The Hate Crime Law In The U.S.A.

     

Tucson Weather Today

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For The Record:

I do not agree with the concept of a hate crime law. In my mind, the damned murderer who kills one of my children, for any reason, should be subject to the same penalty as would be handed down to the killer of a member of a minority group.

That's just the way I feel.

And I'm right.

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Did You Know . . .?

In the 17th century, the Puritans declared the celebration of Christmas illegal.

The pilgrims, English separatists that came to America in 1620, were extremely orthodox in their Puritan beliefs. As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings.

More . . .

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1986, three black men are attacked by a group of white teenagers yelling racial slurs in Howard Beach, a predominately white, middle-class, Italian-American neighborhood in Queens, New York. Earlier that night, the men were driving from Brooklyn to Queens, when their car broke down near Howard Beach. They walked several miles to a pizza parlor in Howard Beach, where they asked to use a phone to call for assistance. They were told that no phone was available. When the men left the pizzeria, they were confronted by the gang of teens. One of the men, Michael Griffith, 23, was chased into traffic on the Belt Parkway and died after being hit by a car. A second man, Cedric Sandiford, was severely beaten, while the third man, Timothy Grimes, outran the assailants and escaped without serious injury.

In December 1987, after 12 days of jury deliberations, three teens were convicted of manslaughter in the death of Griffith.

In the years since the 1986 incident, New York enacted stronger hate-crime laws and in June 2006, Nicholas Minucci, 20, was found guilty of racially motivated assault and robbery. The following month, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

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WORD FOR TODAY

hate crime
noun
Any of various crimes (as assault or defacement of property) when motivated by hostility to the victim as a member of a group (as one based on color, creed, gender, or sexual orientation)

In both crime and law, hate crimes (also known as bias-motivated crimes, or race hate) occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group. Examples of such groups include but are not limited to: racial group, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity or gender identity.
--Wikipadia

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Michael Badalucco

(born December 20, 1954)

Michael Badalucco is an American actor known for his role as lawyer Jimmy Berluti on the ABC legal drama The Practice. He won the 1999 Emmy for Best Supporting Actor for his role on the show.

Jillian Grace

(born December 20, 1985)

Jillian Grace is an American model and Playboy centerfold who was named Playmate of the Month in March 2005. She also had a short lived film career, appearing in films like The House Bunny and Epic Movie.

On August 26, 2008, Grace gave birth to a daughter named Harper; the father is actor David Spade.

John Benedict Hillerman

(born December 20, 1932)

John Hillerman is an American actor, known for his starring role on the television show Magnum, P.I.

Jennifer Ann "Jenny" Agutter

(born 20 December 1952)

Jenny Agutter is an English film and television actress. She began her career as a child actress in the mid-1960s, starring in the BBC television series The Railway Children and the film adaptation of the same book, before taking adult roles and moving to Hollywood. She played Jessica 6 in Logan's Run, Jill Mason in Equus, Alex Price in An American Werewolf in London and Joanne Simpson in Child's Play 2.

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Any crime that results from prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation or ethnicity is a hate crime.
--Federal Bureau of Investigation

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

   

Just The Facts Ma'am . . .

Tucson Weather Today

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A Delancey Place review of the book, 1616: The World in Motion by Thomas Christensen contains the statement taken from the book: "...Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) had compiled decades of data from his celestial observations..."

This made me wonder if the phrase, "had compiled decades of data" is correct or not. Is decades, being a measure of time, a proper container for compiled data? Or maybe it should be something like: "had compiled decades worth of data?"

I should look up the answer to that question.

Probably won't though.

Too lazy.

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While playing around with Photoshop Elements 2.0. I scanned into my computer an old black and white 5-by-7 picture containing images of four people. One of those people asked if I could crop out and feature only two of them. Below is the result.


There is no need to label the identities of the little boy and girl in the circa 1960s photo. They both know who they are.

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At The Writer's Almanac there is a fascinating short piece about Typhoid Mary. I had, of course, heard of Typhoid Mary but had never known the factual details behind the story. Give it a read and you'll see what I mean.

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There has been much written about the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman that took place on February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida. Not all, but a great many facts about this incident have been revealed. And these publicized facts have sparked a great deal of controversy.




I would caution those who have had their ire aroused to wait a while before forming a definite conclusion about who is actually at fault for the situation. Frank Lloyd Wright (and others) have said, "The truth is more important than the facts."

To prejudge is to jump to conclusions, to make a hasty assessment, to presume, to presuppose -- and those who prejudge are, by definition, prejudiced.

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Word For Today

prejudice
noun
1.
an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.
2.
any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable.
3.
unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group.

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Davis-Monthan AFB wins installation excellence award. It is all over the local TV news -- Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, won this year's award and will receive $1 million for quality-of-life improvements.

WOW!

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On TV station KOLD news 13 Tucson, a headline banner displayed: Extra equipments from Iraq. I thought about it and wondered if the 's' at the end of the word equipment was a typo by the banner writer, a product of the banner writer's ignorance, or perhaps that the use of equipments has now become grammatically acceptable.

Not that it matters, I suppose. Who else but me would even notice? Or care?

There is more to life than picking nits.

Isn't there?

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Reba McEntire

Born March 28, 1955

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"Doubts often beget the facts they fear."
--Thomas Jefferson