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Just in case I don't get to post one later this weekend, this is my open track-back post for the weekend of May 9th-11th which also happens to be Mother's Day weekend! Happy Mother's Day!

If you don't know what a linkfest is go over and check out the link above. Basically the way it works is that if there is a post you want folks to see, maybe something you are proud of, important news, or just pictures you want to share, you send a trackback or linkback to this post. All of the sites that have linked to it are listed below along with the title of the entry they want you to come see. It's a great way to share your work with other people and can help build traffic to your site.

Here's the deal though, if you aren't really a blog or are just spamming me with trackbacks I will remove it.

There are plenty of folks that participate in Linkfests and there are even a couple of different blogrolls to join. You can find them linked on my blogrolls page.

Join

It's been a pretty busy weekend, which is my not too many posts from me so far. I did come home early yesterday and managed to get sort of a half day off, which was much needed, but obviously I didn't spend that time blogging.

I mainly hung out with the girls and I also spent a good bit of time cleaning up the music collection. With having been moved across the network a few times there are quite a few duplicates and there are also some that are corrupt so I have been culling out the unneeded ones.

I also did a bit of gardening yesterday as well. We've put up one of those tent/gazebo things on the patio outside and I have quite a few of the plants in there. It's nice because while they will good bit of light it's not direct sun.

The girls and I also took a few photos which I will eventually upload to flickr but here are a couple for now. I'm running extremely late today so this is all I have time for.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

I have this week's up a bit early. They released it a couple of days ago to coincide with May Day...

Our weekly video podcast/vlog on illegal immigration and border security issues. In this weeks edition...

May Day 2008: Chicago!

Our coverage of the third annual Pro-amnesty tantrum here in Chicago. This is the official blogburst for the week, we plan on taking the weekend off and enjoying the heck out of it!

Our other May Day coverage:

When Socialists Attack!

May Day or Che Day? You Decide.

Chicago May Day March: A Pictorial

Technorati Tags: illegal immigration, chicago, may day, open borders, may 1st, may first, march, protest, invasion, socialists, communists, anarchists, lowlifes, scumbags, flip video camera,

This Weeks Hero Was Suggested By Mary Ann

Wednesday Hero was started to put a face to the men and women of the American Armed Forces and what they do for us. Vary rarely has there been a member of a foreign military profiled. In fact, in the two years Wednesday Hero's been going on it's only been done once before. Here's the second.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

It's like something out of a bad movie or a scary novel.

Apparently this dude has kept his daughter locked in the basement for 24 years, had seven children by her, burning one of them in the oven when the child died, and his wife never knew about it. Talk about freaky! They've got the story up over at CNN.

A 73-year-old man has confessed to holding his daughter captive in his home cellar for nearly 24 years and fathering seven children by her, Austrian police say. The woman is described as "very disturbed" and having trouble talking about her ordeal. She went missing in 1984, when she was 18, police said.

Hey, isn't Austria where that other dude kept the girl captive that escaped last year? Hell, I don't really remember but it sure is ringing a bell.

Here's more of the story from CNN:

Police spokesman Franz Polzer told CNN that 73-year-old Josef Fritzl admitted holding his daughter, Elisabeth Fritzl, 42, hostage in the windowless cell and fathering seven children by her.

"The mother had memories [of the outside world] and got used to the situation," Polzer told a press conference Monday afternoon. "The others knew nothing else."

This is just damned creepy. I haven't found any news video up yet or I would attach it here. I originally ran across the story at the University of Alberta Law blog, thanks guys (or gals)

I've been looking around the net for links to this story and found Bella's site. She answered my question above about the Austrian Girl. It was Natascha Kampusch that was abducted and lived for eight years in this sick bastard's basement as a prisoner until she escaped. Now I remember writing about it at the time.

Now that the DNA testing has been getting done over a hundred kids have been removed from the San Angelo Coliseum and are heading into foster care across the state.

According to a spokesman for the FLDS, the temporary foster care facilities are inadequate because they don't understand the children. I can agree with that one. It's going to be pretty hard for these kids to adjust to life outside of the FLDS compound.

As this next video from CBS news says, the FLDS have opened a public relations web site called FLDS Truth.org showing videos of the raid that took their children into custody. Right now there are about five videos and some photos as well. The videos don't really show anything particularly disturbing. If anything I see law enforcement officials letting folks take their time and not mistreating them. If the FLDS wants photos or videos to get the American public to change their mind about what's been going on they need to show something more than these. The one titled "No Search Warrant" is pretty striking though. It deals with the fact that our government is overstepping it's bounds in law enforcement and interfering with our life, liberty and property. Isn't that what the constitution is supposed to protect?

The photos and videos would probably have a bit more effect if they explained some about them. Most of what I have seen are LEOs standing around with their thumbs up their asses and that's pretty much it.

In addition to taking DNA from the kids, the ranch residents have also been submitting to give DNA samples as well according to the local San Angelo news site.

In addition to all of this CNN is now reporting that the person of interest in Colorado Springs does own one of the telephone numbers that were used to report claims of abuse at the Texas Ranch. Oh, by the way, the woman is black, 33 years old, and lives in Colorado. Oh yeah, and she is known for making false reports of sexual abuse to police and other agencies.

ooops. Fucking ooops.

Texas authorities of course have not found anyone else that made the calls and although they now could not use any evidence gathered as a result of her phone calls, they say they have found evidence that girls as young as 13 are forced into marriages with older men at the ranch. There's where I have a problem. I'm all for following the constitution and leaving people the hell alone, but child abuse just ain't right.

Parents and students at a northern Virginia high school are frightened after learning that a female student allegedly made a list of people she wanted to get rid of.

I haven't really posted much about this case that's been going on for a while. According to the employer of an accountant who killed himself after his Hilton Head Clients went missing last month says that an audit shows he embezzled at least $2 million from different companies.

I did post a little about the suicide last month, but here's a tiny bit of background. Back in March John and Elizabeth Calvert turned up missing. The live part time on their yacht in a Marina that they run in addition to several other businesses there. I don't guess I have ever met them down there but all of the videos and photos I have seen shown look like the Sea Pines area of the island. The lighthouse is down there along with the Salty Dog, one of my favorite hangouts for kids and adults alike. I don't know that I have ever been without the girls but it sure would be nice. I don't see going to Bluffton or Hilton Head anytime soon though. Since the wife's friend moved overseas she wouldn't want to be reminded of that.

Police are looking in more than just Hilton Head but the search for the couple has been fruitless. After questioning the accountant, Dennis Ray Gerwing, police reported about three weeks ago that he slashed himself six times with a steak knife and bled to death in a bath tub.

According to one of the suicide notes left by Gerwing this sounds like some sort of conspiracy.

...to the American people.

When I was younger I admired Jimmy Carter. In some ways there are still plenty of things to admire about the man but they are unfortunately overshadowed by the foolish mistakes he is making acting like a fool in foreign affairs.

I used to think that he was a capable president that had surrounded himself with crooks, fools and other assorted idiots and therefore wasn't capable of getting anything done when he was in office.

I was only half right in that assumption.

Jimmy Carter is a great humanitarian who truly cares about other people. He needs to stick with building houses for poor people and stay out of foreign affairs before he makes any more mistakes.

Hamas is a terrorist organizations plain and simple. They main and kill innocent people to try and get what they want all the while hiding behind their women and children like the skulking cowards they are. By dealing with Hamas, even on his "private mission" he has broken with U.S. policy in how we deal with terrorist organizations.

Jimmy Carter has met with the exiled leader of Hamas now not once, but twice. For Christ's sake, he's a fucking terrorist. Why would anyone in their right mind meet with a terrorist? I guess that question pretty much answers itself though, doesn't it?

The problem with meeting with Mashaal and discussing a possible prisoner exchange with Israel is that he is granting some sort of legitimacy to Mashaal as well as Hamas as an organization. They even released a press release stating as such. In the meantime, with Carter meddling in things he shouldn't, tensions are getting worse and worse.

Maybe it wasn't a surprise to some people but it certainly surprised me since I haven't been able to follow this the last few days. Judge Barbara Walther ruled that the over 400 kids currently under state custody will remain in state custody. She also ordered DNA testing for all of the children in order to determine who there parents are. Dayum.

There are sure to be at least a couple of appeals of the ruling and once the DNA testing is finished many of the separate cases will be back before the court. The DNA testing will also be used as evidence in the cases where children under 16 are the mothers.

Police still haven't located the girl that supposedly called but they are looking into a Colorado woman as a person of interest who may have done so as a hoax. It doesn't really matter because it just means that any evidence found by the police as a result of those specific phone calls might have to be excluded. Probably not though since the officers were acting in good faith, which is what the 4th amendment is meant for.

That's what some of the folks in the FLDS claim, along with the fact that the great state of Texas has denied them their constitutional rights by taking their children based on an alleged crime that they still don't have any proof of. Now some of the women are being forced to leave their children in the care of others and either return home without them or go to a state safe house. The mothers of all children five and older were separated from them on Monday. FLDS members say that the mothers returned to the compound but child protective services is saying that six women had gone to the safe house. They also moved the kids to a larger place, the San Angelo Coliseum. Cool, maybe they can practice being gladiators.

I am still torn on what I believe in this whole deal. I believe in the constitution and I don't believe that messing with people, how they live or how they worship is a very cool thing to do. On the other hand, forcing children basically into sexual slavery is wrong. If the allegations are true for even say ten of the girls, does that make this whole thing wrong or is Texas right in what they did. What if the great state of Georgia decided that they didn't like the way I swatted my five year old on the ass when she was throwing a fit and took her from me? They can, you know. DFACs and the equivalent agencies in other states somehow doesn't seem to fall under the umbrella of things when it comes to their actions. They can force their way into your home with little or no provocation. I've seen it in action. For about eleven months one of the wife's friends and her son lived with us. She was 'seeing' this dude over the Internet. It was pretty serious, as a matter of fact she married him and is living in Alaska right now. The thing is there was this other crazy bitch that liked him as well as she called DFACs making all sorts of allegations. They ended up coming to my house to interview her as well as her son and MY WIFE. Needless to say, the proverbial fucking honeymoon was over at that point. I don't deal with drama. I live life on my own terms and that shit has no place in it. Had the DFACS investigator decided that there was some merit to those allegations she could have taken our friends son and even investigated us for anything they wanted. Assholes.

That's the problem with the damned government anyway. Anytime anyone acting in the capacity of officialdom says they are doing something 'for the children' you'd better put on your waders cause the shit is going to be getting thick. They are full of it. Whether it be force feeding us the bullshit CRCT tests my kid is taking this month or protecting our children from running on the pavement (my child is only allowed to run on the pavement, not the mulch because they don't want the kids to get splinters, how fucked up is that?) they are doing it to get more and more power. The dickwads.

Anyhow, Texas offers an update on the state of the children that have been removed from the compound. State Senator Robert Duncan speaks as well as a doctor.

Custody hearings start on Thursday for the 416 children. I am really interested in seeing how this battle progresses. The problem is that the folks in the FLDS feel that they are being prosecuted for their religion and compare themselves to the Jews and Nazis. The state (and the Federal government) feels like they are stopping child abuse. Where do you draw the line? I still don't know. That's one of the reasons I've written about this so many times lately. I just don't know and my feelings on the matter go back and forth. My daughter is ten. If I were to find that an adult was sleeping with her three years from now I would very likely cut their fucking throat. It's that wrong.

The FLDS does have a point though. Let's say there aren't the widespread cases of abuse going on that the state wants there to be. The mothers claim that the state of Texas is placing their children in even more danger by exposing them to things they would never have seen at the ranch and learning terrible things just from the questioning that they never would have heard.

A couple dozen of the adolescent boys have been moved into temporary foster care outside of the San Angelo area according to Child Protective Services. They are saying that it's just the first of placements and that a judge did order it. Of course a judge ordered it, the question is who asked for the order? They are saying that the boys are remaining together though,which means that they are most likely in some kind of facility together.

Although this is a very serious constitutional issue that most likely won't be decided any time soon, every time I hear or read anything about the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints all I can think of is 'Stepford Wives'.

Related Entries:

Pedophiles and the FLDS
FLDS Polygamy Ranch Sealed
More FLDS Kids Taken In Custody
Warrants Served at Polygamist Ranch

Technorati: FLDS,Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,
DFACS, Child Protective Services, Child Abuse, Child Love, Texas

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I'm not going to post any plant pictures this week. I do have several things coming up at the moment and I did shoot them yesterday but I will save those for weeks to come. This week I wanted to post something from my back yard. It is growing, just in an entirely different way than my garden.
Last week I came upon this under my back deck.

So I was under the deck mulching some leaves yesterday and as I walked under what looked like a wren flew out and scared the crap out of me. I felt around carefully and sure enough there were eggs.

The photo of the eggs isn't all that great but I was standing on a cooler under my deck (on a hill) so that I could peer in. The nest sits a few inches under the deck planking on a ledge. Well protected from predators (other than the human kind).

When I showed the girls they were very excited. I had to hold RePete up and her eyes got wide when she saw the eggs. Both girls know that the nest is off-limits to them but RePete has already asked if the eggs had hatched little birds yet.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Technorati: Green Thumb Sunday