Pink Eyed Jim’s Blog

Mary and Robert Schindler

The parents of Terri Schiavo are adding more news to the already insurmountable pile they’ve already created. From The New York Times:

The parents of Terri Schiavo have authorized a conservative direct-mailing firm to sell a list of their financial supporters, making it likely that thousands of strangers moved by her plight will receive a steady stream of solicitations from anti-abortion and conservative groups.

If you are one of the thousands who have given financial donations to the Schindlers towards their legal battle to reinsert their daughter’s feeding and hydration tubes, you’ve just helped them a second time without even knowing it. Don’t worry though, you’ll be well aware of it soon - when your mailbox is full of conservative junk mail! You may also be recieving conservative spam if you gave Schindler your email address. How much is he getting for selling out those who were nice enough to donate money to him out of the kindness of their hearts? The direct-mailing (and apprently e-mailing) firm is paying Schindler “$150 a month for 6,000 names and $500 a month for 4,000 e-mail addresses of people who responded last month to an e-mail plea from Ms. Schiavo’s father,” according to the New York Times. Not bad, I could rent a one-bedroom apartment here in New Brunswick for what he’ll make a month off of the names, addresses, and email addresses of people who were trying to do nothing more than offer him help in the fight to keep his daughter alive.
Soon, Terri will be dead. Somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 people had enough emotional stake in her life to send Robert Schindler money to help fight keep her alive. I may not have agreed with those people, but they were simply trying to help with something that they believed was right. And this is how Robert Schindler pays them back.

News 12 NJ

Police were seen taking two men away from the scene on Seaman Street in handcuffs at approximately 4:30 p.m. The 14-year-old female captive, along with another woman, were then escorted away from the home where the teen was held since 10 a.m.

The whole thing ended rather nicely.

Google News Results

From The Star-Ledger.

Police surround home where girl reportedly is held hostage
Dozens of police have surrounded a home in the heart of downtown New Brunswick, where a man allegedly is holding a young girl hostage at gunpoint.

Hostage negotiators are on the scene trying to speak with the man, but there has been no word if they have made contact.

Sharpshooters have been deployed in neighboring buildings, and a number of heavily armed police have cordoned off a wide area of downtown New Brunswick, only blocks from the Middlesex County courthouse.

From Cnn.com

NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (AP) — A teenage girl was being held hostage Tuesday in a home, and authorities had the building surrounded, police said.

Police Sgt. Thomas Keefe said police believe that one armed man, and possibly two, was holding the 14-year-old hostage. County hostage negotiators were on the scene, and Keefe said authorities were communicating with a suspect.

The girl had called at 10 a.m. to say that she had been taken hostage, Keefe said.

“Then the fellow in the next room came in and said, ‘Who are you talking to?”‘ Keefe said. He said the man grabbed the phone and told the dispatcher that if police were sent, “I’m going to kill her, going to kill whoever comes in the building and I’m going to kill myself.”

Keefe said it was not clear whether the girl knew the man.

Roads in the area of central New Jersey were shut down.

This is about seven blocks away from my house. I may walk over there and try to get some pics or something.

Shannon enveloped in smoke.

One of the three Cuban cigars I bought while in The Netherlands, and was lucky enough to get home.

Shannon holding some bags and some joints.

Mariah Carey on the wall of The Bulldog Lounge coffeeshop. Apparently she smokes.

Shannon at the Sex Museum, I told her it was too cold to wear that outfit, but she wouldn’t listen.

My rippling chest and abs.

Me in the bondage chair. It hurts so good…

Now I’d like to draw your attention to this 5ft plaster penis. Thank you for you time.

Hemp beers and spirits. From the Hash, Marijuana and Hemp Museum.

Paticle board made from industrial hemp. Hemp grows in about 90 days, whereas a forest for wood to make the same exact product takes 30-50 years. Why do we hate cannabis sativa so much in this country?

“Ich bin ein…”

Some other neat, non-political pastries in a shop window in Leiden.

The start of our view from the Boatel. The next 7 pics are essentially a panorama of the same, from left to right.

Shannon hitting the bong at Kieran’s. The next two pics are a sort of time-lapse of the same.

Me hitting the bong at Kieran’s. The pic below is an animated gif of the time lapse of my bong hit.

The canal around the greenmarket in Leiden, taken with a better camera.

Grey skies in Leiden.

The same canal from “Leiden Day 2″ where the houses have their back patios on the canal, again with a better camera. Gorgeous.

Looking down the above canal.

Cigarettes in baskets near a checkout (at an Aldi in Leiden)! Can you imagine a country where the citizenry is trusted enough to not have their cigarettes locked in a cage pending identification?

Students at Saddleback College in Orange County, California will not be able to study Spanish abroad in Spain this year, because an ex-Republican Party County Chair is angry at Spain for withdrawing its troops from Iraq.

Fuentes unveiled his new crusade at the Feb. 28 SOCCCD Board of Trustees meeting, when he requested a discussion on Item 10 from the night’s consent calendar. The item would have allowed Saddleback College students to study abroad in Santander, Spain, during the summer. It wasn’t expected to generate much controversy; the SOCCCD board has allowed Saddleback students to learn Spanish in the Iberian country for the past 15 years.

But Fuentes shocked everyone in the audience when he began to assail his ancestral home. “One hundred ninety-five years ago, in 1810, my family arrived on this continent from Spain, so I have an affection for that land,” Fuentes said. But he quickly dropped the amicable pretense, simultaneously attacking Saddleback College’s study abroad program as catering to “an elite” and as a death wish given the March 11, 2004, Madrid train bombings that left 193 dead.

All I can say is wow.

Bubble Gum from Leidseplein.

Super Silver Haze from Leidseplein. Awesome ginger smell!

White Widow from Leidseplein.

Super Skunk from Leidseplein.

Oranje Bud (Orange Bud) from Leidseplein.

Outside of the Leidseplein coffeshop.

A square opposite the Pieterskerk in Leiden.

The road around the Pieterskerk in Leiden.

A shot of another of Leiden’s canals.

The opposite view of the canal pictured above.

Yet another of Leiden’s canals.

I’ll undoubtedly post more pictures tomorrow.

Later.

The front of Bebop, a coffeeshop that grows their own herb.

The alleyway between Bebop and Leidseplein.

Leidseplein, a coffeshop in Leiden. We didn’t go in, it was swamped. But I’m assured that they have nice pot.

Another shot of the alleyway between Leidseplein and Bebop.

Shot of our aquirings at Bebop; K2, White Widow, and Bebop De Luxe hash.

More of our Bebop stash.

White Widow from Bebop.

K2 from Bebop.

Bebop De Luxe hash from Bebop.

Kieran smoking our Franken-joint at Bebop.

The Franken-joint.

Me smoking the Franken-joint.

A girl who looked like Jodi in a magazine at Bebop.

Shannon and Kieran doing pot-related stuff at Bebop.

Another Leiden canal shot.

Keep checking back for more.

We found the first open coffee shop in Amsterdam, at 9 AM! It was called Coffeshop Ben. Look for more info when I get home.

Shannon smoking with a lent bong in Coffeshop Ben.

Me smoking with the lent bong too.

Shannon smiling at 7 AM at Keiran’s dorm in Leiden.

Why Shannon was smiling in the last picture.

Shannon smiling again, surrounded by a cloud of smoke.

Open Air Market in Leiden, open twice a week, full of produce, fish, flowers (even in early March!). Gorgeous site, right on a canal.

Canal Bridge, near the Greenmarket, Leiden.

The greenmarket; the vendors’ backs are all on the canal.

Canal shot, taken from a bridge on Hooigracht.

Street lining the canal. The houses in the opposite side (see above picture) have their back doors to patios that are on the canal. I would love to live in one of those.

I’ll post more pictures as the week goes on.