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Probably, but it is never too late to remember that of the ~5800 people special enough to vote on the Academy Awards, only around 300 bothered to vote in the documentary category:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/50113 2p-422609c.html

(via http://www.salon.com/ent/col/fix/2007/02/27/tue/in dex.html)

Staten Island?! I'd be more concerned with New Jersey http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/487006 p-410015c.html.

It has been ridiculously warm here in New York this winter. It is NEVER warm in new york in the winter. The last few days it has gotten mildly cold, but up until then, it has been almost spring like. It is simply amazing how different the weather has been this winter here in the north east. This is the warmest winter i've ever experienced here in NY in 30 years.

As someone who lives in the NYC area, yes it's been very warm this winter. We haven't even had snow since last Spring, and it's almost the middle of January! Do you know when the last time that happened was? The the winter of 1877-1878. I guess there was some global warming going on back then too..or wait, it's called Climate Change now right? Although the weathermen seem to think it's El Nino preventing us from getting any artic air.

As someone who works in NYC, I can tell you it was much colder just two years ago. It must be the global warmi....err...climate change! I remember just two years ago around mid January, Al Gore came to New York City to give a speech on global warming. Of course, that was one of the coldest days on record in NYC, -1 degrees without windchill.

You will have to forgive me for being skeptical about the politicization of Global Warming. Heck, they went from calling it global warming to 'climate change' just so they could point to anything and claim it was occuring. Most of the arguments used in the political arena to 'prove' global warming/climate change are circumstantial. It is to the point where any time there is a record high, a record low, or a small or large number of storms, we hear 'IT MUST BE THE CLIMATE CHANGE BOOGYMAN AGAIN!". Some of the assements in Gore's movie that are taken for granted are incorrect. Most notably the assessment that the decade of the 1990's was the hottest on record.

I'm not saying that Global Warming/Climate Change/Whatever is or isn't happening. I am saying the issue has been politicized to the point of foolishness. The name change to 'Climate Change" has driven the debate to the point where people are using anecdotal data to support it, like 'wow it's really warm/cold this winter!' or "there were 14 hurricanes last year, and none this year! IT MUST BE THE CLIMATE CHANGE"!

Of course, either side can make anecdotal points, for example, I could ask you to talk to James Kim about Global Warming and how it's working out for him.

Here in the US we have more pressing worries regarding censorship.

On December 20th, President George W. Bush, in a signing statement attached to a bill, asserted that he has the right to OPEN DOMESTIC MAIL without a warrant.

Here's the article, from the New York Daily News:

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/485561p-408 789c.html

Yeah, that was the old cocaine.

This is the new.

True enough. And I know some proposals were for it to be semi-mobile for just such a reason. Is there some reason it couldn't be retractable? I.e. just pull some of it back in if some piece of debris needs to fly over the top of it.

No, because the slingshot is only used for short periods of time. It doesn't have to be kept in tension 24x7 for no good reason. Besides the slingshot was an (apparently bad) attempt at humor.

I hope not, because if that's the case we're all screwed. I think America's spirit is alive and well, personally.

No, not really. I was a fan of his comedy back-in-the-day. Then he became this scared little kid after 9/11. It took the punch out of the guy. I don't see that devil-may-care SNL guy anymore, and I can't respect anyone who just simply surrenders their balls like that. This guy sums it up way better than I can.

Besides, if I was going to pick someone on the right to bash for their opinions it wouldn't be him. Why pick such a low profile target when we have Ann Coulter for that?

Comparing faith and religious belief to a neurosis or schizophrenic condition is a Freudian way to look at God (and therefore seems to be unquestionably sanctioned by the "scientific" community). But, it is only one way to look at it. The true objective of science is to study all things, whether we believe they are real or not and from multiple perspectives, to determine answers about them. So, if you actually want to understand where people of faith are coming from, you have to study what they believe and whether there is a true basis for believing it. Maybe not in the way a physics or genetic specialist would approach it, but maybe in the way a social scientist does.

Albert Einstein believed in God AND developed the theory of relativity with the belief firmly in his mind that God was the cause of it all. He was unapologetic about that and is on the record as stating so. Yet we do not discredit his work because of his beliefs. Newton, Galileo, Brahe, Copernicus, and others were of the same mind, yet it did not hinder their ability to do solid science. Their only beef about religion was the Vatican's ridiculous interpretation of the nature, composition, and physical workings of the universe. In the case of Copernicus, it's interesting to note that:

"If Copernicus had any genuine fear of publication, it was the reaction of _scientists_, not clerics, that worried him. Other churchmen before him -- Nicole Oresme (a French bishop) in the fourteenth century and Nicolaus Cusanus (a German cardinal) in the fifteenth -- had freely discussed the possible motion of the earth, and there was no reason to suppose that the reappearance of this idea in the sixteenth century would cause a religious stir." (http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1987/PSCF9-87Lindber g.html, emphasis added)

The scientists, even then, thought they had all the answers. Boy, were they wrong.

Neither of us own a private library of primary research conducted by ourselves or our own teams of scientists, so we'll both have to rely on Google-driven quote mining. Here is a small cross section sample of articles found around the keywords "research prayer healing". I've deliberately left the titles off of the link list below so that anyone reading this will have less chance of being biased by the headline. Can't do much about the domain names, though, so I'll just have to trust that anyone really interested in knowing a faith-based perspective will actually click those links. I've also deliberately chosen articles from as many viewpoints as possible, including skepdic.com so that a) I won't be accused of cherry-picking and b) so that, as scientists, we can begin to appreciate that there are many ways of looking at things and at least two ways of "knowing" (faith and experimentation).

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/366162p-311 612c.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2006/03/23/AR2006032302177.html
http://realityshifters.com/pages/articles/research confirmsdh.html
http://www.csicop.org/sb/2001-12/reality-check.htm l
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2005/07/14/AR2005071401695.html
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.12/prayer.ht ml
http://www.stnews.org/News-1590.htm
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/religion/healing_pr

"If you are within range of two or more cell towers, then your position can be triangulated. The more towers nearby, the more accurate the reading will be. It's simply the nature of cell phones as broadcast devices. You can't broadcast a signal without revealing your location.

The second part is a different story. Whether or not any government agency has used this ability is unknown; whether it would be accurate enough for their purposes is unknown to me as well. Nevertheless they certainly could use it to at least roughly track you."

This ability was used in a well-known case in the New York area this spring. Darryl Littlejohn was booked for a rape and murder based, in part, on the fact that cell-phone pings showed him to be in the area at an appropriate time where the body was later found.

It is not a very rigorous newspaper, but these are interesting quotes if correct: "When your cell phone is switched on, your network provider knows exactly where you are within 300 YARDS or less." "And a federal rule requires all cell phones to be able to pinpoint their locations within 1,000 feet when 911 is dialed."

Not quite government use, but the law enforcement community is certainly employing the cell towers.

Forgot to link to that stupid NY Daily story:
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/413575p-349 690c.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/401834 p-340392c.html

if anonymity is a crime, then only criminals will be anonymous ..

Prenup or nothing.

As for the article link above (http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/401069p-33 9405c.html), would you hire someone who dresses like that?

Here

The article is at http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/401069p-339 405c.html.

(Persons googling for me can now see what a helpful individual I am! ;)

Apparently it's this one.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/401069p-339 405c.html

Embryonic stem cells are stems cells that are going to waste anyways. Left over from in vitro fertilization. They are from the from the blastocyst stage,and about 128 cells.

Alistair Cooke's bones were going to waste anyways. Left over from his "Masterpiece Theatre" and "America" days. They were from the adult stage, at which point the human has only about 206 bones.

In addition, Cooke's body -- unlike the embryos from which stem cells are extracted -- did not have to be killed in order to be turned into spare parts.

The west isn't usually so unabashedly blatant about the censorship that goes on here. Instead, prefering to hide behind twisted versions of ideals like free markets and property rights.

But every once in a while you get something that is just as messed up as in China:

http://www.nydailynews.com/02-21-2006/front/story/ 393403p-333442c.html

With NYPD officers' salaries so low some have to apply for food stamps, I don't think that meets all of his requirements.

Now the nuclear power plant might be a good idea. I hear of this one guy who hardly does any work and has a great home, a beautiful wife, got to meet Jimmy Carter and be an astronaut...

And how about starting with your racist media first? Throw up a headline every week for China's censorship. But when your government offical abuse the human right of a Chinese woman in USA you can barely hear a beep: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/390243 p-331042c.html

Because this shutdown wouldn't affect the government members that might actually move to do something about it, it's not going to change anything there. If anything, with all the execs seeing how it could hurt their competition, it's going to fuel even more patent attacks.

I Don't Think So Tim.

"Washington is BlackBerry central. Members of Congress were issued the contraptions after 9/11, when cell phones died but BlackBerries kept working, and no political operative or reporter can be seen without one."

It looks like the original wire service report included various bits of unpleasant information from the Brandon Vedas incident. That's some astoundingly sloppy reporting.

Sounds to me like the AFP caught wind that someone who had internet access killed himself, then decided to combine the story with this report, from 2003, on the death of Brandon Vedas.

Astoundingly bad journalism...stealing detail from an unrelated past event and implying that they happened again.

besides, when is a burglar going to think twice about a "warning: cat on premises" sign?

It all depends on what kind of cat you have.

"It was a stronger statement than on Monday when the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services told states they had the power to withhold Medicaid funding for erectile dysfunction drugs for convicted sex offenders."
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/312567p-267 373c.html

You may agree with this ruling. WRT to Medicaid, well that is welfare so who cares. Medicare, however, is - allegedly - bought and paid for by the employee for the employee. And, FYI, "sex offender" may not mean just what you think it means.

An Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times who makes an error "is expected to promptly correct it in the column." That's the established policy of Gail Collins, editor of the editorial page. Her written policy encourages "a uniform approach, with the correction made at the bottom of the piece." Two weeks have passed since my previous post spelled out the errors made by columnist Paul Krugman in writing about news media recounts of the 2000 Florida vote for president. Mr. Krugman still hasn't been required to comply with the policy by publishing a formal correction. Ms. Collins hasn't offered any explanation.

As questions about compliance with the corrections policy for The Times' Op-Ed columnists continue to arise, Gail Collins, editor of the editorial page, told me in an e-mail Tuesday that she will "address the issue in a forthcoming letter from the editor" in the paper. Ms. Collins' comment came in response to my Monday query about the handling of an error by columnist Frank Rich. That mistake has turned out to be the latest of five appearances that versions of the same "college roommates" error have made in The Times this month. While minor in normal times, the mistake has been made a total of four times by three Op-Ed columnists attacking cronyism--and once in a news article. In all five instances, Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's 2000-campaign manager and a former head of FEMA, and Michael Brown, his successor at FEMA, were described variously as college roommates, college buddies or college friends. In fact, the two men didn't even attend the same college. While they have been friends for 25 years, a spokeswoman for Mr. Allbaugh said they didn't know each other during their years at different Oklahoma colleges. With partisan charges of cronyism hanging over the Bush administration's handling of hurricanes, of course, it's not surprising that the college roommates description seems to have become more sensitive.

All i can say is that you aren't very critical.

Much like alot of your argumentation, this has very little warrant. I'll try not to nit-pick every argument here this time. Just what I think is very important.

First off all you argue that critics have a 'better' ear for music. That is completly untrue, and even if it were, it would be impossible to tell which critic really has a good ear and which is just making it all up. I remember when pink floyd (a band I consider to be very high quality) came out with "Dark Side of the Moon", some 'critics' were bashing it like crazy. Turns out, the album has outlasted its critics and has become one of rock n' rolls most influential album. Even if someone else is writing britney spear's music that doesn't mean that the music doesn't come from the heart. That someone could actually feel what he is talking about. So you should probably take recommendations from a critic who talks good about music you like, but you shouldn't say "the quality of my music sucks because he said so".

Did you know that most starting bands get paid very little? I read one article that stated that each individual in the band earned about as much as a janitor! Surely, gettng that much money (source: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/609 91p-57008c.html) , they must have some other motviation? Fame? Getting their message out? Furthermore, statments like this :

In the case of someone like Britney Spears, such stars spend a lot more time on things like choreography for live shows and they tend to let the song writters and record labels dictate the content. really hold NO MERIT WHAT SO EVER, because it is simply an ASSUMPTION!

I just feel that alot of your ideas seem to contradict what my notion of music is. So let me ask you, why defines quality? If it is the ear (who ever's listening) then we can't define quality at all because it'll differ from person to person (this is my overall argumentation). So please, in your next post please point out what exactly defines quality for you as that could eaisly clear up the debate in seconds. Your previous statement: It is all, ultimately, subjective, but that doesn't mean we can't look at it critically and discuss subjective impressions. makes it look like you agree with me (with that one exception). We CAN discuss subjective impessions, but we can't say "there is an objective truth" as in : "this music's quality sucks and anyone who listens to it has no taste it music", you're better of saying : "I don't like the quality of this music".

As for "The key difference between this and the type of formula that a record label might use is that the music formula is used to generate sales, not to express a creative impulse." There are two wasy to argue against this:
At the very least I agree with you that to some extent there are always going to be artists who sell their souls to the labels. But that doesn't prove that most of pop music is like that. Far from it. I do agree they rely on forumulas (but not the kind of formulas you talk about) to use an accepted method to express their ideas, this usually doesn't change the ideas being expressed.

The record industry is too anachronistic to have the foresight to create this solution themselves and are still obsessed with selling a solid medium (LPs, tapes, CDs), while treating its customers as criminals and artists as expendable commodities that can ignore paying royalties if they can help it

A brief look at the practices of the record industry reveals that they are the dishonest lot:

Apple earns less than a nickel per iTunes track

States settle CD price-fixing case

RIAA Continues Distributing Dud CDs to Satisfy Settlement

A music industry case study Shows how little the artist makes thanks to middle men like the record industry

Wal-Mart Wants $10 CDsRemember when CDs first came out and people said it was too expensive and the record industry promised that it would go below $10 eventually. Never happened

How Apple saved the music biz

FTC: Labels charged with price-fixing - again

Music Firms to Look Harder For Artists Owed Royalties Spitzer announced a settlement in which the nation's five largest recording companies promised to do a better job of tracking down and paying $50 million in unclaimed royalties to thousands of performers.

Finally, last night 2005-Sep-29 on Nightly Business Review (NBR) was a four part series on the music industry. It shows how iTMS allowed one relatively unknown electronica artist sell directly to her consumers with the iTMS . Her music was featured on NPR and then people all over the world wanted to download and listen to her music. Stores like iTMS are the great equalizer from years of abuse from the greedy record labels. "The Business of Music,"-Part 4: The Down Low On Download Distribution

In fact, geeks make better lovers.

See:
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/317296p-271 224c.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/ch ronicle/archive/2005/05/08/LVGFJCI2A71.DTL
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/26662_sexy geek.shtml

Wrong.

Wrong.

Wrong.

Cities do subsidize rural areas.

50 richest counties in america (per capita) (Notice how they're all pretty much urban?)

50 poorest counties in america (per capita) Notice how they're nearly all rural?

The GDP of New York City (America's largest city) is 16th highest in the world (after Belgium.) New York City is the largest outlier in terms of tax dollars paid vs recieved. And in terms of costs, NYC as a seperate state would rank 51st out of 51 states in energy use per capita, but it would be the 11th most populous state in America.

The same is true (just to a lesser degree since they aren't as extreme as NYC) for cities like Chicago, LA and SF.

Hell, a freaking block in NYC contributes more tax dollars to the state than an entire small town (like Utica.)

You're spouting gibberish. The US Government subsidizes the power lines, roads and industries of rural america. This money comes almost exclusively from the wealthy, ie those who live in million dollar+ 1 bedrooms in NYC and SF (and places of that caliber.)

And in terms of Terrorism funding, can you explain to me the rationale behind giving a state like Wyoming more money per capita than New York City to fight terrorism? Do you honestly believe Wyoming is a more attractive international terrorism target than NYC? I mean, that's just ludicrious. Yet our government constantly doles out larger per capita cash rewards to rural states with barely any risk than to major risk locations like LA, SF, DC and NYC. Again, you've got it backwards. Wyoming has the world's most advanced anti-radiation lab, and NYC can't get radiation detectors paid for at all by the federal government.

5 informative? I'd figure a 5 Funny, or a -1 Troll.. sheesh.

Better stop calling them the Wachowski brothers. We hear "Matrix" co-creator Larry Wachowski is ready for the sex-change operation that will finalize his conversion to a woman named Linda.

Last May, he wore women's earrings at "The Matrix Reloaded" premiere. At the time, the estranged husband of an alleged Los Angeles dominatrix told newspapers that Wachowski was a client of his wife. The source said he had seen Larry "in her bondage room...lying there in a dress, no panties and a blond wig."

Several "longtime friends" say Larry - who is in the middle of a divorce with his wife, Thea Bloom - is now ready for the operation, reports the Chicago Sun Times.

The agent for Larry and his brother and collaborator, Andy Wachowski, did not return calls yesterday

---
from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/18872 4p-163325c.html

An 8-year-old girl who suffers from a rare digestive disorder and cannot consume wheat has had her first Holy Communion declared invalid because the wafer contained none, violating Catholic doctrine.

"On February 18th, 2005 Scott Ritter announced to an audience in Washington State that George Bush had ordered plans drawn up to bomb Iran in June of 2005, and that the Iraq elections had been rigged by the United States. [4] He reiterated and clarified his statements about Iran in a March 30 article published by Al Jazeera. [5] Ritter also alleged that the United States had rigged the 2005 parliamentary election to prevent the United Iraqi Alliance from winning an outright majority."

Oh what's this, a sex criminal too? I rest my case.

"In fact, it is well-known in the city that Mayor Michael Bloomberg rides the subway every day."

Mike: "First thing every morning, I wake up and go jogging before I take the subway to work."

"The mayor, who takes the subway from his upper East Side home to City Hall..."

but can it do a mean guitar face? http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/sto ry/253119p-216716c.html

When asked "Can we win?" the war on terror, Bush said, "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the -- those who use terror as a tool are -- less acceptable in parts of the world."

- NY Daily News

Someone really needs to put up a web site shaming everyone who's used 9/11 to advance their own interests or to demonize the opposition as terrorists.

From The Demagogue Files...

"Interpol believes there is a significant link between counterfeiting and terrorism in locations where there are entrenched terrorist groups."
--Jack Valenti, MPAA Chief (Source: senate.gov)

"There are also indicators that some associates of terrorist groups may be involved in IPR [Intellectual Property Right] crime"
--Lieutenant John Stedman [View PDF], Sheriff's Department, County of Los Angeles (source: senate.gov)

"Anti-spammers are terrorists at heart and attack websites and email accounts of companies wishing to bring their products and services to the general public via email, an enviromentally sound, REMARKABLE medium!"
--StealthLaunch/PopLaunch, mass-marketing firm
(source: the Register)

The National Education Association is "a terrorist organization"
--Rod Paige, Education Secretary
(source: usatoday.com)

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."
Rev. Pat Robertson, Religious Leader (source: commondreams.org)

[Discussing liberal Federal judges]
"Over 100 years, I think the gradual erosion of the consensus that's held our country together is probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings"
[Followup question asks if liberal judges really are the worst threat America has faced in 400 years - worse than Nazi Germany, Japan and the Civil War...]
"Yes, I really believe that,"
Rev. Pat Robertson, Religious Leader (source: nydailynews.com)

[When asked about abortion in the US]
"I think after September 11th the American people are valuing life more and realizing that we need policies to value the dignity and worth of every life. And President Bush has worked to say, let's be reasonable, let's work to value life, let's try to reduce the number of abortions, let's increase adoptions. The fundamental difference between us and the terror network we fight is that we value every life. It's the founding conviction of our country, that we're endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, the right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Unfortunately our enemies in the terror network, as we're seeing repeatedly in the headlines these days, don't value any life, not even the innocent and not even their own," she added."
Karen Hughes, Bush Campaign advisor (source: cnn.com)

"It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States"
--Dick Cheney, Vice President of the US (source: about.com)

"America's under attack and so are we."
--Kenneth Lay, CEO, Enron (source: Enron: The Smartest Guys In the Room)

Anyone got

"There is no better example of how to dim the magic of the movies for everyone than this report today regarding the dialog and directing of Revenge of the Sith."

New York's got a whole pile of fancy burgers going on.

I don't know, $700 million is less than one tenth of $8 billion.

Seriously. Almost every time I see Mr. Spitzer's name in the media I like what I see. He is what I view as the embodiment of what it means to be a TRUE American. A genuine good-guy who isn't afraid to stand up for what's right and fuck everyone who doesn't like it. It's pretty sad, but I've never voted for someone who I really wanted to see in some particular office, just mostly against the person who I wanted to prevent from attaining that office. If Spitzer runs for Gov. of NY it would be the first time I would be voting for someone who I really thought completely deserved to win.

Here is a good bill proposed in 1999 to deal with criminals. Well maybe it is a just a little too extreme, but most of it I think is right-on-the-money. Make sure you read the whole thing, it is not that long ; )

Plus, clocky??? who was the fag that came up with this dumb name ...

What about "the Abu Ghairab of Brooklyn?"

http://nydailynews.com/front/story/282716p-242172c .html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/21/attack/m ain564189.shtml

What about the mass roundups of immigrants that occured in 2002?

http://www.notinourname.net/detentions/solidarity- day-feb04.htm

These are just to name a few...

Do you trust the DOJ??? Seriously, it aggravates me because people's lives have been apart because of the legislation and accompanying anti-arab paranoia.

I thought so.

Also, per your sig:
I tend to think Echelon prefers words like:
DOD, Zarquawi, Arlington, Blacksburg, Cheyenne, Twinkle and Turquoise, PDB, POTUS and [insert your own expletive here].

Actually the NJ Attorney General is going after blockbuster for their claim that there is no late fee when actually they call it now a restocking fee. Actually it is much worse than that. Instead of making it cheaper to rent movies, Blockbuster is robbing consummers by misinforming them that there is NO LATE FEES when in fact if you are more than 8 days you are AUTOMATICALLY CHARGED FOR THE PURCHASE PRICE OF THE DVD! You rent out 3 new dvds you are going to find out that after 8 days you just got charged $100+ on your credit card.

Your probably right, N Korea probably does really have Nukes. When I was sent to SK in 1994 we believed they had them and they declared they were working on them.

But the truth is, we don't know if they do or not. It isn't as if they have advertised the fact like we used to in the Nevada desert. It is just as likely that they are taking a defensive posture to prevent future agression by the US. It isn't as if they haven't played the Nuke card before.

As for Iraq...
My "critical propaganda filter" led me to believe Saddam was hiding something in pre-war Iraq. His behavior was pretty damn shady in my opinion. I don't know what he was hiding , but he was trying to hide something - or at least lead people to believe he was.

I definately didn't "know darn well that Iraq didn't have any WMD" - how you knew they absolutely didn't is beyond me. You may have suspected they didn't - but KNEW - that seems unlikely. Just as NK actual progress on building nukes hasn't been well known by anyone. Again, people have suspected progress - but there is a big difference between suspecting and knowing.

Hence why we need a president who can actually see into the future. Then we actually will KNOW and not just suspect.

BTW: I haven't voted for Bush. However, nor do I envy his position of being the president after 9/11. That event had so many foriegn policy implications that I wouldn't wish the job of dealing with it on anyone.

Could this explain why Pretty Girls Don't Take The Subway?

A more informative article.
The murderer obtained the weapon illegally. He did not walk into a gun shop, plunk down a few hundred bucks and walk out with a Taurus .357.

• • Someone in your apartment block deals drugs? Guess it's time for a drug forfeiture sweep. Doesn't matter if you're found innocent, you can kiss your worldly possessions goodbye.
  
  
  Cite one example from a reputable news source. I believe that they have gone a bit too far on some the accussed, but I don't know of one case where they seize assets just because your a neihibor of a drug dealer.

• Police bust down the door to the wrong house.
• Innocent resident dies of a heart attack.

• Cato Institute google rendering of PDF - do ctrl-f for "reverend accelynne williams" and see the examples following his.
• Alberta Spruill. Thanks Mr. Officer - here's an excerpt:
  A Harlem woman died of a heart attack after police hurled a flash grenade into her apartment during a mistaken raid yesterday morning.
  
  Heavily armed NYPD Emergency Service Unit cops smashed down the woman's door at 310 W. 143rd St., believing that guns and drugs were in the sixth-floor apartment, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
  
  Instead, they found Alberta Spruill, 57, a beloved church member and longtime city employee, who was getting ready to go to work when the grenade went off about 6:10 a.m. - creating a deafening boom and a blinding flash.
  
  Cops handcuffed Spruill, who cried as cops began probing her tidy, two-bedroom apartment. A police captain quickly realized cops had hit the wrong location, Kelly said.
  
  Officers immediately uncuffed Spruill and asked if she was hurt. She initially refused medical attention but told cops she had a heart condition.
  
  At 6:32 a.m., Spruill felt chest pains and was rushed to Harlem Hospital. She went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance and died at the hospital about 8 a.m. - less than two hours after her home was invaded.
  
  

Won't be a problem, you'll be able to grow new ones. http://www.nydailynews.com/09-27-2002/news/story/2 2064p-20931c.html