Leonard Nimoy Welcomes Enterprise Home

From Forbes Magazine:


"Today the Space Shuttle Enterprise arrived in New York City today, thanks to a lift from a Boeing 747. The Intrepid Museum, its future resting place, held a small welcome ceremony for several hundred guests, who included Leonard Nimoy and Senator Charles Schumer. According to MSNBC,   “This is a reunion for me,” Nimoy said during a ceremony after Enterprise’s touchdown. “Thirty-five years ago, I met the Enterprise for the first time.” …



“When this ship was first built, it was named Constitution,” Nimoy said. “‘Star Trek’ fans can be very persuasive. They sent a lot of letters to President Gerald Ford and the president logically decided that the ship should be named after our spaceship Enterprise.”

Discovery will be on display at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C.; Atlantis will be housed at the Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida; and Endeavour will go to the California Science Center in Los Angeles, California.

The Shuttle will sit in a hangar at JFK Airport, Queens, until June 4th, where it will depart for a two-day barge trip toward the Intrepid Museum in Manhattan. After it arrives on June 6th, the museum will build the shuttle its own pavilion. The pavilion will be open to the public on July 19th.

The Enterprise was built as a demonstrator Shuttle, designed for glide tests and not capable of spaceflight. It also lacked a heat shield and therefore could not withstand re-entry into the atmosphere. Now that the Shuttle program is over, it’s time to look forward to the next era of space travel and transportation, where, unlike its shuttle namesake, private enterprise really does go to space. "

 I can't embedd the video of Nimoy's speech but there are plenty of them online. This is very touching about the whole thing.

Racism or Fun? Happy Belated Dyngus Day!

It's hard to watch Anderson Cooper's giggle fit over Buffalo's Dyngun Day celebration. Just a quick note--it's not celebrated by the entire city at all. It's not well-known even locally, unlike the Italian Festival, St. Patrick's Day, or even Juneteenth Festival (emancipation from slavery heritage week for black Americans)

I only learned about the celebrations until I moved pretty close to the heart of Polonia here and work about three blocks from the Polish Cadets Hall.


Basically, Catholic Poles in this very small section of Buffalo celebrate the day after Easter with parties featuring a LOT of drinking. Boys/men squirt women/girls they like with water guns. The women/girls flirt back by hitting the guys with pussywillows. There's a parade. People dress up in traditional Polish attire. Lots and lots and lots of Polka! More than anything, it is a silly celebration. This is apparently the definition of Dyngus--not a stupid person but a person who acts stupid, silly, and makes people laugh. No matter, Anderson Copper was essentially forced to apologize for his giggle fit and calling Dyngus Day stupid, when laughing and stupidity is the purpose of the pre-Christian holiday.

The rage still goes on, reignited by Donn Esmond's editorial in support of Cooper. Really, it's tough to see how Cooper's laughter in this context is insulting to a "sacred" tradition or Poles. If only we could go back to the 1970s. Americans were just tipping their toes into understanding each other, our beliefs, culture, religions. Everything was raw and on the surface but tolerated because at least we were talking. We recognized that stereotypes existed. All in the Family was an example of this toe tipping. But at least there was honesty. It could have progressed to genuine understanding but somehow got hijacked by political correctness. Not that there should have been a racial/ethnic/religious stereotype festival but at least it had honesty, brutal honest at times. How can people resolve conflicts when they can't openly discuss them and blame is assigned to only one party?

Springtime in Buffalo

It's not snowing or raining but the temperature is only 37-degrees. Flowers are still in bloom and the wet snow didn't destroy our trees! A beautiful Spring.

Winter Storm Watch--In April

Eighty degrees last Monday. Thirty-nine degrees this Sunday with the prospect of snow:(

BUFFALO, N.Y. ( WKBW ) Heavy rain and wet snow is predicted Sunday night through Monday. Mike Spong will have the latest from the AccuWeather Lab on Eyewitness News

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY EVENING THROUGH MONDAY EVENING.

* LOCATIONS...NORTHERN ERIE...GENESEE AND LIVINGSTON COUNTIES.

* TIMING...SUNDAY EVENING THROUGH MONDAY.

* HAZARDS...ACCUMULATING HEAVY WET SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS...4 TO 8 INCHES

* WINDS...NORTHEAST TO 40 MPH.

* VISIBILITIES...UNDER A HALF MILE AT TIMES

* IMPACTS...DOWNED TREES AND POWER LINES LIKELY CAUSING POWER OUTAGES. HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS DEVELOPING.

* FORECASTER CONFIDENCE...

MODERATE. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THAT HEAVY SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE POSSIBLE. IF YOU ARE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA... REMAIN ALERT TO RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

It's the last week of April. I thought we were off the hook.

An Ugly and VERY Dangerous Reality

Nobody wants to discuss it. It's inflammatory. It's dangerous as hell. Discussing it will plant seeds. It must be avoided like the plague. It is counter to the rule of law, the assumption of guilty until proven innocent. After a trial the judge charges the jury. Juries are instructed not to make decisions based on sympathy for the defendant, only by the facts of the case. They're permitted to discredit any or all of testimony if the veracity of the witness is called into question.

 Liberals are handing out fliers encouraging others turn our criminal justice system into a runaway train.

It's juror nullification.

Juror nullification in simple terms is throwing out the rule of law by finding someone who is technically guilty but does not deserve punishment.  It has a place--a person is wrongfully charged and convicted and found "guilty." The accused may have been railroaded based on race, religion, politics. In this case, juror nullification has a place in righting a horrible wrong.


In these cases the person is technically guilty but only because he or she had been scapegoated. But a good defense attorney should be able to convince a reasonable jury that his/her client has been railroaded and present facts to demonstrate that. There really is no place for jury nullification.

There have been times in US history where it had a place (eg. civil rights movement). But a racist society chose not to and seemed more than willing to sentence a technically guilty person to prison or death, or reverse a law perceived as unjust (think Prohibition).

Today we are seeing juror nullification in a more alarming fashion.

It is also a tool in the hands of Anarchists and liberals to right a perceived wrong in the name of social justice. 

OJ Simpson had a history of domestic abuse of his wife Nicole. She's murdered. There is a mountain of evidence against him. But a predominately black jury thinks he's been railroaded and so despite being actually guilty, not technically guilty, they acquitted him.

Expressing support for jury nullification is a surefire way to avoid jury duty. But how many people will admit that? Without knowing the term, how many juries can and will employ it?

We live in a PC world, a world in which jury nullification can be dangerous. Terribly dangerous and unjust. Some consider it juror tampering.

Unfortunately, it is so dangerous, so taboo in fact that few will even discuss it, but it is rearing its ugly head. Can we ignore the danger of it?

*******
NEW YORK, March 21 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge said on Wednesday that advocating for jury nullification could pose a threat to the judicial system, particularly if it takes place close to potential jurors.

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood made the comments in the case of Julian Heicklen, of Teaneck, New Jersey, a retired, 80-year old chemistry professor who was charged and arrested after distributing pamphlets advocating jury nullification outside federal court in Manhattan.


The pamphlets called on potential jurors to follow their conscience in returning a verdict, and urged them to find a defendant not-guilty if they disagreed with the law in question or the government's conduct in the case.


"Juries were instituted to protect citizens from the tyranny of government," said one pamphlet, submitted by the defense as part of a brief. "It is not the duty of the jury to uphold the law. It is the jury's duty to see that justice is done."


In defending Heicklen, attorney Steven Statsinger told the court that jury nullification "really is not a serious threat to the integrity of the system."

"I disagree with that," responded Judge Wood, who brought up the possibility of jurors voting to acquit a person based on ideological beliefs, such as "pro-life protesters who believe that it should be lawful to kill an abortion provider, an eye for an eye, a life for a life."


Heicklen, who is representing himself with the aide of Statsinger, is charged with one count of jury tampering, which carries up to six months in prison.


Prosecutors say that jury nullification is unlawful, and that by encouraging it, Heicklen was undermining the good functioning of the court system.
Prosecutors also argue that Heicklen could not claim free speech protection because he was handing out pamphlets on federal property -- the plaza at the 500 Pearl Street entrance of the Manhattan Federal Courthouse -- and was specifically targeting potential jurors.
"The thing here that is so troubling to the government is that the message... undermines the fundamental fairness of our system," Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Mermelstein said at Wednesday's hearing. "If a person is on the steps of a courthouse and is trying to influence jurors, that is a crime."
Mermelstein conceded that if Heicklen was "further from the courthouse, the less likely he is to be violating the statute."


Statsinger responded that the plaza in question was a public forum where "expressive activity" routinely takes place and that Heicklen's activity was "pure advocacy" not aimed at any particular juror or trial.

The case is U.S. v. Julian Heicklen, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 10-1154.

For the government: Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Mermelstein.
For Heicklen: Heicklen is representing himself and is assisted by Sabrina Shroff and Steven Statsinger of the Federal Defenders of New York.

(Reporting By Basil Katz)

I'm An American/Born Here

What an experience it was trying to get a certified copy of my birth certificate! I need the copy in order to get a NYS Non-Driver's ID. Apparently that is the only ID short of a passport/passport card that can be used as an acceptable form of ID. It is certainly required to cross the border. I need it now in order to be put on a list for an apartment in the suburbs.


They require copies of my Social Security card, birth certificate, and one of three forms of photo ID. I don't have military ID since I have never served and I don't have a passport/passport card or ID from the DMV.

Getting the Social Security card isn't a problem since I have already proved my citizenship with the Social Security Administration and have a Social Security number.

 Obtaining the birth certificate was a little difficult. I provided all of the information and proofs the city required (documents other than passport/NY Non-Driver's ID).

There was a little snag: the Bureau of Vital Statistics could find my vital statistics. I have them my first last and middle names. My father's full name, my mother's maiden name, my date of birth, the name of the hospital I was born in. After several minutes and clerks consulting with their supervisors they found me. My last name was misspelled on my original birth certificate.

Everything else was correct, including the name of my mother's OB/GYN.

What a relief, I had the proof I needed to prove I was born in the US. I opted to get a wallet-sized, laminated photo birth certificate that has my vital statistics (not as detailed as the written copy), a bar code with security information and my photo and finger print.

I also got a print out copy of the original.


Great! I can get the Non-Driver's ID.

Or can I? I went to the NYS DMV website.

Oh brother. A Social Security card is required (no real problem since I only need a replacement card).

A little problem with the birth certificate:( It must be an original with a raised seal (mine has a raised seal), but it must not contain any erasures or alternations. Birth certificates with erasures or alternations will apparently be confiscated and given to the DMV criminal division for criminal investigation.

Good grief! The city of Buffalo crossed out my misspelled last name and printed the correction, noting that it was amended.

So I'm not sure what to do with this. I'm still trying to get in touch with either the county or state DMV. Lots of luck getting a prompt to speak with a living person or a prompt on the automated system that applies to my situation. I plan on just going in and applying for the Non-Driver's ID. I had one a few years ago. I had a Non-Driver's ID but it expired in 2008 and I never renewed it.


The proofs they require are tougher now. Social Security card is mandatory as well as a birth certificate. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they accept the amended birth certificate and it's not confiscated or the subject of an investigation since I am not the one that amended it in the first place.

The original birth certificate was interesting though sad to read. I was born when my mother was 35 (dad 43) at 39 weeks gestation. What's sad is the part about other children.

A. How many other children are now living? (2--my brother and sister).

B.How many other children were born alive but are now dead (1)

C. How many children were still born (born dead after 20 weeks of pregnancy)? (1).

How sad for my mother!! I knew she had a miscarriage and always wondered the gender but I had no idea at all that I had a sibling that was born dead and a sibling that was born alive.

Hitler and Stalin: Roots of Evil/Kremlin Pill

Hitler and Stalin: The Roots of Evil was recently aired on H2 (I assume an off shoot of the History Channel). It was quite interesting to view them as human beings. Evil human beings but nevertheless human beings.

Monsters in actions of course, but not mythical like the Loch Ness Monster or Big Foot. There's an entire television show devoted to finding Big Foot.


But this documentary about Hitler and Stalin was fascinating.
Both men suffered from extreme physical abuse at the hands of their fathers. Stalin (not his original last name) was beaten so savagely at one time that he had blood in his urine. Hitler was also beaten into a coma and nearly died.


Hitler like Stalin had loving mothers who sent them to religious schools and they sang in choirs, but their egotistical and controlling ways became apparently early on. Right off the bat these two were headed for trouble.

Fathers who were godlike figures had beaten them and in a religion that taught that god was a father who slaughtered his own son supposedly for the sake of humanity. This Christian god of cruelty in the name of salvation was the god/father they were taught to adore.


Hitler and Stalin had body image issues that led to inferiority complexes: Stalin has only 5-ft.4. His face was pox covered and one arm was shorter than the other. Hitler didn’t like his nose, small eyes, forehead and a number of things about his face.


A few things stood out in the documentary. Stalin was diagnosed with paranoia while he was alive. Clinically diagnosed, not after the fact psycho history.

RT had a program called The Soviet Files: Leaders and Healers. It was about Russian leaders, their illnesses and their medical treatments. Stalin was singled out as paranoid in this show as well. In fact, many of the things his staff had to do to counter his paranoia are the same practices I learned in nursing school in treating people undergoing alcohol withdrawal such as avoiding shadows. Stalin’s staff had to cut the length of the drapes in his residence because he was afraid an enemy could be hiding behind the drapes.


As a brief aside, at my college student nurses were not allowed to wear red nail polish because apparently some psych patients associate the color red with blood and freak out. Besides, who wants to see “blood” on the pure white nurse’s uniform? I’m sure Stalin’s nurses didn’t wear red nail polish. Still, that didn’t keep him from becoming paranoid about physicians or stop him from sending groups of physicians to his Gulags because he thought they were out to get him.

It’s baffling how Hitler and Stalin could suffer from inferiority complexes, enemy complexes, and superiority god complexes all at the same time.

Hitler was a mediocre artist, and the reason he couldn’t get accepted into a prestigious art school floored me--all of his paintings were of landscapes. He wasn't accepted, according to the documentary, because his failure or inability to paint humans meant he didn’t have an aptitude for painting.

His vision of the world was one devoid of humans.
Women.

Hitler and Stalin supposedly adored their mother’ and other women yet Stalin’s second wife died mysteriously--shot in the heart shortly after she wrote a letter to him blasting him as a person and a leader. You can’t blame her. It was true and besides, what woman wouldn’t  be furious if her “adoring” husband went out of his way to humiliate her in public and then throws cigarette butts at her?


I could be getting this mixed up but  the love of Hitler's life was supposedly his niece. She also died after he discovered that she got pregnant and the baby’s father was a Jewish man.


Jumping back to Stalin--a young guy adored him. He was young, very popular with the public and died as they say “under mysterious circumstances.”

Hitler could only paint landscapes and couldn’t or wouldn’t paint people. Stalin on the other hand, not only killed his enemies but had his staff destroy their pictures ala 1984. He killed them twice. The underlying purpose of government censorship--to a kill person’s memory, identity, thoughts, essence, religion etc.

 Sorry for spending so much time so to speak on the Soviet Union. I was never really interested in history and now it seems like I have a craving for it.


This is a video clip from The Soviet Files: Leaders and Healers and the dangers Soviet physicians faced. The "Kremlin pill" thing is downright scary. What's even more scary is that average people believed the government could create pills (metal pills) with magical, regenerative powers.

Leader or Dissenter

First comes the summons and the repeated phrase "You are to..." 

Every sentence in the summons begins with "You are to."

In Erie County if you show up late or not at all a deputy may well be sent to your house to find out why. So you show up way too early and stand outside of court freezing for half an hour. Then you sit in the jury assembly room and are forced to watch a TV show about jury duty and the old days when people were tried by ordeal. Tie a suspected criminal up and toss him in the water. If he drowns he was innocent and if he floats he was guilty. Sounds backwards but that's what the show indicated.

After that all we got to watch was CNN, though in fairness they did allow us to bring in lap tops, Ipads and even furnished a couple of computers and had internet access. I was sure that I would be dismissed since writers and lawyers aren't normally chosen as jurors for obvious reasons.

The best part of jury duty has to be voir dire and deliberations.

Voir dire (to speak the truth) is like a trial within a trial. It's part jury selection as well as rejecting jurors. The attorneys are looking for jurors who can be leaders and also those who can be dissenters. I was the first juror they questioned and was the first one chosen (yay) no idea if they thought I was a leader or a dissenter.

They asked what I do. I explained how I wrote (general reporting but primarily police). How exactly do I do the blotter, the plaintiff's lawyer asked. I explained that I go to the police station, sit in a room with a stack of police reports and try to condense a three to five or more page report into a paragraph or two and do this for all of the crimes and arrests that week.

College? BSN, RN license but not practicing (this case involved a great deal of medical testimony).

Defense lawyer wanted to know if I thought credibility was important in a trial. Of course. Absolutely and credibility was important in this case. I was chosen first and rather quickly. They seemed to focus more attention on people who appeared strong willed and opinionated.

Potential leaders I suppose but also potential dissenters depending on the situation.

I'll write more since I'm still getting back to blogging after a few weeks. But yeah, the voir dire had me wondering if I was a leader or a dissenter. But after the judge charged the jury he asked if anyone wanted to see a particular piece of evidence. I raised my hand.

I was the only one who did.

Those two hour lunches were brutal. At one point I found myself laying on a bench outside of city court like I was on a sofa. It was freezing and I got on my cell phone and complained and complained to my friend. I wanted to sleep. I brought lunch, ate it, took a walk, lounged on the bench and complained, listened to a lot of music on my Ipod...and I still had 1 to go! Just watch Lewis Black's video Airplanes and you'll have an idea of what these two hour jury duty lunches are like.

Yep. Lunch is the absolute worst aspect of jury duty. But then again, in Erie County there's the 4:30 rule so they let us out early every day. 

Back!

Wow, it's been several weeks since I've posted anything. So many things have happened: Pesach, of course. Jury duty. The death of my dear friend David, my partner in crime in fighting crime. We as opposite as can be personality wise--but I miss him so much already! It's only been a week and I have thought of calling him a dozen times knowing it was impossible to do so. I couldn't handle the funeral home and I don't think it would have been proper to go to the church so now people act as if I didn't care.

I really can't post much about this since I'm still in shock. Maybe later, but for now I am back to blogging.

Jury Duty Pt. 2

The two hour lunches are the most boring aspect of serving on a jury. I took this picture of a ceramic lion in Niagara Square across from City Hall. Buffalo City Court is in the background. Don't ask why, but whenever I take a picture of these lions the lions look huge compared to the much taller surrounding buildings.