Hero Nero Zero.com

And the Winner Is...

2008-01-01T08:37:00.000-06:00

Our favorite *former* DC judge has earned the honor of the Washington Posts' "Idiot of the Year" award:

2007 Idiot of the Year: Former Judge Roy L. Pearson of Washington. This former administrative court judge exemplifies everything that the award stands for. Demonstrating worse judgment than a 15-year-old at Mardis Gras, he sued his neighborhood dry cleaner for $54 million over a pair of lost pants.

READ MORE

Here Comes the Judge

Don't Tase Me, Bro - ReMix

2007-09-22T20:48:00.000-05:00

A HERO award goes out to the YouTuber with the "Don't Tase Me, Bro" remix!

If you can't see the video, click HERE.

ZERO: Celebrity Recognition Can Take Time

2007-07-08T16:00:00.000-05:00

Sunday July 8, 2007 - A ZERO award goes out to former NFL player and Fox Sports broadcaster Bill Maas who was arrested and charged with drug possession and weapons charges in Peoria, Illinois. Of course, all suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

According to this media report in USAToday.com, police found numerous items in his Hummer:

"Police found a .22-caliber revolver, 5 grams of suspected marijuana, 6 grams of suspected cocaine and 28 pills of Ecstasy."

Maas and a passenger were arrested Friday by Illinois Police. But it apparently took some time before police knew who they had:

'"We didn't recognize him until about 5 p.m. this afternoon," Trooper Tony Halsey told the Journal Star of Peoria on Saturday.'

Ouch! How can there be celebrity justice when they don't know you're a celebrity?

Source: USAToday.

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HERO - American Hot Dog Champ Wins

2007-07-05T06:35:00.000-05:00

Thursday, July 5, 2007 - A HERO Award goes out to Hot Dog eating champion Joey Chestnut. Chestnut, the contender, beat reigning champ Takeru Kobayashi 66 to 63 hot dogs in the world-famous annual Nathan's contest.

CNN even has a video of how the contest went down HERE.

Source: Nathan's

ZERO - Al Gore: Just Say No!

2007-07-04T14:03:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, July 4, 2007 - Oh those wacky Gores. A ZERO Award goes out to Al Gore III for among other things, taking a pretty bad mugshot. But wait, there's more.

Seems young Albert Gore III, got himself arrested on the Fourth of July in Orange County, CA on suspicion of possessing marijuana and prescription drugs.

Al Gore, 24, was allegedly driving in speeds in excess of 100 mph on the freeway early in the morning. Arresting officers reported that he smelled of marijuana. When his car was searched, numerous prescription drugs were reportedly found including Valium, Xanax, Vicodin, and Adderall. He apparently did not have prescriptions for them. Maybe he was in Canada recently for some universal healthcare?

Al Gore was booked into a Santa Ana jail and released on bond.

Way to Go Al! I wonder how he told Pops and his mom Tipper? I'm sure the Gore's enjoyed some extra July 4th fireworks at their home.

Now THAT's an "Inconvenient Truth!"

Hero, Nero, Zero.com

HERO - Don't Mess with the Scots

2007-07-03T09:13:00.000-05:00

Tuesday July 3, 2007 - A HERO Award goes out to Scottish cab driver Alex Mcllveen who with others fought the terrorists who crashed a burning car into the Glasgow airport terminal earlier this week.

"I told my passenger to run for her life, then I went for the man in the T-shirt and managed to skelp him in the face. I followed it up by booting him twice.
"By that time some other people had joined in and it seemed like the T-shirt guy was trying to get back into the Jeep.
"Then the driver got out of the car. He was already in flames. It was obvious he was the real psycho of the pair.
"Someone was hosing him down but the flames seemed to jump up again just as it looked like they had gone out.
"It was obvious the driver wanted into the boot of the Jeep for something and I was worried about what it was. I thought it must be a gun.
"He was going crazy, just lashing out at everyone and babbling p*sh in a foreign language the whole time.
"I've heard people say since that he was shouting 'Allah!' but I didn't hear that. It just sounded like a lot of c**p to me.
"I ran for the guy and punched him twice in the face with pretty good right hooks.
"Then I kicked him with full force right in the balls but he didn't go down. He just kept on babbling his rubbish.
"I couldn't believe that he was still standing. I know I would have been floored by that kind of kick."
Alex continued to take on the man, who was lashing out with his fists. He recalled: "He was a big guy and I'm not really a fighter, but his punches were wild and I managed to dodge them and make some good strikes myself.

"Luckily, more people joined in and we managed to beat the guy down. The police apparently caught the other man.

Moral of the story? Don't be Messin' with the Scots!

Unfortunately, the police rewarded him with a parking ticket!

Read the full story at the Daily Record

HERO: Captain America, 1941-2007

2007-07-01T08:15:00.000-05:00

Sunday, July 1, 2007 - A HERO award goes out to... Captain America?

Yes, it's sad but true. Captain America is dead.

According to the Associated Press story (via YAHOO):

Yes, folks, Captain America is dead and buried in the latest issue of Marvel Comics, due on newsstands the morning after Independence Day. After 66 years of battling villains from Adolf Hitler to the Red Skull, the red, white and blue leader of the Avengers was felled by an assassin's bullet on the steps of a New York federal courthouse

RIP.

Source: AP (via YAHOO)

HERO - Film Critic's Critic

2007-06-30T05:40:00.000-05:00

Saturday, June 30, 2007 - A HERO award goes out for long time ABC film critic Joel Siegel who died this week at the age of 63 from colon cancer.

Siegel was known for hit witty, humorous movie reviews. He had a regular Friday movie feature on ABC's Good Morning America and was often a gust host on Siskel and Ebert, a television movie review show.

But many people do not know is that besides being an accomplished journalist, Siegel also was known for his civil rights work in the 1960s and his work with Robert Kennedy campaigns.

Read his career info at the Internet Movie Database.

HERO - A JibJab to the Left AND Right!

2007-06-27T07:10:00.001-05:00

Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - A HERO award goes out to JibJab for their release yesterday of another very funny political animated cartoon, Star-Spangled Banner.

You may recall that JibJab has released several other wickedly funny videos over the past year. this new one is a compilation of US Presidents singing the song. Our favorites:

This Land

Good to Be in DC.

Source: JibJab.com

HERO - Dry Cleaners Win

2007-06-26T06:27:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - A HERO award goes out to the Chung family and their Washington DC dry cleaning store for refusing to intimidated by the American judicial system.

You may remember that the Chungs were sued for millions of dollars over a missing pair of pants. Thousands of dollars later in legal fees, the Chungs were finally vindicated.

The Washington Post has a complete update on the story HERE.

HERO - Dangerous Boys

2007-06-25T06:10:00.000-05:00

Monday, June 25, 2007 - A HERO award goes out to author Conn Igguldoen for authoring his book, "The Dangerous book for Boys".

It's a must read for any parent who is raising boys.

The Washington Post has a good article on the book called "In Praise of Skinned Knees and Grubby Faces"

LONDON When I was 10, I founded an international organization known as the Black Cat Club. My friend Richard was the only other member. My younger brother, Hal, had "provisional status," which meant that he had to try out for full membership every other week. We told him we would consider his application if he jumped off the garage roof -- about eight feet from the ground. He had a moment of doubt as he looked over the edge, but we said it wouldn't hurt if he shouted the words "Fly like an eagle!" When he jumped, his knees came up so fast that he knocked himself out. I think the lesson he learned that day was not to trust his brother, which is a pretty valuable one for a growing lad.
I wrote "The Dangerous Book for Boys" as a handbook for boys with scenes like that from my childhood in mind. I wasn't trying to please anyone else. I was just trying to free boys to be themselves again, the way we were when my brother and I were growing up.

HERO - Space Shuttle STS-117 Returns

2007-06-23T06:49:00.000-05:00

Saturday, June 23, 2007 - A HERO Award goes out to NASA and the Space Shuttle crew STS-117 for their successful and safe mission launch and return. Every mission is a rick and these astronauts represent the best of American efforts in space.

From the NASA website:

Space Shuttle Atlantis descended to a smooth landing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., concluding a successful assembly mission to the International Space Station. With Commander Rick Sturckow and Pilot Lee Archambault at the controls, Atlantis landed at 3:49 p.m. EDT on Friday.

The challenges posed during STS-117 are invaluable learning experiences that will help the agency prepare for future exploration, William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, explained at a post-landing press conference.

"My hat's off to the team that really pulled off an awesome mission," he said.

The astronauts are set to return to their home base, Johnson Space Center in Houston, on Saturday.

According to Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach, Atlantis may be returned to Kennedy Space Center in Florida in six or seven days. At that point, the orbiter will immediately begin processing for the STS-122 mission, set to launch late this year.

The STS-117 crew began its mission June 8 and arrived at the station June 10. They quickly began work to install the Starboard 3 and 4 (S3/S4) truss structure to the outpost and retracted a set of arrays on the Port 6 (P6) truss. The (S3/S4) contains a new set of solar arrays that increases station power-generation capabilities. The P6 will be relocated during a future assembly mission.

Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester, John “Danny” Olivas, Jim Reilly and Steven Swanson conducted a total of four spacewalks to activate the S3/S4 and to retract the P6 arrays. During the third spacewalk, Olivas repaired an out of position thermal blanket on the left orbital maneuvering system pod.

Landing also marked the end of a record-setting spaceflight by Mission Specialist Suni Williams. She broke the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman early in the morning on June 16.

Williams' journey began in December with the launch of STS-116. She lived on the space station for six months before switching places on the STS-117 crew with Clayton Anderson, who is now a flight engineer on the station. When Atlantis landed, she had accumulated 194 days, 18 hours and 58 minutes during her spaceflight.

STS-117 is the 118th shuttle mission and 21st mission to visit the space station. The next mission, STS-118, is slated to launch in August.

ZERO - Eastern Michigan University's Cover Up

2007-06-22T19:54:00.000-05:00

Friday, June 22, 2007 - A ZERO award goes out to Eastern Michigan University for their lies and coverup of a campus murder.

Numerous media outlets reported this week the story of the death of college student Laura Dickinson in December 2006. At the time, the college announced that foul play was not suspected.

All the while, college officials knew the truth--there was a murderer loose on the college campus. It took two months before the truth came out--a fellow student was arrested for her murder.

The shocking fact is that not even the parents were aware of the true nature of the crime. After they buried their child thinking it was natural causes that killed her, the shocking admission that their daughter died a brutal death at the hands of a campus killer finally was known.

Now it's finger pointing time on campus.

Fortunately, an independent report gets to the truth of the matter:

school authorities withheld information,
deceived the public
and potentially violated a federal law designed to warn students of campus safety threats.

Although college administrators can not be responsible for every action of every student, they have an obligation to "do the right thing".

Source: Washington Post

ZERO - Stop Means Stop

2007-06-21T06:20:00.000-05:00

Thursday, June 21, 2007 - A ZERO award goes out to a bicyclist in Minnesota for not leaving things alone.

Seems Stephan Orsak chose to ride a bicycle from the airport to home. While that is a noble effort, he found himself on the wrong side of the law when a police officer stopped him for riding in a restricted area.

Now Stephen just couldn't leave well enough alone. After he made a compelling case for why he should have not been stopped (it was safe, it was legal, etc. although there were signs posted and it appears he was riding the wrong way on a road), the officer let him go. No harm, No foul.

But no, Stephen decided to challenge the officer, asking for his supervisor, telling him he was rude, and asking about how in the future he could ride on the same road after being told he couldn't.

So, of course, he was tasered and jailed. Ya think?

Some observations:

Cops may have been wrong on all points and had no "legal" right to tell him to get off the road, but...
When people with guns and tasers and the full weight of the judicial system tell you to do something (even if it's to get down on your knees) then you better do it or be prepared for the entire weight of that system to come down on you
Know when to back down. Cops usually win these contests.
Cops usually win these things unless you have the sex or race card to play later in court in front of a mixed jury. White male suspect...you're hosed.
Cops usually win in court unless you have really good angles and spend a lot of time and money and make no mistakes or get a cynical judge or jury that has been thru the ringer with cops before
Cops spend no time and money on the aftermath like you do as this is their job not yours.

So, this poor biker could have gone on his way safely and researched his rights to ride from a safe spot (oh, like the local law library). But instead, he fought the law and the law won.

Now he's trying to win in the court of public opinion by blogging about his case and enlisting the help of community-based news sites.

What's most interesting is that this story has made it high into digg.com's ranking.

You be the judge and read the full article here:

http://digg.com/politics/Man_Arrested_for_Riding_His_Bike_Home_From_an_Airport

HERO - In the Line of Duty

2007-06-20T06:33:00.001-05:00

Wednesday, June 20, 2007 - A HERO award goes out to the nine courageous firefighters who died while fighting a fire in Charleston, South Carolina yesterday.

CNN.com, among others reported extensively on the event and the city's reaction to the tragedy:

"They lost their lives fighting for the safety of our citizens," Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. said.

"Nine brave, heroic, courageous firefighters of the city of Charleston have perished fighting a fire, and in a most courageous and fearless manner, carrying out their duties," Riley said. "This is a tragic event for our community, the magnitude of which is difficult to fathom or quantify."

The victims, their ages and their years of service are:

Capt. William "Billy" Hutchinson, 48 (30 years)

Capt. Mike Benke, 49 (29 years)

Capt. Louis Mulkey, 34 (11½ years)

Engineer Mark Kelsey, 40 (12½ years)

Engineer Bradford "Brad" Baity, 37 (9 years)

Assistant engineer Michael French, 27 (1½ years)

Firefighter James "Earl" Drayton, 56 (32 years)

Firefighter Brandon Thompson, 27 (4 years)

Firefighter Melven Champaign, 46 (2 years)

The city of Charleston has a special section on their website worth reading:

http://www.charlestoncity.info/dept/content.aspx?nid=1375

NERO - Dell Comes Clean

2007-06-19T07:07:00.001-05:00

Tuesday, June 19, 2007 - A NERO award goes out to Dell Corp, who quickly relented under intense pressure and withdrew their request for consumerist.com to remove a post exposing Dell marketing techniques.

Some key points from Consumerist.com:

Dell has said it was wrong for trying to get The Consumerist to remove a "confessions" post from a former Dell worker.
Dell's Direct2Dell blog wrote, "Now's not the time to mince words, so let me just say it... we blew it."

Dell also posted its own series of "confessions." Number one: "Ok, we goofed. We shouldn't have sent a notice. To my earlier point, we appreciate the reminder from the community. Point taken."

Clearly, Dell underestimated the power of consumers to respond to power-hungry companies.

ZERO - Drag Gone Wrong

2007-06-18T06:15:00.000-05:00

Monday, June 18, 2007 - A ZERO Award goes out to the organizers of a charity drag race in Selmer Tennessee that turned tragic on Sunday. 6 children died as a result of an out-of-control dragster crashing into spectators who lined the race course. What were the organizers thinking? To allow children-or-anyone to be in harm's way was a severe example of neglect. Concrete barriers should have been installed and safety should have been part of the race.

More information is available on CNN.com HERE.

HERO - Father's Day 2007

2007-06-17T09:39:00.000-05:00

Sunday, June 17, 2007 - HERO Award goes out to Fathers everywhere.

From Wikipedia.org:

"In the United States, the first modern Father's Day celebration was held on July 5, 1908, in Fairmont, West Virginia. ^[1]^[2] It was first celebrated as a church service at Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South, now known as Central United Methodist Church. Grace Golden Clayton, who is believed to have suggested the service to the pastor, is believed to have been inspired to celebrate fathers after the deadly mine explosion in nearby Monongah the prior December. This explosion killed 361 men, many of them fathers and recent immigrants to the United States from Italy. Another possible inspiration for the service was Mother's Day, which had recently been celebrated for the first time in Grafton, West Virginia, a town about 15 miles away.

HERO - Queen's Knight

2007-06-16T08:00:00.001-05:00

Saturday, June 16, 2007 - A HERO Award goes out to India-born author Salman Rushdie who was awarded knighthood by Britain's Queen Elizabeth.

The internationally-known author, who turned 60 this week, spent nearly 10 years in hiding after Iran's religious leaders called for his assassination after he published his book, Satanic Verses. He now spends most of his time in the United States.

Freedom of the press (including the printing press and author) should always prevail.

ZERO - Too Little, Too Late

2007-06-15T07:12:00.000-05:00

UPDATE: Saturday, June 16, 2007 - News reports indicate that District Attorney Mike Nifong will be disbarred for his disastrous prosecution of three Duke University lacrosse players falsely accused of rape, a disciplinary committee decided Saturday.

Friday, June 15, 2007 - A ZERO award goes out to Durham County, North Carolina District Attorney Mike Nifong for handling--and perhaps lack of handling- of the alleged 2006 Duke University Lacrosse case.

Today Mr. Nifong admitted he got carried away with his comments about the case. Also during his bar ethics hearing, he disclosed that he plans to resign.

What is shocking about this case is that it really took this long for Mr. Nifong to appear to realize the grave error of his ways. He appears to have hid information, mislead the court and defense attorneys about crucial material facts in the case, used the publicity of this case to further his own political reelection campaign and finally, attempted to subvert the rule of law with a blinded eyes of justice.

Detroit news story link

ZERO - Expensive Pants

2007-06-14T10:21:00.001-05:00

Thursday, June 14, 2007 - A ZERO award goes out to Washington DC Administrative Law Judge Roy Pearson who appeared in court this week to present his points in a suit he's filed against a local dry cleaning store owners for $54 million dollars. Seems the cleaners misplaced his pants.

Although the owners attempted to settle, Judge Roy has pressed his case that he should be rewarded with this windfall.

If ever there's a case that cries out for swift and concise judicial wisdom, this is is the one. Judge Roy should be ashamed of his new legal infamy and move on.

HERO - Good-bye Mr. Wizard!

2007-06-12T15:25:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, June 12, 2007 - A HERO award goes out to Mr. Wizard, Don Herbert, who died today at age 89. For those too young remember, Mr. Wizard brought the magic of science to children of all ages via the magic of television.

The original show ran from 1951-1964 and showed how science experiments could be done using simple household items. Week after week, these experiments motivated millions to consider science as a career.

Good-bye, Mr. Wizard.

NERO - Judge Sets Genarlow Wilson Free

2007-06-11T12:57:00.001-05:00

Monday, June 11, 2007 - A NERO award goes out to Georgia state judge Thomas H. Wilson who today threw out Genarlow Wilson's previous sentence and amended it to misdemeanor aggravated child molestation with a 12-month sentence, plus credit for time served. Not quite a HERO but certainly not a ZERO.

This is a rather complicated case. In the end, was justice served? Hopefully, the state of Georgia will think carefully before automatically appealing the decision.

The Washington Post has a rather complete article regarding the case found HERE.

ZERO - Burger Anyone?

2007-06-10T07:49:00.000-05:00

Sunday, June 10, 2007 - A ZERO award goes out to United Food Group in Southern California for their recall of 5.7 million pounds of hamburger due to possible contamination from E. coli bacteria. That's a lot of burgers!

MSNBC has a less than insightful article about the recall. Does the Mainstream Media not ask any probing questions anymore? Maybe these are just so common now that its just "here's the facts, Jack".

Seems to me that the Company's business practices should garner some closer examination. If last month's food wasn't safe, how do we know this month's is going to be any better?

ZERO - Recall the Sheriff?

2007-06-09T16:01:00.000-05:00

Saturday, June 9, 2007 - A ZERO award goes out to Los Angeles County Sheriff Baca for releasing socialite Paris Hilton from jail under the most flimsiest of reasons, and then, when ordered by the judge to bring her on back to jail where she belonged, transferring her to a special medical section where she'll be able to avoid the fate of thousands of other lawbreakers.

Sheriff Baca needs to remember that there are thousands of inmates under his jurisdiction who "can't stand to be locked up", have medical conditions worthy of medical release, and have family and friends who would like them sprung from the hospitality of LA County.

UPDATE: Seems the good sheriff has riled the feathers of others, RecallBaca.com