What in the hell were they thinking? I just don’t get it. They’re police officers for God’s sake, they know the law.

The confession of a man charged with kidnapping, raping and killing 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford isn’t admissible in court, but the discovery of her body can be used as evidence, a judge ruled Friday.

John Evander Couey, a 47-year-old convicted sex offender, gave the confession to detectives, but also told them that he wanted to consult a lawyer. He wasn’t given the opportunity to do so.

Every police officer out there knows when a suspect asks to speak with his or her attorney, all questioning MUST stop until that attorney is present. Hell, everyone knows that.

I am so disgusted right now I am sick. Here is a sick bastard who killed an innocent little girl, and confessed. He tells the police he did it, he tells them how he did it, and he tells them where to find her body. There is no doubt he did it.

But because some dumb ass cop thought he didn’t need to follow the law, the confession cannot be used. I am so sick of this stuff happening. It’s time police departments crack down on the idiots that think they are above the law. Too many cases get thrown out because of situations just like this and the officers who do it put an additional strain on our legal system, and help put creeps back into our society.

Right now, I just hope they gathered enough “legal” evidence to get this conviction.

Israeli warplanes struck the Palestinian Interior Ministry early Friday, setting it ablaze as Arab leaders tried to forge a deal that would halt the Israeli offensive and free a 19-year-old soldier held by gunmen allied with the ruling Islamic Hamas.

The bombing was one of more than a dozen across the Gaza Strip after midnight, though Israel called off a planned ground invasion of northern Gaza on Thursday in order to give diplomacy another chance.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said militants agreed to a conditional release of the kidnapped soldier but that Israel had yet to accept their terms, which he did not specify. Israel said it was not familiar with any such offer.

…

Israel also vowed to hunt down the killers of a kidnapped 18-year-old, whose body was found Thursday in the West Bank with a gunshot wound to the head. Hamas-linked militants said they killed him.

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Anger flared across the Middle East over Israel’s assault, and many Arabs criticized their governments for not aiding the Palestinians. The Egyptian government’s top rival, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, urged Egyptians to gather at pro-Palestinian demonstrations Friday, the Muslim Sabbath.

…

The group also said it killed Eliahu Asheri, the 18-year-old West Bank settler whose body was discovered Thursday. The militants had said they would kill Asheri if the raid on Gaza did not stop, but an Israeli military official said he was shot in the head shortly after he was abducted Sunday.

Palestinians kidnapped an 18-year-old. Palestinians killed him. Palestinians then announced they would kill him if the raid on Gaza did not stop, but he was already dead.

Palestinians kidnapped a 19-year-old soldier. What makes these animals think anyone would make a “deal” with them? He could be dead already. It’s not like the Palestinians have a reputation for honesty, or integrity.

Palestinians are now offering his release with “conditions”. Who the hell deals with terrorists?

It would be absolutely insane for Israel to make a deal with these bastards, or any of their friends across the Mid-East, until their own conditions are “serious”, “critical”, or even “fatal”.

I’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to tell you about my brand new podcast!

Information Salad is an ecclectic mix of news, entertainment and frivality all in one bowl.

Each week, we chat about the hot (and not-so-hot) topics being discussed in the blogosphere, we review the latest news of the week, and we share tips and ideas on everything from programming and computers to cooking and crafts. We’ll throw in an interview from time to time, and we might even go to remote locations to do our shows. You just won’t know until you tune in.

So, join us each week as we “toss it up” on Information Salad.

For our premier episode, I interviewed Vinny, from Insignificant Thoughts. I have a lot of surprises on tap for next week’s episode, so head on over to Information Salad!

We’ve been here before, so I won’t get too excited until I know it’s actually going to be enforced.

Rules on the issuance of photo ID’s to Georgia voters have been cleared by the US Justice Department. Now, it is up to the State Election Board to decide whether to require them for the July 18th primary.

Board members Tex McIver and Randy Evans said today that unless unanticipated problems arise tomorrow, they expect to begin issuing the ID’s for the July contest. Both men were appointed by Republicans to the five-member board.

Critics of the law, which mandates that all voters must have a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot, are expected to respond with a legal challenge. Democratic state Senator Tyrone Brooks of Atlanta says he expects a court injunction to block the ID requirement for the primary.

Of course, the liberals will try to fight this tooth and nail until it dies, or at least until they take control again. Then again, with the way they act, and fail to represent the people of the state of Georgia, hell will freeze over long before either of those things happen.

With all the mudslinging from the left…

A supporter of Lieutenant Governor Mark Taylor sued a top aide to Secretary of State Cathy Cox for defamation today. It is the latest salvo in the pair’s increasingly bitter primary battle for the Democratic nomination for governor.

Benjamin Cawthon, a former city councilman from Blakely, said his name had been “willfully and maliciously” slandered by Cox communications director Peter Jackson. Jackson was quoted in a newspaper over the weekend suggesting that Cawthon had been charged with a crime.

Sonny Perdue has nothing to worry about when it comes to re-election.

by TD of The Right Track

With any proposal, sooner or later the naysayers start their doom-and-gloom predictions. The FairTax proposal is no exception. There are those out there whining and crying about how “it won’t really work that way”, despite the fact that the current income tax system isn’t working the way it’s supposed to work. I suppose their fear is exchanging the devil they know for the devil they don’t know. In this article, I’ll highlight some of their worries and attempt to dispel them.

A national sales tax will create a huge black market.

Among all the arguments to be made against the FairTax, perhaps this one holds the least water. Arguments are made that this “black market” will spring up, with people “illegally trading DVDs, cigarettes, canned foods” yada yada yada. OK, illegally trading? What’s illegal today about trading those items? Nothing! So what’s the problem?

“They’ll be avoiding the tax!”

And that’s bad, why? My wife buys romance novels at a used book store now. She’d be avoiding the tax, too. She’s also reading books that everyone else read weeks or months ago. I say, “Come on, black market!” Only the market won’t be black. It can be right in a store front, advertising used books, consignment shops for clothes, furniture, camping equipment, you name it! A whole new type of business will emerge! That will be great for the economy, right? Right!

The national sales tax will give government another reason to make cash purchases illegal.

Those making this argument claim that paying with cash will make it easier to avoid paying the tax. This is simply ridiculous. Number one, most businesses are run by honest, dependable people. It’s not the business owner that’s being taxed, remember, it’s the purchaser of goods and services. With penalties for those who attempt to cheat the system, the onus is on the business to be open and above-board in collecting and paying the tax. The businesses will keep a small percentage of what they collect in order to offset their expenses in collecting and reporting the tax! While the consumer might hope for a break from the tax, it would be the rare businessman who would collude with the consumer in his scheme to avoid the tax!

The tax will be used to track your entire financial life.

Coming so closely after the previous argument, you have to laugh. First folks are going to pay with cash to avoid the tax, then the tax will be used to track your entire financial life. Unbelievable. How so? You’re not filing a return, are you? To do this, the government would have to:

1. Obtain records of your purchases from retail or service center outlets
2. Obtain records of your purchases from your financial institution
3. Collate the records in order to see what went where
4. Have a really good reason to waste their time doing this

But remember, the tax applies to new goods and services only. Don’t want the government to know you bought that new Humvee? Get last year’s model from a used car dealer. Want a couple of evening gowns? Hit the new consignment shop that just opened up a few blocks from your work. But do you know why the government won’t track your entire financial life? Simply put, you’re not that big a deal. Sorry to deflate your ego, but why would the government care to delve into your personal finances? They don’t care what you spend money on, as long as they get their cut!

Simply put, any tax scheme can run rampant over the American people without diligent and unceasing attention on the part of the American taxpayer. It is up to you and I to keep our government on a short leash. We must realize that there are no free rides. When the government gives you something, they have to take something away from you first in order to do so.

As author Edward Abbey said, “A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against its government.”

TD

The FairTax Blogburst is jointly produced by Terry of The Right Track Blog and Jonathan of Publius Rendezvous. If you would like to host the weekly postings on your blog, please e-mail Terry. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll.

Jeffrey M. Harbers, who was one of Microsoft Corp.’s first employees and was instrumental in developing early versions of its immensely successful Office business software, has died in a single-engine plane crash in Montana.

Pilot Jason Barton, 31, of Yukon, Okla., also was killed when their single-engine plane crashed and burned shortly after takeoff Saturday afternoon from the airport in Big Timber, Mont., a coroner said Sunday.

…

In the 1980s, Harbers led engineering and development of Office, the immensely popular software for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations.

Office continues to be one of Microsoft’s most successful products, raking in billions of dollars in profits for the company.

Harbers left Microsoft in the early 1990s to pursue ranching and other interests.

Rest In Peace, Jeffrey.

Soon after “blogging” became a word in people’s vocabulary, Acidman began posting at Gut Rumbles. I have been reading his blog for quite a while now. He was rude and crude, but most of all, he was honest. He was always honest. Misha says it best,

Oh yes, he was rude, outspoken, at times downright obnoxious, but he was always true to himself. True to himself and honest to the point where it sometimes hurt. I admired that, even when some of the things he said made me cringe, because you always knew exactly where you had him. And beneath that rough veneer, beneath all of the raging against the fading of the light, there was a warm, loving man. Most of all I remember his posts about his love of his son, Quinton, in which the “softer side of Rob” shone through like a beacon.

That’s a side of him that I’ll remember well. A side of him that showed me and everybody else who cared to read that, no matter how much anger and frustration one man holds, there’s always more to a man that, that there is good as well as the bad and the ugly.

Some will remember him for the bad and the ugly, some will remember him for the good. I will remember him for all of it.

The blogosphere has lost one of it’s most unique, down-to-earth people. Bloggers are a dime a dozen, but there will never be anyone like Acidman.

Rest In Peace, Rob.

Lawyers have ethics? You learn something new everyday.

An attorney representing the mother of slain Virginia Commonwealth University student Taylor Behl has been found guilty of “ethical misconduct” because of statements he made to the press after he was dismissed as the attorney for Janet Pelasara.

A Virginia State Bar committee filed a complaint against Michael Morchower accusing him of attorney misconduct because the statements he made to the press potentially violated client-attorney confidentiality and could affect ability of the accused in the case to receive a fair trial.

…

Two days after she dismissed Morchower, he was quoted in the Washington Times saying, “It is probably going to be virtually impossible for the medical examiner to reconstruct how [Behl] died. The Commonwealth forensically may not be able to contradict [Fawley's] statement.”

He should have known to keep his mouth shut.

They must be on to me.

They only showed four drivers during the National Anthem at the start of today’s race at Infineon Raceway.

Three of them clearly did not have their hands over their hearts, and the fourth was not shown enough to be able to determine whether he was or not.

The three we were not showing respect were Jamie McMurray, Matt Kenseth, and Dale Jarrett.

Joe Nemechek was the fourth driver, and his track record says he probably was showing respect to our flag.

Here are the totals, after week #3:

I’m still shocked at the number of drivers, and crew members, who do not show the proper respect for our flag.