scariest. clown. ever.

i am completely scared of clowns. in fact, pretty much anyone in face make-up or a mask freaks me out. imagine the terror of this horrific event (of course, i don't mean make light of the fact that someone was killed in this accident; i am just saying...scariest clown ever!):

DUBLIN, Ireland - A hot-air balloon caught fire during a circus stunt, killing a clown acrobat as dozens of children watched, police said Tuesday.
Witnesses said the man, dressed in a clown outfit, was hanging from a cage suspended by ropes and a hot-air balloon inside the canvas tent. When the balloon exploded in flames, the cage fell on top of the man.

Thank you, Judge Taylor.

A federal judge in Detroit ruled today that the Bush administration’s eavesdropping program is illegal and unconstitutional, and she ordered that it cease at once.
District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor found that President Bush exceeded his proper authority and that the eavesdropping without warrants violated the First and Fourth Amendment protections of free speech and privacy.
“It was never the intent of the Framers to give the president such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights,” she wrote, in a decision that the White House and Justice Department said they would fight to overturn. A hearing will be held before Judge Taylor on Sept. 7, and her decision will not be enforced in the meantime pending the government’s appeal.

At least there is some hope for sanity and justice.

a brief comment on yesterday's news of a flight from england making and emergency landing in boston:
i was home a lot of the day yesterday, and i witnessed the evolution of the news story on the various news channels. first, i heard that a woman with vaseline, matches, a screwdriver, and a note about al qaeda was being disruptive, and that was why the plane had to land. then i heard the woman had the same objects with her, and a note written in arabic. then i heard she had vaseline, matches, and a note written in arabic - no screwdriver. then, finally, i heard she had matches, hand cream, and a paper with arabic writing on it, and had an anxiety attack on the plane.
such is the way of the 24-hour american news business. a paper with arabic writing immediately is assumed to be a note about al qaeda. screwdrivers magically appear and disappear, and a woman suffering from a mental health condition that so many of us have experienced (and who made no threats), is described as disruptive and potentially dangerous. yet again, we have sacrificed accuracy for timing and responsible reporting for screaming headlines.
television news has a new motto: scare the people into listening to and depending on you. i guess our government doesn't mind sharing.

oops.

ACTUAL CNN HEADLINE: Cop: Sorry for joking about woman shot in head

A high-ranking sheriff's officer apologized Wednesday for insensitive comments he and other officers made about demonstrators after a free-trade summit in 2003 in Miami.
The comments wound up in a police training video produced a day later. The video shows Maj. John Brooks and other officers praising each other for shooting protesters with rubber bullets.
"Looking back at the tape, in hindsight, I shouldn't have said those things," Brooks said in a report published Wednesday night on The Miami Herald's Web site.
Broward County Sheriff's officials said no one would face disciplinary action in connection with the training video.
A civilian investigative panel last week concluded that police indiscriminately used stun guns, tear gas and other weapons and unlawfully arrested and searched protesters during massive demonstrations at the 2003 Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting.
One protester, Elizabeth Ritter, contends she was unjustifiably shot with rubber bullets while she stood in front of riot gear-clad police. A video recorded the day of the protests shows Ritter cowering under a sign while being pelted with bullets. One bullet pierced the sign and struck her in the head.

(Emphasis, while hopefully not necessary to provoke outrage, is mine.)
I highly recommend checking out the video that accompanies this article on cnn.com.

State Criminal Statutes on HIV Transmission

I began thinking about this because of the case that came down in Iowa today affirming a man's prison sentence for having sex without informing his partners that he had tested positive for HIV. I see all kinds of scary policy implications in making this criminal behavior, but when I went to look at other states' statutes, I became even more disturbed. Many of the states have steeper penalties for sex workers, which, while unjust, didn't hugely surprise me. The most bizarrely and blatantly unfair statute I read about was from my own state of Pennsylvania, criminalizing certain behaviors only for people already imprisoned or sex workers and their clients. The savages! No penalty for good ol' "regular" folk. WTF?

The following is the language of Pennsylvania's criminal statutes punishing HIV-transmission.

Pa. Stat. Ann. tit. 18, §2703
A person who is confined in any jail, prison or correctional institution is guilty of a felony of the second degree if he, while so confined, intentionally or knowingly causes another to come into contact with blood, seminal fluid, saliva, urine or feces by throwing, tossing, spitting or expelling such fluid or material when, at the time of the offense, the person knew, had reason to know or should have known that such fluid or material was infected with a communicable disease, including HIV.

Pa. Stat. Ann. tit. 18, §2704
If a person sentenced to death or life imprisonment intentionally or knowingly causes another to come into contact with blood, seminal fluid, saliva, urine or feces by throwing, tossing, spitting or expelling such fluid or material when, at the time of the offense, the person knew, had reason to know, or should have known that the fluid or material was infected with a communicable disease, including HIV, then the person is guilty of a crime, the penalty for which shall be the same as the penalty for murder of the second degree.

Pa. Stat. Ann. tit. 18, § 5902
It is a felony in the third degree for a person to engage in prostitution knowing he or she is HIV positive, to promote prostitution of one who is HIV positive, or for a person, knowing him or herself to be HIV positive, to patronize a prostitute.

more on this and other interesting stuff at www.lambdalegal.org

bday wishes

so, my bday is coming up and the feeling i have most when i think about it is how thankful i am at this point in my life. i have been through a hell of a lot of crap in the year since my last birthday, and i finally feel like i am emerging from a pretty dark time into a new, brighter, challenging one that i am actually excited to take on. and i know that there is absolutely no way i would have been able to get to this point without the amazing support and help of my real friends and family. i learned a lot this year - about myself, what i do and don't want out of my life and relationships, and about the people i associate with in my life. i know that this is just one more step in the process of learning through experiences, both good and bad.

so, i have 2 birthday wishes for this year: (1) to continue to be open to new experiences and the lessons they bring, and (2) to have a way happier birthday this year than last year! (gotta throw that selfish, pity wish in there for good measure...heehee)

here's to new beginnings and keeping eyes and hearts open.