Lurid is the Word: Marty Braemer's Adultery (UPDATED and CORROBORATED)

This is not the Scarlet Letter indiscretion of Hester Prynne. This is instead, lurid pornography.

I know of no way to describe it other than to say when we let the little head do the thinking, destructive single minded insanity occurs.

In late 2008 (if I am to understand this correctly) it was alleged that during prayer meetings Pastor Marty Braemer requested that he be given a place where he could escape two times a week, and be alone. If true, it would seem he wanted this as a lover's getaway. Whether Marty got his wish is unknown at this point, but it would seem he did not, as his affair and his utter lack of self control spilled out into ever more public settings. It's almost like a suicide.

The following is said to be signed off on by multiple witnesses:

Wednesday January 21st, 2009. A young person observes Marty kissing (his lover) in "Trailer 3" which is a "Victory Christian Academy" classroom. The witness is sickened and leaves, but curiosity or self preservation makes the witness return with another in tow and together they observe Marty "sitting on a desk" with "(his lover) standing between his legs."

The students go to parents shortly afterward and Marty is confronted three days later on a Saturday. The student bravely looks Marty in the eyes and declares what was seen. "I saw you kissing (his lover)." Marty replies that he did not see him "Kiss (his lover)." The protocol at this school is probably that all adults are "Mr. Mrs. or Miss." Doubtless that protocol extends to adults referring to one another in the presence of students to foster respect. Pastor Marty Braemer replies in what the writer calls a "Freudian Slip" referring to (his lover by her first name).

Immediately the family of the witness is harassed and attacked. The witness is threatened with a loss of job. The witness makes the threat academic by quitting.

Additionally people close to (his lover) have an opportunity to see what are incriminating text messages between Marty and (his lover).

The above is said to be signed by multiple witnesses. I have copies, and have made a digest of them so as to draw minimal attention to specific persons. The names of all are contained in the originals.

The following is from a single witness:

Marty was observed with (his lover) after his denial on January 24th, 2009. They were in a van on a dead end country road February 13th, in the back seat, "in flagrante delicto," or "in the blazing progressing offense." Not much is left to the imagination in such settings, if witnessed, (speaking the from experience of coming upon such entangled "lovers" while exiting the woods on horseback).

Undaunted the two incautious lovers were observed again two weeks later by the same individual, on a backstreet in town, apparently at it again on February 27th.

Additionally there was a Church Split at "Fords Bush Bible Church" in the rough time frame of 2004. The strongly rumored cause of the split? An affair of Pastor Marty Braemer.

UPDATE: This post has become the subject of more discussion at the FFF. For those that read this post, first and foremost, Marty is still covering up but in a way that acknowledges something went massively wrong. He is not denying the affair. It would still seem that he is trying to manage the damage so that he exposes himself to the least amount of accountability. That is an opinion of mine, it is backed up by this conversation alleged to have occurred between Marty and the poster "Stephen."

"Marty already told me on the phone he had a 'moral failure.' I don't think he will be denying the affair."

It should be emphasized that this is an eyewitness to a conversation had between him, and the sinner himself. Marty is acknowledging to multiple sources that he sinned in some way. The only real question is how he sinned and there seems to be little doubt that he sinned.

In examining this sin, we can eliminate the little ones. I won't get into a complex discussion "Venial" and "Mortal" sins. The fact is that successful church building pastors don't get dumped because of what most consider to be minor sins, they get dumped for stealing money or having sex with someone they shouldn't have sex with. It's as simple as that.

There has not been one breath of a rumor to substantiate any claim, nor has there been a claim that Marty had his hand in the purse. You can say what you want, but that leaves only one likely offense. One that has an increasing chorus of corroborating witnesses who say they've heard exactly the same thing. This is the witness rule of the Old Testament for condemnation. Agreeing testimony from different sources.

It has also been asked by some if "I pray as much as I talk." The answer is no. I talk more. I prayed first. I pray still. I don't pray any longer that what is rumored without contradiction is false since that seems a vain hope, but I pray that those damaged, innocent and guilty, heal. That cannot start unless Marty is flushed into the open, stripped of his hesitation to confess, and shown his sin, in public. He is an Elder. This is PRECISELY how sin among elders is to be handled, according to scripture.

Those of you who plead that Marty should be spared so his family should be spared, or (his lover) spared so her family can be spared are saying God didn't really mean what he said, when he said that Elders should be disciplined publicly, so that other might SEE, and FEAR.

UPDATED AGAIN: Poster "Stephen" now says that the "moral failing" has been identified by Marty Braemer, as an "affair."

"Marty already told me he stepped down because he had an affair. that's a fact, Jack."

This post has been edited to remove the name of the Rev. Braemer's adulterous lover. She is no longer the evidence of his adultery, as he has confessed.

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US Government Plunders Small Business thru Cash for Clunkers

As many of you may know, I work for a New Car dealership. Just as suddenly as the complex bulky Cash for Clunkers program started, it's apparently over.

The Associated Press - "The Transportation Department called congressional offices late Thursday to alert them to the decision to halt the program, which offered owners of old cars and trucks $3,500 or $4,500 toward a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle.

The congressional officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Through late Wednesday, 22,782 vehicles had been purchased through the program and nearly $96 million had been spent. But dealers raised concerns of large backlogs in the system, prompting the suspension."

Most people think that Fat Cat Car Dealers are awash with infinite reserves of money. Or maybe they thought that until 2 out of the "Big Three" went Bankrupt over the summer. On the one hand my dealer is pressured even today by the factory to build a new multi million dolloar showroom, on the other, we participated in a government program where we dispense the money in $3500.00 to $4500.00 increments that if we don't file the paperwork exactly right (and there are mountains of documents), you are bumped to the bottom of the line.

In effect, the government seems to be banking on us giving out the "assistance" and then they're going to stick us with the bill, plundering American small business through complex regulations, filing procedures and a suddenly empty till. You get your cash for your clunker, Joe Dealer could have all his profit in the program eaten up by denied claims, and then some. It's another form of wealth redistribution and taxation.

Another observation from first hand experience. The vast majority of the "Cash for Clunkers" claims have been for foreign cars. Not only are the dealers having some of their wealth redistributed, we are all, through the spending of Tax Dollars having our wealth go to pay Koreans for what they build, or Japanese for what they build. I mean not just foreign car companies, cars actually built overseas. The entire labor costs of some models are being subsidized by you through this program.

On top of that, we are destroying perfectly good cars. I emphasize that is a literal remark. We are required to destroy the engines of the "clunkers" prior to them leaving the lot. If a claim is denied on the 1998 Dodge Dakota V8 Club Cab pickup with 88,000 miles in pristine condition, it's already gone. 5spd, 4wd, 318 V8. A perfect work vehicle for a contractor on a budget. If we are unable to complete the claim, we've lost a vehicle we might have been able to retail out of and we don't get the money. Classic.

With Obama giving away portions of Chrysler to Fiat and paying foreign car companies while destroy our already accumulated wealth in the form of perfectly good cars and trucks, it almost looks as if he is intentionally taking down the US Economy to pay back foreign donors. Remember all those untraceable $200.00 donations he received?

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Rule Number 2 President Obama, Never get in the middle of a Family Fight

Few slave descended Africans in this country are 100% African in their origin. While Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was screaming "Racism," he was really having a family argument, among the Irish. Barack, what did you get yourself into?

ABC - "James Crowley, whose name in Gaelic means "hardy warrior," is also descended from the same line as Gates, having very close links to Niall of the Nine Hostages.

So the two men who took part in what is now an infamous confrontation outside the Gates home near Harvard this month are actually related through common Irish lineage -- one of the more extraordinary aspects of the incident that has sparked worldwide headlines."

Rule number 1 was, don't think out loud in a press conference, as President.

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The Confession of Marty Braemer, It's Adultery (UPDATED AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN...)

Honestly, I have wrestled with this, but am done with it, (sadly no, see the above).

The former Pastor of Fords Bush Bible Church has been linked to an elementary school teacher (teacher/librarian?) at the school he founded.

During my back and forth debates with the Rev. Braemer at the "Fighting Fundamentalist Forums," I extracted an admission of past "fornication" with a girl when he was a much younger man, probably in High School. I sent Marty an email yesterday, he is responding, but he will (did) not (initially) address this:

"(Name removed) is your rumored liaison. Please confirm or deny or I will research and publish. You've abandoned a woman before Marty, don't hide behind this one."

Marty was as visibly distressed by the claim on my part that he had abandoned a woman as one can possibly be in an internet forum, where all you have is typeset to convey feelings. He essentially begged me to stop saying that and did confirm his sexual indiscretion as a young man. Marty replied to me today at 2:10 PM

"I was not aware you were a member of the Fords Bush Bible Church. Those that need to know the details of this situation (family, board members, staff, pastoral council, church members) do. I have resigned."

We all sin and I do too. Deep and accurate investigation into my past will reveal some very untidy bits, not the least of which have to do with my divorce. Though an advocate of polygyny, I am not a "cheater" even in a monogamists way of looking at things, either in my first marriage, or in this one. I do not wish to convey the picture that I don't fail, or won't fail again.

Marty is now accused of gross hypocrisy and appears to be hiding his sin, for which he may have been stoned to death in Old Testament times. It would appear that (his lover) is married. I was excoriated by Marty for my beliefs on marriage and I returned fire accusing him of "probably having as many or more women as sex partners" than I have had. I based this only on probability and said so. It turned out he had two women, at least, his wife, and his past indiscretion. Marty has now it seems, slept with more women in his life than I have. Apparently as many in this last year as I have in my life. He's married only one of them.

Marty's last comment to me when told him I ran with the story:

"Outing on information already known. Ooookay..."

So he admits it. So far as I know only one blogger had the story and outted him, that was me. "Upstream," a blogger (now defunct) I followed, had some background. Dan based his knowledge of the participants on that which was published in this blog. Another blog following the story, Conservative Babylon, hasn't updated their story and hasn't named adultery as the issue, much less who was involved. They mention what I have as a suspicion, though a small one, that this could be a congregation flooding gimmick. My background information though says no. There are some details I will not mention as those details would reveal and hurt innocent bystanders.

Christian School Confidential continues to follow the story but the partner in Marty's adultery was broken here. I knew (his lover's) name yesterday and held back out of concern for Marty and his possible innocent bystander librarian who could have become collateral damage.

The Fighting Fundamental Forum (from which I was banned) has started a thread on this post which refers to the FFF. So now a feedback loop of the most perversely interesting kind has begun.

MORE UPDATES: I am beginning to get contacts from people who are distressed by the publicity. They only confirm in oblique or more direct ways that the liaison between Marty and (his lover) did indeed take place. I would remind them who Marty is, and what scripture says about elders who fall. 1st Timothy 5:19&20:

"Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear."

Another fascinating development. Marty has a functioning "Blogger" account, and of course, a blog to go with it. He's neglected it for three years. I don't know if he can still access it. Nevertheless, he has made several posts there, including one about Bob Gray called "Accountability." You can go there and comment on that post, and ask Marty. Marty may never see those posts at "Pastor Marty's Pulpit," unless he is alerted by a friend. It has a strange surreal quality it. A deserted pulpit.

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More on Marty Braemer

The rumor is:

It's another woman. I have a name. I will see what I can do to dispel or confirm that rumor. I will not name her in the meantime.

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The Resignation of Pastor Marty Braemer (UPDATED)

The rumors floating about (undenied) from several sources (though only through one web site) that Pastor Marty Braemer has resigned from Fords Bush Bible Church (need updated link) (Fort Plain, NY) are confirmed, by Marty himself.

Marty Braemer was one of the many people who rather sternly took me to task in "not so nice" debate form at the Fighting Fundamentalist Forum, a forum that not surprisingly I do frequent any longer.

Marty has/had a blog that he last posted at quite some time ago. I posted there asking him to confirm the rumor. I called his church (disconnected) and emailed him as well to discover the reason for the resignation. He now says he'll tell us this coming Sunday. Oh well, it's not like he's Sarah Palin.

Other bloggers are now noticing that Marty has resigned. None of us as of yet know why. As for why I am interested, I'll tell you if the rumored reason is true. Conservative Babylon has chimed in, in detail, and has been restrained in it's analysis. The author mentions the search terms that are generating hits on the blog.

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Confused Time Magazine STILL getting the facts wrong.

Yesterday, John T. Floyd did a swing through the history of the YFZ case that was a primer for the novice, and one that drew believable conclusions.

Today, Time staggers drunkenly through the same facts, or stumbles blindly around them.

"Defense attorneys are trying to keep this evidence from being used in the trials because of the bizarre back story now surrounding the search warrant. The warrant was based on tips from a Colorado woman who was posing as a former member of the compound and who is now facing criminal charges for filing a false report.

But Charles Bubany, a professor who teaches criminal procedure at Texas Tech University School of Law, says the admissibility of the evidence likely will boil down to whether the judge had a reasonable belief that there was criminal activity taking place at the ranch regardless of the after-the-fact discovery of the false report. The same judge who signed the search warrant and greenlighted the raid, Texas District Judge Barbara Walther, is presiding over the criminal cases."

I would invite you to compare the two articles, John T. Floyd's is referred to below, and make your own judgment.

The writer, Hillary Hylton makes fundamental errors. One of which is to imply that Rozita Swinton is under criminal charges for filing a false report. Exactly where? Last time I checked it was only in Colorado, where they await the outcome of the Texas cases to see if they have to bust her down for a violation of the terms of her previous plea bargain, in Colorado, for additional crimes in Colorado

Also, the writer makes no examination of the facts surrounding the attempt to suppress the evidence, and claims Walther is deciding on whether or not she, Judge Walther, had reason to suspect criminal activity was occurring at YFZ. The problem is that up until Rozita's bogus "Cry for Help," the FLDS had given no indication they were involved in criminal activity. Something Sheriff Doran pointed out in testimony in May.

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John T. Floyd weighs in on the Motion to Suppress, and just about the whole case.

I really don't know where to begin. The article does not deserve comment, it deserves to be read. Here's just a tiny taste:

"Factual misrepresentations and misinformation are the thread that now bounds the FLDS case."

John ranges through the whole case in summary form and touches on the entire injustice of it, in all areas including the appearance of the FLDS before the Texas legislature. He hits on the cost, the comparative statistical frequency of child abuse and the duplicity of Ranger Brooks Long. Just go read it.

By the way, now that the arguments are in, and a Criminal Attorney has weighed in on the topic, I call all the "ANTI FLDS" bloggers who imply or claim they are legal eagles and lawyers and experts to be refuted. Simply put, until they tell us who they are, they're just loud cowards.

I no longer recognize "TxBluesMan" or "FLDSTexas" or "Ron in Houston" as having any standing or any valid opinion. John T. Floyd is a criminal law attorney, he's made this judgment armed with all the facts available on the record. He's qualified. I'll listen to qualified opinions thank you.

Own up, or go home, trolls.

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And this says I'm completely wrong.

Barbara Walther sets the trial dates for the FLDS defendants.

Which probably makes all my guessing wishful thinking. They cut Merrianne Jessop loose because they don't need her anymore.

The San Angelo Standard-Times - "During the conference, (Judge Barbara) Walther said the pretrials would be held at 10 a.m. in San Angelo. Between now and the first trial, attorneys are looking at ways to get a jury pool from Schleicher County while having the trials in San Angelo.

Walther has yet to rule on the defendants’ motions filed in May to suppress evidence taken from the Yearning For Zion Ranch near Eldorado. An April 3, 2008, raid on the ranch led to the removal of more than 400 children from the ranch and the seizure of documents and other material."

Walther is going to the mat on this one. It would seem. I can't see how she would set trials for men against whom there is no evidence.

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Last FLDS Child Custody Case officially ENDS

Merrianne Jessop is no longer under court supervision, though officially she has not been "returned" to her mother.

KSL - "The battle for children from the Utah-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' ranch in Eldorado, Texas, was over Thursday when a judge signed an order effectively ended court oversight of a 15-year-old girl. She was the last of the 439 children taken into state protective custody when Texas child welfare authorities raided the ranch last year.

'The court has stated that they will no longer continue to review the placement, progress and welfare of the child,' said Valerie Malara, a lawyer representing the girl's mother, Barbara Jessop. 'The attorney ad litem is dismissed out of the case, CASA's dismissed out of the case, and the state is out of the case as well.'

The order, signed (today) by 51st District Judge Barbara Walther, places the girl in the custody of her aunt. Her parents, YFZ Ranch leader Merril Jessop and Barbara Jessop, will have visitation. The aunt, Naomi Carlisle, can determine how much that will be."

This really means she is back with her family. Is this another tremor before the quake? The last shaky appearance of there being any danger to children, and thus any cause is being swept away, the day before it is rumored that Barbara Walther will rule on the "Motion to Suppress."

Since it is clear now that NO CHILD was in danger on the Ranch, ever, and there was no "cry for help" and "no danger" at the time of the raid, how can it be that anyone supposes the evidence seized under that pretense could stay in the possession of Texas?

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He's BAAAAAAAAACK

Coram is back. Now, Blues, put up your forecast and why before the ruling comes down from Walther.

Of course this colors all my speculations on the business.

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And now down goes "Rozita's" blog. (And up it goes again)

UPDATED (Back up, you can never figure an attention whore) You never try to expose your more paranoid musings. This time I'm going to have to.

"What Princess Says Goes" is also down, a day after "Coram Non Judice" when down.

The writer(s) and/or owners of http://estraletta.blogspot.com/ gave plenty of reason to any reader that the owner of the blog and it's author was the Rozita Estraletta Swinton of YFZ infamy. Not the least of which was the sharing of a photo of Rozita's right eye which appeared last fall/winter in cache's of a MySpace page that had a 99% plus certainty of being Rozita's "My Space" page.

Essentially it takes plotting of a paranoid's wildest imaginations to produce a MySpace account well in advance of the YFZ raids, place pictures on that page, do a little dabbling around the internet and then in March of 2008 launch an attack on the FLDS in Texas and then spend the next year leading pro FLDS bloggers down a garden path populated by dated evidence that makes them think they're talking to people who are fictitious.

To put it simply, "Rozita" uses a picture in her profile on MySpace, a profile that only the best internet sleuths might have found, and then in her blogger profile, and not be the same person. Since that MySpace profile predates the FLDS raid by a year or more, the notion that it's really Rozita's picture is a pretty safe one and it's pretty safe to assume it's on "blogger" and "myspace" because Rozita put both of them there. There's also the matter of the linkage to another MySpace album of pictures by an obscure older White Guy in Burley Idaho, pictures of Rozita again. Really and Truly.

So the evidence points to "What Princess Says Goes" as being "really and truly" the blog of Rozita Estraletta Swinton. Now the real paranoia.

If it's not her, I personally have been fed a line of very carefully crafted and sophisticated bull. Gee fellas (gals), I'm flattered. 'Lil ole me? Only two scenarios fit Myspace: The grooming of a human missile in the person of Rozita years before her attack on YFZ. A group of "psy ops" FBI/Texas Ranger/Flora Jessop types that have been feeding misinformation, researching Ms. Swinton, hacking MySpace (or cooperating with them) all to discredit and mislead and distract a small contingent of pro FLDS unpaid "pajamas media" types. Think of it this way. The ownership of the MySpace page tagged "rozitas" had to be co-opted from it's original owner, or found and pilaged and an elaborate hoax created, or MySpace had to let Law Enforcement create a fake ID complete with fake dates dating two to three years into the past. If you look at it today the ages don't match, if you looked at it a few weeks ago, they did. BTW, this MySpace Page is apparently the same person.

Top that off with almost all hits I have been able to trace to the Estraletta blogger and her support group coming from the Chicago area and suddenly, emails associated with them ALSO coming from the Chicago area (won't say which one of them) and Coram and Princess going down in successive days, and it gets a paranoid to wondering. It would get a normal mind to wondering. The hair stands up on the back of your neck and you wonder just how badly you might have been "had."

Except I'm OK with it. I'd love to prove a connection between the blogger of "Coram" and the blogger of "Princess" even if it's just two simpatico souls spreading misinformation. It would be even more embarassing to the Salt Lake Tribune who still banners the defuct blog of "Texas Blues Man" to this day on the "Plural Life." A hoaxer? Linked to by a "Major News Source" as credible? If the connection got any deeper, or more widespread, that would work for me too. If it spread to people working for Texas or the FBI, I'd be ecstatic. I'd have been wrong, and paranoid, and my worst paranoid fears would have come true, but it would work, really, it would.

Of course, it could be nothing at all. Rozita closed her blog once before, to modify it's template and it was back up in a hurry. It's THURSAY! What do you people want from me?

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More Phun

Discovered at "Are We Lumberjacks?"

Probably inspired by the movie "Monster in Law."

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Hybrid Cars Destroy the Environment. What are we to do?

The Pharisee discovered Mitchieville a while back and often goes there to make sense of the world.

"Another reason why hybrid owners get into more accidents is because of people like me who purposely drive them off the road and into telephone poles, ditches, and into other cars. In Mitchieville, it’s not even against the law to do that to hybrid owners, it’s actually encouraged. I figure for every hybrid I take off the road, means one less commie professor who won’t make it to school that day. That’s good for the cheeeeeldren."

There are of course fundamental underlying reasons (real reasons, trust me) that insurance costs and costs in general for Hybrids are higher. Read the Mayor's analysis.

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Calling the Motion to Suppress

Recuse is out. So what will Walther do?

Rumor has it she will rule this Friday. I'm going to call it ruling for the motion to suppress, just based on some intangibles leading up to the ruling. I could very easily be wrong, but I've been at the track so long on this one, it would be dishonest for me not to say what I'm thinking.

It may be the ultimate in foolishness to read anything into blogger TxBluesMan suddenly quitting, but I admit that influences me. To think he wouldn't hang around to crow victory with it so close strikes me as odd. He has also been privy to a few tips, either because he is a great internet researcher, or because he has connections and he just up and quit.

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Blues for Texas

"Opposition Leader," the anonymous "Texas Blues Man" is blogging no more, at least for now, perhaps longer.

I have no reason to believe that his departure from the blogging scene is for any reason other than he hasn't got the time for it.

There will no doubt be speculation that TBM is under some sort of situational pressure relating to his chosen profession and his opinions, but we'd have to know what his chosen profession WAS, to know the answer to that one. For now I'll take him at his word that he simply doesn't have the time.

If other "Anti-FLDS" blogs start going down like flies I'll begin to wonder. The following is found at the blog "FLDS Texas" and I received an email also from "Blues."

"I am taking Coram Non Judice down for an indefinite period of time. I have to take care of some real life issues that preclude me from paying enough attention to the blog. Although the blog states 'invited' members only, that is the generic Blogger page, and no one has access to it. If circumstances change, I’ll bring it back up later."

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Ezra Levant: Guantanamo Prisoners Treated better than FLDS?

Reflections on the raid, stuff you already know, with a little bit different spin to it.

"Canadian Lawyer - Imagine the apoplexy if a judge decided to try 'all those Muslims' in Guantanamo in a two-day circus. There are 437 kids in Walther’s holding pen, but only 280 prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. And how are the prisoners’ respective religions treated? In Guantanamo, Muslims are served halal meals, meet with imams, and can pray five times a day. Walther permits her prisoners to pray only under the supervision of CPS monitors, who make sure prisoners don’t discusses their custody cases. Mothers are allowed 60 minutes a day with lawyers, and children are allowed just 30 minutes."

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Russ Carnahan gets an earful on healthcare.

Just watch.

It's getting ugly out there. I don't blame the heckler one whit. Please note that when a politician states that "it's important that we all listen to each other" it means "shut up and listen TO ME."

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No Plea Deal for Allen Steed, is Utah pleading "Nolo?"

Utah has been grasping for some kind of deal with Allen Steed. Steed's attorneys politely listen it would seem, and say "no deal."

"Steed was due in court on Tuesday for what was calendared as a 'special setting resolution' hearing, but his attorney, Jim Bradshaw, told KSL NewsRadio that no plea deal had been reached.

'We tried to, but didn't quite get there,' he said. 'We've had some discussions but we haven't finalized everything yet.'

Instead, 5th District Court records show that lawyers discussed the statute of limitations on rape and the defense indicated it planned to file a motion seeking to dismiss the criminal charge. An evidence hearing will be scheduled in the case, court minutes said."

Initially, the article makes it sound as if Jim Bradshaw was trying to plead Allen out, but we don't know to what charge. There is no indication that it would have been a crime of a sexual nature.

More significant is the discussion of the statute of limitations and the impending plan by the defense to make a motion to dismiss. Is it Utah's plan to let the statute of limitations angle work for Allen and then try to gain the traction in Warren's case that the only reason the principle figure in Elissa's "rape" wasn't convicted, was that the statute ran out? A sort of "nolo" plea for the prosecution?

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Allen Steed still on for tomorrow....

This is one of those canary in the mineshaft events.

Just to refresh your memory, the Judge is going to look at both sides "Best offers" for a negotiated settlement of the charges against Allen, and see if there is any room for a plea deal.

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The Moving Finger, having writ....Oldest Man Dies.

More significant to me than the passing of Walter Cronkite would be the passing of Henry Allingham (1896-2009), veteran of the "Great War."

The Mail - "Mr. Allingham once attributed his grand age to 'cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women'.

He became the UK's oldest man on January 19, 2007, aged 110 years 227 days.

The oldest surviving member of the Armed Forces held a clutch of honours, including the British War Medal, Victory Medal and the Legion d'Honneur - the highest military accolade awarded by France.

His grandson, Tim Gray, described him in recent years as 'unbelievable'.

He said: 'He is a really incredible man with a great sense of humour.'

Born in London on June 6, 1896, Mr Allingham's father died when he was a baby.

He once said he thought joining the war effort would be an adventure, not realising what it meant.

He was initially persuaded to remain at home by his mother.

'War's stupid,' he told the BBC. 'Nobody wins. You might as well talk first, you have to talk last anyway.'

In September 1915, following his mother's death, he joined the Royal Navy Air Service (RNAS) and was sent to France, maintaining seaplanes.

Enthusiastic to play his part, pilots would take him flying and he would take the role of a spotter or a bomber.

In late 1917, Mr Allingham was posted to an aircraft depot in Dunkirk and became a member of the Royal Air Force following the merger of the RNAS and the Royal Flying Corps.

The great-grandfather was the last founder member of the RAF and the only remaining survivor of the infamous Battle of Jutland off the Danish coast in 1916.

He had a miraculous escape from his ship, the Kingfisher, when a German shell heading directly for it bounced over the top.

He described to the Daily Mail how he remained haunted by scenes from the third battle of Ypres.

'They would just stand there in two feet of water in mud-filled trenches, waiting to go forward,' he said.

'They knew what was coming. It was pathetic to see those men like that.

'In many ways I don't think they have ever got the admiration and respect they deserved.'

He was also shot in the arm, telling the newspaper: 'The bullet passed through my arm and out the other side.

'They just bandaged me up and sent me out again. It's so long ago that the scar has gone.'

In 1919 he left the air force after service at Cologne as part of the Army of Occupation.

He was married to his late wife Dorothy for more than half a century.

During the Second World War, Mr Allingham's engineering skills were vital to designing counter measures to the Germans' magnetic mines.

In 1941, he helped defuse the mines that had been used to blockade Harwich harbour.

Mr Allingham told the BBC: 'Like so many, I have tried to forget my time in the war.

'In the last few years I have met other veterans, and we never spoke one word of the war, not one.' "

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That's one Great Cake! Ghost Writers in Walther's Court?

I speculated a while ago that Judge Walther would recuse herself in the Motion to Suppress. I wasn't real confident of that but it was at the time the top "Best Guess" I could come up with based on the facts at that time.

It would now be at the bottom of the list instead of the top. I suppose it could still happen but every day that goes by where Judge Walther does not bow out, that begins to look less like an intelligent guess and more like wishful thinking. If Babs ever writes a memoir, maybe she'll mention considering it.

At this point I'm going to have to say that Judge Walther will rule against the motion to suppress. I base this on evidence that Barbara is a skillful small town political operator, not a great jurist. This is not a slap by the way, it's just an observation. While I still believe she will not win in the end, she has been skillful, powerful, unflinching and brutal when necessary, almost without hesitation.

So what does a politician do when they don't have a legal mind and they wish to write an opinion on inclusion as opposed to suppression of evidence when there is so clearly a good case to suppress the evidence? Mind you I did not say "overwhelming" or "winning" case, I said "good."

Texas has not supplied Judge Walther in their filing with boilerplate to sign. They've supplied her with a list of case law and a set of facts and said "Here Babs, cook up a ruling!" It's as if you walked into a kitchen with a picture of a pie and the ingredients all set out on the counter and you've never baked a cake before. You whip up mean omelets but baking is not your calling. You've got a picture of a pie, and they're asking for cake.

Texas has to be seen as wanting the evidence to stand, and not be overturned on appeal. They seem to have confidence that Walther will rule in her favor but I can't believe what they think Walther can bake a cake. In the movie "Calender Girls," Chris Harper's (Helen Mirren) problem is solved by going out and buying the item in question, and passing it off as hers. She wins the blue ribbon by the way.

I'm of the opinion that Walther is down to two choices which may seem obvious to you but since the third choice, "recuse" (punt) seems off the table, she can only rule against, or rule for the motion to suppress. In the second case she need only agree adding a few embellishments with the Gerry Goldstein/FLDS motion. It's well written. Case closed.

Ruling against the motion means she has to bake that cake into a winner, and she can't. To me, that means Texas has delivered the ingredients to her kitchen, but someone else is going to cook up the winner. Either that, or we're on a fast track to a reversal. Judge Walther has a worse record with the FLDS and higher courts than Judge Sotomayor has with the Supreme Court of the United States, and that's no small accomplishment.

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Iranians continue to fight the despots that stole their election

Islam is a troubling faith. Any nation ruled or dominated by that religion is worrisome. One cannot help but support Iran's brave souls though.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - "(P)olice and pro-government Basiji militiamen fired tear gas and charges thousands of protesters who chanted 'death to the dictator' and called on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to resign. Dozens were arrested, piled in trucks and taken away, witnesses said.

Plainclothes Basijis stood in front of a line of riot police and pumped canisters of tear gas, which young protesters with green bandanas over their faces kicked away across the pavement, away from the crowds. Some set a bonfire in the street and waved their hands in the air in victory signs.

The opposition aimed to turn the Friday prayers at Tehran University into a show of their continued strength despite heavy government suppression since the disputed June 12 presidential election.

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims to have won the election, sat in the front row of worshippers, attending for the first time since the turmoil began. Many of the tens of thousands at the prayers wore headbands or wristbands in his campaign color green, or had green prayer rugs.

In his sermon broadcast live on radio nationwide, Rafsanjani reprimanded the clerical leadership for not listening to people's complaints over the election, which was declared a victory for Ahmadinejad despite opposition claims of fraud.

'Doubt has been created (about the election results),' Rafsanjani said. 'There is a large portion of the wise people who say they have doubts. We need to take action to remove this doubt.' "

Iran's rightful ruler is sitting in the audience. The government conducted these elections and have a contract with their people to abide by it's outcome. There was a coup in Iran on election day, and the losers now run the country. Those in the street are demanding only what is theirs.

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It's not the Trillions, it's the size of the Pie.

I am decidedly not a fan of Pat Buchanan. He is in my view a highly right colored demagogue and more importantly, populist. Because he is a populist, like Bill O'Rielly he sometimes hits the nail squarely on the head.

"Taxes drove the American Revolution, for we were a taxaphobic, liberty-loving people. That government is best that governs least is an Americanism. When 'Silent Cal' Coolidge went home in 1929, the U.S. government was spending 3 percent of gross domestic product.

And today? Obama's first budget will consume 28 percent of the entire GDP; state and local governments another 15 percent. While there is some overlap, in 2009, government will consume 40 percent of GDP, approaching the peak of World War II."

The reason we haven't sunk yet is that it is arguable that productivity has expanded at a far greater rate. The cancer that is government is now growing so fast that it will soon overpower it's host. Journalist Garet Garrett died the year I was born, and penned a piece of brilliance referring to Esau's waste of his birthright called "The People's Pottage" which is in Mr. Buchanan's column.

"There are those who still think they are holding the pass against a revolution that may be coming up the road. But they are gazing in the wrong direction. The revolution is behind them. It went by in the Night of Depression, singing songs to freedom."

Pat's column is well worth reading.

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A Presumptive Crap Sandwich - The State in the Motion to Suppress

I've read most of both motions/filings now in the FLDS motion to dismiss.

The State most makes a list of "Findings of Fact," 54 of them each about a short paragraph long. There are then 15 more "Conclusions of Law" most of which are equally brief and look as if they were assembled by a law clerk.

Whereas the defense makes great effort to cite examples and testimony and links all to law cases that are carefully explained, Texas does not. Either the fix is in and the State knows it and expects Walther to just sign the order, or they've lost, and they know it. From my vague understanding of law they cannot carry forward new arguments to the next appeal so they either expect to win it here, get to trial and dare anyone to overturn a child molesters conviction, no matter now unjust, or they just plain know they've got no case.

The State's filing is a sandwich of bad, brief explanations that look like a half hearted paper worked on the night before it was due, barely better than an outline. It is book ended by Orders, ready made for Walther to sign, denying the motion.

Here ya go judge. You know what you're SUPPOSED to do. They've even got Judge Walther's name already typed below the signature spot. They expect her to sign it, they don't care what anyone thinks and they're assuming she will not recuse herself.

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Two important observations on the FLDS Motion to Suppress

One, it was established by testimony in the hearing before Judge Walther in May that Dale Evans Barlow was not at the Ranch, and that Ranger Long knew this, and still swore out an affidavit that Dale was at YFZ.

It was also established that the "Caller" also recanted on March 31st, her last communication with the New Bridge shelter that she was not to be believed. Both fact sets were NOT communicated to Judge Walther even though they were known to Brooks Long when he swore his affidavit. Doran testified that this sort of information should have been communicated to Walther.

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Briefs Finally Filed in FLDS Motion to Suppress

What I found interesting was this line in the article in the San Angelo Standard Times:

"It was not clear when Walther will rule on the motion to suppress."

Remember I have guessed that Walther will probably recuse herself. Also, I mentioned that the filings would be late, but no news was leaking out as to why, though it appeared more time had been asked for.

"It was unclear (today) why the documents came in well after the original deadline set by the judge."

The State's filing is HERE, and the defense, HERE. The defense PDF is searchable, the State's is not.

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Does this even need a comment? Probably.

Write your own, and post it in comments, if you wish.

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Do you want to live forever?

Stretch that lifespan out. Maybe you can live a billion years and watch the sun run dry. Maybe a shorter lifespan was a mercy to the Godly.

Science Magazine - "In a new study, researchers report that an antibiotic called rapamycin--after the island's Polynesian name, Rapa Nui--enabled middle-aged mice to live up to 16% longer than their rapa-free counterparts. The discovery marks the first time a drug has been shown to lengthen life span in mammals, even when administered late in life.

Scientists first stumbled on rapamycin in soil samples taken from Easter Island in 1965. A bacterium found in the soil, Streptomyces hygroscopicus, secreted the stuff to fend off its bacterial and fungal rivals. Rapamycin has since been used to prevent organ rejection in transplant patients and, most recently, as an antitumor drug. The compound works by inhibiting mTOR, a protein that regulates cell growth and survival. When researchers realized that calorie restriction, which is known to lengthen life spans in mice, also suppresses mTOR activity, they began to wonder if rapamycin might boost longevity as well."

Oops, but there is a flaw in this Eden and it's tree of life.

"Don't expect antiaging drugs to hit the market anytime soon, though. Rapamycin is known to raise cholesterol levels and, as a potent immune system suppressant, the compound could make its consumers more susceptible to infections. (Matthew) Kaeberlein hopes future studies will measure the health of rapa-enhanced mice and the effects of varying rapamycin doses, in hopes of divorcing the drug's benefits from its dangers."

Still...

"(M)ice lived 28% to 38% longer than the controls from that point on, the researchers report in Nature, the equivalent of 6 to 9 extra years in humans. Their overall life expectancy rose 5% to 16%."

Hat tip to "Everyday Christian" and Elizabeth Renter who opines:

"People have searched out the 'cure' for aging and death since way before Ponce De Leon combed Florida in 1513. Perhaps it is the unconscious fear of death that many have or just the desire to stick around a little longer that pushes humanity to explore the possibility of immortality or anything resembling it."

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Blogging Future, Navel Gazing, Site Rankings

Count me as having my jaw to about knee level.

I've decided that part of my site ranking increase is the fact that it's summer and weird people like me don't know that, and weird people who read my blog regularly are like me in that regard. No sooner than I think I've topped out (again) but another round of site rankings reveal that I'm still on my way up. For those of you who want some substantive news, skip to the end of this post and I promise something self centered but newsworthy with regard to the Modern Pharisee will be revealed.

First of all, the self congratulatory site rankings post, along with some observations that might be worthwhile for the budding, mid level or semi serious blogger.

As of Today, Sunday July 12th, 2009 the Pharisee ranks 378,185th in the world as a site. That's not too bad really. More importantly my site rank in the United States is 68,639th. Some comparisons and blathering to hopefully make this interesting to the rest of you.

As a blogger, I am several things. In order of formative influences in life, I am a pastors grandson, a missionary kid, a bad student, flunked Greek and Latin, got "A's" in Calculus in Grad School and went on to be a Disc Jockey, a Car Salesman, a Bank Collector then a Loan officer, back to Cars as a "Finance Manager" (this is what I am now) with detours into Radio ad sales, though not necessarily in that particular order. I've read the Bible cover to cover more times than I can count, in excess of thirty times. To scoop all this together and make it into some sort of substantive impact however temporary in the "bloggosphere" impresses me in terms of how unlikely it all is. Mostly, I'm a "Car Guy" and that doesn't lend itself to the word "impressive" in most people's thinking.

So I look across the blogging world and compare myself to other bloggers and therein is the jaw dropping stuff.

Grits, a blog I am very impressed with is ranked 71,791 in the United States. Me? Bigger than Grits? That's like saying I'm the next best thing since sliced bread. Scott is an impressive blogger and a better writer than I.

The Irreverent Bill Medvecky, chock full of hyperbole and fun loving vitriol (how can those two things be said together?) has been swapping FLDS centered blogging leadership with me over the last several months. Bill is at 66,006* in this country and 351,513th in the world. Clearly US rank has a lot to do with World Wide ranking, as we are the biggest consumer of internet services and publishing.

Comparing Bill and Scott and myself though, there are some interesting observations to make. One is about "on site" time. I'm at 8.6 minutes per unique visitor per day, Bill at 2.6 and Scott at 2.0. This brings up the subject of what I think might be called "spamming" a site.

Scott ranks 113,476th in the Philippines. Are people really interested in the goings on in Texas criminal law practices to that extent, in the Philippines? Let's look at another site, that of LaShawn Barber. Lashawn has appeared on national cable programs and;

"Barber is a native of South Carolina. An alcoholic in her younger years, Barber took a vow of sobriety and abstinence shortly before her thirtieth birthday. She later moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as a legislative correspondent for a Democratic senator. She eventually became a political conservative and a Christian.

Since Barber turned to writing, her articles, book reviews, columns and essays have been published in The Washington Times, The Washington Post, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Denver Post, the Baltimore Times Online, Today's Christian Woman and other publications. Her work has also appeared online at Jewish World Review, National Review Online, Townhall.com and other sites."

So she's a big deal. Credentialed and all that jazz. I outrank her nationally but not world wide. You'd have to figure that LaShawn is an important read in North American, and perhaps England but really, France and India? I'd say "spamming" is an issue with her site as well, with a cumulative unique visitor on site time of 1.4 minutes a day. This is not to say that LaShawn doesn't have legit readers, she certainly does, but it would seem that some sites have their numbers "massaged" to some degree.

Then there is my friend Rick Beckman who has a legitimate site rank of 60,464. Rick wrote a plug in for Wordpress bloggers and that accounts for the majority of hits on his site, he says. They have to go to "Rickbeckman.org" to download it I guess, and there you go. Apparently it's a very handy plug in and Rick is profiting from that.

60's and 70's musical counter culture Icon Joni Mitchell? Yes, the Modern Pharisee draws more world wide. Weird to me, believe me, very weird. Bob Dylan? He kicks my hiney, trust me.

So it would seem that you can make a dent in public perception coming from about anywhere in the social spectrum. You can even pass your childhood music idols which has a truly disturbing quality to it. Some part of me never wants to be more popular than Joni Mitchell in any way shape or form, no matter how trivial.

All of this makes me wonder how someone ends up being on a "Bill O'Reilly" or "Sean Hannity" or "Anderson Cooper" or "Larry King" show. Certainly I have controversial enough views to rate. Clearly there's a bit of a machine and a selection process when it comes to allowing people into the corridors of powerful publicity. My friends tell me that having a book would do the trick or at least grease the skids towards that sort of appearance. That of course, will have to wait.

So the last part of the post on navel gazing site rankings and superstar comparisons and site news is this: I've settled a way of handling my religious obligations to my church who of course, disagree with me on a prominent blogging topic of the Modern Pharisee. I will for a time, if necessary, suspend the blogging on that topic for the duration of my debate with them, should they elect to compel me in that regard.

I strongly believe for good reason that I should submit to the governance of my church, even if I think they are wrong, and of course, even when I disagree with them. This has limits. They owe me edification. Assuming I am wrong simply telling me "you're wrong" and "shut up" only works in venues like the Catholic Church. In venues such as conservative reformed and Presbyterian denominations, you owe a man an explanation when he agrees with Luther but not the Westminster Confession of Faith. To that end I will archive all my advocacy regarding a certain marriage doctrine until that debate is over, should they agree to "edify" me in that way. Those of you who know me, know what I'm talking about. If there is to be a book it will be on the other end of this process. It might even end up to some degree being about that process.

On a completely different note I've been listening to Pandora Radio during the composing of this post. I've observed that as far as Pandora is concerned, my favorite song is "End of the Line" by "The Traveling Wilburys." There is some justification for this even though I am sometimes dubious. I never tire of hearing the song. The Wilburys consisted of George Harrison (The Beatles) and Roy Orbison when they were alive, and also the still living Bob Dylan, Tom Petty (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) and Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchestra). I like them all and no doubt Pandora figured that out and plays "End of the Line" in what I would call "Hot Rotation" on my personal Pandora Channel. There are days I just nod my head and say "They're right."

I do however have other tastes as reflected by the selection of songs like these:

"Something More Than This" - October Project from "Falling Farther In"
"The Flood at Lyons" - Renaissance from "Azure D'or"
"Polar Nettles" - Nico Case from "Middle Cyclone"
"Hold on, Hold on," also by Nico Case but from "Fox Confessor Brings The Flood"

I wish Pandora would realize how much I like Mary Fahl and her former band "October Project." "Something More Than This" shows the immense power of Fahl's voice in a way that brings tears to the eyes. Sadly there is no Mary Fahl and the "October Project" any longer, but for the music lover, that makes it easy on the budget since all that can be had under that band's banner is out there and is small enough a collection so as not to break the budget.

Enough rambling for the evening. Please put me on your prayer list. I'm really going to need it next Sunday. In other news, tomorrow is the Anniversary of my wife and I marrying on Flathead Lake in Montana. We have two other anniversaries of marriage. Yes, I know it's weird and I won't explain. Tomorrow is the one my wife likes best. It was our public ceremony and we composed our own vows. Their was no priest or minister in keeping with our marriage beliefs. It was on a lake, not in a church. I am a fortunate man indeed.

*as of July 15th, I moved slightly ahead of Bill. Again. Post something Bill!

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Happy Birthday John Calvin

And I can just get it in under the wire.

Prominent Reformer John Calvin would have been 500 today, merely entering middle age if this was a time before the flood. But it's not.

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That's a peach! No, that would be Impeach.

Brazzil Magazine - "Mayara Tavares is 16 and lives in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil."

Both men appear to look in the video of the incident though if Obama really does, he more or less steals a sly look. She's 16 gentlemen. That's impeach, not a peach.

You Decide.

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That's my boy

He's in Butte Montana and I'm in Vermont. There's very little I can do about it.

The Montana Standard - "Cameron J. McBryde, 27, faces a felony in a March 29 robbery attempt at the restaurant at 1955 Dewey Blvd., according to court papers.

McBryde is accused of attempting to rob the business just after midnight with another man. The pair allegedly entered the restaurant through a rear door while two employees were closing up. The two masked men hit the two employees with large flashlights and ordered them to the floor.

However, the two employees fought back, and the robbers fled the building without stealing anything from the business.

One of the alleged robbers was either struck by an employee or slipped on the ice as he tried to escape. He fell and injured his head on the ground."

Good for the employees of the Burger King, I hope none faced lasting injury from their encounter with the piece of human debris that is my only natural son. I have six children by some count, I married two women with two children and had two of my own with my first wife who threw me out in 1995. I fought vigorously to be part of my genetic children's lives. I failed. At this time my step children from my second wife are more my own than any I sired naturally. The above picture is probably as revealing of what my only son really is, both internally and externally.

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I don't feel so bad now

Yabba Dabba Do, I'm not the only one.

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"Angel One, here we come!" Men an endangered species?

Believe it. Maybe men will disappear, maybe the FLDS will use the science to breed more wives. Maybe we're in a Star Trek episode.

The Telegraph - "Human stem cells are being used to create ersatz sperm, whose effects are real.Within 10 years, the scientists say the technique could also be used to allow infertile couples to have children that are genetically their own. It could even be possible to create sperm from female stem cells, they say, which would ultimately mean a woman having a baby without a man."

Men after all, are beasts. Didn't former Colorado Representative Patricia Schroeder tell you that? Hasn't Judge Sonia Sotomayor told you this as well?

"In the technique developed at Newcastle University, stem cells with XY chromosomes – containing both male and female characteristics – were developed.

A laser was used to separate and isolate the male stem cells and they were then grown in a dish. Researchers saw the cells split and divide, then eventually push out a tail and head and begin to move.

These were shown to produce fully mature, functional sperm, they say."

Men are not necesary? Time Magazine's cover story this week by Caitlin Flanagan, disputes the claim.

"Few things hamper a child as much as not having a father at home. 'As a feminist, I didn't want to believe it,' says Maria Kefalas, a sociologist who studies marriage and family issues and co-authored a seminal book on low-income mothers called Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage. 'Women always tell me, "I can be a mother and a father to a child," but it's not true.' Growing up without a father has a deep psychological effect on a child. 'The mom may not need that man,' Kefalas says, 'but her children still do.' "

There is a certain sort of radical feminist that drives political agendas that will in fact make every effort to delete men from the gene pool now that it appears possible to do so. Will God permit that? I seriously doubt that a no men world will be the coming apocalypse, but it may play a part. Men continue to be marginalized. Maybe we'll be kept around as a safety valve in case gene machines break down.

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Strangely Appealing

Found at Eddie Eddings' "Calvinistic Cartoons."

How about another?

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Allen Steed shows up on the this month's Court Calender

We knew it was going to happen, but now it's a "searchable" result of an inquiry to St. George County.

07/07/09 03:43:17 PAGE 244

FIFTH DISTRICT COURT-ST GEORGE
G RAND B
JULY 21, 2009
COURTROOM TBD TUESDAY
10:30 AM SPECIAL SET RESOLUTION S27 071501596 STATE FELONY
STATE OF UTAH ATTY: BELNAP, BROCK R
FILTER, BRIAN G
VS.
STEED, ALLEN GLADE ATTY: BRADSHAW, JIM C
OTN: 19095116 DOB: 05/12/1981
F1 - RAPE - 04/14/01

It's still fascinating to me that Allen has never been "at large" and the supposed "rape" occurred in April of 2001. 8 years people. To my knowledge Allen has never been accused of a similar act. EIGHT YEARS.

Does this make the supposed crime any less heinous if it actually occurred? Of course not but EIGHT YEARS? A conviction for a crime that occurred EIGHT YEARS and 3 months ago that there is no forensic evidence for between two people who both acknowledge consensual relations at other times? Do we not dilute what rape is by saying that what occurred between Elissa Wall and Allen Steed was rape? A rape that was essentially a "repressed memory" for Elissa Wall?

I'm hoping that Allen continues with his unwillingness to "cop a plea" and that the resolution hearing produces nothing of real value unless it is to drop the charges. We don't know what the prosecution is going to offer as a minimum deal. Be aware that Allen could be offered a plea bargain deal of some non sexual kind of assault such as restraining or beating Elissa illegally, if that is indeed possible at this late a date. I don't know how the statutes of limitations figure into such deals. It may not be possible to offer Allen a misdemeanor assault conviction if the time limit for that crime is say, 18 months. If possible to offer such a deal it would afford the prosecution a way to crow that Allen was willing to plead out, when what he was pleading out to was giving her a "wrist burn" or something to that effect. That certainly would grab headlines.

April 14th, 2001 was a Saturday night by the way. They must have been doing their taxes when Allen got "real frustrated" or something to that effect. Someone ought to check though, when Allen filed is taxes in 2001. It might be a defense.

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Records Set! Benchmarks Exceeded! (Whatever)

To my constant astonishment, the Modern Pharisee continues to grow.

If you look at this post some day in the future, it may not reflect the numbers you see now. Indeed, if I am forced into a hiatus as may very well occur, then numbers will certainly drop. As of today though, the Modern Pharisee ranks in the following ways:

399,885th 397,552nd in the world. This means there are 399,884 397,551 web sites with better numbers than mine.

79,870th 79,169th in the United States. Most of the Pharisee's readers are in this country. Some comparisons:

Bill Medvecky's "Free the FLDS Children" currently outranks the Modern Pharisee. Bill continues to stay almost exclusively on the FLDS as a topic, and as soon as I branched out (there being no significant FLDS news of late), he shot up. There was a brief and shining moment when I was the leading FLDS centric site in the whole wide world, I now give that crown to Bill, for the time being at least, he is 355,853rd in the world, and 62,134th in the United States. It seems that there remains a lot of interest in the story, even with a dearth of news on the subject, so with him being the only one really "on it" other than Brooke Adams, he gets all the traffic. Anti FLDS sites don't really seem to count as it could be argued that Bill gets more traffic than all of them combined.

It's also possible that I may outrank all the reformed and Presbyterian conservative denominations rolled together. At least I outrank them all individually coming in ahead of them world wide, and also stateside. That's a significant accomplishment for a site with no resources plying unpopular topics, having no budget, no real earnings and one author.

I outrank in the United States a site called "Tektonics," an apologetic resource whose author has taken me to task in the past, often mentioning his site ranking as an indicator of how much more significant his work was. I'm not trying to open old wounds, I'm just saying.....

Tektonics "sister site" would have to be "Dee Dee" Warren's "Theologyweb." This again is in the United States only, and "Tweb" is trending downwards. World wide, like Tektonics, Tweb has more participants and readers. All of these sites that I mention do not approach the intense interest you the reader have showered the Pharisee with because I have an on site time rank of 9 minutes, exceeding by a factor of three all the sites I have mentioned above. You come, you stay, you read. I thank you.

I'm now within shooting distance of a blog I greatly respect, though I suspect Scott at Grits is markedly to the left of me on the political spectrum. Still, the FLDS subject revealed a lot of common libertarian ground between some left leaning bloggers and right leaning bloggers. It was refreshing to see. "GritsForBreakfast" ranks 307,831st world wide, and 74,327th in the United States. See what I mean by "Shooting Distance?" I never thought I'd be in the same league when he mentioned 14 months ago that I was "Pretty Animated" about the YFZ raid. One of the concerns Scott and I share would be that of prison. I'm probably considered by most to be to the extreme left of Grits, as I wouldn't have any. It's Biblical NOT to have prisons, look it up.

All of this may provide a reason to keep with blogging in the future, regardless of what restrictions might be imposed on me by those whose authority I must respect. We'll see. The view is nice up here. I'd like to stay awhile.

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Notice

Concerning future operations.

Read it here.

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One of the more Eloquent Iranian Protests.

One of the more stark protest images coming in reaction to the death of Neda.

Found here.

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A Man, a Woman and Another Woman, and Murder.

And suicide? I would probably have told you three things about Steve McNair if you asked. He did everything asked of him to win Super Bowl XXXIV but the Titans fell short (that's not Steve pictured) after dominating the game in every statistical category except the scoreboard.

The other two? He seemed to be able to play no matter what injury plagued him, often not practicing all week, showing up on game day and still turning in an effort required of him. Off the field it was alcohol, guns, cars and finally another woman entering the mix.

"After another playoff loss in 2002, McNair was arrested for DUI and illegal gun possession in May 2003. His blood alcohol was above 0.10, and a 9-mm handgun had been sitting in the front of the car."

This served as a foreshadowing of his own death.

(CNN) - "Police said they found McNair and a woman identified as Sahel Kazemi shot to death after receiving a phone call about an injured person.

McNair's body was found seated on a living room sofa, authorities said.

Kazemi sustained a gunshot wound to the head, authorities said. Police also said a pistol was found near her body."

The Tennessean adds the detail that Steve had been shot several times.

"McNair, a hometown hero who did extensive charity work in Nashville, had several gunshot wounds, including one to the head."

Since Ms. Kazemi (her Facebook page?) had only been shot once in the head, initial indicators say she shot Steve, and then herself.

It's hard to believe that McNair's wife Mechelle didn't know of his off the field endeavors, including other women. Often wives of famous men stay with them because of the security and status they provide, winking by not "knowing" about their private indiscretions. This is Governor Mark Sanford all over again, with guns and alcohol and a much younger woman, ending not in political suicide, but death.

Murder, lying, secrecy and substance abuse are not excused by the legitimacy of polygyny, but it's sad to see this happen to Mr. McNair and I have to openly wonder at what set the chain of events off, apart from men and women's sinful nature. Steve probably told Ms. Kazemi something she did not want to hear, probably "I'm going back to my wife" and his concubine shot him, then herself. At this point that's the best scenario that can be hoped for.

Steve had just opened a restaurant last month called the "Gridiron 9."

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Palin Sailin' into Sunset?

Increasingly, it looks like Palin just took a hike. That's the superficial simple analysis, and there may be many more layers underneath that superficial appearance.

No one rushing to her side is the most telltale of all the signals. From the Daily Beast:

"(Gov. Sarah) Palin may have resigned from politics altogether. According to NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, Palin 'has told some of her biggest backers in the national Republican Party that they are free to choose other candidates for 2012.' But those choices are dwindling at a surprisingly rapid pace."

Believe me, I consider the sources, but those sources so far are without credible refutation. Normally when you're spinning a story, someone comes out to spin it your way, and the opposition spins it their way. Andrea Mitchell et al would seem to want to spin against the Governor, that's to be expected.

Newt Gingrich, Michael Steele, Bobby Jindal, and the conservative Talk Show Hosts are all oblivious in advance, and few if any rush to her side. The timing was even such that Rush Limbaugh, who was on the air Friday, was off it, before she came to the microphone.

Geoffrey Dunn points out that she's done this before, and assigns her the label of "Quitter."

I have been a fan of a "Palinesque" type candidate except not a fan of Palin being that candidate from the get go. To accept a woman as a leader for someone of such strict Biblical leanings as myself, is a defeat in and of itself. For that reason I am sure some of you will shout to me that I am a sexist. So be it. Only because she is a woman do I regard her as a poor choice, in all other ways I greatly respect her as a political figure and candidate (with the exception of being a quitter which I will avoid tying to her gender). I was afforded an out in the Presidential election as McCain's conquest of Montana looked and was certain. Voting there in the last election, I voted for Bob Barr and avoided the choice of McCain/Palin.

Conservatism is now in disarray having banked heavily on a mercurial political amateur as their best hope. There's still plenty of time before 2012, and Barrack Obama himself may be our biggest ally causing the electorate to pick anyone BUT him, in that cycle.

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Happy Birthday, United States of America

Just Remember:

This goes hand in hand with a thought offered by Robert A. Heinlein:

"An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life."

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Palin Resigns, at the end of this month - UPDATED

I'm guessing you can't run for President and run Alaska. The resignation will be effective July 26th. Time differences, distance, all of that figures into decision I am sure. Don't be surprised entirely if she shows up in some major GOP post like replacing likable but ineffective Michael Steele.

UPDATE: The Anchorage Daily News has some speculating in the same fashion as I did earlier:

"Republican Party of Alaska Chairman Randy Ruedrich reacted with 'complete surprise' to Palin's decision to step down.

But he said it could free Palin up to spread her message. 'For the governor to make any statement in person in the Lower 48 is at least a six-hour plane trip to the central U.S.'

'She can become a much more functional spokesman for Alaska working from a more southerly location,' Ruedrich said."

Randy Ruedrich and I are explaining Sarah's actions in the same way, but as time passes and no confirming voices join Governor Palin, it's looking more like she crumbled under pressure, which I honestly hope is not the case. With Republican hopefuls in the 2012 Presidential race being taken out left and right, Palin crumbling under fire would not be a good sign for the party in general. Listening to the News Conference also seems to reveal a woman who is profoundly angry and in a reactive mode, and just quit, without a plan.


William A. Jacobson at "Legal Insurrection" has an interesting take as well.

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What ever happened to the "Manna Storehouse?"

The other aggravating infringement on individual rights last year that really caught my attention was the Manna Storehouse.

It's gone quiet since most of the action now is in the courts. The Stowers have chosen not to try their case in the press, probably because the state isn't exactly trying their case against them in the press. Harold Thomas at The Ohio Republic brings us up to speed.

"About four months ago, the defendants, the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Lorain County Sheriff, filed a motion to take the case to the U.S. District Court of Appeals. The purpose of making it a Federal case is that Article I of the Ohio Constitution contains more stringent guarantees of personal liberties than does the U.S. Constitution. Mr. Thompson anticipates that the Federal Court will return the issue to the State courts, but the Federal courts work slowly, and it may be two or three months before it is returned to an Ohio court."

Is Law Enforcement interested in protecting your rights? Clearly not. They are told to. When it's left up to Law Enforcement, they take a state defendant, a state plaintiff, and entirely state actors, and try them on a federal stage. Why? Because in this case, the defendant has less rights there. I deeply respect Law Enforcement, something I may not communicate here adequately, but they are human beings. Remember, even Jefferson acted like a Federalist, when he became President. It's not terribly surprising then, to find Ohio Law choosing Federal Law, because the defendants in an all Ohio scrap, have more rights in an Ohio Court.

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I think I'm at peace with it. UPDATED

It was a bad week to be famous.

Goodbye to the many celebrities who passed in the last 7 days, Karl Malden (Mladen George Sekulovich), (George Harvey) "Harve" Presnell, Farrah (Leni) Fawcett, and of course, Michael (Joseph) Jackson.

My apologies to any celebs I missed. (A reader below points out the sin of missing (William Darrell) Billy Mays Jr.!) It was tough to notice with Michael "Headlining" the obits. Hat tip to "Althouse."

For a different take altogether, try Michelle at Six Meat Buffet, who offers up this observation of Michael Jackson's death. Come on, we all thought it.

"The way I see it, asking us to remember Michael Jackson as a magnificent talent is like asking us to remember John Wayne Gacy for being a hilarious clown."

Read it all. Michelle points to Linda Stasi cutting loose at the New York Post. One of the reasons these people are paid to write (Stasi) is that they do it better than we do. Here's the evidence. Yes, we all thought it once again, but Linda says it with a little crack to the whip.

"(I)t's about time somebody had the nerve to say what millions of people must feel and believe about the once-talented black man who turned himself into a white woman before turning himself into a monster."

Now, can we have some real news?

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