Falling off the curb can be very painful.
A COMMUNITY SERVICE STORY
We need to hear more stories like this one.
Augusta, Ga. -- Orville Smith, a store manager for Best Buy in Augusta , Georgia told police he observed a male customer, later identified as Tyrone Jackson of Augusta, on surveillance cameras putting a laptop computer under his jacket. When confronted, the man became irate, knocked down an employee, drew a knife and ran for the door.
Outside on the sidewalk in front of the store were four Marines collecting toys for the "Toys for Tots" program. Smith said the Marines stopped the man, but he stabbed one of the Marines, Cpl. Phillip Duggan, in the back. The injury did not appear to be severe.
After Police and an ambulance arrived at the scene Cpl. Duggan was transported for treatment. Later the subject was also transported to the local hospital for injuries he sustained........when he slipped and fell off of the curb after stabbing the Marine. The subjects injuries included two broken arms, a broken ankle, a broken leg, several missing teeth, possible broken ribs, multiple contusions, assorted lacerations, a broken nose and a broken jaw...After an extensive hospital stay, the subject is expected to near fully recover in four to six months.
Cpl. Duggan was treated for his injury and released the following day.
Semper Fi! We should all thank these Marines for their valuable community service act.
Friday, February 11, 2011
ECONOMIC STIMULUS PAYMENT EXPLAINED
Sometime this year, we taxpayers may receive another Economic Stimulus payment.This is indeed a very exciting program, and I'll explain it by using a Q & A format:
Q. What is an Economic Stimulus payment?
A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.
Q. Where will the government get this money ?
A. From taxpayers.
Q. So the government is giving me back my own money ?
A. Only a smidgen of it.
Q. What is the purpose of this payment ?
A. The plan is for you to use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.
Q. But isn?t that stimulating the economy of China ?
A. Shut up.
Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the U.S. economy by spending your stimulus check wisely:
* If you spend the stimulus money at Wal-Mart, the money will go to China or Sri Lanka .
* If you spend it on gasoline, your money will go to the Arabs.
* If you purchase a computer, it will go to India , Taiwan or China .
* If you purchase fruit and vegetables, it will go to Mexico , Honduras and Guatemala .
* If you buy an efficient car, it will go to Japan or Korea .
* If you purchase useless stuff, it will go to Taiwan .
* If you pay your credit cards off, or buy stock, it will go to management bonuses and they will hide it offshore.
Instead, keep the money in America by:
1) Spending it at yard sales, or
2) Going to ball games, or
3) Spending it on prostitutes, or
4) Beer, or
5) Tattoos.
(These are the only American businesses still operating in the U.S. )
Conclusion: Go to a ball game with a tattooed prostitute that you met at a yard sale and drink beer all day!
No need to thank me, I'm just glad I could be of help.
Q. What is an Economic Stimulus payment?
A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.
Q. Where will the government get this money ?
A. From taxpayers.
Q. So the government is giving me back my own money ?
A. Only a smidgen of it.
Q. What is the purpose of this payment ?
A. The plan is for you to use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.
Q. But isn?t that stimulating the economy of China ?
A. Shut up.
Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the U.S. economy by spending your stimulus check wisely:
* If you spend the stimulus money at Wal-Mart, the money will go to China or Sri Lanka .
* If you spend it on gasoline, your money will go to the Arabs.
* If you purchase a computer, it will go to India , Taiwan or China .
* If you purchase fruit and vegetables, it will go to Mexico , Honduras and Guatemala .
* If you buy an efficient car, it will go to Japan or Korea .
* If you purchase useless stuff, it will go to Taiwan .
* If you pay your credit cards off, or buy stock, it will go to management bonuses and they will hide it offshore.
Instead, keep the money in America by:
1) Spending it at yard sales, or
2) Going to ball games, or
3) Spending it on prostitutes, or
4) Beer, or
5) Tattoos.
(These are the only American businesses still operating in the U.S. )
Conclusion: Go to a ball game with a tattooed prostitute that you met at a yard sale and drink beer all day!
No need to thank me, I'm just glad I could be of help.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
EXPERT OPINIONS ON WHY THE CHICKEN CROSSED THE ROAD
SARAH PALIN: The chicken crossed the road because gosh-darn it, he's a maverick!
BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for change! The chicken wanted change!
JOHN MC CAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.
HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure right from Day One that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.
GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here..
DICK CHENEY: Where's my gun?
COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.
BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken.
AL GORE: I invented the chicken.
JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.
AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens..
DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems.
OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a NEW CAR so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.
NANCY GRACE, CNN, Former Prosecutor: That chicken crossed the road because he's guilty! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.
PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain, alone.
GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road.
Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heartwarming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its lifelong dream of crossing the road.
ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.
BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2010, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken2010.
This new platform is much more stable and will never reboot.
ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?
BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for change! The chicken wanted change!
JOHN MC CAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.
HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure right from Day One that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.
GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here..
DICK CHENEY: Where's my gun?
COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.
BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken.
AL GORE: I invented the chicken.
JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.
AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens..
DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems.
OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a NEW CAR so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.
NANCY GRACE, CNN, Former Prosecutor: That chicken crossed the road because he's guilty! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.
PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain, alone.
GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road.
Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heartwarming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its lifelong dream of crossing the road.
ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.
BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2010, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken2010.
This new platform is much more stable and will never reboot.
ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?
DORINA LISSON, CRIKEY! PRISON INMATES HAD TO PAY FOR PIZZAS AND CHICKEN WINGS
Crikey, you’ve been right all along! Here is an example of the crazed sadistic bullying of American prison inmates. The poor mistreated souls had to pay for their meals if they wanted to eat pizza and chicken wings, and that was only if they were on good behavior.
KANSAS INMATES PLACE ORDER FOR 942 LARGE PIZZAS
KansasCity.com
February 5, 2011
HUTCHINSON, Kan. | Two Pizza Huts in Hutchinson knew they'd be busy on Super Bowl Sunday, but not this busy: They're splitting a to-go order for more than 900 large pizzas and 9,600 chicken wings.
The order, which will cost more than $11,000, is part of a fundraiser for the Hutchinson Correctional Center's planned Spiritual Life Center. The prison will be getting 942 large, hand-tossed pizzas at $8 apiece and will charge inmates $11, with about $3,000 going toward the center.
The order also includes 9,630 wings — boneless to minimize the security risk.
The Hutchinson News reported that only inmates with good behavioral records got the chance to order pizza and chicken wings for Sunday.
"My first reaction was I didn't believe them," said Allen Plumley, general manager of one of the restaurants. "Super Bowl Sunday is one of our busiest days to begin with, but the biggest rush is right before the game or at halftime."
Last year, one of the Pizza Huts sold 495 large pizzas on Super Bowl Sunday, while the other sold 425. With the prison order, each will cook 471 pizzas before they even open.
Prison spokesman Steve Schneider said 811 of the facility's 1,862 inmates had placed an order — the largest from one inmate was $70 in pizza and wings.
"We're not just ordering pizza for every inmate in the place," Schneider said. "Each inmate orders the pizza for themselves, and they're paying from their own accounts."
More than 30 employees at each store will be involved in filling the order, placed by inmates at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility. Ten cooks were to start preparing the pizzas around midnight, with the rest of the workers scheduled to come in around 6 a.m. to start baking them.
The goal is to have the prison's order completed by the time the stores open at 11 a.m. The Super Bowl is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. Central Time.
"It's definitely going to be a challenge," said Jen Osner, a Pizza Hut district manager in Hutchinson.
Schneider said prison employees will be picking up the order, and the food will be delivered to inmates as soon as it reaches the prison. Inmates will take the food back to their assigned living areas to eat while waiting for the game.
"The ability to participate is based on their behavior, so it works in favor as an incentive for them to stay out of trouble," said Warden Sam Cline, who hopes to eventually raise $1 million for the Spiritual Life Center. "They like the chance to have any kind of (food) brand they're familiar with, so this is pretty special to them."
Some inmates who have earned privileges through good behavior have clear, plastic televisions on which they can watch the Super Bowl. Also, day rooms in the prison's minimum- and medium-security units have televisions that inmates can watch, Schneider said.
"Just like in society, there are the haves and the have-nots," he said. "Some will be able to participate and some will not."
KANSAS INMATES PLACE ORDER FOR 942 LARGE PIZZAS
KansasCity.com
February 5, 2011
HUTCHINSON, Kan. | Two Pizza Huts in Hutchinson knew they'd be busy on Super Bowl Sunday, but not this busy: They're splitting a to-go order for more than 900 large pizzas and 9,600 chicken wings.
The order, which will cost more than $11,000, is part of a fundraiser for the Hutchinson Correctional Center's planned Spiritual Life Center. The prison will be getting 942 large, hand-tossed pizzas at $8 apiece and will charge inmates $11, with about $3,000 going toward the center.
The order also includes 9,630 wings — boneless to minimize the security risk.
The Hutchinson News reported that only inmates with good behavioral records got the chance to order pizza and chicken wings for Sunday.
"My first reaction was I didn't believe them," said Allen Plumley, general manager of one of the restaurants. "Super Bowl Sunday is one of our busiest days to begin with, but the biggest rush is right before the game or at halftime."
Last year, one of the Pizza Huts sold 495 large pizzas on Super Bowl Sunday, while the other sold 425. With the prison order, each will cook 471 pizzas before they even open.
Prison spokesman Steve Schneider said 811 of the facility's 1,862 inmates had placed an order — the largest from one inmate was $70 in pizza and wings.
"We're not just ordering pizza for every inmate in the place," Schneider said. "Each inmate orders the pizza for themselves, and they're paying from their own accounts."
More than 30 employees at each store will be involved in filling the order, placed by inmates at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility. Ten cooks were to start preparing the pizzas around midnight, with the rest of the workers scheduled to come in around 6 a.m. to start baking them.
The goal is to have the prison's order completed by the time the stores open at 11 a.m. The Super Bowl is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. Central Time.
"It's definitely going to be a challenge," said Jen Osner, a Pizza Hut district manager in Hutchinson.
Schneider said prison employees will be picking up the order, and the food will be delivered to inmates as soon as it reaches the prison. Inmates will take the food back to their assigned living areas to eat while waiting for the game.
"The ability to participate is based on their behavior, so it works in favor as an incentive for them to stay out of trouble," said Warden Sam Cline, who hopes to eventually raise $1 million for the Spiritual Life Center. "They like the chance to have any kind of (food) brand they're familiar with, so this is pretty special to them."
Some inmates who have earned privileges through good behavior have clear, plastic televisions on which they can watch the Super Bowl. Also, day rooms in the prison's minimum- and medium-security units have televisions that inmates can watch, Schneider said.
"Just like in society, there are the haves and the have-nots," he said. "Some will be able to participate and some will not."
THANK YOU RONNIE
All American Jews should be indebted to Ronald Reagan for his staunch support of Israel. And they might also show some gratitude to George W. Bush for being, as his mother described him, “the first Jewish president.”
THE GIPPER’S GIFT: A PRO-ISRAEL GOP
By Tevi Troy
The Jewish Daily Forward
February 3, 2011
As America marks the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth, we will be remembering one of our country’s greatest leaders with speeches, tributes and television specials. Friends of Israel will have a special reason to celebrate: Reagan made the Republican Party into the unambiguously pro-Israel party that it is today.
Indeed, before the Reagan era, the Republican Party had a decidedly mixed record on Israel. In the 1940s and early 1950s, the conservative movement had strong isolationist and even anti-Semitic tendencies. Later, Republican presidents, such as Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon — while by no means isolationists — had complicated relations with the Jewish state. Eisenhower forced Israel to return the Sinai to Egypt after capturing it in 1956. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Nixon wasted precious days before finally re-supplying a tapped out Israel with arms.
Reagan, by contrast, had staunchly pro-Israel views. These were informed by his perception of Israel as an important American ally in the Cold War and his identification with Israel as a vibrant democracy.
“Only by full appreciation of the critical role the State of Israel plays in our strategic calculus can we build the foundation for thwarting Moscow’s designs on territories and resources vital to our security and our national well-being,” Reagan said. As Mitchell Bard, executive director of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, has noted: “Ronald Reagan was the first President to state explicitly that Israel was a strategic asset to the United States.”
But for Reagan, America’s friendship with Israel wasn’t only a matter of strategic calculus. As Reagan said in his 1980 campaign, “Israel represents the one stable democracy sharing values with us in that part of the world…. I think we should make it plain that we are going to keep our commitment to the continued existence of Israel.”
This sort of talk was music to the ears of neoconservatives, many of whom had backed Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election only to grow disillusioned. Reagan gave pro-Israel neoconservatives, such as Jeane Kirkpatrick and Elliott Abrams, prominent roles in his administration. Kirkpatrick, in particular, defended Israel from her perch as American ambassador to the United Nations. The neoconservatives helped give Republican foreign policy a pro-democracy emphasis that it often lacked in the era of Kissingerian realpolitik, permanently altering the way that Republicans related to Israel and its conflicts with its undemocratic neighbors.
Of course, not every action by the Reagan administration was pro-Israel. Reagan supported the sale of AWACS planes to Saudi Arabia over Israel’s objections, and he shortsightedly condemned Israel’s destruction of Iraq’s Osirak nuclear facility. He also displayed genuine anger with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin over Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. But all of these incidents took place within the context of Reagan taking the U.S.-Israel relationship to a place of genuine friendship.
After some hiccups during the first Bush administration, Republicans have drawn on their Reaganite inheritance and become a reliably pro-Israel party. The post-1994 Republican Congress regularly backed Israel on both substantive and symbolic issues. After 9/11, the Reaganite view that Israel is on the side of democracy in the struggle against the forces of tyranny secured an uncontested place as a central pillar of Republican foreign policy. President George W. Bush was so supportive of Israel that his mother reportedly joked that he was “the first Jewish president.”
A visit to Israel is now a rite of passage for prospective GOP presidential candidates (which is remarkable given that so few Jews vote in the Republican primaries), with Mitt Romney recently undertaking such a pilgrimage. At the grassroots level, according to a Gallup poll last year, 85% of Republicans say they support Israel over the Palestinians, compared to slightly less than half of Democrats — this despite Jewish voters’ longstanding alliance with the Democratic Party.
Some might counter that Republican support for Israel is simply a byproduct of the Evangelical community’s affection for the Jewish state. Others might argue that America’s alliance with Israel was always set in stone. But the strength of the American-Israeli alliance, and in particular the passionate Republican support for this relationship, are in fact more recent achievements. And we have Reagan to thank for them.
Just as Reagan knit together the diverse strands that today make up the Republican Party’s base — social conservatives, national security conservatives, fiscal conservatives and neoconservatives — he also took the passions of these constituencies and wove them into a seamless fabric of support for Israel. As we celebrate this great American’s centennial, those of us who care about Israel owe him our enduring gratitude.
__________
Tevi Troy, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, served as a senior White House aide under President George W. Bush. He is the author of “Intellectuals and The American Presidency: Philosophers, Jesters, or Technicians?” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002).
THE GIPPER’S GIFT: A PRO-ISRAEL GOP
By Tevi Troy
The Jewish Daily Forward
February 3, 2011
As America marks the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth, we will be remembering one of our country’s greatest leaders with speeches, tributes and television specials. Friends of Israel will have a special reason to celebrate: Reagan made the Republican Party into the unambiguously pro-Israel party that it is today.
Indeed, before the Reagan era, the Republican Party had a decidedly mixed record on Israel. In the 1940s and early 1950s, the conservative movement had strong isolationist and even anti-Semitic tendencies. Later, Republican presidents, such as Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon — while by no means isolationists — had complicated relations with the Jewish state. Eisenhower forced Israel to return the Sinai to Egypt after capturing it in 1956. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Nixon wasted precious days before finally re-supplying a tapped out Israel with arms.
Reagan, by contrast, had staunchly pro-Israel views. These were informed by his perception of Israel as an important American ally in the Cold War and his identification with Israel as a vibrant democracy.
“Only by full appreciation of the critical role the State of Israel plays in our strategic calculus can we build the foundation for thwarting Moscow’s designs on territories and resources vital to our security and our national well-being,” Reagan said. As Mitchell Bard, executive director of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, has noted: “Ronald Reagan was the first President to state explicitly that Israel was a strategic asset to the United States.”
But for Reagan, America’s friendship with Israel wasn’t only a matter of strategic calculus. As Reagan said in his 1980 campaign, “Israel represents the one stable democracy sharing values with us in that part of the world…. I think we should make it plain that we are going to keep our commitment to the continued existence of Israel.”
This sort of talk was music to the ears of neoconservatives, many of whom had backed Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election only to grow disillusioned. Reagan gave pro-Israel neoconservatives, such as Jeane Kirkpatrick and Elliott Abrams, prominent roles in his administration. Kirkpatrick, in particular, defended Israel from her perch as American ambassador to the United Nations. The neoconservatives helped give Republican foreign policy a pro-democracy emphasis that it often lacked in the era of Kissingerian realpolitik, permanently altering the way that Republicans related to Israel and its conflicts with its undemocratic neighbors.
Of course, not every action by the Reagan administration was pro-Israel. Reagan supported the sale of AWACS planes to Saudi Arabia over Israel’s objections, and he shortsightedly condemned Israel’s destruction of Iraq’s Osirak nuclear facility. He also displayed genuine anger with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin over Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. But all of these incidents took place within the context of Reagan taking the U.S.-Israel relationship to a place of genuine friendship.
After some hiccups during the first Bush administration, Republicans have drawn on their Reaganite inheritance and become a reliably pro-Israel party. The post-1994 Republican Congress regularly backed Israel on both substantive and symbolic issues. After 9/11, the Reaganite view that Israel is on the side of democracy in the struggle against the forces of tyranny secured an uncontested place as a central pillar of Republican foreign policy. President George W. Bush was so supportive of Israel that his mother reportedly joked that he was “the first Jewish president.”
A visit to Israel is now a rite of passage for prospective GOP presidential candidates (which is remarkable given that so few Jews vote in the Republican primaries), with Mitt Romney recently undertaking such a pilgrimage. At the grassroots level, according to a Gallup poll last year, 85% of Republicans say they support Israel over the Palestinians, compared to slightly less than half of Democrats — this despite Jewish voters’ longstanding alliance with the Democratic Party.
Some might counter that Republican support for Israel is simply a byproduct of the Evangelical community’s affection for the Jewish state. Others might argue that America’s alliance with Israel was always set in stone. But the strength of the American-Israeli alliance, and in particular the passionate Republican support for this relationship, are in fact more recent achievements. And we have Reagan to thank for them.
Just as Reagan knit together the diverse strands that today make up the Republican Party’s base — social conservatives, national security conservatives, fiscal conservatives and neoconservatives — he also took the passions of these constituencies and wove them into a seamless fabric of support for Israel. As we celebrate this great American’s centennial, those of us who care about Israel owe him our enduring gratitude.
__________
Tevi Troy, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, served as a senior White House aide under President George W. Bush. He is the author of “Intellectuals and The American Presidency: Philosophers, Jesters, or Technicians?” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002).
BUT DO COMMUNITY POLICING PROGRAMS REALLY WORK?
Over the years there have been a variety of community policing programs by police agencies all over the country.
There was Chicago’s ‘Walk and Talk’ program where cops were assigned to the housing projects and instructed to engage black youths in idle chatter at every opportunity. (A couple of cops got shot while walking the projects.) There are the neighborhood ‘Store Front’ cop shops where officers sit around all day waiting for people to come in and make complaints about crime, as well as pot holes, garbage pickup, broken street lights and other faulty city services. There are programs where cops go door-to-door to take neighborhood surveys.
The problem is that community policing programs usually end up as nothing more than feel-good projects. There is really no way of accurately measuring the success (or failure) of such programs.
CALIF. CITY FIGHTING CRIME BY BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
New chief says that although residents gave the PD high marks in 2008, few had direct contact with officers
By Lisa P. White
Contra Costa Times
February 8, 2011
MARTINEZ — New Martinez Police Chief Gary Peterson is launching a community policing program in the next few weeks to strengthen ties between police officers and the public.
Peterson, who replaced former Chief Tom Simonetti in December, described community policing as traditional law enforcement tactics combined with problem-solving, crime prevention and involving the residents.
He noted that although residents gave the police department high marks in a 2008 survey, few of them had any direct contact with officers.
Benefits of community policing, Peterson said, include creating a strong sense of ownership and a personal connection to an area of the city among officers, and building trust with residents and business owners.
Two police officers and a supervisor will be assigned to each yet-to-be-drawn geographic area in the city. In addition to patrols, officers will hold neighborhood meetings to share information about crime in that area and about crime prevention strategies. The police department's website will include a map of the areas in town with links so residents can e-mail officers about concerns in their neighborhood.
Although the Martinez police department is fully staffed with 39 officers, a narcotics officer and two patrol officers have been assigned to patrol to replace colleagues out on long-term leave due to injury, Peterson said.
"In the long run, this initiative will collectively help us solve problems, make our neighborhoods safer and make us all closer as a community," Peterson said.
Across the state, police departments of all sizes, from Monterey to Oakland, are using community policing. The Monterey Police Department adopted community policing about six years ago, according to Sgt. Frank Russo said. Two police officers are assigned to each of the 20 distinct areas in the coastal city of 35,000. Officers are expected to get out of their patrol cars and establish relationships with the people who live, work and visit Monterey.
Russo said that although the notion of bonding with police officers may seem kind of "loosey-goosey" on the surface, the strategy helps combat crime because residents are more likely to tip police off about criminal activity if they know and trust the officers.
"What we're finding is it's actually really tough on crime and at the same time we're getting to know our community and they're getting to know us, too," Russo said.
There was Chicago’s ‘Walk and Talk’ program where cops were assigned to the housing projects and instructed to engage black youths in idle chatter at every opportunity. (A couple of cops got shot while walking the projects.) There are the neighborhood ‘Store Front’ cop shops where officers sit around all day waiting for people to come in and make complaints about crime, as well as pot holes, garbage pickup, broken street lights and other faulty city services. There are programs where cops go door-to-door to take neighborhood surveys.
The problem is that community policing programs usually end up as nothing more than feel-good projects. There is really no way of accurately measuring the success (or failure) of such programs.
CALIF. CITY FIGHTING CRIME BY BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
New chief says that although residents gave the PD high marks in 2008, few had direct contact with officers
By Lisa P. White
Contra Costa Times
February 8, 2011
MARTINEZ — New Martinez Police Chief Gary Peterson is launching a community policing program in the next few weeks to strengthen ties between police officers and the public.
Peterson, who replaced former Chief Tom Simonetti in December, described community policing as traditional law enforcement tactics combined with problem-solving, crime prevention and involving the residents.
He noted that although residents gave the police department high marks in a 2008 survey, few of them had any direct contact with officers.
Benefits of community policing, Peterson said, include creating a strong sense of ownership and a personal connection to an area of the city among officers, and building trust with residents and business owners.
Two police officers and a supervisor will be assigned to each yet-to-be-drawn geographic area in the city. In addition to patrols, officers will hold neighborhood meetings to share information about crime in that area and about crime prevention strategies. The police department's website will include a map of the areas in town with links so residents can e-mail officers about concerns in their neighborhood.
Although the Martinez police department is fully staffed with 39 officers, a narcotics officer and two patrol officers have been assigned to patrol to replace colleagues out on long-term leave due to injury, Peterson said.
"In the long run, this initiative will collectively help us solve problems, make our neighborhoods safer and make us all closer as a community," Peterson said.
Across the state, police departments of all sizes, from Monterey to Oakland, are using community policing. The Monterey Police Department adopted community policing about six years ago, according to Sgt. Frank Russo said. Two police officers are assigned to each of the 20 distinct areas in the coastal city of 35,000. Officers are expected to get out of their patrol cars and establish relationships with the people who live, work and visit Monterey.
Russo said that although the notion of bonding with police officers may seem kind of "loosey-goosey" on the surface, the strategy helps combat crime because residents are more likely to tip police off about criminal activity if they know and trust the officers.
"What we're finding is it's actually really tough on crime and at the same time we're getting to know our community and they're getting to know us, too," Russo said.
THEY DESERVED TO BE FIRED
There are jokes about the president that are in good taste and those that are in bad taste. When you use your employer’s computer for personal business or when you forward bad jokes to your co-workers, you are misusing your employer’s property, thereby placing jeopardizing your job security. What you do at home is your business, but what you do at work is your employer’s business.
These two jerks deserved to be fired. Not only was their Obama joke in bad taste, but it was racially offensive to boot.
WORKERS SUE COMPANY THAT FIRED THEM OVER EMAIL THAT COMPARED BARACK OBAMA TO A ‘TAR BALL’
Mail Online
February 9, 2011
Two workers who were fired over an email that compared US president Barack Obama to a 'tar ball' have taken legal action against the employers.
Deborah Bonanno and James Sprung received the email and forwarded it to co-workers after the BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spills last Summer.
The email showed a picture of Barack Obama walking along the beach under the headline 'Another tar ball washed up on the shore.'
Obama had been visiting the beach to inspect damage cause by the oil disaster. During part of the trip he inspected balls of tar in the sand.
The two employees were fired from Centers for Rehab in Pittsbugh after they had forwarded it to their co-workers.
But Bonanno and Sprung have now filed lawsuits against Centers for Rehab, part of health firm UPMC, claiming they should not have been sacked.
The company said the e-mail was inappropriate, but the employees said they were just expressing their political views and were wrongfully fired, according to WTAE news in Pittsburg.
In a memo, a Centers for Rehab Services official called it 'an inappropriate e-mail that contained political and discriminatory content.'
The lawsuit said the e-mail led the company to fire Deborah Bonanno and James Sprung who received the e-mail and forwarded it to co-workers.
In court papers, an attorney for Bonanno and Sprung said: 'The motivation behind CRS' termination was to stifle (the employees') freedom of expression on a matter of public concern.'
Vic Walczak, the ACLU's legal director in Pennsylvania, said employees have 'very few' rights to sound off at work.
Walczak said he had not seen the lawsuits, but he said the Constitutional right to free speech does not apply when someone uses a workplace computer.
'They can say, 'We don't want any political discussion, we don't want any religious discussion, we don't want any discussion of Democrats, you're free to talk about Republicans.
'Again, while you couldn't do that if you were the government, when you're a private employer, you call the shots.'
Walczak said that companies also have the right to control some personal behaviour outside the workplace.
A spokeswoman for UPMC, which is affiliated with Centers for Rehab Services, did not comment on the lawsuit but said that UPMC has a long-standing zero-tolerance policy for e-mails that are racially, sexually or otherwise offensive.
These two jerks deserved to be fired. Not only was their Obama joke in bad taste, but it was racially offensive to boot.
WORKERS SUE COMPANY THAT FIRED THEM OVER EMAIL THAT COMPARED BARACK OBAMA TO A ‘TAR BALL’
Mail Online
February 9, 2011
Two workers who were fired over an email that compared US president Barack Obama to a 'tar ball' have taken legal action against the employers.
Deborah Bonanno and James Sprung received the email and forwarded it to co-workers after the BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spills last Summer.
The email showed a picture of Barack Obama walking along the beach under the headline 'Another tar ball washed up on the shore.'
Obama had been visiting the beach to inspect damage cause by the oil disaster. During part of the trip he inspected balls of tar in the sand.
The two employees were fired from Centers for Rehab in Pittsbugh after they had forwarded it to their co-workers.
But Bonanno and Sprung have now filed lawsuits against Centers for Rehab, part of health firm UPMC, claiming they should not have been sacked.
The company said the e-mail was inappropriate, but the employees said they were just expressing their political views and were wrongfully fired, according to WTAE news in Pittsburg.
In a memo, a Centers for Rehab Services official called it 'an inappropriate e-mail that contained political and discriminatory content.'
The lawsuit said the e-mail led the company to fire Deborah Bonanno and James Sprung who received the e-mail and forwarded it to co-workers.
In court papers, an attorney for Bonanno and Sprung said: 'The motivation behind CRS' termination was to stifle (the employees') freedom of expression on a matter of public concern.'
Vic Walczak, the ACLU's legal director in Pennsylvania, said employees have 'very few' rights to sound off at work.
Walczak said he had not seen the lawsuits, but he said the Constitutional right to free speech does not apply when someone uses a workplace computer.
'They can say, 'We don't want any political discussion, we don't want any religious discussion, we don't want any discussion of Democrats, you're free to talk about Republicans.
'Again, while you couldn't do that if you were the government, when you're a private employer, you call the shots.'
Walczak said that companies also have the right to control some personal behaviour outside the workplace.
A spokeswoman for UPMC, which is affiliated with Centers for Rehab Services, did not comment on the lawsuit but said that UPMC has a long-standing zero-tolerance policy for e-mails that are racially, sexually or otherwise offensive.
ANOTHER ROMANTIC MUSLIM RELATIONSHIP
He claims he beheaded his wife because she abused him. She must have taunted him by exposing herself to him while naked.
EXEC OF MUSLIM TV STATION FOUND GUILTY OF BEHEADING WIFE
Couple opened studio to counter negative Muslim stereotypes
msnbc.com
February 7, 2011
BUFFALO, New York — The founder of a Muslim-oriented New York television station was convicted Monday of beheading his wife in 2009 in the studio the couple had opened to counter negative stereotypes of Muslims after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan never denied that he killed Aasiya Hassan inside the suburban Buffalo station the couple established to promote cultural understanding. A jury on Monday rejected his claim he was the victim of spousal abuse.
Hassan acted as his own lawyer during the trial in Buffalo. In Erie County Court, he said nothing when the verdict was read. His reaction was blocked from view by a line of sheriff's deputies and court officers.
The Pakistan-born Hassan had been served with divorce papers a week before his wife's body was found stabbed and decapitated at the offices of Bridges TV in Orchard Park, where the couple also lived. Hassan was arrested after walking into the Orchard Park police station Feb. 12, 2009, and calmly telling officers his wife was dead.
Police said officers previously had responded to domestic incidents involving the couple.
The Hassans started the Bridges TV network in 2004, saying they wanted to counter negative stereotypes and media portrayals of Muslims in a post-9/11 world and provide programming for the growing Muslim-American population. Bridges TV continues to broadcast.
In the months leading up to his trial, Hassan had explored various versions of a psychiatric defense with different attorneys, who said they would pursue an acquittal by showing the killing was justified.
From the start, his lawyers dismissed suggestions that culture played a role in the crime. Immediately after Aasiya Hassan's death, the manner in which she died prompted speculation her death was an honor killing. The practice is still accepted among some fanatical Muslim men, including in the couple's native Pakistan, who feel betrayed by their wives.
Mo Hassan fired three of his lawyers and then replaced a fourth with himself. He kept the fourth lawyer as an adviser, as required by law. He faces up to 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced March 9.
EXEC OF MUSLIM TV STATION FOUND GUILTY OF BEHEADING WIFE
Couple opened studio to counter negative Muslim stereotypes
msnbc.com
February 7, 2011
BUFFALO, New York — The founder of a Muslim-oriented New York television station was convicted Monday of beheading his wife in 2009 in the studio the couple had opened to counter negative stereotypes of Muslims after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan never denied that he killed Aasiya Hassan inside the suburban Buffalo station the couple established to promote cultural understanding. A jury on Monday rejected his claim he was the victim of spousal abuse.
Hassan acted as his own lawyer during the trial in Buffalo. In Erie County Court, he said nothing when the verdict was read. His reaction was blocked from view by a line of sheriff's deputies and court officers.
The Pakistan-born Hassan had been served with divorce papers a week before his wife's body was found stabbed and decapitated at the offices of Bridges TV in Orchard Park, where the couple also lived. Hassan was arrested after walking into the Orchard Park police station Feb. 12, 2009, and calmly telling officers his wife was dead.
Police said officers previously had responded to domestic incidents involving the couple.
The Hassans started the Bridges TV network in 2004, saying they wanted to counter negative stereotypes and media portrayals of Muslims in a post-9/11 world and provide programming for the growing Muslim-American population. Bridges TV continues to broadcast.
In the months leading up to his trial, Hassan had explored various versions of a psychiatric defense with different attorneys, who said they would pursue an acquittal by showing the killing was justified.
From the start, his lawyers dismissed suggestions that culture played a role in the crime. Immediately after Aasiya Hassan's death, the manner in which she died prompted speculation her death was an honor killing. The practice is still accepted among some fanatical Muslim men, including in the couple's native Pakistan, who feel betrayed by their wives.
Mo Hassan fired three of his lawyers and then replaced a fourth with himself. He kept the fourth lawyer as an adviser, as required by law. He faces up to 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced March 9.
REVENGE OF THE COCK
Justice has been served by a knife wielding cock. Jay Leno said the guy got stabbed because he called the rooster a chicken.
PAYBACK IS A BITCH
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
February 8, 2011
A Delano man died about a week ago, killed by a fighting cock.
Jose Louis Ochoa, 35, was attending an illegal cock fight when he was stabbed in the leg by a fighting rooster that had knives attached to its legs. He died a few hours after in a local hospital. It was probably not a deliberate attack by the rooster, they are not all that bright, but then again you know what they say about Karma.
PAYBACK IS A BITCH
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
February 8, 2011
A Delano man died about a week ago, killed by a fighting cock.
Jose Louis Ochoa, 35, was attending an illegal cock fight when he was stabbed in the leg by a fighting rooster that had knives attached to its legs. He died a few hours after in a local hospital. It was probably not a deliberate attack by the rooster, they are not all that bright, but then again you know what they say about Karma.
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
IS OBAMA ACTING OUT OF IGNORANCE OR BY DESIGN?
I would like to believe Obama is acting out of ignorance, but that would appear to be wishful thinking.
OBAMA’S MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD TIES
by Robert Spencer
Human Events
February 8, 2011
Barack Obama has declared that all opposition groups should have representation in the next Egyptian government, which essentially ensures that the Muslim Brotherhood will be part of that government. The Brotherhood is the largest opposition group in Egypt, so it will probably end up in the driver’s seat in any new regime, and steer Egypt toward becoming an Islamic state inveterately hostile to the United States.
So why isn’t Obama working to limit the Brotherhood’s scope and influence? Maybe because he doesn’t really have a problem with the Brotherhood, despite its hostility to America. He made sure to invite Brotherhood leaders to attend his notorious speech to the Islamic world in Cairo, Egypt, in June 4, 2009. Starting in the earliest days of his administration, he showed an intense desire to establish friendly ties with Brotherhood-linked organizations—despite the Brotherhood’s stated goal of “eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within.”
Obama first reached out to the Brotherhood when he chose the leader of a Muslim Brotherhood-linked group that had been named an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case to give a prayer during his inauguration ceremonies. Ingrid Mattson, then-president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), offered this prayer at the National Cathedral on Obama’s Inauguration Day—despite the fact that the ISNA has admitted its ties to the Brotherhood. The previous summer, federal prosecutors rejected a request from the ISNA to remove its unindicted co-conspirator status.
Obama didn’t ask Mattson to explain the ISNA’s links to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. On the contrary: He sent his senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, to be the keynote speaker at the ISNA’s national convention in 2009.
Even worse, in April 2009, Obama appointed Arif Alikhan, the deputy mayor of Los Angeles, as assistant secretary for policy development at the Department of Homeland Security. Just two weeks before he received this appointment, Alikhan (who once called the jihad terror group Hezbollah a “liberation movement”) participated in a fund-raiser for the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). Like the ISNA, MPAC has links to the Muslim Brotherhood. In a book titled In Fraternity: A Message to Muslims in America, co-author Hassan Hathout, a former MPAC president, is identified as “a close disciple of the late Hassan al-Banna of Egypt. "The MPAC-linked magazine The Minaret spoke of Hathout’s closeness to al-Banna in a 1997 article: “My father would tell me that Hassan Hathout was a companion of Hassan al-Banna. ... Hassan Hathout would speak of al-Banna with such love and adoration; he would speak of a relationship not guided by politics or law but by a basic sense of human decency.”
The late al-Banna, of course, was the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Terror researcher Steven Emerson’s Investigative Project has documented MPAC’s indefatigable and consistent opposition to virtually every domestic anti-terror initiative. Its magazine The Minaret has dismissed key counterterror operations as part of “[t]he American crusade against Islam and Muslims.” For his part, while Alikhan was deputy mayor of Los Angeles, he blocked a Los Angeles Police Department project to assemble data about the ethnic makeup of mosques in the Los Angeles area. This was not an attempt to conduct surveillance of the mosques or monitor them in any way. LAPD Deputy Chief Michael P. Downing explained that it was actually an outreach program: “We want to know where the Pakistanis, Iranians, and Chechens are so we can reach out to those communities.” But Alikhan and other Muslim leaders said that the project manifested racism and “Islamophobia,” and the LAPD ultimately discarded all plans to study the mosques.
The Muslim Brotherhood is a pro-Sharia group. Obama’s chief adviser on Islamic affairs, Dalia Mogahed, is a pro-Sharia Muslim. In their Gallup survey published under the hubristic title "Who Speaks for Islam? What A Billion Muslims Really Think," Mogahed and Saudi-funded dhimmi, or non-Muslim, pseudo-academic John Esposito cooked their data to increase the number of Muslim “moderates,” counting as “moderate” Muslims who wanted Sharia rule, hated America , supported jihad-martyrdom suicide bombing, and opposed equality of rights for women. Mogahed also defended Sharia on a British TV show.
With Brotherhood operatives in the American government and working closely with it, thanks to Barack Obama, it’s no surprise that he would have no problem with their being part of the Egyptian government too.
__________
Mr. Spencer is director of Jihad Watch and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), The Truth About Muhammad, Stealth Jihad and The Complete Infidel's Guide to the Koran
OBAMA’S MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD TIES
by Robert Spencer
Human Events
February 8, 2011
Barack Obama has declared that all opposition groups should have representation in the next Egyptian government, which essentially ensures that the Muslim Brotherhood will be part of that government. The Brotherhood is the largest opposition group in Egypt, so it will probably end up in the driver’s seat in any new regime, and steer Egypt toward becoming an Islamic state inveterately hostile to the United States.
So why isn’t Obama working to limit the Brotherhood’s scope and influence? Maybe because he doesn’t really have a problem with the Brotherhood, despite its hostility to America. He made sure to invite Brotherhood leaders to attend his notorious speech to the Islamic world in Cairo, Egypt, in June 4, 2009. Starting in the earliest days of his administration, he showed an intense desire to establish friendly ties with Brotherhood-linked organizations—despite the Brotherhood’s stated goal of “eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within.”
Obama first reached out to the Brotherhood when he chose the leader of a Muslim Brotherhood-linked group that had been named an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case to give a prayer during his inauguration ceremonies. Ingrid Mattson, then-president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), offered this prayer at the National Cathedral on Obama’s Inauguration Day—despite the fact that the ISNA has admitted its ties to the Brotherhood. The previous summer, federal prosecutors rejected a request from the ISNA to remove its unindicted co-conspirator status.
Obama didn’t ask Mattson to explain the ISNA’s links to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. On the contrary: He sent his senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, to be the keynote speaker at the ISNA’s national convention in 2009.
Even worse, in April 2009, Obama appointed Arif Alikhan, the deputy mayor of Los Angeles, as assistant secretary for policy development at the Department of Homeland Security. Just two weeks before he received this appointment, Alikhan (who once called the jihad terror group Hezbollah a “liberation movement”) participated in a fund-raiser for the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). Like the ISNA, MPAC has links to the Muslim Brotherhood. In a book titled In Fraternity: A Message to Muslims in America, co-author Hassan Hathout, a former MPAC president, is identified as “a close disciple of the late Hassan al-Banna of Egypt. "The MPAC-linked magazine The Minaret spoke of Hathout’s closeness to al-Banna in a 1997 article: “My father would tell me that Hassan Hathout was a companion of Hassan al-Banna. ... Hassan Hathout would speak of al-Banna with such love and adoration; he would speak of a relationship not guided by politics or law but by a basic sense of human decency.”
The late al-Banna, of course, was the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Terror researcher Steven Emerson’s Investigative Project has documented MPAC’s indefatigable and consistent opposition to virtually every domestic anti-terror initiative. Its magazine The Minaret has dismissed key counterterror operations as part of “[t]he American crusade against Islam and Muslims.” For his part, while Alikhan was deputy mayor of Los Angeles, he blocked a Los Angeles Police Department project to assemble data about the ethnic makeup of mosques in the Los Angeles area. This was not an attempt to conduct surveillance of the mosques or monitor them in any way. LAPD Deputy Chief Michael P. Downing explained that it was actually an outreach program: “We want to know where the Pakistanis, Iranians, and Chechens are so we can reach out to those communities.” But Alikhan and other Muslim leaders said that the project manifested racism and “Islamophobia,” and the LAPD ultimately discarded all plans to study the mosques.
The Muslim Brotherhood is a pro-Sharia group. Obama’s chief adviser on Islamic affairs, Dalia Mogahed, is a pro-Sharia Muslim. In their Gallup survey published under the hubristic title "Who Speaks for Islam? What A Billion Muslims Really Think," Mogahed and Saudi-funded dhimmi, or non-Muslim, pseudo-academic John Esposito cooked their data to increase the number of Muslim “moderates,” counting as “moderate” Muslims who wanted Sharia rule, hated America , supported jihad-martyrdom suicide bombing, and opposed equality of rights for women. Mogahed also defended Sharia on a British TV show.
With Brotherhood operatives in the American government and working closely with it, thanks to Barack Obama, it’s no surprise that he would have no problem with their being part of the Egyptian government too.
__________
Mr. Spencer is director of Jihad Watch and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), The Truth About Muhammad, Stealth Jihad and The Complete Infidel's Guide to the Koran
THE IMPORTANCE OF GRAMMAR
In this world of hi-tech, I have noticed that many who text message and email, have forgotten the "art" of capitalization.
To those of you who fall into this world, I cannot stress enough that grammar is important... Please take note of the following statement:
Capitalization is the difference between...helping your Uncle Jack off a horse, and helping your uncle jack off a horse.
This lesson is finished.
To those of you who fall into this world, I cannot stress enough that grammar is important... Please take note of the following statement:
Capitalization is the difference between...helping your Uncle Jack off a horse, and helping your uncle jack off a horse.
This lesson is finished.
THIS MUST BE A REPUBLICAN TRUCK
I stopped by the Dodge dealership yesterday for a look at the new Ram 1500 pickup trucks. I took one out for a test drive because I wanted to get a sense of whether to buy now or wait till next year’s models come out.
The salesman, a nice black man wearing a I'M PROUD TO BE A DEMOCRAT lapel pin, sat in the passenger seat describing the truck and all its "wonderful" options. The seats were of particular interest. He explained that the seats directed warm air to your butt in the winter and directed cool air to your butt in the summer heat.
Acting on the urge to yank his chain a bit, I mentioned that this must be a Republican truck.
Looking somewhat upset, he asked why I thought it was a Republican truck.
I explained that if it were a Democrat truck, the seats would blow smoke up your ass year-round.
I had to walk back to the dealership to get my car. Shit! ... those Dems can't take a joke.
The salesman, a nice black man wearing a I'M PROUD TO BE A DEMOCRAT lapel pin, sat in the passenger seat describing the truck and all its "wonderful" options. The seats were of particular interest. He explained that the seats directed warm air to your butt in the winter and directed cool air to your butt in the summer heat.
Acting on the urge to yank his chain a bit, I mentioned that this must be a Republican truck.
Looking somewhat upset, he asked why I thought it was a Republican truck.
I explained that if it were a Democrat truck, the seats would blow smoke up your ass year-round.
I had to walk back to the dealership to get my car. Shit! ... those Dems can't take a joke.
TRIP TO ROME
A woman was at her hairdresser's getting her hair styled for a trip to Rome with her husband...She mentioned the trip to the hairdresser, who responded:
" Rome ? Why would anyone want to go there? It's crowded and dirty. You're crazy to go to Rome . So, how are you getting there?"
"We're taking Continental," was the reply. "We got a great rate!"
"Continental?" exclaimed the hairdresser. "That's a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly, and they're always late. So, where are you staying in Rome ?"
"We'll be at this exclusive little place over on Rome 's Tiber River called Teste."
" Don't go any further. I know that place. Everybody thinks it's gonna be something special and exclusive, but it's really a dump."
"We're going to go to see the Vatican and maybe get to see the Pope."
"That's rich," laughed the hairdresser, you and a million other people trying to see him. He'll look the size of an ant. Boy, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You're going to need it."
A month later, the woman again came in for a hairdo. The hairdresser asked her about her trip to Rome .
"It was wonderful," exclaimed the woman, "not only were we on time in one of Continental's brand new planes, but it was overbooked, and they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were wonderful, and I had a handsome 28-year-old steward who waited on me hand and foot.
And the hotel was great! They'd just finished a $5 million remodeling job, and now it's a jewel, the finest hotel in the city. They, too, were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us their owner's suite at no extra charge!"
"Well," muttered the hairdresser, "that's all well and good, but I know you didn't get to see the Pope."
"Actually, we were quite lucky, because as we toured the Vatican , a Swiss Guard tapped me on the shoulder, and explained that the Pope likes to meet some of the visitors, and if I'd be so kind as to step into his private room and wait, the Pope would personally greet me. Sure enough, five minutes later, the Pope walked through the door and
shook my hand! I knelt down and he spoke a few words to me."
"Oh really! What'd he say?"
He said: "Who fucked up your hair?"
" Rome ? Why would anyone want to go there? It's crowded and dirty. You're crazy to go to Rome . So, how are you getting there?"
"We're taking Continental," was the reply. "We got a great rate!"
"Continental?" exclaimed the hairdresser. "That's a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly, and they're always late. So, where are you staying in Rome ?"
"We'll be at this exclusive little place over on Rome 's Tiber River called Teste."
" Don't go any further. I know that place. Everybody thinks it's gonna be something special and exclusive, but it's really a dump."
"We're going to go to see the Vatican and maybe get to see the Pope."
"That's rich," laughed the hairdresser, you and a million other people trying to see him. He'll look the size of an ant. Boy, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You're going to need it."
A month later, the woman again came in for a hairdo. The hairdresser asked her about her trip to Rome .
"It was wonderful," exclaimed the woman, "not only were we on time in one of Continental's brand new planes, but it was overbooked, and they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were wonderful, and I had a handsome 28-year-old steward who waited on me hand and foot.
And the hotel was great! They'd just finished a $5 million remodeling job, and now it's a jewel, the finest hotel in the city. They, too, were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us their owner's suite at no extra charge!"
"Well," muttered the hairdresser, "that's all well and good, but I know you didn't get to see the Pope."
"Actually, we were quite lucky, because as we toured the Vatican , a Swiss Guard tapped me on the shoulder, and explained that the Pope likes to meet some of the visitors, and if I'd be so kind as to step into his private room and wait, the Pope would personally greet me. Sure enough, five minutes later, the Pope walked through the door and
shook my hand! I knelt down and he spoke a few words to me."
"Oh really! What'd he say?"
He said: "Who fucked up your hair?"
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
WHAT FOOLS THE VOTERS BE
Yes, here in Houston we are still paying for an empty rusting Astrodome. Voters here approved new sports palaces for the Houston Astros baseball team, the Houston Rockets basketball team, and the Houston Texans football team on the phony promise that the public share of funding would come out of the hotel tax and not out of property taxes.
Of course the truth is that tax payers do pay for these palaces because the billionaire sports franchise owners have been given sweetheart tax exemptions which are costing Houston and Harris County hundreds-of-millions of dollars, losses which have to be made up by property taxes.
I was among the minority of voters who opposed the sports venue proposals. The majority of voters were fooled into believing the sports palaces would not cost them anything. And the irony of it all is that only a tiny fraction of those voters would ever be able attend those baseball, basketball and football games – for the privilege of getting those high-dollar season tickets to watch the Texans play, they first had to pay for a seat license most could not afford. And that’s the way it’s been in the other cities too. Then to top it off, the taxpayers are stuck with paying off a debt on abandoned sports facilities.
THE PRICE OF PROFESSIONAL SPORTS THAT EVEN NONFANS PAY
By Mark Yost
The Wall Street Journal
February 3, 2011
Fans of the New York Jets would have liked nothing better than to be spending money to cheer on their team at Sunday's Super Bowl in Dallas. Unfortunately, their team was defeated by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship game. But in an odd twist of league economics and political gamesmanship, even those New Jerseyans who didn't die with the Jets or stop watching when the Giants collapsed in December will be paying for football. That's because the state (i.e., the taxpayers) still owes about $110 million in debt on the old Giants Stadium.
New Jersey isn't alone.
Harris County, Texas, still owes about $32 million in debt on the Houston Astrodome, which opened in 1965 and was dubbed the "Eighth Wonder of the World." The RCA Dome in Indianapolis, which was demolished in 2008, still has about $60 million of outstanding debt and will not be paid off for at least 10 years. Even tiny Vero Beach, Fla., longtime home to Dodgers Spring Training, is on the hook for some $17 million in debt after the Dodgers moved to Glendale, Ariz., two years ago. Pima County, Ariz., taxpayers similarly still have to pay $21.3 million in stadium debt after the Chicago White Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks moved their training camps to Phoenix from Tucson.
Many in New Jersey applauded when the Jets and Giants opened the $1.6 billion New Meadowlands Stadium because it was financed with $1.3 billion in private debt and $300 million from the NFL's G3 fund for stadium construction, but the economics are still appalling.
Under the old Giants Stadium financing scheme, New Jersey took in about $20 million a year in tax revenues. Under the new deal, the Giants and Jets will pay about $6 million a year in taxes, or about 20% of what the property would generate if it were privately held and taxed at the rate that most other businesses pay.
"The problem with tearing down stadiums early isn't the debt," said Neil deMause, who co-wrote "Field of Schemes" (Bison) and blogs at a website with the same name. "It's the revenues that you're giving up by allowing teams to move into new buildings with sweetheart leases."
Indeed, the owners of New York's Madison Square Garden, prime real estate at the corner of 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, have been exempted from paying property taxes since 1982, costing the city hundreds of millions of dollars in lost tax revenue. The $375 million used to build the Prudential Center, where the New Jersey Devils play hockey, was actually financed by the Newark Housing Authority. But the agency that looks after low-income housing claims the Devils owe it $10 million in back rent. The Devils have countersued, claiming construction delays and a failed parking deal cost the team $17 million. Never mind that Newark has laid off cops and firemen and, according to Mayor Corey Booker, is cutting back on "everything from toilet paper to printer paper."
The problem—in New York, New Jersey and elsewhere—is twofold.
First, politicians and fans alike have to stop thinking of these sports franchises as their beloved teams. They're businesses, operating to make money, and they all do quite well. The Giants and Yankees are two of the most profitable businesses in all of sports. The Yankees had the highest payroll in baseball in 2010, just over $200 million. But what's often forgotten is that the Yankees make $350 million a year on their TV contract alone. That's before they've sold a season of $1,200 tickets, $40 ball caps and $15 mixed drinks inside the stadium's Hard Rock Café.
Second, there was nothing functionally wrong with the old Yankee Stadium, the old Giants Stadium, or many other stadiums that have been replaced over the past decade. The problem was that the old stadiums didn't generate enough luxury revenue. So New Jersey, which is about $36 billion in debt at last count, gave up about $15 million in annual tax revenue so that the Giants and Jets could be more profitable. Similarly, New York City used its finite bonding authority to help the richest franchise in all of sports build a $1.5 billion luxury palace in the Bronx that's too expensive for the average taxpayer. If there was ever an issue for the Tea Party to glom onto, this is it.
"The only thing limiting how soon owners will ask for a new stadium is chutzpah," said Mr. deMause.
Indeed, the politicians deserve our scorn as much as the team owners do. The old Giants Stadium cost $78 million, yet the outstanding debt more than 30 years later is $110 million. How did this happen? Simple: The politicians spent the money that was originally intended to pay off the debt on other things. It's a common problem. Revenues get diverted to other programs and the stadium debt gets refinanced.
"If I buy a house with a 30-year-mortgage and 20 years later I refinance it so that I can buy a yacht, is that house debt or yacht debt?" asks Mr. deMause. "Cities are using these revenue streams to pay for all sorts of stuff, and playing bookkeeping games."
The other problem is that cities often overestimate how much revenue a stadium tax will generate—and they often do it to make the new tax and the new stadium more palatable to the citizenry. Hamilton County, Ohio, passed a special tax to pay for stadiums for the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals and baseball's Reds. As of last year, the fund was about $15 million in debt, a figure that the Bond Buyer estimates could balloon to $90 million by 2014.
So while Packers and Steelers fans are more than happy to pay to watch this year's Super Bowl in person, many fans stuck at home should remember: You're paying, too. You just don't know it.
__________
Mr. Yost is the author of "Tailgating, Sacks and Salary Caps: How the NFL Became the Most Successful Sports League in History."
Of course the truth is that tax payers do pay for these palaces because the billionaire sports franchise owners have been given sweetheart tax exemptions which are costing Houston and Harris County hundreds-of-millions of dollars, losses which have to be made up by property taxes.
I was among the minority of voters who opposed the sports venue proposals. The majority of voters were fooled into believing the sports palaces would not cost them anything. And the irony of it all is that only a tiny fraction of those voters would ever be able attend those baseball, basketball and football games – for the privilege of getting those high-dollar season tickets to watch the Texans play, they first had to pay for a seat license most could not afford. And that’s the way it’s been in the other cities too. Then to top it off, the taxpayers are stuck with paying off a debt on abandoned sports facilities.
THE PRICE OF PROFESSIONAL SPORTS THAT EVEN NONFANS PAY
By Mark Yost
The Wall Street Journal
February 3, 2011
Fans of the New York Jets would have liked nothing better than to be spending money to cheer on their team at Sunday's Super Bowl in Dallas. Unfortunately, their team was defeated by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship game. But in an odd twist of league economics and political gamesmanship, even those New Jerseyans who didn't die with the Jets or stop watching when the Giants collapsed in December will be paying for football. That's because the state (i.e., the taxpayers) still owes about $110 million in debt on the old Giants Stadium.
New Jersey isn't alone.
Harris County, Texas, still owes about $32 million in debt on the Houston Astrodome, which opened in 1965 and was dubbed the "Eighth Wonder of the World." The RCA Dome in Indianapolis, which was demolished in 2008, still has about $60 million of outstanding debt and will not be paid off for at least 10 years. Even tiny Vero Beach, Fla., longtime home to Dodgers Spring Training, is on the hook for some $17 million in debt after the Dodgers moved to Glendale, Ariz., two years ago. Pima County, Ariz., taxpayers similarly still have to pay $21.3 million in stadium debt after the Chicago White Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks moved their training camps to Phoenix from Tucson.
Many in New Jersey applauded when the Jets and Giants opened the $1.6 billion New Meadowlands Stadium because it was financed with $1.3 billion in private debt and $300 million from the NFL's G3 fund for stadium construction, but the economics are still appalling.
Under the old Giants Stadium financing scheme, New Jersey took in about $20 million a year in tax revenues. Under the new deal, the Giants and Jets will pay about $6 million a year in taxes, or about 20% of what the property would generate if it were privately held and taxed at the rate that most other businesses pay.
"The problem with tearing down stadiums early isn't the debt," said Neil deMause, who co-wrote "Field of Schemes" (Bison) and blogs at a website with the same name. "It's the revenues that you're giving up by allowing teams to move into new buildings with sweetheart leases."
Indeed, the owners of New York's Madison Square Garden, prime real estate at the corner of 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, have been exempted from paying property taxes since 1982, costing the city hundreds of millions of dollars in lost tax revenue. The $375 million used to build the Prudential Center, where the New Jersey Devils play hockey, was actually financed by the Newark Housing Authority. But the agency that looks after low-income housing claims the Devils owe it $10 million in back rent. The Devils have countersued, claiming construction delays and a failed parking deal cost the team $17 million. Never mind that Newark has laid off cops and firemen and, according to Mayor Corey Booker, is cutting back on "everything from toilet paper to printer paper."
The problem—in New York, New Jersey and elsewhere—is twofold.
First, politicians and fans alike have to stop thinking of these sports franchises as their beloved teams. They're businesses, operating to make money, and they all do quite well. The Giants and Yankees are two of the most profitable businesses in all of sports. The Yankees had the highest payroll in baseball in 2010, just over $200 million. But what's often forgotten is that the Yankees make $350 million a year on their TV contract alone. That's before they've sold a season of $1,200 tickets, $40 ball caps and $15 mixed drinks inside the stadium's Hard Rock Café.
Second, there was nothing functionally wrong with the old Yankee Stadium, the old Giants Stadium, or many other stadiums that have been replaced over the past decade. The problem was that the old stadiums didn't generate enough luxury revenue. So New Jersey, which is about $36 billion in debt at last count, gave up about $15 million in annual tax revenue so that the Giants and Jets could be more profitable. Similarly, New York City used its finite bonding authority to help the richest franchise in all of sports build a $1.5 billion luxury palace in the Bronx that's too expensive for the average taxpayer. If there was ever an issue for the Tea Party to glom onto, this is it.
"The only thing limiting how soon owners will ask for a new stadium is chutzpah," said Mr. deMause.
Indeed, the politicians deserve our scorn as much as the team owners do. The old Giants Stadium cost $78 million, yet the outstanding debt more than 30 years later is $110 million. How did this happen? Simple: The politicians spent the money that was originally intended to pay off the debt on other things. It's a common problem. Revenues get diverted to other programs and the stadium debt gets refinanced.
"If I buy a house with a 30-year-mortgage and 20 years later I refinance it so that I can buy a yacht, is that house debt or yacht debt?" asks Mr. deMause. "Cities are using these revenue streams to pay for all sorts of stuff, and playing bookkeeping games."
The other problem is that cities often overestimate how much revenue a stadium tax will generate—and they often do it to make the new tax and the new stadium more palatable to the citizenry. Hamilton County, Ohio, passed a special tax to pay for stadiums for the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals and baseball's Reds. As of last year, the fund was about $15 million in debt, a figure that the Bond Buyer estimates could balloon to $90 million by 2014.
So while Packers and Steelers fans are more than happy to pay to watch this year's Super Bowl in person, many fans stuck at home should remember: You're paying, too. You just don't know it.
__________
Mr. Yost is the author of "Tailgating, Sacks and Salary Caps: How the NFL Became the Most Successful Sports League in History."
EUROPEAN AND AUSTRALIAN TERRORIST THREAT LEVELS
Homeland Security has just changed its ridiculous color-coded terrorist threat levels. Here is British comedian and satirist John Cleese’s take on the terrorist threat levels in Europe and Australia.
From the BBC:
ANNOUNCEMENT
By John Cleese
The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.
The Scots have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.
The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability.
Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."
The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose."
Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .
The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.
Australia , meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be alright, Mate." Three more escalation levels remain: "Crikey!","I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend," and "The barbie is cancelled."
From the BBC:
ANNOUNCEMENT
By John Cleese
The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.
The Scots have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.
The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability.
Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."
The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose."
Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .
The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.
Australia , meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be alright, Mate." Three more escalation levels remain: "Crikey!","I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend," and "The barbie is cancelled."
Monday, February 07, 2011
DORINA LISSON'S LOONY 'VILE BILE' ABOUT MY GANG OF CRAZED SADIST BULLIES
Although Dorina Lisson submitted the following tripe as comments to ‘You Don’t Know What We Go Through,’ they deserve a posting of their own. The wrongdoing she writes about does occur, but only in isolated incidents. That is to be expected since there are more than 2,000,000 inmates in our state and federal prisons. With the daily abuse heaped on correctional personnel by inmates, it is a wonder that there are so few acts of wrongdoing.
There’s nothing like someone trying to dig them self out of a hole by digging them self deeper in it. The more Dorina writes, the more she makes herself look like a raving overzealous lunatic. You’ll get the idea by reading the following comments:
Obviously, I hit a raw nerve with some correctional officers who can't deal with the the truth, the facts.
If some correctional officers (only 20 percent are college graduates according to Centurion - only 20 percent - 20 percent only) don't like their job as correctional officers then they are free to quit, resign, retire, whatever. I suggest a job at McDonalds where frustrating abusive beef tactics can be released on the chicken burgers!
Me wasting your time? Ha!
BarkGrowlBite first writes a 'vile bile' about me and my work as a Human Rights activist, then he spreads his 'vile bile' with his gang of bullies who also insult me for stating the truth, the facts. This kind of emotional bullying is evidence of the type of crazed sadists that are being recruited to care and manage 'caged humans' - the abusive ways in which many prisoners are being treated as second class human beings.
I do have a 'right' of reply!
By the way, I have become immuned to abusive insults by crazed bullies who can't handle the truth. I am not afraid and I will never shut up stating the truth, the facts !!!
By Dorina Lisson on DORINA LISSON, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT WE GO THROUGH on 2/6/11
USA prisons among worst places on Earth:
http://www.presstv.com/detail/162558.html
Official mega-referenced Internet articles (too many to list here - do the research yourselves) include:
Various reports of rogue correctional officers' violations, misconduct, rape, retaliatory acts, beatings, smuggling dangerous contrabands and illegal narcotics, harassment and other vindictive actions, verbal threats, emotional, physical and verbal abuses, mail tampering, illegal punishments, filing false disciplinary charges or negative documentation on prisoners, ignoring legally promulgated rules, policies and laws. There are cases where prisoners are placed in isolation cells in retaliation for reporting abuses by prison staff or for telling the public these abuses.
So ... I ask, are you all ignorant, stupid, in denial of factual information, or are you all playing the game of the three wise monkeys in an attempt to cover-up some rogue asses ???
By Dorina Lisson on DORINA LISSON, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT WE GO THROUGH on 2/7/11
There’s nothing like someone trying to dig them self out of a hole by digging them self deeper in it. The more Dorina writes, the more she makes herself look like a raving overzealous lunatic. You’ll get the idea by reading the following comments:
Obviously, I hit a raw nerve with some correctional officers who can't deal with the the truth, the facts.
If some correctional officers (only 20 percent are college graduates according to Centurion - only 20 percent - 20 percent only) don't like their job as correctional officers then they are free to quit, resign, retire, whatever. I suggest a job at McDonalds where frustrating abusive beef tactics can be released on the chicken burgers!
Me wasting your time? Ha!
BarkGrowlBite first writes a 'vile bile' about me and my work as a Human Rights activist, then he spreads his 'vile bile' with his gang of bullies who also insult me for stating the truth, the facts. This kind of emotional bullying is evidence of the type of crazed sadists that are being recruited to care and manage 'caged humans' - the abusive ways in which many prisoners are being treated as second class human beings.
I do have a 'right' of reply!
By the way, I have become immuned to abusive insults by crazed bullies who can't handle the truth. I am not afraid and I will never shut up stating the truth, the facts !!!
By Dorina Lisson on DORINA LISSON, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT WE GO THROUGH on 2/6/11
USA prisons among worst places on Earth:
http://www.presstv.com/detail/162558.html
Official mega-referenced Internet articles (too many to list here - do the research yourselves) include:
Various reports of rogue correctional officers' violations, misconduct, rape, retaliatory acts, beatings, smuggling dangerous contrabands and illegal narcotics, harassment and other vindictive actions, verbal threats, emotional, physical and verbal abuses, mail tampering, illegal punishments, filing false disciplinary charges or negative documentation on prisoners, ignoring legally promulgated rules, policies and laws. There are cases where prisoners are placed in isolation cells in retaliation for reporting abuses by prison staff or for telling the public these abuses.
So ... I ask, are you all ignorant, stupid, in denial of factual information, or are you all playing the game of the three wise monkeys in an attempt to cover-up some rogue asses ???
By Dorina Lisson on DORINA LISSON, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT WE GO THROUGH on 2/7/11
IT'S NOT HEALTHY TO BE A CHRISTIAN IN THE MUSLIM WORLD
All the time we’ve been led to believe that our troops toppled the Taliban in Afghanistan. And Christians in Egypt are not faring any better either.
ONE-LEGGED AFGHAN RED CROSS WORKER SET TO BE HANGED AFTER CONVERTING TO CHRISTIANITY
Mail Online
February 6, 2011
An Afghan physiotherapist will be executed within three days for converting to Christianity.
Said Musa, 45, has been held for eight months in a Kabul prison were he claims he has been tortured and sexually abused by inmates and guards.
Mr Musa, who lost his left leg in a landmine explosion in the 1990s, has worked for the Red Cross for 15 years and helps to treat fellow amputees.
He was arrested in May last year as he attempted to seek asylum at the German embassy following a crackdown on Christians within Afghanistan.
He claims he was visited by a judge who told him he would be hanged within days unless he converted back to Islam.
But he remains defiant and said he would be willing to die for his faith.
He told the Sunday Times: 'My body is theirs to do what they want with.
'Only God can decide if my spirit goes to hell.'
Defence lawyers have refused to represent him, while others have dropped the case after receiving death threats.
Mr Musa was arrested after a TV station showed western men baptising Afghans during secret ceremonies.
CHRISTIANS SLAUGHTERED IN SOUTHERN EGYPT
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
February 6, 2011
Last week, just days after the demonstrations to reform or overthrow the Egyptian government got underway, Muslims in the south of the country took advantage of the general chaos to break into two homes belonging to local Coptic Christians and butcher every man, woman and child they could find.
The Muslim assailants massacred eleven people and seriously wounded four others. Two whole families were destroyed.
According to survivors of the attack who spoke to AINA, the Assyrian International News Agency, the attackers were aided by the Christians’ Muslim neighbors. Killed in the attack were a 15-year-old girl, an 8-year-old boy, a 4-year-old boy and a little girl only three years old.
There is spreading fear that if Egypt falls into the hands of the radical Muslim Brotherhood, godfather of extremist groups across the region, the 10 million Coptic Christians in Egypt will face severe persecution, or worse.
There is already evidence that the Christians of Egypt are in for a very bumpy ride going forward. On Sunday, the Muslim Brotherhood-led opposition agreed to sit down and talk with newly-appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman. The Christians were not invited to the table, despite being part of the original demonstrations demanding reform.
ONE-LEGGED AFGHAN RED CROSS WORKER SET TO BE HANGED AFTER CONVERTING TO CHRISTIANITY
Mail Online
February 6, 2011
An Afghan physiotherapist will be executed within three days for converting to Christianity.
Said Musa, 45, has been held for eight months in a Kabul prison were he claims he has been tortured and sexually abused by inmates and guards.
Mr Musa, who lost his left leg in a landmine explosion in the 1990s, has worked for the Red Cross for 15 years and helps to treat fellow amputees.
He was arrested in May last year as he attempted to seek asylum at the German embassy following a crackdown on Christians within Afghanistan.
He claims he was visited by a judge who told him he would be hanged within days unless he converted back to Islam.
But he remains defiant and said he would be willing to die for his faith.
He told the Sunday Times: 'My body is theirs to do what they want with.
'Only God can decide if my spirit goes to hell.'
Defence lawyers have refused to represent him, while others have dropped the case after receiving death threats.
Mr Musa was arrested after a TV station showed western men baptising Afghans during secret ceremonies.
CHRISTIANS SLAUGHTERED IN SOUTHERN EGYPT
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
February 6, 2011
Last week, just days after the demonstrations to reform or overthrow the Egyptian government got underway, Muslims in the south of the country took advantage of the general chaos to break into two homes belonging to local Coptic Christians and butcher every man, woman and child they could find.
The Muslim assailants massacred eleven people and seriously wounded four others. Two whole families were destroyed.
According to survivors of the attack who spoke to AINA, the Assyrian International News Agency, the attackers were aided by the Christians’ Muslim neighbors. Killed in the attack were a 15-year-old girl, an 8-year-old boy, a 4-year-old boy and a little girl only three years old.
There is spreading fear that if Egypt falls into the hands of the radical Muslim Brotherhood, godfather of extremist groups across the region, the 10 million Coptic Christians in Egypt will face severe persecution, or worse.
There is already evidence that the Christians of Egypt are in for a very bumpy ride going forward. On Sunday, the Muslim Brotherhood-led opposition agreed to sit down and talk with newly-appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman. The Christians were not invited to the table, despite being part of the original demonstrations demanding reform.
FUN AND GAMES AT THE COLLEGE WHERE I USED TO TEACH
So what else is new. College of the Mainland was originally designed by union boss Tiny Teague primarily to provide educational opportunities to the Galveston mainland’s black population. It’s first president, Herb Stallworth, suffered from a severe guilt complex and was determined to atone for the sins of his ancestors who had been slave owners in Alabama.
You might wonder why I am posting this story. Well, it’s because this is the dirty little secret of the preferential hiring that is going on at colleges and universities all over the country.
LAWSUIT: COLLEGE OF THE MAINLAND FAVORED AFRICAN-AMERICAN APPLICANTS
By Chris Paschenko
The Galveston County Daily News
February 6, 2011
TEXAS CITY — The former director of human resources at College of the Mainland claims he was fired because he refused to favor African-American applicants over other races.
The lawsuit filed in federal court against the Texas City college is one of seven brought since 2009 and shows a disturbing pattern of students and faculty claiming civil rights violations, the college’s union president said.
The college’s board of trustees chairwoman and president deny the allegations, saying the educational institution fosters a professional and safe learning and working environment.
Union head David Michael Smith told The Daily News that problems related to the lawsuits began under former President Homer “Butch” Hayes but have grown since the April 2009 hiring of Michael A. Elam as president.
“We have more people alleging serious mistreatment and more people filing lawsuits,” Smith said. “Historically, COM has been a pretty good place to work, but in the last three or four years, it’s become pretty oppressive.”
Former HR Director’s Lawsuit
A November lawsuit filed by attorney Jeremy R. Stone on behalf of Eugene Connors, the former human resources director, is one of four brought in federal court against the college last year. Two of the three filed in 2009 were brought after Elam was hired.
Two lawsuits also are pending in state district courts. The college settled three other lawsuits since 2009, Smith said.
Connors began his career at the college in 2001 when he was hired to direct human resources. He was promoted to associate vice president and worked for a short time as interim vice president of the department.
Connors’ lawsuit names the college and trustees as defendants and claims he was wrongfully terminated in 2009, just shy of 10 years, which would have given him lifetime health benefits.
Connors claims he was fired for several reasons, including testimony he gave in a 2008 civil proceeding. That testimony didn’t favor the college.
The defendants engaged in fraud, oppression and malice, violating his freedom of speech, the lawsuit claims.
Connors also claims the college refused to renew his employment contract, because he didn’t follow its intent to hire African-American applicants over those of other races, who were better qualified, the lawsuit claims.
On several occasions, Bennie Matthews, chairwoman of the trustees, instructed Connors to favor African-American applicants by paying them more money than similarly qualified applicants of other races, the lawsuit claims.
“At times, these demands took place in public board meetings,” the lawsuit claims.
Connors demanded a jury trial and seeks, among other things, damages related to past and future wage losses.
Chairwoman Denies Claims
Matthews, who is African-American, said the claims against her are false. She declined to comment further on the lawsuit, referring The Daily News to the college’s contracted attorney. A message left with the attorney wasn’t returned.
Elam also declined to comment on the lawsuit but defended the college’s learning and working environment under his helm.
The college is in a transitional period with many changes taking place, going from a team approach to a more traditional hierarchy model of accountability.
“There are some people who don’t agree with my style of leadership, but the main thing is employees have to follow policies and procedures,” Elam said. “We’re an open and transparent institution.”
The institution also doesn’t engage in illegal practices, he said.
“I believe in what we’re doing, and many more employees are pleased at the college than disgruntled,” Elam said.
Smith has perpetuated lawsuits, Elam said.
“We’re moving forward and getting better at handling these issues to get them resolved before they get to a level of litigation,” Elam said.
$1.13 M In Legal Expenses
The college’s legal expenses totaled $1.13 million between 2007 and the middle of last year, Smith said.
Defending litigation represented the majority of expenses, Smith said.
The college has dozens, if not hundreds, of tax collection-related lawsuits against property owners during that time, according to state district clerk records.
Elam didn’t immediately know how much the tax lawsuits comprised of the legal expense total.
“More than a dozen employees and students have come forward saying their rights were violated,” Smith said. “People don’t sue at the drop of a hat. It’s stressful, time consuming, expensive, and people fear retaliation.”
Many of the lawsuits allege discrimination, harassment and other illegal practices, Smith said.
Smith brought a First Amendment lawsuit against the college in July 2009, which was settled last year. The other two lawsuits settled were brought by a student, who in May 2006 alleged sexual and racial discrimination, and by COM-Unity, an employee union, which alleged in November 2009 violations of state law on public employee grievances.
The college has about 400 full-time employees, of which 105 are members of COM-Unity, Smith said.
No Doom, Gloom
“It’s a sad day so many faculty and staff have to go through the legal system to have their rights protected,” Smith said.
The college isn’t perfect, he said.
“We always need to do a better job diversifying administration and faculty,” Smith said. “We had pretty good policies in place for faculty and staff. It was much more student centered, because faculty and staff were treated well with respect. That has changed, and it’s not a good change.”
There is no doom or gloom atmosphere at the college, Elam said.
“We have a lot of outstanding faculty and students,” Elam said. “Success is changing people’s lives. They enjoy the environment, and we have high participation rates for faculty and staff on campus.
“Are some people unhappy? Of course. We have 300 to 400 employees. We have some that are not enjoying their environment, but that’s not the rule. That’s going to be the exception.”
You might wonder why I am posting this story. Well, it’s because this is the dirty little secret of the preferential hiring that is going on at colleges and universities all over the country.
LAWSUIT: COLLEGE OF THE MAINLAND FAVORED AFRICAN-AMERICAN APPLICANTS
By Chris Paschenko
The Galveston County Daily News
February 6, 2011
TEXAS CITY — The former director of human resources at College of the Mainland claims he was fired because he refused to favor African-American applicants over other races.
The lawsuit filed in federal court against the Texas City college is one of seven brought since 2009 and shows a disturbing pattern of students and faculty claiming civil rights violations, the college’s union president said.
The college’s board of trustees chairwoman and president deny the allegations, saying the educational institution fosters a professional and safe learning and working environment.
Union head David Michael Smith told The Daily News that problems related to the lawsuits began under former President Homer “Butch” Hayes but have grown since the April 2009 hiring of Michael A. Elam as president.
“We have more people alleging serious mistreatment and more people filing lawsuits,” Smith said. “Historically, COM has been a pretty good place to work, but in the last three or four years, it’s become pretty oppressive.”
Former HR Director’s Lawsuit
A November lawsuit filed by attorney Jeremy R. Stone on behalf of Eugene Connors, the former human resources director, is one of four brought in federal court against the college last year. Two of the three filed in 2009 were brought after Elam was hired.
Two lawsuits also are pending in state district courts. The college settled three other lawsuits since 2009, Smith said.
Connors began his career at the college in 2001 when he was hired to direct human resources. He was promoted to associate vice president and worked for a short time as interim vice president of the department.
Connors’ lawsuit names the college and trustees as defendants and claims he was wrongfully terminated in 2009, just shy of 10 years, which would have given him lifetime health benefits.
Connors claims he was fired for several reasons, including testimony he gave in a 2008 civil proceeding. That testimony didn’t favor the college.
The defendants engaged in fraud, oppression and malice, violating his freedom of speech, the lawsuit claims.
Connors also claims the college refused to renew his employment contract, because he didn’t follow its intent to hire African-American applicants over those of other races, who were better qualified, the lawsuit claims.
On several occasions, Bennie Matthews, chairwoman of the trustees, instructed Connors to favor African-American applicants by paying them more money than similarly qualified applicants of other races, the lawsuit claims.
“At times, these demands took place in public board meetings,” the lawsuit claims.
Connors demanded a jury trial and seeks, among other things, damages related to past and future wage losses.
Chairwoman Denies Claims
Matthews, who is African-American, said the claims against her are false. She declined to comment further on the lawsuit, referring The Daily News to the college’s contracted attorney. A message left with the attorney wasn’t returned.
Elam also declined to comment on the lawsuit but defended the college’s learning and working environment under his helm.
The college is in a transitional period with many changes taking place, going from a team approach to a more traditional hierarchy model of accountability.
“There are some people who don’t agree with my style of leadership, but the main thing is employees have to follow policies and procedures,” Elam said. “We’re an open and transparent institution.”
The institution also doesn’t engage in illegal practices, he said.
“I believe in what we’re doing, and many more employees are pleased at the college than disgruntled,” Elam said.
Smith has perpetuated lawsuits, Elam said.
“We’re moving forward and getting better at handling these issues to get them resolved before they get to a level of litigation,” Elam said.
$1.13 M In Legal Expenses
The college’s legal expenses totaled $1.13 million between 2007 and the middle of last year, Smith said.
Defending litigation represented the majority of expenses, Smith said.
The college has dozens, if not hundreds, of tax collection-related lawsuits against property owners during that time, according to state district clerk records.
Elam didn’t immediately know how much the tax lawsuits comprised of the legal expense total.
“More than a dozen employees and students have come forward saying their rights were violated,” Smith said. “People don’t sue at the drop of a hat. It’s stressful, time consuming, expensive, and people fear retaliation.”
Many of the lawsuits allege discrimination, harassment and other illegal practices, Smith said.
Smith brought a First Amendment lawsuit against the college in July 2009, which was settled last year. The other two lawsuits settled were brought by a student, who in May 2006 alleged sexual and racial discrimination, and by COM-Unity, an employee union, which alleged in November 2009 violations of state law on public employee grievances.
The college has about 400 full-time employees, of which 105 are members of COM-Unity, Smith said.
No Doom, Gloom
“It’s a sad day so many faculty and staff have to go through the legal system to have their rights protected,” Smith said.
The college isn’t perfect, he said.
“We always need to do a better job diversifying administration and faculty,” Smith said. “We had pretty good policies in place for faculty and staff. It was much more student centered, because faculty and staff were treated well with respect. That has changed, and it’s not a good change.”
There is no doom or gloom atmosphere at the college, Elam said.
“We have a lot of outstanding faculty and students,” Elam said. “Success is changing people’s lives. They enjoy the environment, and we have high participation rates for faculty and staff on campus.
“Are some people unhappy? Of course. We have 300 to 400 employees. We have some that are not enjoying their environment, but that’s not the rule. That’s going to be the exception.”
SNAKES ON A TRAIN
Shades of the movie ‘Snakes On A Plane.’
I’ll bet that when this lady got on a jam-packed subway car, she had absolutely no trouble getting a seat.
SNAKE MISSING FOR A MONTH FOUND ON BOSTON SUBWAY
The Guardian
February 4, 2011
BOSTON (AP) — Transit officials say a 3-foot-long boa constrictor that slithered away from its owner on a Boston subway car a month ago was found on an adjoining car Thursday.
A commuter spotted Penelope the snake and alerted a train attendant at a Red Line station.
Transit authority officials took the train out of service to search it. Finally at 8:30 p.m., train attendant Sharon Lynch — a snake owner herself — caught the snake.
Penelope's owner, 30-year-old Melissa Moorhouse of Allston, had traveled around with the snake around her neck and lost it between two stations Jan. 6.
She's thrilled to have her pet back, and says she'll pay more attention the next time she takes Penelope out in public.
I’ll bet that when this lady got on a jam-packed subway car, she had absolutely no trouble getting a seat.
SNAKE MISSING FOR A MONTH FOUND ON BOSTON SUBWAY
The Guardian
February 4, 2011
BOSTON (AP) — Transit officials say a 3-foot-long boa constrictor that slithered away from its owner on a Boston subway car a month ago was found on an adjoining car Thursday.
A commuter spotted Penelope the snake and alerted a train attendant at a Red Line station.
Transit authority officials took the train out of service to search it. Finally at 8:30 p.m., train attendant Sharon Lynch — a snake owner herself — caught the snake.
Penelope's owner, 30-year-old Melissa Moorhouse of Allston, had traveled around with the snake around her neck and lost it between two stations Jan. 6.
She's thrilled to have her pet back, and says she'll pay more attention the next time she takes Penelope out in public.
Sunday, February 06, 2011
MR. GORBACHEV, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!
On June 12, 1987, President Reagan stood before the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and addressed a huge West German crowd, uttering these famous words: “Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
Today is Ronnie’s 100th birthday. While Republicans revere him and most Democrats revile him, we should all celebrate the life of Ronald Reagan and the contributions he made to this country.
Ronnie restored our military strength and pride in our country, both of which had been all but destroyed, first by the post-Vietnam era Democrats and then by Jimmy Carter.
Near the end of 1989, the wall dividing West and East Germany did come down, primarily because the leaders of the Soviet Union and East Germany recognized that with our restored military strength, they would never be able to defeat us.
Only one post-WWII Democratic president would have had the guts to challenge the Soviet Union the way Ronnie did. That Democrat was John F. Kennedy.
If you haven’t already done so, please join me in wishing Ronnie a Happy Birthday!
Today is Ronnie’s 100th birthday. While Republicans revere him and most Democrats revile him, we should all celebrate the life of Ronald Reagan and the contributions he made to this country.
Ronnie restored our military strength and pride in our country, both of which had been all but destroyed, first by the post-Vietnam era Democrats and then by Jimmy Carter.
Near the end of 1989, the wall dividing West and East Germany did come down, primarily because the leaders of the Soviet Union and East Germany recognized that with our restored military strength, they would never be able to defeat us.
Only one post-WWII Democratic president would have had the guts to challenge the Soviet Union the way Ronnie did. That Democrat was John F. Kennedy.
If you haven’t already done so, please join me in wishing Ronnie a Happy Birthday!
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