- When in doubt, blame it on the police, eh Kenya? In the country-wide riots that followed the country's recent elections, the results of which were sketchy and suspicious at best, hundreds of civilians were killed in riots and clashes with the police. Now, opposition groups are throwing the blame squarely on the police. The accusations center on the fact that police opened fire on looters and protesters under an unofficial "shoot to kill" policy. Those claims are being seconded by a human-rights group working in Kenya. Human Rights Watch called on the Kenyan government to lift its ban on demonstrations and also to stop firing at protesters. I second those ideas, because the right to riot, protest and demonstrate is a vital right to any country, anywhere in the world. That shoot-to-kill policy was verified by several unidentified police officers, and it sounds like exactly the kind of move an oppressive, overzealous government would make when its authority is questioned. Even if no one puts it in writing and it's unspoken, that doesn't make it ok, Kenyan government. Stop shooting your citizens and stop depriving them of their right to riot. They're going to do it anyhow, so just let them.
- Now here's a dedicated San Diego Chargers fan. What says fan of a team more than waiting until the week of the AFC championship game to spring assault charges on New England Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss. The Chargers play the Pats in Foxboro this Sunday, but before he can play that game, Moss had to face allegations that he committed battery against a woman are false and that she made the claim to get money from him. "I want to make something clear," the New England Patriots wide receiver said while standing at his locker. "In my whole entire life of living 30 years, I've never put my hand on one woman, physically or in an angry manner." The woman, identified in court records as Rachelle Washington, 35, of Fort Lauderdale, filed for and was granted a restraining order against Moss, claiming he committed battery against her. The temporary injunction, issued in Broward County (Fla.) court, bars Moss from coming within 500 feet of the woman and from using or possessing firearms. No criminal charges have been filed against Moss at this point, but a hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 28, which is the Monday before the Super Bowl, which the Pats hopefully will not be playing in. Moss didn't specifically comment on the alleged incident, saying he was restricted by the legal case. He said the Washington had been a personal friend of 11 years and that she asked for "six figures" for what Moss said was an accident in which she was hurt. He did not provide details about the accident. Well, nothing says "longtime personal friend" like trying to squeeze six-figures from an alleged friend for something that friend claims was an accident. "They're false allegations, something I've been battling for like the last couple of days of threats going public if I didn't pay X amount of dollars," Moss said. "So before people rush quick to judgment I think you need to find out the facts about, really, what's going on." Fair enough, Randy. I'm not going to convict him at this point, but clearly something happened here, accidental or not. Moss was having a great season up to this point, having set an NFL record with 23 touchdown catches. He had also been able to avoid the type off-field problems this season that have plagued him in the past and has been praised by other Patriots players as an excellent teammate and leader. At his previous NFL stops, Minnesota and Oakland, he was involved in several incidents. With Minnesota, he was criticized by quarterback Daunte Culpepper and others for leaving the field with 2 seconds left in a regular-season loss to Washington. He bumped a traffic control officer with his car in 2002, verbally abused corporate sponsors on a team bus in 2001 and squirted an official with a water bottle in 1999. Regarding this latest incident, Moss was adamant that he's done nothign wrong. "It's very unfair to athletes if a person makes a false claim. You know, there's nothing that we can do," Moss said. "The only thing that we can do is either pay up or sit back and listen to what's being said or what's being written. For someone to make a false claim about me, I'm kind of furious," he said. "It kind of hurts me deep inside for someone to do something like that because, you know, I've always said time and time again, I'm going to stand up for what's right. If I'm right, I'm right. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong." It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, but for now, Moss looks like he's being stabbed in the back by a person he considered a friend who is now looking to take advantage of his wealth and status for a big payday.
- Nice of you to finally address the problem, MySpace. The popular social networking site has long been a haven for sexual predators, to the point that it's become the butt of jokes from many directions, including right here. But now, MySpace has decided to take action against sexual predators on its site, mostly because of intense pressure from parents, activists and law enforcement, the operators of the site will create a task force of industry professionals to keep watch over their site's operations. However, there were few specifics given out as to what this task force will do and how they will root out the many pedophiles and freaks currently roaming MySpace. Age verification software is notoriously difficult to implement and child molesters and pedophiles tend to be kind of determined sorts, so you're going to have to do more than ask kids what their birthday is to keep abuse from happening. Chris Hansen can't do it all with his To Catch a Predator shows, so MySpace needs to start figuring out some details here. Maybe run everyone on the site through a sexual offender database or ask questions like, "Are you using this site to pick up on 12-year-old boys and girls?" and checking the profiles of users for perverted content. Whatever you do, do it soon because there are far too many freaks out there and not enough is being done to stop them.
- There has always been a thin line between fandom and child abuse. Walking that thin line is a huge challenge, because how do you determine whether you're just being an overzealous fan or committing a violent act of child abuse that could send you to jail? Mathew Kowald, a particualrly, um, enthusiastic Green Bay Packers fan, had some trouble walking that line recently when looking to celebrate his team's big playoff win over the Seattle Seahawks.Fueled by a beer or eight, as are most Packer fans, Kowald was in a mood to celebrate and wanted his 7-year-old son to join in one the party. He ordered his son to slam on his Packers gear, specifically a Packers sweatshirt. For some reason, the kid wasn't down and refused to put the shirt on. No surprise, right? Kids disagree with parents all the time, often about soemthing mom or dad wants them to wear that they don't like. It usually plays out with a compromise or maybe even with the parent pulling the "because I said so" card. However, this is the first time it's ended with a father duct taping his son. Yes, you read that right, dear old dad broke out the duct tape, bound his son and taped the sweatshirt to his body. Great call, pops. If your kid won't represent for your favorite team, he needs to be bound up and restrained. But why not go the extra mile, shove a gag in his mouth and tie him to a chair with some rope, then force him to watch Packers highlights for 24 hours straight until he learns to love the team like you do? Junior had it coming, clearly. Either that or dad is a raging lunatic who needs to get a grip on reality, one of the other. I can't believe I even need to say this, but to all you parents out there, restraining your kid with duct tape is NOT, I repeat NOT a viable parenting option.
- Government officials, judges and politicians don't always do the job they're elected or hired to do. They get in office and they forget about promises they made and the job description they agreed to. Not the Los Angeles court commissioner handling Britney Spears' custody case with K-Dirt Federline, though. This guy's job is to make determinations as to what is in the best interest of those who come into his court room, especially the children, and this guy clearly takes his job seriously. How do I know that? Because for a second consecutive time, he's made the absolute right call by upholding a suspension of Brit's visitation rights with her two young sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James. Her regular benders, bizarre aversion to wearing underwear in public and standoff with police last month when she refused to give up her kids at the end of a court-supervised visit are evidence that she's not fit to raise kids, and at a hearing this week, her visitation rights, which have been under suspension, remained that way.Another hearing was set for Feb. 19, but in between not and then Brit will be allowed to have zero contact with her kids. It's sad, but the fact is that this is the absolute right call. No mom who asks her 2-year-old to fetch her cigarettes for her and attacks paparazzi's cars with umbrellas is a good mother, period. She's not sane, she's not a functional person and the fact that her knocked-up 16-year-old sister is the responsible, mature kid in the family is all you need to know about the Spears clan. Thanks for nothing, y'all.
No comments:
Post a Comment