Quick Roundup 36

B-Stupid B-in Jail

It looks like the City of Houston will finally have the opportunity to give murder suspect and Katrina refugee Ivory "B-Stupid" Harris a proper welcome -- in handcuffs -- thanks to his capture yesterday near New Orleans.

The hunt for a suspected gang leader linked to homicides in both Houston and New Orleans ended early today with his arrest in Kenner, La., police said.

Officers arrested Ivory "B-Stupid" Harris, 20, about 3 a.m. while serving a search warrant at a home in the New Orleans suburb.

Harris was charged with murder for the Feb. 28 shooting death of Jermaine Wise, 22, in New Orleans. Officers found the victim dead about 1:30 a.m. inside a car parked along the 5300 block of Constance Street.

Houston police said Harris is apparently connected to the Dec. 28 slaying of Steven Kennedy, 24, at 1303 La Concha.

Unfortunately for Harris, that last address is Houston, Texas (and within a mile of the Astro Dome, I believe), which lies almost entirely within a county that, quite literally, has his name on it. While B-Stupid may have enjoyed slipping through the cracks in the famously inept New Orleans criminal justice system, he may be about to find out why Harris County is known to some as a "pipeline to death row".

Welcome to Houston, B-Stupid!

Outdoor Smoking Banned

This quote from Slate is very disheartening.

A Los Angeles suburb imposed the nation's first ban on outdoor smoking in all public places. It exempts houses, backyards, patios, and balconies, but not if they adjoin public spaces such as apartment-building corridors or laundry rooms. You can smoke in your car, but not with the windows open while other people are nearby. Businesses can arrange smoking areas, but they have to be 20 feet away from doorways. The idea is to clear smoke-free paths. Defense: The California Air Resources Board recently classified secondhand smoke as a toxic air pollutant. Criticism: Where's the evidence of harm from outdoor secondhand smoke?

Somehow, I can't see this juristiction being much more worried than New Orleans about banning dangerous criminals from the outdoors....

A Syrian Soldier Apologizes

I found this letter to the Lebanese people from a Syrian soldier very interesting.

I hereby declare my cowardice, my fears, and my defeatism, and I apologize to all the Lebanese, [since] on the day [we] went into Lebanon, I did not dare to think of voicing my objection to entering this country, which has been soiled by my army boots. I knew the consequence of such a rebellion, and I was afraid to announce [it] and to take that decision.

One beautiful day in April 1988, my army boots defiled "the Switzerland of the East." I began my mandatory army service. Then came the shameful dates, one after another. I participated, heard, saw with my own eyes, and bore false witness to various "incidents," from the assassination of [Lebanese] president Rene Moawad to the defeat of General Michel Aoun who hid in the French Embassy, as well as other dismaying [incidents] that occurred between these two events...

...

I saw Lebanese [people] being publicly humiliated at Syrian military checkpoints, and being "lectured" by illiterate [Syrian] soldiers on various matters, great and small. I saw a lot of things, but my shame keeps me from speaking out about them.

Fifteen years after leaving Lebanon as a soldier, I returned there as a civilian, my mind still filled with the sights [that I had witnessed] in places that I had loved, and whose [inhabitants] I had liked. To them and to all the Lebanese I [now] offer my apologies. I am deeply convinced that a civilized people like the Lebanese will [be able to] forgive and forget.

How many others feel this way, and, if discontent mounts in Syria, how fiercely will such men fight for Bashar Assad's continued rule?

The "(Mussul)man on the Street"

The Big Pharoah has some reaction from the Moslem world to the case of the Afghan convert to Christianity I mentioned yesterday. Here are a few examples, with his commentary in blue.

"There is no compulsion in religion...you have your religion, I have mine" (BP: That's a verse in the Quran)

"I am a female medical student. Converting out of Islam is forbidden" (BP: a medical student and she think that way! God help us!)

"I hope other Islamic nations will learn from this nation (Afghanistan) how to apply Islamic law"

(HT: Isaac Schroedinger)

-- CAV