Ayes, Spies & Lies

Ayes

It looks like Hillary Clinton's delegates are going to have an opportunity to cast their aye vote for the New York Senator. Clinton's name will be placed in nomination at the Democratic National Convention. The New York Times reports:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s name will be placed into nomination at the Democratic National Convention, a symbolic move approved by the Obama campaign in an effort to soothe a lingering rift with Clinton supporters.

“I am convinced that honoring Senator Clinton’s historic campaign in this way will help us celebrate this defining moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong united fashion,” Senator Barack Obama said in a statement.

The decision was announced on Thursday afternoon in a joint statement from the senators.

It comes after long negotiations on both sides, with many backers of Mrs. Clinton vigorously pushing for her candidacy to be validated by giving her delegates the chance to support her through a roll call vote.

“With every voice heard and the Party strongly united, we will elect Senator Obama President of the United States and put our nation on the path to peace and prosperity once again,” Mrs. Clinton said in a statement.

Hopefully this will give closure for the Clinton supporters who believe the Senator has not received the respect due such a formidable candidate.

Spies

A good friend of mine began writing a book about self defense more than two decades ago. I keep hoping she will complete it, since the stories she shared so many years ago about woman OSS agents were fascinating! That is when I first learned that Julia Child was once an OSS agent. The New York Times reports: "She was hired in the summer of 1942 for clerical work with the intelligence agency and later worked directly for OSS Director William Donovan, the personnel records show."

Women were recruited as spies, because they could maneuver nearly undetected by the enemy. Unlike today, who would have suspected then that women were spies?

My friends research and book are part of her desire to change how women are perceived in our culture. That women are not creatures in need of protection by men, but strong and fully capable of defending themselves.

She thinks, and I agree, that by telling our history -- information missing from most school books -- women (and men) will begin to see just how powerful we truly are.

Women OSS agents could get next to some of the most powerful leaders in the Nazi Party. Close enough, sometimes, to kill them. Did you know that it only takes 35 lbs of pressure to break someones neck? That a swift palm to the chin can do the trick?

It's been a long time since we had this discussion, but my friend's research revealed that Hitler did capture two of the women agents and tortured them for more than two years trying to get key information from them. The women would only reveal their names. Hitler was so frustrated at not being able to break them that even though he knew the war was ending, out of spite he ordered them killed.

Lies

It never ceases to amaze me when I hear about a minister engaging in some nefarious act. I know what you're thinking ... Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Ted "I'm-not-gay" Haggard, why are you so surprized BAC. Still, I find it shocking.

The latest man of the cloth to fall from the pulpit is Raymond Clayton, Sr., a Baptist minister in Penssylvania. The NYTimes reports:

A Baptist minister in central Pennsylvania has been sentenced to one year in jail for stealing the identities of his church members.

Raymond Clayton Sr., 44, was also ordered to pay more than $28,000 in restitution at his sentencing Wednesday. Clayton is the former pastor of Grace Fellowship Church near Mount Carmel.

Federal prosecutors said Clayton used parishioners' personal information to obtain credit cards between November 2006 and April 2007. He pleaded guilty in March to access device fraud.

The church has since disbanded.

No shit.