Its beach time. Hail the noble dolphins. Dolphins signal all is well. There are some amazing stories about dolphins rescuing people at sea.
Dolphin-human interactions are also interesting to read. Male dolphins have been known to get too aggressive with females who come in close contact.
I like how conservatives say they are all for small government, low taxes, and free enterprise, until it comes to illegal immigration, and then they want to throw employers who don’t use e-verify in jail. No wonder they are lost in space.
Possibly the worst witness ever–the girl who was on the phone with Trevon Martin right before he died.
Rachel Jeantel.
Geez
A really great article in the Washington Post on what skill students (and young people) lack the most.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/13/the-21st-century-skill-students-most-lack/?tid=d_pulse
Another “leak” from an “employee”. An “employee” leaked a letter sent by the BOCS to VDOT to a blogger.
These leaks coincide with BOCS actions. Anyone still buying the employee/birdie nonsense?
Honeybee, I have also heard the BOCS theory. I hope that isn’t the case.
Everyone one was trying their best to determine if Zimmerman had said anything the slightest bit racial over the phone while the media was painting him a racist, and yet we now know that Trayvon used a racial slur to describe Zimmerman, and no one bats an eye. Where’s the media outrage over a racist comment? Oh that’s right, it came from black guy, never mind. Such BS that only the Paula Deen story can relate to. Hypocrisy at its racial best! Mention the KKK and people go ballistic. Mention the Black Panthers and people are like … what’s your point? I’m afraid we’ll never get off that barrel they have us over. Racism can exist in all races period!
I don’t think we KNOW anything. I certainly don’t consider that witness reliable. Why do you keep looking for media outrage? Who cares about their outrage.
OMG, the entire case was based on the racially motivated killing of an innocent black teenager by an armed white guy in the beginning, and then the media went to great length to support that pronouncement by analyzing the audio tapes and you ask me why? So a witness on behalf of Trayvon is going to lie and say he used a racial slur in his defense? Maybe you’re right, she is THAT stupid. Your reaction totally parallels the media. The nation sure cared about the media outrage in the beginning. It went on for weeks instilling racial hostility based on race based assumptions the entire time. THAT is why they finally brought charges against Zimmerman, because of all the pressure from citizens brought on by the media. How else did people get this slanted view of what took place before any of the real facts (and photographs) where known? Give me a break.
Charges were brought against Zimmerman because he killed someone an there were irregularities in the case.
Actually, all *I* wanted was for him to stand trial. I don’t know if he is guilty or not guilty. I wasn’t there. I know there is a dead kid and no one bothered to inform his parents for days. Something wasn’t right. Don’t we owe his parents the truth or the truth as best we can eek it out?
This birdie/deputy thing began after the last BOCS election. What changed as a result of that election?
@Second Alamo
“If I won’t tolerate it about you, I won’t tolerate it from you”. I’m tired of it.
Comprehensive immigration reform passed the Senate with bipartisan support!
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/news/cantor-immigration-vote-t-tell-big-senate-bill-233320198.html
Yeah!
2d Alamo – This is a murder trial, not a take-the-high-road-in-your-choice-of-words trial. Do you think the interest in Zimmerman’s possible racist attitudes might have something to do with the fact that he’s the one who shot Trayvon? If Zimmerman were dead and Trayvon on trial, I’m quite sure Trayvon’s propensity to racist speech and conduct might be relevant. But, remember, Trayvon’s the dead one.
@Scout
+1 Scout
and if Trayvon was the shooter, he would probably have enough backing to support a stand your ground stance, as he was pursued and confronted by a wanna be cop. Zimmerman cannot stand behind a – ’cause he was a bad kid anyway’ defense.
Scout, do you think that the photos of Zimmerman’s battered head has something to do with the fact that he shot Trayvon?
Bloody head, bullet in the chest…..Thats the reason there is a trial.
You made the same point last year during the hype over Zimmerman’s arrest. You seemed to have your mind made up then.
There were so many irregularities in this case from the start, just from a legal point of view. Racial attitudes are very much a part of this trial, particularly since Zimmerman was released that night with little or no fanfare. The fact that Treyvon was a John Doe for about 3 days when his cell phone was right there speaks to careless disregard to finding out who he was.
And Trayvon’s defense can’t stand behind ‘well he was a racist wanabe cop anyway’ defense. Unless of course it’s well established that wanabe racist cops always go around killing innocent black teenagers, and then you may have something, but that would be just as stereotypical as saying a black teenager wearing a hoody out late at night is up to no good wouldn’t it. So be careful what defense you use I’d say.
Regarding the budget issue, It is well known where the BOCS leak is coming from. Anyone want to place a bet?
SA: If some guy was following me in the darkness and I didn’t know why, I might find myself battering his head in the ensuing altercation. The trial is designed to weigh these factors. The prosecution has a huge burden to overcome in proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the homicide was a criminal act. Only two direct witnesses, one dead. I would think acquittal is a very likely possibility. Nonetheless, I think we know enough about the situation to know that a young guy is dead, and that Zimmerman had it completely within his power to have avoided a deadly confrontation. Whether or not he is criminally responsible, I don’t have any trouble in my own mind determining that Zimmerman is morally responsible. I see no point in even trying to avoid that fundamental element of the situation.
I’ll agree that both parties had it within their power to avoid a confrontation. However the story line is that Zimmerman had broken off the chase, and was heading back to his truck when Trayvon confronted him. If that’s true, then I’d say that at that point it was Trayvon who escalated the encounter. The witness he was on the phone with stated that he had reached the house he was staying at, and so why didn’t he just go inside if he was “scared”? That seems to add to the blame for the final deadly encounter. Where all this first talk of racial motivation came from had to be based on skin color alone, as there was no information indicating such, and there still isn’t any. I also agree that Zimmerman will probably not be charged unless the jury members are fearful for their lives and buckle. This is the OJ trial in reverse.
I’m still wondering why Martin, if he was fearful, didn’t call 911?
Because he was a kid. Kids don’t see themselves as mortal.
Its a war on women.
Compare the way that Paula Deen has been treated vs the way Alec Baldwin has been treated.
Paula Deen needs to state, ” I apologized. Not enough? Go to h….. bless your heart.”
Cargo, I detect a little truth and a little sarcasm. Actually, you are right. Alex Baldwin is always forgiven.
Paula Deen, not so much. She needs to pull a Dick Cheney on them actually. i got grossed out over all that sobbing. If most people are honest, they have done no less than she.
This leaking should be stopped by the Chairman. And the others that have jumped on the bandwagon recently….. Why are they so willing to be held hostage?
@Cargosquid
I agree with you that Baldwin should not be let off the hook. With Paula Deen, I’m not as concerned by her use of an offensive term as I am by her desire to hire a bunch of middle-aged African-American men and put them in bow ties and jackets to recreate a southern plantation style wedding reception for her brother Bubba in 2007. That’s like Prince Harry wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party … there are some things you just ought to be smart enough not to do and not surprised when people call you out for being an idiot if you do.
What do we do about Colonial Williamsburg?
The plantation wedding never happened because Deen had a flash of brilliance that said don’t do it. (or she has a handler with a brain.)
The N word is just a word. We as a society are going apoplectic over vintage woman admitting to using that word sometime in her life in some context. Meanwhile, we have the news saturated with the Zimmerman trial and the Supreme Court shooting down section 5 of the voting rights act. It just seems like misplaced, superficial concern to me.
Paula Deen’s use of some term really falls into the category of so what in my world. The other issues are a BFD.
@Morris Davis
Exactly – in reading the transcript that grabbed me the hardest. This is how she thinks.
Regarding Zimmerman, he was to told by authorities to stand down and he didn’t.
It’s time for Pete Candland to stop leaking county information out of his office. Period.
It should come out but it should come out as an official statement once all the information is in.
That would be transparency. Too much double standard going on.
@Lyssa
There is ZERO evidence that he didn’t listen to the dispatcher. In fact, the transcript shows that he told the dispatcher that he had lost sight of Martin and didn’t know where he went. That conversation went on for 2 minutes. It was only 400 feet to Martin’s door….. and yet..Martin was near Zimmerman.
Notice…I did not say what they did. I stated what the evidence shows.
@Cargosquid
Hey Cargo, I’m not really up to date on this trial. But didn’t a dispatcher tell him to stand down while he was still in his car?
blog quote:
“The big budget busting $5 million mistake story broken by The Sheriff hit the pages of the Washington Post by the end of the day on Monday.”
Correction–the story leaked by Candland’s office to the Sheriff. Its official folks.
Do you believe in traces?
SA: to be clear, I do not agree that both Martin and Zimmerman had an equal opportunity to avoid the tragedy. I believe Zimmerman caused Martin’s death by his unnecessary pursuit of Martin. He called a dispatcher. He could have left it at that and never left his vehicle. He may not be criminally responsible, but he is morally responsible for an avoidable death. If I find that Trayvon was not being stalked, and jumped into Zimmerman’s vehicle without provocation and dragged him out to assault him, I will re-evaluate my opinion.
@Cargosquid
With just a little sprinkling of personal opinion in there.
Just out of curiosity, what would you do if someone was stalking you?
@Scout
Scout, you have stated this case better than anyone I have heard. I totally agree with you.
It all could have been avoided had Zimmerman not wanted to hot dog it and play security-man.
Obviously when he called the dispatcher, not one’s life was in danger. No one asked him to help. IN fact, they told him it was not necessary.
@lyssa
Zimmerman told the dispatcher, “He’s running.”
The dispatcher suggested that “we don’t need you to do that.” when told he was following Martin. Z stated “OK.” Then the phone conversation continued, with Zimmerman stating that he didn’t know where Z went and couldn’t see him.
Here’s one analysis of who went where:
http://lawofselfdefense.com/zimmerman-trial-myth-busters-did-zimmerman-chase-down-a-fleeing-martin/
Zimmerman states that he left his truck, went after Martin, stopped, and lost him. And then followed the sidewalk at the top of the “11” of buildings. Apparently its very dark there and so he continued to the main street to discover his location’s address.
Then something happened. And the fight started. The something is what is being determined.
@Moon-howler
If someone was following me..and I had a cell phone? Dial 911 and evade. Do what Martin first did. Run into the dark. And if its close…go home.
I’ve changed my walking route quite often when walking in the city…because someone was suspicious.
@Scout
I disagree. Zimmerman did nothing morally wrong by leaving his truck. Unless there is evidence that he assaulted Martin, he did nothing wrong. If Martin assaulted him…its Martin’s fault. If Zimmerman was the aggressor, then Zimmerman deserves to go to jail.
The question is who assaulted whom?
Scout didnt say Zimmerman was morally wrong. He said he had moral responsibility for his death. Had he not followed Martin, none of this would have happened.
He was advised not to. Unless he is so stupid he needs to beaten over the with a stick, “we don’t need you to do that” means stay out of it.
So what exactly is the responsibility of a neighborhood watchman living in a neighborhood with recent break-ins and spotting an unknown individual at night. Ignore the person, or try an ask their reason for being in the neighborhood? Are neighborhood watchman even allowed to approach someone, although asking someone a question isn’t against the law, and trying to catch up to them to ask the question isn’t either. Somehow that has now become stalking I guess.
@Moon-howler
“He was advised not to. Unless he is so stupid he needs to beaten over the with a stick, “we don’t need you to do that” means stay out of it.”
THAT is the point. NOTHING shows that he did not. He told the dispatcher that he didn’t know where Martin was. He HAD stopped following Martin.
I have seen no proof. If he got back in his car we wouldnt be discussing this.
Ok, for the sake of argument what if Zimmerman didn’t have a gun that night and Trayvon kept beating Zimmerman’s head on the pavement. Would we now be facing a trial with Trayvon up for murder, or would it have been justifiable homicide because someone followed him and asked him what he was doing in the neighborhood? I’m sure being followed merits beating the person to death in some circles, but surely not in a court of law.
@Second Alamo
Here Neighborhood Watch Captains are trained to call and report but not engage. Do you think wearing a gun made him feel empowered?
George zimmerman was nothing more than a wanna be cop. He was a self appointed Neighborhood Watch captain – and had he identified himself as such, maybe he would not be in the situation he is in. Zimmerman’s injuries are actually very superficial – he nose was not broken, he did not even have a bloody nose (he nose had a cut, which produced a limited amount of blood).
Ms Howler – I find that my pals and I have difficulty getting our comments posted in Nottinghamn. Usually if our comments include or address an explanation for a situation or an attempt to defend the numerous county employees vilified there it is not posted. In light of recent news, this information should be shared with the citizens of PWC – but I am unsure that it will see the light of day there (of course, back stepping has occurred frequently if pointed out to the public or if we “dare” the blog owner).
The comment below is in response to a question posed by an individual that made the cut. It’s wonderful that citizens are interested enough in local government to read these belts, its unfortunate that the blog owner is less concerned with correcting mis-information and more concerned with personal attacks.
Thanks for the freedom to post here – PWC is in the top 0.4% among localities in the US as regards financial management.
Q – Is there a reason the budget and books aren’t audited by an external firm annually?
A – They are. Called the Single Audit Act of 1984. All non-Federal agencies spending more than $500k in Federal funds are mandated by law. All rating firms the county uses mandates that as well. All bonds and notes bought require that too.
For many years, PWC has enjoyed a AAA bond rating. Statistically 72 out of the 17,669 (or 0.4 percent) local governments throughout the country have acheived this level of rating. This rating has saved millions in debt service – millions. This is due to the collective work of your county employee.
According to financial experts both private and public PWC is in the top 0.4% in the US of local governments as regard to financial planning and financial management.
@lyssa
He did call and report. Nothing shows that he “engaged.” Evidence only shows that there was a confrontation, not who started it. The state has not, so far, disproved Zimmerman’s account.
He wasn’t in is car. Why was he out of the car? Did he have more right to walk around the neighborhood than Martin?
This is what happens when amateurs think they can run with the big dogs.
President Obama is so proud of the ACA, that he is arbitrarily suspending enforcement of the business side of it until after the elections to prevent voters from hounding their Democrat representatives.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/02/white-house-delays-employer-mandate-requirement-until-2015/?print=1
Or they could be hounding the Republican representatives also. Or, it could be that the administration is responding to the business community.
If I were running a neighborhood watch program, I surely would at least strongly suggest that the volunteers leave their shootin’ irons at home.
There’s only one man in the world who really knows what happened, and he’s on trial. Perhaps not the most objective state of circumstances for a witness, but he’s the only witness with the complete story.
All Zimmerman had to do was call in the sighting, if he had reason to think this kid was a threat to public safety and order. His editorial comments to the dispatcher made clear that Zimmerman had already adjudged Trayvon to be a malefactor of some sort. GZ knew the neighborhood well, probably had GPS of some sort either on a phone or on a dedicated unit. I’m not buying that he had to get out of the car to go look at street signs.
I keep coming back to the point that Zimmerman was the one who had control over the situation. He made bad decisions that resulted in a death that needn’t have happened. My sense is that those decisions were driven, in part, by his view that young black males with hoodies were presumptively crooks. Zimmerman may not be, beyond a reasonable doubt, a criminal. But there is blood on his hands.
@CS – I thought that they were postponing the ACA implementation of the small business mandate to provide more time for compliance. It’s a very small slice of the program. Sounds like a good decision to me. The only way it gets to be a bad decision is if Congress fails to work to smooth out problems in implementation. If the Republicans have a smashingly good alternative program in mind that replaces the entire ACA and can get it in place seamlessly, more power to them. But if they have that, they’re keeping it very much a secret from the People.
@Scout
It sounds like PWC has infused itself into the Zimmerman trial. If I heard correctly, he had applied to be a cop here.
To all: I am going to retire this thread sometimes between noon and 5 pm today.
I heard the same about Zimmerman. He wanted to be a cop here in PWC. Good thing they turned him down. I wouldn’t want him patrolling our community.
Here’s something interesting – http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/general_lifestyle/july_2013/more_americans_view_blacks_as_racist_than_whites_hispanics
@Rick
I think most people are racist in some form or another. Any disagreement?
I thought this poll through. I decided at the end that the most interesting aspect is how imprecise with language you have to be to categorize “most” of another race as “racist”, as opposed to prejudiced. By being more likely than black people to do this, I would assert that white people lost some type of common sense test here.
Before you shut down this thread, Moon, I hope we get to find out whether the “females” mentioned in the post were dolphins or humans. The reference was a bit ambiguous. But inquiring minds want to know (at least one inquiring mind, to be precise).
Scout, male dolphins have been known to get very sexually aggressive with human females. They also have been observed practicing a sexual habit that Cuccinelli wouldn’t like but it was dolphin M2F dolphin foreplay.
I will post this answer on the new thread also. This one isn’t cut off, it is probably going to scroll off the page though.
The (human) females probably invited it, Moon. It is a proven fact that in most human female, male dolphin scenarios, the humans are dressed provocatively and initiate the contact. They then try to blame the poor male dolphin for coming on to them. I think it suggests a return to sensible bathing costumes and more chaperones at dolphin/human meeting places. (We might also want to outlaw poolside and beachfront serving of alcohol while we’re at it).
BWAAAAAhahahahhahahaha! I think you are on to something, Scout.
The male is always entrapped.
The historian, Steven Ambrose, referring to Clinton’s misdeeds, commented in an interview that the whole thing is a design/engineering/hydraulics problem. God, when he designed the male only provided enough blood to run the brain or the penis, but not both simultaneously. When one is working, the other isn’t. Perhaps male dolphins have the same problem. I still think, however, that human females going into the water attired in only a few square inches of fabric are probably just asking for it. That’s my old white man contribution for Independence Day. If there’s a way we can blame it on women, we will. Now do you think I can return to RPV after several years of being exiled for thinking impure thoughts about simplistic talking points?