If Netanyahu caves in and extends the building freeze in the West Band and in Jerusalem, he will be stabbing us - those who supported his election - in the back. With Clinton sitting between them, when Netanyahu looked at Abbas and said "I have a partner for peace" he must have been drunk.
VICTIMS ON THE ROAD TO ‘PEACE’
By Jeff Jacoby
Jewish World Review
September 7, 2010
Talia and Yitzhak Ames met as students at Moscow University, as they waited in line one day to register for their classes. They got married in 1985, and had two children by the time they emigrated to Israel in 1991. Four more children followed in the next 19 years, and Talia was nine months pregnant with their seventh when she and Yitzhak were murdered by Palestinian terrorists last week.
The killers ambushed them as they were driving home Tuesday night, heading south on Highway 60 toward Beit Haggai in the Hebron Hills. With Talia and Yitzhak in the car when the killers opened fire were two other residents of Beit Haggai: Avishai Schindler, a newly-married yeshiva student, and Kochava Even-Haim, a nursery school teacher and the mother of an 8-year-old daughter. Kochava's husband Maimon, an emergency-aid volunteer, was one of the first responders to arrive at the scene, unaware that he would find his wife among the dead. All of the victims were shot repeatedly at close range, and the car was riddled with dozens of bullets.
Hamas, a terrorist organization whose charter extols the murder of Jews, promptly claimed responsibility for the massacre, describing it as "part of the repelling operations against the occupation assaults on Gaza Strip and West Bank." In Hamas-controlled Gaza, the bloodshed was celebrated; the news was broadcast from loudspeakers and there was a "victory" rally in the Jebaliya refugee camp. The Palestinian Authority, headed by Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas, issued a tepid statement condemning the Hamas "operation" -- not because the slaughter of innocent civilians is a brutal atrocity, but merely on the tactical grounds that it "contradicts Palestinian interests" by making it more difficult for "the Palestinian leadership to garner international support."
The killings on Highway 60 took place as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was en route to Washington for a new round of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. When word of the bloodbath reached him, he could have cancelled the talks and immediately returned home to attend the victims' funerals and focus on restoring security. But he declined to alter his itinerary. "We are committed to peace," his spokesman said. His position didn't change even after a second attack along the same highway Wednesday night, when terrorists opened fire on an Israeli car, wounding a young rabbi and his wife.
A persistent myth of the Arab-Israeli conflict is that Palestinian terrorists kill Jews in order to "disrupt the peace process," and that the best response to terrorism is to persevere with negotiations. That explanation for last week's carnage was repeated everywhere, from the White House ("This brutal attack underscores how far the enemies of peace will go to try to block progress") to Israel's opposition leader Tzipi Livni ("[the terrorists had a] "cold, political motive: to prevent the peace process") to the international media.
But far from opposing a "peace process" meant to push Israel into ever-deeper concessions, retreats, and self-endangerment, terrorists -- whether affiliated with Hamas or with Fatah -- seek to accelerate it. The two Palestinian factions may be at war with each other, but they have always been as one in rejecting Israel's existence as the sovereign state of the Jewish people. So long as they refuse to budge from that position, Israeli-Palestinian peace is impossible.
Yet rather than say so forthrightly, Israeli leaders keep insisting that diplomacy can end the conflict, and that they are prepared to sacrifice greatly for peace. It was once Israel's policy never to bargain with terrorists, and to pursue peace through deterrence and patience and strength. But with the advent of the Oslo Accord, deterrence gave way to appeasement, negotiations, and a yearning for peace at any price. To both Fatah and Hamas, that desperation has made the Jewish state seem weak -- and vulnerable to further pressure. In an opinion survey released last week, 55 percent of Palestinians endorsed anti-Israel violence as "essential" or "desirable," while less than 14 percent called it "unacceptable." "Israel's very pursuit of peace," journalist Evelyn Gordon wrote in Commentary earlier this year, "has spurred its enemies to go for the jugular."
Netanyahu should have walked away from the table after last week's butchery. Instead, he publicly anointed Abbas "my partner for peace" and reasserted his commitment to negotiations. When those negotiations fail, as they inevitably will, the impasse will be blamed on the insufficiency of Israel's concessions. That will further enrage its enemies, some of whom will turn to terror.
And so the peace process proceeds. The victims on Highway 60 were only the latest of Israel's "sacrifices for peace." They are not likely to be the last.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
IN EAST TEXAS, IT'S NOT BEDBUGS
Hmmmm, looks like Al-Qaeda has unleashed another biological weapon of mass destruction against the Great Satan - this time though not in New York, Philadelphia and Detroit, but in the piney woods of East Texas. This time it’s not the Bedbug Bomber, it’s the Flea Bomber.
RICKY PENSON: PLEASE ENTER YOUR GUILTY FLEA
By John Nova Lomax
Houston Press Hair Balls
September 6, 2010
Just like many a mother has warned, if you lie down with dogs, you'll get up with fleas. A Lufkin man recently learned that lesson, and what's more, he's sharing it with the police force of that honky-tonking little East Texas city whether they like it or not.
Around midnight September 2 police were called and told that 58-year-old Rickey DeWayne Penson was trespassing near a home on Lufkin's Culverhouse Street. Penson was on probation for a crack bust last summer, and what's more, was formally enjoined from being at or near the home on Culverhouse Street.
When police arrived on the scene, Penson attempted to um, flee, but was unable to get very far, so instead he chose to crawl under the house. Unfortunately for him, not to mention a few unwitting police, the crawl space was home to some flea-infested varmints, and the parasites leapt at the opportunity afforded by a bigger host.
By the time Penson was finally cajoled out from under the house, he was infested with the bloodsuckers. And by the time he made it downtown to Lufkin's jail, the entire back-seat of the police cruiser was likewise Flea City.
And it didn't end there.
Before he knew what hit him, the arresting officer was also infested, and somehow he managed to spread the plague of leaping pests to four more police cars.
Apparently, this is not an unusual occurrence: Lufkin police Lt. David Young told TV station KTRE that the department already had the necessary fumigants on hand, as a similar infestation had occurred only last week.
RICKY PENSON: PLEASE ENTER YOUR GUILTY FLEA
By John Nova Lomax
Houston Press Hair Balls
September 6, 2010
Just like many a mother has warned, if you lie down with dogs, you'll get up with fleas. A Lufkin man recently learned that lesson, and what's more, he's sharing it with the police force of that honky-tonking little East Texas city whether they like it or not.
Around midnight September 2 police were called and told that 58-year-old Rickey DeWayne Penson was trespassing near a home on Lufkin's Culverhouse Street. Penson was on probation for a crack bust last summer, and what's more, was formally enjoined from being at or near the home on Culverhouse Street.
When police arrived on the scene, Penson attempted to um, flee, but was unable to get very far, so instead he chose to crawl under the house. Unfortunately for him, not to mention a few unwitting police, the crawl space was home to some flea-infested varmints, and the parasites leapt at the opportunity afforded by a bigger host.
By the time Penson was finally cajoled out from under the house, he was infested with the bloodsuckers. And by the time he made it downtown to Lufkin's jail, the entire back-seat of the police cruiser was likewise Flea City.
And it didn't end there.
Before he knew what hit him, the arresting officer was also infested, and somehow he managed to spread the plague of leaping pests to four more police cars.
Apparently, this is not an unusual occurrence: Lufkin police Lt. David Young told TV station KTRE that the department already had the necessary fumigants on hand, as a similar infestation had occurred only last week.
THE FAMILY THAT FISHES TOGETHER ..........
The family that plays together, stays together. So much for that crap.
SOME PEOPLE TAKE FISHING TOO SERIOUSLY
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
September 6, 2010
A Livermore man is currently a guest of the county at Santa Rita after a late night fishing trip got a little tense.
Gary Gomez, 42, took his wife and 14-year old son on a late night fishing trip on Bethany reservoir Sunday night. Two of the young man’s friends went along. About 2:00 a.m. on of the son’s buddies decided he had to go home, which pissed off daddy. It turned into a fist fight, which turned into a fist vs knife fight, which the 14-year old lost because he didn’t have a knife. Daddy shanked his son 11 times. The wife was also stabbed when she tried to break up the fight. He also punctured a tire on the family van when mom tried to drive away.
Gomez was arrested on charges of attempted murder and child endangerment. The boy will be fine, at least as far as the injuries are concerned. As far as the rest is concerned, that’s questionable.
SOME PEOPLE TAKE FISHING TOO SERIOUSLY
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
September 6, 2010
A Livermore man is currently a guest of the county at Santa Rita after a late night fishing trip got a little tense.
Gary Gomez, 42, took his wife and 14-year old son on a late night fishing trip on Bethany reservoir Sunday night. Two of the young man’s friends went along. About 2:00 a.m. on of the son’s buddies decided he had to go home, which pissed off daddy. It turned into a fist fight, which turned into a fist vs knife fight, which the 14-year old lost because he didn’t have a knife. Daddy shanked his son 11 times. The wife was also stabbed when she tried to break up the fight. He also punctured a tire on the family van when mom tried to drive away.
Gomez was arrested on charges of attempted murder and child endangerment. The boy will be fine, at least as far as the injuries are concerned. As far as the rest is concerned, that’s questionable.
THEY HELPED HIM DROP HIS WEAPON
LA, get ready for a big lawsuit. The family will excoriate the officers for not just shooting the gun out of their beloved one’s hand and for not tasering him. Of course, had the officers only used a taser, they would have been sued for that too.
ROCK, PAPER, SISSORS, KNIFE GUN
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
September 6, 2010
An as yet unnamed dangerous crazy found out yesterday that a gun often beats a knife, especially if there is only one of you with the knife and there are several people with guns.
A man was seen brandishing a toad sticker in a crowded shopping area in beautiful downtown L.A. yesterday afternoon. Three LAPD bicycle officers approached and ordered him to drop his weapon. He refused. They helped him. He didn’t survive the lesson. That’s life (and death) in the big city.
ROCK, PAPER, SISSORS, KNIFE GUN
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
September 6, 2010
An as yet unnamed dangerous crazy found out yesterday that a gun often beats a knife, especially if there is only one of you with the knife and there are several people with guns.
A man was seen brandishing a toad sticker in a crowded shopping area in beautiful downtown L.A. yesterday afternoon. Three LAPD bicycle officers approached and ordered him to drop his weapon. He refused. They helped him. He didn’t survive the lesson. That’s life (and death) in the big city.
Monday, September 06, 2010
KOOKFORNIA DOES THIS ONE RIGHT
The Kookfornia lottery has its own investigators to make sure the public does not get cheated out of their winnings. Undercover agents are sent into different stores with lottery tickets made up especially for their investigation. Each winning ticket is worth $1000. The "customer" (the agent) will hand the clerks several tickets to scan. While the tickets are being scanned, the agent will pretend to do some shopping. The clerk is completely unaware that the "customer" knew that one of the tickets was worth $1000.
The undercover agents find that a substantial number of clerks will tell them there were no winners among the tickets. After the investigator has left, those clerks will cash the winning tickets in or have a friend do it for them. When caught, the thieving clerks will face jail time and a fine. The stores which employed those thieves lose their license to sell lottery tickets.
The investigators have also caught some clerks buying the winning tickets for less than they were worth. Some customers are willing to sell their winning tickets for less – for example, $650 for a $1000 ticket – to keep the government from taking money out of their winnings to pay for delinquent child support obligations or for back taxes.
When Dateline NBC informed the New York State Lottery that it was going to conduct a similar investigation in that state, lottery officials immediately printed a prominent warning on each ticket that NBC was trying to catch clerks stealing winning tickets. When confronted about the printed warning, the state lottery director shouted that he was not going to allow NBC to make a ‘reality show’ out of New York’s lottery.
While Kookfornia may be full of kooks, it goes the extra mile in trying to protect the buying public. Each state agency or commission has its own investigators to ferret out wrongdoing. On the other hand, the New York State Lottery director has proven that the Empire State is full of crooks. I’ll take the kooks over the crooks anytime!
The undercover agents find that a substantial number of clerks will tell them there were no winners among the tickets. After the investigator has left, those clerks will cash the winning tickets in or have a friend do it for them. When caught, the thieving clerks will face jail time and a fine. The stores which employed those thieves lose their license to sell lottery tickets.
The investigators have also caught some clerks buying the winning tickets for less than they were worth. Some customers are willing to sell their winning tickets for less – for example, $650 for a $1000 ticket – to keep the government from taking money out of their winnings to pay for delinquent child support obligations or for back taxes.
When Dateline NBC informed the New York State Lottery that it was going to conduct a similar investigation in that state, lottery officials immediately printed a prominent warning on each ticket that NBC was trying to catch clerks stealing winning tickets. When confronted about the printed warning, the state lottery director shouted that he was not going to allow NBC to make a ‘reality show’ out of New York’s lottery.
While Kookfornia may be full of kooks, it goes the extra mile in trying to protect the buying public. Each state agency or commission has its own investigators to ferret out wrongdoing. On the other hand, the New York State Lottery director has proven that the Empire State is full of crooks. I’ll take the kooks over the crooks anytime!
EUROPE RIPE FOR ISLAMIZATION, AMERICA NOT YET
In the wake of the Ground Zero Mosque brouhaha, Muslims have begun a public relations campaign by running some TV ads designed to assure Americans that they are not trying to foster their religion on us and that they do not have any designs on our country. That has not been the case in Europe. So what’s the difference between America and Europe?
American Muslims are by and large well educated and enjoy a middle or upper class life style. There has been a steady flow of legal Muslim immigrants, but that flow has involved relatively small numbers. Like America’s Jews, Muslims in this country have succeeded through hard work and higher education. Except for some of their religious customs, they have assimilated into our society and adopted our way of life.
Europe, on the other hand, has been flooded with a wave of Muslim immigrants. These Muslims are uneducated and unskilled. They live in close-knit slums and refuse to assimilate into European society. By and large, they are fundamentalist Muslims who, contrary to local laws, practice a strict code of Sharia (Islamic law). These true believers are under the sway of Wahhabi imams who preach from the many mosques that have sprung up throughout Europe.
While the non-Muslim birthrate in Europe has been in a steady decline, the birthrate among Europe’s Muslims is extremely high. At this rate, it will not be too long before the Muslim population of Europe will be dominant. The Islamization of Europe is well under way. Muslims have been successful in getting some of their host countries to recognize the practice of Sharia.
Europe's Muslims have also forced changes to the curricula of several public school systems, changes that reflect their religious and political beliefs. The future looks more and more like the EU will disappear to be replaced by the European Islamic Union.
America cannot rest on its laurels. Like Europe, we too have a declining birthrate. The number of mosques in this country is growing rapidly and many are being financed by Saudi Arabia and run by Wahhabi imams. More and more American Muslims are becoming Islamists.
Just take a look at Detroit. The 'Motor City' has become a hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism where Muslims, who now make up one-third of the city's population, have disassimilated themselves from the rest of society. And that means the Isalamization of America is already under way.
American Muslims are by and large well educated and enjoy a middle or upper class life style. There has been a steady flow of legal Muslim immigrants, but that flow has involved relatively small numbers. Like America’s Jews, Muslims in this country have succeeded through hard work and higher education. Except for some of their religious customs, they have assimilated into our society and adopted our way of life.
Europe, on the other hand, has been flooded with a wave of Muslim immigrants. These Muslims are uneducated and unskilled. They live in close-knit slums and refuse to assimilate into European society. By and large, they are fundamentalist Muslims who, contrary to local laws, practice a strict code of Sharia (Islamic law). These true believers are under the sway of Wahhabi imams who preach from the many mosques that have sprung up throughout Europe.
While the non-Muslim birthrate in Europe has been in a steady decline, the birthrate among Europe’s Muslims is extremely high. At this rate, it will not be too long before the Muslim population of Europe will be dominant. The Islamization of Europe is well under way. Muslims have been successful in getting some of their host countries to recognize the practice of Sharia.
Europe's Muslims have also forced changes to the curricula of several public school systems, changes that reflect their religious and political beliefs. The future looks more and more like the EU will disappear to be replaced by the European Islamic Union.
America cannot rest on its laurels. Like Europe, we too have a declining birthrate. The number of mosques in this country is growing rapidly and many are being financed by Saudi Arabia and run by Wahhabi imams. More and more American Muslims are becoming Islamists.
Just take a look at Detroit. The 'Motor City' has become a hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism where Muslims, who now make up one-third of the city's population, have disassimilated themselves from the rest of society. And that means the Isalamization of America is already under way.
SORRY, WRONG NUMBER
And they say pot doesn’t addle your brains.
HEY DAWG, DO YOU HAVE ANY POT? ER, NO, THIS IS THE SHERIFF AND YOU ARE BUSTED
Dopey teen caught in drugs sting after texting wrong number
Mail Online
September 4, 2010
It was the last number he should have contacted with a request for drugs - the local sheriff's mobile phone.
But that's exactly who a teenager mistakenly texted to ask for a bag of cannabis, and was the victim of sting operation shortly afterwards as a result.
The unnamed drug user sent the text to the Lewis and Clark County sheriff in Montana, U.S. after mis-dialling the telephone number of his dealer.
In it, he said: 'Hey Dawg, do you have a $20 I can buy right now?'
Initially fearing he was the subject of a wind-up, sheriff Leo Dutton was sceptical about the call, but quickly discovered the inquiry was real.
Sheriff Dutton said: 'I’m thinking, "Hey this is odd". I was looking around to see if there was someone outside my window playing a prank.'
However, he decided to play the part of the dealer and gathered more information by asking 'How much we talking?'
The teenager then wrote back, saying he was close to the dealer's home and wanted to complete the purchase.
Sheriff Dutton then saw the potential of intercepting the youngster, and contacted a detective from the Missouri River Drug Task Force who arranged to meet the teenager at a local business.
At the shop, the detective again phoned the teenager and when he saw a young man with another teenager and a man answer, he went over and showed his badge.
HEY DAWG, DO YOU HAVE ANY POT? ER, NO, THIS IS THE SHERIFF AND YOU ARE BUSTED
Dopey teen caught in drugs sting after texting wrong number
Mail Online
September 4, 2010
It was the last number he should have contacted with a request for drugs - the local sheriff's mobile phone.
But that's exactly who a teenager mistakenly texted to ask for a bag of cannabis, and was the victim of sting operation shortly afterwards as a result.
The unnamed drug user sent the text to the Lewis and Clark County sheriff in Montana, U.S. after mis-dialling the telephone number of his dealer.
In it, he said: 'Hey Dawg, do you have a $20 I can buy right now?'
Initially fearing he was the subject of a wind-up, sheriff Leo Dutton was sceptical about the call, but quickly discovered the inquiry was real.
Sheriff Dutton said: 'I’m thinking, "Hey this is odd". I was looking around to see if there was someone outside my window playing a prank.'
However, he decided to play the part of the dealer and gathered more information by asking 'How much we talking?'
The teenager then wrote back, saying he was close to the dealer's home and wanted to complete the purchase.
Sheriff Dutton then saw the potential of intercepting the youngster, and contacted a detective from the Missouri River Drug Task Force who arranged to meet the teenager at a local business.
At the shop, the detective again phoned the teenager and when he saw a young man with another teenager and a man answer, he went over and showed his badge.
Sunday, September 05, 2010
WHY HUMANS ARE THE MOST CRUEL OF ALL ANIMALS
The stupidity notwithstanding, a more appropriate title would have been, "How cruel do you have to be to do this?" Bob would castrate this piece of shit. I would also cut his tits off. And what about the rest of the family? They’re all demented.
HOW STUPID DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO DO THIS?
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
September 3, 2010
A lot of people commit crimes. A disturbing number video themselves doing so. Not that many do that, then post the video on their own Facebook page.
Carter Livingston, 19, had his little sister, age 15, take a video of him hacking a possum to death with a meat cleaver. It took 44 hits, so that should tell you something about young Mr. Livingston.
Livingston’s 16-year old brother helped hold the animal steady with a rope around its neck. Two other younger siblings, 8 and 9, watched. Livingston then posted the video.
To no great surprise for anybody with an IQ above room temperature, somebody thought it was grotesque and illegal and ratted him out to the humane society and the cops. The Nevada County S O is looking at the case, and has seized the cleaver and the dead possum (why would anybody keep a dead possum?) as evidence. Livingston has been charged with felony animal cruelty. He is looking at a year and a considerable fine.
Personally, I think they should castrate him. People that stupid shouldn’t be allowed to breed.
Clicking here will link to a San Diego Union Tribune story on this subject.
HOW STUPID DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO DO THIS?
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
September 3, 2010
A lot of people commit crimes. A disturbing number video themselves doing so. Not that many do that, then post the video on their own Facebook page.
Carter Livingston, 19, had his little sister, age 15, take a video of him hacking a possum to death with a meat cleaver. It took 44 hits, so that should tell you something about young Mr. Livingston.
Livingston’s 16-year old brother helped hold the animal steady with a rope around its neck. Two other younger siblings, 8 and 9, watched. Livingston then posted the video.
To no great surprise for anybody with an IQ above room temperature, somebody thought it was grotesque and illegal and ratted him out to the humane society and the cops. The Nevada County S O is looking at the case, and has seized the cleaver and the dead possum (why would anybody keep a dead possum?) as evidence. Livingston has been charged with felony animal cruelty. He is looking at a year and a considerable fine.
Personally, I think they should castrate him. People that stupid shouldn’t be allowed to breed.
Clicking here will link to a San Diego Union Tribune story on this subject.
SNAKES ON A PLANE
I can see why the bag burst open, but seven years in prison? Poor Mr. Wong was only trying to make a sequel of the movie.
SMUGGLER’S BAG BURSTS OPEN AT AIRPORT… TO REVEAL 95 LIVE SNAKES
Mail Online
September 3, 2010
A Malaysian man admitted wildlife smuggling after his bag bursting with 95 live boa constrictors broke open on a luggage conveyor belt at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Keng Liang 'Anson' Wong, 52, who was previously convicted of wildlife trafficking in the US, was charged on Wednesday in a district court with exporting the endangered boas without a permit, said Shamsuddin Osman of Malaysia's wildlife department.
The offence carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison and a fine.
Wong was arrested on August 26 after airport authorities found the boa constrictors, together with a few other snakes and a turtle, when his bag broke open on a luggage conveyor belt.
Wong was on his way from Malaysia's northern Penang state to Indonesia's capital Jakarta.
The court will reconvene on Monday pending Wong's appointment of a lawyer, Shamsuddin said.
He said the criminal charges involve the boas only, because the other animals are not listed as endangered. All of the animals are alive and under the care of wildlife officials, Mr Shamsuddin said.
A decade ago Wong was sentenced to almost six years in prison in the US for running an animal-smuggling ring that prosecutors said imported and sold more than 300 protected reptiles native to Asia and Africa from 1996 until Wong's arrest in Mexico in 1998. It is unclear whether he served the full term.
Activists say the illegal wildlife trade used to flourish in Malaysia until the country recently stepped up efforts to crack down on it.
In July parliament passed a new law to punish poachers and smugglers more severely, but the act has not yet taken effect.
SMUGGLER’S BAG BURSTS OPEN AT AIRPORT… TO REVEAL 95 LIVE SNAKES
Mail Online
September 3, 2010
A Malaysian man admitted wildlife smuggling after his bag bursting with 95 live boa constrictors broke open on a luggage conveyor belt at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Keng Liang 'Anson' Wong, 52, who was previously convicted of wildlife trafficking in the US, was charged on Wednesday in a district court with exporting the endangered boas without a permit, said Shamsuddin Osman of Malaysia's wildlife department.
The offence carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison and a fine.
Wong was arrested on August 26 after airport authorities found the boa constrictors, together with a few other snakes and a turtle, when his bag broke open on a luggage conveyor belt.
Wong was on his way from Malaysia's northern Penang state to Indonesia's capital Jakarta.
The court will reconvene on Monday pending Wong's appointment of a lawyer, Shamsuddin said.
He said the criminal charges involve the boas only, because the other animals are not listed as endangered. All of the animals are alive and under the care of wildlife officials, Mr Shamsuddin said.
A decade ago Wong was sentenced to almost six years in prison in the US for running an animal-smuggling ring that prosecutors said imported and sold more than 300 protected reptiles native to Asia and Africa from 1996 until Wong's arrest in Mexico in 1998. It is unclear whether he served the full term.
Activists say the illegal wildlife trade used to flourish in Malaysia until the country recently stepped up efforts to crack down on it.
In July parliament passed a new law to punish poachers and smugglers more severely, but the act has not yet taken effect.
BUT OFFICER, WE WERE JUST HAVING A LITTLE FUN
There’s something terribly wrong with the law when they won’t reveal the identity of these murderers "because they are minors." Holy shit, they don’t need to be protected - we need to be protected from them!
YOUNGSTERS WILL FACE CAPITAL MURDER CHARGES
The 12- and 13-year-old are accused in the shooting deaths of Garland couple
By Linda Stewart Ball
Associated Press
September 3, 2010
DALLAS — A 13-year-old boy and his 12-year-old girlfriend will soon face capital murder charges in a Dallas-area double shooting after the second victim died, authorities said Friday.
Alan Nevil, 48, died Thursday night from wounds he suffered in an Aug. 17 attack that also killed his wife, Darlene Nevil, 46, Garland police spokesman Joe Harn said.
Alan Nevil was found bleeding on a neighbor's front yard. He told police who shot him, and authorities arrested the 13-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl within a quarter of a mile from the house, Harn said.
The children initially were charged with murder and aggravated assault in the shooting. Garland police said Friday in a statement they were working with the Dallas County District Attorney's office to upgrade those charges to capital murder.
For adults, the maximum sentence range is life in prison or death, in a capital murder case. But for juveniles, the maximum penalty is 40 years confinement in a Texas Youth Commission facility with a possible transfer to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said Durrand Hill, the head prosecutor in Dallas County's juvenile division.
At age 19, a juvenile could also be released from TYC on adult parole if they've been rehabilitated, he said.
"Homicide cases make up a very small percentage, less than 1 percent of the cases we prosecute in juvenile court," Hill said. "We're not seeking certification (as an adult) on this case. The law would not allow it."
A child must be at least 14 years old to stand trial as an adult, said Hill.
Hill said he anticipated that the upgraded capital murder charges against the youths would "happen very quickly," though he declined to speak in specifics about their case.
Police have declined to identify the children or reveal their relationship to the Nevils because they are minors.
They remain in custody at the Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center.
YOUNGSTERS WILL FACE CAPITAL MURDER CHARGES
The 12- and 13-year-old are accused in the shooting deaths of Garland couple
By Linda Stewart Ball
Associated Press
September 3, 2010
DALLAS — A 13-year-old boy and his 12-year-old girlfriend will soon face capital murder charges in a Dallas-area double shooting after the second victim died, authorities said Friday.
Alan Nevil, 48, died Thursday night from wounds he suffered in an Aug. 17 attack that also killed his wife, Darlene Nevil, 46, Garland police spokesman Joe Harn said.
Alan Nevil was found bleeding on a neighbor's front yard. He told police who shot him, and authorities arrested the 13-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl within a quarter of a mile from the house, Harn said.
The children initially were charged with murder and aggravated assault in the shooting. Garland police said Friday in a statement they were working with the Dallas County District Attorney's office to upgrade those charges to capital murder.
For adults, the maximum sentence range is life in prison or death, in a capital murder case. But for juveniles, the maximum penalty is 40 years confinement in a Texas Youth Commission facility with a possible transfer to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said Durrand Hill, the head prosecutor in Dallas County's juvenile division.
At age 19, a juvenile could also be released from TYC on adult parole if they've been rehabilitated, he said.
"Homicide cases make up a very small percentage, less than 1 percent of the cases we prosecute in juvenile court," Hill said. "We're not seeking certification (as an adult) on this case. The law would not allow it."
A child must be at least 14 years old to stand trial as an adult, said Hill.
Hill said he anticipated that the upgraded capital murder charges against the youths would "happen very quickly," though he declined to speak in specifics about their case.
Police have declined to identify the children or reveal their relationship to the Nevils because they are minors.
They remain in custody at the Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center.
Saturday, September 04, 2010
WHY I LOVE TEXAS
FIVE REASONS LABOR DAY MEANS NEXT TO NOTHING IN TEXAS
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
September 3, 2010
Labor Day weekend is almost upon us -- we can see you glancing at the clock, you know -- and lots of celebrations and events are planned.
It's great to have a long weekend, but whoever made Labor Day didn't have Texas in mind. Five reasons why:
1. IT SOUNDS VAGUELY COMMUNISTIC.
We don't cotton to such things. Why don't you just celebrate your May Day and be done with it? It also has echoes of "organized labor," and that phrase brings shudders to every self-respecting Texas businessman. If God had intended for labor to organize, He wouldn't have invented Texas businessmen.
2. SCHOOL'S ALREADY STARTED.
We start in mid-August here, due to the "Use More A/C Act" of 1975. Public utilities convinced everyone that education would improve greatly if electricity bills were higher.
3. SUMMER'S NOT OVER.
On the other hand, even if the Texas school year started in mid-October, they'd still be blasting the a/c. We get it, northerners: By the time Labor Day rolls around, the nights are getting a little chill to them and a melancholy feeling has begun to count down the last few remaining days of summer. Here in God's Country, we'll still be hitting highs of 94 for another month or so.
4. IF WE WANTED TO CELEBRATE A SEPTEMBER HOLIDAY, IT WOULD BE ON THE 24TH.
Why? Of course you don't know why. You don't live near the Texas Gulf Coast. If we can get to the 24th without a hurricane, we are good and clear for the rest of the year. That's something to celebrate, unlike your nice little "workmen's holiday."
5. WE GRILL ALL THE TIME HERE.
Up north, Labor Day is the last great chance to barbecue before the grill is put into storage. Wimps. Here we grill all year long. There may be a couple of winter days when you'd rather not go outside, but even then you can man up and throw on a jacket. Think of all the carcinogens you're missing, Yankees!!
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
September 3, 2010
Labor Day weekend is almost upon us -- we can see you glancing at the clock, you know -- and lots of celebrations and events are planned.
It's great to have a long weekend, but whoever made Labor Day didn't have Texas in mind. Five reasons why:
1. IT SOUNDS VAGUELY COMMUNISTIC.
We don't cotton to such things. Why don't you just celebrate your May Day and be done with it? It also has echoes of "organized labor," and that phrase brings shudders to every self-respecting Texas businessman. If God had intended for labor to organize, He wouldn't have invented Texas businessmen.
2. SCHOOL'S ALREADY STARTED.
We start in mid-August here, due to the "Use More A/C Act" of 1975. Public utilities convinced everyone that education would improve greatly if electricity bills were higher.
3. SUMMER'S NOT OVER.
On the other hand, even if the Texas school year started in mid-October, they'd still be blasting the a/c. We get it, northerners: By the time Labor Day rolls around, the nights are getting a little chill to them and a melancholy feeling has begun to count down the last few remaining days of summer. Here in God's Country, we'll still be hitting highs of 94 for another month or so.
4. IF WE WANTED TO CELEBRATE A SEPTEMBER HOLIDAY, IT WOULD BE ON THE 24TH.
Why? Of course you don't know why. You don't live near the Texas Gulf Coast. If we can get to the 24th without a hurricane, we are good and clear for the rest of the year. That's something to celebrate, unlike your nice little "workmen's holiday."
5. WE GRILL ALL THE TIME HERE.
Up north, Labor Day is the last great chance to barbecue before the grill is put into storage. Wimps. Here we grill all year long. There may be a couple of winter days when you'd rather not go outside, but even then you can man up and throw on a jacket. Think of all the carcinogens you're missing, Yankees!!
NO PEACE UNTIL THE ZIONIST ENTITY IS ELIMINATED AND PALESTINE IS LIBERATED
Obama and the ‘international community’ seem oblivious to the reality that the Palestinians continue to vow there can be no peace "until the Zionist entity is eliminated and Palestine is liberated."
Here are some excerpts from "Why These Talks Are Doomed" by Mona Charen, a column in Jewish World Review (9-3-10):
In the course of the past few months, the PA has named a square and a children's summer camp in honor of a terrorist who murdered 37 Israeli civilians on a bus, and provided a hero's funeral to Amin al-Hindi, one of the planners of the kidnapping and murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. The official PA newspaper described al-Hindi as "one of the stars ... who sparkled at the sports stadium in Munich." Both Mahmoud Abbas and [Prime Minister] Fayyad attended the funeral.
The entire Arab world (and Iran) has conspired to embitter and enrage the Palestinians in perpetuity, encouraging maximalist demands and enshrining bloodshed and frenzied hatred.
Though Abbas has shaken hands all around in Washington, D.C., the incitement at home continues. A year ago, at Fatah's general congress in Bethlehem, the delegates reaffirmed their longstanding commitment to "armed struggle" as "a strategy, not a tactic ... This struggle will not stop until the Zionist entity is eliminated and Palestine is liberated."
Just this week, the Palestinian Authority's minister for prisoners affairs presented an award called the Shield of Resoluteness and Giving to Um Yousuf Abu Hamid. Her accomplishment? Four of her sons are serving long sentences in Israeli prisons for committing terrorist attacks. Handing her the plaque, the minister intoned, "The Palestinian mother is a central partner in the struggle, by virtue of what she has given and continues to give. It is she who gave birth to the fighters, and she deserves that we bow to her in salute and in honor."
A Palestinian children's television program instructs its viewers that all Israeli cities - including Haifa, Lod, Ramle, and Acre — are "occupied Palestinian" cities. Another show aimed at children, which often dispenses advice like "drink your milk" and "obey your parents," also advised a young viewer named Saraa that "all Jews must be erased from our land ... "We want to slaughter them, Saraa, so they will be expelled from our land ... we'll have to (do it) by slaughter."
This latest iteration of Israeli/Palestinian peace talks midwived by the U.S. is doomed just as all of its predecessors were - because it is based on a fallacy and a stubborn refusal to face the truth about Palestinian society.
Here are some excerpts from "Why These Talks Are Doomed" by Mona Charen, a column in Jewish World Review (9-3-10):
In the course of the past few months, the PA has named a square and a children's summer camp in honor of a terrorist who murdered 37 Israeli civilians on a bus, and provided a hero's funeral to Amin al-Hindi, one of the planners of the kidnapping and murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. The official PA newspaper described al-Hindi as "one of the stars ... who sparkled at the sports stadium in Munich." Both Mahmoud Abbas and [Prime Minister] Fayyad attended the funeral.
The entire Arab world (and Iran) has conspired to embitter and enrage the Palestinians in perpetuity, encouraging maximalist demands and enshrining bloodshed and frenzied hatred.
Though Abbas has shaken hands all around in Washington, D.C., the incitement at home continues. A year ago, at Fatah's general congress in Bethlehem, the delegates reaffirmed their longstanding commitment to "armed struggle" as "a strategy, not a tactic ... This struggle will not stop until the Zionist entity is eliminated and Palestine is liberated."
Just this week, the Palestinian Authority's minister for prisoners affairs presented an award called the Shield of Resoluteness and Giving to Um Yousuf Abu Hamid. Her accomplishment? Four of her sons are serving long sentences in Israeli prisons for committing terrorist attacks. Handing her the plaque, the minister intoned, "The Palestinian mother is a central partner in the struggle, by virtue of what she has given and continues to give. It is she who gave birth to the fighters, and she deserves that we bow to her in salute and in honor."
A Palestinian children's television program instructs its viewers that all Israeli cities - including Haifa, Lod, Ramle, and Acre — are "occupied Palestinian" cities. Another show aimed at children, which often dispenses advice like "drink your milk" and "obey your parents," also advised a young viewer named Saraa that "all Jews must be erased from our land ... "We want to slaughter them, Saraa, so they will be expelled from our land ... we'll have to (do it) by slaughter."
This latest iteration of Israeli/Palestinian peace talks midwived by the U.S. is doomed just as all of its predecessors were - because it is based on a fallacy and a stubborn refusal to face the truth about Palestinian society.
THE PLANET DOES NOT NEED HUMANS
Al Gore’s global warming film, "An Inconvenient Truth," drove him bonkers.
LEFT-WING NUTCASE
By Monica Crowley
Politicalmavens.com
September 3, 2010
An environmental militant named James Lee stormed the building housing the Discovery Channel, armed with explosives, and took several people hostage. After a standoff, police shot and killed the man and the hostages were freed unharmed.
He had been a militant environmentalist for a while, posting his environmental and population-control demands online in something of a "manifesto." In it, he wrote:
"I want Discovery Communications to broadcast on their channels to the world their new program lineup and I want proof they are doing so. I want the new shows started by asking the public for inventive solution ideas to save the planet and the remaining wildlife on it," the alleged manifesto reads, adding:
"Nothing is more important than saving … the Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Elephants, Froggies, Turtles, Apes, Raccoons, Beetles, Ants, Sharks, Bears, and, of course, the Squirrels. The humans? The planet does not need humans."
Saving the beetles?
The world does not need humans?
Well, today the world has one less human. Maybe Mr. Lee thought he was doing his environmental duty.
He also luxuriated in Al Gore’s hysterical environmental tall tale, "An Inconvenient Truth," claiming he experienced an "awakening" when he saw it.
Press reaction was interesting: THERE WASN’T ANY. No reports that this was a FAR-LEFT wacko with an extreme liberal agenda. You just know that the lamestream media was dying—dying!—to report that this was a Tea Party guy who forced himself into the building with guns blazing.
But because it was a Far-Left nut, the lamestream media is as quiet as a church mouse.
LEFT-WING NUTCASE
By Monica Crowley
Politicalmavens.com
September 3, 2010
An environmental militant named James Lee stormed the building housing the Discovery Channel, armed with explosives, and took several people hostage. After a standoff, police shot and killed the man and the hostages were freed unharmed.
He had been a militant environmentalist for a while, posting his environmental and population-control demands online in something of a "manifesto." In it, he wrote:
"I want Discovery Communications to broadcast on their channels to the world their new program lineup and I want proof they are doing so. I want the new shows started by asking the public for inventive solution ideas to save the planet and the remaining wildlife on it," the alleged manifesto reads, adding:
"Nothing is more important than saving … the Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Elephants, Froggies, Turtles, Apes, Raccoons, Beetles, Ants, Sharks, Bears, and, of course, the Squirrels. The humans? The planet does not need humans."
Saving the beetles?
The world does not need humans?
Well, today the world has one less human. Maybe Mr. Lee thought he was doing his environmental duty.
He also luxuriated in Al Gore’s hysterical environmental tall tale, "An Inconvenient Truth," claiming he experienced an "awakening" when he saw it.
Press reaction was interesting: THERE WASN’T ANY. No reports that this was a FAR-LEFT wacko with an extreme liberal agenda. You just know that the lamestream media was dying—dying!—to report that this was a Tea Party guy who forced himself into the building with guns blazing.
But because it was a Far-Left nut, the lamestream media is as quiet as a church mouse.
Friday, September 03, 2010
BLAME BUSH
Fred fucked up my bedbug joke [TERRORIST ARRESTED FOR UNLEASHING WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION AGAINST THE GREAT SATAN (9-1-10)] with these comments:
Let's take a moment on this day that President Obama declares an end to military action, to remember what George W. Bush's "comma" looks like:
4,420 Number of American soldiers killed
31,926 Number of American soldiers wounded
100,000 Number of Iraqi citizens killed
2,255,000 Number of Iraqi citizens displaced
$900 Billion Cost of Iraq war as of July 2010
0 Number of weapons of mass destruction found
0 Number of mobile biological labs found
0 Number of canisters of Anthraz [sic] found
0 Number of canisters of biological weapons found
So as we thank our soldiers for their sacrifice and welcome them home, let's remember those that were killed, wounded, and their families, as we also remember George Bush's comma.
Here was my response:
__You forgot to blame Bush for the bedbugs! And why not blame him for the record heat, BP (might as well call it Bush Petroleum), Hurricane Earle, the volcanic eruption in Indonesia, etc.?
One thing that really frosts me about Fred’s 'Bush-Bashing' is that he lists the numbers of our troops killed and wounded during the Iraq War in an obvious attempt to hold the former president personally responsible for their deaths and wounds. Blaming Bush for these casualties of war when a Democrat controlled congress voted for and funded this war is just plain downright lowdown!
I am fully aware of what a great personal loss and deep impact the families of our fallen soldiers experience. Shit, two dear friends, Frank and Jeannine Miller - both former Houston police officers – tragically lost their only son, a 19-year-old third-generation Marine, when Ryan was killed in action while on patrol in Barwanah, Iraq.
Be that as it may, every one of our troops in Iraq volunteered to serve in our armed forces. They weren’t drafted and they knew they weren’t signing up for the Boy Scouts or the Salvation Army. Our armed forces, as well as those of any other country, are trained and exist to wage war – to kill or to be killed. Whether or not we should have gone to war with Iraq is really irrelevant.
The Iraq War lasted seven years. Let’s put our losses in perspective by comparing the Iraq War to a single battle in World War II.
The battle of Iwo Jima, a small Pacific island defended by some 22,000 Japanese soldiers, lasted 35 days, starting on February 19,1945 and ending on March 25, 1945. During those 35 days, 6, 821 Americans were killed and 19,217 were wounded. 2,400 Marines were killed on the very first day, including two of my high school buddies.
4,420 killed during seven years. 6,821 killed in 35 days. 31,926 wounded during seven years. 19,217 wounded in 35 days. While I do not mean to minimize our casualties in Iraq, I will have to say that our losses over a seven-year period were quite low.
Now let me get back to Fred’s smear of Bush. Even Oliver Stone, in his 2008 film "W", did not trash Bush the way Fred and his fellow Democrats continue to do. Fred's comments started a back-and-forth discourse between my conservative friends and this ‘yellow dog’ Democrat. My question is: How much longer are the Democrats and Obama going to keep on blaming Bush for everything imaginable. While I can find significant fault with his presidency, WHAT I BLAME BUSH MOST FOR IS OBAMA!
Let's take a moment on this day that President Obama declares an end to military action, to remember what George W. Bush's "comma" looks like:
4,420 Number of American soldiers killed
31,926 Number of American soldiers wounded
100,000 Number of Iraqi citizens killed
2,255,000 Number of Iraqi citizens displaced
$900 Billion Cost of Iraq war as of July 2010
0 Number of weapons of mass destruction found
0 Number of mobile biological labs found
0 Number of canisters of Anthraz [sic] found
0 Number of canisters of biological weapons found
So as we thank our soldiers for their sacrifice and welcome them home, let's remember those that were killed, wounded, and their families, as we also remember George Bush's comma.
Here was my response:
__You forgot to blame Bush for the bedbugs! And why not blame him for the record heat, BP (might as well call it Bush Petroleum), Hurricane Earle, the volcanic eruption in Indonesia, etc.?
One thing that really frosts me about Fred’s 'Bush-Bashing' is that he lists the numbers of our troops killed and wounded during the Iraq War in an obvious attempt to hold the former president personally responsible for their deaths and wounds. Blaming Bush for these casualties of war when a Democrat controlled congress voted for and funded this war is just plain downright lowdown!
I am fully aware of what a great personal loss and deep impact the families of our fallen soldiers experience. Shit, two dear friends, Frank and Jeannine Miller - both former Houston police officers – tragically lost their only son, a 19-year-old third-generation Marine, when Ryan was killed in action while on patrol in Barwanah, Iraq.
Be that as it may, every one of our troops in Iraq volunteered to serve in our armed forces. They weren’t drafted and they knew they weren’t signing up for the Boy Scouts or the Salvation Army. Our armed forces, as well as those of any other country, are trained and exist to wage war – to kill or to be killed. Whether or not we should have gone to war with Iraq is really irrelevant.
The Iraq War lasted seven years. Let’s put our losses in perspective by comparing the Iraq War to a single battle in World War II.
The battle of Iwo Jima, a small Pacific island defended by some 22,000 Japanese soldiers, lasted 35 days, starting on February 19,1945 and ending on March 25, 1945. During those 35 days, 6, 821 Americans were killed and 19,217 were wounded. 2,400 Marines were killed on the very first day, including two of my high school buddies.
4,420 killed during seven years. 6,821 killed in 35 days. 31,926 wounded during seven years. 19,217 wounded in 35 days. While I do not mean to minimize our casualties in Iraq, I will have to say that our losses over a seven-year period were quite low.
Now let me get back to Fred’s smear of Bush. Even Oliver Stone, in his 2008 film "W", did not trash Bush the way Fred and his fellow Democrats continue to do. Fred's comments started a back-and-forth discourse between my conservative friends and this ‘yellow dog’ Democrat. My question is: How much longer are the Democrats and Obama going to keep on blaming Bush for everything imaginable. While I can find significant fault with his presidency, WHAT I BLAME BUSH MOST FOR IS OBAMA!
AFGHANISTAN: A HISTORY OF DEATH AND VIOLENCE
Now that the Obama administration has ended the combat phase of the Iraq War, its next disengagement is the promised deadline of July 2011 to begin the drawdown of combat forces in Afghanistan. "Militancy and the U.S. Drawdown in Afghanistan" by Scott Stewart is a detailed analysis of that country’s insurgencies from Stratfor Global Intelligence (9-2-10). Stewart’s analysis is divided into (1) A Tradition of Militancy, (2) Foreign Influence, and (3) A History of Death and Violence.
Stewart’s analysis indicates that our strategy in Afghanistan is doomed to fail because that country is so dissimilar from Iraq. Here is the last section of his Stratfor Global Intelligence report:
It may seem counterintuitive, but following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the casualties from militancy in the country declined considerably. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies Armed Conflict Database, the fatalities due to armed conflict in Afghanistan fell from an estimated 10,000 a year prior to the invasion to 4,000 in 2002 and 1,000 by 2004. Even as the Taliban began to regroup in 2005 and the number of fatalities began to move upward, by 2009 (the last year for which the institute offers data) the total was only 7,140, still well-under the pre-invasion death tolls (though admittedly far greater than at the ebb of the insurgency in 2004).
Still, even with death tolls rising, the U.S. invasion has not produced anywhere near the estimated 1 million deaths that resulted during the Soviet occupation. The Soviets and their Afghan allies were not concerned about conducting a hearts-and-minds campaign. Indeed, their efforts were more akin to a scorched-earth strategy complete with attacks directed against the population. This strategy also resulted in millions of refugees fleeing Afghanistan for Pakistan and Iran and badly disrupted the tribal structure in much of Afghanistan. This massive disruption of the societal structure helped lead to a state of widespread anarchy that later led many Afghans to see the Taliban as saviors.
Following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, the communist government in Kabul was able to survive for three more years, backed heavily with Soviet arms, but these years were again marked by heavy casualties. When the communist government fell in 1992, the warlords who had opposed the government attempted to form a power-sharing agreement to govern Afghanistan, but all the factions could not reach a consensus and another civil war broke out, this time among the various anti-communist Afghan warlords vying for control of the country. During this period, Kabul was repeatedly shelled and the bloodshed continued. Neither the Soviet departure nor the fall of the communist regime ended the carnage.
With the rise of the Taliban, the violence began to diminish in many parts of the country, though the fighting remained fierce and tens of thousands of people were killed as the Taliban tried to exert control over the country. The Taliban were still engaged in a protracted and bloody civil war against the Northern Alliance when the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001. During the initial invasion, very few U.S. troops were actually on the ground. The United States used the Northern Alliance as the main ground-force element, along with U.S. air power and special operations forces, and was able to remove the Taliban from power in short order. It is important to remember that the Taliban was never really defeated on the battlefield. Once they realized that they were no match for U.S. air power in a conventional war, they declined battle and faded away to launch their insurgency.
Today, the forces collectively referred to as the Taliban in Afghanistan are not all part of one hierarchical organization under the leadership of Mullah Mohammad Omar. Although Mullah Omar is the dominant force and is without peer among Afghan insurgent leaders, there are a number of local and regional militant commanders who are fighting against the U.S. occupation beside the Taliban and who have post-U.S. occupation interests that diverge from those of the Taliban. Such groups are opportunists rather than hardcore Taliban and they might fight against Mullah Omar’s Taliban if he and his militants come to power in Kabul, especially if an outside power manipulates, funds and arms them — and outside powers will certainly be seeking to do so. The United States has tried to peel away the more independent factions from the wider Taliban "movement" but has had little success, mainly because the faction leaders see that the United States is going to disengage and that the Taliban will be a force to be reckoned with in the aftermath.
Once U.S. and ISAF forces withdraw from Afghanistan, then, it is quite likely that Afghanistan will again fall into a period of civil war, as the Taliban attempt to defeat the Karzai government, as the United States tries to support it and as other outside powers such as Pakistan, Russia and Iran try to gain influence through their proxies in the country.
The only thing that can really prevent this civil war from occurring is a total defeat of the Taliban and other militants in the country or some sort of political settlement. With the sheer size of the Taliban and its many factions, and the fact that many factions are receiving shelter and support from patrons in Pakistan and Iran, it is simply not possible for the U.S. military to completely destroy them before the Americans begin to withdraw next summer. This will result in a tremendous amount of pressure on the Americans to find a political solution to the problem. At this time, the Taliban simply don’t feel pressured to come to the negotiating table — especially with the U.S. drawdown in sight.
And even if a political settlement is somehow reached, not everyone will be pleased with it. Certainly, the outside manipulation in Afghanistan will continue, as will the fighting, as it has for centuries.
Stewart’s analysis indicates that our strategy in Afghanistan is doomed to fail because that country is so dissimilar from Iraq. Here is the last section of his Stratfor Global Intelligence report:
It may seem counterintuitive, but following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the casualties from militancy in the country declined considerably. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies Armed Conflict Database, the fatalities due to armed conflict in Afghanistan fell from an estimated 10,000 a year prior to the invasion to 4,000 in 2002 and 1,000 by 2004. Even as the Taliban began to regroup in 2005 and the number of fatalities began to move upward, by 2009 (the last year for which the institute offers data) the total was only 7,140, still well-under the pre-invasion death tolls (though admittedly far greater than at the ebb of the insurgency in 2004).
Still, even with death tolls rising, the U.S. invasion has not produced anywhere near the estimated 1 million deaths that resulted during the Soviet occupation. The Soviets and their Afghan allies were not concerned about conducting a hearts-and-minds campaign. Indeed, their efforts were more akin to a scorched-earth strategy complete with attacks directed against the population. This strategy also resulted in millions of refugees fleeing Afghanistan for Pakistan and Iran and badly disrupted the tribal structure in much of Afghanistan. This massive disruption of the societal structure helped lead to a state of widespread anarchy that later led many Afghans to see the Taliban as saviors.
Following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, the communist government in Kabul was able to survive for three more years, backed heavily with Soviet arms, but these years were again marked by heavy casualties. When the communist government fell in 1992, the warlords who had opposed the government attempted to form a power-sharing agreement to govern Afghanistan, but all the factions could not reach a consensus and another civil war broke out, this time among the various anti-communist Afghan warlords vying for control of the country. During this period, Kabul was repeatedly shelled and the bloodshed continued. Neither the Soviet departure nor the fall of the communist regime ended the carnage.
With the rise of the Taliban, the violence began to diminish in many parts of the country, though the fighting remained fierce and tens of thousands of people were killed as the Taliban tried to exert control over the country. The Taliban were still engaged in a protracted and bloody civil war against the Northern Alliance when the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001. During the initial invasion, very few U.S. troops were actually on the ground. The United States used the Northern Alliance as the main ground-force element, along with U.S. air power and special operations forces, and was able to remove the Taliban from power in short order. It is important to remember that the Taliban was never really defeated on the battlefield. Once they realized that they were no match for U.S. air power in a conventional war, they declined battle and faded away to launch their insurgency.
Today, the forces collectively referred to as the Taliban in Afghanistan are not all part of one hierarchical organization under the leadership of Mullah Mohammad Omar. Although Mullah Omar is the dominant force and is without peer among Afghan insurgent leaders, there are a number of local and regional militant commanders who are fighting against the U.S. occupation beside the Taliban and who have post-U.S. occupation interests that diverge from those of the Taliban. Such groups are opportunists rather than hardcore Taliban and they might fight against Mullah Omar’s Taliban if he and his militants come to power in Kabul, especially if an outside power manipulates, funds and arms them — and outside powers will certainly be seeking to do so. The United States has tried to peel away the more independent factions from the wider Taliban "movement" but has had little success, mainly because the faction leaders see that the United States is going to disengage and that the Taliban will be a force to be reckoned with in the aftermath.
Once U.S. and ISAF forces withdraw from Afghanistan, then, it is quite likely that Afghanistan will again fall into a period of civil war, as the Taliban attempt to defeat the Karzai government, as the United States tries to support it and as other outside powers such as Pakistan, Russia and Iran try to gain influence through their proxies in the country.
The only thing that can really prevent this civil war from occurring is a total defeat of the Taliban and other militants in the country or some sort of political settlement. With the sheer size of the Taliban and its many factions, and the fact that many factions are receiving shelter and support from patrons in Pakistan and Iran, it is simply not possible for the U.S. military to completely destroy them before the Americans begin to withdraw next summer. This will result in a tremendous amount of pressure on the Americans to find a political solution to the problem. At this time, the Taliban simply don’t feel pressured to come to the negotiating table — especially with the U.S. drawdown in sight.
And even if a political settlement is somehow reached, not everyone will be pleased with it. Certainly, the outside manipulation in Afghanistan will continue, as will the fighting, as it has for centuries.
FOUR GREAT RELIGIOUS TRUTHS
During these serious and trying times, people of all faiths should remember these four great religious truths:
1. Muslims do not recognize Jews as God's chosen people.
2. Jews do not recognize Christ as the Messiah.
3. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian world.
4. Baptists do not recognize each other at Hooters or the Liquor Store.
1. Muslims do not recognize Jews as God's chosen people.
2. Jews do not recognize Christ as the Messiah.
3. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian world.
4. Baptists do not recognize each other at Hooters or the Liquor Store.
Thursday, September 02, 2010
IT'S THE COP WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN BANNED
If I had been the mall manager, I would have banned the cop from the mall for 10 years.
LATASHA CONNOR: CINNABON ENTHUSIASM GETS 10-YEAR BAN FROM MALL
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
September 1, 2010
Fox 26 has the story of Latasha Connor, who likes movies at Deerbrook Mall, and Cinnabons at Deerbrook Mall.
Who doesn't?
Connor might have been too enthusiastic about her Cinnabon love, though -- she got a citation from a [city of] Humble cop and was banned from the mall for 10 years. Her crime? "Failure to produce ID," according to the citation.
That is some harsh mall-copping right there.
Connor says she was going to a movie at Deerbrook and stopped to get a Cinnabon. After the movie, the Cinnabon urge hit again.
She went to the food court and said "Hey Marquise, what's going on? Time for another Cinnabon. I'm back." (WHen you know your Cinnabon dealer by his first name....)
She says a Humble cop approached her and said she was too loud and asked for ID. She didn't have any but gave her name and address and date of birth.
It took 15 minutes or so, she said, until a mall cop could be summoned, and that's when she got the citation which announced she was banned from the mall for 10 years.
Mall cops!! FEEL THEIR POWER!!!
After Fox contacted the mall, management rescinded the banning, which is awfully nice of them.
LATASHA CONNOR: CINNABON ENTHUSIASM GETS 10-YEAR BAN FROM MALL
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
September 1, 2010
Fox 26 has the story of Latasha Connor, who likes movies at Deerbrook Mall, and Cinnabons at Deerbrook Mall.
Who doesn't?
Connor might have been too enthusiastic about her Cinnabon love, though -- she got a citation from a [city of] Humble cop and was banned from the mall for 10 years. Her crime? "Failure to produce ID," according to the citation.
That is some harsh mall-copping right there.
Connor says she was going to a movie at Deerbrook and stopped to get a Cinnabon. After the movie, the Cinnabon urge hit again.
She went to the food court and said "Hey Marquise, what's going on? Time for another Cinnabon. I'm back." (WHen you know your Cinnabon dealer by his first name....)
She says a Humble cop approached her and said she was too loud and asked for ID. She didn't have any but gave her name and address and date of birth.
It took 15 minutes or so, she said, until a mall cop could be summoned, and that's when she got the citation which announced she was banned from the mall for 10 years.
Mall cops!! FEEL THEIR POWER!!!
After Fox contacted the mall, management rescinded the banning, which is awfully nice of them.
NO BLESSING FOR THE DUCK
JOSEPH ROUSE: PRIEST THREATENS TO BOMB AFLAC OVER CUSTOMER SERVICE
By Craig Malisow
Houston Press Hair Balls
August 31, 2010
It's always refreshing to read about a priest who's not accused of diddling little boys, so it was a treat to learn that retired Houston priest John Rouse is only accused of...threatening to bomb an insurance company if it didn't process his claim fast enough.
Rouse pleaded not guilty in a Georgia federal court last week; according to the indictment, Rouse's May 24 call to Aflac (that supplemental insurance company whose mascot is an accident-prone, possibly feeble-minded duck) "contained a threat to injure; specifically, the defendant threatened to bring a shotgun or a bomb to [the customer service rep's] place of business because he was dissatisfied with the service he was receiving."
But really, who hasn't said such things in the course of a business call?
According to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, an FBI officer's affidavit states that the retired Catholic priest allegedly "made a bomb threat and suggested he'd fly a plane" into Aflac's offices. When the customer representative alerted a supervisor, Rouse allegedly reached down deeper into his inner Rambo and warned he "would come packing" if Aflac didn't process his claim within a day. Rouse was arrested at home three days later.
We don't know why Rouse simply wouldn't have said he's tight with the Heavenly Father and whatnot, but maybe he just didn't want to play the catechism card.
Rouse's Houston attorney, Douglas McNabb, told Hair Balls he hadn't yet listened to a recording of the call but is prepared to go to trial. (No trial date has been set). Rouse is free on bond; if convicted, he faces a five-year maximum in prison.
"At this point, it's very, very early in the process," McNabb said.
We left a message for Rouse but haven't heard back. Of course, if these allegations are true, that's probably good for our sake.
By Craig Malisow
Houston Press Hair Balls
August 31, 2010
It's always refreshing to read about a priest who's not accused of diddling little boys, so it was a treat to learn that retired Houston priest John Rouse is only accused of...threatening to bomb an insurance company if it didn't process his claim fast enough.
Rouse pleaded not guilty in a Georgia federal court last week; according to the indictment, Rouse's May 24 call to Aflac (that supplemental insurance company whose mascot is an accident-prone, possibly feeble-minded duck) "contained a threat to injure; specifically, the defendant threatened to bring a shotgun or a bomb to [the customer service rep's] place of business because he was dissatisfied with the service he was receiving."
But really, who hasn't said such things in the course of a business call?
According to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, an FBI officer's affidavit states that the retired Catholic priest allegedly "made a bomb threat and suggested he'd fly a plane" into Aflac's offices. When the customer representative alerted a supervisor, Rouse allegedly reached down deeper into his inner Rambo and warned he "would come packing" if Aflac didn't process his claim within a day. Rouse was arrested at home three days later.
We don't know why Rouse simply wouldn't have said he's tight with the Heavenly Father and whatnot, but maybe he just didn't want to play the catechism card.
Rouse's Houston attorney, Douglas McNabb, told Hair Balls he hadn't yet listened to a recording of the call but is prepared to go to trial. (No trial date has been set). Rouse is free on bond; if convicted, he faces a five-year maximum in prison.
"At this point, it's very, very early in the process," McNabb said.
We left a message for Rouse but haven't heard back. Of course, if these allegations are true, that's probably good for our sake.
KOOKFORNIA DOCTOR DIES WHILE IN HEAT
She was either in heat or her lover must have had a monstrous dick, or both.
BODY OF DOCTOR FOUND INSIDE CHIMNEY AFTER SHE TRIED TO BREAK INTO BOYFRIEND’S HOME
Mail Online
September 1, 2010
A doctor involved in an on-off relationship has died after apparently trying to force her way into her boyfriend's home by sliding down the chimney.
Dr Jacquelyn Kotarac, 49, first tried to get into the house with a shovel, then climbed a ladder to the roof, removed the chimney cap and slid feet first down the flue.
Her decomposing body was found there three days later, Bakersfield police sergeant Mary DeGeare confirmed.
Authorities said that while she was trying to break in, the man she was in a relationship with escaped unnoticed from another exit 'to avoid a confrontation'.
William Moodie, 58, described their relationship as 'on-again, off-again', but refused to comment on the circumstances surrounding her death.
He said: 'She made an unbelievable error in judgement and nobody understands why, and unfortunately she's passed away.
'She had her issues - she had her demons - but I never lost my respect for her.'
Mr Moodie, who lives in Bakersfield, California and runs an engineering consulting firm, said Dr Kotarac often provided service and medication free of charge to her patients.
Dr Kotarac apparently died in the chimney, but her body was not discovered until a house-sitter noticed a smell and fluids coming from the fireplace on Saturday.
The house-sitter and her son investigated with a torch and found Dr Kotarac's body wedged around 2ft above the interior fireplace opening.
Firefighters spent five hours dismantling the chimney and flue from outside the home to extract her body.
Officials said her office staff reported her missing two days before when she failed to show up for work. Her car and belongings remained near the Mr Moodie's house.
A cause of death has not been determined. Foul play is not suspected, although investigators are treating it as suspicious.
BODY OF DOCTOR FOUND INSIDE CHIMNEY AFTER SHE TRIED TO BREAK INTO BOYFRIEND’S HOME
Mail Online
September 1, 2010
A doctor involved in an on-off relationship has died after apparently trying to force her way into her boyfriend's home by sliding down the chimney.
Dr Jacquelyn Kotarac, 49, first tried to get into the house with a shovel, then climbed a ladder to the roof, removed the chimney cap and slid feet first down the flue.
Her decomposing body was found there three days later, Bakersfield police sergeant Mary DeGeare confirmed.
Authorities said that while she was trying to break in, the man she was in a relationship with escaped unnoticed from another exit 'to avoid a confrontation'.
William Moodie, 58, described their relationship as 'on-again, off-again', but refused to comment on the circumstances surrounding her death.
He said: 'She made an unbelievable error in judgement and nobody understands why, and unfortunately she's passed away.
'She had her issues - she had her demons - but I never lost my respect for her.'
Mr Moodie, who lives in Bakersfield, California and runs an engineering consulting firm, said Dr Kotarac often provided service and medication free of charge to her patients.
Dr Kotarac apparently died in the chimney, but her body was not discovered until a house-sitter noticed a smell and fluids coming from the fireplace on Saturday.
The house-sitter and her son investigated with a torch and found Dr Kotarac's body wedged around 2ft above the interior fireplace opening.
Firefighters spent five hours dismantling the chimney and flue from outside the home to extract her body.
Officials said her office staff reported her missing two days before when she failed to show up for work. Her car and belongings remained near the Mr Moodie's house.
A cause of death has not been determined. Foul play is not suspected, although investigators are treating it as suspicious.
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
TERRORIST ARRESTED FOR UNLEASHING WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION AGAINST THE GREAT SATAN
BROKEN NEWS
In a joint news conference with FBI Director Robert Mueller, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the arrest of Ahmed Muhammad Mustafa al Ibaba of Chicago for a terrorist attack against the United States. After a 14-month FBI investigation, al Ibaba stands charged with unleashing biological weapons of mass destruction, to wit: bedbug bombs.
al Ibaba, 43, who was born Willie Washington Smith, was a long-time member of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s church before he converted to Islam three years ago. 16 months ago he returned to the U.S. after spending a year in Pakistan where he admittedly joined up with Al-Qaeda.
FBI agents searched al Ibaba’s home and were seen removing several boxes of evidence. Director Mueller announced that al Ibaba’s laptop computer contained personal instructions from Osama bin Laden to unleash a ‘bedbug infestation against the Great Satan.’ Mueller noted that the 'Bedbug Bomber' began his terrorist attack in New York shortly after his return from Pakistan. al Ibaba then went on to set off more bedbug bombs in Philadelphia, Detroit and other major cities across the country.
Holder and Mueller expressed considerable concern that the infestation of bedbugs will be spread across the country by unsuspecting travelers. They went on to assure the public that the full weight and force of the U.S. government will be brought to bear down on the bedbugs. Holder and Mueller also promised that Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda would pay dearly for unleashing these biological weapons of mass destruction on our cities.
When asked why Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was not present for the news conference and how DHS failed to detect the bedbug bombs when al Ibaba reentered the country, both replied "No comment." And when asked if there might be other Al-Qaeda bedbug bombers out there, Holder and Mueller would only say that the investigation was ongoing.
When arrested, Ahmed Muhammad Mustafa al Ibaba shouted ‘Allah Akbar, death to the Great Satan’ over and over again until FBI agent Abe Goldberg informed him of his right to remain silent and smacked him upside the head with a piece of two-by-four. Goldberg was then heard to utter, 'FBI Akbar!'
In a joint news conference with FBI Director Robert Mueller, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the arrest of Ahmed Muhammad Mustafa al Ibaba of Chicago for a terrorist attack against the United States. After a 14-month FBI investigation, al Ibaba stands charged with unleashing biological weapons of mass destruction, to wit: bedbug bombs.
al Ibaba, 43, who was born Willie Washington Smith, was a long-time member of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s church before he converted to Islam three years ago. 16 months ago he returned to the U.S. after spending a year in Pakistan where he admittedly joined up with Al-Qaeda.
FBI agents searched al Ibaba’s home and were seen removing several boxes of evidence. Director Mueller announced that al Ibaba’s laptop computer contained personal instructions from Osama bin Laden to unleash a ‘bedbug infestation against the Great Satan.’ Mueller noted that the 'Bedbug Bomber' began his terrorist attack in New York shortly after his return from Pakistan. al Ibaba then went on to set off more bedbug bombs in Philadelphia, Detroit and other major cities across the country.
Holder and Mueller expressed considerable concern that the infestation of bedbugs will be spread across the country by unsuspecting travelers. They went on to assure the public that the full weight and force of the U.S. government will be brought to bear down on the bedbugs. Holder and Mueller also promised that Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda would pay dearly for unleashing these biological weapons of mass destruction on our cities.
When asked why Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was not present for the news conference and how DHS failed to detect the bedbug bombs when al Ibaba reentered the country, both replied "No comment." And when asked if there might be other Al-Qaeda bedbug bombers out there, Holder and Mueller would only say that the investigation was ongoing.
When arrested, Ahmed Muhammad Mustafa al Ibaba shouted ‘Allah Akbar, death to the Great Satan’ over and over again until FBI agent Abe Goldberg informed him of his right to remain silent and smacked him upside the head with a piece of two-by-four. Goldberg was then heard to utter, 'FBI Akbar!'
HE MUST HAVE THOUGHT WENDY'S BURGERS WERE SHITTY
GREGORY CHAMBERS: POPPED FOR SMEARING POOP ON SEAWALL BURGER JOINT
By John Nova Lomax
Houston Press Hair Balls
August 31, 2010
Here's the poop on a low-down crime, a mystery worthy of Scooby Poo...
Just who was that incontinent miscreant who has spent much of this long hot summer by creeping down to the Wendy's on Galveston's Seawall in the wee hours and smearing human crap all over the doors and windows?
And what would possess someone to do such a thing?
Employees on the morning shift had arrived to find their restaurant soiled over and over again. Finally, they persuaded the police to stake the place out.
Two plainclothes cops in an unmarked car arrived at 3 a.m. yesterday, anticipating a long boring night ahead. What they found instead was another crime scene -- the doody-vandal had already struck!
Garbage had been shoveled out of all the dumpsters and strewn all over the parking lot. And no, that was not the remnants of a Frosty streaking the windows -- the loose-boweled lowlife had struck again.
At first, the cops believed they were too late. The dirty deed had already been done, after all, but they soon came upon a bicycle hidden in the shadows. And right after that, they found the bike's owner -- 46-year-old Gregory Allen Chambers -- lurking in the shadows too.
Chambers is a part-time employee of the Wendy's in question, and his sister is a manager there, so there's your likely motive: sibling rivalry.
Police say he admitted to the smear campaign, and he has been charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief. His prior record includes arrests for deadly conduct, domestic violence, terroristic threats, trespassing and drugs.
By John Nova Lomax
Houston Press Hair Balls
August 31, 2010
Here's the poop on a low-down crime, a mystery worthy of Scooby Poo...
Just who was that incontinent miscreant who has spent much of this long hot summer by creeping down to the Wendy's on Galveston's Seawall in the wee hours and smearing human crap all over the doors and windows?
And what would possess someone to do such a thing?
Employees on the morning shift had arrived to find their restaurant soiled over and over again. Finally, they persuaded the police to stake the place out.
Two plainclothes cops in an unmarked car arrived at 3 a.m. yesterday, anticipating a long boring night ahead. What they found instead was another crime scene -- the doody-vandal had already struck!
Garbage had been shoveled out of all the dumpsters and strewn all over the parking lot. And no, that was not the remnants of a Frosty streaking the windows -- the loose-boweled lowlife had struck again.
At first, the cops believed they were too late. The dirty deed had already been done, after all, but they soon came upon a bicycle hidden in the shadows. And right after that, they found the bike's owner -- 46-year-old Gregory Allen Chambers -- lurking in the shadows too.
Chambers is a part-time employee of the Wendy's in question, and his sister is a manager there, so there's your likely motive: sibling rivalry.
Police say he admitted to the smear campaign, and he has been charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief. His prior record includes arrests for deadly conduct, domestic violence, terroristic threats, trespassing and drugs.
PAY ME OR YOU'LL SUFFER A BLACK PLAGUE
The Europeans have long condemned the U.S. for its discrimination against blacks. That’s easy to do when you hardly have any blacks living in your midst. If a lot of them do settle on the continent you will see the Europeans climb off their high horses pronto to discriminate against blacks as much as we ever did. A black plague on top of an Islamic plague? Oh shit!
‘PAY ME £4 BILLION A YEAR AND I’LL STOP EUROPE FROM TRUNING BLACK’: COL. GADDAFI DEMANDS EU CASH TO STOP IMMIGRATION VIA LIBYA
by Nick Pisa
Mail Online
August 31, 2010
Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is demanding £4.1billion a year from the EU to stop illegal immigration which 'threatens to turn Europe black'.
Col Gaddafi made the demand as he ended his controversial two-day visit to Italy where he caused outrage in the Catholic church by hosting two 'convert to Islam parties'.
Today furious Italian MPs slammed his demands - made in his farewell speech - for cash to stop immigration and compared them to a 'Mafia extortion racket'.
In the speech Gaddafi, 67, told his audience in Rome: 'Italy needs to convince her European allies to accept this Libyan proposal - five billion euro to Libya to stop illegal immigration.
'Europe runs the risk of turning black from illegal immigration, it could turn into Africa.
'We need support from the European Union to stop this army trying to get across from Libya, which is their entry point.
'At the moment there is a dangerous level of immigration from Africa into Europe and we don't know what will happen.
'What will be the reaction of the white Christian Europeans to this mass of hungry, uneducated Africans?
'We don't know if Europe will remain an advanced and cohesive continent or if it will be destroyed by this barbarian invasion. We have to imagine that this could happen but before it does we need to work together.'
‘PAY ME £4 BILLION A YEAR AND I’LL STOP EUROPE FROM TRUNING BLACK’: COL. GADDAFI DEMANDS EU CASH TO STOP IMMIGRATION VIA LIBYA
by Nick Pisa
Mail Online
August 31, 2010
Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is demanding £4.1billion a year from the EU to stop illegal immigration which 'threatens to turn Europe black'.
Col Gaddafi made the demand as he ended his controversial two-day visit to Italy where he caused outrage in the Catholic church by hosting two 'convert to Islam parties'.
Today furious Italian MPs slammed his demands - made in his farewell speech - for cash to stop immigration and compared them to a 'Mafia extortion racket'.
In the speech Gaddafi, 67, told his audience in Rome: 'Italy needs to convince her European allies to accept this Libyan proposal - five billion euro to Libya to stop illegal immigration.
'Europe runs the risk of turning black from illegal immigration, it could turn into Africa.
'We need support from the European Union to stop this army trying to get across from Libya, which is their entry point.
'At the moment there is a dangerous level of immigration from Africa into Europe and we don't know what will happen.
'What will be the reaction of the white Christian Europeans to this mass of hungry, uneducated Africans?
'We don't know if Europe will remain an advanced and cohesive continent or if it will be destroyed by this barbarian invasion. We have to imagine that this could happen but before it does we need to work together.'
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
IGNORAMUSES, NOT PSYCHOPATHS
While Obama has an Islamic heritage and makes his love for Muslims quite clear, he has been and remains a professed Christian. Those Americans (20 percent) who believe Obama is a Muslim are not psychopaths, as his former pastor and mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, calls them. ‘Ignoramuses’ is what I would call them.
WRIGHT: OBAMA MUSLIM MYTH BELIEVERS ‘PSYCHOPATHS’
During fiery sermon in Little Rock, US president's former pastor says the enemy 'will surround you with psychopaths who will say you ain't really a Baptist'
Associated Press
August 29, 2010
President Barack Obama's controversial former pastor is referring to people who wrongly believe Obama is Muslim as "psychopaths."
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright delivered a fiery sermon Sunday at the New Millennium Church in Little Rock that largely criticized supporters of the Iraq war.
Wright also defended the church's pastor, former Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Wendell Griffen, for speaking out against the war.
Wright's only reference to Obama came when he compared Griffen's opponents to those who incorrectly think Obama is Muslim. The president is Christian.
Wright says the enemy "will surround you with psychopaths who will criticize you ... and say 'you ain't really a Baptist' and say 'the president ain't really a Christian, he's a Muslim."
WRIGHT: OBAMA MUSLIM MYTH BELIEVERS ‘PSYCHOPATHS’
During fiery sermon in Little Rock, US president's former pastor says the enemy 'will surround you with psychopaths who will say you ain't really a Baptist'
Associated Press
August 29, 2010
President Barack Obama's controversial former pastor is referring to people who wrongly believe Obama is Muslim as "psychopaths."
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright delivered a fiery sermon Sunday at the New Millennium Church in Little Rock that largely criticized supporters of the Iraq war.
Wright also defended the church's pastor, former Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Wendell Griffen, for speaking out against the war.
Wright's only reference to Obama came when he compared Griffen's opponents to those who incorrectly think Obama is Muslim. The president is Christian.
Wright says the enemy "will surround you with psychopaths who will criticize you ... and say 'you ain't really a Baptist' and say 'the president ain't really a Christian, he's a Muslim."
BOLTON FAVORS THREE-STATE SOLUTION
John Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, does not believe the Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations can succeed and suggests that a three-state solution is the best way to go. While Bolton’s solution would benefit Palestinians much more than a two-state solution, they will never agree to be absorbed by Jordan and Egypt, nor would Jordan and Egypt ever want to take in the troublesome Palestinians. Besides all that, the real goal of the Palestinians is a one-state solution, the destruction of Israel.
From IsraelNationalNews.com:
PA-ISRAEL TALKS ‘DOOMED TO FAIL’
Regarding the direct talks between Netanyahu and Abbas scheduled to begin this week, Bolton said, "One of the reasons why I think these talks are inherently doomed to failure is because there is no one in the PA who can commit to the hard decisions and concessions that have to be made during negotiations, or carry through with them; Israel will not and should not talk to Hamas, and so the bottom line is that the Obama Administration has wasted 19 months of effort that will actually leave the region less stable than it was to begin with."
"The talks will almost certainly fail," Bolton predicts, and concludes that having them in the first place is a very short-term victory for the US, leaving both the US and Abbas weaker than they were before, and the entire region less stable.
THE THREE-STATE SOLUTION
Bolton does not favor the two-state solution, partly because Hamas, which runs Gaza, and Fatah, which runs the PA areas in Judea and Samaria, are barely on speaking terms. "For the benefit of the Palestinian people and the security of Israel," he says, "there should be a 3-state solution: Gaza should be given back to Egypt, tying it into a real economy there and rendering it much better off. Then parts of the West Bank should [somehow] be relinked to Jordan for the same objective. This would give Palestinian families a viable economic future. Let’s give up on this messianic idea of a political state [instead of the Palestinian Authority], which has resulted only in the Palestinian people being used by other elements."
From IsraelNationalNews.com:
PA-ISRAEL TALKS ‘DOOMED TO FAIL’
Regarding the direct talks between Netanyahu and Abbas scheduled to begin this week, Bolton said, "One of the reasons why I think these talks are inherently doomed to failure is because there is no one in the PA who can commit to the hard decisions and concessions that have to be made during negotiations, or carry through with them; Israel will not and should not talk to Hamas, and so the bottom line is that the Obama Administration has wasted 19 months of effort that will actually leave the region less stable than it was to begin with."
"The talks will almost certainly fail," Bolton predicts, and concludes that having them in the first place is a very short-term victory for the US, leaving both the US and Abbas weaker than they were before, and the entire region less stable.
THE THREE-STATE SOLUTION
Bolton does not favor the two-state solution, partly because Hamas, which runs Gaza, and Fatah, which runs the PA areas in Judea and Samaria, are barely on speaking terms. "For the benefit of the Palestinian people and the security of Israel," he says, "there should be a 3-state solution: Gaza should be given back to Egypt, tying it into a real economy there and rendering it much better off. Then parts of the West Bank should [somehow] be relinked to Jordan for the same objective. This would give Palestinian families a viable economic future. Let’s give up on this messianic idea of a political state [instead of the Palestinian Authority], which has resulted only in the Palestinian people being used by other elements."
WE'RE NOT TO BLAME, IT'S GARRIDO'S FAULT
Another bureaucratic whitewash. If any reprimands will ever be issued, it will be the lowly parole agents who will get them, not that they don’t deserve them. In my professional opinion, supervision and management are just as culpable in this mess as the fuck-up agents and should be disciplined accordingly.
Here is a case in which there was a lack of supervision, first by the parole agents, second by their immediate supervisors and then by the immediate supervisors of the immediate supervisors. I know of several police agencies in which the immediate supervisor will be disciplined the same as the officer (or supervisor) who fucked up unless he can document that he offered the kind of supervision that should have prevented the misconduct. That policy has led to closer supervision and far fewer fuck-ups.
"CRIMINALS WILL DO TERRIBLE THINGS"
CDCR: Phillip Garrido’s parole oversight aftermath still under review
By Jeff Doyle
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
August 30, 2010
SACRAMENTO, CA – Exactly 365 days after Jaycee Lee Dugard was rescued from 18 years in captivity, no one from the agency responsible for overseeing her accused captor and rapist has been held accountable.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation was ultimately in charge of overseeing Philip Garrido, but failed to do so many times, according to a report from the State Inspector General.
"This department has enormous empathy for the victim," said Terri McDonald, the chief deputy secretary for adult operations at the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, who oversees prisons and parole.
… McDonald said she didn’t agree that her department failed 90 percent of the time.
"I don’t agree there’s a 90 percent failure rate in anything," McDonald said. "I wouldn’t put a failure rate on it."
As for reprimands for agents assigned to Garrido, McDonald said none were issued…
Asked about whether systematic failures, partial or complete, caused the Garrido surveillance lapse, McDonald said, "I don’t know that systematic failure is a fair term. I think that we learned from what we did and from there we’re going to continue to improve."
"I think that we continue to do better as we learn from the information," McDonald said.
While McDonald admitted not everything was handled properly…
"I’ve never said nothing is wrong nor has the department said nothing is wrong," McDonald said. "We did our own internal review and we do one on every incident that occurs."
…McDonald pointed out no matter how hard they try, criminals will do terrible things.
"We ask for understanding and (community members) working with us when that occurs to help us remove them from the communities in general," she said…
Better training will begin soon, McDonald said. A new field training agent program has been established and they’re using photos from the Garrido home in that training…(Full text and video at News10.net)
Jeff’s comments follow:
Sometimes, it’s better to stay mum. After reading the attached article and reviewing the painful video, it couldn’t be clearer this was one of those times.
In the interest of staying on message, CDCR again opted to send a spokesperson with no corrections experience–It’s called consistency.
But, again, "no comment" would have been much less damaging than the piffle flowing from McDonald’s lips.
Hell, even Forest knew when to run.
And Bob Walsh says:
I guess paying $20 million and saying you are sorry means you don’t have to do anything else about it.
Here is a case in which there was a lack of supervision, first by the parole agents, second by their immediate supervisors and then by the immediate supervisors of the immediate supervisors. I know of several police agencies in which the immediate supervisor will be disciplined the same as the officer (or supervisor) who fucked up unless he can document that he offered the kind of supervision that should have prevented the misconduct. That policy has led to closer supervision and far fewer fuck-ups.
"CRIMINALS WILL DO TERRIBLE THINGS"
CDCR: Phillip Garrido’s parole oversight aftermath still under review
By Jeff Doyle
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
August 30, 2010
SACRAMENTO, CA – Exactly 365 days after Jaycee Lee Dugard was rescued from 18 years in captivity, no one from the agency responsible for overseeing her accused captor and rapist has been held accountable.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation was ultimately in charge of overseeing Philip Garrido, but failed to do so many times, according to a report from the State Inspector General.
"This department has enormous empathy for the victim," said Terri McDonald, the chief deputy secretary for adult operations at the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, who oversees prisons and parole.
… McDonald said she didn’t agree that her department failed 90 percent of the time.
"I don’t agree there’s a 90 percent failure rate in anything," McDonald said. "I wouldn’t put a failure rate on it."
As for reprimands for agents assigned to Garrido, McDonald said none were issued…
Asked about whether systematic failures, partial or complete, caused the Garrido surveillance lapse, McDonald said, "I don’t know that systematic failure is a fair term. I think that we learned from what we did and from there we’re going to continue to improve."
"I think that we continue to do better as we learn from the information," McDonald said.
While McDonald admitted not everything was handled properly…
"I’ve never said nothing is wrong nor has the department said nothing is wrong," McDonald said. "We did our own internal review and we do one on every incident that occurs."
…McDonald pointed out no matter how hard they try, criminals will do terrible things.
"We ask for understanding and (community members) working with us when that occurs to help us remove them from the communities in general," she said…
Better training will begin soon, McDonald said. A new field training agent program has been established and they’re using photos from the Garrido home in that training…(Full text and video at News10.net)
Jeff’s comments follow:
Sometimes, it’s better to stay mum. After reading the attached article and reviewing the painful video, it couldn’t be clearer this was one of those times.
In the interest of staying on message, CDCR again opted to send a spokesperson with no corrections experience–It’s called consistency.
But, again, "no comment" would have been much less damaging than the piffle flowing from McDonald’s lips.
Hell, even Forest knew when to run.
And Bob Walsh says:
I guess paying $20 million and saying you are sorry means you don’t have to do anything else about it.
Monday, August 30, 2010
FATHERING KIDS AS IF YOU'RE WATERING PLANTS
Athletes: Not only cheating, but fathering too. Oh well, it's just role models at work.
8 KIDS WITH 6 MOMS? NFL STAR IS SHAMEFUL
By Mitch Albom
Jewish World Review
August 30, 2010
It is already one of the most embarrassing video clips in sports history, and it has nothing to do with dropped passes or missed dunks. It is footage of New York Jets defensive back Antonio Cromartie, a 26-year-old man, trying to list the names of his children.
Cromartie, in the HBO reality series "Hard Knocks," sits on the field, counting his kids on his fingers. At times he seems to struggle remembering them, and he skips one of their names altogether.
Then again, who could blame him? He has, by his own count, fathered eight children, apparently with six different women. Only at the end of his list does he say, "And I have my newborn with my wife."
So Cromartie is the new face of irresponsible fatherhood. But while he has more than earned the honor (the Jets, according to reports, had to front him $500,000 for paternity suits), he is hardly alone.
Fathering kids as if you're watering plants is a growing problem in the sports world, particularly in African-American circles. And if we are gong to talk about this issue, we need to drop our sensitivities toward this fact.
No, African Americans aren't the only ones having kids out of wedlock. But, yes, the news is worst in that community, where, in recent data from the National Center for Health Statistics, 72 percent of new babies were born out of wedlock, versus 28 percent among whites and 17 percent among Asians. This is not in the skin. It is not about color. It's about culture.
And if the culture doesn't change, neither will the pattern.
A BUSY YEAR OF PROCREATING
Cromartie, in listing his offspring on "Hard Knocks," mentions four who are around age 3. I'll never understand men who father kids as if opening Starbucks franchises. But four in one year?
That's unforgivable. Obviously, Cromartie enjoys his sex, but is it a sin to take precautions? Or does he think his seed is so special he needs to procreate on a quarterly basis?
And what about the women involved? Are they that naive? Or do some figure the fastest route to a sports star's wallet is through the delivery room?
Both parties ignore the well-documented consequences of absent fathers. Lack of guidance, discipline or demonstration of the love and respect needed in a marriage. Crime rates, dropout rates, violence rates -- all are higher for kids without fathers. It's not like this is a secret.
Yet the situation repeats, over and over. It is simply cruel. How will children ever learn their way out of the cycle? If we, in the 21st century, have fostered a culture where "baby mama" is an acceptable term, we have little to be proud of.
"A house without a father is a challenge," Bill Cosby once wrote. "A neighborhood without fathers is a catastrophe."
A PROBLEM FOR OUR SOCIETY
Travis Henry, the former NFL running back, reportedly has fathered at least 11 children with 10 different women. Evander Holyfield, the boxing champ who claims to be a man of G0d, fathered two children with two women a month apart -- while being married to another.
Now comes Cromartie -- on prime-time TV -- to again demonstrate how flippant fatherhood can be. He actually has the nerve to tell the camera, "Soon as you leave (work) and get home you got to be that father figure."
He is not a father figure.
But, sadly, a white columnist bemoaning this issue won't change it in the black community. An older couple wagging fingers won't make young people listen. Critics may be dismissed with "it's not your place to say anything."
But it is my place and it is your place, black or white or brown, because we share this country, and playing Johnny Appleseed to kids you won't tend to makes our country a more difficult place. That holds for Antonio Cromartie or Kevin Federline.
Cromartie's video is now the butt of endless Internet jokes. And almost unbelievably, Cromartie has complained only that HBO didn't show another clip in which he recited his children's names faster.
Hey, Antonio. It isn't how fast you remembered the kids. It's how fast you created them. And there's nothing funny about your story. It's sad. Really sad.
8 KIDS WITH 6 MOMS? NFL STAR IS SHAMEFUL
By Mitch Albom
Jewish World Review
August 30, 2010
It is already one of the most embarrassing video clips in sports history, and it has nothing to do with dropped passes or missed dunks. It is footage of New York Jets defensive back Antonio Cromartie, a 26-year-old man, trying to list the names of his children.
Cromartie, in the HBO reality series "Hard Knocks," sits on the field, counting his kids on his fingers. At times he seems to struggle remembering them, and he skips one of their names altogether.
Then again, who could blame him? He has, by his own count, fathered eight children, apparently with six different women. Only at the end of his list does he say, "And I have my newborn with my wife."
So Cromartie is the new face of irresponsible fatherhood. But while he has more than earned the honor (the Jets, according to reports, had to front him $500,000 for paternity suits), he is hardly alone.
Fathering kids as if you're watering plants is a growing problem in the sports world, particularly in African-American circles. And if we are gong to talk about this issue, we need to drop our sensitivities toward this fact.
No, African Americans aren't the only ones having kids out of wedlock. But, yes, the news is worst in that community, where, in recent data from the National Center for Health Statistics, 72 percent of new babies were born out of wedlock, versus 28 percent among whites and 17 percent among Asians. This is not in the skin. It is not about color. It's about culture.
And if the culture doesn't change, neither will the pattern.
A BUSY YEAR OF PROCREATING
Cromartie, in listing his offspring on "Hard Knocks," mentions four who are around age 3. I'll never understand men who father kids as if opening Starbucks franchises. But four in one year?
That's unforgivable. Obviously, Cromartie enjoys his sex, but is it a sin to take precautions? Or does he think his seed is so special he needs to procreate on a quarterly basis?
And what about the women involved? Are they that naive? Or do some figure the fastest route to a sports star's wallet is through the delivery room?
Both parties ignore the well-documented consequences of absent fathers. Lack of guidance, discipline or demonstration of the love and respect needed in a marriage. Crime rates, dropout rates, violence rates -- all are higher for kids without fathers. It's not like this is a secret.
Yet the situation repeats, over and over. It is simply cruel. How will children ever learn their way out of the cycle? If we, in the 21st century, have fostered a culture where "baby mama" is an acceptable term, we have little to be proud of.
"A house without a father is a challenge," Bill Cosby once wrote. "A neighborhood without fathers is a catastrophe."
A PROBLEM FOR OUR SOCIETY
Travis Henry, the former NFL running back, reportedly has fathered at least 11 children with 10 different women. Evander Holyfield, the boxing champ who claims to be a man of G0d, fathered two children with two women a month apart -- while being married to another.
Now comes Cromartie -- on prime-time TV -- to again demonstrate how flippant fatherhood can be. He actually has the nerve to tell the camera, "Soon as you leave (work) and get home you got to be that father figure."
He is not a father figure.
But, sadly, a white columnist bemoaning this issue won't change it in the black community. An older couple wagging fingers won't make young people listen. Critics may be dismissed with "it's not your place to say anything."
But it is my place and it is your place, black or white or brown, because we share this country, and playing Johnny Appleseed to kids you won't tend to makes our country a more difficult place. That holds for Antonio Cromartie or Kevin Federline.
Cromartie's video is now the butt of endless Internet jokes. And almost unbelievably, Cromartie has complained only that HBO didn't show another clip in which he recited his children's names faster.
Hey, Antonio. It isn't how fast you remembered the kids. It's how fast you created them. And there's nothing funny about your story. It's sad. Really sad.
CULTURE OF CHEATING
Centurion took my tongue-in-cheek post on Rusty Hardin’s defense of Roger Clemens, NEW STANDARD FOR EVIDENCE OF INNOCENCE (8-29-10), a bit too seriously.
In taking issue with my post, Centurion said:
__Somehow I can't get all that excited about athletes using performance enhancing drugs. They've been doing it for years and will continue to do so.
__Meanwhile, Iran is on the verge fo developing Nukes, they have a delivery system, North Korea has Nukes, Israel, our only friend in the mid east is being cut loose by our present administration and are about to be wiped off the map, our Southern border is a joke where illegals line up to cross like kids waiting to get on a ride at Disneyland. I could go on of course...
__So a few athletes cheating to build up their bodies to overperform...you'll have to forgive me my lack of outrage. I don't condone it, but I just can't get all that excited about it.
Centurion has a very good point. In the scope of national and international concerns, cheating by athletes seems rather insignificant. But does that mean he shouldn’t get all that excited about it? No, not at all! Quite to the contrary, I think he and every other American should get excited whenever role models cheat.
What Clemens and other prominent athletes have done is symptomatic of America’s culture of cheating.
Public school teachers, in fear of losing their jobs, help students cheat on standard performance tests. Most high school kids and college students fee it’s okay to cheat on exams. Many college students copy someone else’s work to turn in as their own. Many Americans cheat on their income taxes. Many investors have been cheated by stockbrokers and investment banks through frequent trades made solely to earn the traders more sales commissions.
Accounting firms have been complicit in the cheating by corporations to make their current and projected earnings look much better – Enron immediately comes to mind. Mortgage banks have qualified homebuyers by helping them cheat with their income statements. Cheating is endemic in the sales of cars, jewelry and other high-dollar consumer items.
The criminal justice system is not exempt from cheating. Prosecutors often withhold evidence from the defense that casts doubt on the accused’s guilt. Court appointed defense attorneys often cheat their indigent clients out of a good defense. In civil cases, the use of dirty tactics to win cases are a form of cheating. And, I’m sorry to say, there are those cover-ups of wrongdoing by cops.
If we don’t get excited about cheating by ‘role model’ athletes, we might as well turn a blind eye toward all the other forms of cheating. A nation in which cheating has become a way of life is a nation that has lost its way. A culture of cheating is not what America’s founding fathers envisioned.
In taking issue with my post, Centurion said:
__Somehow I can't get all that excited about athletes using performance enhancing drugs. They've been doing it for years and will continue to do so.
__Meanwhile, Iran is on the verge fo developing Nukes, they have a delivery system, North Korea has Nukes, Israel, our only friend in the mid east is being cut loose by our present administration and are about to be wiped off the map, our Southern border is a joke where illegals line up to cross like kids waiting to get on a ride at Disneyland. I could go on of course...
__So a few athletes cheating to build up their bodies to overperform...you'll have to forgive me my lack of outrage. I don't condone it, but I just can't get all that excited about it.
Centurion has a very good point. In the scope of national and international concerns, cheating by athletes seems rather insignificant. But does that mean he shouldn’t get all that excited about it? No, not at all! Quite to the contrary, I think he and every other American should get excited whenever role models cheat.
What Clemens and other prominent athletes have done is symptomatic of America’s culture of cheating.
Public school teachers, in fear of losing their jobs, help students cheat on standard performance tests. Most high school kids and college students fee it’s okay to cheat on exams. Many college students copy someone else’s work to turn in as their own. Many Americans cheat on their income taxes. Many investors have been cheated by stockbrokers and investment banks through frequent trades made solely to earn the traders more sales commissions.
Accounting firms have been complicit in the cheating by corporations to make their current and projected earnings look much better – Enron immediately comes to mind. Mortgage banks have qualified homebuyers by helping them cheat with their income statements. Cheating is endemic in the sales of cars, jewelry and other high-dollar consumer items.
The criminal justice system is not exempt from cheating. Prosecutors often withhold evidence from the defense that casts doubt on the accused’s guilt. Court appointed defense attorneys often cheat their indigent clients out of a good defense. In civil cases, the use of dirty tactics to win cases are a form of cheating. And, I’m sorry to say, there are those cover-ups of wrongdoing by cops.
If we don’t get excited about cheating by ‘role model’ athletes, we might as well turn a blind eye toward all the other forms of cheating. A nation in which cheating has become a way of life is a nation that has lost its way. A culture of cheating is not what America’s founding fathers envisioned.
ONLY 17.7 PERCENT OF PALESTINIANS SUPPORT A TWO-STATE SOLUTION
Mr. Obama, please take note: For Israel, there will be no partner in peace! A vast majority of your ‘moderate’ Palestinian friends are determined to destroy the Jewish state.
POLL: PALESTINIANS WILL STILL SEEK ISRAEL’S DESTRUCTION, EVEN AFTER PEACE
Israel Today
August 29, 2010
The most recent poll of Palestinian Arabs revealed that even if US President Barack Obama gets Israel and the Palestinians to sign a peace deal, the violent efforts to destroy the Jewish state will not end.
Obama is set to host the renewal of direct peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in Washington on Thursday. Based on the Obama Administration's view that PA leader Mahmoud Abbas and most of the Palestinians living under his rule are "moderates," a true and genuine peace is within reach.
But the Arab World for Research & Development (AWRAD) based in the de facto Palestinian capital of Ramallah showed in its August 8-14 survey that Obama's view is way off base.
AWRAD asked a random sampling of Palestinian Arabs to rank various aspects of the peace process from "essential" to "unacceptable."
Nearly 73 percent of respondents said it is either essential, desirable or acceptable to use violence against Israeli Jews in order to obtain an independent Palestinian state. That view is a direct violation of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.
Furthermore, an overwhelming 78.2 percent of respondents said that eventually establishing "Palestine" from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea (which includes all of Israel) is "essential." Another 12.5 percent said that goal is "desirable." Only 17.7 percent said a two-state solution is "essential."
Regarding Jerusalem (presumably before the full takeover of Israel), 84.1 percent said it is essential and 10.3 percent said it is desirable for the entire city (including the Jewish-dominated western half) to be surrendered to the Palestinians.
Seventy-five percent of respondents said it is "unacceptable" that a future Palestinian state will be demilitarized as Israel is demanding.
Even if Israel meets all the Palestinian demands and conditions, a 42.3 percent plurality said Palestinians and Israelis will not coexist in peace. That makes sense, considering that most Palestinians will still be seeking the destruction of the Jewish state.
POLL: PALESTINIANS WILL STILL SEEK ISRAEL’S DESTRUCTION, EVEN AFTER PEACE
Israel Today
August 29, 2010
The most recent poll of Palestinian Arabs revealed that even if US President Barack Obama gets Israel and the Palestinians to sign a peace deal, the violent efforts to destroy the Jewish state will not end.
Obama is set to host the renewal of direct peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in Washington on Thursday. Based on the Obama Administration's view that PA leader Mahmoud Abbas and most of the Palestinians living under his rule are "moderates," a true and genuine peace is within reach.
But the Arab World for Research & Development (AWRAD) based in the de facto Palestinian capital of Ramallah showed in its August 8-14 survey that Obama's view is way off base.
AWRAD asked a random sampling of Palestinian Arabs to rank various aspects of the peace process from "essential" to "unacceptable."
Nearly 73 percent of respondents said it is either essential, desirable or acceptable to use violence against Israeli Jews in order to obtain an independent Palestinian state. That view is a direct violation of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.
Furthermore, an overwhelming 78.2 percent of respondents said that eventually establishing "Palestine" from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea (which includes all of Israel) is "essential." Another 12.5 percent said that goal is "desirable." Only 17.7 percent said a two-state solution is "essential."
Regarding Jerusalem (presumably before the full takeover of Israel), 84.1 percent said it is essential and 10.3 percent said it is desirable for the entire city (including the Jewish-dominated western half) to be surrendered to the Palestinians.
Seventy-five percent of respondents said it is "unacceptable" that a future Palestinian state will be demilitarized as Israel is demanding.
Even if Israel meets all the Palestinian demands and conditions, a 42.3 percent plurality said Palestinians and Israelis will not coexist in peace. That makes sense, considering that most Palestinians will still be seeking the destruction of the Jewish state.
FROG FIGHTER JETS SHOCK AND AWE FARMER'S FOWL
FARMER SUES FRENCH MINISTRY OF DEFENSE AFTER TWO LOW-FLYING FIGHTER PLANES ‘FRIGHTEN 4,800 CHICKENS TO DEATH’
By Peter Allen
Mail Online
August 27, 2010
A French farmer is suing his country’s Ministry of Defense after two low-flying fighter jets caused 4,800 of his chickens to drop dead.
Etienne Le Mehaute said there was an 'almighty din' when the planes passed over his farm in Pelguien, Brittany, on Tuesday afternoon.
'We were having lunch when there this enormous roar of engines,' said Mr. Le Mahaute. ‘We could feel the shockwaves down our back.
‘The chickens were absolutely terrified and thousands dropped dead. We piled their bodies up and there were some 4,800 who did not pull through.’
Mr. Le Mehaute, who has around 68,000 birds in total, wants £12,000 from the MoD for his loss.
MoD spokesman Frederic Solano has confirmed two jets were in the area at the time, but denied they broke low-flying regulations. He said an investigation into the deaths had been launch.
The British government regularly pays out compensation to civilians who complain about noisy military jets.
Last year defense chiefs paid out £42,000 to a Staffordshire farmer whose chickens laid fewer eggs because they were frightened by the Red Arrows display team.
And another £117,000 was handed over to a Yorkshire racehorse owner after the animal injured itself when it was spooked by jets.
A total of £7.6million has been paid out in damages over the past four years because of military noise pollution, according to official documents released earlier this year.
By Peter Allen
Mail Online
August 27, 2010
A French farmer is suing his country’s Ministry of Defense after two low-flying fighter jets caused 4,800 of his chickens to drop dead.
Etienne Le Mehaute said there was an 'almighty din' when the planes passed over his farm in Pelguien, Brittany, on Tuesday afternoon.
'We were having lunch when there this enormous roar of engines,' said Mr. Le Mahaute. ‘We could feel the shockwaves down our back.
‘The chickens were absolutely terrified and thousands dropped dead. We piled their bodies up and there were some 4,800 who did not pull through.’
Mr. Le Mehaute, who has around 68,000 birds in total, wants £12,000 from the MoD for his loss.
MoD spokesman Frederic Solano has confirmed two jets were in the area at the time, but denied they broke low-flying regulations. He said an investigation into the deaths had been launch.
The British government regularly pays out compensation to civilians who complain about noisy military jets.
Last year defense chiefs paid out £42,000 to a Staffordshire farmer whose chickens laid fewer eggs because they were frightened by the Red Arrows display team.
And another £117,000 was handed over to a Yorkshire racehorse owner after the animal injured itself when it was spooked by jets.
A total of £7.6million has been paid out in damages over the past four years because of military noise pollution, according to official documents released earlier this year.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
WHAT'S HAPPENED TO AMERICA?
Here are the comments Jeff Greenfield made on today’s CBS Sunday Morning:
KATRINA: HOW IT CHANGED THE PSYCHE OF AMERICA
Jeff Greenfield Says Americans’ Sense of What Kind of Nation We Are Was Upended by Gov’t Response to Catastrophe
(CBS) You can measure the cost of Katrina in lives and treasure. But there is another cost of that disaster, less obvious, but in one sense, just as damaging: What it did to America's sense of what kind of country we are.
Our very beginnings defined us as a "can-do" people: We literally conceived a new nation, and then set out to conquer a continent.
We defined rights as individuals, but we worked together to raise a neighbor's barn, or to link a continent with rail.
We were oceans apart? Build a [Panama] canal.
Did a mighty river plague us with floods and droughts? Dam it up with the biggest public works project in history. And that same Hoover Dam provided the power to the California defense plants that helped win a world war.
We were hungry for homes of our own? Build them by the millions in the suburbs, and link them to work with 60,000 miles of interstate highways.
Should our reach exceed our grasp? But the moon itself was in our grasp. And we led the way in making the world a click of the finger away.
And we were rich enough, powerful enough, to lead when disaster struck others: Herbert Hoover became a hero after the First World War by leading a massive relief effort in Europe.
After the Second World War, America sent everything from CARE packages to billions of dollars to put Europe's ravaged economies back on their feet.
The Berlin airlift of 1948 saved that beleaguered city; and Americans joined the Peace Corps decades later. And in the 21st century, this nation was half the world away when the tsunami struck Indonesia.
But when Katrina hit . . . nothing - not our wealth, our strength, our impulse to lend a hand - could prevent disaster. The experts warned this could happen; our leaders promised mobilization; and a major American city drowned.
Katrina, I think, was a portent that one of this country's most basic articles of faith was now in doubt. The failure to keep New Orleans from being overwhelmed by floodwaters was almost a precursor of our failure to keep our economy safe from near-collapse.
As much as any event in recent history, Katrina triggered a question we are still asking: "What has happened to our country?"
KATRINA: HOW IT CHANGED THE PSYCHE OF AMERICA
Jeff Greenfield Says Americans’ Sense of What Kind of Nation We Are Was Upended by Gov’t Response to Catastrophe
(CBS) You can measure the cost of Katrina in lives and treasure. But there is another cost of that disaster, less obvious, but in one sense, just as damaging: What it did to America's sense of what kind of country we are.
Our very beginnings defined us as a "can-do" people: We literally conceived a new nation, and then set out to conquer a continent.
We defined rights as individuals, but we worked together to raise a neighbor's barn, or to link a continent with rail.
We were oceans apart? Build a [Panama] canal.
Did a mighty river plague us with floods and droughts? Dam it up with the biggest public works project in history. And that same Hoover Dam provided the power to the California defense plants that helped win a world war.
We were hungry for homes of our own? Build them by the millions in the suburbs, and link them to work with 60,000 miles of interstate highways.
Should our reach exceed our grasp? But the moon itself was in our grasp. And we led the way in making the world a click of the finger away.
And we were rich enough, powerful enough, to lead when disaster struck others: Herbert Hoover became a hero after the First World War by leading a massive relief effort in Europe.
After the Second World War, America sent everything from CARE packages to billions of dollars to put Europe's ravaged economies back on their feet.
The Berlin airlift of 1948 saved that beleaguered city; and Americans joined the Peace Corps decades later. And in the 21st century, this nation was half the world away when the tsunami struck Indonesia.
But when Katrina hit . . . nothing - not our wealth, our strength, our impulse to lend a hand - could prevent disaster. The experts warned this could happen; our leaders promised mobilization; and a major American city drowned.
Katrina, I think, was a portent that one of this country's most basic articles of faith was now in doubt. The failure to keep New Orleans from being overwhelmed by floodwaters was almost a precursor of our failure to keep our economy safe from near-collapse.
As much as any event in recent history, Katrina triggered a question we are still asking: "What has happened to our country?"
NEW STANDARD FOR EVICENCE OF INNOCENCE
Even if you’re not a baseball fan you’ve got to know that Hall of Fame bound (?) pitcher Roger Clemens has been indicted by a federal grand jury on six counts charging him with perjury, making false statements and obstruction of Congress. If convicted on all counts, he could face a $1.5 million fine and up to 30-years in prison.
Until a federal judge issue a gag order in the Clemens case, his lead liar (lawyer) made daily pronouncements that Roger never used any performance enhancing drugs and that his client was looking forward to having his day in court. Rusty Hardin's last statement before the gag order shut him up set a new standard for evidence of innocence.
Here is what Roger’s lead liar said:
__Sometime I want somebody, though, to maybe ask the question, ‘Isn’t his continued insistence at the risk of going to the penitentiary evidence that he didn’t do it?’ Isn’t that evidence maybe that he didn’t?
So according to Hardin we now have a new standard for evidence. If someone charged with a crime continues to insist over and over again that he didn’t do it, his repetitious denials must be considered evidence that he’s innocent. Now you know why Rusty is considered one of Texas’ top three criminal liars.
Thanks to Hardin’s new standard, we will be able to close down all but four or five prisons in this country. Why? Because almost all prison inmates insist every day that they ‘didn’t do it.’ Based on this new evidence of innocence, we’re going to have to release almost all prison inmates in the U.S.
My suggestion would be to have only one federal prison and, for state prisoners, to have one prison on the East Coast, preferably near the nation’s capital, and one prison each for the Midwest, the South, and the West.
Thanks to Rusty Hardin’s new standard of evidence, all the states can now breathe a sigh of relief. Their budget shortfalls will be all but wiped out. And they can also eliminate those costly DNA tests. Now why wasn’t Barry Scheck that brilliant with the Innocence Project?
Until a federal judge issue a gag order in the Clemens case, his lead liar (lawyer) made daily pronouncements that Roger never used any performance enhancing drugs and that his client was looking forward to having his day in court. Rusty Hardin's last statement before the gag order shut him up set a new standard for evidence of innocence.
Here is what Roger’s lead liar said:
__Sometime I want somebody, though, to maybe ask the question, ‘Isn’t his continued insistence at the risk of going to the penitentiary evidence that he didn’t do it?’ Isn’t that evidence maybe that he didn’t?
So according to Hardin we now have a new standard for evidence. If someone charged with a crime continues to insist over and over again that he didn’t do it, his repetitious denials must be considered evidence that he’s innocent. Now you know why Rusty is considered one of Texas’ top three criminal liars.
Thanks to Hardin’s new standard, we will be able to close down all but four or five prisons in this country. Why? Because almost all prison inmates insist every day that they ‘didn’t do it.’ Based on this new evidence of innocence, we’re going to have to release almost all prison inmates in the U.S.
My suggestion would be to have only one federal prison and, for state prisoners, to have one prison on the East Coast, preferably near the nation’s capital, and one prison each for the Midwest, the South, and the West.
Thanks to Rusty Hardin’s new standard of evidence, all the states can now breathe a sigh of relief. Their budget shortfalls will be all but wiped out. And they can also eliminate those costly DNA tests. Now why wasn’t Barry Scheck that brilliant with the Innocence Project?
Saturday, August 28, 2010
HEALTH CARE REFORM
My friend Jay wrote:
Let me get this straight.
We're going to be "gifted" with a health care plan we are forced to purchase and fined if we don't, written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it, to be signed by a president who also smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that's broke.
What the hell could possibly go wrong?
Let me get this straight.
We're going to be "gifted" with a health care plan we are forced to purchase and fined if we don't, written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it, to be signed by a president who also smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that's broke.
What the hell could possibly go wrong?
FAMILY TIME FOR MOM AND THE KIDS
Quality time for kids with their mom is what social workers like to see.
JOYCE ESPINOSA: THE FAMILY THAT LIFTS TOGETHER STICKS TOGETHER
By John Nova Lomax,
Houston Press Hair Balls
Aug. 27 2010
And they say that not enough families are spending time together and sharing family activities...
Last week, a 42-year-old Webster mom was arrested along with her two teenaged kids after the threesome walked out of a Friendswood HEB [a grocery supermarket] with $700 worth of food, toys, and booze. Fun for the whole family!
An off-duty Waller County deputy happened to be on the scene, and store employees asked him to help them detain Joyce Espinosa, the Mom of the Year candidate and her two sticky-fingered offsrping -- a boy of 17 named John Espinosa and a younger girl who was not named.
But when the cop asked them to stop, they piled in the family car and sped off, eventually reaching speeds of over 70 mph. The deputy gave chase in his unmarked car and maintained contact with Friendswood police, who pulled over the car on FM 528.
Mama Espinosa was charged with theft of under $1,500, which is normally a misdemeanor, but is a felony in her case, as she has multiple previous convictions, not to mention others for drugs, auto theft and robbery. According to courthouse records, she has since been sentenced to about a year in Galveston County Jail. John Espinosa got hit with a felony theft charge; little sister was delivered to juvenile authorities
JOYCE ESPINOSA: THE FAMILY THAT LIFTS TOGETHER STICKS TOGETHER
By John Nova Lomax,
Houston Press Hair Balls
Aug. 27 2010
And they say that not enough families are spending time together and sharing family activities...
Last week, a 42-year-old Webster mom was arrested along with her two teenaged kids after the threesome walked out of a Friendswood HEB [a grocery supermarket] with $700 worth of food, toys, and booze. Fun for the whole family!
An off-duty Waller County deputy happened to be on the scene, and store employees asked him to help them detain Joyce Espinosa, the Mom of the Year candidate and her two sticky-fingered offsrping -- a boy of 17 named John Espinosa and a younger girl who was not named.
But when the cop asked them to stop, they piled in the family car and sped off, eventually reaching speeds of over 70 mph. The deputy gave chase in his unmarked car and maintained contact with Friendswood police, who pulled over the car on FM 528.
Mama Espinosa was charged with theft of under $1,500, which is normally a misdemeanor, but is a felony in her case, as she has multiple previous convictions, not to mention others for drugs, auto theft and robbery. According to courthouse records, she has since been sentenced to about a year in Galveston County Jail. John Espinosa got hit with a felony theft charge; little sister was delivered to juvenile authorities
HOW A PROSPECTIVE POLICE CAREER WENT TO POT
It looks like this guy’s prospective police career went to pot, but here is one cop’s comment: He could always go to Chicago and apply there. No pesky tests or anything like that....
UTAH MAN CAUGHT SELLING POT TO PAY FOR POLICE ACADEMY
Also arrested for possessionof a stolen firearm and for possession of pills and drug paraphernalia
By Sheena McFarland
The Salt Lake Tribune
August 27, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — While police officers arrest pot dealers fairly frequently, Orem police officers heard a pretty unusual reason for the illegal activity during an arrest this weekend.
The 20-year-old man said he was dealing the drugs in order to save up for the police academy.
"It's probably not the first time this has happened, but this is the first time I've heard of someone admitting it," said Orem Sgt. Craig Martinez. "Most drug dealers wouldn't say they were trying to save up to become a cop."
The man was arrested after Orem police were told he was dealing drugs and obtained a search warrant for his home. He was arrested on suspicion of possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of a stolen firearm, possession of a controlled substance for pills he had and possession of drug paraphernalia.
He is in the Utah County Jail on an $1,850 bond.
UTAH MAN CAUGHT SELLING POT TO PAY FOR POLICE ACADEMY
Also arrested for possessionof a stolen firearm and for possession of pills and drug paraphernalia
By Sheena McFarland
The Salt Lake Tribune
August 27, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — While police officers arrest pot dealers fairly frequently, Orem police officers heard a pretty unusual reason for the illegal activity during an arrest this weekend.
The 20-year-old man said he was dealing the drugs in order to save up for the police academy.
"It's probably not the first time this has happened, but this is the first time I've heard of someone admitting it," said Orem Sgt. Craig Martinez. "Most drug dealers wouldn't say they were trying to save up to become a cop."
The man was arrested after Orem police were told he was dealing drugs and obtained a search warrant for his home. He was arrested on suspicion of possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of a stolen firearm, possession of a controlled substance for pills he had and possession of drug paraphernalia.
He is in the Utah County Jail on an $1,850 bond.
JUST DESERVES FOR A LAWYER BITCH
Even though it happened over nine years ago, you may remember that this bitch of a lawyer and her lawyer husband stood by without lifting a finger and watched as their dogs mauled a neighbor - the women's lacrosse coach at St. Mary's College – to death.
DOG MAULING MURDER CONVICTION UPHELD
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
August 24, 2010
A state appeals court ruled Friday that the murder conviction of attorney Marjorie Knoller for the death of her neighbor, Diane Whipple, was appropriate.
Superior Court Judge James Warren had reduced Knoller’s second-degree murder conviction to involuntary manslaughter. Paco’s readers will probably recall that Knoller’s 140 pound Presa Canario killed Whipple in the corridor of their apartment building. Judge Charlotte Woolard reinstated the second-degree murder conviction and sent Knoller back to the slammer. In a 3-0 ruling the First District Court of Appeal said that Knoller knew the dog was dangerous and also knew she could not physically control the animal. The court found that she acted with "conscious disregard for human life." Her lawyer has vowed to appeal to the state supreme court, and to the federal courts if necessary.
Knoller’s husband Robert Noel was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the same case.
Mrs Knoller is believed to have had an unusually strong personal attachment to the male dog, Bane, who was the primary attacker of Whipple, though the female dog, Hera, may have also taken part.
Clicking here will link to a SFGATE (Chronicle) story on this subject.
DOG MAULING MURDER CONVICTION UPHELD
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
August 24, 2010
A state appeals court ruled Friday that the murder conviction of attorney Marjorie Knoller for the death of her neighbor, Diane Whipple, was appropriate.
Superior Court Judge James Warren had reduced Knoller’s second-degree murder conviction to involuntary manslaughter. Paco’s readers will probably recall that Knoller’s 140 pound Presa Canario killed Whipple in the corridor of their apartment building. Judge Charlotte Woolard reinstated the second-degree murder conviction and sent Knoller back to the slammer. In a 3-0 ruling the First District Court of Appeal said that Knoller knew the dog was dangerous and also knew she could not physically control the animal. The court found that she acted with "conscious disregard for human life." Her lawyer has vowed to appeal to the state supreme court, and to the federal courts if necessary.
Knoller’s husband Robert Noel was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the same case.
Mrs Knoller is believed to have had an unusually strong personal attachment to the male dog, Bane, who was the primary attacker of Whipple, though the female dog, Hera, may have also taken part.
Clicking here will link to a SFGATE (Chronicle) story on this subject.
Friday, August 27, 2010
MEXICO: WHAT'S THE REAL PROBLEM?
Yesterday we learned the shocking news that Mexican gangsters murdered 72 Central and South American migrants near San Fernando, 85 miles south of Brownsville, Texas. The 58 men and 14 women had hoped to cross the Texas border into the United States. The victims, all of whom had been shot, were slaughtered by Mexico’s notorious Zeta Gang.
Mexico has long been plagued by deadly clashes between heavily armed drug cartels. Those clashes take thousands of lives every year. There are lots of kidnappings for ransom. Gangsters kill hundreds of political office holders, judges, police officials and news reporters. And there are many cops and other government officials on the payrolls of the cartels.
So what is behind these spate of killings and corruption? Mexican and American officials would have us believe that the trafficking in and use of illegal drugs are to blame. Mexican officials go even further than that by blaming the existence of the gangs, the attendant violence, and the corruption on the insatiable hunger of Americans for Marijuana, Heroin, Cocaine, Meth, and other illegal drugs.
A desperate President Felipe Calderon has suggested that Mexico should consider the legalization of drugs. When he made his proposal - The Economist (8-14-10) entitled it THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE - Felipe must have flipped out under the influence of some funny tobacco smoke. With the huge demand for recreational drugs by Mexico’s northern neighbor, the drug cartels are not going to go away just because the country legalized drugs.
Let’s suppose that both Mexico and the United States legalized drugs. Would that cause the demise of Mexican drug cartels? No way Jose! Remember that the end of Prohibition in the U.S. did not bring about the demise of the Mafia. The drug cartels, just like the Mafia, would simply find some other criminal enterprises by which they can enrich themselves. The gangs are not about to go away because drugs are not the real problem behind Mexico’s violence.
The real problem is the deep socioeconomic chasm that divides Mexican 'haves' and 'haves not.'. Our southern neighbor has a small number of extremely wealthy people and a small middle class. The overwhelming majority of Mexicans are dirt poor and live in abject poverty. Whenever any country has a divide between the poverty-stricken masses and a small well-off ruling class, it will have an insurgency – in Mexico it’s in the form of gangs and in other countries it’s Marxist militias.
So, until Mexico’s socioeconomic chasm is bridged, it will continue to be plagued by deadly gang warfare, corruption, kidnappings and by the killings of office holders, judges, police officials and news reporters. Drugs are not the real problem and Calderon is just a dumb Mexican who is not smart enough to realize that the legalization of drugs probably won’t make a peso’s worth of difference.
Mexico has long been plagued by deadly clashes between heavily armed drug cartels. Those clashes take thousands of lives every year. There are lots of kidnappings for ransom. Gangsters kill hundreds of political office holders, judges, police officials and news reporters. And there are many cops and other government officials on the payrolls of the cartels.
So what is behind these spate of killings and corruption? Mexican and American officials would have us believe that the trafficking in and use of illegal drugs are to blame. Mexican officials go even further than that by blaming the existence of the gangs, the attendant violence, and the corruption on the insatiable hunger of Americans for Marijuana, Heroin, Cocaine, Meth, and other illegal drugs.
A desperate President Felipe Calderon has suggested that Mexico should consider the legalization of drugs. When he made his proposal - The Economist (8-14-10) entitled it THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE - Felipe must have flipped out under the influence of some funny tobacco smoke. With the huge demand for recreational drugs by Mexico’s northern neighbor, the drug cartels are not going to go away just because the country legalized drugs.
Let’s suppose that both Mexico and the United States legalized drugs. Would that cause the demise of Mexican drug cartels? No way Jose! Remember that the end of Prohibition in the U.S. did not bring about the demise of the Mafia. The drug cartels, just like the Mafia, would simply find some other criminal enterprises by which they can enrich themselves. The gangs are not about to go away because drugs are not the real problem behind Mexico’s violence.
The real problem is the deep socioeconomic chasm that divides Mexican 'haves' and 'haves not.'. Our southern neighbor has a small number of extremely wealthy people and a small middle class. The overwhelming majority of Mexicans are dirt poor and live in abject poverty. Whenever any country has a divide between the poverty-stricken masses and a small well-off ruling class, it will have an insurgency – in Mexico it’s in the form of gangs and in other countries it’s Marxist militias.
So, until Mexico’s socioeconomic chasm is bridged, it will continue to be plagued by deadly gang warfare, corruption, kidnappings and by the killings of office holders, judges, police officials and news reporters. Drugs are not the real problem and Calderon is just a dumb Mexican who is not smart enough to realize that the legalization of drugs probably won’t make a peso’s worth of difference.
SAUDI CARPENTERS
SAUDI COUPLE HAMMER 24 HOT NAILS INTO THEIR MAID AFTER SHE COMPLAINED OF HEAVY WORKLOAD
Mail Online
August 27, 2010
A Saudi couple tortured their Sri Lankan maid by hammering 24 hot nails into her after she complained of her heavy workload.
X-rays showed the brutal result after the nails were hammered into the hands, legs and feet of LT Ariyawathi, a 49-year-old mother-of-three.
Mrs Ariyawathi had returned to Sri Lanka on Friday after five months in Saudi Arabia.
Her family took her to the hospital after it became clear she was in massive amounts of pain.
It was then that doctors discovered the 1in to 2in nails inside her body. One had been hammered in over her eyes, officials said.
Mrs Ariyawathi told a local newspaper that her employers tortured her with the nails as punishment.
'They (employer and his family) did not allow me even to rest. The woman at the house had heated the nails and then the man inserted them into my body,' she was quoted as saying in the Lakbima, a newspaper published in local Sinhalese language.
She told the paper that she went to Saudi Arabia in March and was paid only two months' salary, with her employer withholding three months' salary to buy an air ticket to send her home.
Dr HKK Satharasinghe said X-rays show Mrs Ariyawathi has 24 nails and needles in her body. Some of her wounds have healed over, he said but she finds it difficult to walk because she has two nails in her knee and two in her ankles.
Another needle is in her forehead, and the rest are in hands, he said.
'Her condition is stable, but we are giving antibiotics and painkillers,' Dr Satharasinghe said, adding that doctors will begin removing the remaining nails tomorrow.
Kalyana Priya Ramanayake, media secretary of the Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau, said: 'The landlord and the wife of the landlord hammered 24 nails into her when she complained of the heavy workload.'
He added that Mrs Ariyawathi had been too afraid to complain about the abuse to Saudi authorities, fearing that her employers might not let her return home. She also did not report the abuse to Sri Lankan officials, until she was hospitalised.
Around 1.4 million, mostly maids, were employed in the Middle East with 400,000 working in Saudi Arabia alone. Many have complained of physical abuse or harassment.
Saudi's foreign embassies report thousands of complaints each year from domestic workers forced to work 15-20 hours a day for seven days a week, who are denied their salaries, denied food and drink and sometimes even subjected to sexual abuse.
Recourse to justice is poor too with obstacles such as lack of access to interpreters, legal aid, or their consulates which means few migrants successfully pursue criminal cases against abusive employers.
Successful legal action by migrant workers is rare and often migrants are deported before they can pursue their case.
In 2008 authorities deported Keni binti Carda, an Indonesian domestic worker, before she could formally complain about her employers causing her severe burns and prying out her teet
Mail Online
August 27, 2010
A Saudi couple tortured their Sri Lankan maid by hammering 24 hot nails into her after she complained of her heavy workload.
X-rays showed the brutal result after the nails were hammered into the hands, legs and feet of LT Ariyawathi, a 49-year-old mother-of-three.
Mrs Ariyawathi had returned to Sri Lanka on Friday after five months in Saudi Arabia.
Her family took her to the hospital after it became clear she was in massive amounts of pain.
It was then that doctors discovered the 1in to 2in nails inside her body. One had been hammered in over her eyes, officials said.
Mrs Ariyawathi told a local newspaper that her employers tortured her with the nails as punishment.
'They (employer and his family) did not allow me even to rest. The woman at the house had heated the nails and then the man inserted them into my body,' she was quoted as saying in the Lakbima, a newspaper published in local Sinhalese language.
She told the paper that she went to Saudi Arabia in March and was paid only two months' salary, with her employer withholding three months' salary to buy an air ticket to send her home.
Dr HKK Satharasinghe said X-rays show Mrs Ariyawathi has 24 nails and needles in her body. Some of her wounds have healed over, he said but she finds it difficult to walk because she has two nails in her knee and two in her ankles.
Another needle is in her forehead, and the rest are in hands, he said.
'Her condition is stable, but we are giving antibiotics and painkillers,' Dr Satharasinghe said, adding that doctors will begin removing the remaining nails tomorrow.
Kalyana Priya Ramanayake, media secretary of the Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau, said: 'The landlord and the wife of the landlord hammered 24 nails into her when she complained of the heavy workload.'
He added that Mrs Ariyawathi had been too afraid to complain about the abuse to Saudi authorities, fearing that her employers might not let her return home. She also did not report the abuse to Sri Lankan officials, until she was hospitalised.
Around 1.4 million, mostly maids, were employed in the Middle East with 400,000 working in Saudi Arabia alone. Many have complained of physical abuse or harassment.
Saudi's foreign embassies report thousands of complaints each year from domestic workers forced to work 15-20 hours a day for seven days a week, who are denied their salaries, denied food and drink and sometimes even subjected to sexual abuse.
Recourse to justice is poor too with obstacles such as lack of access to interpreters, legal aid, or their consulates which means few migrants successfully pursue criminal cases against abusive employers.
Successful legal action by migrant workers is rare and often migrants are deported before they can pursue their case.
In 2008 authorities deported Keni binti Carda, an Indonesian domestic worker, before she could formally complain about her employers causing her severe burns and prying out her teet
LADIES, THIS WILL CURL YOUR HAIR!
SEVEN REASONS WHY YOUR HAIR STYLIST HATES YOU
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
Aug. 26 2010
Okay, we admit it -- we don't really care who cuts our hair. But we drafted someone who does, to find out the inner secrets of the scissors-wielding fraternity.
She talked to one of the best hair stylists in Houston, and learned things that made her hair curl -- and turned her brown eyes blue -- the Seven Reasons Why Your Hair Guru Hates You:
1. You've got damaged hair as wiry as those copper-pot scrubbers you find in Mexican food markets, and you insist on getting color again, like Newton's law of gravity will be recalled. To top it off (and you really should use a scarf to top it off by now), you expect it to be healthy with grocery store products, not the high-end salon potions I so wisely offer.
2. I always consult with the client first about hair color before I do anything else, and it's always the ones who haven't washed their hair in a week who want you to touch it.
3. Time-traveling clients: They'll bring in a picture from like 15 years ago and say, "Make me look like that" and you can barely see the picture. It's too dark or it's blurry and you can't even tell if it's them in the picture!
4. Speaking of the damned products, you out-and-out ask me to tailor a hair-product regime for you -- and then have the audacity! girlfriend! to go elsewhere so you can buy them cheaper. I gave you my time and expert opinion to come up with your ultimate "prescription."
5. It doesn't bother me when guys hit on me, but it does when they're married! One customer was always saying dirty things to me and was full of suggestions like, "You can lean your breasts on my head" during a haircut -- like that'll make the haircut zip along easier. And I do his wife's hair too! She is a sharp cookie and just has to know what a dog he is.
6. And the stay-at-home moms! All they talk about is their kids. I'm a captive audience you know, but that doesn't mean you have to yak on about soccer shit. You can tell they never get out much. And what if I want to get married? You're just rubbing it in.
7. And it goes without saying: Tipping is not, as a wise person once said, a city in China.
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
Aug. 26 2010
Okay, we admit it -- we don't really care who cuts our hair. But we drafted someone who does, to find out the inner secrets of the scissors-wielding fraternity.
She talked to one of the best hair stylists in Houston, and learned things that made her hair curl -- and turned her brown eyes blue -- the Seven Reasons Why Your Hair Guru Hates You:
1. You've got damaged hair as wiry as those copper-pot scrubbers you find in Mexican food markets, and you insist on getting color again, like Newton's law of gravity will be recalled. To top it off (and you really should use a scarf to top it off by now), you expect it to be healthy with grocery store products, not the high-end salon potions I so wisely offer.
2. I always consult with the client first about hair color before I do anything else, and it's always the ones who haven't washed their hair in a week who want you to touch it.
3. Time-traveling clients: They'll bring in a picture from like 15 years ago and say, "Make me look like that" and you can barely see the picture. It's too dark or it's blurry and you can't even tell if it's them in the picture!
4. Speaking of the damned products, you out-and-out ask me to tailor a hair-product regime for you -- and then have the audacity! girlfriend! to go elsewhere so you can buy them cheaper. I gave you my time and expert opinion to come up with your ultimate "prescription."
5. It doesn't bother me when guys hit on me, but it does when they're married! One customer was always saying dirty things to me and was full of suggestions like, "You can lean your breasts on my head" during a haircut -- like that'll make the haircut zip along easier. And I do his wife's hair too! She is a sharp cookie and just has to know what a dog he is.
6. And the stay-at-home moms! All they talk about is their kids. I'm a captive audience you know, but that doesn't mean you have to yak on about soccer shit. You can tell they never get out much. And what if I want to get married? You're just rubbing it in.
7. And it goes without saying: Tipping is not, as a wise person once said, a city in China.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
MY FINAL TRIP TO COSTCO
Yesterday I was at my local COSTCO buying a large bag of Purina dog chow for my loyal pet, Molson, the Wonder Dog and was in the checkout line when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog. What did she think I had, an elephant?
So since I'm retired and have little to do, on impulse I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, I was starting the Purina Diet again... I added that I probably shouldn't, because I ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IV’s in both arms.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in line was now enthralled with my story.)
Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me. I told her no, I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter's ass and a car hit us both.
I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard.
Costco won't let me shop there anymore.
Better watch what you ask retired people. They have all the time in the world to think of crazy things to say.
So since I'm retired and have little to do, on impulse I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, I was starting the Purina Diet again... I added that I probably shouldn't, because I ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IV’s in both arms.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in line was now enthralled with my story.)
Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me. I told her no, I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter's ass and a car hit us both.
I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard.
Costco won't let me shop there anymore.
Better watch what you ask retired people. They have all the time in the world to think of crazy things to say.
THIS IS THE GUY THAT OBAMA HAS JUST SENT ON A GOOD WILL TRIP TO THE MIDDLE EAST
Another good reason to believe that the funding for the Ground Zero mosque will come from Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries that are funneling money to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. And by sending this ‘moderate’ Islamic cleric to the Middle East as an ambassador of good will, Obama is giving us another example of how he is reaching out to the Muslim World.
Our political leaders, both Democrats and Republicans, keep assuring us that Islam is a ‘Religion of Peace.’ Why won’t they admit that Islam is at war with the West? The Islamization of Europe is already well under way. Perhaps Islamophobia isn’t all that bad since our grandkids could wake up one morning in the UNITED ISLAMIC STATES OF AMERICA.
ISLAMIC CLERIC BEHIND GROUND ZERO MOSQUE SAYS U.S. HAS KILLED MORE INNOCENT CIVILIANS THAN AL QAEDA
By Daniel Bates
Mail Online
August 25, 2010
The Islamic cleric behind plans for a mosque at Ground Zero in New York has claimed that the U.S. is worse than Al Qaeda.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said that America was more culpable than the terrorist organization because U.S.-led sanctions were responsible for the death of half a million Iraqi children.
'We tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than Al Qaeda has on its hands of innocent non-Muslims,' he said.
The comments, made in an interview in 2005, have been highlighted this week on a conservative American blog.
Rauf is the driving force of plans to put a £70million mosque two blocks away from where the Twin Towers once stood.
His comments raise further questions over whether or not funding for the project will come from regimes that back terrorists, something the mosque leaders have refused to rule out. Rauf's comments drew condemnation from Debra Burlingame, head of 9/11 Families for a Strong America, who said they left her feeling disgusted.
'This man is out there preaching politics and advancing anti-American propaganda,' she said.
Our political leaders, both Democrats and Republicans, keep assuring us that Islam is a ‘Religion of Peace.’ Why won’t they admit that Islam is at war with the West? The Islamization of Europe is already well under way. Perhaps Islamophobia isn’t all that bad since our grandkids could wake up one morning in the UNITED ISLAMIC STATES OF AMERICA.
ISLAMIC CLERIC BEHIND GROUND ZERO MOSQUE SAYS U.S. HAS KILLED MORE INNOCENT CIVILIANS THAN AL QAEDA
By Daniel Bates
Mail Online
August 25, 2010
The Islamic cleric behind plans for a mosque at Ground Zero in New York has claimed that the U.S. is worse than Al Qaeda.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said that America was more culpable than the terrorist organization because U.S.-led sanctions were responsible for the death of half a million Iraqi children.
'We tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than Al Qaeda has on its hands of innocent non-Muslims,' he said.
The comments, made in an interview in 2005, have been highlighted this week on a conservative American blog.
Rauf is the driving force of plans to put a £70million mosque two blocks away from where the Twin Towers once stood.
His comments raise further questions over whether or not funding for the project will come from regimes that back terrorists, something the mosque leaders have refused to rule out. Rauf's comments drew condemnation from Debra Burlingame, head of 9/11 Families for a Strong America, who said they left her feeling disgusted.
'This man is out there preaching politics and advancing anti-American propaganda,' she said.
IF HE WASN'T ABOUT TO RETIRE, HE'D BE FIRED
FORGET OBAMA’S PLANNED WITHDRAWAL, U.S. TROOPS WILL HAVE TO STAY IN AFGHANISTAN FOR YEARS SAYS TOP MARINE COMMANDER
Mail Online
August 25, 2010
Afghanistan will not be secure enough for American forces to leave for a number of years, a top U.S. Marines commander has claimed.
The assessment of the war's progress by Commandant General James Conway will make bleak reading for Barack Obama, who planned a withdrawal due to start in July next year.
Conway also said intelligence intercepts suggest that Taliban fighters have been encouraged by the talk of the United States' beginning to withdraw troops next year.
'In some ways, we think right now it's probably giving our enemy sustenance,' Conway said of the 2011 deadline.
'We think that he may be saying to himself . . . "Hey, you know, we only have to hold out for so long."'
Conway, known for his candid speech, is planning to retire in autumn after 40 years in the Marines.
Speaking at the Pentagon, he said: 'Though I certainly believe some American unit somewhere in Afghanistan will turn over responsibilities to Afghan security forces in 2011, I do not think they will be Marines.'
Noting that Helmand and Kandahar are considered the 'birthplace' of the Taliban, Conway said, 'I honestly think it will be a few years before conditions on the ground are such that turnover will be possible for us.'
Mail Online
August 25, 2010
Afghanistan will not be secure enough for American forces to leave for a number of years, a top U.S. Marines commander has claimed.
The assessment of the war's progress by Commandant General James Conway will make bleak reading for Barack Obama, who planned a withdrawal due to start in July next year.
Conway also said intelligence intercepts suggest that Taliban fighters have been encouraged by the talk of the United States' beginning to withdraw troops next year.
'In some ways, we think right now it's probably giving our enemy sustenance,' Conway said of the 2011 deadline.
'We think that he may be saying to himself . . . "Hey, you know, we only have to hold out for so long."'
Conway, known for his candid speech, is planning to retire in autumn after 40 years in the Marines.
Speaking at the Pentagon, he said: 'Though I certainly believe some American unit somewhere in Afghanistan will turn over responsibilities to Afghan security forces in 2011, I do not think they will be Marines.'
Noting that Helmand and Kandahar are considered the 'birthplace' of the Taliban, Conway said, 'I honestly think it will be a few years before conditions on the ground are such that turnover will be possible for us.'
PREDICTING WHAT CRIME WILL BE COMMITTED WHERE, BY WHO AND WHEN
This would really play havoc with Kookfornia’s early prison releases and its diminished parole supervision policies.
COMPUTERIZED PREDICTION OF FUTURE CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR?
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
August 24, 2010
The technofreaks in D. C. now seem to sort-of honestly believe they have a computer program that can reasonably accurately predict future crimes.
Earlier incarnations of the program have been used in Baltimore and Philadelphia and were limited to prediction of murders by people on parole or probation. The latest version, being field-tested in D.C., is thought to be able to predict other crimes as well.
The theory used complex computer algorithms and predictive analytics. Some variations are tied in to surveillance systems and can predict when a crime is about to occur by the movements and actions of people being observed. (Any decent human operator can do that.)
Similar programs are being used by government agencies to monitor Twitter accounts, blogs and websites for information.
Clicking here will link to a somewhat disturbing article from Prison Planet on this subject.
COMPUTERIZED PREDICTION OF FUTURE CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR?
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
August 24, 2010
The technofreaks in D. C. now seem to sort-of honestly believe they have a computer program that can reasonably accurately predict future crimes.
Earlier incarnations of the program have been used in Baltimore and Philadelphia and were limited to prediction of murders by people on parole or probation. The latest version, being field-tested in D.C., is thought to be able to predict other crimes as well.
The theory used complex computer algorithms and predictive analytics. Some variations are tied in to surveillance systems and can predict when a crime is about to occur by the movements and actions of people being observed. (Any decent human operator can do that.)
Similar programs are being used by government agencies to monitor Twitter accounts, blogs and websites for information.
Clicking here will link to a somewhat disturbing article from Prison Planet on this subject.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
DANGER ON THE HORIZON
Here’s a real wake-up call for America.
THE CHINA CHALLENGE: IS THE U.S. MILITARY UP TO SNUFF?
By Peter Brookes
politicalmavens.com
August 25, 2010
The Pentagon’s just-released report to Congress on Chinese military power is alarming for two reasons: First, Beijing’s military buildup continues; second, the modernization of our armed forces may come up short of what’s needed to meet the China challenge.
While the outcome of these troubling trends can’t be foretold, there are solid reasons for worry about America’s power and position in the Pacific Ocean in the years to come.
The People’s Liberation Army clearly is developing doctrines and deploying capabilities for throwing its weight around in the Pacific and beyond. The Pentagon paper talks of Chinese "power-projection," "anti-access" and "area-denial" strategies and forces, all aimed at keeping America at bay in Asia, should Beijing decide to do so.
The report notes, for instance: "China has the most active land-based ballistic- and cruise-missile program in the world" and is sending to sea cruise missiles on ships and intercontinental-range missiles aboard subs.
Of particular concern to our Navy is China’s development of an anti-ship ballistic missile with a maneuverable warhead and range of more than 1,000 miles. This DF-21 variant is a "carrier-buster" and a threat our navy has never faced.
Beijing’s robust building program has made it the largest naval force in Asia, outstripping the likes of Japan and South Korea, the region’s other major military powers.
Now, the Defense Department tells us, China has an aircraft-carrier R&D program under way. Beijing could start building its own carrier by the end of 2010, capable of handling fixed-wing aircraft.
When that ship hits the water, we’ll no longer be the only flattop navy in the "Pac."
On the aviation front, China is adding advanced aircraft to its inventory, allowing Beijing to create turbulence far from its air space. Notably, it’s upgrading its bomber fleet, arming it with long-range cruise missiles.
All this muscling-up isn’t likely to end soon. Beijing upped defense spending nearly 8 percent this year, after two decades of double-digit hikes. China’s new position as the world’s second-largest economy will help.
Unfortunately, these dizzying developments come as the US defense establishment debates the future. After nearly nine years of war, some expect demands for a "peace dividend" — meaning cuts in the Pentagon budget even deeper than what are already in the pipeline. Others are pushing for maintaining a heavy emphasis on counter-terror/insurgency operations — a focus that inevitably diverts money from the resources needed for conventional war-fighting.
While we can’t ignore the wolf nearest the sled, we must also plan for other contingencies. Some increasingly worry about our ability to fight a big-power war. From the Pentagon report, it’s clear we have competition.
For example, we have 11 aircraft carriers total. But due to at-sea rotations and maintenance only seven or eight of them are ready for duty at a time — and getting that many to sea could take 90 days. In a theater like the Pacific — known for its "tyranny of distance" — 90,000 tons of floating US airfield is pretty darn important for looking after your interests. Worse, that 11 may shrink to 10 in the coming years. (We had 15 carriers during the Reagan years.)
We’re also running low on the number of ships and subs the Navy needs to do the job. For our aviators, the planes are getting old. The newest fighter, the F-22, was deep-sixed after a limited production run; its follow-on, the F-35, won’t be in service till 2014; and the Air Force’s bomber fleet averages 32 years in age — older than many of its pilots.
Overall, the US military has enormous capital-spending needs. Our strategic nuclear forces need modernization; more missile defense is critical, and some worry our defense-oriented tech edge is slipping, too. Plus, the Army and Marines have to replace vast numbers of fighting vehicles and other equipment being used up in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We need to win the fights we’re in now, but we need to be ready for the possible fights to come. That means having a well-balanced force able to address the contingencies we’ll face in the 21st century, whether that is terrorism, insurgency — or the rise of another major power.
THE CHINA CHALLENGE: IS THE U.S. MILITARY UP TO SNUFF?
By Peter Brookes
politicalmavens.com
August 25, 2010
The Pentagon’s just-released report to Congress on Chinese military power is alarming for two reasons: First, Beijing’s military buildup continues; second, the modernization of our armed forces may come up short of what’s needed to meet the China challenge.
While the outcome of these troubling trends can’t be foretold, there are solid reasons for worry about America’s power and position in the Pacific Ocean in the years to come.
The People’s Liberation Army clearly is developing doctrines and deploying capabilities for throwing its weight around in the Pacific and beyond. The Pentagon paper talks of Chinese "power-projection," "anti-access" and "area-denial" strategies and forces, all aimed at keeping America at bay in Asia, should Beijing decide to do so.
The report notes, for instance: "China has the most active land-based ballistic- and cruise-missile program in the world" and is sending to sea cruise missiles on ships and intercontinental-range missiles aboard subs.
Of particular concern to our Navy is China’s development of an anti-ship ballistic missile with a maneuverable warhead and range of more than 1,000 miles. This DF-21 variant is a "carrier-buster" and a threat our navy has never faced.
Beijing’s robust building program has made it the largest naval force in Asia, outstripping the likes of Japan and South Korea, the region’s other major military powers.
Now, the Defense Department tells us, China has an aircraft-carrier R&D program under way. Beijing could start building its own carrier by the end of 2010, capable of handling fixed-wing aircraft.
When that ship hits the water, we’ll no longer be the only flattop navy in the "Pac."
On the aviation front, China is adding advanced aircraft to its inventory, allowing Beijing to create turbulence far from its air space. Notably, it’s upgrading its bomber fleet, arming it with long-range cruise missiles.
All this muscling-up isn’t likely to end soon. Beijing upped defense spending nearly 8 percent this year, after two decades of double-digit hikes. China’s new position as the world’s second-largest economy will help.
Unfortunately, these dizzying developments come as the US defense establishment debates the future. After nearly nine years of war, some expect demands for a "peace dividend" — meaning cuts in the Pentagon budget even deeper than what are already in the pipeline. Others are pushing for maintaining a heavy emphasis on counter-terror/insurgency operations — a focus that inevitably diverts money from the resources needed for conventional war-fighting.
While we can’t ignore the wolf nearest the sled, we must also plan for other contingencies. Some increasingly worry about our ability to fight a big-power war. From the Pentagon report, it’s clear we have competition.
For example, we have 11 aircraft carriers total. But due to at-sea rotations and maintenance only seven or eight of them are ready for duty at a time — and getting that many to sea could take 90 days. In a theater like the Pacific — known for its "tyranny of distance" — 90,000 tons of floating US airfield is pretty darn important for looking after your interests. Worse, that 11 may shrink to 10 in the coming years. (We had 15 carriers during the Reagan years.)
We’re also running low on the number of ships and subs the Navy needs to do the job. For our aviators, the planes are getting old. The newest fighter, the F-22, was deep-sixed after a limited production run; its follow-on, the F-35, won’t be in service till 2014; and the Air Force’s bomber fleet averages 32 years in age — older than many of its pilots.
Overall, the US military has enormous capital-spending needs. Our strategic nuclear forces need modernization; more missile defense is critical, and some worry our defense-oriented tech edge is slipping, too. Plus, the Army and Marines have to replace vast numbers of fighting vehicles and other equipment being used up in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We need to win the fights we’re in now, but we need to be ready for the possible fights to come. That means having a well-balanced force able to address the contingencies we’ll face in the 21st century, whether that is terrorism, insurgency — or the rise of another major power.
WHICH WIFE WON?
Among the horses running in Sunday’ seventh race at New Jersey’s Monmouth Park, one of the horses was named 'My Wife Knows Everything' and another horse was named ‘The Wife Doesn't Know.’ As luck would have it the two ‘wives’ were out in front when the race ended. So, which wife won?
If you’re a married man you know damn well which horse won. That’s right guys, 'My Wife Knows Everything’ won by two lengths over 'The Wife Doesn’t Know’ and women all over America are having a good laugh.
If you’re a married man you know damn well which horse won. That’s right guys, 'My Wife Knows Everything’ won by two lengths over 'The Wife Doesn’t Know’ and women all over America are having a good laugh.
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