Friday, February 15, 2008

Born Again Christian Jane Fonda Uses the C-Word

Relevant to our ongoing discussion about the use of the "C-Word," here is an example of a public figure using the word on a network morning television program. Now, I could simply point out that actress and born again christian Jane Fonda used the word on the Today program and complain that her action constitutes hypocrisy. However, I understand that Jane was using the word in the context of the title of a monologue within the larger context of the play "The Vagina Monologues." I don't have a problem with this. Personally, I hope Jane's radical impulses kicked in and she made a choice to demonstrate against censorship.

What I do have a problem with is the hypocrisy of Bush's FCC that targets freethinkers like Howard Stern, but allows General Electric and NBC's Today program to get away with this. That's hypocrisy.

But I don't blame any of the players in this situation. I don't want anyone fined or publicly castigated. Censorship leads to hypocrisy. I blame censorship itself. Stopping the flow of communication is more harmful than any public use of a "vulgar" word. Censorship IS vulgarity in action.

Jane Fonda Drops The C-Bomb - You Tube

Diane Keaton Uses the F-Word - You Tube

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Missing Person: Brianna Denison

FIND BRIANNA DENISON

Missing Person: Brianna Denison

Missing Person:

Brianna Denison - Reno, Nevada

New Info - Reno police have linked the abduction last week of Brianna Denison to a December kidnap and rape of a University of Nevada, Reno student. Police announced Sunday that DNA analysis by the Washoe County crime lab established the link.
Denison, 19, and a Reno High graduate, hasn’t been seen since 4 a.m. Jan. 20, when she was sleeping on a couch near an unlocked door.
The victim in the Dec. 17 case also was the victim of an attempted burglary Jan. 19 at her residence in the 1400 block of N. Virginia St., about five blocks from where Denison was taken.
Police are trying to establish a link from the Nov. 13 sexual assault on the female UNR student to the attempted burglary at her home in the same neighborhood.
Police described the suspect and his vehicle: A white male, 28 to 40 years old, long face with a square chin, taller than 5 feet 6 inches but not much, very strong but not with a significantly muscular build. He had a belly that was described as not excessively large and firm but not flabby, an “innie” belly button, shaved pubic region, a light covering of hair on his arms.
The man had no jewelry or wristwatch, facial hair about a quarter to a half an inch long below his chin and was soft and not prickly as stubble normally is.
It was unknown if he had a mustache. He had brown hair of undetermined style, normal speech with no accent or regional dialect, no smoker’s breath, no alcohol, no bad breath, no cologne or after-shave.
The vehicle was an extended cab pick-up truck or SUV, with dome light above the windshield and tall enough that it requires a step up to gain entry. The floor-mounted console was described as “fairly skinny” that opens in front. The radio had a blue and red LED read-out on the radio. The vehicle had cloth seats, automatic transmission.
There was a baby shoe on the front seat floor board and 8 ½” x 11” white pieces of paper with typing on the floor board of the front seat.
The suspect wore a red short-sleeve shirt described as being made of material similar to a jersey-type shirt with a medium blue neckline, short printed (possibly embroidered) word on the upper left breast area. He wore another shirt underneath with wrist-length sleeves and unknown color pants, not jeans. The pants reminded the victim of basketball pants as the material was smooth but they made no noise when he moved and they had an elastic waist band and no zipper.
People who know the suspect may not believe that he is capable of committing this type of crime and he may not necessary have a violent criminal history.
RENO, Nev. — A 19-year-old college student mysteriously vanished from a Reno, Nev., home early Sunday morning, and cops fear she may have been kidnapped.
Brianna Denison, a student at Santa Barbara City College who is from Reno, was staying with friends near the University of Nevada, Reno. She was last seen at about 4 a.m. Sunday, when she returned home from a party and went to sleep on the couch wearing sweat pants and a T-shirt.
"We're treating this as an abduction case right now," Lt. Robert McDonald of the Reno Police Department told FOX News. "A small amount of blood on her pillow is of interest to us.
"Cops are looking for a tan-colored, later-model GMC or Chevy Suburban and a white male, about 45 years old, who might be of Latin descent.
"He's certainly a person of interest. We're treating him as a person of interest, not a suspect," McDonald said.
The man driving the vehicle had picked up a friend of Denison's earlier that evening from the party both were attending when the friend was trying to hail a cab and dropped her off without incident at Mackay Court, the residence where she lived and Denison was staying, McDonald told FOXNews.com. "We don't know who he is," McDonald said. "We know he was outside the residence, but he could have come back. ... Maybe he saw something or knows something that might be of interest."
Denison, who is from Reno, is described as white, 5-feet tall, 98 pounds, with long dark brown hair and blue eyes.
Investigators say she may have been wearing light blue or pink sweat pants, a T-shirt and no socks or shoes when she disappeared. Her purse and cell phone were found in the house, but a brown stuffed bear that belonged to Denison is also missing, police said.
The Reno Police Department said this morning the FBI has joined the investigation into the disappearance of a missing 19-year-old Reno woman. Reno police detectives have been in contact with local Federal Bureau of Investigation agents since Brianna Denison’s disappearance Sunday and said the FBI has opened its own criminal case and assigned an agent to work with the Reno Police Department.
Denison was reported missing Sunday by a friend with whom she was spending the night. Denison is described as white, about 5 feet tall with long dark brown hair and blue eyes and weighing about 98 pounds. She was last seen wearing pink sweatpants and a white tank-top shirt. While a brown stuff bear with white and multi-colored balloons on the belly and about 24-inches tall was missing from the area where she was sleeping, her cell phone, purse and clothing, including two pairs of shoes had not been disturbed.
Reno police officers today continued to canvas the neighborhood and areas adjacent to the residence at 1395 Mackay Court where Denison was spending the night with friends on the morning of her disappearance. Reno police have worked has with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies since her disappearance and conducted searches of the area, including an extensive search of nearby Rancho San Rafael Park including the use of helicopters and police canine units.
Monday, the Reno Police Department established a 24-hour tip line to gather information to assist in the investigation and detectives are following up on information provided on the tip line. Monday evening, members of Brianna Denison’s family made an appeal for her return and for anyone with information about her disappearance to call the tip line at 745-3521. Information can also be called into the Secret Witness Program at 322-4900 or the Reno Police Department detective division at 334-2115.

Contact Info

Office: 775- 334-2121 RENO POLICE DEPT.

Text Taken From Brianna Denison's Facebook Page:

FIND BRI - Facebook

Brianna Denison - RGJ

Santa Barbara City College Student Brianna Denison Missing in Reno, NV - Scared Monkeys Missing Persons Site

Face of Serial Rapist Has Reno on Edge - ABC News

Brianna's Friends Set Up Facebook Site - RGJ

Missing Persons - Poe Forward Future Dead Girls

The Original Dead Girl - Mary Rogers/Marie Roget - Poe Forward Dead Girls

Friday, February 1, 2008

Towards Understanding Anger

Anger Management

The excellent blog site AIN'T CHRISTIAN informed me about GRETA CHRISTINA's new essay about ATHEISTS AND ANGER. Considering our current editorial debates, I thought this might be helpful to the discussion.

One of the most common criticisms lobbed at the newly-vocal atheist community is, "Why do you have to be so angry?" So I want to talk about:

1. Why atheists are angry;

2. Why our anger is valid, valuable, and necessary;

And 3. Why it's completely fucked-up to try to take our anger away from us.

One of her lamentations:

I'm angry that the 41st President of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush, said of atheists, in my lifetime, "No, I don't know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under God." My President. No, I didn't vote for him, but he was still my President, and he still said that my lack of religious belief meant that I shouldn't be regarded as a citizen.

The Beast?

One of her reasons:

Because anger has driven every major movement for social change in this country, and probably in the world. The labor movement, the civil rights movement, the women's suffrage movement, the modern feminist movement, the gay rights movement, the anti-war movement in the Sixties, the anti-war movement today, you name it... all of them have had, as a major driving force, a tremendous amount of anger. Anger over injustice, anger over mistreatment and brutality, anger over helplessness.

Anger For Liberty

Atheists and Anger - Great Christina's Blog

Atheists and Anger - Good Reasons - Ain't Christian