Chito made friends with the croc after finding him with a gunshot wound on the banks of the Central American state's Parismina river 20 years ago. He had been shot in the left eye by a cattle farmer and was close to death. But Chito enlisted the help of several pals to load the massive reptile into his boat.
He says: "When I found Pocho in the river he was dying, so I brought him into my house.
"He was very skinny, weighing only around 150 lb. I gave him chicken and fish and medicine for six months to help him recover.
"I stayed by Pocho's side while he was ill, sleeping next to him at night. I just wanted him to feel that somebody loved him, that not all humans are bad.
"It meant a lot of sacrifice. I had to be there every day. I love all animals - especially ones that have suffered."
At first it was slow, slow. I played with him a bit, slowly doing more.
"Then I found out that when I called his name he would come over to me."
At one point during his recovery, Chito left the croc in a lake near his house. But as he turned to walk away, to his amazement Pocho got out of the water and began to follow him home.
After criminalizing the shared use of Netflix accounts, Tennessee law makers continued to demonstrate their misunderstanding of the internet by passing a law that makes it illegal to post offensive images online.
The law makes it a crime to “transmit or display an image” that could “frighten, intimidate or cause emotional distress” to anyone who views it — which is about as ridiculous as making it illegal to open your eyes for fear of seeing something you don’t like.
Violators found guilty could get up to a year in jail and $2,500 in fines. What’s worse, the law can be applied to anyone who finds the image offensive, not just the person the image was directed to.
The law itself is actually a revision of pre-existing legislation that criminalizes the act of making phone calls, sending emails or other general communication that the sender reasonably knew would cause “emotional distress” to the recipient.
Aside from the over reaching nature of the legislation, it’s likely to come under heavy fire from activists who will be quick to point out the questionable violations the law has to first amendment rights.
Tennessee recently made it illegal to "transmit or display an image" online if it is likely to "frighten, intimidate or cause emotional distress" to anyone who views it. Lawmakers in Tennessee may have run afoul of the Constitution in passing a recent law. The law makes it illegal to “transmit or display an image” online if it is likely to “frighten, intimidate or cause emotional distress” to someone — anyone — who views it.
“Tennessee law already made it a crime to make phone calls, send emails, or otherwise communicate directly with someone in a manner the sender ‘reasonably should know’ would ‘cause emotional distress’ to the recipient,” Ars Technica reported.
“The new legislation adds images to the list of communications that can trigger criminal liability. But for image postings, the ‘emotionally distressed’ individual need not be the intended recipient. Anyone who sees the image is a potential victim.
If a court decides you ‘should have known’ that an image you posted would be upsetting to someone who sees it, you could face months in prison and thousands of dollars in fines,” the article read.
Constitutional scholar Eugene Volokh recently discussed the law in a blog post, saying it was “pretty clearly unconstitutional.”
“If you’re posting a picture of someone in an embarrassing situation — not at all limited to, say, sexually themed pictures or illegally taken pictures — you’re likely a criminal unless the prosecutor, judge, or jury concludes that you had a ‘legitimate purpose,’” Volokh wrote.
“Nothing in the law requires that the picture be of the ‘victim,’ only that it be distressing to the ‘victim’… And of course the same would apply if a newspaper or TV station posts embarrassing pictures or blasphemous images on its site.”
"Strictly speaking, a driver can register a BAC of 0.00% and still be convicted of a DUI. The level of BAC does not clear a driver when it is below the 'presumed level of intoxication.'" —Tennessee Driver Handbook and Driver License Study Guide
"Nancy Benoit also had a blood alcohol reading of .184, although Sperry said the blood alcohol and drug levels could be affected by the decomposition of her body. 'These (blood alcohol) results are not reliable for interpretation because the amount of alcohol in her system could have all come from the decomposition.'" —Cindy Morley, Fayette Daily News, GBI: Chris Benoit's son was full of Xanax, July 18, 2007
With a "legal limit" of 0.00% BAC, and a 1,000 ways to get a false BAC score, convicting "drunk drivers" is like shooting ducks in a barrel.
"Any prosecutor can convict a guilty man; it takes a great prosecutor to convict an innocent man." -Dallas DA Henry Wade
"As district attorney of Dallas for an unprecedented 36 years, Henry Wade was the embodiment of Texas justice. Nineteen convictions — three for murder and the rest involving rape or burglary — won by Wade and two successors who trained under him have been overturned after DNA evidence exonerated the defendants. About 250 more cases are under review. No other county in America — and almost no state, for that matter — has freed more innocent people from prison in recent years than Dallas County, where Wade was DA from 1951 through 1986. John Stickels, a University of Texas at Arlington criminology professor and a director of the Innocence Project of Texas, blames a culture of 'win at all costs.' 'When someone was arrested, it was assumed they were guilty,' he said. 'I think prosecutors and investigators basically ignored all evidence to the contrary and decided they were going to convict these guys.' In his last 20 years as district attorney, his office won 165,000 convictions, the Dallas Morning News reported when he retired. In the 1960s, Wade secured a murder conviction against Ruby, the Dallas nightclub owner who shot Lee Harvey Oswald after Oswald's arrest in the assassination of President Kennedy. Ruby's conviction was overturned on appeal, and he died before Wade could retry him." -MSNBC, After Dallas DA’s death 19 convictions undone, 7/29/2008
"I didn't shoot nobody no Sir! I'm just a patsy!" -Lee Harvey Oswald, shot and killed by a jewish mobster inside the same Dallas Police Dept that President JFK Sr was shot and killed in front of
"Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. I will smash the CIA into a thousand pieces!" -John F Kennedy Sr, Back And To The Left...
Waco, TX. June 10 — A man has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of drunken driving — his ninth such charge since 1984.
Defense attorney Melanie Walker had told jurors no one was seriously injured in last year’s rollover accident and her client suffers from alcoholism.
However, prosecutor Lauren McLeod said alcoholism is no excuse for criminal behavior.
The Waco Tribune-Herald reports that the 52-year-old Sneed and his wife both testified that she was driving. Karroll Sneed told jurors she fled over fears of being jailed on misdemeanor warrants. Sneed said he took the blame out of concern for his wife, who had recently suffered a stroke.
One of the premier DUI attorneys in the country, Troy McKinney of Houston, made an Open Records Act demand on the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, asking: How many Texans are serving sentences of 60 years to life in prison for drunk driving? Not for drunk driving resulting in injury or death — just for drunk driving (or driving over .08%). The response from the Department:
21 to 25 years 125 26 to 30 years 39 31 to 40 years 55 41 to 59 years 16
And finally:
60 to 98 years 23 99 years to Life 13
Repeat: These are sentences just for drunk driving or driving over .08% — not for DWI causing death or serious injury. To trigger the longer sentences, the DWI was at least the offender’s fourth offense.
It would be a fairly safe assumption that these prisoners are alcoholics. In other words, life in prison for having a genetically-predisposed disease and being unable to control it…..without help.
So, what if they got help? What does it cost to keep a citizen in prison for the rest of his life? For even one year? And what does it cost to offer that person rehabilitative therapy? Even, perhaps, to involuntarily commit him to a facility for treatment of the disease?
Justice and humanity aside, do the math….
For a more effective, inexpensive and humane approach to dealing with drunk drivers who are suffering from alcoholism, see Time for a Change.
"Don't get a DUI. When a cop pulls you over..... shoot him!" (crowd cheered wildly) -Christopher Scum, The Dirty Works, Rebel Scum movie premier, Knoxville Tennessee http://www.myspace.com/rebelscumthemovie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlr9ZfAdMQg
"Rocky Top you'll always be Home sweet home to me Good ole Rocky Top, Rocky Top, Tennessee Rocky Top, Tennessee. Once two strangers climbed old Rocky Top Looking for a moonshine still Strangers ain't come down from Rocky Top Reckon they never will." -University of Tennessee official fight song http://www.utk.edu/athletics/tn_songs.shtml
"Back during Prohibition, when ATF agents went to the mountains to bust stills, they didn't come back. People wouldn't tolerate that oppression. That was before fluoride was added to the water..." -Police Officer Jack McLamb, Jack McLamb Radio Show, 20 Feb 2010 (his webmaster was sent to prison for infiltrating Bohemian Grove and shooting video as an employee) http://www.jackmclamb.org
"I saw two officers as before, who rode up to me, with their pistols in their hands, said God damn you stop, if go an Inch further, you are a dead Man, and swore if we did not turn in to that pasture, they would blow our brains out. Major Mitchel of the 5th Regt clapd his Pistol to my head, and said he was going to ask me some questions, if I did not tell the truth, he would blow my brains out. I told him I esteemed myself a man of truth, that he had stopped me on the highway, & made me a prisoner, I knew not by what right; I would tell him the truth; I was not afraid." —Paul Revere, owner of RevereWare¨, sworn affidavit: "Memorandum on Events of April 18, 1775" (declassified Top Secret), while under arrest (and subsequent escape) from Redcoat martial-law traffic police at Minute Man National Historic Park, Paul Revere Capture Site, on the eve of the American Revolutionary War and kicking off the Battle of Lexington and Concord, against the army, navy and courts of King George III, heriditary dictator of England who attempted "gun control" by an Assault Weapons Ban of defensive 50-caliber muskets and cannon, Paul Revere's Ride, by David Hackett Fischer
"Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded. America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." -President Abraham Lincoln (Rothschild), unlicensed attorney at law
"Let me start with law enforcement contacts with respect to traffic stops, for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The Fifth amendment of the Bill of Rights states that we are not to be forced to incrimnate ourselves. The actual wording is, you cannot be compelled to be a witness against yourself. If you are stopped for suspicion of DUI, these are your rights regardless of the laws of your state. First of all, you are to deny having consumed any alcoholic beverages whatsoever. You are never to admit to having one or two drinks. If you admit to consuming even one drop of alcohol, you open the door to 'probable cause', allowing the police officer to search your car for open containers. Next, you are never to submit to a Field Sobriety Test. You are to refuse to do so. They cannot make you walk the line, they cannot make you balance or anything else. Now when you are arrested, you are to refuse to allow a blood-alcohol test, regardless of what state law 'requires', such as revocation of driving priveleges for a period of time. That's an attempt to compel you to be a witness against yourself. Supreme Court decisions in this area are very specific with regards to your rights as folows: Lefkowitz vs Turley, and the Fifth Amendment, provides that no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, and permits him to refuse to any any other qustions put to him in any other proceeding, civil or criminal, formal or informal, where the answers might incriminate him in future criminal proceedings." —George Gordon Law Hour, GeorgeGordon.com, "The Policeman is not your friend - He is your adversary," October 30, 2007 http://supreme.justia.com/us/414/70/
"There's a report out tonight that 24-years ago I was apprehended in Kennebunkport, Maine, for a DUI. That's an accurate story. I'm not proud of that. I oftentimes said that years ago I made some mistakes. I occasionally drank too much and I did on that night. I was pulled over. I admitted to the policeman that I had been drinking. I paid a fine. And I regret that it happened. But it did. I've learned my lesson." —President George W. Bush, CNN Larry King Live, November 2, 2000 http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/bushdui1.html
"Cheney’s first DWI conviction came in November 1962 when he was 21. According to the docket from Cheyenne’s Municipal Court, Cheney was arrested for drunkenness and 'operating motor vehicle while intoxicated.' A Cheyenne Police Judge found Cheney guilty of the two charges and hit him with a 30-day suspension of his driver’s license. Cheney also had to forfeit a $150 bond posted at the time of his arrest. Further information about the case - such as the defendant’s blood alcohol content or whether Cheney was jailed following the arrest - is unavailable since other court records from that period have been destroyed, according to Wyoming officials. Details of Cheney’s second Wyoming arrest in July 1963, have also fallen victim to time and records destruction practices at the local Municipal Court. But a police arrest card maintained by the Rock Springs Police Department shows that Cheney was fined $100 for his second DWI conviction. The card lists the charge against Cheney, who was then working as a groundman laying power lines, as '11-44,' the criminal code classification for drunken driving, according to Police Chief Neil Kourbelas. At the time of the Rock Springs arrest, Kourbelas said that local cops and judges would not have known that young Cheney was a repeat offender. The police department, Kourbelas said, 'wouldn’t have had the ability to automatically check with other jurisdictions to find out if anyone had prior arrests or convictions. We could have arrested Jack the Ripper back then and had no idea what he had done.'” -Allen Trapp, GaDUIblog.com, Top 50 DUI Arrests of All-Time, February 16, 2007 http://gaduiblog.com/category/dui-arrests-that-made-the-news/top-50-dui-arrests-of-all-time/ http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/cheney_doc.html
"I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend." -Vice President Dick Cheney, Fox News http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR7CH9zvD6s www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/cheney_doc.html
"Shit's gettin way too complicated for me. There are white folks, and then there are ignorant mutherfuckers like you! You can put lipstick on a pig. Sorry ass mutherfucker's got nuttin on me. I inhaled frequently - that was the point. Pot helped, and booze. A little blow when you could afford it. Junkie, pothead. That's where I'd been headed. You ain't my bitch nigger, git your own damn fries!" -Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro, Dreams From My Father, MP3: http://www.archive.org/details/ObamaInauguralMashup/
Obama's in charge of growing Earth's opium supply, so he gets the best shit
Live radio coverage on the popup player at ManxRadio.com - Fancy 215 MPH through crowded city centres? Be sure to keep your sheep and lager off the TT.
TT Live! dashboard - Watch the times and speeds as the top riders cross the timing beams at six points on the 37.73-mile course, as well as the speed traps at Sulby and the TT Grandstand. Full race results.
Live TV coverage in UK on ITV. Watch highlights every night from Saturday 3rd June to Saturday 11 June and catch up in ITV Player. Expat Shield allows you to Watch UK TV online outside of UK. You can now watch BBC iplayer from anywhere in the world.
Irish motorcyclist Derek Brien has died after a high-speed accident Isle of Man TT organisers have announced.
The 34-year-old was killed while competing in the opening four-lap Supersport race which was immediately stopped following the incident.
A statement on the Isle of Man TT website announced his death: 'ACU Events Ltd regrets to announce the death of Derek Brien, 34, from Co. Meath in Ireland who was killed during the first Supersport race at the 2011 Isle of Man TT Races following a high-speed accident at Gorse Lea.
Sorely missed: Brien in practice at the Isle of Man before his tragic accident
'Derek was an experienced road racer who first competed on the Isle of Man in the Manx Grand Prix in 2007 and competed in the TT Races in 2009 and 2010. He had a highest TT place of 13th in the 2010 Supersport 1 race.
'Derek was single with a partner, Sarah. The ACU wishes to pass on their deepest sympathy to Derek's family and friends.'
Brien, from Bellewstown in county Meath, won the Junior event at the 2007 Manx Grand Prix on the Isle of Man.
Tragedy: Brien was killed while racing on the Isle of Man
Jim Parker, managing director, ACU Events described Brien as a 'very talented road racer'.
He said: 'Derek achieved a number of notable career highlights including his Manx Grand Prix victory. He will be sorely missed.'
Brien is the third rider to die at this year's TT, sidecar racer Bill Currie and his passenger Kevin Morgan were killed in a practice crash last Tuesday.
New Zealander Bruce Anstey took victory in the shortened Supersport race.
The men were killed during the second sidecar practice on Tuesday evening
Two sidecar competitors have been killed during practice on the mountain course of the Isle of Man TT.
The Auto Cycle Union (ACU) said Bill Currie, 67, from Ellesmere Port, and his passenger Kevin Morgan, 59, from Shrewsbury, died during a qualifying session on Tuesday.
Bill Currie first competed in the TT races in 1969
The accident happened at Ballacrye in the north of the island.
ACU managing director Jim Parker said he was deeply saddened by the competitors' untimely death.
"They were a huge part of the sidecar paddock and will be sorely missed by everyone involved in the event," Mr Parker said.
The sidecar practice session was red-flagged only 15 minutes after the lead teams left the Grandstand and the road remained closed until 0230 BST.
Mr Morgan, also an experienced racer, made his TT debut in 1984.
It was the first time the pair had competed together in the sidecar category.
The coroner of inquests has been informed and an investigation into the circumstances of the accident is under way.
The ACU has offered its deepest sympathies to the family and friends of both competitors.
"ACU Events Ltd regret to announce that sidecar competitor Bill Currie, 67, from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire and his passenger Kevin Morgan, 59, from Shrewsbury were both killed during the second sidecar qualifying session at the 2011 Isle of Man TT Races following an incident at Ballacrye in the North of the Island. The session was immediately red flagged following the incident."
"Bill was an experienced racer who first competed at the TT Races in 1969, when he recorded a third place finish. He finished 8th in last year’s TT sidecar Race in his fastest ever race time of 107.944. Kevin made his TT debut in 1984. This was the first year that the pair had competed together."
"Bill was divorced with 2 children and Kevin was single with two sons. The ACU wishes to pass on their deepest sympathy to the family and friends of both competitors."
ACU Events Managing Director Jim Parker said:
"I have known both Bill and Kevin for many years and am deeply saddened by their untimely death. They were a huge part of the sidecar paddock and will be sorely missed by everyone involved in the event."
Besides the consistent rain, which continues to delay Friday's Senior TT race, the other big issue at the 2011 Isle of Man TT is the red-flag incident during the Monster Energy Supersport Race 2 event (also rescheduled from Wednesday to Thursday due to rain).
During the Supersport 2 IOMTT race, which was ultimately won by East Coast Construction Honda's Gary Johnson, a red flag was waved at Union Mills on the third lap, which slowed the progress of many riders.
Some IOMTT riders/teams, such as the Relentless Suzuki outfit and Guy Martin, reported that the red flag had upset the rhythm of the race, and were awaiting a reply from the Auto Cycle Union.
Here's what the ACU had to say about the IOMTT red flag:
"During the Monster Energy Supersport 2 Race a red flag was briefly waved in error at Ramsey Hairpin. Bill Callister, David Madsen-Mygdal, Dave Hewson, Scott Wilson and Daniel Cooper stopped at that point, as required to do under the IOMTT regulations.
"The red flag was reported by Manx Radio's TT commentary service and the flag marshal at Union Mills, believing that the race had been red flagged, initially raised his own before promptly withdrawing it again. This flag was seen by Keith Amor, Cameron Donald and Guy Martin, who all slowed down before proceeding again at race speed.
"In the opinion of Race Control the podium places were not in any way affected by this incident and the riders who stopped at Ramsey were given estimated times to compensate."
Mother Nature wasn't too kind to the Isle of Man, but the Island was surely kind to John McGuinness.
After multiple delays Friday due to rain on the 37.73 Mountain Course, the Honda TT Legends rider won the IOMTT PokerStars Senior TT Race. It was his 51st Isle of Man TT, which includes 33 podiums and now 17 wins.
In the age of modern sportbikes, McGuinness can easily call himself the King of the Mountain. His name was already etched in IOMTT history with greats like Mike Hailwood, and considering his stellar 2011 performance, there's probably more TT history to be written about McGuinness, there's no doubt about that.
Joining McGuinness on the IOMTT Senior podium was Relentless Suzuki's Guy Martin, which was his fourth podium in the 2011 IOMTT, and Dainese 6-Lap Superbike winner Bruce Anstey on the Padgetts Honda CBR1000RR.
When the six lap PokerStars Senior TT was completed, McGuinness had finished 15 seconds ahead of Martin, and 19 ahead of Anstey.
John McGuinness (Honda TT Legends IOMTT) "I can't remember being pushed that hard in a superbike race for a very long time. It took me a lap or so to get into the rhythm of the superbike again and I made the odd little mistake at the beginning there.
"I settled down after lap two, we had a mega pit stop and after that I was just going for it. On laps three and four I was pushing really, really hard and after another good pit stop I was able to run round on the last two laps with enough pace to stop Guy catching me.
"He made me work for it though! I want to thank the whole team and everyone who is behind the scenes making this happen - without them I wouldn't be in the position I'm in now. I'm so proud of winning my 17th IOMTT win."
Martin was the early IOMTT Senior TT leader, completing his first lap at over 131 mph. Anstey held an edge of McGuinness on the first lap, but when the riders pitted at the end of the second lap, a slower stop by Anstey allowed McGuinness to take second with four laps remaining.
McGuinness then gained some rhythm, and passed the Martin's Relentless Suzuki GSX-R1000 before Lap 3 was complete. The Morecambe rider immediately began pulling away from Martin, eventually finishing 15.14 seconds ahead.
The sole American in the 2011 IOMTT Senior TT, Mark Miller, finished 22nd on the Aprilia RSV4, 7:49 seconds behind McGuinness.
American racer Mark Miller will ride for the Splitlath Motorsport squad during the 2011 Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy.
Last year's TT Zero winner will line up alongside the team's British Superbike Championship rider Hudson Kennaugh.
They will have a pair of Aprilia RSV4s for their assault on the Mountain course.
UK-based South African Kennaugh will fly to the Isle of Man on Monday afternoon after he contests round 4 of the British Superbike Championship at Thruxton, ahead of the first Isle of Man TT practice session that evening.
This will be the second time Kennaugh, who finished runner-up in the 2010 BSB Evo Championship, has taken part in the TT after making his debut in 2010.
He is relishing the opportunity.
Hudson Kennaugh (Splitlath Motorsport Aprilia RSV4) says: "I love the TT, it's a fantastic event which just gets bigger each year, so to be coming back for a second attempt is just awesome. I've always had an enormous amount of respect for those guys who raced the roads, and getting out there last year was a real buzz. I've been keen to get back again, so it's great to get the chance to come back with Splitlath.
"It's new ground for me going out there on the Aprilia, but it's going to be great. Mark's got great form around there, so I think we can work well together. I can't wait."
Former AMA racer Miller has contested the Isle of Man TT several times and has competed in the Macau GP, which he has described as ‘a walk in the park' compared to the TT.
John Dimbylow (Splitlath Motorsport Manager) says: "This is my first TT and I can't wait to get out there with the bikes to experience it. We are running Aprilia RSV4s in three races, and it's going to be good for us to see how we get on.
"Hudson was keen to do the TT again and I felt that it would be a new opportunity for Splitlath Motorsport. We are keen to develop ourselves as one of the UK's leading Superbike teams, and believe tackling an event as famous as the TT is an essential part of the journey."
MotoCzysz 200HP electric toy won both IOMTTs topping 150 MPH
MotoCzyszer Mark Miller won the IOMTT in 2010 - To stand at the base of the IOM FRICKING PODIUM and hear our US National Anthem being played, was worth everything it cost to get there. Never mind that it was based on a British song while standing on a British ship that was bombing USA and burned down the White House in Washington DC.
Electric cowboy American Mark Miller from MotoCzysz winning 'wanker' at IOMTT finished 2nd behind his British teammate Michael Rutter this year:
Breakneck speeds. Hairpin turns. Houses only inches away. Men’s Journal checks out the insanity of the Isle of Man TT. By John O’Connor
For two weeks every June, Noble’s Hospital in Douglas, the capital of Britain’s Isle of Man, brings in three extra trauma surgeons from the mainland to cope with a sudden influx of head injuries, crushed limbs, and burned and lacerated skin. The reason for the deluge is the Tourist Trophy, an annual motorcycle race that is among the most implausible sporting events in the world. It has claimed the lives of 131 competitors over the years, including 19 in the past decade.
The TT course is a mountainous 37.73-mile Brueghelian nightmare of twisting public roads lined with what the racers call “street furniture”: houses, pubs, stone walls, lampposts, trees, hedgerows, and mailboxes. Spectators fill the open spaces like sand poured into a jar of marbles. Last year a cow wandered onto the course and had to be quickly tranquilized — a reminder that this is not, in any way, a real racetrack. There are no sand pits or soft tire walls lining the corners — only rock and cliffs and metal.
Above all, there is no margin for error. The winner of the first TT, held in 1907, piloted a single-cylinder moped that averaged 38 mph and had to be pedaled uphill. Today elite riders, astride slightly modified versions of the same sport bikes you’ll find at a dealership, navigate these hazards at upward of 190 mph.
In the intervening 102 years, the TT has grown from a single event into a series of races played out over a week, each one broken down by engine size and classes such as Superbike, Supersport, and Superstock. The main events pay out about $115,000 in prize money. But fortune isn’t what draws men (and a few women) to face their mortality on this rock 34 miles off the coast of England. For them the allure of the TT is primal — it is the most difficult motorcycle race imaginable. That’s also what drew me and 50,000 other spectators to watch from the sidewalks this past June.
Monday, June 8, 10:03 AM
Mark Miller, a former top racer in the American Motorcyclist Association series, is kicking around the paddock prior to the 1000cc Superbike event, the first of the week. He is one of the most successful U.S. riders in TT history, yet in his three tries he has never finished better than 17th. He’ll compete in three races this week. (Most riders enter multiple events.) Of the six American riders in this year’s competitions, he has the best chance of cracking a top 10, a feat the 38-year-old from Calabasas, California, says would almost be like taking first.
He thinks this year will be his last. An unmarried aspiring screenwriter, Miller is ready for a second act beyond racing. “There’s more to life. I love art and wine and opera,” he says. “I’m not willing to die for this.”
But then he says things like, “This is the single greatest challenge available to me. Sure, there’s a possibility of death, but there’s nothing like going 190 miles per hour and brushing your shoulders against ivy,” and “If you survive this race you’re walking three inches off the ground for a month. It’s the only race where I’ve ever wept after I crossed the finish line.”
Monday, June 8, 11:15 AM
At the starting line of the six-lap Superbike race, smoke and gas fumes cloud around the racers as they rev their motorcycles. Spectators lean over walls, dangle from tree limbs, and hang out of pub windows. The riders take off in timed intervals, barrel down Glencrutchery Road at 170 mph, and evaporate.
1:15 PM
Post-race, I find Miller crouched in a sliver of sunlight behind the grandstand. He finished 11th, just a half-second out of 10th place. “Refueling problems ate a lot of seconds in the pits,” he explains. “Maybe the next race.”
An ugly green bruise is visible on his left biceps from where he was hit by a bird during the race. “It’s a fistfight out there,” he says.
1:35 PM
Nearby, rookie U.S. rider James Vanderhaar is sprawled on the floor of his team’s garage after finishing 79th of the 80 riders. A 29-year-old amateur racer and construction manager from Louisville, Kentucky, Vanderhaar trained for the TT by playing the PlayStation 2 video game Tourist Trophy, which replicates the course to the last hedgerow. He arrived last week and threw up twice in his helmet during practice.
“It’s fucking insane,” he says. “I’ve been within three inches of the edge of the road on Snaefell Mountain. If you go past that, you’ve got a fence and wire to get wrapped in, and a cliff to fall off. Honestly, I don’t know if I’m willing to risk what it takes to make it here.”
Tuesday, June 9, 2:37 PM
Despite posting his fastest average lap speed ever, 123.9 mph, Miller finishes 12th in Superstock. His last chance to reach the top 10 will come Friday.
2:52 PM
Vanderhaar finishes 51st out of 53 after nearly performing a 150-mph swan dive into a hedge. “There’s a lot of bikes out there plastered in trees and on sidewalks,” he says. “The race marshals were literally clearing a path in the debris so you could go through.”
Thursday, June 11, noon
With no races today, I tour the course with Richard “Milky” Quayle, rider liaison officer for the TT. Newcomers are required to do at least one practice lap with Milky, who is uniquely qualified to instruct them on the track’s perils. An eight-year veteran of the race, he is also the star of an amateur video (search his name on YouTube) that shows him crashing headfirst into a hay bale at 120 mph in the 2003 TT, an accident that hospitalized him for three weeks and marked his retirement from racing, minus his spleen.
“You do a corner here like you’d do a normal corner and it’ll bite you on the ass,” Milky says, nodding at a mangled road sign bearing the distinctive scars of a recent explosive impact. The offending motorcycle’s remains have been swept away, but skid marks still slice across the asphalt, vanishing into a hedge. “It takes some balls to go through here,” Milky continues, “and if you’re too anxious” — he slaps the steering wheel — “bam!”
Our excursion quickly devolves into a historical tour of personal tragedy, turning particularly grim just before the town of Crosby, as the road dips and narrows and becomes a labyrinth of blind entries and hairpin turns. “This is where my friend Mike Casey was killed in 1998,” Milky says, pointing to a narrow two-story cottage. “His motorcycle went through the roof.” Then: “Alistair Howarth lost his leg at this turn in 2000,” “David Jefferies died here in 2003,” “I’ve been through that hedge over there.” And so on.
From Crosby, the course sweeps west and then north toward the harbor town of Ramsey, bending south as it enters Snaefell Mountain, a 2,036-foot peak on which the road becomes particularly sinuous and the wind typhoon-grade. The right-hand curb on Snaefell is essentially a cliff, while the left-hand is a sloping meadow. There is no speed limit on the island, except in towns, and Milky pushes his silver Honda Civic to 130 mph as we chicane past dozens of cars, his fingers playing on the steering wheel as if he were working the clutch and brake of a motorcycle. Finally, we spin past Hillberry Corner, a dizzying jackknife curve where a half-dozen racers have perished over the years, and safely descend into Douglas.
“I struggle a little bit with life now,” Milky admits back at the grandstand, which sits across the street from a cemetery with a memorial commemorating fallen riders. “This race is better than anything, better than drugs, better than sex. People say to me, ‘It’s so amazing seeing your child being born.’ And I think, Yeah, right.”
Friday, June 12, 11 AM
A rain delay to the Senior race, the final and premier event of the week, sets riders on edge. Vanderhaar considers dropping out — “I’m not dying on this island in the rain,” he says — but changes his mind. Even veteran Miller stresses his survival ambitions at the sake of a top 10 finish. “Honestly, if I go home safe, I’ll be completely happy.”
2:13 PM
The rain stops and a golden, liquid light envelops Douglas. The bikes tear out of the gates, unleashing a hellish buzzing. By the start of the second lap, Miller has smashed his previous personal record with a 125.5-mph average lap speed.
2:32 PM
Vanderhaar manages only one lap before his clutch fails. His race is over.
3:35 PM
Miller enters the pit at the end of his fourth lap. With two more to go, he is in 10th place, a tenuous three and a half seconds ahead of 11th. His pit stop goes smoothly, with none of the refueling issues that plagued him previously, but his rear tire is nearly bald.
3:36 PM
Miller exits the pit lane and opens the throttle wide down Bray Hill. The slope is framed by stone walls, giant maples, and multistory homes, all strung together by rabid fans, in some places just 10 feet away. The bikes howl by us, carrying with them a sudden blast of heat, materializing for a second or two before dissolving into the distance. Riders burn through this stretch at 170 mph, hitting a big dip at the bottom that causes a nauseating shudder in the backs of their motorcycles, then swing up around the bend. Four riders have died here, the last in 2002.
3:36:15 PM
At the top of the next rise, beyond a sharp incline called Ago’s Leap, is an almost imperceptible bump in the asphalt — just a wrinkle that at normal speeds would barely register. But at 130 mph and with bald tires, it’s enough to trigger a cataclysm. The front wheel of Miller’s Suzuki GSX-R1000 slips, causing what riders call a “tank slapper” — a violent side-to-side thrashing of the handlebars that can quickly metastasize into full-blown unrecoverable destruction. Miller’s back wheel slices out from under him, ripping the bars from his hands and snapping the bike 90 degrees. He is pitched headlong over the chassis. Later he remembers thinking, “Okay, pay attention. This is what it’s going to feel like to die.”
3:36:17 PM
Miller performs an aerial pirouette, tumbling free of the bike. There is an awful momentary silence as his chest separates from the throbbing engine it has spent the last hour glued to. As the bike scrapes downhill on its side, Miller crashes down onto the gas tank, then spins free and onto his back, bouncing along as tree limbs and sky and exploded bits of motorcycle flash through his vision. He grunts as he bounces, the bike accelerating past him with a terrible clatter, trailing oil along the cement like black blood. Miller comes to a rest at a wooden barrier 70 yards from the bump. His bike slams into a nearby telephone pole and ignites.
3:36:25 PM
He glances over at his bike, parts of which lie like shrapnel across the road. The gas tank, forks, and exhaust are smashed, and the rear tire has torn loose from its rim. Miller squats on his helmet and drops his head into his hands. Dazed, he sits up and looks himself over, shaking his limbs. His racing leathers are ripped, his helmet is dinged, but his only injury is a sore thumb. He stands and retrieves his helmet. Several spectators reach over the railing to hug him and say, Yes, you are alive.
4 PM
Brit Steve Plater wins the race, his first TT victory. Only 29 of 81 starters finish.
5 PM
An hour after the race ends, the TT press office reveals that a rider has died on Snaefell. John Crellin, a 55-year-old Manxman and TT veteran who had just returned from his third expedition to Mount Everest, clipped a wall, lost control of his bike, and plunged over the side of the mountain. Aside from a brief press release, no announcement is made to fans, nor is Crellin’s death mentioned during the awards ceremony.
Saturday, June 13, 2 AM
Riders and crew lament Crellin’s death at a bar-cum-disco grief-hole in Douglas. They speak of it sadly but with a measure of resignation, implying that Crellin knew the risks and died doing what he loved. Miller is especially shaken by it. “A guy died on the same lap as my crash,” he keeps repeating. “Nobody crashes on the Isle of Man and walks away from it. And here I am without a scratch.” All evening, people congratulate him on his luck and ask if he’ll be back next year. He’s not sure. Copious hugs are exchanged. Oddly colored drinks are shoved into his hands. At one point Miller turns and says, “I felt really good out there. I was in 10th place. I was going the fastest I ever have. Why does it have to end like this?”
John McGuinness looked faultless in today's Supersport 600 race two, but his suffering was hidden.
The Morecambe Missile finished second in today's second SS600 race to make it 50 TT finishes and his 32nd podium. But things weren't quite as they seemed.
In the post-race briefing he added: 'When I hit the bottom of Bray Hill for the first time my foreskin rolled back and I had a bit of chaffage against the inside of my zip for an hour and a quarter.'
Enjoy your faggots and dick at Isle of Man TT!
"Isle of Man...isn't that like Whore Island for women?" -Cheryl, Archer, Job Offer
NEW YORK (AP) - Ja Rule is headed to a New York prison for up to two years in a gun case.
The platinum-selling rapper and actor was sentenced Wednesday. He pleaded guilty in December to attempted criminal weapon possession.
Authorities said he had a loaded gun in his luxury sports car when it was stopped as he left a Manhattan concert in July 2007.
Ja Rule was nominated for a 2002 best rap album Grammy Award for "Pain Is Love." His movie credits include 2001's "The Fast and the Furious" and 2003's "Scary Movie 3."
He has been wrapping up a forthcoming album, "Pain Is Love 2."
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
Multiplatinum-selling rapper Ja Rule is set to go to prison, but he's leaving fans with an album on the way.
The rapper-actor—whose gravelly voice, thuggish tough talk and duets with R&B; divas made him one of rap's stars in the early 2000s—is set to be sentenced Wednesday afternoon to two years in a New York prison.
"My last day out," he tweeted Tuesday afternoon, adding that he was spending it at the movies with his family.
Ja Rule, 35, pleaded guilty in December to attempted criminal possession of a weapon, resolving a nearly 4-year-old case.
Police said they found a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun in a rear door of his $250,000-plus Maybach sports car, which they'd said they'd stopped for speeding as he left a star-laden concert at Manhattan's Beacon Theatre on July 22, 2007. Rap superstar Lil Wayne was arrested separately after headlining the same show. He later pleaded guilty to the same charge, spending about eight months in a city jail last year.
"Laws are laws," Ja Rule said Monday on "Good Day New York," which airs on New York's Fox 5 TV station. "There's nothing I could really do but own up to the situation."
"You know, I try not to regret anything I do in life, because you go through life and you do things, and you man up to them. You own them," he added.
Born Jeffrey Atkins, Ja Rule emerged as a hardcore rapper in the late 1990s but then became known for his collaborations with female pop singers, including Jennifer Lopez and Ashanti. He scored a best rap album Grammy Award nomination in 2002 with "Pain Is Love." He also has appeared in movies, including the 2001 film "The Fast and the Furious" and 2003's "Scary Movie 3."
He's recently been wrapping up a new album, "Pain Is Love 2," but he told "Good Day New York" he's also been trying to prepare himself mentally for prison. He lives in Upper Saddle River, N.J., with his wife and three children.
Meanwhile, he also pleaded guilty in a New Jersey federal court in March to failing to pay taxes on more than $3 million in income. He faces up to three years in prison in that case, though his lawyers are expected to try to arrange for his sentences to be served at the same time.
Ja Rule had some previous brushes with the law, including pleading guilty to assault for punching someone at a Toronto nightclub in 2004. He was fined $1,200.
He recently told TMZ.com he plans to keep busy behind bars by writing a book, getting his GED and possibly taking up the guitar.
"I'm gonna try to make good of my time while I'm inside," he said.
His expected sentence will make him the latest in a long line of rappers to do time. Hip-hop stars including Tupac Shakur, Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown, Shyne, Mystikal, Gucci Mane and T.I. have been in jail or prison for periods ranging from months to years.
Under state prison policies, Ja Rule might be able to shave up to six months off his sentence by meeting requirements for good behavior and other standards.
American Civil Liberties Union, Colorado State Patrol, Shane Boor DENVER (AP) – A harassment charge has been dropped in the case of a Colorado man who gave a state trooper the finger in April.
Saying it’s free speech to give officers the finger, the Colorado State Patrol said in a statement late Friday that it asked the case to be dropped. The State Patrol described the incident as “protected free speech.”
Shane Boor, 35, was charged with misdemeanor harassment after acknowledging “flipping the bird” to an officer making a traffic stop near Denver April 19. The American Civil Liberties Union offered Boor free legal defense in the case that made headlines.
Boor said he told the officer he gave him the finger “because you’re thieves and you harass people.”
The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), AOPA, and the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) announced June 6 that they will mount a legal challenge to the decision by the Department of Transportation to dismantle the Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program. The three associations will seek an injunction to prevent the decision from taking effect and will ask the courts to invalidate the new policy altogether.
NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen said, “The DOT’s inexplicable decision last week to abandon a widely supported, Congressionally enabled policy permitting private citizens to opt out of publicly available flight tracking applications leaves us no choice but to challenge the move in court. The agency appears to have simply ignored the thousands of individuals and companies that voiced their strong and principled opposition to this change.
“This is an alarming development, with implications that extend well beyond private aviation,” Bolen continued. “The government necessarily collects a lot of information about private activities in order to conduct legitimate governmental functions. This is the first time an agency has claimed the public’s interest in ‘open government’ requires public dissemination to anyone with an internet connection of wholly personal and private information simply because it happens to be in the government’s possession.”
AOPA President and CEO Craig Fuller agreed, adding, “Common sense dictates that an American citizen using a private aircraft should not have to worry about government disclosure to the general public—in direct contravention of the citizen's expressed wishes—of real-time data regarding the location of the aircraft in flight and its itinerary. Anyone with an internet connection will be able to find out that the person is away from home, or that the individual is conducting business in a particular location. To limit privacy protection only to those who can show a threat of life endangerment simply strains credulity.
“Our associations are committed to doing everything we can to ensure that our members retain the ability to prevent their airplane movements from being tracked by cyber-stalkers, terrorists, criminals, paparazzi, business competitors, or others whose motives are unknown. Air-traffic and law-enforcement authorities have always enjoyed ready access to general aviation flight information, even with the BARR in place, and we don’t want that to change. The reason we’re taking legal action is because we believe getting on an airplane shouldn’t amount to a surrender of a citizen’s basic privacy protections.”
Bolen added, “Congress, which enabled the FAA’s aircraft identification blocking program over a decade ago, is actively considering safeguards to ensure the program’s preservation. We could not be more pleased with the support for the BARR program shown by Democrats and Republicans from both chambers of Congress. Unfortunately, the Administration’s sudden, unilateral decision to curtail the program forces us to look to the courts for help in preserving the privacy, competitiveness and security of Americans and American companies while Congress reviews the program.”
EAA President and CEO Rod Hightower said, “EAA believes strongly that the privacy rights of aviators must be equal to those of any American. This is an important issue that must be handled appropriately and with due process. The disregard of our members’ position by the DOT is an alarming development and seems to be a significant step in removing our privacy rights as aviators and as American citizens. The large majority of our members surveyed expressed the desire to keep BARR in effect as Congress has intended. It seems to me the people have spoken, not only as aviators, but through due legislative process with our Congress more than 10 years ago. EAA will join AOPA and NBAA to preserve the unique aviation freedoms we all enjoy, and depend upon, in this great country.”
The DOT announced its intention to dismantle the BARR program on May 27, in spite of overwhelming opposition from individuals and organizations in and outside the aviation community. The agency formalized its plans in a rule published in the Federal Register on June 2.
