FREEDOM WRITERS ExposeThe Crisis In Our Schools

I went to the Westwood, California premiere of the new film Freedom Writers starring Hilary Swank. Actor and funnyman Danny DeVito produced this film that’s based on the true story of Long Beach California teacher Erin Gruwell and her somewhat rowdy students.

Already some of the teachers are complaining that this story is out of context to realty and that there was nothing-special going on in Gruwell’s class. I somehow expected that along with condemnation from the teacher’s unions where mediocrity in teaching is maintained at all cost.

I began to think about my own teachers in Chicago schools. There were the popular teachers but only a tiny percentage of them were in anyway inspiring. If teachers are not excited about the subjects they teach how the Hell can they inspire the kids they’re teaching? I could count the teachers who inspired me on two fingers. American teachers for the most part get a D or an F for inspiring their students.

Erin Gruewell different is different because of her energy, inspiration and the excitement she generates as a teacher. I was able to interview most of the stars of this film asking all of them the same question. The answers were the same. I pulled out young actor Dominic Daniel’s interview and put it here because it best proves my point. Actors all must be able to read and comprehend better than most people in order to play their parts well. Getting an agent and making it in Hollywood is a huge challenge. Those that succeed make millions. Wyatt is well into a great career and he told me very clearly how he arrived to this point.

Also I talked with Erin Gruwell herself and you can watch her respond to my questions.

Cop Killer Executed

Huntsville, TX--Yes, I hate the death penalty even for convicted cop killers. My biggest fear of an innocent man being put to death does not apply here. Tonight Jonathan Moore, 32 was strapped down to the table and put down like a bad dog. Before he died he looked his victim’s widow, Jennifer Morgan in the eye and said, "It was done out of fear, stupidity and immaturity. It wasn't until I got locked up and saw the newspaper; I saw his face and smile and I realized I had killed a good man."

Moore went to his death with both grace and dignity after he repeatedly apologized for killing a young San Antonio police officer, Fabian Dominguez, 29 who interrupted a burglary in 1995. Moore was only 22 years old when he put in motion an ugly 12-year ride to Hell for himself.

More acknowledged that he was a disappointment for his family and friends. Not even this execution will reverse the severe damage and grief caused by an insane criminal act. For some strange reason I find comfort that Moore has been freed from his demons. If there is redemption perhaps Moore has been forgiven.

As for capital punishment it may be kinder to the killers than a lifetime in a cage with other convicts. This adds up to two young lives wasted as now two families suffer.

The 2007 SHOT SHOW In Orlando

This is the place were what’s new is really not so new. Old firearms are repackaged as new and improved versions.

First and foremost I have to explain why I brought back no video. Having to travel by air across country is torture because of the TSA weenies. I refuse to allow these jerks to abuse my video equipment for any reason. Las Vegas is a lot closer and I can drive there with my equipment next year.

A learned friend of mine summed up today's firearms industry. The last exciting thing to improve firearms was the inventions of the cased cartridge and smokeless powder. That was nearly a century ago. The only improvements since have been in sighting systems and ergonomics. Technology has just not brought much in the way of improvements. The 1911 .45 ACP pistol is as old as it’s name and is still being manufactured today more than ever. When you think of it my friend is absolutely correct. With all the hype we use to talk about new guns that arrive on the scene you’d think we found something really new when it’s nothing more than the same old stuff.

The law enforcement section of the SHOT SHOW is where it’s happening these days but the wares there are fully automatic weapons, silencers and alike. These were the law enforcement tools that were kept out of cop’s reach for public relations reasons for decades.

This SHOT SHOW was like the quiet before the storm. The Democrats have taken over both Houses of Congress and there are no Second Amendment protectors in sight willing to run for President in the next election. Gun owners are complacent again letting their NRA memberships expire giving gun-rights haters a green light to bring us additional gun bans.

New Device Will Save Cop’s Careers

I’ve never been a fan of the Taser stun gun. They are a public relations nightmare in too many cases. The Westwood, CA, November 2006 UCLA library incident is an example where an 18-year veteran officer is battling the threat of unwarranted civil litigation. This in a land where the jury pool is polluted with extreme, Liberal cop haters. As for the UCLA officer’s continued employment, I suspect that’s shaky too in an academic institution top-heavy with the Liberal elite. The Taser carries the reputation with it of an ugly American past where cops used cattle prods on African-Americans to gain compliance in Southern states.

Personally, I would not have used the Taser in that UCLA incident only because I fear the predictable outcry and circus especially when applied to an unruly minority group member. Nobody seems to care that the UCLA case like so many others only injured the pride of the so-called victim.

At the Orlando, FL 2007 SHOT SHOW, I met with Taser representative, Jay Keyhoe who is a Connecticut cop. Keyhoe showed me a somewhat new accessory for that Taser device. The Taser Cam is a small digital video camera that captures all of the behavior and sound from the suspect. Because of the built-in microphone the entire verbal exchange is fully recorded too. This device will would perhaps end any and all questions as to how and why the Taser was used.

I knew that Taser intended to offer the camera nearly two years ago but I have not seen that concept materialize until now. The Taser International website does not yet show this offering. Taser does have a full-page photo ad featuring this on the back cover of this months POLICE magazine.

I suspect that California’s goofy law against surreptitious audio recording even when it’s your own conversation will interfere with deployment of this accessory in that state. The device can be altered to collect only the video if necessary. There is a law enforcement exception to the law that may well allow that audio recording. Security people would not be exempt from that law.

I think that this camera apparatus will go a long way to defuse incendiary and misleading descriptions of the use of the Tasers in the future. I anticipate this will save officer’s reputations, jobs and taxpayer dollars used for defending bogus lawsuits.

Crimefile To Visit Shot Show In Orlando

I will be on assignment at the largest gun show in the world. It’s the 2007 SHOT SHOW. You may just find me around the Eagle Grips Booth. I don’t expect to be posting until the following Monday. Stay safe!

The Oprah Tapes

Yes, I’ve heard the rumors for years. My Chicago copper friends have told me about responding to The Oprah floor of her North Michigan Avenue highrise where Oprah had some over the top quarrels with her live in boyfriend, Steadman.

Oprah is an unquestioned success at business and leading legions of Oprah Zombies through her TV show/ministry. Some have told me that Oprah runs her, Harpo Productions, Inc. like a cult and does not mirror the persona she portrays on television.

Now the cat’s out of the bag on the “Oprah Tapes” after a Georgia man was arrested last month by the FBI in connection with an elaborate extortion conspiracy. Apparently not every Harpo employee fell under Oprah’s spell or this would not have happened.

Now Oprah can count on the dark side of her life getting full exposure. It’s going to be interesting to see if Oprah’s Zombies will still be around after the revelations.

Here is the latest information from the AP.

Brady Campaign Has It Backwards

Some seriously mixed up folks run the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. This outfit has been screaming for “sensible gun laws” since the day they were spawned. Sensible gun laws is Brady code for a total gun ban. They only want to ban guns that are too small, too big, and too powerful or shoot ammunition.

Their propaganda somehow suggests that their ideal laws will somehow make people safer from violence and bloodshed. To support their efforts they have graded every state and the District of Columbia in their report card they publish on their website. The states with the highest rate of violence always lead with the highest marks for Brady choice gun control. Somehow the Brady fools think their favored gun laws reduce violence.

Why is it that the states geeting failing grades from Brady are the safest most crime free states and the ones getting the top marks have out-of-control rates for crime and violence? The restrictive gun laws in the most violent states have been there for decades.

No, I did not make this stuff up. You can check their website yourself.

The states getting high marks from Brady:
Illinois: A-
New York: B+
California: A-
District of Columbia: B
New Jersey: A-

The states that received failing grades from Brady:
Vermont: D-
Utah: D-
Wyoming: F
North Dakota: D
New Mexico: F
New Hampshire: D-
Idaho: F+
Alaska: F+
Maine: D-
Montana: F

I simply ask anyone concerned with their family being exposed to violence and the dangers of crime, what states do you think are safer places to live?

Even a broken clock gives the right time twice a day. The Brady people are never right.

A video To Show You What’s New In TV News

It’s not very pretty, but it’s cheap. At the level of your local TV news we are in the new age of the Backpack Journalist, Video Journalist or the One Man Band. The news organization sends one person to do the work of four. He or she also must edit the video for broadcast.

A full news crew for a properly done story is made four professionals. A reporter, photographer, soundman and a field producer are the minimum most network news shows send to cover a story. Details and perfection are the constant goal of these well-paid journalists that bring news stories into your living room.

With the information explosion of the Internet and cable news the TV news audience and revenue has been reduced. Along with that the well-paid and glamorous TV news jobs are not so slowly vanishing. Reporters are being invited to do the job of four people for the same or even less money then they were making before this crisis.

The VJ or OMB has to learn all four jobs and do them all and the results have not been very impressive. They are sent out with much cheaper hi-end consumer camcorders that only cost a fraction of the professional industry standard. In fairness these cameras do remarkably well in the right hands.

Who are the best-qualified candidates to fill these new jobs? They are all posting right now on Youtube and Myspace. Today they are filming themselves setting fire to their farts and bringing us those Mentos and Diet Coke offerings.

The goal is to get more VJs out to cover more stories. Here is a video made by some less than enthusiastic news folks who will show you how this new program really works.

Musicians Threaten Air Travel Safety

The dopes that run our TSA are at it again! If you are not smart enough to work in the fast food industry the TSA will hire you for a management position.

Things are not any better in Europe when it comes to common sense or real security for airliners since they follow our lead as in monkey see, monkey do.

These days musicians are refusing to travel because too often their prized instruments are no longer allowed as carryon baggage. Many of the instruments are priceless and irreplaceable. The result we will be fewer artists touring here and our musicians will not be playing in Europe.

I can’t accept that these goofballs running airline security can’t just leave these fine folks and their valuable instruments alone.

What will it take to get the American public to reign in and cut funding for this out-of-control government agency? This is not an issue of public safety but one of petty power and government insanity.

Why is a musical instrument somehow safer in checked baggage? Are the airliner cargo holds somehow bomb proof? You can read much more about this issue here.

They strung him up now what?

A bunch of bloodthirsty Muslims tried and now have hanged their vicious fellow Muslim, Saddam Hussein. So what was the advantage? How is anyone better off?

When Hussein was in charge people died in acts of revenge and downright wanton murder. Hussein was in the jug for the last three years and now has been tied up and hanged while bloodthirsty Muslims never stopped killing each other at the same or a greater rate.

We wanted Hussein dead because of Crimes Against Humanity. Since when have Muslims been humane to anyone, let alone each other? If that’s the reason to Hang Hussein there is not enough rope to hang all the other Muslims that deserve the same fate.

Talk about an impossible mission, pacifying Muslims is truly unattainable. Why are we trying to deal with this wild bunch of cutthroats? They are only doing what’s natural for them.

I don’t support the Bolshevik politicians that hate George Bush but I don’t want one more American kid killed or maimed in Iraq. I say bring them home so the natural population control there can resume. The fewer Muslims on this earth make things safer for everyone else.

I only have one question. Had we not invaded Iraq would Iraq have gotten into another war with Iran and caused elimination of many more violent Muslims? I think that would have been a much better solution to have several million fewer Muslims.

Oprah Opens $40 million School In South Africa

Oprah has the right to do what she pleases with her considerable wealth created here in America. Oprah’s choice to donate a King’s ransom is half a world as children suffer just a few miles away from her Harpo Studios in Chicago is mind-boggling.

Too many of Chicago’s African-American kids are being raised by drug abusing, shiftless trashy parents who would steal anything and everything donated to their kids. How about a fully staffed 24-7 safe house where children could go to eat free meals, sleep, shower, get clean clothes, play, watch TV, use computers and study in a safe environment where adults are not allowed other than staff members.

I don’t want to suggest South Africa’s poorest children don’t deserve a break but what about the kids in Oprah’s back yard? Since Oprah made her money here taking it to South Africa is un-American to say the least.

Perhaps protecting some of our own kids could translate into success stories where our own disadvantaged children could escape the cycle of bad influence, drugs, and violence. I can’t help but believe that many children may just grow up with a chance to break the welfare dependant mold of their parents.

Come Friday Was Thirty-Four Years Ago

It was exactly 34 years ago when 25 year-old recruit Chicago policewoman Ann Leybourne came home from a New Years party to find herself kidnapped by a serial rapist. The rapist made a deadly error in his victim selection because this time he picked a pretty young woman who had been just days earlier required to carry her service revolver at all times. You can read this story right here.

The stories most viewed by Crimefile’s Visitors in 2006

I know my visitors are cops, news reporters and gun rights activists for the most part. What’s most significant is the interest here in Hollywood’s wildlife making news. The importance of a shot of Britney Spears' beaver cannot be understated!

1. Youporn
2. The Hanging of Hussein
3. Britney's Beaver
4. LAPD hero officer
5. Meeting Dead Celebrities in L.A.
6. Mel Gibson
7. ABC News tell the truth about gun control
8. Maria Bello gets naked with me in a movie
9. Cynthia McKinney's Follies
10. Paris Hilton can't afford a cab

Something Very Sweet But Sad To End The Year!

Okay, we’ve had enough hate, violence and misery in 2006. As the year is almost over I’m hopeful that 2007 will bring us all some joy. Here is Kathy Mattea singing a a wonderful but somewhat sad song from several years ago that I hope my visitors will enjoy.

Video of The Hanging Of Saddam Hussein

The major TV network suits all know that whoever shows the actual hanging of Saddam Hussein will get huge ratings. Of course they will pretend they don’t want to show this historical event while the news directors eat their hearts out as the hanging winds up all over cyberspace and the airwaves of many countries. The fact is that anyone who wants to see this will be able to do so. I only wish I could charge on a pay per view basis!

After Hussein refuses the hood I find it interesting that one of the masked hangmen offer him a wrap for his neck so he can avoid unsightly rope burns. As better video surfaces you will see it right here!

Here is another view from a cell phone video taken.

Jackass Mike Nifiong Now Facing State Bar Discipline

The North Carolina State Bar filed an ethics complaint against the pandering Durham County Prosecutor, Mike Nifong. This is a rare move against a prosecutor during a pending prosecution anywhere in America.
Crimefile’s predictions:

1. Nifong now has one more serious conflict of interest and cannot be allowed to continue as the prosecutor for the so called, Duke Rape Case. Nifong will soon be replaced on the Duke Rape prosecution by a special prosecutor appointed by the trial court.
2. No lawsuits will ever prevail against Mike Nifong simply because prosecutors and judges have near total immunity from lawsuits even when they are caught red-handed obstructing justice.
3. The defendants in the Duke Rape Case will be cleared at some point short of trial.
4. The taxpayers on Durham County North Carolina will pay millions for the mistake of electing Mike Nifong to that office because of his conduct in this case. Of course the same taxpayers will be forced to pick up Nifong’s legal tab for his defense against the State Bar’s actions.
5. Nifong will get little more than a slap on the wrist despite his misconduct as a prosecutor.

Giving blanket immunity to judges and prosecutors was always a bad idea. It’s time for Americans to rethink and change that policy to prevent serious abuse and corruption by these public officials.

Actor Ray Dannis Has Died

It’s with a heavy heart I must report that Ray Dannis passed away yesterday. Dannis was an actor, humanitarian, World War Two veteran and lifetime resident of Venice, CA.

Dannis starred in several 1960’s horror films, TV shows such as Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, My Three Sons and a very long list of stage plays and commercials.

Dannis was a 40-year energetic contributor to Theater Palisades and was a member of the Board of Directors.

Update: Ray Dannis' funeral will be held on Sunday, January 14th at 10:00 AM at
Hillside Cemetery in Westchester. The address is 6001 South Centinela,
Westchester, CA 90045. There will be a reception afterwards at Ray's nephew's home.

The videos below from the summer of 2006, Ray Dannis is discussing his starring role in the 1960s horror film, The Undertaker And His Pals and the comedy farce FAROUK U with me at his Venice home. This film is out on DVD and can be bought at Amazon.com. Dannis died after a short illness on December 28, 2006.


Ray Dannis on his film FAROUK U


Dannis was a dear friend, mentor and a personal hero. I will update this with more information soon.

Long Beach Cop Shooter Found And Killed

Breaking News! Santa Anna, CA-Officers here were involved in a shooting with a man who is believed to be 36-year-old Oscar Gabriel Gallegos. Gallegos is now dead. He was the assailant who shot and critically wounded two Long Beach, CA officers, 37-year-old Abe Yap, and 39-year-old Roy Wade, Jr. on December 22. The Medical Examiner is on the way to the scene and formal identification is pending. Sometimes justice just happens…

Free Speech Gone Wild

Imagine you have a hot bedmate that chronicles every kinky or embarrassing detail of your encounters on a blog. Add to that the fact that you have a high profile job and your coworkers have read that blog and now you’re the hot topic at the water-cooler. Should your bedmate’s journalistic exercise be protected as free speech under the First Amendment?

Is this any different then that paramour of Paris Hilton taping their romp and selling DVDs? That fellow was able to purchase a $6-million dollar home with the proceeds of his artistic efforts to the chagrin of that famous Hollywood bad girl.

Now Robert Steinbuch and his blogging-bedmate Jessica Cutler are in a federal court learning answers to those questions. I somehow suspect the legal remedy Steinbuch is seeking here will only bring him fame and lots of additional attention. I just can’t imagine the logic of his lawsuit. Perhaps as Steinbuch’s profile is raised we will figure out why he filed this action. Here is an Associated Press report on the case.

Justifiable LAPD Shooting Caught On Tape

A vehicle pursuit ended in the justifiable shooting death of an unarmed man in Van Nuys, CA by LAPD officers. Watch the dead mans actions just before he’s gunned down and you will see why the cops reasonably felt they were in fear of their lives. Perhaps the man now identified as Joseph Scott Spidell, 45, was intentionally committing, “suicide by cop”. Officers later discovered Spidell had been holding a socket used to remove spark plugs.

Now imagine the same scenario with a lone officer and no video. Video courtesy of KNBC-TV