Drudge Retort: Reinheitsgebot's blog

Haliburton Must Pay Rape Victim $3 Million

reinheitsgebot — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:30:14 -0500

A woman who claimed she was raped in 2005 while working in Iraq for a former Halliburton subsidiary has been awarded nearly $3 million by an arbitrator to settle her case. Tracy Barker had sued U.S. contractor KBR Inc., its former parent company Halliburton and several affiliates in May 2007, claiming she was sexually attacked by a State Department employee while working as a civilian contractor in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. A federal judge in Houston had dismissed Barker's lawsuit in January 2008, ruling she had to abide by an employment agreement she signed that said any claims she made against the companies would have to be settled through arbitration and not the courts.

Dad Murders Son for Molesting Sister

reinheitsgebot — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:05:27 -0500

A 15-year-old boy who was killed by his father in an execution style killing spent the last moments of his life pleading, "No, Daddy! No!" Jamar Pinkney Jr. was shot in the head Monday by his 37-year-old father, Jamar Pinkney Sr., who allegedly made the teen strip his clothes off and kneel in a vacant lot before he was killed by a single bullet. The boy's mother, Lazette Cherry, told the Detroit Free Press that Pinkney Sr., showed up at her Highland Park, Mich., home after she told him that their son had made a startling confession. According to Cherry, the 15-year-old had admitted to having "inappropriate contact" with his 3-year-old half-sister.

Teabagger Threatens Paper with 'Another Ft. Hood'

reinheitsgebot — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:26:52 -0500

Police in Michigan are investigating after an irate reader of the Port Huron Times-Herald reportedly called in a threat to the newspaper after it criticized a local House representative's participation in the anti-health reform Tea Party protest two weeks ago. "A 60-year-old Port Huron woman threatened to take a gun to the newspaper and 'do what they did at Fort Hood,' according to police," the paper reported on Tuesday.

Woman Charged with Hate Crime for Tugging Head Scarf

reinheitsgebot — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:26:45 -0500

A Chicago woman has been charged with a hate crime for allegedly yanking the head scarf of a Muslim woman two days after the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas. Valerie Kenney, 54, a bank teller from Tinley Park, faces up to 3 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. "I think (a charge of hate crime) sends the appropriate message that these kinds of race-based lash-outs are unacceptable," said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "Every time something like (the Fort Hood shootings) happens, the Muslim community prepares for a backlash."

FBI Tracked Studs Terkel for Decades

reinheitsgebot — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:51:08 -0500

Studs Terkel, the author, radio host, actor and activist was tracked by the FBI for 45 years as a suspected communist after he sought a job with the bureau, according to his 269-page FBI file. The file was obtained by the NYCity News Service under an act that requires the FBI to release certain documents to the public after a person has died.

C Street F#@k Pad No Longer Tax Exempt

reinheitsgebot — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:44:28 -0500

Residents of the C Street Christian fellowship house will no longer benefit from a loophole that had allowed the house's owners to avoid paying property taxes.

Previously, the house -- despite being home to numerous lawmakers -- had been tax exempt, because it was classified as a church. That arrangement had allowed the building's owner, the secretive international Christian organization The Family, to charge significantly below market rents to its residents.The C Street house has lately been the subject of unwanted attention thanks to its role in three GOP sex scandals.

Government PTSD Plan: 'Jesus Fixes Everything'

reinheitsgebot — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:55:41 -0500

Boston Review: During the Iraq war, the great difficulty veterans experienced in getting psychiatric care was not a product of cost-cutting, but of conviction: many Bush administration officials believed that soldiers who supported the war would not face psychological problems, and if they did, they would find comfort in faith. In a resigned tone, one prominent researcher who worked for the VA, and asked that he not be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the press, explained that high-ranking officials believed that "Jesus fixes everything." Benimoff and the others who returned with devastating psychological injuries found a faith-based bureau within the VA. At veterans' hospitals, chaplains were conducting spirituality assessments of patients.

Teabaggers Bar Neo-Nazis from Arizona Rally

reinheitsgebot — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:37:28 -0500

A scuffle ensued Saturday when members of a neo-Nazi group were shut out of an anti-illegal mmigration Tea Party protest at the Arizona state capitol. American Citizens United, which organized the Phoenix Tea Party rally, told the Neo-Nazi group that racist messages were not welcome at the demonstration, leading to a scuffle when the Neo-Nazis unfurled a Hitler banner. "You can't assult me! You can't assault me!" one said to a Tea Party protester after the banner was torn from his hands. "If you assault me, I get to assault you."

Palin Doesn't Believe in Evolution

reinheitsgebot — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:51:19 -0500

In her new memoir Going Rogue, Sarah Palin writes that she doesn't believe in the theory of evolution. Palin writes that she "didn't believe in the theory that human beings -- thinking, loving beings -- originated from fish that sprouted legs and crawled out of the sea" or from "monkeys who eventually swung down from the trees."

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Is A Republican Money Machine

reinheitsgebot — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:22:23 -0500

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which purports to be "the voice of business," is run by a Republican money machine. As the nation's largest lobbying shop, the Chamber is spending millions of dollars from its corporate members against President Obama's progressive agenda of health care, energy, and financial reform. The Chamber claims that the "board's membership is as diverse as the nation's business community itself," but this is false. A ThinkProgress analysis of federal election contribution data compiled by the LittleSis project has found that the Chamber's 116-member board of directors has given more than six times as much money to Republican candidates and committees ($4,741,747) as it has to Democrats ($778,282), with $1,074,697 flowing to corporate political action committees.

Falluja Suffers Spike in Birth Defects

reinheitsgebot — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:33:41 -0500

Doctors in Iraq's war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting. The extraordinary rise in birth defects has crystallised over recent months as specialists working in Falluja's over-stretched health system have started compiling detailed clinical records of all babies born. Neurologists and obstetricians in the city interviewed by the Guardian say the rise in birth defects which include a baby born with two heads, babies with multiple tumours, and others with nervous system problems -- are unprecedented and at present unexplainable.

Meet Palin's Co-Author

reinheitsgebot — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:25:20 -0500

Lynn Vincent, the coauthor of Sarah Palin's memoir Going Rogue, "has a record of false and inflammatory attacks on Democrats and liberals and has stridently attacked the gay community, likening gay people to communists and suggesting that homosexuality is a mental disorder," according to Media Matters.

Evangelist Receives 175-Year Sentence

reinheitsgebot — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:32:52 -0500

Evangelist Tony Alamo used his stature as a self-proclaimed prophet to force underage girls into sham marriages with him, controlling his followers with their fears of eternal suffering. "Mr. Alamo, one day you will face a higher and a greater judge than me," U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes told the preacher. "May he have mercy on your soul."

Texan Faked Breast Cancer to Get Implants

reinheitsgebot — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:16:15 -0500

In August, more than 100 people showed up at Waco's Hog Creek Icehouse Saloon to participate in an all-day benefit organized to raise funds for 24-year-old Trista Joy Lathern, who told everybody that, not having health coverage, she needed the money to treat her breast cancer. According to the McLennan County Sheriff's Office, it was later discovered that Lathern never had breast cancer. But after collecting an estimated $10,000 at the benefit, she did show up with a new, $6,800 set of breasts.

George W. Bush Launches Think Tank

reinheitsgebot — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:23:42 -0500

In a speech in Dallas Thursday, former President George W. Bush described his new think tank, the George W. Bush Public Policy Institute as "a vibrant hub of principled thought and practical action" and discussed the center at Southern Methodist University devoted to his term in office. "I came home to Texas with my values intact," he said.