According to the AP (Minneapolis StarTribune Online, July 29, 2008):  Michael Stoner of  Spooner Wisconsin, “who was arrested for child abuse days after surviving the Twin Cities bridge collapse has pleaded no contest to criminal charges.

 

“Michael Stoner entered the plea to second-degree reckless endangerment and obstructing an officer in Washburn County Circuit Court on Monday.

 

I have written about this tragedy several times on this site.  I have received dozens of very negative emails and commentaries in response to my comments.  For those of you who haven’t read my commentaries on the matter, please refer to the search engine at the right of this page.  By means of quick update, I quote the StarTribune article cited above.

 

“Stoner and his girlfriend were on their way to a Minneapolis hospital to see her 2-year-old daughter August 1 when the bridge collapsed, killing 13 people. The toddler had been flown to the hospital that morning after suffering injuries.

 

“Stoner was arrested days later and accused of abusing the child. Doctors determined her injuries were consistent with shaken-baby syndrome.”

 

According to WEAU.com (7/29/08) "’Extensive negotiations were able to result in a plea agreement where there's at least some acknowledgment on his part that these injuries were caused by other than accidental means,’ says D.A J. Michael Bitney.”

 

According to KARE11.com (7/29/08), Michael Stoner said that his no contest plea to “felony charges that he recklessly endangered his fiancée’s daughter…does not mean he hurt the girl.

 

“‘I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place on this situation,’ Stoner said in a Shell Lake, Wisconsin courtroom today. ‘I don't feel that any of these proceedings have been fair at all. I don't think the truth has been told.’

 

“But prosecutors say it's Michael Stoner who's untruthful, that he's lied all along about how Emma Manning was hurt. Stoner was home alone with the toddler August 1st, and claims the 2 year old fell down a flight of steps, but medical experts say her injuries were too severe.

 

"‘There's no way these injuries could have been caused by a fall down the stairs," said Washburn County District Attorney J. Michael Bitney.

 

“Doctors at Children's Hospital say the girl was comatose when she arrived, unresponsive with a blown pupil, bruises, and massive head trauma. But since Stoner's story never wavered, investigators say their case is tough to prove.

 

"‘Our witness is a 2 year old child who's severely mentally handicapped,’ Bitney said. ‘She's our only witness, and she can't tell us what happened to her.’

 

“Police believe Stoner not only hurt the girl, but also failed to help her, charging he waited to call a doctor, passed two hospitals before taking Emma to the emergency room, then later lying to detectives, all things they say made her condition worse.

 

"‘These are lifelong injuries that she'll have to suffer,’ Bitney said. ‘She'll have significant injuries for her life. It's a life sentence for this little girl. A lot less than what Mr. Stoner is facing.’

 

“Stoner's sentence with today's plea will be a maximum of 13 years, jail time prosecutors say is little justice for a little girl.

 

“Stoner also pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of obstructing an officer.

A third charge of physical abuse of a child was dropped in the plea agreement.

Stoner, his attorney, and his family all declined to talk with KARE 11 today.

 

“Manning was not charged in the case.”

 

This convicted child abuser has not been sentenced and no date for sentencing has been set.

 

Where are all the people that commented on this site and in my email about how Stoner is innocent?  If he actually was innocent he would not have copped a plea.  Given our justice system, he will probably end up with a “time served” sentence.  His friends who commented on this site and in my email need to finally admit that they are wrong and that Stoner is a child abuser.  They need to apologize for their comments.  Not to me, but to the rest of the civilized world that is trying to rid the world of child abuse.

 

This man needs to serve major time…I mean life without parole.  He needs to see pictures everyday of the damage he did to Emmaline Manning.  And the mother, Chrystal Manning, needs to confront whatever demons she has that allowed her to connect with this human defect and which allowed her to lie, at least originally, about what happened.

 

I feel so sorry for Emmaline.  She is an innocent whose future has been destroyed.  All thanks to Michael Stoner.  I said over and over that if Stoner is innocent, I hope that he has a fair trial and is able to prove his innocence.  I also said that if he is guilty, I hope he rots in prison.  He is now proven to be guilty.  Let him rot in prison. 

 

Everyone who supported Stoner shares the guilt.  I feel sorry for you all!

 

In my commentary “Arrogance on the Left” on June 4, 2008, I voiced my utter disdain for Garrison Keillor regarding his newspaper column about the patriotic Memorial Day ride in Washington, D.C and regarding him as a person.  I have been reading rejoinders to his column for almost two months.  I am reprinting the following letter from the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune website wisconsinrapidstribune.com, June 8, 2008).  It touched me greatly.  I hope it touches you.

 

“We take great offense in the opinion by Garrison Keillor you published Sunday titled ‘The roar of hollow patriotism.’ I saw it in another paper a few days earlier and was hoping you had better judgment than to run it. It not only insulted the riders saluting our vets but the veterans themselves. Here is a copy of the letter we sent to him:

 

‘Dear Mr. Keillor: We are truly sorry for your inconvenience. Our son was with you in that crowd. He called us to tell us how jealous we would be that he was there and we were not. It filled his chest with pride, watching those fat pony-tailed bikers show their patriotism. He could not ride in the parade with them. His bike is stuck in Germany from his last posting. He was there in Washington for training, on his way to "another sand-box" to defend your right to spew such drivel. The next day he sent a picture from the parade, of a Marine holding a salute to the bikers he watched for over an hour. He just dropped his wife and new son off here in Wisconsin so he could be deployed again, and they could stay with family. He will again miss the next several months of his family's life to defend you. When he returns, his son will be talking and walking. He will only experience this via e-mails from his family. Your inconvenience is nothing compared to his sacrifice. Yet it is for you, he fights.’”

 

Joe and Terri Leek

Stevens Point

 

Garrison Keillor is a self-important, self-agrandizing moron who couldn’t get a job if it wasn’t for National Public Radio…a socialist media outlet that can’t survive without government support.  The fact that this media organization hires and defends an anti-American, anti-patriotic, untalented physical and intellectual defect like Keillor tells me it is finally time to cut the cord on public support for NPR and the rest of the government supported socialist media.  Once that happens, Keillor will have to find a real job.  I suspect that the best he will do is cleaning the shoes of the real MAN who cleans President Bush’s shoes.

 

I have been gone for awhile.  I have been in mourning.  Budweiser sold out to InBev, a Belgian company that owns 200 of the largest selling beers internationally.  For close to a century and a half, Budweiser was America's everyday beer.  A working man's beer. 

Once the sale is finalized, one more piece of America will be lost.

I have spent my time in mourning.  I will not wait for the sale to be finalized.  I just drank my last Budweiser.  The last 24-can case is gone.  None will follow.

Three everyday American beers that I will now drink are Pabst, Grain Belt, and  Schlitz ( owned by Pabst).  In fact, Schlitz just changed its formula back to what it was in the 1960's.  Although it is actually brewed in a brewery owned by Miller Coors (another foreign company), it is owned by Pabst which is still an American company. 

As for a special occasion beer, I will be drinking Samuel Adams, maunfactured at several locations by the Boston Brewing Company and Fat Tire beer, manufactured in by New Belguim Brewing in Ft. Collins, Colorado.

So we have alternatives.  No longer will one of my alternatives be any beer manufactured by Anheuser Busch.

With a tear in my eye, I have to say...so long, good friend. This Bud is no longer for me.

Environmental extremists have gone after Bjorn Lomborg, writer of The Skeptical Environmentalist (Cambridge University Press, 2001) , with a vengeance.  Lomborg wrote a 500+ page book that outlined the research in practically every area related to environmental science.  He actually published the actual data and the findings from hundreds of studies.  He included around 2,900 notes).  He drew conclusions based on actual data.  In 2001, Scientific American, a pseudo-scientific magazine, threatened to sue Lomborg for copyright infringement as he defended himself on his own website against an 11 page diatribe in the magazine.  He was not allowed to respond directly to the article but was told he could have one page to respond in a future edition.

 

I am providing the link to Lomborg’s response to the offensive article.  I realize this is a bit dated, but I believe it is critical that we all see the extremism of environmental fascists for exactly what it is.

 

http://www.greenspirit.com/lomborg/ScientificAmericanBjornLomborgAnswer.pdf

 

I will quote only one section of Lomborg’s response.  In it, he notes that the title of the 11 page article itself gives away the motives of the magazine.  The title is Science defends itself against The Skeptical Environmentalist.

 

Lomborg stated:  “This statement is potentially the most surprising of all – that the following critique should be science defending itself against my book. In a sense this encapsulates the bias of the following critiques. Mybook clearly makes a claim to science and to be factually based. I openly state the facts and mysources, and thus anybody is free to point out where these are faulty or incorrect and of course, such

errors will then be posted on my web site. Thus, there is no need to defend science from my book – any possible defeat of science was never the issue. The discussion is whether the statements in my book are correct or not. The need to make it sound like a battle of science against my book seems entirely to misplace and bias the focus. Rather,

the standpoint that might need to defend itself from my book would be the alarmist environmentalism, and that is perhaps the headline that would make more sense: Alarmist environmentalism defends itself against the Skeptical Environmentalist.”

 

I hope very much that you will read Lomborg’s rational response to the fanatical left.  I also hope that you will pass this on to everyone you know.  Environmental fascists are just one segment of the liberal fascist movement but they are powerful.  They use pseudo-science to make claims that cannot be substantiated.  Then they demonize everyone who disagrees with them to the point that most just hide out in the shadows.  Lomborg has not gone away and I hope he never does.  He knows the environmental movement from the inside, having been a leader of Greenpeace.  He is someone who needs to be heard.

 

For further information on this topic please go to:

 

http://www.greenspirit.com/lomborg/