Caturday Reads: What Happens to a Cat Dinner Deferred?

Posted: May 19, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: just because | 64 Comments

Kitty, it’s the tainted food supply causing the hold-up. Mommy has to spend extra time trying to find dinner that isn’t poison.

Morning news junkies…and cat enthusiasts! A little vintage Lolcat for you to get things started.

Also, a crazy cat lady book recommendation. Authoress Michèle Sacquin is curator at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France–and apparently cat historian on the side. I bought this hardcover a month or so ago at the MFAH (Museum of Fine Arts–Houston). It’s translated from French to English…I think there’s some quirk *gained* in the translation! And from what I can tell of the last page, there’s also a version out there available in Italian, which I’d love to locate along with the French. Anyhow, currently The Well-Read Cat is right here with me at my desk as I type this, but it travels regularly to and fro, between my kitchen and coffee tables and nightstand.

Now for some linky-business to go along with your morning cuppa…enjoy!

No farmer in their right mind wants to poison pollinators. When I spoke with one Iowa corn farmer in January and told him about the upcoming release of a Purdue study confirming corn as a major pesticide exposure route for bees, his face dropped with worn exasperation. He looked down for a moment, sighed and said, “You know, I held out for years on buying them GE seeds, but now I can’t get conventional seeds anymore. They just don’t carry ’em.”

  • Ag Department says healthier food costs less than junk food. I think I’ll have to take a closer look at that study. Wapo’s writeup makes no mention of special dietary needs and food intolerances, as if the poor are immune to such things and only the wealthy’s blood and organs have time to disagree with what they consume. Healthy foods cost less, my health nut butt! Plus, frankly most of our food supply is tainted with the complicity of Congress and our government agencies, so the US Ag department’s designation of fruits, veggies, and proteins that are “healthy” is suspect to me to begin with.

Perryton High — located just south of the Oklahoma border — has an annual “Red Ribbon Day” in which half the students portray Jews in the Nazi era and are forced to obey any commands by students or teachers and be subjected to random discipline, the suit says.

  • John W. Smart: Who Are These Bedbugs? I don’t like the source, i.e. Fox Nutsack, or its Fox Nutsack take on it. However, I’m glad John Smart gave a heads up on this story, because otherwise I probably would have had no idea Obama was inserting factoids about himself into past presidents’ bios. I’m trying to believe that compared to everything else at stake right now, this really is harmless, but it still seems a little odd, unnecessary, and insecure on the Administration’s part. They are fighting a GOP stuck in the 1800s, if that. Really, stop with the Obama vanity bios already, and give us some public sector gains to talk about. Cook this election up.

The “underground” is always with us. For better and often for worse, it’s how marginalized populations tend to survive —often not very well. (Think of the old, the young, the formerly incarcerated, or foreign.) In recessions – surprise, surprise– “irregular” employment grows. Consider recent stories from Greece, about wageless public “workers” swopping skills, and trading food for teaching. Austrian economist, Friedrich Schneider, an expert in underground economies, has documentd a surge in shadow economy activity in 2009 and ’10 in Europe. University of Wisconsin-Madison economist Edgar Feige has been doing his best to follow what’s happened here.

  • Jump Rope Physics from SciAm. Now, first and foremost I’m a bicycle enthusiast (“Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I have hope for the human race.” –H.G. Wells), but for GoRed Women’s heart health month this past February, I also procured from Tarjay two pairs of jump ropes made all fancy for grown-ups, one for myself and one for my mom. See, I’m all about the easy cardio that’s more about PLAY than cardio, ’cause that’s just how I roll. Enter bikes and jump ropes. Throw in some Saturday morning science, and we’re pretty much in girl geek heaven.

The play that “changed American theatre forever,” according to The New York Times, started with a few short lines from a long poem.

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?

Langston Hughes wrote the poem, and Lorraine Hansberry was inspired – both by the poem and by her own real-life experience – to write A Raisin in the Sun, the first play written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway. Today, on what would have been her 82nd birthday, and we’re celebrating Hansberry’s groundbreaking work.

A Raisin in the Sun (Amazon.com)

A Raisin in the Sun (Amazon.com)

Okay, you know what to do in the comments, Sky Dancers. Have a lovely weekend!

Mitt Romney: “It is without question the largest one-time careless expenditure of government money in American history” Really?

Posted: May 18, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, Psychopaths in charge, U.S. Politics | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 44 Comments

Mitt Romney mocks the people of New Hampshire for preserving historic landmarks

The title of this post is a quote from Mitt Romney’s speech this afternoon in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. Politico reports:

Mitt Romney used a 19th-century stone bridge here today to anchor his attacks against President Barack Obama, calling the 2009 economic stimulus the “largest one-time careless expenditure of government money in America’s history.”

“This is the absolute bridge to nowhere if there ever was one,” Romney told supporters as he motioned to the stone bridge behind him. “That’s your stimulus dollars at work — a bridge that goes nowhere. And so I hope that the president comes here, and takes a look at some of the stimulus program, there’s a long list by the way.”

Wow, the government must have really spent a lot of money for Romney to be this bent out of shape. Let’s see, how much stimulus money went into the bridge?

More than $150,000 from the federal stimulus bill was awarded to restore this one — which doesn’t cross a body of water and hasn’t had vehicle traffic in more than a century. Local officials say they want to turn the stone arch and its surrounding areas into a public park.

“It is without question the largest one-time careless expenditure of government money in American history, and the bad news is it was not just wasteful spending,” Romney continued. “It is wasteful borrowing as well because we still are going to be paying on that debt for years and years and years.”

Wait a minute! That has to be a misprint, right? Why just today Mitt and Ann Romney donated $150,000 to his presidential campaign. He must have meant $150 million went to the bridge. But no, the entire cost of the restoration was about $288,000, with the state providing the start-up funds.

What is Romney getting at here? Does he want to stop preserving historical sites and monuments? Is it really wrong for small towns like Hillsboro that are dependent mostly on tourism to want to preserve their historic sites and at the same time build lovely parks to attract visitors who might also spend their money in town? At the same time, the project provided much-needed jobs for New Hampshirites struggling to survive in a difficult economy.

The bridge that Romney complained about is named Sawyer Bridge, and it is one of the few remaining stone arch bridges in New England. The town of Hillsborough is home to four of them. From Huffington Post:

Romney’s attack on the $288,000 bridge restoration will run into several immediate challenges: Funding for the project was overwhelmingly supported by state Republicans, including a significant number who have now endorsed Romney for president. The infrastructure project created much-needed jobs during tough economic times. And it left behind a public park enjoyed by Granite State residents who take great pride in their early-American and colonial history — and who will be casting critical, swing-state votes in November. It’s a curious breed of conservatism that would find offense in the job-creating conservation of a stone arch bridge that is one of the earliest examples of dry-laid masonry vaults in New England.

I have to wonder, is Romney opposed to any federal support to preserve historic sites? What about the National Parks? Would Romney sell off that land if he were president? Would he open them to oil drilling and other kinds of industrial development?

Think about it. For Romney expenditure of $150,000 in federal stimulus funds represents “the largest one-time careless expenditure of government money in American history.” Really? I can think of some worse, more careless expenditures of government money. What about the Vietnam War? What about the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which Bush financed with borrowed money that was kept off-budget?

Just to get a sense of the financial cost of those wars, I located this paper by Stephen Daggett of the Congressional Research Service (PDF) that lists the costs of America’s wars in $2011 dollars. According to Daggett in 2011,

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Congress has appropriated more than a trillion dollars for military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere around the world. The House
and Senate are now considering an additional request for $33 billion in supplemental funding for
the remainder of FY2010, and the Administration has also requested $159 billion to cover costs of
overseas operations in FY2011.

That’s more than the cost war in Vietnam, which in 2011 dollars was $738 billion. At that time the war in Iraq had cost $784 billion and the war in Afghanistan had cost $321 billion. And Romney is whining about New Hampshire getting $150 THOUSAND to restore a historic bridge while creating jobs and increasing income from tourism?

There is something seriously wrong with the way this man’s mind works.

Friday Afternoon Open Thread: Mitt Likes Music, Including This

Posted: May 18, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, open thread, U.S. Politics | Tags: , , , | 9 Comments

A few days ago, The New York Times posted a funny mashup of Mitt Romney talking about all the things he likes. The video was created by The Gregory Brothers, a musical group that produces takeoffs on the news. I wish I knew how to embed it here, but you’ll have to go watch it the NYT site. Please watch it if you haven’t already. It’s really hilarious!

Here is the original 1994 interview in which Mitt earnestly told a young interviewer, “I like music of almost any kind, including this.” At the time, he was running against Ted Kennedy for the Senate.

Back in March, Romney listed his favorite songs on Spotify, which I think is an iPad app. Here’s Mitt’s playlist, which his campaign insist he drew up all by himself:

I am a Man of Constant Sorrow” by The Soggy Bottom Boys
Read My Mind” by The Killers
December, 1963 [Oh What a Night]” by Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons
Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash
Somebody Told Me” by The Killers
The MTA (The Boston Subway Song)” by The Kingston Trio
Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys
Desperado” by Clint Black
Crying” by Roy Orbison
Only You ” by Commodores
Runaway” by Del Shannon
It’s your Love” by Time McGraw
As Good As I once Was” by Toby Keith
Born Free” by Kid Rock
“Over the Rainbow” by Willie Nelson
“Stardust”
“In Dreams” by Roy Orbison
“Somebody Like You” by Keith Urban
“All-American Girl” by Carrie Underwood

Jim Farber, a reporter at the NY Daily News, notes that Mitt seems to like sad songs.

A man of constant sorrow who roams this world alone, doomed to realize his greatest loves only in dreams. Does this sound like the description of a man running for President?

….

Romney opens his 25 song list with The Soggy Bottom Boys’ version of that classic song of suffering “I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow.” He goes on to pepper the list with Clint Black’s cover of the Eagles’ ode to a shut-down loner “Desperado,” Roy Orbison’s uber-mopey “Crying” (along with his classic song of thwarted love “In Dreams”), Johnny Cash’s rumination on eternal damnation, “Ring of Fire,” and Willie Nelson’s take on the ultimate song of hopeless yearning, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.”

Together, these selections suggest a guy whose soul may be far deeper, and less satisfied, than his public persona presents.

Farber also notes that there is only one female artist and one African American group represented on Mitt’s list. Some of the items also reveal Romney’s advanced age. Roy Orbison and Del Shannon were on the soundtrack of my late childhood (I’m just a couple of months younger than Romney).

I found a couple of other Romney- and music-oriented videos on Youtube. Who is Mitt Romney anyway?

This one is silly, but I really liked it: “Mitt Romney, I think I hate you.”

What do you have to say about all this, Mitt?

Friday Reads

Posted: May 18, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: morning reads | Tags: , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Good Morning!!

I’m headed up to LSU this morning for baby daughter’s graduation.  She’s getting a degree in finance.  She wants to work for a high tech company and isn’t headed to Wall Street.  Next weekend is Doctor Daughter’s wedding in Colorado.  I’m getting all fitted up in a Sari for her big fat Bollywood wedding.  I’m not thrilled about having a bare midriff.  Needless to say, I’m a wreck.

Barbara Ehrenreich writes a fascinating post at TruthDig on how our various state and local  governments are looting the poor.

Local governments are discovering that they can partially make up for declining tax revenues through fines, fees, and other costs imposed on indigent defendants, often for crimes no more dastardly than driving with a suspended license. And if that seems like an inefficient way to make money, given the high cost of locking people up, a growing number of jurisdictions have taken to charging defendants for their court costs and even the price of occupying a jail cell. The poster case for government persecution of the down-and-out would have to be Edwina Nowlin, a homeless Michigan woman who was jailed in 2009for failing to pay $104 a month to cover the room-and-board charges for her 16-year-old son’s incarceration. When she received a back paycheck, she thought it would allow her to pay for her son’s jail stay. Instead, it was confiscated and applied to the cost of her own incarceration.

You might think that policymakers would take a keen interest in the amounts that are stolen, coerced, or extorted from the poor, but there are no official efforts to track such figures. Instead, we have to turn to independent investigators, like Kim Bobo, author of Wage Theft in America, who estimates that wage theft nets employers at least $100 billion a year and possibly twice that. As for the profits extracted by the lending industry, Gary Rivlin, who wrote Broke USA: From Pawnshops to Poverty, Inc.—How the Working Poor Became Big Business, says the poor pay an effective surcharge of about $30 billion a year for the financial products they consume and more than twice that if you include subprime credit cards, subprime auto loans, and subprime mortgages.

These are not, of course, trivial amounts.

Martha Rosenberg writes about ” How Big Pharma and the Psychiatric Establishment Drugged Up Our Kids” over at Alternet.  You think bald heads, limp dicks, and wrinkles are the new gravy train?  Well, check this out.  “Pediatric psychopharmacology is a billion-dollar business that sustains Pharma and Pharma investors on Wall Street.” This isn’t St. Joseph’s baby aspirin we’re talking about.  Gotta kid that’s acting a little eccentric?  Well, just take her to the doctor!  There’s a pill for that!

In his book Psychiatryland, psychiatrist Phillip Sinaikin recounts reading a scientific article in which it was debated whether a three-year-old girl who ran out into traffic had oppositional-defiant disorder or bipolar disorder, the latter marked by “grandiose delusions” that she was special and cars could not harm her.1

How did the once modest medical specialty of child psychiatry become the aggressive “pediatric psychopharmacology” that finds ADHD, pediatric conduct disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, mood disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, mixed manias, social phobia, anxiety, sleep disorders, borderline disorders, assorted “spectrum” disorders, irritability, aggression, pervasive development disorders, personality disorders, and even schizophrenia under every rock? And how did this branch of psychiatry come to find the answer to the “psychopathologies” in the name of the discipline itself: pediatric psychopharmacology? Just good marketing. Pharma is wooing the pediatric patient because that’s where the money is. Just like country and western songs about finding love where you can when there is no love to be found at home. Pharma has stopped finding “love” in the form of the new blockbuster drugs that catapulted it through the 1990s and 2000s. According to the Wall Street Journal, new drugs made Pharma only $4.3 billion in 2010 compared with $11.8 billion in 2005—a two-thirds drop.2

The finance/econ twitter wonks were all on this WSJ story called “Inside J.P.Morgan’s Blunder”.  Their insider says that Jamie in the Sky with Dimon actually approved all those disastrous trades.  Oopssssss…..

This behind-the-scenes account of the disaster—based on interviews with numerous J.P. Morgan executives and with officials on Wall Street and in Washington—provides new details about the drama inside the bank as executives sought to understand the scope of the losses and decide what to do about them.

Among other things, Mr. Dimon initially resisted ousting the executive at the center of the mess, confided in his wife that he had “missed something bad,” and expressed regrets with his colleagues one night over vodka about how they had all let the firm down.

“The big lesson I learned: Don’t get complacent despite a successful track record,” Mr. Dimon said in an interview Wednesday. “No one or no unit can get a free pass.”

The debacle has raised broad questions on Wall Street and in Washington about whether any executive can properly oversee such a large financial institution, whether new regulatory rules will do anything to prevent another financial crisis and whether tougher regulation is needed to further rein in risky bank trading, particularly at financial behemoths that are viewed as too big to fail.

The bank has ousted the executive in charge of its Chief Investment Office, a huge trading unit at the heart of the scandal that has contributed more than $4 billion of net income over the past three years—nearly 10% of J.P. Morgan’s overall profit during that period.

The stakes are high. Mr. Dimon personally approved the concept behind the disastrous trades, according to people familiar with the matter. But he didn’t monitor how they were executed, triggering some resentment among other business chiefs who say the activities of their units are routinely and vigorously scrutinized.

I see lean and hungry mean and we’ve just passed the Ides of May. It’s not just our banks.  It looks like Greek Banks are experiencing bank runs.  They really didn’t fix that global financial melt down thingie, did they? Greek capital is fleeing the country.  Gold bullion any one?  Picasso paintings?  Bullets?

Greeks have withdrawn €3bn (£2.4bn) from the banking system since the country’s inconclusive elections on 6 May, with tellers saying savers were making two or three visits a day to local banks.

Savers fear Greece leaving the eurozone and returning to the drachma. An aide to the outgoing prime minister, Lucas Papademos, said there were “serious fears that the banks were running out of money”.

Greece’s president, Karolos Papoulias, warned on Monday that €700m had been withdrawn but said he had been assured by the governor of the Greek central bank, George Provopoulous, that there was no panic yet.

According to minutes of a meeting on Monday, Papoulias said: “Withdrawals and outflows by 4pm when I called him [Provopoulous] exceeded €600m and reached €700m. He expects total outflows of about €800m, including conversions into German bunds [bonds] and other such things.”

Greeks have been slowly withdrawing cash from the banking system ever since the country first needed a bailout two years ago. Nearly a third of bank deposits were withdrawn between January 2010 and March 2012.

A crucial €18bn cash injection to stabilise Greece’s banks has been held up at the European financial stability fund’s Greek offshoot, the Hellenic financial stability fund (HFSF), for nearly two weeks with officials in Brussels refusing to release the funds because of the political instability in the wake of the elections. That had still not been released by tonight and is now not expected to be released for another four days despite the efforts of the Papademos government to expedite the recapitalisation of Greek banks.

Dimon will be facing a Senate Committe shortly.  I watched the Goldman Sachs hearings awhile ago.  I’m convinced the entire Senate Banking Committe wouldn’t know a bull flattener from a contango.  (Oh, ask him about his naked shorts! I’ll watch  any way.

Johnson announced Thursday that the panel’s investigation of the botched trade had “made it clear” that lawmakers needed to “hear directly” from the head of the bank.

The Banking Committee is currently set to hold two hearings on the implementation of the Wall Street reform law, which has been a dominant topic on Capitol Hill ever since JPMorgan announced it had lost at least $2 billion thanks to a complex bet on corporate debt. The New York Times reported Thursday the losses had actually climbed to $3 billion.

On May 22, the committee will hear from regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on the financial overhaul. The SEC is reportedly investigating the JPMorgan trade, and the CFTC is responsible for implementing new restrictions on financial derivatives, which played a key role in the bank’s bad bet.

On June 6, the committee will hear from regulators with the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Treasury Department.

This last link is somewhat unusual for me.  The Saint’s bounty scandal continues to be big news down here. Vilma is going to take Goodell to court.  This could be popcorn worthy.

New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma sued National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell for defamation in reports about the team’s “bounty” program.

Vilma accused the commissioner of making false statements about him in reports about the bounties allegedly paid to players for intentionally hurting opponents during games, according to a filing in federal court today in New Orleans.

“Goodell’s statements forever falsely taint and permanently damage Vilma, in the eyes of NFL clubs, media, fans and sponsors, as a player who brazenly disregards NFL rules and intentionally attempts to injure his opponents,” according to the complaint.

Vilma was banned in March for the 2012 season without pay for his role in the Saints’ bounty program. His penalty was the most severe of the four players who were suspended. The league’s investigation concluded that as captain of the defense, Vilma assisted then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams in establishing and funding the program that offered money to players who knocked specific opponents out of a game.

That’s my offerings this morning.  I may not see you around much for the next few weeks.  Be assured I’m not having a lot of fun and leaving you out of it.  What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

Breaking: Evidence in Trayvon Martin Case Released to Public

Posted: May 17, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Crime | Tags: , , , , | 50 Comments

The prosecution evidence that was given to George Zimmerman’s defense last week was released by Special Prosecutor Angela Corey’s office this afternoon. You can read the documents here.

Before the release, someone managed to get out a bit more information favorable to Zimmerman, specifically the fact that Trayvon Martin had traces of THC in his blood and urine when he was killed. From CNN:

Martin’s blood contained THC, which is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, according to an autopsy conducted February 27 — the day after the teenager was shot dead.

Toxicology tests found elements of the drug in the teenager’s chest blood — 1.5 nanograms per milliliter of one type (THC), as well as 7.3 nanograms of another type (THC-COOH) — according to the medical examiner’s report. There was also a presumed positive test of cannabinoids in Martin’s urine. It was not immediately clear how significant these amounts were.

Concentrations of THC routinely rise to 100 to 200 ng/ml after marijuana use, though it typically falls to below 5 ng/ml within three hours of it being smoked, according to information on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website.

While some states have zero-tolerance policies for any drug traces for driving while impaired, others set certain benchmarks, the website of California’s Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs notes. In Nevada, that equates to 2 ng/ml for THC and 5 ng/ml for THC-COOH — also known as marijuana metabolite. The cutoff level in Ohio is 2 ng/ml for THC and 50 ng/ml for THC-COOH.

THC is detectable for weeks and sometimes longer after use, so it doesn’t sound like this is a big deal. Leaked information from his school file had already revealed that Trayvon had be caught with a plastic bag containing pot residue. The fact that a 17-year-old smoked pot is not exactly an earthshaking revelation, although I’m sure the defense will make much of it.

The autopsy also showed that he was shot from “intermediate range.” From Fox News:

Dr. Michael Baden, the former New York City medical examiner, said “intermediate” in such cases is defined as the muzzle of the gun being one to 18 inches away from the entry point when fired.

“If the muzzle is right against the skin, that’s a contact wound,” Baden said. Anything beyond 18 inches is considered “distant” range in coroner’s parlance, Baden said.

The only other injury to Trayvon’s body was a small cut on his “left ring finger below the knuckle, 1/8 to 1/4 inch long.

I plan to read as much of the evidence as I can, but for now there are several summaries available in the media. The Miami Herald reports some witness statements:

Conflicting witnesses described agonizing calls for help, and some thought they heard two shots.

The witness statements include one eyewitness who said he saw a man in a red shirt getting hit by someone else. When he returned for a second look, the man who was hitting the other was dead.

“I heard yelling out back in the grass area,” the unnamed witness said. “…I opened door and saw a guy on the ground getting hit by another man on top of him in a … position hitting a guy in a red sweatshirt or red top. I said I was calling the cops and ran upstairs then heard a gun shot. … The guy on top who was sitting the guy … layed out on the grass as he had been shot.”

Another witness saw a “broad man” on top hitting another. The evidence list shows Zimmerman wore a size 38. His shirt was red.

“First we heard like a howling sound. And then the second time we heard a more-clearly ‘help’ sound,” the witness said. “I know after seeing the TV of what’s happening — comparing their pictures — I think Zimmerman is definitely on top because of his size.”

According to The Orlando Sentinel, police said the “Encounter between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin ‘avoidable,'”

Newly released evidence in the case against George Zimmerman shows that Sanford Police believed the encounter between Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin was “ultimately avoidable,” if Zimmerman had “remained in his vehicle and awaited the arrival of law enforcement,” according to hundreds of pages of evidence in the case released this afternoon.

The Sentinel article says that Trayvon had “a scratch on one hand” in addition to the small cut on his left ring finger. The article contains a more complete description of Trayvon’s girl friend’s report on their conversations.

An unnamed girl, the one identified by the Martin family attorney as Trayvon’s girlfriend, told Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda that she and Trayvon talked on the phone daily and had known each other since Kindergarten.

The girl told the prosecutor that she and Trayvon talked on and off as he went to the store to buy a snack. She said Trayvon told her he took shelter from the rain under an overhang while walking back to his father’s girlfriend’s home.

Minutes later, she said, Trayvon told her a white man in a vehicle was watching him. Trayvon started walking, and the call cut off, she said. When she called back, “he said he’s walking, and he said this man is still following him.”

The girl said Trayvon started running, “and then, he said he lost him [Zimmerman],” she said, adding that the teen’s “voice kind of changed… I could tell he was scared.” The girl said she told Trayvon to keep running, but “he said he ain’t gonna run. He said he’s right by his father’s house.”

“And in a couple minutes, he said a man’s following him again, he’s behind him,” she said. “I say, ‘run.'”

She said Trayvon was breathing hard. She said Trayvon asked “Why are you following me for?” and a man’s voice said, “What are you doing around here?” Then, she heard a noise and the call cut off.

Police found several blood spots on George Zimmerman’s shirt, but the blood was all Zimmerman’s.

ABC News, which has seemingly become the George Zimmerman support network, concludes that all the evidence supports Zimmerman’s story. Based on ABC’s reporting, you have to wonder why Angela Corey even bothered to charge Zimmerman with a crime.

According to ABC, Trayvon Martin’s father told an investigator that the voice calling for help on a witness’s 911 tape was not his son. That will certainly be problematic for the prosecution, although the mother swears the voice was Trayvon’s.

A couple of other bits of news related to the case.

TPM reports that contributions to Zimmerman’s defense fund have slowed down.

Late Wednesday, Zimmerman’s defense team said he had only been able to raise about $15,000 since the new site went live on May 3. The biggest donation was $3,000, they said, while most ranged between $25 and $100.

While that still averages more than $1,000 a day, it’s a far cry from the rate Zimmerman was hauling in on his own.

The Smoking Gun has obtained a letter that George Zimmerman wrote to a supporter while he was in jail. Here’s the money quote:

Days before bonding out of a Florida jail, George Zimmerman wrote that he believed “this will all work out for me in the future,” adding, “I have given my burden to the Lord and he has blessed me with tremendous patience!”

Well, goody for him.

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