Here's a story I'll bet you've never heard before ...
GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) - A Mexican beauty queen arrested in a truck filled with weapons was dating a suspected leader in the powerful Juarez drug cartel, police said Wednesday.
The boyfriend of Miss Sinaloa Laura Zuniga is Angel Orlando Garcia Urquiza, a top operative in the Ciudad Juarez-based cartel, which at one point was considered Mexico's largest drug ring, said Jalisco Public Security Secretary Luis Carlos Najera. The couple was traveling with six alleged bodyguards in Zapopan, outside the colonial city of Guadalajara, when soldiers stopped their two trucks at a military checkpoint on Monday, police said. Inside, authorities found a large stash of weapons, ammunition and $53,300 in U.S. currency.
The alleged relationship between Garcia and Mexico's well-known reigning beauty queen shows how deep powerful drug gangs have penetrated society, stretching well beyond bribing police and officials. Mexican media report that traffickers with their visible wealth often have their pick of women in states like Sinaloa, where Zuniga is from and the home of the cartel of the same name.
Zuniga won the Miss Sinaloa pageant this year. She placed third in the Miss Mexico contest, whose winner competes for the Miss Universe title, and was crowned Miss HispanoAmericana, beating out contestants across Latin America. She was expected to represent Mexico in an international contest in January. Pageant organizers say they are awaiting the results of the investigation before deciding whether to strip her of her crowns.
Garcia's brother, Ricardo, was arrested in 2005 and police said he was responsible for 20 percent of Mexican narcotics sold on U.S. streets at the time. He reportedly earned nearly $1 billion a month smuggling Colombian cocaine and marijuana into the United states through corridors near Ciudad Juarez, which lies across the border from El Paso, Texas.
After being arrested, Zuniga told police they were planning on traveling to Bolivia and Colombia to go shopping. Zuniga's father, Jesus Esteban Zuniga, said her daughter had told him she was going to a Christmas party in Guadalajara. He told The Associated Press that he does not believe his daughter is involved in drug trafficking. "She's a good daughter," he said. "She's always focused on her work and she's had a spotless reputation ... until now."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Like she didn't know he was a drug trafficker.
Bet that was part of the thrill his charm....
Idiot.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/26/2008 0:12 Comments ||
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#2
I want to talk to you. Sit down. I'm not gonna bite you.
Okay, here's the story. I come from the gutter. I know that. I got no education...
...but that's okay.
I know the street, and I'm making all the right connections. With the right woman, there's no stopping me.
#5
Urquiza was just a guy who lived in the neighborhood who she saw occasionally at PTA meetings. He was not a close acquaintance or a beauty contest consultant.
#6
Mexican Constitution of 1917:
Article 10. The inhabitants of the United Mexican States are entitled to have arms of any kind in their possession for their protection and legitimate defense, except such as are expressly forbidden by law, or which the nation may reserve for the exclusive use of the army, navy, or national guard; but they may not carry arms within inhabited places without complying with police regulations.
(Arizona) - A veteran state lawmaker is hoping the threat of losing a driver's license gives teens a reason not to engage in the hazardous stunt of "vehicle surfing."
The proposal by Rep. Bill Konopnicki, R-Safford, would make it illegal to stand on or hang onto a moving vehicle. Violators would be subject not only to a $500 fine but would automatically lose their license for two years. That same penalty would apply to the driver of the vehicle.
But HB1003 goes even a step beyond that: It also would make it a crime for anyone to photograph, videotape or digitally record the event.
He said these people are just as guilty of creating the hazard because they are part of a scheme to eventually upload the scene to YouTube, the popular site where people can post videos of their activities for all to see. Konopnicki said if no one were taping the "surfing," many teens would not try the stunt.
That also was the assessment of Mike Teleff, spokesman for the Peoria Police Department. His agency investigated an incident in September in which a 16-year-old girl was injured after she fell off the hood of a friend's moving car and ended up being run over. Firefighters had to use air bags to lift the Ford Taurus off the girl.
While no one was videotaping that incident, Teleff said that may be more the exception than the norm. "A lot of times that's why they're doing it, to put it up on YouTube," he said. Teleff said extending the liability to the photographer is "a perfect thing to do."
A search of YouTube on Wednesday found more than 100 videos from across the country of people trying to vehicle surf.
As worded, it also would make criminals out of news photographers, TV videographers and even anyone on the street who just happened to see and record the event. Konopnicki said that isn't what he intends. "Obviously, we're going to have to amend it and fix it," he said.
Teleff said the legislation "fills a gap" in the law. He said the police officer who investigated the September incident is preparing to cite the motorist for reckless driving. But Teleff said it's still unclear what laws, if any, the surfing teen broke. "It's kind of dicey how you handle the passenger," he said, as the reckless driving law specifically deals with how people operate a motor vehicle.
Konopnicki said this measure would not make it illegal for individuals to ride in the open bed of pickup trucks.
#3
Trying to outlaw human stupidity will only triple or quadruple the size of the law library. It won't stop it, but it'll make the lawyers happy. Sorta like wrestling with a pig.
#8
I got the "cure" while dove hunting on the hood of a 1957 chevy. A sudden stop captured my immediate attention.
You were not postioned correctly; that's what them two little hood ornament thingys were for; the ones that looked like swept back jet aircraft tails.....Called 'em hood ornamnets, in reality they were anti-skid devices.
#11
Maybe because the rest of us end up picking up the medical bills for failed attempts. And because sometimes the drivers swerve and innocent others get injured or killed.
Just a guess. It's a bit like the motorcycle helmet issue only these are teens. With adults, I'd be happy to have them sign a legally binding waiver of all medical care at my expense or that of my insurance company and then they can drive without helmets to their hearts' content. With teens it's a little more complicated ...
#16
Maybe because the rest of us end up picking up the medical bills for failed attempts.
Except we pay just as much in legal fees and processes that further bog down our DAs and other prosecutors who are already making plea bargains in dealing with rape, murder, and robbery because both their offices and the courts are stuffed to the gills. You make it a civil matter with the effected medical service provider [which in most cases will be the city/county/state] able to administratively collect on charges against the family or estate.
LONDON - British playwright and Nobel laureate Harold Pinter has died aged 78, his wife Lady Antonia Fraser and his agent said on Thursday. Pinter, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005, had been suffering from cancer.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Mama said if I didn't have anything nice to say, I shouldn't say anything at all.
So I'll shut up.
Buh-bye, you worthless useful idiot.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/26/2008 0:14 Comments ||
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History's Scoreboard: Christmas-2008 Pinter-0
Posted by: regular joe ||
12/26/2008 7:35 Comments ||
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...Definitely missing Miss Eartha already. Occasionally disagreed with her politics, but man, that voice....
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/26/2008 10:36 Comments ||
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Antonia Fraser was married to that worthless shit of a human being? Some of her books were worth reading...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/26/2008 10:58 Comments ||
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Thanks, Besoeker! The more people know about the Trilogy, the better! A friend who reviewed it said that it might do for the Hill Country what "Gone With the Wind" did for the Old South.
There's hardly anything out in fiction about the Civil War in Texas - and that's pretty much what "The Sowing" is about. Just as a side note, the villain of the book, J.P. Waldrip was eventually buried in an unmarked grave on private property in Fredericksburg! When I was there last week for a signing, a local historian took me to see the approximate place where they planted him, after being gunned down on a public street by an unknown assailant. Ostensibly, it was to prevent the grave being desecrated...
Say... where are they going to plant this Pinter chap? Will his marker be large... ostentatious? Easy to find?
The parents of a rabbi and his wife killed in last month's terror attacks in Mumbai lit a 16-foot public menorah Thursday outside the building where their children lived in the Indian city.
Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, and his wife, Rivka, were among scores killed last month in a rampage by suspected Islamic militants. The couple ran a center in Mumbai for the Orthodox Chabad Lubavitch movement. The slain Holtzbergs, who moved to Mumbai in 2003, used to light a menorah every year outside the Jewish center also known as Nariman House. Thursday is the fifth night of Hanukkah.
Rabbi Nachman Holtzberg and his wife, Frida, were accompanied by Rivka's parents, Yehudit and Shimon Rosenberg, and several friends and relatives at the lighting ceremony. The relatives went inside the building, badly damaged by the attackers and the Indian rescue operations that followed, and also visited the room where Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife were killed.
The Holtzbergs and Rosenbergs are also expected to light a menorah at the Gateway of India, a ceremonial archway on Mumbai's seafront, a short distance from the Chabad center.
The Holtzberg's 2-year-old son, Moshe, survived the attack on the building that killed his parents and four others - all Jewish foreigners.
Acting director Rabbi Dov Goldberg has vowed to restore the building and continue their work in Mumbai.
At least 164 people and nine gunmen were killed in the Nov. 26-29 attacks that targeted 10 sites in Mumbai, including two five-star hotels and the Jewish center.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/26/2008 10:07 ||
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Posted by: john frum ||
12/26/2008 10:09 Comments ||
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Jews celebrate victory of good over evil at Gateway
MUMBAI: "Is it safe to be here, all of us together?'' asked a Jewish woman before seating herself on a chair facing the Gateway of India. A retired colonel reassured her.
Fighting back fears of congregating at a public place, a sizeable number of Jews-both Indians and foreigners-came forward to attend a prayer meeting organised by Chabad House on the occasion of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival that celebrates the victory of good over evil.
While Moshe, the orphaned child of Rabbi Gavriel-who was claimed by the terror attack at Nariman House-was conspicuous by his absence, his grandparents-Shimon and Yehudit Rosenberg-were among those present.
Several rabbis, members of the international Chabad Houses, descended from their cars to distribute black skull caps to the male Jewish members in the audience, which they also helped them wear. A round of potato latkes, a traditional jewish sweet, ensured hospitality for the guests, among whom was Ved Prakash, general manager of the company looking after the reconstruction of Chabad House.
In the symbolic backdrop of the Gateway, a giant menorah, a nine-branched candle stand (almost 20-ft tall) was set up and-as a man seated on a crane poured oil-Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky (from the Chabad headquarters in New York), took the podium.
In a speech rendered with ascending emotion that he addressed to the president and "peace-loving members of this country", Kotlarsky said, "We have assembled to light the menorah on the fifth day of the Hanukkah to celebrate the victory of the weak over the strong.''
Recalling the attacks that claimed the lives of the rabbi and his wife, who had moved to Mumbai to spread "goodness and kindness'', Kotlarsky said, "We mourn today the loss of these beacons of light.''
On the eve of the fifth day of Hanukkah, when majority of the menorah is lit up, Kotlarsky iterated, "We are committed to continuing the legacy of Rabbi Gavriel, and to fight terrorism not with AK-47s but by illuminating the darkness.''
He recalled seeing Moshe the previous night in Israel and said it as a pleasure watching him light the menorah. "We are not only committed to coming back but are also not leaving Mumbai,'' he announced, pumping his fist in the air and inviting Moshe's grandfather to light the menorah as a metaphor for overcoming the darkness.
When a crane lifted the elderly rabbi holding a candle, members of the audience stood in anticipation and clapped incessantly. As he lit the five wicks, Rosenberg recited Lighting the lights and Rock of ages-two Hanukkah prayers-while others joined in the chorus.
The rabbis then recited the evening sermon, swaying back and forth, holding the holy book as members of the audience, including Moshe's grandmother, held each other in a circle, and performed the traditional song-and-dance Hanukkah prayer.
Thanks to the vigorous smoke-spitting flames of the menorah, the Gateway shone in a new hue. The flames were extinguished after the prayer.
It was at this point that Rabbi Altel Kubchik of Pune's Chabad House, who had known Rabbi Gavriel to be an "iron man", lit up his cigarette. "We are going to build more Chabad Houses in India. "That is our answer,'' he said.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/26/2008 10:12 Comments ||
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Posted by: john frum ||
12/26/2008 10:16 Comments ||
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Posted by: john frum ||
12/26/2008 10:19 Comments ||
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That sounds like the Lubavicher Chabadniks. Orthodox mystics, but eager to share the joys of Judaism with all comers, not judging the level of religious commitment... or even whether or not they are Jewish. That's their standard public Hanukkah menorah, by the way; they put up one just like it on Cincinnati's Fountain Square, across from the Christmas tree.
Thank you, john.
((More than you want to know about Ma'oz Tzur in Wikipedia and an instrumental rendition of the melody here.
#6
john frum---I really appreciate your coverage and the images you have posted with respect to the Mumbai tragedy. I wish that the MSM would do the same.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/26/2008 17:47 Comments ||
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When it comes to covering India, Rantburgs India affiliate, John Frum, is Americas best news outlet.
Hit the Tipjar!
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/26/2008 19:22 Comments ||
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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.
