Tennessee Man Rams Driver with Obama Sticker
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) A 70-year-old Nashville man was accused of ramming his sport utility vehicle several times into the back of a vehicle that had a Obama/Biden bumper sticker. Harry K. Weisiger, a retiree, made obscene gestures and pointed at the campaign sticker for President Barack Obama and running mate Joe Biden before he smashed into schoolteacher Mark Duren's car, police said. Weisiger has been charged with reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of the accident and refusing to take a field sobriety test.
The incident appears to be among the overheated partisan political atmosphere, including death threats sent to members of Congress and their families who supported health care reform.
Duren had picked up his 10-year-old daughter from school Thursday when he stopped near the Belmont University campus. An SUV pulled up behind his Toyota Camry and the driver began honking and gesturing angrily toward the bumper sticker, The Tennessean reported.
"I raised my hands palms up and shrugged. He then eased up behind my car so I could only see the grille of his SUV and blew his car horn, nonstop," Duren told the newspaper.
As Duren drove home, the SUV's driver continued making gestures and pointing at the sticker, according to a police report.
The driver, identified by Nashville police as Weisiger, accelerated and crashed into the bumper, directly over the sticker.
Duren tried to calm his frightened daughter as he stopped and Weisiger rammed it again, trying to push it off the road, police said. After a few more pushes, the SUV sped away and Duren called 911.
A neighbor followed the SUV to a grocery store, where police said they found Weisiger trying to pop a breath mint and insisting that he had "not much" to drink.
Weisiger's acquaintances described him as a responsible businessman and a father of four with no history of violent behavior.
"He was just a loyal employee, with no previous incidents of any sort like the one being described," said Patrick Parker, spokesman for Hardaway Construction Corp., where Weisiger worked for 25 years before retiring in 2008. "You never know, I guess."
Calls to his home by The Associated Press went unreturned Sunday.
Duren hasn't decided whether to replace the sticker.
"The anger is bleeding from political discussions into other aspects of society," he said. "I'd like to tell people, look, we can discuss things we disagree about. You don't have to bash someone's car because you disagree with what's on a bumper sticker."
very weird! eating Cat?
Cat chef skewered in Italy
ROME (AP) Italian state TV has suspended a cooking show host who shocked the nation by saying cat stew is a Tuscan delicacy he swears he has enjoyed many times.
RAI TV confirmed on Wednesday that it had suspended Beppe Bigazzi, the 77-year-old host of a popular morning program that offers food tips and recipes in a country fiercely proud of its cuisine.
When his 27-year-old female co-host looked stunned as Bigazzi said he has eaten cat stew "many times," the white-haired, grandfather figure defended his tastes.
"Why, people maybe don't eat rabbit, chicken, pigeon?" Bigazzi said. He could have added horse meat, which many butchers and supermarket meat departments stock.
"Who's not fat, kills the cat," is how Bigazzi began his lighthearted prattle about cat stew.
Bigazzi claimed cat stew was a Tuscan specialty near the Arno river valley, but co-host Elisa Isoardi looked so embarrassed she ducked behind a cart of fresh salad greens whose healthy virtues the two were supposed to be chatting about.
"Cat, soaked for three days in the running water of a stream" in Tuscany "comes out with its meat white, and I assure you I have eaten it many times that it is a delicacy," Bigazzi continued.
His critics included Health Ministry Undersecretary Francesca Martini.
"Cats are pets protected by law," Martini noted, specifically against "cruelty, maltreatment and abandonment."
She lamented in a statement issued by the Health Ministry that Bigazzi's advocating cat stew "hurts sensibility, which is fortunately steadily growing, of citizens toward animals."
The director of the RAI channel the show runs on, Mauro Mazza, called the decision to suspend Bigazzi for an unspecified amount of time as "painful but inevitable."
Only a few moments after revealing his startling recipe, Bigazzi seemed to anticipate he would be barraged with criticism. "Now there will be letters from nature lovers. Why don't they defend rabbits?" he asked.
By Wednesday, two days after the showed was broadcast, the YouTube video clip had recorded more than 55,000 hits, and more than 800 comments registered.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) A 70-year-old Nashville man was accused of ramming his sport utility vehicle several times into the back of a vehicle that had a Obama/Biden bumper sticker. Harry K. Weisiger, a retiree, made obscene gestures and pointed at the campaign sticker for President Barack Obama and running mate Joe Biden before he smashed into schoolteacher Mark Duren's car, police said. Weisiger has been charged with reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of the accident and refusing to take a field sobriety test.
The incident appears to be among the overheated partisan political atmosphere, including death threats sent to members of Congress and their families who supported health care reform.
Duren had picked up his 10-year-old daughter from school Thursday when he stopped near the Belmont University campus. An SUV pulled up behind his Toyota Camry and the driver began honking and gesturing angrily toward the bumper sticker, The Tennessean reported.
"I raised my hands palms up and shrugged. He then eased up behind my car so I could only see the grille of his SUV and blew his car horn, nonstop," Duren told the newspaper.
As Duren drove home, the SUV's driver continued making gestures and pointing at the sticker, according to a police report.
The driver, identified by Nashville police as Weisiger, accelerated and crashed into the bumper, directly over the sticker.
Duren tried to calm his frightened daughter as he stopped and Weisiger rammed it again, trying to push it off the road, police said. After a few more pushes, the SUV sped away and Duren called 911.
A neighbor followed the SUV to a grocery store, where police said they found Weisiger trying to pop a breath mint and insisting that he had "not much" to drink.
Weisiger's acquaintances described him as a responsible businessman and a father of four with no history of violent behavior.
"He was just a loyal employee, with no previous incidents of any sort like the one being described," said Patrick Parker, spokesman for Hardaway Construction Corp., where Weisiger worked for 25 years before retiring in 2008. "You never know, I guess."
Calls to his home by The Associated Press went unreturned Sunday.
Duren hasn't decided whether to replace the sticker.
"The anger is bleeding from political discussions into other aspects of society," he said. "I'd like to tell people, look, we can discuss things we disagree about. You don't have to bash someone's car because you disagree with what's on a bumper sticker."
very weird! eating Cat?
Cat chef skewered in Italy
ROME (AP) Italian state TV has suspended a cooking show host who shocked the nation by saying cat stew is a Tuscan delicacy he swears he has enjoyed many times.
RAI TV confirmed on Wednesday that it had suspended Beppe Bigazzi, the 77-year-old host of a popular morning program that offers food tips and recipes in a country fiercely proud of its cuisine.
When his 27-year-old female co-host looked stunned as Bigazzi said he has eaten cat stew "many times," the white-haired, grandfather figure defended his tastes.
"Why, people maybe don't eat rabbit, chicken, pigeon?" Bigazzi said. He could have added horse meat, which many butchers and supermarket meat departments stock.
"Who's not fat, kills the cat," is how Bigazzi began his lighthearted prattle about cat stew.
Bigazzi claimed cat stew was a Tuscan specialty near the Arno river valley, but co-host Elisa Isoardi looked so embarrassed she ducked behind a cart of fresh salad greens whose healthy virtues the two were supposed to be chatting about.
"Cat, soaked for three days in the running water of a stream" in Tuscany "comes out with its meat white, and I assure you I have eaten it many times that it is a delicacy," Bigazzi continued.
His critics included Health Ministry Undersecretary Francesca Martini.
"Cats are pets protected by law," Martini noted, specifically against "cruelty, maltreatment and abandonment."
She lamented in a statement issued by the Health Ministry that Bigazzi's advocating cat stew "hurts sensibility, which is fortunately steadily growing, of citizens toward animals."
The director of the RAI channel the show runs on, Mauro Mazza, called the decision to suspend Bigazzi for an unspecified amount of time as "painful but inevitable."
Only a few moments after revealing his startling recipe, Bigazzi seemed to anticipate he would be barraged with criticism. "Now there will be letters from nature lovers. Why don't they defend rabbits?" he asked.
By Wednesday, two days after the showed was broadcast, the YouTube video clip had recorded more than 55,000 hits, and more than 800 comments registered.
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
I would not eat kitty! But I have eaten alligator. What's the weirdest thing you ever ate?