the random musings not worthy of new thread thread

[Rome]

What Would Jesus Weigh?

[PhillyPhreak54]

I've been awake since 6pm yesterday...and I'm not tired yet. I am going to be a dead motherfarger when the alarm goes off at 530 though to get up for camp.

I spent 9 goddamn hours shopping today. Nine. I hate shopping.

[Diomedes]

Keeping it real in the hood.

August 6, 2007
Shooting of 4 College Friends Baffles Newark
By NATE SCHWEBER and FERNANDA SANTOS

NEWARK, Aug. 5 — The authorities were struggling to explain one of Newark's most chilling slaughters in recent memory after three young friends were lined up against a schoolyard wall and shot dead late Saturday. A fourth person survived a gunshot.

"This appears to have been an execution-style type of murder," Paul M. Loriquet, a spokesman for the Essex County prosecutor, Paula T. Dow, said on Sunday.

Investigators had no suspects and seemed to have few clues about what unfolded at the schoolyard, which is near the tip of Ivy Hill Park in a neighborhood of tree-hemmed streets speckled with modest homes and brick high-rises.

At a news conference on Sunday, Ms. Dow said the victims were "good kids" who had never had any run-ins with the law. Three of the victims — the survivor, Natasha Aeriel, 19; her 18-year-old brother, Terrance Aeriel; and Deshawn Harvey — were enrolled at Delaware State University. The fourth victim, Ofemi Hightower, 20, a close friend of the Aeriels, was going to start classes at Delaware State this fall. All four lived in the Newark area.

"They had a goal, they had a purpose, they had a destination in life," said the Aeriels' mother, Renee Tucker.

Although overall crime has dropped in Newark this year, the city has been on a murder streak. Sixty people have been killed, including a man, Quintez Waller, who was shot dead about 8:30 a.m. on Sunday in apparent retaliation for an attempt on another person's life earlier in the morning, the authorities said. They did not believe that murder was related to the schoolyard shootings.

Last year at this time, 63 people had been killed as the city headed toward 105 homicides, its highest total since the crack epidemic of the early 1990s.

"These kids were success stories," Mayor Cory A. Booker said. The mayor, who has called public safety a top priority of his administration, called the killings "a tragic outburst" of violence.

His police director, Garry F. McCarthy, said in a statement, "While we are making progress on public safety over all, we know it is not enough." He cited a decline of 30 percent in the number of shootings this year and a 16 percent decrease in violent crimes, but added, "more needs to be done."

The authorities do not believe the shootings were related to drugs or a robbery attempt, but said they were investigating whether they could be connected to gang activity. They would not elaborate.

Ms. Tucker said she called her daughter about 9:45 p.m. on Saturday and asked if she could bring home some food. The siblings, accompanied by Ms. Hightower and Mr. Harvey, arrived at Ms. Tucker's house on Richelieu Terrace about a half-hour later, but left after Ms. Aeriel spent a few minutes on the computer, Ms. Tucker said.

"They said they were going to get something to eat," she added. "Someone must have lured them" to the school.

About 11:30 p.m., the four friends were in the schoolyard of the Mount Vernon School, an elementary school, "listening to music and hanging out" there when they were approached by the killers, Ms. Dow said at the news conference.

Mr. Aeriel, Mr. Harvey and Ms. Hightower were lined up against a wall near a set of bleachers perched at the edge of the schoolyard. They were shot in the head. All three were pronounced dead at the scene.

Ms. Aeriel was standing 30 feet away from the wall when she was shot near an ear, the authorities said. She was listed in fair condition at University Hospital last night, said Rogers Ramsey, a hospital spokesman.

Mumtaz Khan, 67, who lives near the school, said he heard no more than five shots, fired in rapid succession. Michael Moss, 16, who also lives nearby, said he dashed to the school just after he heard about the shooting through a friend's phone call. He spotted the bodies, already draped in white sheets, lying by the bleachers on the edge of the schoolyard.

Some residents told detectives that they saw a group of men running from the school just after hearing the shots, but no one saw their faces or knew exactly how many there were, Mr. Loriquet said.

Witness intimidation and fear of retaliation has stymied law enforcement efforts to combat violence in communities across Essex County, and particularly in Newark, where drug trading and gangs fuel most of the crimes. Ms. Dow's office has been reluctant to file murder charges in cases with single eyewitnesses because so many of those cases have fallen apart.

One potential witness is the survivor, Ms. Aeriel. Her recovering "is a huge piece of the puzzle," Mr. Loriquet said. "She could help us shed some light on this."

Ms. Dow said the police had talked to Ms. Aeriel at the hospital and planned to talk to her again once her condition improves. The Essex County Sheriff's Department is offering a $20,000 reward for anyone with information that could lead to an arrest, and the Newark Police Department Crime Stoppers program is offering $2,000.

Ms. Hightower and the Aeriels grew up in the Vailsburg section of Newark, the neighborhood where the shootings took place. They attended West Side High School and were all members of its band. Ms. Aeriel played the saxophone; Mr. Aeriel, who used to spend hours each day reading the Bible, played the trombone; and Ms. Hightower, who always had a smile on her face, Ms. Tucker said, was the drum captain.

Ms. Aeriel, a junior in college, is pursuing a degree in psychology. She traveled to Newark for the weekend and planned to return to Delaware on Monday, to her job at a Subway shop in Dover. Mr. Aeriel, who was about to start his freshman year, planned to join Delaware State's business-administration program, Ms. Tucker said.

Ms. Hightower's cousin, Coby Hightower, 23, said Ms. Hightower was working two jobs — at a nursing home and at a food-services provider for Continental Airlines at Newark Liberty International Airport. She received her acceptance letter from Delaware State on Thursday. "She kept talking about working and going to school," he said. "She was so excited." Mr. Hightower, who wept as he stood outside the school on Mount Vernon Place, said his cousin was planning to share a room at Delaware State with Ms. Aeriel, her best friend.

Mayor Booker spoke with the victims' families and offered his condolences.

"I'm very angry right now," he said after the news conference. "We were on our way to having one of our best summers in years. Now, this incident casts a shadow over it."

There's a third world civil war going on in our ghettos...no one seems to give a damn.  What an awful story.

[Yeti]

What Would Jesus Weigh?

This makes me laugh.

[MURP]

addictive game


http://gamebulge.com/play.php?id=Paintball_The_Game

[Dillen]

You're right. Despite being incredibly easy, it kicks ass.

[Diomedes]

I got angry at the music and the imprecise controls...what a fat tip marker that is to try to draw with...gave up after thirty or so stages

[Feva]

I played that game a lot longer than I intended to play it.

[PhillyPhreak54]

See you Nancy's in two weeks. I"m off on vacation. Someone keep MDS in line for me while I'm gone.

[Phanatic]

Fossils challenge old evolution theory

I always find shtein like this interesting.

[ice grillin you]

OMG...hindu prayers are going to ruin our country!!!...sad thing is this guy sali was picked as the top freshman republican in congress...meet the new boss same as the old boss


http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/08/idaho_congressman_disturbed_by.php

A few weeks ago, the Senate invited a Hindu leader to deliver the daily invocation. Apparently, this has sent Idaho's Bill Sali (R) over the edge.

"We have not only a Hindu prayer being offered in the Senate, we have a Muslim member of the House of Representatives now, Keith Ellison from Minnesota. Those are changes — and they are not what was envisioned by the Founding Fathers," asserts Sali.

Sali says America was built on Christian principles that were derived from scripture. He also says the only way the United States has been allowed to exist in a world that is so hostile to Christian principles is through "the protective hand of God."

"You know, the Lord can cause the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike," says the Idaho Republican.

According to Congressman Sali, the only way the U.S. can continue to survive is under that protective hand of God. He states when a Hindu prayer is offered, "that's a different god" and that it "creates problems for the longevity of this country."

[mussa]

my weekend is going to consist of 1 part beer, 2 part booze and 3 parts crabs...the edible kind....go farg yourselfs

[Seabiscuit36]

my weekend is going to consist of 1 part beer, 2 part booze and 3 parts crabs...the edible kind....go farg yourselfs

my weekend is going to with a 13 hour drive starting tomorrow morning to Houlton, ME.  Then drinking and fishing, and watching my pup go crazy on a lake. 

[MDS]

im going to go to idaho and shoot bill sali. then head down to murderland and hang with igy as per the normal routine.

[ice grillin you]

bill sali lost the non christian vote in idaho with those antics...all 11 of them


then head down to murderland and hang with igy as per the normal routine.

have i ever called you an idiot before?

here...just in case...

IDIOT