Thursday, December 21, 2006

Crazed Man Stabbed Four Times in brawl over bathroom hygiene

A bloody brawl erupted outside a tavern after one customer thought another failed to wash his hands after using the bathroom, police said.

One man was hospitalized with stab wounds. Another was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

According to a police report, the fight broke out Thursday after Eric Jennings Kisiah, 27, became upset about a customer's apparent hygiene failure at the Tumbleweeds Sports Bar.
Witnesses told police Kisiah confronted the customer and two of his friends, calling them names, telling them they were dirty and threatening to "slash their throats."

Kisiah then hid near a shrub outside the bar and charged the group as they left, the police report said.

One of the men, 25-year-old Morgan Jackson, was stabbed four times, police said. He was listed in good condition after surgery.

Kisiah was jailed in lieu of $20,000 bail. Mansfield Jail officials declined to let a reporter speak with Kisiah or say whether he had an attorney.

of www.azcentral.com

Friday, December 15, 2006

Puzzle for the Governor: Is Life in Prison Excessive for Smoking Pot?

The Drug War Chronicle reports that pressure is building for Texas Gov. Rick Perry to commute the sentence of Tyrone Brown, who was sentenced to life in prison for smoking pot. In 1990, when he was 17, Brown took part in a $2 robbery in which the victim was not physically injured, a crime for which he received 10 years of probation. A few weeks later, he tested positive for marijuana, and the judge not only revoked his probation but inexplicably resentenced him to a life term. Now, after local and national media attention triggered by the November Coalition, Perry has been urged to commute Brown's sentence not only by outraged citizens but by Dallas District Attorney Bill Hill, Sheriff Louie Valdez, and even the sentencing judge, Keith Dean, who is no longer in office. In addition to the sheer insanity of the sentence, there's a racial angle (which proved important in Perry's decision to release the Tulia residents nabbed for allegedly selling cocaine to discredited undercover cop Tom Coleman): The Dallas Morning News contrasted Dean's ridiculously harsh treatment of Brown, a poor black teenager, with the lenience he showed a wealthy white guy, John Alexander Wood, who received a 10-year suspended sentence for killing a prostitute. When Wood repeatedly tested positive for cocaine, Dean did not send him to jail, let alone give him a life sentence. Instead he arranged things so Wood didn't have to take drug tests anymore.


of reason.com

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Top 20 'Whitest' and 'Blackest' Names

Studies of resumes have found that people with black-sounding names are less likely to get callbacks.

"20/20" put 22 pairs of names to the test, posting identical resumes except for the names at the top.

The resumes with the white-sounding names were actually downloaded 17 percent more often by job recruiters than the resumes with black-sounding names.

What are some of those names? Here's a list from the book "Freakonomics," by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, showing the top 20 whitest- and blackest-sounding girl and boy names.

20 "Whitest" Girl Names
Molly
Amy
Claire
Emily
Katie
Madeline
Katelyn
Emma
Abigail
Carly
Jenna
Heather
Katherine
Caitlin
Kaitlin
Holly
Allison
Kaitlyn
Hannah
Kathryn

20 "Blackest" Girl Names

Imani
Ebony
Shanice
Aaliyah
Precious
Nia
Deja
Diamond
Asia
Aliyah
Jada
Tierra
Tiara
Kiara
Jazmine
Jasmin
Jazmin
Jasmine
Alexus
Raven

20 "Whitest" Boy Names

Jake
Connor
Tanner
Wyatt
Cody
Dustin
Luke
Jack
Scott
Logan
Cole
Lucas
Bradley
Jacob
Garrett
Dylan
Maxwell
Hunter
Brett
Colin

20 "Blackest" Boy Names

DeShawn
DeAndre
Marquis
Darnell
Terrell
Malik
Trevon
Tyrone
Willie
Dominique
Demetrius
Reginald
Jamal
Maurice
Jalen
Darius
Xavier
Terrance
Andre
Darryl


of abcnews.go.com