This citys been long-known as a multicultural haven, a world capital boasting a bustling population of brown and black Brits. But theres a sad truth here, one thats been growing in intensity: Most of Londons young people of color are more likely than not to know someone whose life has been literally cut down by a weapon more readily associated with the Victorian era: a knife.
And the number of mostly male African-Caribbean teenagers being slain by knives in this vibrant city is growing at an alarming rate. The vast majority are victims of the youth gang wars that have escalated in the last couple of years.
Media coverage of these tragic incidents is bordering the macabre. National and London newspapers are keeping a tally of deaths of black teenagers, not so much on the sword but more likely on a rusty kitchen knife or a crude machete misguidedly carried as a weapon of machismo. Actually, they seem to work rather well for that purpose, as well as for self-defense.
#1
Let's see: on the one hand you got a bunch of thugs who think they know how to use knives; and on the other hand you got a bunch of retired Gurkhas who(a) really know something about balded weapons and (b) want to retire to England. Seems like something could be worked out here.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/25/2009 12:18 Comments ||
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#2
Clearly Britain's nanny state needs to outlaw knives, and pointy sticks, and large rocks, and ...
Fresno County farmers and ranchers are accustomed to dealing with tiny insects and plant diseases. But their latest pest is a big one, weighing in at more than 100 pounds. And it has a voracious appetite.
Wild pigs are ranging over more of Fresno County and causing more damage.
"It used to be just rangeland that they would root up or livestock ponds that they would wallow in and destroy," said Fred Rinder, Fresno County Department of Agriculture's wildlife and weed management supervisor. "But not any more."
These days, the pigs are venturing from the foothills in eastern and western Fresno County to devour oranges, almonds, grapes and vegetables on Valley farms.
Their rooting can destroy berms and rip through irrigation lines. While many of the pigs average about 100 pounds, some have grown much larger.
"A big 300-pound pig will rub up against an almond tree and put a 30-degree lean on that tree," Rinder said.
At Harris Farms River Ranch near Sanger, as many as 200 pigs have been caught and killed over the last several years.
"We are one of the first green things they see when they come out of the foothills," said Rod Radtke, ranch manager at Harris Farms. "And they have really taken advantage out here."
Radtke said the pigs have ripped through lawns and flower beds, yanked low-hanging oranges off trees, gobbled grape bunches and trampled sprinkler equipment. The pigs have also found their way into the feeders and water troughs used for the farm's thoroughbred racehorses.
"We have knocked them back quite a bit, but we know they are not gone completely," Radtke said. Only Baconman can save them now!
#1
Around here, they're more common than tourists this year - had 9 in the front yard this am digging up the lawn. And being the Soviet of Hawai'i, don't even think of shooting them. It's a felony to have a .22 cartridge in your pocket - imagine what they'd do to you if you actually used a firearm to protect your property.
#3
Snowy__ not being a fan of pork tartare, I prefer them to be killed and cooked first. Since guns are not allowed, do you have a boar spear I can borrow?
#6
I used to date a lady who killed a wild boar with a bowie knife. Those guys are pikers.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/25/2009 15:42 Comments ||
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#7
Crossbow ought to work real well. And quiet enough nobody will ever know for sure. Except from the delicious aromas wafting through the neighborhood as the deceased swine are barbecued. Invite the neighbors to join in consuming the bbq and you should have no problem with the authorities.
LONDON (Reuters) - The deaths of no fewer than four people after being trampled by cows in the past two months has prompted Britain's main farming union to issue a warning about the dangers of provoking the normally docile animals. No more cow tipping!
Cows can become aggressive and charge, especially when calves are present and walkers are accompanied by dogs, said the National Farmers Union (NFU). To keep them from charging I suggest taking away their charge cards.
The union and the Ramblers' Association both advise that walkers release dogs from their leads when passing through a field of cows. Ramblers' Association. Sounds like an old car club.
"The cattle are interested in the dog, not the walker," said Robert Sheasby, Rural Surveyor at the NFU.
"As the cattle try to get the dog, there's a high chance they will get the walker too." Maybe the walkers should try running faster than the dogs.
Britain has 7.5 million cows but in the past eight years there have only been 18 deaths involving cattle, including bulls whose dangers are well-known.
The current spate of attacks by cows began on the Pennine Hills on June 21, when Liz Crowsley, a veterinary surgeon from Warrington, was crushed against a wall and then trampled underfoot while out walking with her two dogs. "Eat more chikin!"
On July 15, another attack took place in Derbyshire, when Barry Pilgrim, a 65-year old from the area, was trampled to death by a cow as his wife looked on. Spectator sport?
Three days later, Anita Hinchey, a 63-year-old, was walking her dog near Cardiff when a cow attacked her and trampled her to death.
The fourth fatal attack claimed the life of Harold Lee, a 75-year-old farmer from Burtle in the West Country. He was killed by his own herd, which may have been made nervous by the siren of a passing ambulance. Seems to be exclusively older people. Thinning the herd?
The risk is especially high in the spring when many of the calves are only a month or two old and the mothers are therefore especially protective, the NFU said. My baby will not be McBeef! Kepp yer hands off!
"It's to do with spring and autumn calving," said Sheasby. "In the autumn, cattle will be coming into winter housing but in spring you want them out grazing the grass."
Cow-charging incidents received extended coverage when former Home Secretary David Blunkett was attacked by one in June as his guide dog led him across a field in England's Peak District. How much did the cow charge? What's the going rate for pasture-crossing?
Blunkett broke a rib and was heavily bruised but survived.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/25/2009 13:28 ||
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Posted by: Mike ||
08/25/2009 16:04 Comments ||
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#2
"Farmer Jones will let you cross his field for free, but the bull charges."
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
08/25/2009 16:11 Comments ||
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#3
Letting dogs loose in a pasture, how stupid is that? How about not walking dogs in active pastures? Or not letting your dogs harass the herd? Around here that is a good way to get your mutt shot.
#4
All forms of cattle are territorial, and prone to trample encroachers. In Africa, hoved animals kill more people each year than large cats, hippos, rhinos, snakes, crocs, combined.
...a nationwide, nonpartisan poll of physicians this month found that a full 70 percent oppose the health care reform proposals under consideration by Congress. Sixty-six percent feel that a government-run health insurance plan would restrict doctors' ability to give the best advice and offer the best care possible to their patients.
Perhaps most importantly, 60 percent said they would not accept new patients covered by a government insurance plan.
Nearly all the doctors polled have worked with Medicare. Most have likely been denied Medicare reimbursement, or given minimal reimbursement, for a course of treatment that they prescribed that best fits the needs of a patient and that patient's family.
They know that government coverage does not allow for flexibility, creativity, or, sometimes, even compassion...
#1
...60 percent said they would not accept new patients covered by a government insurance ...
That's what they think. How long before the Obamathugs start hunting them down? Will they hold out? Or will they just pass a law that makes that practice illegal? Since when do doctors have the right to choose whom to treat?
Don't even think about leaving the profession or those thugs will come to see you.
#3
Perhaps most importantly, 60 percent said they would not accept new patients covered by a government insurance plan Very few physicians can afford to do that now, how can it be possible if all patients are mandated to have coverage by the government?
#5
There are a lot of doctors out there who are fed up with medicine and dealing with all the BS, even before Obamacare. My sister-in-law is a pediatrician. She used to talk about opening a hat shop as soon as her medical school loans were paid off.
The ironic thing is that her husband worked on Obama's campaign.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/25/2009 18:14 Comments ||
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In a speech marking the 56th anniversary of the 1953 Revolution of the King and the People, King Mohammed VI laid out a six-part strategy for judicial reform, a subject which has been the subject of intense debate over the past few months.
The Moroccan monarch indicated the six main areas where reforms will occur: strengthened guarantees of judicial independence, modernisation of the regulatory framework, an overhaul in structure and staffing, increased efficiency, the enforcement of rules to prevent corruption and abuse of office, and the optimal implementation of reforms.
In planning the reforms, the king said last Thursday (August 20th), consideration should be paid to findings from a Ministry of Justice project and consultations with civil society groups, political organisations and Morocco's international partners.
Also important, the king said, was the creation of an advisory body to share knowledge of legal matters relating to the judicial system, so as to give the Council of the Judiciary a role worthy of its standing as a constitutional institution.
He also spoke of the need for women to have a presence within the Council "that will adequately reflect the place of female judges in our judicial system".
Finally, the monarch called on the government to conduct sweeping reforms in order to build public confidence in a fair judicial system.
The Ministry of Justice considered judicial reform for several months and engaged in broad-based consultations with political parties, legal professionals and civil society. Priorities identified by the ministry include training, retention of legal documents, legal information offices and improved access to information for people standing trial.
Abdellatif Oumou, a lawyer with the Party of Progress and Socialism, told Magharebia that the Ministry of Justice received many opinions and recommendations and now has a platform to realise the plan laid out by King Mohammed VI.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2009 00:00 ||
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The father of a critically ill teenager who could be denied the chance of a liver transplant because his illness is drink-related says he faces a two-week race against time to secure him the life-saving operation.
While 19-year-old Gareth Anderson has been told he may be dead in a fortnight, NHS transplant guidelines mean it could be six months before he can go on the waiting list for a new liver. Ah the wonders of socialized medicine! You must wait in line before they will put you on the waiting list.
His father Brian is pursuing a legal challenge to get his son the operation and has pleaded with politicians and health chiefs to treat the case as an exception. 'I'm dealing with a timebomb now,' he said. 'I've basically two weeks to save Gareth.'
Although it is common medical practice in the UK to insist that liver patients whose conditions are linked to alcohol abuse go without a drink for six months before going on the waiting list, it is only a guideline and not a formal rule.
Mr Anderson insists the policy should apply to older patients with chronic alcoholism, not a teenager who has never before needed medical treatment for a drink related illness.
His son, who was transferred from the Ulster hospital near Belfast to King's College Hospital, London, at the weekend, suffered acute liver failure after drinking 30 cans of lager on a weekend binge-drinking session earlier this month. He may not get a new liver but he could always end up in the, um, Guinness book of records ...
A spokesman for King's College Hospital said he was in a stable condition.
'I have to take this to the courts, what else can I do,' said Mr Anderson. 'In my opinion Gareth doesn't fit in with the six-month policy.'
While Mr Anderson originally intended to launch a judicial review in Belfast High Court, it is understood the legal challenge may now have to be made in England after the teenager's move to London.
Last week Northern Ireland Health Minister Michael McGimpsey came under pressure to intervene, but he made clear that all decisions about the case had to be left in the hands of the doctors. "Nope! Scientific socialism says the kid has to die, I won't intervene. My good feelings for myself are more important than the life of a prole."
World-renowned liver specialist professor Roger Williams, who treated Belfast-born footballer George Best in his infamous battle with drink, has also become involved in the debate, claiming the guidelines should be loosened in circumstances such as those faced by the teenager.
#5
Alcohol overdose resulting in death is pretty common. But it is rare that a single binge drinking will destroy a liver, but not kill you. The timing is too difficult. This leads me to suspect that he had a bum liver to begin with, which does happen.
I knew one man on an intensely restrictive diet, because in his late teens it was discovered that, showing almost no symptoms, his liver was about the size of a thumb. Fully functional, he was on the waiting list for a transplant, but if he consumed anything that stressed his liver, he could be done.
(CNN) -- More than 200 people charged in connection with last month's deadly riots in the western Chinese city of Urumqi could be tried this week, according to reports from the state-run China Daily. The report, posted on the newspaper's Web site, said "more than 200 suspects had been formally arrested to face prosecution" for various charges in relation to the July 5 riot in Urumqi, the capital of China's remote northwestern Xinjiang Autonomous Region.
Reports vary on the number of people killed in the ethnic riots, ranging from around 200 to many more.
Rubiya Kadeer, president of the World Uyghur Congress, said the "trials will neither be open, nor fair."
"The judicial procedures in these cases have been flawed from the very beginning and contravene China's own laws," she said. "Chinese Communist Party politicians and not the legal system have laid the groundwork for the outcome of these trials by publicly commenting on the severity with which punishment should be dispensed."
China Daily reported that those formally arrested are among more than 700 people who were detained in connection with the rioting. The suspects were arrested in Urumqi and other parts of Xinjiang. The charges include vandalism, organizing crowds to cause bodily harm to others, intentionally causing bodily harm to others, robbery and murder, the report stated.
Security has been increased in Urumqi ahead of the anticipated trial, a police source told China Daily.
Problems in the region began in late June, after two Uyghur migrant workers at a toy factory in Guangdong province were killed in a brawl between Uyghurs, who are predominantly Muslim, and ethnic Han Chinese -- the majority group in China. Uyghurs protested in Urumqi, hundreds of miles from the toy factory. Uyghurs and Han reportedly attacked each other.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
On a related note,U.S. unemployment will surge to 10 percent this year and the budget deficit will be $1.5 trillion next year, both higher than previous Obama administration forecasts because of a recession that was deeper and longer than expected, White House budget chief Peter Orszag said. It throws a wrench in health-care reforms, Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in an interview. No matter the specific numbers, theyre a constant reminder that were in bad, bad shape. A multi-trillion dollar national health care plan is just what Dr. Obama has ordered. But will his minions do his bidding?
#2
On Fox News is was brought up that the White House estimates include the income from "Cap and Tax" of around 690 Billion (though it hasn't passed to become law) where the OMB must use existing laws for theirs. For that reason the WH estimates are "optimistic".
Color of crime, northern Europe-style. Rape, theft, victim's family threatened by the rapists and their pals and having to flee, SOP for ethnic rapes in Europe, very mild sentencing,... check (same thing over and over, in Holland, Belgium, France,...).
Wonder if they were kurds? Kurds are seen here as the "good guys", but they don't seem to be much more kufrs-friendly than most other muslims (just ask to the armenians).
Ten days old, but thought it was relevant still, only got it through a french blog, courtesy of a link from the main french wingnuts blog (where the Usual Suspects still manage to blame the USA and the jooooos, for the injust war, for the US soldiers raping iraqi wimmen, for the mossad having killed the Best & Brightest of iraqi, lamenting good old saddam, etc, etc... sigh).
Illegal immigration is depleting Californias human capital and ravaging its economy
Posted by: ed ||
08/25/2009 06:53 ||
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#1
One of the points ignored by the media and masked by the apologists for illegal immigration is that the ruling caste of Mexico et al made it a point of moving their lower strata out of their country to be the problem for others. It was pure racism on the behalf of the white Spanish blood caste to rid themselves of the indios y mestisos within their domain. The ruling caste did not have and still does not have any motivation to change that policy regardless of the lip service they pay to the issue of illegal immigration.
#2
It should be added that this intensified because of the "internationalist" Plan Puebla Panama created by Mexican president Fox. It was a redevelopment plan for much of southern Mexico, that required enormous numbers of peons to move North to the US, so that their land could be turned into an immense transportation hub.
#3
Procopius2k: I have heard the exact same comments made by intellectual (Mexican-Americans) down here on the border (Tucson). I agree fully with them and you.
#6
You can google 'racism Latin America', but here's a start. It permeates just not Mexico but pretty much the entire region. The political lines in Ecuador and the fall out in Venezuela are just as much the consequences of the separation of have and have nots formulated by blood 'purity' driven by a culture installed during Spanish colonial rule.
As imperfect as Jefferson was in practice, he along with Madison and the others left us an alternative philosophy with roots to strive for equality while the Spanish heritage leaves their decedents just another dead end European trope in Marxism and class warfare.
Baghdad -- Prime Minister Nouri Maliki broke ranks Monday with the Shiite Muslim coalition that propelled him to power in 2006 and appears set to contest January's national elections on his own, opening the door to a new, uncertain era in Iraqi politics.
Maliki was conspicuously absent from a gathering of Shiite leaders launching the Iraqi National Alliance, a revamped version of the coalition that easily won the elections in 2005 and is hoping to garner a majority of Shiite votes in January.
The door is still open for Maliki to rejoin the coalition should he change his mind, several Shiite leaders at the launch said. But aides to Maliki said he has calculated that he stands a better chance of holding on to the post of prime minister by running alone on his record than with Shiite partners who he believes have been widely discredited in the eyes of many Iraqis.
"If he runs alone, he feels he will have more success," said Shiite legislator Sami Askari, who is close to Maliki. "It is now certain."
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said on Monday he saw "absolutely no need" for OPEC to decide to raise oil production at its upcoming meeting next month. Shahristani told Reuters in Istanbul that signs of global economic recovery would probably lead to increased oil demand in the near future, but at the same time crude reserves were higher now than they had been in the previous five years. "We see absolutely no need for OPEC states to decide to raise production at the next meeting," Shahristani said on the sidelines of a meeting between Iraqi officials and executives from the oil industry.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Not clear they could raise it significantly or sustainably if they wanted to.
Public health officials are considering promoting routine circumcision for all baby boys born in the United States to reduce the spread of H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. Go ahead. No skin off my fore... Oh. Wait. Maybe it is.
The topic is a delicate one that has already generated controversy, even though a formal draft of the proposed recommendations, due out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by the end of the year, has yet to be released. I'm curious about which article of the Constitution gives the gummint the right to snip foreskins.
Experts are also considering whether the surgery should be offered to adult heterosexual men whose sexual practices put them at high risk of infection. But they acknowledge that a circumcision drive in the United States would be unlikely to have a drastic impact: the procedure does not seem to protect those at greatest risk here, men who have sex with men. I'd appear to be 100% safe then. Keep your hands out of my pants.
Recently, studies showed that in African countries hit hard by AIDS, men who were circumcised reduced their infection risk by half. But the clinical trials in Africa focused on heterosexual men who are at risk of getting H.I.V. from infected female partners.
For now, the focus of public health officials in this country appears to be on making recommendations for newborns, a prevention strategy that would only pay off many years from now. Critics say it subjects baby boys to medically unnecessary surgery without their consent.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Will Bambi appoint a Mohel-General, or a Prepuce Czar?
#2
I foresee mobile circumcision vans, driving around looking for the uncircumcised. Maybe with a ice cream truck bell so men will come in and be circumcised.
#7
"it subjects baby boys to medically unnecessary surgery without their consent."
What incredibly unreasoned point of view. Parents needing consent from an infant? Their parents give consent, that is why they are parents.
Someone commented "Mutilate"? I think you are stupid about that. Mutilation is a rather prejudiced and ignorant word and you are stupid to use it. I am no more mutilated than you are and probably less so in terms of your mental state with use of such a word to describe this. The women I have been with prefer the way I am to what I was born, due to where I am from I am the different one so they do notice. It is a reversal of the teasing for being different in school dressing room.
Rational issue is that it is hygienically much better and reduced risk for penile cancer. A recommendation is the proper thing. Nobody is saying the government has the right to perform these involuntarily. I do not see where this mandates the procedure and you are jumping to unfounded conclusions in a foolish and stupid fashion.
I am wondering is that I always heard circumcision is routine in the USA. If so then why is this an issue in the USA?
#8
What incredibly unreasoned point of view. Parents needing consent from an infant? Their parents give consent, that is why they are parents.
Someone miss the federal judicial rulings on abortion and teenagers. They don't need the consent of their parents. The parents don't even have to be informed. They have invested the same standing to none adults before the court as that of parents. Don't worry the government will step in when it feels the need to impose its solutions.
#10
I am wondering is that I always heard circumcision is routine in the USA. If so then why is this an issue in the USA?
The Hispanics don't do it, and in certain other circles it has become fashionably uncommon, Lagom, although I think it is still mostly routine. The above commenters are just reacting to "the government says," even though it's no change from the way it used to be, when one had to request to opt out of this standard procedure.
#11
I had it done when I was a newborn, don't really care one way or the other like some bizarro fanatics, but there is no denying that it's a mutiliation. I mean, come on, you're cutting off part of the freaking penis! THE PENIS!!!! You only get one of those for your whole life, and already you're slimming it down? Compared to that, stretching your earlobes to fit pinwheels in there is relatively normal.
#12
Oh, and I should add that being snipped is an object of curiousity and wonder in some parts of the world where MGM isn't practiced...the ladies love it...
#15
Dr. Dean Adell, the am radio guy, said that part of the penis that gets circumcised, has millions of nerve cells that would usually be helping out with pleasure. So there is my 2 cents. I am an RN, and therefore believe I have some smarts, and when my son was born, oh several years ago, I said no to circumcision.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Baghdad -- Prime Minister Nouri Maliki broke ranks Monday with the Shiite Muslim coalition that propelled him to power in 2006 and appears set to contest January's national elections on his own, opening the door to a new, uncertain era in Iraqi politics.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said on Monday he saw "absolutely no need" for OPEC to decide to raise oil production at its upcoming meeting next month. Shahristani told Reuters in Istanbul that signs of global economic recovery would probably lead to increased oil demand in the near future, but at the same time crude reserves were higher now than they had been in the previous five years. "We see absolutely no need for OPEC states to decide to raise production at the next meeting," Shahristani said on the sidelines of a meeting between Iraqi officials and executives from the oil industry.
Public health officials are considering promoting routine circumcision for all baby boys born in the United States to reduce the spread of H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.
