by Adolf der Schweinehund
The Schalotte
December 21, 2011
Hiking in the wilderness can sometimes be dangerous. The Schalotte is an advocate of people arming themselves for protection. Here is some good information on protecting yourself in the wilderness.
On Bud's Gun Shop Forums the question came up: What is the smallest caliber gun
you trust to protect yourself?
Horace ‘Blinky’ Hogan of Billings, Montana offered the best answer:
My personal favorite defense gun has always been a Beretta 950 Minx that fires .22 shorts. Over all the years I've been hiking, I never leave without that Minx in my pocket.
Of course we all know too that the first rule when hiking in the wilderness is to use the "Buddy System." For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this, it means you NEVER hike alone. You bring along anyone you can find to accompany you, even an in-law or your nagging wife. That way if something happens there is someone to go get help.
I remember one time hiking in Wyoming near Yellowstone National Park with a visitor from France. Out of nowhere came this huge brown bear and man was she ever mad. We must have been near one of her cubs. Anyway, if I had not had my little Minx I'd sure not be here today. Just one shot to the Frenchman's knee cap and I was able to escape by just walking at a brisk pace.
That .22 caliber Beretta 950 Minx is one of the best pistols in my safe.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
BITTER BARNEY'S BLARNEY
__I would assume, George [Will], you're going to sign on with me and Ron Paul in removing the criminal penalties on the use of marijuana and on stopping this terrible regulation of the Internet in which we tell adults that they can't gamble.
__And frankly, here is where the right wing is very much for big government. They are the ones who want to regulate personal choices. Birth control, whether or not -- we'll leave aside abortion, which is more controversial -- they want to regulate the use of birth control. As I said, gambling. Private sexual practices. Who can get married. I have never understood why heterosexuals who want to get married, believe that if I were to marry a man, they would somehow lose interest in their wives. I am not -- I am not aware of what my attractive role would be there.
__But, let's talk about individual liberty. Gambling, marijuana, personal sexual practices, what people can read -- here is the case where, frankly, it is the right wing, particularly the social issues component of the right wing, that has been the ones fostering big government.
__Can I get an answer on marijuana, George? Are you with me on it? I mea, personal liberty, if someone wants to smoke marijuana who's an adult, why do you want to make them go to jail?
__It's [the charge that marijuana is a gateway drug] been around for a long time. The gateway -- anything is a gateway to anything. That's -- and let's put it this way, that's the slippery slope argument, which is a very anti- libertarian argument. The fact is that if someone is doing something that's not in itself wrong, that it might lead later on to something else, then stop the something else. Don't lock them up for smoking marijuana.
__Come on. Paul [Ryan], this is big government. Who can I have sex with? Who can I marry? What can I read? What can I smoke? You guys on the whole -- not all of you -- but it's the conservatives that want to intrude on personal liberties there.
The above comments were excerpted from the transcript of Sunday’s ABC ‘This Week With Christiane Amanpour’ and were made by Congressman Barney Frank during a debate on ‘There’s Too Much Government In My Life’ with Congressman Paul Ryan, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich and columnist George Will that was moderated by Amanpour.
Frank, who is leaving Congress at the end of this term, was obviously a very bitter man who came to the debate with a chip-on-his-shoulder. Looking downright glum from the get-go and never showing so much as the slightest smile during his entire appearance, Frank constantly interrupted Ryan and Will to the extent where it seemed to embarrass Robert Reich, his fellow liberal.
I can’t understand why Christiane Amanpour allowed Frank to keep interrupting Ryan and Will almost every time they tried to make a point. Those interruptions diminished the debate – they practically ruined the hour-long debate - and her failure to stop the interruptions was beneath the usually astute Amanpour.
All I can say is good riddance (from Congress) to Barney Frank and his pro-pot, pro-gay marriage, pro-gambling agenda. Of course, I suspect he will take his ‘Sheila Jackson-Lee cloned motor mouth’ on the speaking tour and rake in a barrel full of cash in the process.
__And frankly, here is where the right wing is very much for big government. They are the ones who want to regulate personal choices. Birth control, whether or not -- we'll leave aside abortion, which is more controversial -- they want to regulate the use of birth control. As I said, gambling. Private sexual practices. Who can get married. I have never understood why heterosexuals who want to get married, believe that if I were to marry a man, they would somehow lose interest in their wives. I am not -- I am not aware of what my attractive role would be there.
__But, let's talk about individual liberty. Gambling, marijuana, personal sexual practices, what people can read -- here is the case where, frankly, it is the right wing, particularly the social issues component of the right wing, that has been the ones fostering big government.
__Can I get an answer on marijuana, George? Are you with me on it? I mea, personal liberty, if someone wants to smoke marijuana who's an adult, why do you want to make them go to jail?
__It's [the charge that marijuana is a gateway drug] been around for a long time. The gateway -- anything is a gateway to anything. That's -- and let's put it this way, that's the slippery slope argument, which is a very anti- libertarian argument. The fact is that if someone is doing something that's not in itself wrong, that it might lead later on to something else, then stop the something else. Don't lock them up for smoking marijuana.
__Come on. Paul [Ryan], this is big government. Who can I have sex with? Who can I marry? What can I read? What can I smoke? You guys on the whole -- not all of you -- but it's the conservatives that want to intrude on personal liberties there.
The above comments were excerpted from the transcript of Sunday’s ABC ‘This Week With Christiane Amanpour’ and were made by Congressman Barney Frank during a debate on ‘There’s Too Much Government In My Life’ with Congressman Paul Ryan, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich and columnist George Will that was moderated by Amanpour.
Frank, who is leaving Congress at the end of this term, was obviously a very bitter man who came to the debate with a chip-on-his-shoulder. Looking downright glum from the get-go and never showing so much as the slightest smile during his entire appearance, Frank constantly interrupted Ryan and Will to the extent where it seemed to embarrass Robert Reich, his fellow liberal.
I can’t understand why Christiane Amanpour allowed Frank to keep interrupting Ryan and Will almost every time they tried to make a point. Those interruptions diminished the debate – they practically ruined the hour-long debate - and her failure to stop the interruptions was beneath the usually astute Amanpour.
All I can say is good riddance (from Congress) to Barney Frank and his pro-pot, pro-gay marriage, pro-gambling agenda. Of course, I suspect he will take his ‘Sheila Jackson-Lee cloned motor mouth’ on the speaking tour and rake in a barrel full of cash in the process.
ASSAULTS ON POLICE INCREASE
Those who constantly condemn the police for shooting people don’t realize – or don’t want to admit - that officers are assaulted every day and it is to the credit of cops that they don’t shoot more of their assailants.
POLICING IN A DANGEROUS TIME
By Los Angeles Police Protective League Board of Directors
LAPPL Blog
December 19, 2011
Anyone hoping we would see a downturn in assaults on police officers – in Los Angeles and nationwide – has to be deeply disappointed by statistics released last week by LAPD Chief Charlie Beck.
Chief Beck reported to the Police Commission that assaults on LAPD officers are up 26.7 percent this year compared with 2010. He noted that as assaults on police officers increase, so do the number of officer-involved shootings – up 58.8 percent this year.
The Chief’s reports were concurrent with other somber news. Police officer deaths in the line of duty have increased 14 percent across the U.S. compared to last year, according to a preliminary report released by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
Firearms-related deaths were the number one cause of officer fatalities nationwide, a change from previous years. “For the first time in 14 years, firearms-related deaths will outnumber traffic and ‘other’-related deaths,” said Craig Floyd, chairman and CEO of the fund, in a recent CNN article.
With a total of 10 fatalities, California was fourth in line of the states with the highest number of fatalities, just behind New York, Florida and Texas (data as of December 13, 2011). The 14 percent increase can be attributed to factors including budget cuts and a surge of violence toward police officers, according to Floyd. “We’re hearing about more brazen, violent activity today, more cold-blooded murders,” Floyd told CNN.
This increased violence toward officers is a solemn reminder of the dangers that police officers face on a daily basis. We again lament the stark disconnect between falling crime rates and assaults on police officers. There’s no compelling, clear evidence why this is occurring. All we can say with certainty is that despite declining crime statistics, policing remains a very dangerous profession.
POLICING IN A DANGEROUS TIME
By Los Angeles Police Protective League Board of Directors
LAPPL Blog
December 19, 2011
Anyone hoping we would see a downturn in assaults on police officers – in Los Angeles and nationwide – has to be deeply disappointed by statistics released last week by LAPD Chief Charlie Beck.
Chief Beck reported to the Police Commission that assaults on LAPD officers are up 26.7 percent this year compared with 2010. He noted that as assaults on police officers increase, so do the number of officer-involved shootings – up 58.8 percent this year.
The Chief’s reports were concurrent with other somber news. Police officer deaths in the line of duty have increased 14 percent across the U.S. compared to last year, according to a preliminary report released by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
Firearms-related deaths were the number one cause of officer fatalities nationwide, a change from previous years. “For the first time in 14 years, firearms-related deaths will outnumber traffic and ‘other’-related deaths,” said Craig Floyd, chairman and CEO of the fund, in a recent CNN article.
With a total of 10 fatalities, California was fourth in line of the states with the highest number of fatalities, just behind New York, Florida and Texas (data as of December 13, 2011). The 14 percent increase can be attributed to factors including budget cuts and a surge of violence toward police officers, according to Floyd. “We’re hearing about more brazen, violent activity today, more cold-blooded murders,” Floyd told CNN.
This increased violence toward officers is a solemn reminder of the dangers that police officers face on a daily basis. We again lament the stark disconnect between falling crime rates and assaults on police officers. There’s no compelling, clear evidence why this is occurring. All we can say with certainty is that despite declining crime statistics, policing remains a very dangerous profession.
BROTHERLY LOVE AND A KIESTER STASH
What is up one’s butt is not intended for another’s gut!
MAN EATS COCAINE FROM BROTHER’S BUTT, DIES
Police: Man trying to hide drug evidence while in squad car
WYFF4.com
December 20, 2011
A South Carolina man's brother died after police said he was forced to eat cocaine hidden in his brother's backside.
Both brothers were taken into custody on allegations they had drugs in their car.
But police told Charleston, S.C., TV station WCIV there were additional drugs hidden in 23-year-old Deangelo Mitchell's backside.
Officers said Deangelo Mitchell convinced his brother, 20-year-old Wayne Mitchell, to swallow the ounce of cocaine to hide the evidence. He died soon afterward.
"It's sickening," North Charleston Police Chief Jon Zumalt told WCIV. "I got upset when I saw the thing. I was pretty shocked on it."
Deangelo Mitchell already bonded out of jail on the drug charge, but now police are looking for him again on charges of involuntary manslaughter.
MAN EATS COCAINE FROM BROTHER’S BUTT, DIES
Police: Man trying to hide drug evidence while in squad car
WYFF4.com
December 20, 2011
A South Carolina man's brother died after police said he was forced to eat cocaine hidden in his brother's backside.
Both brothers were taken into custody on allegations they had drugs in their car.
But police told Charleston, S.C., TV station WCIV there were additional drugs hidden in 23-year-old Deangelo Mitchell's backside.
Officers said Deangelo Mitchell convinced his brother, 20-year-old Wayne Mitchell, to swallow the ounce of cocaine to hide the evidence. He died soon afterward.
"It's sickening," North Charleston Police Chief Jon Zumalt told WCIV. "I got upset when I saw the thing. I was pretty shocked on it."
Deangelo Mitchell already bonded out of jail on the drug charge, but now police are looking for him again on charges of involuntary manslaughter.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
NORTH KOREAN LEADER DIES HOLDING BREATH WHILE WAITING FOR OBAMA TO KEEP HIS PROMISE Ambassador says Obama killed Kim Jong il
By Ima Schmuck
The Schalotte
December 19, 2011
North Korean leader Kim Jong il has died, reportedly of a heart attack while riding on a train.
In a June 2007 debate in South Carolina, presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged that, as president, he would willingly meet with the leaders of such rogue nations as Iran and North Korea without preconditions during his first term in office. Today, Obama said that now he won’t be able to keep his promise because Kim Jong il had done gone and died on him.
The Schalotte contacted So’ Se-p’yo’ng [So Se Pyong], the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations, to ask him about the circumstances surrounding the death of North Korea’s “Supreme Leader.”
Q: Mr. Ambassador, thank you for giving us your time. Your country waited several days after Kim Jong il died before announcing his death. Why is that?
A: The top generals of the Korean People’s Army delayed the announcement to to make sure they would be able to put the best face on the Supreme Leader’s tragic death.
Q: You say ‘tragic death.’ What do you mean by that?
A: Well Miss Schmuck, I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but here is what happened. Back in 2007, when he campaigned for the American presidency, Barack Obama promised to meet with the Supreme Leader during his first term in office. Ever since Obama took office, the Supreme Leader has been holding his breath waiting for the promised meeting. He lapsed into unconsciousness several times every day but was revived each time by his personal physicians. Only this time they could not revive him. That’s how he died, holding his breath waiting for Obama to show up for the promised meeting.
Q: The other day Obama denied Republican claims that his foreign policy was one of appeasement, pointing out that he had had Osama bin Laden killed. In light of Kim Jong il holding his breath, would you go so far as to say that President Obama was responsible for the Supreme Leader’s death?
A: Yes, I will say that President Obama is responsible for the death of the Supreme Leader. I would go even further and say that in effect Obama killed Kim Jong il, but please don’t quote me on that.
Q: Thank you Mr. Ambassador. While I can’t promise that The Schalotte will not quote you, we do appreciate your forthrightness.
The Schalotte
December 19, 2011
North Korean leader Kim Jong il has died, reportedly of a heart attack while riding on a train.
In a June 2007 debate in South Carolina, presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged that, as president, he would willingly meet with the leaders of such rogue nations as Iran and North Korea without preconditions during his first term in office. Today, Obama said that now he won’t be able to keep his promise because Kim Jong il had done gone and died on him.
The Schalotte contacted So’ Se-p’yo’ng [So Se Pyong], the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations, to ask him about the circumstances surrounding the death of North Korea’s “Supreme Leader.”
Q: Mr. Ambassador, thank you for giving us your time. Your country waited several days after Kim Jong il died before announcing his death. Why is that?
A: The top generals of the Korean People’s Army delayed the announcement to to make sure they would be able to put the best face on the Supreme Leader’s tragic death.
Q: You say ‘tragic death.’ What do you mean by that?
A: Well Miss Schmuck, I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but here is what happened. Back in 2007, when he campaigned for the American presidency, Barack Obama promised to meet with the Supreme Leader during his first term in office. Ever since Obama took office, the Supreme Leader has been holding his breath waiting for the promised meeting. He lapsed into unconsciousness several times every day but was revived each time by his personal physicians. Only this time they could not revive him. That’s how he died, holding his breath waiting for Obama to show up for the promised meeting.
Q: The other day Obama denied Republican claims that his foreign policy was one of appeasement, pointing out that he had had Osama bin Laden killed. In light of Kim Jong il holding his breath, would you go so far as to say that President Obama was responsible for the Supreme Leader’s death?
A: Yes, I will say that President Obama is responsible for the death of the Supreme Leader. I would go even further and say that in effect Obama killed Kim Jong il, but please don’t quote me on that.
Q: Thank you Mr. Ambassador. While I can’t promise that The Schalotte will not quote you, we do appreciate your forthrightness.
KIM JONG UN: MICHAEL JORDAN'S BIGGEST FAN FLOPPED IN SCHOOL, BUT GOOD ON THE COURT
This just goes to prove that you can be the dimmest star on the horizon and suddenly become the brightest star on the horizon.
AN ACADEMIC FAILURE WHO LOVED COMPUTER GAMES AND BASKETBALL: THE SCHOOLBOY STRUGGLES OF KIM JONG UN, NORTH KOREA’S NEXT LEADER
By Allan Hall
Mail Online
December 20, 2011
He is the 28-year-old poised to become the next leader of the hermit rogue state of North Korea.
But a former schoolfriend of Kim Jong Un - youngest son of dictator Kim Jong Il and heir apparent to the Communist state - reveals he is little more than an academic failure who squandered his education playing computer games and basketball.
The baby-faced successor first stepped out of his father’s shadow in September last year to appear in public in the capital Pyongyang, as thousands of goosestepping troops marched by to mark the 65th anniversary of the ruling Workers Party.
Kim Jong Un certainly looks the part, dressed in the uniform of a four-star general, trained in the operation of the torture camps and punishment gulags which fill his blighted land.
The world will have to see whether his prolonged exposure to the west and its values during his schooldays in Switzerland have imbued him with any democratic values that might bring his decrepit and starving country back into the international fold after years of isolation.
But the signs are not good; despite having thousands of pounds lavished on his education at a top private school in Switzerland, he didn’t leave with even the equivalent of a single GCSE.
When he was just 15 his father took him out of the costly International School Of Berne, where fees now cost around £16,000 a year.
He moved him to a nearby state school to save money but he was quickly put in the lower tier in class.
Wearing Nike trainers, a Chicago Bulls sweatshirt and jeans, he was introduced to Class 6A by the headmistress of Liebefeld School near Berne.
She lied: 'Boys and girls, this is Un Pak. He comes from North Korea and he is the son of a diplomat.'
Kim Jong-un took the empty seat next to Portuguese diplomat’s son Joao Micaelo and the pair became pals.
Joao, who now works as a chef, said: 'We weren’t the dimmest kids in class but neither were we the cleverest.
'We were always in the second tier.
'Un tried hard to express himself but he was not very good at German and became flustered when asked to give the answers to a problem. The teachers would see him struggling ashamedly and then move on. They left him in peace.
'He left without getting any exam results at all. He was much more interested in football and basketball than lessons.'
A big fan of star Michael Jordan, Kim Jong-un proved to be a good player on the basketball court. He did shine at maths but nothing else in class, and schoolmates remember that he needed a lot of extra tuition.
One boy who was with him at the International School said: 'It must have been 1993 when he came to the school. His English was bad at first. He had a strong accent and he was given extra lessons.
'He also learned German and was OK in the basics of both — but just OK. His English got better but not his German.
'He was good in maths. That sounds like he was a nerd — but he wasn’t.
He wasn’t so hot in other subjects. I suppose in hindsight we could have nicknamed him Dim Jong-un. One day he just disappeared.'
According to school sources, his father got fed up paying for an education that he thought was going nowhere.But there may have been another reason — his son’s taboo love affair with American culture.
The North Korean Embassy in Berne sent back reports on his son’s friendships and influences to his father and intelligence chiefs back in North Korea. Joao said: 'We spent nearly every afternoon with each other. He often invited me back to eat. He had a private chef who cooked whatever he wanted.
'Much of it wasn’t to my taste. Lots of chicken in strange sweet-and-sour sauces. He didn’t live at the embassy but in a flat in a nice residential area near the school.
'He was surrounded by the best gadgets that the rest of us kids couldn’t afford — TVs, video recorder, a Sony PlayStation. He had a cook, a driver, a private teacher.
'But, curiously, I never saw his room. We were mostly in the communal living room. We watched a lot of kung-fu films — especially Jackie Chan movies. He loved them. He had everything which we never saw coming close to our own cinema.
'After school we met at the basketball court and threw a few baskets, with both of us pretending to be Michael Jordan. We were all envious of his genuine NBA basketball, which must have cost more than £100.
'We spoke about girls and about our grand plans. At weekends there were parties and a lot of under-age drinking. But I never once saw a drop of alcohol pass his lips and he wasn’t interested in girls.
'He only spoke about his life in the ‘homeland’ rarely. But I knew he had a certain homesickness. On his stereo he only played North Korean songs. Western music didn’t do it for him.
'Most of all he listened to the North Korean national anthem, which we must have heard 1,000 times together. I only knew him in his alibi mode until one Sunday afternoon, shortly before he left for North Korea in 2000.
'He pulled out a photo of him alongside his father, Kim Jong-il. He said, “I am not the ambassador’s son. I am the son of the North Korean President”.’
One member of staff at the school, identifying himself only as Joerg, said: 'We had these after-school discussion groups.
'I remember I was outside the school having a smoke when this black, armoured Mercedes with smoked glass pulled up.
'Out stepped ‘Un Pak’. He was surrounded by these dwarf ninjas. They scanned the street and then led him up the path.
'That night we talked about the responsibilities of democracy — you know, the right to vote, the right to a common voice, the importance of speaking out.
'He never joined in. He looked down at his shoes all the time and fidgeted, never seemed easy.
'He was dipping into a bag from Loeb — that’s the fanciest delicatessen in Berne, the kind of place where you can spend 100 euros on a couple of salads.
'And at that moment I thought of George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm where, truly, some are more equal than others.'
AN ACADEMIC FAILURE WHO LOVED COMPUTER GAMES AND BASKETBALL: THE SCHOOLBOY STRUGGLES OF KIM JONG UN, NORTH KOREA’S NEXT LEADER
By Allan Hall
Mail Online
December 20, 2011
He is the 28-year-old poised to become the next leader of the hermit rogue state of North Korea.
But a former schoolfriend of Kim Jong Un - youngest son of dictator Kim Jong Il and heir apparent to the Communist state - reveals he is little more than an academic failure who squandered his education playing computer games and basketball.
The baby-faced successor first stepped out of his father’s shadow in September last year to appear in public in the capital Pyongyang, as thousands of goosestepping troops marched by to mark the 65th anniversary of the ruling Workers Party.
Kim Jong Un certainly looks the part, dressed in the uniform of a four-star general, trained in the operation of the torture camps and punishment gulags which fill his blighted land.
The world will have to see whether his prolonged exposure to the west and its values during his schooldays in Switzerland have imbued him with any democratic values that might bring his decrepit and starving country back into the international fold after years of isolation.
But the signs are not good; despite having thousands of pounds lavished on his education at a top private school in Switzerland, he didn’t leave with even the equivalent of a single GCSE.
When he was just 15 his father took him out of the costly International School Of Berne, where fees now cost around £16,000 a year.
He moved him to a nearby state school to save money but he was quickly put in the lower tier in class.
Wearing Nike trainers, a Chicago Bulls sweatshirt and jeans, he was introduced to Class 6A by the headmistress of Liebefeld School near Berne.
She lied: 'Boys and girls, this is Un Pak. He comes from North Korea and he is the son of a diplomat.'
Kim Jong-un took the empty seat next to Portuguese diplomat’s son Joao Micaelo and the pair became pals.
Joao, who now works as a chef, said: 'We weren’t the dimmest kids in class but neither were we the cleverest.
'We were always in the second tier.
'Un tried hard to express himself but he was not very good at German and became flustered when asked to give the answers to a problem. The teachers would see him struggling ashamedly and then move on. They left him in peace.
'He left without getting any exam results at all. He was much more interested in football and basketball than lessons.'
A big fan of star Michael Jordan, Kim Jong-un proved to be a good player on the basketball court. He did shine at maths but nothing else in class, and schoolmates remember that he needed a lot of extra tuition.
One boy who was with him at the International School said: 'It must have been 1993 when he came to the school. His English was bad at first. He had a strong accent and he was given extra lessons.
'He also learned German and was OK in the basics of both — but just OK. His English got better but not his German.
'He was good in maths. That sounds like he was a nerd — but he wasn’t.
He wasn’t so hot in other subjects. I suppose in hindsight we could have nicknamed him Dim Jong-un. One day he just disappeared.'
According to school sources, his father got fed up paying for an education that he thought was going nowhere.But there may have been another reason — his son’s taboo love affair with American culture.
The North Korean Embassy in Berne sent back reports on his son’s friendships and influences to his father and intelligence chiefs back in North Korea. Joao said: 'We spent nearly every afternoon with each other. He often invited me back to eat. He had a private chef who cooked whatever he wanted.
'Much of it wasn’t to my taste. Lots of chicken in strange sweet-and-sour sauces. He didn’t live at the embassy but in a flat in a nice residential area near the school.
'He was surrounded by the best gadgets that the rest of us kids couldn’t afford — TVs, video recorder, a Sony PlayStation. He had a cook, a driver, a private teacher.
'But, curiously, I never saw his room. We were mostly in the communal living room. We watched a lot of kung-fu films — especially Jackie Chan movies. He loved them. He had everything which we never saw coming close to our own cinema.
'After school we met at the basketball court and threw a few baskets, with both of us pretending to be Michael Jordan. We were all envious of his genuine NBA basketball, which must have cost more than £100.
'We spoke about girls and about our grand plans. At weekends there were parties and a lot of under-age drinking. But I never once saw a drop of alcohol pass his lips and he wasn’t interested in girls.
'He only spoke about his life in the ‘homeland’ rarely. But I knew he had a certain homesickness. On his stereo he only played North Korean songs. Western music didn’t do it for him.
'Most of all he listened to the North Korean national anthem, which we must have heard 1,000 times together. I only knew him in his alibi mode until one Sunday afternoon, shortly before he left for North Korea in 2000.
'He pulled out a photo of him alongside his father, Kim Jong-il. He said, “I am not the ambassador’s son. I am the son of the North Korean President”.’
One member of staff at the school, identifying himself only as Joerg, said: 'We had these after-school discussion groups.
'I remember I was outside the school having a smoke when this black, armoured Mercedes with smoked glass pulled up.
'Out stepped ‘Un Pak’. He was surrounded by these dwarf ninjas. They scanned the street and then led him up the path.
'That night we talked about the responsibilities of democracy — you know, the right to vote, the right to a common voice, the importance of speaking out.
'He never joined in. He looked down at his shoes all the time and fidgeted, never seemed easy.
'He was dipping into a bag from Loeb — that’s the fanciest delicatessen in Berne, the kind of place where you can spend 100 euros on a couple of salads.
'And at that moment I thought of George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm where, truly, some are more equal than others.'
RICK PERRY: NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME
I hate to admit it, but Texas Monthly is right. Perry imploded on the campaign trail and showed that he just isn’t ready for prime time.
WHY WE CHOSE RICK PERRY AS OUR 2012 BUM STEER OF THE YEAR
by Jake Silverstein
Texas Monthly
January 2012
As most readers know, every January TEXAS MONTHLY picks a Bum Steer of the Year, an honor conferred on whatever individual we feel has been responsible for the biggest screw-up, gaffe, fumble, stumble, train wreck, or humiliation of the past twelve months. This year, as the above cover (available on newsstands next week) makes pretty darn clear, our Bum Steer of the Year is Governor Rick Perry. Because this is not an award we relished bestowing, we are moved to offer an account of our decision to do so.
No one wants to give the governor a Bum Steer. No one wants to poke fun at the elected representative of 25 million Texans. And in fact, when Perry launched his presidential campaign four and a half months ago, we felt compelled to defend him (a little) from the slings and arrows of a national press corps incapable of seeing a boot-wearing Texas governor as anything other than George W. Bush II. We’d had our differences with Perry, about whom senior executive editor Paul Burka wrote, back in May: “He excels at consolidating and maintaining power but not at using it to move Texas forward.” But now that the Texas-mocking Yankee press was approaching, what Texan did not want to circle the wagons?
“We have endured a disproportionate amount of bad writing about our state from journalists who don’t know very much about the place, and I for one can’t bear to suffer through another campaign of it,” Paul wrote, in an August column addressed to the hordes of journalists soon to be clogging the taxi stand at the Austin airport. “I am writing you this note in the hope that it will help you avoid the political and sociological clichés that Texas is subjected to every time one of our politicians seeks the national stage.”
Among other things, Paul’s column counseled these reporters not to confuse Perry with Bush and to accept that the governor was “cannier than you think he is.” The next month, our account of his undefeated electoral history carried the headline “The Great Campaigner.” The month after that, we explained his rugged, individualistic “frontier style” and traced the roots of his political persona to Andrew Jackson, the original “Washington outsider.”
But already the worm had begun to turn. By November, Perry had completed the first several stages of decline, having devolved from a fantasy GOP savior (“He’ll unite the tea party and the chamber of commerce!”) to a real-life candidate with real-life challenges (“He’ll be fine as long as he can explain his immigration stance!”) to a mysteriously awful public speaker (“Is his back bothering him? Is he tired? Doing too much fund-raising?”). Still, as our Bum Steer deadlines approached, we were not moved to confer the lowest honor on our highest office. True, a late October survey of political insiders by the Texas Tribune found that 57 percent of them thought Perry’s struggling campaign had hurt the state’s image, but we remained firm. The governor had not earned the Bum Steer in our book, and we were torn, like many Texans, between embarrassment at Perry’s poor performance and contempt for the way the national media seemed to relish the opportunity to ridicule our state.
Then came that peculiar speech in New Hampshire, the one where he rambled about tomcats and buried gold, deployed more hand gestures and facial expressions than Ron Washington during a two-out rally, and finally finished by embracing a bottle of maple syrup.
Again the media piled on. But were we swayed? Nope. We entered the production cycle for the January issue unconvinced that the governor, for all his stumbles, deserved to be our Bum Steer of the Year. Such things are not to be taken lightly. Only once before had the magazine awarded a governor this individual dishonor, when Dolph Briscoe took the 1976 prize. Though the prospect of Perry on the cover (perhaps riding a steer into the sunset, dragging a dead coyote) was now being discussed around the office with increasing regularity, we remained resolute in our reservations; he had still not done enough.
The end came swiftly, in a matter of seconds. Fifty-three of them, to be exact: the time it took the governor to go from trying in vain to name the third agency of government he would shutter as president to giving up and muttering—in a phrase that will surely go down, should his campaign expire, as its perfect epitaph—“Oops.” In that moment all our resistance melted away, and we rushed, shaking our heads in disbelief, into the arms of our unquestionable 2012 Bum Steer of the Year. We didn’t want to, but we had to.
WHY WE CHOSE RICK PERRY AS OUR 2012 BUM STEER OF THE YEAR
by Jake Silverstein
Texas Monthly
January 2012
As most readers know, every January TEXAS MONTHLY picks a Bum Steer of the Year, an honor conferred on whatever individual we feel has been responsible for the biggest screw-up, gaffe, fumble, stumble, train wreck, or humiliation of the past twelve months. This year, as the above cover (available on newsstands next week) makes pretty darn clear, our Bum Steer of the Year is Governor Rick Perry. Because this is not an award we relished bestowing, we are moved to offer an account of our decision to do so.
No one wants to give the governor a Bum Steer. No one wants to poke fun at the elected representative of 25 million Texans. And in fact, when Perry launched his presidential campaign four and a half months ago, we felt compelled to defend him (a little) from the slings and arrows of a national press corps incapable of seeing a boot-wearing Texas governor as anything other than George W. Bush II. We’d had our differences with Perry, about whom senior executive editor Paul Burka wrote, back in May: “He excels at consolidating and maintaining power but not at using it to move Texas forward.” But now that the Texas-mocking Yankee press was approaching, what Texan did not want to circle the wagons?
“We have endured a disproportionate amount of bad writing about our state from journalists who don’t know very much about the place, and I for one can’t bear to suffer through another campaign of it,” Paul wrote, in an August column addressed to the hordes of journalists soon to be clogging the taxi stand at the Austin airport. “I am writing you this note in the hope that it will help you avoid the political and sociological clichés that Texas is subjected to every time one of our politicians seeks the national stage.”
Among other things, Paul’s column counseled these reporters not to confuse Perry with Bush and to accept that the governor was “cannier than you think he is.” The next month, our account of his undefeated electoral history carried the headline “The Great Campaigner.” The month after that, we explained his rugged, individualistic “frontier style” and traced the roots of his political persona to Andrew Jackson, the original “Washington outsider.”
But already the worm had begun to turn. By November, Perry had completed the first several stages of decline, having devolved from a fantasy GOP savior (“He’ll unite the tea party and the chamber of commerce!”) to a real-life candidate with real-life challenges (“He’ll be fine as long as he can explain his immigration stance!”) to a mysteriously awful public speaker (“Is his back bothering him? Is he tired? Doing too much fund-raising?”). Still, as our Bum Steer deadlines approached, we were not moved to confer the lowest honor on our highest office. True, a late October survey of political insiders by the Texas Tribune found that 57 percent of them thought Perry’s struggling campaign had hurt the state’s image, but we remained firm. The governor had not earned the Bum Steer in our book, and we were torn, like many Texans, between embarrassment at Perry’s poor performance and contempt for the way the national media seemed to relish the opportunity to ridicule our state.
Then came that peculiar speech in New Hampshire, the one where he rambled about tomcats and buried gold, deployed more hand gestures and facial expressions than Ron Washington during a two-out rally, and finally finished by embracing a bottle of maple syrup.
Again the media piled on. But were we swayed? Nope. We entered the production cycle for the January issue unconvinced that the governor, for all his stumbles, deserved to be our Bum Steer of the Year. Such things are not to be taken lightly. Only once before had the magazine awarded a governor this individual dishonor, when Dolph Briscoe took the 1976 prize. Though the prospect of Perry on the cover (perhaps riding a steer into the sunset, dragging a dead coyote) was now being discussed around the office with increasing regularity, we remained resolute in our reservations; he had still not done enough.
The end came swiftly, in a matter of seconds. Fifty-three of them, to be exact: the time it took the governor to go from trying in vain to name the third agency of government he would shutter as president to giving up and muttering—in a phrase that will surely go down, should his campaign expire, as its perfect epitaph—“Oops.” In that moment all our resistance melted away, and we rushed, shaking our heads in disbelief, into the arms of our unquestionable 2012 Bum Steer of the Year. We didn’t want to, but we had to.
POLITICALLY CORRECT POLICE CHIEF
It’s really sad how LAPD is being subjected to political correctness. Unfortunately, LAPD is far from the only police agency that that has been forced to make sure it’s practices will always be politically correct.
JUST CALL THE LAPD THE LAPC
By Doug McIntyre
Los Angeles Daily News
December 17, 2011
Politically Correct Charlie Beck strikes again.
As Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's designated wingman, the police chief is the principal apologist for the sanctuary city policies that have turned L.A. into - as author David Rieff dubbed it back in 1992 - "The Capital of the Third World."
Whenever the mayor needs to un-enforce laws against the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants living here, he sends for the chief. After all, everyone loves the LAPD, so if the top cop thinks something's a good idea, it has to be, right?
The latest politically correct brainstorm from Beck goes something like this: since illegal immigrants can't legally drive in California - duh - their cars are more likely to be impounded. Same as yours or mine if we get caught driving without a license.
"But that's not fair!" says PCCB. "There's a vast difference between someone driving without a license because they cannot legally be issued one and someone driving after having their license revoked."
And there is a vast difference; just not the one Beck's trying to bamboozle us with.
Unlike illegal immigrants, even drunks who've had their driving privileges yanked had to pass a driving test at some point. While a license itself doesn't guarantee responsible driving - James Loney has one - at least it let us know it was the Dodgers' first baseman snoring in his Maserati on the 101 and not Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder or the Queen of Sheba for that matter. With illegal immigrant drivers we don't know anything, not even the driver's real name.
Under Beck's plan, an illegal immigrant driver will be granted the privilege of calling a licensed friend to pick up his or her car so it doesn't make an expensive trip to the impound yard.
It will be up to the discretion of each officer to determine who is an illegal immigrant driver as opposed to some chowderhead like me who's forever leaving his wallet on the dresser. Which is a new spin on Special Order 40.
For decades, the LAPD has prohibited officers from using their judgment when it comes to determining immigration status. Now cops will be required to decide who is and isn't here legally in order to NOT impound an illegal immigrant's vehicle. You can't make this up.
The police union objects, rightly, claiming this idiocy would keep dangerous drivers on our roads. But it also represents something graver - an egregious codification of L.A.'s double standard when it comes to law enforcement; one set of penalties for citizens and a get-out-of-everything-free card for illegals.
If Beck gets his way, it's time to re-brand the LAPD, the LAPC.
JUST CALL THE LAPD THE LAPC
By Doug McIntyre
Los Angeles Daily News
December 17, 2011
Politically Correct Charlie Beck strikes again.
As Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's designated wingman, the police chief is the principal apologist for the sanctuary city policies that have turned L.A. into - as author David Rieff dubbed it back in 1992 - "The Capital of the Third World."
Whenever the mayor needs to un-enforce laws against the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants living here, he sends for the chief. After all, everyone loves the LAPD, so if the top cop thinks something's a good idea, it has to be, right?
The latest politically correct brainstorm from Beck goes something like this: since illegal immigrants can't legally drive in California - duh - their cars are more likely to be impounded. Same as yours or mine if we get caught driving without a license.
"But that's not fair!" says PCCB. "There's a vast difference between someone driving without a license because they cannot legally be issued one and someone driving after having their license revoked."
And there is a vast difference; just not the one Beck's trying to bamboozle us with.
Unlike illegal immigrants, even drunks who've had their driving privileges yanked had to pass a driving test at some point. While a license itself doesn't guarantee responsible driving - James Loney has one - at least it let us know it was the Dodgers' first baseman snoring in his Maserati on the 101 and not Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder or the Queen of Sheba for that matter. With illegal immigrant drivers we don't know anything, not even the driver's real name.
Under Beck's plan, an illegal immigrant driver will be granted the privilege of calling a licensed friend to pick up his or her car so it doesn't make an expensive trip to the impound yard.
It will be up to the discretion of each officer to determine who is an illegal immigrant driver as opposed to some chowderhead like me who's forever leaving his wallet on the dresser. Which is a new spin on Special Order 40.
For decades, the LAPD has prohibited officers from using their judgment when it comes to determining immigration status. Now cops will be required to decide who is and isn't here legally in order to NOT impound an illegal immigrant's vehicle. You can't make this up.
The police union objects, rightly, claiming this idiocy would keep dangerous drivers on our roads. But it also represents something graver - an egregious codification of L.A.'s double standard when it comes to law enforcement; one set of penalties for citizens and a get-out-of-everything-free card for illegals.
If Beck gets his way, it's time to re-brand the LAPD, the LAPC.
Monday, December 19, 2011
BOB SCHIEFFER'S CONGRESSIONAL REORGANIZATION
If only it were possible!
A MODEST PROPOSAL: LET’S HAVE TWO CONGRESSES
By Bob Schieffer
CBS Face the Nation
December 18, 2011
After watching Congress flounder around for an entire year and manage to accomplish nothing, I've come up with my own reform plan. Just create a second Congress.
How do you do that? Hey, it's a campaign year, you can promise anything!
Here's a broad outline about how it would work: members of this Congress would be elected for one year - and barred from ever running again.
Since no one would have to worry reelection, they could dive into all the heavy lifting - entitlement reform, deficit reduction, tax policy, and rebuilding our roads and bridges and schools.
It's not exactly a new idea - I sort of modeled on the first Congress. Getting reelected was the last thing on those guys' minds. They were worried about being HANGED if it didn't work out. So they put all their chips on the line and went for it.
With my new Congress doing the work, what would we do with the old Congress? Well, they'd still be there. We'd just strip them of all power and no longer pay them.
With nothing to do, they could devote themselves full-time to what they do best - plotting against one another, dunning people for money, cranking out press releases, issuing declarations, dreaming up excuses, threatening to shut down the government every month or so, and otherwise finding ways to avoid doing anything that actually mattered to anyone but them.
Since it would no longer cost us anything, instead of feeling disgust, we might be actually moved to look kindly on them. We might even say, "Now THAT'S entertainment!"
A MODEST PROPOSAL: LET’S HAVE TWO CONGRESSES
By Bob Schieffer
CBS Face the Nation
December 18, 2011
After watching Congress flounder around for an entire year and manage to accomplish nothing, I've come up with my own reform plan. Just create a second Congress.
How do you do that? Hey, it's a campaign year, you can promise anything!
Here's a broad outline about how it would work: members of this Congress would be elected for one year - and barred from ever running again.
Since no one would have to worry reelection, they could dive into all the heavy lifting - entitlement reform, deficit reduction, tax policy, and rebuilding our roads and bridges and schools.
It's not exactly a new idea - I sort of modeled on the first Congress. Getting reelected was the last thing on those guys' minds. They were worried about being HANGED if it didn't work out. So they put all their chips on the line and went for it.
With my new Congress doing the work, what would we do with the old Congress? Well, they'd still be there. We'd just strip them of all power and no longer pay them.
With nothing to do, they could devote themselves full-time to what they do best - plotting against one another, dunning people for money, cranking out press releases, issuing declarations, dreaming up excuses, threatening to shut down the government every month or so, and otherwise finding ways to avoid doing anything that actually mattered to anyone but them.
Since it would no longer cost us anything, instead of feeling disgust, we might be actually moved to look kindly on them. We might even say, "Now THAT'S entertainment!"
ELIZABETH TAYLOR'S BIGGEST FAN IS DEAD
According to Wikipedia, Kim Jong il was said to be a huge film fan, owning a collection of more than 20,000 video tapes and DVDs. His reported favorite movie franchises included Friday the 13th, Rambo, Godzilla, and Hong Kong action cinema, and any movie starring Elizabeth Taylor.
The question is, now that the “Supreme Leader” is gone, will the “Great Successor” Kim Jong Un succeed as numero uno of North Korea? The same question was raised about his fun-loving father when he came to power, but dad turned out to be a very strong and shrewd leader.
NORTH KOREAN LEADER KIM JONG IL’S DEATH
STRATFOR Global Intelligence
December 18, 2011
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died the morning of Dec. 17, according to an official North Korean News broadcast at noon Dec. 19. Initial reports say Kim died of a heart attack brought on by fatigue while on board a train. Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008, and his health has been in question since.
Kim’s death comes as North Korea was preparing for a live leadership transition in 2012, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim’s father and North Korea’s founding leader, Kim Il Sung, a transition that had been intended to avoid the three years of internal chaos the younger Kim faced after his father’s death in 1994. Kim Jong Il had delayed choosing a successor from among his sons to avoid allowing any one to build up their own support base independent of their father. His expected successor, son Kim Jong Un, was only designated as the heir apparent in 2010 after widespread rumors in 2009 and thus has had little experience and training to run North Korea and little time to solidify his own support base within the various North Korean leadership elements. Now, it is likely that Kim Jong Un’s uncle, Jang Song Thaek, will rule behind the scenes as Kim Jong Un trains on the job. Like the transition from Kim Il Sung to Kim Jong Il, it is likely that North Korea will focus internally over the next few years as the country’s elite adjust to a new balance of power. In any transition, there are those who will gain and those who are likely to be disenfranchised, and this competition can lead to internal conflicts.
The immediate question is the status of the North Korean military. Kim Jong Un is officially the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers Party of Korea and was recently made a four-star general, but he has no military experience. If the military remains committed to keeping the Kim family at the pinnacle of leadership, then things will likely hold, at least in the near term. There were no reports from South Korea that North Korea’s military had entered a state of heightened alert following Kim Jong Il’s death, suggesting that the military is on board with the transition for now. If that holds, the country likely will remain stable, if internally tense.
Kim’s death does not necessarily put an end to recently revived discussions with the United States and others over North Korea’s nuclear program. Pyongyang has increasingly felt pressured by its growing dependence on China, and these nuclear talks provide the potential to break away from that dependence in the long term.
The question is, now that the “Supreme Leader” is gone, will the “Great Successor” Kim Jong Un succeed as numero uno of North Korea? The same question was raised about his fun-loving father when he came to power, but dad turned out to be a very strong and shrewd leader.
NORTH KOREAN LEADER KIM JONG IL’S DEATH
STRATFOR Global Intelligence
December 18, 2011
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died the morning of Dec. 17, according to an official North Korean News broadcast at noon Dec. 19. Initial reports say Kim died of a heart attack brought on by fatigue while on board a train. Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008, and his health has been in question since.
Kim’s death comes as North Korea was preparing for a live leadership transition in 2012, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim’s father and North Korea’s founding leader, Kim Il Sung, a transition that had been intended to avoid the three years of internal chaos the younger Kim faced after his father’s death in 1994. Kim Jong Il had delayed choosing a successor from among his sons to avoid allowing any one to build up their own support base independent of their father. His expected successor, son Kim Jong Un, was only designated as the heir apparent in 2010 after widespread rumors in 2009 and thus has had little experience and training to run North Korea and little time to solidify his own support base within the various North Korean leadership elements. Now, it is likely that Kim Jong Un’s uncle, Jang Song Thaek, will rule behind the scenes as Kim Jong Un trains on the job. Like the transition from Kim Il Sung to Kim Jong Il, it is likely that North Korea will focus internally over the next few years as the country’s elite adjust to a new balance of power. In any transition, there are those who will gain and those who are likely to be disenfranchised, and this competition can lead to internal conflicts.
The immediate question is the status of the North Korean military. Kim Jong Un is officially the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers Party of Korea and was recently made a four-star general, but he has no military experience. If the military remains committed to keeping the Kim family at the pinnacle of leadership, then things will likely hold, at least in the near term. There were no reports from South Korea that North Korea’s military had entered a state of heightened alert following Kim Jong Il’s death, suggesting that the military is on board with the transition for now. If that holds, the country likely will remain stable, if internally tense.
Kim’s death does not necessarily put an end to recently revived discussions with the United States and others over North Korea’s nuclear program. Pyongyang has increasingly felt pressured by its growing dependence on China, and these nuclear talks provide the potential to break away from that dependence in the long term.
TWO STUPIDS ARE AS TWO STUPIDS DO
The cop haters crawled out of the woodwork with their comments on this story in the San Francisco Chronicle, one of them with this jewel: “When you are a cop – murdering impunity is a way of life. We are all just insects to them. Their lives are much more important than ours. Just avoid murdering cops at all costs. Except when they burst, unannounced, into your bedroom and shoot and murder you. That makes it a little tough to avoid them.”
FELONY STUPID TURNS IN TO FATAL STUPID
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
December 17, 2011
A felony stupid move by one man turned into a fatal stupid move by another man in San Jose yesterday while the men were interacting with the local constabulary.
The cops spotted some bozo walking down the street sucking up a can of suds. They stopped, intending to cite him for a violation of the municipal code for drinking in public. Instead the guy ran into a nearby house. The cops pursued, and saw the bozo pull a gun from his pants and toss it into another room in the house.
At that time Valente Galindo, 47, picked up the gun and pointed it at the cops. Officer Lee Tasio, a nine-year veteran, ordered Galindo to drop the weapon. He didn’t. Tasio fired. Galindo collapsed like a punctured whoopee cushion and died. The original bozo, Mnauel Fuentes, 24, was arrested for resisting arrest and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
FELONY STUPID TURNS IN TO FATAL STUPID
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
December 17, 2011
A felony stupid move by one man turned into a fatal stupid move by another man in San Jose yesterday while the men were interacting with the local constabulary.
The cops spotted some bozo walking down the street sucking up a can of suds. They stopped, intending to cite him for a violation of the municipal code for drinking in public. Instead the guy ran into a nearby house. The cops pursued, and saw the bozo pull a gun from his pants and toss it into another room in the house.
At that time Valente Galindo, 47, picked up the gun and pointed it at the cops. Officer Lee Tasio, a nine-year veteran, ordered Galindo to drop the weapon. He didn’t. Tasio fired. Galindo collapsed like a punctured whoopee cushion and died. The original bozo, Mnauel Fuentes, 24, was arrested for resisting arrest and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
ISRAEL'S LUNATIC FRINGE
The Jewish state is beset with a lunatic fringe on both the left and the right. The extreme left-wing in Israel acts as a fifth-column for the Palestinians, siding with the Palestinians on most issues and acting against its own government in ways that threaten the survivability of a Jewish state surrounded by enemies that have vowed to destroy it.
On the extreme right-wing, some of the West Bank settlers have defaced and set fire to mosques, destroyed Palestinian olive trees and even attacked Israeli army outposts. These militant settlers are a disgrace and are fuelling the flames of hatred against Jews and bringing down worldwide condemnation on the State of Israel.
As my readers know, I am a very strong supporter of Israel and have pointed out numerous times that the real goal of the ‘moderate’ Palestinian leadership is not a peace with two states existing side by side, but only one state, a Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Like their brethren in Hamas, the so-called moderates want to erase Israel from the map and drive the Jews out of the Middle East.
I can’t see much sense for Israel to negotiate with a people who see a peace treaty as a mere stepping stone on the pathway to their avowed ‘final solution’ – the eradication of the ‘Zionist entity’ and a Judenrein Middle East.
Because Israel is a democracy, there is not much the government can do about the extreme left-wing with its pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli activities as long as they do not actually violate any of the Jewish state’s laws. But the militant settlers are another matter.
When the settlers deface and set fire to mosques, destroy olive trees and attack Israeli soldiers, they are acting as terrorists and should be treated as such. I know that the Jewish settlers have been up in arms ever since the Israeli army forcibly removed them from their settlements in Gaza. Their anger is exacerbated because the Israeli army has recently been removing them from some outpost settlements in the West Bank, even though those outposts are illegal.
It is quite possible that a civil war will tear Israel apart if it reaches a ‘peace’ agreement with the Palestinians that requires the dismantling of some well-established West Bank settlements, like those that were dismantled in Gaza. Then the government will be confronted not by a lunatic fringe, but by several hundred thousand normally law abiding settlers.
When the extreme right-wing settlers attack mosques and destroy Palestinian property, they are facilitating the demonization of Israel. The Israeli government must do more than just condemn the brazen acts committed by the lunatic fringe. It must come down hard with an iron fist on the settlers that are committing terrorist acts, and terrorism is exactly what defines the attacks on the mosques and the army.
On the extreme right-wing, some of the West Bank settlers have defaced and set fire to mosques, destroyed Palestinian olive trees and even attacked Israeli army outposts. These militant settlers are a disgrace and are fuelling the flames of hatred against Jews and bringing down worldwide condemnation on the State of Israel.
As my readers know, I am a very strong supporter of Israel and have pointed out numerous times that the real goal of the ‘moderate’ Palestinian leadership is not a peace with two states existing side by side, but only one state, a Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Like their brethren in Hamas, the so-called moderates want to erase Israel from the map and drive the Jews out of the Middle East.
I can’t see much sense for Israel to negotiate with a people who see a peace treaty as a mere stepping stone on the pathway to their avowed ‘final solution’ – the eradication of the ‘Zionist entity’ and a Judenrein Middle East.
Because Israel is a democracy, there is not much the government can do about the extreme left-wing with its pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli activities as long as they do not actually violate any of the Jewish state’s laws. But the militant settlers are another matter.
When the settlers deface and set fire to mosques, destroy olive trees and attack Israeli soldiers, they are acting as terrorists and should be treated as such. I know that the Jewish settlers have been up in arms ever since the Israeli army forcibly removed them from their settlements in Gaza. Their anger is exacerbated because the Israeli army has recently been removing them from some outpost settlements in the West Bank, even though those outposts are illegal.
It is quite possible that a civil war will tear Israel apart if it reaches a ‘peace’ agreement with the Palestinians that requires the dismantling of some well-established West Bank settlements, like those that were dismantled in Gaza. Then the government will be confronted not by a lunatic fringe, but by several hundred thousand normally law abiding settlers.
When the extreme right-wing settlers attack mosques and destroy Palestinian property, they are facilitating the demonization of Israel. The Israeli government must do more than just condemn the brazen acts committed by the lunatic fringe. It must come down hard with an iron fist on the settlers that are committing terrorist acts, and terrorism is exactly what defines the attacks on the mosques and the army.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT MALAYSIAN STYLE
From Borderland Beat:
The Malaysian method of execution is hanging.
Capital punishment in Malaysia follows a ridged line and applies to murder, drug trafficking, treason, and waging war against the King. There is no juvenile mercy in the country as juvenile justice is also subject to the gallows. Only pregnant women and young children are exempt from capital punishment. The judicial system in the country holds no distinction between “hard” drugs versus lighter drugs such as marijuana. One is subject to hanging for the seemingly lessor offense of selling small quantities of marijuana.
If convicted, [the condemned defendant] will have two automatic appeals which will last for about a year.
In November of this year the government has announced a decision to examine the [death penalty] issue, as it has failed to curb drug trafficking. Most drug trafficking arrests are small time, "little fish" in the drug trafficking pond, but subjected to the same harsh judgement and penalty. The hands of a judge are tied when imposing sentences, as they are mandatory.
Nora Murat, executive director of Amnesty International Malaysia, put it, "When a judge has decided on the guilt of the accused, he has only one punishment to give 'death.", further stating; "Mandatory death penalty removes the discretion of judges to consider external factors such as the accused's level of maturity and intelligence, life background, circumstances leading to the commission of the offense and other mitigating factors.".
The Malaysian method of execution is hanging.
Capital punishment in Malaysia follows a ridged line and applies to murder, drug trafficking, treason, and waging war against the King. There is no juvenile mercy in the country as juvenile justice is also subject to the gallows. Only pregnant women and young children are exempt from capital punishment. The judicial system in the country holds no distinction between “hard” drugs versus lighter drugs such as marijuana. One is subject to hanging for the seemingly lessor offense of selling small quantities of marijuana.
If convicted, [the condemned defendant] will have two automatic appeals which will last for about a year.
In November of this year the government has announced a decision to examine the [death penalty] issue, as it has failed to curb drug trafficking. Most drug trafficking arrests are small time, "little fish" in the drug trafficking pond, but subjected to the same harsh judgement and penalty. The hands of a judge are tied when imposing sentences, as they are mandatory.
Nora Murat, executive director of Amnesty International Malaysia, put it, "When a judge has decided on the guilt of the accused, he has only one punishment to give 'death.", further stating; "Mandatory death penalty removes the discretion of judges to consider external factors such as the accused's level of maturity and intelligence, life background, circumstances leading to the commission of the offense and other mitigating factors.".
Saturday, December 17, 2011
HAS OUR WAR IN IRAQ BEEN WORTH THE COST?
As the year is winding down, so is our military presence in Iraq. During the nine-year Iraq war, 4,500 of our troops were killed and 32,000 were wounded. And this war cost us $800 billion.
While our troops defeated the military forces of Saddam Hussein and defanged an al-Queda linked insurgency, we are leaving an uncertain Iraq. Will the Shiite government of Iraq be confronted with sectarian insurgencies from the Sunnis and the Kurds? Very likely! Will Iran end up exercising a strong influence over the Iraqi government? Probably!
Our military presence in Iraq is ending, not because we have been victorious, but because the president made a purely political motivated decision. As a senator, Obama was outspoken in his opposition to the war in Iraq. When he ran for president, Obama promised to bring the troops home. And now that President Obama is engaged in his campaign for a second term in office, that’s one of the few promises he’s kept.
Almost all of our top ranking military officers have opposed the total withdrawal of our armed forces from Iraq. They believe that an American military presence is necessary to counter the growing influence of Iran.
If sectarian warfare does erupt in Iraq and if it falls under the Iranian sphere of influence, one would have to question whether Obama’s political troop maneuver made the cost – 4,500 troops killed, 32,000 wounded, $800 billion – worth it.
While our troops defeated the military forces of Saddam Hussein and defanged an al-Queda linked insurgency, we are leaving an uncertain Iraq. Will the Shiite government of Iraq be confronted with sectarian insurgencies from the Sunnis and the Kurds? Very likely! Will Iran end up exercising a strong influence over the Iraqi government? Probably!
Our military presence in Iraq is ending, not because we have been victorious, but because the president made a purely political motivated decision. As a senator, Obama was outspoken in his opposition to the war in Iraq. When he ran for president, Obama promised to bring the troops home. And now that President Obama is engaged in his campaign for a second term in office, that’s one of the few promises he’s kept.
Almost all of our top ranking military officers have opposed the total withdrawal of our armed forces from Iraq. They believe that an American military presence is necessary to counter the growing influence of Iran.
If sectarian warfare does erupt in Iraq and if it falls under the Iranian sphere of influence, one would have to question whether Obama’s political troop maneuver made the cost – 4,500 troops killed, 32,000 wounded, $800 billion – worth it.
BEST JOKE OF 2011
The attorneys for accused Penn State child molester Jerry Sandusky now claim that their client took disadvantaged little boys to shower with him for the sole purpose of teaching them personal hygiene.
CLOSE SUPERVISION IS THE KEY TO PREVENTING BAD POLICING
The family of the woodcarver killed by a Seattle cop reached a $1.5 million settlement with the city.
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: SEATTLE POLICE USED EXCESSIVE FORCE
Federal investigators said they found inadequate systems of supervision and oversight
By Donna Blankinship
Associated Press
December 16, 2011
SEATTLE — Seattle police have engaged in excessive force that violated federal law and the Constitution, the U.S. Justice Department said Friday.
An investigation was launched last spring following the fatal shooting of a homeless, Native American woodcarver and other reported use of force used against minority suspects. The investigation was aimed at determining whether Seattle police have a "pattern or practice" of violating civil rights or discriminatory policing, and if so, what they should do to improve.
"Our findings should serve as a foundation to reform the police department and to help restore the community's confidence in fair, just and effective law enforcement. The problems within SPD have been present for many years and will take time to fix," said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the civil rights division.
Federal investigators said they found inadequate systems of supervision and oversight, and that officers too quickly resorted to the use of weapons like batons and flashlights. And Seattle officers escalated situations and used unnecessary force when arresting people for minor offenses, according to the Justice Department.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and 34 other community groups called for the inquiry after a Seattle officer shot and killed the woodcarver, John T. Williams, in 2010.
Video from Officer Ian Birk's patrol car showed Williams crossing the street holding a piece of wood and a small knife, and Birk exiting the vehicle to pursue him. Off camera, Birk quickly shouted three times for Williams to drop the knife, then fired five shots. The knife was found folded at the scene, but Birk later maintained Williams had threatened him.
Birk resigned from the force but was not charged. A review board found the shooting unjustified.
Other incidents captured on surveillance or police-cruiser video include officers using an anti-Mexican epithet and stomping on a prone Latino man who was mistakenly thought to be a robbery suspect; an officer kicking a non-resisting black youth in a convenience store; and officers tackling and kicking a black man who showed up in a police evidence room to pick up belongings after he was mistakenly released from jail.
"The solution to the problems identified within the Seattle Police Department will require strong and consistent leadership along the chain of command, effective training and policies, and vigilant oversight," said Jenny A. Durkan, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, who joined Perez for Friday's announcement.
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: SEATTLE POLICE USED EXCESSIVE FORCE
Federal investigators said they found inadequate systems of supervision and oversight
By Donna Blankinship
Associated Press
December 16, 2011
SEATTLE — Seattle police have engaged in excessive force that violated federal law and the Constitution, the U.S. Justice Department said Friday.
An investigation was launched last spring following the fatal shooting of a homeless, Native American woodcarver and other reported use of force used against minority suspects. The investigation was aimed at determining whether Seattle police have a "pattern or practice" of violating civil rights or discriminatory policing, and if so, what they should do to improve.
"Our findings should serve as a foundation to reform the police department and to help restore the community's confidence in fair, just and effective law enforcement. The problems within SPD have been present for many years and will take time to fix," said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the civil rights division.
Federal investigators said they found inadequate systems of supervision and oversight, and that officers too quickly resorted to the use of weapons like batons and flashlights. And Seattle officers escalated situations and used unnecessary force when arresting people for minor offenses, according to the Justice Department.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and 34 other community groups called for the inquiry after a Seattle officer shot and killed the woodcarver, John T. Williams, in 2010.
Video from Officer Ian Birk's patrol car showed Williams crossing the street holding a piece of wood and a small knife, and Birk exiting the vehicle to pursue him. Off camera, Birk quickly shouted three times for Williams to drop the knife, then fired five shots. The knife was found folded at the scene, but Birk later maintained Williams had threatened him.
Birk resigned from the force but was not charged. A review board found the shooting unjustified.
Other incidents captured on surveillance or police-cruiser video include officers using an anti-Mexican epithet and stomping on a prone Latino man who was mistakenly thought to be a robbery suspect; an officer kicking a non-resisting black youth in a convenience store; and officers tackling and kicking a black man who showed up in a police evidence room to pick up belongings after he was mistakenly released from jail.
"The solution to the problems identified within the Seattle Police Department will require strong and consistent leadership along the chain of command, effective training and policies, and vigilant oversight," said Jenny A. Durkan, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, who joined Perez for Friday's announcement.
WOMEN IN MEXICO'S DRUG WAR
From Borderland Beat:
VICTIMS AND VILLAINS
by Geoffrey Ramsey
In Sight
December 14, 2011
Media representations of women caught up Mexico’s drug conflict are often two-dimensional, resorting to the dichotomy of portraying women either as helpless victims or powerful “drug queens.”
By now it is a familiar narrative: women are uniquely victimized in Mexico's male-dominated drug war, frequently targeted in revenge killings or the subjects of sexual exploitation. Since February 2008, the Mexican government’s special task force on violence against women estimates that there have been more than 1,500 cases of missing females, one third of which were never resolved.
Many of these victims are young women, who are coerced into sex trafficking or working as drug mules. Recently, the Regional Coalition Against Trafficking of Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean estimated that some 800 girls between the ages of 12 and 16 have disappeared since 2008.
Alongside this runs another narrative, that of the powerful woman at the head of a drug cartel. The press salivates over the stories of high-profile criminals like Sandra Avila, the “Queen of the Pacific,” who was arrested in September 2007 for allegedly serving as a key link between the Sinaloa Cartel and Colombia's Norte del Valle Cartel. Newsweek magazine referred to her as Mexico’s “Underworld Queenpin,” while ABC called her the “Glamorous Gangster” of Mexico.
But the emphasis on Avila’s power is overstated. In reality, she owes much of her prominence to family ties and romantic connections with influential men. Her uncle is Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, alias "El Padrino," (The Godfather), who was a member of the first generation of Sinaloan drug traffickers. Both of her husbands were corrupt police commanders, and both ended up being assassinated.
Since then, Avila has been in a romantic relationship with Ismael Zambada Garcia, alias "El Mayo," and Colombian trafficker Juan Diego Espinoza Ramirez, who worked with the Sinaloa Cartel to establish a network of suppliers in Colombia. It is worth questioning just how much of her influence was simply a product of the company she kept.
The same can be said for another celebrated Mexican drug queen, the Tijuana Cartel's Enedina Arellano Felix. Despite being hailed as the first female chief of a major drug trafficking organization in Mexico, she only became involved in the cartel’s leadership after her brothers were all killed or arrested. What’s more, Enedina’s role is still secondary compared to that of her son, Fernando Sanchez Arellano, alias "El Ingeniero."
Likewise, many women hold an ambiguous position on the line separating victim from victimizer. Sometimes females are drafted into the frontline of the drug conflict, as in the case of four teenage “assassins in training” that authorities captured at a Zetas training camp last June. There is evidence to suggest that this is on the rise. According to the National Women's Institute (INMUJERES), the number of females convicted in connection to the drug trade rose 400 percent between 2007 and 2010.
Some of these women hold mid-level leadership positions in Mexico's underworld. Just three months ago police arrested Mireya Moreno Carreon, alias "La Flaca," who had been working as the chief of the Zetas’ "plaza," or drug trafficking hub, of San Nicolas de los Garza, outside Monterrey. And Moreno is not alone; according to the Mexican Attorney General’s Office, officials are offering a reward for information on the whereabouts of 14 women who are currently plaza chiefs, hit squad bosses and kidnapping ring leaders across the country.
Two of these women, Elizabeth Garza and Elvira Arroyo, are wanted by officials in the United States for their role as large-scale drug traffickers. Garza is on the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s list of the 15 most wanted criminals worldwide.
These cases raise various questions about the nature of female empowerment in the drug trade. Do female drug lords, like their counterparts in the similarly male-dominated field of politics, find that in order to break the glass ceiling they must adopt the “iron lady” persona, portraying themselves as cold and asexual in order to command respect?
Or do they more frequently adopt the apparent strategy of Sandra Avila, using their sexuality as a means to gain power over men? What is clear is that restricting women to the twin categories of victim or powerful capo overlooks the ambiguities of their roles in Mexico’s criminal underworld.
VICTIMS AND VILLAINS
by Geoffrey Ramsey
In Sight
December 14, 2011
Media representations of women caught up Mexico’s drug conflict are often two-dimensional, resorting to the dichotomy of portraying women either as helpless victims or powerful “drug queens.”
By now it is a familiar narrative: women are uniquely victimized in Mexico's male-dominated drug war, frequently targeted in revenge killings or the subjects of sexual exploitation. Since February 2008, the Mexican government’s special task force on violence against women estimates that there have been more than 1,500 cases of missing females, one third of which were never resolved.
Many of these victims are young women, who are coerced into sex trafficking or working as drug mules. Recently, the Regional Coalition Against Trafficking of Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean estimated that some 800 girls between the ages of 12 and 16 have disappeared since 2008.
Alongside this runs another narrative, that of the powerful woman at the head of a drug cartel. The press salivates over the stories of high-profile criminals like Sandra Avila, the “Queen of the Pacific,” who was arrested in September 2007 for allegedly serving as a key link between the Sinaloa Cartel and Colombia's Norte del Valle Cartel. Newsweek magazine referred to her as Mexico’s “Underworld Queenpin,” while ABC called her the “Glamorous Gangster” of Mexico.
But the emphasis on Avila’s power is overstated. In reality, she owes much of her prominence to family ties and romantic connections with influential men. Her uncle is Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, alias "El Padrino," (The Godfather), who was a member of the first generation of Sinaloan drug traffickers. Both of her husbands were corrupt police commanders, and both ended up being assassinated.
Since then, Avila has been in a romantic relationship with Ismael Zambada Garcia, alias "El Mayo," and Colombian trafficker Juan Diego Espinoza Ramirez, who worked with the Sinaloa Cartel to establish a network of suppliers in Colombia. It is worth questioning just how much of her influence was simply a product of the company she kept.
The same can be said for another celebrated Mexican drug queen, the Tijuana Cartel's Enedina Arellano Felix. Despite being hailed as the first female chief of a major drug trafficking organization in Mexico, she only became involved in the cartel’s leadership after her brothers were all killed or arrested. What’s more, Enedina’s role is still secondary compared to that of her son, Fernando Sanchez Arellano, alias "El Ingeniero."
Likewise, many women hold an ambiguous position on the line separating victim from victimizer. Sometimes females are drafted into the frontline of the drug conflict, as in the case of four teenage “assassins in training” that authorities captured at a Zetas training camp last June. There is evidence to suggest that this is on the rise. According to the National Women's Institute (INMUJERES), the number of females convicted in connection to the drug trade rose 400 percent between 2007 and 2010.
Some of these women hold mid-level leadership positions in Mexico's underworld. Just three months ago police arrested Mireya Moreno Carreon, alias "La Flaca," who had been working as the chief of the Zetas’ "plaza," or drug trafficking hub, of San Nicolas de los Garza, outside Monterrey. And Moreno is not alone; according to the Mexican Attorney General’s Office, officials are offering a reward for information on the whereabouts of 14 women who are currently plaza chiefs, hit squad bosses and kidnapping ring leaders across the country.
Two of these women, Elizabeth Garza and Elvira Arroyo, are wanted by officials in the United States for their role as large-scale drug traffickers. Garza is on the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s list of the 15 most wanted criminals worldwide.
These cases raise various questions about the nature of female empowerment in the drug trade. Do female drug lords, like their counterparts in the similarly male-dominated field of politics, find that in order to break the glass ceiling they must adopt the “iron lady” persona, portraying themselves as cold and asexual in order to command respect?
Or do they more frequently adopt the apparent strategy of Sandra Avila, using their sexuality as a means to gain power over men? What is clear is that restricting women to the twin categories of victim or powerful capo overlooks the ambiguities of their roles in Mexico’s criminal underworld.
MARGARITA BOUGHT A CAR THAT STINKS
Think about it fellows, you would have been better off had you given the poor woman her money back.
WOMAN FILES LAWSUIT OVER BAD ODOR
By Jerry Reynolds
The Car Pro Weekly
December 15, 2011
Most funky odors are pretty easily traced back to their origins... the french fries that spilled out of the bag and have found permanent residence under the driver's seat, or the forgotten grocery bag in the trunk from last week. Other, more serious smells, require the assistance of a biohazard company.
Such is the case with a 2006 Ford Expedition purchased by a Michigan woman named Margarita Salais, who purchased the vehicle from Suburban Ford of Sterling Heights. It seems that the dealership acquired the SUV in December of 2010, a cold month in Michigan. Salais purchased the car in March, near the end of the much-too-long winter season. Yes, I know Suburban Ford and it is a good dealership.
The cold temperatures apparently masked the smell of rotting flesh. Salais took the car back to the dealership and was told the smell must be coming from a dead animal. Unhappy with that report, Salais called her insurance company, which contracted Elite Trauma Clean-Up in Clinton Township to investigate.
This is where things get a little murky. According to State Farm, the insurance provider, the smell was determined to be of human origin... dead body, anyone? The Detroit News, however, dug deeper and spoke to the Elite Trauma employee who inspected the vehicle, who said that the smell could be traced back only to "rotten meat" of unknown origin.
In any case, Salais still has her rotten-smelling Expedition, which she later found had been used as a rental car and had been reported stolen three times. At the very least, Salais' lawyer believes the dealership should take the car back and pay his client for damages - an amount that would likely vary depending on the real cause of the dead-body odor.
WOMAN FILES LAWSUIT OVER BAD ODOR
By Jerry Reynolds
The Car Pro Weekly
December 15, 2011
Most funky odors are pretty easily traced back to their origins... the french fries that spilled out of the bag and have found permanent residence under the driver's seat, or the forgotten grocery bag in the trunk from last week. Other, more serious smells, require the assistance of a biohazard company.
Such is the case with a 2006 Ford Expedition purchased by a Michigan woman named Margarita Salais, who purchased the vehicle from Suburban Ford of Sterling Heights. It seems that the dealership acquired the SUV in December of 2010, a cold month in Michigan. Salais purchased the car in March, near the end of the much-too-long winter season. Yes, I know Suburban Ford and it is a good dealership.
The cold temperatures apparently masked the smell of rotting flesh. Salais took the car back to the dealership and was told the smell must be coming from a dead animal. Unhappy with that report, Salais called her insurance company, which contracted Elite Trauma Clean-Up in Clinton Township to investigate.
This is where things get a little murky. According to State Farm, the insurance provider, the smell was determined to be of human origin... dead body, anyone? The Detroit News, however, dug deeper and spoke to the Elite Trauma employee who inspected the vehicle, who said that the smell could be traced back only to "rotten meat" of unknown origin.
In any case, Salais still has her rotten-smelling Expedition, which she later found had been used as a rental car and had been reported stolen three times. At the very least, Salais' lawyer believes the dealership should take the car back and pay his client for damages - an amount that would likely vary depending on the real cause of the dead-body odor.
Friday, December 16, 2011
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA
This comes as no surprise to me. If marijuana is medically acceptable for whatever ails you, why wouldn’t teens think that there’s no harm in smoking pot?
While the NIH study showed that the use of other drugs among high school students has waned, just wait until the regular use of pot becomes prosaic. Then those pot headed teens will try to find a better high by turning onto other drugs.
REGULAR POT USE BY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS HITS PEAK
By Anahad O'Connor
The New York Times
December 14, 2011
One out of every 15 high school students smokes marijuana on a near daily basis, a figure that has reached a 30-year peak even as use of alcohol, cigarettes and cocaine among teenagers continues a slow decline, according to a new government report.
The popularity of marijuana, which is now more prevalent among 10th-graders than cigarette smoking, reflects what researchers and drug officials said is a growing perception among teenagers that habitual marijuana use carries little risk of harm. That perception is fueled in part by wider familiarity with medicinal marijuana and greater ease in obtaining it, they said.
Although it is difficult to track the numbers, "we're clearly seeing an increase in teenage marijuana use that corresponds pretty clearly in time with the increase in medical marijuana use," said Dr. Christian Thurstone, medical director of the adolescent substance abuse treatment program at Denver Health and Hospital Authority, who was not involved in the study.
The long-running annual report, called the Monitoring the Future survey and financed by the National Institutes of Health, looked at more than 46,000 students nationwide. Overall, about 25 percent of 8th-, 10th- and 12th-graders who took part in the study reported using marijuana in the past year, up from about 21 percent in 2007.
R. Gil Kerlikowske, the federal drug czar, said he believed the increasing prevalence of medicinal marijuana was a factor in the uptick.
"These last couple years, the amount of attention that's been given to medical marijuana has been huge," he said. "And when I've done focus groups with high school students in states where medical marijuana is legal, they say, 'Well, if its called medicine and it's given to patients by caregivers, then that's really the wrong message for us as high school students.' "
The report also revealed that a mixture of herbs and chemicals known as "spice" or "K2" - or synthetic marijuana, since it mimics the intoxicating effects of herbal marijuana - has quickly gained popularity. One in every nine high school seniors reported using it in the past year; most of them also regularly used marijuana.
While interest in marijuana and synthetic marijuana has climbed, the willingness to try most other drugs has waned. The report found declines in the use of crack, cocaine, over-the-counter cough and cold medicines, sedatives, tranquilizers and prescription drugs like Adderall and the narcotic painkiller Vicodin.
While the NIH study showed that the use of other drugs among high school students has waned, just wait until the regular use of pot becomes prosaic. Then those pot headed teens will try to find a better high by turning onto other drugs.
REGULAR POT USE BY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS HITS PEAK
By Anahad O'Connor
The New York Times
December 14, 2011
One out of every 15 high school students smokes marijuana on a near daily basis, a figure that has reached a 30-year peak even as use of alcohol, cigarettes and cocaine among teenagers continues a slow decline, according to a new government report.
The popularity of marijuana, which is now more prevalent among 10th-graders than cigarette smoking, reflects what researchers and drug officials said is a growing perception among teenagers that habitual marijuana use carries little risk of harm. That perception is fueled in part by wider familiarity with medicinal marijuana and greater ease in obtaining it, they said.
Although it is difficult to track the numbers, "we're clearly seeing an increase in teenage marijuana use that corresponds pretty clearly in time with the increase in medical marijuana use," said Dr. Christian Thurstone, medical director of the adolescent substance abuse treatment program at Denver Health and Hospital Authority, who was not involved in the study.
The long-running annual report, called the Monitoring the Future survey and financed by the National Institutes of Health, looked at more than 46,000 students nationwide. Overall, about 25 percent of 8th-, 10th- and 12th-graders who took part in the study reported using marijuana in the past year, up from about 21 percent in 2007.
R. Gil Kerlikowske, the federal drug czar, said he believed the increasing prevalence of medicinal marijuana was a factor in the uptick.
"These last couple years, the amount of attention that's been given to medical marijuana has been huge," he said. "And when I've done focus groups with high school students in states where medical marijuana is legal, they say, 'Well, if its called medicine and it's given to patients by caregivers, then that's really the wrong message for us as high school students.' "
The report also revealed that a mixture of herbs and chemicals known as "spice" or "K2" - or synthetic marijuana, since it mimics the intoxicating effects of herbal marijuana - has quickly gained popularity. One in every nine high school seniors reported using it in the past year; most of them also regularly used marijuana.
While interest in marijuana and synthetic marijuana has climbed, the willingness to try most other drugs has waned. The report found declines in the use of crack, cocaine, over-the-counter cough and cold medicines, sedatives, tranquilizers and prescription drugs like Adderall and the narcotic painkiller Vicodin.
A CHARLATAN, A WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING
On Wednesday, Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman excoriated Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, America's right-wing Jews, and the Israeli government. And he accused Congress of being “bought and paid for by the Israel lobby.”
Here is what Friedman wrote about Gingrich and Romney:
__That thought came to mind last week when Newt Gingrich took the Republican competition to grovel for Jewish votes — by outloving Israel — to a new low by suggesting that the Palestinians are an "invented" people and not a real nation entitled to a state.
__This was supposed to show that Newt loves Israel more than Mitt Romney, who only told the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom that he would move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem because "I don't seek to take actions independent of what our allies think is best, and if Israel's leaders thought that a move of that nature would be helpful to their efforts, then that's something I'll be inclined to do. ... I don't think America should play the role of the leader of the peace process. Instead, we should stand by our ally."
__That's right. America's role is to just applaud whatever Israel does, serve as its ATM and shut up. And this guy's [Romney] running for president?
Responding to Friedman’s column, an Israeli official told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that "Friedman has crossed a line that true friends of Israel should never allow themselves to cross and inadvertently encouraged anti-Semitism."
Friedman is a charlatan, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He pretends to be a friend of Israel while doing everything he can to undermine the Jewish state. In column after column he has condemned Israel’s right-wing government and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu in particular. His criticism of the Palestinians has been lukewarm at best.
Like George Soros, Friedman is typical of left-wing Jews who seem compelled to find fault in everything Israel does so as to prove their liberal credentials. Friedman’s defenders say that he is not an enemy of Israel. They are full of shit!
Motivational speaker Irwin N. Graulich once wrote: “Calling Tom Friedman and his ‘chevra’ [fellowship] Jewish, is like calling Charles Manson an American. Technically, both facts are correct even though these misguided souls do not uphold the most important values of their traditions.”
It is obvious from his numerous columns that Friedman has deluded himself into believing he’s an expert on any and all subjects imaginable. When it comes to Israel, Friedman either deliberately distorts the truth about the Jewish state’s conflict with the Palestinians or he simply doesn’t know what he is talking about.
Friedman is to Israel as the big bad wolf was to Little Red Riding Hood. With friends like Thomas Friedman, Israel sure as hell doesn’t need any enemies.
Here is what Friedman wrote about Gingrich and Romney:
__That thought came to mind last week when Newt Gingrich took the Republican competition to grovel for Jewish votes — by outloving Israel — to a new low by suggesting that the Palestinians are an "invented" people and not a real nation entitled to a state.
__This was supposed to show that Newt loves Israel more than Mitt Romney, who only told the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom that he would move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem because "I don't seek to take actions independent of what our allies think is best, and if Israel's leaders thought that a move of that nature would be helpful to their efforts, then that's something I'll be inclined to do. ... I don't think America should play the role of the leader of the peace process. Instead, we should stand by our ally."
__That's right. America's role is to just applaud whatever Israel does, serve as its ATM and shut up. And this guy's [Romney] running for president?
Responding to Friedman’s column, an Israeli official told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that "Friedman has crossed a line that true friends of Israel should never allow themselves to cross and inadvertently encouraged anti-Semitism."
Friedman is a charlatan, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He pretends to be a friend of Israel while doing everything he can to undermine the Jewish state. In column after column he has condemned Israel’s right-wing government and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu in particular. His criticism of the Palestinians has been lukewarm at best.
Like George Soros, Friedman is typical of left-wing Jews who seem compelled to find fault in everything Israel does so as to prove their liberal credentials. Friedman’s defenders say that he is not an enemy of Israel. They are full of shit!
Motivational speaker Irwin N. Graulich once wrote: “Calling Tom Friedman and his ‘chevra’ [fellowship] Jewish, is like calling Charles Manson an American. Technically, both facts are correct even though these misguided souls do not uphold the most important values of their traditions.”
It is obvious from his numerous columns that Friedman has deluded himself into believing he’s an expert on any and all subjects imaginable. When it comes to Israel, Friedman either deliberately distorts the truth about the Jewish state’s conflict with the Palestinians or he simply doesn’t know what he is talking about.
Friedman is to Israel as the big bad wolf was to Little Red Riding Hood. With friends like Thomas Friedman, Israel sure as hell doesn’t need any enemies.
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