Jodi Arias Trial

Is anyone keeping up with this case? 

From the Huffington Post:

The jury learned gruesome details about the violent death of 30-year-old Travis Alexander during day three of the Jodi Arias murder trial on Tuesday.

As bereaved family members watched in a Phoenix courtroom, a medical examiner began testifying in graphic detail about the brutal attack that resulted in Alexander's death.

Dr. Kevin Horn, of the Maricopa County Medical Examiner office, described how Alexander was stabbed 27 times, shot in the right brow with a .25-caliber gun, and nearly decapitated when his throat, voice box and arteries were cut. As Horn spoke, jurors looked at photos of the dead Arizona man whose body, Horn said, was found in his Mesa home June 9, 2008, several days after he was killed, decomposing and starting to mummify.

During the testimony, Alexander's family members left the courtroom. Arias cried as post-mortem photos were shown and appeared to use her long dark hair to shield herself from the jury.

Prosecutors say that Arias, a 32-year-old photographer from Yreka, Calif., killed Alexander in cold blood, but her defense team claims she acted in self-defense.

According to Horn, Alexander's stab wounds were very deep and inflicted with major force. It was, Horn testified Tuesday, impossible to determine if Alexander was dead before he was shot due to the amount of decomposition. The cause of death was excessive blood loss from the victim's body, he said, and Alexander had multiple self-defense wounds to his palms and fingers, a key element of the prosecution's case.

Heather Connor, a Mesa Police Department fingerprint examiner, continued her testimony Tuesday after first taking the stand Friday. Tuesday, Connor took the court through photos of Alexander's hallway, master bedroom and bathroom. The jury was also shown a photo of a bloody handprint on a wall that prosecutors said contains a mixture of Alexander's and Arias' DNA.

Last week, Connor unveiled evidence found at the crime scene, including blood, a bullet casing, a broken camera and a SIM card prosecutors said contains deleted images of Arias naked on a bed and of Alexander's body.

Conner is expected to take the stand again Wednesday morning.

If convicted, Arias could face the death penalty.




I have looked at a lot of footage and this woman is an excellent actress, crocodile tears, the works.  She may have the face and the voice of a sweet girl, but after the testimony, her lies, and what others have said. She is manipulative and stalked this Travis, after he moved on.

My take and opinion, this was not in self-defense, she had the gun and the knife. I believe she had every intention of murdering this man. It was pre-meditated.  He may have slept with her, but it seemed he had moved on....?

I am not sure how this all going to end. But I hope that this monster gets the death penalty. She is a cold-blooded killer, devoid of emotion.

What's your opinion? Thoughts?

Special Needs Basketball Player is Given Help by Opposing Player to Score a Shot MY OLD HIGH SCHOOL!!!

A very good friend of mine shared this story and video with me and I couldn't believe that this was my old high school!

GO T-BIRDS!!!!  

And God bless those kids and that beautiful coach for treating a child of special needs with such love and compassion and great devotion.

I hope you enjoy it!  I have to admit, I cried.

I am so proud of my old school. :)

BRITISH PM TO OBAMA: LEAVE MICHELLE AT HOME DURING G8 SUMMIT

British PM David Cameron is encouraging Barack Obama to leave Michelle at home when he travels to the UK for the G8 Summit.

The summit is being held at "the luxury Lough Erne resort in Northern Ireland," and a Downing Street spokesperson says Cameron wants Obama and the other leaders to focus completely on issues like "[taxes], trade, and transparency," rather than their "wives and girlfriends."

Cameron says he got the idea from last year's G8 Summit at Camp David. That summit "was attended by the leaders alone."

This means the traditional "separate program for visiting wives" will not be prepared for this year's summit.

However, because Cameron is ultimately powerless in dictating whether leaders do or don't bring their wives and girlfriends, it is believed Mrs. Cameron may "host a modest lunch in Downing Street" if Michelle decides to come anyway.

In other words, stay home, Mrs. Obama!  

Naked Grandma! - Family Feud..... FUN FRIDAY!

I know you laughed, just admit it.

JOKE AHEAD:

THE PERFECT HUSBAND

Several men are in the locker room of a golf club. A cellular phone on a
bench rings and a man engages the hands-free speaker function and begins to
talk. Everyone else in the room stops to listen.

MAN: "Hello"

WOMAN: "Hi Honey, it's me. Are you at the club?"

MAN: "Yes."

WOMAN: "I'm at the shops now and found this beautiful leather coat. It's
only $2,000; is it OK if I buy it?"

MAN: "Sure, go ahead if you like it that much."

WOMAN: "I also stopped by the Lexus dealership and saw the new models. I
saw one I really liked."

MAN: "How much?"

WOMAN: "$90,000." ;

MAN: "OK, but for that price I want it with all the options."

WOMAN: "Great! Oh, and one more thing... I was just talking to Janie and
found out that the house I wanted last year is back on the market. They're
asking $980,000 for it."

MAN: "Well, then go ahead and make an offer of $900,000. They'll probably
take it. If not, we can go the extra eighty-thousand if it's what you
really want."

WOMAN: "OK. I'll see you later! I love you so much!"

MAN: "Bye! I love you, too."

The man hangs up. The other men in the locker room are staring at him in
astonishment, mouths wide open.

He turns and asks, "Anyone know who's phone this is?"


Poor man that comes home to all of that, lol!!

Faizan Syed, Director of Hamas-linked CAIR-Missouri, wants people who insult Islam on the internet to be punished under sharia law

Last August, the director of CAIR St. Louis, Faizan Syed, wrote about his ideas for monitoring social media titled Social Media Task Force.  Sayed wants to create a Muslim youth association that would aggresively monitor the media.  Among his suggestions:

“Report anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim content on the internet to appropriate authorities to take action to remove it and go after those who post it online and prosecute and take actions according to the Sharia ruling.”

Z Truth  Take action according to the Sharia ruling? The punishment for insulting Islam (blasphemy) under sharia is death.

Further to Syed’s plan, he recommends…

An association of Muslim Youth should be created, they be trained in media monitoring and response and in media relations. These Youth should be encouraged to be passionate, aggressive and prompt in their responses. There need at least one such team in every country.

Highlight the inconsistencies of the mainstream media and spread it across the web using social networking and all other platforms available to us.

Highlight the bias of media in reporting issues pertaining to Islam and Muslims Write to editors and journalist reporting on Islam and on Muslim issues Send mass emails out promptly urging Muslims to respond on news reports that is bias and anti Islamic in nature to the editors and journalist and TV anchors. Promote books, documentaries, movies that is of beneficial to the Muslim youth.

This is NOT a Muslim nation it is Christian nation and it is a FREE nation, even though Obama would love to see it otherwise.

Why even live in America if they want to bring their archaic and vile laws to our nation? Why not go back to where Sharia Law is not only accepted but enforced?

Just this past weekend SNL did a vile script mocking our Lord and Savior, but do we want all those people involved beheaded or murdered?  No, of course not. No sane person would want to see a person die over freedom of speech. Yes, it does hurt us, our spirits to see our beloved Savior mocked like that, but we don't retaliate with hate or murderous intent. We pray for them.

We, as Christians and believers in Jesus Christ pray for those that mock us, persecute us and ridicule us. We do not advocate murder. They have no idea whom they are mocking. And it breaks our hearts. It really does.

Muslims, radical Muslims, such as the ones above, would have found a way to viciously and mercilessly murder anyone that mocked Muhammad or Allah, they would have wound up dead or missing and probably found mutilated beyond recognition.  They have ZERO tolerance for anyone that mocks their god or prophet.

Am I right? 

White House Confirms: Obama Did Nothing as Americans Were Murdered in Benghazi

White House Counsel Kathryn H. Ruemmler has written a letter to Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte, all senators on the Armed Services Committee that have been aggressively pursuing answers that would explain the apparent abandonment of Ambassador Chris Stevens and his staff and their murders at the hands of Islamic terrorists in Benghazi.

The Senators have been critical of the Obama Administration and the State Department for their apparent unwillingness to address the security concerns of Amb. Stevens in the days leading up to the attack. They have furthermore questioned why nothing was done to aid the consulate as it was under attack and they have also questioned why the Administration continually lied about the nature of the attack in the aftermath.

Ruemmler’s letter was a direct response to a query sent to the White House by the Senators that asked if President Obama had been in contact with Libyan officials the night of the attack, September 11th, 2012. According to Ruemmler’s letter, Obama had no contact with Libyan officials.

This is in addition to Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey’s testimony last week, where they each claimed that neither President Obama nor Secretary of State Hillary Clinton communicated with the defense department as the attack occurred. On the night in question, it appears that after a regularly scheduled meeting with Panetta, President Obama went home as the attack was underway and never checked in or anything of the like.

Ruemmler’s letter clarifies that while President Obama did not call Libyan officials, Clinton called Libyan President Mohammed Magariaf on Obama’s behalf that night “to coordinate additional support to protect Americans in Libya and access to Libyan territory.” According to Ruemmler’s etter, Obama called Magariaf the next evening.

According to The Hill,

“Republican lawmakers have threatened holds on Obama’s nominees for secretary of Defense and CIA director if they don’t get more answers about the attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans on Sept. 11, 2012.

‘The president was virtually disengaged’ from ‘an attack you could see coming,’ Graham told reporters Thursday at a press conference alongside McCain and Ayotte.

Graham called the response a ‘breakdown in national security’ and said that if Obama had called the embassy in Tripoli or anyone else in Libya that night, ‘it could have made a difference.’

McCain said the administration has been ‘stonewalling’ Congress, while Ayotte bemoaned the fact that there were no U.S. air assets nearby despite warnings about the deteriorating security situation from the departments of State and Defense.

Ruemmler’s letter defended the Obama administration’s response to the attack.

‘This intensive response, which was directed by the President, included 13 meetings of interagency Principals and Deputies within a week of the attack and involved continuous outreach by senior administration officials to the Government of Libya, including by the President and members of his Cabinet.’”

Just what, exactly, President Obama was doing as Americans were being slaughtered still remains a mystery to the American people. Obama apparently did not coordinate with Panetta or Dempsey and did not coordinate with Libyan officials. However, in the aftermath of the attack, in October, Obama stated in an interview,

“…the minute I found out what was going on I gave three very clear directives. Number one, make sure we are securing our personnel and that we are doing whatever we need to. Number two, we are going to investigate exactly what happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Number three, find out who did this so we can bring them to justice.”

To whom he gave these supposed directives has yet to be clarified. In any case, the personnel were not secured, the investigation has been sluggish and the Obama Administration has been stonewalling investigators and nobody has been brought to justice for this attack.

I just want to see justice and these murdered men to be honored and remembered and those that failed to send help should be fired, and jailed. Period.

I want accountability and we need to see that it gets done. Enough is enough!

The best Valentine's Gift ever, and not just for today

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, EVERYONE!!

May God richly bless you today and always.

ARKANSAS GOV. SIGNS BILL PERMITTING GUNS IN CHURCH

LITTLE ROCK, AR (February 12, 2013) - Gov. Mike Beebe has signed into law a measure allowing concealed handguns in churches and says he believes a follow-up bill addresses the concerns that some pastors had about the new law.

Beebe told reporters Monday that he signed into law the bill that would leave it up to churches and other places of worship to decide whether to allow the concealed weapons.

The concealed handguns would be banned at churches unless they specifically allowed it. Beebe told reporters that a companion bill filed Friday addresses the worries raised by some clergy.

The recently filed House bill would require churches allowing concealed weapons to post signs notifying visitors about the decision.

I believe this is a great move that our governor has made and surprisingly he is a Democrat, so liberals cannot say this is "right-wing nut job." Ha!

Anyoo, great news for all gun owners in Arkansas and those that attend church. 

Living in the south has taught me one thing, most of the men around here are hardcore gun and bow hunters and they take pride in how well they care for their weapons, protecting their families and so forth. And believe it or not, lots of women are the same way. Which shocked me, at first, but I am used to it now. Women are just as capable as men handling weapons.

I know there are some that are not responsible but they are rare, thank goodness.

Thoughts?

Welcome to the blog tour for Colleen Coble's Safe in His Arms!

Thank you Litfuse Publicity Group for providing me a copy of this book to review.

About Safe in His Arms: 

Sometimes it takes a stranger to see you as you really are.

Under Texas Stars, Book 2
Born and raised on sprawling Texas land, Margaret O'Brien prides herself on her competence as a rancher. But her father believes she's made for more than just dawn-to-dusk work. He wants her to have the love of a good man, to raise children, to build a life. But Margaret gave up such dreams years ago. She's convinced no man would have her, that the ranch is her life now.

So when Margaret's father hires Daniel Cutler as a new foreman, she's frustrated and suspicious. Then an overheard conversation links him with a gang of bank robbers, and she's downright worried. Daniel swears he's not involved, but Margaret's not convinced. She knows the man still has secrets. But would a criminal be so kind and talk so convincingly of his faith? As a series of tragic "accidents" threatens all she holds dear, Margaret must decide what to trust: her own ears, her best judgment . . . or what her heart keeps telling her. 

Link to buy the book

MY REVIEW:  I did not have the privilege of reviewing the first book to this series, so I had to do a little research on my own before reading this novel. For those of you who have not read the first novel, "Blue Moon Promise" it features Lucy, Margaret's best-friend and her very own struggles before she finds happiness. You can read about here.  And buy the book as well.

Margaret is not the typical frontier woman who cooks, cleans and takes care of her household, on the contrary she takes the place of her brother, who died in a war, as the head rancher and basically runs the ranch her elderly father owns. She is also very tall, has bright red hair and is ridiculed by the "dainty" women in town who mock her appearance. However, Margaret is a bit self-conscious about her looks but carries herself with pride and dignity, regardless of what the townspeople think.

She believes everything is going just fine until her dad drops a bomb and informs her that he has hired a foreman, Daniel, to basically take her place and them her cousin shows up as well.

Margaret is devastated and feels betrayed by her father. She has to deal with Daniel and has her suspicion's about him, she doesn't quite trust him but at the time has no choice but to play along with whatever he is doing on the sly.

There are a lot of twists and turns to this story, as Margaret tries to unravel the "accidents" on the ranch and Daniel's private and secluded rendezvous with suspicious and unfriendly characters.

This book was entertaining from the beginning to end. I enjoyed reading it and look forward to reading the first novel and the 3rd novel as well.

Meet Colleen:  

  

Best-selling author Colleen Coble's novels have won or finaled in awards ranging from the Best Books of Indiana, ACFW Book of the Year, RWA's RITA, the Holt Medallion, the Daphne du Maurier, National Readers' Choice, and the Booksellers Best. She has nearly 2 million books in print and writes romantic mysteries because she loves to see justice prevail. Colleen is CEO of American Christian Fiction Writers and is a member of Romance Writers of America. She lives with her husband Dave in Indiana.

Find out more about Colleen: Here

What would you do? How would you react?

So, what would you do?? Would you stay quiet? Or speak up and defend that precious person?

Come on, be honest....


FYI:  I will be posting another book blog tomorrow and then back to politics for a while.  

Thanks for staying with me!

Winds of Change book blog

I am happily thanking one of my very best friends for allowing me the great privilege of reading his first novel and able to review it for free. I am truly humbled and honored my friend. :)  

Before introducing the book, my friend, David C. Russell, wrote an acknowledgment to me in his book and I would like to share that with you right now:

"Leticia (last name omitted) shares an interest in the medical profession and also took the time to review and comment on the content of Winds of Change in its early development." 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Winds of Change is a modern work, capturing the nuances of a faith journey in a rather typical mid-west family. Exploration of similarities and differences between a liturgical religion philosophy and that of the messianic Jewish perspective is a theme throughout this work. These concepts are explored/developed/embraced as the main family characters experience common aspects of life transitions.

MY REVIEW:  The first thing that I noticed immediately while reading this inspiring book is how two separate families view the church, God and Christ.

The families are close friends and share their faith in different ways. The family that follows messianic teachings show a different side of what faith is how they operate on their faith.  They see God on a very personal level and not as a God who is far beyond their reach.  He is a true, living, breathing God that is consistently by their side regardless of what may be transpiring around them in this world. He is their Adonai, Our Adonai, a very, present God, who is never beyond the reach of our prayers or worship. 

Both families are believers and deal with day to day life just like everyone else, they have to deal with their children who can be difficult at times and others not so much. I love how David intertwined their lives to make the reader feel they are in the midst of both families trials, pain and hardships, dealing with uncertainty regarding their perspective futures.

However, of course, there was another family, not quite ready to accept the messianic teachings or how they worship and teach at their services which are held on Saturdays not on Sundays.  You will learn a lot more about the Sabbath day and it's Hebrew origin in the book. NO spoilers....

Basically, we are reading about normal American families dealing with what we all experience, life. There aren't any drop dead gorgeous women, and masculine men who, who are all rich and successful, with all the trimmings. Nope David keeps it real.  We are not looking through a glass darkly. We join the families on their journey and reflect on how each one handles life's daily struggles and joys.

In this book we learn many awesome phrases in Hebrew, what they mean and why the Jews believe what they believe. I learned quite a bit about Pentecost. Jews use the word, "Yeshua" aka "Jesus" and how He plays an intricate part in our prayers and worship of Him.  It's a close intimate relationship that brings the Word of God to life, and how much He loves us and wants to be a part of everything we do, what we think, how we feel and He helps us cope when the hard times hit and when we feel helpless but learn to trust and lean on Him. Both families are confronted with life and death situations and God is right there in the midst of it all. 

David also shares some beautiful quotes from various famous people beginning with each chapter that are wonderfully inspiring.

I loved this book and I will forever treasure it. There is a lot to learn about the Jewish perspective and I hope you will take the time to study it out.  I would definitely recommend this book and also believe it would make a fantastic addition to your book collection.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

David C Russell is a Michigander, musician, and Medical Transcriptionist by profession who has vision-impaired from infancy. He is married with 2 adult children.

Utilizing music, living, blogging and now writing fiction, David seeks to share a faith perspective enriched by valuing the contribution Jewish roots brings to one's life and Christian faith.

He enjoys card games, good discussion, following current events and is known to many as the piano man. He lives with his wife, who is active in the church they attend and involved in providing for the basic needs of several throughout the year in their county. Both see life and marriage as a miracle, ongoing and to be experienced and lived. 

A man after God's own heart. 

BUY THE BOOK

Groundhog Day’s Punxsutawney Phil Commits Suicide After Seeing Four More Years of Obama

Sunday, February 3rd, 2013, 9:51 A.M.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          (PUNXSUTAWNEY, PA) —Less than 24 hours after declaring he did not see his shadow but did see four more years of an Obama in office, Punxsutawney Phil, the famed weather-forecasting groundhog of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, has been found dead in the town’s square. Adding to the shock and tragedy of Punxsutawney Phil’s death is its apparent cause: suicide,and the reason behind it.

Authorities say the prognosticating rodent took his own life over night, just hours after predicting an early spring Saturday morning along with four more years of Obama in the White House. Said a sobbing Punxsutawney Police Chief Thomas N. Fedigan Jr. to reporters, Sunday, “It appears Phil, our beloved groundhog took his own life by a single gunshot to his temple. A nine-millimeter handgun was found next to him. …There are no signs of foul play. A suicide note has also been found scratched into a wooden light pole near Phil.”

Clawed into the light post next to Phil’s frozen corpse were Phil’s last poetic and cryptic writs:“A thousand more years of winter to Obama’s mere four. I saw what I saw yesterday, thus can carry on no more!”
“This is a truly sad day,” Chief Fedigan said, “not only for Punxsutawney, but lovers of Groundhog Day everywhere, indeed, for the whole nation.”

Yesterday’s Groundhog Day was the first time Phil had been brought out of his burrow since the November 6th election, thus learning of a second Obama term for the first time. And apparently, according to the deceased marmot, seeing four more years of Obama in office was enough to send the long assumed apolitical hermit over the edge. Although Phil still remained composed and conducted his duties as usual throughout the 127-year-old ceremony Saturday, seeing an early Spring, and never letting on to the turmoil brewing within him after also seeing a President Obama in year 2017.

READ THE REST OF THIS TRAGIC STORY: 

I read this on Facebook and I just had to share it.  It's so horrid. I am in the depths of despair.

Rest in peace, Phil.