Happy New Year from The New American Citizen
As 2007 draws to a close and we rapidly approach the new year, my best wishes go out to you and yours. Wishing everyone better health, greater prosperity and more opportunities this coming year.
Car Crashes Into Chicago TV News Studio
Via Fox News:
CHICAGO — Chicago police are investigating a vehicle that crashed into the downtown studio of WLS-TV (ABC-7) during the top of last night’s evening news, causing no injuries.
Just after 10 p.m., a loud noise was heard inside the studio and on the air, startling weekend anchor Ravi Baichwal.
A police spokesman, Officer David Banks, said early this morning that the investigation was only in its early stages.
Banks said it was not immediately clear why the male driver of a Mazda MPV with Indiana license plates plowed into the studio’s reinforced glass wall.
ABC 7 President and General Manager Emily Barr said the incident might have been deliberate, but there was no way of verifying that late last night.
Pure irony. Read the entire story…
Parents Fight at School Christmas Program
From WGHP (FOX):
HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) — An apparent ongoing dispute between three parents erupted into a physical fight at an elementary school’s Christmas program Tuesday night.
Children in the first through third grades at Oak Hill Elementary School had just completed about three-quarters of the program when three parents began fighting.
Witnesses said the fight lasted about 10 minutes, and, according to an account by principal Sara Roberts, started when a father approached a student about pushing his daughter while on stage:
According to witnesses, the argument started by a father who approached another student about pushing his daughter while on stage. The one parent (not of the student who pushed) told the father to not talk to a child about that but to take it up with the principal. At that point, two other parents (twin sisters) began yelling and shouting. I had to stop the program and remind everyone to be respectful to the children on stage. However, the yelling escalated further and thus the fight began.
The police were called to help by multiple members of the audience as well as a staff member who was directed to call by me. Once the police arrived, only a few people who were actually involved were questioned. However the twin sisters had left the school property by then.
In the account, Roberts writes that chairs were thrown, obscenities were yelled and three mothers physically punched each other while two other mothers attempted to break up the fight.
Great example to set for the kids. And people wonder why so many kids turn out to be self-centered brats?
As government Expands, Liberty Contracts
From Ronald Reagan’s farewell address to the Nation, January 11th, 1989:
Ours [the founding of these United States (sic)] was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: “We the people.” “We the people” tell the government what to do, it doesn’t tell us. “We the people” are the driver, the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world’s constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which “We the people” tell the government what it is allowed to do. “We the people” are free. This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I’ve tried to do these past eight years.
But back in the 1960s, when I began, it seemed to me that we’d begun reversing the order of things–that through more and more rules and regulations and confiscatory taxes, the government was taking more of our money, more of our options, and more of our freedom. I went into politics in part to put up my hand and say, “Stop.” I was a citizen politician, and it seemed the right thing for a citizen to do.
I think we have stopped a lot of what needed stopping. And I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.
Refresh your memory, read or listen to the entire speech. For your convenience, I’ve included an in-line MP3 player so you can listen to the speech right now. Click the play button 
below.
Gang Rape Victim, Jamie Leigh Jones, Claims KBR Cover Up
Claims of Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton and KBR
From ABC’s “The Blotter”:
A Houston, Texas woman says she was gang-raped by Halliburton/KBR coworkers in Baghdad, and the company and the U.S. government are covering up the incident.
Jamie Leigh Jones, now 22, says that after she was raped by multiple men at a KBR camp in the Green Zone, the company put her under guard in a shipping container with a bed and warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she’d be out of a job.
“Don’t plan on working back in Iraq. There won’t be a position here, and there won’t be a position in Houston,” Jones says she was told.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court against Halliburton and its then-subsidiary KBR, Jones says she was held in the shipping container for at least 24 hours without food or water by KBR, which posted armed security guards outside her door, who would not let her leave.
Read the entire story: Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR.
First of all, my thoughts go out to the victim, her family and everyone involved in trying to settle the many issues that need to be put to rest in a case like this. I’m going to watch this story and post updates as it develops. There are already a handful of bloggers questioning the story as reported by ABC. And of course, the Left is already bolstering the Bush – Cheney Inc. conspiracy.
But I’m not going to question the reported facts just yet. Having said that, there’s something about this story that doesn’t quite add up; we’ll see…
In Honor of December 7th, 1941
In honor of this infamous day in History: December 7th, 1941, I’m linking to Blackfive’s web site. Since these patriotic Americans have a military background, their post honoring this day in History says it far better than I ever could:
Blackfive: Dec 7, 1941.
Not to be “patriotic” or anything, but the following music is appropriate for a day like today. Click the play button below.
Audio courtesy: U.S. Army Bands.
Florida Teacher, Debra Lafave Violates Probation
Hot for Teacher Redux
From Fox News:
Debra Lafave, the Florida teacher who pleaded guilty to lewd behavior with a teenage boy, has been arrested for allegedly violating her probation on charges she spoke to an underage female co-worker.
Lafave, 27, allegedly had contact with the minor — a 16-year-old co-worker — at Danny Boys’ restaurant in Ruskin, Fla., in violation of her probation, FOX News has learned.
Lafave pleaded guilty in 2005 to lewd and lascivious behavior as part of a plea deal after Florida authorities charged her with having sex with a 14-year-old student.
Read more: Debra Lafave Arrested on Probation Violation for Talking to Teen Girl.
Surprisingly Fox posted a link to photos of Lafave.
I’ve posted several other entries about the misconduct (alleged or otherwise) of other teachers:
Republicans Report Better Mental Health
Proof Bush Derangement Syndrome (“BDS”) is real:
Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats or independents to rate their mental health as excellent, according to data from the last four November Gallup Health and Healthcare polls. Fifty-eight percent of Republicans report having excellent mental health, compared to 43% of independents and 38% of Democrats.
Read the rest: Republicans Report Much Better Mental Health Than Others.
