Political Satire:

It seems that Vice President Dick Cheney has bagged his first Republican lawyer in this years hunting season. It is alleged that Cheney shot his dove hunting lawyer buddy with a shotgun in a dove hunting accident on a Texas Dove hunting trip yesterday.

I can fully understand the temptation that Dick Cheney faces to shoot republican lawyers full of buckshot, but because it is against the law, I cannot condone it. I do commend Vice President Dick Cheney for exercising his second amendment rights in relation to the threat posed to humanity by republican lawyers.

It is my desire that the state of Texas regulate the shotgun season for lawyer hunting before Dick Cheney actually declares open season on the bar association. It is reported that numerous lawyers have politely cancelled future scheduled hunting trips with Dick Cheney.

I once thought Cheney to be a loose cannon, however the fact that he has actually has shot someone on a hunting trip shows he is merely a loose shotgun with ambitions of being a loose cannon.

As with all republicans, the "caliber" of leadership falls short of what is "aimed for". I admit that the "loose cannon" VP can actually shoot more buckshot than blanks. No doubt the NRA is pleased and the Texas State Bar Association is terrified..

When Dick Cheney goes lawyer hunting with a shotgun, he most certainly means business. Now that is tort reform leadership by example.

Huntington West Virginia has a fresh coat of snow on the ground this morning. The city has the salt trucks up and running and we have 3-4 inches of now on the ground at the moment. The roads in most residential areas of the city are safe and passable. Police are advising motorists to use caution in traveling throughout Southern West Virginia due to weather issues and to be careful of slick spots in the highways and on bridges. The temperature is expected to fall this evening and this could potentially make more ice spots on the road. Be careful folks and remember West Virginia is beautiful in the winter.

Let the children enjoy the snow, its time for sensible adults to cuddle up with a good cup of coffee.

I am of the opinion that the city needs a new webmaster....pronto. I am not looking for the job myself. know how to modernize the cities website, but I don't want anyone in Huntington WV city hall to question my motivations for making these statements.

The Huntington WV Police Department website is ponderously in need of an update. This has not been done in the case of Huntington WV and the HPD is overlooking a source of potential intelligence as it relates to the dope trade. Modern police websites have citizen input forms that allows citizens to accept anonymous crime tips over the web. If we had a modern municipal website for the city of Huntington WV , it would allow allow citizens to pay parking tickets and small tax and user fee bills over the internet via electronic commerce. Reducing the need for the Huntington Municipal Finance office to process these manually. Small businesses could pay B&O tax in this manner.

Modern municipal websites have e mail list servers to distribute electronic memo's from department heads to city employees and facilitate inter-departmental communication. This reduces paperwork and facilitates more expedient communication.

If Huntington WV had a modern municipal website, it would have a piece of blogging software installed for the mayor to give public updates on city affairs and policies. A blogging software does not require a webmaster to post updates, and the mayor can post his own updates in a web based word processor to rapidly get updates in policy to the public. Currently this is done by the cities volunteer webmaster when they get time to do it. A well designed government web site has many features installed in the back end of the site that enhances government efficiency and reduces paperwork. We need this in Huntington West Virginia.

If Huntington WV had a modern municipal website, it would have a section where the fire department could promulgate fire prevention and safety tips for teachers to use in the public schools in conjunction with the board of eduction. Teachers could download fire prevention tips for safety lessons in the public schools.

If Huntington WV had a modern municipal website, it would have a section where the police department could promulgate crime prevention and safety tips for teachers to use in the public schools in conjunction with the board of eduction. The police department could distribute drug prevention educational materials to the public school faculty in this manner.

What Huntington WV currently has is a 1990's era municipal billboard in cyberspace with several bugs. How can Huntington embrace technology by enticing tech jobs to come here, if we don't embrace a modern perspective of efficiency by virtue of an online technological presence.

Stephanie Heck

Huntington WV

I have written a web based online contact manager application for my associates to register themselves in my address book. It is a PHP script that saves its results to a database. I then download the online data and import into excel or access or outlook at my option. Right now it is Alpha Ware but I can expand the form. It runs in SSL because I started out to write a shopping cart and decided to keep it simple. Would something like this help members keep up with address changes for membership for local organizations? Address changes could be submitted online for large groups to keep the membership list current.. If you know me or want to get in touch with me, give it a try. ONLINE CONTACT MANAGER 

Stephanie

It is my understanding that Joe Manchin has currently established the highest public approval ratings of any governor in the country. Joe Manchin is allegedly thinking about a run for higher office according to statehouse rumors. As Democrats go, Joe Manchin is somewhat profoundly conservative, although he would be seen as a moderate by GOP standards. If he would seek higher office it would be quite difficult to tell the difference in agenda between a conservative democrat and a moderate republican.

It is quite possible that Joe Manchin would be perceived as more conservative than a moderate republican. While this philosophy may serve him well in state Politics. Joe Manchin is far too conservative to obtain the support of the moderate to liberal faction of the Democratic National Committee and therein is the problem. While Joe Manchin is perceived as a conservative Democrat within West Virginia, he would be perceived as a "closet case Republican" in any state other than West Virginia.

I do not see a run for federal office in the future for Joe Manchin, however I believe he will remain a fixture in West Virginia politics for years to come. He is not going away, but Joe Manchin is not moving to Washington in the foreseeable future.

Much of Governor Joe Manchin's political future will depend on the outcome of the 2006 elections, many American citizens are very upset about the war in Iraq and right wing extremism from the Bush administration. I see the political pendulum swinging back toward a centrist mindset on the national scene, and this could leave an ambitious conservative democrat in a potential hornets nest of hostility without much support from the national Democratic party, if he seeks federal office.

In all fairness to Gov. Joe Manchin, he did come across as very humane and compassionate on camera during the recent coal mine disaster in West Virginia. This without doubt has raised his popularity index significantly in recent weeks.

The Fourth Amendment States:

Amendment IV

"The right of the people to be secure in their [B]persons[/B], houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized".

The word PERSONS is significant. One cannot protect individual freedom without protecting the biological shell that houses the human mind. Our homes were protected by the fourth amendment because that is where we have our material assets. Our persons were protected by the fourth amendment  because the human body is the "home" of our intellectual and biological assets.

According to the fourth Amendment, we have a right to a certain amount of privacy in our homes and in our PERSONS and the contents of our homes and person are immune to examination by government without a compelling government interest requiring a warrant.

This is exactly why you need a court order to take a DNA sample from a criminal suspect. The fourth amendment to the constitution gives PERSONS the right to anatomical privacy that can only be overcome by a warrant. In the case of a female, the uterus is an integral part of that person and that female citizen is the sole controller of her personal reproductive anatomy, assuming one has the right to own ones own body, a woman has a right to make decisions about her home and her PERSON with immunity from government interference. Therefore reproductive decisions made by a woman are a private matter beyond the scope of government.

I realize that this s controversial and upsetting to many with strong religious faith, however the "establishment clause" and the "free exercise clause" of the first amendment prohibit the government from enforcing religious convictions or sentiments. The first amendment is a de facto abdication of religious authority by government, and inversely an empowerment of the individuals right to practice a faith giving the citizen a great degree of religious autonomy.

Religious and secular people disagree about the exact time that life actually begins within the body of the protected female person. The government is not in the religious enforcement business. The same constitution that gives a woman the right to anatomical privacy, also gives religious people the right to practice their faith freely..

Neither side has a clear mandate. Both sides are factions in a constitution debate.

Any law requlating a womans right to control her own body is flagrantly unconstitutional, in much the same way that any law regulating what sermons may or may not be preached is also unconstitutional. The goverment cannot legislate against sin. Abortion is a matter of conscience to those of us who respect the right of a woman to control her own body in an enviroment that is free of coercion. My reverence for the bill of rights also compels me to respect the right of religious people to disgree with that.

Let us not replicate the mistake of the ACLU and get so blasted hung up on the first amendment that the other amendments are forgotten. Let us not replicate the mistake of the NRA and get hung up on the second amendment and excuse other amendments from the agenda. Those two organizations deserve each other for their one amendment agendas.

A TRUE liberal concept of patriotism means a strict adherance to ALL of the amendments and not just the ones that are your pet peeves or that support your position.

Religious fundimentalists and constitutional fundimentalists have debated these issue for several decades without resolution. The bill of rights protects both sides from goverment imposition of values. The challenge we face as Americans is to find a method to give equal respect to those who control a uturus, and those who control a pulpit, but not to give dominance to either side out of respect for the Bill of Rights.

Stephanie Heck

Huntington West Virginia

Liberal History in Perspective:

 In 1776 the ultra conservative monarchy of Great Britain sought to maintain power in the the colonies by maintaining the status quo and upholding the traditional values of the time. The king was the "defender of the faith" by law in addition to his political position in 1776.

Ben Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, had several things in common. They were all wealthy, highly intellectual, and somewhat elitist, and in the context of the era that they lived, they were all VERY LIBERAL. It seems 1776 was not a good year for conservatives and their king. 230 years have passed sinse the Declaration of independance, and those who claim to speak for the king of the universe, as opposed to an earthly king are still fighting with liberals over how much freedom is approrpiate. As for the so called liberal agenda...I am well pleased with the one that the founding fathers wrote.

In 1776, the concept of a demcratic republic was the most radical liberal concept that the world had seen for a thousand years. There is not a stitch of conservatism in the legacy of the founding fathers.

Stephanie Heck

Huntington West Virginia

There are several potential ways to stand up to the drug trade from Detroit that Huntington West Virginia has not used to my understanding. Huntington needs a multifaceted full spectrum approach to deal with the problem. Computers are a very powerful tool in fighting crime. Most of these dope dealers from Detroit are lifetime residents of Detroit and were born there. The overwhelming majority are males under the age of 45.

It is possible to compile a statistical profile of dope dealers from Detroit that IGNORES the race issue for purposes of prevention of federal liability under profiling case law jurisprudence.

FACT: Persons born in the state of WV have SSN's beginning with 232,233, and 236.

Persons born in Michigan have a designated social security prefix also.

Social Security prefix numbers are based on where you are born. Compile a digital target database list of persons born in Michigan who are currently living within designated Huntington West Virginia zip codes.

Example: 25701 This can be done by using the states drivers license database and other databases.

Eliminate all females from the target database with the exception of those with a known criminal history.

Remove all males over the age of 45 from the target database who are not convicted of a drug related crime or other felony.

By the time the end target database is compiled from the parent database.

There should statistically be a target data hit list of less than 200 persons per zip code. The police can then easily determine which ones of them are potential trouble based upon criminal history.

The state tax department can run the target list through the tax computer to determine which ones are gainfully employed in an honest job.

Remove those gainfully employed from the target data base hit list unless they are convicted felons.

The police may find a few dope heads that they have overlooked and persons of interest if this is done.

We have dope heads running around Huntington with out of state ID's. We need to REQUIRE people to change ID and register with the state within 2 weeks of arrival.

Persons with Michigan SSN prefix's could be flagged in designated WV zip codes. The governor would be within his authority to Reduce the requirement to obtain state ID or drivers licence from 30 days to two weeks for persons within our borders within a designated county by executive order.

He should be asked to do this by the city or county commission.

Compulsory re-registration of ID and vehicles with the state of WV after two weeks would give police probable cause to pull over any out of state vehicle that has been in WV longer than 15 days.

That probable cause would be based upon suspicion of unlawful vehicle registration. Perfectly legal for the local police to do that. I am curious if HPD has a database specialist on the payroll? Perhaps this is the area where WVSP are the leading experts? Maybe this has already been done?

We need to send a political message as well to these out of state drug gangs. We need to encourage West Virginia's congressional delegation and its two very powerful Senators to strongly encourage the FBI and DEA to greatly increase the budget for the drug task force in Detroit and in Huntington. A full spectrum strategy is based on attacking the dope supply as well as the demand. If more dope dealers get busted in Detroit, this means just one less dope dealer that can potentially come here. We have two powerful senators who can ask the federal agents to turn up the heat on Detroit drug gangs who have turned up the heat on us. Turnabout is fair play at the level of federal politics.

I am curious to know if federal firearms charges have been filed against the idiots who shot up the house on Fairfax? As I understand it they are from Detroit. Crossing state lines to commit a felony with a firearm is a ticket to the federal penitentiary. Why was a bond hearing held in magistrates court before the U.S. Attorney had a chance to make the decision if he wished to prosecute under federal law?

West Virginia needs to make it easier for drug adicted people to sue their drug dealers. Unleash the power of the civil courts on dope dealers as well as the criminal courts.

Make these dope dealers fear the process server as well as the detectives in a full spectrum strategy to abate the problem.

I wish to note that the term TORT and torture have the same linguistic root. Turn the litigation lawyers loose on local dope dealers in a full spectrum "open season" strategy to make life hard on them. It does not matter to me if a drug dealer leaves the state to avoid the enforcement of a civil judgement or to evade prosecution, as long as they get the hell out of my town and be quick about it. I am certain that city leaders would agree.

Stephanie Heck

stephanie@sheck.com  

I had a wild experience today. I live in the area of Enslow Park. I sometimes walk up to the gas station to get a bottle of soda. The exercise I get walking takes away some of the calories from the soda. It is a trade off.

The gas station is in close proximity to Cabell Huntington Hospital. I recently got a new digital camera that does video as well as still pics and it has a huge memory chip. I took the cam with me today. I was on a public sidewalk adjacent to the construction area at Cabell Huntington Hospital when I took my camera from my purse and turned it on video, I then took a short panoramic view in a 360 degree rotation of that end of Hal Greer Blvd.

The hospital was in the picture but many other businesses were in the video clip as well.

It was a rotation of that end of Hal Greer Blvd. As I said I was on the sidewalk and not on the hospital property. Immediately as I started filming, one of the rent-a-cop (security guards) from the hospital approaches me and demands to know what I am doing.

At first I thought it was a police officer, however when I saw how fat this guy was, and how dirty his uniform was, I knew it was not a peace officer but a security guard. The guy had a hygiene problem that was noticeable to my nostrils. Real peace officers wear clean uniforms and take a bath on a regular basis.

This guy told me I needed written permission to take pictures of the OUTSIDE of the hospital from a public street. In reality the video clip was of Hal Greer blvd and the hospital was just a small portion of the film.

I was going to use the video clip to experiment with pod casting.

When the security guard first approached me, I pointed the camera downward because I thought this guy was going to try to snatch my camera. I turned the camera downward but left the audio on, because I did not know if this obese loser was going to get crazy on me. There is a lot of public money in the new construction project at CHH. You cannot restrict external photography rights on a public street concerning a publicly funded project.

Medical facilities can restrict photography only INSIDE the facility to protect medical privacy of patients.

Only the military and agencies that keep state and federal secrets can restrict OUTDOOR photography rights.

To say this was an outrageous intimidation was an understatement.

I have an audio video record of all this. The camera kept recording even though it was not pointed directly at the guard except for a brief flash of him. Nothing is illegal about taking pictures on a public street, on a public sidewalk. They had no probable cause to approach me.

A real police officer would have known better as a matter of professionalism.

The security guard apparently thinks the public streets surrounding CHH is Area 51 or something.

I want to ask some of the peace officers and ambulance crews who deal with CHH on a regular basis if they are aware of other incidents of intimidation or bad behavior by the security guards at CHH?

I called a friend of mine who is a retired peace officer and explained what happened, he seems to think this security guard is a loose cannon. I have not decided what if anything I am going to do about this.

Steph

It is my understanding that Fred Phelps is coming to West Virginia this weekend to protest and picket the memorial service for the dead miners who died in the SEGO mining disaster.

I fear that Fred Phelps is coming to West Virginia to incite violence.

We all know that if he does what he says he will do, some good ole boy will seriously and profusely clobber him. Fred Phelps was at one time an attorney, however the ethics committee of the Kansas state bar association asked the Kansas Supreme Court to disbar Fred. They did...and correctly so.

Fred then became a preacher of sorts who spreads hate against gay people in the name of God.

Phelps runs a very hateful website called god hates fags dot com. Many legitimate clergymen question his sanity because of his extreme malice that is seen by many mainline Christian groups as being unscriptural.

Fred Phelps is the alleged cult-leader of the alleged Westburo Baptist Church in Topeka Kansas that claims that America is being punished for tolerating gay people whom Phelps thinks should be executed.. Phelps claims 911 was a punishment from God against New York City and he claims America deserved 911. Phelps appears to be enjoying harassing people by picketing funerals and exploiting the grief of others for his own agenda.

Phelps first started picketing funerals at the funeral of Matthew Sheppard several years ago. Matthew Sheppard was a gay man who was murdered in a well known hate crime. Fred Phelps has grown more outrageous with each passing year. During the last two years, Fred Phelps has picketed numerous funerals of fallen American soldiers and Marines whom have died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. His justification for picketing the funerals of deceased soldiers is that be believes America is an evil country for failing to execute gay people, and he believes that any soldier who dies for this country in combat goes straight to hell. Fred Phelps is probably the most hated man in the United States.

 He has offended millions of people by picketing funerals of fallen American soldiers who died in combat for their country. As I said, many mainstream clergymen believe this Phelps guy is massively insane. Phelps is seen as an insane hatemongering cult leader by large numbers of sincerely religious people. Phelps recently makes the vulgar claim that the coal mine disaster was Gods punishment on West Virginia.

Phelps claims that SEGO Baptist church is a "sodomite whorehouse" and that is the most insane thing I have ever heard of. Phelps claims on his website that the dead coal miners went to hell as gods punishment on the state of West Virginia. That is severe lunacy. In the past, Fred Phelps has protested at Marshall University becasse Marshall policy does not discriminate against gay people. Fred Phelps and his cult followers are seen by many as a bunch of seriously demented people who are seen as nothing but trouble in the numerous jurisdictions where they have protested funerals. I have talked to a friend of mine who is prominent in the states gay community, He tells me that the West Virginia gay community will ignore Fred Phelps out of respect to the families of the deceased miners and no protest will be made by the gay community as a counter demonstration against Phelps. This is out of respect to the families of the deceased. I thanked him for his compassion for the families of the dead. My gay friend is content to leave Fred Phelps to the rednecks and coal miners who would be correctly and justifiably offended by Phelps and his vulgar claims about the dead miners going to hell.

It would please me greatly to see the West Virginia legislature outlaw all forms of picketing and protesting at funerals.

The dead have a right to be buried in peace with a proper and respectable funeral by a clergyman of the dead mans choice or one chosen by the next of kin of the deceased.

Stephanie Heck

Huntington WV

West Virginia's top blogger

12:03 AM The coal miners trapped alive in a Sego West Virginia coal mine have been found alive. 12 out of 13 men survived the explosion. Condolences to the deceased.

4:15 AM Update: Four hours after I was given this news, the coal company at sego has released the news that 12 of 13 miners are deceased.

I feel very mislead along with the rest of my fellow West Virginia citizens.

Editorilal on Intelligent Design:

Personally I wonder why those who practice a faith that conflicts with science, fail to understand that the alleged creator of the universe also allegedly created the scientific laws that govern the universe. The laws of science and the laws of religion must agree to be legitimate in the eyes of those who perceive both sets of laws to be the handiwork of the same author. In the struggle between intelligent design and evolution, I have mixed emotions.

The Darwin theory is validated by genetic science that tells us that many of the higher level sapien species share well over 80 percent of their genetic matrix with homo sapiens. This is not sufficient to prove that an ape is your first cousin. However there is proof beyond question that on a genetic level the homo sapien is a highly evolved member of the sapien family.

One cannot successfully impeach conclusive genetic fact by expounding dogmas. I am not debunking anyone's faith, I merely state that religion and science are at loggerheads as they have been for centuries. Science has in many respects evolved beyond the point that religionists find to be comfortable.

I feel that those who believe in intelligent design are very sincere. I feel the recent advent of "intelligent design" began as a merely a well intentioned attempt for the institutions of science and religion to find compromise.

However, both science and religion by their nature have a tendency to be somewhat rigid, in that science perpetually seeks answers, and religion claims to speak for the supernatural entity that has all the answers.

"Intelligent design" is a compromise in a sociological context to attempt to find a palatable solution to the educational debate about biology curriculum. Religion and science are both highly resistant to compromise by their respective practitioners.

Intelligent Design is more of a sociological phenomenon than a theory, born from the minds of both religious and scientific apologists, and advocated by those religious and scientific compromised few who practice the art of punditry to arouse the ire of those well meaning Americans who do not wish to see the public schools exploited to appease those with an agenda.

I feel the primary flaw with Darwin's conclusions was that he wrongly assumed that all of modern humanity were homo sapien by theory. In Southern West Virginia we have no shortage of Troglodyte's and Neanderthals

TALLMANSVILLE, West Virginia (Jan. 2)  A coal mine explosion that may have been sparked by lightning trapped 13 miners underground Monday, officials said. The mine had been idle over the holiday and the explosion occurred as the first shift of miners entered to resume production, said Lara Ramsburg, spokeswoman for Gov. Joe Manchin. This coal mine explosion with the trapped miners is a dreaded nighmare in portions of the state of West Virginia where coal is mined. A coal mine sometimes has methane gas that creates extreme danger of a mine explosion at times.

It is my understanding that relatives of the trapped miners are meeting in a church near the mine to pray for their loved ones trapped as the result of this coal mine explosion. Rescue efforts are in progress.

There was a great celebration of the new year in the river cities of Ashland Ironton and Huntington WV. We are full of hope in the river cities that the new year will be more prosperous than the last.

Stephanie Heck

Huntington wv

There was a great celebration of the new year in the river cities of Ashland Ironton and Huntington WV. We are full of hope in the river cities that the new year will be more prosperous than the last.

Stephanie Heck

Huntington wv

Huntington West Virginia Chat Room Schedule

We have had a large number of people coming to the Huntington West Virginia Chat Room. However the trickle of traffic has been frustrating to some who have not known when is the best time to show up.

Don't give up on this. A Huntington West Virginia Chat Room Server should serve as a community asset.

I announced this just before the Christmas holiday and there was not much traffic online locally to support the chat room because people were spending time with friends and family.

Hosted chats will be at 8 PM Nightly at http://sheck.com/chat/

http://sheck.com/forums

Dear Huntington City Council:

12/21/2005

Subject: TTA and Pullman Square

I have some questions, concerns, and comments about the way Pullman Square came in to being with regard to TTA involvement. I will try to be as concise and specific as possible with my concerns. I am quite proud of Pullman Square but I am concerned about how it came into being,

Who are the actual real estate owners of the Pullman Square property?

Is it TTA as I understand? Or is it a private entity?

A private entity can rent parking on private roads with no problems. Who owns the very frequently cursed parking meters in Pullman Square? If the Pullman Square parking meters are not owned by the city, have the municipal vending machine permit fees been paid? That is what a privately owned parking meter is a parking vending machine. I see no municipal vending machine permit stickers on the parking meters at Pullman Square, so I naturally assume that they are owned by the city.