Shoe-thrower Wants Lesser Charges
Attorneys for the Iraqi reporter who tried to bean President Bush with his shoes say that their client’s actions do not amount to an assault and, thus, no trial is necessary. The reporter, Muntazer al-Zaidi, has been charged with assault against a foreign head of state. During a joint news conference with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki earlier this month, al-Zaidi called Bush a dog as he hurled both of his shoes at the U.S. president. If convicted, al-Zaidi could spend 15 years in prison. Dhiaa al-Saadi, who represents the defendant, told Reuters that the defense was appealing to have the charge reduced to insulting a visiting head of state, which carries a two-year maximum sentence. “Have you ever heard of anyone being killed by a shoe?” al-Saadi said. “In Europe, they throw eggs and rotten tomatoes to insult. In Iraq, throwing a shoe is a symbol of disrespect.” At least the argument was good enough to convince the Iraqi High Judicial Council to delay the trial, which was supposed to begin today. “Due to a legal appeal presented by defendant Muntazer al-Zaidi’s lawyers to the Federal Appeal Court, the case has been referred to this court for study,” the council said in a statement. “Therefore, the Central Criminal Court has adjourned the case pending (its) ruling.”

America’s Oldest Has Died
George Rene Francis, the oldest man in America, who was inspired by Booker T. Washington’s visit to his third-grade class and the message of peace by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., died Saturday in Sacramento. He was 112.  Francis, who was born in New Orleans in 1896, lived to see 19 presidents and witnessed Babe Ruth whack one of his signature homeruns, died of congestive heart failure in Eskaton Care Center Greenhaven, his family, told The Sacramento Bee newspaper. Francis, a lifelong advocate of equal rights, taught his daughter how to drive after she was forced to relinquish her seat on the bus to a White man. In November, he gleefully cast his vote for Sen. Barack Obama. “I think he’s great, because he’s Black. Because the White people thought the Negro would never be promoted. I think it’s beautiful,” he told the Bee. His favorite poem was “The Black Man’s Plea for Justice,” but he never taught his children bigotry or prejudice, his daughter, Lelia Francis Larue, told the newspaper. “He was exceptionally good-natured. We don’t remember any really harsh words at all. He didn’t curse. He and my mom were very gentle people.”