I think the worst part in the flight of Nazi war criminals to Argentina, Brazil Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay is that they were aided in their escape by the Vatican. (Also see: ‘Top Nazis With A Hand In The Slaughter Of Six Million Jews Escaped To South America With The Help Of The Catholic Church’ / 2-12-12)
SECRET FILES REVEAL 9,000 NAZI WAR CRIMINALS FLED TO SOUTH AMERICA AFTER WWII
By Allan Hall
Mail Online
March 19, 2012
Nine thousand Nazi war criminals fled to South America after the Second World War, it has been revealed for the first time.
After receiving tip-offs, German prosecutors were recently granted access to secret files in Brazil and Chile that confirmed the true number of Third Reich immigrants.
According to the documents, an estimated 9,000 war criminals escaped to South America, including Croatians, Ukrainians, Russians and other western Europeans who aided the Nazi murder machine.
Most, perhaps as many as 5,000, went to Argentina; between 1,500 and 2,000 are thought to have made it to Brazil; around 500 to 1,000 to Chile; and the rest to Paraguay and Uruguay.
These numbers do not include several hundred more who fled to the safety of right-wing regimes in the Middle East.
Previous estimates as to how many Nazis fled to South America have varied wildly from 5,000 to 300,000.
The files also showed that during the war Argentine President General Juan Peron sold 10,000 blank Argentine passports to ODESSA – the organisation set up to protect former SS men in the event of defeat.
Kurt Schrimm, 62, head of the central war criminal authority in Germany, is among the legal team sifting through archives.
He said: 'These documents provide the hottest leads we have had for years.'
Mr Schrimm said a female historian provided the clues about the Nazis who got away, who included Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann, Auschwitz doctor Josef Mengele and Treblinka death camp commander Franz Stangl.
There is also the hope that the mountain of documents may throw up a living fugitive.
But Mr Schrimm added: 'Each day that passes makes that less and less likely but I do not want people to say in the future that we did not try.'
Mr Schrimm and his colleague Uwe Steintz, 52, believe the archives may also provide clues to Nazis who sneaked back to the Fatherland to live out their days undetected.
Of particular interest to the hunters are details of the so-called 'rat lines' - the escape routes out of a shattered Europe after WW2 that allowed an estimated 800 murderers to escape on passports provided by the Vatican.
Since arriving in South America three weeks ago, Mr Schrimm and Mr Steintz have pored over the Arquivo Historico records in Rio de Janiero.
The Archivo Nacional is the repository for all immigration documents.
They show that 20,000 Germans settled in Brazil alone between 1945 and 1959.
Mr Schrimm said: 'Many are under a false name with a dark past.'
Many South American countries postwar were ruled by fascist-style military dictatorships that welcomed the brutal servants of Nazism with few questions asked.
Mr Steintz said: 'Already we see something of a pattern in the way these criminals operated. They almost always entered the country alone and sent for their families afterwards.
'And most entered on a passport of the International Red Cross. Eight hundred higher functionaries of the SS and Nazi state entered Argentina alone on such passports.'
The files show that the contact point for many was German Bishop Alois Hudal, priest-confessor to the German Catholic community in Rome.
Investigators hope that the files will yield up cross references to the secret services of Chile and Brazil detailing names of intelligence agents who helped the Nazi war criminals.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
NO JUSTICE IN ATTEMPTING TO STOP HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS’ LAWSUIT
The few remaining Holocaust survivors should be able to recover money that rightfully belongs to them.
OBAMA, CONGRESS SHOULD SUPPORT EFFORT TO RECOVER LEGAL RIGHTS
By Miami Herald Editorial Board
Jewish World Review
March 19, 2012
Against formidable odds and a range of powerful opponents, including the White House, Holocaust survivors are finally starting to make progress in their fight to win the right to sue European insurance companies for benefits they have been denied for more than half a century.
The refusal to honor those obligations is bad enough, but the denial of the right to sue adds further injury. It violates a principle that every American considers a fundamental birthright — the ability to go to court to seek redress of a legitimate grievance.
This unusual provision was part of an agreement to create the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, which came into being in 1998 with the blessing of the Clinton administration. The agreement has been upheld by the courts, including the Supreme Court, and strongly defended by both the Bush and Obama administrations down to the present day.
But that doesn't make it right. Holocaust survivors — an aging and diminishing population, many in their 80s and 90s — have not been treated fairly.
The idea was that an overall, legally binding settlement would preclude further lawsuits against insurance companies and, once and forever, close the books on a scandalous breach of honor and business protocol that came to light at the end of World War II. By the time the commission closed shop in 2007, however, only a fraction of the looted funds was recovered by the individual owners or heirs.
The International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims paid out about $305 million, and an additional $200 million went to humanitarian programs for survivors. This is less than 3 percent of the amount owed to victims and their families — estimated today at $20 billion.
David Schaecter, 82, who survived the death camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald and heads the Miami-based Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA, says the commission agreement allows insurance companies to avoid their obligations and turns the survivors into second-class citizens.
Five years ago, legislation was introduced in Congress to recover their legal rights, but it went nowhere thanks to opposition from the U.S. and German governments, which essentially argue that a deal is a deal; other parties to the original agreement, including major Jewish organizations in this country; and insurance companies like Allianz, Generali, AXA that have never been held accountable for their misdeeds.
This month may have been a turning point, though. A bipartisan effort led by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, was unanimously approved by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, which she heads.
But that was just the first test. The Judiciary Committee, whose members include Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, another strong supporter, is the next stop. A companion bill in the upper chamber lists Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio of Florida as co-sponsors.
Both efforts are sure to encounter harder and louder resistance from opponents as they go forward. The State Department has aggressively lobbied against the bill. It told the committee that the legislation would "weaken our ability to achieve such settlements in the future."
Let's hope so. The bill should be passed by Congress and signed by the president, to redress a grievous harm and serve as a reminder that it's wrong to deny legal rights to an entire class of citizens and should never be tolerated.
OBAMA, CONGRESS SHOULD SUPPORT EFFORT TO RECOVER LEGAL RIGHTS
By Miami Herald Editorial Board
Jewish World Review
March 19, 2012
Against formidable odds and a range of powerful opponents, including the White House, Holocaust survivors are finally starting to make progress in their fight to win the right to sue European insurance companies for benefits they have been denied for more than half a century.
The refusal to honor those obligations is bad enough, but the denial of the right to sue adds further injury. It violates a principle that every American considers a fundamental birthright — the ability to go to court to seek redress of a legitimate grievance.
This unusual provision was part of an agreement to create the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, which came into being in 1998 with the blessing of the Clinton administration. The agreement has been upheld by the courts, including the Supreme Court, and strongly defended by both the Bush and Obama administrations down to the present day.
But that doesn't make it right. Holocaust survivors — an aging and diminishing population, many in their 80s and 90s — have not been treated fairly.
The idea was that an overall, legally binding settlement would preclude further lawsuits against insurance companies and, once and forever, close the books on a scandalous breach of honor and business protocol that came to light at the end of World War II. By the time the commission closed shop in 2007, however, only a fraction of the looted funds was recovered by the individual owners or heirs.
The International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims paid out about $305 million, and an additional $200 million went to humanitarian programs for survivors. This is less than 3 percent of the amount owed to victims and their families — estimated today at $20 billion.
David Schaecter, 82, who survived the death camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald and heads the Miami-based Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA, says the commission agreement allows insurance companies to avoid their obligations and turns the survivors into second-class citizens.
Five years ago, legislation was introduced in Congress to recover their legal rights, but it went nowhere thanks to opposition from the U.S. and German governments, which essentially argue that a deal is a deal; other parties to the original agreement, including major Jewish organizations in this country; and insurance companies like Allianz, Generali, AXA that have never been held accountable for their misdeeds.
This month may have been a turning point, though. A bipartisan effort led by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, was unanimously approved by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, which she heads.
But that was just the first test. The Judiciary Committee, whose members include Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, another strong supporter, is the next stop. A companion bill in the upper chamber lists Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio of Florida as co-sponsors.
Both efforts are sure to encounter harder and louder resistance from opponents as they go forward. The State Department has aggressively lobbied against the bill. It told the committee that the legislation would "weaken our ability to achieve such settlements in the future."
Let's hope so. The bill should be passed by Congress and signed by the president, to redress a grievous harm and serve as a reminder that it's wrong to deny legal rights to an entire class of citizens and should never be tolerated.
Monday, March 19, 2012
MAY HIS SORRY SOUL ROAST IN HELL!
Sobibor death camp guard John Demjanjuk died Saturday at the age of 91. The retired car-plant worker from Ohio was deported to Germany where he was convicted last May by a court in Munich for complicity in the killing of 28,0o0 Jews. He received a five-year prison sentence.
The court spelled out that guards had played a key role at Nazi extermination camps like Sobibor in Poland, where at least 250,000 Jews are thought to have been killed despite only 20 German SS officers being there.
Unfortunately, the Ukrainian-born murderer, who had enjoyed the good life in America for many years, did not die in prison. He died in a nursing home where the kindhearted Germans allowed him to stay, pending an appeal of his conviction.
May Demjanjuk’s sorry soul roast in hell!
The court spelled out that guards had played a key role at Nazi extermination camps like Sobibor in Poland, where at least 250,000 Jews are thought to have been killed despite only 20 German SS officers being there.
Unfortunately, the Ukrainian-born murderer, who had enjoyed the good life in America for many years, did not die in prison. He died in a nursing home where the kindhearted Germans allowed him to stay, pending an appeal of his conviction.
May Demjanjuk’s sorry soul roast in hell!
BEFORE PEARL HARBOR, SILVER SHIRTS BUILT HITLER’S HOLLYWOOD HEADQUARTERS
I think the Silver Shirts were dreaming. Hitler, had he won the war, would have visited Hollywood, but only after triumphant visits to Washington, D.C. and New York City. Der Fuehrer would have run his empire, not from Hollywood, but from his headquarters in Berlin.
HEIL HOLLYWOOD: THE LOS ANGELES BUNKER FROM WHICH HITLER PLANNED TO RUN NAZI EMPIRE AFTER THE WAR
Mail Online
March 18, 2012
It sounds like the bizarre script of a Hollywood B-movie.
In a parallel universe the Nazis have won the war, Adolf Hitler moves to LA where he mingles with the stars of the silver screen while running his evil empire from a luxurious ranch deep in the LA hills.
But during the 1930s, American sympathizers were so confident this exact scenario was actually going happen they spent millions building a deluxe compound ready for their fuhrer's imminent arrival.
Equipped with a diesel power plant, 375,000 gallon concrete water tank , giant meat locker, 22 bedrooms and even a bomb shelter, the heavily guarded estate was home to a community of Hollywood fascists who hoped to ride out the war there.
There were further plans to build five libraries, a swimming pool, several dining rooms and a gymnasium with money from Germany.
But on the day after Pearl Harbor, as America entered World War Two, police raided the premises and rounded up the the 50 or so American fascists who were living there.
Today the eerie landmark lies in ruins, daubed with graffitti, and awaiting the bulldozers so it can be turned into a picnic area for hikers - a soon-to-be forgotten slice of American history.
Close to the homes of actors and directors such as Stephen Spielberg, the site has been a magnet for historians, curiosity-seekers and modern-day nazis.
At one point after the war it became an artists colony and was home to the novelist Henry Miller.
It was built by the Silver Shirts, a sinister group of 1930s fascists who took their name from Hitler's Brown Shirts grass roots organization.
Fascism had been on the rise in the wake of the Great Depression and the Silver Shirts were one of the most fanatical organizations.
The 55-acre ranch, was sold to mining fortune heiress Jessie Murphy in 1933 by screen cowboy Will Rogers.
In the next few years, Murphy struck up a relationship with a German man known only as Herr Schmidt. Unbeknown to her Schmidt was Hitler's agent in America.
He persuaded her to invest $4million ($66 million today) to transform the property into a nazi stronghold fit for Hitler.
Historian Randy Young told the Sunday Express: 'This was supposed to be the seat of American fascism from where Hitler would one day run the United States.
'The neighbors were a little freaked out by the construction and weird happenings, but until war broke out, they thought they were just eccentric people.'
HEIL HOLLYWOOD: THE LOS ANGELES BUNKER FROM WHICH HITLER PLANNED TO RUN NAZI EMPIRE AFTER THE WAR
Mail Online
March 18, 2012
It sounds like the bizarre script of a Hollywood B-movie.
In a parallel universe the Nazis have won the war, Adolf Hitler moves to LA where he mingles with the stars of the silver screen while running his evil empire from a luxurious ranch deep in the LA hills.
But during the 1930s, American sympathizers were so confident this exact scenario was actually going happen they spent millions building a deluxe compound ready for their fuhrer's imminent arrival.
Equipped with a diesel power plant, 375,000 gallon concrete water tank , giant meat locker, 22 bedrooms and even a bomb shelter, the heavily guarded estate was home to a community of Hollywood fascists who hoped to ride out the war there.
There were further plans to build five libraries, a swimming pool, several dining rooms and a gymnasium with money from Germany.
But on the day after Pearl Harbor, as America entered World War Two, police raided the premises and rounded up the the 50 or so American fascists who were living there.
Today the eerie landmark lies in ruins, daubed with graffitti, and awaiting the bulldozers so it can be turned into a picnic area for hikers - a soon-to-be forgotten slice of American history.
Close to the homes of actors and directors such as Stephen Spielberg, the site has been a magnet for historians, curiosity-seekers and modern-day nazis.
At one point after the war it became an artists colony and was home to the novelist Henry Miller.
It was built by the Silver Shirts, a sinister group of 1930s fascists who took their name from Hitler's Brown Shirts grass roots organization.
Fascism had been on the rise in the wake of the Great Depression and the Silver Shirts were one of the most fanatical organizations.
The 55-acre ranch, was sold to mining fortune heiress Jessie Murphy in 1933 by screen cowboy Will Rogers.
In the next few years, Murphy struck up a relationship with a German man known only as Herr Schmidt. Unbeknown to her Schmidt was Hitler's agent in America.
He persuaded her to invest $4million ($66 million today) to transform the property into a nazi stronghold fit for Hitler.
Historian Randy Young told the Sunday Express: 'This was supposed to be the seat of American fascism from where Hitler would one day run the United States.
'The neighbors were a little freaked out by the construction and weird happenings, but until war broke out, they thought they were just eccentric people.'
Sunday, March 18, 2012
IS NOTHING SACRED ANYMORE?
Could this mean that every 17th of March we won’t be wearing green anymore?
IS LEGEND OF ST. PATRICK JUST A BIT OF BLARNEY? HE WAS A RUNAWAY TAX COLLECTOR TURNED SLAVE TRADER, SAYS EXPERT
By David Wilkes
Mail Online
March 17, 2012
Legend has it St Patrick came to Ireland in the fifth century to spread the word of Christ – and banish snakes from its shores.
But as St Patrick's Day is celebrated today, it seems the patron saint's motives for leaving Roman Britain may have been less selfless than previously thought.
Researchers claim that St Patrick actually fled to Ireland to avoid becoming a tax collector. Once there, however, it is claimed he took up an even more dubious occupation – as a slave trader.
Patrick's father was a Decurion, a Roman official responsible for tax collection in Britain. But he used a bail-out clause in Roman law that allowed him to leave his post by joining the clergy on the condition the job was passed to his son.
Dr Roy Flechner, an expert in ancient and medieval history from Cambridge University, claims that Patrick, alarmed at the prospect of taking on the unpopular job, decided to emigrate.
As well as collecting tax (with any shortfall coming from the Decurion's own pocket), duties included road maintenance and the recruitment of soldiers.
'In the troubled era in which Patrick lived, which saw the demise and eventual collapse of Roman government in Britain in 410AD, discharging the obligations of a Decurion, especially tax-collecting, would not only have been difficult but also very risky,' said Dr Flechner, whose research is based on a new analysis of St Patrick's writings.
Patrick was forced to find a way of retaining some of the family estate – in the shape of slaves – to pay for his new life in Ireland.
Dr Flechner said Patrick may have become a slave trader because it was the only way he could transfer his wealth from England, as Ireland did not have a monetary economy at the time.
Slaves were a highly valued commodity and Patrick's writings mention that his family owned several.
Dr Flechner said: 'It may seem strange that a Christian cleric of Patrick's stature would own slaves, but in late antiquity and the early middle ages the church was a major slave owner.
'The only objections to slavery were cases in which Christian slaves were owned by non-Christians.'
Dr Flechner claimed that the traditional legend of St Patrick's arrival in Ireland was invented by the man himself because that is how he wanted to be remembered.
He also questioned the part of the legend that says before his arrival as a missionary St Patrick spent six years as a young slave in Ireland himself. 'The probability that Patrick managed to cross from his alleged place of captivity in western Ireland back to Britain undetected, at a time when transportation was extremely complicated, is highly unlikely,' he said.
'None of this is to say that Patrick was not a bishop or that he did not engage in missionary activity, but his primary motives for moving to Ireland were most likely to escape the poisoned chalice of his inherited position in Roman Britain.'
IS LEGEND OF ST. PATRICK JUST A BIT OF BLARNEY? HE WAS A RUNAWAY TAX COLLECTOR TURNED SLAVE TRADER, SAYS EXPERT
By David Wilkes
Mail Online
March 17, 2012
Legend has it St Patrick came to Ireland in the fifth century to spread the word of Christ – and banish snakes from its shores.
But as St Patrick's Day is celebrated today, it seems the patron saint's motives for leaving Roman Britain may have been less selfless than previously thought.
Researchers claim that St Patrick actually fled to Ireland to avoid becoming a tax collector. Once there, however, it is claimed he took up an even more dubious occupation – as a slave trader.
Patrick's father was a Decurion, a Roman official responsible for tax collection in Britain. But he used a bail-out clause in Roman law that allowed him to leave his post by joining the clergy on the condition the job was passed to his son.
Dr Roy Flechner, an expert in ancient and medieval history from Cambridge University, claims that Patrick, alarmed at the prospect of taking on the unpopular job, decided to emigrate.
As well as collecting tax (with any shortfall coming from the Decurion's own pocket), duties included road maintenance and the recruitment of soldiers.
'In the troubled era in which Patrick lived, which saw the demise and eventual collapse of Roman government in Britain in 410AD, discharging the obligations of a Decurion, especially tax-collecting, would not only have been difficult but also very risky,' said Dr Flechner, whose research is based on a new analysis of St Patrick's writings.
Patrick was forced to find a way of retaining some of the family estate – in the shape of slaves – to pay for his new life in Ireland.
Dr Flechner said Patrick may have become a slave trader because it was the only way he could transfer his wealth from England, as Ireland did not have a monetary economy at the time.
Slaves were a highly valued commodity and Patrick's writings mention that his family owned several.
Dr Flechner said: 'It may seem strange that a Christian cleric of Patrick's stature would own slaves, but in late antiquity and the early middle ages the church was a major slave owner.
'The only objections to slavery were cases in which Christian slaves were owned by non-Christians.'
Dr Flechner claimed that the traditional legend of St Patrick's arrival in Ireland was invented by the man himself because that is how he wanted to be remembered.
He also questioned the part of the legend that says before his arrival as a missionary St Patrick spent six years as a young slave in Ireland himself. 'The probability that Patrick managed to cross from his alleged place of captivity in western Ireland back to Britain undetected, at a time when transportation was extremely complicated, is highly unlikely,' he said.
'None of this is to say that Patrick was not a bishop or that he did not engage in missionary activity, but his primary motives for moving to Ireland were most likely to escape the poisoned chalice of his inherited position in Roman Britain.'
LEADER OF SINALOA CARTEL AVOIDS CAPTURE BECAUSE OF A PERIOD
If the whore he hired had not been on the rag, El Chapo would now be looking out from behind bars.
“EL CHAPO” SAVED BY A PROSTITUTE
After rumors about the potential capture of one of Mexico’s most wanted fugitives, Mexican authorities spell out the latest failed attempt at his arrest
Borderland Beat
March 16, 2012
Information is surfacing after the recent near miss capture of the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. A article recently published by the Mexican daily newspaper Reforma said that the alleged house, located in Los Cabos, Baja California, had been rented by the Mexican drug trafficker to have a romantic encounter with a prostitute, said Cuitlahuac Salinas Martinez, Deputy head of the Organized Crime.
According to statements by Salinas Martinez, the man most wanted by U.S. and Mexican justice, would have met the prostitute in the residence in Punta Ballena, about 18 February. Although Guzman would not have arranged the encounter directly, the agreement was presumably assigned to a third party of unknown identity.
The Reforma reports the prostitute was blindfolded and taken to the rented residence for her sexual rendezvous with the drug cartel leader. In the house were a cook, and a gardener who stated they had only been employed at the residence for a month.
Sources of Reforma indicated that workers in the house did not know who rented the home or who to expect the arrival of, until the gardener was sent to pick up a man to a clandestine airstrip located in the southern part of the Mexican state of Baja California, known as Baja Sur.
The Mexican newspaper said that until that moment that the gardener saw that it was the Sinaloa Cartel leader, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Waiting at the house was the prostitute who was also taken by surprise when Guzman arrived at the home.
Cuitláhuac Salinas Martinez, a representative of the Mexico’s organized crime division of the Attorney General’s office, said that after Guzman arrived at the house, the prostitute told him she wouldn’t be able to perform the services she was hired for because she was menstruating. The two agreed to postpone the encounter. Guzman left the property, but the prostitute stayed at the house for a few more days, Salinas Martinez said.
Mexican investigators arrived at the house and arrested the prostitute, gardener and cook on Feb. 21. Salinas Martinez suggested that had it not been for the postponed encounter, authorities might have finally arrested Guzman, whom they have been trying to pin down since he escaped from a Mexican prison 11 years ago.
He also noted that on February 21 police entered the property and in addition to the arrests confiscated two trucks, grenades, a rifle and a grenade launcher.
The authorities indicate that it was solely because of the prostitute’s refusal to meet with Chapo due to the arrival of her period, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel would have been apprehended.
Martinez Salinas said the Mexican drug trafficker has been close to his capture three times so far this year, adding that priority remains to locate him.
Salinas Martinez said he learned of his stay in Los Cabos possible thanks to an anonymous tip.
(Sources used: Reforma and Univision)
“EL CHAPO” SAVED BY A PROSTITUTE
After rumors about the potential capture of one of Mexico’s most wanted fugitives, Mexican authorities spell out the latest failed attempt at his arrest
Borderland Beat
March 16, 2012
Information is surfacing after the recent near miss capture of the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. A article recently published by the Mexican daily newspaper Reforma said that the alleged house, located in Los Cabos, Baja California, had been rented by the Mexican drug trafficker to have a romantic encounter with a prostitute, said Cuitlahuac Salinas Martinez, Deputy head of the Organized Crime.
According to statements by Salinas Martinez, the man most wanted by U.S. and Mexican justice, would have met the prostitute in the residence in Punta Ballena, about 18 February. Although Guzman would not have arranged the encounter directly, the agreement was presumably assigned to a third party of unknown identity.
The Reforma reports the prostitute was blindfolded and taken to the rented residence for her sexual rendezvous with the drug cartel leader. In the house were a cook, and a gardener who stated they had only been employed at the residence for a month.
Sources of Reforma indicated that workers in the house did not know who rented the home or who to expect the arrival of, until the gardener was sent to pick up a man to a clandestine airstrip located in the southern part of the Mexican state of Baja California, known as Baja Sur.
The Mexican newspaper said that until that moment that the gardener saw that it was the Sinaloa Cartel leader, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Waiting at the house was the prostitute who was also taken by surprise when Guzman arrived at the home.
Cuitláhuac Salinas Martinez, a representative of the Mexico’s organized crime division of the Attorney General’s office, said that after Guzman arrived at the house, the prostitute told him she wouldn’t be able to perform the services she was hired for because she was menstruating. The two agreed to postpone the encounter. Guzman left the property, but the prostitute stayed at the house for a few more days, Salinas Martinez said.
Mexican investigators arrived at the house and arrested the prostitute, gardener and cook on Feb. 21. Salinas Martinez suggested that had it not been for the postponed encounter, authorities might have finally arrested Guzman, whom they have been trying to pin down since he escaped from a Mexican prison 11 years ago.
He also noted that on February 21 police entered the property and in addition to the arrests confiscated two trucks, grenades, a rifle and a grenade launcher.
The authorities indicate that it was solely because of the prostitute’s refusal to meet with Chapo due to the arrival of her period, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel would have been apprehended.
Martinez Salinas said the Mexican drug trafficker has been close to his capture three times so far this year, adding that priority remains to locate him.
Salinas Martinez said he learned of his stay in Los Cabos possible thanks to an anonymous tip.
(Sources used: Reforma and Univision)
THE CO-FOUNDER OF INVISIBLE CHILDREN AND PRODUCER OF KONY 2012 IS A NUTCASE
His wife said the Kony 2012 film brought a lot of attention to her husband and he took many of the criticisms made against the film personally.
Running around the streets naked in broad daylight is one thing, but masturbating in public? Jason Russell is lucky he was ‘detained’ by some sympathetic social worker-type San Diego cops. In Texas, his ass would have been thrown in jail for public indecency with his mental state left to be sorted out by a court.
As for Kony 2012, that video was just a slick con-job of a money raising scheme for Invisible Children, a charity which spends an unreasonable amount of the donations it receives on overhead. Moreover, Joseph Kony, the Ugandan warlord, is not even in Uganda anymore and he’s no longer the menace he once was - his Lord's Resistance Army is down to a mere 250 fighters rather than the 30,000 that the video claims, and they are on the run.
INVISIBLE CHILDREN CO-FOUNDER DETAINED: SAN DIEGO PD
SDPD said he was found masturbating in public, vandalizing cars and possibly under the influence of something
By Sarah Grieco
NBC San Diego
March 17, 2012
A co-founder for Invisible Children was detained in Pacific Beach on Thursday for being drunk in public and masturbating, according to the San Diego Police Department.
Jason Russell, 33, was allegedly found masturbating in public, vandalizing cars and possibly under the influence of something, according to the SDPD. He was detained at the intersection of Ingraham Street and Riviera Road.
An SDPD spokesperson said the man detained was acting very strange, some may say bizarre. Video: SDPD statement
"Due to the nature of the detention, he was not arrested," Lt. Andra Brown said. "During the evaluation we learned we probably needed to take him to a medical facility because of statements he was saying."
Police said they received several calls Thursday at 11:30 a.m. of a man in various stages of undress, running through traffic and screaming.
Police described Russell as "in his underwear." He allegedly took off his underwear at one point, but it was back on by the time officers arrived, said police.
Several people attempted to calm him down and when officers arrived police said he was cooperative.
"He was no problem for the police department however, during the evaluation we learned that we probably needed to take care of him," said an SDPD spokesperson. "We determined that medical treatment was a better course of action than arrest."
Russell was taken to a medical center after the incident.
Police could not determine that he formed a criminal intent. There are no criminal charges pending because it looks like this is more of a medical situation, said an SDPD spokesperson.
Running around the streets naked in broad daylight is one thing, but masturbating in public? Jason Russell is lucky he was ‘detained’ by some sympathetic social worker-type San Diego cops. In Texas, his ass would have been thrown in jail for public indecency with his mental state left to be sorted out by a court.
As for Kony 2012, that video was just a slick con-job of a money raising scheme for Invisible Children, a charity which spends an unreasonable amount of the donations it receives on overhead. Moreover, Joseph Kony, the Ugandan warlord, is not even in Uganda anymore and he’s no longer the menace he once was - his Lord's Resistance Army is down to a mere 250 fighters rather than the 30,000 that the video claims, and they are on the run.
INVISIBLE CHILDREN CO-FOUNDER DETAINED: SAN DIEGO PD
SDPD said he was found masturbating in public, vandalizing cars and possibly under the influence of something
By Sarah Grieco
NBC San Diego
March 17, 2012
A co-founder for Invisible Children was detained in Pacific Beach on Thursday for being drunk in public and masturbating, according to the San Diego Police Department.
Jason Russell, 33, was allegedly found masturbating in public, vandalizing cars and possibly under the influence of something, according to the SDPD. He was detained at the intersection of Ingraham Street and Riviera Road.
An SDPD spokesperson said the man detained was acting very strange, some may say bizarre. Video: SDPD statement
"Due to the nature of the detention, he was not arrested," Lt. Andra Brown said. "During the evaluation we learned we probably needed to take him to a medical facility because of statements he was saying."
Police said they received several calls Thursday at 11:30 a.m. of a man in various stages of undress, running through traffic and screaming.
Police described Russell as "in his underwear." He allegedly took off his underwear at one point, but it was back on by the time officers arrived, said police.
Several people attempted to calm him down and when officers arrived police said he was cooperative.
"He was no problem for the police department however, during the evaluation we learned that we probably needed to take care of him," said an SDPD spokesperson. "We determined that medical treatment was a better course of action than arrest."
Russell was taken to a medical center after the incident.
Police could not determine that he formed a criminal intent. There are no criminal charges pending because it looks like this is more of a medical situation, said an SDPD spokesperson.
WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT BEER AND DRINKING
WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT BEER AND DRINKING
The Schalotte
March 17, 2012
Here are some insightful quotes The Schalotte was able to find:
Sometimes when I reflect on all the beer I drink, I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. I think, "It is better to drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver." -- Babe Ruth
An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools. -- Ernest Hemingway
When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading. -- Paul Hornung
24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not. -- H.L. Mencken
When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let's all get drunk and go to heaven! -- George Bernard Shaw
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.-- Benjamin Franklin
Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.-- Dave Barry
Beer: Helping ugly people have sex since 3000 b.c. -- W.C. Fields
Remember "I" before "E", except in Budweiser. -- Professor Irwin Corey
To some it's a six-pack, to me it's a "support group." Salvation in a can!-- Leo Durocher
I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis. Stay thirsty, my friends. -- The most interesting man in the world
Oshifer, I’fe had only two beers. -- Every drunk after being stopped by the police
Well ya see, Norm, it's like this. A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know,
kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine! That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers.-- Cliff Clavin explaining the "Buffalo Theory" to his buddy, Norm, on a TV episode of Cheers.
The Schalotte
March 17, 2012
Here are some insightful quotes The Schalotte was able to find:
Sometimes when I reflect on all the beer I drink, I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. I think, "It is better to drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver." -- Babe Ruth
An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools. -- Ernest Hemingway
When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading. -- Paul Hornung
24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not. -- H.L. Mencken
When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let's all get drunk and go to heaven! -- George Bernard Shaw
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.-- Benjamin Franklin
Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.-- Dave Barry
Beer: Helping ugly people have sex since 3000 b.c. -- W.C. Fields
Remember "I" before "E", except in Budweiser. -- Professor Irwin Corey
To some it's a six-pack, to me it's a "support group." Salvation in a can!-- Leo Durocher
I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis. Stay thirsty, my friends. -- The most interesting man in the world
Oshifer, I’fe had only two beers. -- Every drunk after being stopped by the police
Well ya see, Norm, it's like this. A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know,
kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine! That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers.-- Cliff Clavin explaining the "Buffalo Theory" to his buddy, Norm, on a TV episode of Cheers.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
BIDEN, AS PRESIDENT, ‘WILL LEAD THE U.S. INTO A CRISIS’
That Osama bin Laden guy was one smart fellow.
BIN LADEN WANTED TO KILL OBAMA SO ‘UNPREPARED’ BIDEN WOULD TAKE OVER
Chicago Sun-Times
March 16, 2012
In his final days, Osama bin Laden plotted to assassinate President Barack Obama, the Washington Post is reporting, citing documents seized from the al-Qaida leader’s compound in Pakistan.
Bin Laden wanted his followers to target the plane carrying the president and Gen. David H. Petraeus, the Post reported.
“The reason for concentrating on them,” the al-Qaida leader was quoted as saying, “is that Obama is the head of infidelity and killing him automatically will make [Vice President] Biden take over the presidency. . . . Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the U.S. into a crisis. As for Petraeus, he is the man of the hour . . . and killing him would alter the war’s path” in Afghanistan. The Post reported that administration officials said the Obama-Petraeus plot was never a serious threat.
BIN LADEN WANTED TO KILL OBAMA SO ‘UNPREPARED’ BIDEN WOULD TAKE OVER
Chicago Sun-Times
March 16, 2012
In his final days, Osama bin Laden plotted to assassinate President Barack Obama, the Washington Post is reporting, citing documents seized from the al-Qaida leader’s compound in Pakistan.
Bin Laden wanted his followers to target the plane carrying the president and Gen. David H. Petraeus, the Post reported.
“The reason for concentrating on them,” the al-Qaida leader was quoted as saying, “is that Obama is the head of infidelity and killing him automatically will make [Vice President] Biden take over the presidency. . . . Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the U.S. into a crisis. As for Petraeus, he is the man of the hour . . . and killing him would alter the war’s path” in Afghanistan. The Post reported that administration officials said the Obama-Petraeus plot was never a serious threat.
COMEDY OF ERRORS SHOWS WHY SOME PEOPLE JUST AREN’T CUT OUT TO BE CRIMINALS
Joshua Devonshire’s act probably wouldn’t qualify him as an ‘America’s Got Talent’ contestant.
POLICE: ATTEMPT TO USE STOLEN CREDIT CARD WAS ‘COMEDY OF ERRORS’
A man is accused of handing a stolen credit card to a store clerk. The card, it turned out, belonged to the clerk's mother, police say
By Jennifer Todd
LancasterOnLine
March 14, 2012
MANOR TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- An employee at an area convenience store immediately recognized the credit card that a young man handed to her early Tuesday.
The clerk was familiar with the name on the card, and for good reason: It was her mother's.
She also recognized the young man. The two had attended the same school, she would later tell police.
Thus began a "comedy of errors" that would lead to charges against the teenage store patron.
After trying unsuccessfully to use a credit card to pump gas at the Turkey Hill at 1503 Columbia Ave. around 1 a.m., the young man was instructed to see the store's clerk, according to Manor Township police.
Examining the card, the clerk quickly determined it was her mother's, according to police.
Police said the employee confronted the man, who tried to give her an excuse about why he had the card. The clerk called police as the man fled.
Investigators said the employee told them that she had attended school with the man, and she identified him as Joshua Devonshire.
Soon after, officers responded to the home of the clerk's mother in the Pheasant Ridge development, which is about a quarter-mile away from the Turkey Hill.
The woman told police that, after her daughter notified her about the stolen card, she went to check her vehicle and saw a man near her car. She said the man, later identified as Devonshire, fled in a vehicle when she yelled at him. The woman told police that several bank cards were missing from her car.
Manor Township police Sgt. Jim Alexander said investigators believe Devonshire was attempting to put back items he had earlier stolen.
Around 7:30 a.m., another resident of Pheasant Ridge called police to report the theft of a diamond ring and $2,000 worth of professional hair-cutting tools from her vehicle.
And an hour later, officers returned to the development for a report of a male and a female sleeping in a vehicle. Police determined the male to be Devonshire.
Investigators said they observed several suspected stolen items in the vehicle.
Devonshire, 19, who has a last known address in Elizabethtown, was taken into custody and subsequently admitted to stealing the items from the vehicles, according to police. He also
admitted to trying to use the stolen credit card at the Turkey Hill, they said.
He was charged with two counts of theft and one count of access device fraud and committed to Lancaster County Prison in lieu of $3,000 bail. The female in the vehicle was released without charges, police said.
"Not to make light of this, but, really, this entire incident was a comedy of errors," Alexander said. "Some people just aren't cut out to be criminals."
POLICE: ATTEMPT TO USE STOLEN CREDIT CARD WAS ‘COMEDY OF ERRORS’
A man is accused of handing a stolen credit card to a store clerk. The card, it turned out, belonged to the clerk's mother, police say
By Jennifer Todd
LancasterOnLine
March 14, 2012
MANOR TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- An employee at an area convenience store immediately recognized the credit card that a young man handed to her early Tuesday.
The clerk was familiar with the name on the card, and for good reason: It was her mother's.
She also recognized the young man. The two had attended the same school, she would later tell police.
Thus began a "comedy of errors" that would lead to charges against the teenage store patron.
After trying unsuccessfully to use a credit card to pump gas at the Turkey Hill at 1503 Columbia Ave. around 1 a.m., the young man was instructed to see the store's clerk, according to Manor Township police.
Examining the card, the clerk quickly determined it was her mother's, according to police.
Police said the employee confronted the man, who tried to give her an excuse about why he had the card. The clerk called police as the man fled.
Investigators said the employee told them that she had attended school with the man, and she identified him as Joshua Devonshire.
Soon after, officers responded to the home of the clerk's mother in the Pheasant Ridge development, which is about a quarter-mile away from the Turkey Hill.
The woman told police that, after her daughter notified her about the stolen card, she went to check her vehicle and saw a man near her car. She said the man, later identified as Devonshire, fled in a vehicle when she yelled at him. The woman told police that several bank cards were missing from her car.
Manor Township police Sgt. Jim Alexander said investigators believe Devonshire was attempting to put back items he had earlier stolen.
Around 7:30 a.m., another resident of Pheasant Ridge called police to report the theft of a diamond ring and $2,000 worth of professional hair-cutting tools from her vehicle.
And an hour later, officers returned to the development for a report of a male and a female sleeping in a vehicle. Police determined the male to be Devonshire.
Investigators said they observed several suspected stolen items in the vehicle.
Devonshire, 19, who has a last known address in Elizabethtown, was taken into custody and subsequently admitted to stealing the items from the vehicles, according to police. He also
admitted to trying to use the stolen credit card at the Turkey Hill, they said.
He was charged with two counts of theft and one count of access device fraud and committed to Lancaster County Prison in lieu of $3,000 bail. The female in the vehicle was released without charges, police said.
"Not to make light of this, but, really, this entire incident was a comedy of errors," Alexander said. "Some people just aren't cut out to be criminals."
TREES DERAIL 8-YEAR-OLD’S ATTEMPT TO DRIVE MOM’S CAR
The little sucker was smart enough to make sure his little sister and he had their seat belts on.
UTAH BOY, 8, TAKES 5-YEAR-OLD SISTER ON JOYRIDE
By Brian Skoloff
Associated Press
March 15, 2012
OGDEN, Utah -- An 8-year-old Utah boy made sure he and his 5-year-old sister buckled up before heading out on a middle-of-the-night drive in their mother's minivan, but they didn't get far.
The boy, who couldn't even see above the steering wheel, made it just a few hundred feet before crashing the vehicle into a line of trees along the Ogden River, about 40 miles north of Salt Lake City.
No one was injured and the children were returned to a stunned mother who awoke to police officers in her apartment at about 2 a.m. Thursday, authorities said.
"They had just come out of the driveway, went across both lanes, then hit those trees," said Ogden police Lt. Danielle Croyle. "It could have been much worse if they didn't have their seatbelts on. They were just too smart for their own good."
Authorities didn't identify the mother, and she did not answer her door on Thursday. No telephone number was listed for her.
Croyle said police have no previous history with the woman or her children, and neglect was not an issue. She called it an accident and said no charges were pending.
Witnesses said it was a shock.
"It was crazy," said Justine McDonald, 18, who heard the crash and ran outside with a friend to help.
"They looked a little freaked out. The kids just kept saying they were happy to be alive," McDonald said. "I said, 'Where's your mommy and daddy? Are they still in the car?' But she was at home asleep."
The young boy told Ogden police that his sister wanted to go to the store, so he grabbed the keys and headed out with his mother asleep in another room.
Several witnesses called 911 to report the crash.
"This kid wasn't even tall enough to see above the steering wheel," said neighbor Holly Maxwell, who also ran across the street to help. "They were worried their mother was going to be mad at them."
The 25-year-old said she held the little girl's hand and walked with police back to their apartment, along with McDonald.
An officer knocked repeatedly on the woman's door, then walked in, McDonald said.
"He called her name like four or five times," she said.
The woman eventually walked out from a back room.
"Did you know your kids took a joyride in your car?" McDonald said the officer asked the mother. "She just rubbed her head."
UTAH BOY, 8, TAKES 5-YEAR-OLD SISTER ON JOYRIDE
By Brian Skoloff
Associated Press
March 15, 2012
OGDEN, Utah -- An 8-year-old Utah boy made sure he and his 5-year-old sister buckled up before heading out on a middle-of-the-night drive in their mother's minivan, but they didn't get far.
The boy, who couldn't even see above the steering wheel, made it just a few hundred feet before crashing the vehicle into a line of trees along the Ogden River, about 40 miles north of Salt Lake City.
No one was injured and the children were returned to a stunned mother who awoke to police officers in her apartment at about 2 a.m. Thursday, authorities said.
"They had just come out of the driveway, went across both lanes, then hit those trees," said Ogden police Lt. Danielle Croyle. "It could have been much worse if they didn't have their seatbelts on. They were just too smart for their own good."
Authorities didn't identify the mother, and she did not answer her door on Thursday. No telephone number was listed for her.
Croyle said police have no previous history with the woman or her children, and neglect was not an issue. She called it an accident and said no charges were pending.
Witnesses said it was a shock.
"It was crazy," said Justine McDonald, 18, who heard the crash and ran outside with a friend to help.
"They looked a little freaked out. The kids just kept saying they were happy to be alive," McDonald said. "I said, 'Where's your mommy and daddy? Are they still in the car?' But she was at home asleep."
The young boy told Ogden police that his sister wanted to go to the store, so he grabbed the keys and headed out with his mother asleep in another room.
Several witnesses called 911 to report the crash.
"This kid wasn't even tall enough to see above the steering wheel," said neighbor Holly Maxwell, who also ran across the street to help. "They were worried their mother was going to be mad at them."
The 25-year-old said she held the little girl's hand and walked with police back to their apartment, along with McDonald.
An officer knocked repeatedly on the woman's door, then walked in, McDonald said.
"He called her name like four or five times," she said.
The woman eventually walked out from a back room.
"Did you know your kids took a joyride in your car?" McDonald said the officer asked the mother. "She just rubbed her head."
PRISONER RAISES STINK WHILE BEING BOOKED
Poor deputy found himself in a shitty stinking situation. Me thinks he would have been justified in shooting the worthless piece of shit on the spot for smearing his face with, that’s right, human shit.
INMATE ACCUSED OF SMEARING FECES ON DEPUTY
By Chris Paschenko
The Galveston County Daily News
March 14, 2012
GALVESTON — An inmate being booked into the county jail was charged with a felony after he was accused of smearing feces on a deputy, authorities said Tuesday.
Bond for Derrick Deshorn Howard, 31, was set at $30,000 on a felony charge of harassment of a public servant and a trespass charge, according to Galveston County Jail records.
The incident with the jailer happened Monday morning in the booking area, said Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo, a Galveston County Sheriff’s Office spokesman. The deputy didn’t require medical attention, just a hot shower, Tuttoilmondo said.
INMATE ACCUSED OF SMEARING FECES ON DEPUTY
By Chris Paschenko
The Galveston County Daily News
March 14, 2012
GALVESTON — An inmate being booked into the county jail was charged with a felony after he was accused of smearing feces on a deputy, authorities said Tuesday.
Bond for Derrick Deshorn Howard, 31, was set at $30,000 on a felony charge of harassment of a public servant and a trespass charge, according to Galveston County Jail records.
The incident with the jailer happened Monday morning in the booking area, said Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo, a Galveston County Sheriff’s Office spokesman. The deputy didn’t require medical attention, just a hot shower, Tuttoilmondo said.
Friday, March 16, 2012
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION MADE LOAN TO MISMANAGED SOLYNDRA, REFUSES TO MAKE LOAN TO SPECIALIZED POLICE CAR MAKER
Over 20,000 orders from more than 500 police agencies and 1,550 jobs now in jeopardy.
NO FED LOAN FOR SQUAD CAR MAKER CARBON MOTORS
By Jerry Reynolds
The Car Pro Weekly
March 15, 2012
The dream of a purpose-built, fuel-efficient police car may be in jeopardy. The Energy Department has denied the application of an Indiana start-up for a $310 million loan that would have created its advanced police car.
Carbon Motors is pushing a police pursuit car it calls the E7. It says it has over 20,000 reservations from more than 500 law enforcement agencies in all 50 U.S. states, in addition to interest overseas. It says the car’s creation would have resulted in 1,550 direct jobs.
Carbon has been waiting for years for the loan under the same program that provoked the outcry about the loan to solar-panel provider Solyndra. That company’s financial problems provoked a Republican outcry about wasteful spending by the Obama administration.
An “outraged” Carbon, in a statement, blames DOE for bowing to election-year political pressure in not granting the loan.
“It is clear that this was a political decision in a highly-charged, election-year environment,” said William Santana Li, chairman and chief executive officer, Carbon Motors. “Carbon Motors simply appears to be the last victim of this political gamesmanship.”
Other start-ups that were waiting for DOE loans have also failed. Bright Automotive, which was going to make a fuel-efficient van, just announced it can no longer stay in business without the loan. Aptera, a Southern California-based start-up, failed earlier this year and won’t make its unusual pod-like electric car.
Carbon started with good timing. When it applied for its loan, most police agencies depended on Ford’s aging Crown Victoria as their standard car. It had little competition. But with the Crown Vic now gone, Ford, Chrysler and General Motors have all stepped up with replacements, making the competition suddenly pretty hot. The new cars have some of the unique features that Carbon had been promoting for officer comfort, convenience and safety that are unique to police work.
Carbon was going to power its car with a BMW diesel engine to be fuel-efficient. The Detroit Three are making strides there as well, with Ford, for instance, offering turbo-charged engines in its new Taurus-based police car to save gas.
Mostly, it sounds like Carbon, based in Connorsville, Ind., resents being put through so many hoops for no result.
“We spent over 30 months responding to every request made of us by the DOE – many of which were at best challenging and at worst, unnatural,” said Li. “During the past year we were in almost daily contact with the DOE staff and were neither advised that our application was coming up short in any way, nor told that there was anything we would need to do in order to finalize the loan that we did not satisfy.”
NO FED LOAN FOR SQUAD CAR MAKER CARBON MOTORS
By Jerry Reynolds
The Car Pro Weekly
March 15, 2012
The dream of a purpose-built, fuel-efficient police car may be in jeopardy. The Energy Department has denied the application of an Indiana start-up for a $310 million loan that would have created its advanced police car.
Carbon Motors is pushing a police pursuit car it calls the E7. It says it has over 20,000 reservations from more than 500 law enforcement agencies in all 50 U.S. states, in addition to interest overseas. It says the car’s creation would have resulted in 1,550 direct jobs.
Carbon has been waiting for years for the loan under the same program that provoked the outcry about the loan to solar-panel provider Solyndra. That company’s financial problems provoked a Republican outcry about wasteful spending by the Obama administration.
An “outraged” Carbon, in a statement, blames DOE for bowing to election-year political pressure in not granting the loan.
“It is clear that this was a political decision in a highly-charged, election-year environment,” said William Santana Li, chairman and chief executive officer, Carbon Motors. “Carbon Motors simply appears to be the last victim of this political gamesmanship.”
Other start-ups that were waiting for DOE loans have also failed. Bright Automotive, which was going to make a fuel-efficient van, just announced it can no longer stay in business without the loan. Aptera, a Southern California-based start-up, failed earlier this year and won’t make its unusual pod-like electric car.
Carbon started with good timing. When it applied for its loan, most police agencies depended on Ford’s aging Crown Victoria as their standard car. It had little competition. But with the Crown Vic now gone, Ford, Chrysler and General Motors have all stepped up with replacements, making the competition suddenly pretty hot. The new cars have some of the unique features that Carbon had been promoting for officer comfort, convenience and safety that are unique to police work.
Carbon was going to power its car with a BMW diesel engine to be fuel-efficient. The Detroit Three are making strides there as well, with Ford, for instance, offering turbo-charged engines in its new Taurus-based police car to save gas.
Mostly, it sounds like Carbon, based in Connorsville, Ind., resents being put through so many hoops for no result.
“We spent over 30 months responding to every request made of us by the DOE – many of which were at best challenging and at worst, unnatural,” said Li. “During the past year we were in almost daily contact with the DOE staff and were neither advised that our application was coming up short in any way, nor told that there was anything we would need to do in order to finalize the loan that we did not satisfy.”
THE GOLDEN STATE NO LONGER GOLDEN, NOW MORE LIKE LEAD
Roger Hedgecock, former mayor of San Diego, is now a conservative radio talk show host. Liberals claim that, like Rush Limbaugh, he gets many of his facts wrong, exaggerates much of the time and often lies outright. But if only half of what he says about California is true, then that once former great state is in really deep shit.
CALIFORNIA IS ------"LaLa Land"
By Roger Hedgecock
The California Chronicle
February 17, 2012
I live in California . If you were wondering what living in Obama ' s second term would be like, wonder no longer. We in California are living there now.
California is a one-party state dominated by a virulent Democrat Left enabled by a complicit media where every agency of local, county, and state government is run by and for the public employee unions. The unemployment rate is 12%.
California has more folks on food stamps than any other state, has added so many benefits and higher rates to Medicaid that we call it "Medi-Cal." Our K-12 schools have more administrators than teachers, with smaller classes but lower test scores and higher dropout rates with twice the per-student budget of 15 years ago.
This week, the once and current Gov. Jerry Brown had to confess that the "balanced" state budget adopted five months ago was billions in the red because actual tax revenues were billions lower than the airy-fairy revenue estimates on which the balance was predicated.
After trimming legislators ' perks and reducing the number of cell phones provided to state civil servants, the governor intoned that drastic budget reductions had already hollowed out state programs for the needy, law enforcement and our schoolchildren. California government needed more money.
Echoing the Occupy movement, the governor proclaimed the rich must pay their fair share. Fair share? The top 1% of California income earners currently pays 50% of the state ' s income tax.
California has seven income tax brackets. The top income tax rate is 9.3%, which is slapped on the greedy rich earning at least $47,056 a year. Income of more than $1 million pays the "millionaires ' and billionaires ' " surcharge tax rate of 10.3%.
Brown ' s proposal would add 2% for income over $250,000. A million-dollar income would then be taxed at 12.3%. And that ' s just for the state.
Brown also proposed a one-half-cent sales tax increase, which would bring sales taxes (which vary by county) up to 7.75% to as much as 10%. Both tax increases would be on the ballot in 2012.
The sales tax increase proposal immediately brought howls of protest from the Left (of Brown!). Charlie Eaton, a sociology grad student at UC Berkeley and leader of the UC Student-Workers Union, said, "We ' ve paid enough. It ' s time for millionaires to pay."
At least five other ballot measures to raise taxes are circulating for signatures to get on the 2012 ballot in California . The governor ' s proposals are the most conservative.
The governor and the state legislature continue to applaud the efforts of the California High Speed Rail Authority to build a train connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco . Even though the budget is three times the voter-approved amount, and the first segment will only connect two small towns in the agricultural Central Valley . But hey, if we build it, they will ride.
And we don ' t want to turn down the Obama bullet-train bucks Florida and other states rejected because the operating costs would bankrupt them. Can ' t happen here because we ' re already insolvent.
If we get into real trouble with the train, we ' ll just bring in the Chinese. It worked with the Bay Bridge reconstruction. After the 1989 earthquake, the bridge connecting Oakland and San Francisco was rebuilt with steel made in China . Workers from China too. Paid for with money borrowed from China . Makes perfect sense.
In California , we hate the evil, greedy rich (except the rich in Hollywood , in sports, and in drug dealing). But we love people who have broken into California to eat the bounty created by the productive rich.
Illegals get benefits from various generous welfare programs, free medical care, free schools for their kids, including meals, and of course, instate tuition rates and scholarships too. Nothing ' s too good for our guests.
To erase even a hint of criticism of illegal immigration, the California Legislature is considering a unilateral state amnesty. Democrat State Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes has proposed an initiative that would bar deportation of illegals from California .
Interesting dilemma for Obama there. If immigration is exclusively a federal matter, and Obama has sued four states for trying to enforce federal immigration laws he won ' t enforce, what will the President do to a California law that exempts California from federal immigration law?
California is also near fulfilling the environmentalist dream of deindustrialization.
After driving out the old industrial base (auto and airplane assembly, for example), air and water regulators and tax policies are now driving out the high-tech, biotech and even Internet-based companies that were supposed to be California ' s future.
The California cap-and-trade tax on business in the name of reducing CO2 makes our state the leader in wacky environmentalism and guarantees a further job exodus from the state.
Even green energy companies can ' t do business in California . Solyndra went under, taking its taxpayer loan guarantee with it.
No job is too small to escape the regulators. The state has even banned weekend amateur gold miners from the historic gold mining streams in the Sierra Nevada Mountains .
In fact, more and more of California ' s public land is off-limits to recreation by the people who paid for that land. Unless you ' re illegal.
Then you can clear the land, set up marijuana plantations at will, bring in fertilizers that legal farmers can no longer use, exploit illegal farm workers who live in hovels with no running water or sanitation, and protect your investment with armed illegals carrying guns no California citizen is allowed to own.
The rest of us only found out about these plantations when the workers ' open campfire started one of those devastating fires that have killed hundreds of people and burned out thousands of homes in California over the last decade.
It ' s often said that whatever happens in California will soon happen in your state.
You ' d better hope that ' s wrong.
CALIFORNIA IS ------"LaLa Land"
By Roger Hedgecock
The California Chronicle
February 17, 2012
I live in California . If you were wondering what living in Obama ' s second term would be like, wonder no longer. We in California are living there now.
California is a one-party state dominated by a virulent Democrat Left enabled by a complicit media where every agency of local, county, and state government is run by and for the public employee unions. The unemployment rate is 12%.
California has more folks on food stamps than any other state, has added so many benefits and higher rates to Medicaid that we call it "Medi-Cal." Our K-12 schools have more administrators than teachers, with smaller classes but lower test scores and higher dropout rates with twice the per-student budget of 15 years ago.
This week, the once and current Gov. Jerry Brown had to confess that the "balanced" state budget adopted five months ago was billions in the red because actual tax revenues were billions lower than the airy-fairy revenue estimates on which the balance was predicated.
After trimming legislators ' perks and reducing the number of cell phones provided to state civil servants, the governor intoned that drastic budget reductions had already hollowed out state programs for the needy, law enforcement and our schoolchildren. California government needed more money.
Echoing the Occupy movement, the governor proclaimed the rich must pay their fair share. Fair share? The top 1% of California income earners currently pays 50% of the state ' s income tax.
California has seven income tax brackets. The top income tax rate is 9.3%, which is slapped on the greedy rich earning at least $47,056 a year. Income of more than $1 million pays the "millionaires ' and billionaires ' " surcharge tax rate of 10.3%.
Brown ' s proposal would add 2% for income over $250,000. A million-dollar income would then be taxed at 12.3%. And that ' s just for the state.
Brown also proposed a one-half-cent sales tax increase, which would bring sales taxes (which vary by county) up to 7.75% to as much as 10%. Both tax increases would be on the ballot in 2012.
The sales tax increase proposal immediately brought howls of protest from the Left (of Brown!). Charlie Eaton, a sociology grad student at UC Berkeley and leader of the UC Student-Workers Union, said, "We ' ve paid enough. It ' s time for millionaires to pay."
At least five other ballot measures to raise taxes are circulating for signatures to get on the 2012 ballot in California . The governor ' s proposals are the most conservative.
The governor and the state legislature continue to applaud the efforts of the California High Speed Rail Authority to build a train connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco . Even though the budget is three times the voter-approved amount, and the first segment will only connect two small towns in the agricultural Central Valley . But hey, if we build it, they will ride.
And we don ' t want to turn down the Obama bullet-train bucks Florida and other states rejected because the operating costs would bankrupt them. Can ' t happen here because we ' re already insolvent.
If we get into real trouble with the train, we ' ll just bring in the Chinese. It worked with the Bay Bridge reconstruction. After the 1989 earthquake, the bridge connecting Oakland and San Francisco was rebuilt with steel made in China . Workers from China too. Paid for with money borrowed from China . Makes perfect sense.
In California , we hate the evil, greedy rich (except the rich in Hollywood , in sports, and in drug dealing). But we love people who have broken into California to eat the bounty created by the productive rich.
Illegals get benefits from various generous welfare programs, free medical care, free schools for their kids, including meals, and of course, instate tuition rates and scholarships too. Nothing ' s too good for our guests.
To erase even a hint of criticism of illegal immigration, the California Legislature is considering a unilateral state amnesty. Democrat State Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes has proposed an initiative that would bar deportation of illegals from California .
Interesting dilemma for Obama there. If immigration is exclusively a federal matter, and Obama has sued four states for trying to enforce federal immigration laws he won ' t enforce, what will the President do to a California law that exempts California from federal immigration law?
California is also near fulfilling the environmentalist dream of deindustrialization.
After driving out the old industrial base (auto and airplane assembly, for example), air and water regulators and tax policies are now driving out the high-tech, biotech and even Internet-based companies that were supposed to be California ' s future.
The California cap-and-trade tax on business in the name of reducing CO2 makes our state the leader in wacky environmentalism and guarantees a further job exodus from the state.
Even green energy companies can ' t do business in California . Solyndra went under, taking its taxpayer loan guarantee with it.
No job is too small to escape the regulators. The state has even banned weekend amateur gold miners from the historic gold mining streams in the Sierra Nevada Mountains .
In fact, more and more of California ' s public land is off-limits to recreation by the people who paid for that land. Unless you ' re illegal.
Then you can clear the land, set up marijuana plantations at will, bring in fertilizers that legal farmers can no longer use, exploit illegal farm workers who live in hovels with no running water or sanitation, and protect your investment with armed illegals carrying guns no California citizen is allowed to own.
The rest of us only found out about these plantations when the workers ' open campfire started one of those devastating fires that have killed hundreds of people and burned out thousands of homes in California over the last decade.
It ' s often said that whatever happens in California will soon happen in your state.
You ' d better hope that ' s wrong.
IF HE HAD BEEN BLACK, THE COPS WOULD HAVE FOUND A WAY TO ARREST HIM
I believe that in this case the victim’s relatives and friends have a right to be outraged over the fact that LAPD officers failed to arrest the man who caused a death while driving with a suspended license.
BOTTOM LINE: QUEST FOR JUSTICE AFTER BLACK POSTMAN IS KILLED IN EAST L.A.
By Betty Pleasant
Los Angeles Wave
March 14, 2012
Funeral services were held Monday for an industrious and vivacious young man who lost his life in an incident so tragically capricious that it takes your breath away.
Anthony Earl Dunn II, who was always called Tony, was a 31-year-old postal worker, more familiarly known as a mailman, who had been delivering mail in several communities for the U.S. Postal Service for five years. It was a job he took pride in and a job he loved doing.
Most recently, he had been assigned to a route in Boyle Heights, where his daily stops were well received by the residents who were grateful for the fact that Dunn often went out of his way to help them. One man commented that, “He would ring my mailbox bell when the mail arrived, which no other mail carrier did.”
Well, on Feb. 28, Dunn was conducting his usual route through Boyle Heights and he stopped his vehicle beside a curb in the 1100 block of Prado Street, so he could sort some more of the mail he had to deliver. While he was standing at the back of his little white truck, Felipe Soto, driving an SUV, slammed into him from behind and cut off both of Dunn’s legs. The mailman and his severed legs were rushed to LAC/USC Medical Center, where he died two hours later.
I told you it would take your breath away; and I’m not done yet:
Upon arrival at the scene, LAPD officers learned that Soto, the man who hit Dunn, was driving with a suspended license. They also found no evidence that Soto was under the influence of drugs or alcohol or had been speeding and they let him go. The fact that the LAPD did not detain Soto after such a gruesome event is a hard pill for Dunn’s family and his neighborhood customers to swallow and they’re still choking on it today.
I spoke with Cmdr. Andrew Smith, head of LAPD’s Media Relations and Community Affairs Group, who provided the following information: True, Soto was not arrested at the scene for lack of alcohol, drug and gross negligence evidence despite having a suspended license. While Soto roamed free, the police continued their investigation and put together a case to charge him with felony manslaughter. “We presented our case for felony manslaughter to the District Attorney’s office (Steve Cooley’s office) on March 6 and it was rejected,” Smith said. “The DA’s office told us our case did not meet their standard for felony filing and since there was no gross negligence, it was an accident,” Smith continued. “So we took the case to the City Attorney’s office (Carmen Trutanich’s office) and gave it to them to see if we could get a misdemeanor manslaughter charge filed. The city attorney is now waiting for the autopsy report to take the next step,” Smith said.
Dunn’s large family and wide circle of friends overflowed the Sky Rose Chapel at Rose Hills Memorial Park Monday to celebrate his life and reminisce about his love of the Lakers, Jay-Z and Kanye West and his cordon bleu-level status as a gourmet chef. Dunn, the eldest of three children, was born and raised in Bellflower and graduated from Bellflower High School with an impressive 3.8 grade point average. He continued his education at El Camino College, where he studied to become an X-ray technician. He married Janell Williams in 2008 and the childless couple resided in Lawndale.
While his father, Anthony Earl Dunn, predeceased him, Dunn is survived by his wife; his mother, Felicia Adrianne Smith; stepfather, Michael Evans; sister, Namesha Nicole Dunn; brother, Myquan Robert Evans; grandmother, Charlestine Smith and aunts, uncles, cousins and other assorted kin.
Even though Dunn’s grim death is hard enough for his family and friends to deal with, the aftermath has them absolutely apoplectic with rage. Charlene Mosley, a close friend, expressed the family’s fury when she commented: “If this had been one of us who did this, the cops would have found a way to arrest him.” Uh-huh.
BOTTOM LINE: QUEST FOR JUSTICE AFTER BLACK POSTMAN IS KILLED IN EAST L.A.
By Betty Pleasant
Los Angeles Wave
March 14, 2012
Funeral services were held Monday for an industrious and vivacious young man who lost his life in an incident so tragically capricious that it takes your breath away.
Anthony Earl Dunn II, who was always called Tony, was a 31-year-old postal worker, more familiarly known as a mailman, who had been delivering mail in several communities for the U.S. Postal Service for five years. It was a job he took pride in and a job he loved doing.
Most recently, he had been assigned to a route in Boyle Heights, where his daily stops were well received by the residents who were grateful for the fact that Dunn often went out of his way to help them. One man commented that, “He would ring my mailbox bell when the mail arrived, which no other mail carrier did.”
Well, on Feb. 28, Dunn was conducting his usual route through Boyle Heights and he stopped his vehicle beside a curb in the 1100 block of Prado Street, so he could sort some more of the mail he had to deliver. While he was standing at the back of his little white truck, Felipe Soto, driving an SUV, slammed into him from behind and cut off both of Dunn’s legs. The mailman and his severed legs were rushed to LAC/USC Medical Center, where he died two hours later.
I told you it would take your breath away; and I’m not done yet:
Upon arrival at the scene, LAPD officers learned that Soto, the man who hit Dunn, was driving with a suspended license. They also found no evidence that Soto was under the influence of drugs or alcohol or had been speeding and they let him go. The fact that the LAPD did not detain Soto after such a gruesome event is a hard pill for Dunn’s family and his neighborhood customers to swallow and they’re still choking on it today.
I spoke with Cmdr. Andrew Smith, head of LAPD’s Media Relations and Community Affairs Group, who provided the following information: True, Soto was not arrested at the scene for lack of alcohol, drug and gross negligence evidence despite having a suspended license. While Soto roamed free, the police continued their investigation and put together a case to charge him with felony manslaughter. “We presented our case for felony manslaughter to the District Attorney’s office (Steve Cooley’s office) on March 6 and it was rejected,” Smith said. “The DA’s office told us our case did not meet their standard for felony filing and since there was no gross negligence, it was an accident,” Smith continued. “So we took the case to the City Attorney’s office (Carmen Trutanich’s office) and gave it to them to see if we could get a misdemeanor manslaughter charge filed. The city attorney is now waiting for the autopsy report to take the next step,” Smith said.
Dunn’s large family and wide circle of friends overflowed the Sky Rose Chapel at Rose Hills Memorial Park Monday to celebrate his life and reminisce about his love of the Lakers, Jay-Z and Kanye West and his cordon bleu-level status as a gourmet chef. Dunn, the eldest of three children, was born and raised in Bellflower and graduated from Bellflower High School with an impressive 3.8 grade point average. He continued his education at El Camino College, where he studied to become an X-ray technician. He married Janell Williams in 2008 and the childless couple resided in Lawndale.
While his father, Anthony Earl Dunn, predeceased him, Dunn is survived by his wife; his mother, Felicia Adrianne Smith; stepfather, Michael Evans; sister, Namesha Nicole Dunn; brother, Myquan Robert Evans; grandmother, Charlestine Smith and aunts, uncles, cousins and other assorted kin.
Even though Dunn’s grim death is hard enough for his family and friends to deal with, the aftermath has them absolutely apoplectic with rage. Charlene Mosley, a close friend, expressed the family’s fury when she commented: “If this had been one of us who did this, the cops would have found a way to arrest him.” Uh-huh.
AMAZING SIMPLE HOME REMEDIES
The Schalotte
March 15, 2012
Guaranteed to work. If you don’t believe it, try them yourself.
1. AVOID CUTTING YOURSELF WHEN SLICING VEGETABLES BY GETTING SOMEONE ELSE TO HOLD THE VEGETABLES WHILE YOU CHOP.
2. AVOID ARGUMENTS WITH THE FEMALES ABOUT LIFTING THE TOILET SEAT BY USING THE SINK.
3. FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE SUFFERERS ~ SIMPLY CUT YOURSELF AND BLEED FOR A FEW MINUTES, THUS REDUCING THE PRESSURE ON YOUR VEINS. REMEMBER TO USE A TIMER.
4. A MOUSE TRAP PLACED ON TOP OF YOUR ALARM CLOCK WILL PREVENT YOU FROM ROLLING OVER AND GOING BACK TO SLEEP AFTER YOU HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON.
5. IF YOU HAVE A BAD COUGH, TAKE A LARGE DOSE OF LAXATIVES. THEN YOU'LL BE AFRAID TO COUGH.
6. YOU ONLY NEED TWO TOOLS IN LIFE - WD-40 AND DUCT TAPE. IF IT DOESN'T MOVE AND SHOULD, USE THE WD-40. IF IT SHOULDN'T MOVE AND DOES, USE THE DUCT TAPE.
7. IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
March 15, 2012
Guaranteed to work. If you don’t believe it, try them yourself.
1. AVOID CUTTING YOURSELF WHEN SLICING VEGETABLES BY GETTING SOMEONE ELSE TO HOLD THE VEGETABLES WHILE YOU CHOP.
2. AVOID ARGUMENTS WITH THE FEMALES ABOUT LIFTING THE TOILET SEAT BY USING THE SINK.
3. FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE SUFFERERS ~ SIMPLY CUT YOURSELF AND BLEED FOR A FEW MINUTES, THUS REDUCING THE PRESSURE ON YOUR VEINS. REMEMBER TO USE A TIMER.
4. A MOUSE TRAP PLACED ON TOP OF YOUR ALARM CLOCK WILL PREVENT YOU FROM ROLLING OVER AND GOING BACK TO SLEEP AFTER YOU HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON.
5. IF YOU HAVE A BAD COUGH, TAKE A LARGE DOSE OF LAXATIVES. THEN YOU'LL BE AFRAID TO COUGH.
6. YOU ONLY NEED TWO TOOLS IN LIFE - WD-40 AND DUCT TAPE. IF IT DOESN'T MOVE AND SHOULD, USE THE WD-40. IF IT SHOULDN'T MOVE AND DOES, USE THE DUCT TAPE.
7. IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
TURNING A PRISON INTO A VACATION RESORT FOR CRIMINALS
Bob Walsh says, “Prisons should not be hell-holes. Neither should they be so nice you don’t mind staying there.”
Interestingly, I notice where this British private prison company is doing this only overseas, not in its own homeland.
NEW JAIL: PRISONERS TO GET TV SETS, PHONES, ‘ELECTRONIC MENU’
By Matthew Theunissen
New Zealand Herald
March 14, 2012
Prisoners would get telephones, televisions and "electronic menu" systems in the cells of a private prison in south Auckland under plans being considered by the Department of Corrections.
British-based company Serco, which will manage the new 960-bed prison at Wiri, has introduced the technology in its prisons overseas and wants to do the same here.
The proposal includes introducing "custodial management system" screens to prison units - and in some cases to individual cells - so inmates could order meals, write shopping lists, add credit to phone accounts and see weekly timetables.
Serco said the introduction of in-cell telephones in its overseas prisons had resulted in significant improvements in prison security, including a drop in the number of prisoners trying to smuggle cellphones.
TV sets were allowed in cells, depending on prisoners' behaviour.
Serco would not say whether it planned to use the new technology in the Wiri prison, but a Department of Corrections spokesman confirmed it was in the company's proposal.
The SecureFuture consortium, comprised of Macquarie (financial arranger), Fletcher Construction (design and construction), Spotless (facility management provider), and Serco (operator and custodial services provider) is the preferred bidder for the $300 million 25-year contract to build and run the facility.
Canterbury University Professor of Sociology and former Paremoremo Prison inmate Greg Newbold said introducing the technology was clearly a cost-cutting exercise.
"Those private prisons have to run at a profit and 80 per cent of the cost of running prisons is in manpower.
"If you can do the administrative things electronically, you reduce the need for staff on the floor and you can run a prison more efficiently and more cheaply.
Corrections Association president Beven Hanlon said the in-cell technology could save prison officers hours of mundane paperwork.
"At the moment if the prisoner wants something they have to come up to an officer and request it, so introducing these screens would mean if they're short on toilet paper or they need a new toothbrush etc they can just enter it in."
"But they should use it in the right way - let's not get crazy on it and turn these places into the Hilton."
Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar said he was "dumbfounded" by the proposal.
" I've seen no evidence that making prison a more comfortable place to be is any more likely to reduce offending than making prison a place that is unpleasant and where offenders should not want to go back to," he said.
Interestingly, I notice where this British private prison company is doing this only overseas, not in its own homeland.
NEW JAIL: PRISONERS TO GET TV SETS, PHONES, ‘ELECTRONIC MENU’
By Matthew Theunissen
New Zealand Herald
March 14, 2012
Prisoners would get telephones, televisions and "electronic menu" systems in the cells of a private prison in south Auckland under plans being considered by the Department of Corrections.
British-based company Serco, which will manage the new 960-bed prison at Wiri, has introduced the technology in its prisons overseas and wants to do the same here.
The proposal includes introducing "custodial management system" screens to prison units - and in some cases to individual cells - so inmates could order meals, write shopping lists, add credit to phone accounts and see weekly timetables.
Serco said the introduction of in-cell telephones in its overseas prisons had resulted in significant improvements in prison security, including a drop in the number of prisoners trying to smuggle cellphones.
TV sets were allowed in cells, depending on prisoners' behaviour.
Serco would not say whether it planned to use the new technology in the Wiri prison, but a Department of Corrections spokesman confirmed it was in the company's proposal.
The SecureFuture consortium, comprised of Macquarie (financial arranger), Fletcher Construction (design and construction), Spotless (facility management provider), and Serco (operator and custodial services provider) is the preferred bidder for the $300 million 25-year contract to build and run the facility.
Canterbury University Professor of Sociology and former Paremoremo Prison inmate Greg Newbold said introducing the technology was clearly a cost-cutting exercise.
"Those private prisons have to run at a profit and 80 per cent of the cost of running prisons is in manpower.
"If you can do the administrative things electronically, you reduce the need for staff on the floor and you can run a prison more efficiently and more cheaply.
Corrections Association president Beven Hanlon said the in-cell technology could save prison officers hours of mundane paperwork.
"At the moment if the prisoner wants something they have to come up to an officer and request it, so introducing these screens would mean if they're short on toilet paper or they need a new toothbrush etc they can just enter it in."
"But they should use it in the right way - let's not get crazy on it and turn these places into the Hilton."
Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar said he was "dumbfounded" by the proposal.
" I've seen no evidence that making prison a more comfortable place to be is any more likely to reduce offending than making prison a place that is unpleasant and where offenders should not want to go back to," he said.
NEW YORKERS DON’T BUY CIVIL LIBERTARIAN COMPLAINTS ABOUT NYPD TACTICS
NYPD’s surveillance of Muslim groups in NYC and New Jersey and its Stop and Frisk tactics have been condemned by civil libertarians, some calling for the prosecution of NYPD’s hierarchy for civil rights violations.
POLL: NYC VOTERS APPRORVE OF NYPD’S JOB PERFORMANCE
Most city voters think the New York Police Department has been effective in fighting terrorism
By Deepti Hajela
Associated Press
March 13, 2012
NEW YORK — Most city voters think the New York Police Department has been effective in fighting terrorism, and a majority say the NYPD has acted appropriately in its dealing with Muslims, according to a new poll released Tuesday that questioned respondents following a series of stories from The Associated Press about the NYPD's surveillance of Muslims after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Quinnipiac University survey found that 82 percent of respondents thought that the NYPD had been effective in its counter-terrorism efforts. Asked whether the NYPD dealt with Muslims fairly or targeted them unfairly, 58 percent thought the NYPD was appropriate, while 29 percent thought police were unfair and 13 percent didn't know or had no answer.
The 29 percent is a slight jump up from the 24 percent who thought the police were unfairly targeting Muslims in a February poll.
Overall, 63 percent of those surveyed approved of way police are doing their job, although when asked about the controversial policy for stopping, questioning and frisking people, only 46 percent approved while 49 percent disapproved.
"The numbers have been consistently high," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "People think the cops do a good job."
The stories from the AP reported that police monitored mosques and Muslims around the New York metropolitan area and kept tabs on Muslim student groups at universities in upstate New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The tactics have raised questions over whether the NYPD is ignoring the civil rights of Muslims and illegally engaging in religious and ethnic profiling. The U.S. Justice Department is considering whether to investigate the NYPD's surveillance efforts.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and police Commissioner Raymond Kelly have maintained that the NYPD's actions are legal and necessary in a city under constant threat of another terrorist attack.
Respondents' opinions about the NYPD and their tactics did vary according to factors like racial group or age. While 22 percent of white respondents thought the NYPD had unfairly targeted Muslims, 41 percent of black respondents did. People between the ages of 18-34 were most likely of all age groups to think it was unfair, at 40 percent.
Of those who said they had a favorable impression of Islam, 42 percent thought the police were unfair, while 48 percent thought they were appropriate. Of those who had an unfavorable opinion of the religion, 10 percent thought police targeted Muslims unfairly, while 83 percent thought police acted appropriately.
In terms of the stop-and-frisk policy, 59 percent of white people surveyed approved of it, while only 27 percent of black people did. Blacks and Hispanics make up the vast majority of those stopped.
Quinnipiac polled 964 New York City voters from March 6-11. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
POLL: NYC VOTERS APPRORVE OF NYPD’S JOB PERFORMANCE
Most city voters think the New York Police Department has been effective in fighting terrorism
By Deepti Hajela
Associated Press
March 13, 2012
NEW YORK — Most city voters think the New York Police Department has been effective in fighting terrorism, and a majority say the NYPD has acted appropriately in its dealing with Muslims, according to a new poll released Tuesday that questioned respondents following a series of stories from The Associated Press about the NYPD's surveillance of Muslims after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Quinnipiac University survey found that 82 percent of respondents thought that the NYPD had been effective in its counter-terrorism efforts. Asked whether the NYPD dealt with Muslims fairly or targeted them unfairly, 58 percent thought the NYPD was appropriate, while 29 percent thought police were unfair and 13 percent didn't know or had no answer.
The 29 percent is a slight jump up from the 24 percent who thought the police were unfairly targeting Muslims in a February poll.
Overall, 63 percent of those surveyed approved of way police are doing their job, although when asked about the controversial policy for stopping, questioning and frisking people, only 46 percent approved while 49 percent disapproved.
"The numbers have been consistently high," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "People think the cops do a good job."
The stories from the AP reported that police monitored mosques and Muslims around the New York metropolitan area and kept tabs on Muslim student groups at universities in upstate New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The tactics have raised questions over whether the NYPD is ignoring the civil rights of Muslims and illegally engaging in religious and ethnic profiling. The U.S. Justice Department is considering whether to investigate the NYPD's surveillance efforts.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and police Commissioner Raymond Kelly have maintained that the NYPD's actions are legal and necessary in a city under constant threat of another terrorist attack.
Respondents' opinions about the NYPD and their tactics did vary according to factors like racial group or age. While 22 percent of white respondents thought the NYPD had unfairly targeted Muslims, 41 percent of black respondents did. People between the ages of 18-34 were most likely of all age groups to think it was unfair, at 40 percent.
Of those who said they had a favorable impression of Islam, 42 percent thought the police were unfair, while 48 percent thought they were appropriate. Of those who had an unfavorable opinion of the religion, 10 percent thought police targeted Muslims unfairly, while 83 percent thought police acted appropriately.
In terms of the stop-and-frisk policy, 59 percent of white people surveyed approved of it, while only 27 percent of black people did. Blacks and Hispanics make up the vast majority of those stopped.
Quinnipiac polled 964 New York City voters from March 6-11. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
AFTER THE ARAB SPRING: EGYPT WILL NEVER BE THE FRIEND, PARTNER OR ALLY OF THE ZIONIST ENTITY
The Obama administration gave its strong support to the overthrow of America’s longtime ally, Hosni Mubarak. We called for Democracy and what Egypt got was a parliament dominated by Islamists who still refuse to call Israel by its name, insisting on referring to the Jewish state as the Zionist Entity.
TERRORISTS CALL GAZA CEASEFIRE ‘VICTORY’; EGYPT CALLS TO CUT TIES WITH ISRAEL
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
March 13, 2012
The massive barrage of rockets and mortars shells from Gaza that pummeled southern Israel for the past few days finally died down on Tuesday as Israel and Palestinian terror groups settled into an informal and fragile ceasefire.
Dozens of Israelis were wounded this week as 222 rockets struck across the northern Negev and parts of the coastal plain, and nearly one million civilians were forced to spend most of their time in bomb shelters. Schools in the area have been closed all week, and Israel's emotional crisis hotline, Eran, recorded a 150 percent increase in calls.
In light of the fear they had instilled in so many Israelis, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad marked the ceasefire by declaring "victory for the blood of the martyrs, the Palestinian people and the resistance."
Israeli army chief Gen. Benny Gantz said Israel would halt its retaliatory air strikes as long the terrorists cease launching rockets into southern Israel. "Quiet will be answered with quiet, and fire will be answered with fire," said Gantz.
Israel responded to the unprecedented rocket fire with 37 air strikes on terrorist facilities and rocket squads. Twenty-six Palestinians were killed in the air strikes, nearly all of them terrorists.
Gantz lamented that Israel had been unable to avoid some civilian casualties. "Twenty-two (of the Palestinians killed) were enemy forces, but sadly four civilians who were not involved in the clashes and were nearby were killed," said Gantz. “We have made and continue to make every effort to hit the necessary targets but we will go as far as humanly possible to protect our citizens."
The Islamists that now dominate Egypt's parliament did not care about the identities of the dead Palestinians, nor that Israel's military leaders had expressed regret over having to fight among civilian populations. The Egyptian parliament viewed Israel's strikes on Gaza as nothing short of war crimes and on Monday voted unanimously to expel Israel's ambassador from Cairo.
"Egypt will never be the friend, partner or ally of the Zionist entity which we consider as the first enemy of Egypt and the Arab nation," read the text of the motion approved by Egyptian lawmakers.
TERRORISTS CALL GAZA CEASEFIRE ‘VICTORY’; EGYPT CALLS TO CUT TIES WITH ISRAEL
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
March 13, 2012
The massive barrage of rockets and mortars shells from Gaza that pummeled southern Israel for the past few days finally died down on Tuesday as Israel and Palestinian terror groups settled into an informal and fragile ceasefire.
Dozens of Israelis were wounded this week as 222 rockets struck across the northern Negev and parts of the coastal plain, and nearly one million civilians were forced to spend most of their time in bomb shelters. Schools in the area have been closed all week, and Israel's emotional crisis hotline, Eran, recorded a 150 percent increase in calls.
In light of the fear they had instilled in so many Israelis, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad marked the ceasefire by declaring "victory for the blood of the martyrs, the Palestinian people and the resistance."
Israeli army chief Gen. Benny Gantz said Israel would halt its retaliatory air strikes as long the terrorists cease launching rockets into southern Israel. "Quiet will be answered with quiet, and fire will be answered with fire," said Gantz.
Israel responded to the unprecedented rocket fire with 37 air strikes on terrorist facilities and rocket squads. Twenty-six Palestinians were killed in the air strikes, nearly all of them terrorists.
Gantz lamented that Israel had been unable to avoid some civilian casualties. "Twenty-two (of the Palestinians killed) were enemy forces, but sadly four civilians who were not involved in the clashes and were nearby were killed," said Gantz. “We have made and continue to make every effort to hit the necessary targets but we will go as far as humanly possible to protect our citizens."
The Islamists that now dominate Egypt's parliament did not care about the identities of the dead Palestinians, nor that Israel's military leaders had expressed regret over having to fight among civilian populations. The Egyptian parliament viewed Israel's strikes on Gaza as nothing short of war crimes and on Monday voted unanimously to expel Israel's ambassador from Cairo.
"Egypt will never be the friend, partner or ally of the Zionist entity which we consider as the first enemy of Egypt and the Arab nation," read the text of the motion approved by Egyptian lawmakers.
THE US, THE EU AND JAPAN SAY SHAME ON CHINA
Surprise, surprise, the Chinese don’t play by our rules.
DESPERATE WEST HEADS TO WTO IN BID TO STOP CHINA STOCKPILING RARE EARTH METALS USED TO MAKE MOBILE PHONES AND FLAT-SCREEN TV SETS
U.S. companies having to manage with small, expensive supply, while Chinese companies have greater access
By Rachel Richard Straus
Mail Online
March 13, 2012
The United States, European Union and Japan all filed complaints today with the World Trade Organization, claiming that China is stockpiling rare earth metals vital to the production of technology components.
China has a stranglehold on the global supply of 17 rare earth materials essential for making high-end goods such as hybrid cars, camera lenses, mobile phones and weapons.
However, it has cut its export quotas in recent years, which critics say gives Chinese companies an unfair competitive advantage.
U.S. companies are having to manage with a small, expensive supply, while Chinese companies have access to more of these essential materials at a cheaper price, according to senior U.S. administration officials.
It is thought China has cut its export quotas to cope with growing demand at home, although the Chinese government also says environmental concerns are behind the restrictions.
U.S. industry officials claim the restriction is an unfair trade practice and forbidden by WTO rules, a group that includes China as a member.
President Barack Obama planned to announce that the U.S. was filing a complaint from the White House today.
The fresh action is part of President Obama's broader effort to crack down on what his administration sees as unfair trading practices by China.
The U.S., European Union and Japan filed separate but coordinated complaints, which will trigger a dispute settlement consultation.
If no resolution can be found within 60 days, the dispute may be put to a WTO panel for a ruling.
Depending on the outcome, sanctions against China are possible at the end of the process.
The complaints also cover tungsten, a very hard metal, and molybdenum, a metallic element used to make different types of steel.
Anticipating the complaints, China defended its curbs on rare earths production earlier today, calling it an environmental measure.
China needs to limit environmental damage and conserve scarce resources, said a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Liu Weimin.
‘We think the policy is in line with WTO rules,’ Liu said at a briefing.
Global manufacturers that depend on Chinese supplies were alarmed by Beijing's decision in 2009 to limit exports while it built up an industry to produce lightweight magnets and other goods that use them. China has about 30 per cent of rare earths deposits but accounts for 97 per cent of the world's production.
The complaints filed today follow an earlier EU challenge to China at the WTO on restrictions on other raw materials.
Earlier this year, the WTO ruled that export restrictions on those other materials were incompatible with the rules of the global trade organization.
But EU officials said China has made no move to comply with the earlier ruling.
EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said China's export quotas and export duties give Chinese companies an unfair competitive advantage, and must be removed.
‘These measures hurt our producers and consumers in the EU and across the world,’ De Gucht said.
DESPERATE WEST HEADS TO WTO IN BID TO STOP CHINA STOCKPILING RARE EARTH METALS USED TO MAKE MOBILE PHONES AND FLAT-SCREEN TV SETS
U.S. companies having to manage with small, expensive supply, while Chinese companies have greater access
By Rachel Richard Straus
Mail Online
March 13, 2012
The United States, European Union and Japan all filed complaints today with the World Trade Organization, claiming that China is stockpiling rare earth metals vital to the production of technology components.
China has a stranglehold on the global supply of 17 rare earth materials essential for making high-end goods such as hybrid cars, camera lenses, mobile phones and weapons.
However, it has cut its export quotas in recent years, which critics say gives Chinese companies an unfair competitive advantage.
U.S. companies are having to manage with a small, expensive supply, while Chinese companies have access to more of these essential materials at a cheaper price, according to senior U.S. administration officials.
It is thought China has cut its export quotas to cope with growing demand at home, although the Chinese government also says environmental concerns are behind the restrictions.
U.S. industry officials claim the restriction is an unfair trade practice and forbidden by WTO rules, a group that includes China as a member.
President Barack Obama planned to announce that the U.S. was filing a complaint from the White House today.
The fresh action is part of President Obama's broader effort to crack down on what his administration sees as unfair trading practices by China.
The U.S., European Union and Japan filed separate but coordinated complaints, which will trigger a dispute settlement consultation.
If no resolution can be found within 60 days, the dispute may be put to a WTO panel for a ruling.
Depending on the outcome, sanctions against China are possible at the end of the process.
The complaints also cover tungsten, a very hard metal, and molybdenum, a metallic element used to make different types of steel.
Anticipating the complaints, China defended its curbs on rare earths production earlier today, calling it an environmental measure.
China needs to limit environmental damage and conserve scarce resources, said a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Liu Weimin.
‘We think the policy is in line with WTO rules,’ Liu said at a briefing.
Global manufacturers that depend on Chinese supplies were alarmed by Beijing's decision in 2009 to limit exports while it built up an industry to produce lightweight magnets and other goods that use them. China has about 30 per cent of rare earths deposits but accounts for 97 per cent of the world's production.
The complaints filed today follow an earlier EU challenge to China at the WTO on restrictions on other raw materials.
Earlier this year, the WTO ruled that export restrictions on those other materials were incompatible with the rules of the global trade organization.
But EU officials said China has made no move to comply with the earlier ruling.
EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said China's export quotas and export duties give Chinese companies an unfair competitive advantage, and must be removed.
‘These measures hurt our producers and consumers in the EU and across the world,’ De Gucht said.
BRAGGING ABOUT HOUSTON
Recently I bragged about Texas (3-12-12). Now it’s time to brag about Houston, the city in which I live.
I’m surprised we’re not Number 1. Our city is full of crazy drivers and most of them seem to be women. And those pickup t ruck jockeys are the craziest of them all - you don’t dare look at them for fear of getting shot. But I suppose being Number 3 is not all that bad. That is, except for Dallas outranking us. Now that’s a real bummer!
HOUSTON: ONLY TWO U.S. CITIES HAVE MORE DANGEROUS DRIVERS
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
March 13, 2012
As you head out for your commute, keep this cheery thought in mind: You are about to hand your life over to some of the most dangerous people around: other Houstonian drivers.
Space City drivers are the third-most dangerous in the nation, according to another one of those pseudoscientific studies by Men's Health, who at least didn't call us fat and polluted this time.
The only places where it's even more risky are Dallas and, worst of the worst, St. Louis.
Men's Health looked at 100 U.S. cities. Here's the criteria:
__We tabulated the rate of fatal crashes; the percentage of fatalities involving alcohol, speeding, or hit and run; and the rate of seatbelt use (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). Then we factored in the average number of years between accidents (Allstate) and laws on cellphone use while driving (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and city governments).
Houston gets a big, fat F, as did Austin.
The safest city was St. Paul, Minnesota. Coming in at number three was Boston, and we've driven in Boston and we can only call BS on that one.
I’m surprised we’re not Number 1. Our city is full of crazy drivers and most of them seem to be women. And those pickup t ruck jockeys are the craziest of them all - you don’t dare look at them for fear of getting shot. But I suppose being Number 3 is not all that bad. That is, except for Dallas outranking us. Now that’s a real bummer!
HOUSTON: ONLY TWO U.S. CITIES HAVE MORE DANGEROUS DRIVERS
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
March 13, 2012
As you head out for your commute, keep this cheery thought in mind: You are about to hand your life over to some of the most dangerous people around: other Houstonian drivers.
Space City drivers are the third-most dangerous in the nation, according to another one of those pseudoscientific studies by Men's Health, who at least didn't call us fat and polluted this time.
The only places where it's even more risky are Dallas and, worst of the worst, St. Louis.
Men's Health looked at 100 U.S. cities. Here's the criteria:
__We tabulated the rate of fatal crashes; the percentage of fatalities involving alcohol, speeding, or hit and run; and the rate of seatbelt use (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). Then we factored in the average number of years between accidents (Allstate) and laws on cellphone use while driving (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and city governments).
Houston gets a big, fat F, as did Austin.
The safest city was St. Paul, Minnesota. Coming in at number three was Boston, and we've driven in Boston and we can only call BS on that one.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
HOUSES OF WORSHIP INFESTED WITH SQUIRRELS
The Schalotte
March 14, 2012
There were five houses of religion in a small town:
The Presbyterian Church,
The Baptist Church,
The Methodist Church ,
The Catholic Church and
The Jewish Synagogue.
Each church and the Synagogue were overrun with pesky squirrels.
One day, the Presbyterian Church called a meeting to decide what to do about the squirrels. After much prayer and consideration they determined that the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn't interfere with God's divine will.
In the Baptist Church the squirrels had taken up habitation in the baptistery. The deacons met and decided to put a cover on the baptistery and drown the squirrels in it. The squirrels escaped somehow and there were twice as many there the next week.
The Methodist Church got together and decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God's creation. So, they humanely trapped the Squirrels and set them free a few miles outside of town. Three days later, the squirrels were back.
But -- The Catholic Church came up with the best and most effective solution. They baptized the squirrels and registered them as members of the church. Now they only see them on Christmas , Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday and Easter.
Not much was heard about the Jewish Synagogue, but they grabbed one male squirrel and held a ‘Bris’, which is a short ceremony in which someone called a ‘Mohel’ performed a circumcision on the critter. They haven't seen a squirrel in the Synagogue since.
March 14, 2012
There were five houses of religion in a small town:
The Presbyterian Church,
The Baptist Church,
The Methodist Church ,
The Catholic Church and
The Jewish Synagogue.
Each church and the Synagogue were overrun with pesky squirrels.
One day, the Presbyterian Church called a meeting to decide what to do about the squirrels. After much prayer and consideration they determined that the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn't interfere with God's divine will.
In the Baptist Church the squirrels had taken up habitation in the baptistery. The deacons met and decided to put a cover on the baptistery and drown the squirrels in it. The squirrels escaped somehow and there were twice as many there the next week.
The Methodist Church got together and decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God's creation. So, they humanely trapped the Squirrels and set them free a few miles outside of town. Three days later, the squirrels were back.
But -- The Catholic Church came up with the best and most effective solution. They baptized the squirrels and registered them as members of the church. Now they only see them on Christmas , Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday and Easter.
Not much was heard about the Jewish Synagogue, but they grabbed one male squirrel and held a ‘Bris’, which is a short ceremony in which someone called a ‘Mohel’ performed a circumcision on the critter. They haven't seen a squirrel in the Synagogue since.
PARTNER UP WITH THE AFGHAN NATIONAL ARMY? NOT LIKELY!
If you read the papers or watch the TV news, you get bombarded with lot of crap from our government about our troops in Afghanistan fighting in partnership with the Afghan National Army, a so-called army that we trained and supplied with weapons. And we also get all this shit about the war in Afghanistan being a NATO Coalition operation.
Forget all that phony propaganda about how the Afghan National Army is going to fight side by side with our troops before we withdraw from Afghanistan. Here is what it’s really like with our ‘fighting partners’ in Afghanistan. The truth is that for the most part, the Afghanistan war is an American operation. One of my former students and a longtime close friend - an Army Ranger on active duty with his reserve unit - sent me the following description of his experiences at a forward operations base [FOB]:
Hello from FOB Nejrab, Afghanistan! Finally, at our final destination. It is small but nice. I've definitely lived on worse. We have our own little compound, which is really cool. We have our own gym and mess hall, and the gym is great. The rest of the base we share with the French and Afghan National Army.
For awhile now, since they started shooting us in the back of the head, the ANA is locked out of our AO [Area of Operations]. Don't know how that's going to play out. They expect us to do joint ops with them, I don't know how.
The French are very risk adverse, and don't do much outside the wire. When they do, they are very "laissez faire", as they say, and do some really dumb things, like take off their kit, lay down on cots and take a nap, while pulling security. That is how the five of them got blown up down in Tagab this fall. The suicide bomber literally walked into their fighting position and detonated. They woke up dead. Then the PRT [Provincial Reconstruction Team] got into a fire fight trying to medevac them and break contact. Didn't hear that on CNN, did you? Hopefully, they will be pulling out soon and 1st Infantry Division will take over as our landowners.
The French do know how to party, though. They are allowed to drink, and they do it regularly. We can eat in their mess hall, and I'll give 'em this, they can cook, too.
There were large demonstrations outside the wire for several days after the Koran burning, and at one point, the French allowed the ECP [Entry Control Point] to be breached. Needless to say, we are shoring up our own base defense plan, just in case we have to execute plan "Alamo." Now, of course, we are dealing with the shooting down in Kandahar. The night that happened, we had the ANA start throwing rocks at some of our guys who were working on a vehicle down in our motor pool. Their compound is on the other side of a Hesco [barriers blast] wall. They are prisoners inside our FOB, and I can't imagine how they expect us to "partner" with them and run joint operations, ever. Of course, the ANA's relationship with the French is pretty much hate-hate, as well.
The mountains are breathtaking. This place would be really beautiful if there weren't people everywhere, inside and outside the wire, who want to kill us.
Forget all that phony propaganda about how the Afghan National Army is going to fight side by side with our troops before we withdraw from Afghanistan. Here is what it’s really like with our ‘fighting partners’ in Afghanistan. The truth is that for the most part, the Afghanistan war is an American operation. One of my former students and a longtime close friend - an Army Ranger on active duty with his reserve unit - sent me the following description of his experiences at a forward operations base [FOB]:
Hello from FOB Nejrab, Afghanistan! Finally, at our final destination. It is small but nice. I've definitely lived on worse. We have our own little compound, which is really cool. We have our own gym and mess hall, and the gym is great. The rest of the base we share with the French and Afghan National Army.
For awhile now, since they started shooting us in the back of the head, the ANA is locked out of our AO [Area of Operations]. Don't know how that's going to play out. They expect us to do joint ops with them, I don't know how.
The French are very risk adverse, and don't do much outside the wire. When they do, they are very "laissez faire", as they say, and do some really dumb things, like take off their kit, lay down on cots and take a nap, while pulling security. That is how the five of them got blown up down in Tagab this fall. The suicide bomber literally walked into their fighting position and detonated. They woke up dead. Then the PRT [Provincial Reconstruction Team] got into a fire fight trying to medevac them and break contact. Didn't hear that on CNN, did you? Hopefully, they will be pulling out soon and 1st Infantry Division will take over as our landowners.
The French do know how to party, though. They are allowed to drink, and they do it regularly. We can eat in their mess hall, and I'll give 'em this, they can cook, too.
There were large demonstrations outside the wire for several days after the Koran burning, and at one point, the French allowed the ECP [Entry Control Point] to be breached. Needless to say, we are shoring up our own base defense plan, just in case we have to execute plan "Alamo." Now, of course, we are dealing with the shooting down in Kandahar. The night that happened, we had the ANA start throwing rocks at some of our guys who were working on a vehicle down in our motor pool. Their compound is on the other side of a Hesco [barriers blast] wall. They are prisoners inside our FOB, and I can't imagine how they expect us to "partner" with them and run joint operations, ever. Of course, the ANA's relationship with the French is pretty much hate-hate, as well.
The mountains are breathtaking. This place would be really beautiful if there weren't people everywhere, inside and outside the wire, who want to kill us.
INEBRIATED SPRING BREAKER TURNS MISDEMEANOR INTO A FELONY
It seems as though the whole idea behind spring break is to get away from it all so you can get wasted.
JOE NEWHOUSE: SPRING BREAKER TURNS PUBLIC INTOXICATION INTO FELONY BY THREATENING & SPITTING ON COPS
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
March 13, 2012
The world of Spring Break is a world of bad decisions made under the influence of various substances, and the cops in South Padre are usually patient about things.
So when 21-year-old Joe Newhouse darted out of the fog last night and stopped in front of a clowly moving cop car, the cops waited for him to pass on by.
Instead, he began to dance.
Newhouse, concentrating fiercely on his groove, refused to stop and so the police took him in for what was a no-doubt well-placed suspicion of public intoxication.
A night in the drunk tank, a ticket, and you're back out dancing, right? Wrong.
"[O]n the way to the City Detention Center, Newhouse began to curse and threaten the officers as well as kick the plexiglass partition," reports the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. "Officers said they tried to calm Newhouse down, more than once, but Newhouse spat at one of the officers."
And that's how you turn a misdemeanor into a felony.
Newhouse continued his behavior at the jail, the paper says, and ended up charged with suspicion of harassment by persons in a correctional facility.
JOE NEWHOUSE: SPRING BREAKER TURNS PUBLIC INTOXICATION INTO FELONY BY THREATENING & SPITTING ON COPS
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
March 13, 2012
The world of Spring Break is a world of bad decisions made under the influence of various substances, and the cops in South Padre are usually patient about things.
So when 21-year-old Joe Newhouse darted out of the fog last night and stopped in front of a clowly moving cop car, the cops waited for him to pass on by.
Instead, he began to dance.
Newhouse, concentrating fiercely on his groove, refused to stop and so the police took him in for what was a no-doubt well-placed suspicion of public intoxication.
A night in the drunk tank, a ticket, and you're back out dancing, right? Wrong.
"[O]n the way to the City Detention Center, Newhouse began to curse and threaten the officers as well as kick the plexiglass partition," reports the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. "Officers said they tried to calm Newhouse down, more than once, but Newhouse spat at one of the officers."
And that's how you turn a misdemeanor into a felony.
Newhouse continued his behavior at the jail, the paper says, and ended up charged with suspicion of harassment by persons in a correctional facility.
THEIR FIRST SMOKE WAS A BLAZE
They will remember their first smoke for the rest of their lives.
14TH CENTURY CASTLE GUTTED IN BLAZE SPARKED BY TWO YOUNG BOYS WHO HAD SNEAKED INTO GROUNDS TO SMOKE THEIR FIRST CIGARETTE
By Tom Gardner
Mail Online
March 12, 2012
An historic 14th Century castle was gutted in a fire sparked by children trying their first cigarette.
Police say two boys set fire to some tinder dry grass at the foot of the imposing Krasna Horka in eastern Slovakia after sneaking in to the castle grounds to experiment with smoking.
Jana Mesarova, police spokesman for the eastern Slovak region of Kosice, said: ‘A unit sent to the site found that two local boys aged 11 and 12 were trying to light up a cigarette and because of careless use of safety matches, they set grass at the castle hill on fire.'
Children under the age of 15 cannot be prosecuted in Slovakia.
More than 80 firefighters were called to tackle the ensuing inferno which tore through the ancient hill-top building within minutes.
The castle's fraught caretakers rushed throughout the sprawling corridors and rooms trying to rescue some of the priceless antiques and works of art.
The Slovak National Museum wrote on its Facebook page that damage to the castle was extensive but about 90 percent of historical collections were saved.
A collection of contemporary photographs of the furnished castle premises, from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as oil paintings and various ornaments were brought out unscathed.
The museum said: 'The castle’s roof burned down completely, as well as the new exhibition in the gothic palace and the bell tower. Three bells melted.'
The castle is near the UNESCO-protected Domica Cave.
During 2010 and 2011, the castle underwent a major renovation and was re-opened to public in April, last year.
14TH CENTURY CASTLE GUTTED IN BLAZE SPARKED BY TWO YOUNG BOYS WHO HAD SNEAKED INTO GROUNDS TO SMOKE THEIR FIRST CIGARETTE
By Tom Gardner
Mail Online
March 12, 2012
An historic 14th Century castle was gutted in a fire sparked by children trying their first cigarette.
Police say two boys set fire to some tinder dry grass at the foot of the imposing Krasna Horka in eastern Slovakia after sneaking in to the castle grounds to experiment with smoking.
Jana Mesarova, police spokesman for the eastern Slovak region of Kosice, said: ‘A unit sent to the site found that two local boys aged 11 and 12 were trying to light up a cigarette and because of careless use of safety matches, they set grass at the castle hill on fire.'
Children under the age of 15 cannot be prosecuted in Slovakia.
More than 80 firefighters were called to tackle the ensuing inferno which tore through the ancient hill-top building within minutes.
The castle's fraught caretakers rushed throughout the sprawling corridors and rooms trying to rescue some of the priceless antiques and works of art.
The Slovak National Museum wrote on its Facebook page that damage to the castle was extensive but about 90 percent of historical collections were saved.
A collection of contemporary photographs of the furnished castle premises, from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as oil paintings and various ornaments were brought out unscathed.
The museum said: 'The castle’s roof burned down completely, as well as the new exhibition in the gothic palace and the bell tower. Three bells melted.'
The castle is near the UNESCO-protected Domica Cave.
During 2010 and 2011, the castle underwent a major renovation and was re-opened to public in April, last year.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
GETAWAY DRIVER: A HOLLYWOOD MOVIE JUST WAITING TO BE MADE 13-year-old robbery getaway driver jumped over a berm, went airborne, crashed into cop car
All they have to do is find an actor that can pass for 13. Justin Bieber comes to mind. Can’t you just see the car chase with a 13-year-ld desperado leaving a half-dozen cop cars smashed up in his wake?
Bob Walsh says the getaway driver’s “enthusiasm surpassed his skill.”
SAN JOSE FRIDAY NIGHT CRIME SPREE ENDS WITH CRASH
By Erin Allday
San Francisco Chronicle
March 12, 2012
A four-hour crime spree in San Jose on Friday night ended with the suspects' car crashing into a police vehicle, sending an officer to the hospital, police said.
A 13-year-old San Jose boy remained in police custody Sunday, and another suspect, 18-year-old Xavier Espana, was being held at Santa Clara County Jail. Both were arrested on suspicion of armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, Sgt. Jason Dwyer said.
The pair started their Friday night attacks at 8 p.m. with a robbery on the 300 block of Grant Street on the west side of San Jose, Dwyer said. Over the next four hours, they robbed at least four other people across town, he said.
The 13-year-old, who was not identified because of his age, drove the car, and Espana would jump out to rob pedestrians at gunpoint, grabbing cash or electronic devices, Dwyer said.
Just before midnight, Espana robbed a victim at Hillsdale and Narvaez avenues who was able to call police and give them a license plate number and a description of the suspects' car, Dwyer said. A police officer spotted the car a few minutes later and attempted to pull over the suspects, but the 13-year-old driver sped away.
"He was driving like a maniac," Dwyer said. The suspect drove into a parking lot on Capitol Expressway and Vistapark Drive, "hit a hedge, jumped over a berm and went airborne," Dwyer said.
The driver rammed his car head-on into a police car on the other side of the parking lot, Dwyer said. The officer suffered a broken thumb and bruises and was taken to a nearby hospital.
The 13-year-old attempted to drive away and backed the car into a sound wall before police stopped him, Dwyer said. Espana ran from the scene and was arrested in an apartment early Saturday, Dwyer said. Neither suspect was injured in the crash.
Bob Walsh says the getaway driver’s “enthusiasm surpassed his skill.”
SAN JOSE FRIDAY NIGHT CRIME SPREE ENDS WITH CRASH
By Erin Allday
San Francisco Chronicle
March 12, 2012
A four-hour crime spree in San Jose on Friday night ended with the suspects' car crashing into a police vehicle, sending an officer to the hospital, police said.
A 13-year-old San Jose boy remained in police custody Sunday, and another suspect, 18-year-old Xavier Espana, was being held at Santa Clara County Jail. Both were arrested on suspicion of armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, Sgt. Jason Dwyer said.
The pair started their Friday night attacks at 8 p.m. with a robbery on the 300 block of Grant Street on the west side of San Jose, Dwyer said. Over the next four hours, they robbed at least four other people across town, he said.
The 13-year-old, who was not identified because of his age, drove the car, and Espana would jump out to rob pedestrians at gunpoint, grabbing cash or electronic devices, Dwyer said.
Just before midnight, Espana robbed a victim at Hillsdale and Narvaez avenues who was able to call police and give them a license plate number and a description of the suspects' car, Dwyer said. A police officer spotted the car a few minutes later and attempted to pull over the suspects, but the 13-year-old driver sped away.
"He was driving like a maniac," Dwyer said. The suspect drove into a parking lot on Capitol Expressway and Vistapark Drive, "hit a hedge, jumped over a berm and went airborne," Dwyer said.
The driver rammed his car head-on into a police car on the other side of the parking lot, Dwyer said. The officer suffered a broken thumb and bruises and was taken to a nearby hospital.
The 13-year-old attempted to drive away and backed the car into a sound wall before police stopped him, Dwyer said. Espana ran from the scene and was arrested in an apartment early Saturday, Dwyer said. Neither suspect was injured in the crash.
BABYSITTER FROM HELL
I wonder if the mother bothered to ask for references?
WILLIAM WEBB: BABY IN HIS CARE GETS WASTED ON VODKA; HE THEN TRIES TO BURN ACCUSER’S HOME
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
March 12, 2012
Two things you should know about William Webb, if what police charge him with is true: Don't let him babysit your kid, and don't hire him to be your arsonist.
Webb, 27, was arrested last week after a lengthy investigation. Waco police say, according to KWTX, that he was babysitting an infant in December and when the mother came home, she thought the baby was acting strangely.
A trip to the hospital discovered a blood-alcohol level of an amazing 0.291 percent, which even a Galveston Spring Breaker would find difficult to achieve.
"A bottle of vodka was found on a coffee table at the home where Webb was watching the baby, but it's unclear how the baby ingested the alcohol," the station says.
The baby is recovering, but the story wasn't done yet.
Webb bonded out of jail and, police say, began making threats to his accuser.
Then, violating a protective order, he went to the accuser's house and tried to set it on fire.
He poured gasoline around the house, but his arson skills were apparently as well-honed as his babysitting skills.
"The home did not catch fire because of the wet conditions," KWTX says.
Tires were also slashed around the property, police say. Webb was found at his mother's house and arrested again for attempted arson.
WILLIAM WEBB: BABY IN HIS CARE GETS WASTED ON VODKA; HE THEN TRIES TO BURN ACCUSER’S HOME
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
March 12, 2012
Two things you should know about William Webb, if what police charge him with is true: Don't let him babysit your kid, and don't hire him to be your arsonist.
Webb, 27, was arrested last week after a lengthy investigation. Waco police say, according to KWTX, that he was babysitting an infant in December and when the mother came home, she thought the baby was acting strangely.
A trip to the hospital discovered a blood-alcohol level of an amazing 0.291 percent, which even a Galveston Spring Breaker would find difficult to achieve.
"A bottle of vodka was found on a coffee table at the home where Webb was watching the baby, but it's unclear how the baby ingested the alcohol," the station says.
The baby is recovering, but the story wasn't done yet.
Webb bonded out of jail and, police say, began making threats to his accuser.
Then, violating a protective order, he went to the accuser's house and tried to set it on fire.
He poured gasoline around the house, but his arson skills were apparently as well-honed as his babysitting skills.
"The home did not catch fire because of the wet conditions," KWTX says.
Tires were also slashed around the property, police say. Webb was found at his mother's house and arrested again for attempted arson.
VULTURES EATING THE CROPS AT TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY FARM
I wonder if they use cheap farm labor at the body farm?
REAPING WHAT YOU SOW AT THE BODY FARM
Grits For Breakfast
March 11, 2012
I don't know what if anything it says about us, but there are five "body farms" in the United States where scientists perform real-world studies on how corpses decay, and two of them are in Texas, at Sam Houston State and Texas State Universities. AP has a story about the body farm in San Marcos (Texas State University), which has been studying the relation between vultures and decomposition, including findings that could have implications in possible innocence cases.
“If you say someone did it and you say it was at least a year, could it have been two weeks instead?” said Michelle Hamilton, an assistant professor at the school’s forensic anthropology research facility. “It has larger implications than what we thought initially.”
The vulture study, conducted on 26 acres near the Texas campus, stemmed from previous studies that used dead pigs, which decompose much like humans. Scientists set up a motion-sensing camera that captured the vultures jumping up and down on the woman’s body, breaking some of her ribs, which investigators could also misinterpret as trauma suffered during a beating.
Grits first heard about Texas' body farms last year from an SHSU prof who was excited by the work, and indeed, in its macabre fashion, this is important, cutting edge stuff, applying the scientific method to subjects about which medical examiners have given expert opinions for years with little hard data to support definitive conclusions. Fascinating stuff.
REAPING WHAT YOU SOW AT THE BODY FARM
Grits For Breakfast
March 11, 2012
I don't know what if anything it says about us, but there are five "body farms" in the United States where scientists perform real-world studies on how corpses decay, and two of them are in Texas, at Sam Houston State and Texas State Universities. AP has a story about the body farm in San Marcos (Texas State University), which has been studying the relation between vultures and decomposition, including findings that could have implications in possible innocence cases.
“If you say someone did it and you say it was at least a year, could it have been two weeks instead?” said Michelle Hamilton, an assistant professor at the school’s forensic anthropology research facility. “It has larger implications than what we thought initially.”
The vulture study, conducted on 26 acres near the Texas campus, stemmed from previous studies that used dead pigs, which decompose much like humans. Scientists set up a motion-sensing camera that captured the vultures jumping up and down on the woman’s body, breaking some of her ribs, which investigators could also misinterpret as trauma suffered during a beating.
Grits first heard about Texas' body farms last year from an SHSU prof who was excited by the work, and indeed, in its macabre fashion, this is important, cutting edge stuff, applying the scientific method to subjects about which medical examiners have given expert opinions for years with little hard data to support definitive conclusions. Fascinating stuff.
Monday, March 12, 2012
JUSTICE METED OUT TO PROFESSOR OF JUSTICE STUDIES
Bob Walsh says: “These two sick bastards should be put into the bottom of a deep, dark hole and never ever be let out again. Actually they should be stood against a wall and shot, but we can’t do that anymore unless there is a murder involved. Damn shame!”
And to think that this pedophile professor was teaching cops and wannabe cops at California State University.
EX-CAL STATE EAST BAY PROFESSOR SENTENCED TO 37 YEARS FOR CHILD SEX ABUSE
By Chris De Benedetti
San Jose Mercury News
March 9, 2012
SAN FRANCISCO -- A former Cal State East Bay assistant professor was sentenced to 37 years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to one count of aggravated child sex abuse, federal prosecutors said.
Kenneth Martin Kyle, 47, also was ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution for traveling across state lines to sexually abuse a child, said United States Attorney Melinda Haag.
Kyle was arrested and indicted in 2010, prompting him to resign from Cal State East Bay in Hayward, where he was an assistant professor of Justice Studies.
He was taken into custody after undercover FBI agents discovered he was sharing child pornography over the Internet, Haag said.
Authorities then searched his San Francisco apartment and found computers containing child pornography, prosecutors said.
Kyle also has admitted to molesting an infant near St. Louis, Mo., authorities said.
Prosecutors said the abuse began in August 2009, when the child was five-months-old, and continued over the course of several months.
The infant's 22-year-old mother -- Tessa Van Vlerah, of Ballwin, Mo. -- is facing federal child pornography charges in California and Missouri, and has pleaded guilty to child molestation charges in her home state, authorities said.
And to think that this pedophile professor was teaching cops and wannabe cops at California State University.
EX-CAL STATE EAST BAY PROFESSOR SENTENCED TO 37 YEARS FOR CHILD SEX ABUSE
By Chris De Benedetti
San Jose Mercury News
March 9, 2012
SAN FRANCISCO -- A former Cal State East Bay assistant professor was sentenced to 37 years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to one count of aggravated child sex abuse, federal prosecutors said.
Kenneth Martin Kyle, 47, also was ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution for traveling across state lines to sexually abuse a child, said United States Attorney Melinda Haag.
Kyle was arrested and indicted in 2010, prompting him to resign from Cal State East Bay in Hayward, where he was an assistant professor of Justice Studies.
He was taken into custody after undercover FBI agents discovered he was sharing child pornography over the Internet, Haag said.
Authorities then searched his San Francisco apartment and found computers containing child pornography, prosecutors said.
Kyle also has admitted to molesting an infant near St. Louis, Mo., authorities said.
Prosecutors said the abuse began in August 2009, when the child was five-months-old, and continued over the course of several months.
The infant's 22-year-old mother -- Tessa Van Vlerah, of Ballwin, Mo. -- is facing federal child pornography charges in California and Missouri, and has pleaded guilty to child molestation charges in her home state, authorities said.
SHE STILL LOVES HIM, OR AT LEAST HIS MONEY
After getting shot in a plot by her rich lawyer husband and his mistress, she files for divorce, then reconciles with him. Apparently, money can buy happiness despite three attempts on her life.
MURDER-FOR-HIRE MISTRESS WORTH $500,000, ATTORNEYS SAY
By Brian Rogers
Houston Chronicle
March 10, 2012
The mistress of a prominent Bellaire lawyer should pay for medical expenses and emotional distress inflicted upon her lover's wife when she tried to kill her in three separate 2010 murder-for-hire plots, according to the wife's attorneys.
Yvonne Stern this week filed a lawsuit against Michelle Gaiser, who has admitted in court to solicitation of capital murder.
"Recently, Mrs. Stern learned that Gaiser accumulated substantial wealth," said Yvonne Stern's attorney, Chip Lewis. "Mrs. Stern feels it is only right that she and her family are justly compensated for the irreparable harm suffered at the hands of this evil woman."
Lewis said he believes Gaiser has about $500,000 in savings and holdings, including more than $100,000 invested in a restaurant. He said he interviewed former lovers, business partners and people who know Gaiser.
"She was known to walk around with $10,000 to $20,000, in cash, all the time," Lewis said. "And that certainly explains how she had cash to pay all these men who couldn't shoot straight."
Attorneys for Gaiser said she remains in the Harris County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.
"If she had that kind of money, she would just post a cash bond, because she would get it all back after the trial," said James Stafford.
Gaiser has agreed to plead guilty to solicitation of capital murder with a sentence capped at 25 years in return for testifying against her former lover and the hit men she hired to try to kill his wife.
Jeffrey Stern also has been charged with solicitation of capital murder, accused of masterminding the plot with Gaiser as the go-between.
After Gaiser was arrested in May 2010, Jeffrey Stern confessed their affair to his wife, who then filed for divorce.
The couple has since reconciled, and Yvonne Stern maintains that her husband had nothing to do with the plots.
Gaiser's attorneys said the lawsuit is a legal maneuver for Jeffrey Stern's lawyers to get more information about Gaiser before his trial.
Jeffrey Stern's lawyers disagreed and said they are prepared to defend him at trial, which has been scheduled for April.
Prosecutors trying to convict Jeffrey Stern are expected to argue that Gaiser was the middleman, funneling money from her lover to would-be hit men.
Gaiser has testified that she hired Damian Ricardo Flores, 28, whose trial last year ended in a mistrial because of a hung jury. He is expected to be retried.
Flores was accused of shooting Stern in the abdomen on May 5, 2010, the only plot that ended in injury.
On April 15, 2010, Nhut Nguyen knocked on the Sterns' door, then fired a shot through it at Yvonne Stern and her son. He was sentenced last year to 45 years in prison after being convicted of aggravated assault.
Before that shooting, Yvonne Stern was targeted in a drive-by shooting with no result.
MURDER-FOR-HIRE MISTRESS WORTH $500,000, ATTORNEYS SAY
By Brian Rogers
Houston Chronicle
March 10, 2012
The mistress of a prominent Bellaire lawyer should pay for medical expenses and emotional distress inflicted upon her lover's wife when she tried to kill her in three separate 2010 murder-for-hire plots, according to the wife's attorneys.
Yvonne Stern this week filed a lawsuit against Michelle Gaiser, who has admitted in court to solicitation of capital murder.
"Recently, Mrs. Stern learned that Gaiser accumulated substantial wealth," said Yvonne Stern's attorney, Chip Lewis. "Mrs. Stern feels it is only right that she and her family are justly compensated for the irreparable harm suffered at the hands of this evil woman."
Lewis said he believes Gaiser has about $500,000 in savings and holdings, including more than $100,000 invested in a restaurant. He said he interviewed former lovers, business partners and people who know Gaiser.
"She was known to walk around with $10,000 to $20,000, in cash, all the time," Lewis said. "And that certainly explains how she had cash to pay all these men who couldn't shoot straight."
Attorneys for Gaiser said she remains in the Harris County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.
"If she had that kind of money, she would just post a cash bond, because she would get it all back after the trial," said James Stafford.
Gaiser has agreed to plead guilty to solicitation of capital murder with a sentence capped at 25 years in return for testifying against her former lover and the hit men she hired to try to kill his wife.
Jeffrey Stern also has been charged with solicitation of capital murder, accused of masterminding the plot with Gaiser as the go-between.
After Gaiser was arrested in May 2010, Jeffrey Stern confessed their affair to his wife, who then filed for divorce.
The couple has since reconciled, and Yvonne Stern maintains that her husband had nothing to do with the plots.
Gaiser's attorneys said the lawsuit is a legal maneuver for Jeffrey Stern's lawyers to get more information about Gaiser before his trial.
Jeffrey Stern's lawyers disagreed and said they are prepared to defend him at trial, which has been scheduled for April.
Prosecutors trying to convict Jeffrey Stern are expected to argue that Gaiser was the middleman, funneling money from her lover to would-be hit men.
Gaiser has testified that she hired Damian Ricardo Flores, 28, whose trial last year ended in a mistrial because of a hung jury. He is expected to be retried.
Flores was accused of shooting Stern in the abdomen on May 5, 2010, the only plot that ended in injury.
On April 15, 2010, Nhut Nguyen knocked on the Sterns' door, then fired a shot through it at Yvonne Stern and her son. He was sentenced last year to 45 years in prison after being convicted of aggravated assault.
Before that shooting, Yvonne Stern was targeted in a drive-by shooting with no result.
BRAGGING ABOUT TEXAS
A friend sent me an email about how Texas would make out if it seceded from the Union to become the independent Republic of Texas. Of course, Texas cannot secede from the Union because the U.S. Constitution does not permit the secession of any state. But Texans can brag about their state because:
We refine over 85% of the gasoline in the United States .
Defense Industry--we have over 65% of it. The term "Don't mess with Texas," will take on a whole new meaning.
Oil - we can supply all the oil that the Republic of Texas will need for the next 300 years. Yankee states? Sorry about that.
Natural Gas - again we have all we need and it's too bad about those Northern States. John Kerry will have to figure out a way to keep them warm....
Computer Industry - we currently lead the nation in producing computer chips and communications--small companies like Texas Instruments, Dell Computer, EDS, Raytheon, National Semiconductor, Motorola, Intel, AMD, Atmel, Applied Materials, Ball Miconductor, Dallas Semiconductor, Delphi, Nortel, Alcatel, etc, etc. The list goes on and on.
Medical Care - We have the largest research centers for cancer research, the best burn centers and the top trauma units in the world, as well as other large health centers. Dallas has some of the best hospitals in the United States .
We have enough colleges to keep us going: University of Texas , Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Rice, SMU, University of Houston , Baylor, University of North Texas [My alma mater], Texas Women's University, etc. Ivy grows better in the South anyway.
We have a ready supply of workers. We could just open the border when we need some more.
We have essential control of the paper industry, plastics, insurance, etc.
We are totally self-sufficient in beef, poultry, hogs, and several types of grain, fruit and vegetables, and let's not forget seafood from the Gulf. Also, everybody down here knows how to cook them so that they taste good. Don't need any food.
This just names a few of the items that will keep the Republic of Texas in good shape. There isn't a thing out there that we need and don't have.
[And for laughs.] In case of a foreign invasion, we have the Texas National Guard and the Texas Air National Guard. We don't have an Army, but since everybody down here has at least six rifles and a pile of ammo, we can raise an Army in 24 hours if we need one. If the situation really gets bad, we can always call the Department of Public Safety and ask them to send over Chuck Norris and a couple of Texas Rangers.
We refine over 85% of the gasoline in the United States .
Defense Industry--we have over 65% of it. The term "Don't mess with Texas," will take on a whole new meaning.
Oil - we can supply all the oil that the Republic of Texas will need for the next 300 years. Yankee states? Sorry about that.
Natural Gas - again we have all we need and it's too bad about those Northern States. John Kerry will have to figure out a way to keep them warm....
Computer Industry - we currently lead the nation in producing computer chips and communications--small companies like Texas Instruments, Dell Computer, EDS, Raytheon, National Semiconductor, Motorola, Intel, AMD, Atmel, Applied Materials, Ball Miconductor, Dallas Semiconductor, Delphi, Nortel, Alcatel, etc, etc. The list goes on and on.
Medical Care - We have the largest research centers for cancer research, the best burn centers and the top trauma units in the world, as well as other large health centers. Dallas has some of the best hospitals in the United States .
We have enough colleges to keep us going: University of Texas , Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Rice, SMU, University of Houston , Baylor, University of North Texas [My alma mater], Texas Women's University, etc. Ivy grows better in the South anyway.
We have a ready supply of workers. We could just open the border when we need some more.
We have essential control of the paper industry, plastics, insurance, etc.
We are totally self-sufficient in beef, poultry, hogs, and several types of grain, fruit and vegetables, and let's not forget seafood from the Gulf. Also, everybody down here knows how to cook them so that they taste good. Don't need any food.
This just names a few of the items that will keep the Republic of Texas in good shape. There isn't a thing out there that we need and don't have.
[And for laughs.] In case of a foreign invasion, we have the Texas National Guard and the Texas Air National Guard. We don't have an Army, but since everybody down here has at least six rifles and a pile of ammo, we can raise an Army in 24 hours if we need one. If the situation really gets bad, we can always call the Department of Public Safety and ask them to send over Chuck Norris and a couple of Texas Rangers.
HEADCOUNT FAILURE AFTER BIRTHDAY PARTY AT CHUCK E. CHEESE’S
The morning after: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and …..Oh oh, one is missing.
MOM OF 10 ‘UPSET’ AFTER LEAVING 5-YEAR-OLD AT CHUCK E. CHEESE’S
By Robert Stanton
Houston Chronicle
March 10, 2011
A Houston mom left her 5-year-old daughter behind at a Pearland Chuck E. Cheese's late Thursday after a birthday party ended, a Brazoria County sheriff's official said.
An employee of the Chuck E. Cheese's at 3141 Silver Lake Village Drive in unincorporated Pearland called deputies about 10:50 p.m. after noticing the girl had been left behind, said Jeff Mink, an investigator at the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies arrived and could not locate the mother, and the child was taken into custody by Child Protective Services.
On Friday morning, the 32-year-old mother of 10 "realized she was missing her girl" and called 911.
Mink said that 19 children and three adults attended the party, including another mother with six children and a third mother with her three children.
The mother who left without her daughter was remorseful about the incident, Mink said.
"She was very upset and couldn't understand how she left her 5-year-old behind," he said.
No charges have been filed in the case, which is under investigation.
MOM OF 10 ‘UPSET’ AFTER LEAVING 5-YEAR-OLD AT CHUCK E. CHEESE’S
By Robert Stanton
Houston Chronicle
March 10, 2011
A Houston mom left her 5-year-old daughter behind at a Pearland Chuck E. Cheese's late Thursday after a birthday party ended, a Brazoria County sheriff's official said.
An employee of the Chuck E. Cheese's at 3141 Silver Lake Village Drive in unincorporated Pearland called deputies about 10:50 p.m. after noticing the girl had been left behind, said Jeff Mink, an investigator at the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies arrived and could not locate the mother, and the child was taken into custody by Child Protective Services.
On Friday morning, the 32-year-old mother of 10 "realized she was missing her girl" and called 911.
Mink said that 19 children and three adults attended the party, including another mother with six children and a third mother with her three children.
The mother who left without her daughter was remorseful about the incident, Mink said.
"She was very upset and couldn't understand how she left her 5-year-old behind," he said.
No charges have been filed in the case, which is under investigation.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
TWIN-BROTHERLY LOVE ON TRIAL
And here I thought this sort of thing happens only in America.
MAN SUSPECTED OF MURDERING PARENTS ACCUSES TWIN BROTHER
Suspect’s attorney claims DNA found at crime scene could belong to twin
By Oz Rosenberg
HAARETZ.com
March 8, 2012
A man indicted for brutally murdering his parents in Jerusalem last year changed his tack in court yesterday and accused his twin brother of committing the murder.
Daniel Maoz was arrested in September as the primary suspect in the gruesome murder of his parents, Noah and Nurit Maoz. The couple were found stabbed to death in their Ramot neighborhood home in Jerusalem on August 14.
"You murdered your parents," Maoz's attorney accused Nir Maoz, the defendant's twin brother, as he testified on the witness stand in Jerusalem District Court yesterday.
The attorney, David Barhoom, of the public defender's office, argued the DNA found at the crime scene does not necessarily mean Daniel Maoz is the murderer, since it could also belong to his twin brother.
Barhoom said the defendant had not made this accusation for the past seven months because his brother had threatened to tell everyone that Daniel had pedophilic tendencies if he did.
Haaretz has documents showing Daniel Maoz had intended to incriminate his twin brother almost as soon as he was arrested some six months ago.
In September Daniel Maoz asked the court, through his former attorney, Ariel Atari, to instruct the police to show him material regarding his brother's testimony in the investigation. Maoz said his brother had served in the same police surveillance unit that had kept tabs on him until his arrest and had contacted some of the officers he knew.
Maoz said in the request that his brother Nir's "DNA could have been at the [murder] site."
Barhoom said yesterday Daniel Maoz had hinted to the investigating officers that he was being blackmailed by his brother, but they "didn't get the hints."
Maoz's sister, Tamar Palmon-Maoz, said after the court session, "Danny deceived the family over the past years and is continuing to do so in court. We have no doubt the truth will out."
Maoz's attorney said bloody fingerprints were found in places in the house Nir Maoz said he had not been in, after finding his parents' bodies.
Barhoom said Nir Maoz had served in a classified Israel Defense Forces unit and had dealt with martial arts, indicating he was capable of committing the murder.
Barhoom said a neighbor, Moshe Rosenfeld, told the police he had seen the murderer's shadow at the entrance to the house on the night of the murder and described it as "tall as the mezuza."
Barhoom said this is more like Nir, who is some 10 centimeters shorter than the defendant.
Nir Maoz said, "It's a lie. What you accused me of and the way you did it is unforgivable."
Earlier, Nir Maoz testified about the day of the murder. "When I opened the door I smelled a strong smell of bleach. I entered and saw my mother on the floor. Immediately after that I saw my father. I screamed... I tried to touch mother's cheek, to see if it was warm. Because of the stabs I couldn't check the pulse in her neck," he said.
The murdered woman's sister, Ofra Weisman, said on the witness stand, "The only connection the family has to the crime world was Danny's gambling. We tried to think who did it and the natural choice was Danny."
"In the shiva Danny used to make long telephone calls outside the house... he also took my son and daughter's phones and made long calls," she said.
"It was clear from an early stage he was pushing to pull the house apart, sell pictures, money they had coming following the parents' murder... it didn't look good," she said.
Tamar Palmon-Maoz, who testified earlier, said the family felt Daniel was tied to their parents' murder. "I kept thinking Danny is somehow connected to it. From the first day I thought he had something to do with the murder. Not committed it necessarily, but had something to do with it," she said.
MAN SUSPECTED OF MURDERING PARENTS ACCUSES TWIN BROTHER
Suspect’s attorney claims DNA found at crime scene could belong to twin
By Oz Rosenberg
HAARETZ.com
March 8, 2012
A man indicted for brutally murdering his parents in Jerusalem last year changed his tack in court yesterday and accused his twin brother of committing the murder.
Daniel Maoz was arrested in September as the primary suspect in the gruesome murder of his parents, Noah and Nurit Maoz. The couple were found stabbed to death in their Ramot neighborhood home in Jerusalem on August 14.
"You murdered your parents," Maoz's attorney accused Nir Maoz, the defendant's twin brother, as he testified on the witness stand in Jerusalem District Court yesterday.
The attorney, David Barhoom, of the public defender's office, argued the DNA found at the crime scene does not necessarily mean Daniel Maoz is the murderer, since it could also belong to his twin brother.
Barhoom said the defendant had not made this accusation for the past seven months because his brother had threatened to tell everyone that Daniel had pedophilic tendencies if he did.
Haaretz has documents showing Daniel Maoz had intended to incriminate his twin brother almost as soon as he was arrested some six months ago.
In September Daniel Maoz asked the court, through his former attorney, Ariel Atari, to instruct the police to show him material regarding his brother's testimony in the investigation. Maoz said his brother had served in the same police surveillance unit that had kept tabs on him until his arrest and had contacted some of the officers he knew.
Maoz said in the request that his brother Nir's "DNA could have been at the [murder] site."
Barhoom said yesterday Daniel Maoz had hinted to the investigating officers that he was being blackmailed by his brother, but they "didn't get the hints."
Maoz's sister, Tamar Palmon-Maoz, said after the court session, "Danny deceived the family over the past years and is continuing to do so in court. We have no doubt the truth will out."
Maoz's attorney said bloody fingerprints were found in places in the house Nir Maoz said he had not been in, after finding his parents' bodies.
Barhoom said Nir Maoz had served in a classified Israel Defense Forces unit and had dealt with martial arts, indicating he was capable of committing the murder.
Barhoom said a neighbor, Moshe Rosenfeld, told the police he had seen the murderer's shadow at the entrance to the house on the night of the murder and described it as "tall as the mezuza."
Barhoom said this is more like Nir, who is some 10 centimeters shorter than the defendant.
Nir Maoz said, "It's a lie. What you accused me of and the way you did it is unforgivable."
Earlier, Nir Maoz testified about the day of the murder. "When I opened the door I smelled a strong smell of bleach. I entered and saw my mother on the floor. Immediately after that I saw my father. I screamed... I tried to touch mother's cheek, to see if it was warm. Because of the stabs I couldn't check the pulse in her neck," he said.
The murdered woman's sister, Ofra Weisman, said on the witness stand, "The only connection the family has to the crime world was Danny's gambling. We tried to think who did it and the natural choice was Danny."
"In the shiva Danny used to make long telephone calls outside the house... he also took my son and daughter's phones and made long calls," she said.
"It was clear from an early stage he was pushing to pull the house apart, sell pictures, money they had coming following the parents' murder... it didn't look good," she said.
Tamar Palmon-Maoz, who testified earlier, said the family felt Daniel was tied to their parents' murder. "I kept thinking Danny is somehow connected to it. From the first day I thought he had something to do with the murder. Not committed it necessarily, but had something to do with it," she said.
FEMINIST LAWYER WANTS RUSH PROSECUTED FOR CALLING A SLUT A SLUT
Feminist mouthpiece Gloria Allred, in a letter on Thursday, asked the Palm Beach County Attorney’s Office to prosecute Rush Limbaugh under an 1893 Florida law for calling Sandra Fluke a prostitute and a slut. That law states: “Whoever speaks of and concerning any woman, married or unmarried, falsely and maliciously imputing to her a want of chastity, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.”
Now I have little use for Limbaugh, referring to him as Roach Limburger, calling him a Texas Blivot (10 pounds of shit in a 2 pound bag) and referring to his dittoheads as dodoheads. However, while ole Roach should not have ranted against Fluke the way he did because that rant all but guaranteed the reelection of Obama, I am compelled to defend the Texas Blivot.
Fluke, a ‘reproductive rights activist’, said her fellow students at Georgetown were forced to use their own money to pay up to $1,000 a year for birth control or more than $3,000 while they were in law school. She whined that she was on a ‘Public Interest scholarship’ and she was forced to spend an ‘entire summer’s salary’ on contraceptives.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines slut as “a woman of loose morals.” And Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines slut as “a promiscuous woman.” Since every major religious faith considers sex outside of marriage to be immoral, both definitions pretty well describe Fluke, an unmarried woman who spends $1,000 a year on contraceptives.
Those of us from what Tom Brokaw called THE GREATEST GENERATION, as well as younger seniors, believe that a promiscuous single woman with a need for spending an ‘entire summer’s salary’ on contraceptives is simply put, a slut.
I realize there is a huge generation gap between us older Americans and the younger generation, but that doesn’t change the definition of a slut. And by her own words before a special congressional panel called by Nancy Pelosi, the law student pretty well described herself as being very sexually active. Considering that she is a single woman, Fluke fits the definition of “a woman of loose morals” and “a promiscuous woman”, i.e., a slut.
The county attorney’s office has forwarded Allred’s letter to the State Attorney’s Office which is responsible for criminal matters. Let’s hope the state attorney discards Allred’s letter into the trash bin where it belongs.
NOTE: ‘JC’, a PACOVILLA follower, was very critical of the 'ignorance' in what I wrote. Here are some excerpts of what he said:
“SLUT is a degrading, derogatory term used to demean, demoralize, and objectify women, including mothers, daughters, sisters and friends we all know. The term gets used as a way to hurt or degrade another, true or not.
……… And as for the promiscuous accusations of Ms. Fluke and all other women, it would seem once again, this topic is being discussed, debated and judged by lets just say, some ignorant men. YOU MUST TAKE A PILL EVERYDAY NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU HAVE SEX. Even if you have sex once a month, or no times a month, you must complete the cycle of pills.
……… Mr Limburger’s stinky term was meant to degrade, insult and objectify Ms. Fluke and Women in general, so that he could prove his opinion correct by degrading and berating Ms. Fluke, rather than use facts and the truth. This is common, rather than debate the issue, on equal ground, with facts or opinion, people will commonly try to place others on a lower moral or personal level, to prove themselves 'right' or win a debate.”
And here is a rebuttal from ‘1962’:
“JC, your mind is spending too much time in the Twilight Zone. That young woman went before Congress (and the American people) and basically stated she is having lots of sex and someone else needs to pay for her contraception. Limbaugh’s comments were directed at Ms. Fluke after she admitted in front of Congress of her promiscuity. She is law student, and if she is so smart, maybe she would have her boyfriend(s) pay for her contraception. And besides, take your own advice on name calling - you did call us a bunch of 'uneducated, ignorant' men.”
Now I have little use for Limbaugh, referring to him as Roach Limburger, calling him a Texas Blivot (10 pounds of shit in a 2 pound bag) and referring to his dittoheads as dodoheads. However, while ole Roach should not have ranted against Fluke the way he did because that rant all but guaranteed the reelection of Obama, I am compelled to defend the Texas Blivot.
Fluke, a ‘reproductive rights activist’, said her fellow students at Georgetown were forced to use their own money to pay up to $1,000 a year for birth control or more than $3,000 while they were in law school. She whined that she was on a ‘Public Interest scholarship’ and she was forced to spend an ‘entire summer’s salary’ on contraceptives.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines slut as “a woman of loose morals.” And Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines slut as “a promiscuous woman.” Since every major religious faith considers sex outside of marriage to be immoral, both definitions pretty well describe Fluke, an unmarried woman who spends $1,000 a year on contraceptives.
Those of us from what Tom Brokaw called THE GREATEST GENERATION, as well as younger seniors, believe that a promiscuous single woman with a need for spending an ‘entire summer’s salary’ on contraceptives is simply put, a slut.
I realize there is a huge generation gap between us older Americans and the younger generation, but that doesn’t change the definition of a slut. And by her own words before a special congressional panel called by Nancy Pelosi, the law student pretty well described herself as being very sexually active. Considering that she is a single woman, Fluke fits the definition of “a woman of loose morals” and “a promiscuous woman”, i.e., a slut.
The county attorney’s office has forwarded Allred’s letter to the State Attorney’s Office which is responsible for criminal matters. Let’s hope the state attorney discards Allred’s letter into the trash bin where it belongs.
NOTE: ‘JC’, a PACOVILLA follower, was very critical of the 'ignorance' in what I wrote. Here are some excerpts of what he said:
“SLUT is a degrading, derogatory term used to demean, demoralize, and objectify women, including mothers, daughters, sisters and friends we all know. The term gets used as a way to hurt or degrade another, true or not.
……… And as for the promiscuous accusations of Ms. Fluke and all other women, it would seem once again, this topic is being discussed, debated and judged by lets just say, some ignorant men. YOU MUST TAKE A PILL EVERYDAY NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU HAVE SEX. Even if you have sex once a month, or no times a month, you must complete the cycle of pills.
……… Mr Limburger’s stinky term was meant to degrade, insult and objectify Ms. Fluke and Women in general, so that he could prove his opinion correct by degrading and berating Ms. Fluke, rather than use facts and the truth. This is common, rather than debate the issue, on equal ground, with facts or opinion, people will commonly try to place others on a lower moral or personal level, to prove themselves 'right' or win a debate.”
And here is a rebuttal from ‘1962’:
“JC, your mind is spending too much time in the Twilight Zone. That young woman went before Congress (and the American people) and basically stated she is having lots of sex and someone else needs to pay for her contraception. Limbaugh’s comments were directed at Ms. Fluke after she admitted in front of Congress of her promiscuity. She is law student, and if she is so smart, maybe she would have her boyfriend(s) pay for her contraception. And besides, take your own advice on name calling - you did call us a bunch of 'uneducated, ignorant' men.”
VATICAN DISPATCHES ELITE TEAM OF BISHOPS TO SABOTAGE CONTRACEPTIVE MANUFACTURER
The Onion
March 6, 2012
VATICAN CITY—Anonymous sources within the Vatican confirmed Tuesday that Pope Benedict XVI has dispatched a crack team of six highly skilled bishops to sabotage the New York headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, a leading contraceptive manufacturer.
Responding to what it called the "ongoing crisis of readily available birth control," the Vatican reportedly assembled its finest clerical operatives—an elite unit consisting of the Roman Catholic Church's very best demolitions expert, cryptographer, forger, con artist, helicopter pilot, and martial arts master—and briefed them on the confidential mission in a secret command bunker deep beneath the catacombs of St. Peter's Basilica.
"Gentlemen, in today's world, God's divine plan itself is under threat," Pope Benedict is said to have told the bishops as he paced across a room full of large screens monitoring the world's top producers of oral contraceptives, condoms, intrauterine devices, and spermicidal lubricants. "Companies like Pfizer are making it possible for women to avoid bearing children they don't want or cannot afford to care for. Our intelligence assets indicate some are even engaging in sex for no purpose beyond their own pleasure."
"It's time to send a clear message that the church will not take this sitting down," the Pope continued. "It won't be easy, but you're the best consecrated men of God we have. And trust me, for this mission, we'll need the best."
Known officially as the Sixth Conclave for the Defense of Mankind Against All Carnalities of the Flesh—or Conclave 6, for short—the Vatican's most lethal squad of bishops is believed to be headed by master tactician Archbishop Wolfgang Haas of Liechtenstein, with major reconnaissance being handled by Phoenix Bishop Thomas "The Ground Hawk" Olmsted, who doubles as the group's sniper.
Sources said the team will be deployed to the extraction point near the Pfizer Building in midtown Manhattan at approximately 0900 hours this morning, at which point former KGB agent and master of disguise Archbishop Paolo Pezzi of Russia will proceed into the lobby dressed in a chemist's lab coat, while notorious ex-convict Li Shan, archbishop of Beijing, infiltrates the facility's ventilation system and dismantles all security devices.
After explosives expert Bishop Séamus Freeman plants his extremely powerful charges at key structural points within the skyscraper, the men will have approximately 10 minutes to rendezvous at their nearby safe house, St. Patrick's Cathedral.
"Conclave 6 is behind some of the Catholic Church's most crucial and dangerous operations," said an anonymous source within the Vatican, adding that the team has the highest kill count of any of the church's 33 special-ops units. "They've been known to confuse and outwit their opponents by communicating with one another across long distances using arcane liturgical chants sung piercingly in the original Latin. It's brilliant stuff. The Pope would trust them with his life."
"They'll have their work cut out for them this time," the source added, "but they can't turn this mission down—not with the potential lives of all those not-yet-conceived children on the line."
The team is expected to face tough security from Pfizer following a recent operation in which Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York replaced millions of doses of the company's Lo/Ovral-brand birth control drug with sugar pills, causing a successful number of unplanned pregnancies and a worldwide recall of the contraceptives.
"With the forces of secularism waging war against God, it is necessary that we respond with precision and—in some cases—violence," read an encrypted papal communication intercepted in Rome. "For it is nothing compared to the violence of the genocide being visited every day upon billions of unfertilized ova."
"We shall not rest until we have ensured every human sexual act concludes with the unimpeded ejaculation of each drop of semen directly into the vagina of a woman," the pope's message continued.
Reached for comment, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi refused to comment on rumors that a B-team of covert needle-wielding ordained priests had been dispatched to a latex factory in New Jersey to poke tiny holes in thousands of Trojan condoms.
March 6, 2012
VATICAN CITY—Anonymous sources within the Vatican confirmed Tuesday that Pope Benedict XVI has dispatched a crack team of six highly skilled bishops to sabotage the New York headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, a leading contraceptive manufacturer.
Responding to what it called the "ongoing crisis of readily available birth control," the Vatican reportedly assembled its finest clerical operatives—an elite unit consisting of the Roman Catholic Church's very best demolitions expert, cryptographer, forger, con artist, helicopter pilot, and martial arts master—and briefed them on the confidential mission in a secret command bunker deep beneath the catacombs of St. Peter's Basilica.
"Gentlemen, in today's world, God's divine plan itself is under threat," Pope Benedict is said to have told the bishops as he paced across a room full of large screens monitoring the world's top producers of oral contraceptives, condoms, intrauterine devices, and spermicidal lubricants. "Companies like Pfizer are making it possible for women to avoid bearing children they don't want or cannot afford to care for. Our intelligence assets indicate some are even engaging in sex for no purpose beyond their own pleasure."
"It's time to send a clear message that the church will not take this sitting down," the Pope continued. "It won't be easy, but you're the best consecrated men of God we have. And trust me, for this mission, we'll need the best."
Known officially as the Sixth Conclave for the Defense of Mankind Against All Carnalities of the Flesh—or Conclave 6, for short—the Vatican's most lethal squad of bishops is believed to be headed by master tactician Archbishop Wolfgang Haas of Liechtenstein, with major reconnaissance being handled by Phoenix Bishop Thomas "The Ground Hawk" Olmsted, who doubles as the group's sniper.
Sources said the team will be deployed to the extraction point near the Pfizer Building in midtown Manhattan at approximately 0900 hours this morning, at which point former KGB agent and master of disguise Archbishop Paolo Pezzi of Russia will proceed into the lobby dressed in a chemist's lab coat, while notorious ex-convict Li Shan, archbishop of Beijing, infiltrates the facility's ventilation system and dismantles all security devices.
After explosives expert Bishop Séamus Freeman plants his extremely powerful charges at key structural points within the skyscraper, the men will have approximately 10 minutes to rendezvous at their nearby safe house, St. Patrick's Cathedral.
"Conclave 6 is behind some of the Catholic Church's most crucial and dangerous operations," said an anonymous source within the Vatican, adding that the team has the highest kill count of any of the church's 33 special-ops units. "They've been known to confuse and outwit their opponents by communicating with one another across long distances using arcane liturgical chants sung piercingly in the original Latin. It's brilliant stuff. The Pope would trust them with his life."
"They'll have their work cut out for them this time," the source added, "but they can't turn this mission down—not with the potential lives of all those not-yet-conceived children on the line."
The team is expected to face tough security from Pfizer following a recent operation in which Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York replaced millions of doses of the company's Lo/Ovral-brand birth control drug with sugar pills, causing a successful number of unplanned pregnancies and a worldwide recall of the contraceptives.
"With the forces of secularism waging war against God, it is necessary that we respond with precision and—in some cases—violence," read an encrypted papal communication intercepted in Rome. "For it is nothing compared to the violence of the genocide being visited every day upon billions of unfertilized ova."
"We shall not rest until we have ensured every human sexual act concludes with the unimpeded ejaculation of each drop of semen directly into the vagina of a woman," the pope's message continued.
Reached for comment, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi refused to comment on rumors that a B-team of covert needle-wielding ordained priests had been dispatched to a latex factory in New Jersey to poke tiny holes in thousands of Trojan condoms.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
KONY: NOT SO FAST!
The half-hour video ‘KONY 2012’ has been viewed by more than 60 million people on You Tube since Monday. This fund raising campaign to hunt down Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony for atrocities committed by his Lord's Resistance Army has been taken up by entertainment celebrities - Justin Bieber, Oprah Winfrey, Tori Spelling, Sean 'Diddy' Combs, Rhianna and four Kardashians for starters - and countless young people.
But, all you gullible souls out there, not so fast! According to a charity watchdog group, Invisible Children, the San Diego-based organization behind KONY 2012, spends a high percentage of the donations it receives on overhead, with only 37 percent actually supporting its programs in Africa. Moreover, Kony is not even in Uganda anymore and he’s no longer the menace he once was - his LRA is down to a mere 250 fighters rather than the 30,000 that the video claims, and they are on the run.
So, before you squander your dollars on the hunt for Kony, you might think about contributing to some truly worthwhile organizations that try to reduce the starvation and diseases, like AIDS, that afflict a multitude of Africans.
From Mail Online:
The explosive popularity of the Stop Kony campaign has also cast a harsh glare on the cause and on Invisible Children, the organization behind it.
For starters, Kony already seems to be marginalized. His forces -- once thousands strong -- have been so degraded that the Ugandan military no longer considers him a threat to the region. Because of the intensified hunt for Kony, his forces split into smaller groups that can travel the jungle more easily
Experts estimate that the LRA now has only about 250 fighters. Still, the militia abducts children, forcing them to serve as soldiers or sex slaves, and even to kill their parents or each other to survive. The LRA now operates in Congo, the Central African Republic and South Sudan.
The Atlantic has argued that by focusing so much attention on a fading warlord, the Kony 2012 movement is diverting millions of dollars away from charities working to stamp out starvation in the Horn of Africa, slow the spread of AIDS or battle widespread corruption -- all issues that effect far more Africans than a single warlord.
Invisible Children has also been criticized for favoring direct military intervention in Uganda. It also strongly supports the Ugandan Army, which has been accused of widespread torture and other human rights violations.
Foreign Affairs magazine accused the group of exaggerating and manipulating facts surrounding Kony and the LRA to over-emphasize the scale of the abductions and murders committed.
Finally, as international aid groups go, Invisible Children spends a huge portion of its donations on overhead. Last year, the group raised about $8.7 million but only 37 percent -- about $3.3 million went to support programs in central Africa.
It has been criticized by the charitable arm of the Better Business Bureau for not responding to a request for information.
Charity Navigator, a nonprofit watchdog that rates charitable organizations, gave the group two out of four stars for financial transparency because its ledgers aren't audited by an independent committee.
But, all you gullible souls out there, not so fast! According to a charity watchdog group, Invisible Children, the San Diego-based organization behind KONY 2012, spends a high percentage of the donations it receives on overhead, with only 37 percent actually supporting its programs in Africa. Moreover, Kony is not even in Uganda anymore and he’s no longer the menace he once was - his LRA is down to a mere 250 fighters rather than the 30,000 that the video claims, and they are on the run.
So, before you squander your dollars on the hunt for Kony, you might think about contributing to some truly worthwhile organizations that try to reduce the starvation and diseases, like AIDS, that afflict a multitude of Africans.
From Mail Online:
The explosive popularity of the Stop Kony campaign has also cast a harsh glare on the cause and on Invisible Children, the organization behind it.
For starters, Kony already seems to be marginalized. His forces -- once thousands strong -- have been so degraded that the Ugandan military no longer considers him a threat to the region. Because of the intensified hunt for Kony, his forces split into smaller groups that can travel the jungle more easily
Experts estimate that the LRA now has only about 250 fighters. Still, the militia abducts children, forcing them to serve as soldiers or sex slaves, and even to kill their parents or each other to survive. The LRA now operates in Congo, the Central African Republic and South Sudan.
The Atlantic has argued that by focusing so much attention on a fading warlord, the Kony 2012 movement is diverting millions of dollars away from charities working to stamp out starvation in the Horn of Africa, slow the spread of AIDS or battle widespread corruption -- all issues that effect far more Africans than a single warlord.
Invisible Children has also been criticized for favoring direct military intervention in Uganda. It also strongly supports the Ugandan Army, which has been accused of widespread torture and other human rights violations.
Foreign Affairs magazine accused the group of exaggerating and manipulating facts surrounding Kony and the LRA to over-emphasize the scale of the abductions and murders committed.
Finally, as international aid groups go, Invisible Children spends a huge portion of its donations on overhead. Last year, the group raised about $8.7 million but only 37 percent -- about $3.3 million went to support programs in central Africa.
It has been criticized by the charitable arm of the Better Business Bureau for not responding to a request for information.
Charity Navigator, a nonprofit watchdog that rates charitable organizations, gave the group two out of four stars for financial transparency because its ledgers aren't audited by an independent committee.
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