- Maybe that racist idiot Buck Burnette isn’t alone in his moronic views regarding guns and our President-elect, Barack Obama. Sadly, when Burnette encouraged all of the hunters out there to stock up on guns as a result of Obama being elected, there appear to be a few gun enthusiasts who listened. For example, the owner of a gun shop in the Washington suburb of Manassas, Virginia, Conatser said sales have doubled or tripled since this time last year. He is among a large number of weapons dealers in much of the United States who are reporting sharply higher sales since Obama won the presidency a week ago. And why the surge in the need for weapons, or at least the perceived need for them? Most observers attribute it to worries that Obama and a Democratic-controlled Congress will move to restrict firearm ownership. That’s fine by me, but apparently not by many gun-happy sectors of the populace. According to FBI figures for the week of November 3 to 9, the bureau received more than 374,000 requests for background checks on gun purchasers -- a nearly 49 percent increase over the same period in 2007. The aforementioned store in Manassas, Virginia Arms Company, has run out of some models -- such as the AR-15 rifle, the civilian version of the military's M-16 -- and is running low on others. Yes, because who doesn’t need assault rifles handy? Yes, there may be some precedent for a Democratic president restricting gun ownership, but that’s not a bad thing, it’s a good thing. The Clinton administration imposed a ban on several types of military-style semi-automatic rifles and high-capacity magazines in 1994, but again, those are freaking assault rifles, what the heck does the average person need with an assault rifle. You’re not using that for hunting, I feel say in saying. Count me among those who would be down with our new president tightening the restraints on gun ownership; the world would be a better place with less guns………
- What would the world be without hate crimes? Oh, that’s right, it would be a much better place. But sadly, there are still lots of tools out there who feel that targeting people for violent crimes simply because of their nationality or ethnicity is cool. For an example, see the story of an Ecuadoran man slain in New York at the hands of seven teenagers in what is being called a hate crime. The victim of this heinous act was Marcello Lucero, 37, who was walking to a friend's apartment in Patchogue, New York, when he was attacked late Saturday. His attackers stabbed him in the chest and he later died of his injuries. According to Suffolk County Police Detective Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick, the seven teens who jumped Lucero “were trying to find Latinos and to assault them. That was what they went out to do that night, and that's exactly what they did do. ... They were actively seeking victims.” Great, not only are they racists and hate mongers; they aren’t even out of high school yet. The apparent leader of the attack is a fine young racist named Jeffrey Conroy. The 17-year-old faces charges of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime in the attack, and the other six attackers-- Jordan Dasch, Anthony Hartford, Nicholas Hausch, Christopher Overton, Jose Pacheco and Kevin Shea -- also face charges of first-degree gang assault. The charges against Conroy stem from the belief that he was the one who stabbed Lucero. Thankfully, the "hate crime" designation would enhance any sentence imposed upon conviction, and if these seven are indeed guilty, they deserve everything they can get and then some. And I’m going to assume that they are guilty, mostly because upon their arrest, all seven of these tools admitted their role in the crime. Why they then pleaded not guilty when they were arraigned Monday in Suffolk County Criminal Court, I don’t know. What I do know is that hearing about crimes like this, especially involving attackers who aren’t even legally adults, just makes me sick…..
- Heroes was a one-man time-traveling extravaganza Monday night, with the funniest hero, Hiro Nakamura, going on his spirit walk back in time with the help of his friend, “African Mr. Isaac,” a.k.a. Usutu. After eating the paste made from wild roots last week and lapsing into a glassy-eyed trance. His first stop is 18 months ago at Arthur and Angela Petrelli’s 41st anniversary party, where Arthur and the mysterious Linderman discuss Nathan and his fellow district attorneys building case against Linderman and by association, his attorney - Arthur. When Linderman wonders what will happen if Nathan doesn’t drop the case, Arthur says that if it comes to that, he’ll kill his own son rather than allow his own and Linderman’s litany of dirty deeds to be exposed. The next stop for Hiro’s trip back in time is a liquor store in Memphis one year ago, where Meredith Gordon, Claire Bennet’s birth mother, is knocking over a liquor store with Flint, one of the Level 5 escapees from this season who turns out to be Meredith’s brother. Both are fire throwers, with Meredith sporting the traditional orange flames and Flint the blue flames, but together they rob the store and are about the leave when Thompson, the now-former Company man who used to work with H.R.G., appears to stop them. He apprehends both Meredith and Flint, taking them back to Company HQ in New York. At the same time, back in New York, Sylar, at the time still known as Gabriel Gray, is trying to cope with the realization of his own powers and also the fact that he kills in order to feed the hunger for more powers. He tries to hang himself, but in bursts Elle (Kristen Bell, still uber-hot), who uses her power to shoot electricity, breaks the rope for the noose and talks Sylar out of killing himself. She’s there because the Company is watching Sylar, having realized the power he has. H.R.G. and Elle begin investigating Sylar, with H.R.G. forcing Elle to pretend to befriend him and get him to expose his power for them to see. Meanwhile, Meredith and Flint are back at Level 5, where Thompson offers them each a choice: become and agent and work for the Company or remain as permanent prisoners. Fleeing isn’t what Nathan has in mind, as he refuses Arthur’s request to drop the case against Linderman and promises to bury the man he says is poison to his family. That results in Linderman and Arthur trying to make good on their promise to kill Nathan, leading to the car crash that paralyzed Nathan’s wife Heidi and was a big topic in the first two seasons. Nathan survived by he unknowingly used his ability to fly and was ejected from the car, but Angela questions whether Arthur was involved in the crash and doesn’t like the answer she gets. She’s suspicious and her suspicions are confirmed when she overhears a conversation between Linderman and Arthur about finishing the job. However, Arthur uses his power to force-feed thoughts into people’s mind to force Angela into accepting the plan to kill her son. Apparently, he has done it so many times that her brain is scarred badly, a problem Linderman rectifies through his power to heal things, giving Angela her memory and control of her mind back and turning her against her husband because of all he has done to her. Down in Austin, Texas, Thompson and Meredith are on a training mission, out to apprehend a man named Danny Pine, a veteran who also has the power to turn his fist into solid iron. He clocks Thompson with his metal hand, but Meredith subdues him. Back at Level 5, Meredith accepts the deal to become an agent, but then has second thoughts, breaking Flint out and trying to flee on a train to Mexico. Thompson tracks them down, but a firefight ensues and it results in the very train crash that was the first thing we saw in the first episode of the entire series, the one that leads Claire Bennet to run into the flames and save a man to test her powers to heal from any injury. Thompson manages to apprehend Meredith, but when he learns of who her daughter is and realizes the truth about Meredith and Claire, he lets her go. Things aren’t going so well in New York, where the quest to investigate Sylar puts Elle in harm’s way. H.R.G. insists she invite another person with powers, located on a list Sylar had lying around, to have dinner with Sylar and Elle. Trevor Zeitlan has the ability to form a gun with his hand and actually shoot things as if it were a real gun. Sylar has enough of seeing him show off the ability and decides to take it, leading Elle to expose her power and identity to stop him. Sylar demands that she leave and she does, but he kills Trevor and takes his power nonetheless. At this point, Hiro begins to wake up from his dream/spirit walk, but Usutu puts a mixture in front of him that sends of fumes for Hiro to inhale and sends him back into his trance. That takes him back to New York, where Angela and Arthur are having dinner. Angela decides to exact revenge on her husband, poisoning his soup and using the mysterious Haitian to block his power to read her mind. Arthur collapses and is taken to the hospital, where his doctor tells Angela and Nathan that he’s dead. That’s not true, as Arthur is actually in the semi-vegetative state we found him in earlier this season when first meeting him. He telepathically tells the doctor to pass along news of his death to his family and find a body to replace his for the cremation. The family goes on belieiving he’s dead, having the funeral and everything. At about the same time, H.R.G. and Elle wrap up their mission to monitor Sylar and prepare to move on, even though Elle feels guilty about unleashing a monster on the world. H.R.G. says their mission wasn’t to save the world, they were just to follow orders. H.R.G. then gets into a cab that Peter Petrelli ironically has just exited and which is driven by Mohinder Suresh. It’s here that Hiro’s vision ends and he wakes up in Africa, back in the present. He screams out about all of the horrible things he saw to his pal Ando, but Usutu is nowhere to be found. Then, a scream comes from outside the hut and when Ando and Hiro rush out, they find a decapitated Usutu. Then, Arthur Petrelli comes out of nowhere, says to Hiro, “I hear you’ve been dreaming about me,” and grabs Hiro’s head, about to do some of his mind-zapping powers on Hiro, who lets out a terrified scream as the episode ends…..so until next week……
- The chief is back at the University of Illinois. After a two-year banishment on account of political correctness run amok, the school’s longtime mascot Chief Illiniwek once again is suiting up, putting on the buckskins, beads and turkey feathers and getting ready to dance. Ever since the tools on the University of Illinois Board of Trustees banned the 80-year-old mascot from sporting events in February 2007 because of the idiotic reason of “cultural insensitivity,” defenders of the Chief have been looking for a way to bring back their beloved mascot. Last spring, a group of former chiefs held tryouts to select a new performer and more than a dozen students tried out, going through eight weeks of training, before then-junior Logan Ponce was selected. But what to do without being able to sport the Chief’s original outfit, which the university had locked in its archives? Thankfully, a group called Students for Chief Illiniwek paid to have a replica costume made and on Saturday, the new mascot will make his debut after the UI football team plays Ohio State at home. The group paid $4,500 to rent Assembly Hall on campus, where Chief Illiniwek will perform his traditional dance - free for students, $5 for the public. According to Roberto Martell, president of Students for Chief Illiniwek, the group encountered no resistance from the administration. And if you think this won’t be a life-altering event for those involved, you would be wrong. Regarding the Chief, Martell declared, “It inspired me to be a complete man.” So there you go, a Native American-themed mascot for a college team changed at least one man’s life……
- There were already zero reasons to love Ku Klux Klan. When you dress in oversized bed sheets and hoods and blindly, hatefully persecute people of a different race because you’re still stuck in the 19th century, that’s not cool. So what you don’t want to do is give people even more reasons to hate you, which some ass-hatted Klansmen at the Meade County fair in Brandenberg, Kentucky in 2006. At the fair, two Klansmen, the biggest standing 6-feet, 5-inches and tipping the scales at 300 pounds, decided to impose their antiquated, bigoted view of the world on a 16-year-old boy, 5-feet, 3-inches tall and 150 pounds. Jordan Gruver’s only offense was to be an American citizen of Panamanian descent, but because of that he took a beating that July day in 2006. He was called names, spat upon, doused with alcohol, knocked to the ground and punched and kicked. The beating left him with a broken jaw and left forearm, two cracked ribs and cuts and bruises. This is still a topic because now, more than two years after the fact, Gruver is taking the fight to the Klan with a lawsuit he hopes will result in damages large enough to put the supremacist group out of business. With the support of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Gruver is fighting back in a civil courtroom, suing the Imperial Klans of America. And while the composition of the jury - all-white - isn’t what you’d hope for, the seven men and seven women chosen Wednesday to hear Gruver's lawsuit against the Klan and two of its members - "Imperial Wizard" Ron Edwards, and Jarred R. Hensley, the Ohio Klan's "Grand Titan" - have a great chance to strike a blow against one of the most represnsible organizations in existence anywhere. Already, two other members of the Klan -- Joshua Cowles, the Klan's "Exalted Cyclops," and Andrew W. Watkins, the Klan's "Imperial Gothi" and webmaster -- have settled out of court. According to the lawsuit. Cowles, Hensley and Watkins were the a-holes who confronted Gruver and insulted him with ethnic epithets while on a recruiting mission at the fair. Right, because who doesn’t love that aspect of the county fair - cotton candy, livestock, Ferris wheels, demolition derbies, tractor pulls…..and KKK recruiting. Take it elsewhere, fellas, because if I had seen you at my county fair and knew what you were doing, there would have been trouble. The two main perpetrators in the assault were Hensley and Watkins, who allegedly knocked Gruver to the ground and repeatedly struck and kicked him. At this point, it’s not a matter of proving if they committed the assault, as yhe two men already have gone through the criminal courts, striking plea bargains and serving time in the Kentucky state prison system. Thankfully, the Klan is treating this situation with the proper respect - oh wait, no they’re not. If they were, Edwards would not have showed up for a court deposition in the case with his head freshly shaved and a profane reference to the Southern Poverty Law Center tattooed on it on. Way to stay classy, KKK, you all suck……here’s hoping Gruver and the SPLC win the judgment they’re seeking that would allow them to seize up to $6 million in assets. Nothing like shutting down the second largest KKK group in the United States with 23 chapters in 17 states…….
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