I’ll say this for columnist Al Martinez, an unabashed opponent of the death penalty. At leas Martinez gave a voice to the widow of a murdered L.A. police officer who, for 27 years, has waited for his killers to be executed.
WIDOW’S LONG WAIT FOR JUSTICE CONTINUES
By Al Martinez, Columnist
Los Angeles Daily News
November 28, 2010
When grief intersects with anger, sparks fly.
Such is the case in the circumstances of Sandra Verna Jackson, whose husband Paul Verna, an officer with the LAPD, was murdered in the line of duty 27 years ago, and whose two killers have languished on San Quentin's Death Row ever since.
Jackson wants the case to end and the sentence to be carried out, and she wants to be there.
She adds in an e-mail, "I would have no problem pulling the switch or giving them an injection."
Her words are in response to a column in which I characterized capital punishment as a stain on the culture and an affront to a civilized society. She brings it down to a more personal level.
Jackson's husband, who was 35 at the time, was shot to death during a routine traffic stop near the end of his shift. His killers were arrested and sentenced to death. Since then, they have avoided execution by a storm of appeals on both state and federal levels.
It is to this, the unfairness of the situation, that placed anger upon grief and caused her to contact me in the hope that I would understand the pain involved in her own circumstance.
She wrote: "Obviously you have never had your loved one murdered and left dying in the street and had to tell your young children that their beloved daddy wasn't coming home ever again..."
It is the deep kind of pain most of us have never had to face, an emotional spin that can take one down to the lowest level of his soul, where the sadness of such an abrupt parting never abates.
I have tried to understand the depth of that hurt many times as a Marine at war and a reporter in the streets, talking to those who, like Jackson, have lost a loved one, but the distance that divides the grieving survivor and the one seeking empathy is too wide to breach.
I have spoken to relatives of policemen killed in the line of duty, and I have spoken to the loved ones of men on Death Row. There is an odd and chilling compatibility to their associations, lives that merge at the corner of their mutual destinies. A few of those whose husbands have been murdered by the sons of the women I spoke with have even forgiven the killers.
That makes it no less tolerable for Jackson. I wrote in a column that keeping anyone on Death Row for years without setting a date for their execution constitutes in itself cruel and unusual punishment. Jackson wrote: "My husband's killers have never been given an execution date. Do you want to ask us what is cruel and inhumane? Did they give their victim the same consideration?"
The depth of her pain forbids the intrusion of repeating a cultural position. I reach out to her but it is impossible for another to touch such enduring grief. I can only tell her how sorry I am for Paul's death and the deaths of others who have given their lives for our safety. We mourn for them.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
WIKILEAKS REVELATIONS NOT DAMAGING TO ISRAEL
Unlike the leaks about other countries and their leaders, there’s nothing embarrassing - at least not so far - to Israel or Netanyahu in the diplomatic documents just released by WikiLeaks.
ISRAEL PLEASED WITH WIKILEAKS REVELATIONS
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
November 29, 2010
There was much apprehension and concern on Sunday evening as whistleblower website WikiLeaks began publishing nearly a quarter of a million classified US diplomatic cables. Washington had already phoned Israeli leaders to prepare them for any embarrassing information that would be revealed.
But by Monday morning, Israel appeared to be the one nation that had benefited from the stunt.
"If anything, the leaks were positive and did not damage Israel’s image at all," former National Security Adviser Giora Eiland told Voice of Israel radio. "There was no contradiction between what Israel has said in public and in private."
In fact, the documents reveal that Israeli officials, especially Meir Dagan, head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, are regularly sought after by officials from all parts of the American government for their expertise and insight on various Middle East situations. In short, Israel is an enormously valuable resource for America and its interests in the region.
The documents further aid Israel by revealing that it is far from being the only nation in the region calling for military action against Iran’s defiant nuclear program, or at least greater efforts to effect regime change in Tehran.
The authors of several of the cables accuse Israel of overestimating Iran’s nuclear program and how quickly Iran would be able to field a nuclear weapon. They insist that Israeli assessments of the situation must be "taken with a grain of salt." Former US Ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer was especially critical of Israel’s assessment of the situation with Iran.
But another document has Israeli Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin stressing to two US congressional leaders that "Israel is not in a position to underestimate Iran and be surprised like the US was on September 11, 2001."
A slew of other documents reveal that the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and Jordan all share the Israeli sense of urgency regarding Iran, and also want the US and/or Israel to stop Iran’s nuclear program at any cost.
"That program must be stopped," King Hamad of Bahrain is quoted as saying in one of the documents. "The danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it."
In other documents, Israeli accusations that certain UN bodies have ties to Muslim terrorist groups are justified by the revelation that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered ongoing investigations of UN personnel working in Lebanon and Palestinian-controlled areas.
"Washington wanted intelligence on the contentious issue of the ‘relationship or funding between UN personnel and/or missions and terrorist organizations’ and links between the UN Relief and Works Agency in the Middle East, and Hamas and Hizballah," the British newspaper Guardian reported, citing several of the documents.
Clinton even ordered a probe of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a revelation that is certain to ratchet up tensions between Washington and the world body.
The only other Israel-related issue in those documents that have been released concerns the 2008-2009 Gaza war. It was revealed that prior to invading Gaza in response to escalating Hamas rocket fire on southern Israel, Defense Minister Ehud Barak tried to convince either Egypt or Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority to step in and assume control of the territory after Hamas was defeated.
It seems neither Egypt nor the PA were interested in bringing an end to the destructive rule of Hamas and the atmosphere of conflict the group continues to foster.
ISRAEL PLEASED WITH WIKILEAKS REVELATIONS
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
November 29, 2010
There was much apprehension and concern on Sunday evening as whistleblower website WikiLeaks began publishing nearly a quarter of a million classified US diplomatic cables. Washington had already phoned Israeli leaders to prepare them for any embarrassing information that would be revealed.
But by Monday morning, Israel appeared to be the one nation that had benefited from the stunt.
"If anything, the leaks were positive and did not damage Israel’s image at all," former National Security Adviser Giora Eiland told Voice of Israel radio. "There was no contradiction between what Israel has said in public and in private."
In fact, the documents reveal that Israeli officials, especially Meir Dagan, head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, are regularly sought after by officials from all parts of the American government for their expertise and insight on various Middle East situations. In short, Israel is an enormously valuable resource for America and its interests in the region.
The documents further aid Israel by revealing that it is far from being the only nation in the region calling for military action against Iran’s defiant nuclear program, or at least greater efforts to effect regime change in Tehran.
The authors of several of the cables accuse Israel of overestimating Iran’s nuclear program and how quickly Iran would be able to field a nuclear weapon. They insist that Israeli assessments of the situation must be "taken with a grain of salt." Former US Ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer was especially critical of Israel’s assessment of the situation with Iran.
But another document has Israeli Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin stressing to two US congressional leaders that "Israel is not in a position to underestimate Iran and be surprised like the US was on September 11, 2001."
A slew of other documents reveal that the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and Jordan all share the Israeli sense of urgency regarding Iran, and also want the US and/or Israel to stop Iran’s nuclear program at any cost.
"That program must be stopped," King Hamad of Bahrain is quoted as saying in one of the documents. "The danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it."
In other documents, Israeli accusations that certain UN bodies have ties to Muslim terrorist groups are justified by the revelation that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered ongoing investigations of UN personnel working in Lebanon and Palestinian-controlled areas.
"Washington wanted intelligence on the contentious issue of the ‘relationship or funding between UN personnel and/or missions and terrorist organizations’ and links between the UN Relief and Works Agency in the Middle East, and Hamas and Hizballah," the British newspaper Guardian reported, citing several of the documents.
Clinton even ordered a probe of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a revelation that is certain to ratchet up tensions between Washington and the world body.
The only other Israel-related issue in those documents that have been released concerns the 2008-2009 Gaza war. It was revealed that prior to invading Gaza in response to escalating Hamas rocket fire on southern Israel, Defense Minister Ehud Barak tried to convince either Egypt or Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority to step in and assume control of the territory after Hamas was defeated.
It seems neither Egypt nor the PA were interested in bringing an end to the destructive rule of Hamas and the atmosphere of conflict the group continues to foster.
NO FURTHER NEED FOR FULL-BODY SCANNERS OR PAT-DOWNS
This solution was sent to me from England by Tom Crockford. Actually it’s an oldie, but it's worth mentioning now in view of the uproar over the latest airport security measures.
PERFECT AIRPORT SECURITY SOLUTION
Here is the solution to all the controversy over full-body scanners and pat-downs at the airports:
Airports will have a number of explosive-proof booths at the security checkpoints. After passing through the metal detector, each passengers will have to step into one of the booths before boarding their flight.
The booths will not x-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on your body.
It would be a win-win situation for everyone. There would be none of this crap about racial profiling and this method would eliminate a long and expensive court trial. Justice would be swift, certain and final.
This is so simple that it’s brilliant. Can’t you just see it? You’re in the airport terminal waiting in line and you suddenly hear a muffled explosion.
Shortly thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system: "Attention stand-by passengers. We now have one seat available on flight number 4665.....Paging maintenance. Shop Vac needed in booth number 4."
Sure sounds like a winning solution for all airline passengers.
PERFECT AIRPORT SECURITY SOLUTION
Here is the solution to all the controversy over full-body scanners and pat-downs at the airports:
Airports will have a number of explosive-proof booths at the security checkpoints. After passing through the metal detector, each passengers will have to step into one of the booths before boarding their flight.
The booths will not x-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on your body.
It would be a win-win situation for everyone. There would be none of this crap about racial profiling and this method would eliminate a long and expensive court trial. Justice would be swift, certain and final.
This is so simple that it’s brilliant. Can’t you just see it? You’re in the airport terminal waiting in line and you suddenly hear a muffled explosion.
Shortly thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system: "Attention stand-by passengers. We now have one seat available on flight number 4665.....Paging maintenance. Shop Vac needed in booth number 4."
Sure sounds like a winning solution for all airline passengers.
Monday, November 29, 2010
ALLY AND ADVERSARY ALIKE ARE CONVINCED THAT OBAMA IS NOT A CREDIBLE LEADER
In ‘Rocking Obama’s World,’ Caroline Glick hammers the president’s foreign policy towards North Korea, Iran, Israel, Lebanon and Russia. Here are some excerpts from her op-ed piece which appeared in the November 26 issue of Jewish World Review:
……….is Obama really worse than everyone else or is he just the latest in a line of US Presidents who have no idea how to run an effective foreign policy?
The short answer is that he is far worse than his predecessors.
A US President's maneuver room in foreign affairs is always very small. The foreign policy establishment in the Washington is entrenched and uniformly opposed to bending to the will of elected leaders. The elites in the State Department and the CIA and their cronies in academia and policy circles in Washington are consistently unmoved as well by reality which as a rule exposes their policies as ruinous.
The president has two ways to shift the ship of state. First he can use his bully pulpit. Second, he can appoint people to key positions in the foreign policy bureaucracy.
Since entering office, Obama has used both these powers to ill effect. He has travelled across the world condemning and apologizing for US world leadership. In so doing he has convinced ally and adversary alike that he is not a credible leader; that no one can depend on US security guarantees during his watch; and that it is possible to attack the US, its allies and interests with impunity.
Obama's call for a nuclear free world combined with his aggressive stance towards Israel's purported nuclear arsenal, his bid to disarm the US nuclear arsenal, and his ineffective response to North Korea's nuclear brinksmanship and Iran's nuclear project have served to convince nations from the Persian Gulf to South America to the Pacific Rim that they should begin developing nuclear weapons. By calling for nuclear disarmament, he has provoked the greatest wave of nuclear armament in history.
Given his own convictions, it is no surprise that all his key foreign policy appointments share his dangerous views. The State Department's Legal Advisor Harold Koh believes the US should subordinate its laws to an abstract and largely unfounded notion of international law.
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy believes terrorists become radicalized because they are poor. She is advised by leftist extremist Rosa Brooks. Attorney General Eric Holder has decided to open criminal investigations against CIA operatives who interrogated terrorists and try illegal enemy combatants in civilian trials.
In all these cases and countless others, Obama's senior appointees are implementing policies that are even more radical and dangerous that then the radical and dangerous policies of the Washington policy establishment. Not only are they weakening the US and its allies, they are demoralizing public servants who are dedicated to defending their country by signaling clearly that the Obama administration will leave them high and dry in a crisis.
When a Republican occupies the White House, his foreign policies are routinely criticized and constrained by the liberal media. Radical Democratic presidents like Woodrow Wilson have seen their foreign policies reined in by Republican Congresses.
Given the threats Obama's radical policies are provoking, it can only be hoped that through hearings and other means, the Republicans in the Senate and the House of Representatives will take an active role in curbing his policies. If they are successful, the American people and the international community will owe them a debt of gratitude.
……….is Obama really worse than everyone else or is he just the latest in a line of US Presidents who have no idea how to run an effective foreign policy?
The short answer is that he is far worse than his predecessors.
A US President's maneuver room in foreign affairs is always very small. The foreign policy establishment in the Washington is entrenched and uniformly opposed to bending to the will of elected leaders. The elites in the State Department and the CIA and their cronies in academia and policy circles in Washington are consistently unmoved as well by reality which as a rule exposes their policies as ruinous.
The president has two ways to shift the ship of state. First he can use his bully pulpit. Second, he can appoint people to key positions in the foreign policy bureaucracy.
Since entering office, Obama has used both these powers to ill effect. He has travelled across the world condemning and apologizing for US world leadership. In so doing he has convinced ally and adversary alike that he is not a credible leader; that no one can depend on US security guarantees during his watch; and that it is possible to attack the US, its allies and interests with impunity.
Obama's call for a nuclear free world combined with his aggressive stance towards Israel's purported nuclear arsenal, his bid to disarm the US nuclear arsenal, and his ineffective response to North Korea's nuclear brinksmanship and Iran's nuclear project have served to convince nations from the Persian Gulf to South America to the Pacific Rim that they should begin developing nuclear weapons. By calling for nuclear disarmament, he has provoked the greatest wave of nuclear armament in history.
Given his own convictions, it is no surprise that all his key foreign policy appointments share his dangerous views. The State Department's Legal Advisor Harold Koh believes the US should subordinate its laws to an abstract and largely unfounded notion of international law.
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy believes terrorists become radicalized because they are poor. She is advised by leftist extremist Rosa Brooks. Attorney General Eric Holder has decided to open criminal investigations against CIA operatives who interrogated terrorists and try illegal enemy combatants in civilian trials.
In all these cases and countless others, Obama's senior appointees are implementing policies that are even more radical and dangerous that then the radical and dangerous policies of the Washington policy establishment. Not only are they weakening the US and its allies, they are demoralizing public servants who are dedicated to defending their country by signaling clearly that the Obama administration will leave them high and dry in a crisis.
When a Republican occupies the White House, his foreign policies are routinely criticized and constrained by the liberal media. Radical Democratic presidents like Woodrow Wilson have seen their foreign policies reined in by Republican Congresses.
Given the threats Obama's radical policies are provoking, it can only be hoped that through hearings and other means, the Republicans in the Senate and the House of Representatives will take an active role in curbing his policies. If they are successful, the American people and the international community will owe them a debt of gratitude.
REWARD FOR A JOB WELL DONE
From the Borderland Beat:
TIJUANA TOP COP WHO FOUGHT CARTELS IS OUT OF A JOB
By Elliot Spagat
Associated Press
November 28, 2010
Mexican Army Lt. Col. Julian Leyzaola, Public Safety Secretary in Tijuana, was dismissed Friday after showing unprecedented zeal trying to end the grip of drug cartels on one of Mexico's most notoriously corrupt police forces.
Julian Leyzaola tried with unprecedented zeal to end the grip of drug cartels on one of Mexico's most notoriously corrupt police forces: In two years as top cop, he blanketed key parts of Tijuana with vetted officers, new patrol cars and military commanders, while purging hundreds of allegedly corrupt cops.
The retired army officer survived a drug-gang assassination campaign that killed dozens of his officers. He says he rejected an $80,000-a-week offer from an emissary of Mexico's most-wanted drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Now he's out of a job.
Mayor-Elect Carlos Bustamante said he will appoint Leyzaola's closest aide, Gustavo Huerta, as public safety secretary when his term begins Tuesday. Huerta, 42, knows Tijuana and is positioned to build on recent successes, Bustamante's spokeswoman said.
Leyzaola has been praised by President Felipe Calderon, U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual, U.S. law enforcement and Tijuana's business elite for standing up to the cartels and bringing order in the face of the city's worst drug violence.
Yet the state's human rights ombudsman accuses Leyzaola of beating some people suspected of killing cops. Some officers he arrested for corruption have been let go for lack of evidence and say they were tortured in custody. Huerta was also named in one complaint filed by several officers.
Leyzaola says the allegations come from critics who don't like his get-tough approach.
"The reality is that we needed extreme measures to restore order," he told officers last September after the human rights report came out. "That's what we did. It was necessary."
Mexico's local police forces are often bribed to be the eyes and ears of drug cartels, yet most police chiefs won't attack the gangs, noting that organized crime is a federal responsibility. They tend instead to focus on traffic violations, car thefts, assaults and home invasions.
That hands-off approach favors the cartels, says Daniel Sabet, a visiting professor at Georgetown University who studies Mexico's local police forces.
"You can't just shrug your shoulders and say it's not our jurisdiction," he said. "If there's an organized crime guy with an AK-47, you have to make that arrest."
Leyzaola, a chess aficionado who stays fit by playing handball, relished his pursuit of Tijuana's drug lords, calling his targets cockroaches, scum and dirty fat pigs. He captured and interrogated them himself.
He began his march to recapture Tijuana in early 2009 by reforming police in a different district of the city every three months. First, a strike force made a slew of arrests. Then beat cops were replaced by officers who passed intensive background checks. Former military officers with no police experience took over as district commanders.
When he suspected cops were dirty, he tried to humiliate them into quitting. First he assigned them to patrol palm trees outside his office, and later had them bake in the sun on the new headquarters' heliport.
"I have two up there right now," he said with a smile behind his large desk. "Until they get vertigo."
In early January, federal authorities arrested Teodoro "El Teo" Garcia Simental—one of Leyzaola's "dirty fat pigs"—who allegedly was behind the cop-killing campaign and hung bodies from freeways and beheaded victims.
From the confessions of El Teo's top lieutenants in custody, Leyzaola learned that corruption was hitting close to home: a district police commander was taking $6,000 a month to tip El Teo to law enforcement presence. He was Leyzaola's close friend from military school.
They also said El Teo employed another district commander whom Leyzaolo tapped for special projects.
TIJUANA TOP COP WHO FOUGHT CARTELS IS OUT OF A JOB
By Elliot Spagat
Associated Press
November 28, 2010
Mexican Army Lt. Col. Julian Leyzaola, Public Safety Secretary in Tijuana, was dismissed Friday after showing unprecedented zeal trying to end the grip of drug cartels on one of Mexico's most notoriously corrupt police forces.
Julian Leyzaola tried with unprecedented zeal to end the grip of drug cartels on one of Mexico's most notoriously corrupt police forces: In two years as top cop, he blanketed key parts of Tijuana with vetted officers, new patrol cars and military commanders, while purging hundreds of allegedly corrupt cops.
The retired army officer survived a drug-gang assassination campaign that killed dozens of his officers. He says he rejected an $80,000-a-week offer from an emissary of Mexico's most-wanted drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Now he's out of a job.
Mayor-Elect Carlos Bustamante said he will appoint Leyzaola's closest aide, Gustavo Huerta, as public safety secretary when his term begins Tuesday. Huerta, 42, knows Tijuana and is positioned to build on recent successes, Bustamante's spokeswoman said.
Leyzaola has been praised by President Felipe Calderon, U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual, U.S. law enforcement and Tijuana's business elite for standing up to the cartels and bringing order in the face of the city's worst drug violence.
Yet the state's human rights ombudsman accuses Leyzaola of beating some people suspected of killing cops. Some officers he arrested for corruption have been let go for lack of evidence and say they were tortured in custody. Huerta was also named in one complaint filed by several officers.
Leyzaola says the allegations come from critics who don't like his get-tough approach.
"The reality is that we needed extreme measures to restore order," he told officers last September after the human rights report came out. "That's what we did. It was necessary."
Mexico's local police forces are often bribed to be the eyes and ears of drug cartels, yet most police chiefs won't attack the gangs, noting that organized crime is a federal responsibility. They tend instead to focus on traffic violations, car thefts, assaults and home invasions.
That hands-off approach favors the cartels, says Daniel Sabet, a visiting professor at Georgetown University who studies Mexico's local police forces.
"You can't just shrug your shoulders and say it's not our jurisdiction," he said. "If there's an organized crime guy with an AK-47, you have to make that arrest."
Leyzaola, a chess aficionado who stays fit by playing handball, relished his pursuit of Tijuana's drug lords, calling his targets cockroaches, scum and dirty fat pigs. He captured and interrogated them himself.
He began his march to recapture Tijuana in early 2009 by reforming police in a different district of the city every three months. First, a strike force made a slew of arrests. Then beat cops were replaced by officers who passed intensive background checks. Former military officers with no police experience took over as district commanders.
When he suspected cops were dirty, he tried to humiliate them into quitting. First he assigned them to patrol palm trees outside his office, and later had them bake in the sun on the new headquarters' heliport.
"I have two up there right now," he said with a smile behind his large desk. "Until they get vertigo."
In early January, federal authorities arrested Teodoro "El Teo" Garcia Simental—one of Leyzaola's "dirty fat pigs"—who allegedly was behind the cop-killing campaign and hung bodies from freeways and beheaded victims.
From the confessions of El Teo's top lieutenants in custody, Leyzaola learned that corruption was hitting close to home: a district police commander was taking $6,000 a month to tip El Teo to law enforcement presence. He was Leyzaola's close friend from military school.
They also said El Teo employed another district commander whom Leyzaolo tapped for special projects.
EXPLANATION FOR TATTOO LANDS LARRY IN THE HOSPITAL
Who in the hell is Larry?
Well Larry is the guy who gets home late one night and: Linda, his wife says, Where the hell have you been? Larry replies: I was out getting a tattoo!
A tattoo?' she frowned. What kind of tattoo did you get?
I got a hundred dollar bill on my privates, he said proudly.
What the hell were you thinking? She said, shaking her head in disgust. Why on earth would an accountant get a hundred dollar bill tattooed on his privates?
Well, One, I like to watch my money grow. Two, once in a while I like to play with my money. Three, I like how money feels in my hand. And, lastly, instead of you going out shopping, you can stay right here at home and blow a hundred bucks anytime you want.
After a quick ambulance ride to the emergency room, Larry is now in University Hospital room 523.
Well Larry is the guy who gets home late one night and: Linda, his wife says, Where the hell have you been? Larry replies: I was out getting a tattoo!
A tattoo?' she frowned. What kind of tattoo did you get?
I got a hundred dollar bill on my privates, he said proudly.
What the hell were you thinking? She said, shaking her head in disgust. Why on earth would an accountant get a hundred dollar bill tattooed on his privates?
Well, One, I like to watch my money grow. Two, once in a while I like to play with my money. Three, I like how money feels in my hand. And, lastly, instead of you going out shopping, you can stay right here at home and blow a hundred bucks anytime you want.
After a quick ambulance ride to the emergency room, Larry is now in University Hospital room 523.
DANGEROUS CRIMINALS MOST SUCCESSFULLY REHABILITATED BY COPS
Bob is right on the mark when he wonders ‘if the current legal situation caused the deputies to hesitate to act.’
Whenever a cop shoots anyone he is subjected to all kinds of distressing judgmental evaluations by his own agency, the media and civil libertarians, none having been present at the shooting and all of the opinion that the cop could have handled it better. And when you add the prospect of civil litigation to the equation, it is easy to see why cops hesitate to take decisive action or resort to deadly force when necessary, thus endangering their own lives as well as the lives of the public.
L.A. DEPUTIES REHABILITATE DANEROUS CRAZY
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
November 27, 2010
Deputies with the L. A. County Sheriff’s Office terminally rehabilitated a man who was attacking his mother’s boyfriend with a cleaver. They almost (IMHO) waited a tad too long to do it.
Deputies arrived at an apartment on Colima Rd. in Rowland Heights last night and were contact by a woman who told them her son was attacking another man in the apartment. The deputies entered the apartment and saw the son straddling the woman’s boyfriend and whacking at his head with a meat cleaver. The deputies ordered him to stop and drop the weapon "several times" but he persisted in his attack. At that time one of the deputies fired three shots. The son got up, ran into the kitchen and collapsed. He later died.
I can’t help but wonder if the current legal situation caused the deputies to hesitate to act and only one of them to actually open fire. The cleaver victim is likely to survive, but is seriously injured.
Clicking here will link to an LANOW L.A. Times story on this subject.
Whenever a cop shoots anyone he is subjected to all kinds of distressing judgmental evaluations by his own agency, the media and civil libertarians, none having been present at the shooting and all of the opinion that the cop could have handled it better. And when you add the prospect of civil litigation to the equation, it is easy to see why cops hesitate to take decisive action or resort to deadly force when necessary, thus endangering their own lives as well as the lives of the public.
L.A. DEPUTIES REHABILITATE DANEROUS CRAZY
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
November 27, 2010
Deputies with the L. A. County Sheriff’s Office terminally rehabilitated a man who was attacking his mother’s boyfriend with a cleaver. They almost (IMHO) waited a tad too long to do it.
Deputies arrived at an apartment on Colima Rd. in Rowland Heights last night and were contact by a woman who told them her son was attacking another man in the apartment. The deputies entered the apartment and saw the son straddling the woman’s boyfriend and whacking at his head with a meat cleaver. The deputies ordered him to stop and drop the weapon "several times" but he persisted in his attack. At that time one of the deputies fired three shots. The son got up, ran into the kitchen and collapsed. He later died.
I can’t help but wonder if the current legal situation caused the deputies to hesitate to act and only one of them to actually open fire. The cleaver victim is likely to survive, but is seriously injured.
Clicking here will link to an LANOW L.A. Times story on this subject.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
CHARLIE'S NOT THE ONLY ONE (2)
On November 17, I wrote: I am not going to get all exercised over Charlie’s financial and fundraising violations. Why not? Because I am sure there are plenty of other Congressmen and Senators who are doing similar things. It’s just that poor Charlie got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
And now Ben Stein reminds us that Charlie Rangel is a genuine American hero, having been awarded the Bronze Star for valor for his actions during the Korean War when his army unit was overwhelmed by the onslaught of Chinese troops swarming across the Yalu River.
CHARLIE RANGEL STILL A HERO TO ME
By Ben Stein
CBS Sunday Morning
November 28, 2010
By now everyone who follows politics knows that Charles Rangel, the 20-term representative to Congress from New York's Harlem district, has been found guilty of ethics violations by the House ethics panel.
He apparently failed to report rental income from a dwelling in the Caribbean, used his office stationery for fund raising for a school named after him, and used a rent stabilized apartment for a political office.
For this, the punishment is publicly shaming by being censured.
Now, just to me (whom you all know as a lifelong Republican), Rangel's misdeeds seem like extremely trivial matters. The IRS has not prosecuted him for tax evasion. When you are a busy man, small tax issues can get lost in the shuffle.
The other two matters just seem like total and utter nothings.
But what I really want to say about Charles Rangel is that this man is a genuine American hero.
In unbelievably difficult service in the Korean War, his unit was swamped, cut off, overwhelmed by hordes of Red Chinese crossing into Korea. In the worst cold weather imaginable, under fire, starving, acting Sergeant Charles Rangel, in a black unit led mostly by white officers, took a large group of men, led them by example, lifted their morale, as they fought their way out to safety. Men were being shot, freezing, getting captured all around him, yet he got most of his men out.
For this leadership, sacrifice, and courage, Mr. Rangel was awarded a Bronze Star with a V for Valor.
After that, he served as a prosecutor, and then for 20 distinguished terms, as a member of Congress, for a time as chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. His erudition and fairness earned him high marks throughout his career.
Now, he has been humiliated over what seems to me like almost nothing.
Just for me, I hope that history will record that a truly great man, Charlie Rangel, a hero of the first rank, was laid low by trivial, no-account matters, censured by people who mostly have no clue of what true courage, fighting, blood and frostbite mean.
Charlie Rangel does know, and to me, he is still a hero.
And now Ben Stein reminds us that Charlie Rangel is a genuine American hero, having been awarded the Bronze Star for valor for his actions during the Korean War when his army unit was overwhelmed by the onslaught of Chinese troops swarming across the Yalu River.
CHARLIE RANGEL STILL A HERO TO ME
By Ben Stein
CBS Sunday Morning
November 28, 2010
By now everyone who follows politics knows that Charles Rangel, the 20-term representative to Congress from New York's Harlem district, has been found guilty of ethics violations by the House ethics panel.
He apparently failed to report rental income from a dwelling in the Caribbean, used his office stationery for fund raising for a school named after him, and used a rent stabilized apartment for a political office.
For this, the punishment is publicly shaming by being censured.
Now, just to me (whom you all know as a lifelong Republican), Rangel's misdeeds seem like extremely trivial matters. The IRS has not prosecuted him for tax evasion. When you are a busy man, small tax issues can get lost in the shuffle.
The other two matters just seem like total and utter nothings.
But what I really want to say about Charles Rangel is that this man is a genuine American hero.
In unbelievably difficult service in the Korean War, his unit was swamped, cut off, overwhelmed by hordes of Red Chinese crossing into Korea. In the worst cold weather imaginable, under fire, starving, acting Sergeant Charles Rangel, in a black unit led mostly by white officers, took a large group of men, led them by example, lifted their morale, as they fought their way out to safety. Men were being shot, freezing, getting captured all around him, yet he got most of his men out.
For this leadership, sacrifice, and courage, Mr. Rangel was awarded a Bronze Star with a V for Valor.
After that, he served as a prosecutor, and then for 20 distinguished terms, as a member of Congress, for a time as chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. His erudition and fairness earned him high marks throughout his career.
Now, he has been humiliated over what seems to me like almost nothing.
Just for me, I hope that history will record that a truly great man, Charlie Rangel, a hero of the first rank, was laid low by trivial, no-account matters, censured by people who mostly have no clue of what true courage, fighting, blood and frostbite mean.
Charlie Rangel does know, and to me, he is still a hero.
FERRARI
Lionel Richie said:
If you own a Ferrari you have to drive it as slow as you can so people can see you in it.
If you own a Ferrari you have to drive it as slow as you can so people can see you in it.
WHO IS REALLY TO BLAME FOR THIS 'BACKBREAKING' DEBT?
'It is MY fault, and mine alone, then, that I am in this debt due to "needing" to attend Northeastern five years ago.'
No young lady, it’s not your fault, at least not entirely. Your student loans are similar to those subprime mortgages that brought about the wave of home foreclosures and the resulting bank meltdown. Loaning you money that you cannot possibly repay is the same as giving homebuyers a mortgage they cannot possibly keep up the payments for. The fault is not yours, it’s that of the lending institutions!
COLLEGE GRADUATE OWING BACKBREAKING $200K IN STUDENT LOANS STARTS WEBSITE BEGGING FOR DONATIONS
Mail Online
November 26, 2010
With crippling student debts of $200,000 one graduate has invented a novel way to beg for donations.
Kelli Space, who recently completed her course, has set up a website asking for people to contribute to her cause online.
The 23-year-old's website, TwoHundredThou.com, explains her story and asks visitors to make a payment to help bail her out.
'Monthly payments just for the private loans are currently $891 until Nov 2011 when they increase to $1,600 per month for the following 20 years,' the New Jersey resident wrote in an effort to elicit funds.
So far the response to help the former student at at Northeastern University in Boston has not been overwhelming.
To date, she's received $2,413.59 in donations and still owes $197,586.41, according to her website's progress page.
She wrote: 'I was 18 and the first person in my family (including extended family) to attend college.
'Therefore, not only was excitement consuming me, but my parents didn't exactly know how college would or wouldn't affect my salary in the future.'
She didn't get any of the scholarships she applied to during her top year of school, so she decided to go for broke and borrow the money to finance her education.
Miss Space wrote on her website: 'I don’t believe my college years were in any way glamorous, though I do realise I chose to give myself an experience that many other people can not and will not experience for themselves.
'It is MY fault, and mine alone, then, that I am in this debt due to "needing" to attend Northeastern five years ago.'
The idea for a website came to Space when she read about savekaryn.com (shopaholic Karyn Bosnak's website on which she asks for donations to free her from credit card debt) and milliondollarhomepage.com (Alex Tew's website on which he tries to sell pixels for $1 each).
'Both were soliciting donations - one for credit card debt and one in exchange for small advertisements online,' Miss Space said. 'And I figured mine could be considered a worthy enough cause.'
Even though Miss Space has so far only received a fraction of what she is looking for, she has gained some satisfaction from bringing attention to the daunting debt some college students are facing.
'The response has been seemingly negative so far and I'm doing my best not to focus on that,' she told the New York Daily News.
However, unlike a lot of recent college graduates, she's lucky enough to have a full-time job.
She is office manager for an Internet company in Manhattan, and lives in New Jersey with her parents.
'I want these issues out there because they are honestly plaguing a great deal of college graduates who are laden with debt,' she added.
'This is much less about me and more about the bigger picture.'
No young lady, it’s not your fault, at least not entirely. Your student loans are similar to those subprime mortgages that brought about the wave of home foreclosures and the resulting bank meltdown. Loaning you money that you cannot possibly repay is the same as giving homebuyers a mortgage they cannot possibly keep up the payments for. The fault is not yours, it’s that of the lending institutions!
COLLEGE GRADUATE OWING BACKBREAKING $200K IN STUDENT LOANS STARTS WEBSITE BEGGING FOR DONATIONS
Mail Online
November 26, 2010
With crippling student debts of $200,000 one graduate has invented a novel way to beg for donations.
Kelli Space, who recently completed her course, has set up a website asking for people to contribute to her cause online.
The 23-year-old's website, TwoHundredThou.com, explains her story and asks visitors to make a payment to help bail her out.
'Monthly payments just for the private loans are currently $891 until Nov 2011 when they increase to $1,600 per month for the following 20 years,' the New Jersey resident wrote in an effort to elicit funds.
So far the response to help the former student at at Northeastern University in Boston has not been overwhelming.
To date, she's received $2,413.59 in donations and still owes $197,586.41, according to her website's progress page.
She wrote: 'I was 18 and the first person in my family (including extended family) to attend college.
'Therefore, not only was excitement consuming me, but my parents didn't exactly know how college would or wouldn't affect my salary in the future.'
She didn't get any of the scholarships she applied to during her top year of school, so she decided to go for broke and borrow the money to finance her education.
Miss Space wrote on her website: 'I don’t believe my college years were in any way glamorous, though I do realise I chose to give myself an experience that many other people can not and will not experience for themselves.
'It is MY fault, and mine alone, then, that I am in this debt due to "needing" to attend Northeastern five years ago.'
The idea for a website came to Space when she read about savekaryn.com (shopaholic Karyn Bosnak's website on which she asks for donations to free her from credit card debt) and milliondollarhomepage.com (Alex Tew's website on which he tries to sell pixels for $1 each).
'Both were soliciting donations - one for credit card debt and one in exchange for small advertisements online,' Miss Space said. 'And I figured mine could be considered a worthy enough cause.'
Even though Miss Space has so far only received a fraction of what she is looking for, she has gained some satisfaction from bringing attention to the daunting debt some college students are facing.
'The response has been seemingly negative so far and I'm doing my best not to focus on that,' she told the New York Daily News.
However, unlike a lot of recent college graduates, she's lucky enough to have a full-time job.
She is office manager for an Internet company in Manhattan, and lives in New Jersey with her parents.
'I want these issues out there because they are honestly plaguing a great deal of college graduates who are laden with debt,' she added.
'This is much less about me and more about the bigger picture.'
THE CASE FOR FATTENING UP JAIL INMATES
In this case, obesity would have prevented a jail break.
Kristopher Allen White, 23, a skinny church burglar who is 5’ 11" tall and weighs 165 pounds, escaped from the Haywood County jail in Brownsville, Tennessee on Monday morning by managing to squeeze himself through the four-and-a-half inch gap between the steel bars covering his jail cell window. It is believed that his cellmate help push him out the window. White dropped to the ground and made his getaway by draping his jail blanket over the barbed wire fence surrounding the jail.
White was in jail for burglarizing several churches earlier this year. He had been extradited from Texas last July to face five burglary charges.
"It's beyond my imagination to know how he succeeded at that," said Haywood County Sheriff Melvin Bond about the escape. "It appeared that Christopher got his head through those bars some type of way and he was able to gain freedom."
White’s freedom was short-lived. He was recaptured 14 hours after his escape.
Kristopher Allen White, 23, a skinny church burglar who is 5’ 11" tall and weighs 165 pounds, escaped from the Haywood County jail in Brownsville, Tennessee on Monday morning by managing to squeeze himself through the four-and-a-half inch gap between the steel bars covering his jail cell window. It is believed that his cellmate help push him out the window. White dropped to the ground and made his getaway by draping his jail blanket over the barbed wire fence surrounding the jail.
White was in jail for burglarizing several churches earlier this year. He had been extradited from Texas last July to face five burglary charges.
"It's beyond my imagination to know how he succeeded at that," said Haywood County Sheriff Melvin Bond about the escape. "It appeared that Christopher got his head through those bars some type of way and he was able to gain freedom."
White’s freedom was short-lived. He was recaptured 14 hours after his escape.
A TRAGEDY WAITING TO HAPPEN
It wouldn’t take a fortuneteller to predict something like this was going to happen. 84 calls in eight years? What took so long for someone to get killed?
84 CALLS TO POLICE IN EIGHT YEARS: A TROUBLED HOME, A BRANDISHED GUN, A TRAGIC DEATH
By Beth Hundsdorfer and George Pawlaczyk
News-Democrat
November 27, 2010
O'FALLON, ILLINOIS -- During the night and early morning hours of Nov. 7-8 at 810 Victoria Lane, four people's lives became intertwined.
The end result was death.
Mary Hammett fled after her boyfriend's 19-year-old son, Joe Shaffer, called O'Fallon Police to once again complain that Hammett, who is Shaffer's father's girlfriend, was drunk and causing trouble, according to a police report.
It was the 84th time police had been called to the house in eight years.
Earlier that night, Shaffer told his girlfriend, 20-year-old Alexandra Nance, that they were through as a couple. Police were called, this time to escort Nance from the house.
Nance showed up again about an hour later with a gun.
Officer Adam Taulbee pulled into the driveway right behind Nance. It was the sixth time overall and the second time that night that the dispatcher had sent Taulbee to 810 Victoria Lane -- a place where, according to an earlier police report, he had once been punched by Hammett.
Less than a minute after she pulled into the driveway, police said Nance pointed the gun at Taulbee, who fatally shot Nance.
"It's an extraordinary number of times we've been there," Police Chief John Betten said. "I don't know if there's a nexis between that and what happened a few weeks ago."
Betten believes Taulbee was justified in shooting because a distraught Nance wouldn't drop the handgun. Illinois State Police, who investigate police shootings, are waiting for toxicology results before turning the case over to St. Clair County prosecutors to decide whether charges should be filed.
Joe Shaffer, who was there that night, said Wednesday that Hammett's behavior was not connected to the shooting.
"It had nothing to do with Mary or anything else," he said. "If anything, she (Nance) was coming to the house to use the weapon on me. We had just broken up and she couldn't handle the separation."
According to 87 police reports obtained by the News-Democrat through the Freedom of Information Act (including three for calls coming after the Nance shooting), the house on Victoria Lane had long been a trouble spot for O'Fallon police, including Taulbee, a nine-year veteran of the force. The reports show Taulbee responded to at least four of these 911 calls before the night Nance was killed.
An inch-high stack of two-page call sheets from the O'Fallon Police Department revealed many requests for police to answer calls alleging Hammett was "intoxicated," "out of control, "causing a disturbance" or "violent." Of the 87 calls to police in eight years placed from the Victoria Lane home, most of them concern Hammett. Most of the calls are from William Shaffer, telling police that Hammett was intoxicated or abusive.
84 CALLS TO POLICE IN EIGHT YEARS: A TROUBLED HOME, A BRANDISHED GUN, A TRAGIC DEATH
By Beth Hundsdorfer and George Pawlaczyk
News-Democrat
November 27, 2010
O'FALLON, ILLINOIS -- During the night and early morning hours of Nov. 7-8 at 810 Victoria Lane, four people's lives became intertwined.
The end result was death.
Mary Hammett fled after her boyfriend's 19-year-old son, Joe Shaffer, called O'Fallon Police to once again complain that Hammett, who is Shaffer's father's girlfriend, was drunk and causing trouble, according to a police report.
It was the 84th time police had been called to the house in eight years.
Earlier that night, Shaffer told his girlfriend, 20-year-old Alexandra Nance, that they were through as a couple. Police were called, this time to escort Nance from the house.
Nance showed up again about an hour later with a gun.
Officer Adam Taulbee pulled into the driveway right behind Nance. It was the sixth time overall and the second time that night that the dispatcher had sent Taulbee to 810 Victoria Lane -- a place where, according to an earlier police report, he had once been punched by Hammett.
Less than a minute after she pulled into the driveway, police said Nance pointed the gun at Taulbee, who fatally shot Nance.
"It's an extraordinary number of times we've been there," Police Chief John Betten said. "I don't know if there's a nexis between that and what happened a few weeks ago."
Betten believes Taulbee was justified in shooting because a distraught Nance wouldn't drop the handgun. Illinois State Police, who investigate police shootings, are waiting for toxicology results before turning the case over to St. Clair County prosecutors to decide whether charges should be filed.
Joe Shaffer, who was there that night, said Wednesday that Hammett's behavior was not connected to the shooting.
"It had nothing to do with Mary or anything else," he said. "If anything, she (Nance) was coming to the house to use the weapon on me. We had just broken up and she couldn't handle the separation."
According to 87 police reports obtained by the News-Democrat through the Freedom of Information Act (including three for calls coming after the Nance shooting), the house on Victoria Lane had long been a trouble spot for O'Fallon police, including Taulbee, a nine-year veteran of the force. The reports show Taulbee responded to at least four of these 911 calls before the night Nance was killed.
An inch-high stack of two-page call sheets from the O'Fallon Police Department revealed many requests for police to answer calls alleging Hammett was "intoxicated," "out of control, "causing a disturbance" or "violent." Of the 87 calls to police in eight years placed from the Victoria Lane home, most of them concern Hammett. Most of the calls are from William Shaffer, telling police that Hammett was intoxicated or abusive.
FAVORITE MOVIE TEST
This is pretty amazing! I was surprised how well this test worked. Try it! The math equation will show you which of the 18 listed films you would likely enjoy the most. Don't ask how, but it really works.
BE HONEST AND DON’T LOOK AT THE MOVIE LIST BEFORE YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE MATH!
This is the test:
Pick a number from 1-9.
Multiply by 3.
Add 3.
Multiply by 3 again.
Now add the two digits together to find your predicted favorite movie in the list of 18 movies below.
DON’T CHEAT BY LOOKING AT THE LIST BEFORE YOU’VE COMPLETED THE EQUATION!
Favorite Movie List:
1. Gone With The Wind
2. E.T.
3. Beverly Hills Cop
4. Star Wars
5. Forrest Gump
6. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
7. Jaws
8. Grease
9. The Defeat of Obama in 2012
10. Casablanca
11. Jurassic Park
12. Shrek
13. Pirates of the Caribbean
14. Titanic
15. Raiders Of The Lost Ark
16. Home Alone
17. Mrs. Doubtfire
18. Toy Story
BE HONEST AND DON’T LOOK AT THE MOVIE LIST BEFORE YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE MATH!
This is the test:
Pick a number from 1-9.
Multiply by 3.
Add 3.
Multiply by 3 again.
Now add the two digits together to find your predicted favorite movie in the list of 18 movies below.
DON’T CHEAT BY LOOKING AT THE LIST BEFORE YOU’VE COMPLETED THE EQUATION!
Favorite Movie List:
1. Gone With The Wind
2. E.T.
3. Beverly Hills Cop
4. Star Wars
5. Forrest Gump
6. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
7. Jaws
8. Grease
9. The Defeat of Obama in 2012
10. Casablanca
11. Jurassic Park
12. Shrek
13. Pirates of the Caribbean
14. Titanic
15. Raiders Of The Lost Ark
16. Home Alone
17. Mrs. Doubtfire
18. Toy Story
Saturday, November 27, 2010
SARAH PALIN FOR PRESIDENT? LET'S GET REAL! (2)
I want to thank Centurion for sending me the following greeting from Sarah Palin:
A THANKSGIVING MESSAGE TO ALL 57 STATES
by Sarah Palin on Thursday, November 25, 2010 at 5:46pm
My fellow Americans in all 57 states, the time has changed for come. With our country founded more than 20 centuries ago, we have much to celebrate – from the FBI’s 100 days to the reforms that bring greater inefficiencies to our health care system. We know that countries like Europe are willing to stand with us in our fight to halt the rise of privacy, and Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. And let’s face it, everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma and they end up taking up a hospital bed. It costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early, and they got some treatment, and ah, a breathalyzer, or an inhalator. I mean, not a breathalyzer, ah, I don’t know what the term is in Austrian for that…
------------
Now, did Sarah Palin actually say that? Well, yes and no. Palin did send out this message, but it's a compilation of gaffes made by none other than Barack Obama. It was her way of getting back at all those people, like me, who have jumped on her for the gaffes she has made. Palin was especially critical of the media, and rightfully so, for highlighting her gaffes while seeming to ignore the gaffes made by the president. And Palin says she hasn’t had the time to compile all the gaffes made by Joe Biden.
I’ll give Sarah Palin credit, she’s not so dumb after all!
Oh by the way, while he didn't mean to say that, Obama did get one thing right: ‘Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s.’
A THANKSGIVING MESSAGE TO ALL 57 STATES
by Sarah Palin on Thursday, November 25, 2010 at 5:46pm
My fellow Americans in all 57 states, the time has changed for come. With our country founded more than 20 centuries ago, we have much to celebrate – from the FBI’s 100 days to the reforms that bring greater inefficiencies to our health care system. We know that countries like Europe are willing to stand with us in our fight to halt the rise of privacy, and Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. And let’s face it, everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma and they end up taking up a hospital bed. It costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early, and they got some treatment, and ah, a breathalyzer, or an inhalator. I mean, not a breathalyzer, ah, I don’t know what the term is in Austrian for that…
------------
Now, did Sarah Palin actually say that? Well, yes and no. Palin did send out this message, but it's a compilation of gaffes made by none other than Barack Obama. It was her way of getting back at all those people, like me, who have jumped on her for the gaffes she has made. Palin was especially critical of the media, and rightfully so, for highlighting her gaffes while seeming to ignore the gaffes made by the president. And Palin says she hasn’t had the time to compile all the gaffes made by Joe Biden.
I’ll give Sarah Palin credit, she’s not so dumb after all!
Oh by the way, while he didn't mean to say that, Obama did get one thing right: ‘Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s.’
TALIBAN IMPOSTER CONS FAMED M16 OUT OF 'PILES OF CASH'
This has gotta be the ‘Con of the Year.’ I’m sorry, but I can’t stop laughing.
M16 BLAMED FOR FIASCO OF PHONY TALIBAN LEADER WHO WAS PAID A FORTUNE
Mail Online
November 26, 2010
A man posing as a Taliban leader who had talks with Afghanistan's president was paid and promoted by British intelligence, a newspaper said on Friday.
British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) agents paid a man they believed was Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour from May this year, believing they had achieved an 'historic breakthrough' in forging contacts between the Taliban and the Afghan government, according to The Times.
The article goes on to say that 'far from being a former Taliban government minister, the individual concerned is now thought to have been a shopkeeper, a minor Taliban commander, or simply a well-connected chancer from the Pakistani border city of Quetta,' it said.
'The British were convinced of the man's bona fides and flew 'Mansour' from Quetta to Kabul on a British C130 transport aircraft on a number of occasions,' it reported.
U.S. newspapers including The New York Times said earlier this week that a man described as a 'Taliban leader' who had taken part in 'secret peace talks' with the Afghan government was in fact an impostor.
On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported two senior Afghan officials believed the man was a 'lowly shopkeeper' from Quetta, the Pakistan town to which the Taliban leadership fled in 2001.
When asked to comment, a Foreign Office spokesman said: 'We can neither confirm nor deny details of operations'.
Despite suspicions about his identity, nobody disputed his claim to be Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, one of the Taliban’s most senior leaders.
It was only months later – and after the handover of piles of cash to keep him coming back – that an old friend of Mr Mansour said they had the wrong man.
The impostor has not been seen since the alarm was raised.
Before the unexpected development, peace talks with the Taliban had been going smoothly, apparently helped significantly by the presence of ‘Mr Mansour'.
Masquerading as the second in command of the Taliban, behind founder Mullah Mohammed Omar, his willingness to talk appeared to be a sign the terror group was serious about ending the war.
M16 BLAMED FOR FIASCO OF PHONY TALIBAN LEADER WHO WAS PAID A FORTUNE
Mail Online
November 26, 2010
A man posing as a Taliban leader who had talks with Afghanistan's president was paid and promoted by British intelligence, a newspaper said on Friday.
British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) agents paid a man they believed was Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour from May this year, believing they had achieved an 'historic breakthrough' in forging contacts between the Taliban and the Afghan government, according to The Times.
The article goes on to say that 'far from being a former Taliban government minister, the individual concerned is now thought to have been a shopkeeper, a minor Taliban commander, or simply a well-connected chancer from the Pakistani border city of Quetta,' it said.
'The British were convinced of the man's bona fides and flew 'Mansour' from Quetta to Kabul on a British C130 transport aircraft on a number of occasions,' it reported.
U.S. newspapers including The New York Times said earlier this week that a man described as a 'Taliban leader' who had taken part in 'secret peace talks' with the Afghan government was in fact an impostor.
On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported two senior Afghan officials believed the man was a 'lowly shopkeeper' from Quetta, the Pakistan town to which the Taliban leadership fled in 2001.
When asked to comment, a Foreign Office spokesman said: 'We can neither confirm nor deny details of operations'.
Despite suspicions about his identity, nobody disputed his claim to be Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, one of the Taliban’s most senior leaders.
It was only months later – and after the handover of piles of cash to keep him coming back – that an old friend of Mr Mansour said they had the wrong man.
The impostor has not been seen since the alarm was raised.
Before the unexpected development, peace talks with the Taliban had been going smoothly, apparently helped significantly by the presence of ‘Mr Mansour'.
Masquerading as the second in command of the Taliban, behind founder Mullah Mohammed Omar, his willingness to talk appeared to be a sign the terror group was serious about ending the war.
CHANCES ARE THE SAME TEXTBOOKS ARE BEING USED IN THE U.S.
The Saudis have bankrolled dozens of new Wahhabi mosques and madrassahs in the United States. It stands to reason that the same textbooks being used in Britain are being used in the madrassahs here.
LESSONS OF HATE AT ISLAMIC SCHOOLS IN BRITAIN
By John F.Burns
The New York Times
November 22, 2010
LONDON — A British network of more than 40 part-time Islamic schools and clubs with 5,000 students has been teaching from a Saudi Arabian government curriculum that contains anti-Semitic and homophobic views, including a textbook that asks children to list the "reprehensible" qualities of Jews, according to a BBC documentary broadcast on Monday.
The 30-minute "Panorama" program quoted the Saudi government-supplied textbook as saying that "Jews looked like monkeys and pigs," and that Zionists set out to achieve "world domination." The program quoted a separate part of the curriculum – for children as young as 6 – saying that someone who is not a believer in Islam at death would be condemned to "hellfire."
The program said the textbooks had been obtained by an "undercover" Saudi Arabian researcher who asked for them during a visit to one of the Saudi-backed schools and clubs, which meet in the evenings and on weekends in a network that is linked to the cultural bureau of the Saudi Embassy in London.
On Monday, the embassy did not respond to requests for comment, but Saudi officials quoted by the BBC disavowed direct responsibility for the schools and clubs and described the teachings cited in the program as having been "taken out of their historical context."
One of the textbooks, according to the BBC program, prescribed execution as the penalty for gay sex, and outlined differing viewpoints as to whether death should be by stoning, immolation by fire or throwing offenders off a cliff. Another set out the punishments prescribed by Shariah law for theft, including amputation of hands and feet. A BBC video accompanying an article on the program’s Web site showed a textbook illustration of a hand and a foot marked to show where amputations should be made.
Michael Gove, the education minister in the government of Prime Minister David Cameron, said on the program that the government would not tolerate "anti-Semitic material of any kind in English schools." He elaborated in interviews with British newspapers, saying there was also no place in British schools for teachings against gay men and lesbians. But Mr. Gove appeared to be at pains not to allow the issue to develop into a confrontation with Saudi Arabia.
"Saudi Arabia is a sovereign country," he said in a statement issued as the program was broadcast. "We have no desire or wish to intervene in the decisions that the Saudi government makes in its own education system. But we are clear that we cannot have any anti-Semitic material of any kind being used in English schools."
Mr. Gove added that Ofsted, the government-appointed agency with oversight of education and children’s services, would be "reporting to us shortly" on measures to tighten oversight of part-time schools, whose teaching is currently free of the controls imposed on full-time schools.
"Panorama," which first appeared on the BBC nearly 60 years ago, is described by the corporation as the world’s longest-running current affairs documentary program.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I keep staring at the mirror to see whether I look like a monkey or a pig.
LESSONS OF HATE AT ISLAMIC SCHOOLS IN BRITAIN
By John F.Burns
The New York Times
November 22, 2010
LONDON — A British network of more than 40 part-time Islamic schools and clubs with 5,000 students has been teaching from a Saudi Arabian government curriculum that contains anti-Semitic and homophobic views, including a textbook that asks children to list the "reprehensible" qualities of Jews, according to a BBC documentary broadcast on Monday.
The 30-minute "Panorama" program quoted the Saudi government-supplied textbook as saying that "Jews looked like monkeys and pigs," and that Zionists set out to achieve "world domination." The program quoted a separate part of the curriculum – for children as young as 6 – saying that someone who is not a believer in Islam at death would be condemned to "hellfire."
The program said the textbooks had been obtained by an "undercover" Saudi Arabian researcher who asked for them during a visit to one of the Saudi-backed schools and clubs, which meet in the evenings and on weekends in a network that is linked to the cultural bureau of the Saudi Embassy in London.
On Monday, the embassy did not respond to requests for comment, but Saudi officials quoted by the BBC disavowed direct responsibility for the schools and clubs and described the teachings cited in the program as having been "taken out of their historical context."
One of the textbooks, according to the BBC program, prescribed execution as the penalty for gay sex, and outlined differing viewpoints as to whether death should be by stoning, immolation by fire or throwing offenders off a cliff. Another set out the punishments prescribed by Shariah law for theft, including amputation of hands and feet. A BBC video accompanying an article on the program’s Web site showed a textbook illustration of a hand and a foot marked to show where amputations should be made.
Michael Gove, the education minister in the government of Prime Minister David Cameron, said on the program that the government would not tolerate "anti-Semitic material of any kind in English schools." He elaborated in interviews with British newspapers, saying there was also no place in British schools for teachings against gay men and lesbians. But Mr. Gove appeared to be at pains not to allow the issue to develop into a confrontation with Saudi Arabia.
"Saudi Arabia is a sovereign country," he said in a statement issued as the program was broadcast. "We have no desire or wish to intervene in the decisions that the Saudi government makes in its own education system. But we are clear that we cannot have any anti-Semitic material of any kind being used in English schools."
Mr. Gove added that Ofsted, the government-appointed agency with oversight of education and children’s services, would be "reporting to us shortly" on measures to tighten oversight of part-time schools, whose teaching is currently free of the controls imposed on full-time schools.
"Panorama," which first appeared on the BBC nearly 60 years ago, is described by the corporation as the world’s longest-running current affairs documentary program.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I keep staring at the mirror to see whether I look like a monkey or a pig.
SHOW OF SOLIDARITY OR PROVOCATION?
We are sending a U.S. naval task force led by the aircraft carrier George Washington to the Yellow Sea for a joint training exercise with the South Korean navy. We are saying that these exercises were previously planned as a show of solidarity with our South Korean allies and not as a response to this week’s North Korean bombardment of a small South Korean island. The North Koreans see the joint military exercises as a provocation and are threatening to go to war.
So, are the joint exercises a show of solidarity or are they a provocation? The answer to that question is: It’s all in the eye of the beholder. In the eyes of the North Koreans the joint exercises are a provocation. How would we see a joint naval exercise of the Cuban and North Korean navies in the Gulf of Mexico? We would damn sure see that as a provocation!
We always see the world through our own eyes. All countries do that. We label leaders of other countries as ‘crazy’ if they act differently from the way our leaders and the leaders of our allies are expected to act.
We think that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and Libya’s Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi are crazy. We think that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is crazy. We thought the same of Kim Il-sung, his father, when he was in power and we will no doubt think that Kim Jung Un, his son and designated heir, is crazy after he assumes the leadership of North Korea.
The people of Iran, Libya and North Korea, whether they like them or hate them, certainly do not believe their leaders are crazy. Many of them probably see Barack Obama as being crazy.
As I said before, it’s all in the eye of the beholder. That’s why our joint naval exercises with South Korea are seen as a provocation by North Korea.
The North Korean threats may just be a huff and puff exercise but we have to consider that North Korea would be a formidable opponent. We are not facing the cowardly army of Saddam Hussein. We know from past experience that South Korea’s soldiers are brave fighters and there is no reason to believe that the North Korean soldiers are not just as brave. And the North Korean army is equipped with the latest military hardware.
In the current crisis we are left with two choices. We can call off the joint U.S.-Korean naval exercises, which we are not about to do because it would be seen as a sign of weakness, or we can hope and pray they will not lead to a bloody war.
So, are the joint exercises a show of solidarity or are they a provocation? The answer to that question is: It’s all in the eye of the beholder. In the eyes of the North Koreans the joint exercises are a provocation. How would we see a joint naval exercise of the Cuban and North Korean navies in the Gulf of Mexico? We would damn sure see that as a provocation!
We always see the world through our own eyes. All countries do that. We label leaders of other countries as ‘crazy’ if they act differently from the way our leaders and the leaders of our allies are expected to act.
We think that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and Libya’s Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi are crazy. We think that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is crazy. We thought the same of Kim Il-sung, his father, when he was in power and we will no doubt think that Kim Jung Un, his son and designated heir, is crazy after he assumes the leadership of North Korea.
The people of Iran, Libya and North Korea, whether they like them or hate them, certainly do not believe their leaders are crazy. Many of them probably see Barack Obama as being crazy.
As I said before, it’s all in the eye of the beholder. That’s why our joint naval exercises with South Korea are seen as a provocation by North Korea.
The North Korean threats may just be a huff and puff exercise but we have to consider that North Korea would be a formidable opponent. We are not facing the cowardly army of Saddam Hussein. We know from past experience that South Korea’s soldiers are brave fighters and there is no reason to believe that the North Korean soldiers are not just as brave. And the North Korean army is equipped with the latest military hardware.
In the current crisis we are left with two choices. We can call off the joint U.S.-Korean naval exercises, which we are not about to do because it would be seen as a sign of weakness, or we can hope and pray they will not lead to a bloody war.
Friday, November 26, 2010
SARAH PALIN FOR PRESIDENT? LET'S GET REAL!
When Glenn Beck interviewed Sarah Palin during his radio show on Wednesday and asked her what she thought about the conflict between the two Koreas, she replied: "Obviously, we gotta stand with our North Korean allies."
Our North Korean allies? Wow, that’s really a good one! Sarah Palin for president? Let’s get real! The Democrats are salivating at the thought that Palin will be the Republican Party candidate for president in 2012. They believe that if Palin is the Republican candidate, Obama’s reelection will be secured. And I happen to agree with them.
OK, so it was just a slip of the tongue. After all, her admirers will say, she corrected herself. But that was only after Beck chimed in to correct her gaffe. And that’s only one of many gaffes Palin has been caught making in the past two years.
When John McCain chose Palin as his running mate I thought he had made a good choice. It didn’t take me long to change my mind. Her remark that Alaska is 'right over the border from Russia' raised an alarm. But when she blew her interview with Katy Couric by being unable to name any news publications on her reading list, it convinced me she was not presidential material. Her defenders say that she was ambushed by Couric. That’s a crock! Couric asked a legitimate question, one that has been asked of many other presidential candidates.
The ‘Hockey Mom’ who said she could see Russia from Alaska has the ability to pump up the Tea Party members and the far-right of the Republican Party with her cutesy wisecracks. But that’s not going to be enough to get her elected president. I sure hope the Republicans have the good sense to choose a well qualified presidential candidate, something Palin has demonstrated she’s most definitely not, because I really hate to see Obama win a second term.
Our North Korean allies? Wow, that’s really a good one! Sarah Palin for president? Let’s get real! The Democrats are salivating at the thought that Palin will be the Republican Party candidate for president in 2012. They believe that if Palin is the Republican candidate, Obama’s reelection will be secured. And I happen to agree with them.
OK, so it was just a slip of the tongue. After all, her admirers will say, she corrected herself. But that was only after Beck chimed in to correct her gaffe. And that’s only one of many gaffes Palin has been caught making in the past two years.
When John McCain chose Palin as his running mate I thought he had made a good choice. It didn’t take me long to change my mind. Her remark that Alaska is 'right over the border from Russia' raised an alarm. But when she blew her interview with Katy Couric by being unable to name any news publications on her reading list, it convinced me she was not presidential material. Her defenders say that she was ambushed by Couric. That’s a crock! Couric asked a legitimate question, one that has been asked of many other presidential candidates.
The ‘Hockey Mom’ who said she could see Russia from Alaska has the ability to pump up the Tea Party members and the far-right of the Republican Party with her cutesy wisecracks. But that’s not going to be enough to get her elected president. I sure hope the Republicans have the good sense to choose a well qualified presidential candidate, something Palin has demonstrated she’s most definitely not, because I really hate to see Obama win a second term.
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TRIES TO PULL A 'BAIT AND SWITCH' ON ISRAEL
The Israelis cannot trust the Obama administration anymore than they can trust the Palestinian Authority. More evidence that Obama is the most anti-Israel president ever.
U.S.-ISRAEL BUILDING FREEZE AND SECURITY DEAL FALLING APART
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
November 25, 2010
As Israel continues to wait for an official letter outlining the Obama Administration’s commitments to Israel in return for a 90-day Jewish building freeze in areas claimed by the Palestinians, Israeli media reports that the deal appears to be falling apart.
Originally, it was reported that in return for the building freeze and restarting direct talks with the Palestinians, the US would take Israeli security demands more seriously, provide greater backing at the UN, and give Israel 20 F-35 fighter jets. The freeze would not include eastern Jerusalem, and would be the last time the US asked for or supporting a Jewish building freeze.
That is how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the deal to his cabinet, because that is how US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented it to him.
But Israeli cabinet ministers were wise to insist on a written letter from the Obama White House before agreeing to the freeze, because it now seems the American leadership was trying to pull a fast one on Israel.
The first crack began to show early last week when American officials reneged on Clinton’s original wording by saying that a Jewish building freeze in Jerusalem was part of the deal. Israelis had at first been told Jerusalem would not be part of the freeze, in line with Israel’s position that Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem are not "settlements."
Around the same time, National Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau clarified that even Clinton’s wording was being misrepresented, as her offer of jets and diplomatic support would only be realized if the building freeze resulted in a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, a near-impossible feat considering Palestinian positions.
Israeli ministers later learned that the F-35 fighter jets, which were touted as the best reason for taking a risk on the freeze, were to be part of a separate package, and that Israel would pay for them in full.
Israel National News (INN) is now reporting that Clinton and Obama tried to pull a "bait and switch" on Israel, with Clinton offering a deal the White House hoped Israel would accept without confirmation, only to later have Obama renege on the deal because he had never approved it in the first place.
According to a senior unnamed diplomat cited by INN, State Department officials were surprised when Netanyahu called them wondering why no formal letter or proposal had yet been sent. They insisted that Netanyhau had to have known that anything Clinton promised was only a suggestion, and that Obama has the final say.
Without a US letter guaranteeing that no additional freezes will be demanded and that the requested freeze will expire in 90 days, Netanyahu will not have the support of his cabinet in this matter. As the situation now stands, if Netanyahu goes ahead with the freeze under US pressure, it is highly likely that his government will be brought down by the right-wing parties.
U.S.-ISRAEL BUILDING FREEZE AND SECURITY DEAL FALLING APART
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
November 25, 2010
As Israel continues to wait for an official letter outlining the Obama Administration’s commitments to Israel in return for a 90-day Jewish building freeze in areas claimed by the Palestinians, Israeli media reports that the deal appears to be falling apart.
Originally, it was reported that in return for the building freeze and restarting direct talks with the Palestinians, the US would take Israeli security demands more seriously, provide greater backing at the UN, and give Israel 20 F-35 fighter jets. The freeze would not include eastern Jerusalem, and would be the last time the US asked for or supporting a Jewish building freeze.
That is how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the deal to his cabinet, because that is how US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented it to him.
But Israeli cabinet ministers were wise to insist on a written letter from the Obama White House before agreeing to the freeze, because it now seems the American leadership was trying to pull a fast one on Israel.
The first crack began to show early last week when American officials reneged on Clinton’s original wording by saying that a Jewish building freeze in Jerusalem was part of the deal. Israelis had at first been told Jerusalem would not be part of the freeze, in line with Israel’s position that Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem are not "settlements."
Around the same time, National Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau clarified that even Clinton’s wording was being misrepresented, as her offer of jets and diplomatic support would only be realized if the building freeze resulted in a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, a near-impossible feat considering Palestinian positions.
Israeli ministers later learned that the F-35 fighter jets, which were touted as the best reason for taking a risk on the freeze, were to be part of a separate package, and that Israel would pay for them in full.
Israel National News (INN) is now reporting that Clinton and Obama tried to pull a "bait and switch" on Israel, with Clinton offering a deal the White House hoped Israel would accept without confirmation, only to later have Obama renege on the deal because he had never approved it in the first place.
According to a senior unnamed diplomat cited by INN, State Department officials were surprised when Netanyahu called them wondering why no formal letter or proposal had yet been sent. They insisted that Netanyhau had to have known that anything Clinton promised was only a suggestion, and that Obama has the final say.
Without a US letter guaranteeing that no additional freezes will be demanded and that the requested freeze will expire in 90 days, Netanyahu will not have the support of his cabinet in this matter. As the situation now stands, if Netanyahu goes ahead with the freeze under US pressure, it is highly likely that his government will be brought down by the right-wing parties.
SO YOU THINK TOM DELAY IS BAD
Former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has been convicted in a Texas state court on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering in a scheme to illegally funnel corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002. He faces the [unlikely] possibility of life in prison.
You think that’s bad? Wait till you see this:
Former Israeli President (2000-2007) Moshe Katsav was tried on charges of raping a former employee while serving as tourism minister (1996-1999), sexually assaulting two others as president, and obstructing justice. The verdict in the year-long trial will be handed down on December 28.
Former President Moshe Katsav makes former Majority Leader Tom DeLay look like a Boy Scout.
You think that’s bad? Wait till you see this:
Former Israeli President (2000-2007) Moshe Katsav was tried on charges of raping a former employee while serving as tourism minister (1996-1999), sexually assaulting two others as president, and obstructing justice. The verdict in the year-long trial will be handed down on December 28.
Former President Moshe Katsav makes former Majority Leader Tom DeLay look like a Boy Scout.
SMILE, YOU'RE ON COP CAMERA
This crook was not the swiftest shooting star in the galaxy.
COP CAMERA CATCHES MAN TRYING TO STEAL COP CAMERA
The evidence needed to bust the man was captured on the same pole-mounted camera he attempted to steal
By Rosemary Sobol
The Chicago Sun-Times
November 23, 2010
CHICAGO — A Little Village man has the dubious distinction of being the first person to steal a Chicago Police Department pod camera, officials said.
The evidence the police needed to bust him was captured on the same pole-mounted camera.
Geo Martinez, 19, of the 2400 block of Spaulding, was charged Sunday with felony theft and misdemeanor reckless conduct, police said. He was ordered held on $40,000 bond Monday.
Police realized the camera was stolen on Nov. 18 when they were dispatched to check on an apparently broken one outside 3258 W. 23rd St. They checked archived video footage sent from the missing camera and spotted a man stealing it on Nov. 8, police said.
Later, during a gang disturbance, police recognized Martinez from the video and arrested him, police said. City officials said they believe it's the first time anyone has stolen a pod camera, valued at about $8,000.
COP CAMERA CATCHES MAN TRYING TO STEAL COP CAMERA
The evidence needed to bust the man was captured on the same pole-mounted camera he attempted to steal
By Rosemary Sobol
The Chicago Sun-Times
November 23, 2010
CHICAGO — A Little Village man has the dubious distinction of being the first person to steal a Chicago Police Department pod camera, officials said.
The evidence the police needed to bust him was captured on the same pole-mounted camera.
Geo Martinez, 19, of the 2400 block of Spaulding, was charged Sunday with felony theft and misdemeanor reckless conduct, police said. He was ordered held on $40,000 bond Monday.
Police realized the camera was stolen on Nov. 18 when they were dispatched to check on an apparently broken one outside 3258 W. 23rd St. They checked archived video footage sent from the missing camera and spotted a man stealing it on Nov. 8, police said.
Later, during a gang disturbance, police recognized Martinez from the video and arrested him, police said. City officials said they believe it's the first time anyone has stolen a pod camera, valued at about $8,000.
JAPAN GOT IT RIGHT
Age should not be a ‘decisive’ factor in determining the assessment of the death penalty. It is the crime itself , as in this case, that should be the determining factor.
FIRST DEATH SENTENCE TO MINOR
The Straits Times
November 25, 2010
TOKYO - JAPANESE jurors on Thursday sentenced a teenager to hang for a double murder, the first death penalty given to a minor under the nation's newly-introduced jury system, court officials said.
The 19-year-old defendant, whose name was withheld, was convicted of stabbing to death both the sister and a friend of his girlfriend at their house in Miyagi, northern Japan, in February this year. Under Japanese law, people under 20-years-old are tried as minors.
The teenager, who committed the murders after his girlfriend tried to end their relationship, also seriously injured another man in the attack.
'We cannot say he is fully aware of the graveness of the case,' presiding judge Nobuyuki Suzuki told the Sendai District Court in Miyagi, according to Jiji Press.
'The possibility of his rehabilitation is extremely low,' the judge said, adding that age was not a 'decisive' factor on death penalties. The defendant was 18 years and seven months old when he killed the victims.
The sentence - decided by six members of the jury and three professional judges - was the first time the death penalty was handed down to a minor since Japan introduced the so-called lay-judge system in May last year. -- AFP
FIRST DEATH SENTENCE TO MINOR
The Straits Times
November 25, 2010
TOKYO - JAPANESE jurors on Thursday sentenced a teenager to hang for a double murder, the first death penalty given to a minor under the nation's newly-introduced jury system, court officials said.
The 19-year-old defendant, whose name was withheld, was convicted of stabbing to death both the sister and a friend of his girlfriend at their house in Miyagi, northern Japan, in February this year. Under Japanese law, people under 20-years-old are tried as minors.
The teenager, who committed the murders after his girlfriend tried to end their relationship, also seriously injured another man in the attack.
'We cannot say he is fully aware of the graveness of the case,' presiding judge Nobuyuki Suzuki told the Sendai District Court in Miyagi, according to Jiji Press.
'The possibility of his rehabilitation is extremely low,' the judge said, adding that age was not a 'decisive' factor on death penalties. The defendant was 18 years and seven months old when he killed the victims.
The sentence - decided by six members of the jury and three professional judges - was the first time the death penalty was handed down to a minor since Japan introduced the so-called lay-judge system in May last year. -- AFP
Thursday, November 25, 2010
HUFF AND PUFF
Let’s face it, when it come to North Korea, the once mighty United States has become a toothless tiger. North Korea tests nuclear weapons. All we can do is huff and puff. North Korea sinks a South Korean warship. All we can do is huff and puff. And now North Korea has bombarded a South Korean island. All we can do is huff and puff. And all we’ve been able to do about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and meddling in Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza is to huff and puff.
In dealing with the threats posed by North Korea and Iran, the best we’ve been able to do is to protest loudly and call on other nations to impose sanctions against these two rogue nations. Trouble is the North Koreans and Iranians are paying no attention to our protests and the sanctions haven’t worked. We’ve even told the Israelis not to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities for fear of getting dragged into another shooting war.
South Korea retaliated with a bombardment of its own and threatened ‘Enormous Retaliation’ for any further North Korean attacks. Enormous retaliation? That would drag the whole Korean peninsula into a bloody war with thousands and thousands of civilian casualties. And what about the 30,000 American troops stationed near the demilitarized zone? They would probably be wiped out. That’s why the Obama administration is urging both sides to show restraint.
The Obama administration really can’t do much more. It would be the same if John McCain had been elected president or, for that matter, if Ronald Reagan were president right now. We have become a toothless tiger, barely able to contain the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan after nine years of trying to defeat a bunch of ragtag fighters who use improvised weapons against our modern military might.
We will go to the United Nations and ask for a resolution condemning North Korea as we have with Iran. The U.N. will pass a resolution that will be ignored by the North Koreans. Let’s face the fact that we are bankrolling an international organization which when confronted with a powerful foe is no more effective than was the League of Nations prior to WWII.
Dispatching a U.S. naval task force led by the aircraft carrier George Washington to the area for a joint training exercise with the South Korean navy is just more huff and puff that is not going to frighten the North Koreans because they know we are not going to launch our planes to attack them.
We are really in no position to become engaged in another major shooting war. And our military capabilities are not likely to get any better because all the leading economists agree that drastic cuts in defense spending will be required to reduce the national debt and to reign in deficit spending.
Without resorting to the use of our nuclear weapons, all we can do is huff and puff. How sad that the once mighty United States has become a toothless tiger.
In dealing with the threats posed by North Korea and Iran, the best we’ve been able to do is to protest loudly and call on other nations to impose sanctions against these two rogue nations. Trouble is the North Koreans and Iranians are paying no attention to our protests and the sanctions haven’t worked. We’ve even told the Israelis not to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities for fear of getting dragged into another shooting war.
South Korea retaliated with a bombardment of its own and threatened ‘Enormous Retaliation’ for any further North Korean attacks. Enormous retaliation? That would drag the whole Korean peninsula into a bloody war with thousands and thousands of civilian casualties. And what about the 30,000 American troops stationed near the demilitarized zone? They would probably be wiped out. That’s why the Obama administration is urging both sides to show restraint.
The Obama administration really can’t do much more. It would be the same if John McCain had been elected president or, for that matter, if Ronald Reagan were president right now. We have become a toothless tiger, barely able to contain the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan after nine years of trying to defeat a bunch of ragtag fighters who use improvised weapons against our modern military might.
We will go to the United Nations and ask for a resolution condemning North Korea as we have with Iran. The U.N. will pass a resolution that will be ignored by the North Koreans. Let’s face the fact that we are bankrolling an international organization which when confronted with a powerful foe is no more effective than was the League of Nations prior to WWII.
Dispatching a U.S. naval task force led by the aircraft carrier George Washington to the area for a joint training exercise with the South Korean navy is just more huff and puff that is not going to frighten the North Koreans because they know we are not going to launch our planes to attack them.
We are really in no position to become engaged in another major shooting war. And our military capabilities are not likely to get any better because all the leading economists agree that drastic cuts in defense spending will be required to reduce the national debt and to reign in deficit spending.
Without resorting to the use of our nuclear weapons, all we can do is huff and puff. How sad that the once mighty United States has become a toothless tiger.
NORTH KOREA FLEXES ITS MUSCLE
Where is the conflict between the two Koreas headed?
IS NORTH KOREA MOVING ANOTHER ‘RED LINE’?
STRATFOR Global Intelligence
November 23, 2010
SUMMARY
North Korea and South Korea exchanged artillery fire near their disputed border in the Yellow Sea/West Sea on Nov. 23. The incident raises several questions, not the least of which is whether Pyongyang is attempting to move the real "red line" for conventional weapons engagements, just as it has managed to move the limit of "acceptable" behavior regarding its nuclear program.
ANALYSIS
North Korea and South Korea exchanged artillery fire near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), their disputed western border in the Yellow Sea/West Sea on Nov. 23. The incident damaged as many as 100 homes and thus far has killed two South Korean soldiers with several others, including some civilians, wounded. The South Korean government convened an emergency Cabinet meeting soon after the incident and called for the prevention of escalation. It later warned of "stern retaliation" if North Korea launches additional attacks. Pyongyang responded by threatening to launch additional strikes, and accused South Korea and the United States of planning to invade North Korea, in reference to the joint Hoguk military exercises currently under way in different locations across South Korea.
The incident is the latest in a series of provocations by Pyongyang near the NLL this year following the sinking of the South Korean warship ChonAn in March. Over the past several years, the NLL has been a major hotspot. While most border incidents have been low-level skirmishes, such as the November 2009 naval episode, a steady escalation of hostilities culminated in the sinking of the ChonAn. The Nov. 23 attack on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeongdo represents another escalation; similar shellings in the past were for show and often merely involved shooting into the sea, but this attack targeted a military base. It also comes amid an atmosphere of higher tensions surrounding the revelation of active North Korean uranium enrichment facilities, South Korea’s disavowal of its Sunshine Policy of warming ties with the North and an ongoing power succession in Pyongyang.
Over the years, North Korea has slowly moved the "red line" regarding its missile program and nuclear development. It was always said that North Korea would never test a nuclear weapon because it would cross a line that the United States had set. Yet North Korea did test a nuclear weapon in October 2006, and then another in May 2009, without facing any dire consequences. This indicates that the red line for the nuclear program was either moved, or was rhetorical. The main question after the Nov. 23 attack is whether Pyongyang is attempting to move the red line for conventional attacks. If North Korea is attempting to raise the threshold for a response to such action, it could be playing a very dangerous game.
However, the threat North Korea’s nuclear program poses is more theoretical than the threat posed by conventional weapons engagements. Just as it seems that a North Korean nuclear test would not result in military action, the ChonAn sinking and the Nov. 23 attack seem to show that an "unprovoked" North Korean attack also will not lead to military retaliation. If this pattern holds, it means North Korea could decide to move from sea-based to land-based clashes, shell border positions across the Demilitarized Zone or take any number of other actions that certainly are not theoretical.
The questions STRATFOR is focusing on after the Nov. 23 attack are as follows:
__Is North Korea attempting to test or push back against limits on conventional attacks? If so, are these attacks meant to test South Korea and its allies ahead of an all-out military action, or is the North seeking a political response as it has with its nuclear program? If the former, we must reassess North Korea’s behavior and ascertain whether the North Koreans are preparing to try a military action against South Korea — perhaps trying to seize one or more of the five South Korean islands along the NLL. If the latter, then at what point will they actually cross a red line that will trigger a response?
__Is South Korea content to constantly redefine "acceptable" North Korean actions? Does South Korea see something in the North that we do not? The South Koreans have good awareness of what is going on in North Korea, and vice versa. The two sides are having a conversation about something and using limited conventional force to get a point across. We should focus on what the underlying issue is.
__What is it that South Korea is afraid of in the North? North Korea gives an American a guided tour of a uranium enrichment facility, then fires across the NLL a couple of days after the news breaks. The South does not respond. It seems that South Korea is afraid of either real power or real weakness in the North, but we do not know which.
IS NORTH KOREA MOVING ANOTHER ‘RED LINE’?
STRATFOR Global Intelligence
November 23, 2010
SUMMARY
North Korea and South Korea exchanged artillery fire near their disputed border in the Yellow Sea/West Sea on Nov. 23. The incident raises several questions, not the least of which is whether Pyongyang is attempting to move the real "red line" for conventional weapons engagements, just as it has managed to move the limit of "acceptable" behavior regarding its nuclear program.
ANALYSIS
North Korea and South Korea exchanged artillery fire near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), their disputed western border in the Yellow Sea/West Sea on Nov. 23. The incident damaged as many as 100 homes and thus far has killed two South Korean soldiers with several others, including some civilians, wounded. The South Korean government convened an emergency Cabinet meeting soon after the incident and called for the prevention of escalation. It later warned of "stern retaliation" if North Korea launches additional attacks. Pyongyang responded by threatening to launch additional strikes, and accused South Korea and the United States of planning to invade North Korea, in reference to the joint Hoguk military exercises currently under way in different locations across South Korea.
The incident is the latest in a series of provocations by Pyongyang near the NLL this year following the sinking of the South Korean warship ChonAn in March. Over the past several years, the NLL has been a major hotspot. While most border incidents have been low-level skirmishes, such as the November 2009 naval episode, a steady escalation of hostilities culminated in the sinking of the ChonAn. The Nov. 23 attack on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeongdo represents another escalation; similar shellings in the past were for show and often merely involved shooting into the sea, but this attack targeted a military base. It also comes amid an atmosphere of higher tensions surrounding the revelation of active North Korean uranium enrichment facilities, South Korea’s disavowal of its Sunshine Policy of warming ties with the North and an ongoing power succession in Pyongyang.
Over the years, North Korea has slowly moved the "red line" regarding its missile program and nuclear development. It was always said that North Korea would never test a nuclear weapon because it would cross a line that the United States had set. Yet North Korea did test a nuclear weapon in October 2006, and then another in May 2009, without facing any dire consequences. This indicates that the red line for the nuclear program was either moved, or was rhetorical. The main question after the Nov. 23 attack is whether Pyongyang is attempting to move the red line for conventional attacks. If North Korea is attempting to raise the threshold for a response to such action, it could be playing a very dangerous game.
However, the threat North Korea’s nuclear program poses is more theoretical than the threat posed by conventional weapons engagements. Just as it seems that a North Korean nuclear test would not result in military action, the ChonAn sinking and the Nov. 23 attack seem to show that an "unprovoked" North Korean attack also will not lead to military retaliation. If this pattern holds, it means North Korea could decide to move from sea-based to land-based clashes, shell border positions across the Demilitarized Zone or take any number of other actions that certainly are not theoretical.
The questions STRATFOR is focusing on after the Nov. 23 attack are as follows:
__Is North Korea attempting to test or push back against limits on conventional attacks? If so, are these attacks meant to test South Korea and its allies ahead of an all-out military action, or is the North seeking a political response as it has with its nuclear program? If the former, we must reassess North Korea’s behavior and ascertain whether the North Koreans are preparing to try a military action against South Korea — perhaps trying to seize one or more of the five South Korean islands along the NLL. If the latter, then at what point will they actually cross a red line that will trigger a response?
__Is South Korea content to constantly redefine "acceptable" North Korean actions? Does South Korea see something in the North that we do not? The South Koreans have good awareness of what is going on in North Korea, and vice versa. The two sides are having a conversation about something and using limited conventional force to get a point across. We should focus on what the underlying issue is.
__What is it that South Korea is afraid of in the North? North Korea gives an American a guided tour of a uranium enrichment facility, then fires across the NLL a couple of days after the news breaks. The South does not respond. It seems that South Korea is afraid of either real power or real weakness in the North, but we do not know which.
THE NEED TO EXERCISE CAUTION AND GOOD JUDGEMENT ABOUT WHAT YOU SHARE ONLINE
Good advise for everyone, not just for cops. The personal information, opinions and raunchy pictures submitted to social media networks can come back to haunt you.
WHEN IT COMES TO SOCIAL MEDIA, YOU NEVER KNOW WHO MIGHT BE WATCHING
By Los Angeles Police Protective League Board of Directors
LAPPL BLOG
November 23, 2010
As police officers, we’ve known for a while now that some of the best places to catch criminals bragging about their illegal activities are social media networks like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube. There have been hundreds of cases across the country in which postings have helped solve crimes, break up drug rings, identify gang members and even catch rampaging teens abusing the homeless. As Todd Wright of NBC Miami put it, "The Internet is quickly becoming a police officer's best friend."
But common criminals aren’t the only ones getting tripped up by their online indiscretions. According to a recent report in USA Today, police agencies across the country are now reviewing content posted on social networks to screen potential police recruits. And these law enforcement agencies are not alone. A recent survey commissioned by Microsoft found that 79 percent of hiring managers and job recruiters in the United States review online information posted on social networking sites and blogs to screen job candidates, and 70 percent have rejected an applicant based on the information they found. The surveyed professionals believe that the use of this information for screening purposes will "significantly increase over the next five years."
Over the last few years, a number of law enforcement agencies have fired police officers over inappropriate postings on social media sites. One of the most notorious cases involved a Washington State Patrol cadet who was given the option of either resigning or being fired after officials received a complaint about content on his Facebook page. And the scrutiny is sometimes not limited to Internet content. A few months ago, the nation’s highest court issued a decision in a case dating back to 2003 affirming the City of Ontario’s right to review text messages sent by Sergeant Jeff Quon on city-issued pagers.
The bottom line is that we should all exercise caution and good judgment about what we share online. It’s important to remember that anything we post on a MySpace or Facebook account, or any video we upload to YouTube, could be readily accessed by people we wouldn’t normally share things with – no matter how uninteresting or insignificant we think the posting might be. Many criminals have firsthand knowledge of social media sites. These individuals are sophisticated and proficient in locating people through internet websites.We urge our members to make any and all of their social networking accounts private and accessible only to your most trusted associates. Be extra careful, and don't post anything that you wouldn’t want a criminal or prospective employer (or your mom!) to see.
Below are links to the Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter privacy policies, as well as explanations on how to change privacy settings. The last is a general guide on how to protect your online reputation.
http://www.facebook.com/policy.php
http://www.myspace.com/Modules/ContentManagement/Pages/page.aspx?placement=privacy_settings
http://www.youtube.com/t/privacy_at_youtube
http://twitter.com/privacy
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/parents/cyberethics/reputation.aspx
You can’t be too safe.
WHEN IT COMES TO SOCIAL MEDIA, YOU NEVER KNOW WHO MIGHT BE WATCHING
By Los Angeles Police Protective League Board of Directors
LAPPL BLOG
November 23, 2010
As police officers, we’ve known for a while now that some of the best places to catch criminals bragging about their illegal activities are social media networks like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube. There have been hundreds of cases across the country in which postings have helped solve crimes, break up drug rings, identify gang members and even catch rampaging teens abusing the homeless. As Todd Wright of NBC Miami put it, "The Internet is quickly becoming a police officer's best friend."
But common criminals aren’t the only ones getting tripped up by their online indiscretions. According to a recent report in USA Today, police agencies across the country are now reviewing content posted on social networks to screen potential police recruits. And these law enforcement agencies are not alone. A recent survey commissioned by Microsoft found that 79 percent of hiring managers and job recruiters in the United States review online information posted on social networking sites and blogs to screen job candidates, and 70 percent have rejected an applicant based on the information they found. The surveyed professionals believe that the use of this information for screening purposes will "significantly increase over the next five years."
Over the last few years, a number of law enforcement agencies have fired police officers over inappropriate postings on social media sites. One of the most notorious cases involved a Washington State Patrol cadet who was given the option of either resigning or being fired after officials received a complaint about content on his Facebook page. And the scrutiny is sometimes not limited to Internet content. A few months ago, the nation’s highest court issued a decision in a case dating back to 2003 affirming the City of Ontario’s right to review text messages sent by Sergeant Jeff Quon on city-issued pagers.
The bottom line is that we should all exercise caution and good judgment about what we share online. It’s important to remember that anything we post on a MySpace or Facebook account, or any video we upload to YouTube, could be readily accessed by people we wouldn’t normally share things with – no matter how uninteresting or insignificant we think the posting might be. Many criminals have firsthand knowledge of social media sites. These individuals are sophisticated and proficient in locating people through internet websites.We urge our members to make any and all of their social networking accounts private and accessible only to your most trusted associates. Be extra careful, and don't post anything that you wouldn’t want a criminal or prospective employer (or your mom!) to see.
Below are links to the Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter privacy policies, as well as explanations on how to change privacy settings. The last is a general guide on how to protect your online reputation.
http://www.facebook.com/policy.php
http://www.myspace.com/Modules/ContentManagement/Pages/page.aspx?placement=privacy_settings
http://www.youtube.com/t/privacy_at_youtube
http://twitter.com/privacy
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/parents/cyberethics/reputation.aspx
You can’t be too safe.
CDCR MAKING ITSELF LOOK GOOD FOR A BAD SITUATION IT BROUGHT ON IN THE FIRST PLACE
Pretty damn clever of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for bragging about the number of arrests its parole agents have made which were brought about in the first place by it’s own piss poor policies and lack of adequate parole supervision. Trying to con the public by turning your awful mistakes into a notable achievement is what’s called chutzpah.
OPERATION SAFE PLAYGROUNGDS: PROGRAM OWES SUCCESS TO THE CHRONIC FAILURE OF CALIFORNIA’S ADULTPAROLE OPERATIONS
By Jeff Doyle
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
November 24, 2010
6 MONTH BARREL-FISHING EXPEDITION PAYS OFF FOR CALIFORNIA PAROLEE APPREHENSION TEAMS
Paco is encouraged to see CDCR is not only paying lip service to enforcement but actually doing some.
Even so, and with all due respect to all those "special parole agents," thanks to the weak parole policies of this administration, how could they NOT score as many bookings? In Region III alone, there are so many free-range 290′s Cal-Trans is installing road signs warning drivers of the hazard.
Which is to say, California is a target rich environment for officers seeking parole violators, PALs and stray sex-offenders. Between the Division of Adult Parole Operations and the Board of Parole Hearings continuing parole [for parole violators], slapping hands (aka ‘time-served’) or tossing out revocation cases altogether, it seems the Agency can’t release parole violators fast enough. Unfortunately, special teams of apprehension agents will never be able to keep the pace…
cdcr today
Friday, November 19, 2010
CDCR PAROLE AGENTS ARREST NEARLY 580 SEX OFFENDERS DURING "OPERATION SAFE PLAYGROUNDS"
California Parolee Apprehension Teams Coordinate with 140 Partner Agencies to Track, Search, Cyber-monitor and Capture Sex Offenders
LOS ANGELES — A specialized team of parole agents with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has arrested 579 parolees during a six-month multi-agency sting entitled Operation Safe Playground. The statewide operation, which began in July and continues through January, was conducted by state parole agents who specialize in parolee apprehension and GPS-monitoring, along with other law enforcement partners.
"Operation Safe Playground is designed to deter crimes against children by taking dangerous sex offenders off the streets and by sending a clear message to all sex offenders that our agents are watching them carefully," said CDCR Division of Adult Parole Operations Director Robert Ambroselli. "Our teams are meticulously tracking sex-offender parolees’ movements, checking parolees’ property for prohibited contraband and searching sex offenders’ homes and their cyber world for any sign they may be preying on the innocent."
The California Parolee Apprehension Team (CPAT) was created because of recent parole reforms launched by CDCR in January to direct more intense focus on parolees who pose the most risk to public safety. CPAT agents receive extensive training in fugitive apprehension, database searches, social networking, field tactics and firearms. The department also employees agents who specialize in GPS-monitoring of parolees.
Since July, parole agents and their law enforcement partners have conducted 1,276 parole and probation searches statewide, and arrested 579 sex offenders, 233 of whom were parolees-at-large.
CPAT led more than 140 partner agencies including the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and local law enforcement departments statewide in this week’s efforts……(Full text at DORC.gov)
OPERATION SAFE PLAYGROUNGDS: PROGRAM OWES SUCCESS TO THE CHRONIC FAILURE OF CALIFORNIA’S ADULTPAROLE OPERATIONS
By Jeff Doyle
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
November 24, 2010
6 MONTH BARREL-FISHING EXPEDITION PAYS OFF FOR CALIFORNIA PAROLEE APPREHENSION TEAMS
Paco is encouraged to see CDCR is not only paying lip service to enforcement but actually doing some.
Even so, and with all due respect to all those "special parole agents," thanks to the weak parole policies of this administration, how could they NOT score as many bookings? In Region III alone, there are so many free-range 290′s Cal-Trans is installing road signs warning drivers of the hazard.
Which is to say, California is a target rich environment for officers seeking parole violators, PALs and stray sex-offenders. Between the Division of Adult Parole Operations and the Board of Parole Hearings continuing parole [for parole violators], slapping hands (aka ‘time-served’) or tossing out revocation cases altogether, it seems the Agency can’t release parole violators fast enough. Unfortunately, special teams of apprehension agents will never be able to keep the pace…
cdcr today
Friday, November 19, 2010
CDCR PAROLE AGENTS ARREST NEARLY 580 SEX OFFENDERS DURING "OPERATION SAFE PLAYGROUNDS"
California Parolee Apprehension Teams Coordinate with 140 Partner Agencies to Track, Search, Cyber-monitor and Capture Sex Offenders
LOS ANGELES — A specialized team of parole agents with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has arrested 579 parolees during a six-month multi-agency sting entitled Operation Safe Playground. The statewide operation, which began in July and continues through January, was conducted by state parole agents who specialize in parolee apprehension and GPS-monitoring, along with other law enforcement partners.
"Operation Safe Playground is designed to deter crimes against children by taking dangerous sex offenders off the streets and by sending a clear message to all sex offenders that our agents are watching them carefully," said CDCR Division of Adult Parole Operations Director Robert Ambroselli. "Our teams are meticulously tracking sex-offender parolees’ movements, checking parolees’ property for prohibited contraband and searching sex offenders’ homes and their cyber world for any sign they may be preying on the innocent."
The California Parolee Apprehension Team (CPAT) was created because of recent parole reforms launched by CDCR in January to direct more intense focus on parolees who pose the most risk to public safety. CPAT agents receive extensive training in fugitive apprehension, database searches, social networking, field tactics and firearms. The department also employees agents who specialize in GPS-monitoring of parolees.
Since July, parole agents and their law enforcement partners have conducted 1,276 parole and probation searches statewide, and arrested 579 sex offenders, 233 of whom were parolees-at-large.
CPAT led more than 140 partner agencies including the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and local law enforcement departments statewide in this week’s efforts……(Full text at DORC.gov)
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
THANKSGIVING
I want to take a few moments to wish the readers of this blog a great Thanksgiving holiday.
And I want to remind everyone that despite the partisan bickering and impasse, the airport pat-downs, the financial crisis, the ‘9.6’ unemployment rate, home foreclosures, the fabricated mean-spirited crap and false alarms on the internet, global warming and the North Korean threat, we still have a lot to be thankful for in these United States.
Having come over here as a refugee from Nazi Germany, I have a special reason to give thanks to this great and wonderful country, despite the fact that I just stepped in a pile of dog shit.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
And I want to remind everyone that despite the partisan bickering and impasse, the airport pat-downs, the financial crisis, the ‘9.6’ unemployment rate, home foreclosures, the fabricated mean-spirited crap and false alarms on the internet, global warming and the North Korean threat, we still have a lot to be thankful for in these United States.
Having come over here as a refugee from Nazi Germany, I have a special reason to give thanks to this great and wonderful country, despite the fact that I just stepped in a pile of dog shit.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
UNCLE SAM WON'T LIKE THIS ONE BIT
The following turn of events, which is sure to be met with strong objections from our government, was reported by the Borderland Beat:
MEXICAN BUSINESS ASKS GOVERNMENT TO DIAL BACK DRUG WAR
Latin American Herald Tribune
November 22, 2010
Business leaders in the northern Mexican border city of Matamoros are urging President Felipe Calderon to declare a truce in his all-out battle with drug cartels, a conflict that has claimed some 30,000 lives in the past four years.
It it urgent to modify the strategy against organized crime, the vice president of the Federation of National Chambers of Commerce, Julio Almanza, said Monday.
"We’re asking (Calderon) for a truce and for him to exchange war helicopters for tractors to make the countryside more productive, to exchange the machinesguns for loans for businesses, to exchange each exploded grenade for a job," he said.
Matamoros, located just across the border from Brownsville, Texas, is part of Tamaulipas state, where hundreds have died this year as the rival Gulf and Los Zetas drug cartels have battled each other and the security forces.
Almanza said that if the federal government continues to remain obstinate on turning city streets into "battlefields" and does not take account that its strategy "has failed," the risk exists that in more communities the situation of Ciudad Mier, Tamaulipas, might be repeated, where that community has become a ghost town because of the exodus of its frightened citizens.
The business leader said that the federal government must focus its support on businessmen with greater incentives, on supporting the maquiladora industry, foreign trade, giving confidence to tourism, working in strategic sectors like health, employment and education and leaving weapons and war to the side for the sake of peace and productivity.
Almanza said that Tamaulipas Governor-elect Egidio Torre and the incoming mayor of Matamoros, Alfonso Sanchez, must push this truce that the government is being asked for "since both, as respected businessmen, know, have experienced and are aware of the problems the private sector and society in general are facing."
The violence besetting Tamaulipas has caused many businessmen to flee the area along with their capital for neighboring Texas, where they have invested some $16 million in business activity.
MEXICAN BUSINESS ASKS GOVERNMENT TO DIAL BACK DRUG WAR
Latin American Herald Tribune
November 22, 2010
Business leaders in the northern Mexican border city of Matamoros are urging President Felipe Calderon to declare a truce in his all-out battle with drug cartels, a conflict that has claimed some 30,000 lives in the past four years.
It it urgent to modify the strategy against organized crime, the vice president of the Federation of National Chambers of Commerce, Julio Almanza, said Monday.
"We’re asking (Calderon) for a truce and for him to exchange war helicopters for tractors to make the countryside more productive, to exchange the machinesguns for loans for businesses, to exchange each exploded grenade for a job," he said.
Matamoros, located just across the border from Brownsville, Texas, is part of Tamaulipas state, where hundreds have died this year as the rival Gulf and Los Zetas drug cartels have battled each other and the security forces.
Almanza said that if the federal government continues to remain obstinate on turning city streets into "battlefields" and does not take account that its strategy "has failed," the risk exists that in more communities the situation of Ciudad Mier, Tamaulipas, might be repeated, where that community has become a ghost town because of the exodus of its frightened citizens.
The business leader said that the federal government must focus its support on businessmen with greater incentives, on supporting the maquiladora industry, foreign trade, giving confidence to tourism, working in strategic sectors like health, employment and education and leaving weapons and war to the side for the sake of peace and productivity.
Almanza said that Tamaulipas Governor-elect Egidio Torre and the incoming mayor of Matamoros, Alfonso Sanchez, must push this truce that the government is being asked for "since both, as respected businessmen, know, have experienced and are aware of the problems the private sector and society in general are facing."
The violence besetting Tamaulipas has caused many businessmen to flee the area along with their capital for neighboring Texas, where they have invested some $16 million in business activity.
UZBEK HONEYMOON SHORTLIVED
A Muslim, this former goat herder apparently didn’t buy into the American concept of honeymoon and marriage.
SADISTIC HUSBAND ‘CARVED INSULTS INTO HIS PREGNANT WIFE’S BODY USING HOUSE KEY’
Mail Online
November 23, 2010
An Uzbek has been arrested after hospital workers found horrific cuts on his pregnant wive's body... which he had allegedly carved with his house keys.
Ozodoa Khakimov was being prepared for childbirth in Coney Island Hospital, Brooklyn, when the discovery was made on Friday.
Ulubek Khakimov, who married his Uzbek partner last December, was promptly arrested, and is also alleged to have threatened to kill his wife and her baby.
The hospital staffers discovered scars that spelled out the words 'bitch' and 'whore' in Cyrillic, the alphabet of her native land.
'He started beating me on the day of our wedding,' the 23-year-old told the Daily News, New York.
'One time he wrote bad words on my leg, and another time with a key on my neck.'
Mrs Khakimov described how her husband, 26, had sliced the epithets into her skin before they came to U.S. - so he was not charged in connection with those.
But he used a key to gouge the words into her chest, thighs, neck and stomach while the couple lived in New York district Midwood, starting in August and as recently as last week, the victim said.
'On top of that, he was beating me while I was pregnant,' said Mrs Khakimov, adding that she stayed with her husband because 'I thought he was my family'.
Just before midnight on Friday, Mr Khakimov called his wife at the hospital and said he was coming there to kill her and the newborn baby, court papers say. When he arrived the police were waiting and arrested him.
He told police his wife was 'making the accusations' of mutilation because she wants a divorce.
He was charged with 27 counts of assault, menacing, criminal possession of a weapon and harassment.
'I feel safe,' Mrs Khakimov said after her husband's arrest. 'I have peace in my mind. Now I have a son to take care of. I have a new man in my life.'
SADISTIC HUSBAND ‘CARVED INSULTS INTO HIS PREGNANT WIFE’S BODY USING HOUSE KEY’
Mail Online
November 23, 2010
An Uzbek has been arrested after hospital workers found horrific cuts on his pregnant wive's body... which he had allegedly carved with his house keys.
Ozodoa Khakimov was being prepared for childbirth in Coney Island Hospital, Brooklyn, when the discovery was made on Friday.
Ulubek Khakimov, who married his Uzbek partner last December, was promptly arrested, and is also alleged to have threatened to kill his wife and her baby.
The hospital staffers discovered scars that spelled out the words 'bitch' and 'whore' in Cyrillic, the alphabet of her native land.
'He started beating me on the day of our wedding,' the 23-year-old told the Daily News, New York.
'One time he wrote bad words on my leg, and another time with a key on my neck.'
Mrs Khakimov described how her husband, 26, had sliced the epithets into her skin before they came to U.S. - so he was not charged in connection with those.
But he used a key to gouge the words into her chest, thighs, neck and stomach while the couple lived in New York district Midwood, starting in August and as recently as last week, the victim said.
'On top of that, he was beating me while I was pregnant,' said Mrs Khakimov, adding that she stayed with her husband because 'I thought he was my family'.
Just before midnight on Friday, Mr Khakimov called his wife at the hospital and said he was coming there to kill her and the newborn baby, court papers say. When he arrived the police were waiting and arrested him.
He told police his wife was 'making the accusations' of mutilation because she wants a divorce.
He was charged with 27 counts of assault, menacing, criminal possession of a weapon and harassment.
'I feel safe,' Mrs Khakimov said after her husband's arrest. 'I have peace in my mind. Now I have a son to take care of. I have a new man in my life.'
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
'NO ONE IN NEED OF HEALTH CARRE SHOULD HAVE TO RISK FINANCIAL RUIN AS A RESULT'
Although I am a fiscal conservative, I am in full agreement that the cost of health care should not lead to bankruptcies or drive people into poverty.
HEALTH BILLS DRAG MILLIONS INTO POVERTY
The Straits Times
November 22, 2010
GENEVA - MORE than 100 million people are plunged into poverty every year by illness or 'catastrophic' medical bills, the World Health Organisation said on Monday as it launched a global drive for universal health care.
'No one in need of health care should have to risk financial ruin as a result,' WHO Director General Margaret Chan said.
The agency's annual report, devoted this year to financing health systems, underlined that the need for universal health coverage 'has never been greater' with the economic slowdown, globalisation of disease and ageing populations that need more care for chronic conditions.
Since 2005, the WHO's 192 member states have decreed that everyone should have access to health services and no one should suffer financial hardship as a result.
'On both counts the world is a long way from universal coverage,' the report said.
The UN health agency found that in countries that depend heavily on people paying for their services when they seek care 'health bills push 100 million people into poverty each year' as many suffer 'catastrophic costs.' The most successful health care systems in Europe, Japan, Chile, Mexico Rwanda and Thailand were based on pooled resources, helping to spread the financing burden, it added. – AFP
THREE OBSTACLES TO UNIVERSAL COVERAGE
The report highlighted three 'fundamental, interrelated' problems that stopped countries moving closer to universal coverage.
They included an overreliance on such direct payments, the unavailability of the full range of care and treatment, and the 'inefficient and inequitable use' of resources.
'At a conservative estimate, 20 to 40 per cent of health resources are being wasted,' the report said.
Although the poorest countries are the hardest hit, the report also underlined that disparities even within some of the richest nations also harmed care.
It cited a study by Harvard University in 2007 indicating that medical bills contributed to 62 per cent of family bankruptcies.
'It's just not acceptable. And it is not only not acceptable but it's not necessary, because something can be done about it,' David Evans, director of health systems financing at the WHO told journalists in Geneva. --AFP
HEALTH BILLS DRAG MILLIONS INTO POVERTY
The Straits Times
November 22, 2010
GENEVA - MORE than 100 million people are plunged into poverty every year by illness or 'catastrophic' medical bills, the World Health Organisation said on Monday as it launched a global drive for universal health care.
'No one in need of health care should have to risk financial ruin as a result,' WHO Director General Margaret Chan said.
The agency's annual report, devoted this year to financing health systems, underlined that the need for universal health coverage 'has never been greater' with the economic slowdown, globalisation of disease and ageing populations that need more care for chronic conditions.
Since 2005, the WHO's 192 member states have decreed that everyone should have access to health services and no one should suffer financial hardship as a result.
'On both counts the world is a long way from universal coverage,' the report said.
The UN health agency found that in countries that depend heavily on people paying for their services when they seek care 'health bills push 100 million people into poverty each year' as many suffer 'catastrophic costs.' The most successful health care systems in Europe, Japan, Chile, Mexico Rwanda and Thailand were based on pooled resources, helping to spread the financing burden, it added. – AFP
THREE OBSTACLES TO UNIVERSAL COVERAGE
The report highlighted three 'fundamental, interrelated' problems that stopped countries moving closer to universal coverage.
They included an overreliance on such direct payments, the unavailability of the full range of care and treatment, and the 'inefficient and inequitable use' of resources.
'At a conservative estimate, 20 to 40 per cent of health resources are being wasted,' the report said.
Although the poorest countries are the hardest hit, the report also underlined that disparities even within some of the richest nations also harmed care.
It cited a study by Harvard University in 2007 indicating that medical bills contributed to 62 per cent of family bankruptcies.
'It's just not acceptable. And it is not only not acceptable but it's not necessary, because something can be done about it,' David Evans, director of health systems financing at the WHO told journalists in Geneva. --AFP
BUYER BEWARE
To prevent credit card identity theft, consumers should ‘stay vigilant by regularly checking their accounts online, keeping receipts from where they shop and watching who handles their card.’
DON’T GET SCAMMED BY ‘SKIMMERS’
Gadget allow identity thieves to easily swipe credit cards’ data
By Brian Rogers
Houston Chronicle
November 22, 2010
The waitress at a River Oaks restaurant approached her customers with a secret in her pocket, took their credit card and disappeared for just a minute.
She rang up the meal, swiped the card through the restaurant's computer and returned with the receipt.
Sometime during that everyday transaction, prosecutors say, she used a small battery-powered card scanner to surreptitiously scan the unwitting customer's card.
Able to fit in an identity thief's palm or masquerade as a pen in a shirt pocket, the tiny "skimmer" is emerging as the newest threat to bank accounts.
"It's almost like being pick-pocketed, but you still have your wallet," said Assistant Harris County District Attorney Ed McClees. "It's something that can be done with sleight of hand, without the person even knowing it has been done."
The tiny digital devices can collect and hold information from hundreds of cards then can be easily downloaded and transferred worldwide over Internet black markets.
With the holidays approaching, authorities are warning consumers to stay vigilant by regularly checking their accounts online, keeping receipts from where they shop and watching who handles their card.
Authorities estimate that dozens of store clerks and servers are arrested every year in Houston. Authorities are reluctant to quantify how often skimming happens, however, because one waiter at one restaurant can skim hundreds of numbers. There also are cases of identity theft that may have involved skimmers but cannot be traced or were not reported, investigators said.
"What we catch is a fraction of what happens," McClees said.
Secret Service special agent Marvin Wright said consumers generally are victimized 24 to 48 hours after the number is "compromised."
"That information can then be encoded on a lost, stolen or counterfeit credit card and used anywhere in the world," Wright said.
In addition to skimmers in the hands of would-be conspirators, they also can be placed on ATMs and gas stations to capture information during a legitimate transaction. The skimmer is set up as a small hood on the real reader so the card is seen by both. A hidden camera records the PIN entry so a fraudulent card can be used at any ATM.
DON’T GET SCAMMED BY ‘SKIMMERS’
Gadget allow identity thieves to easily swipe credit cards’ data
By Brian Rogers
Houston Chronicle
November 22, 2010
The waitress at a River Oaks restaurant approached her customers with a secret in her pocket, took their credit card and disappeared for just a minute.
She rang up the meal, swiped the card through the restaurant's computer and returned with the receipt.
Sometime during that everyday transaction, prosecutors say, she used a small battery-powered card scanner to surreptitiously scan the unwitting customer's card.
Able to fit in an identity thief's palm or masquerade as a pen in a shirt pocket, the tiny "skimmer" is emerging as the newest threat to bank accounts.
"It's almost like being pick-pocketed, but you still have your wallet," said Assistant Harris County District Attorney Ed McClees. "It's something that can be done with sleight of hand, without the person even knowing it has been done."
The tiny digital devices can collect and hold information from hundreds of cards then can be easily downloaded and transferred worldwide over Internet black markets.
With the holidays approaching, authorities are warning consumers to stay vigilant by regularly checking their accounts online, keeping receipts from where they shop and watching who handles their card.
Authorities estimate that dozens of store clerks and servers are arrested every year in Houston. Authorities are reluctant to quantify how often skimming happens, however, because one waiter at one restaurant can skim hundreds of numbers. There also are cases of identity theft that may have involved skimmers but cannot be traced or were not reported, investigators said.
"What we catch is a fraction of what happens," McClees said.
Secret Service special agent Marvin Wright said consumers generally are victimized 24 to 48 hours after the number is "compromised."
"That information can then be encoded on a lost, stolen or counterfeit credit card and used anywhere in the world," Wright said.
In addition to skimmers in the hands of would-be conspirators, they also can be placed on ATMs and gas stations to capture information during a legitimate transaction. The skimmer is set up as a small hood on the real reader so the card is seen by both. A hidden camera records the PIN entry so a fraudulent card can be used at any ATM.
BLESS YOU MY SON: PAROLEE PRETENDS TO BE PRIEST
Bob Walsh would refer to this thief as a ‘Gold Star Parolee.’ And I’ll bet that the priest’s robe was stolen too.
MAN DRESSES AS PRIEST TO STEAL CHURCH CASH
Witnesses helped police identify the man, who was arrested at his home
Associated Press
November 21, 2010
JACKSON, Mich. — A 52-year-old Jackson man accused of donning a priest's robe to steal parishioner donations from a church has been arrested. Sgt. Kevin Hiller told the Jackson Citizen Patriot the man stole an undisclosed amount of money and checks from St. John Catholic Church about 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Hiller said the man used the robe to gain access to a room where the money was located.
Witnesses helped police identify the man, who was arrested at his home.
Police have not released the suspect's name. They say he is on parole and remains held at the Jackson County Jail pending parole violation and larceny from a building charges.
Jackson is about 70 miles west of Detroit.
MAN DRESSES AS PRIEST TO STEAL CHURCH CASH
Witnesses helped police identify the man, who was arrested at his home
Associated Press
November 21, 2010
JACKSON, Mich. — A 52-year-old Jackson man accused of donning a priest's robe to steal parishioner donations from a church has been arrested. Sgt. Kevin Hiller told the Jackson Citizen Patriot the man stole an undisclosed amount of money and checks from St. John Catholic Church about 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Hiller said the man used the robe to gain access to a room where the money was located.
Witnesses helped police identify the man, who was arrested at his home.
Police have not released the suspect's name. They say he is on parole and remains held at the Jackson County Jail pending parole violation and larceny from a building charges.
Jackson is about 70 miles west of Detroit.
WHOONGA
You gotta love the belief that AIDS ‘can be prevented by sleeping with a virgin or showering after sex with an HIV-positive partner.’
ADDICTS MIX HIV DRUGS WITH MARIJUANA IN SOUTH AFRICA’S DEADLY NEW ‘WHOONGA’ CRAZE
Mail Online
November 21, 2010
AIDS patients in South Africa are being robbed of their lifesaving drugs so that they can be mixed with marijuana and smoked, authorities and health experts say.
The concoction is called 'whoonga' and it adds a bizarre twist to the war on AIDS in the world's worst-affected country just as it embarks on a massive distribution of medications.
Whoonga's spread is so far limited to eastern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa's most AIDS-stricken province, but AIDS and addiction specialists worry that it could reach other parts of the country.
There's no evidence that any ingredient of the AIDS drug cocktail is addictive or does anything to enhance the marijuana high.
Whoonga smokers may be fooling themselves into believing the AIDS drugs are giving them a high, when it's really some other ingredient, says Dr. Njabulo Mabaso, an AIDS expert.
AIDS is already a source of damaging myths in South Africa, such as that the disease can be prevented by sleeping with a virgin or showering after sex with an HIV-positive partner.
Some drug dealers are suspected of stretching the whoonga mixture with soap powder and even rat poison to increase their profits.
'We are seeing the use of whoonga in communities and its very widespread. It's a substance that is openly spoken about in communities,' says Lihle Dlamini of the Treatment Action Campaign, which has lobbied hard to improve the government's response to AIDS.
Drug dealers 'are taking this treatment that is supposed to assist people living with HIV and abusing it,' she says.
In the eastern port city of Durban, Thamsanqa Langa said he didn't know what whoonga was when dealers first started offering the cream-coloured powder at 20 rand (about $3) a smoke.
Vincent Ndunge, a police spokesman in KwaZulu-Natal, said whoonga was first noticed two or three years ago when officers found gangs were robbing people of medication as they left hospitals.
South Africa, a nation of about 50 million, has an estimated 5.7 million people infected with HIV. Since taking office last year, President Jacob Zuma has sought to invigorate the previous government's foundering effort, and doctors and nurses are being brought out of retirement and medical students mobilized for an ambitious testing and treatment campaign.
ADDICTS MIX HIV DRUGS WITH MARIJUANA IN SOUTH AFRICA’S DEADLY NEW ‘WHOONGA’ CRAZE
Mail Online
November 21, 2010
AIDS patients in South Africa are being robbed of their lifesaving drugs so that they can be mixed with marijuana and smoked, authorities and health experts say.
The concoction is called 'whoonga' and it adds a bizarre twist to the war on AIDS in the world's worst-affected country just as it embarks on a massive distribution of medications.
Whoonga's spread is so far limited to eastern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa's most AIDS-stricken province, but AIDS and addiction specialists worry that it could reach other parts of the country.
There's no evidence that any ingredient of the AIDS drug cocktail is addictive or does anything to enhance the marijuana high.
Whoonga smokers may be fooling themselves into believing the AIDS drugs are giving them a high, when it's really some other ingredient, says Dr. Njabulo Mabaso, an AIDS expert.
AIDS is already a source of damaging myths in South Africa, such as that the disease can be prevented by sleeping with a virgin or showering after sex with an HIV-positive partner.
Some drug dealers are suspected of stretching the whoonga mixture with soap powder and even rat poison to increase their profits.
'We are seeing the use of whoonga in communities and its very widespread. It's a substance that is openly spoken about in communities,' says Lihle Dlamini of the Treatment Action Campaign, which has lobbied hard to improve the government's response to AIDS.
Drug dealers 'are taking this treatment that is supposed to assist people living with HIV and abusing it,' she says.
In the eastern port city of Durban, Thamsanqa Langa said he didn't know what whoonga was when dealers first started offering the cream-coloured powder at 20 rand (about $3) a smoke.
Vincent Ndunge, a police spokesman in KwaZulu-Natal, said whoonga was first noticed two or three years ago when officers found gangs were robbing people of medication as they left hospitals.
South Africa, a nation of about 50 million, has an estimated 5.7 million people infected with HIV. Since taking office last year, President Jacob Zuma has sought to invigorate the previous government's foundering effort, and doctors and nurses are being brought out of retirement and medical students mobilized for an ambitious testing and treatment campaign.
Monday, November 22, 2010
SCORE ONE FOR THE GUV
Gov. Brewer explains it in words that Robert Sarver, and anyone else for that matter, should have absolutely no trouble understanding.
GOVERNOR BREWER VS. PHOENIX SUNS
By Sue Thurman
Arizona Family Examiner
August 2, 2010
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has been in the news a great deal, due to her attempts to secure the Arizona border. Many have voiced their opinions for and against the controversial SB1070 immigration bill.
With celebrities and others jumping on this issue, even Phoenix Suns owner, Robert Sarver, has voiced a strong opinion against SB1070. Governor Brewer sent a great note to Sarver, which clearly illustrates the current situation in a way he can surely appreciate. The following is her explanation.
"What if the owners of the Suns discovered that hordes of people were sneaking into games without paying? What if they had a good idea who the gate-crashers are, but the ushers and security personnel were not allowed to ask these folks to produce their ticket stubs, thus non-paying attendees couldn’t be ejected. Furthermore, what if Suns’ ownership was expected to provide those who sneaked in with complimentary eats and drink? And what if, on those days when a gate-crasher became ill or injured, the Suns had to provide free medical care and shelter?" -Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer
GOVERNOR BREWER VS. PHOENIX SUNS
By Sue Thurman
Arizona Family Examiner
August 2, 2010
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has been in the news a great deal, due to her attempts to secure the Arizona border. Many have voiced their opinions for and against the controversial SB1070 immigration bill.
With celebrities and others jumping on this issue, even Phoenix Suns owner, Robert Sarver, has voiced a strong opinion against SB1070. Governor Brewer sent a great note to Sarver, which clearly illustrates the current situation in a way he can surely appreciate. The following is her explanation.
"What if the owners of the Suns discovered that hordes of people were sneaking into games without paying? What if they had a good idea who the gate-crashers are, but the ushers and security personnel were not allowed to ask these folks to produce their ticket stubs, thus non-paying attendees couldn’t be ejected. Furthermore, what if Suns’ ownership was expected to provide those who sneaked in with complimentary eats and drink? And what if, on those days when a gate-crasher became ill or injured, the Suns had to provide free medical care and shelter?" -Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer
DEA HANDCUFFED BY HOLDER
Shame on Attorney General Eric Holder for ordering the DEA not to enforce federal marijuana laws against medical pot users, growers and distributors. Kudos to the other federal agencies that are defying the Obama administration by enforcing those laws. As for all the weepers and wailers who are bemoaning the enforcement of the marijuana laws I say, Fuck ‘Em!
STATE, FEDERAL MARIJUANA LAWS COLLIDE
The DOJ doesn't prosecute medical-marijuana users, but other federal agencies say they must treat pot as an illegal drug
By Oren Dorell
USA TODAY
November 21, 2010
WASHINGTON — People who use marijuana for medicinal purposes in states where it is legal are being penalized by the federal government because pot is still illegal under U.S. law.
At Denver unemployment offices, medical users fired for failing a drug test are denied unemployment benefits, says lawyer Kimberlie Ryan, who represents some of those applicants.
In California, Jim Lacy, 60, who has an arthritic hip and uses medical marijuana for pain relief, says he has had his stash confiscated and been threatened with arrest at Border Patrol checkpoints near his Jacumba home.
In Las Vegas, N.M., cancer patient Robert Jones, 70, says he has been notified that his federal rent subsidy is being revoked because he is a medical-marijuana user.
Marijuana dispensary operator Steve DeAngelo of Harborside Health Center in Oakland says his federally insured bank dumped his account because he deals in an illegal drug.
Problems occur at airport security checkpoints in medical marijuana states. Baggage screeners, who work for the federal Transportation Security Administration, turn medical marijuana users over to local police for prosecution, according to Ed Skvarna, chief of the Burbank airport police.
"It's outrageous, but the government's cannabis policies are outrageous," says Bill Panzer, an Oakland lawyer who co-wrote the nation's first medical-marijuana law, approved by California voters in 1996.
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy website says smoking marijuana "is not considered modern medicine." It says the drug has a high potential for abuse, the smoke can be as harmful as cigarettes, and it has not been proven effective under the standards of the Food and Drug Administration.
The Justice Department does not usually prosecute medical-marijuana users, but officials of other federal agencies say they are required to treat pot as an illegal drug.
"We're charged with enforcing federal law," says Border Patrol spokeswoman Kelly Ivahnenko.
Landlords "may exercise discretion" in deciding whether to evict tenants who use medical marijuana, says Helen Kanovsky, general counsel for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. New Mexico HUD administrator Mandy Griego says HUD's policy is that pot, "for medicinal purposes or not," is prohibited at HUD-subsidized properties, and termination for possession "must be applied consistently for all tenants."
STATE, FEDERAL MARIJUANA LAWS COLLIDE
The DOJ doesn't prosecute medical-marijuana users, but other federal agencies say they must treat pot as an illegal drug
By Oren Dorell
USA TODAY
November 21, 2010
WASHINGTON — People who use marijuana for medicinal purposes in states where it is legal are being penalized by the federal government because pot is still illegal under U.S. law.
At Denver unemployment offices, medical users fired for failing a drug test are denied unemployment benefits, says lawyer Kimberlie Ryan, who represents some of those applicants.
In California, Jim Lacy, 60, who has an arthritic hip and uses medical marijuana for pain relief, says he has had his stash confiscated and been threatened with arrest at Border Patrol checkpoints near his Jacumba home.
In Las Vegas, N.M., cancer patient Robert Jones, 70, says he has been notified that his federal rent subsidy is being revoked because he is a medical-marijuana user.
Marijuana dispensary operator Steve DeAngelo of Harborside Health Center in Oakland says his federally insured bank dumped his account because he deals in an illegal drug.
Problems occur at airport security checkpoints in medical marijuana states. Baggage screeners, who work for the federal Transportation Security Administration, turn medical marijuana users over to local police for prosecution, according to Ed Skvarna, chief of the Burbank airport police.
"It's outrageous, but the government's cannabis policies are outrageous," says Bill Panzer, an Oakland lawyer who co-wrote the nation's first medical-marijuana law, approved by California voters in 1996.
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy website says smoking marijuana "is not considered modern medicine." It says the drug has a high potential for abuse, the smoke can be as harmful as cigarettes, and it has not been proven effective under the standards of the Food and Drug Administration.
The Justice Department does not usually prosecute medical-marijuana users, but officials of other federal agencies say they are required to treat pot as an illegal drug.
"We're charged with enforcing federal law," says Border Patrol spokeswoman Kelly Ivahnenko.
Landlords "may exercise discretion" in deciding whether to evict tenants who use medical marijuana, says Helen Kanovsky, general counsel for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. New Mexico HUD administrator Mandy Griego says HUD's policy is that pot, "for medicinal purposes or not," is prohibited at HUD-subsidized properties, and termination for possession "must be applied consistently for all tenants."
SUICIDE BOMBERS WILL NOT BE DETECTED BY PAT-DOWNS
With all the uproar over those pat-downs at our airports, no one seems to be aware of the fact that explosives can be hidden on the body where they will not be detected by the groping hands of those TSA screeners. The only things those pat-downs will detect, provided they’re done meticulously, are weapons like firearms or box cutters that can be used to commandeer an airliner.
As a former narcotics officer I am well aware that a substantial quantity of explosives – as much as the underwear bomber had – can be concealed inside body cavities. I have personally retrieved bags of heroin from the butts of men and female officers have retrieved them from the vaginas and butts of women.
The only way to detect these vaginal and kiester explosive stashes is with those full-body scanners that so many travelers refuse to go through. By opting for a pat-down the suicide bomber with a vaginal or kiester stash will be able to board an aircraft undetected. Once in flight, he or she can go to the toilet where they will be able to set off the concealed explosives.
Israel doesn’t have that problem even though its airliners are prime targets for Muslim militants. For it’s security, Israel relies on the extensive use of profiling at its airport and on thorough background checks of all air travelers. In the United States we cannot use profiling because, heaven forbid, it’s not politically correct.
If we are so worried about suicide bombers getting on our airliners but won’t use the Israeli screening system, we should require every air traveler to go through those full-body scanners, any concerns with privacy issues and radiation exposure notwithstanding.
Actually, our airport screening system would be laughable if it were not for the fact that so many travelers are being inconvenienced unnecessarily. 99.99 percent of the flying public is subjected to the indignities of pat-downs or full-body scans in the cause of political correctness. If we relied on profiling like the Israelis have done so successfully, there would be little if any need for pat-downs and full-body scans.
As a former narcotics officer I am well aware that a substantial quantity of explosives – as much as the underwear bomber had – can be concealed inside body cavities. I have personally retrieved bags of heroin from the butts of men and female officers have retrieved them from the vaginas and butts of women.
The only way to detect these vaginal and kiester explosive stashes is with those full-body scanners that so many travelers refuse to go through. By opting for a pat-down the suicide bomber with a vaginal or kiester stash will be able to board an aircraft undetected. Once in flight, he or she can go to the toilet where they will be able to set off the concealed explosives.
Israel doesn’t have that problem even though its airliners are prime targets for Muslim militants. For it’s security, Israel relies on the extensive use of profiling at its airport and on thorough background checks of all air travelers. In the United States we cannot use profiling because, heaven forbid, it’s not politically correct.
If we are so worried about suicide bombers getting on our airliners but won’t use the Israeli screening system, we should require every air traveler to go through those full-body scanners, any concerns with privacy issues and radiation exposure notwithstanding.
Actually, our airport screening system would be laughable if it were not for the fact that so many travelers are being inconvenienced unnecessarily. 99.99 percent of the flying public is subjected to the indignities of pat-downs or full-body scans in the cause of political correctness. If we relied on profiling like the Israelis have done so successfully, there would be little if any need for pat-downs and full-body scans.
TODAY'S SERMON: DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO
Actually it was a foursome since the sex acts between the pastor, his wife and the church assistant also included the church assistant’s wife.
PASTOR WHO BANNED ‘INFIDELITY’ FACEBOOK ADMITS: I HAD THREESOME WITH WIFE AND CHURCH ASSISTANT
Mail Online
November 21, 2010
A pastor who said Facebook was a 'portal to infidelity' has admitted to having threesome sex with his wife and a male church assistant.
The Rev. Cedric Miller's secret past was exposed after he ordered church leaders to delete their Facebook accounts or resign.
He blamed the social networking website for causing married couples to have illicit affairs and igniting 'old passions'.
The 48-year-old leader of the Living Word Christian Fellowship Church in Neptune, New Jersey, confirmed the sex games he played with his wife Kim after his testimony in a court case was revealed.
The liaisons often took place at his home during Thursday Bible study meetings and Sundays after church.
'It has come to my attention that a very painful part of my past has resurfaced,' Miller wrote in an e-mail sent Friday.
'This was resolved at that time and accordingly we will not allow it to detract from our mission at hand to save as many marriages as we can.
'My life as a minister, husband, father and friend has led me to the conviction that I must do all that I can to help as many people strengthen, preserve and repair the often times fragile cords of marriage.'
Miller described the sexual relationship In his evidence at the 2003 criminal trial of his assistant which was eventually dismissed, according to the Ashby Park Press.
Miller said his wife had an extramarital affair with a church assistant and that he was present at many of their meetings. And sometimes the assistant's wife was there too, he claimed.
He added: 'We would talk and laugh and play and just beyond what was appropriate.'
Pressed by a defence lawyer to give more detail Miller added: ' we had crossed the line many times, I mean between the four of us.
'It was just, I mean there was touching, there was … it was crazy, it was as wrong as wrong could get. Yes.
The lawyer asked: 'Okay, it was sex, correct?'
'Yes,'' Miller said.
But the minister said the encounters 'came to a crashing halt' when several women in the church accused the assistant of having sex with them.
The names of the assistant and his wife were not disclosed, and Miller told the newspaper that he was concerned that revisiting the incident would 'irreparably' hurt some people.
The pastor sparked controversy last week when he ordered about 50 married church officials to delete their Facebook accounts or quit their leadership positions.
He had previously asked married worshippers to share their login information with their spouses - as he does - and said he would leave the site this week.
PASTOR WHO BANNED ‘INFIDELITY’ FACEBOOK ADMITS: I HAD THREESOME WITH WIFE AND CHURCH ASSISTANT
Mail Online
November 21, 2010
A pastor who said Facebook was a 'portal to infidelity' has admitted to having threesome sex with his wife and a male church assistant.
The Rev. Cedric Miller's secret past was exposed after he ordered church leaders to delete their Facebook accounts or resign.
He blamed the social networking website for causing married couples to have illicit affairs and igniting 'old passions'.
The 48-year-old leader of the Living Word Christian Fellowship Church in Neptune, New Jersey, confirmed the sex games he played with his wife Kim after his testimony in a court case was revealed.
The liaisons often took place at his home during Thursday Bible study meetings and Sundays after church.
'It has come to my attention that a very painful part of my past has resurfaced,' Miller wrote in an e-mail sent Friday.
'This was resolved at that time and accordingly we will not allow it to detract from our mission at hand to save as many marriages as we can.
'My life as a minister, husband, father and friend has led me to the conviction that I must do all that I can to help as many people strengthen, preserve and repair the often times fragile cords of marriage.'
Miller described the sexual relationship In his evidence at the 2003 criminal trial of his assistant which was eventually dismissed, according to the Ashby Park Press.
Miller said his wife had an extramarital affair with a church assistant and that he was present at many of their meetings. And sometimes the assistant's wife was there too, he claimed.
He added: 'We would talk and laugh and play and just beyond what was appropriate.'
Pressed by a defence lawyer to give more detail Miller added: ' we had crossed the line many times, I mean between the four of us.
'It was just, I mean there was touching, there was … it was crazy, it was as wrong as wrong could get. Yes.
The lawyer asked: 'Okay, it was sex, correct?'
'Yes,'' Miller said.
But the minister said the encounters 'came to a crashing halt' when several women in the church accused the assistant of having sex with them.
The names of the assistant and his wife were not disclosed, and Miller told the newspaper that he was concerned that revisiting the incident would 'irreparably' hurt some people.
The pastor sparked controversy last week when he ordered about 50 married church officials to delete their Facebook accounts or quit their leadership positions.
He had previously asked married worshippers to share their login information with their spouses - as he does - and said he would leave the site this week.
THANK YOU NOTE
The following thank you note was written by an unsteady hand:
PLEASANTVIEW HOME FOR THE AGED
Columbus Community Chest
1438 Peach Tree Ave.
Columbus, Georgia
Dear Mr. O’Brien
I’m 88 years old and have been in this home for the aged for the last 10 years. I want to thank you for the hair dryer you gave the Community Chest and they gave me. The lady in the next room is 86 and she has had a hair dryer for 6 years. She would never let me use her hair dryer. Yesterday her hair dryer fell and broke into several pieces. She asked me if she could use mine and I said fuck you.
Yours truly
Mrs. Gertrude Barnstable
PLEASANTVIEW HOME FOR THE AGED
Columbus Community Chest
1438 Peach Tree Ave.
Columbus, Georgia
Dear Mr. O’Brien
I’m 88 years old and have been in this home for the aged for the last 10 years. I want to thank you for the hair dryer you gave the Community Chest and they gave me. The lady in the next room is 86 and she has had a hair dryer for 6 years. She would never let me use her hair dryer. Yesterday her hair dryer fell and broke into several pieces. She asked me if she could use mine and I said fuck you.
Yours truly
Mrs. Gertrude Barnstable
Sunday, November 21, 2010
IN THIS CASE, JUSTICE DELAYED MAY NOT BE JUSTICE DENIED
This is going to be a hard case to win, but I am very proud of the prosecutors for trying. The defense will bring in their experts who will try to cast doubt that the former officer died from the injuries he suffered 30 years ago.
Justice was most definitely not served when one of the perps was sentenced to serve only 17 years and the other to only 16 years in prison for shooting this officer twice in the back. And to add insult to injury, one was paroled after serving only 10 years and the other after serving only nine, while their victim was left paralyzed and had to have his legs amputated.
TWO MEN JAILED FOR 1980 SHOOTING WHICH LEFT POLICEMAN PARALYZED ARE REARRESTED AFTER HE DIES FROM INJURIES 30 YEARS LATER
By David Gardner
Mail Online
November 20, 2010
Two men who were jailed 30 years ago for the attempted murder of a policeman have now been charged with his murder after the paralyzed ex-officer died from his injuries.
Prosecutors in Orange County, California, reopened the case after doctors blamed bullet wounds sheriff's deputy Ira Essoe suffered in the 1980 shooting for his death earlier this year.
David Knick, 54, and Robert Strong, 55, both served lengthy jail sentences in the 1980s and 90s after being convicted of attempting to murder Mr. Essoe.
The victim, who was in plain clothes, was shot twice in the back after confronting them in a mall car park.
They escaped in a police car after the shooting but were captured following a high-speed chase in which they fired at pursuing officers.
Both were arrested again on Thursday and charged with murder.
The shooting left the deputy paralysed and he also suffered serious medical complications as a result of having both legs amputated.
Strong served ten years of a 17-year sentence after he was convicted in 1981 of felony attempted murder, possession of a firearm by a felon, assault with a deadly weapon and auto burglary.
Knick was sentenced to 16 years in prison on similar charges the same year, but only served nine.
They are both now being held in Santa Ana, California, on $1million bail. If convicted, they could each face another 25 years to life in state prison.
Bedridden and still in pain from his injuries, Mr Essoe died in February of the blood disease sepsis, caused by bed sores.
After his attackers were released from prison, the deputy said he accepted his fate because he knew the dangers when he became a law officer.
At the time, he said: 'What I can't accept is that one of the men does half a sentence and walks off.'
Justice was most definitely not served when one of the perps was sentenced to serve only 17 years and the other to only 16 years in prison for shooting this officer twice in the back. And to add insult to injury, one was paroled after serving only 10 years and the other after serving only nine, while their victim was left paralyzed and had to have his legs amputated.
TWO MEN JAILED FOR 1980 SHOOTING WHICH LEFT POLICEMAN PARALYZED ARE REARRESTED AFTER HE DIES FROM INJURIES 30 YEARS LATER
By David Gardner
Mail Online
November 20, 2010
Two men who were jailed 30 years ago for the attempted murder of a policeman have now been charged with his murder after the paralyzed ex-officer died from his injuries.
Prosecutors in Orange County, California, reopened the case after doctors blamed bullet wounds sheriff's deputy Ira Essoe suffered in the 1980 shooting for his death earlier this year.
David Knick, 54, and Robert Strong, 55, both served lengthy jail sentences in the 1980s and 90s after being convicted of attempting to murder Mr. Essoe.
The victim, who was in plain clothes, was shot twice in the back after confronting them in a mall car park.
They escaped in a police car after the shooting but were captured following a high-speed chase in which they fired at pursuing officers.
Both were arrested again on Thursday and charged with murder.
The shooting left the deputy paralysed and he also suffered serious medical complications as a result of having both legs amputated.
Strong served ten years of a 17-year sentence after he was convicted in 1981 of felony attempted murder, possession of a firearm by a felon, assault with a deadly weapon and auto burglary.
Knick was sentenced to 16 years in prison on similar charges the same year, but only served nine.
They are both now being held in Santa Ana, California, on $1million bail. If convicted, they could each face another 25 years to life in state prison.
Bedridden and still in pain from his injuries, Mr Essoe died in February of the blood disease sepsis, caused by bed sores.
After his attackers were released from prison, the deputy said he accepted his fate because he knew the dangers when he became a law officer.
At the time, he said: 'What I can't accept is that one of the men does half a sentence and walks off.'
THAT'S WHAT HE DID AFTER WATCHING TOO MANY RERUNS OF 'HOME IMPROVEMENT'
Ricky wasn’t the swiftest stick-up guy in town. He must have watched too many reruns of Tim Allen’s ‘Home Improvement’ TV series, especially the episode with the ‘more power’ lawnmower.
MAN FLEES ON LAWN MOWER AFTER STICK-UP
By Karen Daily
Aiken Standard
November 18, 2010
AIKEN, S.C. -- An Aiken man trying to flee from deputies on a riding lawn mower didn't get very far and was quickly detained on allegations he used a stick during what deputies are dubbing a "stick-up" at a local convenience store.
Ricky New, 45, of the 2000 block of Edgefield Highway, is charged with first-degree assault and battery and armed robbery.
This is not local law enforcement's first run-in with New, but it appears that it is the first time he has been accused of holding up a store with a stick. His face was partially covered with a white towel, but when they detained him, they knew who he was from crimes in the past, officials said.
This time, New is accused of walking into the Kent's Korner at 1925 Edgefield Highway where he ordered the clerks to "give me your damn money."
He began to strike one of the clerks with a stick that he brought into the store, said Capt. Elwell, a sheriff's office spokesperson.
She threw her arm up to protect herself from the attack and was struck on the arm several times.
"She was bruised, but she is OK," Elwell explained.
"He received an undisclosed amount of money and fled the scene on his getaway vehicle - a Craftsman riding lawn mower," Elwell said.
The suspect was detained a short time later. He is being held at the Aiken County detention center.
MAN FLEES ON LAWN MOWER AFTER STICK-UP
By Karen Daily
Aiken Standard
November 18, 2010
AIKEN, S.C. -- An Aiken man trying to flee from deputies on a riding lawn mower didn't get very far and was quickly detained on allegations he used a stick during what deputies are dubbing a "stick-up" at a local convenience store.
Ricky New, 45, of the 2000 block of Edgefield Highway, is charged with first-degree assault and battery and armed robbery.
This is not local law enforcement's first run-in with New, but it appears that it is the first time he has been accused of holding up a store with a stick. His face was partially covered with a white towel, but when they detained him, they knew who he was from crimes in the past, officials said.
This time, New is accused of walking into the Kent's Korner at 1925 Edgefield Highway where he ordered the clerks to "give me your damn money."
He began to strike one of the clerks with a stick that he brought into the store, said Capt. Elwell, a sheriff's office spokesperson.
She threw her arm up to protect herself from the attack and was struck on the arm several times.
"She was bruised, but she is OK," Elwell explained.
"He received an undisclosed amount of money and fled the scene on his getaway vehicle - a Craftsman riding lawn mower," Elwell said.
The suspect was detained a short time later. He is being held at the Aiken County detention center.
POT LIKELY ADDLED HER BRAIN
And they keep saying that pot is less harmful than alcohol.
MD. WOMAN GETS 5 YEARS FOR BRIDAL VEIL ATTACK
The Washington Post
November 19, 2010
HAGERSTOWN, Md. -- A Maryland woman is going to prison for breaking into her neighbor's house wearing nothing but a bridal skirt and veil.
The woman testified at her trial that she was playing "dress up" with a friend’s daughter when she began hallucinating. She put on the wedding gown, but it was too small to pull up over her shoulders, she testified.
A judge sentenced 33-year-old Melissa Wagaman on Thursday to five years. A jury had convicted her of second-degree assault, fourth-degree burglary and reckless endangerment for the February attack that injured Aaron Parrott.
Wagaman testified at trial that a combination of cold medicine and marijuana apparently made her hallucinate that she was getting married and that her mother was locked in her neighbor's basement.
Wagaman broke a dining room window with her head, causing shattered glass to cut an artery in her neighbor's arm.
Wagaman apologized to the Parrotts during Thursday's hearing.
MD. WOMAN GETS 5 YEARS FOR BRIDAL VEIL ATTACK
The Washington Post
November 19, 2010
HAGERSTOWN, Md. -- A Maryland woman is going to prison for breaking into her neighbor's house wearing nothing but a bridal skirt and veil.
The woman testified at her trial that she was playing "dress up" with a friend’s daughter when she began hallucinating. She put on the wedding gown, but it was too small to pull up over her shoulders, she testified.
A judge sentenced 33-year-old Melissa Wagaman on Thursday to five years. A jury had convicted her of second-degree assault, fourth-degree burglary and reckless endangerment for the February attack that injured Aaron Parrott.
Wagaman testified at trial that a combination of cold medicine and marijuana apparently made her hallucinate that she was getting married and that her mother was locked in her neighbor's basement.
Wagaman broke a dining room window with her head, causing shattered glass to cut an artery in her neighbor's arm.
Wagaman apologized to the Parrotts during Thursday's hearing.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
OBAMA SEEMS DETERMINED TO THROW ISRAEL UNDER THE TRAIN
I have always been a strong supporter of Netanyahu, but his actions in dealing with the Obama administration since he was elected prime minister have left me sorely disappointed.
OBAMA HJOLDS ISRAEL IN CONTEMPT
By Caroline B. Glick
Jewish World Review
Nov. 19, 2010
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton must have given Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu quite a reception. Otherwise it is hard to understand what possessed him to accept the deal he accepted when he met with her last week.
Under the deal, Netanyahu agreed to retroactively extend the Jewish construction ban ended on September 24 and to carry it forward an additional 90 days.
Clinton's demand was, "not one more brick" for Jews, meaning, no Jew will be allowed to lay even one more brick on a home he is lawfully building even as the US funds massive Palestinian construction projects. The magnitude of this discriminatory infringement on the property rights of law abiding citizens is breathtaking.
The 90 day freeze is supposed to usher in a period of intense negotiations between Israel and Fatah. But those negotiations will not get off the ground because PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas has no interest in talking, and will never accept any peace offer made by Israel.
But the Obama administration doesn't care. They aren't worried about the Palestinians accepting a deal. What they want are more Israeli land surrenders. And Clinton convinced him to agree that the next round of negotiations will be devoted strictly to a discussion of the breadth and depth of Israeli land surrenders.
The Palestinians won't have to recognize that Israel has a right to exist. They won't have to dismantle terrorist organizations. They won't have to stop teaching their children to aspire to become suicide bombers. They won't even have to stop their negotiations towards reconciling with Hamas.
Netanyahu claims that the Americans agreed to continue respecting Jewish property rights in Jerusalem. The Obama administration has refused to confirm this claim. Yet rather than use the US demurral as a justification for walking away from a bad deal, reports indicate that Netanyahu told his lawyers to figure out fancy wording to hide the American refusal.
Netanyahu boasts that he received three major payoffs from Obama in exchange for his agreement to ban Jewish construction and discuss land surrenders with a negotiating partner that refuses to peacefully coexist with the Jewish state. First, he claims that Obama agreed not to renew his demand that Jews be denied their property rights. Second, he says the administration agreed to sell Israel twenty more F-35s. Finally, he says Obama agreed to wait a year before signing onto anti-Israel resolutions in the UN Security Council.
The first payoff is nothing more than the foreign policy equivalent of buying the same dead horse twice. Obama led Netanyahu to believe he had set aside his demand that Jews be denied property rights last November, when Netanyahu announced the first construction freeze. Yet Obama repeated his demands even before the last freeze ended. Obama has no credibility on this issue. Demonstrating this, Obama is now refusing to put this pledge in writing
The F-35 deal is simply bizarre. Israel needs the F-35 to defend against enemies like Iran. Yet the administration claims that its agreement to sell Israel the F-35s is contingent on Israel signing a peace deal with the Palestinians. In other words, the Obama administration is now giving the PLO power to veto American military assistance to Israel by continuing to say no to peace.
More than anything, the F-35 payoff exposes the degree to which Obama holds Israel in contempt. This is a President who is fighting Congress tooth and nail to pass a $60 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. The administration argues that the arms are necessary to enable Saudi Arabia to deter Iran from attacking it. That would be the same Saudi Arabia that despite its massive arsenal, has never had the courage or the competence to fight its own battles.
On the other hand there is Israel — the US's most reliable, courageous, and competent strategic ally in the region, and even more a target of Iranian aggression than Saudi Arabia. Rather than arm Israel with all the means it requires to fight Iran, the Obama administration is downgrading military assistance by conditioning its sale of the F-35s on an Israeli agreement to commit strategic suicide by surrendering its defensible borders and capital city to its sworn enemies.
Finally there is the administration's pledge to support Israel at the UN for a year. What this pledge actually means is that a year from now, the Obama administration will present the deal as an excuse to abandon what has been the policy of every US administration since Lyndon Johnson and stop blocking anti-Israel resolutions at the UN Security Council.
OBAMA HJOLDS ISRAEL IN CONTEMPT
By Caroline B. Glick
Jewish World Review
Nov. 19, 2010
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton must have given Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu quite a reception. Otherwise it is hard to understand what possessed him to accept the deal he accepted when he met with her last week.
Under the deal, Netanyahu agreed to retroactively extend the Jewish construction ban ended on September 24 and to carry it forward an additional 90 days.
Clinton's demand was, "not one more brick" for Jews, meaning, no Jew will be allowed to lay even one more brick on a home he is lawfully building even as the US funds massive Palestinian construction projects. The magnitude of this discriminatory infringement on the property rights of law abiding citizens is breathtaking.
The 90 day freeze is supposed to usher in a period of intense negotiations between Israel and Fatah. But those negotiations will not get off the ground because PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas has no interest in talking, and will never accept any peace offer made by Israel.
But the Obama administration doesn't care. They aren't worried about the Palestinians accepting a deal. What they want are more Israeli land surrenders. And Clinton convinced him to agree that the next round of negotiations will be devoted strictly to a discussion of the breadth and depth of Israeli land surrenders.
The Palestinians won't have to recognize that Israel has a right to exist. They won't have to dismantle terrorist organizations. They won't have to stop teaching their children to aspire to become suicide bombers. They won't even have to stop their negotiations towards reconciling with Hamas.
Netanyahu claims that the Americans agreed to continue respecting Jewish property rights in Jerusalem. The Obama administration has refused to confirm this claim. Yet rather than use the US demurral as a justification for walking away from a bad deal, reports indicate that Netanyahu told his lawyers to figure out fancy wording to hide the American refusal.
Netanyahu boasts that he received three major payoffs from Obama in exchange for his agreement to ban Jewish construction and discuss land surrenders with a negotiating partner that refuses to peacefully coexist with the Jewish state. First, he claims that Obama agreed not to renew his demand that Jews be denied their property rights. Second, he says the administration agreed to sell Israel twenty more F-35s. Finally, he says Obama agreed to wait a year before signing onto anti-Israel resolutions in the UN Security Council.
The first payoff is nothing more than the foreign policy equivalent of buying the same dead horse twice. Obama led Netanyahu to believe he had set aside his demand that Jews be denied property rights last November, when Netanyahu announced the first construction freeze. Yet Obama repeated his demands even before the last freeze ended. Obama has no credibility on this issue. Demonstrating this, Obama is now refusing to put this pledge in writing
The F-35 deal is simply bizarre. Israel needs the F-35 to defend against enemies like Iran. Yet the administration claims that its agreement to sell Israel the F-35s is contingent on Israel signing a peace deal with the Palestinians. In other words, the Obama administration is now giving the PLO power to veto American military assistance to Israel by continuing to say no to peace.
More than anything, the F-35 payoff exposes the degree to which Obama holds Israel in contempt. This is a President who is fighting Congress tooth and nail to pass a $60 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. The administration argues that the arms are necessary to enable Saudi Arabia to deter Iran from attacking it. That would be the same Saudi Arabia that despite its massive arsenal, has never had the courage or the competence to fight its own battles.
On the other hand there is Israel — the US's most reliable, courageous, and competent strategic ally in the region, and even more a target of Iranian aggression than Saudi Arabia. Rather than arm Israel with all the means it requires to fight Iran, the Obama administration is downgrading military assistance by conditioning its sale of the F-35s on an Israeli agreement to commit strategic suicide by surrendering its defensible borders and capital city to its sworn enemies.
Finally there is the administration's pledge to support Israel at the UN for a year. What this pledge actually means is that a year from now, the Obama administration will present the deal as an excuse to abandon what has been the policy of every US administration since Lyndon Johnson and stop blocking anti-Israel resolutions at the UN Security Council.
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