Day: May 26, 2005

Via AP: Democrats have forced the Senate to delay a confirmation vote on John R. Bolton to become U.N. ambassador.

Sweet.

Do you know how fast this would be abused by my kids?

Via AP: Case of 1969 Altamont Stabbing Closed

Nearly 36 years after a man was stabbed to death during a Rolling Stones concert at Altamont Speedway, investigators have closed the case, dismissing a theory that a second Hells Angel took part in the killing.

Meredith Hunter, 18, was killed during the free concert on Dec. 6, 1969. The show, which drew an estimated 300,000 people, was billed as the “Woodstock of the West,” but the death helped bring to an end the image of the peace-and-love ’60s. The concert, and the stabbing, were captured on film in the 1970 documentary “Gimme Shelter.”

As the Stones played on stage, a member of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, hired by the band to provide security, attacked, stabbed and killed Hunter.

Alan Passaro was acquitted after a jury concluded he acted in self-defense because Hunter was carrying a gun. But there had been rumors over the years that a second unidentified assailant had inflicted the fatal wounds, and the case remained open.

But Alameda County sheriff’s Sgt. Scott Dudek said Wednesday that after a renewed investigation over the past two years, authorities concluded that Passaro, who died in 1985, was the only person to stab Hunter and did so only after Hunter pointed a gun at the stage.

Dudek said Passaro’s lawyer confirmed his client was the lone assailant. In addition, enhanced and slowed-down footage from the film shows Hunter brandishing the gun just before Passaro leaps from the stage and stabs him, Dudek said.

Hunter’s relatives said Wednesday they had always held out hope that someone would be convicted in the case.

“The problem is the wounds that have been reopened are still devastating to the family,” Hunter’s sister, Dixie Ward, 63, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Tragedy breeds few winners.

This is excellent news.

A former Wall Street trader who rejoined the Marines after the Sept. 11 attacks will not be tried on murder charges for killing two suspected Iraqi insurgents, a Marine general decided Thursday.

The decision by Maj. Gen. Richard Huck, commander of the 2nd Marine Division based at Camp Lejeune, ends the prosecution of 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, whom prosecutors accused of killing the men without justification.

“Down at the unit level, there was never a question about Ilario’s conduct and whether or not he did the right thing,” Charles Gittins, Pantano’s civilian lawyer, said. “It was up in the higher echelons. The people removed from combat situations needed to put more trust in their officers rather than assuming they’re guilty.”

That last quote just about sums it up doesn’t it? The politically correct are quick to jump all over our soldiers at the hint of impropriety rather than give them the benefit of the doubt. These are the same people who protest against the war but ‘support our troops’.

Puhleeze.

Let these guys do their job.

Via AP – Iraqi Government Says Al-Zarqawi Wounded

Iraq’s most lethal insurgent group appears to be facing a leadership crisis amid conflicting reports about the fate of its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and whether a Saudi militant has been named to stand in for him.

Iraq’s interior and defense ministers said Thursday they have information that al-Zarqawi has been wounded — apparent confirmation of recent rumors that the Jordanian-born terrorist leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was injured. But the officials said they did not know how severe the injury might be.

One word: Die.

Meanwhile, Arthur Chrenkoff is offering a ‘Get Caught, Al-Zarqawi’ campaign over at his place.