The Silly Lawsuit of the Week

This is just so preposterous.  Tod Bertuzzi wants to take coack Marc Crawford to court and sue him for his lack of discipline on the ice whne he ended Steve Moore’s career.  Is till think that Bertuzzi should not have been re-instated into the NHL.  His actions were deplorable and should not be tolerated in the NHL ever.  Yes, hockey is a rough sport and fight do break out, but what Bertuzzi did was beyond the pale.   He was out to actually hurt Steve Moore and that is a big no-no.  Yes the fight are trying to hurt th player, but what Bertuzzi was a cheap shot and so flagrant that he should have been banned from the NHL forever.  When people fight on a even playing field or when they are facing echother, no one really gets hurt bad, they is a possibility, but is very rare.  Broken hands and broken noses do happen, but they are face to face and the person has a way to defend himself.

Coach Marc Crawford brought into Bertuzzi lawsuit

Updated Fri. Mar. 28 2008 7:29 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Former Vancouver Canucks coach Marc Crawford has been pulled into a
multi-million-dollar lawsuit over Todd Bertuzzi’s infamous blind-sided
attack of Steve Moore.

Crawford could now be on the hook for millions — but it wasn’t Moore who added him to the lawsuit.

In fact, it was his former player, Bertuzzi. According to court
documents, Bertuzzi sought to have Crawford included based on the claim
that his NHL contract compelled him to take direction from his coach.

The documents go on to say that Bertuzzi alleges Crawford urged him
and his then-teammates in a March 2004 game against the Colorado
Avalanche, "to make (Moore) ‘pay the price’" for a hit against Canuck
captain Markus Naslund in a previous game.

Bertuzzi, now with the Anaheim Ducks, alleges Crawford "knew or
ought to have known that this was likely to result in injury to
Moore.”

The allegations have not been proven in court.

Moore originally filed the suit against Bertuzzi and the Canucks, seeking up to $38 million.  CTV

Chris Hackett

Whole at the Samsphere, Erick Ericson from RedState told us all about a great candidate for Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District.   Chris Hackett is a a no nonsense conservative running against a liberal college professor that took the seat in 2006.   This is who we need to go against the overpowering CONgress Critters that think the Government is the answer to all of our problems.  The Republican Party needs people like him to run and get back on track to be the party of smaller and less government.  I will happily endorse him here at Stix Blog, and if you have any other candidates like Chris Hackett send me an email or leave them in the comments.

"The Republican Party is a party in need of conservative leadership. Chris is a bold leader
who will work tirelessly to restore the core principle of the GOP – limited government."

Samsphere

Well, I am back in St. Louis and everything is crazy here in downtown St. Lou.  I got home last night and wanted to take some time to reflect on what went on at the Sampshere event in Chicago.  I finally got to meet some of mygood friends that  I have met online thru blogs, facebook and other  various forums.  And I had a blast.  I did miss the Friday event, but at least I got to go and meet my felllow compatriots in the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.  It was very interesting to see the diverse backgrounds of the people and also the vast difference in what people blog on.  Most of the people there were people that blog mostly about local politics.  There were so many good stories of how they effected thier local elections and the local politics of their various areas.  My blog here is mostly about national and international politics, but I have found thru the various bloggers and thru Sam Adam’s Alliance,many good tools to find stuff  locally. Now that the primaries are over in Illinois, I will probably get a more involved with local politics.

Some of the good tools for pretty much anybody on the left, right, center,or whatevr are the Wiki’s that they arecompiling.  The First is Judgepedia.  Judgepedia is away of finding out what judges are doing.  It is no-partisan,so it isnot biasedto one sideor the other.  It just shows the decisions of judges throughout the country are writing.  Anyone can join and help fill in the history of judges in your area. It is very intersting and you can actually see whatlaws they arecitingin thier decisions and how they match up to the Constitution ofthe USA orof their State’s Constitution.  This is very new and they do not have every state. Eventually they want all state Supreme Court Judges,Circuit Court Judges and down to your local county judges. 

Another interesting Wiki theyhavemadeis Ballotpedia .  This is a tool foreveryone also, it will have all the Ballot Initiatives from all the sates. It will saywh is sponsoring it and what the actual text of the Ballot Initiaitve is.  So instead of listening to the negative ads byboth sides, you canseefr yourself what the Initiaitveis all about.

And another good tool is Sunshine Review.  This is atthe heart ofwahtSam Adam’s Allianceisall about.  This is a wiki about the transparency of  State, City and various other governments websites. Are they user friendly, do they have the Meeting Minutes, contracts, information on the administrators all in a Ten-Point Government Website Transperancy Agenda.  This is also for anybody, you just answer the questions about your local govermental website.

All these tools are great foreveryone that wants to know what your local government, judiciary,and ballot mewasures are doing.  It is all done on the non-partisan platform of a wiki.  It will have some people that will make sure that no lies or bias gets put into the wikis.

Hopefully some of  you out there can use these tools youself and helpcontribute  tomaking our governments more open and tranparent. And this is notaleftor a right argument, everyone should be able to access this stuff.  We need to have our local, state and federal governments open. And I think everyone on the leftand right would agree with that.

Here is a list of all the bloggers that attended overthe weekend:

Confirmed Bloggers:
Name*Blog*Blog Region
Erick Erickson * RedState * National
Allen Fuller * Flat Creek Management * National
John Fund * Wall Street Journal * National
Brad Jones * Face the State * National
Jenn Sierra * Fort Hard Knox * National
Erik Telford * Americans for Prosperity * National
E.M. Zanotti * American Princess * National
Bill Smith * ARRA News Service * Arkansas
Ben DeGrow * Mount Virtus * Colorado
Mark Johnson * ILGOPnet * Illinois
Doug Welch * Stix * Illinois
Bob Weeks * Wichita Liberty * Kansas
Earl Glynn * Kansas Meadowlark * Kansas
Jeff Blanco * Louisiana Conservative * Louisiana
Lance Dutson * Maine Web Report * Maine
Jack McHugh * Mackinac Center * Michigan
Chet Zarko * Outside Lansing * Michigan
Jim Hoft * Gateway Pundit * Missouri
Craig Sprout * Montana Politics * Montana
Chuck Muth * Muth’s Truths * Nevada
Skip Murphy * Granite Grok * New Hampshire
Mario Burgos * Mario Burgos * New Mexico
Maggie Thurber * Thurber’s Thoughts * Ohio
Chris Arps * Oklahoma Political News Service * Oklahoma
Trent Siebert * Tennessee Policy Institute * Tennessee
Leslie Carbone * Leslie Carbone * Virginia
Don Ward * Sound Politics * Washington
Fred Dooley * Real Debate Wisconsin * Wisconsin
Tristen Cramer * Haemet * Wyoming
Chad Everson * Grizzly Groundswell * Minnesota
Steve Sibson * Sibby Online * South Dakota

Sam Adams Alliance Staff
Nic Hall * Nicky Cheese * Illinois (currently in Texas)
Bob Costello * cozcommunio * Illinois
John Tsarpalas * Tsarchats * Illinois
Ken Marrero * Blue Collar Muse * Tennessee
Eric Odom * Eric Odom * Illinois
Mike Van Winkle * A Chicago Blog * Illinois
Micheal Tams * American Federalist * Illinois
Jodi Bridges * Thirty Something * illinois
Lennie Jarratt * Open Source Activism * Illinois
Drew Veeneman * Trenches of Democracy * Illinois

State Policy Network
Nicole Williams

Image of the Day

Light of A Hundred Thousand Suns

Messier 55 is a globular cluster in the constellation Sagittarius. It is also known as M55 or NGC 6809. M55 lies about 17,300 light years from Earth. French astronomer Abbé Nicolas Louis de Lacaille discovered it in 1752. He was also known for naming 15 constellations in the southern hemisphere, among other accomplishments. Charles Messier added the cluster to his famous catalog of sky objects in 1778.  Globular clusters are compact, spherical, gravitationally bound concentrations of stars. They contain tens of thousands to millions of stars, which are among the oldest in the galaxy. M55 contains only very few known variable stars, perhaps 5 or 6. Its total luminosity may measure almost 100,000 times that of the Sun. Video Player: Sorting Stars Video Player: Star Cluster Close-Up Star Clusters Hold Secrets to Stellar Evolution — SPACE.com Staff Credit: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/Coelum Return each weekday for a new SPACE.com Image of the Day.

And Now For Something about Socrates

Checking into one of my favorite blogs, A Don’s Life by Mary Beard  at The Times on-line, I discovered a gem of a ditty I had forgotten about.  Mary is a classics professor at Cambridge and is getting ready for a debate:  dinner with Socrates vs. no dinner with Socrates.   Her preparations made her remember this song by Monty Python: 

The Philosopher’s Drinking Song

Immanuel Kant was a real pissant
     who was very rarely stable.
Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar
     who could think you under the table.
David Hume could out consume
     Schopenhauer and Hegel,
And Wittgenstein was a beery swine
     who was just as sloshed as Schlegel.

There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya
    'bout the raisin' of the wrist.
Socrates himself was permanently pissed.

John Stuart Mill, of his own free will,
    after half a pint of shandy was particularly ill.
Plato, they say, could stick it away,
     'alf a crate of whiskey every day!
Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle,
     and Hobbes was fond of his Dram.
And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart:
     "I drink, therefore I am."

Yes, Socrates himself is particularly missed;
A lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he's pissed.

      -- Monty Python

http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/615.html

Mary's blog is here:  

http://timesonline.typepad.com/dons_life/2008/03/a-piss-up-with.html

Julia 

March 31

March 31, 1492

Jews to be expelled from Spain

In Spain, a royal edict is issued by the nation’s Catholic rulers declaring that all Jews who refuse to convert to Christianity will be expelled from the country. Most Spanish Jews chose exile rather than the renunciation of their religion and culture, and the Spanish economy suffered with the loss of an important portion of its workforce. Many Spanish Jews went to North Africa, the Netherlands, and the Americas, where their skills, capital, and commercial connections were put to good use. Among those who chose conversion, some risked their lives by secretly practicing Judaism, while many sincere converts were nonetheless persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition. The Spanish Muslims, or Moors, were ordered to convert to Christianity in 1502.

Samsphere Chicago

Well I will be in Chitown tomorrow, so it will definitely be light posting over the weekend.  I know that I usually don;t post over the weekend, but this time I have a reason.  I might be able to post a little about the Samphere, because my MP3/Media Player have wireless access and a web browser.  So if I find something interesting or just want to say a little about the Meeting, I can maybe post a little bit.  It has a touchpad keyboard so I will not post much if I do.

So I will see you on Monday. 

Have a great weekend.  And I can check my email on the Media player or my phone also.

Mastercard

H/T to Curmudgeonly & Skeptical

 

Priceless

Eric Allie

Eric Allie

Mike Shelton

Mike Shelton