The murder of Oneal Moore

A Google news alert showed up in my inbox, with a link to this at the Times-Picayune - also being discussed on the Hard Copy board. Excerpt:

The unsolved 1965 killing of a black Washington Parish sheriff's deputy by a group of white assailants is among roughly a dozen unsolved murders from the civil-rights era that the FBI is giving new scrutiny, said Jim Bernazzani, special agent in charge of the bureau's New Orleans office.

The murder of Oneal Moore is one of 10 to 12 unsolved inquiries into suspicious deaths around the country that FBI Director Robert Mueller said Tuesday the agency is re-examining.

Further down in the article [emphasis mine]:

Ironically, Moore and Rogers were hired in part to help quell racial unrest in Washington Parish, which at the time was thought to have more members of the Ku Klux Klan per capita than any county in America.

I believe it. Remember David Duke's run for a seat in the Louisiana legislature?:

Duke actually carried Tangipahoa Parish, a rural county which is one of four in the district, and finished second in another rural county, Washington Parish. Link

And here's an excerpt from a 1965 Time article:

Governor McKeithen offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to a murder conviction, promised to "demonstrate to the world that Louisianans are law-abiding, Godfearing citizens, and that our state is no haven for cowards and murderers."

Sadly, he has been proven wrong. In this case, Louisiana, specifically Bogalusa, was indeed a haven for a murderer and his two accomplices.

Turn them in. This is a terrible blot on the city, and it's way past time for justice.

Cell phone crackdown at BHS

One of the students had their cell phone on, or they were playing with their ringtones, or somethin'. A search was instituted. We were told some phones were seized.

Please, kids, be a bit more considerate of others. The students involved in after-school activities will be greatly inconvenienced if they have to walk around in search of a pay phone to call their parents and get a ride home.

And that's what'll happen if you keep screwing around like this, and cause cell phones to be officially banned at BHS.

DSL internet service

Somebody at the Hard Copy board mentioned that a Bellsouth employee said DSL internet service will be available all over the area by the end of the year.

I went to the Bellsouth site and had an online chat with a customer service rep.

Yes, it's true. BS DSL will be available all over the place by the end of 2007.

Yippee!

Go to your doctor...

... and get a flu shot, if you haven't already.

This year's virus is awful.

Sorry for the hiatus.

We've been down with the flu.

Will be back posting Sunday [tomorrow].

Hope y'all are having a nice weekend, and stay safe through the storms tonight :-).

Penn Masala

I never heard of 'em, until I ran into one of their videos on Break.com. Not surprising. With the thousands or tens of thousands of musicians and groups, who can follow them all?

Penn Masala, the Hindi a cappella group. Wow.

Listen to Aankhon Mein Tu Hai. A little hip-hop, a little bit of ballad, hauntingly beautiful tune and clean lyrics - Hooray! Teenage daughter loved it.

Go to their site and buy their CDs.

Slothful Sunday

I was able to sit down for a while and finish reading Hard Truth by Nevada Barr.

If you like mysteries, it's a good one. Ms. Barr is a ranger for the National Park Service, and she sets her books in one of the parks.

Trial date set for [alleged] dog shooters

Arraignment of Minton and Englande was Tuesday in St. Bernard Parish.

Trial will be May 8, 9 or 10.

Full story on this page.

Special thank you to Pasado's Safe Haven animal rescue org for traveling all the way from Washington state to help and show support in this very important matter.

For those of you who didn't see my previous post on the topic, you can write a note to the judge here.

For y'all who have companion animals, or understand the love people feel for their pets, why not help Pasado by buying a T-shirt? I like "Not Without My Pets" :-).

The traitorous little jihadi had a blog.

Daniel Joseph Maldonado - also known by some Arabic-sounding name... You know, the fool who's a US citizen and took off to Somalia to train as a "holy warrior" and kill people for al Qaeda.

He's now in US custody.

And he was a blogger.

Don't forget to read the comments. Bad language, sexual references, but a lot of 'em are a scream.

St. Bernard dog-killers' arraignment tomorrow

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, in St. Bernard Parish, victims of flooding left their dogs at Beauregard Middle School, scrawling heartrending notes on the walls with their names, their pets' names. "Don't shoot my dog," one reads. "Very nice dog in here," says another. They left what food they could, and water.

All in vain.

Their dogs were shot and left to suffer. Shot in the stomach, the legs. Some starved to death. This, after deputies promised the owners that their beloved pets would be cared for.

This, as animal rescuers were beginning to arrive in South Louisiana to save pets' lives.

David Leeson, a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, was driving around in St. Bernard Parish shortly after the storm, looking for the small, oil-soaked dog that he'd taken a picture of. Instead, he filmed three deputies, also driving around, shooting dogs. Showing no emotion. Not putting them out of their misery, but leaving them to whimper and cry on the ground until they died of their wounds.

Tomorrow morning, two of the perpetrators - Michael Minton and Clifford Englande - are being arraigned in the St. Bernard Parish Courthouse. They have been charged with aggravated animal cruelty. They have also been sued by the pet owners.

You may write a note to the judge here. It'll be hand delivered by the folks with Pasado Safe Haven.

Read the whole story.