(no subject)

I just...wow:

Alexis Goggins, the plucky 7-year-old who police say was shot six times Sunday when she shielded her mother from an enraged ex-boyfriend, emerged from a successful six-hour surgery Friday night to relieved family members.

“Everything turned out good,” said Tonya Colbert, her cousin. “She’s amazing. She’s still fighting and she’s still pulling through.”

The first-grader at Campbell Elementary School in Detroit emerged sedated and bandaged around 8 p.m. at Children’s Hospital of Michigan from surgeries on her right arm, eye and jaw.

Selietha Parker, her 30-year-old mother, stayed by her daughter’s bedside until around 10 p.m., when numbness in her own left arm, which still had a bullet lodged in it, forced her back to Detroit Receiving Hospital’s emergency room.

“She hasn’t been able to take care of herself because she’s so worried about her daughter,” Colbert said.

Doctors on Friday inserted pins in Alexis’ right arm, removed her right eye and wired her jaw shut. They will give her days to heal before considering any further surgeries, Colbert said.

Her plight and heroic action have drawn media and public interest from around the country and abroad. The Detroit News receives dozens of e-mails and phone calls daily from concerned readers offering help and prayers.

On Friday, a Warren company that makes prosthetic eyes offered to donate one to Alexis.

“That is just wonderful,” Colbert said.

If you've got some spare cash around over the holidays may I suggest making a donation to help this little girl out? You can do so here:

Checks should be made out to the Alexis Goggins Hero Fund and sent to Campbell Elementary School in care of the Alexis Goggins Hero Fund, 2301 E Alexandrine St, Detroit, 48207. For information, call (313) 494-2052.

One wonders what would've happened if they'd said, "Happy Holidays"

Police: N.Y. subway riders beaten after 'Happy Hanukkah' greeting



By The Associated Press

Four Jewish subway riders who wished other people Happy Hanukkah were pelted with anti-Semitic remarks before being beaten, New York police and prosecutors said. The incident was being investigated as a possible hate crime.

The four were on a train in Manhattan on Friday night, during the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights, when they were approached by a group of 10 people who offered holiday greetings. The victims responded, Happy Hanukkah and were assaulted by the larger group, police said Tuesday.

Police caught up with the train in Brooklyn and arrested eight men and two women, ages 19 and 20. They were arraigned Saturday on charges of assault, menacing, riot, harassment and disorderly conduct, the Brooklyn district attorney's office said.

The case was being handled by the office's civil rights bureau, and charges could be upgraded to hate crimes, prosecutors said. The two men and two women who were attacked had bruises and welts on their faces and heads but were not hospitalized, police said.

One of the men charged, Joseph Jirovec, pleaded guilty last year to attempted robbery as a hate crime and was awaiting sentencing, prosecutors said. Jirovec, who is white, was part of a group that yelled racial epithets and assaulted two black teenagers in Brooklyn, prosecutors said.

Jirovec's lawyer, Peter Mollo, said Tuesday it was unlikely his client would attack someone for being Jewish. His mother was Jewish, Mollo said. It's very unlikely he would do something like this at all.

(no subject)

I'm sure most of you heard about the Congress' decision to say "We like Christmas!", in a legislative fashion so I won't go into too many details beyond quoting just a few passages:

Congress "recognizes the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world" and "acknowledges the international religious and historical importance of Christmas and the Christian faith"

Well I'm glad we got that settled. I simply cannot press the W, T, and F keys hard enough to really express my reaction to this.

But before you start beating your head against your desk, allow me to also point you to Kung Fu Monkey who sums it all up in just the perfect way:

You know, for a religion that survived centuries of persecution under the greatest Empire in existence, and then went on to convert billions of people over the following centuries, and is so entrenched as a moral framework in America that every Presidential candidate (hell, 99% of politicians in general) has to claim to be not just a follower but a devout follower ...

... Christianity's been acting kind of needy lately. Like, "crazy girlfriend who suddenly believes you're thinking about how to pack your shit in ways she won't notice and sneak it out to the car, and so perversely thinks the way to keep you from bolting is to demand you tell her she's super pretty every hour, which, ironically, is what actually prompts you into thinking about packing your shit, even though you weren't before but now ..." needy.

Come on, Christianity. Stay classy.