LAWYERBRUCE: 10/01/2010

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

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Saturday, October 30, 2010

Thank you Chief Feithen

OCTOBER 30, 2010

Right, wrong or indifferent the DeKalb Police Department and I am sure many other agencies apparently solved the Toni Keller murder. The information surrounding this case was slow in coming out and did not always seem to make sense but they got their man. William P. Curl, 34, was arrested in Louisiana for multiple counts of murder, sexual assault, obstruction of justice, car theft and arson. He could face the death penalty since two of the murder charges re death penalty eligible. The murder occurred during the sexual assault. The obstruction charge is for lying to police and leaving the State. The car theft charge is foe taking his mother’s car without her permission. He drove to Mexico and then back to the United States before being found in Covington, Louisiana.

I could not locate a William P. Curl or a Billy Curl on Facebook or Twitter. I didn’t bother looking on LinkedIn, he doesn’t fit the profile.

Good job Chief Feithen and everyone that helped. The community will sleep better and feel safer about sending our children trick-or-treating tomorrow.

Speaking of monsters.

It’s almost here, Halloween that is. With it comes an old song most of us has heard before. “Monster Mash" is a 1962 novelty song and the best-known song by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. The song was released as a single on Gary S. Paxton's Garpax Records label in August 1962 along with a full-length LP called The Original Monster Mash, which contained several other monster-themed tunes. The "Monster Mash" single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on October 20 of that year, just in time for Halloween. It is the only song to reach number one with the word “electrodes” in it. It has been a perennial holiday favorite ever since. "The Crypt-Kickers". was a five member group that recorded the song with “Boris” Pickett. One of the Crypt-Kickers was Leon Russell.

It appears a terrorist organization has planned and conducted a run through of a multi pronged terror attack. The success or failure of the exercise is hard to determine. We are not going to be given all the facts. So we don’t know if an intelligence agency discovered the plan, if someone found a suspicious device that helped uncover the plan or if an agency received a tip, anonymous or otherwise. It is hard to brand this an intelligence success. At least one device made it onto a plane. Had it been a bomb and it was built properly, it would have exploded.

Officially, the most popular name in England is Oliver, knocking Jack out of first place, If, however, you count the several different ways of spelling Muhamet as one name, it would be in first place. The British should be concerned about this. King Muhammed doesn’t sound good.

The richest man in India is moving into his one billion dollar home shortly, after several delays. A billion dollars just doesn’t get you what it used to.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/attorneybruceabrennan

Friday, October 29, 2010

Did 'Danno' book Randy or Charlie?

OCTOBER 29, 2010

GOOD MORNING OR AFTERNOON IF YOU ARE LATE GETTING TO THIS. Remember, I post this Blog quite early. Class starts at 6:30 a.m.

Congratulations to the DeKalb Police Department for making an arrest in Louisiana relative to the Toni Keller case. The man apparently gave police misleading information about a fire in Prairie Park around the time of the disappearance. I hope this works out to be a big arrest in the investigation but the person has not been charged with murder.

Randy and Evi Quaid have been released from custody in Canada. They must still go through the immigration process, they just don’t have to wait in jail. Canadian and border officials have dropped all charges. It has been determined Evi is a Canadian citizen. Her father is Canadian but he moved to the US to take a job with the FBI. Nice call FBI.

You cannot “Book em, Danno” anymore. James MacArthur, 72, has died. He is best known as Danno on the original Hawaii Five-0 television series. He died of natural causes at his home in Florida. He was the adopted son of actress Helen Hayes.

This just in, Charlie Sheen was not arrested today and did not enter rehab, the hospital or have dinner with Andy Dick. There is still some time left in the day, however.

Chrysler has requested 10 billion dollars in additional loan money from the Federal Government. The Treasury Department already owns 10% of Chrysler, which is run by Italy’s Fiat automaker. Chrysler cannot return to making money as Ford and General Motors has. The money Chrysler is seeking is in addition to the big tax breaks given the Big Three by the State of Michigan. Chrysler will receive 1.3 billion dollars in tax breaks over the next twenty years from Michigan.

The California Gold Rush of 1849 is associated with Sitter’s Creek and John Sutter. We now have Bruce Bochy and the Giants Pennant Rush of 2010 on the Red River. With a 2 games to none lead in the World Series, the Giants look unstoppable, but they do play the games for a reason.

FROM AOL JOBS NEWS

Nine exotic dancers, employed as independent contractors, got a conditional okay from a federal judge to proceed with a class action lawsuit against the Penthouse Executive Club for alleged violations of federal and state labor laws.

That means that other women employed as contract workers by Penthouse Executive Club can join the lawsuit now that it's been conditionally certified as class action. The defendant claims that since the women are independent contractors they are not protected by the traditional federal and state labor laws. Therefore, this case will be closely watched by other contract employees.

The grievances by the strippers, reports the New York Post, include:

Must pay for their own uniforms, that is, thongs
Employer didn't pay minimum wage or overtime and confiscated part of tips
Employer charged dancers a house fee for dance shifts
Employer deducted a 20 percent premium when dancers exchange the house tokens, which some customers used for tips, for cash.

Notable births on this date:

1884 Bela Lugosi horror actor (Dracula, Body Snatcher)
1891 Fanny Brice singing comedienne (Ziegeld Follies, Baby Snooks)

1897 Paul Joseph Goebbels Nazi propagandist

1947 Richard Dreyfuss Brooklyn NY, actor (Jaws, Nuts)
1948 Kate Jackson Birmingham Ala, actress (Rookies, Charlie's Angels)

1971 Winona Ryder [Horowitz], Mn, actress (Heathers, Edward Scissorhand)

Notable deaths on this date:

1618 Sir Walter Raleigh is executed in London
1885 George B McClellan Union army general, dies at 58
1901 Leon Czolcosz assassin of President McKinley, is executed

1971 Duane Allman dies at 24 in a motorcycle accident

1987 Woody Herman bandleader/composer (Thundering Herds), dies at 74

Notable events on this date:

539 -BC- Babylon falls to Cyrus the Great of Persia
1682 William Penn lands in what will become Pennsylvania

1929 "Black Tuesday," Stock Market crashes triggers "Great Depression"

1945 1st ball point pen goes on sale, 57 years after it was patented

1956 Chet Huntley & David Brinkley, NBC News, team up

1960 Muhammad Ali's as Cassius Clay 1st professional fight beats Tunney Hunsaker in 6

1966 National Organization of Women founded

1982 Car maker John DeLorean indicted for drug trafficking, later acquitted

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/attorneybruceabrennan

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Death in the deset and Mars--HERE WE COME

OCTOBER 28, 2010

A twice convicted murderer in Arizona found out Elena Kagan did not necessarily want to play well with her new classmates. In her first vote as a Justice of the Supreme Court she also learned that the votes of a Supreme are final, very final for Jeffrey Landigan. She voted, with three other Supreme Court Justices, to stay the execution of Landigan, as a Federal Trial Court and Federal Appellate Court had done.

Not so fast Justice Kagan. The majority rules and even in Washington D.C,, four does not beat five. In a 5-4 ruling, which was not signed, but received the needed votes from Justices John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito to overturn the two lower Courts stay of execution. Justice Kagan sided with the minority but within hours, Landigan was dead. He was only the second person executed in Arizona in nearly ten years. He had been on death row since 1990. Prior to the murder he was executed for, he had been convicted of second degree murder.

At issue was a drug that is in short supply in the United States, sodium thiopental, a strong sedative. Arizona bought its supply from an unidentified source in Britain. No evidence was before the Court or any lower Court the foreign drug was unsafe.

The anti-death penalty crowd convinced lower Court judges it was not proven safe. This is another case of law-making from the bench, what can’t be done at the ballot box some misguided Judge will do it from the bench.. The drug was designed to kill the prisoner. The only way it would be unsafe was if it didn’t work. The drug is a sedative meant to give the murderer a peaceful death. If it didn’t put him to sleep, the drug administered after it would kill him and accomplish the mission. It worked in Arizona. Landigan is burning in hell as you read this.

Andy Dick, insert joke here, was in a coffee house, apparently in a state of extreme intoxication when he leaned over and kissed one of his male companions on the mouth. He then exposed his genitals to the diners, got up and staggered down the street. This was at least his third incident of for similar actions in addition to his two arrests for obscene sexual behavior. Let’s vote this moron off the planet.

There was a nice letter at the Chronicle’s website praising Ms. Chami for being a fine leader before she was in high school. I do not think we should be electing the 8^th grade class president or prom queen as our State’s Attorney. If that is the best she has to offer, the choice is even clearer in favor of Clay Campbell.

NASA is planning a one way mission to Mars by 2030. The goal is to establish a permanent settlement on the red planet. The reason it is a one way mission to Mars is because we think can get there but we have not figured out how to get back. It seems the cost, technology and power source is beyond our knowledge, as of now.

I am fully aware that many discoveries are a direct result of the space program but is this mission necessary. By its own parameters, everything we send to Mars will end up as space junk since we cannot bring it back. We have done such a wonderful job with planet Earth, do we really need to start impacting Mars. Go ahead Glenn, have at it.

Notable births on this date:

1017 Henry III Holy Roman emperor (1046-56)

1907 Edith Head fashion designer (MGM)
1907 Lew Parker actor (Lou Marie-That Girl)

1914 Dr Jonas Salk NYC, medical researcher, made polio a fear of the past
1926 Bowie Kuhn baseball commissioner (1969-1984)

1936 Charlie Daniels country music star (Devil Went Down to Georgia)

1944 Dennis Franz Maywood Ill, actor (Norman Buntz-Hill Street Blues)

1955 William Gates billionaire CEO (Microsoft) He is my age, hard to tell us apart.

Notable deaths on this date:

900 Alfred the Great English monarch, dies
1957 Anthony J Morabito co-owner of SF '49ers, dies while watching a game
1980 Leon Janney actor (Hawk), dies at 63

Notable events on this date:

1492 Christopher Columbus discovers Cuba
1636 Harvard University (Boston) established
1776 Battle of White Plains; Washington retreats to NJ
1790 New York gives up claims to Vermont for $30,000

1919 Volstead Act passed by Congress, start prohibition over Wilson's veto
1922 1st coast-to-coast radio broadcast of a football game
1922 Benito Mussolini takes control of Italy's government
1924 White Sox beat NY Giants 8-4 in Dublin, less than 20 people attended game

1962 Khrushchev orders withdrawal of missiles from Cuba, ending crisis

1965 Gateway Arch (630' (190m) high) completed in St Louis, Missouri
1965 Pope Paul VI proclaims Jews not collectively guilty for crucifixion

1977 TV's Rhoda gets married

1988 Jurors award $147,000 to Tacoma parishioner seduced by her minister
1988 Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen gives $10 million to U Wash library
1989 Oakland A's sweep SF Giants in earthquake/BART series

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

https://www.safelinkwireless.com/EnrollmentPublic/Home.aspx

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Obamaphone, his newest trick pulled from his hat that dosn't work

OCTOBER 27, 2010

The family of Toni Keller has my condolences. I hope the crime can be solved and the offender sentenced to death. Unfortunately, we do not burn at the stake anymore but I would make an exception in this case. Whoever becomes the next State’s Attorney of DeKalb County will have to make the decision of whether or not to seek the death penalty. That will tell us all a lot about the winner. Seems like a no brainer to me.

This is not the first time I have heard of the free phones for welfare program but, interestingly enough, it is being promoted a week before the election. Most just be a coincidence.

Want a free phone from President Obama? Go to the website below and signup for your Obamaphone. The free phones are so the drug dealers and welfare recipients don’t have to leave the house in order to lie about looking for a job. They can merely use their free phone to call about jobs they will never get and would never take if offered to them. I believe the phones are also available to illegal aliens. Although the website application asks for a Social Security number, the illegal’s have a history of securing one valid Social Security number and multiple people using it. Why do we give free phones to welfare recipients? And why do they have computers with internet service making it easy to work the system? They are not all going to the library to use the internet. The argument that the free phones are for safety is a red herring. The welfare world has existed for decades without free phones. I do not want to pay for my phone and I surely do not want to pay for a free phone for generations of freeloaders. Welcome to ObamaWorld.

We have to vote these rascals out of office. Obama did not pass this law alone. This is lobbying in its purist form. Give an enormous group of people a free life, make it easy on them. Come election time they will vote for you to keep their benefits. When a lobbyist for the energy industry gives a few Congressman gifts, vacations, parties or meals and the Congressmen vote in line with the energy industry, we call it graft and corruption. When Obama does it, it is called compassion. Not by me.

It is a sad time in Frostbite Falls. Alex Anderson, 90, the artist who created the cartoon characters Rocky and Bullwinkle, the flying squirrel and hapless moose who were TV fixtures in the early 1960s, died Oct. 22 at a nursing facility in Carmel, Calif. He was a graduate of Whatsamatta U, the University in Frostbite Falls in the cartoon show.

Rocky and Bullwinkle managed to find humor in the Cold War as they battled Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale who took their orders from the seldom seen ‘Fearless Leader’ Dudley Do-Right, a Canadian Mountie, was also a character on the cartoon show, constantly in pursuit of the dastardly Snidely Whiplash as he foreclosed on widows and tied them to train tracks. The Snidely Whiplash’s of today are not tying many to railroad tracks these days but they are forcing more into homelessness including widows. I know you should pay your debts but when a lender qualifies you for an adjustable rate mortgage at the then low initial payment knowing full well that if the rate goes up one or two points you would not qualify and you cannot afford the higher monthly premium that is inevitable, the industry should have some liability. They are in the money lending business, not the property management business. Foreclosed homes and empty homes in a neighborhood drive all prices down. It is the Reagan trickle-down theory out of control. And part of the blame lies with the government regulators who forced lenders to make loans outside of guidelines. The government sued lenders for redlining, which forced them to make risky loans they had not been approving. They were not approving these loans because they were a poor risk. This is just another example of our government running private industry with tragic results. Sooner or later our government will find something they can do right; it cannot govern, it cannot run social programs, it cannot run private business, it cannot hire enough competent people and it cannot fix the health industry. It can give money and phones away. The Peter Principle at work.

Remember, we got to get a new hat because that trick never works.

Notable births on this date:

1728 James Cook captain/explorer, discovered Sandwich Islands

1858 Theodore Roosevelt (R) 26th Pres (1901-09) (Nobel 1906)

1918 Teresa Wright NYC, actress (Pride of the Yankees)

1939 John Cleese comedian/actor (Monty Python, Fawlty Towers)
1940 Lee Greenwood country singer (God Bless the USA)
1945 Carrie Snodgress Park Ridge Ill, actress (Diary of Mad Housewife)

1963 Marla Maples Dalton Ga, model/Donald Trump's main squeeze

Notable deaths on this date:

1972 Lew Parker actor (Lou Marie-That Girl), dies a day before turning 65

1988 S.B. Fuller founder of Fuller products, dies at 83
1990 Elliott Roosevelt son of FDR, dies at 80

1996 Morey Amsterdam actor/comedian (Dick Van Dyke Show) at 74

Notable events on this date:

1775 US Navy established
1787 Federalist letters start appearing in NY newspapers
1795 Treaty of San Lorenzo, provides free navigation of Mississippi
1810 US annexes West Florida from Spain

1919 Axeman of New Orleans claims last victim (October) – never captured

1941 Chicago Daily Tribune editorialize there will not be war with Japan

1978 Begin & Sadat win the Nobel Peace prize – That sure worked out

1982 IBM ROM is capable of EGA graphics

1988 "ET" released to home video (14 million presold)
1988 Larry Flynt paid a hitman $1M to kill Hefner, Guccione & Sinatra

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Political endorsements or not

OCTOBER 26, 2010

The election is only a week away. I have made my mind up. Whatever happens from now until the election will be negative and released by the other candidates.

It is no surprise but I strongly endorse Tom Doherty for Circuit Judge. He is the better of the two candidates between Jordan Gallagher and himself. He will be the best Judge between the two. The experience argument is specious at best and a red herring. Only sitting Judges have experience. They all are neophytes at one point. Two years on the bench, much of it in ‘dog-bite’ Court in Aurora doesn’t provide enough experience to defeat the better candidate, Ton Doherty. Vote for Tom Doherty.

In the campaign for DeKalb County State’s Attorney, the decision is an easy one. A seasoned trial lawyer, experienced with over twenty years in the Courtroom easily trumps an inexperienced bureaucrat who moved from the Chicago area just to run for a high-paying government job with the backing of her heavily connected father and his powerful associates. Clay Campbell has earned our respect and our vote. Ms. Chami merely picked her parents right. She has not earned anything.

For Governor, get Quinn out of there as soon as humanly possible. Bill Brady is the best candidate and the only major candidate with real world experience in modern business. Brady has accomplishments outside of the government arena. He is being vilified for being successful. I always thought it was a good thing to be a millionaire but not in Quinn’s world. He calls Brady on the carpet for claiming tax deductions. Brady did not make the tax laws and should not be criticized for following them. Quinn is in way over his head. He does not have the intelligence, backbone or trustworthiness to continue as the Governor of Illinois. He got the job by default. He wasn’t ready then and he isn’t ready now. He has bought off most of the available unions. The voters of Illinois must make sure Quinn is a long-forgotten memory when the unions come calling to cash in their chips.

The United States Senate seat once occupied by President Obama is being sought by two people who do not deserve to win. One of these liars is going to win. One would take the Chicago outfit with him and the other would take a war chest full of bogus military awards with him. Neither will take honesty or the respect of the voters with them. “None of the above” should be an option.

I vote in every election. I vote on every issue and race. This year that will change. I will not vote for either Kirk or Giannoulias. I will leave that race blank. You may call that a waste or say “vote or don’t complain” In this election, voting for either one of the two main candidates would be a wasted vote. I have already complained. If this is the best the two main parties could come up with as major candidates, we are in bigger trouble than I first thought.

I do not support Bill Foster. Randy Hultgren will get my vote. Bill Foster is the invisible Congressman. He has never done anything on his own. He lends his name to a few bills that are sure to pass so he can make campaign claims but I am not aware of a single original, independent idea he has come up with. Randy Hultgren can do a better job. He is another candidate being attacked for following the law. Foster says Hultgren’s employer took bailout money. He doesn’t say Hultgren took bailout money, I suspect because he didn’t. Foster voted for the bailout and now wants to be reelected because a company followed the law he made and took the bailout money. Foster is making a circular argument on that one and it always leads back to the incumbents that voted for the laws they now complain about. That argument is similar to a person who kills his parents and then asks the Court for leniency because he is an orphan. Didn’t work then, won’t work now. Vote for Randy Hultgren.

Notable births on this date:

1879 Leon Trotsky Russian revolutionary (pres of 1st Soviet)

1916 Fran‡ois Mitterand Jarnac France, President of France (1981-1995)

1919 Edward W Brooke 1st black senator in over 80 yrs (Sen-R-Mass)

1947 Hilary Rodham Clinton First Lady (1993-)

Notable deaths on this date:

901 King Alfred the Great, die

1868 B F Randolph SC state senator, assassinated

1909 Prince Ito of Japan is assassinated by a Korean

1979 Park Chung-hee South Korean President is assassinated

Notable events on this date:

1774 1st Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia

1881 Shootout at the OK corral, in Tombstone, Az

1955 Ngo Dinh Diem proclaims Vietnam a republic with himself as pres

1972 Henry Kissinger declares "Peace is at hand" in Vietnam

1975 Anwar Sadat became 1st Egyptian president to officially visit the US

1976 Trinidad & Tobago becomes a republic

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

Monday, October 25, 2010

Hail Mary for 'Toni"

OCTOBER 25, 2010

It is a sad time for the Keller family. I know I will say an extra Hail Mary for the family.

I mentioned the other day how the local paper should take ‘Daily’ out of its name since it was not a daily paper anymore. The Keller story brought this into focus. You are reading this online so perhaps I am preaching to the choir but if a local citizen wanted to be brought up to date on the Keller story you would have to get your information from the Chicago media or the Rockford media. The Chronicle was put to bed. If newspapers want to remain or revive their viability, they must connect with the reader. The story that will likely be this biggest in the area for 2010 was unfolding and the Chronicle was not being published. At least the Chronicle does not run the area radio stations. They kept the public informed as the paper should have.

The Bears started out with a 3 and 0 record. Since then, the Bears have played to a 1 and 3 record.. It is obvious the Bears are a 1 and 3 team not a 3 and 0 team. The Bears have the same problem the Cubs have; they spend money on players, just not the right players. It does not do any good to have, what they call, a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback when he cannot be protected. I am also under the belief a Pro Bowl or All Star caliber player plays at that level with or without team support. That type of player is supposed to be good enough to overcome the deficiencies in his less talented teammates. Jay Cutler is not that good. He is no better than Kyle Orton, who took the Bears to a Super Bowl, somewhere Jay Cutler has never been, as a player.

The Green Bay Packers beat their former quarterback, Brett Favre, Sunday night. Throughout his career, Favre has worn number 4. In what was likely his last game in Green Bay, the Packers beat Favre and his Vikings by 4 points.

Notable births on this date:

1869 John Heisman pioneering football coach/trophy namesake

1881 Pablo Picasso Spain, artist (3 Dancers, Guernica)

1888 Richard E Byrd Virginia, admiral/polar explorer (1926)

1912 Minnie Pearl [Sarah Ophelia Colley] Tenn, (Grand Old Opry, Hee-Haw)

1923 Bobby Thomson HR hitter (The Giants win the pennant)-Now That Is Weird

1928 Marion Ross Albert Lea Mn, actress (Marion-Happy Days, Brooklyn Bridge)- Mr. ‘C’ didn’t make this birthday party.

1967 Julia Roberts Smyma Georgia, actress (Mystic Pizza, Pretty Woman)

Notable deaths on this date:

1400 Geofrey Chaucer author, dies in London
1892 Caroline Harrison Pres Benjamin Harrison's wife, dies at 60

1985 Morton Downey singer (Star of the Family), dies at 83
1986 Forrest Tucker actor (O'Rourke-F Troop, Dusty Trail), dies at 67

Notable events on this date:

1764 John Adams marries Abigail Smith (marriage lasts 54 years)

1854 The Light Brigade charges (Battle of Balaklava) (Crimean War)

1870 Pimlico Race Course opens in Baltimore

1929 Former Interior Sec Albert Fall convicted of accepting $100,000 bribe-somethings never change

1944 Japanese navy defeated at battle of Leyte Gulf-Remember the USS Indianapolis

1962 American author John Steinbeck awarded Nobel Prize in literature

1962 Stevenson demands USSR amb Zorin answer regarding Cuban missile bases saying "I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over"
1963 Beatles begin their 1st full foreign tour in Sweden
1964 Viking Jim Marshall runs 66 yards in the wrong direction for a safety

1965 Rolling Stones release "Get Off of My Cloud"

1971 Roy Disney dedicates Walt Disney World

1983 US invades Grenada, a country 1/2,000 its population-At least we won

1988 ABC News reports on potbellied pygmy porkers' popularity as pets
1990 Evander Hollyfield KOs James "Buster" Douglas for HW boxing title

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com