The Post with an addendum to Tuesday's post
After discussing with some buddies the story from last weekend we've come up with two different ideas.

1.) Everyone is forced to wear age tags....You would know right away how old someone is.

2.) Only people 18 and older are allowed to be in possession of a cell phone. At least then you know are oogling a girl of a consenting age. I'm ok with that.


Those are the choices
- posted by Brian @ 5/31/2007 02:39:00 PM

 
The Post with some awesomeness
Regal Cinemas has institued a new device that one lucky Crown Club member can use during films. It's a pager type thing where if there is a rude moviegoer constantly talking or the picture goes bad you hit it and the manager comes in to fix the problem

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_149181017.html


Please let this catch on and be implemented at all Regal Cinemas. I so want to get the device and use it against someone. It would've come in handy the other week during 28 Weeks Later when those dingbats behind me were talking the whole time.
- posted by Brian @ 5/30/2007 02:18:00 PM

 
The Post with mopping up some stuff from the weekend
Exactly what I needed, a nice relaxing couple days in the hills and lots of beer and food.

I think we went through quite a bit of beer throughout the weekend. The final tally I don't know- I lost count. I'll tell you this though...Eating sunflower seeds and drinking beer all weekend in the hot sun isn't the greatest of ideas. It isn't great to follow that up with tons of fried food either- made in the turkey friers people brought.

So anyway- the softball tournament that the campground always has was held and from our camping group we had about 6 of us on the same team. We ended up winning the tournament sweeping the tournament over the weekend never losing a game. Good times. We even got a flashy medal.

After the game then we went back up to the campsites because was ready. There were 15 families that went camping this year so they bought like 45-50 pounds of chicken to make for Sunday night. They had chicken breast pieces, wings, and even made chicken tenders. They made french fries as well. Also the one guy works at Giorgio Foods so he brought mozzarella sticks and cheese and jalpeno pierogies. I ate roughly 15 -20 of them. Sunday night my stomach hated me.

Now of course as with any good weekend things don't always go smoothly. Not so much that the one is bad but just made me feel creepy.

After our one game Sunday I was sitting there drinking beer and watching the game after us with two other guys (1 married, 1 eventually will be). These 3 girls walked over from the pool and set their towels down to get some sun. 2 of the 3 were absolutely gorgeous, the other was good looking but not like the other two. They were all fairly well endowed too. So we made a couple guy comments. "Boy I'd like to see her come running home around third." Whatever....A little later this one person asked if anyone wanted to play volleyball. So we agreed to play and then these girls on the towel came over to play as well. The one who was the better looking of the three is standing next to me playing. At one point she dives into the sand to hit a ball. She gets up brushes herself off and then says, "At least my prom dress is short." Then I felt weird for checking her out. I went up to the guys I was sitting with afterwards and said, 'Want to feel creepy?"

The other thing that wasn't really welcome was I started having my dreams again. They just frustrate me to no end, and I wish they'd go away and never come back- unless it means something is coming. Then it continue.

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend
- posted by Brian @ 5/29/2007 02:01:00 PM

 
The Post with not much to say
Workday is almost done

3 day weekend coming up.

Summer 07 cd is put together and ready to roll

Tonight I see Pirates

Tomorrow I go camping for 3 days in Robesonia.

I play lots of softball

I drink way too much Pabst Blue Ribbon

I eat large amounts of grilled chicken

I eat midnight mountain pies.

i go to bed at 3:30 in the morning

i get up and do it again.


Have a great, happy, safe Memorial Day weekend
- posted by Brian @ 5/25/2007 02:17:00 PM

 
The Post with bad timing again
I guess I'm starting to believe that everything has a purpose- even if it is not a good one at times. I wasted 2 years after getting out of college by not being able to find a job that paid me anythign resembling decent. I have found one now and been involved in one for a year. those two lost years are hurting me right now though.

I really wish I had money set aside (no matter how little) to put down a payment on a house, or at the very least be comfortable in my ability to make payments month to month without being. Have you seen how bad the market is right now. This past year the average price of a home has dropped to like 230,000..a 10.9% decline over the previous year- the biggest year to year decline in 37 years...WOW....The market is there and there are new homes that are relatively dirt cheap right now, and there are "used" homes that are dropping majorly in price becasue people need to sell off. Damn- life

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070524/economy.html?.v=18
- posted by Brian @ 5/24/2007 02:08:00 PM

 
The Post with the last night of sweeps
Tonight is the final night of the big 06-07 television season. That means we have the overstuffed American Idol finale which is a 30 minute show stretched to 120 minutes. I can say with certainity there is no way Jordin Sparks loses this. And it's good for her that she wins. She is cute, has a really great singing voice, and comes off as believably humble and down-to-earth. Not to mention already some people said that plus sized model agencies are lining up to sign her. That's good becasue then it sends the message to young women you don't have to be rail thin to be sexy.


Then over on ABC we have the 2 hour Lost finale. Want in on a little secret? I've seen it- already...It's awesome.


Fans of Lost will love it. I'll say this and won't ruin anything. There are at least 6 huge moments in the finale. 2 of which you won't see coming until they happen. I mean it- even the most ardent fans won't be able to guess what happens. Then, and this is a biggie, your like or dislike of this episode will hinge on one aspect of the show. They kind of twist something so depending how you feel about that is how you'll judge the show.

I'll probably talk about it tomorrow but I'm telling you- it's awesome, and you'll want Lost to be on again the following week. It's easily the best season finale they've ever done, and might be top 5 all time
- posted by Brian @ 5/23/2007 02:04:00 PM

 
The Post with the movies I've seen this year (UPDATED)
New movies since the last list are bolded

Children of Men- Fantastic movie about a post-apolyptic world where women can't have children. Some great acting from Clive Owen and some really awesome looking directing. The chase sequence with teh car and motorcycles is really cool.

Primeval- I was hoping for a cheesy little movie like Lake Placid. Instead I got a movie that was way to much geared towards trying to be serious and some really bad sequences with generic characters. Poorly done.

The Hitcher- Was afraid of how bad they'd mess this up and it lived up (or down) to my expectations. Really bad lead characters and the story was made into a complete joke. They over-do the dramatic sequence with the killer and the family, and they turn the big chase into a fucking music video for Nine Inch Nails "Closer." Might be a cheese classic someday but ruined the original.

Smokin' Aces- Done by the guy who directed Narc and this is a really fun little action flick. Good performances from a star studded cast and the movie knows it isn't earth-changing and loves it. Would've liked a little more time with everyone together in the hotel but as it is great stuff.

Epic Movie- Like any other parody movie. Some parts work, a lot of parts don't. The guys who have started doing these don't understand what makes parodies work. Dropping in hip MTV references doesn't cover for that either. Good stuff from Crispin Glover and Darrell Hammond but not nearly enough from them.

Hannibal Rising- Horrible, horrible film. I seriously have no idea what the producers and directors were going for with this film but I'm fairly certain they failed miserably. They at this point have turned the Hannibal Lecter franchise into a complete joke. Hannibal was a brooding teenager in this which was just dumb.

Reno 911: Miami- Funny stuff from the crew. I think my expectations were way high and they just couldn't live up to it. Overall though I enjoyed the film, especially the cameos from people like The Rock and Paul Rudd as a Scarface type character.

Ghost Rider- Nicholas Cage as the title character was hilarious. Not good hilarious though, like laughing at hilarious. He was made up to look about 20 years younger than he actually is. The plot was really goofy, in fact I was so tired when I saw it I dozed off a little. I tried but wasn't really able to get into it.

Zodiac- I do a lot of reading up on serial killers (yeah it's a quirk) and when i saw David Fincher was directing this I got excited. It didn't really disappoint me. It was presented very matter of factly about what happened and touched very nicely on the fact that they have a belief of who was doing it but were never able to nail him before he died. Jake Gyllenhaal was really good in it as was Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr.

Breach- Loved the movie and I think it was really overlooked at theaters. Chris Cooper was phenomenal in this and the character relationships were really what drove this movie. Ryan Phillipee didn't do so bad either. I really like Luara Linney too.

The Number 23- I really wanted to like this movie but it just wasn't pulling me into it. I also didn't get the ending I expected. In retrospect the ending made the movie really kind of ridiculous. Really implausible to. Jim Carrey was good- just a bad script I think.

Dead Silence- Nice different direction for the guys who directed Saw. They just decided to make a straight up haunted house/town movie and it really worked in a lot of ways. It was creepy and the whole thing with all noise stopping when the ghost was showing up was a cool effect. Nice ending.

Premonition- Damn Sandra Bullock is still pretty foxy looking for her age. The movie however was not anything good. Really ridiculous plot wise and became completely ridiculous as the movie progressed. There is a hilarious review over at Dread Central.com- I suggest checking that out.

The Hills Have Eyes 2- At the very least it was better than the orignal Hills Have Eyes 2. Not near as good as last year's remake and they relied too much on characters noone cares about. Why should I feel sympathy for a bunch of lame brained recruits that keep doing dumb horror movie things. There are some brutal things in it but that does not a movie make.

TMNT- I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. People expecting the Corey Feldman era movies were going to be disappointed. I heard a lot of griping about the CGI in it too but that looked fine as well. Looked and felt a lot like the comic books and that made it feel more authentic. Good to they didn't rely on big name stars to voice the Turtles.

Blades of Glory- Really enjoyed this movie. Will Ferrell again was hilarious and although I've never been a big Jon Heder fan I thought he was ok in this. Despite that though I think with him basically playing and looking like Owen Wilson- Wilson would've been better in this film, oh well. I love me some Jenna Fischer and Will Arnett and Amy Poehler are great in this.

Grindhouse- A fun time at the movie theater for a few hours. I enjoyed Rodriguez's Planet Terror quite a bit more than Tarantino's Death Proof but both had their charms. Zoe Bell in Tarantino's half stole the film almost with her crazy ass car stunts (her body and looks helped too). The trailers in between were hilarious- the theater started cracking up with teh cameo at the end of Zombie's trailer. People who didn't see this missed out.

Perfect Stranger- Just a horrible film. Somewhere about the halway mark of writing the script the writers realized- we have nowhere for this to end. So they started throwing everything at the viewer hoping something would stick. They also fall back on the old Stephen King trick of 3 false endings before the real ending. Halle Berry is still hot though.

Hot Fuzz- Hilarious effort again from the guys behind Shaun of the Dead. They reference Bad Boys and Point Break. There are plenty of funny characters and there are any number of funny lines in the film. The ending scene cracked me up as did the knives vs guns shootout. Great movie.

Next- Nicholas Cage has apparently given up on his career and is resigned to making goofy appearances in goofier movies. This was way too similar in idea to Deja Vu. Cage had the hair working again and was just completely cruising through the role. The ending is a copout of sorts, and it irritated people in the theater. I'll say this though- Jessica Biel is top 5 best looking women in the entertainment industry right now. Easily.

Fracture- Anthony Hopkins basically plays Hannibal Lecter in this. Ryan Gosling keeps up with him as best he can and a nice twisty plot makes for a surprisingly good movie. I enjoyed it the whole way through and the ending was nice becasue it was never really clear how what was done was done.

Spiderman 3- I kind of put some thoughts up on this earlier in the month but to reiterate. Not as good as the last one. They tried to do too much with not enough time. The dialogue is soap opera level bad. There was no reason for Bryce Dallas Howard to be in this film. PLus they wrapped up some storylines too nicely.

28 Weeks Later- Gory and a pretty nice little flick. It's different in tone than the first one in that it is more horror based rather than drama driven like the first one. Some real good performances from the cast. Great pacing, and sets up in case they decide to do another film in the series.

Shrek the Third- I really like the Shrek films. This film raged from hilarious at spots to amusing throughout. It never really drug. The scene with Pinocchio trying to not tell the Prince somethign about Shrek's wherebouts without lying was funny. Even the stuff that didn't work or didn't seem to accomplish what they were going for (The frog chorus) didn't overstay its welcome.
- posted by Brian @ 5/22/2007 01:44:00 PM

 
The Post with my weekend
Friday night was a pain in the ass. It took me 2 hours to get home from work- It's usually 40 minutes. There was a huge accident on 422 with a trailer that jackknifed and wiped out a couple other cars. It broke the median in a spot and spilled 100 gallons of diesel fuel on the ground which caused a clean-up and backed up traffic everywhere for a long time. That meant no gym becasue I had no time.



Then I went to see Shrek 3 which was good. It was really funny in spots and then just amusing in others. It never dragged though which was nice.



Saturday I did my usualy gym routine than came home to engage in one of my favorite activitites- gardening. I got about 6 wheelbarrow loads of mulch into it and then it started raining which put the kibosh on that. So now there is slightly less than 3 yards of mulch to put out yet.



That night we had a 50th and 40th birthday party (combined) for two friends of our family at the Oley Fairgrounds. It was a lot of fun and during the course of the night we killed 2 kegs of Pabst and a keg of Coors Light (there were probably 100-150 people there). Also I had a few moonshine soaked cherries throughout the night which was great as well. I talked with my cousins a lot and
- posted by Brian @ 5/21/2007 02:09:00 PM

 
The post with me wondering something
Why are people celebrated so fondly in death- especially when they are hate mongers throughout their lives?

Rev Jerry Falwell died yesterday and people have been tripping over themselves to rush out and say how great a man he was and all the good he did. He might have done some good but let's be real.

The man was a closted, hate-filled, vile spitting jackass. He said this about the 9/11 attacks,

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

He said AIDS was God's punishment for gays.

He supported racial segregation and said guys like Martin Luther King Jr. shouldn't be taken seriously becasue of their left-wing association.

Falwell said about the gay-oriented Metropolitian Community Church that it was a "vile and Satanic system." And that when it was destroyd there would be a party in Heaven.

A magazine he published made mention that one of the Teletubbies was gay, and it sent a bad message to the youth of America.


How does any of this make him a good guy?

What irritates me the most about him is- guys like him give regular church going people who are normal, and don't share these hate inspiried viewpoints a bad name.

I feel bad for his family that they lost a loved one but I will not pretend that he was a good guy, and I won't act like he didn't say some of the things he said. No one should forget them
- posted by Brian @ 5/16/2007 01:52:00 PM

 
The Post with a mini rant
Something came up about relationships again this weekend. What is people's concern with them- especially ones that don't involve them?

To be fair and honest I joke around with people and try to get them to go out and meet someone but I don't obsess over it. I get people come up to me and its the first thing they ask. It's like I'm that prime piece of real estate that gets put up for sale and everyday someone drives past and says to themselves "I can't believe that hasn't been sold yet."- I should know because there was a really nice house I used to do this with last summer on my way to and from work.

Here's what I don't get- is it general concern on people's part? Do they think that I suffer from some deep seated loneliness (which I kind of do) that only a woman would cure? Or do they just not want to see me go so long without someone to share with? Is there something more sinister though?

I look at relationships and 8 times out of 10 it's not a real rosy picture. That doesn't mean that things all look bleak to everyone but I see a lot of people who don't seem to be overly excited. I see people who bicker constantly, guys being led around by their johnson, people who are hung up on an idea rather than an actuality, couples who always blame the other for problems, and people who do their best to put on a brave face while the other embarasses themself and by proxy the partner. (Granted I believe fighting is part of any healthy relationship as long as it doesn't cross lines or become too pronounced).

Now I know what this all sounds like- but I absolutely believe in love. It just isn't that big easy, fairy tale type nonsense. At times it seems like as long as you find common ground 51% of the time you'll be fine (could be further proof of the nation settling for just being middle-of-the-road). That being said though- I don't understand why people think since they are in it- everyone else has to be. Some people get to the finish line first....someone needs to go last in line or else how do you know where the line ends.

The point of this jumbled mess is this- I don't mind if people want to make jokes towards me about finding a woman. Constantly obsessing over it doesn't help...all that does is make me think about it more than I want to. In the process of trying to help, all you're doing is reminding me that I'm not near the finish line yet.

Thanks- but I don't need to be reminded of that
- posted by Brian @ 5/15/2007 01:50:00 PM

 
The Post with some sadness
Tongiht marks the series finale of a show that has been one of my favorites since I started watching it halfway through the first season- The King of Queens. It was a completely underrated and underappreciated comedy and both Kevin James and Leah Remini played their parts perfectly as the likable but constantly bickering couple.

The relationship was different than just about every other relationship comedy out there. In this show the message was I'm not normal, and you're not normal..together we're ok though.

Add into the mix Jerry Stiller as Arthur, Nicole Sullivan as Holly the Dog Walker, Patton Oswald as Spence among others provided some great secondary characters and lots of laughs over the past 9 years. Think about that- it lasted the same amount of time as Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond. The show was very similar to them as well. Very real-life type humor as opposed to being completely over-the-top or ridiculous.

Even more than that though it represented what still is my dream- guy who is a shlub that ends up with a woman that is way hotter than he is, and has a great life (relatively) with her.

Tonight it goes off the air with a one hour episode from 9-10 on CBS. Much like the way it was treated the whole time it was on the air it goes out with little fanfare but hopefully keeps up what has been its ratings surge.

If you want to catch up check your local syndication listings or buy the season sets on DVD (At my local Wal-Mart they were 19.95 per season lately).
- posted by Brian @ 5/14/2007 02:20:00 PM

 
The Post with the Vegan boneheads
Dumbasses...Seriously give your kid real calcium and protein so they can develop. If they decide later on to be meat-skewing wackos so be it. But give them a chance to be healthy little kids

ATLANTA (AP) - A vegan couple were sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for the death of their malnourished 6-week-old baby boy, who was fed a diet largely consisting of soy milk and apple juice.
Superior Court Judge L.A. McConnell imposed the mandatory sentences on Jade Sanders, 27, and Lamont Thomas, 31. Their son, Crown Shakur, weighed just 3 1/2 pounds when he died of starvation on April 25, 2004.

The couple were found guilty May 2 of malice murder, felony murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children. A jury deliberated about seven hours before returning the guilty verdicts.

Defense lawyers said the first-time parents did the best they could while adhering to the lifestyle of vegans, who typically use no animal products. They said Sanders and Thomas did not realize the baby, who was born at home, was in danger until minutes before he died.

But prosecutors said the couple intentionally neglected their child and refused to take him to the doctor even as the baby's body wasted away.

"No matter how many times they want to say, 'We're vegans, we're vegetarians,' that's not the issue in this case," said prosecutor Chuck Boring. "The child died because he was not fed. Period."

Although the life sentences were automatic, Sanders and Thomas begged for leniency before sentencing. Sanders urged the judge to look past his "perception" of the couple.

"I loved my son—and I did not starve him," she said.

When the judge told the defendants they could ask for a new trial, Thomas hung his head low.

"I'm dying every day in there," he said, "and that could take three years."
- posted by Brian @ 5/09/2007 01:44:00 PM

 
The Post with me being confused
Story on the front page of the Reading Eagle Sunday. I can't find the exact article again but the gist of it (unless I read it incorrectly) was that the United States governement is looking at amending immigration laws in the cases of people associated with terrorist cells and organizations. They would like to bring these people up for naturalization on a case-by-case basis.

Yes you read that right.

The United States government- the same government that has our soliders in Iraq "Making sure the terrorists are taken care of there instead of here," now wants to let in people who have known and documented ties with terror organizations. Not only that- they want to make them American citizens.

How does that work exactly?

I'm not saying that all those people would be bad or would do anything wrong but are we going to take them at their word they won't engage in any terrorist action? Are we going to tag them like the game commission does animals before releasing them into the general public?

More importantly- there are people who speak out against the war and are accused of not supporting the troops. This shows that even the government isn't standing behind them.
- posted by Brian @ 5/08/2007 01:57:00 PM

 
The Post with some Spider-man 3 talk
The summer 2007 movie season is officially underway with the exploits of the web-slinging superhero, and damned straight I saw it opening night..

Here are some thoughts which could be spoilerish if you didn't see it this past weekend (and hwo did you avoid it--148 million dollars, just wow!)




- I think more of this movie doesn't work than what works. The dialogue is completely awful in this film. Some may like it but I found it dreadful.

- For all the criticism it raised I liked Topher Grace as Venom. I thought he had some really good screen presence and was out-shining Tobey when they were together in scenes.

- There are two scenes which seem to hinge the most on people's opinions of the film. Emo Peter strutting and the jazz club scene. They just kind of seemed out of place.

- They underused J.K. Simmons in this film and that was a huge letdown.

- The scene where Harry dies at the end was heavily cliched and made it seem like I was watching a bad soap opera. The dialogue really hurt it here too.

- The ending kind of went on forever.

- They blew of Venom way too soon in this film. 20/20 thinking- it might've been better to have Peter rip off the suit and then after the climatic battle at the end cut back to the church with the symbiote hooking itself to Brock and then doing the transformation thing where he leaps as the end. It would've been a great easer for SPider-man 4 becasue we know for certain they are making it at this point.

- The ending of the jazz club scene had Peter hitting Mary Jane- it felt like an after school special scene.


With all that said though- it was enjoyable pretty much throughout. That makes it hard to grade. It had plenty of shortcomings but was breezy.

I'd say a B at the most, but I'm settling around the C+/B- area.
- posted by Brian @ 5/07/2007 02:10:00 PM

 
The Post with the end of the week
So finally this week is coming to an end. It has not really been a good one. I had a good morning though when I woke up and tonight is Spiderman 3....the weekend might rescue this week
- posted by Brian @ 5/04/2007 01:35:00 PM

 
The Post with our wonderful judges
This asshold judge needs to go buy some new pants and leave this poor family alone

Judge: Cleaner owes me $65 million for pants
2 years of litigation x 1 pair of trousers = headaches for family business

WASHINGTON - The Chungs, immigrants from South Korea, realized their American dream when they opened their dry-cleaning business seven years ago in the nation's capital.

For the past two years, however, they've been dealing with the nightmare of litigation: a $65 million lawsuit over a pair of missing pants.

Jin Nam Chung, Ki Chung and their son, Soo Chung, are so disheartened that they're considering moving back to Seoul, said their attorney, Chris Manning, who spoke on their behalf.

"They're out a lot of money, but more importantly, incredibly disenchanted with the system," Manning said. "This has destroyed their lives."

The lawsuit was filed by a District of Columbia administrative hearings judge, Roy Pearson, who has been representing himself in the case.

Pearson said he could not comment on the case.

According to court documents, the problem began in May 2005 when Pearson became a judge and brought several suits for alteration to Custom Cleaners in Northeast Washington, a place he patronized regularly despite previous disagreements with the Chungs. A pair of pants from one suit was not ready when he requested it two days later, and was deemed to be missing.

Pearson asked the cleaners for the full price of the suit: more than $1,000.

But a week later, the Chungs said the pants had been found and refused to pay. That's when Pearson decided to sue.

Three settlement offers

Manning said the cleaners made three settlement offers to Pearson. First they offered $3,000, then $4,600, then $12,000. But Pearson wasn't satisfied and expanded his calculations beyond one pair of pants.

Because Pearson no longer wanted to use his neighborhood dry cleaner, part of his lawsuit calls for $15,000 — the price to rent a car every weekend for 10 years to go to another business.

"He's somehow purporting that he has a constitutional right to a dry cleaner within four blocks of his apartment," Manning said.

But the bulk of the $65 million comes from Pearson's strict interpretation of D.C.'s consumer protection law, which fines violators $1,500 per violation, per day. According to court papers, Pearson added up 12 violations over 1,200 days, and then multiplied that by three defendants.

Much of Pearson's case rests on two signs that Custom Cleaners once had on its walls: "Satisfaction Guaranteed" and "Same Day Service."

Judge alleges fraud

Based on Pearson's dissatisfaction and the delay in getting back the pants, he claims the signs amount to fraud.

Pearson has appointed himself to represent all customers affected by such signs, though D.C. Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz, who will hear the June 11 trial, has said that this is a case about one plaintiff, and one pair of pants.

Sherman Joyce, president of the American Tort Association, has written a letter to the group of men who will decide this week whether to renew Pearson's 10-year appointment. Joyce is asking them to reconsider.

Chief Administrative Judge Tyrone Butler had no comment regarding Pearson's reappointment.

The association, which tries to police the kind of abusive lawsuits that hurt small businesses, also has offered to buy Pearson the suit of his choice.

Support for the defendants

And former National Labor Relations Board chief administrative law judge Melvin Welles wrote to The Washington Post to urge "any bar to which Mr. Pearson belongs to immediately disbar him and the District to remove him from his position as an administrative law judge."

"There has been a significant groundswell of support for the Chungs," said Manning, adding that plans for a defense fund Web site are in the works.

To the Chungs and their attorney, one of the most frustrating aspects of the case is their claim that Pearson's gray pants were found a week after Pearson dropped them off in 2005. They've been hanging in Manning's office for more than a year.

Pearson claims in court documents that his pants had blue and red pinstripes.

"They match his inseam measurements. The ticket on the pants match his receipt," Manning said
- posted by Brian @ 5/03/2007 02:13:00 PM

 
The Post with the latest school related stuff
Chinese Community Rallies Behind Student Removed From Clements
by Bob Dunn, Apr 30, 2007, 11 57 am

Members of the area Chinese community have rallied behind a Clements High School senior who was removed from the campus and sent to M.R. Wood Alternative Education Center after parents complained he’d created a computer game map of Clements.

About 70 people attended the Fort Bend Independent School District’s April 23 meeting to show support for the Clements senior and his mother, Jean Lin, who spoke to FBISD Board trustees in a closed session.

While an agenda document does not specify details, the board is holding a special meeting tonight to address the boy’s actions and the discipline that was meted out as a result, sources close to the matter say. The boy’s name was not identified last week, and the district has declined to discuss his case.

Richard Chen, president of the Fort Bend Chinese-American Voters League and a acquaintance of the boy’s family, said he is a talented student who enjoys computer games and learned how to create maps (also sometimes known as “mods”), which provide new environments in which games may be played.

The map the boy designed mimicked Clements High School. And, sources said, it was uploaded either to the boy’s home computer or to a computer server where he and his friends could access and play on it. Two parents apparently learned from their children about the existence of the game, and complained to FBISD administrators, who investigated.

“They arrested him,” Chen said of FBISD police, “and also went to the house to search.” The Lin family consented to the search, and a hammer was found in the boy’s room, which he used to fix his bed, because it wasn’t in good shape, Chen said. He indicated police seized the hammer as a potential weapon.

“They decided he was a terroristic threat,” said one source close to the district’s investigation.

Sources said that although no charges were filed against the boy, he was removed from Clements, sent to the district’s alternate education school and won’t be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies with classmates.

“All he did was create a map and put it on a web site to allow students to play,” Chen said. “The mother thinks this is too harsh.”

FBISD officials declined to comment on the matter Monday. “Our challenge is, people in the community have freedom of speech and can say what they want, but we have laws” covering privacy issues, especially involving minors, that the district has to respect, said spokeswoman Nancy Porter.

Speakers at the FBISD Board’s April 23 meeting alluded to the Clements senior’s punishment, and drew a connection to the April 16 shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, in which a Korean student shot and killed 32 people.

The Asian community “faces new pressures” as a result of the shootings, William Sun told board members. “We urge the school and community not to label our Asian students as terrorists.”

“We should teach our children not to judge others harshly” and not to target people as being a threat because of their race, said Peter Woo, adding that the school district should lead the way in such efforts.

But Chen said Monday he and other community members don’t consider FBISD’s actions in the case to be racially motivated, and don’t think they blew the incident out of proportion.

“They all think the principal has to do something – but how much? We do understand with the Virginia Tech incident…something has to be done,” Chen said. “Someone just made a mistake, and we think the principal should understand that.”


There is a lot of outrage over this. I can see that. People are saying the school overreacted- you know what they probably did. But....

It was just about 3 weeks ago a kid shot up Virginia Tech and people said we need to make schools safe. For that to happen. For school to cut off problems before they happen there is going to be some collateral damage- there are sadly going to be some good kids that do dumb things and get wrung over it.

The sad reality is crime prevention more times than not comes at the expense of liberty. People need to decide do they want schools to weed out problems or wait til something happens. UNtil some acceptable middle ground is found- those are the options
- posted by Brian @ 5/02/2007 02:06:00 PM

 
The Post with a silly statement
President Bush take shis share of lumps for some of the things he says- rightfully so. However, I think his wife was feeling left out. She was upset with all the attention her hubby was getting so she felt the need to throw out some craziness. SHe hit us with this comment recently:

"No one suffers more during wartime than the President."

Re-read that quote. I didn't make it up- she said it.

Go ahead and re-read it. Really digest that statement and then follow me.

No one suffers more than the President. It's not the wife of a fallen solider. It's not the little boy or girl that loses their daddy. It's not the solider that comes back with missing limbs or a heavy addiction to alcohol or drugs- it's the President. I'm pretty sure Dick Cheney had a heart attack over that one. Seriously it's bad when you're own party is looking at the first family and is like, "Maybe you guys should not talk for a while." They need to have a publicist that follows them around and does immeadiate damage control. Or they should just draft a blanket apology statement to send out after the President or his wife speaks. Just as a precautinary measure.

To Whom It May Concern:

The President and/or the First Lady deeply regret the implication of their statement. They are dedicated to preserving and protecting our freedoms and did not mean to disparage in any way.


God Bless America


Sincerely,
The White House


In all seriousness though- I understand what she was going for. I'm sure it's not easy for the President to sign something that sends a bunch fo young men and women to war. I'm sure going to funeral after funeral gets to you at some point. She couldn't have verbalized her statement any worse though. To say no one feels worse than the President is insane, and is disrespectful.
- posted by Brian @ 5/01/2007 01:15:00 PM