTECNEs had access to weapons of mass destruction program related activities!

Tornadoes appreciate irony?

Topeka, KS (AHN) - Northeast Kansas was hit by several tornadoes from Wednesday night until Thursday, causing extensive damage in the area.

[snip]

The twister also smashed the Kansas State University campus, causing cars to turn turtle and smashing glass windows.

It destroyed the university's Wind Erosion Laboratory...

Joking aside, having never lived in an area of extreme weather, I would have no clue what to do. For those who want to know:

So what can you know about tornadoes which might save your life? Knowing something about tornadoes and using common sense can go a long way towards saving yourself. Here are six tips everyone should be aware of.

1 Hail is closely related to tornadoes! Large hail may precede a tornado, so the areas of a thunderstorm adjacent to areas of hail is a good candidate for a tornado to form. Seek appropriate shelter and remain in the shelter until well after the hail has stopped, about a half hour until the storm has moved away.

2 Opening a window in a house with the idea of reducing damage from tornadoes is a myth! Most building have sufficient ventilation to allow for the sudden drop in atmospheric pressure related to tornadoes. It is a myth that opening a window will allow inside air pressure to equalize with outside air pressure. Actually, opening the wrong window can increase damage.

3 Most deaths from tornadoes are caused by flying debris. Stay in the center of a building away from windows and exterior doors. Bathrooms and closets offer good protection if a basement is not available. Bathrooms have added support from pipes. Large rooms are more likely to have roof collapse.

4 Tornado wind speeds increases with height within the tornado. Storm cellars and well protected basements offer the best protection from tornadoes. In high rise buildings, occupants should try to reach the lowest floor and take shelter in small rooms or stairwells.

5 An approaching tornado may sound like a loud roar such as that from a freight train or airplane. At night or in heavy rains the only clue to a tornado may be the roar from its winds.

6 Although most tornadoes occur in the afternoon, they can occur at any time or the day or night.

The key to survival is awareness and planning. All members of the household should know where the safest areas of the house are. Make sure everyone knows that they may only have seconds of warning and that they must never hesitate or pause to grab toys or valuables.

In ways these suggestions sound very much like our California earthquake training: going for the strongest supported areas of the house, not trying to collect valuables, planning ahead. Sadly, we did not plan ahead for the tornado currently blowing through the Oval Office....

I told you not to name him Flauntleroy...

And now we can see why...

Shippensburg, PA (AHN) - Economists at Shippensburg University have linked unusual first names with male juvenile delinquency.

Fisticuffs and other troubled youth behavior are often the result of being given an unpopular name, especially if they come from a disadvantaged home environment and low economic strata.

[snip]

The names the study compared with their Popularity Name Indices were: Matthew - 76, Christopher - 64, Ryan - 49, Brian - 30, Richard - 20, Charles - 16, Luke - 5, Walter - 2 and Garland - 0.06.

Is that why the police so often give us the criminal's three names: Buford Earl Dimwattson, so we can make sure not to use those names?

Hey, that's what you signed up for, wasn't it?

Eternal war? You guys just stay over there and take care of things...



Talking about running for Bush's third term means I get to repost this pic:

They really want to go there?

Right wingers want to go after Michelle Obama? They think she's the weak link and think it's a good idea to go after the candidates' spouses?

Because Cindy McCain is a mother lode of scandal. Having an affair with a married man, bookkeeping for the Keating Five, going through drug addiction and stealing from a charity? Want to compare these problems against a non-existent tape of Michelle saying the word 'whitey'?

Is that the only thing they have?

I thought McCain was going to run a positive campaign....

The Dead Zone

No, not Bush's skull, the Gulf of Mexico:

Scientists have monitored the growth of these so-called dead zones since the late 1970s. They have tried to promote policies to reduce their size, without much success. Last summer, the dead zone along the Gulf of Mexico coast spanned nearly 8,000 square miles— its third-largest occurrence on record and roughly the size of Massachusetts.

Although states have tried to address the problem, cooperation among them is suffering, and federal leadership and funding are lagging. And now, scientists say, there is a new obstacle: the impact of ethanol production on water quality.

Spurred by recent ethanol mandates and, to a lesser extent, high commodity prices, U.S. farmers are planting record-size crops. From 2006 to 2007, corn acres rose by about 15 million, mostly in the Mississippi River basin. Mid-Atlantic farmers are expected to plant 500,000 more acres of corn, soybeans, and wheat this year than they did in 2006, a 7 percent jump.

Everyone is to blame and no one will take responsibility. Finger pointing resolves nothing. In the mean time the Gulf continues to die. It's up to EIGHT THOUSAND square miles. What will the magic number be to galvanize people to act? It obviously must be from the ground up because politicians by their very nature will do nothing.

So where does one begin?

Update 6/11: RB of The Wicked Witch of the Web has posted on this as well as written an article.

Back on the table

Where it belongs:

Just a thought

But the only fist jab I see going on here is one right in the eye of Fox News...

They're all ferriners to him

Germany, Russia? What's the difference? Them Urpeen countries is all the same anyway....



So I suppose a 3 am phone call would make a President McCain bomb Nepal just because it's vaguely in the vicinity?

(Via Rising Hegemon)