SDB Evening News Reads for 060211: Arizona, Karma and Gay Softball

Good Afternoon… Evening… whatever!  Here is your evening news reads for this 2^nd  day of June. Voters in Arizona may be getting some satisfaction soon, more on that in a bit.

The death toll in Massachusetts has been lowered to three, but as of this afternoon, many are out of power as search and rescue operations continue.

PhotoBlog – Deadly twisters tore through 18 communities in Mass.

Residents of 19 small communities in central and western Massachusetts were left to deal with widespread damage Thursday, one day after at least two late-afternoon tornadoes shocked emergency officials and residents more accustomed to dealing with snow and bone-chilling cold than funnel clouds spawned by spring storms.

The article goes on to say that 200 have been injured, 40 of those injuries are residents of Springfield.

There has been another mass shooting in Arizona.  Police are reporting the shooter may have killed himself after killing at least 5 people and wounding one. The shootings took place around the Courthouse, which was put in lockdown, along with the area’s schools.

Spate of deadly shootings around Yuma, Arizona, near Mexican border

At least five people were killed and one injured Thursday in a string of shootings around the southern Arizona city of Yuma, police said.

Details on the bloodshed near the Mexican border remain unclear, but Yuma police spokesman Clint Norred confirmed the deaths and said the shootings are connected.

I guess we will learn more about this later today.

The man who kidnapped and held Jaycee Lee Dugard prisoner for almost twenty years has been sentenced today.  Garridos Are Sentenced to Prison for Kidnapping Jaycee Lee Dugard – NYTimes.com

The couple who kidnapped Jaycee Lee Dugard in 1991 and held her captive for nearly two decades were sentenced to prison on Thursday, after listening to angry and emotionally wrought statements from the victim and her family.

Philip Garrido, 60, received a term of 431 years in prison. His wife, Nancy, 55, was sentenced to 36 years to life. Both waived their right to appeal as part of their sentence.

I hope this man gets what he deserves in prison…you all know how there is a hierarchy of criminals, a strange standard that the inmates follow.  Child molesters and rapist are the lowest form of scum when it comes to a prisoner’s offense. Dammit, I hope they give Garrido hell and he gets to feel the kind of torture and pain he inflicted on an innocent girl.

AFP is reporting that 3 people who returned from a trip to Germany may have that deadly e-coli …AFP: Three suspected cases of mystery e-coli in US

According to the Guardian, this strain of E– coli is drug resistant. E coli outbreak: three UK cases have rare strain | World news | The Guardian

Spanish produce due to be destroyed as a result of the outbreak. No link has been proven. Photograph: Carlos Barba/EPA

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has said that three of the seven people in Britain who have been infected by the strain of E coli sweeping Europe have developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a rare and severe kidney complication that destroys red blood cells and can affect the brain and spinal cord.

The HPA confirmed that all seven patients had recently visited Germany, where an 81-year-old woman became the 18th victim of the previously unknown E coli strain when she died on Wednesday at Hamburg-Eppendorf university hospital. More than 2,000 others have so far been infected in 10 countries from eating contaminated vegetables.

More than 2000 people have been infected? Geez! That is so many people. Doesn’t it seem strange that so many are getting sick in so many different countries?

Here is some funny news that you all will find interesting.  Karmic Update: Russell Pearce recall campaign turns in 18,000 signatures — more than twice what’s needed | Crooks and Liars

We’ve been tracking the recall campaign against Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, author of SB1070, because he insisted on playing his nativist fiddle in the Senate while Arizona’s economy burned to the ground. It probably hasn’t helped that he’s become belligerent whenever anyone brings up his role in the Fiesta Bowl scandal, either.

Get this…the man got almost twice as many recalls as he did votes.

Pearce looked scared, and he should be:

In a celebratory display of unprecedented organization, a bipartisan group of activists poured into the Arizona secretary of state’s office yesterday with more than 18,300 signatures to demand the recall of State Senate president Russell Pearce. The filing of the petitions marked the culmination of a campaign that has defied expectations, and a watershed moment for the beleaguered state. Once the state and Maricopa County recorders verify the legal requirement of 7,756 signatures from the traditionally conservative and Mormon-founded Mesa district, Pearce—who is considered by many as the de facto governor and motivating force behind the state’s notorious blitz of extremist policies on education, health, guns and immigration—will become the first State Senate president in American history to be recalled.

Yes, karma can be a bitch…

And for your last link, can you imagine getting disqualified from a gay softball tournament because you weren’t “gay” enough?

Local News | Judge refuses to toss out lawsuit over gay softball | Seattle Times Newspaper

A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by three men who claim they were disqualified from the 2008 Gay Softball World Series near Seattle for not being gay enough.

It seems that the Gay Softball World Series organization was discriminatory against bisexuals and transgenders.

Suzanne Thomas, an attorney representing the men and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, praised the judge for finding the association is subject to the state anti-discrimination laws, and said she looked forward to trying the remainder of the case.

“No one should have to go through what they experienced,” she said.

She said that, as a result of this lawsuit, the association has recently changed its rules to include bisexual and transgender people.

At least the rules have been updated…good for those three dudes who stood up for themselves.  Let’s all give them a three snap salute in a “Z” formation!

** Had to include this Hillary article in the post…so I just added here:

Video: Hillary Clinton: world must unite against Assad’s government – Telegraph

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, has said that the death of the 13-year-old Syrian boy, Hamza al-Khatib was symbolic for many of the “total collapse of any effort by the Assad government to work with their own people.”