Daily Archives: November 23, 2010

Actor Michael Brea Murders Mom in Religious Conniption, Police May Have Contributed to Death

This is interesting at so many levels, but I thought you might find it pertinent to the ongoing discussion of whether or not we should assume that a person is good because they are very very religious, or check our wallets frequently and wear body armor when near them because they are very very religious.

Michael Brea is a bit actor who has had roles in TV shows you may have heard of (“Ugly Betty” being one of them). He was heard by a neighbor chanting religious phrases at his mother and demanding to know if she believed in god while he hacked at her with a ceremonial Freemason’s sword.

The police arrived and found Yannick Brea alive and bleeding, severely injured with multiple stab wounds to the head. She did not live.

When police first arrived they waited 45 minutes to attempt an entry to the apartment. Later, when asked why they took so long to attempt a rescue, they mumbled something about it being a “barricaded situation” and then whined for a while about how dangerous police work is.

One of the neighbors reported it this way:

Continue reading Actor Michael Brea Murders Mom in Religious Conniption, Police May Have Contributed to Death

Obama remark on science

“It is in these labs — often late at night, often fueled by a dangerous combination of coffee and obsession — that our future is being won. For in a global economy, the key to our prosperity will never be to compete by paying our workers less or building cheaper, lower-quality products. That’s not our advantage. The key to our success — as it has always been — will be to compete by developing new products, by generating new industries, by maintaining our role as the world’s engine of scientific discovery and technological innovation. It’s absolutely essential to our future.”

Barack Obama during the presentation of the National Medals of Science, Technology and Innovation

The whole shebang:
Continue reading Obama remark on science

How the Mn Canvassing Board has Guaranteed a State Supreme Court Challenge in the Minnesota Gubernatorial Recount.

The State Canvassing Board of Minnesota met today to “certify” the election results from earlier this month, and to affirm that the vote was within one half of one percent in the gubernatorial race between Democratic Farm Labor candidate Mark Dayton and Republican Tom Emmer.

Part of that process involves a discussion, which as of this writing is still ongoing, about the procedure for the required recount. There are a number of issues involved, and I will not bore you with all of them. But I will discuss one, because it seems to me that the outcome of today’s canvassing board meeting may guarantee that there will be a successful state supreme court challenge to the Minnesota Gubernatorial recount, presumably on behalf of whomever is determined by the recount to have lost.
Continue reading How the Mn Canvassing Board has Guaranteed a State Supreme Court Challenge in the Minnesota Gubernatorial Recount.