"I'm Sheriff David Clarke and I want to talk to you about something personal: your safety. It's no longer a spectator sport; I need you in the game. But are you ready? With officers laid off and furloughed, simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option. You can beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed, or you can fight back. But are you prepared? Consider taking a certified safety course in handling a firearm so you can defend yourself until we get there. You have a duty to protect yourself and your family."
So spoke the sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, a Democrat, on the radio in a recorded public safety announcement.
Outspoken liberals, gun control advocates and many police chiefs immediately pounced on Sheriff Clarke, calling his call to arms irresponsible. They also accused him of advocating vigilantism.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s reaction was to release this statement: "Apparently, Sheriff David Clarke is auditioning for the next Dirty Harry movie."
Not to be outdone, Clarke shot back at the mayor with this statement: "Several years ago, a tire-iron-wielding suspect beat Mayor Tom Barrett to within inches of his life. I would think that he would be a lot more sensitive to people being able to defend themselves in such instances. A firearm and a plan of defense would have come in handy for him that day." (In 2009, Barrett was calling 911 to report a fight when the suspect batted the phone out of his hand and nearly beat the mayor’s brains out.)
On December 17, following the Sandy Hook massacre, in an op-ed on the website Tea Party Perspective, Clarke said liberals were shameful “for exploiting tragedy once again in our country and try to use tragedy as a reason to take our rights away.” Clarke also said gun control advocates were “sheep” and called for "an armed tactical trained officer or security officer in every school and public place in America."
Clarke, an African-American, is obviously not in step on guns with his fellow Democrats.
Prior to being appointed sheriff by Wisconsin’s governor, Clarke had a distinguished career as a patrol officer, detective and command officer with the Milwaukee Police Department.
So, was Sheriff Clarke irresponsible or realistic when he called on the people in Milwaukee County to arm themselves? To answer that question, think about this: When seconds count, the police are only minutes away … in some cases 10, 20 or more minutes away.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
HOLOCAUST AN INVENTED MYTH: SIX MILLION JEWS ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY NAZIS MOVED TO AMERICA
The Obama administration openly encouraged the rebellions of the Arab Spring. And what did the U.S. get in return? Islamic heads of state and a new wave of Islamic militancy throughout North Africa.
‘HOLOCAUST WAS A MYTH INVENTED BY U.S.’: AIDE TO EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT MORSI TRIGGERS OUTRAGE WITH CLAIM SIX MILLION ‘DEAD’ JEWS HAD SIMPLY MOVED TO AMERICA
Following Morsi’s earlier description of Jews as ‘descendants of apes and pigs,’ Fath Shibab-Eddim claims U.S. used Holocaust myth to destroy image of the Nazis and to justify the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
By Simon Tomlinson
Mail Online
January 30, 2013
A senior figure close to Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi provoked outrage today after claiming the Holocaust was a myth invented by the United States.
Fathi Shibab-Eddim, who is responsible for appointing editors of all the state-run newspapers, claimed the six million Jews killed by Hitler had actually been moved to America.
His comments came as the world marked Holocaust Remembrance day on Sunday and little more than a week after it emerged that President Morsi himself had once described Jews as 'descendants of apes and pigs'.
Shibab-Eddim said: 'The myth of the Holocaust is an industry that America invented.
'U.S. intelligence agencies in co-operation with their counterparts in allied nations during World War II created it [the Holocaust] to destroy the image of their opponents in Germany and to justify war and massive destruction against military and civilian facilities of the Axis powers, and especially to hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the atomic bomb.'
His views have sparked fears that the Egyptian Government, like Iran's, has significant elements that refuse to acknowledge one of the best-documented genocides in history.
The bizarre claims will also be especially concerning for Israel, which had fostered good relations with President Morsi's predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in 2011 following days of violent protests.
Efraim Zuroff, Israel Director of the Jerusalem-based Simon Weisenthal Center, whose mission is to defend against anti-Semitism and teach the lessons of the Holocaust to future generations, told FoxNews.com that Shibab-Eddim's views showed a dangerous mindset.
He said: 'Obviously, if a person in that position makes that ridiculous claim it is of concern.
'The sad truth is that these views are relatively common in the Arab world and are the result of ignorance on one hand and of government-sponsored Holocaust denial on the other hand.'
Earlier this month, the White House condemned President Morsi after it was revealed he had described Jews as ‘descendants of apes and pigs’.
The Muslim Brotherhood leader is also reported to have asked Egyptians to ‘nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred for Jews.’
In other comments, he said Zionists are bloodsuckers who attack Palestinians and are related to apes.
The remarks were made three years ago, but have only recently emerged.
President Barack Obama’s White House spokesman Jay Carney said: ‘The language that we have seen is deeply offensive. We completely reject these statements, as we do any language that espouses religious hatred. This kind of discourse has been acceptable in the region for far too long, and is counter to the goal of peace.’
‘HOLOCAUST WAS A MYTH INVENTED BY U.S.’: AIDE TO EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT MORSI TRIGGERS OUTRAGE WITH CLAIM SIX MILLION ‘DEAD’ JEWS HAD SIMPLY MOVED TO AMERICA
Following Morsi’s earlier description of Jews as ‘descendants of apes and pigs,’ Fath Shibab-Eddim claims U.S. used Holocaust myth to destroy image of the Nazis and to justify the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
By Simon Tomlinson
Mail Online
January 30, 2013
A senior figure close to Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi provoked outrage today after claiming the Holocaust was a myth invented by the United States.
Fathi Shibab-Eddim, who is responsible for appointing editors of all the state-run newspapers, claimed the six million Jews killed by Hitler had actually been moved to America.
His comments came as the world marked Holocaust Remembrance day on Sunday and little more than a week after it emerged that President Morsi himself had once described Jews as 'descendants of apes and pigs'.
Shibab-Eddim said: 'The myth of the Holocaust is an industry that America invented.
'U.S. intelligence agencies in co-operation with their counterparts in allied nations during World War II created it [the Holocaust] to destroy the image of their opponents in Germany and to justify war and massive destruction against military and civilian facilities of the Axis powers, and especially to hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the atomic bomb.'
His views have sparked fears that the Egyptian Government, like Iran's, has significant elements that refuse to acknowledge one of the best-documented genocides in history.
The bizarre claims will also be especially concerning for Israel, which had fostered good relations with President Morsi's predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in 2011 following days of violent protests.
Efraim Zuroff, Israel Director of the Jerusalem-based Simon Weisenthal Center, whose mission is to defend against anti-Semitism and teach the lessons of the Holocaust to future generations, told FoxNews.com that Shibab-Eddim's views showed a dangerous mindset.
He said: 'Obviously, if a person in that position makes that ridiculous claim it is of concern.
'The sad truth is that these views are relatively common in the Arab world and are the result of ignorance on one hand and of government-sponsored Holocaust denial on the other hand.'
Earlier this month, the White House condemned President Morsi after it was revealed he had described Jews as ‘descendants of apes and pigs’.
The Muslim Brotherhood leader is also reported to have asked Egyptians to ‘nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred for Jews.’
In other comments, he said Zionists are bloodsuckers who attack Palestinians and are related to apes.
The remarks were made three years ago, but have only recently emerged.
President Barack Obama’s White House spokesman Jay Carney said: ‘The language that we have seen is deeply offensive. We completely reject these statements, as we do any language that espouses religious hatred. This kind of discourse has been acceptable in the region for far too long, and is counter to the goal of peace.’
MORE LIKELY TO BE KILLED BY LIGHTNING IN THE PRISON EXERCISE YARD THAN BY EXECUTION
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
January 30, 2013
Henry Cervantes, 48, is alleged to be a Regimental Commander of the Nuestra Familia prison gang. He is also alleged to be the killer of Renee Washington, 56, and paroled murderer Johnny Gilbert Navarette, 73, in Oakland last year. These murders were believed to have been committed in furtherance of racketeering and could, at least in theory, earn Cervantes a death sentence.
Of course, even if he is actually convicted and sentenced to death, there is a much greater chance he will be killed by lightning in the exercise yard than by execution. (Not really, but it sounds good and is close to the truth.)
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
January 30, 2013
Henry Cervantes, 48, is alleged to be a Regimental Commander of the Nuestra Familia prison gang. He is also alleged to be the killer of Renee Washington, 56, and paroled murderer Johnny Gilbert Navarette, 73, in Oakland last year. These murders were believed to have been committed in furtherance of racketeering and could, at least in theory, earn Cervantes a death sentence.
Of course, even if he is actually convicted and sentenced to death, there is a much greater chance he will be killed by lightning in the exercise yard than by execution. (Not really, but it sounds good and is close to the truth.)
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
GROSS MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE
Race card earns vicious murderer a reprieve
The jury was 11-1, that is there were 11 white jurors and one black juror who sentenced Kimberly McCarthy, 51, to death for a brutal 1997 murder in which she beat, stabbed and robbed a 71-year-old neighbor to death in Lancaster, near Dallas. McCarthy, who is black, was scheduled to be executed Tuesday evening, but a state district judge halted the execution earlier Tuesday when her attorneys played the race card by making a last minute appeal arguing that she was the victim of improper jury selection. He postponed the execution until April 3.
McCarthy was first sentenced to death in 1998 for the murder of Dorothy Booth, retired college psychology professor, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned her conviction because investigators continued to interrogate her after she requested an attorney. She was retried in 2002 and again sentenced to death. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review her case earlier this month, and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles turned down a clemency request Friday.
McCarthy would have been the 13th woman in the U.S., and the fourth in Texas, to be executed since a 1976 ruling by the Supreme Court ended a moratorium on capital punishment.
According to court records, Dorothy Booth was stabbed with a butcher knife, beaten with a large candle holder and robbed of a diamond wedding ring. Greg Davis, the former Dallas County assistant district attorney who prosecuted McCarthy, said she “quite literally took the woman, put her left hand on a chopping block of the kitchen and then used a knife to sever her ring finger while she was still alive. She took the ring from the finger that had been severed and continued the attack until she finally killed her."
Evidence introduced during both trials showed that Booth's DNA was found on a 10-inch butcher knife recovered from McCarthy's home and that McCarthy stole Booth's Mercedes, drove it to Dallas where she pawned the ring for $200, used Booth's credit cards at a liquor store and was carrying the victim's driver's license.
McCarthy was also indicted but not tried for the murders of two other elderly women. Blood DNA evidence tied McCarthy to the December 1988 slayings of 81-year-old Maggie Harding and 85-year-old Jettie Lucas. Harding was stabbed and beaten with a meat tenderizer, while Lucas was beaten with both sides of a claw hammer and stabbed.
If there was ever anyone who deserved to be put to death, it is Kimberly McCarthy. Postponing the execution of this subhuman piece of excrement constitutes a gross miscarriage of justice. I’ll be very surprised if she will be executed on April 3 because the reprieve is giving her attorneys time to file another round of appeals. And since it worked this time, you can bet they will play the race card again.
The jury was 11-1, that is there were 11 white jurors and one black juror who sentenced Kimberly McCarthy, 51, to death for a brutal 1997 murder in which she beat, stabbed and robbed a 71-year-old neighbor to death in Lancaster, near Dallas. McCarthy, who is black, was scheduled to be executed Tuesday evening, but a state district judge halted the execution earlier Tuesday when her attorneys played the race card by making a last minute appeal arguing that she was the victim of improper jury selection. He postponed the execution until April 3.
McCarthy was first sentenced to death in 1998 for the murder of Dorothy Booth, retired college psychology professor, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned her conviction because investigators continued to interrogate her after she requested an attorney. She was retried in 2002 and again sentenced to death. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review her case earlier this month, and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles turned down a clemency request Friday.
McCarthy would have been the 13th woman in the U.S., and the fourth in Texas, to be executed since a 1976 ruling by the Supreme Court ended a moratorium on capital punishment.
According to court records, Dorothy Booth was stabbed with a butcher knife, beaten with a large candle holder and robbed of a diamond wedding ring. Greg Davis, the former Dallas County assistant district attorney who prosecuted McCarthy, said she “quite literally took the woman, put her left hand on a chopping block of the kitchen and then used a knife to sever her ring finger while she was still alive. She took the ring from the finger that had been severed and continued the attack until she finally killed her."
Evidence introduced during both trials showed that Booth's DNA was found on a 10-inch butcher knife recovered from McCarthy's home and that McCarthy stole Booth's Mercedes, drove it to Dallas where she pawned the ring for $200, used Booth's credit cards at a liquor store and was carrying the victim's driver's license.
McCarthy was also indicted but not tried for the murders of two other elderly women. Blood DNA evidence tied McCarthy to the December 1988 slayings of 81-year-old Maggie Harding and 85-year-old Jettie Lucas. Harding was stabbed and beaten with a meat tenderizer, while Lucas was beaten with both sides of a claw hammer and stabbed.
If there was ever anyone who deserved to be put to death, it is Kimberly McCarthy. Postponing the execution of this subhuman piece of excrement constitutes a gross miscarriage of justice. I’ll be very surprised if she will be executed on April 3 because the reprieve is giving her attorneys time to file another round of appeals. And since it worked this time, you can bet they will play the race card again.
THE MEXICANS HAVE TAKEN A LESSON FROM NYPD ON HOW TO REDLUCE VIOLENCE
Manipulating statistics to show a reduction in crime works just as well in Mexico as in New York
Professors John Eterno and Eli Silverman have documented numerous instances of crime statistic manipulations by NYPD to show a reduction in crime and to make New York look like a safe city. Now the government of Mexico has taken a page from NYPD and is showing a reduction of violence by simply not reporting it. Works for NYPD, works for Mexico!
From Borderland Beat:
MEXICAN GOVERNMENT REDUCES VIOLENCE BY NOT REPORTING IT
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
January 28, 2013
Unreported until last Saturday is the unwritten agreement between the newly elected Mexican federal government and the states that part of President Enrique Pena Nieto's new security strategy will be to reduce the number of reports on violent incidents, according to Mexican press accounts.
According to a news account posted Saturday on the website of Diario de Colima news daily, agreements have been made between the federal government and some state attorneys general that violent incidents will only be reported when "necessary".
Colima governor Mario Anguiano Moreno told the press that studies conducted by the federal government showed that reporting on violence in Mexico's drug war had a "prejudicial effect" on the impact of such events.
According to the translation, Governor Anguiano Moreno said: "I was shown studies showing that at the federal level, to the extent that we as a government are putting the issue of security, we report every time you stop a criminal, rather than contributing to the achievement tranquility, were on the contrary encouraging unrest."
Governor Anguiano Moreno goes on: "There was an agreement (between the Federation and the states) which will only be reporting of detainees when strictly necessary," he added.
It is unclear how the agreements are affected by federal transparency laws.
To abide by the new federal guidelines Colima Governor Anguiano Moreno will suspend weekly meetings of the Gabinete de Seguridad del Estado, and will report on detentions "only when necessary".
The governor added that while security is important and reports of detentions and deaths will still will be reported, the information may not be as readily available.
Five days ago in a Washington Post opinion piece, director of Human Rights Watch's Americas division, José Miguel Vivanco, amidst the hysterical language of the human right industry revealed that part of President Pena's security strategy included changing the subject to the economy and away from security matters.
President Pena's government functions under transparency rules passed in the previous 12 years under Partido Accion National (PAN) government, and new rules imposed since the start of his administration.
When the proposed reorganization of the cabinet level Secretaria de Seguridad Publica, moving the agency to under the Secretaria de Gobierno (SEGOB), or interior ministry as a sub agency was put into effect, national legislators put SEGOB on a short leash requiring monthly reports on its activities.
Its first report, however, was a summary detailing detentions and drugs and contraband seized during the previous month,including summaries by the Mexican Army and Navy. Its second report is likely to like the first and so on.
And while the federal government is under those transparency rules, it does rely on states for its data, and so President Pena's security strategy may be aiming at getting around those rules by ordering state attorneys general to slow walk or obscure information on crimes, or in the case of states which do not have as constrictive transparency laws, not releasing any information at all.
What the new focus on information could do is to create a situation where states that do have transparency laws will be reporting crime and appear to have a crime problem, while those that do not will appear to have less crime.
It is worth noting that this writer has noticed that reported detentions and shootings have declined since the start of President Pena's administration.
Professors John Eterno and Eli Silverman have documented numerous instances of crime statistic manipulations by NYPD to show a reduction in crime and to make New York look like a safe city. Now the government of Mexico has taken a page from NYPD and is showing a reduction of violence by simply not reporting it. Works for NYPD, works for Mexico!
From Borderland Beat:
MEXICAN GOVERNMENT REDUCES VIOLENCE BY NOT REPORTING IT
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
January 28, 2013
Unreported until last Saturday is the unwritten agreement between the newly elected Mexican federal government and the states that part of President Enrique Pena Nieto's new security strategy will be to reduce the number of reports on violent incidents, according to Mexican press accounts.
According to a news account posted Saturday on the website of Diario de Colima news daily, agreements have been made between the federal government and some state attorneys general that violent incidents will only be reported when "necessary".
Colima governor Mario Anguiano Moreno told the press that studies conducted by the federal government showed that reporting on violence in Mexico's drug war had a "prejudicial effect" on the impact of such events.
According to the translation, Governor Anguiano Moreno said: "I was shown studies showing that at the federal level, to the extent that we as a government are putting the issue of security, we report every time you stop a criminal, rather than contributing to the achievement tranquility, were on the contrary encouraging unrest."
Governor Anguiano Moreno goes on: "There was an agreement (between the Federation and the states) which will only be reporting of detainees when strictly necessary," he added.
It is unclear how the agreements are affected by federal transparency laws.
To abide by the new federal guidelines Colima Governor Anguiano Moreno will suspend weekly meetings of the Gabinete de Seguridad del Estado, and will report on detentions "only when necessary".
The governor added that while security is important and reports of detentions and deaths will still will be reported, the information may not be as readily available.
Five days ago in a Washington Post opinion piece, director of Human Rights Watch's Americas division, José Miguel Vivanco, amidst the hysterical language of the human right industry revealed that part of President Pena's security strategy included changing the subject to the economy and away from security matters.
President Pena's government functions under transparency rules passed in the previous 12 years under Partido Accion National (PAN) government, and new rules imposed since the start of his administration.
When the proposed reorganization of the cabinet level Secretaria de Seguridad Publica, moving the agency to under the Secretaria de Gobierno (SEGOB), or interior ministry as a sub agency was put into effect, national legislators put SEGOB on a short leash requiring monthly reports on its activities.
Its first report, however, was a summary detailing detentions and drugs and contraband seized during the previous month,including summaries by the Mexican Army and Navy. Its second report is likely to like the first and so on.
And while the federal government is under those transparency rules, it does rely on states for its data, and so President Pena's security strategy may be aiming at getting around those rules by ordering state attorneys general to slow walk or obscure information on crimes, or in the case of states which do not have as constrictive transparency laws, not releasing any information at all.
What the new focus on information could do is to create a situation where states that do have transparency laws will be reporting crime and appear to have a crime problem, while those that do not will appear to have less crime.
It is worth noting that this writer has noticed that reported detentions and shootings have declined since the start of President Pena's administration.
GUN CONTROL BIT BY BIT
In Burlington Vermont, cops are prevented from training with their department’s AR-15s
The gun control frenzy resulting from the Sandy Hook massacre is being carried to the extreme.
POLICE BARRED FROM VERMONT GUN RANGE OVER PROPOSED SEMI-AUTOMATIC RIFLE BAN
By Molly Line
FoxNews.com
January 28, 2013
The battle over the right to bear arms is flaring in Vermont, where a local gun range has moved to prohibit the Burlington Police Department from training at its facilities after the City Council voted to advance a measure banning semi-automatic rifles and large-capacity magazines.
The leadership of the Lamoille Valley Fish and Game Club explained that it's "difficult" for the club to support the city -- even its officers -- given the actions of the council.
"We have members in Burlington as well as members of our club that are going to be passing through Burlington and this would directly affect them and we felt that a prejudicial vote like that was going to be non-supportive of our club and being non-supportive of our club makes it very difficult to support Burlington City," said Bob Boivin, chairman of the Lamoille Valley Fish and Game Club.
"It is a constitutional issue. I mean, it's not just a Second Amendment constitutional issue; but it's also a constitutional issue for Vermont. We have laws that have the state governing our gun controls in this area and they're looking to supersede those," he said.
The group's ban will affect how and when officers train in the state, where such facilities are limited.
In response, the Burlington Police Department released a statement saying: "It is unfortunate that this important and much-needed community dialogue regarding gun control currently under way in the City of Burlington and across the nation has resulted in this action."
The city government is defending the measure.
"In the absence of federal legislation or state law we feel it has come upon us as a city to take the measures we feel are necessary to protect our citizens," Burlington City Councilman Norman Blais said.
"Ultimately, I don't think that the best way to assert control over guns is at the local level," conceded Joan Shannon, president of the Burlington City Council. "But here in Burlington, I think we felt the need to act because we didn't see action coming from either the state level or the federal level."
Boivin argues city-by-city gun rules would create a multitude of challenges.
"If you're going to a shoot, say in one end of Vermont to the other, you have to check the laws for every town in between, and you will pass through a half a dozen different towns, and that makes it almost impossible for someone to stay as a legal gun owner, and that's what we're concerned about," he said.
Shannon said the council's action are only a first step toward better protecting the people of the city, "but this at least gets the discussion started and often times we have found in Burlington that we lead the way and others will follow, and I think that that's the intention here."
The Burlington City Council's proposal to ban certain assault weapons is far from being implemented. City voters would get a say in 2014. Then the measure would require approval by the Vermont legislature. Finally, if it does become law, it's likely to face a constitutional challenge from gun-rights advocates.
The gun control frenzy resulting from the Sandy Hook massacre is being carried to the extreme.
POLICE BARRED FROM VERMONT GUN RANGE OVER PROPOSED SEMI-AUTOMATIC RIFLE BAN
By Molly Line
FoxNews.com
January 28, 2013
The battle over the right to bear arms is flaring in Vermont, where a local gun range has moved to prohibit the Burlington Police Department from training at its facilities after the City Council voted to advance a measure banning semi-automatic rifles and large-capacity magazines.
The leadership of the Lamoille Valley Fish and Game Club explained that it's "difficult" for the club to support the city -- even its officers -- given the actions of the council.
"We have members in Burlington as well as members of our club that are going to be passing through Burlington and this would directly affect them and we felt that a prejudicial vote like that was going to be non-supportive of our club and being non-supportive of our club makes it very difficult to support Burlington City," said Bob Boivin, chairman of the Lamoille Valley Fish and Game Club.
"It is a constitutional issue. I mean, it's not just a Second Amendment constitutional issue; but it's also a constitutional issue for Vermont. We have laws that have the state governing our gun controls in this area and they're looking to supersede those," he said.
The group's ban will affect how and when officers train in the state, where such facilities are limited.
In response, the Burlington Police Department released a statement saying: "It is unfortunate that this important and much-needed community dialogue regarding gun control currently under way in the City of Burlington and across the nation has resulted in this action."
The city government is defending the measure.
"In the absence of federal legislation or state law we feel it has come upon us as a city to take the measures we feel are necessary to protect our citizens," Burlington City Councilman Norman Blais said.
"Ultimately, I don't think that the best way to assert control over guns is at the local level," conceded Joan Shannon, president of the Burlington City Council. "But here in Burlington, I think we felt the need to act because we didn't see action coming from either the state level or the federal level."
Boivin argues city-by-city gun rules would create a multitude of challenges.
"If you're going to a shoot, say in one end of Vermont to the other, you have to check the laws for every town in between, and you will pass through a half a dozen different towns, and that makes it almost impossible for someone to stay as a legal gun owner, and that's what we're concerned about," he said.
Shannon said the council's action are only a first step toward better protecting the people of the city, "but this at least gets the discussion started and often times we have found in Burlington that we lead the way and others will follow, and I think that that's the intention here."
The Burlington City Council's proposal to ban certain assault weapons is far from being implemented. City voters would get a say in 2014. Then the measure would require approval by the Vermont legislature. Finally, if it does become law, it's likely to face a constitutional challenge from gun-rights advocates.
CHICAGO’S ANNUAL HOMICIDE DRIVE OFF TO MOST PROMISING START IN DECADES
The Onion
January 29, 2013
CHICAGO—Having tallied a “very promising” 41 murders so far in 2013, police officials confirmed Tuesday that the annual Chicago Homicide Drive was off to its fastest start in more than a decade and was already well on its way to reaching this year’s goal for violent slayings.
“It’s still January, but we’ve already seen an astounding number of contributions to this year’s murder drive,” Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told reporters as he raised the red progress line on the Homicide Drive’s Murdometer, a 15-foot plywood silhouette of a gunned-down body that stands outside City Hall. “I don’t think anyone dreamed it would be possible to break last year’s staggering total of 506 murders, but with so many people chipping in all across the city, we may just do it. There’s a tremendous community-wide level of interest and participation in this yearly event, which is quickly becoming a treasured part of Chicago culture.”
While McCarthy said he remained confident that Chicagoans would set a new Homicide Drive record this year, he cautioned that the city was beginning to face a shortage of potential victims in many of its highest-contributing neighborhoods.
January 29, 2013
CHICAGO—Having tallied a “very promising” 41 murders so far in 2013, police officials confirmed Tuesday that the annual Chicago Homicide Drive was off to its fastest start in more than a decade and was already well on its way to reaching this year’s goal for violent slayings.
“It’s still January, but we’ve already seen an astounding number of contributions to this year’s murder drive,” Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told reporters as he raised the red progress line on the Homicide Drive’s Murdometer, a 15-foot plywood silhouette of a gunned-down body that stands outside City Hall. “I don’t think anyone dreamed it would be possible to break last year’s staggering total of 506 murders, but with so many people chipping in all across the city, we may just do it. There’s a tremendous community-wide level of interest and participation in this yearly event, which is quickly becoming a treasured part of Chicago culture.”
While McCarthy said he remained confident that Chicagoans would set a new Homicide Drive record this year, he cautioned that the city was beginning to face a shortage of potential victims in many of its highest-contributing neighborhoods.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
THE WEST IS REWARDED WITH JIHADISM FOR ITS PART IN TOPPLING STABLE DICTATORSHIPS
Considering the rise of Jihadism in North Africa and the Middle East, Putin is right when he implies that the West should have kept its nose out of the Arab Spring.
RUSSIA’S VLADIMIR PUTIN SAYS WEST IS FORMENTING JIHADIST ‘BLOWBACK’
Moscow is criticized for weak support of the Arab Spring, and for actively backing Bashir al-Assad in Syria. But the Kremlin says its policies are consistent and the West is exporting revolt
By Fred Weir
The Christian Science Monitor
January 25, 2013
MOSCOW — Both Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister have lashed out at the West in recent days for pursuing what they regard as naive and incoherent Middle East policies.
The critique targets Western backing of anti-dictator rebellions in Libya and Syria, which, as Mr. Putin tells it, only fuels the spreading flames of extreme Islamist insurrection, including the current war in Mali and last week's terrorist strike on a gas complex in Algeria.
"The Syrian conflict has been raging for almost two years now. Upheaval in Libya, accompanied by the uncontrolled spread of weapons, contributed to the deterioration of the situation in Mali," Mr. Putin said at a meeting with new ambassadors in the Kremlin.
"The tragic consequences of these events led to a terrorist attack in Algeria which took the lives of civilians, including foreigners," he added.
"Those whom the French and Africans are fighting now in Mali are the same people who . . . our Western partners armed so that they would overthrow the Gaddafi regime," in Libya in 2011, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference Wednesday.
Many in the West may be inclined to shrug off Russian criticism as the routine sniping of a government whose Mideast influence has slumped since the Arab Spring began, or the self-serving rationale of an autocratic regime that fears popular revolution and automatically backs authoritarian rulers.
But many Russian experts, including sharp critics of the Kremlin on other issues, argue that Russian leaders are being realists about the blowback that has followed Western interventions in the Muslim world.
They say Moscow has been dealing with the threat of militant jihadists since the Soviet Union's disastrous 1980s war in Afghanistan, and has watched as it has shown up in parts of Russia's heartland. Kremlin leaders accuse the West of an enthusiasm for toppling dictators that has led, not to democracy, but to spreading mayhem and rising Islamist militancy across West Asia and North Africa.
"Russia is on the frontier, we are in jihad territory," says Yevgeny Satanovsky, president of the independent Institute of Middle Eastern Studies in Moscow.
"Our own fringes, the northern Caucasus, Central Asia, and even the central Volga region are threatened. That's why we're very clear about who the enemy is.. . . We know this, and you would think that after 9/11 and other events that our American and European colleagues would have some clarity about it, too. Yet they always seem ready to play with fire, and to use militant jihadists against Russia and its national interests - as they did in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Libya, and Syria," he adds.
Over the past decade Russia has used its UN Security Council vote to oppose the US invasion of Iraq aimed at overthrowing dictator Saddam Hussein; yet it has strongly supported NATO's anti-Taliban mission in Afghanistan. Last year, Putin even urged the Western allies not to leave Afghanistan before the "job was done" and Moscow gave NATO the use of a huge airbase in central Russia to help with the resupply effort to its embattled forces there.
Moscow abstained on the March 2011 Security Council resolution that authorized the use of force "to protect civilians" in Libya, and last month it actually backed another resolution empowering France and others to intervene against Islamists threatening to overrun Mali.
On the other hand, Russia has repeatedly vetoed any resolution aimed at international cooperation to ease Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad from power and continues to back his regime with political support and shipments of weaponry. The UN estimates 60,000 killed in the ongoing civil war in Syria, with some 500,000 to 600,000 displaced or categorized as refugees.
Outsiders may be forgiven for seeing Moscow's policies as a bit tangled, not to say hypocritical, but many Russian analysts argue that they have been completely consistent - with the sole exception of former President Dmitry Medvedev's decision to abstain on the Libya "use of force" resolution, which was publicly slammed by then-Prime Minister Putin.
"The Libya resolution contained promises to Russia that were never delivered. Today our abstention on that vote can be clearly seen as a mistake, a symption of Medvedev's non-professionalism," says Mr. Satanovsky.
The Russians argue that they back secular goverments and stability, even where it is enforced by a dictatorship, because the alternatives are almost universally worse. They insist that Western efforts to back democratic revolution have backfired almost everywhere, and will continue to do so.
"All attempts to export revolution end badly," says Andrei Klimov, deputy chair of the State Duma's international affairs committee.
"In Iraq, the Americans came in to eliminate fictitious weapons of mass destruction, and knocked out all the pillars of stability in that country. Look at the mess it's in today.... Libya was stable, Syria was stable, until revolutions aided and abetted by Western powers tore them apart. All this chaos is a gift to militant fundamentalists and no one else," he adds.
Russia's backing for the current French-led intervention in Mali is just a case of lining up against the common enemy, the jihadists, pro-Kremlin analysts say.
They point out that the government the West is propping up in Mali is a dictatorship, the result of a military coup last year that overthrew the democratic government on the eve of elections.
"We agree with the French about this. Maybe they're finally seeing the light," says Sergei Markov, vice president of the Plekhanov Economic University in Moscow and a frequent adviser to President Putin in the past.
"It's an attempt to stem the damage that's a result of the misguided operation in Libya. It's against the jihadists and we support it," he adds.
"When the West is helping to destroy a stable regime, and willfully opening the gates to the radical Islamists, we oppose it. . . We wish that Russia and the West could work together on this. We are willing, but we doubt the West is ready to cooperate with us," Mr. Markov says.
"Will it have to take a few more Western ambassadors being killed by the very forces they created before they will listen to us?"
RUSSIA’S VLADIMIR PUTIN SAYS WEST IS FORMENTING JIHADIST ‘BLOWBACK’
Moscow is criticized for weak support of the Arab Spring, and for actively backing Bashir al-Assad in Syria. But the Kremlin says its policies are consistent and the West is exporting revolt
By Fred Weir
The Christian Science Monitor
January 25, 2013
MOSCOW — Both Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister have lashed out at the West in recent days for pursuing what they regard as naive and incoherent Middle East policies.
The critique targets Western backing of anti-dictator rebellions in Libya and Syria, which, as Mr. Putin tells it, only fuels the spreading flames of extreme Islamist insurrection, including the current war in Mali and last week's terrorist strike on a gas complex in Algeria.
"The Syrian conflict has been raging for almost two years now. Upheaval in Libya, accompanied by the uncontrolled spread of weapons, contributed to the deterioration of the situation in Mali," Mr. Putin said at a meeting with new ambassadors in the Kremlin.
"The tragic consequences of these events led to a terrorist attack in Algeria which took the lives of civilians, including foreigners," he added.
"Those whom the French and Africans are fighting now in Mali are the same people who . . . our Western partners armed so that they would overthrow the Gaddafi regime," in Libya in 2011, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference Wednesday.
Many in the West may be inclined to shrug off Russian criticism as the routine sniping of a government whose Mideast influence has slumped since the Arab Spring began, or the self-serving rationale of an autocratic regime that fears popular revolution and automatically backs authoritarian rulers.
But many Russian experts, including sharp critics of the Kremlin on other issues, argue that Russian leaders are being realists about the blowback that has followed Western interventions in the Muslim world.
They say Moscow has been dealing with the threat of militant jihadists since the Soviet Union's disastrous 1980s war in Afghanistan, and has watched as it has shown up in parts of Russia's heartland. Kremlin leaders accuse the West of an enthusiasm for toppling dictators that has led, not to democracy, but to spreading mayhem and rising Islamist militancy across West Asia and North Africa.
"Russia is on the frontier, we are in jihad territory," says Yevgeny Satanovsky, president of the independent Institute of Middle Eastern Studies in Moscow.
"Our own fringes, the northern Caucasus, Central Asia, and even the central Volga region are threatened. That's why we're very clear about who the enemy is.. . . We know this, and you would think that after 9/11 and other events that our American and European colleagues would have some clarity about it, too. Yet they always seem ready to play with fire, and to use militant jihadists against Russia and its national interests - as they did in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Libya, and Syria," he adds.
Over the past decade Russia has used its UN Security Council vote to oppose the US invasion of Iraq aimed at overthrowing dictator Saddam Hussein; yet it has strongly supported NATO's anti-Taliban mission in Afghanistan. Last year, Putin even urged the Western allies not to leave Afghanistan before the "job was done" and Moscow gave NATO the use of a huge airbase in central Russia to help with the resupply effort to its embattled forces there.
Moscow abstained on the March 2011 Security Council resolution that authorized the use of force "to protect civilians" in Libya, and last month it actually backed another resolution empowering France and others to intervene against Islamists threatening to overrun Mali.
On the other hand, Russia has repeatedly vetoed any resolution aimed at international cooperation to ease Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad from power and continues to back his regime with political support and shipments of weaponry. The UN estimates 60,000 killed in the ongoing civil war in Syria, with some 500,000 to 600,000 displaced or categorized as refugees.
Outsiders may be forgiven for seeing Moscow's policies as a bit tangled, not to say hypocritical, but many Russian analysts argue that they have been completely consistent - with the sole exception of former President Dmitry Medvedev's decision to abstain on the Libya "use of force" resolution, which was publicly slammed by then-Prime Minister Putin.
"The Libya resolution contained promises to Russia that were never delivered. Today our abstention on that vote can be clearly seen as a mistake, a symption of Medvedev's non-professionalism," says Mr. Satanovsky.
The Russians argue that they back secular goverments and stability, even where it is enforced by a dictatorship, because the alternatives are almost universally worse. They insist that Western efforts to back democratic revolution have backfired almost everywhere, and will continue to do so.
"All attempts to export revolution end badly," says Andrei Klimov, deputy chair of the State Duma's international affairs committee.
"In Iraq, the Americans came in to eliminate fictitious weapons of mass destruction, and knocked out all the pillars of stability in that country. Look at the mess it's in today.... Libya was stable, Syria was stable, until revolutions aided and abetted by Western powers tore them apart. All this chaos is a gift to militant fundamentalists and no one else," he adds.
Russia's backing for the current French-led intervention in Mali is just a case of lining up against the common enemy, the jihadists, pro-Kremlin analysts say.
They point out that the government the West is propping up in Mali is a dictatorship, the result of a military coup last year that overthrew the democratic government on the eve of elections.
"We agree with the French about this. Maybe they're finally seeing the light," says Sergei Markov, vice president of the Plekhanov Economic University in Moscow and a frequent adviser to President Putin in the past.
"It's an attempt to stem the damage that's a result of the misguided operation in Libya. It's against the jihadists and we support it," he adds.
"When the West is helping to destroy a stable regime, and willfully opening the gates to the radical Islamists, we oppose it. . . We wish that Russia and the West could work together on this. We are willing, but we doubt the West is ready to cooperate with us," Mr. Markov says.
"Will it have to take a few more Western ambassadors being killed by the very forces they created before they will listen to us?"
PREJUDICIAL HATRED IS FLOURISHING IN AMERICA
Construction workers at the new World Trade Center have a strange way of memorializing the nearly 3,000 victims of 9/11 who died on the site.
REVEALED: SHOCKING SEXIST AND HATE-FILLED GRAFFITI SCRAWLED ALL OVER WALLS OF WORLD TRADE CENTER
Hateful racist and sexist remarks found on plywood walls of toilets used by construction workers
By Sara Malm
Mail Online
January 28, 2013
With racist and sexist graffiti scrawled all over the walls, you would find it hard to believe that this is a construction site at Ground Zero.
One World Trade Center, built on the spot where 2,800 people died in the 9/11 attacks, is rife with ethnic slurs referring to African Americans, Irish and Jewish people written in black marker pen.
The writings on the toilet walls throughout the 104-story tower is believed to be the effort of builders working to finish construction this year.
Many of the anonymous messages use the N-word and women are frequently targeted on the provisional plywood bathrooms located on every fifth floor of the 1,776ft tower.
‘Lame nigger be queit (sic),’ reads one racist and misspelled remark recorded by the New York Daily News.
‘Woman (sic) don’t belong in construction! Maybe painting, that’s it,’ directed at female construction workers on the site, was replied to with: ‘Then who’s gonna fuck us?’
Not only African Americans and women are subjected to the offensive comments, with one worker demanding Irish people to 'take a bath ya smelly fucker’.
One urinal welcomes builders with ‘None whites only’ written in capitals, whilst another urinal is marked with the contrary ‘Whites Only’.
‘Most of it’s racial,’ an insider told NYDaily.
‘Most of it - I mean, there’s a lot of stuff with the N-word. But pretty much every race is covered: Spanish people, Irish people, Jewish people, women.’
The N-word, he added, ‘is written all over the place, to be honest with you. That’s a big deal. It’s there.’
The inside source told the paper that although some of the writings on the wall are positive remarks, ’99 per cent’ of the graffiti is insulting and vulgar.
'We’re all supposed to be there as one, the whole 9/11 thing’ another worker told the newspaper.
He said the graffiti ruins his sense of pride of working on the 1WTC, commonly known as Freedom Tower, saying it should not be on its walls.
One World Trade Center is at the heart of the complex to be built on the site of the two towers destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Lower Manhattan, New York.
The $3.8 billion construction is part of the effort to memorize and rebuild the World Trade Center, a promise made by then-president George W. Bush shortly after the Al-Qaeda-led attack in 2001.
With its antenna reaching the symbolic height of 1,776ft to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, 1WTC will become the tallest building in North America upon its completion.
The building itself, minus the antenna, will stand 1,368 feet tall, the height of the original World Trade Center north tower where 1,526 people died, not including the 479 rescue workers who perished trying to save them.
When President Obama visited the site in June last year he too scrawled on the construction, writing the inspiring and appropriate ‘We remember. We rebuild. We come back stronger!’ on a steel beam.
REVEALED: SHOCKING SEXIST AND HATE-FILLED GRAFFITI SCRAWLED ALL OVER WALLS OF WORLD TRADE CENTER
Hateful racist and sexist remarks found on plywood walls of toilets used by construction workers
By Sara Malm
Mail Online
January 28, 2013
With racist and sexist graffiti scrawled all over the walls, you would find it hard to believe that this is a construction site at Ground Zero.
One World Trade Center, built on the spot where 2,800 people died in the 9/11 attacks, is rife with ethnic slurs referring to African Americans, Irish and Jewish people written in black marker pen.
The writings on the toilet walls throughout the 104-story tower is believed to be the effort of builders working to finish construction this year.
Many of the anonymous messages use the N-word and women are frequently targeted on the provisional plywood bathrooms located on every fifth floor of the 1,776ft tower.
‘Lame nigger be queit (sic),’ reads one racist and misspelled remark recorded by the New York Daily News.
‘Woman (sic) don’t belong in construction! Maybe painting, that’s it,’ directed at female construction workers on the site, was replied to with: ‘Then who’s gonna fuck us?’
Not only African Americans and women are subjected to the offensive comments, with one worker demanding Irish people to 'take a bath ya smelly fucker’.
One urinal welcomes builders with ‘None whites only’ written in capitals, whilst another urinal is marked with the contrary ‘Whites Only’.
‘Most of it’s racial,’ an insider told NYDaily.
‘Most of it - I mean, there’s a lot of stuff with the N-word. But pretty much every race is covered: Spanish people, Irish people, Jewish people, women.’
The N-word, he added, ‘is written all over the place, to be honest with you. That’s a big deal. It’s there.’
The inside source told the paper that although some of the writings on the wall are positive remarks, ’99 per cent’ of the graffiti is insulting and vulgar.
'We’re all supposed to be there as one, the whole 9/11 thing’ another worker told the newspaper.
He said the graffiti ruins his sense of pride of working on the 1WTC, commonly known as Freedom Tower, saying it should not be on its walls.
One World Trade Center is at the heart of the complex to be built on the site of the two towers destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Lower Manhattan, New York.
The $3.8 billion construction is part of the effort to memorize and rebuild the World Trade Center, a promise made by then-president George W. Bush shortly after the Al-Qaeda-led attack in 2001.
With its antenna reaching the symbolic height of 1,776ft to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, 1WTC will become the tallest building in North America upon its completion.
The building itself, minus the antenna, will stand 1,368 feet tall, the height of the original World Trade Center north tower where 1,526 people died, not including the 479 rescue workers who perished trying to save them.
When President Obama visited the site in June last year he too scrawled on the construction, writing the inspiring and appropriate ‘We remember. We rebuild. We come back stronger!’ on a steel beam.
SOMEONE DID NOT LIKE THEIR MUSIC
What the hell is going on in Mexico when a 16-member band is kidnapped, tortured and slaughtered?
KOMBO KOLOMBIA BAND TORTURED AND DISMEMBERED
16 band members and 4 others went missing Thursday; at least 8 bodies found
By Chivis Martinez
Borderland Beat
January 28, 2013
Authorities of Nuevo Leon state performed an intense mobilization in the municipality of Mina on Sunday afternoon after an anonymous call alerted the whereabouts of the members of the musical group Kombo Kolombia. The group was kidnapped by an armed group last Friday morning.
The police officers received the mysterious call and headed to the location given to them. At kilometer 92 of the highway to Monclova, a water well (other reports say "mine") was located and several bodies inside.
Troopers of the Civil Force, the Mexican Army, and Federal Police secured the area to allow staff of the State Agency of Investigations to perform their work.
The clandestine grave was found near a road to El Espinazo community.
Credible reports indicate that the l bodies have been found in that location. The anonymous call to the authorities also mentioned the bodies were from members of the Kombo Kolombia band.
Other reports mention that the members of the Kombo Kolombia band were tortured and executed. The bodies were dismembered and buried in the clandestine grave.
It was after a private performance on Thursday night that the band disappeared from the city of Hidalgo about 80 miles north of Monterrey and 40 miles south of the US border. On Friday at 4 AM citizens in the area where the bodies were found heard a series of gunshots and vehicles speeding away.
One unidentified member managed to escape and alert the army. He reports that they were loaded onto a truck at the La Carreta and taken in front of a well/mine at which time he managed to run and jump into a hole and hide.
Most of the band members lived in Monterrey and at least one is a citizen of Colombia.
It is not known why the group would be targeted, unlike other bands they did not sing narco corridos, songs that glorify drug traffickers. They stayed away from that genre of music.
Authorities are keeping quiet and not sharing details but unofficial reports say at least 8 bodies were found at the site. Keep in mind authorities have only confirmed that 8 bodies were retrieved so far, other details have been from other sources.
Update
Jorge Zambrano Domene , government security spokesman for Nuevo Leon confirmed reports on social networks that indeed one victim managed to escape his captors and certain death, as I reported. Though he had been beaten, as all the victims have been, he was in good condition and led authorities to the clandestine mass grave.
4 of the bodies were retrieved Sunday when the search for more stopped, for safety reasons, then resumed today. More bodies were pulled up however reaching the remaining bodies are proving to be a difficult task due to the depth and structure of the well.
The exact number of bodies remaining is unknown at this time. Governor Medina stated that clothes were found that match what the band wore for the performance. No one in authority has confirmed the bodies being dismembered.
El Norte issues this report in their 7AM report:
One of the musicians from the group Kolombia Kombo ran away from the ranch where his companions were executed and later helped the authorities locate where the bodies were left. The man reported that he escaped his kidnappers and received assistance from a trucker, who gave him a ride to a gas station.
The musician said the kidnappers took the band members in several trucks to kilometer 92 of the highway to Monclova. The witness reported that the victims knelt as their lives were taken with the " coup de grace" shot in the head. The man said he managed to escape without the kidnappers realizing he was gone.
KOMBO KOLOMBIA BAND TORTURED AND DISMEMBERED
16 band members and 4 others went missing Thursday; at least 8 bodies found
By Chivis Martinez
Borderland Beat
January 28, 2013
Authorities of Nuevo Leon state performed an intense mobilization in the municipality of Mina on Sunday afternoon after an anonymous call alerted the whereabouts of the members of the musical group Kombo Kolombia. The group was kidnapped by an armed group last Friday morning.
The police officers received the mysterious call and headed to the location given to them. At kilometer 92 of the highway to Monclova, a water well (other reports say "mine") was located and several bodies inside.
Troopers of the Civil Force, the Mexican Army, and Federal Police secured the area to allow staff of the State Agency of Investigations to perform their work.
The clandestine grave was found near a road to El Espinazo community.
Credible reports indicate that the l bodies have been found in that location. The anonymous call to the authorities also mentioned the bodies were from members of the Kombo Kolombia band.
Other reports mention that the members of the Kombo Kolombia band were tortured and executed. The bodies were dismembered and buried in the clandestine grave.
It was after a private performance on Thursday night that the band disappeared from the city of Hidalgo about 80 miles north of Monterrey and 40 miles south of the US border. On Friday at 4 AM citizens in the area where the bodies were found heard a series of gunshots and vehicles speeding away.
One unidentified member managed to escape and alert the army. He reports that they were loaded onto a truck at the La Carreta and taken in front of a well/mine at which time he managed to run and jump into a hole and hide.
Most of the band members lived in Monterrey and at least one is a citizen of Colombia.
It is not known why the group would be targeted, unlike other bands they did not sing narco corridos, songs that glorify drug traffickers. They stayed away from that genre of music.
Authorities are keeping quiet and not sharing details but unofficial reports say at least 8 bodies were found at the site. Keep in mind authorities have only confirmed that 8 bodies were retrieved so far, other details have been from other sources.
Update
Jorge Zambrano Domene , government security spokesman for Nuevo Leon confirmed reports on social networks that indeed one victim managed to escape his captors and certain death, as I reported. Though he had been beaten, as all the victims have been, he was in good condition and led authorities to the clandestine mass grave.
4 of the bodies were retrieved Sunday when the search for more stopped, for safety reasons, then resumed today. More bodies were pulled up however reaching the remaining bodies are proving to be a difficult task due to the depth and structure of the well.
The exact number of bodies remaining is unknown at this time. Governor Medina stated that clothes were found that match what the band wore for the performance. No one in authority has confirmed the bodies being dismembered.
El Norte issues this report in their 7AM report:
One of the musicians from the group Kolombia Kombo ran away from the ranch where his companions were executed and later helped the authorities locate where the bodies were left. The man reported that he escaped his kidnappers and received assistance from a trucker, who gave him a ride to a gas station.
The musician said the kidnappers took the band members in several trucks to kilometer 92 of the highway to Monclova. The witness reported that the victims knelt as their lives were taken with the " coup de grace" shot in the head. The man said he managed to escape without the kidnappers realizing he was gone.
SIX YEARS IN A VEGETATIVE STAGE AND SUDDENLY THERE IS BRAIN ACTIVITY
Suddenly the old warrior Ariel Sharon is showing signs of life after lying in a coma since 2006.
TESTS SHOW ARIEL SHARON’S CONDITION MIGHT BE IMPROVING
Israel Today
January 28, 2013
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon demonstrated impressive progress during a routine testing of his brain's functionality late last week, prompting some in the Israeli media to speculate that he might be slowly coming out of his coma.
Sharon suffered a major brain hemorrhage in 2006 and slipped into what doctors then described as a vegetative state. He has remained in stable condition ever since.
Last week's test was conducted at Soroka Hospital in Beersheva, and employed a new MRI technology developed by a team of Israeli and American doctors.
During the two-hour test, Sharon was shown pictures of his family and was made to listen to an audio recording of his eldest son's voice.
To the doctors' surprise, "significant brain activity was observed in each test in specific brain regions, indicating appropriate processing of these stimuli," according to a statement released by Soroka.
One of the lead doctors said that while Sharon's brain is clearly transferring information to the proper areas for processing, it is still uncertain if the former premier is consciously aware of these stimuli.
Whatever the case, the tests did show a very real improvement in Sharon's condition.
TESTS SHOW ARIEL SHARON’S CONDITION MIGHT BE IMPROVING
Israel Today
January 28, 2013
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon demonstrated impressive progress during a routine testing of his brain's functionality late last week, prompting some in the Israeli media to speculate that he might be slowly coming out of his coma.
Sharon suffered a major brain hemorrhage in 2006 and slipped into what doctors then described as a vegetative state. He has remained in stable condition ever since.
Last week's test was conducted at Soroka Hospital in Beersheva, and employed a new MRI technology developed by a team of Israeli and American doctors.
During the two-hour test, Sharon was shown pictures of his family and was made to listen to an audio recording of his eldest son's voice.
To the doctors' surprise, "significant brain activity was observed in each test in specific brain regions, indicating appropriate processing of these stimuli," according to a statement released by Soroka.
One of the lead doctors said that while Sharon's brain is clearly transferring information to the proper areas for processing, it is still uncertain if the former premier is consciously aware of these stimuli.
Whatever the case, the tests did show a very real improvement in Sharon's condition.
ROLL OF THE DICE
The Unconventional Gazette
January 28, 2013
A voluptuous blonde from Houston arrived at the Coushatta Casino in Kinder, Louisiana.
She seemed a little intoxicated and bet twenty thousand dollars on a single roll of the dice.
She told everyone at the table, "I hope you don't mind, but I feel much luckier when I'm completely nude." With that, she stripped from the neck down, rolled the dice and with a Texas twang yelled, "Come on, baby, mama needs new clothes!"
As the dice came to a stop, she jumped up and down and squealed... "Yes! Yes! I won, I won!"
She hugged both of the dealers, picked up her winnings and her clothes, and quickly departed.
The dealers stared at each other dumbfounded. Finally, one of them asked, "What did she roll?"
The other one answered, "I don't know… I thought you were watching the dice."
January 28, 2013
A voluptuous blonde from Houston arrived at the Coushatta Casino in Kinder, Louisiana.
She seemed a little intoxicated and bet twenty thousand dollars on a single roll of the dice.
She told everyone at the table, "I hope you don't mind, but I feel much luckier when I'm completely nude." With that, she stripped from the neck down, rolled the dice and with a Texas twang yelled, "Come on, baby, mama needs new clothes!"
As the dice came to a stop, she jumped up and down and squealed... "Yes! Yes! I won, I won!"
She hugged both of the dealers, picked up her winnings and her clothes, and quickly departed.
The dealers stared at each other dumbfounded. Finally, one of them asked, "What did she roll?"
The other one answered, "I don't know… I thought you were watching the dice."
Monday, January 28, 2013
YOU TARZAN, YOU JANE, ME NOT CHEETA
Yesterday the ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ television broadcast had a segment on the Tarzan movies, focusing in on Johnny Weissmuller, the most famous of the actors who played Tarzan. It reminded me of an incident that happened back in the ‘50s when I was a patrol officer with the Riverside County (California) Sheriff’s Department.
I liked to work the graveyard shift and was on patrol in the Rubidoux area of Riverside. I believe it was around 3 a.m. when I passed a closed service station. I observed a man and woman fighting outside a car parked by the station’s gas pumps. I immediately pulled in and found a sloshed Johnny Weissmuller bleeding from a gash on his cheek. The wound was caused by a large diamond ring his equally sloshed wife was wearing when she slugged him. Weissmuller was a huge man, but age had made him flabby. His wife was tiny by comparison.
When I pulled into the station, they were shouting at each other and Tarzan was holding his Jane’s wrists trying to keep her from slugging him again. I got out of my patrol car and told them to cut it out and asked what was going on. They were both very cooperative, unlike most drunks when confronted by the police. Tarzan and his Jane were in Riverside to attend an automobile race near March Air Force Base. The raceway was on the other side of Riverside from Rubidoux. They both admitted that, because they were drunk, they got lost trying to find the way back to their motel. Unfortunately for Tarzan and Jane, this time Cheeta wasn’t around to help them out.
I could have had my 15 minutes of fame had I arrested Weissmuller and his wife. . Just think of the worldwide news headlines their arrest would have garnered: Tarzan and his Jane locked up, Cheeta nowhere in sight
Instead of busting them, I moved their car to a parking area at the station, locked it up and gave the keys to Weissmuller. I drew him a map of the location so that he could retrieve his car after he had sobered up. Then I took a chance by leaving my assigned beat and drove both of them to their motel in Riverside.
My 15 minutes of fame went down the drain at the moment Tarzan and Jane staggered back into their tree house … err, I mean motel room.
I liked to work the graveyard shift and was on patrol in the Rubidoux area of Riverside. I believe it was around 3 a.m. when I passed a closed service station. I observed a man and woman fighting outside a car parked by the station’s gas pumps. I immediately pulled in and found a sloshed Johnny Weissmuller bleeding from a gash on his cheek. The wound was caused by a large diamond ring his equally sloshed wife was wearing when she slugged him. Weissmuller was a huge man, but age had made him flabby. His wife was tiny by comparison.
When I pulled into the station, they were shouting at each other and Tarzan was holding his Jane’s wrists trying to keep her from slugging him again. I got out of my patrol car and told them to cut it out and asked what was going on. They were both very cooperative, unlike most drunks when confronted by the police. Tarzan and his Jane were in Riverside to attend an automobile race near March Air Force Base. The raceway was on the other side of Riverside from Rubidoux. They both admitted that, because they were drunk, they got lost trying to find the way back to their motel. Unfortunately for Tarzan and Jane, this time Cheeta wasn’t around to help them out.
I could have had my 15 minutes of fame had I arrested Weissmuller and his wife. . Just think of the worldwide news headlines their arrest would have garnered: Tarzan and his Jane locked up, Cheeta nowhere in sight
Instead of busting them, I moved their car to a parking area at the station, locked it up and gave the keys to Weissmuller. I drew him a map of the location so that he could retrieve his car after he had sobered up. Then I took a chance by leaving my assigned beat and drove both of them to their motel in Riverside.
My 15 minutes of fame went down the drain at the moment Tarzan and Jane staggered back into their tree house … err, I mean motel room.
TEXAS AND FLORIDA MUCH SAFER THAN CALIFORNIA
If Texas Gov. Rick Perry ever tried to pull a boner like California Gov. Moonbeam’s realignment, the Texas sheriffs would get together a posse to ride ‘ole Rick out of Austin on a rail all the way to California. And let’s not overlook the fact that California is an anti-gun state while Texas and Florida are both strong pro-gun states. No realignment and more guns make Texas and Florida much safer than California.
CALIFORNIA IS A DANGEROUS PLACE
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
January 26, 2013
There was a very interesting article in the Fresno BEE yesterday. It analyzes crime statistics. These stats show a varied result for the Fresno area, but do tend to indicate that the serious, violent crime rate is about 2 1/2 times greater in California than in Texas, and about 7 times greater in California than in Florida. Texas and Florida had higher rates of incarceration and neither has implemented sentencing reforms such as the realignment in California.
The report compares early 2011 with early 2012 for cities with populations of larger than 100,000.
I guess that realignment thing maybe isn’t working so hot after all. Gee, what a surprise.
CALIFORNIA IS A DANGEROUS PLACE
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
January 26, 2013
There was a very interesting article in the Fresno BEE yesterday. It analyzes crime statistics. These stats show a varied result for the Fresno area, but do tend to indicate that the serious, violent crime rate is about 2 1/2 times greater in California than in Texas, and about 7 times greater in California than in Florida. Texas and Florida had higher rates of incarceration and neither has implemented sentencing reforms such as the realignment in California.
The report compares early 2011 with early 2012 for cities with populations of larger than 100,000.
I guess that realignment thing maybe isn’t working so hot after all. Gee, what a surprise.
LAW PROFESSOR: U.S. CONSTITUTION IS AN ‘ANCIENT AND OUTDATED DOCUMENT’
Louis Michael Seidman advocates taking our country back from the Constitution
Yesterday I watched Prof. Louis Michael Seidman present his views on CBS Sunday Morning. He said in effect that the Constitution isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. Seidman’s appearance on CBS was merely a follow up to ‘Let’s Give Up on the Constitution,’ his op-ed in the December 30, 2012 issue of The New York Times, in which he all but called for the shredding of America’s most sacred document.
Seidman’s views on our Constitution would really stir up a hornet nest if they were widely distributed. Here is the transcript from yesterday’s CBS Sunday Morning:
CBS NEWS: IS THE U.S. CONSTITUTION TRULY WORTHY OF THE REVERENCE IN WHICH MOST AMERICANS HOLD IT? A VIEW ON THAT FROM LOUIS MICHAEL SEIDMAN, PROFESSOR OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AT GEORGETOWN UNIVESITY:
I've got a simple idea: Let's give up on the Constitution.
I know, it sounds radical, but it's really not. Constitutional disobedience is as American as apple pie.
For example, most of our greatest Presidents -- Jefferson, Lincoln, Wilson, and both Roosevelts -- had doubts about the Constitution, and many of them disobeyed it when it got in their way.
To be clear, I don't think we should give up on everything in the Constitution. The Constitution has many important and inspiring provisions, but we should obey these because they are important and inspiring, not because a bunch of people who are now long-dead favored them two centuries ago.
Unfortunately, the Constitution also contains some provisions that are not so inspiring. For example, one allows a presidential candidate who is rejected by a majority of the American people to assume office. Suppose that Barack Obama really wasn't a natural-born citizen. So what?
Constitutional obedience has a pernicious impact on our political culture. Take the recent debate about gun control. None of my friends can believe it, but I happen to be skeptical of most forms of gun control.
I understand, though, that's not everyone's view, and I'm eager to talk with people who disagree.
But what happens when the issue gets Constitutional-ized? Then we turn the question over to lawyers, and lawyers do with it what lawyers do. So instead of talking about whether gun control makes sense in our country, we talk about what people thought of it two centuries ago.
Worse yet, talking about gun control in terms of constitutional obligation needlessly raises the temperature of political discussion. Instead of a question on policy, about which reasonable people can disagree, it becomes a test of one's commitment to our foundational document and, so, to America itself.
This is our country. We live in it, and we have a right to the kind of country we want. We would not allow the French or the United Nations to rule us, and neither should we allow people who died over two centuries ago and knew nothing of our country as it exists today.
If we are to take back our own country, we have to start making decisions for ourselves, and stop deferring to an ancient and outdated document.
Yesterday I watched Prof. Louis Michael Seidman present his views on CBS Sunday Morning. He said in effect that the Constitution isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. Seidman’s appearance on CBS was merely a follow up to ‘Let’s Give Up on the Constitution,’ his op-ed in the December 30, 2012 issue of The New York Times, in which he all but called for the shredding of America’s most sacred document.
Seidman’s views on our Constitution would really stir up a hornet nest if they were widely distributed. Here is the transcript from yesterday’s CBS Sunday Morning:
CBS NEWS: IS THE U.S. CONSTITUTION TRULY WORTHY OF THE REVERENCE IN WHICH MOST AMERICANS HOLD IT? A VIEW ON THAT FROM LOUIS MICHAEL SEIDMAN, PROFESSOR OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AT GEORGETOWN UNIVESITY:
I've got a simple idea: Let's give up on the Constitution.
I know, it sounds radical, but it's really not. Constitutional disobedience is as American as apple pie.
For example, most of our greatest Presidents -- Jefferson, Lincoln, Wilson, and both Roosevelts -- had doubts about the Constitution, and many of them disobeyed it when it got in their way.
To be clear, I don't think we should give up on everything in the Constitution. The Constitution has many important and inspiring provisions, but we should obey these because they are important and inspiring, not because a bunch of people who are now long-dead favored them two centuries ago.
Unfortunately, the Constitution also contains some provisions that are not so inspiring. For example, one allows a presidential candidate who is rejected by a majority of the American people to assume office. Suppose that Barack Obama really wasn't a natural-born citizen. So what?
Constitutional obedience has a pernicious impact on our political culture. Take the recent debate about gun control. None of my friends can believe it, but I happen to be skeptical of most forms of gun control.
I understand, though, that's not everyone's view, and I'm eager to talk with people who disagree.
But what happens when the issue gets Constitutional-ized? Then we turn the question over to lawyers, and lawyers do with it what lawyers do. So instead of talking about whether gun control makes sense in our country, we talk about what people thought of it two centuries ago.
Worse yet, talking about gun control in terms of constitutional obligation needlessly raises the temperature of political discussion. Instead of a question on policy, about which reasonable people can disagree, it becomes a test of one's commitment to our foundational document and, so, to America itself.
This is our country. We live in it, and we have a right to the kind of country we want. We would not allow the French or the United Nations to rule us, and neither should we allow people who died over two centuries ago and knew nothing of our country as it exists today.
If we are to take back our own country, we have to start making decisions for ourselves, and stop deferring to an ancient and outdated document.
ANGELA MERKEL DECLARES THAT GERMANY HAS AN ‘EVERLASTING’ RESPONSIBILITY FOR NAZI ATROCITIES
I think it took a lot of guts for Merkel to make that declaration in the face of rising German nationalism and an outburst of anti-Semitism.
GERMANY’S MERKEL: FOREVER RESPONSIBLE FOR NAZI CRIMES
Israel Today
January 27, 2013
Speaking a day before International Holocaust Memorial Day, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday insisted that her nation's responsibility for the crimes of the Nazis is "everlasting."
In a video message marking the 80th anniversary of Hitler's rise to power, Merkel stated that Germany has an "everlasting responsibility for the crimes of National Socialism, for the victims of World War II and, above all, for the Holocaust. And this must be made clear from generation to generation and it must be said with bravery and moral courage, every individual can make a contribution so that racism and anti-Semitism have no chance."
On Sunday, Israel and various other nations, including Germany, stopped to remember the more than six million Jews exterminated in the Nazi Holocaust. International Holocaust Memorial Day was commemorated in Israel at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem.
Israel is home to nearly 200,000 Holocaust survivors, though that number is dwindling quickly. Sadly, many of these victims are living our their last days in poverty, and far too many have little or no family left to help them.
Many of Israel's Holocaust survivors have come to rely on the generosity and aid of Jews and Christians who both love Israel and are determined that these poor souls who experienced the very depths of human depravity are able to live our their remaining days in dignity.
GERMANY’S MERKEL: FOREVER RESPONSIBLE FOR NAZI CRIMES
Israel Today
January 27, 2013
Speaking a day before International Holocaust Memorial Day, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday insisted that her nation's responsibility for the crimes of the Nazis is "everlasting."
In a video message marking the 80th anniversary of Hitler's rise to power, Merkel stated that Germany has an "everlasting responsibility for the crimes of National Socialism, for the victims of World War II and, above all, for the Holocaust. And this must be made clear from generation to generation and it must be said with bravery and moral courage, every individual can make a contribution so that racism and anti-Semitism have no chance."
On Sunday, Israel and various other nations, including Germany, stopped to remember the more than six million Jews exterminated in the Nazi Holocaust. International Holocaust Memorial Day was commemorated in Israel at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem.
Israel is home to nearly 200,000 Holocaust survivors, though that number is dwindling quickly. Sadly, many of these victims are living our their last days in poverty, and far too many have little or no family left to help them.
Many of Israel's Holocaust survivors have come to rely on the generosity and aid of Jews and Christians who both love Israel and are determined that these poor souls who experienced the very depths of human depravity are able to live our their remaining days in dignity.
INSTANT HANGOVER FOR ALCOHOLICS
A vaccine to stop alcoholics from drinking sounds like a great idea, but the accelerated heart rate that comes with this inoculation should be a cause for concern.
ALCOHOLISM VACCINE WILL GIVE DRINKERS AN IMMEDIATE HANGOVER IF THEY DRINK EVEN A SMALL AMOUNT OF BOOZE
The vaccine would keep the liver from metabolizing alcohol and it would be effective for between six months and a year
By Daniel Miller
Mail Online
January 26, 2013
A new vaccine will give anyone who drinks even a small amount of alcohol an immediate and very heavy hangover.
Scientists from the University of Chile have spent a year designing the drug in a bid to tackle the growing problem of alcoholism in the country.
The vaccine, which would be effective for between six months and a year, works by sending a biochemical message to the liver telling it not to express genes that metabolise alcohol.
Normally, the liver turns alcohol into the hangover-causing compound called acetaldehyde which is then broken down by a metabolising enzyme.
If someone who’s been vaccinated tries to drink alcohol, they will immediately experience severe nausea, accelerated heartbeat, and general discomfort.
Once the vaccine has been administered it cannot be reversed.
A preclinical trial using mice to determine the correct dosing is due to begin next month with researchers hoping to begin tests on human subjects in November.
Dr. Juan Asenjo, director of the university's Institute for Cell Dynamics and Biotechnology said while the vaccine is not a cure-all, it could provide an important first step.
He told the Santiago Times newspaper: 'People who end up alcoholic have a social problem; a personality problem because they’re shy, whatever, and then they are depressed, so it’s not so simple.
'But if we can solve the chemical, the basic part of the problem, I think it could help quite a bit.
'In Chile, according to the most recent 2011 study from the World Health Organization, one in 15 men have an alcohol use disorder.
Dr Asenjo belives the vaccine has the potential to help millions of people worldwide.
He added: 'If it works, it’s going to have a worldwide impact, but with many vaccines one has to test them carefully. I think the chances that this one will work are quite high.'
Inspiration for the vaccine came from the far East, said Asenjo, where between 15 and 20 pwer cent of Japanese, Chinese or Koreans have a mutation which inhibits the breakdown of alcohol in their bodies.
The idea of using drugs to combat alcoholism is not new.
Disulfiram, which was developed almost a century ago works in a similar way blocking the enzyme from breaking down alcohol, thus intensifying the body’s negative response.
However users often find the effects so unpleasant they simply stop taking the pills.
ALCOHOLISM VACCINE WILL GIVE DRINKERS AN IMMEDIATE HANGOVER IF THEY DRINK EVEN A SMALL AMOUNT OF BOOZE
The vaccine would keep the liver from metabolizing alcohol and it would be effective for between six months and a year
By Daniel Miller
Mail Online
January 26, 2013
A new vaccine will give anyone who drinks even a small amount of alcohol an immediate and very heavy hangover.
Scientists from the University of Chile have spent a year designing the drug in a bid to tackle the growing problem of alcoholism in the country.
The vaccine, which would be effective for between six months and a year, works by sending a biochemical message to the liver telling it not to express genes that metabolise alcohol.
Normally, the liver turns alcohol into the hangover-causing compound called acetaldehyde which is then broken down by a metabolising enzyme.
If someone who’s been vaccinated tries to drink alcohol, they will immediately experience severe nausea, accelerated heartbeat, and general discomfort.
Once the vaccine has been administered it cannot be reversed.
A preclinical trial using mice to determine the correct dosing is due to begin next month with researchers hoping to begin tests on human subjects in November.
Dr. Juan Asenjo, director of the university's Institute for Cell Dynamics and Biotechnology said while the vaccine is not a cure-all, it could provide an important first step.
He told the Santiago Times newspaper: 'People who end up alcoholic have a social problem; a personality problem because they’re shy, whatever, and then they are depressed, so it’s not so simple.
'But if we can solve the chemical, the basic part of the problem, I think it could help quite a bit.
'In Chile, according to the most recent 2011 study from the World Health Organization, one in 15 men have an alcohol use disorder.
Dr Asenjo belives the vaccine has the potential to help millions of people worldwide.
He added: 'If it works, it’s going to have a worldwide impact, but with many vaccines one has to test them carefully. I think the chances that this one will work are quite high.'
Inspiration for the vaccine came from the far East, said Asenjo, where between 15 and 20 pwer cent of Japanese, Chinese or Koreans have a mutation which inhibits the breakdown of alcohol in their bodies.
The idea of using drugs to combat alcoholism is not new.
Disulfiram, which was developed almost a century ago works in a similar way blocking the enzyme from breaking down alcohol, thus intensifying the body’s negative response.
However users often find the effects so unpleasant they simply stop taking the pills.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
MICE GET STONED ON WICHITA PD POT STASH
It looks as though the cops in Kansas haven’t learned yet that they do not have to store large seizures of marijuana for evidence. In this case all they had to do was weigh and photograph each bag. Then they take a small sample out of each bag and place the samples in marked evidence containers, photographing each one before forwarding them to a lab for testing. The bagged marijuana can then be incinerated or otherwise destroyed. The samples and photographs are all that’s needed in court along with the testimony of the investigating officers.
The same process can be used when outdoor or indoor marijuana plantations are raided. The planation is photographed along with the drip lines in outdoor plantations or the drip lines and growth lights in indoor plantations. A number of leaf samples are taken throughout the plantation and placed in marked evidence containers. Each sample leaf is photographed before being removed from the stem and each container is photographed before being sent to the lab. All the plants can then be incinerated.
The process of photographing and sampling the marijuana instead of keeping it all saves police agencies a lot of storage space. And it also solves the rodent problem that has been endemic in marijuana evidence storage facilities.
‘STONER MICE’ EAT MARIJUANA EVIDENCE AT KANSAS POLICE STORAGE FACILITY
By Ron Dicker
The Huffington Post
January 25, 2013
Hey, vermin, don't bogart that evidence!
Wichita police in Kansas are hot on the tail of mice that chewed through bags of marijuana kept in a police storage facility, KMBC reported. The three packages were evidence seized during arrests in 2009.
The rodents apparently nested in the pot and ate some of it. "We've got some mice that are stoners," Police Lt. Doug Nolte said on Thursday. The animals were probably attracted to the scent, he added.
At first look, authorities thought the evidence was tampered with, but some super-sleuthing revealed "that the culprits were operating on a much smaller scale," quipped The Inquisitr.
Still, officials adhered to protocol, photographing the scene, resealing the stash and reweighing it, Nolte told KSN.
The mice remain at large but a precinct artist did produce a sketch of one of the suspects with big ears, little beady eyes and a long tail (see above).
No drawn-out investigation or jury trial will be necessary. An exterminator has been called.
Other outlets were quick to make sport of the pothead varmints:
"There are some mice in Kansas with major munchies," MSN wrote.
And our favorite headline came from the Kansas City Business Journal: "Dude, Where's My Cheese?"
The same process can be used when outdoor or indoor marijuana plantations are raided. The planation is photographed along with the drip lines in outdoor plantations or the drip lines and growth lights in indoor plantations. A number of leaf samples are taken throughout the plantation and placed in marked evidence containers. Each sample leaf is photographed before being removed from the stem and each container is photographed before being sent to the lab. All the plants can then be incinerated.
The process of photographing and sampling the marijuana instead of keeping it all saves police agencies a lot of storage space. And it also solves the rodent problem that has been endemic in marijuana evidence storage facilities.
‘STONER MICE’ EAT MARIJUANA EVIDENCE AT KANSAS POLICE STORAGE FACILITY
By Ron Dicker
The Huffington Post
January 25, 2013
Hey, vermin, don't bogart that evidence!
Wichita police in Kansas are hot on the tail of mice that chewed through bags of marijuana kept in a police storage facility, KMBC reported. The three packages were evidence seized during arrests in 2009.
The rodents apparently nested in the pot and ate some of it. "We've got some mice that are stoners," Police Lt. Doug Nolte said on Thursday. The animals were probably attracted to the scent, he added.
At first look, authorities thought the evidence was tampered with, but some super-sleuthing revealed "that the culprits were operating on a much smaller scale," quipped The Inquisitr.
Still, officials adhered to protocol, photographing the scene, resealing the stash and reweighing it, Nolte told KSN.
The mice remain at large but a precinct artist did produce a sketch of one of the suspects with big ears, little beady eyes and a long tail (see above).
No drawn-out investigation or jury trial will be necessary. An exterminator has been called.
Other outlets were quick to make sport of the pothead varmints:
"There are some mice in Kansas with major munchies," MSN wrote.
And our favorite headline came from the Kansas City Business Journal: "Dude, Where's My Cheese?"
ENGAGEMENT MAY BE OFF AFTER NAKED MAN INJURED BY NAKED FIANCE
Conjugality inside Honda Civic may have gone terribly wrong
Why should this story surprise us? – After all, it’s Kookfornia, you know.
NUDE WOMAN DRIVER RUNS INTO NAKED FIANCE
Hesperia woman arrested in Phelan for felony DUI
By Tomoya Shimura
Victorville Daily Press
January 24, 2013
PHELAN • A naked drunk woman was arrested early Thursday morning after driving into her naked fiance, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Around 12:40 a.m., the 22-year-old Hesperia woman and Alberto Giovanni Bravo parked a 2008 Honda Civic east on Phelan Road west of Baldy Mesa Road, according to a CHP news release.
For reasons still under investigation, Bravo, 30, of Victorville, got out of the car and the woman moved into the driver’s seat, CHP officials said. Both were naked.
Bravo walked in front of the car before the female driver accelerated forward and struck him, causing him to land on the hood of the car, according to the release. She abruptly applied her brakes and lost control.
The car veered across Phelan Road and crashed into a chain-link fence north of the street, officials said. The car continued along the fence and hit two trees before it came to a stop.
Bravo was thrown off the hood and fell to the ground, suffering major injuries. He was airlifted to Antelope Valley Hospital.
The woman was transported to Desert Valley Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. She was arrested for felony driving under the influence causing injury and booked into the Victor Valley jail, according to the CHP.
The CHP wouldn’t release the name of the arrested driver. CHP spokesman Matt Hunt said the driver and Bravo were engaged.
“Part of this investigation is of a sensitive nature and still under investigation,” Hunt said in an email. “Until that portion of the investigation is cleared up, we will be holding off on releasing the name.”
Why should this story surprise us? – After all, it’s Kookfornia, you know.
NUDE WOMAN DRIVER RUNS INTO NAKED FIANCE
Hesperia woman arrested in Phelan for felony DUI
By Tomoya Shimura
Victorville Daily Press
January 24, 2013
PHELAN • A naked drunk woman was arrested early Thursday morning after driving into her naked fiance, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Around 12:40 a.m., the 22-year-old Hesperia woman and Alberto Giovanni Bravo parked a 2008 Honda Civic east on Phelan Road west of Baldy Mesa Road, according to a CHP news release.
For reasons still under investigation, Bravo, 30, of Victorville, got out of the car and the woman moved into the driver’s seat, CHP officials said. Both were naked.
Bravo walked in front of the car before the female driver accelerated forward and struck him, causing him to land on the hood of the car, according to the release. She abruptly applied her brakes and lost control.
The car veered across Phelan Road and crashed into a chain-link fence north of the street, officials said. The car continued along the fence and hit two trees before it came to a stop.
Bravo was thrown off the hood and fell to the ground, suffering major injuries. He was airlifted to Antelope Valley Hospital.
The woman was transported to Desert Valley Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. She was arrested for felony driving under the influence causing injury and booked into the Victor Valley jail, according to the CHP.
The CHP wouldn’t release the name of the arrested driver. CHP spokesman Matt Hunt said the driver and Bravo were engaged.
“Part of this investigation is of a sensitive nature and still under investigation,” Hunt said in an email. “Until that portion of the investigation is cleared up, we will be holding off on releasing the name.”
THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT NOT AFFORDABLE FOR COLLEGES AND SOME OTHER EMPLOYERS
Obamacare has its unintended consequences.
HEALTH LAW PINCHES COLLEGES
Some schools cut hours of hard-pressed adjuncts to avoid rules on insurance
By Mark Peters and Douglas Belkin
The Wall Street Journal
January 18, 2013
The federal health-care overhaul is prompting some colleges and universities to cut the hours of adjunct professors, renewing a debate about the pay and benefits of these freelance instructors who handle a significant share of teaching at U.S. higher-education institutions.
The Affordable Care Act requires large employers to offer a minimum level of health insurance to employees who work 30 hours a week or more starting in 2014, or face a penalty. The mandate is a particular challenge for colleges and universities, which increasingly rely on adjuncts to help keep costs down as states have scaled back funding for higher education.
A handful of schools, including Community College of Allegheny County in Pennsylvania and Youngstown State University in Ohio, have curbed the number of classes that adjuncts can teach in the current spring semester to limit the schools' exposure to the health-insurance requirement. Others are assessing whether to do so, or to begin offering health care to some adjuncts.
In Ohio, instructor Robert Balla faces a new cap on the number of hours he can teach at Stark State College. In a Dec. 6 letter, the North Canton school told him that "in order to avoid penalties under the Affordable Care Act…employees with part-time or adjunct status will not be assigned more than an average of 29 hours per week."
Mr. Balla, a 41-year-old father of two, had taught seven English composition classes last semester, split between Stark State and two other area schools. This semester, his course load at Stark State is down to one instead of two as a result of the school's new limit on hours, cutting his salary by about a total of $2,000.
Stark State's move came as a blow to Mr. Balla, who said he earns about $40,000 a year and cannot afford health insurance.
"I think it goes against the spirit of the [health-care] law," Mr. Balla said. "In education, we're working for the public good, we are public employees at a public institution; we should be the first ones to uphold the law, to set the example."
Irene Motts, a spokeswoman for Stark State, a two-year community college, said the new rules were necessary "to maintain the fiscal stability of the college. There are a lot of penalties involved if adjuncts go over their 29 hours-per-week average. The college can be fined and the fines are substantial."
Nationally, colleges through trade groups such as the American Association of Community Colleges are asking the Internal Revenue Service to write special rules for adjuncts. The IRS recently acknowledged the issues in higher education, but so far hasn't agreed to take further steps.
For decades, colleges and universities have cut costs by hiring adjuncts instead of tenured or tenure-track faculty. In 1975, adjuncts made up 43% of the faculty at U.S. colleges. By 2009, that number had climbed to nearly 70%, according to John Curtis, director of Research and Public Policy at the American Association of University Professors, a professional group with an affiliated labor union.
Many of the adjuncts have other careers in their subject areas, and teach only a single class each semester. But a sizable number make their living from teaching, and have to pay for their own health insurance. Most adjuncts who don't receive coverage through their employer will be eligible for subsidized insurance starting in 2014 through new exchanges set up by the federal health-care law.
Adjuncts long have complained about the terms of their employment, and unionization by them has steadily increased, said Richard Boris, director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education at Hunter College in New York. Some 37% of part-time, nontenured faculty are in a union, according to a survey conducted by the center between 2008 and 2012.
Some college administrators fear the fallout of the Affordable Care Act will further motivate unionization efforts, said Dan King, executive director of the American Association of University Administrators.
In the short term, Mr. King said he expects many colleges will hire more adjuncts and have each teach fewer classes. But that could make it harder for schools to find enough qualified adjuncts, he said. As a result, he believes institutions over the long term will need to create more full-time teaching positions that rank between a part-time adjunct and a tenured professor.
"I think colleges and universities are going to have to rethink their model for how they compensate adjuncts. It's clear to me over time the current model isn't going to be sustainable," Mr. King said.
At Community College of Allegheny County, which has an annual budget of around $109 million, administrators estimate it would cost at least $6 million to provide health benefits to the 200 adjuncts whose hours are being cut, plus 200 support staff who also work an equivalent of 30 hours.
That likely would have required a significant tuition increase, at a time when the school is trying to keep down the cost for students while absorbing reductions in state funding, said David Hoovler, executive assistant to the college's president.
As part of the college's decision to lower the cap on the number of classes adjuncts can teach, the administration also raised the pay per class by 2.7% and will start offering a health-care plan that adjuncts can buy through the school, Mr. Hoovler said. The college says the plan should be cheaper than what adjuncts could buy on the open market.
Large employers in the private sector also are examining the cost of insuring more employees. Some companies, particularly restaurant operators, have been moving to cut hours to reduce the number of workers to whom they would be required to offer health insurance. Others are preparing to expand health-benefit offerings to more such employees.
The Department of Health and Human Services doesn't expect the law will have a substantial effect on employment, citing the experience of Massachusetts, which has a similar requirement on the state level, as well as a Congressional Budget Office report on the Affordable Care Act.
Health care is just one issue that has been pushing adjuncts to unionize. Many say they also are looking for better pay, job security and more respect.
While the salary of a full professor with a doctorate at a public university has risen with inflation and now averages $120,000 a year, according to the American Association of University Professors, the pay for adjuncts has stayed flat. Even those with a doctorate earn an average of just $3,200 a course each semester, Mr. Curtis said. For a full-time adjunct with a doctorate, that can translate to less than $20,000 a year.
Many adjuncts who hope to break into the academy have been unwilling to risk antagonizing the faculty or administrators who have the power to elevate them to the tenure-track jobs they covet. But as those jobs have become harder to land, adjuncts have become more motivated to challenge the status quo, said Maria Maisto, an adjunct teaching English composition at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland and president of the New Faculty Majority, an organization created in 2009 to empower adjuncts.
She is hopeful that changes made on campuses because of the Affordable Care Act will help draw increased attention to the plight of adjuncts.
"We think it could definitely raise a number of HR issues that have fallen through the cracks," Ms. Maisto said. "It could open avenues for reform that weren't evident before."
HEALTH LAW PINCHES COLLEGES
Some schools cut hours of hard-pressed adjuncts to avoid rules on insurance
By Mark Peters and Douglas Belkin
The Wall Street Journal
January 18, 2013
The federal health-care overhaul is prompting some colleges and universities to cut the hours of adjunct professors, renewing a debate about the pay and benefits of these freelance instructors who handle a significant share of teaching at U.S. higher-education institutions.
The Affordable Care Act requires large employers to offer a minimum level of health insurance to employees who work 30 hours a week or more starting in 2014, or face a penalty. The mandate is a particular challenge for colleges and universities, which increasingly rely on adjuncts to help keep costs down as states have scaled back funding for higher education.
A handful of schools, including Community College of Allegheny County in Pennsylvania and Youngstown State University in Ohio, have curbed the number of classes that adjuncts can teach in the current spring semester to limit the schools' exposure to the health-insurance requirement. Others are assessing whether to do so, or to begin offering health care to some adjuncts.
In Ohio, instructor Robert Balla faces a new cap on the number of hours he can teach at Stark State College. In a Dec. 6 letter, the North Canton school told him that "in order to avoid penalties under the Affordable Care Act…employees with part-time or adjunct status will not be assigned more than an average of 29 hours per week."
Mr. Balla, a 41-year-old father of two, had taught seven English composition classes last semester, split between Stark State and two other area schools. This semester, his course load at Stark State is down to one instead of two as a result of the school's new limit on hours, cutting his salary by about a total of $2,000.
Stark State's move came as a blow to Mr. Balla, who said he earns about $40,000 a year and cannot afford health insurance.
"I think it goes against the spirit of the [health-care] law," Mr. Balla said. "In education, we're working for the public good, we are public employees at a public institution; we should be the first ones to uphold the law, to set the example."
Irene Motts, a spokeswoman for Stark State, a two-year community college, said the new rules were necessary "to maintain the fiscal stability of the college. There are a lot of penalties involved if adjuncts go over their 29 hours-per-week average. The college can be fined and the fines are substantial."
Nationally, colleges through trade groups such as the American Association of Community Colleges are asking the Internal Revenue Service to write special rules for adjuncts. The IRS recently acknowledged the issues in higher education, but so far hasn't agreed to take further steps.
For decades, colleges and universities have cut costs by hiring adjuncts instead of tenured or tenure-track faculty. In 1975, adjuncts made up 43% of the faculty at U.S. colleges. By 2009, that number had climbed to nearly 70%, according to John Curtis, director of Research and Public Policy at the American Association of University Professors, a professional group with an affiliated labor union.
Many of the adjuncts have other careers in their subject areas, and teach only a single class each semester. But a sizable number make their living from teaching, and have to pay for their own health insurance. Most adjuncts who don't receive coverage through their employer will be eligible for subsidized insurance starting in 2014 through new exchanges set up by the federal health-care law.
Adjuncts long have complained about the terms of their employment, and unionization by them has steadily increased, said Richard Boris, director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education at Hunter College in New York. Some 37% of part-time, nontenured faculty are in a union, according to a survey conducted by the center between 2008 and 2012.
Some college administrators fear the fallout of the Affordable Care Act will further motivate unionization efforts, said Dan King, executive director of the American Association of University Administrators.
In the short term, Mr. King said he expects many colleges will hire more adjuncts and have each teach fewer classes. But that could make it harder for schools to find enough qualified adjuncts, he said. As a result, he believes institutions over the long term will need to create more full-time teaching positions that rank between a part-time adjunct and a tenured professor.
"I think colleges and universities are going to have to rethink their model for how they compensate adjuncts. It's clear to me over time the current model isn't going to be sustainable," Mr. King said.
At Community College of Allegheny County, which has an annual budget of around $109 million, administrators estimate it would cost at least $6 million to provide health benefits to the 200 adjuncts whose hours are being cut, plus 200 support staff who also work an equivalent of 30 hours.
That likely would have required a significant tuition increase, at a time when the school is trying to keep down the cost for students while absorbing reductions in state funding, said David Hoovler, executive assistant to the college's president.
As part of the college's decision to lower the cap on the number of classes adjuncts can teach, the administration also raised the pay per class by 2.7% and will start offering a health-care plan that adjuncts can buy through the school, Mr. Hoovler said. The college says the plan should be cheaper than what adjuncts could buy on the open market.
Large employers in the private sector also are examining the cost of insuring more employees. Some companies, particularly restaurant operators, have been moving to cut hours to reduce the number of workers to whom they would be required to offer health insurance. Others are preparing to expand health-benefit offerings to more such employees.
The Department of Health and Human Services doesn't expect the law will have a substantial effect on employment, citing the experience of Massachusetts, which has a similar requirement on the state level, as well as a Congressional Budget Office report on the Affordable Care Act.
Health care is just one issue that has been pushing adjuncts to unionize. Many say they also are looking for better pay, job security and more respect.
While the salary of a full professor with a doctorate at a public university has risen with inflation and now averages $120,000 a year, according to the American Association of University Professors, the pay for adjuncts has stayed flat. Even those with a doctorate earn an average of just $3,200 a course each semester, Mr. Curtis said. For a full-time adjunct with a doctorate, that can translate to less than $20,000 a year.
Many adjuncts who hope to break into the academy have been unwilling to risk antagonizing the faculty or administrators who have the power to elevate them to the tenure-track jobs they covet. But as those jobs have become harder to land, adjuncts have become more motivated to challenge the status quo, said Maria Maisto, an adjunct teaching English composition at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland and president of the New Faculty Majority, an organization created in 2009 to empower adjuncts.
She is hopeful that changes made on campuses because of the Affordable Care Act will help draw increased attention to the plight of adjuncts.
"We think it could definitely raise a number of HR issues that have fallen through the cracks," Ms. Maisto said. "It could open avenues for reform that weren't evident before."
NO DRUNK-DRIVING PERMITS FOR IRISH FARMERS
The five Kerry County council members who voted for the drunk-driving permits must have been drunk when the council vote was taken. All traffic laws in Ireland, including those for drunk driving, are made by the national government and cannot be altered by local governments.
IRISH COUNTY PROPOSES EASING DWI LAWS FOR BORED FARMERS
By Shawn Pogatchink
Associated Press
January 24, 2013
DUBLIN (AP) - A license to drive drunk? Some small-town politicians think it's just the tonic for rural Ireland.
Councilmen in Kerry, southwest Ireland, have passed a motion this week asking the government to create a permit that would allow isolated farmers the ability to drink a few pints and then return home in their car, or on their tractor, without fear of being busted.
Its backers say the measure is needed to combat an epidemic of boredom and depression on farms ever since Ireland imposed tough new blood-alcohol limits on drivers in 2011.
But Justice Minister Alan Shatter shot down the proposal during a speech in parliament Thursday as "grossly irresponsible."
"There is no question of this government, or indeed I don't believe any future government, facilitating individuals drinking in excess of the blood alcohol limits," Shatter told lawmakers.
A generation ago, drunken driving was commonplace in Ireland and even the smallest villages or forlorn crossroads would feature a pub. But in this century the country has steadily improved road safety standards, introducing mandatory driving tests, blood and breath tests and above all a penalty-points system that removes licenses from dangerous drivers, particularly drunks.
The effort has slashed road-related deaths from more than 400 annually in the 1990s to just 162 last year, a modern low in this country of 4.6 million.
Kerry pub owners say their business has plummeted right along with that nationwide carnage - yet deny any connection between the two trends. They describe the often narrow, lightly trafficked roads near their businesses as safe for people to navigate even after three pints (57 ounces) of beer.
Danny Healy-Rae, who owns a pub and comes from Kerry's most famous and flamboyant political family, says farmers should be allowed to drive tipsy on their tractors because they don't go fast enough to kill anyone. He said those drinking two to three pints at a pub should be issued a permit allowing them to drive home so long as they stay below 30 mph (50 kph).
He was one of five Kerry County Council members who voted for the motion Monday night. Three others voted against, seven abstained and 12 council members didn't show up. Their decision has no legal standing because the national government, not councils, sets policy on road safety.
Healy-Rae - who like his politician father is nationally famous for wearing a cap everywhere and talking in rapid-fire local dialect easy to parody but hard to understand - said pub-loving farmers "are living in isolated rural areas where there's no public transport of any kind. They end up at home looking at the four walls, night in and night out, because they don't want to take the risk of losing their license."
He said the older generation provided the sociological fuel to Ireland's tradition of pub-based music and "craic," Irish slang for entertaining conversation.
"All the wisdom and all the wit and all the culture that they had, the music and the singing, that's all being lost to the younger generation," Healy-Rae said. "These older people might as well be living in Japan and Jerusalem, because the younger generation don't see them at all anymore."
Yet even in Kerry, many have dismissed the idea as both dangerous to public safety and impossible to enforce. And alcohol-abuse campaigners say Healy-Rae's logic is twisted, since alcohol is a depressant and hardly a cure for the blues.
"The link between alcohol use and suicide has been well established and drinking alcohol will exacerbate, not alleviate, any mental health difficulties that a person may be struggling with, such as depression or anxiety," said Conor Cullen, spokesman for a pressure group called Alcohol Action Ireland.
The government emphasized that Kerry's council motion was already a dead letter.
"While rural isolation is a real problem," said Transport Minister Leo Varadkar, "the solution to it is not to hand out drink-driving permits."
IRISH COUNTY PROPOSES EASING DWI LAWS FOR BORED FARMERS
By Shawn Pogatchink
Associated Press
January 24, 2013
DUBLIN (AP) - A license to drive drunk? Some small-town politicians think it's just the tonic for rural Ireland.
Councilmen in Kerry, southwest Ireland, have passed a motion this week asking the government to create a permit that would allow isolated farmers the ability to drink a few pints and then return home in their car, or on their tractor, without fear of being busted.
Its backers say the measure is needed to combat an epidemic of boredom and depression on farms ever since Ireland imposed tough new blood-alcohol limits on drivers in 2011.
But Justice Minister Alan Shatter shot down the proposal during a speech in parliament Thursday as "grossly irresponsible."
"There is no question of this government, or indeed I don't believe any future government, facilitating individuals drinking in excess of the blood alcohol limits," Shatter told lawmakers.
A generation ago, drunken driving was commonplace in Ireland and even the smallest villages or forlorn crossroads would feature a pub. But in this century the country has steadily improved road safety standards, introducing mandatory driving tests, blood and breath tests and above all a penalty-points system that removes licenses from dangerous drivers, particularly drunks.
The effort has slashed road-related deaths from more than 400 annually in the 1990s to just 162 last year, a modern low in this country of 4.6 million.
Kerry pub owners say their business has plummeted right along with that nationwide carnage - yet deny any connection between the two trends. They describe the often narrow, lightly trafficked roads near their businesses as safe for people to navigate even after three pints (57 ounces) of beer.
Danny Healy-Rae, who owns a pub and comes from Kerry's most famous and flamboyant political family, says farmers should be allowed to drive tipsy on their tractors because they don't go fast enough to kill anyone. He said those drinking two to three pints at a pub should be issued a permit allowing them to drive home so long as they stay below 30 mph (50 kph).
He was one of five Kerry County Council members who voted for the motion Monday night. Three others voted against, seven abstained and 12 council members didn't show up. Their decision has no legal standing because the national government, not councils, sets policy on road safety.
Healy-Rae - who like his politician father is nationally famous for wearing a cap everywhere and talking in rapid-fire local dialect easy to parody but hard to understand - said pub-loving farmers "are living in isolated rural areas where there's no public transport of any kind. They end up at home looking at the four walls, night in and night out, because they don't want to take the risk of losing their license."
He said the older generation provided the sociological fuel to Ireland's tradition of pub-based music and "craic," Irish slang for entertaining conversation.
"All the wisdom and all the wit and all the culture that they had, the music and the singing, that's all being lost to the younger generation," Healy-Rae said. "These older people might as well be living in Japan and Jerusalem, because the younger generation don't see them at all anymore."
Yet even in Kerry, many have dismissed the idea as both dangerous to public safety and impossible to enforce. And alcohol-abuse campaigners say Healy-Rae's logic is twisted, since alcohol is a depressant and hardly a cure for the blues.
"The link between alcohol use and suicide has been well established and drinking alcohol will exacerbate, not alleviate, any mental health difficulties that a person may be struggling with, such as depression or anxiety," said Conor Cullen, spokesman for a pressure group called Alcohol Action Ireland.
The government emphasized that Kerry's council motion was already a dead letter.
"While rural isolation is a real problem," said Transport Minister Leo Varadkar, "the solution to it is not to hand out drink-driving permits."
8TH GRADER IMPREGNATED DURING TRIP TO ‘MARCH FOR LIFE’ EVENT
The Onion
January 25, 2013
WASHINGTON—Mallory Pickens, a 13-year-old pro-life extremist attending today’s March for Life event in the nation’s capital, was reportedly unaware that she had been impregnated the previous evening by a fellow member of her church’s anti-abortion organization.
“Right to choose? That’s a lie! Babies do not choose to die!” chanted the sign-toting Lambs of Christ activist who is utterly ignorant of the fact that the semen of Kirk Tussle, a 13-year-old fellow church member and pro-life extremist, had completed the capacitation stage and resulted in a fertilized zygote following a fumbling sexual encounter at the Holiday Inn Express where their group had rented several adjoining rooms. “Life from conception! No exception!”
At press time, sources close to Pickens predict that after discovering the pregnancy she will drop out of school, isolate herself from friends and family, and suffer crippling postpartum depression.
January 25, 2013
WASHINGTON—Mallory Pickens, a 13-year-old pro-life extremist attending today’s March for Life event in the nation’s capital, was reportedly unaware that she had been impregnated the previous evening by a fellow member of her church’s anti-abortion organization.
“Right to choose? That’s a lie! Babies do not choose to die!” chanted the sign-toting Lambs of Christ activist who is utterly ignorant of the fact that the semen of Kirk Tussle, a 13-year-old fellow church member and pro-life extremist, had completed the capacitation stage and resulted in a fertilized zygote following a fumbling sexual encounter at the Holiday Inn Express where their group had rented several adjoining rooms. “Life from conception! No exception!”
At press time, sources close to Pickens predict that after discovering the pregnancy she will drop out of school, isolate herself from friends and family, and suffer crippling postpartum depression.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
FEINSTEIN ‘ASSAULT WEAPONS’ BAN RAISES ITS UGLY HEAD
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
January 25, 2013
That staunch opponent of anybody’s firearms other than her own, California Senator Diane Feinstein, has reintroduced her now expired, more or less completely useless ban on scary looking rifles and magazines that carry more than ten rounds of ammunition. The Feinstein bill goes after specific weapons by model designation.
DiFi continues with her mantra of not going after hunting weapons, completely ignoring the fact that the Second Amendment has absolutely nothing to do with sport hunting.
Perhaps someone could manage to convince Senator Feinstein that assault is a verb, not a noun. Words have meaning. Allowing politicians to pervert the language allows them to pervert the system in general.
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
January 25, 2013
That staunch opponent of anybody’s firearms other than her own, California Senator Diane Feinstein, has reintroduced her now expired, more or less completely useless ban on scary looking rifles and magazines that carry more than ten rounds of ammunition. The Feinstein bill goes after specific weapons by model designation.
DiFi continues with her mantra of not going after hunting weapons, completely ignoring the fact that the Second Amendment has absolutely nothing to do with sport hunting.
Perhaps someone could manage to convince Senator Feinstein that assault is a verb, not a noun. Words have meaning. Allowing politicians to pervert the language allows them to pervert the system in general.
‘COALITION OF THE UNWILLING’: FRANCE, WEST GERMANY AND SOUTH AMERICAN DICTATORSHIPS
Why would they want to go after Nazi war crimes fugitives? After all, these Nazis only killed a bunch of damn Jews, and if they had not lost the war, they would have been hailed as heroes.
NAZIS ON THE RUN AFTER WORLD WAR II ESCAPED CAPTURE AS COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD WERE NOT WILLING TO HELP THE HUNT, CLAIMS NEW BOOK
Half-hearted efforts to capture leading Nazis allowed many like death camp chiefs Josef Mengele and Gustav Wagner to escape to South America
By Allan Hall
Mail Online
January 25, 2013
A new book about Nazis on the run after WW2 shows how governments around the world torpedoed efforts to hunt down the worst of the Holocaust murderers for decades out of 'vested interests'.
'Nazi Hunt: South America's Dictatorships and the Avenging of Nazi Crimes,' by German historian Daniel Stahl, calls the half-hearted efforts of postwar governments a 'coalition of the unwilling.'
He says the French feared prosecutions would expose mass collaboration with the Nazis, the South Americans feared a spotlight on their own murderous regimes and the West Germans wanted to help 'old comrades' get away.
These were not the 'little fish' of the Nazi extermination programme but people like 'Angel of Death' Josef Mengele, who chose victims for the gas chambers, and Gustav Wagner, responsible for 150,000 deaths at the Nazi extermination camp of Sobibor.
While a physician at Auschwitz, Mengele consigned arrivals to the gas chambers and carried out appalling experiments on Jews, most of whom died in agony without anaesthetic.
Another one that governments conspired together to keep free was S.S. Colonel Walther Rauff, one of the developers of the mobile 'gas vans' used to kill Jews before the static death camp gulag was built.
Stahl found documents in German archives which showed that an official of the German foreign ministry deliberately delayed his own government's request for his extradition from Chile for 14 months in order for him to prepare to flee elsewhere.
'The West German judiciary in particular was guilty of serious lapses,' said Stahl, a history professor who trawled through long-sealed archives to prove the extent of collusion in keeping history's greatest war criminals at large.
S.S. murderer Rauff was even able to travel between South America and Germany as a company rep without hinderance.
It wasn't until 1961 that he was indicted for 100,000 murders but he never faced justice, dying from a heart attack in Chile instead after his adopted government refused an extradition request.
Damning minutes of an Interpol executive committee meeting in 1962 shows up the French attitude to the killers.
Interpol secretary general Marcel Sicot, responding to a request from Jewish organisations to more vigorously track them down, stormed: 'Why should war criminals be prosecuted since the victor always imposes his laws, anyway?
'No international entity defines the term "war criminal.'" Sicot said he regarded the criminal prosecution of Nazi crimes as 'victor's justice.'
'As henchmen of the Vichy regime, the French collaborated with the Nazis until 1944,' said Stahl. 'They stood opposed to the criminal prosecution of Nazi crimes.'
His book will be published in English later this year.
NAZIS ON THE RUN AFTER WORLD WAR II ESCAPED CAPTURE AS COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD WERE NOT WILLING TO HELP THE HUNT, CLAIMS NEW BOOK
Half-hearted efforts to capture leading Nazis allowed many like death camp chiefs Josef Mengele and Gustav Wagner to escape to South America
By Allan Hall
Mail Online
January 25, 2013
A new book about Nazis on the run after WW2 shows how governments around the world torpedoed efforts to hunt down the worst of the Holocaust murderers for decades out of 'vested interests'.
'Nazi Hunt: South America's Dictatorships and the Avenging of Nazi Crimes,' by German historian Daniel Stahl, calls the half-hearted efforts of postwar governments a 'coalition of the unwilling.'
He says the French feared prosecutions would expose mass collaboration with the Nazis, the South Americans feared a spotlight on their own murderous regimes and the West Germans wanted to help 'old comrades' get away.
These were not the 'little fish' of the Nazi extermination programme but people like 'Angel of Death' Josef Mengele, who chose victims for the gas chambers, and Gustav Wagner, responsible for 150,000 deaths at the Nazi extermination camp of Sobibor.
While a physician at Auschwitz, Mengele consigned arrivals to the gas chambers and carried out appalling experiments on Jews, most of whom died in agony without anaesthetic.
Another one that governments conspired together to keep free was S.S. Colonel Walther Rauff, one of the developers of the mobile 'gas vans' used to kill Jews before the static death camp gulag was built.
Stahl found documents in German archives which showed that an official of the German foreign ministry deliberately delayed his own government's request for his extradition from Chile for 14 months in order for him to prepare to flee elsewhere.
'The West German judiciary in particular was guilty of serious lapses,' said Stahl, a history professor who trawled through long-sealed archives to prove the extent of collusion in keeping history's greatest war criminals at large.
S.S. murderer Rauff was even able to travel between South America and Germany as a company rep without hinderance.
It wasn't until 1961 that he was indicted for 100,000 murders but he never faced justice, dying from a heart attack in Chile instead after his adopted government refused an extradition request.
Damning minutes of an Interpol executive committee meeting in 1962 shows up the French attitude to the killers.
Interpol secretary general Marcel Sicot, responding to a request from Jewish organisations to more vigorously track them down, stormed: 'Why should war criminals be prosecuted since the victor always imposes his laws, anyway?
'No international entity defines the term "war criminal.'" Sicot said he regarded the criminal prosecution of Nazi crimes as 'victor's justice.'
'As henchmen of the Vichy regime, the French collaborated with the Nazis until 1944,' said Stahl. 'They stood opposed to the criminal prosecution of Nazi crimes.'
His book will be published in English later this year.
DRIVING POLICE CARS AT BREAKNECK SPEEDS TO MEET FELLOW COPS AT COFFEE AND DOUGHNUT SHOP
I’ve seen many a marked police car driving like a bat out of hell, not in an emergency, but to meet up with fellow officers at an eatery. Cops need to realize that’s no way to gain the respect of the public.
VIDEO OF POLICE DRIVING TO TIM HORTON’S PROBED FOR SPEEDING
Calgary police investigating its own officers
CBC News
January 22, 2013
Calgary's police chief says his department is taking a close look at a video that shows a couple of police cars driving quickly to a local Tim Hortons.
The video surfaced on YouTube and shows two marked police cars and an unmarked vehicle at a red light.
When the light turns green, the driver of one of the police cars accelerates before pulling into the doughnut shop.
“I’ve had one look at it," said Calgary police Chief Rick Hanson.
"I’ve noticed that the speeds for two of the police vehicles [did not make] it to 50 kilometres per hour, but there’s one vehicle there that we’re looking at what he was doing and what his intentions were at that point in time.
"So until that review is done, we’ll wait to see what comes out of that."
He also says it's worth the police resources needed to investigate this case.
"Bottom line is we talk about traffic safety all the time and when somebody films what may appear to be ... an impropriety then we are obligated to have a look at it,” Hanson says.
VIDEO OF POLICE DRIVING TO TIM HORTON’S PROBED FOR SPEEDING
Calgary police investigating its own officers
CBC News
January 22, 2013
Calgary's police chief says his department is taking a close look at a video that shows a couple of police cars driving quickly to a local Tim Hortons.
The video surfaced on YouTube and shows two marked police cars and an unmarked vehicle at a red light.
When the light turns green, the driver of one of the police cars accelerates before pulling into the doughnut shop.
“I’ve had one look at it," said Calgary police Chief Rick Hanson.
"I’ve noticed that the speeds for two of the police vehicles [did not make] it to 50 kilometres per hour, but there’s one vehicle there that we’re looking at what he was doing and what his intentions were at that point in time.
"So until that review is done, we’ll wait to see what comes out of that."
He also says it's worth the police resources needed to investigate this case.
"Bottom line is we talk about traffic safety all the time and when somebody films what may appear to be ... an impropriety then we are obligated to have a look at it,” Hanson says.
SUBWAY SUED OVER HALF-INCH SHORT FOOTLONG
Yet another example of why Shakespeare wrote: “The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.”
SUIT SAYS SUBWAY A BIT SHORT
Associated Press
January 25, 2013
Two New Jersey men sued Subway this week, claiming the world’s biggest fast-food chain has been shorting them by selling so-called footlong sandwiches that measure a bit less than 12 inches.
The suit, filed Tuesday in Superior Court in Mount Holly, may be the first legal filing aimed at the sandwich shops after an embarrassment went viral last week when someone posted a photo of a footlong and a ruler on the company’s Facebook page to show that the sandwich was not as long as advertised.
At the time, the company issued a statement saying that the sandwich length can vary a bit when franchises do not bake to the exact corporate standards.
Stephen DeNittis, the lawyer for the plaintiffs in the New Jersey suit, said he’s seeking class-action status and is also preparing to file a similar suit in Pennsylvania state court in Philadelphia.
He said he’s had sandwiches from 17 shops measured — and every one came up short.
“The case is about holding companies to deliver what they’ve promised,” he said.
Even though the alleged short of a half-inch or so of bread is relatively small, it adds up, he said. Subway has 38,000 stores around the world, nearly all owned by franchisees and its $5 footlong specials have been a mainstay of the company’s ads for five years.
DeNittis said both plaintiffs — John Farley, of Evesham and Charles Noah Pendrack, of Ocean City — came to him after reading last week about the short sandwiches.
DeNittis is asking for compensatory damages for his client and a change in Subway’s practices.
The Milford, Conn.-based firm should either make sure its sandwiches measure a full foot or stop advertising them as such.
He points to how McDonald’s quarter-pounders are advertised as being that weight before they are cooked.
Subway did not immediately return a call to The Associated Press on Wednesday.
SUIT SAYS SUBWAY A BIT SHORT
Associated Press
January 25, 2013
Two New Jersey men sued Subway this week, claiming the world’s biggest fast-food chain has been shorting them by selling so-called footlong sandwiches that measure a bit less than 12 inches.
The suit, filed Tuesday in Superior Court in Mount Holly, may be the first legal filing aimed at the sandwich shops after an embarrassment went viral last week when someone posted a photo of a footlong and a ruler on the company’s Facebook page to show that the sandwich was not as long as advertised.
At the time, the company issued a statement saying that the sandwich length can vary a bit when franchises do not bake to the exact corporate standards.
Stephen DeNittis, the lawyer for the plaintiffs in the New Jersey suit, said he’s seeking class-action status and is also preparing to file a similar suit in Pennsylvania state court in Philadelphia.
He said he’s had sandwiches from 17 shops measured — and every one came up short.
“The case is about holding companies to deliver what they’ve promised,” he said.
Even though the alleged short of a half-inch or so of bread is relatively small, it adds up, he said. Subway has 38,000 stores around the world, nearly all owned by franchisees and its $5 footlong specials have been a mainstay of the company’s ads for five years.
DeNittis said both plaintiffs — John Farley, of Evesham and Charles Noah Pendrack, of Ocean City — came to him after reading last week about the short sandwiches.
DeNittis is asking for compensatory damages for his client and a change in Subway’s practices.
The Milford, Conn.-based firm should either make sure its sandwiches measure a full foot or stop advertising them as such.
He points to how McDonald’s quarter-pounders are advertised as being that weight before they are cooked.
Subway did not immediately return a call to The Associated Press on Wednesday.
U.S. MILITARY LAUDED FOR CREATING GENDER-NEUTRAL KILLING FIELD
The Onion
January 24, 2013
WASHINGTON—Female veterans and feminist activist groups are commending the Pentagon this week following a watershed policy change that will lift the ban on women in combat roles, rendering the battlefield an equal-opportunity death zone.
“The U.S. Armed Forces have been gender-neutral in their victims for years, and now they’re finally leveling the killing field for female combatants as well,” said Nadine Hynes, a retired Marine Corps Lance Corporal who was unable to add to the carnage of Iraq’s blood-soaked, limb-strewn slaughterscapes due to the Pentagon’s 1994 rule barring women from infantry and artillery roles. “Now, women will have the same opportunity to accidentally gun down innocent civilians or be ripped apart by insurgent rocket fire as men.”
At press time, servicewomen were celebrating the likelihood of additional policy gains that would include the right to return from service equally haunted by their ordeals, and the right to face just as many hurdles to proper mental health care as their fellow servicemen.
January 24, 2013
WASHINGTON—Female veterans and feminist activist groups are commending the Pentagon this week following a watershed policy change that will lift the ban on women in combat roles, rendering the battlefield an equal-opportunity death zone.
“The U.S. Armed Forces have been gender-neutral in their victims for years, and now they’re finally leveling the killing field for female combatants as well,” said Nadine Hynes, a retired Marine Corps Lance Corporal who was unable to add to the carnage of Iraq’s blood-soaked, limb-strewn slaughterscapes due to the Pentagon’s 1994 rule barring women from infantry and artillery roles. “Now, women will have the same opportunity to accidentally gun down innocent civilians or be ripped apart by insurgent rocket fire as men.”
At press time, servicewomen were celebrating the likelihood of additional policy gains that would include the right to return from service equally haunted by their ordeals, and the right to face just as many hurdles to proper mental health care as their fellow servicemen.
HOW JOB CUTS WORK
The Unconventional Gazette
January 25, 2013
A driver stopped at a local gas station & after filling his tank, he paid the bill and bought a soft drink. He stood by his car to drink his soda and watched a couple of men working along the roadside.
One man would dig a hole two or three feet deep and then move on. The other man came along behind him and filled in the hole. While one was digging a new hole, the other was 25 feet behind filling in the hole.
The men worked right past the driver with the soft drink and went on down the road. "I can't stand this," he said, tossing the soda can into a trash container and heading down the road toward the men.
"Hold it, hold it," he said to the men. "Can you tell me what's going on here with all this digging and refilling?"
"Well, we work for the city and we're just doing our job," one of the men said.
"But one of you is digging a hole and the other fills it up. You're not accomplishing anything. Aren't you wasting the taxpayers' money?"
"You don't understand, mister," one of the men said, leaning on his shovel and wiping his brow. "Normally there's three of us ..... Me ..... Elmer ..... and Leroy. I dig the hole, Elmer puts in the tree ..... and Leroy here puts the dirt back. Elmer's job's been cut by the city ..... so now it's just me an' Leroy.”
January 25, 2013
A driver stopped at a local gas station & after filling his tank, he paid the bill and bought a soft drink. He stood by his car to drink his soda and watched a couple of men working along the roadside.
One man would dig a hole two or three feet deep and then move on. The other man came along behind him and filled in the hole. While one was digging a new hole, the other was 25 feet behind filling in the hole.
The men worked right past the driver with the soft drink and went on down the road. "I can't stand this," he said, tossing the soda can into a trash container and heading down the road toward the men.
"Hold it, hold it," he said to the men. "Can you tell me what's going on here with all this digging and refilling?"
"Well, we work for the city and we're just doing our job," one of the men said.
"But one of you is digging a hole and the other fills it up. You're not accomplishing anything. Aren't you wasting the taxpayers' money?"
"You don't understand, mister," one of the men said, leaning on his shovel and wiping his brow. "Normally there's three of us ..... Me ..... Elmer ..... and Leroy. I dig the hole, Elmer puts in the tree ..... and Leroy here puts the dirt back. Elmer's job's been cut by the city ..... so now it's just me an' Leroy.”
Friday, January 25, 2013
FEDERAL COURT RULES MEDICAL MARIJUANA JUNK SCIENCE
Judges refuse to overturn the 40-year-old federal classification of pot as a Schedule I Controlled Substance
As far as I’m concerned, medical marijuana is nothing more than one gigantic hoax on the magnitude of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme that has been perpetrated on a gullible public by the proponents of pot. I suspect that many of the doctors who swear by the healing powers of marijuana do so to justify their past, if not present, use of pot. Hence the junk science. A couple of good shots of Jack Daniel’s or Jim Beam will give the same results in relieving pain.
Medical marijuana has made its growers, dispensers and pot prescription-writing doctors filthy rich. In California and most other states that have medical marijuana laws, those laws have led to the de facto legalization of marijuana, and that is exactly what the proponents of pot were after in the first place.
The judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia had their heads screwed on straight. Had this case been heard before the San Francisco based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the judges probably would have ruled otherwise.
MARIJUANA STILL A DRUG WITH NO ACCEPTED MEDICAL USE, FEDERAL COURT SAYS
There’s a lack of good science, say judges siding with the DEA
By David G. Savage
Los Angeles Times
January 22, 2013
WASHINGTON — Marijuana will continue to be considered a highly dangerous drug under federal law with no accepted medical uses, after a U.S. appeals court Tuesday refused to order a change in the government's 40-year-old drug classification schedule.
The decision keeps in place an odd legal split over marijuana, a drug deemed to be as dangerous as heroin and worse than methamphetamine by federal authorities, but one that has been legalized for medical use by voters or legislators in 20 states and the District of Columbia.
A marijuana advocacy group went to court, arguing that federal officials had a duty to reexamine the medical evidence and reclassify marijuana as a drug that has clear benefits for those who are suffering and in pain. Joe Elford, counsel for Americans for Safe Access, said federal drug officials had a bias against marijuana that caused them to ignore its benefits and to exaggerate its dangers.
But three judges said they had a duty to defer to the judgment of federal health experts who had concluded they needed more evidence before reclassifying marijuana.
"To establish accepted medical use, the effectiveness of a drug must be established in well-controlled, well-designed, well-conducted and well-documented scientific studies [with] a large number of patients. To date, such studies have not been performed," the Drug Enforcement Administration said in defense of its decision. The passage was quoted in Tuesday's opinion.
Judge Harry Edwards, writing for the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, said the judges did not dispute that "marijuana could have some medical benefits." Instead, he said, they were not willing to overrule the DEA because they had not seen large "well-controlled studies" that proved the medical value of marijuana.
As far as I’m concerned, medical marijuana is nothing more than one gigantic hoax on the magnitude of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme that has been perpetrated on a gullible public by the proponents of pot. I suspect that many of the doctors who swear by the healing powers of marijuana do so to justify their past, if not present, use of pot. Hence the junk science. A couple of good shots of Jack Daniel’s or Jim Beam will give the same results in relieving pain.
Medical marijuana has made its growers, dispensers and pot prescription-writing doctors filthy rich. In California and most other states that have medical marijuana laws, those laws have led to the de facto legalization of marijuana, and that is exactly what the proponents of pot were after in the first place.
The judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia had their heads screwed on straight. Had this case been heard before the San Francisco based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the judges probably would have ruled otherwise.
MARIJUANA STILL A DRUG WITH NO ACCEPTED MEDICAL USE, FEDERAL COURT SAYS
There’s a lack of good science, say judges siding with the DEA
By David G. Savage
Los Angeles Times
January 22, 2013
WASHINGTON — Marijuana will continue to be considered a highly dangerous drug under federal law with no accepted medical uses, after a U.S. appeals court Tuesday refused to order a change in the government's 40-year-old drug classification schedule.
The decision keeps in place an odd legal split over marijuana, a drug deemed to be as dangerous as heroin and worse than methamphetamine by federal authorities, but one that has been legalized for medical use by voters or legislators in 20 states and the District of Columbia.
A marijuana advocacy group went to court, arguing that federal officials had a duty to reexamine the medical evidence and reclassify marijuana as a drug that has clear benefits for those who are suffering and in pain. Joe Elford, counsel for Americans for Safe Access, said federal drug officials had a bias against marijuana that caused them to ignore its benefits and to exaggerate its dangers.
But three judges said they had a duty to defer to the judgment of federal health experts who had concluded they needed more evidence before reclassifying marijuana.
"To establish accepted medical use, the effectiveness of a drug must be established in well-controlled, well-designed, well-conducted and well-documented scientific studies [with] a large number of patients. To date, such studies have not been performed," the Drug Enforcement Administration said in defense of its decision. The passage was quoted in Tuesday's opinion.
Judge Harry Edwards, writing for the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, said the judges did not dispute that "marijuana could have some medical benefits." Instead, he said, they were not willing to overrule the DEA because they had not seen large "well-controlled studies" that proved the medical value of marijuana.
SCHJOOL TEACHER FROM HELL
Accused of molesting as many as 20 LA elementary school students
He is very likely to spend the rest of his retirement locked up behind bars as he does not appear to be eligible for Gov. Moonbeam’s prison realignment program.
SCHOOL TEACHER ACCUSED OF SEXUALLY ABUSING UP TO 20 CHILDREN IN LOS ANGELES
Teacher has been charged with committing 15 felonies at George De La Torre Jr. elementary school
By Jill Reilly
Mail Online
January 24, 2013
A former Los Angeles elementary school teacher who taught for more than 35 years has been arrested on accusations he sexually abused 20 students.
Police say Robert Pimentel has been charged with 15 felonies, and he is expected to be charged with misdemeanors for the remaining incidents at George De La Torre Jr. Elementary in the Wilmington area of Los Angeles.
Pimentel's bail has been set at $12 million, and an arraignment date hasn't been set.
Police and school officials also said Pimentel is also suspected of the sexual abuse of one adult, but did not say what role if any that person had at the school.
Pimentel, 57, left his fourth-grade teaching position last March when allegations arose from several girls who told their parents he inappropriately touched them during school and police opened an investigation.
District officials immediately removed him from campus and parents and state credentialing authorities were informed, school district spokesman Daryl Strickland said.
Parents and guardians will be told of the arrest by letter and phone, he said.
'Due to the number of victims involved in this case, that's what took so long for it to culminate,' said Det. Gus Villanueva with the LAPD told ABC7.
Before the official dismissal process with the Board of Education could begin, Pimentel, who had worked for the district since 1974, retire.
'Can you go back and fire someone who's already retired? No, you can't,' LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy told the Los Angeles Times.
Deasy said the school's principal was also immediately removed because the superintendent was 'dissatisfied' with how the incident was handled.
Court records obtained by the Times show the allegations covered a period between Sept. 2011 to March 2012.
LAPD Capt. Fabian Lizzaraga told the newspaper Pimentel is suspected of inappropriately touching the children over and under their clothing.
The Los Angeles teachers' union issued a statement calling the incidents described in the allegations 'horrific' and saying that Pimentel was no longer a member and the union would not be involved in his defense.
The Police Department said the teacher's name was spelled 'Pimental,' but the school district and public records give the spelling as 'Pimentel.'
Police did not know if he had hired an attorney.
A woman who picked up the phone at a number listed for Pimentel hung up when asked about a lawyer or comment from family.
There have been several high-profile recent cases of Los Angeles teachers accused of sexually abusing students.
More than 225 parents and students are involved in various claims for damages against the district after Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt was arrested a year ago and has pleaded not guilty to 23 counts of lewd conduct.
In December, a jury ordered the district to pay a boy molested by an elementary school teacher $6.9 million - among the largest awards in the history of the school system.
The jury found the district liable for the repeated molestation of the 10-year-old student in 2008 and 2009 by teacher Forrest Stobbe at Queen Anne Elementary School in the city's mid-Wilshire district.
He is very likely to spend the rest of his retirement locked up behind bars as he does not appear to be eligible for Gov. Moonbeam’s prison realignment program.
SCHOOL TEACHER ACCUSED OF SEXUALLY ABUSING UP TO 20 CHILDREN IN LOS ANGELES
Teacher has been charged with committing 15 felonies at George De La Torre Jr. elementary school
By Jill Reilly
Mail Online
January 24, 2013
A former Los Angeles elementary school teacher who taught for more than 35 years has been arrested on accusations he sexually abused 20 students.
Police say Robert Pimentel has been charged with 15 felonies, and he is expected to be charged with misdemeanors for the remaining incidents at George De La Torre Jr. Elementary in the Wilmington area of Los Angeles.
Pimentel's bail has been set at $12 million, and an arraignment date hasn't been set.
Police and school officials also said Pimentel is also suspected of the sexual abuse of one adult, but did not say what role if any that person had at the school.
Pimentel, 57, left his fourth-grade teaching position last March when allegations arose from several girls who told their parents he inappropriately touched them during school and police opened an investigation.
District officials immediately removed him from campus and parents and state credentialing authorities were informed, school district spokesman Daryl Strickland said.
Parents and guardians will be told of the arrest by letter and phone, he said.
'Due to the number of victims involved in this case, that's what took so long for it to culminate,' said Det. Gus Villanueva with the LAPD told ABC7.
Before the official dismissal process with the Board of Education could begin, Pimentel, who had worked for the district since 1974, retire.
'Can you go back and fire someone who's already retired? No, you can't,' LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy told the Los Angeles Times.
Deasy said the school's principal was also immediately removed because the superintendent was 'dissatisfied' with how the incident was handled.
Court records obtained by the Times show the allegations covered a period between Sept. 2011 to March 2012.
LAPD Capt. Fabian Lizzaraga told the newspaper Pimentel is suspected of inappropriately touching the children over and under their clothing.
The Los Angeles teachers' union issued a statement calling the incidents described in the allegations 'horrific' and saying that Pimentel was no longer a member and the union would not be involved in his defense.
The Police Department said the teacher's name was spelled 'Pimental,' but the school district and public records give the spelling as 'Pimentel.'
Police did not know if he had hired an attorney.
A woman who picked up the phone at a number listed for Pimentel hung up when asked about a lawyer or comment from family.
There have been several high-profile recent cases of Los Angeles teachers accused of sexually abusing students.
More than 225 parents and students are involved in various claims for damages against the district after Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt was arrested a year ago and has pleaded not guilty to 23 counts of lewd conduct.
In December, a jury ordered the district to pay a boy molested by an elementary school teacher $6.9 million - among the largest awards in the history of the school system.
The jury found the district liable for the repeated molestation of the 10-year-old student in 2008 and 2009 by teacher Forrest Stobbe at Queen Anne Elementary School in the city's mid-Wilshire district.
BRITISH GRANDMOTHER SENTENCED TO DEATH IN BALI FOR SMUGGLING COCAINE
When will Westerners ever learn that Asian countries take a very hardline against the possession of and trafficking in drugs?
INDONESIA SENTENCES BRITISH WOMAN TO DEATH FOR DRUG SMUGGLING
By Kathy Quiano and Laura Smith-Spark
CNN
January 22, 2013
A 56-year-old British woman caught smuggling blocks of cocaine in her suitcase has been sentenced to death in Indonesia.
Prosecutors in Bali had asked for a 15-year sentence for Lindsay June Sandiford, who was arrested last May carrying what officials said was cocaine worth an estimated $2.6 million.
But a panel of judges opted Tuesday to hand down the death penalty.
Their decision was based on the defendant having shown no regret for what she did, Indonesian state news agency Antara reported.
Sandiford, from northeast England, was found to have blocks of cocaine weighing 4.7 kilograms (10.4 pounds) in her suitcase when she arrived on the island of Bali in May, the court heard.
"We were surprised by the decision, because we never expected the death penalty," Ezra Karo Karo, a lawyer acting for Sandiford, is quoted by Antara as saying.
He said the judge did not consider mitigating circumstances in his client's case, such as that she acted under the threat of violence to her family, the news agency reported.
The UK Foreign Office confirmed the sentence but said only that it would continue to provide consular assistance.
"The UK remains strongly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances," a Foreign Office statement said.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has strict laws against drug trafficking.
The head of Bali's Customs and Excise Agency monitoring division, Made Wijaya, warned at the time of her arrest that Sandiford could face execution if convicted.
"The main reason is because narcotics can massively endanger the young and, thus, whoever is caught with drugs should be severely punished. If three people can consume one gram of cocaine, then this operation has potentially saved up to 14,000 lives," he said.
The UK-based group Reprieve, which works to secure the human rights of prisoners around the world, said Sandiford was a vulnerable person who should not have been sentenced so harshly.
"Lindsay has always maintained that she only agreed to carry the package to Bali after receiving threats against the lives of her family," said Harriet McCulloch of Reprieve.
"She is clearly not a drug kingpin -- she has no money to pay for a lawyer, for the travel costs of defense witnesses or even for essentials like food and water.
"She has cooperated fully with the Indonesian authorities but has been sentenced to death while the gang operating in the UK, Thailand and Indonesia remain free to target other vulnerable people."
Any appeal for Sandiford must be filed within 14 days, McCulloch said in a written statement.
"It is vital that the British government do everything possible to support Lindsay's appeal against the death sentence," she added.
Sandiford's lawyer told Antara that it was likely that his client would appeal the sentence.
Reprieve says that after her arrest, Indonesian police interrogated Sandiford without a translator, legal representation or the assistance of the British Embassy for 10 days.
The U.S. State Department warns travelers to Indonesia of the risks of being caught smuggling drugs.
"Penalties for possession, use, or trafficking in illegal drugs in Indonesia are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and heavy fines," or the death penalty, it says. "Indonesian prisons are harsh and do not meet Western standards."
INDONESIA SENTENCES BRITISH WOMAN TO DEATH FOR DRUG SMUGGLING
By Kathy Quiano and Laura Smith-Spark
CNN
January 22, 2013
A 56-year-old British woman caught smuggling blocks of cocaine in her suitcase has been sentenced to death in Indonesia.
Prosecutors in Bali had asked for a 15-year sentence for Lindsay June Sandiford, who was arrested last May carrying what officials said was cocaine worth an estimated $2.6 million.
But a panel of judges opted Tuesday to hand down the death penalty.
Their decision was based on the defendant having shown no regret for what she did, Indonesian state news agency Antara reported.
Sandiford, from northeast England, was found to have blocks of cocaine weighing 4.7 kilograms (10.4 pounds) in her suitcase when she arrived on the island of Bali in May, the court heard.
"We were surprised by the decision, because we never expected the death penalty," Ezra Karo Karo, a lawyer acting for Sandiford, is quoted by Antara as saying.
He said the judge did not consider mitigating circumstances in his client's case, such as that she acted under the threat of violence to her family, the news agency reported.
The UK Foreign Office confirmed the sentence but said only that it would continue to provide consular assistance.
"The UK remains strongly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances," a Foreign Office statement said.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has strict laws against drug trafficking.
The head of Bali's Customs and Excise Agency monitoring division, Made Wijaya, warned at the time of her arrest that Sandiford could face execution if convicted.
"The main reason is because narcotics can massively endanger the young and, thus, whoever is caught with drugs should be severely punished. If three people can consume one gram of cocaine, then this operation has potentially saved up to 14,000 lives," he said.
The UK-based group Reprieve, which works to secure the human rights of prisoners around the world, said Sandiford was a vulnerable person who should not have been sentenced so harshly.
"Lindsay has always maintained that she only agreed to carry the package to Bali after receiving threats against the lives of her family," said Harriet McCulloch of Reprieve.
"She is clearly not a drug kingpin -- she has no money to pay for a lawyer, for the travel costs of defense witnesses or even for essentials like food and water.
"She has cooperated fully with the Indonesian authorities but has been sentenced to death while the gang operating in the UK, Thailand and Indonesia remain free to target other vulnerable people."
Any appeal for Sandiford must be filed within 14 days, McCulloch said in a written statement.
"It is vital that the British government do everything possible to support Lindsay's appeal against the death sentence," she added.
Sandiford's lawyer told Antara that it was likely that his client would appeal the sentence.
Reprieve says that after her arrest, Indonesian police interrogated Sandiford without a translator, legal representation or the assistance of the British Embassy for 10 days.
The U.S. State Department warns travelers to Indonesia of the risks of being caught smuggling drugs.
"Penalties for possession, use, or trafficking in illegal drugs in Indonesia are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and heavy fines," or the death penalty, it says. "Indonesian prisons are harsh and do not meet Western standards."
NOW YOU CAN SAY NASTY THINGS ABOUT YOUR EMPLOYER ON THE INTERNET AND NOT GET FIRED … MAYBE
NLRB rulings or not, I’ll bet that if you call your boss a dickhead on Facebook or Twitter and he finds out about it, you’ll be looking for a new job since your ass will be history.
CALLING YOUR BOSS A DICK ON FACEBOOK MIGHT NO LONGER BE A FIREABLE OFFENSE (BUT I WOULDN’T TEST IT)
By Jeff Balke
Houston Press Hair Balls
January 24, 2013
The National Labor Relations Board, through a series of new rules governing small business and social media, has provided greater protections for employees who speak out against employers online. Expanding existing rules, the NLRB said, "workers have a right to discuss work conditions freely and without fear of retribution, whether the discussion takes place at the office or on Facebook," Essentially, it means your boss can't hand you a pink slip for smack-talking the company on Twitter.
A series of cases brought before the board in recent months has illuminated the problem of employer standards when it comes to social media and the Internet and the combined impact of the NLRB rulings is to limit employers' ability to fire or discipline an employee for making what the company considers damaging comments about it online.
And while this rule does offer protection for people bitching about their company around the virtual water cooler just as previous rules protected them around the actual water cooler, this is still a pretty broad ruling and leaves the details to individual cases as to what is okay and what is too much. In fact, the NLRB ruled in favor of the Arizona Daily Star in a case involving a reporter who was fired for tweeting "What?!?!?! No overnight homicide. ... You're slacking, Tucson." and "You stay homicidal, Tucson."
No doubt threats of violence or revealing corporate secrets online will not be afforded much if any protection from termination, as it probably should be. On the other hand, saying your boss is a jackass probably won't get you fired. Probably.
One area where I will sympathize, if only slightly, with employers is the fact that online postings reach a much wider audience and can be much more permanent than idle office gossip. Sitting in the lunch room with your coworkers talking about the asshole in HR is a much different issue than saying it on Twitter to your 500 followers. Additionally, what is said can have a substantial impact. Calling someone a jerk and accusing the same person of being a drunk have completely different ramifications and pack a much greater wallop when posted online.
Still, it is at least somewhat comforting to know that if you are critical of the company you work for, particularly if it is a big company and the complaints could potentially benefit everyone, the bosses can't go head hunting without consequences. And, in truth, this is a sensible rule that helps to expand earlier rules to fit modern, technological circumstances.
But, I'd hold off on the profanity-laced Tumblr post or dropping Photoshopped pictures of your boss with an Adolf Hitler 'stache on Instagram. The company might not be able to fire you, but my guess is there are still plenty of ways for them to make your life a living hell.
CALLING YOUR BOSS A DICK ON FACEBOOK MIGHT NO LONGER BE A FIREABLE OFFENSE (BUT I WOULDN’T TEST IT)
By Jeff Balke
Houston Press Hair Balls
January 24, 2013
The National Labor Relations Board, through a series of new rules governing small business and social media, has provided greater protections for employees who speak out against employers online. Expanding existing rules, the NLRB said, "workers have a right to discuss work conditions freely and without fear of retribution, whether the discussion takes place at the office or on Facebook," Essentially, it means your boss can't hand you a pink slip for smack-talking the company on Twitter.
A series of cases brought before the board in recent months has illuminated the problem of employer standards when it comes to social media and the Internet and the combined impact of the NLRB rulings is to limit employers' ability to fire or discipline an employee for making what the company considers damaging comments about it online.
And while this rule does offer protection for people bitching about their company around the virtual water cooler just as previous rules protected them around the actual water cooler, this is still a pretty broad ruling and leaves the details to individual cases as to what is okay and what is too much. In fact, the NLRB ruled in favor of the Arizona Daily Star in a case involving a reporter who was fired for tweeting "What?!?!?! No overnight homicide. ... You're slacking, Tucson." and "You stay homicidal, Tucson."
No doubt threats of violence or revealing corporate secrets online will not be afforded much if any protection from termination, as it probably should be. On the other hand, saying your boss is a jackass probably won't get you fired. Probably.
One area where I will sympathize, if only slightly, with employers is the fact that online postings reach a much wider audience and can be much more permanent than idle office gossip. Sitting in the lunch room with your coworkers talking about the asshole in HR is a much different issue than saying it on Twitter to your 500 followers. Additionally, what is said can have a substantial impact. Calling someone a jerk and accusing the same person of being a drunk have completely different ramifications and pack a much greater wallop when posted online.
Still, it is at least somewhat comforting to know that if you are critical of the company you work for, particularly if it is a big company and the complaints could potentially benefit everyone, the bosses can't go head hunting without consequences. And, in truth, this is a sensible rule that helps to expand earlier rules to fit modern, technological circumstances.
But, I'd hold off on the profanity-laced Tumblr post or dropping Photoshopped pictures of your boss with an Adolf Hitler 'stache on Instagram. The company might not be able to fire you, but my guess is there are still plenty of ways for them to make your life a living hell.
LITTLE JOHNNY ON HOME INVADERS
The Unconventional Gazette
January 24, 2013
Lucille Hansen, a third grade teacher, asked her class what they would do if they were at home alone and a stranger broke into their house.
Little Rebecca stood up and said, “Miss Hansen, I would crawl under my bed and hide until he left.”
“That’s good, Becky,” Miss Hansen replied.
Bobby stood up and said, “Miss Hansen, I would call 911 and then go hide in a closet.”
“That’s very good, Bobby,” Miss Hansen replied.
Gerald stood up and said, “Miss Hansen, I would jump out the window and run over to my neighbor’s house.”
Miss Hansen said, “That’s good too, Jerry.”
Then little Johnny stood up as Miss Hansen dreaded what he might say.
Little Johnny said, ““Gee Miss Hansen, that's easy. I would grab my father’s gun and blow that sucker’s shit away!”
January 24, 2013
Lucille Hansen, a third grade teacher, asked her class what they would do if they were at home alone and a stranger broke into their house.
Little Rebecca stood up and said, “Miss Hansen, I would crawl under my bed and hide until he left.”
“That’s good, Becky,” Miss Hansen replied.
Bobby stood up and said, “Miss Hansen, I would call 911 and then go hide in a closet.”
“That’s very good, Bobby,” Miss Hansen replied.
Gerald stood up and said, “Miss Hansen, I would jump out the window and run over to my neighbor’s house.”
Miss Hansen said, “That’s good too, Jerry.”
Then little Johnny stood up as Miss Hansen dreaded what he might say.
Little Johnny said, ““Gee Miss Hansen, that's easy. I would grab my father’s gun and blow that sucker’s shit away!”
THE ‘WHO AM I?’ GAME
The Unconventional Gazette
January 24, 2013
The mailman is walking through the neighborhood on his usual delivery route. As he approaches one of the homes he noticed that both cars were still in the driveway. His wonder was cut short by David, the home owner, coming out with a load of empty beer, wine and spirit bottles for the recycling bin.
'Wow David, looks like you guys had one hell of a party last night,' the mailman comments.
David, in obvious pain, replies 'Actually we had it Saturday night. This is the first I have felt like moving since 4:00 am Sunday morning. We had about 15 couples from around the neighborhood over for some weekend fun and it got a bit wild. We all got so drunk around midnight that we started playing 'WHO AM I.'
The mailman thinks a moment and says, 'How do you play WHO AM I?'
‘Well, all the guys go in the bedroom and come out one at a time covered with a sheet with only the family jewels showing through a hole in the sheet. Then the women try to guess who it is.'
The mailman laughs and says, 'Sounds like fun, I'm sorry I missed it.'
'Probably a good thing you did,' David responded. 'Your name came up 7 times.’
January 24, 2013
The mailman is walking through the neighborhood on his usual delivery route. As he approaches one of the homes he noticed that both cars were still in the driveway. His wonder was cut short by David, the home owner, coming out with a load of empty beer, wine and spirit bottles for the recycling bin.
'Wow David, looks like you guys had one hell of a party last night,' the mailman comments.
David, in obvious pain, replies 'Actually we had it Saturday night. This is the first I have felt like moving since 4:00 am Sunday morning. We had about 15 couples from around the neighborhood over for some weekend fun and it got a bit wild. We all got so drunk around midnight that we started playing 'WHO AM I.'
The mailman thinks a moment and says, 'How do you play WHO AM I?'
‘Well, all the guys go in the bedroom and come out one at a time covered with a sheet with only the family jewels showing through a hole in the sheet. Then the women try to guess who it is.'
The mailman laughs and says, 'Sounds like fun, I'm sorry I missed it.'
'Probably a good thing you did,' David responded. 'Your name came up 7 times.’
Thursday, January 24, 2013
OBAMA’S SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS SMACKS OF CLASS WARFARE
America “cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.”
OBAMA’S REAL AGENDA: ‘BALKANIZE AMERICA’
“For us they fought and died in places like Concord and Gettysburg, Normandy and Khe Sanh.” – Obama’s first inaugural address
“That all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall.” – Obama’s second inaugural address
by Dick Morris
Newsmax
January 23, 2013
In Barack Obama’s first inaugural address, he spoke of America’s needs, goals, and mission. In his second — like a pointillist painter — he decomposed our country into a series of atomized special interest groups and, one after the other, pleaded their case.
A comparison of his first and second inaugural speeches shows us how badly he fooled us the first time and what the reality of his second term will be like.
The style, poetry, eloquence, grace, and uplifting rhetoric were all there both times, but this inaugural enumerated his real agenda.
In 2009, Obama’s agenda of class warfare was cloaked in gentle words.
While he observed that “our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some” but added that it was also due to “our collective failure to make hard choices . . .” He gently noting that we “cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.”
But in his 2013 speech, the full force of class envy stood behind his rhetoric as he opined that “we do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky or happiness for the few.” (as if any of us did).
And emphasized that “we . . . understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.” (and why is it, again, that they can only barely make it?).
In 2009, he alluded only lightly to civil rights or race, referring in passing to “the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.”
But in 2013, he really laid it on. He recalled “that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skins . . .” and that “Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union . . . could survive half-slave and half-free.” He movingly addressed “those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall . . . to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.”
OK, so he is the first black president and is certainly entitled to take his place in the pantheon of our civil rights heroes. But then he ticked off every interest group he could mention, saying that the work of “these pioneers” will not be complete “until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law” or until “we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity” or until “our wives, our mothers, and our daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts.”
Leave anyone out?
Well, yes. The elderly. Blithely ignoring the looming bankruptcy of Social Security, he said that “we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future.”
Well, how about the generation that won’t have Social Security because Obama won’t agree to raise the retirement age and keeps trying to cut the payroll tax? And the generation that will be burdened by a national debt that will break $20 trillion before his term is over?
But future generations were not absent from this thinking. He said we must not “betray our children and future generations.” How? By lowering the debt? By balancing the budget? No, by responding to “the threat of climate change.”
This is the real Barack Obama: Determined to Balkanize our once united nation into competing interest groups who bet quadrennially on elections to secure a place in the sun. He is only for some Americans.
OBAMA’S REAL AGENDA: ‘BALKANIZE AMERICA’
“For us they fought and died in places like Concord and Gettysburg, Normandy and Khe Sanh.” – Obama’s first inaugural address
“That all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall.” – Obama’s second inaugural address
by Dick Morris
Newsmax
January 23, 2013
In Barack Obama’s first inaugural address, he spoke of America’s needs, goals, and mission. In his second — like a pointillist painter — he decomposed our country into a series of atomized special interest groups and, one after the other, pleaded their case.
A comparison of his first and second inaugural speeches shows us how badly he fooled us the first time and what the reality of his second term will be like.
The style, poetry, eloquence, grace, and uplifting rhetoric were all there both times, but this inaugural enumerated his real agenda.
In 2009, Obama’s agenda of class warfare was cloaked in gentle words.
While he observed that “our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some” but added that it was also due to “our collective failure to make hard choices . . .” He gently noting that we “cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.”
But in his 2013 speech, the full force of class envy stood behind his rhetoric as he opined that “we do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky or happiness for the few.” (as if any of us did).
And emphasized that “we . . . understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.” (and why is it, again, that they can only barely make it?).
In 2009, he alluded only lightly to civil rights or race, referring in passing to “the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.”
But in 2013, he really laid it on. He recalled “that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skins . . .” and that “Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union . . . could survive half-slave and half-free.” He movingly addressed “those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall . . . to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.”
OK, so he is the first black president and is certainly entitled to take his place in the pantheon of our civil rights heroes. But then he ticked off every interest group he could mention, saying that the work of “these pioneers” will not be complete “until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law” or until “we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity” or until “our wives, our mothers, and our daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts.”
Leave anyone out?
Well, yes. The elderly. Blithely ignoring the looming bankruptcy of Social Security, he said that “we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future.”
Well, how about the generation that won’t have Social Security because Obama won’t agree to raise the retirement age and keeps trying to cut the payroll tax? And the generation that will be burdened by a national debt that will break $20 trillion before his term is over?
But future generations were not absent from this thinking. He said we must not “betray our children and future generations.” How? By lowering the debt? By balancing the budget? No, by responding to “the threat of climate change.”
This is the real Barack Obama: Determined to Balkanize our once united nation into competing interest groups who bet quadrennially on elections to secure a place in the sun. He is only for some Americans.
ISRAELI ELECTION: OBAMA MUST BE SMILING
President Obama, who worked hard behind the scenes to damage Netanyahu’s election chances, must be quite pleased with the outcome of Tuesday’s election.
WHY NETANYAHU ‘LOST’ THE ELECTION
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
January 23, 2013
Benjamin Netanyahu is almost certain to be Israel's next prime minister, and his Likud Party is now the largest faction in the Knesset. Nevertheless, yesterday's election is being touted as a defeat for Netanyahu after his combined Likud-Israel Beiteinu ticket failed to win as many seats as the two parties previously controlled.
As a result, Netanyahu is looking at a much harder time forming a stable coalition.
Why did this happen? Most of our Christian readers abroad have a very high view of Netanyahu, but they might be surprised to know that is not shared by most Israelis.
There is no question that a very large percentage of Israelis across the board view Netanyahu as Israel's most skilled diplomat and one of its most capable war-time leaders. When buses are exploding and rockets are falling, nearly all Israelis want Netanyahu at the helm.
With the explosion of the Second Intifada in 2000 and the fall of the Barak government, the pubic was prepared to amend various laws to let Netanyahu contest the vacant prime minister's chair, which he legally couldn't do having temporarily retired from politics two years earlier.
But in a time of relative peace and security, things look different. And Netanyahu has been successfully painted as a "piggish capitalist," a high-roller whose policies only truly benefit the wealthier tiers of Israeli society and who is smugly out of touch with the average citizen. By contrast, most left-wing leaders, though many are just as wealthy as Netanyahu, are universally portrayed as "working class."
So when it comes to economic issues, Netanyahu is not highly trusted, even if his government implemented several programs that aided the middle and lower classes. With the general cost of living still posing a problem for many Israelis, it was easy to hang that stone around Netanyahu's neck and watch him sink.
In addition to economic woes, or perhaps because of them, Israelis are becoming increasingly intolerant of an Orthodox sector that doesn't work, doesn't pay taxes, doesn't serve in the army, yet nevertheless receives enormous amounts of government funding for yeshivas and welfare payments.
Netanyahu's problem is that he is seen as being quite chummy with the Orthodox community's political power brokers at a time when the secular public are fed up with them. Again, by contrast, his opponents to the left, especially newcomer Yair Lapid, actively campaigned against continued payouts to the Orthodox community without shared national service.
Israel is a difficult nation to govern. It has well known security issues, but being such a small nation it also has economic issues that can quickly have a major negative impact on the entire population if not handled with great care. And that is to say nothing of the contentious secular-religious divide.
To be sure, no prime minister has managed to effectively cover all the bases, and Netanyahu has likely done better than most. But because no leader is perfect, no Israeli leader is ever going to enjoy long-term widespread support in such a volatile situation.
WHY NETANYAHU ‘LOST’ THE ELECTION
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
January 23, 2013
Benjamin Netanyahu is almost certain to be Israel's next prime minister, and his Likud Party is now the largest faction in the Knesset. Nevertheless, yesterday's election is being touted as a defeat for Netanyahu after his combined Likud-Israel Beiteinu ticket failed to win as many seats as the two parties previously controlled.
As a result, Netanyahu is looking at a much harder time forming a stable coalition.
Why did this happen? Most of our Christian readers abroad have a very high view of Netanyahu, but they might be surprised to know that is not shared by most Israelis.
There is no question that a very large percentage of Israelis across the board view Netanyahu as Israel's most skilled diplomat and one of its most capable war-time leaders. When buses are exploding and rockets are falling, nearly all Israelis want Netanyahu at the helm.
With the explosion of the Second Intifada in 2000 and the fall of the Barak government, the pubic was prepared to amend various laws to let Netanyahu contest the vacant prime minister's chair, which he legally couldn't do having temporarily retired from politics two years earlier.
But in a time of relative peace and security, things look different. And Netanyahu has been successfully painted as a "piggish capitalist," a high-roller whose policies only truly benefit the wealthier tiers of Israeli society and who is smugly out of touch with the average citizen. By contrast, most left-wing leaders, though many are just as wealthy as Netanyahu, are universally portrayed as "working class."
So when it comes to economic issues, Netanyahu is not highly trusted, even if his government implemented several programs that aided the middle and lower classes. With the general cost of living still posing a problem for many Israelis, it was easy to hang that stone around Netanyahu's neck and watch him sink.
In addition to economic woes, or perhaps because of them, Israelis are becoming increasingly intolerant of an Orthodox sector that doesn't work, doesn't pay taxes, doesn't serve in the army, yet nevertheless receives enormous amounts of government funding for yeshivas and welfare payments.
Netanyahu's problem is that he is seen as being quite chummy with the Orthodox community's political power brokers at a time when the secular public are fed up with them. Again, by contrast, his opponents to the left, especially newcomer Yair Lapid, actively campaigned against continued payouts to the Orthodox community without shared national service.
Israel is a difficult nation to govern. It has well known security issues, but being such a small nation it also has economic issues that can quickly have a major negative impact on the entire population if not handled with great care. And that is to say nothing of the contentious secular-religious divide.
To be sure, no prime minister has managed to effectively cover all the bases, and Netanyahu has likely done better than most. But because no leader is perfect, no Israeli leader is ever going to enjoy long-term widespread support in such a volatile situation.
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